10Gb Android Install on Ext2 Partition

[Mr_Loon]

Thought a few folks might be interested to learn that PAndroid works fine with a large 'internal' storage file using the Ext2 filesystem.


Here's what I did :


Take one Class10 16Gb SD Card


Format as Ext2 16Gb partition using GParted


Make the partition writable with : sudo chmod ugo+rwX /media/disknamehere


Start Android for Pandora & set the disk size to 10Gb


Wait a long time (15 minutes or so) for Android to create its 'internal' storage & first boot


Use & Enjoy.


I've been using it for a day or two with a CC 256Mb Pandora and it works just as well as with a 1Gb install on a Fat32 filesystem.

 

[Farox]

This is a great news


Thanks Mr_Loon

 

[Foxgod]

Thought a few folks might be interested to learn that PAndroid works fine with a large 'internal' storage file using the Ext2 filesystem.


Here's what I did :


Take one Class10 16Gb SD Card


Format as Ext2 using GParted


Make the partition writable with : chmod ugo+rwX /media/disknamehere


Start Android for Pandora & set the disk size to 10Gb


Wait a long time (15 minutes or so) for Android to create its 'internal' storage & first boot


Use & Enjoy.


I've been using it for a day or two with a CC 256Mb Pandora and it works just as well as with a 1Gb install on a Fat32 filesystem.

Cant the other 6gb still be used by the pandora?


And can i create a 10 gb partition on larger sd disks too, such as 64 gb?

 

[Mr_Loon]

Cant the other 6gb still be used by the pandora?

The remaining 6Gb can be used as per normal by the Pandora / other Linux system but you'll need a 3rd party utility to read/write to an Ext2 partition on a windows PC.

And can i create a 10 gb partition on larger sd disks too, such as 64 gb?

I don't see why not, from my understanding you could create a 60+Gb Android install with such a disk, but I've only tried it with a 16Gb card.

 

[fusion_power]

Would a 8GB partition also do the job on an 8GB card, so the entire card is formatted? I have no experience with ext but I know there are already EXT 3 and 4 so what are the advantages of ext 2?

 

[Mr_Loon]

Would a 8GB partition also do the job on an 8GB card, so the entire card is formatted?

That would be fine, I formatted the 16Gb card as a 16Gb Ext2 partition but just used 10Gb for the Android install. (Edited OP to clarify this)

I have no experience with ext but I know there are already EXT 3 and 4 so what are the advantages of ext 2?

It's the first time I've used Ext2 and I've never used Ext 3/4 it could be an interesting experiment to see if there is an obvious performance benefit from using Ext 3/4.

 

[Foxgod]

Tnx, when i receive my 1ghz pandora, your info will be put to good use.

 

[mcobit]

In theory, ext2 is not a journaling filesystem. It is more unreliable in case of datacorruption. Ext3 has a journal as well as ext4, which introduces more diskwrites and is a bit slower.

 

[cuetzpalin]

What's the advantage of using ext2 opossed to FAT32?

 

[Mr_Loon]

What's the advantage of using ext2 opossed to FAT32?

You can create a file that is greater than 4GB in size, i.e. your Android 'internal' storage can be greater than 4GB

 

[cuetzpalin]

What's the advantage of using ext2 opossed to FAT32?

You can create a file that is greater than 4GB in size, i.e. your Android 'internal' storage can be greater than 4GB

I understand... I did tried your setup but after installing android, It was impossible for me to write to the system folder to load the Google Playstore files, even after chmoding the folder, it was impossible for me to paste the folders and files.

I then tried to format the card to Fat32 again, but the card got corrupted.

I wonder if the card corruption was due to my attempts to copy the google files...

 

[amyren]

Just a note on file size.

My sd card is a 16gb fat32, and I knew that the limitation is that you cant have files bigger than 4gb. 

But I didnt know that exact 4gb is to big as well, so I tried to make the most of it and set android gingerbread to create a file at 4096mb,

This failed, and android failed to start at all. I had to delete the appdata/gingerbread folder to continue.

I dont know the exact limit, probably it would be ok to set it to 4095. But the file creation took a while, so I set it to 3900 to be safe, and that worked.