[EVO 4G Android Development] jklong03:
Simple Apps2sd for EVO users who want to try it

BIG DISCLAIMER: This is all only my opinion, do your research, look at other threads on XDA before you try anything I suggest, I am not responsible for Bricked Phones or loss of sd card data!

**Also, mitchellvii has an excellent guide

here

if you prefer!

Background:

Froyo's method is very different approach than traditional apps2sd (which is now commonly called apps2sdext to distinguish it from the Froyo method) because it doesn't require a special linux partition. Problem is that the individual apps have to be written to specify that they can be stored this way, and many don't.

Apps2sdext has been around since the G-1 days (when I got started with this) and relies on a special linux ext2, ext3 or ext4 partion (many kernels don't support ext4 yet, and not all kernels support apps2sdext at all!). Symbolic links are created in /data/apps to redirect apps to /system/sd/apps and because of these symbolic links, the apps aren't aware they are being stored on the ext linux partition at all, hense it is compatible with almost all apps.

For MikFroyo (which does support apps2sd since v4.2, but doesn't support ext4partitions)the most commonly suggested partioning scheme is to have a 512MB ext3 partition, and NO swap partition (a different discussion altogether), and the remainder of the sd card is FAT32 (MS-Dos). Also, at least a Class 6 SD card is recommended, lower class cards ( take a look at your OEM card that comes with the EVO, mine was a Class 2!, your mileage may vary) are not recommended because their slower access times don't help you realize the maximum improvement with apps2sdext. Now, it turns out I accidently ran with the OEM Class 2 card under apps2sd before I realized it and put in my Class 6 sd card and things were fine for me. (your mileage may vary!)

If you have an existing Class 6 sd card that you want to partition to run apps2sd ext, this is my recommended way to make the transition as painless as possible (assuming an MS-Dos computer by the way). There are other ways, but these require more adb commands than many people are comfortable with!

NOTICE: This isn't meant to be an exact step-by-step proceedure, I will assume you can figure out when to have sd card in phone vs on your computer, how to reboot into recovery, etc....These are just general approach steps (so don't flame me for not including incredibly obvious steps please :p)

1) Mount the sd card to your computer using a micro-sd to sd card adapter (there was one in your EVO box) and make sure you have your folder view set to show all files, including "hidden" files, copy everything to a backup folder on your computer. (I recommend this direct connect way over just mounting your sd card via your phone because it copies files much faster than using the USB connection!!)

2) Hopefully you have Amon RA 2.3 as your recovery, as it makes things easier from here, but RA 1.8 will work also I think. (Hint: check the links in my signature below)

3) Reboot phone (with sd card installed) into recovery and select the "Partition" menu in recovery.

4) In RA 2.X, you can select from several pre-defined formats, but whatever method you use, select 512MB ext2,NO swap,and the rest FAT32.

5) After this is done running, there should be an option (still in the partition menu of recovery) to go from ext2 ->ext3, do this.

6) Restore all of your backup from your computer to the sd card

7) Reboot and do a fresh flash of your apps2sd version of the ROM. NOTE: don't restore an earlier nandroid of an apps2sd ROM, reason is if you flashed this initially without an ext2 or ext3 partion, then apps2sd wasn't setup correctly and the nandroid restored will not look for your new linux partition! You need a fresh flash so that the "first run" script of the ROM catches the fact that you do indeed have a properly formated external linux partion and will configure apps2sd correctly.

That is about all there is to it, takes about 30 minutes.d

Hope this clears up a few things.