Develop Bugs

partitioning the sd card

I partitioned my sd while in recovery, I did 32mb swap 1024mb ext 2 and the rest fat 32. I then did the ext2 to ext3, then did ext3 to ext4 in the hopes of getting app2sd to work. but now all my nandroid backups are gone as well as everything I had on the card. when I boot into recovery and do msusb it has nothing in it and if i try to do a restore I get an error that says "E:couldn't open directory /sdcard/nandroid." I can still boot into roms if I put it on the root of the sd card, and i can still use root apps and if i use a file explorer in android the stuff on the phones internal rom is still there, so i guess what im trying to ask is what the heck did i do by partitioning the sdcard?

It's weird that you weren't notified, but partitioning the sdcard for app2sd is SUPPOSED to wipe the sdcard. But it IS a bug if it didn't warn you all data was going to be erased.

I had the same issue last night, luckily I figured partitioning "might" lose my data so I backed it up on my comp first.
Well I was right, it totally wiped the card. Glad I made a backup.

Development Idea

Well here is my idea. Could we possibly partition the FAT32 part of our phones into more then one partition.
Saying like we could have a few FAT32 based partition, A Primary, One for roms/patches, then etc.
That way when we format the primary, it doesn't delete the roms we could flash. So we didn't need to hook up the phone to the computer to copy roms back over.
I know Recover firmware would need to support this. But it's just a thought.

I'm not really an expert at this, but doing a full wipe and installing a new ROM doesn't wipe the contents of your SD Card. Are you saying partition the phone's internal storage? What's wrong with just storing the ROMs on your SD card?

BlueScreenOfTOM said:
I'm not really an expert at this, but doing a full wipe and installing a new ROM doesn't wipe the contents of your SD Card. Are you saying partition the phone's internal storage? What's wrong with just storing the ROMs on your SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I meant like partition the SD Card into multiple partitions, So when you erase the SD:Ext and the FAT32, the ROM Partition doesn't go with it.
So example
SD:Ext - Partition 1
FAT32 - Partition 2 (Default SD Storage)
FAT32 - Partition 3 (ROM Storage, Backup Files)
So when you partition the SD Card though the Recovery it will only format Partition 1 and Partition 2, So if you left somewhere wtihout your computer and tweaking your phone, You could use partition 3 and access your ROM files and backups without going though loops for them.

What recovery are you using. I'm still not sure what you are talking about? I have no problems accessing my roms and kernels. You can do it plenty of ways and not do what you are talking about..
Use root explorer. Can transfer from download folder or if you made a certain folder on SD card for them you can copy paste them to the root directory on SD card if you use RA recovery. Clockwork you can go through every folder looking for the zip using clockwork unlike RA recovery which needs it to be in root of SD card. Your making it hard on yourself..
Why would you want to wipe fat32 and partion?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Removing EXT3 Question

I've got an EXT3 partition with stuff installed on it and I'd like to get rid of it. Is there an easy way to copy the files that are in it back to the main FAT32? Or will I need to wipe the entire card and reinstall all of the apps?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=882758
With the new OxygeN HBOOT their is no longer a need for ext3 (in fact its slower), So to remove it you will need to download something like Gparted to manage the partition tables on your sdcard.
Delete the ext3 partition and completely reformat the card to fat32
Then install the new Oxygen HBOOT,
Then wipe cache's /all,
Then install OxygeN.

4rm45 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=882758
With the new OxygeN HBOOT their is no longer a need for ext3 (in fact its slower), So to remove it you will need to download something like Gparted to manage the partition tables on your sdcard.
Delete the ext3 partition and completely reformat the card to fat32
Then install the new Oxygen HBOOT,
Then wipe cache's /all,
Then install OxygeN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This has nothing to do with the question of the thread opener.
jordan.harris01 said:
I've got an EXT3 partition with stuff installed on it and I'd like to get rid of it. Is there an easy way to copy the files that are in it back to the main FAT32? Or will I need to wipe the entire card and reinstall all of the apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use this app to do this:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.a0soft.gphone.app2sd&feature=search_result
Your rom still thinks you have the option "move to sd", because this is according to the fat32 partition of your sd card. In application settings android can only choose between "internal storage" or "fat 32 (sd card)".

[Q] Moving to a new sd card

hello,
first of all i would like to point out that i have searched for this topic and have tried a few solutions, but it didnt work..
here it goes..
so im switching to a new sd, and just tried to swap the cards but when i do that im either stuck in bootloop,
or if i reflash i have nothing installed on the phone (and i dont mean apps, bcs there isnt a lot of them and i dont mind reinstalling),
for example when i press settings it says it is not installed lol..
there is also nothing on the homescreens, and when the screen locks i cannot unlock it bcs there are no buttons..
Its a 16GB class 6 card with a fat 32, and ext3 (1024mb), and a ext4 (768mb), as is requred by some roms (feel free to correct me if im wrong)
The formatting was done by minitool, as i cannot go into disk drive mode to do it with gparted (with the new card inserted almost nothing works)
the old one is a 4gig with a etx3(1024mb) and works normally when i put it back, although sometimes it needs reflashing..
i have tried mirroring the old cards folder to the new one, via sd card reader, but it doesnt solve the problem...it stays the same..
any and all help is appreciated

You should do a nandroid backup of your rom, copy entire FAT32 over to the new card and then do a nandroid restore.
dusty_m said:
Its a 16GB class 6 card with a fat 32, and ext3 (1024mb), and a ext4 (768mb), as is requred by some roms (feel free to correct me if im wrong)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was used by scripts which are not developed for about a year and thus obsolete. No mainstream script requires that.

Thx (hvala
will try it later on today....do i need any ext partitions?
is ext3 enough?

dusty_m said:
Thx (hvala
will try it later on today....do i need any ext partitions?
is ext3 enough?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is enough, but the question remains whether it will work if you used that same dual ext partitions setup on your old 4GB card. I'm not sure, but maybe someone could clarify that. Ext partition is needed, otherwise you'll end in a bootloop - especially if some vital parts of the rom were symlinked there.

I presume you have cwm recovery installed.
If so format your card with SDformatter V 3.1. TO FAT 32 with size adjustment on.
This will format all your card to fat32,
Put the card back in phone and partition the card from within cwm recovery,
Select size of ext partition (1024kb is usually big enough) select 0 for swap.
Ext partitions are used to save on internal memory by moving apps ( (and sometimes data and dalvik cache aswell) to the ext partition and using it as if it was internal memory.
Hope this helps...

i have used only ext3 on my old card...so i guess the same would work on the new one....
so if i got this right, i can restore the old rom via nandroid...and i guess flashing something else in the future should also work...

CWM Recovery is at version 5.0.2.6 at the moment this partitions sdext with ext3 which works fine on nearly all roms. There is a 4Ext Recovery available which can convert ext3 to ext4 if required, just do a search for it if you need it, but you should be fine with ext3.

i have AmonRA
edit: am i able to to the same with it?
i remember it has the format option in the menu...
also 1024kb?
i have 1024mb lol

Yea I presume so, I use cwm!. Just follow the instructions for your rom..and create the partition if required

The restore thingy didnt help, ima still stuck at boot logo, or if i try another restore, i manage to boot, but again nothing is installed (settings and stuff)
will try the reformat and see how it goes...
why cant i just flash a brand new rom to this empty card?

SD card refuses to format and applications frequently crash

As the title suggests my SD card (Sandisk class 6 16GB) has been acting up as of late. Apps frequently crash en masse (Using Sandvold's ICS rom with A2SDX). When I put a new rom onto the root of the SD card and delete 0.16.1 (since it's broken), the new rom remains when flicking through windows on my desktop but when I enter recovery, the new rom (and any new folders I make- Which as soon as I make on the desktop and click to go into them, they're full of gibberish files and folders which when clicked spark up "Can't be opened" errors) disappear and 0.16.1 has reappeared (As if I hadn't touched the SD card at all). I try and counter the mass app crashing by restoring a previous backup but when it reaches "Restoring SD-ext" it brings up "Error while formatting /SD-ext" (But strangely rom installations flash to SD-Ext just fine without an error) (I'm using 4EXT recovery). Strangely the backup acts fine even with this error (but around every 3 days after a restore or update of apps, they crash again). If I try and format the Fat32 partition on Windows 7, regardless of a quick format or slow one, it always comes back with "unable to format" (This error occurs with both third party programs and window's Disk manager/explorer).
Is this a sign my SD card is dead/dying or is it just a fluke and can be fixed?
Any help is appreciated.

Try partitioning and formatting with 4ext. It is supposed to be stable. But all roads finally lead to gparted which is the standard linux tool. There is a guide in my signature.

like handy says use 4ext recovery. Make ur sdcard all fat32. in recovery go to
tools/partition sdcard/ remove all partitions and start from scratch/
skip
skip
skip
this will make sdcard fat 32
then in tools format sdcard (twice)
this will definitly wipe it clean. then partition ur sdcard to whatever ROM requires. this should sort out sdcard. try installing ur rom without restoring any backup coz ur backup could also be the problem.
PS: try another rom, not ICS :sly:
Sent from my HTC Desire

Tried formatting using 4EXT. Strangely it tells me the format was a success but files etc are still on the card. Tried Gparted and it seems to remove the Ext 4 partition and format the entire card but when it reloads the drives, the partition is back and so are my files. It seems there's no means to actually format it.

Just buy a new card, it is cheap