Root SD card questions

[joeponce16]

alright so i've had my phone for a few days and i've already done alot of stuff to it. i've rooted it, added plenty of apps, change the look of it, etc. so now im tryin to be able to save apps on my memory card so i can have more room on my phone. i've got the process done, but no i'm coming to the partion part. i wasn't aware that i'd have to completely erase it in order to partion it. i've already backed it up and saved what i had on my computer, so i wont lose my pictures and videos i made. but my question is, so everything else on my phone be safe? the apps, the customization, etc? it probably sounds stupid, but i'd hate to have to start that all over......

 

[KOLIO]

If you have TITANIUM BACK-UP PRO,or,a similar app,you should be safe w/saving your apps.Just to be safe,send a list of your apps to your G-MAIL ACCT.,using the feature to do so in TIBU,just in case.
Depending on which launcher you're using,you should be safe if it has its own back-up feature.I have LAUNCHER PRO PLUS & didn't lose anything from my desktop when I partitioned my SDcard.

 

[Anduiril]

alright so i've had my phone for a few days and i've already done alot of stuff to it. i've rooted it, added plenty of apps, change the look of it, etc. so now im tryin to be able to save apps on my memory card so i can have more room on my phone. i've got the process done, but no i'm coming to the partion part. i wasn't aware that i'd have to completely erase it in order to partion it. i've already backed it up and saved what i had on my computer, so i wont lose my pictures and videos i made. but my question is, so everything else on my phone be safe? the apps, the customization, etc? it probably sounds stupid, but i'd hate to have to start that all over......[/QUOTE

you should be fine as long as you backed up your sd card on your computer you can put everything back on after you format it.
The customization stuff is in the phone.

 

[Gmash]

Yeah, since you haven't moved the apps to the sd yet, they will still be on the phone. If you got them from the market, the market will remember you anyway.

 

[stamper]

I have rooted my Ascend. Added CWM Recovery 3.0.2.8, TiBU, AndRootFile, Z4Root, SU. Flashed phone over to CM7 from Issac's 05092011 build. Added GAPPS, and MetrOFF. I did not reformat / repartition the SD card. I did back it up onto my pc before doing any of the mods.

Almost everything is working except for when I connect the phone to my Windows Vista laptop via the USB cable. When it was on the MetroPCS 2.1 build it would open the PCOptions.exe popup and allow me to move data back and forth from the card / laptop. NOW, it comes up as a cd rom drive and a DUMMY file. Sometimes it lets me see the contents but on the few occasions when it has done that I am not able to write to the card while it is in the phone. I get a message that the disk is write protected.

I want to be able to use either App2SD or Link2SD and from what reading I have done, I understand that I am supposed to reformat the SD card and put 3 partitions on it. A FAT32 partition, a EXT2, and an EXT3 as a swap file.

Here is where I hit a roadblock. I am new to working on phones and not sure how to get the SD card partitioned.
Should I just use the CWM and reformat the card?
Is there a 3rd party free app I can use to format and make the partitions?
Can I do the formatting / partitioning from inside of Windows Vista?
Once I get this done can I move my copied data/images/music that is on the laptop back to the FAT32 partition and all work normally?

I think I leaning towards using Link2SD over App2SD. From what I have researched not all apps will work with App2SD. I have read some confusing posts regarding the CM7 build and using the A2SD that is built into the build. Does that A2SD allow any / all apps and cache and Davlik cache to be moved to the SD card even though the Market's App2SD says only certain apps will work from their program? I understand that Link2SD will move and run apps / cache / davlik cache from the SD card. Is that true.

I have tried to search out these answers here, as well as looking at PrePaidAndroids.net and general google searches. There are as many different answers as there are posts and I am not able to find a consistent answer amongst the threads and web returns so I am asking here, in one post, hoping to get a consensus of opinion, to the questions I have asked.

Thanks in advance.
Stamper / newbie to Android phones and modding.

 

[stamper]

If I am not phrasing my questions properly, could someone please let me know. I am farily new, Very new actually, and want to learn more about this. I am wanting to correctly fix the issues as hand.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I have read the guides as well. If it weren't for them I would never even attempted the upgrade. Thanks to everyones work.

 

[MoneyHoarder87]

If I am not phrasing my questions properly, could someone please let me know. I am farily new, Very new actually, and want to learn more about this. I am wanting to correctly fix the issues as hand.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I have read the guides as well. If it weren't for them I would never even attempted the upgrade. Thanks to everyones work.

For the write protected problem, you need to get the drivers for the phone and put them on your computer. The original stock rom had the drivers but when you flashed they are no longer on the phone. I will try to answer the rest of your questions in a bit. FYI not to be rude but you have a shot gun blast of questions in one comment and it is very long. A lot of people do not like to read so you may want to try to condense your problems into a few sentences.

 

[MoneyHoarder87]

CM7 already has apps2sd with no need to partition anything. Unless you plan on hoarding hundreds of apps, it will work fine on moving the majority of you apps. But if you do decide to take the other route you can partition with cwm or on your computer. I don't think you can move the dalvik with apps2sd and i have no experience with Links2Sd to give a definitive answer about it. Additional info on partitioning with vista, it won't allow you to do it without using a program like Mini Tool Partition or a similar type program.

 

[stamper]

Thanks for the response. I am still fighting with the sd card issues on my laptop.
I did get a new 8GB SD card thinking that might work as the first card was moved from my old Samsung Caliber phone to the M860 Ascend and never formatted.
I formatted and partitioned the new card using CWM and set up a 2gb partition and a 512mb swap.

new card is working fine, but still having the same issue on my laptop. I have created a seperate thread on that issue.

Going to try the link2sd and see how that works.

 

[reggjoo]

Had same problem, you should back up everything to your computer, totally use clockworkmod format options(delete everthing on sd), dowload fresh roms, and gapps, reflash, my cell connects without a pcoptions step. The android screen on cell is only step that you ahould have.

 

[nuttmeg]

Thanks for the response. I am still fighting with the sd card issues on my laptop.
I did get a new 8GB SD card thinking that might work as the first card was moved from my old Samsung Caliber phone to the M860 Ascend and never formatted.
I formatted and partitioned the new card using CWM and set up a 2gb partition and a 512mb swap.

new card is working fine, but still having the same issue on my laptop. I have created a seperate thread on that issue.

Going to try the link2sd and see how that works.

i just formated my sdcard and didnt partition it, and i can still move my a2sd...

 

[amna]

Hey all,
Can any body tell me what are the differences between SD simplified specifications and original specifications?
I m a software development engineer.I m working on SDIO card driver. I ve simplified specification which is freely available on SD association site. The original specification costs 4000 $ . So i need to know what are the major differences between these two specs.
Regards
Amna