Okay XDA tenured- please be gentle. I ve searched, but can not find specific answers to my questions. I ordered a 16gb class 6 (currently have class 2), but would appreciate information before making the changes.
1.) Is it possible to leave current apps on the device memory, then set up for apps to SD and then future apps will go to the card?
2) Based on question 1) if it works, when I update future apps on the device, I am guessing they would then uninstall from the device and then install to card?
3) Would it be best for performance to leave all cache on the device memory? Seems like the system would be faster then.
4) What is the meg space difference leaving all cache or moving it?
5) When changing over to apps to SD, is it not kind of like the same constrained system as an iPhone (Plenty of intitial space, but no ability for external storage)? Point being, if all the apps are on the card and you want to listen to or view media on a seperate card, you would not be able to, since the apps are on the "device" card. This is the whole point to my first question. Unless you can copy the app directory path on the card to another card and use as is- just like the card already installed too...
1: Yes, if you follow my tutorial, it has you copy the existing apps to the sd card and if you use my app, the checkbox tells it to do that as well.
2: No apps will be on your device. There's no way to have a hybrid here, it's either all apps on the sd card or none(not actually true but would be a pain in the ass to make symlinks for each app individually and I don't know of anyone who cared enough to actually try it)
3: I have all apps and caches on the sd card and it is running just as smoothly as normal(and with a class 2 sd card!) There might be some slowdown but it's imperceptible to me.
4: With the cache on device it'll vary depending on what apps you have and how often you use them. With everything moved the memory on the device seems to stay permanently at 72-73MB. That said, moving the normal cache(dalvik-cache seems to be ok) is pretty unstable and I wouldn't suggest it unless you really know what you're doing.
5: Yes, unfortunately this whole process relies on the system not knowing the apps are on the sd card so it's pretty strongly tied to one. That said, you could probably get away with different sd cards as long as they also have an ext2 partition with the app, app-private, etc. directories in it. You'd probably have to reboot when switching sd cards but it should be possible(interestingly you could use this to get different settings depending on what sd card you have in)
Thanks!
So basically we have an iPhone in regards to being stuck to device memory and no option for external storage beyond what is on the card.
I guess there are pros and cons to either set-up. App hounds would prefer apps2sd and media hounds may prefer leaving things alone.
If you are an app and media hound, you are kind of stuck juggling media from the card.
Yep. Although as I was talking about, you could theoretically move each app independently and set up symlinks in the /data/app directory for each app, pointing to where it is on the sd card and leave the ones you want on the phone as they are, but that doesn't sound particularly fun.
Related
With apps to sd, is it possible to install certain apps on the phones memory?
A) Wrong forum
B) Why would you want to?
But I suppose if you REALLY wanted to, it'd be as simple as ejecting your SD card (as long as phone doesn't freak out) and installing whatever you need, and then reinserting. I do believe that should work, or at least it has worked in the past.
rockdevourer said:
A) Wrong forum
B) Why would you want to?
But I suppose if you REALLY wanted to, it'd be as simple as ejecting your SD card (as long as phone doesn't freak out) and installing whatever you need, and then reinserting. I do believe that should work, or at least it has worked in the past.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pulling your SD card while your phone is still on is very stupid especially if your using Swap or Apps 2 SD and besides even if it did install on your phone's memory Apps 2 SD will automatically move it from the phones memory to your SD card.
just thought that some programs that run all the time may run more reliably from the internal memory vs external sd card.
sorry misread the question. if you have apps to sd... currently they are built into the roms to install on startup....so anytime you restart on one of these roms you will move the app you moved to internal to the sd. there maybe some command to protect it from the move but i'm not aware.
the answer to your question is : yes it possible with tmpfs
but
it won't change nothing
we are talking about what ? 1mb max app size ?
Pull then push to /system/app. Wrong forum.
What im.l0ltn said will work fine, but like others asked, why? You won't see much improvement unless you are using a low class sd. I have tried installing a few apps to internal memory but didn't see enough of a noticable performance boost. And if you are using a class 6 sd you will actually slow things down by putting them on internal mem. So you're better off leaving them on SD and saving the trouble of reinstalling every time you install a new rom. It gets to be more trouble than it's worth.
With Froyo enabling Apps2SD feature, I've been moving my apps to my SD card slowly, those who support it anyway. I've noticed that not the entire app moves to the SD card. For example I downloaded Alchemy, which is more than 2MB in size.
When I moved it to SD card, it showed less than 1 MB had moved to the SD card! Why is that? Is moving entire apps technically impossible?
Some parts of the installation are always installed on the device. Services and other core parts of the app are still on the device to assure the app is not crashing if you remove the sd card (and some parts of the app are still running). Besides that when you insert the sd card into another device you can't use the app. Some kind of copy protection I guess. This said I thought it's the same like it was on Windows Mobile.
I see. Doesn't that mean the ROM bottleneck hasn't actually been removed? Still I suppose it's better than before. Too much of an app still resides on the phone as opposed to the SD card in my opinion - more than half in most cases.
root ?
i've read about the method that people used to use before froyo came out that involves rooting the phone.i guess that would not leave any traces on the phone storage ? i guess that the better option still ?
I've poked around but I dont think I found what I am trying to do. I want to mount my SD card like it mounts my phone; install the apps to the device, store the data on the sd card... any way to do this?
You can' do it, honeycomb doesn't support installation on external sd cards for now. Vanilla honeycomb can't even write on external sdcards, for exemple on the motorola xoom. You can read/write on some tablets thanks to the respective manufacturer's 'tweak'.
I dont want to store the apps on the SD card, just the data, downloads, photos taken from the camera, ect. all I see is a Removable\MicroSD folder which I can browse to, read/write to, but I want all the data on my apps to go to it too just like on my phone, so when I wipe, all my stuff is still there (In theory)
They won't be deleted even if they are on the internal storage even after wiping. It acts as a sdcard.
I might be mistaken, but thanks to the honeycomb 3.2 OS update, it IS possible now that they've opened up the API to the developers.
Unfortunately, it actually depends on the application developers to make use of it... Leave some comments on the android market for your apps and maybe they will do it.
i'm probably mistaken. post from a random website regarding new features in 3.2:
Media sync from SD cards, allowing users to load media directly from an SD card to applications which use them
I did not realize that the folder was persistent, that's good to know thanks
With Lollipop, does the Z5 (without rooting):
allow apps to be moved to an external SD card?
allow apps to write to the external SD card?
With the Z3 and Kitkat, point 2 was possible with root, but I haven't figured out point 1, not even with root.
I read somewhere that Lollipop should allow (2), but it should depend on the implementation of each phone.
Also, do you know if these two points are supposed to change in any way with Marshmallows?
Yes to both. The Z3 does both too.
jeremy_inc said:
Yes to both. The Z3 does both too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mmm, my Z3 with Kitkat does neither without root. Are you sure the Z5 does?
In my Z3:
There is no 'move app to SD card' option.
As for getting apps to write to the external SD card, I only managed to achieve it with root (there's a way to modify write permission which you can only change if you are rooted). Before this change, for example, Titanium Backup couldn't write backups to the external sd card
Sorry, Z3 on Lollipop I meant
Well apps on SD Works on z5
Just like on z1. I don't know if all apps work this way but:
You have to go to your app menu and check those checkboxes under the SD card page
I believe it'll work the same on z3
For apps to write on SD card it's need to be implemented in the app
For example total commander does this:
Once you try moving to SD card it opens the default android dialog and chose SD card
Bare 2 things in mind:
1. The whole app wont be moved over. Some can still take a load of space up on main storage.
2. When you update an app the system moves the whole app back onto the main storage.
This was from my Xperia z3 experience on lollipop.
Sent from my E5563 using Tapatalk
JKWR said:
Bare 2 things in mind:
1. The whole app wont be moved over. Some can still take a load of space up on main storage.
2. When you update an app the system moves the whole app back onto the main storage.
This was from my Xperia z3 experience on lollipop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does (2) apply to all apps, or does it depend on how the app was coded by the developers?
I'm thinking of apps where it makes sense to keep the app/engine separate from additional data required (as is the case for games, dictionaries, etc.).
It totally defies the purpose...
To be honest I only remember the biggest culprits which were the big apps, namely:
Ms Word, Excel, PowerPoint. (probably a gb there that you have to mess about with all the time as it seems they are updated at least once a week)
Nearly all Games like plants vs zombies 2, angry birds 2, rayman fiesta run, angry birds transformers, jetpack joyride.
So basically you have to make sure you always have 3-4gig free on your main mem to stop these regular updates from eating every last bit up or getting a long list of update messages saying canot install due to insufficient memory. It drive me nuts on the z3 16gb.
I may have to skip the z5 32gb main mem for this purpose as well. Im a heavy app/game user though so 32gb might be OK for you
Sent from my E5563 using Tapatalk
cdl2 said:
With Lollipop, does the Z5 (without rooting):
allow apps to be moved to an external SD card?
allow apps to write to the external SD card?
With the Z3 and Kitkat, point 2 was possible with root, but I haven't figured out point 1, not even with root.
I read somewhere that Lollipop should allow (2), but it should depend on the implementation of each phone.
Also, do you know if these two points are supposed to change in any way with Marshmallows?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1 - Yes - Go to Settings > Apps > Scroll right one to ON SD CARD tab > tick which app(s) you want moving to the SD card. Not everything is moved though, but enough. The Z3 on Lollipop is exactly the same.
2 - Unrooted, the rules are, as far as I can tell - System apps (like File Commander) have full access to the SD card, so can read and write to/from the SD card. If you install a 3rd party app, like another file manager from Play Store, it will not be able to write to the SD card as it is a user app. Certain 3rd party apps can write to the SD card, but their data is stored in a system sub folder on the SD card, and they are restricted to that location only. If you delete the app, the data is also deleted.
I used to use the SD Fix on KitKat, but I just rooted my Z3, and my File Manager can read/write the SD card. Not really sure how we are going to go with rooting Locked Bootloader Z5's yet, so we'll just have to see.
SD card access is changing again in Marshmallow, and should be better, going by what I've heard. You can now choose to treat your SD card as you do now, or as an 'extension' of your internal memory, but I think if you do choose to extend your internal memory, then it will be encrypted for use in that device only. If you don't use it as an extension, then I'm not yet sure what the permissions will be for general read/write access.
MickieH said:
1 - Yes - Go to Settings > Apps > Scroll right one to ON SD CARD tab > tick which app(s) you want moving to the SD card. Not everything is moved though, but enough. The Z3 on Lollipop is exactly the same.
2 - Unrooted, the rules are, as far as I can tell - System apps (like File Commander) have full access to the SD card, so can read and write to/from the SD card. If you install a 3rd party app, like another file manager from Play Store, it will not be able to write to the SD card as it is a user app. Certain 3rd party apps can write to the SD card, but their data is stored in a system sub folder on the SD card, and they are restricted to that location only. If you delete the app, the data is also deleted.
I used to use the SD Fix on KitKat, but I just rooted my Z3, and my File Manager can read/write the SD card. Not really sure how we are going to go with rooting Locked Bootloader Z5's yet, so we'll just have to see.
SD card access is changing again in Marshmallow, and should be better, going by what I've heard. You can now choose to treat your SD card as you do now, or as an 'extension' of your internal memory, but I think if you do choose to extend your internal memory, then it will be encrypted for use in that device only. If you don't use it as an extension, then I'm not yet sure what the permissions will be for general read/write access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, fellows, has anyone solved the problem of writing to external SD cards on marshmallow?
I've been looking for a method to move or force installation of apps to my 128gb micro SD card and so far I haven't found anything that works correctly, is there some method that actually allows moving apps to the SD card? or any custom rom that allows this? would titanium backup "move to SD card" option work?
You can use adoptable storage. It binds an SD card to your phone so you won't be able to use it with any other devices, but it essentially extends your phone's storage space by that much. Make sure you back up everything on your external SD card somewhere if there's anything important on it because this will wipe it clean.
1.) Open the "Files" app (the Google app with the colorful folded rectangles).
2.) Go to Browse.
3.) Scroll down to the bottom where you see your SD card, and tap on it.
4.) Hit the three dots in the top right.
5.) Click "Storage Settings".
6.) And finally, "Format as internal".
Once you've "adopted" the storage space you can move apps to it freely by going to a specific app's "App Info" page, clicking Storage, and choosing "Change" for each app. If you want to move multiple apps you can use something like "Internal Storage To SD Card" from the Play Store, which helps streamline the process; or even go into Developer Options and enable the option "Force allow apps to write on external storage" near the bottom which will force the majority of apps to favor the external SD card over the phone's.
Here's a bit more info on where your files are kept after this process.
If you want to retain separate access to the external SD Card so that you can use it with your computer or other devices while also storing app data on there, I'm afraid it's not very simple to do so. Android 9/10 has made a lot of changes with file access and how things are managed and stored on your device. I'm still figuring it out for myself, too.
i have a question, it will lose performance?
because i think if the phone is using a UFS 2.0, is the same or better maximum speed of R/W of SDCARD?
Polakiyo87 said:
i have a question, it will lose performance?
because i think if the phone is using a UFS 2.0, is the same or better maximum speed of R/W of SDCARD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course, the performance of the external drive will be lower.
However, don't underestimate them.
The performance of modern transflash is quite enough, for example, to run games like Doom, witcher or Skyrim(20+GB distros) from them on Nintendo consoles. The main thing is that the card is good. Like the same Sandisk extreme.
Not working for me. I've formatted the SD card as internal, but I can't move any apps to the SD card. When I go to the storage screen for an app, it only displays the total, app size, data and cache. There's no option to change storage location.
Yes, I've rebooted.
Same for me.
App mgr III and link2sd did not works even with Root :/
WTF nobody found a solution on a Android 10?
You don't want the apps running off the SD card as it's bandwidth is a lot slower than internal memory! It's a bottleneck to avoid.
Use the SD card as a data drive only.
Internal memory: OS, apps, temporary data and downloads.
SD card: all critical data, backups, music, vids, etc. Everything you need to fully restore the phone after a factory reset should be on it including copies of the apks.
Always redundantly backup the data drive on at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically separated! Or you will lose your data sooner... or latter.
blackhawk said:
You don't want the apps running off the SD card as it's bandwidth is a lot slower than internal memory! It's a bottleneck to avoid.
Use the SD card as a data drive only.
Internal memory: OS, apps, temporary data and downloads.
SD card: all critical data, backups, music, vids, etc. Everything you need to fully restore the phone after a factory reset should be on it including copies of the apks.
Always redundantly backup the data drive on at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically separated! Or you will lose your data sooner... or latter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i know ... All my pictures, videos etc are on SD ...
But you don't reply, do you have a solution?
Like millions of android users, i have not enough space for games in the phone. I don't care about slow speed of game. Genshin inpact for example take more of 7gB !
OS takes 15gB ... App takes often many hundred of mB it's WTF...
App are crazy to cache, and snapchat instagram facebook etc can take 1gB each.
The sd limitation is a programmed obsolescence for smartphones (256 gB of microsd are cheap). All people don't care about low performance of specifics app, it's better than the impossiblity to install then.
Normally we should be able to make symbolic links between linux partititons.
That's the same on windows, i install my terabytes of games on an hard drive because my sdd is not enought ... And it works well.
raysar said:
Yes i know ... All my pictures, videos etc are on SD ...
But you don't reply, do you have a solution?
Like millions of android users, i have not enough space for games in the phone. I don't care about slow speed of game. Genshin inpact for example take more of 7gB !
OS takes 15gB ... App takes often many hundred of mB it's WTF...
App are crazy to cache, and snapchat instagram facebook etc can take 1gB each.
The sd limitation is a programmed obsolescence for smartphones (256 gB of microsd are cheap). All people don't care about low performance of specifics app, it's better than the impossiblity to install then.
Normally we should be able to make symbolic links between linux partititons.
That's the same on windows, i install my terabytes of games on an hard drive because my sdd is not enought ... And it works well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be happy for the bump...
You should also post your OS version for solutions.
Maybe a ADB edit could get it.
Lol, I have one game loaded. Most are fair to high privacy/security risks... that could really keep you amused.
I used App2sd earlier with android 7 and devices with 8GB flash , where only 3.5GB we ahve for applications. The result, I was able to install 100 or more apps and games without problem. It will not work in modern android.
I use a script which move all pictures , movies, call recordings to the sd card when I plug in usb-c cable. The card is a place of storing multimedia, nandroid backup and titantium backup.
Modern devices with 64GB+ flash are able to keep all apps inside , of course if all media files will be moved to sd card.
raysar said:
Same for me.
App mgr III and link2sd did not works even with Root :/
WTF nobody found a solution on a Android 10?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess xda developers not the same. It is ****. They can't brake a **** Xiaomi? It seems that I have to buy an old phone not Xiaomi and brake it.
Hi, I know I'm late to this but hopefully it will help someone having the same problem.
Tested on Redmi 9a, android 10
1- After you format your sd card as
SeekerofLight.iz said, download this app from Google store: this app basically shows all the hidden settings on all Xiaomi phones.
2- Open the app and type storage in the search bar located at the top.
3- you will see several results, tap at
"Storage Use: Storage use
com.android.settings.applications.StorageUse".
4- A new window will open with a list of all apps installed on your phone. Tap the app you want to move to sd card then "storage and cashe" and you will find the da** "Change" button we all have been looking for tap it and select sd card.
I've attached screenshots for those who prefer them.
And about performance, there was a slight lag almost unnoticeable but games were playable in general.
AngryYoungMan said:
Not working for me. I've formatted the SD card as internal, but I can't move any apps to the SD card. When I go to the storage screen for an app, it only displays the total, app size, data and cache. There's no option to change storage location.
Yes, I've rebooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not all apps will support installation on sd card... If u want force it to be on sd card, u can use App2SD Pro app but root needed