Database Info

[Q] Install Apps on MicroSD/SD

Has there been any announcement on the ability to install apps on the external media on the TF? It seems strange that this is possible for Android 2.2, but not 3.0.

I think this is mostly due to the fluid state of the partitions of the operating system in 3.0 On 2.x the /system and /data are set sizes so to free up some some space for more apps. On 3.x if more space is needed, it alloactes more space so app2sd is not needed

I guess in honeycomb you don't really need app2sd any more... you already have the whole 16gb available for apps

worthless microsd
i bought the 16gb version and a 32gb microsd card thinking it would be a cheaper way to have more storage. Instead it seems the external storage doesn't serve much of a purpose leaving me a little disappointed. I assumed Android was already supporting multiple storage locations but I guess that was removed in 3.0. Ideally I would love to be able to use Gallery to sync my picasa albums but if I did that I would end up with no free space on the main drive.

Gallery and most apps that came installed on the transformer have no problem scanning the microsd. Also more and more apps are letting you manually choose where you can have the information located (moboplayer, titanium backup). I hooked up a 1tb external drive with 600 Gb of music and movies and had no problem playing any of them. But boy did that suck the battery down quick.
I guess it depends on what your trying to do, if nothing else send an email to the developer and ask them if they could add support for additional locations

I know some custom ROMs for other tablets have offered optional methods for changing the mount points of internal and external storage. For example, setting the external card to mount at /sdcard and leaving internal storage for /Removable/microSD. I asked about this in dev forum last week but no takers.
sent from a device using an app

With 3.0 google finally got smart. Apps are installed to your internal memory the same as everything else. So you have 16/32GB for apps and everything else, and then you have your SD card in addition to that.
So having all that internal memory makes Apps2SD useless.
You'll see froyo apps2sd in ice cream sandwich most likely for older devices most likely, but in honeycomb it's gone.

Wait what? So does this mean you cannot install apps you download from the market on the microsd?

stcardinal said:
Wait what? So does this mean you cannot install apps you download from the market on the microsd?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No you cannot - though why would you need to? Unlike earlier versions of Android, you don't have a fixed partition size to install apps to, so A2SD is largely pointless (in my opinion anyway - your mileage may vary!).
Regards,
Dave

lordgodgeneral said:
Gallery and most apps that came installed on the transformer have no problem scanning the microsd. Also more and more apps are letting you manually choose where you can have the information located (moboplayer, titanium backup). I hooked up a 1tb external drive with 600 Gb of music and movies and had no problem playing any of them. But boy did that suck the battery down quick.
I guess it depends on what your trying to do, if nothing else send an email to the developer and ask them if they could add support for additional locations
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With Gallery my issue is that I have all my photos online with Picasa, so I take advantage of the 'Offline' option to auto download some of my photos. The problem is I have no control over where these offline folders are stored, and it would be impossible for me to have all my photos available offline on the internal storage.
I am surprised at the lack of control over where I can store stuff, but I guess its better than not even having the option for external storage like IOS devices. Currently though it appears that I purchased a MicroSD card for nothing as it doesn't fit my needs.

Worst case scenario: if you have root, you could replace the directory Gallery uses for the Offline photos with a symlink to a directory on the (micro)SD Card. You might need to put a ".nomedia" file in that directory (to keep the media scanner from indexing those files and thinking they should /also/ be in the gallery), but it'll work long as you leave the sdcard in whenever Gallery is open.

magicpork said:
I guess in honeycomb you don't really need app2sd any more... you already have the whole 16gb available for apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great! I always hated worrying about whether something was installed on the current SD card.

magicpork said:
I guess in honeycomb you don't really need app2sd any more... you already have the whole 16gb available for apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(I'm Not having a go at the above poster).
Thats all well and good but if you use Googlemaps (Navigation) with the offline maps ala Htc Desire and others You can quickly use several gig of space.
add to that Copilot maps 2.5Gb or Aura 2.2Gb and that 16Gb dosn't seem so big, lol..
I bought a 32Gb SD Card for the Dock and now know that its a waste of time as you have to manually open any music or films as they dont appear in the Gallery etc.
I also bought a 32Gb Micro SD Card for the tablet which is where I want to put Downloads and the Gallery Also the Navigation Maps. But the apps wont see the data so again why have them.
So all in all extra storage appears to be a waste of time.
Hopefully some of the Guru's here can sort this out as Its crazy to have all this available space and not be able to use it.

foxmeister said:
No you cannot - though why would you need to? Unlike earlier versions of Android, you don't have a fixed partition size to install apps to, so A2SD is largely pointless (in my opinion anyway - your mileage may vary!).
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
640kb should be enough for anybody.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk

AlexTheStampede said:
640kb should be enough for anybody.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was, at the time!
Regards,
Dave

jjal09 said:
With Gallery my issue is that I have all my photos online with Picasa, so I take advantage of the 'Offline' option to auto download some of my photos. The problem is I have no control over where these offline folders are stored, and it would be impossible for me to have all my photos available offline on the internal storage.
I am surprised at the lack of control over where I can store stuff, but I guess its better than not even having the option for external storage like IOS devices. Currently though it appears that I purchased a MicroSD card for nothing as it doesn't fit my needs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lordgodgeneral already answered this when you brought it up the first time, but it is simple to transfer any of your media files over to the SD card. Yes when you first download your pics they will be stored on internal memory, but you can manually move them over to the sd card and they will still be recognized by the transformer. I believe the stock file manager will work for this, but I personally use root explorer.

jjal09 said:
With Gallery my issue is that I have all my photos online with Picasa, so I take advantage of the 'Offline' option to auto download some of my photos. The problem is I have no control over where these offline folders are stored, and it would be impossible for me to have all my photos available offline on the internal storage.
I am surprised at the lack of control over where I can store stuff, but I guess its better than not even having the option for external storage like IOS devices. Currently though it appears that I purchased a MicroSD card for nothing as it doesn't fit my needs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That has more to do with the app itself. If an app lets you set where it saves, it'll work.

It may be possible to have all the internal storage dedicated to apps (/data) and point /sdcard to the removable micro SD card with some fstab modifications. I'll try this tonight and see what happens.

HD GAMES????
ok guys i see last post was on june but do you realise that the new HD games coming out are about nearly 1 g of space some? there must be a freaking way to install apps or games on SD card omfg wy do i want extenral storage to keep mi fotos and music? this is bull**** guys pls lets get some way to have our games or programs that occupie more than 700mb out of internal memory there must be some way... pls scratch your brain ask friends ask parents ask teachers this is very serious....
Best regards... TF user... rooted ofcourse

jesseibiza said:
ok guys i see last post was on june but do you realise that the new HD games coming out are about nearly 1 g of space some? there must be a freaking way to install apps or games on SD card omfg wy do i want extenral storage to keep mi fotos and music? this is bull**** guys pls lets get some way to have our games or programs that occupie more than 700mb out of internal memory there must be some way... pls scratch your brain ask friends ask parents ask teachers this is very serious....
Best regards... TF user... rooted ofcourse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ithink its better to loose the games if somthing damages your internal storage. I have the 32 gb Transformer and thats more than enough for games. You can not play 30 games at the same time and if you bakup your game and gamedata you can uninstal a game and install it again if you whant to play it.
I dont understand why people always ask for intstall something on Micro SD card. Intrenal storage is much faster than a card.
Sent from my Revolver powered Asus Transformer TF101 with Tapatalk

Low memory

I keep getting a low memory message. I have most apps i installed on the sd card, which is 8gb. I can't save evernote or backups. There is little media save 50 pictures. Anyone tell me how to free up some of the internal memory, or the usb storage?
Sent from my SGH-T769 using xda premium

Do you have most of your apps installed on your sdcard or usbstorage? If your using the move to sd card method in manage applications, then it's going to store it in your usbstorage, not your external sd card. This happens with Apps2SD too.

How the hell can someone have their usb storage memory filled up with just apps?
Are you putting music or something in the usb storage, and not on your memory card?
I mean seriously, most apps are small. VERY small.

Cirkustanz said:
How the hell can someone have their usb storage memory filled up with just apps?
Are you putting music or something in the usb storage, and not on your memory card?
I mean seriously, most apps are small. VERY small.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's true, but most apps also have additional data that they store in /sdcard. And since the blaze has /sdcard as usbstorage, everything goes there so it fills up quick. I have a lot of apps too but the ones that store data in the usbstorage, I move to /sdcard/external_sd by using GL to SD. Although it only works for gameloft games and data stored in /sdcard/Android and /sdcard/data, those are the two folders that usually take up the most space.

Well, gaming on your phone is the culprit obviously.

I don't have many apps at all, no games.
Now i can't even move any apps to my sd card. It says my memory is too low. I can't attach pictures.or.even open my gallery without getting this.message.
I'm not following.the.usb storage thing. How's it work?
Sent from my SGH-T769 using xda premium

Your phone has something like 1 gig of storage that is supposed to effectively be ram where applications are stored, and another 1 gig of memory labelled as usb storage in the phone where data can be stored, or applications can be stored if it is set to "move to sd card".
Then of course, you have the actual SD card, of whatever size is in the phone.
Seriously, I can't say enough times, if your phone is low on memory, you are doing something weird.
For example, those gameloft games, are quite huge, and the additional data they require would go to usb storage. Two or three of them can fill up the phone's space without a problem. This would be true for any phone out there.
Another likely culprit is something simple...you might have been putting your music or video or other large amounts of stuff you want to have on the phone in one of the first two mentioned locations without realizing it. If you mount your phone to the computer, you've notice how two drives show up?
One drive is the "usb storage", and another would be the actual SD card you have in the phone. I don't know why it does this, but I suspect it's common as my sony e-reader does the same thing.
To put it simply, don't store things to the phone's "memory" that you don't need to, and you'll be fine.

usb storage
I took a look and sure enough, the usb storage contained things I thought were on the sd card. I don't have much media on this phone at all. Maybe 70 pictures, no music, a couple videos, and I have no gameloft games at all.
I noticed that some apps are also stored here. I moved the little media to the sd card, but can I also move the apps here?
And is there anyway to change the settings so these files are directed here rather than the internal storage?

"A couple videos" was probably the culprit, as they tend to be big files of course.
About moving the apps to the sd card....allow me comment on that, and then rant a little bit.
Many apps can be moved to the sd card. If it's enabled by the app, you can just go to settings, applications, manage applications or whatever, and select the application you want, and in the same screen where you can uninstall an app, some apps let you move them to the sd card. Not every allows this, and in general, if you have an app with a widget on the sd card, it either won't work, or something weird happens. (Android designed limitation with widgets)
Now, to my rant.
My first android phone was a nexus 1. Great phone, but compared to a lot of phones it has a small amount of program memory. So if people were prone to having lots of apps especially large ones such as google earth, java, or whatever, that space filled up quick.
I think it was around 2.2 when Android started opening up moving apps to the sd card.
To this DAY, you can go into the market comments and pretty much read moron after moron doing things like, "I rated this a 1, because I can't move it to the sd card! Gah, you suck, let me move this to the sd card!"
Some times they would have a point, but more often than not, they wouldn't.
For example, this app that was 25k in size, had 15 comments in a row about people whining to move it to the sd card. SERIOUSLY? 25k is NOTHING, even to a phone with limited memory such as a nexus one.
And then there would be people whining about apps on SD cards for apps that you SHOULD NOT put on an sd card. "What apps wouldn't you want to run on an sd card?", you might ask.
Any app that should be always running, or able to be run by some event changing, while your phone is plugged into the computer.
For example....let's say you have a call blocking app. There are a few, I use one myself. If you move it to the sd card, that app can not function if the sd card is mounted to the computer. Phones mount memory cards just like computers do, and if it's unplugged......it doesn't work! So if you have the card mounted in the computer and your phone rings....guess what, your call blocking app doesn't work, and that annoying jerk is making your phone ring again.
Somewhere, a kitten dies.
I used the call blocking app as an example as something that even though it's not doing anything most of the time, but that when another event happens (your phone ringing), it can't do it's function.
I used to know why widgets on the sd card didn't work, but I suspect it has something to do with just they can't work reliably on the sd card. For example, my preferred music player poweramp, can be moved to the sd card, and of course it has widgets. So.....the dev made an add-on you can download where the widget stays on the phone, the app goes to the sd card.
Personally, I just keep poweramp on the phone memory. Since it's one of my 5 most commonly used apps, it only makes sense, right?
I can't remember if flash for browsers is able to be moved to the sd card yet, but what I do know is people whined and whined and whined about it, not realizing that.........the browser wouldn't work very well if flash was installed to the sd card.
Titaniumbackup and probably other similar apps can force apps to the sd card that are not normally allowed, but they will of course caution you about doing it. Some of that caution verbiage is there for reasons which are in this post, and I'm sure there's other concerns as well.
Moving along to your last question...... that depends.
Some apps can be configured to have a preferred directory location for storage, but realize that there are still phones out there that either don't have memory card slots, or don't have "usb storage". As a result, sometimes it works easily, sometimes it doesn't, but most file explorer apps make moving stuff around pretty easy.
Personally, I'm not really sure what the point of having both is, but it seems to be common. All I know is that having a memory card slot is a good thing. There are a few reasons why I wish I would have just bought a google nexus, but...... odds are the 64gig microsdxc cards work in this phone, and well, I plan to buy one.
Sorry nexus, you're hot.....but having 4 times the music or video on hand, is something I think I would enjoy more.

I'm having the same issues with the Samsung Blaze ~ when I go to Settings, Storage, USB Storage it shows total space 1.40 GB and available 127 MB. When I go to files, usbstorage, there is NOTHING in it and it shows "no files". I have 4 applications I've downloaded, no more. ALL of my pictures and music are on the external card. When I go to active applications, then Storage, it shows System storage 119MB of 1.12GB, USB storage 1.28GB used of 1.40GB, and SD card 4.33GB used of 7.39GB. I don't have games on it at all.
I'm not an Einstein, but I'm getting really tired of everyone telling me I'm obviously not smart enough to have a smart phone. I'm no dummy when it comes to tech.
Cirkustanz said:
"A couple videos" was probably the culprit, as they tend to be big files of course.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

similar problem - Rhapsody was the culprit
I had a similar problem -- I couldn't see any files in the USB Storage folder in Files, but it was full. In my case, Rhapsody was causing the issue -- by default it downloads music to /mnt/sdcard (or something like that, I changed it and can't remember the address exactly. But from what Cirkustanz said above, the Blaze interprets that address as "USB Storage" (confusing name, that) which is really internal storage. In the advanced settings for Rhapsody I changed it to /sdcard/external_sd and all of a sudden had 700MB free in USB Storage. Lost all of my Rhapsody downloads, however, and will have to add them back.
smiyem said:
I'm having the same issues with the Samsung Blaze ~ when I go to Settings, Storage, USB Storage it shows total space 1.40 GB and available 127 MB. When I go to files, usbstorage, there is NOTHING in it and it shows "no files". I have 4 applications I've downloaded, no more. ALL of my pictures and music are on the external card. When I go to active applications, then Storage, it shows System storage 119MB of 1.12GB, USB storage 1.28GB used of 1.40GB, and SD card 4.33GB used of 7.39GB. I don't have games on it at all.
I'm not an Einstein, but I'm getting really tired of everyone telling me I'm obviously not smart enough to have a smart phone. I'm no dummy when it comes to tech.
Cirkustanz said:
"A couple videos" was probably the culprit, as they tend to be big files of course.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

focused67 said:
I had a similar problem -- I couldn't see any files in the USB Storage folder in Files, but it was full. In my case, Rhapsody was causing the issue -- by default it downloads music to /mnt/sdcard (or something like that, I changed it and can't remember the address exactly. But from what Cirkustanz said above, the Blaze interprets that address as "USB Storage" (confusing name, that) which is really internal storage. In the advanced settings for Rhapsody I changed it to /sdcard/external_sd and all of a sudden had 700MB free in USB Storage. Lost all of my Rhapsody downloads, however, and will have to add them back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
smiyem said:
I'm having the same issues with the Samsung Blaze ~ when I go to Settings, Storage, USB Storage it shows total space 1.40 GB and available 127 MB. When I go to files, usbstorage, there is NOTHING in it and it shows "no files". I have 4 applications I've downloaded, no more. ALL of my pictures and music are on the external card. When I go to active applications, then Storage, it shows System storage 119MB of 1.12GB, USB storage 1.28GB used of 1.40GB, and SD card 4.33GB used of 7.39GB. I don't have games on it at all.
I'm not an Einstein, but I'm getting really tired of everyone telling me I'm obviously not smart enough to have a smart phone. I'm no dummy when it comes to tech.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its ur internal sd thats the problem u have to clean files out once in a while if u dont it will **** stuff up get astro or any file manager and go folder by folder and delete stuff and ur usb storage doesnt get used its just system internal and external thats all ur partitions in system settings it reads the part ur apps get put in when u put apps on sd as usb thats it but u cant look at them but just clean ur internal sd out clear caches and check lost.dir once in awhile too delete whatevers in there and u should be ok dont forget any videos u shoot in hd will be huge too those r in dcim... Thats why i switch my mounts and i keep my sdcards clean so i can have like 5 6 huge games and still have space but to each his own good luck tho
!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!PLEASE click THANKS if I helped!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!

My wife was complain8ng of this recently. I went through and saved all her pictures to her laptop. Cleared caches and moved apps to sd when I could but that did not help. Then I checked her download folder and found it full of videos from perez hilton .com. lol
This made the phone show that it was almost empty.
My question is why does usb storage show 1.40gb of total space with 9gb of space filled with misc.? Why does the blaze seem to handle its memory so much different than the other galaxy s phones?
Does rooting fix this strange memory setup?
Thanks guys.
(Update)
Took one photo to make sure they were being saved to the external sdcard (16gb) and now the phone says that storage is full again. When I check in settings it shows 1.20gb of pictures when there is only one photo (not sure how big but i know it is not 1gb) and it is not even stored on the phones memory? Instagram will also moy work because it says there is no storage to even take a photo.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

in one phrase VOLDSTAB / JB SWAP
if your runnings stock ICS and or ICS ROM search for VOLDSWAP.zip and or if your running JB ROMS or you have a phone that runs JB truly with out having to rom if you on ICS flash through CWM if you don't know what that is dont waste your time if you do by all means you know what must be DONE!!! lol if you dont then google the phrase CLOCKWORK MOD RECOVERY ( then your phone type ie Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4g ) if your using JB and ROOTED ( YES BOTH OF THESE TAKE ROOT in order to be accomplushed ) if your on JB go into /system/etc/vold.fstab open with either Script Manager and or prefered editor of text choice and take the ( 0 ) on internal SD line ( ie dev mount blah blah sdcard0 change that to a
( 1 ) and then on external SD ie blah blah sdcard1 change the ( 1 ) to a ( 0 ) and reboot on the ICS just flash the voldswap.zip on the xda forum ( you will find it in the general section of the samsung blaze under thread title Internal / External Memory and go to page 2 give thanks to the dev who did that then procedd to download and then flash through CWM no need to wipe format etc blah blah but i take no cred for mentioned / said items and i damn sure dont take liability for burnt phones busted screens and just plain stupidity and also google is your FRIEND in hence of rooting rom's etc etc have a wonderful day

soldier1184 said:
if your runnings stock ICS and or ICS ROM search for VOLDSWAP.zip and or if your running JB ROMS or you have a phone that runs JB truly with out having to rom if you on ICS flash through CWM if you don't know what that is dont waste your time if you do by all means you know what must be DONE!!! lol if you dont then google the phrase CLOCKWORK MOD RECOVERY ( then your phone type ie Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4g ) if your using JB and ROOTED ( YES BOTH OF THESE TAKE ROOT in order to be accomplushed ) if your on JB go into /system/etc/vold.fstab open with either Script Manager and or prefered editor of text choice and take the ( 0 ) on internal SD line ( ie dev mount blah blah sdcard0 change that to a
( 1 ) and then on external SD ie blah blah sdcard1 change the ( 1 ) to a ( 0 ) and reboot on the ICS just flash the voldswap.zip on the xda forum ( you will find it in the general section of the samsung blaze under thread title Internal / External Memory and go to page 2 give thanks to the dev who did that then procedd to download and then flash through CWM no need to wipe format etc blah blah but i take no cred for mentioned / said items and i damn sure dont take liability for burnt phones busted screens and just plain stupidity and also google is your FRIEND in hence of rooting rom's etc etc have a wonderful day
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For clarity's sake, what is this going to accomplish? I'm running cm10 and can usually manage to keep the blazes memory problems under control just by keeping everything in cloud storage, but if there's another option, I'd be interested in trying it out.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T769 using xda app-developers app

Wow, so after translating what you said back to english I need root for that option and what it does is swsp the external sd for the internal by flashing a zip or editing the fstab file.
I will have to convince my wife of that one. She does not let me root her devices. She needs them to work 100% of the time for work and she saw what I went through with the s2 trying to get JB to run early on.
I will do some more research on this.
Is this something that only happens to some blazes or do all of them have storage issues? My wife was hoping a factory wipe might fix it.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

limpysmalls said:
Wow, so after translating what you said back to english I need root for that option and what it does is swsp the external sd for the internal by flashing a zip or editing the fstab file.
I will have to convince my wife of that one. She does not let me root her devices. She needs them to work 100% of the time for work and she saw what I went through with the s2 trying to get JB to run early on.
I will do some more research on this.
Is this something that only happens to some blazes or do all of them have storage issues? My wife was hoping a factory wipe might fix it.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to answer your ? on what it does the blaze stock comes with 4 gigs of memory 2 gigs used by system leaving about 1.12 for device mem and 1.40 for internal mem with the vold.fstab swap ( voldswap.zip ) or the number swap of JB ( ie INT SDCARD 0 change to 1 and EXT SDCARD 1 change to 0 what that does is for example instead of 1.40 gigs of internal space in my personal blaze i have 32 GIGS of space instead of crappy 1.4 works the same on JB ROMS but also if you choose to add files either connect USB into USB CONNECTION or POWER DOWN phone to be on the safe side power down the phone pull the sdcard from the micro sd slot and put into adapter on your PC ( i do this cause i transfer large files and on JB the MTP is a peice of **** and the USB CONNECTION sucks to it stops all of a sudden out of no were ) ( on ICS stock/custom that's not an issue ) but that's what the swap does hope this helps for clarity and you can pick up a 32 GIG San Disk off EBAY fpr 16.98 plus S/H at like 3 bucks a pop and it works cause i have that same card off of ebay

soldier1184 said:
to answer your ? on what it does the blaze stock comes with 4 gigs of memory 2 gigs used by system leaving about 1.12 for device mem and 1.40 for internal mem with the vold.fstab swap ( voldswap.zip ) or the number swap of JB ( ie INT SDCARD 0 change to 1 and EXT SDCARD 1 change to 0 what that does is for example instead of 1.40 gigs of internal space in my personal blaze i have 32 GIGS of space instead of crappy 1.4 works the same on JB ROMS but also if you choose to add files either connect USB into USB CONNECTION or POWER DOWN phone to be on the safe side power down the phone pull the sdcard from the micro sd slot and put into adapter on your PC ( i do this cause i transfer large files and on JB the MTP is a peice of **** and the USB CONNECTION sucks to it stops all of a sudden out of no were ) ( on ICS stock/custom that's not an issue ) but that's what the swap does hope this helps for clarity and you can pick up a 32 GIG San Disk off EBAY fpr 16.98 plus S/H at like 3 bucks a pop and it works cause i have that same card off of ebay
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is awesome three hours of reading this that and the other thing all over the internet and it comes down to swapping two numbers in a file, sheash in an idiot.
The reason I wanted to do this is I have an app that downloads two to five GB of map files and the app just cried when I tried to install it on this phone.
Thank You.

Just an FYI, even though I am using a JBCamera app to store actual photos on my external 32gb uSD card, my internal 1.4gb SDcard was still getting full frequently. Discovered the Quickpic App, creates a large almost 1gb thumbnail file on the internal SDcard. There is an option to turn it off to make this go away in Quickpic.

Is it possible to move game data to micro SD card?

I do game a lot on my tablet, so I use a lot of space... Normally I would gone for the 32GB gray model, but I really like the look of the white model, which is only 16GB.
I do have a 64GB microSD card, so is there a way to move game data files there instead of the internal memory?
I'm not rooted, btw.

That will depend on the app.

Yes check the developer section

hairdewx said:
I do game a lot on my tablet, so I use a lot of space... Normally I would gone for the 32GB gray model, but I really like the look of the white model, which is only 16GB.
I do have a 64GB microSD card, so is there a way to move game data files there instead of the internal memory?
I'm not rooted, btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[TOOL] DirectoryBind - move data to external_sd (GameLoft, Shadowgun etc.) ROOT req
link http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1410262

@hairdewx so u tried it? is it work?

It works, but because of how the symbolic links work the free space calculations seem to be off on the main storage settings screen.

Confus-ed in another thread enlightened me in another thread, thanks goes to him. In the apps, go to my files and you can click, hold, and drag apps onto your external sd card. I wasnt able to move everything, although i didn't try that hard, but was able to move some wicked easy. I'm not rooted. Thanks again to confus-ed.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1853891&page=2

VTR1000SP said:
[TOOL] DirectoryBind - move data to external_sd (GameLoft, Shadowgun etc.) ROOT req
link http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1410262
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just tried it to lmove many shadow gun data to sdcard but our keep showed "data directory not empty"*What suddenly this mean?Thanks

Will App2SD work on an stock Galaxy Note 3

hi,
is it now possible to move apps from the internal storage to the SD-Card. Which of theese Apps will work, with an Note 3 (no root - just stock)?
With the Note 2 it wasn´t possible.

Note3 already have move to sd function on stock firmware right? Go to application manager and check it.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

No from all applications! Right?
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

This is stock lol
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

It actually installs half the apps to the external SD by default....
Annoyingly. I've yet to find a way to turn it off. I have 22GB free internally, and 18MB on my 64GB MicroSD. I do not want the apps on my Media card! How the bloody hell do I turn it off?!

ShadowLea said:
It actually installs half the apps to the external SD by default....
Annoyingly. I've yet to find a way to turn it off. I have 22GB free internally, and 18MB on my 64GB MicroSD. I do not want the apps on my Media card! How the bloody hell do I turn it off?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahaha I just don't understand how you manage to curse in a specific way in every thread but you always make me laugh. Anyway my N900 doesn't do that but just download "AppMgr (either normal or pro) III (App 2 SD)" and manage them to select the ones you don't want in your precious sd (A part of me dies everytime I end with the space of another sd so I understand)
Sent from my SM-N900 using xda app-developers app

*GalaxyDev* said:
Hahaha I just don't understand how you manage to curse in a specific way in every thread but you always make me laugh. Anyway my N900 doesn't do that but just download "AppMgr (either normal or pro) III (App 2 SD)" and manage them to select the ones you don't want in your precious sd (A part of me dies everytime I end with the space of another sd so I understand)
Sent from my SM-N900 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Practice, practice, practice...
Well, The phone does tell me what app is on my SD (under apps/sd it has a green checkmark) and I can move it through there, but thank you for the reminder, I somehow completely forgot you could also use App2SD the other way around... :laugh:
Send From My Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9005 Using Tapatalk

ShadowLea said:
Practice, practice, practice...
Well, The phone does tell me what app is on my SD (under apps/sd it has a green checkmark) and I can move it through there, but thank you for the reminder, I somehow completely forgot you could also use App2SD the other way around... :laugh:
Send From My Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9005 Using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
strangely it DOES NOT movie any SD data to extSD although press move to SD option. so my 64 gb external micro sd cannot be used for apps right? only the internal sd (32 gb) can be used to move the app data into not the micro sd??? I m on n9005 btw

onours said:
strangely it DOES NOT movie any SD data to extSD although press move to SD option. so my 64 gb external micro sd cannot be used for apps right? only the internal sd (32 gb) can be used to move the app data into not the micro sd??? I m on n9005 btw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It(Samsung's) will allow you to move any app that doesn't impact on the system... Games should be fine as well as as any app not related to the system....
For instance, I have my Note 3 rooted by de la Vega method with xposed framework installed. Can't move any of the framework modules onto external sd card but games like Plants vs Zombies 2 are no problem...

onours said:
strangely it DOES NOT movie any SD data to extSD although press move to SD option. so my 64 gb external micro sd cannot be used for apps right? only the internal sd (32 gb) can be used to move the app data into not the micro sd??? I m on n9005 btw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't move system-essential files. Wallpapers also tend to make a fuss if you move them. Games and such work fine. No, you can't move Twitter, Youtube and the likes, for some unfathomable reason it sees that as essential. I call it Bloatware, but alas.
Anything else you can move. They end up in the .android_secure folder on your SD. (you can see that one even without root. Just enable hidden files.) I accidentally deleted that folder a while ago. The apps remained installed, but they could no longer be found on the device for launching. (even using S Finder.)
Anyway I was working in the opposite direction. As I said, My ExtSD is full, but my internal memory still has 13GB free. (I've moved things.)
I prefer to keep internal for apps alone. Less clutter means less slowdowns. And that way if my phone dies for whatever reason and I need to factory reset or RMA, I can just pull the MicroSD and all my data will be fine. Which in turn means one less panicked member on XDA begging the others how to recover the data, and a lot less people needing to say 'you should've backed up!'.
I have always used the same principle on my pc and laptop. C:\ for programs alone, the other drives (or if I only have one, partition) for data. it'll always be safe if I need to wipe Windows. Always keep your data separate from the system!
32GB is more than enough for apps. I have 430 apps installed, amongst which several 1GB+ games, and still have 13GB free. The only thing I keep on my MicroSD in terms of apps are navigational data. (So I don't have to redownload all 5.8GB of that when my phone rolls over and dies, or I switch.)

ShadowLea said:
You can't move system-essential files. Wallpapers also tend to make a fuss if you move them. Games and such work fine. No, you can't move Twitter, Youtube and the likes, for some unfathomable reason it sees that as essential. I call it Bloatware, but alas.
Anything else you can move. They end up in the .android_secure folder on your SD. (you can see that one even without root. Just enable hidden files.) I accidentally deleted that folder a while ago. The apps remained installed, but they could no longer be found on the device for launching. (even using S Finder.)
Anyway I was working in the opposite direction. As I said, My ExtSD is full, but my internal memory still has 13GB free. (I've moved things.)
I prefer to keep internal for apps alone. Less clutter means less slowdowns. And that way if my phone dies for whatever reason and I need to factory reset or RMA, I can just pull the MicroSD and all my data will be fine. Which in turn means one less panicked member on XDA begging the others how to recover the data, and a lot less people needing to say 'you should've backed up!'.
I have always used the same principle on my pc and laptop. C:\ for programs alone, the other drives (or if I only have one, partition) for data. it'll always be safe if I need to wipe Windows. Always keep your data separate from the system!
32GB is more than enough for apps. I have 430 apps installed, amongst which several 1GB+ games, and still have 13GB free. The only thing I keep on my MicroSD in terms of apps are navigational data. (So I don't have to redownload all 5.8GB of that when my phone rolls over and dies, or I switch.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
guys C'MON.. offcourse I know that system app and or data cannot be moved to external "micro sd" unless you use a directory binder kinda app.
what I mean is altahough the app manager shows that app data is in SD (green tick) card my external "micro" sd cards .android_secure folder is empty and the only storage occupied is internal sd (32gb) on which the data is stored at android/obb
what the heck is wrong with my note 3

so is it just me?

Use FolderMount
Sent from my SM-N900W8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

ShadowLea said:
I prefer to keep internal for apps alone. Less clutter means less slowdowns. And that way if my phone dies for whatever reason and I need to factory reset or RMA, I can just pull the MicroSD and all my data will be fine. Which in turn means one less panicked member on XDA begging the others how to recover the data, and a lot less people needing to say 'you should've backed up!'.
I have always used the same principle on my pc and laptop. C:\ for programs alone, the other drives (or if I only have one, partition) for data. it'll always be safe if I need to wipe Windows. Always keep your data separate from the system!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly my philosophy on storage, though it started with a separate drive for /home on Debian rather than with Windows, but has expanded to the point where I even have a specific hard drive for game installs on my WIN7 gaming rig.
Funny that before Google started going on about orphan files and the mess apps make on SD cards there wasn't one. My SD card was set up exactly how I wanted and data was shared nicely between apps.
Now there seems to be no option to stop putting junk files on there, an issue I haven't seen since 2.3, and even when I move them back the phantom folders for the apps that I've taken off the SD keep showing back up where I deleted them.

Micro USB Flash Drive

Would one of these/something like it work on my Moto G: 1 2 3
If I used a file explorer, could I move apps and music from Moto storage onto flash drive and still be able to play them? Is it convenient and easy to use, 8GB is barley enough for me. Thanks

@Banana4Life ..... Look at the "Meenova" USB OTG unit (there is a thread in Moto G accessory forum but i cannot remember exactly where) you can find it by Googling. It is similar to your 3rd example, that is it can be used in Moto G also as a normal size USB in Laptop or Desktop. I have one and I see it's advantage is that it comes without a fixed memory i.e. you can put any micro sd card that you want in it i.e. 4Gb, 8Gb, 16Gb, 32Gb, 64Gb etc. If I remember correctly it costs $15 plus shipping & handling. It is a Chinese firm but has an office and sales point in California.
I find it most useful for keeping a copy of "sdcard" and backups which in turn can be copied to my Laptop as extra insurance LOL. I also store movies on it and can play them directly onto my phone. One word of warning (which you probably know) do not be tempted to format with NTFS - Moto G wont read it and theres a chance you will soft brick.

It looks pretty nice, much smaller than my examples. Can you play apps off the micro sd card? I would mainly use it for apps and music. Is it easy to access the stuff you put on it as well, do you use ES file explorer?

@bana4Life ..... I can't give you a definite answer to whether you can run apps directly from the Meenova device all I can say on that is that it is quite easy to transfer apps from your phone onto the Meenova, the only trouble I find is that as soon as you select the app it immediately asks if you want to "install" it and this it does on your phone not on the device. I don't know whether using one of the apps which claims to be able to transfer apps to an external sd would be able to help you out but my own limited experience with such apps as "Apps to SD", "Move to SD", "App Manager" etc has not proved very helpful.
As far as music is concerned, same as videos or movies, it is simplicity itself ..... If you run your main app to play music or video then the app automatically searches for the music etc on both your phone storage and the usb storage and plays it fine.
My file manager of choice is "Root Explorer" (from the play store), I'm presuming that you are rooted - if not you can still use "Root Explorer" but you won't have the option to read/write files, only read them and you won't have the ability to see the hidden system files.
The Meenova shows up in your file system as ...../mnt/media_rw/usbdisk. I should have mentioned before that although I am rooted and have custom recovery installed I am running the stock 4.4.3 Rom and if you are running a custom Rom then much of what I have said may not apply.
I don't think I've been a lot of help to you, however good luck with whatever you try. By the way I think my remarks apply to all USB OTG storage devices not just Meenova. Yes I think the Meenova is the smallest such device on the market.

So with the app problem, you can move an app from phone to SD, but to play it you'll have to move it back onto the phone, then after using it move it back onto SD. Is that what you can do? Also, didn't know the main music app would search the SD, thought that you would have to use something like Es File Explorer to play music (which is what I use). I am also on stock 4.4.4
You have actually been helpful, went into detail and gave info :highfive: :highfive: :highfive:

@Banana4Life ..... Just a quick answer ..... When I talked about moving the app to the usb storage I was referring to the .apk ...... but when you click on it it will give you the option to "Install" which it then does on your phone so really you save nothing, the app is still installed on the phone! ..... As far as I'm concerned the only real use of usb storage is to store large amounts of data i.e. mp4 movies which would otherwise take up valuable phone memory. This applies equally to large numbers of music files.
The two apps I use for playing movies are (1) MX Player Pro and (2) Best Video Player. Both are on Play Store. Both will search for compatible video files to play on both the phone and the usb storage.
I'm not a huge music "fan" but I have my playlists which I play using the stock Google "Play Music" app (installed by default by ICS - Jelly Bean - KitKat) it's also on Play Store. This app will also search both the phone and usb storage for music files.

An apk file can be installed with out a connection right? So you can put multiple apk's on SD card, install one then uninstall it to install a different apk

@Banana4Life ..... I think we are beginning to talk about different things here LOL ..... If you download an app from the Play Store then nine times out of ten the .apk file will be downloaded to your phone in the ..../data/app.... folder - the associated "odex" file will probably be downloaded into your phone in the ..../system/app.... folder and any other associated data files will be downloaded to other phone folders ..... Now there maybe apps which will allow these files to be downloaded to your place of choice i.e. usb storage .... BUT I don't know of any apps which will do this.
You use the words ".... on SD card...." please remember the Moto G does not have an external SD card (unless of course you have the Moto E which has an external SD card) so when you use a File Manager and see the folder entitled "sdcard" this refers to the internal memory space NOT to an external card.
Yes you could swap installed apk's back and forth between usb storage and normal phone storage but it just seems to me a lot of work for not very much gain.
You say "....apk's can be installed without a connection" .... Not quite certain what you mean by that..... You don't need your phone connected to a PC by a cable ..... You can have your USB storage (Meenova) connected to your phone ...OR NOT ...... of course your phone will be connected to Play Store by WiFi, but that can't be what you mean

Yea, I am android pleb I get confused
In your 2nd reply you said apps such as App to SD were not very useful but your also said it's easy to transfer apps. By transferring apps you mean by the apk and you tried to use the App to SD to move the whole app not just the installer, but even though using App to SD it still requires you to install it on phone. Is it not possible to move the apk file for every app or do just some work? There are some tutorials saying how to make default download place an SD or how to move an app to SD.
Maybe I don't understand what an apk is? Running an apk will install the app it's for right? Just a installer. And by the connection I mean as in once you have downloaded the apk file, running it won't require a WiFi connection?
And yea you said it comes up as /mnt/media_rw/USB disk in 2nd reply as well
Sorry if this doesnt make sense :/

@Banana4Life ..... I have never found the apps that transfer files i.e. such as "App2SD" any use for my purposes ..... BUT don't let that stop you trying them ..... you might find one that suits you and most of them are free in the Play Store.
Think of an .apk file as being an .exe file on windows ..... i.e. it installs and runs the App (Program) on your phone.
You don't need to have a WiFi connection to run 99% of apps on your phone. The obvious exceptions are online games which require an interaction between you and the Internet ..... Some simulations i.e. Flying - Motor Racing - Boat racing etc ..... Some games which require you to purchase in game upgrades ..... Games where you want to post "high scores" on a web site ..... etc.etc.etc.

I've ordered a black one today, hopefully wont take 20 days like they say it can
Im still not sure about the apps. You said it is quite easy to transfer apps from your phone onto the Meenova. What method did you do to transfer it? With the picture attached, does that option come up once SD card is put in? And just to be sure, once the app is on Meenova to use it I have to install it on phone first, then be able to put it back on Meenova right?
Thanks for recommending it and loads of information - I appreciate it :good::good::good::laugh::highfive: . If apps dont work, music is still important, I'll have to experiment

@bana4Life ..... Hope you are happy with it when it arrives. When I said in post#2 that there was a sales office/warehouse in California I was making the assumption that you were in the US because then they send it by US Postal Service and it takes two days ..... HOWEVER if you are outside US (which I now understand you are) then the postage is by Chinese Postal Service which is first class crap and will probably take nearly 20 days
Whenever I talk about moving files from one location to another (i.e. from phone to usb storage or the reverse) I am always talking about using File Manager "Root Explorer Pro".
When you have usb storage attached it shows up at ------ Settings>Storage>USB On the Go Storage Mounted...... In your screenshot (which I am guessing is using one of the "App2SD" apps) any reference to SD card refers to your internal memory.
It has just occurred to me that I have been assuming all along that you have the standard XT1032 or XT1033 Moto G (with NO external SD slot)..... WHEREAS if you have the Moto G LTE or the Moto E then you do have an external sd card slot.
Anyway I think I have gone as far as I can go with helping you out. I hope that your Meenova arrives quickly and that when you use it you will be happy with what it offers.

Yea I have XT1032. Its was dispatched today . Thanks again! :good: I'll try these App2SD apps, Im sure I'll manage somehow

Banana4Life said:
Yea I have XT1032. Its was dispatched today . Thanks again! :good: I'll try these App2SD apps, Im sure I'll manage somehow
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So your basically wanting it to be an extension of the internal storage. The only use it has is movies and music. Well basically anything but apps.

dethrat said:
So your basically wanting it to be an extension of the internal storage. The only use it has is movies and music. Well basically anything but apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not even swap apk's from SD to internal like metpolds said you can or is that just impossible and bad idea?

Banana4Life said:
Not even swap apk's from SD to internal like metpolds said you can or is that just impossible and bad idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but .apk files have no value beyond installing. Your never going to have the equivalent of that picture.
---------- Post added at 11:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:31 PM ----------
Banana4Life said:
Not even swap apk's from SD to internal like metpolds said you can or is that just impossible and bad idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And you've both misunderstood what the apps2sd apps are. They're completely irrelevant to what your trying to achieve.

dethrat said:
Yeah but .apk files have no value beyond installing. Your never going to have the equivalent of that picture.
---------- Post added at 11:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:31 PM ----------
And you've both misunderstood what the apps2sd apps are. They're completely irrelevant to what your trying to achieve.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by "no value beyond installing. Your never going to have the equivalent of that picture", and also where have I been going wrong with the app2sd apps?

Banana4Life said:
What do you mean by "no value beyond installing. Your never going to have the equivalent of that picture", and also where have I been going wrong with the app2sd apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that's what the apks are there for installing. If you download an apk and install it (click on it) the only use of keeping the downloaded apk is if you uninstall the app. You can then install it again.
Apps2sd apps are for phones with sdcard slots. You can partition the sdcard ( fat32 + ext4) and the second partition (ext4) acts as a extension of the /data (where installed app are). There's a lot more to those type of apps but I'm not going into it all. Irrelevant to usb-on-the-go (any storage going thru the micro USB port)

dethrat said:
Well that's what the apks are there for installing. If you download an apk and install it (click on it) the only use of keeping the downloaded apk is if you uninstall the app. You can then install it again.
Apps2sd apps are for phones with sdcard slots. You can partition the sdcard ( fat32 + ext4) and the second partition (ext4) acts as a extension of the /data (where installed app are). There's a lot more to those type of apps but I'm not going into it all. Irrelevant to usb-on-the-go (any storage going thru the micro USB port)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So Im just thinking it will act like an actual sdcard slot, but it wont. So the apk thing will work?...

Banana4Life said:
So Im just thinking it will act like an actual sdcard slot, but it wont. So the apk thing will work?...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it doesn't act like a built-in SDslot. It acts like you've just plugged a memory stick into it.
Yeah copying apks will work it's just a file. Like copying any file. I just don't see what your going to gain from that. Your not going to be able to have more apps installed (ready to run).
The only practical use I've found for meenova is sharing pictures from my camera to my phone.