It seems to me that the memory layout on the Captivate isn't in line with other Android devices.
Looking at the specs of the Captivate on www.google.com/phone I am seeing:
RAM: 512 MB
Internal Storage: 16000 MB
Yet in looking at "SD card and phone storage" in settings I see.
Internal phone storage, Available space: 1.60 GB
Internal SD card: 13.03 GB
It seems to me that the 16000 MB is partitioned so here are my questions.
1) Where is the 512 MB and what is it for?
2) Why is it if I install some app that is supposed to show me external SD usage it always instead shows that 13 GB internal flash volume?
And in a broader sense...
3) What is the general memory model for Android? I see RAM, Internal, External. What are they all for?
I'm not sure, but of that internal 16gb of storage space, is it merely partitioning a section of that away for the OS?
That is my question. I don't understand the memory model.
This might not be accurate since I don't own an android phone but i'm bored
1) Where is the 512 MB and what is it for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
System Ram, used by the OS and apps as volatile memory.
2) Why is it if I install some app that is supposed to show me external SD usage it always instead shows that 13 GB internal flash volume?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because the 13gb volume is the "general" volume where you can personally store whatever you want, it functions just like an external Sd card would.
3) What is the general memory model for Android? I see RAM, Internal, External. What are they all for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ram - It is for the OS and apps, they need that as volatile storage to function, nothing is really stored there in the long term, the OS manages that so don't worry about it.
Internal memory - This used for many things, app install and to store files like music, pictures, etc. Internal memory is usually partitioned so that you only have a set amount (probalby that 1.60 you see ) for apps install and the rest if for whatever you want(the 13gb).
External memory - That is just an SD card you can use to expand your internal memory, right now (Android 2.1) it only works to add more space for files(music, photos, docs,) but with with froyo (android 2.2) you'll be able to move installed apps to this external (and the internal 13gb) drive.
Ok here's how it's laid out.
Yes, we have 512MB of RAM. However we as the end user will only see around 300MB of that, give or take 20MB. That's because some of it used by the OS and the GPU for different tasks.
That 16GB of internal storage you see, is partitioned off. We actually get around 13GB to use for ourselves. That 1.6GB you also see starts off as around 2GB (I would assume), and the rest used by the system for the OS, apps, cache, etc...
It's just like a hard drive on a computer in that respect. Sure you but a 1TB hard drive, but you actually only get to use around 850GB of it due to formatting and whatnot.
My problem is that I cant install apps in the 13gb partition, I dont know why..
I tried with:
adb shell pm setInstallLocation 0 this is Auto mode but.. installs in 1.8 partition
..........................................1 this install on the 1.8 partition
..........................................2 this install on the sd card
..........................................3 doesent exist xD but i tried..
so does exist any way to install apps for default in the 13.3 internal SD card partition, or any way to errase the partition??..
Try using "apps2sd" from market. It should be app2sd or apps2sd.
But I don't understand the need to do this, given that Captivate has one of the best memory amounts allocated for system.
Also note that, the apps on SD won't be available during the times when apps like "media scanner" are running.
Related
8 gig of internal memory, is that onboard memory with a sd card spot to put more on, or is that on an sd card of 8gig that you replace with something higher?
Its internal onboard memory, with an extra microsd slot to add more external memory, up to 32gb extra
Some of the internal memory is allocated for application storage around 1.4gb, some are allocated for system - the rest approx 5.5gb is allocated for file and media storage (music, video, picture etc.)
awesome, thank you!
spawndk said:
Its internal onboard memory, with an extra microsd slot to add more external memory, up to 32gb extra
Some of the internal memory is allocated for application storage around 1.4gb, some are allocated for system - the rest approx 5.5gb is allocated for file and media storage (music, video, picture etc.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. It is true.
But i get confuse.
1.4gb+5.5gb=6.9gb
Meaning system use nearly 1.1gb..its huge size memory use by system???
Sent from my LG-P990 using XDA App
I have a question aswell
Is it safe to delete all the content on the Internal SD card?
I know some apps and stuff will stop working that I have installed, but is there any system files etc on there?
I havn't rooted + Romed yet so it's all stock
naimmkassim said:
Yes. It is true.
But i get confuse.
1.4gb+5.5gb=6.9gb
Meaning system use nearly 1.1gb..its huge size memory use by system???
Sent from my LG-P990 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Possible, the stock ROM from LG has about 650MB packed, iOS is nearly same size AFAIK. I think unpacked it could be about 1Gig.
Sent from my LG-P990
Kickasskev said:
I have a question aswell
Is it safe to delete all the content on the Internal SD card?
I know some apps and stuff will stop working that I have installed, but is there any system files etc on there?
I havn't rooted + Romed yet so it's all stock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you go to SD card & phone storage settings under settings, you can format it after you've unmounted the internal SD card - but you get around 5.51 GB max (that's after formatting) if you don't root to remove the built in apps or are running a custom firmware.
I'd say its safe - just back up your files (photos, music, apps and such).
now to start for reference i may use the following terms
internal storage
internal SD
external SD
please note the difference.
This is also referencing the "official android" apps2sd as well as the other ones i have looked at.
in case you dont know any of the apps to SD methods have 1 goal:
to remove apps from the internal memory to an SD card, allowing more apps to be installed on systems.
most android devices dont have an internal SD, because of this the external SD is the normal place to store Apps to the SD card.
This is also where it stores any extra downloaded files (in case of large games) or user accessible files for apps (docs, themes, game roms, backups, config files) on phones without internal SD.
(All those folders that show up on your internal SD on a captivate.)
Now.... the captivate HAS an internal SD.
As far as i am concerned this was only half implemented correct.
THEY DID CORRECTLY now have the app downloaded files, and user interactive files i mentioned above moved to the internal SD.
THEY DIDNT (IMO) move Apps2sd, to the internal SD where it would make more sense.
- having apps on the any SD causes lag at boot, made further worse on the captivate because it mounts the internal SD, and scans it before it mounts the external SD and scans it, and this is where the apps are!
- also if you remove your external SD, you loose the apps.
- the internal SD is WAY more than enough to "want" to have more apps on more cards...
- this would free up the external SD to be PRIMARILY AND EXCLUSIVELY user files.
and remove the last bit of android files that can be removed by taking out an sdcard...
- the internal SD is a class 6 speed, faster than most external SD cards that most inexperienced users end up using.. class 4 ebay/amazon crap.
can we change this???
i dont see any reason why not, we have all the necessary sources for what handles this.
im not exactly running out of internal storage but some users actually do, and this just seems to make more sense.
any update on this?
From what i know currently about android and our cappy's, heres the info.
1. 1.8 GB of "Internal Phone Storage" is plenty enough for (Apps, Data, Contacts, etc.) . I have 312 apps on my phone and i still have 896 MB left.
2. As far as i know, the "Internal" SD of the captivate is partitioned into system, data, and is also the internal sd that you can put files in. So if it really was a Class 6 , despite the horrifying write speeds, it would make no difference because the "Internal Phone Storage" is a partition of the built in 16 gb of internal sd.
Again, i know nothing about how our phone works, but this is the info i know.
I never come near filling the internal storage, so I would not need this for space saving. But, it would make my weekly ROM flash a lot easier to not even worry about those apps.
Apps2insternalsd is an app I would pay for ... and I am not one to buy apps, less than 5 in the past year.
Sent from my Captivate running Continuum 5.6
what would cause this odd error when i still have so much free?
found this answer on an other droid forum is it true?
"There is a bug that causes this error, but since 3 big companies are involved, none of them are going to fix it any time soon. Basically, app space is limited to some arbitrary amount and is not equal to the space available on your phone."
I suspect you may be low in system memory. Scroll down to the very bottom of the SD card & phone storage settings. How much available System memory do you have?
system memory is alway around 100Mb even with the space notification.
when I uninstall enough apps it does go away.
stopping open apps or services does not help.
You may want to reset your device. I had a similar problem once with my Atrix. 100mb is a low amount of system memory. I have over 400mb still available on my Thrill.
I have over 650mb left in system memory and its says I have insufficient space whenever I try to download any game around 40mb. I cleared the cache and it worked for one game.
Sent from my LG-P925 using xda premium
think i got it...
using ES task manager
memory T:442MB A:96MB =ram?
internal storage T:.98GB A:117MB =system nand or partition of internal sd?
sd card T:5.57GB A:3.92GB =internal sd card?
I have a 32GB external sd card.
I thought "system memory" under "SD card & phone storage settings" was RAM
but is seems to be what "ES task manager" reports as "internal storage"
why the hell is the android set up this way?
seems so ass backwards,
/ = system memory (root dir? is this a partition or seperate physical memory from the internal sd)
/sdcard/ = internal sd
/sdcard/_ExternalSD = external sdcard
What is being referred to as internal storage (or system memory) is where the apps are installed by default. You could try moving some apps to SD and it should help. However, I had a problem like this with my Atrix and I never could figure out what was using all the space, so I just did a factory reset. Of course, I used Titanium Backup first.
I've noticed that the thrill thinks the 4gb internal is an SD card and the actual SD card is labeled as "External" when you explore the files. I was thinking of doing a factory reset so I moved all my apps to SD, when I looked in file manager at my SD there was nothing there. I found them all in a folder called "SDCard" on my internal memory. This may have something to do with your issue.
TylDurden said:
I've noticed that the thrill thinks the 4gb internal is an SD card and the actual SD card is labeled as "External" when you explore the files. I was thinking of doing a factory reset so I moved all my apps to SD, when I looked in file manager at my SD there was nothing there. I found them all in a folder called "SDCard" on my internal memory. This may have something to do with your issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have 3 types of memory in the phone. There's your external SD (labeled as _External SD), Internal Phone Memory (internal SD), and System Memory (where by default apps are stored). You can move your apps to the internal SD if you desire and that's why it's showing a folder there with the apps in it.
Gr8Danes said:
You have 3 types of memory in the phone. There's your external SD (labeled as _External SD), Internal Phone Memory (internal SD), and System Memory (where by default apps are stored). You can move your apps to the internal SD if you desire and that's why it's showing a folder there with the apps in it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what good does it do to put Apps on the internal SD?
TylDurden said:
So what good does it do to put Apps on the internal SD?
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Click to collapse
So that it doesn't take up your system memory. If your system memory gets low, it won't let you install additional apps and may also slow down your phone.
Some people are saying that it is reporting wrong? No there actually is an SD card inside the phone and the one outside under the back plate.
To keep things straight:
System= Actual memory on the phone where apps are installed by default, moving to SD and uninstalling apps can create more space.
Internal= SDcard inside the phone where Apps are moved to when choosing move to SD also Alps will store data here and most downloads go here by default
External= The SDcard under backplate which you can access and change. A lot of apps will put backups here and if you choose SD storage in camera where your pics and vids will be. Usually this is set aside for actual personal storage of media and what not.
^ Is there a way to make the external SD card the default data storage? After installing some Gameloft games, my internal storage is already full (5.6 GBs is pathetic LG) but I still still have 2 more games (Dungeon Defenders and Spectral Souls) I want to install which take up about 2GB.
Killer Bee said:
^ Is there a way to make the external SD card the default data storage? After installing some Gameloft games, my internal storage is already full (5.6 GBs is pathetic LG) but I still still have 2 more games (Dungeon Defenders and Spectral Souls) I want to install which take up about 2GB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that I'm aware.
Urabewe said:
Some people are saying that it is reporting wrong? No there actually is an SD card inside the phone and the one outside under the back plate.
To keep things straight:
System= Actual memory on the phone where apps are installed by default, moving to SD and uninstalling apps can create more space.
Internal= SDcard inside the phone where Apps are moved to when choosing move to SD also Alps will store data here and most downloads go here by default
External= The SDcard under backplate which you can access and change. A lot of apps will put backups here and if you choose SD storage in camera where your pics and vids will be. Usually this is set aside for actual personal storage of media and what not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Close. System is where the OS and the system apps, the ones that come preinstalled are stored. The data partition is where market apps are stored. Installing apps from the market has no effect on the system partition. System apps cannot be moved to the sdcard, internal or otherwise. Its the apps on the /data partition that can be moves to the sdcard/internal storage.
Here's the breakdown:
System=619Mb (OS+system apps)
Internal (data)=1Gb (downloaded apps)
Internal SD=6gb (storage,a2sd)
External SD=8Gb (with included card).
LG claims 8gb internal space. All the above adds up to a little over 7.6gb. Leaving 60mb which is most likely the Cache partition.
Sent from my LG-P925 using Tapatalk
Hi.
Im running miui rom in my optimus 2x.
I have 3 options to storge.
Phone storage about 1 gb
Sd card storge about 5 gb
And external sd card about 16 gb
The problem is that basically i cant use the external sd card for apps and games,
i try all the move to sd card apps on market and all of tham only move from my phone storage to my sd card, so basically i only have 6gb in my phone.
Is there anyway to move tham to my external??
Tnx.
hmmmmm...
on cm you have an option to do so (settings/cyanogenmod/applications/use external sd for media)
but i don't know if miui has it too. Try looking for something like that
I looked everywhere, there isnt an option like this.
If you don't mind me asking, are you really out of storage to install apps?
Because o2x has an app storage space of 1.5gb excluding the internal 5gb flash memory, and most heavy games will store their game data on the 5gb internal flash mem, and only the basic apk will resides on the app space.
Running out of storage space is really hard achieve since even the heaviest game only consumes like 100mb? Which is mostly stored in the 5gb space. Unless you have hundreds of high end games installed, then you can run out of space .
All the new games need to download between 400-900 mb each, so yeah i runnig out of storge
Alright then, my mistake.
Anyway, I read that to swap sdcard as _externalSD vice versa is via CM7, I am not really sure how because I'm not using it, but I definately read about it before and it is doable. Hopefully someone can help you on the how..
Cheers!
there is a script for miui to swap so your microsd to become /sdcard check the android development
Code:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1263311
Tnx alot, that fix my problems.
All modern version of Android have builtin feature to move programs to SD
Why we should use Apps2SD, Link2SD?
What is it's advantages?
App2SD will basically move the app to be stored in phone memory instead of the partition used to store all the app which is around 1GB+ only...
sorry, but I didn't unerstand, what does you mean
In my case (galaxy S 16 GB), the phone actually has its own partition for apps which is 1.87 GB...you can see all the partitions of your memory in 'task manager' application, the Storage tab. So basically the phone will use that 1.87 GB to store the apps that you have (games usually store their data in sdcard so it'll not affect this partition)
If you use app2sd, the phone will basically move all the apps you stored in the specific 1.87 GB storage to your internal sdcard (which is usually the place where you store all the other things like images, musics, videos, etc). Thus, you'll have more space in the app partition to be used
Thanks, now its clear for me
asdsadas2010 said:
In my case (galaxy S 16 GB), the phone actually has its own partition for apps which is 1.87 GB...you can see all the partitions of your memory in 'task manager' application, the Storage tab. So basically the phone will use that 1.87 GB to store the apps that you have (games usually store their data in sdcard so it'll not affect this partition)
If you use app2sd, the phone will basically move all the apps you stored in the specific 1.87 GB storage to your internal sdcard (which is usually the place where you store all the other things like images, musics, videos, etc). Thus, you'll have more space in the app partition to be used
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
..do you know a tip to move the apps to external sd in ICS? because i have sgs 8 gb with 16 gb micro sd...but i can't use games with large data, always low space in internal memory
asdsadas2010 said:
In my case (galaxy S 16 GB), the phone actually has its own partition for apps which is 1.87 GB...you can see all the partitions of your memory in 'task manager' application, the Storage tab. So basically the phone will use that 1.87 GB to store the apps that you have (games usually store their data in sdcard so it'll not affect this partition)
If you use app2sd, the phone will basically move all the apps you stored in the specific 1.87 GB storage to your internal sdcard (which is usually the place where you store all the other things like images, musics, videos, etc). Thus, you'll have more space in the app partition to be used
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understood that OP asked about the difference between these apps and Android's built-in "move to sd" feature in apps menu.
Afaik the method which you just described is exactly same what phones stock feature does..so no need for extra applications.
Edit: so maybe you'll need these apps if you want move some protected apps..afaik
Sent from my sandwiched SGS
Kurre, I read your post and now have the same questions
unbroken0 said:
..do you know a tip to move the apps to external sd in ICS? because i have sgs 8 gb with 16 gb micro sd...but i can't use games with large data, always low space in internal memory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone knows how to move apps from internal SD to external SD?