Develop Bugs

Help with sd ext partitioning

Ok so this all started when I switched from Cyanogen to Fresh 3.2. I used Amon Ra's Recovery to wipe and because it said to so a full wipe I figured I had to wipe evey option on Amon Ra's Recovery including sd ext. When I did That I got and error that said "Error: run "wipe ext" from abd!". I read somewhere that that wasn't going to be a problem so I continued loading the rom and it booted fine. I ran into problems later on when I tried installing Backbreakers. I got an error in the notification bar that said "installation unsuccessful". I later got the same message when trying to install Angry Birds. I've learned from other threads that those games should work fine on Fresh's roms. I now have the newest Fresh rom and still have the same problem. Just recently I found out that I shouldn't have wiped sd ext partition if I didn't have one setup. Now, I never set one up myself, but maybe one was setup automatically through one of the roms I had used. Now I want to fix the problem with my Sd ext partition (I know I'm not using The term correctly because I no nothing about it) and find out what it does. If anyone could help me understand what an sd ext partition is and how to solve my problem I would be very thankful.
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You can set it up in Ra recovery. It's very easy. Make sure you back up your sd card to your computer cuz partitioning will wipe it.
Download DarkTremor from HERE
Select Partition SD card from the recovery menu
The first option is for a swap file which we dont really need so set it to 0MB
The next is for your ext partition. 256MB should be plenty but if you've got a large SD card feel free to go higher.
After that's done, you can upgrade it from ext2 to ext3 which isnt necessary.
Boot up the phone or mount sd card from recovery and place the DarkTremor file you downloaded on your sd card and flash as you would a rom.
After the phone boots up you can open a Terminal Emulator and type:
su (then press enter)
You should see a # symbol. Now type:
a2sd cachesd
This will move dalvik cache to your sd card and free up even more memory. Just remember to wipe ext partition before flashing a new rom and I believe you'll need to flash the DarkTremor file again after you flash a new rom. Your ext partition will remain. Hope this helps. If you have any more questions most can be answered in the DarkTremor thread or feel free to PM me.

Wow thanks for the great info. I'm going to do this hopefully it will fix my problem. What is an sd partition for anyways or what does it do? I have the 6gb sd card that came with my evo goe much space should I put for my ext partition? Thanks for all of the help.
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StrummingLevi said:
Wow thanks for the great info. I'm going to do this hopefully it will fix my problem. What is an sd partition for anyways or what does it do? I have the 6gb sd card that came with my evo goe much space should I put for my ext partition? Thanks for all of the help.
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The ext partition is a physical memory area in your sd card which is formated the same as the internal memory of the phone. Not like the rest of the sdcard. The limits are set on the rest of the card so the stuff in the ext with it's sequential byte order won't be over-written by the pc-like low-high byte order of the rest. Stuff can be logically assigned to the ext partition by the OS. At startup a find is issued on the partition, if it's there then automatically Fresh's / tremor's ap2sd "program" puts portions of applications on the sdcard. You can manually augment what gets put into the ext partition by issuing commands. Aps2sd was important on devices with limited internal memory.

StrummingLevi said:
Wow thanks for the great info. I'm going to do this hopefully it will fix my problem. What is an sd partition for anyways or what does it do? I have the 6gb sd card that came with my evo goe much space should I put for my ext partition? Thanks for all of the help.
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Forgot to mention, its recommended you use a class 4 SD card or faster. I'm not certain what the consequences are but when I ran a2sd on my G1 with a class 2, the phone would crash.
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[Q] Question about SD card partitions

Hi, I just replaced my stock 8GB SD card with a 32GB card. In the process I set up a 2GB partition in Amon Ra recovery (ext-3). Now my question is - when I move apps to SD card, they seem to install in the larger partition and not the 2GB partition. How do I get the system to use the partition I created?

peterpunn said:
Hi, I just replaced my stock 8GB SD card with a 32GB card. In the process I set up a 2GB partition in Amon Ra recovery (ext-3). Now my question is - when I move apps to SD card, they seem to install in the larger partition and not the 2GB partition. How do I get the system to use the partition I created?
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Right, using the built in app2sd feature stores apps in the android_secure folder, which is in the FAT32 partition of your SD card. To get the apps to install to the ext3 partition, you need to use Dark Tremors a2sd script. That method basically tricks your EVO into thinking that the ext3 partition is a part of the internal memory, to keep it simple. I would link you, but I'm on the xda app. A search of dark tremor a2sd should point you in the right direction. Some roms come with DT a2sd already installed, and you just need to run the terminal commands.
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Yes im having some issues with that as well have the console gave the command to put on partition but not working...
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ricardod1 said:
Yes im having some issues with that as well have the console gave the command to put on partition but not working...
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Are you using dark tremors a2sd? What commands did you enter? What Rom are you on? What format is your partition?(ext2 or ext3). Thanks.
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k2buckley said:
Right, using the built in app2sd feature stores apps in the android_secure folder, which is in the FAT32 partition of your SD card. To get the apps to install to the ext3 partition, you need to use Dark Tremors a2sd script. That method basically tricks your EVO into thinking that the ext3 partition is a part of the internal memory, to keep it simple. I would link you, but I'm on the xda app. A search of dark tremor a2sd should point you in the right direction. Some roms come with DT a2sd already installed, and you just need to run the terminal commands.
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Great - thanks a lot. I flashed the dark tremor zip and ran the commands from Terminal and looks like it worked. Most of the internal memory is freed up now. Any way to actually view the contents of the ext partition?

A2SD questions

If I do not have a partition for A2SD installed, and I run an a2sd script to enable it on a ROM, and move an app to the SD, does it still get fully moved to the SD? And can someone shed a little more light on this situation, with no partition space, but moving apps 2 sd/
Also, if I move an app to an sd, but do not wipe the sd:ext partition or sd card, but wipe all data partitions, will the app + its data be there if i flash a new rom?

i never wipe sd ext and all my apps are there for recovery once my new rom is up and running. As far as A2SD, i think you have to be partitioned for it to work. And the partition sdext2 must be upgraded to ext3. here is a walkthrough on how to partition your sd card... very easy this is how i did it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1158993&highlight=partition+sd+card
Also if you are not using aomn_ra recovery id suggest using that instead of clockwork. some roms or kernels recommend flashing only with amon_ra

Here's the Amon-RA recovery which you can still flash CWM recoveries if you choose to http://www.mediafire.com/?6eo9jo7fdazp2 you may also want to read the thread on partitioning your SD card mentioned above

dbenney said:
i never wipe sd ext and all my apps are there for recovery once my new rom is up and running. As far as A2SD, i think you have to be partitioned for it to work. And the partition sdext2 must be upgraded to ext3. here is a walkthrough on how to partition your sd card... very easy this is how i did it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1158993&highlight=partition+sd+card
Also if you are not using aomn_ra recovery id suggest using that instead of clockwork. some roms or kernels recommend flashing only with amon_ra
Click to expand...
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Some say ext 3 deteriorates the life of your sd card because it's constantly writing. I use ext 2 and it works perfectly.
Aside from that you must have a ROM and kernel that supports a2sd as well as swap if you choose to use it. Simply flashing the a2sd script won't work if neither conditions are met
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Naturesretard said:
Aside from that you must have a ROM and kernel that supports a2sd as well as swap if you choose to use it. Simply flashing the a2sd script won't work if neither conditions are met
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OOPS forgot to mention that part. Aren't most non stock roms set up for a2sd? I haven't run into one yet that wasnt. I was under the impression that it had to be upgraded to ext3.

Ok so if I move my SMS app to ext-2 or ext-3, then if I wipe it all but that, and flash a new rom, they should be there on the new rom?

It does not have to be ext 3 to use a2sd. And some roms don't support it or they just don't have it installed
It would still be there, but the symlink won't I believe
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symlink? What is that?

When you move apps to the partition, which is automatic, it creates a symlink in the drawer telling the down where the app is
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And how does that have to do with its data?

Basically DT a2sd just sets up sym links from the normal place the apps folder would be to a location on your ext2/3 partition on your SD card. From the perspective of Android it just thinks the folder is in the normal location it is supposed to be then (even though under the covers the underlying Linux OS is actually reading/writing the SD card). This applies to both the apps plus there data if they store it in the normal location (some apps write their data to the normal part of the SD card in which case the data would still go there).
So, if you switch ROMs and that ROM has A2SD support, it should detect the SD-Ext partition and re-setup this sym link for you when you install the ROM and you will then have all your apps back (plus any uninstallable apps the ROM includes should go there). If your ROM doesn't support A2SD out of the box, as long as the kernel supports ext2/3 (whichever you formatted your SD card with) you should be able to flash DT a2sd after you flash the ROM and then run the a2sd script as root to set up the link to put the apps on the SD-ext partition again (I think this will preserve the apps that are there, but honestly haven't done it myself so you should make a nandroid of the SD-ext partition before doing this if you want to make sure you won't have to re-install your apps).
Hope this helps some.

Why do I need to partition my sd card for ICS roms?

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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
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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.
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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?
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Yes, that's what I think.
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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 .
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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
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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?
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It can be done later.

Captain_Throwback said:
It can be done later.
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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.
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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/

Partition

Can anyone help me in partitioning a 16gb class 10 micro SD card for the stock rom on this lovely optimus v?

What are you having trouble with?
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I have no Idea what I'm doing I go to recovery and press partition card and pick 1 or 2gb and it doesn't affect the phone. I need more memory so I can have more apps and also in low memory I can't get texts so its kind of a necessity. I'd like if possible a walkthrough in simplest terms and if possible avoiding adb cause it confuses me
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The easiest thing is to put the card in a computer, copy anything off of it onto a folder on the computer, then use a partition editor program on your computer.
If you can get to that point try a program such as gparted to partition the sd card. 1-2 gb in ext2 or ext4 format and the 2nd partition will be the remaining space in fat32 format.
If you Google something like "partition sdext android"someone may have a tutorial with pictures. I'd just find instructions that are the easiest to understand.
You are on the right track though. As you've found out partition creator in clockwork recovery doesn't work well.
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sneakysnake16 said:
I have no Idea what I'm doing I go to recovery and press partition card and pick 1 or 2gb and it doesn't affect the phone. I need more memory so I can have more apps and also in low memory I can't get texts so its kind of a necessity. I'd like if possible a walkthrough in simplest terms and if possible avoiding adb cause it confuses me
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Click to collapse
use cannibal recovery... i know it works...
http://forums.androidcentral.com/op...-touch-v2-0-2-latest-update-08-13-2012-a.html

clodfelterac said:
use cannibal recovery... i know it works...
http://forums.androidcentral.com/op...-touch-v2-0-2-latest-update-08-13-2012-a.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just curious- what filesystem does it format to?

Uh, no recovery will fix "it does not do anything" "problem". You need to actually install/flash some sort of a2sd script so that the partition is used (unless the ROM already includes that functionality). Like, S2E, Link2SD, data2sd, move to sd-ext or whatever.

If you are planning to use Link2SD then go here: http://androidforums.com/optimus-v-all-things-root/364833-link2sd-you-tutorial.html
This will explain how to partition your uSD card with "Mini Tool Partitioning Wizard" and how to use Link2SD.
I have over 120 apps downloaded and installed and still have over 80MB of space on the system thanks to Link2SD.
I partitioned the uSD card with the Xionia recovery (2GB), then just reformatted it to FAT32 with Mini Tool Partitioning Wizard. This is the easiest way to partition the uSD card, it's fool proof. If you already tried to partition you might want to check it out with Mini Tool .. first to see what your uSD card looks like now.
All recovery's format the partition to ext.3 which is not usable on every ROM. FAT32 can be used with every ROM except ICS
Keep in mind not every app should be moved and linked. Widget apps, Titanium Backup, ROM Manager, etc.
If an app doesn't work properly while it's linked, just remove the link and move it back to the system.
Mini Tool Partitioning Wizard can be found over at Cnet