[Samsung Galaxy SL i9003] trip007in:
Hello Friends,

I have seen many forum members requesting here in the forum for a method to increase the internal sdcard memory to enable installing games, which generally require high memory storage space or storing maps for example for standalone GPS navigation system. Again such maps requires to be stored on internal memory card for them to work. All this is possible using this mod.

Introduction: Galaxy SL (4Gb model)has three memory partitions built in.

1. Internal Phone memory- Consists of Internal Phone storage (1.87 GB) and Personal data (72.27 MB). This is not accessible through the USB mounting.

2. Internal SD card storage (1.52 GB) which is remaining partitioned memory from the 4GB phone memory. This partition is called as sdcard by the system. This is the memory which needs to be boosted for increasing efficiency to install games, and applications which needs to stay in internal sdcard.

3. external sdcard called as external_SD by system. This memory is added by user using micro sd card (upto 32GB) for storage purpose.

This hack makes use of external sdcard as internal sdcard, thus providing storage capacity upto 32 GB depending upon the capacity of microSDcard added by user. The internal sdcard memory is converted o external_SD, thus two memory are swapped by using simple modified path in the vold.fstab.

Just a word of caution here to use microSDcard of higher class than class 4 to keep the system snappier with fast read write ability. Your microSD should be formatted as FAT32 to be recognized by system.

I came a cross with this hack at lowyat.net, posted by 3snow. So the credit goes to him, but you can thank me for bringing this to your knowledge.

As usual I am not responsible for Bricked device.. You try this hack at your own risk

But let me make it clear, its not easy to screw your phone unless you are willing to restore it on your own:p:p:p:p.

This hack makes use of modified vold.fstab file, which requires to be replaced in the system/etc folder. This swaps the internal sdcard memory as external_SD and external_SD as internal memory.

The vold.fstab files posted here are specific to Samsung GT-I9003 Froyo release version 2.2.1. The structure of this file may vary from Phone to phone across different models and android release versions. So you may use the technique/ hack for swapping the memory but it is not guaranteed to work with other android phones using the same modified vold.fstab other than I9003.

I have attached two zip files here.

1. ori_voldfstab.zip - for restoring the phone memory to original state and

2. mod_voldfstab.zip - to swap the internal sdcard memory with external mSDCRD memory.

Follow the instructions below to run this mod on your phone.

Requirements:

-The most important requirement is root access

-First back up your data, both Phone as well as SDCARD, before installing this MOD as a precautionary measure, in case you encounter trouble and lose data.

-If you are using application to SD for some or all applications you will lose them as the memory will be swapped so first you need to change the storage to phone memory in menu>settings>Applications>Manage applications as phone memory.

Instructions:

1) Download the attached files, keep the ori_voldfstab.zip aside for future (if you forget to back it up) to revert the original state.

2) Unzip mod_voldfstab.zip and copy the file on to your external_SD.

3) Now you need to backup your original vold.fstab from /system/etc folder to sdcard/vold directory using Root explorer, just in case if you encounter any problem, you can replace the backed up original file to revert the original state.

To do this Browse to /system/etc folder, copy "vold.fstab" from that folder, then go to /sdcard, paste the "vold.fstab" inside a folder "vold" eg: sdcard/vold.

3) Now using root explorer, Copy the modified "vold.fstab" unzipped from mod_voldfstab.zip downloaded from attachment here and put on your extrenal_SD. Browse to /system/etc folder. Make the system/etc folder writable (R/W) by clicking on mount R/W on top in root explorer and paste "vold.fstab". Accept permission to replace the original file.

4) Restart ur phone,

You are done.

You have your microSDCARD as your internal sdcard and actual internal sdcard as external_SD. Now you have huge space to play games install applications and Maps for Navigation etc..

Trouble shoot:

In case you dont see your internal SDCARD, you wont see external SDCARD also after using this file, but not to worry it could happen due to either problem with vold.fstab or the file system format of microSD or may be even both.

If its due to incompaticle or wrong vold.fstab:

To restore you will have to push the original vold.fstab to /system/etc folder using adb as your sdcard is not visible.

If the problem is due to incompatible file format of microSD:

Just Swith off your phone take out microSD card and format it as FAT32 system in card reader. Put it back and switch on the Phone.

If both fails. then just take out sdcard, simcard and go to download mode using three button combo and reflash te phone with the desired stock firmware for the Phone:D:D:D:D. You will be restored to original setup.

Enjoy:D and dont forget to click thanks button.

I have tested it on my I9003 and now I have 16GB of internal sdcard memory:D. See the Screen shot below.

The ADB method

You can download

extracted Samsung USB drivers from kies

if you are having trouble installing kies or PPhone being not detected by PC. First unistall old drivers and kies and install the downloaded drivers.

Here I am providing separate instructions for ADB interface. I am not a programmer so I have used simple commands (which I know) but it does what you need to do.

Download the sdswap.zip to C: drive of your computer and right click to extract here. Now you will have C:\sdswap. It contains all necessary files including original vold.fstab file for I9003.

Windows "Start>All programs>Accessories>Command prompt(C:\)

A.To backup original vold.fstab into C:\sdswap folder do the following: You can skip this step, if you are doing this for Samsung I9003.

C:\>
C:\>cd sdswap
C:\sdswap>adb shell
$ su
su
# cp /system/etc/vold.fstab /sdcard
cp /system/etc/vold.fstab /sdcard
# exit
exit
$ exit
exit
C:\sdswap>adb pull /sdcard/vold.fstab
180 KB/s (922 bytes in 0.005s)

Now you have vold.fstab of your phone in sdswap folder, You can replace the extracted file into “ori” folder for reverting original setup.

B.To run this MOD you have to push the modified vold.fstab, do the following in Command Prompt:

C:\>
C:\>cd sdswap
C:\sdswap>adb push C:\sdswap\Mod\vold.fstab /sdcard/external_SD
3 KB/s (921 bytes in 0.250s)
C:\>cd sdswap
C:\sdswap>adb shell
$ su
Su
# mount -o remount rw /system
mount -o remount rw /system
# cp /sdcard/external_SD/vold.fstab.png /system/etc
cp /sdcard/external_SD/vold.fstab.png /system/etc
# mount -o remount ro /system
mount -o remount ro /system
# exit
exit

C.In case of Problem to revert your original setup

Follow the same steps as given in B. except the third line, which should be

C:\sdswap>adb push C:\sdswap\Ori\vold.fstab /sdcard/external_SD

Spanish translation of above post can be found in the below link (thanks to putero for translation):

http://www.samsunggalaxys.es/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=4698