Hi there,
does Android allow to divide an external sd card into several partitions?
I´d like to get a bigger sd card and create at least 2 partitions on it. One unencrypted for easy access and one encrypted with dm-crypt to have a secure storage.
Is this possible? Would this then give me /storage/sdcard1 and /storage/sdcard2 and so on?
Can you manually change /etc/fstab on Android?
Related
How can I switch from the internal ClockworkMod to the microsd version?
I already have the internal version installed, and I copied the update.zip and recovery folder to the root of my microsd card. Then I rebooted using the recovery install instructions, and nothing changed. Is there a config file that needs to be modified to point to the new location?
bjhanifin,
Either way you just install CWM to your tablet. Only reason for having multiple ways
to install it is for use when folks are having problems.
rev
I want to store my ROMs and backups on my microsd card. I'm uptight about my file organization like that. Besides I have a 16 gb microsd card, I would rather keep the internal memory as free as possible.
I should point out that the internal CWM does not -- as far as I can tell -- allow me to install ROMs or place backups on the microsd card. Which I why I want to make the switch. I was just going to muck about and tinker until I hopefully got it working, but I thought I should check in for some tips before I risk fouling things up.
Would placing a /recovery/command file, which points to sdcard2 do the trick? Or am I going to have to use nvflash to restore to stock?
I think you're a bit mixed up. Internal or MicroSD are just the install methods. After installation, they are the same.
To make sure we're on the same page:
The G-tab comes with an internal 16GB card. Most of us partition 2 GB of that for the system to use, leaving the other 14GB to be used as the eMMC card, which is seen by many things as the SDCard. Any external microSD card you install will be SDCard2 (or just SDCard for something that references the internal extra space as eMMC). This is what gets the most confusing - most things refer to that extra space on the internal card as the SDCard.
I should point out that the internal CWM does not -- as far as I can tell -- allow me to install ROMs or place backups on the microsd card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since the extra 14GB from the internal card shows up as the SDCard, this is where backups and media are normally stored. ROMs get installed to the 2GB partition. Though you might be referring to where you put the ROM files to be able to install them, this is not actually the installation location.
Now, if you want your external card to be used as the eMMC, so it will be the one you connect to over USB, your backups go to, etc., you have to change a system file. (Note - some ROMs already have this reversed) To do this, you'll need to use Root Explorer (this costs about $4, but it's the only thing that makes this easy), and edit the file /system/etc/vold.fstab. in there, you will see two lines that look like this:
Code:
dev_mount emmc /mnt/emmc auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc1
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.3/mmc_host/mmc2
Changing those will reverse which is used in what role:
Code:
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc1
dev_mount emmc /mnt/emmc auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.3/mmc_host/mmc2
This second one will allow your external card to be used as you want.
OK, I made the assumption that the difference between the two ClockworkMod installers was a different "sdcard" pointer. I thought one build would point to the external card, instead of the internal card. When in fact the build is identical, only the location of the initial cwm update.zip changes.
Thank you for setting me straight. I guess I was trying to recreate the cwm environment I have been used to on my droid phone. Perhaps I will setup a (Tasker?) routine to monitor the download folder for .zip files which I can then automatically copy over to my ROM folder on the internal memory to streamline my ROM update process.
I know what you mean, I expected it to be like my Droid, too.
When I update ROMs, I start by doing a USB mount in Clockword mod, then copy the ROM over, then do the update.
As I was rooting my device, I realized the external microSD card is not the /sdcard and is actually /sdcard2 or /sdcard/ext_sd. I haven't pulled my microSD card to check, but I'm willing to bet its probably blank.
I'd like to have all data saved to my external microSD card versus the internal partitioned memory. Is that possible?
I'm not very familiar with linux. Is it as simple as modifying the vold.fstab so that microsd card is mounted as sdcard? And the internal memory is mounted as /int_sd? Obviously, I'd have to copy all the data from the current /sdcard to /sdcard2 for things to work properly after the edit.
Thanks in advance!
I'd noticed that newer GB HTC devices seem to have moved /sdcard from the
real sd card slot to the internal memory left over after system related partitions
were allocated.
I wondered if the Rezound suffers from this change too? On my Wi Fi Flyer
I have to keep syncing the data files for Kindle and Nook apps as they think
/sdcard is the actual sd card.
I think the move was done to accommodate HC/ICS's notion of /sdcard
being a virtual partition (not a fat32 real partition, to avoid having to license
Fat32 from M$). As I understood it, HC and ICS use a FUSE re-director mount
to allow the internal /sdcard space to be a directory in a ext? file system that houses
/data, (working around the Incredible's issue of no app data space and
6gb of empty /media space). Since they don't use fat32 they can't use
USB Mass Storage, so another approach was used.
Anyway since both the Kindle and Nook app don't allow a real path
for where to look for their data, on the Flyer I have to sync the sub-directory's
from /sdcard2 to /sdcard so the apps can find them.
Does Rezound do this too?
The Rezounds physical SD cards mounts as /SD Card2
So same issue then? How do others handle Kindle and Nook apps on /sdcard2
when the apps look at /sdcard?
Is there a way to partition the SD card so that it is not split into SDcard1 and SDcard2?
No. SDcard1 is the internal and SDcard2 is your real SD card. We can't combine them (yet atleast)
Who's gonna be first to get LVM running under Android?
(I should add: other than the HP Touchpad)
I have a generic Allwinner A13 7" tablet essentially identical to this one. The internal memory is set so that part of it is seen as internal, and part as a fake SD card mounted on /mnt/sdcard. Actual SD cards get mounted to /mnt/extsd.
I find this very annoying for a number of reasons, and would like all the internal memory to be seen as internal with no fake SD cards, and SD cards to be mounted to /mnt/sdcard. If this were one of those tablets capable of running Linux I'd run gparted and do the job from there, but it isn't.
Is there any way to merge the two internal memory partitions into just one?
I'm aware I can edit vold.fstab and invert the two mount points, and I'll keep it as a fallback solution, but I hate the idea of wasting a gig of useful internal space like that.
Fallingwater said:
I have a generic Allwinner A13 7" tablet essentially identical to this one. The internal memory is set so that part of it is seen as internal, and part as a fake SD card mounted on /mnt/sdcard. Actual SD cards get mounted to /mnt/extsd.
I find this very annoying for a number of reasons, and would like all the internal memory to be seen as internal with no fake SD cards, and SD cards to be mounted to /mnt/sdcard. If this were one of those tablets capable of running Linux I'd run gparted and do the job from there, but it isn't.
Is there any way to merge the two internal memory partitions into just one?
I'm aware I can edit vold.fstab and invert the two mount points, and I'll keep it as a fallback solution, but I hate the idea of wasting a gig of useful internal space like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course your tablet is capable of running Linux, it's an Android. All Androids are running Linux. I guess you are referring to GNU/Linux. You can extend any Android device with GNU/Linux as well, but this is another topic.
You want to merge the internal space today allocated for /data and /mnt/sdcard? If your device memory is of type MMC, you can do this by using qparted or similar partition utility. Depending on what utility you are using, and the layout of the partitions, you may have to redo the entire partitioning, saving and restoring the contents of the partitions.
If your device is using a MTD memory type, there's no partition table, but they are hardcoded. This way, you most likely have to reverse engineer your boot loader, changing the partitions sizes. This is much more complicated.
Another easier way, is to simply ignore the usually quite small internal storage used for /data and create a new partitions on the SDcard, and mount this as the new /data partition. This way you can allocate as large /data partition you like (at the cost of less SDcard space). The drawback is that you always must have the SDcard inserted for the device to work.
you can insert to you tablet sdcard with preinstalled debian. And after that you can do everything. I tryed dd of=/dev/nand and cleaned all nand.
Plan A:
1) You can find some prepared rootfs image (i cannot post links), unpack and dd this image to 2Gb sdcard.
2) mount -t vfat -o rw /dev/sdX1 /to_somewhere/, and copy to first partition you're precompiled kernel and initrd (optionally), script.bin from tablet's /dev/block/nanda.
3) Shutdown your tablet
4) insert sdcard with debian into tablet, also you need usb keyboard
5) power on. login: root; password: password. And do what ever you want! (in command line)
Plan B (my favorite):
1) Unsolder Nand memory chip (you need some solder, heatgun)
2) Solder Chip to some USB Flash drive.
3) Insert USB Drive to the computer.
4) Unsolder nand from USB Flash and solder it back to tablet !