[HOW-TO] Increase the size of data.img for more "Device" storage

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Hi!
I've been getting an unholy amount of PM's asking for help. I would kindly like to redirect all of you Windows users to Viper Matrix Wireless' useful little tool: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=824154







For those of us that love installing apps and tinkering around with Android on our HD2's, 256MB of "Device" memory simply isn't enough! This fix will increase the size of the data.img file so that there will be more free space available when it's mounted. This is especially beneficial for users running on Android 2.1! See the attached picture!


Download the data.img file corresponding to your build or resize your own by using the instructions at the bottom of this post.

1GB userdata.img for shubCRAFT CM6/Froyo/Themed RC1.1!
http://cid-1dff7e1df294438f.office.l...ed%20RC1.1.rar
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7684410/xda-...ed%20RC1.1.rar (mirror)
http://www.vbnfiles.com/xda/birkoffs...ed%20RC1.1.rar Thanks to birkoffsjunk for the high speed mirror!

1GB data.img for mattc Leo + Froyo w/Sense RC1.2!
http://cid-1dff7e1df294438f.office.l...WSenseRC1.2.7z
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7684410/xda-...WSenseRC1.2.7z (mirror)
http://www.vbnfiles.com/xda/birkoffs...WSenseRC1.2.7z Thanks to birkoffsjunk for the high speed mirror!

512MB data.img v1.1 for DarkStone's Desire v5!
http://cid-1dff7e1df294438f.office.l...esire%5E_v5.7z
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7684410/xda-...e_desire_v5.7z (mirror)
http://www.vbnfiles.com/xda/birkoffs...e_desire_v5.7z Thanks to birkoffsjunk for the high speed mirror!

512MB data.img for dan1j3l's Froyo v1 (w/o Sense)!
http://cid-1dff7e1df294438f.office.l...oFroyo-1.0.rar
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7684410/xda-...oFroyo-1.0.rar (mirror)
http://www.vbnfiles.com/xda/birkoffs...eoFroyo-1.0.7z Thanks to birkoffsjunk for the high speed mirror!

1GB data.img v1.1 for DarkStone's Froyo v1!
http://cid-1dff7e1df294438f.office.l...royo%5E_v1.rar
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7684410/xda-...D2Froyo_v1.rar (mirror)
http://www.vbnfiles.com/xda/birkoffs...D2Froyo_v1.rar Thanks to birkoffsjunk for the high speed mirror!

1GB data.img v1 for DarkStone's Froyo v1!
http://cid-1dff7e1df294438f.office.l...royo%5E_v1.rar
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7684410/xda-...D2Froyo_v1.rar (mirror)
http://www.vbnfiles.com/xda/birkoffs...HD2Froyo_v1.7z Thanks to birkoffsjunk for the high speed mirror!

1GB data.img v1 for DarkStone's Desire v5!
http://cid-1dff7e1df294438f.office.l...sire%5E_v5.rar
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7684410/xda-..._desire_v5.rar (mirror)
http://www.vbnfiles.com/xda/birkoffs...e_desire_v5.7z Thanks to birkoffsjunk for the high speed mirror!


NOTE: It's best to reformat (or delete ALL your Android files) from your card before replacing the file. Alternatively, manually modify your data.img file using the instructions below.


Changelog
02/08/2010 - Added 1GB userdata.img for shubCRAFT CM6/Froyo/Themed RC1.1
02/08/2010 - mirrors added
29/07/2010 - Added 1GB data.img for mattc Froyo w/Sense RC1.2
29/07/2010 - v1.1 for Desire v5 fixes looping boot animation, screenshot: IMG_4331.jpg
29/07/2010 - Added 512MB data.img for dan1j3l-LeoFroyo-1.0
28/07/2010 - v1.1 fixes carrier issues for Froyo v1, Desire v5 unaffected
28/07/2010 - Added 1GB data.img v1 mods for DarkStone's Desire v5 and Froyo v1, screenshot:




-----------------------------------------------OR-------------------------------------------------


Manually edit data.img if you want a different size or use a different build!

I wrote this tutorial using a European HD2, 8GB microSD card, DarkStone's Froyo_v1 and a laptop running Ubuntu 10.04, your experience may vary.

Requirements:

• Desktop/Laptop running some form of Linux.
  IMPORTANT NOTE: Both, a PC and a Mac, can resize the .img file but not modify (specifically - run resize2fs) the ext2 file system that Android uses. I was in a hurry to post the resizing instructions and didn't fully test the procedure on a PC. Currently, this procedure is only possible on a Linux based operating system. I apologize if your time was wasted.

• data.img file

• HD2, microSD card, microUSB cable etc, etc (you might be better off using a card reader)

--------------------------------------------(Running Linux)----------------------------------------------

Procedure:
1. UnZip Android or your present data.img file to your Home Folder. Or a folder of your liking (or even on your memory card!), just remember to cd before you do the following:
2. Open Terminal and Copy&Paste (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+Shift+V) this:

dd if=/dev/zero bs=1M count=XXX >> data.img

where XXX is the amount, in MB, by which data.img should be increased by.
My filesize started out as 256MB and I wanted a total of 512MB. That would mean I needed a extra 256MB, so I executed this:

dd if=/dev/zero bs=1M count=256 >> data.img

3. Run a file system check and file system resizer

e2fsck -f data.img
resize2fs data.img
e2fsck -f data.img

if prompted, press "y" for "yes"

4. Copy all of the Android files onto your SD card, put it into your phone, and run CLRCAD.exe and HARET.exe!



-----------------------------------------------TIPS!-------------------------------------------------

Don't know how to cd?
If you're running a modern build of Linux you can just mount your SD card (phone or cardreader), open File Browser and paste "dd if=/dev/zero bs=1M count=XXX >> " into your open Terminal. This way you can just drag and drop the file into Terminal rather than typing out the file location!



Mounting:
If you're switching between builds and need to copy more than just your apps (apps are easily backed up by ASTRO File Manager - found on the Android Market), mount your data.img file and copy/backup the relevant data before moving on!
Linux:

mount -o loop data.img /mnt/data

you can put your apps into the AndroidApps folder before booting for them to be auto-installed

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EDIT:
added screenshot
added modded data.img for non-Linux users
added modded data.img for non-Linux users for desire v5 too!
put files at the top of the post
added changelog
added mirrors
added instructions for PC

Noice! I was exactly thinking about this since I started trying out Android on HD2 couple of days ago.

Might backup my data.img and give this method a go.

This is awesome!

Please can chefs cook this into their builds....

My biggest problem (other than no USB and no bluetooth) is this space limitation.

Well done you!


GG

info moved to first post...

works beautifully!!!

Thank you

How would you fancy doing each version as testers for us, as some people on here dont use Linux?? and is there a way you can provide a screen shot showing the phone running android with more storage?

any changes to extend a used img. file?!

also sofar my linux knowing is this command:

dd if=/dev/zero bs=1M count=256 >> data.img

just writes zeros to the end of the data.img...
shouldn't this work with a used file too?

another idea (can't try because mac osx didn know the resize2fs commands..)

dd if=/blabla/data.img bs=1M count=512 > data_new.img ?!
so it just copies the hole data.img in a new file ...

holy COW great work you clever little bunny lol, maybe you should message the devs see if they wanna add this to there work

Originally Posted by futureshock

dd if=/dev/zero bs=1M count=256 >> data.img

just writes zeros to the end of the data.img...
shouldn't this work with a used file too?

I was thinking that too...
I tried it at least 3 times, but Android still displayed 0.00 MB free memory (heh heh, i know )
Maybe because the system registers the size of the mount after the initial boot and never bothers checking it?!?

any change to extend the img inside android?!
maybe there are also the commands built in the linux kernel?