Database Users

Apps 2 SD on Modaco 1.1 ROM

Hi there,
I've got everything working on my newly reflashed Sprint Hero. (Thanks to everyone that contributed to the gigantic thread....read all (currently) 28 pages...you guys made it easy).
My question is whether apps 2 sd is actually working?
I've put completely bare ROMs on my hero (reverted back to stock ROM, wiped it, wiped & partitioned the sdcard to fat32, ext2 & swap, then flashed with 1.1). I then go to install an app and it doesn't show up on the SD card and my internal memory decreases (indicating that its not on the SD card?)
Don't think I've missed any relevant details, but Im keen to get this working.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

It sounds like you did everything correctly.
try this:
adb shell
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
cd /system/sd
ls
This should say:
[0;0mapp [0m
[0;0mapp-private [0m
as in /system/sd/app
/system/sd/app-private
then type:
cd /system/sd/app
ls
this should list the programs on the ext2 partition of your sdcard and, if you type:
cd /data/app
ls
you would still see the programs listed, but it is just telling you what you have installed they are not actually there, from what I understand.
Also, the internal memory on my phone also went down, but it went down 5 or so mb instead of 20 or so mb.
While I'm here would you mind telling me if when you said
dom2114 said:
(reverted back to stock ROM, wiped it,...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you mean you reverted to a Nandroid backup then you performed a factory reset, and then flashed with 1.1, because I was wondering if this is possible?

hi there crake
really appreciate the detailed reply.
did everything you said and everything was exactly as you described, except that in /system/sd, i also have a lost+found folder
did the next 2 steps you outlined and yes, /data/app was a duplicate of /system/sd/app. I didn't realize that these were the locations (one being the actual location and the other being the 'symlink') of the ext2 partition.
One final question for you. How big was your fat32 partition? It didn't look like there was a way to control how big you want the fat32 partitions relative to the ext2 partition (& the swap partition...not sure what that is).
In answer to your question: yes, thats exactly what I did.
I wanted a 100% free implementation of modaco 1.1 (i.e. no apps etc). Here's what i did just FYI:
Flashed my nandroid backup back on
Hard reset it
Turned the phone on and just put my basic gmail/facebook login details in
Turned it off and decided to take another nandroid backup in case I wanted to go back to this state...(so I now have 2 nandroid backups)
Enabled USB transfer and copied this new backup off
Wiped the SD card & dalvik cache and then partitioned the card to fat32, ext2 and swap
Transferred the Modaco ROM to the SD Card
Flashed the phone w/ Modaco
End result was a 100% 'stock' Modaco ROM...if that makes any sense.
Appreciate an answer and any info as to the partition sizes.
EDIT:
Realized that this 'new backup' I performed (in the 4th step above) is useless if I end up wiping/repartioning the sdcard as this ROM refers to apps that the modaco ROM moved to the SD. These will obviously be removed after a format/repartition.

Thanks for the info, I used the 2gb (1.8-ish) sd card that came with my phone, after partitioning, the fat32 partition was somewhere around 1.4 gb. There was no option to modify partition size so I assumed it partitions the ext2 to a predetermined size and the rest is partitioned as fat32.

crake001 said:
Thanks for the info, I used the 2gb (1.8-ish) sd card that came with my phone, after partitioning, the fat32 partition was somewhere around 1.4 gb. There was no option to modify partition size so I assumed it partitions the ext2 to a predetermined size and the rest is partitioned as fat32.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe its around 450MB, mine is like 446MB as ext2, the rest of my 8GB sd card is FAT32. It automatically did this, but when I go to All Applications, Apps to SD isn't even listed as an installed application. I went to the market place and installed Apps to SD 2, and it told me I needed to read the tutorial (wtf ?).
So my guess is, the MoDaCo ROM does all the work for you that the Apps to SD program would normally do, and it just always saves it to your SD card.

simplyphp said:
I believe its around 450MB, mine is like 446MB as ext2, the rest of my 8GB sd card is FAT32. It automatically did this, but when I go to All Applications, Apps to SD isn't even listed as an installed application. I went to the market place and installed Apps to SD 2, and it told me I needed to read the tutorial (wtf ?).
So my guess is, the MoDaCo ROM does all the work for you that the Apps to SD program would normally do, and it just always saves it to your SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, thats the conclusion I came to. In the adb shell, if you type apps2sd, something starts happening...Im not smart enough to know what though. Figured Id mention if someone wants to play around

Thanks you all for the info. This was exactly what I was looking for. Wanted to know the size of the ext2 partition and how to control it if we even could but looks like it's automatic as stated. Then to find a way to check to make sure the apps were getting installed on the partition.

I installed the MoDaCo 1.1 over top of all my apps/settings etc. I do have my SD card partitioned via my recovery image option.
What do I need to do to get all those apps over to my sd card and off my phone?

How to install apps2ext on paul 2.2

Hello. I am struggling with this for three days now. I can't seem to make it work. So I think I need a detailed how-to because obviously I am doing something wrong.
I am using this clockwork recovery image: http://android.modaco.com/content/z...27215/oled-tft-2-5-1-8-clockworkmod-recovery/
Then I go to clockwork recovery mode and create 1GB ext partition. Wipe everything from everywhere.
After that I install paul's alpha3 prebake.
What happens is I have 1GB less storage on my class4 8GB SD, but don't see the ext3 partition (where should I look for it exactly)

In normal use the only way you'll know if its working or not is if you run out of space or not.
To find your ext partition look in '/sd-ext' or '/system/sd', you might need a file explorer that can use root privileges, I use estrongs. If the directories 'app' and 'app-private' are there then its working.
If your still sure its not working double check that the prebaked version comes with apps2sd...not all do.

Thank you. I think the prebaked alpha3 version doesn't have the apps2sd scripts. I tried to install Darktremor Apps2SD 2.7.5.2 but it killed my OS and had to flash it again. So is there any specific a2SD that I can use with this rom?

OK. I installed the Japanese jellyfish ROM yesterday and everything works like a charm so I guess prebaked alpha3 didn't have the apps2sd scripts.
Thank you again for your help, mate!

what is apps2ext?

It basically gets some storage space from the SD card and lies the system that it's part of the apps section of the internal memory

cynepmeh said:
It basically gets some storage space from the SD card and lies the system that it's part of the apps section of the internal memory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so it is basically like a different storage architecture for the SD card? Like we can have fat32, ntfs etc?

I am no expert here. From what I know - scripts create some symlinks so the app storage is actually placed on the sd, but the system doesn't know that and thinks it is still the old place. The path is the same, but it actually is something like a shortcut. The ext is probably because it needs to be linix partition or something...
This is what I think and it may not be true however

Ext partiton not working

How can i force my phone to install everything to ext partition?
I have ext3 partition and Im running newest miui.us rom.
Also,when i open app2sdgui it just closes after black screen.
Pls help me vouse im constantly seeing that low on space warning.
I allready moved all the apps I could to sd,but still i have less then 10 mb left..
Sent from my HTC HD2 using fingers

imported0 said:
I allready moved all the apps I could to sd,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you mean by choosing settings - app settings - manage apps and choosing to move an app to sd card, thats not how ext works, what that does is takes it FROM the ext partition and puts it in the FAT partition.
The apps should all be set to use internal memory, and the system will put them in the ext partition without you doing anything.

samsamuel said:
if you mean by choosing settings - app settings - manage apps and choosing to move an app to sd card, thats not how ext works, what that does is takes it FROM the ext partition and puts it in the FAT partition.
The apps should all be set to use internal memory, and the system will put them in the ext partition without you doing anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know how ext works,but i dont know why is it not working..
How can i fix this,should i wipe all and reinstall rom and all the apps again?
Sent from my HTC HD2 using fingers

I advise installing Link2SD, I had a similar problem and this program fixed it for me.
Just mount the storage space and then you will be able to create link (that means moving the app to ext partition).
Hope it helps.

i haven't used miui so i can only comment on cm7 roms with a2sd+.
Did you create teh ext yourself? because i have read that if the ext and fat are not in the correct order (i cant remember which should be first, which second), if they arent the correct way around the system wont see the ext.
Have you used an android browser to look at the contents of teh ext? is it REALLY empty?

samsamuel said:
i haven't used miui so i can only comment on cm7 roms with a2sd+.
Did you create teh ext yourself? because i have read that if the ext and fat are not in the correct order (i cant remember which should be first, which second), if they arent the correct way around the system wont see the ext.
Have you used an android browser to look at the contents of teh ext? is it REALLY empty?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No,he puts something on ext and something on internal ..
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA Premium App

matoflash said:
I advise installing Link2SD, I had a similar problem and this program fixed it for me.
Just mount the storage space and then you will be able to create link (that means moving the app to ext partition).
Hope it helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not working...
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA Premium App

one other thing is that the internal memory will go down when you instal something, but REALLY the app has gone to EXT, and the internal free memory will go back up after a reboot. Its a free memory display bug. The system just assumes it has used the space up without checking it until after a reboot.
So you install a 20mb app, the internal memory drops 20mb, but after a reboot has gone back up 20mb.
Just a thought.

If you partition your sd card in GPartEd, your FAT32 partition should be first (on the left) followed by your ext3 partition.
Or you could use CWM or even ROM Manager (I think, not 100% sure about ROM Manager) to partition your card.
Try flashing this in CWM Recovery:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=749299&d=1318560772
And then when you reboot, go into your terminal emulator app and type:
su (press enter)
a2sd reinstall (press enter)
It should then say a bunch of stuff, and then your phone will reboot and take a long time to boot back up, because it is moving all your apps to your ext3 partition.
I would really recommend using gparted to partition your card, it's very reliable, gives you the most control over what you're doing, and you can download an iso to make a bootable cd of it if you don't use Linux. Google 'GParted Live CD'. (But why wouldn't you use Linux???)
Do a CWM NanDroid backup before you do any of this, in case your rom is not A2SD compatible and it screws something up. Then you'll be able to revert back to your present state. I can't stress the CWM backup enough, especially because I'm not sure if MIUI roms are A2SD compatible or not. Either way, I think it's worth a shot.
Back your sd card up to your computer before partitioning it, as it will wipe everything from it.

So,I did this: Wiped all and installed rom again,app2sd gui now working (apps are on sd) but i still have a little space left. Only installed apps I really need and i have less then 30% available.
I even linked all apps I could with link2sd app.
I dont know,I will try to reboot now and see if something happened.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using xda premium

imported0 said:
So,I did this: Wiped all and installed rom again,app2sd gui now working (apps are on sd) but i still have a little space left. Only installed apps I really need and i have less then 30% available.
I even linked all apps I could with link2sd app.
I dont know,I will try to reboot now and see if something happened.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You only have a little space left on internal memory or in your ext partition?
You have a EURO HD2, so you're not gonna have a bunch of internal memory no matter what. Your ext won't show up in Settings/Storage/SD Card.
In order to see how much ext space you have left, look in the A2SD GUI app.
How much space is left in each of those? (ext and internal)
If you are using the A2SD that I linked in my previous post, you won't have to use the link2sd app.
It creates the symlinks to the sd ext partition on its own.
How big of an ext partition did you put on your sd card?

huggs said:
You only have a little space left on internal memory or in your ext partition?
You have a EURO HD2, so you're not gonna have a bunch of internal memory no matter what. Your ext won't show up in Settings/Storage/SD Card.
In order to see how much ext space you have left, look in the A2SD GUI app.
How much space is left in each of those? (ext and internal)
If you are using the A2SD that I linked in my previous post, you won't have to use the link2sd app.
It creates the symlinks to the sd ext partition on its own.
How big of an ext partition did you put on your sd card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Memory free:
Internal: 32MB
Ext:786MB
its 1024 partition..
Sent from my HTC HD2 using xda premium

what system partition size have you flashed?
what size partition does the rom (you still havent linked to teh rom you flashed so we cant look ourselves) say you need?
because that doesn't count towards internal space, so for example if your rom requires a 150 meg system partition, and you flash a 250meg system partition, you will lose the extra 100mb. you wont be able to use it for apps or data, it will be dead space.

huggs said:
If you partition your sd card in GPartEd, your FAT32 partition should be first (on the left) followed by your ext3 partition.
Or you could use CWM or even ROM Manager (I think, not 100% sure about ROM Manager) to partition your card.
Try flashing this in CWM Recovery:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=749299&d=1318560772
And then when you reboot, go into your terminal emulator app and type:
su (press enter)
a2sd reinstall (press enter)
It should then say a bunch of stuff, and then your phone will reboot and take a long time to boot back up, because it is moving all your apps to your ext3 partition.
I would really recommend using gparted to partition your card, it's very reliable, gives you the most control over what you're doing, and you can download an iso to make a bootable cd of it if you don't use Linux. Google 'GParted Live CD'. (But why wouldn't you use Linux???)
Do a CWM NanDroid backup before you do any of this, in case your rom is not A2SD compatible and it screws something up. Then you'll be able to revert back to your present state. I can't stress the CWM backup enough, especially because I'm not sure if MIUI roms are A2SD compatible or not. Either way, I think it's worth a shot.
Back your sd card up to your computer before partitioning it, as it will wipe everything from it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did what u said here,but same results,35MB internal free memory..
Is this normal for eu model? I remember I had 100MB free on cm7 roms...
Sent from my HTC HD2 using xda premium

samsamuel said:
what system partition size have you flashed?
what size partition does the rom (you still havent linked to teh rom you flashed so we cant look ourselves) say you need?
because that doesn't count towards internal space, so for example if your rom requires a 150 meg system partition, and you flash a 250meg system partition, you will lose the extra 100mb. you wont be able to use it for apps or data, it will be dead space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont know what rom requires,I have miui.us rom,and 150 mb cwm partition.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using xda premium

hmm its a 90 meg download, so 150 system should be ample. do you have masses of text messages stored? (i know some people have thousands, never delete any, , , weird) or tens of hundreds of contacts that could be filling up the data partition? (your systems 'internal storage' figure is based only on the data partition)

samsamuel said:
hmm its a 90 meg download, so 150 system should be ample. do you have masses of text messages stored? (i know some people have thousands, never delete any, , , weird) or tens of hundreds of contacts that could be filling up the data partition? (your systems 'internal storage' figure is based only on the data partition)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have more than 1000 contacts synced from facebook.But I dont think thats the issue,I think it is something with the rom..
This is the rom Im using..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1117787
I read everything and still cant figure out what did I do wrong.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using xda premium

i dont have my phone handy to compare, but what id do next would be go into cwm and do a backup, then reboot into android, and browse to the backup folder and take a look at the size of the data image, which will give you a rough idea on its size.

samsamuel said:
i dont have my phone handy to compare, but what id do next would be go into cwm and do a backup, then reboot into android, and browse to the backup folder and take a look at the size of the data image, which will give you a rough idea on its size.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Idk what u talkin about lol
Edit:Im gonna sell this damn phone and buy something with more internal memory
Sent from my HTC HD2 using FINGERZ

samsamuel said:
i dont have my phone handy to compare, but what id do next would be go into cwm and do a backup, then reboot into android, and browse to the backup folder and take a look at the size of the data image, which will give you a rough idea on its size.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Canu take a look at that thread.. Maybe I missed something :/
Sent from my HTC HD2 using FINGERZ

[Q] Different partition sizes in CM7 SD installer

Hi. Did my usual +3 hours googling but came empty handed.
Could size-agnostic CM7 SD installer script be modified so that /Data partition is set to 2Gb instead of 1Gb? I know that I can always do the "move to SD" routine but Android keeps bugging me that I`m out of space even when I have 170Mb free on /data. And also moving apps back and forth from internal to SD somehow wrecked my system process. As a result I now have constant rebooting of the launcher as my only Android experience. Uninstalling recent apps did not work. Neither did freeing up space on SD and denying root to all apps that previously asked for it.

zuzka said:
Hi. Did my usual +3 hours googling but came empty handed.
Could size-agnostic CM7 SD installer script be modified so that /Data partition is set to 2Gb instead of 1Gb? I know that I can always do the "move to SD" routine but Android keeps bugging me that I`m out of space even when I have 170Mb free on /data. And also moving apps back and forth from internal to SD somehow wrecked my system process. As a result I now have constant rebooting of the launcher as my only Android experience. Uninstalling recent apps did not work. Neither did freeing up space on SD and denying root to all apps that previously asked for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are willing to start from scratch you can burn the image again to the SD, but don't put any zips in it. Boot and let the script create the new partitions. Then put the card back in the PC and use Mini-Tool Partition Manager to shrink partition 4 (sdcard) and grow partition 3 (data) That program will handle the ext partition (3) as long as there is no data written to it yet. You can get that program free on the internet. Do a Titianium backup of your apps and data and restore later.
Edit: Now after thinking about it, you may be able to doctor your existing card. Partition 4 is fat so you can shrink it with data in it. Take the space off the front. Then I think the program will let you grow partition 3 into the empty space even with data already in it. It is just trying to move it with data does the program balk. Windows does not know how to read ext. Of course if you are running linux, just use gparted to do everything.

Yes, you could do that or you could use a program like easeus partition manager and move the partitions around after the first boot of the card.
Edit (while typing): It looks like you might be talking about an internal installation in which case you don't need to use size agnostic SD installer. Just repartition the internal the way you want it (there are threads for this) then flash your CM7.
Edit 2: beat out by leapinlar while editing 1
JP

Thanks for the idea of repartitioning prior to installing CM7. I`ll also try to repartition SD the way it is now- with data. I was concerned that /data partition is unmountable under Ubuntu when /boot and /system can be read without problems.
Hi again. I`ve managed to srink /sdcard partition under Windows and sort of grow /data partition under Ubuntu LiveCD (gparted froze right after doing its magic).
Boot loop on my Nook stopped as free space on /data increased from 175Mb to 1.2Gb. So I guess I wont be doing a fresh install at the moment.
Question is, exactly how much free space does CM7 need on /data partition? In a real world?
(at ~200Mb it starts bugging me about free space but overall Android stays stable)

zuzka said:
Question is, exactly how much free space does CM7 need on /data partition? In a real world?
(at ~200Mb it starts bugging me about free space but overall Android stays stable)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Original Nook Color had 1GB for data. B&N upped it to 5GB on the new Nook Colors. I personally would make it 2GB unless you are going to be adding some really big apps.
Sent from my Nook Color running ICS and Tapatalk

IDEA: Hacking internal/external sdcard mount paths

Hello.
I'm using the latest aurora and I'd like to discuss an idea I had.
Since the U8800 has plenty internal memory and it's quite fast comparing to an average sd card, it'd be great if we could use the internal memory for the tasks that need "speed" instead of "space".
Running apps from the sd card is the perfect example!
So the idea would be, while keeping the external sdcard mounted on /mnt/sdcard, having /mnt/sdcard/Android/data, for instance, point to the «internal sdcard path»/Android/data.
What do you think would be the best solution:
- hacking the mount points?
- using links?
- other solution?
Any developer or filesystem savvy user can point the advantages or dangers of using this solution?
- e.g.: the system or some apps may check if the external sd-card is mounted before trying to read/write to /mnt/sdcard/Android/data... that would mean the system/those apss may think that path isn't reachable with the ext-sdcard unmounted, altough they can be read.
Suggestions? Rants? Ideas?
Regards!

I have wondered if the /data/app or maybe the whole /data partition could be mounted in the internal storage partition. That would give 2gb space for apps and associated files instead of 3-400 ish and would mean no need to move apps to sd card which would mean faster loads at startup due to internal memory being faster.

VuDuCuRSe said:
Hello.
I'm using the latest aurora and I'd like to discuss an idea I had.
Since the U8800 has plenty internal memory and it's quite fast comparing to an average sd card, it'd be great if we could use the internal memory for the tasks that need "speed" instead of "space".
Running apps from the sd card is the perfect example!
So the idea would be, while keeping the external sdcard mounted on /mnt/sdcard, having /mnt/sdcard/Android/data, for instance, point to the «internal sdcard path»/Android/data.
What do you think would be the best solution:
- hacking the mount points?
- using links?
- other solution?
Any developer or filesystem savvy user can point the advantages or dangers of using this solution?
- e.g.: the system or some apps may check if the external sd-card is mounted before trying to read/write to /mnt/sdcard/Android/data... that would mean the system/those apss may think that path isn't reachable with the ext-sdcard unmounted, altough they can be read.
Suggestions? Rants? Ideas?
Regards!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well this is known for a while now . Quoted from my thread here:
vold.fstab - CHANGE THE DEFAULT SDCARD: -thanks to julle131
There is this file named vold.fstab at your /system/etc/ folder, which controls which of your sdcards (Internal/External) will be mounted when you connect your phone to the PC. The last 2 lines are the only that matter. These are the two possibilities:
EXTERNAL SDCARD MOUNTED (DEFAULT):
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/msm_sdcc.4/mmc_host
dev_mount emmc /mnt/sdcard1 14 /devices/platform/msm_sdcc.2/mmc_host
INTERNAL SDCARD MOUNTED:
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard 14 /devices/platform/msm_sdcc.2/mmc_host
dev_mount emmc /mnt/sdcard1 auto /devices/platform/msm_sdcc.4/mmc_host
change them as you wish with a root explorer or before flashing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make this change and every app will use the internal sdcard. Gallery works ok with images to external sdcard, it just might take a while for the first refresh. But I don't know if you'll notice any difference in terms of speed....
Cheers

spirosbond said:
Well this is known for a while now . Quoted from my thread here:
Make this change and every app will use the internal sdcard. Gallery works ok with images to external sdcard, it just might take a while for the first refresh. But I don't know if you'll notice any difference in terms of speed....
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not what he talked, I think. He said that the apparel would be installed on the external sd card, but the data would be moved to the internal one. And we have speed, but the main card would be the external one.
I think its a great idea if I understood it right!
Sent from my U8800 using xda premium

mrasquinho said:
That's not what he talked, I think. He said that the apparel would be installed on the external sd card, but the data would be moved to the internal one. And we have speed, but the main card would be the external one.
I think its a great idea if I understood it right!
Sent from my U8800 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I see! Sorry about that. As far as I know apps are not choosing were to put their data. They just say to the OS "I want these things to be at the sdcard" and the OS puts them at the correct place. So you can't "hack" the app to "see" at somewhere else. On the other hand the OS initialises on boot which card is the primary and which is the secondary. So my knowledge stops there and I can't imagine a way to make this separation between app data and the rest...
I hope for someone else's help!

PaulMilbank said:
I have wondered if the /data/app or maybe the whole /data partition could be mounted in the internal storage partition. That would give 2gb space for apps and associated files instead of 3-400 ish and would mean no need to move apps to sd card which would mean faster loads at startup due to internal memory being faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe this cannot be done, because I think that the mapping of the partitions and mounts comes from the bootloader, but there is already the solution of resizing the data partition using the space of internal storage.

PaulMilbank said:
I have wondered if the /data/app or maybe the whole /data partition could be mounted in the internal storage partition. That would give 2gb space for apps and associated files instead of 3-400 ish and would mean no need to move apps to sd card which would mean faster loads at startup due to internal memory being faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a great idea!
I almost don't use the so called "internal sd card", therefor I have 2GB of fast empty space being wasted.
Why not simply mounting the internal sd-card partition in the data folder and the data partition on the internal sd card folder?
I only use the internal sd card to hold ringtones and other small stuff that I need to be in accessible 100% of the time, so a few hundred MB are enough!
Me gusta!
Every ROM flashes it's own fstab, right?
So all we'd need to do would be, editing the fstab before flashing it.
-----------------
Regarding the my first idea... I don't think one can simply mount a path on another path. We'd need a "virtual" device pointing to /mnt/sdcard-internal/data/ then mount that virtual device on /mnt/sdcard-external/data/.
My knowledge of unix mount/filesystems is not much more than what's explained here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Mount
OK, just found this:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/11079/mount-a-directory-to-look-like-a-drive
there is a FUSE filesystem named bindfs that probably does exactly what you want. For example the following:
bindfs -n /media/USB-HDD-01/ISO/ /home/johnc/ISO-images
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
would result in ISO-images to show up as a mounted filesystem in the Places sidepanel in Nautilus. The -n is required because otherwise bindfs tries to use the allow_other FUSE option, which by default is not allowed for regular users (if you use bindfs in /etc/fstab this is not a problem).
The first directory you give is the existing one, the second directory you give is an empty directory under which the contents of the existing one will appear.
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Click to collapse
So, bindfs depends on FUSE... and there's a port of fuse to android: https://github.com/seth-hg/fuse-android but looking at the README I get the feeling that it's not really working. The last step would be having a kernel with FUSE support... and regarding that, I have no idea, how easy it is to get a kernel like that for our U8800 :\

Finding such a solution to expand the DATA partition indirectly would be great!
I used to apply genokolar's custom partition method as "1.2G DATA + 1.46G INTERNAL SD" before, but i found out that it has some issues with Official 2.3 Roms. One of them -the most important IMHO- is the BOOTLOOP problem occurring in some specific situations!!!
See the details in my post here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=25853141&postcount=134
(Seems that I don't encounter the bootloops on Custom Roms, but i'm not %100 sure and never will be )
So i unfortunately gave up using it, and revert to the stock partition .
I will be grateful to the one who will find a better and reliable solution. Hope to see it soon...

I still have to gather more information on the official update "modus operandi".
My goal is to simply reformat both partitions and then swap their mount points.
If the official update formats the partitions before applying the flashing official ROM files, then partitioning changes shouldn't cause any failure on the official update.
But like I said, I'm still yet to confirm that info.
Gen's idea was great (I learned a lot just by looking at his scripts) but resizing partitions has its dangers.
Since "no one" really uses the internal memory, why not simply exchange its room with /data, right?

This would be awesome! I would love to have 2gb for apps, instead of cluttering my phone.. plus the 2gb of internal storage are just a waste for me.. I never use them.. so this would be great!