Database Users

Multiple boots Android/Linux on one SDcard? Possible?!!

Dear all developers, cookers, testers and all Leo-Andro guys here. Thank you very much for all of your efforts to make HD2 so fun.
My idea is we have a lot of Builds here that I love them much namely:
[BUILD] [26.07.2010] [darkstone HD2Froyo v1] now with GPS work via new sys.ext2 perfect for me with cool battery, low drain and high quality call and so smoothly.
[BUILD] [30.07.2010][mattc Leo + Froyo w/Sense RC1.3a] with SENSE very brilliant build.
The problem is it possible to have triple boot or more with out change new SD card.
That means we may put some difference builds in differ Android folders in SD card and a good boot loader may scan those folder and asking you to select your favorite build.
The other thing is we may seen some files in the root of SD card and difference build can confuse when access them. Is possible to put all file of each Build in their own folders ONLY?
Thank you all Leo-Andro guys again.

THANHVO31 said:
The other thing is we may seen some files in the root of SD card and difference build can confuse when access them. Is possible to put all file of each Build in their own folders ONLY?
Thank you all Leo-Andro guys again.
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Good idea!
The easiest solution would be to MANUALLY assign specific folders from out WinMo, which then links to a program to select on these folders to boot.
/storage/android1
/storage/android2
/storage/android3
Then from a boot-select screen you just select one of the folders to boot. Shouldn't be that hard to do.

Maybe Partition SD card??? that might work won't it?

MMAwarrior said:
Maybe Partition SD card??? that might work won't it?
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treats each folder as a partition
triple boot is a fantastic idea
for example JMZ Android triple-boot
WinMo - android - ubuntu

I'm already Quad Booting... for the last 2 weeks
Just use Exceller's Android Loader

so if im reading right, we can just do the folder hierarchy and we can run different android builds off the same sd card????

niiza said:
so if im reading right, we can just do the folder hierarchy and we can run different android builds off the same sd card????
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Yes... that's what I've been doing... just make sure to edit your startup.txt in each folder where your build resides.

pongster said:
I'm already Quad Booting... for the last 2 weeks
Just use Exceller's Android Loader
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Click to collapse
Exceller's dual boot has been doing this already. You can choose whatever build you have on your sdcard and even boot ubuntu.

ahijada said:
Exceller's dual boot has been doing this already. You can choose whatever build you have on your sdcard and even boot ubuntu.
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That's what I just said.

what do i have to change in the startup exactly?

I just found
set cmdline "rel_path=Android" in ROM Version: shubCRAFT v1.1 - http://www.cyanogenmod.com/
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Click to collapse
but
set cmdline "lpj=638976" in mattc Leo + Froyo w/Sense RC1.4
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A little bit confused! so pongster can you post your startup.txt here?

THANHVO31 said:
I just found
but
A little bit confused! so pongster can you post your startup.txt here?
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Just add the rel_path=foldername to cmd in between the "" don't remove the lpj thingy
It will look like this:
cmd "rel_path=foldername lpj... "
Sent from my HD2 Froyo

pongster said:
Just add the rel_path=foldername to cmd in between the "" don't remove the lpj thingy
It will look like this:
cmd "rel_path=foldername lpj... "
Sent from my HD2 Froyo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, pongster! I'll try it!

That annoying "Android" folder.

Anytime i boot android it creates a folder named "Android" now i heard you can delete that folder which i do because if i shut my phone down and i go to boot in again it will not boot. Now i have to delete that folder every single time so i can boot into android and its getting really annoying.
Is there a way to get rid of this?
Or is this happening to everyone one?
Is there a solution at all?
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

of course. the solution is to stop listening to people dont know what they are doing.
cut all android files from the root of your sd and paste them into the android folder...

+ on above, just have files on an Android folder don't put on root unless creator states it, that way you wont get a extra folder to delete & you can just use a boot loader to start up
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

make sure you edit your cmdline path in startup.txt to say this: set cmdline "rel_path=Android lpj=638976"

no need to edit the startup.txt, cause all the files are in the same folder. i dont even have the line rel_path=xxx in the txt...

Thanks for the fix , It was annoying but now that its fixed HELL YEAH

hegemytouch said:
Anytime i boot android it creates a folder named "Android" now i heard you can delete that folder which i do because if i shut my phone down and i go to boot in again it will not boot. Now i have to delete that folder every single time so i can boot into android and its getting really annoying.
Is there a way to get rid of this?
Or is this happening to everyone one?
Is there a solution at all?
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should only be a problem for those who boot in aand out of Android a lot. Even then, having an app like Total Commander on your WinMo ROM will ease the trouble of deleting the folder. I use Android as a daily driver and rarely boot into WinMo so the folder issue is nada for me. But When I do boot into WinMo, I immediately go to Total Commander and delete the Android folder. That way I'm ready to go.
It's a small sacrifice for the benefits gained from running Android on the root.

MartyLK said:
...
It's a small sacrifice for the benefits gained from running Android on the root.
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What benefits are you talking about ? Can´t imagine only a single one...

kingofyo1 said:
make sure you edit your cmdline path in startup.txt to say this: set cmdline "rel_path=Android lpj=638976"
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Click to collapse
how do u do thiat?
with what application?

Bimme said:
What benefits are you talking about ? Can´t imagine only a single one...
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Click to collapse
From my experience it speeds the system up and makes it buttery smooth. EDIT - But you have to move them from the beginning, before the data store builds. Otherwise it doesn't seem to help much.

thanks
Bimme said:
of course. the solution is to stop listening to people dont know what they are doing.
cut all android files from the root of your sd and paste them into the android folder...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
finally...lol thanks a lot man that was really annoying now its fixed...your the best man...

MartyLK said:
From my experience it speeds the system up and makes it buttery smooth. EDIT - But you have to move them from the beginning, before the data store builds. Otherwise it doesn't seem to help much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my first boot was on the root of the sd, but i moved everything in the folder before booting the 2nd time...haven´t noticed any speed difference, and i can´t imagine why there should be a difference... but if it´s faster for u, than for sure it´s better to stick with all files on root

I'm a noob and all I did was copy all files to the root of my storage card - there is an android folder that contains nothing but it doesn't do anything to me whenever I boot up... I don't even bother deleting it. It's just hanging out on my storage card.

[Q] Backup Builds

So with the advent of boot loaders such as Excellers which allow you to choose different builds of Android, what exactly do you need to copy off the SDCard to backup your build?
I dont mean the data, sms, mail, etc, but the actual entire build?
Is it enough to simply copy the Android folder and the files inside it including data.img or is there a need to copy the other folders and files that android creates in the root of your SD (LOST.DIR, rosie_scroll, etc)?
Android builds automatically create those folders and files if they do not exist for them, but will it cause issues if they already exist, since we can now switch between builds on the same card?
Any ideas??
Oh, and I did search, didnt find anything conclusive though.

As far as I know. Making a copy of the Android folder is enough. Be carefull though, the DCIM folder must be backup aswell if you have made any pictures/video's. The rest of the folders .secure etc are just temp folders.
For backing up you can use the free program Titanium backup aswell (found on market), use the search, someone wrote a nice guide for it some time ago. Can be used very easy to transfer your installed apps from one build to another. Transfering system settings isn't a good idea, especially not if you switching different builds. Only when updating your current build it should be ok (not recommended), but sometimes copying your data.img to your new build is enough to get your applications in the new build.

Machiel187 said:
As far as I know. Making a copy of the Android folder is enough. Be carefull though, the DCIM folder must be backup aswell if you have made any pictures/video's. The rest of the folders .secure etc are just temp folders.
For backing up you can use the free program Titanium backup aswell (found on market), use the search, someone wrote a nice guide for it some time ago. Can be used very easy to transfer your installed apps from one build to another. Transfering system settings isn't a good idea, especially not if you switching different builds. Only when updating your current build it should be ok (not recommended), but sometimes copying your data.img to your new build is enough to get your applications in the new build.
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Basically I just want to try out different builds concurrently, switching between them with Exceller.
Data isn much of an issue since most of mine is in the cloud somewhere but its a pain installing some new build only to find the one you just had and spent time configuring, was a hell of a lot better.

Well i'm not entirely sure about where the settings are stored. But my guess is, just backup the android folder and you will be fine (think most is stored in the data.img). Delete all the other folders and switch to your new build. If you don't like it, switching back should be a breeze.
Why don't you just try it once. Change some settings, delete all the folders except for the android folder and boot again, see if the changes you made are still there.

Machiel187 said:
Well i'm not entirely sure about where the settings are stored. But my guess is, just backup the android folder and you will be fine (think most is stored in the data.img). Delete all the other folders and switch to your new build. If you don't like it, switching back should be a breeze.
Why don't you just try it once. Change some settings, delete all the folders except for the android folder and boot again, see if the changes you made are still there.
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mainly because there arent enough hours in the day, so many roms, so little time.............

Well, since i'm at work and bored, I tried it for you.
Only imporant folder is the Android folder and our DCIM for your pictures. All the other directories do nothing but temp stuff on my rEVOlution 2.2. Deleted them all and android still booted just fine with all settings and homescreens I had applied.
Hope this awnsers your question now.

Excellent, thank you very much, I will be trying to clear some time later to try an alternate build on the same card. I will post how it goes.

Seems to work, as long as you edit the startup text to include the foldername of your build Exceller lets you switch between builds:
set cmdline "rel_path=YourbuildfolderHere"

2 Androids

Hey,
is it possible to have 2 different android roms on sd card?

Yes, just rename one of those folders, like Android and Android_"yourbuild" or something like that.

remember you may need to change the folder it refers to in the startup.txt as well.

Reno_79 said:
remember you may need to change the folder it refers to in the startup.txt as well.
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Click to collapse
Yap, that's what I have forgotten. Thanks for correctin'.

Dualbooting different Android ROM

Hi, im planning to buy a HTC HD2 these days and i will most likely use Android as the default OS. Now i wonder if the ROM must be installed on SD or can i just boot it? For example if i want to boot Sense rom one time and non sense next time, do i need to reinstall something or just boot it up?
Im really looking forward getting my HD2, ive been watching youtube like crazy now.. gotta go sleep hahah

There are boot loaders you can install in winmo. Some support multiple android builds which will allow you to choose sense/no sense builds on boot up. By doing so though, your data from your sense build will not be available on your non-sense build and vice versa.

Ignore the any "dual boot" app for a minute. Most Android builds I have seen can happily coexist with as many other builds as you have space for on your SD card. Just make sure:
* they reside in distinctly named folders (e.g. rename the build's Android folder to whatever you want)
* the startup.txt in each build's folder refers to the folder name (see instructions in the EBL thread)
As each build comes with clrcad+haret, you can now freely launch whichever build you want with File Explorer.
Note that the builds are not perfectly insulated from each other:
Most builds seem to use an "Android" folder on the SD card for various data and caches. Avoid putting a build in this folder! Be wary that data in this folder may be incompatible between builds, though I have not yet had such a problem. If in doubt, rename the folder to something else (or backup and delete) and reset your build.
Also note that many apps directly use the SD card for storage - this may cause data leakage between builds (I find it's a good thing, as data [like downloaded game files] and configs are basically reused).
I also find it very useful to "temporarily factory reset" a build. Basically, I rename data.img to data.img2 and reboot. This way I can figure out if a problem is caused by my own meddling, or by something in the build, then I rename back and reboot when done. I often keep a backup data.img in which I have only set up the barest essentials (OOBE, Market account, Ti-backup and Root Explorer) for such testing.
Now, for a "dual boot" WM app which supports several build folders, I recommend EBL.