Why does the Link2SD application not link /data/data too? - Nexus One Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

From the Link2SD FAQ:
Link2SD does not link application's private data files that are located in /data/data directory, they remain in the internal storage. Thus each app you install will still have some data on the internal storage so you can still potentially fill up your internal storage even if you are moving all of your apps over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why is this the case? There are other Linking apps which do move /data/data files. Why would Link2SD not do this?
I wish to ask this before I go bothering the application author. I figure there is some well-known issue here which I am not aware of.
I may have to switch linking apps because my /data part is getting too full, mostly due to Google's crappy maps and browser apps, which are horrifically fat.

Data Linking ?
jmomo said:
From the Link2SD FAQ:
Why is this the case? There are other Linking apps which do move /data/data files. Why would Link2SD not do this?
I wish to ask this before I go bothering the application author. I figure there is some well-known issue here which I am not aware of.
I may have to switch linking apps because my /data part is getting too full, mostly due to Google's crappy maps and browser apps, which are horrifically fat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too have this issue, and am now running low on internal space (mainly due to the huge data\data folder) ...
Can you tell me the name(s) of the other apps that provide linking the data folder ?

I believe app data isn't moved, because it will make your phone laggy as hell. Guess the dev chose for finding more space, but not at the cost of speed.

tommert38 said:
I believe app data isn't moved, because it will make your phone laggy as hell. Guess the dev chose for finding more space, but not at the cost of speed.
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Click to collapse
This makes no sense at all. In many cases, newer SD cards are FASTER than the internal flash on older phones.
Please don't guess wildly about stuff you don't understand.

d_bizzzz said:
I too have this issue, and am now running low on internal space (mainly due to the huge data\data folder) ...
Can you tell me the name(s) of the other apps that provide linking the data folder ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S2E does it, but from what I've seen, it's only for Cyanogen.

jmomo said:
This makes no sense at all. In many cases, newer SD cards are FASTER than the internal flash on older phones.
Please don't guess wildly about stuff you don't understand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sustained write/read speeds don't tell the whole story, as you may know (probably not). You probably believe the more megapixels a camera sensor has, the better? Also, the phone must support those faster µSD cards. Seeing you've only been here for half a year and you've only contributed with a dozen posts, I can say for certain that you've never read any warnings for not moving app-data. It's not your fault.
Unfortunately, I noticed that all the new people coming here have no respect or decency and think they know everything already. Guess what: you don't know **** . So, like I already said before, drop the attitude.

Respectfully, you are simply wrong.
Modern SD cards are faster than the internal flash on older phones, which are the phones that need apps like Link2SD. I don't know about more modern phones.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=934087
Bonnie++ is the best way, that I know of, to benchmark a flash storage devices, but it's not for noobs
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1169910
I remember running bonnie++ against my Nexus One and a cheap 16GB card about a year ago when that above post was made and my SD card was faster than the internal flash in almost every way, and that was then.
Yes, my post count is low. XDA Devs is full of loud noobs who think writing a java app or rooting a phone makes them a leet technical resource. I've been writing software and managing unix systems for over a decade.

Well, sir, you go ahead and put your app-data on your µSD . Benchmarks are for [random word].
Did I also mention that somehow some new members are bragging about what they have achieved and are capable of, while they haven't made themselves useful in any way? If not, now I did.

Is there still no possibility to move also the data folder (e.g of games)? Most of my applications are rather small and most space is taken by the game data folders.

tommert38 is correct here.
Because there is no guarantee, that if your sdcard is fast, it'a also faster than your internal flash. There are more dependies than only the speed of the card. What are the specs of the nexus one sd-reader? This could be an popotentially barrier.
At least: Which size supports the nexus one for sd-cards?

I agree with the OP about this. If it is a worry about the speed, i'm sure mr. bulent akpinar can at least provide an option in the app to enable/disable saving /data/data to the link2sd partition. everybody happy!
here's a link to the original link2sd thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=919326 maybe the app author can take note of it as a suggestion for future updates

One other benefit of not placing /data/data on the SD card is for the case if your sd-ext partition fails to mount for some reason (e.g. failing a file system check). If /data/data was on the SD card, then most of your application settings will be gone, including for builtin apps like the launcher. It will look very similar to a factory reset.
With /data/data on internal storage, your settings will be still be visible in this scenario and it will only be the downloaded apps that disappear. This should be somewhat easier to recover from.

RealCrogge said:
Is there still no possibility to move also the data folder (e.g of games)? Most of my applications are rather small and most space is taken by the game data folders.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Consider all the risks and if you are willing to take them you might find this thread usefull. Just be sure you know what you are doing

LINK2SD v3.4.1 - No links data/data
apologies for posting to an aged thread, but just today LINK2SD has been updated to include linking of the /data/data
I'm already enjoying the new found space made available, it seems to work very well so far ...

d_bizzzz said:
apologies for posting to an aged thread, but just today LINK2SD has been updated to include linking of the /data/data
I'm already enjoying the new found space made available, it seems to work very well so far ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
May I ask you if you noticed a lag or performance slow down? I also love link2sd but I fear to upgrade to the latest version cause I don't want to compromise the reliability of my system, which so far, has been excellent.
I have read that moving the /data files could slow down the phone or cause overheating of the sd card. Actually I have a class 10 ultra II Sandisk.
Thanks for any report and opinion.

ik8vwa said:
May I ask you if you noticed a lag or performance slow down? I also love link2sd but I fear to upgrade to the latest version cause I don't want to compromise the reliability of my system, which so far, has been excellent.
I have read that moving the /data files could slow down the phone or cause overheating of the sd card. Actually I have a class 10 ultra II Sandisk.
Thanks for any report and opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't done any benchtesting or anything but haven't noticed any slowdown or battery drain what-so-ever.
My phone runs just as good as before.
I only link my game apps to SD because I expect one day the SD card will fail (like most media storage devices) and most of my essential apps are un-linked and stored on the internal phone mem.

d_bizzzz said:
I haven't done any benchtesting or anything but haven't noticed any slowdown or battery drain what-so-ever.
My phone runs just as good as before.
I only link my game apps to SD because I expect one day the SD card will fail (like most media storage devices) and most of my essential apps are un-linked and stored on the internal phone mem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I have linked all my apps and it is now almost an year. I was very curious about the possibility to move the data too but was a bit on the standby, because if you check on the play store, there are some complaints. Now, I don't know what to do, maybe I'll give it a try.
Thanks for your kind reply.

ik8vwa said:
Thanks, I have linked all my apps and it is now almost an year. I was very curious about the possibility to move the data too but was a bit on the standby, because if you check on the play store, there are some complaints. Now, I don't know what to do, maybe I'll give it a try.
Thanks for your kind reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess some reviews may be on different phone models.
All I can advise is check the gppd & bad reviews and the phone model. Also to have a titanium backup of your older link2SD so you can roll back if needbe.
Worth just linking a few & see how it goes.
No complaints on my Galaxy S3, works fine & has done for the past 2 years

d_bizzzz said:
I guess some reviews may be on different phone models.
All I can advise is check the gppd & bad reviews and the phone model. Also to have a titanium backup of your older link2SD so you can roll back if needbe.
Worth just linking a few & see how it goes.
No complaints on my Galaxy S3, works fine & has done for the past 2 years
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I downloaded the new version (I have the plus option) but I don't understand how to move the data to sd since in the options it is specified that only future installs will be moved (if I flag the option).

Back to the original question. I use Mounts2SD for my Nexus One. I check to move Apps, Data, Dalvik, and Libraries. The rest I leave alone. I have no problems with space with this set-up. Speed is decent, I think the issues I have are probably related to the various custom ROMs I've been using but I can't be 100% sure.

Related

Low Internal Memory - SMS Warning too

I was surprised to see my wife's N1 only had 20 MB of internal memory. She is running Enomther's Rom, which runs great.. I don't think the issue is tied to that.
She has hardly any apps on her phone, and rarely does anything other than work emails (Touchdown) and Facebook/Twitter.
Considering how little she has on the phone, and how little she does with it I, was just really shocked that she would have so little internal memory. She called me just now and stated she has a notification that she missed a text message because she did not have enough memory.
What the heck could be taking up so much memory?
What's the fix? There isn't really anything to delete (that I'm aware of)....
Search seemed helpess with "internal" and "memory" there were WAY too many posts. Please help if you can!
Browser cache might be huge, if she has many sites opened in many browser windows.
Her "not many" apps might be "many" enough for a phone with limited internal memory like Nexus - having ~200MB for apps, data and cache together.
There are exactly 3 solutions:
1) Keep browser in check. It's always a good practice.
2) Use native Froyo method and move apps to SD.
3) Use Apps2EXT method and move apps to SD. You can also move Dalvik-cache to /cache.
Hmm, she has MAYBE 10 apps?
I downloaded a cache cleaner and ran that, it removed maybe 8 MBs? That was this past weekend, and she got that message about low memory today. I doubt she has even opened the browser since then to be honest. Very light user.
I sent enomther a tweet, his reply was:
RT @enomther @CallipH need to implement either dalvik-cache-2-/cache or apps2ext in SpareParts (DataStorage options) ... sysdc-2-/cache is default on cm6
okay, so option 1 is to move dalvik cache to sd, which I think you do in Advanced > Amon's recovery, right? Any ill effects from doing this if I switch roms?..
Option 2, apps2ext... she does not have an ext partition and frankly surprised this is needed... is the nexus that low on memory? My Vibrant has 1.6 GBs. same question, any ill effects if moving to another rom with the apps on the ext? I did that a lot back in the day with the G1. I remember having some issues and having to do fix permissions a lot.
Thanks for all the help man.
Check, what's using the memory. Just go over the apps.
You can't do Dalvik-to-SD, because it requires EXT partition, which you don't have. You can do Dalvik-to-Cache.
There is no hassle in having apps on EXT whatsoever. The only hassle is getting them there.
ROM has nothing to do with application data usage either.
Have you tried wiping the Dalvik cache? Worth ago in case there's some built up crap I spose.
^^ thanks.
^ I did before flashing the rom. Will do it again.
I know it's relative, but how much internal memory would you expect someone to have when they just have about 10 apps?
Depends on the apps. I can count 2 - Google Earth and Motonav, for example - that take together 50MB of space without even counting the cache part. Another 4 apps like that, and you're out of memory (if you don't move them to SD using Froyo's method or old Apps2SD-EXT method).
There's also numerous games that are > 10MB, can easily add up.
I'm curious if Touchdown (Exchzange work email) is doing something funky... I know the apps on her phone and they are all very small. Thank you guys all for the posts.
I think I may format her card and partition it and move the cache to the ext partition and see what her memory looks like after that.
Any issues you guys can think of with that, or other ideas?
Download DiskUsage, and it will give you a good idea of what the problem is...
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

SD Card Pointless

So, Samsung have boasted that they can have 128GB SD card support.... what is the point in that if you can't install apps to it... All the guides i've followed have not been clear enough in regards to using my 64GB SD as the "internal" I've tried numerous apps from Link2SD and Internal2ExternalSD none of which have worked
I've also tried to partition it in the hope it would work that way, but no... it just took off what I partitioned and the excess was still displayed as SD storage!!!
Does anyone have any ideas?? because I'm really tempting to take the phone back.. a waste of money in my eyes.... who the hell at Google thought 16GB would be enough to store games and apps on..... Please... Please someone help me here, has anyone managed to use their SD as internal??
PS I also know that KitKat took away move to sd support... so before anyone says that, I know =)
Google are the one's we should be venting our anger at. Samsung do make the devices with more storage so they've covered their backsides on that one, but it's Google that in my opinion have done this deliberately to force us all to use cloud storage. I do however believe that Samsung and other manufacturers should be going back to Google and applying pressure on them to rethink.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
I have many games installed on my memory card?
Sent from my SM-G900F using XDA Free mobile app
have you ever even tried an S5 or you just making assumptions?
Because it has app moving built in and works just fine.
I have my S5 rooted, installed NextApp SDfix (from google play), FolderMount and everything's working perfect on SD.
All my apps are automatically installing to my memory card fine on my s5...all thats on internal mem is the sammy junk
Sent from my SM-G900F using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
MOD EDIT: Comments removed
Anyway, so am i doing something wrong...because i play a lot of big games I.E. ones that take over 3GB, so when i "move" to sd... it transfers about 80MB out of 3GB... please explain what i've done wrong???? I've never used a Samsung before!
Seriously, it was a genuine question, I even went into the Samsung store today to enquire about it all...
zagaradrian said:
I have my S5 rooted, installed NextApp SDfix (from google play), FolderMount and everything's working perfect on SD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you just explain how you managed to get your games to install on the SD then? all i can put on there is music, photos and well..other media... installing games doesn't seem to work...
CraigUK87 said:
Anyway, so am i doing something wrong...because i play a lot of big games I.E. ones that take over 3GB, so when i "move" to sd... it transfers about 80MB out of 3GB... please explain what i've done wrong???? I've never used a Samsung before!
Seriously, it was a genuine question, I even went into the Samsung store today to enquire about it all...
MOD EDIT: Some comments removed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What amount is transferable to the SD card is dependent on the game, not the phone or the SD card itself. large games rely on downloadable data which is not transferable, because they need to be located in a certain place in the phone in order for the game to run (usually android/obb or android/data).
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
MohJee said:
What amount is transferable to the SD card is dependent on the game, not the phone or the SD card itself. large games rely on downloadable data which is not transferable, because they need to be located in a certain place in the phone in order for the game to run (usually android/obb or android/data).
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I understand that...can i move the "Android" folder across to the SD via a file browser app... would that work? or will the S5 not read the files anymore... I've just tried that foldermount app... moved my spotify songs across, only to find Spotify losing all the music and then asking to redownload it.... is there a way to maybe mount the SD as a mirror... or at least as the internal card itself.. with other people saying that it "works" fine.. then maybe they arn't reading what I'm asking correctly..
"Attention Wal-Mart staff, we need a clean-up in aisle 6!"
Ok members, I see a lot of tempers and un-called for comments from several participants. Keep in mind XDA rules require respecting other members. That includes the use of profanity and name calling.
Now, I'll clean out the off-topic posts, and maybe even edit some comments. Anymore "mud-slinging" regardless of who throws it, and the thread will get closed.
MD
EDIT: Thread cleaned and edited some comments from some posts.
Folks, if you don't wish to help, then kindly move along to some other thread without posting silly comments.
Also, please be aware of how you post, and that it doesn't come across as whining or complaining. A well thought out precise question will usually result in a precise answer.
And if any member sees a violation of XDA rules, their "ONLY" course of action is to "Report Post". Not add further fuel to the fire, as then it turns into a mess and moderation must come and clean it up. Regardless of what some think, XDA is a development site, Not a social network. Please read the rules.
Thank You and keep it clean.
MD
CraigUK87 said:
Can you just explain how you managed to get your games to install on the SD then? all i can put on there is music, photos and well..other media... installing games doesn't seem to work...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, follow those steps (or the missing ones...)
- root your phone
- install and run SD fix; as result, writing to external SD works like before 4.4
- use some application like FolderMount. You can choose different folders from internal memory and link them to another folder on external card. For example: after installing one game (normal, on internal memory), choose in Foldermount the obb folder (that is where almost every app put big amount of data) and link it to a folder on external SD (as result, foldermount will offer you to move existing data). Set Foldermount to automatically mount it on boot, and voila!
link: at operating system level, that directory seems as on internal memory structure, but in reality it resides on external card.
Thanks, to the guy above.. it's all sorted now!
As anyone can understand a bit of frustration was inevitable... considering how much this phone cost and SD.... but appreciate the help.
I'm on Omega Rom 2.0 (KitKat) and after I'm moving and mounting real racing 3 or dead trigger 2, when I try to play the game it downloads the data again from the Internet. I have 64 GB Samsung UHS -1 external Sd card. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Sent from my SM-G900F using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
The point of it? Storing all your music, videos(series and films) and offline maps on it so you can keep your internal memory as free as possible for apps that haven't been updated to work with KitKat.
Apps can read from the SD without issues. You don't need to write to the SD to play media.
That said, it still installs all my apps onto my SDcard. (Which I don't want it to.)
It's ridiculous how apps utilize the SD cards on a stock S5.
Let's say you install an app that takes up 100mb, and decide to move it to SD with the device manager. It will maybe reduce the on-device size to 90mb and move 50mb to the SD, and suddenly the app takes up a total of 140mb. Just an example, but this seems to be the case for every app.
Apoxx said:
It's ridiculous how apps utilize the SD cards on a stock S5.
Let's say you install an app that takes up 100mb, and decide to move it to SD with the device manager. It will maybe reduce the on-device size to 90mb and move 50mb to the SD, and suddenly the app takes up a total of 140mb. Just an example, but this seems to be the case for every app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fantastic!! (irony)! That's Samsung allright!
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---------- Post added at 01:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:45 AM ----------
ShadowLea said:
The point of it? Storing all your music, videos(series and films) and offline maps on it so you can keep your internal memory as free as possible for apps that haven't been updated to work with KitKat.
Apps can read from the SD without issues. You don't need to write to the SD to play media.
That said, it still installs all my apps onto my SDcard. (Which I don't want it to.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But alot of people, me included, uses files in a much more interactive way than just "reading" from them. I need apps to be able to modify document, movies, music files etcetera! And for that the apps need WRITE permissions, which now is no longer possible.
This new KK sdcard rules really messes this up.
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I like to keep my media collection stored locally since I don't have a large data plan. Expandable storage on devices will NEVER be pointless.
Please give up and stop buy 16g phone, so 32g phone will come for every brand . I insist buy s.version to have 32g. I just cannot accept android phone treat customers as a fool.
Sent from my SM-G900S using XDA Free mobile app
osvanberg said:
This new KK sdcard rules really messes this up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
App developers just need to update to support /mnt/extSdCard for writeable storage, is that really too much to ask?
This is really akin to the old days when apps on Windows assumed they could write to "C:\Program Files" or "C:\Windows" ... that's just a bad idea, and lazy (the wrong kind of lazy).

Defragmenting the N6

Back in 2012 android police made a report that defraging your phone didn't help any.
Fast forward to today I don't know if that's still the case. I see apps like SD maid have RAVE reviews from Nexus 6 users on the play store review section https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.thedarken.sdm&hl=en
But is it actually worth using?
Does clearing cache and dalvik do the same in TWRP?
I am asking these questions because I have moved around 24 GB's of data the past 2 weeks into different folders and deleted alot of stuff off the phone. I want to make sure my available memory is displaying correctly now.
I don't think defragging would do anything for performance on a mobile phone with flash storage. Defragmenting a hard drive is done to improve seek times and general performance, and I believe it's specifically with FAT/NTFS file systems where this is most useful.
Like SSDs, seek times aren't affected by file fragmentation. I'd imagine any perceived performance boost is placebo.
You don't need to defragment flash memory...you just don't. You're only burning readbwrite life by doing so.
SD Maid can be a useful tool but it has nothing to do with fragmentation and it works differently than clearing the caches in TWRP.
datajosh said:
SD Maid can be a useful tool but it has nothing to do with fragmentation and it works differently than clearing the caches in TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How does Maid work then? I guess I am confused how Maid cleans up my storage.
CCJ22 said:
How does Maid work then? I guess I am confused how Maid cleans up my storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It says in the description how it cleans up your storage:
Apps you have already deleted, sometimes leave data behind.
The system constantly creates logs, crash reports and debug files you don't really need.
Your SD-card is collecting files and directories you don't recognize.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It also looks to have a file explorer, app manager, and some other things.
Defragmentation brings no improvement on flash based storage and can actually be harmful, not only due to read/write cycles but also because in some instances it can counter wear-leveling.
edit: Actually see here for a better explanation: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=58004678&postcount=9
CCJ22 said:
How does Maid work then? I guess I am confused how Maid cleans up my storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SD Maid cleans up your storage by deleting files.
Which files are deleted depends on what tool you use.
See here: http://sdmaid.darken.eu/help
TL;DR
CorpseFinder tool for app remains, SystemCleaner for general clutter such as log files, AppCleaner for cache-like files (meaning files that don't contain user generated content and will be recreated if necessary).
exactly what @Dark3n said..
great app btw, been using it for years. no, it doesnt defragment
Fragmentation can occur on non-magnetic storage, as the file is fragmented into multiple, non-contiguous chunks which lead to excessive metadata. The less contiguous the data, the more metadata needed to string it all together. While the performance hit of this type of fragmentation on flash storage is far less than on magnetic storage, it exists nonetheless and general cleanup can help. While it pertains to how Windows handles fragmentation of SSDs, the following article by Scott Hanselman sheds a lot of light here.
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/therealandcompletestorydoeswindowsdefragmentyourssd.aspx
Regardless, moving around data of that size probably doesn't matter. It's more the TRIM function you should be interested, which is enabled in Android since 4.3. That helps the system know which blocks of memory truly have nothing in them for a faster and more even write.

Where did all my storage go

I have used a reported 6gig out of 11 on my /sdcard0, and yet when I run sd analyst in es explorer it doesn't add up as you can see in the attachment.
Sd analyst seems to be correct because I don't have any huge games installed. So where did all my storage go?
Its all the apps Samsung puts on there that you cant delete.
If somebody starts a class action lawsuit on this device like they did with the iPad I am all over it. Its not even remotely fair that a 16gig device has 8.9gig free because of 3+ gigs of bloatware you cant delete.
I have an SD card, but the lack of app space is concerning me.
Except I'm not running touch wiz. I'm running a CM12 ROM. Any way if I'm reading it right, this is just counting /storage/emulated/legacy the user data partition. Very weird.
barth2 said:
Except I'm not running touch wiz. I'm running a CM12 ROM. Any way if I'm reading it right, this is just counting /storage/emulated/legacy the user data partition. Very weird.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That does not make sense? I hope one of the Devs can come up with the answer to this mystery!
Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't it that if you root your device and get a rom let's say CM, as far as I know CM doesn't eat up a lot of space meaning depending on the contents of that rom, that 3gb bloat ware should be gone right?? Also this is what frustrates me with Samsung, we just can't have the option to write over to SD cards which I know can be a liability but look at the what we need to deal with. There's no 32gb version in my country so I'm always cramped up for space and I hate it, having to remove apps and games just to get by.
Sent from my SM-T805
Well I wiped my internal memory (drastic measure) and started over and now it looks correct. Not sure what was behind it.
More information would be great here. I know there's an incredible amount of Google bloat on these devices, but perhaps there is some information missing from the ES File Explorer results. I'd recommend downloading a dedicated app cache cleaner and a dedicated storage analyst app to get an accurate idea of all the things that are taking up storage. Some of the biggest offenders are browsers, but the one I've seen eat up a whole gigabyte on unknowing users' phones is usually the sneaky Google+.
Storage analyzer
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.levelokment.storageanalyser
1Tap Cleaner
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.a0soft.gphone.acc.free
steelbrachen said:
with Samsung, we just can't have the option to write over to SD cards which I know can be a liability but look at the what we need to deal with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, with Google Android Kitkat, it was decided that apps should only be allowed to write to their own sandboxed folders on the SD card anyway. Samsung has always been pretty good about at least allowing file management via a first party app, and even managing which apps can use the SD card are listed in the application manager, so I fail to see how Samsung is at fault here. (Meanwhile, in addition to demanding restrictions across the board to SD cards in Kitkat and then Lollipop, Google's more focused on forcing a social network on their users than writing a file manager for all the devices that DO have SD cards... or providing any decent AOSP apps in general.)
Sent from my Galaxy S5
Without going into too much detail the amount of available space is affected by the partition layout of the device. Esp with cm or custom rom that only takes up a couple hundred mb; the system partition ends up with a lot of unused space. If you were willing the modify your default partition table you could reclaim some usable space. Though I would place this in the advanced user grouping and would not recommend attempting it.

Move Apps to External Storage

did we lose this capability in the Note 8? still haven't found a setting and my aqua mail isn't letting me select my extSD for storage of attacments. anyone find it or is it gone? any workarounds other than root?
I honestly thought that ability was removed several years back. Like maybe 3-4 years ago. I could be mistaken.
PsiPhiDan said:
I honestly thought that ability was removed several years back. Like maybe 3-4 years ago. I could be mistaken.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks. wtg Sammy. take away the functions we use most. why allow large external sd cards if you can't store anything there. zero permissions to access it for important apps and no way to move hoggy apps there. nice. definitely rooting again. so tired of paying for fewer and fewer really usable features. dumbed down devices are not my thing.
toenail_flicker said:
did we lose this capability in the Note 8? still haven't found a setting and my aqua mail isn't letting me select my extSD for storage of attacments. anyone find it or is it gone? any workarounds other than root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haven't tested it yet, but found an option under Developer Options. hope it works.
Settings>Build (enable dev options)>Developer Options>Force Allow Apps on External
PsiPhiDan said:
I honestly thought that ability was removed several years back. Like maybe 3-4 years ago. I could be mistaken.
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Click to collapse
Yes it was . Google removed that ability in kitkat.
Some applications have option to move to SD, but not all: settings/apps click on application, then storage. If you don't see "storage used - change" then that app is not movable. However SD card is not as reliable and fast as internal store, so I wouldn't move important apps even if I could.
toenail_flicker said:
haven't tested it yet, but found an option under Developer Options. hope it works.
Settings>Build (enable dev options)>Developer Options>Force Allow Apps on External
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just tried this and it shows that it was "moved" to my SD card. The storage being taken up increased but on the internal storage it reflects the same. So probably didn't work.
Edit: Okay so it does work but not for all of the Apps/Games I tried. I'd say about 10% of the apps I tried didn't actually go over to the SD Card but the rest of them did.
GallardosEggrollShop said:
Just tried this and it shows that it was "moved" to my SD card. The storage being taken up increased but on the internal storage it reflects the same. So probably didn't work.
Edit: Okay so it does work but not for all of the Apps/Games I tried. I'd say about 10% of the apps I tried didn't actually go over to the SD Card but the rest of them did.
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Click to collapse
some clarification for me...
so even though inside the "apps info" tab on a particular app, if it says "external storage" it may still live on internal? or will it show "internal"?
marctronixx said:
some clarification for me...
so even though inside the "apps info" tab on a particular app, if it says "external storage" it may still live on internal? or will it show "internal"?
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Click to collapse
Exactly, at least from what I'm currently experiencing. For example I had 18.2GBs before I moved GTA San Andreas which is roughly 2.8GBs. From what I can tell it didn't increase my space on the internal as I still have the same 18.2GBs but it also took up more space on my external SD card. So I don't know if it is some false positive but I've restarted a few times and installed other apps. The storage still hasn't changed. Maybe someone else can shed some light on this phenomenon?
GallardosEggrollShop said:
Exactly, at least from what I'm currently experiencing. For example I had 18.2GBs before I moved GTA San Andreas which is roughly 2.8GBs. From what I can tell it didn't increase my space on the internal as I still have the same 18.2GBs but it also took up more space on my external SD card. So I don't know if it is some false positive but I've restarted a few times and installed other apps. The storage still hasn't changed. Maybe someone else can shed some light on this phenomenon?
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the follow up.
I moved some things over to SD card (i have a 400gb SSD card) like WhatsApp, philips hue, instagram.. things like that. Nothing serious like any CPU intensive apps. I "see" SOME more internal storage open up but i need to look into it further myself.
Still thanks for starting this discussion. I miss the old days of moving apps to SD (there used to be a program , apps2sd, that would do this in the early days of android) and 64gb is not a lot of storage for apps today. Most of us have over 100+ apps (on a power user device like this device, I would have expected more).
If understand its safer to keep apps internally so as to now cause issues, but having their ability to Mose simple apps like WhatsApp and such, can help.
I don't plan to root so being able to do this and KNOW it will work is intriguing.
allmine1976 said:
Yes it was . Google removed that ability in kitkat.
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Click to collapse
I have kitkat on my N4 and I still have that ability. I am rooted of course.
pete4k said:
Some applications have option to move to SD, but not all: settings/apps click on application, then storage. If you don't see "storage used - change" then that app is not movable. However SD card is not as reliable and fast as internal store, so I wouldn't move important apps even if I could.
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Click to collapse
the bigger picture for me, until root, is being able to allow different apps to store their images, docs, etc. on my extSD. things aren't working the way I think they should. man I hate knox. need root now.
marctronixx said:
Still thanks for starting this discussion. I miss the old days of moving apps to SD (there used to be a program , apps2sd, that would do this in the early days of android) and 64gb is not a lot of storage for apps today. Most of us have over 100+ apps (on a power user device like this device, I would have expected more).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you're welcome. did a search and was surprised someone hadn't already brought it up. I haven't seen anything that I can move, and it appears as if it's not working at all for me on Sprint. I'll check again later. got tired of things that didn't work and started to play.
toenail_flicker said:
the bigger picture for me, until root, is being able to allow different apps to store their images, docs, etc. on my extSD. things aren't working the way I think they should. man I hate knox. need root now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google has been screwing with SD card access since Kitkat, if I remember correctly. They don't use it on their phones and messing with permission and all kinds of nonsense to make people move away from SD card to use and pay for their stupid cloud. At least now the permissions are set properly. Anyway, root could be difficult on Snapdragon, S8 just got root few weeks ago, around 6 months after release, so don't hold your breath. But I'm finding that a lot of stuff requiring root can be accomplished with ADB, I just wish somebody made a comprehensive list of ADB tricks. In the past I used root mostly for disabling bloatware and adding functionality, like adding AC3 codec, but there are workarounds for some of those things, just hard to find sometimes. Knox doesn't bother me too much, I may be using it's secure folder for sensitive data, like banking, credit cards, I just hope it's as secure as they say it is, because I have my doubts.
pete4k said:
...I'm finding that a lot of stuff requiring root can be accomplished with ADB, I just wish somebody made a comprehensive list of ADB tricks. In the past I used root mostly for disabling bloatware and adding functionality, like adding AC3 codec, but there are workarounds for some of those things, just hard to find sometimes. Knox doesn't bother me too much, I may be using it's secure folder for sensitive data, like banking, credit cards, I just hope it's as secure as they say it is, because I have my doubts.
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Click to collapse
good info about adb. I'm out of practice with it and, yes, a comprehensive list of working adb commands would be great. I'm not in a hurry for root. I know it takes a while. and if we don't get it (I would be surprised) I can deal.
toenail_flicker said:
the bigger picture for me, until root, is being able to allow different apps to store their images, docs, etc. on my extSD. things aren't working the way I think they should. man I hate knox. need root now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not one to root but the main reason i want SOME apps on SD is their folders they store their data in, like whatsapp for example. Conversations in WhatsApp span many years and gigs of videos and photos in a few of those conversations. Having that on an SSD card would be choice.
P.s. Lol love your screen name bro... :good:
Go into developer options and you can turn it on. You can put majority of your apps on your card. No system apps.
marctronixx said:
I'm not one to root but the main reason i want SOME apps on SD is their folders they store their data in, like whatsapp for example. Conversations in WhatsApp span many years and gigs of videos and photos in a few of those conversations. Having that on an SSD card would be choice.
P.s. Lol love your screen name bro... :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks.
and exactly what you said. some apps like whatsapp... and others. it's just necessary. for the moment I just want the permissions fixed and that's going to take disabling knox and/or applying a fix to do both like for the N4. not sure that type of thing is even doable anymore.
Ill keep an eye out on this thread. If you found more tips/updates on this please post.
I just moved a LOT of stuff over to SD. Evertying i could. Some things, google maps for example, didn't have the option of moving over, so maybe some of these will stick..
I was one danergously low on internal storage, but if i can move things over, I will.
jason504 said:
Go into developer options and you can turn it on. You can put majority of your apps on your card. No system apps.
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Click to collapse
I found it on another screen instead of where I thought it would be. nice. it's working.

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