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[Q] What is the *best* sd filesytem for android?..

The only exp I've w/ android is using SD versions on my TMo HD2, &'ve always had my SD FAT32 formatted. I've heard of ext2, 3, & 4, but'm unsure of the differences, and was never really concerned, as my primary OS's always been Windows Mobile (which only supports FAT). Now, however, I'll be completely making the jump to android w/ my Galaxy S II, and would just like a li'l clarific8ion & recommend8ions regarding SD formatting for a performance whore, such as myself. I'm still using my WiMo tele until I sort these things out.
Thanks, e'rbody.

Fat is recognised by all OS's and ext 2 3 and 4 are not recognised by windows (not sure about Mac) but it is a default fs for Linux. Not sure what the other differences are other than that.
Sent from my R800x using XDA App

EXT4
- The ext4 filesystem can support volumes with sizes up to 1 exbibyte (EiB) and files with sizes up to 16 tebibytes (TiB)
- Extents replace the traditional block mapping scheme used by ext2/3 filesystems. An extent is a range of contiguous physical blocks, improving large file performance and reducing fragmentation. A single extent in ext4 can map up to 128 MiB of contiguous space with a 4 KiB block size
- The ext4 filesystem is backward compatible with ext3 and ext2, making it possible to mount ext3 and ext2 filesystems as ext4. This will slightly improve performance, because certain new features of ext4 can also be used with ext3 and ext2, such as the new block allocation algorithm.
So, go for EXT4

My advice is to make 2 partitions:
A Fat32 partition to keep media files so it can be recognized as external usb drive by windows
A ext4 partition where you would move all the apps you install (use link2sd or an application that does the same thing)

BazookaAce said:
... go for EXT4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Zmotocescu said:
... make 2 partitions:
A Fat32 partition to keep media files so it can be recognized as external usb drive by windows
A ext4 partition where you would move all the apps you install (use link2sd or an application that does the same thing)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
w/ 16GB internal on my SGSII, I may not even need 2 app 2 sd, tho, huh? Anyway, thnx 4 the advice, guys. 1 last Q - should I use a swap partition, as well, & if so, y & what size (I've a 16GB Class 6 microSDHC, btw)?
Thnx again.

::bump::
Does any1 recommend a swap partition, y, & what size, is there a "card size":"swap partition size" ratio?

Partitioning SD card

Hi all,
Is it good to partition my SD card? What is positive and negative ?
Sent from my Desire Z using XDA

SonicSoul95 said:
Hi all,
Is it good to partition my SD card? What is positive and negative ?
Sent from my Desire Z using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
meaning what? swap and ext4?
swap reduces your sd battery life, but it's said that it's not very noticeable, and it's needed with sense 3.5
ext4 just adds space for apps on sdcard as if they were on phone's rom

I mean swap, sorry.
What do you mean with reduce? And how can i swap my sdcard? Can you post me a thread please ? )
Sent from my Desire Z using XDA

This will tell you everything you need to know to get started.

Okey thanks
Sent from my Desire Z using XDA

I just partitioned my MicroSD card with MiniTool.
First Partition: FAT
Second Partition: Ext2
My laptop recognizes the card through card reader and I can see the two partitions in MiniTool, but my phone (HTC Explorer) does not recognize it. Any suggestions?

Well how are you checking if your phone sees it. Some roms can't use sd2ext. Take a good file explorer like root explorer ans see if there's a folder names sd-ext
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium

sulehri said:
I just partitioned my MicroSD card with MiniTool.
First Partition: FAT
Second Partition: Ext2
My laptop recognizes the card through card reader and I can see the two partitions in MiniTool, but my phone (HTC Explorer) does not recognize it. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I simply use the phone's recovery (in my case 4EXT) , which will walk me thru everything, I didn't bother with a swap partition but rather a dataswap option (specific to my rom), and a 2GB sd-ext (Again supported by default on my rom). And used 4EXT to convert all my internal file systems to ext4 filetype instead of ext3 (again my rom supports it, but not all roms do).
Essentially you can partition SD and most everything else via ClockworkMod or 4EXT.
PS: Generally sd-ext should be the FIRST partition. (or second in the case of swap, sd-ext and fat32), since some Roms will not automatically recognize it if not placed in that order. thus another reason to do it via recovery.

Use the recovery on your phone to partition your SD card then plug your SD card into a Linux box and check to see if it's EXT4 using Gparted.

how to get sd-ext before fat32 in 4ext?
kbeezie said:
I simply use the phone's recovery (in my case 4EXT) , which will walk me thru everything, I didn't bother with a swap partition but rather a dataswap option (specific to my rom), and a 2GB sd-ext (Again supported by default on my rom). And used 4EXT to convert all my internal file systems to ext4 filetype instead of ext3 (again my rom supports it, but not all roms do).
Essentially you can partition SD and most everything else via ClockworkMod or 4EXT.
PS: Generally sd-ext should be the FIRST partition. (or second in the case of swap, sd-ext and fat32), since some Roms will not automatically recognize it if not placed in that order. thus another reason to do it via recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm running mimicry-1.4.0, 4ext touch, same as you. When I ask it to partition my new, 16gig, class 10 card, it asks:
size of first sd-ext, to which I reply 2048
size of second sf-ext, to which I reply skip
size of swap, which I also skip,
and then it does the remainder as fat32.
BUT...the fat partition is at the beginning of the card...not the order the app asked for my input...and I don't see how to change them.
Maybe not being first is okay with mimicry?
thanks for your help,
p-d
ps all my file systems are ext4 on the phone itself.

prairie-dad said:
I'm running mimicry-1.4.0, 4ext touch, same as you. When I ask it to partition my new, 16gig, class 10 card, it asks:
size of first sd-ext, to which I reply 2048
size of second sf-ext, to which I reply skip
size of swap, which I also skip,
and then it does the remainder as fat32.
BUT...the fat partition is at the beginning of the card...not the order the app asked for my input...and I don't see how to change them.
Maybe not being first is okay with mimicry?
thanks for your help,
p-d
ps all my file systems are ext4 on the phone itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you'll be just fine, this is normal
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium

demkantor said:
you'll be just fine, this is normal
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Older s2e may need a specific partition order but both clockwork and 4ext arrange in this order, and the enabler script in my signature needs no apps and works fine with mimicry.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2

**UPDATE** SanDisk 64GB Genuine micro SD Ultra Mobile class 10 SDXC

Hi Everyone
I bought the card mentioned below from ebay.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/28094386...X:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_1906wt_1163
I have a couple of questions:
- Why is the transfer rate so slow when transferring files between computer and on to the SD card? It's like up to 2 MB/second.
- I used SDFormatter to format the card. The settings that I have used are Full Erase (Overwrite) and Flash Erase (OFF). When finished, I inserted the card and it's saying SD card damaged? I don't understand. Initially, I converted the file system from exFAT to FAT but the SDFormatter converted the file format back to exFAT.
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Sam

Format card in the phone. Mike

sp5it said:
Format card in the phone. Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used SDFormatter while the card was in the phone but didn't help.

As Mike said format the sd card from the phone use the phone to do this in recovery mode

johnerz said:
As Mike said format the sd card from the phone use the phone to do this in recovery mode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, Thanks for your prompt response - So, since now the partition is back as ex-FAT, I would have to convert to FAT and then format the card or would it convert to FAT when I format the card in recovery?

spuri78 said:
Hi, Thanks for your prompt response - So, since now the partition is back as ex-FAT, I would have to convert to FAT and then format the card or would it convert to FAT when I format the card in recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhm, little question at this occassion cause I only know about FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 (called vfat by linux when combined with long file names) so far -- what is ex-FAT?
But apart from that: formatting means writing a new file system to a block device [at least nowadays, in earlier times it could also mean write a new sector geometry on a harddisk]. So, it doesn't matter what flavour the old filesystem was.

Zirias said:
Uhm, little question at this occassion cause I only know about FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 (called vfat by linux when combined with long file names) so far -- what is ex-FAT?
But apart from that: formatting means writing a new file system to a block device [at least nowadays, in earlier times it could also mean write a new sector geometry on a harddisk]. So, it doesn't matter what flavour the old filesystem was.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some of the reading that I have done with regards to these new types of SD cards from Sandisk, ex-FAT file structure is what they come with and our mobile phones are not eqipped to handle this format so hence the need to convert it to FAT. Now what ex-FAT is, I'm not sure. I'm not at my PC so will have to do some more reading on that one.

Are you sure you actually have a 64gb class 10?
There are A LOT of fakes on ebay where they take a class 2 8gb card and put a class 10 64gb label on it. Most are good enough painted on labels that you cant tell.
They even partition the card with fake info so it says its got 64gb of space....though it fills up with 8gb.
Be very careful with those ebay cards.
Anyway, that might be the reason you are getting slow transfer speeds.
Sent from my HTC Sensation using xda app-developers app

If you can, go for Toshiba, the last time i heard most of the card are made by Toshiba, the other brands just slap a sticker onto it.

Zirias said:
But apart from that: formatting means writing a new file system to a block device [at least nowadays, in earlier times it could also mean write a new sector geometry on a harddisk]. So, it doesn't matter what flavour the old filesystem was.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wanted to add to this conversation, although you normally will not run into this format. Because of Windows Phone 7 on the HD2 I know about this. If the card is formated in a RAID format you will have do w low level format on the card first before you can format it fat anything. So yes rarely it does matter what "flavour" the old file system was. That it should be mentioned.

Skipjacks said:
Are you sure you actually have a 64gb class 10?
There are A LOT of fakes on ebay where they take a class 2 8gb card and put a class 10 64gb label on it. Most are good enough painted on labels that you cant tell.
They even partition the card with fake info so it says its got 64gb of space....though it fills up with 8gb.
Be very careful with those ebay cards.
Anyway, that might be the reason you are getting slow transfer speeds.
Sent from my HTC Sensation using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I got it from a Top ebay seller so I was hoping it'd be genuine. The space on my card when I first formatted said 59gb free.
Please advise what should I do? I will let seller know and see what happens?
Thanks,

I have one other question. I have found Patition Wizard by MiniTool and if I create a partition on the card as EXT4, will our sensation recognize the card?

I have created a partition on the sd card as FAT32 but the phone is still not recognizing the card. arghhh!

Zirias said:
Uhm, little question at this occassion cause I only know about FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 (called vfat by linux when combined with long file names) so far -- what is ex-FAT?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExFAT

Try using a memory card reader and the SDFormatter tool. Fat32, 32K clusters

spuri78 said:
Hi Everyone
I bought the card mentioned below from ebay.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/28094386...X:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_1906wt_1163
I have a couple of questions:
- Why is the transfer rate so slow when transferring files between computer and on to the SD card? It's like up to 2 MB/second.
Thanks,
Sam
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most probably you got a low classed sd card and also try formate from your phone using any compitable file manager or using the phones builtin system.
And to test your sd card, google for "h2testw" and test your memory card.

arabi.theboss said:
Most probably you got a low classed sd card and also try formate from your phone using any compitable file manager or using the phones builtin system.
And to test your sd card, google for "h2testw" and test your memory card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't format from my phone because it is not recognizing it and/or having issues with being mounted. Now, it's not even recognizing it when I put it in the adapter. The windows 7 format pop windows says 'Unavailable capacity'. I think it's ****ed Thanks, I'll search for the memory card tester.
Can someone please recommend me another one? 32/64GB. Maybe, I should get a 32GB since a lot of people are having issues with 64GB. The only reason I got 64 was that it was selling cheap. 32GB should be plenty for my needs.

se1000 said:
Try using a memory card reader and the SDFormatter tool. Fat32, 32K clusters
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried using SDFormatter with the memory card reader but it always changed the file structure back to ex-FAT, which is not compatible on Sensation.

@I got 64 was that it was selling cheap:
So tell me one thing, you will drive a Mercedes but you only will pay for a small Fiat?
I have an original Samsung 64GB Class 10 sd-card with no issues. They was not cheap at all.
Things you can do is:
a low level format to be shure..
- tool: HDD Low Level Format Tool 4.25 - www.hddguru.com
- that is the tool i am using for all my memory device since years
set up a new partion and format the sd-card..
- tool: EASEUS Partition Master 9.1.0 Home Edition - Free for Home Users - www.partition-tool.com
- that tool can format every type and size
Ok that all is running on my 2nd w7 pc. Not my favor OS
When this all is not working with your sd-card, then you have possiblea a fake card.
The low-level-format tool looks deeper then your windows property.
When you have a fake card the LLF tool will stop working after it has reached the max of sectors.

You could have got one from amazon thats what I did
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using xda premium

[Q] Partitioning MicroSD for Link2SD

What is the best way to create 2 primary partitions for using Link2Sd on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0.
I have a 32 GB Micro SD card that needs the treatment.
Many thanks to all in advance.
Regards
Court
PS: I use mini tool home edition as a partitioning tool

which ROM ?
It depends on what ROM you are running. After trial and error ext4 was detected for my stock ICS and now works with CM10.1 too.
So partition it as 5 GB ext4 (more than sufficient ) and rest FAT. I too have 32 GB class 10 in this way via mintool partition.
PS: you cannot increase or decrease the size of ext4 using minitool once the partition is created. So plan properly while creating the partitions.

courtg9000 said:
What is the best way to create 2 primary partitions for using Link2Sd on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0.
I have a 32 GB Micro SD card that needs the treatment.
Many thanks to all in advance.
Regards
Court
PS: I use mini tool home edition as a partitioning tool
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google "gParted Live" and you'll find the cd. You can create your partition of EXT3 or EXT4. You can resize the partition as well. There are YouTube videos to help you see how to do it.
I don't know why you'd want Link2SD. It will permit you to store the app, cache and davlik in the ext partition instead of in the /data on the deviice. You likely have adequate storage in that device partition for those items. I think you you would do better with swapping /mnt/sdcard with /mnt/ExtSdCard.
I actually have tried both together and found no advantage to the Link2SD.

king200 said:
Google "gParted Live" and you'll find the cd. You can create your partition of EXT3 or EXT4. You can resize the partition as well. There are YouTube videos to help you see how to do it.
I don't know why you'd want Link2SD. It will permit you to store the app, cache and davlik in the ext partition instead of in the /data on the deviice. You likely have adequate storage in that device partition for those items. I think you you would do better with swapping /mnt/sdcard with /mnt/ExtSdCard.
I actually have tried both together and found no advantage to the Link2SD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
brother i used minitool and its working perfectly with link2sd swapping is the thing of real developer but is the best option

[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.