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Hi,
I have sucessfully moved my apps and caches to my 1.6gb ext2 partiton on my 8gb sd card.
I would like to back up the ext2 partition in case my sdcard fails.
How do I do this in windows xp?
Thanks
I'd love to find out how to do something similar. I just got an 8 GB card that I'd like to replace my 2 GB card with, basically, I'd like to clone the whole thing over.
Anyone have any ideas? I can do XP or Linux, just curious what software would be able to do the best job of replicating the card from one to the other.
Attach the card to your computer with an adapter (not the phone as it will be mounted by android). Download and install ext2ifs from here. You will now be able to see the files on the ext2 partition and can copy/paste them to where ever you would like.
Thanks, but I've had no luck with ext2ifs and memory cards. They even address it in their troubleshooting section:
I have a device with a removable media, for example a USB memory stick, a Compact Flash Card, a magneto-optical drive etc., which has a partitioned format and has more than one partition. When I insert that media, a drive letter appears for the first partition, but not for all the remaining partitions of the media. When I open "IFS Drives" of the control panel, the considered device appears as a hard disk drive, but there is no partitioning scheme shown for it. How can I create drive letters for the remaining partitions of that removable media? (USB hard disk drives are not affected.)
There is an unsatisfactory answer only: it is not possible.
Windows creates (and deletes) all the drive letters for pure removable devices or removable medias itself. Because the Ext2 IFS software need not to create them, it intentionally does not show any partition scheme for that drive.
Windows creates a drive letter for the first partition of the considered media, but not for the remaining ones. (Windows NT4, 2000 and even XP behave the same way in that regard).
You will run into the same problem if you have a removable media partitioned with two partitions of the FAT type on a computer, which has not installed the Ext2 IFS software! So there is one straight advice only: do not use removable media with more than one partition with Windows.
I'm guessing (someone else could correct if wrong) that if I were to just do the basic copy from one card to another - that would suffice?
If I just took the card, created two partitions (FAT32 and EXT2FS) on the larger card, then copied over all the files in both - that would work just fine?
Strange, I've never experienced any issues with ext2ifs, but yes a simple copy paste of both partitions has been all i needed. Just make sure to copy any hidden files as well.
Can we back it up using Ubuntu Live CD and just upload them to a new sd cards ext2 partition?
yes, but you would need multiple card readers.
andonnguyen said:
yes, but you would need multiple card readers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why can't you save it to the hard drive, replace the sd card, access the ext2 partition and upload the files that you backed up?
Although I'm not very familiar with Ubuntu, when I tried it last time it didn't even allow me to have access to the app and app-private folders within the partition.
What do I need to do to be able to back it up to the hard drive so I can try to upload it to another SD?
Hi,
Thanks for the suggestion.
But when I installed the driver, I can still see just the fat32 partition not the ext2 partition.
I am using a sdhc usb card reader so it is not connected to the g1.
It is like the ext2 partition does not exist through windows xp.
But when I put the card back in the g1 the files are taking up space through ternminal emulator. So the ext2 partiton does exist but still not accessable through windows.
Any other ideas?
jsunkist146 said:
Attach the card to your computer with an adapter (not the phone as it will be mounted by android). Download and install ext2ifs from here. You will now be able to see the files on the ext2 partition and can copy/paste them to where ever you would like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bestwebs said:
Hi,
Thanks for the suggestion.
But when I installed the driver, I can still see just the fat32 partition not the ext2 partition.
I am using a sdhc usb card reader so it is not connected to the g1.
It is like the ext2 partition does not exist through windows xp.
But when I put the card back in the g1 the files are taking up space through ternminal emulator. So the ext2 partiton does exist but still not accessable through windows.
Any other ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what comes up when you use
"busybox df -h" in the terminal emulator?
make sure you see something like "/dev/mmcblk0p2 (partition size) (used) (available) (used %) "/system/sd"
If not then that's the problem.
Hi,
In my phone , I do have that ext2 line /dev/mmcblk0p2
size 1.4gb - used 49 meg - free 1.3 gb
sdcard line /dev/mmcblk0p1
size 6.2 gb - used 5.2gb - free 981 meg
Thanks for the reply.
Binary100100 said:
what comes up when you use
"busybox df -h" in the terminal emulator?
make sure you see something like "/dev/mmcblk0p2 (partition size) (used) (available) (used %) "/system/sd"
If not then that's the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're on Linux it is trivial to get the files off, if you'd like to make an exact image you can use the dd command. I suggest grabbing a live CD, as it will be a much easier process than making windows see ext partitions.
crater said:
If you're on Linux it is trivial to get the files off, if you'd like to make an exact image you can use the dd command. I suggest grabbing a live CD, as it will be a much easier process than making windows see ext partitions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the Live CD, but can you elaborate on the "dd command" exactly. I'm a Linux noob and wouldn't mind backing up the partition. Last time I tried, I couldn't even get permissions to open the files no less copy them.
Thanks.
Insert the two SD cards into USB SDHC card readers. Launch the free MiniTool Partition Wizard program. Copy the ext2 partition you want to transfer on the first SD card to an unallocated area on the second SD card. MiniTool Partition Wizard under Windows does "see" multiple partitions on a USB drive even though Windows doesn't assign letters to those drives and they are invisible in Windows Explorer.
To increase the size of the ext2 partition on either SD card, use the Linux program GParted. Boot up with the GParted Live CD/USB iso file. Run GParted to resize the ext2 partition. (MiniTool Partition Wizard can move but not resize an ext2 partition.)
Hi,
everything on my SD card disappeared a day ago. It worked when I was on school, but later on the day, I got a notice about the files on my SD card couldn't be read, or it was empty. I've tested it in my pc too, nothing. I haven't formated the card. Anyone know what could have happened to it? can I fix it, or do I have to format it and start over again? (it's not such a big loss, at least now I have learned to backup my memory cards)
tbh, prob best to just format the card and get on with it. Format it in Windows first then also format it on the phone and it should be fine
and yeah, backup in future!
where can I format it in windows, it doesn't show up in my computer when I put it in. Like theres no card in the cardreader. Tried to format on the phone, and download and save a song, but the phone says "no SD card inserted" or something. Is the card broken?
If you put it in an SD card reader (via an adapter, of course) and it's not showing in (My) Computer then it sounds like its goosed
Not at all, must be the partition table which got corrupt. There's a partitioning tool in the administration toolbox in windows but it's pretty basic and i am not sure it will be able to deal with your sdcard. I would recommend Linux and the fdisk shell command, or the gparted program which has a neat GUI. Just fireup your computer with a linux livecd (i suppose even modaco's tiny linux distro should do).
cheers
I don't find any partitioning tool :/ and I have no idea what you mean with fdisk shell command, sorry
So, I've got a new SanDisk 64gb Class 10 micro SD and want to use it for app and data storage, as well as for nandroid recoveries.
Unfortunately, the stock format - exFAT - is not recognized by many apps or by any of our custom recoveries.
Now, you've got two virtually bulletproof options to reformat that disk to FAT32 ... you choose your poison.
**************** HARDCORE *******************
I call this the "Use your teeth to open that bottle of beer" method ...
1. Place the card in your PC's card reader and determine the drive designation (i.e., G:\, H:\, etc.)
2. Download the program Fat32Format to your PC from here: http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm. The download link is actually situated about mid-page.
3. Unzip the downloaded file with 7Zip (which you can get here: http://www.7-zip.org/)
4. Navigate to the folder with the unzipped fat32format.exe file; while holding down the [Shift] key, right click on the folder.
5. A menu should popup. Scroll down and click on <Open Command Window Here>.
6. You are now in virtual DOS (.. don't be scared ..)
7. Enter the following command sequence> fat32format h: (or whatever drive designates the location of your SD card)
8. You will be prompted to confirm a wipe and format of your SD card. Type "y" and hit enter.
9. In approximately 5 seconds, your SD card will be FAT32 formatted.
10. Remember to follow whatever procedure you normally would before removing a drive from USB.
***************** EASY PEASY ******************
This, on the other hand, is the "my hands are as soft as a baby's bottom" method ... (thanks to lynkdead)
1. Place the card in your PC's card reader and determine the drive designation (i.e., G:\, H:\, etc.)
2. Download the fat32format utility in GUI version from here: http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/guiformat.exe. Click on the picture to retrieve the file.
3. Launch the guiformat.exe.
4. Choose the drive that corresponds to your SD card.
5. Choose the size of the SD Card you are formatting.
5. Check the Quick Format box.
6. Press Start.
And voila !!!
Enjoy your new SD card !!!
Pj
Phoenix, AZ
p.s. Needless to say, this process will erase all data on the card. Also, you will no longer be able to transfer files larger than 4gb to the card.
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/guiformat.exe
If you use the GUI version from the same website it's WAY easier.
Just launch the .exe, choose the drive that corresponds to your SD card, make sure Quick Format is checked, and press start.
I thought I'd give people to a chance to explore Command Prompts as sort of a baby step to ADB or Terminal Emulator.
The GUI method works just as well. :good:
Thanks for the heads-up ... I edited the OP to reflect both options.
Pj
Phoenix, AZ
Sorry, I don't download and run any unknown/noncorporate apps, for the fear of them being trojans. Do you have any other methods?
Can one not format a mounted sdcard to fat32 on their pc by using "right click/properties/tools/format" or something? Does Microsoft not provide an official tool to format an sd card?
The functionality is built into Windows, through the command prompt. It is, however, excruciatingly slow.
Fat32formatter is open source and has proven to be the only reliable method of formatting large drives without spending any money.
Let us know if you find a good alternative ...
Pj
Phoenix, AZ
pdinphx said:
The functionality is built into Windows, through the command prompt. It is, however, excruciatingly slow.
Fat32formatter is open source and has proven to be the only reliable method of formatting large drives without spending any money.
Let us know if you find a good alternative ...
Pj
Phoenix, AZ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, basically - use command prompt on windows7? "format X: /FS:FAT32", where "X:" is the sdcard drive name.
Right? (just reading "format /?" in windows)
That should work, though others have reported trying the native Windows format command and later running into trouble with a damaged disc prompt when the card was inserted into the phone.
Pj
Phoenix AZ
nabbed said:
Sorry, I don't download and run any unknown/noncorporate apps, for the fear of them being trojans. Do you have any other methods?
Can one not format a mounted sdcard to fat32 on their pc by using "right click/properties/tools/format" or something? Does Microsoft not provide an official tool to format an sd card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't trust it you can always upload the files to VirtusTotal, run them against your own virus scanners, or just rely on the handful of people here who have run the program without issue.
In Windows if you try to simply right-click format it doesn't give the FAT32 option, only exFAT. You can try it through the command line, and it appears to work, though once you actually try to use it CWM throws a fit. Other tools that I've tried also don't work (likely because they simply do exFAT even though they say FAT32, since the difference usually doesn't matter).
This tool works, I've had zero issues, and it hasn't tripped any of the virus scanners I've run against it.
I don't have a 64g card yet, but only my old 16 for more. Why not have the s3 format your card. I did that with my 16g and its a fat32.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
... NEVER use fat32 with anything above 32 GB.... there is a reason for this it is designed for a max of 32GB you need to use the phone to format it. it will become a newer ext partition.
Either format it in the phone fully booted into Android, or download EaseUS Partition Master (free) & format it as a Primary Drive FAT32 file system. Either way will work.
Sent from my E4GT packed full of "The Goodness" of TNz Blend ICS on Tapatalk 2 Pro, the SGS3 is on my hip...
drksilenc said:
... NEVER use fat32 with anything above 32 GB.... there is a reason for this it is designed for a max of 32GB you need to use the phone to format it. it will become a newer ext partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How u r so wrong. You wont be able to use asop cm9 or cm10 when released. unless the 64gb card is in fat32 format. the only disadvantage I see is the 4GB file limit.
why wouldnt cm9 be able to use ext4 thats what the 4.0 version of android was built on and why the partitions can scale.
drksilenc said:
why wouldnt cm9 be able to use ext4 thats what the 4.0 version of android was built on and why the partitions can scale.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a matter of a specific ROM being able to read it, it's a matter of external storage not being recognized by your recovery(only sees fat & fat32 at /mnt/sdcard), and the OS cannot see external storage formatted as ext2/3/4, only FAT, FAT32, & exFAT.
not my best explanation ever
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
carhauler1969 said:
It's not a matter of a specific ROM being able to read it, it's a matter of external storage not being recognized by your recovery(only sees fat & fat32 at /mnt/sdcard), and the OS cannot see external storage formatted as ext2/3/4, only FAT, FAT32, & exFAT.
not my best explanation ever
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You sure about that last bit? I was going to reformat my 64GB extSD as ext4 (when I got around to it), since Microsoft's exFAT is patent FAIL, and it's the only other fs the phone supports that'll handle files larger than 4GB. No good reason why it shouldn't be supported on stock touchwiz or on CM10||AOKP
drksilenc said:
... NEVER use fat32 with anything above 32 GB.... there is a reason for this it is designed for a max of 32GB you need to use the phone to format it. it will become a newer ext partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I noted above, none of our custom recoveries recognize the exFAT format, which means that you cannot boot, backup or flash from that giant 64gb card. Many users have reported the same problem with their favorite apps ...
No one has reported issues with a FAT32 64gb card , so I don't think this is an issue.
Either way, it is your choice ...
PJ
Phoenix AZ
zmore said:
You sure about that last bit? I was going to reformat my 64GB extSD as ext4 (when I got around to it), since Microsoft's exFAT is patent FAIL, and it's the only other fs the phone supports that'll handle files larger than 4GB. No good reason why it shouldn't be supported on stock touchwiz or on CM10||AOKP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try it and report back ...
PJ
Phoenix AZ
This convinced me to go FAT32: http://www.epiccm.org/2012/06/why-not-exfat.html
I suspect the phone respects your card's native format. My 64gb SanDisk remained exFAT formatted even after running it through the phone. Thus, the need to format it with my computer. If your experience is different, please let us know.
PJ
Phoenix AZ
pdinphx said:
This convinced me to go FAT32: http://www.epiccm.org/2012/06/why-not-exfat.html
I suspect the phone respects your card's native format. My 64gb SanDisk remained exFAT formatted even after running it through the phone. Thus, the need to format it with my computer. If your experience is different, please let us know.
PJ
Phoenix AZ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I wanted to be certain on cards >32gb. I know Team Epic posted points on how to avoid exFAT, but only for 32gb that you can run thru the phone.
nabbed said:
Sorry, I don't download and run any unknown/noncorporate apps, for the fear of them being trojans. Do you have any other methods?
Can one not format a mounted sdcard to fat32 on their pc by using "right click/properties/tools/format" or something? Does Microsoft not provide an official tool to format an sd card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can confirm download is not a Trojan. I did the second option and it worked perfect took 5 seconds.
Is it possible on the surface pro? Im a developer/student. Windows 8 is great for in class stuff but when it comes to developing, linux takes the win. I'd love to be able to install linux on a microSD card and boot to that (yeah, I know it will be slow but it can be left in the surface without protruding too much). Anyway is this possible? I can't find anything on this beyond removing win 8 and loading linux on it.
Meh, kids these days... when I was in college, I tri-booted on a 60GB hard disk.
But, if the internal storage isn't good enough for you, yes of course you can install Linux to the microSD card. You'll need to disable Secure Boot as usual for installing Linux at all. Beyond that, it's the same as any other Linux install except instead of reformatting the system partition, you reformat the microSD card and install there. People have been installing Linux to removable storage for years; it's no different on the Surface Pro and a microSD card than on a desktop with an external HDD or a laptop with a flashdrive or ... you get the idea.
Great, Thanks. I was just unsure since no one has seemed to do it (or at least posted it on the internet).
And don't get me wrong, I remember installing linux/windows on my first laptop with 20GB. These days, however, files are larger than CD's and the remaing space on the pro just does not cut it anymore, unless I want to delete all my downloads after using them.
Thanks again!
YOu need to go into charms > settings > Change PC Settings > General > Advanced startup to be able to boot from a usb or sd
can I install MAC OS? if I can I will order right away
seesunmoon said:
can I install MAC OS? if I can I will order right away
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you asked the wrong question here.
Honestly, it does not matter if you can install MAC OS on the Pro.
The question you need answered is: Are there MAC OS Drivers for the Pro's Hardware? If not, then there is no point in seeing if the OS installs.
right, right, i guess apple will make something like surface pro, tablet with full max os
If history is any indication, they will do so 5-10 years after somebody else (typically Microsoft) has a similar OS/device, call it "revolutionary" and "innovative", and people will think they invented it...
Seriously though, I'm sure you could Hackintosh the Surface Pro, but hardware support may be lacking. The basic stuff (video, storage, sound, probably USB) and possibly some other things like WiFi and webcam will probably work. Touch and stylus are highly questionable. Normally I'd say that there's no chance of the covers working, but apparently they're fine under Linux so maybe they use an electrically standard interface through that funny docking connector.
There's something very weird about buying a (primarily) software company's hardware to put a (primarily) hardware company's software on it, though...
I have no doubt the Hackintosh guys will be all over this once a few of them get an S-Pro, I had an XE700 and there were people running it on them so I cant see the Pro taking much time for them to jump on to it.
Cool Dude
GoodDayToDie said:
Meh, kids these days... when I was in college, I tri-booted on a 60GB hard disk.
But, if the internal storage isn't good enough for you, yes of course you can install Linux to the microSD card. You'll need to disable Secure Boot as usual for installing Linux at all. Beyond that, it's the same as any other Linux install except instead of reformatting the system partition, you reformat the microSD card and install there. People have been installing Linux to removable storage for years; it's no different on the Surface Pro and a microSD card than on a desktop with an external HDD or a laptop with a flashdrive or ... you get the idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This does really answer the question at hand,
I haven't yet been able to boot from an MicroSD card I have used a USB drive to boot into Ubuntu 14 Trusty Thar, using instructions that are all over the web, however I haven't found any documentation of successfully boot from a MicroSD card. I will be trying this afternoon and will post what I find. Installing linux to the microSD card I'm sure will be straight forward, its the booting that will be an issue I'm sure.
Follow up coming soon
n4m4st3 said:
This does really answer the question at hand,
I haven't yet been able to boot from an MicroSD card I have used a USB drive to boot into Ubuntu 14 Trusty Thar, using instructions that are all over the web, however I haven't found any documentation of successfully boot from a MicroSD card. I will be trying this afternoon and will post what I find. Installing linux to the microSD card I'm sure will be straight forward, its the booting that will be an issue I'm sure.
Follow up coming soon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got this to work. You need to use:
rufus.akeo.ie
And then just choose USB boot from the menu advanced start up options menu. Which is funny because it doesn't actually show the micro sd as an option to boot, but it automatically finds it somehow.
Pretty sure the uSD slot is attached via USB, so it's basically just "boot from USB external storage".
Another way you could have done it is to install the Linux bootloader (GRUB stage 1) to the internal storage, and then have that chainload to the uSD card. That should work even if for some reason the firmware doesn't want to boot off uSD normally.
I just got a Surface Pro 2 and started playing with the idea of booting Linux off the SD card. I haven't done an actual installation yet, but I was just playing with the idea of making a bootable USB device preferably without having to change the internal SSD. (Especially since I have the 64GB base model and that's really barely enough for a comfortable use of Windows. I also wanted to leave the recovery partition intact as a good just-in-case.)
So first I made a bootable generic USB flash drive using UNetbootin and a stock Ubuntu 14.04 desktop installation image. Works as expected, can go into the "Advanced Startup" screen and boot from USB device. Nothing special, was able to launch the live session.
Then I used UNetbootin again, this time on an 8GB microSD I had laying around. The Surface would NOT boot off the microSD card through "Advanced Startup."
Then I tried it using the Rufus tool linked above -- this worked. You can go through "Advanced Startup" or hold volume down when powering on the Surface. Either way will launch the Live session. Very cool.
So then I went back and tried to figure out what was different. Same card, same base ISO... what I noticed was that Rufus was setting the "lba" flag on the SD card's FAT32 partition. So I formatted and recreated the card with UNetbootin again, verified it was unbootable, then used gparted to set the "lba" flag. After that, it booted. So this is something to note.
I'll have to actually try installing to the card and seeing if the Surface will boot from it or not. But this is something at least.
EDIT:
It seems like Surface will never boot the SD card if it isn't exactly a single FAT32 partition consuming the entire microSD card.
I'll just wrap up my last bit of contribution to this for now. I used a virtual machine with an EFI install of Windows 8 to stage this at first...
So the short end is, it seems the Surface Pro's firmware is strict about what it will boot from USB, and it seems to be a device that must be a single FAT32 partition with the "boot" and "lba" flags set, or else it won't work. If anyone knows of another combination, great, but this is what I determined through my limited experimentation.
Basically the most minimally invasive Ubuntu (or other Linux) install I could think to do that generally leaves the Surface a Surface and a Linux device second was this procedure (using Ubuntu 14.04):
Create an Ubuntu USB install device (use the aforementioned Rufus tool for best results or else be aware of the partitioning specifics.)
Use "Advanced Startup" or "Vol -" at power on to boot the USB key
When installing and prompted about disk installation, do "Something Else" (Careful! Very easy to obliterate the internal Windows or reduce space on less-equipped Surfaces to useless levels!)
Use "/dev/sda" as the place to install the boot loader (GRUB)
Resize the Surface's main Windows partition back by a small amount (e.g. 512MB)
Create an ext4 partition in this space and set this as the "/boot" mount point (exercise to the reader to look up making a /boot partition for GRUB and deciding on the amount they want to allocate)
Partition your SD Card in the Surface however you like, but you'll need some kind of ext4 partition for the Ubuntu installation, of course! (e.g. I split mine into NTFS, ext4, and swap space, but you can do whatever suits you)
Set your root mount point on the SD Card's ext4 partition.
And that's pretty much it -- the Ubuntu installer is smart enough to take care of the rest.
Major point here, regarding step 4 -- you CAN have the "/boot" on your SD card if you like, but what will happen is that you will be unable to properly boot from GRUB if you don't have that specific SD card inserted. If you never plan to remove your SD card, you can avoid changing the internal memory partitions at all.
Installing GRUB to the SD card through the Ubuntu installer will do no good since, again, the Surface seems adamant about only booting a device with a single FAT32 partition occupying the full space. Obviously the installer USB device you make IS a bootable Linux image on a FAT32 partition, so you CAN pull it off if you have all the know-how -- i.e. setting up GRUB and booting an ".img" file from the FAT32 partition -- pretty sure the Ubuntu installer doesn't support this in a straightforward manner.
In any case, I'm happy with GRUB and "/boot" being on /dev/sda. I can remove the card and simply be unable to boot Ubuntu, but still use Windows. If you follow this installation, I highly recommend setting GRUB to boot Windows by default just in case you do remove the SD card and don't have your touch cover connected. Further, I recommend setting up GRUB so that it always times out (on the default Windows selection) even if the previous boot failed (which, by Ubuntu default, GRUB will not timeout on a failed boot.) But of course this is all user preference and what kind of situations you expect yourself to be in.
Hopefully this is at least one adequate answer to the OP, even though it is over a year old.
Footnote: Haven't gotten the built-in WiFi / Bluetooth working, even with putting the firmware in place. (The mwiflex driver is complaining about a command timeout as soon as it loads and does not progress.) Tried a newer kernel, still doesn't work. I'm mostly interested in the WiFi, but as yet, still no good. But that's beyond what the OP was strictly asking.
UPDATE: Firmware update fixed WiFi. (Info from https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=64111) -- Basically clone git git://git.marvell.com/mwifiex-firmware.git and copy /mwifiex-firmware/mrvl/usb8797_uapsta.bin to /lib/firmware/mrvl and reboot. Not sure if newer kernel needed. Was running kernel 3.15.0-999-generic from Ubuntu's mainline.
why install grub? the only reason is if you want to default boot into windows
since you're installing a second os on the microsd, you can access it directly with power+vol down
anyways, i was brought here because i was thinking of getting an sd card with a fully independent os for my surface pro
if i burn a ubuntu iso onto the microsd, you wouldnt actually be installing the os onto the sd card right? every time you boot, it would be the live-cd ubuntu
is there a way to install the full os onto the microsd?
anonxlg said:
why install grub? the only reason is if you want to default boot into windows
since you're installing a second os on the microsd, you can access it directly with power+vol down
anyways, i was brought here because i was thinking of getting an sd card with a fully independent os for my surface pro
if i burn a ubuntu iso onto the microsd, you wouldnt actually be installing the os onto the sd card right? every time you boot, it would be the live-cd ubuntu
is there a way to install the full os onto the microsd?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just install ubuntu onto the microsd...
anonxlg said:
why install grub? the only reason is if you want to default boot into windows
since you're installing a second os on the microsd, you can access it directly with power+vol down
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With power+vol down, I was only able to boot a USB device or microSD that was partitioned exactly as a single FAT32 partition occupying the entire device, which is also what you get from making a bootable Ubuntu key using tools usually. Even if all I did was shortchange the FAT32 partition, the Surface would no longer try to boot from it. It would not boot an SD card I installed Ubuntu to, and I tried it as a non-EFI and EFI install. If you have different results, go ahead and post about it. It seems to me that the firmware was being extremely particular about what kind of drive it was booting from. I'm not sure why Microsoft would make it so particular except to perhaps limit was sort of "recovery" devices you might be trying to load. Logically speaking, it only needs to boot a FAT32 partitioned device since that's the only thing generated by the recovery software in Windows 8, so they have no reason to support anything else.
Thank you southbird! Works great on my Surface Pro 2, BUT ....
Partitioned my micro SD (using gparted) as your instructions: two partitions - first partition ext4 and the other NTFS. Added small partition on internal HDD for /boot. I installed kubuntu 14.01. Made Windows the default boot, and everything works except Windows 8.1 will not recognize the partition for data (the partition that is formatted NTFS). It "sees" it as a broken drive and wants to format the whole micro SD card and I know it will delete the ext4 part (where / resides) because it doesn't "see" the card as being partitioned. Your instructions sound like you got the data partition to work (it is "seen" and usable in kubuntu). Did you do something else to get Windows to "see" it as a separate data partition? :fingers-crossed::fingers-crossed:
southbird said:
I'll just wrap up my last bit of contribution to this for now. I used a virtual machine with an EFI install of Windows 8 to stage this at first...
So the short end is, it seems the Surface Pro's firmware is strict about what it will boot from USB, and it seems to be a device that must be a single FAT32 partition with the "boot" and "lba" flags set, or else it won't work. If anyone knows of another combination, great, but this is what I determined through my limited experimentation.
Basically the most minimally invasive Ubuntu (or other Linux) install I could think to do that generally leaves the Surface a Surface and a Linux device second was this procedure (using Ubuntu 14.04):
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello Guys!
I have another question to add here!
Next week i'll get my Surface Pro 2 with 256GB
The last days my mind played with some ideas to have a dualboot option in the surface.
Is it possible to install Android Lollipop (or Kitkat) x86 on the micro sd (64GB) and boot from it?
I have read the whole thread but its a lil bit complicated.
Would be nice if anyons can show this in a step by step process, or guide me to a tutorial.
thanks!!
Methisfaction said:
Hello Guys!
I have another question to add here!
Next week i'll get my Surface Pro 2 with 256GB
The last days my mind played with some ideas to have a dualboot option in the surface.
Is it possible to install Android Lollipop (or Kitkat) x86 on the micro sd (64GB) and boot from it?
I have read the whole thread but its a lil bit complicated.
Would be nice if anyons can show this in a step by step process, or guide me to a tutorial.
thanks!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed you can, however:
1. The microSD will need to be formatted with GPT partition scheme, and the boot partition must be FAT32;
2. The January 2015 UEFI update removes ability to boot from microSD. Skip that and you're golden!
I have this SanDisk 32GB MicroSD card that's ended up with two partitions -
android_meta and android_extended as result of a failed attempt to use the card as Adopted Storage in a Lenovo Phone.
Neither Windows or Android now detect the card, and I've tried quite a few methods to get the card to work. These include using diskpart, chkdsk, testdisk.exe, mounting it using a pc running linux and using a few other disk repair softwares. But, none seem to be able to format the disk.
Is there a way I can get this card back to normal. It's a blank card so data recovery does not matter.
Go to the menu that says "Settings."
Select the MicroSD card listed under Storage and USB.
Near the top right, tap the three vertical dots.
Select "format as portable" from the drop-down menu.
I've tried that before. This is that happens (see screenshots).
Trying to format it using a Windows or Linux Machine also does not work.
normanscr said:
I've tried that before. This is that happens (see screenshots).
Trying to format it using a Windows or Linux Machine also does not work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In Linux, if your distro includes gPartEd (or if it's available in your distro's repository), you can use that to delete the 2 partitions, then create a new partition and format it.
Telyx said:
In Linux, if your distro includes gPartEd (or if it's available in your distro's repository), you can use that to delete the 2 partitions, then create a new partition and format it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't use a Linux Machine, so I tried the Gparted Live USB route on a Windows 10 Machine.
Problem is, Gparted detects the partitions. But when I select delete or any other action, the operation completes without errors, and after a few seconds it'll again show up as 'unknown'. The partitions are 16MB and 29.5 GB.