Develop Bugs

Are apps stored on the ROM partition?

Phones typically have a partition of encrypted memory for the OS and Apps. Most Win7 Phones have 512MB of this ROM. In other phones, the ROM severely limits the number or size of apps. Are apps in Windows 7 Phone stored in the ROM as well?
I didn't think so until I saw some phones have 1GB of ROM. If just the OS + 60MB of pre-installed software is allowed, what's the advantage of 1GB of ROM?

ROM should be Read Only Memory, so I guess that nothing except maybe major system updates will be installed on the ROM.

ROM is a misnomer but nevertheless the ROM partition is what manufacturers refer to for application space.
I don't see the point of having larger ROM partitions unless apps will be stored on the ROM. I'm hoping that if Windows 7 Phone stores apps on the ROM, it can efficiently recognize and install only the necessities onto the ROM and string the rest of the app over the single storage volume. Otherwise, we're looking at an OS with severely limited app storage.

I read in the Microsoft spec that any app pre-installed by the manufacturer needs to be restorable. So they probably have a backup copy of the app in the ROM section in that case.

athompson said:
I read in the Microsoft spec that any app pre-installed by the manufacturer needs to be restorable. So they probably have a backup copy of the app in the ROM section in that case.
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Click to collapse
Yes you are correct, however, as stated in the original post, the limit for pre-installed software is 60MB.

I know that side-loading isn't possible, but I still have to ask: can you remove the sd card and load an app directly onto it with a card reader? I know that removing the card causes a hard reset, but if you pull the battery first, then can you remove the card, mess with it, replace the card and then replace the battery without having the device hard reset? It seems like you could at least access the sd card file system this way (but I'm probably missing something).

Farmer Ted said:
I know that side-loading isn't possible, but I still have to ask: can you remove the sd card and load an app directly onto it with a card reader? I know that removing the card causes a hard reset, but if you pull the battery first, then can you remove the card, mess with it, replace the card and then replace the battery without having the device hard reset? It seems like you could at least access the sd card file system this way (but I'm probably missing something).
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Click to collapse
Surely, if the OS is split between the SD and phone memory then trying to just use the SD in that way would result in corruption?
Also, I imagine that the OS does self consistency checks, in some way, so that when you reinserted the SD card it'd notice that it's been altered?
Of course, that's a guess and I could be completely wrong.

I think I read in another thread that a few people have pulled the sd card, and couldn't read it with a reader. I guess it's encrypted (makes sense, but it still sucks).

Farmer Ted said:
I think I read in another thread that a few people have pulled the sd card, and couldn't read it with a reader. I guess it's encrypted (makes sense, but it still sucks).
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Click to collapse
Da_G mentioned its like a RAID0 with striping between the internal flash and the external flash card. Striping means that the data is divided between the two storage divices, which makes access faster (since you can get them both in parallel). It also means that if one of the memory devices fails, all data is lost. Which comfirms what we've seen in the Microsoft documentation, that if you remove the flash card and replace it with a different one, all your data is lost.

athompson said:
Da_G mentioned its like a RAID0 with striping between the internal flash and the external flash card. Striping means that the data is divided between the two storage divices, which makes access faster (since you can get them both in parallel). It also means that if one of the memory devices fails, all data is lost. Which comfirms what we've seen in the Microsoft documentation, that if you remove the flash card and replace it with a different one, all your data is lost.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That makes me think, If it's like a raid0, and your internal memory has 8gb, then you dump in a 16gb card, will it be like raid where only 8gb of the 16gb will be usable (in the raid) ?

DavidinCT said:
That makes me think, If it's like a raid0, and your internal memory has 8gb, then you dump in a 16gb card, will it be like raid where only 8gb of the 16gb will be usable (in the raid) ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a good point, it doesn't sound too cool, does it. From what I understand about raid0, the purpose is to divide the data between two different disks, so you can get twice the IO bandwidth (since you can load half the file from each one, get it twice as fast). Raid0 doesn't do any backup, so if either hard drive fails, the whole thing is unrecoverable. Which is why most people don't use raid0.
But since it doesn't do any backup, it means there's no 'wasted' space, which means the full 16gb will likely be usable.

RAID0 is in ", better expression is JBOD (but data is stripped between the drives somehow).
Anyway, it is similar to current WM. There is IMGFS with some reserved space (a lot more actually, so all image updates fit in there without flashing phone, I'd be guessing that about 200MB is left as reserved space). The rest of the storage is as userspace, where are all stuff installed.

DavidinCT,
Your thinking of RAID 1 (mirroring) RAID 0 is striping without parity. So it basically writes/reads across both .. it looks like one volume but writes/reads could be on either storage.. depending on where they were written..
So.. when you remove the card .. or if you alter the card... it beaks the stripe set.. and toasts the storage volume.. if the storage is encrypted that would additionally complicate things..

Windows Phone 7 storage not recognized

I am posting this hoping it helps someone with the same problem.
I had my HTC Surround resetting itself several times a day, finding it without all the configuration (people, email, carrier hubs on the home screen, etc.) and reporting the storage as 15.73 MB instead of the 16 GB. In the last part of the problem, my phone did not recognized the storage at all, no matter what I did.
Windows Phone 7 uses the internal SD (yes, our Surrounds and most, if not all, of the HTC 7 devices have Internal SDs but covered under the phone case http://www.anandtech.com/show/4015/h...cket-boombox/8) as part of the Windows file system, it does not differentiate between on chip storage and SD storate, WP7 treat the storage as a big one, storing all kind of OS configuration (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2450831/en-us) on it (SD card). Hence when the SD problem presents, the phone resets because the OS can not continue to run due to data missed, and also this is why all the configuration (email, hotmail, also the carrier personalizations, etc.) is lost, because is stored on the SD that is not recognized by that time.
An excerpt from the link above:
The phone’s operating system integrates the SD card with the phone:
•When you start your phone for the first time.
•When your phone is reset to its original factory settings. This is called a factory reset. This is a task that is typically only performed by OEMs or MOs.
When the operating system integrates the SD card with your phone:
1.It reformats the SD card.
2.It creates a single file system that spans the internal storage and the SD card.
3.It locks the card to the phone with an automatically generated key.
So we conclude that the problem is caused by the internal SD not correctly integrated with WP7. In my case a factory reset did not help, no matter what I did the phone did not recognized the card, reporting storage as 15.73 MB. The solution involved opening the phone (I did not care to void warranty, anyway I am far from the States where I bought the phone and can not get a new one. But for you, your best bet is to get a new one, and make a factory reset as soon as you use it FOR THE FIRST TIME, and let the phone finish to do its thing). I had to open the phone, get the SD out of the phone, turn the phone on, do a factory reset, turn off the phone, insert the SD card in the phone, turn on the phone and finally do a factory reset. This procedure had WP7 reintegrating properly the SD. My phone now is rock solid, it has not reseted even once.

Thanks for sharing this. I had this very exact same issue with my developer device, a Samsung Taylor. I even made a thread in the App Hub Forum and concluded that the SD was corrupted. Unfortunately for me, the SD could not be removed as it was super-glued in place.
Another member on that forum also experienced this, so it seems like this can be potentially become a very bad problem.
http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/t/64364.aspx?PageIndex=1

How to properly backup my HTC 10?

I'm trying to do a full backup of my HTC 10 in case something happens and I need to restore the device to a working state but I'm failing to understand which partitions should I include for that.
These are the partitions I have:
System (3360MB)
System Image (3824MB)
Cache (0MB)
Data (excl. storage) (11451MB)
Boot (64MB)
Recovery (64MB)
I know that Boot is important, but I'm not sure about System or System Image. Which one should I pick and why? Then there's the question of Data... All backup guides I saw mention "Data" but it doesn't contain the "excl. storage" string nor it takes as much space as the one listed on my device. This is a problem because I don't have an SD Card installed and a full backup with all those partitions (even if I just want to include Data) takes too much space and I don't have that much space left on Internal Storage.
What should I do?

https://twrp.me/faq/whattobackup.html
I personally have a System Image backup that I'll likely never need (I just RUU when I want to update) and when I'm doing normal backups I do System, Boot, and Data for my "just in case" backups (like, for if a new ROM doesn't work out).
Additionally, I just transfer all of my files (DCIM, Downloads, and any music or other media files that may be hiding elsewhere in /sdcard) to my laptop for off-site storage and easy access. I don't worry much about my external SD as nothing should touch that unless I tell it to, and I try to keep everything on that card anyway, but I always double check.
If I could make a suggestion: A good 32GB microSD card is under $20 at Walmart (or at any online retailer, obviously) and it's nice to have a physical card that can move around and be separate from the internal file system. I would never assume that $20 is pocket change for anybody, I've certainly gone through seasons where that's an unjustifiable expense, but if you've got some freedom in your budget it might be a worthwhile investment. I got a 64GB card for not much more than that, and it sure is nice to have room to store stuff without hitting the limit.

[Method] Merging SD Card with Internal Storage

This post documents a method of enabling Adoptable Storage with adb commands on sony phones where previously similar solutions seem hard to find. Please link similar methods if they exist somewhere else, I am curious to read.
Personal success on SO-02K (NTT DoCoMo XZ1c ) fw version 47.2.B.5.38 Android Pie, 128G A2 card.
The method results in a fraction of the microSD Card being recognised by the system to be able to transfer apps to, and another fraction where the sd card remains external storage.
The Stock Camera will only be able to save to the mentioned external storage partition after this process, and it will fail to save to internal storage.
Some apps may not work when transferred to the sd card and have to stay in onboard storage.
Premise
I carried out the process with a freshly flashed phone, with a minimal amount of apps present in the system. I cannot guarantee same success with an almost-full phone, although in principle it should be the same. If anyone has success on a more full system please let me and others know.
ADB Debugging should be turned on in developer options and authorization of PC given in advance; root or bl unlock not necessary.
SD Card will be WIPED in the process. For your data's safety do backup everything on your phone, both internal memory and external memory before proceeding! Don't yell at me if in the end it'll have to be restored.
Process
adb shell
sm list-disks this should return two integers such as 179,0
sm partition disk:179,0 mixed xx where the 179,0 should be your result in step 2 and xx be the amount of space reserved for /sdcard ; wait until command finishes. For the mixed xx see Miscellaneous#2 for explanation. Please also reply if you know the command to revert the changes made in this step, because I'd expect it be useful in the future and I don't know what it is.
Turn on force allow apps on external in bottom of developer settings if haven't done so.
Open camera app, click on OK until warnings go away, then set save directory in SD Card. Test if it saves successfully, if not, see Miscellaneous#1.
Reboot, then try moving some apps to your sd card! Some core function apps are not movable; that is to be expected.
Miscellaneous
If your camera won't allow you to open up settings (keeps saying cannot save), then you have run into a problem I have never seen before. If you can go into camera settings but the SD Card option is greyed out, that means either you have not reserved enough space in mixed xx or the command may have gone wrong. Or the card may not be in perfect condition for Adoptable Storage. You can unplug the sd card to see if the camera works fine after that, but I haven't tried that. If anyone knows the corresponding command to revert the changes made in Process#3, please let everyone know!
The mixed xx part allows a part of the sd card to remain.... an sd card. xx% of the space in your card will be recognised as external(portable) storage by your phone, and is readable by a PC. This portion will be the place where your future photos and videos are saved in, as the camera will fail saving to internal space. Thus you may want to use the fastest card you have and set xx based on your use patterns. The other part, the (100-xx) % of space is recognised by the phone as internal storage that it can put apps in, although some apps (especially some games) will still save assets in the phone's on board storage no matter where you move the main app.
This post is re-written from original post(chinese)

Thanks for sharing this but in my experience it does not work. I followed the guide and It looks like it worked, however now I don't understand how to move the apps away from the internal memory to exploit the new storage space provided by the SD "internal" memory... each time I try to move an app I get a "not enough memory" error message although there are about 64Gb free, no matter what app I try moving. I also noticed that deleting an app from the phone and then re-installing the app in the phone will finally install it in the SD but several apps I tried didn't work any more once re-installed in the SD storage.

indago said:
Thanks for sharing this but in my experience it does not work. I followed the guide and It looks like it worked, however now I don't understand how to move the apps away from the internal memory to exploit the new storage space provided by the SD "internal" memory... each time I try to move an app I get a "not enough memory" error message although there are about 64Gb free, no matter what app I try moving. I also noticed that deleting an app from the phone and then re-installing the app in the phone will finally install it in the SD but several apps I tried didn't work any more once re-installed in the SD storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi and Merry Christmas!
I do get system warnings saying the phone is full while it isn't; it seems that Android freaks out a little trying to gather disk usage info when the SD card is merged with internal space. However I can move most non-system-apps.
Did you move the app with the (Press&Hold App Icon)->App Info ->Storage->Change function? I found I didn't include this part in the original writing and might have been a source of confusion. Assuming it was done in App Info, could you tell me what apps don't work, and perhaps I can try on my phone. I also wonder how much storage did you allocate to each of the two partitions on the SD card.
Another potential source of error is the card itself, in some cases, the card may have bad blocks that Android doesn't correct for and cause read problems, as my SD card now begins to show. Sometimes I wake up to see my home screen devoid of apps, and I have to reinsert and restart the phone multiple times before the SD card gets recognized by the phone again.

Did you move the app with the (Press&Hold App Icon)->App Info ->Storage->Change function?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes.
Assuming it was done in App Info, could you tell me what apps don't work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
all. I was not able to move any app.
I also wonder how much storage did you allocate to each of the two partitions on the SD card
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
50% of 128Gb, that is 64Gb each.
Another potential source of error is the card itself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it doesn't seem the card, since the remaining 64Gb left for external storage, that is where the camera app is saving photos and videos and some other apps save data, still works fine.

Here it is the screenshot of how Android now sees the storage configuration (android settings > storage) after I performed the procedure described above for configuring adoptable storage (writings are in Italian but I think it should be easy to understand).

indago said:
Here it is the screenshot of how Android now sees the storage configuration (android settings > storage) after I performed the procedure described above for configuring adoptable storage (writings are in Italian but I think it should be easy to understand).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mine looks the same. I don't know what to suggest. I'll look around on other forums to see if people have the same problem.
This post is re-written from original post in Chinese which in turn is adapted from a lost post on gfan.com.
It also turns out that googling sm partition would give a lot of information most dated back to android 6.

I've been looking around as well, but was able to find only people reporting failures in enabling odoptable storage on Sony devices. However, one difference between your phone and mine is fw version: mine has 47.2.A.11.228 (no brand) - don't know if this can make any real difference.
By the way, I'm wondering whether it could be possibile to install a rarely-used app in the internal memory, then "park" the app in the SD card's external memory by moving its files, then eventually move it back to internal memory only in the case you need opening that app. If it works, it could be a trick for keeping all the apps you want "freezed" in the phone, by taking the usually unused apps in the external memory, then moving one of them in the internal memory only in the rare circumstance you need using it. Then moving it back to the external memory if you think you won't use it any more for a long period. Obviously one could simply uninstall and reinstall those rarely-used apps on occurrence, but that would take more time, consume data traffic and lose the app existing data, so I think that >IF< this kind of trick could be feasible, I'd go for it.

indago said:
I've been looking around as well, but was able to find only people reporting failures in enabling odoptable storage on Sony devices. However, one difference between your phone and mine is fw version: mine has 47.2.A.11.228 (no brand) - don't know if this can make any real difference.
By the way, I'm wondering whether it could be possibile to install a rarely-used app in the internal memory, then "park" the app in the SD card's external memory by moving its files, then eventually move it back to internal memory only in the case you need opening that app. If it works, it could be a trick for keeping all the apps you want "freezed" in the phone, by taking the usually unused apps in the external memory, then moving one of them in the internal memory only in the rare circumstance you need using it. Then moving it back to the external memory if you think you won't use it any more for a long period. Obviously one could simply uninstall and reinstall those rarely-used apps on occurrence, but that would take more time, consume data traffic and lose the app existing data, so I think that >IF< this kind of trick could be feasible, I'd go for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Striking news in the new year-- my sd doesn't work now. Yesterday I checked everything worked, but now no apps installed on my sd card open. using sm list-volumes shows both internal and portable partitions on the SD are mounted, but the apps still refuse to open.
The card looks like it's corrupted, now the two partitions can't even be recognized with my card reader, I guess I'm screwed.

at my asus max m2 .... working, camera, i can move app to sd card and they still works
butttt the only thing is at settings/storage/ information; it shows numbers that dont are correct and a option "to forget sd card " ?!?!?
well i don't know.....

SD Card doesnt show up after attempting to format as internal storage from stock crdroid android 10 files app

After attempting to format as internal using the preinstalled files app, my SD card is no longer recognized by my device…
I believe it is now completely corrupt, as even Windows is unable to read it after attempting to use an SD card adapter. It's not even listed in the disk management program…
Please help as i was dependent on my sd card as i only have 16gb on this device...

Use a low level formatting app to make it readable again.
You can also try accessing it directly* in Windows>Disk management, scan for new devices option.
Windows however may not be able to format it as it has been corrupted.
I don't recommend using the SD card like that; it's bandwidth is much slower than the internal memory and will noticeably slow down the device. If possible put all data on the SD card, only apps and maybe the download folder go on internal memory.
*this is the best way to access drives. You can do transfers directly from this Window to/from other drives.

blackhawk said:
Use a low-level formatting app to make it readable again.
You can also try accessing it directly in Windows > Disk management, scanning for new devices option.
Windows, however, may not be able to format it as it has been corrupted.
I don't recommend using the SD card like that; its bandwidth is much slower than the internal memory and will noticeably slow down the device. If possible, put all the data on the SD card. Only apps and maybe the download folder go on the internal memory.
This is the best way to access drives. You can do transfers directly from this window to/from other drives.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The issue is that it does not appear in disk management at all, so I can't do anything you suggest. What is a low-level formatting app, and what does it do?
As I previously stated, I attempted to make my SD card internal storage because apps would not move to the SD card even after rooting the device and using app2sd. Using app2sd simply redirected me to the app options page, where I was told to go to storage and move to the SD card, despite the fact that there was no such option. This "not finding move to SD card" issue is unique to the Crdroid; in stock ROM, it worked flawlessly.

If the file structure gets corrupted it can render the card unreadable.
Go the the card manufacturer to see if they a low level formatting utility. Here's some more , but I haven't used them, scan download with online Virustotal first to be safe. Lexar may have one it's a memory recovery app but it probably low level formats.
I never saw a card get so corrupted that you couldn't see on Disk Management. It may be DOA.
Check Event Viewer for error messages but first reboot and try another PC port.
Check the driver in hardware management, try to update it or roll it back.

blackhawk said:
If the file structure gets corrupted, it can render the card unreadable.
Go to the card manufacturer to see if they have a low-level formatting utility. Here's some more , but I haven't used them. Scan them with online Virustotal first to be safe. Lexar may have one. It's a memory recovery app, but it's probably low level formats.
I never saw a card get so corrupted that you couldn't see it on disk management. It may be DOA.
Check Event Viewer for error messages, but first reboot and try another PC port.
Check the driver in hardware management, try to update it or roll it back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If by DOA u mean is dead on arrival, it worked flawlessly before this. I have a SanDisk device. I'll try the formatting utility. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure the file structure is unreadable, and it is now fully corrupted…
Coming to think about it, i remember getting a Java error or something, but it was one of the disappearing notifs that appear at the bottom of the screen so i couldn't capture it…

thaynos said:
If by DOA u mean is dead on arrival, it worked flawlessly before this. I have a SanDisk device. I'll try the formatting utility. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure the file structure is unreadable, and it is now fully corrupted…
Coming to think about it, i remember getting a Java error or something, but it was one of the disappearing notifs that appear at the bottom of the screen so i couldn't capture it…
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try another card. If you can recover the victim card depends on if failure is hardware related.
Cards normally don't spontaneously go corrupt* so at this point even if you do recover it, I wouldn't trust it.
Once I have a SD card in a phone I leave it there and only access through the phone. Always format a new card in the phone before using.
Cards can be damaged by ESD, static electricity.
Avoid touching its contacts. On dry days touch an earth ground immediately before handling the card. If damaged by ESD it may manifest itself immediately or days, weeks or even years latter.
While they have some internal ESD protection it's limited, so a big enough charge or repeated ESD insults can destroy it.
This is the biggest threat to flash memory. Near lightning strikes can also destroy them by magnetic and/or capacitive induction.
*Don't share use in other devices like cams without formatting in that device first. That can cause file corruption.

blackhawk said:
Try another card. If you can recover the victim card depends on if failure is hardware related.
Cards normally don't spontaneously go corrupt* so at this point even if you do recover it, I wouldn't trust it.
Once I have a SD card in a phone I leave it there and only access through the phone. Always format a new card in the phone before using.
Cards can be damaged by ESD, static electricity.
Avoid touching its contacts. On dry days touch an earth ground immediately before handling the card. If damaged by ESD it may manifest itself immediately or days, weeks or even years latter.
While they have some internal ESD protection it's limited, so a big enough charge or repeated ESD insults can destroy it.
This is the biggest threat to flash memory. Near lightning strikes can also destroy them by magnetic and/or capacitive induction.
*Don't share use in other devices like cams without formatting in that device first. That can cause file corruption.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the point of asking for advice is cuz i dont have another card

try InitDisk