[Q] new sd card question, do i have to do anything? - Thunderbolt Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

If i change out my SD card, do i have to do anything to reprovision all of those folders there? Is anything "critical" stored there?
If i want to flash a new rom, do i just follow same procedure (have sd card in phone, use disk drive and transfer, flash from cwm) ... or is CWM gone after i remove the SD?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=919859 this thread seems to apply, but I wasnt sure if there was any diff with the TB.
Thanks!

sushiman79 said:
If i change out my SD card, do i have to do anything to reprovision all of those folders there? Is anything "critical" stored there?
If i want to flash a new rom, do i just follow same procedure (have sd card in phone, use disk drive and transfer, flash from cwm) ... or is CWM gone after i remove the SD?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=919859 this thread seems to apply, but I wasnt sure if there was any diff with the TB.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just make sure it's formatted FAT32. You can copy all your stuff from one to the other without an issue. Some ROMs store stuff there, but usually nothing real important. CWM is on the eMMC, not the SDcard.

Related

Flashing from the SD card without formating the card

Hi,
Since I mostly use Linux and Mac OS X, it's not very easy for me to flash my TyTN. There is an article in XDA-Wiki which describes a way to flash my device from the SD card, but it mentions formatting the card before doing the upgrade.
Is it absolutely needed to do so? I have lots of files in my card and I don't want to move them every time before I flash my phone.
Thanks in advance for your answers.
AFAIK, as long as your card is formatted in FAT32, then it should work.
CRCinAU said:
AFAIK, as long as your card is formatted in FAT32, then it should work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your answer, a test will convince me ...
i can confirm that you don't need to format it as long as it's FAT32. I can't flash ROMS at work for some reason (no admin privileges, i suspect) and so I occasionally flash from my SD card. It actually works really well.
Above posts are corre correct. I flash from SD card all the time, in fact i have NEVER used a cable to flash my phone. As long as the SD card has been formatted as fat32 you can flash from it without removing other files. I keep all my cabs, sms\contacts backup, files, contact pics, etc. in folders on the SD and then copy the .NBH file to the root of the card and flash away, makes it easy to change ROM's with minimal fuss and can even be done without a computer. About two weeks ago I found myself stuck in an airport and downloaded a new rom via airport wi-fi, extracted nbh file with pocket rar, renamed and saved to SD and viola, new ROM.
I confirm that too. What you absolutely need is to have it formatted in FAT32. SDcard flashing is the only way i use too. BUT... (yes... there is a ...but...) it happens that the "hermimg.nbh" is not detected if it is not one of the first files on your card. In this case, when you "hardreset", no file will be found. This is why i recommand to format it before.

[Q] Special procedure for exchanging microSD cards?

Hi, question, I want to change my microSD card, but that's of course where I installed my ROM (UnNamed) from and has other information that I've stored on it so far from the phone.
Can I just copy all the files from the first SD to the second or would this not work? And would it affect the ROM if I did so? If I switch microSDs do I need to reinstall the ROM from the new microSD? Thanks.
No worries about switching your micro sdcard. The rom zip file is like an installation file. Once installed, the rom does not need it for it to continue to work.
Just save the files you want to keep.
Unless you changed it, the default save location is the internal sdcard, not external. To make sure shut the phone off, and take the micro sdcard out. Boot it back up and make sure all your files are still there.
Sent from my páhhōniē

Nandroid backup

Hy guys, there is something I dont understand about nandroid. I flashed my rom, kernel, downloaded apps, change setting, homescreen etc. and now i would like to back it up exactly as it is. I read that nandroid is best for that but it doesnt backup sd card? whats up with that. I look at my sd card with root explorer and there are many folder and files that were made by apps when they were insteled on the phone.Does it backup that also? Also i have many apps, apps2sd, will it make backup of them also?
It won't back up your entire phone onto your phone. It would get really big with all the music, videos, etc, that a person might have. If you have your external card mounted then you can attach via a USB cable to your computer then either with adb or with a file manager copy all of /mnt/sdcard youlle get the important things that nandroid does not. The exception I can think of is that it doesn't seem to back up your modem firmware, so if your partial to a particular one then just have it as a flashable file.
Ok, thanks, so it doesnt backup internal sd card because someone told me yesterday that it does? If i copy the entire sd card to PC and latter copy it back to mobile like that will it work. First i recover nandroid backup, than i format internal sd card and than copy all the files back to sd card.
A Nandroid backup will copy a lot, but it can't copy everything or there wouldn't be room on the device for it to be practical. It is quite supprising how much it will keep; it just isn't a complete backup solution is all.
Addressing your question though, as for copying the entire sd card, you really only need to copy the folder /mnt/sdcard or /sdcard ; the latter is a symlink to /mnt/sdcard
If you try to copy your entire sdcard then it is possible to end up with data from partitions that will take forever to copy and that you really don't want, for example /proc on the phone is just kernel information that doesn't even exist when the phone is turned off. To keep things simple, everything is part of the ROM and kernel except for /mnt/sdcard and in the case of and external sd card, /mnt/sdcard/external_sd but the latter (/mnt/sdcard/external_sd) will be copied along with the first one provided it is mounted when you do it.
The only other exception to what needs to be backed up is a partition called /efs and there are various tutorials with various methods about how to do that. I would follow one of them rather than just copying the data out as its a partition that holds unique information about the phone that it can't function with if it gets messed up. This is more immediately important and I think there's quite simply some apps that will do it for you if you look at the sticky threads here. The files will be on your phone though so you'lle want to pull them off on to your computer for sure.
As for your friend's advice, though, you won't typically ever need more than a Nandroid backup unless something happens to that other data, for example if there's filesystem corruption. If you do a restore of your ROM then it still retains all your music and photo goodies or whatever, app settings get wiped though where they are retained with Nandroid. The only thing that I'd worry about is if the impending update to Ice Cream Sandwhich somehow wipes suff, or if you play around at the command line a lot make a mistake unintentionally. If it weren't for the updates and beta ICS releases we're seeing then I'd simply be telling you not to worry about it, but to back things up and be done with it.
By the way, doesn't Kies back things up? I don't have it so I don't remember but it seems like that's how I initially got things onto it and that it has a sync option. Perhaps this is enough?....
Igor 3 said:
Hy guys, there is something I dont understand about nandroid. I flashed my rom, kernel, downloaded apps, change setting, homescreen etc. and now i would like to back it up exactly as it is. I read that nandroid is best for that but it doesnt backup sd card? whats up with that. I look at my sd card with root explorer and there are many folder and files that were made by apps when they were insteled on the phone.Does it backup that also? Also i have many apps, apps2sd, will it make backup of them also?
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Click to collapse
Man just do the backup and don't worry about the sd card files/folders. The reason it doesn't back them up is because they stay there anyway. Eg, if you uninstall an app, a folder that was created by it on your sd card is still there. Flashing firmware, including wipe versions doesn't touch the 11.5gb internal storage or external storage.
BTW, most of my internal sd card is used up and 25gb is used up on my external card. If the backup was to include those a 64gb memory card wouldn't be enough.
Between the S1 and S2 I've backed up and restored over 100 times, including after fully wiping the phone (but not formatting sd cards) and the phone always looks and functions exactly as before, including apps.
So, only copy memory card files to PC if you intend to format the internal / external cards or if you are worried you might lose stuff if the memories become corrupted.
Sent from my GT-I9100T
Thanks guys for you help. I dont use Kies also so i dont know and, yes, i format sd card before flashing every rom so i would probably format it also before making restore of nandroid backup. Also when i delete some app a delete a folder created by it on sd card. OK, than i will make a nandroid backup and copy mnt/sdcard on PC so if it ever gets corupted i can restore everything. As for efs folder, Neak kerenl made a backup of that automatic so i just made a copy of that on PC.
Every so often I go though the folders on the sd cards and clean them up a little but I have never formatted the sd cards. I don't really think you should do it with every flash.
Sent from my GT-I9100T

What needs to be on the microSD card?

I want to redo my phone like I just got it. I'm going re-flash everything with either the stock rom or a custom rom. What needs to be on the original card? Like starting from new without all the cluttered folders and random files.
I have updated ie. Hboot 1.5, radios, 2.17 and S-off still.
You should make a backup of your SD card "its always nice to have a backup"
--Side Note--
Also I suggest making a nandroid backup before backing up your SD card so you will have a copy of a recent nandroid in your SD backup incase you have to restore it one day.
--End Side Note--
""Warning"" if you do this and still have applications on your phone/current Rom that have placed folders/that are linked to/on the SD card you could experience force closes,app freezes etc. To fix this uninstall and reinstall the application.
""End of Warning"'
This can be done via Windows 7,Vista,xp.
Format your SD VIA pc/laptop and restore it to the factory defaults. Then put it back into your phone. Then boot up. Once booted into your Rom hit menu then choose settings. Then scroll down to "SD & phone storage" and tap on it. Then unmount the SD card. Then format the SD card. Once its done formating it will automatically mount the SD card and place the correct folders on it. Reboot afterwards and you should be good to go. Hope this helps.
Also here's a link you might find helpful
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10878511&postcount=8311
#Root-Hack_Mod*Always\
^^^^ What he said.
If you are going to do a factory reset or a rom flash, you should be ok wiping the card. If you were to try to wipe the card with the current rom you are on, you will run into problems as all your apps will freak out when they see their data missing.
And you don't need to have anything on the sd card from the start. Wipe the card, then flash your new rom and put the card in, android should format it properly the first time. It will just add the required folders/paths that it needs.

Minimum files needed on a new SD card

So when my new SD card comes in what do i need to put on it besides my personal media files? I know the is a PG86IMG.ZIP file on the root for the boot loader but is it necessary to be there always? If not i guess just format and everything should find find then?
Thanks in advance.
So when my new SD card comes in what do i need to put on it besides my personal media files?
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Well, ideally, if you want all of your apps and such to work properly, you need to copy everything from the old card to the new one. Just connect old card to PC, move everything to a folder on the PC, then move everything to the new card.
I know the is a PG86IMG.ZIP file on the root for the boot loader but is it necessary to be there always?
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Click to collapse
Uhh no. Once you have flashed whatever that file was, you can delete it.
I recommend you get rid of that PG86IMG.zip file.
It will cause you major problems if you try to boot into the bootloader since it will constantly ask you to install it, which means you'd just be reflashing it everytime.
To use an SD card in the Evo, format it in Fat32 and it'll work just fine.
You don't need any files on there, Android automatically creates it's own folders.

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