Database Info

[UTIL] Full Auto A2SD - A2VD

Apps 2 Virtual Disk 0.53b
For those of you that are wondering "What is this guy smoking?" (which I assume is all of you), this is an automatically re-sizing virtual apps 2 SD ext3 partition. It is stored as an image file on your existing Fat32 partition.
I have done my best to make this as idiot proof and bug free as possible but I always appreciate constructive criticism. Please be kind, I haven't had access to a computer while writing this so it was written entirely on my G1. Therefore I expect that it will have a few bugs.
This barrows very heavily from Cyanogen's work so please thank him for making this possible.
Installing
To install the utility just download the file on your phone, open your terminal emulator and run:
Code:
su
sh /sdcard/download/a2vd-0.53b.zip
It does the rest.
Please note, this is NOT a zip file! It is a shell script. XDA won't let you post any file this big unless it's a zip file. (Can we get an Admin on this?) Good thing linux doesn't give a crap about file extensions.
Once you reboot your phone the utility will create the virtual partition, move over your apps, then re-size the partition to have 15 MB of free space. Please note, it will reboot 3 - 4 times during the first boot.
This should run on any rom that executes /system/bin/a2sd during boot.
It has been confirmed to work on Cyanogen 3.5.2 and higher.
Automatic Resizing
The partition will automatically re-size so you don't have to guess how big you need to make it. Now you can take a bite out of crime, in stead of your Fat32 partition. ;-)
If you run low on space just reboot your phone. If the free space on your virtual partition is less than 10 MB or more than 20 MB it will be re-sized to have 15 MB of free space. Please ignore the fact that free space may be listed as 13 or 14 MB, as far as I can tell this is an issue with the OS, the readout becomes more accurate as the partition gets bigger.
Disabling the Partition
If you wish to boot up with the Apps 2 Virtual Disk partition disabled simply open up your terminal emulator and run:
Code:
su
a2sdoff
You can also remove the SD card while the phone is off.
This is useful if you need to transfer files over USB cable.
Automatic backup
If you boot with the partition disabled the utility will backup some system settings so your apps and widgets will all still work when you re-enable the partition. It will also maintain a separate launcher profile for when you boot with the partition disabled. Now you don't have to stare at a desktop full of broken icons every time you need to transfer files to your computer.
Upgrading to a New Rom
Transitioning to a new rom can break some of your apps and widgets. To prevent this follow this procedure:
1. Place your new update.zip file on the root of your SD card.
2. Open terminal emulator and run:
Code:
su
a2sdoff -u
This will reboot your phone, prepare the backups, and take you to recovery.
3. Flash your new rom. (If you exit recovery without flashing you must re-run "a2sdoff -u" before attempting another flash)
4. Boot up your new rom, open terminal emulator and re-install Apps2VD.
Okay, you can start downloading now.
Thank you for your support and enjoy!
As a side note, If you install this on a phone that already has a traditional Apps2SD partition it will NOT copy over your apps. I'm working on it but until then you'll have to either just deal with it or copy them you self.
Edit: Download has been removed due to security concerns. Will re-upload when solved.

Sweet !....so basically it allows app2sd without an ext partition ? so just a fat32 partition is gud enough right ?

this is really intriguing, but i think i'm gonna hold off until some brave souls try it out with some feedback

Daneshm90 said:
Sweet !....so basically it allows app2sd without an ext partition ? so just a fat32 partition is gud enough right ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly! In fact, it requires nothing more than downloading and typing in one command.

narcopolypse said:
Exactly! In fact, it requires nothing more than downloading and typing in one command.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aight im nandroid'd...n ready to test lol...will post results

So what is the plus side of using this? Is this just a tool for people who can't or don't have an ext partition? Do you know how it compares performance wise?

miketaylor00 said:
So what is the plus side of using this? Is this just a tool for people who can't or don't have an ext partition? Do you know how it compares performance wise?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didnt work on xRom....kept bootloopin the first bootscreen

grandomegabosses said:
this is really intriguing, but i think i'm gonna hold off until some brave souls try it out with some feedback
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been running this build for 4 day and previous alpha builds for over a month.
So have all of my friends.

miketaylor00 said:
So what is the plus side of using this? Is this just a tool for people who can't or don't have an ext partition? Do you know how it compares performance wise?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Performance is identical. The primary reason I built this is to have an automatically re-sizing apps partition. And the ability to boot disabled without breaking all of my widgets.

narcopolypse said:
I've been running this build for 4 day and previous alpha builds for over a month.
So have all of my friends.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm i might try it later tonight or maybe tomorrow. after reading some more, i've gotten a little bit more confidence.

narcopolypse said:
Performance is identical. The primary reason I built this is to have an automatically re-sizing apps partition. And the ability to boot disabled without breaking all of my widgets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems suprising to me that an image file on a FAT32 partition would perform the exact same way as an ext partition. I guess I will have to find out for myself
If this really does work and perform well, this could be google's solution to allow non rooted phones the ability to free up memory on their phone.
Either way, thanks for taking the time to do this.

Daneshm90 said:
Didnt work on xRom....kept bootloopin the first bootscreen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it will. And it would probably have a similar problem on later Cyanogen builds. You will have to modify the a2sd file to tell it not to automatically create apps2sd.

Daneshm90 said:
Didnt work on xRom....kept bootloopin the first bootscreen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is supposed to reboot 3 - 4 times during the first boot.

this is really interesting, thank you for this. earlier today i made a modified a2sd script that makes the a2sd look for dev/block/mmcblk0p4 (fourth partition) and since there is none cyanogen's apps2sd will not be created. also in the file is a modified userinit.sh and user.conf that point to dev/block/mmcblk0p2 instead of 0p3 so that if you wanted to use this and only have a fat32 partition and linux-swap partition you could still get the benefits of it. saw this thread and thought this would be a place where these files could be used.
edit: was just thinking, does this overwrite the a2sd script? either way the modded userinit.sh and user.conf can still help.

david1171 said:
this is really interesting, thank you for this. earlier today i made a modified a2sd script that makes the a2sd look for dev/block/mmcblk0p4 (fourth partition) and since there is none cyanogen's apps2sd will not be created. also in the file is a modified userinit.sh and user.conf that point to dev/block/mmcblk0p2 instead of 0p3 so that if you wanted to use this and only have a fat32 partition and linux-swap partition you could still get the benefits of it. saw this thread and thought this would be a place where these files could be used.
edit: was just thinking, does this overwrite the a2sd script? either way the modded userinit.sh and user.conf can still help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes this does replace /system/bin/a2sd and it stops checking for 0p2. It is based entirely off Cyanogen's a2sd that is used in every new rom out there and should be compatible with all of them.
Has anyone tested this yet? Which roms does it work on?

How does this work with mounting your phone on your computer? Like when you want to put music on. Can you do it the same way or do you have to shut your phone down and use a SDcard reader? Because I thought the was the main reason for not using fat32 for A2SD.

miketaylor00 said:
It seems suprising to me that an image file on a FAT32 partition would perform the exact same way as an ext partition. I guess I will have to find out for myself
If this really does work and perform well, this could be google's solution to allow non rooted phones the ability to free up memory on their phone.
Either way, thanks for taking the time to do this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
probably the wouldn't use it as you should be able to extract files from the img file

narcopolypse said:
It is supposed to reboot 3 - 4 times during the first boot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, no i tried again rebooted like 20 times so i gave up n nandroid'd.

speoples20 said:
How does this work with mounting your phone on your computer? Like when you want to put music on. Can you do it the same way or do you have to shut your phone down and use a SDcard reader? Because I thought the was the main reason for not using fat32 for A2SD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be my concern as well. I don't see any way around this, though I'm not a dev by any means.

alritewhadeva said:
probably the wouldn't use it as you should be able to extract files from the img file
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure they could make the img file only accesible by the sytem.

[HOW-TO] Make ANY ROM fit on Stock/Any SPL *Updated 3/28/10*

Introduction
If you are rooted and running a Hard SPL or a Stock SPL and really want to flash a ROM that claims to require Danger/Haykuro SPL, but you do not want to upgrade your SPL there are alternative ways to make these ROMs work on your phone without upgrading your SPL.
This is a very easy process, Ive done it with a few ROMs with no problems:
First off, keep in mind that on a Stock SPL
/system = about 67MB
Any ROM that has a system partition 67MB or Greater will require Danger/Haykuro SPL, UNLESS you can shrink that ROM's /system down below 67MB.
How do you do this, you ask?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Method #1 (Easy) -Move/Delete unneeded Apps, Sounds, Files
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NOTE: This Method does NOT apply to HERO/SENSE ROMs, they are way too big! Check Method 2 if you want to fit ANY ROM on any SPL (Advanced)
Make sure you have 7-Zip! Dont have it? Google is your friend!
1) Read the first post and changelog of the ROM you wish to install on your phone. After youve made yourself familiar with what needs to be Wiped (ie: dalvik cache, ext, data) the Partition Layout the developer suggests (ie: FAT32/Ext3/Swap), then go ahead and download the ROM. Unzip it to a folder, name it something short. for example: C:\1\rom
now click on the system folder, scroll down and click on the media folder, and delete the audio folder. This will erase every sound effect and ringtone on your phone and usually will free up about 2MB in system.
To get your ringtones and sounds back download this (thanks Robot Teapot!) and unzip the folder to the root of your sdcard. (note: your ringtones might not show up the first time you boot the rom, in this case, reboot and theyll all be right there)
If removing your ringtones isnt enough to keep /system under 67MB then move on to step 2), if youre already below 67MB skip to step 3)
2) Return to the first post and changelog of the ROM you are trying to install. Look for apps the dev has added to the ROM that dont seem necessary for the ROM to function such as Twidroid.apk, Facebook.apk, NeroMedia.apk, WirelessTether.apk, WiredTether.apk, Maps.apk(takes up a lot of room, and sometimes outdated...just delete it and install the latest from the market!)etc.
You can use Android Barebones/Necessary Apps - CyanogenMod Wiki as a general guideline to determine which apps are essential to Android running properly and the functions of many system apps.
Delete those unnecessary apps or move them to your sdcard, and use ASTRO File Manager or a similar app to install them after you flash the ROM.
3) Okay, assume youve trimmed /system down below 67MB, good job! now you need to get those folders you extracted and the boot.img zipped up and signed. select the folders from the ROM you extracted and modified, the boot.img, right click, and select 7-Zip < Add to .zip
4) Download Stericson's Autosign place it in any directory and follow the instructions in the thread to sign your zip file.
5) Move the signed zip to your SD Card, making sure you have the proper partitions, wipe the necessary things, then flash your zip file and cross your fingers!
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Method #2 (Advanced) -"Cache Hack"
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NOTE: This Method will fit any ROM on any SPL but is more advanced than Method 1
lbcoder introduced the concept of moving files to the /cache partition of the phone and linking them back to /system or /data.
Firerat has come up with a way to make this concept work and explains the whole process in his thread and shows some examples of his method by providing some ports:
[HACK][ROM][BOOT.IMG][CACHE]-Stk SPL ROMs with Danger SPL size & extra 30mb! any SPL!
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There you have it folks! Congrats if youve bypassed the Danger SPL requirements! Be sure to always keep a Nandroid/BART backup!!!!
Disclaimer: Not saying these methods will brick or damage your phone, but in the rare event this occurs I am NOT responsible for bricks or or any damages to your phone!

Autosign doesnt need to be in the SDK place, I had it in my music folder and it worked fine.I accidentally formatted my PC last night and dont have the SDK installed but autosign works for me so im happy.
Note to OP-You cant brick from flashing any 32B rom, you would only get a blank screen that stays..which some seem to call soft-brick, i call it nonsense though.

Thanks for this excellent tutorial

Ace42 said:
Autosign doesnt need to be in the SDK place, I had it in my music folder and it worked fine.I accidentally formatted my PC last night and dont have the SDK installed but autosign works for me so im happy.
Note to OP-You cant brick from flashing any 32B rom, you would only get a blank screen that stays..which some seem to call soft-brick, i call it nonsense though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? I had no idea that the SDK wasnt required, ill remove that.
and yeah i know its usually a soft brick, if anything, and youre right its nonsense, and can be solved using a nandroid backup and wiping the proper things, but im playing it safe with that disclaimer just like the rom devs do lol
migalito said:
Thanks for this excellent tutorial
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.
Youre welcome! I hope it works out for you!

Will this work with the Super D rom?

cg87 said:
Will this work with the Super D rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes! I tried it on Super D!

speedysilwady said:
yes! I tried it on Super D!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then I'm so confused. If it's possible, why does the rom still require the Danger SPL? Why didn't bbuchacher make it so it doesn't require the Danger SPL? Doesn't make any sense to me. Can someone please enlighten me?

cg87 said:
Then I'm so confused. If it's possible, why does the rom still require the Danger SPL? Why didn't bbuchacher make it so it doesn't require the Danger SPL? Doesn't make any sense to me. Can someone please enlighten me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, to be honest, im not sure why, but im assuming some developers like to include features and apps that arent necessarily required for the rom to run properly but to make their rom more appealing to users, than other roms. keeping those apps in system prevents those apps from disappearing after you wipe your phone/ext. Plus devs always keep ringtones and sounds included in their roms for completeness's sake.
Now a Hero ROM on the other hand is loaded with system apps that cant be deleted and i dont think theyll ever fit on a Stock SPL, except maybe MicroHero, but im not sure.
But for whatever reason, a lot of regular ROMs are fat and bloated with apps and extras that dont necessarily have to be saved on the system partition,so the best thing to do is shrink those roms down till they fit, if you can't or dont want to upgrade your SPL.

How to make it work *WITHOUT TRIMMING*
Take a look at your update.zip archive.
Probably has 4 things in the root:
boot.img
system
META-INF
data
If system is greater than about 67MB (or lets say 60 just to be real safe...), then create ANOTHER directory and call it "cache".
Now MOVE /system/app into /cache/
You now have the space cleared up, but it still won't work.
So go into META-INF/com/google/android and edit the script "update-script".
just below the line where it says "format CACHE:", add these lines:
copy_dir PACKAGE:cache CACHE:
set_perm_recursive 0 0 0755 0644 CACHE:
symlink /cache/app SYSTEM:app
Wow, did we just move the extra crap into cache? Yep.
May require slight modification. Use your head.

Seems someone else is in the same boat as I am.
Can't update my radio, looks like some kind of hardware problem almost. Tried everything in any possible way.
So it looks like we're stuck with the standard or engineering SPL, which is fine but means there are some restrictions.
I'll try some of the tips you gave and flash something besides Cyanogenmod tonight.

lbcoder said:
Take a look at your update.zip archive.
Probably has 4 things in the root:
boot.img
system
META-INF
data
If system is greater than about 67MB (or lets say 60 just to be real safe...), then create ANOTHER directory and call it "cache".
Now MOVE /system/app into /cache/
You now have the space cleared up, but it still won't work.
So go into META-INF/com/google/android and edit the script "update-script".
just below the line where it says "format CACHE:", add these lines:
copy_dir PACKAGE:cache CACHE:
set_perm_recursive 0 0 0755 0644 CACHE:
symlink /cache/app SYSTEM:app
Wow, did we just move the extra crap into cache? Yep.
May require slight modification. Use your head.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought about that but I'm not 2 good @ programing unless its cars/video console. But doesn't the cache get used for something after the rom is up and running? Or is it only for ota updates?
If only for ota updates how come the danger spl doesn't give you 120mb or so since cache and system are 67mb each

That's a very good question. Just tried it and it seems to work, though. It's booting as we speak. All system/app files in the cache directory.
EDIT: Actually, all apps seem to force close on boot. So I'll just try it the regular way I guess.

try the Fix apk uid mismatches maybe idk ill try it in a lil bit
*update*
Got a boot loop on openeclair1.0.1 not sure why but dont got the time to fig. it out right now.
also why does a boot loop drain the crap out of your battery?

lbcoder said:
Take a look at your update.zip archive.
Probably has 4 things in the root:
boot.img
system
META-INF
data
If system is greater than about 67MB (or lets say 60 just to be real safe...), then create ANOTHER directory and call it "cache".
Now MOVE /system/app into /cache/
You now have the space cleared up, but it still won't work.
So go into META-INF/com/google/android and edit the script "update-script".
just below the line where it says "format CACHE:", add these lines:
copy_dir PACKAGE:cache CACHE:
set_perm_recursive 0 0 0755 0644 CACHE:
symlink /cache/app SYSTEM:app
Wow, did we just move the extra crap into cache? Yep.
May require slight modification. Use your head.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I remember you suggested this a while back when I asked about eclair roms on stock spl, I'm guessing if you use this method and wipe, you'll have to reflash the rom because those system apps are gone, correct?

yea anytime you wipe you would have to reflash the rom because a wipe deletes. data and cache folder

Dr-b said:
That's a very good question. Just tried it and it seems to work, though. It's booting as we speak. All system/app files in the cache directory.
EDIT: Actually, all apps seem to force close on boot. So I'll just try it the regular way I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might be a minor goofup on the permissions. Just verify the permissions and it will be fine.

What programming?
There is no programming involved in this.
Mainly cache is for OTA, but also some other crap related to the download manager.
As for the deathspl allocation, it puts *some* of the /cache into /system, *some* of the /cache into /data, and the balance of /cache remains in /cache.
xile6 said:
I thought about that but I'm not 2 good @ programing unless its cars/video console. But doesn't the cache get used for something after the rom is up and running? Or is it only for ota updates?
If only for ota updates how come the danger spl doesn't give you 120mb or so since cache and system are 67mb each
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

speedysilwady said:
I remember you suggested this a while back when I asked about eclair roms on stock spl, I'm guessing if you use this method and wipe, you'll have to reflash the rom because those system apps are gone, correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would you want to wipe it?
Note: you could just create an update.zip with an update-script that says ONLY "format DATA:" That would wipe the data withOUT wiping the /cache. Maybe name it "betterwipe.zip" and put it on your sdcard. Boot into recovery and apply "betterwipe.zip".

lbcoder said:
Why would you want to wipe it?
Note: you could just create an update.zip with an update-script that says ONLY "format DATA:" That would wipe the data withOUT wiping the /cache. Maybe name it "betterwipe.zip" and put it on your sdcard. Boot into recovery and apply "betterwipe.zip".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
true, with fix permissions, and wipe dalvik, there really isnt much use in wiping data anymore, but would fix permissions still work if the apps are in cache? i know theyre syslinked, but im not sure how that works with the fix_permissions script. sorry if im asking dumb questions, im still learning.
Ill try your idea a really big rom and see if it works.

just wanted to confirm that all Hero ROMs seem to require Danger SPL, I see no way of shrinking system anywhere close to 67 or less.
But my method should still work on any eclair or donut rom. I still havent had a chance to try lbcoder's method though it should work. if people can get lbcoders method to work ill add it to the first post!

[MOD][RECOVERY] Firerat's Custom MTD Partitions (resize Data,System and Cache)

If you dont understand what this Modification is doing, why it needs to be done, or what possible benefits come from it, then...
PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS MOD.
***Even tho it is impossible to brick your phone when flashing this i still highly recommend you UNDERSTAND what you are attempting to do before you do it. If someone explains you are freeing up internal memory from other places not using it and you still have to ask what the benefit is, then you obvisouly dont fully understand the mod and your phone and should turn away now.***
Thank You.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now onto the mod: Heres a quick description of what this mod is doing. Pretend your phone is a pizza cut into 3 even pieces. Each piece is memory for /cache, /system, /data. Your aneroxic sister "aka cache" doesnt eat a lot so most of her slice will always be left, your fat obese brother "/data" always eats his whole slice and is left wanting more. You are healthy "/system" and only eat what you need and never less never more.
What this mod is doing is taking that original pizza and RECUTTING the slices to better fit whos eating them, so since your aneroxic sister barely eats and your obese brother is always hungry it takes all the extra pizza "aka memory" from your sister and gives it to your brother. As for you "aka /system" you only eat exactly what you need "aka the size of the rom and files it install" so it resizes your own slice to exactly the number it needs to install the rom and its gapps/files and leaves you with just a little wiggle room.
That being said, i tried this on my buddies CDMA Hero that i rooted for him and it worked like a charm. he went from something around 170mb internal storage to around 350+mb internal storage while on CM6 - Froyo 2.2.
***One thing i noticed when using a hero CDMA is that adb is crucial. one of the steps after flashing the recovery file is to reboot back into recovery and i noticed it was impossible to do it the right way without plugging your phone in and using ADB***
Original Files and Instructions: Firerats Original G1/MT3G thread found here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=717874
After you read thru firerats original instructions just know that itll be slightly different on your hero!
1. Click on the link i posted above and download these files: FR-recovery-v1.5.3-CustomMTD_S.zip and FR-boot-v1.5.3-CustomMTD_S.zip
2. Put both those files onto your SDCard.
3. While in your SDCard, make a .txt file named "mtdpartmap.txt"
4. Open your new mtdpartmap.txt file and...
- If you are using CM6 then type
Code:
mtd 102 2
- If you are using a larger Sense Rom like Fresh or ZenHero then type
Code:
mtd 182 4
5. Once all 3 files are saved on the root of your SDCard, reboot your phone into recovery
6. Format/Wipe your system and cache.
7. Flash the file: FR-recovery-v1.5.3-CustomMTD_S.zip
8. Once the file is done flashing, itll prompt you to wipe cache, system, and dalvik again.
9. Once its wiped, plug ur phone in and pull up command to adb reboot recovery (if you try to reboot into recovery any other way itll mess up the partitions and ull get cache memory.log errors and that will mean the mod didnt work correctly) by using this
Code:
adb shell
reboot recovery
10. if you did step 9 correctly, then youll get back to your recovery menu and itll say "formatting cache..." at the bottom of your screen but your recovery menu is instantly able to be used and you dont have to wait. ***On the newest version i think it no longer says this and your just got to go***
11. Flash CM6 if you used 102 for /system or Flash your larger Sense Rom if you used 182 for /system
12. Optionally, flash any kernal you may be choosing to use
13. Flash the file: FR-boot-v1.5.3-CustomMTD_S.zip
14. Click the top option on your recovery menu to reboot your system.
15. Once your system is fully booted you can go into menu > settings > sd card and internal storage , and check all the new added internal memory you have.
FYI : anytime you flash a new rom after this mod, or flash a new kernal to a currently flashed rom, you will ONLY NEED TO FLASH THE SECONDARY FIRERAT BOOT file named "FR-boot-v1.5.3-CustomMTD_S.zip".
so say after this mod you want to try a new kernal, you flash the kernal, flash boot, and reboot the system.
or say you want to flash a new cm6 nightly update, you flash the new rom/update, flash boot, reboot.
or say u want a new nightly and a new kernal, you flash the nightly, flash the kernal, flash the boot, reboot.
its very simple, if anything u flash overwrites current kernal specifications, u need to flash the boot file to make sure it knows how to set itself up. this goes for nandroid back ups aswell.
Fine Tweaking/Trouble Shooting: To get the most space you possibly can do go into adb or terminal and type
Code:
df -h
and it'll tell you what % you are using on your system. if you are at 60% then you can go ahead and decrease your /system value in your mtdpartmap.txt to about 2mb over the value it says you are using. so if your rom uses 115mb of /system you can change your mtd to "mtd 117 2".
So if you are getting an error while trying to flash a rom after doing this modification you most likely dont have enough /system space and will want to up your value to something more then enough like "mtd 200 4" then run the above code and re-scale down back to 2mb over what the current rom is using.
Enjoy CDMA users!!!

Not sure if Ill try this personally, but thank you.

tailsthecat3 said:
Not sure if Ill try this personally, but thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me, well worth it. At first i thought it was amazing gains on the g1 and mytouch, but after being the first person in the world to try it on the Sprint Hero CDMA the benefits blow all passed expectations out of the water.
It nearly doubled my buddies internal memory.
i remember on his stock rom with a handful of his favorite apps he was at around 40mb internal memory. after i rooted his phone and flashed FRESH HERO onto his phone with apps2sd he had around 150, now with this mod-cm6-apps2sd hes got over 300.

my win7 drivers are goofy and sometimes won't do adb when its in recovery mode. if you screw up the restart part - ie: can't get into adb to reboot by typing the command and those messages appear - is the device bricked or anything? Is it a one-time? Recoverable? etc...

thank you for the info. i was down to bout 20 mbs free and now well over 100. kept running into problems until i changed the cache size to a little bigger. i had a spare hero to experiment with so alls good.

Skeptical...idk why. I don't wanna risk bricking yet another Hero I guess.

SammyM00782 said:
Skeptical...idk why. I don't wanna risk bricking yet another Hero I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please enlighten us as to how you bricked your Hero?

I've been thinking about trying this. I hate having 80+ mb free in system that I can't use. Would love to just add it to /data

This won't brick your hero. The only way you can brick it is by flashing the wrong bootloader or radio. This does none of these.

Hey has anyone tried this on a different rom..

oldjackbob said:
Can you please enlighten us as to how you bricked your Hero?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well.....first time was an accident. First time rooting, first time messing with a phone. I just kinda jumped right into it because when I found XDA it was pretty exciting. I always support the small guy coming from small businesses my whole life. Anyway, second time was probably due to incorrectly flashing a rom or something but regardless, I went to reboot and the phone was totally unresponsive afterwards. I trust you guys though, especially the devs. So do you think it's worth a shot?

I just did it, running cm6, and it took away that extra 80mb in system, took away all that unused space in cache, and moved it all to data. I went from 20mb free (still using apps2sd mind you) to almost 200! and so far, no issues, market works fine, everything works. Just one little note: I took somethings out of /system/app before flashing both in the rom and the gapps, things I don't use, like calculator (prefer realcalc), voice search, maps, quicksearch(all updated and installed elsewhere), and I only have 3mb free in system, so you may want to see about the customizing given in firerat's thread to increase system to say 100mb (it's 90 by default)

im trying to do this mod but every time i flash the recovery all i get the htc logo and it stays there.. i am using cm6.. any help please

You don't flash a new recovery, this patches your current one. Flash the one labeled recovery like any rom.zip in the recovery, wipe everything, flash your rom or restore, then flash the boot zip as an update.
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App

danaff37 said:
You don't flash a new recovery, this patches your current one. Flash the one labeled recovery like any rom.zip in the recovery, wipe everything, flash your rom or restore, then flash the boot zip as an update.
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i also was stuck on the white htc screen...
can you explan which file to us.

i couldnt get this to work with clockwork recovery, so changed my recovery first to darchs 1.7.0. you have to make the custom file first and put it on your sd card. i had to have at least 10mb of cache memory specified or i got stuck on the white htc screen.
have to read firerats thread for that.

danaff37 said:
I just did it, running cm6, and it took away that extra 80mb in system, took away all that unused space in cache, and moved it all to data. I went from 20mb free (still using apps2sd mind you) to almost 200! and so far, no issues, market works fine, everything works. Just one little note: I took somethings out of /system/app before flashing both in the rom and the gapps, things I don't use, like calculator (prefer realcalc), voice search, maps, quicksearch(all updated and installed elsewhere), and I only have 3mb free in system, so you may want to see about the customizing given in firerat's thread to increase system to say 100mb (it's 90 by default)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hell yea, glad to see people flashing this mod correctly and enjoying the results!
if you end up customizing your partitions to diff sizes let all the guys know what values they should set and/or how to set them up themselves.
I dont get to use my buddies CDMA Hero a lot so i dont know how smoothly everything has been working over the past 2 days but i havent gotten any complaints or calls to fix bugs so i assume its all working very well with firerats default values but i dont know for sure.
so far ive seen these suggestions
1. up cache to 3mb
2. up system to 100mb
@danaff37, did you set your own values or are you using defaults still?

can you us this on cyanogenmod? its 2.2.... i have tryed every way and all it gets me is the white htc screen and never does on from there... please help

i checked before i flashed to see what all i was using. i had quick system info installed already so was easy for me to see. i was already using 130mb for system, prob because of dalvic-cache, so i upped it to 150mb for future use. default setting for cache was no go, changed it to 10 mb and all is fine.

I'm using default still, but downloading the latest nightly and noticed it's about 5mb bigger than before, so I'm going to go ahead and change it to 100mb when I flash it later (after I make my mods). Anybody using it should keep in mind that most rom files, the bulk of the space it takes up is in system, so be sure to partition accordingly (including gapps on aosp roms)
I left the cache at the default, try to go to /cache afterwards and it symlinks straight to /data/cache, so I don't understand how leaving it bigger would solve anything, but I've seen stranger things occur with these damn phones. lol

MTD Custom Partition Sizes (resize System, Cache, and Userdata)

In case anyone want's to resize their System, Cache, and Userdata partitions on their EVO. This may be useful for some of the newer ROMs that require a larger system partition.
Default partition sizes for EVO are 350MB for System, 160MB for Cache, and 427.625MB for Userdata.
I did not create this. It was developed by FireRat who's account is now inactive on XDA. I started looking into it because I wanted to resize my Boot partition from 2.5M to 3M because I have bad NAND blocks in my Boot partition and can't flash ANY Sense-based Gingerbread ROM, even the leaked official one from HTC. I get the following error when debugging by flashing the boot.img using Fastboot:
FAILED (remote: image update error) ...
With all that said, it doesn't work to resize your Boot partition. I modified the source to make it resize Boot partition as well, it passes the parameters to the kernel correctly, but the system does NOT like it and gives a bunch of errors about unsupported block addresses. If you want to read more about this issue, see my post: here
How This Works
This is simple a shell script that extracts the recovery and/or boot images and modified the commandline passed to the kernel so that it recognizes different partition mappings for the NAND partitions.
Warnings
First of all, there is no brick risk if you have Fastboot access (.76 ENG HBOOT). That said, I'm not in anyway responsible if something happens and your device gets bricked. Two things could potentially go wrong:
* Recovery Flash Corrupt - This happened to me a few times when I was playing with trying to get the Boot partition to change sizes, but never when I was just attempted to resize System, Cache, and Userdata.
Easiest way to fix is to re-flash the recovery.img from Fastboot. You may also be able to re-flash the recovery via your ROM using ROMManager.
* Corrupt System, Cache, and Userdata partitions - This will happen if you don't wipe the three partitions after you do the resizing. You need everything removed from them because their start points are being remapped.
To fix this, you can use Fastboot:
Code:
fastboot erase system -w
You can also use your recovery (advanced menu) and manually wipe System, Cache, and Userdata.
I Understand What Has Been Said, Let's Get Started
1. Before you begin, you need to create a file on the root of your sdcard called mtdpartmap.txt. This file is where we set the partition sizes we want. To create this file, you can use adb shell or a terminal program on your phone. Simply type:
Code:
echo "mtd 350 160" > /sdcard/mtdpartmap.txt
Replace 350 and 160 with the sizes you want your System and Cache partitions. Your Userdata partition is automatically given the remained. For example, if I used "mtd 300 100" I would be gaining 110MB on my Userdata partition ((350-300)+(160-100) = 110). Your sizes must be divisible by .125.
2. Make a nandroid backup. After we modify the partition sizes for the recovery, you can restore it, or you can flash a whole new ROM.
3. The next step is to Flash a file in recovery. I recommend you Flash the recovery-v1.5.9-Alpha3-CustomMTD_TESTRUN.zip. This will NOT perform any changes, only make sure everything looks good. If you get no errors here, you can then proceed.
4. Wipe System, Cache, and Userdata. This is very important. You have a nandroid backup.
5. Flash recovery-v1.5.9-Alpha3-CustomMTD_R.zip, This will make the changes to your recovery.img and re-flash it to your phone. All it's doing is adding kernel commandline parameters so that the recovery knows where your System, Cache, and Userdata partitions start.
6. Reboot recovery. This is easier in CWM than RA. CWM offers a menu option for it. In RA, I normally just select the menu item to power off. Then restart the phone and hold volume down, then select Recovery from the Bootloader menu.
7. Nandroid restore or flash a new ROM.
8. Very important! Flash boot-v1.5.9-Alpha3-CustomMTD_S.zip. This does basically the same thing as in Step 5 but instead of changing the kernel commandline for recovery, it does it for your boot.img.
9. Reboot.
Important Notes
If you ever flash your recovery to a new version, or change recoveries, you must redo step #5 so that your new recovery has the partition sizes and start points passed to it.
If you ever flash a new ROM, you must perform step #8 again so that the ROMs kernel has the partition sizes and start points passed to it.
Reverting/Backing Out
1. Make a nandroid backup if you want to keep your current ROM. If not, or you will be restoring a previous nandroid backup, you can skip this step.
2. Wipe System, Cache, Userdata. This is very important.
3. Flash recovery-v1.5.9-Alpha3-CustomMTD_REMOVE.zip. This will remove the kernal commandline from the recovery and boot partitions.
4. Reboot recovery.
5. Nandroid restore or flash a new ROM.
6. If you restored a nandroid backup that had custom partitions mapped to it, you must re-flash recovery-v1.5.9-Alpha3-CustomMTD_REMOVE.zip at this point so the restored boot.img has the kernal commandline removed.
6. Reboot.
Other Thoughts
If anyone has any ideas on how to resize the Boot partition, let me know.

You know Calkulin has already posted a custom partition mod based off of Firerat's work, right??

Apparently not, or I wouldn't have wasted my whole morning writing this up.

fldash said:
Apparently not, or I wouldn't have wasted my whole morning writing this up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe you shoulda searched first...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=855424

I did search using Google and limiting it to the XDA site but it never came up. Only FireRat's original thread and a few others, but none in the Supersonic forum. Oh well, sorry for wasting your precious time. Just ignore the thread and move on...

At least the OP has newer links.
This never really caught on with the EVO since there is a2sd in almost every ROM and the default space was enough for most... and if not 2.2. allows at least some apps to be moved.
Back on my HeroC ... it was a blessing

I didn't even know this was an option OP. So thanks for educating me and a few others at least.
Sent from my Infected EVO using XDA Premium App.

O.M.J said:
maybe you shoulda searched first...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=855424
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haters gonna hate. Thanks for the info. Wouldn't have known about it otherwise.

There are tons of people posting about ways to root and unroot and many of them are basically writing about the same method but in different words so why is there a problem with the OP writing about Custom Partition Sizes? I cosign with not knowing about Caulkin's post either. Is it because the OP has a small "Thanks" meter? Caulkin has extremely helpful posts and threads but other people can post helpful threads as well.

Good write up!
Thanks
~ I'm a fungi

interesting...another good subject that I never know existed.

I actually want to thank you OP because I was thinking just today to try the Virus Kingdom REVOlution and was wondering the way to do this so, THANK YOU!!!!
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App

I use this because of Calk's write up. I like the idea of having more internal space. I hear it helps the rom function better but who knows. However, I found your thread because I was still searching for some answers. One thing I am noticing, is how well this works on non sense roms, but how I can't even get past the splash screen on a sense rom like synergy and merge. So, I found your thread very informative because you explain the math behind the science. I think I will go back to Calk's thread, and use some of what I learned here to see if a few tweaks in the mtdpartmap.txt makes a difference. I will report back. If you have any advice along these lines, I am all ears.
cns

Might wanna add in the nandroid not to backup recovery...some people might not know this... Thanks for the write up. Thanks button hit.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

TF700t KatkKiss Marshmallow "Storage space running out"

TF700t
I am on twrp-3.0.2-0. I followed the following steps.
1. Full wipe
2. Format /data
3. Change /data to f2fs
4. Flash KatKiss-6.0_TF700T_029.zip
5. Flash OpenGapps ARM 6.0 Pico
6. Flash SuperSU BETA 2.52
7. Wipe cache/dalvik
8. Reboot
The tablet boots with the message "Storage space running out. Make sure there is at least 250mb free space". This is not only cosmetic but prevents me from installing some apps and enable sync on gmail.
I tried following the steps 2 times thinking I may have had done something wrong the first time each time with format of /data.
What am I doing wrong? Is there any way to increase the size of the system partition from TWRP? What are my options?

Are you trying to install apps to /system? They should go to /data, your system partition is pretty much filled with the rom.
In adb shell run cat /proc/partitions and post the result
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Out of space in /system after clean install
I have pretty much exactly the same problem as @smodak - after formatting all partitions in TWRP and changing /data to f2fs I followed the published instructions - installed KatKiss from recovery, then SU 2.52 beta, then open gapps ARM 6.0 pico. All went well except that gapps won't install as there is only 102Mb free in the /system partition.
So I'm just flashing the gapps package in TWRP but it is obviously trying to install to /system instead of /data as you suspected @berndblb... I wonder if this is an error in the installer package configuration?
I had a look through the gapps zip but couldn't find anything explicitly referencing /system, so I'm not sure how to direct the installer to install to /data instead... any suggestions gratefully received. Meantime I might download a different flavour gapps and see if it behaves differently.
Thanks!

I downloaded open_gapps-arm-6.0-full and tried again - still trying to install to /system.
Is it possible to change this behaviour?

You cannot install the full gapps version. The system partition is not large enough. Download and flash the pico version. It has only the essential Gapps, those that need to be in /system to work.
If you're missing any Google apps install them from Play. Then they will install to /data

Yep, already tried pico first - not enough space. Was hoping that the /system target was an error but have since learnt this is by design in open gapps.
I'm having trouble finding any other distribution that targets /data - do you know of any?
Thanks.

Thousands of people have downloaded the rom and flashed the recommended pico gapps without a problem, including yours truly.. And your system partition is not large enough??? I don't think so. I have no idea what it is you are doing, but you are doing something wrong....
Back to basics I would recommend: double check each step and start over

Sigh... I've come so far - from a soft brick to a working OS, I can almost taste it! OK, back to square one. Wipe and try again.
Tell me if this sounds right though - TWRP is reporting that my /system is 503Mb in total, and after installing KK and SU 401Mb is used. So, only 102Mb free. Am I somehow chewing up extra space during the install, or is this what you'd expect, and the partition size you'd expect? The gapps pico zip is 155Mb so if it's trying to extract everything to /system during install, and these sizes are right, it's hard to see how it's ever going to work.

multiSingularity said:
Sigh... I've come so far - from a soft brick to a working OS, I can almost taste it! OK, back to square one. Wipe and try again.
Tell me if this sounds right though - TWRP is reporting that my /system is 503Mb in total, and after installing KK and SU 401Mb is used. So, only 102Mb free. Am I somehow chewing up extra space during the install, or is this what you'd expect, and the partition size you'd expect? The gapps pico zip is 155Mb so if it's trying to extract everything to /system during install, and these sizes are right, it's hard to see how it's ever going to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where do you see the 503mb size? The TF700 has a 768 mb /system partition.
Format system, then flash rom, gapps and super su in that order.
With Nougatella, pico gapps and SuperSU I have 563 mb on /system.
Install and run DiskInfo from Play to see your partition size and what's in use.
Ooops, sorry - you can't boot the thing.. Didn't mean to twist the knife. :laugh:
Open a terminal in TWRP and run: cat /proc/partitions
You'll see that mmcblk0p1 is 786432 kb which equals 768 MB.
I would be stunned if you see anything dirfferent

berndblb said:
Where do you see the 503mb size? If I remember correctly the TF700 has a ~760 mb /system partition.
Format system, then flash rom, gapps and super su in that order
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP 3.0.2.1 > Wipe > Advanced Wipe > Select "System" > Repair or Change File System. Shows 503Mb for /system, ~59Gb for /data.
I'm wondering if there might be temp directories left over from installs that need cleaning up? Could I resize those two partitions without a high risk of bricking my tab again?
I'll try reflashing in your order... I was going from the instructions in the KK thread that said to do SU before gapps. Maybe that will help.
---------- Post added at 03:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:13 PM ----------
berndblb said:
Install and run DiskInfo from Play to see your partition size and what's in use
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh, it's a bit hard to access the Play Store without being able to install gapps!

multiSingularity said:
Heh, it's a bit hard to access the Play Store without being able to install gapps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I realized that, read my edit above
---------- Post added at 09:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:30 PM ----------
multiSingularity said:
TWRP 3.0.2.1 > Wipe > Advanced Wipe > Select "System" > Repair or Change File System. Shows 503Mb for /system, ~59Gb for /data.
I'm wondering if there might be temp directories left over from installs that need cleaning up? Could I resize those two partitions without a high risk of bricking my tab again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mhh, definitely format system because in the same place TWRP shows me 755 mb for /system.
No, you cannot resize the partitions and you don't need to....

berndblb said:
Open a terminal in TWRP and run: cat /proc/partitions
You'll see that mmcblk0p1 is 786432 kb which equals 768 MB.
I would be stunned if you see anything dirfferent
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Prepare to be stunned.
mmcblk0p1 is 524288 in size.
Unsurprisingly, formatting and reflashing KK then gapps still failed. I've attached the gapps installation log for some light reading.
(Scratches head) Soooo... something is screwy with my system partition size. I've never resized it (if that's even possible) so I don't know what's going on.

multiSingularity said:
Prepare to be stunned.
mmcblk0p1 is 524288 in size.
Unsurprisingly, formatting and reflashing KK then gapps still failed. I've attached the gapps installation log for some light reading.
(Scratches head) Soooo... something is screwy with my system partition size. I've never resized it (if that's even possible) so I don't know what's going on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am stunned and scratching my head. This is after running a format in TWRP???
It's late here and I'm going to sleep on this. c u later

berndblb said:
I am stunned and scratching my head. This is after running a format in TWRP???
It's late here and I'm going to sleep on this. c u later
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thanks for all your help so far. I really appreciate the time you've put in answering my questions! Sleep tight.

Had to downgrade to KK 5.1.1 to get it all to fit. Worked OK, but noticably slower than Nougat. I did a little jiggerypokery with KK 7.1 in the TWRP terminal window and moved the /system/app directory to my sdcard (set up as Adoptable Storage) with a symlink to it under /system. Hoping this should work OK... it certainly gave me enough space to install gapps. Time to test.

Yeah well that was a bit of a flop. Got stuck on the boot animation. Tried moving some different directories out of system to sdcard or to /data and symlinking but no dice any which way. Tried leaving directories in situ but moving large files and symlinking those (eg foreign font files) but still no joy.
Unless there's a way to delete and recreate the system and data partitions I think I'm stuck on 5.1 till the end of time.

multiSingularity said:
Yeah well that was a bit of a flop. Got stuck on the boot animation. Tried moving some different directories out of system to sdcard or to /data and symlinking but no dice any which way. Tried leaving directories in situ but moving large files and symlinking those (eg foreign font files) but still no joy.
Unless there's a way to delete and recreate the system and data partitions I think I'm stuck on 5.1 till the end of time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You really think the tablet will last that long?? :silly:
How about flashing the thing back to stock. AFAIK flashing the stock blob in fastboot puts everything back to stock. I have no idea if it also recreates the partition table though... Worth a shot if you ask me.
It's called a buster99 and typically used if you're stuck with an 'unrecoverable bootloader error'. Google those terms and you'll find the steps easy enough.

berndblb said:
You really think the tablet will last that long?? :silly:
How about flashing the thing back to stock. AFAIK flashing the stock blob in fastboot puts everything back to stock. I have no idea if it also recreates the partition table though... Worth a shot if you ask me.
It's called a buster99 and typically used if you're stuck with an 'unrecoverable bootloader error'. Google those terms and you'll find the steps easy enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I used buster99's approach to recover from my soft brick. It's worth a go, for sure. Will let you know how it goes.

OK, here's the latest.
Flashing the stock ASUS ROM via fastboot failed because the staging partition is too small - it can't even get off first base.
HOWEVER... the lightbulb went on as to why my partitions are all out of whack - a while ago when I started experimenting with resurrecting my Infinity I accidentally flashed a stock TF201 ROM onto it, and this has clearly recreated TF201-sized partitions for me. So, this is an ecouraging sign that doing the same with the right ROM will fix the issue - if only we can get it to complete.
I'm thinking if I could delete all partitions except system and recovery, or even recreate a properly sized staging, and then flash the stock ROM it would likely create the missing partitions as it goes. Thoughts?

Now that explains a lot!
I seem to remember that _that posted a flashable partition table somewhere quite a while ago.... pt.blob I think it was.... I'll dig for it later today...
---------- Post added at 06:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:52 AM ----------
Or you say wth and just flash the TF201 Katkiss to it
Which bootloader do you have on there now? The 700 or 201?