SamdroidTools 0.2.0 by LRFrog

[lrfrog]

PLEASE, back-up your current working configuration before applying this update.
I am not responsible if you lose your current working configuration.

Why an updated version
I've been using SamdroidTools Apps2SD since the beginning and have always been happy with it. Few month ago I've started to install Froyo Roms and did many full re-installations. I wanted my configuration to be as fast as possible. so my process was:
1) Install original Rom (JH7 with baseband JD1) with Odin
2) Root with Leshak's LK2.08 kernel
3) Install new ROM
4) Install favorite Kernel
5) Start installing applications up to the moment in which I run out of space.
6) Enable SamdroidTools's apps2SD, restart the phone to activate it.
7) Continue installing apps up to the moment I again ran out of space.
8) Enable SamdroidTools's "Move Dalvik-cache to SD", restart the phone to activate it.
9) Continue to install apps.
10) Move some apps to ROM, and restart
11) Done.

I noticed few things:
- Phone is less reactive from the moment I activate apps2sd because it loads from SD which is slower than internal memory (seems obvious).
- I still have a LOT of free internal memory (around 100MB).

Then I checked the space taken by apps and Dalvik-cache on SD card and noticed that in my case, applications took something like 60MB and Dalvik-cache 90MB.

So I came to the idea: Why not being able to move only Dalvik-cache to SD and keep apps in internal storage? This is a solution that can feet people who don't install too many apps.

So I decided to make few changes do the current SamdroidTools.

What's new in SamdroidTools 0.2.0
- Added possibility to move only Dalvik-cache to SD
- Added possibility to restore apps from SD to internal Memory if there is enough space (original version just canceled your apps)
- Added some free space controls before allowing you to restore apps or dalvik-cache to internal memory.


To me, it feels that my Spica is more responsive with apps in memory and dalvik-cache on SD, especially while installing updates from market.

Use it at your own risks
Download link: SamdroidTools 0.2.0 or SamdroidTools_0.2.0.zip
- Apply zip from recovery
- Changes you make in SamdroidTools configuration take place after restarting your phone.
- Hope you enjoy it

In case you have problems, rollback to the original version here: SamdroidTools_Original (thanks Relaxxx for the zip)

[A.T]

but it means that if dalvik cache is in sd,you cabt unmount your sd card,because unmounting it will make the phone freeze.

[lrfrog]

This is already true with current 0.1.1 version of SamdroidTools, I've made no changes about it:
- If you take off the memory card, your phone won't work.
- SamdroidTools apps2SD uses its own partition so unmounting SD card (for example when you connect your phone to a computer to transfer files) will not unmount your apps2SD partition so the phone won't freeze.

The point of this update if to be able to keep more things in internal storage to have them more responsive. For people who usually move apps AND dalvik-cache to SD.


Edit: I replied too quickly. I rechecked the code and if you have Dalvik-cache on SD enabled but the system is not able to mount the partition on boot (because of no SD card), Dalvik-cache will be recreated in memory. This is a case that should work but I haven't tried it. I might try it in a few days (I'm actually calibrating my battery so I don't want to restart my Spica until the battery is empty ;-) )

[relaxxx]

lrfrog, changed to your version, because i only want to move dalvik cache to sd, but if i set it up dalvik cache still in /data/dalvik-cache and system/sd is empty. what do you think the problem is?

[lrfrog]

Hi relaxxx,
First of all, did you restart your phone after enabling "Enable Dalvik-cache2SD"? Changes in SamdroidTools xx2SD (original one and my updated version) only take place when restarting the phone (scripts on phone boot).

If you did, do you have the 2nd partition for applications?

What was your setup before updating to my version (all in memory? apps on SD and Dalvik in memory? both on SD?)

I tried but couldn't replicate your problem:
- My current system has Apps in memory and Dalvik-cache on SD.
To replicate your problem, I tried:
1) Enabled apps2SD to free some memory space (for dalvik-cache) and restart the phone: Worked (/system/sd/app, /system/sd/app-private and /system/sd/dalvik-cache can be found)
2) Disabled Dalvik-cache2SD to match your initial configuration and restart the phone: worked (no more /system/sd/dalvik-cache)
3) Enabled Dalvik-cache2SD (I belived that's where you had the problem) and restart the phone: worked (/system/sd/dalvik-cache have been recreated)
4) Disabled apps2SD because I wanted my apps back in memory and restarted the phone: worked (/system/sd/app and /system/sd/app-private deleted)

Anyway, if you did restart your phone and have the second partition, check your internal memory free space in samdroidTools. Did it increased? Independently from SamdroidTools, I sometime see the /system/sd directory empty with EStrong File explorer, even if it exists and perfectly works, checking in later usually makes it reappear (Strange issue not related to SamdroidTools).

And as an information, you should always see the /data/xxxx because without apps2SD, they are real directories and with apps2SD, they are symbolic links that point to /system/sd/xxxx so they will appear as directory through a file explorer ;-) What is important is to check the /system/sd directories.

[relaxxx]

dear lrfrog,

it's weird, because
1. i have a 128MB ext3 second partition on sd
2. always made a reboot after making any change in samdroid tools
3. /system/sd really empty. i checked first in Estrong File explorer, and then vi adb.
4. SD card (for apps2sd) shows always the same value. now i increased the second ext3 partition to 256MB and shows 89496 KB

[lrfrog]

Really strange.
If you can give me a logcat of the first lines that are displayed during phone boot, that would help. SamdroidTools logs starts with +++ (should start around the 15th line with "+++ Mounting SD-EXT"). And few lines before, there is also a "--- Checking filesystems" that can be useful.
Maybe there I can see if there is something wrong.
The thing I suspect is that there is a problem with the filesystem and in that case it would skip the whole script.

Before installing my version, were you using SamdroidTools? Was it working?
On my setup, the space displayed in SD card (for apps2sd) is fine.
What is the available space displayed by typing: adb shell df /system/sd ? This is the real space of your /system/sd partition. Is it the same as the one displayed in samdroidtools or is it the size you expect after resizing your partition?

I'm not sure increasing the partition through recovery works well. It already happened to me that it created additional partitions instead of fully repartitioning the card, that might be why you don't see a different size. It might be cleaner to recreate the partitions from the begining: backup SD card, format it through Android phone menus (that will merge all partitions to a clean single one in Fat32), then partitioning through recovery and restoring your backup to your card.

[relaxxx]

in logcat there was an exit code 111 at both scrip of apps2sd. i googled it, and found a solution: i just saved again the sripts in unix format. it works now. thanks for your help my friend!

i attache this resaved file: SamdroidTools_0.2.0.zip

[lrfrog]

I'm glad it works for you :-)
That was a dumb mistake of mine ^_^, I fixed the links on the first post.

[omarblu]

i installed this via recovery but all i got was boot loop!!! how do i install without boot loop???