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I bought new SD card i want to wipe my phone completely and install Darkys Rom. I formated my new SD card to ext2 in Ubuntu but my phone didn't recognize the file system. Then i used Clockwork to format my (external) SD card and what i did i formated my internal SD card. I'm completely failed. Can somebody give me step by step tutorial how to format external SD Card to ext2 or ext4. Also i would like to know if i will be able to copy data under windows when the phone is connected through USB.
Thank you
Sorry for my English
Hi! Please tell me why do you want to format your SD card to ext2 or ext4? There is no need for that. Just format it tu FAT and that's it. If you want to apply lagfix then do it under recovery with the lagfix option under advanced features.
Greets from Croatia.
DanXo said:
Hi! Please tell me why do you want to format your SD card to ext2 or ext4? There is no need for that. Just format it tu FAT and that's it. If you want to apply lagfix then do it under recovery with the lagfix option under advanced features.
Greets from Croatia.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would like to have option to transfer bigger files than 4GB.
+1
how do I format my external SD card to ext2? I have Samsung Captivate. I got Cygwin, since I use Windows. Does anyone know what commands to type in cygwin?
I want to put files larger than 4GB on my card as well.
I think this will be useful for a lot of people.
I found a thread http://android.modaco.com/content/h...an-i-bind-mount-e-g-system-sd-xxx-sdcard-xxx/
But I am a noob in Linux, and it would be GREAT to have step by step commands I would have to type in to format my external SD card, while its in the phone, etc
Possible problem I see is that the phone might not recognize external card if its ext2/3/4 . We might have to have small FAT32 partition on there as well? Or may be Froyo has that ability...
I'm looking into doing this myself, in my case so I can use symlinks to copy apps "data" folders (not the "data" partition, but the folders in /mnt/sdcard where apps put different things) onto the larger, external sdcard. It seems like it could be possible, just need to make sure the /etc/fstab file is updated properly, and of course make sure your kernel has the ext2 and/or ext4 modules loaded and running (which you probably will if you have a lagfix installed). I will play with this and post back my results here...
I have been looking for this myself for a while aswell, but on 4 different kernels and CWM v2.5 and CWM v3.0, I couldn't find any option on how to change the ext. SD to Ext4. If anyone knows how to then please post it here!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
So, progress report...
Still no success in this matter, although I have learnt a bit today about Android's internal workings. After backing up my system with CWR, I first tried formatting my ext sd card with gparted on my computer. Bad choice... Even though no config files were stored in it as far as I could tell, Android "panicked" and decided to restore all my configs to default, severely crippling my system and making a lot of apps force close when I restarted the phone.
At that point I thought, since it is now broken, might as well play with it So the next thing I tried was formatting my internal sd card (only the vfat partition that gets mounted in /mnt/sdcard) to ext2, but this time using the "busybox mke2fs" command, on the terminal emulator on the phone. This seemed to be successful, and I could read and write to the new ext2 partition, although for some reason, I got the feeling that apps kept resetting their settings (not sure what caused this, didn't really looked into it much). So once that was up and running, I decided to modify the /etc/fstab file, like I would do in a normal linux environment, to automount this partition on boot, as ext2.
At this point I rebooted the phone, but hmm... Android converted the partition back to vfat. Not good. This leads me to believe there must be some kind of "recovery" commands run on startup, in case the system detects the partition is not the default file system, or something along the lines of that. At this point it got kinda late, so I decided to document my progress, restore (which thankfully left my phone the way it was at the beginning of the day) and call it a day.
So, things that I still need to find out:
1) How does the system convert the partition back to vfat on startup and how could I avoid it from doing it? Maybe by having a small vfat partition to fool it into thinking all is good and normal?
2) When I had my partition as ext2, I couldn't see it on my computer when connected via USB (I'm on a linux system so the fs being ext2 is not a problem). Wonder why...
3) If I had a small vfat partition, how would I go about mounting the ext2 partition on the same mount point after the system checks the vfat one? Maybe by binding it? Gotta look into that as well.
4) Finally, have to check why the apps couldn't maintain their settings after a certain amount of time (for example, if I opened terminal emulator and changed the colors, these would stay if I closed and opened the app again right away, but if I closed it for a while, say half an hour, and opened again, it would be back to default...)
I'm on a Galaxy S btw. If anyone has any insight on any of these matters, would be much appreciated!
Any progress? Would really like to use +4 GB files.
morow said:
I would like to have option to transfer bigger files than 4GB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is immpossible because of hardware limitations of the SD card And often if the file is big it just fail!
Hristov1 said:
It is immpossible because of hardware limitations of the SD card And often if the file is big it just fail!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true, read the rest of the thread before u post! Its not a hardware limitation, its because Android uses fat32 as filesystem.
hello everyone,
I just wanted to check to make sure that there is no solution for this 4gb limitation with Android yet? I too have been looking for something besides resizing files.
thanks
uki
I have ext2 on my external 32GB SDCard, just formatted it on my PC and put it in the phone, working without any problems. I just watched a full length 720p movie with DTS sound on my phone without having to re-encode the mkv
I'm using CM7.1 on my phone which auto-mounts the SDCard even with ext2. It won't work on stock ROM, but any kernel that has ext2 support should be able to read ext2-formatted cards but they might not auto-mount the sdcard.
On my PC I had to install a ext2 file system driver (google ext2fsd) for Win7 to be able to read the card when attaching the phone to the PC.
Hi there,
Is there a way to make the add the internal SD card to the main memmory? So that there would not be an internal SD card anymore?
I do not mean swapping the moutpoints around so my External_SD becomes my primary and my internal my second....
I want to get rid of the internal one alltogether (adding it to main memory).
I figure that I'll have to format the storage in a certain way... would that do it?
Can someone tell me step by step what to do?
I do have CW-mod installed.
I did search the forum, but couldnt find anything conclusive. Just hints that it should be possible...
If there already is a thread where all this is explained, please point me to it, because I couldn't find it.
Thanks,
Pfeffa-rah
I don't think this is possible , never heard of someone who did it
I have no idea how to do that. My question is... why would you want to do that?
Having an internal_sd partition adds the benefit of having big app data (such as those in Gameloft games) sit in a very fast partition and still be called "sddata".
Also, it's mountable via PC so everything in there can still be backed up. So it's best of both worlds really.
This was discussed some time ago in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1013575
There were ideas on how to remount the cards at boot. I myself come to the conclusion that since more phones start to behave in this way, app developers will have to start dealing with it. It just sucks they are mostly slow on the uptake. My main problem was the Spotify cache location being hard coded so I resorted to hack the Spotify apk.
PS. salisbury_steak: What is it with people like you that every time someone has a question on how to do something, your immediate response is "But why would you want to do that?!".
sorech said:
PS. salisbury_steak: What is it with people like you that every time someone has a question on how to do something, your immediate response is "But why would you want to do that?!".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was actually an honest question.
I wanted to understand why he wanted to do it. (i.e. What would be the advantages of it.) There was no supposed sarcasm in there.
how about the ability to install 5x more applications?
Having that stupid 5gb partition as sd card and the real sd card as a sub folder is retarded...
My 32GB class 10 cars is a lot faster than the internal one.
The internal 5gb memory is MUCH TOO SMALL!!! Most apps don't allow you to store data on the external card. If you like me and many others install some games that download aditional data + a nav app that downloads maps for europe + some streaming music app like wimp that can cache music for offline play then you are ****ed with LG's setup.
The setup CM7 uses solves the main problem but effectively wastes the 5gb by mounting it at emmc where like 0,0001% of apps are able to access it.
So adding those otherwise wasted 5gb to the main memory would be great. But i have not seen any solution to that yet :-(
Thank you Gensplejs for explaining that to them. I had no idea how to reply to that since it seemed so obvious to me.
This thread was ment to be a question about how to do it and not to discuss the usefullness of it. That is where I lost the way in other threads...
So, thanks for your replys all (realy).
But now, back On-Topic:
How would I do it?
Sent from my LG-P990 using XDA Premium App
Please don't blame me if you tried it and you screwed up your phone.. It's your choice...
Well, I don't know if this would work, but this is how I would do it (accepting the fact that I'd loose almost 2GB of /data's free space):
1. Format your internal sd card to the same file system as your /data partition is (ext3 or ext4)
2. Copy every file from /data 1:1 to your sdcard (cp -R /data/* /sdcard)
3. I don't know when and where the partitions are mounted (maybe init.rc??)...anyways change the target there and let /data point to the internal sd card partition (so it is ensured that it is mounted automatically to the new location)
4. Reboot and keep your fingers crossed
I think i figured how to do it in theory. First we need some free space at our microsd to cp /data. Then we should repartition with fdisk /dev/block/mmcblk0p8 and p9 into one partition and change vold.fstab to mount only externalsd at /sdcard as we do when we swap partitions. In theory it should work but i cant test it right now or make a script since ve gone vacations and i dont have a pc to restore in case of error
I agree.. certain apps wont store to sdcard.. its better to use the whole 8gb as phone storage, and use external sdcard as default sdcard.
Sent from my LG-P990 using XDA App
What ive found till now is that sd swapping is easy. You can do it by tweaking only vold.fstab. But repatriationing is a pain in the ass. Looks like lg has "faulty" partitions or something and to do it you must mesh up with with almost half partitions.
I had to rebuilt boot lgdrm recovery data and sdcard to make em half work. So it probably isnt worth the trouble. Also I think init.rc is built on the boot. So just remounting internal sd to /data wont work either.
sectors is not space
it says 7996, so thats 8GB
i saw it in hurry. the brain sometimes belives whats he want to belive
sorry
New to XDA
Hello everybody,
I'm new to android and i'm trying to find out how to solve the problem posted in this thread.
I see you've got the awnser but i don't know how to do this.
I've been searching google and XDA for ever but i just can't find the awnser.
Could you make a step by step howto or point out to a post how to do this.
I mean converting your external sd to ext4 and change the mounting points.
I'm a complete nood, i didn't get adb to work on my pc, ext4 recovery is not for the p990 2x.
I've read something abbout changing fstap for swapping te mounting points for sdcard and emmc, witch is also ok for me, but formating to ext4... wel i frankly don't know how to do this.
I'm quite stuk on this.
The only partitioning experience i've got is Gparted in Ubuntu or repartitioning in Windows 7.
Thans in andvance!
Greetz,
JMG
http://android.modaco.com/topic/347...-partitions/page__gopid__1821791#entry1821791
check this
you can expand data partition , but there is a limitation of 1.75gb
Thanks davjan
Thanks davjan,
As far i can see it's indeed not worth it.
I wil have to go on and try to find out how to change the filesystem to ext4 and swap the internal and external sd.
That way i get more usable space instead of a big datastorage witch cannot contain program data.
But thanks for the quick reply.
Jean Michel Gaar said:
Thanks davjan,
As far i can see it's indeed not worth it.
I wil have to go on and try to find out how to change the filesystem to ext4 and swap the internal and external sd.
That way i get more usable space instead of a big datastorage witch cannot contain program data.
But thanks for the quick reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what rom are you using? is your phone rooted?
swapping internal with internal sd is very easy
and most of the roms here on xda are ext4 , if you instal one of them they autoconvert to ext4
Jean Michel Gaar said:
Thanks davjan,
As far i can see it's indeed not worth it.
I wil have to go on and try to find out how to change the filesystem to ext4 and swap the internal and external sd.
That way i get more usable space instead of a big datastorage witch cannot contain program data.
But thanks for the quick reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I you read the link provided you'll see that it makes what you want: grow internal filesystem = lower SDcard usable space. The only thing is that it doesn't seem possible is to use the whole space: system limitation. 75Markus tried high /system and /data values and phone didn't work.
See in his Mediafire Folder, 'Nvflash + guide for changing Partitions:
http://www.mediafire.com/75markus
Ext4 is now common with custom ROMs (in fact all of them).
You should search in sd-ext partition system, which was designed to artificially expand filesystem on older phones using an 'ext' partition. I didn't heard anybody using this on O2X.
If you use CyanogenMod based ROMs, your external card will be mounted ad /sdcard by default.
Switching internal and external SD
Thanks guy's,
I'll check it out.
I've been using cyanogenmod 7.1 stable with vorkkernel 20110208.
But that gave me batterydrains while using maps and nextvid ate the same time (while i'm driving).
Now i'm trying MIUI 1.11.11 with latest swift extreme.
But MIUI is very buggy so i'm thinking of going back to CM.
The only thing is that my phone won't boot with the latest vorkkernel.
Hello everybody.
I'm searching for a way to swap between the internal sd storage and the external one on my Galaxy S3 Mini because the internal storage is not enough big to install games and other big apps. I've seen there is a way for the S3, but I don't know if it's possible for the Mini too...
So, please, if anyone can help me...
EDIT: I've found a way to do that, and it only needs to have a Galaxy S3 Mini i8190 rooted.
Okay let's go.
I took the method from this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1886091
But it's not exactly the same on the Mini.
The following quote is the instructions taken from the thread with the improvements ( in red ) for the i8190.
NB: I can't answer to questions since I'm not expert at all, I got it working so I give you the solution, that's all I can do.
1. First, I'd recommend making a Nandroid backup of your phone.
2. Next, just to be extra safe, I would backup your internal SD card to your PC. While you are doing that, if you have data on the external SD card, back that up too.
3. Next, I would format your external SD card to fat 32. (You could probably use Ext format too, but I didn’t test that.)If you already have it in that format, and have content on it, this won't affect the content, but back it up just to be safe. It’s probably better to have the Ext SD blank to begin with, you can always copy back its content from your pc.
4. Next copy the contents of the internal SD to the External SD card. This is to avoid confusion about apps and such.
5. Next install script manager free from the play store:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...anager&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDNd
It will show up on your phone as S manager ads.
You MUST install BusyBox too!! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=stericson.busybox
6. Download the mod from here: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6305/SD Card Hack SG3/11extsd2internalsd
( save as ) And put it into the /data directory of your phone
7. You must edit this script for it to work on Mini. Change /mnt/sdcard to /storage/sdcard0 and /mnt/extSdCard to /storage/extSdCard
(This vary depending of your phone, so check where is located internal storage, it was /storage/sdcard0 for me, and the external SD, it was /storage/extSdCard for me.)
8. Open the script manager app, and select Browse as Root in the config screen. Tell it to remember this setting.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6305/SD Card Hack SG3/Script manager browse as root and save.png
9. Using Script Manager, navigate to that file in the /data directory. Press and hold the file name until the menu pops up, and click on properties.
(Unix geeks set them to 777, and everyone else copy the picture below. Click OK.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6305/SD Card Hack SG3/Permission settings 777.png
10. Click on the scipt now.. Click on the “Is script” button.
11. Now tap on the buttons that say Su, Boot, and Save. The file name will come up in yellow after the save.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6305/SD Card Hack SG3/Script manager setting after save.png
12. Reboot your phone and you should see the swap working and be able to access both internal and external SD cards. The external card will show up as sdcard, and the internal card will show up as extSDCard. Your apps should now install to the external card, since your phone will think it's the internal card. Is that confusing? It was to me too!
Good luck and please share your experiences specifying which ROM you used, so that others can avoid frustration.
Thank you’s always appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this it might solve you're solution. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1410262
Sent from my GT-I8190 using xda premium
No, sorry, I've already seen that but it's not a way to swap the internal with the external sd storage..
Jalubyc said:
Hello everybody.
I'm searching for a way to swap between the internal sd storage and the external one on my Galaxy S3 Mini because the internal storage is not enough big to install games and other big apps. I've seen there is a way for the S3, but I don't know if it's possible for the Mini too...
So, please, if anyone can help me...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
for big apps or games you need to put a additional "external" sdcard in your galaxy s3 mini..... for example i have installed the game "Need for Speed - Most Wanted" 1,8GB of the game is on my additinal "external" sdcard and the rest (40mb) are installed on device.....
enox.co said:
for big apps or games you need to put a additional "external" sdcard in your galaxy s3 mini..... for example i have installed the game "Need for Speed - Most Wanted" 1,8GB of the game is on my additinal "external" sdcard and the rest (40mb) are installed on device.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've an external sdcard, I bought one of 32GB, but I can't use it as I wanted to because there is no way to install apps into the sd card. So I'm searching for a way to let know the phone that the external sd is the internal storage and that the internal storage is the external sd card.
I've found a way!
Well what is it then.
Sent from my GT-I8190 using xda premium
kicker63 said:
Well what is it then.
Sent from my GT-I8190 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please take a look at my first post. I edited it with the solution.
Hi Jalubyc
I've just tried your solution above and my phone is showing under storage
Device memory Total space 4.54GB
Available 378Mb
SD Card Total Space 29.71GB
Available 27.12GB
So it looks like my first attempt didn't work
Problems I found were firstly at step 6, I couldn't download the mod on phone. I was using chrome and there is no (save as) option. I can only save the link. On PC I saved the page as a text doc and edited the sdcard and extsdcard bits before saving the script. Where is the /data directory? Am I supposed to create a "data" folder in the root of my internal sdcard or copy to the data folder in the android folder? I put it in the android/data/ folder and it didn't work.
Once this is working is it safe to delete the contents of sdcard0 to get my 4.54gb back. I also take it any ROM updates would revert everything back
jazzzy786 said:
Problems I found were firstly at step 6, I couldn't download the mod on phone. I was using chrome and there is no (save as) option. I can only save the link. On PC I saved the page as a text doc and edited the sdcard and extsdcard bits before saving the script. Where is the /data directory? Am I supposed to create a "data" folder in the root of my internal sdcard or copy to the data folder in the android folder? I put it in the android/data/ folder and it didn't work.
Once this is working is it safe to delete the contents of sdcard0 to get my 4.54gb back. I also take it any ROM updates would revert everything back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh no you're totally out of the solution. The /data directory is at root of the phone, so not in a sdcard. Use chrome from your PC to save as and put in into your sdcard before putting it into the /data directory with ES Explorer or another file explorer that's supporting root.
For the ROM updates I don't know because I've never tried.
I still cannot save the script using 'save as' as I don't have the option. I have 'save link as' which saves it as a text document. Edited it as stated.
I've found the data folder but ES explorer wouldn't allow me to copy my script to it and is showing the folder as blank.I got root browser lite from the play store which worked okay in allowing me to copy to the data folder. I used s manager lite to do its stuff and rebooted. No success - .
I'm using Android version 4.1.2/ Build number JZO54K.I8190DXALL3 .
Are you positive about the /storage/ change to the script as I remember when using directory bind it was /mnt/extSdCard/ and /sdcard/.
There is a /mnt/sdcard/ too which contains the same files as other location so possibly script can run unchanged. Getting a bit frustrated now as I have an old HTC Desire with over 300 apps (70+ games) with internal memory of 137Mb out of 148Mb and 10Gb free on sdcard out of 32gb
---------- Post added at 02:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:42 PM ----------
Ok working now. Your script changes were correct. Device memory total space 29.71GB with 27.12GB free. Sd card total space 4.64gb with 800Mb free.
Now to get my full 4.64Gb back which folder contents do I delete? I think deleting the contents of extsdcard in my files. Thanks you've changed my phone from a very limited phone to something much better.
It is a bit strange way to solve free space problems.
I have 8GB version with 4.5GB free the box. When I installed all games and apps that I needed there was something about 800MB free.
My solution is simple:
1. install Directory Bind
2. Make link: mount="/sdcard/Android/", source="/storage/extSdCard/Android/" with "Transfer Files" option
3. Wait till the end of process (can take alot of time depends from your data)
4. Enjoy!
After this simple manipulations I got 3.6GB free in internal memory, installed 2 additional games (including Need for Speed Most Wanted with huge data) and it shows 3.4GB now.
You can make as much links as you want, of course. But moving "/sdcard/Android/" to external SD is enough
I tried directory bind and it just copied the contents of my internal sdcard to my external sdcard. It didn't move the contents as it was supposed to. I ended up with a copy of the files on both sdcards. If I tried to delete from my internal sdcard it also deleted the contents of my external sdcard. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what I had done wrong as I'd followed the instructions as far as I could tell. Now my phone is seeing a massive internal sd card and a 4Gb external sd card. I still can't get spiderman total mayhem to work though it throws up an error while downloading the game data
you should not bind root folders via directory bind. And it makes symlinks so it will looks like content does not deleted from internal SD but it shown from external SD already.
flashable zip
Hi!
Do you think that is possible to install the mod via a flashable zip?
Many thanks!
Yes it is possible. Take a look of the post for the galaxy s3, it is explained. But you must edit the script to make it working.
plvigo said:
Hi!
Do you think that is possible to install the mod via a flashable zip?
Many thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not possible, we do not have a unlocked kernel, therefore we cannot load unsigned zips.
dolar4ik said:
you should not bind root folders via directory bind. And it makes symlinks so it will looks like content does not deleted from internal SD but it shown from external SD already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I don't understand what you've written. What do you mean do not use to bind root folders? What's a symlink?Are you saying the folders I'm seeing on sdcard0 are dummy folders and the contents have been moved to extsdcard? I've swapped my sdcards over using the script now so no longer using directory bind.
Jalubyc said:
You MUST install BusyBox too!! https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ricson.busybox
6. Download the mod from here: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6305/SD C...tsd2internalsd
( save as ) And put it into the /data directory of your phone
7. You must edit this script for it to work on Mini. Change /mnt/sdcard to /storage/sdcard0 and /mnt/extSdCard to /storage/extSdCard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have two questions:
1: What do i have to do with this data:
#!/system/bin/sh
#extsd2internalsd is a modification that allows to switch internal sd to external sd and viceversa. With this you can use default internal sd only for app storage #and the external sd to store all apps resource and all others stuff. The resut is a very big increase of installable apps on gs3
#All credits to Mattiadj of xda forum for the idea and script and to mike1986 for the cmw zip.
#xda thread url at
#Script Modified for U.S. Galaxy S3s by Zedomax at GalaxyS3Root.com to be compatible when sdcard is not inserted.
busybox mount -o remount,rw /
busybox mount -t vfat -o umask=0000 /dev/block/vold/179:97 /mnt/sdcard
busybox mount -t exfat -o umask=0000 /dev/block/vold/179:97 /mnt/sdcard
if busybox mount | busybox grep vold/179:97; then
busybox mount -o bind /data/media /mnt/extSdCard
fi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And 2: how do i edit what is on step 7?
jazzzy786 said:
Sorry I don't understand what you've written. What do you mean do not use to bind root folders? What's a symlink?Are you saying the folders I'm seeing on sdcard0 are dummy folders and the contents have been moved to extsdcard? I've swapped my sdcards over using the script now so no longer using directory bind.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Symlink
symlink in human words is just a folder redirect.
For example, you have symlink that links folder "/storage/mydata/" to folder "/sdcard/mynewdata/"
When some application, system or user will try to get data from folder "/storage/mydata/", the data data from "/sdcard/mynewdata/" will be shown but folder path will be not changed.
You should not link root folders such as "/sdcard/", "/" ... coz it may prevent problems.
Hi,
This is my first android device, so am pretty much a newbie for android.
Have created this mod to mount external SD card partition as internal partition.
I took pointers from a lot of threads on xda forums to get this working, so I feel bound to share it.
Note: Have only tested it with Android 4.1.
(I'm not responsible for any Damage to your phone. Use at your own risk.)
Note: This will likely result in data loss. Backup!
Required :
1. Root Access
2. init.d support click here
3. Root Browser click here
4. SManager click here
5. An sd card (duh!) (with class 10 SD cards preferable)
6. Some way to partition your SD Card (like MiniTool Partition Manager)
Install instructions:
1. Create two ‘fat32’ partitions on SD card(EDIT: PS: both partitions should be Primary). Your first partition will be mounted as normal extSd card, and your second partition will be mounted as internal SD Card for your apps. (I partitioned my 64GB(10^9 bytes) sd card with ~16 GB 1st partition and ~42 GB 2nd partition)
2. Copy and paste “mountSd” to etc/init.d folder. (If you don’t have such a folder, means you lack init.d support. click here and follow instructions to enable it) This script creates another mount point called ‘sdcard2’ and mounts current internal sd card there. It also tries to mount second partition to ‘sdcard0’ location, but seems to fail some times (as fat32 is not natively supported linux partition it seems, but could be wrong), so step 3 is required.
3. Copy ‘mountSdFailSafe.txt’ to your phone’s ‘/data’ folder. Now with ‘SManager’, register this file as script with ‘su’ and ‘boot’ selected. (click and hold script -> in context menu click ‘Open As..’ -> ‘Script/Executable’ -> Is Script = true, select ‘su’ and ‘boot’ buttons)
4. Restart.
This should do it. Once restarted, second partition will be shown as internal memory.
Note:
You will lose all app data and other app related customizations. You may be able to restore it by simply copy pasting ‘Android’ folder from ‘/storage/sdcard2’ to ‘/storage/sdcard0’. This has not been tested by me but should work theoretically (as I started with a blank phone, and so did not need to back up my app data). Or you could use Titanium Backup.
Some Issues that occur due to this mod:
I have been using this mod since the past 2 weeks, and the phone is quite stable with this mod.
The only issue I have faced is that when connected to PC (Windows 8) through USB, ‘My Computer’ keeps crashing unless and until you disconnect the phone. Otherwise it seems to be working fine. To circumvent this issue I have been using Samba to share files between PC and my phone.
Please share how it works out for you guys.
Other Notes:
I tried to get this working with ext4 partition, which has a +ves that it will not require step ‘3’ of install instructions and supports file sizes >4GB, but there are loads of permission issues happening, which I could not solve.
(Thought of setting “set GID” bit and then finding and adding all users to root group but failed. Also tried to set owner group ‘sdcard_rw’ without much success. May be someone who knows linux better may know how to solve this, Could not find much help on the forums as it seems others are facing a similar problem see more)
Thanks to:
For basic idea (PS: do not use the given method exactly as you will end up in a boot loop. For some reason, ‘sdcard1’ mount point has to be mounted by system only and can’t be mounted any other way, it seems.)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2180733
Edit:
Simplified installation if you do not care for easy accessibility to your orig internal memory:
Use this video tutorial by ashwin123:
The only exceptions are that, you need to partition your card,
and you have to use the file 'mountSdFailSafe.txt' instead of the file in the package mentioned by him.
Nice
Waiting for someone to test it n confirm it successfully works
Still here
N!geR -> E!ch0
NisJ said:
Hi,
This is my first android device, so am pretty much a newbie for android.
Have created this mod to mount external SD card partition as internal partition.
I took pointers from a lot of threads on xda forums to get this working, so I feel bound to share it.
Note: Have only tested it with Android 4.1.
(I'm not responsible for any Damage to your phone. Use at your own risk.)
Note: This will likely result in data loss. Backup!
Required :
1. Root Access
2. init.d support click here
3. Root Browser click here
4. SManager click here
5. An sd card (duh!) (with class 10 SD cards preferable)
6. Some way to partition your SD Card (like MiniTool Partition Manager)
Install instructions:
1. Create two ‘fat32’ partitions on SD card. Your first partition will be mounted as normal extSd card, and your second partition will be mounted as internal SD Card for your apps. (I partitioned my 64GB(10^9 bytes) sd card with ~16 GB 1st partition and ~42 GB 2nd partition)
2. Copy and paste “mountSd” to etc/init.d folder. (If you don’t have such a folder, means you lack init.d support. click here and follow instructions to enable it) This script creates another mount point called ‘sdcard2’ and mounts current internal sd card there. It also tries to mount second partition to ‘sdcard0’ location, but seems to fail some times (as fat32 is not natively supported linux partition it seems, but could be wrong), so step 3 is required.
3. Copy ‘mountSdFailSafe.txt’ to your phone’s ‘/data’ folder. Now with ‘SManager’, register this file as script with ‘su’ and ‘boot’ selected. (click and hold script -> in context menu click ‘Open As..’ -> ‘Script/Executable’ -> Is Script = true, select ‘su’ and ‘boot’ buttons)
4. Restart.
This should do it. Once restarted, second partition will be shown as internal memory.
Note:
You will lose all app data and other app related customizations. You may be able to restore it by simply copy pasting ‘Android’ folder from ‘/storage/sdcard2’ to ‘/storage/sdcard0’. This has not been tested by me but should work theoretically (as I started with a blank phone, and so did not need to back up my app data). Or you could use Titanium Backup.
Some Issues that occur due to this mod:
I have been using this mod since the past 2 weeks, and the phone is quite stable with this mod.
The only issue I have faced is that when connected to PC (Windows 8) through USB, ‘My Computer’ keeps crashing unless and until you disconnect the phone. Otherwise it seems to be working fine. To circumvent this issue I have been using Samba to share files between PC and my phone.
Please share how it works out for you guys.
Other Notes:
I tried to get this working with ext4 partition, which has a +ves that it will not require step ‘3’ of install instructions and supports file sizes >4GB, but there are loads of permission issues happening, which I could not solve.
(Thought of setting “set GID” bit and then finding and adding all users to root group but failed. Also tried to set owner group ‘sdcard_rw’ without much success. May be someone who knows linux better may know how to solve this, Could not find much help on the forums as it seems others are facing a similar problem see more)
Thanks to:
For basic idea (PS: do not use the given method exactly as you will end up in a boot loop. For some reason, ‘sdcard1’ mount point has to be mounted by system only and can’t be mounted any other way, it seems.)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2180733
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Am interested to try this but before I do, just wanted to check when you say data is lost, is it due to the lost of the original /data partition? Or just due to the sd card's partition?
What's the outcome when this is done, I mean do we have two data partitions one from the original phone's memory and another with the sdcard? And in the settings menu, will we get to choose to send apps over to sd? Thanks
grim_ripper said:
Am interested to try this but before I do, just wanted to check when you say data is lost, is it due to the lost of the original /data partition? Or just due to the sd card's partition?
What's the outcome when this is done, I mean do we have two data partitions one from the original phone's memory and another with the sdcard? And in the settings menu, will we get to choose to send apps over to sd? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your application data will be lost in a way, as orig internal sd card will be mounted to 'sdcard2' mount point(newly created). All your app data will be installed to your memory card's second partition, which is now the new internal sdcard. To access your orig data, you will have to go to it through a file manager, and apps or media scanner will not be able to access this memory any more.
The scripts provided will not format your internal memory.
Still apk files, dalvik cache etc, will still take up your original internal memory's space.
Partitioning your sd card will probably format it as well unless you take special precaution (ie. through shrink volume).
Hope it makes sense...?
NisJ said:
Your application data will be lost in a way, as orig internal sd card will be mounted to 'sdcard2' mount point(newly created). All your app data will be installed to your memory card's second partition, which is now the new internal sdcard. To access your orig data, you will have to go to it through a file manager, and apps or media scanner will not be able to access this memory any more.
The scripts provided will not format your internal memory.
Still apk files, dalvik cache etc, will still take up your original internal memory's space.
Partitioning your sd card will probably format it as well unless you take special precaution (ie. through shrink volume).
Hope it makes sense...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It makes sense, just am confused on how the system will still recognize the original storage when the sd card's storage is supposingly replacing it. Could you post a screen shot of your storage from settings?
grim_ripper said:
It makes sense, just am confused on how the system will still recognize the original storage when the sd card's storage is supposingly replacing it. Could you post a screen shot of your storage from settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here you go....
PS: third image shows that internal storage is still accessible, just not to apps. Only apk files, and other android files go there go there. sdcard2 in 4th image is newly created mount point for your orig internal storage, but is ignored by most of the apps...
NisJ said:
Here you go....
PS: third image shows that internal storage is still accessible, just not to apps. Only apk files, and other android files go there go there. sdcard2 in 4th image is newly created mount point for your orig internal storage, but is ignored by most of the apps...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can u do a tutorial video how to install this script bro?
Cuz the installation steps r bit complicated
Still here
N!geR -> E!ch0
NisJ said:
Here you go....
PS: third image shows that internal storage is still accessible, just not to apps. Only apk files, and other android files go there go there. sdcard2 in 4th image is newly created mount point for your orig internal storage, but is ignored by most of the apps...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Phone keeps rebooting now, couldn't copy it to /etc/init.d
I think it has something to do with having data running in the background, now I don't know what to do with my phone
EDIT: Ok, manage to recover from the reboot state, had to deny root access to my file explorer. I think the reboot was caused when I set permission to write for /system. Anyway, everytime I keep trying to copy to /etc/init.d, I get a permission denied so am not sure what I should do now.
grim_ripper said:
Phone keeps rebooting now, couldn't copy it to /etc/init.d
I think it has something to do with having data running in the background, now I don't know what to do with my phone
EDIT: Ok, manage to recover from the reboot state, had to deny root access to my file explorer. I think the reboot was caused when I set permission to write for /system. Anyway, everytime I keep trying to copy to /etc/init.d, I get a permission denied so am not sure what I should do now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When ever you copy something to init.d it will reboot, or does it go into boot loop?
To check if it worked correctly, see if new mount point storage/sdcard2 was created..
EDIT: If it worked correctly, then you could move to next step.
else you could also skip it, and goto the next step of SManager, but in that case you will lose access to your original internal storage as it wont be mounted to sdcard2.
E!ch0 said:
Can u do a tutorial video how to install this script bro?
Cuz the installation steps r bit complicated
Still here
N!geR -> E!ch0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Creating a video will take time at least til sat... prob more.
Will see if I can create a simplified install instructions once i reach home.
NisJ said:
When ever you copy something to init.d it will reboot, or does it go into boot loop?
To check if it worked correctly, see if new mount point storage/sdcard2 was created..
EDIT: If it worked correctly, then you could move to next step.
else you could also skip it, and goto the next step of SManager, but in that case you will lose access to your original internal storage as it wont be mounted to sdcard2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What happens is that everytime I try to mount /system as writable, it reboots and hence I can't copy either files to their designated location
EDIT: Also, now everytime I reboot, there's a popup that says USB connectivity has stopped, and if I go under settings->storage, settings fc. I'm thinking this has something to do with two partitions on the sd card so I hope it all goes away when this works or I revert back to as it was.
EDIT 2: So I managed to get all the files to the appropriate place using terminal and managed to get the script to run at boot. Alas, the phone doesn't detect my sdcard at all now and still throws the USB connectivity error at boot. Once I removed the sdcard, everything works alright. Also, I figured the solution to the reboot (haven't tested it yet as I wanted to resolve my sdcard first):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2317432
EDIT 3: Got the reboot solve, but the sdcard can't be read and I tried plugging it into my other phone, the first partition is only read. I can't get minitool to even find the 2nd partition. I am thinking I need to get a card reader to plug it into my laptop. Anyway, I went through your script and open the log file it used, says that there's an invalid argument for mount. Any idea?
Final Edit: Got it working! I had to re-partition my sdcard and made both partitions primary so maybe you might want to add that in OP as MiniTool by default selected the 2nd partition as logical
grim_ripper said:
What happens is that everytime I try to mount /system as writable, it reboots and hence I can't copy either files to their designated location
EDIT: Also, now everytime I reboot, there's a popup that says USB connectivity has stopped, and if I go under settings->storage, settings fc. I'm thinking this has something to do with two partitions on the sd card so I hope it all goes away when this works or I revert back to as it was.
EDIT 2: So I managed to get all the files to the appropriate place using terminal and managed to get the script to run at boot. Alas, the phone doesn't detect my sdcard at all now and still throws the USB connectivity error at boot. Once I removed the sdcard, everything works alright. Also, I figured the solution to the reboot (haven't tested it yet as I wanted to resolve my sdcard first):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2317432
EDIT 3: Got the reboot solve, but the sdcard can't be read and I tried plugging it into my other phone, the first partition is only read. I can't get minitool to even find the 2nd partition. I am thinking I need to get a card reader to plug it into my laptop. Anyway, I went through your script and open the log file it used, says that there's an invalid argument for mount. Any idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why are you trying to mount /system as rw?
for getting init.d support you just have to download the apk from mentioned thread and install it, and then fallow instruction in app.
you can mount root as rw with the foll command if you want, and that is exactly what is done in he scripts as well if you will check:
Code:
mount -o remount,rw /
also to check if partition is created on sd card, type the command:
Code:
blkid
and see if
Code:
/dev/block/vold/179:34
is listed
if not post the output and i'll see what i can do.
grim_ripper said:
Final Edit: Got it working! I had to re-partition my sdcard and made both partitions primary so maybe you might want to add that in OP as MiniTool by default selected the 2nd partition as logical
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EDIT: Correct, you need both the partitions to be primary. got out of my mind when posting the tutorial.
NisJ said:
Why are you trying to mount /system as rw?
for getting init.d support you just have to download the apk from mentioned thread and install it, and then fallow instruction in app.
you can mount root as rw with the foll command if you want, and that is exactly what is done in he scripts as well if you will check:
Code:
mount -o remount,rw /
also to check if partition is created on sd card, type the command:
Code:
blkid
and see if
Code:
/dev/block/vold/179:34
is listed
if not post the output and i'll see what i can do.
EDIT: Correct, you need both the partitions to be primary. got out of my mind when posting the tutorial.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For whatever reason, my /etc folder is actually a link from /system/etc
Could you post a way to revert back? I think my apps are acting all funny now and just want to revert back to before. Thanks!
grim_ripper said:
Could you post a way to revert back? I think my apps are acting all funny now and just want to revert back to before. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The apps are behaving funny because you have lost their data as I had warned in the original post.
To fix do either of the foll:
1. reinstall app, and start fresh.
or
2. restore from Titanium backup if you had created...
or
3. copy paste 'Android' folder from sdcard2 if it is created to 'sdcard0'
To remove and revert, just delete the files from int.d, and stop scheduling it in SManger.
Note: to un schedule it from smanager, you first have to remove memory card, un schedule and then put in your memory card (this is coz when phone boots up, it is in standard way, with 8gb internal but, after script is executed SManager looses its data too.
How complicated will it be to make this compatible with 4.2.2?
grim_ripper said:
How complicated will it be to make this compatible with 4.2.2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ideally should be possible, unless something has changed majorly, but I haven't tried it, as am waiting for OTA update. If it is not forth coming in 2-3 weeks, may be tempted to flash nordic rom and try.
NisJ said:
Ideally should be possible, unless something has changed majorly, but I haven't tried it, as am waiting for OTA update. If it is not forth coming in 2-3 weeks, may be tempted to flash nordic rom and try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did try but nothing happened, am guessing it has permission issues or something on those lines
grim_ripper said:
I did try but nothing happened, am guessing it has permission issues or something on those lines
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you be more specific? Like system restarts etc...
Else in terminal try out what I Gave in post no 12 and give me what the output is for both the commands in the terminal.
Note: execute them with super user credentials.
Thanks
NisJ said:
Could you be more specific? Like system restarts etc...
Else in terminal try out what I Gave in post no 12 and give me what the output is for both the commands in the terminal.
Note: execute them with super user credentials.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
on the 4.2.2 update, it doesnt recognize the second partition even if it is formatted to primary and set to active. there r definitely some updates done in that field and plus i cant get the init.d rights on the phone as the test.log file is absent in the data folder..no matter what i do i just cant get it straight with the present procedure. please try it on 4.2 and there r more frequent updates on the nordiac then the local version. so i decided to flash it rather than waiting for ota update
Hi guys, I updated my P880 to V20B and now have problems with using the external SD properly. I found it being mountend to storage/external_SD and I can read/write there. BUT: I can't set a folder on it as the backup location in Super Backup (as I could before), my LG notes aren't backed up automatically to the external SD location (as it was before), and I expect many similar problems to arise with time.
Formerly, the external SD was mounted to mnt/sdcard/external_sd, if I remember correctly. Now this symbolic link (?) is missing. When I performed the update and then first booted the updated device, I had the external SD removed to make sure my backups were safe. Might that be the reason for the missing link? My questions are:
1. Should I flash the kdz again with the SD card inserted? Or at least perform a factory reset?
2. Or could the link be created afterwards, preferrably without rooting my device? Would that solve the problem, at all?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Nothing?
How about formatting SD card ? Did you tryed that ? On 20a my card is read as storage/external_SD just fine.
dimi89 said:
How about formatting SD card ? Did you tryed that ? On 20a my card is read as storage/external_SD just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey dimi, thanks for the suggestion! However, I am afraid you didn't read my post very carefully. I wrote that I actually CAN read/write to my external SD. But I cannot set the path in applications like Super Backup (when I navigate to some folder on storage/external_SD, the button "Select this folder" is inactive). And I suspected it is because it is no subpath of mnt/sdcard anymore. Also, some apps like LG notes don't write/backup to the external SD by default any more, and some of them unfortunately are not configurable.
That's the reason why I thought creating a simbolic link for mnt/sdcard/external_sd (as it was before) might solve the problem. However, I am absolutely not sure of this (plus: how to achive it) and would be happy about an expert's opinion.
pegnose said:
Hey dimi, thanks for the suggestion! However, I am afraid you didn't read my post very carefully. I wrote that I actually CAN read/write to my external SD. But I cannot set the path in applications like Super Backup (when I navigate to some folder on storage/external_SD, the button "Select this folder" is inactive). And I suspected it is because it is no subpath of mnt/sdcard anymore. Also, some apps like LG notes don't write/backup to the external SD by default any more, and some of them unfortunately are not configurable.
That's the reason why I thought creating a simbolic link for mnt/sdcard/external_sd (as it was before) might solve the problem. However, I am absolutely not sure of this (plus: how to achive it) and would be happy about an expert's opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In super backup i couldnt set path since first day i downloaded it and today i tryed again with new version of app and it is the same.SMS backup is working fine so i suppoust it is problem with app (maybe in pro version it will work).
dimi89 said:
In super backup i couldnt set path since first day i downloaded it and today i tryed again with new version of app and it is the same.SMS backup is working fine so i suppoust it is problem with app (maybe in pro version it will work).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can set path anywhere on storage/sdcard, but not on storage/external_SD. Also the Notes application doesn't back up to external SD, as it did before. Coincidence? Maybe. I will find out with time using other applications.
Am I right that creating symbolic links without root access is not possible?
pegnose said:
I can set path anywhere on storage/sdcard, but not on storage/external_SD. Also the Notes application doesn't back up to external SD, as it did before. Coincidence? Maybe. I will find out with time using other applications.
Am I right that creating symbolic links without root access is not possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Idk about creating links but it is not coincidence that you and me cant select any folder on external_SD i guess it is app bug or maybe as i sad premium version requirement.
dimi89 said:
Idk about creating links but it is not coincidence that you and me cant select any folder on external_SD i guess it is app bug or maybe as i sad premium version requirement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It worked on 4.0.3.
Hi again, I made some progress here!
I managed to create a symbolic link to my external SD (I am on a rooted CM10.1.3 now), but that didn't help. I could use it within the ES file explorer for navigation, but not within Super Backup (didn't see it). So I tried to MOUNT the external SD instead. Here is the command I finally used:
mount -t vfat -o rw,umask=000 /dev/block/mmcblk1p1 /data/media/0/extSD
No errors, I can access my SD via this mount point with ES file explorer, and I can navigate into this top folder now with Super Backup and select it as backup location. BUT I can't actually back up here, as Super Backup can't write, I guess ("backup failed").
I was hoping that this "umask" parameter would do the trick, but unfortunately not. Interestingly: when I navigate with Super Backup to this new backup location, all the subfolders of my external SD card appear as files, not folders.
I am pretty sure, it is nearly done and only has to do with setting the right permissions.
Does anyone have an idea what I could try now?
EDIT: I just unmounted, applied "chmod 777 /data/media/0/extSD" and remounted again (this time with "rwx" parameter). No changes.
Ok, I am back to 4.0.3 ICS and everything is fine.