Root Goldcard Tool

[SUroot]

Indeed it is.

 

[Glenbot3000]

a

 

[Rouren]

Thanks for the post,works perfectly

 

[CaptainBeaky]

Place your gold card in a card reader & you should see the following 2 folders
LOST.DIR &
.footprints inside that will be 2 folders thumbnails & voices

thats all you will view on there, thats just to confirm its correct

Total noob with rooting/flashing, and paranoid with it!


Just to check I'm not being spectacularly thick here...

I haven't made a goldcard yet, but I do have these 2 directories as described above

(Waiting for the 16GB card to turn up before I make the current 4GB into the goldcard)

Also - I'm planning initially to keep the stock ROM, just with all the unnecessary crap removed. Custom ROM with App2SD+ and/or undervolt/overclock may come later, but to start with, I just want to root to allow removal of the unwanted and unused rubbish that Orange sees fit to load their ROM with.

So: if I create a goldcard (as recommended in the rooting FAQ, plus acquiring an unlock code) and leave it in the phone, will it affect the branding/functioning on the phone on the stock ROM? ie stop the stock ROM working? Should I keep the goldcard out of the phone until I need to use it, or is it OK to leave it in in the phone with the goldcard functionality dormant until required?


TIA

 

[shauny13]

In a word no, not at all. Many people including myself have their goldcard as their main sdcard kept in all the time. Why not just wait till the 16gb card arrives and make that your goldcard, will save you having to swap cards back and forth all the time. Hope this helps.

 

[Rastaman-FB]

some of the info regarding gold card is missing now as klutsh has discontinued his support

the gold card tool can be found here
[PC Application] GoldCardTool - Android @ MoDaCo

if those are no longer working i can upload the ones i have

 

[InfernalByte]

In a word no, not at all. Many people including myself have their goldcard as their main sdcard kept in all the time.

Be aware; Partitioning can ungold your card!

 

[porter_james]

I currently use Leedroid with a2sd+, but I forgot to create a goldcard before doing the switch. My question is: can I insert my old 2gb card and create one, or will necessary files for Leedroid be on my partitioned 16 gb card? Thx in advance...

 

[InfernalByte]

I currently use Leedroid with a2sd+, but I forgot to create a goldcard before doing the switch. My question is: can I insert my old 2gb card and create one, or will necessary files for Leedroid be on my partitioned 16 gb card? Thx in advance...

You can create a gold card with your Leedroid in place, it is best to format the card first though, which will wipe it completely.

 

[porter_james]

You can create a gold card with your Leedroid in place, it is best to format the card first though, which will wipe it completely.

So I can exchange my current partitioned (a2sd+) card for the future gold card? No essential data needed by Leedroid on the current sd?
Thx for the info!

 

[InfernalByte]

Like I said you'll need to format your card so any "data exchange" needed for Leedroid will be done by the new rom automatically.

N.B. Formatting WILL wipe all data off the card.

 

[SUroot]

Well if you have the leedroid a2sd version, it may not boot without a partitioned card. I think what IB is suggesting is you backup the data on your FAT32 partition and make that a goldcard, before restoring your data to it.

 

[Rastaman-FB]

Well if you have the leedroid a2sd version, it may not boot without a partitioned card. I think what IB is suggesting is you backup the data on your FAT32 partition and make that a goldcard, before restoring your data to it.

well i actually found a good method for gold carding.

i do it all with the device mounted as mass storage

i mount the device,
format the drive in windows
run gold cardtool
load image
unmount

 

[porter_james]

Well if you have the leedroid a2sd version, it may not boot without a partitioned card. I think what IB is suggesting is you backup the data on your FAT32 partition and make that a goldcard, before restoring your data to it.

So it's only going to wipe the fat32 partition? I thought it will format the whole card, including the ext3. Thx for the info!

 

[porter_james]

Like I said you'll need to format your card so any "data exchange" needed for Leedroid will be done by the new rom automatically.

N.B. Formatting WILL wipe all data off the card.

Sorry, I must have missed your post. So the sensible thing would be to do a nandroid backup, then format the card and let the rom handle the data business. But after creating the gold card wouldn't I need to repartition? Which might undo the gold, just leaving me with the card, so to speak?
I guess I just flash the pre-leedroid nandroid, engolden the friggin card and call it a day.

 

[InfernalByte]

Keep the gold card image from the PSAS website, it can be used again to regold the specific card it was made for. I say partitioning MAY ungold the card, in my experience it always does. Sorry but I try not to give to much information in my posts, if you have to think for yourself as you have done you'll learn so much more quickly.

 

[InfernalByte]

So it's only going to wipe the fat32 partition? I thought it will format the whole card, including the ext3. Thx for the info!

Windows will only recognise fat 32 so it will only format fat 32. For making a goldcard I believe the card should only have 1 partition filling the entire volume so your ext will need to go. Rastamans method in new to me an if the man say it works then I don argue.

 

[Rastaman-FB]

Windows will only recognise fat 32 so it will only format fat 32. For making a goldcard I believe the card should only have 1 partition filling the entire volume so your ext will need to go. Rastamans method in new to me an if the man say it works then I don argue.

that was a fresh card i did that with, it didnt have an ext on it however i wasnt aware the card had to be partition free

hmmm one will have to test this at some point

 

[InfernalByte]

that was a fresh card i did that with, it didnt have an ext on it however i wasnt aware the card had to be partition free

hmmm one will have to test this at some point

http://androidforums.com/desire-all...rd-bricking-ruu-fastboot-recovery-others.html

6.3 Is a goldcard destroyed when formatted or partitioned?

Definitely Not. Formatting does not write to the Sector 0 offsets used by a goldcard. Note however that defective partitioning or formatting can interfere with the ability of the Android system to "view" the files on the goldcard. The PB99IMG.zip may not work. But it can immediately be corrected by formatting the card to FAT32 and recreating the file.

End Quote


An extract from Droidzones FAQ, he also says that its not a good idea to have your gold card as your everyday card as uit increases the chance of corruption. I can see where he's coming from.

More from Droidzone

http://androidforums.com/desire-all-things-root/249791-after-yesterdays-shenanigans.html

Quote:

You just need to clean up your goldcard. First run gparted and remove all extra partitions from it. There should only be one partition, and it should be fat 32 primary. Format it with a full format and not quick format. Then make sure that the name if the file PB99IMG.zip and not pb99img.zip.zip. Remove the zip part and see if windows de recognizes the file. If it does, add the zip part, else leave it as such. Now boot again. It should work. Almost nothing can destroy a gold card once created, but the format must be correct.
__________________

 

[Rastaman-FB]

hmm so you have to clear the partitions to create a gold card
although i will argue that using as an everyday doesnt increase corruption unless you are do something that can induce it
example was the early itterations of data2ext and data2sd and data2whatever

 

[InfernalByte]

In my experience and I've only done this 3 times, creating an ext partition has ungolded my cards everytime.

 

[Rastaman-FB]

as long as you can load the image back on its fine though right?

 

[InfernalByte]

as long as you can load the image back on its fine though right?

Yea, you can re-gold a card as long as you hold onto your original image.

 

[bicycle]

Hello, I'm on an unlocked orange desire with android 2.2. I'm intending to create a gold card as a back up before I root and I don't think I intend to touch the radio. Will my phone keep its wifi and stay unlocked? Thanks

 

[vademarc]

When I paste the CID found with UMT in RevSkills website, they send me "goldcardnew2.php" or goldcardnew2.html". I tried with 2 differents microsd cards, a 8g and a 1g and got the same problem with both. What is the problem?