Database Info

[Q] P3113 Suggestions for reclaiming the 537MB HIDDEN partition for Internal Storage

Do any of you have any suggestions on how to do this? I ran parted via ADB on my 8GB tablet's internal storage (/dev/block/mmcblk0)
Code:
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 7818MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 4194kB 25.2MB 21.0MB ext4 EFS
2 25.2MB 27.3MB 2097kB SBL1
3 27.3MB 29.4MB 2097kB SBL2
4 29.4MB 37.7MB 8389kB PARAM
5 37.7MB 46.1MB 8389kB KERNEL
6 46.1MB 54.5MB 8389kB RECOVERY
7 54.5MB 789MB 734MB ext4 CACHE
8 789MB 810MB 21.0MB MODEM
9 810MB 2278MB 1468MB ext4 FACTORYFS
10 2278MB 7281MB 5004MB ext4 DATAFS
11 7281MB 7818MB 537MB ext4 HIDDEN
I knew more or less what each partition did but was curious about "HIDDEN" so I mounted it to see what was there. All that was in that partition is Retail.apk (its the "Demo Mode" that runs when the tablet is sitting at Best Buy) and the sample multimedia files used in the demo. In total these files were less than 100MB and the multimedia already copied on the /sdcard/Samsung directory in the main storage.
537MB is quite significant considering how littte space there is on this 8GB model? The next time I do a factory reset can I just delete "HIDDEN" and DATAFS and create a new larger DATAFS partition with no ill effects? I'm thinking this would work because they are contiguous and enlarging DATAFS would not change its partition number so the mounting scripts during the boot process wouldn't get thrown off.
Are there any other suggestions on how I could reclaim 537 MB of internal storage?

I've done it successfully. delete p9,p10,p11 and recreate them in new size.
parted can only create ext2 partition, need tune2fs and e2fsck to convert ext2 to ext4 fs.
first, use tar to backup the system and data partition(p9,p10) to external_sd,
after repartition can restore them.
If you want to do it, must be careful, it's VERY DANGEROUS, maybe brick your device.
my device:Samsung Galaxy Tab2 P3110, CM 10.1.3RC2
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
For more detail you can have a look of this, it's in chinese and for kindle fire, but i think the commandline code you can understand.
http://bbs.imp3.net/thread-10515210-1-1.html

Have you succeeded in using all memory? I repartitioned device, in clockworkmod everything is fine, but I can't access all the space from system. For DATAFS I have now 5480MB instead of 5004MB, but system says me, that internal storage is still ~5GB with only 4,5GB available. I even hard resetted device - nothing changed. How to make system see all space?

it seems that all the memory of DATAFS are ok for my p3110, have a look of the snapshots below.
i use cm 10.1.3, i dont know which rom do you flash, stock rom?
sorry it is in chinese, but you could see the numbers of memory.

No problem with language, everything is clear . I'm using stock odexed Samsung 4.1.2 rom with my own changes for tabletui and a couple of others (like editing systemui.apk). I guess, that Samsung gives fixed amount of space for /data and I haven't found where it is. Anyway, thank you for idea

probably obvious to most, but don't delete all those partitions! i was in the middle of surgery via adb, and stupidly typed
Code:
du -hs
and the device rebooted.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-2/help/argh-deleted-internal-partitions-boot-t2912866

[Q] fstab entry for newly-split internal SD partition (rooted tablet)

Device: Teclast P78HD tablet, Allwinner A31 SoC, Android 4.4.2 (rooted) :::: Software: Busybox X (with fdisk, vi, etc.)
The Teclast P78HD tablet has a small 8GB internal eMMC SDcard with an external microSD slot. In order to best make use of the Link2SD utility, I chose to split in half the almost empty 4.7GB (usable) internal SD FAT32 partition and then format the new (primary) second partition to EXT2 EXT3 or EXT4 as used by the Link2SD app.
I used Busybox X to fdisk /dev/block/mmcblk0 ( /mnt/sdcard )
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
After rebooting, the DiskInfo app showed P1 ( mmcblk0p1 ) partition had shrunk to 2.4GB and, as expected, a new (unmounted) 2.3GB P4 ( mmblk0p4 , type 83, Linux ) was there too.
Connecting to a PC vis USB, I tried to format P4 to ext4 using MiniTool Partitioner (Windows) but it did not see the new partition, I then tried Gparted under Linux but it indicated that neither P1 or P4 existed. Gparted just showed a large 4.7GB "unallocated" block.
[ QUESTIONS ]
1. How do I format the new P4 mmblk0p4 partition to EXT4 using Busybox X on the tablet itself ?
2. Should I use some sort of fsck command to fix any side effects of simply truncating the original P1 mmblk0p1 FAT32 partition ?
3. What entry should I add to the tablet's /fstab.sun6i file shown below to make it automount at boot time ?
Code:
# Android fstab file.
#<src> <mnt_point> <type> <mnt_flags and options> <fs_mgr_flags>
# The filesystem that contains the filesystem checker binary (typically /system) cannot
# specify MF_CHECK, and must come before any filesystems that do specify MF_CHECK
/dev/block/by-name/system /system ext4 ro wait
/dev/block/by-name/cache /cache ext4 noatime,nosuid,nodev,nomblk_io_submit,barrier=1 wait,check
/dev/block/by-name/databk /databk ext4 noatime,nosuid,nodev,nomblk_io_submit,barrier=1 wait,check
/dev/block/by-name/data /data ext4 noatime,nosuid,nodev,nomblk_io_submit,barrier=1,noauto_da_alloc wait,check,encryptable=/dev/block/by-name/databk
/devices/virtual/block/nandj /mnt/sdcard vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0000,dmask=0000 wait,check,noemulatedsd,voldmanaged=sdcard:auto
/devices/platform/sunxi-mmc.2/mmc_host /mnt/sdcard vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0000,dmask=0000 wait,check,noemulatedsd,voldmanaged=sdcard:auto
/devices/platform/sunxi-mmc.0/mmc_host /mnt/extsd vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0000,dmask=0000 wait,check,voldmanaged=extsd:auto
/devices/platform/sunxi-mmc.1/mmc_host /mnt/extsd vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0000,dmask=0000 wait,check,voldmanaged=extsd:auto
/devices/platform/sw-ehci.1 /mnt/usbhost1 vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0000,dmask=0000 wait,check,voldmanaged=usbhost1:auto
/devices/platform/sw_hcd_host0 /mnt/usbhost1 vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0000,dmask=0000 wait,check,voldmanaged=usbhost1:auto
/devices/platform/sw-ohci.1 /mnt/usbhost1 vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0000,dmask=0000 wait,check,voldmanaged=usbhost1:auto
BTW, despite the tablet's fstab entries, there is no /devices/platform directory but there is a /sys/devices/platform directory. Also note that sdcard0 and sdcard1 seem to point to the same place with the same files. I assume that my new partition should point to /storage/sdcard2

Did you ever figure it out? Thinking about splitting my internal storage and looking up for all the info I can find....

[Q] Optimizing ext4 for sd-ext (Samsung EVO MB-MP32D/EU on Xperia Mini Pro)

Goal:
Motivation: As my phone (Sony Ericsson SK17i) has low internal memory, it is essential to have a good MicroSD card with sd-ext and move some parts of /data to /sd-ext.
Problem: I am not satisfied with random I/O performance on ext4.
I, however, don't want to sacrify safety by disabling journaling.
My HW&SW:
My MicroSD: Samsung EVO MB-MP32D/EU, 32GB.
My phone: Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro (SK17i)
ROM: LegacyXperia CM11
Ext4 mount options: noatime,nodiratime,barrier=1
My laptop OS (I ran mkfs.ext4, GParted and fdisk tools there): Ubuntu 12.04, up-to-date
Before making any change, I did a byte-by-byte backup of the original raw data, that is roughly dd if=/dev/sdc bytes=(some size) | compression > output_file. If you are interested in it, you can download the https://public.v6ak.com/samsung-evo-MB-MP32D--EU--32GB/sdc.gz.bz2 (< 1KiB) backup file.
What and why I did:
First, I resized the FAT32 (without reformatting) to 20GiB by GParted,
Second, I determined the sdcard characteristics by flashbench tool using command sudo ./flashbench -a /dev/sdc --blocksize=1024: https://public.v6ak.com/samsung-evo-MB-MP32D--EU--32GB/
There is my conclusion:
Code:
erase_block = 16777216
multi_plane = 16384
page = 8192
So, I took recommendation from https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/SDCard#Solution_2:_Tuned_ext4:
Code:
filesystem_block = min(page, 4096) = 4096 # Values higher than 4096 are not supported, so I had to pick 4096.
stride = multi_plane / page = 2 # Should I use page, or filesystem_block?
stripe_width = erase_block / page = 2048 # Should I use page, or filesystem_block?
# The resulting command:
sudo mkfs.ext4 -E stride=2,stripe-width=2048 -b 4096 /dev/sdc2
Third, I made another partitions in the free space. Now, I am just interested in the /dev/sdc2, which is sd-ext. The start of all the partitions is divisible by 8192, so I hope they are all properly aligned:
Code:
Disk /dev/sdc: 32.0 GB, 32010928128 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3891 cylinders, total 62521344 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0000cf13
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 8192 41951231 20971520 c W95 FAT32 (LBA) # The original partition
/dev/sdc2 41951232 50339839 4194304 83 Linux # The sd-ext partition
/dev/sdc3 50339840 52436991 1048576 83 Linux # A legacy partition, nothing important
/dev/sdc4 52436992 56631295 2097152 b W95 FAT32 # Titanium Backup partition, not important at the moment
The results:
I used A1 SD Bench to benchmark both FAT32 (i.e. /dev/sdc1) and ext4 (i.e. /dev/sdc2) filesystems. I did just the random I/O test when phone was in airplane mode (=> no noise from network events) and charging:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
I've seen some suggestions it should perform several times better: http://forums.storagereview.com/index.php/topic/36678-samsung-evo-sd-memory-card-review-discussion/?p=287587 (Well, SD and microSD might differ, but I hope it not to differ much.)
There are my questions:
* Why is random write performance on the original FS significantly lower than on the benchmark above?
* Random writes are about twice faster on FAT32 than on ext4. Is it caused just by journaling?
* Why is random read significantly better on FAT32 than on ext4?
* Did I choose the right stripe/stride/blocksize? Should I double them?
* Should I perform another benchmark?
P.S.: Sorry there are no hyperlinks, I am not allowed to post them. I've tried to make the references as friendly as possible.

Boot is in RAW, can't flash with fastboot[SOLVED]

So, I managed to wipe my filesystem when trying to root (going by the board that happens way too often I noticed).
I posted about it here https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=80579913&postcount=295 first.
But despite the quick and nice suggestions it still won't work.
Going by https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3984875 I also tried to flash boot.img for Fastboot.
Yes, it's the right model ( GM21BA ) for Europe/Global 12gb/256
From make_f2fs.exe I get the following:
PS C:\temp> .\make_f2fs.exe [SERIAL]
F2FS-tools: mkfs.f2fs Ver: 1.9.0 (2017-11-13)
Info: Disable heap-based policy
Info: Debug level = 0
Info: Label =
Info: Trim is enabled
Error: Failed to get device size!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which has me thinking the filesystem is gone.
And then I erased and formated boot twice, and am still left with RAW fs.
PS C:\temp> fastboot format:ext4 boot
Warning: boot type is raw, but ext4 was requested for formating.
Creating filesystem with parameters:
Size: 100663296
Block size: 4096
Blocks per group: 32768
Inodes per group: 6144
Inode size: 256
Journal blocks: 1024
Label:
Blocks: 24576
Block groups: 1
Reserved block group size: 7
Created filesystem with 11/6144 inodes and 1422/24576 blocks
target reported max download size of 805306368 bytes
sending 'boot' (5688 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.021s]
writing 'boot'...
OKAY [ 0.107s]
finished. total time: 0.130s
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And then I tried F2FS with Fastboot Format:
PS C:\temp> fastboot format:f2fs boot
Warning: boot type is raw, but f2fs was requested for formating.
Formatting is not supported for filesystem with type 'f2fs'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, as I'm writing this I'm reading up on make_f2fs to have it format a new 'boot' for me to flash unto.
Well, at least I have fastboot even if I can't seem to manage flashing anything, so it could be lot worse...

User MSM tool to restore to factory default. It will ease everything, but you will have a working phone. Follow the directions on the thread located here.

For future reference, I'll write how I did manage to fix this:
I had tried using MSM earlier, but couldn't get the qualcom-drivers installed (as mentioned in the thread linked).
So, I tried having the tool already active (and certificates installed) as I pressed both volume up & down and plugged in the phone.
Now a port reacted and I could (with great excitment and haste) press install:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
As expected it's back to stock.

[DEV] "Empty" userdata-Partition of AVD/Genymotion Emulator

Hey,
i want to analyse the partitions of my Android Emulator using Autopsy for a prototype i am developing. I started with the userdata partition. However, it seems like that the partition does not contain any data, even though i produced some data (installed apps, phone calls, messages, browsing, etc). It is basically "empty" besides the default stuff that was already there before producing data (see the picture at the bottom). I dont really understand why this is the case. I also tried to reboot the emulator as i thought that the data i produced might be cached somewhere and is written to the userdata partition during shutdown (i checked if the generated data is still there after the reboot). Still, the size of the partition did not change. Other images (not created by me), which i analysed using autopsy during my digital forensic class, contained way more data in der userdata partition and were also produced using an emulator. Besides the AVD Emulator i tried the Genymotion Emulator. Nothing changed except the mapping.
This is what i did to extract the userdata:
1. Launched the emulator (latest API Level) and generated some data
2. Checked the connection via ADB (adb devices)
3. Become and verify root (adb root; whoami; id)
4. List the partition mapping (adb shell; ls -l /dev/block/mapper/)
emulator64_x86_64_arm64:/ # ls -l /dev/block/mapper/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 160 2022-03-26 11:09 by-uuid
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 2022-03-26 11:09 product -> /dev/block/dm-2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 2022-03-26 11:09 system -> /dev/block/dm-0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 2022-03-26 11:09 system-verity -> /dev/block/dm-4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 2022-03-26 11:09 system_ext -> /dev/block/dm-1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 2022-03-26 11:09 userdata -> /dev/block/dm-5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 2022-03-26 11:09 vendor -> /dev/block/dm-3
5. Extracted the partition (adb pull /dev/block/dm-5 /DESTINATION_PATH)
6. Renamed the file to .img and created a new autopsy case
I expected the image to atleast contain data within the /app and /data folder.
Also: I would like to know if there is a possibility to extract the whole file system using the ADB only.
Thanks in advance!
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}