[Q] Anyone tried adding swap to dx? - Droid X General

Busybox allows dd to create a large file on sdcard.
It allows mkswap to create swap space on the file.
(at this point I'm super excited)
But when I try swapon busybox fails with function not implemented.
Any tips on getting this to work? Someone must have tried before. Virtual memory on the sdcard might have potential, or at least provide hours of fun with custom sysctl settings.

what are you trying to run on the dx that requires so much memory you need swap?

bobabc said:
what are you trying to run on the dx that requires so much memory you need swap?
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Click to collapse
Maybe he isn't trying to run a massive program, but add a windows like effect, prefetch, to speed up the phone?
For what I have read and heard, Android is relatively good at memory management, so it may not be a good idea to do that.

I think you can do some interesting things. If you have swap, you can perhaps encourage the kernel to swap out some rarely used processes like Xfinity, etc. (or at least some portions of it. Isn't it annoying how Xfinity always sticks around). Then you can tell the kernel to use more of the RAM for cache, thus making the phone faster. I know android already does a good job in managing memory and killing of less used processes but I think with swap we'd have a lot more flexibility.
Been doing some work with busybox and sysctl - you can read about it here: http://www.droidxforums.com/forum/droid-x-roms/16331-liberty-1-0-syssctl-config-4.html (I'm Marius on that forum).

Related

compcache: some clarification please

i've been reading up on compcache and the way that it works, but i'm pretty confused on how exactly this works on the android platform... i can't seem to pull the exact definition of compcache for android through all the chatter from threads, and it seems my answer gets lost in translation...
so to put it simply, i'm assuming from all my thread reading that compcache is actually based off the ext partition that you have on your SD card, and not on the RAM itself on the device? is this right? this is where i get confused, cause the compcache writers and developers say that it creates a ramzswap in the ram itself and stores compressed pages on the device RAM, effectively increasing the efficiency of your onboard RAM... in android's case and all the cooked ROMs, does it work off your SD card and your ext partition? or does it work off the RAM itself...
i'm currently running cyanogen's latest 32b release on my mytouch and its running extremely fast WITHOUT apps2sd, but i would like the benefits of compcache to prevent losing information from my browser and other applications like gtalk, which supposedly compcache helps with... would i have to create a ext partition and utilize apps2sd in order to utilize compcache? thanks in advance
bump... would like to be learned
I'm also a bit confused
i would like to know as well as i've installed Cyanogen v4.0.1
i went into the recovery console and formatted my SD choosing the option of "Format SD: fat32+ext2+swap"
was this the correct thing to do?
either way if you format cyanogen's rom with just a fat32, or fat32 + ext + swap, it doesn't matter as his rom is compatible with either apps2sd or without...
the question is, where does compache compress its file pages? in the RAM, or in the SD card
Compcache uses xMB of RAM as compressed swap space. No ext2 or swap files or swap partitions are needed (though the latter two can be used as "backing swap").
So on a 32B, with RAM limitations already, how is that a good thing?
PsychoI3oy said:
Compcache uses xMB of RAM as compressed swap space. No ext2 or swap files or swap partitions are needed (though the latter two can be used as "backing swap").
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks thats the answer i was looking for...
MikLSP said:
So on a 32B, with RAM limitations already, how is that a good thing?
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Click to collapse
how is it NOT a good thing? compcache compresses page files, effectively increasing your RAM's efficiency and "technically" increasing its storage size in the allocated ramzswap... according to the developer's tests on different machines, it effectively makes it seem like it doubles the RAM amount on your computer...
this is nothing but good, especially for lower end machines like netbooks, and phones that have limited RAM allocation to begin with...
heres a small tidbit from the google source page
http://code.google.com/p/compcache/
i don't mean to threadjack, but compcache will be active regardless of whether or not i partition my sd card to fat32+ext2+swap...?
and i only have to partition my sd card to fat32+ext2+swap ONLY if i want apps2sd to work correctly using Cyanogenmod's rom...?
please correct me if i'm wrong.
i'm really wondering because even though i'm using Cyanogenmod's latest rom on my MyTouch, i still get considerable lag throughout such as typing on the virtual keyboard, screen orientation rotation, etc. i also use TasKiller.
maybe i'm expecting too much...
probably... lag from orientation, keyboard, and small things like this are still very common... i've tested a lot of roms on both the g1 and mytouch, and cyanogen's is by far the fastest...
As I have understood it sort of compresses things stored in the RAM (like background apps)
I've done a good amount of reading on compcache and have found that its been causing problems in my 4.0.1 build of cyanogen... the best thread i've found on the issue is:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=547752
hopefully users continue to share their findings, as the the thread mentioned is for the G1, and i'm sure optimal compcache settings will differ on the mytouch 3G... i will be doing some extensive testing on compcache only (due to me recently buying a 32gb micro card, and don't want to mess it up with linux swap) and will report my results... if anyone would like to join in, please post your findings as well...

Always low on memory - Advice

Hi all,
I'm always low on memory on my phone, I run quite a few hungry apps so looking at suggestions now please. I'm a linux-person but this one baffles me on the right way to go ahead.
I'm on CM-4.2.3.1 pretty much as standard, no tweaks to note on it.
Advanced Task Killer shows me at generally around 17Mb available memory, but in my logs I often get:
Code:
11-12 13:33:43.102 I/ActivityManager( 322): Low Memory: No more background processes.
So I'm thinking I need to do something. I've not got swap enabled, nor have I got compcache as far as I'm aware, so what should I go for here and is there a simple guide on it? As I have done a few searches and its overwhelming the information that comes back.
Thanks in advance everyone
You could try the free app "automatic task killer" see if that helps. I've personally came to the conclusion that CM 4.2+ ROMs are RAM hogs themselves. Try flashing a ROM with the 10 meg RAM hack if it bugs you.
You're supposed to be low on memory.. That means your phone is using the it to the greatest efficiency.. Empty memory is wasted memory. Unless you're experiecing long load times and loads of caching, its normal.
goldenarmZ said:
You're supposed to be low on memory.. That means your phone is using the it to the greatest efficiency.. Empty memory is wasted memory. Unless you're experiecing long load times and loads of caching, its normal.
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Click to collapse
qft, this is typically how linux runs anyways.
Do you have an ext partition on your SD for apps2sd? How about a linux swap partition (enabled)?
mikedmeyer said:
Do you have an ext partition on your SD for apps2sd? How about a linux swap partition (enabled)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second the suggestion for using a linux swap partition!
Agreed, and yes I have a swap partition correctly formatted, however thats the problem there are too many "guides" of how to enable/use the swap on CM, so if anyone can point me to the right entry (couldn't find it on the CM wiki either), or how to enable any of the other memory enhancements (compcache or whatever)
Thanks!
You can dl user.conf app from the market. explanations are given in the help section

Lag issues with the SGS

It is by now well known the SGS has a lag issue (apps slow to launch, email slow to access, etc) that can be fixed by changing filesystems for parts of the device, to make it blazingly smooth.
There are several fixes available, some based on SD card, some used through PC, some based on kernel flashing, some based on on-device apps, etc.
At the time of this writing it is hard to say which is better. I would personally advise you to take a quick look around at which fixes are available.
Most of them are listed/referenced from the FAQ thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=723596
--
This is a placeholder post, the first method was stickied before but this seemed unfair to the other methods and may not be the method most suited to your device usage and situation. At this time, all of the fixes have their specific quirks and needs. Hopefully soon we will see a "much better than all the rest" fix soon from one of the devs here, or Samsung might even fix it themselves
If someone cares to write down a comparison between all the available methods at this time, feel free to post it in a reply here!
Great idea Chainfire.
When a user first decided to use a modified/custom/different firmware on their Samsung Galaxy S, they usually go through these steps:
1. Flash with Odin/Kies
2. Flash update.zip for root
3. Flash other update.zip (GPS fix, battery mod, etc) as necessary
4. Do a lag fix.
It took me a few hours and reading through countless posts to see the pro's and con's for each lag fix.
I will try to go through them as succintly as possible, and if anyone needs more explanation you can either click the link or do a search.
Feel free to correct me, this is how I see the lagfix as when I applied and tested it
Before starting, here is the internal structure of non volatile memory (where data persist after reboots) in Samsung Galaxy S:
- 128MB of very fast NAND (some people incorrectly called this ROM)
- 16/8GB of internal SD with 2GB set aside for application installs (this is why you see your internal SD as either 13+ or 5+ remaining, the 2GB shows up as Internal Phone storage)
- your micro SD card (external SD)
The lag is due to the inefficiency of the file system used in the 2GB (/data) partition for applications, stalling a lot of the read/write operation. You can search this for further reading if you want to.
Lag fixes
- MoDaCo's lagfix: Better than stock on old F/Ws but about the same as JM1/2/5 and JP1/2/3
This lagfix uses the 128MB very fast NAND to store your applications instead.
Pro: very very fast applications opening/switching performance
Cons: You are limited to 128MB of apps including built in apps .
- Mimocan's lagfix: Significant improvements in performance which can also be benchmarked. Requires an external SDcard formatted partly in fat and partly ext3 or ext4.
This moves the /data files into the ext3/ext4 partition on an external microSD card
Pros: very fast, lots of storage space for apps
Cons: You will be unable to unmount your external SD card when the phone is on, and you need an external SD card for this to work
- OneClick Lagfix by RyanZA: Based on mimocan but using the internal SD card. Results are better than with basic mimocan and it is a lot easier to install.
This creates a file inside the 2GB partition that is mounted as /data.
Pros: very fast, lots of storage space for apps, easy to install and undo, available in the market.
Cons: if you install too many apps you won't be able to roll back the lag fix unless you delete some apps. Superseded by RyanZA lag fix 2.3 beta
Erroneous free space on Internal Phone storage (/data)
There are still stalls when installing apps, and when accessing android applications database
- CFLagFix by Chainfire: Based on mimocan, approximately the same as RyanZA's fix.
pretty much the same as OneClick Lagfix.
look above for Pros
Cons: There are still stalls when installing apps, and when accessing android applications database
-Voodoo lag fix by supercurio: a new class of total lag fix
Instead of creating a file inside the rfs partition and mounting it as /data/data, the voodoo lag fix updates the kernel so that the the 2GB partition is using ext4 instead or rfs. This gives the best possible lag fix.
Pros: fast, smooth, across everything you do. The way galaxy s should have been in the first place. The best and most consistent lag fix with no remaining lag left that is caused by rfs.
Support with other kernel mods are starting to show: backlight mod, OC/UV kernel
Cons: Incompatible with clockworkmod recovery
I am now using voodoo lagfix beta 4 only
http://project-voodoo.org/
I hope this helps
So, I usually read a lot on the Android Dev side of the SGS since I am very keen on a fix that will eliminate the lagging issues on the phone. I was in Spain for a holiday at the end of August and have come home to find a new 'Project Voodoo' fix being touted around. What sort of method does this fix entail?
And does anyone out there in the developer community believe that there will be a fix that will reformat the entire 2gb data partition to YAFFS2/EXT4/NILFS2 etc, as opposed to mounting a virtual file system on top of RFS? Or is it possible that Samsung themselves could remedy this with the 2.2 update?
sionyboy said:
And does anyone out there in the developer community believe that there will be a fix that will reformat the entire 2gb data partition to YAFFS2/EXT4/NILFS2 etc, as opposed to mounting a virtual file system on top of RFS? Or is it possible that Samsung themselves could remedy this with the 2.2 update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Voodoo does that - ie mount /data as ext4
een625 said:
- OneClick Lagfix by RyanZA: Based on mimocan but using the internal SD card. Results are better than with basic mimocan and it is a lot easier to install.
This creates a file inside the 2GB partition that is mounted as /data.
Pros: very fast, lots of storage space for apps, easy to install and undo, available in the market.
Cons: if you install too many apps you won't be able to roll back the lag fix unless you delete some apps. Superseded by RyanZA lag fix 2.3 beta
Erroneous free space on Internal Phone storage (/data)
- CFLagFix by Chainfire: Based on mimocan, approximately the same as RyanZA's fix.
pretty much the same as OneClick Lagfix.
look above for Pros
Cons: unable to rollback changes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RyanZA - good, but slower than minocans when you have a lot of apps/use phone for a few days.
CFLagFix by Chainfire - you can rollback without any problems.
ashwinds said:
Voodoo does that - ie mount /data as ext4
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Click to collapse
So Voodoo actually reformats the space as EXT4, as opposed to mounting a virtual filesystem.... Interesting! I did read that Cyanogen were going to be using the Voodoo fix in their upcoming SGS firmware, will be keeping an eye on that for sure.
(Unless of course the official 2.2 remedies this.... though I'll keep an eye on Cyanogen anyway )
Do you have any information regarding development process of cyanogen for the SGS?
Any reason the voodoo fix is not mentioned? (Except for the fact we have to wait for beta2 to become available).
dagrim1 said:
Any reason the voodoo fix is not mentioned? (Except for the fact we have to wait for beta2 to become available).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably because if you don't already have it, it's not really available. V1 was a "private" beta, or semi-private anyways, and the dev has pulled it while he works on beta2.
distortedloop said:
Probably because if you don't already have it, it's not really available. V1 was a "private" beta, or semi-private anyways, and the dev has pulled it while he works on beta2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, makes sense and clear
Is a great (and my favorite so far) alternative though... Should become available this week though.
Voodoo is definitely the most promising method IF they can get the kinks worked out. We'll see it when it gets there
@een625 makes a pretty good short comparison of all the methods, but leaves out Supercurio's method. This should be added to the second post:
-Supercurio's lagfix (aka Voodoo beta 1): Significant improvements in performance which can also be benchmarked. Requires a custom kernel.
This reformats the /data mount point as ext4. The conversion is automatic on first boot and no data is lost.
Pros: very fast, does not affect the amount of storage for apps, doesn't impact free space reporting, uses ext4 for data integrity which some argue is unnecessary, easy to install, easy to uninstall.
Cons: Semi-private beta release only, must be specifically uninstalled to upgrade some firmwares, uses ext4 which some argue is significantly slower than ext2, no longer easily available while beta2 is finalized
I personally use this one right now, it is the only one that I have never experienced lag with at some point, even after almost five days of continuous uptime and heavy use. All the others have issues from time to time, especially with the Market and installing apps. This one does not, in my experience.
Also, I think that there should be some mention that mimocan's method requires a custom kernel, and also that mimocan is pretty much the same as apps2sd on other Android phones (uses ext3/4 in a partition on the external card). Additionally, a con to mimocan is that the user must manually partition and format the external card, all of the other methods can be done without user intervention other than flashing a PDA or running a script/apk.
Finally, dkcldark had an update.zip method posted very briefly that reformats the /data to nilfs or ext4. Looked promising, but was pulled for some reason.
And last but not least, please, please, please, let's not let this thread devolve into the ext2 vs ext4 debate that so many of the individual lag-fixe threads turn into. Perhaps a thread dedicated to that should be started (and stickied)?
distortedloop said:
And last but not least, please, please, please, let's not let this thread devolve into the ext2 vs ext4 debate that so many of the individual lag-fixe threads turn into. Perhaps a thread dedicated to that should be started (and stickied)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll keep the suggestion in mind
RAID lagfix?
Speed is one concern, potential damage to the flash card is another. I would prefer to replace my external card than the internal one.
Btw, is it technically impossible to implement more advanced solutions such as using a combination of NAND (for heavy apps / data) and sd (for other apps / "bulk" storage)?
Moreover, I think that it would be possible to have some kind a RAID 1 arrangement that would increase read speed and reliability (esp. if combined with EXT2). Just think 2GB on internal and 2GB on external card. (Most importantly having - probably - the first mobile phone with a raid configuration. RAID is easy to implement under Linux so I don't see why this is not examined.
Evans_Prophet said:
Speed is one concern, potential damage to the flash card is another. I would prefer to replace my external card than the internal one.
Btw, is it technically impossible to implement more advanced solutions such as using a combination of NAND (for heavy apps / data) and sd (for other apps / "bulk" storage)?
Moreover, I think that it would be possible to have some kind a RAID 1 arrangement that would increase read speed and reliability (esp. if combined with EXT2). Just think 2GB on internal and 2GB on external card. (Most importantly having - probably - the first mobile phone with a raid configuration. RAID is easy to implement under Linux so I don't see why this is not examined.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think I might have even suggested something like this before, but it was either overlooked or its too hard to do. But the idea (i did not think about RAID) is awesome.
I agree Voodoo lagfix is great but there is one problem/phenomena: CON: Big battery drains and we don't know where it's coming from :S
Wouldn't RAID put a big strain on the CPU?
I've tried MoDaCo, Mimocan and RyanZA lagfixes.. for a very brief review, I've to say that MoDaCo seems the fastest to me.. Followed by RyanZa 1-click lagfix and lastly the Mimocan lagfix. A pity that MoDaCo is limited to ~130mb of /dbdata space
Btw, just my personal opinion.. Some may disagree and feels that other lagfixes are faster.
lafaya said:
I agree Voodoo lagfix is great but there is one problem/phenomena: CON: Big battery drains and we don't know where it's coming from :S
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Click to collapse
That seems to be a YMMV kind of thing. I don't notice big battery drains with it, but there are those who say they do. Not sure if I am lucky, or others are unlucky.
Certainly couldn't hurt to do the whole wipe batterystats routine and see what's up after that.
Chainfire said:
It is by now well known the SGS has a lag issue (apps slow to launch, email slow to access, etc) that can be fixed by changing filesystems for parts of the device, to make it blazingly smooth.
There are several fixes available, some based on SD card, some used through PC, some based on kernel flashing, some based on on-device apps, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for doing this. I had been pushing for the change for the last couple of weeks since RyanZA and Tayutama particularly bought out their fixes. We now have a great range with Voodoo being the best atm imo.

Low phone storage

So suddenly I got the new market and with it like thousand of updates.
Problem is now I'm constantly running on low phone space.
All apps left that can not be moved to the SD-Card are a must have.
So deleting them is not an option
Except the ones that I can not uninstall (like Google Books) guess because they came preinstalled.
I can't even install some new apps as they require more space then I obviously have.
What are my options?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=670087
Move apps to SD (non-root and no apps required on phone)
I just did this yesterday with my Nexus One...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1001202
Read the FAQ, question 9.
I can not do this as I run a stock rom I think.
SocalVisor said:
I just did this yesterday with my Nexus One...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1001202
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DarsVaeda said:
I can not do this as I run a stock rom I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you read?
From what I can tell, you do not need root to do this, just a working ADB connection. No additional on-phone software is required.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Given your parameters, only solution is to partition your SD card, create an ext-flavored filesystem on one of the partitions, and run one of the available software solutions (referenced in the links above) to permit saving of ALL apps and app data (and dalvik cache) on the SD card.
If you do that, cheers to you, but do some critical thinking and research before buying into the Class 10 hype. Most benchmarks have shown that the bottleneck in the N1 SD read/write speed is not the speed of the card, but rather the combination of software and hardware that handles SD card input and output. In fact, on some benchmarks, Class 4 cards perform as well as Class 6 and Class 10, and in some, Class 10 cards underperform Class 4 (which may have to do with the different standards applicable to Class 10 versus 2,4, and 6...the older cards had to meet a certain minimum read/write speed on a fragmented card for a single large file transfer; for Class 10 the specification is sequential writes on a defragmented SD card -- if you ask me both specifications are insufficient...how about a spec that tests sequential operations on a fragmented card?).
Or, alternately, consider removing some apps. Unless you are a developer, I can't see that you "need" to have more apps than the admittedly meager flash allocation can handle. You may want them, and want them very badly, but I've always found that a self-critical distinction between needs and wants makes me happiest in the long run, because it's easy to ignore wants. If this doesn't work for you, look above. Whatever floats your submarine, man.
I never had any problems with the sd-card performance.
Doesn't matter anyway as my problem is that there are 9gigs of free space on the card but I fear I will soon run into the problem of being unable to install any more apps (even to the card) as the phone space is too low.
This actually happens already now when updating apps.
Unfortunatly I did not manage to get the adb thing working yet so I can not test SocialVisors solution.
I'm unrooted as well, and have this problem as well. I'm hoping the nexus prime hits soon enough (and on tmo).
Otherwise, I'll look into rooting (which I'd rather do, if I'm going to modify, I'll go all in), I think one of the benefits is being able to uninstall unwanted stock apps and keep them off. So like the amazon mp3 store, for instance.
Okay so I now managed to get ADB working.
I could move some heavy apps like swype. I could not move "Astrid Tasks" as then the widget does not work anymore. Hopefully that is the only app.
I am now back at 30MB free space.
But still there are some hughe apps, like Google Maps(11MB), that can not be moved at all.
And yes, Google Maps is a must have!
Did you read the FAQ?
Did you read rallyemax's answer, and put attention to the first paragraph?
Are you looking for a solution, or do you just want to complain?
tkirton said:
How to install:
NOTE: ROMS THAT ARE ORM (ORIGINAL ROM FROM MANUFACTURER...ALSO KNOWN AS STOCK ROMS) WILL NOT RUN ANY VERSION OF APPS2SD EXCEPT FROYO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I alread said I run a stock rom (not froyo).
The only one who is complaining is you.
You can just ignore this thread if you don't like it.
But thanks to everyone so far.
In that case, it's simple: you can't do a thing.
Your 2 options are:
1) Run a custom kernel over your stock ROM, or a custom ROM, and install A2SD support. Need to root / unlock the bootloader / hack the bootloader, of course.
2) Do nothing and don't look for solutions that don't exist, just accept the fact that you're stuck with less internal storage that you wanted.
No third option.

8 GB of RAM - Creating a RAM drive?

Hi all!
Just an idea, would it be feasible to use say 2GB of RAM for a drive used to store pictures on, for even better performance? Or is the UFS 2.1 just as fast?
This is an idea for a custom ROM feature, hence the chosen forum section!
Kind Regards
TwinAdk
LPDDR4 is much faster, But as we know RAM is a volatile memory and what ever you do goes puff!!!
Unless we create a dump of the ram when rebooting/shutdown-ing
shazzy1 said:
LPDDR4 is much faster, But as we know RAM is a volatile memory and what ever you do goes puff!!!
Unless we create a dump of the ram when rebooting/shutdown-ing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point! Possibly create a control panel to control the usage of the ram drive, and have the content moved from RD to defined destination when the app that saves the data (camera app, download manager, Chrome, Firefox, etc) is no longer in focus?
And then symlink between locations so the system is left clueless :good::victory:
Great ideas here!!
Sent from my NEM-L21 using XDA Labs
LOL! Almost the same question, 30 minutes earlier...
https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-5/help/best-to-extra-ram-t3625570
Linux probably supports RAM drives out of the box, so I doubt it would be that much work.
What the heck are you doing with pictures on a phone that you require better performance than UFS 2.1?
Chaleman said:
LOL! Almost the same question, 30 minutes earlier...
https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-5/help/best-to-extra-ram-t3625570
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, though that's general cache thoughts, this is the creation of a drive, usable by any app, or the user Great minds think alike!
ABotelho23 said:
Linux probably supports RAM drives out of the box, so I doubt it would be that much work.
What the heck are you doing with pictures on a phone that you require better performance than UFS 2.1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm just thinking of the write speed that will increase. Then the content can be loaded off the drive when the user is leaving it idle. It will give an even better experience when writing stuff to disk. Do you see the potential that the users write command is done instantly, so the user can move on with things. The system can then handle the offload in the background when the user do not have to wait
I would love that feature!
Kind Regards
TwinAdk
Sent from my NEM-L21 using XDA Labs
Not sure if swap is still in use, but on my old Xperia (and a couple of others) swap was created as a RD and supposedly it helped a lot. With a beast like OP5 though not sure if that would help and if this is still in place and used .. I stopped following a couple threads when I broke that Xperia so kind of digging from memory
caki25 said:
Not sure if swap is still in use, but on my old Xperia (and a couple of others) swap was created as a RD and supposedly it helped a lot. With a beast like OP5 though not sure if that would help and if this is still in place and used .. I stopped following a couple threads when I broke that Xperia so kind of digging from memory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On older phones I guess RD makes more sense, but as long as RAM is faster than disk (and you have RAM to spare) RD makes some sense :silly:
Sent from my NEM-L21 using XDA Labs
caki25 said:
Not sure if swap is still in use, but on my old Xperia (and a couple of others) swap was created as a RD and supposedly it helped a lot. With a beast like OP5 though not sure if that would help and if this is still in place and used .. I stopped following a couple threads when I broke that Xperia so kind of digging from memory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Swap created as ramdisk? That doesn't make any sense. Mounting a ramdisk as swap is worse than useless.
davfiala said:
Swap created as ramdisk? That doesn't make any sense. Mounting a ramdisk as swap is worse than useless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it does, if you use compression to sort of extend the size of the memory. If configured properly, it might bypass android's swappiness, but still keep the app's data in RAM for faster switchover. Not the most elegant solution, but it just might work. With so much memory that the OP5 has, that it can't really exhaust it, it's a bit pointless.
TwinAdk said:
On older phones I guess RD makes more sense, but as long as RAM is faster than disk (and you have RAM to spare) RD makes some sense :silly:
Sent from my NEM-L21 using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, agreed, was just thinking aloud. I don't see that much into the internals of Android, but as you said earlier, some sort of quick cache might be worth a shot.
Running a ramdisk as a mount for /tmp is a common trick on Linux to make processes that write a lot of tempfiles run a bit faster. I don't know how Android handles tempfiles, but if it stores them all in one place like on GNU-style systems in should work as well. But I suspect not many Android apps write tempfiles anyway...
TwinAdk said:
Yeah, though that's general cache thoughts, this is the creation of a drive, usable by any app, or the user Great minds think alike!
I'm just thinking of the write speed that will increase. Then the content can be loaded off the drive when the user is leaving it idle. It will give an even better experience when writing stuff to disk. Do you see the potential that the users write command is done instantly, so the user can move on with things. The system can then handle the offload in the background when the user do not have to wait
I would love that feature!
Kind Regards
TwinAdk
Sent from my NEM-L21 using XDA Labs
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Of course the write speed will increase. But for pictures, would it not be negligible?
ABotelho23 said:
Of course the write speed will increase. But for pictures, would it not be negligible?
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Yes, it would be :laugh:
Sent from my NEM-L21 using XDA Labs
using tmpfs would be much easier than a ramdisk.
off the top of my head you would need to work out a few things
if you wanted it to be 'persistent' you would need to run some kind of scheduled rsync or background process to sync the data (lsync) to a dir on the ufs filesystem
either way you open yourself to data loss if during the scheduled window, or during the lsync, the phone reboots or crashes
you would also need to write an init script to create the tmpfs mount and sync back the data from the ufs filesystem
What would be a good candidate for 'ultra fast data'? Maybe the dir the camera stores files? What about the cached data each app stores?... you would probably have to limit this to a certain set of apps because you could run into an issue with space depending on how large you make the tmpfs mount...is that even something possible? I can't remember I haven't look at where the cache is stored
A memcached style setup might be nice... But that's probably similar to how the "app priority" feature works.
I'm actually looking for a way to create a ramdisk on my OnePlus 3T.
Is there any detailed description/explanation of how to make one or if there are any apps available that can do it for me?
Respond asap.
LOS ER said:
I'm actually looking for a way to create a ramdisk on my OnePlus 3T.
Is there any detailed description/explanation of how to make one or if there are any apps available that can do it for me?
Respond asap.
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Sorry to bump up old thread, but maybe other are googling and directed here. So I better post my finding here and maybe other can benefit.
I have been searching for the holy grail for so long and finally found it. I am using RN5 whyred and trying to reserve 100 MB RAM for temporary storage and file processing for my Automagic flow. It is meant to reduce write cycle on the emmc. I have been trying to mount tmpfs on the /storage/emulate/0 and found out not working, the file still stored on emmc. Because I tried to reboot and the file still there.
I am currently using custom ROM AEX 6.7 Pie 9.0. When I use command mount, I can find tmpfs is mounted on /storage/self. So I thought to create a new folder inside it and chmod 777, /storage/self/ramdrive. Then I copy file to it using MiXplorer. And the speed is amazing.
I then check on the command free | grep Shmem
The size is increasing, means the RAM is being used for the storage. Deleting the file will reduce it, so it is working !
Testing copying file to internal storage, 750 MB takes about 12 seconds, while copy to the ramdrive takes about 5 seconds. Leave the file at ramdrive and restart the phone, the file disappear. So it is confirmed that the file is stored at RAM.
So for other, if you want to mount ramdrive, you need root. You need at least terminal emulator. But MiXplorer with root access can also create the folder. Try to check your tmpfs file first using
Code:
mount | grep tmpfs
I found several and use /storage/self. So I create additional folder there
Code:
mkdir /storage/self/ramdrive
chmod 777 /storage/self/ramdrive
This folder disappear at every reboot, so I use Automagic startup to recreate it at every reboot.
I then point my flow to save or process file at that path. By default the limit is half from the total RAM, which is 2 GB from my 4 GB RAM. I am thinking to find the script to limit the size, but rather than playing with the mount script, I better disciplined my flow to not store too much here.
Using the ramdrive, now I can lavishly store and delete temporary file there without worrying reducing my emmc lifespan.
I know, topic is old... But I found this discussion while searching for a solution to my problem, which is as follows:
I want to run a Dos emulator on my android device (to play windows 3.11 and dos games). I will do it with Magic Dosbox or even Limbo PC Emulator.
Point is: given the poor lifespan of sd cards and internal storage of mobile devices, it would be great if I could run such DOS "virtual machines" on ram disks, to avoid degrading the mobile's storage with all the read/write methods on the disk image (in case of Limbo) or in the folder (in case of Magic Dosbox).
So, I ask:
a) do Magic Dosbox have this feature? (I didn't find it on the documentation)
b) can I prepare a ram disk before running Magic Dosbox, to load a specific folder content or a specific disk image?

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