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[FIX] use Apps2SD hack or Link2SD to solve the storage space problem in SGS4G

Some of you might now this well, if you had been through the older generation of the phones with very low internal storage space.
Apps2SD Script, Link2SD, and ... another lesser known flavor of App2SD have been used and still in use for a long time to make External SD cards as extended internal memory.
of course you'll need at least a Class 6 of better microSD to not feel the lag.
The great thing is the SGS4G as all its brothers/cousins models comes with its own 14 GB ~ 15 GB of internal storage space (SD card)
so when you use Apps2SD hard link script, or better yet Link2SD then it will by default use the Internal SD card as the memory extension
and you can still use the External SD to transfer stuff.
so even when you remove the External SD you wont disable the internal apps that are running.
the only IMPORTANT Rule to remember when you use this setup is to NOT USE the stock MOUNT USB
instead use the MULTI USB MOUNT or DUAL MOUNT both found in the android market.
that will prevent the Internal SD from being mounted as well, and causing the phone to reboot

[REF]
Link2SD
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=919326
more details here to use ext3 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=923628
the good ol' Apps2SD hack before Froyo was even born
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=742126&highlight=apps2sd
Dual Mount SD Widget
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.protocol.x.USB&feature=search_result
Multi Mount SD-Card Free
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.rafoid.multimountsdcard.widget.free&feature=search_result

AllGamer said:
so when you use Apps2SD hard link script, or better yet Link2SD then it will by default use the Internal SD card as the memory extension
and you can still use the External SD to transfer stuff.
so even when you remove the External SD you wont disable the internal apps that are running.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pardon my ignorance, i am getting confused by "internal" and "external" SD, I believe the "internal" is the one that comes with the phone, which one is the "external" one?

external SD = microSD
internal SD = 15 GB of internal space
internal Storage = 1 GB of full bloatware with only 180-ish MB usable space
you will not see external unless you stick in a 16GB or 32GB microSD into the phone

I am confused how this helps Galaxy S 4G users? The Galaxy S 4G lacks the 16gb internal SD, that is the issue. It only has 1gb internal memory of which only ~300 megs appear to be available for app install/storage out of the box. I understand you can install your apps on the external 16gb (included) SD Card but that has always been the case. What am I missing here?

Yeah, I'm missing something here too. The Vibrant has the internal storage of ~16mb while the gs4g does not...
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App

... wow im finding less and less of a reason to keep this phone ffs... i was told at the tmo store that it has 16g internal and thats not true. these sales reps need to learn there stuff

AllGamer said:
external SD = microSD
internal SD = 15 GB of internal space
internal Storage = 1 GB of full bloatware with only 180-ish MB usable space
you will not see external unless you stick in a 16GB or 32GB microSD into the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the help. Even though as dcam and Seanathan mentioned. This Galaxy S 4G phone doesn't come with the Internal SD space like it's brother's have.
If I run out of memory again for apps I will try this out. I manually did the "Move to SD Card" for all the Apps I was able to do that for to get more memory under the Setting's options.

This may sound odd to some, but I prefer the setup with the memory for the S 4G. I actually still have the Vibrant & recently got the S4G, & just out of curiosity, I loaded the same exact apps to the S4G as I had on the Vibrant. Having the apps on the SD card has a tremendous effect on the performance than having them on the internals. There is of course the lag issue on the Vibrant, but the S4G just just kept on trucking, no lags. I even went a step further & pulled up google maps, you tube, media player & still didn't skip a beat. I tried that with the Vibrant & I had to restart...

What people are posting about devs being able to do with 1gb on memory is stupid. I have an hd2 with 1gb running cm7 on it. I still have about 600mb free on it. Of course I use apps2sd on it but that's just a personal preference. Devs will be able to do plenty once all the bloat and crapware is stripped from the 4g
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

Beefvvl said:
Thanks for the help. Even though as dcam and Seanathan mentioned. This Galaxy S 4G phone doesn't come with the Internal SD space like it's brother's have.
If I run out of memory again for apps I will try this out. I manually did the "Move to SD Card" for all the Apps I was able to do that for to get more memory under the Setting's options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, that is true
but the Apps2SD script hack, or the Link2SD still works with the External SD
if you use the Multi mount or Dual mount USB then you can access the files on the PC without breaking the connection internally for the phone apps
ironically that's one of the problem with the Nexus S, the lack of External SD support, and only 1GB of space, so everything needs to be moved to External SD, and be able to use it meanwhile you share file on the PC

has anyone tried to repartition with MiniTool Partition Wizard? after I resized the original partition, and tried to create a new partition, it gave an error messaging saying the new partition could not be created unless I delete all the partitions and re-create from scratch.

AllGamer said:
yes, that is true
but the Apps2SD script hack, or the Link2SD still works with the External SD
if you use the Multi mount or Dual mount USB then you can access the files on the PC without breaking the connection internally for the phone apps
ironically that's one of the problem with the Nexus S, the lack of External SD support, and only 1GB of space, so everything needs to be moved to External SD, and be able to use it meanwhile you share file on the PC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just curious. Which one is better out of the two or can you use both in conjunction with each other? Also which App2SD do you use? There are a couple from different devs.

Beefvvl said:
Just curious. Which one is better out of the two or can you use both in conjunction with each other? Also which App2SD do you use? There are a couple from different devs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
both can be used together
although the Link2SD is quite straight forward
you just need to repartition the SD card to have a linux EXT partition
then you can use either the ext2 or ext3 to mount it and use Link2SD to manage the apps as you would use the native Apps2SD supported by Froyo and newer AOS
unfortunately the Froyo method of Apps2SD only works if the developer of the apps enables it
but Link2SD will force even apps that are not natively apps2SD capable to run from SD

Cool. Thanks for the info. I tried using App2SD from the market but I don't think this is the same App2SD hack that you are referring to. It didn't really help me much at all. I'll try out Link2SD maybe some other time.
I ended up using Titanium Backup and did moved apps to SD. I was able to move the pre-installed apps to SD and also all the other apps that weren't able to move to sd originally.

for the Apps2SD hack to work and/or Link2SD
you will need to have an External SD formatted with a 2nd partition to ext2 for it to work

update
the latest version of Link2SD is FAT32 compatible
so now you no longer have to partition and format the External SD card to have a linux ext2 partition

AllGamer said:
the latest version of Link2SD is FAT32 compatible
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've found that some Linux systems have some speed penalty when writing to M$ filesystems. There have also been discussions about "aligning" FAT filesystems with flash blocks, such as http://www.patriotmemory.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3696
Is there solid evidence about the relative speed of FAT32 vs. ext3 (or ext4) for the partition to be linked to?

I am so glad I found this thread! I've been pulling my hair out over this MAJOR design flaw of minimal app space on the Galaxy S 4G! I felt forced to root this wonderful phone just to have a chance at correcting the designers mistake. I thought I was going to have to wait for a ROM to be released.
I was at 50MB available space before this suggestion and now I have 188MB free! I used paragon partition manager and partitioned 350MB in ext3. That was more than enough, as I've only used about 170 MB of that space. Anyway, thanks all you great people!

How did you get TB to move pre-installed apps? Have tried that to no avail - thanks in advance.

Moving apps to ext. SD card

Hello all
this is my first android phone.
i managed to move some apps to sd card, but only to the internal.
How can i get them to the external sd card ? the ext. card is a mount point inside the internal one, thats what i found out.
Cheers
Lorien

At this stage it cant be done.

Oh, so is it a specific problem with the LG FW or is it the current Android OS ?
Lorien

Lorien25 said:
Oh, so is it a specific problem with the LG FW or is it the current Android OS ?
Lorien
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a limitation of the Android File System in general, not of froyo, gingerbread or ice cream sandwich. This is how the OS works.
What you can do is to go the the phone settings then programs then app manager and there click one by one the apps and choose to move to the SD card. You will notice that you will still have a portion of the app running from the phone memory. This is something that you have to live with for the time being but at least the half of the app should have been moved to the SD so at the end of the day you will gain some space.

Yes thats what i already did, worked great, but i do still have a almost empty ext. sd card. All the apps i moved are still on the internal sd card.

How about using apps2ext ? This is a modified version of the original (pre froyo) apps2sd that uses a "hidden" ext2, 3 or 4 partition on the SD card. I can only find it as part of custom roms. I'm sure it needs root to work too?
Anyone know if that would work?
Pete

mad_sunday said:
How about using apps2ext ? This is a modified version of the original (pre froyo) apps2sd that uses a "hidden" ext2, 3 or 4 partition on the SD card. I can only find it as part of custom roms. I'm sure it needs root to work too?
Anyone know if that would work?
Pete
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think we might have success with that actually. I will give it a try and I will let you know.

Any progress in this matter ? My internal SD Card is already full ! Have to start removing apps to install others.
I think those Android OS limitations are pretty wierd, so the ext. card slot is just for photos,videos on an android phone then ?

I did try to use darktremor on this phone but it won't work on stock firmware. I think that we need to wait for CM7 before we are able to install the whole app on the external SD.

m33ts4k0z said:
I did try to use darktremor on this phone but it won't work on stock firmware. I think that we need to wait for CM7 before we are able to install the whole app on the external SD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The main problem is not the apps themselves. So Darktremor's A2SD would not help. The problem is, the extra files for large games are automatically downloaded to internal sd memory. Which is limited to 7GB. New games require more than 500 MB's each, so 7 Megs would be enough for many of us, but not enough for some of us.
It is certainly enough for me right now, but you cant see what future brings.

Hi guys,
I'm having this problem now.
Basically, my internal memory is being used by don't know what and I have left around 400mb.
The problem is that I cannot download more 3D games, they require around 500mb each!
I have tried to delete photos, videos and apps that I don't use but even like that it's not enough.
So now, I have a empty SD Card of 16GB and a phone/system that doesn't let me use that free space for "nothing".
BTW I did transfer the internal apps to the SD card, but very little changed.
Does anyone managed to find a solution for it? how can they sell android phones claiming that you can expand the memory of it if you are not able to use that memory for apps?
I already feel sorry for those that have the Evo 3D which apparently comes with 1GB internal memory.
And how can I move the 3D games to the SD card?

i think we have to wait until firmware update .. right now still behide 2.2.2 not even on 2.3 yet .. so i think we could move all app to ext card until 2.3 or higher.. i have try all the app out there .. not even one of them working .. you can move to internal memory but not ext sd card ..

you can also resolve this problem by switching internal and external memory. this works fine for the phone but messes up mass storage mode in windows! so you will find problems mounting your sd-card in windows - so you have to use alternatives for file transfer (ssh, ftp, adb) - means this is pretty much for advanced users only

[Q] Can't install a game!

I am running an SGH-T599 with CM11 4.4.4. I am trying to install Mortal Kombat X, but every time I try, I get an error saying "Couldn't install app. Not enough storage available on the external storage," or something close to that. I know for a FACT that I have enough room on the external SD card. The problem is that it's trying to install on the internal memory, which I don't have enough space on. (The internal memory is only 1.44 GB, the game is 1.5) Is there a way to get it to install the data on to the SD card by default? I was able to do this on my old ZTE Savvy, which ran Android 4.1.2. Thank you for the help, as this problem is HIGHLY annoying.

Catpocalypse said:
I am running an SGH-T599 with CM11 4.4.4. I am trying to install Mortal Kombat X, but every time I try, I get an error saying "Couldn't install app. Not enough storage available on the external storage," or something close to that. I know for a FACT that I have enough room on the external SD card. The problem is that it's trying to install on the internal memory, which I don't have enough space on. (The internal memory is only 1.44 GB, the game is 1.5) Is there a way to get it to install the data on to the SD card by default? I was able to do this on my old ZTE Savvy, which ran Android 4.1.2. Thank you for the help, as this problem is HIGHLY annoying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this: Set Install Location to SDCard by default
If that doesn't help, see how to do it using Link2SD here:
How to completely setup for using Link2SD
(It requires that your phone is rooted)

Thanks, but I have no access to a computer.
Is there a way to partition the SD card without a computer?

Catpocalypse said:
Is there a way to partition the SD card without a computer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, check this: Partition SD Card from rooted phone
Make sure you have a backup of the memory card safe somewhere, since data can be lost in the process depending upon the partition size

What about receiving no error just the ''Could not install app''?
I can install from Playstore but thats not the point. Should work both ways

I also could not install from playstore, my internal storage has 3gb free how to fix?

Try to delete the google play services cache

Have you tried it?

8gb internal storage solutions

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.

J7 prime use sd card for internal store

Hello everyone
I need your help.
I want to use my sd card as internal memory
but it turns out that in android 8.1 it is very difficult.
I tried adb but it does not recognize the Shell type commands
(try sm force-adaptive)
If someone has a solution and wants to help a noob, comment and help make my life easier.
Thank you for reading
PS: I am not root

You will need root first. Then install Apps2SD and partition sd card to use as internal.

Use the SD card as a data drive not an OS drive!
You got it all backwards.
Even if you can use the SD card like that you'll take a needless performance hit.
Store all critical data, backups etc on the data drive. Leave the downloads on the internal memory until they're vetted malware free before moving to the data drive.

in have j7 prime (rooted and have magisk) i tried everything adb, apps2sd and many more but nothing worked in adb everything is fine but nothing changes on phone i also cant do it on apps2sd please help my devices original internal storage is too little i need to make more storage with my sd card (sorry if my engilsh is bad)