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.
Ive been researching how to increase the availible space on my device by moving the /data/data/ directory to my sd-ext and also the possible downsides, after reading up on it i decided to give it a bash a heres how you do it.
put your device in recovery and connect it to your pc (you can also do it on your device in a terminal i assume).
open a command prompt and navigate to the tools folder inside the android sdk.
type in the prompt.
*Tutorial removed due to issues, will be back up when they are resolved*
this will move the contents of cache from internal memory to the Ext partition of the SD Card, and then creates a symlink between them, so that it's transparent to the OS. if you decide to try this please do a nandroid before trying as it may lead to system instablilites. i got alot of fc's on my apps, but after i unistalled them and reinstalled them they all seem to work good, it also takes alot longer for your device to start up and that. but as you can see from the screenshot it free's up alot of space and moves it to the sd-ext
This is fairly dangerous when you unmount your SD card... no?
martino2k6 said:
This is fairly dangerous when you unmount your SD card... no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Unmounting the sdcard leaves sd-ext mounted.
This is generally a bad idea. That's why A2SD implementations don't do it.
teppic74 said:
This is generally a bad idea. That's why A2SD implementations don't do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
teppic, ive noticed, the symlink is removed on boot up :confused isit because we have to add somthing to /system/ect/init.d/ like apps2sd?
Why is it seen to be such a bad idea to do this?
I have A2SD enabled and I am now down to 20mb free space!
Would love to create some more space... that horrible message is going to pop up soon!
Phil
philje123 said:
Why is it seen to be such a bad idea to do this?
I have A2SD enabled and I am now down to 20mb free space!
Would love to create some more space... that horrible message is going to pop up soon!
Phil
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its seen as a bad idea because, the system needs quick r/w access /data/data/, even the higest class of sd card cant do this as fast as the nand chip, it leads to alot of problems with fc's and other issues, it also slows your device down alot
Fair enough.
Is there any other way to clear some more internal storage with A2SD enabled? I have a 750mb EXT3 partition with loads of free space but not enough internal memory to install many more apps. Bit frustrating really.
Phil
philje123 said:
Fair enough.
Is there any other way to clear some more internal storage with A2SD enabled? I have a 750mb EXT3 partition with loads of free space but not enough internal memory to install many more apps. Bit frustrating really.
Phil
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you could give this a go but like a said theres a problem and the symlink is removed on reboot, i think we have to add a script to the /system/ect/init.d/ directory but im not sure...... to free up space you could try cache cleaner from the market and also clear the data for unused apps
AndroHero said:
its seen as a bad idea because, the system needs quick r/w access /data/data/, even the higest class of sd card cant do this as fast as the nand chip, it leads to alot of problems with fc's and other issues, it also slows your device down alot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not just that, it also increases the chance of an unbootable phone (at least not without going into recovery to sort things out manually).
So i have used different ROMs and love android on my kaiser.
However, after a few days use the phone tends to crash and afterwards loses all data(SMS etc) and/or apps. The 2.6.32 kernel seems to be better but this still happens.
So is there a way for this to not happen? I'm currently just restoring data to avoid reinstallign apps and using backup apps to restore SMS etc.
Is this to do with data being on NAND? and if so is there no data loss on SD card but is it slower and can you not remove SD card if you do it that way?
i'm searching that too but i have a big problem with all android roms..
my problem : i can turn on the wi-fi and it shows me the wifi networks... BUT after i pressed on my network and entered my password correctly it says disconnected...
what can i do ? please help me it makes me angry
anyone? i'm sure someone knows what's going on!
Aiex Rlder said:
So i have used different ROMs and love android on my kaiser.
However, after a few days use the phone tends to crash and afterwards loses all data(SMS etc) and/or apps. The 2.6.32 kernel seems to be better but this still happens.
So is there a way for this to not happen? I'm currently just restoring data to avoid reinstallign apps and using backup apps to restore SMS etc.
Is this to do with data being on NAND? and if so is there no data loss on SD card but is it slower and can you not remove SD card if you do it that way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my understanding the older kernel 2.6.25 is more stable, although it lacks some of the updates that later versions provide.
Installing system to NAND and data to storage card is no doubt the most nonvolatile option at this point. It can run a bit slower, but this can be circumvented by overclocking the CPU using RogueTools (a bit taxing on the battery, however).
It's always a good idea to keep consistent backups made to insure your data is safe. You can never go wrong there. Just be sure you have the latest patch of the current version you've flashed, do a clean system install, add your usual apps, reboot to the boot menu and backup data, then restore data from the same menu. This has been the recommended process mentioned in other threads.
this also happens to me, for a few days everything runs fine, however once in a while (about 2 days) system crashs and i have to restore data (with every apps installed). The problem is that all sms, call log, and some apps settings are wiped.. =( that's not cool ;P
another problem is everytime i reboot, or restore data, 3g is enabled... even if i put on settings "no data". is pain in the ass when my data plan limited exceeds, every time i reboot, carrier charges me more money... any solution? thanks in advance...
You can disable data on boot in the kernel, either in Atools or change ppp.nostart=0 to ppp.nostart=1 with a hex editor. I think the only way to enable data then is with Modem.apk, but most builds have it and if not, you can just copy it from a similar build.
I used it like this for quite a while when I was on a contract with no data plan.
cerebralgenius said:
From my understanding the older kernel 2.6.25 is more stable, although it lacks some of the updates that later versions provide.
Installing system to NAND and data to storage card is no doubt the most nonvolatile option at this point. It can run a bit slower, but this can be circumvented by overclocking the CPU using RogueTools (a bit taxing on the battery, however).
It's always a good idea to keep consistent backups made to insure your data is safe. You can never go wrong there. Just be sure you have the latest patch of the current version you've flashed, do a clean system install, add your usual apps, reboot to the boot menu and backup data, then restore data from the same menu. This has been the recommended process mentioned in other threads.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
could you possibly point me in the direction of guide for how to put data on storage card? i'm currently using it on NAND and it dies after a few days.
thank you!
Aiex Rlder said:
could you possibly point me in the direction of guide for how to put data on storage card? i'm currently using it on NAND and it dies after a few days.
thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you have to split your SD into three primary partitions: FAT32, EXT2 and one more EXT2. Use something like Partition magic or free EASEUS Partition Master to do that.
REMEMBER: all partitions should be Primary, not Logical. FAT32 must go first, or your Windows PC won't detect it.
first is acessible from Windows and is used for storing music, pictures and other stuff. You also place andboot folder to that partition.
second and third are for /data and /swap respectively. /data will contain all your apps, so don't be greedy with its capacity, and /swap is a location for temporary data, so 256 Megabytes are enough.
AFTER YOUR SD IS SPLIT, use atools to assign data and swap to appropriate partitions (SD partition 2 and 3), then flash your Kaiser with such an NBH.
FINALLY, boot up from sd card with Android build in andboot folder, hold the D-pad center for installation menu and select "data to SD partition" option.
Let the installation complete and press Quit to boot into your crashproof Droid.
For me, the MOST MOST MOST stable build were Warbyte's Donut and Myn's Warm Donuts.
Froyo crashes pretty random at bootups due to init.rc corruption. If you want to be handy with android OS and don't messa round alot, I suggest you go with Donut. Froyo does offer you performance but in my opinion its less stable than a usual Donut build with 2.6.25
StripezZ said:
you have to split your SD into three primary partitions: FAT32, EXT2 and one more EXT2. Use something like Partition magic or free EASEUS Partition Master to do that.
REMEMBER: all partitions should be Primary, not Logical. FAT32 must go first, or your Windows PC won't detect it.
first is acessible from Windows and is used for storing music, pictures and other stuff. You also place andboot folder to that partition.
second and third are for /data and /swap respectively. /data will contain all your apps, so don't be greedy with its capacity, and /swap is a location for temporary data, so 256 Megabytes are enough.
AFTER YOUR SD IS SPLIT, use atools to assign data and swap to appropriate partitions (SD partition 2 and 3), then flash your Kaiser with such an NBH.
FINALLY, boot up from sd card with Android build in andboot folder, hold the D-pad center for installation menu and select "data to SD partition" option.
Let the installation complete and press Quit to boot into your crashproof Droid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so youre saying if i do like You said I can reboot as many times as i want and nothong would wipe? and btw. if i use atools to mod boot settings my kaiser freezes when running quadrant benchmark or raging thunder.
dark_prince said:
For me, the MOST MOST MOST stable build were Warbyte's Donut and Myn's Warm Donuts.
Froyo crashes pretty random at bootups due to init.rc corruption. If you want to be handy with android OS and don't messa round alot, I suggest you go with Donut. Froyo does offer you performance but in my opinion its less stable than a usual Donut build with 2.6.25
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's right but on Donut lot of aplication dont work.. Lot of aplication woks with Android 2.1+
X46X said:
That's right but on Donut lot of aplication dont work.. Lot of aplication woks with Android 2.1+
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Say one application which you want for Donut? and it doesn't work on it?
Majority of Developers start building for Donut first since its still primary OS for alot of devices. So far all of the apps worked on Donut for me. ADW, Handful of Widgets, Documents2Go, FruitNinja, and blablabla apps.
Flashplayer doesn't work even on foryo as of yet
StripezZ said:
you have to split your SD into three primary partitions: FAT32, EXT2 and one more EXT2. Use something like Partition magic or free EASEUS Partition Master to do that.
REMEMBER: all partitions should be Primary, not Logical. FAT32 must go first, or your Windows PC won't detect it.
first is acessible from Windows and is used for storing music, pictures and other stuff. You also place andboot folder to that partition.
second and third are for /data and /swap respectively. /data will contain all your apps, so don't be greedy with its capacity, and /swap is a location for temporary data, so 256 Megabytes are enough.
AFTER YOUR SD IS SPLIT, use atools to assign data and swap to appropriate partitions (SD partition 2 and 3), then flash your Kaiser with such an NBH.
FINALLY, boot up from sd card with Android build in andboot folder, hold the D-pad center for installation menu and select "data to SD partition" option.
Let the installation complete and press Quit to boot into your crashproof Droid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a correction, to my understanding, 2nd Partition is there for Sys on SD Card Partition, and 3rd Partition is there for Data on SD Card Partition option. If you make a 4th partition with linux swap FS, it will be auto-mounted at startup
dark_prince said:
Say one application which you want for Donut? and it doesn't work on it?
Majority of Developers start building for Donut first since its still primary OS for alot of devices. So far all of the apps worked on Donut for me. ADW, Handful of Widgets, Documents2Go, FruitNinja, and blablabla apps.
Flashplayer doesn't work even on foryo as of yet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Zeam Launcher, newest Gmail, Twitter, SoundHound 2.5.2..
X46X said:
Zeam Launcher, newest Gmail, Twitter, SoundHound 2.5.2..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never liked Zeam Launcher, it's just a dumbed down version of ADW in my opinion. But I will agree with the newest Gmail. Hell it's not even supported in Eclair. >_<
Donut is by far the best as it's designed for phones the same age as our Kaiser's, and Eclair would be considered an upgrade option for our phones as well. Froyo on the other hand as well as Gingerbread would be "unofficial" upgrades as they would be too resource hungry for our small devices.
Zeam is pretty snappy but Helix launcher is okay on donut otherwise. Twitter, oh well, there are dozen of apps that tweet for you on your donut. Gmail, I agree. and soundhound, never used it >.<
Eclair isnt as snappy as froyo or donut but worths if software support it. I say that try thoughtlesskyle's Not So Super Froyo or mine build as well. Considering init.rc, its more obvious in updated versions of fresh froyos (usually happens if you reboot with some resource taking process running)
i cannot install a donut release. but the froyo works installing.
I don't know why. any suggestions?
hey,
so i'm using data in a partition on my microsd card and so far is pretty crash proof. unfortunately it's only a class2 one, and so it can be slow and some apps like alarm doesn't work properly, i suspect this is due to the slow microsd card.
Is there a difference in speed between using a partition and using data.img without a partition?
Will using a class 4/6 one solve this problem? getting very close to a stable phone that does all i want!
I'm looking for specific ROM.
1. 100% NAND Fit (also installing apps to Nand as default)
2. Gingerbread + Sense (could have some Sense 3 stuff, but 2.1 is fine too)
I dont care about space left on internal, even 50mb would be fine after initial boot. (i dont use much apps so even A2SD is not important)
Most ROM's i tried require EXT partition and i would like not use it. (****ty class 2 sd)
I can use any hboot since i'm s-off.
Is there such a diamond?
Download any rom that fits number 2 and only uses a2sd or a2sd+. now open the zip and go to /system/etc/initd and remove the a2sd-script.
I don't think there is any rom which doesn't use a2sd in any way, as the internal memory is too low and is almost unusable without.
mortenmhp said:
Download any rom that fits number 2 and only uses a2sd or a2sd+. now open the zip and go to /system/etc/initd and remove the a2sd-script.
I don't think there is any rom which doesn't use a2sd in any way, as the internal memory is too low and is almost unusable without.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about /sdext/ folder, where it will be installed if there is no ext partition? is there any easy way moving it to /data/ ?
Yes if it isn't too big to fit your data-partition, you can do it by editing the line in the script that tells the recovery to write the folder to sd-ext to make it write it to /data instead.
But since it's originally written to sd-ext, that rom might be too large to fit internally initially. You will also have to try out different hboot partition layouts, as some might fit better than others(compare the needed sizes to the sizes on alpharev's website).
I forget which version of A2SD it is, but one of them doesn't actually run the app from the SD card, which means you'll be fine with a class 2. Can't find the post explaining it though.
The difference is that a2sd only puts the apk-file on the sd-ext, but as this apparently isn't used at run-time, it won't slow you down, where as a2sd+ also moves dalvik-cache, which is used at runtime.
But personally i also like keeping things internally. If you didn't get the other way working, you can also use leedroids a2sd version, which flashes to /data by default, and then you can just remove the a2sd-script.
Additionally if you like it plain, consider an aosp-rom like oxygen(i have come to love the simplicity personally)
I have used Reflex S ... May be give it a shot... !!
mortenmhp said:
Yes if it isn't too big to fit your data-partition, you can do it by editing the line in the script that tells the recovery to write the folder to sd-ext to make it write it to /data instead.
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The script you mentioned is \META-INF\com\google\android\updater-script?
Also are you sure editing it will be enough? I mean if there is no other entries to edit somewhere.
He was probably referring to 40a2sd script. Frankly, you can achieve that from the first post with just about any rom using this.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=992176
All of the new ICS roms talk in their instructions to partition your sd card. Some also have a non partition version for those that wish to not partition but those releases take longer to come out.
So why should I partition? I am asking in a general I really want to know why as on all of the rom release pages it just says to partition but no one every talks about why. Why do the newer roms require partitions while the 2.x Android roms never needed this.
Can't anyone let me know?
A lot of ROMs in 2.x support DarkTremor which allows many of the ROMs files to go onto a separate partition on the SD Card. This speeds up the phones response time as you run various apps.
This is most likely why the ICS builds are asking for you to partition the SD Card since they are automatically enabling this which is unlike the 2.. builds in which it was an option.
Doc
DocEsq said:
A lot of ROMs in 2.x support DarkTremor which allows many of the ROMs files to go onto a separate partition on the SD Card. This speeds up the phones response time as you run various apps.
This is most likely why the ICS builds are asking for you to partition the SD Card since they are automatically enabling this which is unlike the 2.. builds in which it was an option.
Doc
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Is this new automatic thing part of ICS or just something differently the rom developers are now doing?
Was DarkTremor built into the 2.x roms? When I first moved from stock to Cyanogen all I remember doing was wiping and installing the zip file, never did anything extra.
LordJezo said:
Is this new automatic thing part of ICS or just something differently the rom developers are now doing?
Was DarkTremor built into the 2.x roms? When I first moved from stock to Cyanogen all I remember doing was wiping and installing the zip file, never did anything extra.
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I believe that this is something being put in by the developers. The ICS you get from HTC, LG, Samsung etc.. does not have this.
DarkTremor was built into a lot of the 2.x roms and would only become active if you you had the SD Card partitioned properly. It is in Cyanogen but it is something that you did not need to use if you did not want to.
There are some good tutorials out there if you want to give it a try. The big advantages are that it speeds up your phone and frees up precious space on your internal memory.
Doc
I believe the simple answer is that ICS has a bigger footprint and therefore requires more internal system capacity. The phones that come stock with ICS have more system capacity than our EVO 4G. A2sd and an ext partition effectively expand the system partition so that these larger footprints will work on our phones.
Non-a2sd versions take longer because the dev has to figure out how to get ICS working with "insufficient" capacity.
Another development to look at is firerat's mtd mod that allows one to reconfigure the system, cache, and consequently data partitions.
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dcharleyultra said:
I believe the simple answer is that ICS has a bigger footprint and therefore requires more internal system capacity. The phones that come stock with ICS have more system capacity than our EVO 4G. A2sd and an ext partition effectively expand the system partition so that these larger footprints will work on our phones.
Non-a2sd versions take longer because the dev has to figure out how to get ICS working with "insufficient" capacity.
Another development to look at is firerat's mtd mod that allows one to reconfigure the system, cache, and consequently data partitions.
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Thanks! That was exactly what I was looking for.
When people use in in GB roms is it just them trying to optimize things better by freeing up system memory by utilizing sd space?
LordJezo said:
Thanks! That was exactly what I was looking for.
When people use in in GB roms is it just them trying to optimize things better by freeing up system memory by utilizing sd space?
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Yes, that's what I think.
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That is why I partitioned my drive (to move apps to my sd card and to free up space on the phone). I am on the MikG ROM.
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1TonyC said:
That is why I partitioned my drive (to move apps to my sd card and to free up space on the phone). I am on the MikG ROM.
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Why would you need to partition the sd card to move apps? That's a built in feature of GB.
Or do you mean system apps?
I was constantly getting alerts that I was running out of internal memory. This was after I transferred as many apps as I could to the sd card.
So I partitioned my sd card and flashed the MikG ROM. No more memory problems .
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Partitioning for apps2sd is not to move ur apps to SD card. It will automatically install ALL apps downloaded from play store to the SD. No need to move anything! Its like adding internal memory to our phones! I was hesitant at first but now I wouldn't do it any other way. I noticed a nice increase in performance on ics roms and I can now download whatever the hell I want and not worry about bogging down my internal memory
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Rather than posting a new thread, I'll ask my question here since it is somewhat relevant to the conversation.
I'm at work while I was updating to jmztaylor's latest nightly, so I do not want to backup my SD onto my work computer. Can apps2sd be flashed at any point after flashing the ROM or does it have to be at the same time as flashing the ROM?
Jaxp3r said:
Rather than posting a new thread, I'll ask my question here since it is somewhat relevant to the conversation.
I'm at work while I was updating to jmztaylor's latest nightly, so I do not want to backup my SD onto my work computer. Can apps2sd be flashed at any point after flashing the ROM or does it have to be at the same time as flashing the ROM?
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It can be done later.
Captain_Throwback said:
It can be done later.
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Great, thanks for the info!
The main difference between the built-in moving of apps and the partition is where the apps go.
With GB's moving (a2sd) the .apk file is moved to a directory on your SD card called .android-secure. The big con to this is that if your SD isn't mounted (for example, if you're moving files from your computer, or on the initial error check on boot), you can't access these apps. You also cannot use any widgets an app might have if it's been moved to .android-secure.
If you have a partition (ext3 generally) then it's a different story. Generally, what happens is that the /data/app directory in your internal storage is symlinked to your partition, /ext. (I think it's /ext/data/app, but I can't remember and haven't used the sd partition for a bit). Pros to this one are much more space, since assuming you have the space and your SD is fast enough you can also symlink your appdata and dalvik-cache. Plus, you are able to use widgets because Android thinks the apps are installed to the internal data. One major con is that you can potentially reduce your SD card's life, since it will be reading and writing a lot more from that portion of it.
And a symlink explanation: In a sense, it points one directory to another area of the filesystem. When I was partitioned Root Explorer showed my symlinked /data/app as this: "/data/app > /ext/data/app". It's a way to have parts of the filesystem "appear" in other areas without having to copy/paste. I've used it to get a few directories to sync to Dropbox without having to keep spare copies of my files in the main Dropbox ones.
Be careful. I just did it an hour ago and everything disappeared from my sd card. So pissed.
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What are partitions..
SLB9884 said:
Be careful. I just did it an hour ago and everything disappeared from my sd card. So pissed.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium
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That is because when you re-partition your card (or hard drive,etc..) it basically wipes it. What you are doing is redefining the very volumes that take up space on your card and giving them a starting and ending block address based on the size of the card and the defined size of the partition. You can think of it has a two pieces of glass and you are pouring colored sand in. You pour red in and get your data partition, then you pour in green and get your swap partition so on. Eventually all partitions are defined and ideally will make the most use of the total space on your card.
So when you partition, it's very low level and requires abandoning all data and prior formats on the card unless you are using some special software that attempts to adjust the sizes of the partitions.
Somewhere at the beginning of your card is a small sector that lists all the partitions and their starting/ending blocks, plus other relevant informationj.
So if you plan to partition, you need to back up the data first to your pc or what not.
Storage
Because its an entire system you'll want to to save space on your card, make a backup of any important files because its gonna wipe it and you cant undo it
Here's a couple of great guides for a2sd. Once I finally did my phone performed much better.
http://therootofallevo.com/2011/04/10-step-guide-properly-set-darktremors-a2sd/
http://androplasty.com/2011/08/mini-guide-how-to-re-partition-your-sd-card/