Database Info

[Q] Treat sd card as internal memory?

I have been searching for some time and cant find a definite answer on the subject,
is there a way to make android believe your sd card is internal storage? i dont plan on needing to remove my sd card, once i have it in, theres no point in removing it. So is there a hack/mod to allow the OS to believe the sd card is internal storage?
i have a desire so the internal memory is pretty damn low, especially with new games coming out that require 400mb+ of memory, thats almost the full internal drive.
anyways. any information is appreciated thanks

Sounds like you're asking about apps2sd. Yes it is possible, though you'll need a rooted phone and a ROM which supports it.

alright, well i have googles fail of app2sd on android 2.2
but a rooted app2sd+ or other style of app2sd actually allows for the sd card to be treated as though it is internal storage? or i still need to install, and then move to external.
in other words i guess, is there a way to make the sd card be treated similary to how it is in windows phone 7, or is hte conventional install, them move, which would render games with 400mb+ impossible to be installed on phones like the desire and N1?

JimmyBanks said:
alright, well i have googles fail of app2sd on android 2.2
but a rooted app2sd+ or other style of app2sd actually allows for the sd card to be treated as though it is internal storage? or i still need to install, and then move to external.
in other words i guess, is there a way to make the sd card be treated similary to how it is in windows phone 7, or is hte conventional install, them move, which would render games with 400mb+ impossible to be installed on phones like the desire and N1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that with a custom ROM like Cyanogen there is a system option to install apps (in correlation with app2sd) as default to any location you choose, I have mine to install on External, so any new app's I download from the market are automatically installed to the External storage (SDcard).
So, yes?

SD Card problem

I installed a 32 gb sd card and my phone recognized it without any problems but as I iinstalled apps to the card the amount of space in card never changed. I changed the sd card to 8 gb and I'm having the same problem. Anyone else having this problem, I am rooted and have su permission.
Thanks

vinnyjr said:
I installed a 32 gb sd card and my phone recognized it without any problems but as I iinstalled apps to the card the amount of space in card never changed. I changed the sd card to 8 gb and I'm having the same problem. Anyone else having this problem, I am rooted and have su permission.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am just guessing here, but perhaps those apps are going to the extended internal memory? The G2x (like most Androids now with large internal memory) treats 5GB of your internal memory as an SD card at the directory /sdcard. The external card you put in is found at /sdcard/_ExternalSD
My best guess is that your apps are going to the /sdcard which is actually part of your internal memory.

jimbo831 said:
I am just guessing here, but perhaps those apps are going to the extended internal memory? The G2x (like most Androids now with large internal memory) treats 5GB of your internal memory as an SD card at the directory /sdcard. The external card you put in is found at /sdcard/_ExternalSD
My best guess is that your apps are going to the /sdcard which is actually part of your internal memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right, how do I put them on the ext sd card? Do I have to partition the sd card or is there another way, seems the people that don't root there phones must be able to use the ext sd card as well??
Thanks

vinnyjr said:
You are right, how do I put them on the ext sd card? Do I have to partition the sd card or is there another way, seems the people that don't root there phones must be able to use the ext sd card as well??
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, but I can't answer that one yet, I haven't even ordered my G2x yet. I just read about this issue from another thread on this forum because apparently it was the same setup on the Vibrant. Perhaps some Vibrant owners can chime in with a suggestion? Not sure if it's possible to put apps to SD or if they just automatically go to the internal storage. However, if I were you, I'd rather have the apps on internal storage and save the SD for videos, pictures, music, etc. The internal storage will be more reliable (not fail later) and faster than the SD. 5GB should be more than enough space for app storage.

App2sd works. As long as the app supports it. But there really is no need to put them on the external sd right? 5gigs should be plenty. Put your music and vids on the external. Sounds exactly Like my vibrant.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk

tsquire99 said:
App2sd works. As long as the app supports it. But there really is no need to put them on the external sd right? 5gigs should be plenty. Put your music and vids on the external. Sounds exactly Like my vibrant.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that's what I meant but I think I used the wrong term. When you use what Froyo calls "Apps to SD" it goes to what the phone calls SD but is actually internal memory. Do you know if there is any way (without root or hacks) to have those Apps to SD actually go to your SD card (/sdcard/_ExternalSD) instead of the internal memory the phone calls the SD?
I agree that the 5GB internal should be more than enough anyway, but I am curious for sure.

jimbo831 said:
Yeah, that's what I meant but I think I used the wrong term. When you use what Froyo calls "Apps to SD" it goes to what the phone calls SD but is actually internal memory. Do you know if there is any way (without root or hacks) to have those Apps to SD actually go to your SD card (/sdcard/_ExternalSD) instead of the internal memory the phone calls the SD?
I agree that the 5GB internal should be more than enough anyway, but I am curious for sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just never had that set up before with any of my android phones. I just didn't know how to put any files to the ext sd card, I foolled around with it and basicly I just went into my file manager and long pressed the app of file, copy, went into the extsd card and paste.
Thanks for the help.
I have had the MyTouch 4G and the Nexus One, neither had that set up.
PS this phone flies.

hey guys future g2x owner here, what sd card size does it come with?

bguzmanz2 said:
hey guys future g2x owner here, what sd card size does it come with?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't come with any sd card. Supply your own.

i thought the 5 gigs was for storage and the 1.5 was for apps? i'm confused

wow, sweet phone with no sd card or headphones. lame!!
ps, still gonna get it tho =)

crazythunder said:
i thought the 5 gigs was for storage and the 1.5 was for apps? i'm confused
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this is true. However, from 2.2 up, Android allows you to move apps to the "SD card" (or in this case the 5GB extended internal storage) as long as the developer enabled this feature. This way large games and other such apps don't use up all the storage.

bguzmanz2 said:
wow, sweet phone with no sd card or headphones. lame!!
ps, still gonna get it tho =)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not many phones come with an sd card and besides why use their ear buds when you can get a pair of zipbuds from amazon?
http://www.amazon.com/Zipbuds-DGA-T...8N9G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303274745&sr=8-1
Furthermore it's none of my business and you're free to do as you choose but who sticks their apps on the external sd card? Why do that?

aironeous said:
Not many phones come with an sd card and besides why use their ear buds when you can get a pair of zipbuds from amazon?
http://www.amazon.com/Zipbuds-DGA-T...8N9G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303274745&sr=8-1
Furthermore it's none of my business and you're free to do as you choose but who sticks their apps on the external sd card? Why do that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having a Nexus One I put most of my Apps on ext 3. Worked great and always had over 140 mb of free memory space which kept my phone very fast.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

vinnyjr said:
I installed a 32 gb sd card and my phone recognized it without any problems but as I iinstalled apps to the card the amount of space in card never changed. I changed the sd card to 8 gb and I'm having the same problem. Anyone else having this problem, I am rooted and have su permission.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the idea is your apps/data go into internal 5GB (which is mounted as SDCARD) and then you use your SDCARD for media (mounted as /SDCARD/_ExternalSD)

yup.. that is right mobilehavoc.
The phone has no "sdcard" when you get it new, but it's got basically 5.35GB internal SD already built in.. So you have plenty of storage, plus you have 1.3GB for apps, and can move them to that 5GB if needed.
Although I just put in my 16GB and tried to titanium restore and it doesn't find anything cuz it's looking in /sdcard and my file is on my sd card, and the g2x has that as /external_sd
that is irritating, will I need to move all the important stuff over, and downloads and pictures n such will all from now on go to the internal 5GB. so move everything over and use actual SD for rest

Hey there, so I'm having a different sd card problem, but I can't find any threads directly related to it so I'm just going to post it here because it seems just as good a place as any.
So yesterday morning, about 3am or so, cause I'm weird like that, I finished the movie I was watching, so I went to go move it off my phone and put another one on, so I hooked up my USB and connected to Ubuntu, the sdcard popped up and I deleted the file, then deleted the trash file but when I delete the trash file I get an error message saying Error removing file: Directory not empty, and no matter what way I try to edit my sd, it won't change, it won't save any new data or delete the old, I've tried reformating with the phone, reformating with ubuntu, I've tried file managers, using a micro to sd conversion chip and putting it in my card reader, but no matter what I try my sd won't change, somebody please help me out, I just got the 16gb card like a month ago, but I bought it in Austria so I can't really return it, because I'm living in Italy.
Thanks in advanced.

Never mind my last post, I did a wipe of my sd card from the phone, pluged it back into ubuntu, and then magically, I could erase all the files.

This setup of this phone's memory is frustrating. I have an app called DroidTV which normally uses the SD card to save videos to, but due to the internal SD card it's getting saved there instead. Is the only way to change this to hope the app developer fixes/changes the way the app behaves? I wish there was an option to make the phone treat the internal SD as the external so you could more easily use your larger card as the default

Dragon509 said:
This setup of this phone's memory is frustrating. I have an app called DroidTV which normally uses the SD card to save videos to, but due to the internal SD card it's getting saved there instead. Is the only way to change this to hope the app developer fixes/changes the way the app behaves? I wish there was an option to make the phone treat the internal SD as the external so you could more easily use your larger card as the default
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See it's really a hard problem to solve. I'm coming from an Incredible which had 8GB of internal storage but it was mounted as /emmc. This meant no app except the custom camera and music apps and maybe one or two apps specially designed by devs could use the internal storage.
The way the G2X does it, all apps can see the internal storage and use it. All media apps can see the external SD as well. But you are right, the dev would need to update the app. Although I don't see why it is so difficult - they could give the user the option to a path so you could put in /sdcard/_ExternalSD/
And that would work.

Problem with moving apps to external SD card

So apparently Samsung makes the skyrocket think that the usb storage is the sd card. Because of this when i tap to move an app to the sd card it moves it from system storage too usb storage. I am pretty much out of storage internally. Has anyone else had this problem or does anyone know how i can solve the problem.

ian1 said:
So apparently Samsung makes the skyrocket think that the usb storage is the sd card. Because of this when i tap to move an app to the sd card it moves it from system storage too usb storage. I am pretty much out of storage internally. Has anyone else had this problem or does anyone know how i can solve the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not think that Samsung is unique. An external SD card appears as a directory in the external storage. It is rather easy to use this directory to store music, photos and videos. I have many programs and I am nowhere near tapped out in terms of storage. However, I believe that there are a number of solutions that would allow one to move applications to the external-external SD card.

Ya i was wondering if anyone had heard of a way to do this. I havent found anything yet.

If you are rooted you can probably edit the fstab file to switch the mount points of the internal and external memory. This has been done on other devices and a search should point you to directions to accomplish this.
There are negatives and positives to this approach, so read and understand what yoou are doing and the effects it will have before doing it.
I have over 80 apps installed, including two nav programs with offline maps for the US and have 1.5 GB in the user space for ap installs, 9.4 GB in the internal storage, and 11 GB free on a 32 GB external SD card (music files take up most of the used space).

Thank you!

integrating SD card good or bad?

does this feature work better than having the SD card as an external device?
my concern is if you change the card or have to change the card..
surely everything will go to crap if its integrated and you change or upgrade the card.

I won't integrate it, if something goes wrong you have to reformat entire SD card to make it work as normal.
I will just save everything on SD card while internal memory is used for apps/chat storage

The disadvantage is as you have stated. But the advantages are 1) it will become part of your phone storage. You can store app or any other type of date there. 2) It's encrypted and only work while it's in your phone. You won't be able to read it once it's removed but you don't have to worry about loosing sensitive data if someone got your phone. If you need to change the card (replace with a bigger card), just connect to your computer, copy the data to your computer, switch the card, copy date back to new card.

toiday said:
The disadvantage is as you have stated. But the advantages are 1) it will become part of your phone storage. You can store app or any other type of date there. 2) It's encrypted and only work while it's in your phone. You won't be able to read it once it's removed but you don't have to worry about loosing sensitive data if someone got your phone. If you need to change the card (replace with a bigger card), just connect to your computer, copy the data to your computer, switch the card, copy date back to new card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, total n00b here, but is this true? I thought the data stores were completely scattered once an SD card is integrated, so a simple copy of the data (after porting it onto a computer/other storage) to a new SD card would not guarantee reintegration, as you'd have to reintegrate/mount the new SD card.

frankfrank12 said:
Hi, total n00b here, but is this true? I thought the data stores were completely scattered once an SD card is integrated, so a simple copy of the data (after porting it onto a computer/other storage) to a new SD card would not guarantee reintegration, as you'd have to reintegrate/mount the new SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you setup initially, you have option for what folders, app you want to store in the SD card. I choose to keep all the app I use often in the phone (faster) and folders like media (video, pictures, music) in SD since they're the reason I need SD card. I currently have 64GB SD card. I plan to upgrade to 128GB when they have it available in UHS-3. At that time, I'll need to migrate from the 64GB to the 128GB. Here is my plan: Under Settings -> Storage & USB, it shows Phone Storage and SD Card. Under SD Card, it show the Apps folder with my few app in it, my music folder, my picture folder, and my video folder. There, I can move the pictures, Video, music folders to the computer. I then move the app back to phone storage (there is option for that). Then I can eject the SD card. Insert the new one and format as internal storage. Copy the folders back from the computer. In addition, I probably don't need to copy my picture files since they're backed up to Google Pictures.
It's not very convenience but the price I pay for encryption. Don't have to do that often anyway.

No way to format SD card as Private or 50/50 *Internal* ?? Useless..

I have an S7 /w 32GB that has been used up 99%. I used ADB to format my 128GB Evo + /w 50/50 however, this has not fixed any storage issued. In fact, I cannot even use the new Internal partition; the phone does not access through ES File Manager. The phone also does not move any apps unto it, and does not use the free space!
My Internal space is 99% used up and Apps even Gallery are telling me to free up space; instead of using the 64GB that's unused on my SD Internal storage.... basically useless!
Seems others in North America are having same issue. Any ideas?? Thanks, the 32GB of internal storage honestly does NOT cut it, especially with the massive Gear VR apps I have installed! :crying:

Take a picture of the settings>storage screen.

vdruts said:
I have an S7 /w 32GB that has been used up 99%. I used ADB to format my 128GB Evo + /w 50/50 however, this has not fixed any storage issued. In fact, I cannot even use the new Internal partition; the phone does not access through ES File Manager. The phone also does not move any apps unto it, and does not use the free space!
My Internal space is 99% used up and Apps even Gallery are telling me to free up space; instead of using the 64GB that's unused on my SD Internal storage.... basically useless!
Seems others in North America are having same issue. Any ideas?? Thanks, the 32GB of internal storage honestly does NOT cut it, especially with the massive Gear VR apps I have installed! :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you hit the migrate data option after setting up the sd card?

I have gone back to just using it as external but essentially the storage/settings screen read a total of 200+GB for some reason, it wasn't correct but the reading of the rest was correct.
Internal 99% full
sd card 0 apps/0 data
sd card (external) is what it looked like.
Also I do not recall it ever asking me to migrate anything... I tried it several times.

BCSC said:
Did you hit the migrate data option after setting up the sd card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. Unless you do this, its a moot point

vdruts said:
I have gone back to just using it as external but essentially the storage/settings screen read a total of 200+GB for some reason, it wasn't correct but the reading of the rest was correct.
Internal 99% full
sd card 0 apps/0 data
sd card (external) is what it looked like.
Also I do not recall it ever asking me to migrate anything... I tried it several times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once in the internal card you created, you should have hit the hamburger menu and seen Migrate Data. If you did not do this your problem is now answered. It would have moved many GB of data from the phone to the adopted SD.

After I did the migrate, I still had errors from Google Music saying that there was not enough storage for my downloads. I've rebooted a few times and deleted and remade my playlist. Still getting the error message.

Some of the Oculus apps are really amazing but it is really annoying that they don't offer any options to store at lease the media files on the external storage. Also all their files are hidden and I can't find where they keep them. I'm on the verge of getting rid of the whole application and just use the VR set like a regular google cardboard!