i've been seeing that "Ext4 is required" for newer ROMs, but i was wondering what that actually means with respect to Android...i understand that it's a filesystem. thanks and sorry for the ignorance.
From my understanding it's kind of like how a hard drive is formatted. In this case we used to have rfs and thanks to the good folks here we now have the now becoming standard ext4 which is supposed to be a bit speedier on the I/O I believe.
I think it also supports larger file sizes.
great...thanks for the info.
rockrerun said:
I think it also supports larger file sizes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think that would matter though. It's the SD card that is in FAT32 that would hold the over 4gb file. The phone will play it in any case. Now...if you formatted the SD to ext4 then I suppose this would be true. I don't know if the new file ext4 was needed to "read" an ext4 sd card or not though. I could simply format my sd to ext4 (since I'm still on RFS for now) and check out if an over 4gb video file would play...or be seen at all.
Given that /system and a few other partitions are ext4 already, I know kernel support is built it. I'm guessing I'd need to root the device and edit the script that mounts/unmounts the microSD card. Anyone else know an easier way to do it? Apparently noone who manufactures tablets needs files over 4GB...Idiots.
I may give this a try today to see if I can figure out an easy way to do it. Although, I really need TrueCrypt support since most of my external drives are truecrypt containers. :-(
I suppose with root access it'd be a simple matter of mount -t ext4 /dev/block/whateversdcards /mnt/sdcard
I've still yet to root my device to test it though.
Did you ever give this a try?
It would be even cooler if we could convert the internal sdcard to ext4. It seems to be FAT32 as well. Then we could do a symlink under sdcard to the micro.
Is there NTFS support for the LG GT540? I've tried it by formatting my SD card in the NTFS file system but my phone says that it has an unsupported file system. Is there any way to enable NTFS support?
why would you even need that? for big files, i would imagine, but imo ntfs is probably the worst choice - it's dead slow, and i don't expect it to work. i would go for a bigger sd-ext partition, though how you can upload files to that is beyond me. sorry i didn't answer your question, just my two cents...
Sent from my GT540
Ext4 / NTFS MicroSd & Usb Mounting -v2.3 (fat32 UMS) MTP/UMS Switching/ CM9/10 info
Hi,
i have developed an App, EzyMount - that pretty much takes care of mounting & utilising ext4 / ntfs storage properly. So no need to be limited to 4gb file size restrictions anymore !!
Updated info for CM9 / CM10 builds
****************************************************************
It seems that CM9 /CM10 changes the default mount point for external sdcards
For ntfs partition only sdcard
Change the default mount point to: /storage/sdcard1
Then try mounting here it should work ok and be picked up automatically by other Apps as well.
If you have two partitions:
1st Partition would be vfat then this should get auto mounted to /storage/sdcard1
2nd Partition (ntfs) : change the mount point to: /storage/sdcard0/extStorages1
Then try mounting here it should be ok
*****************************************************************
Version 2.3 Update
Universal Mass Storage Mode support for 7.7 tabs also most other devices.
Auto MTP/UMS Switching
When you select either MTP Mode or UMS Mode, the App will automatically switch your device into these respective USB transfer method.
It is also possible to use UMS mode for any external MicroSd card, fat32, Ext4 or NTFS formatted.
For ext4 / ntfs this is taken care of by the App
For fat32 external sd cards (these are mounted automatically by Android)
Create a new Mount Point which is the folder location of your external MicroSd card.
For example, on Galaxy 7.7 devices - this will be /mnt/sdcard/extStorages/SdCard.
For Galaxy S3 devices - this will be /mnt/extSdCard
For other devices this is typically, /mnt/sdcard/external_sd
In the partition setting put: /dev/block/mmcblk1p1
Once you have created this mount point, just select "UMS Mode".
After you have finished copying files to or from your PC, it is important to "safely eject your usb device from your PC".
Important too - Finally, disable "UMS Mode" by it pressing again.
You can switch back to MTP by selcting "MTP Mode".
(If MTP does not become active straight away (Android being slow too pick up the change)- you may need to Go to : Settings > Storage > USB PC connection & toggle between Media Device (MTP) & Camera PTP. So Android re-starts MTP. However, it should work without this step)
*****************************************************************
Version 2.1 update
1) New Sliding UI.
2) Ability to mount up to 10 devices / partitions.
Just create a new Mount Point for each device / partition you need to mount.
To create a new Mount Point:
Just slide the UI to the "mount another drive or partition". Then just use select a mount option as per usual to create a new mount point and mount at the same time. Or you can press the "microsd info" "usb drive info" to create a new Mount Point.
3) Works with ICS update
Just ignore "ICS warning messages" - when it comes to ntfs usb devices.
*****************************************************************
Version 1.7 update
1) Quite a few new features added:
NTFS / Ext4 MTP Modes - this allows you to easily switch between "normal mode" and MTP mode.
MTP mode is used for transferring files to PC.
Usage Example:
Personally, I have a 32 gb sd card
the First partion on it is an exFat 4 gb partition. This is picked up the tab and mounted as normal to the location of /mnt/sdcard/extStorages/SdCard
I can use this for my cwm backups etc, other files etc - system running as normal.
This 4gb partition will show up in windows via MTP.
The problem:
I also have a 28GB Ext4 second partition on the Card , this could be an NTFS partition too.
I want this too show up in windows so I can transfer (br rips etc) but it wont as the my first fat32 partiion is shown up instead.
By using NTFS MTP Mode or Ext4 MTP Mode - the App will automatically "switch" the partitions so the larger NTFS or EXT4 mode shows up in windows.
Once done then you can disable NTFS / EXT4 MTP MODE and the device will go back to normal as it were.
(the MTP folder location is set to work already for 7.7 devices and similiar. For other devices this needs to be adjusted. It is normally the default folder loaction of where the external SD card is mounted by the phone.)
UMS Mode - universal mass storage mode.
Although the 7.7 does not have ums mode (MTP is being standardised on ics devices and above) but there a lot of devices than can only use ums mode for transferring file to PC.
I have added a ums mode. Which basically makes your micro sd partitions available on pc. (suitable for non MTP devices)
You do not need to "turn on usb mass storage mode" just select "ums mode" from the APP and it will do it for you.
Also - in windows ext4 partitions are not recognised but ntfs one are off course. In linux both should be available. (one of the benefits of MTP)
Comaptibility Mode
Is for those users whose mounting of micro sd cards might fail for some reason. This mode tries a bit more thorough to mount your micro sd drives.
Better Error Messages
I have added a lot of better error messages that the de facto "error mounting " message
It should provide the reason why things might not be mounting.
I hope this helps some with issues and pm if you have any other issues or things you think might be useful to add.
( I will get round to updating the website with the added features soon)
*****************************************************************
version update 1.6
1) Fixed slight issue with Auto Ext4 permission handling.
2) Also changed the default mount folders of NTFS or Ext4 microsd card to the /sdcard/extStorages/SdCard
This should mean now MTP will see the card in windows properly and you can access them as you would normally. (I think this has caused some confusion - i had left this generic for other users on different devices)
(This means for other devices you should specify the folder in the "location" settings which is normally seen by windows MTP - i.e when you use a fat32 microsd)
I hope this has resolved some issues people might have been having.
version update 1.5
1) Modified labelling on some settings to make it clearer.
2) Mounting usb devices has been slightly tweaked to care of multiple partitions.
version update 1.4
Following on from your recommendations.
1) Mounting MicroSd Ext4 or Ntfs now automatically takes care of you partitions so you do not need to specify them.
This should make it much simpler to mount your microsd cards.
2) Usb Mounting widget should be compatible for all home screen launchers. (touchwiz, adwlauncher etc.)
************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
please remember to unmount usb / microsd devices before ejecting - For usb devices you use the 1-click usb mount/umnount home screen widget for this or from within the App
************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
There have been a few issues regarding using external Usb formatted Ntfs or Ntfs microsd drives. Also I wanted to use an internal micro sd Ext4 partition for large movies (1080p hi-def/bluray etc) or just keep them on an external Ext4 usb disk. Having looked at other solutions, there didn't seem like one that just "worked" or the way I wanted it to do so.
Using Ext4 over Ntfs is native to linux/android and it consumes less cpu than using ntfs. But you cant simply mount an ext4 device and start using it like a regular file system as the file permission are not properly created by Android. I also still needed to have Ntfs read/write support on occassions.
You can use any cheap otg usb cable found on ebay etc. (The same cables as used for 10" galaxy tab devices for example).
As I used the 7.7 as one of my development device so it is pretty suited for our tabs & similiar tablets i.e 7.0+ etc, but is more than generic enough to work on other devices.
The App provides all the necessary features and customization options so you don't need to worry about file formats, file size limitations or file permissions again !!
There are more tips on how to best use the app on my website. If you have any comments good or bad please let me know so I can improve the App.
Cheers.
Need help in mounting microSD as Mass Storage
I don't understand Settings Guide on your website. I downloaded your app but it isn't working for me and I get Partition error every time I try to mount. What should be my partition and what should be the location? I simply want to mount my NTFS microSD card as mass storage which is usually at /extstorages/SDcard/. I did root my device last night and I also installed busybox v1.19 few minutes ago. What am I doing wrong?
Same here, says "Check your partitions". Why do *I* have to worry about partitions? Can't it just work?
Using rooted Tab 7.7.
Asad_Khan said:
I don't understand Settings Guide on your website. I downloaded your app but it isn't working for me and I get Partition error every time I try to mount. What should be my partition and what should be the location? I simply want to mount my NTFS microSD card as mass storage which is usually at /extstorages/SDcard/. I did root my device last night and I also installed busybox v1.19 few minutes ago. What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
belyj said:
Same here, says "Check your partitions". Why do *I* have to worry about partitions? Can't it just work?
Using rooted Tab 7.7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi guys,
The default partition of your microsd card is typically:
/dev/block/mmcblk1p1
1) If you have only one partition - so you will put the following in the partition setting:
So for example an NTFS only formated microsd card :
/dev/block/mmcblk1p1
And the same would go for an Ext4 formatted only card:
/dev/block/mmcblk1p1
2) If you have two partitions then typically you will have:
/dev/block/mmcblk1p1
/dev/block/mmcblk1p2
And so on ..
(you can always check for these from a terminal/adb shell)
As these partitions are same for your microsd, you can set them once and forget them about afterwards. I don't try automatically choose these partitions for you and this depends on your partitioning scheme more than anything.
For Usb devices the App will automatically try mounting your usb partitions as these are likely to change more often then not.
Typically, I would recommend the following:
If you have a large 32gb / 64 gb microsd card
Create The first partition as fat32 - maybe 4gb.
This partition will be /dev/block/mmcblk1p1
The tab will automatically mount this first partition & you can use things like cwm recovery for backup as normal.
(Also you wont see an unsupported file system icon in your status bar.)
Then create a second large partition (ext4 or ntfs) :
This partition will be /dev/block/mmcblk1p2
So set this as your Ntfs partition or ext4 partition.
Once you can mount you microsd ok - then you can set it to automount boot.
So need to mess with the settings after that.
Hope this helps and please let me know.
Cheers.
Still MTP connection
Thank you for your explanation. I've can now mount/unmount SD card but when I connect it computer it starts MTP connection and still shows under my computer as a portable device rather than a Mass Storage. Also if I connect it to my computer first it would still ask me to restart the MTP connect when I click mount SDcard and again it shows as a portable device. Changing debugging settings won't help either.
Partition /dev/block/mmcblk1p1
Location /mnt/sdcard/extStorages/SdCard
Asad_Khan said:
Thank you for your explanation. I've can now mount/unmount SD card but when I connect it computer it starts MTP connection and still shows under my computer as a portable device rather than a Mass Storage. Also if I connect it to my computer first it would still ask me to restart the MTP connect when I click mount SDcard and again it shows as a portable device. Changing debugging settings won't help either.
Partition /dev/block/mmcblk1p1
Location /mnt/sdcard/extStorages/SdCard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried this. If you click on the "portable device" in windows it shows up as tablet. You can copy files to where you mounted the sd card.
It should work fine.
For me I leave set pretty much as default. As I have the first partition on my sdcard as an exfat / fat32. Then I have an ext4 or Ntfs Partition. This way you tab will behave exactly as normal. But The App should be fine regardless of whatever partitions you have.
Please try this and let me know.
(Also I will look to be adding an auto mounting microsd feature in the next few updates if there is some demand for this. Plus any other features people might suggest in the meanwhile )
Cheers.
To those who have installed EzyMount,
I have updated the microsd mounting feature so it should automatically mount the correct partition for you.
You dont have to manually change the partition settings anymore.
Having said that if there is a particular partition on your microsd you want to mount, then put that in the settings. The app will first try to mount that partition, then try to mount the other partitions if the first mount was not successful.
Also i would suggest setting the mount point folder (location option in settings) to /sdcard/SOME_FOLDER
& not /ext/extStorages/SdCard. which is where the tab mount would mount the microsd card.
Let me know how it goes with the update.
Hope this helps.
cheers.
Hi buddy.
I am totally confused as to how this works.
I went through the info at your website, but I still cannot get this to work.
I have tried only USB flash memory with an OTG USB adapter, both EXT4 and NTFS. I just get an error that says: Error Mounting USB Drive. I can tell that it seems to try, because the activity LED on the drive will flash when I click Mount.
I am using a Samsung Note (i717), so I am not sure if that is the problem. I am only rooted, but the kernel and software is stock 2.3. The phone has both internal memory (called USB Storage by the system) and an sd card; could the app be confused by the various memory locations?
I don't have a spare microsd to format as NTFS, otherwise I would try that.
Any ideas on what I should try? I am a little confused by the settings... they seem to be in many locations, so I am not sure what things to change.
Thanks!
G8351427 said:
Hi buddy.
I am totally confused as to how this works.
I went through the info at your website, but I still cannot get this to work.
I have tried only USB flash memory with an OTG USB adapter, both EXT4 and NTFS. I just get an error that says: Error Mounting USB Drive. I can tell that it seems to try, because the activity LED on the drive will flash when I click Mount.
I am using a Samsung Note (i717), so I am not sure if that is the problem. I am only rooted, but the kernel and software is stock 2.3. The phone has both internal memory (called USB Storage by the system) and an sd card; could the app be confused by the various memory locations?
I don't have a spare microsd to format as NTFS, otherwise I would try that.
Any ideas on what I should try? I am a little confused by the settings... they seem to be in many locations, so I am not sure what things to change.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I have slightly updated the labelling in the App so should a bit less confusing
You shouldn't really need to change anything.
Partition - refers to the actual "physical" location of your drive as sen by the Androis OS / kernel but this is taken care of automatically so you dont need to specify this. Although you can still specify a partition and that will be mounted.
(You can see the list of your partitions by doing ls /dev/block/* for a command prompt for example)
Location - is where your microsd or usb device will be mounted. Basically the folder loaction on your device where you can see its files / folder contents etc.
The other option refer to the various features - such as auto mounting at boot, auto fixing ext4 permissions, auto usb mounting. If you dont need them you can disable them.
So hopefully we can narrow down the issue.
Do you have busybox,superuser installed ok?
I am not sure what the actual "Usb Storage" on the note is. Maybe there is a variation in the labelling but it should be resolvable.
If you can get me the output from your device from an adb shell or connectbot for example of the following commands:
# mount
and
# df -h
These should help me figure out what might be going on.
(i'll see If i can get my hands on a galaxy note - or have a look at some of the dev stuff in the meanwhile)
Cheers.
Hi. I also heve this problem with Galaxy Note (unable to mount USB drive with one NTFS partition).
Please describe how can i help you to figure out the issue step by step.
Thenks.
-=galex=- said:
Hi. I also heve this problem with Galaxy Note (unable to mount USB drive with one NTFS partition).
Please describe how can i help you to figure out the issue step by step.
Thenks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problems - been busy with some other work.
So far the App has been installed on the note more tham any other device so seems to be working for some.
A lot of problems are being caused by some users not unmounting the usb device after mounting it for the first time. Which confuses things. I will be releasing an update that takes care of this and possibly a self diagnostics checker that should help in identifying some potential problems.
Also android / linux can be somewhat particular about ntfs so best run a drive check in windows first. Or even better can you try another newly formatted ntfs usb device and see if that works.
I will pm you once i get the chance.
Thanks.
-=galex=- said:
Hi. I also heve this problem with Galaxy Note (unable to mount USB drive with one NTFS partition).
Please describe how can i help you to figure out the issue step by step.
Thenks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have sent you a pm. Also i have been looking at some of the note dev threads so should have a solution for you I think.
Cheers.
Hi All,
Updated the App to version 1.7.
Check the first post.
Cheers.
This is working great for my 64GB microsd as NTFS. The main problem i have (rather an annoyance) is there is now a constant notification about a "Blank SD card" in the notifications shade.
Does anyone know how to supress this, as it is very annoying to keep seeing it.
rEVOLVE said:
This is working great for my 64GB microsd as NTFS. The main problem i have (rather an annoyance) is there is now a constant notification about a "Blank SD card" in the notifications shade.
Does anyone know how to supress this, as it is very annoying to keep seeing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could use the solution ezynow mentions in the first post. Create a small fat32 partition at the start of the SD card, this will also be accessible by things like recovery. Then use the rest of the card as NTFS.
I should apologize for not seeing that tip in the OP. I'll have to wait till i've got some time to repartition the card - any suggestions of what size to make the small one?
Only other problem I see is that the "mount at boot" option doesn't seem to work and I still have to go to the app to enable this.
Trouble with Ext4 MTP
I'm using a 32GB external sd card with a very small 8MB fat32 partition followed by an ext4 partition using the remainder of sdcard. Using Ezymount 1.9, I have been able to mount/bootmount my ext4 partition nicely. Where I'm still struggling is to get the ext4 partition to be accessible when the phone is USB attached to my Linux pc. When the USB cable is attached, I see the phone's internal sd and fat32 partition. When the EXT4 MTP option is enabled, still the fat32 partition is mounted on my pc. I've experimented with UMS and Compatibility modes, but the behavior remains the same.
On my SGS2, the default mount location for the fat32 partition is /mnt/sdcard/external_sd. I created /mnt/sdcard/external_sd_ext4. My external sdcard appears as /dev/block/cyasblkdevblk0, with the fat32 partition as p1 and ext4 as p2. I've configured Ezymount for ext4 with /dev/block/cyasblkdevblk0p2 with a location of /mnt/sdcard/external_sd_ext4. I've tried a number of points for the MTP location, but the resulting behavior remains the same.
Can you help me to get the ext4 partition accessible from my pc when attached via USB?
Thanks
GalaxyQuest99 said:
I'm using a 32GB external sd card with a very small 8MB fat32 partition followed by an ext4 partition using the remainder of sdcard. Using Ezymount 1.9, I have been able to mount/bootmount my ext4 partition nicely. Where I'm still struggling is to get the ext4 partition to be accessible when the phone is USB attached to my Linux pc. When the USB cable is attached, I see the phone's internal sd and fat32 partition. When the EXT4 MTP option is enabled, still the fat32 partition is mounted on my pc. I've experimented with UMS and Compatibility modes, but the behavior remains the same.
On my SGS2, the default mount location for the fat32 partition is /mnt/sdcard/external_sd. I created /mnt/sdcard/external_sd_ext4. My external sdcard appears as /dev/block/cyasblkdevblk0, with the fat32 partition as p1 and ext4 as p2. I've configured Ezymount for ext4 with /dev/block/cyasblkdevblk0p2 with a location of /mnt/sdcard/external_sd_ext4. I've tried a number of points for the MTP location, but the resulting behavior remains the same.
Can you help me to get the ext4 partition accessible from my pc when attached via USB?
J
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi GalaxyQuest99,
Could you please run the diagnostics report and send it to me. Hopefully, it is a configuration issue.
What phone/tablet are you using & Also what linux os are you running so i can repoduce the issue.
I am also working on some major new features - so version 2.0 is in the works
Thanks.
Diagnostic?
ezynow said:
Hi GalaxyQuest99,
Could you please run the diagnostics report and send it to me. Hopefully, it is a configuration issue.
What phone/tablet are you using & Also what linux os are you running so i can repoduce the issue.
I am also working on some major new features - so version 2.0 is in the works
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2. I use Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. I ran the diagnostics, but don't where to find the report.
Thanks
GalaxyQuest99 said:
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2. I use Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. I ran the diagnostics, but don't where to find the report.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
There should be a report generated under /sdcard/ezymount_test.txt.
Could you email it to [email protected].
If there isnt a report then email me at this address too so i can you send you an updated version of the app if needed.
Will setup ubuntu and test this also.
Cheers.
I've an I9505 with AOSP MIUI and ChronicKernel, and I have just bought a new 16GB Sandisk Ultra HCI (1) MicroSD.
Do you suggest to format it with an EXT4 filesystem or the default FAT32?
I've done some speed test, and the writing speed of 1GB file seems the same.
I don't usually need to store single files bigger than 2GB.
I also do not need to write on it from Windows. I can in any case safety read EXT4 on Windows with many apps.
I only seen that with the EXT4 I have 1GB less of free space, caused maybe by the SU allocated space. Tune2FS -m 0 seems don't work here.
The recovery seems to work on EXT4 well.
Is EXT4 much more safe, affrodable, fast and modern to justificate the upgrade?
Are there some more good reason to chose EXT4 over the very diffuse Fat32?
The only complains regards free space and writing from Windows. Seems possible just by few software, like Ext2Fsd-0.51, but it's still not possible to erase android user created files. I have in any case few of this needs.
Thank you in advance for your kind reply.
I have not seen significant difference in performance between filesystems.
However, I do need (from time to time) to have files bigger than 2GB on my SD card, since I use it as external disc too... so I go by inertia with NTFS.
You WILL need sooner or later > 2GB file on your SD... So, in your case, EXT4...
Thank you Bodisson.
I'm still looking a way to freeup the SU allocated space, wich is so hight. 1GB of loss space on a 16GB card!!!
Bodisson said:
You WILL need sooner or later > 2GB file on your SD... So, in your case, EXT4...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, Fat32 has support for files up to 4GB. So only if you need files bigger than THAT you should change filesystem.
If you don't: simply stick with Fat32 as it is way way WAY more compatible with every phone, camera, computer, whatever.
Pfeffernuss said:
No, Fat32 has support for files up to 4GB. So only if you need files bigger than THAT you should change filesystem.
If you don't: simply stick with Fat32 as it is way way WAY more compatible with every phone, camera, computer, whatever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you Pfeffernuss. I did a mistake. Fat32 and < 4GB file dimension, right!
In any case I would sacrifice compatibility but reliability. Fat32 is an old filesystem, and not very affrodable in case of OS crash. File recovery is also not at best. Speed for big files are the same, I admit. But the speed for small file access is much more slow.
I also use FTP and SCP for file tranfer.
I do not like to unmount MicroSD inside a full working OS to let it Windows directly compatibile. And also the internal memory is in any case Windows non accessibile.
Both can use MTP onthefly.
I like NTFS for Windows based usage. It's really much more fast and secure than Fat32.
I want to do the same in a Linux environment.
I'm finally oriented to an EXT4 ...
In any case thanks for your reply.