Develop Bugs

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk 2

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that's what I think.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk 2

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.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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 .
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

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
Sent from my D.I.R.T.y CM9'd EVO 4G using xda premium!

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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It can be done later.

Captain_Throwback said:
It can be done later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

What are partitions..
SLB9884 said:
Be careful. I just did it an hour ago and everything disappeared from my sd card. So pissed.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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/

Two Download folders in SD Card

Apologies if this has been resolved before, but I've been seeing two download folders in my SD card "downloads" and "Downloads." I've tried deleting one but I get an error - this also confuses Recovery when I try to flash a file located in one of the directories it typically looks in the wrong one. Has anyone had this or resolved it?

pongalong said:
Apologies if this has been resolved before, but I've been seeing two download folders in my SD card "downloads" and "Downloads." I've tried deleting one but I get an error - this also confuses Recovery when I try to flash a file located in one of the directories it typically looks in the wrong one. Has anyone had this or resolved it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the issue and have just learned to deal with it. I don't really know when it why it happened, sometime around when I first flashed jellybean I think. Idk. Just letting you know you're not alone. Btw the "download" folder appears first in recovery. I move all my roms and kernels there. The "Download" is the folder all the general downloads end up in for me... at least I think... it's confusing but a sms issue to me.
DARKSIDE

I made a folder called Aaroms. It goes alphabetical and capital letters first so that folder is always on the top of the list. I then sort my roms mods and kernels with sub folders.
If you keep your (D)download folder clean and sorted it should be easy to know which one has what
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

This is just speculation, but...
1. I think the virtual sdcard (sdcard0) and its links exists to make the real "sdcard" (/data/media) look like fat to apps instead of ext, which it really is (because it doesn't have a separate partition to itself). Most apps only know how to write to fat on the sdcard.
2. To programs that expect to be writing to fat, "download" and "Download" are the same directory, so they can be careless how they spell it when they access it or create it. But since the real filesystem is ext, they get created as two different directories. Maybe through some case-checking bug in the virtual sdcard or some program that writes directly to /data/media.
3. What I wound up doing was taking all my data out of both directories, deleting one, and making sure the remaining one was named "directory". Then I put all my data back in that one and everything has been good since then.

Well this is Linux after all. Downloads != downloads
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Need help too
pongalong said:
Apologies if this has been resolved before, but I've been seeing two download folders in my SD card "downloads" and "Downloads." I've tried deleting one but I get an error - this also confuses Recovery when I try to flash a file located in one of the directories it typically looks in the wrong one. Has anyone had this or resolved it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same issue. I have two Download folders. The thing is that the one with the small "D" (download), it is empty, and when I try to delete it, it always reappear.
Help!

this was anwsered like 2 days ago.
sent from my i9250

bk201doesntexist said:
this was anwsered like 2 days ago.
sent from my i9250
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant find the post telling the answer. Lol. The last post isbin october 2010.

strumcat said:
1. I think the virtual sdcard (sdcard0) and its links exists to make the real "sdcard" (/data/media) look like fat to apps instead of ext, which it really is (because it doesn't have a separate partition to itself). Most apps only know how to write to fat on the sdcard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that the symlinks are there just for backwards compability issues with apps, that look under /sdcard/ mount point. it doesn't have anything to do with fs, android never used fat, or ntfs; known fs in android are yaffs2, ext4 and maybe a few proprietary ones like sammy's rfs.

bk201doesntexist said:
I think that the symlinks are there just for backwards compability issues with apps, that look under /sdcard/ mount point. it doesn't have anything to do with fs, android never used fat, or ntfs; known fs in android are yaffs2, ext4 and maybe a few proprietary ones like sammy's rfs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The real sdcards were formatted as fat, and most apps that used them to store data only knew how to read/write a fat fs. I found this out by creating a mountable volume on a real sdcard on my old phone. It mounted as a directory on the sdcard. If I formatted the volume as fat, all my apps could use it normally. If I formatted it as ext(anything), a few apps could use it but most could not.
The symlinks are for backwards compatibility, but I believe the fuse filesystem virtual sdcard0 exists to make ext4 look like fat to all apps and to windows.
Note that if the gnex "sdcard" had its own partition, it could be formatted as fat and mounted as USB external storage like a real sdcard. I don't know, but it seems like Google went out of their way to prevent that.
The Google line is that the gnex sdcard shares an ext4 partition to maximize space, ie no unused wasted space on two partitions. But that is pretty farfetched, since the number of problems caused by this arrangement is huge in proportion to the "space saved" which is negligible.
Obviously, the real reason for this kludged-up mess is to discourage local storage/backup and encourage cloud storage, which can then be monetized.

strumcat said:
The real sdcards were formatted as fat, and most apps that wrote data to it only knew how to write it to a fat fs. I found this out by creating a mountable volume on a real sdcard on my old phone. It mounted as a directory on the sdcard. If I formatted the volume as fat, all my apps could use it normally. If I formatted it as ext(anything), a few apps could use it but most could not.
The symlinks are the for backwards compatibility, but I believe the fuse filesystem virtual sdcard0 exists to make ext4 look like fat to all apps and to windows.
Note that if the gnex "sdcard" had its own partition, it could be formatted as fat and mounted as USB external storage like a real sdcard. I don't know, but it seems like Google went out of their way to prevent that.
The Google line is that sdcard shares ext4 partition to maximize space, is no unused wasted space on two partitions. But that is pretty farfetched, since the number of problems caused by this arrangement is huge in proportion to the "space saved" which is negligible.
Obviously, the real reason for this kludged-up mess is to discourage local storage/backup and encourage cloud storage, which can then be monetized.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sure, i was talking about nand storage. still, if apps really depend on that to survive (said "fat compability"), it's unlogical to me coming from linux, where several fs can co-exist, as you may know.
if sdcard had its own partition like you say, and it could be formatted to fat, it would suck from a performance point of view, right? because its way slower than ext4 or yaffs2?
sent from my i9250

bk201doesntexist said:
sure, i was talking about nand storage. still, if apps really depend on that to survive (said "fat compability"), it's unlogical to me coming from linux, where several fs can co-exist, as you may know.
if sdcard had its own partition like you say, and it could be formatted to fat, it would suck from a performance point of view, right? because its way slower than ext4 or yaffs2?
sent from my i9250
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, Android knows how to read/write fat as well as ext. But I guess the app devs figured sdcards would be fat forever. so they only included fat I/O in their apps.
Yes, ext4 is better than fat. But fat+mass-storage is far better and faster than ext4+fuse+mtp. For example, an sdcard backup from fat mounted as mass storage to a pc is much faster and more reliable than an sdcard backup using mtp. MTP backups are painfully slow and often won't even complete due to errors.

strumcat said:
Sure, Android knows how to read/write fat as well as ext. But I guess the app devs figured sdcards would be fat forever. so they only included fat I/O in their apps.
Yes, ext4 is better than fat. But fat+mass-storage is far better and faster than ext4+fuse+mtp. For example, an sdcard backup from fat mounted as mass storage to a pc is much faster and more reliable than an sdcard backup using mtp. MTP backups are painfully slow and often won't even complete due to errors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it still happens in 2017 running Android 7.1.2 lol
Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

Two questions about CWM functions...

OK, first one is backups to External SD. Is it normally for it to take an exponentially long time to perform the backup to the external SD card? Normal backup takes like, 2-3 minutes. I started a backup to SD card, and after 15 minutes got impatient.
Second: How do I know the proper paths to my internal and external sd card paths? When using ES File Explorer, when I go to the root directory, I see /sdcard, which is the internal storage, I see /externalsd, which is of course the actual sd card, but then there is /storage, and within storage there is /storage/sdcard0 (internal sd) and there is /storage/sdcard1 (external). In any app where store locations are configurable, should I be using the sdcard and externalsd paths, or the /storage/sdcard# paths?
Sub-question in regards to the internal storage, if I perform a wipe of data, will it leave the stuff under the "internal sd card" location alone?
I feel dumb asking as I should probably know this by now since I've been working with CWM and CM since the G1 days... Thanks in advance!

Time for backups depends on how much data you have, obviously. But, and I'm guessing here, I think it usually takes around 4-7 mins for mine to run.
Make sure your using the latest recovery and try TWRP as well. Its personal preference but I like it better than cwm.
Mount points will be different between cm and tw, and I don't use cm so ill tell you what I do know in tw based systems.
The actual location of the internal sdcard is /data/media. It us symlinked to /sdcard, /mnt/sdcard, /storage/sdcard0.
Externals actual location in tw is /storage/extSdCard and linked to /mnt/extSdCard
Chances are the actual locations are the same but they are named differently.
If you do a factory reset while stock recovery is installed it will wipe internal sd. If cwm or twrp are installed it will not.
If you format data it will wipe it though.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

Long backup time to external SD card means it's slow (class 1-4 probably). Buy a class 10 from Amazon.
Proper path to internal and external SDs is /storage/. All others are symlinks for compatibility.
Resetting factory defaults from CWM does not wipe internal/external SD. But from stock recovery, it will wipe your internal SD.

Anyone know why the dates are wrong on the backups on the cwm recovery?

fermunky said:
Anyone know why the dates are wrong on the backups on the cwm recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is a known issue with some versions. Newer versions were supposed to fix it. I don't mind. I am running a stable version of cwm and it works for my needs. I had dates in the 1970's. Weird stuff. Look at the properties and size of the backup. I developed my own way of dealing with weirdness.

I've never seen a good answer for the date problem. I use twrp and just rename the backup when I create it.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

DocHoliday77 said:
I've never seen a good answer for the date problem. I use twrp and just rename the backup when I create it.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doc, maybe you can help someone. Are there rules that need to be followed regarding naming backups?

Not sure I know what you mean by rules...
For naming them though, id say just one rule. And that's what best works for you! Short but understandable. Maybe the name of rom, date, or just a simple numbering scheme, bkup1 bkup2 bkup3.....
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

Your answer likely gave him what he needed. He was asking can you simply rename the backup to anything you want, and based on your response, it seems the answer is Yes.

Sdcard

Hi I have donated to Google galaxy nexus toolkit and updated the recovery and etc. After that I did a restore using Google factory image . after I installed the factory image it started creating a folders called emulate/0/
I thought it was probably I did something wrong so I did with 4.1.2 this time still. So I uninstalled the Google nexus tool kit and I installed the kit without the admin mode and started again still I get those folder even without installing any of the recovery and etc.how can I fix this issue
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Emulate/0 is part of the new 4.2.2 file system :banghead:
Toro | Xylon | AK Diamond

Sandman-007 said:
Emulate/0 is part of the new 4.2.2 file system :banghead:
Toro | Xylon | AK Diamond
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
okay so why would it keep happening even when i restored with 4.1.2?

It happened to me .solution :I locked then unlocked the bootloader again ,forcing a format of the SD card . Upon installing 4.1.2 again there was no signs of the previous system .check it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

im going to do that now..

NO LUCK

Does the new file system impact overall performance or just your OCD?
If the latter, just leave it be. It won't kill you

wish someone can help me with this

nullbesign said:
wish someone can help me with this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read what I said? Its simply part of the new filesystem, nothing to worry about, its perfectly NORMAL.
Is the new filesystem detrimental to system functions?

Pre-4.2, your sdcard files were stored in /data/media, which after fuse mounts and symlinks showed as /sdcard. When you upgraded to 4.2, they were moved to /data/media/0, which after fuse mounts and symlinks showed as /sdcard. When you downgraded to 4.1.2, the files weren't moved back, so they were still in /data/media/0. Now, in the long run, 4.1.2 mounts /data/media as /sdcard. Since your files are still in a sub-folder named "0", they'll be in /sdcard/0.
The quick answer is (while on 4.1.2) to go into /data/media/0 and copy all files to /data/media, and then delete the empty "0" folder. If you then want to upgrade to 4.2, ignore the whole "0" thing and just let it do its thing. You mentioned "emulate/0" in the OP (actually, it's /storage/emulated/0 or /mnt/shell/emulated/0). That should be there on 4.2. Here's a breakdown of how your sdcard data gets mounted in 4.2:
- Data is physically located at /data/media/0
- init.tuna.rc creates /mnt/shell/emulated and /storage/emulated
- /data/media is fuse mounted as /mnt/shell/emulated
- /mnt/shell/emulated/0 is symlinked to /storage/emulated/legacy
- /storage/emulated/legacy is symlinked to /sdcard, /mnt/sdcard, and /storage/sdcard0
(Source: init.tuna.rc)
So, long story short, you panicked about something that was set up exactly as it should have been, reverted to 4.1.2, and created a problem where one didn't exist.

sd card emulated
my sd card suddenly shows as emulated. I am on 4.2.1 jellybean galaxy s3. I cannot transfer games and app to sd card.
How to de-emulate the sd card ? pls help. thnx

By going back to 4.1.2
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

gir98 said:
my sd card suddenly shows as emulated. I am on 4.2.1 jellybean galaxy s3. I cannot transfer games and app to sd card.
How to de-emulate the sd card ? pls help. thnx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
namtombout said:
By going back to 4.1.2
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and by going to your own forums...this is for the NEXUS, not the GS3

[Q] /mnt/shell/emulated Folder

I recently installed ParanoidKangdroid on my i747. After poking around in the system folders, I found the /mnt/shell/emulated. It seems to still contain all of the files that were on my phone prior to the new rom. Is there a way to delete all of this? It is taking up a lot of space in my phone.

this is simply a 4.2 multi-user feature. it's just another mount point for the 0 folder. So it's the exact same folder, no extra space used.
if you have much less storage now than you did before flashing this ROM, you likely did not format /data before flashing. check out post #2 in my signature. it has a small section on this issue (low internal memory).
cheers

xBeerdroiDx said:
this is simply a 4.2 multi-user feature. it's just another mount point for the 0 folder. So it's the exact same folder, no extra space used.
if you have much less storage now than you did before flashing this ROM, you likely did not format /data before flashing. check out post #2 in my signature. it has a small section on this issue (low internal memory).
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok Thanks!

in a nutshell, wipe: data/factory reset, cache, dalvik, format /system, format /data & /media when going from one ROM to a different ROM. keep your backups and anything else you want on a micro sd card. you'll be smooth sailing.

xBeerdroiDx said:
this is simply a 4.2 multi-user feature. it's just another mount point for the 0 folder. So it's the exact same folder, no extra space used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean "0 folder"? I upgraded to CM from stock (on a different phone) and all my "internal SD card" files seemed to have disappeared, but I think I found them in /mnt/shell/emulated. But I don't see any other mount point with the same files.