Database Users

Installing apps to system/app folder

I'm rooted running stock 2.1... 5 and I have removed some unwanted apps. I imagine the system/app folder is located on a different system partition which has so much room. Since removing aps from the system folder doesn't free up any memory I figured why not move some apps in there so that I don't take up my regular app folder. Is this possible?

Since those apps will then be in the read-only partition you will have to update them manually instead of through the market.

Yeah, I have some apps which have never been updated nor do I want them to be updated. So it will work huh. How much room is there on the system partition and what will happen if I go over?

obsanity said:
Yeah, I have some apps which have never been updated nor do I want them to be updated. So it will work huh. How much room is there on the system partition and what will happen if I go over?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
download Quick System Info from the Market....it will tell you how much room is left on your system partition. Going over the limit will cause your phone to bootloop on a restart.

Got it. I assume its the system storage? It says I got 16mb free.

ISO more tips to clean up internal storage

The small internal storage is catching up to me. I am running low. I've rooted my phone and deleted as much bloatware as I can. But I still have too many apps that need to run internal and I believe a lot of data for apps, even if that app is move to external, is still on the internal. I do clean out the cache periodically but it is not enough. Any other cool tricks to try? I guess I will eventually resort to prioritizing internal apps and removing the ones lower on the list.
man I love this phone but which the internal storage was bigger or I can take more advantage of my big SD card.

keesio said:
The small internal storage is catching up to me. I am running low. I've rooted my phone and deleted as much bloatware as I can. But I still have too many apps that need to run internal and I believe a lot of data for apps, even if that app is move to external, is still on the internal. I do clean out the cache periodically but it is not enough. Any other cool tricks to try? I guess I will eventually resort to prioritizing internal apps and removing the ones lower on the list.
man I love this phone but which the internal storage was bigger or I can take more advantage of my big SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you have rooted you can try link2sd or app2sdx

If you are rooted then have you thought of turning some of then into system apps.
This will move into system portion of the internal space which does not show up in free space.
In effect you have 2 partitions one for the Rom and needed system apps like home launcher etc.
The other partition is where you move apps to internal storage.
Move all gapps there, move flash player, and any other apps that are big on space.
To move either use titanium backup or root explorer.
Sent from my LT18i using xda premium

zolaisugly said:
If you are rooted then have you thought of turning some of then into system apps.
This will move into system portion of the internal space which does not show up in free space.
In effect you have 2 partitions one for the Rom and needed system apps like home launcher etc.
The other partition is where you move apps to internal storage.
Move all gapps there, move flash player, and any other apps that are big on space.
To move either use titanium backup or root explorer.
Sent from my LT18i using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't make the flash player a system app; it needs to stay in the data partition to work.
Sent from my LT15a using XDA

DdcCabuslay said:
You can't make the flash player a system app; it needs to stay in the data partition to work.
Sent from my LT15a using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sent my flash player to system and it is working fine and it updates.
Sent from my LT18i using xda premium

heihei_ivan said:
if you have rooted you can try link2sd or app2sdx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For all this time I had SDMove and thought link2sd and apps2sd were the same when it is not. Never realized link2sd allows me to move those "non-movable" apps to reside external storage. works great and was able to free up more internal space. THANKS!

zolaisugly said:
If you are rooted then have you thought of turning some of then into system apps.
This will move into system portion of the internal space which does not show up in free space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Need to check this out, thanks!

try systemcleanup
Gesendet von meinem MT15i

Tutorial on how to install more apps on your phone when youre out of memory

Ive found a way to install apps on my desire even if it says that im out of memory. When it says that its almost out of memory it means that it isnt so much space left in the data partition of the phone.
However i have seen that i have like 130 mb space left in my system partition.
The system partition is much like the data partition. The difference is that this partition holds the system apps like contact app, camera app, gallery app, settings app and so on...
Data partition unlike the system partition holds apps that are install/uninstallable. Still if you have root and have root explorer installed then you can see if you have much storage left in your system partition. I would recommend that you have about 100 mb storage left cuz then you can surely use this method.
NOTE:
This isnt garanteed 100% that it will work and for that i recommend that you do a backup of your current rom. And leave a bit space in system partition incase it needs some space. I leave 20 mb space and its working out for me fine.
So what we are gonna do is that we are gonna move our apps or games to the system partition as if it would be a system app and we are gonna use that extra space.
Requirements: Root, S-OFF, recovery, root explorer installed, the apk files of the apps you wabt to move (use a apk manager to make a apk file from your installed apps)
1. Backup your current rom using a recovery.
2. Open root explorer and grant the root access permission.
3. Go to sdcard/ and copy the apk files of the apps that you want to move
4. Go back out of the sdcard and go to system/app/
5. Here make sure you tap on the button in the upper right corner that says Mount R/W
6. Paste the apk files here and rename them to some simple name for example rename com.imangi.templerun.apk to TempleRun.apk
7. After youve done everything in the right order just reboot and your apps should appear in your apps list and you wont be able to move them to sdcard or uninstall them. Incase you have the apps that want to move already installed then uninstall them before the restart.
Only way to remove these apps is to remove the apk files from system/app folder using root manager while the system is mounted as r/w. After a restart the apps should be gone.
If anything goes wrong then just format the system partition and restore it using recovery.
Hope some of you find this helpfull
BTW: this does not work with viber so done even try or you will get unlimited crashes that wont stop viber from trying to start.
Sent from my HTC Desire with R2 ZM4.3 ICS Themed GB Rom using xda premium

Quick question:
I'm on a MIUI based rom, and my /system/app only has 11Mb free. I'm assuming that I can't increase that without losing some important apps?

Well i have never encountered a rom that has less than 50 mb space there. I assume that you have too many apps there. See if you can clean that folder up a bit by searching for apps that you think arent necessary. Like for example i have a app called adaway.apk. I dont need it nor does the system need it. If u cannot do that then change rom.
Btw more apps that donr work with this: SetCPU, Viber
Sent from my HTC Desire with R2 ZM4.3 ICS Themed GB Rom using xda premium

Storage

Using SD maid if found where the heck all my storage was going. Under /storage/emulated the folders /legacy and /0 are exactly the same with all the same stuff in it. Is there 2 of everything in my internal SD? Can I delete one of these folders? I attached a screenshot
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

For giggles I deleted one. The folder was still there but empty and the other folder is also empty. I'm thinking they are the same just shown twice with different names. Not actually duplicate.
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Hmm okay damn. Trying to figure out where this space is going because all I really have is a couple things in the downloads folder and thats it. Another screenshot of my storage in settings kinda further backs my idea
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Have you done any nandroid backups?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

jpeterson066 said:
Using SD maid if found where the heck all my storage was going. Under /storage/emulated the folders /legacy and /0 are exactly the same with all the same stuff in it. Is there 2 of everything in my internal SD? Can I delete one of these folders? I attached a screenshot
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are not duplicate files... The files are only stored in one location, but each folder has a "link" to them...
Sorta like your computer and creating "shortcuts"

That's all well and good, but...
UberSlackr said:
They are not duplicate files... The files are only stored in one location, but each folder has a "link" to them...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...even Android's storage manager can't get it right:
Phone:
mako 16GB
rev_11
MAKOZ10o
M9615A-CEFWMAZM-2.0.1700.48
Secure Boot - enabled
Lock State - unlocked
Rooted with (an otherwise) stock ROM (4.2.2 OTA) and Clockwork Mod Touch 6.0.2.3.
I have found four places seeming to be my SD storage:
/sdcard
/storage/sdcard0
/storage/emulated/0
/storage/emulated/legacy
I've attached other screenshots showing how File Expert HD and DiskView treat my storage. CWM 6.0.2.3 also "misinterprets" my storage situation so I can't make more than 2 backups, and if I have 2 then I struggle for space for downloads and apps. I really wouldn't care about this if apps understood it - it makes you wonder how it managed to get released when not only do no apps support it, but Android's own system gets confused!
I've seen posts talk about merging all SD data with /data/media/0 but on my phone (using both File Expert and the new File Expert HD) that's showing up as a file not a folder. Seriously, how do I sort this out? Which is the real folder, why are the other three there, how do I disable this silly "shortcut" thing that's destroying my phone's storage?

Did you guys make any nandroid backup on the SD cards?

andyli1985 said:
Did you guys make any nandroid backup on the SD cards?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, what originally alerted me to the space issue was when I went to make my second nandroid since installing the 4.2.2 OTA. I made one before and one after the update, then went to make a third in order to have a recent backup before trying to flash the Ubuntu Touch Dev preview but the nandroid failed due to insufficient storage space.

Ultrabenosaurus said:
Yeah, what originally alerted me to the space issue was when I went to make my second nandroid since installing the 4.2.2 OTA. I made one before and one after the update, then went to make a third in order to have a recent backup before trying to flash the Ubuntu Touch Dev preview but the nandroid failed due to insufficient storage space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This should explain the "missing" storage. Since you made two nandroid backups and you have quite a lot of apps installed (2.89GB), this will take at least 6 GB of space.
Edit: Nandroid backups don't show on the android storage view.

andyli1985 said:
This should explain the "missing" storage. Since you made two nandroid backups and you have quite a lot of apps installed (2.89GB), this will take at least 6 GB of space.
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Click to collapse
At the time of taking the screenshots in my first post, I only have one nandroid in order to keep a decent amount of free space. The fact that CWM is also misinterpreting the storage makes me think it's backing up all 4 locations, which means that my nandroid is stupidly big. That coupled with all apps mistaking the 3 mirror locations as actual files results in a huge loss of potential storage space as apps think the device is full when it really isn't.
I should probably also mention that Windows reports the same free/used space numbers as File Expert HD.

All your internal data lies within /data/media/
The contents within that is usually what is visible to the user on a TW ROM. Once you switch to an AOSP ROM a second partition is created in /storage/emulated/0. This is your actual internal memory. Any previous downloads or backups made before installing an AOSP ROM will be located in /data/media/ since that was it's original directory. You can still view the "0" folder in /data/media/ but all your downloads, backups, etc, will be directed to /storage/emulated/0/ by default.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

LuigiBull23 said:
All your internal data lies within /data/media/
The contents within that is usually what is visible to the user on a TW ROM. Once you switch to an AOSP ROM a second partition is created in /storage/emulated/0. This is your actual internal memory. Any previous downloads or backups made before installing an AOSP ROM will be located in /data/media/ since that was it's original directory. You can still view the "0" folder in /data/media/ but all your downloads, backups, etc, will be directed to /storage/emulated/0/ by default.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
I don't understand what you mean by a "TW ROM" but I haven't changed ROM. I unlocked the bootloader and rooted, but other than a few quick plays with Ubuntu Touch I'm still using the stock ROM (which I return to from Ubuntu via restoring a CWM nandroid). I haven't flashed any Android ROMs at all.
I didn't have the phone long before I got the 4.2.2 OTA update and I didn't check the folder structure before then, but I didn't notice any suspiciously fast drops in free space until after said update.

Ultrabenosaurus said:
At the time of taking the screenshots in my first post, I only have one nandroid in order to keep a decent amount of free space. The fact that CWM is also misinterpreting the storage makes me think it's backing up all 4 locations, which means that my nandroid is stupidly big. That coupled with all apps mistaking the 3 mirror locations as actual files results in a huge loss of potential storage space as apps think the device is full when it really isn't.
I should probably also mention that Windows reports the same free/used space numbers as File Expert HD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you use a file explorer with root access and check how big is this folder? /data/media/clockworkmod/backup

File Expert and File Expert HD both see it as a file... What app should I use?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Install ES File Explorer, then follow the instructions on this post

Going to have to count up the folder size manually, will do it later and report back because I need to get ready for work now.
Sent from my Nexus 4

you know that the "Real" folders are in "mnt/shell/emulated"?^^
There you also see the clockworkmod folder and check it's size.

Miscellaneous files takes up 29 gb of space?

I have a rooted note 3 running beans and when I was dling a few apps it then said insufficient space. I checked and it says that miscellaneous files are taking up 29 gb of space. Anyone had this happen and/or no a fix? Thanks !
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Someone thumbnails files grab too much of space. Look for that.

I use the app called DiskUsage from the Playstore to identify what is taking up space on my phones/tablets. It will read the internal drive and the external as well then lay it out in a nice table. You are then able to delete things from right within the app.

sohebq said:
Someone thumbnails files grab too much of space. Look for that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that suggestion. But how do I do that?
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CreekDirt said:
I use the app called DiskUsage from the Playstore to identify what is taking up space on my phones/tablets. It will read the internal drive and the external as well then lay it out in a nice table. You are then able to delete things from right within the app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I downloaded disk usage app but what exactly am I looking for that may be causing the miscellaneous file usage? Thanks !
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So I did a clean install of beans to see if that may fix the issue but it didn't change anything at all. Any help would be appreciated !
I don't believe it's any of my backups because they are on my ext card.
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go to your internal memory then find a folder called dcim. You will find a folder called .thumbnails delete it and voila
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

lesalloum said:
go to your internal memory then find a folder called dcim. You will find a folder called .thumbnails delete it and voila
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks but that didn't change anything
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

When I click on miscellaneous files it shows
System memory 29.56 gb
Then lists
Viber 16.35 mb and other items listed down in decreasing size.
Anyone know how I can increase my storage ?
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Anyone have a fix?
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If you have made a backup through recovery, it takes up a lot of space. Also, Titanium Backups also takes up a huge amount of space. If your recovery is CWM, you should check a folder labeled clockworkmod. You will see how much a cwm backup takes. I believe the clockworkmod folder doesn't get deleted if you do a factory reset or if you unroot your device. Don't quote me on this. I may be wrong.

jtambis6 said:
If you have made a backup through recovery, it takes up a lot of space. Also, Titanium Backups also takes up a huge amount of space. If your recovery is CWM, you should check a folder labeled clockworkmod. You will see how much a cwm backup takes. I believe the clockworkmod folder doesn't get deleted if you do a factory reset or if you unroot your device. Don't quote me on this. I may be wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your response! I haven't made any backups with titanium as of yet. I am not sure if safestrap uses CWM or TWRP but I believe it's the latter. But all my backups were stored on my external sd card. Is it possible for it to be stored on the internal along with the external even if I pointed it to the external ?
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Titanium Backups is made internally. I'm not familiar with TWRP but CWM should have an option for internal or external. I use System Tuner Pro and it has a feature where it gives you a breakdown of all your heavy apps in memory. So far for me on my Note 3, it has been clockworkmod taking up 3.93GB and N.O.V.A. 3 coming in second at 2.4GB. I don't have many apps but I do have games that takes up alot of space such as Real Racing 3 (2.01GB), NOVA 3 (2.46GB),Need For Speed Most Wanted (2.02GB)

jtambis6 said:
Titanium Backups is made internally. I'm not familiar with TWRP but CWM should have an option for internal or external. I use System Tuner Pro and it has a feature where it gives you a breakdown of all your heavy apps in memory. So far for me on my Note 3, it has been clockworkmod taking up 3.93GB and N.O.V.A. 3 coming in second at 2.4GB. I don't have many apps but I do have games that takes up alot of space such as Real Racing 3 (2.01GB), NOVA 3 (2.46GB),Need For Speed Most Wanted (2.02GB)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will try system tuner pro but Its funny because I used an app called my drives and it says I 16gb of free space but that's contrary to what my device actually states and the fact that I can't add any more apps etc at this point. I have moved apps/data to the sd card as a temp fix until I can free up space another way. TWRP has that same option to backup to internal and external and I chose external so I'm lost as to what's taking up that space. Under miscellaneous files it says system memory 29 gb used and lists viber 16mb and others in decrease sizes.

cnotes2019 said:
I will try system tuner pro but Its funny because I used an app called my drives and it says I 16gb of free space but that's contrary to what my device actually states and the fact that I can't add any more apps etc at this point. I have moved apps/data to the sd card as a temp fix until I can free up space another way. TWRP has that same option to backup to internal and external and I chose external so I'm lost as to what's taking up that space. Under miscellaneous files it says system memory 29 gb used and lists viber 16mb and others in decrease sizes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In CWM, there is an option to "free unused data". I chose this option once on a whim not knowing what it exactly does. After my phone rebooted, I checked my storage and I surprisingly gained a few GBs in space.

jtambis6 said:
In CWM, there is an option to "free unused data". I chose this option once on a whim not knowing what it exactly does. After my phone rebooted, I checked my storage and I surprisingly gained a few GBs in space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will see if TWRP has that option as that would be great !
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Just simply connect your phone to pc via cable. Now browse all folders inside phone storage, make sure you have selected to show hidden files. monitor the storage of each folder. This will help you in finding the culprit folder.

I have the same issue with my note 3 running the same rom. Let me know if you come up with a fix

the answer to your question
cnotes2019 said:
I have a rooted note 3 running beans and when I was dling a few apps it then said insufficient space. I checked and it says that miscellaneous files are taking up 29 gb of space. Anyone had this happen and/or no a fix? Thanks !
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
download DiskUsage from the play store to figure out what is taking up so much space. usually the problem is with the Android folder, delete the media under the android folder.
to be sure what folder is taking all the space go to your setting, then go to your storage then look at the miscelanous folder and and check how much gb/mb you need to get rid of.. check if the storage match the same size, then delete that folder.
in my case it was the media files under the android folder, i just deleted the whole folder and whala.