Dont partition on Windows

[Guest nicksoph]

Just a note to say that IMHO it is unlikely that you should partition your card if you are using Windows and any of the current froyo roms, mainly because Windows will only recognise the first partition. Even in Linux I cant really see the advantage ever saving most people the time it takes to set it up.

If you are in any doubt about how to prepare your card - do nothing. It almost certainly comes formatted in the best possible way. If you do find yourself needing to format try and use the phone to do so, it is the most likely method of getting the card to work.

If you are using Linux it is possible to format some of the partitions using the EXT formats but they will not be used when apps are pushed to the SD card as most froyo roms do not use the same process as the EXT based App2SD found on eclair. Edit: You may be able to install a fix to make use of Ext2 partitions for A2SD in Froyo but I can't see why most people would want to it makes recovery more difficult especially in Windows.

Unless you have a real reason for using an extra partition the advantages of messing about with partitions and specially formatting your card are generally small ones and without clear and particular knowledge the most likely outcome will be a headache. Some people seem to be using EXT3 partitions on sd cards on other phones unaware that it is not normally recommended for SD cards due to the fact that it is a journaling file system which increases the number of writes.

Edit: There have been some recommendations for how to set up EXT partitions in Windows in the reply's below. The ability to view and manage partitions in Windows is not the same as being able to manage and view the partitions contents and unless you have a need to use your apps on an EXT partition it is probably easier for most people to go with the built in froyo method but even this is not without it's problems: The most important of which is probably that with the standard froyo method of moving your apps to the SD card; your SD card cannot be seen by the phone if it's mounted as a USB drive on the PC. This means that programs that are on the phone cannot be used whilst you have the SD mounted as a drive.

EDIT: With the release of the newest Froyo roms the ability to use EXt2 partitions has become easier and there is much praise for using them - although I still hold that for the majority of users eg. those with an average number of apps and storage requirements, the time taken to set it up is unlikely to be recovered. For those who need the extra space or wanting to play with the functions here are some points;

1. be aware of the way you partition your card - Windows will normally only recognise the first partition on an SD card, so any editing of the contents EXT partition must normally be done outside of Windows. If you wish to edit the card's EXT partitions contents, it may be possible using the software at http://www.fs-driver.org/ but I have not tested this and it seems that even if it does allow access there are a number of restrictions.

2. Check the sector size of your card when you first get it - it is almost certain that you should use this sector size when you reformat your FAT partition, formatting with the wrong sector size is likely to slow the speed of the cards data transfer.

3. Make sure your EXT2 partition is the last on the drive

4. One of the uses of the EXT2 partition is to move the Dalvik Cache to your SD card - this give you the advantage of more space on your phone without any of the worries of caring too much about the partitions contents.

5. Test the speed of your card - using te EXT2 partition is not recommended if your card is slow - it seems that most people recommended at least a class 4 card - testing it's speed in the phone is the best way to check it's true class and whether the sector sizes are properly formatted.

That said if anyone would like to tell us how they are getting the best from their SD card I'd really be interested to know.

Edited December 5, 2010 by nicksoph

[Guest nicksoph]

Edit : Sorry posted in wrong place

[Guest burundi]

I used gparted to format a couple of SD cards, one for the Desire and one for the San Francisco and they both worked fine (once I followed the instructions correctly and made the fat32 partition first :P )

I was using an Acer Aspire one so I had no CD drive to boot off, fortunately gparted can be booted from a USB stick and it was a breeze to setup, the instructions on the gparted download site are clear and concise.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/liveusb.php

I did try using Paragon in Windows but version 11 is not very good and I couldn't be bothered chasing a download of version 9.

[Guest nicksoph]

I used gparted to format a couple of SD cards, one for the Desire and one for the San Francisco and they both worked fine (once I followed the instructions correctly and made the fat32 partition first :P )

Thanks

what are the advantages?

[Guest Freekers]

I suggest your use 'Minitool Partition Wizard Home Edition' for Windows. It's freeware and an updated equivalent of Norton Partition Magic (which is end of life).

It works flawlessly and is really easy to use:

http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

I always partition my drives as well as my SDcard for my Blade with this. Works perfectly.

[Guest burundi]

Thanks

what are the advantages?

It works, that's the main advantage, it's also easy to use as it loads a GUI rather than being a command line based tool.

I suggest your use 'Minitool Partition Wizard Home Edition' for Windows. It's freeware and an updated equivalent of Norton Partition Magic (which is end of life).

It works flawlessly and is really easy to use:

http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

I always partition my drives as well as my SDcard for my Blade with this. Works perfectly.

Cheers Freekers, I'll give that a go, I'm always needing USB drives and SD Cards formatting in windows.

[Guest nicksoph]

I suggest your use 'Minitool Partition Wizard Home Edition' for Windows. It's freeware and an updated equivalent of Norton Partition Magic (which is end of life).

It works flawlessly and is really easy to use:

http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

I always partition my drives as well as my SDcard for my Blade with this. Works perfectly.

Cant see how this is useful to a normal user - it does not do EXT partitions and if you partition your memory card windows cant easily see anything but the first

Edited November 26, 2010 by nicksoph

[Guest Flumpster]

Cant see how this is useful to a normal user - it does not do EXT partitions and if you partition your memory card windows cant easily see anything but the first

Why don't people try things before stating they don't work?

It most definitely does do EXT partitions and it is the only app I use for setting up the SD cards for A2SD in windows.

Edited November 26, 2010 by Flumpster

[Guest gambieter]

Cant see how this is useful to a normal user - it does not do EXT partitions and if you partition your memory card windows cant easily see anything but the first

Have you actually installed this? Because I have and it is absolutely fantastic, and it does do EXT2 and EXT3 partitions. So you are wrong in your comment.

Since I got this link from Freekers, I have A2SD up and running fine.

[Guest Mellerle]

Nice, thanks for the link!:P

Can i partition the sdcard inside the phone or do i need a extra cardreader?

[Guest Flumpster]

I basically mount the phone so it shows up as a drive in windows then do the partitioning and formatting in this app.

You must remember that after you've made all the changes you still have to hit apply in the top left to make it do what you've told it.

Do not use the phones format function after making the EXT partition or you will lose it.

Edited November 26, 2010 by Flumpster

[Guest LorianNod]

Why don't people try things before stating they don't work?

It most definitely does do EXT partitions and it is the only app I use for setting up the SD cards for A2SD in windows.

Yea, it supports EXT2, EXT3 and swap and copes with multiple partitions, it's a great tool for setting up SD cards for use with A2SD, have used it several times.

[Guest nicksoph]

Yea, it supports EXT2, EXT3 and swap and copes with multiple partitions, it's a great tool for setting up SD cards for use with A2SD, have used it several times.

Sorry

I looked on the front page and saw it only reports FAT, FAT32 and NTFS

[Guest BaChot]

WinPM (Paragon Partition Manager) works very well for me. You can use it to format your sd card. it works for app2sd.

[Guest FrankieADZ]

Sorry for this.

So for an 8GB SD, I'd need to partition to what sizes?

Thanks

[Guest Mellerle]

What you want.

[Guest FrankieADZ]

I ment what size do I need to do the A2SD?

its about 700MB right?

Edited November 27, 2010 by FrankieADZ

[Guest nicksoph]

I ment what size do I need to do the A2SD?

its about 700MB right?

What rom are you using? What are you going to put on the EXT partition? How much space do you want on the fat partition

The maximum recommended size of a EXT2 partition is about 1.5GB but that is seems much too large for anything I can think of.

Please get back with what you decide. Im hoping some people will answer the question first posed - what clever things are they doing with it.

[Guest FrankieADZ]

What rom are you using? What are you going to put on the EXT partition? How much space do you want on the fat partition

The maximum recommended size of a EXT2 partition is about 1.5GB but that is seems much too large for anything I can think of.

Please get back with what you decide. Im hoping some people will answer the question first posed - what clever things are they doing with it.

i'll be using the r4 rom, but with A2SD from the online Kitchen. EXT Partition will be to add apps to, Im gonna go for around the 700MB mark.

[Guest nicksoph]

i'll be using the r4 rom, but with A2SD from the online Kitchen. EXT Partition will be to add apps to, Im gonna go for around the 700MB mark.

Unless you are going to be using a LOT of apps or thinking of moving the Dalvik Cache even 700MB seems too large.

FYI I have a recollection of reading that Paul's Apps to SD doesnt like anything over 1GB - not sure.

[Guest FrankieADZ]

Unless you are going to be using a LOT of apps or thinking of moving the Dalvik Cache even 700MB seems too large.

FYI I have a recollection of reading that Paul's Apps to SD doesnt like anything over 1GB - not sure.

Hmmmmm......i see ur point there; I think 512MB might be the way to go, Im not gonna go anywhere near 1gb for the A2SD, I cant see me using that many apps.

thanks for the heads up tho :P

[Guest nicksoph]

in your ohter post you say

"But doesnt the 2.2 rom allow this feature without me doing the partition?"

are using a 2.1 or a 2.2 version android?

Edited November 27, 2010 by nicksoph

[Guest whoop_whoop]

I used SD Card's official formatter (v3) and worked fine so far - I have a 32Gb in my OSF: http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter_3/

[Guest nicksoph]

I used SD Card's official formatter (v3) and worked fine so far - I have a 32Gb in my OSF: http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter_3/

Hi Whoop whoop

im interested in the speeds people get out of their cards and wonder if you might run 'SD card speed tester' available free from Market and tell me what speeds you are getting out of your card and what class it is

thanks

[Guest FrankieADZ]

in your ohter post you say

"But doesnt the 2.2 rom allow this feature without me doing the partition?"

are using a 2.1 or a 2.2 version android?

im using 2.1