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

Easier way to partition SD with CM 4.0.2?

Hey im currently using Cyanogen's mod 4.0.2 on my original 1gb sd card, i know the apps2sd is automatically built in to the rom, however is there an easier way to create the partition on the sd card without all the commands and such? im still a noob to any help is appreciated..thanks

rschuman90 said:
Hey im currently using Cyanogen's mod 4.0.2 on my original 1gb sd card, i know the apps2sd is automatically built in to the rom, however is there an easier way to create the partition on the sd card without all the commands and such? im still a noob to any help is appreciated..thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install Ubuntu and use Gparted
There's a script called SDsplit

there's also a script to partitoin that 51dusty made. Or you can stop being lazy and just type them it. It takes no more than 5min to do.

Or you can flash JF 1.51 adp because it doesn't use the sd so you're safe to partion the sd card and use partted in recovery. JAC has the directions on his Jacxhero ROM page. Thats what i use. Works everytime.

rschuman90 said:
Hey im currently using Cyanogen's mod 4.0.2 on my original 1gb sd card, i know the apps2sd is automatically built in to the rom, however is there an easier way to create the partition on the sd card without all the commands and such? im still a noob to any help is appreciated..thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before I started using "parted" I used apps2sd 2 (in the market).
The trick is to make sure you don't let it run the actual apps2sd but only use it to create the partition.
CM's does it better (and you might break something!!!).
If you don't have a ext partition and run apps2sd 2 it lets you create one.
Don't make the partition more than 500mb-530mb.
By the way, it only makes an ext2 partition so if you want ext3 go to console and and upgrade_fs.

Dusty's method in parted is much better!
This is just what I did before I stopped being lazy.

ThR1LL said:
there's also a script to partitoin that 51dusty made. Or you can stop being lazy and just type them it. It takes no more than 5min to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's called SDsplit

AdrianK said:
It's called SDsplit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The one I'm talking about is called sdparted found here

the script provides 3 partitions... you may not need the swapper. try to make it manually, its easy!!!

AdrianK said:
It's called SDsplit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do u have to have adb though if you did dustys method WITHOUT a computer?

Does Amon ra's recovery work on g1 and is it any good

I already have my phone rooted but amon ra recovery looks like it can partion sd card from recovery is this true.

Yes it can work, download it for a b board though, I think it is the g branded image. It can partion from your sd into 3 partions and with give a 32mb swap, downside is that is meant for the magic which does not have hardware keyboard so there is no console terminal which will save your ass in case of booty loops, so use it to do the partion if you like but make sure you flash back cyan recovery when you are done

You can partition the sd card in Cyan's recovery in less than 2 minutes. It's not worth losing keyboard functionality.

uansari1 said:
You can partition the sd card in Cyan's recovery in less than 2 minutes. It's not worth losing keyboard functionality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
]
how??????????//
twitter.com/thesolomind

david1985 said:
how??????????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
through a magical thing called the recovery console and a few simple commands.... (secret tip: there is a thread about it in this very section) another tip is it involves mkpartfs primary [file system type i.e. fat32, ext2, linux-swap] [start] [end]
not really that hard to find if you look for it.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=534714

B-man007 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=534714
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While this link is one way, it's not the simplest way, IMO. What I was referring to was that Cyanogen included Parted partitioning app in his recovery. If you go to console and type the following, you'll get to Parted:
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
This will allow you to partition your SD card any way you want. A search shall set you free.

uansari1 said:
While this link is one way, it's not the simplest way, IMO. What I was referring to was that Cyanogen included Parted partitioning app in his recovery. If you go to console and type the following, you'll get to Parted:
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
This will allow you to partition your SD card any way you want. A search shall set you free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol did you even read the thread.....
he uses parted in cyan's recovery to partition

wait...will the magic's VK work in cyan's recovery console? if it doesn't, you'll have to use windows command prompt with android sdk installed and yadiyada. that's why i used amon ra's because it does everything automatically. i didn't wanna mess installing the sdk and doing it through command prompt.

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.
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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 =]