Mini Use full 4GB in Newer Mini?

[rcentros]

EDIT: I can't correct the title, but I should have written "Newer Mini." Last time I used "new Mini" some people thought that meant a new Mini had been released.

I was reading in another thread (comparing the older Minis with the newer ones) and saw that you could repartition the newer Minis to use all 4 GBs instead of only 2 GBs. But when I use Gparted, I only see 1.3 GBs and it shows the full SD Card is allocated. Am I missing something or did this change with a later firmware release?

I've attached a screenshot of my Gparted and fdisk information. I don't see any unallocated space to resize to.

Thanks for any pointers. This is not that urgent, I just thought it would be nice to have that extra space (even though I'll probably never use it).

[DNSB]

That looks as if you are looking the Mini over a USB connection. That will only show you the exposed partition not the entire µSD card. You will have to remove the card from your Mini and then repartition it mounted directly on your computer. Have you already opened the Mini to see if the µSD card is indeed a 4GB card?

Also I changed the thread title.

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by DNSB

That looks as if you are looking the Mini over a USB connection. That will only show you the exposed partition not the entire µSD card. You will have to remove the card from your Mini and then repartition it mounted directly on your computer. Have you already opened the Mini to see if the µSD card is indeed a 4GB card?

Also I changed the thread title.

I concur on both points. Some Minis didn’t ship with a 4GB microSD card formatted to 2GB.

[rcentros]

Attachment 208338

Originally Posted by DNSB

That looks as if you are looking the Mini over a USB connection. That will only show you the exposed partition not the entire µSD card. You will have to remove the card from your Mini and then repartition it mounted directly on your computer. Have you already opened the Mini to see if the µSD card is indeed a 4GB card?

Also I changed the thread title.

Originally Posted by Cootey

I concur on both points. Some Minis didn’t ship with a 4GB microSD card formatted to 2GB.

Yes, I was definitely using Gparted via the USB cable. Please pardon my ignorance. If I understand correctly I don't have to repartition the SD Card, just resize it, correct? And it definitely does have a 4 GB SD Card, I took a picture of it when I installed the new battery two and a half years ago (see attachment).

Also, thank you for correcting the title. I realized I messed up right after I posted. (It's always right after.)

[Quoth]

Yes, just resize once it's in the computer instead of Kobo.
I've done this.
Interestingly if you backup a volume as an image file on Linux, restoring it to a larger device seems to auto expand the last partition. 4G Pi4 SD card to a 256G card

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Yes, I was definitely using Gparted via the USB cable. Please pardon my ignorance. If I understand correctly I don't have to repartition the SD Card, just resize it, correct? And it definitely does have a 4 GB SD Card, I took a picture of it when I installed the new battery two and a half years ago (see attachment).

When the partition is exposed over USB, what is exposed is the partition and not the partition and any free space. So removing the card and resizing the FAT32 KoboeReader partition and reinstalling it should work for you.

Originally Posted by rcentros

Also, thank you for correcting the title. I realized I messed up right after I posted. (It's always right after.)

Been there, done that. Especially embarrassing when it's a typo that the next 5 posters mention.

[JSWolf]

And while you have the card out of your Mini, you could create an image in case you ever needed it.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Yes, just resize once it's in the computer instead of Kobo.
I've done this.
Interestingly if you backup a volume as an image file on Linux, restoring it to a larger device seems to auto expand the last partition. 4G Pi4 SD card to a 256G card

Originally Posted by DNSB

When the partition is exposed over USB, what is exposed is the partition and not the partition and any free space. So removing the card and resizing the FAT32 KoboeReader partition and reinstalling it should work for you.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And while you have the card out of your Mini, you could create an image in case you ever needed it.

Thanks everyone. I was able to remove the SD Card, expand the partition, re-insert the SD Card and test it. I had 3.2 GBs of space instead of 1.3 GBs. Then, taking JSWolf's advice, I took the SD Card back out, backed it up to an image file and copied that file to a 32 GB SD Card. In my case I did have to expand the partition with Gparted afterwards. At any rate, I've got 28.2 GBs of space available on my Mini now. (What I'm going to do with it, I have no idea.)

And, for backups, I still have the original 4 GB SD Card and the Image file.

For those, like me, who've never made an image file or wrote one, these are the commands I used.

To copy the SD Card to and image file: dd if=/dev/mmcblk0 of=mini.img

To write the Image file to SD Card: dd if=mini.img of=/dev/mmcblk0

Again, thanks for all the help. I now have a "modern" Mini, especially when I add the amber Glocusent reading light.

[DNSB]

Much like me upgrading my Clara HD to a 128GB µSD card, it is not that much real use but it was fun to do.

[JSWolf]

One possible advantage to upping the storage is to be able to use a faster SD card. You could go from an A1 card to an A2 card.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Much like me upgrading my Clara HD to a 128GB µSD card, it is not that much real use but it was fun to do.

That pretty sums it up for me also. I also enjoy finding cheap computers on Shop Goodwill and eBay, updating them and installing Linux. I guess it's a hobby.

But, by combining the Mini with the Glocusent light (in amber setting), this makes the Mini a very nice reader. By clamping the Glocusent over the cover, it holds the cover solid and the flap doubles as a wider bezel. So, even with the added light clamped on (1.6 ounces), the combination is still light and comfortable to hold. I can see myself reading a lot more on the Mini now.

But I still don't need the 28 GBs of space. That definitely was done for the fun of it.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

One possible advantage to upping the storage is to be able to use a faster SD card. You could go from an A1 card to an A2 card.

I do think the Mini is a bit faster now. This wasn't a high-end SD Card I installed, but it's a step (or two) up from the original one.