what to do with Apps2sd when changing ROMs - G1 General

Yesterday I decided to try and update from Cyanogen's 3.4.6 to 3.5.2. When I did this, and booted into 3.5.2, a lot of my apps could not open and didnt have icons nor the right name. I had made a nandroid backup right before this (while on 3.4.6) so i restored with that but my apps are still messed up.
My question is, do i have to reformat my sd card each time i update to a new rom? if not how do i make it so it doesnt screw up like that?

I don't reformat, but I always clear out my ext2/ext3 partition on the SD card when switching between ROMs. Too many problems happen if you don't.

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HERO gone nutso... (NANDROID useless?)

I'm kinda pissed, I'm running Modaco 1.1 but already had WaveSecure when I installed the rom. I tried to remove WaveSecure via App Manager and after, my phone started showing no wireless connection so I soft reset.
On restart, I had about 20 Force Closes, and still no signal. Time for Nandroid Restore right? Wrong...
Did a Nandroid Restore, and the same thing happened. Still getting Force Closes, still no wireless signal. Apps that weren't on my phone at the time of the Nandroid Backup, are still on. So what is Nandroid actually for, because I thought it was a complete copy of your phone, and would return it to the time I made the backup?
I guess my only option now is to completely wipe my phone and start over....?
So I am currently working on integrating apps2sd in to my rom (fresh rom) because users who currently have apps2sd on their phones via modaco are receiving errors during install.
I have been working with apps2sd and getting it in my rom for 8 hours now and personally I have come to dislike it. It is a wonderful amazing idea and will be great once it's supported by google or HTC.
But think of it this way... apps2sd stores all apps on your SD card. nandroid doesn't backup your sd card or do anything with it. We have all come to rely on nandroid but if you need to restore because an app you installed broke something and that app is installed on your sd... nandroid isn't going to remove it.
Something to think about before everyone starts using apps2sd...
flipzmode said:
We have all come to rely on nandroid but if you need to restore because an app you installed broke something and that app is installed on your sd... nandroid isn't going to remove it.
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I thought about this, but I thought that just because the app is installed on the SD card, doesn't mean the info to find it on the SD is on the phone.
But, if this is the problem, just make a backup of your SD at the same time as each Nandroid, and you can revert each time together.
Just realized... maybe just wipe the ext portion of the SD card, where all the app2sd is, and it will rewrite itself on reboot, just like when installed the rom? or is it the rom that writes the apps over to sd?
jirafabo said:
Just realized... maybe just wipe the ext portion of the SD card, where all the app2sd is, and it will rewrite itself on reboot, just like when installed the rom? or is it the rom that writes the apps over to sd?
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What I do is I nandroid restore to the backup I made of the stock rom, then go into the recovery, wipe the ext partition, then install what custom rom I want.
I did a clean/wipe from the recovery image, and it left the modaco rom on there. Thought this would've returned the phone to the original rom, but guess not.
Sounds like your ext2 partition got hosed. Effectively your /data/app got wiped. You need to replace them somehow. Downloading and installing the apps from the market might be worth a shot, that might save your data and stuff.

using nandroid to switch between RAV/Cyanogenmod?

I have an SD card with 3 partitions: fat32(7gB)/ext4(488mB)/swap(91mB). not sure what order I created them in, and not sure if that matters.
when I do a nandroid backup, is it also backing up my ext4 partition where my apps2sd apps are kept? I want to be able to use nandroid to swap between many different ROMS, but still have all my settings saved per ROM. And hopefully apps as well, whether it be by the nandroid restore or (and im not even sure if it works this next way im describing) by different ROMS being able to see the apps in apps2sd and use them?
Like I said, Im not sure how apps storage/location actually works. If I install apps on the sd card, and I put an upgraded or even a different custom ROM on, does the system see the apps on the new ROM? Or are we also supposed to wipe ext partitions as well?
Can someone let me know what "wiping" data and/or cache actually does? IS there a basic phone architecture doc I can read to see what data / cache actually is used for?
Wiping refers to the internal memory of the device. Not the SD.
By wiping you remove all settings and software installed on the device itself.
If you boot after a wipe, you will have to re-enter your google account information and wait for the sync to complete.
If you have apps2sd, (most of) your apps will be on the ext partition on your SD card. Those don't get deleted when you wipe. If you have go from 1 apps2sd capable rom to another, your apps will still be there. And the apps that store settings on the SD will have their settings saved too (only one I know of is gem-miner).
try bart
opticalc said:
I want to be able to use nandroid to swap between many different ROMS, but still have all my settings saved per ROM.
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I recommend using a more complete back-up and restore tool like BART or Switchrom. Do a search for BART on the Dream Development forum and you'll find everything you need. It's built in to the latest RA recovery images as well and works great.

Can I remove my secondary partition???

Ok, first off, I'm new to this, I've only had my android for about 1 1/2 months. I've read a million threads and posts to absorb information so I don't have to ask stupid questions like this. However, I've searched and tried several different methods, and none have worked. I apologize in advance because I'm sure the information is already somewhere in this forum, but I can't seem to find the specific information for my phone, Mt3G.
The problem I'm having is that last week I decided to partition my my sdcard so I could see how apps2sd worked. After some trial and error, I got it to work.
1. 64 mb swap
2. 512 mb ext
3 remainder on FAT32
After a couple of days, I started notices lags and also issues such as not being able to upload images to facebook, trouble downloading apps from the market, not being able to receive MMS messages or sending them, etc. Overall, it seems like partitions are causing my phone to lag, run slow and other small glitches, so I would like to remove all the partitions, format the sdcard, and just have one single FAT32 partition, as if it were stock. I no longer want apps2sd.
I've tried 'droid explorer', I've followed the cyanogen tutorial on how to uninstall apps2sd via terminal emulator, I've tried wiping, formatting, everything, nothing works. Every time I reboot my phone, the secondary partition still remains, although it says total space unavailable now, but its still there, and according to droid explorer, the apps are still there. I just want to get rid of everything because as of right now, most of my downloaded app icons don't appear, but when I go to download the apps at the market, they say they are already installed. I dont know, I'm about to just throw my phone at the wall.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. By the way, here is my current setup.
Phone: MT3G
ROM: Cyanogen 4.2.11.1 + Cyanogen recovery 1.4
Instead of Cyanogen's recovery, install Amon_RA's 1.5.2G
It will let you format your SD back to Fat32, or you can repartition it the the three, with just the click of a trackball.
In doing so, you will more than likely have to reflash the rom due to you losing all your apps and whatnot that's also on the ext partition, since you will be deleting it.
Backup all your stuff onto your computer first, as you will lose it all when it wipes the slate clean.
@tazz, hey, thanks for your reply. So let me elaborate, when I originally partitioned my card I had amon_ra on my phone. When I started noticing problems, I went back into recovery to see if there was any way to delete or repartition back to a single FAT32, but I couldn't find anything. I stated to back track and flashed CM recovery back on my phone, wiped, reflashed ROM, etc. Nothing...in fact, it caused even more force closes and still, my apps didn't appear in the app drawer, although according to market place and android explorer, they were installed.
Anyway, I took your advice, reflashed amon_ra recovery back on my phone, but I still do not see an option to partition with a single FAT32. All I'm seeing is the option to repartion the SD card, then it gives me the option to pick swap size, ext size, then the remainder on the fat32. Do I just set the swap and ext to 0? Also, do I wipe at all in this process?
yeah just put it to zero. i was thinking about his 1.2.3.
if you put them to zero, it should work out the same either way.
Hmmm....I must be doing something wrong. Went into recovery, selected 'partition sd', set swap to '0', set ext to '0', remainder to FAT32, flashed ROM, system reboot. Secondary partition still appears when I go into the sd storage under settings. Also, android explorer still showing apps in data folder, and marketplace still shows apps such as astro file manager still installed. I'm lost.
Update: Tazz, I followed your instructions, reflashed ROM, rebooted. Secondary partion still appeared. However, I noticed that the option for 'unmounting sdcard' was available. So, I unmounted and physically removed my sdcard to see if this was causing the problem or if it was something internal. After removing sdcard, I still had my applications showing that they were installed, but not showing in app drawer. I decided to try flashing an older CM ROM, just to see what happens. It worked! After flashing older ROM verision, I reflashed newer version and all my problems were solves.
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for helping me get rid of my partitions.

[Q] Quick way to (re)install multiple apps

Is there a quick way to (re)install all my apps after changing ROMs?
Been using Pongster's awesome NAND HyperDroid build since v5 and have been upgrading along the way by reinstalling the data section from my CWM backup. Recently on v11 I started having a few glitches and upgrading to v12 only made matters much worse. I just want to start a fresh on v12, but is there a way quicker than writing down all my apps then selecting each from the market. Have looked in Android Market on using desktop PC and it only lists 11 apps. Thanks.
SheenaIsAPunkRocker said:
Is there a quick way to (re)install all my apps after changing ROMs?
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I believe Titanium Backup Pro is the most popular choice, it can restore all your apps and data automatically, plus there's an option to repair missing market links.
That rom uses an ext partition, so as well as restoring the data partition after a fresh flash, if you also restore the sd-ext partition (same method), all your installed apps will be restored, complete with all their settings still in place, since you are restoring data too.
D'oh, and double d'oh. Thanks for the tips. I backed everything up using Titanium backup. Being running HyperDroid without an EXT partition so while I was in the process of installing v12 again, I thought I'd use the handy partition function in ClockworkMod. However, what it fails to mention is in re-partition my SD Card for me it would handily wipe everything Looks like I'm hosed now anyway!
nooOO!, hah, oh well, it happens, and theres no better learning curve than seeing mistakes in action.
I literally had the SD card in my desktop to copy everything on it, but before I did, I put the SD back into the phone to do something else ... never got around to doing that copy. At least phone numbers are backed up on Google (I hope!), but I guess I'll have to start again on Tower Raiders 2, that's the real loss!!
since you are at a fresh start, you COULD try reinstalling all the apps, and THEN restore the data partition, which (unless im wrong) holds settings? ,,though i know some stuff uses folders on the fat32 part of the sd card too, , so may not work, , worth a try if you're in an investigative frame of mind.

[Q] Memory & Cache cleaning in SD Query

I have a big question about clearing out my SD with unused application. Here is the scenario. I switch ROM from Floyo.025 to Froyobread 0.12. After flashing and wiping all data, i noticed that the apps i used before in my Froyo is still in my SD card. My questions are, how can i removed all those files from my SDcard? Should i reformat the SD Card or should i have to re install all that apps from my Floyo to make it work in Froyobread? If i reinstall apps and put it in my SD will it just overwrite the previous data or will it add a new folder again? I really dont know what to do to free space on my SD. I used Titanium backup to restore the apps but it just causes instability in my new Froyobread. I also try to backup the Floyo with xrecovery before i switched to FloyoBread but its not the same when i tried to Restore it, some apps are not functioning anymore. I want to delete all the unused apps and its data in my SD and start a new clean installation again.
A lil help guys. Thanks much. xoxo
last time i flashed a new rom i had the same issue but i just formatted the sd (i did it like in an automated way didnt think any other option as i thought its normal)
anyway the point is that i didnt encounter any problem after this
Hmm i was also thinking that, but i was so uneasy since there is some files i would like to be left in my sd like my openvpn settings, frameworks that should remains in SD root, my media's such as mp3's and images. Transfering it all over again is not a good idea to me since they are big files. I just wanted to removed those application that was installed in my last ROM or maybe if confirmed that if i reinstalled them they will just overwrite my previous datas of that specific apps in my SD.

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