is it possible to boot an os off an sd card on an XDA? also is it possible to put an operating system like linux on an xda?
Thanks alot
James
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Xanadux
This link may be somewhat more useful
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HimalayaLinuxBooting
the most useful link I found was http://himalaya.iclem.net./ (at bottom of page posted above). Actually got a fully running gpe system working off sd . if you want to store haret/kernel on sd card as well, just create a small extra fat16 partition on your sd card as well as ext3 partition. When trying to access card from a pc i discovered I had to have probe all scsi luns enabled in order for it to make all the card slots available in my reader.
But you´re talking all about the Himalaya device, but he has a Wallaby....
Stefan
Related
Does S4 support 64Gb SD card formatted as ext4?
It is currently formatted as vfat and, I think, I have just ran into its limitation: one of my directories contain over 18,000 files and no more can be added. I do not have an option of reducing the number of files in that directory or splitting it since it is controlled by an app (Anki).
I guess, one of the options is to use internal storage that is ext4 and would not have such limitations. But I would much rather keep those files on SD card if it is possible format it as ext4.
igory_1999 said:
Does S4 support 64Gb SD card formatted as ext4?
It is currently formatted as vfat and, I think, I have just ran into its limitation: one of my directories contain over 18,000 files and no more can be added. I do not have an option of reducing the number of files in that directory or splitting it since it is controlled by an app (Anki).
I guess, one of the options is to use internal storage that is ext4 and would not have such limitations. But I would much rather keep those files on SD card if it is possible format it as ext4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ext4 is a native Linux/Unix format which is what the Android OS is based on. ext4 will work fine on an SD card. If you connect your phone to a Windows machine depending on your version of the OS and drivers you have loaded it may not recognize it.
Your card is probably actually formatted as Fat32. VFAT isn't a real format type. It is just a notation for a FAT partition with long file names.
The one issue is that there have been a lot of people having issue with 64Gb SD cards on custom ROMS and kernels. If you are running a custom ROM or kernel and your card is currently working, I would check the support thread before making the changes.
One other thing to point out. It may be obvious, but I've been doing IT support and programming for about 30 years and have learned its best to point out the obvious before data is possibly lost. Unless you have a specialized utility to convert the SD card partition to ext4 from it current FAT state, it will erase the data in the process leaving you with a blank SD card. So make sure you back the data up somewhere before you make the conversion.
Hopefully this helps.
ext4 is a native Linux/Unix format which is what the Android OS is based on. ext4 will work fine on an SD card. If you connect your phone to a Windows machine depending on your version of the OS and drivers you have loaded it may not recognize it.
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Click to collapse
I do not touch Windows, only Linux. So this is not a problem. However, I remember back a year or so ago I tried to use ext4-formatted SD card in my old Droid Incredible and it did not work and I had to switch back to fat32. But maybe older version of Android supported only older versions of extX file system?
Your card is probably actually formatted as Fat32. VFAT isn't a real format type. It is just a notation for a FAT partition with long file names.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I vaguely remember reading somewhere that for S4 to recognize 64Gb card, it should be formatted only as exFat. I do not remember if I had to format the card myself or it worked out of the box. I think it did but I did not so far had any problem using the card in S4 (maybe there will be a problem once I use more than 50% of storage?). What tool is aware of exFat and can say for sure if I have fat32 or exFat? The tools I tried so far just say vfat.
The one issue is that there have been a lot of people having issue with 64Gb SD cards on custom ROMS and kernels.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone is rooted but otherwise I am running stock kernel.
I'm a Windows programmer who is an average Linux/old time Unix user. VFAT is how Linux sees any FAT partition with long file names. I have plenty of tools that will specify the difference on the Windows side, but I'm not real sure on of any free tools the Linux side. I have a couple of paid tools for doing computer security forensics that are Linux based that can tell you the exact format type so I know it can be done.
I'm running Hyperdrive with the stock ME7 kernel. I just searched through the thread and the only ones who got the 64GB cards working were using custom kernels. They were also the only ones who appeared to get the ext4 working consistently on the S4.
I just did a quick experiment. I had an extra SD card around (not a 64GB) and formatted it as ext4. My S4 would not mount the card. It would see it and tell me that there was a blank SD card there or one that has unsupported files.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.
psu90 said:
I have plenty of tools that will specify the difference on the Windows side, but I'm not real sure on of any free tools the Linux side. I have a couple of paid tools for doing computer security forensics that are Linux based that can tell you the exact format type so I know it can be done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was actually hoping that Android itself might have some tools to recognize such things since it seems to depend on it so much.
Since I put my S4 into an Otter shell, I no longer take SD card out unless absolutely necessary since it is such a pain to dress/undress the phone. So far Android System Info and DiskInfo seem to give the most detailed info about the file systems but even they just say vfat for external SD card.
igory_1999 said:
So far Android System Info and DiskInfo seem to give the most detailed info about the file systems but even they just say vfat for external SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The /system/bin/mount command executed from inside Droid Command Pro gives a lot of details but still says 'vfat'. Can one deduce from the rest of the output if it is fat32 or exFat? See the attachment.
Try this app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sylkat.AParted
I know my SD card is FAT32 formatted. I formatted it as FAT32 on a Windows machine when I got it. This is the only app I tried that shows my SD card as FAT32. The rest all reported VFAT. Once it's loaded look under the tools tab. It should display all the partitions on your SD card.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy 4 using Taptalk 4.
psu90 said:
Try this app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sylkat.AParted
I know my SD card is FAT32 formatted. I formatted it as FAT32 on a Windows machine when I got it. This is the only app I tried that shows my SD card as FAT32. The rest all reported VFAT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes: it shows fat32 for my card as well. The question is: would it show exFat if it sees it or also classifies it as fat32?
igory_1999 said:
Yes: it shows fat32 for my card as well. The question is: would it show exFat if it sees it or also classifies it as fat32?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They would show up differently if the aParted supported ExFAT (sorry didn't know).
FAT32 and ExFAT are 2 different formatting structures for partitions, with 2 different boot sectors and different file allocation table (FAT) sizes and structures. With FAT32 in the boot sector of the drive starting in byte 3 it will show either "MSWIN4.1" or "MSDOS5.0" then starting in byte 82 (size 8 bytes) it will have "FAT32 ". With ExFAT starting in byte 3 (size 8 bytes) it will have "ExFAT ".
I just format my test card as ExFAT and aParted gave me an error saying extended partitions detected, that they weren't supported, and the display information may be incorrect. The information for the partitions was blank. So it did recognize the difference between FAT32 and ExFAT, but couldn't display the ExFAT information.
I did find this application yesterday ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.kuder.diskinfo&hl=en ). I display a FAT32 partitioned card as vFAT, which it technically correct. That is a FAT16 or FAT32 partition with the long file names. I just checked and it will display ExFAT as ExFAT.
Hopefully this will help.
Still looking for some insight and/or answers on this one...please help if u can!! Thanks!!
Phone details:
Metro PCS LGMS769
Android v 4.1.2
ROM LGMS769e (stock)
I have finally partitioned my SD card (16GB) successfully using MiniTool Partition Wizard tool. I created two FAT 32 partions (G=11.75GB DATA and *.=2.87 APPS). I had problems when creating an EXT2 partition...Link2SD wouldn't recognize it or mount the card.
Was able to successfully mount the card after creating 2 FAT32 partitions so I went with that for now. Several questions though...
1) I was unable to actually move to SDcard using "native App2SD method" with an error telling me that App2SD not supported by my device because it has a primary external storage which is emulated from the internal storage. Instead had to link the app in order to move its files to the card. What does this mean and why can't I physically move? Also, what is actually happening when I create links?
2) Apps appeared to be on the external card afterward when I went to System/storage and reviewed space usage. I could not, however tell whether they were on the DATA or the APPS partition from File Manager OR after taking the card out and looking at it from my PC. There were a couple of l directories created (LGBackup and LOST.DIR) but all appeared to be empty. WHY?
3) After dismounting and taking the card out to explore on PC and then putting card back in the phone it was remounted automatically however all apps are now taking up space on my internal drive and external storage is completely. Also, all my home screen widget configs are empty with all listed under "APPS" utility. Can anyone explain what's going on and how to correct?
THANKS!!
Q: about how you recoverd sd partition from EXT2 to fat32
jakman50 said:
Phone details:
Metro PCS LGMS769
Android v 4.1.2
ROM LGMS769e (stock)
I have finally partitioned my SD card (16GB) successfully using MiniTool Partition Wizard tool. I created two FAT 32 partions (G=11.75GB DATA and *.=2.87 APPS). I had problems when creating an EXT2 partition...Link2SD wouldn't recognize it or mount the card.
Was able to successfully mount the card after creating 2 FAT32 partitions so I went with that for now. Several questions though...
1) I was unable to actually move to SDcard using "native App2SD method" with an error telling me that App2SD not supported by my device because it has a primary external storage which is emulated from the internal storage. Instead had to link the app in order to move its files to the card. What does this mean and why can't I physically move? Also, what is actually happening when I create links?
2) Apps appeared to be on the external card afterward when I went to System/storage and reviewed space usage. I could not, however tell whether they were on the DATA or the APPS partition from File Manager OR after taking the card out and looking at it from my PC. There were a couple of l directories created (LGBackup and LOST.DIR) but all appeared to be empty. WHY?
3) After dismounting and taking the card out to explore on PC and then putting card back in the phone it was remounted automatically however all apps are now taking up space on my internal drive and external storage is completely. Also, all my home screen widget configs are empty with all listed under "APPS" utility. Can anyone explain what's going on and how to correct?
THANKS!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HI: I tried to partition a 32GB card an used EXT4 using the free Minitool Partition wizard. Now my Freelander Tab won't mount my card nor will
Windows-7 Pro allow me to copy my backup data to the card. I tried to re-partition but minitool doesn't recognize the partition. I tried the partition recovery mode but got no where now I have a bricked 32BG SD card. How do I recover my 32GB SD card?? I had no data on it as I backed up all of it to my Computer before I started. HELP PLEASE Dan Mericle Sr
SD Partitioning issues with MiniTool Wizard
danvidman said:
HI: I tried to partition a 32GB card an used EXT4 using the free Minitool Partition wizard. Now my Freelander Tab won't mount my card nor will
Windows-7 Pro allow me to copy my backup data to the card. I tried to re-partition but minitool doesn't recognize the partition. I tried the partition recovery mode but got no where now I have a bricked 32BG SD card. How do I recover my 32GB SD card?? I had no data on it as I backed up all of it to my Computer before I started. HELP PLEASE Dan Mericle Sr
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dan,
I don't think Windows would recognize a Linux partition...which is what EXT is. That's why u can't move data to that partition at this time. MiniTool doesn't even SEE your EXT partition?? If that's the case how do u know it's an EXT partition in the first place? Perhaps u could post an image of the MiniTool screen? If it CAN see the partition I would delete it and recreate it with at least a portion being FAT32.
Answer to Jakman50 Questions
jakman50 said:
Dan,
I don't think Windows would recognize a Linux partition...which is what EXT is. That's why u can't move data to that partition at this time. MiniTool doesn't even SEE your EXT partition?? If that's the case how do u know it's an EXT partition in the first place? Perhaps u could post an image of the MiniTool screen? If it CAN see the partition I would delete it and recreate it with at least a portion being FAT32.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jakman: Because when I Partitioned my 32GB SD Card I was reading a XDA thread that said to Partition it using Ext4 as being the best Partition to use. When I look at Minitool it shows the Partitions that says Disk 8 read only ( Capacity 5.00GB for 1st partition and 24.72FGB for 2nd partition, used GB's then under File System Ext4 for both partitions, Type Primary both partitions, Status None. ). When I Hi-Light partition-1 it comes up on the left side with Actions and Wizards. Under Wizards the Choices are Copy Partition Wizard, Copy Disk Wizard, Partition Recovery Wizard. No other Choices the task bar at the top is grayed out. When I Hi-Light one of the other drives it adds a whole bunch of choices like Format Partition - Show Partition Properties and other actions that I can take Etc. I tried Partition Recovery Wizard it just tells me what files that can be recoverd. the Delete Icon is Missing. So there is no way i can delete the partitions and choose FAT 16/32 File System. When I first Partitioned the card Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, Fat 16, & Fat 32 were the File Systems offered. So do you Know of another Partition App that might enable me to Delete the partition and set the File System to Fat 32 thats FREE or doesn't Cost to Much as I'm on a fixed Income. Ive search the Forums but no body seems to have had this problem in the past or they found a solution else where and didn't post there Solution. Thanks I hope maybe you or some on else might know of a solution and help me as I don't want to have to buy another 32GB SD Card. Dan Mericle Sr danvidman
can you use minitool partition wizard to recovery your 32gb card? You can use the function Recovery Partition to scan card. have you set the partition to primary after change its files system? maybe this is main reason why it cant be recognized.
Read somewhere that the Moto E actually supports 64GB (and even 128GB) MicroSD cards BUT only when they're formatted to FAT32, 'cause the device also prompts the user to do it when inserted. As we know in order to use Link2SD we need to format the card with EXT partitions and stuff like that, that should render the card uncompatible, or am I wrong?
Yeah, 64GB sdcard is working smoothly.
But I think you mixed something up. For Link2SD you have to create a 2nd partition on the SDCard. And this 2nd partition needs to be EXT formatted, while the main partition stays FAT32.
I recommend to not more thank 1,4 GB for the 2nd partition as Link2SD only moves apk and dex-files which isn't really that much.
Now I got it.
Is there any other way, with any other app, that can actually move the entire app from the internal memory to the SD Card, or at least move a significantly part of it in order to save some internal space? I thought Link2SD was able to do it, but you said it's not so useful since it only moves dex and apk files...
Hello,
my Xperia ray does not mount (working) 16GB SDHC card that I formerly repartitioned to provide additional space for applications. Following this tutorial
xperiablog.net/2011/12/12/link2sd-guide-never-worry-about-internal-memory-limits-again/
I've set up 2 partitions, but phone recognized none of them. Neither did Windows, when card was connected through Xperia. Using card reader, I've managed to delete both partitions with partition program and make one FAT32 again. After formatting, this SD card is working properly in Windows, but doesn't in Xperia ray (and another Android phone). Another card is mounted in my phone flawlessly.
CWM Recovery also can't mount this card. I've even changed from CarbonROM to one that I believe to be stock (ST18i_4.1.B.0.587_CE_1252-3693_ForsakenNGL.ftf), but it didn't help. I dont know whether is it related, but none of kernels (ROMs?) i've tried had partition table file in flashtool menu. Does any of those have one?
How to repair this memory card?
EDIT: Problem solved, all that was needed to do was to change state of partition from "Logical" to "Primary" in partition program.
I have been using Link2SD to move apps to the external microSD card. But not many apps and I still hit the internal memory limit. Then I discovered that Link2SD can effectively increase the internal memory if I created a second partition on my microSD card and let the Link2SD use that partition as a virtual extension of internal memory. So I created two partitions on my microSD card.
The problem is that my phone (rooted, 4.4.2 stock ROM) refuses to recognize this arrangement and complains that the SD card is damaged. When I let the phone's default app format the first partition, it removes the second one and formats the whole card as partition.
Anyone has a solution or suggestion for me? Thanks,
szaim said:
I have been using Link2SD to move apps to the external microSD card. But not many apps and I still hit the internal memory limit. Then I discovered that Link2SD can effectively increase the internal memory if I created a second partition on my microSD card and let the Link2SD use that partition as a virtual extension of internal memory. So I created two partitions on my microSD card.
The problem is that my phone (rooted, 4.4.2 stock ROM) refuses to recognize this arrangement and complains that the SD card is damaged. When I let the phone's default app format the first partition, it removes the second one and formats the whole card as partition.
Anyone has a solution or suggestion for me? Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download sdcard fix from play store run it. If you're trying to move big files use foldemount
RealityFails said:
Download sdcard fix from play store run it. If you're trying to move big files use foldemount
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you please explain with a bit more detail? I have checked the Play Store, there are several apps called "sdcard fix" or similar, but they all say they solve the microSD write problem with KitKat. My problem is that when I create the 2nd partition on my SD card, the phone does not even recognize the first partition. Link2SD recognizes the 2nd partition, but it does not recognize the first partition either.
I have checked foldermount, and it seems to do the same thing as Link2SD but it looks like a lot of manual work, identifying folders and creating symbolic links on the SD card.
szaim said:
Could you please explain with a bit more detail? I have checked the Play Store, there are several apps called "sdcard fix" or similar, but they all say they solve the microSD write problem with KitKat. My problem is that when I create the 2nd partition on my SD card, the phone does not even recognize the first partition. Link2SD recognizes the 2nd partition, but it does not recognize the first partition either.
I have checked foldermount, and it seems to do the same thing as Link2SD but it looks like a lot of manual work, identifying folders and creating symbolic links on the SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No folder Mount does it automatically it moves file to SD card and tricks the system. Its fairly simple.
Use app analyzer and click yes to everything. Seems to me you're putting too much thought into this.
1st partition must be fat32 and 2nd partition ext2, both partitions set as primary.
But as sugested, download a sdcardfix from playstore (makes external writeable again), download foldermount paid version, a lot easier.