Database Info

Dalvik cache gone wrong

I was reading that you could save some space by moving your dalvik cache to your sd card, so i was trying to move it, and somehow i botched the code up.
Now when i reboot i lost my open home, and currently, have the default one, what is worse is that, all my apps are gone everything. I am still on JF 1.42 RC but i can't install nor uninstall anything, and the phone doesn't show any other programs then the default one. Terminal is not there, and i can't gain any method to it. I check my sd card and the dalvik cahce is there, i am hoping that maybe i didn't sim link it correctly? The phone still shows more or less the same space as though i have apps install however it doesn't show the app for me to access.
What can i do?

you can try:
rm /data/dalvik-cache
mkdir /data/dalvik-cache
chmod 0771 /data/dalvik-cache
from adb shell. (btw, stop if the first line returns an error)
without the dalvik-cache folder you won't be able to do anything that involves unpaking apk packages (that's basically everything you do on an android).
I strongly advice you not to put the folder on sd.

This also demonstrates the importance of a bakup before doing anything to the phone, or anything for that matter.

Can i insert the command in the terminal during home+power and alt X because i can't get my adb to work correctly?

yes, but you'll have to mount the data partition first:
mount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock5 /data
and then:
rm /data/dalvik-cache
(you don't have to type the other 2 commands, because the system will create the directory automatically during boot)
and in this case you'll have to reboot properly: either use the reboot command or home+back

naTTan said:
Can i insert the command in the terminal during home+power and alt X because i can't get my adb to work correctly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK ignore that i have just gotten adb to work, not in fastboot thought, i think the driver is a bit messed up in that state, but it works fine if the phone is on.
Thank you bill.cn i was able to regain some function with your help however now open home is giving me repeated stop messages, how can i uninstall it using adb?
Do i just remove it from data/app?
Help again ?

naTTan said:
OK ignore that i have just gotten adb to work, not in fastboot thought, i think the driver is a bit messed up in that state, but it works fine if the phone is on.
Thank you bill.cn i was able to regain some function with your help however now open home is giving me repeated stop messages, how can i uninstall it using adb?
Do i just remove it from data/app?
Help again ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Safest way would be to go to settings->applications->OpenHome and then uninstall it. Remember, android isn't expecting users to add and remove apps using the terminal so doing it the normal way is best when possible.

billc.cn said:
you can try:
rm /data/dalvik-cache
mkdir /data/dalvik-cache
chmod 0771 /data/dalvik-cache
from adb shell. (btw, stop if the first line returns an error)
without the dalvik-cache folder you won't be able to do anything that involves unpaking apk packages (that's basically everything you do on an android).
I strongly advice you not to put the folder on sd.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is nothing wrong with moving dalvik to sdcard, I did it with absolutely no problems. I can do everything i could do before with dalvik to sdcard.
nattan - make sure you do a nandroid backup before doing something like this

I had the same problem... thank god for Nandroid!
Anyways, what happened is you deleted the dalvik-cache. The thing is, its not the same type of cache as your browser, where if there is no data, the browser will pull new data.
Not the case here.
To prevent that, you NEED to copy the contents, THEN symlink.
Similar to the way you did apps move. You don't rm -R them unless you have copied it first.

naTTan said:
OK ignore that i have just gotten adb to work, not in fastboot thought, i think the driver is a bit messed up in that state, but it works fine if the phone is on.
Thank you bill.cn i was able to regain some function with your help however now open home is giving me repeated stop messages, how can i uninstall it using adb?
Do i just remove it from data/app?
Help again ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The safest way is to try Settings first. If it doesn't work, you can remove the apk from /data/app and the data folder in /data/data (needs root)
Ryanmo5 said:
There is nothing wrong with moving dalvik to sdcard, I did it with absolutely no problems. I can do everything i could do before with dalvik to sdcard.
nattan - make sure you do a nandroid backup before doing something like this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am just worried about performance and stability problem. I think normal sdcard isn't really designed to hold a program cache.

Thanks for all your help, i couldn't at all access settings because open home was constantly giving errors. I had to ultimately remove it from /data/app and reinstall it.
I might consider moving the cache again, however not in the near future =P

Here you go:
kingblind said:
I figured out how to move the Dalvik Cache..
busybox cp -a /data/dalvik-cache /system/sd/dalvik-cache
rm -rf /data/dalvik-cache
ln -s /system/sd/dalvik-cache /data/dalvik-cache
reboot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Ok something is not going right here, i tried it again and sure enough the same error happens, i am sure i put the code correctly so what is wrong here?
I followed this code :
Dalvik Cache
busybox cp -a /data/dalvik-cache /sdcard/dalvik-cache
rm -rf /data/dalvik-cache
ln -s /sdcard/dalvik-cache /data/dalvik-cache
reboot
twice and the same error happens, at first i thought i botch the code up but since it happened again, i think not.
When i put in the first command, the busybox one, it gives multiple warning, can't preserve ownership or permission, is that what is wrong? If so why?

naTTan said:
Ok something is not going right here, i tried it again and sure enough the same error happens, i am sure i put the code correctly so what is wrong here?
I followed this code :
Dalvik Cache
busybox cp -a /data/dalvik-cache /sdcard/dalvik-cache
rm -rf /data/dalvik-cache
ln -s /sdcard/dalvik-cache /data/dalvik-cache
reboot
twice and the same error happens, at first i thought i botch the code up but since it happened again, i think not.
When i put in the first command, the busybox one, it gives multiple warning, can't preserve ownership or permission, is that what is wrong? If so why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this:
su
busybox cp -a /data/dalvik-cache /sdcard/dalvik-cache
rm -rf /data/dalvik-cache
ln -s /sdcard/dalvik-cache /data/dalvik-cache
reboot
If you're doing anything that involves the root of the program, type in "su" first.

I did put su and waited for it to turn to # however the problem still persist.
For example is says
cp : cannot preserve ownership of ' /sdcard/dalvik-cache/dalvik-cache/[email protected]@[email protected] : operation not permitted.
This happens to all apps so i can't usually proceed with moving the dalvik cache.
Any idea guys?

usually that means that it requires the ext2 filesystem and you should be copying to the /system/sd directory. But if this can be done to the /sdcard fat32 filesystem then try the cp without -a
I am just guessing since I haven't tried to use the /sdcard (fat32) for anything but storage.

I thought dalvik cache can be put on the sdcard and doesn't need a ext2 partition, can someone verify this? Anyone here running it of the SDcard on a fat32 partition?
i tried cp without -a but it says, /data/dalvik-cache was ommited. can i use cp -r?

I'm no guru, just a noob that takes notes...lol. I don't know if this will help but in the 2nd line what does the f (rm -rF) do? I ask because the line I used doesn't have it and I had/have no issues with the dalvik.
busybox cp -a /data/dalvik-cache /system/sd/dalvik-cache
rm -r /data/dalvik-cache
ln -s /system/sd/dalvik-cache /data/dalvik-cache
reboot
hope this helps.

I would wager to bet that the Dalvik-Cache requires the permission model that is absent in Fat32, meaning it must be moved to the EXT2 partition, so the advice to put it onto your /sdcard/ and not /system/sd, is very bad.

my dalvik cache copies over ok- i can see it there with ls, but when i try to remove the dalvik cache it gives me a read only error- i am using 5.02Hr3? not possible to move dalvik for this version?
***edit**** apparently when if used the -rf instructions it gave me this error- just used -r and it worked great. internal storage gone from 29MB to 65!!!

Cache On Sd Card

After following this guide,
http://android-dls.com/wiki/index.php?title=Haykuro_Apps_to_SD#Preparing_SD_card
A friend said do this to move all your phones cace to sd card
Code:
rm -rf /data/dalvik-cache
ln -s /system/sd/dalvik-cache /data/dalvik-cache
But my question is what are the cons and pros about it?
One thing I heard is it shortens its life, but how much of it is shorten?

Code:
cp -a /data/dalvik-cache /system/sd
rm -rf /data/dalvik-cache
ln -s /system/sd/dalvik-cache /data/dalvik-cache
this is the right code I don't have any issues atm. I'm using 16gb class6 may ext2 is 500mb but my I didn't move my /data/data to sd because I noticed a little lag if I move my /data/data to sd

the new sd cards are tested for millions of write cycles. you would have to write constantly for years to reach that. you will be ok. the worst is you would have to replace your card after a few years. by then they will have 100gb micro sd cards(maybe an exageration) .

jrherras said:
Code:
cp -a /data/dalvik-cach /system/sd
rm -rf /data/dalvik-cache
ln -s /system/sd/dalvik-cache /data/dalvik-cache
this is the right code I don't have any issues atm. I'm using 16gb class6 may ext2 is 500mb but my I didn't move my /data/data to sd because I noticed a little lag if I move my /data/data to sd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
someone said the first part is
Code:
/system/sd/
not
/system/sd
Which one is it?

tanner2007 said:
someone said the first part is
Code:
/system/sd/
not
/system/sd
Which one is it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
doesn't matter
system/sd
system/sd/
/system/sd
/system/sd/
they're all the same

jrherras said:
doesn't matter
system/sd
system/sd/
/system/sd
/system/sd/
they're all the same
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, after looking at your siggy i see you have
" Cache, Dalvik-cache on SD"
there are two different caches? if so, should I move both?
I have apps on sd right now my class 6 chip, now I wanna move cache, all caches

Sorry to bump, just now I learn theres a few different caches, which are the phone ones that could help speed up the phone

jrherras said:
doesn't matter
system/sd
system/sd/
/system/sd
/system/sd/
they're all the same
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, don't agree.
For the first two be the same as last two you need to be in the '/' directory.

I don't really think a normal card can last that long. Flash devices are divided to many "pages" and you have to write one whole page each time, so we have to use file systems that take this into account (e.g. yaffs and jffs). if you don't use such file system, a page could be re-written hundreds of times just to save one file. this is made even worse, in case of inode tables, journals, and frequently used files. (this is why they use ext2 with noatime.) your card could easily die in months!!!
also, android doesn't have file system check on boot and the linux design assumes all file system are intact (that's why you're forced to do fsck on normal linux boot), so if the fs on your card is corrupted, the os will not complain and will keep messing it up!!
don't cry when you have to wipe because the phone can't access dalvik-cache and hang on boot.

[How to] mount SD card in recovery.

Please add this thread to the sticky!
If you messed up your ROM, and want to just reflash, but don't have your update on the SD card... or you mess up apps2sd and you need to clear them, this thread is for you. I've needed to do this MANY times, and it's a pain in the ass to remember how to do it every time.
Get into the recovery, and ./adb shell (if you can). Otherwise, hit alt + x to drop into the terminal. Then type this:
Code:
echo /dev/block/mmcblk0 > /sys/devices/platform/usb_mass_storage/lun0/file
Then, if you need to unmount:
Code:
echo "" > /sys/devices/platform/usb_mass_storage/lun0/file
This allows you to drag/drop files right from your PC to the sd card.

.... this is why i have card readers.
on another note, if you can get into adb cant you just
Code:
adb push /sdcard/

Simplest way - if you dont`t have update.zip on card simple click Alt-S. Recovery menu mount sdcard and show error (update.zip not found) but don`t unmount card

dbhatesyou said:
.... this is why i have card readers.
on another note, if you can get into adb cant you just
Code:
adb push /sdcard/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because then you'd have to mount the sdcard to the device, it's easier to just do it this way. Although the post below yours does give a good example of how to easily mount it, I often keep updates on the card.
So by using this and mounting it to the PC, I can easily change files/names/etc.

thanks
dude i registered just to thank you for this piece of advice. thanks gary works perfectly

this works for me and is much simpler:
adb shell
mount /sdcard
exit
once you do that you can:
adb push updateofyourchoice.zip /sdcard/update.zip
edit: you can even shorten it to:
adb shell mount /sdcard

Gary13579 said:
Please add this thread to the sticky!
If you messed up your ROM,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Learn to speak with out school yard language.

just bookmared this page hahha

agreed, this bit ought to be in the index...added to the "how to" section

mhm
how to access my ext3 partition so i can format it ?? (i'm using vista x64, adb works fine)

alapapa said:
this works for me and is much simpler:
adb shell
mount /sdcard
exit
once you do that you can:
adb push updateofyourchoice.zip /sdcard/update.zip
edit: you can even shorten it to:
adb shell mount /sdcard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I have to agree, this is what I do too... much easier really

Gary13579 said:
Please add this thread to the sticky!
If you messed up your ROM, and want to just reflash, but don't have your update on the SD card... or you mess up apps2sd and you need to clear them, this thread is for you. I've needed to do this MANY times, and it's a pain in the ass to remember how to do it every time.
Get into the recovery, and ./adb shell (if you can). Otherwise, hit alt + x to drop into the terminal. Then type this:
Code:
echo /dev/block/mmcblk0 > /sys/devices/platform/usb_mass_storage/lun0/file
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, thanks for this thread!
When I get to this point, I get a Permission Denied message.
(The way I typed it was echo /dev/block/mmcblk0 press enter /sys/devices/platform/usb_mass_storage/lun0/file)
Long story short.
I have Hero ROM (2.4). I had the FAT32/Ext2 partition. I used Paragon Partition Manager to complete delete partition and created a new FAT32/Ext3.
After I did this, it said that my SD card was not "formatted". I hit FORMAT button, but it gave me a force close error. I had no other choice but to turn off G1, when I turn on again (since HERO depends on your SD Card FAT32/Ext2,3 to load correctly, not it won't get pass HERO screen, it loops forever).
I will buy a SD card reader today (The way I have been working is thru another Phone (T-Mobile Wing, I removed SD card from G1 and put it on the Wing, but now it won't even read that, so that's another issue), regardless of this outcome. But I wanted to share my story.
I want to format my SD card thru the recovery console, if it's possible.
By the way, I typed also:
adb shell
It says Not found
Thanks in advanced.

thanks

after typing this in i get
"mount: mounting /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 on /sdcard failed: No such file or directory" no matter if my sdcard is inserted or not.

Ya'know, if you have Cyanogen's recovery image (which is awesome, has JF recovery features and more) you can just use:
ums_enable
ums_disable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to mount and unmount, works great.

AdrianK said:
Ya'know, if you have Cyanogen's recovery image (which is awesome, has JF recovery features and more) you can just use:
ums_enable
ums_disable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to mount and unmount, works great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, thats easier to remember, thanks!!! Now if he could add this into his menu would be even better!

bassbox said:
mhm
how to access my ext3 partition so i can format it ?? (i'm using vista x64, adb works fine)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From Terminal:
# mount -o rw /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /system/sd
# rm -rf /system/sd/*
# reboot recovery

ive gota say top advice from all of you!! it would have been a paper weight untill i got home but all working now..

YOU SIR
Are a lifesaver.
i thought i'd ruined my phone which means my om woulda killed me. but i didnt thanks to your halp!

bassbox said:
mhm
how to access my ext3 partition so i can format it ?? (i'm using vista x64, adb works fine)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not the best at unix and assuming 2nd partition is your ext2/3/4 ...
from console or better yet adb shell
mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /system/sd
cd /system/sd
ls -l (to see the contents)
rm [filenames] (to delete the files)
rmdir (to delete empty directories)
.

How to swap SD cards w/ Apps2SD

All props go to Jonnythan who gave the steps in another post. Mods may want to sticky this....
1. As always: Nandroid backup
2. reboot phone
3. adb shell into the phone
4. mkdir /sdcard/backup/
mkdir /sdcard/backup/app
mkdir /sdcard/backup/app-private
cp -r /data/app/* /sdcard/backup/app/
cp -r /data/app-private/* /sdcard/backup/app-private/
5. copy sd card to pc
6. Shut off phone and remove old sdcard and insert new sdcard
7. Start in recovery mode and partition new sdcard (fat32, ext2, swap)
8. Enable usb mode, copy data from old sdcard to newly partitioned sdcard
9. reboot and ignore force closings
10. Plug in USB and enable USB mode
From PC ADB shell into phone and type the following (enter after each line):
rm -r /data/app/*
rm -r /data/app-private/*
[chances are those directories are empty already, but you never know]
cp -r /sdcard/backup/app/* /data/app/
cp -r /sdcard/backup/app-private/* /data/app-private
reboot recovery
11. Restore most recent nandroid
12. reboot and enjoy
All thanks again to Jonnythan

Tweaks:
Between 5 and 6, shut off phone. Then start step 7 by specifying to start into recovery mode to partition the card. Then specify that you need to plug in the usb and adb shell for step 10. End step 10 by typing in "reboot recovery" which will reboot you right into the recovery partition.
Thanks for writing it up! Now I don't have to

Ok, I must be doing something wrong here... Does this require a custom ROM or anything? Im on the sprint Hero, stock ROM and I do have root. Everytime I get to step 4, at the cp -r /data/app/* /sdcard/backup/app/ command i get an error. It cant find the directory. Also, if i check the folder properties through Astro or linda file manager, it says 0 files, 0 folders, and also shows that it is not taking up any space. Just as a test to see if I was somehow blocked, I made a nandroid backup and deleted the /data folder, and upon reboot nothing had changed. Still have all of my apps on the phone...

I think the stock ROM doesn't include the cp command.

jonnythan said:
I think the stock ROM doesn't include the cp command.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait, when i get my sd card I have to do all this? I can't just reformat using the utility and drag and drop everything back into the sd card?

runsoverfrogs said:
Wait, when i get my sd card I have to do all this? I can't just reformat using the utility and drag and drop everything back into the sd card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not if you're using AppsToSD.
If you're not using A2SD then just make a backup of the old card, unmount it, put the new one in, and copy everything back. If you are using A2SD, the process is more complex.

Cp = Copy. Works on any rom. Like he said since you're on the stock rom, I doubt you're using Apps2SD so no you don't have to do all this.

If only people would actually read the thread title....
"How to swap SD cards w/ Apps2SD."
Don't have Apps2SD? Then this isn't the thread for you.

Exactly what I was thinking.

jonnythan said:
If only people would actually read the thread title....
"How to swap SD cards w/ Apps2SD."
Don't have Apps2SD? Then this isn't the thread for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using the modaco 1.1, i should've mentioned that. Doesnt that come with Apps2SD built in?

Only if you partitioned your sd card before you flashed.

After step 6, how do you boot into recovery mode to partition the new card if you dont have the recovery image on the new card? Did I miss a step where I added the recovery image to the new card?

chalan30 said:
After step 6, how do you boot into recovery mode to partition the new card if you dont have the recovery image on the new card? Did I miss a step where I added the recovery image to the new card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The recovery partition is installed on the phone itself, not the card.

thanks I dont know why the first time I tried i didn't get back into the recovery screen but the second time I booted into it just fine... oh well thanks for all your hard work!!!

Partitioning links
To partition the new card, you might want to include links to sdparted and this page for people who want to do it manually.

I have a question about how to make the swap. I have moved /data/dalvik-cache/ to my sd card and freed up about 25 meg of space on internal memory. Is there anything I need to do in addition to your instructions or would it be better to just do a wipe and start from scratch. I am using MoCaDo 1.2 Rom using apps2sd and ext3 partition. I have a 16 gig card coming. By moving the cache I now have 143 meg of internal memory with about 65 apps installed counting some of the stock apps. I have removed several of those as well. 34 apps from the market or handmark.

esoteric1311 said:
All props go to Jonnythan who gave the steps in another post. Mods may want to sticky this....
1. As always: Nandroid backup
2. reboot phone
3. adb shell into the phone
4. mkdir /sdcard/backup/
mkdir /sdcard/backup/app
mkdir /sdcard/backup/app-private
cp -r /data/app/* /sdcard/backup/app/
cp -r /data/app-private/* /sdcard/backup/app-private/
5. copy sd card to pc
6. Shut off phone and remove old sdcard and insert new sdcard
7. Start in recovery mode and partition new sdcard (fat32, ext2, swap)
8. Enable usb mode, copy data from old sdcard to newly partitioned sdcard
9. reboot and ignore force closings
10. Plug in USB and enable USB mode
From PC ADB shell into phone and type the following (enter after each line):
rm -r /data/app/*
rm -r /data/app-private/*
[chances are those directories are empty already, but you never know]
cp -r /sdcard/backup/app/* /data/app/
cp -r /sdcard/backup/app-private/* /data/app-private
reboot recovery
11. Restore most recent nandroid
12. reboot and enjoy
All thanks again to Jonnythan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see some possible problems with this method... what happens if you're copying the sdcard onto a windows machine to backup? You'll lose symlinks, uid, and the like.
Also, what if /app and /app-private don't get put back onto the new sdcard? You'll end up with symlinks that point to nothing.
How 'bout this method? (just a little tweak).
Boot into recover (adb shell reboot recovery)
when recovery comes up, go to the shell (adb shell)
Then, issue these commands (this assumes your ext partition is ext3, and that you're using Amon-Ra's recovery so you have BusyBox 1.13.2 or later):
mkdir /sdcard/extback
mount -o ro -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /system/sd
cp -a /system/sd/. /sdcard/extback/
Now, back up the sdcard to a linux machine... keeping uid's and everything the same.
Turn the phone off, swap the cards, reboot into recovery (manually), format, partition, and convert ext2->ext3 the sdcard, put all the stuff back onto the card... and in the shell (within recovery
mount -o rw -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /system/sd
cp -a /sdcard/extback/. /system/sd/
reboot
Now, it should all come up with the same attributes, no force close, and everything...
Basically, this method would swap sd cards outside of the normal OS (in recovery), but would keep all the attributes, symlinks, and uids the same for the main OS.
I think if you're using a windows box to backup the card, then we may want to look into making a tarball of the ext partition. I'm not sure if Amon-Ra's recovery supports this or not.

jmanley69 said:
I see some possible problems with this method... what happens if you're copying the sdcard onto a windows machine to backup? You'll lose symlinks, uid, and the like.
Also, what if /app and /app-private don't get put back onto the new sdcard? You'll end up with symlinks that point to nothing.
How 'bout this method? (just a little tweak).
Boot into recover (adb shell reboot recovery)
when recovery comes up, go to the shell (adb shell)
Then, issue these commands (this assumes your ext partition is ext3, and that you're using Amon-Ra's recovery so you have BusyBox 1.13.2 or later):
mkdir /sdcard/extback
mount -o ro -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /system/sd
cp -a /system/sd/. /sdcard/extback/
Now, back up the sdcard to a linux machine... keeping uid's and everything the same.
Turn the phone off, swap the cards, reboot into recovery (manually), format, partition, and convert ext2->ext3 the sdcard, put all the stuff back onto the card... and in the shell (within recovery
mount -o rw -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /system/sd
cp -a /sdcard/extback/. /system/sd/
reboot
Now, it should all come up with the same attributes, no force close, and everything...
Basically, this method would swap sd cards outside of the normal OS (in recovery), but would keep all the attributes, symlinks, and uids the same for the main OS.
I think if you're using a windows box to backup the card, then we may want to look into making a tarball of the ext partition. I'm not sure if Amon-Ra's recovery supports this or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now I'm confused don't take much.
I tried reading the ext2 partition using ubuntu and loading it temp on my windows 7 PC. It would not let me open that partition so I could not copy anything to it.
I guess the easiest way is to just wipe the phone back to factory, booting to recovery with the new card in and create the fat32-ext2-swap partition, re-flash the MoDaCo or any Rom that uses Apps2Sd and install all my apps again. I am assuming this would work as well.

jmanley69 said:
I see some possible problems with this method... what happens if you're copying the sdcard onto a windows machine to backup? You'll lose symlinks, uid, and the like.
Also, what if /app and /app-private don't get put back onto the new sdcard? You'll end up with symlinks that point to nothing.
How 'bout this method? (just a little tweak).
Boot into recover (adb shell reboot recovery)
when recovery comes up, go to the shell (adb shell)
Then, issue these commands (this assumes your ext partition is ext3, and that you're using Amon-Ra's recovery so you have BusyBox 1.13.2 or later):
mkdir /sdcard/extback
mount -o ro -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /system/sd
cp -a /system/sd/. /sdcard/extback/
Now, back up the sdcard to a linux machine... keeping uid's and everything the same.
Turn the phone off, swap the cards, reboot into recovery (manually), format, partition, and convert ext2->ext3 the sdcard, put all the stuff back onto the card... and in the shell (within recovery
mount -o rw -t ext3 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /system/sd
cp -a /sdcard/extback/. /system/sd/
reboot
Now, it should all come up with the same attributes, no force close, and everything...
Basically, this method would swap sd cards outside of the normal OS (in recovery), but would keep all the attributes, symlinks, and uids the same for the main OS.
I think if you're using a windows box to backup the card, then we may want to look into making a tarball of the ext partition. I'm not sure if Amon-Ra's recovery supports this or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, for one thing your method requires a linux machine
But what would you even have symlinks on the SD card for? Symlinks, uids, and attributes on SD card files simply aren't an issue at all for most people.
And truthfully if you are already doing that kind of stuff, you don't need this guide.

jonnythan said:
Well, for one thing your method requires a linux machine
But what would you even have symlinks on the SD card for? Symlinks, uids, and attributes on SD card files simply aren't an issue at all for most people.
And truthfully if you are already doing that kind of stuff, you don't need this guide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as Linux... get VMWare player for free and download ubuntu and you're set real fast. Also if you notice what I said about doing a tar instead id using Linux.
As far as symlinks. You're right there "shouldn't" be any... but if you're backing up something why not do it right just in case? We have no idea what future versions of apps2ad sill do. It may happen that a file MUST reside on internal memory and therefore you'd need a symlink.
As far as the rest...
Actualy... each app gets its own user id and mismatches in those can cause problems with some apps. And each file in Linux gets attributes to tell the OS who is allowed ti read/write/execute it. If those get messed up it can cause problems.
So... we have a responsibility aa educators to give the best instructions possible. And not give instructions that ultimately would result in a backup that is missing vital information and would lead to a complete reload to fix the problems.
There are many reasons why Google decided to restrict apps to internal memory and we will never know all of them... this may very well be one of the problems they saw happening.

[DEV][DATA2SD] More space (and more I/O) for your Desire (Updated/EXT4/Flashable ZIP)

HI all.
I know it has been already done but I didn't find any detailed tutorial for the hTc Desire so I wrote one for you
Howto for a HTC desire with clockworkmod recovery:
I did this with a stock HTC sense 2.2 froyo rooted rom with init.d support and my own kernel, forked from richardtrip sense kernel v5e. I don't know for other ROMs or Kernels. Your ROM must support init.d boot scripts.
What you need is:
* Fast µSD card (Class 4 or 6 recommended. Lots of issues reported with class 10 on the Desire)
* busybox (http://www.busybox.net/downloads/binaries/) on c:\
* Kernel with EXT4 support. The kernel in original ROM does not provide ext4 support!!
* Rom with init.d script support (StarBurst (Froyo) or Supernova (Gingerbread) have a native DATA2SD support)
* If you already have app2sd+ or a similar script, don't do the following hack (or at your own risks) !!
* If you still want to try it, backup your A2SD scripts and roll-back to a pre-A2SD state. Don't ask me why it's not working, I never used APPs2SD so I can't help.
* To help you with ADB, you can use the GUI
If you feel a bit lazy or you're scared to make any mistake and want to skip all the manual installation, then go straight to the bottom of this post and download the flashable script made by droidzone. Many thanks to him!! You can also flash Supernova (Stock HTC gingerbread release) and you'll be good to go within no time.
If you already have this running but you flashed another rom, have a look here. droidzone posted another script to just update the rom you just flashed to get DATA2SD work properly
[size=+1]1/Get yourself prepared[/size]
A/ backup everything (nandroid).
B/ Make sure everything is backed-up
C/ Copy the content of you SD to your computer and keep it handy for a roll-back.
D/ make a copy !!!! (I think know that you've been warned )
[size=+1]2/ Make 2 primary Mb aligned partitions on your SD[/size]
Primary partition 1 will be your usual storage, must be FAT32.
To optimize it, I really recommend to have a look here
Primary partition 2 will be your new storage (/data).
You can use gparted or fdisk (I do prefer fdisk and wrote a guide here ) to partition your SD; but it's up to you and Gparted is working great too.
Use the MB align option of gparted to align your partitions. This helps big time to get a better R/W speed.
With the latest busybox, you can do that on your phone in recovery mode.
You will need also e2fs progs. They're all attached at the bottom of this howto.
[size=+1]3/ Boot your phone in recovery and get it prepared[/size]
Connect to your phone with "adb shell"
You should get a ~# prompt now.
mount /system
mount /data
mount /sdcard
exit
if mount /sdcard fails, try mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /sdcard
You should get this as a result of a "mount" command:
Code:
~ # mount
mount
rootfs on / type rootfs (rw)
tmpfs on /dev type tmpfs (rw,relatime,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,relatime,mode=600)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,relatime)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,relatime)
/dev/block/mtdblock4 on /cache type yaffs2 (rw,nodev,noatime,nodiratime)
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 on /sdcard type vfat (rw,relatime,fmask=0000,dmask=0000,allow_utime=0022,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,s
hortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/block/mtdblock3 on /system type yaffs2 (rw,relatime)
/dev/block/mtdblock5 on /data type yaffs2 (rw,relatime)
Replace you old busybox exec with the new one. It's located in /system/xbin/
adb push c:\busybox-armv6l /system/xbin/busybox
Add the script to init.d folder:
adb push c:\01data.txt /system/etc/init.d/01data
Add the fstab to /system/etc/
adb push c:\fstab.txt /system/etc/fstab
Extract e2fsprogs-arm.zip to c:\
Push all e2fs progs you've extracted from the zip to /system/bin/ the same way:
adb push c:\e2fsprogs\system\bin\e2fsck /system/bin/
adb push c:\e2fsprogs\system\bin\mke2fs /system/bin/
(etc.... for all apps)
Push all e2fs libs you've extracted from the zip to /system/lib/ the same way:
adb push c:\e2fsprogs\system\lib\libext2_blkid.so /system/lib/
adb push c:\e2fsprogs\system\lib\libext2_com_err.so /system/lib/
(etc... for all libs)
adb shell
cd /system/bin
chmod 755 e2fsck
chown 0.2000 e2fsck
(Do the same for all pushed apps.)
cd /system/lib
chmod 644 libext2*
chmod 755 /system/xbin/busybox
chown 0.0 /system/xbin/busybox
chmod 755 /system/etc/init.d/01data
chown 0.0 /system/etc/init.d/01data
Finally type this:
:> /system/etc/mtab
[size=+1]4/ Instant of creation[/size]
cd /
For a non-journaled version:
/system/bin/mke2fs -T ext4 -b 4096 -E stride=64,stripe-width=64 -O ^has_journal,extent,^huge_file -m 0 -L userdata /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
For a journaled version (safety/AOSP ROMs):
/system/bin/mke2fs -T ext4 -b 4096 -E stride=64,stripe-width=64 -O extent,^huge_file -m 0 -L userdata /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
stride and stripe-width are RAID options but they are used here to align the filesystem to the max erase block size of an SD card. In conjunction with EXT4 extents feature (not present in ext3), it gives a bit of extra performance thanks to block allocation. It's used and recommended for SSDs, so it should help our poor little cheap (SSDs) SD cards
I use 64 because 64x4 (4kb block size)=256Kb. 256Kb is the max erase block size per the SD standards.
Your card may have a smaller erase block size but 256K is at least compatible with every card.
If you want to change the block allocation size, change the "64" parameter.
Just change it to - say - 32 (32x4=128kb) etc ...
Tune this to your actual erase block size if you know it.
If you want journaling (better data integrity) at the cost of performance and probably sd card wear, use the journaled option when you format the ext4 partition. Journal will also use some space on your EXT partition.
Read this article or my tutorial for more details on aligning partition and file system on linux.
I'd like to mention at this stage that fortunately, HTC has implemented a nice and clean unmount of /data at shutdown. Unless you remove your phone battery while it is running or android completely crashes and the cache hasn't been flushed to the sd card, you shouldn't suffer from data loss. In that case though, I've implemented a forced check of the data partition to try to recover any errors on the ext4 partition before booting the phone. You can expect to have a fair amount of safety without journal as long as you turn off your phone with standard HTC menu on sense ROMs
Anyway, if you want to try DATA2SD on a AOSP ROM, you *must* use a journal!
[size=+1]5/ verbatim[/size]
type this:
mkdir /sd
/system/xbin/busybox mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /sd
cd /data
cp -a * /sd
cd /
sync
All you data should copied now.
check with a "ls -l /sd" that you have a least the directory structure.
"df" should report the space used on the new filesystem and should be close to your /data.
/system/xbin/busybox umount /sd
[size=+1]6/ Reboot[/size]
Reboot.
Move all you apps (if you have used the Froyo AP2SD) back to the phone, which is now the SD.
Reboot to get a clean and stable phone
Make sure that you don't install any app in the future to the SD. Some apps are installed automatically to SD, move them back to the phone if it is so.
[size=+1]7/ Comments[/size]
IMHO, a readahead of 128kb could be a bit excessive and can penalise read speed when reading small amounts of data. I've reduced it on my phone to 64kb and noticed a slight improvement when for instance the phone reads data to show apps, icons and size when you open the application list in the settings/applications/manage applications menu. Some kernels have a default value of 4K. This is really bad for performance and it must be changed to get good read performance.
To change it, type this while android is running:
echo 64 > /sys/block/mmcblk0/queue/read_ahead_kb
This setting will be lost on reboot. Just add this line to the script if you want to keep it on reboot.
ownhere did a fantastic job at hacking the libsqlite.so library. I patched the original sense lib and I strongly recommend to replace it with the one attached below.
To do so, just boot into recovery mode, mount /system and backup your /system/lib/libsqlite.so file to your sdcard. Then push the patched lib to /system/lib/ and do a chmod 644 on the pushed file.
Reboot and VOILA!
Updates of the flashable ZIP are available here
If you're coming from previous version (2 FAT32 partitions, ext2 file and loop mount) and want to move to this new one, have a look at this post. You don't have to do everything from start and loose your data. You should get there all the needed info to backup your data and restore it to the new EXT4 partition.
ownhere posted a very interesting option to play with in this post. Apparently nodelalloc mount option is giving better score than delalloc on flash memories. I recently tested it and I had better Quadrant and TAP scores so check-it out!
If you want to impress your friends with Quadrant score, just add "noauto_da_alloc" in the mount option of the script or do this manually with adb shell : busybox mount -o remount,noauto_da_alloc /data
The effect is pretty similar on the final score than nodelalloc (at least on my phone/sdcard )
To get back to normal: busybox mount -o remount,auto_da_alloc /data
(Got this setting from here).
It is simply making the system (thus Quadrant) working in cache (RAM) instead of the SD card.
I'm not sure that this settings improves that much real life usage, but at least you'll get what you're looking for: A super (fake) Quadrand I/O score
I may add this setting in future release of DATA2SD. I'm testing it ATM on my phone.
Many thanks to ownhere and melethron for all their thinkings at bringing issues, help and updates to get to this new version.
Many thanks to too droidzone for his great work on a flashable ZIP and integrating DATA2SD in his ROM to make your life easier you flash maniacs
I hope that I didn't forget something. It's working for me so it should work for you.
Read the thread before asking a question !

This sounds really great ... 2 things :
1. your links are broken
2. Can't we generate the file for /data on the first fat32 partition ... would be a lot easier to format the sdcard with only one partition ...
thank you very much for this great information ...

fogbav said:
This sounds really great ... 2 things :
1. your links are broken
2. Can't we generate the file for /data on the first fat32 partition ... would be a lot easier to format the sdcard with only one partition ...
thank you very much for this great information ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No because you won't be able to use your SD as an external drive when connected to USB.
Just checked the links and they're OK

i vouch for sibere's script... i'm one of first "live testers" for his script and it works great and very, very stable
and from what have been tested by several testers , it can work in these roms :
without a2sd+ :
- rooted stock
- leedroid no-a2sd
with a2sd+ :
- auraxtsense
- defrost
- leedroid
- alex-v
Sibere, allow me to add notes from AndroHero on using the script with a2sd+ rom :
- remove the data2sd (or in auraxt, stuff2sd) from system/etc/init.d in the rom zipfile, or if you have install the rom, just remove from system/etc/init.d
- do the sibere script
Regards
BL

I have follow this easyest tutorial and i'm ok.
All credits to AndroHero for tutorial and to sibere for the hack! I'm only copy and paste from the previous thread!
This tutorial is for all app2sd sense rom so you can follow this tutorial not onfly for lee droid.
As attachment the file that tutorial need.
I have made a 2gb partition for data and is an awesome to see 1.80gb internal memory at first boot!!!!
WOOOOW
Now let's start with tutorial!
------TUTORIAL BEGIN-------
WHAT YOU NEED:
1)Root
2)Android SDK
3)15minutes of time
ALWAYS MAKE A NANDROID BACKUP AND SD BACKUP!!!
LET'S START NOW!
1) download leedroid 2.2f (apps2sd version)
2) unzip the .zip file, open the folder, open the system folder, and then inside that open the folder called etc, you will see a folder called init.d, open that and delete the file called 40a2sd, now just navigate back to the root of the rom and re-zip it.
3) now you need to partition your sd card, use gparted to make 2 fat partitions, a large primary partition and a secondary one about 1gb in size.
4) once you have done that copy the leedroid.zip to the sd card, boot into recovery, do all your wipes and flash the rom, one fashed boot it up and set it up as normal.
5) once set up, hold the power button and choose the option to reboot into recovery.
6) once in recovery connect your phone to your pc, open a command prompt and navigate to the tools folder inside the android SDK.
7) now in the command prompt type the following one at a time:
adb shell
mount /system
mount /data
mount /sdcard
exit
8) now leave the command prompt open and download the file at the bottom of the screen, (i have had to zip it, just open the .zip and the 01data file is inside) and copy it to the root of the c:\ drive on your pc.
9) in the command prompt type (one at a time and always wait for the # to appear again before entering a new command)
adb push c:\01data /system/etc/init.d
adb shell
chmod 755 /system/etc/init.d/01data
cd /
mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /sd-ext
dd if=/dev/zero of=/sd-ext/ext2 bs=1048576
/system/xbin/busybox mke2fs -F -L userdata /sd-ext/ext2
mkdir /sd
/system/xbin/busybox mount -o loop /sd-ext/ext2 /sd
cd /data
cp -a * /sd
cd /
/system/xbin/busybox umount /sd
exit
adb reboot
10) your phone will now reboot with a much bigger /data/ partition.
------TUTORIAL END-------
I suggest to activate the boost!
type in adb shell window with android running:
busybox mount -o remount,noatime,nodiratime /mnt/asec/ext/ext2 /data

sibere said:
No because you won't be able to use your SD as an external drive when connected to USB.
Just checked the links and they're OK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds real logical ...8) ... Ups ... shortcut in brain ...8)

bluelavender said:
i vouch for sibere's script... i'm one of first "live testers" for his script and it works great and very, very stable
and from what have been tested by several testers , it can work in these roms :
without a2sd+ :
- rooted stock
- leedroid no-a2sd
with a2sd+ :
- auraxtsense
- defrost
- leedroid
- alex-v
Sibere, allow me to add notes from AndroHero on using the script with a2sd+ rom :
- remove the data2sd (or in auraxt, stuff2sd) from system/etc/init.d in the rom zipfile, or if you have install the rom, just remove from system/etc/init.d
- do the sibere script
Regards
BL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Year sure, you're free to add notes mate

will this increase the battery usage?

kakit526 said:
will this increase the battery usage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No effect at all on the battery usage. the usage is around the same .
BL

only one question:
is it better than using a2sd+?
what is the difference?
i had a lot of memory issues with a2sd+ (internal memory decrease very quickly compared to a2sd storage until i get the 'low memory' error message), does this solve my problem?
thanks
bye
Alessandro

Does this really increase IO speed? Can anyone who managed to set this up please post ur Quadrant benchmark.

alessandro_xda said:
only one question:
is it better than using a2sd+?
what is the difference?
i had a lot of memory issues with a2sd+ (internal memory decrease very quickly compared to a2sd storage until i get the 'low memory' error message), does this solve my problem?
thanks
bye
Alessandro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it will solve the problem
The reason why internal memory still decreases with a2sd+ is because not every part of the apps are moved to sd-card . Some of the data parts are still in the internal memory.
This script moves entire data folder to sd card, so nothing in internal memory get decreased
It can be any size you want. So far, the maximum tested size is 2 gb i think was tested by mattiadj & androhero.
BL

I tried once, i got 1956 score (CPU at 998Mhz)

Does this preserve the data on the card? Or do you have to copy everything back on?
Of course I'll have backups, but just asking

coutts99 said:
Does this preserve the data on the card? Or do you have to copy everything back on?
Of course I'll have backups, but just asking
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it will survive the boot... of course, if you wipe factory data, everything will be gone...but it is safe and survive normal reboot or recovery reboot
BL

This is what is on clean flash of leedroid and after this hack!
I have made a 2gb partition....
Image talks alone....one word: THANKS!

Great job!
Now I expect seeing this bundled into all ROMs around here...

Any improvements are welcome but beside the space can you feel the I/O at some points or is it just a number?

Dude you are legen........ wait for it........... DeRY =D
hope to find a little time to test this awesome tutorial =]

what would happen if the SD card failed? does this render the phone unuseable until a new rom is flashed?