Android AND CoreELEC PARTITIONS BOTH on EMMC for Ultimate Flexibility and Performance

D

DEcosse

Member
Install BOTH Android AND CoreELEC to EMMC for ultimate Flexibility and Performance

Originally validated using 7.1.2 Nougat Android Image - Now has also been tested/confirmed with Official Android 6 WF008 Marshmallow

(if you have problems, or to remove partition, re-flash the Android ROM with USB Burning Tool)

notrui said:
you can use dual boot:
-boot from CoreElec (boot from pendrive for example)
-or boot from android.
Click to expand...

Skynet said:
(y)

It's very reliable.
If you install it on the main memory it will be 10x faster.

To come back to Android just flash the full firmware.
Click to expand...
pusb87 said:
I found it incredibly slow when installed on the SD card, virtually unusable in navigating menus...playback was fine though.
I realise that it would be much quicker if installed to internal memory but that is not a favoured option for me as i like to use some android apps.
... .
Click to expand...

@Skynet & @pusb87 - see my info below - you no longer have to choose between installing one OS vs the other - get them BOTH on EMMC without having to reflash to replace one with the other. Both OS exist on separate partitions of EMMC - this is a major development!

See notes in this thread (link), particularly those by Emerson as pertains to S912 devices

The install script will

  • gather data of eMMC
  • count the appropriate partition address and size parameters and store them in local envs
  • check the free space original Android file system and resize the data partition
  • create new ext4 partition exclusively for CE
  • copy all the necessary files from storage to the new ext4 partition
This workaround will let both systems run from eMMC’s appropriate partition which are the halves of the original data partition. The installed and used CE system data will be copied to the new storage by the installer script.
The system will start from SD/USB as before but it is only for load and run the kernel from that.

The new system will not allow to update as usual.

Installation steps:

  • to install this mod you have to start CE from SD/USB as always.
  • download and copy the install-script and the modified kernel image to the Backup share of CE
  • login via SSH and type this 3 lines
Click to expand...

I am pleased to say this works perfectly! Whatever you have in your Kodi Setup - all configuration elements, skin, addons, userdata, account info etc will ALL be transferred during this script - and your CE will look exactly as it does running off your removable storage - no need to re-set-up your CE in any way!
So you maintain your Android Installation AND have CE running out of EMMC.

Here's what you do (I have no credit associated with this - it all came from the link I posted above from that posted by Emerson other than the extra notes I added in parentheses)

Specifically:

(For first-time CE users, prepare a std CoreELEC installation on a removable drive using one of methods from this guide - link
After you have the bootable image created go through at least the initial CE set-up for Network, Samba and SSH; you can then proceed as follows to move it to EMMC
Note that you can move the OS as-is and configure to your personal preferences (skin, add-ons, etc) after it has been moved, or you can configure it all on the card first - either way makes no difference, you will end up in the same place)

(Download) this version for S912 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TTnY2A2zBokdgg2dV7vWH4FLsjA3sNyi/view

Copy the files to the backup share
(You will need to use either SSH or Samba into the booted CoreELEC on the SD Card to copy the 4 unzipped files into the 'Backup' folder - Samba is easier to transfer the files - just note your local LAN IP address and add it as a share on your PC - go to 'Quick Access' on File Explorer and enter \\ yoursystem local IPAddress\ and you will see the file system for your CoreELEC SD Card - just use std copy/paste techniques to move the downloaded files into the Backup folder)

and run the commands.

Login via SSH

(I use Putty - and of course you need to enable SSH - and SAMBA if you're using that too - in the CE options - note the username and password for SSH)

and type this 3 lines

cd backup
chmod +x install_ext4.sh
./install_ext4.sh

(confirm the appropriate actions to proceed at each step;
then finally will ask you to reboot and again affirm)
Click to expand...

Notes - I was a little confused initially as, although it all appeared to go smoothly, I had no reboot to Android in the CE shutdown menu; and since it all looks identical to your SD Card install, I was questioning whether it was really transferred - or not!!!

Then I did a better job on my reading comprehension!!! ....

Important things I did not immediately grasp:

Emerson said:
The system will start from SD/USB as before but it is only for load and run the kernel from that.
Click to expand...

Emerson said:
The whole procedure will run automatically and no user interaction need, after reboot the system will run on the ext4 partition.
Click to expand...

vpeter said:
If I understand script correctly you still need SD card to boot from?
Click to expand...

Emerson said:
It reads the SD card for a few seconds and umount the system
Click to expand...

Having read that, from the System Information on the CE System Summary screen I could see that it was indeed installed in MMC
So I popped out the SD card (after it was booted) and confirmed that CE was indeed all still working properly - can't get better confirmation than that!
I then thought about why the 'quit' menu wasn't showing the reboot to Android option - but I run a different skin - I switched back to Estuary and there it was! Then switched back and I looked under the quit menu options in my preferred skin and saw that Reboot to Android* was a selectable option (which had not been selected) - selected that and now all is as advertised!

* Actually there is a quirk to action that reboot where you need to first click 'reboot to android' and then click reboot - another excellent workaround for that action from a single click can be found here - https://discourse.coreelec.org/t/command-to-reboot-to-emmc-nand-to-use-on-other-skins/1937/5
(if using the std Estuary skin that comes on CE, no need to do anything)

So in final note, just to reiterate it does still require the SD card (or USB) to be in place for booting and mounting the partition but the actual CE is running off the EMMC.

I think this is a great mod, major kudos to the developers for amending the CEEMMC program by CE to run on older gen systems - it works!!!
 
Last edited:
DEcosse said:
Install BOTH Android AND CoreELEC to EMMC for ultimate Flexibility and Performance






@Skynet & @pusb87 - see my info below - you no longer have to choose between installing one OS vs the other - get them BOTH on EMMC without having to reflash to replace one with the other. Both OS exist on separate partitions of EMMC - this is a major development!

See notes in this thread (link), particularly those by Emerson as pertains to S912 devices

I am pleased to say this works perfectly! Whatever you have in your Kodi Setup - all configuration elements, skin, addons, userdata, account info etc will ALL be transferred during this script - and your CE will look exactly as it does running off your removable storage - no need to re-set-up your CE in any way!
So you maintain your Android Installation AND have CE running out of EMMC.

Here's what you do (I have no credit associated with this - it all came from the link I posted above from that posted by Emerson other than the extra notes I added in parentheses)

Specifically:



Notes - I was a little confused initially as, although it all appeared to go smoothly, I had no reboot to Android in the CE shutdown menu; and since it all looks identical to your SD Card install, I was questioning whether it was really transferred - or not!!!

Then I did a better job on my reading comprehension!!! ....

Important things I did not immediately grasp:









Having read that, from the System Information on the CE System Summary screen I could see that it was indeed installed in MMC
So I popped out the SD card (after it was booted) and confirmed that CE was indeed all still working properly - can't get better confirmation than that!
I then thought about why the 'quit' menu wasn't showing the reboot to Android option - but I run a different skin - I switched back to Estuary and there it was! Then switched back and I looked under the quit menu options in my preferred skin and saw that Reboot to Android* was a selectable option (which had not been selected) - selected that and now all is as advertised!

* Actually there is a quirk to action that reboot where you need to first click 'reboot to android' and then click reboot - another excellent workaround for that action from a single click can be found here - https://discourse.coreelec.org/t/command-to-reboot-to-emmc-nand-to-use-on-other-skins/1937/5
(if using the std Estuary skin that comes on CE, no need to do anything)

So in final note, just to reiterate it does still require the SD card (or USB) to be in place for booting and mounting the partition but the actual CE is running off the EMMC.

I think this is a great mod, major kudos to the developers for amending the CEEMMC program by CE to run on older gen systems - it works!!!
Click to expand...
i try this but i have a problem
The minix won't boot anymore
So i reinstall the original Android but now i only have 11 gb instead of 16 gb
Probably it have made partitions for Coreelec and Android
How do i remove the partitions it have made?
 
If you used USB Burning Tool to re-install Android Img, it should have overwritten everything on EMMC (so no partition)
How are you checking the storage size?

Which Android version are you using, Marshmallow or the 7.1.2? (I used 7.1.2 Nougat image)

For your initial problems - Did you leave the card in? (Did you use SD card or a USB stick?)
You must have the SD/USB card still installed (because that is what mounts the CoreELec Partition & directs to boot from that) and for the first boot, hold down the power button until the coreelec starts - afterwards, you leave the card installed and from CoreELEC, select boot to android (or from Android, simply reboot and it will now re-start on CE again)
 
Last edited:
I use android 6 and cx file explorer.
Not sure it says before 16gb.. So maybe it's normal..

I have corelec on a sd card
After i try to move it to the internal memory the sd card still inserted.

First time it's boot Coreelec

Than i tried to reboot to android but is blocks at the the minix logo

Reboot again then it's blocks at the Coreelec logo

Not sure what exactly whent rong
 
Thanks @Villa for confirming the Storage situation with std Android installation

I'm sorry your experience did not go smoothly @tom31

tom31 said:
I use android 6 ....
Click to expand...

I wouldn't have thought that should be issue but I can't confirm, have not tried that - my test confirmation was with 7.1.2 image
(I have added a caution in the opening post until someone validates affirmatively it DOES work successfully with Marshmallow Android)

Too late now (unless you try again) but if you ejected the SD Card it should have still at least have booted on Android;
Mine switches cleanly between CoreELEC and Android as described - simple restart (from Android) reboots into CoreELEC - select Reboot To Android from CoreELEC and it boots to Android; and as mentioned if you remove the SD Card, it should boot normally to Android as default, even with the EMMC partitioned.
 
Last edited:
DEcosse said:
Thanks @Villa for confirming the Storage situation with std Android installation

I'm sorry your experience did not go smoothly @tom31



I wouldn't have thought that should be issue but I can't confirm, have not tried that - my test confirmation was with 7.1.2 image
(I have added a caution in the opening post until someone validates affirmatively it DOES work successfully with Marshmallow Android)

Too late now (unless you try again) but if you ejected the SD Card it should have still at least have booted on Android;
Mine switches cleanly between CoreELEC and Android as described - simple restart (from Android) reboots into CoreELEC - select Reboot To Android from CoreELEC and it boots to Android; and as mentioned if you remove the SD Card, it should boot normally to Android as default, even with the EMMC partitioned.
Click to expand...
Thanks i will try it when have some time again.
Lucky Coreelec have a great back up system ?
 
I tried it again and now it works
(with android 6 fwoo8)


when i want to set a backup back,
it just reboot after 3 minutes
but nothing changes..
So it you want to install a back up you have to do it before moving Coreelec to emmc

Now i am just not sure it is really faster now than from a (fast) sd card.
Hard to tell on first sight.. But will test it for a few days
 
Pleased to hear it is now working correctly (I'll remove the caveat from the opening post)

For speed, you should probably notice in changing screens on GUI - maybe not so much on actions that require internet connection.
Since you are mentioning backup, that would be one good and simple test - see how long a backup takes to complete for one vs the other :D

Regarding the backup/restore issue:
Where did you store the backup @tom31
Let me see if I understand correctly:
1. You have a backup of a personally configured back-up (created from an originally SD mounted CE?)
2. Transferred this from the Backup Folder to some other storage media
3. You started fresh and transferred a 'basic' (non-personalized) CE program over to EMMC;
4. You then tried to restore your backup onto the new CE (in EMMC) but it did not restore?
Is that what happened?

Did you put your Backup File on some external Storage and attempt restore from there, or transfer it to the 'backup' location in the new EMMC Partition, then restore from there?
If not too much trouble (if you didn't already try) can you try the latter to see if that worked?

Note: I just created a backup of the EMMC mounted system - it placed the Backup-tar directly in the Backup Folder (NOT in the Storage/backup folder - however the message under backup says it places in the storage/backup location this is NOT actually the case); so I suspect you may have to move your back-up file into that direct backup folder (although if you address it to back up from the storage location, don't see why it should not work?)
I am speculating but think perhaps when you did 'restore' it restored to the SD Card ,kod config?
So I think the new location uses /backup while the original (on SD card) uses /storage/backup

I'll try these myself when I get some time
 
Last edited:
DEcosse said:
Pleased to hear it is now working correctly (I'll remove the caveat from the opening post)

For speed, you should probably notice in changing screens on GUI - maybe not so much on actions that require internet connection.
Since you are mentioning backup, that would be one good and simple test - see how long a backup takes to complete for one vs the other :D

Regarding the backup/restore issue:
Where did you store the backup @tom31
Let me see if I understand correctly:
1. You have a backup of a personally configured back-up (created from an originally SD mounted CE?)
2. Transferred this from the Backup Folder to some other storage media
3. You started fresh and transferred a 'basic' (non-personalized) CE program over to EMMC;
4. You then tried to restore your backup onto the new CE (in EMMC) but it did not restore?
Is that what happened?

Did you put your Backup File on some external Storage and attempt restore from there, or transfer it to the 'backup' location in the new EMMC Partition, then restore from there?
If not too much trouble (if you didn't already try) can you try the latter to see if that worked?

Note: I just created a backup of the EMMC mounted system - it placed the Backup-tar directly in the Backup Folder (NOT in the Storage/backup folder - however the message under backup says it places in the storage/backup location this is NOT actually the case); so I suspect you may have to move your back-up file into that direct backup folder (although if you address it to back up from the storage location, don't see why it should not work?)
I am speculating but think perhaps when you did 'restore' it restored to the SD Card ,kod config?
So I think the new location uses /backup while the original (on SD card) uses /storage/backup

I'll try these myself when I get some time
Click to expand...

Yes that's exactly what i have done.

The backup is storage on a external hdd.
Start system back up at Coreelec.
It's load and ask you to restart.
normally it restart and you see a Coreelec install screen that mount the backup.

Now it's just restart without installing the backup.

So i start again from start
but now first install the backup on the SD card and move it to the emmc

Maybe move back-up file into that direct backup folder will work try it next time if necessary

Yes loading the backup is a lot faster on the emmc
 
DEcosse said:
Install BOTH Android AND CoreELEC to EMMC for ultimate Flexibility and Performance

Originally validated using 7.1.2 Nougat Android Image - Now has also been tested/confirmed with Official Android 6 WF008 Marshmallow

(if you have problems, or to remove partition, re-flash the Android ROM with USB Burning Tool)






@Skynet & @pusb87 - see my info below - you no longer have to choose between installing one OS vs the other - get them BOTH on EMMC without having to reflash to replace one with the other. Both OS exist on separate partitions of EMMC - this is a major development!

See notes in this thread (link), particularly those by Emerson as pertains to S912 devices



I am pleased to say this works perfectly! Whatever you have in your Kodi Setup - all configuration elements, skin, addons, userdata, account info etc will ALL be transferred during this script - and your CE will look exactly as it does running off your removable storage - no need to re-set-up your CE in any way!
So you maintain your Android Installation AND have CE running out of EMMC.

Here's what you do (I have no credit associated with this - it all came from the link I posted above from that posted by Emerson other than the extra notes I added in parentheses)

Specifically:



Notes - I was a little confused initially as, although it all appeared to go smoothly, I had no reboot to Android in the CE shutdown menu; and since it all looks identical to your SD Card install, I was questioning whether it was really transferred - or not!!!

Then I did a better job on my reading comprehension!!! ....

Important things I did not immediately grasp:









Having read that, from the System Information on the CE System Summary screen I could see that it was indeed installed in MMC
So I popped out the SD card (after it was booted) and confirmed that CE was indeed all still working properly - can't get better confirmation than that!
I then thought about why the 'quit' menu wasn't showing the reboot to Android option - but I run a different skin - I switched back to Estuary and there it was! Then switched back and I looked under the quit menu options in my preferred skin and saw that Reboot to Android* was a selectable option (which had not been selected) - selected that and now all is as advertised!

* Actually there is a quirk to action that reboot where you need to first click 'reboot to android' and then click reboot - another excellent workaround for that action from a single click can be found here - https://discourse.coreelec.org/t/command-to-reboot-to-emmc-nand-to-use-on-other-skins/1937/5
(if using the std Estuary skin that comes on CE, no need to do anything)

So in final note, just to reiterate it does still require the SD card (or USB) to be in place for booting and mounting the partition but the actual CE is running off the EMMC.

I think this is a great mod, major kudos to the developers for amending the CEEMMC program by CE to run on older gen systems - it works!!!
Click to expand...

Very interesting, thanks for sharing (y)
 
Hello. A good program to transfer files to the backup folder - WinSCP Portable.
My firmware, NEO U9-H: 008 . However, I must say it is unstable. I returned to the old solution. (Sorry for my English)
 
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I have try this for a while
But I don't think it is faster in daliy use than from SD.
The only thing that's is faster is updating ce our setting a back up back
And playback of 4k video is not always smooth.
Switches back to SD
 
Will this script also take care of installing android as well, or do you need to have one of the 6 or 7 u9-h stock roms installed?
 
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