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I'm a Linux user so I know what swap, ext2, ext3 etc technically means. What I don't understand is what are the *actual* benefits of formating my SD Card to these formats. I've run into a lot of guides and how-tos but no one cares to explain why to do it.
So to sum up:
Does the Android System actually cares if I create these formats?
If it does, will I notice actual increase in performance?
What about apps2SD?
What kind of format do you recomend?
I have an HTC Desire and I'm using CyanogenMod, Oxygen and MIUI in rotation (means I replace one with another every couple months).
Thanks in advance!
aventinus said:
I'm a Linux user so I know what swap, ext2, ext3 etc technically means. What I don't understand is what are the *actual* benefits of formating my SD Card to these formats. I've run into a lot of guides and how-tos but no one cares to explain why to do it.
So to sum up:
Does the Android System actually cares if I create these formats?
If it does, will I notice actual increase in performance?
What about apps2SD?
What kind of format do you recomend?
I have an HTC Desire and I'm using CyanogenMod, Oxygen and MIUI in rotation (means I replace one with another every couple months).
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Faster SD Card speeds for app2sd, thats mainly it. If you don't use A2SD there isnt much point to it, but if you do it can be very useful. What some people do though are format their System and Data partitions to EXT2 or EXT4 so then the whole system is faster all around and is a large improvement over stock rfs.
fowenati said:
Faster SD Card speeds for app2sd, thats mainly it. If you don't use A2SD there isnt much point to it, but if you do it can be very useful. What some people do though are format their System and Data partitions to EXT2 or EXT4 so then the whole system is faster all around and is a large improvement over stock rfs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok so if make an ext partition, the apps that are stored in this partition will run faster. That sounds fair. Should I have both ext and FAT partions? And if I do, how does Android know where to put the apps? Also how about swap?
aventinus said:
Ok so if make an ext partition, the apps that are stored in this partition will run faster. That sounds fair. Should I have both ext and FAT partions? And if I do, how does Android know where to put the apps? Also how about swap?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need for swap, and yes EXT is automatically recognized by android for a2sd, but make sure your ROM supports it. You would have an EXT partition between 256mb-2gb max, and then the rest would be FAT.
fowenati said:
No need for swap, and yes EXT is automatically recognized by android for a2sd, but make sure your ROM supports it. You would have an EXT partition between 256mb-2gb max, and then the rest would be FAT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok! That was really eye-opening! Thank you so much!
no problem!
Just flash in clockwork and it will format your system and data partitions back to ext3. Faster than dealing with nandroid restores.
Useful for reverting from installs using Dragon or Trinity kernels that convert you to ext4.
NOTE: This FORMATS your partitions, you WILL lose all data held on them. Your phone will NOT boot until you install a ROM ZIP file or restore a nandroid backup. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
CREDIT: @paulobrien from Modaco wrote this for the O2x. I just changed the partition names to match our setup. I left his original banner in there as a result. My change amounts to about 4 bytes. If you have issues, please don't bother him, post here.
This is great...I always hesitate trying out updated or experimental kernels because of the amount of time it takes to nandroid....the cm7 kernel has been really good as of late so I've been sticking with that
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
Hmmm Let the confusing questions begin in 5,4,3,2....
Thanks man!
Sent From My Stock G2x
Reminder: NONE of my kernels and ROMs require the use of this utility. All of my kernels and ROMs are ALL NATIVE EXT3 only mounted as ext4.
faux123 said:
Reminder: NONE of my kernels and ROMs require the use of this utility. All of my kernels and ROMs are ALL NATIVE EXT3 only mounted as ext4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow, i never knew that. so if we are using one of your cm7 ext4 kernels and then flash a new nightly/kang we could go back to using the stock cm kernel and wouldn't have to necessarily flash your kernel again?
mattyg151 said:
wow, i never knew that. so if we are using one of your cm7 ext4 kernels and then flash a new nightly/kang we could go back to using the stock cm kernel and wouldn't have to necessarily flash your kernel again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeap... should be no issues.
Is there a difference between this and just wiping, formating system and data, in cwm?
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk
billydroid said:
Is there a difference between this and just wiping, formating system and data, in cwm?
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cwm is set up to keep whatever format you have at the time you run it, so if you are on ext4, the format command will format to ext4. It makes sense, you wouldn't want to write an ext4 fs onto a partition with vfat on it, for example. Not automatically anyway. And most users wouldn't know what to tell it to use if it were to give you the option. The forum would be full of "What file system do I use?!?!?"... The usual method is to restore a nandroid backup from stock or a stock file system. This is significantly faster.
It is of somewhat limited usefulness as many kernels/roms don't change the filesystem. However, as I switch around a lot with running tests for the cm guys, my own stuff, etc., it's nice to have a fast way to deal with it.
ttabbal said:
cwm is set up to keep whatever format you have at the time you run it, so if you are on ext4, the format command will format to ext4. It makes sense, you wouldn't want to write an ext4 fs onto a partition with vfat on it, for example. Not automatically anyway. And most users wouldn't know what to tell it to use if it were to give you the option. The forum would be full of "What file system do I use?!?!?"... The usual method is to restore a nandroid backup from stock or a stock file system. This is significantly faster.
It is of somewhat limited usefulness as many kernels/roms don't change the filesystem. However, as I switch around a lot with running tests for the cm guys, my own stuff, etc., it's nice to have a fast way to deal with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk
EDIT: nvm. looked over the files and got my answer.
Works great thanks for putting this together. Will come in handy.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
is this utility gonna wipe out all my data (meaning I will have to install all the apps again, setting up my phone again, signing in to google again and stuff) ?
te_quiero_forever_girl said:
is this utility gonna wipe out all my data (meaning I will have to install all the apps again, setting up my phone again, signing in to google again and stuff) ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it will wipe.
Upgrading EXT3 to EXT4 will preserve data but downgrading from EXT4 to EXT3 won't.
With cm going ext4 this is priceless.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
xsteven77x said:
With cm going ext4 this is priceless.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A nandroid of ext3 is the same thing also I have installed an ext3 rom over ext4 works great
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
Why do we people want to go back to ext3 when ext4 is much faster and stable than all the other filesystems.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
How do i find out if i have ext 3 or 4, and where do i find ext 4 to flash if i need?
thanks
An easy way to tell would be to install 4EXT Recovery to replace CWM Recovery. It will show you exactly what your partitions are in recovery.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1161710
If you want to change your partitions to Ext4 then you can go to the first page of the Android Revolution HD thread in development and download and run Mike1986's superwipe script, which is on the first page. Flash superwipe in recovery. It will format your partitions as Ext4. Make a back up of your phone data because it will delete all of your data. It will not delete anything on your external sd card. Also make sure you have a rom on your sd card to flash after using a wipe script.
Wolf_2 said:
An easy way to tell would be to install 4EXT Recovery to replace CWM Recovery. It will show you exactly what your partitions are in recovery.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1161710
If you want to change your partitions to Ext4 then you can go to the first page of the Android Revolution HD thread in development and download and run Mike1986's superwipe script, which is on the first page. Flash superwipe in recovery. It will format your partitions as Ext4. Make a back up of your phone data because it will delete all of your data. It will not delete anything on your external sd card. Also make sure you have a rom on your sd card to flash after using a wipe script.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What wolf said lol. :-D.
Enjoy the ext4 recovery. Its a great piece of work. If you want to theme it check out the links in the op of that thread wolf directed you to. Many themers including myself are listed on there. Link in my sig as well.
I got your 10 char right here
Besides really liking the way 4EXT Recovery works, I really enjoy changing and using themes by Cwhitney24 and other themers. It is great to be able to theme recovery.
Wolf_2 said:
Besides really liking the way 4EXT Recovery works, I really enjoy changing and using themes by Cwhitney24 and other themers. It is great to be able to theme recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well thanks! :-D
I got your 10 char right here
After reading the last 4 posts I feel the need to put my high boots on and install the newer recovery.
Agoattamer said:
After reading the last 4 posts I feel the need to put my high boots on and install the newer recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
....yes do it!!!! Lol
I got your 10 char right here
It's all good now!
brettd750 said:
It's all good now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good! :-D
I got your 10 char right here
brettd750 said:
I need 10 post to be able to post in the dev threads. Have some small potential faults with a custom rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try the Q&A stickies
Pirateghost said:
try the Q&A stickies
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone finally found it and asked the question. Fixed and there is no flaw
The on screen personalize but was linked to fire up internet explorer. there was a tweak in setting to turn it off
**shudders at 'internet explorer'**
Pirateghost said:
**shudders at 'internet explorer'**
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+10 chars! Love it!
Are there any advantages of being ext4 over ext3? Im on the absolution rom so im not sure what ext it is. Sorry for thread jacking btw.
EXT is the Linux native filesystem. EXT was quickly replaced by EXT2 which was a good rock-solid FS for Linux and survived for a decade. It was eventually supplemented with a journal and became EXT3 even though the underlying filesystem was still EXT2. EXT4 is a journaling FS, but was redesigned from the ground up. It is designed to take advantage of very high-speed drives like 15K SCSI raid-arrays in high-end server farms, or for dealing with huge file sizes efficiently, neither of which is an advantage at all on an embedded device like a smart phone.
Most Androids used yaffs2 since it was fast and efficient on an embedded device with a serial MMC type storage system, but with the advent of multi-core smartphones, yaffs2 didn't handle multi-threaded access to the filesystem.
So, in short, EXT4 is really not an appropriate filesystem for an embedded device. Any journalling filesystem is going to be hard on the MMC as it causes much more read/write cycles and will eventually result in faster failure of the MMC. EXT3 is the choice of HTC on its newer eMMC devices and probably is the best fit for multi-core systems, but Google has hired the inventor of EXT4 so that's probably the direction Android will take regardless of EXT4's inappropriateness.
For more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ext4
I read that post without looking at the author and was thinking "this guy seems almost as smart as Gene".
Sent from my Inspire 4G using the power of the dark side
Noticed today I'm able to move almost all of my apps to SD and not just the supported ones without having done anything but installing a rooted stock ROM and some standard goodies (SU, BusyBox, ROM Manager and Titanium Backup). Wondering if it was enabled by any of the above? the rooted ROM? or the stock ROM?
any takers?
Titanium backup, in "batch", has option to move all apps to either sd or internal memory.
Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using xda premium
It's not true A2SD. Just a bunch of buggy symlinks in /data and incomprehensible files in /sdcard/.android-secure that Google is trying to pass off as A2SD.
Sent from a message in a bottle.
blackknightavalon said:
It's not true A2SD. Just a bunch of buggy symlinks in /data and incomprehensible files in /sdcard/.android-secure that Google is trying to pass off as A2SD.
Sent from a message in a bottle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks. i rooted my phone right after the first stock boot so i couldn't tell if it came that way. It's just odd coming from 2.2 that everything all of a sudden is now movable, despite being not true a2sd.
psychedel!k said:
thanks. i rooted my phone right after the first stock boot so i couldn't tell if it came that way. It's just odd coming from 2.2 that everything all of a sudden is now movable, despite being not true a2sd.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know. Just because a bunch of people find hitting "partition SD card" in ClockworkMod Recovery too difficult doesn't mean those of us who want the full potential of our phones unlocked should suffer, but we're stuck until someone finds us the mountpoint for sd-ext.
blackknightavalon said:
I know. Just because a bunch of people find hitting "partition SD card" in ClockworkMod Recovery too difficult doesn't mean those of us who want the full potential of our phones unlocked should suffer, but we're stuck until someone finds us the mountpoint for sd-ext.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you all need to check out link2sd (free app) it will let you install apps to ext partition. I myself use it and have a 8gb ext3 partition with over 550+ apps/games installed. It also lets you decide if you want to move dalvikcache and library files to ext to save more internal space. I used mini tool partition app on my pc to create a larger ext partition then cwm would allow.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
d12unk13astard said:
you all need to check out link2sd (free app) it will let you install apps to ext partition. I myself use it and have a 8gb ext3 partition with over 550+ apps/games installed. It also lets you decide if you want to move dalvikcache and library files to ext to save more internal space. I used mini tool partition app on my pc to create a larger ext partition then cwm would allow.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try it on my days off. Thanks for the tip!
Sent from a message in a bottle.
blackknightavalon said:
..we're stuck until someone finds us the mountpoint for sd-ext.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry can you explain how and where we're stuck on and is that specific to our device?
blackknightavalon said:
I know. Just because a bunch of people find hitting "partition SD card" in ClockworkMod Recovery too difficult doesn't mean those of us who want the full potential of our phones unlocked should suffer, but we're stuck until someone finds us the mountpoint for sd-ext.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
psychedel!k said:
sorry can you explain how and where we're stuck on and is that specific to our device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WIP Memory Address Listing
You need to know where to put and access the data, explicitly, in order to be able to use that location.
Android does this by using mount-points, which translates to the memory address where it should be looking for the information.
The thread I linked to is one I started so that we can discover them all, and what mount points correspond to what memory address.
Please make sure to read post number 8 in the thread by dhkr234 which spells out a good caution about using memory addresses directly and why you should be using mount points instead.
If anyone makes any headway in learning anything we don't know so far, please post it in that thread so we can get a comprehensive listing of mount points and what memory addresses they correspond to.
I've been extremely busy on other projects, but if someone is going to come by and make A2SD available for us, having a road-map for them to follow already sitting here will make their life a lot easier. ( ...and maybe encourage someone to do it because the info is sitting there. )
...and yes, it is specific to our device. Every device addresses the internal memory differently and that makes the mount-points unique to each and every device.
gotcha, so...piecing this all together, does that mean that a true A2SD shouldn't rely on symlink at all and Link2SD (what d12unk13astard recommended) is essentially just another hack?
psychedel!k said:
gotcha, so...piecing this all together, does that mean that a true A2SD shouldn't rely on symlink at all and Link2SD (what d12unk13astard recommended) is essentially just another hack?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The real A2SD is not "just another hack," it's one of the ORIGINAL post-root hacks pioneers like JesusFreke came up with. It allows you to put your apps on an EXT partition of your SD card, and you can resize that partition if your computer runs a Linux distribution.
blackknightavalon said:
The real A2SD is not "just another hack," it's one of the ORIGINAL post-root hacks pioneers like JesusFreke came up with. It allows you to put your apps on an EXT partition of your SD card, and you can resize that partition if your computer runs a Linux distribution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that i got, and sorry for being a pain..so then what difference does having a mountpoint or not make?
psychedel!k said:
that i got, and sorry for being a pain..so then what difference does having a mountpoint or not make?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read the previous posts.
psychedel!k said:
that i got, and sorry for being a pain..so then what difference does having a mountpoint or not make?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Either:
blackknightavalon said:
Read the previous posts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or read this one again:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=19163237&postcount=8
dhkr234 said it good there.
I linked so someone who wants more of an explanation can follow and read up.
In short, you can very easily write to the wrong memory address.
This means:
Installing some silly game over parts of both your boot partition and recovery partition would give you a cool slide-paperweight.
Mount points prevent this from happening by ensuring the data is written to the proper memory addresses.
Hi guys,
I've again have some stupid questions. I'm sorry if it was answered before, I didn't find. I'm using CM9 build #8.
1. I saw so many ways to use sd card partition to increase internal memory space. Which one should I use?
2. How can I partition my sd card(I have 8GB class 10) using phone(looks like my computer doesn't read sd card with the adapter)? Can someone give me full instructions(something like "1. do this 2. do that and etc")? I want to do everything carefully .
3. I see that I must have kernel, which supports ext partition. Which kernel should I use? I think this one should be the best, it has overclocking support too.
4. How can I install custom kernel?
5. Oh, and a little of topic question, do you think this(the part about ram) will really work?
Thanks. Please answer them .
Easyest way to repartition your sd is with recovery, there is pretty no way, to get it wrong, just remember ext partition, should be no more than 2GB and swap is 0.
About how to move app-s, there are a lot of scripts, my personal choice is S2E, its in the play store, becouse you can leave app data, on the internal memory which helps for smoothnes.
This kernel is good, but it wont work with stock rom, so you should choose some else, and this else is jaggy's or next gen.
Kernel is easy to install, just mount /system and /data, from recovery "mounts and storage" menu, then just flash the kernel, nothing needs to be wiped, or something else.
About the last question I havn't tryed it, but mostly I don't think there is need of something like that, Android know's what to do with the ram, it's not windows.
Oh and there is normal your PC to not find your ext partition if you are running windows system.
shortyoko said:
This kernel is good, but it wont work with stock rom, so you should choose some else, and this else is jaggy's or next gen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using cm9 build #8, will it work? By the way, can you give me a link to the file to download? Because there is only 7z files, which recovery doesn't read. And can I use phonec as usb storage after partitioning and using these scripts?
Thanks a lot .
Sent from my HTC Explorer A310e using xda app-developers app
zgintasz said:
I'm using cm9 build #8, will it work? By the way, can you give me a link to the file to download? Because there is only 7z files, which recovery doesn't read.
Thanks a lot .
Sent from my HTC Explorer A310e using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM9 already has a custom kernel which supports scripts.. So you dont need to flash a custom kernel.. And as far as the app2sd scripts go, itz a matter of personal choice.. Some people use S2E, because of its simplicity and ease of use, while others use complex ones like d2ext, int2ext, ungaze, etc.. And then there are some who like to use more complex scripts like Mount2SD, which gives options like S2E, but can be used from the terminal.. For eg, you can choose to mount dalvik, cache, app, data to the ext partition..
So, in short, to each his own..
Hope this helped.. :good:
bhargz16 said:
CM9 already has a custom kernel which supports scripts.. So you dont need to flash a custom kernel.. And as far as the app2sd scripts go, itz a matter of personal choice.. Some people use S2E, because of its simplicity and ease of use, while others use complex ones like d2ext, int2ext, ungaze, etc.. And then there are some who like to use more complex scripts like Mount2SD, which gives options like S2E, but can be used from the terminal.. For eg, you can choose to mount dalvik, cache, app, data to the ext partition..
So, in short, to each his own..
Hope this helped.. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, there is one not answered question, can I use phone as usb storage after partitioning sd card and using these scripts?
zgintasz said:
Thanks, there is one not answered question, can I use phone as usb storage after partitioning sd card and using these scripts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya ofcourse you can.. You can use it as usual..