Related
In short:
Is there a thread somewhere stating the pro's and con's of running Android from different types of "media" (SD, NAND, EXT2)?
If there is, please provide a link, I can't seem to find anything that isn't an unanswered question or small comments.
If there isn't, let this be a starting point for those looking for the answer to this question.
Longer:
I've seen this question pop up once and again but it might be that the topic is totally exhausted and people have stopped commenting on it. I can't seem to find an answer though; What are the pro's and con's of using NAND, EXT2, FAT32 or any combination of it?
I see a couple of installation alternatives and some I have been able to conclude myself but others not.
* Running from SD-card using HaRET
This option is the slowest in terms of Android performance. It has the added value of easily getting back to Windows Mobile by rebooting the phone, gaining easy access to the SD card and manipulation options.
* Running the system AND data on NAND
This option has in my view the fastest Android experience. Access to files on the SD card is a bit more cumbersome (there is the SD card split widget APK available but I have yet to see it working) and access to files for manipulation I can't comment on (haven't gotten to that yet).
* Running the system from NAND and data on EXT2
The performance seems almost as fast as the system+data on NAND. I have no idea about the added value of running anything from an EXT2-partition in the SD card but I'm guessing it will be slower. I have no idea if file access for manipulation is easier or not compared to the other options.
* Running the system AND data from EXT2
I have not tried this yet and cannot comment on it. Something tells me it will be slower than NAND because of SD card overhead.
* Running the system from EXT2 and data on NAND
I have not tried this yet and cannot comment on it.
Now, I've missed out on several of the installation options but I'll edit this post as soon as I get to investigating it further.
Any comments/experience/knowledge in this is greatly appreciated, as it can make things clearer as to what options to choose.
Well these are very good question and wanted to start a thread on this matter as well. I also could not find a strait answer anywhere.
I also want to know if there is an advantage using ext2 over fat32.
So, people out there having knowledge about this matter please share it.
Ext2 and Fat32 are both types of filesystem used on various different types of media, including SD card, Hard drives etc.
EXT2 is (one) of the native linux filesystems, and is fully supported in kernel, and is usually faster and more stable in that OS
FAT32 is the 32bit version of the old MSdos filesystem, used up to Windows 98, and still supported by windows machines, but slower and less stable than the native NTFS filesystem used by XP and above.
Nand is actually the type of flash ROM used by our devices, and not a filesystem as such, and running Android in Nand refers to where the information is stored, rather than the filesystem used to store it.
It's equally valid to say that we run WM in Nand also.
I think that in the case of Android EXT2 should be faster and more stable than fat32 since it's designed for Linux, and works better in that OS.
Zenity ik would like to thank you very much as this answers mij questions.
And i think this would many others aswell.
Don't forget - if you format your MicroSD to just EXT2 then you will make it very awkward to transfer files to/from the card on a Microsoft Windows based system.
This may, or may not be a problem for you.
Ultimately, the current ideal situation (IMHO) is to run your OS from NAND, and to store your data (music / movies / documents) on a FAT32 format MicroSD - as this enables you to swap the MicroSD card without turning off the device, and provides best cross-platform usability of the MicroSD for the purposes of transferring data to/from it.
Thank you all!
Thank you all for commenting! I will add your comments to the Android-wiki I'm building as this question could come back repeatedly from newcomers (and old ones who forgot )!
boli99 said:
Don't forget - if you format your MicroSD to just EXT2 then you will make it very awkward to transfer files to/from the card on a Microsoft Windows based system.
This may, or may not be a problem for you.
Ultimately, the current ideal situation (IMHO) is to run your OS from NAND, and to store your data (music / movies / documents) on a FAT32 format MicroSD - as this enables you to swap the MicroSD card without turning off the device, and provides best cross-platform usability of the MicroSD for the purposes of transferring data to/from it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a program for allowing the mounting of EXT2 file systems on windows, however they are not signed. This is more problematic in Windows that are 64bit. The program is called 'ext2fsd' and you can get it from source forge. EXT2 is a better file system, and does not have the 4GB file size limit, and does not fragment (although on a SD card, this should not be an issue). EXT2 also has file permissions that Linux understands. Fat32 has no Access control file permissions.
I have just recently got polymod's eclair running with both system and data on ext2 partitions.
my question is...
I am just wondering what the boot order is...
and where(if possible) can it be changed?
system.img in the andboot folder VS system on partition.
I know it can be set in the installer. but lets say I had installed system on ext2 partition. and then later placed a system.img in the andboot folder.
can I swap between the two?
OK...
I figured it out myself,
You can use the installer to select boot options (Not just options to install)
so I have a system and data on partitons. (currently using)
and I also have a second build installed to .img files in the andboot folder. (for failsafe backup)
if I want to swap from one into the other
I enter installer and change the settings for the system and data to
their respective locations and then just QUIT.
I also still have a donut build in the android folder. as well as still running winmo.
quad boot system on my phone...LOL
Now thats a neat use of the installer, I think this find deserves it's own thread in fact, I'm certain others will find it useful
Tanks !
binlabin said:
* Running the system from NAND and data on EXT2
The performance seems almost as fast as the system+data on NAND. I have no idea about the added value of running anything from an EXT2-partition in the SD card but I'm guessing it will be slower. I have no idea if file access for manipulation is easier or not compared to the other options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've done some tries with this doing the partitioning from within android and then formatting the FAT32 partition from Windows 7 but the FAT32 partition doesn't work very well afterward. Really slow and sometimes crashes the explorer. Propably something to do with my SD-card. May try doing the partitioning and formatting from Linux to see if it works better.
Seems to me the main advantage of this option is to increase the size of available data storage which i suspect can become a limitation sooner or later in a pure NAND install.
EDIT: Now I've done it and gone NAND-System + EXT2-Data... Partitioned the SD-card from Ubuntu with gparted. Resized the FAT32 partition and created 3 primary EXT2 partitions. only the second (partition 3) should be used though with the setup I am using. It's charging right now so I haven't tried it out much yet but I will later on. However I noticed that I now have 171Mb free phone storage instead of 30-something that I had before (same apps installed).
EDIT2: Ran gparted again and shrinked the unused partition (partition 2) and expanded the data partition (partition 3) so I now have 369Mb free "Internal phone storage". Haven't noticed any speed differences between this and when I had data on NAND.
nand
By then one question:
If im install android in the NAND is more fast ready? But this process erase WM6?
Because now android work good in my HTC TYNT II but the camera and bluetooth not work and have one or two performance problems and for this dont like delete WM6 of my phone, and for this im use Android from my SD.
But look the NAND option because have a problems with the time live of my battery only lasts 5hours with android and SD.
Thanks for your help and cooperation
excellent thread which answers some questions that I had. Thanks to everyone who contributed. The only question remaining though and I have posted this elsewhere without getting an answer:
I partitioned a 2 gb sdcard with ~1.6gb Fat32 and the rest as a single Ext2. I selected system on nand and data on ext2 in the installer. After installation, it does show alot more memory for data as compared to data on nand, BUT I also have a data.img in andboot which is in the Fat32 partition, with a size around 250mb. The question is, is the data in that file or on ext2? If I backup data from installer, it creates a databackup.img in andboot with the same size as data.img. Seems to me the ext2 partition is just taking up space and not being used. Can anyone more knowledgeable shed some light on this? Thanks.
Not quite sure what is going on there, seems very counter-intuitive, I would have assumed that system on Nand, data on EXT2 would have installed the data partition to EXT2 on SD. This would seem not to be the case in this instance.
There are a few experiments you could try, if you are brave enough, since you may cause problems by trying any of these suggestions, which could mean a reinstall, I leave it to your judgement how to proceed
Ok firstly I assume you have a card reader, since you managed to partition and format the SD card in the first place. Remove the SD card, insert in card reader, delete the andboot folder, or the contents of the folder, ( may be wise to have a spare SD with either a winmo or android install handy at this point, just in case things go horribly wrong ).
Now with the cleaned SD, put it in the phone and boot, it should boot fine, IF the data is truly on the EXT2 partition.
That at least will answer one question, namely, where the heck is my data?
If this works fine, then I'd just put it down to some inner weirdness of android on non-native devices, if it fails then I'm wondering if your EXT2 partition may have problems, forcing the phone to dump it on the first available good partition, namely the FAT32 one.
Oh and if it does fail, you will have to reinstall, since your data will be toast.
Finally, good luck, I await with interest
As I recall, the install has the FAT32/Ext2 options incorrectly swapped. It has been this way for a while.
zenity said:
Not quite sure what is going on there, seems very counter-intuitive, I would have assumed that system on Nand, data on EXT2 would have installed the data partition to EXT2 on SD. This would seem not to be the case in this instance.
There are a few experiments you could try, if you are brave enough, since you may cause problems by trying any of these suggestions, which could mean a reinstall, I leave it to your judgement how to proceed
Ok firstly I assume you have a card reader, since you managed to partition and format the SD card in the first place. Remove the SD card, insert in card reader, delete the andboot folder, or the contents of the folder, ( may be wise to have a spare SD with either a winmo or android install handy at this point, just in case things go horribly wrong ).
Now with the cleaned SD, put it in the phone and boot, it should boot fine, IF the data is truly on the EXT2 partition.
That at least will answer one question, namely, where the heck is my data?
If this works fine, then I'd just put it down to some inner weirdness of android on non-native devices, if it fails then I'm wondering if your EXT2 partition may have problems, forcing the phone to dump it on the first available good partition, namely the FAT32 one.
Oh and if it does fail, you will have to reinstall, since your data will be toast.
Finally, good luck, I await with interest
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great idea, I'll try this on the weekend. I wont delete data though, I'll just rename andboot and backup data for good measure, because I want to be able to go back to the data by renaming it back if it doesn't work. I was also thinking if there is any way to get to the ext2 partition and read it... I'm on xp so I cant do it on my pc, and on the phone, I've looked around in astro n other file managers but cant see anything. But if the case is as golfnz34me points out, then I should just backup the data, and change the option to Fat32 in install and restore data. That should do the trick.
golfnz34me said:
As I recall, the install has the FAT32/Ext2 options incorrectly swapped. It has been this way for a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, will check this out. If its true, then great, more speed for my /data! I wonder how I missed this, been going through these forums regularly...
Ok I checked it out, and golfnz34me is correct it seems.
But now I found a new problem. I backed up data, and in the installer, set the data to SDCard, and tried to restore data. It gives various errors like
Code:
cannot determine filesystem size
failed
failed to format
...some other lines...
losetup: /dev/block/loop2: no such device or address
I created the partition with Paragon partition manager, and after getting this error I rechecked in PPM. I reformated the partition, but still get the error. In PPM the partition drive letter isnt assigned. Or, the partition isnt the active partition. Can one of those be the problem? The volume name is Ext2. Im not very experienced in partitioning etc, apart from normal ntfs partition for new hds in windows, so I didnt play with any options. I dont have a linux system either. Any got any ideas? Any help would be appreciated alot!
Not sure about using partition managers other than gparted, afaik most people are using the Gparted live cd if they don't have a linux install handy.
The errors all point to some sort of problem with the EXT2 partition, or it's formatting.
Also EXT2 partitions do not have drive letters, nor do they have to be active partitions.
Apps and data on SD card.
I cant seem to figure out how to make all the apps and other stuff install to the SD card. Do I have to partition the card into two partitions? or is there a way to install the system to Nand and make all the apps and data go to the SD card? Ive tried setting it to System on nand and data on SD partition but it says no partitions to install to or something.
I have an unrevoked-forever (s-off) Incredible, running CM 6.0.2 (stable). I have been running an 8gb sd in, but recently I have been reaching the limits.... so I decided to upgrade it to 16gb.
I copied all the files from my 8gb to my PC, via phone USB. Then from my PC to a 16gb card, via card reader. When I unmounted the 8gb, and replaced it with the 16gb, it would not remount. I then started getting low memory warnings....but still could not get it to mount the SD card, old one or new one. So I rebooted and now I'm stuck in a boot loop, with either memory card, for some reason....
I tried a nandroid backup, and it says complete with one line saying "SD-ext.img not found- skipping...." then on reboot, it still goes into a boot loop.
Suggestions on what to try next are VERY welcome. I guess I should have not tried swapping the SD card while the phone was on?? I can of coarse boot into recovery, and I do have ClockworkMod 2.5.0.1.
Worse case scenerio, wipe? and run apply CM from SD card?
Why do people always get scared about the SD-ext error messages, where it's clearing data, formatting, or restoring backups. SD-ext is for apps2SD. The SD card partition for general storage is called sdcard.
With regards to your problem, I have no idea, Sorry.
SynbiosVyse said:
Why do people always get scared about the SD-ext error messages, where it's clearing data, formatting, or restoring backups. SD-ext is for apps2SD. The SD card partition for general storage is called sdcard.
With regards to your problem, I have no idea, Sorry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no idea what SD-ext is for...I'm not "scared" of this error, I just want to get out of bootloop....if it's not related or important information, sorry....I assume I messed something related to the SD card....considering how/when this started happening....but of coarse I don't know exactly what I did, that's why I'm asking.
I don't get an "error" screen, I just get a boot loop. I don't even know where to begin to toubleshoot this....so thats what I am asking for...suggestions.
I thought that you assumed that error was the problem.
Does your phone still reboot loop when the sdcard is removed completely? You can try backing up the contents of the card onto your computer..then format it with FAT32 in windows. Try it with a completely empty card, but formatted as FAT32 of course.
If you're still having problems then if I were in your shoes I would resort to a factory reset, clear everything, and then start fresh (especially considering your nandroid backup did not work)
SynbiosVyse said:
I thought that you assumed that error was the problem.
Does your phone still reboot loop when the sdcard is removed completely? You can try backing up the contents of the card onto your computer..then format it with FAT32 in windows. Try it with a completely empty card, but formatted as FAT32 of course.
If you're still having problems then if I were in your shoes I would resort to a factory reset, clear everything, and then start fresh (especially considering your nandroid backup did not work)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The boot loop happens with, either card, and also with no SDcard in. I only get to the Cyanogen animation and it keeps looping......I will try formatting the cards on the PC and then pasting the SD card "copy/backup" from my initial try....
---if worse case----
I have never installed other roms, I have had relative success with CM....so I really don't know how to "wipe" and start fresh.
Are these steps close:
1. boot to recovery> ClockworkMod
2. select wipe data/factory reset
3. select wipe cache partition
4. select advanced> select wipe Dalvik cache?
5. install zip from SD card > select CM- 6.0.2
6. done?
Yes, those steps sound correct to me. That is your best shot.
The Incredible in general has reboot problems, for some reason it is very sensitive. I'm not really sure if you changing the SD card truly caused the problem or not, but it's worth reflashing the latest CM. I recommend 6.1 RC2
6.0.2 is quite old and it has a lot of problems, including force close mail client by default, a faulty radio interface layer that may cause reboots, and many, many other fixes have been implemented in 6.1 RC2 and the latest nightlies. Don't be discouraged that it is a release candidate..in reality it is much more stable than the 6.0.2 "stable".
SynbiosVyse said:
Yes, those steps sound correct to me. That is your best shot.
The Incredible in general has reboot problems, for some reason it is very sensitive. I'm not really sure if you changing the SD card truly caused the problem or not, but it's worth reflashing the latest CM. I recommend 6.1 RC2
6.0.2 is quite old and it has a lot of problems, including force close mail client by default, a faulty radio interface layer that may cause reboots, and many, many other fixes have been implemented in 6.1 RC2 and the latest nightlies. Don't be discouraged that it is a release candidate..in reality it is much more stable than the 6.0.2 "stable".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I downloaded a fresh 6.0.2 and 6.1 RC2 from Cyanogen....I followed the steps above to "wipe" and installed the 6.0.2....result= bootloop still
repeated steps to "wipe" again......selected to install 6.1 rc2......result= bootloop still
SO now I'm really at a loss. I figured with a wipe it would work....maybe my steps are wrong.....ANY suggestions now are welcome.
Do you know how to use advanced from the android ask. It can be used to figure out where your problems are.
Might be that the Dex cache is being created, but that only happened to me when flashing my own custom roms, not when changing SD cards.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
linuxmotion said:
Do you know how to use advanced from the android ask. It can be used to figure out where your problems are.
Might be that the Dex cache is being created, but that only happened to me when flashing my own custom roms, not when changing SD cards.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I do not know how to use the "advanced from android ask." But I am willing to learn if needed.....Is this the SDK tool? I believe I toyed with this when I first used the Unrevoked method to root....but thats been months and I don't mess with roms much. I started playing around with SDK a few minutes ago to familiarize myself....but idk.....
Is there a simple way to get some kind of log file? Can I load another recovery, like Amon_RA style type, which has some different options....but I don't know if it will help......Thanks for all suggestions thus far.
See I'm not exactly sure that the SD card was what caused the malfunction in the first place.
If you have an AMOLED incredible your 3G radio or battery may be beginning to fail...as I said before the Inc is very sensitive and tends to reboot a lot for stupid reasons.
You can certainly get a log if you use LogCat from ADB, but if you cant figure out exactly whats happening, then most likely you need a replacement.
You can unroot, turn S-ON, and put a stock RUU and see if you still get reboots (I'm willing to be that you will). But if you still get reboots completely stock, since you're stock you can go to verizon now and get a warranty replacement.
Quick review
- you unmounted the 8 Gb SD card, and removed it from the device while the device was still on, replaced it w/ the 16 Gb SD also while device still on?
- in the last working CM 6 ROM... were you using the SD card to cache memory or any other SD card usage tied to an AOSP ROM?
- what apps had you moved to SD card?
Absent all that, try and d/l a non AOSP ROM, for instance Virtuous, place it on your SD card in Recovery, and see if you can flash it.
Why? Solving for whether the device boots and will load a ROM at all - AOSP ROM's utilize the SD card more than Sense ROMs.
smtom said:
Quick review
- you unmounted the 8 Gb SD card, and removed it from the device while the device was still on, replaced it w/ the 16 Gb SD also while device still on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct.
- in the last working CM 6 ROM... were you using the SD card to cache memory or any other SD card usage tied to an AOSP ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did use a rooted app to move things to the memory card, but I didn't see any benefits so I moved it back, at least I selected too, whether the program moved them back or not.....hmm...
- what apps had you moved to SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you know I'm not sure I moved apps back. I know again I didn't see the benefit of apps/cache on the SD card, so I moved it back to phone....
------
Status as of 12/06/10 11:18am est.......Things I have done since last posts.
1. I have wiped numerous times via ClockworkMod. And tried CM 6.1rc2. Still got loop.
2. I installed Amon_RA recovery, wiped everything, formatted SD card through Amon, partioned SD card through Amon.....installed Cyan CM6.1 listed above, and phone sat loading at the initial screen "htc Incredible." Let it sit for 10+min....still nothing....
3. Tried to repeat step above...same results, now just initial screen, NO bootloop.
4. Installed ClockworkMod 2.5.0.5. Wiped. Install Virtuous 3.1.0. Recieved an error during install....."E:\" unable to read data...followed by a string of numbers and other info.....
5. Wiped.
6. Installed Hboot 92. (upgraded from 77)
7. Tried MIUI v0.12.3. Rom installed "successful." Rebooted and stuck on initial screen. been 5+ min as of now....
So NOW I am not getting a Bootloop....just a frozen screen. I can still get into recovery, so hopefully I still have options. Your insights or suggestions are the only thing keeping me trying ATM....I'm running out of options of my own.....
Well I still haven't got past initial boot screen with MIUI, even though it said installed correct during flash.....
SO I tried to wipe, and install Virtuous 3.1.0 again. got the same error...wrote it down this time:
E: Can't chown/mod /data/app (operation not permitted)
E: Failure at line 8: set_perm_recursive 1000 1000 0771 0644 DATA:app
Installation aborted.
I'm still at a loss, and taken any pointers or ideas. I may play around with other roms, but idk.
1. I tried Skyraid_333 and had the same results. Locked on initial white screen.
2. Wiped and tried a "stock" rom available from Virtuous.....http://www.virtuousrom.com/p/other-releases.html
It loaded and then it actually booted to the red eye droid (different from my original post which was the CyanMod boot anim)....yay....then it froze (eye stopped moving)....tried booting w/o SD card...same thing....
3. Wiped and decided to try Virtuous again. This time it loaded and installed "completely."
It booted again to the red eye animation....seemed to freeze, but I left it, and it finally started after 5+ min....I finally got a phone back.....
I do not know entirely what I did, in the process of loading all these roms. I do remember when I installed the "stock" rom, listed above, it had an install step which said installing "BOOT." (or something like that) I do not remember this listed step on the other rom installs...although they may do it and not list it....idk....
I have a feeling that the stock rom did something, but I don't know why a "wipe" does not reset everything, and why any rom wouldn't work....So I'm stuck back with HTC sense, due to the time I have been without a phone, I will live with it....I forgot how much I dislike this sense.......
Thanks to everyone who chimed in.
Congrats on you fixing your phone. I am still very new to this myself, but one of the first things I would have done would be install a stock rom again. It sounds like you lost or had some corrupt files which were fixed by going back to stock. If it were me I wouldn't be scared to wipe with a custom rom or nandroid backup, but thats just me.
i'm stuck with a similar problem: phone (dinc rooted, recovery CM 2.5.1.2, hboot .92) currently frozen on htc splash screen -
How it happened:
I was running MIUI 0.6 1.1.28.1, tried to re-format the SDcard to wipe it and start from scratch again. Did not nandroid beforehand (wiping SD) but pulled the 0.6 1.1.28.1 zip to my desktop. Tried formatting but phone wouldn't format it properly - wiped all info from SD, but no longer readable by phone or computer.
Used Mac disc utility to re-format and erase card to FAT32, still un-readable. Phone now only boots to splash screen, recovery works.
Brother has an un-rooted dinc so I grabbed his SD and mounted the card to the Mac via recovery, wrote onto it the MIUI rom I was previously using and did a full wipe (data, cache, davlik) and installed rom - rom installed correctly but still couldn't get past htc splash screen
Gave bro back his SD and tried mine again - got it to mount to the phone by partitioning through recovery, re-installed MIUI rom to my SD card and tried rebooting a number of times, still can't get past the splash screen (15+ mins)
Currently downloading virtuous "stock" rom as posted above and will try to wipe/ flash. It's a huge zip compared to the MIUI zip - maybe that's a good thing?
Here's to hoping.
Have tried flashing multiple versions of MIUI rom, packaged by n_i_x and warttack - no luck on either.
I just flashed the virtuous "stock" rom and got to the droid eye splash YES!! Mine may also be stuck in that screen though on the droid eye.
IT'S WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can't even begin to say how relieved I am - I'm never getting rid of that magical virtuous zip.
So glad someone had gone though this before me.
AOSP interacts w/ SD
Handy information to know -
AOSP ROMs interact w/ the SD card quite a bit, whereas Sense ROMs not so much.
So, if a new SD and boot w/ AOSP, expect it to be wonky, particularly during boot.
hth
i dunno what caused it but mine has been doing this for about a month. Got my refurbished phone in today so HOPEFULLY that one will work better, but i dont really expect it, as this stupid boot loop issue seems to be a VERY common problem with inc's. I probably wont ever buy an HTC after this one, should have learned my lesson after the touch pro
anyway, even on stock rom, unrooted, with nothing extra, mine does this for no apparent reason
Hi,
Tonight I installed some updates for apps on my phone running Leedroid 2.2d A2SD+. Some of them stubbornly decided to stay on the SD card so I went to move them (I haven't managed to get pm setInstallLocation 1 to work, though I have yet to try it from ADB and that was the way I got setInstallLocation 2 to work before I rooted). I moved several at once and suddenly had the applications manager restart itself and found one of my games that was being moved (Cordy) was no longer working and couldn't be moved either to or from the phone (said move failed). So I tried restarting the phone incase that would fix it.
The phone wouldn't get past the HTC logo so I thought it might be a corrupt A2SD partition, but since it was ext3 that I could probably just get fsck on the computer to replay the journal. Upon putting the card in the computer (using an SD adapter) and booting into Ubuntu 10.10 I tried running disk utility with 'check filesystem' and it reported an error and that the filesystem was not clean and changed the partition to unknown. The same thing happend for the FAT32 partition and I couldn't mount that either. I tried running fsck from a terminal and it said something along the lines of 'Bad superblock or possible short write' and was unable to check the partitions and exited immediately (sorry I have since rebooted and assumed the same error would occur next time so didn't write it down specifically).
I restarted into Windows 7 to see if it could fix the FAT32 partition so I could get my Nandroid backup I made yesterday and it worked fine and said the partition was fine! Usefully Nandroid makes an md5 checksum of the backup so I was able to confirm at least that was intact and make a copy (I didn't really have anything else not backed up on the card as I only rooted a week ago).
I then rebooted back into Ubuntu and it now reports the FAT32 partition as clean, and actually makes some attempt at repairing the EXT3 partition but reports huge quantities of nasty errors like multiply allocated blocks and allocated blocks marked as free and an error with the journal when I run from terminal using 'fsck -t ext3 /dev/sdb2'. I don't really have any experience with fsck as I mostly use windows but there were a lot of errors that sounded pretty unresolvable (from memories of my couple of lectures on ext at university).
Yesterday I flashed an UOT theme using (ClockworkMod 2.5.0.7 as installed by Unrevoked3) install from zip for battery percentage and some icon changes, I chose Leedroid 2.3d from the file list. I had also installed DSPManager using the flashable zip on the Leedroid site.
My card was partitioned using GParted with FAT32 first followed by a 512MB EXT3 partition as recommended on the Leedroid site. I was sure to create the EXT3 partition second as I noticed adding it first at the end made it the first partition in the table. The card had been made a goldcard (though this might be gone as I erased the card with disk utilities Format drive button which may have deleted the MBR, I'm not really sure).
I'm guessing somehow Android tried to do multiple writes at once but I was under the impression these kinds of issues were solved by putting the partitions in the correct order, besides, shouldn't Andorid work correctly with its built-in support for ext anyway like any other version of linux? If this is a known, common problem with A2SD+ why doesn't every ROM have a big warning about this like Data2SD ROMS generally have about SD wear and being able to persist system settings?
PS: I realise there are some other threads on this but they are fairly old and seem to all involve connecting the phone to the computer or after a reboot.
Here's a lovely and vague one for you all to try wrap your heads around...
Okay, so I started having trouble with my SD card about a year ago after my mate added a partition so I could flash A2SD ROMs (I believe - I was stuck and asked him to sort it and from what I can gather, that's what he did). It was fine for a while, then suddenly it became nigh on unresponsive to Android: I couldn't take photos, install apps to SD, basically any data transfer between the device and the SD storage was not happening. I think this was after I tried to delete some things to make room for videos and **** but I was stuck on about 300MB of the ~2GB available (this may have been my first attempt to delete after the partition, I'm not sure).
That was the birth of a problem I am still yet to fix. My dad needed a new phone and I wasn't using my Desire anymore. He's 53, and so the Sense UI was less than intuitive to him which lead to me offering to make it a bit simpler for him (flash a stock ROM and use a more information-centric launcher). The device badly needed updating anyways as I hadn't done so since my mate partitioned my SD card and some bugs had began to develop on the ROM I was using. So, I downloaded the latest CM build and set about reformatting the storage to see if I could solve some of the issues. In attempting to do so I think I performed a data, cache and dalvik cache wipe which removed the ROM I was currently using. The partitioning was successful, so I transferred the new ROM and attempted to flash - BOOM! Error message. Tried again, same thing. Now I have a phone that'll only boot into a recovery that's 5 full versions old (CM Recovery v2.5.0.7) without a way to flash an update img. I've tried on many different occasions to try and sort the problem and spent relentless hours trying to research a solution to the numerous different error messages this produces. Every error I can remember was a problem with read/write on the SD card, so I purchased a new one to no avail.
The phone CAN'T be bricked, surely. I still have access to things like USB mounting (which works absolutely fine), and most importantly, access to the recovery. Please don't tell me she won't live on, this is my baby and she's going down fighting! :'(
TL;DR SD card read/write issues. I only have access to recovery. I can mount the SD card via USB in CM Recovery, but every time I try to flash a new ROM I get numerous different read/write errors.
Go here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1408936
There you can download 4ext recovery that can be flashed via fastboot or using some flasher.
When you flash it repartition your sd card, choose only one sd-ext partition (not bigger than 1,5gb), no swap and fat32 for thevrest of your card.
After repartitioning try to flash some rom and see how it will work.
Hi
I have a Desire GSM rooted and S-ON RA-Desire v2.0.1 stock HBOOT Ext 4 1Gb latest radio ends in 23
Have been running on a custom rom for over a year now and want to install the latest copy of the same rom. The md5sum is identical for the zip file to the source.
Booted into recovery wiped all data, cache and then devlik-cache.
I have turned off signature verification and then selected my rom zip on SD card.
Installed the rom rather there were no errors and it took about 20 seconds (seemed too fast).
Next in recovery I did a reboot.
Now the screen went white with green HTC logo in centre for about 1 minute then after this a black screen with android written logo for about another 2 minutes.
Eventually phone boots into rom but it is not the new rom it is the exact same old rom.
I can see from applications listed that I am still super user so not lost root.
In settings software information everything is listed identical to what I had before.
The contents of the zip files are different so it is not the same rom being flashed.
Choosen rom is
[ROM][Cool Sense][5 April]Cool Droid v3|2.3.4|FASTEST|Data++/Stock (currently have Icecream sense v2 installed which is an earlier version of the same rom)
I did not install the alignment zip as I had already setup to use an earlier rom version and ext4.
What have I done wrong in trying to install my choosen rom please?
I feel like I must have missed something.
Not sure which recovery you have, with 4ext I boot to recover, format everything except sd then install zip and it seems to work, obviously everything then needs reinstalling from the backup you'll have made
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2
Hi
Unrevoked 3, as I have one of those odd PVT4 Desire phones 4000 erase size using RA Recovery. (something like that sorry if technical references are not super clear).
I use Titatium backup so reinstalling wont take long just need the ROM to install.
This is a fast glitch free rom using sense so I do not want to try a different rom as it gave me a year without trouble. Only doing this to start again with the space issue needing a refresh.
I have cleared delivk cache again and flashed my original v2 rom and that worked showing expected progress reports.
So I thought would try flashing the new v3 rom, and see if I got any joy this time.
Still no joy, it looks like it starts as two lines appear then it says complete with no obvious error.
So I reflashed the original v2 rom again and will go with that as I need a phone more then I need to play.
Odd.
Maybe the new v3 rom needs sOFF but as far as I could read it does not.
Even installing the previous rom things are still not right.
The apps that normally come with the rom are not installed such as Demon controller, No adds and Busy Box. I can see that they are in the zip file they are just not been added.
I can manually install Busy Box from the market so I know it is not a permission thing.
Titatium Backup is seeing my Ext4 partion (it calls it an ap2sd but it is showing) so I don't think there is a problem with my SD car arrangement.
I stupidly do not have a nandroid of the previous install I can restore.
So any ideas please why the previously working and installed rom is not reinstalling fully with all it's built in apps?
Anything I could try please?
Looks like I have identified the problem, my SD card is flakey and Gparted reports sick partion table that wont fix so the Ext4 partion was not been seen which is probably why the install failed and the apps were not installing.
New Sd card will be ordered and then start again.
Thankfully I dod have an uptodate SD card backup.
Phone is working just as a phone for the next few days.
These micro SD cards do not last long at this rate I get 1 year from them as this will be my third ordered.
Go to S-OFF, is better and mandatory for a lot of rom.
New card and more fiddle work with Gparted and now waiting for setup to complete as old v2 rom is installed. It works fast and is smooth plus has HTCsense so I can keep my sync capability so will be staying with it so I can live without S-OFF
Gparted when I followd the recommendations I kept getting a corrupt card on my phone so this is what worked for me.
Format card on phone
Then put card into usb card reader and place in PC
Reboot PC onto Gparted CD
Select SD card and then I resized the fat32 partion already there and then added a new EXT4 partion.
This worked for me.
Dump gparted, format the card through 4ext recovery
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2