Develop Bugs

Difference between app2sd and standard app manager?

Hi Guys,
Im currently running oxygen RC7 on my Htc Desire. ok im a little confused as to how i have such little space. According to wikipedia the Desire has 512mb flash memory. But according to app2sd it has a total of 185.69MB and according to settings it has 148Mb. So which is it? Now im aware that the rom takes up some space now onto the second part of my question.
I also have partitioned my SD card to 512mb with rom manager, but this doesnt explain the random sizes both A2SD and system settings are saying. Also i dont understand what i achieved by partitioning my sd card i didnt see any difference in size on the storage settings am i just looking in the wrong place.
My understanding is that app2sd moves apps to the ext3 partition created by Rom manager and the stock application manager moves apps to the fat partition. My reasoning for this is that some apps can be moved to SD by the stock application manager and the same apps cant be moved by app 2 SD
Can anyone explain this to me?
Thanks

I don't know much about Apps2SD, A2SD or what ever you call it but I will give it a go anyway and hope that I help you out a little. I don't use it as I will explain why.
The 512MB size is the total size of the internal memory. That memory is split up into 3 main partitions. /system, /data and /cache. Other things like boot, recovery and so on goes somewhere else. The rom goes onto the /system partition, the apps go to /data partition and /cache is for temporary storage like when your downloading apps from the market.
Try not to do it with Rom Manager. It is a little buggy and doesn't work well. You can use something like gparted to format and partition your SD card.
As for A2SD. I understand that you install a script for it to work properly. By default, it will move apps to the ext partition on your SD card. Please note if your using widgets and the app is on the SD card, you won't be able to use the widgets.
Here is a A2SD script by DarkTremmor. Read up on it. Hope this helps.
I prob am wrong about this but this is my understanding of A2SD. Please update me guys if I am wrong or you have better info. I still don't understand A2SD properly. I will however try it out and see how it works.

If you use A2SD (the version with the ext) widgets will work. They only won't work when on the fat partition.

hey thanks for the reply. ok so this helps me understand it a bit better thanks googlejelly. But this still doesnt explain why a2sd has a different total size then the stock application manager?
Even if you say that by default App2sd moves it to ext partition and that is the reason for the different sizes it still doesnt match up as i created a partition of 512mb and got 185.69 which is a bit far off the mark.

Most proper way to know your free memory is Console. Connect phone, type adb shell and:
Code:
# mount
/dev/block/mtdblock3 /system yaffs2 ro,relatime 0 0
/dev/block/mtdblock5 /data yaffs2 rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime 0 0
/dev/block/mtdblock4 /cache yaffs2 rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime 0 0
/dev/block/vold/179:1 /mnt/sdcard vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0
/dev/block/vold/179:1 /mnt/secure/asec vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0702,dmask=0702,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure tmpfs ro,relatime,size=0k,mode=000 0 0
/dev/block/dm-0 /mnt/asec/com.rovio.angrybirdsseasons-1 vfat ro,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,fmask=0222,dmask=0222,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0
/system - read only (s-off rules!) file system for your system files
/data and /cache rw partitions for application and data storage
next is SD-Card mount point
/mnt/secure - is hidden folders on SD-Card for storing data for native a2sd Android. You can see last line - it's Angry birds moved to SD mounted as independent partition. Don't move any apps to SD-card if you have custom a2sd+ script configured.
Code:
# df
Filesystem Size Used Free Blksize
/dev 203M 44K 203M 4096
/mnt/asec 203M 0K 203M 4096
/mnt/obb 203M 0K 203M 4096
/system 140M 126M 13M 4096
/data 272M 56M 215M 4096
/cache 25M 10M 14M 4096
/sd-ext 457M 189M 267M 1024
/mnt/sdcard 3G 2G 859M 4096
/mnt/secure/asec 3G 2G 859M 4096
Now sizes (i have custom partitions size, so your sizes will differ)
/data - where you install all apps.
/sd-ext - a2sd+ storage (on SD-Card)
And to check is a2sd word proper:
Code:
# ls -l data/
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2011-02-22 16:54 app-private -> /sd-ext/app-private
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2011-02-22 16:54 app -> /sd-ext/app
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2011-02-22 16:54 dalvik-cache -> /sd-ext/dalvik-cache
-rw-r--r-- root root 8447 2011-02-22 16:55 dta2sd.log
-rw-r--r-- root root 8447 2011-02-22 16:54 dta2sd.lg1
-rw-r--r-- root root 8576 2011-02-22 16:54 dta2sd.lg2
drwx------ system system 2011-02-22 16:55 backup
-rw-rw-rw- root root 376 2011-02-21 17:30 dtinstall.log
drwx------ system system 2011-02-21 17:32 secure
drwxrwxr-x system system 2011-02-23 15:08 system
drwxr-xr-x root root 2008-08-01 15:00 xbin
drwxr-xr-x root root 2011-02-21 17:32 local
drwxr-xr-x root root 2008-08-01 15:00 jit
drwxr-xr-x root root 2011-02-23 14:05 data
drwx------ root root 2011-02-22 16:54 property
-rw-r--r-- root root 1978 2008-08-01 15:00 changelog.txt
drwxrwx--- root root 2011-02-21 17:32 lost+found
drwxrwx--t system misc 2011-02-23 13:14 misc
drwxr-x--- root log 2011-02-21 17:32 dontpanic
you see "->" is symlink to SD-card. So any app you installed in internal memory of your phone actually goes to SD. But, there is on folder - data, which not moved to card with a2sd. Cause some restrictions or smth like this.
in /data/data/ app store their libraries etc. Now check which soft use storage:
Code:
# cd data/data
# du -shd1
3.0M ./com.adobe.reader
80.0K ./com.mhuang.overclocking
54.5K ./kz.mek.DialerOne
4.0K ./jp.r246.twiccaplugins.twitpic
17.5K ./com.anddoes.fancywidget
9.0K ./org.swiftp
.....
2.5K ./com.rerware.android.MyBackupRoot
15.0K ./ccc71.bmw
45.6M .
So total folder use 45.6MB of internal storage. all other is free for use. There another folders in data, but it not so heavy.
Stock Desire, according to alpharev, has - Bravo Sense: /system:180M /cache:40M /data:217M.
Main goal of using custom a2sd+ is that you install all apps in internal memory as your phone thinks. And all widgets work well. With stock a2sd you can't move apps with widgets to sd-card or it stop working.

crap i tried the app2sd script and it messed up my phone, now i cant install any app from the market it just starts and stops straight away. im after doing a factory reset on my phone and even restored backups.
can anyone help?

Why not to take any of existent rom with working a2sd?

thanks for the relpy (both of them) after doing a wipe via android itself, everything is back to normal now. So is it that all i have to do to get app2sd to transfer my apps to my ext3 partition on my sd is run a script (.zip file) in clockworkrecovery?
the one i tried is what messed everything up, i dont know if it was because some of my apps were on my sd (via the standard application manager) or that the script wasnt designed for the desire/the rom im running.
i have partitioned my rom correctly to ext3 so im nearly there :-(

With a2sd all apps should be installed in internal memory.
Check what show ls -l /data/ in terminal. If there is symlink to SD - everything is Ok!

[Q] How do I use A2SD+

I've partitioned my SD Card to ext4 using Gparted and it shows up on the SD Card settings to have 1.50GB total space I'm currently using MIUI 1.6.10.1 and just wondered what method you have to use to use the A2SD+ Space, is it a move location app such as A2SDGUI or Mod Install location or is it something else? Thanks in advance.

Depending on your rom, you have to activate a2sd. Command for terminal is "a2sd cachesd"

Meaple said:
Depending on your rom, you have to activate a2sd. Command for terminal is "a2sd cachesd"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you i've tried that just wondering though, is
"No.a2sd swap environment variable found", "Problem detected: Darktremor Apps2SD may not have ran during boot. Cannot read a2sd.mountpoint. and "Invalid command: cache"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is this normal? Everything else seemed to run fine.

Thanks for this! Just saved me 90mb space

I had the same error, when running as SU. Phone rebooted, now have tons of free space so i guess it doesnt matter

KevAmiga said:
I had the same error, when running as SU. Phone rebooted, now have tons of free space so i guess it doesnt matter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you get exactly the same Errors?

Sure did.
+10 chrs

in terminal try
a2sd reinstall and run above mention command.
If that dont work. Search for Darktremor script. Download and flash that zip file from recovery and try to run those commands.

I've fixed it by the way if anyone wants to know or if this will help anyone.
What I did was do these commands separately in the Terminal Emulator:
#su (Allows root access)
#a2sd reinstall (reinstalls a2sd)
#a2sd cachesd (puts cache to sd)
#a2sd datasd (moves data to sd)

Blakeeeee said:
I've partitioned my SD Card to ext4 using Gparted and it shows up on the SD Card settings to have 1.50GB total space I'm currently using MIUI 1.6.10.1 and just wondered what method you have to use to use the A2SD+ Space, is it a move location app such as A2SDGUI or Mod Install location or is it something else? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ACTIVATING A2SD+
THESE COMMANDS ARE WAY BACK FROYO DAYS
SEE LATEST MIUI CHANGELOG IF EVER THIS CHANGED
- get terminal from market
- Type su
- Type a2sd zipalign
- Type a2sd cachesd
- You may even need to do a2sd reinstall
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=11410721&postcount=3
I did it so and all works fine.

a2sd not found ;-(
using this rom: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1151765

Maybe because you installed a different rom than the OP (You: ·Official RUU Desire Sense Gingerbread v1.2 -GB2.3.3; OP: MIUI). To check if A2SD+ is working (I assume you partitioned your SD card for using A2SD+), open terminal emulator on your phone and type
Code:
su
ls -l /data
Post the output here and you will be told, if A2SD+ is working for you or not.
Furthermore, check wether you have a file named "10apps2sd" in /system/etc/init.d.

MatDrOiD said:
Maybe because you installed a different rom than the OP (You: ·Official RUU Desire Sense Gingerbread v1.2 -GB2.3.3; OP: MIUI). To check if A2SD+ is working (I assume you partitioned your SD card for using A2SD+), open terminal emulator on your phone and type
Code:
su
ls -l /data
Post the output here and you will be told, if A2SD+ is working for you or not.
Furthermore, check wether you have a file named "10apps2sd" in /system/etc/init.d.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
$ export PATH=/data/local/bin:$PATH
$ su
# ls -l /data
total 21
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 14 Nov 22 20:59 app -> /system/sd/app
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 22 Nov 22 20:59 app-private -> /system/sd/app-private
drwx------ 1 1000 1000 2048 Nov 22 21:41 backup
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 23 Nov 22 20:59 dalvik-cache -> /system/sd/dalvik-cache
drwxrwx--x 1 1000 1000 2048 Nov 23 06:09 data
drwxr-x--- 1 0 1007 2048 Nov 22 20:58 dontpanic
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 11 Nov 22 20:58 drm -> /data/local
drwxr-xr-x 15 0 0 0 Nov 22 21:40 htcfs
drwxrwx--x 1 2000 2000 2048 Nov 22 20:58 local
drwxrwx--- 1 0 0 2048 Nov 22 20:58 lost+found
drwxrwx--t 1 1000 9998 2048 Nov 23 11:43 misc
drwx------ 1 0 0 2048 Nov 23 06:08 property
drwx------ 1 1000 1000 2048 Nov 22 20:59 secure
drwxrwxr-x 1 1000 1000 2048 Nov 23 09:30 system
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 835 Nov 22 21:41 zipalign.log
#
I have a file called 40a2sd

KevAmiga said:
Thanks for this! Just saved me 90mb space
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it's done flawlessly
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

You don't have to care about anything, A2SD+ is fully working:
mikaelft said:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 14 Nov 22 20:59 app -> /system/sd/app
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 22 Nov 22 20:59 app-private -> /system/sd/app-private
drwx------ 1 1000 1000 2048 Nov 22 21:41 backup
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 23 Nov 22 20:59 dalvik-cache -> /system/sd/dalvik-cache
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

MatDrOiD said:
You don't have to care about anything, A2SD+ is fully working:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But but.... But I only have 108mb internal space left. My ext4 is 1024mb. :-s

Even if one is using A2SD+, the /data partition still gets filled with app data. That's how it works. And A2SD+ or rather it's EXT does not extend the internal /data partition. The only solve is to use DATA2SD. With this script all data will be moved to an EXT partition and this one will now be the "internal" /data partition. So your internal memory depends on the size of your EXT partition.

MatDrOiD said:
Even if one is using A2SD+, the /data partition still gets filled with app data. That's how it works. And A2SD+ or rather it's EXT does not extend the internal /data partition. The only solve is to use DATA2SD. With this script all data will be moved to an EXT partition and this one will now be the "internal" /data partition. So your internal memory depends on the size of your EXT partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok... I have 64mb swap size, is that bad?
Do I still need to check "Move data to SD" in applications? All can't be moved.

No the swap has nothing to do with it (please read my post again, very carefully and I am pretty you will understand it ).
No, you MUST NOT move it yourself. This is automatically done by the A2SD+ script. The reason why one can still move apps to SD in application settings is, android can only differentiate between apps on internal memory (/data) or on FAT32 of SD Card.
If the app is on EXT-partition of SD card, android "thinks" it is still on internal memory (and some app data is still there, as explained above).

MatDrOiD said:
No the swap has nothing to do with it (please read my post again, very carefully and I am pretty you will understand it ).
No, you MUST NOT move it yourself. This is automatically done by the A2SD+ script. The reason why one can still move apps to SD in application settings is, android can only differentiate between apps on internal memory (/data) or on FAT32 of SD Card.
If the app is on EXT-partition of SD card, android "thinks" it is still on internal memory (and some app data is still there, as explained above).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok... now I pressed "move to phone"
Then I got:
More free storage on SD card
More free storage on A2SD storage
Less storage on internal storage.

[Q] How to mount ext partition ?

I used to edit fstab to add mount points, but there isn't inside the rom I'm using (AOKP) !
well, I used this then:
Code:
ls -l /dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.0/by-name
and it works ... But my "sdcard" or better.. the internal memory.. has a partition in ext, done by CWM.
I don't know how to mount it!
this is my output:
Code:
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2012-01-31 12:26 boot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p7
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2012-01-31 12:26 cache -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p11
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2012-01-31 12:26 dgs -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2012-01-31 12:26 efs -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2012-01-31 12:26 metadata -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p13
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2012-01-31 12:26 misc -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p5
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2012-01-31 12:26 param -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p4
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2012-01-31 12:26 radio -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p9
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2012-01-31 12:26 recovery -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2012-01-31 12:26 sbl -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2012-01-31 12:26 system -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p10
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2012-01-31 12:26 userdata -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p12
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2012-01-31 12:26 xloader -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
Any help?

Android does not utilize /etc/fstab to mount the file system during the init process. It's done in the init.rc file.
Can you better explain what you are trying to do here?

ok maybe he doesn't, but with cyanogenmod 5 (or 6, sorry dont remember) I used to see the content of this file (fstab), and there was the partition table with all the mount points.. sdext included.
I show you.
#CyanogenMod 5(or 6..I take this from an old thread of mine in another forum):
Code:
[B]#cat /etc/fstab[/B]
/dev/block/mtdblock3 /system yaffs2 rw
/dev/block/mtdblock4 /cache yaffs2 rw
/dev/block/mtdblock5 /data yaffs2 rw
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /sdcard vfat rw
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /sd-ext auto rw
#CyanogenMod 7 (the one I'm currently using on my HTC G1)
Code:
[B]#cat /etc/vold.fstab[/B]
# Copyright (C) 2009 The Android Open Source Project
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.
## Vold 2.0 fstab for HTC Dream or Sapphire
#
## - San Mehat ([email protected])
##
#######################
## Regular device mount
##
## Format: dev_mount <label> <mount_point> <part> <sysfs_path1...>
## label - Label for the volume
## mount_point - Where the volume will be mounted
## part - Partition # (1 based), or 'auto' for first usable partition.
## <sysfs_path> - List of sysfs paths to source devices
######################
# Mounts the first usable partition of the specified device
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/goldfish_mmc.0 /devices/platform/msm_sdcc.2/mmc_host/mmc1
With Cyano's 5(or 6) i had App2ext (so maybe i could see ext because of this)
With Cyano's 7 I haven't.. so ok, maybe that's why I can not see the de ext mount point and just the fat ..
And maybe I answered myself !!!!
because I don't have Apps2ext in my GN so I can't neither see the sdext partition because it is not mounted as well.
F***
Anyway... Is there a way to mount EXT anyway?
I just want to mount and use it, with my G1 I ran ubuntu putting an ubuntu image on ext and mounted on /sdcard/ubuntu

CyanogenMod contained a lot of non AOSP modifications - including "sdext".
You can run your mount commands by modifying the init.rc file. You can also use init.d as well in ROMs that have it enabled.
However I'm not sure why you think you have an EXT partition done by CWM though?

silow said:
However I'm not sure why you think you have an EXT partition done by CWM though?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly ... me as well.. I just want to play around with it
the 1st month I bought the G1, I bricked it, I flashed thousand roms! changed all the spl, kernels, radios...
I.. like it.
anyway thank u it's clear now!

On the Galaxy Nexus the /sdcard mount is mounted on a sub directory (/data/media) not it's own partition - it's a "virtual sdcard". Thus the CWM partition options don't work here because it assumes the sdcard is it's own device/partition.
If you want a mountable block device you're going to have to modify the stock partitions or use some other means such as a loop device.
In any case if you need a hook into the init process to mount something you can use init.rc or init.d

Root question: how to mount external drive with NTFS format on fire TV gen2

Could someone please show me how to mount an external HD with NTFS format on fire TV gen2? I tried with StickMount but no success. I could not access the usbStorage folder from Kodi. However, if I used the ADB shell and switched to super user (root), I could access the usbStorage/sda1 directory and saw my files there. It appears some permission issue but I have no clue how to work around. Please advice.
Thanks

Disable USB Debugging - use Paragon NTFS ,.. works without problems
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.paragon.mounter&hl=de

I've switched over to exfat and I use stickmount.

Thanks for your reply. I tried both recommended methods, none of them worked. It appears to have some permission issue. Please take a look at the screenshot below, somehow only root permission can access the mounted drive.
[email protected]:/ $ cd /storage
cd /storage
[email protected]:/storage $ ll
ll
dr-xr-xr-x root root 2015-12-15 21:13 emulated
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2015-12-15 21:13 sdcard0 -> /storage/emulated/legacy
drwx------ root root 2015-12-15 21:13 sdcard1
drwx------ root root 2015-12-16 07:59 usb
drwx------ root root 2015-12-15 21:13 usbotg
[email protected]:/storage $ cd usb
cd usb
/system/bin/sh: cd: /storage/usb: Permission denied
2|[email protected]:/storage $ su
su
[email protected]:/storage #

Paragon folder /sdcard/ParagonNTFS or NTFS_1 ... _2
Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk

Not sure if this will work for you but I use this on my FTV2 to access my NAS
http://www.vimuplayer.com/

When you mount the exfat drive with stickmount, it will be mounted under /sdcard/usbStorage

I followed your instruction using stickmount with exfat drive formatted, but I could not read the folder (sda1) under usbStorage. I checked the folder permission using the shell terminal, it shows root as the owner of sda1 folder and no other user is allowed to access this folder. Never experienced something like this with Fire TV1. Any help solving the mounting issue is greatly appreciated.

Hey plz can I chat u in private if you don't mind
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA Free mobile app

Here's a Mac guide for this. It will cover formatting a drive in NTFS and the program you need on the Fire TV to mount the NTFS drive and how to make this work with Kodi.
http://marksmods.com/Hack-the-Fire-...e-Fire-TV-and-use-an-External-Hard-Drive.html

So both paragon and Stickmount require root to work?
Is there another option to access ntfs without tooth the atv?

mount usbstick with ext or anything other than fat

Hi. How can I mount on a rooted aftv an usbstick that is formated in ext3/ext4 or anything else than ntfs and fat32?
It's so f.... annoying.
I've tried with stickmount, but the symlink it creates is empty. I imagine that is 'cos the aftv software immediately takes over and asks to format the usbstick to fat32?

An usb stick with fat gets auto-mounted like this:
Code:
#mount
/dev/block/vold/8:1 /mnt/media_rw/usbdisk vfat
rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1023,gid=1023,fmask=0007,dmask=0007,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0
/dev/fuse /storage/usbdisk fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
Now, if I want to mount my usb stick with ext4 to be accessable by kodi etc, where would I mount it to?
Code:
toolbox mount -t ext4 -o rw,nosuid,nodev /dev/block/sda1 /data/media/0/usbStorage/sda1
That location /data/media/0.... is only readable by root. Hey, anyone?