Hi:
I am a newbie, but I've learned a lot about things using this site and others. Thank you!
I have a rooted LG Volt, which of course has the odious KitKat restrictions on putting apps on SD cards. I've read about mini-tools and have Link2SD (premium, so I can link everything to the SD), but haven't tried it out yet because I wanted to ask some questions first. For reference, I have a 16g (class?) 10 SD card, which I've verified is legit using an app (forgot name).
1) Is there a maximum size for the second (ext) partition? I've read 2g, but other sites have said that there are now no restrictions. 2g is quite small for me since the Volt has very little internal memory, and I download a ton of apps; I don't use as much data. Ideally, I'd like to go half and half (approx. 8/8g data/app partition).
2) If it is limited to 2g, is there any workaround that doesn't require a ton of knowledge? I read something about changing system apps to user apps, but would this work--and is there a noob-friendly walk through?
3) Is there a preferred ext partition type? Again, I've read varied opinions; most say that ext2 is optimal, but others say ext4 might work better with Link2SD.
4) Is there any advantage to using a swap file? Again, varied opinions, but it seems mostly beneficial in terms of speed, and not to a degree that it matters.
I have other questions regarding partition alignment (found a calculator, so I think I can figure out how to optimize the partitions) and will probably have more in the future, but I would really love answers (or else links to answers) about these issues.
Thanks in advance!
anoukaimee said:
Hi:
I am a newbie, but I've learned a lot about things using this site and others. Thank you!
I have a rooted LG Volt, which of course has the odious KitKat restrictions on putting apps on SD cards. I've read about mini-tools and have Link2SD (premium, so I can link everything to the SD), but haven't tried it out yet because I wanted to ask some questions first. For reference, I have a 16g (class?) 10 SD card, which I've verified is legit using an app (forgot name).
1) Is there a maximum size for the second (ext) partition? I've read 2g, but other sites have said that there are now no restrictions. 2g is quite small for me since the Volt has very little internal memory, and I download a ton of apps; I don't use as much data. Ideally, I'd like to go half and half (approx. 8/8g data/app partition).
2) If it is limited to 2g, is there any workaround that doesn't require a ton of knowledge? I read something about changing system apps to user apps, but would this work--and is there a noob-friendly walk through?
3) Is there a preferred ext partition type? Again, I've read varied opinions; most say that ext2 is optimal, but others say ext4 might work better with Link2SD.
4) Is there any advantage to using a swap file? Again, varied opinions, but it seems mostly beneficial in terms of speed, and not to a degree that it matters.
I have other questions regarding partition alignment (found a calculator, so I think I can figure out how to optimize the partitions) and will probably have more in the future, but I would really love answers (or else links to answers) about these issues.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, you haven't told us what are you trying to do. If you are just trying to get a few questions anwsered just say so.
From what I see you are trying to use Link2SD because of the kitkat sd card restriction?
Note: Apps can't detect if an SD card is fake. It will just test how fast it is and guess if it's fast engough for it's class
You can remove the KitKat SD restriction with this app: SDFix
1) Yes, there is a restriction but it depends on how it's formated: on ext2 and 3 the limit is 35184 GB on a single partition and ext4 has a max limit of 1152921500 GB.
2) It's not limited to 2GB. Changing system apps to user and user to system is useless and should not be done if you don't know what exactly and why you are doing it. Don't let root fool you. Deleting system apps will NOT give you more free space for all the games.
3) Depends on support. If your phone supports ext4 (and it does) use that if not use lower such as ext3 then 2 and so on.
4) Look at this as a glass and some water. Water is memory to be put in ram and the glass is the ram your phone has.
The more water you put in it, the less space there is. And when it's full it will overflow, and your phone will freeze or reboot.
What swap does is when the water overflows in the glass (the ram gets full), the water (memory) that overflows goes to a swap file instead of it just getting lost and the phone getting frozen.
But remember, any SD card is MUCH SLOWER that RAM and using swap will not give any preformacne improvments.
The swap sould be factory set anyways and it also uses a lot of storage.
You REALLY shouldn't mess with the partitions.
You could break your phone forever.
What I recommend using is FolderMount and GL2SD. FolderMount is exactly like Link2SD, but you don't need to do any fancy partitioning. And GL2SD works great too, the only downside is that you have to run the apps (you moved to SD) from within the app.
Thank you!
Wonderful, clear answers! Yes, just trying to figure out "what to do" so I can add more apps to the Volt in the easiest manner possible. Apologize for not being clearer about that.
Just some follow-up questions:
1) will the app cited above (nextapp) allow me to move apps to the sd, or just data? Never having had an android other than this one with the dread KitKat, I don't know how it typically works after a KitKat fix. So should I format the entire sd card as FAT32 or ext4 (is the latter even possible)? And where will the data that I do have be saved if I don't partition the card? All on the one partition?
2. RE: FolderMount and GL2SD: that sounds great. The one concern that I have is that Link2SD's support (I THINK that's where I found this) said that the problem with putting an app on an sd card versus linking it is that if you take the sd card out, all of the apps will be gone. Is that just incorrect?
Thanks again! Very helpful.
Related
Okay XDA tenured- please be gentle. I ve searched, but can not find specific answers to my questions. I ordered a 16gb class 6 (currently have class 2), but would appreciate information before making the changes.
1.) Is it possible to leave current apps on the device memory, then set up for apps to SD and then future apps will go to the card?
2) Based on question 1) if it works, when I update future apps on the device, I am guessing they would then uninstall from the device and then install to card?
3) Would it be best for performance to leave all cache on the device memory? Seems like the system would be faster then.
4) What is the meg space difference leaving all cache or moving it?
5) When changing over to apps to SD, is it not kind of like the same constrained system as an iPhone (Plenty of intitial space, but no ability for external storage)? Point being, if all the apps are on the card and you want to listen to or view media on a seperate card, you would not be able to, since the apps are on the "device" card. This is the whole point to my first question. Unless you can copy the app directory path on the card to another card and use as is- just like the card already installed too...
1: Yes, if you follow my tutorial, it has you copy the existing apps to the sd card and if you use my app, the checkbox tells it to do that as well.
2: No apps will be on your device. There's no way to have a hybrid here, it's either all apps on the sd card or none(not actually true but would be a pain in the ass to make symlinks for each app individually and I don't know of anyone who cared enough to actually try it)
3: I have all apps and caches on the sd card and it is running just as smoothly as normal(and with a class 2 sd card!) There might be some slowdown but it's imperceptible to me.
4: With the cache on device it'll vary depending on what apps you have and how often you use them. With everything moved the memory on the device seems to stay permanently at 72-73MB. That said, moving the normal cache(dalvik-cache seems to be ok) is pretty unstable and I wouldn't suggest it unless you really know what you're doing.
5: Yes, unfortunately this whole process relies on the system not knowing the apps are on the sd card so it's pretty strongly tied to one. That said, you could probably get away with different sd cards as long as they also have an ext2 partition with the app, app-private, etc. directories in it. You'd probably have to reboot when switching sd cards but it should be possible(interestingly you could use this to get different settings depending on what sd card you have in)
Thanks!
So basically we have an iPhone in regards to being stuck to device memory and no option for external storage beyond what is on the card.
I guess there are pros and cons to either set-up. App hounds would prefer apps2sd and media hounds may prefer leaving things alone.
If you are an app and media hound, you are kind of stuck juggling media from the card.
Yep. Although as I was talking about, you could theoretically move each app independently and set up symlinks in the /data/app directory for each app, pointing to where it is on the sd card and leave the ones you want on the phone as they are, but that doesn't sound particularly fun.
Hey guys!
Just been racking my brains for ways to try and speed up my poor little G1, as its quite a sloth these days In my quest for more memory, I have tried using swap on my SD card, and despite having a Sandisk Ultra, it does (overall!) seem to make my phone much slower, I also tried compcache (still slow) and compcache with backing swap (slow again). It does have some benefits I have noticed, but overall not, so I turned it all off.
I was thinking about the different partitions in the phone, and I'm assuming that the /data partition is probably faster than an SD card, I could be wrong. So I was thinking, why not put a swap file on the much lesser used (got apps2sd) /data partition in the hope that it wont be as painfully slow and supply some better swap? I used DroidSwap to set the location of the test 16MB file on the data partition, told it to go ahead. It created it, did a mkswap on it, then for whatever reason couldn't swapon on it. I then tried a mkswap on the file manually in terminal, worked fine, then swapon, get an 'invalid argument' error. Tried to google it, and I didn't really find anything of use. I'm running the one just before the latest Cynanogenmod. Can anyone give me some insight, or tell me if I'm just on a wild goose chase and wasting my time?
Thanks in advance!
Chris
I think it will be something to do with the filesystem
I may be wrong, but I think yaffs are 'fractured' and therefore no good for what you want
In anycase it probably isn't a good idea to hammer out with swap you only get so many read writes , and it is much easier to replace an sdcard.
there is an app called auto memory on the market, you may be able to get some use out of that.
when it comes to swap there is always some debate about what's best
some, none, lots, etc
personally I'm in the “lots as soon as possible“ camp
I would rather have real memory available to my current app than having some app I'm not using hog it. having a lil bit of lag while pages load back from swap is better than waiting for a killed app to reload, which is what happens when you have no swap and lots of apps
but at the end of the day no one is wrong, all options have pros and cons.
all very much depends on your usage.
Figured it would be good to see how much interest there is in it so maybe a dev will see the point of taking it on.....
Whether I personally use enough apps to fill up internal memory or not, A2EXT is a nice option to have and I miss it. I remember in the past, when implented properly, I had apps on ext and when I would install a rom the apps I had on ext would already be waiting for me on first boot rather than having to wait for them to redownload from the market or restore from Titanium. My vote is yes, if a dev is willing to spend some time to bring that feature to us it can only enrich our experience and would be welcome.
Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using xda premium
while we are wishing
Id prefer a data2ext that also takes none vital system app files and places them on a partition in the sd card, and ability to make the extension around 2 or 4 gigs, for those of us with 32 gig sdcards that can afford the lost space. with dual mount sd card function should never have to worry about removing or mounting the sd card to where its unreadable to the system. thats my vote
I've never really used A2SD even with my G1, however, having all my apps on a fresh install does seem like a nice feature. Personally, the internal memory is more than enough for me.
I guess its more of a nuisance than anything though (regarding installing apps on fresh boots).
Yes.
1) Make easier backups with A2EXT.
2) A2EXT loads faster than the laggy A2FAT.
3) You can always resize the partitions via Gparted.
4) Unlocks the full potential of Android devices.
Anyone who has an argument against A2EXT should stick with the iPhone.
Absolutely A2EXT,Data2EXT is very nice. being able to have all the apps and data ready to go for the same 15-40 apps with data i use on every rom.
depending on which rom im using equals more or less, but that would make things alot faster.
but its still fun individually installing each one.
Ive had this phone for a couple months now and have been doing more reading and research and have just begun to flash all the roms. having a few of them now, it would be nice to have A2EXT,DATA2EXT.
I thank everyone for their hard work and have a great day!! (baby cries gotta run)
sorry for the newbish question, but in Settings->Applications->Manage Applications, what does the "Move to SD Card" option do? Is that only to move the app's data to the SD Card? I've never used it before.
mat_oli said:
sorry for the newbish question, but in Settings->Applications->Manage Applications, what does the "Move to SD Card" option do? Is that only to move the app's data to the SD Card? I've never used it before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cyanogen explains it best. A2SD is where you move it to a part of the SD card formatted to EXT format. What Google calls "A2SD" is the result of a symlink-at-best feature that forces a placeholder for each app on the phone's internal memory with the added drawback that (unlike the real A2SD), when mounted to the hard drive, the apps on the Fat partition are unusable.
There was actually a "no" vote? What does it matter to the people who don't want it?
[email protected] said:
Absolutely A2EXT,Data2EXT is very nice. being able to have all the apps and data ready to go for the same 15-40 apps with data i use on every rom.
depending on which rom im using equals more or less, but that would make things alot faster.
but its still fun individually installing each one.
Ive had this phone for a couple months now and have been doing more reading and research and have just begun to flash all the roms. having a few of them now, it would be nice to have A2EXT,DATA2EXT.
I thank everyone for their hard work and have a great day!! (baby cries gotta run)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No rom I've flashed has wiped /data.
certainly not a top priority but why not?
verne2k said:
certainly not a top priority but why not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I'm thinking.
Same here
Sent from my Senseless Doubleshot using xda premium
I'm surprised people actually care enough to vote "no." If you don't want A2EXT, let the grown-ups who know how to set it up partition their own SD cards and run the apps off of the EXT partition.
Ok first off hope everyone had a great holiday (or Christmas, as the case may be )
I have come to realize that alot of my issues may/may not have been caused by factors outside my phone or the rom I was attempting to install and use. I will give myself credit tho in that in all but one case I have managed to follow instructions to a "T" and have not experienced many/any of the issues that others have. Anyways, I got a new wireless router, and also a class 10 SD card. Some of my earlier connectivity issues are very rare now, and camera issues seem to be minimal also (assuming that the issue there was write speed to the card).
So I've really come to like a few of the roms, in particular one I'm liking right now VERY MUCH is MIUI 1.11.9. What a nicely put together package that is. I would really really like to stay with it.
However, it's huge. With that and two apps (Gmail and Facebook), I'm lucky if I have 14 mb left over. Obviously, this causes crashes and reboots left right and center. Camera usage is almost impossible. But, I'm willing to admit, the problem is likely my fault, because I have not done anything to manipulate swap/ext/etc on my sd card. I have the phone, and I have a formatted 16 gb class 10 sd card.
I've looked through 10 pages of threads and to be honest I'm finding it hard to know where to begin. I'm convinced, however, that if I can learn what swap ext/ext2/ext3 do, and how to create/use them..and whatever else, that MIUI and probably a few of the other roms will be amazing for me.
So is someone bored over the holidays here and can help either point me in the right direction of a Guide to do this, or maybe even write a bit about it for me? Assume I know nothing about how to create a swap, an ext, link2sd, any of it. I don't know how to use terminal emulator, modify or execute scripts...but I can learn!!
I realize that I'm asking for info that is probably obtainable by reading numerous other threads..but I can't find anything truly comphrensive..it's too bad threads couldn't be "stickied"...this subject seems crucial to me in order to get some of these roms to run ok. Many of them operate the same way: they take up 100 mb or so, and they don't allow for easy moving of apps to the SD card.
Anyways many thanks in advance if you can help. I'm sure there's a few others who could probably use a refresher in this also.
I'm learning alot about this and hope to update this thread with my own tips for how to do this in the coming days.
That is, if anyone is interested. If so, hit me with a msg.
Sent from my Milestone XT720 using XDA App
internal upgrade?
can someone tell me how to upgrade the internal memory because im getting very low in phone memory.. are there any solutions like using the 1GB for the internal memory of my 8GB card?
Well, you cant physically expand the memory but you can virtually via an extended primary partition and an app like link2sd.
Sent from my Milestone XT720 using XDA App
Hey acrobat69
I am pretty much the same boat as you. I have tried a bunch of ROMs, and I am still on 6.3 rc3 now.. went back and tweeked after learning some things and this is the least buggy for me at the moment.
I also do not use swap at the moment.. but this is also something that those in the know here on the Xt720 forums have debated.. how useful is it???
I would love to try swap.. or any other tips you might have.. so I at least will be listening.
I would like to get FM radio working on 6.3 rc3 too.. no luck so far.
I have found that when you overclock.. some speeds and Vsel work better in some roms.. or applications.
I saw one fellow who was running 800/48vsel - overall nice and great for battery usage.. but camera would not work at 48vsel.. would crash it .. running several highpower apps like wifi tether and gps at the same time would crash a low vsel set phone..
SO I know there are many factors that you can tune to make a rom work best for you.
James
When I get back to my PC, ill type something up on this for you as well as archer's other thread similar to this Q.
FYI, FM radio works since 6.3.0 RC4. Well at least as much as FM radio "works" on any of the non-stock-based ROMs at the moment-- volume control is difficult/problematic.
I think 6.3.6 is a good choice if you don't mind disabling the hardware button lights. And if it does bother you, I can make a patch that puts the lights back as the were in RC3 (but would disable notification leds).
Sent from my Milestone XT720 using xda premium
Ok so to answer a few of the above questions, I'll try to break it up into sections. Ext2/3/4, Swap and basic memory management.
Ext partitions: since our XT's are so low on memory, a fair while back some scripts were created to make it so that when you downloaded an app, it went into your ext partition and not to the internal. Remember that this was when we had 2.1 and Froyo was only a dream. As you know Froyo has the native App2sd function where you can move most of the app's data/function to your SD card via the .androidsecure folder on your card. Since this was not a function on 2.1 we needed a bypass. This was done by creating a EXT partition on your SDCard to bypass/hijack the installation process and "force" the apps to install to the SDCard rather than the meager internal memory. Since the grand old days, we have evolved that function from app2sd to app2ext where now the /cache can be moved over to the partition as well, in addition to apps like Link2sd with one-click UI to do it for you.
This is how to do it.
1 Make sure your ROM supports app2ext-it should be in that ROMs OP.
2 You need to use GParted or Minitool Partition Wizard to create your Ext2/3 partitions (do not create an Ext4 with either of these b/c they won't work correctly, most ROMs don't support it and you can convert it from 2/3 to 4 in MZ's open recovery).
3 You have a 16gb card and are asking what size should I make my partitions. They need to be in this order-FAT/EXT/SWAP from L->R. FAT is what it sounds like. It is your biggest sized one (and make it Primary/Bootable in your partition wizard). Your Ext is going to be up to you on the size. I usually recommend 350-450mb. Anything bigger is really wasted space. In fact, I chorgle to myself when I see people with 1gb Ext partitions b/c your average size app is usually about 7-12mb (with something like Angry Birds at a meaty 18mb). Remember that 1gb=1024mb. 12mb vs 1024mb-see what I am saying here?
4 So now you have your partitions set up. How do you activate it. You flash your ROM and let it settle down. Get ROOT and open a file manager and go to the ROOT. You will see a folder labeled SD-ext. Open this folder and make another folder called App (not Apps-no S) or if you are using Link2sd, you would put a folder called Link2sd (not LinkS2sd-again no S). Reboot and BAM!!!once it boots up, all your apps that you had will be in there and any new ones will be installed there saving you tons of internal space.
I'll cover Swap tomorrow b/c I am tired of typing for now but here is a thread on some unknown types of memory management that you can do on your own.
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to make it as general as possible so that it wasn't too technical.
Woodrube thank you very much for that, indeed very helpful and to the point. Ill hit you with a thanks when back on my laptop.
James: debates nothwithstanding, I can't see how its possible to install one of these Roms and actually use it...and any decent number of apps with stability, without using the extended partition. I have not had any success until I learned how to do this. Therefore, were absolutely not going to debate it, just do it!
To Woodrubes excellent instructions I will add these tips, learned from Mio7's advice and trial and error:
- do any partitioning before you install your new rom, and do it via a card reader inserted into your computer, not by plugging the phone into the computer via usb.
- do not make the second partition fat. In some threads people said it worked however it never works for me. Create the second partition as ext2 , then go to open recovery and convert it to ext3
- use root explorer to create the folder in sd-ext as Woodrube advised. Make sure root explorer is in R/W mode not R/O or you wont be allowed to
- install Link2sd first of any program. It's when you're running link2sd it seems that you can't create the link for certain applications check the market to see if to the downloadable version then uninstall the app from the phone and reinstall it yourself then when you go back into linksd youll be able to create a link. I'm still experimenting with just how much I can rip out of the system and then reinstall myself so as to be able to move over to the sd card. Btw if the rom app manager wont let you uninstall, use the uninstall function in link2sd. It works, even tho it says "Failed" when done.
See the signature at the bottom of my thread that should be all you need to know about whether not the advice in this thread is good because I'm posting from my phone and I'm using voice to text
Next up I'm going to try installing other roms like MIUI or 7.1 to see you what ones this can be used on. I will post my successes and failures in this thread
Sent from my Milestone XT720 using XDA App
With regard to milestone overclock settings I'm currently running 900 and 60 and have achieved general stability with no crashes during picture taking or video recording
Sent from my Milestone XT720 using XDA App
Mio: Nooo don't disable LED its great the way it is. Who needs those backlights anyways the keys are far enough away to not need a light to tell my thumbs where to go by now
Sent from my Milestone XT720 using XDA App
Can you please help a noob figure out where this post belongs?
I make no pretense to being a developer, and I was very hesitant to join XDA, but these are questions concerning modding which I have not found answers to, despite posting to a number of other Android forums, so I was forced to "raise my sights."
I have an LG Optimus Fuel L34C (KitKat). I am an Android noob but I have a history with Linux, so I know just enough about what goes on behind the KitKat curtain to make me dangerous. So yes, I also care about the journey. And I'm already heavily invested in this quest, so despite my lack of expertise, I'm willing to do the leg work to make it happen.
My one saving grace is I have a backup fetish. And I want to continue to make Nandroid backups even when the L34C's puny internal storage (1790 MB usable) is maxed out (or nearly so). But I don't want to resort to backups to the cloud because 1) it offends my inner geek that I have to rely on someone else for backup support, and 2) as a delusional paranoid, the concept of "the cloud" gives me the willies.
I'm using TWRP Manager (Root) for Nandroid backups now, but TWRP only can write to the internal SD. Which means that once internal storage is about half full, there's no longer enough space remaining for any more Nandroids. And a bare bones installation with just enough additional apps installed to perform the Nandroid already takes up about 700 MB. So there's no chance of any further Nandroid backups after downloading or installing just two or three hundred more MB.
So my primary goal is to be able to write Nandroid backups to the external SD card (or, pipe dream, to write them to USB). If this also allows me to install apps or store other (internal) data on the external card, so much the better.
I just bought a second L34C because the WiFi on the original L34C pooped the bed. So now I have a new and unmodded L34C to experiment on. I had (towel) rooted the old phone, write-enabled the external SD card and installed the TeamWin open recovery image v2.8. And I replaced the OE 4GB external SD card with a 16GB class 4 card, partitioned half in Fat32 and half in Ext3.
The primary obstacle was that I could never get the second partition on the 16GB card to mount, which prevented me even from experimenting with symlinks. I also installed the latest version of Link2SD, but when I tried to use it to move an app that Link2SD labeled as movable, I got this:
!Failure
App2SD is not supported by your device. Because your device has a primary external storage which is emulated from the internal storage. You can link the app in order to move its files to the SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dunno why it's blaming Apps2SD unless Link2 is built around Apps2.
Curiously, I installed Aparted, too, and it was able to access (and process) the 2nd partition, even though it wasn't mounted. I've not heard this definitively but I'm led to believe this is down to the L34C's lack of support for init.d. So I downloaded a copy of daishi4u's custom boot image, which includes support for init.d, but the old phone crapped out before I could try it.
So with background in place, and a spanking new L34C in hand, on to the questions.
#1. With the current state of L34C/KitKat development, is what I'm asking even possible? Once the internal SD card has got too crowded for a Nandroid, is there a solution that will allow me to continue making local Nandroid backups? In particular, I'm thinking there might be another Nandroid backup app that I am unaware of that can write its backups to some location other than the internal SD card.
If this already has been accomplished (and is documented online), please just point me to the details and I'll get out of your hair.
2. I picked daishi4u's custom boot image because the reputation of daishi4u's work is known to me, and because it offered init.d support. If you think another boot image is preferable, please enlighten me.
3. Is Link2SD's problem with the L34C truly the emulated storage? I ask because I know developers typically code apps to make a best guess as to the cause of an error, but despite their best efforts, an app still is liable to be exposed to unanticipated conditions, resulting in a problem that might be beyond the scope of their programming to understand and enunciate.
4. Is the lack of init.d support in fact what prevents an L34C mounting additional partitions on the external SD card? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?
5.a. I found a post in another forum that was near three years old stating that the extra partition on an Android external SD card must be no more than 2GB, and preferably just 1GB. If this ever was true, is it still the case for KitKat? And what is the source of the limitation?
5.b. If there is a 2GB partition limit, is there a limit to how many 2GB partitions can be externally mounted? A Nandroid backup of a heavily configured L34C could take up most of 2GB, so it would be especially useful work-around if there were one (additional) partition for the Nandroid and a second (or third, or fourth, ...) for moving apps and random data off the internal SD.
6. Which app(s) would you suggest I try for moving apps/data/folders to the external SD? There are so many available, and I have not been able to find any comparisons/contrasts of their relative merits, so I would appreciate your recommendations to avoid having to resort to the 'shotgun' approach. This is presuming I'm able to get more than one partition on the external SD card to mount.
I've not lost sight of the fact that some of these apps do not require a second partition on the SD card (creating something functionally akin to an iSCSI partition on it?), but I'm not counting on finding a solution in one of them.
Thank you for taking the time to read my long-winded post.
Well personally I don't keep more than one nandroid on my phone but what you may wish to do is transfer them to your pc for safe keeping and not have to worry about it. You could also try inserting your sd card into your pc and manually transferring the nandroids from your pc to your sd card afterwards. It may work.
Now with regards to the sd card write protection issue, I could not locate anything for your device in particular but if you register you can ask your question here and someone may be able to help you.