Database Develop

Whats better: installing on sd card or device?

hey everyone,
did a search on google and here but didn't find what i was looking for.
what keeps a ppc faster? installing programs on the device or the storage card?
thanks,
georgios

neavissa said:
hey everyone,
did a search on google and here but didn't find what i was looking for.
what keeps a ppc faster? installing programs on the device or the storage card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally, program would run faster if it was installed on the device, but to save space....storage card is for that.

It depends on the program and your personal habbits.
If you are one that has multiple memory cards and swaps them in/out or uses wm5torage, I would suggest programs you use often to be installed on the device.
if you're like me and just leave a card in the phone, then either way

i never swap cards. so i guess it doesnt matter huh?

Nah, I install all the important ones onnthe phone and all the ones that are not so important on the SD, right now there are none. I guess Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, and Dig Dug are important .

With some roms over 140+ mb space, it definitely won't hurt to install your programs to the main memory. Also, I've run into errors and duplicate folders, ect. from installing to the SD Card.

If you install to sd card, you won't loose anything, except registry entries/configuration, after a hard-reset/rom-reflash. I put all my stuff there that I hate restoring.

I install everything to the sd card, only install apps on the phone memory if the program requires it or an app doesn't like running from the sd card.

No its almost the same, if you have an external HDD, then they will show up in controll panel remove programs, and it will be on the desktop, but when you remove the HDD it will be there but wont run.

They way I do it is if the program runs all the time, lets say a complete system overlay like SPB Mobile Shell or PocketPlus, a real system type program I'll install it on the device. But if it's just an app I run once in a while say Google Maps I'll install it on the card because it only runs when I choose to run it..
Hope that helps!
-RT

I do find that programs like mobipocket run much better when I install to the phone. Seems to hang alot from the card. To me it appears that the phone memory has much quicker access time, but not every program is affected.
I think of it more as the difference between a portable app installed on a usb stick versus the same program running off the desktop.

One other thing to consider (at least it was the case with WM2003SE devices) is if the program/util was run at startup, automatically, it made a lot more sense to put it phone memory, as otherwise the delay in waiting for the SD card to be accessible could cause a slowdown/even hangs!

I install the majority of applications onto my 8GB storage card.
However, I've just discovered that whenever I remove my 8GB memory card, my device memory rises incredibly...

I guess it depends on the type of app you're installing. Something like MagiCall I put on the device so there's no problem blocking calls, but Mio Maps right on the memory card with just a shortcut in the /Windows/Startup Programs folder. If the apps important, then device, but if it's just Pac Man for example, card.

Interesting responses. I've installed apps that the instructions say "Must NOT install on SD card" in the instructions. Some say "You may install on SD card, but be aware that it may be unstable".
comments?

ewingr said:
Interesting responses. I've installed apps that the instructions say "Must NOT install on SD card" in the instructions. Some say "You may install on SD card, but be aware that it may be unstable".
comments?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats there for your safety, it means that if you have any data loss of any kind it wont be the applications fault. It may need to be next to the registry but it really doesnt matter. Games and such, SD card, system tools and registry editors may need to be in the main memory but don't have to.

I install applications on the storage card, and Today plugins on the device. The only "Application" I have on my device itself is Slide 2 Unlock.
-Jay

In and Out

While I wait to find someone who knows the answer to my other question.
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=764260
I thought I would ask another re: the memory. I have an 8Gb with a class 6 16Gb external. When I install apps they always put their data on the internal 8Gb. Is there any way to change this and if not what would happen if I just cut and pasted it all there?

if you cut and pasted the data from /sdcard im pretty sure your apps would run fine and re-create the data as its needed, as most of this data ie for games, is savegame data and resources.
After coding an audio recorder myself im pretty sure the location where this data is stored will be coded into most apps, well thats what i did, and most if not all apps unless they allow you to change the string variable as an option, will use the internal SD because some people might not use an external. So imo it depends on the app
Also if you have rooted your device and have root explorer you will see that infact, most of the applications data from installation is not on the sdcard at all

Also if you have rooted your device and have root explorer you will see that infact, most of the applications data from installation is not on the sdcard at all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go on enlighten me.You know you want to

[Q] uninstalling App does not free space

Hi there!
I use a G1 with Super E mod.
apps2ext with a 512 mb ext partion for that.
I have about 60 apps installed, all working well.
now i installed the new opera mini and the message "few storage" poped up..
I uninstalled it, but the message didn't disappear.
Then I look it up: only 5 mb left
I removed some other apps, but as suggested, this didn't free up much space (~,5 mb), because of apps2ext..
I cleared my cache using nandroid, but still the same..
What is using all my phone space?
can I clean that up somehow?
Thanks!
Cholera

As you wrote, you have apps to sd, so most likely the app are not stored on /data, but on /sd-ext/...
Cleaning /cache will not help you, because it's almost unused. The problem you might have is, that internal space on /data is filled up, so try to clear all the application caches, especially browser, market, ....
This should free up some amount of memory and you should be able to install Opera Mini.

i ran into this same problem a couple of days ago. it was a difference of method to get this error however. my phone crashed after trying to open an app and then corrupted alot of my apps so i had to uninstall and re-install. i then found it was telling me i had low space. i cleared all my caches and checked which apps were installed on my phone and which on SD. however the only comonality is the Opera Mobile app. i too installed it when i got this error too. can this be a coincidence or not?

market cache: 450kb
browser cache: 200kb
opera mini cahce: 0kb
gmail storage : 800 kb
news and weather: 28kb
downlolad manager: 250kb
deleted these, but still have 7,8 mb free space..
had a look at /data:
du ./data -h : 47mb used
I had a closer look at the stuff and found:
13.1M ./com.opera.browser/lib
even if i dont have opera mobile installed, i also found
925.5K ./com.opera.mini.android
which i currently use...
removed the com.opera.browser .. 20mb free...
additional apps that use much space here:
# du ./ -h |grep M
1.5M ./com.facebook.katana
1.7M ./com.rovio.angrybirds
1.0M ./com.android.providers.contacts/databases
3.0M ./com.adobe.reader
17.5M ./com.navigon.navigator
these are large, but ok..
and this one:
899.5K ./com.android.packageinstaller/files -> i delete the tmpCopy.apk
now i have a bit of a breath.. lets see what we can delete from the system

i created an sd-ext and lost about 250 mb of internal memory. what gives? also, i see no extra partitions anywhere and i dont know where my apps to sd are

v941726 said:
i created an sd-ext and lost about 250 mb of internal memory. what gives? also, i see no extra partitions anywhere and i dont know where my apps to sd are
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im not sure about the loss of space, however you will not see an ext partition using windows as it does not recognise it. with some file explorers you can pick it up if im right. otherwise you have to use linux on the sd card to see the partition. it cannot be done via the usb mount

I thought it might be something like that. i'm a windows guy. mcse. but i know zip about unix/linux. lol. it doesn't make sense though to presumably make a partition on the card and then it takes from your internal space. so I don't see the point of partitioning your card. hence, app2sd seems useless. I cannot find an explanation anywhere of how it works. also, I have an incredible, what the hell is that 8gb of memory for. no explanation anywhere. it just sits there free. what is it for if it can't be utilized?

v941726 said:
I thought it might be something like that. i'm a windows guy. mcse. but i know zip about unix/linux. lol. it doesn't make sense though to presumably make a partition on the card and then it takes from your internal space. so I don't see the point of partitioning your card. hence, app2sd seems useless. I cannot find an explanation anywhere of how it works. also, I have an incredible, what the hell is that 8gb of memory for. no explanation anywhere. it just sits there free. what is it for if it can't be utilized?
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Click to collapse
I cant understand why its taken up space on your phone tfor a2sd apart from when it adds the data files for the apps. the a2sd partition stores the apps on the sd card in a partition that it cons the phone into thinking is an internal section.
Where is the 8gb you are referring to? is it on the phone or the card?

traumatism said:
I cant understand why its taken up space on your phone tfor a2sd apart from when it adds the data files for the apps. the a2sd partition stores the apps on the sd card in a partition that it cons the phone into thinking is an internal section.
Where is the 8gb you are referring to? is it on the phone or the card?
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Click to collapse
exactly! there is 8gb free. well, 7+, but I don't know linux. so it's just a waste. i ended up reformatting my card and got the space back on my internal memory. can anyone explain that? I gave it a shot cuz I know computers and it worked. i back up everything, but it's a 2 hour downtime. I would just like to know what the heck is the point? anyone know what that 8gb is wasted for on the Incredible?

what rom were you using or trying to use? all the info helps solve the issue

traumatism said:
what rom were you using or trying to use? all the info helps solve the issue
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Click to collapse
using ultimate droid now. no themes. pretty simple. have used several rom's. no one can explain what the 8gb is for. not even verizon. or HTC.
the incredible has 750mb of internal storage. I can see that's for apps and OS. but there are 8gb of other internal memory that is free. wtf? I've been kind of ignoring it thinking it might be for future use or something, til I partitioned my sd card and realized it took from that 750mb space.

as far as i know it shouldnt have taken anything from that space at all. it should have done what every computer does and only create a partition on the card. thats odd. do you get any names for the areas that are free? like you would with a folder name.

traumatism said:
as far as i know it shouldnt have taken anything from that space at all. it should have done what every computer does and only create a partition on the card. thats odd. do you get any names for the areas that are free? like you would with a folder name.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats what i thought. like i said, i know windows through and through. there was no indication of a partition anywhere. kind of bugs me. always heard linux was easy. still would like to know about that 8gb too. don't get me wrong, i love the droid, but the way memory and or storage works makes no sense at all

there is an app called root explorer on the market. its a paid app but it lets you explorer all the folders and from what i can see the ext partition is known as sd-ext. sdcard is the obv one. system is the rom or os as it were and if installed correctly (only know this from the G1(Dream)) the data folder is where it stores all the information and settings for the apps and system settings

have you checked your text messages? because those also takes up space too, even tho text messages are really small in size, but if you have a LOT of them without deleting them, over time they usually build up

Strange file system issues

My file system is totally confused. When I browse to EMMC from a file manager it goes to my SD Card. If I browse to SD Card it actually goes to the internal drive.
I've had my rooted Nook Color for about 5 weeks now (CM7 booted from a SD card). Everything was working great until I tried installing some different launchers. I tried GoLauncher, Zeam, ICS, Honeycomb and maybe one more. The default was ADW. Maybe I confused the system by constantly switching from one to the next but at some point the system crashed and I rebooted.
Once rebooted I noticed that many of the games I installed told me I needed to redownload their data files. I looked on my card, through my Mac, but the original files were still there. Turns out the Nook now installs apps on the internal drive rather than the card as it had been before.
Wouldn't be so bad but, as mentioned earlier, the file system is confused. When i need to manage files I've loaded on my SD card I have to browse to EMMC and vice versa. Makes my head spin.
Is there a way to fix it without starting from scratch? I'm using CM7.2.0.
Thanks for your help

That's not a bug, it's a feature. Anyway, what you likely did is Settings -> Cyanogenmod Settings -> Application Settings -> Use internal storage (checked). If you do this, then it swaps the mount points for the SD and the internal memory, so the SD card is mounted at "/emmc" and the internal memory is mounted at "/sdcard". See the first post in the thread in my sig for more information about this.
If you really want to return it to the original way, wasting 5G of internal storage space, then you can uncheck that box in the settings and it'll go back to normal.

Thanks for pointing that out and glad to see there's an easy fix. Seems a bit confusing though, like it's renaming your hard drives or something. I had been using the internal drive for storing media files, video, music, comics. Does it matter where apps or files are stored?

false1 said:
Thanks for pointing that out and glad to see there's an easy fix. Seems a bit confusing though, like it's renaming your hard drives or something. I had been using the internal drive for storing media files, video, music, comics. Does it matter where apps or files are stored?
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Click to collapse
Well, the "fix", IMHO, is to leave it with them swapped.
Yes, it matters where apps are stored and it matters what is mounted at /sdcard. Apps use space on the /sdcard partition for settings, temp storage, downloads, etc. Mounting that 5G partition at /sdcard instead of /emmc allows these apps to use that space rather than cluttering your actual SD card. And apps are going to wind up on your 1G partition, not on either the /sdcard or /emmc mountpoint.
You can go read up in my guide on my recommendation on how to best use this space. The normal way is inefficient and wasteful of internal memory, IMHO. But you know, maybe you like it that way

mr72 said:
You can go read up in my guide on my recommendation on how to best use this space. The normal way is inefficient and wasteful of internal memory, IMHO. But you know, maybe you like it that way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think efficiency is more in how you choose to utilise the spaces rather than fundamentally in which switch option you use. For example, I choose to completely fill the 5GB of internal with sound and picture media as they get included in the normal app scanning process. Leaving the SD card to hold yet more media, app data and back ups.
It's still good to have the choice offered by the switch.

Apps to SDCard or SDCard as internal storage

How do I move apps from internal storage to sdcard?
I can find no option like that on the apps information. I installed an app that moves them but that just opens the app informations where there is no button to change the storage medium.
Also I read it might be possible to format the sdcard as internal storage. Maybe that's needed prior to moving apps.
But I can't find a way to format as such too.
The only thing I was able so far was to set the storage to sdcard for the nokia camera app.

DarsVaeda said:
How do I move apps from internal storage to sdcard?
I can find no option like that on the apps information. I installed an app that moves them but that just opens the app informations where there is no button to change the storage medium.
Also I read it might be possible to format the sdcard as internal storage. Maybe that's needed prior to moving apps.
But I can't find a way to format as such too.
The only thing I was able so far was to set the storage to sdcard for the nokia camera app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess android one devices don't have the feature to have SD card as adoptable storage.
Sent from my Nokia 7 plus using Tapatalk

that would be quiet disappointing and does not make much sense either as there still is the option to force being able to move apps to sd.
at least partly this is a bug though or maybe a feature?
I installed the sd-card just recently after I setup the device and most apps.
seems if I clear cache and data of an app at least that will now be stored to sd.
some apps like google maps or nokia camera app allow to choose data location.

DarsVaeda said:
that would be quiet disappointing and does not make much sense either as there still is the option to force being able to move apps to sd.
at least partly this is a bug though or maybe a feature?
I installed the sd-card just recently after I setup the device and most apps.
seems if I clear cache and data of an app at least that will now be stored to sd.
some apps like google maps or nokia camera app allow to choose data location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an option in developer options. Force allow apps on external

I hsve same problem. Got 32gb, fast samsung card. I can't move any apps to it, but copying files work, also cam.
I think option in developent settings is here because of anrdoid one, same as bootloader unlock, won't do nothing.
Can other ppl move apps to sdcard on n7+? Or does this only happens on Samsung card?

I got a replacement device and a new 256GB Samsug card. I'm not offered to format as internal storage as well. There is the option to force apps to sd but it won't work.
I guess there might really be no way to use the card other than media/data storage. And hope apps allow to choose data storage like some google apps and the camera app do.

Got this info at nokia's community forum:
Moving apps to SD is not supported on the 7, as it does not support adopted internal storage. It would perform badly regardless of the SD card used, as the built in storage is significantly faster. Use the SD only for data, as intended; there should be plenty of internal space for apps with larger data stored on SD.
So.. I think ill go root way, something's so much better on rooted device. I like command my own device my way, not google's way..

Edstro said:
Got this info at nokia's community forum:
Moving apps to SD is not supported on the 7, as it does not support adopted internal storage. It would perform badly regardless of the SD card used, as the built in storage is significantly faster. Use the SD only for data, as intended; there should be plenty of internal space for apps with larger data stored on SD.
So.. I think ill go root way, something's so much better on rooted device. I like command my own device my way, not google's way..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The bootloader is non unlockable atleast officially.
Sent from my Nokia 7 plus using Tapatalk

K.khiladi said:
The bootloader is non unlockable atleast officially.
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Click to collapse
Yea, but i know guy who can do it =)

Edstro said:
Yea, but i know guy who can do it =)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please share how unlock. Cause really want root acces
Sent from my Nokia 7 plus using XDA-Developers Legacy app

Read nokia7plus rooting from message board, still need to pay like 5euros from unlock... Too bad..
---------- Post added at 04:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:21 PM ----------
I cant give name to user who does it..