Hi all
I have just installed CyanogenMod 7 on my HTC Desire.
I partitioned my 16GB Class 10 MicroSD card into a 14GB FAT32 partition and a 2GB ext3 partition. I installed DarkTremor's apps2sd scripts, and the apps2sd gui. I set it to save apps to the SD card, and to move the dalvik cache to the SD card.
Everything was working well: I was able to install apps, and they were going to the SD card (had they not, I would have hit the limit of the Desire's internal storage!). Rebooting didn't negatively affect anything - I rebooted several times and the apps were still there.
Then, when I opened the Theme Explorer, the phone just hung. It didn't respond to any input, from the touch screen to pressing or long pressing the power button. Eventually, in desperation, I took the battery out to do a hard reset.
When the phone booted back up, all the apps I had just installed were gone. Their icons remained on the homepage, but with the generic Android icon instead of their actual icon. They were missing from the ADWLauncher panel. The apps are still present in the list of apps, but are missing their icons and proper names. Instead they are displayed with a generic Android icon, and their "long-form" name, for example "com.amazon.kindle".
In addition to all the apps I had installed being missing, certain apps that came with CyanogenMod were also missing, such as: ROM Manager and the program that lists the apps with root permissions (I forget the name). Also, the Market application is missing. However, the calendar, messages, Google Talk, Theme Chooser, etc are all still present and working.
I tried rebooting the phone multiple times, as well as unmounting and remounting the SD card, with no improvement.
Using the terminal emulator, I can see that /sd-ext still has five directories: app, app-private, dalvik-cache, data, lost+found. However, all these directories, including the /sd-ext/app directory, are empty.
Running a2sd reinstall goes through the list of apps, but for each app that is missing, it says that it cannot find the .apk file for that app.
I suppose, then, that I have two questions:
1. Can I restore my apps somehow?
2. If not, and I have to reinstall, how can I prevent this from happening again?
(At the root of both of these is the question "why did this happen?" so if anyone knows that, that would be a great help too!)
Thank you all in advance - please let me know if there's any other information I can provide.
I have a similar problem with my Samsung Galaxy S2 on Sprint. I used Apps2SD by Sam Lu to move many of my apps over to my new 32 gig SD Card. After a bit I realized that I had moved many of the apps over that should have stayed on the main internal storage, mainly because of widgets. So I moved many of them back.
Shortly after doing that I was at a retreat with my phone on airplane mode to preserve battery life. I took some pictures and videos, read my Kindle app and Bible and then plugged it in to charge. The next day several of the pictures and videos I took showed up as a black icon and were not accessible. Then I noticed that all the apps that I had moved to the SD card were "greyed out" and even some of the apps that I had moved back to the internal storage. The phone then told me the SD card needed to be formatted.
Since then I have tried to use file recovery software to recover missing files on the SD card and it finds hundreds of photos and several videos, but nothing else. So the big question is, where are my apps? I hope you find a solution to your issue because it may be the same solution for my issue.
Sincerely,
Nathan
I've been searching and reading various answers on the subject on different phones, but I wanted to know what worked best for Aria owners.
I've done the following:
1. using Cyanogen 7.1.0 factory reset the phone.
2. formatted the SD card to have a fat partition, ext partition and swap partition.
3. installed s2e and moved the checked the apps, private apps and dalvik cache to sd.
4. checked the 'Internal' on the storage location in the application settings.
5. Installed apps everything worked fine for a couple of days.
I've rebooted the phone today and all the apps I've installed on the SD card are gone, they don't appear in the drawer. Also all of their icons are switched to generic android icons.
I've read on different forums it's got to do with the launched running before the SD card is mounted on boot. some recommend moving back the apps to the SD, but I can't do that since I've got no access to S2E, and I have to use the SD card anyway since phone memory is so small. Also many of the threads were old so I've thought something may have been changed on new Android versions.
Is there any way to solve this? I don't have access to the market so I can't install anything from it.
I'd suggest moving only application and dalvik cache (not private apps) to see if it makes a difference.
Is your partition formatted as ext3 or ext4? Are you using the "mount as ext4" option in S2E?
partition formatted as ext3 and I've used mount as ext4.
is it preferable to format it to ext4?
how can private apps can cause a problem here?
I've now wiped the phone, re installed Cyanogen and Google apps.
CaptainMaki said:
how can private apps can cause a problem here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it's the cause, but I'm just trying to eliminate anything that is different from the way I've set it up on my phone since I don't have that problem.
Personally I use an ext3 partition without the "mount as ext4" setting enabled. Perhaps that setting is causing your problems.
did you install the rom, apps and the s2e, or you install the rom, s2e and then started installing apps?
are you using the default adwlauncher or did you switched to a different launcher?
When I do a clean install I install apps before and after enabling S2E. It doesn't make a difference.
I've used several different launchers (including ADW EX) but not the built-in one.
do you enable in settings - Cyanogenmod settings - applications the following:
allow application moving - checked
install location - I select internal instead of automatic.
"Allow application moving" unchecked. That setting only makes it possible to move any application to the FAT32 partition, which you shouldn't be using at all.
Are you manually moving applications to SD card in application settings or something?
Maybe that's were the problem is. and you have the setting of install location on "Automatic" or on "Internal" ?
Please read this post where I explain the proper way to set up S2E when using it to move applications: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=21667779&postcount=5
When you are selecting "move to SD" from the applications settings, you are moving the application to the FAT32 partition, which is NOT what you want. On its own, this wouldn't cause any applications to stop working though. However, since you enabled the "Allow application moving" setting, that forces the phone to allow you to move any app to the FAT32 partition, even if that app does not support it. When you move apps to the FAT32 partition that don't support it, those apps will stop working.
thx for the explanation.
If I'm setting up the s2e before installing any app, I can skip step no 4 as I understand it.
is there a real difference in performance/compatibility to the file system on the ext partition? I see threads here that mention that ext4 work without any problem.
should I format the card to ext2/ext3 or ext4 ?
CaptainMaki said:
thx for the explanation.
If I'm setting up the s2e before installing any app, I can skip step no 4 as I understand it.
is there a real difference in performance/compatibility to the file system on the ext partition? I see threads here that mention that ext4 work without any problem.
should I format the card to ext2/ext3 or ext4 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ext4 should work fine. I only suggested moving to ext3 because you were having problems, but it sounds like that was unrelated.
Ok. I've formatted the card with gparted, wiped the phone, but no matter what I did S2E didn't show the Ext partition. I've finally used rom manager to partition the card and it worked fine.
I've checked the setting as you've recommended, and so far it seems fine. I'll have to wait and see if it doesn't shows up again after several more reboots.
CaptainMaki said:
I've rebooted the phone today and all the apps I've installed on the SD card are gone, they don't appear in the drawer. Also all of their icons are switched to generic android icons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same with me after installing battery script that wipe the Dalvik Cache
i thought that was the problem
i did reinstall everything and still waiting to see
read the entire thread, my problem was completely solved.
I am having this issue also - I goofed and checked the 'mount as ext4' for an ext3 partition. Now I can't see any apps, including the S2E app to uncheck it or the Play store app to download another copy so I can fix it.
Any suggestions how to correct? I can't even boot into recovery mode to reflash at the moment...
Using CM7.2.0RC1 on an HTC Incredible.
What about reflashing recovery through fastboot?
Sent from my Liberty using xda premium
drenze said:
Any suggestions how to correct? I can't even boot into recovery mode to reflash at the moment...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Boot to recovery with SD card removed, and/or reformat the ext partition of the SD card from a computer.
Fast Boot option may be the culprit
I see folks here are deep into ext3/ext4 partitions and such (or at least you were a few months ago), and I hope it all works out great for you.
Just in case, here is a simple little fix that really helped me, without resorting to all the partitioning and reinstallation going on here.
Also, for what it's worth, I used ROM Manager Pro to auto-format the special "ext" partition on my sdcard when it was pristine, and since then have used Titanium Backup Pro to move apps to SD AFTER installing via Google Play Store or very occasionally side-installing .apk files.
CUT TO THE SOLUTION BELOW -- SEARCH FOR ////
Some (not all) of my apps moved to SD (all by Titanium Backup Pro) have begun to disappear and (sometimes) reappear without warning after I began to add and delete large Virtual Machines created in QEMU from my 16GB SanDisc class 10 microSD card on my HTC Droid Incredible running rooted stock Verizon Android Froyo 2.2.3. I know this thread is far from my phone's "home base", but from what I can tell this problem with disappearing apps located on an sdcard is NOT determined by hardware or even Android version.
I also happen to use LauncherPro by Federico Carnales instead of the built-in HTC Sense launcher. I noted elsewhere on XDA that a user had suggested that because at least some (maybe all) launchers start before the SD Card that this may be a problem, especially if changes are made to the sdcard that the launcher did not perform, or was not active during their performance by other apps such as Titanium Backup. That fits my situation, because I unmounted the SD, physically removed it to a PC, and added/deleted large VM files to save (lots) of time. No problems of this sort before I did this, so there must be some connection.
I noted that other users have tried reformatting SD, substituting different brands of SD, using newer/older SD etc. None of these reliably helped. So I skipped these options.
//// The (simple!) solution I tried that SEEMS to work (only time will tell!) is buried in the main Android Settings (accessed from the Menu button while in Home screen). Under "Applications" there is a setting "Fast Boot" that I checked long ago and forgot about (it seemed like a good thing to do at the time). The text warns "Turn off to use some Market apps" (that shows the age of my 2-yr old used phone and Android OS -- ohmygosh!-- because it refers to Market rather than Google Play Store!) Anyway, I unchecked the option and rebooted the phone.
Yes, it took a bit longer to boot (maybe a whole minute!), but after waiting about another minute ALL my home screen apps had normal icons and loaded properly. Titanium Backup Pro batch scenarios confirmed there were no apps in a forced uninstalled state (i.e. I had not done the deed, the system somehow had done it or at least rendered the apps "invisible" to Titanium, which decided they needed reinstallation).
The only odd behaviour was that auto brightness was turned off after I unchecked Fast Boot and rebooted. Going into Android Settings > Display and rechecking "auto brightness" took care of that. No other oddities or strange behaviours thus far (but it has only been about an hour).
I will report back here on this thread only (Samsung Fascinate > Fascinate Q&A > What just happend? apps on sdcard) if anything else requires reporting. Silence implies success!
link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1873670
(I am copying this post to other relevant threads, but will not post anything further elsewhere -- only there. This is a bit arbitrary (although this thread appears to be the most recent active one on this topic), but I hope this approach pleases the XDA sysops/admins) :angel:
I cant still solve this :'(
in my s2e :Application,Private apps are checked! Im using ext3..
Install location is also on internal.. pls help :'((
So i have been having this problem for a few months now, and its driving me crazy.. I've read every thread on XDA about sdcards, but nothing seems to apply here
When I reboot, my phone launches External2Internal so my 32GB SD can be used as my internal drive, and I've used it fine for a very long time.. but recently the sd card just disappears after some period of time. it seems to happen whenever my phone goes to sleep or the screen goes off and is locked, i suppose
after I reboot the phone it works fine again..
I quite think its from a malicious program.. but I cant be sure
recently, I installed a bunch of sd card tools to rescan, remount, test etc.. and I also installed an External2Internal update... and after all that, the sdcard contents appear to have been deleted, even after multiple reboots, when viewed with ES File Explorer.. However all the contents appear in good condition when viewed with Total Commander.. .
and since all that tinkering, because the sd card seems on some level to be deleted, programs like avast are getting corrupted errors on their virus scans, such as "invalid context during scan".. an error it doesnt get when the sdcard is unmounted completely, but only now that it mounts as appearing mostly empty to es file explorer and probably most other programs.
so it seems like one of the USB tools or the External2Internal update has done something malicious to my card... or maybe it was a last ditch effort by some dorks malicious code from a program i deleted in trying to get this all sorted out
anyone else having this problem or know how it can be fixed?
and I prefer to try and find out what is causing the problem and fix that problem, rather than just reformatting the card or buying a new card, since i'm sure it will just happen again someday
thanks
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This happens to me as well, the only difference is that I don't use External2Internal but the jellybean option "default write disk: SD card"
First, root the device using RootZenPhone.
Second, install Link2SD. Run it, and you will see that apps that uninstall on reboot appear as if they were on SD (it's not really that way, read below).
Tell Link2SD to move those apps to internal.
Done.
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How did I come to this workaround:
I first found that all applications that disappeared on reboot wrote data to /mount/asec, and that the data was wiped out on reboot.
I was trying to move apps to sd with different apps, with no success. But I found that Link2sd gave me the option to move apps to SD. BUT what it really does is not moving them to SD. It moves apps to /mount/asec.
That's where all the applications that disappearead on reboot had data writen to it.
I found, also, that all those apps appeared on Link2SD as if they were on the SD. So I moved all of them to Internal.
And it did the trick! Now applications don't disappear!
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I don't fully understand this thing about applications in /mount/asec, and the apparent "confusion" that link2sd has about /mount/asec and external sd, but it worked. And I wonder if anyone with a deeper knowledge about Android could use this observation to also solve the issue about not being able to move apps to sd in this tablet.
Hello all,
Since I got my phone I put in a brand new Evo+ 64GB SD card in it.
Once or more a day the SD card unmounts it self.
I can still see it in my settings and in my filemanagers but I can no longer access it.
Also all my data stored on there is no longer accessible thru apps.
Since I use XInternalSD alot of data of my apps is stored there.
Remounting it in TWRP also has no effect.
The only thing that fixes it is to open the tray and close it again.
This is my first android phone so I have little to no knowledge about what I can do.
Google also didn't give me clear options on what to try.
Maybe a good thing to mention as well is that I'm running CM 12.1 ROM since the day I got this phone,
so i dont really have experience with the stock rom.
I have read about large SD cards not mounting properly and that they have to be reformatted.
If this is the case could someone explain me a little better regarding the why and how?
Thanks alot for your time!
I have the same problem with the same card actually. Maybe the card doesn't work with the phone? No
I had similar issues using XInternalSD on CM12.1.
Normally a reboot will bring the SD card back.
I wasn't able to tick the setting to use for all apps without issues although it works fine on OOS...
topp10 said:
I had similar issues using XInternalSD on CM12.1.
Normally a reboot will bring the SD card back.
I wasn't able to tick the setting to use for all apps without issues although it works fine on OOS...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
a reboot doesn't fix the issue for me.
Since I wrote this article I only had it once again.
And that was when I installed ES file explorer and tried to run it.
It crashed on startup and then made my SD unavailable.
Since I dont have this device for long yet and was installing all kinds of stuff when this was occuring all the time.
I assume it has something to do with some apps messing things up.