[Gparted] Nook Simple Touch resize partitions non-destructive - Nook Touch General

!! Important: Make a backup of your Nook device first !!
Resize partitions
1. Download Gparted LiveCD
2. Extract onto FAT / FAT32 USB memory stick or burn to CD-ROM
3. If on a USB memory stick, run \utils\win32\makeboot.bat from the memory stick.
Do NOT run makeboot from a hard disk!
4. Boot computer from USB device into Gparted
5. Connect your Nook running Noogie of a Micro USB card (this will make the partitions visible to Gparted).
6. Resize the last partition (nr 8) labelled "data" (= Barnes & Nobles content)
Make sure to move the partition to the far right.
7. Move the next-to-last partition (nr 7) labelled "cache" without resizing it.
8. Extend the next-to-next-to-last partition (nr 6) labelled "nook" (Side loaded content) to fill the gap.
9. Remove USB cord, Micro USB card and boot your Nook.
10. In Settings you can inspect the amount of storage space.
I received errors when the partitions were about to be moved on the disk.
I changed the partitioning resize to field where it says "Align to:" from "MiB" to "Cylinder". After a 2nd attempt and doing each partition individually all worked out well.

For those only with Windows, download Gparted LiveCD iso image and use virtualbox to boot from it. It still worked well.
Edit: I successfully repartitioned two of my Nook Simple Touch using the method above + virtualbox + Gparted LiveCD iso.
Surprisingly, the size of partitions in my two NST were slightly different, suggesting that the physical size and location of partitions don't matter as long as their order and type in the partition table are as expected and the size is big enough to hold files there. I resized and moved the last three partitions as I wanted several times and made sure they work well.
Factory reset, upgrade to 1.2.1 (this seems to require the cache partition to be big enough to hold the firmware update file: something like 128MB worked for me), rooting all worked well with resized partitions. I ended up shrinking the cache partition down to 32MB and the data partition to 128MB, reserving 1.11GB for the side-loaded contents. I'm sure the system partition can also be shrunken, but I didn't go that far.

Why a live cd? Does installing gparted to whatever linux flavor you're using not work?

I don't use linux on my PC... only on hacked router & nas.
Goggles2114 said:
Why a live cd? Does installing gparted to whatever linux flavor you're using not work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

So dump Noogie on a microsd card run noogie and while noogie's running plug nook into pc? Do you just plutg it in and it does everything auto, or does something in noogie need to be run? Does this work on a nook touch glow?
Sorry to sound so dense but rooted using NookManager.
Edit more to the point it's throwing up an error when trying to move sdb8 around. It shrank fine just won't move. Not sure why. Not getting any useful error messages. Just 'can't have overlapping partitions.'
Odd. I was able to move it twice and get it to behave. Yet do the same n one move and Nothing. Apologies for the rinning Log just. Meh. The rest of the partitions resized in one step. sdb8 was the one that needed two steps.
Aaaand Success. Showing up as having 913MB free as opposed to like 212 or whatever.
Edit: now I'm getting a constant 'low space' warning from nook (understandable.) And installing apps is hit/miss on if they'll actually install. Keeps claiming space issues.
Query. Do apps install to the BnN partition or where?

Good to hear another success story. In my case I squeezed all the way to 1.45GB for the side-loaded contents. boot/rom/system/cache/data partitions are shrunken, and factory partition is busted. I had to use fdisk instead of GPartED to completely recreate the partition table, though.
I think, apps are installed to the data partition (the 8th one) under /data/app. Before being installed it's downloaded to cache partition (the 7th one). In my case I gave 16M for cache and 128M for data. If you are low on the data partition and have some space left on the system partition, you can move apps from /data/app to /system/app.
Goggles2114 said:
So dump Noogie on a microsd card run noogie and while noogie's running plug nook into pc? Do you just plutg it in and it does everything auto, or does something in noogie need to be run? Does this work on a nook touch glow?
Sorry to sound so dense but rooted using NookManager.
Edit more to the point it's throwing up an error when trying to move sdb8 around. It shrank fine just won't move. Not sure why. Not getting any useful error messages. Just 'can't have overlapping partitions.'
Odd. I was able to move it twice and get it to behave. Yet do the same n one move and Nothing. Apologies for the rinning Log just. Meh. The rest of the partitions resized in one step. sdb8 was the one that needed two steps.
Aaaand Success. Showing up as having 913MB free as opposed to like 212 or whatever.
Edit: now I'm getting a constant 'low space' warning from nook (understandable.) And installing apps is hit/miss on if they'll actually install. Keeps claiming space issues.
Query. Do apps install to the BnN partition or where?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

What's the point of doing all this?
You gave a list of instructions, but not the goal they achieve.

L_R_N said:
What's the point of doing all this?
You gave a list of instructions, but not the goal they achieve.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which post are you referring to?

Troute said:
Which post are you referring to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.c0.'s original post.

His instructions describe how to use gparted to resize the partitions on the NST to make full use of the memory available after you have rooted it. I've used gparted before so maybe they were clearer to me than to others but the thread title was the main clue.

Troute said:
His instructions describe how to use gparted to resize the partitions on the NST to make full use of the memory available after you have rooted it. I've used gparted before so maybe they were clearer to me than to others but the thread title was the main clue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I kind of thought that Nook's internal 2GB flash is already sanely formatted (i.e. most space is dedicated to the partition that is mounted at /media). If that is not the case, then that should be noted in the first post. It would also be cool if it said exactly how much space each partition has (I think i saw these partitions back when i've used Noogie to make initial backup of my device, but i don't remember the details), and how much space you would gain, and on which partition (and where it is mounted).

L_R_N said:
I kind of thought that Nook's internal 2GB flash is already sanely formatted (i.e. most space is dedicated to the partition that is mounted at /media). If that is not the case, then that should be noted in the first post. It would also be cool if it said exactly how much space each partition has (I think i saw these partitions back when i've used Noogie to make initial backup of my device, but i don't remember the details), and how much space you would gain, and on which partition (and where it is mounted).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! i did the work 880MB for side loaded content now!!!
on one of my NST i had an issue resizing the FAT32 partition and i had to format it to make it work.
Other than that all went ok!
Thanks

How to maximize RAM available for apps
I found this easy to read table here.
I doubt that I will ever download books from B&N. I want to minimize the space for that. I infer that I should minimize partition 8 that gets mounted to \data. Is there a practical / actual minimum for this?
I see that anything I copy in from my PC over USB is going into media. 100MB should be more than I need. I could put in an SD card for this sort of thing if it grows.
My question is, which partition do I want to increase to make the maximum available to apps downloaded from the google marketplace?
If an application requires a minimum of 512 MB of RAM, which partition(s) do I need to set >= 512?
New additional question: Upon some further research, I see that you can use sd cards for swapfiles to increase system RAM up to a maximum of 4GB. Does anyone know if it is possible to use this built-in storage for the same purpose?
.c0. said:
!! Important: Make a backup of your Nook device first !!
Resize partitions
1. Download Gparted LiveCD
2. Extract onto FAT / FAT32 USB memory stick or burn to CD-ROM
3. If on a USB memory stick, run \utils\win32\makeboot.bat from the memory stick.
Do NOT run makeboot from a hard disk!
4. Boot computer from USB device into Gparted
5. Connect your Nook running Noogie of a Micro USB card (this will make the partitions visible to Gparted).
6. Resize the last partition (nr 8) labelled "data" (= Barnes & Nobles content)
Make sure to move the partition to the far right.
7. Move the next-to-last partition (nr 7) labelled "cache" without resizing it.
8. Extend the next-to-next-to-last partition (nr 6) labelled "nook" (Side loaded content) to fill the gap.
9. Remove USB cord, Micro USB card and boot your Nook.
10. In Settings you can inspect the amount of storage space.
I received errors when the partitions were about to be moved on the disk.
I changed the partitioning resize to field where it says "Align to:" from "MiB" to "Cylinder". After a 2nd attempt and doing each partition individually all worked out well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I have a little (maybe big?) problem. Can't partition with Gparted Live, as gparted scans my /dev/sdb (nook) infinitely. If I plug out my nook, other partitions (in my case: /dev/sda) become visible and ready. Looks like my nook hangs gparted. Tried on 2 different PCs and no effect. Tried different version of Gparted Live (i486 & amd64) - still nothing.
Of course noogie is inside the nook unit, ready and steady. Already made a backup of (non-rooted) device, plus partitions are visible in Minitool Partition Wizard on Windows 7.
What to do in this situation? Is Linux the only safe way to repartition device? Or maybe Minitool would be as effective and safe?
If Linux is the only way to go, how to make nook visible to Gparted?
Please, experts.

DJ Athlon said:
I have a little (maybe big?) problem. Can't partition with Gparted Live, as gparted scans my /dev/sdb (nook) infinitely. If I plug out my nook, other partitions (in my case: /dev/sda) become visible and ready. Looks like my nook hangs gparted. Tried on 2 different PCs and no effect. Tried different version of Gparted Live (i486 & amd64) - still nothing.
Of course noogie is inside the nook unit, ready and steady. Already made a backup of (non-rooted) device, plus partitions are visible in Minitool Partition Wizard on Windows 7.
What to do in this situation? Is Linux the only safe way to repartition device? Or maybe Minitool would be as effective and safe?
If Linux is the only way to go, how to make nook visible to Gparted?
Please, experts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If Gparted doesn't work for you, I'd highly recommend Minitool Partiton Wizard - it's what I used to partiton my Nook. Nice, easy UI, too.

Yeah, I often work with Minitool, but is it as safe as Gparted when it comes to nook?

DJ Athlon said:
Yeah, I often work with Minitool, but is it as safe as Gparted when it comes to nook?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it is. Just make sure to make a Noogie backup before repartitoning.

Sorry for bugging you, but can't shrink userdata(ext3). What to do? Delete that partition and re-create it or...?

DJ Athlon said:
Sorry for bugging you, but can't shrink userdata(ext3). What to do? Delete that partition and re-create it or...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, delete and recreate is the way to go.

Please, people, help me
Write step to step guide for work with Minitool Partiton Wizard
I want to free the reserved space for B&N books of my NST ver. 1.2.1
The device is already rooted.
I installed Minitool Partiton Wizard on my PC, but after connecting it thru USB cable with my Nook, it only see "official" 240MBs.
Cannot find other around 750 MB reserved storage for B&N books ?
What to do
Explain to me, please

Related

[How-to]Darktremors apps2sd on Froyo

Edit: I made some scripts that you can run from gscript lite found in market for free. This script will mount the last partition so your windows pc will see it. There is one for mount and one for unmount. Plug your phone in pc and run the mountsd script and your window should pop up on the pc with the folder showing the partition that your froyo rom is using. If you have your card partitioned differently then these instructions then you can just edit the mountsd script where it says /dev/block/mmcblk0p4. Change the 4 to the number of the fat32 partition that you want it to mount. http://www.multiupload.com/HNIKCP720C
If you want to copy from froyo partition to recovery partition try this
Conap said:
No need to stop being lazy but you gotta give me a minute lol...download script and run it in gscripts. In File Manager if you press the home button you will see sdcard and sdcard2. sdcard is the froyo partition and sdcard2 is the recovery partition of the card. I am sure you can get to it in astro too but don't have it downloaded to test. Just navigate to the root folder of the phone and it should have the sdcard2 directory. This will stick untill you reboot then you will have to run the script again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We all have seen that froyo doesn't like partitioned sd cards. After many attempts at partitioning my sd card for another project i'm working on I figured out a way to install the "old" apps2sd on Froyo. I know alot of people preferred the way it was done in 2.1. Froyo seems to use the last partition on the sd card at least untill the 7th partition which it stops looking after that. Amon's recovery works with the first partition on the sd card. So the solution is to put a Fat32 partition as the first partition then put your ext3 and swap partitions and then a 4th partition as fat32 for the phone to use when booted. The important thing to remember is to put any rom's you want to flash on the first partition. Your nand backups will also be stored on the first partition. Pictures, music, video's, stuff you download to the phone and any other normal stuff that uses sd card will end up on 4th partition. I will give instructions using a program called gparted. I think it is available for windows also. This should work with any type of partitioning software.
I will leave the original instructions at bottom of post but after a lot of partitioning my sd card for this project and the ubuntu/debian project and the DualRom project I've found that this method is a little better. I believe someone else linked to this method somewhere in this thread
Conap said:
THIS WILL DELETE EVERYTHING OFF OF YOUR SD CARD
ok try this...boot phone into recovery...hopefully you have amon's recovery cause I don't think clockwork uses parted(not sure). Then type or copy/paste these commands:
adb shell
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
rm 1
rm 2
rm 3
rm 4
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 2000
mkpartfs primary ext2 2001 2500
mkpartfs primary linux-swap 2501 2550
mkpartfs primary fat32 2551 7948
quit
Depending on the number of partitions on your sdcard currently it may say error after the rm 1,rm 2, rm 3, rm 4 commands. You can ignore them.
Then reboot your phone or copy the file you want to flash back on to card and flash it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN USING A FORMATTING PROGRAM THAT YOU ONLY REFORMAT YOUR SD CARD AND NOT YOUR HARD DRIVE
1. BACK UP YOUR SD CARD!!!!!!!!(this will erase all data on sd card)
2. Plug your phone into your pc and mount the sd card(like you would if transferring files from pc to your card)
3. Open GParted and on the bar at the top click Gparted then devices and choose the phone( should be the second in the list if you only have one hard drive and no other external storage devices connected)
4. On the gparted screen you will see the partitions of your sd card. There should only be one at the moment if you are already using froyo. Right click on all of the partitions and click unmount and then delete. This will delete everything on your sd. Please be sure you have backed up your card.
5. You should now have one line that says unallocated.
6. Right click on unallocated and click click new. It will bring up a screen that has size and type of partition sizes. The only things you need to change are the size and type. For the first partitions I used 2000mib in the new size box but I keep around 5 Nand backups and 10 to 15 rom's stored on my card at a time. If you do not do alot of nands and store alot of roms you could probably make this partition smaller. Then under file system choose fat32 from the dropdown menu and choose add.
7. Right click on unallocated again and click new. This will bring up the screen to chose size and file system again. Normally people use 500mb for the ext3 partition for apps2sd. You can adjust the number to fit your needs. Choose your size and then make the file system ext3 and click add.
8. Right click unallocated again and click new. This partition should be around 50mb and choose file system as linux-swap.
9. Right click unallocated and new again. This will be the partition you use for your media on your phone such as pic's or music. You will want to use the rest of the space left on your card for this partition. Choose fat32 for the file system and click add.
10. You should now see 4 sections listed. First and last should be fat32, second ext3 and 3rd linux-swap. If it looks correct you hit the checkmark button at the top of the gparted screen. It will make all changes to your sd card. You can then unmount your card and make sure your phone reads it. I reccomend taking 1 picture before copying the stuff you backed up back onto your card.
Remember to put your Nand folder and any roms onto partition 1 and all other stuff you backed up on partition 4. When your card is setup you can go to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=715933 to get the zip to flash to install the apps2sd. Install apps2sd as per instructions on that thread.
I have apps2sd currently running on my phone with CELB3.2 and it is working fine. I set my card up on a linux machine with gparted.
you are the man Conap ...currently running your 3.2froyo, which BTW is smooth as heck....what I hate the most about froyo is there A2sd setup ....and you have just solved that problem
rvpartsguy said:
you are the man Conap ...currently running your 3.2froyo, which BTW is smooth as heck....what I hate the most about froyo is there A2sd setup ....and you have just solved that problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well if you or anyone else that has windows test's this can someone report if you can access both fat32 partitions when you mount the phone in windows....
I'll be trying this ish later. Superb work conap. I'm on windows, I'll let you know how it goes as well
Sent from my Droid Eris using XDA App
I'm undecided if I'll try this, but if I do it'll probably more to see how it works under Windows than to use it myself.
I wish the best of both worlds, being able to have Widget apps installed to SD card, but not have separate partitions, and still be able to specify applications I want to remain in the phone memory, for speed.
No matter what, though, beautiful! Thanks for writing up the instructions!
roirraW "edor" ehT said:
I'm undecided if I'll try this, but if I do it'll probably more to see how it works under Windows than to use it myself.
I wish the best of both worlds, being able to have Widget apps installed to SD card, but not have separate partitions, and still be able to specify applications I want to remain in the phone memory, for speed.
No matter what, though, beautiful! Thanks for writing up the instructions!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree it would be nice to have the option to move specific apps back to the phone. But I have seen alot of people that prefer this way so I thought i'd write this up. I actually needed partitions for other things which is why I was looking into it anyway. I now have 8 partitions on my sd card and everything still functions correctly. I did find that Froyo would read the last partition on the sd card up untill 7 partitions. When I added an 8th partition it still looked at partition 7. In case any one was interested in more partitions just make sure the fat32 is last partition untill you have more then 7 leave 7 as fat32.
Conap said:
I agree it would be nice to have the option to move specific apps back to the phone. But I have seen alot of people that prefer this way so I thought i'd write this up. I actually needed partitions for other things which is why I was looking into it anyway. I now have 8 partitions on my sd card and everything still functions correctly. I did find that Froyo would read the last partition on the sd card up untill 7 partitions. When I added an 8th partition it still looked at partition 7. In case any one was interested in more partitions just make sure the fat32 is last partition untill you have more then 7 leave 7 as fat32.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have a 16GB or larger card? Wow!
Very interesting information, thank you!
roirraW "edor" ehT said:
Do you have a 16GB or larger card? Wow!
Very interesting information, thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope just stock 8gb...mostly small partitions for testing some ideas lol...i did find that the phone does not mount any more then 7 partitions(kernel limitation maybe) You can have more then 7 if you are useing your card for things other then the phone but for phone purposes 7 is the limit.
How do I plug my phone into my computer?
need help!!
Hi I accidently run the 'makeboot' from gparted iso on my windows Vista 32bit HDD, before I read it will damage windows boot and can only run it on SD card.
Now I have not restarted my laptop, to loose every thing, I need help to correct it!
Please guide my, what are my options.
Conap said:
nope just stock 8gb...mostly small partitions for testing some ideas lol...i did find that the phone does not mount any more then 7 partitions(kernel limitation maybe) You can have more then 7 if you are useing your card for things other then the phone but for phone purposes 7 is the limit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, okay! Nosey people (me) want to know. Hehehe.
workshed said:
How do I plug my phone into my computer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're messing with me, right? The USB cable that came with your phone, that you can also charge your phone with???
ykhehra1 said:
Hi I accidently run the 'makeboot' from gparted iso on my windows Vista 32bit HDD, before I read it will damage windows boot and can only run it on SD card.
Now I have not restarted my laptop, to loose every thing, I need help to correct it!
Please guide my, what are my options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll probably have to boot your Vista 32-bit installation DVD and run a Startup Repair. Or if the computer came with a recovery DVD that you hopefully burned after booting up the computer the first time, use that.
If you don't have any easier option, you can download Startup Repair-only burnable disc images from the EasyBCD website. Just google for it. Make sure and download the correct one (Vista 32-bit), and then you'll have to burn it to a CD and boot from it. Hopefully you're computer doesn't have any SATA or RAID setup that Vista doesn't include the drivers for, otherwise you'll have to download those and put them on a flash drive, and then you can load them from the Vista repair CD.
Good luck.
ykhehra1 said:
Hi I accidently run the 'makeboot' from gparted iso on my windows Vista 32bit HDD, before I read it will damage windows boot and can only run it on SD card.
Now I have not restarted my laptop, to loose every thing, I need help to correct it!
Please guide my, what are my options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no makeboot option on gparted in linux that i can see...if you think you have messed up the boot partition of your pc don't restart it till you fix it. Google should be your best friend on that one. I don't use windows so can't be of any help to you there....
roirraW "edor" ehT said:
Oh, okay! Nosey people (me) want to know. Hehehe.
You're messing with me, right? The USB cable that came with your phone, that you can also charge your phone with???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LMAO
What's a usb cable... is it that black thing with a square end??
Its g8 solution, good job! little tricky on windows, but worked at the end.
workshed said:
LMAO
What's a usb cable... is it that black thing with a square end??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ooooh, you got me. LOL!
ykhehra1 said:
Its g8 solution, good job! little tricky on windows, but worked at the end.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you able to get both FAT32 partitions (partition 1 for ROMs and other flashes, partition 4 for everything else) mounted with drive letters under Windows?
is there an advantage to doing this? i'm just curious
asilentcivilian said:
is there an advantage to doing this? i'm just curious
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nevermind, i found the 2.1 dark tremor thread. i assume the same results apply to froyo with this.
asilentcivilian said:
is there an advantage to doing this? i'm just curious
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
some people just prefer this way. this way actually stores the whole apk on the phone and save's more room then froyo. plus you can mount your sd card while still using your apps. I did this mainly cause I wan't partitions for other things on my phone personally. It just happens that it helps the apps2sd issue too...

[Q] HELP!! Used Verygreen's instructions and have problems!

I have a 16Gb SandDisk class2 that I just bought, using verygreen's instructions for "ROM][CM7] [v1.3] Size-agnostic SD Card image and CM7 installer for SD Cards", and completing the first step for putting the image on the card, I now end up with an SD card that shows it is only 116MB and out of space!!! HELP!!! How do I undo this???
Edit: Relevant to emmc flashing technique only. Too tired to think yesterday.
babyfine24 said:
I have a 16Gb SandDisk class2 that I just bought, using verygreen's instructions for "ROM][CM7] [v1.3] Size-agnostic SD Card image and CM7 installer for SD Cards", and completing the first step for putting the image on the card, I now end up with an SD card that shows it is only 116MB and out of space!!! HELP!!! How do I undo this???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read the instructions you'd know that was normal... that is the "boot" partition you are seeing.
You can use something like EASEUS or MiniTools Partition managers to resize it prior to putting it in the nook and letting it set up the other partitions (keep it below 2GB... I recommend 1.75GB)
After you put it in the nook and let it set up... you cannot resize partition 1... but can resize partition 4 if it doesn't automatically set up to use the entire free space automatically.
I used EASUS partition manager. You can get it for free here: http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm
When you put the image on the card the software did not use all available space. Get EASUS and stretch out the last partition to the max and you will get full use of your card again.
I've been followed a lot of instructions but this particular "partition the uSD" always gives me problem. I bet I do not fully understand the process of using EASEUS or MiniTool to RESIZE PRIOR putting into the NC.
Can someone who has done this pls write up a detail instructions? Dizzy, pat, can you help?
Thing is: after creating a bootable uSD, the card becomes "boot" and only 110+ MB available like OP indicated, that's fine, we all understand that.
Next step is using EASEUS or MiniTool to resize.
Resize what?
As after creating the uSD, only "boot" partition showed as FAT32, the rest is UNallocated. Sine we haven't inserted the uSD in the NC yet, therefore no such ext4, ... created. So what are we resizing here? The "boot" partition?
votinh said:
Thing is: after creating a bootable uSD, the card becomes "boot" and only 110+ MB available like OP indicated, that's fine, we all understand that.
Next step is using EASEUS or MiniTool to resize.
Resize what?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You then resize the only partition that has been created on the drive... the 110MB partition.
votinh said:
As after creating the uSD, only "boot" partition showed as FAT32, the rest is UNallocated. Sine we haven't inserted the uSD in the NC yet, therefore no such ext4, ... created. So what are we resizing here? The "boot" partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After resizing only partition prior to running the uSD in the nook... you put it in nook...let it create the other partitions... after it is done... put it back in computer and resize the LAST partition on it.
What you're seeing is normal. The image copy sets things up, then the install step rearranges and populates the rest of the card. All that's happened is that an image of a tiny card has been copied onto a larger card, but that's not the final setup.
Unless you're unhappy with the final partitioning, you don't need to mess with it manually.
If you're feeling adventurous, Verygreen has posted that you can set up the partitions the way you want, then copy the files from the image (not the image itself) onto the first partition, and the installer will leave them that way.
Pretty slick, actually.
DizzyDen said:
You then resize the only partition that has been created on the drive... the 110MB partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, you said we "resize" the "boot" partition, right?
If so, we resize it from 110+MB to 1.75GB like you recommended in previous post?
Should we say "supersize" it? expand it? increase it?
Put the word aside, let say I increase the boot partition to 1.75GB, what about the rest? Still UNallocated, I believe.
After resizing only partition prior to running the uSD in the nook... you put it in nook...let it create the other partitions... after it is done... put it back in computer and resize the LAST partition on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I follow through, the first (boot) partition will still be seen as FAT32 and Windows will only see the very first FAT32 partition. What is the purpose of "resizing" the last partition?
Are you telling me that after resize the last partition, Windows will see it (as well as the first "boot" FAT32)?
votinh said:
So, you said we "resize" the "boot" partition, right?
If so, we resize it from 110+MB to 1.75GB like you recommended in previous post?
Should we say "supersize" it? expand it? increase it?
Put the word aside, let say I increase the boot partition to 1.75GB, what about the rest? Still UNallocated, I believe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just use the resize tool to make it max 1.75GB... the rest will still be unallocated until you let it do its thing by booting it in the nook.
votinh said:
If I follow through, the first (boot) partition will still be seen as FAT32 and Windows will only see the very first FAT32 partition. What is the purpose of "resizing" the last partition?
Are you telling me that after resize the last partition, Windows will see it (as well as the first "boot" FAT32)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The purpose of resizing the last partition is to allow the nook to use the entire disk.... has nothing to do with windows seeing it.
DizzyDen said:
Just use the resize tool to make it max 1.75GB... the rest will still be unallocated until you let it do its thing by booting it in the nook.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Clear!
Big thanks
The purpose of resizing the last partition is to allow the nook to use the entire disk.... has nothing to do with windows seeing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I keep thinking that after the NC does the magic partition, it will automatically sees the rest.
Moreover, if the USB cable plugged in and tap to turn on USB Mass Storage, it's ready to use anyway.
I might miss that but I thought PC see the left over (via usb cable plugged) without "resizing" any partition.
I have to do it over again to be sure.
Just take the uSD out and load it in computer... start EASEUS or MiniTools partition manager and see if it shows the last partition taking the remaining space... or if there's still part unallocated.

[Q] CM7 boot partition Size

Hello,
Complete noob here and I am not ashamed to admit it. I did create a bootable sd card with CM7 stable on it and the card is partitioned into 4 spaces. The boot space only has a capacity of 117.63 MB, while the 4th partition named CM7 SDCARD has a whopping 28.21GB available.... 112.14MB used..... Im guessing for application. Anyways, I am trying to put books and videos on my NC and there is not enough space that is accessible. Any way to make that boot partition spave larger? Maybe move some of the extra space from the 4th partition? I have EASEUS Partition Master but I have been unable to get it to work..... Any help is greatly appreciated.
I did search for a post like this but did not find any answers which I understood.
Thanks in advance,
What is it that you are trying to do?
Homer
I am trying to put books on my sdcard that I downloaded on my computer for school. When I copy to the directory boot/myfiles/books it says that there is not enough space. So I want to enlarge the size of the boot partition
After you burn the partition image using Win32Image, the size of the boot partition is roughly 117mb. At this point use EASEUS partition to expand the boot partition to the size you want. In my 32gb SD card, I created a 16gb partition. Then I copied CM7.1 and Gapps to the partition, booted NC and CM7.1 was set up in the remaining space, with /data at 5gb and /media at 9gb.
Would you then access the files while booting from the SDcard or internal memory (eMMC)?
If you want to see them when booting from SDcard, don't put them on /boot as you have found out there is not much room. You want them on partition 4. Remember that Windows will not mount partition 4 without some heroic efforts. I use either NookColor UMS (free, see here) or WiFi Explorer Pro (paid, check either Android or Amazon Market).
If you want to see them when booting from eMMC, that is slightly more advanced. You don't have to root, but there is a file on the system on eMMC that needs to be edited to mount partition 4 rather than partition 1. It would take some time to search for it, but someone posted a guide a while back. Search for something like sharing SDcard and/or editing vold.
Homer
Ok...... So I got the boot partition resized to around 20gb and I have copied the books from my hd to the sd card E:\My Files\Books...... Problem is I now cannot acess them when I boot CM7..... Any fix to this or will I have to boot from the eMMC?
Ok....
You're making the easy stuff hard...
You want a large partition that is accessible by CM7 running off the SD and your windows PC. Like Homer said, it is nigh impossible to get windows to mount secondary partitions off of an SD card reader. What he forgot is that CM7 allows you to access partitions 3 and 4 over USB. CM7 can access the boot partition but most apps won't look there and it won't be accessible over USB.
I would recommend that you restart from scratch. Allow verygreens installer to set up the default partitions. Plug your device into your PC and transfer your pdfs to partition 4 that-a-ways. That way you won't have to remove the sd card anytime you want to access your pdf folder.
Even when you plug the CM7 booted NC into your PC, you still need to mount the /sdcard partition to Windows. I find it is easiest to use NookColorUMS on the NC to mount that partition, see above. Otherwise, when you plug into the Windows machine you only get /boot mounted.
Homer
Homer_S_xda said:
Even when you plug the CM7 booted NC into your PC, you still need to mount the /sdcard partition to Windows. I find it is easiest to use NookColorUMS on the NC to mount that partition, see above. Otherwise, when you plug into the Windows machine you only get /boot mounted.
Homer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, when I plugged a nook running CM7 from SD card, I get access to /media and /sdcard. I had to move the gapps.zip from /sdcard to /boot manually using a file explorer.
I'm offering an apology to gall and Homer first so pls don't jump on me.
You guys harden a simple issue and confusing the OP.
To OP,
I assume you got a 32GB uSD card, using verygreen's image. You got 117MB on boot.
LEAVE the boot partition ALONE. The only thing you should put there are the ROM (CM7 zip file) and the GApp zip file. NOTHING ELSE. Your music/ebook/video, etc. should NEVER go there. You will place them in the left-over storage created by CM7, normally called CM7SDCARD.
How do you access CM7SDCARD so that you can transfer files over?
The only way is
+ NC on
+ connecting NC to PC (windows)
+ look at the NC notification bar, usb icon should be displayed
+ tap on it, enable usb mass storage (connect to PC for file transferring....)
+ Windows PC should by now recognized the CM7SDCARD and ready for use.
That's the ONLY WAY and the correct way.
If you use that bootable CM7 uSD and plug directly into PC, you only see the boot partition which only 117MB. Again, the boot partition is NOT meant for personal stuff.
What may confuse some people is that when they plug the device into PC then it does not by default auto-mount so you don't get a drive in the PC until you use the USB notification and turn on USB storage.
For non-techie users I normally install the automount USB app from JRTStudio so the drive pops up straight away on the PC and there is no confusion over this point.
The other good reason for using the USB (or alternatively wireless connections like ES File Explorer) is that it reduces taking the SD card in and out and any risk of damaging the socket.
My apologies, I never checked out the USB notification. I sort of ignored it. It seems a handy implementation of the basic functionality of NooKColorUMS.
What is MyNOOKColor though? CM7 SDcard is the one I typically use. Nevermind: it is the eMMC. I never bothered with that one since going to SDcard boot.
Homer

[Q] Unable to sideload to sd card...help please?

Hi,
First off if this is answered I am sorry.
I did a lot of searching and was unable to see the answer to this...
I am running CM7.1 off uSD. Install went well, and have no issues. That being said, I am unable to find out where on the card to sideload books. I have booted into CM7.1, turned on USB storage, and have 2 drives appear in win: MYNOOK and CM7 SDCARD. I used the size agnostic image, and it appears that there is only the single partition on the card, and in file explorer, it shows the correct card size for memory, but only the single partition.
The only folders appearing on the card are:
.android_secure
Android
LOST.DIR
I tried to manually copy the books, media, etc. folders into a My Files folder on this drive, without success.
There is no other partition to repartition (shouldn't have to do that with size agnostic?). I have no problem loading books into the MYNOOK book folder, which I assume is the internal device memory.
Here is my question. How/where do I sideload books to use the storage on the uSD card? Do I have to create the folders somewhere? If so where?
My goal is to utilize the storage available on the card, but be able to read the titles in the stock software. Is it possible to do this without rooting, or do I need to root for any reason to access the right folders on the card for storage?
THANK YOU ALL!!
klewlessnoob said:
I tried to manually copy the books, media, etc. folders into a My Files folder on this drive, without success.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In what way was it not successful? Did the files copy and just can't find them with a reader? If so which reader?
The book I transferred over was not found in the stock software when I opened my library. Is there somewhere specific I am supposed to place it on the card for the Nook to see it? Thanks!
For the stock reader, I think you must use the 1gb area of the internal memory drive, which shows up as a separate drive on your PC when you plug it into the computer. When you are in CM7 and connect to the pc, cancel when it tries to install a device for the NC. Check the notifications on the NC, you need to click a button to enable copying files from your pc, and take care to properly safely remove/eject before disabling that and disconnecting the cable from your pc. Better to get a separate reader and install it from the market (e.g., Cool Reader). You can also install the Nook app from the market, but then books need to go within (possibly in a specific subdir) of the "Nook" folder on SDCARD.
So there is no way to use the card memory to store books if I want to use the stock reader??
Should there have been a "NOOK" folder created on the SD card as part of the CM7 process? Is that a file that the user needs to create? If so, does it go in the same partition as the CM7, as that is the only partition my machine is able to see?
thanks again
Hopefully you'll get more input on this, but I think the point of keeping the Nook stock available (aside from not voiding your warranty) relates to use of B&N books. However you can eject your CM sd card and use another sd card if you want more space for user media for use with the stock app. I thought the media drive was the 1gb area, but now I'm not so sure because on mine the MYNOOK disk is much smaller.
When you are in the stock firmware... you are seeing the boot partition of the uSD...
You can write the boot partition... resize it... then run the installer...
I have done it in the past... set up a 2GB boot partition... then setup the ROM on uSD. You then have a 2GB partition you can use when in stock.
Thanks for the info. I am a bit confused by your suggestion, can you please offer a bit more?
By writing the boot partition, then resizing it, does that mean I can resize now, after I have already set everything up? If so, what do you mean by the installer? Or do you mean I have to wipe the card and start over? If that is the case (start over) do you mean wipe the card, create a small partition for the boot to install on? Would that requre the use of an image that is not size agnostic?
Either way, how do I get the file structure in place on the non boot partition for the nook to see files that are saved there?
Thanks again for any help you can provide!
I have never had luck resizing it after it has been booted in the Nook and all the partitions created...
I have written the size agnostic image to the card... resized the only partition created at that point... then put the ROM on it and booted it in the nook so the installer script (size agnostic recovery) can do the partitioning and install the ROM.
For the question of getting the file structure... I'd have to ask how you wrote the files on the uSD... were you CM or stock?
I had always planned on running cm from the card, so when I wrote the files to the card, I was stock.
If I follow what you are saying, then steps for me to try at this point would be:
1. Reformat card
2. Write the disk image to the card
3. Shrink the single partition on the card (where the image is)
4. Add the CM ROM to same partition as the image
5. Install card and boot device
If this sounds right, I have 2 questions.
What size should the partition be for the image and CM ROM, maybe 2GB?
Will the Nook "see" the non-CM partition and create the file structure for saving files on the 2nd partition at some point? In my searches I saw that in early versions, there was a requirement that the 4th partition on the card be expanded to use for storage, won't I only have 2 at this point?
Thanks again so much for the help!
When you write the image to the card... it will only be about 114 MB.... you will probably want to increase the size to avoid any possible size issues later (with ROM's getting larger)
If you plan to use the stock nook ROM as well as CM7... you will probably want 2 GB boot partition... otherwise if you plan to only run CM7 you probably only want about 250 MB.
You can modify vold.fstab on the stock ROM to use partition 4 of the SD for its SD use... then you could avoid the 2 GB boot partition.
What happens when you use VG's SASD... the boot image is about 114 MB... when you boot it in the nook it creates partitions 2, 3 and 4... 2 and 3 are ext3 partitions, partition 4 is fat... partition 4 is the one set for sdcard in the ROM booted from SD...
This is why you can modify stock vold.fstab to point to partition 4... then both ROM's will be putting stuff on the same partition for "SD Card"
I think I follow that, but my issue is that currently I am unable to see partition 2,3 or 4 which I think is part of my problem.
When I set up the card, I used the SASD method, and all I can see in both win explorer and partition software is the single partition on the card. Should there also be partitions 2,3, and 4? Do I have to do something to make those partitions viewable?
I am not comfortable enough with my skill level to attempt to modify the stock vold.fstab file on the device, and was hopeful that by properly setting up the card, I would be able to keep stock as is, and use the card to multipurpose, ie run cm7 on part and use the remaining space on card to store books to be read in stock firmware. I am still hoping to do that....thanks
As far as only seeing partition 1.... that is a limitation of Windows.
By following the advice pertaining to starting over and increasing the size of the Boot partition immediately after writing the image... before doing anything else... you can provide more space for the stock ROM to use on the SD... it will use partiton 1 (the boot partition) without the other modifications to vold.fstab
ok, confused again
If I start over, write image, then resize that partition with the image, am I going to use the "rest" of the card, NOT in that partition to use with storage? OR am I going to resize the partition with the image to be big enough to use as the partition to put books on?
If it is the former, don't I again run into the problem of how to find the other partitions, or will I create them when resize the first partition after writing the image?
Thank you!
You will only ever see the first partition of the sd card when booting from the stock OS. Also with the card inserted in a usb flash card reader on Windows you can only mount the first partition as a drive letter. But you can see and resize partitions with contiguous unallocated space using MiniTools Partition Wizard.
OK thats good to know. Do you know if the SASD install should have created other partitions when I installed to the card? The reason I ask is that even in Partition Wizard, I am still only able to see the 1 large partition with everything in it.
If I start over again, will I need to use the wizard to create partitions first, then write the image to the resized 2 GB first partition, or should I write image to card, resize the first partition? If the latter, will resizing the first partition autmatically force the other partitions to be seen? I am not sure of this option, as I can't see where in the process the other partitions are created? Is this part of the process when CM7 boots?
Thanks!
Write the image. Safely remove from pc. Reinsert to pc. Use minitool partition to resize the (only, at that point) partition to the size you want. Use Apply in minitool software. Quit minitool and resume with the card setup.
does the minitool at that point (resizing) create the other partitions, or will the card setup do that? Do I have to do anything else to the other partitions to make them visable to the stock nook so that they can be used to access books while in stock os?
The card setup will create the other partitions. The stock os is never going to see anything but the 1st partition. You would need a terminal emulator or rooted file explorer installed in the stock os in order to mount another partition.
If that is the case, that stock os will never see anything other than the 1st partition, then there really is no way to accomplish what I am trying to do, correct?
In other words, put CM7 on the card, then when I want to use stock, boot into stock and have the reader find books saved on the card?

[Q] Re: "Dualboot Mirage CM7 / ICS CM9 Image": can't resize sdcard volume.

This question probably belongs in the thread "[ROMS]NEW! Dualboot Mirage CM7 / ICS CM9 Image for SDcard [3/26]", except that I can't post there yet.
I was able to create a working dual boot card per the instructions. However, I could not make a working card that made use of all 16 GB of my card, rather than just the <4GB size of the image file. The card still worked when I used fdisk on my Mac to increase the size of the last, 'sdcard', partition to fill up the available space. However, that did not increase the capacity of the FAT volume in that partition, leaving the extra space still unavailable.
After saving the files from that volume, I then used the Mac's Disk Utility to erase the partition and re-create it as a FAT partition using all the available space. Once I did that, unfortunately, the Nook would then not recognize anything on the SD card and would only boot into the Nook's own ROM.
As an alternative, I tried leaving the existing partitions alone and editing the MBR with fdisk to create a new partition using the available space, which I then formatted as a FAT partition with Disk Utility. Again, the Nook would no longer recognize the SD card and would only boot into its stock ROM.
I actually tried the above with two 16GB SD cards, a SanDisk Class 4 and a Samsung Class 10, and with two Nooks. Moreover, I tried a number of manipulations of the MBR, mostly to make it identical to the original one except for necessary size changes. Nothing worked to get a card that would boot and use the full 16 GB. I'll admit I haven't tried everything, such as trying to resize to something less than the full 16GB, but I've put so much time into this already that I don't want to do any more until I get some feedback.
aarons510 said:
This question probably belongs in the thread "[ROMS]NEW! Dualboot Mirage CM7 / ICS CM9 Image for SDcard [3/26]", except that I can't post there yet.
I was able to create a working dual boot card per the instructions. However, I could not make a working card that made use of all 16 GB of my card, rather than just the <4GB size of the image file. The card still worked when I used fdisk on my Mac to increase the size of the last, 'sdcard', partition to fill up the available space. However, that did not increase the capacity of the FAT volume in that partition, leaving the extra space still unavailable.
After saving the files from that volume, I then used the Mac's Disk Utility to erase the partition and re-create it as a FAT partition using all the available space. Once I did that, unfortunately, the Nook would then not recognize anything on the SD card and would only boot into the Nook's own ROM.
As an alternative, I tried leaving the existing partitions alone and editing the MBR with fdisk to create a new partition using the available space, which I then formatted as a FAT partition with Disk Utility. Again, the Nook would no longer recognize the SD card and would only boot into its stock ROM.
I actually tried the above with two 16GB SD cards, a SanDisk Class 4 and a Samsung Class 10, and with two Nooks. Moreover, I tried a number of manipulations of the MBR, mostly to make it identical to the original one except for necessary size changes. Nothing worked to get a card that would boot and use the full 16 GB. I'll admit I haven't tried everything, such as trying to resize to something less than the full 16GB, but I've put so much time into this already that I don't want to do any more until I get some feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you're missing just one step after fdisk. If Disk Utility is failing at it you could try terminal:
First you need to find out where your /sdcard is being mounted at. Use "diskutil list" to find out
Once you find out where it's being mounted (eg. /dev/disk4s7). You will then need to unmount the volumes before you can format it.
Code:
$ diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk4s*
$ diskutil partitionDisk "/dev/disk*" 1 MBRFormat "MS-DOS FAT32" "sdcard" "*M"
Replace * with the actual values needed. You might need "sudo" to perform the format command. Make sure you're formatting the correct mount point or else you might end up wiping your system. But if you were able to use fdisk, I'm sure you have a good understanding of terminal.
Haven't tried it myself. But it should(might) work.
-Racks
Won't "diskutil partitionDisk ..." wipe out all volumes on disk?
racks11479 said:
[See previous post!]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I type
Code:
diskutil partitionDisk
in Terminal to get usage info, I see, inter alia, the following:
Code:
(Re)Partition an existing disk. All volumes on this disk will be destroyed.
But that is clearly not what I want to do. Am I missing something?
Updated update:
I have tried, several times and on both SD cards and both Nooks, diskutil eraseVolume, a presumably more powerful version of the erase option in Disk Utility. I tried one or another of the commands:
Code:
diskutil eraseVolume MS-DOS sdcard /dev/disk4s7
diskutil eraseVolume 'MS-DOS FAT32' sdcard /dev/disk4s7
on cards that were booting, but with the small sdcard partition or the small volume on the enlarged partition. I also tried at least one of those commands on a card that was already not working after modification. In all cases, the commands ran without error but produced a non-booting card. Changing the 'ob' partition id back to 'oc' with fdisk didn't help, nor did any restoration of the original fdisk MBR info.
In sum, the only change that I have been able to make to a card as originally written from the image without making it unbootable was to enlarge the sdcard partition while leaving the sdcard volume untouched, and therefore not using most of the capacity of the partition.
Some more general but related questions.
Since I've got your attention, Racks, let me ask a few questions whose answers might help me and others understand what is going on here and what might go wrong with this and other Nook Color boot setups. Of course, also please point out where anything I think I know is, in fact, wrong.
1) I understand that the firmware boot code on the Nook first looks for something on an inserted SD card to boot from. It seems it looks for a file named u-boot.bin on the first partition of the inserted card to which to transfer control. Does it also check other things on the card before transferring control to u-boot.bin? Does it look at the file MLO? Does it look at the partition labeled sdcard, or at any other partition, before doing so?
2) Presuming that it does transfer control to u-boot.bin, what does the latter check before either booting from the (default) ROM on the card or, if the Home button is being held down, going to the interactive boot dialogue? My experience has been that, when using one of my 'non-working' cards, the Nook goes quickly to the ROM on internal memory without showing any visible signs of doing anything else first. In other words, it 'knows' that it can't boot from a ROM on the sdcard before actually trying to do so.

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