[Q] ClockworkMod Switch from internal to microsd - G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

How can I switch from the internal ClockworkMod to the microsd version?
I already have the internal version installed, and I copied the update.zip and recovery folder to the root of my microsd card. Then I rebooted using the recovery install instructions, and nothing changed. Is there a config file that needs to be modified to point to the new location?

bjhanifin,
Either way you just install CWM to your tablet. Only reason for having multiple ways
to install it is for use when folks are having problems.
rev

I want to store my ROMs and backups on my microsd card. I'm uptight about my file organization like that. Besides I have a 16 gb microsd card, I would rather keep the internal memory as free as possible.
I should point out that the internal CWM does not -- as far as I can tell -- allow me to install ROMs or place backups on the microsd card. Which I why I want to make the switch. I was just going to muck about and tinker until I hopefully got it working, but I thought I should check in for some tips before I risk fouling things up.
Would placing a /recovery/command file, which points to sdcard2 do the trick? Or am I going to have to use nvflash to restore to stock?

I think you're a bit mixed up. Internal or MicroSD are just the install methods. After installation, they are the same.
To make sure we're on the same page:
The G-tab comes with an internal 16GB card. Most of us partition 2 GB of that for the system to use, leaving the other 14GB to be used as the eMMC card, which is seen by many things as the SDCard. Any external microSD card you install will be SDCard2 (or just SDCard for something that references the internal extra space as eMMC). This is what gets the most confusing - most things refer to that extra space on the internal card as the SDCard.
I should point out that the internal CWM does not -- as far as I can tell -- allow me to install ROMs or place backups on the microsd card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since the extra 14GB from the internal card shows up as the SDCard, this is where backups and media are normally stored. ROMs get installed to the 2GB partition. Though you might be referring to where you put the ROM files to be able to install them, this is not actually the installation location.
Now, if you want your external card to be used as the eMMC, so it will be the one you connect to over USB, your backups go to, etc., you have to change a system file. (Note - some ROMs already have this reversed) To do this, you'll need to use Root Explorer (this costs about $4, but it's the only thing that makes this easy), and edit the file /system/etc/vold.fstab. in there, you will see two lines that look like this:
Code:
dev_mount emmc /mnt/emmc auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc1
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.3/mmc_host/mmc2
Changing those will reverse which is used in what role:
Code:
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc1
dev_mount emmc /mnt/emmc auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.3/mmc_host/mmc2
This second one will allow your external card to be used as you want.

OK, I made the assumption that the difference between the two ClockworkMod installers was a different "sdcard" pointer. I thought one build would point to the external card, instead of the internal card. When in fact the build is identical, only the location of the initial cwm update.zip changes.
Thank you for setting me straight. I guess I was trying to recreate the cwm environment I have been used to on my droid phone. Perhaps I will setup a (Tasker?) routine to monitor the download folder for .zip files which I can then automatically copy over to my ROM folder on the internal memory to streamline my ROM update process.

I know what you mean, I expected it to be like my Droid, too.
When I update ROMs, I start by doing a USB mount in Clockword mod, then copy the ROM over, then do the update.

Related

Is this happening to other people?

Mini info, and Settings - sd card and device storage settings are both telling me that the internal storage is the sd card and the sd card is the internal storage. Is there a fix or is it ok.
Do you mean sdcard and sdcard2?
madiom said:
Do you mean sdcard and sdcard2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It says the sdcard is the sdcar/2 and vice versa
YOU BROKE IT!!! GGGAAAWWWDDD!!!
No, you are OK. Don't worry about it. It is showing up correctly, sdcard and sdcard2.
outdooz said:
It says the sdcard is the sdcar/2 and vice versa
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still not 100% sure what you mean, but I think you are OK, it may have to with the ROM you are using, see the quote below from the OP of VEGan Ginger
"****The Latest Flash player from the market now works. Latest google maps now works download from the market.****
Internal Memory is mapped to SDCard and external SD Card is mapped to SDCard2."
If I open a file manager all of my internal stuff is located on SDcard, The micro SD that I can eject shows as SD2.
Depends on which ROM you're running. A lot of them switch them around. There's advantages and disadvantages to both. It certainly doesn't hurt to have them switched. The reason people do it is so that you can pull out your external SDCard and manipulate files and have them usable by your programs. The disadvantage is that you can't easily access the internal card from your computer - you pretty much have to do it from recovery (such as ClockWork Mod), because when you tether it attaches to the one named "SDCard (in Froyo).
And, to make it more confusing, they go by different names in Gingerbread:
Code:
Actual storage Froyo Gingerbread
Internal card SDCard emmc
External card SDCard2 SDCard
Those are the default names. Again, many ROMs will switch them around.
Anyways, that's just for your future reference if you move to Gingerbread.
I don't think this is surposed to happen. When I take out the sd card the tablet shows a message that says it has benn removed but it the storage space still shows up in setting. It has 1.86 gigs and even when it is disconnected it says sdcard 1.86 gigs i tried rebootee but same thing
Did you partition it like is recommended?
That would show your app partition of 2GB. And the other part of it is for storage.

Installed on Micro SD card only?

I have searched and I have not been able to find my answer. I have looked in the settings and I have changed the settings.
But it doesn't matter how I set it up it always install the files onto the internal memory .
I have a Micro SD card that I would like to install most of the programs
Is there a way to install the programs onto the external Micro SD card or a move them there after you download them ?
I remember reading a thread or two about moving apps to the SD card ... have you tried searching on "move apps to SD card"?
Heh! The grass is always greener on the other side isn't it?
The easiest solution to your problem would be for you to install CyanogenMod. It likes to install everything on the external SD card--so much so that people resort to hacking /system/etc/vold.fstab to get it to use the internal SD card instead.
You might care to look at that file on your ROM (I'm assuming its VEGAn-5.1.1 or one of the other Froyo-based ROMs). The vold program uses that file to determine where disks should be mounted. You can switch only the device paths in that file to get vold to mount it the way you want it--external SD card as /sdcard and the internal SD card as /sdcard2.
If you just want to manually move files from place to place, use Root Explorer.

[Q] gtablet not reconizing the internal sd...

i have done alot of nonsense to my tablet, but for some reason i don't think my tablet is recognizing my internal sd card as memory. I tried downloading a file from a website and it said that i needed an sd card to download the file...this never happened to me before recently. I remember the tablet recognizing the 16 gigs of internal memory as essentially an sd card on the system. I think it now recognizes it as maybe internal memory and needs to show it as an sd... i don't know for sure... is there anything i missed. do i need to partition something? i just flashed cyanogen 7.0.3..
so it happened just after flashing, or already before? in cm in a file manager do you see sdcard?
Dunno about thekafka, but I have just flashed the same version of cyanogen to my G-tab, and am now experiencing the same issue. This did not start until after the installation. File Manager and CWM do find the SD card.
Is there an optimal partitioning scheme to use when flashing this ROM?
In CM-7.0.x, the internal SD card is mounted at /mnt/emmc and the external SD card, if one is attached, will be mounted at /mnt/sdcard. They're not trying to make things difficult for new users--it's just what's sensible for the wide range of devices that CM runs on: internal SD cards at /mnt/emmc and removable SD cards at /mnt/sdcard, whether on phones (remember, most phones don't have internal SD cards) or tablets.
If you're coming from another ROM where the internal SD is at /sdcard (or /mnt/sdcard) and the external is at /mnt/sdcard2, you, and some of the applications that you use, might get confused.
It's easy enough to switch the mount points so that internal SD is at /mnt/sdcard and the external will be mounted under /mnt/emmc. There is even a CWM-installable zip file floating around to do this easily. Search around here or at the cyanogenmod gtabet forum.
Thanks for being helpful and smart and stuff.
Here's the address of a thread with fixes, including the ZIP file that rajeevvp mentioned:
forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/19492-no-sd-card-apps-fail-to-use-emmc/

[Q] app install location

I have a few questions about app install locations for the g-tablet. There are three places where apps can go: 1. internal memory, 2. internal sd card, 3. external sd card.
For internal memory, I can see the installed apps (the apk files) at /data/app. I cannot find any evidence of any apps installed on the internal sd card (do they stay packaged in the apk file or get exploded out). What directory do they get put into on the internal sd card? In case you're wondering, according to App 2 SD Pro, I have 10 apps installed on the sd card.
Is there a way to install apps on the external sd card? Everything that I've read about and the sd card app managers that I've tried only work between the internal memory and the internal sd card.
Hmmm...nothing but crickets. Not even a question for more information? Well, here is a little more anyway. The tablet is rooted and I have tnt-lite 4.4.0 installed. I'm using Root Explorer to browse around in the file system.
This discussion might help, somewhat.
Yes, that other post was somewhat helpful. I can see the apps that have been moved to the "internal" SD card are at /mnt/asec with Root Explorer (I didn't have to unmount either...but the .android_secure folder did show as empty).
A couple of other questions for you:
1. Are you using a remote Linux machine to do those find commands or is there a way to get to that command line on the g tablet? I only have Windows so I may be stuck there.
2. Unmounting the SD card in the Settings will unmount the "external" SD card, right? not the "internal" SD card?
3. Do you know anything on my other original question about the "external" SD card? Can we move apps there some how? If not, I'd be game to try to write an app that will do it but my guess is that if there isn't an app that does it already, its probably harder than it seems that it should be.
Puhn said:
(I didn't have to unmount either...but the .android_secure folder did show as empty).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you unmount the SD card (internal or external -- depends on the ROM), you will see stuff in /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure/.
1. Are you using a remote Linux machine to do those find commands or is there a way to get to that command line on the g tablet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use a telnet session into the gTablet, but, you can run the commands either inside a Terminal emulator or via adb. It usually doesn't matter how you run the commands.
2. Unmounting the SD card in the Settings will unmount the "external" SD card, right? not the "internal" SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on the ROM. In CyanogenMod, the SD card is the removable SD card. The internal non-removable one is called "emmc" (mounted under /mnt/emmc). Other ROMs have /mnt/sdcard and /mnt/sdcard2 (Froyo/GB) or /mnt/sdcard and /mnt/external_sd (Honeycomb ROMs).
3. Do you know anything on my other original question about the "external" SD card? Can we move apps there some how? If not, I'd be game to try to write an app that will do it but my guess is that if there isn't an app that does it already, its probably harder than it seems that it should be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CyanogenMod does what you want by default. As I mentioned above, for it /mnt/sdcard is always the external removable SD card. So, everything "moved to SD card" ends up on the external SD. If you want other ROMs to behave this way, you'll have to change some of the /init*.rc files and the /system/etc/vold.fstab file and change what gets mounted as /mnt/sdcard (ie, which device is assigned the "sdcard" label). Look around, the changes are fairly obvious.
My recommedation, however, is to just install CyanogenMod and avoid the /init*.rc and vold/fstab hackery.
Good information. Huge THANKS !
One last question (hopefully)...if the SD card in CyanogenMod is the external SD card, I guess I have the reverse question for it. Can/how do you move apps to the non-removable SD card?
I guess what I'm getting at is I have a 16 GB internal, non-removable SD card and a 16 GB removable SD card that I'd like to maximize the use of. I'm not stuck with only being able to put apps on one or the other depending on the installed ROM am I?
Puhn said:
I guess what I'm getting at is I have a 16 GB internal, non-removable SD card and a 16 GB removable SD card that I'd like to maximize the use of. I'm not stuck with only being able to put apps on one or the other depending on the installed ROM am I?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh. What started as a simple question about App install locations has now progressed to low-level mucking about with the system. What next--RAID using the SD cards?
To answer your question, with the standard, unmodified ROM you are stuck with only using either one or the other. But, since Android is based on Linux, (and since we have the source code for most of the programs on the system), it can be made to do a lot of non-standard things.
I'm pretty sure that the system can be modified to use both the internal and external SD cards for App installations, but, this will need a fair bit of customization of the ROM. Which means that if you switch ROMs or even upgrade the current one, the setup will have to be redone again.
Therefore, my recommendation, is that you use one of the SD cards solely for app installs and the other only for storing media/books/whatever. 16GB only for apps is a fair bit of space, I feel.
rajeevvp said:
Heh. What started as a simple question about App install locations has now progressed to low-level mucking about with the system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I had hoped to avoid the mucking about part and that one of the available ROMs already had the ability to put apps anywhere but it sounds like that is not the case. I guess I wasn't clear with my original question.
Anyway, thanks for all of the answers. I'll stick with what I've got for now. At some point I may play around with some things and see how thoroughly mucked up I can get it.

/sdcard doesn't exist

Just got my Note (previous Epic user) and put in my SD card from that phone. Loaded up my apps as usual and went to fire things up and found... not much.
A bit of investigation revealed that the note uses the modular SD slot as 'external_sd', but there's no '/sdcard' visible on my Note right now (or rather /sdcard is the chroot location for my data storage and my apps are oblivious). I've seen reference to how there is a good size memory card built in, and that it uses the /sdcard/ location - which is why external_sd is necessary.
Most of my apps don't understand using the new structure.
I am checking out doing a move of all my contents from the 16gb 'external' card to internal space, but that raises a couple questions and concerns of mine:
1 - how safe is that internal memory from a wipe in the case of doing roms or factory reset - which normally does not touch the SD card?
2 - this pretty much ruins any sort of portability if the phone takes a nose dive and gets trashed, is there a way to swap mount locations of /sdcard and /external_sd (or make it /internal_sd instead) without hosing the system, or know of an alternative that makes the external SD useful again?
tigerknight said:
Just got my Note (previous Epic user) and put in my SD card from that phone. Loaded up my apps as usual and went to fire things up and found... not much.
A bit of investigation revealed that the note uses the modular SD slot as 'external_sd', but there's no '/sdcard' visible on my Note right now (or rather /sdcard is the chroot location for my data storage and my apps are oblivious). I've seen reference to how there is a good size memory card built in, and that it uses the /sdcard/ location - which is why external_sd is necessary.
Most of my apps don't understand using the new structure.
I am checking out doing a move of all my contents from the 16gb 'external' card to internal space, but that raises a couple questions and concerns of mine:
1 - how safe is that internal memory from a wipe in the case of doing roms or factory reset - which normally does not touch the SD card?
2 - this pretty much ruins any sort of portability if the phone takes a nose dive and gets trashed, is there a way to swap mount locations of /sdcard and /external_sd (or make it /internal_sd instead) without hosing the system, or know of an alternative that makes the external SD useful again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Mine retains, with normal wipes, but if you odin you can wipe everything except external_sd
2. Just use tb to restore and you don't need to worry about the drive structure. I came from evo and it wasn't like the note, but never had your described issue using tb
tigerknight said:
Just got my Note (previous Epic user) and put in my SD card from that phone. Loaded up my apps as usual and went to fire things up and found... not much.
A bit of investigation revealed that the note uses the modular SD slot as 'external_sd', but there's no '/sdcard' visible on my Note right now (or rather /sdcard is the chroot location for my data storage and my apps are oblivious). I've seen reference to how there is a good size memory card built in, and that it uses the /sdcard/ location - which is why external_sd is necessary.
Most of my apps don't understand using the new structure.
I am checking out doing a move of all my contents from the 16gb 'external' card to internal space, but that raises a couple questions and concerns of mine:
1 - how safe is that internal memory from a wipe in the case of doing roms or factory reset - which normally does not touch the SD card?
2 - this pretty much ruins any sort of portability if the phone takes a nose dive and gets trashed, is there a way to swap mount locations of /sdcard and /external_sd (or make it /internal_sd instead) without hosing the system, or know of an alternative that makes the external SD useful again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I advise if your coming from another device that you start fresh whether that is doing a FAT32 wiping your external and re-downloading your apps or just buy a new one. Internal memory is alot safer than external SD that could fail on occasion for various reasons. In any case if you are going to install custom ROM's the importance of a Nandroid backup cannot be overstated and back that up on your computer as well. It is pretty safe wiping your memory, Odin back to stock and then follow install procedures for the ROM you are installing per the OP from the Dev.

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