Database Info

Sd card

I have a sd card. i partitioned it using paragon partition manager mounting sd card thru phone. THen moved apps2sd and then decide to delete partition. So i being unable to delete the partition used windows own partition management to delete all the partitions. Then i decided to again partitions the card. Now i can't. Paragon partition manager can't do it. Used the sd split(ques- do we need an empty card for that). My phone storage went to 0 mb. Can anybody help me to again partition it. I really need it with haykuro's 5.02 H as it has only 43 mb free space. Please!!! Help.
Thanks for reading and now please do something

charnsingh_online said:
I have a sd card. i partitioned it using paragon partition manager mounting sd card thru phone. THen moved apps2sd and then decide to delete partition. So i being unable to delete the partition used windows own partition management to delete all the partitions. Then i decided to again partitions the card. Now i can't. Paragon partition manager can't do it. Used the sd split(ques- do we need an empty card for that). My phone storage went to 0 mb. Can anybody help me to again partition it. I really need it with haykuro's 5.02 H as it has only 43 mb free space. Please!!! Help.
Thanks for reading and now please do something
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't used paragon before but I would suggest using gparted through an ubuntu(or some other linux distro) live cd. Basically you download the cd image, burn it onto a cd, restart your computer with the cd in and it'll bring up a little menu that gives you the option to start up in ubuntu off the cd. Then go to System->(can't remember, but it's the second option)->Partition Editor. It has a nice gui and you just choose the last device listed which should be your sd card(check the size to make sure!) and you can create new partitions. Making an ext2 partition correctly in windows is a tad... difficult.
EDIT: actually, you can just use this:http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

Help
Can u please help me use it. I have portable ubuntu and now this. Can u provide step by step instructions or atleast give a hint to use it

Broken SD Card?

For the last 5 hours I have had hell with my sd card I redid my phone with JF new build and wiped out my 8gb class 6 a-data sd card but all of a sudeen it been acting weird
one thing is in paragon it shows the partitions still there (ext2) which takes up the whole card and should not, while windows shows its fat32, and i can access it in windows but it wont show up in in partition program nor delete
while when i mount it into the g1 (where it ask to mount or dont mount when plug it into pc) it instantly unmounts and i click mount again but just makes a noise and unmounts also saying its blank
now my 2gb chip seems to work fine (sometimes well if i unstall the drivers and let them re install then it works for a great amount of time), but this 8 gb,...well
what do you guys think? is it fixable? I can record video of it all (errors and stuff included) if u want
idk if its my chip, my phone or my pc can anyone help?

i think this has something to do with the way windows handles sd cards with no partition table. i assume you formatted the whole card to fat32 using a third party utility? that will totally confuse the system, because it cached a version of the partition table and now there's nowhere to find the new one. a quick solution is to use the build-in format tool to format your sdcard (right click on sdcard's icon and select format...). this should force the system to recalculate the size of the partition. then you have to unplug the card reader and plug it back in. now paragon should work.

billc.cn said:
i think this has something to do with the way windows handles sd cards with no partition table. i assume you formatted the whole card to fat32 using a third party utility? that will totally confuse the system, because it cached a version of the partition table and now there's nowhere to find the new one. a quick solution is to use the build-in format tool to format your sdcard (right click on sdcard's icon and select format...). this should force the system to recalculate the size of the partition. then you have to unplug the card reader and plug it back in. now paragon should work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
after a long while, finally got windows to format the whole thing to fat32, but yet still acting weird

what kind of card reader are you using? certain card readers has their own controller and do not allow you to partition properly.
but i am sure mountd in android will allow you full access to the sdcard when it's mounted.
also how much total space do you have in that fat partition after format? a full 8gb sd should have approx. 7.45GB actually space. if your partition table is correct, windows should only format the fat partition and give you a size smaller than 7.45G.
I strongly suggest you try again under Linux using the phone as reader. any livecd with a partition manager will perform much better than windows.

Well i try it both on my phone and a mem card reader, but once I put it on my phone it does not detect a sd card (my 8gb im trying to fix) while detects my fat32 2 gb chip
on my laptop and pc cant format nor delete that ext2 8gb sd card
BUT that 8gb ext2 card im trying to fix loads perfeclty and can access it on ubuntu so im guessing its not physically broken

tanner2007 said:
but once I put it on my phone it does not detect a sd card
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by "it", the GUI. How about doing an ls on /dev/block from the terminal on the phone to see what linux sees?
tanner2007 said:
on my laptop and pc cant format nor delete that ext2 8gb sd card
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, what do you mean by delete the card? You can delete a partition, but not a card: I'm not sure makes sense.
tanner2007 said:
BUT that 8gb ext2 card im trying to fix loads perfeclty and can access it on ubuntu so im guessing its not physically broken
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You say ext2, but yet above you claim to have reformatted as FAT. What does your ubuntu machine think it is? One way to tell is to mount it and try to set permissions on a file, if you can, it is not FAT.
What is your objective, do you want a FAT partition, an EXT2 partition, both?

Well I got it working guys, I dont know what was happening as I said before different programs where detecting different file systems, but soon as I found out how to do it ubuntu I saw it was working and erased the whole card (all partitions and everything)
and now it works again thanks guys ur tips helped

Partitioning - I'm baffled

I've looked through all the tutorials and read an obscene amount of how-to's, yet I can't figure out partitioning. Tried it from the SDK on a mac and pc and got some sort of path error right from the start. I've tried disk utility on a mac but I am confused on what entries I need to make. Same goes with disk manager on a PC. I've also tried Ubuntu with no luck (got an error). You name it, I've tried it and now I'm exhausted. All I am trying to do it partition a 4GB card to get a linux-swap of 128MB for one of the hero ROMs I want to try...If someone could show me the entries I'd need to make for size for the 3 partitions, that would be great. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Boot into recovery, create a partition.
Boot ubuntu, get the gnome partition editor
Resize the partitions as you need them.
Done.

If you were to flash Amon Ra's recovery it has an option to partition your sd card for you. I'm not exactly sure how much it would set the swap at, but I'm sure you could find it with a little searching. Here's the link to the recovery http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=530492

This is for a 8gb
adb shell
# parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
print
rm 1 (make sure you back up sdcard)
rm 2
rm 3
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 7599
mkpartfs primary ext2 7599 7604
mkpartfs primary linux-swap 7668 7732
quit
# reboot recovery
this is making the linux swap 128mb.

I use the method mentioned above:
adb shell
# parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
print
rm 1 (make sure you back up sdcard)
rm 2
rm 3
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 7599
mkpartfs primary ext2 7599 7604
mkpartfs primary linux-swap 7668 7732
quit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here are some tips though on how to get these numbers...
1. You MUST have the SDK installed correctly with the drivers so you can initiate the adb command and communicate with the device.
2. Partition in Recovery mode. Either Cyanogen or Amon_Ra... I use Cyanogen, so I can't speculate as to how to do this with Amon_Ra
3. BACK-UP YOUR SD CARD, this WILL WIPE YOUR CARD!!
Ok, once you are in recovery, go into the shell:
adb shell
Once there, mount the card with parted:
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
Once there, get your SD Card Information:
print
This will give you the size of your SD Card and list the partitions that currently exist on it. The number is gives you for SIZE is what you need to go off of, NOT ALL SD CARDS ARE THE SAME!!!
Be sure to remove any parititions that are there already (use the rm # command (# being the partition number you want to remove)).
The 8MB card above stops at 7732 where my 8GB card stops at 8053, so keep an eye on the numbers!!
Ok, now you have to work backwards... If you wanted to make 3 partitions, you work from back to front with the numbers:
For my card, since it ENDS at 8053, and I want a 128MB linux-swap partition, I simply take 8053 - 128 = 7925, so the THRID partion will be:
mkpartfs primary linux-swap 7925 8053
Now I have a 500MB ext3 parition so I take 7925 - 500 = 7425 which makes the SECOND partition:
mkpartfs primary ext2 7425 7925
And then the remaining space is for FAT32:
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 7425
So you will actually run them in the reverse order:
FAT32 > ext2 > linux-swap:
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 7425
mkpartfs primary ext2 7425 7925
mkpartfs primary linux-swap 7925 8053
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can adjust the numbers however you want for space assignment.
Once you are done, you should (unless the ROM dev states otherwise) upgrade the ext2 partition to ext 3.
In parted type:
quit
This will drop you to the shell and then type:
upgrade_fs
Wait for this to complete and you now have FAT32 + ext3 + linux-swap
Hope this helps explain it some!

this android and me how to is the best ive seen has pictures and step by step, made partitioning a breeze http://androidandme.com/2009/08/news/how-to-manually-partition-your-sd-card-for-android-apps2sd/

Thanks for the help guys. I'll keep trying but I haven't been able to get the ADB working via the SDK. I know I am doing something wrong with the path because its not even letting me get past the initial command. By the way, I have the Amon Ra recovery and I believe it auto-partitioned 32MB. I need 98, possibly 128.
On the bright side, I just received a replacement phone because my first mytouch was defective and giving me horrible reception (BEFORE I ever tried messing around with it). So, now I have two phones, one of which I can mess around with.

staunty said:
I've looked through all the tutorials and read an obscene amount of how-to's, yet I can't figure out partitioning. Tried it from the SDK on a mac and pc and got some sort of path error right from the start. I've tried disk utility on a mac but I am confused on what entries I need to make. Same goes with disk manager on a PC. I've also tried Ubuntu with no luck (got an error). You name it, I've tried it and now I'm exhausted. All I am trying to do it partition a 4GB card to get a linux-swap of 128MB for one of the hero ROMs I want to try...If someone could show me the entries I'd need to make for size for the 3 partitions, that would be great. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
staunty said:
Thanks for the help guys. I'll keep trying but I haven't been able to get the ADB working via the SDK. I know I am doing something wrong with the path because its not even letting me get past the initial command. By the way, I have the Amon Ra recovery and I believe it auto-partitioned 32MB. I need 98, possibly 128.
On the bright side, I just received a replacement phone because my first mytouch was defective and giving me horrible reception (BEFORE I ever tried messing around with it). So, now I have two phones, one of which I can mess around with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Staunty: I was in your position yesterday. I'm thinking about making a write up for noobs solely about partitioning, simply because until you do it, the language and way to do it was extremely hard to find. Here is how I did it:
I could not get ADB to work at all, not sure why but I get an error every time I try to mount or find my device in console, I've heard of ADB problems on windows 7 and even tried a fix to no avail. Realizing ADB was out of the question, I needed to format the SD card outside the phone. I did not have a card reader, so I drove to best buy and for 19.99 purchased a card reader for my pc. It is by rocketfish and comes in a red box in case you go my route. Thankfully it reads micro SD cards WITHOUT a converter to normal SD. If you have all the materials, time to format the card.
Because Android needs a linux-swap and EXT2 or EXT3 partition for what we're doing, windows can't format the card correctly without using ADB. The workaround is to use linux. You don't have to install linux, you can just burn it onto a CD and boot up with it for a 1 time use to format your SD card. If you don't have a CD burner like myself, you can use a USB drive. I went to www.linuxmint.com and downloaded linux mint for free. Mint is like ubuntu but extremely user friendly. It comes with Gparted, the partition editor. In mint, there is a search bar right in the program menu. Search for partition or Gparted and it will show up. Put your card into the card reader. Select your SD card from the drop down window in Gparted. Look for the "device" with 3.69gb of available space, thats your 4GB SD card. Right click each partition and select "unmount". Once your entire SD card is "unallocated" you're ready to divide up your memory card into partitions.
You stated that you have a 4 gig card. I'm assuming it's the stock class2 mytouch card. Thats the card I'm using as well, so I'll give you my numbers. Just an FYI, I decided to use a very large EXT3 and very large swap as I've heard not having enough swap can lead to lag so I decided to be overly generous, you can change these numbers to whatever you want. I also left some space unpartitioned just to be on the safe side since this was my first time partitioning the card.
Right click on Unallocated and select new at the top. We're going to do your FAT32 first. In the middle box on the left that says "Size" type 2900, I believe it asks you for the # in mb. If it asks for GB just type 2.9. On the lower right hand side, select FAT32 and then less ok. The second partition we'll make is an EXT3 partition. Most other methods can't directly create an EXT3 partition, however Gparted does let us do this. Lets take advantage while we can. Right click again on unallocated and fill in 575 for size. This time select EXT3 from the drop down menu. Hit create. Last and certainly not least, our Linux-Swap partition. Create a new partition again, fill in 225 for the size and select Linux-Swap for the partition. After you've created all 3, click the green check mark above the white partitioning area. You will get a message that all data on the card will be lost. Click yes. Wait for the computer to create the new partitions on the card and then viola, you've partitioned your SD card without ADB. I apologize if any of this seemed long winded or condescending, however I simply wanted to write out every possible step because I know at one point I really wanted to see something as step by step as this.

Mr. Nefarious said:
Staunty: I was in your position yesterday. I'm thinking about making a write up for noobs solely about partitioning, simply because until you do it, the language and way to do it was extremely hard to find. Here is how I did it:
I could not get ADB to work at all, not sure why but I get an error every time I try to mount or find my device in console, I've heard of ADB problems on windows 7 and even tried a fix to no avail. Realizing ADB was out of the question, I needed to format the SD card outside the phone. I did not have a card reader, so I drove to best buy and for 19.99 purchased a card reader for my pc. It is by rocketfish and comes in a red box in case you go my route. Thankfully it reads micro SD cards WITHOUT a converter to normal SD. If you have all the materials, time to format the card.
Because Android needs a linux-swap and EXT2 or EXT3 partition for what we're doing, windows can't format the card correctly without using ADB. The workaround is to use linux. You don't have to install linux, you can just burn it onto a CD and boot up with it for a 1 time use to format your SD card. If you don't have a CD burner like myself, you can use a USB drive. I went to www.linuxmint.com and downloaded linux mint for free. Mint is like ubuntu but extremely user friendly. It comes with Gparted, the partition editor. In mint, there is a search bar right in the program menu. Search for partition or Gparted and it will show up. Put your card into the card reader. Select your SD card from the drop down window in Gparted. Look for the "device" with 3.69gb of available space, thats your 4GB SD card. Right click each partition and select "unmount". Once your entire SD card is "unallocated" you're ready to divide up your memory card into partitions.
You stated that you have a 4 gig card. I'm assuming it's the stock class2 mytouch card. Thats the card I'm using as well, so I'll give you my numbers. Just an FYI, I decided to use a very large EXT3 and very large swap as I've heard not having enough swap can lead to lag so I decided to be overly generous, you can change these numbers to whatever you want. I also left some space unpartitioned just to be on the safe side since this was my first time partitioning the card.
Right click on Unallocated and select new at the top. We're going to do your FAT32 first. In the middle box on the left that says "Size" type 2900, I believe it asks you for the # in mb. If it asks for GB just type 2.9. On the lower right hand side, select FAT32 and then less ok. The second partition we'll make is an EXT3 partition. Most other methods can't directly create an EXT3 partition, however Gparted does let us do this. Lets take advantage while we can. Right click again on unallocated and fill in 575 for size. This time select EXT3 from the drop down menu. Hit create. Last and certainly not least, our Linux-Swap partition. Create a new partition again, fill in 225 for the size and select Linux-Swap for the partition. After you've created all 3, click the green check mark above the white partitioning area. You will get a message that all data on the card will be lost. Click yes. Wait for the computer to create the new partitions on the card and then viola, you've partitioned your SD card without ADB. I apologize if any of this seemed long winded or condescending, however I simply wanted to write out every possible step because I know at one point I really wanted to see something as step by step as this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, thanks for the detailed info. However, I finally figured out what was happening with the SDK...Maybe you're having a similar issue. First of all, I went with the 2.0 initially but was having some sort of error that I found others to be having. I scrapped the 2.0 and went with the 1.6 SDK. Dropped it on C:\ and renamed it (rename it whatever you want). That solved issue 1 and my command prompt found the right path. Issue 2 was needing to delete any and all HTC drivers in my system. After I did that, I plugged the phone back in an reinstalled the drivers that popped up with plug and play. Problems solved. Only problem I now have is remembering which ROM for which I was doing all this. Seriously, I've looked at and read about so many that they all sound the same. We should collaborate on this noob tutorial, I knew nothing whatsoever about 2 days ago and have spent countless hours figuring out stuff that is relatively simple in hindsight.

or try amon ra's preview of his new recovery, it has dynamic partitioning http://bit.ly/aXCh8

I am in the same boat. I have used Gpartition Live CD, Amon RA's Recovery 1.2.3. After partitioning the SD (4GB Class 4), when I put it in Windows XP via a SD adapter, it says the SD is not formated. The same happens when I use my phone. They phone sees the SD memory as "Blank Media".
Anyone have any ideas what I am getting wrong?

themetatron said:
or try amon ra's preview of his new recovery, it has dynamic partitioning http://bit.ly/aXCh8
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I use and it works best for me.

[Q] How can I know that which kind of partition I have (ext 2,3,4)?

Can anyone please tell me how I can get to know which partition I am using.. I partitioned using ClockworkMod Recovery 5.0.2.8... So thats why I have no idea..! :S

I think that recovery will make an ext2 partition, but not 100% sure. Easiest way to check is probably to connect your micro SD card to your computer (in a card reader, I don't think it will work in the phone, although I'm not completely sure) and run a partition manager like MiniTool Partition Wizard (http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html). It should show all drives connected to your computer, and within each drive, all the partitions, along with their format etc. Find the drive corresponding to your SD card (probably the only one with an ext partition) and look at the format of the ext partition.
This assumes you run Windows. If you run Linux, it should natively detect both partitions on the card, although depending on your distro it may or may not automatically mount them. I can't really help too much with that aspect of things, but I'd say if you are the sort to run Linux, you'll have a fair idea where to go from there.

SifJar said:
I think that recovery will make an ext2 partition, but not 100% sure. Easiest way to check is probably to connect your micro SD card to your computer (in a card reader, I don't think it will work in the phone, although I'm not completely sure) and run a partition manager like MiniTool Partition Wizard (http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html). It should show all drives connected to your computer, and within each drive, all the partitions, along with their format etc. Find the drive corresponding to your SD card (probably the only one with an ext partition) and look at the format of the ext partition.
This assumes you run Windows. If you run Linux, it should natively detect both partitions on the card, although depending on your distro it may or may not automatically mount them. I can't really help too much with that aspect of things, but I'd say if you are the sort to run Linux, you'll have a fair idea where to go from there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay thanks...
Sent from my HTC Explorer A310e using xda app-developers app

[Q] Is fat32 the only filesystem supported for microsd?

I tried formatting to ext4 and the phone did not recognize the card. Just wondered if anyone else had sucessfully tried any other filesystems?
Right now 64GB microsd's seem to be the best deal and name brand versions can be found as cheap as $20-25 where 128gb cards will still cost you $70+ and usually involve rebates at the lower end prices.

Exfat and fat32. I have mine formatted to fat32.
Sent from my Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 using Tapatalk

Applications that can write to SD card can only write to a SD card format to FAT 32. The system file manager can write to Exfat, but that's it.

Still not all apps will have permissions. I can't get Utorrent to save to the ext sd for anything
Sent from my 6045I using XDA Free mobile app

jvs60 said:
Still not all apps will have permissions. I can't get Utorrent to save to the ext sd for anything
Sent from my 6045I using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Syncthing is the same way...you should still be able to use the kitkat workaround though which is to save your files to a folder under the android\data\<appname> folder on the sdcard since each app has access to it's own data area.

I never knew about this workaround. So i create the folders on my ext sd card?
Sent from my 6045I using XDA Free mobile app

jvs60 said:
I never knew about this workaround. So i create the folders on my ext sd card?
Sent from my 6045I using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-bypass-Android-44-KitKat-external-SD-write-/

damn... i'll try that
how come the sdcard can't be used for anything
camera 360 can't use it to save, there's no option to choose applications installation on sdcard ect.
had to use link2sd to move almost all my apps without error
seriously now...

keyra74 said:
damn... i'll try that
how come the sdcard can't be used for anything
camera 360 can't use it to save, there's no option to choose applications installation on sdcard ect.
had to use link2sd to move almost all my apps without error
seriously now...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It can be used if you are rooted...requires adding a line to platform.xml. If you find the thread about what camera software to use I posted some instructions on how to fix it where 3rd party's can use the external sd...or you can google on "platform.xml android external sd".
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=62100041&postcount=37

famewolf said:
It can be used if you are rooted...requires adding a line to platform.xml. If you find the thread about what camera software to use I posted some instructions on how to fix it where 3rd party's can use the external sd...or you can google on "platform.xml android external sd".
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=62100041&postcount=37
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thx i used the goold old sdfix app. it's normally for kitkat and we have to use some trick like that on lollipop bad alcatel bad

keyra74 said:
thx i used the goold old sdfix app. it's normally for kitkat and we have to use some trick like that on lollipop bad alcatel bad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blame google, not Alcatel. The external sd card issue is due to Lollipop..
That app makes the same change...you can uninstall it after it modifies the file. Simpler for me to just edit the file and push the change.

I'm on exfat on a 64gb. Works fine.

The 200gb I had in my g3 worked just fine.
Just realized the card cost more than this phone...

scatoclysm said:
I'm on exfat on a 64gb. Works fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1

My 32 gb HDSC card came formatted with FAT32. I preferred ExFAT, so I reformatted the card using Disk Utility on my Mac. The Icon 3 didn't recognize it until I reformatted back to FAT32. Maybe I should have tried formatting it on a Windows machine. I may try a 64 GB HDXC card that probably comes formatted with ExFAT.

maigre said:
My 32 gb HDSC card came formatted with FAT32. I preferred ExFAT, so I reformatted the card using Disk Utility on my Mac. The Icon 3 didn't recognize it until I reformatted back to FAT32. Maybe I should have tried formatting it on a Windows machine. I may try a 64 GB HDXC card that probably comes formatted with ExFAT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really not much of a benefit to exfat over fat32...especially if you set cluster size when formatting. I also read about some folks having permission issues writing to the exfat till they reformatted. The samsung 128GB I put in my idol3 worked like a champ.

NooB....Thank Google lollypop for sdcard problems. U can write to sdcard with some apps not all if the code is written for this.

It seems TWRP doesn't recognise exfat partitions if the sdcard doesn't contain a partition table (GPT works, I haven't tried old-style msdos partition table).
This could be partly explained by the fact that, without a partition table, the external sdcard is called /dev/block/mmcblk1 instead of /dev/block/mmcblk1p1
To put it another way, if you want your sd card to be both readable when the phone is normally booted AND when it's booted into TWRP, you have to make a GPT table on the sdcard, and create an exfat partition inside.
=> In windows, it just fell into place after messing around with it for a bit. Your mileage will vary, depending on if you had an msdos partition table, a pre-existing GPT partition table (easiest) or no partition table at all. I gave up trying to figure it out.
=> Under TWRP adb shell, using the image containing gdisk, I did it this way (data-destructive operation !) :
- Use gdisk to create a new GPT table on /dev/block/mmcblk1 (or /dev/sdX outside from adb shell)
- Also with gdisk, create a new partition (types 8300 or 0700 should do) on the device targeted previously
- Then, exit gdisk and use "mkfs.exfat -n extsd /dev/block/mmcblk1p1" (or /dev/sdX1 if you didn't do it from TWRP adb shell) to reformat the partition created previously to exfat format.
However => do NOT use mkfs.exfat command on the /dev/block/mmcblk1 device (or /dev/sdX), else you'll have to redo step 1 again
Also, under adb shell, make sure you don't accidentally wipe /dev/block/mmcblk0 device, else you'll brick your phone !
I hope this helps a few people

DarkZell666 said:
It seems TWRP doesn't recognise exfat partitions if the sdcard doesn't contain a partition table (GPT works, I haven't tried old-style msdos partition table).
This could be partly explained by the fact that, without a partition table, the external sdcard is called /dev/block/mmcblk1 instead of /dev/block/mmcblk1p1
To put it another way, if you want your sd card to be both readable when the phone is normally booted AND when it's booted into TWRP, you have to make a GPT table on the sdcard, and create an exfat partition inside.
=> In windows, it just fell into place after messing around with it for a bit. Your mileage will vary, depending on if you had an msdos partition table, a pre-existing GPT partition table (easiest) or no partition table at all. I gave up trying to figure it out.
=> Under TWRP adb shell, using the image containing gdisk, I did it this way (data-destructive operation !) :
- Use gdisk to create a new GPT table on /dev/block/mmcblk1 (or /dev/sdX outside from adb shell)
- Also with gdisk, create a new partition (types 8300 or 0700 should do) on the device targeted previously
- Then, exit gdisk and use "mkfs.exfat -n extsd /dev/block/mmcblk1p1" (or /dev/sdX1 if you didn't do it from TWRP adb shell) to reformat the partition created previously to exfat format.
However => do NOT use mkfs.exfat command on the /dev/block/mmcblk1 device (or /dev/sdX), else you'll have to redo step 1 again
Also, under adb shell, make sure you don't accidentally wipe /dev/block/mmcblk0 device, else you'll brick your phone !
I hope this helps a few people
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or just keep it formatted as fat32 and skip the above which was my choice.

Just my two cents - why would you want to format SD to ext4? Journaling filesystems don't work very well with flash drives, cells die much quicker.