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.
Related
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.
So, just got my 128gb sdcard yesterday and was wondering if there was a way of making it pretty much the default place for everything possible. I know apps probably won't be able to go there, but downloads, camera pictures, etc I would think you could set to save to the sdcard I have, correct?
Also, how do most of you have your sdcards setup? I'm going to set TiBackup to auto backup and all once a week I think to my sdcard just in case type of thing and for flashes, etc.
The problem with making removable media the default is its not plugged in all the time, meaning that you'll have problems accessing your data, or even using the camera . Not having an sdcard slot means it's awkward having a USB otg plugged in all the time.
That said, you can use something like foldermount to move and mount any sdcard folder you want to external.
See the picture.
How come SD becomes xxxx-xxxx, and the number changes after changing SD card?
This can be a hassle to save files onto memory card.
mingkee said:
See the picture.
How come SD becomes xxxx-xxxx, and the number changes after changing SD card?
This can be a hassle to save files onto memory card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's normal with MM when you choose the SD Card as "Portable Storage",
MM Handles SD Card differently in this version of Android, there is 2 options when you insert your sd card which are :
1- Adoptable Storage
-Android 6.0 introduces the ability to adopt external storage media to act like internal storage. (YOU CAN'T REMOVE FROM DEVICE, SD Card becomes part of your device when this is selected) You can Read more about it here "Adopt. Storage"
2- Portable Storage
- This Options doesn't act like internal storage but as normal storage you can take your sdcard out without a problem and connected to you PC using a SD Card adapter.
as you can see in my attachment, i have the sd card as Portable Storage,
mingkee said:
See the picture.
How come SD becomes xxxx-xxxx, and the number changes after changing SD card?
This can be a hassle to save files onto memory card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As mentioned by DrakenFX, this is the default behavior in Android 6.0+. If you don't want to deal with it, then the best option would be to use a larger capacity SD card to avoid having to switch it out. Personally, I can't use the Adoptable Storage option, since I change ROMs pretty often, and this would destroy my data when doing so. However, using a large capacity card, such as a 64GB, 128GB, or 200GB card, I can use only that one card to store my movies, music, and other large files.
cajunflavoredbob said:
As mentioned by DrakenFX, this is the default behavior in Android 6.0+. If you don't want to deal with it, then the best option would be to use a larger capacity SD card to avoid having to switch it out. Personally, I can't use the Adoptable Storage option, since I change ROMs pretty often, and this would destroy my data when doing so. However, using a large capacity card, such as a 64GB, 128GB, or 200GB card, I can use only that one card to store my movies, music, and other large files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i just thinking out of the box here, but if we create 2 Partitions of the same format in the sdcard will MM see this partitions as 2 different partitions as use 1 as portable storage and the other one as adoptable? or MM just deal with as just single one and convert/format the whole thing?....
i have to give it a try and see the results but right now to late for me and need to move 40gb from my card to do some testing
DrakenFX said:
i just thinking out of the box here, but if we create 2 Partitions of the same format in the sdcard will MM see this partitions as 2 different partitions as use 1 as portable storage and the other one as adoptable? or MM just deal with as just single one and convert/format the whole thing?....
i have to give it a try and see the results but right now to late for me and need to move 40gb from my card to do some testing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you select Adoptable Storage, it will format the whole physical card to use for storage. Two partitions will only work for making it see two portable storage devices.
cajunflavoredbob said:
When you select Adoptable Storage, it will format the whole physical card to use for storage. Two partitions will only work for making it see two portable storage devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
other words , Won't work then LoL :crying:
either way i guess i have a 8gb laying around will do the 4gb each partition and give it a shot
P.S. Sorry for been little off topic
Well, you could try setting your SDcards to the same volume # with VolumeID.
That's good, but not great idea... I have references to docs/sync jobs etc in apps that are path specific, which would all break simply by changing the sdcard.
I've had the htc m7/m8 before and the sd card is usually reference-able via /storage/ext_sd
Samsung uses external_sd
this is both in MM, so I doubt its an android issue. Is there some way to detect the removable / external sdcard and either:
(a) mount it as ext_sd (instead of XXXX-XXXX)
or
(b) dynamically create a symlink to whatever XXXX-XXXX happens to be so all the app references are not messed up?
not that its a life or death situation, but its just... um - "yuck"
Hello fellow Note 9'ers! I've got a 32gb card just sitting in a drawer doing nothing whatsoever and was wondering about installing it into my N9. A few Q's come to mind.
1. How does the card fit into the slot? It looked too big for a micro sd card.
2. Does having an sd card typically make the device work harder as it periodically scans the drive when being accessed and having files moved to and from it.
3. What do you tend to store upon the sd card? Pictures? Films? Music? Camera stores locally in the camera folder so it would be manual moves if using sd card as a backup.. I'm looking to understand people's usage to see if it's some method I'd follow.
Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
1. SD card vs. microSD card? The Note9 only takes microSD cards, and if you have one, it should go in just nice. It needs a bit of a push to "click" the card in the holder, and it goes in more easily in certain ways (which edge is inserted first, which way the card is pushed sideways a bit, etc.)
2. Typically just having the microSD card in does not affect the phone's performance in general, unless one has some anti-malware software that has been designed in a very stupid way. However, any access to that microSD card (when such access is needed) are somewhat slower than to the internal storage, but one typically does not even notice the difference. There are some use cases where it can be very noticeable, though.
Files are only moved in/out of it if/when one tells the phone to do so, it does not happen all the time or even "periodically". (Note, this phone apparently does not support installing the card as an extension of the internal storage; in that method there could be less control on what and when gets stored/moved on the card.)
3. The phone automatically switches at least some things to be stored on microSD card as soon as it is installed. E.g. the Samsung camera app automatically switches the target storage to the card instead of internal memory, so new photos/videos will go to the card. One can still adjust that setting manually. (Photos already on the internal storage are not automatically moved.) However, this behavior would be app-specific, i.e. whether one needs to manually change such setting or not, and if such is even possible in an app.
These phones have a built-in "file browser"-style app so moving almost any normal files between internal storage and card is possible, though one might need to know what he is doing, not just blindly move everything
The most typical things to be stored on the card are indeed the "media" files: photos, videos, music. One can move also some apps from internal storage to card, but this needs more consideration (i.e. card random access speed vs. how the app needs storage access). Also, Note 9 having so much internal storage space, moving the apps to the card is not as needed as with some other phones.
6thtry said:
1. SD card vs. microSD card? The Note9 only takes microSD cards, and if you have one, it should go in just nice. It needs a bit of a push to "click" the card in the holder, and it goes in more easily in certain ways (which edge is inserted first, which way the card is pushed sideways a bit, etc.)
2. Typically just having the microSD card in does not affect the phone's performance in general, unless one has some anti-malware software that has been designed in a very stupid way. However, any access to that microSD card (when such access is needed) are somewhat slower than to the internal storage, but one typically does not even notice the difference. There are some use cases where it can be very noticeable, though.
Files are only moved in/out of it if/when one tells the phone to do so, it does not happen all the time or even "periodically". (Note, this phone apparently does not support installing the card as an extension of the internal storage; in that method there could be less control on what and when gets stored/moved on the card.)
3. The phone automatically switches at least some things to be stored on microSD card as soon as it is installed. E.g. the Samsung camera app automatically switches the target storage to the card instead of internal memory, so new photos/videos will go to the card. One can still adjust that setting manually. (Photos already on the internal storage are not automatically moved.) However, this behavior would be app-specific, i.e. whether one needs to manually change such setting or not, and if such is even possible in an app.
These phones have a built-in "file browser"-style app so moving almost any normal files between internal storage and card is possible, though one might need to know what he is doing, not just blindly move everything [emoji14]
The most typical things to be stored on the card are indeed the "media" files: photos, videos, music. One can move also some apps from internal storage to card, but this needs more consideration (i.e. card random access speed vs. how the app needs storage access). Also, Note 9 having so much internal storage space, moving the apps to the card is not as needed as with some other phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you ever so much for your thorough and detailed response! XDA to the rescue!
I need to decide if it's actually needed. Whilst it could be a good backup area for pictures it is also more likely to corrupt.. decisions decisions!
Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
Better stick with internal storage or go cloud with Google drive.
What?! No smart alek responses and no idiots screaming about searching first??? Really... I was chastised about a hardcore question and this total ridiculous question is answered without ridicule? What a joke.
OJsakila said:
What?! No smart alek responses and no idiots screaming about searching first??? Really... I was chastised about a hardcore question and this total ridiculous question is answered without ridicule? What a joke.
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Click to collapse
screw u OJ.
OJsakila said:
What?! No smart alek responses and no idiots screaming about searching first??? Really... I was chastised about a hardcore question and this total ridiculous question is answered without ridicule? What a joke.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Merely getting peoples own user experience regarding the use of an sd card on their own devices. [emoji851]
Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
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