**REQUIRES ROOT**
Have you ever tried to copy a movie onto your device or tried to download a file larger than 4gb onto your phone? Currently can't be done. Until now...
This guide will show you how to overcome Android's requirement of a FAT32 formatted SD card and [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]FAT32's[/FONT][/FONT] limitation of a 4gb file size. This trick works by creating 2 partitions on your SD card. The first partition is a large [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]NTFS[/FONT][/FONT] partition that takes up almost all of the SD cards space. The second is a very small FAT32 partition with a life ambition of satisfying Android's requirement for a FAT32 formatted SD card. For those of you who already got it all figured out now, go to town! For the rest of you, keep reading.
Cans
You can use this method to [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]store [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]files[/FONT][/FONT] larger than 4gb and download files larger than 4gb if you app supports changing download destination folder.
You can plug your device into your computer and access this storage without any problems.
You can use this to back up apps using Titanium Backup as long as you have the ability to download Paragon from the market to mount and restore.
Can'ts
You can not use this SD card in any of the [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]recoveries[/FONT][/FONT]. None will see the NTFS partition, and some won't even mount the SD card at all.
If you app does not let you change your download destination folder from /sdcard/download/ to /sdcard-ext/storage/, you can not download files 4gb+.
You can not use the SD card to store app data. Probably not a big deal since you have 8gb of internal storage.
You can not store any more than 32mb of data in only the /sdcard-ext/ folder since this is the root of the FAT32 partition.
Terms:
[FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]File [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]System[/FONT][/FONT] - The programming that organizes files on a computer. Each of them work differently, like how each person organizes their desk differently.
Partition - A section of your storage space. Think of it as rooms in a house. Each partition can have a different file system and can act like separate disks.
FAT32 - An old file system that works on everything. Has serious limitations because large multiple gigabyte files were not foreseen during its development.
NTFS - Newer file system that works many things. Requires licensing from Microsoft to include it in products, so it isn't commonly used on competitors stuff.
Mount - The act of attaching a file system to a folder. Makes anything that is placed in that folder go onto the corresponding file system.
Step 1. Download and install the required software. *Assumes [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]Windows [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]computer[/FONT][/FONT].*
You will need a program to manipulate partitions on your SD card. The program used in this guide is called "MiniTool Partition Wizard [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]Home [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]Edition[/FONT]"[/FONT]. It is free for personal use. You can download it at http://download.cnet...4-10962200.html. You will also need to install "Paragon exFAT, NTFS, & HFS+" from Google Play Store and install it on your device.
Step 2. Clear your SD card. ***This will erase your SD card. [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]Back [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]up [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]your [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]data[/FONT][/FONT] to your computer first!***
Insert your SD card into your device and plug it into your computer. In your notifications, select "USB Mass Storage" mode. Once you see your SD card show up in My Computer, open MiniTool Partition Wizard. You will see a list of your attached storage devices on the right. Find your SD card in the list. The disk number will depend on your computers configuration. [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]Right [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]click[/FONT][/FONT] on the disk icon and select "Delete All Partitions". Click yes. Now you should see in the area near the disk icon where it shows your total storage space the word unallocated. This means your SD card is completely blank. Now right click in this area and select "Create".
Step 3. Configure your NTFS partition.
In this new dialog box from step 2, you will see options to create a new partition. Leave settings at their default unless you are told to alter them in this guide. The partition label can be whatever you want. This will only affect what the SD cards name will be when you have it plugged into your computer. In the "Create As" box you will want to select "primary". The file system should be set to NTFS. The file system for this first partition must be NTFS. If it is not, you will not be able to access most of your SD cards storage space on a Windows computer!Windows only sees the first partition on an SD card. The partition size will vary based on your SD cards capacity. The key here is to leave a minimum of 34mb of space unallocated for the FAT32 partition. Take the default partition size, which is equal to your SD cards total capacity and subtract 34 from it. Change the partition size number to match the adjusted size you calculated. This will leave you with 34mb of free space. Make sure that the 34mb of space is in the "Unallocated Space After" box, since we want this NTFS partition to start at the beginning of the SD card. Click ok.
Step 4. Configure your FAT32 partition.
Now you should be on the main screen of MiniTool Partiton Wizard. Next to your disk icon, you should now see that you have most of the SD card allocated as an NTFS partiton. Right click on the unallocated portion and select "Create". You will get a dialog box stating that this second partition will not be seen by Windows. We don't want it to be seen. Click ok. Leave the label blank for this one. Change the "Create As" to "primary". Change the file system to FAT32. If you do not change the file system to FAT32, Android will not detect a recognized file system and will complain with a persistent notification while the SD card is inserted. All other options can be left at the defaults. Click ok. Your disk should now show 2 partitions, one large NTFS and one small FAT32. If it does not, re-read the guide and start from step 1 again. If it is all good, click apply in the upper left hand corner. This may take a while to complete all of the alterations. Do not unplug your device until this is complete.
Step 5. Configure Paragon to mount the NTFS partition.
Once you have completed step 4, you can unplug your device. Reboot it. Once it starts back up, you may see a notification that Paragon has mounted your NTFS to the sdcard-ext folder. This won't last long though because almost immediately Android will re-mount the FAT32 partition to that same folder. If you go check out your storage settings, you will indeed see that you have a ~32mb SD card. What needs to be done is to change the folder that Paragon mounts the NTFS partition to something different. Open Paragon and you should see your NTFS partition listed. Click "Mount" and then click "Choose mount point manually...". Scroll down the list of folders until you see "sdcard-ext". Click that and then click "New...". Enter a folder name of your choice. Probably something like "storage". Click "Create" and click "Mount". It should give you a new notification and should send you back to Paragon's main screen. Here you can hit your menu button and go into settings to change stuff like mount at boot and notifications. Personally I like to leave the notifications on for a little while to make sure its mounting when it is supposed to. Once you have confidence that it is working, you can turn off notifications to make everything seem like its working completely like it did stock.
Step 6. Test it out.
Hook up your device to your computer. You should be able to access most of your SD cards storage space. If this is all good, try to copy a file to it. It doesn't have to be 4+gb, but that is the reason your are doing this!. Once the copy is complete, unplug your device and open your favorite file manager. Navigate to /sdcard-ext/storage/ and see if your file is there. If it is then you have successfully completed this guide. If not, post a comment and we will try and work through this.
Thanks for reading my guide and trying this out. Please feel free to post any comments and any corrections that need to be made. I will try to support anybody having trouble doing this as best as I can.
V1.00 Initial post.
Have you ever tried to copy a movie onto your device or tried to download a file larger than 4gb onto your phone? Currently can't be done. Until now...
This guide will show you how to overcome Android's requirement of a FAT32 formatted SD card and [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]FAT32's[/FONT][/FONT] limitation of a 4gb file size. This trick works by creating 2 partitions on your SD card. The first partition is a large [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]NTFS[/FONT][/FONT] partition that takes up almost all of the SD cards space. The second is a very small FAT32 partition with a life ambition of satisfying Android's requirement for a FAT32 formatted SD card. For those of you who already got it all figured out now, go to town! For the rest of you, keep reading.
Cans
You can use this method to [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]store [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]files[/FONT][/FONT] larger than 4gb and download files larger than 4gb if you app supports changing download destination folder.
You can plug your device into your computer and access this storage without any problems.
You can use this to back up apps using Titanium Backup as long as you have the ability to download Paragon from the market to mount and restore.
Can'ts
You can not use this SD card in any of the [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]recoveries[/FONT][/FONT]. None will see the NTFS partition, and some won't even mount the SD card at all.
If you app does not let you change your download destination folder from /sdcard/download/ to /sdcard-ext/storage/, you can not download files 4gb+.
You can not use the SD card to store app data. Probably not a big deal since you have 8gb of internal storage.
You can not store any more than 32mb of data in only the /sdcard-ext/ folder since this is the root of the FAT32 partition.
Terms:
[FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]File [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]System[/FONT][/FONT] - The programming that organizes files on a computer. Each of them work differently, like how each person organizes their desk differently.
Partition - A section of your storage space. Think of it as rooms in a house. Each partition can have a different file system and can act like separate disks.
FAT32 - An old file system that works on everything. Has serious limitations because large multiple gigabyte files were not foreseen during its development.
NTFS - Newer file system that works many things. Requires licensing from Microsoft to include it in products, so it isn't commonly used on competitors stuff.
Mount - The act of attaching a file system to a folder. Makes anything that is placed in that folder go onto the corresponding file system.
Step 1. Download and install the required software. *Assumes [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]Windows [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]computer[/FONT][/FONT].*
You will need a program to manipulate partitions on your SD card. The program used in this guide is called "MiniTool Partition Wizard [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]Home [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]Edition[/FONT]"[/FONT]. It is free for personal use. You can download it at http://download.cnet...4-10962200.html. You will also need to install "Paragon exFAT, NTFS, & HFS+" from Google Play Store and install it on your device.
Step 2. Clear your SD card. ***This will erase your SD card. [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]Back [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]up [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]your [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]data[/FONT][/FONT] to your computer first!***
Insert your SD card into your device and plug it into your computer. In your notifications, select "USB Mass Storage" mode. Once you see your SD card show up in My Computer, open MiniTool Partition Wizard. You will see a list of your attached storage devices on the right. Find your SD card in the list. The disk number will depend on your computers configuration. [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]Right [/FONT][FONT=inherit !important]click[/FONT][/FONT] on the disk icon and select "Delete All Partitions". Click yes. Now you should see in the area near the disk icon where it shows your total storage space the word unallocated. This means your SD card is completely blank. Now right click in this area and select "Create".
Step 3. Configure your NTFS partition.
In this new dialog box from step 2, you will see options to create a new partition. Leave settings at their default unless you are told to alter them in this guide. The partition label can be whatever you want. This will only affect what the SD cards name will be when you have it plugged into your computer. In the "Create As" box you will want to select "primary". The file system should be set to NTFS. The file system for this first partition must be NTFS. If it is not, you will not be able to access most of your SD cards storage space on a Windows computer!Windows only sees the first partition on an SD card. The partition size will vary based on your SD cards capacity. The key here is to leave a minimum of 34mb of space unallocated for the FAT32 partition. Take the default partition size, which is equal to your SD cards total capacity and subtract 34 from it. Change the partition size number to match the adjusted size you calculated. This will leave you with 34mb of free space. Make sure that the 34mb of space is in the "Unallocated Space After" box, since we want this NTFS partition to start at the beginning of the SD card. Click ok.
Step 4. Configure your FAT32 partition.
Now you should be on the main screen of MiniTool Partiton Wizard. Next to your disk icon, you should now see that you have most of the SD card allocated as an NTFS partiton. Right click on the unallocated portion and select "Create". You will get a dialog box stating that this second partition will not be seen by Windows. We don't want it to be seen. Click ok. Leave the label blank for this one. Change the "Create As" to "primary". Change the file system to FAT32. If you do not change the file system to FAT32, Android will not detect a recognized file system and will complain with a persistent notification while the SD card is inserted. All other options can be left at the defaults. Click ok. Your disk should now show 2 partitions, one large NTFS and one small FAT32. If it does not, re-read the guide and start from step 1 again. If it is all good, click apply in the upper left hand corner. This may take a while to complete all of the alterations. Do not unplug your device until this is complete.
Step 5. Configure Paragon to mount the NTFS partition.
Once you have completed step 4, you can unplug your device. Reboot it. Once it starts back up, you may see a notification that Paragon has mounted your NTFS to the sdcard-ext folder. This won't last long though because almost immediately Android will re-mount the FAT32 partition to that same folder. If you go check out your storage settings, you will indeed see that you have a ~32mb SD card. What needs to be done is to change the folder that Paragon mounts the NTFS partition to something different. Open Paragon and you should see your NTFS partition listed. Click "Mount" and then click "Choose mount point manually...". Scroll down the list of folders until you see "sdcard-ext". Click that and then click "New...". Enter a folder name of your choice. Probably something like "storage". Click "Create" and click "Mount". It should give you a new notification and should send you back to Paragon's main screen. Here you can hit your menu button and go into settings to change stuff like mount at boot and notifications. Personally I like to leave the notifications on for a little while to make sure its mounting when it is supposed to. Once you have confidence that it is working, you can turn off notifications to make everything seem like its working completely like it did stock.
Step 6. Test it out.
Hook up your device to your computer. You should be able to access most of your SD cards storage space. If this is all good, try to copy a file to it. It doesn't have to be 4+gb, but that is the reason your are doing this!. Once the copy is complete, unplug your device and open your favorite file manager. Navigate to /sdcard-ext/storage/ and see if your file is there. If it is then you have successfully completed this guide. If not, post a comment and we will try and work through this.
Thanks for reading my guide and trying this out. Please feel free to post any comments and any corrections that need to be made. I will try to support anybody having trouble doing this as best as I can.
V1.00 Initial post.
