(How To) CM7 Bootable SD

[J515OP]

Is this correct? I'm anxious to get my rooted nook up and at 'em

Hi epsato, we have a bit of miscommunication it seems, which is not uncommon when trying to communicate technicla details through a forum. So let's start over shall we?

The memory available to you on the memory card will depend on how you are using it. Since this is the bootable CM7 thread the base assumption is that you are creating a bootable CM7 card to use.

Option 1: You have stock B&N or rooted B&N on the internal memory of your Nook. When you boot into this OS you are using the bootable CM7 card as a data card. This is not a good option since the stock or rooted B&N OS will only see the boot partition of the bootable CM7 card. The recommendation here is to use a regular SD card without bootable CM7 on it. (If you must only use one card you can increase the boot partition to make more usable space for the B&N OS but this is not recommended).

Option 2: You have created a bootable CM7 card and you are trying to load files on it but not seeing much space. This is because the process of creating a bootable Sd card makes only the small boot partition visible to the B&N OS or the PC. This does not mean that your SD card space is being wasted, rather that it is only visible if you boot into CM7 where the bootable OS can access the space. TO load the files you must go through CM7.

If the intent is to have one card with all of your files that is used between both the B&N OS and the bootable CM7 OS this is not possible. Unless you have special needs for the B&N OS (the read to me feature for example) or you just don't want to mess with the internal memory you should just commit to using CM7 which is superior to B&N as a tablet OS. Then just load all of your files to the part of the SD card that CM7 can see as usable space.

You shouldn't need to repartition anything for just accessible memory purposes. If you need to create a bigger boot partition for initial installation you can repartition. If you need a bigger boot partition for files accessible to the B&N OS I strongly suggest rethinking your use of the Nook and the SD card.

Please provide a little more info on what you want to do with your Nook and CM7 and hopefully we can figure out what you need to do.

JP

 

[Daphne]

Ok, once you have 7zip you unzip the generic SD image file. This should leave you with a file of the same name but .img at the end.

There should be a free versions of win32diskimager that don't require any trial option. Once this is downloaded you open the folder it is saved in and there will be several files one of which will be the actual program (.exe file). Right click on this file and then select "run as administrator" It opens up a small program that looks like this:

View attachment 4921

Click #1 to find the generic sd .img file. Click #2 to select your SD card drive letter. Click #3 to burn the image to the SD card.

For the CM7 and Gapps zip files, leave these zipped and copy and paste them on to the SD card.

I have tried 3 different versions, but winzip pops up everytime to open in a trial period and won't let me do anything.

Oh and my nook was just dropped off by UPS early wahoo.

 

[J515OP]

I have tried 3 different versions, but winzip pops up everytime to open in a trial period and won't let me do anything.

Oh and my nook was just dropped off by UPS early wahoo.

That is awesome congrats! As far as winzip, it is opening because it is the default program. Which version of Windows are you using? They are pretty much the same in any case. If you need to unzip the generic sd card.rar file right click on it and then select open with... At this point it might give you the option to use 7zip, if not use the browse button to navigate to where you downloaded and save 7zip. If you always want 7zip to open .rar (which you do) then you can check the box that says "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file."

You can also open the 7zip program and then from inside of it navigate to the file you want to "unzip" (the generic sd card .rar file).

 

[Daphne]

I have it unzipped using the 7zip and it is now a folder in my downloads, but all versions of win32diskimager pop up under winzip and I can't get the win32diskimager to run.
I have windows 7.
thanks again

 

[J515OP]

I have it unzipped using the 7zip and it is now a folder in my downloads, but all versions of win32diskimager pop up under winzip and I can't get the win32diskimager to run.
I have windows 7.
thanks again

Ah, you may have to unzip the win32 file you downloaded. Once that is unzipped you can run the program. To unzip the download file you can use either winzip or 7zip.

 

[Daphne]

I think I give up for now. I have spent all day trying to do this, I need a break.

 

[epsato]

JP- Many thanks. I plotted in the quotes and added some comments to fill you in on what I'm attempting to do.

The memory available to you on the memory card will depend on how you are using it. Since this is the bootable CM7 thread the base assumption is that you are creating a bootable CM7 card to use.

- Yes- this is exactly what I'm attempting to do.

Option 2: You have created a bootable CM7 card and you are trying to load files on it but not seeing much space. This is because the process of creating a bootable Sd card makes only the small boot partition visible to the B&N OS or the PC. This does not mean that your SD card space is being wasted, rather that it is only visible if you boot into CM7 where the bootable OS can access the space. TO load the files you must go through CM7.

-I went with this option. How can I access the space through CM7? When I did this CM7 root on an 8gb card, I was able to root fine. But when I started downloading apps, the "memory full" notification came up fast and all apps had to be stored on the internal memory. How do I get CM7 to recognize the extra space?

If the intent is to have one card with all of your files that is used between both the B&N OS and the bootable CM7 OS this is not possible. Unless you have special needs for the B&N OS (the read to me feature for example) or you just don't want to mess with the internal memory you should just commit to using CM7 which is superior to B&N as a tablet OS. Then just load all of your files to the part of the SD card that CM7 can see as usable space.

-I don't care for the B&N OS and was planning on using CM7 full time. No special needs there, but I do want to avoid messing with the internal memory and want to commit to using CM7. But again, how do I get CM7 to recognize the usable space as usable space?

You shouldn't need to repartition anything for just accessible memory purposes. If you need to create a bigger boot partition for initial installation you can repartition. If you need a bigger boot partition for files accessible to the B&N OS I strongly suggest rethinking your use of the Nook and the SD card.

-It's good news if I don't need to repartition. So how do I get my MP3s and other goodies onto that SD card? Is the USB method my only option?

Please provide a little more info on what you want to do with your Nook and CM7 and hopefully we can figure out what you need to do.

JP


JP- Many thanks, additional information is below as well:

Okay, so the goal: Originally, to have a tablet that runs some android market video apps (netflix, xfinity, hbo go, youtube, wmv videos), music (mp3/wmv), a few games (angry birds, that cool boxing game, a few others) and to work as an e-reader with the kindle software.

My first purchase was a craig 738b tablet from CVS, but it was woefully underpowered. Once rooted, the wifi failed so I returned it back to the store. I then bought the nook color thinking that it was the nook tablet (I found the ads a bit confusing, but I digress). After an angry " why won't this tablet run Netflix like your ads say it does" letter to BN, they gave me a refund and told me to keep the nook color. Before giving this away and buying yet another tablet, I thought to try rooting.

When I did the root with the 8 GB card, it worked fine, but I was limited to 106 mb worth of apps before it started sending stuff to internal memory. CM7 didn't "see" any memory on the card at all.

I haven't installed the new SD card (16 gb) into the nook yet because I wanted to install all the music and video files first. But when I attempted to do so with my computer, I got a "file is full" notice and saw only 106mb's worth of memory could be used for downloads.

What I would like to do with this SD card: download some music and videos off of my computer and use them in CM7. I'd also like to download apps off the android market and store them on the SD card as well.

LMK if more details are needed. I tend to be a bit verbose so my apologies if my post reads like Tolstoy...

 

[J515OP]

I think I give up for now. I have spent all day trying to do this, I need a break.

Still stuck on trying to get win32 to open? Take a break, its ok. Plus your Nook needs time to charge anyway

 

[J515OP]

espato, thanks for the explanation. I think I understand now. One point to keep things clear going forward and for others who may read this later. You are not actually rooting anything, you are running a custom ROM (CM7). Root generally refers to gaining root access of the original OS (B&N). In this case we are not touching that and running a custom ROM from a bootable sd card instead.

It is good to hear you successfully created an 8GB CM7 boot disk previously. It means you at least should have an idea of the process now. Do you still have this disk? If you do have it we may want to use that to check some things out before moving on to the 16GB card. To use the 8GB SD card, power down, insert the 8GB SD card and power up.

You must insert the 16GB card after burning the image and placing the CM7 and Gapps zip files on the card before you can access the remaining space on the card. When the setup runs it will establish the correct partitions. Until then you will only see the small boot partition.

It is surprising to hear you ran out of space on the 8GB disk so quickly. Perhaps we can figure out why and what you need to do to utilize the full space on the card. Are you installing large apps such as top of the line games?

By default when the bootable CM7 script runs, it creates 4 partitions.

1) 115MB Boot. This is what is seen when you put the disk in after booting to emmc or in a pc. This must stay as is. No files should be added here.
2) 460MB for system. This allows the Android operating system to run. You can't access this.
3) 975MB for data. This is your "internal memory" and at nearly a GB should provide plenty of room for apps.
4) The ramiander of the space for your "SD card". Since the whole OS is actually running on the physical SD card this is a virtual SD which the system uses.

In the case of the 8GB card this should leave you about 6.5GB for the virtual SD card and in the case of the 16GB card about 14.5GB for the virtual SD card.

So you should have more than enough room for apps and data. CM7 is actually the Gingerbread version of Android OS and supports moving apps to the SD card. Because you could actually use up the 1GB of internal memory fairly quickly depending on which apps you download and install, you can use a program to move compatible apps to the "SD card" to save space. Just search apps to sd in the Market https://market.android.com/search?q=apps2sd&so=1 for an application that can move apps to the virtual SD card space.

For files such as music, books, movies or pictures that you want to use, you must boot into CM7. Once in CM7 you can place all of these files onto the virtual SD card portion of the actual SD card. There are several ways to do this, you can use USB or you can do it wirelessly with programs such as Samba or dropbox. Once you have created a bootable CM7 SD card you can no longer simply insert the card into the pc and drag and drop files. You can't add the files before creating the card either and hope the card will run its setup and have them available for you once CM7 is setup.

Once the CM7 setup script has run you must boot into CM7 to get any files you want onto the virtual SD card. There will be plenty of space at this time to put whatever you want on there. You should be able to use CM7 as you have described after proper setup.

Of course the disadvantage of running the OS from the physical SD card is that you no longer have an SD card that you can insert and remove at will (this will remove the entire OS). All files must be loaded into the CM7 OS.

 

[epsato]

Cool. I'll give this a shot tonight and will let you know how it goes.

On the 8 GB card, it was odd because the app files only totalled 106 mb before the machine told me the card was full...

 

[Daphne]

Still stuck on trying to get win32 to open? Take a break, its ok. Plus your Nook needs time to charge anyway

yup still stuck on getting the win32 to open.

 

[Daphne]

I download the win32 from here https://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer/+download and did the 2nd down. When I go to unzip it do I extract files... or extract here or open?
Sorry for the noob questions

 

[J515OP]

I download the win32 from here https://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer/+download and did the 2nd down. When I go to unzip it do I extract files... or extract here or open?
Sorry for the noob questions

Just do extract here. It will then unzip in whatever directory you are in. Once done you can move the folder with the files in it to where ever is convenient (or just leave there).

EDIT: If you get an error about missing dll's when you try and run that one you might need to down load the first link, but try first.

 

[Daphne]

I extract here then this shows up
src file folder
clean windows batch file
compile windows batch file
GPL-2 file
LGPL- 2.1 1 file
MKzip windows batch file
readme text document

 

[J515OP]

I extract here then this shows up
src file folder
clean windows batch file
compile windows batch file
GPL-2 file
LGPL- 2.1 1 file
MKzip windows batch file
readme text document

That looks similar (I have the older 0.1-15r version but should't matter) . I have:

GPL-2
LGPL-2.1
mingwm10.dll
QtCore4.dll
QtGui4.dll
READ ME
Win32DiskImager

The last one is the one you want. Maybe you should try the first download link.