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Root [FAQ]ROOT MEMORY: a2sd+ / partitions (updated 10th August 2011)

Dan,

Any chance that u could tell me how exactly this wipe can be done?

I mention this in the Rooting FAQ in My sig that I pointed you to earlier.

How do I get to recovery?

From off, Hold Volume down and press Power. This boots you to the Bootloader. There is a recovery option here. You need to use volume up and down to navigate the menu, then power to select the recovery option. This then loads your custom recovery. Now you can use the track ball to navigate the recovery menu

Put the above information together with the below:


So what is all this about wiping? Do I need to?


Maybe. If you go from one stock ROM to a custom ROM, or one Custom ROM to another, the settings may not be compatible. You can wipe from ClockworkMod Recovery. - Wipe data/factory reset.

If the ROM is stuck in a boot loop for more that 10 minutes, you may have to back to recovery and do a wipe of the Data partition


...and you get this:

From off, Hold Volume down and press Power.

There is a recovery option here. You need to use volume up and down to navigate the menu, then power to select the recovery option. This then loads your custom recovery.

Now you can use the track ball to navigate the recovery menu.

Wipe data/factory rest.
 
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Migrating to a new SD card question.
I bought a new SD Card (16gb) and I would like to transfer all my data from my original 4gb SD (which I used your guide on).

So, my data is not the problem of course because I can just move it to the new card.
But can I do something about the app2sd+ partition? can I partition my new card with ROM manager and after that move the original SD app2sd+ partition content to the new SD? will it work?

Thanks.
 
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Dan, I've seen the size of app data in Internal memory grow in size if I try manually moving them to sd with the built in Froyo option in a ROM which has A2SD+, meaning when I try A2SD in a ROM with A2SD+. Yes I know I shouldnt do that, and that A2SD+ is automatic, but do you know what's going on? When the script moves the data automatically to ext, apparently Froyo doesnt get that info, and it tries moving it too. In some cases, the size in Internal remains same, but in others, it increases. Why?
 
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That's a very interesting thread! It makes sense really, making a gold card changes the details of the card itself, not the data on it. So formatting will wipe data and create partitions but the edited gold card sectors remain unchanged.

I've got a qn which has nothing to do with A2SD, but since I saw this post, I'm asking it..


The process of creating a gold card reads the 32 bit CID number and after certain steps, writes certain other data physically on the card. Since that is so, why cant we physically access the data on the sdcard to read the CID by computer based software. I've asked this elsewhere including XDA, but noone seems to know..

There are applications which can read the actual bytes off an SD card. Since the CID is hardcoded at manufacture, this data should be there as bytes. Does someone know the actual 'sector' location of this data?

I feel the qn is pertinent because there are people (including me) who have semi-bricked their devices because they forgot to create goldcards. If a sdcard CID can be read independently without a device, that means a lot of hope..
 
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Dan, I've seen the size of app data in Internal memory grow in size if I try manually moving them to sd with the built in Froyo option in a ROM which has A2SD+, meaning when I try A2SD in a ROM with A2SD+. Yes I know I shouldnt do that, and that A2SD+ is automatic, but do you know what's going on? When the script moves the data automatically to ext, apparently Froyo doesnt get that info, and it tries moving it too. In some cases, the size in Internal remains same, but in others, it increases. Why?

Honestly don't know the answer.

A2SD+ is a script which moves apps and dalvik cache to ext. Android doesn't see it as anything other than the phones internal memory. This is why froyo still allows it to be moved.

I believe a2SD+ moves the entire app and dalvik cache. Froyo just the app. Since you have already moved the dalvik cache, there should be only app cache on internal memory.

Perhaps a2sd leaves a minute part of the app behind?
Perhaps app cache is partly wiped.during the move?
Perhaps its a mistakes?

How much does the space increase? What happens on ext?
 
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Honestly don't know the answer.

A2SD+ is a script which moves apps and dalvik cache to ext. Android doesn't see it as anything other than the phones internal memory. This is why froyo still allows it to be moved.

I believe a2SD+ moves the entire app and dalvik cache. Froyo just the app. Since you have already moved the dalvik cache, there should be only app cache on internal memory.

Perhaps a2sd leaves a minute part of the app behind?
Perhaps app cache is partly wiped.during the move?
Perhaps its a mistakes?

How much does the space increase? What happens on ext?

Increases in Internal by a meagre amount like 5% or so.. I will post back details after getting my device from Service. Have to get it back after the SLCD brick I landed it in.. :)
 
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Took the plunge and I am now using teppic's ROM w/ power saving mod pack, tweaks, and of course Apps2SD+.

Quick System Info reports A2SD storage: total; 457MB, Free 304MB, after I had installed many of my apps back. (How do you quit Quick System Info without force closing it?)

Thanks danfrance for this thread and guidance - I wouldn't have had enough courage to do this with out it.
 
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App cache for individual apps cannot be moved by any method.

Things like map cache for google maps, emails from the email client, contacts storage, calendar storage etc...

Have a look in Manage applications and see what is taking up so much.

I've used up 55MB, with 80 Apps. I dont use the email app and my contacts arent huge.
 
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App cache for individual apps cannot be moved by any method.

Things like map cache for google maps, emails from the email client, contacts storage, calendar storage etc...

Have a look in Manage applications and see what is taking up so much.

I've used up 55MB, with 80 Apps. I dont use the email app and my contacts arent huge.

Looking at Manage Applications shows for instance

NFS Shift 39.08MB
Talking Tom 18.41MB
K-9 Mail 14.16

And the other 120 apps etc total way in excess of the 100MB used.

What about APK files. How much space do they take up and is it safe to delete these or can you suggest any other safe to delete files?
 
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To be honest, that is rather a lot of apps but that 55 MB of space won't easily be taken up with whatever else you install.

If you find after a short while that it is, I can hook you up with further methods

Apks are apps. It's not like Windows where the downloaded exe can be deleted.

Go through some of you apps. Click.om them.in manage applications and look at their cache size
 
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How do I check it has worked?

Download "quick system info from" the market. It will show you an "a2SD" total size and free space.

If the free space is less than the total, the partition is being used for apps and it is working.

It says "Information Unavailable" What's going on?

This means that 1 of 2 things are not working.

1) The Partition is not working correctly.
2) A2sd+ is not working correctly.

If 1) download a partition manager onto your PC, mount the SD card as "USB Storage" from Clockworkmod recovery and see what the partitions read as. Personally I use MiniTool Partition Wizard

Note, do not try to repartition the SD card from a PC. You can use this software to reformat and delete partitions.

You could download a GPARTED live CD and boot your PC into that to fix / repartition however.

I followed the instructions for partitioning using ROM Manager and downloaded quick system info and got the information unavailable message.

Is this simply because I havent yet flashed a rom that supports A2SD+ or have I done something wrong?

Should I go ahead and flash a rom and see what happens or is there something else I can do first to make sure the partition has worked?
 
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