Guide to partition SD card and use with Link2SD to store apps

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mschmiedel

Senior Member
May 15, 2008
140
25
Munich
I have been looking for something like this for a while. The flipout lacks internal memory and it soon becomes a problem if you want to have a good set of apps.

Here's what you'll need:

1. Rooted Flipout (I won't post instructions to this step, look for "Universal AndRoot")

2. Partitioned SD card (see below for instructions), depending on the method, you might need a phone with CWM to do this and ADB installed on your PC.

3. Download Link2SD from Market

So here are the steps:

1. Partition your SD card. There are many ways to do it. I will post two ways:

  • Use MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition

    My PC didn't like this tool and I wasn't able to use it. However, it should be quite easy, you just need to put your card in a card reader and build two partitions with the following characteristic:

    First partition will be your main card partition, should be of the whole card size minus the extended partition you want to create
    Second partition should also be fat32 (link2sd didn't like ext2 nor ext3 on the flipout, it only worked with fat32)
  • Use CWM. I personally didn't want to install it on the Flipout, so I used a Samsung Epic 4G for the steps. You should be able to use any phone with CWM to do it, put your SD card in the phone with CWM and boot into recovery:

    adb shell reboot recovery
    parted /dev/block/mmcblk0 (open partition manager for SD card)
    print (prints partition table)

    Here you should have one partition table, starting at some point and ending at some point like 7969 if your card has 8GB. Take note of the End value as you'll need it.

    rm 1 (deletes partition 1, this will erase all data on the SD card)

    mkpartfs primary fat32 0 7425 (creates a new primary partition, the second number should be the value you took note of in the last step minus the size in MB of your desired extended partition).

    mkpartfs primary fat32 7425 7937 (creates the new partition for applications, starting at the end of the last partition and ending on the max size of the card. In this case I used fat32 as I couldn't do it with ext3 nor ext2, link2sd didn't like this format on the flipout for some reason).

    The partitions are created and you should be able to go to the next step.


3. Reboot your flipout with the partitioned SD card, make sure to have link2sd installed.

4. Open link2sd, it will take a while, ask for root permissions (always accept and make sure to have Remember checked).

5. It will ask for the partition type, select fat32. If you are asked to reboot your phone you have everything setup, otherway please post your problem.

6. Once rebooted, open link2sd again and go to settings and configure. I don't like having all applications automatically linked as widgets and this kind of apps can fail if they are on the SD, so I have this setting unchecked. However this is a personal decision.

7. To move an app to the card, hold your finger on it and when the menu appears, press link and confirm.

8. To move an app from the card to the phone, hold on it and press unlink, check everything and wait for the app to be returned.

Further Tips:
  • Avoid moving apps to the SD that are use widgets or that run all the time like: messenger apps, alarm clocks, climate widgets, etc. I tried one or two without any failure but I feel they could be less reliable this way.
  • Don't remove your SD card if the phone is turned on, now it has a partition that is used by the system, if you remove it you could have issues, I would only remove the card with the phone turned off completely and not boot without the card.
  • I made some tests connecting the USB cable to the PC and using the phone in storage mode, the PC could see the primary SD card partition and the phone could still work with apps on the second partition, so it seems to be stable in this sense.
  • If you need to switch to another card, you would have to setup the new card in the same way; I don't know yet if backing up the second partition and restoring it to the new card will work. If your data is critical use some SW like Titanium backup to back up the apps that are linked, remove them completely and restore when you have the new card setup.

So, this has worked for me like a charm, the phone really seems stable and I have so far like 150MB of apps on the SD card. No need to have a newer Android version, it seems very stable.

Disclaimer:
Any process that involves rooting your phone and partitioning can potentially cause data loss and/or bricking your phone. Do this only if you are 100% sure of what you're doing, I will take no responsibility for any data loss / damage caused by this process.

If you have any questions I will be glad to help.
 

roinboin

Member
Oct 27, 2011
11
0
Hi great post above

I rooted my phone and I partitioned my sd card into 2 partitions , both FAT32 primary 3.7GB and when i open link2sd and select either ext 2 or ext 3 I get an error message
"Mount scrip error
Mount scripe cannot be created.
mount: no such device
ext 2 may not be supported on your device. Try FAt32 on the second partition"

Has anyone come accross this problem before ?
 

mschmiedel

Senior Member
May 15, 2008
140
25
Munich
Hi,

When you open link2sd,scroll down and select fat32. I tried formatting the second partition with ext2 and ext3 wit no luck. Fat32 is working just fine.

Regards
 
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lovdanie

New member
Oct 27, 2011
4
0
33
thanks

hi i tried wat u told but after some time link2sd is showing failure that "cannot link readonly" can u help me
 

bagers

Senior Member
Jan 8, 2010
122
14
Your guide works great. Finally I can have all apps I like to have installed at once.

[*]If you need to switch to another card, you would have to setup the new card in the same way; I don't know yet if backing up the second partition and restoring it to the new card will work. If your data is critical use some SW like Titanium backup to back up the apps that are linked, remove them completely and restore when you have the new card setup.
[/list]
I can tell some experiences with backups.

Before I had blur stock rom with link2sd and changed to deblur central europe rom. After reinstalling link2sd all apps where still gone.

And even after restoring all user apps with titanium backup they were restored to phone memory. I had relink them with link2sd manually and to batch restore with titanium backup twice because it broke down in the middle because phone memory was full.

Unfortunately link2sd is no magically way to have them backed up apps and to be independent from the rom. Titanium backup is still needed but that is fine. Nothing seams broken after restore with TI and relink with link2sd.
 

mschmiedel

Senior Member
May 15, 2008
140
25
Munich
lovdanie, it's strange, had no issues with the tested phone yet, I partitioned 500mb and it has already like 200-250MB of apps linked and is working great, no issues.

One thing that could have happened is that you removed the SD card. Are you sure the SD card hasn't been touched or formatted?

bagers, it's not really a magical solution, it's just a way to get more space on a phone that lacks internal memory...

Regards
 

miniProBhashi

Member
Apr 24, 2012
32
2
Kandy
Guys any one have links for disk partitioners? minitool is not a freeware as u have t buy it when you apply the partition. any one know a way roubnd this? please help
 

mschmiedel

Senior Member
May 15, 2008
140
25
Munich
miniProBhashi,

That's why I always use CWM to partition the SD card. As I don't have it on the Bllur, I put the card on another phone I have with CWM and it always works... Maybe if you have a linux PC you could do the same thing...

Regards
 

FeeStitch

New member
May 9, 2012
2
0
Help

Hi, I just partitioned my SD card. When I open the Link2SD app, it did prompt me to select the file system of the SD card's second partion, however, after I select FAT32/FAT16, Link2SD could not gain root access, there's no pop-up of indicating me to select "Allow" on the Superuser Request. Now wot do I do. Please help, thank you...
 

mschmiedel

Senior Member
May 15, 2008
140
25
Munich
Well, I would start checking the SuperUser app to see if there is some exception in there. If you don't have it, check out if your phone is rooted by installing some other app that requires root access.

If not, check the root method for your phone.

If it's the Motorola Flipout, download version 1.6.1 from this thread, install it and run it:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=747598

Regards
 

FeeStitch

New member
May 9, 2012
2
0
Well, I would start checking the SuperUser app to see if there is some exception in there. If you don't have it, check out if your phone is rooted by installing some other app that requires root access.

If not, check the root method for your phone.

If it's the Motorola Flipout, download version 1.6.1 from this thread, install it and run it:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=747598

Regards


My phone is Galaxy ace, and superuser doesnt prompt anything on start-up.
Tried rooting manually, doesn't work as well :(
 

mschmiedel

Senior Member
May 15, 2008
140
25
Munich
Hi,

I would try on a Galaxy Ace forum to check for the rooting process and validate if your phone is really rooted. When you are 100% sure you have root you can come back to this post and we can check if there's some other issue...

Regards
 

p0kjats

New member
Jun 19, 2012
2
0
Flipout problem

Done all u told...
Then this problem came..

Mount script cannot be created.
mount: Invalid Argument:confused:
 

mschmiedel

Senior Member
May 15, 2008
140
25
Munich
Done all u told...
Then this problem came..

Mount script cannot be created.
mount: Invalid Argument:confused:

Hi,

Have seen similar problems when using ext filesystems. Are you 100% sure that the secondary partition on the sd card is fat32? It really should work on the flipout without any issues.

Remember that you need:
* Rooted flipout
* Partitioned sd card (secondary partition must be fat32)
* Link2sd opened and allowed to use root permission

If you are sure you did everything stated above, we can look at it with more detail. What tool did you use to partition the sd card?
 

drnags

New member
root permission

hi,

i have installed Link2SD from Market to my lg optimus p500 os,gingerbird2.3.3,when i stared to move app to sd it asks root permission.
so pls guid me to activate root permission in my device
 

mschmiedel

Senior Member
May 15, 2008
140
25
Munich
hi,

i have installed Link2SD from Market to my lg optimus p500 os,gingerbird2.3.3,when i stared to move app to sd it asks root permission.
so pls guid me to activate root permission in my device

Hi,

It doesn't make much sense to use Link2SD if you're on Gingerbread as your OS natively can copy apps to the SD card (at least some of them). Just go to "Manage Applications", and select the app you want to copy, there should be an option to "Move to SD"...

If you still have some good reason to use Link2SD, you should first look in a forum for your specific device to find out how to obtain root (I cannot help because it varies for each device)... Once you have root access, I can help you out with this process.

Regards
 

mnemonicoverload

New member
Sep 23, 2012
3
2
Sarnia, ON
Guys any one have links for disk partitioners? minitool is not a freeware as u have t buy it when you apply the partition. any one know a way roubnd this? please help

When I partitioned mine I used GParted Live. It's a Linux-based boot disk, but you don't really have to know anything about Linux to use it. Just download the .ISO and burn a CD, pop it in your PC and boot off it. Its free, graphical (not command line) and relatively easy to use. There is also an option there to set it up to boot live off a USB drive, but that's a bit more involved to set up.

gparted . sourceforge . net / livecd.php (sorry, it won't let me directly post links yet)

If you can burn a .ISO to a CD, you can probably figure it out. Just make sure you pay attention to which disk you are partitioning (look at the sizes) so you don't accidentally re-partition the hard drive in your PC.

EDIT: If there is anything you need to back up off the SD card, I would do that in Windows first, and then copy it back using Windows after. You CAN do this with GParted Live but there would be additional steps to mount / unmount the Windows partition on the PC that you want to copy to.
 
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  • 12
    I have been looking for something like this for a while. The flipout lacks internal memory and it soon becomes a problem if you want to have a good set of apps.

    Here's what you'll need:

    1. Rooted Flipout (I won't post instructions to this step, look for "Universal AndRoot")

    2. Partitioned SD card (see below for instructions), depending on the method, you might need a phone with CWM to do this and ADB installed on your PC.

    3. Download Link2SD from Market

    So here are the steps:

    1. Partition your SD card. There are many ways to do it. I will post two ways:

    • Use MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition

      My PC didn't like this tool and I wasn't able to use it. However, it should be quite easy, you just need to put your card in a card reader and build two partitions with the following characteristic:

      First partition will be your main card partition, should be of the whole card size minus the extended partition you want to create
      Second partition should also be fat32 (link2sd didn't like ext2 nor ext3 on the flipout, it only worked with fat32)
    • Use CWM. I personally didn't want to install it on the Flipout, so I used a Samsung Epic 4G for the steps. You should be able to use any phone with CWM to do it, put your SD card in the phone with CWM and boot into recovery:

      adb shell reboot recovery
      parted /dev/block/mmcblk0 (open partition manager for SD card)
      print (prints partition table)

      Here you should have one partition table, starting at some point and ending at some point like 7969 if your card has 8GB. Take note of the End value as you'll need it.

      rm 1 (deletes partition 1, this will erase all data on the SD card)

      mkpartfs primary fat32 0 7425 (creates a new primary partition, the second number should be the value you took note of in the last step minus the size in MB of your desired extended partition).

      mkpartfs primary fat32 7425 7937 (creates the new partition for applications, starting at the end of the last partition and ending on the max size of the card. In this case I used fat32 as I couldn't do it with ext3 nor ext2, link2sd didn't like this format on the flipout for some reason).

      The partitions are created and you should be able to go to the next step.


    3. Reboot your flipout with the partitioned SD card, make sure to have link2sd installed.

    4. Open link2sd, it will take a while, ask for root permissions (always accept and make sure to have Remember checked).

    5. It will ask for the partition type, select fat32. If you are asked to reboot your phone you have everything setup, otherway please post your problem.

    6. Once rebooted, open link2sd again and go to settings and configure. I don't like having all applications automatically linked as widgets and this kind of apps can fail if they are on the SD, so I have this setting unchecked. However this is a personal decision.

    7. To move an app to the card, hold your finger on it and when the menu appears, press link and confirm.

    8. To move an app from the card to the phone, hold on it and press unlink, check everything and wait for the app to be returned.

    Further Tips:
    • Avoid moving apps to the SD that are use widgets or that run all the time like: messenger apps, alarm clocks, climate widgets, etc. I tried one or two without any failure but I feel they could be less reliable this way.
    • Don't remove your SD card if the phone is turned on, now it has a partition that is used by the system, if you remove it you could have issues, I would only remove the card with the phone turned off completely and not boot without the card.
    • I made some tests connecting the USB cable to the PC and using the phone in storage mode, the PC could see the primary SD card partition and the phone could still work with apps on the second partition, so it seems to be stable in this sense.
    • If you need to switch to another card, you would have to setup the new card in the same way; I don't know yet if backing up the second partition and restoring it to the new card will work. If your data is critical use some SW like Titanium backup to back up the apps that are linked, remove them completely and restore when you have the new card setup.

    So, this has worked for me like a charm, the phone really seems stable and I have so far like 150MB of apps on the SD card. No need to have a newer Android version, it seems very stable.

    Disclaimer:
    Any process that involves rooting your phone and partitioning can potentially cause data loss and/or bricking your phone. Do this only if you are 100% sure of what you're doing, I will take no responsibility for any data loss / damage caused by this process.

    If you have any questions I will be glad to help.
    1
    Hi,

    When you open link2sd,scroll down and select fat32. I tried formatting the second partition with ext2 and ext3 wit no luck. Fat32 is working just fine.

    Regards
    1
    Guys any one have links for disk partitioners? minitool is not a freeware as u have t buy it when you apply the partition. any one know a way roubnd this? please help

    When I partitioned mine I used GParted Live. It's a Linux-based boot disk, but you don't really have to know anything about Linux to use it. Just download the .ISO and burn a CD, pop it in your PC and boot off it. Its free, graphical (not command line) and relatively easy to use. There is also an option there to set it up to boot live off a USB drive, but that's a bit more involved to set up.

    gparted . sourceforge . net / livecd.php (sorry, it won't let me directly post links yet)

    If you can burn a .ISO to a CD, you can probably figure it out. Just make sure you pay attention to which disk you are partitioning (look at the sizes) so you don't accidentally re-partition the hard drive in your PC.

    EDIT: If there is anything you need to back up off the SD card, I would do that in Windows first, and then copy it back using Windows after. You CAN do this with GParted Live but there would be additional steps to mount / unmount the Windows partition on the PC that you want to copy to.
    1
    the bootstrapped recovery seems to be having a partitioning tool.

    Maybe im wrong, haven't used it though
    1
    So, basically.......
    I download a (example) fifty MB app, then link it. Out of (example) 100 MB of internal memory, I will the same amount left? Like, does this link the entire app to the SD so that out of the phone's original 100 MB, none is wasted and the app is completely sent o the SD? What I'm trying to say here is that, normally, you link part of an app to the SD, as in, when linking ES File Explorer the normal way, 3.2 MB is left, But, when I link it, the app says, 5.30 MB. What does this mean?
    :eek:
    That's confusing........
    To the best of my knowledge the way the normal OS-based "Move to SD" option works is to only transfer the app itself to the SD card, the "data" portion of the app (saved settings, browser cache, etc) stays in internal memory, as does any external libraries the app uses. This is why only part of the "app" seems to actually move to the SD card. The reason its set up this way, I assume, is because the "data" portion is the part that actually needs to be written to, and lower-class SD cards like the ones included with a phone have _slow_ write speeds, so the Android OS _assumes_ you have a slow SD card and keeps the "data" portion on the internal memory.

    Link2SD gives you the freedom to choose which parts you want to move on a per-app basis. So for each app it will let you pick if you want to move just the app, the app and the data, or the app, data, and libraries. The only caveat is that you will take a performance hit when running that app if your SD card isn't fast enough. As the documentation for Link2SD specifies, it's not recommended to move the "data" portion to SD unless you have at least a "Class 4" or higher SD card, as the class of the card determines how fast the write access is.

    As an added bonus, the Link2SD method will also let you move apps that use widgets to SD without breaking the widget. The normal Android OS method of Move to SD won't let you move apps with widgets to the SD card, which is why you'll see some apps that don't give you the option of moving them at all normally.