Ok after many hours tonight I have managed to put together a couple .zip files that will install a modified vold.fstab on your Nook Color. (I am a total n00b at this)
The EMMC of the Nook Color has a partition for the ROM and a 5 GB partition that's mostly if not completely unused. Presently, there aren't any 3rd-party managers to move apps to that unused partition, so I modified the vold.fstab and am now able to use that partition for apps, files, etc.
NC.SWAP.VOLD.ZIP swaps the way the SD and EMMC directories are mounted. By swapping the mount points, and renaming EMMC to SDCARD, your apps, etc., will install to the internal storage, vs. installing to your SDCARD. Your physical SDcard is automatically mounted as "EMMC."
This also means that the music player still finds files, you can move files to "EMMC," and you can still eject the SDcard ("EMMC"), put it back in and it still shows up automatically. Now your NC won't freak out if you pull the card out without unmounting it - all of the apps are on the actual EMMC. You'd just find the SDcard under /mnt/emmc instead of /mnt/sdcard.
Because this ZIP file maps the change at an OS level, when you boot to recovery, your NC sees SD as the SDcard, so no issues occur. When you boot into your ROM, the mount points are swapped and you'll have access to the renamed "SDCARD" (5 GB) on your NC.
Use CWR 3.0.1.0 to install the .zip and check out the results with File Manager.
Thanks go out to Clark008, luciferii and Cali^Gal from #nookcolor, Loonacy and Raymondull from #Cyanogenmod, and EpicFail1236 from XDA.
Sorry if this is a bit crude, it's my first script ever. I would be happy to get any advice on how to make this better!
EDIT: I have been looking into renaming the emmc mount to say SD-External or better yet making it mount as /mnt/sdcard/sd-ext. it might be possible, ill be looking into it as soon as I can got laid up for a bit.
"Because this ZIP file maps the change at an OS level, when you boot to recovery, your NC sees SD as the SDcard, so no issues occur. When you boot into your ROM, the mount points are swapped and you'll have access to the renamed "SDCARD" (5 GB) on your NC."
/\/\ That clarifies a lot compared to the brief orig post. Will likely be flashing it this weekend.
BTW, if this expands and you need this 2nd post just have a mod give it to you. Thanks again!
BRILLIANT. Will be definitely testing this later today. Can't wait to run SD Tools on this
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk
it works! interesting how it'll work out as to unmounting, flashing roms. but with emmc being useless this is fantastic.
Thank you for the effort and time place in this mod
Yeah. The whole point of this was to utilize the 5GB internal emmc and not waste it. The next step is to mod the CWM to mount emmc as /sdcard so you can flash your zips from where you download them to (usually /mnt/sdcard/download), which in this case, goes to your emmc. But CWM will mount your external sdcard instead. For the time being, we can just put the zips we need to flash to the external sdcard, ie. /mnt/emmc.
I don't know if anyone noticed it yet, but if you usb mount after the swap, the transfer speed is kind of slow (~1.5mbps). I don't know if this is due to the emmc or that the read ahead cache needs to be tweaked.
We're open to make this even better. Feel free to comment and provide feedback.
This sounds like a step in the right direction, however, what I would like to see would be merging the emmc with the internal storage. What I mean is this; right now, when I go into "Storage", I see an "SD card" (8gb), "Internal Storage" (0.92gb), and "/mnt/emmc" (5gb). Why can't we combine the .93 Internal and the 5gb emmc together to make a 5.92gb Internal storage and eliminate the emmc from teh storage area? I'm sure there is a reason that I'm not aware of, but it seems that this would be the same as just about every other device. I am pretty sure the ROM is running from the emmc partition, so that has to have something to do with it, but I don't see a purpose for 3 storage places. I keep getting errors when I try to download apps and I don't even have very many installed. I have had to move most of them to the SD card to make room and some apps don't like to be installed on the SD card.
Another option would be to swap the emmc with the Internal storage. Then we'd be using the 5gb and the .92 gb would be sitting there doing nothing instead. Again, I'm sure there are reasons for this, I'm just asking to learn.
I agree.. ideally having the emmc mount be part of the system would be ideal.
Calla969 said:
This sounds like a step in the right direction, however, what I would like to see would be merging the emmc with the internal storage. What I mean is this; right now, when I go into "Storage", I see an "SD card" (8gb), "Internal Storage" (0.92gb), and "/mnt/emmc" (5gb). Why can't we combine the .93 Internal and the 5gb emmc together to make a 5.92gb Internal storage and eliminate the emmc from teh storage area? I'm sure there is a reason that I'm not aware of, but it seems that this would be the same as just about every other device. I am pretty sure the ROM is running from the emmc partition, so that has to have something to do with it, but I don't see a purpose for 3 storage places. I keep getting errors when I try to download apps and I don't even have very many installed. I have had to move most of them to the SD card to make room and some apps don't like to be installed on the SD card.
Another option would be to swap the emmc with the Internal storage. Then we'd be using the 5gb and the .92 gb would be sitting there doing nothing instead. Again, I'm sure there are reasons for this, I'm just asking to learn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have no idea TBH but thats far beyond my ability. really it would be nice to symlink emmc to the SD card or the other way around. the issue is that you cant symlink with fat partitions :-/
This is neet. I don't know enough to comment, but it looks valuble for some people.
I just use my stock emmc for music storage and let apps sit on SD w/ videos.
WobbleTheHutt said:
i have no idea TBH but thats far beyond my ability. really it would be nice to symlink emmc to the SD card or the other way around. the issue is that you cant symlink with fat partitions :-/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, but you can symlink to them. Why not set vold.fstab to mount the partitions onto other names and make symlinks named /sdcard -> /othername? That way, the symlinks can do their jobs or rearranging the namespace to suit our needs.
The ramfs isn't FAT32, is it?
I'm an old cmdline type, tricks like this are used all the time to fool software with stubborn opinions about filenames.
Dennis
Jiggity Janx said:
If this works as effectively as it sounds like it will it's gonna rock! With the multiple wifi/bluetooth file transfer options I can say bye bye to the need for an sd card!
EDIT: I think this thread is eerily quiet because of the popular advice written up HERE. Specifically #5...
IMO, with a great write up on the best ways to work with this, all of the things it will affect (positive and negative), and the proper words of warning then the individuals that take it upon themselves to modify their devices are the only ones that can be held responsible if it doesn't work out as they had hoped. They also have to understand that when they work outside the boundaries of an accepted "standard" that they are somewhat desolate and will need to come back into the fold before they can/will be helped...
Just my .02...
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This may be slightly off topic, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what that post is complaining/ talking about, I have had no trouble bouncing between HC, CM7 and stock.
All you have to do is flash to stock and then worst case you force the boot failure and the nook resets its self automatically
The last few posts on that message are myself and another person who have had not trouble with that now the OP hasn't responded so i'm not sure what to make up that post.
Is it real and an actual issue?
Or did the poster overreact to something?
Can some one please explain it to me if I am wrong about something in using a EMMC version of HC?
chisleu said:
This is neet. I don't know enough to comment, but it looks valuble for some people.
I just use my stock emmc for music storage and let apps sit on SD w/ videos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems neet to me also. Always interested in using both emmc and sd space.
@ chisleau - I like the concept of putting all my music on emmc. Do you use an option in CM7 to install or move all your apps to your SD card?
thinking out loud (and not actually doing it) -- but we know that /data is /dev/block/mmcblk0p6 and and the "media" or "emmc" is located at /dev/block/mmcblk0p8 -- can't we just repartition and merge the two?
minotauri said:
thinking out loud (and not actually doing it) -- but we know that /data is /dev/block/mmcblk0p6 and and the "media" or "emmc" is located at /dev/block/mmcblk0p8 -- can't we just repartition and merge the two?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We can repartition but don't do it for this Reason -#5 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=12494638&postcount=1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=12494666&postcount=2
ROMs that follow proper packaging - This emmc swap mod is one of them. So we're fine for those who are still hesitating.
Clark008 said:
ROMs that follow proper packaging - This emmc swap mod is one of them. So we're fine for those who are still hesitating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I was hesitating, but between your post above and the "Thanks" from fattire to the OP, that is all the encouragement I need to take the plunge.
A few questions, tho, if someone can help me to understand this better....
I guess until I saw the OP, I did not realize that all apps in CM7 are installed to the SD card, as when I look at my installed apps in App Mgr, they don't show as being on the SD card. Is this some sort of CM7 voodoo or are my apps really on the internal memory?
Right now, with CM7, I am using the EMMC partition to store my music, under "My Files/Music". Power Amp can see this folder and it will play all my music just fine from within that directory on the internal partition, so if I install this update, what will that do to the 5Gb of internal storage I have now and the music on it?
Also, if I do install this update, what will happen to the apps and their associated data that I already have installed? Is this best done on a fresh build or will everything (apps/data and music) be A-OK after the Swap update is applied?
Just want to know what I am getting into by applying this update, as I have things pretty stable right now. If I could roll with apps on internal and music on SD, I would be more than fine with that, as long as I don't lose any of my apps/data/music in the process. If this is just mere partition re-naming/re-pointing, then I suspect my assets will remain intact?
Thanks to all who collaborated on this project!
why can't the entire internal partitions be imaged?
i use dd all the time to backup my sd card installs in case a test kernel or nightly goes poorly- or to burn a fresh install for multiple people. I just pop in the sd card into my laptop and burn the image back to the sd card.
if this was possible i'd have no issues with running off internal entirely if i could just burn the img. and get everything back as stock, including important device identifiers incase those were erased.
Need undo
This did what it's supposed to do but it seems to be causing a problem with the way I'm booting from sd. Is there a way to undo this?
Bump since I found this useful. +1 for CWM sdcard/emmc swap to enable SDcard-less flashing goodness from ROM Manager.
Hi ive done a bit of searching but was unable to find an answer i was please with...
If i want to update my CM9 to a newer version.. WIll i lose all of the data on my phone (just like reformatting all over again)
or will it just flash over the top of it and carry on as normal..? I found these instructions but they're unclear
Upgrading from earlier version of CyanogenMod 9:
- Copy CM9 ZIP to your internal SDCard
- Boot into Recovery
- Flash CM9 zip
- Reboot.
I also have an issue with my SD card corrupting everytime i flash ROM.. is this normal, or just unlucky and what are the chances of it happening on an update of the ROM?
Your answer's are appreciated
I also have an issue with my SD card corrupting everytime i flash ROM.. is this normal
Totally abnormal and suggests a faulty card .
jje
WIll i lose all of the data on my phone (just like reformatting all over aga
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it will only format and replace the /system which does not include data but only the operating system itself.
Even the configuration for the OS is stored in another location, so it's really install-reboot-enjoy.
I also have an issue with my SD card corrupting everytime i flash ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen lots of people having issues with the SDcard after format. Mine survived roughly a dozen ROM flashes and it's a FAT32-formatted Class10 Samsung 32GB.
What filesystem is on your SDcard?
d4fseeker said:
No, it will only format and replace the /system which does not include data but only the operating system itself.
Even the configuration for the OS is stored in another location, so it's really install-reboot-enjoy.
I've seen lots of people having issues with the SDcard after format. Mine survived roughly a dozen ROM flashes and it's a FAT32-formatted Class10 Samsung 32GB.
What filesystem is on your SDcard?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will most likely format it to FAT32- it's a class 10 64gig, is there a way to format it without doing it via the phone? it won't let me format just using the phone..
thanks for your above advice
is there a way to format it without doing it via the phone? it won't let me format just using the phone..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Through an adapter on the computer. You'll need a non-default Application though, e.g. the HP Format Utility.
Windows, for compatibility reasons, restricts FAT32 sizes to 32GB.
Need help/advice. I updated my phone with the newest Fresh Evo LTE 5.3.1 and the radio firmware. And after rebooting...noticed the Damaged Phone Storage notification. At first I thought it was no big deal cause it was the micro sd card. But then I found out it is the data/second partition on the internal phone storage. I tried to erase the phone storage...but that does not work. I am thinking of trying to restore back to stock and hoping the stock image restores the second partition.
Do you know what might of happened? And any options on trying to fix this problem?
You most likely need to reformat it. Best method so far seems to be booting into twrp and mounting the internal sd to PC and formatting it. Unless there's another cause, I don't know of any issues so it would help to wait for someone who has has to deal with anything similar before taking my advice
om4 said:
You most likely need to reformat it. Best method so far seems to be booting into twrp and mounting the internal sd to PC and formatting it. Unless there's another cause, I don't know of any issues so it would help to wait for someone who has has to deal with anything similar before taking my advice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks that worked...mounting to my PC in TWRP and formatting. Lost all my pictures and videos...will teach me for not syncing to one of those cloud storage services
Just make it a habit to back up your cards. Its always a good habit to back everything up
this just happened to me after a hard reset...can you show the exact steps i cant seem to figure out how to mount this?
Reboot to TWRP and look for mount, make sure it's set to internal and mount storage, in Windows a dialog should pop up saying that the card needs to be formatted
my phone is samsung a9 . ihave found that my phone storage is reduced from 127 gb to 7.95 gb and my sd card got damaged what can i do for this
because of this my SD card cant mount in recovery for me to perform a backup. is there a work around? or once its encrypted u have to undo it to access the SD card in recovery...
This is most likely going to sound rude but that's the point. I don't know what good it would do to be encrypted if you could still just plug it in and read it
If the other card isn't encrypted just switch mount points and back up to the other card
om4 said:
This is most likely going to sound rude but that's the point. I don't know what good it would do to be encrypted if you could still just plug it in and read it
If the other card isn't encrypted just switch mount points and back up to the other card
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well with encrypted if someone steals my phone, they still have to be able to unlock it to click it over to Disk Drive. also if they pull it out of my phone its unreadable by a computer. so if i lose my phone the information is guaranteed to be destroyed. and as for switching to different mount points, i tried that. i clicked internal storage, and it still said could not mount storage. im decrypting right now, so i can make my nandroid, but i really wish i could keep it encrypted
it says that the phone uses a password built in somewhere to access the information. is there anyway we can set the password and then use it in recovery to access the card? or does this depend on the card and not the software.
Sorry I just reread my post and it looks like I'm saying that I'm trying to be rude lol I meant that's the point of encrypting the card lol. It wouldn't be worth encrypting if you could just open it in twrp. There are apps on the market that will encrypt just the external card and not both but I haven't tried it. I don't see the point of encrypting it when I can just lock folders. My phone is setup to wipe the card if the phone is ever lost so I'm not worried about encryption
om4 said:
Sorry I just reread my post and it looks like I'm saying that I'm trying to be rude lol I meant that's the point of encrypting the card lol. It wouldn't be worth encrypting if you could just open it in twrp. There are apps on the market that will encrypt just the external card and not both but I haven't tried it. I don't see the point of encrypting it when I can just lock folders. My phone is setup to wipe the card if the phone is ever lost so I'm not worried about encryption
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
very true, idk i guess i should carry a backup micro to backup and flash my roms. unless can the card be partitioned so part is encrypted and part is not?
I've never tried it, perhaps, I know a partition can be locked and encrypted leaving other partition(s) alone but I don't know if there are any apps that support it
om4 said:
I've never tried it, perhaps, I know a partition can be locked and encrypted leaving other partition(s) alone but I don't know if there are any apps that support it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmm next dev idea? throwing it out there to anyone that wants to take a crack at it. would mean rooted phones would be better for the spy business. you know all that stealth and killing quietly nonsense
I am having issues with external SD cards. I have 16 and 32 gb cards and every 2-5 days they become corrupted/damaged/blank. I have to format them and copy my backup files over at least once per week. I have had no luck finding a good solution for the SD card problems. I notice that my SD card will randomly mount / media scan / antivirus SD card scan when I unlock my screen. I assume this is causing the problems. I want to leave my external SD card UNmounted until i want to use it, then i will manually mount it under settings. My problem is when i leave it unmounted, Android will automatically mount it later when my screen is off. How do i change this so that the external SD will ONLY mount when i manually mount it in settings?
Not sure. Sounds like you just need to leave the card out or maybe get rid of that antivirus
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium
the antivirus isn't the problem, randomly whenever the screen is turned on, the micro SD re-mounts (it somehow unmounted when the screen was off)... when it re-mounts Android automatically does a media scan and my AV scans it like it just connected... over time the SD card fails or becomes corrupted so I have to format. I'm looking for a way to DISABLE Android from automatically mounting an external micro SD... I assume people on this forum are knowledgeable on Android coding... disabling this function shouldn't be that hard...
Backup your micro sd. Wipe it clean. Make sure you format it with fat32 and not exfat. Put sd back in. Profit.
i have tried that several times.... perhaps i need to re-phrase the question....
Can someone please copy and paste the code within Android that automatically mounts an external SD card when it is inserted while the phone is on. Please also include the file name and directory. Thanks!
Well the problem is it's clearly either a hardware problem in the phone or that sd card. Wouldn't it be less of a pain to diagnose that and just try several other sd cards, then you wouldn't even have the issue anymore.
i met same problem here, how did you get this right?
I am in the same situation please provide a fix if you got it fixed
ryvandal said:
I am in the same situation please provide a fix if you got it fixed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What ROM are you on? Do you have this device? Some newer ROMs have the ability to control the media scanner running at boot, which likely was the cause for these older issues.
An example of a current ROM having this is ResurrectionRemix.
SteveMurphy said:
What ROM are you on? Do you have this device? Some newer ROMs have the ability to control the media scanner running at boot, which likely was the cause for these older issues.
An example of a current ROM having this is ResurrectionRemix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rom is stock Android 4.4.
Does 4.4 have that feature? I am Rooted.
ryvandal said:
Rom is stock Android 4.4.
Does 4.4 have that feature? I am Rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock will not have it, you will need to install a custom ROM that includes the Media Scanner setting (there are KK ROMs that support it). Look around in the Development forum and see if one is to your liking; if the ROM has the feature they will often include it in the first post. The Ported forum also has much to choose, including the ROM I noted in my reply above yours.