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Root Link2SD not recognizing 2nd partition ... Anyone know why?

T

Terry15

Newbie
Hello -- First let me thank those who wrote up the tutorial at this site for rooting the Stylo. I used it to successfully to root my device.

Now the problem -- I installed Link2SD, the paid version, and created a 12gb second partition on my 128gb micro sd card, but the app says it cannot see a 2nd partition. The 2nd partition is primary and formatted as EXT2. I have also tested EXT3 and EXT4 and that didn't fix things. The error message I get when I manually try to "Recreate mount scripts" is "Second partition not found"

I am currently using Link2SD on 2 other devices so I am not new to the app.

I have the Boost version of the Stylo, and as many of you know, a big weakness of the device is its limited internal storage. If I can't get Link2SD to work properly, that's almost a deal breaker for me.

Anyone have an idea what the problem is?

Does anyone with the Boost Mobile variant of the Stylo have Link2SD working properly?

I would appreciate any and all ideas.
 
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I have encountered the same problem with Link2SD, also paid version. The problem has been fixed after a couple of trials and errors. I don't know the exact cause but it seems that the way Link2SD works might have made the setup process tedious. It doesn't always work right at the first time for all devices.
 
lvt, do you know exactly what your partition sizes are? All I know is that I've tried this at least 10 times today with the 128gb card and it won't work with the app. I've tried different sizes of partitions, EXT2-3 and 4, and both Easeus partition master as well as Mini Tool Partition Wizard.

I have a feeling it has something to do with the large capacity of the micro sd card. Because I tried a 32gb today and it worked first time. Very first time! I ordered a 64gb card and will try that this week. If I can get it to work with at least 64gb then I'll be happy. But I also emailed the developer so hopefully he will reply soon and have some helpful suggestions. Ideally, I'd still like to get my Stylo working with the 128gb card.
 
I used a 16GB card with the sdext2 set to 4GB, so my problem wasn't the partition sizes. I spent several hours unmounting, mounting, rebooting and formatting the partitions until everything suddenly worked. The first time it worked I had the partitions in reversed order, so I restarted the whole process to fix it.
 
I also tried partitioning inside the phone, using AParted as well as another app. While AParted indicated the correct partitions had been created, nothing changed with Link2SD. It still would not recognize the 2nd partition.

BTW, I am currently using Link2SD on two other devices. Both have 64gb cards. I did not have any problems with Link2SD recognizing the 2nd partition on those cards. And as I said, I tested the Stylo with a 32gb card this past weekend, and also no issues. Only with the 128gb card have I seen issues. So, I think the problems you had may have been different than the one I am seeing now.
 
Maybe you should send them (link2sd) an E-mail about the issue. I wonder whether they have a support forum for their app.
 
lvt said:
Maybe you should send them (link2sd) an E-mail about the issue. I wonder whether they have a support forum for their app.
Click to expand...

Yes, I already did. I found the developer's email address and emailed him even before I posted here. But sometimes developers only respond when the email message is sent by clicking a button from within the app itself. And I don't have my email set up on the Stylo yet. I am doing that today so if I don't hear from him by then, I will send him another email.
 
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glc said:
Did you check the SD card with SD Insight to make sure it is not counterfeit?
Click to expand...

No, not with Insight. But I did test with H2testw the day I received it from Newegg last April. And it was bought directly from Newegg, not one of their marketplace sellers who I usually avoid. Moreover, the card has been in use since last April in my Asus convertible laptop without any issues. So I know it's a legit card. It's an Adata card.

I think there might be something to the statements the manufacturers make about there being capacity limits to external storage for their devices. For example, LG states the Stylo can take up to 32gb. I always thought these were simply outdated and loose guidelines, but maybe not entirely. Someone in the thread about micro card limitations for the Stylo said yesterday it could be chip-based, and that the Stylo doesn't use the most recent chips.

The thing is, the Stylo CAN read the entire 128gb card. It works fine in the Stylo as a single partition card. I just can't get Link2SD to recognize a 2nd partition on it. So I think that Link2SD glitch could be related to that chip-based restriction? Just a guess.
 
DrakenFX said:
@Terry15
Have you try running SDFIX by Nextapp? Give that a shot and let us know
Click to expand...

Well I already had write permission to the card -- and as I said, a 32gb card works fine with Link2SD. But I downloaded SDFIX anyway. Sure enough, when you open it, it tells me that the device already has write permissions to the card.

But thanks for your help. Any other ideas?

Is there anyone using a 128gb card successfully with Link2SD and the Stylo?
 
6th_Hokage said:
use folder mount and the partition has to be named sd-ext and formatted to ext4 and be primary
Click to expand...

I did everything you said -- ext4, primary, and called that partition "sd-ext" -- but no joy. Link2SD still won't recognize that second partition.

Even though my card is legit, I just ordered a new 128gb micro card from Newegg thinking maybe there is something odd about my current one that is causing the issue. I also emailed the developer -- this time after clicking the button from right within the app which appends a log -- so hopefully he will have some answers.

And thank you for writing up the thread on rooting this device. Without root, this device is just too limited. Now it's a great "phablet" at a great price.
 
Thanks, scary alien.

I have not yet found an answer for this issue. The developer for Link2SD has not responded to 2 emails I sent him, and it looks like from comments on Google Play that is a common complaint recently. He is MIA. The new micro sd cards I ordered from Newegg to test out have not arrived yet either.

I discovered a new app in the play store called Apps2SD -- not to be confused with App2SD which is the native android mechanism for moving some parts of apps to the sd card. Apps2SD seems to be very similar to Link2SD and has very good reviews. I installed it, and exactly like Link2SD, it will not recognize the 2nd partition of my 128gb card. I just wrote the developer of that app for help, and maybe I'll get some answers this time.

In the meantime, am still open to any suggestions.
 
I've read the comments left for the apps2SD you mentioned above. It seems that both apps work very similarly and have some common issues.

Whatever app you use, you will have to sacrifice speed because SD cards have much lower read/write speed than the device's memory. Big apps with heavy Internet connection like Facebook must not be moved to SD card.
 
Good news. After a week of fruitless efforts, I finally got the 128gb card to work, thanks to the developer of Apps2SD. He replied back with a suggestion within a day of my emailing him. It ends up the card just needed to be partitioned with GParted using a live linux boot up CD. I didn't have one at the time, but I was able to easily download the ISO image from the web. He also said to use EXT4, but I used EXT2 instead because that's what I am using successfully for Link2SD in my other devices and so far it's working flawlessly in the Stylo. So really, the key in my case was to format it from within Linux using GParted.

There must be something quirky about how Windows handles the formatting of large capacity cards. As I said, I had no issues formatting a 32gb card from within Windows and having the 2nd partition properly recognized by Link2SD and Apps2SD. It was just the 128gb card that wouldn't behave.

So right now, I have the first partition at 106gb and the 2nd partition at a little over 11gb. I am using Link2SD currently because I find it a little more stable and faster than Apps2SD. However Apps2SD does everything Links2SD does, plus more, and it has a nicer interface. It's a relatively new app, so if the developer keeps improving it, I'm definitely going to revisit it in the future. Right now it's free, but the developer will be going to a paid model shortly. Don't know if he'll keep the free version the way it is (with all features enabled) so if anyone wants to try it out, now's a good time to download it.
 
lvt said:
I've read the comments left for the apps2SD you mentioned above. It seems that both apps work very similarly and have some common issues.

Whatever app you use, you will have to sacrifice speed because SD cards have much lower read/write speed than the device's memory. Big apps with heavy Internet connection like Facebook must not be moved to SD card.
Click to expand...

I currently use Links2SD on another LG phone and a rooted Nook tablet. I do not see much slowdown in apps during actual usage. When I first open an app, it may take a tad longer to load up, but once it's open and being used, I cannot tell the app is on the external card. What is much longer with these apps is the bootup of the device. I think Link2SD adds about 30 seconds or more to the entire process. But I don't mind since I can go for days or longer without actually rebooting.

Also, there are certain apps which you can't move entirely with Link2SD or they will stutter or freeze, but so far on my Stylo with Lollipop, I have found that to be the case with only one app -- OneNote. The solution is to just move the apk, dex and lib files and leave the internal data where it is. That solved it for me and this way I can still move over half the size of the app to the external card. With KitKat on my other LG phone, I have moved the entire OneNote app over without any issues. But it won't cooperate in Lollipop.
 
Glad to hear that you solved the problem.

While I enjoyed the convenience of using Link2SD on my old phone, I prefer a different hardware design that allows me to use the entire internal memory to install the apps, like my Nexus 7 (32gb), I can install all the apps I want as long as the memory is available, no external memory is required.
 
lvt, I too would prefer not to have to use an app like Link2SD. But I use my phone heavily as a portable music device and I have roughly 50gb of MP3 files I like to carry around ... plus a lot of eBooks. So a larger screen, generous external storage and removable battery are all important to me. If money were no object, I would have an LG V10 right now, but until my coffers are fuller, I will make do with the modest but pretty capable Stylo.
 
Joshua, you need to boot up using a linux CD that has GParted on it. The ISO image to make the bootable CD can be downloaded from links here: http://gparted.org/download.php

Download the image and burn it to a blank CD or DVD, then boot your PC with it while your card is inserted. If you are on Windows 8 or 10 you might have to temporarily disable Secure Boot in the BIOS settings before you can boot into the CD.

Also, be very very careful in GParted that you have the SD card selected and NOT your hard drive before doing any operation. Otherwise you can do serious harm to your operating system.

Let know if you have any questions.
 
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Quick question to the OP: Are you running on Marshmallow or Lollipop? Been doing some reading here, and at xda developers. Some people say that they have MM on their G Stylo phones, while running root. Just got my phone today, and will test first this evening with a spare 32 GB card. Not going to activate it on Virgin Mobile yet, my current carrier. Thanks for any advice!
 
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