[Q] swap? - HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera

can someone tell me what is the swap, swap partition? please help!

SeeZaar said:
can someone tell me what is the swap, swap partition? please help!
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Android is using SWAP-Partitions like "internal RAM". It is not exactly the same as internal RAM, but very close to it.
So you can increase your internal ram by using a swap-Partition.
Swap-Partition is a separate Partition on SD-Card. Mostly the last partition on sd-card.
For example:
16gb - SDCard---> 1. Partition FAT32: 14 GB, 2. Partition: SD-EXT: 1,5 GB, 3. Partition: SWAP: 500 MB
If you have a swap-Partition on your sd-card AND Android is told that it should use SWAP (e.g. by using an init-d-script or playstore-app "SWAPPER") - Android will use the amount of memory on SWAP-Partition as internal RAM.
But it is not exactly like: 1GB Internal RAM + 500 MB SWAP = 1,5 GB Internal RAM - > that's not true.
If you activate SWAPPING you have to decide which value of "SWAPPINESS" you want to use.
Example:
Swappiness 30 means:
70 percent of all write-actions will be on internal ram and 30 percent of all write-actions will be on SWAP-Partition.
If you set Swappiness 100 means:
ALL write-Actions will be on SWAP-Partition --> Internal ram is nearly not used any more ("nearly" becaus some things in android are using internal ram further on).
But you have to be careful: You need a very fast Sd-Card.

twoxx said:
Android is using SWAP-Partitions like "internal RAM". It is not exactly the same as internal RAM, but very close to it.
So you can increase your internal ram by using a swap-Partition.
Swap-Partition is a separate Partition on SD-Card. Mostly the last partition on sd-card.
For example:
16gb - SDCard---> 1. Partition FAT32: 14 GB, 2. Partition: SD-EXT: 1,5 GB, 3. Partition: SWAP: 500 MB
If you have a swap-Partition on your sd-card AND Android is told that it should use SWAP (e.g. by using an init-d-script or playstore-app "SWAPPER") - Android will use the amount of memory on SWAP-Partition as internal RAM.
But it is not exactly like: 1GB Internal RAM + 500 MB SWAP = 1,5 GB Internal RAM - > that's not true.
If you activate SWAPPING you have to decide which value of "SWAPPINESS" you want to use.
Example:
Swappiness 30 means:
70 percent of all write-actions will be on internal ram and 30 percent of all write-actions will be on SWAP-Partition.
If you set Swappiness 100 means:
ALL write-Actions will be on SWAP-Partition --> Internal ram is nearly not used any more ("nearly" becaus some things in android are using internal ram further on).
But you have to be careful: You need a very fast Sd-Card.
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thanks very, very much!! Just one more question.... What is the chache and dalvik cache??

SeeZaar said:
thanks very, very much!! Just one more question.... What is the chache and dalvik cache??
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Dalvik Cache is a List in which all apps and the path to find those apps on your phone are listed. With this list in Dalvik Cache, Android
is able to find and start Apps and other files faster than other Operating Systems would do.
You can erase Dalvik Cache, but on the next Restart of your phone - dalvik cache will be rebuilt automatically.
Cache is a partition into which all apps are writing different things when they are started and when they are running.
This data is only temporarily needed. There are some apps in playstore that are able to erase cache in order to speed up system a little bit.

twoxx said:
Dalvik Cache is a List in which all apps and the path to find those apps on your phone are listed. With this list in Dalvik Cache, Android
is able to find and start Apps and other files faster than other Operating Systems would do.
You can erase Dalvik Cache, but on the next Restart of your phone - dalvik cache will be rebuilt automatically.
Cache is a partition into which all apps are writing different things when they are started and when they are running.
This data is only temporarily needed. There are some apps in playstore that are able to erase cache in order to speed up system a little bit.
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Thanks, you are good!

so does the SWAP make your phone little bit faster?

dohcvtec said:
so does the SWAP make your phone little bit faster?
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It depends on how you are using your phone.
If there are many apps running in background that must run in background and stay there all the time (e.g. taskkillers, battery-monitoring, antivirus-software, whatsapp and so on) - very much of internal ram will be reserved for those apps.
As a result : For all other apps that are not staying in internal ram all the time (e.g. games, office-apps, and all the other stuff that can be downloaded from playstore) - there is much less internal ram available for.
This may end in lower performance of your phone generally.
In my case - i use a 300 mb swap-Partition and my phone is faster than without it.
But it depends on the speed of your SD-Card and the kind of swap-activation, Swappiness , readahead-value and so on if you want to make your phone faster by using swap.
Some people say, that zram-swapping is better than swapping with a swap-partition.
I can not say that too, my phone is slower with activated zram instead of activated swap-partition.
zram means, that a part of internal ram is reserved for a swap-partition instead of a swap-partition on sd-card.
So during the usage of zram you have less internal memory free for your apps again, BUT android will swap some system- apps to zram.
Sometimes this makes your phone a little bit snappier, but in my case ist slows down everything.
But SWAPPING BY swap-partion is worth a try.

Related

[Q] Possible to make 512 Rom 1024 Rom?

I have a TMOUS HD2 1024 from the US go live release (red reset button). I have been using various Android builds for a few weeks now and love the MDJ's CyanogenMod 7 v2.2 (11 JAN). My question is this:
If I use one of the builds made specifically for the 1024 ROM will I see better response times? I know they are compatable since I am already using a 512 but more importantly would there be any benefit using a ROM designed for the 1024?
If there is a differnece is there a way to modify this build so it takes advantage of the full 1024 ROM? I have seen discussion related to changing the size of some spicific files that modify storage sizes but am very novice to phone edits and quite cautious. Any help would be welcomed and if this has already been discussed a simple link would be most appriciated.
With 1024MB ROM, there are no advantages in terms of speed performance.
However, you do get space advantages.
If you flash a 350MB ROM, 350MB is being used by the system partition, a small amount is used by the boot partition and cache, then the rest are all userdata partition, which gives you around 500MB free space to install apps and store user data. (SMS, etc)
People with 512MB ROM, 350MB is being used by system partition, minus boot, cache, you have like around 50MB to 100MB left which isn't much for apps and user data. Which is why they need to use A2SD+ or DATA2EXT or similar methods of increasing userdata storage.
Try using Clockwork Recovery. You will have ALOT of free space. Even if you don't do A2SD+ partition, since MDJ's Gingerbread Cyanogen uses less than 150MB for system partition.
LiFE1688 said:
With 1024MB ROM, there are no advantages in terms of speed performance.
However, you do get space advantages.
If you flash a 350MB ROM, 350MB is being used by the system partition, a small amount is used by the boot partition and cache, then the rest are all userdata partition, which gives you around 500MB free space to install apps and store user data. (SMS, etc)
People with 512MB ROM, 350MB is being used by system partition, minus boot, cache, you have like around 50MB to 100MB left which isn't much for apps and user data. Which is why they need to use A2SD+ or DATA2EXT or similar methods of increasing userdata storage.
Try using Clockwork Recovery. You will have ALOT of free space. Even if you don't do A2SD+ partition, since MDJ's Gingerbread Cyanogen uses less than 150MB for system partition.
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Thanks so much best info so far.

In Terms of Bloat...regarding OS

Anybody know how the three OS versions compare (eclair, froyo, gingerbread) as far as system file size and how much of the internal storage they take? I would hope Gingerbread is the least bloated most optimized, but is the truth different?
I would imagine it increases with each revision as they add more features, although that doesn't mean it's more bloated. Freeing up space on the system partition doesn't really matter anyway. If you don't use it then it's just wasted.
Why would it not matter, isnt the 'system partition' and the internal storage synonymous?
unsivil_audio said:
Why would it not matter, isnt the 'system partition' and the internal storage synonymous?
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The internal storage on the phone is divided into several partitions. Each partition is a fixed size.
In specific, the system partition (where the ROM is stored) is 240MB and the data partition (where installed apps are stored) is 185MB. Freeing up space in the system partition won't give you any extra space on the data partition.
However the CM ROMs place the Dalvik cache on the data partition, so naturally you will have less space available for apps. I don't think the Sense "Liberated" ROMs do that but I'm not positive.
If you want more app space though, just use one of the various apps2sd methods.
Yeah I tried dark tremors a2sd before, but even though it freed up an insane amount of space it wasn't worth the performance loss. I may try it again in the future though.
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[Q] MTD Memory Handling Question

My epic 4g is running ei22 Legendary v.1 with the samurai 3.3 assassin kernel. I am a bit of an app whore and have loading it up with nearly 260 apps. I have accomplished this with the use of a 2.5gb ext4 partiton on my class10 16gb sd card, the darktremor script and the a2sdgui app. With this setup I am have all the storage I need and then some.
My question is; is it possible to repartition in order for more ram as opposed to storage?
I have excluded a fair amount of apps from starting up at boot, and I aggressively manage my memory with a memory manager, but I still feel I need more ram.
dewayne25 said:
My epic 4g is running ei22 Legendary v.1 with the samurai 3.3 assassin kernel. I am a bit of an app whore and have loading it up with nearly 260 apps. I have accomplished this with the use of a 2.5gb ext4 partiton on my class10 16gb sd card, the darktremor script and the a2sdgui app. With this setup I am have all the storage I need and then some.
My question is; is it possible to repartition in order for more ram as opposed to storage?
I have excluded a fair amount of apps from starting up at boot, and I aggressively manage my memory with a memory manager, but I still feel I need more ram.
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I believe ram is a completely different chip in the phone, opposed to the storage space, because it functions a lot differently. But I may be wrong.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
iatedeadpeople said:
I believe ram is a completely different chip in the phone, opposed to the storage space, because it functions a lot differently. But I may be wrong.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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Wait, WHAT?! The ram isn't in our SD cards?! You don't say! Although I was starting to suspect something when I noticed that if I remove the SD card (or mount it as USB storage), the phone keeps functioning, and I know that can't happen with any computer when the ram is removed...
The OP only mentioned partitioning of the SD card, not internal storage. Also, ram isn't partitioned... he is most likely referring to creating a swap partition on his sd card, which the system would then use as additional storage space for temporary data that would normally be held in ram. However, the CPU still needs the data in ram in order to interact with it, so if the required data is actually in the swap partition, then the system would need to free up some room in ram for the required data (often, by swapping places with data in ram that isn't currently needed, hence the name...
@OP - I'm fairly certain the Epic doesn't currently support swap files/partitions, but I recall seeing mention of other android phones with that ability. But it shouldn't be necessary, our phones have enough ram - if you are running out of memory (errors, not simply seeing a low amount of available ram) then you either have something wrong with your phone, or you need to stop trying to keep all of your favorite 3d games loaded at the same time, lol
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Our phone does have the ability to support swap. Some Bonsai releases support swap. First you'd have to make sure the /sdcard was partitioned for swap to have a place to reside. Then, it'd have to be enabled in the kernel and there are tweaks to "swapiness" that sets aggressiveness of swap use - basically swap enable will try to take dormant items in RAM and move them to SWAP to free up RAM. You can run 'free' command from the terminal to see how much swap is available and in use.
All that said - I don't think the OP is referring to SWAP or RAM - as those would only help free up running memory. OP seems to be interested in more room on his OneNAND data partition and SDCard for Apps to be installed.
RE OP: CM7 MTD downsized the /cache partition in OneNAND and gave a sizeable boost to /data space for more apps (see images posted by AproSamurai showing free space). If you run the command 'df -h' from the terminal you'll see the size (total, used, available) of /system, /data, and /cache. On CM7 I have the following sizes, respectively, 268.5M, 676.5M, and 25M. Side note: The 25M cache isn't large enough for all Market apps to download though so noobnl fixed by mounting /cache/download on /data partition (MTDBlock3) to allow for larger apps to cache in download directory before install.
If you're sticking with a GB TW ROM though - I don't understand your setup. Why not just use the built in GB capability to move Apps to SD Card in Settings -> Applications (select app and "move to SD card" for those compatible/capable)? I don't get why you need to create a separate EXT4 partition and use 3rd party tools. Can you elaborate on why they wouldn't work?
Rereading your OP - NO - you can't get more RAM to fit in the phone. It's got what it's got and you can't get more from it. Enabling SWAP may help, terminating resident apps in the background MAY help, but at the end of the day you can't increase the RAM available. You'll need to better manage what you have.
Please don't confuse RAM with storage memory - that got me turned around in your OP.
Sorry for confusing you, if I did. I wasn't interested in partitioning my sd card for more ram on the sd card. My interest is in using the cache space for ram. I don't understand how a phone can be stated as having 512mb's of ram and 1gb of rom and not be. Yet all the epic can muster is 362mb of ram, most of our performance issues are due to that... If there was a way to unlock any more ram in samsung's specs claim I wanted to know.
If you're sticking with a GB TW ROM though - I don't understand your setup. Why not just use the built in GB capability to move Apps to SD Card in Settings -> Applications (select app and "move to SD card" for those compatible/capable)? I don't get why you need to create a separate EXT4 partition and use 3rd party tools. Can you elaborate on why they wouldn't work?
I would have loved to use the .android folder to save my apps but my dalvik cache would fill the internal space and limit me to about 180 apps. With the Darktremor script and a2sdgui I am able to put my Dalvik on the ext4 partition of my SD card.
I would have loved to use the .android folder to save my apps but my dalvik cache would fill the internal space and limit me to about 180 apps. With the Darktremor script and a2sdgui I am able to put my Dalvik on the ext4 partition of my SD card.

[Q] unusable internal memory

Hi, I am using MIUI with Android version 2.3.7. Everything is allright, but I only have 217 mb of internal memory in total. The MIUI ROM and other apss take up about 180 mb and although I have moved some apps to sd I now only have 40 mb available. It should have 512 mb internal memory. Why can't I see and use all of it? Is it possible that I didn't delete windows mobile or one of the other android roms I have used so far, though I am sure I have tried "clean install" a few times?
Dalvik cache & app data take up a lot of space too, you could move these to th SD ext partition to free up more internal memory. You will need a2sd installed I think to enable this.
Peace
Sent from my HD2
the 'available internal memory' figure only counts the data partition size.
so (for example) if your rom requires a 200 meg system partition, you would show..
512 minus 200 minus whatever cache size you flashed minus the boot and recovery partitions (lets guess 50 meg) so your available internal memory on a completely fresh install, no data or apps, would still only show a max of 262meg available.
Also, if you flash a system partition bigger than required, you dont get the extra space to use. So flash a 180meg rom onto a 250 meg system partition, and you lose 70meg, the system wont use it for anything.
samsamuel said:
the 'available internal memory' figure only counts the data partition size.
so (for example) if your rom requires a 200 meg system partition, you would show..
512 minus 200 minus whatever cache size you flashed minus the boot and recovery partitions (lets guess 50 meg) so your available internal memory on a completely fresh install, no data or apps, would still only show a max of 262meg available.
Also, if you flash a system partition bigger than required, you dont get the extra space to use. So flash a 180meg rom onto a 250 meg system partition, and you lose 70meg, the system wont use it for anything.
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Thank you so much. My ROM itself is about 100 mb. How much data partition size should I actually spare for such a rom? Also could you please direct me to the post that tells me how to arrange the data partition size and do the rest of flashing my rom again? I would really like to have more available internal memory. Also I would be happy if you told me what ext 3 or ext 4, whatever it is called, is and if it has anything to do with internal memory.
If the rom is 100mb then you need a partion of at most 110 so if your using clk or magdlr..after you have wiped nand...partition it to 110 if possible or use 105 even cos you don't wanna be giving up wanted space..

[Q] HD2 NAND Memory explanation

I'have flashed a lot of roms already but i'am still wondering how the memory works.
My favorites are the roms with Sense from DungPHP.
Now i'am running Coredroid that gives a load of manual options but also crashed unexpectedly.
Why this questions:
Every rom crashes somewhile. To understand how the memory works can help to find the rootcause. That can be application related, or configuration for the partitions, core etc.. Now only the developers know this (should know )
My Phone:
The Phone HD2 HTC LEO (EU) has 512 Mb memory
EXT4 partition of 2 gb
SWAP 256 mb
SD card of 16 Gb, 4mb speed
[*]What kind of memory's are there?
[*]and where are they used for?
To install the Rom we have to give the correct configuration like:
misc ya 1M
recovery rrecov|ro|nospr filesize recovery-raw.img
boot yboot|ro 5M
system ya 175M
cache ya 5M
userdata ya|asize|hr allsize
So when i have 512mb - 1 - 5 - 175 - 5 = 313 mb left over
[*]Where is the left 313 mb used for?
[*]What is installed on the EXT4 partition?
[*]How much do you need to keep for good performance?
This are a lot of questions and i hope someone can help me to figure it out so we have a usefull tutorial page left over.
[*]Where is the left 313 mb used for?
[*]What is installed on the EXT4 partition?
[*]How much do you need to keep for good performance?
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1 - 313 would be the userdata partition (allsize). This is the only nand partition which counts towards total internal storage.
2 - depends on the rom, some put user installed apps there, some put apps and dalvik cache, some put the whole data partition there.
3 - doesn't matter, you are talking about rom, not ram,, free rom has no effect on performance.( well, perhaps if every tiny scrap of space is full, but you sound like you meant ram)
You are right RAM has effect on performance.
The problem for me is that i understand lots of fragments of the theory but it is not complete.
Like today i have installed a backup, and later a full installation of a rom on my phone. And this rom was working fine in the past and now the battery lacks and streaming video is not working. Why??
I did a cleanup to factory, and cache and dalvic cache, but it looks like something stayes and is not formatted.
Back to runny. Video works fine now. But the sense is stopping very often due to lack of memory.
Is there a way to improve this?
I removed almost all widgets from main screen but after opening an application it is stooped and needs to be reloaded.
Sent from my HTC Runnymede using xda premium
Flash marc 0.1.9 kernel and then add a zram (100mb) script to increase virtual memory size.
I already improved the phone by changing the config from 5/170/5 to 10/180/10. Especially cash was the problem what I think. Till now it worked fine.
Sent from my HTC Runnymede using xda premium

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