Convert microSD to ext2?
 

Hi all,

I've recently put a lot of WebOS games on my phone, and this has filled up the 2GB partition quite quickly.
Is there a way to convert my microSD from FAT to ext2 or something thats compatible to store the games on and mount this as something like /webos?
It would be appreciated if someone could give me the commands to do so. :)
Thanks in advance

Edit: Or ext3.....What's the difference? :D

Re: Convert microSD to ext2?
 

Yes, there certainly is :D. I assume you have one big partition on your MicroSD card, which would then be /dev/mmcblk1p1 in Maemo. The mkfs.ext2 comand will wipe that partition, backup your data from the card first!

Open terminal:
Nokia-N900:~$ root
Nokia-N900:~# sfdisk -c /dev/mmcblk1 1 83
Nokia-N900:~# mkfs.ext2 /dev/mmcblk1p1

Now the card is formatted as ext2. One disadvantage is that Maemo will show you a message stating that the memory card's partition type is not supported every time you boot/disconnect usb cable when in mass storage mode. This doesn't have any negative side effects though (besides the camera (maybe?) not being able to save to the memory card)

Furthermore, Maemo won't mount the ext2 partition on boot by default. You'll have to mount it manually each boot, or edit /etc/event.d/rcS-late to have it automounted at boot.

To do this: mkdir /webos as root, open /etc/event.d/rcS-late in your favorite texteditor as root.
Look for the line ' -f /usr/lib/genfstab.awk > $tmp_fstab'
Add below that line (new line):
echo "/dev/mmcblk1p1 /webos ext2 defaults,noatime 0 0" >> $tmp_fstab
Messing up the rcS-late file can brick your device, double check your changes.

I would do the above, however other (probably more cleaner) methods have been described in this thread: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=42045 (haven't tried the commands described in this thread myself, so no comments from me)

In a nutshell: ext3 is ext2 + journaling. Journaling helps with data consistency, but the extra writes will wear the flash more than no journal. Google ext2 vs ext3 for more differences ;)

Edit: for reference: mkfs.ext3 will create an ext3 partition

Re: Convert microSD to ext2?
 

Alternatively you can follow my tutorial on how to put those games in your FAT32 partition on the eMMC instead :)
You still be able to use your MicroSD card for something else while it still have both in one sort of thing. It may be a bit difficult at first try but after you've done it once, the tutorial is seems straight forward and you can do it to all games you want :),

If you want to partition your microSD you can also use Gparted if you preferred GUI mode.

Re: Convert microSD to ext2?
 

If the Palm Pre games are the only thing you want the extra space for, then maxximuscool his method be the safest, as it doesn't involve modifying a system file (assuming you want the microsd card to automount).

Partitioning with gparted is indeed also possible, but IMO the 3 commands described are just as easy, but that's personal ;)

Re: Convert microSD to ext2?
 

My rcS-late looks like this now:

I've put some games on it and it works fine. I hope the phone won't explode when I reboot one day. Thanks a lot :D

Re: Convert microSD to ext2?
 

I said place the echo line BELOW the given -f ... line, not above it.
Placing the line above it will cause an infinite reboot loop!

Please fix it ASAP (you dont't want a reboot right now)

Re: Convert microSD to ext2?
 

Re: Convert microSD to ext2?
 

doh, completely missed that one -_-

Re: Convert microSD to ext2?
 

The easiest way is using a linux distribution.. You can try downloading the latest ubuntu based distro known as Super OS (link - http://hacktolive.org/wiki/Super_OS) , burn it to cd and boot it into live mod.. Connect your phone and run gparted (preinstalled in the OS) . From gparted you can convert ya Sd to ext3, ext2, fat16, fat 32, ntfs, swap and so on..

Re: Convert microSD to ext2?
 

Too much movements for such simple task IMO. Bye the way you already have a computer running linux — n900 itself.