CyanogenMod 7 sdcard Switcharoo tweak/mod/fix!
When i first got CM7 on my Infuse I immediately came across an annoying problem (at least for me). Like all AT&T customers, my phone came with an external SD card with 2gb of storage and the phone itself has 16gb of internal storage. So i noticed that by default, my 2gb external sdcard was the mnt/sdcard directory that all my apps use and mnt\emmc was my internal 16gb. For me that sucked because all my Titanium Backups were in my internal sdcard and I coudnt move it to my external because of memory insufficiency. So i decided i would mod the ROM to switch these sdcard directories and have 16gb instead of 2gb in my mnt\sdcard directory.
So, to make this simpler for me and you, suppose:
----------------------------
Internal sdcard (16gb) = A
External sdcard (2gb) = B
----------------------------
A is by default in mnt\emmc
B is by default in mnt\sdcard
----------------------------
The problem with the above statements is that 2gb is not enough to make it my default sdcard. Apps like Titanium Backup, Dropbox, Camera and tons of others (like games) always store things in mnt\sdcard and they can rarely be configured to store elsewhere (at least to my knowledge).
So to solve the problem i edited the mnt\system\etc\vold.fstab file. This file just contains some random gibberish about where the sdcards mount to. So i switched the mounting directories of the two sdcards A and B. So far all i had to do is copy over the apps stored in my external to the new external mount (mnt\emmc).
So in short the only thing this changes is: (the before and after pic)
Before:
mnt\emmc is internal 16gb
mnt\sdcard is external 2gb
After:
mnt\emmc is external 2gb
mnt\sdcard is internal 16gb
Now, if lets say you had your apps stored in A and used my tweak. You would have to copy your apps over to B because thats the new A. Confusing i know...im trying. lol
So here is the procedure:
0. Download the attachment below and unzip it in your phone somewhere
1. Make sure you have root explorer or similar app
2. Using your explorer app mount mnt\system\ R/W
3. Navigate to vold.fstab file in mnt\system\etc
4. Rename the file to vold.fstab.bak (to keep it backed up)
5. Now find the directory where you downloaded and put my new vold.fstab file
6. Copy my new vold.fstab file to mnt\system\etc and paste
7. Reboot phone.
If you encounter difficulties, then undo the process by first deleting my modded vold.fstab and then renaming your old vold.fstab.bak to vold.fstab and then rebooting.
Also, Keep in mind that this is for CM7 users. Don't use it if you don't know what CM7 is or don't use CM7 port. Cheers, hope this helps someone.
A much easier solution:
Go to Settings -> CyanogenMod settings -> Application
Uncheck "Use internal storage"
Reboot.
PVD04 said:
A much easier solution:
Go to Settings -> CyanogenMod settings -> Application
Uncheck "Use internal storage"
Reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, i understand what you are saying. But you, like others dont get what im after. i dont care where my apps go. i want my mnt\sdcard to be 16gb not 2gb. end of story.
Mohammad_Adib said:
No, i understand what you are saying. But you, like others dont get what im after. i dont care where my apps go. i want my mnt\sdcard to be 16gb not 2gb. end of story.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand exactly what you are after. Unchecking "Use internal storage" mounts the internal storage as mnt\sdcard. There is no reason to do it any other way.
My /mnt/sdcard is the internal memory and my 4GB microsd is my external storage been like that from stock and I have all of my important stuff on the external for obvious reasons. Don't know why you would need this am I missing something?
Infused with Android DNA
PVD04 said:
I understand exactly what you are after. Unchecking "Use internal storage" mounts the internal storage as mnt\sdcard. There is no reason to do it any other way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is exactly right - unchecking internal storage does exactly what your tweak does.
I have a 16 gig SD internal and external and I prefer using external which is default, when my phone had to be redone due to bad flash, I loss everything on my internal. Even if I checked something wrong it still feels safer using external last I checked 16gig cards are like 25 bux. I want 32gig next. Sounds to me like a poor attempt to get status here. Try on a group less educated then xda. I feel offended by this trick.
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda premium
This might be useless for CM7 users but what about MIUI users, don't CM7 and MIUI use the same kernel?
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda premium
i just got a 16gb external card to replace the OEM supplied 2gb sdcard.
Also Titanium allows you to change the backup folder location.
Cool. thanks for telling me. but that never worked for me. so this did and i dont care how u guys do it as long as the results are the same.
I thought that emmc was the external memory card? Because I have a 16 GB external and CM7 reads it as EMMC
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda premium
Cm7 switchs external and internal so it is like every phone since not all phones have 16gb internal. I don't really use internal.
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda premium
Related
Hey sorry if this is posted somewhere else but I dont know where to look and I looked on google for you guys who want to post that google thing.
Anyways, after installing roms from CM7 or even eagle, my internal sd card does not show up in file or root explorer. Its shown in the storage sections but not where i can access the information on there from the phone's file system.
When i restore back to stock (but rooted) rom its back to normal!
Its there, just hidden and named emmc. This is why root explorer is a must own app, it allows to see tons of hidden files you would otherwise not see. I'm sure there's other free apps that can do the same but root explorer has saved me from so many headaches it was an instant buy in market.
The 1 major gripe I ever had with this phone was the way they partitioned the internal storage, whoever decided that was a complete moron!
Edit:
Look under mnt/emmc with root explorer
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Thanks but how do I use it for normal everyday stuff? I guess i cant with CM7?
Sure you can, just move stuff from sdcard to mnt/emmc with root explorer. I know its a pain and one of the reasons I started a request thread to see if there was a way to bind/combine both partitions into 1 so we'd all have more internal space for installing apps/games.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Hey thanks for the insight, I will just keep my reg ota with root until a much better version comes out.
jetbruceli said:
Hey thanks for the insight, I will just keep my reg ota with root until a much better version comes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you use an external sdcard with your g2x, or do you use only the internal? There is a potentially easy solution if you want to use CM7 and keep the internal card as your primary. I'll tell you how step by step, but depending on if you use an external card and what you use it for, more or less steps will be involved. So I'll wait for your answer so I can give you the right response.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
Well I have a 32 gb SD installed but like having the internal for apps and clockwork roms
sent from my anti IPhone device
jetbruceli said:
Well I have a 32 gb SD installed but like having the internal for apps and clockwork roms
sent from my anti IPhone device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally prefer to keep my backups and personal data on an external/removable sdcard. Its safer that way in case anything happens to the phones internal memory, all my documents and backups are safe and I can put my sdcard into my computer or another phone to retrieve it. Also, I'd much rather have 32gb of storage for all that rather than the 5gb you'll have with the internal card.
That said, its personal preference and always good to have options. Here's how I have mine setup with CM7 (I'll explain how to achieve the setup you want in a moment):
- My external removable card is mounted at /mnt/sdcard. This is the default setup of CM7.
- My internal sdcard (emmc) is mounted at /mnt/sdcard/_OtherSD. CM7 default is to mount it at /mnt/emmc, which means if I have photos, music and movies stored there they wont show up in some of my apps. By having it mounted to a directory inside my /mnt/sdcard directory, any app that looks at my external sdcard will also see what's stored on the internal sdcard. This is similar to the stock setup, except that with stock the external card is mounted as /mnt/sdcard/_ExternalSD.
But if you want the internal to be your primary sdcard then here are a couple of fixes for you. The quickest fix is this:
- Go to Settings > Cyanogenmod settings > Application
- Select "Use internal storage"
- Reboot phone
- Now your internal card will be mounted at /mnt/sdcard and your external card at /mnt/emmc
- This makes your internal card your main sdcard but leaves you external card mostly unusable because of its mount point.
So if you are like me and you like for things to be labeled properly and usable then continue reading. This works with CM7 (it wont work with stock), and I also recommend having root explorer (from the Market). My instructions will be specific to root explorer, although you can use any root text editor you want. You will need to edit 2 files (/system/build.prop and /system/etc/vold.fstab):
- Using root explorer navigate to your /system directory.
- At the top of the screen select "Mount R/W"
- Scroll down and find the /system/build.prop file. Long-press on it and select to open in text editor.
- Scroll about halfway down the file and find the section that says "
# Mount the internal SD card, too
- Where it says "ro.additionalmounts=" specify a directory by typing its full path. I use /mnt/sdcard/_OtherSD. This is the mount point you will use in the vold.fstab file (which you'll edit in a moment)
- The very next line says "ro.vold.switchablepair=" .. These are the mount points that get swapped when you enable that setting in CM7. Change the options to match the mount points you will want to use. So for me it says "/mnt/sdcard,/mnt/sdcard/_OtherSD" ... of course no quotation marks.
- Select Menu > Save & Exit. One nice feature of root explorer is that it automatically saves your original file as a backup in case there are any problems.
- Now navigate to /system/etc
- Make sure the directory is still mounted as R/W, scroll down and open the file /system/etc/vold.fstab. This file specifies where both the external and internal sdcards are actually mounted. Each drive/device has its own entry.
- Find the line that starts with dev_mount emmc /mnt/emmc" and change it to match the mount point you created in the build.prop file. So for me I change it to "dev_mount emmc /mnt/sdcard/_OtherSD"
- Select Menu > Save & Exit
- Reboot phone
Now when you use the CM7 settings option to use internal storage, it will swap them but still keep one mounted within the other so any music, pics, videos you have will be usable by all your apps.
****PLEASE NOTE**** -- These changes will be overwritten if you flash a new nightly.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
Thanks a million! I will try just having access is good.
I have root explorer and I use file expert.
You said ur on cm7? Or are u on a custom version like eagle? I keep flipping between reg stock, cm7, miui and eagle. Just can't tell which is the best for everyday use.
But really thanks for all the info!
sent from my anti IPhone device
jetbruceli said:
Thanks a million! I will try just having access is good.
I have root explorer and I use file expert.
You said ur on cm7? Or are u on a custom version like eagle? I keep flipping between reg stock, cm7, miui and eagle. Just can't tell which is the best for everyday use.
But really thanks for all the info!
sent from my anti IPhone device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just plain CM7. I think I'm using nightly 144. The method should be the same or similar on other cm7-based roms. It just won't work on stock-based roms because the changes to the files get overwritten when you reboot.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
d12unk13astard said:
Its there, just hidden and named emmc. This is why root explorer is a must own app, it allows to see tons of hidden files you would otherwise not see. I'm sure there's other free apps that can do the same but root explorer has saved me from so many headaches it was an instant buy in market.
The 1 major gripe I ever had with this phone was the way they partitioned the internal storage, whoever decided that was a complete moron!
Edit:
Look under mnt/emmc with root explorer
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been trying to edit the vold.stab etc on my phone forever trying to get that to work and I haven't gotten it figured out (still a Linux noob, probably always will be). I realize most people seem to prefer the already available options to remount it inside the external SD card or vice versa, but honestly I really just want it combined with the internal memory. Others say that is pointless because 1.5GB should be plenty of space, but honestly if I were to install all the apps on my Transformer onto my phone, my phone would almost immediately run out of internal space.
JaiaV said:
I've been trying to edit the vold.stab etc on my phone forever trying to get that to work and I haven't gotten it figured out (still a Linux noob, probably always will be). I realize most people seem to prefer the already available options to remount it inside the external SD card or vice versa, but honestly I really just want it combined with the internal memory. Others say that is pointless because 1.5GB should be plenty of space, but honestly if I were to install all the apps on my Transformer onto my phone, my phone would almost immediately run out of internal space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder what would happen if the phone was physically repartitioned ... I don't know enough of how Android works to know what effects that would have. Obviously the disk is just a disk and you can create whatever partition sizes you want. Is the OS designed to look for a certain number of partitions and partition sizes on each phone? Or will it just use what's there?
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
JaiaV said:
I've been trying to edit the vold.stab etc on my phone forever trying to get that to work and I haven't gotten it figured out (still a Linux noob, probably always will be). I realize most people seem to prefer the already available options to remount it inside the external SD card or vice versa, but honestly I really just want it combined with the internal memory. Others say that is pointless because 1.5GB should be plenty of space, but honestly if I were to install all the apps on my Transformer onto my phone, my phone would almost immediately run out of internal space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found an app that has made the 1.5gb internal storage manageable, look in the market for link2sd. Basicly it allows you to move any app/game to the extra partition on your sdcard(I made a 4gb partition) I'm amazed how stable it runs! After trying numerous apps2sd programs and them being unstable plus running out of internal space too quickly, link2sd is a godsend! It allows even dalvik cache moving to SD extra and batch selecting/deselecting for ultra quick installs. I can't reccommend this app enough for people having internal storage space problems.
As for the internal SD card being combined with the 1.5gb storage I put up a request thread on it hoping a Dev would know how to.. until that happens tho link2sd has made me proud.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1265540
Internal storage partition
Some of the asshats on that thread made me laugh with their ignorance.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
d12unk13astard said:
I found an app that has made the 1.5gb internal storage manageable, look in the market for link2sd. Basicly it allows you to move any app/game to the extra partition on your sdcard(I made a 4gb partition) I'm amazed how stable it runs! After trying numerous apps2sd programs and them being unstable plus running out of internal space too quickly, link2sd is a godsend! It allows even dalvik cache moving to SD extra and batch selecting/deselecting for ultra quick installs. I can't reccommend this app enough for people having internal storage space problems.
As for the internal SD card being combined with the 1.5gb storage I put up a request thread on it hoping a Dev would know how to.. until that happens tho link2sd has made me proud.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1265540
Internal storage partition
Some of the asshats on that thread made me laugh with their ignorance.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can move apps to external storage by default with CM7. This is not the solution I am looking for , but thank you for trying.
JaiaV said:
I can move apps to external storage by default with CM7. This is not the solution I am looking for , but thank you for trying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The difference between apps2sd which your using and link2sd which i'm using is that with apps2sd your internal memory will run out much faster then if using link2sd which can also move dalvikcache to sd ext. I've already moved 300 apps/games to sd ext with link2sd and still have over 1gb of internal storage, try doing that with apps2sd
Edit: forgot to mention link2sd is a free app in market.
Hi
I am coming from the Vibrant. There, I never used my own SD CARD. I always used the phone's storage. It was always fine.
But now I just flashed to CM and when I wanted to take a pic, it said "please insert SD card before ...."
huh? does the G2x doesn't have enough space - even for ONE picture?
I am sure I am missing something here
Thank you!!!
benyben123 said:
Hi
I am coming from the Vibrant. There, I never used my own SD CARD. I always used the phone's storage. It was always fine.
But now I just flashed to CM and when I wanted to take a pic, it said "please insert SD card before ...."
huh? does the G2x doesn't have enough space - even for ONE picture?
I am sure I am missing something here
Thank you!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Internal memory is 8gb but free space is roughly 5.2 gbs.
You need to have an external SD card with the way cm7 is formatted the internal SD card is mounted as mnt/emmc.
Not sure if you can change your download folder to mnt/emmc as I never have tried.
There is I believe if I recall correctly a flash that changes the internal memory card from emmc to reg browse the threads in dev you'll surely find it there
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
There's an option in cyanogenmod settings>application
That does that for you. Called use internal storage or something. Tap it and reboot.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
cyanogenmod settings -> application -> use internal storage
check this, reboot, and the internal storage should be mounted on /sdcard and /mnt/sdcard, while external sd card (if exists) will be mounted on /mnt/emmc
There is a 2GB for apps if I am not mistaken.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
roughly 1.5gb for apps, with link2sd that 1.5gb is very generous since only some cache files are stored on internal and everything else being linked to the ext partition on sdcard. I have over 450+ apps/games on my phone atm using link2sd and reccomend it to anyone else who also likes installing tons of apps.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Hi,
I have a g2x and i recently rooted it using superoneclick and i tried to back up using nvflash
however when i boot into recovery and try to install a zip or do anything with an sdcard, it says cant mount sdcard.
i ended up installing cyanogenmod 7 using rom manager.
but at the moment i cant do anything that involves using the sdcard because it cant mount.
any ideas on how to fix this?
thanks in advance
When you're in recovery, have you simply tried taking out the memory card then putting it back in?
Sometimes the simplest solutions work. It used to not mount my sd card too and just popping it out and back in made it read it.
buru898 said:
When you're in recovery, have you simply tried taking out the memory card then putting it back in?
Sometimes the simplest solutions work. It used to not mount my sd card too and just popping it out and back in made it read it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks ill try it and let you know but how come nothing ever gets loaded onto the phones internal sdcard I still have the 5 gigs that I initially had and nothing is ever loaded onto it including the apps I download, any way I can change this?
EgyptianBoi said:
Thanks ill try it and let you know but how come nothing ever gets loaded onto the phones internal sdcard I still have the 5 gigs that I initially had and nothing is ever loaded onto it including the apps I download, any way I can change this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the way they memory is partitioned. ~3 GB for the System and Apps, 5GB for other stuff. There's a workaround/fix for CM7 in the development forum (atleast I think there was) but I don't know if it works anymore.
Jufjufjuf said:
It's the way they memory is partitioned. ~3 GB for the System and Apps, 5GB for other stuff. There's a workaround/fix for CM7 in the development forum (atleast I think there was) but I don't know if it works anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right now if I go to storage in settings I have my SD card then I have internal storage with 1.48 gigs and then I have additional storage /mnt/emmc which has 5.21 gigs. At the moment apps installed from the android market go to the internal storage and apps online go to the SD card but I can move them to the internal memory. It seems that at the moment the one place with the most memory can't be used so I'm guessing thats the partition your talking about
o there's no way of changing this partition?
And can you give me the link to that? Thanks
Yaay got the SD card working in recovery it worked taking it out and putting it in again
EgyptianBoi said:
Right now if I go to storage in settings I have my SD card then I have internal storage with 1.48 gigs and then I have additional storage /mnt/emmc which has 5.21 gigs. At the moment apps installed from the android market go to the internal storage and apps online go to the SD card but I can move them to the internal memory. It seems that at the moment the one place with the most memory can't be used so I'm guessing thats the partition your talking about
o there's no way of changing this partition?
And can you give me the link to that? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right, I don't believe it can be used (natively for apps atleast, you can always move media and files there). Unless you mount that internal partition to be the external SD card and do a Move to SD on the apps (both are settings in Android/CM7 somewhere) there's not much else you can do. The problem is that some apps don't work on the SD, of course you could keep those on the system partition.
Sorry if my replies are starting to get confusing, it's late here.
I use link2sd which creates a mount point script that uses the extra partition on external sdcard. I used minitool partitioned to create a 10gb ext4 on my 32gb class 10( I'm an app junkie lol). Most if not all apps/games moved with link2sd work flawlessly, I'm happy with it
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Jufjufjuf said:
You're right, I don't believe it can be used (natively for apps atleast, you can always move media and files there). Unless you mount that internal partition to be the external SD card and do a Move to SD on the apps (both are settings in Android/CM7 somewhere) there's not much else you can do. The problem is that some apps don't work on the SD, of course you could keep those on the system partition.
Sorry if my replies are starting to get confusing, it's late here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks i think i managed to get it! i found the settings i think you're talking about in the cyanogenmod settings and managed to switch the sdcard and additional storage. now the 5 gigs appears as the sdcard and the actual external microsd appears as the additional storage
i guess thats the best im gonna get
thanks a lot!!
d12unk13astard said:
I use link2sd which creates a mount point script that uses the extra partition on external sdcard. I used minitool partitioned to create a 10gb ext4 on my 32gb class 10( I'm an app junkie lol). Most if not all apps/games moved with link2sd work flawlessly, I'm happy with it
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks ill try it and see how it workds
d12unk13astard said:
I use link2sd which creates a mount point script that uses the extra partition on external sdcard. I used minitool partitioned to create a 10gb ext4 on my 32gb class 10( I'm an app junkie lol). Most if not all apps/games moved with link2sd work flawlessly, I'm happy with it
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jufjufjuf said:
You're right, I don't believe it can be used (natively for apps atleast, you can always move media and files there). Unless you mount that internal partition to be the external SD card and do a Move to SD on the apps (both are settings in Android/CM7 somewhere) there's not much else you can do. The problem is that some apps don't work on the SD, of course you could keep those on the system partition.
Sorry if my replies are starting to get confusing, it's late here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ya i thought i had everything working but now for some reason, my phone says it cant mount the system. any ideas why?
Or more to the point, does anyone think they will fix the way the TF memory/partitions are based with the ICS "AiO" Android 4 revision?
While its not an operational annoyance for me (IE most everything works fine), I HATE the fact that the internal memory is mounted as the sdcard instead of as internal memory (like any other device I have used)
I hate that out of 16GB I only have 11.xGB to use (especially when my ROM size before install is only 180Mb extracted... Stock is like 400Mb+) and cant use something like Firerats (at least not that I have found with searching, and yes I know firerats is basically just a repartition tool for MTD not eMMC or anything else) to repartition it to reclaim the wasted space...
From what I understood (and i could be wrong here), its only setup with the Internal memory as an SD instead of... internal memory... is because of Honeycomb, and that the layout is similar to other devices in that its a single memory chip for the internal/system/sd like any other NON Honeycomb device only the internal memory is... well internal memory...
So my question is that can anyone in the know on this subject help me out here...
AFAIK we get one chip for storage. Most stuff expects /sdcard so it makes sense for HC/ICS to be putting our /data/media on /mnt/sdcard with the FUSE thing.
And I can't see any really good reason to change what the norm is on TF101.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
I think you'll find that on Froyo/Gingerbread phones with internal memory as well as an SD slot, internal memory has always been mounted as /sdcard/ or /mnt/sdcard/ - the external card is mounted as a subfolder under that. This is for the user's convenience. Can you imagine how it would work to mount the internal memory if there was no external card present otherwise?
I seriously doubt ICS itself will solve the niggling problem of external SD mounting on our TF101s, but Asus may well change the layout so it's under /sdcard/xxxx/ to help matters.
Spidey01 said:
AFAIK we get one chip for storage. Most stuff expects /sdcard so it makes sense for HC/ICS to be putting our /data/media on /mnt/sdcard with the FUSE thing.
And I can't see any really good reason to change what the norm is on TF101.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could understand ASUS placing the internal storage as /sdcard since most stuff does expect/save to /sdcard automatically. Being that the tablet has an advertised 16GB of memory, ASUS probably believed that your every day average Joe wouldn't go out and buy an sd card.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
unfnknblvbl said:
I think you'll find that on Froyo/Gingerbread phones with internal memory as well as an SD slot, internal memory has always been mounted as /sdcard/ or /mnt/sdcard/ - the external card is mounted as a subfolder under that. This is for the user's convenience. Can you imagine how it would work to mount the internal memory if there was no external card present otherwise?
I seriously doubt ICS itself will solve the niggling problem of external SD mounting on our TF101s, but Asus may well change the layout so it's under /sdcard/xxxx/ to help matters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I was a bit vague, I dont actually want it as extra storage or partition, I just want it all as /data instead of /sdcard... all the phone I have and have used (which I admit arent the latest, the newest I have used was an 8GB phone I cant remember the model of) so far didnt actually use /sdcard they just used /data... I have an SD card specificly for being an SD card... I hate having to either remap or manually use a file manager to get my TB files or anything else that uses the fake /sdcard instead of my actual SD card... id prefer all /data bleh...
Hammerfest said:
I guess I was a bit vague, I dont actually want it as extra storage or partition, I just want it all as /data instead of /sdcard... all the phone I have and have used (which I admit arent the latest, the newest I have used was an 8GB phone I cant remember the model of) so far didnt actually use /sdcard they just used /data... I have an SD card specificly for being an SD card... I hate having to either remap or manually use a file manager to get my TB files or anything else that uses the fake /sdcard instead of my actual SD card... id prefer all /data bleh...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it IS all on /data. /sdcard or /mnt/sdcard is a FUSE mounted filesystem from /data/media. All space accessible on /sdcard is also accessible on /data.
EDIT:
All my android phones do not do what you claim either, the internal mem is mounted as /mnt/emmc and /data is a 2GB partition on the emmc
lilstevie said:
it IS all on /data. /sdcard or /mnt/sdcard is a FUSE mounted filesystem from /data/media. All space accessible on /sdcard is also accessible on /data.
EDIT:
All my android phones do not do what you claim either, the internal mem is mounted as /mnt/emmc and /data is a 2GB partition on the emmc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok, lets put it this way, nothing is mounted under /sdcard when i look at my phones without my SD card in them... get me now? when I go to phone data I have 7~Gb free listed for apps and such, there is no SD card listed, I dont know how to put it any other way, there is NOTHING in the removable or sdcard directory (the removable doesnt even exist on my phones) until I put one of my MicroSD cards in...
ergo, data is a 2gb partition you say, cool! I want to eliminate the fake sdcard partition then and combine it all into /data! I want the programs that store data on to the /sdcard to ACTUALLY GO TO MY DAMN SDCARD...
what phone do you have that has 7GB of /data/ ?
Hammerfest said:
ok, lets put it this way, nothing is mounted under /sdcard when i look at my phones without my SD card in them... get me now? when I go to phone data I have 7~Gb free listed for apps and such, there is no SD card listed, I dont know how to put it any other way, there is NOTHING in the removable or sdcard directory (the removable doesnt even exist on my phones) until I put one of my MicroSD cards in...
ergo, data is a 2gb partition you say, cool! I want to eliminate the fake sdcard partition then and combine it all into /data! I want the programs that store data on to the /sdcard to ACTUALLY GO TO MY DAMN SDCARD...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I said my phones had a 2gb data partition. what I said about the transformer is:
lilstevie said:
it IS all on /data. /sdcard or /mnt/sdcard is a FUSE mounted filesystem from /data/media. All space accessible on /sdcard is also accessible on /data.
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Click to collapse
get it, /sdcard is DIRECTLY linked to /data/media, you lose no space what-so-ever to the /sdcard link.
further more show me a phone that has all the space in /data that is listed as having 16/32GB mem, it is pretty standard, my sgs was /mnt/sdcard, until I flashed CM7 when it was changed to /mnt/emmc, still not seen what you say where a device has all its space as /data
im not saying its not standard, im just saying (as is the original request on my post) that I dont want it mounted as SDCARD because I want my damn programs and sdcard data to do to... you guessed it, my ACTUAL SD CARD...
when I make backups with Titanium Backup, I want them to go to the MicoSD card I have inserted like they would with any other phone/device without having to **** with anything else, same with game/app extra data that uses SD card storage...
I played with an SGS2 today and while i didnt get to play with terminal, I ran TB and the backup went to the MicroSD card inserted and not the internal memory... unlike what the TF does...
infazzdar said:
I could understand ASUS placing the internal storage as /sdcard since most stuff does expect/save to /sdcard automatically. Being that the tablet has an advertised 16GB of memory, ASUS probably believed that your every day average Joe wouldn't go out and buy an sd card.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And that buy now after years of PC's with X GB hard drives that they would be used to losing some to the OS and recovery partiton. Especially since Windows and major Linux distro's have gotten excessively FAT.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
A lot of the newer tegra phones are set up this way.
Sent from my CushZero using Tapatalk
Hammerfest said:
im not saying its not standard, im just saying (as is the original request on my post) that I dont want it mounted as SDCARD because I want my damn programs and sdcard data to do to... you guessed it, my ACTUAL SD CARD...
when I make backups with Titanium Backup, I want them to go to the MicoSD card I have inserted like they would with any other phone/device without having to **** with anything else, same with game/app extra data that uses SD card storage...
I played with an SGS2 today and while i didnt get to play with terminal, I ran TB and the backup went to the MicroSD card inserted and not the internal memory... unlike what the TF does...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hate to break it to you but the SGS2 has a smaller /data partition, then the rest is mounted as /mnt/sdcard.
you do know that TiBU does allow you to select where you save your backup to right?
And for programs that don't (/mnt/sdcard/kindle for example), you can symlink the folder(s) they want to /Removable/MicroSD/(kindle) quite easily.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
I agree, its really annoying. A good example is dolphin browser. When I go to back up the settings and bookmarks "to SD" I have to hunt and peck in a file manager to find the stupid file and move it to my actual SD card. I am not at all a fan of the simulated SD card.
Superjoe said:
I agree, its really annoying. A good example is dolphin browser. When I go to back up the settings and bookmarks "to SD" I have to hunt and peck in a file manager to find the stupid file and move it to my actual SD card. I am not at all a fan of the simulated SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep, it annoys the everliving piss outta me, and while programs like TiB can "select" the location, and you can make "simlinks" for specific apps, I dont want to have to go through the hassle, I want to know that any program I use, when it requires the MicroSD, or normally saves to the MicroSD, to save to my &^*^&*%^%& MicroSD...
its as simple as that...
Guys, chill out, it's just a forum on the Internet.
Best alternative to dealing with the design: make a patch se or custom that screws with /init*.rc files accordingly. Main problem (give or take figuring out how to do it) would probably be how the system would react when no MicroSD card is mounted.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
lilstevie knows more about the partition structure of Android devices, and the Transformer in particular, than all of those in this thread put together. If you're not willing to take and/or accept that he has answered your questions multiple times and in multiple different ways, I can't help you and this thread is not going to go anywhere.
I am closing this thread.
So I got the Moto G 1gb, 8 gigs of internal storage version.
I love this phone so far and I've pretty much set it up how I'd like it, but the 8gb internal storage has turned into an issue.
I got Appmanager III, moved pretty much everything to my 32 gig external, but I still have only like 600 mb to spare on the internal, with well over half of the external left over.
Is there another app that will allow me to move all the app data left over in the internal over to the external?
If that's not enough, I'd also be interested in knowing if there's any way I can force the system to use the external as the main storage for all the OS functions. I already used adb to set all the default downloads to the external.
Finally, I'd like to know if custom ROMs like cyanogenmod would use up less storage than the stock OS, or at least let me use more of my internal by reducing the amount of bloatware (why can i NOT get rid of google movies or google+??? come ON)
I'm rooted and have installed twrp so both root and custom recovery solutions are welcome. Thanks for your time and help!
If it were me, I'd make a Nandroid with TWRP on the external as well as a backup with Titanium and then use Titanium to delete unwanted bloatware. Wouldn't that help?
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
bruce7373 said:
If it were me, I'd make a Nandroid with TWRP on the external as well as a backup with Titanium and then use Titanium to delete unwanted bloatware. Wouldn't that help?
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
System apps, ie those that come with the phone such as google movies, live in the system partition. If they are updated then the update lives in the internal storage. Uninstalling via titanium will of course free up both system and internal storage space.
However just disabling them will be sufficient, this will remove all updates from internal storage and just leave the apk in the system partition. Its the internal storage that you want to be less full as this is where user apps, pictures etc all reside (assuming you haven't yet moved them to an SD card).
Disabling is less drastic than uninstalling and is maybe the preferred option in case you otherwise uninstall something that breaks your phone.
I've tried that, but for whatever reason if I disable, say, google play movie or whatever, my phone eventually ends up redownloading them? It's really odd and honestly pretty annoying.
I'd still like to know if there's any way to keep all the main app data on the external or something though. Are Cyanogenmod ROMs installers smaller? I don't need THAT much more space to feel comfortable, having 1 gigabyte would be ok with me. I just don't like having like 600 MB free at most...
EDIT: If I can just move the app data for a few games and Google Chrome, that should fix it, too. Those seem to be the real space hogs, so if I can move those I should be able to handle everything else
EDIT EDIT: Would an app like Link2SD work for this phone or has no one tested that yet?
Hi Tazzypilar, Yes Link2Sd wil work wery well. All wat you have to do is to install MiniTool Partition Wizzard Professional on your PC, then put your micro SD card in the cardreader on your desktop or laptop to make two partitions on your SdMicro card (card must be class 10). Start program MiniTool Partition Wizzard Professional and look for your microSD card on the list with disks. Right click on your removable disk (micro sd card) and you can resize your first Fat32 partition and make it smaller for at least 2 GB. After that you will have 2 GB unused space behind this Fat32 partition. Now click with right mouse on this unused space and choose „Create“ new partition and make it ext4 file system partition. You will be prompt „Are you sure that you want to make ext4 partiton because Windows can't see it ?“ and answare „Yes“ . So, one partition will be Fat32 and you can make it as big as you like depending on the size of your MicroSd card and second should be at least 2GB (or greater - also may be smaller, it's up to you) ext4 partition and there you will move your apps from the internal phone memory.
That's all, after that you have to install Link2Sd from playstore and link apps you like to move to your SdCard. Succes ! If you have more questions jut ask !
Greetz !
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Where did my storage go?
Just asked my self a very similar questions
I attachment a screen shot
From the 8gb 3,5 go to Android system
So 4,5gb for internal I thought., but no.
I installed about 2gb of apps and 200mb cache.
Ah I forgot to mention that this is a fresh install after factory reset and still I am missing alot of storage see screen shot
Is this normal? I am on stock not rooted with some apps already moved to SD Any ideas?
Upgrade to android M, use external SD as internal card
Why not upgrade to android M and use phone's feature to use external card as internal card.
sandipkc7 said:
Why not upgrade to android M and use phone's feature to use external card as internal card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am glad you brought this up, guess what I am already on M and using the SD card feature, unfortunately I can only a small portion of the apps move to the SD card the rest stays internal
Look for posts on link2sd, it needs to be a fast card and then formatted using both std FAT and ext (linux) partitions. Then you can move almost everything.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
Though Im using LG H502F. Correct me if Im wrong but I think thats because the internal storage is emulated. Ive been using Link2SD and it works well. I can link app data and external data to the mounted partition. The only difference I noticed was... When opening the app it takes a couple of second or more compared to the unlinked apps... Anyways. Try to check if your storage is emulated. If it is, then that 3GB available space for a stock rom is as good as it gets. Mine have 8GB rom but the end user is only 3GB something.
Sent from my LG-H502 using XDA-Developers mobile app
merlin2380 said:
I am glad you brought this up, guess what I am already on M and using the SD card feature, unfortunately I can only a small portion of the apps move to the SD card the rest stays internal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In android M you can "transform" your sd card in internal memory (in Settings>Storage>SdCard>Definitions). If you have a fast 32 Gb card, you can format it to internal and it is as you have 32 Gb internal memory, but your sdcard must "live" with your phone (can't be used as sdcard in other device).
I think that is what @sandipkc7 means.
I did that not very usefull
merlin2380 said:
I did that not very usefull
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried internal storage option in marshmallow and at first i taught it was rubbish, but i kinda left sdcard alone and install another ROM.
So stuff on my internal storage was nowhere to be found. I installed latest recovery (TWRP) Flashed another rom and this is where things started to get interesting.
When i first converted sdcard to use as internal storage my phone was still eating up the internal memory 8GB on the phone.
Now however android system decided to do away with internal 8GB memory and use sdcard as a main storage. my photos are stored there and all data i noticed that almost everything is installed on sdcard now. so my storage is not vanishing away. I have about 1.7GB used on there.
There are some apps that can be moved manually to sdcard storage (converted to internal) - for example some of the system apps and most of google apps stay in phones memory not on sdcard and they can't be moved manually.
So my advise is covert your card to internal memory and then do factory reset or install another ROM.
Option 2 as mentioned above in posts is to use app called Link2SD - it is worth to opt for paid version which gives you more options of what to copy to 2nd partiton of your sdcard.
i have amazon fire 7 (£50 tablet) setup with option 2 - same storage 8GB. It works well. due to lack of marshmallow for this device i cannot use internal sd as an option. I have 2GB used there and rest sits on sdcard. i have installed few resource (storage) hugging apps - 1.2 GB, 2 GB each (gameloft games) - all moved to sd with link2sd app.
on my moto g 2015 i use android build in solution and it works well. You have to keep in mind that with this solution you can't simply copy files to your computer. Sdcard is encrypted at device level and it can only be access via your phone. However you can use any wifi file transfer app to copy some files over or via phones hotspot (i use droid over wifi or web pc suite to name few).
hope this helped a little
sandipkc7 said:
Why not upgrade to android M and use phone's feature to use external card as internal card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
honestly, its not worth it to use sdcard as internal, despite the micro sd card being fast, it made my phone ridiculously slow..............
marsrolled said:
honestly, its not worth it to use sdcard as internal, despite the micro sd card being fast, it made my phone ridiculously slow..............
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because of this slow down i did a reset to default settings. This did help and now the phone works much better, just make sure you always have 500MB empty on the internal storage, anything less and tbe phone performance goes down imediatly.
All the talking about this no so vreat sdcardinteral storage feature was too much for my 32 GB samsung evo micro sd card, it died less than 6 months of service. This was already the 2nd from the evo series that hung up on me and let me to dataloss thanks to google drive all was backedup
I will now root the phone and get a custom rom, probaply cm offical
Did you ever find out how to recover that lost 2GB? I have the exact same problem and managed to maybe find the 2GB in the /data folder; however it is sys locked and I'm not ready to root a brand new phone yet.
I have 8 apps installed (not counting google/motorola pre-installed) on my Moto G3 and showing 3.72GB used of 4.53GB available internal. It then shows 1.36 GB used by apps, 1.71 MB by cache. Other 2GB is a mystery?Device storage shows only 16GB used of 37GB availabe due to SD card.