[Q] System Storage vs. USB Storage - Galaxy Note GT-N7000 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Just recently got my Note, and it's the best phone I've ever had. Love all the storage as well. But I'm curious though, how come everything downloaded goes to system storage rather than USB storage? (I have all this space in USB storage, but nothing seems to go there)
Because you are a noob I won't Delete this thread I ll move to Q&A post anymore in the wrong area and they get deleted, only warning-- Moderator

Beethoven9th said:
Just recently got my Note, and it's the best phone I've ever had. Love all the storage as well. But I'm curious though, how come everything downloaded goes to system storage rather than USB storage? (I have all this space in USB storage, but nothing seems to go there)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
System storage is just where Android prefers to install applications, in a partition that can't be accessed without root access (and therefore doesn't need to be "shut down" when you turn on USB storage mode).
Since most apps are only a few megabytes, and you have almost 2 gigabytes of System storage, it's no big deal. You'll have to work VERY hard to fill up System storage with applications.
USB storage is where a lot of the data lives (cached map files, music, downloads, etc). Plenty of space there, for sure, but it's also "off limits" to Android when USB is mounted on a computer.
But if you really want to use it instead of system storage (I don't recommend it), you can go to Applications/Manage Applications then pick the app you want, click on it, and there will be a button that says "Move to SD Card". Keep in mind that things will load slower off USB storage as well, it's formatted differently and takes longer to read and write.
Back in the bad old days when HTC called a lot of the shots in the Android world, system storage was TINY, 512 or 256 megabytes, and internal USB storage really didn't exist (needed an external SD card). So it was a big deal when Froyo was released with official "apps2SD" support, allowing people to move apps the the external SD card.
Samsung blew that trend all to hell with the original Galaxy S, with unheard of HUGE System and internal USB storage, along with support for an external SD card. Now everyone follows suite with at large System storage, to be competitive with Samsung, and because memory is much cheaper these days as well.

Related

internal Storage Problem

Hello, I have an HTC Touch diamond from Telus, i've searched around these forums, and can't find quite the similar problem I have. My device only lists 102.55 MB of internal storage in the settings, and when i try to the Clear Storage program it says it can't find the mass storage, is this fixable or do i have to take it back to Telus.
Are you sure? If you click on "memory" in "settings" the first screen you get ("main" tab) only refers to the ROM and RAM available. You need to click on the "storage card" tab to find the 4Gb of internal storage
battlekat said:
Hello, I have an HTC Touch diamond from Telus, i've searched around these forums, and can't find quite the similar problem I have. My device only lists 102.55 MB of internal storage in the settings, and when i try to the Clear Storage program it says it can't find the mass storage, is this fixable or do i have to take it back to Telus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am experiencing the same issue with the Sprint version I received today. Same issue with the Clear Storage program. When I go to settings, memory, storage card, it says "Total Storage Card Memory: Not installed"
Thanks.
Can you find the internal storage using file explorer on the HTC and explorer on activsync on your PC? Have you suceeded in copying something to it using activsync? If you can it is there. Why it is not being reported in memory is not so clear
A problem which I had a few times ocured when I tried to start a programm on the internal storage whil it was conected to a pc as a internal storage then the Diamond gives the internal storage a other name such as internal storage 1, 2 etc
Have a look at your file explorer you maid find it there.
Willem
Slight variation on this topic but related.
Can someone tell me if there are hidden files or something similar on the internal storage?
When I look at All settings -> system -> memory, it says that there is 2725MB in use but if I total the individual values for each folder in my internal storage it only adds up to 2122MB. It's driving me mad as space is limited enough as it is...
In a response to an earlier query, if you plugin your device as a mass storage device, the Internal Storage is unmounted from the phone's system so you cannot use it, and when you try to launch an application which requires this internal storage you can run into big problems of it "creating" a new Internal Storage. By this time when you unplug your device from the computer it will then rename your actual Internal Storage to Internal Storage 1/2 and you will have to go into file explorer and delete this, then reconnect your device to the computer and it should be ok again when you disconnect it.
Addicteddddd said:
In a response to an earlier query, if you plugin your device as a mass storage device, the Internal Storage is unmounted from the phone's system so you cannot use it, and when you try to launch an application which requires this internal storage you can run into big problems of it "creating" a new Internal Storage. By this time when you unplug your device from the computer it will then rename your actual Internal Storage to Internal Storage 1/2 and you will have to go into file explorer and delete this, then reconnect your device to the computer and it should be ok again when you disconnect it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A good point. To give you an example of how this works. I installed TT6 by putting my (legitimate) CAB file maps etc onto the internal memory by setting it as a USB device and using drag and drop in Explorer. The moment I disconnected the phone from the PC it re-recognised the internal memory and ran the TomTom auto-installation app. It is exactly the same as inserting an SD card into an SD slot of any other PDA.
Having same issue. I deleted the contents and the folder Internal Storage and am doing a hard reset. Will post results.
BTW - HTC and Sprint really should have a better solution to fixing this rather than all this mess. Even the ipod is easier to remount when you unplug during sync and I thought that was annoying....
jreach said:
BTW - HTC and Sprint really should have a better solution to fixing this rather than all this mess. Even the ipod is easier to remount when you unplug during sync and I thought that was annoying....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you may have misunderstood what we are saying. This problem only occurs when you choose the (non-default) option of the PC recognising the internal storage as a seperate USB drive rather than as an activsync connection when you make your connection to the PC. If you choose that option then no automatic activsync activity will occur when you dock because activsync will not start. On the other hand file transfers will be much quicker and easier and you can use drag and drop in your PC's explorer.
If you decide not to use this facility then activsync works fine and you should have no problems with automated syncing and unplugging whilst that is happening (although that latter action is not recomended with either Windows or Apple based phones or PDAs).
The main advantage that Windows based PDAs and phones have over Apple based ones are that they are much more easily changed (as most of these forums show!) and "tweaked" to suit what the end user wants. Apple is more "technology for technophobes". However the disadvantage with the Windows system is that there is more for the end user to bugger up - hence all the cries for help on this forum.
No I understood what you meant. I was just comparing the issue. When Internal Storage still shows up under My Device but does not show up under Memory it tells me that the phone has "un mounted" the memory. The question is how do you re-mount this? Unless i am missing something which I very well may be....this appears to be the issue. At least the one I am faced with.
jreach said:
No I understood what you meant. I was just comparing the issue. When Internal Storage still shows up under My Device but does not show up under Memory it tells me that the phone has "un mounted" the memory. The question is how do you re-mount this? Unless i am missing something which I very well may be....this appears to be the issue. At least the one I am faced with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You remount it by returning the HTC to its standard activsync setting, via its settings menu You can do that while it is still connected to the PC and when you hit OK activsync instantly starts and syncs. In addition Explorer recognises it as a mobile device rather than the removable storage when it was in USB mode.
I do not think it is correct to compare an additional Windows feature (that the Apple does not have) with the standard feature that the Apple does have. A more accurate comparison would be the two in the same activsync mode, in which case they are similar, and neither has this problem
At the end of the day if anybody does not like the extra facility the HTC has to show and use its internal storage in the same way as a memory card when hooked up to the PC (because of its disadvantages) then they should not use it and they should stick with activsync. At least in Windows world we have the option.
WOW!
Dropping the ipod reference and my apologies for stepping on toes by mentioning it.
Setting it to active sync or hard drive has NO affect on this what so ever. I wish it did as it would be an easy fix. Apparently during any kind of disconnect the memory module freaks out and it corrupts the file system. That is apparently why the phone will not recognize it. Some people have had success connecting the phone over and over to a computer until it mounts the drive and then via the computer they format the drive and then hard reset and its fixed.
In this case its very similar as the HTC device will not remount the memory module. I contacted HTC and they verified that its a problem and have recommended an RMA to sprint.
Personally I don't even buy the HTC response. There has to be a way to remount the memory back to the phone as the drive will occasionally show up even in windows. It just wont allow a format as it locks up.
Oops sorry if I sounded a tad touchy... . I really did not mean to upset.
It is just that I think that Apple are really good at marketing to the "cool fool" market, and persuading people that they are technologically more advanced than they really are. The classic example of this is the iphone that was trumpetted as having lots of "new" benefits, which had been on other competitor's phones for ages. The only thing cutting edge about them is their ease of use (which is I have to admit very good)
However I do not have the problem you are describing with my HTC touch diamond, and nor, I suspect, do the vast majority of other users. My memory module has never freaked out and corrupted my file system no matter how many times I connect or disconnect and no matter how I do it. So I suspect it is not a universal HTC problem, but one limited to the way that Sprint and maybe others (I assume in the US?) have implemented the software, or maybe on a rogue batch of hardware or software?
No worries...text does that some times.
Yeah I think its pretty much a US thing. PPCGEEKS has a thread going about it and it appears to be all sprint phone related.
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=37485
So far what I have is this: When using file explorer, under My Device Is a folder called Internal Storage. When I go into settings to check memory, I have Storage & Program, 102.55MB and 203.84MB, respectively, that's Total. In the Storage card tab, it says Not installed. And when i try to clear storage and format internal storage it says "no Mass Storage found"
So I hopped over to PPC and this is what I found, unfortunately i'm going to work so no time but will try and report later on.
Originally Posted by thacounty View Post
Ok, here is what worked for me.
Hard reset - Connect to PC, Once connected as a USB Drive, VERY IMPORTANT - Don't try to open drive, only right click.
Choose Format, FAT32, Quick Format. It took about 5 seconds, then soft reset and it is up right now... We will see.
No go, Vista won't recognize my diamond as a drive hence no format...
I now know what I did wrong, I copied the internal storage to pc then back again using the disk function instead of AS. I now have internal storage2 showing and can't access any programs.
Can anyone tell me how to rename I.S.2 to I.S please.
delete the Internal Storage folder (which will just be a folder) with total commander, resco explorer or file explorer, then connect ur phone to ur pc in disk mode, then disconnect and it should rename back!

Move To SD Button? I only have USB Storage...

Where is the move to SD button? I only see move to usb storage..
Why won't anyone chime in?
After doing a Google search on the text string "move to usb storage," this is the second or third forum thread I've found in which such as the thread-starter's question has been asked...
...yet no one will respond. Of all the places where I figured someone would know what's going on, this forum would be the one. Yet, just look: No response.
I make this point because my Samsung Infuse 4G is suddenly and inexplicably exhibiting the symptom, to wit: The button which used to say "move to sd card" on it now suddenly says "move to usb storage" on it.
The phone is an unrooted/still-locked (and please do not suggest rooting or unlocking as part of your response) Samsung Infuse 4G (SGH-i997), which was released as a new model just one (1) year (at this writing) ago, in May of 2011. It was released with 2.2 Froyo on it. Go figure.
The 2.3 Gingerbread upgrade was only released in February 2012, then promptly (like, literally, after only 3 days) withdrawn; then re-released in April of 2012.
I finally upgraded to 2.3.6 Gingerbread this month (at this writing), in May of 2012. I learned from my Samsung Captivate 2.3 Gingerbread update/upgrade experience that one should back-up everything to a PC, and then restore the phone to factory state before applying the 2.3 Gingerbread upgrade/update; and that said upgrade/update should be applied immediately after said restoral to factory state. Doing it that way -- and ONLY that way -- virtually guarantees that the upgraded 2.3 Gingerbread installation will be good and accurate and reliable. The rationale is that the Samsung/AT&T engineers, when they were testing the 2.3 Gingerbread upgrade, obviously test using only phones in 2.2 Froyo factory state. Stop and think about it: What else would they use? And so just about the only way for the end-user to ensure that s/he will end-up with the same results as said engineers would be to replicate what they did. By doing that on both the Captivate and the Infuse, I got perfect, pristine, error-free 2.3 Gingerbread updates/upgrades, while most others (who applied the 2.3 updates/upgrades to 2.2 Froyo phones which had been in use for a while) got into forums and complained that this wasn't working, or that wasn't working. They had troubles. I did not. Do the math.
So, in any case, everything on my Infuse 4G since the 2.3 Gingerbread update/upgrade has been terrific. Perfect. Not a single problem. And one thing I know, for sure, is that when I went into...
Menu > Settings > Manage Applications
...and then if I pressed on an app which was movable to SD (but which was installed to the device), the little button to the right of the "Clear Data" button had the words "Move to SD Card" on it (or some variant thereof... perhaps "Move to SD storage"... I can't remember, excatly. The point is, that the purpose of the button was to move the app from its place of installation in the phone's 2GB of internal/processing storage, out to the phone's 2GB external SD card. In both 2.2 Froyo, and now the upgraded/updated 2.3 Gingerbread, that has always been that button's purpose. That I can't, now, remember the precise words on said button doesn't change that point.
Now, though, suddenly (and inexplicably) that button has the words "Move to USB storage" on it.
That's the symptom that the thread-starter, here, was trying to convey: The button which used to say "Move to SD storage" on it all of a sudden contains the words "Move to USB storage."
And there's yet another (I believe related) symptom: If I open an "App2SD" type app (such as, in my case, specifically, the App2SD component of the "ZDBox" app), and then ask it to take a look at the external SD card, it, indeed "sees" what apps are installed out onto the external SD card...
...yet the amount of free space thereon which it reports is not the free space on the external SD card but, rather, the free space on the internal SD card.
Confused? Here... let me try too explain a little differently...
The Samsung Infuse 4G ships with a non-removable 16GB internal solid state storage card in it; and also with a little 2GB card in the phone's external SD card slot.
Two (2) gigabytes (2GB) of the 16GB solid state card is partitioned-off to become the phone's "internal/processing" storage... where apps are installed, and temp files are created, and RAM paging occurs, etc., etc. All phones have it... on some phones it's only 1GB, on others (like mine) it's 2GB, and on newer phones it's 3GB or sometimes (though rarely) even 4GB.
The remaining 14GB of the non-removable 16GB internal is called "internal SD" storage. By reading various forums, one can see that many users are confused by this "internal SD" storage because it behaves like "external SD" storage in most ways (and so all kinds of music and photos and whatever else the user wants to store in it may be so stored), yet the phone's OS refuses to see this 14GB of "internal SD" storage as true "SD" storage for purposes of "App2SD." This problem is particularly well-known among Samsung Captivate (SGH-i897) users, who often complain in forum postings that they can't move anything to SD using App2SD technology...
...and that's because, again, the Android OS simply refuses to "see" the 14GB of "internal SD" as true "SD" storage... ostensiibly because it's got a 2GB system partition on it.
So Samsung wised-up when it released the Infuse 4G (SGH-i997). Unlike the Captivate (which shipped with an empty external SD card slot), the Infuse 4G shipped with a little 2GB SD card in its external SD slot.
So, then, in other words, the Infuse 4G shipped with the 16GB internal solid state card which was partitioned into a 2GB "internal/processing" storage system partition, plus a 14GB "internal SD" mass storage partition. And then, additionally, there was a 2GB external SD card in the external SD card slot.
Moreover, because of this, Samsung then slightly modified the Android OS on the Infuse such that all apps which could be installed to external SD (using App2SD technology) were automatically so installed... by default. This is different from how the Captivate behaves, to wit: Even if a Captivate has a an SD (be it plain ol' SD, or a higher-capacity SDHC) card installed into its external SD card slot, it still always installs all apps to the 2GB of internal/processing storage; and then if the user wants whatever apps are capable of being installed out to external SD installed thereto, then s/he must do it manually. So the Infuse 4G, then, default use of external SD storage for app installation (using App2SD technology) an integral part of its OS.
And the reason, obviously, is that it's very easy to put too much into the 2GB of internal/processing/system storage, and either slow-down or choke the phone. Both the Captivate and the Infuse 4G really start to become dogs once the 2GB of internal/processing/system storage gets down below around 512K in size. So by installing out onto an external SD card as many apps as will allow themselves to be so installed, the Infuse 4G can keep the avalable working space in its 2GB of internal/processing/system storage as big as possible. Take it from me (who has tried it both with all apps installed internally, and with about half of them installed out onto external SD), it makes a huge difference. The Samsung Infuse 4G which has as many apps as possible installed out onto the external SD card (using App2SD technology) is considerably faster and more responsive than one with all its apps installed to the 2GB of internal/processing/system storage.
So, then, Samsung, having installed a 2GB SD card into the external SD slot in new, as-shipped Infuse 4G phones, decided to make its actual App2SD-style use something which it does by default (unlike the Captivate). With an Infuse 4G, whatever can be installed out to the external SD card will be so installed, by default; and so then if the user wants it installed back in the 2GB of internal/processing/system storage, s/he must manually so move it. Again, the Captivate, even if it has an SD card installed into its external SD card slot will not behave that way.
Okay... so, then, that's how the Infuse 4G ships from the factory. And with both the factory-installed/shipped 2.2 Froyo, and also even after the 2.3 Gingerbread update/upgrade, the App2SD button in the applications management area of the phone always had the words "Move to SD storage" on it (that is, unless the app was simply not capable of being moved to external SD, in which case said button was grayed-out... but even then it still had the same "Move to SD storage" words on it).
Moreover, under both the factory-installed 2.2 Froyo, and also under the 2.3 Gingerbread update/upgrade, any third-party App2SD apps which were able to report both used and avialable external SD space would always report what was on the SD card in the actual external SD card slot, not what's both used and available in the "internal SD" card. Such apps, in other words, never got confused about which SD storage is the true "external" storage.
However, the symptom which the thread-starter and I now have, suddenly and inexplicably (in my case, after about three weeks of trouble-free post-Gingerbread-upgrade/update use; and in his case, after I have no idea what) is that all of a sudden...
a) the App2SD button which used to say "Move to SD storage" on it now says "Move to USB storage" on it; and,
b) at least on my phone, any third-party App2SD apps accurately show any apps installed out on the external SD card, but when they report how much space is both used and available thereon, it actually reports what's in the "internal SD" storage... where, trust me, no apps are installed.
So, then, the bottom line would appear to be that the external SD card is being recognized as external SD for purposes of having apps installed onto it, but the OS is calling it "USB storage;" and (perhaps) because of that, all reporting as to used/available external SD space is being read from the "internal SD" card, where no apps are installed.
So, then, I ask the experts here: What's causing this? And why would the symptom, at least in the case of my phone, rear its ugly head only after about three weeks of perfectly excellent post-Gingerbread-update/upgrade performance?
Here's something which may be relevant... and, in fact, I believe it's actually somehow the culprit: When I updated/upgraded to 2.3 Gingerbread, I did the pre-update/upgrade factory reset, and then the update/upgrade, itself, with the factory-installed 2GB SD card in the external SD card slot. And so, therefore, it got initialized and reformatted as part of the factory reset (to factory-state 2.2 Froyo), and was also read as "native" during the 2.3 Gingerbread update/upgrade. And all of my trouble-free post-Gingerbread-update/upgrade use was with the 2GB card in the external SD card slot.
However, just a few days ago, I upgraded that little 2GB external SD card to a big 32GB SDHC card. But I didn't just do it willy-nilly. I was careful. First, I backed-up everything on the 2GB card to my PC; then I unmounted the 2GB card; then powered-down the phone; then removed it. Then, with the phone still off, I inserted the 32GB card; then I powered-up the phone; then I unmounted the 32GB card; then I reformated it (under 2.3 Gingerbread); then I rebooted the phone; and then I restored everything from the 2GB card backup on the PC to the new 32GB card.
And the phone seemed to work okay thereafter. My mistake, for our purposes, here, is that I didn't go look at the App2SD button and see if it still had the words "Move to SD storage" on it, or whether it at that point said "Move to USB storage" on it, after installing the 32GB card and restoring the 2GB card's contents to it.
So, then, my suspicion, obviously, is that the problem is due to the post-Gingerbread-update/upgrade substitution of the 32GB card for the original factory-installed 2GB card.
And so I would ask the thread-starter if he did anything like that, too. However, since it appears that he got the symptom immediately after his 2.3 Gingerbread update/upgrade (and I didn't see mine until three weeks later, after swapping the factory-installed 2GB external SD card for a big 32GB SDHC one), our symptoms, though similar, may actually be caused by different things. Who knows.
What both the thread-starter and I are looking for, here, though, is some help -- some ideas, thoughts, notions, suspicions, etc. -- from the people around here whom we've come to realize tend to know more about these phones than almost anyone else. This forum is where all the real experts are...
...and we were hoping that at least one of them could somehow shed some light on this.
One theory I had was that even though I formatted the new 32GB card in the phone, under 2.3 Gingerbread, I nevertheless moved the hidden...
.android secure
...folder (where the apps installed to the external SD card using App2SD technology are installed) from the 2GB card's backup on my PC to the new 32GB rather than using the...
.android secure
...folder that is automatically created by the formatting on the phone. In other words, once I formatted the 32GB card in the phone, I then promptly deleted the...
.android secure
...folder, and also the...
LOST.DIR
...folder to make the 32GB card completely empty (except for formatting information); and then I simply copied those folders...
.android secure
...and...
LOST.DIR
...over from the 2GB card's backup on the PC over to the new 32GB card. I did all this, it's worthy of note, via a USB connection between the phone and the PC.
I had hoped that because it was all done using a USB connection (with the phone connected to the PC via USB, and said phone being told to make said connection in "mass storage" mode), and so, then, because the phone was actually writing to the 32GB card (as opposed to my removing said 32GB card from the phone and inserting it directly into the PC), the writing of the...
.android secure
...folder would be the same as when said folder is created during formatting. But my fear, now, is that it was not...
...and that that's the reason why the phone's App2SD components are now calling the 32GB SDHC card in the phone's external SD slot "USB storage;" even though for App2SD purposes, the phone's still installing stuff there.
So, then, my further question is: Is my hunch correct? Did my moving the...
.android secure
...folder from the 2GB card's backup on the PC, over to the new 32GB card (rather than using the one created by formatting), somehow confuse the phone into exhibiting its current symptoms?
For what it's worth, as a test of that theory, I moved all apps from the external SD card back to the 2GB internal/processing/system storage (which, yes, slowed-down my phone a little... but that's okay temporarily); then I rebooted; then I unmounted the external SD card; then I reformatted it; then I rebooted again.
However, sadly, even after that, the App2SD part of the OS still sees that card as "USB storage," and so the words "Move to USB storage" (rather than "Move to SD storage") are still on the button which normally moves apps from phone to SD (using App2SD technology).
I realize that I can fix all this by just backing-up everything to my PC, and then doing a complete GSM reset of the phone back to factory state (though, technically, it would be 2.3 Gingerbread "factory state"... which, because the phone only ever shipped with 2.2 Froyo on it, would be a misnomer); then restore contacts and bookmarks and stuff; and then just reinstall everything.
And that's what I'm right on the cusp of doing...
...but I'm hesitant only because I just did all that post-Gingerbread/update/upgrade. And so I'm loathe to go and do it all again...
...expecially because I don't know what caused the symptom in the first place.
That said, if I'm right that it has something to do with the upgrade from the 2GB external SD card to the 32GB one, then one thing that would be different this time is that the new 32GB card would be initialized as the phone's external SD card as part of the factory reset...
...which might just do the trick.
Still, I want the thoughts/opinions of the experts, here, before I do it.
So, then, you experts out there...
...thoughts? Opinions? Criticisms? Ridicule? I'm open to it all.
Thanks, in advance, for the help.
Looking forward to hearing from... er... well... at least someone.
OK I didn't read the previous post but move to SD and USB storage have the same function. So don't worry.

/sdcard vs /sdcard-ext???

So I posted this question over and Android Forums, but no one has answered after 5 days. Hopefully I'll have better luck here.
What is the point of having an "on-board" sd card and an external card? I understand that -ext is your actual SD Card, but what is the /sdcard then and how is it different than regular "on-board storage"? What goes to either directory by default? This is the first Android phone I've had that does this, so I'm trying to familiarize myself with this.
I just bought a high quality 32GB SD card, so I'm a little disappointed that not everything is going to my SD card and instead to some onboard storage.
What are the benefits of putting things in either of these two?
I could be wrong but I think the internal memory is actually 12-16gb, but its partitioned with certain parts reserved for the operating system and apps.
I have noticed that transferring files from my computer to the internal storage is a bit faster than the external.
But then I do have a basic cheap 16gig SD card, so other cards might be faster.
I've not had any problem with the location of files, but then again I am a neat freak and I keep everything organized and know where everything is at all times
The reasoning comes from an operating system perspective. This is very much like a linux OS. Internal storage is different than ram. Android lives on seperate partitions as designed by google. Storage for the purposes of pictures, music, etc was left to be taken care of by sdcards. Since actual sdcards are more complicated than the average graduating flip phone user, manufacturers starting adding this "external" storage since it would be convenient for users like my mom. Then because geeks designed these, they still wanted to add more storage, so they designed storage you could actually get to! Hence sdcard-ext. Because many/most apps look for /sdcard as a file system, manufacturers could not skip it and just add more to the system partitions, or program installs would fail. They would either half to give a free memory card with purchase of the phone (carriers don't want to give anything away for free, and this is how it was 2+ years ago) or make storage on board that could be reachable.
In a windows point if view, think of it as all programs look for drive d: for extra storage rather than hogging c:, but since carriers didn't want to give away free d: drives, they said install it inside since it is cheaper on the board then to add a sdcard after. So, now /sdcard is like d: and /sdcard-ext would be like e:
I hope that made any kind of sense. It is honestly a useless mess, but sufficient for the unknowing or uncaring masses who just want to save more mp3's or pictures.
Nowell29
Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk
My issue is spotify fills up the internal "sdcard" Id ideally like to point spotify to use my external sd card as its a 32 gb card. But that wont work.
Has anyone tried to create a symlink to point a folder to an external folder?
Is there a way to dictate what goes where? For example, if I wanted my apps to go to my actual SD card (/sd-ext), could I do it?
AMTrombley0924 said:
Is there a way to dictate what goes where? For example, if I wanted my apps to go to my actual SD card (/sd-ext), could I do it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure that without some mild hacking*, there wouldn't be a universal way to do it. If it's doable at all, it will be on an application-by-application basis.
Some apps seem to just "do the right thing". For instance, as soon as I installed and formatted my sdcard, the camera and gallery applications moved my pictures from /sdcard to /sdcard_ext, and from then on, that's where pictures are stored as they're taken.
OTOH, Amazon MP3 is pretty stupid about keeping all downloaded music on /sdcard. When I bricked my phone for about a month, that's one of the things that kept me from trying for a full replacement: I couldn't pull the files out of an internal filesystem, so I'd lose all that music. If I could have had those stored on a removable SDcard, it wouldn't have been a factor.
*example of mild hacking: move application-specific directories from /sdcard to /sdcard-ext and replace /sdcard directory with a softlink to /sdcard-ext equivalent. It's hacky and crocky, but I think it would work, as long as /sdcard-ext is available and has the appropriate directory (target of link).
hopefully one of you would know this answer...
i have the droid 4 as well and i have an aftermarket stereo in my car that has a USB connection. i can plug in my phone and it wont recognize any music until i turn on USB mass storage (obviously) but the problem i'm having is that (what i think is happening) the phone is pretty much mounting the internal sd card first for some dang reason and then the external sd card second. but i can't back out of the /sdcard folder to go into /sdcard-ext where all of my music is.
is there any way to change the mounting order? <--- that's my question.
My phone is rooted and currently running the latest CM9 ROM.
Thanks
-Andrew
Apps will always install on the internal sdcard, no way around this.
Spotify to external SD is simple. First, erase everything and logout. During the login screen press menu and you will be able to change the default location. Login and synch and you're done.
Disabling the internal mount;
etc/vold.fstab
put an "#" before the line "dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard:: 25 /devices/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.1/mmc_host/mmc1"
This should disable mounting the internal drive. I haven't tested it though. It is possible the OS won't be able to see the internal mmc when it's not mounted.
It's also possible to swap internal with external. BUT... I've read mixed reports on an LG forum where users complained about problems with their phones. So be carefull if you want to test that out. Have to say though, apart from LG users I haven't read problems on other devices. Search for drive swap vold.fstab if you wanna try.
would it be possible to re-partition the phone's memory so that it's: system, internal, and sdcard, rather than having the sdcard and sdcard-ext seperate? I have a 16 gb micro sd card that I plan on keeping in my phone at all times that I plan to store general media on, but I'd like to keep all my apps on the internal storage. I know the process will probably cause me to lose all my data, but I've got nothing important on it. Also if this was the case would I also have to install a new version of android? Forgive me if I seem ignorant, I've only partitioned my hard disk via a bootable usb, so I'm a bit inexperienced.

Moved some apps to SD Card and Internal Storage still full

Anyone else have an issue when trying to format an SD Card as Internal Storage? I just got a 128GB Samsung EVO Plus UHC 3 Class 10 SD Card for the purpose of extending the small 64 gb storage on the unit. When its formatted as internal it shows as a 256 GB Card with 132 GB Being used. When i go to app mgr and transfer the apps to SD Card i see the relative increase in space being used on my SD Card however my internal storage space stays just as full, which i believe shouldn't be the case. Anyone else have a similar issue, or know any workarounds to this issue? I do not think its device related as my girlfriends Razerphone 2 is acting the same way with the card i got for her. When we format it as removable storage it shows up correctly as a 128 GB but i dont want to be restricted to media only i dont plan on removing this card from the device.
Any assistance is much appreciated!
Thanks!
I have same issue but know not ofa work around or fix.
Even when you move apps to the SD card, the amount of data moved varies, and you'll still have necessary files on the internal storage. So I doubt you'll ever fully resolve that.
Regarding the idea in general, it's not a good idea to install apps on to the SD card in the first place. They are not designed to handle the amount of data writing that happens with normal app use and can corrupt the card relatively quickly. It's best to leave apps on the internal storage, and just put independent files (photos, videos, documents, etc) on the card.
Mr_Mooncatt said:
Even when you move apps to the SD card, the amount of data moved varies, and you'll still have necessary files on the internal storage. So I doubt you'll ever fully resolve that.
Regarding the idea in general, it's not a good idea to install apps on to the SD card in the first place. They are not designed to handle the amount of data writing that happens with normal app use and can corrupt the card relatively quickly. It's best to leave apps on the internal storage, and just put independent files (photos, videos, documents, etc) on the card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but that isnt quite the issue. I see the gigs of storage space on my SD get used but the space on my internal storage remains exactly the same as it was before i moved as well. I paid extra for the Class 3 card just for better read and write speeds to be usable as internal storage. The 64 gigs on this is too little and id rather not have to redownload apps every time i decide to change a game.
On my previous HTC 10 with Android 8 when i combined my SD as internal it basically combined as a single storage with my internal had just one big storage drive. I didnt have a class 3 card for that one, it definitely slowed things down but was hoping for better results with this faster SD, just now it seems like the feature is broken and not working as intended on this Device model altogether

Migrated data to SD card, space not freed up

After some time without an SD card, today I put one (Sandisk 32GB Ultra Plus I think) in the phone, formatted it as internal storage and opted to move data to the card.
The card got filled up to 17 GB; it seems the system has copied all the images and my files but no apps or other internal things.
Copied, not moved - because the internal storage remains to be filled up. The data however is inaccessible. I.e. when I eject or remove the card, there are no files visible on the phone, in fact it's as if there's no storage. E.g. the download folder doesn't exist, file managers can't see anything etc. So the files remain on the phone, but I can't access them.
Of course I can't move the data back from the card to the phone because... There's no space, so that process errors out.
Another problem this causes is when I update apps. The app gets moved to the card and all the app data gets reset/wiped.
What can I do about this? The phone isn't rooted or anything of the sort, it's all stock. However I also don't use Google's services, so I'm not exactly eager to do a factory reset and set everything from scratch. I have my files backed up, but I'd lose the app data, which would be a major hassle.
Thanks for any tips.
Try clearing the system cache.
You mean from the boot recovery menu? I did, it didn't help.
More notes:
- The "Free up space" button in storage doesn't work.
- Now I'm thinking, I have a lot of Google and Moto apps disabled, so maybe that's the problem (it's really been ages since I've messed with this, so I've forgotten about it). Any clue which app controls these things?
- I also just realized that every single file on the card has its date/time set to the time when I did the migration, and not when the files were originally created. Is this normal? (Cause it's pretty effed up.)
Anyway I'm not liking this. What can happen when I tell the system to "forget" the SD card? Any guesses?
The time stamp is normal.
There's hidden files, something...
Problem is, I can't get into the file system of the internal storage at all.
E.g. in Total Commander I can navigate the root folder and certain subfollders, but in terms of my files I can only get to the ones on the card; which is easy to distinguish due to the timestamp. And when the card us ejected or not present, there's nothing at all.
Factory reset if you get tired of playing with it... could be malware.
Any ideas, anyone? :/
What dis you mean be "formatted as internal storage"?
Well when you insert a new memory card, you can format is either as internal storage or external. Internal will act as just more phone storage, i.e. apps can be installed to it, and it's encrypted. Downside is there's no way to distinguish where anything gets saved.
External is just for files and in case of G6, it's not encrypted.
I think you better start from the beginning...
You always should use the SD card as a data drive.
Running apps should never go on it!
You never encrypt a data drive... unless you enjoy losing data!!!
Get the data off the SD card into the PC via data transfer from the phone.
Then factory reset the phone and reload.
Then add the SD card data drive, do not encrypt it! All critical data and backups go here.
Internal memory is for apps, the temporary download folder and the DCIM folder*.
*create a folder on the data drive to transfer photos from the DCIM folder on a regular basis.
Do Not name this folder DCIM! Name it Photo Master or such.
Excuse me, but you don't know what formatting as internal storage means, but you gonna give me a complete rundown how to use my phone in a completely different manner than I want to. I didn't ask any of this.
If I can't encrypt the SD card, then it might as well not be there at all. Motorola ****ed up by not supporting this.
Anyway, I sorta fixed it. Uninstalled some apps to clear up about 2.5GB of space, deleted all my files, "migrated" everything from card to phone, which was about 700 megs of nothing. Yep all my files were still there in the phone. And those 700 megs stayed on the card too. Whatever process is controlling this, is apparently unable to delete data.
Whatevs. Guess it's extra motivation to mess around with custom ROMs and stuff, I'm tired of OEM nonsense.
If you OS crashes/burns which is rare in Androids but certainly happens, your encrypted SD card data will not be accessible after a factory reset.
Lost forever... end of story.
That's why you never encrypt data drives; sooner or latter you will lose critical data, maybe your whole data base.
People are constantly posting here asking how to break 256 bit encryption. It's sadly halarious because it's not happening in their lifetime.
Meh, do what you will...
Same sheet here. I did the following and it worked:
1, while still in the phone, I backed up the content of the SD card. (Turned out I didn't need it, but better be safe)
2, switched off the phone
3, removed the SD card
4, Turned on the phone. Some apps, which didn't rely much on internal storage just worked without any issue. Others were missing the SD card.
5, From the drop-down menu I selected the SD-card related item and clicked on "Forget". This gave me some warnings, but I didn't have much to loose.
6, Magic happened: My phone recovered the previously hidden files and it worked just before I started the migration to SD card!
tohotom said:
Same sheet here. I did the following and it worked:
1, while still in the phone, I backed up the content of the SD card. (Turned out I didn't need it, but better be safe)
2, switched off the phone
3, removed the SD card
4, Turned on the phone. Some apps, which didn't rely much on internal storage just worked without any issue. Others were missing the SD card.
5, From the drop-down menu I selected the SD-card related item and clicked on "Forget". This gave me some warnings, but I didn't have much to loose.
6, Magic happened: My phone recovered the previously hidden files and it worked just before I started the migration to SD card!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to XDA
Apps, DCIM and download folders go on internal memory.
All critical data including regular backups for the dcim folder go on the SD card ie data drive.
Any apps that allow backups can be backed up on the data drive but never running from it.
Once you add a SD card leave it in the device and access it through the device only to avoid issues.
If you're dealing with under 128gb internal memory... life will be hard*. That's what I consider a bare bones minimum, 256gb or larger is better.
*Adjust the amount of apps loaded accordingly and leave a couple gb of headroom. If you only got 16gb of memory it's going to be a light load.

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