Related
THIS IS A SHAMELESS PLUG but... it's also very useful and if you make it a habit, it can even prevent SD card errors.
I was very surprised that a couple of my friends didn't know about dropbox for android and how well it works. For those who don't know, dropbox is a multi device syncing service. It's free up to 2gb. It sets up a folder on your mac or pc or linux box and everything you put in there is automatically sync'd to other devices.
Here's the thing, IT's FAST. Even UPLOADING is fast. This is important because if you have a 2mb apk that you're installing or a 5mb kernel that you're flashing, it's very convenient to just copy the file into your dropbox folder... and then simply grab it from dropbox on your SGS. I have fiber into my house but I remember that dropbox was really fast even before i got fios.
With exception larger 20+ mb files, I turned to doing this exclusively a few weeks ago because I was tired of my sd card always turning up errors when plugged in. The sdcard errors have even cost me a few pics taken from my phone. I don't know about you guys, but I probably mounted and dismounted my sd card over 10 times a day on the low side before.
Here's an important note about accessing files through dropbox though, you should always DOWNLOAD them from the dropbox app onto your sd card before installing. Installing directly from the dropbox android app can sometimes turn up errors.
So that's the plug guys. But if you haven't tried it yet, try it.
Like I said, the first 2gb are free from dropbox and if you refer friends, you can get upto 8gb free. I'm not even including my dropbox referral link here because I seriously believe in this tip that much! Save SD card errors and use dropbox!
Figured everyone does this, some shape or form. I think I've hooked up my phone to a computer like twice for USB access.
digiblur said:
Figured everyone does this, some shape or form. I think I've hooked up my phone to a computer like twice for USB access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha, ya, me too.
Weird though, today- dropbox has decided it needs to resync the contents every time I open a folder (once per folder). I'm not sure what the issue is, as 90% of the contents haven't changed. Not the end of the world, but ya, hope this thread gets more ppl using it. It really does save a lot of time, especially in school and e.g. transitioning to a new computer.
And.. thread getting moved in 5-4-3-2
No brainer...
I love DropBox. I signed up for an account then invited all my firends to join. When they did i get an additional 250megs. I then have a shared Folder that i have shared with all of them. We now have all the apps, games, wallpapers, ringtones, etc. my friends and I love in one place. Then on top of that it is backed up on my laptop and desktop. All for Free. If you haven't signed up for it, i highly recommend you do.
Fuz
Not Development.
That said, this is very cool technology. I wish they gave you more than 2-8GB for free, though, because I'd like to move my entire music, picture, and movie collections there. I'm actually thinking about paying the $100/year, which is ridiculous.
The coolest part is that it streams music and movies, doesn't download them. Very cool.
Google Music will be a good solution for the music, but I wish it would have generic storage space, too.
What are you doing to your phone that your sd card corrupts itself? I've never had it do that even once, and I've even DCed the phone in the middle of active transfers (a lot more times than I care to admit)
Firon said:
What are you doing to your phone that your sd card corrupts itself? I've never had it do that even once, and I've even DCed the phone in the middle of active transfers (a lot more times than I care to admit)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? my system created LOST directory was getting out of hand before this. I DID yank the cable out a few times during active file transfers but I doubt that was the only cause. Nowadays virus scans- indexing- caching.... things are being being written on HD's and cards all the time...
Am I the only one who had windows prompt me for a error check every other time when I mounted my disk? hmm...
@digiblur, I thought this is what everyone did too! But I was surprised to learn not...
This isn't development is it? Sorry mods! I just thought to post and should have done it in the general section. I'll exercise better judgment next time!
Move away!
Firon said:
What are you doing to your phone that your sd card corrupts itself? I've never had it do that even once, and I've even DCed the phone in the middle of active transfers (a lot more times than I care to admit)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might just be lucky. Many of our users have had odd bugs that were completely solved by SD card format and reflash.
Hello everyone...
I have recently switched from crackberry to android, about 6-8 weeks ago...
Since then I have perm-rooted + s-offed, flashed about 10 roms (sometimes the same ROM more than once) etc...
I have noticed that throughout this "learning how to screw things up" period, my sdcard has become nothing short of a train wreck...
I am going to transfer the files I want to keep over to my PC and format my card...
My question is:
Should I format my card via the PC or through the recovery console?
Additionally, should i reserve some space for swap or does android not utilize swap?
Also, should the card be just one large partition or should i break it down into a few different ones (system/personal/etc)?
Thank you all in advamce for your input!
Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using xda premium
KrnlPanic said:
Hello everyone...
I have recently switched from crackberry to android, about 6-8 weeks ago...
Since then I have perm-rooted + s-offed, flashed about 10 roms (sometimes the same ROM more than once) etc...
I have noticed that throughout this "learning how to screw things up" period, my sdcard has become nothing short of a train wreck...
I am going to transfer the files I want to keep over to my PC and format my card...
My question is:
Should I format my card via the PC or through the recovery console?
Additionally, should i reserve some space for swap or does android not utilize swap?
Also, should the card be just one large partition or should i break it down into a few different ones (system/personal/etc)?
Thank you all in advamce for your input!
Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as the main partition is FAT32 you can format it on an old Windows 95 computer.
Recommend formatting in the computer. A usb card reader is the best way, preferred would be one that only does MicroSD and not a multi- card reader.
One large partition is the right answer, don't try to get too creative, you'll end up outsmarting yourself.
At this time, I don't think there are any apps that need creative partitioning of the sdcard to run, so you should be good.
I also recommend that you see about picking up a class 10 MicroSD card, it will make a noticable difference in speed when accessing the card with the phone. (Playing a movie, game with sdcard files, etc...)
Make sure to always properly eject the MicroSD card from the computer before removing it, especially when you plug the phone into the computer. I've already permanently broken 2 MicroSD cards in the MT4GS by removing prematurely.
When flashing a ROM you will stay with for a while, what I like to do is insert the MicroSD card into the computer with a MicroSD reader, format the card, and put only the ROM install file on it.
Then I put it in my powered-off phone, boot to recovery, then flash the ROM.
This let's the ROM create all the files on the SDcard fresh, and helps keep you from having a mess all over the place.
I'm moving the contents of a storage unit today, and not the driver, so I'll check back here and there while we're on the road.
Hope this helps you get started, what operating system are you using on the computer? That may help to give you advice.
Sent from my Bulletproof_Doubleshot using xda premium
Wow as usual Blue6IX...
I am running windows 7, Server 2008 r2 and slackware.
Sent from my Bulletproof_Doubleshot using xda premium
*Thank you for the brilliant ROM Blue6IX
Okay, I haven't moved past windows XP, and i'm moving away from the windows line at this point. I've had some limited experience with win7, but i'm not too interested in investing the time to move forward in that direction.
Besides getting a dedicated MicroSD USB card reader (I have a handful of SanDisk ones) I'd also recommend getting an extra MicroSD card too.
Doesn't have to be big or fast, just a backup.
I carry my phone is a zipper-case that was for a camera. Still slim enough to fit in my pocket nicely, and keeps dirt and dust out of my phone.
It has an outside pocket, and I keep a spare MicroSD card that is freshly formatted, with only the zip for my ROM install and my most recent Clockworkmod backup on it.
I figure this way if something bad happens to my phone in the field, I have an un-corrupted clean "rescue disk" - a rescue MicroSD card.
I can (worst case scenario) power off the phone, put the clean MicroSD card in, then boot to Clockworkmod and either re-flash the ROM itself, or restore my most recent Clockworkmod backup.
(okay, I keep a few other backed-up files on it, like pictures and so forth, but it's an 8 gig card so I have the space)
Something else cool about this practice is it gets you familiar with cycling backups and maintaining a current one. You have to copy the backup to the card, forcing you to stop and deal with it - making you more used to backing up your data and making it a more intuitive process. You also end up with more then one copy of your backup
(usually 3 - one on the phone, one on the memory card, and one on a computer. Bonus points for burning a disk - and I always copy over to a flash drive too)
I'm big on backups, so it's only natural for me but doing something like this is good advice for everyone.
Thank you for the information, Blue... I currently have back ups on my sdcard, a stock Rom on my sdcard as well as my PC and my cloud storage (just in case)...
I think i'll wipe my card today...
Sent from my Bulletproof_Doubleshot
Thanks to the hard work of Roman & Blue6IX
using Tapatalk
Woohoo! Fresh sdcard... Only an 8gb but I am back to 5.6gb free...
The only other question I have, well 2 actually are:
When performing my nandroid back up I get the following message:
"error backing up sd-ext...not found" (something to that extent)
The second question is in terminal, when I do 'df' all my file system block sizes are 4096, my sdcard block size is 32768...
To me it makes sense that my sdcard block size should match my OS block size, no?
(I'm a complete noob so please, correct me where I'm wrong)
Sent from my Bulletproof_Doubleshot
Thanks to the hard work of Roman & Blue6IX
using Tapatalk
Sd-ext is a holdover from "app2sd" - nothing to worry about.
Sent from my Bulletproof_Doubleshot using xda premium
KrnlPanic said:
Woohoo! Fresh sdcard... Only an 8gb but I am back to 5.6gb free...
The only other question I have, well 2 actually are:
When performing my nandroid back up I get the following message:
"error backing up sd-ext...not found" (something to that extent)
The second question is in terminal, when I do 'df' all my file system block sizes are 4096, my sdcard block size is 32768...
To me it makes sense that my sdcard block size should match my OS block size, no?
(I'm a complete noob so please, correct me where I'm wrong)
Sent from my Bulletproof_Doubleshot
Thanks to the hard work of Roman & Blue6IX
using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We don't have A2SD yet, just buggy symlinks between /data/app and /sdcard/.android-secure.
Sent from a message in a bottle.
I recently lost a lot of the data on my external SD card after restoring a CWM 6 backup from the external card. Several folders have had the first letter of their name replaced with μ (mu), the rest capitalized, and contents emptied, others are simply missing. For example "μOWNLOAD." Sadly my clockworkmod folder has become an empty "µLOCKW~1," and I had 3 backups included, most importantly my stock root backup.
I noticed that my LOST.DIR folder had 259 new random number files and is nearly 4 GB, suggesting that the files are stuck in there, but I have no idea how to figure out what is what or even if it is possible to save any of them. I tried the suggestion posted here, but nothing in the clockwork folder was found. I can pick out what I think are the 3 pairs of "system.ext4.tar.a" and "data.ext4.tar.a" files based on them being several megabytes larger than everything else, but I have no idea how to separate them or how to pick out the right "boot.img", "recovery.img", and "cache.ext4.tar.a." I'm assuming that I don't need "cache.ext4.tar,"data.ext4.tar," and "system.ext4.tar," because they all show 0 bytes in the new backup that I made on the internal card.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I might be able to save the backup?
EDIT: Also is it "safer" to keep important things on my internal or external card? I kept all of my backups on the external card specifically to avoid something like this happening during a flash or at some other time, but googling tell me that several people have had seemingly random issues with SD cards and the S3.
From my experience everything in the lost. Dir gets its file extension stripped. I had this happen to my music folder and I had to change all the files to mp3. It may be more of a pain than its worth to change every file back. And because there not all the same type who knows what file is suppose to be what
I would move any data off and reformat the card
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
I had everything of import other than nandroids backed up offsite so the remaining data doesn't matter, and I expect that everything is gone, but no harm in trying.
Also, if you ever need to rename a lot of files at once again, you might want to try File Renamer Basic, it is extremely useful for batch operations like that.
Yea I just used the command line built into windows. I was surprised it had the option to do it. Ever since they stopped basing windows off Dos they got rid of some commands. I thought I was gonna have to get a live version of linux. But if there isn't anything wrong with the current rom I would just make a new backup. Format the card first before you move anything back on it
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
I was having terrible battery drain when first got the phone, took out my SD-Card and now get nearly 5-6 hours screen on time!
I don't know if it was the SD-Card or the new modem/rpm (I'm still on the OTA ICS one)
but for me I use google play and I keep a copy of all my nandroids on my computer for safe keeping. and keep only the ones I need recently on the internal, and I have plenty of space left, so for me it was better to just keep the SD-Card out, it was making it hard to choose to put on sd-card or internal LOL
Maybe I've been lucky, but coming from the Droid 2 the battery life on this seems amazing (CleanROM), I have had the external card in since I bought it however.
I was mainly worried about stability issues, mainly I was always worried that a factory reset or changing roms would affect the internal card, so it would be safer to keep things on the external card.
I'm sorry if i have mistakes in this text . i'm persian . i don't know english well/
I have a solution for this problem:
I've lost my data twice. first time i thought that it is virus so i format my SD card .
this time I LOST some important data therefore i tried to get them back.
I noticed that LOST.DIR is included my data.
I connect my phone to PC (galaxy s4) then i copied all LOST.DIR files in to my PC.
then i opened one of them with windows photo viewer. ( right click -> open -> choose windows photo viwer) then i saw one of me missing photos (luckly).
however it will take a long time to take back all of your missing photos but still you will get it.
(sorry for mistakes)
hi,
is it now possible to move apps from the internal storage to the SD-Card. Which of theese Apps will work, with an Note 3 (no root - just stock)?
With the Note 2 it wasn´t possible.
Note3 already have move to sd function on stock firmware right? Go to application manager and check it.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
No from all applications! Right?
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
This is stock lol
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk
It actually installs half the apps to the external SD by default....
Annoyingly. I've yet to find a way to turn it off. I have 22GB free internally, and 18MB on my 64GB MicroSD. I do not want the apps on my Media card! How the bloody hell do I turn it off?!
ShadowLea said:
It actually installs half the apps to the external SD by default....
Annoyingly. I've yet to find a way to turn it off. I have 22GB free internally, and 18MB on my 64GB MicroSD. I do not want the apps on my Media card! How the bloody hell do I turn it off?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahaha I just don't understand how you manage to curse in a specific way in every thread but you always make me laugh. Anyway my N900 doesn't do that but just download "AppMgr (either normal or pro) III (App 2 SD)" and manage them to select the ones you don't want in your precious sd (A part of me dies everytime I end with the space of another sd so I understand)
Sent from my SM-N900 using xda app-developers app
*GalaxyDev* said:
Hahaha I just don't understand how you manage to curse in a specific way in every thread but you always make me laugh. Anyway my N900 doesn't do that but just download "AppMgr (either normal or pro) III (App 2 SD)" and manage them to select the ones you don't want in your precious sd (A part of me dies everytime I end with the space of another sd so I understand)
Sent from my SM-N900 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Practice, practice, practice...
Well, The phone does tell me what app is on my SD (under apps/sd it has a green checkmark) and I can move it through there, but thank you for the reminder, I somehow completely forgot you could also use App2SD the other way around... :laugh:
Send From My Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9005 Using Tapatalk
ShadowLea said:
Practice, practice, practice...
Well, The phone does tell me what app is on my SD (under apps/sd it has a green checkmark) and I can move it through there, but thank you for the reminder, I somehow completely forgot you could also use App2SD the other way around... :laugh:
Send From My Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9005 Using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
strangely it DOES NOT movie any SD data to extSD although press move to SD option. so my 64 gb external micro sd cannot be used for apps right? only the internal sd (32 gb) can be used to move the app data into not the micro sd??? I m on n9005 btw
onours said:
strangely it DOES NOT movie any SD data to extSD although press move to SD option. so my 64 gb external micro sd cannot be used for apps right? only the internal sd (32 gb) can be used to move the app data into not the micro sd??? I m on n9005 btw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It(Samsung's) will allow you to move any app that doesn't impact on the system... Games should be fine as well as as any app not related to the system....
For instance, I have my Note 3 rooted by de la Vega method with xposed framework installed. Can't move any of the framework modules onto external sd card but games like Plants vs Zombies 2 are no problem...
onours said:
strangely it DOES NOT movie any SD data to extSD although press move to SD option. so my 64 gb external micro sd cannot be used for apps right? only the internal sd (32 gb) can be used to move the app data into not the micro sd??? I m on n9005 btw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't move system-essential files. Wallpapers also tend to make a fuss if you move them. Games and such work fine. No, you can't move Twitter, Youtube and the likes, for some unfathomable reason it sees that as essential. I call it Bloatware, but alas.
Anything else you can move. They end up in the .android_secure folder on your SD. (you can see that one even without root. Just enable hidden files.) I accidentally deleted that folder a while ago. The apps remained installed, but they could no longer be found on the device for launching. (even using S Finder.)
Anyway I was working in the opposite direction. As I said, My ExtSD is full, but my internal memory still has 13GB free. (I've moved things.)
I prefer to keep internal for apps alone. Less clutter means less slowdowns. And that way if my phone dies for whatever reason and I need to factory reset or RMA, I can just pull the MicroSD and all my data will be fine. Which in turn means one less panicked member on XDA begging the others how to recover the data, and a lot less people needing to say 'you should've backed up!'.
I have always used the same principle on my pc and laptop. C:\ for programs alone, the other drives (or if I only have one, partition) for data. it'll always be safe if I need to wipe Windows. Always keep your data separate from the system!
32GB is more than enough for apps. I have 430 apps installed, amongst which several 1GB+ games, and still have 13GB free. The only thing I keep on my MicroSD in terms of apps are navigational data. (So I don't have to redownload all 5.8GB of that when my phone rolls over and dies, or I switch.)
ShadowLea said:
You can't move system-essential files. Wallpapers also tend to make a fuss if you move them. Games and such work fine. No, you can't move Twitter, Youtube and the likes, for some unfathomable reason it sees that as essential. I call it Bloatware, but alas.
Anything else you can move. They end up in the .android_secure folder on your SD. (you can see that one even without root. Just enable hidden files.) I accidentally deleted that folder a while ago. The apps remained installed, but they could no longer be found on the device for launching. (even using S Finder.)
Anyway I was working in the opposite direction. As I said, My ExtSD is full, but my internal memory still has 13GB free. (I've moved things.)
I prefer to keep internal for apps alone. Less clutter means less slowdowns. And that way if my phone dies for whatever reason and I need to factory reset or RMA, I can just pull the MicroSD and all my data will be fine. Which in turn means one less panicked member on XDA begging the others how to recover the data, and a lot less people needing to say 'you should've backed up!'.
I have always used the same principle on my pc and laptop. C:\ for programs alone, the other drives (or if I only have one, partition) for data. it'll always be safe if I need to wipe Windows. Always keep your data separate from the system!
32GB is more than enough for apps. I have 430 apps installed, amongst which several 1GB+ games, and still have 13GB free. The only thing I keep on my MicroSD in terms of apps are navigational data. (So I don't have to redownload all 5.8GB of that when my phone rolls over and dies, or I switch.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
guys C'MON.. offcourse I know that system app and or data cannot be moved to external "micro sd" unless you use a directory binder kinda app.
what I mean is altahough the app manager shows that app data is in SD (green tick) card my external "micro" sd cards .android_secure folder is empty and the only storage occupied is internal sd (32gb) on which the data is stored at android/obb
what the heck is wrong with my note 3
so is it just me?
Use FolderMount
Sent from my SM-N900W8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
ShadowLea said:
I prefer to keep internal for apps alone. Less clutter means less slowdowns. And that way if my phone dies for whatever reason and I need to factory reset or RMA, I can just pull the MicroSD and all my data will be fine. Which in turn means one less panicked member on XDA begging the others how to recover the data, and a lot less people needing to say 'you should've backed up!'.
I have always used the same principle on my pc and laptop. C:\ for programs alone, the other drives (or if I only have one, partition) for data. it'll always be safe if I need to wipe Windows. Always keep your data separate from the system!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly my philosophy on storage, though it started with a separate drive for /home on Debian rather than with Windows, but has expanded to the point where I even have a specific hard drive for game installs on my WIN7 gaming rig.
Funny that before Google started going on about orphan files and the mess apps make on SD cards there wasn't one. My SD card was set up exactly how I wanted and data was shared nicely between apps.
Now there seems to be no option to stop putting junk files on there, an issue I haven't seen since 2.3, and even when I move them back the phantom folders for the apps that I've taken off the SD keep showing back up where I deleted them.
Is there any easier and more robust way to back up your sdcard? I'm tired of using SMB via Windows. It's slow, unreliable at times and clunky.
What other options do I have? Curious what the peanut gallery has to say...
A flashstick for "dirty" backups or another SD card, but with care. If you have enough internal memory, load the backup SD card in the phone.
Hdds should be the primary backup though, at least 2 that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC.
blackhawk said:
A flashstick for "dirty" backups.
Hdds should be the primary backup though, at least 2 that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But how? Are you still connecting your device to your laptop and doing a SMB/MTP transfer or do you spin up a FTP server on your Android (for example).
Laptop or the OTG flashstick (which I never would trust as a primary backup).
I have over 430 gb on my SD cards for my N10+'s.
Hdds still offer the best long term storage if cared for properly.
NEVER encrypt data drives!
Never clone disks with media ie .wav files!
Always verify transfer data by size and that it is readable.
Transfer by folders, one (if large) or a couple at a time. Very large folder should be broke down into 50-100gb segments.
Keep it the drive temperature cool when transferring*, bring hdds up to at least 70F before spinning them up.
Store hdds below 80F if possible. A Faraday cage/box is best ie earth grounded metal box.
A near lightning strike can wipe a hdd or flash memory. Do not store backups together.
High intensity magnets ie speaker drivers, crt deguasing coils, MRI's can wipe hdds. Keep them away from these!
*use a fan and/or damp microfiber cloth if needed. If it's too hot to touch, it's too hot!
adb pull -a /sdcard
Grabs the entire storage and -a retains the timestamps.
EtherealRemnant said:
adb pull -a /sdcard
Grabs the entire storage and -a retains the timestamps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This did the trick! Seems better than SMB/MTP. What other creativity do you use with this command?
Nick James said:
This did the trick! Seems better than SMB/MTP. What other creativity do you use with this command?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use adb push to move stuff to the phone as well. It just seems to work better and in the case of trying to crossflash between OOS variants, the phone sometimes deletes the downgrade zip if you don't push it with adb.
Pull* worked better than MTP/SMB but I still ran into some issues. I'm not sure what would cause it to fail but I continued to experiment. I tried Total Commander for Android and the FTP plugin. I was able to successfully write to my NAS this way and it worked the very first time I tried it.
I'm not sure I can do it in the reverse though so push will probably be my method for getting files to my OP9.
Thanks!
Nick James said:
Pull* worked better than MTP/SMB but I still ran into some issues. I'm not sure what would cause it to fail but I continued to experiment. I tried Total Commander for Android and the FTP plugin. I was able to successfully write to my NAS this way and it worked the very first time I tried it.
I'm not sure I can do it in the reverse though so push will probably be my method for getting files to my OP9.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The transfer rate is limited by the card it's self.
A V30 rated one yields about 2gb @ min, internal or external are about the same for me.
Keep it manageable chunks. If you try doing it all at once and it fails... you have to start all over.
Copy/paste only, never cut/paste; delete the source only after the copy is verified good. Otherwise sooner or later you'll lose data.
Whenever using a new method scrutinize the copy closely... to avoid rude surprises.
blackhawk said:
The transfer rate is limited by the card it's self.
A V30 rated one yields about 2gb @ min, internal or external are about the same for me.
Keep it manageable chunks. If you try doing it all at once and it fails... you have to start all over.
Copy/paste only, never cut/paste; delete the source only after the copy is verified good. Otherwise sooner or later you'll lose data.
Whenever using a new method scrutinize the copy closely... to avoid rude surprises.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like your style!