Strange partitions on nexus 7

kultex · 13 Nov 2020, 12:06

I bought a Nexus 7 on eBay that was broken and did not boot. Android recovery didn't work but Ubuntu touch fortunately installed without problems.
At the first analysis the hard disk is formatted in a strange way.

Disk /dev/loop0: 2 GiB, 2097152000 bytes, 4096000 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/loop1: 120,9 MiB, 126738432 bytes, 247536 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 28,8 GiB, 30937186304 bytes, 60424192 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 98101B32-BBE2-4BF2-A06E-2BB33D000C20

Device            Start      End  Sectors  Size Type
/dev/mmcblk0p1   131072   306143   175072 85,5M Microsoft basic data
/dev/mmcblk0p2   393216   399359     6144    3M unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p3   399360   405503     6144    3M unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p4   524288   554287    30000 14,7M Linux filesystem
/dev/mmcblk0p5   655360   656919     1560  780K unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p6   656920   658479     1560  780K unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p7   786432   787991     1560  780K unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p8   787992   794135     6144    3M unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p9   917504   920503     3000  1,5M unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p10  920504   923503     3000  1,5M unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p11  923504   927599     4096    2M unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p12  927600   937839    10240    5M unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p13  937840   938863     1024  512K unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p14 1048576  1081343    32768   16M unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p15 1179648  1180671     1024  512K unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p16 1180672  1180673        2    1K unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p17 1180674  1183673     3000  1,5M unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p18 1183674  1187769     4096    2M unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p19 1187770  1198009    10240    5M unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p20 1198010  1199033     1024  512K unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p21 1199034  1200057     1024  512K unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p22 1310720  3031039  1720320  840M Linux filesystem
/dev/mmcblk0p23 3031040  4177919  1146880  560M Linux filesystem
/dev/mmcblk0p24 4194304  4196351     2048    1M unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p25 4325376  4345855    20480   10M unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p26 4456448  4456463       16    8K unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p27 4456464  4456479       16    8K unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p28 4456480  4456481        2    1K unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p29 4587520  4587583       64   32K unknown
/dev/mmcblk0p30 4718592 60424158 55705567 26,6G Linux filesystem

Do I have a possibility to correct this

eichenbast · 13 Nov 2020, 14:44

@kultex nexus 7 needed for installing Lineage 9 (8 also?) and forks of it a repartition. So maybe it has been repartitioned with a modified Twrp for that reason. In that case, it may help to partitionate with a former twrp that does not partitionate. (I do not know which version.)

kultex · 13 Nov 2020, 17:00

Sorry i have no android experience....you mean i install twrp and delete there partitions and reinstall ubuntu touch?

Something like gparted is not available in ubuntu touch?

eichenbast · 13 Nov 2020, 18:16

@kultex this is the way I would do, because it seems the easiest way for me; it would partitionate the device to the original condition. Howto in fastboot is described on twrp.me and (I think) Lineage os. (probably you will need an older version of twrp, before the appearance of LOS 9).

kultex · 13 Nov 2020, 20:24

@eichenbast I just found a thread, that this 30 partitions are very normal in android???
https://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-7-2013/general/guide-repartition-nexus72013-to-t3599907

I guess UBports is using only p1 for recovery and p30 for the rest - everything else is unused from UBports??

So I guess I dont need twrp - I boot into UBports recovery and run from the PC

adb push parted /
adb shell
~ # chmod +x parted
~ # /parted /dev/block/mmcblk0

??? and delete all partitions exept p1 ????

and my next question - is there a possibility for dual boot with postmarket os? I think, UBports is more advanced, but I am more familiar with Alpine Linux than with ubuntu...

dobey · 13 Nov 2020, 20:52

@kultex said in Strange partitions on nexus 7:

??? and delete all partitions exept p1 ????

No. This will break the system. Don't delete partitions at random. It won'get get you more space, and will break the system.

and my next question - is there a possibility for dual boot with postmarket os? I think, UBports is more advanced, but I am more familiar with Alpine Linux than with ubuntu...

No, dual boot is not supported by Ubuntu Touch on any devices.

A Former User · 14 Nov 2020, 08:34

@kultex So looks the partitions on Pinephone https://forums.ubports.com/topic/4950/pinephone-as-a-daily-driver-test-report?_=1605342465632.
Multiboot works on Pinephone only.