Develop Bugs

[Q] Just bricked 2x SD cards partitioning. Do I need a class 6 one?

When trying to create an ext4 partition on the stock 8Gb SD card that I got with my Desire, I ended up 'bricking' it so now it's damaged and is no use any more.
I had a spare 4Gb one lying about (same make) and tried again, but suffered the same problem. Now that card is read only and I can't format it any more. Android just won't let me, and of course my PC doesn't see it as it's read only so again, 'bricked'.
Suffice to say now i'm furious as i've wasted 2 cards. I wasn't aware of different classes of SD cards before today but i'm guessing my problem stems from the fact that I was trying to add an ext4 partitions to class 2 cards? I wish the guides re partitioning would say that you need a better class of card to create ext3/ext4. (I was in the past able to make an ext2 ok on the first one)
Do I need to get a class 6 card to be able to use ext4?

I don't think class and partition compatibility have anything to do with each other, the class is just a indication of the minimum write speed. Also i had no problem getting a ext3 partition on a class 2 sd card.
What program are you using to partition the cards?

Yeah? I had read that somewhere. I'm using Gparted Live CD.
I can't think why both cards failed the same way then.

have a look at this link
http://download.cnet.com/VaioSoft-Recovery-Manager/3000-2094_4-10286449.html
manage to recover a bricked sd card with this. It might work for yours.

I used Gparted for my SD the other day and mysteriously, 4GB went missing. Luckily, Android reformatted it for me and I got my 4GB back

madffrogs said:
have a look at this link
http://download.cnet.com/VaioSoft-Recovery-Manager/3000-2094_4-10286449.html
manage to recover a bricked sd card with this. It might work for yours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try that. Thanks.

madffrogs said:
have a look at this link
http://download.cnet.com/VaioSoft-Recovery-Manager/3000-2094_4-10286449.html
manage to recover a bricked sd card with this. It might work for yours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is an old program. It doesn't appear to work under W7.
Not sure it would be any help anyway as Android doesn't even give me the choice to make the damaged cards visible to a PC.

Did you try to mount them in recovery or just under android?
If only in android while booted, go in to recovery and mount it that way.

TheGhost1233 said:
Did you try to mount them in recovery or just under android?
If only in android while booted, go in to recovery and mount it that way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't seem to have an option to mount an SD card in recovery mode.
The only options I have are:
Reboot system now
Apply sdcard:update.zip (which doesn't work as the SD card is damaged so there is no update.zip accessible)
Wipe data/factory reset
Wipe cache partition
I think I did when I could use the update.zip but as I say, that's now not an option.
Any ideas?

Always be careful with ext4, it's known to kill the sd card's lifespan (so I've read from others, I've never tried it myself). I always use ext3 and it works fine.
P.S. Formatted with Rom Manager :/

ext4 will kill your card in 10 years maybe, so get that out of the equation.
boot a linux live cd if you dont have it installed (i.e. ubuntu)
open a terminal and then:
$sudo su (it will ask for your user password if you have one)
#dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX
but you have to replace that X by your phone's sd device it will probably be something like sdb or sdc, dont indicate the partition which would look like sdb1 or sdc1
once done, you hace to partition it again:
#cfdisk /dev/sdX
and then format those partition, like:
#mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sdX2 (now you have to indicate the partition)
good luck, and dont **** up your system.

crapula512 said:
ext4 will kill your card in 10 years maybe, so get that out of the equation.
boot a linux live cd if you dont have it installed (i.e. ubuntu)
open a terminal and then:
$sudo su (it will ask for your user password if you have one)
#dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX
but you have to replace that X by your phone's sd device it will probably be something like sdb or sdc, dont indicate the partition which would look like sdb1 or sdc1
once done, you hace to partition it again:
#cfdisk /dev/sdX
and then format those partition, like:
#mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sdX2 (now you have to indicate the partition)
good luck, and dont **** up your system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both my cards are already dead, so Ubuntu and Windows can't see them.

barryfell said:
Both my cards are already dead, so Ubuntu and Windows can't see them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about your card reader? Maybe it is not the cards? I did my partitions using Ubuntu Live CD. My MicroSD card is a Sandisk 2GB card without any class specified.

Keep your cards and keep trying to format them after 2-3 days. Formatting in FAT32+BTRFS bricked two of mine a few weeks back but they were fine after a week and started getting recognized by then - not before though.
And yep, not to do with Class rating; I run Ext4 with a Class 2 and 4.
------------------------------
- Sent via HTC Desire -

The card will be visible to Windows in computer management. Just delete the partition.
Bricked my arse
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

barryfell said:
I don't seem to have an option to mount an SD card in recovery mode.
The only options I have are:
Reboot system now
Apply sdcard:update.zip (which doesn't work as the SD card is damaged so there is no update.zip accessible)
Wipe data/factory reset
Wipe cache partition
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A corrupted filesystem or partition is very different to a corrupted card. You most likely have the former, not the latter.
Which Recovery and version are you using?
All Recoveries for a while allow you to mount the card via USB. The option is under "mounts and storage" in CWM Recovery, like: http://www.brutzelstube.de/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ClockworkModRecovery.jpg
Format when it is mounted through this option via your PC.
------------------------------
- Sent via HTC Desire -

jiehao85 said:
What about your card reader? Maybe it is not the cards? I did my partitions using Ubuntu Live CD. My MicroSD card is a Sandisk 2GB card without any class specified.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have a card reader and it's cheaper to buy a new card than buy a card reader to maybe fix them.
I previously had an ext2 partition which I done via Clockwork recovery. However, when I tried to format the card and repartition it with an ext4 partition using Gparted Live CD I broke both the cards. At first they were just being reported as read only by Android but as I tried to fix them they became damaged so now I can't mount them.
I think the problem stems from me formatting while the cards were mounted, as mentioned earlier. My mistake there. I should have formatted them under Gparted.
Now they are damaged Gparted no longer sees them and while Windows disk management did see them for a while (when Android was reporting them as read only) now I can't see them I can't do anything to them.

gutsbn said:
The card will be visible to Windows in computer management. Just delete the partition.
Bricked my arse
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before I damaged it it was visible in Windows disk management, but there were no partition(s) and no ability to format. The disk was just grey, like the DVD drive..

th3 said:
A corrupted filesystem or partition is very different to a corrupted card. You most likely have the former, not the latter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the former at first, but further attempts to fix it ended with the latter.
Which Recovery and version are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was using Clockwork, but I can no longer get in to it. As I say, all I can access are:
Reboot system now
Apply sdcard:update.zip
Wipe data/factory reset
Wipe cache partition
I used to go to 'Apply sdcard:update.zip' to get into Clockwork Recovery but as I say, this is no longer an option, as the SD card has been formatted and now damaged.
All Recoveries for a while allow you to mount the card via USB. The option is under "mounts and storage" in CWM Recovery, like: http://www.brutzelstube.de/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ClockworkModRecovery.jpg
Format when it is mounted through this option via your PC.
------------------------------
- Sent via HTC Desire -
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would if I could get into Clockwork Recovery. I just don't see a way of mounting the card to do anything with it now it's damaged. (Unless I maybe bought a card reader)

th3 said:
Keep your cards and keep trying to format them after 2-3 days. Formatting in FAT32+BTRFS bricked two of mine a few weeks back but they were fine after a week and started getting recognized by then - not before though.
And yep, not to do with Class rating; I run Ext4 with a Class 2 and 4.
------------------------------
- Sent via HTC Desire -
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. I'll maybe try that at some point but I have a new card on the way so i'll be making sure I format and partition it in Gparted and not make the mistake of formatting while mounted in Android.

[Q] Please help me partitioning my 4GB microSD card

Hello there! I hope that I am not annoying you, but I am having issues with partitioning my SD Card, that have not yet been discussed here, so a step by step guide would be highly appreciated, because otherwise I am just too stupid.
I have a fully unlocked HTC Desire with alpharev's S-OFF, most recent radio & stuff. Partitioning my SD with Clockworkmod Recovery 3.0.0.5 just won't work, it DOES something, but when plugging my Desire on my PC, it shows me ONE FAT32 partition, just as it was before, which takes up all the SD's space. Neither does it work with ROM Manager.
It got really weird when I manually partition it with GParted on my Ubuntu:
My Setup was:
1 FAT32 Partition, size: maximum what was left.
2 EXT4 Partitions, one 768MB, one 256 just as recommended for DATA2EXT HERE
No SWAP Partition.
Then my sdcard can't even be mounted by CWM-recovery - it says wrong parameter
I can still access it via 'mount usb storage', and fully access and format it in any way I like.
Any hints, step-by-steps or any help at all on how to correctly partition my sdcard? GParted there are settings like partition tables and stuff. what should I choose to make my SD Android-mountable??
EDIT: I think I got it. haven't yet tried it, but I think my fat pertition exceeded 2GB, gonna try later.

hy, don"t know really how it works with gparted (i m currently using amonRA which allows partionning sc card) but a single search with my friend... google gives me that result.
I think this could helps you considering your post.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=557590
have fun ;-)

CrisisCorE said:
Hello there! I hope that I am not annoying you, but I am having issues with partitioning my SD Card, that have not yet been discussed here, so a step by step guide would be highly appreciated, because otherwise I am just too stupid.
I have a fully unlocked HTC Desire with alpharev's S-OFF, most recent radio & stuff. Partitioning my SD with Clockworkmod Recovery 3.0.0.5 just won't work, it DOES something, but when plugging my Desire on my PC, it shows me ONE FAT32 partition, just as it was before, which takes up all the SD's space. Neither does it work with ROM Manager.
It got really weird when I manually partition it with GParted on my Ubuntu:
My Setup was:
1 FAT32 Partition, size: maximum what was left.
2 EXT4 Partitions, one 768MB, one 256 just as recommended for DATA2EXT HERE
No SWAP Partition.
Then my sdcard can't even be mounted by CWM-recovery - it says wrong parameter
I can still access it via 'mount usb storage', and fully access and format it in any way I like.
Any hints, step-by-steps or any help at all on how to correctly partition my sdcard? GParted there are settings like partition tables and stuff. what should I choose to make my SD Android-mountable??
EDIT: I think I got it. haven't yet tried it, but I think my fat pertition exceeded 2GB, gonna try later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not overly sure if this will help but .....
A long time ago when I first started tinkering with roms I tried partitioning my SD Card for Apps2SD but whatever I tried (Partition Magic, ROM Manager, GParted) it would get halfway through partitioning and then fail sometimes even leaving me unable to access the card from phone or PC. Spent several nights trying to sort problem then found out that some makes (possibly cheaper but think Transend are mostly the bad ones?) don't like being partitioned, why .... I have no idea. Anyway bought a new one 16gb Lexar Class 6 card which partition first time and had no problems since. Hope it helps and best of luck!

Are you to create "primary" partition or "logical"?

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

Partition questions and sd specs.

Please direct me to an idiots guide to SD partitioning...
I have been flashing my desire since the summer. And well i forgot how i initially setup my SD card.
I wanted to treat my self to a new CLASS 10 SD card. But when it came to partitioning the card i got lost.
Is it as simple as using clockworkmod to set partition size to 1-2Gigs? and swap to 0?
With reference to Ext2,ext3 and ext4 are these all multiple partitions? None of these where options within clockwork or rom manager
Anyway i did my partitions using clockwork and installed a new rom i had never used before runnymede. I found performance extremely sluggish and slow. Of course i did 3 new things at once. new card,new partition and new rom... could be one or all these causing me headaches..
Sorry to ramble on. Bottom line:
- Could i be kindly directed to a SD partitioning guide?
- Is the Desire compatible with 2,4, and 10?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1016084
[Video Tutorial] Noob Proof Everything Desire Guide UPDATED [04/04/11][Video Tut]
hope it helps.

The class 10 SD card should be OK with your desire.
The people in the know mostly recommend not using ROM Manager to partition SD cards. I would suggest try using GParted.
In terms of ext2, 3, 4 - I would recommend ext 3 for your SD card partition - it is safer than ext 2 partitions.
I would suggest an ext 3 partition size of 1024mb or even 2048mb (that should cover you for most present roms and most future roms).
I am not as knowledgeable as some of the other guys here but I will give you an useful link:
http://www.techcredo.com/android/tu...-for-a2sd-with-gparted-on-a-windows-pc-ext234
I usually create a bootable GParted USB drive and use to partition my SD cards.
I hope that helps,
KKH

I have been trying to create an ext4 partition using GParted. I did all necessary steps - will quickly run thru, just so you know:
1. Burnt ISO and accessed thru boot menu (running XP/SP3, btw)
2. Deleted existing allocation.
3. Created new primary partition as FAT32
4. Allocated "free space following" as 1024
5. Specified the unallocated memory (1024) as ext4.
There was no error in the operation.
However... When I tried to load stuff to the SD card, Windows prompted me to format the card before using. It made no sense but I couldn't do anything. And by formatting it, I lost everything that GPL had done in the first place.
I went over the process again, to no avail.
Does anyone know where I've possibly gone wrong? Please help.

Which recovery are you using?

I had the same issue, vista kept asking me to format SD card before use.
I fixed this by making my first partition in GParted the fat32 and the second partition ext3.
I think windows accesses the first partition by default and is happy with fat32.
If your ext4 was the first partition, windows would ask to format that ext4 in to fat32 before use.
I hope that helps.

thanks i should be good to go now..

TKG26 said:
thanks i should be good to go now..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you install 4EXT Recovery, you won't ever need a bootable disk to partition your SD card. You'll be able to do it straight from recovery I suggest you to give it a try!

My recovery is 4ext and I used this recovery to make partitions of my class10 sd card.
I also use this recovery to align my partitions.
You can also use the freeware "minitool partition wizard" under win xp instead of gparted.
Good luck.

harm007 said:
You can also use the freeware "minitool partition wizard" under win xp instead of gparted.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the OP uses this tool, he needs more than good luck. It's like rootSU says in his sig: "Don't be lazy and make GParted your first choice...". So please do not trust in windows software which wants to handle linux partitions.

Use rom manager. Simple as that
Sent from my Full Android on Bravo using XDA App

4ext recovery and have not gone back. Does all the dirty work for me.
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?