Partitioning - I'm baffled - myTouch 3G, Magic Android Development

Partitioning - I'm baffled - myTouch 3G, Magic Android Development

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.

Related

Trouble moving apps to sd card

I have been having a real hard time moving all my apps over to my sd card. I have tried three different tutorials and none of them seem to work. I tried JFvMOD by LucidREM: APPS on SD [2009-02-14] guide and when I rebooted my phone it was stuck on the G1 image for way too long. I think the problem is that my g1 is having trouble reading my ext2 section of my sd card. I am running JFv1.42_RC33
I'm pretty sure I partitioned my card correctly because I used partition manager 9 and I set aside two different ext2 sections, both 1 gig. When I read my card through partition manager it says I have a ext2 section and I also tried it on a mac and it says I have a ext2 section too, but when I type in busybox df -h it comes up with:
dev/block/mmblk0p1 5.4G 1.9G 3.5G 35% /sdcard
and nothing like:
/dev/mmcblk0p2 1.5G 6.3M 1.4G 0% /system/sd
I have an 8 gig sd card so it says I am missing 2 gigs
I would really appreciate if someone could help me out

Hi,
Do you mean Paragon Partition Manager?
The ext2 drive should be a primary partition not a logical one.
Otherwise it wont work.

Yes, that's what I meant. How do I create a primary partition and not a logical one?

Hi,
Connect your phone to the computer and mount drive.
Start ppm and click 4th link on right.
Click create partition, determine size you want and highlight the sd card drive,you would click format and pick ext2.
It will format the ext2 drive as a primary drive.
So you will have 2 primary drives, one fat32 and one ext2.
Your computer will reboot automatically as part of the formating process.
If something went wrong in the formating process, remove both ext2 partition and redistribute unused space to the fat32 partition and start over.

I am still having problems.
I reformatted everything. The ext2 and fat32 types are both primary however on the top it is labeled: Logical Disk (*). [No Label]
Any ideas

tyler.aua said:
I am still having problems.
I reformatted everything. The ext2 and fat32 types are both primary however on the top it is labeled: Logical Disk (*). [No Label]
Any ideas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok so Open Paragon, click ADVANCED PARTITIONING on bottom right, on your sd card right click on the partition and click Delete partition. Then Delete all other partitions on the SD card.
After you have deleted them all, click on the apply button on the top of Paragon. Then after that is finished, right click on the sd card and click create partition. The first drop down box will say: Create Partition as: and select Primary Partition. Then select the size you want the FAT32 Partition to be and on the Second drop down box select FAT 32. Then click yes.
Then Right click on the sd card again on the part that says (unallocated) and click Create partition. Select the partition as primary, and this time select the Linux Ext2 option of the second drop down box. Then click yes. Finally, Click on the top button to apply changes (Green Check mark) and you are done partitioning. Then just follow these instructions.
Let me know if that works for you. Good luck.
EDIT: BTW the Linux Ext2 partition has to be less than 2GB for this to work.

Hi,
Thanks good info.
I made mine 1.6 gigs just by chance.
Good thing it's under the 2gb limit.
Any reason it has to be less than 2gigs?
Thanks
cchap07 said:
Ok so Open Paragon, click ADVANCED PARTITIONING on bottom right, on your sd card right click on the partition and click Delete partition. Then Delete all other partitions on the SD card.
After you have deleted them all, click on the apply button on the top of Paragon. Then after that is finished, right click on the sd card and click create partition. The first drop down box will say: Create Partition as: and select Primary Partition. Then select the size you want the FAT32 Partition to be and on the Second drop down box select FAT 32. Then click yes.
Then Right click on the sd card again on the part that says (unallocated) and click Create partition. Select the partition as primary, and this time select the Linux Ext2 option of the second drop down box. Then click yes. Finally, Click on the top button to apply changes (Green Check mark) and you are done partitioning. Then just follow these instructions.
Let me know if that works for you. Good luck.
EDIT: BTW the Linux Ext2 partition has to be less than 2GB for this to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

bestwebs said:
Hi,
Thanks good info.
I made mine 1.6 gigs just by chance.
Good thing it's under the 2gb limit.
Any reason it has to be less than 2gigs?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no idea why it has to be less than 2gigs, its just based on experience and what others on the forum said. If you make it more than two gigs the market will give you an error when you try to install apps that says something along the lines of "Not enough Space to install program."

How to back up the ext2 partion on sd card?

Hi,
I have sucessfully moved my apps and caches to my 1.6gb ext2 partiton on my 8gb sd card.
I would like to back up the ext2 partition in case my sdcard fails.
How do I do this in windows xp?
Thanks

I'd love to find out how to do something similar. I just got an 8 GB card that I'd like to replace my 2 GB card with, basically, I'd like to clone the whole thing over.
Anyone have any ideas? I can do XP or Linux, just curious what software would be able to do the best job of replicating the card from one to the other.

Attach the card to your computer with an adapter (not the phone as it will be mounted by android). Download and install ext2ifs from here. You will now be able to see the files on the ext2 partition and can copy/paste them to where ever you would like.

Thanks, but I've had no luck with ext2ifs and memory cards. They even address it in their troubleshooting section:
I have a device with a removable media, for example a USB memory stick, a Compact Flash Card, a magneto-optical drive etc., which has a partitioned format and has more than one partition. When I insert that media, a drive letter appears for the first partition, but not for all the remaining partitions of the media. When I open "IFS Drives" of the control panel, the considered device appears as a hard disk drive, but there is no partitioning scheme shown for it. How can I create drive letters for the remaining partitions of that removable media? (USB hard disk drives are not affected.)
There is an unsatisfactory answer only: it is not possible.
Windows creates (and deletes) all the drive letters for pure removable devices or removable medias itself. Because the Ext2 IFS software need not to create them, it intentionally does not show any partition scheme for that drive.
Windows creates a drive letter for the first partition of the considered media, but not for the remaining ones. (Windows NT4, 2000 and even XP behave the same way in that regard).
You will run into the same problem if you have a removable media partitioned with two partitions of the FAT type on a computer, which has not installed the Ext2 IFS software! So there is one straight advice only: do not use removable media with more than one partition with Windows.

I'm guessing (someone else could correct if wrong) that if I were to just do the basic copy from one card to another - that would suffice?
If I just took the card, created two partitions (FAT32 and EXT2FS) on the larger card, then copied over all the files in both - that would work just fine?

Strange, I've never experienced any issues with ext2ifs, but yes a simple copy paste of both partitions has been all i needed. Just make sure to copy any hidden files as well.

Can we back it up using Ubuntu Live CD and just upload them to a new sd cards ext2 partition?

yes, but you would need multiple card readers.

andonnguyen said:
yes, but you would need multiple card readers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why can't you save it to the hard drive, replace the sd card, access the ext2 partition and upload the files that you backed up?
Although I'm not very familiar with Ubuntu, when I tried it last time it didn't even allow me to have access to the app and app-private folders within the partition.
What do I need to do to be able to back it up to the hard drive so I can try to upload it to another SD?

Hi,
Thanks for the suggestion.
But when I installed the driver, I can still see just the fat32 partition not the ext2 partition.
I am using a sdhc usb card reader so it is not connected to the g1.
It is like the ext2 partition does not exist through windows xp.
But when I put the card back in the g1 the files are taking up space through ternminal emulator. So the ext2 partiton does exist but still not accessable through windows.
Any other ideas?
jsunkist146 said:
Attach the card to your computer with an adapter (not the phone as it will be mounted by android). Download and install ext2ifs from here. You will now be able to see the files on the ext2 partition and can copy/paste them to where ever you would like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

bestwebs said:
Hi,
Thanks for the suggestion.
But when I installed the driver, I can still see just the fat32 partition not the ext2 partition.
I am using a sdhc usb card reader so it is not connected to the g1.
It is like the ext2 partition does not exist through windows xp.
But when I put the card back in the g1 the files are taking up space through ternminal emulator. So the ext2 partiton does exist but still not accessable through windows.
Any other ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what comes up when you use
"busybox df -h" in the terminal emulator?
make sure you see something like "/dev/mmcblk0p2 (partition size) (used) (available) (used %) "/system/sd"
If not then that's the problem.

Hi,
In my phone , I do have that ext2 line /dev/mmcblk0p2
size 1.4gb - used 49 meg - free 1.3 gb
sdcard line /dev/mmcblk0p1
size 6.2 gb - used 5.2gb - free 981 meg
Thanks for the reply.
Binary100100 said:
what comes up when you use
"busybox df -h" in the terminal emulator?
make sure you see something like "/dev/mmcblk0p2 (partition size) (used) (available) (used %) "/system/sd"
If not then that's the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

If you're on Linux it is trivial to get the files off, if you'd like to make an exact image you can use the dd command. I suggest grabbing a live CD, as it will be a much easier process than making windows see ext partitions.

crater said:
If you're on Linux it is trivial to get the files off, if you'd like to make an exact image you can use the dd command. I suggest grabbing a live CD, as it will be a much easier process than making windows see ext partitions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the Live CD, but can you elaborate on the "dd command" exactly. I'm a Linux noob and wouldn't mind backing up the partition. Last time I tried, I couldn't even get permissions to open the files no less copy them.
Thanks.

Insert the two SD cards into USB SDHC card readers. Launch the free MiniTool Partition Wizard program. Copy the ext2 partition you want to transfer on the first SD card to an unallocated area on the second SD card. MiniTool Partition Wizard under Windows does "see" multiple partitions on a USB drive even though Windows doesn't assign letters to those drives and they are invisible in Windows Explorer.
To increase the size of the ext2 partition on either SD card, use the Linux program GParted. Boot up with the GParted Live CD/USB iso file. Run GParted to resize the ext2 partition. (MiniTool Partition Wizard can move but not resize an ext2 partition.)

Easiest Way to EX3T with Acronis*Disk Director Suite

I figured instead partition to ext2 first then revert to ext3 with some of the Roms, why don't we just partition the sd card to ex3t with Acronis Disk Director Suite.
It's simple and easy:
1. plug in sd card to the computer and open Acronis Disk Director Suite
2. click on the sd card drive and under wizard menu click on create partition
3. choose free space of the existing partitions to create first fat 32 partition
4. click next, choose the sd card drive
5. NEXT, and choose the size of your regular fat 32,( i have a 8bg so i put 6.5gb here) and choose fat 32
NOW creating ext3 partition:
6. under wizard menu again, choose create partition (sd card drive)
7. choose free space of the existing partitions
8. click next, choose the drive
9. click next, choose the size, again i put 1.5gb to put all my apps
10. NOW here, i choose ex3t under the type menu.
11. after all, just simply click to create the partitions and you're done.
Now you should have one fat 32 and one ext3
After all, just run the app2sd script under sdk, again it's a very easy step too, if you need me to post it, i will.
i just tested it myself, it worked, again it's your own risk , i found it so much easier to do it this way.

my knowledge of linux is very limited... so I'm gonna have to ask... how is ex3t different from ext3?

I get the impression xnycen means ext2 and ext3 but is writing it wrongly for some reason.

ebadevil said:
my knowledge of linux is very limited... so I'm gonna have to ask... how is ex3t different from ext3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think there is anything called EXT3T, it's EXT3.
Anyways there are too many threads about this and you can do it with GParted or Partition Manager anyways. I know why people are so complainy around here, it's because no one reads and everyone thinks they're the first to ask a question or post a new idea.

dont use acronis... ive lost 4 PC's to that beast, it never works properly. never writes anything correctly. and if you are using it to create formats and partitions... im going to have to say you have had amazing luck.
and above all, never use the OS selector.

[Q] How to correctly partition 64GB SD card for use in Link2SD?

Alright, I'm having issues with Link2SD. Many others are as well, from the results that came up in a google search. Seems each "solution" is different for multiple people, and I'm getting a lot of contradictions.
I own a Huawei Ascend Mate 2 (Mt3L03 variant) on 4.3, rooted and running stock, kernel version 3.4.0-g1fcc1aa, bootloader unlocked via a code from Huawei themselves. I've tried AParted and Minitool Partition Wizard. Some people say "Use the Windows partitioning software!" and some people say "The chances of errors with Windows is higher, partition it on your Android!"
I've been at this for several hours, over and over, reading countless threads, trying various methods and settings. I tried creating the ext2 partition first a few times, just for funsies, but no luck there. So I've been mainly doing what I assume is correct, partitioning FAT32 first, then ext2. Or ext3. Or ext4. I've been through it all. I've partitioned ext2 (and others) as quite large, up to 48000mbs. I've partitioned it quite small, down to 800mbs. I've added swap. I've done it without swap. I've left empty space. I've filled the whole card. I've partitioned only FAT32 (or ext2, or others) and left the rest blank. I've created 2 FAT32/FAT16 partitions. I've used Link2SD as a user app. I've used Link2SD as a system app. I've rebooted again and again and again and again and AGAIN. I've selected the file system of my sd card's second partition as ext2, ext3, ext4, FAT32/FAT16, and f2fs (tested ALL on EVERY attempt, just to be certain). But after everything is said and done, no matter how certain I am that I finally got it right..... every stinking time it comes back with "Mount script error // Mount script cannot be created. mount: Invalid argument". Good lord I am ready to tear my hair out with this thing! What on earth am I doing wrong? Does it have anything to do with /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 ? I've also tried GL to SD, DS App2SD, and App2SD, but ultimately I'm not satisfied with any of those. I just tried this: http://techtriosonline.com/2014/11/p...-minitool.html Followed it EXACTLY. Still the same issue.
Also tried with AParted. Annnnd still the same issue. I should also note that in the configuration, I've attempted to changed /dev/block/mmcblk1 to dev/block/mmcblk1p2, and I get the warning "Detected internal device memory! To complish the new DDR of google, AParted can't work with internal partitions or gpt table types. One version with no limits will be maintained in the Aparted web site".

SonyXperiaz1s said:
Alright, I'm having issues with Link2SD. Many others are as well, from the results that came up in a google search. Seems each "solution" is different for multiple people, and I'm getting a lot of contradictions.
I own a Huawei Ascend Mate 2 (Mt3L03 variant) on 4.3, rooted and running stock, kernel version 3.4.0-g1fcc1aa, bootloader unlocked via a code from Huawei themselves. I've tried AParted and Minitool Partition Wizard. Some people say "Use the Windows partitioning software!" and some people say "The chances of errors with Windows is higher, partition it on your Android!"
I've been at this for several hours, over and over, reading countless threads, trying various methods and settings. I tried creating the ext2 partition first a few times, just for funsies, but no luck there. So I've been mainly doing what I assume is correct, partitioning FAT32 first, then ext2. Or ext3. Or ext4. I've been through it all. I've partitioned ext2 (and others) as quite large, up to 48000mbs. I've partitioned it quite small, down to 800mbs. I've added swap. I've done it without swap. I've left empty space. I've filled the whole card. I've partitioned only FAT32 (or ext2, or others) and left the rest blank. I've created 2 FAT32/FAT16 partitions. I've used Link2SD as a user app. I've used Link2SD as a system app. I've rebooted again and again and again and again and AGAIN. I've selected the file system of my sd card's second partition as ext2, ext3, ext4, FAT32/FAT16, and f2fs (tested ALL on EVERY attempt, just to be certain). But after everything is said and done, no matter how certain I am that I finally got it right..... every stinking time it comes back with "Mount script error // Mount script cannot be created. mount: Invalid argument". Good lord I am ready to tear my hair out with this thing! What on earth am I doing wrong? Does it have anything to do with /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 ? I've also tried GL to SD, DS App2SD, and App2SD, but ultimately I'm not satisfied with any of those. I just tried this: http://techtriosonline.com/2014/11/p...-minitool.html Followed it EXACTLY. Still the same issue.
Also tried with AParted. Annnnd still the same issue. I should also note that in the configuration, I've attempted to changed /dev/block/mmcblk1 to dev/block/mmcblk1p2, and I get the warning "Detected internal device memory! To complish the new DDR of google, AParted can't work with internal partitions or gpt table types. One version with no limits will be maintained in the Aparted web site".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its pretty simple (at least I hope so):
Partition wizard is fine for preparing your sdcard. Put the sdcard into your cardreader (not the phone!) and delete all existing partitions from the card. Then create one "primary partition" formatted as "fat32". Once done resize the partition meant that you decrease it by the amount of space you need for your EXT4 partition. in the way that the unallocated space (e.g. 1024MB) is behind the Fat32 partition. Then create a "EXT4" partition in the empty space. This partition must also be a PRIMARY partition. or Link2SD will NOT work.
Put the sdcard into your phone and install Link2SD

LS.xD said:
Its pretty simple (at least I hope so):
Partition wizard is fine for preparing your sdcard. Put the sdcard into your cardreader (not the phone!) and delete all existing partitions from the card. Then create one "primary partition" formatted as "fat32". Once done resize the partition meant that you decrease it by the amount of space you need for your EXT4 partition. in the way that the unallocated space (e.g. 1024MB) is behind the Fat32 partition. Then create a "EXT4" partition in the empty space. This partition must also be a PRIMARY partition. or Link2SD will NOT work.
Put the sdcard into your phone and install Link2SD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah man, I can't tell you how happy I am that someone (you!) actually answered me about this, I've been going everywhere on XDA today. And no worries, I've been using a cardreader, leaving it in the phone just sounds like asking for trouble. And yup, tried that already. Just to repeat back: I made the card partitioned to FAT32 first. Then, after that, I resized it to free up 1024MB. For the first attempt with this method, I tried EXT2 because I wasn't certain if my kernel supported EXT4. And I made sure that the EXT2 partition was behind the FAT32 one. They were both made primary. I made sure my phone was off, and after Minitool did its magic and finished up I put the card into the phone, and rebooted. I launched Link2SD (after clearing its data first, so it would act as a fresh install), and got the onscreen prompt, and selected EXT2. And boom, once again was the annoying mount script error. I tried again, wiping the card and doing everything over identically, except trying it with EXT4 (because why not, eh?) and selecting EXT4 when Link2SD prompted. Same error. I would give it a go (with a smaller card) in my Sony Xperia Z1s, but I thought I read somewhere that Link2SD and Sony doesn't play nicely with each other..? Mainly, I would only want to try that to rule out that it's not user error, but rather an issue with the device. For that matter, I've also got an old Samsung Galaxy Proclaim on 2.3.6 that is also rooted. Perhaps if I'm feeling adventurous, I'll see if I can get it working there. Unrelated side note: How strange that my old Proclaim can read 64gig cards, but my Xperia freaks out with anything above 32! :laugh:

Alright, heres an update for this thread.
The mount script is successful for my Samsung Galaxy Proclaim, but is not on my Huawei Ascend Mate 2, even when the process is done identically.
Wondering why Link2SD seems to hate my HAM2 so much.

Bump

I've struggled with my cheap/no brand 64GB SD card now for days but I finally succeeded. Hopefully this works over the long haul. We will see.
I have an L34C with very limited internal memory which is why link2sd became essential. So I purchased a 64GB micro SD card through eBay for less than $8..00.
At first I tried to follow the various guides to partition the card using either Minitools/Easeus and even AParted on the phone. Every time the second partition (ext2/4) was added at the end, the partition table got corrupted and then showed file system "other" instead of ext2.
Finally I decided to try the GParted Live CD under Windows 8.1 using VirtualBox (32bit Linux) using the ISO as the boot device. Obviously booting the live CD directly via CDRom/USB works as well but I didn't want to always reboot.
Note that I used SDFormatter to initially low level format and verify that the card was good.
After many trials and errors I got it to work. The key seems to be that all partitions need to start in the first 32GB. This leads to the conclusion that the large fat32 partition needs to be last, before any desired SD card overprovisioning.
As link2sd insists that the ext2/ext4 partition is the second partition, I created a small 32MB Linux swap partition first. I then added a 6GB ext2 Apps partition directly followed by a 48GB fat32 Data partition.. The remainder is unallocated for overprovisioning.
I finally marked the fat32 partition "active" by setting the boot flag.
Before inserting the card, I cleared the link2sd cache and data and then turned the phone off.
Note that in my case link2sd, after the initial reboot, preferred the ext4 check mark for the ext2 partition.
I hope this helps somebody.

I dont understand what you did here. May you explain please.
regli said:
I've struggled with my cheap/no brand 64GB SD card now for days but I finally succeeded. Hopefully this works over the long haul. We will see.
I have an L34C with very limited internal memory which is why link2sd became essential. So I purchased a 64GB micro SD card through eBay for less than $8..00.
At first I tried to follow the various guides to partition the card using either Minitools/Easeus and even AParted on the phone. Every time the second partition (ext2/4) was added at the end, the partition table got corrupted and then showed file system "other" instead of ext2.
Finally I decided to try the GParted Live CD under Windows 8.1 using VirtualBox (32bit Linux) using the ISO as the boot device. Obviously booting the live CD directly via CDRom/USB works as well but I didn't want to always reboot.
Note that I used SDFormatter to initially low level format and verify that the card was good.
After many trials and errors I got it to work. The key seems to be that all partitions need to start in the first 32GB. This leads to the conclusion that the large fat32 partition needs to be last, before any desired SD card overprovisioning.
As link2sd insists that the ext2/ext4 partition is the second partition, I created a small 32MB Linux swap partition first. I then added a 6GB ext2 Apps partition directly followed by a 48GB fat32 Data partition.. The remainder is unallocated for overprovisioning.
I finally marked the fat32 partition "active" by setting the boot flag.
Before inserting the card, I cleared the link2sd cache and data and then turned the phone off.
Note that in my case link2sd, after the initial reboot, preferred the ext4 check mark for the ext2 partition.
I hope this helps somebody.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didnt really get what the steps where to partition my sd card. Like you i have a cheap/no brand 64 Gb Micro Sd card and im unsuccessfull with partitioning it. May you please help me. And in advance Thank You :good:

First let me state that my initial SD card was a Chinese 64GB "fake". Check if yours is also one with RMPrepUSB. Fakes report themselves as having 32GB or 64GB capacity whereas, in reality, they only have a fraction of the reported capacity.
I then purchased Silicon Power SD cards with 32GB and 64GB capacity. I then followed the procedure mentioned above and everything works just fine.

You are brilliant!
I have been having the exact same problem and have spent hours pulling my hair out trying to overcome this issue. Your fix was brilliant as so far it seems to have solved the problem!
One note, I was trying many different methods of partitioning and formatting. This method WILL NOT work with the Aparted app. Mini Tool was the way to go.
Thank You!!!

OK - Here's the thing...
OK, I did this and even posted how it finally worked and got rid of the "mount script error." However, it now seems that because the fat32 partition is now third in line, it looks like Link2SD is now trying to save all the data on the ext4 partition and not the fat32 partition.
When I do the "Link to SD" operation, it seems like it's putting everything on the second partition which is the ext4, but I don't see a change in the space used on the fat32. Am I missing something...?

Maybe the device can't support ext2...
Hi, I got similar problem with you. I've also tried to do partition in reverse order, swap first, then ext2, then fat32. It didn't work. However, when I select repair for the ext2 in Aparted, it said
The super block cannot be read or does not describe the correct ext2 filesystem. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2 filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the super block is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock: e2fsck -b8193 <device>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So now I'm looking for ext2.ko for Xiaomi Redmi Note but haven't found it anywhere.

regli said:
I've struggled with my cheap/no brand 64GB SD card now for days but I finally succeeded. Hopefully this works over the long haul. We will see.
I have an L34C with very limited internal memory which is why link2sd became essential. So I purchased a 64GB micro SD card through eBay for less than $8..00.
At first I tried to follow the various guides to partition the card using either Minitools/Easeus and even AParted on the phone. Every time the second partition (ext2/4) was added at the end, the partition table got corrupted and then showed file system "other" instead of ext2.
Finally I decided to try the GParted Live CD under Windows 8.1 using VirtualBox (32bit Linux) using the ISO as the boot device. Obviously booting the live CD directly via CDRom/USB works as well but I didn't want to always reboot.
Note that I used SDFormatter to initially low level format and verify that the card was good.
After many trials and errors I got it to work. The key seems to be that all partitions need to start in the first 32GB. This leads to the conclusion that the large fat32 partition needs to be last, before any desired SD card overprovisioning.
As link2sd insists that the ext2/ext4 partition is the second partition, I created a small 32MB Linux swap partition first. I then added a 6GB ext2 Apps partition directly followed by a 48GB fat32 Data partition.. The remainder is unallocated for overprovisioning.
I finally marked the fat32 partition "active" by setting the boot flag.
Before inserting the card, I cleared the link2sd cache and data and then turned the phone off.
Note that in my case link2sd, after the initial reboot, preferred the ext4 check mark for the ext2 partition.
I hope this helps somebody.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will your method works on a 128gb sd card?

I was doing this in fact today, after reading this blog. I was having a helluva time because my Sophone i6 Plus has no regular Settings app, it's laid out like an iPhone Prefs app. The settings I needed are usually under "Storage" in a regular settings app. I was able to repartition my 32gb card on-device with aParted, but I could NOT get Links2SD to detect it, even after setting up the 2nd ext4 partition.
Mainly, after setting up the partitions in aParted, you have to switch your main write disk to internal before rebooting, else Link2SD will spit out whatever you have done. After the device reboots, the main write disk will be set to your first SD partition. After that you should be able to start Links2SD and it will prompt to set up your ext4. Then, Apps2SD will stop give you the message that it can't find the 2nd partition. Scroll down to the bottom of the blog and then the bottom where the comments start or use this link, my response should be visible. It's just a question of doing things in a specific order.
One thing that is mentioned in the tutorial is that for large cards, you should not use Fat32 for the main partition, but ext2 instead.

I've been trading a few emails with Vicki the creator of apps2SD. The best way to set this up is to link the user apps to the SD card but keep the data, the internal data on the internal partition. She said you can put the external data on the SD card but I kept both on internal and everything runs great now.

Great!! This worked perfectly for Link2SD. But now the FAT32 3rd partition isn't showing up in any of the file explorer, backup, etc. apps. What did I miss or still need to do? Thx.

Still lost
Okay I might be a complete dummy but I'm still not understanding or maybe I know it's just not working for me if you could tell me I'll maybe put a picture of the partitioning using minitool from left to right size of the first primary partition size of the second primary partition size of swap file size of any damn thing for that matter it seems you guys tried to explain or try to help but you explain it in a matter that only makes sense to somebody who does nothing but this I'm a old slow and it's stupid truck driver but I would really like to get my SD card working so I can have more storage I do like to play on these things please help

zombunny said:
Alright, I'm having issues with Link2SD. Many others are as well, from the results that came up in a google search. Seems each "solution" is different for multiple people, and I'm getting a lot of contradictions.
I own a Huawei Ascend Mate 2 (Mt3L03 variant) on 4.3, rooted and running stock, kernel version 3.4.0-g1fcc1aa, bootloader unlocked via a code from Huawei themselves. I've tried AParted and Minitool Partition Wizard. Some people say "Use the Windows partitioning software!" and some people say "The chances of errors with Windows is higher, partition it on your Android!"
I've been at this for several hours, over and over, reading countless threads, trying various methods and settings. I tried creating the ext2 partition first a few times, just for funsies, but no luck there. So I've been mainly doing what I assume is correct, partitioning FAT32 first, then ext2. Or ext3. Or ext4. I've been through it all. I've partitioned ext2 (and others) as quite large, up to 48000mbs. I've partitioned it quite small, down to 800mbs. I've added swap. I've done it without swap. I've left empty space. I've filled the whole card. I've partitioned only FAT32 (or ext2, or others) and left the rest blank. I've created 2 FAT32/FAT16 partitions. I've used Link2SD as a user app. I've used Link2SD as a system app. I've rebooted again and again and again and again and AGAIN. I've selected the file system of my sd card's second partition as ext2, ext3, ext4, FAT32/FAT16, and f2fs (tested ALL on EVERY attempt, just to be certain). But after everything is said and done, no matter how certain I am that I finally got it right..... every stinking time it comes back with "Mount script error // Mount script cannot be created. mount: Invalid argument". Good lord I am ready to tear my hair out with this thing! What on earth am I doing wrong? Does it have anything to do with /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 ? I've also tried GL to SD, DS App2SD, and App2SD, but ultimately I'm not satisfied with any of those. I just tried this: http://techtriosonline.com/2014/11/p...-minitool.html Followed it EXACTLY. Still the same issue.
Also tried with AParted. Annnnd still the same issue. I should also note that in the configuration, I've attempted to changed /dev/block/mmcblk1 to dev/block/mmcblk1p2, and I get the warning "Detected internal device memory! To complish the new DDR of google, AParted can't work with internal partitions or gpt table types. One version with no limits will be maintained in the Aparted web site".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi sorry sorry would you mind doing a tutorial on YouTube please this would be most helpful. Thank you in advance.

[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.

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