i'm new to android so please bear with me.
i have a 32GB SD class 4 in my phone. it's been formatted so all it has is the lost.dir (i'm on a mac)
since there are no folders there - how do i gets apps to use it? where do i put music and other files? i have podcasts and other stuff i'd like to drag over but i'm not understanding how the different apps would see it.
i can move some apps to SD card but i think it just moves them to the internal SD card.
it seems that there are 2 SD cards in the phone but no way to differentiate between the 2.
also it sometimes takes forever for the gx2 to recognize the card, its kind of annoying. is having a class 10 better for this?
I use filemanager from the market and it recognizes my external as........"_externalSD" also allows me to transfer files between the two.
ecpht said:
i'm new to android so please bear with me.
i have a 32GB SD class 4 in my phone. it's been formatted so all it has is the lost.dir (i'm on a mac)
since there are no folders there - how do i gets apps to use it? where do i put music and other files? i have podcasts and other stuff i'd like to drag over but i'm not understanding how the different apps would see it.
i can move some apps to SD card but i think it just moves them to the internal SD card.
it seems that there are 2 SD cards in the phone but no way to differentiate between the 2.
also it sometimes takes forever for the gx2 to recognize the card, its kind of annoying. is having a class 10 better for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you have your phone plugged in pull down the alert bar on the top of the screen and press the "USB Connection" option. It should ask you if you want to turn USB mode on and have a picture of an Android. This will allow you to mount your internal and external sd as if they were regular flash sticks. You can then copy whatever you want to them. I also like to use drop box in combination with Astro for moving things to and from the cloud.
ecpht said:
i'm new to android so please bear with me.
i have a 32GB SD class 4 in my phone. it's been formatted so all it has is the lost.dir (i'm on a mac)
since there are no folders there - how do i gets apps to use it? where do i put music and other files? i have podcasts and other stuff i'd like to drag over but i'm not understanding how the different apps would see it.
i can move some apps to SD card but i think it just moves them to the internal SD card.
it seems that there are 2 SD cards in the phone but no way to differentiate between the 2.
also it sometimes takes forever for the gx2 to recognize the card, its kind of annoying. is having a class 10 better for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. G2x has the internal sd card partitioned into 2 parts (1 for OS & apps & other for storage & apps).
2. Sd card's class does help but it is not something important until you're running a high def video.
3. Use any file explorer app (File expert etc) for copying files from Internal SD Card to External SD Card.
4. Most of the app's setting menu gives you an option to physically select the storage destination folder i.e. external sd card.
Hope I helped.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
so say i have podcasts and other files on my computer i want to copy to the 32GB SD card - do i just make folders on the card and copy the files over from my computer?
ecpht said:
so say i have podcasts and other files on my computer i want to copy to the 32GB SD card - do i just make folders on the card and copy the files over from my computer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, just simply copy the entire FOLDER of the particular file to your External SD Card & if in future, if u download something directly from your phone then simply just copy/paste it from your using any file manager app.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
so i have the phone connected to the computer and I see 2 No Name disks. That's fine. I put a folder called music at the root level of the 32GB card. Now I find that folder in File Expert and I go to play something and it says that file isn't supported. I tried Google Music and Doubletwist. Just mp3's from a CD. are there certain settings for android i need to know about? and do i need to go to File Expert to play this music everytime? Or should I be going through doubletwist on my mac and using it like itunes?
thanks you any help, i'm pretty clueless with this aspect of android right now, trying to catch up.
also both SD cards randomly unmount themselves. is there a reason for this or a way to prevent this?
ecpht said:
so i have the phone connected to the computer and I see 2 No Name disks. That's fine. I put a folder called music at the root level of the 32GB card. Now I find that folder in File Expert and I go to play something and it says that file isn't supported. I tried Google Music and Doubletwist. Just mp3's from a CD. are there certain settings for android i need to know about? and do i need to go to File Expert to play this music everytime? Or should I be going through doubletwist on my mac and using it like itunes?
thanks you any help, i'm pretty clueless with this aspect of android right now, trying to catch up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok. After reading your problems, here are my suggestions:
1) Copy your 32 GB SD Card files on your computer.
2) Format your 32 GB card. Replace all files back in it.
3) Stop worrying about putting certain files (pics, music) in a root folder. Simply just put any files OR folders inside the Sd card.
4) When it comes to File sharing, think of Android in the same category as Windows.
I hope I helped.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
Hi guys,
I have the asus to USB adapter for my transformer. I'm trying to plug in my galaxy s2 as a mass storage DEVICE. I want to be able to transfer files between devices without a computer in between. Bluetooth is just way too slow and fickle. However it recognises the phone and shows the sd card (not internal storage) but if I try and access the folders it says file not found or something.
Anyone made this work or have any other ideas? Sometimes I'm on the road and need a quick way to move large video files from phone to tablet. All the sync apps seem way too slow and use heaps of data I dont have, as free wifi is hard to find in new Zealand.
Thanks in advance
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
I hope I'm understanding u but forget the USB process altogether and use 1 micro SD card. Using a file manger on your sgs2 u can place the video files onto the micro SD and then physically take out the card and place it in your tf. Then use a file manager on your tf to either access it and or copy the files onto your internal tf memory.
You may not be able to access your micro SD card from the My Files app on your sgs2. U will need to download a file manager app from the market. Ex. Astro file manager.
U will be able to access the micro SD card from the default file manager app on the tf.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using XDA App
Yeah I have thought about this. It seems like a messy way to do it though, as I have a micro sd in each, so is a lot of shuffling (and rebooting in the case of the gs2 because of the location of the sd slot). I was thinking though as the Gs2 can be mounted as USB storage, there should be some way to access it on the transformer ? I do wish google would enable an easier way of us sharing files between devices, excluding nfc of course.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium
Either way...there is going to be a drawback to any method you use to end up with the same result. I use the micro sd card / file manager method all the time and have no problems nor does it seem inefficient or messy to me. This is basically the same process as using a flash drive to transfer a large file from one pc to the other.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using XDA App
quick and cheeky answer- get a keyboard dock.
i have the SGS2 aswell and all i do is use the phones usb cable and plug it into the USB port on the dock, hey presto it all works fine.
you could try to connect to the tablet over direct wifi too- the SGS2 has direct wifi and only 1 needs it to get it working, you could then stream the video files to the tablet.
have a look here too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giJXF5pIITc
maybe PM nztechfreak on xda or his facebook page, there isnt a thing that guy doesnt know about android phones and tablets and he is very helpful indeed
You can also use the 'Samba Filesharing' app from the market place. Your phone will show up in 'My Computer/Networks' and you can read/write directly to/from the SD card.
You could probably set up some sort of ad-hoc wireless connection between the two devices, it would most likely be more reliable than bluetooth which I never got to work.
I use a NAS to copy files from my phone to my transformer.
I use ES file explorer to access the NAS from both devices, so they have a shared storage to copy to/from.
I haven't tried samba sharing of the SD card, but that sounds like a good idea too. saves one step.
I keep getting a low memory message. I have most apps i installed on the sd card, which is 8gb. I can't save evernote or backups. There is little media save 50 pictures. Anyone tell me how to free up some of the internal memory, or the usb storage?
Sent from my SGH-T769 using xda premium
Do you have most of your apps installed on your sdcard or usbstorage? If your using the move to sd card method in manage applications, then it's going to store it in your usbstorage, not your external sd card. This happens with Apps2SD too.
How the hell can someone have their usb storage memory filled up with just apps?
Are you putting music or something in the usb storage, and not on your memory card?
I mean seriously, most apps are small. VERY small.
Cirkustanz said:
How the hell can someone have their usb storage memory filled up with just apps?
Are you putting music or something in the usb storage, and not on your memory card?
I mean seriously, most apps are small. VERY small.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's true, but most apps also have additional data that they store in /sdcard. And since the blaze has /sdcard as usbstorage, everything goes there so it fills up quick. I have a lot of apps too but the ones that store data in the usbstorage, I move to /sdcard/external_sd by using GL to SD. Although it only works for gameloft games and data stored in /sdcard/Android and /sdcard/data, those are the two folders that usually take up the most space.
Well, gaming on your phone is the culprit obviously.
I don't have many apps at all, no games.
Now i can't even move any apps to my sd card. It says my memory is too low. I can't attach pictures.or.even open my gallery without getting this.message.
I'm not following.the.usb storage thing. How's it work?
Sent from my SGH-T769 using xda premium
Your phone has something like 1 gig of storage that is supposed to effectively be ram where applications are stored, and another 1 gig of memory labelled as usb storage in the phone where data can be stored, or applications can be stored if it is set to "move to sd card".
Then of course, you have the actual SD card, of whatever size is in the phone.
Seriously, I can't say enough times, if your phone is low on memory, you are doing something weird.
For example, those gameloft games, are quite huge, and the additional data they require would go to usb storage. Two or three of them can fill up the phone's space without a problem. This would be true for any phone out there.
Another likely culprit is something simple...you might have been putting your music or video or other large amounts of stuff you want to have on the phone in one of the first two mentioned locations without realizing it. If you mount your phone to the computer, you've notice how two drives show up?
One drive is the "usb storage", and another would be the actual SD card you have in the phone. I don't know why it does this, but I suspect it's common as my sony e-reader does the same thing.
To put it simply, don't store things to the phone's "memory" that you don't need to, and you'll be fine.
usb storage
I took a look and sure enough, the usb storage contained things I thought were on the sd card. I don't have much media on this phone at all. Maybe 70 pictures, no music, a couple videos, and I have no gameloft games at all.
I noticed that some apps are also stored here. I moved the little media to the sd card, but can I also move the apps here?
And is there anyway to change the settings so these files are directed here rather than the internal storage?
"A couple videos" was probably the culprit, as they tend to be big files of course.
About moving the apps to the sd card....allow me comment on that, and then rant a little bit.
Many apps can be moved to the sd card. If it's enabled by the app, you can just go to settings, applications, manage applications or whatever, and select the application you want, and in the same screen where you can uninstall an app, some apps let you move them to the sd card. Not every allows this, and in general, if you have an app with a widget on the sd card, it either won't work, or something weird happens. (Android designed limitation with widgets)
Now, to my rant.
My first android phone was a nexus 1. Great phone, but compared to a lot of phones it has a small amount of program memory. So if people were prone to having lots of apps especially large ones such as google earth, java, or whatever, that space filled up quick.
I think it was around 2.2 when Android started opening up moving apps to the sd card.
To this DAY, you can go into the market comments and pretty much read moron after moron doing things like, "I rated this a 1, because I can't move it to the sd card! Gah, you suck, let me move this to the sd card!"
Some times they would have a point, but more often than not, they wouldn't.
For example, this app that was 25k in size, had 15 comments in a row about people whining to move it to the sd card. SERIOUSLY? 25k is NOTHING, even to a phone with limited memory such as a nexus one.
And then there would be people whining about apps on SD cards for apps that you SHOULD NOT put on an sd card. "What apps wouldn't you want to run on an sd card?", you might ask.
Any app that should be always running, or able to be run by some event changing, while your phone is plugged into the computer.
For example....let's say you have a call blocking app. There are a few, I use one myself. If you move it to the sd card, that app can not function if the sd card is mounted to the computer. Phones mount memory cards just like computers do, and if it's unplugged......it doesn't work! So if you have the card mounted in the computer and your phone rings....guess what, your call blocking app doesn't work, and that annoying jerk is making your phone ring again.
Somewhere, a kitten dies.
I used the call blocking app as an example as something that even though it's not doing anything most of the time, but that when another event happens (your phone ringing), it can't do it's function.
I used to know why widgets on the sd card didn't work, but I suspect it has something to do with just they can't work reliably on the sd card. For example, my preferred music player poweramp, can be moved to the sd card, and of course it has widgets. So.....the dev made an add-on you can download where the widget stays on the phone, the app goes to the sd card.
Personally, I just keep poweramp on the phone memory. Since it's one of my 5 most commonly used apps, it only makes sense, right?
I can't remember if flash for browsers is able to be moved to the sd card yet, but what I do know is people whined and whined and whined about it, not realizing that.........the browser wouldn't work very well if flash was installed to the sd card.
Titaniumbackup and probably other similar apps can force apps to the sd card that are not normally allowed, but they will of course caution you about doing it. Some of that caution verbiage is there for reasons which are in this post, and I'm sure there's other concerns as well.
Moving along to your last question...... that depends.
Some apps can be configured to have a preferred directory location for storage, but realize that there are still phones out there that either don't have memory card slots, or don't have "usb storage". As a result, sometimes it works easily, sometimes it doesn't, but most file explorer apps make moving stuff around pretty easy.
Personally, I'm not really sure what the point of having both is, but it seems to be common. All I know is that having a memory card slot is a good thing. There are a few reasons why I wish I would have just bought a google nexus, but...... odds are the 64gig microsdxc cards work in this phone, and well, I plan to buy one.
Sorry nexus, you're hot.....but having 4 times the music or video on hand, is something I think I would enjoy more.
I'm having the same issues with the Samsung Blaze ~ when I go to Settings, Storage, USB Storage it shows total space 1.40 GB and available 127 MB. When I go to files, usbstorage, there is NOTHING in it and it shows "no files". I have 4 applications I've downloaded, no more. ALL of my pictures and music are on the external card. When I go to active applications, then Storage, it shows System storage 119MB of 1.12GB, USB storage 1.28GB used of 1.40GB, and SD card 4.33GB used of 7.39GB. I don't have games on it at all.
I'm not an Einstein, but I'm getting really tired of everyone telling me I'm obviously not smart enough to have a smart phone. I'm no dummy when it comes to tech.
Cirkustanz said:
"A couple videos" was probably the culprit, as they tend to be big files of course.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
similar problem - Rhapsody was the culprit
I had a similar problem -- I couldn't see any files in the USB Storage folder in Files, but it was full. In my case, Rhapsody was causing the issue -- by default it downloads music to /mnt/sdcard (or something like that, I changed it and can't remember the address exactly. But from what Cirkustanz said above, the Blaze interprets that address as "USB Storage" (confusing name, that) which is really internal storage. In the advanced settings for Rhapsody I changed it to /sdcard/external_sd and all of a sudden had 700MB free in USB Storage. Lost all of my Rhapsody downloads, however, and will have to add them back.
smiyem said:
I'm having the same issues with the Samsung Blaze ~ when I go to Settings, Storage, USB Storage it shows total space 1.40 GB and available 127 MB. When I go to files, usbstorage, there is NOTHING in it and it shows "no files". I have 4 applications I've downloaded, no more. ALL of my pictures and music are on the external card. When I go to active applications, then Storage, it shows System storage 119MB of 1.12GB, USB storage 1.28GB used of 1.40GB, and SD card 4.33GB used of 7.39GB. I don't have games on it at all.
I'm not an Einstein, but I'm getting really tired of everyone telling me I'm obviously not smart enough to have a smart phone. I'm no dummy when it comes to tech.
Cirkustanz said:
"A couple videos" was probably the culprit, as they tend to be big files of course.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
focused67 said:
I had a similar problem -- I couldn't see any files in the USB Storage folder in Files, but it was full. In my case, Rhapsody was causing the issue -- by default it downloads music to /mnt/sdcard (or something like that, I changed it and can't remember the address exactly. But from what Cirkustanz said above, the Blaze interprets that address as "USB Storage" (confusing name, that) which is really internal storage. In the advanced settings for Rhapsody I changed it to /sdcard/external_sd and all of a sudden had 700MB free in USB Storage. Lost all of my Rhapsody downloads, however, and will have to add them back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
smiyem said:
I'm having the same issues with the Samsung Blaze ~ when I go to Settings, Storage, USB Storage it shows total space 1.40 GB and available 127 MB. When I go to files, usbstorage, there is NOTHING in it and it shows "no files". I have 4 applications I've downloaded, no more. ALL of my pictures and music are on the external card. When I go to active applications, then Storage, it shows System storage 119MB of 1.12GB, USB storage 1.28GB used of 1.40GB, and SD card 4.33GB used of 7.39GB. I don't have games on it at all.
I'm not an Einstein, but I'm getting really tired of everyone telling me I'm obviously not smart enough to have a smart phone. I'm no dummy when it comes to tech.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its ur internal sd thats the problem u have to clean files out once in a while if u dont it will **** stuff up get astro or any file manager and go folder by folder and delete stuff and ur usb storage doesnt get used its just system internal and external thats all ur partitions in system settings it reads the part ur apps get put in when u put apps on sd as usb thats it but u cant look at them but just clean ur internal sd out clear caches and check lost.dir once in awhile too delete whatevers in there and u should be ok dont forget any videos u shoot in hd will be huge too those r in dcim... Thats why i switch my mounts and i keep my sdcards clean so i can have like 5 6 huge games and still have space but to each his own good luck tho
!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!PLEASE click THANKS if I helped!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!
My wife was complain8ng of this recently. I went through and saved all her pictures to her laptop. Cleared caches and moved apps to sd when I could but that did not help. Then I checked her download folder and found it full of videos from perez hilton .com. lol
This made the phone show that it was almost empty.
My question is why does usb storage show 1.40gb of total space with 9gb of space filled with misc.? Why does the blaze seem to handle its memory so much different than the other galaxy s phones?
Does rooting fix this strange memory setup?
Thanks guys.
(Update)
Took one photo to make sure they were being saved to the external sdcard (16gb) and now the phone says that storage is full again. When I check in settings it shows 1.20gb of pictures when there is only one photo (not sure how big but i know it is not 1gb) and it is not even stored on the phones memory? Instagram will also moy work because it says there is no storage to even take a photo.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
in one phrase VOLDSTAB / JB SWAP
if your runnings stock ICS and or ICS ROM search for VOLDSWAP.zip and or if your running JB ROMS or you have a phone that runs JB truly with out having to rom if you on ICS flash through CWM if you don't know what that is dont waste your time if you do by all means you know what must be DONE!!! lol if you dont then google the phrase CLOCKWORK MOD RECOVERY ( then your phone type ie Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4g ) if your using JB and ROOTED ( YES BOTH OF THESE TAKE ROOT in order to be accomplushed ) if your on JB go into /system/etc/vold.fstab open with either Script Manager and or prefered editor of text choice and take the ( 0 ) on internal SD line ( ie dev mount blah blah sdcard0 change that to a
( 1 ) and then on external SD ie blah blah sdcard1 change the ( 1 ) to a ( 0 ) and reboot on the ICS just flash the voldswap.zip on the xda forum ( you will find it in the general section of the samsung blaze under thread title Internal / External Memory and go to page 2 give thanks to the dev who did that then procedd to download and then flash through CWM no need to wipe format etc blah blah but i take no cred for mentioned / said items and i damn sure dont take liability for burnt phones busted screens and just plain stupidity and also google is your FRIEND in hence of rooting rom's etc etc have a wonderful day
soldier1184 said:
if your runnings stock ICS and or ICS ROM search for VOLDSWAP.zip and or if your running JB ROMS or you have a phone that runs JB truly with out having to rom if you on ICS flash through CWM if you don't know what that is dont waste your time if you do by all means you know what must be DONE!!! lol if you dont then google the phrase CLOCKWORK MOD RECOVERY ( then your phone type ie Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4g ) if your using JB and ROOTED ( YES BOTH OF THESE TAKE ROOT in order to be accomplushed ) if your on JB go into /system/etc/vold.fstab open with either Script Manager and or prefered editor of text choice and take the ( 0 ) on internal SD line ( ie dev mount blah blah sdcard0 change that to a
( 1 ) and then on external SD ie blah blah sdcard1 change the ( 1 ) to a ( 0 ) and reboot on the ICS just flash the voldswap.zip on the xda forum ( you will find it in the general section of the samsung blaze under thread title Internal / External Memory and go to page 2 give thanks to the dev who did that then procedd to download and then flash through CWM no need to wipe format etc blah blah but i take no cred for mentioned / said items and i damn sure dont take liability for burnt phones busted screens and just plain stupidity and also google is your FRIEND in hence of rooting rom's etc etc have a wonderful day
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For clarity's sake, what is this going to accomplish? I'm running cm10 and can usually manage to keep the blazes memory problems under control just by keeping everything in cloud storage, but if there's another option, I'd be interested in trying it out.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T769 using xda app-developers app
Wow, so after translating what you said back to english I need root for that option and what it does is swsp the external sd for the internal by flashing a zip or editing the fstab file.
I will have to convince my wife of that one. She does not let me root her devices. She needs them to work 100% of the time for work and she saw what I went through with the s2 trying to get JB to run early on.
I will do some more research on this.
Is this something that only happens to some blazes or do all of them have storage issues? My wife was hoping a factory wipe might fix it.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
limpysmalls said:
Wow, so after translating what you said back to english I need root for that option and what it does is swsp the external sd for the internal by flashing a zip or editing the fstab file.
I will have to convince my wife of that one. She does not let me root her devices. She needs them to work 100% of the time for work and she saw what I went through with the s2 trying to get JB to run early on.
I will do some more research on this.
Is this something that only happens to some blazes or do all of them have storage issues? My wife was hoping a factory wipe might fix it.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to answer your ? on what it does the blaze stock comes with 4 gigs of memory 2 gigs used by system leaving about 1.12 for device mem and 1.40 for internal mem with the vold.fstab swap ( voldswap.zip ) or the number swap of JB ( ie INT SDCARD 0 change to 1 and EXT SDCARD 1 change to 0 what that does is for example instead of 1.40 gigs of internal space in my personal blaze i have 32 GIGS of space instead of crappy 1.4 works the same on JB ROMS but also if you choose to add files either connect USB into USB CONNECTION or POWER DOWN phone to be on the safe side power down the phone pull the sdcard from the micro sd slot and put into adapter on your PC ( i do this cause i transfer large files and on JB the MTP is a peice of **** and the USB CONNECTION sucks to it stops all of a sudden out of no were ) ( on ICS stock/custom that's not an issue ) but that's what the swap does hope this helps for clarity and you can pick up a 32 GIG San Disk off EBAY fpr 16.98 plus S/H at like 3 bucks a pop and it works cause i have that same card off of ebay
soldier1184 said:
to answer your ? on what it does the blaze stock comes with 4 gigs of memory 2 gigs used by system leaving about 1.12 for device mem and 1.40 for internal mem with the vold.fstab swap ( voldswap.zip ) or the number swap of JB ( ie INT SDCARD 0 change to 1 and EXT SDCARD 1 change to 0 what that does is for example instead of 1.40 gigs of internal space in my personal blaze i have 32 GIGS of space instead of crappy 1.4 works the same on JB ROMS but also if you choose to add files either connect USB into USB CONNECTION or POWER DOWN phone to be on the safe side power down the phone pull the sdcard from the micro sd slot and put into adapter on your PC ( i do this cause i transfer large files and on JB the MTP is a peice of **** and the USB CONNECTION sucks to it stops all of a sudden out of no were ) ( on ICS stock/custom that's not an issue ) but that's what the swap does hope this helps for clarity and you can pick up a 32 GIG San Disk off EBAY fpr 16.98 plus S/H at like 3 bucks a pop and it works cause i have that same card off of ebay
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is awesome three hours of reading this that and the other thing all over the internet and it comes down to swapping two numbers in a file, sheash in an idiot.
The reason I wanted to do this is I have an app that downloads two to five GB of map files and the app just cried when I tried to install it on this phone.
Thank You.
Just an FYI, even though I am using a JBCamera app to store actual photos on my external 32gb uSD card, my internal 1.4gb SDcard was still getting full frequently. Discovered the Quickpic App, creates a large almost 1gb thumbnail file on the internal SDcard. There is an option to turn it off to make this go away in Quickpic.