How to partition SD card for A2SD+ NAND Android ROM?

By
Jayce Ooi
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Last modified on

App2SD, App2SD+, Apps2SD, Apps2SD+, A2SD, A2SD+… Whatever you want call it. It is basically move Android internal storage from NAND memory to SD card. It is good for HTC HD2 which has 512MB ROM only. There are several NAND Android ROMs that support A2SD+ now. And in order to use them, we must make a Linux Extended Filesystem (ext) partition on SD card. There are current 4 type of ext~ ext, ext2, ext3 and ext4. ext4 is the latest one but not all NAND Android ROM support it. Do take note and always refer back to the ROM chef…

How to partition SD card for A2SD+ NAND Android ROM?
Okay, there won’t be a detailed step by step guide here. But I will tell you all the information that you will need to get it done. By the way, you need a SD card reader.

  1. Download Gnome Partition Editor (GParted Live) here on CD or USB.
  2. Read the documentation at on GParted website ~ how to partition your drive? (Most answers of your questions are there).
  3. Backup your SD card data to PC before start partitioning.
  4. Boot into GParted Live on CD or USB (Make sure that your motherboard first boot is either CD or USB).
  5. Follow onscreen instructions to get GParted Live loaded.
  6. Note – select your SD card as the drive. DON’T select your hard drive.
  7. Delete every partition on SD card.
  8. First create a primary FAT32 partition.
  9. Then create another primary ext(2,3 or 4) partition ~ 1GB or more.
  10. Exit GParted Live and back to Windows.
  11. Copy back your data to SD card.
  12. That’s all.

Note – both partitions must be created primary partition, FAT32 come first then ext(2,3 or 4). And Windows cannot read ext partition data.

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27 COMMENTS

  1. hi jayce i already tried out the above method but still cannot boot into Gparted.
    below is the step i done :
    1) download Gparted software (CD)
    2) extract the data using 7Z then burn it as data CD
    3) boot CD room before enter to window..
    but system direct boot into window “vista”..seems like cannot read the CD..
    am i missed out any important step?

    thx in advance…..& sorry for my question.

  3. hi jaycee,

    Is this way of partition(a.k.a EXT3) the same as while you installing NAND +A2SD ROM.
    I mean while installing using CWR there a step where that you need to partition yr SD right? before copying the ROM and installing the zip file on yr SD card..

    Please refer the step guide below(step 7 -11) : Is it the same if not using GParted? ..Please advise..Thanks.

    1. Extract downloaded zip to a folder of your choice
    2. Copy contents of copy_to_sd_root (initrd.gz and zImage) to the root of your sd card
    3. Boot into magldr and select USB Flasher option while phone is connected to PC
    4. Run DAF.exe included in the zip and follow onscreen instructions.
    5. After complete devise will reboot in magldr chose “Boot AD SD” option
    6. Device will boot into Clockwork Recovery
    7. Select advanced
    8. Select Partition SD card (remember too backup all valuable data you have on SD Card)
    9. Selet (minimum 512M)(maximum 1024M) Chose what fits best for you Recomended size 1024M
    10.Select Swap 0M
    11.Wait for the process too finish (do not restart device stay in ClockWork recovery)
    12.Connect the Device into USB
    13.select mounts and storage
    14.select mount USB storage
    15.Copy contents of copy_to_sd_root (initrd.gz, zImage) to the root of your sd card
    16.Copy CoreDroid_HD_HD2_v*.zip to the root of your sd card
    17.Press back key after finish
    18.Press back key once more
    19.Select install zip from sdcard
    20.Select choose zip from sdcard
    21.Select CoreDroid_HD_HD2_v* file and then confirm
    22.Wait for it too finish
    23.After flash options pop up again Press back Key
    24.select reboot system now
    25.Let it boot wait about +-10Min Enjoy

  4. Dear,

    I am using the desire z final Rom and I have also made the A2SD.

    But the issue is the applications are showing error message report close. And the Rom is very slow.

    Please advice.

  5. I am slightly confuse with this.

    Previously i install CoreDroid v1.5
    i have ext3 in my SD.
    I can see that i have almost 1G of Internal memory. Upon further checking, i see 400M is for RAM and 600M under cache.

    Then i install Hyperdroid GBX (gingerbread extreme).
    I can only see 220M as what the developer mentioned.

    Since both also support A2SD+, why first one can see internal memory of 1G, but not the second one?

    I assume it should be
    Internal Memory = HD2 RAM – NAND used by Android + ext?

  6. Hi

    I have 16Gb SD card with root Galaxy S phone upgrade to 2.3.3 XWJVB. I have follow all the instruction except i didnt format the FAT32 but just moved and reduce to 5Gb and the rest 10Gb to EXT4 primary partition. But A2SDGUI and Link2SD didnt detect my EXT4 partition. What i’m missing here? do i need to create a Swap partition? Please advice

    TQ

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