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.

need help formatting SD card for JACHero. won't work and can't find answer to problem

PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE POST BEFORE REPLYING. I GOT 5 REPLIES EARLIER FROM PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T BOTHER READING ANYTHING I WROTE. The following is exactly what happens when i try to format the SD card.
Bold is what i typed after i did print and did rm 1
------
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 1435
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 1435
parted:invalid token: primary
File system type? [ext2]? fat32
fat32
Start?
------
now once i hit start, NOTHING will happen. if i press enter it just brings up another start, if i type ANYTHING it just says "Error: Invalid number."
i've tried yes, y, start, and 1.
so my question is, firstly am i doing anything wrong here and secondly WHAT THE HELL DO I DO WHEN IT SAYS START! which was the question i was asking earlier and everyone refused to read that.
Sorry for posting this here but i wated for 12 hours and got no replies and i would really like to have a working phone since right now i'm using a 3 year old razr v3t

wrong forum

mrsirpantsalot said:
wrong forum
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
heres an idea, help instead of just being an ass. i said i know it's the wrong forum. i'm only posting it here because i waited for 12 hours and just got ignored and no one even read my posts to answer my question correctly and just told me to go reread everything.

Not exactly sure what you are using to format the SD (terminal perhaps?). Why don't you try and find Paragon partition manager. There may even be a trial (or cough..torrent). It is much simpler.
Not sure if you'd thought of that, sorry if so.
BTW...people who love to jump on the "wrong forum" bandwagon irk me too. At least the person could have constructively criticized (ie wrong forum, but this is how to solve your problem).

i'm using the recovery console in Cyanogen's recovery as thats what everyone said to use.
I tried using programs on the PC to format the micro SD's but it killed my 8GB card so i really don't even want to try it again if i don't have to.

neok44 said:
i'm using the recovery console in Cyanogen's recovery as thats what everyone said to use.
I tried using programs on the PC to format the micro SD's but it killed my 8GB card so i really don't even want to try it again if i don't have to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try re-flashing the recovery image and trying again since it seems like you're doing everything fine...

When it says start...its asking WHERE you want the partition to start. So type 0 then it will ask end?: type wherever you want it to end...
Btw wrong forum

@nocturna: yeah that was my first thought, did it 10 times now.
@alritewhadeva: never thought of that. wish someone posted it somewhere so i could find it. searched and found nothing.
i'll post back in a minute or so hopefully with good news.

alritewhadeva said:
When it says start...its asking WHERE you want the partition to start. So type 0 then it will ask end?: type wherever you want it to end...
Btw wrong forum
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh... that's what start meant... hmmmm...

h.nocturna said:
Oh... that's what start meant... hmmmm...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't know it was a secret

okay i have another problem now. I have it start at 0 and then end at 1435 but after i make the partition it uses up the whole card from 0 to 1967 so now what do i do?

alritewhadeva said:
I didn't know it was a secret
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah, I'm just stupid. I thought start meant... start the partitioning... same as OP hahaha.

neok44 said:
okay i have another problem now. I have it start at 0 and then end at 1435 but after i make the partition it uses up the whole card from 0 to 1967 so now what do i do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You sure you did it right? Type print in parted. Display your results here please

h.nocturna said:
Nah, I'm just stupid. I thought start meant... start the partitioning... same as OP hahaha.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol yeah some things r incredibly confusing and frustrating to work out xD

so i type 0 at start and then 1435 at end. (i also tried 1400) and then i press print and get:
Model: unknown (unknown)
disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 1967MB
sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: loop
Number Start End Size File System Flags
1 0.00b 1967MB 1967MB fat32
and obviously if i try to make another partition it says too many partitions.

neok44 said:
so i type 0 at start and then 1435 at end. (i also tried 1400) and then i press print and get:
Model: unknown (unknown)
disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 1967MB
sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: loop
Number Start End Size File System Flags
1 0.00b 1967MB 1967MB fat32
and obviously if i try to make another partition it says too many partitions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Type rm 1
Then type mkpartfs primary fat32 0 1435
See if it works...just try it

neok44 said:
heres an idea, help instead of just being an ass. i said i know it's the wrong forum. i'm only posting it here because i waited for 12 hours and just got ignored and no one even read my posts to answer my question correctly and just told me to go reread everything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you're only going to get this one locked or moved to Q&A. this has nothing to do with development.

tried it twice now, same thing twice.

neok44 said:
tried it twice now, same thing twice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm... lets try something really stupid...
in parted:
rm 1
mkpartfs primary ext 1436 1936
just trying to see if you can make the 2nd partition first, then fill in the rest with the first partition.

woah okay, now i got:
Error: /dev/block/mmcblk0: unrecognised disk label
had to go to the PC and reformat the whole card. phone wouldn't recognize it at all. so back to square one now. gonna try doing the fat32 again.
same thing again. i put 0 to 1435 it grabs the whole card

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

Easiest way to remove ext3?

I'm on a myTouch right now, and thought I'd try running apps off the phone rather than the sd card for once. I can't for the life of me find any good instructions for completely removing the ext3 partition. Would I be best off doing this through gparted? Is there any command I could pop into sdsplit to do what I want? Thanks!

mayormullet said:
I'm on a myTouch right now, and thought I'd try running apps off the phone rather than the sd card for once. I can't for the life of me find any good instructions for completely removing the ext3 partition. Would I be best off doing this through gparted? Is there any command I could pop into sdsplit to do what I want? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could use Ubuntu.

wow, did you even bother looking first before posting
downland amon ra"s recovery that is meant for the my touch and in that is a option to partion or format

gridlock32404 said:
wow, did you even bother looking first before posting
downland amon ra"s recovery that is meant for the my touch and in that is a option to partion or format
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not sure if you guys on mytouch can use cyanogen but if you can, drop into console, and run parted
here are the commands,
Code:
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
now that you are in parted, type
Code:
print
type
Code:
rm 2
to remove your ext partition, only problem with this is that if you are usng linux swap, a2sd will get all screwy so you will also need to
Code:
rm 3
i recommend doing
Code:
rm 3
rm 2
this will help to ensure you dont run into problems... hope this helps... btw i got the info on using parted and CM recovery1.4 from here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=534714

tutorial link please

FINALLY got cyanogen rom working. i've almost pulled my hair out over buying this phone(att user so i had to unlock and learn root, etc.)
anyways, got .999 installed and saw the * Apps2SD is automatic! All you need is a second partition (ext).
can someone point me in the right direction on how to do the partition part? i have full version of paragon and know how to use it but just don't want to fubar anything up.
i apologize for the noob question but i just need to know what to set my 2gb(although i have a 4gb class 6 in the mail now) sd card to what size partitions so i can run the add2sd.
thanks guys and love the site.

There is a sticky post in this section. I found it in less than 2 seconds. without searching.

blackinches said:
FINALLY got cyanogen rom working. i've almost pulled my hair out over buying this phone(att user so i had to unlock and learn root, etc.)
anyways, got .999 installed and saw the * Apps2SD is automatic! All you need is a second partition (ext).
can someone point me in the right direction on how to do the partition part? i have full version of paragon and know how to use it but just don't want to fubar anything up.
i apologize for the noob question but i just need to know what to set my 2gb(although i have a 4gb class 6 in the mail now) sd card to what size partitions so i can run the add2sd.
thanks guys and love the site.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Example for 8GB card.
Reboot and enter recovery (home+power) then go to console. Enter the below pressing "enter" after each line.
Code:
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 7622
mkpartfs primary ext2 7622 8134
mkpartfs primary linux-swap 8134 8166
quit
upgrade_fs
recovery
NOTE: this will reformat your entire card, so i suggest you back up your files.
and btw tell me the size of your sd card and i will type up the code for you...
use this method to tell me your exact size
go into recovery via home+power
go to console
pres enter
type:
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
print
i am pretty sure you can see what number represent your total card size.

Easier Way!!!
OK,so I also have Paragon Partition Manager 9.0 Special Edition.
1.Go into your Paragon Partition Manager Software
2.Click on Partition Manager at the first screen
3.Click on your SD Card drive (ie. F:/)
4.Click on create partition in the left hand side of your screen.
5.It will ask you how big you would like your partition to be,then what type of partition. Paragon only supports EXT2 and EXT3 if your looking for an EXT partition. Paragon also only supports Linux-Swap2 and not Linux-Swap3.
If you need any more help man let me know.
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/andy_lowe02

andy_lowe02 said:
OK,so I also have Paragon Partition Manager 9.0 Special Edition.
1.Go into your Paragon Partition Manager Software
2.Click on Partition Manager at the first screen
3.Click on your SD Card drive (ie. F:/)
4.Click on create partition in the left hand side of your screen.
5.It will ask you how big you would like your partition to be,then what type of partition. Paragon only supports EXT2 and EXT3 if your looking for an EXT partition. Paragon also only supports Linux-Swap2 and not Linux-Swap3.
If you need any more help man let me know.
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/andy_lowe02
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well i wouldnt say ur way is easier... it does require using a computer, mine uses the phone.. and mine is simply typing what u see.

Also im pretty sure you need to use linux-swap and not linux-swap2
(i think 2 works but im not sure that its recommendable sicne the rom cookers themeselves use 1)
I would also use the method brian posted. its much more effective

thanks guys, i got adds2sd working and everything. on a 1gb right now until my new 4gb class 6 comes in this week.
i haven't done the swap things yet as i'm not sure of them just yet. i've learned quite a bit over the last week without trying to bug too many people on the forum. your replies are MUCH appreciated.
what is the different between ext 2/3 and linux-swap? i'm running my current 1gb 514mb fat32 and 445mb ext3.

ext3 has journaling which reduces corruption a lot. linux-swap is used as virtual memory.

thanks for the reply so in turn the swap will make the phone run faster right?
also, since no one answered my question in another thread:
although i'm running .999 when i press the camera button it open a box with a 'To:' entry and 3 button 'open', 'call', and 'send'.
i've looked in the settings to see if i can change what the camera button does(want it to open the camera like before obviously) without any luck..
any idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
any ideas?
thanks again

blackinches said:
thanks for the reply so in turn the swap will make the phone run faster right?
also, since no one answered my question in another thread:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In theory swap should make it faster as it has more memory to play with.
For your other question, a file on the ROM containing the keymaps has been changed. The only way to change what the camera button does is pull it, edit it, and push it back.

AdrianK said:
In theory swap should make it faster as it has more memory to play with.
For your other question, a file on the ROM containing the keymaps has been changed. The only way to change what the camera button does is pull it, edit it, and push it back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh boy, i tried to avoid the adb stuff as i had a few problems with it. wonder how it got 'changed'.
i'll give it a try sometime.