Hey guys
Im on holiday now so cannot really check myself the differences, but just wanted some quick info on the A2SD, with the official froyo i was hoping everybody will start using it, but somehow people still using the old method, whys that?
thanks
Froyo A2SD is completely reliant on app developers. If the devs doesn't allow it in their app then it can't be moved to the SD card. This is really only a problem because Froyo is still new.
Old A2SD you can dump everything on the SD
However, I'd be interested in seeing if there is a way to force an app onto the nand using A2SD+. Would work better for things like widgets, home replacements etc, as they'd run quicker for people with slow sd cards.
Probably because the FroYo one sucks !
Why ? Well, mostly because devs have to rewrite their apps so they can use FroYo's app2sd function...
With the "old-fashioned" a2sd, there is no need to do anything, just sit and enjoy the free space
APP2SD allows you to move certain apps to your SD card and run them from there BUT as these are placed on the normal root of the SD when you mount the SD, via USB for example, you loose access to these apps until you remount SD. This means you cant install widgets to the SD and such like.
APP2SD+ on the other hand uses an ext3 partition (or ext4 on newer versions) which then installs all apps & widgets to that partition and when the SD is mounted you dont lose any apps or widgets as is located in a seperate partition.
Hope that helps.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
wow! thats quick thanks for you input guys think you explained everything i wanted to know really
Id want to use the offical a2sd as i think using ext3 partitioned sd card have already slightly damaged the card cuz it keeps giving me errors everytime i connect it to a pc
mrwookie6379 said:
APP2SD allows you to move certain apps to your SD card and run them from there BUT as these are placed on the normal root of the SD when you mount the SD, via USB for example, you loose access to these apps until you remount SD. This means you cant install widgets to the SD and such like.
APP2SD+ on the other hand uses an ext3 partition (or ext4 on newer versions) which then installs all apps & widgets to that partition and when the SD is mounted you dont lose any apps or widgets as is located in a seperate partition.
Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So let me understand the names:
APPS2SD = Froyo Original (comes with official Froyo release)
APPS2SD+ = Hacked version which has been out since FRF50 leak?
EDIT: But if APPS2SD+ is so much better (keeps apps on ext3 partition), why to people keep using the original APPS2SD on their ROMs?
Check this explaination. Quoted from neoKushan from yesterdays thread.
neoKushan said:
Ok, so here's the deal, in a very longwinded way that should hopefully explain everything and answer ALL questions.
You have an SD card in your phone and, a bit like normal PC Hard Drives, you can "partition" them (split them into two or more sections of different filesystems). Normally, your SD card is just one big FAT32 partition, which is fine for storing your pics, messages, emails, etc.
Now, other then your Phone's SD card, your phone will have its own internal flash memory (or "NAND") storage. Tradditionally with Android, you could only install applications to this NAND storage, you cannot install them onto your SD card. So if you have an empty 32GB SD card, but only 5Mb of internal phone storage, you still wont be able to install many apps, if any at all.
This was done to protect the apps from things like piracy - it's not easy to access the location where apps are installed on your phone's internal storage (normally impossible without root), so you can't for example buy an app, copy it, refund it, then install it again.
Still, this is no good for those of us who like to install lots and lots of apps, legitimately, as we run out of internal storage very quickly.
So Google came up with a way to install apps to the SD card. A folder is created called something like .android_secure and this stores (I believe) encrypted versions of applications, but there's a few catches:
1) Apps aren't automatically stored here, you have to manually "move" them
2) Not all apps are capable of being moved, in fact most apps aren't, the developer needs to update their app and allow it. Some apps aren't and wont be updated and some developers may not want to allow it for whatever reason.
3) Not all app data is moved, most of it is but some data is left on your phone so many people still run out of internal storage quickly.
4) You can force ALL apps to be moved to this area by default, but it breaks incompatible ones - such as Widgets, which are unable to load due to the SD card not being "prepared".
So that's Froyo's version. Before Froyo existed, some very clever people came up with a thing called "Apps2SD". Remember I said that your SD card normally is one big FAT32 partition? Well, Apps2SD works by having your SD card patitioned into TWO filesystems. A normal FAT32 partition for your usual stuff and a secondary "EXT" partition. EXT is just a filesystem, like FAT32 or NTFS, but it's the filesystem used by Android internally. The SD card is normally FAT32 because it's a "universal" filesystem, that just about any machine will be able to read, whereas EXT filesystems are generally Linux only, but I digress.
EXT has several different versions. The most common one you'll see is ext3. The main difference between ext2 and ext3 is "journaling", which is just a fancy way of saying that should an operation (such as copying, writing or reading) be interrupted unexpectedly (say, by you turning your phone off), then no data should be lost or corrupted. You know how when you turn your phone on, it says "preparing SD card"? It takes a few minutes, but what it's actually doing is checking that the FAT32 partition hasn't been damaged, because FAT does NOT have journaling. If you used a computer back in the Windows 98 days, you may remember that lovely blue "Scandisk" screen that had to run every time you didn't shut your computer down correctly - that's the same thing. But then Windows 2000/XP came along with NTFS, which also has journaling, meaning you had less chance of loosing data. But I digress once more.
So you have your SD card partitioned into EXT and FAT32. Generally it doesn't matter if it's ext3 or ext4, but you don't get any real advantage with ext4 over ext3 in this instance. Apps2SD then runs a special script on your phone which "symbolically links" the folder from your phone's internal storage where your apps are normally stored, to the ext partition on your SD card. A symbolic link is a bit like a shortcut for folders, except it's transparent to the OS: In other words, Android doesn't know that when it's installing it's apps to the internal phone storage, it's actually being stored on the SD card. This effectively boosts your internal phone memory from the previous 5mb that you had in my example above, up to whatever size you made the ext partition on your SD card (often 512Mb or 1Gb, but it depends on how many apps you install).
Plus, because it's "journaled", it doesn't need to be "prepared", meaning it's ready to go as soon as the phone starts - so your widgets and apps work immediately (unlike "forced" Froyo Apps2SD, where widgets disappear).
The catch with Apps2SD is that whatever space the ext partition takes up is taken away from the SD card. So if you have a 4Gb card (with something like 3.5Gb of actual storage) and you make a 512Mb ext partition, your SD card will "shrink" to 3Gb. The space isn't actually lost, it's just being used by the ext partition. If you reformat your card, you'll get it back.
Finally, there's a difference between "Apps2SD" and "Apps2SD+". Remember I said that your apps are stored on a special folder inside your Phone's NAND storage? Well, that was a bit of a lie. It's actually stored in TWO places. There's a second area which is called the Davlik Cache. You don't really need to worry about what this is for (Hint: IT's to do with the Java runetime your phone uses to run apps), all you need to know is that apps use it to store data, which also eats up internal phone memory. Apps2SD+ moves davlik cache to the ext partition on your SD card as well, freeing up even more space. Some people believe that this may come at the cost of performance, as the internal NAND memory should be faster than your SD card (Which is why you also get people arguing over which "class" SD card is better for Apps2SD - the logic being that a faster SD card means less impact from this move), but the truth of the matter is that your applications will be running from your Phone's RAM anyway, so performance isn't really impacted at all. Since most apps are only a few hundred Kb's in size, or a couple of MB at the most, it's a non-issue.
Finally, any recent version of Apps2SD/Apps2SD+ should work with an SD card that is or isn't formatted with an ext partition. It'll check for this partition when your phone first boots and if it's not there, just use internal phone storage.
Having an ext partition WITHOUT Apps2SD+ shouldn't cause any issues, either, so you can format your SD card whenever you're ready.
So in summary:
Apps2SD "fakes" your phone's internal memory and puts it all on a hidden section of your SD card.
Apps2SD+ pushes even more content to the SD card, freeing up even more space on the phone itself.
"Froyo" Apps2SD has various limitations that "old" apps2SD does not, but is much easier to handle as it doesn't involve any kind of "partitioning".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a great summary, thanks for that!
But... how can I create an ext3 partition on a new SD card? I don't want to use ROM Manager because that has a maximum of 512Mb for ext3, I want to make 1gb or more.
Also, what size should I make swap partition?
Vice83 said:
That's a great summary, thanks for that!
But... how can I create an ext3 partition on a new SD card? I don't want to use ROM Manager because that has a maximum of 512Mb for ext3, I want to make 1gb or more.
Also, what size should I make swap partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do that thru recovery-windows.bat by going thru recovery mode by volume down + power, go to recovery then when the red exclamation point appears just run the recovery-windows.bat by double clicking on it. You can get these files from r5-desire-root-alt from the rooting process files (search the forums for this if you don't have it). But be cautious cause when you partition your sd card, all your files will be wiped so make sure to backup everything you need. Cheers!
Edit:
Actually this summary about the ap2sd and ap2sd+ and froyo ap2sd should be stickyed for everyone, so it would not be ask over and over again.
Couple of extra ways to partition:
1) Flash AmonRA's Recovery to your phone (I used Unrevoked to do it)
2) Use GParted on a Linux LiveCD (e.g Slax) to partition your card exactly how you want it
Vice83 said:
That's a great summary, thanks for that!
But... how can I create an ext3 partition on a new SD card? I don't want to use ROM Manager because that has a maximum of 512Mb for ext3, I want to make 1gb or more.
Also, what size should I make swap partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ROM Manager is probably the easiest way to do it, but I was stuck with EXACTLY the same problem when I rooted. I chose to flash AMON Ra recovery (don't have the link, but you can google it up), and then used that to create a 1024MB ext partition. Then used AMON Ra again to convert the ext partition to ext3. Hope that helps.
However, one question I have regarding neoKushan's explanation is that if I did create a 1024MB ext3 partition, then the same capacity should be visible in the phone's internal memory. However, after I rooted and restored my apps, I could only see about 100+ MB of free internal memory. Can anyone help me with this please? Am using the Opendesire Official Froyo 1.0c ROM that has A2SD built in
deepdevil said:
ROM Manager is probably the easiest way to do it, but I was stuck with EXACTLY the same problem when I rooted. I chose to flash AMON Ra recovery (don't have the link, but you can google it up), and then used that to create a 1024MB ext partition. Then used AMON Ra again to convert the ext partition to ext3. Hope that helps.
However, one question I have regarding neoKushan's explanation is that if I did create a 1024MB ext3 partition, then the same capacity should be visible in the phone's internal memory. However, after I rooted and restored my apps, I could only see about 100+ MB of free internal memory. Can anyone help me with this please? Am using the Opendesire Official Froyo 1.0c ROM that has A2SD built in
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure about what exact capacity for the internal memory after partitioning to ext3 but when I was on Opendesire before for the eclair 2.1 after I'm done flashing the rom and setting up the whole ap2sd+ my internal memory was 410mb. I used:
swap=0
ext=1024
fat32 is for the rest of the card
Then after upgrading to froyo rooted ROM, I'm only getting 140mb tops. I dunno... I'm too lazy now to get into it right now... maybe soon I'll play around with it again so I can get back my 410mb internal space with the ap2sd+
Stewge said:
Froyo A2SD is completely reliant on app developers. If the devs doesn't allow it in their app then it can't be moved to the SD card. This is really only a problem because Froyo is still new.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not 100% true, because you can change the default install location to SD card (via ADB if stock, and an app if rooted) and then you can have the vast majority of your apps on SD card even if they've not been updated for Froyo.
Regards,
Dave
I always thought the main negative with A2SD+ was that the cache was moved to the sdcard, which of course would wear out the sdcard (slightly) quicker.
Vice83 said:
So let me understand the names:
APPS2SD = Froyo Original (comes with official Froyo release)
APPS2SD+ = Hacked version which has been out since FRF50 leak?
EDIT: But if APPS2SD+ is so much better (keeps apps on ext3 partition), why to people keep using the original APPS2SD on their ROMs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not exactly!
Prior to Froyo, there were principally two versions of Apps2SD:
1. APPS2SD (or A2SD )
2. APPS2SD+ (or A2SD+)
The first would move your apps to the EXT partition, and the second would move your apps and the Dalvik cache to the EXT partition (see here for an explanation of the Dalvik cache).
Now we have Froyo, we have "native", or "Froyo" apps2sd as well, which does much the same as (1) above except that there is no EXT partition and the apps are on the FAT32 partition of your SD card.
Regards,
Dave
sparksalot said:
I always thought the main negative with A2SD+ was that the cache was moved to the sdcard, which of course would wear out the sdcard (slightly) quicker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dalvik cache is only actually updated when a new app is installed or and old app is updated, so whilst it will incur more writes to SD card, it probably isn't anywhere near as much as the apps write themselves to the FAT32 partition.
Regards,
Dave
Great summary, but can I format my 8 GB SD card as EXT3 and just forget about the FAT partition? I'm using Ubuntu on my laptop and my EXT4 /home partition is just fine for storing images, movies etc. I really don't get this ado about having an EXT and a FAT partition. Or am I wrong here?
quick question, if i move to another bigger sd card, can i copy my card and transfer it to the new one without losing the EXT, and the apps on it? would i need to make a image of the card? thanx for any advice.
make a backup of them first on your pc and copy them to the newly partitioned sdcard....ext to ext and fat to fat
So there is 3 versions?
1. Froyo A2sd = fat32 only = apps installed to sd
2. A2sd = fat32 + ext = apps installed to sd in ext partition
3. A2sd+ = fat32 + ext = apps installed and Dalvik cache moved to sd in ext partition
Is there any more variants? lol
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Hi,
I'm using OpenDesire 4.0.34 and have partitioned my sdcard to have 3 partitions:
1 - FAT32 14GB
2 - EXT3 512MB
3 - SWAP/CACHE 32MB
Now I have one question:
I have enabled the "Allow application moving" setting in Settings->CyanogenMod settings->Application settings and selected Install location: Internal the same screen.
My question is: I've installed a bunch of apps I often use and they used to leave me with only 19MB free in internal phone memory. Now it shows free internal memory around 120MB?! I've checked all the apps in the Manage applications and they are on the phone (at least it says so). I've mounted /sd-ext in recovery and all the apps are there...
Can anyone explain me what's goin' on here?
Thanks for your help!
Uhm... you do know that the partition of an ext3 sd-ext system is exactly to provide greater storage space for your applications, don't you?!
Guess not...
The /sd-ext is the mount point of my ext3 partition on the sd card?
Anyway, I didn't move any app to sd card (at least explicitily).
z7x8c9 said:
Guess not...
The /sd-ext is the mount point of my ext3 partition on the sd card?
Anyway, I didn't move any app to sd card (at least explicitily).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you use Ext3 partition youll get "A2SD+" and both your internal memory and your Ext3 partiton will become your new "internal" space on phone. So if the setting is set to "internal" the apps will go to ext3 and internal phone memory.
The internal phone memory counter however only show how much space you have on the internal phone memory where only small parts of the apps is installed.
I just removed my sdcard to see what would happen and all my apps are gone.
As such I assume they are all on the sdcard...
So when using the ext3 partition, how can I choose if an app is installed to the phone memory or to the sdcard? Is this possible at all?
Also, when I go to manage applications, I can "move to sd card" any app, but what does this do then?
I'm a bit confused...
Moved to Q&A as not development.
Please do not make new threads in development to ask questions
z7x8c9 said:
I just removed my sdcard to see what would happen and all my apps are gone.
As such I assume they are all on the sdcard...
So when using the ext3 partition, how can I choose if an app is installed to the phone memory or to the sdcard? Is this possible at all?
Also, when I go to manage applications, I can "move to sd card" any app, but what does this do then?
I'm a bit confused...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are getting apps2sd confused with the native android move to sd function!!, when you create an ext partition and use a rom that supports apps2sd, the developer has used a script that point the device to the /sd-ext as the INTERNAL STORAGE location, where as if you use the move to sd function in android, the apk's are move to the Androidsecure folder in the root of your sd card, as aposed to being stored in /data/app
I think I've got it...
On an a2sd enabled rom, I'm not required to do anything in order to install apps on the sdcard.
The move to sdcard button is the native android method to move apps to the sdcard.
I got confused because in OpenDesire in the Settings->CyanogenMod settings->Application settings there is an option to allow application moving, but all this does is enable me to move any app to the .android_secure using the move to sdcard button. It's got nothing to do with a2sd, right?
Thanks for your help!
Heya,
Today I flashed a fresh Defrost 6.1a (Which is said to support A2SD+), Flashed Gapps. So far so good.
I took my 8GB SD card and partitioned it in Ubuntu using Gpareted. I set the FAT32 partition first, then a ext3 partition (512MB) second.
Ubuntu read both with accurate sizes.
I put the card back into the phone and looked "SD card & phone storage", it no said my SD card is only 6.89GB, but the Internal phone storage was still low.
I decided to check a little more with Titanium Backup, which surprisingly said that my ext3 partition is only 256MB and is half full (talking about a fresh ROM here).
Can someone point me to where I did wrong?
Maybe format using ext4?
Put the ext partition first?
Reflash ROM after partitioning?
TNX
I have never got A2SD working either. I think you need to install a script or something. Here is a post about A2SD. Also, Android 2.2+ supports moving apps to SD anyway.
If you want more space to install apps, you can install one of AlphaRev's HBoot templates which can increase the /data partition, that's if you have S-Off.
I couldn't be bothered farting around with A2SD and so I did that instead.
CoreOxide said:
Maybe format using ext4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it will not make it work and will only increase your memory card's wear.
CoreOxide said:
Reflash ROM after partitioning?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you flashed the a2sd enabled ROM on the device which didn't have memory card prepared? I always thought such enterprises would end in a boot loop. Flash it again if this is the case.
GoogleJelly said:
Also, Android 2.2+ supports moving apps to SD anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not teh same thing!
erklat said:
How do you inspect if a2sd is working? Coz I think u r doing it wrong. Install Quick system info and check what it says under a2sd storage and if it slowly decreases when you install apps, which means it is working. You don't have to set default install location anywhere, the script does that for you.
What you are referring to here, is Froyo's built-in a2sd which requires the app to be optimized for app2sd, that's why only some of your apps seem to be on the SD card. Furthermore, it will transfer the apps to FAT32 partition, that you don't want for it to do since Android first loads apps which need to be loaded at startup, and afterwards it mounts the SD card, which will lead to some apps failing to start after boot.
a2sd tricks the phone into thinking that ext partition is it's internal memory. Froyo app2sd != a2sd script, don't confuse those two, they are not the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
hey everyone
i have rooted my phone and installed cyanongen mod7, the fact is that i followed the noobprrof tutorial, and as he stated i partitioned my sd card, i left 1 gb ( its a 4gb memory now its divided to 3 and 1 ), but i didnt know where did it go and why i did partition my sd card, i thought it would add up to internal memory but it didnt...
please can anyone tell me whats the purpose of paritioning it ?? and how can i let apps get installed on this paritioned part if its purpose is so...
i have also realised in the video that as he entered to phone storage, theres a part at the end name personal data that is not appearing in my phone... does this have to do anything with wut im asking ??
thanks in advance
making sd-ext is for ROMs which uses A2SD and it installs apps directly to that sd-ext. it's on sd card don't worry and those partitions are not visible in windows, only in linux.
thank u ferencz1
ok so most of the time when i move apps to sdcard the 3gb partition's free space decreases and not the 1gb partition...
1gb partition is the ext4
3gb is the fat32
isnt it supposed that the 1gb partition that decreases in free space ??
Titanium backup shows you a split - system rom, internal, sd card, sd ext ....
Look at that to see if your ext is working properly - yes is should decrease!
No need to 'move' apps to sd - its auto
Does your rom suport ext 4?? if not start again with ext 3!
BigMrB said:
Titanium backup shows you a split - system rom, internal, sd card, sd ext ....
Look at that to see if your ext is working properly - yes is should decrease!
No need to 'move' apps to sd - its auto
Does your rom suport ext 4?? if not start again with ext 3!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM7 does support ext4 right, don't know i use IC, but what you said about titanium backup is wrong, sometimes it doesn't say how much ext. there's. Quick System Info does although
TopGear63z said:
CM7 does support ext4 right, don't know i use IC, but what you said about titanium backup is wrong, sometimes it doesn't say how much ext. there's. Quick System Info does although
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use both... but titanium everyone has and to be fair always shows it for me
I partitioned my sd card(4gb) and I still have only 30mb of internal storage and i partitioned 1 gb. What is happening? can i somehow unpartition sd card? Or do i need to find some app or something?
Install an a2sd script, like mounts2sd, or flash a rom that has such a script integrated.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1716124Try INT2EXT4+
adrift21 said:
I partitioned my sd card(4gb) and I still have only 30mb of internal storage and i partitioned 1 gb. What is happening? can i somehow unpartition sd card? Or do i need to find some app or something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you should activate a2sd scripts using a terminal emulator
su
install a2sd
the above methods can work, but you can't flash them all...and you need to know what they actually do...
@OP first we need to know what rom you're running, because it may (and probably does) have an A2SD script already built in.
we also need to know what hboot you're on, because you can gain more internal memory by being on the right hboot...
after you partition, depending on your a2sd script, your phone won't always see your internal memory as "internal + sd-ext" partition, but your apps should be moved to sd-ext automatically.
further reading here. also recommend 'diskusage' app to browse your partitions.
also, this assumes that your have partitioned your sd card properly, use gparted or 4ext recovery only (NOT minitool partition wizard or clockworkmod recovery, uninstall rom manager if you have it)