[Q] Apps in SD card and custom ROMs - General Questions and Answers

Hi all,
I'm not sure if this has been asked before.
I'm using Virtuous Unity 1.31. Let say I have several apps installed and I move them (via manage applications) to the SD card. All works fine.
Let's say a new version comes out and I flash the new ROM, doing a full data and cache wipe in the process.
When I re-install all the apps, they'll be installed in the phone memory by default, and not the SD card. Does this mean that the app data on the SD card from the previous install is redundant, since the OS will presumably recognise the app in the phone memory. Is there any way to determine which apps were moved to the SD card and subsequently, free up the space?
Cheers,

Bump?
Any one with any ideas? Or is my original post confusing? ;p

endlesstrail said:
Hi all,
I'm not sure if this has been asked before.
I'm using Virtuous Unity 1.31. Let say I have several apps installed and I move them (via manage applications) to the SD card. All works fine.
Let's say a new version comes out and I flash the new ROM, doing a full data and cache wipe in the process.
When I re-install all the apps, they'll be installed in the phone memory by default, and not the SD card. Does this mean that the app data on the SD card from the previous install is redundant, since the OS will presumably recognise the app in the phone memory. Is there any way to determine which apps were moved to the SD card and subsequently, free up the space?
Cheers,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct me if i'm wrong, but your problem is that you want to restore your data app from sd card and your are not sure cause they are already in phone memory? Or something different ? Because if you only want to put your apps from phone storage in sd-card again you can do it, you'll overwrite the older same apps..

You can try the app in my signature (SD Maid) to free up space.

Hanisa said:
Correct me if i'm wrong, but your problem is that you want to restore your data app from sd card and your are not sure cause they are already in phone memory? Or something different ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hanisa, my problem is that before I flash a new ROM, I usually do a wipe, which means when the new ROM is flashed in, it'll be "as stock" without any of my apps.
When I restore all my apps, either using Titanium Backup or the Android Marketplace, they'll be installed into the phone memory by default.
If for example I have Minisquadron installed and moved to the SD card before the wipe, when I re-install it, it will be in the phone memory by default. This means the data already on the SD card (before the wipe) is just wasted space.
Dark3n said:
You can try the app in my signature (SD Maid) to free up space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I'll give it a shot and see if it works for me.

Related

Formatting SD Card...

When I format my card by putting it in the slot my laptop has it doesn't wipe the ext partition... I say this because it's showing that the 2gig card is only a 1.27gig card. This can't be right?
Any help is appreciated.
What OS are you running?
Windows 7 (64 bit)
I don't have a card reader so I can't test it but try to right click on My Computer and select manage. Then go into Disk Management.
The problem is windows can't recognize ext partitions so it won't mount them
Otherwise look up a partition manager to run under windows. I always partition under linux or with dedicated tool you boot to off a CD. I am not sure a good one to recommend to run under windows. Maybe someone else can recommend one.
If you made a 4gb ext partition on an 8gb card, windows will now only see this as a 4gb card until you reallocate the ext partition.
I'm running Windows 7 64-bit and I use Paragon Manager to modify the ext partitions. I am not sure if there is a legitimately free version of this program.
Thanks everyone. I'm downloading Paragon Manager now. I made my ext partition too big and want to put more music on there. I also feel like partitioned the card twice... I think I have an ext 2 & an ext 3 partition.
Again, thanks!
Sd Formatter
mrcharlesiv said:
When I format my card by putting it in the slot my laptop has it doesn't wipe the ext partition... I say this because it's showing that the 2gig card is only a 1.27gig card. This can't be right?
Any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use SdFormatter from this link: http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter_3/
Question:
Over the last few months I (like most people here) have tried several roms. I moved from the sdcard that came with the phone to an 8gb, no problems there.
The way I backup my sdcard is I make a folder on my desktop and literally just drag and drop the whole card over, hasn't let me down yet. When I switched I formatted the 8gb card and just copied my latest sdcard backup to the 8gb and everything works great. I am at the point where I have a lot of stuff on there from from things like apps I've uninstalled, etc. and I'd like to clean it up. I have everything I would want to keep backed up on my desktop.
So here is my question:
If I reformat my sdcard will the phone copy/install anything on the clean sdcard it needs to run?
If so then I'm thinking I could just copy what I want (nand backups, pictures, music, etc.)
Thanks
nebenezer said:
Question:
Over the last few months I (like most people here) have tried several roms. I moved from the sdcard that came with the phone to an 8gb, no problems there.
The way I backup my sdcard is I make a folder on my desktop and literally just drag and drop the whole card over, hasn't let me down yet. When I switched I formatted the 8gb card and just copied my latest sdcard backup to the 8gb and everything works great. I am at the point where I have a lot of stuff on there from from things like apps I've uninstalled, etc. and I'd like to clean it up. I have everything I would want to keep backed up on my desktop.
So here is my question:
If I reformat my sdcard will the phone copy/install anything on the clean sdcard it needs to run?
If so then I'm thinking I could just copy what I want (nand backups, pictures, music, etc.)
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and yes. I have cleaned house a few times by deleting everything off my 8gb card and bringing back just my pictures, music and backups.
If you are using an ext partition to store apps and want to delete this data, you will need to format this with a program that can handle this ext partition or the easiest way is through recovery (wipe ext partition). Otherwise, if you want to keep your apps on the partition you can just delete everything off the card through windows or even format it there.
Thanks Danknee!!
I thought that was the case but wanted to make sure.
I haven't had the need to use a2sd yet so that's not a problem.
One more question:
I've formatted and put everything I want to keep back. Should I just reboot or do I need to reflash DC!.0, the reason I ask is because there was literally nothing on the card after formatting (not surprising). So I put HTC Sync back in case I need it, will the phone build the file structure it needs as it needs it or should I do anything else at this point?
Thanks
You can just reboot. The SD card doesn't have anything on it that would be replaced by flashing anyway. Since you aren't using apps2sd, you could technically have two different SD cards that you swapped in and out. You would just need to unmount and remount them to prevent corruption during the swaps.
Apps save settings on the card, but these will be resaved when you use these apps again. Conversely, the apps you never use again won't be taking up any space now.
danknee said:
You can just reboot. The SD card doesn't have anything on it that would be replaced by flashing anyway. Since you aren't using apps2sd, you could technically have two different SD cards that you swapped in and out. You would just need to unmount and remount them to prevent corruption during the swaps.
Apps save settings on the card, but these will be resaved when you use these apps again. Conversely, the apps you never use again won't be taking up any space now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, thanks.
I totally understand what you just posted... So HTC ships these phones with SOME files that you can't get back by reflashing? (ie. HTC Sync) just curious
nebenezer said:
Awesome, thanks.
I totally understand what you just posted... So HTC ships these phones with SOME files that you can't get back by reflashing? (ie. HTC Sync) just curious
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you can flash back to a stock sense ROM with no problems. What I meant was that you could actually use your phone with no memory card and it would be fully functional except that some apps couldn't save settings and data.
The SD card is completely optional and all the system files and system apk files are stored in your phone's internal memory.
danknee said:
No, you can flash back to a stock sense ROM with no problems. What I meant was that you could actually use your phone with no memory card and it would be fully functional except that some apps couldn't save settings and data.
The SD card is completely optional and all the system files and system apk files are stored in your phone's internal memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the confusion... I understand the phone can operate sans sdcard. if I'm not mistaken I believe I installed HTC Sync on my pc from my sdcard meanin that if I deleted it without backing it up I would have to (Jeez, I just realized what a waste of time this is, but I'm in too deep to stop) get HTC Sync from another source, ie HTC's website?
LOL yeah, you are probably right about HTC sync. I downloaded sync from the HTC website anyway (to make sure I had the lastest version). Besides that, I can't think of anything else on the stock 2gb card that is irreplaceable..

Moving apps to ext. SD card

Hello all
this is my first android phone.
i managed to move some apps to sd card, but only to the internal.
How can i get them to the external sd card ? the ext. card is a mount point inside the internal one, thats what i found out.
Cheers
Lorien
At this stage it cant be done.
Oh, so is it a specific problem with the LG FW or is it the current Android OS ?
Lorien
Lorien25 said:
Oh, so is it a specific problem with the LG FW or is it the current Android OS ?
Lorien
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a limitation of the Android File System in general, not of froyo, gingerbread or ice cream sandwich. This is how the OS works.
What you can do is to go the the phone settings then programs then app manager and there click one by one the apps and choose to move to the SD card. You will notice that you will still have a portion of the app running from the phone memory. This is something that you have to live with for the time being but at least the half of the app should have been moved to the SD so at the end of the day you will gain some space.
Yes thats what i already did, worked great, but i do still have a almost empty ext. sd card. All the apps i moved are still on the internal sd card.
How about using apps2ext ? This is a modified version of the original (pre froyo) apps2sd that uses a "hidden" ext2, 3 or 4 partition on the SD card. I can only find it as part of custom roms. I'm sure it needs root to work too?
Anyone know if that would work?
Pete
mad_sunday said:
How about using apps2ext ? This is a modified version of the original (pre froyo) apps2sd that uses a "hidden" ext2, 3 or 4 partition on the SD card. I can only find it as part of custom roms. I'm sure it needs root to work too?
Anyone know if that would work?
Pete
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think we might have success with that actually. I will give it a try and I will let you know.
Any progress in this matter ? My internal SD Card is already full ! Have to start removing apps to install others.
I think those Android OS limitations are pretty wierd, so the ext. card slot is just for photos,videos on an android phone then ?
I did try to use darktremor on this phone but it won't work on stock firmware. I think that we need to wait for CM7 before we are able to install the whole app on the external SD.
m33ts4k0z said:
I did try to use darktremor on this phone but it won't work on stock firmware. I think that we need to wait for CM7 before we are able to install the whole app on the external SD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The main problem is not the apps themselves. So Darktremor's A2SD would not help. The problem is, the extra files for large games are automatically downloaded to internal sd memory. Which is limited to 7GB. New games require more than 500 MB's each, so 7 Megs would be enough for many of us, but not enough for some of us.
It is certainly enough for me right now, but you cant see what future brings.
Hi guys,
I'm having this problem now.
Basically, my internal memory is being used by don't know what and I have left around 400mb.
The problem is that I cannot download more 3D games, they require around 500mb each!
I have tried to delete photos, videos and apps that I don't use but even like that it's not enough.
So now, I have a empty SD Card of 16GB and a phone/system that doesn't let me use that free space for "nothing".
BTW I did transfer the internal apps to the SD card, but very little changed.
Does anyone managed to find a solution for it? how can they sell android phones claiming that you can expand the memory of it if you are not able to use that memory for apps?
I already feel sorry for those that have the Evo 3D which apparently comes with 1GB internal memory.
And how can I move the 3D games to the SD card?
i think we have to wait until firmware update .. right now still behide 2.2.2 not even on 2.3 yet .. so i think we could move all app to ext card until 2.3 or higher.. i have try all the app out there .. not even one of them working .. you can move to internal memory but not ext sd card ..
you can also resolve this problem by switching internal and external memory. this works fine for the phone but messes up mass storage mode in windows! so you will find problems mounting your sd-card in windows - so you have to use alternatives for file transfer (ssh, ftp, adb) - means this is pretty much for advanced users only

[Q] where applications are located

After installing android applications (tools, utilities, games) on my Samsung Gaqlaxy Fit I realized that some apps are installed on phone and other on SDcard.
This automatic selection depends on what?
There is one more strange thing: some utilities like Rom Toolbox offer possibility to move apps from phone to SDcard, but when I tried to do so nothing has happened.
Those apps which previously were installed on the phone they remain there , means they were not moved to SDcard.
What is the advantage or disadvantage of installing apps on Sdcard instead of installing them on the phone?
Thanks a lot for your answer.
rajko108 said:
After installing android applications (tools, utilities, games) on my Samsung Gaqlaxy Fit I realized that some apps are installed on phone and other on SDcard.
This automatic selection depends on what?
There is one more strange thing: some utilities like Rom Toolbox offer possibility to move apps from phone to SDcard, but when I tried to do so nothing has happened.
Those apps which previously were installed on the phone they remain there , means they were not moved to SDcard.
What is the advantage or disadvantage of installing apps on Sdcard instead of installing them on the phone?
Thanks a lot for your answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
installling is on sd card means to save more space for phone memory
and disadvantage is when u start phone it take time to read more
and when u connct via usb all the apps on sd card wont work so dont move root apps or launcher to sd card overall its safe nor problm u can use more app
You cannot move root apps (Superuser, etc.) to SD.
Advantage of moving apps to SD is to save more space on your Phone memory.
Disadvantage is widgets of the apps that you moved to SD will be unresponsive.
I understood everything you wrote, but still I have no idea why even some games that was installed on phone can't be moved to SDcard (to save phone memory).
It's more logical to me for some system applications, but games.....??????
Do you know the answer?
rajko108 said:
I understood everything you wrote, but still I have no idea why even some games that was installed on phone can't be moved to SDcard (to save phone memory).
It's more logical to me for some system applications, but games.....??????
Do you know the answer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try using Titanium Backup to move all your games to SD card just long press the game/app that is using the phone memory and choose move to SD card.
You can find the Titanium Backup on the Android Market and it's Free!
raizen101 said:
Try using Titanium Backup to move all your games to SD card just long press the game/app that is using the phone memory and choose move to SD card.
You can find the Titanium Backup on the Android Market and it's Free!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ya i used titanium backup to move game to SD, its weird, but some games (like x construction) were installed on my phone memory ...
Some cannot be moved i think
Sent from my GT-S5670 using xda premium

Low Space Problem Fix

Without root and without an unlock bootloader...my phone reads S=On and is supposedly network unlocked A108B Black model (just purchased on Ebay)...is there anyway to completely move apps to the SD? I hit "Move To SD" under manage applications and it sends some of the MB size to the SD, but part of it still remains on the internal space and I know this because the internal MB's keep getting lower and lower. It's gotten so low < 1MB that now I can't even download any more apps that can or will run on the SD because it says there's insufficient space...that and the HTC clean cache window keeps popping up...any way to prevent this from happening? AND to completely move/install apps that are SD moveable to the SD card and get them off the internal space? Or an app that will default from using internal space and move all installs and data directly onto the SD? I have 1.3 GB open on there..it's been a pain trying to get this thing to run right...any suggestions besides the "factory data reset" (which I've tried) that helps with this? Do I just need to root/unlock booter? or will that mess up my unlocked phone?
Anyway that I can install apps onto the SD from my computer and then put the SD card into my phone and it'll read them from there?
Also...all these bloatware apps that are installed..without root...is there anything I can download that will wipe them off the phone...or is there anyway I can get into a file manager and delete unnecessary files/apps off?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
This is where I purchased: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-H...76527?pt=AU_Mobile_Phones&hash=item27cc9eb0af
You should look under HTC Android developers forum for detailed guides how to root your device and how to install custom (read: CWM) recovery.
After that you should make second primary ext2 partition on your SD card (size from 512MiB to 1GiB, it's up to you) and install Link2SD from Google Play Store.
With this apk you' ll never have problems with low internal storage because it creates links of apks to SD card (data, dalvik cache...).
Sent from my HTC ChaCha A810e using xda app-developers app
1. Just Link2sd apk if it's complicated...
2. ehh, and don't install Google Currents, 'til they Fix their app, to make the cache moves to the SD instead of internal cache.
thank you.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2013376

[Q] Working method for apps on SDcard?

I'm on the latest kitkat version rooted on my Shield Tablet and am trying to get a working app to move my apps to the sd card. I've tried link2sd (requires partitioning?), apps2sd, and sd fix. I can't seem to get the apps to fully move to the sd card, just the app data...
Is there a way to move the entire app to the sd card? I tried lollipop and hated it, so downgraded back to kitkat.
DFA1 said:
I'm on the latest kitkat version rooted on my Shield Tablet and am trying to get a working app to move my apps to the sd card. I've tried link2sd (requires partitioning?), apps2sd, and sd fix. I can't seem to get the apps to fully move to the sd card, just the app data...
Is there a way to move the entire app to the sd card? I tried lollipop and hated it, so downgraded back to kitkat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FolderMount. I use it for games. You can move the Data and the obb files to the SD. You can also make backups in case you factory reset or move to another ROM.
BlackDave said:
FolderMount. I use it for games. You can move the Data and the obb files to the SD. You can also make backups in case you factory reset or move to another ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second FolderMount, with the caveat that it takes a small amount of work per app... And that lollipop doesn't recognize that the space is now free. My NST now thinks that I'm using 50gb out of my 26gb I should have. Lol.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using Tapatalk
Okay, I'll give it a try. If I upgraded to lollipop would the new os put the apps on the SD card or would I still need FolderMount?

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