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.

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.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

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.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

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.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Sent from my SUPERSONIC

[Q] Can't make apps move to SD card

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?
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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?
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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.
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Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

[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?

EXT4 SD card partition not appearing or working

Hi,
I have upgraded from 2.3.7 to a JB MOD. I prepared my SD card in gparted with a 500mb FAT32 and the rest as EXT4. I have inserted the SD card and 'setting\storage' only sees the in built 150MB EXT and the 500MB FAT32 on the SD Card but no 3GB EXT4 partition. In terminal I ran a2sd install and on the reboot it said 'optimising' apps and I thought it was moving apps. However, when I install apps from the store they are installed on the in built RAM.
Using app2sd I can't move any apps I used to be able to on 2.3.7.
Can someone please advise?
Thanks
Paul

csjjpm said:
Hi,
I have upgraded from 2.3.7 to a JB MOD. I prepared my SD card in gparted with a 500mb FAT32 and the rest as EXT4. I have inserted the SD card and 'setting\storage' only sees the in built 150MB EXT and the 500MB FAT32 on the SD Card but no 3GB EXT4 partition. In terminal I ran a2sd install and on the reboot it said 'optimising' apps and I thought it was moving apps. However, when I install apps from the store they are installed on the in built RAM.
Using app2sd I can't move any apps I used to be able to on 2.3.7.
Can someone please advise?
Thanks
Paul
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is your most likely scenario because it happened to me: If you created your partition on a PC, for some reason it doesn't work properly (well at least in my case). Then the phone doesn't read the SD card properly. What you should do is upgrade clockswork mod recovery on your phone to the most recent version and create the EXT version using the recovery console by booting into recovery.

Thanks
iyf said:
Here is your most likely scenario because it happened to me: If you created your partition on a PC, for some reason it doesn't work properly (well at least in my case). Then the phone doesn't read the SD card properly. What you should do is upgrade clockswork mod recovery on your phone to the most recent version and create the EXT version using the recovery console by booting into recovery.
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Click to collapse
Hi,
thanks for the reply. I'll see what version I have. It is probably old as it is 15 months since I did the CM 7 install to my phone.
Paul

it should be 500mb ext4 and the rest fat 32, also 1gb ext4 is recommended and dont use ClockWorkMod recovery to partition sdcard, use 4ext recovery instead. CWM makes bad partitions
Sent from my HTC Desire

Is there a specific way around?
jmcclue said:
it should be 500mb ext4 and the rest fat 32, also 1gb ext4 is recommended and dont use ClockWorkMod recovery to partition sdcard, use 4ext recovery instead. CWM makes bad partitions
Sent from my HTC Desire
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Hi,
I read the FAT32 should be first and the EXT4 the rest. Is that correct?
Paul

csjjpm said:
Hi,
I read the FAT32 should be first and the EXT4 the rest. Is that correct?
Paul
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Click to collapse
yh. i was only quoting coz u said u had 500mb fat 32 and 3gb ext4. the fat 32 should have the biggest size not ext4
Sent from my HTC Desire

jmcclue said:
yh. i was only quoting coz u said u had 500mb fat 32 and 3gb ext4. the fat 32 should have the biggest size not ext4
Sent from my HTC Desire
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I've redone my card (3GB FAT32/500MB EXT4) but my in built memory seems to run out of space for apps quickly. I thought the SD-Card EXT4 partition was supposed to add more space for apps to the phone.
Is this not true?

csjjpm said:
I've redone my card (3GB FAT32/500MB EXT4) but my in built memory seems to run out of space for apps quickly. I thought the SD-Card EXT4 partition was supposed to add more space for apps to the phone.
Is this not true?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what JB did u install? theres acouple i think that u have to activate the a2sd by doing the following in terminal emulator
su
a2sd install
y
n
y
then ur phone reboots and a2sd is activated and apps will go to ur ext4 partition
Sent from my HTC Desire

have done that once
jmcclue said:
what JB did u install? theres acouple i think that u have to activate the a2sd by doing the following in terminal emulator
su
a2sd install
y
n
y
then ur phone reboots and a2sd is activated and apps will go to ur ext4 partition
Sent from my HTC Desire
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Click to collapse
Hi,
I am using Elk759 JB ROM. I did run the a2sd in terminal after redoing the partitions. It reboots and says optimising apps 1/...79 (whatever number). I can't tell if it has moved anything onto the EXT4 partition of my SD card.
I will boot into a live linux and take a look on that partition.
If it isn't working is there anything I can do?
Thanks
Paul

That seems to have worked as I've installed loads of apps and it hasn't complained about space.
Thanks for all your help.
Paul