How to create EXT3 partition on SD card with ClockworkMod Recovery? (Video)

By
Jayce Ooi
-
Last modified on

Most of the NAND Android ROMs for HTC HD2 support A2SD+ feature. A2SD+ helps to store applications and data at EXT3 partition on SD card. This is very useful for HTC HD2 which has only 512 MB of ROM. You will easily face out of internal disk storage issue if you don’t use A2SD+ supported Android ROM. EXT3 partition on SD card should solve low internal disk space issue.

Prerequisites

  • ClockworkMod Recovery v1.3

You can use any method that you know to create EXT3 partition on SD card like using GParted Live. However, create EXT3 partition with ClockworkMod Recovery is easier. Follow this guide to install if you don’ have CWM yet – How to Install ClockworkMod Recovery v1.3 on HTC HD2? (Video).

Note – CWM will format and delete everything on your SD card when creating EXT3 partition. Remember to do a backup of your SD card first.

Step by Step Guide

  1. Power on your phone and don’t let go power button.
  2. DFT MAGLDR Bootloader will be loaded.
  3. Use volume down button to go down to 8. AD Recovery.
  4. Then press call button.
  5. ClockworkMod Recovery will be loaded then.
  6. Use volume button to go to ‘advanced’.
  7. Then press call button.
  8. Select ‘Partition SD Card’.
  9. Select the EXT size that you want (128M, 256M, 512M, 1024M, 2048M or 4096M).
  10. Select 0M as the Swap Size.
  11. That’s all.

Personally, I created 1024M EXT3 partition size on my SD card. Just select the EXT size that you think suitable on your SD card.

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167 COMMENTS

  1. is it enough to make this extension memory with these steps
    or i have to do another thing to use this memory
    i am using CM7
    thnx in advance

  2. Hi Jayce, im following the steps now but just a quick question….does different ext size effect the phone internal space or should i just follow you choose the 1024 cos im using htc hd2 as well. thanks.

  3. Mais après avoir fait toute ces manipulation jusqu’a celle ci-dessus qu’est ce qui va sa produire ?

    But after all these manipulations up to the one above that is what will it produce?

  5. Hi Jayce,

    congrats to your informative website!

    First I installed CM7 on my HTC HD2, then I tried Miui. Both worked and went fine, but in both cases I´ve got only 8MB “internal telephone memory” left. A2SD needs almost 6MB space and googlemail uses about 2MB. So I got no more memory left to downoad an install any Android-Apps. That`s why I switched from windows to android.

    Do you have got any suggestions what went wrong? I did everything as advised (like extend disc space on SD an so on)…

    Thanks

  8. But I don`t want to make another partition on SD. I extended 1GB there yet (now, theveral times all over again) I think my problem is some kind of partition in the RAM, isn`t it? (It is called “interner Speicher” or “interner Telefonspeicher” in my versions) And how can I get ther afterwards? I slightly remember the point where I had to chose between 150, 250 or 400MB. Do I have to do the whole installation progress again, with clockwork, magdlr, radio and so on?

    Tausend Dank!

  16. I dont get the part with the EXT3 sizes, i got a 2 gb sd card which would you recommend ? and in which way does it affect your phone?

  17. i m done with every step…but in last when i select install frm sd card to load zip file..it shows invalid argument..mount sd card….whats this…unable to cnvert android yet…stuck at loading file..

  19. sir jayce! i have a question.. i accidentally press partition on sd card on cwm..and pressed 128M..i want to undo that or to get back to default.. how would i do that? thanks!

  23. i have to ask that i have 4 GB sd card and i want to install a new rom.but my old rom have ext3 partition in the sd card. i am currently use MIUI rom and i want to shift on cyanogen. my htc desire is rooted and s-off, root v .6.93 ..kindly tell me how to install custom rom on it and partition again on sd card by using 4extrecovery???

  24. Dear Jayce,

    Everything is working fine on my HTC HD 2 now but I’m wondering is it possible to install android without making a partition on you sd card? I have a 32gb sd card and lost (?) 28 gb after my partitioning of 4 gb.
    Is it possible to install android 4.0 with cwm NAND?

    Many thanks for your guides!

  27. Doesn’t work for me (desire gsm cm7).
    My steps were the same exept for these:

    Select ‘Partition SD Card’.
    Select the EXT size that you want => 4096M.
    Select the Swap Size => 512M.

    And it doesn’t work. System sees only 10gb sd card + 146mb internal memory.
    I’ve installed the links2sd app and saw that the 4 gb are “unmounted space”.
    So the ClockMode recovery haven’t managed to format to any filesystem (ext2-3-4 etc).
    So questions are:
    – How to make a partition (add 4 gb to internal memory)
    – Can i format the partition to ext2-3-4 without wiping anything or formating the whole sd card?
    – (in case i have to format the whole sd card again and repartition) If i backup my rom and move it to my pc, will i be able to restore from it (some say there’s a chance to get the forever boot loop)?

    Thx in advance.

    ps: *** damn marketing/sales stuff at htc from 512 mb rom

  28. Sorry for “spamming”, but i’ve connected my desire to my pc and checked the sd card via Paragon Partition Manager 11 and here’s what i’ve saw: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2966410/droid/partition.png

    Btw the swap was 265 mb, my bad. Any ways, so CWM managed to create the partition in ext-3 and the swap at the end. But why didn’t it add the partition to the internal memory?
    Settings >> CyanogenMod settings >> Applications >>use internal storage [is disabled] says:
    “The device doesn’t have expanded ineternal storage”.

    ps: yeap, i’m rooted, s-off (official htc’s), cm 7 (latest).

  29. Hi. I own a Micromax A75 droid 2.3.4. The ram on it is only 256…which is very less for apps + performance. I searched all over the net to see if there was a way to partition the 8Gb microSD class 6 that I have, such that it can be used as Ram. I got a few results for internal storage/rom increase….but nothing for the ram!! please help…:)
    thanks

  30. hehe. its ok. thanks anyways.
    Btw, could you please tell me if its possible at all in any phone. Would rooting help?

  31. Hi Jayce, jus Wana ask I have installed the CWM NAND Android on my htc hd2, but when it reboot it jus freeze for more than 10 min..so how to solve this prob? Thanks

  33. Jayce, am using htc hd2, but ur post is not gettin me thro’
    I’m try to install sensational xl rom on my hd2 but after evrythn, whn it is bootin, it boots up to ”htc beatsaudio” with white background… then nothin again.
    Can u plz help me?

  34. jayce is it possible to do the A2SD partition after installing the android rom?because i follow your steps,no changes at all to my internal memory or sd card memory..the apps i want to install all still go to internal memory..i’m using NAND NexusHD2-ICS-CM9-HWA_V2.3 on my htc hd2

  36. Hey!!!

    My HTC HD2 with ICS 4.0.4 won’t detect ext 4?….there is no issue in SD card if work as expected….I did follow-up ur video but there was no luck.

    Please help me

    Rajesh

  38. Hello
    I’m stuck after step 10, “Partitionin SD card” … plz wait … and it still havn’t finished yet, after 30 min^^ I choosed 128m. Any idea? by the way can I skip this part and do the android 4? or is it realy so important?

  39. hi i downloaded e (TyphooN_CM7_v3.5.4- MAGLDR.zip and what shall i do aftr that?
    need to copy to sd card?
    can i make ex3 partion 256M partition on 2gb mem card??

  43. Hello Jayce,

    I’ve recently installed ICS on HTC Desire(Beta_0.15.0.1.zip provided by Sandvold).
    Its beautiful and easy to install using the touch screen wizard.

    Seems stable and smooth.

    Problem: Internal FRIKKIN memory. Excruciatingly painful to deal with this problem, atleast for me.
    Out of the 147mb provided by GENEROUS HTC, 85 MB is used up after the OS installation.
    After updates from Google sync, etc, im left with hardly 30mb to spare.

    All i did was try to install Whatsapp (7MB + 3MB data) – Im out of memory!!!!!!!

    I’ve been reading truck loads of forums threads, FAQS, etc, but im unable to do anything successfully overcome this internal memory issue.

    Latest attempt – Lot of forums threads indicate use partition sd card option via CWM recovery.
    Unfortunately i dont see this option in CWM recovery. 🙁
    How can i get this?

    Hence as a work-around i download mini partition wizard for windows and partitioned the sd card to have 1gb for ext 2 and 13 gb fate32 for the rest.

    Booted into ICS. Opened terminal and ran su, a2sd install, it appeared to move the dalvikcache and apps to ext supposedly.

    However i started noticing: Overall system performance degradation and internal memory showing numbers in the negative and ofcourse i still cant download apps.

    KINDLY HELP me with a step by step work-around to overcome this nemesis as i really want to use ICS on my HTC Desire.

    Many thanks for your patience and support.

    Best regards,
    Vijay

  44. i did it, but my internal memory still shows the same,
    whereas my sd memory has reduced

    how do i increase my internal memory, using ICS of urs.

  46. hi J.i got few qs,if u get time plz do ans thm.Thnx
    1) i created ext3 on sd,btz CWM dint boot 4m Ad-recovery,so i installed CWM again,still my earlier ext3 exist on sd.
    2) i m sturgling wid RTL languages on hd2,can u lead m 2 a CWM rom with RTL languages option.
    3) my camera is nt working on MIUI with andriod version 2.3.5 and build number MIUI-1.8.5
    4) if a hav multiple zip roms simultaneously on sd card,can i install thm at different times by CWM,n also can i change the rom without losing data except back-up.
    6) how 2 install custom rom on hd2,i where i can get custom rom.
    THNX.

    • 1. What is your issue?
      2. No idea as I don’t use RTL language.
      3. Please consult MIUI ROM chef.
      4. Yes. No changing ROM will lose data. So backup them first.
      6. Please refer to the guide that I sent you previously.

      • thnx J 4 ur attention.
        Let m rephrase my 1st question again,i completed all steps up2 ext3 on sd successfully,bt whn i tried 2 boot 4m D-Recovery,it showed m message
        no boot sources
        so i installed CWM again,bt dint created ext3 again on sd,so does my previos ext3 partition exist?.
        this was my question.hope u will get it now.
        nw how can i check ext3 partion tht it exist n working properly.As A2SD shows 0.98Gb,while i allocated 1024KB.tht means its fine rite?

  47. Is this procedure will effect the SD card?
    because i tried it once and my card needed to be formatted to work again,please advice

  49. Hi,

    I’ve been using a partition on the SD card like this for a few months with my HTC Desire running Oxygen. The extra space is great!

    However yesterday I connected my phone to the PC to copy over and delete off photos, etc. After I did that the SD card seems to have got partially corrupted.

    I can still access many files on the SD card (you know, the essential stuff like music) but apps and app data which are on the card (I think the partition rather than the ‘plain’ card) are broken. I can’t run them, uninstall them or update them.

    I’ve tried searching online for a solution, but can’t see the exact answer to my problem. Could you give me a few pointers, please?

    BTW: I understand that I am fully responsible for my actions in all of this – you are giving advice only 😉

    Thanks,

    Phil

      • Thanks for the advice. Once I knew what I was looking for, I found that I could boot my phone into ‘Recovery’ and under ‘Partition SD Card’ was the option to ‘Repair SD:ext’. It took a few minutes to complete and now all seems OK again. 🙂

  50. i installed the typhoon OS and i followed the partition as you did 1024M and 0M, then when i turned on my phone I lost all my saved data in my SD card 🙁
    how do i retrieve them???? or is there a way to restore my SD card to its original state before doing the partition?

  52. Hi Jaycee,
    i have installed nexus hd2 ics cm9 hwa-v2.8 rom. my clockwork is 250m. i have now around 50mb internal storage. i did sd partition (8gb card) thru recovery of 1gb,, it shows now 7gb and 1gb but partition but i can’t increase my internal memory as instruction provided online. some r mentioning ext4, some are ext3 partition. can u pls give me details instruction to solve my memory problem. (i want to increase my internal memory to 1gb) i used app2sd app also and it does move apps to sd card but internal memory issue isn’t solved. do i need to partition thru computer as when i make a partition thru recovery, my files in memory card are not wiped out.

  53. i wana make partition on hd2 running on ics 4.0.4 internol memory is very low 82mb ..this method is easy and i make partion if i made mistake then my phone will be dead or not and sd card dead ?? sorry my english is poor … i m waiting your reply jayce.. thank you

  56. Hey! How long should the partitioning take? cause I waited like half an hour and it stil said “partitioning sd card… please wait…”

  57. jayce please i need ur help i wanted to install andriod ROM from my sd card but i can’t load the file into the sd card when i connect the phone to the computer using usb storage mode….press power to go back it does’nt show me anything file in the computer what should i do i have already try to load the file from another phone into the sd card but when i try to install from ricovery it can’t find the zip file and it is on the sd card…please help me cos i want to try other ROM….

  58. hello jayce

    i followed all the steps correctly as you mentioned but after it was done i rebooted my htc hd2 (android 4.0.4) everything was fine but when i open storage option in settings i saw that nothing was changed and it was same the way it was and same in the app option in the settings

    but yes my sd card memory was halved from 2 gb to 824 mb what should i do now……

  59. hi jayce by mistake i partitioned my sd card using cwm recovery without backing up data first.now the data is lost and the most important file-titanium backup file isnt visible via easeus data recovery software.how do i recover it?
    thanks a lot

  60. hey jayce hi just have a question that if i partion and put the a2sd file on my sd card of 2GB then after my phone become android can i change my sd card after that is done .. pls do reply

  66. Hi Jaycees.

    I ve partioned my 1gb SD with 512m before 3 months. And now the space is not enough.so I partioned 8gb SD card with 1024m size. Now the thing is some of the important files are in 1gb SD (even playstore) so when I unmount 1gb SD and insert new one many files are missing. How should I transfer all files to new SD from the old one?

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