[Q] In simple terms, how to access/use storage on CM7 SD

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Imbroglio

Senior Member
Jun 18, 2011
110
11
I have spent the last week reading and searching the forums in an attempt to find out how to be able to access and use the empty space left on a CM7 boot sd. Some of the posts were confusing and others seemed to be targeted to those who are already very familiar with the file structures of these systems. The only paritioning experience I have is dividing a boot drive before putting on XP. I am using a Sandisk 8gb and it looks like there is about 5 gig free. Win XP is the os I am running.

So the questions I have are:

1) In simple terms, exactly what has to be done to a boot CM7 SD card to be able to use the empty space for books, mp3, etc? On the recommendations I read in different threads, I downloaded easus partition master, gnome partition editor, and minitool partition wizard. They all pretty much do the same of being able to display the 4 partitions, but what do with the programs then?

In the near future I would like to get a 16g or 32g and wouldn't want all of that space going to waste.

2) Is it possible to have it so that the NC stock boot can read the books downloaded in CM7? I have not been able to find where CM7 stores books.

Thanks to all whose work helped me get to this point. The NC is a fascinating piece of hardware.
 

Larry94

Senior Member
Apr 2, 2011
281
78
Hey! Using the remaining storage on your SD card is quite easy. Just download and install this program on your NC. http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=952456 open the program and select the 4th partition to be mounted. Now when you plug your nook into the PC, the partition which holds media etc. Will be mounted ;) you can now transfer mp3's, roms for Emulators etc.

As for #2, Your cm7 books should be on the previously mentioned partition, which is the 4th.

Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA Premium App
 
Last edited:

stolenmoment

Senior Member
Mar 27, 2011
360
43
I have spent the last week reading and searching the forums in an attempt to find out how to be able to access and use the empty space left on a CM7 boot sd. Some of the posts were confusing and others seemed to be targeted to those who are already very familiar with the file structures of these systems. The only paritioning experience I have is dividing a boot drive before putting on XP. I am using a Sandisk 8gb and it looks like there is about 5 gig free. Win XP is the os I am running.
5G sounds about right for the /sdcard partition. The rest of the partitions on an 8G card are /boot, /system, and /data. Use Root Explorer to poke around; you can tell when you jump partitions because the used/free numbers at the top will change.

/boot is not normally mounted.

The root filesystem is in-memory and is initialized from /boot/uRamdisk by default.
So the questions I have are:

1) In simple terms, exactly what has to be done to a boot CM7 SD card to be able to use the empty space for books, mp3, etc? On the recommendations I read in different threads, I downloaded easus partition master, gnome partition editor, and minitool partition wizard. They all pretty much do the same of being able to display the 4 partitions, but what do with the programs then?

In the near future I would like to get a 16g or 32g and wouldn't want all of that space going to waste.
The original instructions in the size-agnostic install thread detail what happens to various sizes of card; for anything above 2G /sdcard gets all the extra.

Any apps that use /sdcard for storage will use this space. App-specific config data and small databases are generally in /data unless instructed otherwise (I'm using less than 300M of my /data partition as yet). The app info or permissions will often give clues; if the permission for "read and write SD card" is requested or required, the app can or must use this space. Some apps (like BeyondPod) will always use /sdcard.

So, your space isn't wasted, it's just unused until you fill it.
2) Is it possible to have it so that the NC stock boot can read the books downloaded in CM7? I have not been able to find where CM7 stores books.
The CM7 SD boot cleverly uses the built-in memory for both /cache and (at least some) media storage; the "media" stock partition pre-1.2 is mounted as /emmc; I don't know how the SD boot uses the newer partitions. The NC app stores books in "/emmc/B&N Downloads/Books" and magazines in ".../Magazines". You can move your music files to "/emmc/My Files/Music" and the stock music player will automagically find them there, freeing up even more space in your SD. This partition is mounted the same for emmc-booted NCs, making an easier transition if you get to that point (it took me months to decide to go ahead and do it, and I'm happy with the choice). Other apps may look there, or can be told to look there, but since it's a new-ish Android "feature" (convention, really), it's not universal.

When you use USB mounting by plugging your charger cable into your PC's USB socket, by default the two "drives" mounted are /sdcard (named "CM7 SDCARD") and /emmc ("MyNookColor"), so you can use your PC to explore, backup, and move files back & forth to experiment. Both partitions are FAT32, so all PCs should be able to handle them. Remember to tell the PC to unmount them in software before unplugging the cable, like any thumb drive.
Thanks to all whose work helped me get to this point. The NC is a fascinating piece of hardware.
It is, isn't it? I haven't regretted buying one for a minute.
 

Imbroglio

Senior Member
Jun 18, 2011
110
11
Thank you for posting the reply on the APP nook/cm7 file system.

Unfortunately, it still doesn't address HOW to sideload (DRAG AND DROP) books on the utilizing the empty portion of a CM7 SD card.

1. I put the SD card into an reader.
2. Windows xp detects the card.
3. I pull up windows explorer.
4. It only displays the "root" directory. Yes, I can drag and drop into the "my documents" folder but this partition only contains about 300 meg total storage.
5. It does not display the other partitions, thus I cannot drag and drop anything into the 5g partition.

Yes, I can drag and drop on the NC onboard storage, but not the CM7 SD card. Is the remaining 5 gigs only allocated for APP storage?

Now after 2 weeks searching this site and seeing numerous recommendations for software but not what to do with it or cryptic posts assuming that one already is very familiar with the android os, I am pulling my hair out over this. The only post I found that directly and simply addressed the issue requires that I reformat the SD with SDformatter to allow for full storage access but then I have install CM7 all over again.

I downloaded NookColorUMS-0.3b.apk using Opera, but that is all it did. I had to search again and it mentioned something about ADB (no idea what that is) which had to be installed. Aparently that doesn't work alone and it lead to another link to more required software - the Android SDK and then came a long list of more steps just to install that.

Hopefully, if I ever figure this out, I will write a simple to understand post that new NC CM7 people like me can understand.
 

stolenmoment

Senior Member
Mar 27, 2011
360
43
Try this: unplug the charger cable from the "n"-shaped brick. Plug the cable into a USB port on your computer. Plug the other end into the NC as usual.

Tap the button(s) that pop up on the NC to allow USB mounting.

Two new drives show up on the PC. These are /emmc and /sdcard, but they'll have different names on the PC. Use Windoze Explorer to drag and drop. I might suggest /sdcard/download as a first try, but feel free to drop copies in multiple directories in order to experiment. Adobe Reader looks all over for its docs.

When you're done, click on the PC tray thing to release BOTH drives from the PC.

Poke around with your reader to find these files. Some readers might be better at looking around than others.

Let us know how you get along!

Sent from my NookColor using XDA Premium App
 

extremepizza

Member
Aug 30, 2010
29
8
So once you download the NookColorUMS.apk, use the file explorer on your nook, go to the 'download' folder and click on this file. It will open up and ask you if you can install the program. Click yes and let it install.

When you are done with that, open the program and mount the partition of interest(i think its 4 as a previous poster stated). Now when you plug your nook into your computer that partition will mount. There should be 4 partitions if you are using the CM7 on SD card.

You should be able to now drag and drop files on that partition. Just make sure you unmount properly as I have run into problems if you just unplug it.

extremepizza


Thank you for posting the reply on the APP nook/cm7 file system.

Unfortunately, it still doesn't address HOW to sideload (DRAG AND DROP) books on the utilizing the empty portion of a CM7 SD card.

1. I put the SD card into an reader.
2. Windows xp detects the card.
3. I pull up windows explorer.
4. It only displays the "root" directory. Yes, I can drag and drop into the "my documents" folder but this partition only contains about 300 meg total storage.
5. It does not display the other partitions, thus I cannot drag and drop anything into the 5g partition.

Yes, I can drag and drop on the NC onboard storage, but not the CM7 SD card. Is the remaining 5 gigs only allocated for APP storage?

Now after 2 weeks searching this site and seeing numerous recommendations for software but not what to do with it or cryptic posts assuming that one already is very familiar with the android os, I am pulling my hair out over this. The only post I found that directly and simply addressed the issue requires that I reformat the SD with SDformatter to allow for full storage access but then I have install CM7 all over again.

I downloaded NookColorUMS-0.3b.apk using Opera, but that is all it did. I had to search again and it mentioned something about ADB (no idea what that is) which had to be installed. Aparently that doesn't work alone and it lead to another link to more required software - the Android SDK and then came a long list of more steps just to install that.

Hopefully, if I ever figure this out, I will write a simple to understand post that new NC CM7 people like me can understand.
 

kwyrt

Senior Member
Apr 25, 2011
727
248
Columbus
I am using Racks Phiremod/Honeycomb dual boot image but I don't see why this method would not work for your install. Rather than messing with mounting partitions and all that whenever I want to put something on the SD Card partition I will just plug my nook into the computer, copy and paste whatever file I need onto the nook's internal memory, and then use root explorer to cut and paste the file from the internal memory to the SD Card partition.
 

Phatdawg

Senior Member
Jan 14, 2011
337
54
my emmc and sd card both show up and writable drives. I use stuff that I need faster access to in there, since the mount time is faster than the SD card.