Database Users

APPS2SD Confusion.

From the recovery image to get APPS2SD by simply running the format the SD using Ext2+Swap+fat32 right?
I have a class 6 card. How do I know if this actually works? I formatted and my internals space did not change?
Are there major benefits of doing APPS2SD?

Yes, first format the SD card.
To see if its working,
Check your Settings -> SD card & phone storage -> Internal phone storage. Make note of what it is at. Install some apps, maybe even try reinstalling some of the apps on your phone. Then, check the internal storage again and see if you have some more space.
As for the benefits, it just frees up your internal memory on your phone. I don't think it makes your phone faster or anything.

The question I have about APPS2SD is this. How come when I use it my internal memory drops after I install apps. I have not used it since I had to go back to the original Sprint ROM to do the update and installing the same apps I had before, my internal memory was about the same as it was when I used APPS2SD. I used the recovery screen to format to Fat32-Ext2-Swap and files were on the sd card when I checked, but my internal memory still drops everytime I install something. What is the real benifit of this if the internal memory drops anyway. I am real confused about this and have not decided if it is worth using since I have read it can damage your memory card. Can someone with knowledge of how this works please explain it.
Thx for all the great Info found here.

AppsToSD only puts the apps themselves on the SD. The internal memory is still used by the boot-cache, dalvik-cache, and actual app data like settings, saved games, cache, etc.

Must it be ext3?
What if i have ext2?

rvenes said:
Must it be ext3?
What if i have ext2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If youre using one of the newer recovery images there should be an option to upgrade ext2 to ext3
as for the difference...im not to sure exactly

Tipharet said:
How do I know if this actually works? I formatted and my internals space did not change
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Answer: . . . . .
nelson8403 said:
Just because the apps are installed to the SD card doesn't mean they don't store things on the phone.. cache is stored on the phones, theres a /data/data folder on the phone that the apps populate as well, it just doesn't take AS MUCH space on your phone as a non appstosd
also to make sure your apps are working go into your adb shell, type in
Code:
cd /data/app
pwd
cd /data/app-private
pwd
What this will do is go to your /data/app folder and because with appstosd that is a symbolic link to /system/sd/app the PWD (present working directory) will display /system/sd/app, if PWD shows /data/app you are not running appstosd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

rvenes said:
Must it be ext3?
What if i have ext2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I know it works just fine on ext2.
As far as the difference, the nutshell version is that ext3 is pretty much just ext2 with journaling hacked in. If you don't know that that means, do a google search on "journaling file system".
There should be no downside whatsoever to switching to ext3. It can still be read from and written to by anything that can use ext2, and it adds more robust error recovery.
Caveats: I'm not sure how well, or if, that error recovery works on flash memory devices. My expertise is working with large servers that use hard disks. I also don't know if there are tools in our android builds that take advantage of the benefits that ext3 provides.
Having said that, I'm still confident that choosing to upgrade to ext3 offers NO downside, and while there might also be no upside, there is also the potential for a huge upside.
My advice: Do it.

Partitioning the SD

Can someone please educate me on partitioning the sd? Based on what I've read and my discussions with others, ext swap is for cache, fat32 is for apps, and the remainder is for usb storage???
I have a 8 GB class 6 (supposed to be faster) Samsung sd partioned at ext swap - 0 and fat 32 - 500.
If I'm right about ext swap (please correct me if I'm wrong), I could make my phone faster if I allocated some sd space to it??? One forum I read said that the phone is usually faster but it could have been referring to a different phone and a slower card.
If I did decide to change my partition what affects would it have (wipe sd, reinstall custom rom, etc)?
Thanks for any feedback!

Partitioning the SD card allows you to utilize a2sd/app2sd and/or swap space on your SD card - if the ROM in question supports it.
Note that the ext and swap partitions are separate things, not one and the same thing.
swap is for swap - set it to 0 (you will never need it)
ext{2|3} is for the A2SD/APPS2SD space for storing applications (and dalvik-cache for some ROMs) - 512 MB will be more than you ever need.
the rest is the VFAT partition - the MS-DOS partition you see from your Windoze box when you mount it from the PC.
Note also that partitioning your card destroys all data on it - make a backup if you decide to partition.
Neither A2SD nor having swap space will speed your phone up. (Adding swap - for ROMs which support it - will actually slow your phone down, except certain pathological cases, unless you become an expert on the process trimmer configuration and experiment with swappiness controls. The reason this happens is because the as-configured process trimmer kicks in too late if you merely add swap and do not reconfigure the trimmer).
My recommendation? Keep your life simple and avoid both A2SD and especially use of a swap area on the SD card, until such a time as you "need it". You might find a practical need for A2SD if you are going to be trying out a whole bunch of new ROMs as they come out, or you are an app hoarder and run out of space in /data.
Probably you will never need to use a swap partition on your card.
Again, in neither case will you notice a perceptible gain in "performance" of the phone.
bftb0
PS Josh. Please stop putting usage questions in the Development forum. Please. Put them in the General forum.

Thanks for clearing that up......and i will stop posting in development.

[Q] Partitioning of the SD Card

Hello
I'm posting this because I just changed my 1GB SD card for a 16 GB Class 6, everything works fine, but now (one of the goals of the operation) I want to upgrade to 6.0 Cyanogen
So, the question is: should I partition? what is the reasonable amount to allocate to keep the rest for any Debian etc.

Depend...
OK, I have the answer, so I give it in case you wonder.
In fact, there is no need to partition the point of view of 6.0, but some applications can seek an ext2 or swap (this is a constraint due to these applications, not to cyanogen) So if we can predict all at once as long as it does not take too much space (32 MB of swap, and around 800 / 1.2GB ext2 ...).
Still, I think there are people who program with their feet ...

Correct you don't need the EXT partition because Froyo supports apps2fat which means you can do it with a regularly partitioned card. However, if your going to install apps to your SD its better to flash fireats script that lets you use the EXT partition and go that route. Reason being, if you ever unmount your SD card with the system on, all your apps go with it.
Sent from my HTC Magic using XDA App

partition sd card?

Hi all, I've noticed lately that most of the new roms coming out require you to partition your sd card. a couple of questions;
Why?
is it perminent?
wich partition to add new files too?
can i still use stock sd card?
how big to make partition?
Thanks in advance

dca1970 said:
Hi all, I've noticed lately that most of the new roms coming out require you to partition your sd card. a couple of questions;
Why?
is it perminent?
wich partition to add new files too?
can i still use stock sd card?
how big to make partition?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Memory size on the phone is not adequate to handle the size of certain ROMs.
No its not permanent
Ext3 for apps
Yes
As big as you want, 2gigs is what's recommended and 32 mb swap

phatmanxxl said:
Memory size on the phone is not adequate to handle the size of certain ROMs.
No its not permanent
Ext3 for apps
Yes
As big as you want, 2gigs is what's recommended and 32 mb swap
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! .

Upgrading from ext2-ext3
On a side note, I have been attempting to partition my SDcard with the 2G on my 16G C6 card. When I use AR1.8 everything goes quickly, but it will not upgrade from ext2-ext3 and says to use adb to do this (adb does not see the partition)...partition seems to be made when checking the card. On AR2.3 the partitioning goes on forever and have to do a battery pull to get it to stop. When I check the size with this version it also seems to have done the partition even with the endless process stated earlier. It however gives me the message 'opps, something went wrong' when trying to upgrade from ext2-3.
When checking from either method in TB, it shows an ap2sd partition of around 400mb and have yet to actually upgrade to ext3 from either recovery version.
Any ideas?

Use RA recovery to partition, it makes it simple.

What ROMs require this?
I guess I've been in the AOSP world for too long...

Just the virus gingersense and the virus kingdom that I know of. The virus kindom does not require it but you wont be left if much room for apps.

phatmanxxl said:
Just the virus gingersense and the virus kingdom that I know of. The virus kindom does not require it but you wont be left if much room for apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not just http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=855424 ?
Better performance on NAND than SD-EXT.

phatmanxxl said:
Use RA recovery to partition, it makes it simple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, AR was my intention of RA. Have used both the initial version 1.8 (my first anyway) and 2.3 with no success.
Have been attempting to do it within ADB and keep getting this message when attempting to make the ext2 partition:
Input/Output error during write on /dev/block/mmcblk0
This is the process I'm using:
within adb shell
# parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
(parted) mkpartfs primary fat32 0 13991
(parted) mkpartfs primary ext2 13991 16039
this is where I get the error mentioned above and can not continue to the swap.
(parted) mkpartfs primary linux-swap 16039 16071
HOWEVER....
If I use mkpart primary ext2 13991 16039 it takes, but does not show that it is an ext2 in the files system under the partition information.
Does this even make sense..lol
EDIT:
Never mind..erased my edit until I really screw up my card...now it won't mount...back to the drawing board
Gave up after reading about Transcend cards and just partitioned to the single 16G. Going to get a different card/mfg and give it a go. At least I learned a bit more about ADB today...so not a total loss.

OK..after looking through many options, may have my issue as to why RA won't perform the partition and I can't do it through ADB.....MY CARD. Apparantly there have been issues with Transcend and making an ext partition. Guess it's time to go C10 and get a new one.
Anyway...found this thread and thought it might help?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=534714

Got a new C10 card today from a different mfg and that fixed the problem!

I use gpart on ny ubuntu OS. It is NVIDIA to keep a Linux OS around guys. I can do the wholebpartitioning without erasing any files or data. soo I'm good to go. Also its fast as well.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

[Q] Resizing /system and /cache to gain space?

Hello everyone and thank you for having me on your wonderful forum. I have learned so much in such a short time by reading everything I could whether I was intending to use it or not.
I got my 16gb Nexus on Monday and immediately prepped it for ROMs, settling on CM10.1 RC2, Prior to that I had an Optimus V running CM7. On my Optimus, after flashing CM7 for the long haul I was able to move all excess /system space back into /data using terminal emulator and the fdisk command, but I followed a guide of some sort that is long lost now.
Everything is fantastic so far except one thing, there seems to be quite a lot of space reserved in the /system and /cache partitions, and I am not sure if I am able to re-partition this space back to /data or how exactly to do this.
right now /system is reading at 395.8 / 827.8 MB used, and /cache is at 68.4 / 551.7 MB. I would like to repartition 200 MB away from /system and 300-400 MB away from /cache, and put it back into /data. This will leave me some space to integrate or convert a few apps to system apps, and enough cache space to be safe (why does it need 550 MB to begin with?) and give back another half gig of storage that I paid so much to have.
I have three issues with this, one being that I can find almost no information on this topic directly mentioning the NExus 4, and any relatable information from other devices talking about device specific toolkits to do the job.
The only thread I found on XDA about this is below, and it only gave me a vague "this is not possible"
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2248400
The second issue is I do not recall the command switches/flags that go with the fdisk command, only that I had to use some things to set file permissions or remount the partition or some such (I know, i'm a noob, forgive me).
Lastly, I am rather confused by the multiple partitions of /data and /storage/emulated all showing a partition size of 13231.8 MB. Obviously they are all the same physical space, but I am afraid to mess with the partitions and break what I assume are a ton of symlinks that trick apps into believing there is an external SD card in play. Can any of you shed some light on this for me?

I3ig Al said:
Hello everyone and thank you for having me on your wonderful forum. I have learned so much in such a short time by reading everything I could whether I was intending to use it or not.
I got my 16gb Nexus on Monday and immediately prepped it for ROMs, settling on CM10.1 RC2, Prior to that I had an Optimus V running CM7. On my Optimus, after flashing CM7 for the long haul I was able to move all excess /system space back into /data using terminal emulator and the fdisk command, but I followed a guide of some sort that is long lost now.
Everything is fantastic so far except one thing, there seems to be quite a lot of space reserved in the /system and /cache partitions, and I am not sure if I am able to re-partition this space back to /data or how exactly to do this.
right now /system is reading at 395.8 / 827.8 MB used, and /cache is at 68.4 / 551.7 MB. I would like to repartition 200 MB away from /system and 300-400 MB away from /cache, and put it back into /data. This will leave me some space to integrate or convert a few apps to system apps, and enough cache space to be safe (why does it need 550 MB to begin with?) and give back another half gig of storage that I paid so much to have.
I have three issues with this, one being that I can find almost no information on this topic directly mentioning the NExus 4, and any relatable information from other devices talking about device specific toolkits to do the job.
The only thread I found on XDA about this is below, and it only gave me a vague "this is not possible"
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2248400
The second issue is I do not recall the command switches/flags that go with the fdisk command, only that I had to use some things to set file permissions or remount the partition or some such (I know, i'm a noob, forgive me).
Lastly, I am rather confused by the multiple partitions of /data and /storage/emulated all showing a partition size of 13231.8 MB. Obviously they are all the same physical space, but I am afraid to mess with the partitions and break what I assume are a ton of symlinks that trick apps into believing there is an external SD card in play. Can any of you shed some light on this for me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nexus4 doesn´t have a fix size for partitions, you can use the whole memory for everything... no need to re-partition anything

75markus said:
nexus4 doesn´t have a fix size for partitions, you can use the whole memory for everything... no need to re-partition anything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if you are misunderstanding or not reading my whole post, or if I am not understanding you or the situation I am posting about, so please don't take offense to this reply.
It appears to me that the /system partition is reserving 827 MB space for the ROM, and CM10.1 is only using 400 MB of it
It also appears that 552 MB is reserved for the /cache partition, and only 70 MB is being currently used.
This is ~900 MB of storage space that is reserved and unused. I would like to know if it is possible to reallocate ~500-600 MB of this back into the /data partition for user space.
Please explain to me how this space is part of the whole memory that can be used for anything.
After posting I have thought some more about it and decided to NOT mess with the partition sizes, mainly because I do not know what effect it would have if I were to flash another ROM in the future, which is almost a given when Key Lime Pie is released. However I would still like to understand what I have asked about in case I do want to do this in the future, and also just for the sake of expanding my knowledge.

I like this. The only "issue" is that if more space were ever to be reallocated to /system or /cache, it'd require wiping /data obviously. Small price to pay. 500MB isn't too small a chunk for 8GB users.

75markus said:
nexus4 doesn´t have a fix size for partitions, you can use the whole memory for everything... no need to re-partition anything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually it does. System data cache and boot, plus like 30 other ones, same as any other phone with no micro SD card
Sent from my Nexus 7 @1.60 GHz on Stock 4.2.2

I3ig Al said:
I'm not sure if you are misunderstanding or not reading my whole post, or if I am not understanding you or the situation I am posting about, so please don't take offense to this reply.
It appears to me that the /system partition is reserving 827 MB space for the ROM, and CM10.1 is only using 400 MB of it
It also appears that 552 MB is reserved for the /cache partition, and only 70 MB is being currently used.
This is ~900 MB of storage space that is reserved and unused. I would like to know if it is possible to reallocate ~500-600 MB of this back into the /data partition for user space.
Please explain to me how this space is part of the whole memory that can be used for anything.
After posting I have thought some more about it and decided to NOT mess with the partition sizes, mainly because I do not know what effect it would have if I were to flash another ROM in the future, which is almost a given when Key Lime Pie is released. However I would still like to understand what I have asked about in case I do want to do this in the future, and also just for the sake of expanding my knowledge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think N4 uses FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) file system
noobdeagle said:
isnt this what they were saying was the reason for no SD card and use of MTP ?; basically if i recall correctly the nexus devices do not truly assign partitions instead there is a storage 'pool' that anything can use dynamically.
so i guess there is no partitions its just all 1 volume.
source: http://www.androidcentral.com/why-nexus-devices-have-no-sd-card
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

That is for the sdcard.
The other partitions such as /system still have fixed amounts of space allocated
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app