[Q] Use other file system on sdcard ans extSdcard - Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi everyone,
I lose my extSdcard fat32 partition for the 3rd times... Fat32 is a very very bad FS, especialy for partitions with lot of files.
Kernels support ext* file systems, it would be possible to use ext4 insterad of fat32 on sdcard and extSdcard. Can you confirm ?
What is the best way to do this ? Does MTP still working ? Will some fonctionnality be disabled after that ?
Thanks

You can format the extSdCard to whatever you want provided the kernel supports it. Don't touch the internal sdcard because it uses FUSE to sit the FAT partition of /sdcard (actually /data/media) within the EXT4 formatting of /data so it's best not to touch that.
Obviously though FAT32, is the most compatible for /extSdCard
EXT4 wont MTP on windows. exFAT wont MTP on Linux...
Personally I stick with FAT32 because I need to connect to everything
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Thanks
Don't you have trouble with fat32 ?
Do you use tools to maintain it clean like scandisk or defrag on windows ?

I've not had any issues so far. I don't do anything special to it
I don't really connect to computers often. I use file managers to connect to smb /sftp for moving files ever since when it was EXFAT
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Related

Is ext4 format possible on external SD?

Does ext4 become an option for the external SD card as well now that we have Voodoo on the internal SD? Would it not offer similar speed benefits?
What is the default format used currently FAT32? I don't know, so I'm asking.
I don't believe it's possible. Voodoo converts your system from RFS to ext4, it's not an application.
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Yes. I guess what I'm asking is if the external SD will benefit from the same format. I assume it would quite be possible via PC to format the external SD to ext4, maybe using Linux.
So you want to know if you can convert the SD card to ext4? Somebody with more knowledge will have to answer that for you. But yes, the SD card is FAT 32 for sure.
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I think the idea is that the ext4 partition is for apps and system functions.
The main benefits I've seen listed for ext4 are improved performance (especially for filesystem checks and file deletions), higher storage capacity and more scalability. I can't see why this wouldn't be a good idea for the external SD, particularly since the internal is already in this format.
Doesn't that make sense?
Main problem if it is possible is that you would need a linux computer to access sd cards. Windows won't read the sd's in ext4
Does that mean that the internal SD is invisible when you have Voodoo installed? I thought all Voodoo did was install the ext4 files system.
Easy way to find out is to format an sdcard as ext4 from linux and see if it works, if you don't have then just download a livecd and see if it mounts. I think the fstab entry is set to auto, but might be worth checking.
Seen as the voodoo kernel will include ext4 support, I expect this should just work but I haven't tried it myself.
donalgodon said:
Does that mean that the internal SD is invisible when you have Voodoo installed? I thought all Voodoo did was install the ext4 files system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can only access user specific areas when you mount your phone as a USB storage device - /sdcard and the external SD card, if you format external SD card as EXT4 you will need a linux box to read/write to it, unless there are tools available on that other desktop os platform.
lqaddict said:
You can only access user specific areas when you mount your phone as a USB storage device - /sdcard and the external SD card, if you format external SD card as EXT4 you will need a linux box to read/write to it, unless there are tools available on that other desktop os platform.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont agree with that , think at 5% users who used linux and on the other hand why not ntfs which is better than fat32
I would think it would work. The ext4 support is provided by a kernel module. If the module is loaded, you should be able to mount any ext4 file system. You might need to change the fstab entry for the sdcard, but it should work. I'll try it tonight and report back...
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enthalpie said:
I dont agree with that , think at 5% users who used linux and on the other hand why not ntfs which is better than fat32
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Click to collapse
You would need the ntfs kernel module to mount an ntfs file system. I have not seen a kernel built for android that supports it (though I haven't looked too hard).
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lqaddict said:
You can only access user specific areas when you mount your phone as a USB storage device - /sdcard and the external SD card, if you format external SD card as EXT4 you will need a linux box to read/write to it, unless there are tools available on that other desktop os platform.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are ext2 drivers for Windows. You can mount an ext4 filesystem as ext2, you just don't get journaling or ext4 specific features. I do it alk the time on my Windows 7 box.
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Well, it doesn't work. I get an error saying the file system is unsupported, and an offer to format the SD card. Running Project V.
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ext4 or NTFS
Hi
If it looks like android developpers does'nt think about ext4 for linux based kernel android that's funny.
but they also does'nt think abour NTFS for external sd card so we have limitation at 4 Go files !! and I don't understand why ? Windows PC users who should be 95% of android smartphone users can use NTFS OR fat32 as they want ? !
If u guys want ill look into ntfs or ext4 as available sd card format options =3 can't promise anything though
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HI
YES GOOD NEWS !!!
I will be very very very nice
hi
when somebody said "you need linux to acces at your ext4 partition, it is right , but if this partition is in the android file system for exemple /ext_sd, it will be seen by application from android and by files management, so we don't need a pc with linux to use it, like now with ext3 sdcard partitions
we are waiting !

[Q] SD Card Format?

What is the best format for the SD card for our TFP's? I have 2 32gb class 10 SD cards that I want to use with my TFP and want to format it correctly the first time. Also would it be good of if I put it in my Evo3D and turned it to use either ext3 or 4 before using it in my TFP? Thanks in advance
Anyone know which wouldbe better, ntfs or fat32?
ext3 will be read by any android devices, but not natively if you mount it under windows (if you have that ... lol)with direct USB connection.
ext4 and ntfs kernel support is perhaps not natively implemented in all kernels, in custom ones and some stock ones for ext4 yes, but ntfs not sure at all..... (don't know for TFP still doesn't have mine).
that's why sdcards are still FAT32 formatted... you have heavy fragmentation, 4GB file limit, but you can read it in every OS.
If you use only network share (samba, Cifs) you can format as you want as long as the kernel support it.

Ntfs or Exfat ?

Hello, new micro sd card 32gb class 10 i think
What is the best file system to format it?
Thanks!
I' a noob so weight my words but I went with NTFS and everythibg is still ok.
*except my typing
Format it with the original file system of the sdcard, so you surely won't have problems, but if you're using the CustomRom Cyanogenmod it won't work with exFat, cause CM doesn't support it because of licences!
Use the phone to format the card and you should be fine. If you want to select the file system yourself, FAT32 works on 32GB cards and is the most likely to work well.
Fat32 is best for compatibility. ExFat is best for performance
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Fat32 has a file size limit of 2^32 bytes (hence the name Fat32) which equivalents 4GB
If you have files (movies, ...) which are larger you need to use another filesystem.
Exfat support is very bad on linux and thus can lead to undesired results including data loss. Go with EXT4 (optimal choice) or NTFS but note that you will not be able to use a cardreader when choosing ext.
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[Q] File system formats

I've been trying to format my 32GB sdcard to a filesystem that can read files over 4GB. Main reason being I use HDMI connection to view 1080p movies on TV.
Anyway, I've tried EXT2, 3, 4, NTFS, exFAT, and all of them come up with the "broken sdcard" message from android when I try to mount the sdcard.
I'm using kernel version 2.6.32.59-MB860-MROM and using the lastest MROM based off CM7. Anyone have any insight on where I can go from here? Thanks.
The whole entire Android system assumes the user storage (internal or external) is formatted as FAT32. This is much harder to change than you think. A simple reformat won't do.
You need to have at least part of your SD card to be FAT32 because many applications are using it to store configuration and data. You can have two partitions on your SD card, but I am not sure if video player will be able to use any partitions other than FAT32.
I found a way to format my external 32GB sdcard to NTFS and still have it mounted on the phone. Pretty easy actually. I'll post it here for those that might be interested:
-Used Paragon Partition Manager 12 on my Windows machine to format my external SD to NTFS
-Atrix wasn't reading the card so I tried a program called Paragon exFAT, NTFS, & HFS+ by Paragon Software. Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/...251bGwsMSwxLDMsImNvbS5wYXJhZ29uLm1vdW50ZXIiXQ..
-Paragon was not able to mount my sdcard automatically as it just gave me an error, so what I did with the rom im using was mount manually to /mnt/sdcard-ext. Should be good to go after this.
Been using it for a few days and everything is working well so far. Only annoying thing is everytime I connect by usb to my comp and enable usb storage I have to manually remount once I disconnect.

help format internal sdcard (24gb) to ext4?

I recently tried decompressing a file that was just under 4gb to the internal sdcard. the decompression stopped at 52% (about 2gb) Think it's a fat32 file sytem with 2gb file limit. . booting to recovery and using ubuntu I can only connect via mtp from the mounts menu. Gparted cannot see the device. I'm thinking gparted does not view mtp as a local block device. any ideas how to format the 24gb internal sdcard to ext4 or reasons why I shouldn't ? thanks.
rp201 said:
I recently tried decompressing a file that was just under 4gb to the internal sdcard. the decompression stopped at 52% (about 2gb) Think it's a fat32 file sytem with 2gb file limit. . booting to recovery and using ubuntu I can only connect via mtp from the mounts menu. Gparted cannot see the device. I'm thinking gparted does not view mtp as a local block device. any ideas how to format the 24gb internal sdcard to ext4 or reasons why I shouldn't ? thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MTP is a real PITA, imho. I'm pretty sure that GParted would not recognize an MTP or PTP connected device as local block storage; the device handles its own disk management with these protocols.
How were you decompressing the file to the device? It might be better to decompress on your Ubuntu box, then transfer the file through MTP, ADB push, or cloud storage service.
Do you have enough storage available on the destination device to accommodate the decompressed file size? Try this in a terminal on the device:, look at the line for either /sdcard in TWRP or /data in the ROM, respectively.
Code:
df
Have you tried going into either an ADB shell or terminal session on the device to check the file system type?
If you are in TWRP, what is the output of the following in the device terminal?:
Code:
mount | grep /sdcard
Can you still get into a ROM? If you are there, what is the output of the following in an terminal or ADB shell?:
Code:
mount | grep /data
Thanks for responding. I can't say I diddn't think of decompressing on the pc and then transfering but I just felt like moving down the path of converting to ext2 for it's resiliency . as far as space available I had at least 12gb. Im also running multi-rom and I also kinda wanted to see how that was going to work out. The multirom directory contents are not visible from the internal rom they can only be seen from recovery and copied there.
rp201 said:
Thanks for responding. I can't say I diddn't think of decompressing on the pc and then transfering but I just felt like moving down the path of converting to ext2 for it's resiliency . as far as space available I had at least 12gb. Im also running multi-rom and I also kinda wanted to see how that was going to work out. The multirom directory contents are not visible from the internal rom they can only be seen from recovery and copied there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting... EXT2? The only application I have seen that for recently is a dual boot scenario where Win7 and Linux share a common data partition and you want to use something better than FAT or NTFS. EXT4 is journalled and is more the standard of late, for most partitions under Linux.
Not sure Android even supports EXT2 and even if it does, how would you go about formatting an internal sdcard partition to it. I have used Gparted to redo external cards in a card reader, but how would you do the internal partition, especially since it seems to be mounted at /data/media and /data is ext4?
epidenimus said:
Interesting... EXT2? The only application I have seen that for recently is a dual boot scenario where Win7 and Linux share a common data partition and you want to use something better than FAT or NTFS. EXT4 is journalled and is more the standard of late, for most partitions under Linux.
Not sure Android even supports EXT2 and even if it does, how would you go about formatting an internal sdcard partition to it. I have used Gparted to redo external cards in a card reader, but how would you do the internal partition, especially since it seems to be mounted at /data/media and /data is ext4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2126363
netookska05 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2126363
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right.... I am familiar with that...
Internal /sdcard/ is not a physical MicroSD card, nor is it mountable as USB storage media, to my knowledge, just as an MTP/PTP or ADB device through the ROM or TWRP, respectively. That is why I am asking why and how you might go about formatting it to ext2. Not that it's impossible, just don't see why you'd want to do that...
reason for formatting to ext4... (I mistakenly wrote ext2 instead of ext4 on my previous post)
1. to possibly solve file size limitations of 2gb for fat32,
2. ext4 (yes ext4 not ext2) is a journald file system
3. it would give my phone wings as if I poured redbull on it. (not really... I just needed a 3rd reason)
My phone is 32gb. I believe it is 8gb emmc and 24gb sdcard_internal. (I also have an Sdcard_external which is the removable micro sdcard but I'm not asking about that) Doing this ext4 formatting May be more of a hassle with permissions issues when running multiple roms anyways. if it can't be done then no biggie. I was wondering if twrp or philz had the capability
rp201 said:
reason for formatting to ext4... (I mistakenly wrote ext2 instead of ext4 on my previous post)
My phone is 32gb. I believe it is 8gb emmc and 24gb sdcard_internal. (I also have an Sdcard_external which is the removable micro sdcard but I'm not asking about that) Doing this ext4 formatting May be more of a hassle with permissions issues when running multiple roms anyways. if it can't be done then no biggie. I was wondering if twrp or philz had the capability
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ext4 makes far more sense. Not that there isn't a part of me that now wants to figure out how to make it ext2, just for the exercise....
You still didn't answer my original troubleshooting questions though... What happens when you try the df and mount commands I referenced? This may be a moot point after that.
Here u go
Alright, this is telling me that the /data partition, where the internal SD card is mounted, is already ext4. It has 6 GB free.
I am unable to see the filesystem on the external SD card with this output, but it has just 3.5 GB free.
So again, I think you would need to decompress the file on the Ubuntu box, determine its uncompressed file size, then transfer. Depending on the compression ratio, you may be over the 6 GB. Either way, you are cutting very close and not allowing much room for new software or local files.
Can you guys speak in English please
Can I or can I not claim all of the 30 GB of storage
Thnx

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