Database Info

[Q] Multi-Booting

Hi,
It just came into my mind. Since we can have custom recovery and android recovery also boots, can we have multi boot option in Defy as like in a PC's

Good question ..............i think there is no answer for this question

rvd_516 said:
Hi,
It just came into my mind. Since we can have custom recovery and android recovery also boots, can we have multi boot option in Defy as like in a PC's
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
some resources would have to be used by both ROMs..
with the current hacks it can't be done easily.
i guess some way of ramdisking the shared resources will have to be used.
basically, if you think about a hack for defy ask first:
can it be done in a completely open (=bootloader not locked) phone like nexus ?
if yes, ask:
is it WORKING?
if yes also, so maybe it can be done.
nevertheless, it's easy enough to create a script to backup & restore NANDROIDS.
but then every switch between roms will take like 25+ minutes, so it won't be a real multiboot.

Somebody at one point on the desire was working on something like this. Run rom from nand and other rom from sdcard.
Ephumuris.

ephumuris said:
Somebody at one point on the desire was working on something like this. Run rom from nand and other rom from sdcard.
Ephumuris.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think there are two possibilities for this to happen: first of all, we should try NAND boot for the primary ROM, and try somehow to load the secondary ROM from the internal memory (it'll be faster than the SD Card, I think). The problem here would be allowing the bootloader to read from internal memory instead of NAND. I know this can be done based on the number of WinMo-Android and iOS-Android dual boot solutions, with a menu to choose which system to load, in the boot screen.
The second option is the method used by Wing Linux to run Android on old WinMo devices. In this method, you MUST boot in WinMo (or, in our case, in the primary ROM), then open the app that loads Android (the secondary ROM, for us). Android does NOT run emulated in this method, but, since the device can't dual boot directly, the app sends a signal for the device to restart running from the bootloader to the SD Card (for us, internal memory). This second option is, somehow, like the System Recovery app (not 2ndInit), that has an option that reboots directly into Recovery. So, if we can tell the phone to load from custom Recovery (which is, in fact, in internal memory, not in NAND), I think it's possible to make it load an entire ROM from the internal memory (without having to mount it everytime and waiting for the dalvik-cache to load).
However, it's surely a hard work to do.

Yes one from nand and one from sd card..........good......can we partition nand and use it both on the nand itself??

it should really work if we use virtual images or sdcard-partitions instead of system, data and cache partitions.
This can be changed in the init.rc-file(of 2nd-init).
The creator of the 2nd-init-bootmenu should implement this feature.

it is possible... just need 2 new partitions ext3 on sdcard for data and system...
you can use 2nd-boot profile in bootmenu to change dev block links and customize mount settings

Epsylon3 said:
it is possible... just need 2 new partitions ext3 on sdcard for data and system...
you can use 2nd-boot profile in bootmenu to change dev block links and customize mount settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try it?

Epsylon3 said:
it is possible... just need 2 new partitions ext3 on sdcard for data and system...
you can use 2nd-boot profile in bootmenu to change dev block links and customize mount settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
even i like to know tht did u tried tht?

I managed to boot from virtual system,data and cache partitions with the 2nd-boot-option of bootmenu like ep3 said.
It was a bit difficult because android-init remounts /dev so the changes will be lost but now I found a way.
And: I got recovery working for the virtual system so you don't need to prepare your images, BUT: only the wipe and restore are working. "install zip" will still affect your real system.
My scripts need some testing but after that I will release a first version.

the multboot works for me i writed a cutsom boot sh and init.rc and woila WORKS!
NOT PUBLUC because it not works for all rom
---------- Post added at 04:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:36 PM ----------
this is a dualboot rom
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1225179

So here is the first (very early) version of 2nd-boot:
http://www.multiupload.com/Z17M0WO3SU
Before continuing please make a backup of your phone!
Installation:
Just install it via CWM.
This will place the script in your 2nd-boot and replace the "CWM-Lastest"-script so it will install into the images. BUt can still use the "CWM-Stable" option for your normal system.
I've created 3 empty 300MB ext3-images for system,data and cache so you don't have todo that. Download them here:
http://www.multiupload.com/VY3U4IXRO1
Just copy the folder "fsimages" to your sdcard.
Usage:
After installing the update-zip and copying the files to the sdcard you can reboot into bootmenu, select "Lastest Recovery" and Restore an backup.
Please DO NOT install a ROM with a zip-file. Currently this will affect your real system.
After you restored your backup into the virtual file-system you can boot them with the 2nd-boot-option in bootmenu.
I successfully installed CM7.1 and MIUI-Pikachu-Edition in the virtual filesystem.

I uploaded a new version of my multiboot-script(v0.2)
changelog:
- "Install zip from SDcard" works now
- changed hook-method so it works with more ROM's(including ICS)
Download:
http://www.multiupload.com/UT0TLPR3ZW

m11kkaa said:
So here is the first (very early) version of 2nd-boot:
http://www.multiupload.com/Z17M0WO3SU
Before continuing please make a backup of your phone!
Installation:
Just install it via CWM.
This will place the script in your 2nd-boot and replace the "CWM-Lastest"-script so it will install into the images. BUt can still use the "CWM-Stable" option for your normal system.
I've created 3 empty 300MB ext3-images for system,data and cache so you don't have todo that. Download them here:
http://www.multiupload.com/VY3U4IXRO1
Just copy the folder "fsimages" to your sdcard.
Usage:
After installing the update-zip and copying the files to the sdcard you can reboot into bootmenu, select "Lastest Recovery" and Restore an backup.
Please DO NOT install a ROM with a zip-file. Currently this will affect your real system.
After you restored your backup into the virtual file-system you can boot them with the 2nd-boot-option in bootmenu.
I successfully installed CM7.1 and MIUI-Pikachu-Edition in the virtual filesystem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your work.
Did the 2nd android system boots from sdcard?

Yes, but it's very flexible. By changing 2 lines you can let it boot from whereever you want.
I prefer storing it at the data-partition because it's over 1gb in size and my apps are using 200mb only.
I'm looking forward to better bootmenu-integration and boot-image-selection but for that I have to figure out how to compile bootmenu.

m11kkaa said:
Yes, but it's very flexible. By changing 2 lines you can let it boot from whereever you want.
I prefer storing it at the data-partition because it's over 1gb in size and my apps are using 200mb only.
I'm looking forward to better bootmenu-integration and boot-image-selection but for that I have to figure out how to compile bootmenu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ask pedrodh http://forum.xda-developers.com/member.php?u=2098689
He can help.

Nice work, thanks i will add this soon, in the future bootmenu versions

m11kkaa said:
Yes, but it's very flexible. By changing 2 lines you can let it boot from whereever you want.
I prefer storing it at the data-partition because it's over 1gb in size and my apps are using 200mb only.
I'm looking forward to better bootmenu-integration and boot-image-selection but for that I have to figure out how to compile bootmenu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I released a dual boot version that uses 2nd-boot a few months back, hadn't have much time to improve it since.
I was using loop-back mount with /system and bind mount with /data since it's much more space efficient than just use an ext3 image.

Awesome job. I think u shud create a new thread for it. Dual booting cm7 and miui :O
Sent from my Moto Defy

Question about 4EXTRecovery

Hi everybody,
i am sure, that everybody except me seems to know how to install this awesome recovery...
I already renamed the zipfile to PG88IMG.zip, have put it into the root of the sd card, rebooted, the bootloader says 'parsing PG88IMG.zip', then nothing happens...
So, could someone please enlihgten me how to flash this thing? (if possible without creating an expensive brick ;-)) thanks a lot

Who told you to do that?
EDIT:
This should be a one click zip.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1130004

Hi,
wow, that was fast ;-) thanks a lot...
Hmm, no, i already installed ClockworkMod via the method i described above.
i also -successfully- installed the saga LBC mod - both are running fine.
Now i want to just replace the ClockworkMod, (not the LBC Mod - i know how to install a new ROM ;-)) with 4ExtRecovery.
basically the question is:
how can i flash 4ExtRecovery from within the bootloder.
the PG88IMG.zip Method seems to fail here...
you know, i basically followed the instructions found the lbd mod homepage
[lbc-mod-homepage]/custom-recovery/modded-clockworkmod-recovery/
install-instructions for on this page
(i cannot post links to outside the forums, sorry)
can somebody help me?
EDIT:
yes, i found the one-click-zip but dont want to use it; i don't want to flash via the adb tool, i don't know why, just personal preferences ;-)

glubber008 said:
Hi,
wow, that was fast ;-) thanks a lot...
Hmm, no, i already installed ClockworkMod via the method i described above.
i also -successfully- installed the saga LBC mod - both are running fine.
Now i want to just replace the ClockworkMod, (not the LBC Mod - i know how to install a new ROM ;-)) with 4ExtRecovery.
basically the question is:
how can i flash 4ExtRecovery from within the bootloder.
the PG88IMG.zip Method seems to fail here...
you know, i basically followed the instructions found the lbd mod homepage
[lbc-mod-homepage]/custom-recovery/modded-clockworkmod-recovery/
install-instructions for on this page
(i cannot post links to outside the forums, sorry)
can somebody help me?
EDIT:
yes, i found the one-click-zip but dont want to use it; i don't want to flash via the adb tool, i don't know why, just personal preferences ;-)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
................... You'll need to extract the images from the zip images and I suspect, with respect that you don't know what your doing.
So leave that method well alone!

yes, of course - i don't know how to flash this recovery ;-)
i already know that
that's the reason, why i'm asking here, you know... ;-)

try doing this
1.put the zip on your sd card
2.reboot into recovery
3.go to install from sd card
4.choose the zip from sd card
5.select the zip file & choose yes
the phone should flash the recovery & restart again into recovery
choose reboot

ah, thanks a lot ;-)
btw, exploring the zip, i found the following in the updater-script:
assert(getprop("ro.product.device") == "saga" || getprop("ro.build.product") == "saga" || getprop("ro.product.board") == "saga");
assert(package_extract_file("recovery.img", "/tmp/recovery.img"),
write_raw_image("/tmp/recovery.img", "recovery"),
delete("/tmp/recovery.img"));
So, you are right, it flashes the recovery.img correctly to the recovery partition, then reboots again into recovery, all understood now, thanks again...
btw:
i might be new to android, but not to computers - i am actually a programmer ;-)
that's why i'm usually asking before doing something i don't understand completely...
anyways,
it worked, thanks again for pointing me into the right direction

Ah,
i found out, that the PG88IMG.zip method only works, if there's an android-info.txt file in the archive, so it seems, that the parser of the hboot checks the contents of this file and if this thing is valid, it continues to the builtin flash routine.
That's the reason, why this method fails with the 4Extrecovery zip file.
on the other hand, if you want to flash from the recovery system, there must be a folder called META-INF with 'some' defined structure in it, a file called updater-script (i dont know, what this update-binary file is - it is a binary ELF executable, maybe the interpreter? maybe the compiled form of the updater-script? - will run 'strings' on it...); anyways, this file is then executed and contains basically the information how to install / flash this thing.
So, thanks for helping me doing the first steps on this awesome platform ;-)
EDIT:
it seems, the update-binary file is the interpreter for the updater-script:
the relevant strings are:
wrong updater binary API; expected 1, 2, or 3; got %s
failed to open package %s: %s
META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script
Ok, enough for today... ;-)
EDIT2:
...and update-binary is part of the recovery, as found here for example:
https://github.com/arco/android_bootable_recovery/blob/gingerbread/updater/install.c
nice, nice...
EDIT3:
...currently building my own recovery, this thing is plain c, so not a big problem for me, we'll see...
EDIT4:
..flashed this thing, it's working, so i guess i can now start hacking on it ;-)

is it possible to install 4EXTRecovery to desire s with s-on? and how?

realies said:
is it possible to install 4EXTRecovery to desire s with s-on? and how?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, it is not possible
you need s-off to install recovery

does CWM have to be removed to install this?

greenster4470 said:
does CWM have to be removed to install this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Use CWM to flash it like any other mod! It'll automatically re-start recovery, and you'll in be in your shiny new 4EXT recovery.

As log as we are on this topic, I have a few doubts too:
1) Can I use my CWM nandroid backups with 4EXT without any conversion?
2) Will the paid 4EXT app from the android market automate the changeover process?
3) As our phones have a decent internal memory, it is advisable to convert the partitions to ext3/4 including the SD card or not and if done will a ROM/backup have to be reflashed?
4) Other benefits over CWM?
Could someone please enlighten me. Thanks

harshs23 said:
As log as we are on this topic, I have a few doubts too:
1) Can I use my CWM nandroid backups with 4EXT without any conversion?
2) Will the paid 4EXT app from the android market automate the changeover process?
3) As our phones have a decent internal memory, it is advisable to convert the partitions to ext3/4 including the SD card or not and if done will a ROM/backup have to be reflashed?
4) Other benefits over CWM?
Could someone please enlighten me. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Answers:
1) Yes you can.
4EXT will restore CWM backups to the file system they were taken in (most probably ext3 {default of CWM}). But you can even restore old ext3 backups as ext4 without any data loss or corruption with 4EXT Recovery. You'll need to tweak a few things, but i can help you if you want.
2) Yes it will, and so will the free app, 4EXT Recovery Updater..
I suggest you try out the free app first, which includes the features of the paid app for the first 3 days, and then still remains functional enough to let you update your recovery whenever you want. Then you can go ahead and purchase the paid app from the market.
3) No, do not try to change SD Card file system. Just convert the system, data and cache partitions to ext4. No need to touch the SD card, as it works only in the Fat32 format.
4) There are numerous benefits.
Prominent ones include MD5 cheksum verification, Theming support, option to remain in recovery after flashing zips or taking backups, better interface and menus, auto ROM name detection and labeling of Backups unlike CWM and great developer support from Madmaxx.
I suggest you read THIS.
Hope this helps you.

Thank you, make a lot more sense to me now.
enigmaamit said:
Answers:
1) Yes you can.
4EXT will restore CWM backups to the file system they were taken in (most probably ext3 {default of CWM}). But you can even restore old ext3 backups as ext4 without any data loss or corruption with 4EXT Recovery. You'll need to tweak a few things, but i can help you if you want.
2) Yes it will, and so will the free app, 4EXT Recovery Updater..
I suggest you try out the free app first, which includes the features of the paid app for the first 3 days, and then still remains functional enough to let you update your recovery whenever you want. Then you can go ahead and purchase the paid app from the market.
3) No, do not try to change SD Card file system. Just convert the system, data and cache partitions to ext4. No need to touch the SD card, as it works only in the Fat32 format.
4) There are numerous benefits.
Prominent ones include MD5 cheksum verification, Theming support, option to remain in recovery after flashing zips or taking backups, better interface and menus, auto ROM name detection and labeling of Backups unlike CWM and great developer support from Madmaxx.
I suggest you read THIS.
Hope this helps you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Everyone in doubt about 4EXT, go through enigmaamit's post, you will be sorted. Have flashed the new recovery and am totally satisfied. No clobbering needed... LOL

4EXT Recovery Control
https://market.android.com/details?id=ext.recovery.control
Although the free version is available, I highly recommend an investment in the application that supports this incredible recovery. The added features in the market version outweigh the free version drastically.

harshs23 said:
Everyone in doubt about 4EXT, go through enigmaamit's post, you will be sorted. Have flashed the new recovery and am totally satisfied. No clobbering needed... LOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@ Harsh, regarding my earlier commitment on helping you with the partition conversion and advanced restore:
Before you do any of this,
1. Take a nandroid backup. The whole procedure below is utterly harmless but you should develop a habit of doing this whenever you play around with anything.
2. Make sure you have at least 50% charge, and preferably have it plugged into your laptop. The reasons are pretty obvious.. first, you dont want to run out of charge while doing something as grass-root level as this, and secondly, having hooked it up to a laptop, adb access is available to start with. (i'm assuming you have adb set up on your pc)
3. Make sure you have adequate free space on your sd card. I would recommend around 1.5 to 2 GB. This is because when changing a file system the recovery first backs up your data from the partition onto the sd card, formats the partition into the new file system and then moves the data back into the partition after that into the new file system (ext4, in our case). So you need to give enough room for the recovery to be able to temporarily cache the contents of the partitions on the sd card. Hope this is clear to you.
EDIT: Don't worry about insufficient space on your sd card...since the 2.2.7 version, 4ext calculates the actual required free space needed for a conversion of a selected partition before it even starts doing that. If space needed is too low it won't do the conversion.
Let us begin:
1.) To convert existing file system:
To convert your existing file system, go into recovery and see what the partitions are right now. You'll see four partitions: 1. system, 2. data, 3. cache, 4. sd card
Next to these you'll see the file system they're on. I'm guessing it will look something like ext4, ext3, ext3, fat32 respectively, if you're coming from ClockWorkMod recovery. What you need to do to convert the ext3 partitions to ext4 is go to the EXT3 - 4EXT - EXT4 option in the menu and once inside, choose the first option (convert l change a backup -> ext4).
In that sub-menu, choose the partition you want to convert. (2nd, 3rd and 4th options SYSTEM, DATA & CACHE respectively). The execute menu will prompt you regarding going ahead. Select Yes - do it!
Now the process that i had described earlier will begin and at the end you'll have all your original data on the ext4 file system on whichever partition you selected.
Do the same for each partition that is in ext3 format.
2.) To change file system for old backups:
Again, if you want to change one of your old backups that you took while on CWM Recovery (which were most probably taken in ext3 default format), you need to convert them to ext4, otherwise 4EXT Recovery will restore them to their default file system (another neat feature of this recovery) as a safeguard against restore onto contrasting file systems.
To do this, go to EXT3 - 4EXT - EXT4 menu > then convert l change a backup -> EXT4 > THEN change one of your backups > now select the backup you want to change to ext4 > at the prompt menu, select Yes, do it!
Once you've done this, you'll get a hang of what all the other sub menus are for... You'll figure them out on your own in no time.
Whew! That was long and tedious... But i've tried to be as elaborate as i can for all those users new to 4EXT and apprehensive about migrating. I've also posted this in the Development section in the relevant thread.
I remember how i was before i converted for the first time and there was no detailed guide available.
Hope this has helped!!
P.S. Thanks to Madmaxx for the tips and inputs that helped me write this mini tutorial.

enigmaamit said:
@ Harsh, regarding my earlier commitment on helping you with the partition conversion and advanced restore:
Before you do any of this,
1. Take a nandroid backup. The whole procedure below is utterly harmless but you should develop a habit of doing this whenever you play around with anything.
2. Make sure you have at least 50% charge, and preferably have it plugged into your laptop. The reasons are pretty obvious.. first, you dont want to run out of charge while doing something as grass-root level as this, and secondly, having hooked it up to a laptop, adb access is available to start with. (i'm assuming you have adb set up on your pc)
3. Make sure you have adequate free space on your sd card. I would recommend around 1.5 to 2 GB. This is because when changing a file system the recovery first backs up your data from the partition onto the sd card, formats the partition into the new file system and then moves the data back into the partition after that into the new file system (ext4, in our case). So you need to give enough room for the recovery to be able to temporarily cache the contents of the partitions on the sd card. Hope this is clear to you.
EDIT: Don't worry about insufficient space on your sd card...since the 2.2.7 version, 4ext calculates the actual required free space needed for a conversion of a selected partition before it even starts doing that. If space needed is too low it won't do the conversion.
Let us begin:
1.) To convert existing file system:
To convert your existing file system, go into recovery and see what the partitions are right now. You'll see four partitions: 1. system, 2. data, 3. cache, 4. sd card
Next to these you'll see the file system they're on. I'm guessing it will look something like ext4, ext3, ext3, fat32 respectively, if you're coming from ClockWorkMod recovery. What you need to do to convert the ext3 partitions to ext4 is go to the EXT3 - 4EXT - EXT4 option in the menu and once inside, choose the first option (convert l change a backup -> ext4).
In that sub-menu, choose the partition you want to convert. (2nd, 3rd and 4th options SYSTEM, DATA & CACHE respectively). The execute menu will prompt you regarding going ahead. Select Yes - do it!
Now the process that i had described earlier will begin and at the end you'll have all your original data on the ext4 file system on whichever partition you selected.
Do the same for each partition that is in ext3 format.
2.) To change file system for old backups:
Again, if you want to change one of your old backups that you took while on CWM Recovery (which were most probably taken in ext3 default format), you need to convert them to ext4, otherwise 4EXT Recovery will restore them to their default file system (another neat feature of this recovery) as a safeguard against restore onto contrasting file systems.
To do this, go to EXT3 - 4EXT - EXT4 menu > then convert l change a backup -> EXT4 > THEN change one of your backups > now select the backup you want to change to ext4 > at the prompt menu, select Yes, do it!
Once you've done this, you'll get a hang of what all the other sub menus are for... You'll figure them out on your own in no time.
Whew! That was long and tedious... But i've tried to be as elaborate as i can for all those users new to 4EXT and apprehensive about migrating. I've also posted this in the Development section in the relevant thread.
I remember how i was before i converted for the first time and there was no detailed guide available.
Hope this has helped!!
P.S. Thanks to Madmaxx for the tips and inputs that helped me write this mini tutorial.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for the detailed tutorial, I think the following 3 posts should be compiled and made a stickied tutorial for all the others here and to come.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18562457&postcount=14
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18593426&postcount=18
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18565951&postcount=437
With your and madmaxx's help, I have changed over to 4EXT without a single hitch. Thanks once again.

harshs23 said:
Thank you very much for the detailed tutorial, I think the following 3 posts should be compiled and made a stickied tutorial for all the others here and to come.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18562457&postcount=14
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18593426&postcount=18
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18565951&postcount=437
With your and madmaxx's help, I have changed over to 4EXT without a single hitch. Thanks once again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're more than welcome. This is what all of us are here for...

need explicit CM9/10 instructions for MK802-not working

Hi all,
Yes, I'm a newb here at xda, but not to the hacking scene. As my interests are in custom Firmware development/modification I am having to post here in General because of the 10 post limit for the Development forum portion. I hope that I may get a response here, but worried that as with most "newbie chat" type forums, they seem to get ignored.
Regardless, I have been trying to install the CM9 and CM10 to my MK802 PC thumbstick without any luck. The end result is either a bootloop with no video or a blank screen with no video output altogether.
I have been using instructions from here, but there seems to be a simple step that I am missing.
All requirements for Superuser, busybox, and smanager have been fulfilled, I am able to install CWM to do my factory resets and flashing, but I am not successful in the flashing. I'm not sure if I need to resize my system partitions, but that is something I've a feeling may affect the install. I've not seen any statements on the requirement, only that if the system partition is less than 350MB or so, to avoid flashing the gapps file, which I've followed.
I've attempted this on the FW710B, and the NEW03 image from the Rikomagic website as well.
If anyone has any ideas or can point me in the right direction to an already customized image I can flash with Livesuit, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks again,
T3ch42

optimal swap and / partition sizes??
Well, a little bit of an update. I took the plunge and repartitioned my internal SD memory. I chose 512MB for the system, and 64MB for the swap. That may have been not enough for the swap, but this was a new test.
This particular iteration was successful. I got the CyanogenMod boot screen and everything this time. The boot took a little while, hopefully just the initial boot.
It seems that this would be a pretty big step to take, but I really can't say that I saw mention of resizing the internal memory as being required.
If anyone has suggestions as to the optimal swap and system sizes, I would appreciate it.
Thanks

t3ch42 said:
Well, a little bit of an update. I took the plunge and repartitioned my internal SD memory. I chose 512MB for the system, and 64MB for the swap. That may have been not enough for the swap, but this was a new test.
This particular iteration was successful. I got the CyanogenMod boot screen and everything this time. The boot took a little while, hopefully just the initial boot.
It seems that this would be a pretty big step to take, but I really can't say that I saw mention of resizing the internal memory as being required.
If anyone has suggestions as to the optimal swap and system sizes, I would appreciate it.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know, I have the same problem as you. How did you repartition the internal SD memory? thanks

woonaval said:
Good to know, I have the same problem as you. How did you repartition the internal SD memory? thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe that I used the partition tool through the recovery app that you install, but I'm beginning to wonder. CT says that you cannot resize it. I have installed the Uberoid image a few times, and that may have resized it for me in all actuality. I did notice that when I had a SD card in the machine, that the SD card was resized instead of the internal memory which threw a kink in the works. After CM9 was installed, I wasn't able to use the internal memory.
Still doing some tests though.
May have more info in a little bit.

What steps did you take to get CWM on the stick. I tried several all not giving me a screen on reboot.

nyarnon said:
What steps did you take to get CWM on the stick. I tried several all not giving me a screen on reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install the Uberoid img through live suit and format.
After it boots, check your internal storage. It should say about 1.69GB
install the recovery, and boot to it.
Do a factory reset in recovery as usual, and then install your cm9 or cm10 images(the zips).
Install the gapps and compatability zips and reboot.
That should be it.
I think that's the steps I took that were successful.
If I tried to partition it myself, I found that the internal sd would not be recognized, even after trying the format memory zip that is used to fix th ad card.
Hope that helps.

I may have not looked closely enough.
You're having trouble with the cwm install?
For that, I just installed su, updated that to the newest version, click on the i and let it check the installed version.
Install busybox and the script installer. Use the cwm 4.0.4, I believe it is, and install the recovery image to the mk802.
The recovery.img needs to be in the main memory to run the script. Once you've run both of the scripts as root by clicking the little button in the script installer, then the mk802 should boot into recovery.
If this is what you meant, then hope this clears it up.

Booting from external SD [CM]

UPDATE: This can't be used with CM10 Alpha 4 (or later) as it is due to the new partitioning system.
____
I made this thing time ago and I thought to share.
What it does is to boot a stock ROM from the external SD card. It's nothing special, I simply changed few things here and there. I did it because I needed a stock ROM for a couple of minutes and this was the faster way to get it.
I'm using CM and I made this with that in mind, so, don't use while using a stock ROM. It won't mess your current setup, but it won't work.
You need to change kernel to boot the stock ROM (reboot recovery > flash zip. Simple and fast). That's because, as you probably now, kernels made for stock ROMs are not compatible with CM.
Prepare you SD card
You need first to repartition your external SD like this:
Code:
1° partition (mmcblk1p1): FAT - it will be the usual external SD
2° partition (mmcblk1p2): ext4 - /system (make it around 300MB big, 254MB will be more or less the space used)
3° partition (mmcblk1p3): ext4 - /data
I can't help you with this, I did it with adb and parted (the command is available in CWM). Look for instructions on the web, it's full of guides out there. Your external SD card is /dev/block/mmcblk1 (mmcblk0 is the internal one).
If you'll use the zip linked to flash the ROM, the two partitions (mmcblk1p2 and mmcblk1p3) will be automatically converted, unless they are already two ext4/ext3/ext2 partitions.
It shouldn't matter which kernel you are currently using and it should be safe flashing it, the only important thing is to have three partitions. If mmcblk1p2 or mmcblk1p3 are not detected, the installation will be aborted (it means that your SD card is not partitioned). Nothing else will be touched.
If you don't want to use the zip, mount mmbclk1p2 and copy the ROM there.
/dbdata will be the usual one (it's not used in CM. This will also makes Samsung apps a lot faster when using a slow SD card), same for /cache.
The flashable ROM is a stock XXLE4 + su/Superuser.apk.
How to use the additional ROM
To use the ROM on your SD, flash kernel-stock-SD.zip (see below) from recovery.
To go back to the real ROM you have to flash its kernel. Here below you can find CM10 Alpha 2 kernel, flashable from recovery. If you have doubts, reflash the entire ROM, it won't wipe your data.
I only mentioned CM10 because it's what I'm using, but this thing should work with CM9 too.
Things to know
I built the kernel using the latest Samsung sources with inbuilt ext4 support (and ext3/ext2 compatibility). Nothing else was changes, so I think there's no need to publish the sources, they are available here.
I attached the tools I use to unpack/repack boot images (they are a modified version of skin1980's tools):
Code:
./unpack.pl boot.img
./repack.sh [gz|lzma|bzip2|xz]
To see the changes I made, compare "out/android" with the stock XXLE4 ramdisk and the other two directories with CM10 boot.img ramdisk.
I changed recovery.fstab accordingly, but I can't tell you if flashing stuff from CWM while using the additional ROM will work as expected. You should read the updater-script to know it for sure.
I can only tell you that dhiru's builds will be flashed into the real /system partition and not your SD card.
Backups should work too, but I didn't try.
Of course, performances depends on your SD card. Mine is not that good I think, I took it from an old phone and I really don't know anything about it. The ROM is still usable, but apps that intensely use databases are slow (not Samsung apps, those will use /dbdata). Maybe disabling journaling will help (search for more info).
The Galaxy SL screen will last more than usual because I intentionally added a delay (3 seconds, SD cards are detected after a while) and of course because of the slower load.
Please, use this if you have some experience.
Note: dual booting two ROMs with a single kernel is possible, but only if they use the same kernel image. See this and this.
Downloads
XXLE4-CWM.zip: CWM flashable ROM
kernel-stock-SD.zip: kernel to boot the ROM from the external SD, flashable from recovery
kernel-CM10-Alpha2.zip: CM10 Alpha 2 kernel, flashable from recovery

Wow ! thats dualboot for i9003 ! sweet gud to see development back in action

Good work.
The class of an SD card can be misleading. It is only a measure of the sequential Write access and that doesn't tell the whole story. Class 10 cards are great for cameras and applications that write or read sequential data, such as saving a picture and transferring a file. They are not so good for random access which is what the Android OS does when operating. In fact the random access speed for class 10 cards is lower than class 4 or 6 cards. From what I have seen, the sweet spot for smartphones is class 6.

Awesome. Only if we could achieve dual boot without flashing kernel everytime. But anyways awesome guide. Thanks.
Reminded me of dual booting of maemo and android on my brother's n900.

Whats the benefits of dual boot? I heard about it but i dont have an idea

juztinlee said:
Whats the benefits of dual boot? I heard about it but i dont have an idea
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dual Booting means you can have two OS's (here firmware) on the phone at the same time. You can choose on which you want to go. This, besides being awesomely cool, is really helpful in many scenarios.

But its not exactly a dual booting. On galaxy s2 dual booting uses a single kernel but in our case.we are still using two different kernels which has to flash saperately.
Really we should create a kernel which can be used for cm9/10 & for stock GB rom. Then real fun will begin

^But this can be useful when you have to go for a long trip and want to record videos which only our stock rom is capable of doing good. Thanks to the developer.
Also, if anyone can, please tell me what is the possibility we can create a dualboot kernel like siyah kernel?

vishal24387 said:
But its not exactly a dual booting. On galaxy s2 dual booting uses a single kernel but in our case.we are still using two different kernels which has to flash saperately.
Really we should create a kernel which can be used for cm9/10 & for stock GB rom. Then real fun will begin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't say dual boot
Creating a single kernel for ICS/JB and GB is not possible, or at least not an easy thing.
CyanogenMod is using newer graphic drivers not compatible with GB. I tried to use my CM10 kernel with GB, just to see what could happen. Well, it works, but with no hardware rendering as expected. It doesn't mean "it's laggy", it's painfully slow. And if we'll have the 3.0 kernel working, I guess this will be even more difficult.
The only option I think is kexecing an additional kernel, but kexec is hard to implement.
However I dual booted CM10 and CM9 (SD) with a single kernel (there are traces of this in my unpack/repack tools), I simply added an additional "cpio.gz" inside the boot.img. There's an additional boot reason that we never use, so we can use it to choose the corrent "cpio.gz" by parsing /proc/cmdline. The only problem is that you need to boot the ROM first and the reboot, because to get the other boot reason you have to run this:
Code:
reboot arm11_fota #or arm9_fota
(if you are using a stock ROM and try to reboot with the command above, you'll see weird stuff, but nothing should happen to your phone. I did it once.).
Maybe there's something else possible, but dual booting never interested me. As I said, I did it because I needed it.
You can do a lot of things, I even stored a ROM in a subdirectory in /data and use it from there (=> fast).
santoshsadani009 said:
^But this can be useful when you have to go for a long trip and want to record videos which only our stock rom is capable of doing good. Thanks to the developer.
Also, if anyone can, please tell me what is the possibility we can create a dualboot kernel like siyah kernel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know how exactly dual booting with this kernel works. I actually don't know how usually dual booting is implemented in Android.
I just looked at it. It allows you dualbooting only two ICS+ ROMs (so no GB), it automatically creates an hidden partition, automatically stores the ROM there, provides additional tools in CWM and other nice things.
I guess is something possible, but don't expect it from me. As I said, I'm not interested in dual booting and this thing requires time and knowledge.

loSconosciuto said:
I didn't say dual boot
Creating a single kernel for ICS/JB and GB is not possible, or at least not an easy thing.
CyanogenMod is using newer graphic drivers not compatible with GB. I tried to use my CM10 kernel with GB, just to see what could happen. Well, it works, but with no hardware rendering as expected. It doesn't mean "it's laggy", it's painfully slow. And if we'll have the 3.0 kernel working, I guess this will be even more difficult.
The only option I think is kexecing an additional kernel, but kexec is hard to implement.
However I dual booted CM10 and CM9 (SD) with a single kernel (there are traces of this in my unpack/repack tools), I simply added an additional "cpio.gz" inside the boot.img. There's an additional boot reason that we never use, so we can use it to choose the corrent "cpio.gz" by parsing /proc/cmdline. The only problem is that you need to boot the ROM first and the reboot, because to get the other boot reason you have to run this:
Code:
reboot arm11_fota #or arm9_fota
(if you are using a stock ROM and try to reboot with the command above, you'll see weird stuff, but nothing should happen to your phone. I did it once.).
Maybe there's something else possible, but dual booting never interested me. As I said, I did it because I needed it.
You can do a lot of things, I even stored a ROM in a subdirectory in /data and use it from there (=> fast).
I don't know how exactly dual booting with this kernel works. I actually don't know how usually dual booting is implemented in Android.
I just looked at it. It allows you dualbooting only two ICS+ ROMs (so no GB), it automatically creates an hidden partition, automatically stores the ROM there, provides additional tools in CWM and other nice things.
I guess is something possible, but don't expect it from me. As I said, I'm not interested in dual booting and this thing requires time and knowledge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so that means we can dualboot cm9/10 with miui v4 . right ? since they both use the same kernel

vishal24387 said:
But its not exactly a dual booting. On galaxy s2 dual booting uses a single kernel but in our case.we are still using two different kernels which has to flash saperately.
Really we should create a kernel which can be used for cm9/10 & for stock GB rom. Then real fun will begin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya a Universal kernel will do the trick.If later then we can achieve dual boot then the people who were holding back from CM9 or CM10 can flash that for features and a stock rom for stability and camera.

shriomman said:
so that means we can dualboot cm9/10 with miui v4 . right ? since they both use the same kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as the kernel is the same, yes.
If you want, here you can find the unpacked boot.img I (probably) used to dual boot CM10 and CM9 (SD).
There's no zImage in there, use the one you prefer, CM10 and CM9 are using the same kernel.
EDIT:
I almost forgot. "out/ramdisk/2ndROM" is for the ROM stored in your SD card, so you have to adjust the mount points there (already done in the one linked). "out/ramdisk/android" should be the "stock" ramdisk.
recovery will work only for the primary ROM in this case, maybe with some scripting you can make it works for both the ROMs, but I won't do it (if it's something possible).
The tools I posted will automatically take care of the additional ramdisk.

Possible to fix the download links? I want to boot rom from SD card since my internal is corrupted...

nick0016 said:
Possible to fix the download links? I want to boot rom from SD card since my internal is corrupted...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what happened to the links, probably I deleted the files by mistake on dev-host. Sadly I no longer have them and I currently don't have the time to make them again.
Anyway, I suggest you to follow other guides in order to replace only the corrupted memory instead (we have two different memories). This one for example, but there are other guides probably.

Thanks for your answer, problem is that my "device" memory is corrupted (as in read only).
I did the SD / USB storage swap but still have the problem that I cannot run/remove/install. So I need a ROM that loads completely from the external SD card and also uses it for data/storage...
I can flash a rom/kernel without problems, but changing version makes it only worse because the data does not get erased (background/applications/settings.... stays the same everytime, even after a wipe from the recovery).
If it helps I would love to pay/donate money to you as a thanks for your help and effort because the phone itself is working fine (except the corrupted memory of course) and would like to use it again

nick0016 said:
Thanks for your answer, problem is that my "device" memory is corrupted (as in read only).
I did the SD / USB storage swap but still have the problem that I cannot run/remove/install. So I need a ROM that loads completely from the external SD card and also uses it for data/storage...
I can flash a rom/kernel without problems, but changing version makes it only worse because the data does not get erased (background/applications/settings.... stays the same everytime, even after a wipe from the recovery).
If it helps I would love to pay/donate money to you as a thanks for your help and effort because the phone itself is working fine (except the corrupted memory of course) and would like to use it again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The guide I linked is fine then.
It explains how to repartition your SD card and the script Dipu K attached to his post is to use the newly created partition inside your external SD for /data. It's not to swap internal and external SD.
As I said, we have two memories, /data is in one, /system, kernel and other things are in the other memory. The corrupted one must be the one which holds /data.
Try to do as explained in the guide, if the problem persists, I'll see what I can do to help.

I followed the guide and got the Device memory replaced (data partition). Problem is now it is stuck in at boot because the partition is empty.... and when I copy the files from the corrupted data partition it boots fine but get message that I must wipe my data or the system will be unstable (which is correct because I get then flooded with unexpected errors which make it unusable). But formatting data partition gives stuck @ samsung boot logo??
So I need to get the "factory" data files from somewhere... I am running stock KPE ROM with BAM kernel (for init.d support).
Is it possible to extract the data partition from the stock rom?!

nick0016 said:
I followed the guide and got the Device memory replaced (data partition). Problem is now it is stuck in at boot because the partition is empty.... and when I copy the files from the corrupted data partition it boots fine but get message that I must wipe my data or the system will be unstable (which is correct because I get then flooded with unexpected errors which make it unusable). But formatting data partition gives stuck @ samsung boot logo??
So I need to get the "factory" data files from somewhere... I am running stock KPE ROM with BAM kernel (for init.d support).
Is it possible to extract the data partition from the stock rom?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The content of /data is generated, there's nothing like what you asking for.
Maybe the problem is that the script posted in the guide copies the content of the old /data partition to the new partition inside the SD card. Wiping data shouldn't work because the path to the SD card is not specified.
Try the script attached. I zipped it to be able to upload it here, but it's not flashable. Since you've been able to follow the guide I assume you know how to use adb.
Wipe the content of the data partition you created inside you SD card (/dev/block/mmcblk1p2). You could reformat it with make_ext4fs, use a computer and so on. What's important is that it's ext4 formatted.
While in recovery, run:
Code:
adb shell mount /system
adb shell mkdir -p /system/etc/init.d/
adb push [I]PATH_TO[/I]/remount_data /system/etc/init.d/
adb shell chmod 777 /system/etc/init.d/remount_data
I'm sorry, but I currently don't have much free time to help more than this. With no logs or access to the device it's really hard for me to know what's the problem.

SD Card partitioning on MTD ROMs

Hi There
Can someone explain what he\she did to partition SD card, and make all apps get installed on it.
Please note :
1. I don't want to use Titanium backup for this usage. I don't have the paid version and I'm tired of doing this one app at a time.
2. I saw some guides on the net, but they were all for GB.
(partition the microSD on PC using minitool) -can we use ext4 on our MTD ROMs ? What is the 1st partition for ? and the 2nd ?
(install busybox and super user) - Is it still needed ? (MIUI for example has LBE as su).
(install Link2SD) - Is it always in memory ?
(reboot and put partitioned SD card)
(Define Link2SD)
3. I also saw swapper instructions but I can manage with 170MB free RAM memory I get after removing all unnecessary system apps, and I remember ppl saying then that it kills the SDCard very quickly.
If someone has a clear guide or instructions that he knows work, that will be nice.
Thanks in advance.

Step 1. Partition your SD card to have a sd-ext partition. This can definitely be ext2 or FAT16. Anything else depends on your kernel. Most of them do support ext3 and 4, but... start with something fairly basic.
Regarding recoveries:
TWRP has always failed for me on this, so I'd avoid that.
This may be doable in CWM. I've seen reference to that newer versions of CWM removed the partition option, so you might need to flash an ICS ROM with an older kernel, repartition, and then flash back to the one you want.
Also note that if you use CWM to repartition, your SD-card will be wiped. So do a backup first.
Step 2. Install Mounts2SD. Either from XDA or the Play Store. Even if you do take it from the Play Store to get update notifications, I highly suggest grabbing the recovery script from the XDA thread so that you can get back your shifted applications without needing to re-download and install M2SD, since it likes to be on internal which means... shifted off.
Step 3. Open Mounts2SD. Grant SU rights at whatever point it asks for it during step 3. Hit the menu button. Go to Application Settings. Install the Startup Script. Tell it to use the built-in busybox as well, so that you don't need to install anything or worry about it failing. Back out of the Application Settings.
Step 4. Press on the Wrench to go into the actual specific settings. I currently have forced Cache, 1% Storage Threshold, Applications are the only bit moved, the File System Check is on and using the Ext4 Driver, 128KB Deadline for Internal and 4096 with Deadline for External, and Safe Mode is disabled. But decide on what you want yourself, set it, go back to the Eye to see your current info.
Step 5. Reboot.
Step 6. Wait 1-30 minutes for it to finish moving all your stuff around.
Step 7. Unlock your phone, open Mounts2SD, and make sure everything looks pretty on that first 'Eye' info tab. If you like it then close Mounts2SD and keep going on your merry way. If you don't like it or you've done something like offload your data and now your phone is wretchedly slow, go to the Wrench, change your settings, go back to the Eye, and reboot again. Repeat until satisfied.

I thought it would be simplier.
A few more questions:
1. If I partition SD on PC, then I don't need any partitioning on recovery so it should work fine even on TWRP or advanced CWMs. Am I right?
2. Why do I need scripts for? Isn't the app enough?
3. Why should/could it possibly slow down my device? TB 'move to SD' for all doesn't slow my device what so ever.
4. How and where do I see what partition is used for what?
5. How much RAM does the app take?
6. Have you tried other apps link2sd or something CM has built in I think.?
Thanks.
sent from me

New answers to new questions.
1. Skip step 1 if you've done it on your PC. I just suggested recovery as that's easy... if you've made your sd-ext partition on the PC, step 1 is done.
2. No clue on Link2SD. I use Mounts2SD instead since it lets me set things. It probably does the same thing though and sets a init.d script that gets run during startup.
3. True. For some reason though having all your data moved to sd-ext makes our phone go to a crawl. Same if you move off the dalvik.
4. That's in Mounts2SD. No clue how you can see if you're using Link2SD.
5. For Mounts2SD, none while it's being used, since it just runs as a startup script. The app is just to control the script.
6. Not successfully. I had tried 5 or 6 different apps back a year ago or so when I first started playing with sd-ext and Mounts2SD was the best and free, so... never looked back after that. Now you can also do some system-flag tweaking if you want to donate, but the sd-ext stuff is all free.

I was able to successfully partition SD and use mount2sd on 4.3 SlimBean.
however, it was rather slow.
CM 10.1 and CM10.2 by DJL. did not allow me to partition nor did they recognize SlimBean's partition even if I replaced them kernel (to NilTMT).
I'm currently using CM10.1 which is stable as a daily driver and manually swapping apps with TB, I hate it, but this is the best combination I've come so far.
I sold my wife's SGS4G and upgraded her to SGS3 and hopefully in a year I will do the same. it had its moments, but on the bottom line it's a pretty ****ty phone with its lack of internal mem...but hey, it drove so many of us to go deeper and deeper trying to understand and made us more tecnolgical and solution oriented.

Mounts2SD worked for me on CM10.1, so not sure why it failed for you. Ah well.

A few things I have found...
Yes, you can partition on Windows, but you're really asking for trouble. It's not too bad download Ubuntu or the like and you can boot off a USB stick without touching your Windows install.
The TeamAcid kernels that I know of handle ext2/3/4 file systems. All kinds of arguments as to which are better. I personally use ext4 and don't find it obviously "slow" for the way I use my phone.
That said, what the boot scripts (which are part of a flashed "kernel" for the SGS4G) actually do with a "special" partition is another story. In some cases the first stages of booting will look for special partitions and mount them in pre-configured places. For example, the second partition of the removable card might be mounted on /sd-ext/ in many CyanogenMod ROMs. Many (most?) SGS4G ROMs don't have these "special" mount rules defined.
Moving an app to SD using the "native" approach just moves the app and none of its data to the SD card. It won't for example, move 25 MB of mail from /data/data to your microSD
Moving an app to SD (or anywhere else) doesn't keep it from generating its classes in /data/dalvik-cache -- It isn't "free" to have an app on SD as far as internal storage goes, even if it doesn't write any data.
Moving an app to SD will absolutely slow down your boot time. It does it by creating a file that contains a file system that then gets read and mounted at boot time. You can watch the parade of them getting mounted using adb logcat. It can take a minute or two to mount them all. Once mounted, that double layer of file systems shouldn't slow you down too much, since it is basically a read-only kind of thing.
Scripts are required since you need to be able to "fake out" the operating system as to where things are stored for anything (except if you just use the native app to SD method). In most cases you need new partitions mounted before the Android part of the OS starts running.
Some scripts are more robust than others.
TitaniumBackup (paid version) has a way to move data to an external partition. It works like a charm for me (64 GB Sandisk UHS-1 / Class 10 microSD). It was very tweaky for me to get it to recognize the ext4 partition the first time. It can bulk-move app data to the partition. I don't know which, if any, of the other scripts move the data to an external partition.
On my phone, an ext4 file system can be significantly faster than the internal yaffs, especially for write. Alas, it usually seems to be read that is a killer for most things in an well-written app. On my phone, yaffs can be faster than ext4 for short reads. Who knows how this would play out in real-world usage.
Other things that TitaniumBackup can do that help free up internal storage, at least in the paid version, are:
Dalvik cache cleanup
Integrate system Dalvik cache into ROM
Integrate update into ROM
Convert to system app

I can confirm Link2SD works where Mount2SD fails, which is an ext3 partitioned sd-ext on AOKP. it doesn't get any simpler than that.
sent from me