how can i view the system partition on my SD card?? - G1 General

I flashed a G1 with bifmod and used a SD card, well I don't have the G1 anymore to view the system data in.
When I put it in my pc it only shows the data partition, I need to get some data off the hidden partition, how can I do that on my pc?

It's not hidden, windows doesn't support ext filesystems, so it obviously it wont see it.
You can install some software which can access ext partitions, run a linux livecd or simply pull files from ext partition via terminal.
What are you trying to achieve exactly?

I'm trying to pull my sms database from it, theres info I forgot to save before I pulled the chip and sold the phone,
Thanks for the ideas, ill try those

kiddkill said:
I flashed a G1 with bifmod and used a SD card, well I don't have the G1 anymore to view the system data in.
When I put it in my pc it only shows the data partition, I need to get some data off the hidden partition, how can I do that on my pc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hidden partition? Or system partition? What the hell are you talking about?
The system partition (as well as the data partition) are NOT ON the sdcard. They are on the phone, so if you don't have the phone any more, you also don't have the system or data partitions.
Everything that *is* on the sdcard is perfectly visible and NOT hidden... except if your operating system is a virus (aka wondoze), which is hostile to EVERYTHING.

Related

SD card lost with message "Removed SD card" after update to cyanogenmod

Did not get any help in cyanogenmod thread, so creating a separate thread here.
I am in trouble. After I updated my ROM to cyanogenmod 3.6.7.2 (with his recovery image 1.3.1 and latest radio) I get a message saying: "Removed SD Card" in the notification and I am getting force closes in apps which access sd card.
Why did it remove my sd card? I have the following partition structure"
c (formatted fat32) 2GB - this is what used for upgrading the radio and rom.
83 (formatted ext4) 6GB
c (formatted fat32) 7GB
82 (mkswapped) whatever left off from 16GB card.
Is this structure causing the issues? I used Linux 2.6.30 and e2fsprogs 1.41.7 to format ext4 and dosfstools 3.0.2 to format fat32 FSs.
I ran fix_permissions from recovery console because I was getting FCs in powermanager (which logs files on SD card).
Also, if I boot into the recovery console, I can mount /sdcard and it automatically mounts the first fat32 partition on /sdcard. I can 'fdisk -l' and see all my partitions are there. So, its not a hardware issue. Some sort of chicken&egg because of apps2sd.
I just mounted the partition2 (which is ext4) in recovery console and I can see there are "app app-private dalvik-cache lost+found" folders on it. So, it looks like normally initialized.
Does anybody know what's going on here? Appreciate your help!
It's the same response you've been getting in the other section.
Try backing up your data on your computer, and completely formatting your card to fat32.
From there, instead of making the partitions on the computer, use the Recovery Console (accessed from Cyano's Recovery) and re-create the partitions as you like.
Ok, I delete the 3rd and 4th partitions, and it seems to be working fine now. So, it seems like there is an assumption about the partition structure in the code somewhere.
devsk said:
Ok, I delete the 3rd and 4th partitions, and it seems to be working fine now. So, it seems like there is an assumption about the partition structure in the code somewhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you are all good now?
What exactly did you do? Just remove the 3rd & 4th partition, without formatting?
akapoor said:
So you are all good now?
What exactly did you do? Just remove the 3rd & 4th partition, without formatting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I just removed the 3rd and 4th partitions from recovery console and the card is recognized and working fine. Now, I need to find out why is it hard coded like that.
It seems like something doesn't like more than 3 partitions on the SD card. I now have 3 partitions with 'c' (fat32), '83' (ext4) and 'c' (fat32) codes and it seems to work fine.
An ext partition of more than 1.5gb can cause problems
Most roms will not work with the way you had it set up (at least not well)
They follow a 3 partition scheme as such
FAT32 > EXT > SWAP
B-man007 said:
An ext partition of more than 1.5gb can cause problems
Most roms will not work with the way you had it set up (at least not well)
They follow a 3 partition scheme as such
FAT32 > EXT > SWAP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've heard this repeated elsewhere but nobody ever actually says what the problem is with partitions greater than 1.5gb. I'm very curious to know, because I haven't noticed anything wrong.
Except that /sdcard won't automount if my sd card has 4 partitions defined on it. As soon as I mark the 4th one empty and reboot, it's fine again. But that has nothing to do with the size of the ext fs on partition 2. Something with vold is funky, because I can mount /sdcard manually from adb.

Clone SD card (with a2sd on)?

Question:
I've noticed I'm pretty much at my limit for space on my current SD card (like 80MB remaining on a 4GB!)...
I've ordered an 8GB card to replace this one... but how can I "clone" my current 4GB card (with a2sd partitions) and then copy it over to my 8GB card, without losing data, settings, apps, etc? Is there a way?
Thanks in advance.
Do this all from within Clockwork Recovery:
1) Make a nandroid backup
2) Connect the phone to a computer
3) Partitions menu > mount USB storage
4) Copy all contents from the old SD card to a temporary folder on your computer (including the clockworkmod folder which contains the nandroid backup you just took)
5) Unmount and disconnect from computer.
6) Pull battery to shut the phone off, or if you would prefer you can boot the phone and then turn the phone off immediately afterward. Pulling battery just saves time.
7) Put new SD card in
8) Boot into clockwork
9) Format the card with Clockwork w/ ext partition
10) Connect to computer, mount USB storage again, copy all files back to the phone
11) Unmount and disconnect cable from computer
12) Nandroid > advanced restore > Restore sd-ext only
13) Reboot and you're done.
And if something goes wrong, it's not really a big deal since you will still have the original files on the old SD card so you can try again or ask for help to try another method.
Sounds complicated enough to work. I'll try when the card comes and let you all know. Thanks!
gfinockio said:
Sounds complicated enough to work. I'll try when the card comes and let you all know. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha yeah, I think it's the easiest way to do it with Windows, since you can't read the ext partition from the computer. You could probably just copy the contents of both partitions through Linux if you're comfortable doing that.
Doesn't a nandroid backup the ext partition too?
If you're using windows you could just backup your fat32 partition on your PC and partition your new card and then copy all your files back and do your nandroid restore.
I think this would work...
jdwhite87 said:
Doesn't a nandroid backup the ext partition too?
If you're using windows you could just backup your fat32 partition on your PC and partition your new card and then copy all your files back and do your nandroid restore.
I think this would work...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Clockwork does not back up my ext partition. It can't mount it or anything. Not sure why. Might be because its ext4, but when I do nandroids the sd-ext backup always fails.
I have to use Ubuntu and mount as storage. Then both of my partitions mount on my computer and I can do as I please. For me this seems easiest anyway. Simple copy and paste and it can be done from a live cd for those that dont already have Ubuntu.
Sent from my cm7 Aria.
drumist said:
Do this all from within Clockwork Recovery:
1) Make a nandroid backup
2) Connect the phone to a computer
3) Partitions menu > mount USB storage
4) Copy all contents from the old SD card to a temporary folder on your computer (including the clockworkmod folder which contains the nandroid backup you just took)
5) Unmount and disconnect from computer.
6) Pull battery to shut the phone off, or if you would prefer you can boot the phone and then turn the phone off immediately afterward. Pulling battery just saves time.
7) Put new SD card in
8) Boot into clockwork
9) Format the card with Clockwork w/ ext partition
10) Connect to computer, mount USB storage again, copy all files back to the phone
11) Unmount and disconnect cable from computer
12) Nandroid > advanced restore > Restore sd-ext only
13) Reboot and you're done.
And if something goes wrong, it's not really a big deal since you will still have the original files on the old SD card so you can try again or ask for help to try another method.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm stumped on step 9 - what menu option in Clockwork will format the ext partition? What menu?
gfinockio said:
I'm stumped on step 9 - what menu option in Clockwork will format the ext partition? What menu?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Partitions menu
CallMeAria said:
Partitions menu
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What version has that menu option? I don't see it.
Interesting. I was sure you could format a card with ext partition through Clockwork but apparently you can't. You can do it through ROM Manager though, so I guess you may have to boot into the phone to get to it.
The programs on the ext partition won't show up yet of course. Don't be alarmed. Just partition the card through ROM Manager, then once you're done doing that, do the nadroid advanced restore. If there are any problems after a reboot (i.e., it didn't work correctly), go back and try doing the regular full nandroid restore.
gfinockio said:
What version has that menu option? I don't see it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
v2.5.0.1
This doesnt create a partition though. It just formats an existing partition. You'll have to use drumist's method of going through Rom manager to actually create the ext3 parition from the phone.
CallMeAria said:
v2.5.0.1
This doesnt create a partition though. It just formats an existing partition. You'll have to use drumist's method of going through Rom manager to actually create the ext3 parition from the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried running ROM Manager - of course, it's installed on the 4GB card which isn't on my phone when I have the 8GB in to format. So then I re-installed it using the APK... but I get the exclamation mark when it boots to recovery to format... probably because a2sd is installing the same program on the ext part which it is now trying to format.
I think I'm going to have to format/partition it using Linux somehow instead, no?
gfinockio said:
Tried running ROM Manager - of course, it's installed on the 4GB card which isn't on my phone when I have the 8GB in to format. So then I re-installed it using the APK... but I get the exclamation mark when it boots to recovery to format... probably because a2sd is installing the same program on the ext part which it is now trying to format.
I think I'm going to have to format/partition it using Linux somehow instead, no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
someone recommended in another thread that when that happens you just pull out the battery and then use volume down+power to boot back into recovery and it should then work.
But the method I use is to do it from Ubuntu (a linux version). If you dont want to install Ubuntu on your computer you can make a bootable CD or USB drive with Ubuntu on it (directions for this are on the Ubuntu download page) and actually run Ubuntu from the CD/USB without ever installing it on your computer. From there you can use gParted to create paritions. And while I recommend making backups, gparted even allows you to resize and move partitions without deleting anything.
gfinockio said:
Tried running ROM Manager - of course, it's installed on the 4GB card which isn't on my phone when I have the 8GB in to format. So then I re-installed it using the APK... but I get the exclamation mark when it boots to recovery to format... probably because a2sd is installing the same program on the ext part which it is now trying to format.
I think I'm going to have to format/partition it using Linux somehow instead, no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that's what I was worried about. My suggestion then is to format the card through linux if you have a SD card reader. Easiest way is to use an Ubuntu LiveCD. Do you know how to do this on your own?
Also, definitely do a full nandroid restore once the SD card is reformatted. Since you booted the phone and tried to install an app, it's possible something got screwed up -- nothing to worry about though because a full nandroid restore should revert everything.
drumist said:
Yeah, that's what I was worried about. My suggestion then is to format the card through linux if you have a SD card reader. Easiest way is to use an Ubuntu LiveCD. Do you know how to do this on your own?
Also, definitely do a full nandroid restore once the SD card is reformatted. Since you booted the phone and tried to install an app, it's possible something got screwed up -- nothing to worry about though because a full nandroid restore should revert everything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm reverting back now, going to sleep on it, and then investigate formatting it via LiveCD tomorrow morning. It's been several years since I've had to go near anything Unix.
By the way, another option is to just do a clean install on your phone with a ROM that has ROM Manager built in. Use that to do the format on the SD card.
drumist said:
By the way, another option is to just do a clean install on your phone with a ROM that has ROM Manager built in. Use that to do the format on the SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That got me thinking...Ive never had a problem adding an ext partition using Rom Manager. Ive done it to 3 SD cards now without a single issue. BUT, Ive also always done it while on cm6/7 which both came with Rom Manager pre-installed with the rom and quite a bit of integration with the rom manager app...just a thought...
EDIT: Scratch that, I used it for 2 SD cards, the 3rd was done with Ubuntu.
Here's my post from the other thread
jdwhite87 said:
Rom manager - partition SD card - choose your partitions. It will reboot into recovery and try but fail to partition your card. Pull battery. Replace battery - hold volume down and power. Wait for it to try and find the libde. Img then press volume down and it will highlight recovery then press power. It will boot into recovery and finish partitioning your card.
I think that's how I got it to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did this with two different SD cards on fr008. Both were sandisks. One was a 16 gb class 4 and the other was an 8 gb class 6. I couldn't get gparted to partition the 8 gb for whatever reason. I didn't know what Ubuntu was when I partitioned the 16 gb
It seems like an oversight that maybe of the masses of people with Android devices that one day the general (non-xda) population would want a simple way to transfer their sd card data to a larger card...
I Imagine there are a bunch of people out there clueless.
Hell, I read XDA and there was still no clear simple way in this thread.
(I got here from a Google search for SD CARD CLONE)
Got it to work, finally. Required some back-and-forth with the Nandroid backups, but I have everything running off of my 8GB SD card now, without reinstalling!
Now, to sell off my 4GB card... anyone?

[Q] Unable to sideload to sd card...help please?

Hi,
First off if this is answered I am sorry.
I did a lot of searching and was unable to see the answer to this...
I am running CM7.1 off uSD. Install went well, and have no issues. That being said, I am unable to find out where on the card to sideload books. I have booted into CM7.1, turned on USB storage, and have 2 drives appear in win: MYNOOK and CM7 SDCARD. I used the size agnostic image, and it appears that there is only the single partition on the card, and in file explorer, it shows the correct card size for memory, but only the single partition.
The only folders appearing on the card are:
.android_secure
Android
LOST.DIR
I tried to manually copy the books, media, etc. folders into a My Files folder on this drive, without success.
There is no other partition to repartition (shouldn't have to do that with size agnostic?). I have no problem loading books into the MYNOOK book folder, which I assume is the internal device memory.
Here is my question. How/where do I sideload books to use the storage on the uSD card? Do I have to create the folders somewhere? If so where?
My goal is to utilize the storage available on the card, but be able to read the titles in the stock software. Is it possible to do this without rooting, or do I need to root for any reason to access the right folders on the card for storage?
THANK YOU ALL!!
klewlessnoob said:
I tried to manually copy the books, media, etc. folders into a My Files folder on this drive, without success.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In what way was it not successful? Did the files copy and just can't find them with a reader? If so which reader?
The book I transferred over was not found in the stock software when I opened my library. Is there somewhere specific I am supposed to place it on the card for the Nook to see it? Thanks!
For the stock reader, I think you must use the 1gb area of the internal memory drive, which shows up as a separate drive on your PC when you plug it into the computer. When you are in CM7 and connect to the pc, cancel when it tries to install a device for the NC. Check the notifications on the NC, you need to click a button to enable copying files from your pc, and take care to properly safely remove/eject before disabling that and disconnecting the cable from your pc. Better to get a separate reader and install it from the market (e.g., Cool Reader). You can also install the Nook app from the market, but then books need to go within (possibly in a specific subdir) of the "Nook" folder on SDCARD.
So there is no way to use the card memory to store books if I want to use the stock reader??
Should there have been a "NOOK" folder created on the SD card as part of the CM7 process? Is that a file that the user needs to create? If so, does it go in the same partition as the CM7, as that is the only partition my machine is able to see?
thanks again
Hopefully you'll get more input on this, but I think the point of keeping the Nook stock available (aside from not voiding your warranty) relates to use of B&N books. However you can eject your CM sd card and use another sd card if you want more space for user media for use with the stock app. I thought the media drive was the 1gb area, but now I'm not so sure because on mine the MYNOOK disk is much smaller.
When you are in the stock firmware... you are seeing the boot partition of the uSD...
You can write the boot partition... resize it... then run the installer...
I have done it in the past... set up a 2GB boot partition... then setup the ROM on uSD. You then have a 2GB partition you can use when in stock.
Thanks for the info. I am a bit confused by your suggestion, can you please offer a bit more?
By writing the boot partition, then resizing it, does that mean I can resize now, after I have already set everything up? If so, what do you mean by the installer? Or do you mean I have to wipe the card and start over? If that is the case (start over) do you mean wipe the card, create a small partition for the boot to install on? Would that requre the use of an image that is not size agnostic?
Either way, how do I get the file structure in place on the non boot partition for the nook to see files that are saved there?
Thanks again for any help you can provide!
I have never had luck resizing it after it has been booted in the Nook and all the partitions created...
I have written the size agnostic image to the card... resized the only partition created at that point... then put the ROM on it and booted it in the nook so the installer script (size agnostic recovery) can do the partitioning and install the ROM.
For the question of getting the file structure... I'd have to ask how you wrote the files on the uSD... were you CM or stock?
I had always planned on running cm from the card, so when I wrote the files to the card, I was stock.
If I follow what you are saying, then steps for me to try at this point would be:
1. Reformat card
2. Write the disk image to the card
3. Shrink the single partition on the card (where the image is)
4. Add the CM ROM to same partition as the image
5. Install card and boot device
If this sounds right, I have 2 questions.
What size should the partition be for the image and CM ROM, maybe 2GB?
Will the Nook "see" the non-CM partition and create the file structure for saving files on the 2nd partition at some point? In my searches I saw that in early versions, there was a requirement that the 4th partition on the card be expanded to use for storage, won't I only have 2 at this point?
Thanks again so much for the help!
When you write the image to the card... it will only be about 114 MB.... you will probably want to increase the size to avoid any possible size issues later (with ROM's getting larger)
If you plan to use the stock nook ROM as well as CM7... you will probably want 2 GB boot partition... otherwise if you plan to only run CM7 you probably only want about 250 MB.
You can modify vold.fstab on the stock ROM to use partition 4 of the SD for its SD use... then you could avoid the 2 GB boot partition.
What happens when you use VG's SASD... the boot image is about 114 MB... when you boot it in the nook it creates partitions 2, 3 and 4... 2 and 3 are ext3 partitions, partition 4 is fat... partition 4 is the one set for sdcard in the ROM booted from SD...
This is why you can modify stock vold.fstab to point to partition 4... then both ROM's will be putting stuff on the same partition for "SD Card"
I think I follow that, but my issue is that currently I am unable to see partition 2,3 or 4 which I think is part of my problem.
When I set up the card, I used the SASD method, and all I can see in both win explorer and partition software is the single partition on the card. Should there also be partitions 2,3, and 4? Do I have to do something to make those partitions viewable?
I am not comfortable enough with my skill level to attempt to modify the stock vold.fstab file on the device, and was hopeful that by properly setting up the card, I would be able to keep stock as is, and use the card to multipurpose, ie run cm7 on part and use the remaining space on card to store books to be read in stock firmware. I am still hoping to do that....thanks
As far as only seeing partition 1.... that is a limitation of Windows.
By following the advice pertaining to starting over and increasing the size of the Boot partition immediately after writing the image... before doing anything else... you can provide more space for the stock ROM to use on the SD... it will use partiton 1 (the boot partition) without the other modifications to vold.fstab
ok, confused again
If I start over, write image, then resize that partition with the image, am I going to use the "rest" of the card, NOT in that partition to use with storage? OR am I going to resize the partition with the image to be big enough to use as the partition to put books on?
If it is the former, don't I again run into the problem of how to find the other partitions, or will I create them when resize the first partition after writing the image?
Thank you!
You will only ever see the first partition of the sd card when booting from the stock OS. Also with the card inserted in a usb flash card reader on Windows you can only mount the first partition as a drive letter. But you can see and resize partitions with contiguous unallocated space using MiniTools Partition Wizard.
OK thats good to know. Do you know if the SASD install should have created other partitions when I installed to the card? The reason I ask is that even in Partition Wizard, I am still only able to see the 1 large partition with everything in it.
If I start over again, will I need to use the wizard to create partitions first, then write the image to the resized 2 GB first partition, or should I write image to card, resize the first partition? If the latter, will resizing the first partition autmatically force the other partitions to be seen? I am not sure of this option, as I can't see where in the process the other partitions are created? Is this part of the process when CM7 boots?
Thanks!
Write the image. Safely remove from pc. Reinsert to pc. Use minitool partition to resize the (only, at that point) partition to the size you want. Use Apply in minitool software. Quit minitool and resume with the card setup.
does the minitool at that point (resizing) create the other partitions, or will the card setup do that? Do I have to do anything else to the other partitions to make them visable to the stock nook so that they can be used to access books while in stock os?
The card setup will create the other partitions. The stock os is never going to see anything but the 1st partition. You would need a terminal emulator or rooted file explorer installed in the stock os in order to mount another partition.
If that is the case, that stock os will never see anything other than the 1st partition, then there really is no way to accomplish what I am trying to do, correct?
In other words, put CM7 on the card, then when I want to use stock, boot into stock and have the reader find books saved on the card?

what is A2S for and how to use it???

I've just installed the Paranoid-Jellybean 1.99
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1793180
on my EU HTC HD2
I can't anderstand what sd the idea behind program S2E, it seems its purpose is to move apps to SD but when used it this way then all newly installed Widgets disappeared What's more even without launching S2E in Settings thare are options to move individual apps to SD (not for all in fact)
it isn't talking about the normal fat partition on the sd card, you must have an EXT partition created before using the app.
What it does, is take the ext partition on the sd card and makes the system think that it is internal memory, thus giving you more 'internal' memory for apps and data and such like.
This isn't the same as choosing 'move to sd ' in the settings - apps options, as this moves the app to the FAT (windows) partition of the sd card. Some apps wont work when 'moved to sd', however they WILL work from the ext partition, because android thinks its internal.
So, if you haven't already got an ext partition, back up the contents of your current sd card (it will get wiped) then reboot into cwm, choose 'advanced - partition sd card' and choose a partition size. (512 or 1024 is usually plenty) then restart android and try the app again.
Any apps that you have already 'moved to sd', go move them back to internal, and the system should automatically move them from the FAT partition to the EXT partition.
Tahnk you for your explanation. Also I must apologize I confused the names of the programs - in fact its S2E rather than A2S (the previous post have written from memory). However probabely this s2e serves the same purpose, as it has such relevant commands:
Applications - Location: /data/app
Private apps - Location: /data/app-private
...
and so on, until:
Dalvik cache - Moving from /data to /sd-ext
So, I've chosen the first option and got displayed:
Application
Moving from /data to /sd-ext
Reboot is required!
and rebooted the phone, but the result was disappointing - several apps dissappeared including all Widgets!
Of course I've had ext3 partition previously set.
What was wrong?
Other question please: exactly WHAT is worth moving to SD Ext partition, Dalvik cache too?
yea they do the same/similar things - namely move parts of the system to the ext partition, and create symbolic links so that the system doesnt notice they've moved.
You seem to be moving your entire data folder to the ext, which i believe has an impact on boot performance, since the data partition wont be mounted straight away, and android needs it during boot.
I don't know a great deal about the various app2sd scripts, but the ones i've used normally only move the /data/app/ (your user installed apps folder) and the dalvik cache to the sd-ext partition.
samsamuel said:
yea they do the same/similar things - namely move parts of the system to the ext partition, and create symbolic links so that the system doesnt notice they've moved.
You seem to be moving your entire data folder to the ext, which i believe has an impact on boot performance, since the data partition wont be mounted straight away, and android needs it during boot.
I don't know a great deal about the various app2sd scripts, but the ones i've used normally only move the /data/app/ (your user installed apps folder) and the dalvik cache to the sd-ext partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So won't it exert excessive load on SD card which could lead to some sort of instability or other issues?
ioy said:
So won't it exert excessive load on SD card which could lead to some sort of instability or other issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
better than exerting load on the nand and increasing the chances of bad blocks, right?
samsamuel said:
better than exerting load on the nand and increasing the chances of bad blocks, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
theoretically YES but then does it also apply for the whole Android ROM itself (please compare the neighbouring discussion "is NAND Android better than SD and why?")
ioy said:
(please compare
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no thanks, i have far more interesting things to do. i couldn't care less if there's excess load, though i'm pretty sure there isn't, since i've been running an ext partition for several months and no problems.
Have you understood me well? I've asked about the problem probably NAND ROMs themselves wear NAND memory too so would it be safer (for the device) to use SD ROMs (which write only on SD memory all the time)? How do you think, could it be the case?
i think if it were of any real benefit, people would be talking about it, but no one does. I guess its down to you, if YOU think it will help, then do it. If you don't, don't!
I guess battery drain would be teh real deal maker/breaker. I havent used sd android, but i believe it to be (in general terms) a little less stable, more prone to slowdowns, and harder on teh battery. But thats all anecdotal evidence, as i said, ive never booted sd android.
(edit - i must say, in humour, not meaning offence, that between this thread and your other thread, you sound like a guy who just bought a sports car and wants to cycle to work to save wear and tear on teh car )

Copying from one partitioned SD card to another

I'm trying to understand the most convenient way to make a copy of an SD card that has an EXT partition on it. This would need to be done anytime you upgrade from a smaller to a larger SD card, so I have to believe a number of people on these forums have dealt with it.
This is what I'm expecting to be done... please confirm if it's correct:
Make a nandroid backup, stored on the old SD card
Copy the nandroid backup to PC
Install new SD card and partition it accordingly
Copy nandroid backup to new SD card
Perform a nandroid restore
At this point, everything should be as it was, with the larger SD card. Correct? I've also noticed an alternative that would probably work, that being a partition management program like EaseUS.
My 32Gb SD card arrived so I downloaded Mini-Partition to set it up. Then when I went to copy the EXT3 partition from my 8Gb SD card, the option wasn't possible. Apparently I can't copy it into a larger EXT3 space, only unallocated space. So, I removed the target EXT3 partition, making it unallocated, and then tried to copy and resize. Apparently the tool won't let you resize an existing EXT3 partition. I installed EaseUS to try this operation and encountered the same thing.
From what I've just experienced, I'm now thinking that if I try to restore a nandroid backup onto my new card, it will override the newly minted EXT3 partition with the smaller EXT3 partition.
Searching around turned up a lot of Ubuntu/Linux information, requiring one to boot up in those operating systems and execute a long series of commands to enlarge the EXT3 partition. I'd rather not go down that path right now. Is there some easier way of doing this? If not... then I'm thinking what I need to do is move as many apps having data I need to my phone, then just opt not to restore the EXT3 partition and go back to manually move apps to the EXT3 partition again.
* bump * .... anyone?
cytherian said:
* bump * .... anyone?
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What rom are you running?
Shelnutt2 said:
What rom are you running?
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Presently running CM7.2, which supports EXT3. I'm just not getting how I can manage the EXT3 partition. When I switch to a new ROM and wipe the system, then all apps installed on the EXT3 partition would be deleted, correct?
So, what this ultimately means is that each and every time I switch ROMs, the EXT3 partition must be wiped and applications manually moved back there. It's annoying, but I haven't found any other way around this.

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