HELP PLEASE - Rom Manager and partitioning Micro SD card - Desire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I hope I am now putting this in the right place but I am getting very frustrated. Decided to bite the bullet and rooted my Desire at the weekend. As I have W7 64bit, I decided to use the Tiny Core Linux method mentioned by benko286.
I installed a Modaco ROM with A2SD+ and so far so good.
Rom Manager allowed me to install the Rom from the SD card. I then used Rom Manager to partition the SD card with a 512mb Ext3 partition and a 32mb swap partition so that I could take advantage of A2SD+.
However, when I install new programs they seem to be going to the phone memory as the space on the phone memory is going down.
I copied the Rom zip file back to the Fat32 partition on the SD card and tried to install the Rom again from scratch using Rom Manager. All I get now is a big red ? and after a few seconds the phone reboots again.
What have I done wrong?
Also, if I use Acronis Disk Director to partition the card, there is an option for the Ext3 partition to be primary or logical - should this be primary and should the Linux swap partition be before of after the Ext3 partition?
All help gratefully received!
TIA
norm

Related

[Question] SD Card formatting/partitioning guide

I can only assume this has been asked and answered, but I have searched and not been able to fine a suitable post yet...
I want to find a guide to format and partition my (16GB in my case) SD card in the best way for the current/future Desire ROMs
eesmm said:
I can only assume this has been asked and answered, but I have searched and not been able to fine a suitable post yet...
I want to find a guide to format and partition my (16GB in my case) SD card in the best way for the current/future Desire ROMs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use Windows to format the sd card to Fat32, after which you can then use Rom Manager (download from market) to create a ext partition (it will shrink the Fat32 partition to make room for the ext partition)
Alternatively, you can do it all in linux and it's pretty straight forward.
For example, Ubuntu (you can download a live version of ubuntu which you can burn to cd or copy to a bootable usb stick) can read the sd card (I just connect the phone whilst in clockworkmod recovery, select mount usb, and voila) and then you can use 'Disk Utility' located in the administrative tools area of Ubuntu to delete the stock partition that comes with most pre-formatted memory cards, create a Fat32 partition (Eg: 15GB) and then create an ext4 partition with the remaining space.
Using Linux is handy for backing up the contents of your ext partition - particularly useful when upgrading from a smaller sd card to a larger one but wanting to keep all your data.
I'm not the greatest at writing instructions and I have no idea if any of the above helps you in any way, but I hope it does!
I would use ROM Manager, but the Max partition size seems to be 512 and i want to make a 2GB partition. I am also unsure of whether the EXT partition (is EXT 3 or EXT4 best) should be primary or secondary, and will the Desire automatically start putting APPs there?
...and and what point do I turn the card back into a Goldcard, if at all necessary?
eesmm said:
I would use ROM Manager, but the Max partition size seems to be 512 and i want to make a 2GB partition. I am also unsure of whether the EXT partition (is EXT 3 or EXT4 best) should be primary or secondary, and will the Desire automatically start putting APPs there?
...and and what point do I turn the card back into a Goldcard, if at all necessary?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Gparted is the best partition tool ;-) It can be used as a live CD - which can be booted in virtual box.
2) You'll never need a goldcard, unless you want to go back to stock RUU (ie to send your phone back to get fixed).
3) EXT4 Primary partition
4) The desire will put apps there if the rom has Apps2sd enabled. Most roms these days do, but some require you to install the script yourself. 2gb seems a lot for just apps though.
Simple is better.
I myself have an 8gb sd card and used rom manager to partition it. I did not format my sd card beforehand, just took out the card from the package and put it into my phone.
Checking my appbrain list, i currently have 132 apps with a total size of 344MB.
Using the app Quick System Info:
A2SD storage-- Total: 458MB, Free: 110 MB
Internal storage-- Total: 148MB, Free:63.34 MB
I personally think 512 MB partition is more than enough.
friedkimchi said:
I personally think 512 MB partition is more than enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I'd agree with this. I had a 512MB partition - extended it using gparted to 1GB but it really was a pointless activity as I was nowhere near using the 512MB in the first place
Oh well - future proof I guess!
@ OP... What would you need 2GB for? Seems, well, excessive...
BTW, the latest clockworkmod supports partitioning directly in the recovery menu and I believe it will give you the size you want.

Partitioning MicroSD with EXT First

I have 8GB MicroSD card, when I try to partition it using GParted, and I partition it with:
FAT32: 6.5GB
EXT4: 1.00GB
It shows an error next to the EXT partition, and it happens with all EXT (ext2,3 and 4).
I read somewhere to partition the EXT first and it worked, my questions are:
1. How to move my data back to the FAT partition if I use windows? (as windows recognize the first partition only, and since it is ext, it won't recognize anything)
2. If question 1 was solved, will it work to use the partitioning that way? As I read that FAT should be first.
Thank you.
What you could do is boot into recovery and use the SD partitioning in there. That's ifyou have CWM version 3. Rom Manager will also do it. You could use that as a starting point and then just upgrade it to ext4.
Just use Rom Manager to format. Easiest way imho

[Q] Partition issue, please help!

Hi everyone. I'm a new android user (recently got an HTC Desire) and i have an issue with the partitioning of the sd card.
First of all i apologize if i posted in the wrong section, or if this problem has been already disscused (i didnt really find anything). I am new at this so sorry for the noob question!
I have rooted the device (all the steps from a great guide here at xda) and installed the leedroid rom with app2sd. I tried using the gparted method but i think i missed a step or something cause it didnt work.
So, i tried partitioning with the ROM Manager, choosing 512mb ext partition and 32 mb of swap. After rebooting, in the storage menu it shows only 134MB of available space (63 mb available before using the rom manager).
Why is it only showing 134 mb and not 512 or more ? Did i did something wrong or should i try gparted again ?
You have to partition your sd-card again.
Download GParted here: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/
Start your Computer with it.
Put your sd-card in a card-reader, connect it to your computer and partition your sd-card so:
0 MB for SWAP!!
512 MB - 1.5 GB for ext3
Rest: FAT32
Source: http://leedroid.com/bravo-wiki/partitioning-your-sd-card-ready-for-a2sd
Sorry for the late reply and thanks for helping me. I tried again with GParted creating a 512 mb ext3 and the rest FAT32. I didnt create a swap. When i turned on the phone it said it cannot mount the SD card. I tried wiping the phone and put the ROM on the SD again. In the recovery menu when i choose install zip from SD it says something about the SD not being mounter (dont remember exactly). So i had to reformat the SD again and made the whole card FAT 32, thats the only way it let me install the ROM and mount it.
Any ideas ?
carabus1206 said:
Sorry for the late reply and thanks for helping me. I tried again with GParted creating a 512 mb ext3 and the rest FAT32. I didnt create a swap. When i turned on the phone it said it cannot mount the SD card. I tried wiping the phone and put the ROM on the SD again. In the recovery menu when i choose install zip from SD it says something about the SD not being mounter (dont remember exactly). So i had to reformat the SD again and made the whole card FAT 32, thats the only way it let me install the ROM and mount it.
Any ideas ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to erase partitions and make FAT partition first. Make sure they're both primary, not logical partitions. You can lose the swap partition.

Partition questions and sd specs.

Please direct me to an idiots guide to SD partitioning...
I have been flashing my desire since the summer. And well i forgot how i initially setup my SD card.
I wanted to treat my self to a new CLASS 10 SD card. But when it came to partitioning the card i got lost.
Is it as simple as using clockworkmod to set partition size to 1-2Gigs? and swap to 0?
With reference to Ext2,ext3 and ext4 are these all multiple partitions? None of these where options within clockwork or rom manager
Anyway i did my partitions using clockwork and installed a new rom i had never used before runnymede. I found performance extremely sluggish and slow. Of course i did 3 new things at once. new card,new partition and new rom... could be one or all these causing me headaches..
Sorry to ramble on. Bottom line:
- Could i be kindly directed to a SD partitioning guide?
- Is the Desire compatible with 2,4, and 10?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1016084
[Video Tutorial] Noob Proof Everything Desire Guide UPDATED [04/04/11][Video Tut]
hope it helps.
The class 10 SD card should be OK with your desire.
The people in the know mostly recommend not using ROM Manager to partition SD cards. I would suggest try using GParted.
In terms of ext2, 3, 4 - I would recommend ext 3 for your SD card partition - it is safer than ext 2 partitions.
I would suggest an ext 3 partition size of 1024mb or even 2048mb (that should cover you for most present roms and most future roms).
I am not as knowledgeable as some of the other guys here but I will give you an useful link:
http://www.techcredo.com/android/tu...-for-a2sd-with-gparted-on-a-windows-pc-ext234
I usually create a bootable GParted USB drive and use to partition my SD cards.
I hope that helps,
KKH
I have been trying to create an ext4 partition using GParted. I did all necessary steps - will quickly run thru, just so you know:
1. Burnt ISO and accessed thru boot menu (running XP/SP3, btw)
2. Deleted existing allocation.
3. Created new primary partition as FAT32
4. Allocated "free space following" as 1024
5. Specified the unallocated memory (1024) as ext4.
There was no error in the operation.
However... When I tried to load stuff to the SD card, Windows prompted me to format the card before using. It made no sense but I couldn't do anything. And by formatting it, I lost everything that GPL had done in the first place.
I went over the process again, to no avail.
Does anyone know where I've possibly gone wrong? Please help.
Which recovery are you using?
I had the same issue, vista kept asking me to format SD card before use.
I fixed this by making my first partition in GParted the fat32 and the second partition ext3.
I think windows accesses the first partition by default and is happy with fat32.
If your ext4 was the first partition, windows would ask to format that ext4 in to fat32 before use.
I hope that helps.
thanks i should be good to go now..
TKG26 said:
thanks i should be good to go now..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you install 4EXT Recovery, you won't ever need a bootable disk to partition your SD card. You'll be able to do it straight from recovery I suggest you to give it a try!
My recovery is 4ext and I used this recovery to make partitions of my class10 sd card.
I also use this recovery to align my partitions.
You can also use the freeware "minitool partition wizard" under win xp instead of gparted.
Good luck.
harm007 said:
You can also use the freeware "minitool partition wizard" under win xp instead of gparted.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the OP uses this tool, he needs more than good luck. It's like rootSU says in his sig: "Don't be lazy and make GParted your first choice...". So please do not trust in windows software which wants to handle linux partitions.
Use rom manager. Simple as that
Sent from my Full Android on Bravo using XDA App
4ext recovery and have not gone back. Does all the dirty work for me.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

Can't detect ext3 partition

I have a 32GB card. Was using CM7 with scripts mounted for 280 MB internal memory. Wanted to change ROM so.
1. Reflashed CWM (didn't flash the boot.zip before reflashing CWM)
2. Wiped everything
3. Installed another ROM (3 ROM's actually )
Now I just can't locate the ext3 and swap partition on any software including Paragon or Gparted. It's like the partition just got lost. Any help will be appreciated.
Have you partitions with unallocated space or is the sd card so big like it be? For example, that the SD-Card has 32 GB in gparted or paragorn?

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