Google Music is great, but by default it wants to save all your music onto your internal SD, which in my case is way too small. I have over 30 GB of music that I keep on my phone and I want it synchronized with GooglePlay.
So the way we make this work is we create a link from the internal music storage folder to one on the external SD.
Some root browsers/explorers call this a "shortcut" but I use Root Explorer v3, which in my opinion is much easier.
You must have root to do this.
First, use Root Explorer to go into your external SD and create a folder, you can call it whatever you like. I used "GoogleMusic"
Next, create a folder underneath it called "files" and then long-press on it and choose the option to "link to this folder"
Next, browse to the Google Music internal storage directory (/data/data/com.google.android.music/files) and delete it (you may want to move the files to your new "files" directory first)
Then, click on the "create link" button to link to the files directory on your external SD.
Works like a charm for me.
Keep in mind these MP3s will be stored using Google's numeric naming convention, so they will really only be useful for Google Music. If you want to use the files for other players you can remove the .nomedia file from the directory with the MP3s in it.
Most of my info cam from a good write-up here on how to do it on an S3 running CM10:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/sp...e-all-google-play-music-external-sd-card.html
For the notoriously lazy such as myself, another method of getting it done is to use the Xposed framework module Music2SD.
Your method works great, as I've done it in the past, but for compulsive rom-switchers, the framework method is way quicker. This is still a nice writeup.
Related
HI.
Just one question about how to install in the microSD card.
Once i've installed the TomTom provided with the device, how do i go on with new files and folders. I mean, if i want to take my .mp3 files, .divx or even new software to install, should i create new folders for every topic: inside a MUSIC folder --> all my music; if i want to install a new program, i should create a PROGRAM FILES folder and inside all the software i need; the same with video files --> a VIDEO folder.
Is it the way to do or how do you organize all the files in the SD card?
If so did, will the TomTom have any kind of problem when finding the maps if everything is in the same card?
I haven't paid attention to the structure and everything is working well. Don't have that much stuff on card..so if you plan to put lots of files there, I think you should follow the same principals that you have when working with normal pc.
Thank you for your reply mlehtola.
i'll try to keep the SD as tidy as possible with a PC's structure, as you said.
My SD (the one on the Android, not the SD Card, why the hell did they name it SD?!) is full of junk. In fact, it comes with a load of junk by default.
How do I:
1. Get Android to not pull videos, pictures, and music from games? My gallery, video player, doubletwist, etc is full of stuff like that.
2. Know what I can delete and what I can't? I'd like to clean this place up.
3. How do I find stuff? I mean, is it up to me to make "Music" "Pictures" "Videos" folders for my own sake, and Android just looks everywhere and grabs it?
4. How do I go to my SD Card? In fact, I am 100% sure my SD card has two auto-assigned folders on it and nothing else. I have no idea how to access it or put things on it, and I am also sure my phone does not care that it exists. Obviously my phone's SD has plenty of memory on it, but I don't know why there is even a SD card slot. I was thinking of copying some files onto my SD card to put onto my friend's Android phone, but I am also positive I'd have no idea how to perform what should be a basic task.
So, help me out. What am I doing? And, what apps would I need for question four, or just file browsing apps in general.
I'm confused about what this topic is about.
All the words that would describe what he is talking about are replaced with junk and stuff.
.___.
edit: The captivate assigns the internal sd card as SD:
Delete the "junk"
thehyecircus said:
My SD (the one on the Android, not the SD Card, why the hell did they name it SD?!) is full of junk. In fact, it comes with a load of junk by default.
How do I:
1. Get Android to not pull videos, pictures, and music from games? My gallery, video player, doubletwist, etc is full of stuff like that.
2. Know what I can delete and what I can't? I'd like to clean this place up.
3. How do I find stuff? I mean, is it up to me to make "Music" "Pictures" "Videos" folders for my own sake, and Android just looks everywhere and grabs it?
4. How do I go to my SD Card? In fact, I am 100% sure my SD card has two auto-assigned folders on it and nothing else. I have no idea how to access it or put things on it, and I am also sure my phone does not care that it exists. Obviously my phone's SD has plenty of memory on it, but I don't know why there is even a SD card slot. I was thinking of copying some files onto my SD card to put onto my friend's Android phone, but I am also positive I'd have no idea how to perform what should be a basic task.
So, help me out. What am I doing? And, what apps would I need for question four, or just file browsing apps in general.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A search would have answered your questions. your SD card memory is the phones main programs memory. IT is where alot of your apps store the data. You can use many apps to as a file explorer it even comes with one. Its called My Files. I use Root Explorer which allows to access Root files and make changes to them. The sd card slot is for....wait for it.......More memory. As for it not seeing the files. there are a few music apps that let you set the folders it scans. Power Amp is the best at the moment IMHO. You can also put a file in the folders that you dont want scanned named no media, (with root explorer you can copy one of these files from the root folders if you can make one.)
with pre existing folders (for apps and such)
create a "new file" in it named " .nomedia " with the . (preriod)
this can be done with root explorer or in windows. create blank text document rename to .nomedia with NO .txt then copy and move to folders.
nothing in that folder or sub folder will be included in media scans
or if it is a personal folder you are creating name it starting with a . (period)
and ya internal SD gets messy. Use external for your files to keep organized!
Wouldn't my SD card (even if it is SDHC) be slower? DoubleTwist is already inexcusably slow with my files on the SD itself, what would it be like on the external?
And yes, I know what the SD is, I was just asking why it was named that.
Bumping this because I am curious about any speed differences, and because I would like my SD Card to matter.
I am an Android newbie here, but my god this seems difficult!
I am trying to take songs off either my usb flash drive or the memory card and put them onto the hard drive of the tab. Why the hell is this so difficult?! I must be really missing something here...
I can find the MP3 files on the devices but I have no clue how to get them into the "music" app on the tablet or even just somewhere onto the tablet itself. Any ideas here? And sorry if I sound like a complete idiot...
The media scanner will find songs on any attached storage. If you really want the songs on internal storage, use a file explorer to move them from /Removable/MicroSD to /SDcard
Edit - sorry for being brief. I'm writing from my TF...
It might take a bit, but the system will eventually scan all attached storage for media. Also, the way storage is mounted varies widely and is not always intuitive. In the case of the TF, the internal storage is mounted as /sdcard and a microSD in the tablet is mounted as /removable/microsd. Not sure what other storage is mounted as, I dont have a dock yet.
Thanks for the quick response. I had nothing pop up when I put in either Microsd, SD or my flash drive. So the "media scanner" ain't working?
And I just went to the app store and downloaded a file explorer, but now I cant find any of the drives?!
This is friggin painful! I was using filemanagerhd and could see the mp3's but there is now way to copy them onto the hardrive?
bedoig said:
The media scanner will find songs on any attached storage. If you really want the songs on internal storage, use a file explorer to move them from /Removable/MicroSD to /SDcard
Edit - sorry for being brief. I'm writing from my TF...
It might take a bit, but the system will eventually scan all attached storage for media. Also, the way storage is mounted varies widely and is not always intuitive. In the case of the TF, the internal storage is mounted as /sdcard and a microSD in the tablet is mounted as /removable/microsd. Not sure what other storage is mounted as, I dont have a dock yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there are no drives in android. the filesystem is organized as a tree and as such, everything is attached to the root or "/"
off the top of my head the internal storage is in
/sdcard
while microsd is in
/Removable/microsd
if you don't see your microsd, it didn't get recognized for one reason or another
also why the hell are you downloading a file explorer when one is included.
Yeah, use the built in file manager. Most of the ones on the market are designed for the phone variant of Android and restrict you to only being able to view the /sdcard folder.
Also, make sure you're actually correctly inserting the SD/MicroSDs (i.e. pushed in all the way and not upside down, etc).
First, how the heck are you even connecting an SD card or USB drive? If you're using the gender charger, I wouldn't count on that.
When inserting your microsd card, do you get a message that it's preparing media and then an icon in your system tray? If not, it's not seeing your card correctly. You should be able to open the file manager from there.
The easiest way I've found to put files on my device is by buying a program named "Wifi Explorer Pro." It was only 0.99 and it lets you open a web browser and upload files to your device over your wifi network. The only thing that isn't great is I can't find a way to select multiple files.
Otherwise, I think you can copy files with the file manager by selecting them and doing a long press. You can then navigate to the folder you want them copied to and paste them.
When I first got my device I just put my microsd card in a sd card adapter, plugged it into my laptop, copied over a bunch of media files and the next time I put the card in the Transformer they showed up.
That's the way it should work... Also, have you updated to the latest firmware from Asus' site? In addition, a reboot never hurts. Usually.
npompei said:
I am an Android newbie here, but my god this seems difficult!
I am trying to take songs off either my usb flash drive or the memory card and put them onto the hard drive of the tab. Why the hell is this so difficult?! I must be really missing something here...
I can find the MP3 files on the devices but I have no clue how to get them into the "music" app on the tablet or even just somewhere onto the tablet itself. Any ideas here? And sorry if I sound like a complete idiot...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need to download any file manager as it is on your device. Go to file manager if you don't see it on your desktop, click on apps at the top right hand corner and select file manager
With your microSD in the slot with music on it, go to the root directory....then click on removable, then microSD, You should see your music there.
Now click on the pencil icon on the top right hand corner, this will put square boxes on the left hand side of all your files and folder. Select the music or folders of music that you want to copy to the device by putting a check mark by it. Then select the copy icon on the top right hand corner.
Now go back to root, navigate to sdcard, in there there will be a folder called music, click on it. Once you are in the folder, click on the paste icon in the top right hand corner. Your music is now on your device, remove your card.
nxp3 said:
No need to download any file manager as it is on your device. Go to file manager if you don't see it on your desktop, click on apps at the top right hand corner and select file manager
With your microSD in the slot with music on it, go to the root directory....then click on removable, then microSD, You should see your music there.
Now click on the pencil icon on the top right hand corner, this will put square boxes on the left hand side of all your files and folder. Select the music or folders of music that you want to copy to the device by putting a check mark by it. Then select the copy icon on the top right hand corner.
Now go back to root, navigate to sdcard, in there there will be a folder called music, click on it. Once you are in the folder, click on the paste icon in the top right hand corner. Your music is now on your device, remove your card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI - File Manager HD is specifically written for HC. It's much better than stock I think.
For superuser stuff the stock file manager is no bueno, i'm using root explorer with no complaints.
If you cannot see your sd card it probably needs to be formatted again via a phone or even a pc but try and keep it as FAT32.
Other things i've noticed when my media scanner doesn't run is to reboot and it for sure will run on startup
A really good file manager for those with old habits, especially if you have the dock, is Ghost Commander. It's a two-pane file manager like Total Commander or Far, and it's fully keyboard enabled with familiar shortcuts - Tab to switch between panels, +/- to select/deselect files by pattern. It also uses number keys to represent F1-F10 - so 5 is "Copy", 6 is "Move", 7 is "MkDir" etc. And all letter keys start inline file search by name. Very fast when used keyboard-only.
Also see this for more info on what it can do...
I always just drag and drop, create a folder called music > artist > album name > music files
doesn't get any easier than that.
Is there any hack/workaround so that I can move apps to the external SD card on my rooted Verizon SG3?
android94301 said:
Is there any hack/workaround so that I can move apps to the external SD card on my rooted Verizon SG3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't move apps, but you can move the app data. check out this app, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1410262. I used v2.0o. I used it to move the downloaded content from Rdio off my internal storage and onto my external sd. Just know that the top line is the destination line and the bottom line is where the files are coming from. Also make sure the destination folder location exists before placing files there via the second line.
EDIT: I have to say that while it works I had difficulty downloading new music to my moved location on the extSD card as a result of the app. The music that I had moved worked fine, but I just could not sync new music to my phone after using this app.
Solar257 said:
Can't move apps, but you can move the app data. check out this app, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1410262. I used v2.0o. I used it to move the downloaded content from Rdio off my internal storage and onto my external sd. Just know that the top line is the destination line and the bottom line is where the files are coming from. Also make sure the destination folder location exists before placing files there via the second line.
EDIT: I have to say that while it works I had difficulty downloading new music to my moved location on the extSD card as a result of the app. The music that I had moved worked fine, but I just could not sync new music to my phone after using this app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. It's not exactly my dreams come true, but it will help with Camscanner and a few others.
A little background will probably help here; I've long been frustrated that if you have your music in the Google Music app and pin it to your device, Google obfuscate it in such a way that other applications can't access that music. Why is this annoying? Because it forces you to make choices you probably wouldn't otherwise and can end up with you having to clog up your internal memory with all your music when it would make far more sense to have it all on your external SD card where all apps can access it. Of course Google made another security decision that any app that had data on the SD card had it in it's own folder, almost completely scuppering the concept of having a shared Music folder on an external SD.
So I came up with a plan;
- When I purchase new music, I'll drop it into a folder on my laptop and Google Music Manager will sync that up to my account so it's available in the cloud and as a backup. No fuss there.
- BitTorrent Sync will then take care of syncing it to a folder on my phone's SD card and any other devices that take my fancy (can't have it in a folder on the root of the SD card called Music - Google won't allow apps to store they files that way so it goes in something like /com.bittorrentsync/data/Music etc).
- Create a symlink from the internal Music folder to the bittorrent Music folder and Hey Presto!
My initial expectation was that all apps *apart* from Google Music would be able to see those files and for the time being, I would have been happy enough with that - better that 99% of potential apps work nicely than only 1%.
So I've done all the above - I had to use FolderMount to do the symlink as I'm not a linux pro
However, the odd thing is that the exact opposite of my expectation has happened. Google Music can see the files (when you set "Downloaded only" in the Google Music app), other music apps can't! So far I've only tried DoubleTwist and DJay2 but neither can see anything and neither have a setting to change where they scan for media.
So I guess my question is - is it even possible to have all apps get their Music from a single resource on the external SD card, whether using a symlink or otherwise? Is there anything I could have done better? Any other advice?
EDIT: I'm running Android 4.4.4 on an LG G3 which is rooted to allow me to run FolderMount
EDIT 2: Thanks to this page: https://www.doubletwist.com/help/qu...nges-to-sd-card-support-in-android-44-kitkat/
I thought I had everything working. The DoubleTwist page describes how to completely clean the AMS database and force a reindex. One reboot and a few minutes of waiting and all apps have access to my symlinked folder!!! However, Google Music and DoubleTwist are not showing quite the same number of tracks and adding new tracks to the sync'd folder doesn't seems to force and update of the media DB.
So, is this lofty goal even possible? I find it very odd that Android would have such a security requirement that essentially made it impossible for apps to be able to access a centralised resource of music files on the external SD card.