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.
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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.
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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).
From what I understand, the internal sd uses a proprietary fs that is slow and writes more often than needed.
Thus, the various lagfixes work by partitioning the internal sd and formatting the partition to ext2 which is used like swap.
Well, could the entire disk be formatted in ext2 to solve the problem permanently (you WILL encounter a niche problem, at least, with any lagfix)? Could ext3 work?
How would I go about doing this? I've got exams this week, any one got a quick an easy answer?
No one has any clue or interest in the matter? I'm sure an intimate knowledge of the bootloader is needed.
There is a fix that formats the file system into ext4. Check out threads about Voodoo Lagfix or Project Voodoo in the Vibrant Development section.
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...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
I'm using Shooter's ROM, everything is great so far.
I'd like to create an EXT3 partition for A2SD. I'm going to use Linux(Ubuntu) to partition the SD card.
When I did it on my Evo4G it was part of the recovery, Clockwork I think.
I found guides on SD partitions for other phones but none here yet.
Should I just use the suggested partition sizes and setup for the EVO 4G?
I have a 16GB card so I was thinking:
2GB Ext3 primary
14GB Fat32 primary, I understand effective partitioned size is smaller.
Also, should I be concerned about Swap?
Thanks in advance for the help guys
You might want to research this more, but I think that A2SD will only work correctly in Gingerbread if your partition is using EXT4, not EXT3... I'm almost positive about this, (and that's the way it worked with the OGEVO running gingerbread roms) but please check it out at least.
sent from my Evo³d
How to Move apps from Phone memory to SD in Android 2.1
in Xperia X10
My phone is rooted.
any help????
Your options would be scripts like DarkTremor or (the slightly more user-friendly) Link2SD.
But be warned: both are not 100% stable... I've finally removed DarkTremor after a lot of issues: How about upgrading to a custom ROM instead?
Hi.
I dont want to start new topic so I use this one to describe my problem.
I read a lot of webs to find solution but here's comes some problems with that.
I've got Samsung Gio S5560 and 4GB SD card. After creating 2 primary partitions FAT32 and ext2 link2sd says that "no space left on device" and i cannot do anything. Even when I use 2GB card or create partition f.e. ext3 it doesn't works.
Can anyone help with that ?
Sorry for my english. I hope is understandable
Of course phone had been rooted.
Android 2.2.1
Regards.
I'm not sure how these scripts determine which partition to use... have you tried partitioning through ClockworkRecovery? Maybe they need the partitions in a certain order or (more likely) some other requirement. CR would very likely take any such requirements into account.
P.S. Your English sounds fine to me, but this doesn't come from a native speaker either, so...
I used to create partitions MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition. On YT there ale some tutorials so I used them. At the beginning I create FAT32 and then ext2. Maybe at the morning I try some new configs with my SD card.