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Root Link2sd partitioning sd card from mac

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lilrob1213

Well-Known Member
So, I really want to use Link2sd. I've heard great things! Only problem is that I have a macbook pro and apparently no software is made for it. I've been researching for about half the day, but I have only found bits and pieces as to what I need to do. I need to partition my sd card to FAT32 I believe, but unlike pc's, I can't find software for a mac for this. Can somebody help please? Thanks, very much appreciated!
 
Hey lilrob1213. I'm going to move this to the All Things Root sub-forum where it will get the most attention by those that can help you.
Okie Dokie

P.S. left you a message in the BACKside thread.
 
You don't need any special software. I partitioned my sd card on my Mac using Disk Utility.

Create a FAT32 partition named Primary1 and size it to about 90% of your sd card's capacity.

Create a second FAT32 partition named Primary2 using the remaining space. Link2SD will find this partition and make use of it.
 
If your using an iho rom or harmonia you can partition using your recovery it will partition to ext4. It's under advanced. Select the size you want the ext from the list then in the next option select 0kb then ok then it will take a minute or two just wait until it's done and now your partitioned. That's the way I just used to partition when I upgraded my sd card. Real simple to do. You may want to make a backup of what's on your card to your computer before partitioning in case of unforseen problems.
 
Depending on your recovery, you can't select the size of the partition. With CWM it makes the partition 500megs period.
 
Michael323 said:
You don't need any special software. I partitioned my sd card on my Mac using Disk Utility.

Create a FAT32 partition named Primary1 and size it to about 90% of your sd card's capacity.

Create a second FAT32 partition named Primary2 using the remaining space. Link2SD will find this partition and make use of it.
Click to expand...

Okay, so I'm new to my mac as well as this phone and rooting business, but can you give me exact steps on how to accomplish this partition stuff? Thanks!
 
lilrob1213 said:
Okay, so I'm new to my mac as well as this phone and rooting business, but can you give me exact steps on how to accomplish this partition stuff? Thanks!
Click to expand...


I'm not at my Mac now so I can't be exact, but basically, assuming the micro sd card is mounted, open Disk Utility. On the left side of the Disk Utility window, you should see the name of the sd card (manufacturer name, or it may just say Untitled). You can follow the help within Disk Utility for info on partitioning, or you can google for info on partitioning with Disk Utility.
 
I figured out how to partition through my cwm recovery under advanced now I have a second partition in EXT3 and it's about 3.5 GB I think?
 
Now go to the sticky all things root guide and go macfetts link2sd tutorial and fallow that starting after the creating partition part where you download and install link2sd. After you've done those steps let me know if you have any more issues I'll help you out.
 
Sweet! I think I'm good now! Everything seems to be running smoothly. What does creating a link do? Should I ONLY create links or should I move them to sd too? It freed up a ton of space! :)

EDIT: Is it good to have FAT? I could only get it in EXT3. What is the difference? lol
 
I gave you a detailed explanation of your first question in the tutorial. As for the format stock and froyo uses fat but gingerbread such as the backside rom uses ext.
 
dell1015 said:
hi where can I get mac os disk utility for parting my sd card? thank you for your help
Click to expand...

You can find it using spotlight (it comes on your mac) OR on your desktop at the top of the menu where it says finder, select go, then select utilities from the drop down menu, and select disk utility.

I actually ended up just partitioning my sd card through the recovery menu under advanced. Hope this helps! :)
 
So, just completed this on my Mac 10.11 with an LG tablet and 32GB microSD card. I had a bunch of stuff moved over to my SDCARD already, but hadn't created the ext4 partition beforehand.

Since this was the most inspiring article in my research to solve this problem, I figured I'd chime in here with what worked for me.

Here're my steps:
  1. Connect microSD card to Mac, then use Disk Utility to create a disk image from existing data as a backup
  2. Open Terminal (from Utilities folder), then use the built-in "diskutil" command:
    diskutil partitionDisk /dev/disk2 MBR FAT32 "NO NAME" 0g
    1. NOTE: You may want to ensure that the proper volume (i.e. /dev/disk2) is valid for you. Do this by first running diskutil list, which will list all volumes currently mounted to your system.
    2. NOTE: It took me a while to understand to use MBR in that command, instead of GPT. Don't use GPT.
    3. NOTE: All this does is properly format your sdcard, but there's more to do!
  3. Install Aparted (link to store) on your mobile device.
  4. Insert (and mount) your sdcard into your mobile device.
  5. Use the "Tools" tab in Aparted, and check the first partition.
  6. Select "Resize" in the dropdown menu, then tap "Apply".
  7. Enter "8000" for the size, or whatever size you want.
  8. Tap "Apply Changes".
  9. Check the second partition.
  10. Select "Create" in the dropdown menu, then tap "Apply".
  11. Enter "32000" for the end of the partition, or whatever you want.
  12. Tap "Apply Changes".
    1. NOTE: At this point, you should have your sdcard with two empty partitions, where the first one is fat32 and the second is ext4
  13. Unmount your sdcard, then insert it back into your Mac.
  14. Mount your sdcard (it will probably automount both volumes of your sdcard).
  15. Mount your backup disk image (created in step 1).
  16. Drag the contents of your backup image to your empty partition (named "NO NAME").
    1. IMPORTANT: There's an invisible folder named ".android_secure", which contains the contents of all the apps previously moved to the SDCARD using the native AppsSD feature in Android Settings. If you don't move this folder (or more importantly, its contents), then you will have to reinstall each app previously moved.
    2. NOTE: This was a funky time for me... I thought I had lost everything until I copied over the contents of ".android_secure". It seemed hit-or-miss about whether my previously installed apps would come back. They seem to all have come back, but I can't guarantee that this will feel, well, confident.
  17. Restart your mobile device.
When it reboots, you should have your mobile device back to your starting point, but with an ext4 partition available for use with Link2SD. You will (hopefully) have all your previously installed apps still available.

I'm going through the learning process of Link2SD, and it seems that I'll have to move apps that I originally used App2SD for back to my device, and then use Link2SD for the sweet stuff.

There may be variations in these instructions when you do this yourself. I wrote much of this from recent recollection, but I also did a bunch of trial-and-error.

URLs that helped include:
HTH,

--Burt
 
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