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Rooted G1 - JF 1.41
I finally broke down and got a 16GB card. I made 3GB ext2 and the rest FAT32. I successfully have apps installing to the ext2 part. I also moved cache for about 50 programs to the ext2 part. I want to keep all system files on the ext2 part and just use the fat32 part for media and personal files. (I actually want to make that a ext2 part so I have nothing M$ in my phone but, compatibility to other computers would just make it too much a pain)
But anyway my main question I trying to figure out is....
If the app has been installed on the SD card, do you still need to sim-link the cache to the SD card? or does it cache in its installed directory, which in now already on the SD card.
And I also want to remove Amazon mp3, myfaves, and other crap pre-installed that I don't use.
And also I'd like to understand the file setup better. Im not a programmer but I am a normal Linux user (M$ free 3+ yrs. - and love it!)
And my next "mod" will be to install Debian
- I plan to install to my ext2 part. any advce?
LucidREM said:
2. you created the FAT32 / EXT2 combo partitions
SPECIAL NOTE:
EXT2 seems to have problems bigger than 2G .. recommended not to exceed 1.5G .. 500M is actually more than enough for most people
MicroSD should be 2G/4G/8G class6 .. without class6 you should not bother moving apps to the SD​
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
,.........
ryanroth said:
Rooted G1 - JF 1.41
I finally broke down and got a 16GB card. I made 3GB ext2 and the rest FAT32. I successfully have apps installing to the ext2 part. I also moved cache for about 50 programs to the ext2 part. I want to keep all system files on the ext2 part and just use the fat32 part for media and personal files. (I actually want to make that a ext2 part so I have nothing M$ in my phone but, compatibility to other computers would just make it too much a pain)
But anyway my main question I trying to figure out is....
If the app has been installed on the SD card, do you still need to sim-link the cache to the SD card? or does it cache in its installed directory, which in now already on the SD card.
And I also want to remove Amazon mp3, myfaves, and other crap pre-installed that I don't use.
And also I'd like to understand the file setup better. Im not a programmer but I am a normal Linux user (M$ free 3+ yrs. - and love it!)
And my next "mod" will be to install Debian
- I plan to install to my ext2 part. any advce?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you save the caches of specific apps to SD? (Coding-wise)
I did a automated script provided by someone that only did apps like Browser, Maps, Steel, Tunewiki, and a few others.
How do you save the caches of specific apps to SD? (Coding-wise)
basicly I just removed the cache directoy, made new dir on sd, and made link to new cache directory.
cd /data/data/*app name* (something like com.android.**)
rm -R cache (remove existing cache directory)
mkdir /sdcard/cache/*appname* (make directory where you want the cache to go)
ln -s /sdcard/cache/*appname* cache (make a link to cache directoy you made on the sd card)
now the cache directory is just a link to the directory you made on the sd card.
so when it wants to write to /data/data/*appname*/cache it acually writes to /sdcard/cache/*appname*
make sence? Im not good at explaining, buy I'll try.
also be careful not to clear the cache (or "app data") via settings-manage applications, this will delete the apps cache directory that is now a link to the sd card.
LAg
How is the lag when you sym link the cache of certain apps to the ext2 with a class 2 card?
dont remove myfaves, it is tied into other apps such as contacts/phonebook,
i dont think you should try on a class 2 card, as the one of the post say class 6 is recomended
ryanroth said:
If the app has been installed on the SD card, do you still need to sim-link the cache to the SD card? or does it cache in its installed directory, which in now already on the SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you linked /data/app and /data/app-private over to the SD that is just the APK files that run the program .. cache files are stored under /data/data
Ok, so since I went from my nice name brand 4GB class4 to a patriot 4GB class6 I have had all kinds of issues trying to get my apps to my SD. When ever I tried to reformat the card through windows vista or win7 it would disconnect, and when trying to launch computer management it would freeze until the phone was disconnected. I would also connect it, right click to format, i would get the popup asking if Im sure I want to format the card, and then when you click format it would fail immediately and the phone would disconnect as external media. So nothing I could do could reformat the card even tho at the time there was a 3.5GB FAT32/.4GB ext2 so I stuck it in Ubuntu. Same weird issues trying to format with GPartition. So I tried Partition manager which would only allow me to delete all the partitions and create ext2 but whenever I would create a FAT32 it would fail at the last 90% of the job and the phone would disconnect form the comptuer, I could then reconnect it and complete the job. I tried this about 20 times after number reboots in Vista and Win7 to no avail. I tried every updated ROM with every type of Apps2sd conversion and nothing is working, everything keeps installing to the phone even after all the commands are successful in the terminal. Finally this morning I got to work and tried with XP and it formatted first try, and now I am midway through resetting everything up. My major issue is that once I install a new build it will work until I setup the apps on the sd card, once I do that I hang on the second slpash screen.
In short I dont know what is going on but I wanted to report my issues incase anyone else was having similar problems. It would seem XP is my savior but that seems really odd.
I have the same issue in Vista. If I need to format the card I just use a reader instead.
Symptoms:
- SD card not recognized by Windows Vista or Windows 7
- If SD card is detected if you right click > format, that operation will instantly fail and the SD card will become disconnected.
- Opening Admin Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management will hang until you disconnect the SD card
- SD comes up as unallocated and needing a format but any attempt to format it will fail
- After installing Apps2sd it hangs on second splash screen
- After installing Apps2sd it hangs on android logo
- Cyclic Redundancy Check error when copying files to SD
- Phone and computer both not recognizing the SD card
Attempted fixes:
- Installing JFv1.5
- Installing 1.5Hr3Apps2sd
- Installing Dudes Apps2sd
- Installing everything imaginable from radios to RC29 and re-rooting
Chain of events that worked:
- Installed JFv1.5 - get a fresh download, install and wipe. You can do this by using another SD card, putting your SD card in another computer, or using a combo of adb or fastboot. Depending on how I messed up my phone determined which of those ways I could do it.
- Format your whole SD card to FAT32 - Same as above, depending on your situation you may need to use a card reader or a computer with linux or Paragon partition manager. I had more issues in Vista and Win7 than XP just FYI incase thats an option to you.
- Split your partition into FAT32/Ext2 - Take your total card size formatted to FAT32, mine was 3.8GB and I wanted .4GB (400MB) so in the below coding where it says "size" I used 3400M, make sure you use a capital M, for more info on this topic click here. Then, with an internet connection open up your terminal emulator and type each line and then enter:
su
cd /data
wget http://64.105.21.209/bin/lib/droid/sdsplit
chmod 555 sdsplit
/data/sdsplit -fs size -nc
reboot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- NOTE - The above 2 steps can be skipped if done in Paragon Partition Manager (which I owe thanks for saving my SD card when the Disk Management in all versions of windows and Gpartition in ubuntu failed to see the card, but not PPM)
- Part 1 of 2 for setting up Apps2sd - First step is to download this file. Extract those 2 files onto the FAT32 (windows visible) partition of your SD card. Then open up your terminal emulator and type out each line and hit enter:
su
mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
cp /sdcard/init.rc /data/
cp /runme.sh /data/
cp /sdcard/a2sd.sh /data/
reboot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- Part 2 of 2 for setting up Apps2sd - Once fully rebooted download this file and copy the AppstoSD2.apk to your SD card. With a file manager program (ASTRO for me) install AppstoSD2 off of your SD card. When it is done launch the program and select, Copy Apps to SD. Once that is done your phone will reboot. Once its back up and running choose the second option, Copy dalvik-cache to SD. Once that is done you will need to manually reboot.
- DONE!!! - Once I was done rebooting my phone now reports as having ~400MB of internal storage and it feels much snappier. I hope this guide helps someone.
Huge props to Stericson and MarcusMaximus for their help in fixing my phone. I suspect others may run into similar issues not knowing you need to split the sd card, then create those links with init.rc and a2sd.sh, and THEN install the appstosd program so maybe this will help someone else.
Update: Phone froze during a call, I pulled the battery, and it hung at the second splash screen, and the JF1.5 update.zip file on the SD card could not be found. I went and found my old reliable SanDisk 2GB, put the update on it from my computer, flashed, wiped, and once everything was good to go I tried to put the 4GB class 6 card I have been using but now the phone, linux, xp, vista, win7 all fail to recognize the card at all. I dont know what happened but my issues started when I got that card. I am taking the new Patriot 4GB class 6 card back to fry's and Im running my 4GB class 4 that I had before I upgraded. Everything is setup now and working fine so hopefully I just had a bad SD card.
I wouldnt use the phone to format your sd card. I had no issues formating on vista, winxp, win7 when using a sd card reader. I think it has something to do with the fact that you dont have direct access to the sd card when formating from the phone. I think Android just mounts the /sdcard partition and makes it writable through the usb. if that is the case then you dont have access to the partition tables on the card. Not a linux or android guru, just a theory.
1: Don't try to format the sd card using your computer when it's in your phone, if you need to format it, use a card reader.
2: ext2 isn't readable by Windows, so if your ext2 partition isn't showing up on the computer, that's normal.
i had haykuro adp 1.5 but flashed jf 1.5 to put apps on sd and its stuck on tmobile g1 screen.
Yes! The easiest way for me was throwing the card into my Ubuntu laptop and both the FAT and Ext2 partitions pop up on the desktop so you can backup or partition them easily.
And when my card crapped out last night and I put the class 4 back in I was not recognized on any computer but I could at least format it from the phone. From there Partition manager could see the drive and partition but the format was invalid. I then ran the SDSplit method and was able to get the partitions visible in Ubuntu (but not in Windows). From there I copied files (wallpaper, ringtones, etc.) to the SD card and rebooted and when it came back up Windows was able to see the files on the SD and now everything is setup again and good to go.
I have had 2 Patriot 4gb Class 6 cards that both have bad sectors within the first month...as well as randomly getting "bad_removal" from my phone with them. And then it finally losing the filesystem!
I am now using a Kingston 4GB Class 4 card and havent had any issues in 2 weeks.
Patriot isn't all that bad but I think these cards are duds.
Hi,
Just wanted to add:
I purchased a kingston 16 gb class 2 from ebay - working apps to sd no problems. I used it for 1 month.
Then I upgraded to an Adata 16 gb class 6 from newegg.com. Using it for 2 weeks now with no problems. Apps to sd and dalvik-cache to sd.
My firmware Haykuro 5.02H r4.
These 2 brands seem to be reliable.
I just ordered the A-Data 16GB cl6 card off newegg.com. When I get it I will see what happens and report back.
I used the recovery partition to create FAT32, ext2, and swap partitions on my sd card.
1) What size does it make each of these partitions?
2) What is each used for?
3) When loading the MoDaCo update.zip (and rebooting after first boot) after creating these partitions, what does it do with each of them? My free space on each seems to change, and I think it's loading some apps to the SD card? But not others?
4) How do you see how much space remains on the fat32 and ext2 partitions? Which one is shown in the SD card info settings page, and which one is used for USB mass storage mode? Neither seems to change much even after I install a bunch of >1MB apps.
Thanks for any help.
Also, what's taking up all my internal phone space? If the update.zip moved apps to the SD card, why do I only have 50 MB left of internal space?
jonnythan said:
I used the recovery partition to create FAT32, ext2, and swap partitions on my sd card.
1) What size does it make each of these partitions?
2) What is each used for?
3) When loading the MoDaCo update.zip (and rebooting after first boot) after creating these partitions, what does it do with each of them? My free space on each seems to change, and I think it's loading some apps to the SD card? But not others?
4) How do you see how much space remains on the fat32 and ext2 partitions? Which one is shown in the SD card info settings page, and which one is used for USB mass storage mode? Neither seems to change much even after I install a bunch of >1MB apps.
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
32 mb swap, 500mb ext2 rest fat32
swap is for linux swap if its used in the rom, ext2 is for your apps, and fat32 is for your storage
yes it loads all of your /data/app and /data/app-private apps on your sd card, your /system/app stays there
you can do a df -h under adb to see your free space
jonnythan said:
I used the recovery partition to create FAT32, ext2, and swap partitions on my sd card.
1) What size does it make each of these partitions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it makes a 32MB Swap partiton, a 500 MB Ext2 partition and the rest fat32.
jonnythan said:
2) What is each used for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Fat32 is normal files like music, pictures, etc. The ext2 is used for apps2sd. Don't worry, 500MB is more than enough for this. The swap is used for bakcground applications so they run better without slowing the phone down as much.
jonnythan said:
3) When loading the MoDaCo update.zip (and rebooting after first boot) after creating these partitions, what does it do with each of them? My free space on each seems to change, and I think it's loading some apps to the SD card? But not others?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Fat32 it shouldnt do anything. Obviously you will have less space because the other partitions are taking some of it's space. It loads the apps onto your ext2 partition but not all of them. System apps such as the calculator, browser, phone, etc stay on the system partition because it's faster.
jonnythan said:
4) How do you see how much space remains on the fat32 and ext2 partitions? Which one is shown in the SD card info settings page, and which one is used for USB mass storage mode? Neither seems to change much even after I install a bunch of >1MB apps.
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have Windows, Linux or Mac. I don't know about Mac but I know Linux can view ext partitions natively (obviously, it's the native filesystem). For Windows you might be able to load the disk management application but if that doesnt show it you need a partitioning application or any other application that can read ext partitions off an sdcard. Don't know any off hand except paragon partitioning manager 9.0 (8.0 never seemed to work with my sd cards)
jonnythan said:
Also, what's taking up all my internal phone space? If the update.zip moved apps to the SD card, why do I only have 50 MB left of internal space?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See the above explanation.
nelson8403 said:
32 mb swap, 500mb ext2 rest fat32
swap is for linux swap if its used in the rom, ext2 is for your apps, and fat32 is for your storage
yes it loads all of your /data/app and /data/app-private apps on your sd card, your /system/app stays there
you can do a df -h under adb to see your free space
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That answers my questions, thank you.
I found another though. I unmounted my SD card via Settings to see if the apps would fail to work in an effort to try to figure out if they were actually installed there. Predictably, they failed to work, but the system didn't pick the card back up after I reinserted it. So I rebooted the phone with the SD card in.
Then everything died. The apps didn't come back, but the phone still had them listed and tried to launch them, resulting in force-closes. An ext2 repair didn't fix it, so I just went back to my last Nandroid backup and reapplied update.zip.
I learned that this is a Bad Thing to do, but I'm wondering if this was a fluke or is it generally inadvisable to unmount the SD card for this reason?
im a noob to the whole android thing.but how do i partition the sd card and create ext2?????
jonnythan said:
I learned that this is a Bad Thing to do, but I'm wondering if this was a fluke or is it generally inadvisable to unmount the SD card for this reason?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since this is a simple symlink, if you reboot the phone without the target of the symlink being there, and the phone tries to use it...
The results are left as an exercise for the reader.
Now for anyone who asks why it isn't smart enough not to break... that's like asking why your car doesn't run if you take half the spak plugs out.
posguy99 said:
Since this is a simple symlink, if you reboot the phone without the target of the symlink being there, and the phone tries to use it...
The results are left as an exercise for the reader.
Now for anyone who asks why it isn't smart enough not to break... that's like asking why your car doesn't run if you take half the spak plugs out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, but I'm asking why it still doesn't work once you put the spark plugs back in
It's not a big deal, I certainly learned not to do it.
jonnythan said:
Ah, but I'm asking why it still doesn't work once you put the spark plugs back in
It's not a big deal, I certainly learned not to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because booting the phone with it thinking the app was installed but it not able to find it trashed other data structures.
BTW, people trying to do stuff with the SD card removed after putting the apps on the SD card is probably one of the main reasons it currently is root only.
The OS needs to be modified to handle removable app storage gracefully (not something that happens in a standard phone.)
So should you format the card prior to flashing Modaco's ROM so the system knows to install all the apps to the ex2 partition. Or can you format the card AFTER you have already flashed Modaco's ROM and still have the apps automatically install on ext2 partition? I only ask cuz I formatted after flashing the ROM and wanna make sure it's installing it on the ext2.
I formatted mine afterwards and it moved all my apps over to the sd card automatically.
When I format my card by putting it in the slot my laptop has it doesn't wipe the ext partition... I say this because it's showing that the 2gig card is only a 1.27gig card. This can't be right?
Any help is appreciated.
What OS are you running?
Windows 7 (64 bit)
I don't have a card reader so I can't test it but try to right click on My Computer and select manage. Then go into Disk Management.
The problem is windows can't recognize ext partitions so it won't mount them
Otherwise look up a partition manager to run under windows. I always partition under linux or with dedicated tool you boot to off a CD. I am not sure a good one to recommend to run under windows. Maybe someone else can recommend one.
If you made a 4gb ext partition on an 8gb card, windows will now only see this as a 4gb card until you reallocate the ext partition.
I'm running Windows 7 64-bit and I use Paragon Manager to modify the ext partitions. I am not sure if there is a legitimately free version of this program.
Thanks everyone. I'm downloading Paragon Manager now. I made my ext partition too big and want to put more music on there. I also feel like partitioned the card twice... I think I have an ext 2 & an ext 3 partition.
Again, thanks!
Sd Formatter
mrcharlesiv said:
When I format my card by putting it in the slot my laptop has it doesn't wipe the ext partition... I say this because it's showing that the 2gig card is only a 1.27gig card. This can't be right?
Any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use SdFormatter from this link: http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter_3/
Question:
Over the last few months I (like most people here) have tried several roms. I moved from the sdcard that came with the phone to an 8gb, no problems there.
The way I backup my sdcard is I make a folder on my desktop and literally just drag and drop the whole card over, hasn't let me down yet. When I switched I formatted the 8gb card and just copied my latest sdcard backup to the 8gb and everything works great. I am at the point where I have a lot of stuff on there from from things like apps I've uninstalled, etc. and I'd like to clean it up. I have everything I would want to keep backed up on my desktop.
So here is my question:
If I reformat my sdcard will the phone copy/install anything on the clean sdcard it needs to run?
If so then I'm thinking I could just copy what I want (nand backups, pictures, music, etc.)
Thanks
nebenezer said:
Question:
Over the last few months I (like most people here) have tried several roms. I moved from the sdcard that came with the phone to an 8gb, no problems there.
The way I backup my sdcard is I make a folder on my desktop and literally just drag and drop the whole card over, hasn't let me down yet. When I switched I formatted the 8gb card and just copied my latest sdcard backup to the 8gb and everything works great. I am at the point where I have a lot of stuff on there from from things like apps I've uninstalled, etc. and I'd like to clean it up. I have everything I would want to keep backed up on my desktop.
So here is my question:
If I reformat my sdcard will the phone copy/install anything on the clean sdcard it needs to run?
If so then I'm thinking I could just copy what I want (nand backups, pictures, music, etc.)
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and yes. I have cleaned house a few times by deleting everything off my 8gb card and bringing back just my pictures, music and backups.
If you are using an ext partition to store apps and want to delete this data, you will need to format this with a program that can handle this ext partition or the easiest way is through recovery (wipe ext partition). Otherwise, if you want to keep your apps on the partition you can just delete everything off the card through windows or even format it there.
Thanks Danknee!!
I thought that was the case but wanted to make sure.
I haven't had the need to use a2sd yet so that's not a problem.
One more question:
I've formatted and put everything I want to keep back. Should I just reboot or do I need to reflash DC!.0, the reason I ask is because there was literally nothing on the card after formatting (not surprising). So I put HTC Sync back in case I need it, will the phone build the file structure it needs as it needs it or should I do anything else at this point?
Thanks
You can just reboot. The SD card doesn't have anything on it that would be replaced by flashing anyway. Since you aren't using apps2sd, you could technically have two different SD cards that you swapped in and out. You would just need to unmount and remount them to prevent corruption during the swaps.
Apps save settings on the card, but these will be resaved when you use these apps again. Conversely, the apps you never use again won't be taking up any space now.
danknee said:
You can just reboot. The SD card doesn't have anything on it that would be replaced by flashing anyway. Since you aren't using apps2sd, you could technically have two different SD cards that you swapped in and out. You would just need to unmount and remount them to prevent corruption during the swaps.
Apps save settings on the card, but these will be resaved when you use these apps again. Conversely, the apps you never use again won't be taking up any space now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, thanks.
I totally understand what you just posted... So HTC ships these phones with SOME files that you can't get back by reflashing? (ie. HTC Sync) just curious
nebenezer said:
Awesome, thanks.
I totally understand what you just posted... So HTC ships these phones with SOME files that you can't get back by reflashing? (ie. HTC Sync) just curious
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you can flash back to a stock sense ROM with no problems. What I meant was that you could actually use your phone with no memory card and it would be fully functional except that some apps couldn't save settings and data.
The SD card is completely optional and all the system files and system apk files are stored in your phone's internal memory.
danknee said:
No, you can flash back to a stock sense ROM with no problems. What I meant was that you could actually use your phone with no memory card and it would be fully functional except that some apps couldn't save settings and data.
The SD card is completely optional and all the system files and system apk files are stored in your phone's internal memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the confusion... I understand the phone can operate sans sdcard. if I'm not mistaken I believe I installed HTC Sync on my pc from my sdcard meanin that if I deleted it without backing it up I would have to (Jeez, I just realized what a waste of time this is, but I'm in too deep to stop) get HTC Sync from another source, ie HTC's website?
LOL yeah, you are probably right about HTC sync. I downloaded sync from the HTC website anyway (to make sure I had the lastest version). Besides that, I can't think of anything else on the stock 2gb card that is irreplaceable..
I downloaded and i.stalled link2sd and bought the Plus version. Formatted my sd
Card with aparted. Made it fat 32 1st partition And the 2nd way ext4 and it
worked fine. I couldnt move apps2sd but it said i could use
link. Which i linked all my apps. When i restart my phone. It does
not load the partition on the sd card with all my apps on it so
my phone looks empty unless I remount link2sd every time.
And after I do remount I have to reboot again and it loads the 2nd partition.
And even when it finally loads the right thing. I have 1g of internal and 7g
of external space. But when i try to play say clash of clans when its linked. It wont
even get past the first black screen, google chrome wont even load up the home
page or anything. So I unlinked everything and now it runs seemless. i really could use
help with making this work cause I have 1.5g internal storage and its useless.
siyksoul said:
I downloaded and i.stalled link2sd and bought the Plus version. Formatted my sd
Card with aparted. Made it fat 32 1st partition And the 2nd way ext4 and it
worked fine. I couldnt move apps2sd but it said i could use
link. Which i linked all my apps. When i restart my phone. It does
not load the partition on the sd card with all my apps on it so
my phone looks empty unless I remount link2sd every time.
And after I do remount I have to reboot again and it loads the 2nd partition.
And even when it finally loads the right thing. I have 1g of internal and 7g
of external space. But when i try to play say clash of clans when its linked. It wont
even get past the first black screen, google chrome wont even load up the home
page or anything. So I unlinked everything and now it runs seemless. i really could use
help with making this work cause I have 1.5g internal storage and its useless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This may be a stupid question, but when you first set up link2sd and it asked you what partition you wanted to use you did choose ext4 right? And when you used Aparted you left enough space on 2nd partition? Sounds like something went wrong when first setting up link2sd. Might want to unlink everything, clear all caches, redownload it and start over. Then just link 1 app, reboot and see if it works. I set mine up with Aparted too and never had a problem.