Author Topic: Defragmenting  (Read 2373 times)

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Offline Tgooseman

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Defragmenting
« on: May 08, 2011, 11:23:16 pm »
Can somebody please explain what the calculator is doing when it says "defragmenting"?   What does this process involve and why is it done?

Offline ztrumpet

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Re: Defragmenting
« Reply #1 on: May 08, 2011, 11:29:13 pm »
This happens when the TIOS wants to "clean out" its archive, like a Garbage Collect.  Basically, if you delete an App, the OS has to reset the page(s) that App was on, because Flash can only be reset a page (16348 bytes) at a time.  The name may be a bit misleading, but it's in there so the space Apps come from upon deletion can be written to at a future point in time.

(I may not be entirely correct; hopefully someone like ThePenguin or BrandonW comes in here later and adds a better description. ;) )

Offline z80man

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Re: Defragmenting
« Reply #2 on: May 08, 2011, 11:41:28 pm »
Okay think of the flash memory like this. Whenever you save something to flash it is stacked in there on the next available page. So if you save 1 app, it will be saved on the first available page. If you have a second app it will be stored on the second page. but if you deleted the first page, it is not actually deleted, but marked as deletable. Then when you have reached your limit of flash TIOS goes in and deletes the deletable pages to make more room at the top.

List of stuff I need to do before September:
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Offline aeTIos

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Re: Defragmenting
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2011, 05:07:33 am »
Basically, the flash page is filled with FF's (in hex)
I'm not a nerd but I pretend: