Can i boot android from a external SD card - General Questions and Answers

I need to boot android off a external SD card.is this possible if so can you pleae guide through it

I realize your post was from nearly a year ago but I currently have the need to be able to boot an old device from external SD as the internal is irreparably corrupted or for whatever reason is not usable or fixable. I have tried every method I know of to fix the internal storage with no success including flashing pit files and the correct samsung firmware. Fortunately I can boot into recovery and fastboot mode so I still have options(hopefully.)
In any case I have found 2 (very old) threads with potential solutions to this issue . I find it somewhat surprising there is not more development on this as a great many have found ourselves needing to do this. Even though booting from ext SD is not ideal it would at least keep someone operable that didn't have a fallback device until they can obtain a new device.
There is one thread where the OP managed to use adb shell and/or unix to format the external SD for an ASUS tablet(TF701t.) I am not sure if others successfully used his method on other devices. Regardless it is an enlightening thread and led me to the 2nd one below about a using custom TWRP that enables dual boot between internal and external SD. I am going to try method 2 in just a few minutes on an old Galaxy Note 4 (N910C) that died on me recently. I'm going to have to copy the nandroid backups that are on the extSD to a computer and then figure out how to get TWRP to use one of them to restore to the same media where they reside. Hopefully a closer reading of the 2 threads will reveal the answer.
1.) Format ext SD via ADB shell thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/transformer-tf701/help/dead-mmc-ideas-t2830332
2.) Custom Dual boot TWRP thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2684052
If anyone happens on this thread and has more information regarding booting from ext SD please share what you know.

On Rockship SOC
I do it with a GPD XD RK3288 and GPD G5 RK3188 since over two years.
Works perfectly fine.
Sd Card is San Disk 64gb
https://forum.freaktab.com/forum/tv...d-on-a-rk3288-device-an-easy-way-to-dual-boot

Bub3d said:
On Rockship SOC
I do it with a GPD XD RK3288 and GPD G5 RK3188 since over two years.
Works perfectly fine.
Sd Card is San Disk 64gb
https://forum.freaktab.com/forum/tv...d-on-a-rk3288-device-an-easy-way-to-dual-boot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Bub3d,
I checked the link thank you very much. Do you maybe have a better guide to perform a dual boot on the GPD xD.
Thank you in Advance.
BR
ED

Hello , your answer
https://github.com/phhusson/boot-diverter
Un développeur installe plusieurs versions d’Android sur son smartphone et prouve que le dual boot fonctionne
Android n'a jamais été très ouvert au dual boot et pourtant, un développeur français est parvenu à installer plusieurs ROM sur son Galaxy A71.
www.google.com
Good reading

No, you cant.

metafizik said:
I realize your post was from nearly a year ago but I currently have the need to be able to boot an old device from external SD as the internal is irreparably corrupted or for whatever reason is not usable or fixable. I have tried every method I know of to fix the internal storage with no success including flashing pit files and the correct samsung firmware. Fortunately I can boot into recovery and fastboot mode so I still have options(hopefully.)
In any case I have found 2 (very old) threads with potential solutions to this issue . I find it somewhat surprising there is not more development on this as a great many have found ourselves needing to do this. Even though booting from ext SD is not ideal it would at least keep someone operable that didn't have a fallback device until they can obtain a new device.
There is one thread where the OP managed to use adb shell and/or unix to format the external SD for an ASUS tablet(TF701t.) I am not sure if others successfully used his method on other devices. Regardless it is an enlightening thread and led me to the 2nd one below about a using custom TWRP that enables dual boot between internal and external SD. I am going to try method 2 in just a few minutes on an old Galaxy Note 4 (N910C) that died on me recently. I'm going to have to copy the nandroid backups that are on the extSD to a computer and then figure out how to get TWRP to use one of them to restore to the same media where they reside. Hopefully a closer reading of the 2 threads will reveal the answer.
1.) Format ext SD via ADB shell thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/transformer-tf701/help/dead-mmc-ideas-t2830332
2.) Custom Dual boot TWRP thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2684052
If anyone happens on this thread and has more information regarding booting from ext SD please share what you know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well,I Will Try It Later,Beside My spare phone has broke (Redmi 2,It Can Be booted to fastboot,and recovery (unfortunately it need a adb to help it boot to twrp) the Chip Inside may be corrupted due to unsuccesful encryption)
Edit : I Will Update It By Editing this reply

Related

[Q] No flash from SD? Some other G tab questions too...

I just got my g-tab in (not a w00t purchase, ebay in fact)
I'm reading over scsione889's very awesome guide before I dive in. While I was reading the guide I note that it very specifically instructs the reader to flash from internal memory.
I found this to be rather odd since all my experience with clockwork on my dInc has been flashing from SD. Does anyone have any details on why flashing from internal memory is used in the guide?
Question number two comes from the w00t purchasers warning thread
I checked my stock firmware version after reading this thread and it's 1.0-2736. Why is it necessary to install the OTA before flashing other roms etc? Does it update the kernel? It certainly can't be a radio issue on this tablet =P
I have already installed clockwork at this point and I wanted to ask about this before performing the OTA or just flashing Vegan. Any tips on the OTA thing?
Hepful posts will as always be thanked!
After investigating a bit it seems like the G tab handles it's own internal memory as an SDcard. This strikes me as odd but may be normal. Will clockwork not detect a "second" SDcard?
More info would be great if anyone has it.
k4el said:
After investigating a bit it seems like the G tab handles it's own internal memory as an SDcard. This strikes me as odd but may be normal. Will clockwork not detect a "second" SDcard?
More info would be great if anyone has it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All the devices I've owned has the 'internal' memory labelled as SDCARD, even though it's not actually removable. When flashing roms you will be copying the files over to the internal memory (labelled on the device as sdcard).
Your legitimate sd card is usually labelled as something else. /emmc, etc etc. It will likely depend on the rom/kernal you are using.
k4el,
Internal memory is /sdcard. External miniSD card is /sdcard2.
You can flash by putting the appropriate recovery and update.zip files in /sdcard and
booting into recover with power and volume +.
You can also flash by putting the same to files on a miniSD card and putting it in the
slot. Only thing is you have to edit the command file in the recovery folder to change
the location from /SDCARD to /SDCARD2. (You can do that with Notepad, but make
sure when you save it you keep the file name as "command".)
Your USB key shows up in the file manager as "/usbdisk" but it is not usable for booting
or recovering.
I think there is a pretty good sticky on this topic at the beginning the General Forum.
Rev
Standard recovery can use a microSD for flashing (the instructions are slightly different, as Rev mentioned) but the "safe" version of clockworkmod we use only reads off the internal memory only. Newer versions on cwm can use both, but they is a higher risk of to causing a soft-brick so I personally don't recommend them.

o3d goes into recovery mode every time it boots

Hi guys, i'm in desperate need of your help. i think my precious o3d might have been screwed.
first let me tell you what i did. as you know the internal sd card of o3d is 5gb or so and it fills up very quickly. this internal sd card is mounted as /sdcard. i have a class 10 16gb micro sd card and when i insert it, its automatically mounted as /sdcard/_ExternalSD. The applications or games, especially the ones that have external data folders which are like 1gb in size insists to be installed on /sdcard. You can't move those data folders to _ExternalSD, because then the apps doesn't work.
Then i came across this topic:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1189701
As you can see that was exactly what i needed. I had CWM 5.0.2.0 installed so i downloaded the first .zip then copied all of the files and folders excluding the _ExternalSD folder to the external sd card then rebooted into recovery. From there i flashed the zip and rebooted again. phone booted up and all was ok and it worked. now the phone sees the external sd card as the internal one and the internal sd card was mounted as /sdcard/_ExternalSD. I then formatted the internal sd card from the settings menu because i already copied all of the stuff there to the external card. It worked fine and the internal card is formatted. After that i decided to get a nandroid backup so i opened the rom toolbox program. From the menus i selected the backup option, gave it a name, clicked ok. the phone rebooted into cwm recovery screen but nothing happened. then i noticed something was not right because there was some error lines under the cwm menus saying "E:can't mount CACHE:recovery/command" etc. Then i selected the reboot phone option but the phone rebooted right back into the CWM recovery again!! At that point i knew that i was @#?^ed.
Anyways i researched a lot and came across this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1156549
i did exactly what he said and it worked, i mean it flashed nicely. then i rebooted the phone but it booted into the recovery again!!! But this time the CWM recovery was gone and i believe this is the stock recovery screen. I can browse the menu of it and make selections but the phone boots into the recovery every time it reboots.
The recovery screen looks like this:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7010/6654644033_b616bc0635_z.jpg
Then i flashed the phone to the latest official firmware V21A_00, it flashed nicely but it still boots right into the recovery everytime.
Then i installed the Android SDK and tried to push the original vold.fstab file to the system using the adb command line tool but it doesn't see the phone. I think adb works only when the system boots up normally, not in the recovery mode.
I don't know if there's a way to install the CWM from the stock recovery somehow. If you know how, please tell. The CWM has more options.
I don't know what else i can do. It started to look ridiculous. If there are any experts cool enough to help please do so. I'll be waiting. Thank you...
Edit:
I also tried this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1244490
I starts just fine but get's stuck on the "RESET" command, after a while it gives "DOWNLOAD FAIL!" error. I think the phone is supposed to restart automatically but it doesn't. Manually resetting the phone doesn't work either.
I'm about to pull my hair out...
Edit 2:
I also posted on the official LG Mobile forum here:
http://www.lgforum.com/forum/boards...d-goes-into-recovery-mode-every-time-it-boots
Fingers crossed
Quite a post!
From all your post there is no mention that you formated and did a factory reset after 21a flash.
Can you please try that if you haven't?
Sent from my LG-P920 using xda premium
thank you for the reply!
i tried all 4 wipe options on the recovery screen then rebooted. it's the same, i'm back at the good old recovery again
Did you try with the external sd card out?
This is strange, usually a kdz flash coupled with a format fixes the problem.
Some how it still can't find the internal SD card.
I don't have further recommendations. Sorry
Sent from my LG-P920 using xda premium
yes i tried with the external sd card out. it didn't work..
vpamir said:
yes i tried with the external sd card out. it didn't work..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hopefully someone else on this forum can suggest a way for you to unbrick.
your problem is although you have reset your phone, somehow it can't find a partition to boot from.
or
somehow the KDZ flashing is not totally successful.
good luck
If only there could be a way to be able to use the adb command from the Android SDK then i might be able to restore the vold.fstab file to its original, if the problem is that at all. Maybe then it'll work. To be able to flash the CWM Recovery again somehow might be a good thing too because it has more options like flashing .zip format roms but i have no idea how. Does anyone know if the stock recovery can flash some specifically named file to the system, does it have that kind of functionality? I'm desperate, please share your thoughts.
.............anyone?
I am sorry to say that but there is no solution for this problem yet. I have done the exact thing that you do and tried every single solution with no luck. The only way is to send it to lg repair service. My solution was to replace the mainboard.
Dostum gecmis olsun malesef tek cozum yolu anakarti degistirmek. Uzaman sayilirim android konusunda bosuna ugrasmayasin diye soyluyorum. LG servisi bile anca anakarti degistirerek cozum sunabildi. Temel problem internal karti formatlamis olman. Partititon table'i bozuyor bu islem malesef ve bu yuzden hicbir yontem ise yaramiyor.
Gecmis olsun tekrar...
so you say that the main problem was to format the internal sd card? well if formatting the internal sd card bricks the phone then why the hell is there an option to format it in the settings menu?
well if you didn't apply the swap fix, it wouldn't be a problem to format. When you swap the sd cards and format, it is the problem.
crime_of_heart said:
well if you didn't apply the swap fix, it wouldn't be a problem to format. When you swap the sd cards and format, it is the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so you did exactly the same thing as me right? i mean you applied the swap fix then formatted the internal sd?
replacing the motherboard to fix this seems to be a bit nonsense to me to be honest. what does the partition table have anything to do with the motherboard?
if only there would be a .kdz format custom rom which factory resets the internal sd card during the flash process and maybe fixes the bootloader somehow, that might be the solution.
yes i did the same and the only solution was to replace the motherboard. we need a sowftware that can reach to the emmc in low-level. like omap flasher. but we also need the correct drivers which doesn't exist yet.
crime_of_heart said:
yes i did the same and the only solution was to replace the motherboard. we need a software that can reach to the emmc in low-level. like omap flasher. but we also need the correct drivers which doesn't exist yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i don't know what the emmc is, i need to do research on that. but i still think that replacing the motherboard won't solve this issue because it seems non relevant to me. i messed up with the vold.fstab file. but after that it worked fine. i mean the internal and external cards swapped just fine. only after i decided to make a nandroid backup using rom toolbox all hell broke loose. i plan to wait a couple of days before turning the phone to LG service. i believe someone will come up with an idea.
yardım etmeye çalıştığın için teşekkür ederim bu arada
Well, there´s a new recovery for the O3D, v5.0.2.7 (I got it with ROM Manager).
It fixes 2 bugs of the previous (5.0.2.0) version: now the USB mass storage option in the mounts menu works (mount external SDCARD), and we can use ADB while in recovery. That way we can fix stuff in the phone filesystem while in recovery: we can now use ADB shell, or ADB push to replace files.
The problem is that I don´t know how to flash it to the phone while in the stock recovery. If someone can guide me on creating a signed ZIP containing this new recovery, flashable in the stock recovery, I would be glad to do that and post it here. I think these phones of you guys can be fixed using this method!
Marcovecchio said:
Well, there´s a new recovery for the O3D, v5.0.2.7 (I got it with ROM Manager).
It fixes 2 bugs of the previous (5.0.2.0) version: now the USB mass storage option in the mounts menu works (mount external SDCARD), and we can use ADB while in recovery. That way we can fix stuff in the phone filesystem while in recovery: we can now use ADB shell, or ADB push to replace files.
The problem is that I don´t know how to flash it to the phone while in the stock recovery. If someone can guide me on creating a signed ZIP containing this new recovery, flashable in the stock recovery, I would be glad to do that and post it here. I think these phones of you guys can be fixed using this method!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great news! But now i need to find a way to install the new CWM. Just as you said i believe what i need is to find or make a .kdz update which includes this new CWM.
What do you think?
I know this is possible, at least for the Galaxy Ace: I have a ZIP file for this device with a custom recovery image, flashable in stock recovery!
To make one for the Optimus 3D, I need to know the following:
- How can I obtain the .IMG of the new recovery? I have found some temp files in clockworkmod folder in my sdcard. The creation date of one of them matches the exact moment I upgraded my recovery, and the file size also matches a recovery image: 5.54MB. Is it the recovery image? Can I just rename it to recovery.img? How can I extract it to ensure it´s ok?
- After I get the recovery image, I can use the Galaxy Ace ZIP as the base to build the O3D zip file. Any help on what do I have to change to make it work correctly?
I also tried this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1244490
I starts just fine but get's stuck on the "RESET" command, after a while it gives "DOWNLOAD FAIL!" error. I think the phone is supposed to restart automatically but it doesn't. Manually resetting the phone doesn't work either.
I'm about to pull my hair out...
Edit: I'm 99% sure that this isn't a hardware related problem. And LG's software not being able to turn the phone to stock is totally [email protected]#$%!
On some "unbrick your optimus 3d" threads i came across this image:
http://attachments.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=667470&d=1311752328
i tried all methods around here but not once i came across a screen like it. weird...
well i give up guys. so much technical [email protected] going on and no one seems to understand this device enough. i'll turn it to the LG Repair Service today. Thank you everyone for your help...

[Q] Phone broken or still hope?

Hello everydody, I am experiencing some difficulties with my Samsung, model GT-I9003-phone which "dropped off a lorry" somewhere next to my relatives somewhere in Asia. When I goth the device, it was in a non-working condition, except a boot-loop and the download-mode. Back then, I had the package of the phone where the exact version ( I don't know if this is what is called "Baseband" or at least is called baseband at my wife's GT-I5003) was specified. So, back then, I was able to find the exact ROM for the device. Unfortunately, the box with the version number now is - somewhere.
After flashing a stock-rom, I managed to enter recovery-mode where I read something about the internal memory being corrupt. As far as I can recall, I then mounted the external SD-Card and somehow managed to reboot the system back to almost normal operation. Even reboots appeared to work normal, besides the fact I had no memory access, neither to internal nor to external sd. In addition, GPS malfunctioned, too.
Unfortunately, even this state didn't last for long time. After several weeks of now-and-then-use, the system just broke down again into a boot-loop. After some time of flashing a variety of stock roms, I managed to flash clockworkmod recovery which works perfectly well. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to root the phone before it "collapsed" again. Besides the possibility, I'd guess this could be a resaon for CWM being unable to flash a custom rom? Otherwise, I'd just test my way through the varieties of versions .
Basically, I do have two questions: 1. is there a possibility to find out if internal memory has failed - and if yes: How?
2. Is it possible to install any version of CM on that phone in the condition it is in?
Thanks a lot in advance for any answers
Hello everybody, I finally found the box . It reads GT-I9003MKDTHL. Is my assumption right that there are no such things as basebands in the GT-I9003 any more and I should be able to flash pretty much any firmware? Furthermore, today I tried to format what is specified as "sd-card ext" in CWM fir GT-I9003 and it gives me an error-message. When I flash "sd-card", my external sd-card gets formatted. So, I'd presume the internal sd is just fried. I read about a workaround for GT-I 9000, where someone installed Androd on a partitioned external SD. Is there somebody who knows someboy having heard about somthing similar working with the GT-I9903?
One step forward...
Hello everybody, I finally managed to get some light into my issues as I once again figured out how to get a software installed and running . It's this one:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2329200
Thanks a lot to the guy who just posted it somewhere where id could do good...
By the way, I figured out that this software actually includes the Baseband.
As in this version, the original recovery system is running and giving me an error message when I start it without external SD-card, I am now quite sure that the internal memory has just failed as this error message was specified in another posting of someone who had a similar issue with a GT-I9000.
The biiiig "Outch" is, that I am unable to install any CWM Recovery System with that Baseband..This results in me not being able to upgrade the software to ICS, where - as far as I read some troubleshoot-information - will enable me to mount an additional partition on my SD-Card as Data-Partition which isn't possible yet (i.e.: I can't access my SD for storing data or whatever - it's just specified as "not there").
I tried to install the XXKPE-Baseband to be able to go for KPQ which would enable me to install CWM Recovery. I also installed Bagarias CWM-normalboot-image via Heimdall - but I was unable both to boot the OS and to find any trace of a zip-file on the SD-card.
Edit: I managed to install the right CWM - it's mentioned in the post where I've got the firmware from... now, I only have to figure out how to deal with the fact that "officially" there is no SD-card inserted - or, better, that this SD-card is now flagged as "internal SD" - and how that machine can find the zip-file on it
Thanks for every bit of help with that issue
Try Aroma File Manager with Terminal
For SDCard issue you could probably switch them in vold.fstab in /system/etc
Good Luck !!!
try this- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2329200

[Completed] CM11 not visible in recovery

Hello XDA:
Earlier today I successfully flashed my nook color to CM7.2 using TWRP 2.3.0.2 as described in this tutorial http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1030227.
After that I successfully flashed TWRP 2.8.3.0.
Right now I am trying to flash CM11 with the corresponding g.apps, but the files are not visible in recovery. What can I do? This is my first time rooting/loading roms so any help I can get is much appreciated.
Hi there,
Try to put that files (zips of CM and GApps) on the external SD Card and try again. maybe is something wrong with that recovery and didn't recognize your internal memory.
Also give us more details about your device for better pointing to the right forum.
Thanks
Hi thanks for the reply. I was actually trying to load the files from an external SD the entire time.
I managed the fix the problem luckily. I had an extra SD card on hand so I re-downloaded the files and tried flashing them to the device from the other card. It worked.
Is this a good way to do things in the future? That way I can keep my files intact on the main SD card and use a seperate SD card to flash new ROMs etc. Though I dont know if the file systems on the main SD card will be interchangeable between ROMs.
The device is a Nook Color (encore). I used the link that I posted in the OP to load CM7 and then CM11. The Nook Color community seems rather dead, so I posted here.
Glad to hear that you have done it.
Take care with SD Card no name. You can loose important files like photos or other docs if something goes wrong.
Good luck
Thread closed

Do I have to upgrade my bootloader on my tf700t??

Dear fellow Infiniteers,
My name is Hans and I come from Holland.
3 years ago I got my tf700t. It was unlocked and rooted and had a ww_epad-10.6.1.14.8-20130514 bootloader, original TWRP 2.8.7.0 and Cromi-Xenogenesis ODEX 4.7.0 OS and a 16Gb SD-card in the tablet (not dock). The device was so slow that I didn't use it for several months. Ofcoarse the batteries where empty and after charging the tf700t went in a bootloop. On my search on internet I found this great forum, after many hours of reading I managed to flash Android 7.1.2., I lost root but after using Towelroot_V1 I even got root back. Now everything works fantastic. It seems to be an whole other device, Thank you so much developers. I understood it was essential to setup an adb connection, so I did.
I still have to convert my internal memory to F2FS, but need to read more before doing it. This puzzels my a lot. Also I would like a TWRP version that also can handle the dock-SD card, because I want that particular place to keep my backups, flashrom and other flash.zip files.
Now my Questions are:
Should I upgrade my bootloader?
1 For converting internal to F2FS or something else? And
2 Why should I install Kang-TWRP? wich needs 14.10. so I can use the dock sd card for zip's and backups?
Thanks to anyone who reacts.

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