I have an 8000 MB storage card and I keep practically everything (pictures, music, big programs like HTC Home Customizer) on the card. The card has about 20 MB of room on it still. Lately however I have been getting error messages that my device storage is critically low. The device storage available is 113.55 MB and I am using 113.30 MB. I have tried locating large files in storage on my device to either move them to my card or delete them, but i can't find anything that would be taking up that much room. When I search my device for files larger than 64 kb, there are a couple pictures in main storage and everything else is on the card. However, when I used file explorer to search for files myself, I found a 16 MB file in the Windows folder called: mxip_initdb.vol. The properties say it is a VOL file that is a read only, hidden, system file. I also found a folder for "Volatile" in the application data folder but have no idea what it is for. It's been awhile since I put anything new on my device, so it may be for a program I forgot about, but I am wondering if it is some spyware or something. I just can't find any files in the device's main storage memory and I am at a loss. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
It seems to me that the memory layout on the Captivate isn't in line with other Android devices.
Looking at the specs of the Captivate on www.google.com/phone I am seeing:
RAM: 512 MB
Internal Storage: 16000 MB
Yet in looking at "SD card and phone storage" in settings I see.
Internal phone storage, Available space: 1.60 GB
Internal SD card: 13.03 GB
It seems to me that the 16000 MB is partitioned so here are my questions.
1) Where is the 512 MB and what is it for?
2) Why is it if I install some app that is supposed to show me external SD usage it always instead shows that 13 GB internal flash volume?
And in a broader sense...
3) What is the general memory model for Android? I see RAM, Internal, External. What are they all for?
I'm not sure, but of that internal 16gb of storage space, is it merely partitioning a section of that away for the OS?
That is my question. I don't understand the memory model.
This might not be accurate since I don't own an android phone but i'm bored
1) Where is the 512 MB and what is it for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
System Ram, used by the OS and apps as volatile memory.
2) Why is it if I install some app that is supposed to show me external SD usage it always instead shows that 13 GB internal flash volume?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because the 13gb volume is the "general" volume where you can personally store whatever you want, it functions just like an external Sd card would.
3) What is the general memory model for Android? I see RAM, Internal, External. What are they all for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ram - It is for the OS and apps, they need that as volatile storage to function, nothing is really stored there in the long term, the OS manages that so don't worry about it.
Internal memory - This used for many things, app install and to store files like music, pictures, etc. Internal memory is usually partitioned so that you only have a set amount (probalby that 1.60 you see ) for apps install and the rest if for whatever you want(the 13gb).
External memory - That is just an SD card you can use to expand your internal memory, right now (Android 2.1) it only works to add more space for files(music, photos, docs,) but with with froyo (android 2.2) you'll be able to move installed apps to this external (and the internal 13gb) drive.
Ok here's how it's laid out.
Yes, we have 512MB of RAM. However we as the end user will only see around 300MB of that, give or take 20MB. That's because some of it used by the OS and the GPU for different tasks.
That 16GB of internal storage you see, is partitioned off. We actually get around 13GB to use for ourselves. That 1.6GB you also see starts off as around 2GB (I would assume), and the rest used by the system for the OS, apps, cache, etc...
It's just like a hard drive on a computer in that respect. Sure you but a 1TB hard drive, but you actually only get to use around 850GB of it due to formatting and whatnot.
My problem is that I cant install apps in the 13gb partition, I dont know why..
I tried with:
adb shell pm setInstallLocation 0 this is Auto mode but.. installs in 1.8 partition
..........................................1 this install on the 1.8 partition
..........................................2 this install on the sd card
..........................................3 doesent exist xD but i tried..
so does exist any way to install apps for default in the 13.3 internal SD card partition, or any way to errase the partition??..
Try using "apps2sd" from market. It should be app2sd or apps2sd.
But I don't understand the need to do this, given that Captivate has one of the best memory amounts allocated for system.
Also note that, the apps on SD won't be available during the times when apps like "media scanner" are running.
Hey there,
I have a Galaxy S I9000T outright from Telstra. I was so glad to find a Froyo/Android2.2 ROM on SamFirmware that supports Arabic very well (my native language, most ROMs don't support it well), and the upgrade also brought slightly better performance, etc..
However, since the I9000T model had only 8 GB internal SD, I also bought another 8GB SD to use as external (I don't save a lot of files saved on the phone, mostly browsing and tweeting and having few files playlist usually replaced quick).
Now, I notice the internal SD is something like 1.5+ GB used for phone storage and 5.5+ GB available to me to use. I no longer need that. Would love to increase the phone storage part to take up most if not all the internal SD storage (you know not all apps are available to move to external SD, plus it's annoying when I mount it to my computer for storage).
I know I won't be really removing it (to allow place for future use of update.zip) but at least make it as small as 1.x GB and give the rest space to phone storage.
Can I shrink the other internal SD partition (the one I can access without rooting) and increase the root phone storage without having to re-flash my happy already-configured ROM and losing any apps, etc... ?
Sorry guys, should this have been moved to a different section or so?
How does one view the content of the SD Card from the Vivid device itself?
I can connect the Vivid to my PC via USB cable and view the SD Card as a separate drive on the PC, but cannot see how to view the SD Card content from within the device.
Suggestions? TIA.
Get a file explorer app from the marketplace. Try Astro.
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium
DUTCH Van Atlanta said:
How does one view the content of the SD Card from the Vivid device itself?
I can connect the Vivid to my PC via USB cable and view the SD Card as a separate drive on the PC, but cannot see how to view the SD Card content from within the device.
Suggestions? TIA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, you need to get a file manager application from the market. There are many of them, mostly free or low cost. I'm not crazy about Astro, the one I downloaded, but it works. Look at some others.
On my Vivid in the root directory is a folder called sdcard. That is the 8.83 GB user portion internal memory portion of the "16 GB" internal memory. Also, I have a folder called sdcard2. It's the 32 GB micro SD card I installed.
Interestingly, there is also a folder in the root directory called mnt. Under it is a folder called sdcard. It is the same as the sdcard under the root directory. Under mnt/sdcard is ext_sd. That is the 32 GB external SD card. I don't know if this duplicate listing is the work of the file manager app, or if it is the Android OS, but I am able to find files and copy files from one place to another.
With me making no changes for applications and data during application installations (I'm not sure I can), all of the apps I have installed have gone into the other portion of internal memory. The data seems to be going into the user portion of internal memory. When I installed the external SD card, I copied music files to it from my PC. The music player found them with no problem. Also, once the card was installed, photos I took were placed on the external SD card instead of internal memory.
brucegil said:
First, you need to get a file manager application from the market. There are many of them, mostly free or low cost. I'm not crazy about Astro, the one I downloaded, but it works. Look at some others.
On my Vivid in the root directory is a folder called sdcard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How does one access the root directory? Is that what the file manager app does?
(New to Android, and still in the learning phase.)
DUTCH Van Atlanta said:
How does one access the root directory? Is that what the file manager app does?
(New to Android, and still in the learning phase.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't feel alone. I just came from several years on the old Windows Mobile. In the file manager, I click on the Up icon until it won't go any further. You will see only a '/' in the address/location bar near the top. You will likely see folders such as acct, app-cache, config, sys, sysytem, etc., as well as mnt, sdcard and sdcard2. Tap on the sdcard2 folder icon, and you will see any folders you have on your external SD card.
In Astro, you can specifiy where the program opens when it starts. It can be the root directry, the exteranl SD card or any other location.
By the way, the other poster likes Astro. It comes with other tools. The "free" version has ads, but it might have a paid version. And it does come with an Exit button, something missing from a lot of Android apps.
brucegil said:
Don't feel alone. I just came from several years on the old Windows Mobile. In the file manager, I click on the Up icon until it won't go any further. You will see only a '/' in the address/location bar near the top. You will likely see folders such as acct, app-cache, config, sys, sysytem, etc., as well as mnt, sdcard and sdcard2. Tap on the sdcard2 folder icon, and you will see any folders you have on your external SD card.
In Astro, you can specifiy where the program opens when it starts. It can be the root directry, the exteranl SD card or any other location.
By the way, the other poster likes Astro. It comes with other tools. The "free" version has ads, but it might have a paid version. And it does come with an Exit button, something missing from a lot of Android apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks much!
brucegil said:
First, you need to get a file manager application from the market. There are many of them, mostly free or low cost. I'm not crazy about Astro, the one I downloaded, but it works. Look at some others.
On my Vivid in the root directory is a folder called sdcard. That is the 8.83 GB user portion internal memory portion of the "16 GB" internal memory. Also, I have a folder called sdcard2. It's the 32 GB micro SD card I installed.
Interestingly, there is also a folder in the root directory called mnt. Under it is a folder called sdcard. It is the same as the sdcard under the root directory. Under mnt/sdcard is ext_sd. That is the 32 GB external SD card. I don't know if this duplicate listing is the work of the file manager app, or if it is the Android OS, but I am able to find files and copy files from one place to another.
With me making no changes for applications and data during application installations (I'm not sure I can), all of the apps I have installed have gone into the other portion of internal memory. The data seems to be going into the user portion of internal memory. When I installed the external SD card, I copied music files to it from my PC. The music player found them with no problem. Also, once the card was installed, photos I took were placed on the external SD card instead of internal memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/sdcard is a symlink to /mnt/sdcard/ its the same thing, just a 'shortcut' to the actual mounted partition located in /mnt
/sdcard2 is a symlink to /mnt/ext_sd/ same thing, just a 'shortcut'
the actual ROOT system is inaccessible unless you have root access and an app that can see it, like root explorer, or es file manager. there are probably a few others that can get into the actual root of the filesystem.
Pirateghost said:
/sdcard is a symlink to /mnt/sdcard/ its the same thing, just a 'shortcut' to the actual mounted partition located in /mnt
/sdcard2 is a symlink to /mnt/ext_sd/ same thing, just a 'shortcut'
the actual ROOT system is inaccessible unless you have root access and an app that can see it, like root explorer, or es file manager. there are probably a few others that can get into the actual root of the filesystem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the explanation. What I meant by "root" was the top level of the file system, e.g. C:\ on a Windows PC. "Root" apparently has a different meaning in the Android OS.
ES File Manager was the other highly rated file manager, along with Astro when I searched for "file manager" in the Market.
brucegil said:
Thanks for the explanation. What I meant by "root" was the top level of the file system, e.g. C:\ on a Windows PC. "Root" apparently has a different meaning in the Android OS.
ES File Manager was the other highly rated file manager, along with Astro when I searched for "file manager" in the Market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
root in linux and subsequently, android, has an entirely different meaning.
in a sense, you have it right. / in linux/android is the root of the filesystem, equivalent to C:\ in windows pcs.
without having root (superuser access) on linux/android, you cant see the / or most of the directories below it. the general user only has direct access to storage, like /sdcard, /sdcard2 (also referred to as ext_sd, or sd_ext)
brucegil said:
First, you need to get a file manager application from the market. There are many of them, mostly free or low cost. I'm not crazy about Astro, the one I downloaded, but it works. Look at some others.
On my Vivid in the root directory is a folder called sdcard. That is the 8.83 GB user portion internal memory portion of the "16 GB" internal memory. Also, I have a folder called sdcard2. It's the 32 GB micro SD card I installed.
Interestingly, there is also a folder in the root directory called mnt. Under it is a folder called sdcard. It is the same as the sdcard under the root directory. Under mnt/sdcard is ext_sd. That is the 32 GB external SD card. I don't know if this duplicate listing is the work of the file manager app, or if it is the Android OS, but I am able to find files and copy files from one place to another.
With me making no changes for applications and data during application installations (I'm not sure I can), all of the apps I have installed have gone into the other portion of internal memory. The data seems to be going into the user portion of internal memory. When I installed the external SD card, I copied music files to it from my PC. The music player found them with no problem. Also, once the card was installed, photos I took were placed on the external SD card instead of internal memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering about this, can we Not access the rest of this 16GB ...what happened to the other 8GB...?
I too just made the Jump from WM 6.5 (<-- nightmare), so I have no clue how a lot of things work too. ;P hehe I'm a noob again ;P
StrangeShadow said:
I was wondering about this, can we Not access the rest of this 16GB ...what happened to the other 8GB...?
I too just made the Jump from WM 6.5 (<-- nightmare), so I have no clue how a lot of things work too. ;P hehe I'm a noob again ;P
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the phone is marketed as having 16gb of onboard storage, but in reality, 1gb is dedicated to the ROM, aka /system
4gb is dedicated to /data which handles app installs and the like.
the remaining is storage for you to use.
be lucky you have all that. my other HTC phones all just had a mere 2gb or 4gb TOTAL storage (all allocated to /system and /data), which required you to have an SDCard just to be able to take pics or put music/movies/ringtones on it....
Pirateghost said:
the phone is marketed as having 16gb of onboard storage, but in reality, 1gb is dedicated to the ROM, aka /system
4gb is dedicated to /data which handles app installs and the like.
the remaining is storage for you to use.
be lucky you have all that. my other HTC phones all just had a mere 2gb or 4gb TOTAL storage (all allocated to /system and /data), which required you to have an SDCard just to be able to take pics or put music/movies/ringtones on it....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! Yeah I figured at least a Gig for the Rom. The rest is pretty nuts though, any way we can see a detailed breakdown on our phone? Didn't expect it to be so much.
Can we install apps on the sd card, like some WM apps?