Related
Well i'm wondering about a2sd and apps2sd and have a few questions that maybe someone more experienced than me can answer.
1. What is the difference between a2sd and apps2sd? Or are they the same program?
2. How do i get it enabled on my phone, I'm currently switching between WhiteWidow Rom and Aloysious Rom, I have seen the option for it but it is grayed out and I cannot access it.
3. Maybe someone could explain the benefits or using these programs vs not using them.
Thanks in advance for any answers.
I'm sure you could have searched this honestly.
1. Same thing.
2. There should be instructions if it's possible on those roms.
3. Extra space so you can use more apps. They may be slower, I suggest upgrading your card to at least class 4.
sorry wasn't trying to just ask questions without searching for it. I was just trying to find a decent walktrhough. I'll do some more research. Thanks for the response.
darkside86 said:
2. How do i get it enabled on my phone, I'm currently switching between WhiteWidow Rom and Aloysious Rom, I have seen the option for it but it is grayed out and I cannot access it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my experience of experimenting with different ROMs, the option (in the "Settings" menu) won't even show up unless the ROM/kernel supports the option. Since you see it and the threads for both of those ROMs say it supports, I will guess that it will remain grayed out until your SD card is set up (partitioned) properly in order to use A2SD. That involves adding an EXT3 partition to the card.
1. No difference...they are the same program (i.e. Darktremor A2SD and Darktremor Apps2SD are the same program).
2. Your SD card has to be partitioned for it (it must contain an EXT2 or EXT3 partition on it. EXT4 doesn't always work if the kernel the rom is using doesn't support it). Your rom must be able to launch apps2sd either directly or via Busybox run-parts. Your rom also must have apps2sd installed (doesn't matter which Apps2sd).
Once you have those, the apps2sd should activate automatically on startup (unless it is being prevented via a flag file (Darktremor) or a property value (DamageControl)).
3. Using apps2sd will free up internal storage by moving your applications to the SD card. Some more advanced apps2sd will also have the option of moving the dalvik-cache to the SD card, freeing more internal storage. This will allow you to run more programs without worrying about running out of internal storage (Android tends to act flaky when there's not enough storage for it to work with).
darkside86 said:
Well i'm wondering about a2sd and apps2sd and have a few questions that maybe someone more experienced than me can answer.
1. What is the difference between a2sd and apps2sd? Or are they the same program?
2. How do i get it enabled on my phone, I'm currently switching between WhiteWidow Rom and Aloysious Rom, I have seen the option for it but it is grayed out and I cannot access it.
3. Maybe someone could explain the benefits or using these programs vs not using them.
Thanks in advance for any answers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you guys for the informative responses, now I have a pretty good idea what it does,i would like to give it a try, do I need to back my sd card on my pc before trying? Because it sounds like formatting my card will delete everything, am I right on this?
Yes...back everything up (do a nandroid backup before you backup your SD card...this way you'll make a copy of the nandroid backup). Repartitioning will wipe the data from the card.
darkside86 said:
Thank you guys for the informative responses, now I have a pretty good idea what it does,i would like to give it a try, do I need to back my sd card on my pc before trying? Because it sounds like formatting my card will delete everything, am I right on this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tkirton said:
Yes...back everything up (do a nandroid backup before you backup your SD card...this way you'll make a copy of the nandroid backup). Repartitioning will wipe the data from the card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll give it a try.
additoinal questions
Hello
I have a few additional questions:
1) how can I access the ext2 partion on my sd card in windows through adb?
I want to be able to do this because I want to confirm that the apps are indeed being installed to the sdcard because I notice the internal storage continues to decrease (now this may be due to the apps cache since I am not putting the cache on the sd card...yet)
I would also like to be able to pull apps.
2) I kind of address my next question with the last statement of question 1, can you still pull apps and if so how?
3) I have DConfig on my phone which acts as a gui for app2sd (i think) but when I ran it for the first time I noticed that it did not move any of the apps that came with the rom (all the htc stuff, youtube, facebook, wireless teathering, etc), can these apps be moved and if so how?
dsMA said:
Hello
I have a few additional questions:
1) how can I access the ext2 partion on my sd card in windows through adb?
I want to be able to do this because I want to confirm that the apps are indeed being installed to the sdcard because I notice the internal storage continues to decrease (now this may be due to the apps cache since I am not putting the cache on the sd card...yet)
I would also like to be able to pull apps.
2) I kind of address my next question with the last statement of question 1, can you still pull apps and if so how?
3) I have DConfig on my phone which acts as a gui for app2sd (i think) but when I ran it for the first time I noticed that it did not move any of the apps that came with the rom (all the htc stuff, youtube, facebook, wireless teathering, etc), can these apps be moved and if so how?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) You really can't. Windows doesn't support ext2-3 partitions. There is software out there that will allow it, but most of it is buggy at best. You can see them if it's mounted in Linux though.
2) Do some googling on this one. I'm inclined not to instruct on such things, as "pulled apps" usually end up floating around torrent sites and screwing honest devs out of their $1.99.
3) I don't believe system apps themselves are generally moved, but I may be wrong on that. (it happens sometimes ) If you move the cache, then their cache will be moved, but that's all.
dsMA said:
Hello
I have a few additional questions:
1) how can I access the ext2 partion on my sd card in windows through adb?
I want to be able to do this because I want to confirm that the apps are indeed being installed to the sdcard because I notice the internal storage continues to decrease (now this may be due to the apps cache since I am not putting the cache on the sd card...yet)
I would also like to be able to pull apps.
2) I kind of address my next question with the last statement of question 1, can you still pull apps and if so how?
3) I have DConfig on my phone which acts as a gui for app2sd (i think) but when I ran it for the first time I noticed that it did not move any of the apps that came with the rom (all the htc stuff, youtube, facebook, wireless teathering, etc), can these apps be moved and if so how?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use the app Root Explorer, and you can check your ext on there to see what's in it. Also you can move apps around using that app.
I'll ask this here as it seems to be on topic.
The info below was a real help in getting me straightened out on this thanks.
tkirton said:
1. No difference...they are the same program (i.e. Darktremor A2SD and Darktremor Apps2SD are the same program).
2. Your SD card has to be partitioned for it (it must contain an EXT2 or EXT3 partition on it. EXT4 doesn't always work if the kernel the rom is using doesn't support it). Your rom must be able to launch apps2sd either directly or via Busybox run-parts. Your rom also must have apps2sd installed (doesn't matter which Apps2sd).
Once you have those, the apps2sd should activate automatically on startup (unless it is being prevented via a flag file (Darktremor) or a property value (DamageControl)).
3. Using apps2sd will free up internal storage by moving your applications to the SD card. Some more advanced apps2sd will also have the option of moving the dalvik-cache to the SD card, freeing more internal storage. This will allow you to run more programs without worrying about running out of internal storage (Android tends to act flaky when there's not enough storage for it to work with).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, so I have wiped the phone and partioned the SD card but A2SD still not working, my ROM says it will work, when I do a ADB check of A2sd app I get this...
C:\AndroidSDK\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb shell
# a2sd check
a2sd check
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Starting xtr init scripts for a2sd and memory at 07-28-2010 01:38:45
setting variables from default init.apps2sd.conf file in /system/etc/
varialbe capture - xtr.a2sd.data.active false
varialbe capture - xtr.a2sd.apps.active true
varialbe capture - xtr.a2sd.dalvikcache.active true
varialbe capture - xtr.swap.active false
varialbe capture - xtr.swap.swpto swppart
varialbe capture - xtr.swap.swappiness 30
[*] Check for ext partition and move files between /data/ and /system/sd/ as per init.apps2sd.conf s
ettings
[ ] Searching for Mount Point...
[ ] Mount point found..no further action required.
[!] Ext partition found.
[ ] Checking Ext partition...
e2fsck 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
/system/bin/e2fsck: Device or resource busy while trying to open /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
Filesystem mounted or opened exclusively by another program?
8
[!] Mounting ext partitions as ext3.
mount: mounting /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 on /system/sd failed: Device or resource busy
[!!] Mounting ext partition as ext3 failed.
[!] Mounting ext partition as ext2.
mount: mounting /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 on /system/sd failed: Device or resource busy
[!!] Mounting ext partition as ext2 failed.
[!!] Can't use Apps2sd....
#
Any idea what I'm doing wrong? I would really like to move some of this to the large SD card and free up the phone for phone stuff.
Also How dose this effect phone memory use if at all? I would like to maximize usable memory for apps to run in as well as allow the phone to run as fast and reliably as possible.
Still looking for an answer. I can not get a2sd working.
With xtr you have to wipe then flash the rom then boot up and set up your phone but don't download any apps....then go back to recovery and flash the rest like stock apps then reboot and let the phone do its thing then back to recovery and then flash a2sd on then reboot and finish setting up your phone....I encountered that too after flashing then flashed the other modules before turning phone on. Does that make sense?
Do everything one at a time with a restart in between, correct?
indie1138 said:
I'll ask this here as it seems to be on topic.
The info below was a real help in getting me straightened out on this thanks.
OK, so I have wiped the phone and partioned the SD card but A2SD still not working, my ROM says it will work, when I do a ADB check of A2sd app I get this...
C:\AndroidSDK\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb shell
# a2sd check
a2sd check
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Starting xtr init scripts for a2sd and memory at 07-28-2010 01:38:45
setting variables from default init.apps2sd.conf file in /system/etc/
varialbe capture - xtr.a2sd.data.active false
varialbe capture - xtr.a2sd.apps.active true
varialbe capture - xtr.a2sd.dalvikcache.active true
varialbe capture - xtr.swap.active false
varialbe capture - xtr.swap.swpto swppart
varialbe capture - xtr.swap.swappiness 30
[*] Check for ext partition and move files between /data/ and /system/sd/ as per init.apps2sd.conf s
ettings
[ ] Searching for Mount Point...
[ ] Mount point found..no further action required.
[!] Ext partition found.
[ ] Checking Ext partition...
e2fsck 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
/system/bin/e2fsck: Device or resource busy while trying to open /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
Filesystem mounted or opened exclusively by another program?
8
[!] Mounting ext partitions as ext3.
mount: mounting /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 on /system/sd failed: Device or resource busy
[!!] Mounting ext partition as ext3 failed.
[!] Mounting ext partition as ext2.
mount: mounting /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 on /system/sd failed: Device or resource busy
[!!] Mounting ext partition as ext2 failed.
[!!] Can't use Apps2sd....
#
Any idea what I'm doing wrong? I would really like to move some of this to the large SD card and free up the phone for phone stuff.
Also How dose this effect phone memory use if at all? I would like to maximize usable memory for apps to run in as well as allow the phone to run as fast and reliably as possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you move ext 2 to ext 3? What allocations did you make? 512 mb for apps? It's been a while since I've done this so it's no longer fresh on my mind.
Why not install one of the Froyo roms? You don't have to format the sd (or do anything special with it) for apps2sd to work. In fact, if your sd is partitioned now, the rom will ask you if you'd like to reformat it at the first boot (which removes the partition for you). The only catch with these roms (or at least KaosFroyo) is you can't move system apps to the sd card (yet) and any app that you use widgets with or apps such as home launchers, texting, etc should be saved in internal memory or you'll have errors each time you usb mount or reboot. I've got a lot of apps installed (many on my internal for the reason listed above) and I'm only at about 35% internal storage. It's a quick rom too.
Sent from my FroyoEris using XDA App
I am using DamageR Rom and it has DamagedConfig but I can't get any of the apps to my sd. I don't know what to do. I've been looking around for the answer and I just can't figure it out. The creator said to look for it on one of the a2sd threads but I just can't get it right.
indie1138 said:
I'll ask this here as it seems to be on topic.
The info below was a real help in getting me straightened out on this thanks.
OK, so I have wiped the phone and partioned the SD card but A2SD still not working, my ROM says it will work, when I do a ADB check of A2sd app I get this...
C:\AndroidSDK\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb shell
# a2sd check
a2sd check
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Starting xtr init scripts for a2sd and memory at 07-28-2010 01:38:45
setting variables from default init.apps2sd.conf file in /system/etc/
varialbe capture - xtr.a2sd.data.active false
varialbe capture - xtr.a2sd.apps.active true
varialbe capture - xtr.a2sd.dalvikcache.active true
varialbe capture - xtr.swap.active false
varialbe capture - xtr.swap.swpto swppart
varialbe capture - xtr.swap.swappiness 30
[*] Check for ext partition and move files between /data/ and /system/sd/ as per init.apps2sd.conf s
ettings
[ ] Searching for Mount Point...
[ ] Mount point found..no further action required.
[!] Ext partition found.
[ ] Checking Ext partition...
e2fsck 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
/system/bin/e2fsck: Device or resource busy while trying to open /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
Filesystem mounted or opened exclusively by another program?
8
[!] Mounting ext partitions as ext3.
mount: mounting /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 on /system/sd failed: Device or resource busy
[!!] Mounting ext partition as ext3 failed.
[!] Mounting ext partition as ext2.
mount: mounting /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 on /system/sd failed: Device or resource busy
[!!] Mounting ext partition as ext2 failed.
[!!] Can't use Apps2sd....
#
Any idea what I'm doing wrong? I would really like to move some of this to the large SD card and free up the phone for phone stuff.
Also How dose this effect phone memory use if at all? I would like to maximize usable memory for apps to run in as well as allow the phone to run as fast and reliably as possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like you are on one of my ROMs in which case there is a good write up in the 1st post of both my ROM threads that should get you going
Sent from my ERIS using XDA App
Just installed link2sd earlier (formatted partition as ext3). Wanted to flash a different rom. Trying to backup my phone, and clockworkmod tells me it can't mount sd-ext. Anyone know a reason and/or work around?
I think CWM works only with ext4 partition AFAIK. So, you can re-partition your sd card to a ext4 partition using CWM, or you can format the ext partition only to ext4 using a computer.
YouArePoop said:
Just installed link2sd earlier (formatted partition as ext3). Wanted to flash a different rom. Trying to backup my phone, and clockworkmod tells me it can't mount sd-ext. Anyone know a reason and/or work around?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which version of CWM have you got?
3.0.2.4, which I've used for a while now, always tries to back up my 6GB ext2 debian partition unless I remember to change cards first. no way I leave room in the vfat partition to back up that much data.
I'll put it up on 4shared if you want it.
mihir287 said:
I think CWM works only with ext4 partition AFAIK. So, you can re-partition your sd card to a ext4 partition using CWM, or you can format the ext partition only to ext4 using a computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guess when I get home I'll copy the contents to computer, reformat, and copy back. Hopefully link2sd will notice the formatting has changed and reset itself
Sent from my LG-VM670 using XDA App
Doesn't work with extra either. Version 3.2.0.1 I believe it was.
Guess it doesn't really matter, can just use titanium since its all app stuff on there anyways...
Sent from my LG-VM670 using XDA App
i use CWM to back up my 512MB ext2 partition for my data2ext all the time (with the rest of the backup) and it seems to have no problem, and just to check i just mounted the partition in mounts and storage and it mounts fine. I know some recoveries ive used in the past on other phones would have problems with partitions that were not in 64-128-256-512-1024 MB, etc. format because of block size issue errors that i would get (when mounting or trying to set block size to 4096). I also found that when partitoning/formatting to ext2/3/4 some programs do not properly write the drive formatting and certain systems/recoveries/apps could not properly read them on the android. the best most consistent (android friendly) formats that i have gotten to date were in ubuntu (or any other) linux using "gparted". It seemed to always be the best and usually better than the format done by the phone recovery. Hope this helps. Sorry to drone on and on.
Partitioned originally with gparted. Have since resized to be 2048, and set its label to 'sd-ext'. Now instead of getting an error saying sd-ext might not be supported on my device, it just gives me a generic 'error mounting sd-ext'
I've had ext partition mounting problems before, I'm not sure if the cause is something to do with vold or what, but
after unmounting a sd card to exchange it with another one, it changes the device partitions in /dev/block like
/dev/block/mmcblk1p2
for the sd-ext partition instead of the normal
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2
you can see if this has happened by
Code:
ls /dev/block
in adb shell.
to mount it manually, if the numbering is off,
Code:
mount /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 /sd-ext
I've only had this happen with android running, but it might work in recovery too
Switched over to using data2ext. Mounts the 2nd partition as the /data partition instead of /sd-ext. Can manually mount 2nd as /sd-ext from within rom, but it doesn't carry over to recovery.
A possible solution... Create a symbolic link pointing /sd-ext to the 2nd partition? But then again, since /data now points to 2nd partition, is recovery picking up on that unknowingly and backing up the 2nd's contents when it thinks its backing up the normal /data?
I suppose I should investigate.
Edit: Yep it does backup the 2nd partition, thankfully. Just tried to install a theme made in UOT Kitchen, it borked some stuff, and the restore worked.
First - I'll explain why I want this - my SD Card is a mess. So I decided to reorganize the entire folder structure using symlinks. Unfortunately no version of FAT doesn't support symlinks - so I decided to change the file system to either NTFS or ext4. I have basic Linux knowledge so I'm not able to change anything in the kernel, but because Gingerbread supports ext4, I have found a way to mount an ext4 sdcard. I basically change the default file system in vold.fstab (I replace "auto" with "ext4"). All seems to be working fine, but when I restart the phone I am unable to mount the sdcard again - I don't even get prompted by Android, it just doesn't detect my card. But whenever I dual-mount my card (using Root Toolbox) Windows detects my card (and reads it using Ext2Fsd). I know it probably has something to do with init scripts, but I haven't found anything about file systems in the any of the scripts in the init.d folder. I have found that the modified official Gingerbread kernel supports ext4 sd cards, but I want to know how to use the card with other kernels.
original vold.fstab:
Code:
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/goldfish_mmc.0 /devices/platform/msm_sdcc.1/mmc_host/mmc0
modified version:
Code:
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard ext4 /devices/platform/goldfish_mmc.0 /devices/platform/msm_sdcc.1/mmc_host/mmc0
I am using CyanogenMod 7.1 (Mik's version, beta 6.6.1), Franciscofranko's latest 2.6.35.14 kernel (16 august version) and Franko's tweaks if that is of any difference.
Well, sorry... but... eh.
State what you are after wrt "organizing" and someone can suggest a saner way to do it.
NTFS in R/W is only doable in a reasonable way with a FUSE-based driver, not the in-kernel one; ext4 or whatever other ext on the other way is a stupid idea when your computer uses Windows.
dr.notor said:
ext4 or whatever other ext on the other way is a stupid idea when your computer uses Windows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that, but I'm using the card on the phone, not on my computer. And by the way, I have a full-featured Ubuntu Server (on VMware Workstation) for everything that Windows isn't able to do.
It isn't much of a cataclysm that I can't mount ext4, but I'm trying to understand why doesn't my method work.
Ianis G. Vasilev said:
It isn't much of a cataclysm that I can't mount ext4, but I'm trying to understand why doesn't my method work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The stuff using vold.fstab assumes that the partition is FAT and not a random other filesystem.
The old vold supports vfat/ext2/ext3 filesystem, but the new vold only supports vfat filesystem. This is because Android frameworks does not support sdcard mounted on other filesystems. Even we can forcely mount an ext2/ext3 filesystem as the sdcard, it doesn't work well in some situations. So we decide to stop supporting them unless AOSP changes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.android-x86.org/documents/sdcardhowto
N.B. "Old" there means pre-Froyo
In case you insist that partitioning the SD card to ext? is the right way of "organizing", you need to mount that stuff via some initscript and be prepared for random stuff to break.
Thanks for the reply
My situation: Galaxy S3 with latest (26 Oct. 2012) update to 4.1.1 via Kies. Then rooted. Works smoothly. External Sd-card visible, no problem.
Then:
repartitioned SD-card with gparted in Fedora machine: mmcblk1p1 with old contents, mmcblk1p2 for new contents, both vfat. Filled mmcblk1p2 with contents from linux machine.
In the phone the first partition (the one with the old data) is recognised as before. The second partition is not seen.
By using the terminal emulator as super user I can mount the second partition by the command:
mount -rw -t vfat /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 <mountpoint>
<mountpoint> is a directory VISIBLE to File Explorer.
After mounting, however, the directory contents are NOT visible in File explorer (even after stopping and restarting File explorer) but can be listed perfectly in the terminal emulator. Giving the cp-command for copying of an individual (MP3) file from the <mountpoint> to the folder Music shows the copied file in that folder and the music can be played in the usual way through the GUI.
Question:
Does anybody have an idea how to make the mounted 2nd partition visible to the apps so that the files can be accessed though the GUI?
Thanks for thinking about this problem.
Bananiel-1944
Found the solution by some more thinking after all:
mount -rw -t vfat -o umask=0000 /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 <mountpoint>
The -o umask=0000 is essential, otherwise the permissions are rwx------; with the umask option they are rwxrwxrwx and thus can be reached.
For safety sake, mount when needed and umount promptly afterwards.
Bananiel-1944
Bananiel-1944 said:
My situation: Galaxy S3 with latest (26 Oct. 2012) update to 4.1.1 via Kies. Then rooted. Works smoothly. External Sd-card visible, no problem.
Then:
repartitioned SD-card with gparted in Fedora machine: mmcblk1p1 with old contents, mmcblk1p2 for new contents, both vfat. Filled mmcblk1p2 with contents from linux machine.
In the phone the first partition (the one with the old data) is recognised as before. The second partition is not seen.
By using the terminal emulator as super user I can mount the second partition by the command:
mount -rw -t vfat /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 <mountpoint>
<mountpoint> is a directory VISIBLE to File Explorer.
After mounting, however, the directory contents are NOT visible in File explorer (even after stopping and restarting File explorer) but can be listed perfectly in the terminal emulator. Giving the cp-command for copying of an individual (MP3) file from the <mountpoint> to the folder Music shows the copied file in that folder and the music can be played in the usual way through the GUI.
Question:
Does anybody have an idea how to make the mounted 2nd partition visible to the apps so that the files can be accessed though the GUI?
Thanks for thinking about this problem.
Bananiel-1944
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear Bananiel,
your post was closest to the solution of my problem, maybe you could suggest something that will finally help me.
I've partitioned external SDcard with CWM to be used for Link2SD. Link2SD's script works fine and the EXT2 partition mounts well. The problem is with the FAT32 partition which can't be mounted by android (I get "SD card empty of file system damaged" in the notification area). When I go in CWM recovery mode I can mount that partition by choosing "mount USB storage" option and then I can see it on my PC. Partition is healthy and PC has no problems with it.
I've tried issuing commands you've suggested in your post through ADB SHELL, after that when I go to folder that I've designated as mount point I can see files from non-working partitio, but the message in notification area still persist. Also the change is not permanent, after reboot I have to do that again.
Thanks in advance for any help given.
Bananiel-1944 said:
Found the solution by some more thinking after all:
mount -rw -t vfat -o umask=0000 /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 <mountpoint>
The -o umask=0000 is essential, otherwise the permissions are rwx------; with the umask option they are rwxrwxrwx and thus can be reached.
For safety sake, mount when needed and umount promptly afterwards.
Bananiel-1944
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dxage said:
Dear Bananiel,
your post was closest to the solution of my problem, maybe you could suggest something that will finally help me.
I've partitioned external SDcard with CWM to be used for Link2SD. Link2SD's script works fine and the EXT2 partition mounts well. The problem is with the FAT32 partition which can't be mounted by android (I get "SD card empty of file system damaged" in the notification area). When I go in CWM recovery mode I can mount that partition by choosing "mount USB storage" option and then I can see it on my PC. Partition is healthy and PC has no problems with it.
I've tried issuing commands you've suggested in your post through ADB SHELL, after that when I go to folder that I've designated as mount point I can see files from non-working partitio, but the message in notification area still persist. Also the change is not permanent, after reboot I have to do that again.
Thanks in advance for any help given.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my situation (SD-card with two partitions, both vfat) the first partition automatically was mounted at start-up, the second needed to be mounted manually whenever I wanted to access it. This was also my intention as that second partition contains sensitive information.
Android has a file fstab.<system-id> in the root directory, in which some mounts are mentioned (but not all).
You could try to edit this file with the permanent mounts you are looking for. I'm not sure if that works, however, as I do not want a permanent mount.
Can you publish your results, please?
Bananiel
Finally!
I managed to get my external partitions visible with the help of this post.
Device: Samsung Galaxy Tab2 10.1
ROM: Candy5_p5110 Android 5.1.1
SDExternal: 2 Partitions; 1st VFAT, 2nd Ext3
Using Mount2Sd from Google Playstore.
I had the same mounting issues. SD external would only mount Partition 1 automatically and manually mounting Partition 2 would only be visible via Terminal.
The solution that finally fixed the invisible 2nd Partition was to reformat the 2nd Partition with Ext3 and allowing Mount2Sd to find it and mount to /sd-ext. Formatting to vfat or ext4 did not work. Only Ext3 did the trick.
I hope this helps others and big thanks to the OP for bringing this issue up.
Idea abandoned. Reason - "The old vold supports vfat/ext2/ext3 filesystem, but the new vold only supports vfat filesystem. This is because Android frameworks does not support sdcard mounted on other filesystems. Even we can forcely mount an ext2/ext3 filesystem as the sdcard, it doesn't work well in some situations. So we decide to stop supporting them unless AOSP changes."
I was bored so I figured out in half an hour how to reformat the SDCard as ext2/3/4 instead of FAT32. From what I know, ext2 is much faster and more reliable than FAT32 but I still need to do some SDCard benchmarks to compare (e.g. in antuntu).
Current issues:
Vold in Turbo UI does not understand non-VFAT partition and won't mount it on startup (nor after UMS disable). Once you've setup the SDCard as ext2, you need to go to shell and run these commands to get SDCard mounted:
Code:
mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /sdcard
vold
The first command mounts SDCard, the second seems to refresh vold and actually make the OS recognize that it's inserted. If you use an init.d script to mount sdcard like that first command, there is no need for vold (until you use UMS). This would not matter for ROM's in MTP mode.
Setting up SDCard as ext2:
Note that I chose ext2 as it is the most compatible/stable in Windows. More below.
(1) Backup the SDCard, obviously.
(2) Boot to recovery, unmount sdcard, go in to ADB shell
(3) Format first SDCard partition as Windows-compatible ext2 like so:
Code:
mke2fs -m 0 -I 128 -T ext2 /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
(4) (Windows users) Install "Ext2 IFS" from http://www.fs-driver.org (Yes, works on x64 Windows too).
- install with all defaults
- Check "assign drive letter automatically" when prompted with the Drive Letters screen
(5) Profit.
What's next?
While researching this, I found that CM9/CM10 Vold code was patched already to support ext4 filesystems. However this is ext2 so I am not sure it works. I would move to ext4, but there is no write-access driver or software for Windows that works reliably with ext4. Ext2 IFS however is widely regarded as very reliable these days.
I'll check it out more when I get some time and my Linux machine is finished (to compile a vold that supports ext2-4 and not just 4). But I'm making his thread now so other hackers can try it out, benchmark, or share ideas.
Cheers.
Grrr.... CM7 had ext fs support in vold and it was merged, but CyanogenMod rejected it in CM9 and CM10. Wtf?
Looks like I will have to edit vold sources and rebuild myself. But since I only do Jellybean work I don't know how to handle this....
...the only other alternative is that ext# SDCard has MTP as a requirement. Then I could have the SDCard mounted manually in kernel and vold would not complain. The SDCard is not unmounted in MTP transfer, so it would be usable - with the one exception of requiring a reboot if the user manually unmounts or removes the SDCard.
R: [DEV][MOD][WIP] Format SDCard as ext2 (instead of FAT32)
so it is possible to have the sdcard partition in ext? I have tried one year ago and if I remember correctly cm7 doesn't support it (or maybe it was a stock based rom, too much time passed ), but for people like me that use Windows veeeery rarely would be great, ext2 or ext3 are better than fat32 (ext4 for what I've seen is less reliable in this case)
Inviato dal mio Nexus 7 con Tapatalk 2
[email protected] said:
so it is possible to have the sdcard partition in ext? I have tried one year ago and if I remember correctly cm7 doesn't support it (or maybe it was a stock based rom, too much time passed ), but for people like me that use Windows veeeery rarely would be great, ext2 or ext3 are better than fat32 (ext4 for what I've seen is less reliable in this case)
Inviato dal mio Nexus 7 con Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, very possible. The instructions here all work well if the ROM has MTP mode. Because Vold cannot remount ext after UMS is enabled. So for Linux users with poor MTP support, that's still painful.....
My main concern right now is that ext2 seems to be more vulnerable to filesystem errors. Unlike FAT32, there is no quick/easy way to check if the filesystem needs repair. Not that I know of anyway.
So, I think I am going to abandon this. It might be why CyanogenMod rejected it.