Database Users

2gb sd ext?!

So, I recently received my replacement and immediately got it rooted. Since I have tons of apps, I rely on transfering some apps to my SD to get me by. I read that EXT3 would be more appropriate for Myn's 2.2, so I formatted my SD EXT with 0MB swap size and 2GB space with the EXT3 format. Everything seems to have worked fine. I use 'App 2 SD Pro' to notify me of apps that are capable of transferring over and it still shows that I have 22.7GB available on my SD Card. Shouldn't it limit it to the 2GB I dedicated?

There are different kinds of apps2sd. There's the old way, where you format part of your SD card to ext2/3/4 and you have symlinks from your /data/apps directory to that partition. Then there's the new way, where Google let's you put your apps on the FAT32 partition (normal) of your SD card in the .android_secure folder.
If you're doing it with Android's built-in apps2sd functionality, then you don't need to partition your card for ext2/3/4 to put your apps on your SD card.

I run a 500mb ext4 partition, I am using dark tremors a2sd. I use a2sd from the market and it also tells me how much free space is left on the whole SD instead of how much free space is left on the ext partition.
Here's what mine looks like.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

sultan.of.swing said:
I run a 500mb ext4 partition, I am using dark tremors a2sd. I use a2sd from the market and it also tells me how much free space is left on the whole SD instead of how much free space is left on the ext partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In your first pic, you have a2sd+, 384 of 457 available... That's your ext partition, no???
Edit: Bold quoted text... Still confused...

gpz1100 said:
In your first pic, you have a2sd+, 384 of 457 available... That's your ext partition, no???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct. That's the ext partition.

its just the space on the extened partion of the memory.

What's the difference between using Dark Tremor's and Google's built-in? I'm on Myn's 2.2 btw.

Also, how do I get the remaining A2SD+ ext space I have? Can't find it anywhere.

sultan.of.swing said:
Correct. That's the ext partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand?? Edit, disregard. I think your pic is showing the contents of both partitions individually.
@akarol, a little searching goes A LONG way. All your questions are answered in the first post.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=715938

Well, ok... that clarifies things a bit. However, I seem to not even know which version I am currently using. I am running Myn's 2.2 RLS 5 atm which I think might just use Froyo's method. For example, App 2 SD Pro guides me to the Manage Application screen for that specific app to move to/from SD. Does this mean I am using Froyo's method? If I am, then I don't need any EXT on my SD card right? If so, how do I remove it in Amon RA's recovery and will I need to wipe my ROM and start from scratch?

akarol said:
Well, ok... that clarifies things a bit. However, I seem to not even know which version I am currently using. I am running Myn's 2.2 RLS 5 atm which I think might just use Froyo's method. For example, App 2 SD Pro guides me to the Manage Application screen for that specific app to move to/from SD. Does this mean I am using Froyo's method? If I am, then I don't need any EXT on my SD card right? If so, how do I remove it in Amon RA's recovery and will I need to wipe my ROM and start from scratch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not familiar with Myn's roms, but a quick look at the main thread ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=793471), seven bullets down from "Some of the features in RLS 5 (01-07-2011) include:", it clearly says, "Updated Darktremor Apps2SD (2.7.5.2)".
Then, in post #3 (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=8341836&postcount=3), in the FAQ section, there's a link to more info on the apps2sd function.
Personally, I think the write up in the DT thread is more than sufficient at explaining what it is, and how to set it up. What you are probably missing is that by having DT installed, your apps are automatically installed to the ext partition, transparent to the system. If, you now use the move2sd function in settings/applications, you are in essence, moving them from the ext3 partition (on the sd card) to the main partition (also on the sd card). I see little benefit to do this. Either use one method or the other.
This brings up the point, that with the DT method, even apps that traditionally can not reside on the SD card can do so (usually) without issue. I forget the criteria for being able to be moved, but suspect it has something to do with the fact that the main /sdcard partition can be unmounted from the system's view when connected via usb. DT's method secures the ext partition from such actions.

gpz1100 said:
I am not familiar with Myn's roms, but a quick look at the main thread ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=793471), seven bullets down from "Some of the features in RLS 5 (01-07-2011) include:", it clearly says, "Updated Darktremor Apps2SD (2.7.5.2)".
Then, in post #3 (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=8341836&postcount=3), in the FAQ section, there's a link to more info on the apps2sd function.
Personally, I think the write up in the DT thread is more than sufficient at explaining what it is, and how to set it up. What you are probably missing is that by having DT installed, your apps are automatically installed to the ext partition, transparent to the system. If, you now use the move2sd function in settings/applications, you are in essence, moving them from the ext3 partition (on the sd card) to the main partition (also on the sd card). I see little benefit to do this. Either use one method or the other.
This brings up the point, that with the DT method, even apps that traditionally can not reside on the SD card can do so (usually) without issue. I forget the criteria for being able to be moved, but suspect it has something to do with the fact that the main /sdcard partition can be unmounted from the system's view when connected via usb. DT's method secures the ext partition from such actions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, thanks! I customized my a2sd settings as instructured in post #3. However, I still cannot verify that my apps are placed on the EXT partition or in the main partition of the SD card. Any way to do this?

[ANSWER] Safe Partitioning - How to confirm?

As we all know, most of our phones have at least a couple of bad blocks in the NAND memory. The biggest and most common problem because of this is that when you create a partition of 'x'MB, the actual partition will be 'x-something'MB. This is because partitioning does not account for bad blocks.
So if a ROM requires 150MB of /system partition (which you create - using HD2 Toolkit or cLK 1.5), you *might* end up with less than 150MB. ROM devs usually factor this in and give a room of at least 5 ~10 MB for installing additional stuff in /system as well as bad blocks. But you will have a problem if the 150 MB partition you create has enough bad blocks making it less than, in my example, 145 or 140 MB.
The most safest way I have seen to make sure you /system has enough space-
Extract you ROM's zip file, and check the size of the directory named system
Repartition your phone like you normally do
Boot to ClockWorkMod and format all partitions
Mount the /system partition in ClockWorkMod
Connect your phone to your computer, ensure you had ABD drivers installed
Head to QtADB and download the most appropriate version for you - there is one for Linux x86, Linux x64, Windows and Mac. Also download the required binary files for Linux, Windows or MacOS. Extract all QtADB zip as well as the binary zip to the same directory. Launch QtADB. On first launch, if it asks for the binaries, point it to the right directory
In QtADB, select the "Phone Info" icon. You will see something like this:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
As you can see from the image, my /system is 195.31 MB. I had partitioned my NAND for 200 MB system partition, but am losing 4.69MB to bad blocks
If I am installing a ROM, I need to make sure the system directory in its zip file does not exceed this size, or increase the partition size accordingly.
Also, when flashing a ROM, you can refresh QtADB to see the /system partitioning filling up. Make sure the actual space in the system partition is 10 or 15 MB larger than the ROM's system directory. The most common symptom of an inadequate system partition is bootlooping, and other weird/ uncommon behavior.
Hope this little guide helps at least some of us. Happy Flashing

ph03n!x said:
As we all know, most of our phones have at least a couple of bad blocks in the NAND memory. The biggest and most common problem because of this is that when you create a partition of 'x'MB, the actual partition will be 'x-something'MB. This is because partitioning does not account for bad blocks.
So if a ROM requires 150MB of /system partition (which you create - using HD2 Toolkit or cLK 1.5), you *might* end up with less than 150MB. ROM devs usually factor this in and give a room of at least 5 ~10 MB for installing additional stuff in /system as well as bad blocks. But you will have a problem if the 150 MB partition you create has enough bad blocks making it less than, in my example, 145 or 140 MB.
The most safest way I have seen to make sure you /system has enough space-
Extract you ROM's zip file, and check the size of the directory named system
Repartition your phone like you normally do
Boot to ClockWorkMod and format all partitions
Mount the /system partition in ClockWorkMod
Connect your phone to your computer, ensure you had ABD drivers installed
Head to QtADB and download the most appropriate version for you - there is one for Linux x86, Linux x64, Windows and Mac. Also download the required binary files for Linux, Windows or MacOS. Extract all QtADB zip as well as the binary zip to the same directory. Launch QtADB. On first launch, if it asks for the binaries, point it to the right directory
In QtADB, select the "Phone Info" icon. You will see something like this:
View attachment 1081288
As you can see from the image, my /system is 195.31 MB. I had partitioned my NAND for 200 MB system partition, but am losing 4.69MB to bad blocks
If I am installing a ROM, I need to make sure the system directory in its zip file does not exceed this size, or increase the partition size accordingly.
Also, when flashing a ROM, you can refresh QtADB to see the /system partitioning filling up. Make sure the actual space in the system partition is 10 or 15 MB larger than the ROM's system directory. The most common symptom of an inadequate system partition is bootlooping, and other weird/ uncommon behavior.
Hope this little guide helps at least some of us. Happy Flashing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this, I've been looking for a way to check something like this out. I don't have the time now though, but I might try it later depending again on time constraints. I feel that for now I'm OK since I've only had the phone since Jan 2011 and I used SD Android for quite a while before switching to NAND, but it never hurts to know things like this. Thus far though the recommended partition size has always worked for me and I've always seen 2-3Mb space free in the 'System ROM' setting in Titanium backup.
In fact, that gets me wondering can you literally just do step 1, then flash a partition size larger than needed (e.g. for a 150Mb ROM flash a 200Mb partition), calculate how much space you should have free (i.e. 50Mb in this case), check in Titanium Backup how much space you actually have free and subtract the latter from the first, giving you the free space? If this would work, it would save even more time.
Of course, I may be COMPLETELY misunderstanding what the 'System ROM' thing in Titanium Backup is, tbh I'm not into the technical side of things very much.

@Nigeldg- Titanium Backup is something I used to check the sizes earlier. But then, it's not quite accurate. My 200MB /system partition shows as 209MB in Titanium
I have never had any issues in using a bigger partition than required. I initially had a 445 MB as default when I was trying out a bunch of ROMs...
Swyped from my HTC HD2 (ICS 4.0.4)

ph03n!x said:
@Nigeldg- Titanium Backup is something I used to check the sizes earlier. But then, it's not quite accurate. My 200MB /system partition shows as 209MB in Titanium
I have never had any issues in using a bigger partition than required. I initially had a 445 MB as default when I was trying out a bunch of ROMs...
Swyped from my HTC HD2 (ICS 4.0.4)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I see you're right, my 165mb partition reads as 173mb. Still, perhaps it's consistently 8-9mb over? Just a guess, although I would obviously need someone with a different partition size to confirm this

Nigeldg said:
Actually I see you're right, my 165mb partition reads as 173mb. Still, perhaps it's consistently 8-9mb over? Just a guess, although I would obviously need someone with a different partition size to confirm this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For a raw sizing, open terminal emulator (or ADB shell) and type df
Again, this wont count the bad blocks you have...

when you wantto flash a new rom, first resize the system partition with more 10M than the new rom needed... it is a simple method to solve the problem...

Good find ph03n!x !!! I just use root explorer to determine my partition sizes. Lucky, ive only had bad blocks in my userdata partition. (Knocks on wood) Hopefully i wont have anymore

ph03n!x said:
@Nigeldg- Titanium Backup is something I used to check the sizes earlier. But then, it's not quite accurate. My 200MB /system partition shows as 209MB in Titanium
I have never had any issues in using a bigger partition than required. I initially had a 445 MB as default when I was trying out a bunch of ROMs...
Swyped from my HTC HD2 (ICS 4.0.4)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know this thread is a bit old now and generally I don't bring up an old thread again, but in Tytungs CM9 there was a short discussion about this and I was given a solution by agbommarito:
agbommarito said:
Titanium Backup has an option under GUI Preferences to change its interpretation of memory. If it is set for binary units, a kilobyte = 1024 bytes and Titanium will display MiB. If it is set for decimal units, a kilobyte is 1000 bytes and Titanium will display MB (without the little "i').
165 MiB (where a MiB is 1024x1024) = 173 MB (where a MB is 1000x1000).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if anyone wanted to check their partition size, they CAN just use Titanium to do it

@nigeldg, I tried that and am getting 200MB, which is indeed my partition size- but it is not accounting for the bad block I have in my /system!
_
Swyped from my HTC HD2 (ICS 4.0.4)

ph03n!x said:
@nigeldg, I tried that and am getting 200MB, which is indeed my partition size- but it is not accounting for the bad block I have in my /system!
_
Swyped from my HTC HD2 (ICS 4.0.4)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright I get it now. Perhaps flashing a larger partition size, then seeing how much free space you should have in /system versus seeing how much space you actually have in /system would do the trick (basically a combination of the first thing I suggested a while back and the new solution as well). Of course, this wouldn't tell you how many bad blocks you have but the amount of space which is taken up should be sufficient data. Again, I'm not sure whether or not this would work but in theory I think it should.

Well, my point is to check the partition size before flashing a ROM, making sure the actual size on /system is sufficient- by checking the size of the system directory in the ROM's zip
_
Swyped from my HTC HD2 (ICS 4.0.4)

Using 16GB card for streak 5 internal SD

Hmm... this is quite interesting which i taught i want to show you guys this... screenshots taken from my streak 5 of course
When you guys see the red arrow pointing to what... you guys will know what i mean :victory:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
-----------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE:
While i was playing around today, i managed to get it like in the image below. See where the red arrow pointing at? Neat isnt it?
-----------------------------------------------------------
p/s: Using 16GB Kingmax class 10 microSDHC for internal and external sd

Now you guys are curious how i managed to do that?
FIRST OF ALL:
You need to open the streak housing ... follow the link below and good luck.. be gentle and be careful .. just do it slow and steady and you will be ok ... no need to rush anything there ... :good:
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Dell-Streak-Teardown/3512/1
------------------------------------------------------
NEXT - SELECT APPROPRIATE USER TYPE:-
LINUX USERS:
Just follow this link > http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=24799755&postcount=65
WINDOWS USERS:
first.. get this... http://www.alexpage.de/usb-image-tool/
make sure it is USB Image Tool 1.59 when you download...
next get gparted-live-0.13.1-2.iso
burn it to the CD...
- after you have extracted the usb image tool... open USB Image Tool.exe
- select the corresponding usb drive and click backup, save it something like streakinternal.img
- it will take some time to complete ( have instant noodle for the time being )
- once done... replace the sd card that you want to transfer the image to and click restore and select the earlier streakinternal.img
- again.. it will take some time to complete (you can have snack this time )
note: make sure the target sdcard is the same or bigger in size (obviously)...
- once completed...
- reboot your pc and insert the burned CD earlier... let it boot from it... just press enter to everything it ask until it fully loaded into linux environment
- gparted should already show your sdcard drive there... it should show /dev/sda1 and below it got two more partition /dev/sda5 (ext3) and /dev/sda6 (ext3)
- select /dev/sda1 and right click it and select move/resize
- there should be visual displaying the drive structure and on the right, there should be arrow, drag it to the most right, click ok
- now, select /dev/sda6 and right click it and select move/resize
- again, on it, there should be arrow on the right, drag it to the most right and click ok
- once all that done, click apply and it will start to do its work..
- let it completes it work and your sd card now should be able to be use as internal sd...
- your streak should be able to boot straight away.. no need to wipe cache or something like that...
- have fun having big internal sd
p/s: i wrote this based on my memory, i hope i dont messed it up
------------------------------------------------------
POSSIBLE FAQ:
-- 01 --
Q - Will the method used gone if i do factory reset?
A - Nope. You can safely do it and the structure will be maintained.
-- 02 --
Q - Can i use more than 16gb card?
A - Theoretically, yes.
-- 03 --
Q - Can we use this as sd storage as well?
A - Sorry. We cant because it is formated in ext3, so windows see it as unformatted medium.
-- 04 --
Q - Cant we create shortcut in external sd to access it?
A - Sorry. We cant because symlink does not work on any windows formatted medium since external sd usually formatted in fat32
-- 05 --
Q - Cant we mount this at all?
A - Somebody has tried it before but since the internal sd never meant to be accessed externally, the support is pretty much impossible.
-- 06 --
Q - How can we access it and where is it located?
A - To access the space, you can use root explorer and wifi file explorer (anything similar will do) and it is located at /data from /
Therefore, you must be rooted to access it.
-- 07 --
Q - So, what the hell am i supposed to do with those huge extra GBs?
A - Well, you can brag bout it to your friends, saying it got this huge internal sd space and can install hundreds of applications or games and still got space left for more.
------------------------------------------------------
MORE ADVANCED MODS.:
If you think having large innerSD is not enough, we could have larger /system dir and possible dual usb mount support by default (in the near future hopefully) for our streak 5.
Have a visit to the link below...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=31643924&postcount=98
-------------------------------------------------------
Our streak 5 might be old but it is still competitive regardless
.

Did u change internal storage?we can use that as sd storage or not?
Sent from my Dell Streak using Tapatalk 2

Which SD card is this? I mean make and class...
Sent from my Dell Streak using xda premium

details please..!!!
BEEN TRYING WITH 16GB CARD...REIMAGED THE CARD WITH EXT3 AND ALL BUT IT WOULD NOT ACCEPT 16GB CARD......PLEASE GIVE US MORE DETAIL ON HOW TOs....THANKS IN ADVANCED..

He just installed a 16gb card and formatted it properly.
You must use extended partitions and not primary ones, at least that's what the stock card is set up as

TheManii said:
He just installed a 16gb card and formatted it properly.
You must use extended partitions and not primary ones, at least that's what the stock card is set up as
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the benefit come from the class of the sd card or the size? or is it the format (ext3vs4 or some such thing)?

ellisna said:
Does the benefit come from the class of the sd card or the size?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
class for sd card means speed... so the higher the better..

Speed class determines it's actual read and write speed, FS is important as ext4 is the most efficient fs currently available.
It's supposed to be a good deal faster then yaffs2 and more efficient then ext3

TheManii said:
Speed class determines it's actual read and write speed, FS is important as ext4 is the most efficient fs currently available.
It's supposed to be a good deal faster then yaffs2 and more efficient then ext3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i go on and make it ext4 both for cache and data for the internal sd.. boots up normally and yes... you can see something faster...
its a shame that the CWM 6 not supported ext4 and therefore nandroid backup is impossible for now...
i also tried and make both internal and external sd not in the slot... and see if streak manages to boot up or not.. well... it stuck at dell logo.. lol
so internal sd is a must so that phone can boot due to the needs of use cache and data dir...

I can easily make a build that supports it, it's just that the rom must also support it.
The rom could likely be modified to mount /firstboot as /data, but there's not enough partitions to also have /cache on the nand.

TheManii said:
I can easily make a build that supports it, it's just that the rom must also support it.
The rom could likely be modified to mount /firstboot as /data, but there's not enough partitions to also have /cache on the nand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i see...
well i am using longhorn 2.9.3...
CWM 6 cant read ext4 because how the script work? i really thought it could since it is newer and i know streakmod had issues with ext4...
but when i am thinking back.. it seems it have same baseworks...

It's turned off on the normal S5 build as ext4 requires additional modules, as it normally doesnt use ext4 I simply built it with them off.
I dont recall of CWM 1.8/2.5 (which streakmod is based off of) even supports ext4, the earliest one I can confirm it does is 4.0 as that was the 1st version built against the stock GB recovery. GB was the 1st rom that uses ext4 by default (on devices that launched with GB or newer)

Themanni.
Can we have a third partition on the inner sdcard??? To use as external storage. If so can you help/guide how to!
Sent from my ST25i using xda premium

I havnt actually tried it (but I plan to some day in the future): just manually make the partitions and add an extra one onto the end for /system.
At that point: unless you follow a standardized layout, you're going to need to manually build CWM as CWM needs to know ahead of time the layout and size of the partitions it's going to deal with. If it doesnt it could lead to corrupt filesystems on flashes/nandroids.
If I ever do build it, it'll either be for a 8 or 16 gb card with a defined set of partitions.
You'll also need to modify the rom to actually boot from innerSDx too.

TheManii said:
It's turned off on the normal S5 build as ext4 requires additional modules, as it normally doesnt use ext4 I simply built it with them off.
I dont recall of CWM 1.8/2.5 (which streakmod is based off of) even supports ext4, the earliest one I can confirm it does is 4.0 as that was the 1st version built against the stock GB recovery. GB was the 1st rom that uses ext4 by default (on devices that launched with GB or newer)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well... i would appreciate if you could make it support by default of ext4... no harm to it right?
lol.. i really thought streakmod comes from 4.0 but it seems i missed that... man ... streakmod really so obselete..

TheManii said:
I havnt actually tried it (but I plan to some day in the future): just manually make the partitions and add an extra one onto the end for /system.
At that point: unless you follow a standardized layout, you're going to need to manually build CWM as CWM needs to know ahead of time the layout and size of the partitions it's going to deal with. If it doesnt it could lead to corrupt filesystems on flashes/nandroids.
If I ever do build it, it'll either be for a 8 or 16 gb card with a defined set of partitions.
You'll also need to modify the rom to actually boot from innerSDx too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
although i really welcome additional 3rd partition.. dont it have issues with mounting? because how streak works and meant to be, it never have one such as sd-ext ... i mean... some have tried to make it appear on windows but failed miserably.. and thus gave up on it.. and since the fs is ext type, we do need to install driver for it such as Ext2Fsd to make it able to read and write on windows... also.. for media file, it may not detect it unless we explicitly want the third partition to be used only for storage .... but if we can make it able to detect media.. that would be even better...
currently that work wonder is by using wifi file browser for now... for storing file inside /data

sd-ext is/was rather redundant as the S5 has a very large (for it's time) /data.
If anything you'd be better off making a large partition to mount as /sdcard and chainmount the real sdcard as /sdcard/sdcard2 or just /sdcard2 on ICS.
I have no idea how easy/hard all this is, I havnt tried any of it.
It really depends on if the kernal can detect additional partitions beyond innerSD0p6
I've bugged n0p about adding MTP into the ICS kernal so you can simply have a very large /data + /data/media, but he's not interested.
(though like it sounds, it only works on ICS or newer, it was introduced in HC 3.2, but we dont have a rom for that)

TheManii said:
sd-ext is/was rather redundant as the S5 has a very large (for it's time) /data.
If anything you'd be better off making a large partition to mount as /sdcard and chainmount the real sdcard as /sdcard/sdcard2 or just /sdcard2 on ICS.
I have no idea how easy/hard all this is, I havnt tried any of it.
It really depends on if the kernal can detect additional partitions beyond innerSD0p6
I've bugged n0p about adding MTP into the ICS kernal so you can simply have a very large /data + /data/media, but he's not interested.
(though like it sounds, it only works on ICS or newer, it was introduced in HC 3.2, but we dont have a rom for that)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats what i have been trying to do this past weeks.. making it /sdcard and chainmount the real sdcard as /sdcard/sdcard2 but to no avail... as it has no real solution to it...
mtp support is a huge leap since many says it has better file handling protocol but if its get added to ics that we have here.. wow.. that one is a huge plus for us.. :good:

have you edited your vold.fstab?
You need to edit that and change the mounts in your ramdisk at the minimum to do so

[Info] Flashed 4.2? Can't find your /sdcard data?

Note from the Author -
I am moving on to the N5 now and ditching my S3. I will continue to maintain this thread, however - please do PM me if you think that something needs to be changed or updated in this thread as I doubt I will be answering questions within the thread as much. Please don't PM support questions to me. Only PM updates that need to be made in the thread.
It's been a blast!
Regards
Dan
I see this question / problem comes up a lot. Rather than retype my answer every time, I have created this thread so I can easily just give people a link to it.
Scenario
You've flashed a 4.2 ROM for the first time coming from 4.1 but Titanium Backup cannot see previous backups on /sdcard and file managers cannot see your /sdcard data. You are concerned you have lost your data.
Or.... You're looking in the storage menu and you notice the total of the "used" should leave you more "free" space
Yes! Have I lost my data?
No
Background info
Older android devices have the below (simplified) layout.
/system - Where the ROM goes (internal memory)
/data - where your apps and app data goes (internal memory)
/sdcard - your sd card (removable media)
The S3 works differently
/system - Where the ROM goes (internal memory)
/data - where your apps and app data goes (internal memory)
/sdcard - your sd card (internal memory)
See that last part? The /sdcard is now on internal memory too. Samsung have actually used the clever FUSE file system, to create the /sdcard mount point (exFAT) inside /data (EXT4). So /sdcard is actually mounted to /data/media. That's how "internal storage" goes down if you install an app or if you take a photo. It all goes into /data at the end of the day.
Back to the problem
With 4.2, /sdcard is no longer mounted to /data/media
Now, It is mounted to /data/media/0
When you use a file manager (or titanium backup) to look in /sdcard, it looks pretty much empty (which it is). Because you're looking in /data/media/0 but all your data is in /data/media
So what to do?
Quite simple and very easy.
Use a file manager with root explorer capabilities. I prefer root explorer but ES* and Solid should manage this too.
Go to /data/media
You should see:
0
legacy
obb
Along with all your other folders. Legacy and 0 are the same. Leaving 0, legacy and obb UNTOUCHED, MOVE all the other folders (which you will notice are all your missing folders and files) into the 0 folder. The only folders that should be left behind are the 3 mentioned above.
That's it. Done.
Anything else to be aware of?
Yes actually, many older recoveries still probably see /data/media as the location of /sdcard, so nandroid backups may end up there instead of /0. For example, often you end up with /data/media/clockworkmod instead of /data/media/0/clockworkmod. Some recoveries have a setting to change the location to /data/media/0 (Such as Philz recovery)
Because the Settings > Storage > sdcard shows the space free and used for /data as "sdcard" but only looks in /data/app, /data/data and /data/media/0 to get the breakdown of what is using the space, you will find that anything just in /data/media will show aup s used space, but the breakdown of apps, pictures, media etc will not show these files so it appears that they do not add up.
Example...
You have:
1 GB apps
1 GB Pictures and Video
4 GB Nandroid (Misc) - but this is in wrong place /data/media
Used space will show 6 GB
But breakdown will show
1 GB apps
1 GB Pictures and Video
0 GB Misc
So it looks like you lost 4 GB. It's a good idea to check /data/media every now and again to ensure nothing goes there by accident.
I hope this helps.
*Since ES have changed their UI a bit, here is a little "How To" locate /data/media using ES.
Open ES File explorer and press the phone with a globe icon in the top left corner.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Under "Tools" choose "Root explorer" and accept the SuperUser access prompt.
At this pop-up, press back
Press the "/" button (Which means "root directory" in Linux world)
You will now be able to see /data and within there, /media
Here you see the 0, Legacy and Obb folders that I should have and also a ClockworkMod fodler which I shouldn't. You will see otehrs... Move everything except Legacy and Obb into "0".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thank you!
Quite interesting, but it raises some small questions.
1) How are things mounted in alternative 4.2.x ROMs ? CM 10.1 ? Is the same problem present ?
2) For a way to dual-boot 4.1.2 and 4.2.2 what would be the best / simplest approach expected from a kernel like Siyah or GoogyMax ?

Thanks for this how-to/information! I hope someone will read it and the repeating questions will, maybe not disappear, but getting less.
xclub_101 said:
2) For a way to dual-boot 4.1.2 and 4.2.2 what would be the best / simplest approach expected from a kernel like Siyah or GoogyMax ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume there will be no issue for dual booting as Siyah for instance creates a new folder in which the 2nd rom is placed. The kernel just has to know where to put this 2nd rom folder (not sure if it makes any difference at all). The only tricky thing will be to link the data for both roms as done by a plugin.

I see this question / problem comes up a lot. Rather than retype my answer every time, I have created this thread so I can easily just give people a link to it.
Scenario
You've flashed a 4.2 ROM for the first time coming from 4.1 but Titanium Backup cannot see previous backups on /sdcard and file managers cannot see your /sdcard data. You are concerned you have lost your data.
Or.... You're looking in the storage menu and you notice the total of the "used" should leave you more "free" space
Yes! Have I lost my data?
No
Background info
Older android devices have the below (simplified) layout.
/system - Where the ROM goes (internal memory)
/data - where your apps and app data goes (internal memory)
/sdcard - your sd card (removable media)
The S3 works differently
/system - Where the ROM goes (internal memory)
/data - where your apps and app data goes (internal memory)
/sdcard - your sd card (internal memory)
See that last part? The /sdcard is now on internal memory too. Samsung have actually used the clever FUSE file system, to create the /sdcard mount point (exFAT) inside /data (EXT4). So /sdcard is actually mounted to /data/media. That's how "internal storage" goes down if you install an app or if you take a photo. It all goes into /data at the end of the day.
Back to the problem
With 4.2, /sdcard is no longer mounted to /data/media
Now, It is mounted to /data/media/0
When you use a file manager (or titanium backup) to look in /sdcard, it looks pretty much empty (which it is). Because you're looking in /data/media/0 but all your data is in /data/media
So what to do?
Quite simple and very easy.
Use a file manager with root explorer capabilities. I prefer root explorer but ES* and Solid should manage this too.
Go to /data/media
You should see:
0
legacy
obb
Along with all your other folders. Legacy and 0 are the same. Leaving 0, legacy and obb UNTOUCHED, MOVE all the other folders (which you will notice are all your missing folders and files) into the 0 folder. The only folders that should be left behind are the 3 mentioned above.
That's it. Done.
Anything else to be aware of?
Yes actually, many older recoveries still probably see /data/media as the location of /sdcard, so nandroid backups may end up there instead of /0. For example, often you end up with /data/media/clockworkmod instead of /data/media/0/clockworkmod. Some recoveries have a setting to change the location to /data/media/0 (Such as Philz recovery)
Because the Settings > Storage > sdcard shows the space free and used for /data as "sdcard" but only looks in /data/app, /data/data and /data/media/0 to get the breakdown of what is using the space, you will find that anything just in /data/media will show aup s used space, but the breakdown of apps, pictures, media etc will not show these files so it appears that they do not add up.
Example...
You have:
1 GB apps
1 GB Pictures and Video
4 GB Nandroid (Misc) - but this is in wrong place /data/media
Used space will show 6 GB
But breakdown will show
1 GB apps
1 GB Pictures and Video
0 GB Misc
So it looks like you lost 4 GB. It's a good idea to check /data/media every now and again to ensure nothing goes there by accident.
I hope this helps.
*ES has updated it's UI and isn't as obvious as before how to get to /data/media so see below:
Open ES > menu > tools > root explorer
When prompted, accept root access request
At the top of the screen (you've probably defaulted to sdcard) press the "/" button to get to the root of your device. From here you can browse to /data/media

Just wanting to check I've got it right before I flash sentinel 4.6
I can use megawipe to clean up the internal memory.
Install the rom from external sd card
Copy everything from data/media in to data/media/0 and I should end up with just 3 folders with 0 my external sd card
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

no, 0 will be your internal SD, not external

Glebun said:
no, 0 will be your internal SD, not external
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But it was the external previously ???
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

KingAzzA said:
But it was the external previously ???
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, never.
/data/media has always been /sdcard. The 0 comes from 4.2 because it adds multi-user support and 0 is the default user. So /data/media/0 becomes /sdcard
/extSdCard is not affected by this at all.

So if I'm using megawipe to wipe everything off my internal sd card I don't need to move anything about once the rom is flashed
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

KingAzzA said:
So if I'm using megawipe to wipe everything off my internal sd card I don't need to move anything about once the rom is flashed
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There would be nothing to move. Just ensure you back up photos etc to your computer first.
Make sure you have a rom to flash on your external sd too. I think megawipe wipes the ROM too.
Although personally I think its easier just to move the files

Reason I'm planning on using mega wipe is because everytime I uninstall an app it still leaves folders behind. Not sure which ones to delete so gonna go for a fresh start and reinstall the apps from titanium
Thanks for the help anyways.
It makes sense now
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

Hmm...Seeing as someone is finally concerned about issues with the storage in 4.2,I'll first ask my question here before I move on to creating another thread,as I can't find anything no matter how much I search.
So,I was on UltimaROM 12 and,well,it freaked out some day (Dunno why,but it hadn't been working 100% well for quite a few days in addition to being slow like any Samsung ROM-The blame is on Samsung,not Kryten) and I thought I'd give AOSP another chance.So I installed Carbon ROM with Temasek's kernel and fell in love.The phone puts stock S3s to shame now.However,seeing as converting a 32gb microSD to FAT32 from exFAT is a loooooong process,I found this beauty and thought I could finally enjoy AOSP on the S3.However,now no music player finds my music,which is in the external SD card.PowerAmp for example (And any other I tried in fact) searches only in /storage/sdcard0 and /storage/emulated/0,without caring about what's in /storage/sdcard1.So that's about it,but as I listen to A LOT of music on the go,this drives me crazy.What's strange is that file managers and any other media application see the data in my external storage just fine,so eg in Gallery all my photos/videos are there.
Can anyone help before I resort to using binding commands (Or apps like FolderMount) to try and fix it?I just hope I won't have to format to FAT32,because I tend to watch HD movies on the phone and,well,i would kiss the movies bye-bye.
Thanks in advance guys!

Its not really related to this thread but most aosp rom / kernel combinations do not support exFAT so you may have to go to FAT32
Since exFAT is closed source, I would prefer to stay away from add on support modules
Its not long process to go to fat32. Copy data off. Format. Copy data back
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

rootSU said:
Its not really related to this thread but most aosp rom / kernel combinations do not support exFAT so you may have to go to FAT32
Since exFAT is closed source, I would prefer to stay away from add on support modules
Its not long process to go to fat32. Copy data off. Format. Copy data back
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off,thanks for replying.Secondly,it's not exFAT as it turns out.I tried an old microSD formatted to FAT32 and it had the same behaviour.Anyway...Thanks,I'll see what I'll do.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

Odd stuff!

how can I fix this ? I have 4.86gb free storage for my device storage... but it said that I habe no free memory...
*this is happened when I open the GALLERY

babyyeobo14 said:
how can I fix this ? I have 4.86gb free storage for my device storage... but it said that I habe no free memory...
*this is happened when I open the GALLERY
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you provide details?
ROM
Screenshots of storage menu

rootSU said:
can you provide details?
ROM
Screenshots of storage menu
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my Rom is wannam lite v7.0 (leaked firmware 4.2.2)

babyyeobo14 said:
my Rom is wannam lite v7.0 (leaked firmware 4.2.2)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please now provide a screenshot of /data/media from a file manager please.

rootSU said:
Please now provide a screenshot of /data/media from a file manager please.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here sir.

Why system take 8GB space ?

I have note 2 LTE 32 GB model and i have flashed CM 10.2 but it say 24 GB is available for user? Why system take such huge space of 8Gb as i dont think CM 10.2 ROM use all of it. Where the rest of the space go ? My question is : Are these system partitions fixed in size no matter what ROM you flash? It will be alaways 8GB reserve for ROM whether stock or AOSP ?
Here is screenshot
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2

go to adb shell,type "df "command,and you will see the usage of each diretory.

proxlwt said:
go to adb shell,type "df "command,and you will see the usage of each diretory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks and I did that and this one is what i get..i see that sysyem is using 2.3 gb but what are these first four in /mnt taking 893 mb each
Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2

Rajaasim1980 said:
Thanks and I did that and this one is what i get..i see that sysyem is using 2.3 gb but what are these first four in /mnt taking 893 mb each
Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first thing to note is that 32GB internal memory is in reality 29.4GB (32000000000 bytes translates into 29.4 real GB).
So to add up:
- 24.2GB of user data
- 2.3GB for /system
- 1.2GB for /cache
- 0.5GB for /tombstone /firmware and /efs
--------------
- 28.2GB
/mnt/obb asec secure and fuse are all virtual mount points to various directories and their size is arbitrary
/dev is again virtual mount point for all hardware devices in your phone used to access various properties of devices - size arbitrary
All of them are temporary file systems created on every system start.
I don't know where is the 1GB of space that should be there and it's not only your problem. This is present on all systems that I have seen.
Look at this for example:
View attachment 2597562

mat9v said:
The first thing to note is that 32GB internal memory is in reality 29.4GB (32000000000 bytes translates into 29.4 real GB).
So to add up:
- 24.2GB of user data
- 2.3GB for /system
- 1.2GB for /cache
- 0.5GB for /tombstone /firmware and /efs
--------------
- 28.2GB
/mnt/obb asec secure and fuse are all virtual mount points to various directories and their size is arbitrary
/dev is again virtual mount point for all hardware devices in your phone used to access various properties of devices - size arbitrary
All of them are temporary file systems created on every system start.
I don't know where is the 1GB of space that should be there and it's not only your problem. This is present on all systems that I have seen.
Look at this for example:
View attachment 2597562
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for explaining it .I cannot see your attached screenshot because its too tiny. Its stupid for manufacture to advertise memory as 32 GB when its 28 GB in reality.
What i actually dont get is no matter you use custom CM or stock sammy rom (with bloatware) you will get same free space eventhough CM ROMs are less in size.
Do you see any unnecessary partition there which need to be deleted ? ..these partition within partition i.e ,0,Sd card 1, emulated, legacy etc are very confusing
Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk 2

Rajaasim1980 said:
Thanks for explaining it .I cannot see your attached screenshot because its too tiny. Its stupid for manufacture to advertise memory as 32 GB when its 28 GB in reality.
What i actually dont get is no matter you use custom CM or stock sammy rom (with bloatware) you will get same free space eventhough CM ROMs are less in size.
Do you see any unnecessary partition there which need to be deleted ? ..these partition within partition i.e ,0,Sd card 1, emulated, legacy etc are very confusing
Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Er... you did click on it? It opens in overlay to display full screen...
The advertisement...
It's like with hard disks in modern PC, manufacturers advertise the disk as having 1TB of space, but they are counting it as 1.000.000.000.000 of bytes while in reality we are using binary computers that do not count that way - they count 2^10 = 1024 so you have to divide this 1.000.000.000.000 bytes by 1024 to get kilobytes = 976562500 and again by 1024 to get megabytes = 953674 and again by 1024 to get gigabytes to arrive at 931GB of real disk size. From that you have to subtract partition overhead (the system needs place to store info about your files) but that is dependent on the number of files you plan to put on the partition.
If you are really advanced user and not planning to ever flash back to sammy rom, you could repartition your internal memory to say decrease /system size to say 750MB and earn almost 1.2GB of free space. But it's dangerous and will void your warranty 100%
There are no unnecessary partitions, /system /data and /cache are necessary to functioning of any rom, all others are virtual partitions created using mount points and FUSE file system - the are also needed to work and they don't take any space. I can't find the missing 1GB of space.
The command "mount" that you execute not only shows typical partitions but also some "shortcuts" used by system to access different places in the internal memory and is not normally visible to end user - they are there to make life easier for programmers and advanced users. Us common folks just gets confused - it's like dissecting how your car engine works - not for everyone

mat9v said:
Er... you did click on it? It opens in overlay to display full screen...
The advertisement...
It's like with hard disks in modern PC, manufacturers advertise the disk as having 1TB of space, but they are counting it as 1.000.000.000.000 of bytes while in reality we are using binary computers that do not count that way - they count 2^10 = 1024 so you have to divide this 1.000.000.000.000 bytes by 1024 to get kilobytes = 976562500 and again by 1024 to get megabytes = 953674 and again by 1024 to get gigabytes to arrive at 931GB of real disk size. From that you have to subtract partition overhead (the system needs place to store info about your files) but that is dependent on the number of files you plan to put on the partition.
If you are really advanced user and not planning to ever flash back to sammy rom, you could repartition your internal memory to say decrease /system size to say 750MB and earn almost 1.2GB of free space. But it's dangerous and will void your warranty 100%
There are no unnecessary partitions, /system /data and /cache are necessary to functioning of any rom, all others are virtual partitions created using mount points and FUSE file system - the are also needed to work and they don't take any space. I can't find the missing 1GB of space.
The command "mount" that you execute not only shows typical partitions but also some "shortcuts" used by system to access different places in the internal memory and is not normally visible to end user - they are there to make life easier for programmers and advanced users. Us common folks just gets confused - it's like dissecting how your car engine works - not for everyone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for detail reply which make sense. These partitions were actually much simple in previous version of androids.
So no matter what ROM i would flash there will be same amount of free space available because there is fixed size partition in internal memory reserved for ROM/system irrespective of size of ROM. Right?
Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2

Rajaasim1980 said:
Thanks for detail reply which make sense. These partitions were actually much simple in previous version of androids.
So no matter what ROM i would flash there will be same amount of free space available because there is fixed size partition in internal memory reserved for ROM/system irrespective of size of ROM. Right?
Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right. The only advantage of CM is speed, in this case "Size does not matter"