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I used the root.bat method to enable Apps2SD on my LG Optimus GT540 - Eclair, today. I've installed atleast 80 apps yet, n leaving few aside, most of the apps are installing on the SD card.
But, now when I plugged in my SD card thru a card reader to check how much of the Ext2 partition is filled with app installation, I found that only 16mb of the 512mb partition is filled !!!
The phone isnt storing apps on the internal storage, as earlier, it had 98mb internal memory n now 75mb coz some of the apps automatically installed on the internal memory. Where the hell is it installing the apps then?
What the hell is going on?
niraj87 said:
I used the root.bat method to enable Apps2SD on my LG Optimus GT540 - Eclair, today. I've installed atleast 80 apps yet, n leaving few aside, most of the apps are installing on the SD card.
But, now when I plugged in my SD card thru a card reader to check how much of the Ext2 partition is filled with app installation, I found that only 16mb of the 512mb partition is filled !!!
The phone isnt storing apps on the internal storage, as earlier, it had 98mb internal memory n now 75mb coz some of the apps automatically installed on the internal memory. Where the hell is it installing the apps then?
What the hell is going on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I kind of have an idea of what's happening here but I don't know how to explain but I'll try. In froyo, when you move the apps to sd card, the size of the app "reduces". That is, if it takes about 5 MB in internal storage, it'll take only some KBs in the memory card, the app is saved in the memory card but it takes a lot less space. I don't know why but this is the case on froyo. I hope I've helped you in someway!
^^Your clarification did help, but now I've installed arnd 150 apps n many of them are large games of 6-10mb, but still the Ext2 is filled only 16mb !!! Its not like its being compressed in Froyo, like u explained, but its something much stranger, coz even if it takes memory in kbs on the SD card in Froyo, its not taking ANY space in my case.
If we assume that the Partition tool that I used on PC isnt reading the installed Ext2 for some reason, then it should have either displayed that the Ext2 parition is EMPTY or the actual size of 150 apps installed, but why only 16mb still?
And another query is y does it install some apps on the internal memory?
niraj87 said:
^^Your clarification did help, but now I've installed arnd 150 apps n many of them are large games of 6-10mb, but still the Ext2 is filled only 16mb !!! Its not like its being compressed in Froyo, like u explained, but its something much stranger, coz even if it takes memory in kbs on the SD card in Froyo, its not taking ANY space in my case.
If we assume that the Partition tool that I used on PC isnt reading the installed Ext2 for some reason, then it should have either displayed that the Ext2 parition is EMPTY or the actual size of 150 apps installed, but why only 16mb still?
And another query is y does it install some apps on the internal memory?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check the standard SD partition free space, because maybe the apps are not being moved to ext2 but to normal sd partition.
niraj87 said:
I used the root.bat method to enable Apps2SD on my LG Optimus GT540 - Eclair, today. I've installed atleast 80 apps yet, n leaving few aside, most of the apps are installing on the SD card.
But, now when I plugged in my SD card thru a card reader to check how much of the Ext2 partition is filled with app installation, I found that only 16mb of the 512mb partition is filled !!!
The phone isnt storing apps on the internal storage, as earlier, it had 98mb internal memory n now 75mb coz some of the apps automatically installed on the internal memory. Where the hell is it installing the apps then?
What the hell is going on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the same thing happened to me!
^^The above has been solved now.
I thnk the reason for that is all apps cannot be installed on the SD card (even after this method of Apps2SD), due to app permissions or something else I'm not aware of.
I used the app AndRootFile to check out where the apps are being installed. They're installed at System/sdcard/app. This app clearly states the size of the parition created n how much of it is used currently, at the top, in my case 512mb ext2 parition.
I just rooted my Nook Tablet and everything seemed to install okay. The problem is that when I download a app like MX video player or andftp, they give me an error message saying that permissions are denied to this location. The MX video player will not even open because it says that "SD card is not present". Has anyone else had this problem? And how can I fix this? I followed this instructions. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1354487
Thanks
is the sdcard storage usable?
use a filemanager of your choice and browse to /mnt/sdcard
Thats the thing. There is no extra sd card. I am just trying to use the internal l memory.
The internal memory is called sdcard usually.
Check "/mnt/sdcard" that should be the internal memory.
I used a filer manager to view that folder and the manager says that the sd card is not mounted. Also the permissions on the folder are d --. How do I allow programs to use /mnt/sdcard?
Has anyone else had this problem with their nook? I can barely use any appear after rooting.
I have the same problem =(. I want to use the internal memory but whenever i download it says "An SD card is required to download *******.apk."
Exact same issue I am having. I will probably just return it and try something else.
I think this post is the answer to our problems.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=19856691&postcount=50
I have the Nook Table. It is rooted, with superuser and root explorer on it. I put a 32GB SD Card into it. The B&N Storage avail is 11.87GB. The B&N settings shows the "Other Storage Avail" is 1GB. The B&N Storage sees the SD Card with 116MB avail.
When I check with the root explorer, it also shows the SD card size as 116MB. When I try to install a file from the market larger than 116MB, it says not enough room. Why can't I see and use the full 32GB?
Any suggestions as to how I fix this would be appreciated.
Cool. So do you know how to get access to the 11 GB that is on there?
As far as I can see, the Nook automatically puts user input data, such as My Files into that area. When I got into My Files, it shows 120MB used, 1004MB remaining.
wrayrb said:
As far as I can see, the Nook automatically puts user input data, such as My Files into that area. When I got into My Files, it shows 120MB used, 1004MB remaining.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that the 1 GB area gets used, but how do we gain access to the nooks 11GB memory location?
If you open the settings, device info, you will see "B&N Content Storage Available (for items purchased from B&N.)" So B&N downloads only go there.
I used the nook in native mode to upload a book to B&N Books, but I don't remember how I did it. Trying too many things. These downloads are apparently the only ones that the nook's reader will remember you are reading to resume.
I am now using Root Explorer to look over the folder structure.
In folder \data\books, there is 11GB avail. I am not sure how to find any files moved there for reading however.
In folder \data\media\B&N downloads, there is 11GB avail. I am not sure how to find any files moved there for reading however.
In folder \media\... there is 1GB available. You can move files to \media\My Files and store them here. You can see these from the B&N Library if the My Files folder is used. This works from the reader.
But I have not found how to repeatedly use the 11GB space, yet. Will keep you posted. If anyone else figures it out, please post here.
Okay thanks. I am going to look into to it right now.
i had that same problem try this, Un-root, factory reset after first boot do not setup, do the factory reset again. then re-root. shut all the way off wait a few then reboot, should work
If your Micro SD card is showing less than the actual amount of memory e.g., my 32GB showed 116MB, hook the BN to your PC. When it shows in the explorer and SD Formatter on the PC, then use SD Formatter to check the size and verify the drive letter. If there is a large unallocated space on the SD Card, it needs to be re-formatted so the boot area is the whole disk.
After formatting, SD Formatter should show the whole size. Unplug it, and the nook should say it has detected a SD Card which needs formatting. Let the nook format the SD Card. The nook will see the SD card but any apps will say the card is not mounted.
So power down the nook and power backup. Then it will mount the card and it is fully useable. (At least this worked for me.)
It should not be necessary to factory reset the nook. However, this will loose any data, documents, music etc on the SD Card. So make sure you move them to the PC before reformatting the SD Card.
wrayrb said:
If your Micro SD card is showing less than the actual amount of memory e.g., my 32GB showed 116MB, hook the BN to your PC. When it shows in the explorer and SD Formatter on the PC, then use SD Formatter to check the size and verify the drive letter. If there is a large unallocated space on the SD Card, it needs to be re-formatted so the boot area is the whole disk.
After formatting, SD Formatter should show the whole size. Unplug it, and the nook should say it has detected a SD Card which needs formatting. Let the nook format the SD Card. The nook will see the SD card but any apps will say the card is not mounted.
So power down the nook and power backup. Then it will mount the card and it is fully useable. (At least this worked for me.)
It should not be necessary to factory reset the nook. However, this will loose any data, documents, music etc on the SD Card. So make sure you move them to the PC before reformatting the SD Card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But does this work for the internal 11 GB? That is the part that we cant we use?
dcharp said:
But does this work for the internal 11 GB? That is the part that we cant we use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far I can tell from googling, there is no way to access the 12GB B&N partition. I have see suggestions that a android partition manager can convert the 16GB from its present 1GB and 12GB to something like 5GB and 8GB so that you can put your stuff in the 5GB partition.
Notice that 1+12=13GB. So there is 3GB not showing, and does not show in Root Explorer either. It is probably a closed OS partition which would explain why it does not show up.
I just got my nook & had several issues getting it rooted finally 2nite I got it to load all the way & Now it is telling me I have no SD card to finish off loading Titanium Any ideas would be great! Happy new year to all
Also forgot 2 say I had tried 4 different sd cards. From 2GB - 32GB. All were empty, 2 were formatted. All 4 show up as being there even I can open them on the book. I am confused
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.
Hey everyone,
I bought an offbrand tablet from eBay, model name Softwinner v11 or Aystar y3 (build number says its an Astar y3, so does build.prop , "About tablet" under settings says its a Softwinner v11), running a Quad Core Allwinner A33 CPU and KitKat 4.4.2, already rooted with Kingo Root.
When I bought it, I was told it came with 16 GB of storage. As I started it up, I imediately checked the storage to check if those 16 gb where really there. On the storage screen, under settings, it showed up as having 2 internal storage, one with about 0.98 GB of space and another one with 14 GB of space. Almost the 16 GB, but that wasnt the issue.
The tablet was writing app data to the 0.98 GB internal storage, leaving me almost imediately without storage space for apps. The other 14 GB of space remained completely untouched. After further inspection, I found that the other 14GB were being used as an internal sd card, mounted at /mnt/sdcard.
Now here comes the real issue. I was messing around with it, and remenbered that I could partition my SD Card to work as internal memory. I had done this sucessfully before in my phone, so I gave it a go on the tablet, completely forgetting the fact that I had no MicroSD card on the tablet, only internal memory.
Stupid as I was, I followed this guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2236566http://
After doing step 1, I realized my mistake. Storage was completely broken. In MiniTool, it was now split between 2 discs, one with a ~10Gb partition called "POLARIS", in fat32, and another with a 2GB partition, which is unallocated.
Now, under Settings - storage, I still have 2 internal storages, except the second storage is now only 428mb and completely inacessible from Windows. DiskInfo only shows System, Data, Cache and RAM, but no internal memory or SD Card.
ES File Manager shows 2 storages, one called "sdcard", with 428.06MB of space and another called "93_81" with 10.38GB of space.
In Windows, via MTP mode, the tablet shows up as v11. If I open it, there is an "Internal Storage", with 426 mb of space. Inside that is a folder called ".android_secure" and another called "93_81". Via USB Mass Storage nothing shows up.
Attempting to copy files over 428 mb to the root or to "93_81" results in a "file is too big" error.
Is there any way to fix this issue? If not, can I return it to how it was, with 1 GB + 14 GB of storage?
Khotor said:
Hey everyone,
I bought an offbrand tablet from eBay, model name Softwinner v11 or Aystar y3 (build number says its an Astar y3, so does build.prop , "About tablet" under settings says its a Softwinner v11), running a Quad Core Allwinner A33 CPU and KitKat 4.4.2, already rooted with Kingo Root.
When I bought it, I was told it came with 16 GB of storage. As I started it up, I imediately checked the storage to check if those 16 gb where really there. On the storage screen, under settings, it showed up as having 2 internal storage, one with about 0.98 GB of space and another one with 14 GB of space. Almost the 16 GB, but that wasnt the issue.
The tablet was writing app data to the 0.98 GB internal storage, leaving me almost imediately without storage space for apps. The other 14 GB of space remained completely untouched. After further inspection, I found that the other 14GB were being used as an internal sd card, mounted at /mnt/sdcard.
Now here comes the real issue. I was messing around with it, and remenbered that I could partition my SD Card to work as internal memory. I had done this sucessfully before in my phone, so I gave it a go on the tablet, completely forgetting the fact that I had no MicroSD card on the tablet, only internal memory.
Stupid as I was, I followed this guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2236566http://
After doing step 1, I realized my mistake. Storage was completely broken. In MiniTool, it was now split between 2 discs, one with a ~10Gb partition called "POLARIS", in fat32, and another with a 2GB partition, which is unallocated.
Now, under Settings - storage, I still have 2 internal storages, except the second storage is now only 428mb and completely inacessible from Windows. DiskInfo only shows System, Data, Cache and RAM, but no internal memory or SD Card.
ES File Manager shows 2 storages, one called "sdcard", with 428.06MB of space and another called "93_81" with 10.38GB of space.
In Windows, via MTP mode, the tablet shows up as v11. If I open it, there is an "Internal Storage", with 426 mb of space. Inside that is a folder called ".android_secure" and another called "93_81". Via USB Mass Storage nothing shows up.
Attempting to copy files over 428 mb to the root or to "93_81" results in a "file is too big" error.
Is there any way to fix this issue? If not, can I return it to how it was, with 1 GB + 14 GB of storage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
Try posting your query here Ask any query Newbie Friendly with all relevant details, the experts there maybe able to assist you.
-Vatsal
I've been all day trying to get a Micro SD installed on my T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Go5 so I can move apps onto it. After bricking an old SD 32 GB card and buying a new 64 GB card I started searching for help here. I found information that said the card has to be formatted as 'Internal Storage.' This post described the process (the process that worked toward the bottom).
I'd been trying to figure out how to install the Android SDK on my Windows PC without downloading Android Studio in order to get the adb shell mentioned in that post set up. I found this post and this post on the stackoverflow forum, but just wasn't able to figure it all out. But it looks like I need the Java SE Development Kit 10 installed.
I was able to set up USB debugging on the phone though.
Can anyone help me out here and describe just what must be done to achieve all this?
Thanks for any feedback on this
Not really able to help but i read many people advise against using SD card as internal storage. Most regular SD cards r not fast enough or durable enough to last more than a few months. Just sharing
sautom said:
Not really able to help but i read many people advise against using SD card as internal storage. Most regular SD cards r not fast enough or durable enough to last more than a few months. Just sharing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you're right about that. I've installed programs on USB sticks that can be quite sluggish. Then again I've had a number of system maintenance utilities on flash drives for years that aren't and still perform fine. Then they don't get used for hours on a day to day basis.
I moved a number of apps on my old Galaxy Ace to a micro sd card though, most used was the Poweramp music player that's always performed well.
And I've got the card now, so I may as well try to get it set as internal and just see how it performs over time. Thanks for you feedback sautom.
TakuSkan said:
I've been all day trying to get a Micro SD installed on my T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Go5 so I can move apps onto it. After bricking an old SD 32 GB card and buying a new 64 GB card I started searching for help here. I found information that said the card has to be formatted as 'Internal Storage.' This post described the process (the process that worked toward the bottom).
I'd been trying to figure out how to install the Android SDK on my Windows PC without downloading Android Studio in order to get the adb shell mentioned in that post set up. I found this post and this post on the stackoverflow forum, but just wasn't able to figure it all out. But it looks like I need the Java SE Development Kit 10 installed.
I was able to set up USB debugging on the phone though.
Can anyone help me out here and describe just what must be done to achieve all this?
Thanks for any feedback on this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have lollipop or newer Android version, you should be able to use the "Adoptable storage" option.
Also, if performance is important to you, then you won't like this option, using sdcard as internal is slower, the only "gain" in using this is the system has more storage to use. There is no gain on performance, you actually lose there.
I don't recommend using sdcard as internal storage though. There are way too many issues that come along with using this kind of modification. A lot of times, the sdcard gets corrupted, then the real issues start when you try to fix it, usually, the device won't function properly, the data on the sdcard gets lost/corrupted, just to name a couple of the many possible issues. It isn't exactly "easy" to fix this when it happens, depending on what goes wrong, sometimes it can't be fixed.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
If you have lollipop or newer Android version, you should be able to use the "Adoptable storage" option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read quite a bit on this and "adoptable storage" now, and agree that trying to use an expansion SD card as internal memory to run apps is a bad idea Droidriven. I still have a little over 1 GB left on the tiny built in 8GB internal SD Card memory, and have most of what I want installed.
I'm pretty green when it comes to Android, coming from many years with Windows and a tad with Linux. I see that with v6.0.1 Marshmallow, the OS began setting up a system directory tree on the 64 GB SD card when I installed it, and I'm able to set data folders there for apps like the camera. That'll be good for storing large camera videos and other media files.
One thing I haven't figured out yet though is whether or not there's any setting on a non-rooted phone like this Go5 that will allow me to transfer files directly into the 'Android' folder on the internal 8 GB card from Windows. I'm able to connect the two via USB or FTP and write files from Windows to folders on the 8 GB card like 'Download'. But I can't copy any files from Windows over to any of the writable apps folders in the 'Android' folder. I've resorted to copying them 1st to 'Download' from Windows, and then using a file manager in Android to copy files over to the 'Android' folder. I'm not used to such rigid file/folder permissions.
Does this sound like an issue that will require rooting? It'd make life a lot easier if that weren't the case. I'd think if I can write files to that 'Android' folder from within Android, I ought to be able to do the same remotely somehow.
Thoughts?
TakuSkan said:
I've read quite a bit on this and "adoptable storage" now, and agree that trying to use an expansion SD card as internal memory to run apps is a bad idea Droidriven. I still have a little over 1 GB left on the tiny built in 8GB internal SD Card memory, and have most of what I want installed.
I'm pretty green when it comes to Android, coming from many years with Windows and a tad with Linux. I see that with v6.0.1 Marshmallow, the OS began setting up a system directory tree on the 64 GB SD card when I installed it, and I'm able to set data folders there for apps like the camera. That'll be good for storing large camera videos and other media files.
One thing I haven't figured out yet though is whether or not there's any setting on a non-rooted phone like this Go5 that will allow me to transfer files directly into the 'Android' folder on the internal 8 GB card from Windows. I'm able to connect the two via USB or FTP and write files from Windows to folders on the 8 GB card like 'Download'. But I can't copy any files from Windows over to any of the writable apps folders in the 'Android' folder. I've resorted to copying them 1st to 'Download' from Windows, and then using a file manager in Android to copy files over to the 'Android' folder. I'm not used to such rigid file/folder permissions.
Does this sound like an issue that will require rooting? It'd make life a lot easier if that weren't the case. I'd think if I can write files to that 'Android' folder from within Android, I ought to be able to do the same remotely somehow.
Thoughts?
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I always just use the ES File Explorer app, it lets me move whatever I want to/from Android folder.
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Droidriven said:
I always just use the ES File Explorer app, it lets me move whatever I want to/from Android folder.
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Yes, from within Android. I'm using the free open source Amaze file manager that I can do that with. But I can't connect the Android phone to a Windows PC and be able to copy files from Windows to the Android folder on the phone. Just to Download, and maybe DCIM and the root of the internal 8 GB SD memory.
Can ES File Explorer access shared folders on a Windows PC? Amaze sets up an FTP server, but I don't see where it can access files on a Windows system.
EDIT: Seems it can: How to Access Shared Windows Folders on Android, iPad, and iPhone
TakuSkan said:
Yes, from within Android. I'm using the free open source Amaze file manager that I can do that with. But I can't connect the Android phone to a Windows PC and be able to copy files from Windows to the Android folder on the phone. Just to Download, and maybe DICM and the root of the internal 8 GB SD memory.
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You should be able to do this with just Windows. Are you sure that you have your USB options set correctly? It should be set to MTP(file transfer).
When you connect the device to PC, you should see a USB icon in the status bar on the device, pull down notification panel, it should have a notification that takes you to your USB options.
Or, when you connect the device, you might get a pop-up menu on your device that has settings for USB options.
It varies from one device to another and one android version to another.
Do you have USB debugging enabled in developer options?
Also, if you do some reading about everything that the ES File Explorer app can do, you'll see that it can be used to transfer files to/from PC via more than a few options, including wirelessly/remotely.
It has several things it can do and different ways to connect when connecting/connected to other devices, including smart TV and others. It can also be used as a server or even be used to create a hotspot.
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Droidriven said:
You should be able to do this with just Windows. Are you sure that you have your USB options set correctly? It should be set to MTP(file transfer).
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Yes Droidriven. I have set USB debugging and USB is set as MTP. I just discovered that Amaze does connect to Windows like ES File Explorer by running it's cloud search function. So far Amaze has done everything I've been told to use ESFE for. But Amaze is very light. I just used Amaze to copy a file over from a shared Windows folder to that Android folder on the phone.
I have Total Commander on the Windows system, but when I use it to navigate to an apps subfolder of Android on the phone, it can't see any of the files or folders that I can access with Amaze from within the phone.
So I'm half way there Just need to figure out how to get Windows to see and write files on this Go5 now.
TakuSkan said:
Yes Droidriven. I have set USB debugging and USB is set as MTP. I just discovered that Amaze does connect to Windows like ES File Explorer by running it's cloud search function. So far Amaze has done everything I've been told to use ESFE for. But Amaze is very light. I just used Amaze to copy a file over from a shared Windows folder to that Android folder on the phone.
I have Total Commander on the Windows system, but when I use it to navigate to an apps subfolder of Android on the phone, it can't see any of the files or folders that I can access with Amaze from within the phone.
So I'm half way there Just need to figure out how to get Windows to see and write files on this Go5 now.
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I don't know where you're having issues, all I have ever done is just connect my device to Windows via USB then use the native Windows Explorer file manager to transfer to/from internal/external to PC/device. I've never had to do anything special or use any extra software on the device or PC to achieve this, plus, I've done this on different Windows systems.
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Droidriven said:
I don't know where you're having issues, all I have ever done is just connect my device to Windows via USB then use the native Windows Explorer file manager to transfer to/from internal/external to PC/device. I've never had to do anything special or use any extra software on the device or PC to achieve this, plus, I've done this on different Windows systems.
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I think it may be because this was a T-Mobile phone and that they may have disabled some functions like "adoptable storage" which doesn't seem to be present, as well as maybe setting permissions to prevent access to certain system folders.
I've even found that I have to change the extensions of some files like ini files to txt before I can drag and drop from Windows Explorer via a USB connection to just a few folders on Android.
It is a bit nutz. Rooting would probably solve the problem. But I'm not ready to go there yet. There may be an answer for getting the Windows > Android file viewing and writing yet. But at least for the moment I can copy both ways with the Amaze File Manager.
Okay, I'm back to considering formatting this 64 GB SD Card as internal storage. I would really like to record video to it, and with the internal memory limited to 1 GB that's left of the total of 8 GB from the factory, that's just not going to make it.
I got the Android SDK and 'adb shell' working on my PC, and started researching how to run commands that would target just the SD Card, and not the existing memory. The command 'sm list-disks' returns: disk:179,32
Is that the phone's internal memory, the SD Card's memory, or perhaps all memory on the phone? When I run the command 'sm list-volumes' I get:
private mounted null
public:179,33 mounted 38C4-18FE
emulated mounted null
I know 38C4-18FE is listed on the phone as being my added SD Card. So I'm hesitant to run the command I see people using to format their SD Cards: 'sm partition disk:179,33' I've wiped the wrong drives by mistake before using Windows diskpart when I didn't specify the right drive/volume. Can anyone clear that up for me?
I'm still hesitant to do this as it seems the phone will automatically begin to use the entire contents of the SD Card as space to run its OS. Might there be commands that would specifically alot the space on the card for writing data, and not for apps that would write and rewrite data there? Something I could create a folder in and point video recording apps to?
Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow
TakuSkan said:
Okay, I'm back to considering formatting this 64 GB SD Card as internal storage. I would really like to record video to it, and with the internal memory limited to 1 GB that's left of the total of 8 GB from the factory, that's just not going to make it.
I got the Android SDK and 'adb shell' working on my PC, and started researching how to run commands that would target just the SD Card, and not the existing memory. The command 'sm list-disks' returns: disk:179,32
Is that the phone's internal memory, the SD Card's memory, or perhaps all memory on the phone? When I run the command 'sm list-volumes' I get:
private mounted null
public:179,33 mounted 38C4-18FE
emulated mounted null
I know 38C4-18FE is listed on the phone as being my added SD Card. So I'm hesitant to run the command I see people using to format their SD Cards: 'sm partition disk:179,33' I've wiped the wrong drives by mistake before using Windows diskpart when I didn't specify the right drive/volume. Can anyone clear that up for me?
I'm still hesitant to do this as it seems the phone will automatically begin to use the entire contents of the SD Card as space to run its OS. Might there be commands that would specifically alot the space on the card for writing data, and not for apps that would write and rewrite data there? Something I could create a folder in and point video recording apps to?
Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow
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It's possible to partition the external sdcard so that it has separate partitions with one of those partitions devoted to internal storage and the other for whatever you want. I'm not versed in specific tools and methods to do it, there are many.
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Droidriven said:
It's possible to partition the external sdcard so that it has separate partitions with one of those partitions devoted to internal storage and the other for whatever you want. I'm not versed in specific tools and methods to do it, there are many.
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I'm happy with dedicating the entire memory in my sd card to adoptable storage space. I just want to know if adb is returning the right designation of my added sd card memory, and not the default internal memory.
Does the command 'sm list-disks' run from an adb shell that returns this for me: disk:179,32 mean that 179,32 is the designation that represents the sd memory card I added? Or if I try to use adb to partition 179,32 as adoptive memory, will I be formatting the default internal memory? What would be an adb command to return the designation of the small 8 GB default internal memory of my phone?
TakuSkan said:
I'm happy with dedicating the entire memory in my sd card to adoptable storage space. I just want to know if adb is returning the right designation of my added sd card memory, and not the default internal memory.
Does the command 'sm list-disks' run from an adb shell that returns this for me: disk:179,32 mean that 179,32 is the designation that represents the sd memory card I added? Or if I try to use adb to partition 179,32 as adoptive memory, will I be formatting the default internal memory? What would be an adb command to return the designation of the small 8 GB default internal memory of my phone?
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Have you tried running the command without the external sdcard inserted? That will tell you the designation of your internal because internal is all it will see, then insert the external sdcard, then you can run the command to see what the designation for the external is. Once you setup Adoptable Storage, there will be no difference in designation, the OS will see your internal and your external as one complete storage space, it sees external as if it were internal and identifies/labels it as such for all intents and purposes.
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Droidriven said:
Have you tried running the xommand without the external sdcard inserted? That will tell you the designation of your internal because internal is all it will see, then insert the external sdcard, then you can run the command to see what the designation for the external is. Once you setup Adoptable Storage, there will be no difference in designation, the OS will see your internal and your external as one complete storage space, it sees external as if it were internal and identifies/labels it as such for all intents and purposes.
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That is exactly the information I've been after Droidriven. That sounds like the perfect way to differentiate default internal memory from an SD addon. I read where after formatting/partitioning the sd card, installed apps will stay on the internal memory unless you opt for an ill advised process of moving them to the new space where they probably won't perform well.
How will the OS see the added sd memory after formatted as adoptable storage? My concern is that since this a cheap flash memory sd card, I don't want the OS to start writing and rewriting to this sluggish, slow flash memory card and just wear the thing down. Is there any way to specify the added memory as being data storage only? I only want the extra memory for writing video from the phone to a space large enough to hold multiple files
TakuSkan said:
I read where after formatting/partitioning the sd cardm installed apps will stay on the internal memory unless you opt for an ill advised process of moving them to the new space where they probably won't perform well.
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That's right.
TakuSkan said:
How will the OS see the added sd memory after formatted as adoptable storage?
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As far as I know, it will see all one space with no way to "store here instead of there" that I know of. The OS uses the entire space as it sees fit.
TakuSkan said:
My concern is that since this a cheap flash memory sd card, I don't want the OS to start writing and rewriting to this sluggish, slow flash memory card and just wear the thing down.
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That is exactly what it will do, this is the common cause of sdcard formatted as internal getting burned out, they aren't meant to do all that writing/rewriting/overwriting/deleting constantly. Frequent activity kills it in the end, hence, my original post warning against the downsides to using external as internal. Once external is incorporated into internal, if the external gets corrupted, the OS won't boot or operate, potentially making a terrible mess to get the device recovered but not the external sdcard, it's toast at that point, along with everything that was stored on it, in some cases, the device can't be recovered either, due to lack of software support or publicly available downloadable firmware.
TakuSkan said:
Is there any way to specify the added memory as being data storage only? I only want the extra memory for writing video from the phone to a space large enough to hold multiple files
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It might be possible somehow, but it probably requires root and some other apps that use root to make the needed modifications to direct data where you want it stored. I'm not sure it's possible though because, as I said previously, the OS sees internal and external as one complete partition, with no way to "see" a difference between them because they no longer have differing disk designations.
In my honest opinion(based on my exposure and experience with various devices that have used this as an option and the issues they have had along the way), using external as internal is too risky and shouldn't be used. Oddly, Adoptable Storage works better on devices that have better hardware and plenty of internal storage than it does on lower end devices with limited hardware and limited storage, the lower, limited devices are typically the ones that end up having issues. I know, this seems counter-intuitive since the better devices don't need the extra internal storage and the lower devices do need the extra internal storage, but we both know that flash memory is very unreliable for continuous write/delete/rewrite and is doomed to fail.
Could you possibly consider some kind of OTG storage, wireless USB drive or some kind of "cloud" storage or FTP setup?
You should be able to direct your downloads, your pics and your recordings to the folder of your choice when downloaded/created instead of having to move them after. I'm not certain you need to do this just to be able to use your external to store data.
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