Database Users

[Q] Multi-boot question. :D

First off, I would like to take this opportunity to say,
"Thanks to all the devs out there who have made these amazing things possible! Without you guys, the NookColor would be so booooorrrrriiiiinnnnngggg...."
Now unto my question!
I currently have my NC running CM7 nightly 136 on eMMC, overclocked by the built-in kernel of Dalingrin @ 1.350Ghz. I have lots of apps, located both on the phone (Internal partition?) and on the microSD. All games I keep in the microSD. They are backed up by Titanium Backup Pro 3.90, which can restore to the original location, whether it's microSD or phone. The actual backup folder is located in the eMMC.
NOW! I would like to try something out.
I would like to create a size-agnostic SD Card image, as detailed here, and flash the Dualboot Phiremod/Honeycomb ROM that can be found here.
I do believe that this is possible, since the microSD I have is a Samsung Class 2 16GB, who have never failed me (so far).
If I'm not mistaken, that would give me 3 ROMS.
CM7 Nightly on eMMC,
Phiremod & Honeycomb on miscroSD.
My questions are:
1.If I would boot to CM7 Nightly and restore my apps, specifically the apps located in the microSD, will they be restored?
2.Where is the phone (internal partition) of the Phiremod ROM and Honeycomb ROM located in the microSD? Will it be 'touched' by the CM7 nightly installed in the eMMC?
I hope I didn't confuse you.

I never done such things but want to chip in with some logical thoughts.
Based on what you have described,
1. it will probably work IFF (if and only if) there is an uSD installed.
2. Please do realize that eMMC and uSD is two different storages, two different locations.
eMMC is referred as the internal memory that comes with the NC while uSD is an external, additional storage. There are no conflict between the two.
Note: I don't know what you have referred to when calling "phone", if you meant the NC, then stop calling it "phone", if you meant a real phone such HTC, Motorola, ..... then you're in the wrong section.

votinh said:
I never done such things but want to chip in with some logical thoughts.
Based on what you have described,
1. it will probably work IFF (if and only if) there is an uSD installed.
2. Please do realize that eMMC and uSD is two different storages, two different locations.
eMMC is referred as the internal memory that comes with the NC while uSD is an external, additional storage. There are no conflict between the two.
Note: I don't know what you have referred to when calling "phone", if you meant the NC, then stop calling it "phone", if you meant a real phone such HTC, Motorola, ..... then you're in the wrong section.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, didn't mean to confuse you. When I said phone, I meant that the NC says 'phone' even though it meant the internal partition where the apps are installed. For example, if you try moving an app installed in the NC to the microSD, it will say in the button, 'move to sd'. Once it has been moved, the button will change and will then say, 'move to phone' even though it just meant the internal partition.
Now I got intrigued by your reply. What is a uSD and how do I make one along with the instructions that I have posted to follow? If my guess is correct, I'd say that it is a seperate partition created within the microSD that will act as the 'internal partition' of the ROMs that are housed in the microSD. It is the space wherein the apps will go once it is installed from the ROM installed in the microSD. Am I correct? If so, does that mean that it is possible to create 2 uSDs for the 2 ROMs that will be installed in the microSD?
Thanks so much for your reply. You've been very helpful.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk

Just call it NC's eMMC which should be the right term to say as it has been used.
uSD is the shortcut of the "micro SD" or "micro SDHC" card.
"If my guess is correct, I'd say that it is a seperate partition created within the microSD" Ans: I do not know 100% sure but I thought both ROMs will share the same partition.
"that will act as the 'internal partition' of the ROMs that are housed in the microSD"
Ans: yes, it is true but just to make life easier, drop the "internal" word. Internal should only being used for the internal memory (eMMC), anything resides on the external uSD, just call them uSD.
"It is the space wherein the apps will go once it is installed from the ROM installed in the microSD. Am I correct?" Ans: yes, you are correct
NOTE: when installing custom ROMs on the uSD, it will automatically create those partitions for you as /system where the ROM lives, /data where the apps installed and /media is the rest for storage.
"If so, does that mean that it is possible to create 2 uSDs for the 2 ROMs that will be installed in the microSD?"
Two (2) uSD is 2 totally seperate card.
You can install two ROMs on one uSD card which called "dual boot"
You can install one ROM on one uSD card, i.e. if you have 2 uSD cards, you can install CM7 on one and Honeycomb on the other.

votinh said:
Just call it NC's eMMC which should be the right term to say as it has been used.
uSD is the shortcut of the "micro SD" or "micro SDHC" card.
"If my guess is correct, I'd say that it is a seperate partition created within the microSD" Ans: I do not know 100% sure but I thought both ROMs will share the same partition.
"that will act as the 'internal partition' of the ROMs that are housed in the microSD"
Ans: yes, it is true but just to make life easier, drop the "internal" word. Internal should only being used for the internal memory (eMMC), anything resides on the external uSD, just call them uSD.
"It is the space wherein the apps will go once it is installed from the ROM installed in the microSD. Am I correct?" Ans: yes, you are correct
NOTE: when installing custom ROMs on the uSD, it will automatically create those partitions for you as /system where the ROM lives, /data where the apps installed and /media is the rest for storage.
"If so, does that mean that it is possible to create 2 uSDs for the 2 ROMs that will be installed in the microSD?"
Two (2) uSD is 2 totally seperate card.
You can install two ROMs on one uSD card which called "dual boot"
You can install one ROM on one uSD card, i.e. if you have 2 uSD cards, you can install CM7 on one and Honeycomb on the other.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So basically, the Phiremod & Honeycomb ROMs will BOTH sit in one /system partition, and they will also share the same /data partition? Does that mean their apps will sync to each other? Like install it on Phiremod and it will end up installed in the Honeycomb as well? I know that's quite impossible--just being hopeful.
Okay, and the CM7 Nightly ROM in the eMMC has it's own /data partition which houses the apps. Now what will happen if while you're on the CM7 Nightly, you used the App2SD app to move an app from the eMMC's /data partition to somewhere on the uSD? Where in the uSD will it be stored? Will it be in the uSD's /data partition or the /media partition? I'm guessing it'll be in the /media...right?
Thanks for being so patient with me! I'm learning a lot from you!

les02jen17 said:
So basically, the Phiremod & Honeycomb ROMs will BOTH sit in one /system partition, and they will also share the same /data partition? Does that mean their apps will sync to each other? Like install it on Phiremod and it will end up installed in the Honeycomb as well? I know that's quite impossible--just being hopeful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That I don't know 100%, you might want to ask someone who actually have the dual-boot option uSD card.
Okay, and the CM7 Nightly ROM in the eMMC has it's own /data partition which houses the apps. Now what will happen if while you're on the CM7 Nightly, you used the App2SD app to move an app from the eMMC's /data partition to somewhere on the uSD? Where in the uSD will it be stored? Will it be in the uSD's /data partition or the /media partition? I'm guessing it'll be in the /media...right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. just to be clear, you should NOT use the bootable uSD where ROM installed on it, just use another uSD, on which no /data or /media partition. If you have the bootable uSD plugged in, it would boot from the uSD already, not the CM7 from eMMC.
2. With the uSD, I assume it will move under "Android" folder on the uSD.
Thanks for being so patient with me! I'm learning a lot from you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We're learning from each other and that's the purpose of the public forums.

Delete WebTop Partition

Hi, I'm rocking the latest CM7 nightly, which doesn't support WebTop, so I have a 1GB+ partition just taking up space of my precious storage (which is very limited since I only have a 2GB SD card for now). I just read this article, could this be used to get rid of the webtop partition (and possibly shrink the /data as well)?

+1
Sent from my MB860 using XDA

nm, was thinking erase and not deleting the partition.

CaelanT said:
nm, was thinking erase and not deleting the partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I saw it in the update email, lol

even deleting the partition, the memory of it won't be relocated to anywhere else, DONT DO THAT IF YOU ARENT A DEVELOPER WHO KNOWS WHAT IS DOING! =)
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

You need to be able to edit the partition tables somehow, deleting the webtop partition and expanding the sdcard partition. Not sure how we can get a utility on the phone to do it. Id imagine it would be best to do it from a recovery so you wouldn't be using the internal storage partition while trying to do it. I don't think any simple and easy solution exists for this.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

I'm not a dev, but I'm quite knoelegable in general stuff (like partition maps, filesystems, etc) and a fast learner. That said, your right on that I probably shouldn't just go out and try it, and since I don't want to lose my little baby to a hardbrick, I was never planning on trying anything out. I posted the link to see if anyone had tried that method on an Atrix, or if someone knoelegable (or with a bunch of high end smartphones lying around) could try. I also must admit I haven't really read the thread & post linked in the article: I have a very busy week and this isn't something to do in a rush.

I'm also interested in this. I'll be following this thread to see if a solution comes up.

Silly suggestion: how about taking the card out and hooking it up with a proper PC. Copy the contents out of it to a temporary location. Then reformat the card to the full capacity and then re-copy all the items back in after. Reformat may have some issues if you are using Windows to try and rid of the EXT partition, but there are plenty of Partitioning programs out there that will kill it (including the native command prompt one called Diskpart).

bchliu said:
Silly suggestion: how about taking the card out and hooking it up with a proper PC. Copy the contents out of it to a temporary location. Then reformat the card to the full capacity and then re-copy all the items back in after. Reformat may have some issues if you are using Windows to try and rid of the EXT partition, but there are plenty of Partitioning programs out there that will kill it (including the native command prompt one called Diskpart).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We are talking about the internal storage (which is not removable as far as I know), not the MicroSD card.

adriangb said:
We are talking about the internal storage (which is not removable as far as I know), not the MicroSD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OP: "Hi, I'm rocking the latest CM7 nightly, which doesn't support WebTop, so I have a 1GB+ partition just taking up space of my precious storage (which is very limited since I only have a 2GB SD card for now). I just read this article, could this be used to get rid of the webtop partition (and possibly shrink the /data as well)?"
Notice the SD card comment..

bchliu said:
The OP: "Hi, I'm rocking the latest CM7 nightly, which doesn't support WebTop, so I have a 1GB+ partition just taking up space of my precious storage (which is very limited since I only have a 2GB SD card for now). I just read this article, could this be used to get rid of the webtop partition (and possibly shrink the /data as well)?"
Notice the SD card comment..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but the webtop partition is on internal storage (unless you are using webtop2sd).
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

bchliu said:
The OP: "Hi, I'm rocking the latest CM7 nightly, which doesn't support WebTop, so I have a 1GB+ partition just taking up space of my precious storage (which is very limited since I only have a 2GB SD card for now). I just read this article, could this be used to get rid of the webtop partition (and possibly shrink the /data as well)?"
Notice the SD card comment..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was only to point out a possible reason for which I would want to do this, since I probably wouldn't care too much about 1GB of internal storage if I had a 32GB SD card.

U can format the partition by fastboot erase webtop command but other then that u cant use that space for other purposes and as far as i can tell there are certain number of partitions in atrix system (ever one is for some specific thing).
SO my suggestion is DO not completely delete the partition insted make it so small (as small as possible) and reallocate all of the free space to system partition (where user and preinstalled apps are installed. this way no natural order of flashing and backup will be disturbed and we will get extra space for applications and stuff.
Possible problems (unable to flash SBF through RSDlite) {Who flash thins via RDS now any ways ?}
if flashed rom with webtop (bluer bassed ROMs) then there is strong possibility that webtop partition so small unable to flash webtop causing aborted flasing process.

xateeq said:
U can format the partition by fastboot erase webtop command but other then that u cant use that space for other purposes and as far as i can tell there are certain number of partitions in atrix system (ever one is for some specific thing).
SO my suggestion is DO not completely delete the partition insted make it so small (as small as possible) and reallocate all of the free space to system partition (where user and preinstalled apps are installed. this way no natural order of flashing and backup will be disturbed and we will get extra space for applications and stuff.
Possible problems (unable to flash SBF through RSDlite) {Who flash thins via RDS now any ways ?}
if flashed rom with webtop (bluer bassed ROMs) then there is strong possibility that webtop partition so small unable to flash webtop causing aborted flasing process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, I hadn't thought of that. CWM flashs could probably work fine, or be modified to do so, but sbf I don't know, and sbf is useful to recover from a softbrick (I had to do so once, I don't remember th exact circumstance thou).
Some dev who knoes what he is doing would have to check this and see if there is a possible workaround (like the one you gave).
Sent from my MB860

in soft brick u can access fastboot so no need to flash SBF just flash recover and from it mount storage as a mass storage on pc and copy rom and flash. i do it all the times.
last time i used rsd was to flash unlock bootloader sbf.

xateeq said:
in soft brick u can access fastboot so no need to flash SBF just flash recover and from it mount storage as a mass storage on pc and copy rom and flash. i do it all the times.
last time i used rsd was to flash unlock bootloader sbf.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I know, I don't remember what tje exact circumstance was, but maybe I just had the sbf laying around, it's irrelevant to the thread anyways (as is this post). I was just trying to point out that it's just better if we can keep the sbf fladhing capibility, even if it's only to be able to return it under warranty (althou I'm pretty sure you can also flash stock ROMs under CWM, granted someone made a zip out of it).

Maybe there is a way of tricking the phone into thinking the webtop partition is an sd card after it's re-formatted. Like formatting it into a fat32 partition and have some command to mount it.

i will never use webtop, its just some space useless to me =[

i have found a purfect solution to webtop extras space problem.
BUY A BIGGER CAPACITY MEMORY CARD
Every thing els dont have to change, give developers some time they will find some webtop replacement and we r gona love it.

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.
Click to expand...
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!

[Q] Can I have partitions that can be accessed from both NC Stock and CM7 on SD card?

Hi everyone!
I just got CM7 (latest stable release) installed on on external sdhc card. I have wifi issues with CM7 (and looking around the forums tells me that CM7 can be finicky with certain routers) so I would love to be able to use Nook's stock ROM (4.1.4) when I am having issues.
But, when I am on NC ROM, I don't see anything except the small boot partition on the SD and when I am on CM7, I don't get access to this boot partition. I am wondering if there is a way to either create another partition or make the currently existing partitions accessible on both ROMS so that I can share data between them.
I am a n00b without any Android experience so thanks in advance for your patient responses.

Please use the Q&A Forum for questions &
Read the Forum Rules Ref Posting
Thanks ✟
Moving to Q&A

andrandom said:
Hi everyone!
I just got CM7 (latest stable release) installed on on external sdhc card. I have wifi issues with CM7 (and looking around the forums tells me that CM7 can be finicky with certain routers) so I would love to be able to use Nook's stock ROM (4.1.4) when I am having issues.
But, when I am on NC ROM, I don't see anything except the small boot partition on the SD and when I am on CM7, I don't get access to this boot partition. I am wondering if there is a way to either create another partition or make the currently existing partitions accessible on both ROMS so that I can share data between them.
I am a n00b without any Android experience so thanks in advance for your patient responses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look in my signature for a link to my tips thread. I explain there how to make the SD media partition available to both ROMs (item B3).

leapinlar said:
Look in my signature for a link to my tips thread. I explain there how to make the SD media partition available to both ROMs (item B3).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*That's* the one I wanted to point them to.

leapinlar said:
Look in my signature for a link to my tips thread. I explain there how to make the SD media partition available to both ROMs (item B3).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
Do you mean step #3 in Section B? I could edit it without running your script too, can't I?

andrandom said:
Thanks.
Do you mean step #3 in Section B? I could edit it without running your script too, can't I?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If whatever you have on emmc is rooted, you can manually edit it. If you have unrooted stock, then you need to flash the zip since without root you cannot edit those files manually. And I did mean item B3. Each item is a different topic, they are not steps. One topic does not depend on another. Just do B3 and no others if you want.

Yes, item B3. My mistake...
I should be able to do flash the zip from my current CM7 SD card's boot partition, shouldn't I?
So I put the update-stockemmc-vold-fstab-modified-for-partition4.zip file in the boot partition of the SD card, rebooted to Recovery mode and then booted to NC's stock ROM. NC is still using the tiny boot partition on the SD card as my external storage instead of the much larger CM7 partition. This was the same partition that was under 'My Files / Memory card' before I flashed so nothing has changed. I did this twice to double-check.
Am I doing this wrong?

andrandom said:
Yes, item B3. My mistake...
I should be able to do flash the zip from my current CM7 SD card's boot partition, shouldn't I?
So I put the update-stockemmc-vold-fstab-modified-for-partition4.zip file in the boot partition of the SD card, rebooted to Recovery mode and then booted to NC's stock ROM. NC is still using the tiny boot partition on the SD card as my external storage instead of the much larger CM7 partition. This was the same partition that was under 'My Files / Memory card' before I flashed so nothing has changed. I did this twice to double-check.
Am I doing this wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you are doing it wrong. You need to flash that file with a CWM card, not put in the boot partition of your SD. And since you did that, you need to re-flash your latest ROM on SD to correct your mistake. (I will edit my instructions to make it a little clearer that you use CWM to flash that file.)

I got NC stock ROM to see my SD card partition by following item A10. That is most excellent and thanks again!
Unfortunately, I no longer see the boot partition when I attach NC to my computer whether NC is running off stock ROM or CM7. My guess is that this is due to my failed attempt to flash from my CM7 SD card yesterday. Am I right?
I thought I could reverse that by copying the update-stockemmc-vold-fstab-return-to-stock.zip file to CM7's boot (and then booting to the recovery mode) but that seemed to have nothing.
If I understand your previous message correctly, I should re-do my entire SD card but... I have already spent a few hours downloading and customizing the Android apps. Is there a way to preserve all that before Win32diskimager destroys the contents of the SD card?
Is there a way to manually mount the /etc folder from a unix prompt and alter the file?
Does it even matter if I don't see boot while I attach NC to a computer? Are there any caveats to 'let it be'?
Questions, questions and more questions...
That leads me to the obvious question, is there a book that explains Android to someone who is not interested in programming it but wants to understand the architecture and design of the OS (and custom ROMs)?
Thanks for being patient with all these n00b questions.

andrandom said:
I got NC stock ROM to see my SD card partition by following item A10. That is most excellent and thanks again!
Unfortunately, I no longer see the boot partition when I attach NC to my computer whether NC is running off stock ROM or CM7. My guess is that this is due to my failed attempt to flash from my CM7 SD card yesterday. Am I right?
I thought I could reverse that by copying the update-stockemmc-vold-fstab-return-to-stock.zip file to CM7's boot (and then booting to the recovery mode) but that seemed to have nothing.
If I understand your previous message correctly, I should re-do my entire SD card but... I have already spent a few hours downloading and customizing the Android apps. Is there a way to preserve all that before Win32diskimager destroys the contents of the SD card?
Is there a way to manually mount the /etc folder from a unix prompt and alter the file?
Does it even matter if I don't see boot while I attach NC to a computer? Are there any caveats to 'let it be'?
Questions, questions and more questions...
That leads me to the obvious question, is there a book that explains Android to someone who is not interested in programming it but wants to understand the architecture and design of the OS (and custom ROMs)?
Thanks for being patient with all these n00b questions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do not need or want to re-set up the whole SD installation. Just put the same CM7 zip file back in the boot partition and boot to SD recovery. It will put the correct vold.fstab back on the SD. You will not lose any settings or apps you have already set up. (And putting the return to stock zip there was also the wrong thing to do. The vold.fstab for stock and CM7 are different. But don't worry, it will fix that too.)
You are not supposed to see the boot partition on the PC when you plug the nook in with the cable. You are only supposed to see 'emmc' and 'sdcard'. Under the original setup, your stock system thought the boot partition was 'sdcard' and that was why you saw it on your PC. Since you modified stock to see partition 4 as 'sdcard', partition 4 is what the PC sees, not the boot partition.
Most people have to physically take the card out of the nook and put it in the PC to see the boot partition on the PC. If you don't want to do that, use my script in item B4. But since you are on CM7, you will not be adding many things to the boot partition to install with SD recovery in the future. So it is probably best to leave things be.
And I don't know of any books to help you.
Sent from my Nook Color running ICS and Tapatalk

That is excellent news!
A bit of playing around with Astro tells me that I was wrong about seeing the 'CM7 SDCARD' partition when I was on CM7 ROM. I am only seeing the boot. Anyway, I am going to flash the CM7 ROM again and I am hoping it would fix everything.
Also, yes, I can see the boot partition when I put the SD card directly on my computer but I was also able to see it when I hooked up the NC to my computer via USB before I did my unintended tweaks but... I'll survive.
I'll be back after I flash. (Famous last words??)

Mission accomplished!
Thanks again for all your help.

For future reference after you alter stock's fstab... all you have to do is:
mkdir /sdcard/boot (only have to do this one time)
mount /dev/block/mmcblk1p1 /sdcard/boot (do this every time you want to put something on the boot partition)
put anything you want on boot partition in /sdcard/boot

DizzyDen said:
For future reference after you alter stock's fstab... all you have to do is:
mkdir /sdcard/boot (only have to do this one time)
mount /dev/block/mmcblk1p1 /sdcard/boot (do this every time you want to put something on the boot partition)
put anything you want on boot partition in /sdcard/boot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, there is one big advantage to using that method. I think it allows the boot partition to be seen not only on the nook, but also on the PC when you plug in the usb.

leapinlar said:
Yes, there is one big advantage to using that method. I think it allows the boot partition to be seen not only on the nook, but also on the PC when you plug in the usb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We could probably come up with a symlink to /dev/block/mmcblk1p1 to /sdcard/boot and avoid having to mount it everytime as well.

DizzyDen said:
We could probably come up with a symlink to /dev/block/mmcblk1p1 to /sdcard/boot and avoid having to mount it everytime as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you Dizz, your suggestion got me to thinking and I was able to come up with an init.d bash script that does the trick. I just temporarily mounted sdcard and created the sdcard/boot directory and the mounted the boot partition to it, then unmounted sdcard so it could be mounted again by the system later in the boot sequence.
The only problem is now sdcard will not mount on the PC using UMS mass storage. Must be because of having a second mount within the mount. But it does mount with MTP. But that may be acceptable. I will test some more, including using Goo Manager tomorrow.
EDIT (6-21): Goo Manager works. But I think I have figured out why sdcard is not mounting in UMS. Once it is mounted in my script and the boot partition mounted under it, it cannot be unmounted. And since it cannot be unmounted, it cannot be mounted later by the system as vold. If it cannot be mounted as vold, it does not show in UMS. For now I think I will leave it as I have it in Rev 2 of my script (symlinking to the root directory with full r/w permissions). If people want to see the boot partition on the PC, just use my modified for CM9 NookColorUMS available in my tips thread.
Sent from my Nook Color running ICS and Tapatalk

Help!
When CM7 is running, my computer is no longer mounting any of the partitions when I connect NC to my computer via the USB cable.
If the NC stock ROM is running, my computer mounts all three partitions (MyNook..., boot and CM7SDcard) but calibre is not recognizing the external partitions for transfers.
Further, when I boot to my NC stock ROM, I am no longer seeing my SD card's contents in the NC's library.
This may have something to do with the fact that NC stock ROM seemed to have updated itself to 4.1.3.
Should I re-run the scripts again or am I missing something else?

When it was updated to 1.4.3, you lost the emmc mods. Just re-flash my zip with the CWM SD. You may have lost CWM on emmc too.
On CM7, you have to select the turn on storage button after you plug it in. It is not automatic like stock. Pull up the notification area and touch the turn on button.

Darn, I forgot about that 'USB' option under notifications. Enabling it allows me to find the partitions. I will run your scripts again when I find a spare mUSB card.
Thanks again for your help!

[Q] Clarification On Making CM-10 Card

I have read multiple tutorials on making the card (mostly C-M 7) and there seems to be some differences. Some say to expand the boot partition and some don't. Which is it? If you have to grow it to how do you do it if you have only Linux? Gparted can't grow FAT.. I tried but 3 different versions errored out.
Second is do you copy the gaps.zip and C10.1.zip to the unused portion of the SD that is there after the image file is written to the SD card or the boot partition that is created.
One tutorial said I should unmount the card before writing the image. None of the others did.
Any help for a newbie appreciated.

Ray2047 said:
I have read multiple tutorials on making the card (mostly C-M 7) and there seems to be some differences. Some say to expand the boot partition and some don't. Which is it? If you have to grow it to how do you do it if you have only Linux? Gparted can't grow FAT.. I tried but 3 different versions errored out.
Second is do you copy the gaps.zip and C10.1.zip to the unused portion of the SD that is there after the image file is written to the SD card or the boot partition that is created.
One tutorial said I should unmount the card before writing the image. None of the others did.
Any help for a newbie appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use my NC guide for installing CM10 to SD linked in my signature. You do not expand the boot partition, I have made it big enough, use the rev8b version. Copy the CM files directly to the boot partition.
Sent from my BN NookHD+ using XDA Premium HD app

leapinlar said:
Use my NC guide for installing CM10 to SD linked in my signature. You do not expand the boot partition, I have made it big enough, use the rev8b version. Copy the CM files directly to the boot partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I attempt to copy CM.10.1.3.2 I get disk full. Tried as User and root.
Looking at the partition in Gparted I get Size=117.63 MB Used 9.73 MB Unused 107.90 MB so it doesn't seem to be full.. The image I used was Android/generic-sdcard-v1.3.img

Ray2047 said:
When I attempt to copy CM.10.1.3.2 I get disk full. Tried as User and root.
Looking at the partition in Gparted I get Size=117.63 MB Used 9.73 MB Unused 107.90 MB so it doesn't seem to be full.. The image I used was Android/generic-sdcard-v1.3.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I told you to use my rev8b from my thread. That old 1.3 will not work on the new CM zips.
Sent from my BN NookHD+ using XDA Premium HD app

leapinlar said:
I told you to use my rev8b from my thread. That old 1.3 will not work on the new CM zips.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry. I did get that from a link in your thread. I will have to go back and look for the correct link. Thanks for your patience.

Got it. Thanks for all the help. Now if the Post Office finally delivers the Nook I bought I can test it.