[Legend Android Development] QkSi1ver:
A2SD but still having preparing SD Card and missing apps/shortcut

Hi all,

I'd like to get to the bottom of this... hopefully someone can help me.

I've been trying to get A2SD up and running and without the missing apps..

First let me ask you this:

After i enable A2SD, is it normal that when i boot, the first 30 secs, some apps are not available until the SD card is fully loaded ( I know this is a behaviour of Froyo Apps2SD where the apps are stored on the FAT32 SD Card )...but i recalled reading that A2SD on the EXT3 partition should be available as soon as the OS is loaded.

First i had all apps on my internal phone, then I tried getting A2SD using the lazy methods through GParted Live cd but it wasnt recognized by a2sd --free ( I got it is enabled but inactive), eventually i got it working *partially*; I used ROM Manager Partititoning tool and made 512 EXT3, and a 64MB swap.

*Partially* because, i couldnt detect the EXT partition in TiBa or Android System Info... but a2sd showed the /mnt/asec/sd (which i'm assuming is the EXT partition) but it was there since all apps i installed after only took a few more KB or 1-2MB at a time on the Internal Phone Memory...

Based on the logs below, it looks like the EXT3 is there and is somehow working BUT how can I move ALL my APPS to the SD to avoid the Missing Links and Apps when the phone is just rebooted? In other words i want to get rid of all remains of the FROYO Apps2SD and make sure all apps are installed on the EXT

Thanks

parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
GNU Parted 1.8.8.1.179-aef3
Using /dev/block/mmcblk0
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) print
print
print
Model: SD SA08G (sd/mmc)
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 7973MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 512B 7397MB 7397MB primary fat32 lba
2 7397MB 7909MB 512MB primary ext3
3 7909MB 7973MB 64.4MB primary linux-swap(v1)

--------- beginning of /dev/log/main
I/pthread ( 68): ## thread 68 is creating thread @system/core/adb/sysdeps.h:411
I/pthread ( 68): ## thread 69 is created success
I/pthread ( 68): ## thread 68 is creating thread @system/core/adb/sysdeps.h:411
I/pthread ( 68): ## thread 70 is created success
I/pthread ( 68): ## thread 68 is creating thread @system/core/adb/sysdeps.h:411
I/pthread ( 68): ## thread 71 is created success
I/pthread ( 68): ## thread 68 is creating thread @system/core/adb/sysdeps.h:411
I/pthread ( 68): ## thread 74 is created success
I/pthread ( 68): ## thread 68 is creating thread @system/core/adb/sysdeps.h:411
I/pthread ( 68): ## thread 75 is created success
I//system/xbin/sysinit( 67): Welcome to B 0.8.4
I//system/xbin/sysinit( 67): Initializing...
I//system/xbin/sysinit( 67): Waiting for SD card to settle...
I//system/xbin/sysinit( 67): Setting hostname...
I//system/xbin/sysinit( 67): Loading modules...
I//system/xbin/sysinit( 67): Activating a2sd...
I//system/xbin/sysinit( 67): Executing file system check...
I//system/xbin/sysinit( 67): /dev/block/mmcblk0p2: 30/249856 files (40.0non-contiguous), 66706/499713 blocks
I//system/xbin/sysinit( 67): Mounting /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 to /mnt/asec/sd...
I//system/xbin/sysinit( 67): a2sd activated...
I/logwrapper( 67): /system/xbin/sysinit terminated by exit(0)
I/DEBUG ( 148): debuggerd: Jan 24 2011 14:45:23
D/AK8973 ( 156): AK8973 daemon 1.3.4 Start
D/AK8973 ( 156): (Library version : 1.2.1.620)
--------- beginning of /dev/log/system
I/Vold ( 146): Vold 2.1 (the revenge) firing up
I/pthread ( 146): ## thread 146 is creating thread @system/core/libsysutils/src
/SocketListener.cpp:89
I/pthread ( 146): ## thread 157 is created success
D/Vold ( 146): Volume sdcard state changing -1 (Initializing) -> 0 (No-Media
)
W/DirectVolume( 146): mmcblk0p1
W/DirectVolume( 146): mmcblk0p2
W/DirectVolume( 146): mmcblk0p3
D/Vold ( 146): Volume sdcard state changing 0 (No-Media) -> 2 (Pending)
D/Vold ( 146): Volume sdcard state changing 2 (Pending) -> 1 (Idle-Unmounted)
I/pthread ( 146): ## thread 146 is creating thread @system/core/libsysutils/src/SocketListener.cpp:89
I/pthread ( 146): ## thread 158 is created success
I/Netd ( 147): Netd 1.0 starting
I/pthread ( 147): ## thread 147 is creating thread @system/core/libsysutils/src/SocketListener.cpp:89
I/pthread ( 147): ## thread 159 is created success
I/pthread ( 147): ## thread 147 is creating thread @system/core/libsysutils/src/SocketListener.cpp:89
I/pthread ( 147): ## thread 160 is created success
I/pthread ( 149): ## thread 149 is creating thread @hardware/ril/libril/ril.cpp:3143
I/pthread ( 149): ## thread 161 is created success
I/pthread ( 149): ## thread 162 is created success
I/pthread ( 149): ## thread 163 is created success

fdisk /dev/block/mmcblk0

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 243328.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): u
u
Changing display/entry units to sectors

Command (m for help): p
p

Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 7973 MB, 7973371904 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 243328 cylinders, total 15572992 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 1 14447265 7223632+ c Win95 FAT32 (LB
A)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2 14447266 15447265 500000 83 Linux
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 15447266 15572991 62863 82 Linux swap
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary

EDIT: I've managed to move all apps found from .Android_Secure using TiBa to Internal Memory. I know this sounds weird, but it moved it to the EXT partition and removed it from the FAT32 partitition. So I can confirm this EXT partition is working as expected...its just weird that i can't see any evidence of this EXT partition in any of the utilities i've used ( FreeSpace, Apps 2 SD Pro, Android System Info, TiBa...etc).. except when i use A2Sd --free command in adb. Also the "Preparing SD Card" delay at the beginning... i guess i can live with that

EDIT2: After Reading soo may fragmented posts here and there... it looks like its normal. I didnt know the A2SD used here is blayo's version and different from Dark Tremor's...