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I used the recovery partition to create FAT32, ext2, and swap partitions on my sd card.
1) What size does it make each of these partitions?
2) What is each used for?
3) When loading the MoDaCo update.zip (and rebooting after first boot) after creating these partitions, what does it do with each of them? My free space on each seems to change, and I think it's loading some apps to the SD card? But not others?
4) How do you see how much space remains on the fat32 and ext2 partitions? Which one is shown in the SD card info settings page, and which one is used for USB mass storage mode? Neither seems to change much even after I install a bunch of >1MB apps.
Thanks for any help.
Also, what's taking up all my internal phone space? If the update.zip moved apps to the SD card, why do I only have 50 MB left of internal space?
jonnythan said:
I used the recovery partition to create FAT32, ext2, and swap partitions on my sd card.
1) What size does it make each of these partitions?
2) What is each used for?
3) When loading the MoDaCo update.zip (and rebooting after first boot) after creating these partitions, what does it do with each of them? My free space on each seems to change, and I think it's loading some apps to the SD card? But not others?
4) How do you see how much space remains on the fat32 and ext2 partitions? Which one is shown in the SD card info settings page, and which one is used for USB mass storage mode? Neither seems to change much even after I install a bunch of >1MB apps.
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
32 mb swap, 500mb ext2 rest fat32
swap is for linux swap if its used in the rom, ext2 is for your apps, and fat32 is for your storage
yes it loads all of your /data/app and /data/app-private apps on your sd card, your /system/app stays there
you can do a df -h under adb to see your free space
jonnythan said:
I used the recovery partition to create FAT32, ext2, and swap partitions on my sd card.
1) What size does it make each of these partitions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it makes a 32MB Swap partiton, a 500 MB Ext2 partition and the rest fat32.
jonnythan said:
2) What is each used for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Fat32 is normal files like music, pictures, etc. The ext2 is used for apps2sd. Don't worry, 500MB is more than enough for this. The swap is used for bakcground applications so they run better without slowing the phone down as much.
jonnythan said:
3) When loading the MoDaCo update.zip (and rebooting after first boot) after creating these partitions, what does it do with each of them? My free space on each seems to change, and I think it's loading some apps to the SD card? But not others?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Fat32 it shouldnt do anything. Obviously you will have less space because the other partitions are taking some of it's space. It loads the apps onto your ext2 partition but not all of them. System apps such as the calculator, browser, phone, etc stay on the system partition because it's faster.
jonnythan said:
4) How do you see how much space remains on the fat32 and ext2 partitions? Which one is shown in the SD card info settings page, and which one is used for USB mass storage mode? Neither seems to change much even after I install a bunch of >1MB apps.
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have Windows, Linux or Mac. I don't know about Mac but I know Linux can view ext partitions natively (obviously, it's the native filesystem). For Windows you might be able to load the disk management application but if that doesnt show it you need a partitioning application or any other application that can read ext partitions off an sdcard. Don't know any off hand except paragon partitioning manager 9.0 (8.0 never seemed to work with my sd cards)
jonnythan said:
Also, what's taking up all my internal phone space? If the update.zip moved apps to the SD card, why do I only have 50 MB left of internal space?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See the above explanation.
nelson8403 said:
32 mb swap, 500mb ext2 rest fat32
swap is for linux swap if its used in the rom, ext2 is for your apps, and fat32 is for your storage
yes it loads all of your /data/app and /data/app-private apps on your sd card, your /system/app stays there
you can do a df -h under adb to see your free space
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That answers my questions, thank you.
I found another though. I unmounted my SD card via Settings to see if the apps would fail to work in an effort to try to figure out if they were actually installed there. Predictably, they failed to work, but the system didn't pick the card back up after I reinserted it. So I rebooted the phone with the SD card in.
Then everything died. The apps didn't come back, but the phone still had them listed and tried to launch them, resulting in force-closes. An ext2 repair didn't fix it, so I just went back to my last Nandroid backup and reapplied update.zip.
I learned that this is a Bad Thing to do, but I'm wondering if this was a fluke or is it generally inadvisable to unmount the SD card for this reason?
im a noob to the whole android thing.but how do i partition the sd card and create ext2?????
jonnythan said:
I learned that this is a Bad Thing to do, but I'm wondering if this was a fluke or is it generally inadvisable to unmount the SD card for this reason?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since this is a simple symlink, if you reboot the phone without the target of the symlink being there, and the phone tries to use it...
The results are left as an exercise for the reader.
Now for anyone who asks why it isn't smart enough not to break... that's like asking why your car doesn't run if you take half the spak plugs out.
posguy99 said:
Since this is a simple symlink, if you reboot the phone without the target of the symlink being there, and the phone tries to use it...
The results are left as an exercise for the reader.
Now for anyone who asks why it isn't smart enough not to break... that's like asking why your car doesn't run if you take half the spak plugs out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, but I'm asking why it still doesn't work once you put the spark plugs back in
It's not a big deal, I certainly learned not to do it.
jonnythan said:
Ah, but I'm asking why it still doesn't work once you put the spark plugs back in
It's not a big deal, I certainly learned not to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because booting the phone with it thinking the app was installed but it not able to find it trashed other data structures.
BTW, people trying to do stuff with the SD card removed after putting the apps on the SD card is probably one of the main reasons it currently is root only.
The OS needs to be modified to handle removable app storage gracefully (not something that happens in a standard phone.)
So should you format the card prior to flashing Modaco's ROM so the system knows to install all the apps to the ex2 partition. Or can you format the card AFTER you have already flashed Modaco's ROM and still have the apps automatically install on ext2 partition? I only ask cuz I formatted after flashing the ROM and wanna make sure it's installing it on the ext2.
I formatted mine afterwards and it moved all my apps over to the sd card automatically.
Some of you might now this well, if you had been through the older generation of the phones with very low internal storage space.
Apps2SD Script, Link2SD, and ... another lesser known flavor of App2SD have been used and still in use for a long time to make External SD cards as extended internal memory.
of course you'll need at least a Class 6 of better microSD to not feel the lag.
The great thing is the SGS4G as all its brothers/cousins models comes with its own 14 GB ~ 15 GB of internal storage space (SD card)
so when you use Apps2SD hard link script, or better yet Link2SD then it will by default use the Internal SD card as the memory extension
and you can still use the External SD to transfer stuff.
so even when you remove the External SD you wont disable the internal apps that are running.
the only IMPORTANT Rule to remember when you use this setup is to NOT USE the stock MOUNT USB
instead use the MULTI USB MOUNT or DUAL MOUNT both found in the android market.
that will prevent the Internal SD from being mounted as well, and causing the phone to reboot
[REF]
Link2SD
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=919326
more details here to use ext3 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=923628
the good ol' Apps2SD hack before Froyo was even born
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=742126&highlight=apps2sd
Dual Mount SD Widget
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.protocol.x.USB&feature=search_result
Multi Mount SD-Card Free
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.rafoid.multimountsdcard.widget.free&feature=search_result
AllGamer said:
so when you use Apps2SD hard link script, or better yet Link2SD then it will by default use the Internal SD card as the memory extension
and you can still use the External SD to transfer stuff.
so even when you remove the External SD you wont disable the internal apps that are running.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pardon my ignorance, i am getting confused by "internal" and "external" SD, I believe the "internal" is the one that comes with the phone, which one is the "external" one?
external SD = microSD
internal SD = 15 GB of internal space
internal Storage = 1 GB of full bloatware with only 180-ish MB usable space
you will not see external unless you stick in a 16GB or 32GB microSD into the phone
I am confused how this helps Galaxy S 4G users? The Galaxy S 4G lacks the 16gb internal SD, that is the issue. It only has 1gb internal memory of which only ~300 megs appear to be available for app install/storage out of the box. I understand you can install your apps on the external 16gb (included) SD Card but that has always been the case. What am I missing here?
Yeah, I'm missing something here too. The Vibrant has the internal storage of ~16mb while the gs4g does not...
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App
... wow im finding less and less of a reason to keep this phone ffs... i was told at the tmo store that it has 16g internal and thats not true. these sales reps need to learn there stuff
AllGamer said:
external SD = microSD
internal SD = 15 GB of internal space
internal Storage = 1 GB of full bloatware with only 180-ish MB usable space
you will not see external unless you stick in a 16GB or 32GB microSD into the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the help. Even though as dcam and Seanathan mentioned. This Galaxy S 4G phone doesn't come with the Internal SD space like it's brother's have.
If I run out of memory again for apps I will try this out. I manually did the "Move to SD Card" for all the Apps I was able to do that for to get more memory under the Setting's options.
This may sound odd to some, but I prefer the setup with the memory for the S 4G. I actually still have the Vibrant & recently got the S4G, & just out of curiosity, I loaded the same exact apps to the S4G as I had on the Vibrant. Having the apps on the SD card has a tremendous effect on the performance than having them on the internals. There is of course the lag issue on the Vibrant, but the S4G just just kept on trucking, no lags. I even went a step further & pulled up google maps, you tube, media player & still didn't skip a beat. I tried that with the Vibrant & I had to restart...
What people are posting about devs being able to do with 1gb on memory is stupid. I have an hd2 with 1gb running cm7 on it. I still have about 600mb free on it. Of course I use apps2sd on it but that's just a personal preference. Devs will be able to do plenty once all the bloat and crapware is stripped from the 4g
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
Beefvvl said:
Thanks for the help. Even though as dcam and Seanathan mentioned. This Galaxy S 4G phone doesn't come with the Internal SD space like it's brother's have.
If I run out of memory again for apps I will try this out. I manually did the "Move to SD Card" for all the Apps I was able to do that for to get more memory under the Setting's options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, that is true
but the Apps2SD script hack, or the Link2SD still works with the External SD
if you use the Multi mount or Dual mount USB then you can access the files on the PC without breaking the connection internally for the phone apps
ironically that's one of the problem with the Nexus S, the lack of External SD support, and only 1GB of space, so everything needs to be moved to External SD, and be able to use it meanwhile you share file on the PC
has anyone tried to repartition with MiniTool Partition Wizard? after I resized the original partition, and tried to create a new partition, it gave an error messaging saying the new partition could not be created unless I delete all the partitions and re-create from scratch.
AllGamer said:
yes, that is true
but the Apps2SD script hack, or the Link2SD still works with the External SD
if you use the Multi mount or Dual mount USB then you can access the files on the PC without breaking the connection internally for the phone apps
ironically that's one of the problem with the Nexus S, the lack of External SD support, and only 1GB of space, so everything needs to be moved to External SD, and be able to use it meanwhile you share file on the PC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just curious. Which one is better out of the two or can you use both in conjunction with each other? Also which App2SD do you use? There are a couple from different devs.
Beefvvl said:
Just curious. Which one is better out of the two or can you use both in conjunction with each other? Also which App2SD do you use? There are a couple from different devs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
both can be used together
although the Link2SD is quite straight forward
you just need to repartition the SD card to have a linux EXT partition
then you can use either the ext2 or ext3 to mount it and use Link2SD to manage the apps as you would use the native Apps2SD supported by Froyo and newer AOS
unfortunately the Froyo method of Apps2SD only works if the developer of the apps enables it
but Link2SD will force even apps that are not natively apps2SD capable to run from SD
Cool. Thanks for the info. I tried using App2SD from the market but I don't think this is the same App2SD hack that you are referring to. It didn't really help me much at all. I'll try out Link2SD maybe some other time.
I ended up using Titanium Backup and did moved apps to SD. I was able to move the pre-installed apps to SD and also all the other apps that weren't able to move to sd originally.
for the Apps2SD hack to work and/or Link2SD
you will need to have an External SD formatted with a 2nd partition to ext2 for it to work
update
the latest version of Link2SD is FAT32 compatible
so now you no longer have to partition and format the External SD card to have a linux ext2 partition
AllGamer said:
the latest version of Link2SD is FAT32 compatible
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've found that some Linux systems have some speed penalty when writing to M$ filesystems. There have also been discussions about "aligning" FAT filesystems with flash blocks, such as http://www.patriotmemory.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3696
Is there solid evidence about the relative speed of FAT32 vs. ext3 (or ext4) for the partition to be linked to?
I am so glad I found this thread! I've been pulling my hair out over this MAJOR design flaw of minimal app space on the Galaxy S 4G! I felt forced to root this wonderful phone just to have a chance at correcting the designers mistake. I thought I was going to have to wait for a ROM to be released.
I was at 50MB available space before this suggestion and now I have 188MB free! I used paragon partition manager and partitioned 350MB in ext3. That was more than enough, as I've only used about 170 MB of that space. Anyway, thanks all you great people!
How did you get TB to move pre-installed apps? Have tried that to no avail - thanks in advance.
Hello all
this is my first android phone.
i managed to move some apps to sd card, but only to the internal.
How can i get them to the external sd card ? the ext. card is a mount point inside the internal one, thats what i found out.
Cheers
Lorien
At this stage it cant be done.
Oh, so is it a specific problem with the LG FW or is it the current Android OS ?
Lorien
Lorien25 said:
Oh, so is it a specific problem with the LG FW or is it the current Android OS ?
Lorien
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a limitation of the Android File System in general, not of froyo, gingerbread or ice cream sandwich. This is how the OS works.
What you can do is to go the the phone settings then programs then app manager and there click one by one the apps and choose to move to the SD card. You will notice that you will still have a portion of the app running from the phone memory. This is something that you have to live with for the time being but at least the half of the app should have been moved to the SD so at the end of the day you will gain some space.
Yes thats what i already did, worked great, but i do still have a almost empty ext. sd card. All the apps i moved are still on the internal sd card.
How about using apps2ext ? This is a modified version of the original (pre froyo) apps2sd that uses a "hidden" ext2, 3 or 4 partition on the SD card. I can only find it as part of custom roms. I'm sure it needs root to work too?
Anyone know if that would work?
Pete
mad_sunday said:
How about using apps2ext ? This is a modified version of the original (pre froyo) apps2sd that uses a "hidden" ext2, 3 or 4 partition on the SD card. I can only find it as part of custom roms. I'm sure it needs root to work too?
Anyone know if that would work?
Pete
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think we might have success with that actually. I will give it a try and I will let you know.
Any progress in this matter ? My internal SD Card is already full ! Have to start removing apps to install others.
I think those Android OS limitations are pretty wierd, so the ext. card slot is just for photos,videos on an android phone then ?
I did try to use darktremor on this phone but it won't work on stock firmware. I think that we need to wait for CM7 before we are able to install the whole app on the external SD.
m33ts4k0z said:
I did try to use darktremor on this phone but it won't work on stock firmware. I think that we need to wait for CM7 before we are able to install the whole app on the external SD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The main problem is not the apps themselves. So Darktremor's A2SD would not help. The problem is, the extra files for large games are automatically downloaded to internal sd memory. Which is limited to 7GB. New games require more than 500 MB's each, so 7 Megs would be enough for many of us, but not enough for some of us.
It is certainly enough for me right now, but you cant see what future brings.
Hi guys,
I'm having this problem now.
Basically, my internal memory is being used by don't know what and I have left around 400mb.
The problem is that I cannot download more 3D games, they require around 500mb each!
I have tried to delete photos, videos and apps that I don't use but even like that it's not enough.
So now, I have a empty SD Card of 16GB and a phone/system that doesn't let me use that free space for "nothing".
BTW I did transfer the internal apps to the SD card, but very little changed.
Does anyone managed to find a solution for it? how can they sell android phones claiming that you can expand the memory of it if you are not able to use that memory for apps?
I already feel sorry for those that have the Evo 3D which apparently comes with 1GB internal memory.
And how can I move the 3D games to the SD card?
i think we have to wait until firmware update .. right now still behide 2.2.2 not even on 2.3 yet .. so i think we could move all app to ext card until 2.3 or higher.. i have try all the app out there .. not even one of them working .. you can move to internal memory but not ext sd card ..
you can also resolve this problem by switching internal and external memory. this works fine for the phone but messes up mass storage mode in windows! so you will find problems mounting your sd-card in windows - so you have to use alternatives for file transfer (ssh, ftp, adb) - means this is pretty much for advanced users only
Hi,
I have a g2x and i recently rooted it using superoneclick and i tried to back up using nvflash
however when i boot into recovery and try to install a zip or do anything with an sdcard, it says cant mount sdcard.
i ended up installing cyanogenmod 7 using rom manager.
but at the moment i cant do anything that involves using the sdcard because it cant mount.
any ideas on how to fix this?
thanks in advance
When you're in recovery, have you simply tried taking out the memory card then putting it back in?
Sometimes the simplest solutions work. It used to not mount my sd card too and just popping it out and back in made it read it.
buru898 said:
When you're in recovery, have you simply tried taking out the memory card then putting it back in?
Sometimes the simplest solutions work. It used to not mount my sd card too and just popping it out and back in made it read it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks ill try it and let you know but how come nothing ever gets loaded onto the phones internal sdcard I still have the 5 gigs that I initially had and nothing is ever loaded onto it including the apps I download, any way I can change this?
EgyptianBoi said:
Thanks ill try it and let you know but how come nothing ever gets loaded onto the phones internal sdcard I still have the 5 gigs that I initially had and nothing is ever loaded onto it including the apps I download, any way I can change this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the way they memory is partitioned. ~3 GB for the System and Apps, 5GB for other stuff. There's a workaround/fix for CM7 in the development forum (atleast I think there was) but I don't know if it works anymore.
Jufjufjuf said:
It's the way they memory is partitioned. ~3 GB for the System and Apps, 5GB for other stuff. There's a workaround/fix for CM7 in the development forum (atleast I think there was) but I don't know if it works anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right now if I go to storage in settings I have my SD card then I have internal storage with 1.48 gigs and then I have additional storage /mnt/emmc which has 5.21 gigs. At the moment apps installed from the android market go to the internal storage and apps online go to the SD card but I can move them to the internal memory. It seems that at the moment the one place with the most memory can't be used so I'm guessing thats the partition your talking about
o there's no way of changing this partition?
And can you give me the link to that? Thanks
Yaay got the SD card working in recovery it worked taking it out and putting it in again
EgyptianBoi said:
Right now if I go to storage in settings I have my SD card then I have internal storage with 1.48 gigs and then I have additional storage /mnt/emmc which has 5.21 gigs. At the moment apps installed from the android market go to the internal storage and apps online go to the SD card but I can move them to the internal memory. It seems that at the moment the one place with the most memory can't be used so I'm guessing thats the partition your talking about
o there's no way of changing this partition?
And can you give me the link to that? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right, I don't believe it can be used (natively for apps atleast, you can always move media and files there). Unless you mount that internal partition to be the external SD card and do a Move to SD on the apps (both are settings in Android/CM7 somewhere) there's not much else you can do. The problem is that some apps don't work on the SD, of course you could keep those on the system partition.
Sorry if my replies are starting to get confusing, it's late here.
I use link2sd which creates a mount point script that uses the extra partition on external sdcard. I used minitool partitioned to create a 10gb ext4 on my 32gb class 10( I'm an app junkie lol). Most if not all apps/games moved with link2sd work flawlessly, I'm happy with it
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Jufjufjuf said:
You're right, I don't believe it can be used (natively for apps atleast, you can always move media and files there). Unless you mount that internal partition to be the external SD card and do a Move to SD on the apps (both are settings in Android/CM7 somewhere) there's not much else you can do. The problem is that some apps don't work on the SD, of course you could keep those on the system partition.
Sorry if my replies are starting to get confusing, it's late here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks i think i managed to get it! i found the settings i think you're talking about in the cyanogenmod settings and managed to switch the sdcard and additional storage. now the 5 gigs appears as the sdcard and the actual external microsd appears as the additional storage
i guess thats the best im gonna get
thanks a lot!!
d12unk13astard said:
I use link2sd which creates a mount point script that uses the extra partition on external sdcard. I used minitool partitioned to create a 10gb ext4 on my 32gb class 10( I'm an app junkie lol). Most if not all apps/games moved with link2sd work flawlessly, I'm happy with it
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks ill try it and see how it workds
d12unk13astard said:
I use link2sd which creates a mount point script that uses the extra partition on external sdcard. I used minitool partitioned to create a 10gb ext4 on my 32gb class 10( I'm an app junkie lol). Most if not all apps/games moved with link2sd work flawlessly, I'm happy with it
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jufjufjuf said:
You're right, I don't believe it can be used (natively for apps atleast, you can always move media and files there). Unless you mount that internal partition to be the external SD card and do a Move to SD on the apps (both are settings in Android/CM7 somewhere) there's not much else you can do. The problem is that some apps don't work on the SD, of course you could keep those on the system partition.
Sorry if my replies are starting to get confusing, it's late here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ya i thought i had everything working but now for some reason, my phone says it cant mount the system. any ideas why?
hey everyone. so if i partition the internal sd card what exactly am i doing? from what i understand, the g2x has 8gb onboard, 1.5 of that is for apps, and 5 goes to user data. the rest i assume is for android?
so if i create a 2gb partition on the internal sd, what am i changing and what does it do to the rest of the space? do i need to create the other partitions in windows later and format them?
168 views and no replies? anyone??
Ok, let me try to explain this one...
In three words, Don't Do It!!!
Your internal sd card is pretty much just that, it's a storage card built onto the phone itself. Now it is already partitioned, and allot!
Not only does this one physical card hold your "internal sd card" contents but it also holds your ROM, cache, all your apps, and even your recovery!
Even though it looks like these are separate drives they are all one physical card, your internal sd card.
Now if you try to add to this mix of partitions on this internal card you run the VERY HIGH risk of messing up the lines and sizes of these partitions. Many things in Android assume that some of these are a certain size or at a certain place, and if you mess with it all hell brakes lose!
Now people sometimes partition the external sd card because they want 2 different file types, like half fat32 (like a normal sd card) and half ext4/3 for apps it use in Linux.
Hope this helps!!!
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk
ok, well then i guess my question is more along the lines of why do we have that option in CWM Recovery and if i create a 2gb partition what happens? does it change the default 1.5gb partition so you have more room for apps?
dodgefan67 said:
ok, well then i guess my question is more along the lines of why do we have that option in CWM Recovery and if i create a 2gb partition what happens? does it change the default 1.5gb partition so you have more room for apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm honestly not sure, I've only ever messed with these partitions manually when unbricking my phone. So if you do it, you have a fairly good chance of bricking the phone, but i don't know how Android will react.
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk
thanks, i was just curious, since CWM gives us the option, but ive never done it and until i can find a good reason to i probably won't even mess with it
but it just seems kind of bad having 5gb on the internal card going to waste, i have backups to my external sd, all my data is there too, so i probably won't even touch that 5gb...
Just be glad it's not the other way around
Ill take too much space over not enough any day!
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk
well true, but still would like to know exactly what happens if you choose to run that in CWM Recovery
seek and ye shall find
found a guide for CWM and from what i see that option puts a partition on your external sd card so it can be used to install apps on IF the rom supports that. it says it does wipe everything else off the card though so you need to make a backup. you can also put a swap partition on it as well
looks like it does not touch the internal sd card phone memory which is what i thought it did
http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile...-and-how-to-use-it-on-android-complete-guide/