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[Q] What are the benefits of formating the sd to ext/swap etc?

I'm a Linux user so I know what swap, ext2, ext3 etc technically means. What I don't understand is what are the *actual* benefits of formating my SD Card to these formats. I've run into a lot of guides and how-tos but no one cares to explain why to do it.
So to sum up:
Does the Android System actually cares if I create these formats?
If it does, will I notice actual increase in performance?
What about apps2SD?
What kind of format do you recomend?
I have an HTC Desire and I'm using CyanogenMod, Oxygen and MIUI in rotation (means I replace one with another every couple months).
Thanks in advance!

aventinus said:
I'm a Linux user so I know what swap, ext2, ext3 etc technically means. What I don't understand is what are the *actual* benefits of formating my SD Card to these formats. I've run into a lot of guides and how-tos but no one cares to explain why to do it.
So to sum up:
Does the Android System actually cares if I create these formats?
If it does, will I notice actual increase in performance?
What about apps2SD?
What kind of format do you recomend?
I have an HTC Desire and I'm using CyanogenMod, Oxygen and MIUI in rotation (means I replace one with another every couple months).
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Faster SD Card speeds for app2sd, thats mainly it. If you don't use A2SD there isnt much point to it, but if you do it can be very useful. What some people do though are format their System and Data partitions to EXT2 or EXT4 so then the whole system is faster all around and is a large improvement over stock rfs.

fowenati said:
Faster SD Card speeds for app2sd, thats mainly it. If you don't use A2SD there isnt much point to it, but if you do it can be very useful. What some people do though are format their System and Data partitions to EXT2 or EXT4 so then the whole system is faster all around and is a large improvement over stock rfs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok so if make an ext partition, the apps that are stored in this partition will run faster. That sounds fair. Should I have both ext and FAT partions? And if I do, how does Android know where to put the apps? Also how about swap?

aventinus said:
Ok so if make an ext partition, the apps that are stored in this partition will run faster. That sounds fair. Should I have both ext and FAT partions? And if I do, how does Android know where to put the apps? Also how about swap?
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Click to collapse
No need for swap, and yes EXT is automatically recognized by android for a2sd, but make sure your ROM supports it. You would have an EXT partition between 256mb-2gb max, and then the rest would be FAT.

fowenati said:
No need for swap, and yes EXT is automatically recognized by android for a2sd, but make sure your ROM supports it. You would have an EXT partition between 256mb-2gb max, and then the rest would be FAT.
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Ok! That was really eye-opening! Thank you so much!

no problem!

[Q] Ext-4 partition needed for Insertcoin 2.4.xx?

I always see IC roms looking for an ext-4 partition during installation. I never made one. Everything works fine, is that just to make apps moved to the SD faster, or? Basically wondering if I should do this and if so if any steps are needed other than using gparted or somesuch and wiping and reinstalling the ROM.
I appreciate your kind replies to my n00b question. I only ever made special SD partitions pre-froyo or to lag fix the SGS1.

Sinjara said:
I always see IC roms looking for an ext-4 partition during installation. I never made one. Everything works fine, is that just to make apps moved to the SD faster, or? Basically wondering if I should do this and if so if any steps are needed other than using gparted or somesuch and wiping and reinstalling the ROM.
I appreciate your kind replies to my n00b question. I only ever made special SD partitions pre-froyo or to lag fix the SGS1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to do anything. It is formatting the phone memory to ext4. Don't need to make ext4 on your SD card.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk

G2x sd configuration thread

Yes, I have searched; don't give me the whole guilt crap
I would like to know a couple of things...
1. Internal phone storage & phone memory, what is the difference and is there any mods people are doing with them as far as combining or something?
2. SD partitioning... are people still doing this and if so what are you recommending?
3. Swap... probably a thing of the past, but just would like to know.
Class 4 32gb
Running Weapon G2X
Faux stock kernels
Clockwork EXT4

alright lets make this world a better place, i'll tell you what i know
internal storage, is basically yours to use, add your music pics or whatever, just like how u use an sd card, phone memory aka application memory is reserved for apps only, no way of combining them, dont need to anyways, sd partitioning i never tried but i think its says it all, dividing your sd card into two or more partitions..make seem like you have two or more, u can reserve one just for music or pics or roms
and what do u mean by swap??
ooh yah if i helped a little hit the thxs button, imma collect now too lol

I came from from the G1 where it was standard practice to partition into fat32/ext/swap. Since moving to the G2x I have not needed it. Phone is super fast without swap and more than enough space for apps.
As for combining internal and external SD cards, I don't think I've seen that yet...
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk

I've never seen them combined but don't know if you can because if you remove the microsd, it would get all screwy.
I don't even use internal unless the rom does. I have a collection of apks/walls/music and my titanium files on my SD... everything else is expendable.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

player911 said:
I've never seen them combined but don't know if you can because if you remove the microsd, it would get all screwy.
I don't even use internal unless the rom does. I have a collection of apks/walls/music and my titanium files on my SD... everything else is expendable.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and with those on the SD are you using them just anywhere on the SD or do you have an EXT 4 partition?

dylyxcore said:
Yes, I have searched; don't give me the whole guilt crap
I would like to know a couple of things...
1. Internal phone storage & phone memory, what is the difference and is there any mods people are doing with them as far as combining or something?
2. SD partitioning... are people still doing this and if so what are you recommending?
3. Swap... probably a thing of the past, but just would like to know.
Class 4 32gb
Running Weapon G2X
Faux stock kernels
Clockwork EXT4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Internal phone storage is where your system files are stored. It is also where apps from the market are installed. Phone memory is utilized by the stock roms as the default "sdcard". By default this is where your photos, music, documents, etc are stored. There is also an external slot for a physical sdcard. This is actually mounted to /sdcard/_ExternalSD with a stock rom.
There is no need to partition the external sdcard. There is enough space on the phone by default and it probably wouldn't be worth the hassle to make it work.
I don't think you need swap with this phone.

phburks said:
Internal phone storage is where your system files are stored. It is also where apps from the market are installed. Phone memory is utilized by the stock roms as the default "sdcard". By default this is where your photos, music, documents, etc are stored. There is also an external slot for a physical sdcard. This is actually mounted to /sdcard/_ExternalSD with a stock rom.
There is no need to partition the external sdcard. There is enough space on the phone by default and it probably wouldn't be worth the hassle to make it work.
I don't think you need swap with this phone.
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Click to collapse
Thank you for clearing this up, so in clockwork recovery why does it support EXT 4? Is that just the format it saves a back-up in?

dylyxcore said:
Thank you for clearing this up, so in clockwork recovery why does it support EXT 4? Is that just the format it saves a back-up in?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Ext4 is a type of filesystem used commonly in Linux, just like FAT and NTFS are used with Windows setups. There are some roms that will mount your system as, or even fully format your system into a ext4 filesystem. Clockwork supports that filesystem, meaning it can be used to install ext4 roms.

phburks said:
No. Ext4 is a type of filesystem used commonly in Linux, just like FAT and NTFS are used with Windows setups. There are some roms that will mount your system as, or even fully format your system into a ext4 filesystem. Clockwork supports that filesystem, meaning it can be used to install ext4 roms.
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Click to collapse
Thank you for your help, one last thing... to run these do you need an EXT 4 partition, or is that completely different? What makes the ROM to be EXT 4?

dylyxcore said:
Thank you for your help, one last thing... to run these do you need an EXT 4 partition, or is that completely different? What makes the ROM to be EXT 4?
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Click to collapse
No you simply flash like you would any other rom. If the rom actually formats your drives to ext4 i beleive you will have convert back to ext3 in order to flash an ext3 rom. There is a conversion utility somewhere on here if you search around. Someone else wanna chime in to verify about the need to convert back to ext3?

phburks said:
No you simply flash like you would any other rom. If the rom actually formats your drives to ext4 i beleive you will have convert back to ext3 in order to flash an ext3 rom. There is a conversion utility somewhere on here if you search around. Someone else wanna chime in to verify about the need to convert back to ext3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I read about the EXT 3 to EXT 4 dilemma on here via CM7 when it was upgraded from an overnight build or something... I think it had to do with restoring apps or data? Really appreciate your information, this finally clears up the confusion
p.s. thanks'ed all your replies

[Q] Is This Normal?

When I wipe my Dalvik Cache I get the following message on the screen:
E:unknown volume for path [/sd-ext]
Is this normal?

That's normal. I believe the reason for that is because you don't have an ext4 partition on your SD.

what are you trying to do if i may know to help?

Ricanblaze said:
what are you trying to do if i may know to help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just trying to wipe my Dalvik Cache.

bkoon1218 said:
That's normal. I believe the reason for that is because you don't have an ext4 partition on your SD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should I have an ext4 partition on my SD? What are the benefits?

/sd-ext does not exist for our phones. Totally normal that you get an error.
Supposedly it speeds up your app cache on sd card read times, but unless you have a really fast card, I don't really see the benefits. Used to be more useful before the Froyo days.

FBis251 said:
/sd-ext does not exist for our phones. Totally normal that you get an error.
Supposedly it speeds up your app cache on sd card read times, but unless you have a really fast card, I don't really see the benefits. Used to be more useful before the Froyo days.
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Click to collapse
Didn't dsexton702 have an ext4 converter for the SD card as well? It was back then before he even released ICBINB Froyo.

bkoon1218 said:
Didn't dsexton702 have an ext4 converter for the SD card as well? It was back then before he even released ICBINB Froyo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it's for the apps2sd partition of the sd card. Should still be around somewhere.

FBis251 said:
/sd-ext does not exist for our phones. Totally normal that you get an error.
Supposedly it speeds up your app cache on sd card read times, but unless you have a really fast card, I don't really see the benefits. Used to be more useful before the Froyo days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am running Raver's Octane ROM which is based off of Gingerbread. I haven't had any problems running the ROM so far and am quite happy with it. But just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. So, I guess what I'm asking is, if it's ok to run as is or should I convert my sdcard?

You don't need ext4 on your SD card. 95% the custom ROMs on this forum practically have ext4 (lagfix) built into it already.

[Q] partition sd card

sorry for noob post but i havnt been able to understand all this with all the posts iv read
Iv been looking into installing apps on the external sd card and i came across "partitioning sd card" and a whole bunch of other vocabulary, so iv got a couple of questions.
1. can someone explain to me the basics of this?
2. define ext2, ext3, ext4, fat32, swap size, (there might be a bit more i jsut cant think of any right now)
3. do u reccomend doing this with cwm? iv come across a few posts where people have been saying thing could brick your phone
4. apperntly cwm has some built in partition? i dont really know..
5. how would I do this this with cwm?

Boot into recovery and look for partition sd option, follow instructions.
NVIDIA NEVER AGAIN!

fcisco13 said:
Boot into recovery and look for partition sd option, follow instructions.
NVIDIA NEVER AGAIN!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks but is it safe? and what do i put for each option?

Make sure you backup your sdcard before you partition or you'll lose your important files.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

maxesxp said:
thanks but is it safe? and what do i put for each option?
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Click to collapse
Is it safe?
Don't know i have 20 apps installed so dont need more space, it was safe on n1.
NVIDIA NEVER AGAIN!

d12unk13astard said:
Make sure you backup your sdcard before you partition or you'll lose your important files.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes iv already done that I just wanna know what the procedure is
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk

maxesxp said:
sorry for noob post but i havnt been able to understand all this with all the posts iv read
Iv been looking into installing apps on the external sd card and i came across "partitioning sd card" and a whole bunch of other vocabulary, so iv got a couple of questions.
1. can someone explain to me the basics of this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this link. Very simple.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=SD_card_partitioning

jcbofkc said:
Try this link. Very simple.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=SD_card_partitioning
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you but iv come across ext4? whats that? and what is swap? theres some vocabulary words in there i dont sorry for all the questions lol

maxesxp said:
thank you but iv come across ext4? whats that? and what is swap? theres some vocabulary words in there i dont sorry for all the questions lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EXT4 is the file system (like FAT or NTFS but for Linux based). Swap is the partition used sort of like ram (just slower) in the way that temporary files are stored there for quick access.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

redmonke255 said:
EXT4 is the file system (like FAT or NTFS but for Linux based). Swap is the partition used sort of like ram (just slower) in the way that temporary files are stored there for quick access.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Okay thanks can you give me a procedure to how to partition you sd card? Thanks in advance
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk

I think people mentioned to do it through clockword mod? I think I've seen an option down there.
I have no idea why you'd want to, though. I can't really see any benefit and it would only complicate things.

Only reason to partition sdcard to have an ext partition is for people like me that have way too many apps to install that normally wouldn't fit on the g2x's internal storage. Even putting apps to SD wouldn't allow my setup of over 600 apps to my phone without an app called link2sd, currently rocking a 12gb ext3 partition on my 32gb class 10 Lexar sdcard. Call me crazy but I love having all my apps available any time I need, my phone is a beast I tell ya, with all the stress I put in it its still blazingly quick!
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

redmonke255 said:
I think people mentioned to do it through clockword mod? I think I've seen an option down there.
I have no idea why you'd want to, though. I can't really see any benefit and it would only complicate things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yupp thats what i wanted to do lol but it says swag size and stuff and i got confused... and ppl hav said clockworkmod is ddangourous when it comes to partitioning soo im a bit scared

d12unk13astard said:
Only reason to partition sdcard to have an ext partition is for people like me that have way too many apps to install that normally wouldn't fit on the g2x's internal storage. Even putting apps to SD wouldn't allow my setup of over 600 apps to my phone without an app called link2sd, currently rocking a 12gb ext3 partition on my 32gb class 10 Lexar sdcard. Call me crazy but I love having all my apps available any time I need, my phone is a beast I tell ya, with all the stress I put in it its still blazingly quick!
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yupp lol iv filled my sd card up so thats how i stumbles across this