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[Q] SD Card mounting internal/external default directory

*I have searched for this and only come up with posts related to the Galaxy S I9000*
if this is not development please advise and move, thanks
I do like and prefer "sdcard' and "sdcard2" method of mounting the internal and external sdcards instead of the emmc and sdcard method.
However
Can the cards mounting be reversed external sdcard be "sdcard" and the internal one be "sdcard2"
and
in doing this making the default directory for storage on the tablet to sdcard be the external card.
in all my current and past roms i have ran so far all my default storage for CWM, apps and downloads have been on the internal card or 'sdcard' and not the external or "sdcard2"
I for one and may be the only one who would prefer my storage for CWM, apps and downloads etc. to be on the external card and leave the internal card for extra storage and backups copied to etc.
if a Con to this method is that the internal card would then be hard to access via pc because the internal sdcard would not mount via usb then I already have a method to access both internal and external cards via pc and usb with two apps from Market so this Con is already solved
any other Pros, Cons or opinions?
would this be able to be changed via update.zip like format in recovery or no?
I am no ways near being a Dev and respect and appreciate what the Devs here are doing, and the moderators for keeping the peace between novices and Devs.
Thanks to all and any input you have on the matter

possible half-solution
my solution (running VEGAN) has been to install Multi Mount SD-Card and instead of using the typical native android mount, you create a widget on a home screen that allows you to mount your drives. In the app's settings, specify which card you want to mount (to further the confusion, the external microSD aka SDCARD2 is actually "SD-Card One" in this particular app), choose if you want it to auto-mount (I chose not to auto-mount), plug the G Tab into the mini-USB cable, click the aforementioned widget and the drive appears on my Windows PC.
The option of mounting both memory banks is available within the app's settings via "SD-Cards One & Two", however when I selected that option, I got a message "You can't mount your SDCards at the same time". I don't know if it's specific to the GTab or VEGAN or whatever, but you can't mount both cards simultaneously through this app. However, if you want need to mount internal memory (known to this app as SD-Card Two), you can just use the native android mount and you're not affected by the app.
As far as installing the apps to the external drive, I don't have any help for you on that one, although I'd love to know if it's possible to be done.

[Q] What is USB Storage?

Hi everyone,
My Galaxy Ace Plus is my first Android phone, and since I bought it several months ago I was confused because I found 3 memory locations on my device: the Internal Storage, USB Storage, and the External Memory card that I added.
I can't really understand what the USB Storage is?
In fact I made a factory reset few days ago as the device was freezing a lot, and it asked me whether I want to format the USB storage or not, stating that if I chose to format it I will lose all my music and pictures and other files. So I became more confused because all my media files, ebooks, etc. are placed in the External Memory card! so why it would consume space of both storage locations!!
can anyone explain that please?
Also what will I lose if I formated the USB Storage only? would it improve the device performance anyway?
Thanks!
- Ramy

Internal storage , Usb storage & SD storage
internal storage is the one reserved for system, i.e 1.5 GB on Note, or in another words it is the flash memory of the device. It stores the components of ROM or the ANDROID OS. Applications get installed on this memory.
USB storage is the rest of the original storage on Note (i.e around 9.5 GB). In common language an Internal Memory where all your files are saved by default. This memory is used by most of the applications for storage of their data.
Most of the move2sd apps move apps from internal to SD Storage which means the USB Storage.
external SD Card storage, on the other hand, is the storage which relies on another SD Card put into the phone, e.g....external SD Card.
That's before you put external SD card..
If you put another SD Card in the phone, it will read as external SD Card. In the file system, it is known as external_sd.
Now, the answer to your next question.. Formatting the USB Storage of the phone is simply formatting your internal memory. It has nothing to do with PERFORMANCE. it just makes space available on your device's internal memory. :good:

Thanks a lot!
mht.msr said:
internal storage is the one reserved for system, i.e 1.5 GB on Note, or in another words it is the flash memory of the device. It stores the components of ROM or the ANDROID OS. Applications get installed on this memory.
USB storage is the rest of the original storage on Note (i.e around 9.5 GB). In common language an Internal Memory where all your files are saved by default. This memory is used by most of the applications for storage of their data.
Most of the move2sd apps move apps from internal to SD Storage which means the USB Storage.
external SD Card storage, on the other hand, is the storage which relies on another SD Card put into the phone, e.g....external SD Card.
That's before you put external SD card..
If you put another SD Card in the phone, it will read as external SD Card. In the file system, it is known as external_sd.
Now, the answer to your next question.. Formatting the USB Storage of the phone is simply formatting your internal memory. It has nothing to do with PERFORMANCE. it just makes space available on your device's internal memory. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! now I got it :good:

[Q] SD card storage issue (default storage)

So I've been running stock 2.2.2 till yesterday. This phone has 8gb of total storage, with 2 partitions, one of 1.48gb, where it installs all apps etc (usually) and another of about 5.22gb which used to be treated as an 'sd card', even though it was internal storage. It would install all data to the second partition, and I could use that for files and apps etc freely.
I just flashed a JB rom last night, and so far as I can tell everything is working fine, the only issue I have is that its not recognizing my 2nd partition as an SD card, its regarding it as internal storage, and it wont allow apps and stuff to install there. The phone keep prompting me to 'insert an sd card'. I would like to be able to use my phone to install my apps (swiftkey etc), and use my apps (gallery etc). I cant save any files, screenshots or anything, and any app that utilizies data saved on memory keeps saying 'there is no sd card'.
It might be worth noting that I flashed the rom and gapps from the sd card, and then left it in while installing all my apps again and everything else I needed on my phone before removing it..
If anyone could help me get the second partition recognized as the sd card, that would be great. If any other info is needed I would be happy to oblige. Thank you.

IMO, you really should invest in an sd card, even a 2gb one. But I believe theres a file you can edit that will change the mount point. I'm not 100% sure if its the same for JB as GB.
Here's a quick link http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12271082/android-how-to-change-mount-points
or google up vold.fstab

Thanks!
Freakthis08 said:
IMO, you really should invest in an sd card, even a 2gb one. But I believe theres a file you can edit that will change the mount point. I'm not 100% sure if its the same for JB as GB.
Here's a quick link http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12271082/android-how-to-change-mount-points
or google up vold.fstab
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply! I figured it out eventually through experimenting.. I found this thread (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1593615) and used that info to find the file, the file itself contains info on all the parameters so it wasnt too hard to manipulate the text accordingly.. The file system on JB seems a bit strange though.
Theres a storage folder, which contains the two storage devices labelled sdcard0 and sdcard1. The mount points are done through storage.
But there is also a mnt folder, with both emmc and sdcard in it. In addition the root also has an emmc and sdcard folder in it. I think the folder names (in both the root and the mnt subfolder) are shortcuts, and are directed through the <label> you apply to the string in the vold.fstab file (following these parameters: Format: dev_mount <label> <mount_point> <part> <sysfs_path1...>). I think I swapped the label for the two partitions, switched the number after sdcard (though I think this is inconsequential). I left the partition numbers as is (so the external sd card was still auto, and the internal 'sd card' was partition 8), and I turned the internal storage into 'sd card'.
When I mount an external sd card though it shows up as internal storage. Is there a parameter to make that show up as 'external sd card'?

Good find and I'm glad you got things working for yourself!

TWRP partitioning external SD doesn't work (Unable to locate device to partition)

Hi,
since the internal storage of my 8GB Moto G3 is pretty small, I wanted to move apps to my external SD, but there is only a hand full of apps I can move.
So now I wanted to partition the external SD I have, but when I want to start the partitioning, it says "E: Unable to locate device to partition".
When I google for exactly this error message, I can't find any solution. I formatted the SD via the phone, I also formatted it via PC to FAT32 and exFAT and I formatted it via TWRP to exFAT and also to EXT3 and EXT4, none of these methods worked.
I also tried it with the MicroSD mounted and unmounted, made no difference.
Also can I make the external SD to the main storage for the phone, so all apps put their files on the SD card like Whatsapp, without symlinking every folder manually?

All apps won't move to the SD. I'm guessing that if the developer specifies internal, that's all you get. On the first soak you could force apps to external which I tried with mixed results. A few would work, some wouldn't. Even on the latest, some app's widgets won't work if the app is on external.
Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

Having the same issue here, I have a brand new Santin 128gb and I want to partition it to my HTC One M9, I formatted it and then wanted to immediately partition it and then I am receiving the same error and cannot find anything else online.

Same problem here I've got a Lexar 32 GB Micro SD.

Same problem here, with twrp 2.8.2.0

Format as internal storage in Nougat?

I have searched for this but not really found any good answers. Most answers relate to marshmallow...
I bought a used phone and installed a memory card that came with it. Seems like it was formatted as internal. Shared internal storage shows up in settings but I'm not sure if that is the sd card or the actual internal storage.
Also in many apps and file managers either the internal storage doesn't show up or I'm not even sure which is which. In SD bench the SD card gets much faster result than internal memory which indicates that is the internal memory.
All of this doesn't really matter perhaps but it's still annoying since I used to be able to know what was stored where. If someone could tell me more about this I would be grateful. Here are some questions...
It says in some guide about formatting as internal storage that the sd card then replaces the actual internal storage. Is that the same in nougat and what happens to the internal storage and is it even used? Apps can't be moved but they still seem to take up space in both storages.
It said in guides relating to marshmallow that the SD card becomes encrypted when formatted as internal storage. Does that happen after migrate data is chosen or before? I have not done that yet.
When flashing ROMs can files be read on the encrypted SD card from recovery? What happens after flashing and restoring to factory settings? If the SD card is encrypted and can't be read from recovery that would be a serious problem. So where should backup be stored and what SD card used when flashing?
I'm sorry if these are stupid questions but I'm new to formatting as internal storage. The card also was formatted that way when I got it and since then I've installed apps.
I found this info on a page.
If you try to remove it, things go haywire. Your phone will throw errors until you are forced to factory reset it and you can't read the data on the SD card with any other device or the original phone once it's been factory reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://www.google.com/search?q=and...le+manager&client=ms-opera-mobile&channel=new
What happens if the phone is flashed with a new ROM if the SD card is acting as internal storage? Then if the phone is factory reset the sd card wouldn't be able to be accessed?
How can I convert the card back to normal storage and is that possible without losing apps or factory reset?
Many questions and again I'm sorry if they're stupid. Is this posted in the wrong section I also kindly ask any moderator to move the thread to an appropriate section.

I would still like to have answers to these questions.
I tried to format sd card as portable storage instead. After that I noticed it wasn't possible at all to use the sd card to install apps.
Moving apps to SD card isn't possible. So now there are only two options. Either format as internal storage or not being able to use the sd card to install apps.
But there are apparently downsides to using the sd card as internal storage. The phone uses the SD card more which puts more strain on it.
I'd also really like to know what happens after a new rom is flashed or after a reset from recovery? What apps are restored? Only what was in the internal storage? But what if the apps were on the shared internal memory?

I made a backup in TWRP. Then I formatted as internal storage again. Everything was working like it should...
Then I migrated data to SD card under storage in settings. Then I got problems. Apparently some files related to TWRP was moved from the internal storage to the sd card. At least the backup I made in recovery was.
When I entered recovery the language had first been changed to Chinese. Also the backup couldn't be found. When I tried to backup to the SD card it said "memory full" or something and couldn't be completed. It seems the sd card can't be accessed from recovery at all any longer.
Also when reboot the phone it first says shortly "sd card not found". So something has indeed changed. Seems like the SD card is only fully adopted after data is migrated. But how can I move it back to internal storage if I have to reformat the sd card again? Seems like the only accessible storage now is the card.
So what should I do? Couldn't anyone please help me to answer at least some of my latest questions?
How are flashing of roms and backups handled if adoptive storage is used? I guessed there could be problems and apparently there was. A thread offers solutions but that should only be necessary in marshmallow from what I've read.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-e/general/trick-switching-roms-loosing-adopted-sd-t3314647

Come on! Doesn't anyone know anything about this? I would be highly grateful for any clarification regarding these matters.
Lots of people probably have questions about this but I've found few answers on the internet.

Having been through the same BS, all I can say is I have wasted time like yourself trying to understand why google have botched the handling of storage so bad in nougat.
From what I can make out all apps need to use a new api for permission to access external SD when used as portable storage, even though mines formatted as ext4, the native android FS.
Best work around I've found so far is the xposed module xinternalsd.
I still can't get it to properly use both as sperate drives.
There is a thread on here from the dev of the module
I'm going to wade through it to see if it's possible to not just redirect all data to the external SD but select different locations for different apps reliably.( when I've had both usable to apps, MTP can't access the files on external sd)
Update: this now works reliably with latest 4.8.
The packages.XML edits didn't seem to work either.
First non removable battery's, now they want to get rid of SD cards and headphone jacks so you buy the more expensive phone with less features.
Yeah, we need to slow down your phone because of the battery and stuff.
A post I found while searching about this issue on reddit is worth a laugh.(I'm glad it's not just me)
https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/496sn3/lets_clear_up_the_confusion_regarding_storage_in/

External SD permissions lineage 14
From searching around this is a common problem that was driving me nuts.
Even with xinternalsd it was still crap.
Mtp couldn't do anything with them unless used from recovery.
What was odd is it would work for days then all of a sudden, you need to delete or copy something, access denied.