Android Storage problems

Admiral Huddy · 26 Jun 2012 at 12:34

Not sure if any one else has had this problem, but wondered if anyone who has can help.

I have a 16GB SD card in my HTC desire but I'm now unable to download bigger apps because it's almost out of phone memory which is relatively small and only has 21MB left. . I've moved what I can from Phone to the SD card but some applications, including 3rd party apps, won't let you move them at all (Move to SD card is greyed out)??

I was wondering if there a default destination setting somewhere so all downloads and apps are directed to SD rather than Phone or how to overcome this problem?

Thanks in advance

Orcvader · 26 Jun 2012 at 12:46

Root the phone. I was low on interal space on my Xperia play so I rooted the phone, uninstalled the bloatware that couldn't be moved to the SD card, grabbed the market version (if I still wanted it) and then the "Move to SD card" was allowed. Saved me a good 50mb or so.

Myshra · 26 Jun 2012 at 12:55

If you're willing to root you can fix it so that instead of installing apps to the inbuilt partition it will install them to the SD card in a more... stronger way. This removes any limit too.

benjo · 26 Jun 2012 at 13:17

The best method would be to root it like above, but partition your sdcard and make something like a 2gb ext4 partition. Then either install a modded stock rom with data2ext scripts or install CM7 and this.

More lengthy solution, but better in the long run.

Liquid_Entity · 26 Jun 2012 at 13:18

I've rooted my Desire and have a sd-ext partition for installing apps but I still get low memory for cache and data memory on the Data drive. Does my nut in !!

edit: pic added

Admiral Huddy · 26 Jun 2012 at 14:19

Thanks for the replies.

It's nuts that some of these apps won't allow you to move to the SD card, Mail being one of them. Not sure I want to go thought the process of a root on a contract phone tbh.

Orcvader · 26 Jun 2012 at 14:20

It's really easy and quick to do. I used SuperOneClick and it rooted my phone in a matter of a few minutes. No complicated steps involved

.

TehBluebear · 26 Jun 2012 at 15:10

This is doing my head in on my Desire. Nice phone and everything, but the lack of space is such a huge oversight on HTC's part.

Was looking into rooting it, but to be honest, I need a new phone anyway as it's a bit battered now. Got my eye on the HTC One X.

Liquid_Entity · 26 Jun 2012 at 15:47

Admiral Huddy said:
Thanks for the replies.

It's nuts that some of these apps won't allow you to move to the SD card, Mail being one of them. Not sure I want to go thought the process of a root on a contract phone tbh.

Rooting is easy these days and as for apps well they all install on to the EXT partition that has loads of space but it's cache that sucks up all the disk space on Data partition.

For example: Google Currents is a magazine reader, when I clear it's cache and data it is a few mb's of space. When I update it and refresh all magazine headers and what not, it can take up to 20mb of disk space on the Data partition (ie not on my EXT partition)

Same for facebook etc, after several days of use my data file can be anything from 6mb - 18mb (see the screenshot)

So no matter how much you put apps on the EXT partition, at some point the Data partition will reach minimum.

Admiral Huddy · 26 Jun 2012 at 15:59

I see thanks... but i notice your FB is on the SD card where as mine's on the phone. The option to move to SD is greyed out and unavailable for the FB app.??

Liquid_Entity · 26 Jun 2012 at 16:01

As mentioned, I am rooted and I have an SD EXT partition where all apps are installed, but the cache and data from the apps are still being used up on the limited DATA partition.

benjo · 26 Jun 2012 at 16:09

An EXT partition still acts as internal storage though, so I don'd think you even needed to move it to the SD card Liquid Entity.

edit: Like I said earlier, you need to be looking into data2ext, not apps2sd

What is data2ext?
The phones internal memory is divided into several partitions. The 3 key ones are /system, /data and /cache. The rest we don't need to worry about too much. /system is where the ROM lives. By default it's read only (regardless of S-ON or S-OFF). All the data on our phones (apps, app data, game progress and a few other bits and bobs) is stored on /data. We have a pitiful amount of storage on /data (about 190MB), so we quickly run out when installing apps. 1 solution is to move /data/app (this is where most of the apps are stored) to a partition on your SD card (formatted to ext). But the internal memory still fills up, as anything not in /data/app stays on internal (caches, data and shizz). Other solutions have arisen, like moving dalvik-cache there to the ext partition too. But with the advent of fast SD cards it became possible to move the whole data partition to the ext partition. So people did; this means that the internal memory is barely used (aside from a few bits here and there, they're symlinked back to their original location).

Liquid_Entity · 26 Jun 2012 at 16:17

The EXT partition is 1.5gb of my external memory card and used as the extended internal memory so that all apps can be installed I though that's how these rooted phones with custom ROMS worked. The SD-Card partition is the other 2.2gb of the external memory card - everything else is split around the internal memory for system and data.

A Desire doesn't have more than 512mb of memory does it?

I followed the instructions to the t for any of the roms I install and they all say to split the external memory card like that.

My only point is, because it works fine otherwise, is that the internal Data partition runs out of space due to caching and app data. How does one stop that from happening. I have to continually use cache cleaner to reduce the memory usage.

benjo · 26 Jun 2012 at 16:20

Liquid_Entity said:
My only point is, because it works fine otherwise, is that the internal Data partition runs out of space due to caching and app data. How does one stop that from happening. I have to continually use cache cleaner to reduce the memory usage.

Depends what script you're using. If you're using one that just sends the /data/app to the ext partition then everything else (cache) will still fill up the internal storage. If you're using a data to ext script, then it will only fill up when your 1.5gb ext partition is full.

Liquid_Entity · 26 Jun 2012 at 16:23

I have the MildWild rom which use S2E and I thought I had set it all up right.

Liquid_Entity · 26 Jun 2012 at 16:24

Apologies to Admiral Huddy for hijacking your thread but if you do Root your phone, these are the likely questions you will be asking too hehe

benjo · 26 Jun 2012 at 16:28

Strange, thats how I had it set up when I was using my Desire. What does Titanium Backup home screen look like? The storage part at the bottom.

edit: I think you should go into application settings and move all of your apps back to phone, otherwise it defeats the point of having an extended internal storage

Liquid_Entity · 26 Jun 2012 at 16:32

I don't have Titanium Backup installed.

If I move apps back to phone it will use up what little Data memory I have left. It's a weird one but it's manageable as it is, just have to run cache cleaner about 3 times a week.

benjo · 26 Jun 2012 at 16:35

Liquid_Entity said:
I don't have Titanium Backup installed.

If I move apps back to phone it will use up what little Data memory I have left. It's a weird one but it's manageable as it is, just have to run cache cleaner about 3 times a week.

But moving it back to phone will move it to your ext partition, no? Your ext partition is linked to your internal mem.

Liquid_Entity · 26 Jun 2012 at 16:39

I just tested it and nope, it uses up my Data partition

Weird