Partition alignment. - G2 and Desire Z Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I just scanned my partitions with 4EXT Recovery and it said my fat32 partition isnt perfectly aligned. I was wonder can i copy everything in there onto my computer and then partition my SDcard then paste back after I repartition it?
and how to do i fix the 1st ext partition that isnt aligned?
Thanks.

From what I understand you don't have to copy your sdcard to your computer. It can realign it WITHOUT deleting the data on it. Of course it scares the holy crap out of me but I'll try it - once I back up my sdcard just i case. This will take a minute, 8 GB is a lot to transfer.
Maybe someone else here has tried it and can vouch that it works properly.

Related

Help me fix my SD Card

Hi there,
A couple days ago, I had a usb brick. I quickly fixed it, everything got back to normal except for my sd card : I think it's corrupted. Why do I say this ? Because I've got another sd card, and it's working perfectly. I can't get to format it via Gparted. It says the procedure failed, there was an issue and i couldn't format it. In addition, even though it's a 4GB card, it's recognized as a 3gb card.
When I try to use it in recovery mode, it says :
Code:
E:Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 (or /dev/block/mmcblk0)
But when I use the other card, nothing weird happens.
I'd like you guys to help me repair my SD card.
kev94 said:
Hi there,
A couple days ago, I had a usb brick. I quickly fixed it, everything got back to normal except for my sd card : I think it's corrupted. Why do I say this ? Because I've got another sd card, and it's working perfectly. I can't get to format it via Gparted. It says the procedure failed, there was an issue and i couldn't format it. In addition, even though it's a 4GB card, it's recognized as a 3gb card.
When I try to use it in recovery mode, it says :
Code:
E:Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 (or /dev/block/mmcblk0)
But when I use the other card, nothing weird happens.
I'd like you guys to help me repair my SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Googled and found this: http://www.ehow.com/how_4850280_repair-corrupt-sd-card.html
1. link your desire with pc
2. enter "FASTBOOT Mode", it will display "HBOOT USB PLUG"
3. open dos windows and type adb shell
4. type fastboot oem rebootRUU
5. type fastboot oem enableqxdm 0
and retry
I already tried this, but it didn't work out ! I'm out of ideas...
So it says it's a 3GB card? You had an 1GB Ext partiton before?
If yes, that's where your 1GB's gone.
Recommended is to repartition your card again from scratch - Using Either GParted, EASEUS or MiniTool partiton.
Backup everything from it, then delete all partitions - and re-create them.
davebugyi said:
So it says it's a 3GB card? You had an 1GB Ext partiton before?
If yes, that's where your 1GB's gone.
Recommended is to repartition your card again from scratch - Using Either GParted, EASEUS or MiniTool partiton.
Backup everything from it, then delete all partitions - and re-create them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, it's 3.7 GB and not 4GB (I guess it's normal though). And yes, the missing space was from the ext partition. Thanks god, the first thing I did was a backup of my SD card. Yet, I tried to format the card with Gparted (I'm currently running Ubuntu 10.10) but as I said above the procedure fails.
Then, I formatted in Windows, and I managed to create a 3Gb fat32 partition recognized in Gparted.
But how am I supposed to get my missing space back if this space isn't recognized in Gparted ?
I'm using Ubuntu 11.04 (natty) - and i'm able to mount my EXT partiton of the SD Card.
As I said, don't just format the card, but delete all partitions and re-create them, then format them.
Also, if your card is messed up badly, maybe you have to use the termina with commands to recover the ext partition.
Always format SD cards with the "SD Formatter 3.0" from the SD Association: http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter_3/
This little programs formats the whole card (full capacity, erasing all other partitions) in FAT32 meeting all SD specifications.
Furthermore it alligns the LBA parameters (virtual heads, cylinders etc) and the fat32 parameters with the internal structures of the flash memory (eraseblocks), so that fat32 clusters never overlap eraseblocks. This speeds up write performance (in my case about 50%! ).
There is no better tool to format SD cards.
After that you can resize (But don't move it, just trim the end. The free space in front of the FAT32 partition is part of the alignment) the FAT 32 partition with gparted and generate an ext partition in the free space.
Finally one should run the ext alignment script (it's a zip for recovery mode) from baadnwz homepage (http://www.baadnwz.eu/2011/05/align-your-sdcard-fat-and-ext-partiton_16.html) to align also the ext4 partition to the flash cells.
boot up into android (with any ROM) and go to settings > storage > format SD card
this should restore whole SD as FAT32
funny enough Android could do it, while Gparted could not (gparted didnt see my whole sd, it didnt see the ext partition)
davebugyi said:
I'm using Ubuntu 11.04 (natty) - and i'm able to mount my EXT partiton of the SD Card.
As I said, don't just format the card, but delete all partitions and re-create them, then format them.
Also, if your card is messed up badly, maybe you have to use the termina with commands to recover the ext partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---> As I said too , Gparted fails to create partitions. It displays a "warning" icon by the sd icon. Unless I'm a fool, I can't get any further there.
hypophysis said:
Always format SD cards with the "SD Formatter 3.0" from the SD Association: http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter_3/
This little programs formats the whole card (full capacity, erasing all other partitions) in FAT32 meeting all SD specifications.
Furthermore it alligns the LBA parameters (virtual heads, cylinders etc) and the fat32 parameters with the internal structures of the flash memory (eraseblocks), so that fat32 clusters never overlap eraseblocks. This speeds up write performance (in my case about 50%! ).
There is no better tool to format SD cards.
After that you can resize (But don't move it, just trim the end. The free space in front of the FAT32 partition is part of the alignment) the FAT 32 partition with gparted and generate an ext partition in the free space.
Finally one should run the ext alignment script (it's a zip for recovery mode) from baadnwz homepage (http://www.baadnwz.eu/2011/05/align-your-sdcard-fat-and-ext-partiton_16.html) to align also the ext4 partition to the flash cells.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---> Sounds great and geeky, gonna give it a try tomorrow afternoon (CET +2 here)
dzumagos said:
boot up into android (with any ROM) and go to settings > storage > format SD card
this should restore whole SD as FAT32
funny enough Android could do it, while Gparted could not (gparted didnt see my whole sd, it didnt see the ext partition)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---> Yeah, Gparted is a bit lazy here.... Gonna try it if hypophysis's method doesn't work out. I gotta admit this kinda problem is pretty disturbing and pisses me off so much.... Waiting forward to get it over with.
Anyway, thanks a lot for helping me, you're good people here !
Well, I tried hypophysis's method. It formatted successfuly. But as you said, I had to run Gparted again in order to create an Ext partition next to the fat 32 one. But I couldn't --> It says it couldn't find the "first sector" I guess, and it couldn't determine the device specifications, it wasn't able to perform everything he wanted. Actually it recognized the whole sd card, but wasn't able to do anything with it. I couldn't unmount it or mount it....
I'm stuck at square 1 Gonna try to perform dzumagos's method later.

How to backup and reformat an SD card with apps2sd?

Hi,
I'm running Cyanogenmod 7 on my HTC Desire with Apps2SD.
I was deleting an 800MB file off my phone when it was mounted on my PC and then my PC crashed mid-way through deleting the file and now I can't see the file that way being deleted but the space shows it's not deleted...
And I've also been getting a lot of "SD Card Damaged" notifications on my Phone (reboot fixes it) that were unrelated to the above.
So I wanted to reformat my SD Card (or fix disk errors or something).
I've got a 14GB FAT32 partition and and a 1GB Ext3 partition for apps.
Is it as simple as copying the contents from the FAT32 and Ext3 and then using gparted to erase and format a 1GB Ext3 and the rest FAT32?
(I'm running Linux - Ubuntu 11.04)
Should I do it by MicroSD>SD Card Adapter>PC
Or MicroSD>Phone>USB Cable>PC?
Thanks
Ano8 said:
Is it as simple as copying the contents from the FAT32 and Ext3 and then using gparted to erase and format a 1GB Ext3 and the rest FAT32?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it is.
Ano8 said:
Should I do it by MicroSD>SD Card Adapter>PC
Or MicroSD>Phone>USB Cable>PC?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Either would work fine, though I have heard of some folks having issues with the SD>Phone method...
What If I change the size of the Ext3 partition?
If I change it from a 1GB to a 700MB will it adjust and work fine?
Ano8 said:
What If I change the size of the Ext3 partition?
If I change it from a 1GB to a 700MB will it adjust and work fine?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should be fine... as long as you don't require a 1gb partition on your rom
And I would do it by MicroSD>SD Card Adapter>PC
With a card reader micro sd card adapter, ubuntu sometimes complains the sd card is read-only. If it's so, start nautilus with root rights:
Code:
gksudo nautilus
Now you can copy the content.
Thanks, copying from SD Card now...
i made like this :
- make a nanroid Backup with your recovery
- save your FAT32 partition on your computer, don't forget Hiden files.
- format your SD as you want
- put your FAT32 from computer to SD
- restore your nandroid backup with recovery
- it's Done
t-minik said:
i made like this :
- make a nanroid Backup with your recovery
- save your FAT32 partition on your computer, don't forget Hiden files.
- format your SD as you want
- put your FAT32 from computer to SD
- restore your nandroid backup with recovery
- it's Done
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it better to do it like that, than just copying the ext partition?
That / there is no "better" way. It's just an alternative.
yep, just an alternative for those who don't use Linux
t-minik said:
yep, just an alternative for those who don't use Linux
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, ok.
I am copying stuff back onto the SD Card now...
Stuck on Boot Loop Cyanogenmod 7
What did I do wrong?
nice information......................i have done it with my SD.................
mobileguy20 said:
nice information......................i have done it with my SD.................
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What???!?
I have a boot loop now.
How do I fix?
Is there some sort of temporary files that could be deleted?
HELP!!!!!!!!!!
I can still go to Bootloader...
HELP!
What should I do?
I don't want to loose data!
Bump..........
Um - bad situation
Maybe you should try to reformat the card exactly as it was, play back the contents and pray.
You wrote, that you had a read/write error with a 800 MB file and multiple error messages.
I would have saved my data per Titanium and Nandroid, formated and make a fresh ROM install. But alas - that´s no option at the moment.
If the above doesn´t work maybe the folks in the CM7 section have an idea.
It won't even turn on with no SD Card in it.
What do I do?

SD Card cloning issues

I have been trying to clone my 4gb class 4 sd card to the new 8gb class 6, but failed.
I am using Cyanogenmod 7 nightly and app2sd with data moved to sd. My computer OS is linux and I have android tools installed.
1. I partitioned new card with newest clockworkmod, which unfortunately results in ext2, not ext4 so I reformated ext2 to 4 using some partitioning software.
2. Copied content of fat32 partition from the old card, including recent nandroid backup.
3. Booted to recovery and tried restoring sd-ext several times, but I either get 'MD5 sum mismatch', or it starts fine but at some point it stops with error.
I then tried again but this time without reformatting ext2 to ext4 but the result was the same.
I also tried just copying sd-ext directly with 'sudo' but the phone acts just like the new installation then and even 'Fix Permissions' doesn't help.
Help!
I just recently did this myself two different ways, the first was to use acronis disk manager to clone the sd from a 8gb to 16gb. This worked fine but took an extremely long time.
I then upgraded from 4gib to 8 and created the partitions manually and copied over the data from one mount to another. Works fine here.
Did you try restarting your phone and double checking the partitions / types?
Plug both sdcards in the PC then use gparted to copy the two partitions across then grow the fat partition to fill the space if needed.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
mercianary said:
Plug both sdcards in the PC then use gparted to copy the two partitions across then grow the fat partition to fill the space if needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have only one card reader in my laptop and connecting the card inside the phone makes the ext partition invisible for gparted. This makes copying partitions between two cards impossible.
impactor said:
I have only one card reader in my laptop and connecting the card inside the phone makes the ext partition invisible for gparted. This makes copying partitions between two cards impossible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Put the phone in recovery, then mount USB, it works for me using amonra recovery.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
mercianary said:
Put the phone in recovery, then mount USB, it works for me using amonra recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using newest ClockWork recovery and all I can see in gparted is the FAT partition. Not even empty space where EXT should be.
and thats definitely mounting USB mass storage not mount SD card?
Theres definitely FS issues on the new card if you're getting MD5 sum errors.
Firstly dont use anything other than gparted to partition (see signature).
Flatten the new card completely. Format any partitions that may be there out and start again, from scratch.
rootSU said:
and thats definitely mounting USB mass storage not mount SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the only option in recovery menu. I think if I used something else, I wouldn't even see FAT partition. The ext is ext4, btw.
And we are talking the original card here, not the new one. The new one is in the reader.
impactor said:
This is the only option in recovery menu. I think if I used something else, I wouldn't even see FAT partition. The ext is ext4, btw.
And we are talking the original card here, not the new one. The new one is in the reader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which is the only option? What recovery?
If I boot into recovery and go to 'mount and storage', 'Mount USB storage' is the only option that actually makes the phone visible to the computer. There are pleny of mount/unmount (eg: mount /data) options above this one, but they're supposed to work internally.
Is it Amon-Ra / RMD? Does the size of the FAT partition tally with the total size of the card? did you say had a card reader? just use that if you have
ClockworkMod Recovery 5.0.2.0
If I switch cards, then the one in the phone will still be invisible and I need both at the same time to copy partitions.
Forget copying partitions. Your instinct with nandroid restore was right, however you need to get the fs on the new card sorted
Also I have noticed on ubuntu that the data copy remaining is inaccurate. I leave it for several minutes after it appears to have completed to ensure data is written before ummount
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
rootSU said:
Forget copying partitions. Your instinct with nandroid restore was right, however you need to get the fs on the new card sorted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except this doesn't get me anywhere. I tried with ext2, ext4, created in recovery or by gparted and every time got stuck on the same stage.
Then theres a serious issue that needs fixing. Best not to work around. The nandroid is the best option.
Have you a Windows machine? H2testw.exe is a great sd testing app
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Created partitions are not visible in Gparted if the card is in the phone, contrary to empty space. It took me many attempts in different configurations but I got it done, eventually, using gparted partition copying for EXT and regular copy for the FAT partition content

[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?

[Q] pb99diag missing after partiton resize

Seems I've made a bit of a booboo somewhere. I was recreating the ext3 partition on my sd card. I deleted the existing ext4 partition and resized the fat32 partition to take up the slack left behind. When I checked the partitions afterwards, everything was fine and all my files were present and correct in my fat32 partition. I booted into recovery, formatted all partitions except my fat32 and went to install my rom again. Except I forgot to put it on the sd card. So I copied it back on to my sd card, stuck the card back in the phone, booted into recovery and promptly got a message that pb99diag.zip is missing. I've checked the entire fat32 partition and there's no sign of it. I tried renaming "OTA_Bravo_Froyo_HTC_WWE_2.29.405.5-2.29.405.2_releasedauhl6jhok5cmdm6.zip" to "pb99diag.zip" but it doesn't seem to like it.
How can I get back into recovery without the pb99diag.zip?
found a similar thread: http://www.modaco.com/topic/348778-hboot-looking-for-pb99diagzip-why/
It's because you resized it, I believe it might eventually stop searching for the file and go into recovery, but it's not ideal.
I'd try backing up sd again, and completely reformatting and partitioning again, but using up to date gparted instead.
- Also, why did you need to change from ext4 to ext3? ext4 is marginally faster, most ROMs support ext4.
- And are you trying to install an RUU? In which case you don't need an ext partition at all?
Sorry just trying to understand your overall aim...
- Also, why did you need to change from ext4 to ext3? ext4 is marginally faster, most ROMs support ext4.
- And are you trying to install an RUU? In which case you don't need an ext partition at all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had 2 2gb ext partitions, ext3, ext4. I didn't need 2 so deleted 1 and just created a single ext3 partition. I wanted to go back to my PA jb 4.2.2 which was working fine until I used link2sd to free up some more system space but because its sh1t it just completely ballsed up my entire install. I installed an RU and this left me rooted with s-off and it was plain sailing from there to reinstall recovery and flash my custom rom again. I'm using a different sd card now (for testing purposes) but I'm still getting the pb99 errors. As you say, it will eventually allow me into recovery and I can continue what I'm doing but it takes ages and I've never had this issue before.
I'm using MiniTool Partition Wizard Professional to create my partitions.
mickrick said:
I'm using MiniTool Partition Wizard Professional to create my partitions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's your main problem, do not use MiniTool Partition Wizard. More often than not it creates improperly aligned partitions. Link2SD won't have helped either, it's a messy method and you don't need it with 4.2.2 ROMs, follow the instructions to activate A2SD via terminal commands.
I would backup the FAT32 partition of your sd card, and reformat and repartition the whole thing using gparted. Use this video guide to help
Basically you want to remove all partitions and create one FAT32 partition, and max 2GB ext4 partition. You might as well keep it ext4 over ext3, it should be marginally faster.
Then full wipe and reflash ROM, don't use link2SD.
You should also look to s-off, search for guides, much more powerful, and useful if things go wrong.

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