[Q] SD card file-system and the 2GB per file limitation - Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet

As far as I know the SD is formatted as Fat32 and we are limited according to its specs. It means we can't write a file larger than 2GB on it.
Is there any way to format an SD card for Nook as NTFS, ext2, ext3 or anything R/W supported in Windows or OS X natively (or with additional drivers)?

nook_lover said:
Is there any way to format an SD card for Nook as NTFS, ext2, ext3 or anything R/W supported in Windows or OS X natively (or with additional drivers)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Windows supports two filesystems: fat, and ntfs.
Of those two, Android only supports fat.
So... no.

cfoesch said:
Windows supports two filesystems: fat, and ntfs.
Of those two, Android only supports fat.
So... no.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a shame. I was downloading a video file larger than 2GB and then my Nook suddenly got rebooted and I realized about the limitation...

And the file size limit is not 2gb but 4gb

Montisaquadeis said:
And the file size limit is not 2gb but 4gb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so it's Fat32 then? not Fat.

Montisaquadeis said:
And the file size limit is not 2gb but 4gb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok. 2gb is for fat and 4gb is for fat32 I guess.

cfoesch said:
Windows supports two filesystems: fat, and ntfs.
Of those two, Android only supports fat.
So... no.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Window also supports exFAT with file size limit, which is exceeding contemporary mobile storage devices maximum capacity, but, unfortunately, Android doesn't support this file system.
As an alternative, I've tried formating my SD to ext4(Ext2Fsd allows to mount ext2-3-4 partitions on Windows), but NT didn't recognize it.
I found a utility called Drive Mount, it can mount storage device with FAT/NTFS/EXT file systems, but it doesn't support Android 2.x.
I also tried to mount my SD manually, but Nook Tablet handles SD card in a way unfamiliar to me.
If you insert FAT formatted SD card, then NT will mount SD(block device /dev/block/vold/179:17), but if you insert ext4 formatted card(I bet the same goes for ext3 and ext2 too), then NT will not mount anything and /dev/block/vold/179:17 will be inaccessible(the device still will be at /dev/block/vold, but both cat and mount will tell you that there is no such device or address).
UPDATE
I was able to mount ext4 formated SD card via /dev/block/mmcblk1p1
NT thinks that SD card is blank or has unsupported file system, but it is fully accessible for both read and write.
So if you desperately want to watch some 4+Gb video, you need to format SD to ext2/3/4 and mount it to some empty folder on your NT internal partition, I wouldn't recommend using /mnt/sdcard, though.
If somebody interested, I can make a step-by-step instruction for Windows users.

Related

[Q] File system formats

I've been trying to format my 32GB sdcard to a filesystem that can read files over 4GB. Main reason being I use HDMI connection to view 1080p movies on TV.
Anyway, I've tried EXT2, 3, 4, NTFS, exFAT, and all of them come up with the "broken sdcard" message from android when I try to mount the sdcard.
I'm using kernel version 2.6.32.59-MB860-MROM and using the lastest MROM based off CM7. Anyone have any insight on where I can go from here? Thanks.
The whole entire Android system assumes the user storage (internal or external) is formatted as FAT32. This is much harder to change than you think. A simple reformat won't do.
You need to have at least part of your SD card to be FAT32 because many applications are using it to store configuration and data. You can have two partitions on your SD card, but I am not sure if video player will be able to use any partitions other than FAT32.
I found a way to format my external 32GB sdcard to NTFS and still have it mounted on the phone. Pretty easy actually. I'll post it here for those that might be interested:
-Used Paragon Partition Manager 12 on my Windows machine to format my external SD to NTFS
-Atrix wasn't reading the card so I tried a program called Paragon exFAT, NTFS, & HFS+ by Paragon Software. Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/...251bGwsMSwxLDMsImNvbS5wYXJhZ29uLm1vdW50ZXIiXQ..
-Paragon was not able to mount my sdcard automatically as it just gave me an error, so what I did with the rom im using was mount manually to /mnt/sdcard-ext. Should be good to go after this.
Been using it for a few days and everything is working well so far. Only annoying thing is everytime I connect by usb to my comp and enable usb storage I have to manually remount once I disconnect.

[Q] Is ext4 file system supported for external 64Gb SD card?

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.
Click to expand...
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.

[Q] Dell Venue 7 SD card file system

Hi guys,
I want my Venue 7 support NTFS or EXT4 file system so I could download game matches (videos) larger than 4GB.
I found apps like Paragon NTFS/HFS+ but it doesn't work on my tablet even if I have it rooted and granted this app superuser assess. When a 32GB NTFS SD card is inserted, this app simply tell me no NTFS/HFS+ partition found and the OS warned me that a blank SD card is detected or unsupported file system detected and want me to perform format/erase. After formatting the SD card was with FAT32 file system and that's not I want. Sarcastically this app works on my low end Samsung phone and that phone could read 32GB SD card with NTFS format with the help of this app. So as the same for EXT4 file system
So my problem is: could anyone get a SD card with NTFS/EXT4 file system works on this tablet. I wanna download World Cup matches cuz I work while the game is going on Thanks for anyone's help.
maxime506 said:
Hi guys,
I want my Venue 7 support NTFS or EXT4 file system so I could download game matches (videos) larger than 4GB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have checked and I have bad news for you:
1. The tablet has built-in support in kernel for following filesystems:
Code:
ext2
ext3
ext4
vfat
msdos
fuseblk
So and NFTS, exFAT are out of question, unless we add the support through fuse (ntfs-3g?) or as a module (it would require current kernel source which I am not sure we have).
Also, when I format the first partition of an SD-card to EXT3/4 which it supports, the card is not be mounted, even with permissions for anybody to write set.
You could of course create a second partition, use some tool like to mount it automatically and another to map the directory to an actual directory on SD-card, but that would still require root and would be complicated.
In short, the answer is no, it is not possible right now.

help format internal sdcard (24gb) to ext4?

I recently tried decompressing a file that was just under 4gb to the internal sdcard. the decompression stopped at 52% (about 2gb) Think it's a fat32 file sytem with 2gb file limit. . booting to recovery and using ubuntu I can only connect via mtp from the mounts menu. Gparted cannot see the device. I'm thinking gparted does not view mtp as a local block device. any ideas how to format the 24gb internal sdcard to ext4 or reasons why I shouldn't ? thanks.
rp201 said:
I recently tried decompressing a file that was just under 4gb to the internal sdcard. the decompression stopped at 52% (about 2gb) Think it's a fat32 file sytem with 2gb file limit. . booting to recovery and using ubuntu I can only connect via mtp from the mounts menu. Gparted cannot see the device. I'm thinking gparted does not view mtp as a local block device. any ideas how to format the 24gb internal sdcard to ext4 or reasons why I shouldn't ? thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MTP is a real PITA, imho. I'm pretty sure that GParted would not recognize an MTP or PTP connected device as local block storage; the device handles its own disk management with these protocols.
How were you decompressing the file to the device? It might be better to decompress on your Ubuntu box, then transfer the file through MTP, ADB push, or cloud storage service.
Do you have enough storage available on the destination device to accommodate the decompressed file size? Try this in a terminal on the device:, look at the line for either /sdcard in TWRP or /data in the ROM, respectively.
Code:
df
Have you tried going into either an ADB shell or terminal session on the device to check the file system type?
If you are in TWRP, what is the output of the following in the device terminal?:
Code:
mount | grep /sdcard
Can you still get into a ROM? If you are there, what is the output of the following in an terminal or ADB shell?:
Code:
mount | grep /data
Thanks for responding. I can't say I diddn't think of decompressing on the pc and then transfering but I just felt like moving down the path of converting to ext2 for it's resiliency . as far as space available I had at least 12gb. Im also running multi-rom and I also kinda wanted to see how that was going to work out. The multirom directory contents are not visible from the internal rom they can only be seen from recovery and copied there.
rp201 said:
Thanks for responding. I can't say I diddn't think of decompressing on the pc and then transfering but I just felt like moving down the path of converting to ext2 for it's resiliency . as far as space available I had at least 12gb. Im also running multi-rom and I also kinda wanted to see how that was going to work out. The multirom directory contents are not visible from the internal rom they can only be seen from recovery and copied there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting... EXT2? The only application I have seen that for recently is a dual boot scenario where Win7 and Linux share a common data partition and you want to use something better than FAT or NTFS. EXT4 is journalled and is more the standard of late, for most partitions under Linux.
Not sure Android even supports EXT2 and even if it does, how would you go about formatting an internal sdcard partition to it. I have used Gparted to redo external cards in a card reader, but how would you do the internal partition, especially since it seems to be mounted at /data/media and /data is ext4?
epidenimus said:
Interesting... EXT2? The only application I have seen that for recently is a dual boot scenario where Win7 and Linux share a common data partition and you want to use something better than FAT or NTFS. EXT4 is journalled and is more the standard of late, for most partitions under Linux.
Not sure Android even supports EXT2 and even if it does, how would you go about formatting an internal sdcard partition to it. I have used Gparted to redo external cards in a card reader, but how would you do the internal partition, especially since it seems to be mounted at /data/media and /data is ext4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2126363
netookska05 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2126363
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right.... I am familiar with that...
Internal /sdcard/ is not a physical MicroSD card, nor is it mountable as USB storage media, to my knowledge, just as an MTP/PTP or ADB device through the ROM or TWRP, respectively. That is why I am asking why and how you might go about formatting it to ext2. Not that it's impossible, just don't see why you'd want to do that...
reason for formatting to ext4... (I mistakenly wrote ext2 instead of ext4 on my previous post)
1. to possibly solve file size limitations of 2gb for fat32,
2. ext4 (yes ext4 not ext2) is a journald file system
3. it would give my phone wings as if I poured redbull on it. (not really... I just needed a 3rd reason)
My phone is 32gb. I believe it is 8gb emmc and 24gb sdcard_internal. (I also have an Sdcard_external which is the removable micro sdcard but I'm not asking about that) Doing this ext4 formatting May be more of a hassle with permissions issues when running multiple roms anyways. if it can't be done then no biggie. I was wondering if twrp or philz had the capability
rp201 said:
reason for formatting to ext4... (I mistakenly wrote ext2 instead of ext4 on my previous post)
My phone is 32gb. I believe it is 8gb emmc and 24gb sdcard_internal. (I also have an Sdcard_external which is the removable micro sdcard but I'm not asking about that) Doing this ext4 formatting May be more of a hassle with permissions issues when running multiple roms anyways. if it can't be done then no biggie. I was wondering if twrp or philz had the capability
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ext4 makes far more sense. Not that there isn't a part of me that now wants to figure out how to make it ext2, just for the exercise....
You still didn't answer my original troubleshooting questions though... What happens when you try the df and mount commands I referenced? This may be a moot point after that.
Here u go
Alright, this is telling me that the /data partition, where the internal SD card is mounted, is already ext4. It has 6 GB free.
I am unable to see the filesystem on the external SD card with this output, but it has just 3.5 GB free.
So again, I think you would need to decompress the file on the Ubuntu box, determine its uncompressed file size, then transfer. Depending on the compression ratio, you may be over the 6 GB. Either way, you are cutting very close and not allowing much room for new software or local files.
Can you guys speak in English please
Can I or can I not claim all of the 30 GB of storage
Thnx

4GB file size limit

I've been trying to download some some files larger than 4GB. I downloaded them from MEGA but when it finishes the download, the downloaded file is just 4GB when the actual file is like 5.1GB.
I now this happens when trying to copy these kind fo files to the SD card. But why does it happens with the internal storage?
I have more that 14GB of storage free, so that shouldn't be a problem. The file system the data partition is formatted to is ext4.
Is there a way to fix this?
Isley_ said:
I've been trying to download some some files larger than 4GB. I downloaded them from MEGA but when it finishes the download, the downloaded file is just 4GB when the actual file is like 5.1GB ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4GB is a fat32 limit. I doubt whether it is a mere coincidence that your files just happen to be limited to that size. Check carefully the format of your internal storage very carefully - it may well be fat32, even though you think it is ext4. If it is ext4, only linux-based OSes will be able to read/write to it (without special drivers).
DarthJabba9 said:
4GB is a fat32 limit. I doubt whether it is a mere coincidence that your files just happen to be limited to that size. Check carefully the format of your internal storage very carefully - it may well be fat32, even though you think it is ext4. If it is ext4, only linux-based OSes will be able to read/write to it (without special drivers).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This app says its ext4. Then what should I do to be able to have files greater than 4GB?
Or is it better to format my SD card?
I just tried formating my SD card to exFAT but my phone doesn't recognize it. It says it's corrupt. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. How do I fix this?
@Isley_ I don't think you should be trying to format your internal storage with external tools. Let the phone format it, and it should recognise it. In fact, I think the internal storage should be left well alone.
DarthJabba9 said:
@Isley_ I don't think you should be trying to format your internal storage with external tools. Let the phone format it, and it should recognise it. In fact, I think the internal storage should be left well alone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is that the phone formats the SD to either FAT32 or VFAT which have a file size limit of 4GB.
Isley_ said:
The problem is that the phone formats the SD to either FAT32 or VFAT which have a file size limit of 4GB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it is a problem. However, not all ROMs support exFAT (probably the problem that you have now run into). You first need to ascertain that your ROM (or kernel) actually supports exFAT. If it does, then you should not have had any problem reading the internal SD.
Perhaps F2FS may be more widely supported, and perhaps this may be a solution to your problem. However, changing your data partition to F2FS will involved losing all your data (including data on the internal SD). I don't have any direct experience with F2FS, so I can't say how helpful it would be in your case. It may come with its own problems. You can experiment with an external microSD card.

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