I have two Android devices that I've looked at closely for this: my Acer Iconia A500 tablet, running Honeycomb, and my new Samsung Galaxy SII Skyrocket phone running Gingerbread. Each has built in memory, can take a micro SD card, and can access external memory through the USB port (using an adapter cable for the OTG port on the Skyrocket). But they handle/map the memory very differently.
On the tablet, I have 32 GB of internal memory. The entire 32 GB space shows up under Internal Storage. That memory is dynamically split between main memory (used for Apps) and "sdcard" for media/data. If I use a "run from SD card" application, it doesn't save me any memory space as it would try to move the App to the SDcard segment of the main memory, reducing the size of the remaining memory (no net gain or loss). If I insert a micro SD card, it shows up as external_SD, and if I plug in a thumb drive, it shows up as "usb_storage." If I use Astro File Manager (a great App), all the media storage shows up under /mnt, where I'll find:
- /mnt/external_SD for the inserted micro SD card,
- /mnt/sdcard for the internal media space,
and
- /mnt/usb_storage for the thumb drive.
On the phone, I have 16 GB of internal memory. The memory appears to have a hard split, with about 2 GB for Internal Storage and 11.25 GB for media/data labeled "USB storage". Note that this "USB Storage" is actually internal memory. The Settings tool also shows the micro SD card as "SD card", but doesn't show anything when I connect a thumb drive. If I use Astro File Manager with a thumb drive connected I find:
- /mnt/Sdcard for the internal media space,
- /mnt/Sdcard/external_sd for the inserted micro SD card,
- /mnt/sdcard/usbstorage for internal media space
and
- /mnt/sdcard/usbstorage/SDA for the thumb drive
All this is fairly confusing. I'd love to know how much is unique to these two devices and how much is because of the operating system (Android 2.3.5 on the phone, Android 3.2 on the tablet). If any of you have other tablets and phones, I'd love to know if your memory set ups match mine.
Related
With the Evo, connected to my PC, selecting "Mount as disk drive," only the Micro SD card appears in Windows Explorer as a directory. I want and expect to see another directory for Internal Storage.
Had had the Incredible, where _both_ the SD card and Internal Storage appeared as two separate directories. I could see what was stored on ea.
I am under 300MB of memory of avail. space on the Internal - lots of posts about running out of app room in various forums - so curious what media and other data is there, what might be movable to SD card.
Got some further questions about how to copy data from an 8MB card to a 32MB card (just drag to PC and back?) as I just ordered one, and about how to tell certain apps where I want media recorded to (may simply not be an option w Camcorder and others), but mainly just want to understand how to view Internal storage from a directory on my PC when unit is docked. Thx!
If the Transformer has a micro-SD card installed, can you access it directly when the device is hooked up to a computer using the USB cable, and read from it and write to it? I don't have a Transformer yet---like so many, I'm anxiously awaiting the U.S. release---but this is something I was wondering.
I used to have a ViewSonic gTablet, which I sold on Craig's List as soon as I found out about the Transformer, and there you couldn't. The internal memory was /sdcard while the micro SD card was /sdcard2, and you could only see /sdcard with the device hooked up to your computer. If I'm not mistaken, the external micro-SD card in the Transformer shows up as a directory in /sdcard, so that suggests that you read from, and write to, it directly through a USB connection. I wonder what happens when you also have an SD card and USB drivehooked up in the keyboard dock. Will they all show up as directories in /sdcard?
Thanks!
Ron
No, it doesnt show up the same way as in other versions of android. It appears to be a workaround Asus have implemented until the official update is released. It shows up as 'Removable' media, not under 'sdcard' so it doesnt show up when plugged into a pc. Only the main device memory shows up as a mass storage device.
Thanks for your response. It's not a big deal, but I was just wondering about this.
If only Asus would release the Transformer in the U.S...
Ron
stuntdouble said:
No, it doesnt show up the same way as in other versions of android. It appears to be a workaround Asus have implemented until the official update is released. It shows up as 'Removable' media, not under 'sdcard' so it doesnt show up when plugged into a pc. Only the main device memory shows up as a mass storage device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm afraid I have to contradict you, on my Win7 PC and Mac the SD Card does show up when plugged into the PC but it appears as MicroSD subdirectory under the root Transformer directory, not as a seperate drive.
This does have the side effect that you can't see how much space is available on the card, the free space measurement only shows what's available in the main memory but it does at least mean you can access the card.
Yeah thats what I meant to say. Sorry I wasnt very clear. My brain and my typing skills dont always sync up. It doesnt show up as a separate drive, it's added to the removable storage as you said. So it's still accessible. I was assuming you meant does it show up as it's own drive, as thats what i took 'directly accessible' to mean. Anyway sorry for the mix up.
To clear it up.
When plugged into PC.
13.18GB from eMMC = /
microSD = /MicroSD/
Android Filesystem (When not plugged into PC)
13.18GB from eMMC = /sdcard/
microSD = /Removable/microSD/
So, now I'm confused. On the Asus itself, can you see how much storage is available on the SD card separately and/or in total with the internal memory?
I.e., if I have a 32GB SD card inserted in a 16GB Transformer, do I see:
32GB SD Card - used space
Internal 16GB - used space
Total 48GB - used space
Or what?
wynand32 said:
So, now I'm confused. On the Asus itself, can you see how much storage is available on the SD card separately and/or in total with the internal memory?
I.e., if I have a 32GB SD card inserted in a 16GB Transformer, do I see:
32GB SD Card - used space
Internal 16GB - used space
Total 48GB - used space
Or what?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A picture is worth a thousand words.
stuntdouble said:
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it sure is.
How is the 16Gb of internal flash memory allocated for various purposes in these phones? It looks to me like about 12Gb is used for "USB storage", or in other words the file system that appears under the /sdcard directory (not counting any actual external card that may be present.
Is the other 4Gb then handled as directly-addressable memory for storage of apps and their internal data storage? I also assume that if you go into the Applications list and select "Move to SD Card" for an app, it actually just moves it from one part of the 16Gb internal memory to another -- is that correct?
As an Android developer, this caused a lot of confusion when the original Galaxy was released, as it essentially had what appeared as both an internal and optional external SD card. But at the Android API level, a call to getExternalStorageDirectory points you to the /sdcard directory, which is actually internal to the device!
Hej!
I switched to a larger SD card (32 GB > 128 GB) and cannot access the new card or even the formerly used one in most applications. No changes in storage config or any system updates were done.
The new SD card is mounted and recognised in system settings and in the file manager. It is also visible and usable in some photo / gallery apps (stock Sony, Google, and third party open source), e.g. smt gallery 6.8.2.
However, the SD card is not accessible in any other app with external storage access like google maps, translate, osmand, spotify or komoot or pretty much any other application (e.g. AndExplorer, DiskUsage, ...)
It seems to me some apps interpret /storage/emulated/0 as a link back to the built-in 32G memory instead of the external 128G SD card.
I tried so far without any changes in symptoms or results:
formatting the card in the phone, using the built-in wizard when inserting a new blank card
rebooting the device (in the last few days more than in the last few years...)
changing the file system on the new and old card from exFAT to FAT32 and vice versa
checking/toggling app-storage permissions
manually pointing some of the apps (where possible) to /storage/emulated/0 or the older/deprecated /storage/nnnn-nnnn/ paths
All cards are working, tested in card reader on Linux and Windows, also the SD card is visible (r/w) if I connect the phone via USB to a PC.
Specs:
* Sony Xperia Compact (F5321), Android 8.0.0, not rooted
* MicroSDXC 128GB, Transcend 300S
* several different Kingston SDXC 32GB cards
How can I get my phone back to using a SD card like before?
Hi, I have an old Redmi6A phone (Lineage OS 17.1) that only has 8GB of internal memory. This is very little if you use Whatsapp. Of course I added a 32Gb SD card, but with whatsapp I have trouble saving my photos on the card. What are the possible workarounds?
1- Is there a difference depending on whether you set the SD card as portable storage or internal storage?
2 - My phone is rooted. I've looked for practical solutions including magisk, but no module matches.
3 - Beyond whatsapp, what should I do: is there an app that allows other apps to be installed on the external media? Is this a good idea? Is it better to limit the storage of data on the SD card to avoid the crash of these "deported" apps?
Just an advice or two would make me happy...
If Android device allows to make external SD-card part of internal storage memory ( keyword: Adoptable Storage ) then you are good. Check it.
I believe that my android device allows me to do this. The French translation does not use the words adoptable storage "stockage adoptable" but the 1st drawing seems to match.
What I have read on the subject indicates that the reading and access time to the data on the external card is much longer than on the internal memory. How does android arbitrate what it stores on the internal or external memory? Can the user control this?
I assume and hope that the most crucial apps are on the internal memory
It's on you how much of the SD-card's storage memory ( in % ) you'll add to internal memory: 1,2,...,100.
Yes, reading / writing to device's "portable memory" basically takes longer. So with regards to file transfer speeds, choosing the right memory card is crucial. Look here:
The best SD cards for 2023: top memory cards for your camera
We've tested and ranked all of the best SD cards you can buy
www.techradar.com
Android by default uses device's internal memory. The least app's allow to store their data on external SD-card: this is set by app's developer.
I tested the 2 options; first the adoptable storage but for some reason it didn't work; I mean the operation was correctly done but the 32Gb was not added to my internal memory; just a few hundred Mb more. I repeated the operation 3 times to rule out the possibility of an isolated incident.
So I was forced to reformat the SD card as external memory. Everything went well. But now I'm back to the original situation.
My search led me to 2 apps (Link2SD and App2SD) to override the restriction to move to the SD card. Those apps don't seem to be really used anymore: their peak corresponds to the 2015-2016 versions of Android (Marschmallow and Nougat) and are quite complex to handle since you have to format the external SD card in several partitions to be able to consider moving anything.
What do you think about this type of solution?
As @xXx yYy already said:
The least app's allow to store their data on external SD-card: this is set by app's developer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thus forget the named 3rd-party-tools that claim they can.
BTW: look inside here
Whatsapp folder in Android: Here's where to find it
WhatsApp folder with all media files in Android can be found on new location if you are on Android 11. Learn here where to find it.
mobileinternist.com
Napafroi said:
I tested the 2 options; first the adoptable storage but for some reason it didn't work; I mean the operation was correctly done but the 32Gb was not added to my internal memory; just a few hundred Mb more. I repeated the operation 3 times to rule out the possibility of an isolated incident.
So I was forced to reformat the SD card as external memory. Everything went well. But now I'm back to the original situation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After an external memory got converted to portable memory it's Android what automatically moves data from internal memory to portable memory as long as they moveable to gain internal memory space. Thus the few 100MB you reported.
You always can configure the amount of portable memory indeed to be used by Android's Storage Manager ( SM ) using ADB.
Well, I think I'm getting used to this adoptable storage which is really confusing since the size doesn't take into account the extra 32Gb (in the storage manager and also in solid explorer).
I don't know if it's a bug but sd maid and its memory analysis function allows me to check that telegram, osmand (including downloadable maps) and vivaldi browser will install directly on the adaptable storage. That's all I ask.
It's still surprising not to be able to view the content of the SD card; maybe it's a bug like others have experienced like on this thread
I wanted to experiment a nandroid backup on MicroSD adopted-storage with TWRP which was refused.
xXx yYy said:
You always can configure the amount of portable memory indeed to be used by Android's Storage Manager ( SM ) using ADB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I understand better the interest to calibrate the portion of adoptable storage...
Screenshot no. 5 shows 2.7 GB of the portable memory ( real capacity 31 GB ) are used.
To get the whole portable memory as internal memory used using ADB try this
Code:
adb shell
sm list-disks -> This cmd returns id of SD-card e.g. 179:160
sm partition disk:179:160 private -> Here you use the id of SD-card
where the numbers are the Android's name of your disk.
I just did this.
Reboot but it didn't change anything. Maybe the card is defective...
EDIT : oh wait, yesterday I inserted this same micro SDcard in an old samsung galaxy tab4 with the "same" custom rom (LineageOS 17.10) as adoptable storage. The 32Gb capacity was not added to internal memory as well. Maybe this rom is buggy for managing adoptable storage.
Sorry for my english
The ( meanwhile outdated ) Lineage OS 17.1 - a Lineage OS 17.10 probably doesn't exist - is based on Android 10 and can "Adoptable Storage" as you initially confirmed.
IMO you are probably doing things wrong
"migrate data" is the 2nd necessary step after 1st step "adoptable-storage" is created. It will ( try to ) move all apps from phone into SD-card ( if app is moveable ), means all new installed apps will directly get installed into SD-card as long as android:installLocation="auto" is defined in app's AndroidManifest.xml.
When 100% disk space got adopted you can't see your SD-card any longer, the only way to check disk usage is from Android's cmd line running df -h /mnt/expand/* ( if Android is rooted consider 3rd party apps like Link2SD instead ).