Optimus V: Link2SD | System Cache

[jamoosh]

Hi everybody,

I've been having some issues, which I've seen documented in the Mirage ROM thread and elsewhere, but haven't been able to find the solution to my issue.
I have Mirage ROM on my Optimus V and installed Link2SD around the same time that was set up. I believe everything to be set up appropriately in Link2SD and with the SD card partitioning, however my system cache at /cache/download keeps filling up, causing me to be unable to install Play Store applications.
I can delete the folder contents or wipe cache through the recovery menu, however after the next reboot it will have filled back up to the point of unusability.
There is probably some simple thing that I neglected to do, but if anybody could guide me in the right direction, that would be super.

Thanks!

 

[AndyOpie150]

Please read this: http://androidforums.com/showthread.php?p=5605457

Then wipe and format everything in your recovery but the main FAT32
SD card (Format the ext.4 partition on the sd card for sure though).
Then check the md5 sum of the ROM and Gapps before flashing.

 

[jamoosh]

Thanks for your response, AndyOpie150.
These are the steps I followed when I first flashed the ROM on the system and set up Link2SD. I don't recall if the directions were followed to the T as I feel like I recall encountering some partitioning issue. Regardless, I hadn't had this problem for the first six months of running the ROM. It only began recently.

So then I should just go into recovery and format the Ext4 partition (the first partition) and that would likely resolve the issue?

Thanks again.

Please read this: http://androidforums.com/showthread.php?p=5605457

Then wipe and format everything in your recovery but the main FAT32
SD card (Format the ext.4 partition on the sd card for sure though).
Then check the md5 sum of the ROM and Gapps before flashing.

 

[AndyOpie150]

I think your going to have to check the md5 sum of the downloaded ROM and Gapps first. Install either the Touchscreen ClockworkMod recovery or the BobZohme (VM670_NH recovery). Then, as you go thru each wipe option, go to the mounts and storage section and make sure the cache partition is not mounted (can't wipe a mounted partition). Then when done with all the wipes (including the dalvik cache), go back to the mounts and storage and format everything but the actual FAT32 SD card partition.
If you do all this before you flash the ROM and Gapps you should be all right.
What did you use to make the partition? The recovery, or Mini Tool.
What size is the partition? 1GB or two.
What size is your SD card? You can only have a partition that is no more than 20% of the actual space available. This means you need an 8GB or larger SD card to use Link2SD properly.
I have a 1GB partiton with 80-90 user apps installed. No problems what so ever.

Also: You could have some corruption on the SD card, so first, put the SD card into computer. Transfer data to computer. Format the FAT32 partition by going to Start/Computer/right click on then SD card icon/select format.
Transfer data back. Re-insert into phone. Go to the recovery menu and do all of the aforementioned wipe and formats before flashing the ROM and Gapps.

 

[jamoosh]

I think your going to have to check the md5 sum of the downloaded ROM and Gapps first. Install either the Touchscreen ClockworkMod recovery or the BobZohme (VM670_NH recovery). Then, as you go thru each wipe option, go to the mounts and storage section and make sure the cache partition is not mounted (can't wipe a mounted partition). Then when done with all the wipes (including the dalvik cache), go back to the mounts and storage and format everything but the actual FAT32 SD card partition.
If you do all this before you flash the ROM and Gapps you should be all right.

Thanks for all of the information. It still seems odd to me that this issue would occur suddenly--it seems that there is some misfit application that must be filling up the cache folder with data.
In any case, it sounds like I will probably have to start from scratch as outlined--I just won't have the time to invest in that for a little while.

What did you use to make the partition? The recovery, or Mini Tool.

I created the partitions in Recovery. I have the touch recovery installed at this time.

What size is the partition? 1GB or two.

1 GB. Total: 0.98GB | Used: 217MB | Free: 791MB

What size is your SD card? You can only have a partition that is no more than 20% of the actual space available. This means you need an 8GB or larger SD card to use Link2SD properly.
I have a 1GB partiton with 80-90 user apps installed. No problems what so ever.

8GB

Also: You could have some corruption on the SD card, so first, put the SD card into computer. Transfer data to computer. Format the FAT32 partition by going to Start/Computer/right click on then SD card icon/select format.
Transfer data back. Re-insert into phone. Go to the recovery menu and do all of the aforementioned wipe and formats before flashing the ROM and Gapps.

Thanks again for all of your help.

 

[yaconsult]

Have you tried plugging the phone into your computer and using adb shell to examine the contents of /cache? You can see which files are using lots of space. And after cleaning cache, you should be able to tell which applications are filling it up.

Is cache the size you expect it to be? For comparison, here is what mine looks like:

# df -kh
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
tmpfs 212.8M 44.0K 212.7M 0% /dev
tmpfs 212.8M 0 212.8M 0% /mnt/asec
tmpfs 212.8M 0 212.8M 0% /mnt/obb
/dev/block/mtdblock5 164.5M 117.4M 47.1M 71% /system
/dev/block/mtdblock6 178.9M 146.4M 32.5M 82% /data
/dev/block/mtdblock1 110.1M 53.1M 57.0M 48% /cache
/dev/block/vold/179:2 1.3G 578.0M 720.9M 44% /data/sdext2
/dev/block/mtdblock1 110.1M 53.1M 57.0M 48% /data/dalvik-cache
/dev/block/vold/179:1 13.4G 3.7G 9.7G 27% /mnt/sdcard
/dev/block/vold/179:1 13.4G 3.7G 9.7G 27% /mnt/secure/asec
/dev/block/dm-0 3.1M 1.0M 2.0M 34% /mnt/asec/com.pannous.voice.actions.free-1​

Use du to figure out where all the space is going - dalvik-cache or download:

# du -ck /cache/* | sort -nr
52877 total
50546 /cache/dalvik-cache
2328 /cache/download
2 /cache/recovery
2 /cache/lost+found​

Assuming it's dalvik-cache, check out how much space is being used by which apps (biggest ones are at the top):

# du -ck /cache/dalvik-cache/* | sort -nr
50544 total
8029 /cache/dalvik-cache/system@framework@framework.jar@classes.dex
5025 /cache/dalvik-cache/system@app@Talk.apk@classes.dex
4687 /cache/dalvik-cache/system@framework@core.jar@classes.dex
3922 /cache/dalvik-cache/system@app@Vending.apk@classes.dex
3319 /cache/dalvik-cache/data@app@com.cootek.smartdialer-2.apk@classes.dex
1938 /cache/dalvik-cache/data@app@com.bestappsmarket.android.bestapps-2.apk@classes.dex
[...]​

Good luck, and let us know what you find.

 

[jamoosh]

Thanks so much for this information. I'll connect up through ADB and check things out.
I presume that I will learn more by connecting through android debugging than I would by simply browsing the directory through a root-enabled file manager.

Have you tried plugging the phone into your computer and using adb shell to examine the contents of /cache? You can see which files are using lots of space. And after cleaning cache, you should be able to tell which applications are filling it up.

Is cache the size you expect it to be? For comparison, here is what mine looks like:

(...content truncated)

Good luck, and let us know what you find.