[Q] Am I doing it wrong? - Epic 4G General

So I thought I was going to see how a 720p movie looked like on the Epic, although I'm sure it would look amazing, something is holding me back.
When I try to transfer the file over to what I am assuming is SD card space by default I'll get, an insufficient space error. So basically, I checked in amazement to see if I had filled up my SD card; only to realize I had 13.2GB free space out of what appears to be 14.7gb.
Anyone know if I'm doing it wrong? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Missing a few key pieces of info. How are you transfering and how big is the file?

If the file is larger than 4 gigs, it won't copy because the card is formatted in fat16 or fat32. It is subject to that filesystem's limitations.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

herbthehammer said:
If the file is larger than 4 gigs, it won't copy because the card is formatted in fat16 or fat32. It is subject to that filesystem's limitations.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never realized there were limitations to the partition. Any suggestion on possibly changing the partition type? Will that ruin the functionality w/ the phone?
Are we limited to no higher definition video? The file I was trying to use is 4.6gb, I would assume other people have tried other high-def file types on their Epic, advice??

iampepito said:
I never realized there were limitations to the partition. Any suggestion on possibly changing the partition type? Will that ruin the functionality w/ the phone?
Are we limited to no higher definition video? The file I was trying to use is 4.6gb, I would assume other people have tried other high-def file types on their Epic, advice??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've mostly just done episodes of Futurama.
cat /proc/filesystems says (abbreviated version):
ext3
ext2
vfat
You could probably format the SD card with ext2 file system. Then it'd work on the phone. Or you can use any linux boot cd, though the driver will help for copying.
http://www.fs-driver.org/ - this will let you read it in windows
You still have no way of formatting it though. You'll need a linux boot cd for that (or linux box).
The 4gb limit is a limit of FAT in general. Stupid Microsoft.

I take my personal, owned copy of the DVD and run it through DVD Shrink. I then take the Video_TS folder and run it through Handbrake.
It ends up about 1.5GB and is in HD.

othan1 said:
I take my personal, owned copy of the DVD and run it through DVD Shrink. I then take the Video_TS folder and run it through Handbrake.
It ends up about 1.5GB and is in HD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good information, thanks
I guess it doesn't really make sense to put 4.6gb files on your phone anyways.. although I still think you should be able to

Related

The weirdest thing happened to me today

The weirdest thing happened to me today and I was wondering if anyone can help me identify the culprit.
I was listening to some music when all of a sudden the player (Nitrogen) freezed.
I opened the player again and the songs wouldnt play,
so I looked in the library only to find that there was one song left in my /Storage Device/Music folder.
I have roughly 1.5 GB of music on my 2 GB sd-card.
When I got home I put the sd-card in my cardreader and it says that there's 100 MB of free space left
but when I select all files on the card it shows up as only 300 MB.
When I open the folder it only shows one mp3 file.
When I select all files on the card it shows that it's only 300 MB.
- I tried searching for it by file names
- I've got "see hidden folders" enabled
Mind you, I do have a backup,
just wanted to see to it that it doesn't happen again.
Update: It happened for a second time now
I formatted my sd-card and while I was copying 2 mp3 files from my computer to my sd-card, (all the files were still there) a message popped up stating that it failed and I should check if the file wasn't protected
After the message popped up all of the files inside the folder were gone (including album art)
Again, there is little free space but all the folders combined equals no more than a few hundred MB.
It would be appreciated it if someone could help me out
Thanks,
Hi mo.ammi
I work for a company who sell a lot of memory cards and the returns dept see this a lot, you should get acronis disk director and reformat the card as NTFS (most come as FAT32) When the write to the card fails it is usually because FAT32 will not take as large a file for transfer due to size restrictions, NTFS does not have these restrictions.
I have seen this work in some cases, however if it does not solve the issue then i suggest you send the card back.
Hope this helps,
Creamy-Goodness
My bet would be it's a fake (not genuine) card. Such issues are pretty common with them.
creamy said:
Hi mo.ammi
I work for a company who sell a lot of memory cards and the returns dept see this a lot, you should get acronis disk director and reformat the card as NTFS (most come as FAT32) When the write to the card fails it is usually because FAT32 will not take as large a file for transfer due to size restrictions, NTFS does not have these restrictions.
I have seen this work in some cases, however if it does not solve the issue then i suggest you send the card back.
Hope this helps,
Creamy-Goodness
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do mind that if you do this, the card can no longer be used to flash your device, as that requires FAT32. Also, I'm not completely sure about the normal compatibility with the X1, but I guess you can give it a try.
creamy said:
Hi mo.ammi
I work for a company who sell a lot of memory cards and the returns dept see this a lot, you should get acronis disk director and reformat the card as NTFS (most come as FAT32) When the write to the card fails it is usually because FAT32 will not take as large a file for transfer due to size restrictions, NTFS does not have these restrictions.
I have seen this work in some cases, however if it does not solve the issue then i suggest you send the card back.
Hope this helps,
Creamy-Goodness
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried your method and at the moment it seems stable.
You say it's usually because FAT32 won't accept large files (larger than 4GB if I remember).
But my largest file is an episode of American Dad (100MB)
Anyway, thanks for your help. Luckily it's just a 2GB card
Angelusz said:
Do mind that if you do this, the card can no longer be used to flash your device, as that requires FAT32. Also, I'm not completely sure about the normal compatibility with the X1, but I guess you can give it a try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I usually flash my device using the RomUpdateUtility.
Are there any pro's or con's using the card flash method?
submarine said:
My bet would be it's a fake (not genuine) card. Such issues are pretty common with them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a genuine Nokia MicroSD card.
It came with my device so I presume it's real.
Thanks for your help!
I had a similar problem with my sandisk 8gb card but it just stopped working altogether while i was using tomtom, i tried to format with windows and a panasonic sd-card formatting tool but it would not work.
I had to phone sandisk for a replacement yesterday but im still awaiting there reply
you should get acronis disk director and reformat the card as NTFS (most come as FAT32) When the write to the card fails it is usually because FAT32 will not take as large a file for transfer due to size restrictions, NTFS does not have these restrictions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i tried using acronis but it only shows my hard drives and not flash drives, would not mind a last ditch attempt to save it if you tell me how??
i had the same problem with a 8 GB card.
installed some tool to format the card under windows mobile took ages and i ran out of battery ... now the card is totaly unreadable. not even windows recoknizes it anymore.
guess its borked now
Hi Flext,
I am unsure as to why your card is not visible by the Acronis suite, have you tried looking in disk management on the OS to check if the PC can see it as attached?
As Angelusz has stated you will not be able to flash firmware with the Card after changing the format, however the Acronis suite will allow you to create a small partition of FAT32 on the same card that could be used for this purpose. I do not know if the Xperia will recognise both partitions and display that you have two seperate cards, if anyone has tested this can they please post their findings.
Regards,
Creamy-Goodness
windows recognises the card in my computer but when i try to explore or format it my computer hangs, forever, then normally displays an error message an hour later....
i originally installed acronis a while ago to create partions for backtrack 3, when i did this i dont remember any other drive except my HD's being displayed maybe its the version of acronis im using???
also my X1 does not see the card at all though, "there is no storage card installed", however when i plug the card into the phone when it is sleeping the phone wakes up???
Hi Flext,
Sorry to say this but i think you card is indeed knackered. Just buy another, they are really cheap these days (even the non faked ones) It would be easier on your own sanity to bin it and move on.
Oh and i'm using the latest version of acronis, just checked but i dont think it makes much difference as it seems to be more or less the same UI and functionality.
Kind Regards,
Creamy
got weird problem too with my sd card i have seen the number of mp3 count on media panel decrease to zero after an update to r2a

Use or not swap file in SD card

Hi, I've searched the forum but found no answer. Searched google and found contradictory answers.
Should I use a swap file in SD card?
What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Thanks
brk said:
Hi, I've searched the forum but found no answer. Searched google and found contradictory answers.
Should I use a swap file in SD card?
What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Advantage: Allows more multitasking due to more memory use from the sd card.
Disadvantage: Shortens the sd card life.
If you plan to use swap or A2SD, I recommend getting a class 6 sd card. Some people are opposed to swap, some people are all up for it. It's just up to your preference. For me, swap is just nice that an app doesn't close when I'm using another app.
koreancanuck said:
Advantage: Allows more multitasking due to more memory use from the sd card.
Disadvantage: Shortens the sd card life.
If you plan to use swap or A2SD, I recommend getting a class 6 sd card. Some people are opposed to swap, some people are all up for it. It's just up to your preference. For me, swap is just nice that an app doesn't close when I'm using another app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A good answer but slightly incomplete. Most sdcards have wear leveling so having swap on your card will do very minimal damage.
brk said:
Hi, I've searched the forum but found no answer. Searched google and found contradictory answers.
Should I use a swap file in SD card?
What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to have a swap file (swap.swp) this could possibly corrupt your fat partition. This is based on my own personal experience of course. I recommend use a swap partition honestly.
Just imagine mounting your sdcard to your computer to transfer files while your phone is still attempting to write to /sdcard/swap.swp. This can theoritically cause problems. And you don't want problems on your sdcard. A seperate partition is the safest way to go. But again... just my opinion.
Note that if you are using a rom based on Cyanogen's kernel (such as 5.0.7 or 5.0.8) it is NOT recommended to use swap at all. It will slow down your phone causing more problems than what it's worth. ('Swap grave' is how he put it.)
Binary100100 said:
If you want to have a swap file (swap.swp) this could possibly corrupt your fat partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How does that happen?
endolith said:
How does that happen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your system is writing to the .swp while you mount/unmount the sdcard it can corrupt the card. It's better to use the partition.
In addition if your system is setup to use the swap.swp on your fat32 partition and you mount it to your computer, what do you suppose would happen to your system since it can no longer have access to the .swp file?
Again... not a good idea.
I don't see how unmounting the swap partition is any different from unmounting the partition with a swap file on it.
Just say no!
endolith said:
I don't see how unmounting the swap partition is any different from unmounting the partition with a swap file on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, but other than when you shut down your phone, when does your swap partition get [un]mounted?
AdrianK said:
Right, but other than when you shut down your phone, when does your swap partition get [un]mounted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you plug it into a computer, isn't the whole SD card mounted?
endolith said:
When you plug it into a computer, isn't the whole SD card mounted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your computer's OS can only mount the filesystems it supports, for example OOTB Windows only supports FAT and NTFS, so it can't do anything with ext. Anyway, linux-swap is non-persistant, you can't mount it to view the contents, my understanding is that should you mount it on linux, the swap partition will be ignored.
AdrianK said:
Your computer's OS can only mount the filesystems it supports, for example OOTB Windows only supports FAT and NTFS, so it can't do anything with ext.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But the point is that they're all unmounted before the SD card can be shared with the computer as a mass storage device, so I don't see there being any difference between a swap partition and a swap file.
Besides, Swapper has a default "safe" option that unmounts swap before sharing SD with the computer and remounts it after disconnecting.
endolith said:
But the point is that they're all unmounted before the SD card can be shared with the computer as a mass storage device, so I don't see there being any difference between a swap partition and a swap file.
Besides, Swapper has a default "safe" option that unmounts swap before sharing SD with the computer and remounts it after disconnecting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't aware that Swapper has such a feature but that doesn't change the fact that if your running say ~200mb of RAM with ~64mb of swap and with all the multitasking that you're doing you're using up most of it... so say you have only ~10mb free. Then all of a sudden you pull out your sdcard. What do you think happen will happen? Your phone was reading and writing to that card! Do you think that's healthy? If Swapper unmounts it before it shares the sdcard with the computer then it may be better for the sdcard but I don't see how that can have a positive impact on the device. However if you have swap on a seperate partition the only way to run into this problem would be to remove the card from the device. Even if you mount the sdcard to the computer the phone still has access to the swap partition just like it still has access to the ext partition (if it has one).
I don't know about you but I have a 16gb class 6 card and it's a pain in the butt to restore my data to the fat partition so I would rather not have anything read/write to it unless necessary and to have something constantly reading and writing to it is a really bad idea in my case... but maybe you have a ~2gb and reloading the data may not be annoying to you.
Anyway... stick with what works. I've tried them all and based on my own experience I suggest the separate partition if you are going to use swap. But hey... what do I know?
By the way... do NOT use swap on CM5 or CM6. It may help at first but you'll be enroute to digging "a swap grave" (quoted by Cyanogen himself).
Your phone will ONLY share FAT when mounted to PC
Ext and Swap are still running on the phone(app2sd how do you think apps keep working after mounting?)
Same deal with Swap...
I personally do not use Swap although i do have a 128mb Swap Partition.
Binary100100 said:
I wasn't aware that Swapper has such a feature but that doesn't change the fact that if your running say ~200mb of RAM with ~64mb of swap and with all the multitasking that you're doing you're using up most of it... so say you have only ~10mb free. Then all of a sudden you pull out your sdcard. What do you think happen will happen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android routinely kills processes as part of its "task management", and the apps are expected to save their state using "Bundles" so that when you restart them, they restart in the same state they were last in. Is unplugging the swap more harsh than killing the app?
Once Android determines that it needs to remove a process, it does this brutally, simply force-killing it. The kernel can then immediately reclaim all resources needed by the process, without relying on that application being well written and responsive to a polite request to exit. Allowing the kernel to immediately reclaim application resources makes it a lot easier to avoid serious out of memory situations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even if you mount the sdcard to the computer the phone still has access to the swap partition just like it still has access to the ext partition (if it has one).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm. When you mount the SD card, the entire SD card is available on the computer, including the FAT, EXT, and swap partitions, but the phone can't access the FAT partition?
I can see the contents of the swap partition from the computer with "sudo cat /dev/sdb3", but the phone can still access it? If I run "free" on the phone, it still shows swap, and the used size still changes, so I guess the phone is still using it, but the computer can see it at the same time, too.
In that case, I understand why it would make more sense to use swap partition than swap file.
I don't know about you but I have a 16gb class 6 card and it's a pain in the butt to restore my data to the fat partition so I would rather not have anything read/write to it unless necessary and to have something constantly reading and writing to it is a really bad idea in my case... but maybe you have a ~2gb and reloading the data may not be annoying to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an 8 GB Class 6 and I don't understand what you're talking about. What do you mean "restore your data to the fat partition"? Restore it from what? What's the point of having an SD card if you don't want anything reading from it?
Anyway... stick with what works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By the way... do NOT use swap on CM5 or CM6. It may help at first but you'll be enroute to digging "a swap grave" (quoted by Cyanogen himself).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What does that mean? Where did he say that? In what context?
I'm using swapper with CM5, and it's like buying a new phone. It greatly speeds up the phone's responsiveness.
I dunno why you can see all three partitions. When I've got my swap and extra partitions setup and mount my SD to my computer, the only partition that shows up is the FAT one, using Windows that is.
As for using swap, a quick Google search will show you a number of threads stating that the only time you see a real benefit from it is on the G1 an older mytouchs with the lower RAM space. Actually most say that using compcache is the better way to go if you've got the extra RAM space.
Sent from my HTC Magic using XDA App
endolith said:
What does that mean? Where did he say that? In what context?
I'm using swapper with CM5, and it's like buying a new phone. It greatly speeds up the phone's responsiveness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess nobody listens to the people that know what they are talking about. Then they always complain when it doesn't work properly. #Ironic
http://twitter.com/cyanogen/status/13986716217
http://twitter.com/cyanogen/status/13624854797
http://twitter.com/cyanogen/status/13980541397
http://twitter.com/cyanogen/status/13980541397
http://twitter.com/cyanogen/status/13979643918
Enough for you?
And I'm aware that 2.2 automatically kills idle apps, which is all the more reason that you do not need swap.
And your phone cannot access the /sdcard or /mnt/sdcard partition while it is connected to your computer as removable storage. Try it.
Try downloading something to your sdcard while it's connected as removable storage. You can't. Your phone does not have access to the sdcard. In fact... while it's mounted to your computer go to settings SD card & phone storage settings and tell me what it says under Total space and Available space.
Do NOT use a large .swp file because your phone is constantly writing to the sdcard! All it takes is a single instance of removing it without unmounting it and you will have corrupted the entire contents of the fat partition. That is what I mean by restoring the data on the sdcard. I use an ADATA 16gb class 6 sdcard and each time that I tried with the .swp file I ended up losing my data because of random kernel crashes, dead battery, unsafe sdcard mounting etc.
But if you are really convinced of otherwise then go on ahead but I'll tell you right now, I will refuse to help anyone that never listened to my advice the first time. If I give a warning and if someone doesn't listen then it's all on them. I will personally refuse to help them and I wouldn't blame anyone for doing the same. Cyanogen warned users not to use swap. So those that have issues shouldn't complain to him or anyone else because it's their own fault.
All quotes from Cyanogen on twitter. You should follow him and learn something.
@w3stbr00k I don't know.. none of my roms have swap support built in. You would have had to do it yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@misscocogold t3 is otw in an hour or so. Make sure you aren't using swap or task killers too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@singharvinder the new code actually uses swap more aggressively as a side effect
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@singharvinder are you using swap? Don't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DonJuan692006 said:
I dunno why you can see all three partitions. When I've got my swap and extra partitions setup and mount my SD to my computer, the only partition that shows up is the FAT one.
As for using swap, a quick Google search will show you a number of threads stating that the only time you see a real benefit from it is on the G1 an older mytouchs with the lower RAM space. Actually most say that using compcache is the better way to go if you've got the extra RAM space.
Sent from my HTC Magic using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can actually access the swap partition from a Linux based OS such as Ubuntu/Live CD.
When you mount the sdcard you also have access to the ext2,3,4 partition if it's available.
See what I get for being Windows exclusive? Edited my first post to be more precise with my wording.
DonJuan692006 said:
I dunno why you can see all three partitions. When I've got my swap and extra partitions setup and mount my SD to my computer, the only partition that shows up is the FAT one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In Linux, both the SD and EXT partitions are mounted, but I can see and access all three. I can see all three partitions in Windows 7 Disk Management, too, but of course Windows can only mount the FAT partition.
a number of threads stating that the only time you see a real benefit from it is on the G1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got a G1.
Binary100100 said:
I guess nobody listens to the people that know what they are talking about. Then they always complain when it doesn't work properly. #Ironic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm looking for truth, not rumor. I'm not going to blindly accept statements made without explanation.
Enough for you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. I want to understand why it's a bad idea. Twitter posts aren't exactly comprehensive.
http://twitter.com/cyanogen/status/13986716217
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not a recommendation against swap. Someone was talking about disabling swap, and he said it's not his problem because CM doesn't come with swap enabled.
http://twitter.com/cyanogen/status/13624854797
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read this as "If you're having problems with apps closing, disable swap and task managers. Maybe you have those configured wrong." That doesn't mean swap is inherently harmful.
http://twitter.com/cyanogen/status/13980541397
http://twitter.com/cyanogen/status/13979643918
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This thread is about speed and performance, not harm.
And I'm aware that 2.2 automatically kills idle apps, which is all the more reason that you do not need swap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this is the standard response in threads like this. "Android automatically manages tasks and memory, so you shouldn't try to second-guess it". But, empirically, swap makes the phone run better and faster.
If you switch to another app from the browser, for instance, the browser almost always gets killed, and then it has to reload the entire page from the Internet when you switch back to it. This takes wayyyy longer than reloading the state from swap, and causes problems when the web page is dynamic.
Many apps take much longer to start up than they should, or don't actually return to the same state when they're restarted, and swapping them out works better. I'm guessing the people who are happy with the stock system use their phones differently.
And your phone cannot access the /sdcard or /mnt/sdcard partition while it is connected to your computer as removable storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I already agreed with that. Swap file is a bad idea since it's inaccessible when you mount on the computer, but swap partition still is. Agreed.
endolith said:
In Linux, both the SD and EXT partitions are mounted, but I can see and access all three. I can see all three partitions in Windows 7 Disk Management, too, but of course Windows can only mount the FAT partition.
I've got a G1.
I'm looking for truth, not rumor. I'm not going to blindly accept statements made without explanation.
Nope. I want to understand why it's a bad idea. Twitter posts aren't exactly comprehensive.
This is not a recommendation against swap. Someone was talking about disabling swap, and he said it's not his problem because CM doesn't come with swap enabled.
I read this as "If you're having problems with apps closing, disable swap and task managers. Maybe you have those configured wrong." That doesn't mean swap is inherently harmful.
This thread is about speed and performance, not harm.
Yes, this is the standard response in threads like this. "Android automatically manages tasks and memory, so you shouldn't try to second-guess it". But, empirically, swap makes the phone run better and faster.
If you switch to another app from the browser, for instance, the browser almost always gets killed, and then it has to reload the entire page from the Internet when you switch back to it. This takes wayyyy longer than reloading the state from swap, and causes problems when the web page is dynamic.
Many apps take much longer to start up than they should, or don't actually return to the same state when they're restarted, and swapping them out works better. I'm guessing the people who are happy with the stock system use their phones differently.
Yes, I already agreed with that. Swap file is a bad idea since it's inaccessible when you mount on the computer, but swap partition still is. Agreed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it sounds like you have answered the threads questions then. An expert such as yourself should have come along a while ago and stated this for the community. Now that you have discredited Cyanogen and all the other Senior Members and developers maybe I'll just direct all of my private messages regarding swap, compcache and userinit.sh scripts to you. Enjoy it!

vibrant's storage structure

Can someone explain to me what is inside the vibrant that is used as storage.
People refer to the internal memory card, why, is it an actual memory card or is it simply because apps cannot be stored there.
Why is the app storage space limited to 2gb if the internal memory is 16gb, and if all 16gb resides on the same medium can't it just be symlinked similar to what people do with apps2sd on other phones with no detriment in performance?
Calcvictim said:
Can someone explain to me what is inside the vibrant that is used as storage.
People refer to the internal memory card, why, is it an actual memory card or is it simply because apps cannot be stored there.
Why is the app storage space limited to 2gb if the internal memory is 16gb, and if all 16gb resides on the same medium can't it just be symlinked similar to what people do with apps2sd on other phones with no detriment in performance?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are 2 storage types soldered onto the vibrant. NAND (fast, small) and "flash" (16g, slow).
The nand is split up for various things like booting, firmware (/system), cache, etc. And - to solve lag with their own apps - 128 megs of it is split out for the built-in apps to use. (That is the 'method 1' fix - move all app data to nand, where it is super fast.)
The 16 gigs of flash is much slower than nand, and split into 2 sections:
- /data (mmcblk0p1) is android apps, app storage, settings, etc. (2 gigs of "application space"). This is the standard android-phone onboard storage, and not accessible to the PC.
- /sdcard (mmcblk0p2) is the 14 gig media/misc space. Standard fat filesystem, shown when you plug into the PC. (They basically subverted the standard android sdcard handling for this - solves some problems, but causes others.)
The removable sd is mounted to "/sdcard/sd".
^ awesome post man, care if I stick it in the sticky?
Disconn3ct said:
There are 2 storage types soldered onto the vibrant. NAND (fast, small) and "flash" (16g, slow).
The nand is split up for various things like booting, etc. And - to solve lag with their own apps - 128 megs of it is split out for the built-in apps to use. (That is the 'method 1' fix - move all apps to nand, where it is super fast.)
The flash is much slower than nand, and split into 2 sections:
- /data is android apps, app storage, settings, etc. (2 gigs of "application space"). This is the standard android-phone onboard storage, and not accessible to the PC.
- /sdcard is the large media/misc space. Standard fat filesystem, shown when you plug into the PC. (They basically subverted the standard android sdcard handling for this - solves some problems, but causes others.)
The removable sd is mounted to "/sdcard/sd".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so RyanZA's lag fix, which creates a 1gb file system within the 2 gigs....why can't it be mapped outside of the original appspace since everything resides on flash anyway, the speeds should be the same, no?
s15274n said:
^ awesome post man, care if I stick it in the sticky?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure. (I wanted to doublecheck some info, so it is slightly updated.)
Calcvictim said:
so RyanZA's lag fix, which creates a 1gb file system within the 2 gigs....why can't it be mapped outside of the original appspace since everything resides on flash anyway, the speeds should be the same, no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"mapped outside the original appspace"? Those words all make sense but not in that order
Data (and cache and so forth) all use samsung's proprietary RFS filesystem. (It has been described as "fat with wear levelling, unix perms and journalling".) The loopback mount fix basically bypasses all that and just shows rfs a large monolithic file. You lose reliability (journal) and flash protection (wear levelling, erase optimization) and so forth, but get speeds much closer to the raw flash. (Personally, I'm a fan of not prematurely destroying soldered on storage..)
One of the things to be tried is yaffs/jffs in place of rfs - all the advantages/protections with much better performance..
Disconn3ct said:
"mapped outside the original appspace"? Those words all make sense but not in that order
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand about the RFS, I just don't really understand why the appspace is limited to 2 gigs when there are 16 gigs on the same piece of silicon. Why is it not a matter of partitioning and mounting the other 16 gigs?
Calcvictim said:
I understand about the RFS, I just don't really understand why the appspace is limited to 2 gigs when there are 16 gigs on the same piece of silicon. Why is it not a matter of partitioning and mounting the other 16 gigs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, it's not "the other 16 gigs". It is 16 gigs total - 2 for apps/data, 14 for media/etc.
How pissed would you be if only kies (and adb) could get to that storage? That's why - 14 of it is presented as vfat, so that it can be exported over usb to the pc. You might be able to adjust the split a little (eg 8/8) using modified pit files and odin, but I wouldn't even count on that..
Certainly you can't share the space - android security guarantees that only the app (well, and root, but..) can read the app's files. Not the pc, not other apps. So you need something vfat hasn't got (owners, permissions) and you need to not export it to the pc where those limits won't be enforced. (Finally, you only get one fs user at a time - if you have it on the pc, you can't have it on the phone. "Please reboot into usb mode" hasn't been OK since the late 90s...)
Disconn3ct said:
First, it's not "the other 16 gigs". It is 16 gigs total - 2 for apps/data, 14 for media/etc.
How pissed would you be if only kies (and adb) could get to that storage? That's why - 14 of it is presented as vfat, so that it can be exported over usb to the pc. You might be able to adjust the split a little (eg 8/8) using modified pit files and odin, but I wouldn't even count on that..
Certainly you can't share the space - android security guarantees that only the app (well, and root, but..) can read the app's files. Not the pc, not other apps. So you need something vfat hasn't got (owners, permissions) and you need to not export it to the pc where those limits won't be enforced. (Finally, you only get one fs user at a time - if you have it on the pc, you can't have it on the phone. "Please reboot into usb mode" hasn't been OK since the late 90s...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so if someone did modify the PIT file then it would be possible. It's not a hardware limitation, but just the way the firmware is setup.
What speed is the other 14Gb? How does it compare to standard microSD? Class 4 at least?
Calcvictim said:
Ok, so if someone did modify the PIT file then it would be possible. It's not a hardware limitation, but just the way the firmware is setup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Modify the pit, and the bootloader, and (possibly) the rfs partition scheme, and (possibly) the kernel.
People found a pit that changes the layout a little bit and they're getting a higher-than-normal percentage of bricks. (I don't know how high, but look at all the odin threads that warn against using the new pit..) It is doable, but not reliable yet. Did you already fill 2 gigs of app storage? Thats .. kinda nuts.
applebook said:
What speed is the other 14Gb? How does it compare to standard microSD? Class 4 at least?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They claim class 6. With rfs, it is ok until you get to multiple requests - then it goes all thrashy instead of threading properly..
If it's around class 6, then I'm satisfied. Since that memory is for storing media, I have little use for anything much faster anyway.
Disconn3ct said:
People found a pit that changes the layout a little bit and they're getting a higher-than-normal percentage of bricks. (I don't know how high, but look at all the odin threads that warn against using the new pit..) It is doable, but not reliable yet. Did you already fill 2 gigs of app storage? Thats .. kinda nuts.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't fill the 2 gigs but I don't use the phone for media really, it's just apps and games and just wandering since it would be nice to have more storage for those things.
So what is the size difference between the Vibrants with the larger NAND and the smaller NAND?
What difference does this make in the real world?
Why would they put two different size NAND chips?
SamsungVibrant said:
Why would they put two different size NAND chips?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Samsung does some weird things sometimes
Disconn3ct said:
"mapped outside the original appspace"? Those words all make sense but not in that order
Data (and cache and so forth) all use samsung's proprietary RFS filesystem. (It has been described as "fat with wear levelling, unix perms and journalling".) The loopback mount fix basically bypasses all that and just shows rfs a large monolithic file. You lose reliability (journal) and flash protection (wear levelling, erase optimization) and so forth, but get speeds much closer to the raw flash. (Personally, I'm a fan of not prematurely destroying soldered on storage..)
One of the things to be tried is yaffs/jffs in place of rfs - all the advantages/protections with much better performance..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So are you saying that samsung's filesystem (rfs) causes wear and tear to the flash drive? Do any of the lag fixes that replace the rfs filesystem (ext 2/3/4) cause wear and tear to the drive as well? I am personally not applying a lag fix for this reason, but if samsung's rfs does that already, might as well take the plunge with a lag fix...
I read somewhere that the nexus one uses a filesystem created for flash drives - it started with a y, probably the yaffs that you spoke of?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
veol said:
So are you saying that samsung's filesystem (rfs) causes wear and tear to the flash drive? Do any of the lag fixes that replace the rfs filesystem (ext 2/3/4) cause wear and tear to the drive as well? I am personally not applying a lag fix for this reason, but if samsung's rfs does that already, might as well take the plunge with a lag fix...
I read somewhere that the nexus one uses a filesystem created for flash drives - it started with a y, probably the yaffs that you spoke of?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took him to mean that a loopback mount style lagfix, like OCLF, can cause premature deterioration.
Kubernetes said:
I took him to mean that a loopback mount style lagfix, like OCLF, can cause premature deterioration.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That all depends on how samsung implemented wear leveling. It would be insanely stupid to do it in a way that would cause premature death of the flash with a loop file system though. Wear leveling is generally done at the block level so that file systems that have to write to fixed locations a lot like fat don't kill that block. As rfs is fat, I think it's unlikely that it will cause issues.
We can't use yaffs2 and friends without replacing the kernel driver for the flash. They don't work on block devices, they require raw flash access. I suspect it will also require a new secondary boot loader. I wouldn't attempt it without a dev phone and jtag access.
ttabbal said:
That all depends on how samsung implemented wear leveling. It would be insanely stupid to do it in a way that would cause premature death of the flash with a loop file system though. Wear leveling is generally done at the block level so that file systems that have to write to fixed locations a lot like fat don't kill that block. As rfs is fat, I think it's unlikely that it will cause issues.
We can't use yaffs2 and friends without replacing the kernel driver for the flash. They don't work on block devices, they require raw flash access. I suspect it will also require a new secondary boot loader. I wouldn't attempt it without a dev phone and jtag access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah... sorry for asking a noobish question and being off-topic a little, but if I were to use a lagfix, which one is best (for the flash drive)?
Thanks for the questions and the answers and for laying it out in understandable terms! A good read.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

File Size Limit?

Is there a file size limit on the Tab? I'm trying to copy a 7.97GB mkv movie file to the Tab. It gets to all but 15 seconds to complete, then a timeout occurs?
Thanks!
Same as usual, file size limit is 4GB.
freakdahouse said:
Same as usual, file size limit is 4GB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply.
Why the limit? Anyway to override it? How are we supposed to enjoy HD movies with such a low size limit?
How didyou get your comp to reogize the tablet? When i plugged mine in i didnt receive a prompt from the tablet to mount it.
I was very interested if this would be the case for the gtabs that came out today because my google io tab is not recognized when i plug it into my computer. I have to push everything via ADB. Anyone else have this happening?
Vexorg said:
How didyou get your comp to reogize the tablet? When i plugged mine in i didnt receive a prompt from the tablet to mount it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
camblue said:
I was very interested if this would be the case for the gtabs that came out today because my google io tab is not recognized when i plug it into my computer. I have to push everything via ADB. Anyone else have this happening?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disable USB Debugging and that allowed me to connect it to my PC.
I thought Android internal memory is using ext4 file system, which should be more than 4gb file size limit, no?
freakdahouse said:
Same as usual, file size limit is 4GB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
gogol said:
I thought Android internal memory is using ext4 file system, which should be more than 4gb file size limit, no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe the internal memory formatted as ext4 is the system part. The internal memory reserved for the internal SD card is formatted as FAT32 hence the 4GB upper file limit size. I guess it needs to be FAT32 so that when you plugin the device to a PC, it can be read by most operating systems. If it was formatted as ext4 then this would not be the case.
Personally, I would have preferred if it was formatted as ext4. You could still copy from Windows using KiesAir as this just uses a browser interface to copy files.
is it possible to run the following command from the shell?: df -hT
dharris007 said:
Disable USB Debugging and that allowed me to connect it to my PC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm i tried disabling it while the device was already connected and that didn't seem to work. Ill try again when I get home. You cant change usb settings while its not connected to anything can you?
Mr_Sinister said:
Thanks for the reply.
Why the limit? Anyway to override it? How are we supposed to enjoy HD movies with such a low size limit?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is why I bought the Playbook. It has NTFS storage and I have several 6-8 GB h.264 high profile HD movies in my 64 GB Playbook.
I have the Xoom and I will never buy another Tegra 2 (even if I sold my Xoom) no matter how good it looks or weigh because Tegra 2 cannot do high-profile h.254 movies. For those who like to watch movies, wait for Tegra 3.
Wow this blows!! Can we transfer via network?
ipatella said:
Wow this blows!! Can we transfer via network?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How does that help in getting around the file size limitation of FAT32? Whether you use USB or wifi, it doesn't change the fact that FAT32 has a file size limitation.
Just use a program to split it. It's a hassle, I know.
Are you guys shore that its a limit with 4GB? If this true its sucks big time because i have order one that will replace my Xoom.
Why would it have the limit with 4GB when Xoom and other honeycomb tablets dont have the limit .
I have no problem to transferring files bigger then 4gb to my Xoom,
Know that android 2.2-2.3 have the limit but HC does not.
Sent from my MZ604 using XDA Premium App
bd85 said:
Are you guys shore that its a limit with 4GB? If this true its sucks big time because i have order one that will replace my Xoom.
Why would it have the limit with 4GB when Xoom and other honeycomb tablets dont have the limit .
I have no problem to transferring files bigger then 4gb to my Xoom,
Know that android 2.2-2.3 have the limit but HC does not.
Sent from my MZ604 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Xoom might use a dif file system?
NTFS support
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1056759
Got my Tab now. And it was, unfortunately, as mentioned earlier that it does not fix files larger than 4GB. The transfer gets stuck on 5-15 sec left
Iam really angry, how the hell can Samsung sell Media Tab and it does not fix +4gb files, this sucks. can not play most movies because Tegra 2, or cant store large files.
What a miss to buy Tab today, better wait for Tegra 3
Will be difficult now, if i are going to keep my Xoom that can handle large files or not
it is ext4 as supercurio had explained in another thread. it's why we have to mount using MTP instead of as an external drive. so why there's a limit is puzzling. could be in the samsung drivers.
madsquabbles said:
it is ext4 as supercurio had explained in another thread. it's why we have to mount using MTP instead of as an external drive. so why there's a limit is puzzling. could be in the samsung drivers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you care to explain further?
We have no idea what thread you're referring to.
Also, what is MTP?
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk

Sd card question??

Hi all. Have a quick question about sd cards. I have an M8 now and a pure on order my question is can I swap cards back and forth between the two phones? Or is the card formatted for that specific phone? TIA
elevatorguy said:
Hi all. Have a quick question about sd cards. I have an M8 now and a pure on order my question is can I swap cards back and forth between the two phones? Or is the card formatted for that specific phone? TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be able to swap back and forth, particularly if the SD card formatted as FAT32.
maigre said:
You should be able to swap back and forth, particularly if the SD card formatted as FAT32.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That begs the question how do I tell how it's formatted? I just let my M8 do it
elevatorguy said:
That begs the question how do I tell how it's formatted? I just let my M8 do it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have a Mac, mount the card on it and check Disk Utility. It'll tell you. I can't remember what you have to do on Windows. There's probably some app for Android that'll tell you, too, though I don't know what it would be. I was looking for one awhile back. ES File Explorer and Solid Explorer don't, afaik. It's possible that whatever you used for the M8 to format it will tell you. Ultimately, it won't matter one way or the other if the card works on the Moto X. No harm is likely in swapping it in and giving it a try, though a backup (of the sd card) is always in order if there's even the remotest concern. If it doesn't get recognized by the Moto X, and it turns out that it's ExFAT, you could copy the data off of it to a safe place, format it as FAT32, then copy the data back again. Formatting in with Disk Utility on a Mac is quick and easy. Again, I don't remember for sure what you have to do on recent versions of Windows. I formatted one recently on Win 10 and I think I had to use the command line. Formatting used to be available from Windows Explorer. Maybe it still is.
Wouldn't NTSF be a 1000x better though fat goes by box layers. One block goes corrupt and the whole file falls to pieces. Sometimes the entire SD card.
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA Free mobile app
nikeman513 said:
Wouldn't NTSF be a 1000x better though fat goes by box layers. One block goes corrupt and the whole file falls to pieces. Sometimes the entire SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NTSF is not natively supported by Android. There is an app or two on the Play Store that'll allow the device to read NTFS and a couple of other formats. I think some people have formatted external sd cards to ext4 (that's what the internal storage is usually formatted to) with some success. I haven't tried that.
I pulled the SD card out of my M9 and put it in my MXP and it worked fine... All my pics and movies were there and accessible.
tele_jas said:
I pulled the SD card out of my M9 and put it in my MXP and it worked fine... All my pics and movies were there and accessible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you sir you are a gentleman and a scholar

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