Database Info

[Q] Android SD Navigation - How does this thing work?

My SD (the one on the Android, not the SD Card, why the hell did they name it SD?!) is full of junk. In fact, it comes with a load of junk by default.
How do I:
1. Get Android to not pull videos, pictures, and music from games? My gallery, video player, doubletwist, etc is full of stuff like that.
2. Know what I can delete and what I can't? I'd like to clean this place up.
3. How do I find stuff? I mean, is it up to me to make "Music" "Pictures" "Videos" folders for my own sake, and Android just looks everywhere and grabs it?
4. How do I go to my SD Card? In fact, I am 100% sure my SD card has two auto-assigned folders on it and nothing else. I have no idea how to access it or put things on it, and I am also sure my phone does not care that it exists. Obviously my phone's SD has plenty of memory on it, but I don't know why there is even a SD card slot. I was thinking of copying some files onto my SD card to put onto my friend's Android phone, but I am also positive I'd have no idea how to perform what should be a basic task.
So, help me out. What am I doing? And, what apps would I need for question four, or just file browsing apps in general.

I'm confused about what this topic is about.
All the words that would describe what he is talking about are replaced with junk and stuff.
.___.
edit: The captivate assigns the internal sd card as SD:
Delete the "junk"

thehyecircus said:
My SD (the one on the Android, not the SD Card, why the hell did they name it SD?!) is full of junk. In fact, it comes with a load of junk by default.
How do I:
1. Get Android to not pull videos, pictures, and music from games? My gallery, video player, doubletwist, etc is full of stuff like that.
2. Know what I can delete and what I can't? I'd like to clean this place up.
3. How do I find stuff? I mean, is it up to me to make "Music" "Pictures" "Videos" folders for my own sake, and Android just looks everywhere and grabs it?
4. How do I go to my SD Card? In fact, I am 100% sure my SD card has two auto-assigned folders on it and nothing else. I have no idea how to access it or put things on it, and I am also sure my phone does not care that it exists. Obviously my phone's SD has plenty of memory on it, but I don't know why there is even a SD card slot. I was thinking of copying some files onto my SD card to put onto my friend's Android phone, but I am also positive I'd have no idea how to perform what should be a basic task.
So, help me out. What am I doing? And, what apps would I need for question four, or just file browsing apps in general.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A search would have answered your questions. your SD card memory is the phones main programs memory. IT is where alot of your apps store the data. You can use many apps to as a file explorer it even comes with one. Its called My Files. I use Root Explorer which allows to access Root files and make changes to them. The sd card slot is for....wait for it.......More memory. As for it not seeing the files. there are a few music apps that let you set the folders it scans. Power Amp is the best at the moment IMHO. You can also put a file in the folders that you dont want scanned named no media, (with root explorer you can copy one of these files from the root folders if you can make one.)

with pre existing folders (for apps and such)
create a "new file" in it named " .nomedia " with the . (preriod)
this can be done with root explorer or in windows. create blank text document rename to .nomedia with NO .txt then copy and move to folders.
nothing in that folder or sub folder will be included in media scans
or if it is a personal folder you are creating name it starting with a . (period)
and ya internal SD gets messy. Use external for your files to keep organized!

Wouldn't my SD card (even if it is SDHC) be slower? DoubleTwist is already inexcusably slow with my files on the SD itself, what would it be like on the external?
And yes, I know what the SD is, I was just asking why it was named that.

Bumping this because I am curious about any speed differences, and because I would like my SD Card to matter.

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.

[Q] LG G2X, how to see the SD card contents? (CM7)

I got myself an LG G2X, off ebay, it's rooted, unlocked, and running CM7. How do I browse the SD card contents?
Using ES File Explorer, (Or Astro) I can't seem to navigate to see the SD card contents. Winamp detects all my music, and my ringtones are imported, but I can't retrieve my old photo directory, and app backups. Am I missing a setting to be able to view these, or something in the file browser? My last phone didn't have so much on board memory.
Edit: I think this thread answers my question.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1409549
Is there a way to put apps on the extended memory and media on the sd card? It seems to be either an all or nothing.

Settings -> Application - > Manage Application - > Click on Application you want to move - > Click move to SD

timmyjoe42 said:
I got myself an LG G2X, off ebay, it's rooted, unlocked, and running CM7. How do I browse the SD card contents?
Using ES File Explorer, (Or Astro) I can't seem to navigate to see the SD card contents. Winamp detects all my music, and my ringtones are imported, but I can't retrieve my old photo directory, and app backups. Am I missing a setting to be able to view these, or something in the file browser? My last phone didn't have so much on board memory.
Edit: I think this thread answers my question.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1409549
Is there a way to put apps on the extended memory and media on the sd card? It seems to be either an all or nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean the extra 5GBs of internal memory? It's mounted at /mnt/emmc if I remember correctly.

nitrogen618 said:
Settings -> Application - > Manage Application - > Click on Application you want to move - > Click move to SD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know how to move apps to the sd card. But if I have the CM7 setting to "Use Internal storage" is on, when I move it to the sd card, does it move it to the internal storage or the removable card?
It seems like Android isn't set up to have up to have 3 drive options.

Can't copy to SD

Morning all. Anyone else have that problem? I can copy to the internal storage just fine, but if I try to drag and drop to the SD card I get the device has stopped responding or its disconnected error. I have windows 8.1, I'm rooted and drivers work fine, adb and fastboot functional, SD card is PNY 64gb xc formatted in NTFS. I also took out the micro SD card and put it in my laptop and was able to write to it just fine, the files even show up through the shield when I put the SD card back in and reconnected to laptop. So who knows what I'm missing?:laugh:

mta1981 said:
Morning all. Anyone else have that problem? I can copy to the internal storage just fine, but if I try to drag and drop to the SD card I get the device has stopped responding or its disconnected error. I have windows 8.1, I'm rooted and drivers work fine, adb and fastboot functional, SD card is PNY 64gb xc formatted in NTFS. I also took out the micro SD card and put it in my laptop and was able to write to it just fine, the files even show up through the shield when I put the SD card back in and reconnected to laptop. So who knows what I'm missing?:laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You cant copy paste you have to use the applications menu and theres an option for move to sd. Never used it but i know its there.
Nvidia Shield Root and More
Doing a little bit of reading goes a long way.

hexitnow said:
You cant copy paste you have to use the applications menu and theres an option for move to sd. Never used it but i know its there.
Nvidia Shield Root and More
Doing a little bit of reading goes a long way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean through the shields settings? Im talking about dragging and dropping using windows when shields plugged in via usb. But that is goo to know so I can apps to sd

mta1981 said:
You mean through the shields settings? Im talking about dragging and dropping using windows when shields plugged in via usb. But that is goo to know so I can apps to sd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, you can't do it through windows. With a file explorer, you could physically get the file to move but it wouldn't run. I believe with the built in option for moving files to SD, it will only move the .apk file, and not the actual data. So if you have a 3mb .apk, and a gig worth of data, it's pretty much useless. There is a tool on the play store called folder mount which basically allows you to swap mount points, and it allows you to save everything to SD, you have to have root for it though.

hexitnow said:
Yeah, you can't do it through windows. With a file explorer, you could physically get the file to move but it wouldn't run. I believe with the built in option for moving files to SD, it will only move the .apk file, and not the actual data. So if you have a 3mb .apk, and a gig worth of data, it's pretty much useless. There is a tool on the play store called folder mount which basically allows you to swap mount points, and it allows you to save everything to SD, you have to have root for it though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a problem, I used your excellent root tool kit!! Today we learned a big lesson in fat32 and NTFS formats and what the Shield can and cannot do with each. Fat32 ftw

mta1981 said:
Not a problem, I used your excellent root tool kit!! Today we learned a big lesson in fat32 and NTFS formats and what the Shield can and cannot do with each. Fat32 ftw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha nice. Yeah fat32 is the way to go unless you have a giant sdcard then exfat works better. If i remember right fat32 has a 4gb file size limit.

hexitnow said:
Haha nice. Yeah fat32 is the way to go unless you have a giant sdcard then exfat works better. If i remember right fat32 has a 4gb file size limit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So the shield will read and write to a 64gb card formatted in exfat?

hexitnow said:
Yeah, you can't do it through windows. With a file explorer, you could physically get the file to move but it wouldn't run. I believe with the built in option for moving files to SD, it will only move the .apk file, and not the actual data. So if you have a 3mb .apk, and a gig worth of data, it's pretty much useless. There is a tool on the play store called folder mount which basically allows you to swap mount points, and it allows you to save everything to SD, you have to have root for it though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The built in move to SD will actually move the android/obb file that corresponds to the app, it will also create mount points on the SD for it. I'm not sure if it moves android/data though, I just haven't tried it, most big games use obb files though.
I have some weird problems with my 64GB card formatted to fat32. It all works perfectly for some time, then the SD will become read only to the Shield and I have to format it again. :\ I'm not sure if it's my SD card, the SDXC formatted to fat32, <that and using the built in move to SD, etc.
I treat the SD card like dark magic, when it's working I don't mess with the thing.
I hope that Nvidia releases an update that focuses on better SD support, it seems like they're planning something.

CDeviant said:
The built in move to SD will actually move the android/obb file that corresponds to the app, it will also create mount points on the SD for it. I'm not sure if it moves android/data though, I just haven't tried it, most big games use obb files though.
I have some weird problems with my 64GB card formatted to fat32. It all works perfectly for some time, then the SD will become read only to the Shield and I have to format it again. :\ I'm not sure if it's my SD card, the SDXC formatted to fat32, <that and using the built in move to SD, etc.
I treat the SD card like dark magic, when it's working I don't mess with the thing.
I hope that Nvidia releases an update that focuses on better SD support, it seems like they're planning something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I gotcha thanks. I hadnt actually used it yet but have used it on other platforms and it was pretty much worthless. I had assumed it was the same since it was on my other devices. Thanks for clearin that up.

integrating SD card good or bad?

does this feature work better than having the SD card as an external device?
my concern is if you change the card or have to change the card..
surely everything will go to crap if its integrated and you change or upgrade the card.

I won't integrate it, if something goes wrong you have to reformat entire SD card to make it work as normal.
I will just save everything on SD card while internal memory is used for apps/chat storage

The disadvantage is as you have stated. But the advantages are 1) it will become part of your phone storage. You can store app or any other type of date there. 2) It's encrypted and only work while it's in your phone. You won't be able to read it once it's removed but you don't have to worry about loosing sensitive data if someone got your phone. If you need to change the card (replace with a bigger card), just connect to your computer, copy the data to your computer, switch the card, copy date back to new card.

toiday said:
The disadvantage is as you have stated. But the advantages are 1) it will become part of your phone storage. You can store app or any other type of date there. 2) It's encrypted and only work while it's in your phone. You won't be able to read it once it's removed but you don't have to worry about loosing sensitive data if someone got your phone. If you need to change the card (replace with a bigger card), just connect to your computer, copy the data to your computer, switch the card, copy date back to new card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, total n00b here, but is this true? I thought the data stores were completely scattered once an SD card is integrated, so a simple copy of the data (after porting it onto a computer/other storage) to a new SD card would not guarantee reintegration, as you'd have to reintegrate/mount the new SD card.

frankfrank12 said:
Hi, total n00b here, but is this true? I thought the data stores were completely scattered once an SD card is integrated, so a simple copy of the data (after porting it onto a computer/other storage) to a new SD card would not guarantee reintegration, as you'd have to reintegrate/mount the new SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you setup initially, you have option for what folders, app you want to store in the SD card. I choose to keep all the app I use often in the phone (faster) and folders like media (video, pictures, music) in SD since they're the reason I need SD card. I currently have 64GB SD card. I plan to upgrade to 128GB when they have it available in UHS-3. At that time, I'll need to migrate from the 64GB to the 128GB. Here is my plan: Under Settings -> Storage & USB, it shows Phone Storage and SD Card. Under SD Card, it show the Apps folder with my few app in it, my music folder, my picture folder, and my video folder. There, I can move the pictures, Video, music folders to the computer. I then move the app back to phone storage (there is option for that). Then I can eject the SD card. Insert the new one and format as internal storage. Copy the folders back from the computer. In addition, I probably don't need to copy my picture files since they're backed up to Google Pictures.
It's not very convenience but the price I pay for encryption. Don't have to do that often anyway.