Root Constantly on low space

[IllusionsPlay]

Hello there!

I'm using OpenDesire rom and I'm constantly having low space problems.

Sure, I've rooted my Desire and I'm using one-click clear cache few times a day and I've moved almost all of my applications on SD card...so what could possibly eat so much space?

I'm having 5-12 MB of free space on internal memory.

I've been googleing solution for days, but everyone keeps saying to move root, move apps to SD and clear cache what I've done and still no solution.

 

[InfernalByte]

Are you using A2SD? A special partition on your SD card that'll sort that problem. A member here called danfrance has a FAQ explaining all about it. Alternatively Google Apps2SD, A2SD etc.

 

[InfernalByte]

I use Darktremor, its a .zip file and does not have a GUI. Excellent.


http://androidforums.com/desire-all-things-root/220627-faq-apps2sd.html

 

[IllusionsPlay]

I think A2SD is by default on OpenDesire

It says

• Legacy A2SD with Cache2SD

 

[InfernalByte]

I think A2SD is by default on OpenDesire

It says

• Legacy A2SD with Cache2SD

Do you have a ext3 partition on you SD card? A2SD will not work without it.

 

[IllusionsPlay]

No, I don't see any ext3 partition. Should I create it manually?

 

[InfernalByte]

Download ROM manager if you don't already have it, partition SD will be in the menu section, 512mb and 0 swap. Partitioning will wipe all data from your SD so back up first, your desktop will do. There is a better account of how to do this in various faq's evreywhere.

Otherwise. Yep you'll need to create it manually. If your running Linux you can use your disk manager, otherwise you'll need to download Gparted which I think will run in Windows.

 

[IllusionsPlay]

I am Linux user and I have gparted.
I also have Clockwork Rom Manager

Is there any detailed step by step guide?

 

[InfernalByte]

If your running Linux use your disk utility to format 2 partitions, 1 should be about 500Mb and ext3, the other can take up the rest of the card and is a regular data space FAT32 or whatever. That's it!

I would try ROM manager first though, its quite noob proof. ext3 512, o swap. That's it!

 

[SUroot]

Just ensure all sd data is backed up on your pc first

 

[Hadron]

An advantage of using GParted is that you don't have to erase the card - you can shrink your existing partition and add an ext3 in the freed space.

I'd back up the data first anyway, in case anything goes wrong, but I've generally found GParted to be very reliable.

Update: I was trying this myself at the time, and hit some problems - see below. So I'd advise following other posts and ignoring this one.

 

[InfernalByte]

An advantage of using GParted is that you don't have to erase the card - you can shrink your existing partition and add an ext3 in the freed space.

Try it but I think you will need to wipe the card. When using a thrid party partitioner such as Gparted, the existing partition is resized and thus the ext3 partition is created second. The ext3 partition MUST be done first, otherwise it is not recognised by the phone. I may be wrong, and I stand corrected if anyone knows different.

 

[Hadron]

Partition ordering is something you can adjust. But actually I was trying it, and while the repartitioning looks fine my phone seems to have some problems reading it. So yeah, not quite as straightforward as I've generally found!

So looks like I need to do some fiddling now to get things working again. Ho hum, teach me to try to save myself a bit of effort....

Update: phone was sufficiently confused about the state of the card that I formatted it using recovery and did everything from scratch. That's why you always do a backup before playing with this stuff!!

 

[Hadron]

Or to put it pictorially: Mistakes

 

[spile]

Lots of people are getting this problem, so it seems we are destined to do a hard reset every month or so.

 

[bartlet]

Try it but I think you will need to wipe the card. When using a thrid party partitioner such as Gparted, the existing partition is resized and thus the ext3 partition is created second. The ext3 partition MUST be done first, otherwise it is not recognised by the phone. I may be wrong, and I stand corrected if anyone knows different.

I understood that the ext3 was supposed to be after the fat32 e.g.
[-------FAT32-------][-EXT3-]

That's what I've done, but not flashed yet. Can anyone confirm please?

 

[SUroot]

Yep pretty sure that's how it has to be. Mine was and think that's the only way

 

[bartlet]

Good good
I did it with GParted on Ubuntu without destroying the data on the FAT32. Hopefully it'll go OK when I build up the courage to flash - LeeDroid is the plan.

 

[InfernalByte]

Try it but I think you will need to wipe the card. When using a thrid party partitioner such as Gparted, the existing partition is resized and thus the ext3 partition is created second. The ext3 partition MUST be done first, otherwise it is not recognised by the phone. I may be wrong, and I stand corrected if anyone knows different.

I stand corrected!