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Root Partition SDcard but already have custom rom installed

MarmiteX1

MarmiteX1

Well-Known Member
Hi there,

I am hav been using Oxygen ROM for a while and my internal storage is decreasing. The HTC Desire is S-ON. I have old clorkworkmod recovery which i got from using Unrevoked.

I have a SD Card installed with some apps on it e.g Angry birds etc.

I would like to partition my sd card and increase my internal storage. I have a 8GB Sd card.

COuld anyone provide me/refer me to a guide please?

Secondly, I have backed up all my apps using Titantium Backup. How would i restore them after partitioning my sd card?

Thanks in advance,
 
Go to the root forum and read the root memory faq, linked from the All Things Root Guide sticky post. That will tell you how to do this.

You should back up your sd card (including files and folders starting with "." ) before partitioning.

Ti's backup is stored on the sd card, so backing card up backs that up too.
 
Thanks, i've backed up all the contents of my sdcard onto an externa hdd.

But i am confused what to do now because according to the guide it says "Make sure you have moved all SD Apps back to internal memory first. The "Move to SD" option will be redundant so you must undo this.".

Now will this involve uninstalling some apps because not all of them will be able to fit on the internal storage?

Secondly, do i need to wipe then reinstall my ROM after i have followed GParted instructions or is that for first time users who want to install a custom rom?

Thanks in advance,
 
It will still work with some apps moved to SD, and you can move them to phone after partitioning (which will actually move them to the ext partition), so don't worry about that.

As for the other, I honestly don't know with the Oxygen a2sd script. If they used DarkTremor I could answer it (the answer would be no, you can just initialise it after installation) but Oxygen uses its own version.

What I'd suggest is:

* take a nandroid, if you haven't, and back that up off the card as well. This is just a precaution.
* partition sd card
* restore sd contents to the card (including nandroids)
* reboot phone

If apps move to SD, then you're fine. If they do not, do a wipe and restore from Ti (or you can uninstall and restore apps individually, if you don't want to restore ROM settings). Should work.

One other thing: by default Oxygen does not move the Dalvik cache. There's a patch you can flash to make it do so. If you are S-On this will probably be worth doing. Flash the patch after partitioning, wipe dalvik, reboot. You can do this after the main a2sd thing if you prefer to do things one at a time.

Edit: the Oxygen dalvik to ext patch is here.
 
Hadron said:
It will still work with some apps moved to SD, and you can move them to phone after partitioning (which will actually move them to the ext partition), so don't worry about that.

As for the other, I honestly don't know with the Oxygen a2sd script. If they used DarkTremor I could answer it (the answer would be no, you can just initialise it after installation) but Oxygen uses its own version.

What I'd suggest is:

* take a nandroid, if you haven't, and back that up off the card as well. This is just a precaution.
* partition sd card
* restore sd contents to the card (including nandroids)
* reboot phone

If apps move to SD, then you're fine. If they do not, do a wipe and restore from Ti (or you can uninstall and restore apps individually, if you don't want to restore ROM settings). Should work.

One other thing: by default Oxygen does not move the Dalvik cache. There's a patch you can flash to make it do so. If you are S-On this will probably be worth doing. Flash the patch after partitioning, wipe dalvik, reboot. You can do this after the main a2sd thing if you prefer to do things one at a time.

Edit: the Oxygen dalvik to ext patch is here.
Click to expand...

Thanks, regarding restore contents to the card, do i need to copy all the files to a specific folder on my sdcard after partioning?

Secondly, regarding the dalvik to ext patch do i have to flash the script before i put my apps back on?

Thanks,
 
Copy the card contents back to where they came from. A PC cannot even see that the ext partition exist, so it's just like copying back to the original card, just the card will appear to be smaller.

I don't think it's so important with the dalvik to ext. You can flash it first, or you can set your apps up, then go into recovery, flash the patch, wipe dalvik, then reboot. That should do the job just fine.
 
Hi i've tried to do the partitioning of the card but i dont know if it has worked.
This is because when i rebooted the phone i have noticed the internal storage has slightly increased.

When i connected my device to the pc, all of the data was still there on the sdcard.

I did notice one thing when i started GParted. It had an unallocated partition of 14MB which i dont know where it came from so i left that alone.

I then saw the FAT32 partition and resized it according to the instructions. I chose 550MB. It created another unallocated space when i then right clicked on > selected New > Selected EXT of my choice e.g Ext3. Then applied the changes.

What are your thoughts on the above? Did i do anything wrong? I am going to flash the script and report back.

Edit:
I have flashed the script and it says i have 124MB remaining(is this right?) and 24mb used up (Internal Storage). I will move the apps onto the internal storage.
 
OK, if flashing the dalvik to ext thing increased your space then I guess the partition is working.

Fire up Titanium, and you should see 4 lines of storage statistics at the bottom of the entry page, one of which will be for your partition (can't remember whether it calls it ext partition or a2sd storage, but it should be there). That will tell you how much is being used. I find the app Quick System Info useful for this type of thing.
 
I have fired up titantium backup and here are the stats:
System Rom: 262MB(162MB free)
Internal: 154MB(120MB free)
Sdcard: 7.43GB(3.96GB free)
SDCard(a2sd): 567MB(401MB free)

How come the last line doesnt match to what i chose? ie i chose 550MB but thats showing 567MB?

Lastly, if i wanted to flash another rom would my ext3 remain but no content in that partition?

Thanks in advance,
 
In titanium, Preferences -> Gui Preferences -> Show sizes in binary units.

Otherwise you get them in the same decimal units that card manufacturers misleadingly use when quoting card capacity. That's also why your System ROM is 262 rather than 250 and your internal is 154 rather than 147.

In binary units, as used by computers, 1 GB = 2^30 Bytes (so 1024*1024*1024). A decimal GB is 10^9 bytes, which is 7% smaller, so capacities quoted in decimal units look larger. That's why the people who make cards and discs prefer to use decimal units, and since these are intended for use in computing devices that's why I call this misleading at best, dishonest being a better work (in other words, it's marketing.
 
If you flash another ROM, then the ext3 partition will be used by that ROM as long as it has an a2sd script (so not dGB, but most others). The partition will be there whether the ROM uses it or not, but when you wipe the phone before flashing the ROM the partition will be wiped too.

A nandroid will also back up your ext partition (on CWM or 4Ext - I think Amon Ra has options to include it or not).
 
Thanks for that Hadron, i've flashed the ICS rom from sandvold. Its really good! obviously its still in beta so it will need improvements but i really like progress it is making.
 
That's great. It is impressive what he's been able to do.

BTW I assume you've seen the red notice? If you are reading via a mobile app, then change your forum password (see sticky post in Site Announcements forum).
 
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