Database Develop

SD card prepare tool[req]

hello all
just got an android and im still testing it. so please excuse my noobishness
question: is it possible to make a simple tool that runs on windows that would prepare and partition the sdcard with the three portions (fat32,ext2 and swap) and proper file system. is there something technically preventing such app of ever getting written. i know that some image burning software on widows can be used burn a cd/dvd that is not supported by the windows file system
if not, is it possible to write an android application to do all that. if so, anybody willing to write it
that would greatly simplify the process of installing the swap file enabled cooked roms. the current process is a bit messy

that is a great idea. I can do ext/2 or 3 with acronis disk director but I don't know how to do both and am nervous setting that up throught the phone although there is a really good guide on how to do that the phone.

Taken from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=533731
How to partition your SD card from console (This requires the cyanogen recovery 1.3.1)
Example for my 8GB card.
Reboot and enter recovery (home+power) then go to console. Enter the below pressing "enter" after each line.
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
print (to verfiy we know what size card we are dealing with. Mine was 8166 read below if yours is different)
rm 1 (if you had more than 1 partition you would want to rm them as well)
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 7526
mkpartfs primary ext2 7526 8038
mkpartfs primary linux-swap 8038 8166
quit
upgrade_fs
recovery
if your card isn't 8166 when you type print then you will need to modify those numbers to match your card size. You basically work back to figure out the totals. To figure it out, start with your cards total size. For example 8166 total Subtract 128 for swap (8038) minus 512 for ext (7526) the rest will go to fat32. Each partition starts where the other left off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally have never tried this or don't know if this will help you but it was worth a shot.

xsnipuhx said:
Taken from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=533731
I personally have never tried this or don't know if this will help you but it was worth a shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a perfect procedure.

THE GRIZZ said:
hello all
just got an android and im still testing it. so please excuse my noobishness
question: is it possible to make a simple tool that runs on windows that would prepare and partition the sdcard with the three portions (fat32,ext2 and swap) and proper file system. is there something technically preventing such app of ever getting written. i know that some image burning software on widows can be used burn a cd/dvd that is not supported by the windows file system
if not, is it possible to write an android application to do all that. if so, anybody willing to write it
that would greatly simplify the process of installing the swap file enabled cooked roms. the current process is a bit messy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=534043
Keep an eye on that tool. If you look at this to-do list, it looks like automatically partitioning your sdcard is next up. But the procedure above is simple, and it works now if you don't wanna wait.

xsnipuhx said:
Taken from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=533731
I personally have never tried this or don't know if this will help you but it was worth a shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a good way but you should subtract 32 for linux-swap. 128 for linux-swap is WAY to big.

h.nocturna said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=534043
Keep an eye on that tool. If you look at this to-do list, it looks like automatically partitioning your sdcard is next up. But the procedure above is simple, and it works now if you don't wanna wait.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks thats exactly what i was talking about. i already partioned it using one of the guides. a simpler method cant hurt though

It is a great idea, the problem is that none of the tools for partitioning on windows are free. Maybe it would be possible to make a GUI that feeds commands to parted on the phone using adb? I don't know, I don't see what's wrong with booting in to gparted, seems like less troube and it's has a GUI.

Eh, 3-4 commands in Terminal isn't gonna kill anyone, but it might intimidate the noobs here and prevent them from fully enjoying their phone cuz they stop as soon as they see a wall of text.

h.nocturna said:
Eh, 3-4 commands in Terminal isn't gonna kill anyone, but it might intimidate the noobs here and prevent them from fully enjoying their phone cuz they stop as soon as they see a wall of text.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're completely right, if people never use it they will always be scared of the terminal =P
Bah, if everyone used linux they could just use gparted, another easy way.

I used the cmd line I quoted early to ready a 8gb sd card for apps2sd and I just left out the linux swap part and it worked MINT. But if your scared of the terminal, try using the apps2sd app on the market and that will get your sd card ready.

partition question

morning all
yesterday i spent most of my afternoon installing various roms and themes, and last night i was very brave and installed a recovery
im currently running CyanogenMod 3.9.10, now from what i understand this has auto apps2sd but will only work with a partitioned card. my card isnt partitioned.
so
am i right in thinking that 1.4 recovery can do this for me ?
does my card have to be empty / new format to do this ?
and can it be done at this stage of my phone ( theme, rom, radio installed )
many thanks guys

check out this thread it makes it very easy. if you do not have adb then just type in all the commands into the recovery console except in the beginning just hit enter in recovery console to start typing.

thanks for help
is there no easier way to do this ?
that looks complicated

with cm recovery, it's not hard at all. actually, i've done it several times in one day. haha honestly, it's a hell of a lot easier than how i had to partition my card in the first place. i spent hours trying to figure it out, and i praised cyanogen when that recovery image came out.

grandomegabosses said:
with cm recovery, it's not hard at all. actually, i've done it several times in one day. haha honestly, it's a hell of a lot easier than how i had to partition my card in the first place. i spent hours trying to figure it out, and i praised cyanogen when that recovery image came out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dont suppose you could advise me on how i go about it could you please ?

you're going to want to backup the files already on your card

grandomegabosses said:
you're going to want to backup the files already on your card
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have done that

okay, i'm not sure if you need to format it, but you might want to, just for good measure.
boot into recovery and go to console. hit enter and type in parted /dev/block/mmcblk0 then hit enter again.
you'll get a whole buncha text telling you your in GNU parted. type in:
p then enter (just to make sure you can see your partitions and stuff)
you should only have 1 partition and it should be a fat32. enter
rm 1
that'll delete the partition. then enter
(these are the commands i put for my 2gb card. change the partition sizes to fit your card. 512mb is a good ext partition. if you're gonna do swap, 32mb is a safe starting)
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 1501
mkpartfs primary ext2 1501 1981
mkpartfs primary linux-swap 1981 2013
then enter p again to make sure you've got everything squared away. enter quit and it'll tell you that you might need to upgrade your filesystems.
enter upgrade_fs and wait until it gives you a # and reboot.

what size card are you using, anyway?

grandomegabosses said:
what size card are you using, anyway?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow
thanks for that hope it works
its 8gig card

when you hit p in GNU parted, make sure you change the partition sizes for your 8gb card. i know... my card is puny! haha
also, do you have adb?

grandomegabosses said:
when you hit p in GNU parted, make sure you change the partition sizes for your 8gb card. i know... my card is puny! haha
also, do you have adb?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no i dont have adb ? whats that do ?

i just wondered. it does WAYYYY to much for me to explain right here. haha i just find it easier to type out the commands in the adb shell. but i'm not going to explain how to get adb going... it took me long enough to get it myself... haha

well thanks for the help, im gonna have a crack at this now
see you the other side

good luck

ok done that
when i says i may need to update... update what ? exactly

update your ext partition. that's what the upgrade_fs part was about. sorry

please excuse my sheer lack of knowledge...but how do i do that..i think im lost here

just type in upgrade_fs and hit enter and it'll do it automatically. wait for the # come up after that and type reboot then enter and it'll reboot

grandomegabosses i could kiss you put i wont !
your a star ! many many thanks for helping me out

need help pls dont kill me!

hello all first post and hopefully last post... I have tried to search and search and read and read but still confused on some things. I just have a few questions the confusion comes from instructions how to do things but no reason or explanation why. so anyways here goes I started with no knowledge of any of this so I dont need help with root, and flashing roms or installing and using adb... I have a G1 with pvt board I also plan on using just the linux-swap for now not the compcache one so here goes
1) what is the difference in partitions (ext2 ext3) what is each needed or used for? like your main fat32 is for storing apps and data? one is a ram swap kinda like virtual memory? I just not sure if I would need ext 2 or ext3 or both...I am using hero roms... does the linux-swap partition count as a ext2 or 3? and lastly why do u need to convert a ext2 to and ext3 you cant just create an ext3 off the bat?
2) how do I know if the rom does not say what type of swap it is using as in comp or linux swap? I have read about the user.cfg file but kinda unclear in that... do I have to edit it or just check it from the zip file and see the settings? if so I see downloads for a user.cfg (of course prolly not the settings I need for that rom) but I just edit it and throw it on fat32 partition and it should work automatically? if the rom has compcache working can I still disable it and just use a linux-swap and just change the size of the swap?
3) what is the difference between the user.cfg and userinit.sh?
4) after the rom is flashed (my update.zip) it is ok to delete it off the sdcard?
5) so lastly if I want to put pics / music / videos do I just throw them on the fat32 partition but in what folder so it recognizes it? or do I need to download some kind of file manager to get into the flashed rom so I can see the correct media / download / camera folders and place them there? if I have to go the latter route do I need to do the whole adb "push" thing to get them in there? reason why I ask is with a normal G1 when you connect it with the data cable to your computer i can just see the folders but when rooted and flashed obvioulsy there is nothing to see
6)apps2sd runs and saves on what partition?
please dont kill me I honestly did search and read all over just seems confusing most of the "guides" tell me how to do things but I dont know why those things are usefull or needed to be done

Devious12345 said:
hello all first post and hopefully last post... I have tried to search and search and read and read but still confused on some things. I just have a few questions the confusion comes from instructions how to do things but no reason or explanation why. so anyways here goes I started with no knowledge of any of this so I dont need help with root, and flashing roms or installing and using adb... I have a G1 with pvt board I also plan on using just the linux-swap for now not the compcache one so here goes
1) what is the difference in partitions (ext2 ext3) what is each needed or used for? like your main fat32 is for storing apps and data? one is a ram swap kinda like virtual memory? I just not sure if I would need ext 2 or ext3 or both...I am using hero roms... does the linux-swap partition count as a ext2 or 3? and lastly why do u need to convert a ext2 to and ext3 you cant just create an ext3 off the bat?
2) how do I know if the rom does not say what type of swap it is using as in comp or linux swap? I have read about the user.cfg file but kinda unclear in that... do I have to edit it or just check it from the zip file and see the settings? if so I see downloads for a user.cfg (of course prolly not the settings I need for that rom) but I just edit it and throw it on fat32 partition and it should work automatically? if the rom has compcache working can I still disable it and just use a linux-swap and just change the size of the swap?
3) what is the difference between the user.cfg and userinit.sh?
4) after the rom is flashed (my update.zip) it is ok to delete it off the sdcard?
5) so lastly if I want to put pics / music / videos do I just throw them on the fat32 partition but in what folder so it recognizes it? or do I need to download some kind of file manager to get into the flashed rom so I can see the correct media / download / camera folders and place them there? if I have to go the latter route do I need to do the whole adb "push" thing to get them in there? reason why I ask is with a normal G1 when you connect it with the data cable to your computer i can just see the folders but when rooted and flashed obvioulsy there is nothing to see
6)apps2sd runs and saves on what partition?
please dont kill me I honestly did search and read all over just seems confusing most of the "guides" tell me how to do things but I dont know why those things are usefull or needed to be done
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ill answer the 4th question coz im a lazy dawg,
and the answer is.......... YES!

Devious12345 said:
hello all first post and hopefully last post... I have tried to search and search and read and read but still confused on some things. I just have a few questions the confusion comes from instructions how to do things but no reason or explanation why. so anyways here goes I started with no knowledge of any of this so I dont need help with root, and flashing roms or installing and using adb... I have a G1 with pvt board I also plan on using just the linux-swap for now not the compcache one so here goes
1) what is the difference in partitions (ext2 ext3) what is each needed or used for? like your main fat32 is for storing apps and data? one is a ram swap kinda like virtual memory? I just not sure if I would need ext 2 or ext3 or both...I am using hero roms... does the linux-swap partition count as a ext2 or 3? and lastly why do u need to convert a ext2 to and ext3 you cant just create an ext3 off the bat?
2) how do I know if the rom does not say what type of swap it is using as in comp or linux swap? I have read about the user.cfg file but kinda unclear in that... do I have to edit it or just check it from the zip file and see the settings? if so I see downloads for a user.cfg (of course prolly not the settings I need for that rom) but I just edit it and throw it on fat32 partition and it should work automatically? if the rom has compcache working can I still disable it and just use a linux-swap and just change the size of the swap?
3) what is the difference between the user.cfg and userinit.sh?
4) after the rom is flashed (my update.zip) it is ok to delete it off the sdcard?
5) so lastly if I want to put pics / music / videos do I just throw them on the fat32 partition but in what folder so it recognizes it? or do I need to download some kind of file manager to get into the flashed rom so I can see the correct media / download / camera folders and place them there? if I have to go the latter route do I need to do the whole adb "push" thing to get them in there? reason why I ask is with a normal G1 when you connect it with the data cable to your computer i can just see the folders but when rooted and flashed obvioulsy there is nothing to see
6)apps2sd runs and saves on what partition?
please dont kill me I honestly did search and read all over just seems confusing most of the "guides" tell me how to do things but I dont know why those things are usefull or needed to be done
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) EXT2 and EXT3 are linux filesystems. If you have an EXT partition on your SD card then this is where apps will be stored. You may notice that if you're running a Hero ROM with no A2SD (/Apps2SD) you will only have about 20mb left for apps. You can make this linux partition as big as you want (within reason). Most people use 512mb, because it's all the space you will ever need for apps.
On to the differences between ext2, ext3 and ext4. Most people use ext3, the reason being is it uses journalling, making it faster and more efficient than ext2. There's nothing wrong with ext2, but ext3 is just a bit better. All ROMs with A2SD support will lit you use ext2 and ext3. Ext4 is less well supported. Personally I use it, just because it's newer than 3, but it's not supported by all ROMs.
So, just got for ext3.
Linux swap is totally different from ext filesystems. As you suggested it is virtual memory, which is essential on Hero ROMs. Personally I use a 64mb partition.
So my 8GB card looks like this
FAT32 - 7.5GB
EXT4 - 500mb
Linux-Swap - 64
2) I think you mean user.conf and userinit.sh. These files tell the ROM what settings to use for Swap and CompCache. It's not essential, just ignore it.
3) user.conf and userinit.sh work together. userinit.sh is one you edit, and user.conf initiates userinit.sh. Again, no ROMs require this, don't worry about it.
4) yeah you can delete update.zip. Personally I keep all my ROMs on the root of the sdcard so I can flash/reflash whenever I want to.
5) You put media on the phones Sd the same way as if it was not rooted. Connect the cable, pull down the notification bar, choose "mount" and drag and drop your files over. Windows won't see your ext partition btw.
6) Apps to sd saves to your ext partition, be it ext2/3/4 ect.
Sorry for the long post just wanted to make sure I answered everything.

3) user.conf and userinit.sh work together. userinit.sh is one you edit, and user.conf initiates userinit.sh. Again, no ROMs require this, don't worry about it.
should be user.conf you edit
If you are willing to learn you can go here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=542899
AdrianK is right though its not needed ,but it good to know all your options.

AdrianK said:
3) user.conf and userinit.sh work together. userinit.sh is one you edit, and user.conf initiates userinit.sh. Again, no ROMs require this, don't worry about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually i think you have this one backwards Adrian. the userinit.sh is what the a2sd script makes a call to upon every boot to activate your linux-swap partition and it uses the various system defaults usually, the userinit.sh then makes a call to the user.conf to see what values it is suppose to use for the various things if they are different then the system default values, and will use the ones in the user.conf. user.conf is the one you edit to change the various values.
or at least this is my understanding of how it works.

ok so basically I just open the zipped rom and see if there is a userinit.sh file in there which means apps2sd is already in the rom... then look at the user.cfg... but do I try to edit the user.cfg before I flash the rom and re-zip it then flash or am I able to edit the user.cfg after I have flashed the rom... I know I believe I am supposed to use the notepad++ to edit it from unbuntu live or is there another way to do it? when I connect and mount my phone in normal working mode not (terminal or console mode) all I see is the update.zip file on there I can not see any of the ext partitions is that normal? as in you can only see your fat32 and what files (music pics) that you put on there? is there any way to view the ext partitions?
like I said if I have an edited user.cfg file with the settings I need do I need to "push" it to the flashed rom via adb? or would it be easier to just edit it then re-zip then flash? oh and by the way what is the direct path to the user.cfg and userinit.sh? as in what folders do they normally reside in?
THANKS you guys are seriously helping me alot soon I will be cooking my own roms.... I just need an understanding of these things not just guides telling me to type stuff even though they work doesnt mean I know whats going on
btw I am trying to use MLIGN-HeroV2.1.6 rom and super laggy for me so I know the partoition sizes are wrong or not working correctly or swap is not enabled....and yes I have an 8g transcend class 6 card... all the others in the thread say its very fast with no major home screen lag and such so I messed up on settings and partions

you must put the userinit.sh and user.conf in /system/sd (your ext3) and chmod 755 both of them.
there are good instructions for using and editing them in the link dan0zone gave you.
the userinit.sh and user.conf (as far as i know) do not come standard in roms, the a2sd scripts reads and runs them on the first boot, more technically the a2sd sends a call out to see if there is a userinit.sh then if there is and if it is the userinit.sh from that link, it then looks at the user.conf to see what values it uses.
i always use pspad to edit my user.conf (and any other android related file) in windows. here is a link to pspad.

Adrian had it right except for the flip flop between user.conf and userinit.sh. You don't want to edit userinit.sh unless you know what you are doing. The user.conf and userinit.sh files are not in the ROM itself. They need to be pushed to /system/sd via adb or terminal emulator. See my signature for the link to the details.
You will not see your ext3 or linux-swap partitions in Windows. You can use adb shell, terminal emulator, a root explorer or Droid Explorer to see those.
Also, if you'd like to edit your user.conf right on your phone, download Text Edit free from the Market.
Here's a big tip. Investigate two scripts. One is called switchrom.sh and the other is called bart.sh which is an update to switchrom.sh. It will save you a lot of headaches later on.
Hope I got it all.

man you guys are great thanks for the replies I think I understand it all now. I will try the pspad and see how that works out although the text edit free seems like a more easier way if your not around a computer... the question I have if I path to /system/sd what if I have an ext 3 and 4 which one would it end up in? ext2 it wont I assume? in some guide I read they say to just put it on the sd card like as in the fat32 part which I know is wrong! or they just didnt explain in further details.... oh god didnt want to get into the chmod 755 cause I didnt think I needed to do that now I will have to go figure out what that does and its purpose... there has been many thread arguments over wether to use chmod 755 I just thought a linux-swap about 96 or so with a swappiness setting of say 60 would be fine didnt think I would need to enable or set up chmod 755
thanks so much!!
dan0zone's link I have read before i can download the userinit.sh file but have no user.cfg to play with are the user.cfg all standard or generic until I or someone else edits them? where can I get a user.cfg file was not in the link dan0zone posted

chmod 755 = -rwxr-xr-x = for a regular file whose user class has full permissions and whose group and others classes have only the read and execute permissions.
there you go. /system/sd is what the directory associated with /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 which is what your ext2/3/4 (doesn't matter) is.
the only thing you need to chmod 755 are the userinit.sh and the user.conf after you place them in your ext2/3/4 partition, and the reason is so that they may run after being called by the a2sd script at boot up.

ok thanks about the chmod 755 I believe i get it seems to be a permissions thing....
any answer on the user.cfg file if it is a generic template file or where to get one unedited?
thanks for the switchrom and bart tip I totally understand that but for now I dont have anything I need to save and backup just doing it bare but in the future i will use those on ce I get better at all of this.... which thanks to all of you i am understanding this ALOT better.....

you can get one from the link that was provided earlier, it shows what the system defaults are beside each of the settings, so if you want to set it all to the system defaults then you can.

ah sorry I am stupid I just saw the title of the userint.sh file I didnt open it too see there was a user.cfg in it.... thanks
I plan to repartition and setup the userinit and user.cfg all over again this is probably the worst question yet but I just plan to stick my sd in my computer and reformat the whole card is that enuff to completly wipe it or will the ext and linux-swap still be in there?

if you are using windows then it will only format the fat32 partition, to get your card back to one partition, you can use parted in the recovery console to rm your partitions then make a single fat32 partition or just rm all partitions then re-make them to whatever size you want.

You can also format your sd card (wipe everything including partitons) by going to Settings, SD Card, Unmount, Format/Erase (not sure what it's called). This seems to work sometimes. You should use parted anyway since you will need to repatition your card there so no need for the extra step. BTW, it's user.CONF not user.CFG. just a heads up if you plan on searching. My signature has all the necessary links to pretty much everything you will need.

AFAIK if the rom has a2sd included, you wont have an option to unmount the sd card.

knowfear said:
AFAIK if the rom has a2sd included, you wont have an option to unmount the sd card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed you are correct, sir. I haven't done it this way since the JF1.51 days. I use either parted command line or GParted on Ubuntu so I didn't even check the settings when I wrote that.

apps2sd question

i searched for this and came up with some links, but none to verify my exact question which is, do i need a certain ROM, or recovery image, i have the RA-dream-V1.5.2. to apply apps2sd, i am currently running the latest cyanogen ROM, do i need a sd card reader or can it be done just by using terminal emulator, and i just bought a 4gb class 6 from new egg, and i was wondering what do you guys recommend for my ext2 partition space to be? so if you guys have any info on this it would be great if you threw it my way thank you!

Most rom have it enabled automaticlly when it sees an extX partition. The recovery is not required, but helpful if you don't have a linux system or other software to create the partitions on your computer. No card reader is required unless you want to format it that way. The only terminal commands you would need would be in the recovery console for you. The space is up to you and your needs and does not increase or decrease performance either way.
See the link below and it will help you doing it the manual way and with Amon_RA's recovery.
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php/Apps2SD

thank you, you were a bunch of help, i shall try this when i get home tonight

No problem, let me know how it goes.

it asked me for swap-size and also ext2-size, im not to sure what numbers i need hmm?

If you plan on using a hero rom put in something for swap, if not put zero. The put in the amount of ext you want for apps. (normally between 256-512)
To upgrade the file system from ext2 -> ext3 use the command upgrade_fs in the recovery console.
Look at the link I gave you and scroll down to the Amon_RA section if you need more help.

it said upgrade_fs not found (nvm)
i got ext2 to ext3 thank you for all your help sorry for being a pain dude...

so to make sure i did it right, how much available phone space should i have?

It varies based on the cache you have for the apps, but I have 68mb but I have been running the same rom for a while. It should be around 80mb if you haven't done anything to build the cache, but I have the 1.33.2005 SPL which increases the internal memory size.

I get the same error "upgrade_fs not found" when I want to upgrade to ext 3 from console. From Amon_Ra's recovery I get an error too when I want to upgrade to ext 3. The other SD card I have worked perfectly with exact the same steps. What is wrong? Thanks

if you amon's isnt there an option that says upgrade ext2 to ext3? i guess thats the same?

sakumaxp said:
i guess thats the same?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As the upgrade_fs script, yes.

evilkorn said:
As the upgrade_fs script, yes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah thats what i did because it did the not found error, so i was like meh, sounds like the same haha

sakumaxp said:
if you amon's isnt there an option that says upgrade ext2 to ext3? i guess thats the same?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get an error when I press "upgrade ext2 to ext3" on my 2 GB card, the 1 GB card is done already.

sorry dude im a noob at this thing myself i guess one of the senior guys gotta answer this for you =\

Very strange, after many attempts suddenly I made the partitions, I don't know why but it worked

well thats good to hear =]

Partition SD card on Windows for people who can't be bothered to do it properly ;)

Firstly, BlaY0 has a great tutorial on how to do this properly, I suggest you do that to learn something.
Secondly, I cannot confirm that this is 100% safe. BlaY0's method should be 99% safe, I don't know about this as it is all automatic. BlaY0's method is tried and tested, this is not. I only used this method as I had a new SD card and I was in a hurry (exams coming up ) and I didn't have time to remind myself of BlaY0's method, and CWM only allows you to create up to 512mb partition. Also, I had a new computer, and I don't have time to set up ADB all over again.
Anyway, this is a method for people who don't want to use ADB to partition their SD card for A2EXT or DATA2EXT (a.k.a. apps2sd, etc etc), and are using Windows. If you're running linux, you could use something like gParted to partition it, not sure about OS X though. This method will allow a Windows user to create an EXT partition on their SD card alongside the FAT partition.
1) Download and install Minitool Partition Wizard, from here.
2) Open the program and delete all partitions from the SD card (which you will have inserted into the computer using an adapter or something). DO NOT DELETE THE PARTITIONS FROM THE HARD DISK! MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DELETING. Oh, and make sure the SD card is backed up
3) Create a FAT32 primary partition. You decide how big you want it, but I'd advise you leave 1024mb (1gb) for the EXT partition.
4) Create an EXT2/EXT3/EXT4 (you decide) primary partition. Use up the rest of the space on the SD card.
5) Click assign/OK/whatever and wait for it to complete
6) You now have your partitioned SD card ready for an A2SD ROM!
7) You need to assign a drive letter to the FAT32 partition. Not sure about the EXT partition. At first I forgot to do this and my card didn't show up in Windows, though Partition Magic can still see it.
Like I said, do yourself a favour and use BlaY0's method here, but if you're lazy or you don't have time or ADB doesn't work anymore, use this.

Nice one m8. You mentioned that CWM doesn't offer adding partitions bigger than 512 MB. Well, you're right but that's why I made a customized version of fake-flash that can do bigger... to 1 GB. It can even add second ext partition for some exotic types of data2ext. On top of that I added auto block alignment which is described in my guide (the manual one) so no more calculations and manual labour
Sent from my HTC Legend

BlaY0 said:
Nice one m8. You mentioned that CWM doesn't offer adding partitions bigger than 512 MB. Well, you're right but that's why I made a customized version of fake-flash that can do bigger... to 1 GB. It can even add second ext partition for some exotic types of data2ext. On top of that I added auto block alignment which is described in my guide (the manual one) so no more calculations and manual labour
Sent from my HTC Legend
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, I didn't know about your customized CWM, I think I'll just use that next time

BlaY0 said:
Nice one m8. You mentioned that CWM doesn't offer adding partitions bigger than 512 MB...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I remember some version had the ext menu up to 4GB
BlaY0 said:
On top of that I added auto block alignment which is described in my guide (the manual one) so no more calculations and manual labour
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't know that, good to know, for those of us still using data2ext, this is important...

Wish this was up earlier, spent an hour repartitioning my card using parted.Couldn't upgrade to EXT3 and ended up using CWM 3.0.2.8 to do it instead lol

What CWM is using under the hood for partitioning is actually parted.
Sent from my HTC Legend

Tried it but it didnt work not sure what the problem is...
formatted my SD to FAT 32 and reserved 1G for EXT3 both as primary partition in the Mini Partition Tool
Plugged it in my phone,
Ran ADB shell
# a2sd --enabled, rebooted
on reboot nothing seemed to have changed... went back to ADB shell
tried a2sd --free it says A2Sd is not active ...
a2sd -- enabled again and it says it is enabled but not active
so im guessing it cant read or recognize the EXT3?!
Any clues... i didnt want to move my Dalvik to SD ... should I try EXT4 or even EXT2?

QkSi1ver said:
Tried it but it didnt work not sure what the problem is...
formatted my SD to FAT 32 and reserved 1G for EXT3 both as primary partition in the Mini Partition Tool
Plugged it in my phone,
Ran ADB shell
# a2sd --enabled, rebooted
on reboot nothing seemed to have changed... went back to ADB shell
tried a2sd --free it says A2Sd is not active ...
a2sd -- enabled again and it says it is enabled but not active
so im guessing it cant read or recognize the EXT3?!
Any clues... i didnt want to move my Dalvik to SD ... should I try EXT4 or even EXT2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take me through what you did, step by step. You say you reserved 1G for EXT3, but did you actually format it as another partition?

QkSi1ver said:
Any clues... i didnt want to move my Dalvik to SD ... should I try EXT4 or even EXT2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has been mentioned here like a gazilion times, boot up your device with logcat and see the first few lines...there is your answer!
Google how to wait for the device with logcat

1) Downloaded and installed Minitool Partition Wizard from your link. I got the free home edition
2) backed up my SD card and Open the program and delete my SD card partition ( which is in a card reader)
3) Created a FAT32 primary partition of 69xx MB and left the rest 1024 MB for the other unallocated space
4) Right click on the Unallocated Space to create an EXT3 as primary partition with the default cluster size.
5) At this point, it showed 2 partition on my SD, one with the drive letter for windows FAT32, and the 2nd one Ext 3 with 1GB and Primary. Clicked OK and Apply and wait for it to complete.
6) once complete , put it in phone, plugged usb and ran adb shell
7) ran a2sd --enable, it said reboot phone.. i made a mistake to reboot by adb the first time but then did the whole process again a 2nd time using reboot from the phone....
Tried logcat using this command "adb -d logcat>mylogfile.txt"
couldnt find the file anywhere ... if i dont redirect to the txt , it goes too fast to read and there's soo much debug messages what do i need to look for?
I thought it would save me time to get it done through windows... but its taking me as much time it w0uld probably get me with the manual way...
i'll give it a try tomorrow...
8) rebooted fine, and i was still low on space.. so went back in adb sheel to check a2sd --free but this is where it says not active..

QkSi1ver said:
1) Downloaded and installed Minitool Partition Wizard from your link. I got the free home edition
2) backed up my SD card and Open the program and delete my SD card partition ( which is in a card reader)
3) Created a FAT32 primary partition of 69xx MB and left the rest 1024 MB for the other unallocated space
4) Right click on the Unallocated Space to create an EXT3 as primary partition with the default cluster size.
5) At this point, it showed 2 partition on my SD, one with the drive letter for windows FAT32, and the 2nd one Ext 3 with 1GB and Primary. Clicked OK and Apply and wait for it to complete.
6) once complete , put it in phone, plugged usb and ran adb shell
7) ran a2sd --enable, it said reboot phone.. i made a mistake to reboot by adb the first time but then did the whole process again a 2nd time using reboot from the phone....
Tried logcat using this command "adb -d logcat>mylogfile.txt"
couldnt find the file anywhere ... if i dont redirect to the txt , it goes too fast to read and there's soo much debug messages what do i need to look for?
I thought it would save me time to get it done through windows... but its taking me as much time it w0uld probably get me with the manual way...
i'll give it a try tomorrow...
8) rebooted fine, and i was still low on space.. so went back in adb sheel to check a2sd --free but this is where it says not active..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tbh I'm really not sure. One thing I forgot to mention in the guide is that you should assign a drive letter to the FAT32 partition or it won't show up in Windows. I didn't assign one to my EXT4 partition though, and DATA2SD is working great for me. Try deleting all partitions from the SD card and start again. It'll only take 10 minutes, and if it still doesn't work just use the manual way.
Sorry.

alexhtclegend said:
Tbh I'm really not sure. One thing I forgot to mention in the guide is that you should assign a drive letter to the FAT32 partition or it won't show up in Windows. I didn't assign one to my EXT4 partition though, and DATA2SD is working great for me. Try deleting all partitions from the SD card and start again. It'll only take 10 minutes, and if it still doesn't work just use the manual way.
Sorry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i assigned a drive letter to FAT32...
Also the FAT32 , was my first block allocated partition, the 2nd partition was EXT3... i will redo the whole process and recreate EXT4 instead.
"DATA2SD is working great for me" ... you mean "A2SD working great for me" ... right? unless i'm missing something else that i needed to run..
ps: I recalled, after it was not working, i took out the sd and put it back in the reader to open MiniTool, it showed EXT2 instead of EXT3 ( which i was sure i chose )... and what's weird is it was reporting used space like 41MB... so obvisouly, the ROM wrote something on it...
Formatting it again to EXT3, didnt delete the 41 Used space, but it did convert it back to EXT3 ...probably nothing but mentioning as well

QkSi1ver said:
Yeah i assigned a drive letter to FAT32...
Also the FAT32 , was my first block allocated partition, the 2nd partition was EXT3... i will redo the whole process and recreate EXT4 instead.
"DATA2SD is working great for me" ... you mean "A2SD working great for me" ... right? unless i'm missing something else that i needed to run..
ps: I recalled, after it was not working, i took out the sd and put it back in the reader to open MiniTool, it showed EXT2 instead of EXT3 ( which i was sure i chose )... and what's weird is it was reporting used space like 41MB... so obvisouly, the ROM wrote something on it...
Formatting it again to EXT3, didnt delete the 41 Used space, but it did convert it back to EXT3 ...probably nothing but mentioning as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suggest you start over, something seems to have gone wrong.
A2SD is where the apps are stored on the EXT partition.
DC2SD is where the dalvik cache is also stored on the EXT partition.
DATA2SD is where the entire /data partition on the phone is stored on the EXT partition of the memory card.
Partitioning the SD card with a FAT32 partition and EXT partition is done first, then you decide which one is for you. DATA2SD does have one or two issues, such as the risk of corruption - you'd then have to completely reinstall the ROM. A2SD and DC2SD are fine but I still found myself running out of internal memory.

i gave up and used ROM Manager to create my partition ...i couldnt set it to 1G because 512MB is maximum but it was painless to create.
it asked me to create a swap partition... i've read somewhere that swap partition is useless or barely used in newer android os? do you guys have any swap partition if so how big are they?
Also, did you move Dalvik cache to sd? isnt it slower on SD? i mean shouldnt dalvik cache be on RAM whihc i assume is faster than any external sd?
thanks for your insight

QkSi1ver said:
i gave up and used ROM Manager to create my partition ...i couldnt set it to 1G because 512MB is maximum but it was painless to create.
it asked me to create a swap partition... i've read somewhere that swap partition is useless or barely used in newer android os? do you guys have any swap partition if so how big are they?
Also, did you move Dalvik cache to sd? isnt it slower on SD? i mean shouldnt dalvik cache be on RAM whihc i assume is faster than any external sd?
thanks for your insight
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the full DATA2SD, which includes Dalvik2SD.

ok so sorry for a double post but im having an issue partitioning.
32 gb card san disk brand new
primary Fat32 10gb
primary Ext2 rest of space
once mini tool is done it sats successful but shows the sd card as Bad disk?!?
is there somthing im doin wrong? is used this guide here http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/SD_card_partitioning
all help deeply appriciated
Acer Iconia Tab A110 rooted, Cwm, 4.1.2

Can you actually have a 22gb ext partition? This might be something to look into to see if you can do it.
Edit: this got me interested so I searched myself, yes you can but apparently it depends on the chosen block size and hardware limitations, so u may have an issue with either.
Sent from my Legend using xda app-developers app

alexhtclegend said:
Firstly, BlaY0 has a great tutorial on how to do this properly, I suggest you do that to learn something.
Secondly, I cannot confirm that this is 100% safe. BlaY0's method should be 99% safe, I don't know about this as it is all automatic. BlaY0's method is tried and tested, this is not. I only used this method as I had a new SD card and I was in a hurry (exams coming up ) and I didn't have time to remind myself of BlaY0's method, and CWM only allows you to create up to 512mb partition. Also, I had a new computer, and I don't have time to set up ADB all over again.
Anyway, this is a method for people who don't want to use ADB to partition their SD card for A2EXT or DATA2EXT (a.k.a. apps2sd, etc etc), and are using Windows. If you're running linux, you could use something like gParted to partition it, not sure about OS X though. This method will allow a Windows user to create an EXT partition on their SD card alongside the FAT partition.
1) Download and install Minitool Partition Wizard, from here.
2) Open the program and delete all partitions from the SD card (which you will have inserted into the computer using an adapter or something). DO NOT DELETE THE PARTITIONS FROM THE HARD DISK! MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DELETING. Oh, and make sure the SD card is backed up
3) Create a FAT32 primary partition. You decide how big you want it, but I'd advise you leave 1024mb (1gb) for the EXT partition.
4) Create an EXT2/EXT3/EXT4 (you decide) primary partition. Use up the rest of the space on the SD card.
5) Click assign/OK/whatever and wait for it to complete
6) You now have your partitioned SD card ready for an A2SD ROM!
7) You need to assign a drive letter to the FAT32 partition. Not sure about the EXT partition. At first I forgot to do this and my card didn't show up in Windows, though Partition Magic can still see it.
Like I said, do yourself a favour and use BlaY0's method here, but if you're lazy or you don't have time or ADB doesn't work anymore, use this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahah! Thanks for you detail guide. It is so helpful for me!