Develop Bugs

[Q] Need help with internal memory partition structure on Incredible

I have an Incredible, rooted (and I have issues)... I appear to have repartitioned my internal memory area. Thankfully, the phone is useable, but it's not quite right as some programs don't work properly, the video recorder hangs hard, and I have either corrupt data or areas stomped on by other areas due to incorrect partition information. If certain files get touched, then the phone immediately protects itself by flagging the internal memory as read only. I did find a workaround to the phone automatically going into ReadOnly at boot by simply adding a ".nomedia" file in the root of MP3 (where some corrupt files happen to reside). As long as the system doesn't touch the files, the file system remains R/W.
I stupidly did this to myeself. I did it while using a Partitioning tool (specifically Acronis, making a "secure zone") on my PC while my incredible was charging in the USB port and I accidentally used the wrong drive. It was one of those "oh crap" moments. If I connect the phone to my PC, the internal drive comes up as being unformatted and windows asks if I want to format. Another disk utility (EASEUS) sees the drive, can show how its partitioned, and I can explore within the partitions to see that files exist.
I've been searching for a long while to find someone somewhere who might have info on how to fix the Internal SD partition information, but have yet to find anything. Reflashing the factory ROM, "factory reset", etc. appear to just repopulate the already partitioned areas. The closest thing I have found to my problem is a post called "Challenge to members... Help me fix internal partitions without recovery" on the Incredibleforums elsewhere (can't post external links yet). Unfortunately, trying those solutions doesn't fix the issue. That post deals with /dev/mount/mmcblk0p1 and /dev/mount/mmcblk0p2. My issue appears to be in /dev/mount/mmcblk0p3. Parted doesn't like that one much. I have attached a couple of files that show parted output for all of the drives that get mounted, per /etc/fstab & /etc/recovery.fstab. This was done in ADB while the phone was booted into recovery.
If anyone can point me in the right direction how to properly (and safely) repartition the *internal* areas back to how they should be, I'd really appreciate the help!
Thanks,
Blue

I ran across this:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=15746
.... hope it helps send you in the right direction anyway. Good luck!

Formating instructions i think it would be a better idea to try using the ruu.exe tool to reflash your phone and it should format that partition back and put all the old apps it came with back in proper order. Since the phone is use able right now you could also try a factory reset first if you don't want to try the ruu.exe.

Thanks for the link and tip for RUU.
sfdisk does not appear to be a useable command on my DInc. Is there an Android version/port? Also, that link suggests that the partition should be msdos, but isn't the boot sector type supposed to be ext2/3 or yaffs2 (?) on the DInc?
I have already tried the factory reset as well as reformatting the phone areas using CWM Recovery (3.0.0.8). I also reflashed a factory stock ROM found in the lastest RUU. I also flashed the 2nd to latest ROM from that RUU (2.1). All of these only reformatted and re-installed stock ROM. Unfortunately, doing so only reformats the existing partitions, but does not fix the screwed up partition sizing. As far as I can determine, setting my phone back to S-ON and running the RUU will do nothing different than what I did by placing the stock PB31IMG.zip in the root of my (external) SD card and flashing it from HBOOT.
If the RUU truly repartitions the internal memory, then I'm game to set S-ON and try that. However, all indications are that doing so will be no different than flashing PB31IMG.zip. Is that correct?
Thanks again,
Blue

[Q] CM 7.1.0 Complete System Lost

Hello everyone,
I had CM 7.1.0 on my Desire for a long time.
I used S2E to move my /app partition and another big partition (dont know name any more and cant look) to my sd-ext and it worked for a long time.
Yesterday my phone said space on the /data partition (150mb) is nearly full (warning on 15mb left) and I moved the partition to sd, too.
It said I should reboot and after the reboot my whole system was gone.
Now I have a stock CM 7.1. The home button didnt work either, I couldnt get back to home or display the task switcher, every other button still worked.
Strangely 4 apps from my previous system remained: Aldiko, Teamviewer, Tetris and little piano. Aldiko even has my whole Ebook Library from the previous system but settings and bookmarks were lost.
But I found out that my whole picture gallery is still there.
My contacts (not synced) were on the phone and now are they lost, too.
In the recovery I tried to mount all partitions, but after every reboot the sd-ext partition was still unmounted. I tried to fix permissions too. Didnt work either.
My English is not the best and I dont know if I made a mistake.
But I really need your help quickly to get back my old system.
Best Regards

If you have a nand backup just restore if from recovery.

If I had one I wouldnt ask this urgently ^^

if you want to keep all your apps and settings, this could be quite difficult.
try:
- reflashing the rom without wipe. i don't know if this will work to be honest, if your data partition has actually been moved and got corrupted, i don't know of a way to recover it.
- if possible install titanium backup, and if it can see your apps back them up, because it would be better to start all over from this point.
if neither of these methods work, then the 'easiest' way is to full wipe and start all over again (you will lose all apps + settings etc. your photos are still there because they're on the FAT32 partition of your sd card).
the problem you had is that you are still on stock hboot, so your small data partition fills up quickly. you shouldnt have to move it to sd, as it runs better/faster from internal nand memory. you had a large part of system partition unused, so so your overall objective should be to s-off and switch to cm7r2 hboot.
in summary from your position i would:
1. (make sure sd card is properly partitioned using gparted, 1-1.5GB maximum ext4 depending on number of apps you have)
2. s-off using revolutionary (think this is possible as your phone is still booting?)
3. change to cm7r2 hboot
4. boot into recovery, format all partitions except sd card (format system, data, sd-ext, cache, dalvik...everything so clean)
5. install rom
6. install S2E if this is your preferred method, just move apps to sd-ext.
7. restore apps if you managed to make a titanium backup
8. (if you start to run out of space again, then use S2E to move dalvik as well)
general guides for revolutionry, changing hboot etc here
in future:
- always backup your contacts to google
- i know it's easy to say this now...but have a nand backup before making big changes like this, and keep a few on your PC for safe keeping (they're stored in sdcard/clockworkmod/backup)

ghtwex moratus
A Big Thank You eddiehk6!
So you think it wasnt my fault, the partition got corrupted?
Strangely my phone space (150mb) on the stock CM 7.1.0 is full.
I would like to start from scratch and try your MildWild ROM the only thing I need very badly are my contacts.
Is there a way to extract them?
Btw I already have Revolutionary S-OFF
Best regards

Daniel2650 said:
A Big Thank You eddiehk6!
So you think it wasnt my fault, the partition got corrupted?
Strangely my phone space (150mb) on the stock CM 7.1.0 is full.
I would like to start from scratch and try your MildWild ROM the only thing I need very badly are my contacts.
Is there a way to extract them?
Btw I already have Revolutionary S-OFF
Best regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
don't know whose fault, but moving critical data partition sounds like a bad idea anyway...
your phone space can easily fill up because it's so small, 150MB can quickly be taken up by data/dalvik cache. stock hboot is also very wasteful, you probably wouldnt have fun into this problem if you were on cm7r2 hboot.
no idea how to extract contacts out a non-booting rom. if you have an old nandroid backup you could try restoring it to extract contacts from there, that's the only way i can think of. when you sync your contacts with google you'll discover how useful it is for situations like this...
at least you are already s-off so relatively easy from here.
not "my" rom lol, but i like it!
- change to cm7r2 hboot
- full wipe all partitions except sd
- install rom
- read OP for setting up app2sd by default (assuming you have correctly partitioned sd card with gparted or 4ext recovery)
regardless of what ROM you decide, use an app like 'diskusage' to check how all your partitions are being used, very useful for troubleshooting "low space" issues

[HELP!!?!!?] SD Card and Recovery Problems

Here's a lovely and vague one for you all to try wrap your heads around...
Okay, so I started having trouble with my SD card about a year ago after my mate added a partition so I could flash A2SD ROMs (I believe - I was stuck and asked him to sort it and from what I can gather, that's what he did). It was fine for a while, then suddenly it became nigh on unresponsive to Android: I couldn't take photos, install apps to SD, basically any data transfer between the device and the SD storage was not happening. I think this was after I tried to delete some things to make room for videos and **** but I was stuck on about 300MB of the ~2GB available (this may have been my first attempt to delete after the partition, I'm not sure).
That was the birth of a problem I am still yet to fix. My dad needed a new phone and I wasn't using my Desire anymore. He's 53, and so the Sense UI was less than intuitive to him which lead to me offering to make it a bit simpler for him (flash a stock ROM and use a more information-centric launcher). The device badly needed updating anyways as I hadn't done so since my mate partitioned my SD card and some bugs had began to develop on the ROM I was using. So, I downloaded the latest CM build and set about reformatting the storage to see if I could solve some of the issues. In attempting to do so I think I performed a data, cache and dalvik cache wipe which removed the ROM I was currently using. The partitioning was successful, so I transferred the new ROM and attempted to flash - BOOM! Error message. Tried again, same thing. Now I have a phone that'll only boot into a recovery that's 5 full versions old (CM Recovery v2.5.0.7) without a way to flash an update img. I've tried on many different occasions to try and sort the problem and spent relentless hours trying to research a solution to the numerous different error messages this produces. Every error I can remember was a problem with read/write on the SD card, so I purchased a new one to no avail.
The phone CAN'T be bricked, surely. I still have access to things like USB mounting (which works absolutely fine), and most importantly, access to the recovery. Please don't tell me she won't live on, this is my baby and she's going down fighting! :'(
TL;DR SD card read/write issues. I only have access to recovery. I can mount the SD card via USB in CM Recovery, but every time I try to flash a new ROM I get numerous different read/write errors.

Go here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1408936
There you can download 4ext recovery that can be flashed via fastboot or using some flasher.
When you flash it repartition your sd card, choose only one sd-ext partition (not bigger than 1,5gb), no swap and fat32 for thevrest of your card.
After repartitioning try to flash some rom and see how it will work.

Bootstrap and Safestrap - Not whats the differenc or better thread

Correct me if I am wrong, but bootstrap is installed to internal but the custom rom is flashed to the internal-sd.
Why can Bootstap not be written so that it creates a partition somewhere on the root of the internal memory, say /bootstrap, and have said folder act as the root for the desired Rom?
Safestrap, I've done searches and the only thing I found is: Its a program limitation. Why does it only do 3gb partitions and again, why can it not be done on the internal memory of the phone?
I'd like every bit of the internal-sd to be available for installation for apps, not because I need it, but so I have the option. Especially for programs like CoPilot Live which download the full map data.

[q] help with htc desire memory

HI
Im new to this forum so please forgice me if my post is in the wrong place.
I have the 2010 htc desire and have it rooted and am running MILDWILD 8.0 which is great on this phone. my question is how do i add extra internal memory using partion ext on sd card. I can partion the sd card with clockword recovery but when i reboot it always hangs on the htc logo. can any one help with this?
Thanks

CWM-made partitions dont cope well with this phone. Reformat the partition using this guide.

I followed the guide but mildwild 8.0 still shows 148 on htc desire internal memory.

That's because you're still on stock hboot, no better than before it was rooted.
- Install DiskUsage, enable root and browse to your /system partition.
- You will see a lot of free space on /system. This is wasted space.
- You can convert this wasted space to extra /data (internal memory) by flashing a different hboot with a smaller /system partition.
(You need to be s-off for the following, if you're not, use 'revolutionary')
- Nandroid backup
- Flash cm7r2 hboot using fastboot
- Full wipe and nandroid restore
- Go again to DiskUsage, your free space on system is greatly reduced :good:, and your /data will go up to 287MB
- This 287MB will be used for app data (e.g. saved game data), and will allow for more apps to be installed.
- You won't see your sd-ext reported in your total internal memory (i.e. it won't read 'internal + sd-ext')
- Keep your apps on 'internal' (don't 'move to sd'), this will trick them automatically to sd-ext.
- If you use DiskUsage to browse to /sd-ext, you'll see apps and dalvik cache there, which means it's working as it should.

do i need to do this? if so can you show me a guide.
also does mild wild 8.0 have built in apps2sd scripts and if so how do i use them.
i have saw videos on youtube with the htc desire internal memory going from 148mb to 1.5gb how can i do this?
thanks

You don't technically need to do to it, but in order to gain more app space you should understand exactly how your memory is being used in the first place.
Apps2sd is already enabled in the ROM by default as stated in the ROM OP. You do not need to do anything extra. Like I said, keep apps on internal and your apps and dalvik cache will be moved to /sd-ext, you should be able to check this now with DiskUsage.
I recommend starting here for fastboot guide, that's the only thing you're missing. Flashing things through fastboot isn't that hard once you get used to it, and can be crucial in certain situations. Once you flash the ROM on cm7r2 hboot, you'll be using your space more efficiently and have a lot more space for apps.
I know 287MB doesn't seem like much more. But this is /data partition is only used for app data. This will still get filled up as you install apps, but much more slowly :good: The apps and dalvik cache which take up much more space go to sd-ext, which is what you want.
You can refer to the same videos if you really want to see 1.5GB internal memory, they likely use a 'data2sd' or equivalent script but in my experience it's not worth it. You would have to remove the current working script, and replace it with something else, which is risky if it's incompatible and untested. Even if you do this, you're not actually gaining anything extra. You have already created the sd-ext partition; it's size is whatever size you set it when you partitioned. It does not change depending on the A2SD script.
I understand that having a 'visible' 1.5GB memory looks better...but once you realise your partition is already there and being used correctly, you don't need to see it.

thanks
i now have 288mb of internal storage with an ext partion sd of 1.4gb,
is that all i need to do now?
so when i install apps the mildwild 8.0 rom will move all to ext4 partion automatically?
also some apps i use to use now say "compatible with your device" is there a way around this so i can install them on my desire?
Thanks

Pretty much yes. Keep them on internal as instructed (don't 'move to SD') to trick them to sd-ext.
All you really need is reassurance that your ext partition is actually being used, which is why I always recommend DiskUsage. Have you actually tried it as first recommended?
Browse to your /sd-ext (or similar name) folder, the one which is ~1.4GB in total size. What can you see?
As for incompatible apps. Don't know. Which ones, are they for higher versions of Android? Have you tried sideloading the apks?

eddiehk6 said:
Pretty much yes. Keep them on internal as instructed (don't 'move to SD') to trick them to sd-ext.
All you really need is reassurance that your ext partition is actually being used, which is why I always recommend DiskUsage. Have you actually tried it as first recommended?
Browse to your /sd-ext (or similar name) folder, the one which is ~1.4GB in total size. What can you see?
As for incompatible apps. Don't know. Which ones, are they for higher versions of Android? Have you tried sideloading the apks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes i have tried it as recommended.
when i browse /sd-ext i see 1423mib then the following dalvik-cache 76.7mib, app 66.4mib, system data 104.3 mib and freespace 1175mib
I also liked the guide on fast boot you sent me, as from using tips from it i was able to flash a new splash screen and boot animation. so thank you.
by side loading do you mean installing the apps with the apk file and not through the play store?
if so this works for some apps but now others. the app Im looking to use is the Argos app. before the recent update it worked fine but now when i went to update i get the device is incompatible message in play store. I have read some stuff on the build.prop method but am unsure if this would work.

tronic44522 said:
yes i have tried it as recommended.
when i browse /sd-ext i see 1423mib then the following dalvik-cache 76.7mib, app 66.4mib, system data 104.3 mib and freespace 1175mib
I also liked the guide on fast boot you sent me, as from using tips from it i was able to flash a new splash screen and boot animation. so thank you.
by side loading do you mean installing the apps with the apk file and not through the play store?
if so this works for some apps but now others. the app Im looking to use is the Argos app. before the recent update it worked fine but now when i went to update i get the device is incompatible message in play store. I have read some stuff on the build.prop method but am unsure if this would work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, all good, it's filling up so you have successfully added internal memory :good: plenty more space for apps.
Yeh that guide worked for me which is why I always recommend it. I liked changing the splash screen too (ironically can't be done on Nexus devices as far as I know)
Sideloading is as you described
The Argos app is compatible with Android versions 4.0 and higher as on the play store page, which is why it's incompatible with CM7 which is 2.3.x. The same probably applies to the other apps you're having trouble with. I've never messed with build.prop, probably could work, just make sure you make a nandroid backup before trying any of it.