Related
i just installed jesus freak 1.5. i also purchased a 16gb micro sdhc card. I would like to know how to get apps to sd running correctly. I have followed another method and messed up the sd card. so i purchased a brand new one and before i even take it out of the package, i would like to talk to someone that has had sucesssful experience.
Thanx in Advance
A2SD in a Nutshell
the essence of apps2sd is:
1) creating a vfat/fat32 partition for storing user data
2) creating a second partition, ext2 to hold your apps and caches
3) creating directories within the ext2 partition on the SD to house your caches and apps
4) copying your apps and caches to the SD within the appropriate directories on the ext2 partition
5) rebooting within recovery console and deleting the original app and cache directories, AND
6) symbolically linking the ext2 apps/cache folders on the SD to the appropriate system partition folder names
7) rebooting to android and testing apps to determine which need to be reinstalled or reconfigured
your ext2 partition need not be very large relative to the volume of the SD; half a gig is normally adequate
pre-requisites:
you will need regular access to an OS that supports the ext2 filesystem, like linux. this is important because if your ext2 partition ever becomes damaged, the linux system has the tools to fix the ext2 filesystem errors.
you will need to know the commands for creating partitions on your SD
you should know how to use ADB to connect to your G1's shell, though this is optional
you need to know how to (re)boot to the recovery console and use its shell
you need to be familiar with the commands required to copy directories, create and delete directories, and create symbolic links
There are other Threads that have other programs and tutorials, but I used this one the other day on a JF 1.5 and it worked well.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=512743
Only issue I had was I had to move JF Updater back to Phone from SD , but that could have been a glitch when the phone checked for an update. The two apps used AppstoSD2 and a2sd pretty much do everything for you , very minimal command line required on your part.
Only thing to make it better would be an interface to either move the apps back to phone or integrate it so it would ask you when you install an app where to put it. But I am very happy with it. 16GB might be over kill , I have a 8 GB but they say not to go over 1.5 GB with the Ext2 partition, so while you will have 6.5 ( relative ) GB of space for Movies,Images, MP3's, Uninstalled apps, you are really limited to the 1.5GB for apps , well plus internal phone memory I guess. But for phone apps that's probably way more than enough.
question: how do you partition a 16gb sdcard? all the numbers and all that. ive done an 8 gb sd card and that was easy cause i was working with mb's. now with gb im lost. i got to parted and i typed up print and got 16.1gb if you could help me with the numbers for fat32,ext2/3,linux-swap. i would greatly appreciate it...
Personally, I would reccoment switching to a Cyanogen ROM. It's based off the same source as JF, but one of the features it has is automatic Apps2SD. This means you but have to push files here and there, whuch believe me can be a pain. It does still require an ext partition which you would have to format your self, but after that it will work without and modifications.
Do no more then 512 MB for your ext2(3,4) partition
Follow this guide for the card partitioning. Flash CM's rom and it will do apps2sd for you automatically.
Your other card is most likely not all lost and could be salvaged still, I would look into it if I was you, 16gb cards are not cheap.
And for the last time: it is Jeusus FREKE not Jesus Freak, Have some respect for the one who layed the foundation for us, at least enough to spell his name correctly.
AdrianK said:
Personally, I would reccoment switching to a Cyanogen ROM. It's based off the same source as JF, but one of the features it has is automatic Apps2SD. This means you but have to push files here and there, whuch believe me can be a pain. It does still require an ext partition which you would have to format your self, but after that it will work without and modifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second that, and also jf won't be doing ROM any more :[
http://jf.andblogs.net/
Okay so I've been running Cyanogen's Mod 4.0.4 and his 1.4 recovery image. I was running out of system memory and wanted to start using Apps2SD, I was reading some info on http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=4107149 and installed the "Apps2SD" app and made a partition. Rebooted and got a notification that the SD Card was blank or improperly formatted. I then proceded to attempt to follow the instructions for formatting with ADB, my system was having "error finding device" and after some troubleshooting I decided for forget about Apps2SD. Well now all my apps are removed from system memory and on my SD card that is messed up or something... all my icons are blank (except gmail, etc.).
Before messing around at all I did a Nandroid backup and backed up the entire contents of my SD card to my computer.
Well here I am, I grabbed another one of my MicroSD cards and loaded all the files on it (including the Nandroid backup) and when I try to "restore latest backup" I get this message:
D:Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 (or /dev/block/mmcblk0)
(I/O error)
Can't mount sdcard, aborting.
I tried using the "mount sdcard" command in the console and I get a similar error.
Anyone have any tips? It's not really the end of the world, I could reinstall all my apps, but I don't like this error message, it has kind of got me worried. Thanks anyone!
YOU DONT NEEd APPS2SD ON A CYANOGEN ROM JUST AN EXT2/3. didnt you read his disclaimer?
your going to have to reformat your sd card and re partition it. dont run apps2sd cy's roms already do that
a way to see if you have partitions is to get to the parted stuff in console and type "print" it shows you all of the partitions on you sd card. ps i would follow this tutorial on how to partition you card
http://forums.t-mobile.com/tmbl/boa...roidDev&message.id=7674&query.id=114903#M7674
scroll down to the partition part
Thanks, the text commands in the console worked perfectly.
yeah no problem they were meant for the the console/adb. terminal...no lol.
so everythings working fine now? just checking up on you.
Yeah, last night for a while the phone wouldn't get past the G1 screen... then after a few hours I tried again and was able to get into a freshly flashed rom. I followed the console command instructions on my funktified SD card and it worked perfectly. I now have it partitioned and apps are on it. I don't know the difference between ex2 and ex3, or what I have now... should I care? Sorry, I'm partly a newb.
haha dude to be honest i dont know either i just follow tutorials hahaha.
Edit: duplicate post
Ext3 is superior to ext2... the main reason, from what I gathered, is that it supports wear-leveling.
If u followed the directions and ran the upgrade_fs script after partitioning, then u have ext3.
Wear leveling is built into the card, ext 3 has journeling which does not corrupt easily from a power loss( pulling battery)
gridlock32404 said:
Wear leveling is built into the card, ext 3 has journeling which does not corrupt easily from a power loss( pulling battery)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, I remember hearing about the journaling as well...
I was under the impression the partition needed to support wear-leveling as well...
dunno exactly how to help you, but i can share with you a similar experience and how i fixed it. and it might just be the answer.
I use a Mac. i used my 8gb class 6 card and formated it for mac. after i used it i reformated it back into fat32, but while partitioning, it screwed up my partitions, there was extra space tooken on the sd card. eventually my sd card was screwed, there was a point where it did not mount aswell.
how did i fix? i reformated and made sure to erase the Zero's, theres an option that says that. dunno what it means. and it erased all the backup info and everything on the card into fat32, and it was fine to mount and partition all over again.
I think wear leveling has to do with the card itself. The way I explain file systems like ext and fat is that the sdcard/hard drive is like a bookcase and the different filesystems are the way that the shelves are organize in the bookcase
I'm using warm donut, flashed to the phone.. before hand I was using haret until I felt everything was stable enough.
My SD card is still partitioned the old way, 7.4GB fat32, 512M ext3, 32M swap
Is there a way to enable app2sd with warm donut so I can get more room? it might just be the fun of something new for now, but watching the free space for apps going down way to quickly
lordcalin said:
I'm using warm donut, flashed to the phone.. before hand I was using haret until I felt everything was stable enough.
My SD card is still partitioned the old way, 7.4GB fat32, 512M ext3, 32M swap
Is there a way to enable app2sd with warm donut so I can get more room? it might just be the fun of something new for now, but watching the free space for apps going down way to quickly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i second this, I would love to do apps to SD
I think it should be do-able now that we have the automount program that allows access sd card system and user simultaneously.
yeah you guys would love apps2sd...it's cool on my hero! im glad to see all of the android development going on here.
If you guys want to do Apps2SD, you'll need an ext2 partition on your SD for it. Native Android devices have had some trouble with Apps2SD, so it's just been rewritten by Chris Soyars and Cyanogen -- instead of the WesGarner method that had been used previously. I suggest using their code as it's battle-tested.
Here's the relevant code at github, as you can see it's been recently updated:
http://github.com/cyanogen/android_vendor_cyanogen/tree/eclair/prebuilt/common/etc/init.d/
HTH
I have app2sd enabled in my eclair build.
If you want to use it you must have an ext2 parition on your sdcard. than use my spareparts app to enable. Reboot.. wait... and there you go.
Can we get this going in your build Myn?
mssmison said:
I have app2sd enabled in my eclair build.
If you want to use it you must have an ext2 parition on your sdcard. than use my spareparts app to enable. Reboot.. wait... and there you go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did a search for spareparts and couldnt find a link to a download. Anybody have a link they could throw up that would be awesome.
Thanks in advance
aviking said:
Did a search for spareparts and couldnt find a link to a download. Anybody have a link they could throw up that would be awesome.
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's something that's built into the build, for msi's eclair he's got some extra things built into it. But it's not something you can just download
mrono said:
It's something that's built into the build, for msi's eclair he's got some extra things built into it. But it's not something you can just download
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have the apps2sd.apk but it doesnt work properly. like you said i think it needs to be built into a build somehow
mrono said:
It's something that's built into the build, for msi's eclair he's got some extra things built into it. But it's not something you can just download
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick reply.
This is starting to be not worth it and I am thinking I am glad that I was able to try android on an older phone because I dont think I will be getting an android phone when I upgrade in 6 months. Getting it so I can load apps to the sd card is WAAAAAAY to much of a pain I have tried a couple of tutorials and still cant get it to work.
aviking said:
Thanks for the quick reply.
This is starting to be not worth it and I am thinking I am glad that I was able to try android on an older phone because I dont think I will be getting an android phone when I upgrade in 6 months. Getting it so I can load apps to the sd card is WAAAAAAY to much of a pain I have tried a couple of tutorials and still cant get it to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All you need to do is create a ext2 partition on your card and install system to nand and data to ext 2 partition. You can create as big of a partition as you want.
incubus26jc said:
All you need to do is create a ext2 partition on your card and install system to nand and data to ext 2 partition. You can create as big of a partition as you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the super fast repsonse
I used gparted to create the partition and formated it to ext2.
The second part you are talking about install the system to nand and data to the ext2 partition. I have installed Myn’s Warm Donut - [RLS 4 - 03/16/2010] nand version and thats where I am at right now. Do I need to move the data folder to the ext2 partition that I created? If yes when I connect to my PC running windows 7 I cannot see the ext2 partition that I created with gparted.
aviking said:
Thanks for the super fast repsonse
I used gparted to create the partition and formated it to ext2.
The second part you are talking about install the system to nand and data to the ext2 partition. I have installed Myn’s Warm Donut - [RLS 4 - 03/16/2010] nand version and thats where I am at right now. Do I need to move the data folder to the ext2 partition that I created? If yes when I connect to my PC running windows 7 I cannot see the ext2 partition that I created with gparted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think you will have to reinstall system and wipe data. Change the location of the data when your going to reinstall. sorry
aviking said:
Thanks for the super fast repsonse
I used gparted to create the partition and formated it to ext2.
The second part you are talking about install the system to nand and data to the ext2 partition. I have installed Myn’s Warm Donut - [RLS 4 - 03/16/2010] nand version and thats where I am at right now. Do I need to move the data folder to the ext2 partition that I created? If yes when I connect to my PC running windows 7 I cannot see the ext2 partition that I created with gparted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use the norootfs installer and set your data to NAND, hit data backup, then set your data to ext2 and hit data restore.
Windows can't read ext2 on it's own
mrono said:
use the norootfs installer and set your data to NAND, hit data backup, then set your data to ext2 and hit data restore.
Windows can't read ext2 on it's own
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there you go much better answer then mine. Thanks man
would using ext2 partions make the build run smoother?
what are the benifits over NAND?
are you sure you need to have your data on the sd card? I was running apps2sd with mssmison's v7 eclair, and both my data and system were on nand, only the apps2sd was using the ext2 partition. i don't think it cares where your data.img is, just as long as you have an available ext2 partition; correct me if I'm wrong.
tatnai said:
are you sure you need to have your data on the sd card? I was running apps2sd with mssmison's v7 eclair, and both my data and system were on nand, only the apps2sd was using the ext2 partition. i don't think it cares where your data.img is, just as long as you have an available ext2 partition; correct me if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes that is correct. This is if your not using apps2sd
mrono said:
use the norootfs installer and set your data to NAND, hit data backup, then set your data to ext2 and hit data restore.
Windows can't read ext2 on it's own
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok making progress with your suggestion after 2 days of reading and failure -- lol.
I am now able to install apps to the sd card. However when I was trying all kinds of things to get this to work I made my 8GB sd card partitioned 6.5gb fat 32 and then made two ext2 partitions evenly split.
So do I need two ext partitions?
And as soon as I made the change and was able to install to the sd card I can no longer sync with my PC. Its not a huge deal because I took out the micro sd and placed it into an sd reader and my PC could still read it. So I am guessing that its something that I changed that is causing the phone not to sync with my PC.
Any thoughts
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!
CM7 can make you install apps on the sd card, how does it differ from app2sd or app2ext? i have been trying to decide if i should partition my new sd card or its not necessary. There must be an advantage to have app2ext right?
Thank you.
CM7 basically allows you to move all applications using Froyo's app2sd mode. Even ones that have disabled it (like live wallpapers and widgets as those won't work when installed that way).
app2sdext works differently as it will install apps directly to an ext partition on your sdcard (that you manually have to set up). This functionality is NOT build into CyanogenMod, but is easily added with a number of different apps/scripts. This will give you a lot more free space on your phone, and all apps can be installed there regardless of whether they have widgets or have services running. Most app2sdext options will also give you the option of moving the dalvik cache to the sdcard which will save you a substantial amount of space on your internal memory.
Basically, if you want a lot of memory intensive apps, your only decent option with a Nexus One is an app2sdext solution. (I have it with a 1GB partition, and I will soon either need to resize it or delete apps... adding app2sdext was the second best thing I ever did to my phone behind installing CyanogenMod on it.)
bassmadrigal said:
CM7 basically allows you to move all applications using Froyo's app2sd mode. Even ones that have disabled it (like live wallpapers and widgets as those won't work when installed that way).
app2sdext works differently as it will install apps directly to an ext partition on your sdcard (that you manually have to set up). This functionality is NOT build into CyanogenMod, but is easily added with a number of different apps/scripts. This will give you a lot more free space on your phone, and all apps can be installed there regardless of whether they have widgets or have services running. Most app2sdext options will also give you the option of moving the dalvik cache to the sdcard which will save you a substantial amount of space on your internal memory.
Basically, if you want a lot of memory intensive apps, your only decent option with a Nexus One is an app2sdext solution. (I have it with a 1GB partition, and I will soon either need to resize it or delete apps... adding app2sdext was the second best thing I ever did to my phone behind installing CyanogenMod on it.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why didnt i think of that? thank you for your reply... now i should decide whether to do it now or wait till i have reached maybe about a hundred apps. by the way does it have any effect on the speed of the phone if you do that?
I am on cm7 and decided to put cache apps on sd card using ta utility is there any other new apps like that? ta
Can you do this with rooted stock?
lolobabes said:
why didnt i think of that? thank you for your reply... now i should decide whether to do it now or wait till i have reached maybe about a hundred apps. by the way does it have any effect on the speed of the phone if you do that?
I am on cm7 and decided to put cache apps on sd card using ta utility is there any other new apps like that? ta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a class 4 32GB card, and I didn't notice any appreciable difference in speed. I have moved my apps and dalvik cache to the sdcard using DarkTremor's a2sd. I currently have 260 apps installed on my phone, and that is pushing the internal phone space and the 1GB partition I set up for ext. I am about to bug danger-rat for his instructions on how he resized his internal partitions to give the data residing on the phone more space (I will basically shrink the cache partition and I am looking at resizing my ext partition to 1.5GB or 2GB.
I couldn't live without this anymore. I don't know how I went so long without it. It is so nice to just browse the online market and click install on countless apps without worrying about your space.
If you want to try and move the app data (resides in /data/data) to the sdcard, I have heard that it is recommended to have a class 10 card to keep up with speed requirements. I am not sure how many apps support that.
brettbellaire said:
Can you do this with rooted stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe you can. You would have to have a custom recovery. The main thing I am not sure is if it will mount the ext partition. If you have a custom recovery, do a nandroid backup (just in case it doesn't work), flash the zip for DarkTremor, and reboot the phone (the first boot will take longer).
brettbellaire said:
Can you do this with rooted stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes you can.
bassmadrigal said:
I have a class 4 32GB card, and I didn't notice any appreciable difference in speed. I have moved my apps and dalvik cache to the sdcard using DarkTremor's a2sd. I currently have 260 apps installed on my phone, and that is pushing the internal phone space and the 1GB partition I set up for ext. I am about to bug danger-rat for his instructions on how he resized his internal partitions to give the data residing on the phone more space (I will basically shrink the cache partition and I am looking at resizing my ext partition to 1.5GB or 2GB.
I couldn't live without this anymore. I don't know how I went so long without it. It is so nice to just browse the online market and click install on countless apps without worrying about your space.
If you want to try and move the app data (resides in /data/data) to the sdcard, I have heard that it is recommended to have a class 10 card to keep up with speed requirements. I am not sure how many apps support that.
I believe you can. You would have to have a custom recovery. The main thing I am not sure is if it will mount the ext partition. If you have a custom recovery, do a nandroid backup (just in case it doesn't work), flash the zip for DarkTremor, and reboot the phone (the first boot will take longer).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the reply i think i read on darktremors post class 4 will do for the data2sd. I have class 4 16GB sd card would 1GB good for the ext? ty
It really depends on how much you think you will be installing. I did a 1GB partition on mine, but now that I install most of the Amazon free daily apps, that space is dwindling quickly. I have programs that will resize the partition for me, but most will have to wipe the card and partition it manually. I do have the install location set to automatic, so it allows developers to specify whether they want it in the "internal" (really it is on the sdext partition, but to the phone it is internal) or external using the froyo method. The Angry Bird apps all default to install on the sdcard, so my installed app base is even larger than 1GB.
bassmadrigal said:
... adding app2sdext was the second best thing I ever did to my phone behind installing CyanogenMod on it.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
is it true that cwm sets the partition to ext3 by default? unlike in ra recovery where you still need to convert it? ta
I have heard that it creates it in ext3, but right now, DTa2sd is showing that it is a ext2 partition. I can't figure out how to find out for sure while the card is in the phone. Either way, it is getting mounted as an ext2 partition.
temasek said:
I thought CWM will create ext3 by default? Your steps are ok, np.
Anyway when u read the ext partition type in android, most likely u will see ext2 if u are using official DT script cuz of the auto syntax it uses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
then it maybe so, this was posted on the darktremor thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=14134665#post14134665
Well, whether or not it is formatted as an ext3 partition, Android is still mounting mine as an ext2 partition.
Code:
mount | grep ext
NOTE: the "|" is called a pipe. On the keyboard it is the shift option on the backslash key "\". I don't know exactly where it is on the stock keyboard, but on swype it is located under the "D" key when the keyboard has the shift key pressed and you access it by longpressing.
To get your sdcard to ext3, you just need to turn on journaling. You can do this through adb while in the recovery (because you need the partition unmounted to do this).
Code:
adb reboot recovery
adb shell
mount system
e2fsk /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
tune2fs -j /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
reboot
Supposedly Android should auto-mount this as ext3 on boot (which you can check with the first command). At that point, I don't think it will matter what a2sd shows. As the writing of the journal (the big thing with ext3, since it helps minimize write errors on a bad shutdown) is done at the OS level, not the a2sd level.