Hello! I've searched all over the internet about this but haven't found any usable information about this. I was thinking about storing music files etc on the ext partition on my SD-card. I've a 8GB sdcard with a 64MB swap, 1024MB FAT32 and rest of the space goes to an ext2 partition. The problem is, how do I acess the ext2 partition in the phone? I know it is placed in /system/sd. But it seems it is only the super-user who has access to this folder. Is it possible to symlink the folder to another place and make it accessible for the user?
Every info I find is about storing apps on the ext-partition, which works. But having 6GB space for apps feels very overkill. FAT32 seems to be quite limited to speed when copying files, and also it have size limit of files.
The easiest and most recommend way to solve your problems is to repartion your card to:
0M swap (no use for swap on hero)
512M ext2 (see below)
rest as FAT (over 7G for your music)
If you plan on having every single one of the apps on the market you can give the ext2 partition 1024MB, no need to give it any more. There are numerous problems that can arise from having larger ext2 partitions, just of the top of my mind if you do have more data on the ext2 partition larger than your FAT free space you can't do a nandroid backup, you'll end up storing too much stuff on the ext partition which is usually wiped on ROM update and replacement, and it is much harder to access these files, as opposed to the FAT partition which is can be mounted as a USB drive to your PC.
Finally note I said ext2, and not ext3/ext4 because Ext3/4 are journaling file systems which are NOT suited for flash devices. They also have much more CPU overhead then ext2. Finally not all ROMs/kernels support ext3/ext4 and for a good reason!
BTW, please post questions in the either the Q&A or general sections. This is the DEVELOPMENT fourm.
Good luck.
Thanks for your reply, and sorry for posting in the wrong forum, which is quite obvious when I see it now!
Moved to Q&A as not development
erasmux said:
The easiest and most recommend way to solve your problems is to repartion your card to:
0M swap (no use for swap on hero)
512M ext2 (see below)
rest as FAT (over 7G for your music)
If you plan on having every single one of the apps on the market you can give the ext2 partition 1024MB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1, Yeppers, wow a 6gb ext... That is some serious overkill,why?
Sent from my phone.
I was thinking to use the ext partition as a storage of music etc instead of the fat32 partition. The ext-partition is faster to copy files on, especially if you get a 32gb card and maybe you want to transfer big files. If I remember it right FAT32 table doesn't allow file-sizes more the 4GB, and it is also slower to copy to or from.
Any linux operating system should be able to read the ext partition on your sd card, or a program such as gparted is another thing to look into. Remember you can boot to linux without installing the operating system (boot from CD). Ubuntu or Knoppix is a good one to check out if you're new to it all.
Hehe, I think you did misunderstand my main question. The question is how to read the ext-partition directly from the phone with a file-manager (i.e. Astro File Manager). Not from a computer, from the phone, in the phone.
Vantskruv said:
Hehe, I think you did misunderstand my main question. The question is how to read the ext-partition directly from the phone with a file-manager (i.e. Astro File Manager). Not from a computer, from the phone, in the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
O in that case you have no chance lol. AFAIK there isn't any program designed for this purpose.
Vantskruv said:
Hehe, I think you did misunderstand my main question. The question is how to read the ext-partition directly from the phone with a file-manager (i.e. Astro File Manager). Not from a computer, from the phone, in the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it depends where your ROM mounts it. I think most ROMs mount it to /system/sd, so you can use any file explorer with root permissions to browse there (i.e. ES File Explorer).
I am not sure if this is the best place to post, if not mods please feel free to move it as needed.
I have version of CM7, Nookie FroYo and NookHoney. I am trying to figure out how to unpack and repack the these images so I can make a custom CM7 that boots from SD Card as I don't want to write to eMMC to try CM7. I know CM7 is still in late Alpha/early Beta but I would love to be able to run in from SD. I understand people wanting to make things run from eMMC but there are those of us who don't want to constantly rebuild our Nooks just because we want to try new things. I have looked online and played around with different ways to try and extract these things and nothing seems to work. I know there has to be a way to get it working or these custom ROMs would not exist. Can someone point me directions for unpacking, modifiy and repacking these items so they can be turned into an SD bootable image? Something that works.
As a side note I would also like to know how I can mount these IMG files under ubuntu as they are multiple partitions and I can't get them to mount.
Thanks
For the CM7 bootable SD, you'll need to create 5 partitions in the following order: boot (fat32), system (ext4), data (ext4), cache (ext4) and sdcard (fat32). Give /boot the boot flag. Use gparted, round to cylinder and 1mb space at the beginning of each partition except boot.
Then you need to edit the uRamdisk (boot), (see nookdevs nookie technical page) to mount the previously created partitions. For instance, change mmcblk0p5 to mmcblk1p2.
Then copy CM system files to /system. Data and cache will stay blank before first boot.
Use loop mount to access your img file. Google It..
You'll also need to change vold.fstab (/system/etc) to mount sdcard on mmcblk1p5.
Use stock mlo and u-boot.bin for /boot.
Regarding partition size, I guess 50mb is enough for boot, 500mb for system, 1 or more gb for data, 400mb for cache and as much as possible for SD..
Sam
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Yowza. If anyone manages to pull this off, how about posting an IMG for the rest of us?
Awesome! Thanks for all the details. One more details question, about the *.bin files. What format are they in? I've tried opening them to explore them; but I haven't had any luck. The best I could do was a binary/hex editor, but it was still mostly garbage to my untrained eye.
Thanks!
Dave
You can't simply edit .bin files. They're compiled from source.
You'll have to build it yourself it you want to change anything..
NullP said:
Yowza. If anyone manages to pull this off, how about posting an IMG for the rest of us?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be the most efficient way... instead of everyone doing the same thing, one person does it, and then the other people contribute something else.
Hello all,
Is it possible to create 2 partitions on your sd card? One for WinMo and one for Android. To keep it all separated.
It doesn´t have to be partition it may also be a trick or something. For the root in android begins in /sdcard and in winmo /sdcard/winmo. As long the 2 different systems are separated.
But a lot of searching, read something about linux swap and ext2 partitions(but i believe it's for real roms not ports). And that winmo won't see any multi partition sd cards.
Thx in advance
Answer in the 5th post
You can simply create a folder called andboot and put all the android stuff in that folder and keep "winmo-stuff" in the root of your sd
wavesshock said:
You can simply create a folder called andboot and put all the android stuff in that folder and keep "winmo-stuff" in the root of your sd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that, but a lot android apps are also creating folders in the root.
Christiaan91 said:
I know that, but a lot android apps are also creating folders in the root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea they kinda need to.
You can try to do two FAT32 partitions, but I don't think Windows/WinMo will see/understand the second partition - even if it is FAT32.
So you'd be kinda SOL trying to boot Android if WinMo can't see the partition... It might work, if you kick haret off from one partition to boot on the other... but kinda odd.
The ext2 solution isn't really a complete solution as it also depends on a FAT32 partition - I assume Android would still create folders on it in other words.
Just use separate SD's, problem solved .
Got it
It worked.
I made 2 FAT32 partitions. Primary for Android and Logical for WinMo.
WinMo recognizes them both, in file explorer as Storage card(Android) and Storage Card2(WinMo).
When you install an app in WinMo you get 3 choices, internal, SDcard and SDcard2.
The only problem you got is that Windows(PC) don't recognize the WinMo partition(it will recognize in activesync mode). So you first have to put all you WinMo apps on the android partition. And copy them to the WinMo partition in WinMo.
AFAIK everything is working fine.
Android doesn't see the WinMo partition
You can also try it. (I'm not responsible if anything goes wrong)
- Did it with this tool.
- I put my sd card in my computer (don't know if it works when you do it through your phone).
- MAKE A BACK-UP CUZ EVERYTHING IS GONE AFTER THIS!
- Delete the whole partition.
- Make a new partition, first the Android one*. Adjust the settings what you like, but put the partition primary.
- Then the WinMo partition. Adjust the settings what you like, but put the partition Logical.
- Now you're done. Put all the files on the android partition.
- SD card back in your phone and reboot.
- Now you can move the WinMo files, on your android partition, to the WinMo partition.
*When you do the WinMo Partition first and the android second, android will not boot.
Cool, glad you got it working. I'm certainly not going to do it, but perhaps others might!
Hi there is there anyone else that have issues with their extsdcard?
I get the folder "LOST.DIR" all the time i boot, anyone know how to fix this?
The sdcard is an Adata 32gb class 10
it's normal, I had it with all my android phones.
That folder is from the filesystem.
If the filesystem should loose any files (meaning loose it's name and folder location) it will put it in there for you to recover.
d4fseeker said:
That folder is from the filesystem.
If the filesystem should loose any files (meaning loose it's name and folder location) it will put it in there for you to recover.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how will the filesystem loose any file in the first place.. just curious
Its not lose a file as such .
Its corrupt file folder use the phone with USB connected or pull battery during use and files corrupted get placed there as damaged . Dont think you can recover them .
jje
how will the filesystem loose any file in the first place.. just curious
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Filesystems are a rather complicated thing.
Modern filesystems such as NTFS, EXT3/EXT4, ZFS, ... all use a so-called Journal in which, as the name implies, they write "I'm now going to create file X in the folder Y", then they create file. Afterwards the entry is removed from the Journal.
If -for whatever reason- the computer or filesystem crashes, on next startup it will look at the entries in the journal and try to roll them back. This MAY cause your computer to loose the data of the last seconds before the crash but it ensres that the filesystem has it's full integrity and won't cause further trouble.
Old filesystems such as EXT2, FAT16, FAT32, exFAT do not have this technology.
If the system had an unclean shutdown it will need to scan the whole filesystem (which can take several hours for modern disk capacities) for any files that have not been completely written or have mismatching entries in the index.
These (partial) files will then be written to the LOST.FOUND folder for Linux-OS's (Windows has other recovery methods)
On EXT3, ... the folder thus seems obsolete but will still be used to recover files which have been corrupted by low-level software issues or hardware failure.
Hope this clarifies it =)
Thankyou eveybody now i can relax!
I have this Atrix now for a few days and want to examine it. It is one of my favourite devices since it was released years ago.
I will start to tamper with it, and try custom Roms etc. But first of all i want to make a full backup of the device, so i can probably recover it fast and without hassle in the future. I also use Huawei Ideos X5 and i have full Raw backups of its 4GB emmc (2GB part is used as an internal SD originally). I backup and restore these images with the basic free program "Roadkil's Disk Image" in Windows.
As we all know, to use this program or similar disk backup programs, we have to reach the phone's whole disk (called emmc or internal card, i guess). In Ideos X5 the procedure is as follows;
1) Make sure the bootloader is unlocked.
2) Open the phone to reach the "pink screen" by pressing VolUP+VolDOWN+POWER buttons at the same time.
3) When you see the pink screen connect the phone to the PC via USB.
4) The disk is reachable now, use a sector based backup program such as "Roadkil's Disk Image" (sometimes called Forensic Copy).
OK, it's a brief explanation but clear enough, i guess. Now i want to do the same thing in Atrix, since i unlocked the bootloader and installed CM7.2 to it, 6-7 months ago, while my relative was using it.
I connect the phone to the PC in Fastboot and RSD modes, but i can't reach the disk itself. The adb and fastboot commands work, the connection is successful, but neither Windows, nor Linux Mint sees the 16GB disk. So, full Raw backup seems impossible in this manner!
I searched the Atrix forum widely, but couldn't find a solution. There are threads of making Nandroid backups or partition based backups with a different approach which i didn't try yet. For example:
"[INFO] Backup the pds partition of your Atrix!"
Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1138220
I can learn and apply this commandline method but 4GB Fat32 file limit will probably be the base problem. Taking the backup directly to the NTFS HDD on PC can be a solution but, has anyone tried it?
It seems that, important partitions are backed up using ADB /shell commands. But i believe that full disk backups may be the best way to recover a phone in some situations. I know that backing up the whole disk including also the 10,7 GB internal SD part is useless, time and space consuming. But recovering the phone totally to a previous state is sometimes fatally important or advantageous. ie:
* Recover the phone when the IMEI is gone somehow,
* Recover the phone when the partitions are resized
* Recover the phone when partition table is corrupted or partitions are lost
* Move between your installed Roms without worrying about all the procedure, wipes, resizes, bla bla...
* ......
Anyway, here comes my main question:
Is it possible to reach the 16GB disk of Atrix from PC? If so, how?
Thanks in advance.
Be-Mine said:
I have this Atrix now for a few days and want to examine it. It is one of my favourite devices since it was released years ago.
I will start to tamper with it, and try custom Roms etc. But first of all i want to make a full backup of the device, so i can probably recover it fast and without hassle in the future. I also use Huawei Ideos X5 and i have full Raw backups of its 4GB emmc (2GB part is used as an internal SD originally). I backup and restore these images with the basic free program "Roadkil's Disk Image" in Windows.
As we all know, to use this program or similar disk backup programs, we have to reach the phone's whole disk (called emmc or internal card, i guess). In Ideos X5 the procedure is as follows;
1) Make sure the bootloader is unlocked.
2) Open the phone to reach the "pink screen" by pressing VolUP+VolDOWN+POWER buttons at the same time.
3) When you see the pink screen connect the phone to the PC via USB.
4) The disk is reachable now, use a sector based backup program such as "Roadkil's Disk Image" (sometimes called Forensic Copy).
OK, it's a brief explanation but clear enough, i guess. Now i want to do the same thing in Atrix, since i unlocked the bootloader and installed CM7.2 to it, 6-7 months ago, while my relative was using it.
I connect the phone to the PC in Fastboot and RSD modes, but i can't reach the disk itself. The adb and fastboot commands work, the connection is successful, but neither Windows, nor Linux Mint sees the 16GB disk. So, full Raw backup seems impossible in this manner!
I searched the Atrix forum widely, but couldn't find a solution. There are threads of making Nandroid backups or partition based backups with a different approach which i didn't try yet. For example:
"[INFO] Backup the pds partition of your Atrix!"
Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1138220
I can learn and apply this commandline method but 4GB Fat32 file limit will probably be the base problem. Taking the backup directly to the NTFS HDD on PC can be a solution but, has anyone tried it?
It seems that, important partitions are backed up using ADB /shell commands. But i believe that full disk backups may be the best way to recover a phone in some situations. I know that backing up the whole disk including also the 10,7 GB internal SD part is useless, time and space consuming. But recovering the phone totally to a previous state is sometimes fatally important or advantageous. ie:
* Recover the phone when the IMEI is gone somehow,
* Recover the phone when the partitions are resized
* Recover the phone when partition table is corrupted or partitions are lost
* Move between your installed Roms without worrying about all the procedure, wipes, resizes, bla bla...
* ......
Anyway, here comes my main question:
Is it possible to reach the 16GB disk of Atrix from PC? If so, how?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
System + data (internal storage) is your 16GB. You'll backup system and your internal storage to get what you're looking for. And to the best of my knoledge, sbf'ing will do the rest. IMEI may be somewhere else, not sure. Afaik we don't have a tool to edit some advanced stuff like the latest qualcomm devices do.
Sent from my ATRIX HD using XDA Free mobile app
Sector by sector Raw image backup and restore options in Android devices!
I guess i couldn't explain the issue clearly.
The 16GB Atrix disk that i meant, is the main memory block which is exactly 15.914.762.240 bytes in total. This memory consists of 3 primary and 14 logical partitions. Some of these can be considered as the /recovery, /boot, /pds, /cdrom, /osh, /system, /cache, /data, /emmc(~11GB internal SD).... etc. partitions:
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From what i've learned from the below links;
[DEV][REF] El Grande Partition Table Reference
[GUIDE] Making Dump Files Out of Android Device Partitions
[GUIDE] How to make a nandroid backup directly to your computer without using sdcard
these partitions can be backed-up and restored within terminal emulator or ADB, with the help of the so-called "dd method" (which i will research more)!
Backup of the whole 16GB memory block is also possible regarding to these links, but restore of this whole block image seems impossible, which is the main problem!
Now, let me explain the weird situation on my ancient Huawei Ideos X5 phone. If i connect the Ideos X5 to the PC with the "pink screen" (by pressing VolUP+VolDOWN+POWER buttons), the phone's whole 4GB memory block is reachable. Eventually i can do whatever i want with the phone, because the memory block is seen as a USB disk to the Windows,Linux,etc:
Here are the possibilities that i can do (and already did) with the Huawei Ideos X5:
1) Intelligent sector copy of the recognized partitions.
Only data blocks are backed up and restored on ext2/ext3/ext4,Fat32 partitions, so the backup files are small. But the other unknown partitions can't be backed up with this method.
2) Forensic copy of the partitions.
Sector by sector Raw copy is made, so the backup file is exactly the same as the partition size. All known and unknown partitions can be backed up and restored with this method.
3) Forensic copy of the whole disk (full memory block)
The whole memory block is copied (raw backup) and restored. The image file size is exactly the same as the disk size (But can be zipped afterwards to reduce the size.)
I checked the forum widely, now i understand that the "pink screen" property is unique to the Ideos X5! Most of the devices (if not all) seem to NOT support this option. The whole memory block is NOT reachable within the Windows, Linux, etc. It's only available with ADB or within the device from the terminal emulator.
As a result, i won't be able to make full Raw image backups and restores of the whole disk of Atrix, which also seems impossible on the other devices.
If we find a method to reach the memory blocks of the devices as a USB HDD within OSes (just like in Ideos X5), then we will be able to do full backup and restores which is important in some situations as i described before. (But we may brick the devices easier also )
But i believe that full disk backups may be the best way to recover a phone in some situations. I know that backing up the whole disk including also the 10,7 GB internal SD part is useless, time and space consuming. But recovering the phone totally to a previous state is sometimes fatally important or advantageous. ie:
* Recover the phone when the IMEI is gone somehow,
* Recover the phone when the partitions are resized
* Recover the phone when partition table is corrupted or partitions are lost
* Move between your (previously) installed Roms without worrying about all the procedures, wipes, resizes, bla bla...
* ......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please share your opinions.
Be-Mine said:
I guess i couldn't explain the issue clearly.
The 16GB Atrix disk that i meant, is the main memory block which is exactly 15.914.762.240 bytes in total. This memory consists of 3 primary and 14 logical partitions. Some of these can be considered as the /recovery, /boot, /pds, /cdrom, /osh, /system, /cache, /data, /emmc(~11GB internal SD).... etc. partitions:
From what i've learned from the below links;
[DEV][REF] El Grande Partition Table Reference
[GUIDE] Making Dump Files Out of Android Device Partitions
[GUIDE] How to make a nandroid backup directly to your computer without using sdcard
these partitions can be backed-up and restored within terminal emulator or ADB, with the help of the so-called "dd method" (which i will research more)!
Backup of the whole 16GB memory block is also possible regarding to these links, but restore of this whole block image seems impossible, which is the main problem!
Now, let me explain the weird situation on my ancient Huawei Ideos X5 phone. If i connect the Ideos X5 to the PC with the "pink screen" (by pressing VolUP+VolDOWN+POWER buttons), the phone's whole 4GB memory block is reachable. Eventually i can do whatever i want with the phone, because the memory block is seen as a USB disk to the Windows,Linux,etc:
Here are the possibilities that i can do (and already did) with the Huawei Ideos X5:
1) Intelligent sector copy of the recognized partitions.
Only data blocks are backed up and restored on ext2/ext3/ext4,Fat32 partitions, so the backup files are small. But the other unknown partitions can't be backed up with this method.
2) Forensic copy of the partitions.
Sector by sector Raw copy is made, so the backup file is exactly the same as the partition size. All known and unknown partitions can be backed up and restored with this method.
3) Forensic copy of the whole disk (full memory block)
The whole memory block is copied (raw backup) and restored. The image file size is exactly the same as the disk size (But can be zipped afterwards to reduce the size.)
I checked the forum widely, now i understand that the "pink screen" property is unique to the Ideos X5! Most of the devices (if not all) seem to NOT support this option. The whole memory block is NOT reachable within the Windows, Linux, etc. It's only available with ADB or within the device from the terminal emulator.
As a result, i won't be able to make full Raw image backups and restores of the whole disk of Atrix, which also seems impossible on the other devices.
If we find a method to reach the memory blocks of the devices as a USB HDD within OSes (just like in Ideos X5), then we will be able to do full backup and restores which is important in some situations as i described before. (But we may brick the devices easier also )
Please share your opinions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, i'm getting the drift of what you are trying to do now. For that, there is a thread regarding dual booting. I'll dig that up and give you the link. For that, we dd'd via adb in recovery. I'll need to dig into my files for a bit more specifics, but hang tight and i'll get you the info i know
Sent from my ATRIX HD using XDA Free mobile app
palmbeach05 said:
Ok, i'm getting the drift of what you are trying to do now. For that, there is a thread regarding dual booting. I'll dig that up and give you the link. For that, we dd'd via adb in recovery. I'll need to dig into my files for a bit more specifics, but hang tight and i'll get you the info i know
Sent from my ATRIX HD using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, my ultimate goal is not a multi-boot. I triple-boot in my PC but i was never eager of this in Android devices. If i had very large memory blocks (32GB,64GB) in my devices, i would try it already. But i think multi-booting may negatively effect the storage partitions on Ideos X5 and Atrix (especially the /system, /cache, /data partitions ?)
Anyway, i will check that link and informations based on dual booting Atrix, comparing CM7 vs CM10 easily on Atrix can be very interesting.
But my main concern is reaching the whole memory blocks of the devices within windows/linux directly as a USB-HDD, probably with the help of a hack or a patch.
Thanks for all :good:
Be-Mine said:
Actually, my ultimate goal is not a multi-boot. I triple-boot in my PC but i was never eager of this in Android devices. If i had very large memory blocks (32GB,64GB) in my devices, i would try it already. But i think multi-booting may negatively effect the storage partitions on Ideos X5 and Atrix (especially the /system, /cache, /data partitions ?)
Anyway, i will check that link and informations based on dual booting Atrix, comparing CM7 vs CM10 easily on Atrix can be very interesting.
But my main concern is reaching the whole memory blocks of the devices within windows/linux directly as a USB-HDD, probably with the help of a hack or a patch.
Thanks for all :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well the dual boot mentioning ties into the dd method.
This might be more up the alley of your main concern http://www.paragon-drivers.com/extfs-windows/
On a side note, dual booting on this device can be done on a 16GB sd card, but for space reasons (compensation for space lost to do dual boot), a 32GB is a bit more recommended for this, plus it adds a bit more memory in the process.
palmbeach05 said:
Well the dual boot mentioning ties into the dd method.
This might be more up the alley of your main concern http://www.paragon-drivers.com/extfs-windows/
On a side note, dual booting on this device can be done on a 16GB sd card, but for space reasons (compensation for space lost to do dual boot), a 32GB is a bit more recommended for this, plus it adds a bit more memory in the process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If only my issue was that simple, but unfortunately not.
The link you gave is of a basic software to work with linux file systems from Windows. I can already achieve this when needed, using similar software like Explore2fs, Ext2explore, etc.
But the case is very different. The whole memory block (disk) of the devices are not accessible as a USB disk within OSes (both Linux and windows, and also MacOS most probably) natively. The full disk is only accessible from ADB, or the phone itself. So native disk softwares can't be used, especially for full backup and restore purposes.
From what i understood from my researchs, "dd method" seems the Linux alternative to make sector based backups and restores. But even dd can't be used to restore the memory block. Because, to restore, we have to access the disk when the phone is not used , AFAIK.
That's why Huawei Ideos X5 "pink screen" option seems very rare, extreme and useful. Please take a look at the links i gave in my previous posts, you'll get what i mean.
Anyway, dual-booting Atrix is still another interesting issue to research for me.
AFAIK you can't directly map the raw Atrix eMMC to a block device on Atrix, at least not via USB, using standard tools. And you definitely wouldn't want to do this in write mode (The tegra2 on Atrix has a strict boot protocol. It's so strict that IIRC it even requires an encrypted/digitally signed boot loader which resides on the beginning of the drive. AFAIK you can't even mess with partition table).
I guess you could use a custom recovery mod for doing that if all you want is to read the eMMC as a block. The linux kernel has a mass storage gadget which can expose a block device as an usb drive. You'd need to point /dev/block/mmcblk0 to it and voila (see for instance http://www.linux-usb.org/gadget/file_storage.html). Old android uses it for mounting your storage areas when you plug it to a host usb. Newer uses other methods as you need exclusive device access for safely writing to the storage partitions.
And as you can't have read-write partitions mounted while you're playing with the same block device, and AFAIK a recovery is fine with read only mounts, contrary to a normal android boot, you could go with it. But check that e.g. /data is mounted ro, some recoveries mount it rw by default.
I think there's a way to use adb in recovery, if you can get a root console via adb then you may be able to use a standard recovery to command the usb mass storage gadget without need to customize a recovery.
Btw, I think the usb gadget only exposes the device in read-write mode, so there's nothing preventing you or some application of attempting to write to the device, and this would probably be a bad idea. So watch out if you want to do that, people got hurt for doing less hacking :silly:
@PolesApart
Thanks, you encourage me to research deeper.
But, as you already mentioned, this kind of backup/restore seems very tricky. I would check other sources and try to find a way to achieve, but i lost my ambition regarding that i have no backup phones. And i don't have time and experience to struggle with such dangerous issues.
I'm still using this Atrix as a main phone. I hope to get a Z5 Compact soon. Maybe i can go on seeking info and tests when this Atrix becomes totally idle afterwards. :laugh:
Thanks for your interest and the informations. :good: