Apps2SD Miniguide

[Guest PaulW21781]

Yup, /system/sd has 62.2M of stuff on it, so if it wasn't working your phone would report 51MB free instead of 113MB :huh:

Don't forget though... Phone Storage also contains all your text messages & SMS messages, aswell as Emails, etc...

Edited April 30, 2010 by PaulW21781

[Guest d.code]

Yup, /system/sd has 62.2M of stuff on it, so if it wasn't working your phone would report 51MB free instead of 113MB :huh:

Don't forget though... Phone Storage also contains all your text messages & SMS messages, aswell as Emails, etc...

Yes I know... But could we make some mod to transfer SMS/MMS/e-mail/Internet cache to card?

I'm probably not alone if I say that this limit od 140/512 MB ROM for apps is really dumb from HTC...

Also what happens when 2.2 update comes? Again rooting, a2sd or..?

Luckily we have good people like you...

thank you once again

Edited April 30, 2010 by d.code

[Guest igorzaniolo]

Hy Paul i rooted my phone and i flash the app2sd of paul now i want to know if possibile to flash your update after i had installed some apps

[Guest PaulW21781]

Hy Paul i rooted my phone and i flash the app2sd of paul now i want to know if possibile to flash your update after i had installed some apps

Yes, just install the Upgrade package (not the Fresh one)

No need to reset anything either, just boot into the recovery console, flash it, reboot, done.

Edited April 30, 2010 by PaulW21781

[Guest ed.dark]

Paul, I get this for the ls command and the busybox command

# ls -l /data && busybox df -h

ls -l /data && busybox df -h

prw-r--r-- system system 2010-04-29 16:03 gps_nmea_fifo

drwx------ system system 2010-04-30 16:13 backup

-rw-rw-rw- media system 2 2010-04-30 23:16 pvcodec.txt

drwxrwxr-x system system 2010-04-30 23:16 system

drwxrwx--x system system 2010-04-29 14:10 anr

lrwxrwxrwx root root 2010-04-29 14:10 dalvik-cache -> /system/s

d/dalvik-cache

lrwxrwxrwx root root 2010-04-29 14:10 app-private -> /system/sd

/app-private

lrwxrwxrwx root root 2010-04-29 14:10 app -> /system/sd/app

drwxrwx--x system system 2010-04-29 14:10 app-cache

drwxrwxrwx root root 2010-04-29 14:10 DxDrm

lrwxrwxrwx root root 2010-04-29 14:10 drm -> /data/local

drwx------ root root 2010-04-30 23:16 property

drwxrwx--x shell shell 2010-04-29 14:10 local

drwxrwxrwx wimax wimax 2010-04-29 14:10 wimax

drwxrwx--t system misc 2010-04-30 23:09 misc

drwxr-x--- root log 2010-04-29 14:10 dontpanic

drwxrwxrwx root root 2010-04-29 14:08 data

drwxrwx--- root root 2010-04-29 14:10 lost+found

Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on

tmpfs 199.2M 0 199.2M 0% /dev

tmpfs 4.0M 0 4.0M 0% /sqlite_stmt_journals

/dev/block/mtdblock3 250.0M 221.8M 28.2M 89% /system

/dev/block/mtdblock5 147.6M 81.8M 65.8M 55% /data

/dev/block/mtdblock4 40.0M 2.6M 37.4M 7% /cache

tmpfs 8.0M 7.1M 920.0K 89% /app-cache

/dev/block/mmcblk0p2 600.7M 56.1M 514.1M 10% /system/sd

/dev/block//vold/179:1

6.9G 5.3G 1.6G 77% /sdcard

adb screenshot attached too!

Thanks

Edited April 30, 2010 by ed.dark

[Guest PaulW21781]

Paul, I get this for the ls command and the busybox command

Looks good to me :huh: Dalvik, App and App-private are all symlinked and the space seems right...

Have you set up any email accounts yet or recieved any MMS messages?? Have you tried clearing your browsers cache?? Thats the only thing I can think which would still take up the space...

[Guest hassand]

i wiped my desire while rooting it

do i need to wipe it again to install a2sd?

if yes, for the future cases do i need to wipe it everytime i install something via recovery?

i asked this before but i really need an answer:(

[Guest igorzaniolo]

Yes, just install the Upgrade package (not the Fresh one)

No need to reset anything either, just boot into the recovery console, flash it, reboot, done.

i have to make it with the goldcard as the same guide in the first post?

[Guest d.code]

yes, just put update zip onto goldcard

[Guest afiorillo]

i wiped my desire while rooting it

do i need to wipe it again to install a2sd?

if yes, for the future cases do i need to wipe it everytime i install something via recovery?

i asked this before but i really need an answer:(

Installing A2SD is a tough step, I suggest to wipe the device before attempting. Theoretically, you don't need to do that since A2SD "simply" adds some links between folders; but the cleaner the OS is when you do that, the better.

Some people are reporting issues after installing A2SD, so better be careful IMHO.

[Guest drvdijk]

I just flashed the r1-a2sd-desire-dalvik-fresh-signed.zip without any problems. However, the script used my fat32 partition as storage for the app, app-private, and the dalvik-cache dir. I could mount the drive on my computer through the desire itself, create a folder in adb in /system/sd and see it get created on my macbook. What the f***?!?

The card I used was a 16 GB card, partitioned as 1GB ext3 and the rest fat32. I did this in gparted in a live cd of ubuntu. The first partition was /dev/sda1 (I had no hard drive in the VM), the ext3 partition. /dev/sda2 was the fat32 partition. I think it has something to do with that.

I checked the card again in Ubuntu: the ext2 partition (ext2 for some reason, I'm sure I created an ext3 one) was indeed empty.

Right now I'm flashing as f*** back to stock rom (which is harder then I guessed) and will wait till this a2sd mess is sorted (yeah, I'm a sissy now, tomorrow that might change)

[Guest kewell79]

yes, just put update zip onto goldcard

no, you dont need the goldcard

[Guest Nidorftirahn]

Hello after reading all this about rooting here i decided to register :huh:

I have one questioin. A2SD seems to work on my desire. (have the dalvik fresh version running)

My partion values are SWAP: 0 EXT 1024 FAT32 Rest (8GB) card.

My question is, is a swap file neccessary because A2SD seems to work pnly when downloading big files from the market.

Small aps below 1mb seem to go directly to the internal memory?! Does a swap file avoid this?

One other question i have. I installed the a2sd from my goldcard, then inserted the sd i want to use, partioned it, booted my desire and uesed it.

Now i have read articles that user installed a2sd directly from the sd card the use and it seems to work as good as the goldcard step?!

Thanks btw for all the work you have done with the a2sd and the dalvik update.

[Guest theboxman]

Results of the ls -l /data command entered at adb terminal over here are:

prw-r--r-- system   system			2010-05-03 01:30 gps_nmea_fifo

drwx------ system   system			2010-05-03 10:26 backup

-rw-rw-rw- media	system		  2 2010-05-03 13:19 pvcodec.txt

drwxrwxr-x system   system			2010-05-03 13:19 system

drwxrwx--x system   system			2010-05-02 03:50 anr

drwxrwx--x system   system			2010-05-02 03:50 app-cache

drwxrwxrwx root	 root			  2010-05-02 03:50 DxDrm

drwxrwx--x system   system			2010-05-02 03:50 dalvik-cache

lrwxrwxrwx root	 root			  2010-05-02 03:50 drm -> /data/local

drwx------ root	 root			  2010-05-03 10:26 property

drwxrwx--x system   system			2010-05-02 03:50 app

drwxrwx--x system   system			2010-05-02 03:50 app-private

drwxrwx--x shell	shell			 2010-05-02 03:50 local

drwxrwxrwx wimax	wimax			 2010-05-02 03:50 wimax

drwxrwx--t system   misc			  2010-05-03 13:22 misc

drwxr-x--- root	 log			   2010-05-02 03:50 dontpanic

-rw-rw-rw- root	 root		  856 2010-05-02 03:47 sdparted.log

drwxrwxrwx root	 root			  2010-05-02 03:42 data

drwxrwx--- root	 root			  2010-05-02 03:50 lost+found

Don't have the foggiest how to interpret it though! Thoughts paul? **Edit**: Forgot to enter the second command, # busybox df -h , here it is too!

Filesystem				Size	  Used Available Use% Mounted on

tmpfs				   199.2M		 0	199.2M   0% /dev

tmpfs					 4.0M		 0	  4.0M   0% /sqlite_stmt_journals

/dev/block/mtdblock3	250.0M	220.2M	 29.8M  88% /system

/dev/block/mtdblock5	147.6M	108.9M	 38.8M  74% /data

/dev/block/mtdblock4	 40.0M	  2.7M	 37.3M   7% /cache

tmpfs					 8.0M	  8.0M		 0 100% /app-cache

/dev/block//vold/179:1

						  3.1G	410.6M	  2.7G  13% /sdcard

Edited May 3, 2010 by theboxman

[Guest ascito]

I have A2SD on my Desire and it seems to work, I also verified it (see pic attached) but it seems that apps are installed in main memory too. It decrases each time I install some app. How can it be? I read about other people had the same strange behaviour...

HELP!

Edited May 3, 2010 by ascito

[Guest theboxman]

Results of the ls -l /data command entered at adb terminal over here are:

prw-r--r-- system   system			2010-05-03 01:30 gps_nmea_fifo

drwx------ system   system			2010-05-03 10:26 backup

-rw-rw-rw- media	system		  2 2010-05-03 13:19 pvcodec.txt

drwxrwxr-x system   system			2010-05-03 13:19 system

drwxrwx--x system   system			2010-05-02 03:50 anr

drwxrwx--x system   system			2010-05-02 03:50 app-cache

drwxrwxrwx root	 root			  2010-05-02 03:50 DxDrm

drwxrwx--x system   system			2010-05-02 03:50 dalvik-cache

lrwxrwxrwx root	 root			  2010-05-02 03:50 drm -> /data/local

drwx------ root	 root			  2010-05-03 10:26 property

drwxrwx--x system   system			2010-05-02 03:50 app

drwxrwx--x system   system			2010-05-02 03:50 app-private

drwxrwx--x shell	shell			 2010-05-02 03:50 local

drwxrwxrwx wimax	wimax			 2010-05-02 03:50 wimax

drwxrwx--t system   misc			  2010-05-03 13:22 misc

drwxr-x--- root	 log			   2010-05-02 03:50 dontpanic

-rw-rw-rw- root	 root		  856 2010-05-02 03:47 sdparted.log

drwxrwxrwx root	 root			  2010-05-02 03:42 data

drwxrwx--- root	 root			  2010-05-02 03:50 lost+found

Don't have the foggiest how to interpret it though! Thoughts paul? **Edit**: Forgot to enter the second command, # busybox df -h , here it is too!

Filesystem				Size	  Used Available Use% Mounted on

tmpfs				   199.2M		 0	199.2M   0% /dev

tmpfs					 4.0M		 0	  4.0M   0% /sqlite_stmt_journals

/dev/block/mtdblock3	250.0M	220.2M	 29.8M  88% /system

/dev/block/mtdblock5	147.6M	108.9M	 38.8M  74% /data

/dev/block/mtdblock4	 40.0M	  2.7M	 37.3M   7% /cache

tmpfs					 8.0M	  8.0M		 0 100% /app-cache

/dev/block//vold/179:1

						  3.1G	410.6M	  2.7G  13% /sdcard

am i right inthinking this result suggests that a2sd isn't opperational over here? think I just figured out how to read it.... I'll try reflashing it....

First minus the wipe at first - a2sd should just move the aps accross without fuss, right?

If that fails I'll wipe, will titanium backup be able to restore if I change the saving locations?

[Guest theboxman]

I reinstalled it via entering the boot menu (good old linux method)

Then reflashed paul's updated version of the file again without a wipe.

Finally I restarted the desire......No change in the results of ls -l /data -> still not showing the forwarding arrows others seem to have.

As a final proof I shut down the phone, removed the SD card and booted it to see if I'd get stuck in a bootloop. I've never wanted to be bootlooped so much in all my life.

Device started up fine.....unfortunately.

Furthermore Apps were all loading suggesting they're all on the main memory and A2SD isn't functioning....

Those apps that had SD card content (colordict for example) complained about the absence of the card. Everything else worked.

Yes my SD card has been repartitioned to have an ex2 partition using the recovery menu, and then that same partition was upgraded to ex3. I didn't bother with an ext4 upgrade.

.....I can only conclude something's not working at all over here - have I missed something?

I will grudgingly go back to the begining and flash again but before doing so I really want to check i'm doing this correctly and would also like to ask folks about titanium backups ability to restore apps if the backup was done without a2dp and the device state is restored with a2dp in place.

Can anyone help? :-)

[Guest drvdijk]

I reinstalled it via entering the boot menu (good old linux method)

Then reflashed paul's updated version of the file again without a wipe.

Finally I restarted the desire......No change in the results of ls -l /data -> still not showing the forwarding arrows others seem to have.

As a final proof I shut down the phone, removed the SD card and booted it to see if I'd get stuck in a bootloop. I've never wanted to be bootlooped so much in all my life.

Device started up fine.....unfortunately.

Furthermore Apps were all loading suggesting they're all on the main memory and A2SD isn't functioning....

Those apps that had SD card content (colordict for example) complained about the absence of the card. Everything else worked.

Yes my SD card has been repartitioned to have an ex2 partition using the recovery menu, and then that same partition was upgraded to ex3. I didn't bother with an ext4 upgrade.

.....I can only conclude something's not working at all over here - have I missed something?

I will grudgingly go back to the begining and flash again but before doing so I really want to check i'm doing this correctly and would also like to ask folks about titanium backups ability to restore apps if the backup was done without a2dp and the device state is restored with a2dp in place.

Can anyone help? :-)

Are you flashing from a goldcard? Also I thought a wipe was recommended (?)

[Guest theboxman]

Are you flashing from a goldcard? Also I thought a wipe was recommended (?)

Yes I'm using the goldcard for the flashing stage :-)

Flashing is recommended....Though theoretically unnecessary. I'm willing to wipe for the third time but wanted to be *sure* it was necessary first :-)

Hence holding off for other people's thoughts.....

Also another thought - surely the busybox adb command wouldn't work if a2sd weren't installed?

It installs with a2sd no?....I'm going to check for the existance of the script that sends the aps to sd in init.d......

If it's there I'll give backing up my SD card then erasing the partition table *winces in pain* followed by repartitioning a shot...might be a2sd just can't see it for some inexplicable reason???

[edit]Just verified using adb that the 40a2sd is present in /etc/init.d/ ......So on to part b of the plan...opperation reformat SDcard...... incase others wish to attempt this step to verify it's presence too I'll give the commands I used:

1.make sure you've got android sdk downloaded and unzipped and that jdk is installed

2. Open terminal/command prompt and navigate to the tools folder within android sdk whether in linux or in windows using 'cd <directory>' - I was using Ubuntu so it was cd /home/descargas/androidSDK/tools/

3. In linux type 'sudo ./adb shell' and enter your password.....you may or maynot need to kill and restart the server to give it root permissions on your PC if so sudo ./adb server-kill followed by sudo ./adb server-start

4. type 'cd /etc/init.d/' followed by 'ls' check if you see 40a2sd on the list!

Ok wish me luck with the reformat of the card. I'll report back!

Edited May 3, 2010 by theboxman

[Guest theboxman]

Yes I'm using the goldcard for the flashing stage :-)

Flashing is recommended....Though theoretically unnecessary. I'm willing to wipe for the third time but wanted to be *sure* it was necessary first :-)

Hence holding off for other people's thoughts.....

Also another thought - surely the busybox adb command wouldn't work if a2sd weren't installed?

It installs with a2sd no?....I'm going to check for the existance of the script that sends the aps to sd in init.d......

If it's there I'll give backing up my SD card then erasing the partition table *winces in pain* followed by repartitioning a shot...might be a2sd just can't see it for some inexplicable reason???

[edit]Just verified using adb that the 40a2sd is present in /etc/init.d/ ......So on to part b of the plan...opperation reformat SDcard...... incase others wish to attempt this step to verify it's presence too I'll give the commands I used:

1.make sure you've got android sdk downloaded and unzipped and that jdk is installed

2. Open terminal/command prompt and navigate to the tools folder within android sdk whether in linux or in windows using 'cd <directory>' - I was using Ubuntu so it was cd /home/descargas/androidSDK/tools/

3. In linux type 'sudo ./adb shell' and enter your password.....you may or maynot need to kill and restart the server to give it root permissions on your PC if so sudo ./adb server-kill followed by sudo ./adb server-start

4. type 'cd /etc/init.d/' followed by 'ls' check if you see 40a2sd on the list!

Ok wish me luck with the reformat of the card. I'll report back!

Well I repartitioned the card with no space for extended, then repeated again with my chosen sizes - 0 swap, 760mb ext2 remainder FAT32....Then converted to extended 3.

Shut down the phone instead of rebooting.

Took the memory stick out and connected it to my computer running ubuntu. It found both partitions - the extended and the FAT32.

I copied back all of my fat32 files, reinserted the card, and rebooted the phone.........Same situation as before. Still only 38 MB free on the phone memory. Also the forwarding arrows have not appeared on the directories.

Though it pains me it looks like I'll have to wipe storage and completely reflash with the original paul rom.....followed by a2sd again.....If anyone has any ideas based on the logs I posted before please let me know. Else wish me luck!

[Guest miguelsanchez79]

I did install A2SD got it working with my 4GB gold card but when I tried to partition 16GB card in recovery mode:

0 swap

512mb ext2

remainder fat32

then convert ext2 to ext3

When rebooting I get constant 'HTC quietly brilliant' screen loop.

Can anyone help?

[Guest theboxman]

I did install A2SD got it working with my 4GB gold card but when I tried to partition 16GB card in recovery mode:

0 swap

512mb ext2

remainder fat32

then convert ext2 to ext3

When rebooting I get constant 'HTC quietly brilliant' screen loop.

Can anyone help?

Did you boot into a linux computer, mount your extended partition and copy your apps off the ext partition then back onto the new card?

I'd theorise that it's getting stuck in a loop because it can't find the apps.......

As regards my problems:

I repeated the process - entered the recovery menu, wiped everything, flashed the original rooted update zip, rebooted, wiped the caches for good measure reinstalled a2sd....shut down....changed cards back to the 4GB (leaving the Ext partition from last time as I *know* it works on linux and was created by the phone recovery anyway).

After initial setup output of ls -l /data

is *still* not showing everything redirected to sd..... :-/

help folks...I think my own ingenuity has run aground and I'll need advice here to help achive a2sd... :-/

[Guest afiorillo]

[...]

Though it pains me it looks like I'll have to wipe storage and completely reflash with the original paul rom.....followed by a2sd again.....If anyone has any ideas based on the logs I posted before please let me know. Else wish me luck!

Yep, I think that is your case. There's no apparent reason for such a behaviour, so a fresh start will likely help. :huh:

[Guest theboxman]

Yep, I think that is your case. There's no apparent reason for such a behaviour, so a fresh start will likely help. :huh:

Thanks bro. I actually already did that and am in the same situation...but I'll give it a shot again and report back :-/

[Guest theboxman]

Thanks bro. I actually already did that and am in the same situation...but I'll give it a shot again and report back :-/

Ok so.....

1. Goldcard in

2. Head to recovery using recovery-linux.sh method.

3. Wipe/Factory Reset

4. Wipe cache

5. Wipe dalvik-cache.

6. Redo Wipe/Factory Reset for good measure.

7. Install from zip - 'rootedupdate.zip'

8. reboot to recovery again via recovery linux keeping goldcard in (accidently missed the hold down of the key so got to the first boot screen and pulled the battery...and entered recovery again).

9. Wipe cache

10. wipe dalvik-cache - overkill much? ;-)

11. Flash from zip -' r1-a2sd-desire-dalvik-upgrade-signed.zip'

12. Power off. Change to 4GB card. Start again entering recovery menu.

13. Wipe SD:ext partition (don't think it'll do anything as I'm about to overwrite the partition table anyway but hey extra steps that might help?)

14. Partition SD Card Swap: 0MB Ext2-size: 0MB Fat32=remainder.....To wipe the old table.

15. Partition SD card Swap: 0MB Ext2-size: 768MB Fat32-size = remainder.

16. Convert ext2 ---> ext3

Note - Rather than copy all of my files now, which is what I did previously I'll put an extra reboot into the proceedure

17. Reboot with newly created memory card -skip my way through the setup stuff. Install titanium backup from market place. Size before (from settings):140Mb free Size after: 137mb .......Application administrator page within settings is showing Titanium backup as only 540kb + 328kb market cache and 52kb data for market....not sure where the rest has come from).

adb shell

ls -l /data

# ls -l /data

drwx------ system   system			2010-05-03 17:48 backup

-rw-rw-rw- media	system		  2 2010-05-03 17:43 pvcodec.txt

drwxrwxr-x system   system			2010-05-03 17:48 system

drwxrwx--x system   system			2010-05-03 17:43 anr

drwxrwx--x system   system			2010-05-03 17:43 app-cache

drwxrwxrwx root	 root			  2010-05-03 17:43 DxDrm

drwxrwx--x system   system			2010-05-03 17:48 dalvik-cache

lrwxrwxrwx root	 root			  2010-05-03 17:43 drm -> /data/local

drwx------ root	 root			  2010-05-03 17:45 property

drwxrwx--x system   system			2010-05-03 17:48 app

drwxrwx--x system   system			2010-05-03 17:43 app-private

drwxrwx--x shell	shell			 2010-05-03 17:43 local

drwxrwxrwx wimax	wimax			 2010-05-03 17:43 wimax

drwxrwx--t system   misc			  2010-05-03 17:49 misc

drwxr-x--- root	 log			   2010-05-03 17:43 dontpanic

drwxrwxrwx root	 root			  2010-05-03 17:48 data

drwxrwx--- root	 root			  2010-05-03 17:43 lost+found

busybox df -h

# busybox df -h

Filesystem				Size	  Used Available Use% Mounted on

tmpfs				   199.2M		 0	199.2M   0% /dev

tmpfs					 4.0M		 0	  4.0M   0% /sqlite_stmt_journals

/dev/block/mtdblock3	250.0M	220.2M	 29.8M  88% /system

/dev/block/mtdblock5	147.6M	 10.7M	137.0M   7% /data

/dev/block/mtdblock4	 40.0M	  2.7M	 37.3M   7% /cache

tmpfs					 8.0M		 0	  8.0M   0% /app-cache

/dev/block//vold/179:1

						  3.0G	 48.0K	  3.0G   0% /sdcard

18. I had intended copying accross the data from my SD card backup and using titanium to restore everything now.......but it looks like it hasn't worked again.

What am I doing wrongly?????