NC Sideloading Limit

[ShanMcG]

I recently heard on the 'goodreader' podcast that the Nook Color was now being released with a modification that limits users to upload only 1 GB of their own content. The remaining space must be used to hold B&N purchases. On a recent trip to the US (I'm from Canada) I asked a salewoman at Barnes and Noble if this was true and she didn't know what I was talking about....that being said she also never let me fully complete what I was saying and kept talking over me so I am not sure if she really heard what I was asking. She just kept repeating "8 gigs, upgradedable to 32 gigs" over and over again like Rainman. Have any of you heard of this new change? I could see it being true since everyone is going Root crazy with the thing but if it is true it will most defiently turn me off from buying one.

Thanks everyone!
S.

I think it is true. B&N reallocated the user partition on the internal memory to only allow a smaller amount of user space. You can always pop in a microSD card though. If you root, I think there are ways to reconfigure the user partition to enlarge it.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Yes, it's true. You can identify the models that have this restriction by a blue dot on the box. See this article from engadget.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/20/p...or-music-othe/

Apparently B&N has also partitioned the new Nook Touch reader to have similar limitations on sideloading, which basically forces you to use an SD card for your personal content.

[taosaur]

The rationale behind the new partitioning is that, with the new app market, people were running out of space for their B&N apps and content (magazines can also be space hogs). Instead of the former 1GB for B&N purchases and 5GB for sideloaded content, they swapped it (2GB go to recovery images, caches, boot sector, and etc in either case). As jswinden said, you can pop in a SD card to blow up that sideloading space, but whatever size the system partition starts at, that's what you're stuck with (short of repartitioning the device, which can be done if you want to root, but it's rather involved).

It is a PitA for those of us who buy the device to mod it, but you can still find some of the older NCs at retailers with backstock (Walmart has come up, and even some B&N stores).

Originally Posted by taosaur

The rationale behind the new partitioning is that, with the new app market, people were running out of space for their B&N apps and content (magazines can also be space hogs). Instead of the former 1GB for B&N purchases and 5GB for sideloaded content, they swapped it (2GB go to recovery images, caches, boot sector, and etc in either case). As jswinden said, you can pop in a SD card to blow up that sideloading space, but whatever size the system partition starts at, that's what you're stuck with (short of repartitioning the device, which can be done if you want to root, but it's rather involved).

It is a PitA for those of us who buy the device to mod it, but you can still find some of the older NCs at retailers with backstock (Walmart has come up, and even some B&N stores).

Does updating to firmware 1.2 re-partition the older NCs like mine? I bought mine in December. Just curious as mine is now running CM7 on eMMC.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Does updating to firmware 1.2 re-partition the older NCs like mine? I bought mine in December. Just curious as mine is now running CM7 on eMMT.

No, it does not apply to those of us who purchased our NC's awhile ago and updated to v1.2. It only applies to those recently shipping that come with 1.2 pre-installed.

[Mark_O]

Originally Posted by ShanMcG

She just kept repeating "8 gigs, upgradedable to 32 gigs" over and over again like Rainman.

This is pretty hilarious. Loved the Rainman reference. And so very indicative of the "knowledge" many have.

Ignoring for a moment the fact that none have 8G available for users, and thus even mentioning 8G in the first place is pretty much irrelevant... she should have been saying "upgradable with 32G", or "upgradable to 40G".

That's because you can add up to 32G to whatever it is they have available internally. Which used to be ~1G for apps + 5G for [B&N books plus sideloaded content]. But is now ~5G for [apps + B&N purchases], and 1G for sideloaded content.

And no, there's no way to tell how full that hidden system space is. And yes, if you don't buy much B&N content, that 4G is then permanently wasted space. Considering the later, they may not want to provide you with a way to see the former. Which would just annoy some people. Who would then come to Forums and gripe about it. Better out of sight and out of mind.

Dean Gibson came up with a nifty script that lets you repartition things back to the old way, or adjust it for various other distributions that may be preferable to your needs.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1094371

- Mark