How to increase cache partition ( or any partition ) on Ubuntu Touch phone? Question.

Stefano

I would like to ask if someone could write a step by step tutorial how to increase a cache partition (or any other ) on Meizu Pro 5, as currently Xenial builds are failing to install in Recovery. Apparently the cache/recovery partition is too small for that image. 15.04 install without any problem though. Anyone to help? I managed to unpack the ubuntu*. tar.xz (or ubports*.tar.xz) to system and tried with fdisk, but I'm unable to delete the right partition and create a new one. So I'm pretty stuck at the moment. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

Marathon2422

@stefano did you flash ubuntu touch first and then flash 15.04…or 16.04. as flashing U T first sorts out the partition

Stefano

@marathon2422 I have tried to flash 16.04 version 14 and it fails at recovery. The version 1 I installed without any problem, but this version 14 and also later ones doesn't. Same message in recovery, contact support.
15.04 install without any issue.

Stefano

@marathon2422 what did you mean the flashing UT sorts out partition?

mihael

The way I did it (taking space from the 'custom' partition and adding it to the 'cache' partition):

it is not possible to do it from inside ubuntu so you need to install twrp and reboot that
now the fdisk inside twrp is too weak and cannot help us so mount the ubuntu system now which contains the fdisk we need:

mount /dev/block/sda41 /system
mount -t proc proc /system/proc
mount -t sysfs sys /system/sys
mount -o bind /dev /system/dev
chroot /system /bin/bash

now we have an fdisk that can do this:
fdisk: delete the 'custom' partition (partition 42 for my meizu pro 5)
fdisk: create the 'custom' partition with a smaller size (I calculated: 512 - (700 - 512) = 512 - 188 = 324MB so that 188 would be available to add to the current size of the 'cache' partition)
parted: give name 'custom' to the newly created partition name 42 custom
format that partition: mke2fs -t ext4 -m 0 /dev/block/sda42 - now, from what I understand from my notes, that didn't work so I had to reboot in twrp and then it worked
check if you want with df -h that you have a smaller 'custom' partition
check if you want that you can boot your phone and everything is ok
now repeat the above instructions for booting the twrp recovery and then mounting the ubuntu system
now repeat the above instructions do delete and recreate the 'cache' partition with a bigger size and then format it:
fdisk: delete 43 (that is the number of my cache partition on my meizu pro 5)
fdisk: recreate 43 - with the max size - I decreased the 'custom' partition so that the new 'cache' would be 700MB
parted: name 43 cache
reboot in twrp and format it: mke2fs -t ext4 -m 0 /dev/block/sda43
df -h or sudo parted -l - there you go!

Stefano

@mihael I'll give it a try. Thanks.

Stefano

@mihael I think I managed to do that. How would I verify how big my cache is now?

mihael

Oh, with df -h

Stefano

@mihael with adb shell or ?

Stefano

@mihael /dev/disk/by-partlabel/cache 496M 4.2M 482M 1% /android/cache what that means ??? Cos I changed it to 700 and saved it that way.

mihael

From terminal even...

I don't know... Mine shows

/dev/disk/by-partlabel/cache     679M  768K  664M   1% /android/cache

Stefano

@mihael for some reason it did not change/save even after I saved id with w and rebooted and formated the cache ???
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/block/sda1 1024 1279 256 1M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda2 1280 1343 64 256K Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda3 1344 1407 64 256K Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda21 2048 3071 1024 4M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda22 3072 5119 2048 8M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda23 5120 5631 512 2M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda24 5632 6655 1024 4M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda25 6656 7679 1024 4M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda26 7680 13823 6144 24M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda27 13824 22015 8192 32M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda28 22016 30207 8192 32M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda29 30208 35327 5120 20M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda30 35328 40447 5120 20M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda31 40448 45567 5120 20M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda32 45568 50687 5120 20M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda33 50688 55807 5120 20M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda41 65536 720895 655360 2.5G Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda42 720896 851967 131072 512M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda43 851968 983039 131072 512M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda44 983040 7633914 6650875 25.4G Microsoft basic data

But when I saved it the table was this:

dev/block/sda21 2048 3071 1024 4M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda22 3072 5119 2048 8M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda23 5120 5631 512 2M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda24 5632 6655 1024 4M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda25 6656 7679 1024 4M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda26 7680 13823 6144 24M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda27 13824 22015 8192 32M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda28 22016 30207 8192 32M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda29 30208 35327 5120 20M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda30 35328 40447 5120 20M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda31 40448 45567 5120 20M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda32 45568 50687 5120 20M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda33 50688 55807 5120 20M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda41 65536 720895 655360 2.5G Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda42 720896 797700 76805 300M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda43 797952 983039 185088 723M Microsoft basic data
/dev/block/sda44 983040 7633914 6650875 25.4G Microsoft basic data

SO WHAT NOW, WHY IT DID NOT SAVE???

mihael

I'm sorry, I really don't know... Maybe it's some linux issue that someone with more experience could shed light upon...

mihael

What does df -h from twrp console show?

Stefano

@mihael Did you do it on the phone TWRP terminal or via adb? I mean the whole repartitioning. Cos I have used adb shell for it.

Stefano

@mihael /dev/disk/by-partlabel/cache 496M 4.2M 482M 1% /android/cache

mihael

@Stefano I believe I did it through ssh...

Stefano

@mihael I give it a try again later, maybe I'll figure it out. (will try with TWRP terminal as well)

mihael

Let me know...

Stefano

@mihael I managed to do it. The problem was that I did not format the newly created partitions properly and did not change the names of them as I did not seen such an option in fdisk , but, there is an expert menu under ,x, and there is option to rename. After I renamed it, I format it and now it shows partition 43 = 723m, so I think that should suffice. Will try now to flash 16.04 now, we'll see what happens now! Thank you a lot for your help.

Edit. It flashed 16.04 without failing in recovery