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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
I'm bored because the UOT Kitchen is down so since I flashed CM7 only a couple of days ago, and pretty much like it, I thought I'd also now take the plunge and flash the CM7 r2 HBOOT but I have a couple of questions first:
1) I've read the instructions on Alpharev site but still confused by the partition table. Do I somehow have to change the various system/data/cache size before flashing the HBOOT, or am I right in thinking that when I flash the HBOOT this will automatically resize them as part of the flash process?
2) What's the benefit of flashing this particular HBOOT? Is it because it'll increase system partition due to the number of apps? (noticed much less available space since swapping from LeeDroid)
and (yes I know I said only "a couple" of questions but...)
3) % chance of bricking my phone???
1. It will automatically resize the partition tables.
2. More space on data partition for apps.
3. None if you do it properly and check the MD5 of the image file you've downloaded.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
I'm confused by the two methods shown on Alpharev. Method 1 says to donwload the image file and Fastboot flash the file and Method 2 says to add the renamed PB99IMG.zip to SD card and flash. With method 1 do I do I have to do any of the process on PC or all on the phone? With method 2 do I just boot into recovery and flash the .zip like I would flash a new ROM (i.e. "Install zip from SD Card">"Choose zip from SD Card") or do I have to go into Fastboot the same as in Method 1?
As you can tell, I'm confused, but this is something I want to get right, for obvious reasons. The instructions on the Alpharev are basic but need to be a bit better explained for noobs like me, I think.
Which of the 2 methods are the easiest/safest and could some one be kind enough to give a more precise walkthrough please?
xybadog said:
I'm confused by the two methods shown on Alpharev. Method 1 says to donwload the image file and Fastboot flash the file and Method 2 says to add the renamed PB99IMG.zip to SD card and flash. With method 1 do I do I have to do any of the process on PC or all on the phone? With method 2 do I just boot into recovery and flash the .zip like I would flash a new ROM (i.e. "Install zip from SD Card">"Choose zip from SD Card") or do I have to go into Fastboot the same as in Method 1?
As you can tell, I'm confused, but this is something I want to get right, for obvious reasons. The instructions on the Alpharev are basic but need to be a bit better explained for noobs like me, I think.
Which of the 2 methods are the easiest/safest and could some one be kind enough to give a more precise walkthrough please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think fastboot is the best way to do it.... Not one of your choices - Edit - sorry it is i'm just blind!!! you have more control because you run the commands
As the previous dude said CHECK MD5SUMS!! if they match you should be fine
You flash the hboot depending on your needs.... I use reflex s CM7 with CM7 r2 hboot and I have a huge internal memory
The fastboot method says I have to rename the image file for the HBOOT I downloaded. The file I downloaded was bravo_spl_cm7r2.img so what do I have to rename it to?
Jeez I'm confused @!*$!&
EDIT: Ignore me, I just figured it out
xybadog said:
The fastboot method says I have to rename the image file for the HBOOT I downloaded. The file I downloaded was bravo_spl_cm7r2.img so what do I have to rename it to?
Jeez I'm confused @!*$!&
EDIT: Ignore me, I just figured it out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For others, please write your solution here.
Swyped from Oxygen with Transparent XDA App
@matdroid - No solution, just me misreading the instructions on Alpharev :/
I'm in the fastboot.exe cmd screen (made sure that the HBOOT .img file is in the same folder as fastboot.exe) and when I enter "fastboot flash hboot bravo_alphaspl-cm7r2.img" I get the error "cannot load bravo_alphaspl-cm7r2.img". When I enter Fastboot on the phone do I then have to select "BootLoader"? before I can flash the HBOOT?
Any ideas?
EDIT: Done it I used the info here.
Do I just "Power Down" now that flashing the HBOOT is complete or "Reboot Bootloader" or what? (Hope I get an answer quick coz don't want to leave the phone attached to the laptop in fastboot mode all night lol.
OK, so just installed the CM7 HBOOT but while my internal memory is excellent (currently 154MB free) the system storage size repartitioned to 145MB as expected but is showing only 15MB free. Is this worryingly low? What could be hogging this space?
xybadog said:
OK, so just installed the CM7 HBOOT but while my internal memory is excellent (currently 154MB free) the system storage size repartitioned to 145MB as expected but is showing only 15MB free. Is this worryingly low? What could be hogging this space?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The less space on /system/ partition the better, apps will use only /data/.
Actually i have like 400kb free space on /system.
double post sorry
///delete please
xybadog said:
OK, so just installed the CM7 HBOOT but while my internal memory is excellent (currently 154MB free) the system storage size repartitioned to 145MB as expected but is showing only 15MB free. Is this worryingly low? What could be hogging this space?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you've got a lot of apps installed it shouldn't be that low (did you do a fresh instal after flashing the hboot? if not then..) .. do a nand backup of your rom, then do a full wipe (/mounts & storage/ format boot, system, data, cache; /advanced/ wipe dalvic cache) and install CM7 again.. you should have the full 145mb.. and if you don't (for some reason) you can always restore your backup ^_^
If you install MIUI-XJ it actually see's your sd-ext as internal memory.. so I have 2GB recognised as internal memory
I have quite a few user apps installed (about 60).Did full wipes after flashing the hboot then restored my nandroid backup.
xybadog said:
I have quite a few user apps installed (about 60).Did full wipes after flashing the hboot then restored my nandroid backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah then the 15mb free space sounds about right lol.. you could try A2SD if you need more space, for that you need an EXT parition on your SD.. just read this, I can't explain what it is and how to use it better than that lol
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
Already got A2SD with Ext3 partition. I've noticed though that the A2SD partition doesn't show up on Titanium Backup or System info like it does with other ROMs.
xybadog said:
Already got A2SD with Ext3 partition. I've noticed though that the A2SD partition doesn't show up on Titanium Backup or System info like it does with other ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Partition your sd card again (make sure to save all important data on it before) with recovery or gparted again and take care, you set correct sizes. When you use gparted:
1st create fat32 (primary) and then ext partition (also primary).
MatDrOiD said:
Partition your sd card again (make sure to save all important data on it before) with recovery or gparted again and take care, you set correct sizes. When you use gparted:
1st create fat32 (primary) and then ext partition (also primary).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got a new SD card on order so I'll wait till I get that and partition from new and see if that works.
I've been trying to learn up on apps to sd from reading several forums, and can't seem to find the right answers.
I've been rooting and ROMing for months now, but never had a need to push phones to SD. Now i think it's time, but have a few questions.
There's a Move to SD Card option under manager applications from the CM menu. How does that differ from the option to push apps to SD in titanium?
What's the story with ext3, ext4, and sd-ext partitions?
Do i need one of those, and if so which one?
I've noticed that when trying to put apps on sd using hte application settings, that i sometimes can't find the widget associated to an app. Is that normal?
Thnks for your help.
mangle
It's probably the same function. I haven't used Ti much though. I'm still a newbie with that app. The app itself has to support being put on the SD card in the manifest file for the app in order for you to be able to move it.
thanks for the reply. I guess i'm trying to figure out what the benefit of having an SDcard partition is when it comes to off loading apps to the SD card. There have been plenty of views on the thread. I'm sure someone out there has the knowledge.
The benefit is that it puts the bulk of the app on the the SD card to save space on your internal storage since those are usually smaller size than the SD card. It'll still save some data and prefs on internal storage but the apk for the app will be on the card. This is very useful for apps that are large like games which can sometimes be over 20MB.
You can read some of the developer docs here for more info on app2sd.
http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/install-location.html
Best way I have found to move apps to sd is to partition your sdcard with ext3 (ext4 if your kernel supports it) and then use the link2sd app from the market to move your apps, their lib files, and their dalvik-cache files to the sd-ext. Saves a ton of space on the /data and /data/data partitions.
Also if your running gingerbread you should check out jermaine151's ext4_no_data_limit mods. They take the tiny /data/data partition (usualy the cause of low space errors) and move it to the larger /data partition, eliminating the low space issue. It also converts the ext3 /data and /cache partitions to the faster ext4 file system, speeding up apps.
Dear XDA forum,
since a few roms i always get a "low on storage" warning, even after factory reset and flashing a new rom.
So i'd want to ask for a small summery of what storage there is inside the desire and on the sdcard and how to solve this problem
My sdcard is 16GB class 10. I didnt partition it manually (i think).
according to my desire it has effective 14.2gb.about 2gb are used and 4gb are free? that doesnt sound right.
so i guess its 2 partitions?
could anyone please tell me which mountpoint is which?
and how do i solve the low storage problem? do i need some a2sd script or do i have to more the internal storage to the sdcard?
which mountpoints do the scripts actarlly move?
i have no problem with repartitioning my sdcard. i was given to understand that u usually need a fat32 partition (for apps i guess) and an ext2/3 partition afterwards. some scripts even allow a swap partition at the end of the sdcard to be used as swap space. is that a good idea?
i know its a lot of questions :/ but i hope for some good answers :>
thanks & greetings,
soomon
my advice would be to backup your sd card and (re)partition using gparted, start from scratch because I don't know what your current configuration is, step 5 here
choose ext3/ext4 partition (max ~1.5GB) depending on rom requirements, most support ext4 and should be slightly faster. most roms don't need swap partition.
in simple terms, your space will get taken up by apps (apks), dalvik cache, app cache and app data. most custom roms will automatically move apks to your sd-ext partition. there are various different scripts which move the other bits around. generally it is better to keep app data on internal (/data partition)
regardless of which rom you choose, use an app like 'diskusage' to browse all your partitions, so you can work out where and how all your space is being use.
to maximise space you also need to be s-off and correct hboot for the rom (again should be stated within each rom thread, or search within it)
ok so the first partition on the sdcard will become my sd-ext which will replace the /data partition on the internal storage.
I guess is hould try data2sd then?
with a class 10 it should not get that slow and i get loads of space on that partition.
thanks for your help.
also use links2d,very usefull.....
hi again,
as i see in a terminal emulator by typing "df -h"
my data is 150mb and has 15mb left, so i guess i better moe the whole partition to the sdcard as i'd have to move all the apps to the sdcard anyway sooner or later.
my /system has only 5mb of 250mb left. is that a problem?
soomon said:
hi again,
as i see in a terminal emulator by typing "df -h"
my data is 150mb and has 15mb left, so i guess i better moe the whole partition to the sdcard as i'd have to move all the apps to the sdcard anyway sooner or later.
my /system has only 5mb of 250mb left. is that a problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
depends entirely what rom you're running if any, and what scripts it uses. basically you should be able to find some way to install many apps without running out of space (one of the main reasons for rooting in the first place ).
with your current setup, you could try something like link2sd to just move apps and dalvik to sd, see if you have enough space that way. you shouldnt have to manually 'move to sd', keeping them on 'internal' tricks them to sd-ext. (you can use something like 'diskusage' to check they're actually on the sd-ext)
the system partition is meant to be mostly full. free space on /system is wasted space.
you're still on stock hboot, which is why your data partition is so small.
if you install another rom, many of them have a smaller system size, so if you're s-off you can flash a different hboot to repartition your internal memory layout: your system size will reduce to roughly match your rom, and the saved space is converted into extra data space, see alpharev.nl for hboots.
e.g. if your rom system is 140MB, will fit nicely into cm7r2 hboot with 145MB system, and you get 287MB of data instead of 150MB. 287MB can be enough to store app data and dalvik cache if you don't have too many apps.
i refer you to these sets of guides for further reading, should explain a lot more, and better than i have...
thanks eddie,
i'm still s-on and stock hboot, but i use a custom rom: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1766550
i guess the problem is that LBE gues 4 and lookout together need over 22mb of space :/
i'll try link2sd then.
thanks!
hm.. when i try to install link2sd i get "insufficient storage available". that program is not even 1MB in size and i have 15mb of free space on the internal storage.. what can i do?
edit: i'll try to install it at home with an adb tool. maybe i have more luck with that.
follow instructions for a2sd with that rom (scroll down). this will move apps and dalvik to sd-ext automatically. or follow/search the thread for other methods, it's regularly discussed...
[not used link2sd, it should in theory do the same thing, but my advice would be to stick with the instructions as that's the recommended way if you really need/want to install link2sd...uninstall something else to make more space ]
ofc removing apps might help (althrough i only installed 2 or 3). but 15mb should be enough to install a 800kb software
gonna try to install some apps later after running a2sd.
thanks a lot man didnt see that information.
what are the differences and which one is the best?
they're just different ways of moving bits of apps and associated around between various partitions. each thread should give some kind of detail as to how they work. you can browse your partitions using something like 'diskusage' to see.
basically you have system and user apps, app data and dalvik cache. the scripts move different bits around and share them between internal memory /data and sd-ext. i've read that generally app data is better on nand, and needs a faster sd card if you want data on sd-ext. the sd-card also needs to be correctly partitioned regardless of script. ext4 should also in theory be a little faster than ext2 or ext3.
some scripts will appear to 'extend' your internal memory giving the impression of a larger data partition, but in reality it's no different as long as the partition is actually in use.
ultimately each script will give you more space for apps, some more than others. which is 'best' is dependent on a number of factors, sd-card class, rom, hboot, and how many apps you really need . you need to try a few to see any real difference for your setup. nandroid backup, delete the script from system/etc/init.d before flashing a new one.
personally, they're all the 'best' as long as i have 'enough' space for apps, and they aren't crashing or being really slow :good: