The first time it took about 10 mins. 2nd time failed after 30 mins and I had to restart. 3rd time just took 25 mins but completed. What's going on!?!?!
Why does it take 25 minutes to wipe cache partition on my phone?
- Thread starter angryshadowdrummer
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Rukbat
Retired Moderator
- Feb 12, 2012
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Lots and lots of fragmented bits and pieces all over the place, probably. The same reason it takes a long time to defragment a hard drive that's been in use for 5 years, but a month later it defrags pretty fast. No idea why it failed the 2nd time, unless some app was writing what Android was trying to clear. It would stop dead if that happened, because the app's entire data store could become corrupted. (I've noticed that sometimes in Android, "failed" doesn't mean "something broke", it means "the process had to stop for some reason". Updates "fail" on rooted phones. They don't really fail, they just won't update a rooted phone [because updating could brick the phone] so the update process does what the computer industry calls "abends" - abruptly ends. (It's also called aborting.) It's designed to, nothing went wrong.)
I don't know why. My theory is that they used to simply format the cache partition, but that leaves files behind that can be recovered. I think they changed it to crawl through the file structure in the cache partition and either erase or even wipe the files one by one.
It's been doing this on moto phones on kitkat since they were updated last year.
It's been doing this on moto phones on kitkat since they were updated last year.
Just out of curiosity, as I've never actually heard of clearing the phones cache, how necessary is it and how often should I do it?
Posted from 64GB BN Droid Turbo
Posted from 64GB BN Droid Turbo
vzwuser76
Well-known member
- Jan 28, 2011
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I've found it helps to recalibrate the battery meter. Wiping the partition resets the battery stats. Every week or two, I wipe the partition, then power it down and charge the battery. Then I run the battery down to around 20%. This sets a high and low level for the battery meter.
The rest of this is my theory as to why this is necessary, take it or leave it. The reason for follow up wipes is because after so many times of running the battery from 100% to say 50%, the low level moves closer to the middle, resulting in perceived shorter battery life. I doubt the actual storage capacity of the battery is changed, but if the battery meter is off, it may look like it has less capacity. And since most say repeatedly running the battery down to low can shorten the overall life of the battery. By doing it this way, it limits the amount of times the battery needs to be run down low to achieve keeping the battery meter calibrated.
All I know is for about a week or so after doing the procedure I mentioned in the first paragraph, I see improved battery life. It's not just doing a power cycle as I try to do that every few days. And while it runs a bit snappier after a power cycle, it doesn't help with battery life, unless of course an app is keeping the phone awake. But after I perform the above procedure, I see better battery life. I've never recorded my stats, but I have noticed the improvement at the time it happened. YMMV.
The rest of this is my theory as to why this is necessary, take it or leave it. The reason for follow up wipes is because after so many times of running the battery from 100% to say 50%, the low level moves closer to the middle, resulting in perceived shorter battery life. I doubt the actual storage capacity of the battery is changed, but if the battery meter is off, it may look like it has less capacity. And since most say repeatedly running the battery down to low can shorten the overall life of the battery. By doing it this way, it limits the amount of times the battery needs to be run down low to achieve keeping the battery meter calibrated.
All I know is for about a week or so after doing the procedure I mentioned in the first paragraph, I see improved battery life. It's not just doing a power cycle as I try to do that every few days. And while it runs a bit snappier after a power cycle, it doesn't help with battery life, unless of course an app is keeping the phone awake. But after I perform the above procedure, I see better battery life. I've never recorded my stats, but I have noticed the improvement at the time it happened. YMMV.
Last edited:
Thanks a lot for the detailed explanation... Sounds like something that I should be doing.
Posted from 64GB BN Droid Turbo
Posted from 64GB BN Droid Turbo
I see the same thing on my Moto X 2013 running 4.4.4. It looks like others are seeing the same thing too:
https://forums.motorola.com/posts/db89ab1a65
I don't claim to know exactly what's going on behind the scenes but the defrag theory above doesn't work for me because:
https://forums.motorola.com/posts/db89ab1a65
I don't claim to know exactly what's going on behind the scenes but the defrag theory above doesn't work for me because:
- performance penalties due to fragmentation are negligible or non-existent with solid state storage devices
- this is a partition wipe so there should be no need to perform file-based or even block-based scanning before blowing the entire partition away
I just ran a wipe yesterday and noticed that it took a very long time to complete. I didn't time it, but I'd venture to say 15-20mins. This was my first time running a wipe on my turbo so that's why I figured it took so long.
Posted via the Android Central App
Posted via the Android Central App
I ran my first wipe last night and it took about 10 to 15 minutes as well. But I am noticing improved performance with just about anything I do.
Posted from 64GB BN Droid Turbo
Posted from 64GB BN Droid Turbo
Mine has also been taking at least an hour. I thought I've been doing something wrong.
Posted via the Android Central App
Posted via the Android Central App
It used to take me about 10-15 minutes but now I am noticing it closer to 20-25 minutes typically.
One time you really SHOULD do it is after a system update. Beyond that, I haven't found it to be necessary (though it sounds like you guys have found it to help in other situations).
Posted via Android Central App
Posted via Android Central App
In my Moto G3, after an update to marshmallow, it took around 16 minutes. This is the first time, I tried to wipe the cache.
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