How do I partition the internal SD card for use with Link2SD

How do I partition the internal SD card for use with Link2SD - Nexus S Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have looked everywhere for a definitive guide to how to partition the internal sd card of the Nexus S for use with Link2SD to increase the internal memory. I have tried mounting the sdcard in recovery and then partitioning with Gparted. I have tried using ADB shell in recovery and typing
parted /dev/block/platform/s3c-sdhci.0/by-name/media
and creating 3 partitions (9GB fat32, 4GB ext2, 32MB linux-swap) that didn't work. I tried downloading an app called SDCARD partition tool which didn't work because it advises to unmount the SDCARD first which is impossible to do in the o/s (even in terminal it says cannot unmount /sdcard device busy).
Please tell me how I can do this so I can get on to doing better things with my phone.

I think linking applications to SD is not possible on internals that host the system too.
Never heard of someone trying or succeeding . but might be wrong.
Good luck and be careful not to mess up your phone.( internal storage )

raducux said:
I think linking applications to SD is not possible on internals that host the system too.
Never heard of someone trying or succeeding . but might be wrong.
Good luck and be careful not to mess up your phone.( internal storage )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you succeed? or is there a workaround for app space apart from send to sd? (so that widgets work)

Did you check this out? LVM
Have been stumbling upon a few similar threads.
Do check this post >
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=26164488&postcount=2
Hope it helps. I am yet to try this on my crespo.

Related

Sd card

I have a sd card. i partitioned it using paragon partition manager mounting sd card thru phone. THen moved apps2sd and then decide to delete partition. So i being unable to delete the partition used windows own partition management to delete all the partitions. Then i decided to again partitions the card. Now i can't. Paragon partition manager can't do it. Used the sd split(ques- do we need an empty card for that). My phone storage went to 0 mb. Can anybody help me to again partition it. I really need it with haykuro's 5.02 H as it has only 43 mb free space. Please!!! Help.
Thanks for reading and now please do something

charnsingh_online said:
I have a sd card. i partitioned it using paragon partition manager mounting sd card thru phone. THen moved apps2sd and then decide to delete partition. So i being unable to delete the partition used windows own partition management to delete all the partitions. Then i decided to again partitions the card. Now i can't. Paragon partition manager can't do it. Used the sd split(ques- do we need an empty card for that). My phone storage went to 0 mb. Can anybody help me to again partition it. I really need it with haykuro's 5.02 H as it has only 43 mb free space. Please!!! Help.
Thanks for reading and now please do something
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't used paragon before but I would suggest using gparted through an ubuntu(or some other linux distro) live cd. Basically you download the cd image, burn it onto a cd, restart your computer with the cd in and it'll bring up a little menu that gives you the option to start up in ubuntu off the cd. Then go to System->(can't remember, but it's the second option)->Partition Editor. It has a nice gui and you just choose the last device listed which should be your sd card(check the size to make sure!) and you can create new partitions. Making an ext2 partition correctly in windows is a tad... difficult.
EDIT: actually, you can just use this:http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

Help
Can u please help me use it. I have portable ubuntu and now this. Can u provide step by step instructions or atleast give a hint to use it

Partitions, appstosd, MoDaCo

I used the recovery partition to create FAT32, ext2, and swap partitions on my sd card.
1) What size does it make each of these partitions?
2) What is each used for?
3) When loading the MoDaCo update.zip (and rebooting after first boot) after creating these partitions, what does it do with each of them? My free space on each seems to change, and I think it's loading some apps to the SD card? But not others?
4) How do you see how much space remains on the fat32 and ext2 partitions? Which one is shown in the SD card info settings page, and which one is used for USB mass storage mode? Neither seems to change much even after I install a bunch of >1MB apps.
Thanks for any help.

Also, what's taking up all my internal phone space? If the update.zip moved apps to the SD card, why do I only have 50 MB left of internal space?

jonnythan said:
I used the recovery partition to create FAT32, ext2, and swap partitions on my sd card.
1) What size does it make each of these partitions?
2) What is each used for?
3) When loading the MoDaCo update.zip (and rebooting after first boot) after creating these partitions, what does it do with each of them? My free space on each seems to change, and I think it's loading some apps to the SD card? But not others?
4) How do you see how much space remains on the fat32 and ext2 partitions? Which one is shown in the SD card info settings page, and which one is used for USB mass storage mode? Neither seems to change much even after I install a bunch of >1MB apps.
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
32 mb swap, 500mb ext2 rest fat32
swap is for linux swap if its used in the rom, ext2 is for your apps, and fat32 is for your storage
yes it loads all of your /data/app and /data/app-private apps on your sd card, your /system/app stays there
you can do a df -h under adb to see your free space

jonnythan said:
I used the recovery partition to create FAT32, ext2, and swap partitions on my sd card.
1) What size does it make each of these partitions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it makes a 32MB Swap partiton, a 500 MB Ext2 partition and the rest fat32.
jonnythan said:
2) What is each used for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Fat32 is normal files like music, pictures, etc. The ext2 is used for apps2sd. Don't worry, 500MB is more than enough for this. The swap is used for bakcground applications so they run better without slowing the phone down as much.
jonnythan said:
3) When loading the MoDaCo update.zip (and rebooting after first boot) after creating these partitions, what does it do with each of them? My free space on each seems to change, and I think it's loading some apps to the SD card? But not others?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Fat32 it shouldnt do anything. Obviously you will have less space because the other partitions are taking some of it's space. It loads the apps onto your ext2 partition but not all of them. System apps such as the calculator, browser, phone, etc stay on the system partition because it's faster.
jonnythan said:
4) How do you see how much space remains on the fat32 and ext2 partitions? Which one is shown in the SD card info settings page, and which one is used for USB mass storage mode? Neither seems to change much even after I install a bunch of >1MB apps.
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have Windows, Linux or Mac. I don't know about Mac but I know Linux can view ext partitions natively (obviously, it's the native filesystem). For Windows you might be able to load the disk management application but if that doesnt show it you need a partitioning application or any other application that can read ext partitions off an sdcard. Don't know any off hand except paragon partitioning manager 9.0 (8.0 never seemed to work with my sd cards)
jonnythan said:
Also, what's taking up all my internal phone space? If the update.zip moved apps to the SD card, why do I only have 50 MB left of internal space?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See the above explanation.

nelson8403 said:
32 mb swap, 500mb ext2 rest fat32
swap is for linux swap if its used in the rom, ext2 is for your apps, and fat32 is for your storage
yes it loads all of your /data/app and /data/app-private apps on your sd card, your /system/app stays there
you can do a df -h under adb to see your free space
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That answers my questions, thank you.
I found another though. I unmounted my SD card via Settings to see if the apps would fail to work in an effort to try to figure out if they were actually installed there. Predictably, they failed to work, but the system didn't pick the card back up after I reinserted it. So I rebooted the phone with the SD card in.
Then everything died. The apps didn't come back, but the phone still had them listed and tried to launch them, resulting in force-closes. An ext2 repair didn't fix it, so I just went back to my last Nandroid backup and reapplied update.zip.
I learned that this is a Bad Thing to do, but I'm wondering if this was a fluke or is it generally inadvisable to unmount the SD card for this reason?

im a noob to the whole android thing.but how do i partition the sd card and create ext2?????

jonnythan said:
I learned that this is a Bad Thing to do, but I'm wondering if this was a fluke or is it generally inadvisable to unmount the SD card for this reason?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since this is a simple symlink, if you reboot the phone without the target of the symlink being there, and the phone tries to use it...
The results are left as an exercise for the reader.
Now for anyone who asks why it isn't smart enough not to break... that's like asking why your car doesn't run if you take half the spak plugs out.

posguy99 said:
Since this is a simple symlink, if you reboot the phone without the target of the symlink being there, and the phone tries to use it...
The results are left as an exercise for the reader.
Now for anyone who asks why it isn't smart enough not to break... that's like asking why your car doesn't run if you take half the spak plugs out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, but I'm asking why it still doesn't work once you put the spark plugs back in
It's not a big deal, I certainly learned not to do it.

jonnythan said:
Ah, but I'm asking why it still doesn't work once you put the spark plugs back in
It's not a big deal, I certainly learned not to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because booting the phone with it thinking the app was installed but it not able to find it trashed other data structures.

BTW, people trying to do stuff with the SD card removed after putting the apps on the SD card is probably one of the main reasons it currently is root only.
The OS needs to be modified to handle removable app storage gracefully (not something that happens in a standard phone.)

So should you format the card prior to flashing Modaco's ROM so the system knows to install all the apps to the ex2 partition. Or can you format the card AFTER you have already flashed Modaco's ROM and still have the apps automatically install on ext2 partition? I only ask cuz I formatted after flashing the ROM and wanna make sure it's installing it on the ext2.

I formatted mine afterwards and it moved all my apps over to the sd card automatically.

[Guide] INCREASING INTERNAL MEMORY

THIS GUIDE IS TO SHOW YOU HOW TO INCREASE INTERNAL MEMORY OF ANY ANDROID DEVICE BY PARTITIONING
Note
This guide will partition your sdcard to make a part of your sdcard works like the internal memory that you can move your apps to it.
This guide will never increase the real internal memory (Storage in taskmanger) as it is impossible to be done.
First,
you have to do is to partition your SD Card and for doing this you have to: Download Mini tool Partition.
2- Install the application on your PC and connect your SD card to your PC with Card Reader.
3- Open Mini Tool Partition in your PC and when the wizards open click on your SD Card and select Delete option. !!!(Note: This will format your SD Card completely mean that it will erase your data permanently, so before doing this backup your data at any place in PC or other Storage device.) When the Formatting of your SD Card is completed then, you have whole of space of your SD Card as unallocated
4- then Right click SD Card and select create option. A popup box will open giving you options for making partition; select the partition as primary and file system as FAT if SD Card is less than 4GB or FAT32 if your SD Card is more than 4GB. Leave about 512 MB or more space (your choice) for creating the next partition.
5- Then select done and do right click on unallocated space of your SD Card and again click create option. Select Primary partition but change the file system to Ext2, Ext3 or Ext4. Note: (Ext2 is recommended as most ROMs work fine with it). Click Apply Changes and then process goes on for the few minutes and then partition is completed.
6- Install Link2sd from Google Play
On the first launch of the app, it will ask for root permissions and then, it will ask you the file system of the .ext partition that you had earlier made, choose the option as you had choose in the partitioning steps.
Sort the apps according to size and start linking them and then you have done your task.
Now you have your Phone’s Internal Memory+ Ext file size made by you in your SD Card. Now you can move your apps from your device memory to SD Card and simultaneously your device speed will also be increased.
I know there are many posts like this post but hit thanks button if you see mine first

Will this work for Samsung Galaxy Tab 2

Notam said:
Will this work for Samsung Galaxy Tab 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Likely yes, one my friends tried it on his galaxy tab and worked
Sent from my GT-B5512 using xda premium

Nice guide.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using xda app-developers app

andiroxu said:
Nice guide.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THANKS
....HIT THANKS IF I HELPED....
Sent from my GT-B5512 using xda premium

I'm so gonna to try this, thx!

OP should give credits to actual OP who took pain to create screenshots.
Also guys dont select storage as "external" in auto link. Link2sd dev recommends "internal" storage to avoid conflicts. Also I see this increases space in internal in storage info.
Ext2 fills up. You see widgets for all linked apps as phone assumes app installed as internal memory.
Also linking better than native app2sd or move to sd method and it retains apps in memory even if sd card is removed!!! during usb connection according to dev.
Read link2sd FAQ very helpful. :thumbup:
God is Original Developer

But this process requires you to already have a bit of space on internal storage, and only then move the apps.

Also use FolderMount to move huge OBB and DATA files to SD card
I've been using FolderMount along with Link2SD. FolderMount allows you to also move the HUGE OBB and DATA files that large games often make you download (some up to 2 GB!!!) Link2SD does not link these large files (it links APK and other smaller files) so they work together beautifully. Together they are truly huge space savers! Just search for FolderMount on the Play store.
Cheers!!!

War10ckJ0shua
I use the Recovery-ClockWork, go to Advanced > Particion SD Card.

already I have created a partition for 512 mb and I am using Link2sd. Is this now possible to extended the partition with or without loosing the data ?

Thats a good question. There is always a possibility to lose data stored in a partition when resizing any partition file system where it be Linux EXT2,3,4 or Windows Fat and Ntfs. Backup the data in there if you can before attempting it. I personally would use gparted since its already in all my installed linux distros already, but the free Minitool partition editor for Windows looks pretty awesome! It says it easily supports resize/move of partition without data loss so its possible. Just make sure you backup the whole card IE all data on both partitions just in case. Good luck.
thegreeat said:
already I have created a partition for 512 mb and I am using Link2sd. Is this now possible to extended the partition with or without loosing the data ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Do I absolutely have to use a card reader for this? Can't I use the mount usb storage option from my phone? Either way, the card shows up as an external drive doesn't it?

AualSciaespecially
I can't wait to do this after I root my HUAWEI H881C. I got it a week ago and free internal space for apps and data is rather small at about(?) 512MB total. After factory installed apps and such I was left with about 384Mb to start with. I can be a app whore. I haven't download too many games on google play yet because of internal storage limits. Even with those limits I do have Doom, Quake 1, 2, and 3 installed off the SD card along with my dosbox, snes, sega, psx and n64 emulators and roms with no problems.

I have been using link2sd since abandoning Froyo. Now on cm10.2.
One thing of which to know and be carefull: Link2sd's Achilles Heel.
When flashing a new ROM on rebuilding the dalvik cache for any reason, all the linked dalviks (dex) must fit on internal storage. If one has linked more than can fit, internal storage will run out and crash bang. I have requested of the devs to facilitate treating this within link2sd but so far, has not been implemented so the manual procedure would be:
A. Prevention! If playing with experimental ROMs often, pull the /data/sdext2/dalvik-cache folder and see how big it is. Make sure that the internal space available is say 20meg more than this. No problem.
B. If not possible or simply must have all the goodies installed now, here it what to do:
1. Show linked apps in dex-size order.
2. Multiselect enough of the largest ones to meet the 20meg condition.
3. Remove them.
After flashing, rebuilding the dalvik cache.
4. Relink current dalvik. Now have lots of room again.
5. Restore the removed apps and data, relink them. Note: Titanium is your best friend!
'Twould be nice if a future link2sd version would warn us and if need be, do this for us

FYI I just did that very same thing just leaving the card in the phone and using the minitool. It seems to have worked just fine even with resizing the fat32 partition already there and creating a Ext2 out of the room I freed up.
aashay960 said:
Do I absolutely have to use a card reader for this? Can't I use the mount usb storage option from my phone? Either way, the card shows up as an external drive doesn't it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Retro Gamer said:
FYI I just did that very same thing just leaving the card in the phone and using the minitool. It seems to have worked just fine even with resizing the fat32 partition already there and creating a Ext2 out of the room I freed up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quick question - If you resize the partition which is already there, making space for a new one, will you lose all the data that is there in the card?

I answered that question in my last 2 reply posts. I just did this very thing without any problems or data loss, then went on to root my phone. It all took 20mins and I did copy my sd card contents to a dir in my PC just in case.
There is a always a chance for things to go wrong, but at the very least make a folder on your PC label cellback or something, connect your phone(with card) to PC & just copy all contents from your existing card in phone to that folder you made. Then in partition editor select the drive that is your SD card, resize it leaving left over space behind it. Use that free unallocated space to create a the new PRIMARY ext2 drive. Good luck.
aashay960 said:
Quick question - If you resize the partition which is already there, making space for a new one, will you lose all the data that is there in the card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Clockwork Recovery
To partition, you don't necessarily have to use a 3rd party PC based partitioning tool.
If your phone is rooted, with Clockwork Recovery flashed, you can simply:
a)Backup your Sd Card on another device.(As warned, the process wipes the sd card clean)
b)Reboot your device into Recovery mode.
c)Select Advanced, then Partition SD Card
d)First menu lets you choose the size of the ext
e)Second menu lets you choose the size of the swap file.
When your done partitioning, you will have both an ext and a swap file, no 3rd party partitioning app needed.
You'll need an app like Swapper2 for the swap partition and the aforementioned Link2Sd for the ext
Hit thanks if this helps. :highfive::good:

Kris the wizz 15 said:
To partition, you don't necessarily have to use a 3rd party PC based partitioning tool.
If your phone is rooted, with Clockwork Recovery flashed, you can simply:
a)Backup your Sd Card on another device.(As warned, the process wipes the sd card clean)
b)Reboot your device into Recovery mode.
c)Select Advanced, then Partition SD Card
d)First menu lets you choose the size of the ext
e)Second menu lets you choose the size of the swap file.
When your done partitioning, you will have both an ext and a swap file, no 3rd party partitioning app needed.
You'll need an app like Swapper2 for the swap partition and the aforementioned Link2Sd for the ext
Hit thanks if this helps. :highfive::good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. When step d) is completed... what happens with the partition that was created... is mounted on the micro sd card, as a partition on itself?
I have another question. Is there an app/way to install directly to micro sd card, as if there is no need to move the apps later, because they go where is needed to in the first place?
Is there a way to move dalvik cache as well?

[Q] How to correctly partition 64GB SD card for use in Link2SD?

Alright, I'm having issues with Link2SD. Many others are as well, from the results that came up in a google search. Seems each "solution" is different for multiple people, and I'm getting a lot of contradictions.
I own a Huawei Ascend Mate 2 (Mt3L03 variant) on 4.3, rooted and running stock, kernel version 3.4.0-g1fcc1aa, bootloader unlocked via a code from Huawei themselves. I've tried AParted and Minitool Partition Wizard. Some people say "Use the Windows partitioning software!" and some people say "The chances of errors with Windows is higher, partition it on your Android!"
I've been at this for several hours, over and over, reading countless threads, trying various methods and settings. I tried creating the ext2 partition first a few times, just for funsies, but no luck there. So I've been mainly doing what I assume is correct, partitioning FAT32 first, then ext2. Or ext3. Or ext4. I've been through it all. I've partitioned ext2 (and others) as quite large, up to 48000mbs. I've partitioned it quite small, down to 800mbs. I've added swap. I've done it without swap. I've left empty space. I've filled the whole card. I've partitioned only FAT32 (or ext2, or others) and left the rest blank. I've created 2 FAT32/FAT16 partitions. I've used Link2SD as a user app. I've used Link2SD as a system app. I've rebooted again and again and again and again and AGAIN. I've selected the file system of my sd card's second partition as ext2, ext3, ext4, FAT32/FAT16, and f2fs (tested ALL on EVERY attempt, just to be certain). But after everything is said and done, no matter how certain I am that I finally got it right..... every stinking time it comes back with "Mount script error // Mount script cannot be created. mount: Invalid argument". Good lord I am ready to tear my hair out with this thing! What on earth am I doing wrong? Does it have anything to do with /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 ? I've also tried GL to SD, DS App2SD, and App2SD, but ultimately I'm not satisfied with any of those. I just tried this: http://techtriosonline.com/2014/11/p...-minitool.html Followed it EXACTLY. Still the same issue.
Also tried with AParted. Annnnd still the same issue. I should also note that in the configuration, I've attempted to changed /dev/block/mmcblk1 to dev/block/mmcblk1p2, and I get the warning "Detected internal device memory! To complish the new DDR of google, AParted can't work with internal partitions or gpt table types. One version with no limits will be maintained in the Aparted web site".

SonyXperiaz1s said:
Alright, I'm having issues with Link2SD. Many others are as well, from the results that came up in a google search. Seems each "solution" is different for multiple people, and I'm getting a lot of contradictions.
I own a Huawei Ascend Mate 2 (Mt3L03 variant) on 4.3, rooted and running stock, kernel version 3.4.0-g1fcc1aa, bootloader unlocked via a code from Huawei themselves. I've tried AParted and Minitool Partition Wizard. Some people say "Use the Windows partitioning software!" and some people say "The chances of errors with Windows is higher, partition it on your Android!"
I've been at this for several hours, over and over, reading countless threads, trying various methods and settings. I tried creating the ext2 partition first a few times, just for funsies, but no luck there. So I've been mainly doing what I assume is correct, partitioning FAT32 first, then ext2. Or ext3. Or ext4. I've been through it all. I've partitioned ext2 (and others) as quite large, up to 48000mbs. I've partitioned it quite small, down to 800mbs. I've added swap. I've done it without swap. I've left empty space. I've filled the whole card. I've partitioned only FAT32 (or ext2, or others) and left the rest blank. I've created 2 FAT32/FAT16 partitions. I've used Link2SD as a user app. I've used Link2SD as a system app. I've rebooted again and again and again and again and AGAIN. I've selected the file system of my sd card's second partition as ext2, ext3, ext4, FAT32/FAT16, and f2fs (tested ALL on EVERY attempt, just to be certain). But after everything is said and done, no matter how certain I am that I finally got it right..... every stinking time it comes back with "Mount script error // Mount script cannot be created. mount: Invalid argument". Good lord I am ready to tear my hair out with this thing! What on earth am I doing wrong? Does it have anything to do with /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 ? I've also tried GL to SD, DS App2SD, and App2SD, but ultimately I'm not satisfied with any of those. I just tried this: http://techtriosonline.com/2014/11/p...-minitool.html Followed it EXACTLY. Still the same issue.
Also tried with AParted. Annnnd still the same issue. I should also note that in the configuration, I've attempted to changed /dev/block/mmcblk1 to dev/block/mmcblk1p2, and I get the warning "Detected internal device memory! To complish the new DDR of google, AParted can't work with internal partitions or gpt table types. One version with no limits will be maintained in the Aparted web site".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its pretty simple (at least I hope so):
Partition wizard is fine for preparing your sdcard. Put the sdcard into your cardreader (not the phone!) and delete all existing partitions from the card. Then create one "primary partition" formatted as "fat32". Once done resize the partition meant that you decrease it by the amount of space you need for your EXT4 partition. in the way that the unallocated space (e.g. 1024MB) is behind the Fat32 partition. Then create a "EXT4" partition in the empty space. This partition must also be a PRIMARY partition. or Link2SD will NOT work.
Put the sdcard into your phone and install Link2SD

LS.xD said:
Its pretty simple (at least I hope so):
Partition wizard is fine for preparing your sdcard. Put the sdcard into your cardreader (not the phone!) and delete all existing partitions from the card. Then create one "primary partition" formatted as "fat32". Once done resize the partition meant that you decrease it by the amount of space you need for your EXT4 partition. in the way that the unallocated space (e.g. 1024MB) is behind the Fat32 partition. Then create a "EXT4" partition in the empty space. This partition must also be a PRIMARY partition. or Link2SD will NOT work.
Put the sdcard into your phone and install Link2SD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah man, I can't tell you how happy I am that someone (you!) actually answered me about this, I've been going everywhere on XDA today. And no worries, I've been using a cardreader, leaving it in the phone just sounds like asking for trouble. And yup, tried that already. Just to repeat back: I made the card partitioned to FAT32 first. Then, after that, I resized it to free up 1024MB. For the first attempt with this method, I tried EXT2 because I wasn't certain if my kernel supported EXT4. And I made sure that the EXT2 partition was behind the FAT32 one. They were both made primary. I made sure my phone was off, and after Minitool did its magic and finished up I put the card into the phone, and rebooted. I launched Link2SD (after clearing its data first, so it would act as a fresh install), and got the onscreen prompt, and selected EXT2. And boom, once again was the annoying mount script error. I tried again, wiping the card and doing everything over identically, except trying it with EXT4 (because why not, eh?) and selecting EXT4 when Link2SD prompted. Same error. I would give it a go (with a smaller card) in my Sony Xperia Z1s, but I thought I read somewhere that Link2SD and Sony doesn't play nicely with each other..? Mainly, I would only want to try that to rule out that it's not user error, but rather an issue with the device. For that matter, I've also got an old Samsung Galaxy Proclaim on 2.3.6 that is also rooted. Perhaps if I'm feeling adventurous, I'll see if I can get it working there. Unrelated side note: How strange that my old Proclaim can read 64gig cards, but my Xperia freaks out with anything above 32! :laugh:

Alright, heres an update for this thread.
The mount script is successful for my Samsung Galaxy Proclaim, but is not on my Huawei Ascend Mate 2, even when the process is done identically.
Wondering why Link2SD seems to hate my HAM2 so much.

Bump

I've struggled with my cheap/no brand 64GB SD card now for days but I finally succeeded. Hopefully this works over the long haul. We will see.
I have an L34C with very limited internal memory which is why link2sd became essential. So I purchased a 64GB micro SD card through eBay for less than $8..00.
At first I tried to follow the various guides to partition the card using either Minitools/Easeus and even AParted on the phone. Every time the second partition (ext2/4) was added at the end, the partition table got corrupted and then showed file system "other" instead of ext2.
Finally I decided to try the GParted Live CD under Windows 8.1 using VirtualBox (32bit Linux) using the ISO as the boot device. Obviously booting the live CD directly via CDRom/USB works as well but I didn't want to always reboot.
Note that I used SDFormatter to initially low level format and verify that the card was good.
After many trials and errors I got it to work. The key seems to be that all partitions need to start in the first 32GB. This leads to the conclusion that the large fat32 partition needs to be last, before any desired SD card overprovisioning.
As link2sd insists that the ext2/ext4 partition is the second partition, I created a small 32MB Linux swap partition first. I then added a 6GB ext2 Apps partition directly followed by a 48GB fat32 Data partition.. The remainder is unallocated for overprovisioning.
I finally marked the fat32 partition "active" by setting the boot flag.
Before inserting the card, I cleared the link2sd cache and data and then turned the phone off.
Note that in my case link2sd, after the initial reboot, preferred the ext4 check mark for the ext2 partition.
I hope this helps somebody.

I dont understand what you did here. May you explain please.
regli said:
I've struggled with my cheap/no brand 64GB SD card now for days but I finally succeeded. Hopefully this works over the long haul. We will see.
I have an L34C with very limited internal memory which is why link2sd became essential. So I purchased a 64GB micro SD card through eBay for less than $8..00.
At first I tried to follow the various guides to partition the card using either Minitools/Easeus and even AParted on the phone. Every time the second partition (ext2/4) was added at the end, the partition table got corrupted and then showed file system "other" instead of ext2.
Finally I decided to try the GParted Live CD under Windows 8.1 using VirtualBox (32bit Linux) using the ISO as the boot device. Obviously booting the live CD directly via CDRom/USB works as well but I didn't want to always reboot.
Note that I used SDFormatter to initially low level format and verify that the card was good.
After many trials and errors I got it to work. The key seems to be that all partitions need to start in the first 32GB. This leads to the conclusion that the large fat32 partition needs to be last, before any desired SD card overprovisioning.
As link2sd insists that the ext2/ext4 partition is the second partition, I created a small 32MB Linux swap partition first. I then added a 6GB ext2 Apps partition directly followed by a 48GB fat32 Data partition.. The remainder is unallocated for overprovisioning.
I finally marked the fat32 partition "active" by setting the boot flag.
Before inserting the card, I cleared the link2sd cache and data and then turned the phone off.
Note that in my case link2sd, after the initial reboot, preferred the ext4 check mark for the ext2 partition.
I hope this helps somebody.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didnt really get what the steps where to partition my sd card. Like you i have a cheap/no brand 64 Gb Micro Sd card and im unsuccessfull with partitioning it. May you please help me. And in advance Thank You :good:

First let me state that my initial SD card was a Chinese 64GB "fake". Check if yours is also one with RMPrepUSB. Fakes report themselves as having 32GB or 64GB capacity whereas, in reality, they only have a fraction of the reported capacity.
I then purchased Silicon Power SD cards with 32GB and 64GB capacity. I then followed the procedure mentioned above and everything works just fine.

You are brilliant!
I have been having the exact same problem and have spent hours pulling my hair out trying to overcome this issue. Your fix was brilliant as so far it seems to have solved the problem!
One note, I was trying many different methods of partitioning and formatting. This method WILL NOT work with the Aparted app. Mini Tool was the way to go.
Thank You!!!

OK - Here's the thing...
OK, I did this and even posted how it finally worked and got rid of the "mount script error." However, it now seems that because the fat32 partition is now third in line, it looks like Link2SD is now trying to save all the data on the ext4 partition and not the fat32 partition.
When I do the "Link to SD" operation, it seems like it's putting everything on the second partition which is the ext4, but I don't see a change in the space used on the fat32. Am I missing something...?

Maybe the device can't support ext2...
Hi, I got similar problem with you. I've also tried to do partition in reverse order, swap first, then ext2, then fat32. It didn't work. However, when I select repair for the ext2 in Aparted, it said
The super block cannot be read or does not describe the correct ext2 filesystem. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2 filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the super block is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock: e2fsck -b8193 <device>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So now I'm looking for ext2.ko for Xiaomi Redmi Note but haven't found it anywhere.

regli said:
I've struggled with my cheap/no brand 64GB SD card now for days but I finally succeeded. Hopefully this works over the long haul. We will see.
I have an L34C with very limited internal memory which is why link2sd became essential. So I purchased a 64GB micro SD card through eBay for less than $8..00.
At first I tried to follow the various guides to partition the card using either Minitools/Easeus and even AParted on the phone. Every time the second partition (ext2/4) was added at the end, the partition table got corrupted and then showed file system "other" instead of ext2.
Finally I decided to try the GParted Live CD under Windows 8.1 using VirtualBox (32bit Linux) using the ISO as the boot device. Obviously booting the live CD directly via CDRom/USB works as well but I didn't want to always reboot.
Note that I used SDFormatter to initially low level format and verify that the card was good.
After many trials and errors I got it to work. The key seems to be that all partitions need to start in the first 32GB. This leads to the conclusion that the large fat32 partition needs to be last, before any desired SD card overprovisioning.
As link2sd insists that the ext2/ext4 partition is the second partition, I created a small 32MB Linux swap partition first. I then added a 6GB ext2 Apps partition directly followed by a 48GB fat32 Data partition.. The remainder is unallocated for overprovisioning.
I finally marked the fat32 partition "active" by setting the boot flag.
Before inserting the card, I cleared the link2sd cache and data and then turned the phone off.
Note that in my case link2sd, after the initial reboot, preferred the ext4 check mark for the ext2 partition.
I hope this helps somebody.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will your method works on a 128gb sd card?

I was doing this in fact today, after reading this blog. I was having a helluva time because my Sophone i6 Plus has no regular Settings app, it's laid out like an iPhone Prefs app. The settings I needed are usually under "Storage" in a regular settings app. I was able to repartition my 32gb card on-device with aParted, but I could NOT get Links2SD to detect it, even after setting up the 2nd ext4 partition.
Mainly, after setting up the partitions in aParted, you have to switch your main write disk to internal before rebooting, else Link2SD will spit out whatever you have done. After the device reboots, the main write disk will be set to your first SD partition. After that you should be able to start Links2SD and it will prompt to set up your ext4. Then, Apps2SD will stop give you the message that it can't find the 2nd partition. Scroll down to the bottom of the blog and then the bottom where the comments start or use this link, my response should be visible. It's just a question of doing things in a specific order.
One thing that is mentioned in the tutorial is that for large cards, you should not use Fat32 for the main partition, but ext2 instead.

I've been trading a few emails with Vicki the creator of apps2SD. The best way to set this up is to link the user apps to the SD card but keep the data, the internal data on the internal partition. She said you can put the external data on the SD card but I kept both on internal and everything runs great now.

Great!! This worked perfectly for Link2SD. But now the FAT32 3rd partition isn't showing up in any of the file explorer, backup, etc. apps. What did I miss or still need to do? Thx.

Still lost
Okay I might be a complete dummy but I'm still not understanding or maybe I know it's just not working for me if you could tell me I'll maybe put a picture of the partitioning using minitool from left to right size of the first primary partition size of the second primary partition size of swap file size of any damn thing for that matter it seems you guys tried to explain or try to help but you explain it in a matter that only makes sense to somebody who does nothing but this I'm a old slow and it's stupid truck driver but I would really like to get my SD card working so I can have more storage I do like to play on these things please help

zombunny said:
Alright, I'm having issues with Link2SD. Many others are as well, from the results that came up in a google search. Seems each "solution" is different for multiple people, and I'm getting a lot of contradictions.
I own a Huawei Ascend Mate 2 (Mt3L03 variant) on 4.3, rooted and running stock, kernel version 3.4.0-g1fcc1aa, bootloader unlocked via a code from Huawei themselves. I've tried AParted and Minitool Partition Wizard. Some people say "Use the Windows partitioning software!" and some people say "The chances of errors with Windows is higher, partition it on your Android!"
I've been at this for several hours, over and over, reading countless threads, trying various methods and settings. I tried creating the ext2 partition first a few times, just for funsies, but no luck there. So I've been mainly doing what I assume is correct, partitioning FAT32 first, then ext2. Or ext3. Or ext4. I've been through it all. I've partitioned ext2 (and others) as quite large, up to 48000mbs. I've partitioned it quite small, down to 800mbs. I've added swap. I've done it without swap. I've left empty space. I've filled the whole card. I've partitioned only FAT32 (or ext2, or others) and left the rest blank. I've created 2 FAT32/FAT16 partitions. I've used Link2SD as a user app. I've used Link2SD as a system app. I've rebooted again and again and again and again and AGAIN. I've selected the file system of my sd card's second partition as ext2, ext3, ext4, FAT32/FAT16, and f2fs (tested ALL on EVERY attempt, just to be certain). But after everything is said and done, no matter how certain I am that I finally got it right..... every stinking time it comes back with "Mount script error // Mount script cannot be created. mount: Invalid argument". Good lord I am ready to tear my hair out with this thing! What on earth am I doing wrong? Does it have anything to do with /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 ? I've also tried GL to SD, DS App2SD, and App2SD, but ultimately I'm not satisfied with any of those. I just tried this: http://techtriosonline.com/2014/11/p...-minitool.html Followed it EXACTLY. Still the same issue.
Also tried with AParted. Annnnd still the same issue. I should also note that in the configuration, I've attempted to changed /dev/block/mmcblk1 to dev/block/mmcblk1p2, and I get the warning "Detected internal device memory! To complish the new DDR of google, AParted can't work with internal partitions or gpt table types. One version with no limits will be maintained in the Aparted web site".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi sorry sorry would you mind doing a tutorial on YouTube please this would be most helpful. Thank you in advance.

[Q] Is fat32 the only filesystem supported for microsd?

I tried formatting to ext4 and the phone did not recognize the card. Just wondered if anyone else had sucessfully tried any other filesystems?
Right now 64GB microsd's seem to be the best deal and name brand versions can be found as cheap as $20-25 where 128gb cards will still cost you $70+ and usually involve rebates at the lower end prices.

Exfat and fat32. I have mine formatted to fat32.
Sent from my Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 using Tapatalk

Applications that can write to SD card can only write to a SD card format to FAT 32. The system file manager can write to Exfat, but that's it.

Still not all apps will have permissions. I can't get Utorrent to save to the ext sd for anything
Sent from my 6045I using XDA Free mobile app

jvs60 said:
Still not all apps will have permissions. I can't get Utorrent to save to the ext sd for anything
Sent from my 6045I using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Syncthing is the same way...you should still be able to use the kitkat workaround though which is to save your files to a folder under the android\data\<appname> folder on the sdcard since each app has access to it's own data area.

I never knew about this workaround. So i create the folders on my ext sd card?
Sent from my 6045I using XDA Free mobile app

jvs60 said:
I never knew about this workaround. So i create the folders on my ext sd card?
Sent from my 6045I using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-bypass-Android-44-KitKat-external-SD-write-/

damn... i'll try that
how come the sdcard can't be used for anything
camera 360 can't use it to save, there's no option to choose applications installation on sdcard ect.
had to use link2sd to move almost all my apps without error
seriously now...

keyra74 said:
damn... i'll try that
how come the sdcard can't be used for anything
camera 360 can't use it to save, there's no option to choose applications installation on sdcard ect.
had to use link2sd to move almost all my apps without error
seriously now...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It can be used if you are rooted...requires adding a line to platform.xml. If you find the thread about what camera software to use I posted some instructions on how to fix it where 3rd party's can use the external sd...or you can google on "platform.xml android external sd".
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=62100041&postcount=37

famewolf said:
It can be used if you are rooted...requires adding a line to platform.xml. If you find the thread about what camera software to use I posted some instructions on how to fix it where 3rd party's can use the external sd...or you can google on "platform.xml android external sd".
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=62100041&postcount=37
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thx i used the goold old sdfix app. it's normally for kitkat and we have to use some trick like that on lollipop bad alcatel bad

keyra74 said:
thx i used the goold old sdfix app. it's normally for kitkat and we have to use some trick like that on lollipop bad alcatel bad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blame google, not Alcatel. The external sd card issue is due to Lollipop..
That app makes the same change...you can uninstall it after it modifies the file. Simpler for me to just edit the file and push the change.

I'm on exfat on a 64gb. Works fine.

The 200gb I had in my g3 worked just fine.
Just realized the card cost more than this phone...

scatoclysm said:
I'm on exfat on a 64gb. Works fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1

My 32 gb HDSC card came formatted with FAT32. I preferred ExFAT, so I reformatted the card using Disk Utility on my Mac. The Icon 3 didn't recognize it until I reformatted back to FAT32. Maybe I should have tried formatting it on a Windows machine. I may try a 64 GB HDXC card that probably comes formatted with ExFAT.

maigre said:
My 32 gb HDSC card came formatted with FAT32. I preferred ExFAT, so I reformatted the card using Disk Utility on my Mac. The Icon 3 didn't recognize it until I reformatted back to FAT32. Maybe I should have tried formatting it on a Windows machine. I may try a 64 GB HDXC card that probably comes formatted with ExFAT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really not much of a benefit to exfat over fat32...especially if you set cluster size when formatting. I also read about some folks having permission issues writing to the exfat till they reformatted. The samsung 128GB I put in my idol3 worked like a champ.

NooB....Thank Google lollypop for sdcard problems. U can write to sdcard with some apps not all if the code is written for this.

It seems TWRP doesn't recognise exfat partitions if the sdcard doesn't contain a partition table (GPT works, I haven't tried old-style msdos partition table).
This could be partly explained by the fact that, without a partition table, the external sdcard is called /dev/block/mmcblk1 instead of /dev/block/mmcblk1p1
To put it another way, if you want your sd card to be both readable when the phone is normally booted AND when it's booted into TWRP, you have to make a GPT table on the sdcard, and create an exfat partition inside.
=> In windows, it just fell into place after messing around with it for a bit. Your mileage will vary, depending on if you had an msdos partition table, a pre-existing GPT partition table (easiest) or no partition table at all. I gave up trying to figure it out.
=> Under TWRP adb shell, using the image containing gdisk, I did it this way (data-destructive operation !) :
- Use gdisk to create a new GPT table on /dev/block/mmcblk1 (or /dev/sdX outside from adb shell)
- Also with gdisk, create a new partition (types 8300 or 0700 should do) on the device targeted previously
- Then, exit gdisk and use "mkfs.exfat -n extsd /dev/block/mmcblk1p1" (or /dev/sdX1 if you didn't do it from TWRP adb shell) to reformat the partition created previously to exfat format.
However => do NOT use mkfs.exfat command on the /dev/block/mmcblk1 device (or /dev/sdX), else you'll have to redo step 1 again
Also, under adb shell, make sure you don't accidentally wipe /dev/block/mmcblk0 device, else you'll brick your phone !
I hope this helps a few people

DarkZell666 said:
It seems TWRP doesn't recognise exfat partitions if the sdcard doesn't contain a partition table (GPT works, I haven't tried old-style msdos partition table).
This could be partly explained by the fact that, without a partition table, the external sdcard is called /dev/block/mmcblk1 instead of /dev/block/mmcblk1p1
To put it another way, if you want your sd card to be both readable when the phone is normally booted AND when it's booted into TWRP, you have to make a GPT table on the sdcard, and create an exfat partition inside.
=> In windows, it just fell into place after messing around with it for a bit. Your mileage will vary, depending on if you had an msdos partition table, a pre-existing GPT partition table (easiest) or no partition table at all. I gave up trying to figure it out.
=> Under TWRP adb shell, using the image containing gdisk, I did it this way (data-destructive operation !) :
- Use gdisk to create a new GPT table on /dev/block/mmcblk1 (or /dev/sdX outside from adb shell)
- Also with gdisk, create a new partition (types 8300 or 0700 should do) on the device targeted previously
- Then, exit gdisk and use "mkfs.exfat -n extsd /dev/block/mmcblk1p1" (or /dev/sdX1 if you didn't do it from TWRP adb shell) to reformat the partition created previously to exfat format.
However => do NOT use mkfs.exfat command on the /dev/block/mmcblk1 device (or /dev/sdX), else you'll have to redo step 1 again
Also, under adb shell, make sure you don't accidentally wipe /dev/block/mmcblk0 device, else you'll brick your phone !
I hope this helps a few people
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or just keep it formatted as fat32 and skip the above which was my choice.

Just my two cents - why would you want to format SD to ext4? Journaling filesystems don't work very well with flash drives, cells die much quicker.

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