maemo.org - Talk - Repartition the internal drive

I recently managed to repartition nand, emmc and mmc to fit my needs, a simple step by step isn't available. So i decided to include the process i used to do it.
I made a well commented (i hope) step by step tutorial so everyone can follow. The only issue i encountered (and didn't solve) is that when connected to a Pc in mass storage mode, only MyDocs is visible, mmc is not mountable by Pc. Everything else works.
So let's begin
I am using a 8GB mmc, you must adapt numbers for partitions
# the goal is to reach this config :
# nand -> /
# emmc partition 1 (remaining) -> /home/user/MyDocs
# emmc partition 2 (4GB) -> /home
# emmc partition 3 (4GB) -> /usr
# emmc partition 4 (768MB) -> swap
# mmc partition 1 (remaining) -> /media/mmc1
# mmc partition 2 (2GB) -> /var
Edit : no need to customize kernel as stated before
install rootsh or openssh-server (to do it via ssh, if wifi at home)

Code:

sudo gainroot (or ssh as root)

# install nano

Code:

apt-get install nano-opt

# partition /dev/mmcblk1 (tmp)
# n900 seems to mount without asking so some umounts are needed

Code:

umount /dev/mmcblk1p1

# be carefull you must adapt the following numbers
# p1=512MB (backup MyDocs), p2=1GB (backup /home), p3=5.5GB (not used), p4=768MB (swap)
# I made small partitions to speed the formatting process (remember it's temporary partitionned)

Code:

sfdisk /dev/mmcblk1

0 32768 c

32768 16384 83

49152 169472 83

218624 24576 82

y

# sometimes partitions are not resynch'ed so better reboot

Code:

reboot

# format partitions on /dev/mmcblk1

Code:

umount /dev/mmcblk1p1

mkfs.vfat /dev/mmcblk1p1

mkfs.ext3 /dev/mmcblk1p2

mkswap /dev/mmcblk1p4

# parking tmp1 (because of n900 mounting automatically)

Code:

umount /dev/mmcblk1p1

mkdir /media/mmc1/tmp

mount /dev/mmcblk1p1 /media/mmc1/tmp

# move /home/user/MyDocs to tmp1

Code:

mkdir /media/mmc1/MyDocs

umount /dev/mmcblk1p1

mount /dev/mmcblk1p1 /media/mmc1/MyDocs -o rw,noauto,nodev,noexec,nosuid,noatime,nodiratime,utf8,uid=29999,shortname=mixed,dmask=000,fmask=0133,rodir

cd /home/user

cp -a MyDocs /media/mmc1

umount /dev/mmcblk0p1

mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /media/mmc1/tmp

# move /home in tmp2

Code:

mkdir /media/mmc1/home

mount /dev/mmcblk1p2 /media/mmc1/home

cd /

cp -a home /media/mmc1

# prepare reboot

Code:

nano -w /etc/event.d/rcS-late

change

Quote:

fstab=/etc/fstab

Quote:

fstab=/etc/_fstab

Code:

nano -w /etc/fstab

change

Quote:

/dev/mmcblk0p1 -> /dev/mmcblk1p1
/dev/mmcblk0p2 -> /dev/mmcblk1p2
/dev/mmcblk0p3 -> /dev/mmcblk1p4

Code:

swapoff /dev/mmcblk0p3

swapon /dev/mmcblk1p4

reboot

# repair automatically mounted partitions

Code:

umount /dev/mmcblk0p1

umount /dev/mmcblk1p1

mount /dev/mmcblk1p1

mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /media/mmc1/tmp

at this point you should have /home, MyDocs and swap on mmc, so emmc can be easily partitionned.

# partition /dev/mmcblk0

Code:

umount /dev/mmcblk0p1

sfdisk /dev/mmcblk0

0 688256 c

688256 131072 83

819328 131072 83

950400 24576 82

y

# sometimes partitions are not resynch'ed so better reboot

Code:

reboot

# format partitions on emmc

Code:

umount /dev/mmcblk0p1

mkfs.vfat /dev/mmcblk0p1

mkfs.ext3 /dev/mmcblk0p2

mkfs.ext3 /dev/mmcblk0p3

mkswap /dev/mmcblk0p4

mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /media/mmc1/tmp

# restore /home/user/MyDocs

Code:

umount /dev/mmcblk0p1

mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /media/mmc1/MyDocs -o rw,noauto,nodev,noexec,nosuid,noatime,nodiratime,utf8,uid=29999,shortname=mixed,dmask=000,fmask=0133,rodir

mount /dev/mmcblk1p1

cd /home/user

cp -a MyDocs /media/mmc1

# prepare reboot

Code:

nano -w /etc/fstab

change

Quote:

/dev/mmcblk1p1 -> /dev/mmcblk0p1
/dev/mmcblk1p2 -> /dev/mmcblk0p2
/dev/mmcblk1p4 -> /dev/mmcblk0p4

Code:

swapoff /dev/mmcblk1p4

swapon /dev/mmcblk0p4

reboot

now you have a system with custom /home (4GB) and MyDocs (20GB) with a 3rd partition unused (4GB).
moving /usr is hard but moving /var is harder and will brick (must reflash) if not done carefully.
Moving /usr and /var can be done in one step (without rebooting between), I prefer going slowly but surely

# partition /dev/mmcblk1 (final)
# ! those numbers must be changed for you

Code:

umount /dev/mmcblk1p1

sfdisk /dev/mmcblk1

0 177664 c

177664 65536 83





y

# sometimes partitions are not resynch'ed so better reboot

Code:

reboot

# format mmc

Code:

umount /dev/mmcblk1p1

mkfs.vfat /dev/mmcblk1p1

mkfs.ext3 /dev/mmcblk1p2

mount /dev/mmcblk1p1 /media/mmc1/tmp

# move /usr

Code:

umount /dev/mmcblk1p1

mount /dev/mmcblk1p1 /media/mmc1/tmp

mkdir /media/mmc1/usr

mount /dev/mmcblk0p3 /media/mmc1/usr

cd /

cp -a usr /media/mmc1

# change partitions' tables

Code:

nano -w /etc/fstab

add

Quote:

/dev/mmcblk0p3 /usr ext3 defaults 0 0

Code:

nano -w /etc/init.d/rcS

add before call of mount_devpts (second occurence of this string)

Quote:

mount /usr || echo "Error mounting /usr"

Code:

reboot

# move /var

Code:

umount /dev/mmcblk1p1

mount /dev/mmcblk1p1 /media/mmc1/tmp

mkdir /media/mmc1/var

mount /dev/mmcblk1p2 /media/mmc1/var

cd /

cp -a var /media/mmc1

# change partition's tables

Code:

nano -w /etc/fstab

add

Quote:

/dev/mmcblk1p2 /var ext3 defaults 0 0

Code:

nano -w /etc/init.d/rcS

add before call of mount_devpts (second occurence of this string)
and before mount /usr

Quote:

mount /var || echo "Erreur montage /var"
rm -rf /var/run/*

Code:

reboot

# remove automatic update

Code:

gconftool -s --type int /apps/hildon/update-notifier/check_interval 2147483647

Now you have changed a phone that can do computers things into a computer than can do phone calls

Good luke and happy hacking