Do custom ROMs save a significant amount of system space? - Nexus 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I want to free up a bit more space on my 16gb nexus 4. Right now the system portion is taking about 3.5 GBs. I was wondering if custom ROMs use a smaller system area. Looking at unexpanded install files for different ROMs and comparing them to the stock install tar file, it does look like the stock is a bit bigger than custom ROMs (cyanogenmod's install tar was about 107mb while stock was about 330mb). Its hard to tell though since those install packages/files are compressed tar. Could some of you with custom ROMs post your system area size?

not really. maybe a rom like slim bean might be a little bit smaller but not that big of size difference. and btw the stock rom is an image (.img) and cyanogenmod is most likely a zip (.zip), which is more compressed, so zips are usually smaller files than images

lazer155 said:
I want to free up a bit more space on my 16gb nexus 4. Right now the system portion is taking about 3.5 GBs. I was wondering if custom ROMs use a smaller system area. Looking at unexpanded install files for different ROMs and comparing them to the stock install tar file, it does look like the stock is a bit bigger than custom ROMs (cyanogenmod's install tar was about 107mb while stock was about 330mb). Its hard to tell though since those install packages/files are compressed tar. Could some of you with custom ROMs post your system area size?
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Click to collapse
Welling looking at Titanium Backup it says CM10.1 Jellybo is taking up 867mb with basic Gapps. It says i have 440mb free. So to me by going off that info the system part is only about 1.4gb. Most of my gapps like gmail, maps that kind of stuff is on the data part.

No matter what ROM you flash the space you have available to you is the same.
Smaller ROM just will give you more free space in the /system partition. Which you can't access without root anyways.

albundy2010 said:
No matter what ROM you flash the space you have available to you is the same.
Smaller ROM just will give you more free space in the /system partition. Which you can't access without root anyways.
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Yeah space is already reserved for the system so it doesn't matter. Just flash whatever ROM you feel most suites your needs.

zephiK said:
Yeah space is already reserved for the system so it doesn't matter. Just flash whatever ROM you feel most suites your needs.
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From my understanding what the OP is asking is if other roms will have more free space on the system part most likely because he wants to install more apps on the system part to free up space on the data part. Titanium Backup allows you to do this. I do it on my wife's Gravity Smart to free up space on the data. Not really sure what all you are going to move since there is so little space there.

Prod1702 said:
From my understanding what the OP is asking is if other roms will have more free space on the system part most likely because he wants to install more apps on the system part to free up space on the data part. Titanium Backup allows you to do this. I do it on my wife's Gravity Smart to free up space on the data. Not really sure what all you are going to move since there is so little space there.
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First off, why would you want to install apps into the /system/app/ folder? It makes no sense, it's not going to free up significant space that every body has to use. This phone isn't the G1 where we had limited storage and people had to install apps to the sdcard (apps2sd). It logically makes no sense.
Restoring system apps via Titanium Backup is also not a good idea and tends to leads you to trouble upon flashing ROMs and restoring system apps. Then people wonder why their phone is having force closures or acting funky. This is the Nexus 4, a highend phone not a Gravity Smart, a phone I never even heard of. No offense.

zephiK said:
First off, why would you want to install apps into the /system/app/ folder? It makes no sense, it's not going to free up significant space that every body has to use. This phone isn't the G1 where we had limited storage and people had to install apps to the sdcard (apps2sd). It logically makes no sense.
Restoring system apps via Titanium Backup is also not a good idea and tends to leads you to trouble upon flashing ROMs and restoring system apps. Then people wonder why their phone is having force closures or acting funky. This is the Nexus 4, a highend phone not a Gravity Smart, a phone I never even heard of. No offense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You bring up bad memories. It was so complicated just to have all your apps, you would need to jump thru all the loops. At least now storage is easy to come by.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

A little OT, but are there any custom MTD partitions mods for the N4, so that unused /system space could be made available for /data

Root - put stuff wherever you want.

Related

Memory Help

Ok I had memory issues when I went from the Backflip to the Flipside. But thankfully links2sd made a huge difference and i was able to get all the apps I wanted using that nifty little app. Now however after this update I can't even get half the apps I had on 2.1, and that is with using Links2sd. I've tried getting rid of ATT bloatware, moving some apps to systems apps, and clearing davlik cache using Titanium Backup but it only does so much. Anyone have any solutions to get more internal storage or a better way to get apps onto the SD card because this is making the update almost not worth it...and what's worse is that we cant even revert back to 2.1 without bricking the phone....sad day!
I'm having pretty much the same issues, but I'm wondering how you moved apps to the system apps? This would be helpful to me.
How much internal memory do you have free? I have about 45mb which is less then half of what I had before the update. Im not sure what is taking up the memory. Ive removed what I can and feel is safe with Ti Backup and moved my apps with Link2SD to my SD card.
boazjuggalo said:
I'm having pretty much the same issues, but I'm wondering how you moved apps to the system apps? This would be helpful to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is done via titanium backup. Long press on the app and the menu gives you the option to convert to sys app.
pre4speed said:
This is done via titanium backup. Long press on the app and the menu gives you the option to convert to sys app.
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Click to collapse
Yea that's how I moved it to system.
And I have about 20MB after moving a few apps and moving some to system....ugh this is frustrating
I have my wife's phone running on 60mgs free...
HiloDB1 said:
How much internal memory do you have free? I have about 45mb which is less then half of what I had before the update. Im not sure what is taking up the memory. Ive removed what I can and feel is safe with Ti Backup and moved my apps with Link2SD to my SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have 2 or 3 apps installed (Facebook and whatnot) and I have roughly 32mb after clearing davick (or whatever it's called)
telegraph0000 said:
I have my wife's phone running on 60mgs free...
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Click to collapse
Really, how? How many apps do you have? I have about 17 apps
JBallin4life27 said:
Really, how? How many apps do you have? I have about 17 apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just basics
Adfree
Adobe flash
Adobe reader
Adwlauncher
Fruit ninja
Pandora
Jorte
Jw reader
Lik2sd
Maps
Market
Palmary weatherb pro
Pure messenger widget
Quick boot
Titanium backup
I also added opera, and that brought it down to 50megs
Tadaaaaaa.....
Hey, I just posted the SBF in the Flipside Android Development part of the forum and I flashed that and it appears that this version of 2.2.2 runs better with links2sd and has significantly made a difference in freeing up memory. I'm gonna play around with it some more but it appears to have links2sd running as well as it did when I had 2.1. Some of you may want to consider backing up and reflashing the update. Just something to consider. I'll post an update again soon after I play around with it a bit.
Do you know how much space was available on /data when you fresh flashed it?
(edit)
So, I ended up breaking something, as usual, and had to reflash, so I used the fresh 2.2 sbf. Turns out there's roughly 74mb free on /data when you first flash, although that quickly drops as the system apps (maps, market, and flash offhand) are brought up to date.
You're right!!!
My wife's phone is down to 55 megs!!!
Sorry, I meant to post again after my last post but my phone kept freezing on the red Moto screen everytime I flashed the update and I took my phone back to AT&T 3 times this past weekend only to find out it was my SD card causing the problems. Just FYI if you partition your SD card to use link2sd make sure your second partition is set as primary otherwise the 2.2 Froyo update will completely shutdown as soon as you put your card in and will not let you do ANYTHING!
That being said, you definitely have better memory after flashing the SBF as opposed to the other methods i've tried for the update. I was able to install almost all the apps and games I had previously (some I didn't add just cuz I hadn't been using em). Everything runs smoother for me and I havent had any freezing or anything. Hope this update is running well for you guys
I'm reluctant to move many things over to system apps, personally... Don't forget that link2sd won't link the dalvik-cache of system apps, so you'd actually have more free space in /data by leaving it as a user app and just linking app/dalvik/lib. I'm at roughly 95mb free currently, with a pretty reasonable amount of stuff installed, so I'm much happier now.
Another space-saving trick I've found: Titanium Backup has a folder in /data that it uses as a temp file storage, any time you restore a backup it moves the .apk over there then installs it. It's located at /data/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/files, and also contains busybox, sqlite3, and your license file. If you're restoring a backup of a large app, this means you need a pretty large amount of space free to do so, which can be difficult on our phones. You can move this folder over to the second sd card partition that link2sd uses and symlink it without problems. Here's a (probably ugly) method:
Code:
cd /data/sdext2
mkdir tbfiles
cp /data/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/files/* ./tbfiles
rm -Rf /data/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/files
ln -s /data/sdext2/tbfiles /data/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/files
Actually....
If you have auto-link on... and move it to system with tibu... it will link the cache...
Why are you linking lib files... when you reboot... they go back to internal... you'll have memory issues at reboot that way...
Sent from my MB508 using Tapatalk
The file I manually link isn't a lib, or at least it doesn't get linked by Link2SD when you link TitaniumBackup's libs. The link stays through a reboot and hasn't caused me any issues so far, it just makes less free space required to restore backups.
As for linking libs in general, while they do tend to get unlinked on reboot, I have plenty of free space to let them exist in /data, and the newest Link2SD has a one-touch option to relink them all again to recover that space. It's not an issue unless you're linking libs and also filling your /data partition near the max.

How to free up some storage space?

I have the 8GB version of Nexus 4, but after rooting and flashing ROM, the storage space has only about 600 MB free space now (see attached picture) , I wonder how to delete some non-essential big files? I don't store MP3 or pictures on the phone. thanks
http://imgh.us/storage_full.jpg
Move your zip files off as well as your nandroid back up oh and your titanium backup folder to. Move them back on when your ready to flash again
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
There are apps that can help you clean up leftovers and non essential things. Try Clean Master.
rcholic said:
I have the 8GB version of Nexus 4, but after rooting and flashing ROM, the storage space has only about 600 MB free space now (see attached picture) , I wonder how to delete some non-essential big files? I don't store MP3 or pictures on the phone. thanks
http://imgh.us/storage_full.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As said before, it's propably your backup file that is causing this. Just move it to your PC.
And for the rest, I recommend using SD Maid to clean up unwanted app, thumbnails and tombstoned data.
If you're not sure where all the data is that is taking up so much space, consider DiskUsage. Helped me to clean up 1.9GB of cached apks that aptoide was holding onto
Similar to the rest of the replies, you can always remove the flashed files like the latest ROM you flashed (assuming you flashed without errors and you wont be needing an older version sitting there) also gapp files since there are always new one every now and then ( note that rom updates occur more than gapps in other words you'll be flashing the same gapps over several roms, so removing gapps isnt necessary).
Nandroidbackup files are insanely large, I also suggest you take those and drag it to your computer or something. I wouldn't store those on the phone.
Sent from my Nexus7

[Q] Available space in 32 GB ATT version

Posted in wrong sub forum earlier,
Does anybody know what will be the available space in Note 3, unrooted ATT version. Also, what after rooting and removing some ATT/Sammy bloatwares..
Thanks
ananta said:
Posted in wrong sub forum earlier,
Does anybody know what will be the available space in Note 3, unrooted ATT version. Also, what after rooting and removing some ATT/Sammy bloatwares..
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen screenshots of around 25GB available on the internal sdcard on stock ROM. Rooting and removing bloatware doesn't open a single byte of space for the user to use as they see fit. Bloat is stored in system partition and all user information is in the data partition. You can remove every single app that Samsung and your carrier puts on the phone and you won't free up any space at all. The sdcard has to be partitioned so that just enough space for the ROM is in system and the rest gets allocated for data. Most developers do not want to touch partitioning (one false move and phone is hard bricked), so the space goes wasted.
I'm using Vanir ROM on my VZN SGS4 (BLAZING fast ROM, btw). Notice that nearly 2GB of free space is just sitting there waiting for more apps...
Thanks doc, I was not aware about system partition. anyway, 25 free on 32 is not bad. Asking to see if I want to buy external SD right away or wait till I get hand on.
Thanks
docnok63 said:
I've seen screenshots of around 25GB available on the internal sdcard on stock ROM. Rooting and removing bloatware doesn't open a single byte of space for the user to use as they see fit. Bloat is stored in system partition and all user information is in the data partition. You can remove every single app that Samsung and your carrier puts on the phone and you won't free up any space at all. The sdcard has to be partitioned so that just enough space for the ROM is in system and the rest gets allocated for data. Most developers do not want to touch partitioning (one false move and phone is hard bricked), so the space goes wasted.
I'm using Vanir ROM on my VZN SGS4 (BLAZING fast ROM, btw). Notice that nearly 2GB of free space is just sitting there waiting for more apps...
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[Q] storage space running out

hi,
i have a storage issue that i'll like to ask the gurus.. I've just moved from PSX's v8.5 (4.3) to PSX v3 (4.4) and along the way, I've made numerous backups just in case. after flashing v3 and hellscore b43, i ran into a storage space issue where my N4 told me i had insufficient space to install more apps, to work system functions, anything. Ive attached a screenshot of my storage, but it seems to be there is a good 5-6gb of space unaccounted for? i have v little songs in my phone, no movies, little apps as well. its rooted. can anyone point to as to how i can solve this?
thanks!
to add on, I've used storage analyser to better understand by storage, and it says i have 9.87gb available, whilte the stock storage details shows the number at 611mb.
help pls?
thejiajielee said:
hi,
i have a storage issue that i'll like to ask the gurus.. I've just moved from PSX's v8.5 (4.3) to PSX v3 (4.4) and along the way, I've made numerous backups just in case. after flashing v3 and hellscore b43, i ran into a storage space issue where my N4 told me i had insufficient space to install more apps, to work system functions, anything. Ive attached a screenshot of my storage, but it seems to be there is a good 5-6gb of space unaccounted for? i have v little songs in my phone, no movies, little apps as well. its rooted. can anyone point to as to how i can solve this?
thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try flashing SuperSU via the recovery.
Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013)
hi, I've tried that, but to no avail..
ive also realised that system data takes up a huge chunk, more than 6gb. which is where most of the missing storage is. help, anyone?
thejiajielee said:
ive also realised that system data takes up a huge chunk, more than 6gb. which is where most of the missing storage is. help, anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you downgraded to the rom where you don't have this problem?
Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013)
I only just realised I was having the same issue when I got an insufficient storage available message while trying to update some apps. To solve it reboot into recovery then go on backup and restore and delete any unnecessary backups you have, if the ROM's working now then you could do with deleting all of the old backups and making one fresh one with the new ROM. Also do the 'free unused space' thing in CWM, I had no backups but somehow there was almost 3 gigs of space being wasted by CWM. There's probably something similar in TWRP if you use that
thejiajielee said:
ive also realised that system data takes up a huge chunk, more than 6gb. which is where most of the missing storage is. help, anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You've got the right app. check your /data directory to see what's chewing up space. I bet it's TWRP or other stuff stored by your recovery manager.
Use this great app to check whats taking up space: Storage analyzer
When u make full backups they won't show up in the system storage scan. Go to the file directly n try deleting an old backup. I guarantee u will see more space available after u do. Each backup is usually about 400-500mb depending on how many apps n other data u have
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Or maybe you got shrinkage problem which is pretty normal when upgrading (seeing that you flashed 4.4.2 rom over 4.3 rom). Your 16gb nexus was shrinked to 8gb. The easiest way to fix it is by formatting your internal in recovery (or flash stock recovery and do factory reset). Do make backup of your things though cause you'll lose them.

Get use out of the 2gb wasted /system space when using a custom ROM

Hello xda,
When you install a (lightweight) custom rom on a s4, you will easily have about 2gb of the /system partition unused (+plus a few gb more in some other partitions). It sums up to about 4.5gb (!) of unused space.
Changing the partition sizes using a modified pit file is impossible.
Converting user apps to system apps seems useless as updates are installed on the internal storage.
Can something be done using foldermount? (moving cache to one of those unused system partitions?)
What do you think is the best way to get use out of this wasted space?
Thank you in advance,
Pretty much the only thing you can do with that extra space is to flash another ROM on it and then you can dual boot any 2 ROMs.
You can have a TouchWiz ROM and a LineageOS ROM, or any other combination of 2 ROMs.
This is pretty much the only thing you can do. Even if you somehow move apps to /system, their data will still be written on the /data partition.
Also, /system is read-only by default.
nxss4 said:
What do you think is the best way to get use out of this wasted space?
Thank you in advance,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash a bigger Gapps package. The Google apps will be installed on the system partition. Don't fill it completely, though.
Thank you for the replies guys! Dual booting is a good way to fill up space, indeed. But I'm really satisfied with RR 7.1.1. Maybe dualboating touchwiz for the camera is an idea, I will see!
Salut, thanks but I does it have any benefits? As updates will be installed on the internal storage anyway.
nxss4 said:
Salut, thanks but I does it have any benefits? As updates will be installed on the internal storage anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's no reason to fill your phone up with a bunch of useless apps. Install the package that fits your needs most.
As you can convert user apps to system apps you can integrate updates to system partition too.
tset351 said:
As you can convert user apps to system apps you can integrate updates to system partition too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's interesting, is there an automated way to do that? I did some research before starting this thread but couldn't find anything?
I like my phone to 'just work' (not like iphones) when I am busy
nxss4 said:
That's interesting, is there an automated way to do that? I did some research before starting this thread but couldn't find anything?
I like my phone to 'just work' (not like iphones) when I am busy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Automated? Well, it's not an iPhone
With link2sd you can migrate apps and updates into system partition.
Good luck
tset351 said:
Automated? Well, it's not an iPhone
With link2sd you can migrate apps and updates into system partition.
Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh well, I'm going to look into that, I use apps2sd atm for foldermount, they don't have this option. I'm gonna try out link to sd, thanks!
UPDATE: It works flawlessly, thanks !
Just no automatic applying updates to system apps, but i guess I can live with that

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