13 replies to this topic

[wilcoxaj]

Hi guys, I'm perplexed on this one. I'm on the DroidX shadow nightly build, and have been for months. Just a few days ago, my phone started displaying the warning "Low on space" with the subheading, "Phone storage is getting low." Then I got the message that says "Text Message Memory Full". I haven't seen those messages before, so I deleted several text message threads. It didn't go away. I clicked on the "Low on space" message which took me to 'All Applications', where I started deleting apps that were on the phone. The message still didn't go away, and it showed "Internal Storage - 6.5GB Used", no matter how many apps I deleted and how many text message threads I deleted.

I moved all of my apps to the SD card. Still shows the messages, and almost every app I open crashes. I rebooted into ClockworkMod and deleted cache. Still shows low on space. I cleared cache individually on each app, and still shows low space. I rebooted into ClockworkMod and cleared my Delvik cache, still shows low space.

I honestly have no clue what steps to take next. While googling, all the people with my problem are on old releases of Android proper, and the consensus to fix it is to flash to CM or install apps that help control phone memory. Unfortunately I can't install apps as the phone thinks all internal memory is full, so I don't get that option.

That leaves starting from scratch if there isn't a solution I haven't tried, and because I can't get any apps to work, I can't back up my contacts, txts, etc. I'd LOVE the advice of those more experienced than myself to solve this problem. I'm totally out of ideas.

Thanks in advance!!!
AJ

[bassmadrigal]

I am not sure how the partitions are laid out on your device, but if it is anything like Samsung's phones, this fix might work for you. But make sure you make a nandroid backup just in case it doesn't work.

http://forum.xda-dev...d.php?t=1541942

[wilcoxaj]

I'm definitely willing to give it a try. Is it possible for me to make a nandroid backup when all the apps on my phone crash? Excuse my ignorance!

bassmadrigal, on 08 June 2012 - 01:26 AM, said:

I am not sure how the partitions are laid out on your device, but if it is anything like Samsung's phones, this fix might work for you. But make sure you make a nandroid backup just in case it doesn't work.

http://forum.xda-dev...d.php?t=1541942

[bassmadrigal]

Nandroid backups are done in recovery, so as long as you have enough space on your sdcard, it won't be an issue.

[wilcoxaj]

Ok, I applied the fix and unfortunately it didn't clear the low space issue. Anything else that would help? Any way to retrieve my address book from the filesystem or from a nandroid backup if I have to revert back to "stock" CM7?

[bassmadrigal]

Open up the terminal and run the commands

su
cd /data
du -hd 1

I am curious what is taking the most space. Then whatever folder is taking the most, you can then change to that directory (using the cd command), run it there, and narrow down what folders are sucking up all your space.

Hopefully we can prevent you from moving back to a previous release. But if you need to, there are ways around getting stuff out of your nandroid backups, but they can be quite difficult and technical and will require additional software on your computer. It would be easier to just solve this issue with your current build.

[wilcoxaj]

Since my phone won't run any apps due to the low space issue, I can't run a terminal. Is there a way from my Win7 PC to access the phone's terminal?

I REALLY appreciate your help on this.
AJ

bassmadrigal, on 11 June 2012 - 02:51 AM, said:

Open up the terminal and run the commands

su
cd /data
du -hd 1

I am curious what is taking the most space. Then whatever folder is taking the most, you can then change to that directory (using the cd command), run it there, and narrow down what folders are sucking up all your space.

Hopefully we can prevent you from moving back to a previous release. But if you need to, there are ways around getting stuff out of your nandroid backups, but they can be quite difficult and technical and will require additional software on your computer. It would be easier to just solve this issue with your current build.

[bassmadrigal]

Yes, you can do it through adb. You can do it in CM itself if you have usb debugging enabled (should be enabled by default), or you can do it while in recovery, but you would manually have to mount the /data partition through the Mounts and Storage menu.

[wilcoxaj]

K, sweet. Got it. Not quite sure how to interpret that 6.1GB are used by '.', so let me know what you think:

C:\Users\AJ>adb shell
# su
su
# cd /data
cd /data
# du -hd 1
du -hd 1
12.0K   ./local
20.0K   ./kernelpanics
4.0K    ./dalvik-cache
4.0K    ./logger
28.0K   ./anr
16.0K   ./property
40.0K   ./panicreports
16.0K   ./tpapi
4.0K    ./location
16.0K   ./lost+found
6.0G    ./tombstones
440.0K  ./system
336.0K  ./dontpanic
18.7M   ./app
8.0K    ./secure
24.0K   ./backup
83.3M   ./data
4.0K    ./app-private
8.0K    ./download
140.0K  ./misc
4.0K    ./battd
4.0K    ./emt
6.1G    .
#

bassmadrigal, on 11 June 2012 - 03:35 AM, said:

Yes, you can do it through adb. You can do it in CM itself if you have usb debugging enabled (should be enabled by default), or you can do it while in recovery, but you would manually have to mount the /data partition through the Mounts and Storage menu.

[wilcoxaj]

Haha, nevermind - I apparently missed the ./tombstones directory that is 6GB. I cd'ed into the directory and my output was:
# du -hd 1
du -hd 1
6.0G    .

Looks like there's nothing in the folder?

[wilcoxaj]

ok, nevermind. I found the files in /tombstones, and deleted the largest one, and all my backlogged texts came through!
Output:
# cd /data/tombstones
cd /data/tombstones
# ls -l
ls -l
-rw-------    1 system   system   2156163072 Jun  5 09:50 tombstone_00
-rw-------    1 system   system    54110 Jun  5 12:57 tombstone_01
-rw-------    1 system   system   123475 Mar 29 21:45 tombstone_02
-rw-------    1 system   system   107326 Apr  1 13:24 tombstone_03
-rw-------    1 system   system    80826 Apr  1 13:25 tombstone_04
-rw-------    1 system   system    12784 Apr 10 13:50 tombstone_05
-rw-------    1 system   system    59885 Apr 12 07:55 tombstone_06
-rw-------    1 system   system    53887 May  3 08:08 tombstone_07
-rw-------    1 system   system   190195 May 16 06:00 tombstone_08
-rw-------    1 system   system    26462 Jun  4 18:00 tombstone_09
# rm tombstone_00
rm tombstone_00

Thanks tons for your help!
AJ

[bassmadrigal]

Tombstones files are created when an app crashes. Now why one decided to take up 2.1GB is beyond me, but you can safely delete all of those.

[wilcoxaj]

Done and done - deleted all. Thanks tons!

bassmadrigal, on 11 June 2012 - 05:24 AM, said:

Tombstones files are created when an app crashes. Now why one decided to take up 2.1GB is beyond me, but you can safely delete all of those.

[Biggiesized]

I registered on this website just to thank you both for your conversation here.

I experienced the same symptoms as you, wilcoxaj, and I narrowed down the problem to the tombstones directory.  Although my phone is rooted, I couldn't see/access the directory until I installed the adb shell.

bassmadrigal, your walkthrough steps were perfect for a tech enthusiast, yet Linux newbie, in myself and the exacting command prompts addressed the problem immediately.

Hats off to both of you!

Now... how did I get 6 GB of tombstone files in the first place...?

It must be that damn Easy Task Killer Advanced.

I read somewhere else on the web that ICS solves this maniacal problem.  A stable CM can't come soon enough to my deprecated DROID X.