[Q] Treat sd card as internal memory? - Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]

I have been searching for some time and cant find a definite answer on the subject,
is there a way to make android believe your sd card is internal storage? i dont plan on needing to remove my sd card, once i have it in, theres no point in removing it. So is there a hack/mod to allow the OS to believe the sd card is internal storage?
i have a desire so the internal memory is pretty damn low, especially with new games coming out that require 400mb+ of memory, thats almost the full internal drive.
anyways. any information is appreciated thanks

Sounds like you're asking about apps2sd. Yes it is possible, though you'll need a rooted phone and a ROM which supports it.

alright, well i have googles fail of app2sd on android 2.2
but a rooted app2sd+ or other style of app2sd actually allows for the sd card to be treated as though it is internal storage? or i still need to install, and then move to external.
in other words i guess, is there a way to make the sd card be treated similary to how it is in windows phone 7, or is hte conventional install, them move, which would render games with 400mb+ impossible to be installed on phones like the desire and N1?

JimmyBanks said:
alright, well i have googles fail of app2sd on android 2.2
but a rooted app2sd+ or other style of app2sd actually allows for the sd card to be treated as though it is internal storage? or i still need to install, and then move to external.
in other words i guess, is there a way to make the sd card be treated similary to how it is in windows phone 7, or is hte conventional install, them move, which would render games with 400mb+ impossible to be installed on phones like the desire and N1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that with a custom ROM like Cyanogen there is a system option to install apps (in correlation with app2sd) as default to any location you choose, I have mine to install on External, so any new app's I download from the market are automatically installed to the External storage (SDcard).
So, yes?

Related

With apps to sd, is it possible to install certain apps on the phones memory?

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.

App2SD - why can't entire apps move to SD?

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 ?

SD Card problem

I installed a 32 gb sd card and my phone recognized it without any problems but as I iinstalled apps to the card the amount of space in card never changed. I changed the sd card to 8 gb and I'm having the same problem. Anyone else having this problem, I am rooted and have su permission.
Thanks
vinnyjr said:
I installed a 32 gb sd card and my phone recognized it without any problems but as I iinstalled apps to the card the amount of space in card never changed. I changed the sd card to 8 gb and I'm having the same problem. Anyone else having this problem, I am rooted and have su permission.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am just guessing here, but perhaps those apps are going to the extended internal memory? The G2x (like most Androids now with large internal memory) treats 5GB of your internal memory as an SD card at the directory /sdcard. The external card you put in is found at /sdcard/_ExternalSD
My best guess is that your apps are going to the /sdcard which is actually part of your internal memory.
jimbo831 said:
I am just guessing here, but perhaps those apps are going to the extended internal memory? The G2x (like most Androids now with large internal memory) treats 5GB of your internal memory as an SD card at the directory /sdcard. The external card you put in is found at /sdcard/_ExternalSD
My best guess is that your apps are going to the /sdcard which is actually part of your internal memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right, how do I put them on the ext sd card? Do I have to partition the sd card or is there another way, seems the people that don't root there phones must be able to use the ext sd card as well??
Thanks
vinnyjr said:
You are right, how do I put them on the ext sd card? Do I have to partition the sd card or is there another way, seems the people that don't root there phones must be able to use the ext sd card as well??
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, but I can't answer that one yet, I haven't even ordered my G2x yet. I just read about this issue from another thread on this forum because apparently it was the same setup on the Vibrant. Perhaps some Vibrant owners can chime in with a suggestion? Not sure if it's possible to put apps to SD or if they just automatically go to the internal storage. However, if I were you, I'd rather have the apps on internal storage and save the SD for videos, pictures, music, etc. The internal storage will be more reliable (not fail later) and faster than the SD. 5GB should be more than enough space for app storage.
App2sd works. As long as the app supports it. But there really is no need to put them on the external sd right? 5gigs should be plenty. Put your music and vids on the external. Sounds exactly Like my vibrant.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
tsquire99 said:
App2sd works. As long as the app supports it. But there really is no need to put them on the external sd right? 5gigs should be plenty. Put your music and vids on the external. Sounds exactly Like my vibrant.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that's what I meant but I think I used the wrong term. When you use what Froyo calls "Apps to SD" it goes to what the phone calls SD but is actually internal memory. Do you know if there is any way (without root or hacks) to have those Apps to SD actually go to your SD card (/sdcard/_ExternalSD) instead of the internal memory the phone calls the SD?
I agree that the 5GB internal should be more than enough anyway, but I am curious for sure.
jimbo831 said:
Yeah, that's what I meant but I think I used the wrong term. When you use what Froyo calls "Apps to SD" it goes to what the phone calls SD but is actually internal memory. Do you know if there is any way (without root or hacks) to have those Apps to SD actually go to your SD card (/sdcard/_ExternalSD) instead of the internal memory the phone calls the SD?
I agree that the 5GB internal should be more than enough anyway, but I am curious for sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just never had that set up before with any of my android phones. I just didn't know how to put any files to the ext sd card, I foolled around with it and basicly I just went into my file manager and long pressed the app of file, copy, went into the extsd card and paste.
Thanks for the help.
I have had the MyTouch 4G and the Nexus One, neither had that set up.
PS this phone flies.
hey guys future g2x owner here, what sd card size does it come with?
bguzmanz2 said:
hey guys future g2x owner here, what sd card size does it come with?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't come with any sd card. Supply your own.
i thought the 5 gigs was for storage and the 1.5 was for apps? i'm confused
wow, sweet phone with no sd card or headphones. lame!!
ps, still gonna get it tho =)
crazythunder said:
i thought the 5 gigs was for storage and the 1.5 was for apps? i'm confused
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this is true. However, from 2.2 up, Android allows you to move apps to the "SD card" (or in this case the 5GB extended internal storage) as long as the developer enabled this feature. This way large games and other such apps don't use up all the storage.
bguzmanz2 said:
wow, sweet phone with no sd card or headphones. lame!!
ps, still gonna get it tho =)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not many phones come with an sd card and besides why use their ear buds when you can get a pair of zipbuds from amazon?
http://www.amazon.com/Zipbuds-DGA-T...8N9G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303274745&sr=8-1
Furthermore it's none of my business and you're free to do as you choose but who sticks their apps on the external sd card? Why do that?
aironeous said:
Not many phones come with an sd card and besides why use their ear buds when you can get a pair of zipbuds from amazon?
http://www.amazon.com/Zipbuds-DGA-T...8N9G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303274745&sr=8-1
Furthermore it's none of my business and you're free to do as you choose but who sticks their apps on the external sd card? Why do that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having a Nexus One I put most of my Apps on ext 3. Worked great and always had over 140 mb of free memory space which kept my phone very fast.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
vinnyjr said:
I installed a 32 gb sd card and my phone recognized it without any problems but as I iinstalled apps to the card the amount of space in card never changed. I changed the sd card to 8 gb and I'm having the same problem. Anyone else having this problem, I am rooted and have su permission.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the idea is your apps/data go into internal 5GB (which is mounted as SDCARD) and then you use your SDCARD for media (mounted as /SDCARD/_ExternalSD)
yup.. that is right mobilehavoc.
The phone has no "sdcard" when you get it new, but it's got basically 5.35GB internal SD already built in.. So you have plenty of storage, plus you have 1.3GB for apps, and can move them to that 5GB if needed.
Although I just put in my 16GB and tried to titanium restore and it doesn't find anything cuz it's looking in /sdcard and my file is on my sd card, and the g2x has that as /external_sd
that is irritating, will I need to move all the important stuff over, and downloads and pictures n such will all from now on go to the internal 5GB. so move everything over and use actual SD for rest
Hey there, so I'm having a different sd card problem, but I can't find any threads directly related to it so I'm just going to post it here because it seems just as good a place as any.
So yesterday morning, about 3am or so, cause I'm weird like that, I finished the movie I was watching, so I went to go move it off my phone and put another one on, so I hooked up my USB and connected to Ubuntu, the sdcard popped up and I deleted the file, then deleted the trash file but when I delete the trash file I get an error message saying Error removing file: Directory not empty, and no matter what way I try to edit my sd, it won't change, it won't save any new data or delete the old, I've tried reformating with the phone, reformating with ubuntu, I've tried file managers, using a micro to sd conversion chip and putting it in my card reader, but no matter what I try my sd won't change, somebody please help me out, I just got the 16gb card like a month ago, but I bought it in Austria so I can't really return it, because I'm living in Italy.
Thanks in advanced.
Never mind my last post, I did a wipe of my sd card from the phone, pluged it back into ubuntu, and then magically, I could erase all the files.
This setup of this phone's memory is frustrating. I have an app called DroidTV which normally uses the SD card to save videos to, but due to the internal SD card it's getting saved there instead. Is the only way to change this to hope the app developer fixes/changes the way the app behaves? I wish there was an option to make the phone treat the internal SD as the external so you could more easily use your larger card as the default
Dragon509 said:
This setup of this phone's memory is frustrating. I have an app called DroidTV which normally uses the SD card to save videos to, but due to the internal SD card it's getting saved there instead. Is the only way to change this to hope the app developer fixes/changes the way the app behaves? I wish there was an option to make the phone treat the internal SD as the external so you could more easily use your larger card as the default
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See it's really a hard problem to solve. I'm coming from an Incredible which had 8GB of internal storage but it was mounted as /emmc. This meant no app except the custom camera and music apps and maybe one or two apps specially designed by devs could use the internal storage.
The way the G2X does it, all apps can see the internal storage and use it. All media apps can see the external SD as well. But you are right, the dev would need to update the app. Although I don't see why it is so difficult - they could give the user the option to a path so you could put in /sdcard/_ExternalSD/
And that would work.

SD Card - System Memory - Internal Memory !

Hi all,
I've got some questions regarding the phone's memory.
When I open the App Manager and I click on "Storage" it shows me that the phone has:
System Memory
Internal Memory
SD Card
Using the app "App 2 SD" my apps are transferred only from either System memory to Internal memory or vice-versa.
This App 2 SD seems not to send my apps to my EXTERNAL SD Card (where I have plenty of memory).
Could someone please explain the different between system and internal memory?
And, once and for all, how can I move/transfer ALL apps downloaded from the market to my EXTERNAL SD Card?
Can I do that manually? how?
Another app from the market? which one?
And how about the Gameloft games? is there any way to move them?
Another question is that after updating for the GB some apps seem to open themselves and they keep running on the background (i.e. Google Maps, LG Smart etc), is there anything that can be done to stop them to start?
Thanks in advance,
J
tourjefferson said:
Hi all,
I've got some questions regarding the phone's memory.
When I open the App Manager and I click on "Storage" it shows me that the phone has:
System Memory
Internal Memory
SD Card
Using the app "App 2 SD" my apps are transferred only from either System memory to Internal memory or vice-versa.
This App 2 SD seems not to send my apps to my EXTERNAL SD Card (where I have plenty of memory).
Could someone please explain the different between system and internal memory?
And, once and for all, how can I move/transfer ALL apps downloaded from the market to my EXTERNAL SD Card?
Can I do that manually? how?
Another app from the market? which one?
And how about the Gameloft games? is there any way to move them?
Another question is that after updating for the GB some apps seem to open themselves and they keep running on the background (i.e. Google Maps, LG Smart etc), is there anything that can be done to stop them to start?
Thanks in advance,
J
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
system memory is the memory reserved for the OS and its applications. Internal memory is the rest of the phones memory that is used to store anything else (included apps you move with app2sd)
To move gameloft games to the external sd there is a thread so look it up a bit.
As for apps running themselves it is the way android works. It keeps running apps it "thinks" you might use so when you actually use them the load a lot faster. No worries there as when your phone needs the extra memory (running an HD game for example) it shuts down all apps that are not necessary. If you still want to prevent them from running you can use a task manager to freeze them but you need root.
jimakos29 said:
system memory is the memory reserved for the OS and its applications. Internal memory is the rest of the phones memory that is used to store anything else (included apps you move with app2sd)
To move gameloft games to the external sd there is a thread so look it up a bit.
As for apps running themselves it is the way android works. It keeps running apps it "thinks" you might use so when you actually use them the load a lot faster. No worries there as when your phone needs the extra memory (running an HD game for example) it shuts down all apps that are not necessary. If you still want to prevent them from running you can use a task manager to freeze them but you need root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thanks for your reply.
I have seen the thread regarding Gameloft games, but if I'm not mistaken my phone need to be rooted, which I'm not planning to do any time soon. So that thread doesn't help me to get rid of the games from my internal memory.
Also, the App 2 SD app doesn't send the apps that I have in the internal memory to the external SD. It keeps sending the apps to(or from) internal and system memory.
So, I've got an empty external SD card that I can't transfer anything there even using an app that supposed to do that.
Is there anyway that I can move the apps manually?
Regarding the apps that keep running without need, that didn't happen when I had Froyo and it seems to me that running several apps on the background can cost my battery juice, so this is not so clever.
Apps did run in background on froyo as I rooted specifically to stop some but maybe they were not doing so when you checked as they stop in certain circumstances.
As for the sd thing you are right and it sucks but for some reason lg made it so when we choose install to sd it goes to internal sd card and I have yet to find way around this though for me its not a problem as I use my actual external sd card as storage for camera app and backups instead but the internal one will fit plenty of apps on.
Dave
Sent from my LG-P920 using Tapatalk
I noticed too my 32gb external card is not used by app2sd apps.
Now i swapped the cards in a configfile, and after restart i have 32gb internal sd and 8gb external so it is working.
I got this from the folloing thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1189701
But won't that mean that mess up apps or cause problems, for example if you click to format or unmount external sd wont it try doing that to the internal one?
Dave
Of course, you should not take out the sd or format it after the switch. If you format internal sd, it would in fact format the external sd. Flashing to a new rom wil just use the internal sd again. Just be carefull. You can copy data to your computer as backup before you try this.
I like this sofar, my downloads, photos, films and music is placed directly on the big sd now.
Peter
Pjedr said:
Of course, you should not take out the sd or format it after the switch. If you format internal sd, it would in fact format the external sd. Flashing to a new rom wil just use the internal sd again. Just be carefull. You can copy data to your computer as backup before you try this.
I like this sofar, my downloads, photos, films and music is placed directly on the big sd now.
Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All my photos films and music are on external sd already and I still have four gigabytes of the internal sd card free so will stick with things as they are rather than hack it though is nice to know it is possible
Dave
mistermentality said:
All my photos films and music are on external sd already and I still have four gigabytes of the internal sd card free so will stick with things as they are rather than hack it though is nice to know it is possible
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, but I don't have space lol
Anyway, found out that the problem with app running themselves on the background are worst than I first thought.
All kinds of apps seem to start themselves and keep running, that caused my phone to loose a 100% battery over the night!
Is anyone having this problem?
Are you sure its the apps? I had severe battery drain and had to calibrate it then let it die and recharge while off to sort it.
I also rooted and use gemini app manager to stop apps auto running.
Sent from my LG-P920 using Tapatalk
mistermentality said:
Are you sure its the apps? I had severe battery drain and had to calibrate it then let it die and recharge while off to sort it.
I also rooted and use gemini app manager to stop apps auto running.
Sent from my LG-P920 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm 99% sure that the problem are the apps running.
Before, with Froyo, I didn't have this problem (apps starting themselves) and the battery was just fine.
I've realised something recently though, when I was using the app "App 2 SD" I was sending some apps to my System Memory in order to free space on Internal Memory.
What I noticed was that the apps in the System memory were the ones starting up themselves, so I moved them back to internal memory and they seem not to be starting again.
I'm keeping an eye on it because it's weird, but it's been almost one full day and my battery is doing okay, or that is what least seems to appear on my screen.
Pjedr said:
I noticed too my 32gb external card is not used by app2sd apps.
Now i swapped the cards in a configfile, and after restart i have 32gb internal sd and 8gb external so it is working.
I got this from the folloing thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1189701
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi,
Which config file is this? Is this the config file for apps2sd or the vold.stab file? (I could no longer the thread in your link)
Thanks
I think apps auto running in background is the major bug in GB, and i also have this problem so you are not alone or the only one having this problem

Use of SD CARD

When I had a P1000, I used a lot the feature of sending applications and games and its data files to my SD CARD with a single purpose: leave the internal 16Gb memory as free as possible for better perfomance.
Now I have a rooted P6200 and I only can use my SD CARD for storing music and videos because I have no option of MOVE TO SD CARD anymore.
I also tried some applications that MOVE TO SD CARD, but none of them work.
I called the SAMSUNG SUPPORT and they told me I should be able to move to SD, but I read somewhere that it's something about the way that Android 3 and 4 manage partitions... what makes me believe I will not be able.
So, I am confused.
Can I move applications to SD CARD or not?
Can I make a application store data on SD CARD? Example: MailDroid or a game that consumes a lot of the memory - I would prefer to store data on the SD card.
Does anybody have a hint for that?
Thank you!
mario.renor said:
When I had a P1000, I used a lot the feature of sending applications and games and its data files to my SD CARD with a single purpose: leave the internal 16Gb memory as free as possible for better perfomance.
Now I have a rooted P6200 and I only can use my SD CARD for storing music and videos because I have no option of MOVE TO SD CARD anymore.
I also tried some applications that MOVE TO SD CARD, but none of them work.
I called the SAMSUNG SUPPORT and they told me I should be able to move to SD, but I read somewhere that it's something about the way that Android 3 and 4 manage partitions... what makes me believe I will not be able.
So, I am confused.
Can I move applications to SD CARD or not?
Can I make a application store data on SD CARD? Example: MailDroid or a game that consumes a lot of the memory - I would prefer to store data on the SD card.
Does anybody have a hint for that?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are some apps in the Google Play Market like app 2 sd or move to sd (something like that), you can try one of those.
Personally I have no experience on these apps since I still have plenty of space, but you can read a little the features and see if that works for you
Unfortunately, APP2SD does not work to me
darkshadowx07 said:
There are some apps in the Google Play Market like app 2 sd or move to sd (something like that), you can try one of those.
Personally I have no experience on these apps since I still have plenty of space, but you can read a little the features and see if that works for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your suggestion, but when APP2SD starts, I receive this message:
Your device has no real primary external storage or primary storage is emulated
APP2SD will not support move 2 card.
I dont understand this message. I have the 16Gb internal memory plus a 32Gb SD card as s imple a s it can b e, but it is not moving to S D.
P lease someone help me how to solve it.
By the way, the 32Gb SD is fully recognized by the P6200. I can see all my files regularly.
Link2sd may work, but I don't think there would be any performance gain from moving the apps over.
Sent from my myTouch 4g via Tapatalk
Can I get super user access without rooting? Link2SD tells me I have to allow it to move the app.
Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2
Kumabjorn said:
Can I get super user access without rooting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Super User access is root access. so, no you can't.
Sent from my GT-P6210
From my point of view, rooting is something relatively easy, both to get and to lose: you just flash a zip from the default recovery. It does not even takes your flash count up. Basically, it's a single file that needs to be placed in "/system/bin/". If you need to send it to support, mount "system" as R/W and delete "su".
I could be wrong though, but you should really look into it. I think it is worth it.
By the way, I think you would have to partition your SD Card to use it with Link2SD...
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium

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