This is weird!

[Guest]

Hello,

I thought that Apps2SD wasn't working on my Modaco 2.9 ROM. I was fairly certain that this could be down to a formatting error on my SD. I formatted the SD card again on my computer and the apps still remained in the phone's memory. Or at least the internal memory displayed a reduced figure each time I installed an app.

So what I did next was to install Amon Ra's recovery (version 1.3.2).

Once I'd done that I wiped my Dalvic Cache and rebooted.

Once I'd done that I repaired my EXT Cache and upgraged it to EXT4.

Once I'd done that (and with still no memory change)

I backed up my SD Card and then partitioned it again using the option in the Recovery menu.

I boot the phone and all my apps and shortcuts are gone, as if they were installed on the SD card (which had just been partioned). When I checked the phone's memory it was STILL saying I had 73mb internal memory.

I don't get it! What's happened?!

[Guest kendon]

http://android.modaco.com/content/forum/29...sd-not-working/

http://android.modaco.com/content/forum/29...-automatically/

http://android.modaco.com/content/forum/29...have-after-2-9/

[Guest]

Sorry but none of those links seem to describe apps being installed to the SD card and the internal memory count going down at the same time.

[Guest soulehs]

Remember the internal memory is used for sms, mms call log and in 2.9 the odex files.

[Guest]

Remember the internal memory is used for sms, mms call log and in 2.9 the odex files.

Sure, but the memory was going down (and staying down, even after reboots) with app installs.

[Guest kendon]

Sorry but none of those links seem to describe apps being installed to the SD card and the internal memory count going down at the same time.

no?

As far as I understand:

- in previous ROM revisions: /system did contain a ~25 MB portion of the dalvik-cache (for system classes ?) and the rest got cached in /data/dalvik-cache.

- in MoDaCo 2.9: /system contains no portion of dalvik-cache, so everything gets cached in /data/dalvik-cache. Hence the 25 MB less free space in /data.

I don't know any of the technical reason(s) for this, other than freeing up some space in /system. Maybe that's intended for Chinese fonts and the like ?

Anyhow, apps2sd *does* work, and for people having many apps and running out of space in /data, moving the dalvik-cache to /cache does work too.

[...]

Now that the terms are clear, here is the deal as I see it:

[...]

- internal storage memory can be freed by using A2SD

- more internal storage memory is taken by MoDaCo 2.9, because of the dalvik-cache that has grown by ~25MB.

Is everything clearer now ? :)

the rest is only to explain how apps2sd works and how you can check if it is working for you.

so i can only repeat:

Is everything clearer now ? :D

:D

[Guest]

Well, I apologise.

I had looked at the threads and it certainly seemed that people were just saying that Apps2SD wasn't working which I thought was different to the situation I found myself in. To be honest, I don't really know much about Dalvik Cache, and have only seen it bandied around here relatively recently (not to say it hasn't been spoken of before). It's quite hard to piece together the information sometimes and I still don't understand why if the apps are moved from the internal storage to the SD card why the internal storage isn't then freed up (once the device is restarted and the apps transferred). Does the Dalvik Cache just keep growing and keep eating the internal storage?

[Guest Shaon]

Well, I apologise.

I had looked at the threads and it certainly seemed that people were just saying that Apps2SD wasn't working which I thought was different to the situation I found myself in. To be honest, I don't really know much about Dalvik Cache, and have only seen it bandied around here relatively recently (not to say it hasn't been spoken of before). It's quite hard to piece together the information sometimes and I still don't understand why if the apps are moved from the internal storage to the SD card why the internal storage isn't then freed up (once the device is restarted and the apps transferred). Does the Dalvik Cache just keep growing and keep eating the internal storage?

i am in the same situation. i am pretty much sure that my app2sd is working but still internal memory is growing rapidly.

so.....

lets take a situation...... say i am installing a 2 mb games. the installer size is 2mb hence the extracted (installed) size might be 2-2.5 mb. so if i install this game with app2sd it will go to ext3 partition of sd card and it will go to dalvik-cache in internal memory as well. if this is so then whats the point of moving the app to sd as still a copy of the soft remaining in dalvik-cache?

it may be another thing that not all rather few apps got double copy.

or it can be another thing. suppose we download few apps from market and install them. so there is 1 space is occupied for the downloaded installer and another space is occupied with installed files.

however...... paul can clear the confusion up. problem is that its working just fine but we r getting confused as we dont understand many things.

[Guest kendon]

however...... paul can clear the confusion up. problem is that its working just fine but we r getting confused as we dont understand many things.

you got that quite right. i will try to put it in simple words, but it is not easy. you will reach the point where just have to believe the facts, as explaining the exact reasons would cover quite some application developing, application executing and other java related stuff that is way (way way way) beyond my knowledge also.

the dalvik vm (=virtual machine) takes the application and optimises the code. this optimised code is then stored in the dalvik-cache, from where it can be accessed when the app is going to be executed. this is done to use less memory and cpu power during runtime of the application, resulting in faster loading and responding applications.

you can prevent your internal memory from decreasing by moving the dalvik-cache to the sdcard, though it is said to slow down the phone a little bit, as the internal storage seems to be faster than access to the sdcard.

[Guest]

Thanks for that answer Kendon. Much more helpful than those links. :D