Storage Problems for a non developer

[pna]

Hi

I know there are lots of people asking how to save space and mostly they get told to use 'search' and check the stickys.

I'm a keen gadget lover but have no technical background. I have a 64mb Tmobile MDA (with the horrible branding) and the following setup:

R 1.00.10
G 1337.36
D 1.01.00 WWE

I've heard/seen references to big storage etc but I don't really understand it.

Can someone either give me:
- a really simple way to update my rom etc, or
- suggest another way to delete stuff that I won't need (don't want to delete stuff only to find half the programs no longer work)
- explain the easiest way to get rid of all the Tmobile stuff

Many thanks in advance

[oltp]

To prevent the Branding stuff from loadibg you must hard-reset your magician (backup first!!) and after the initialization (calibration etc) you must soft-reset just before the customization starts. You got about 3 to 5 seconds to press the softreset, so when your screen reads 'tap screen to start using ....' you put the stylus in soft-reset hole & then tap the screen. As soon as the default blue WM background appears you press the stylus to soft-reset.

Now you got a plain WM2003 device. & you got the ext-rom visible, not editable, so you can explore it & choose what to install. Network settings for gprs is set by one of the ext-rom cabs.

To gain more storage you can move camera & album from \windows to storage folder. Remember to change shortcuts & registry as well. This saves ariund 1MB. More is possible: I've got < 8MB ram memory allocated to installed stuff with almost all ext-rom cabs installed. Yes I moved a lot.

To gain BIGstorage you can follow instructions below, but first you should get more familiar with the magician I guess. You can save your ext-rom cabs though & update to rom 1.13
url in instructions. To upgrade you just connect the magician to usb & start the downloaded shipped-rom & follow the instructions. Make a backup first & write down your gprs settings, caus you'll have dutch ext-rom cabs after the update. They're in English but contain dutch TMO settings.

Instruction for BS:
- Get nbfdec.exe from the thread 'Upg to 1.13 WWE ROM (with 1.13 Radio) in 10 easy steps!' @ http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=32274&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=75c5e40168a22052fb7c5554bddd68c2
- get maupgradeut_noid.exe from the ftp
- Download the shipped rom from:
http://www.t-mobile.nl/zakelijk/htdocs/page/service/mda_compact_upgrade.asp
- Download the Hexeditor from:
http://www.hhdsoftware.com/hexeditor.html

1. Unzip NL_11300_131_11200.exe (or any other shipped rom)
2. Put NBFDEC in the same directory as the unzipped shipped rom files
3. Copy the getdevicedata.exe to your Magician and execute to write DeviceData.txt
to \Windows and view with notepad
5. Decode nk.nbf -> nk.nb1:
nbfdec -d nk.nbf nk.nb1
6. Hexedit header to correct ID from DeviceData.txt
(probably only if using a rom from other provider)
7. Replace pattern for bigstorage in hexeditor:
locate the 02 00 00 80 00 20 and change 80 00 to b8 01 in the nk.nb1
(use binary search for this!!)
7. Encode nk.nb1->nk.nbf
nbfdec -e nk.nb1 nk.nbf
8. run maupgradeut_noid.exe to upgrade CE image

Also, this way you will save the contents of increased \Storage folder if previous rom was bigstorage one

Usage sample (must be run from the same folder as nbf files or specify full path):
nbfdec -d nk.nbf nk.nb1
nbfdec -e nk.nb1 nk.nbf

Regards, M

[pna]

Many thanks OLTP for your reply....perhaps it's me but I still find that quite technical....when I have to rename stuff etc I'm not sure where it is to do it.

The tmobile branding piece is clear and I'll have a stab at that tonight though.

Perhaps I'm just destined to struggle with memory or buy a 128mb device.

Appreciate you taking the time though - anyone else want to have a pop at help a keen but useless gadget lover !

[oltp]

BS is unfortunately quite technical & this is the easiest way.

I suggest to remove the branding, that will save some storage. get more accustomed to your magician by exploring it without changing.

I can write you some steps for moving files to gain more ram.

maybe in the future you can think about BS again.

Cheers, M

[vijay555]

pna: oltp's guide is about the best you'll ever get!

Basically, to debrand, do what he says in the first paragraph. This will remove all the additional TMobile gunk being installed. So, you need to hard reset (which will restore your system to "factory condition", and wipe everything), and then soft reset at the right time. Then you have a nice, fresh clean system. You can then read the board to see what files you might have skipped by achieving this, but frankly, you won't have missed much.

You can get your tmobile settings (for gprs etc) from here:
http://www.buymobilephones.net/sp3_setup.ihtml

FYI, before doing anything, get hold of a copy of GSFinder+ or a similar explorer. You will need it do any kind of installing/renaming etc.

Before venturing into the hardrest/soft reset business, consider if you want to do the big storage hack. Again, oltp's guide is perfect, but first the theory: the Extended Rom is like a small disk stuck inside your phone, carrying "backups" of the tmobile configuration stuff. If you do Bigstorage, it'll free that space for your use, giving you an extra 20mb or so to use for free. You can install stuff in there, and use it as a small, but bigger, disk to store stuff on. There's no reason not to do it, other than it's difficulty:
Difficulty? Yes, it takes some time, but instructions are provided, and clarified by oltp, so just follow the instructions carefully and you'll be fine.
It does require some knowledge, or confidence to learn.

So ideally, you want to:
1. Backup any files you want to keep.
2. Do Bigstorage.
3. Skip extended rom rubbish.

However, before you worry about bigstorage or anything technical, I suggest you just do this: clean up your system as it is now, and then just in future remember to install every program you want directly to your SD Card. If you do that, your system will generally have more than enough memory to run well. You can skip all the bigstorage and extended rom business. It's only necessary for those on a particularly tight memory budget. This should be fine for your needs I think.

FYI: to install onto your SD card, always choose NOT to use "main memory" when installing from your PC, or on the PDA, download and use a great program called cabinstl. That will allow you to install to your SD card.

V

[nm8]

Now you got a plain WM2003 device. & you got the ext-rom visible, not editable, so you can explore it & choose what to install. Network settings for gprs is set by one of the ext-rom cabs.


oltp, do you mean I cant rename, move, or delete any of the files in extended rom? So its safe even if they show?

[oltp]

Yes,

The magician ext-rom is write-protected. You can't delete the files. Nor format the space. Try it if you like with the delete of the file which mentions the loadvdisk. It's completely harmless, but if you want to be sure copy all cabs first to sd & execute them from there.

Btw the loadvdisk cab, present in a TMO ext-rom, will delete the loadvdisk.lnk from \windows\startup & that's why the ext-rom is hidden.

Cheers, M

[nm8]

Yes,

The magician ext-rom is write-protected. You can't delete the files. Nor format the space. Try it if you like with the delete of the file which mentions the loadvdisk. It's completely harmless, but if you want to be sure copy all cabs first to sd & execute them from there.

Btw the loadvdisk cab, present in a TMO ext-rom, will delete the loadvdisk.lnk from \windows\startup & that's why the ext-rom is hidden.

Cheers, M

ok.
the thing is, i want to edit my own extended rom, so next time i do a hard reset, it wont install unnecessary junk like skype and other customisation. i also want to add programs to it so they autoinstall when i do a hard reset.

any advice?

cheers

[oltp]

Sure,

You can use bal666's tool to convert the ext-rom part of a romdump to a diskimage which you can mount under Windows XP, with appropriate software ofcourse.

Then you can do whatever you want with your ext-rom. Requires flashing of your magician & a hard-reset.

For starters I recommend to skip executing of the ext-rom by applying a soft-reset just before the custmization starts after a hard-reset. This way you won't cripple your device.

M

[pna]

Many thanks OLTP & vjay555,

The branding thing worked a dream and saved me 6mb.

Now want to do big storage. Have got all the downloads ready but just need a bit more help on the 1-8 settings.

I'm really sorry that I need such basic help - haven't really got a clue what I'm doing but prepared to give it a go - please help.

1. No problem with this...even I can do this.
2. Where is this...I assume I move them to the Magician using explore (through activesynch) - am I right...if so, is there an obvious place that the unzipped shipped rom files will be.
3. Can't find a copy of getdevicedata.exe, Where do i find it, and then how do I execute to write DeviceData.txt
5. Afraid I don't know how to do this
6. Happy to give this a go if I get this far
7. How do I do this
8. Happy to give this a go if I get this far

Also, a little confused in the section after no 8 - what do I do here?

Hope you haven't lost patience with me. Hope to hear back soon.

Cheers

[oltp]

Paul,

I recently updated the wiki (top right link on each forum page & go to the howto part of the magician section) with the BIG Storage from shipped-rom method. This contains some more info than this thread. Pls read it & mail me the remaining questions, you've got my email-address. I'll add some extra help then.

Cheers, M

[pna]

Trying to download latest UK rom on WIKI site but the link to this ROM is not working: OS 1.12.00 / ExtROM 1.12.131 / Radio 1.12

Any ideas?

Ta

[oltp]

Yep a broken link, pls use this to go to the shipped rom section from the ftp: ftp://xda:xda@ftp.xda-developers.com/Magician/Shipped_ROMS/

Maybe I take the time tomorrow to check some of the links

btw latest uk-rom should be 1.13WWE from TMO.

[kanryu]

Yes,

The magician ext-rom is write-protected. You can't delete the files. Nor format the space. Try it if you like with the delete of the file which mentions the loadvdisk. It's completely harmless, but if you want to be sure copy all cabs first to sd & execute them from there.

Btw the loadvdisk cab, present in a TMO ext-rom, will delete the loadvdisk.lnk from \windows\startup & that's why the ext-rom is hidden.

Cheers, M

ok.
the thing is, i want to edit my own extended rom, so next time i do a hard reset, it wont install unnecessary junk like skype and other customisation. i also want to add programs to it so they autoinstall when i do a hard reset.

any advice?

cheers

you may want to check this out at htt*://en.pdamobiz.com/en/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=395&PN=1. it is based on bal666 info. go check it out.

[oltp]

That's about romcooking and can be found herevas well. It's no BS hack.

[kanryu]

Yes, it's no BS. But just a little info for nm8 to do ext rom customizations from his last reply.