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 keep getting a message about storage space running low.
I have installed Apps2SD so all my apps that can be moved have been moved.
My contacts folder seems large at 18Mb
QuickOffice is 5Mb but I never use it.
Am I missiing something here?
Is there a way to free up memory easily?
If you have an a2sd+ script (most custom roms have), the apk files of your apps will be moved to the ext2/3/4 partition on the sd card, but there still remains the dalvik cache on the /data partition which uses up memory. There are scripts to move this dalvik cache to the sd card as well, but they require you have a class 4 or faster card. The best thing to do is search the thread of your rom, since it's probably been asked about it there.
If you're using google's a2sd (because you're not using a custom rom with such a script), not all apps can be moved to the sd card, since the developer has to specifically state the app can be moved, and for some reason, a lot of people don't do that. You can download a program called SDMove or App2sd from the market which will tell you which apps can be moved (and give you an option to move them), but there isn't very much you can do about getting more space. That is, if you don't want to get a new rom or install a a2sd+ script.
Cheers for the feedback.
Iam not sure if LeeDroid has the APPS2SD in the rom, I have Rom Manager and I THINK i now have ext2 and swap file but yet to confirm that with the new sd card as I am unable to copy the files from the old to the new, (thats another story)
So are you saying that APPS2SD on the ROM is better than APPS2SD from the market? I liked the market one so much I actually paid for to pro version.
Some of the apps will not move which is annoying, esp if what you say is that its all down to the lazy developers.
Can I reduce the phone book size? Text Messages etc to alleviate this issue?
I have no qualms in installing a new ROM if that will give me more space.
As many Desire users, I had the same issue.
Oxygen ROM is the best thing that had happened to Desire.
First do S-OFF, put Bravo Oxygen HBOOT patch (see alpharev.nl for more info), and then flash Oxygen ROM. And you will never have to worry about space again. I don't even move my apps to SD anymore, since there is no need.
Porcupine00 said:
As many Desire users, I had the same issue.
Oxygen ROM is the best thing that had happened to Desire.
First do S-OFF, put Bravo Oxygen HBOOT patch (see alpharev.nl for more info), and then flash Oxygen ROM. And you will never have to worry about space again. I don't even move my apps to SD anymore, since there is no need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I said that around in other posts and other members were moaning at me because "not everyone can do that". Anyway, yes flashing a hboot will give you more data to work with (depending on which template you get).
Using A2SD(+) is a workaround if you don't want to S-Off you Desire. However, A2SD(+) still uses /data partition unless you get a Data2SD script or at least a script to move the Dalvik cache. I think a lot of people fail to realise this.
Flashing Hboots? Sounds like Gary Glitters footwear!
What is S-OFF?
So is A2SD (+), different from A2SD?
Does this require a degree in Linux like so many of the other things?
If your contacts app is too large ...
http://androidforums.com/htc-desire/127440-internal-memory-again.html
for me, data2sd was the only solution to consider when it comes to internal memory issues
uktotty said:
Flashing Hboots? Sounds like Gary Glitters footwear!
What is S-OFF?
So is A2SD (+), different from A2SD?
Does this require a degree in Linux like so many of the other things?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Firstly, HBOOT is the partition table in your phone. By default it has 147 MB for the /data partition (that's where your apps go) and 250 MB for the /system (where your ROM is installed).
Secondly, HTC implemented a security flag in our phones that protect this HBOOT from being changed and denies writing to /system when using the phone.
Now, this security flag can be disabled (S-OFF = security off), which will allow you to change the layout of your partition table. What @Porcupine00 was saying is a lot of people do the procedure to S-OFF their devices, flash the Oxygen HBOOT (which gives 300+ MB of /data storage), because Oxygen ROM is very small (about 90 MB) and doesn't need that much space in /system, so this space is made available in /data. However, messing with partitions is quite dangerous and you should read all the guides carefully before trying, because it can really brick your device. Must I add is voids you warranty?!
Now, to clear up the confusion about a2sd. There is the a2sd system implemented by Google and available in FroYo and higher which can only move the apps meant to be moved. There is the app on the market which is called App 2 SD which shows the apps installed on your phone that can use this system. And there are a2sd+ scripts which move all apps to the ext partition on your sd card.
Data2SD is another kind of script for moving apps to ext partition, along with their other data, but it requires a fast sd card (I think a class-6 or higher is recommended, whereas my stock Desire sd card is a class-2).
I advice you read through the Desire Android Development forum and find out about all these methods and make sure you know what you are doing before flashing.
Good luck!
thank you sir, very informative and non patronising
I still need to work out how to get the date from my old 4gb to my new 16Gb card as everyhing I have tried has failed, then I can get some larger partitions and the ext's
What is the problem you are having? When I rooted my phone, I swapped my 4-GB with an 8-GB one and the only thing I did is just copy all the contents from the former to the latter. I had no issues with apps, media files whatsoever.
However, I only had a FAT partition back then, so if you are talking about moving the apk's on the ext partition, you'll need to use a Linux operating system (because Windows doesn't read ext, and also doesn't mount anything else than the first partition on an external drive, which happenes to be the FAT one in our case). There are live cd's from several linux distributions that are available for free download, which you can use to copy the content from your ext partition to your pc, then back to the new card.
The problem is as follows.
Titanium back up all apps and data to 4gb card
Copy contents to windows desktop, folder properties 3.6gb
Change card to 16gb in phone, connect etc
Copy contents of 3.6gb file to new card
800mb on new card.
It seems to be copying FOLDERS but not the contents of those folders.
I am using standard USB mount
I have tried Droid Explorer
I also have ABD installed and stuff but it confuses me!
I have also got various versions of linux and a VM but not tried any of that as 20 years of windows experience probably wont help me
Only thing missing is a card reader currently so doing all of this via usb cable with card in phone
Maybe it has something to do with your Windows system? Could you try on another computer? Also, have you tried reformatting the new card before copying the files?
good point, dont have any other pcs to try here and works laptop is pgp encrypted.
I have used partionmanager to format the car, partition the card etc and it shows healthy partitions.
Just cant seem to copy and paste the files!
OK so I copy 3.6 gb from android to desktop, do the reverse and droid explorer says
"Copying 439Mb"
Can you try to open up your card using Windows Explorer and look at what size it shows? I'm thinking it's not actually the '439 MB' that's wrong, but the '3.6 GB'. I remember my Sense nandroid backup had about 400 MB as well, and also, how could you possibly fit 3.6 GB of apps in a Desire's 147-MB /data partition?
After you copy, try looking at some random files and cross-check the size it says on the phone (use Astro or some other fille manager), then chech the size on the card shown on your PC, and the size of the copied file. Maybe there is no copying error at all, but just a size-showing one, so maybe you've nothing to worry about
Sorry not the data partion the MicroSD Card
I am moving from a 4gb card which will hold around 4gb to a 16gb card which will allow me ext, swap parttions etc
Sorry, my bad, I meant 'Titanium Backup' and not 'nandroid backup'. I was saying the Titanium backup alone is fine if it's about 400 MB. So you can't copy your files like music, wallpapers and stuff? I wonder where the problem is
Trying something now, which is bot into recovery mode and mount the USB, copy to the new card via that method, no error messages yet
Guys
Thanks for the feedback
We have a result!!
Copy files from old CD Card to PC (3.6Gb)
Change cards in phone
reboot into recovery and mount usb
Copy files back (3.6Gb)
Woo Hoo
Phone runs quicker now, will see what we can do about internal memory after new rom
Are there any roms or other easy ways to increase the size of the partition /data/data on the Droid Incredible? To this day, all I really find are ways to save space in there. That's been covered - everything from Cachemate to not using certain apps. I want to know if there are any roms out there that use space from internal or other areas and reroute them so that /data/data shows more space. Any help would be appreciated.
+1
I've run into this a lot lately. Even my Eris never had this problem.
enigmatl said:
Are there any roms or other easy ways to increase the size of the partition /data/data on the Droid Incredible? To this day, all I really find are ways to save space in there. That's been covered - everything from Cachemate to not using certain apps. I want to know if there are any roms out there that use space from internal or other areas and reroute them so that /data/data shows more space. Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No roms do it currently. But its probably doable.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk
There is an app on the market called Notenoughspace. I have never used it, but it is supposed to take stuff out of your data/data, and insert it somewhere else. I here it is tricky, so be careful if you use it. I really don't know much about it. The first couple of times I ran into this problem it drove me crazy. Have you read all of the threads for what causes this? Stay away from Facebook. If you sync contacts in Facebook it can cause this. I am a crackflasher, so I rarely run into the problem. I don't think that a Rom can fix this, but I am a newb myself. Really just wanted TP help since I saw your disgruntled post in the developers section....good luck
Thanks for the reply. But here's the thing. Please let's not go into the likes of notenoughspace and cachemate and whiping out facebook. This is what people say in EVERY thread on this from the beginning of the droid incredible.
I'm not looking for a solution that at best can let an extra app or 2 get installed on the droid incredible. I'm looking for a way to INCREASE the size of the /data/data partition by way of taking some unused space from other areas like system or cache or better yet, from that pointless internal storage (for all the SD card users).
There is a lot of extra space on these phones. Thus it is nonsensical to have a measly 150mb to use in that area.
AS this phone is for a friend (and I generally do the upgrading or fixing), I do not experience this on my photon nor do I experience it on my Iconia tab. There was a limit for /data/data on my evo but it was about twice the Droid Incredible I believe.
So this most likely has to be a partition issue. Is there really no fix for it? Since it's not a hardware limit, I'm surprised as I've seen some out of this world ROMs for the device (like Skyraider's which I hoped would make it to the Evo when I had that).
enigmatl said:
Thanks for the reply. But here's the thing. Please let's not go into the likes of notenoughspace and cachemate and whiping out facebook. This is what people say in EVERY thread on this from the beginning of the droid incredible.
I'm not looking for a solution that at best can let an extra app or 2 get installed on the droid incredible. I'm looking for a way to INCREASE the size of the /data/data partition by way of taking some unused space from other areas like system or cache or better yet, from that pointless internal storage (for all the SD card users).
There is a lot of extra space on these phones. Thus it is nonsensical to have a measly 150mb to use in that area.
AS this phone is for a friend (and I generally do the upgrading or fixing), I do not experience this on my photon nor do I experience it on my Iconia tab. There was a limit for /data/data on my evo but it was about twice the Droid Incredible I believe.
So this most likely has to be a partition issue. Is there really no fix for it? Since it's not a hardware limit, I'm surprised as I've seen some out of this world ROMs for the device (like Skyraider's which I hoped would make it to the Evo when I had that).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had the same problem, and I haven't seen any roms that come close to solving it. And there is no quick and easy solution.
The best work around I could find was to mod the stock rom and add Dark Tremor's APP2SD, and use notenoughspace.
With dtapps2sd you have to partiton the SD card so that you have a ext3 partition on it that can be mounted and apps can be ran from it. It does this for /data/app and a couple of other folders.
Notenoughspace will let you move folders in /data/data to the sd partition that dtapps2sd has mounted, and that survive through a reboot. The extra partition option is what you would use, not the NES partition.
Using this work around I have about 300 apps on my phone, and about 70mb free in /data/data.
My Android version is GB 2.3.4 (build 4.06.605.3).
enigmatl said:
Are there any roms or other easy ways to increase the size of the partition /data/data on the Droid Incredible? To this day, all I really find are ways to save space in there. That's been covered - everything from Cachemate to not using certain apps. I want to know if there are any roms out there that use space from internal or other areas and reroute them so that /data/data shows more space. Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bootmanager will install the whole rom on /sdcard or emmc storage and as an added bonus, /data and /data/data are all in one image so you have shared space. By default you have 950 MB to share for apps and app data. As an added bonus you have the ability to boot multiple roms and have them all loaded at once. It's available on the market and the devs who made it are awesome. However it costs a few dollars.
If you don't want to go that route then it's possible to create an image on the sdcard or emmc and symlink it to /data/data and you could set the size of the file. Then the ramdisk would need to be modified and maybe a couple of things done on the rom. You asked for an easy way and this is one but not easy though. Bootmanager is pretty easy though and no coding changes need to be done to the roms and it will leave your original rom intact.
I've been wondering about this as well.
I've tried a couple different approaches, and ended up sticking with one: it takes some setup overhead for every ROM I install, but it helps a lot.
I ended up deleting the datadata mount from init.inc.rc in boot.img (get ROM, unpack, edit init.inc.rc, repack, flash), and booting in recovery mode to move the data from ([email protected])/ over to (mmcblk0p1)/data (which is now just a subdir on the 768MB /data partition.)
Initial tests repartitioning mmcblk0 (houses /data, /cache, and /emmc) to make /data larger for this purpose didn't work out well: the bootloader rewrites the MBR/partition table when it finds that they don't match metrics it likes. /emmc can not really be reformatted because the bootloader updates some bits that it expects to be FAT32 on boot time as well, corrupting other filesystems.
Why on earth HTC would ship a phone in this day and age with such a crippled storage layout is beyond me.
DHowett said:
I've been wondering about this as well.
I've tried a couple different approaches, and ended up sticking with one: it takes some setup overhead for every ROM I install, but it helps a lot.
I ended up deleting the datadata mount from init.inc.rc in boot.img (get ROM, unpack, edit init.inc.rc, repack, flash), and booting in recovery mode to move the data from ([email protected])/ over to (mmcblk0p1)/data (which is now just a subdir on the 768MB /data partition.)
Initial tests repartitioning mmcblk0 (houses /data, /cache, and /emmc) to make /data larger for this purpose didn't work out well: the bootloader rewrites the MBR/partition table when it finds that they don't match metrics it likes. /emmc can not really be reformatted because the bootloader updates some bits that it expects to be FAT32 on boot time as well, corrupting other filesystems.
Why on earth HTC would ship a phone in this day and age with such a crippled storage layout is beyond me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That doesn't sound too difficult (i moved CM7 from emmc img to the actual phone partitions so that should be pretty simple). The only downside is you do lose space for apps (easily solved with apps2sd). I haven't seen you around since you posted your idea for multiboot. Been busy?
Well, the emmc method would be a loopback image which would not touch the fat32 filesystem.
Or if you're doing nightlies for instance once you mod the boot.img just add it to each new nightly.
Would Conap's dual boot work the same way? I am comfortable with this, and all the coding is intimidating for this newb. Would one of you smarter members put out a small guide as to exactly how to do this. I know it is time consuming, but it would really be worth it to us low lifes. Thanks
How can you do this?
DHowett said:
I've been wondering about this as well.
I've tried a couple different approaches, and ended up sticking with one: it takes some setup overhead for every ROM I install, but it helps a lot.
I ended up deleting the datadata mount from init.inc.rc in boot.img (get ROM, unpack, edit init.inc.rc, repack, flash), and booting in recovery mode to move the data from ([email protected])/ over to (mmcblk0p1)/data (which is now just a subdir on the 768MB /data partition.)
Initial tests repartitioning mmcblk0 (houses /data, /cache, and /emmc) to make /data larger for this purpose didn't work out well: the bootloader rewrites the MBR/partition table when it finds that they don't match metrics it likes. /emmc can not really be reformatted because the bootloader updates some bits that it expects to be FAT32 on boot time as well, corrupting other filesystems.
Why on earth HTC would ship a phone in this day and age with such a crippled storage layout is beyond me.
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Wow, that sounds like a great idea. Like the above poster, can I also ask if someone who knows how would write up some instructions on how to to this? It certainly would be appreciated by many! With Gingerbread, there's not much Incredible users can do about the tiny /data size. Thanks!
I'm encountering this issue with 384MB of phone storage free and nearly 4GB of SD free. When I checked, I only had 14.5MB free in /data/data. 150MB for this is ridiculous! I would appreciate any fix, preferably one I can set and forget (don't want to have to constantly move or create symlinks for ever new app I install).
possible fix
You should check out jermaine151's Stock+ version 2.1. http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1260994. I can't personally vouch for it as he just released it and it's a little late to start reinstalling everything, but it looks promising.
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.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk 2
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that's what I think.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk 2
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 .
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium
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
Sent from my D.I.R.T.y CM9'd EVO 4G using xda premium!
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It can be done later.
Captain_Throwback said:
It can be done later.
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Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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/
Hi All
Noob. Got a Desire (loving it still after over 2+ years of owenrship)
Rooted a few months back. been trialing BCM and Sandvoid ICS.
I've recentyl upgraded to 32Gb Sandisk SD card class 4. Partitioned to 2GB sd-ext and rest for data etc. (actually installer for BCM RC4 is telling me 1.5GB is limit for sd-ext)
Pretty much figured everything to do with rooting and flashing myself from forums, wikis and searching but I'm really stumped on one area.
Its all to do with storage things like :
-Partition sizes /tables & managers e.g. :Oxygen
CM7.2 (thought this was a ROM but seemingly keeps being quoted as partition structure??) ie the issues covered in this thread:
http://androidforums.com/desire-all...e-some-advice-overview-partitions-please.html
what is an optimum/decent starting point for the partition sizes on the desire with mount2sd ICS?
-Swap sizes (some docs say make it 512Mb for desire, some say 0)
conflict here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-1460858.html
-app2sd/mount2sd
BCM has latter and it seems to work out of the box after installing ( i get the impression this is more advanced than app2sd - correct?)
Sandvoid has former and seems to need some explicit scripts to be run beyond the aroma installer as the phone ran out of space when adding apps.
-hboot version ( i have not consciously changed this from stock)
-should i format SD with fat32?
I know this post is pretty wide in scope but there doesnt seem to be a "here is a good basic setup" type guide out there for the desire and even if there is i'm doubtful half of it's not irrelevant due to some of the advancements that apply with the latest and greatest ICS versions and other tools.
I suppose my question is from a performance/stability point of view does any of the above matter and if so can anyone point me to guides or make suggestions. As i say i figure that half of it may be irrelevant. The phone is working ok but i'd like to optimise the platform before i spend a lot of time installing and tweaking all of my apps and settings.
Thanks
If u want guides go to Desire Android Development(stickies) if on computer they are the first posts and info about hboots, google Alphrev. And u partition ur sd card to what ever the dev of the rom recommends.
Sent from my HTC Desire
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I agree, pick a rom, or make a shortlist, and read through the first post of each Dev. Hopefully you can find some common features to have, eg. One rom may require a ext4 partition, another may be incompatible with that. You need to choose, then go with it. If it helps I rooted using revolutionary.io and flashed mildwild 4.1.9 . Using 16gb fat32, 4096mb ext4 partition 0mb swap. Used gparted to format SD card.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA