IUNI U2 / U810 (u2)

[Bothkill]

Hi!
If you could port REPIT for my phone it would be great :)

Info:

1. your exact device and device codename
   IUNI U2 / U810 (https://www.devicespecifications.com/en/model/f8082e72)
   but, in fact it's a clone (https://www.gsmarena.com/allview_x1_xtreme_mini-6857.php)

2. your recovery
   TWRP 3.2.1

3. your kernel
   3.4.113-feroxx

4. your rom
   LineageOS version 16.0-20181020-UNOFFICIAL-feroxx-u2

5. is your device running the stock partition layout or is it already modified?
   stock partition layout
   repit-dump.log

Thank you!

[Lanchon]

hi,

some newer devices have a signed GPT (partition table). on such devices, altering the GPT hard-bricks the device. this is the reason i mostly stopped development of REPIT.

make sure you read this. you can try running the strings command on images of your bootloaders (or post the images here) to get hints on the situation of your device. strings can usually rule out signatures, but it can also result in false positives.

to recover from a hard brick you would need an image of your eMMC and the ability to program the eMMC with a JTAG probe. if you do not know what JTAG is, then assume you have no way to recover your device.

please decide whether you want to risk testing a REPIT port on your device.

thanks!

[Lanchon]

hi,

sorry for the long delay. are you still interested in this?

thanks!

[Bothkill]

Hi!

Thank you for your reply!
After I initailly posted, I started looking for alternatives in repartitioning my device.
After a month of many tries and almost-failures, I managed to do it with TWRP. Issue solved :)

But, thank you for getting back to my message!

[Lanchon]

interesting... so that means your device doesn't have GPT signatures, nice :)

[Lanchon]

i looked into your partition layout... your device is incredibly weird!!

Number  Start     End       Size     File system  Name      Flags
        0.00MiB   64.0MiB   64.0MiB  Free Space
 1      64.0MiB   128MiB    64.0MiB  fat16        modem
 2      128MiB    128MiB    0.50MiB               sbl1
 3      129MiB    129MiB    0.03MiB               dbi
        129MiB    192MiB    63.5MiB  Free Space
 4      192MiB    192MiB    0.03MiB               DDR
        192MiB    256MiB    64.0MiB  Free Space
 5      256MiB    266MiB    10.0MiB               aboot
 6      266MiB    266MiB    0.49MiB               rpm
        266MiB    320MiB    53.5MiB  Free Space
 7      320MiB    340MiB    20.0MiB               boot
        340MiB    384MiB    44.0MiB  Free Space
 8      384MiB    384MiB    0.49MiB               tz
 9      384MiB    385MiB    1.00MiB               pad
10      385MiB    387MiB    1.50MiB               modemst1
11      387MiB    388MiB    1.50MiB               modemst2
        388MiB    448MiB    59.5MiB  Free Space
12      448MiB    1728MiB   1280MiB  ext2         system
13      1728MiB   5824MiB   4096MiB  ext4         userdata
14      5824MiB   5856MiB   32.0MiB  ext4         persist
15      5856MiB   6240MiB   384MiB   ext4         cache
16      6240MiB   6260MiB   20.0MiB               recovery
17      6260MiB   6261MiB   1.50MiB               fsg
        6262MiB   6272MiB   10.5MiB  Free Space
18      6272MiB   6272MiB   0.00MiB               fsc
19      6272MiB   6272MiB   0.01MiB               ssd
20      6272MiB   14454MiB  8182MiB  fat32        usbmsc
        14454MiB  14464MiB  9.99MiB  Free Space
21      14464MiB  14474MiB  10.0MiB               splash
        14474MiB  14528MiB  54.0MiB  Free Space
22      14528MiB  14910MiB  382MiB                grow
        14910MiB  14910MiB  0.01MiB  Free Space

it seems to have a separate, huge, android 2-style, unemulated sdcard partition taking up 2/3 of the useful storage space of the device. WTF!!

also, this partition is separated from other user partitions by some small but vital partitions that if corrupted might screw up the device. really bad practice here.

whoever made the original layout of this mutant phone smoked too much pot.

to fix this device i see 3 avenues:

1. some cool developer publishes a rom that uses LVM to join partitions userdata, usbmsc, cache and even grow into a single logical device for /data. the sdcard would be emulated as in every reasonable android implementation since android 4. would require a wipe of course.

2. invert the on-disc mapping of partitions userdata and usbmsc, to have an 8MB internal storage and 4MB sdcard. this is safe, as no vital partitions would have to be moved around. it is also compatible with all existing ROMs. with a PC to backup mass storage contents, you can do this without wiping. unfortunately REPIT cannot do this (or so i think; for sure this has never been tested).
   a twist on this would be adding an external sdcard and a rom that swaps internal vs external sdcards. probably that rom does not exist but it is easy to create.

3. use REPIT to move all affected partitions around, from userdata to grow. this is unsafe because many partitions here are vital. but moving small partitions is quick, so the chance of interruption mid process during sensitive operations is quite small... as long as you don't REPIT too often!

now i'm very curious...

After I initailly posted, I started looking for alternatives in repartitioning my device.
After a month of many tries and almost-failures, I managed to do it with TWRP.

what did you do to the device?

[Lanchon]

hi @feroxx,

you are kindly invited to share thoughts.

[Lanchon]

btw, is partition grow blank? what is inside it?

i'd very much appreciate a dump. you can boot TWRP, check adb connectivity and issue this command from your PC:

adb pull /dev/block/mmcblk0p22 grow.img

then zip the image file and post it here. thanks!

[najam97]

I been using this device for quite long time as my secondary device but i accidentally partitioned sd card in twrp and now i can't access the internal storage partition ( 8 out of 16gb). Can u please help me in this regard so i can make this phone reusable as i can't install apps or take pictures atm. Flashed stock rom but that didn't fix it.Would be so grateful for your help.