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Local Storage, SD Storage & MicroSD Storage

Hello, was hoping someone could help me or possibly explain how the Storage is structured on the 300T.
You have Local, SD & MicroSD storage. On my Evo3D phone I have Local and MicroSD and when I use my Cloud Service it stores everything on the MicroSD. On my 300T when I use my Cloud Service it stores everthing on the Internal SD storage instead of the removable MicroSD card. I have heard that once you fill up the SD storage it will overflow onto the removable MicroSD, is this true?
Basically, I want to store games and Tablet data on the local and Internal SD storage and have all my music and movies on the removable MicroSD. Are there was to do this?

Unless there is a option in the app you are using that you can change where it puts the multimedia files you download from it you will have to move them to the removable Micro SD yourself.
However I wouldn't think anything would default to the removable MicroSD because they probably think the internal sd IS the external memory. allowing your external MicroSD to not get cluttered.
I don't have much experience with tablets or ICS so I could be wrong.

I would like to get it to download apps to SD instead of internal
I'm having a problem on my TF300T
All my apps are downloading off the Market directly to the Internal Storage even though I have a 32GB Micro SD Card!
Anyone have any insight as to why this happens? My internal storage is filling up quite quickly. I think the base memory on these things is only 12GB free to start so I really need to be able to swap cards in and out and have apps install to it instead of internal.
Thanks in advance
nordis,

nordis2010 said:
I'm having a problem on my TF300T
All my apps are downloading off the Market directly to the Internal Storage even though I have a 32GB Micro SD Card!
Anyone have any insight as to why this happens? My internal storage is filling up quite quickly. I think the base memory on these things is only 12GB free to start so I really need to be able to swap cards in and out and have apps install to it instead of internal.
Thanks in advance
nordis,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By default on ICS everything goes to the sd card. I believe there is a rooted option to move some apps to sd card, but I'm not sure. check out this thread. Starting on that page and for a little bit there is some discussion on it.
As I stated in that thread. I would like to know what apps people are installing that take up that much space.

I checked out that link, did not get much regarding the sd card. If apps are not going to install to it then what's the point?
As far as apps go that take up that much space, it's all kinds of them, from music apps, to gps nav apps. I use Sygic with this and
pull down all the maps of the us, right there your 12gb is gone. A bunch of forex trading apps, I have Root since last night.
I really need this stuff to install to the 32gb cards I have or this thing is going to be pretty useless to me real fast.
My sons is the same, with in a week he has his loaded with games to the point where the internal storage is almost full.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using XDA

nordis2010 said:
I checked out that link, did not get much regarding the sd card. If apps are not going to install to it then what's the point?
As far as apps go that take up that much space, it's all kinds of them, from music apps, to gps nav apps. I use Sygic with this and
pull down all the maps of the us, right there your 12gb is gone. A bunch of forex trading apps, I have Root since last night.
I really need this stuff to install to the 32gb cards I have or this thing is going to be pretty useless to me real fast.
My sons is the same, with in a week he has his loaded with games to the point where the internal storage is almost full.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if these apps work but try them out:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.a0soft.gphone.app2sd&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...wOSwiY29tLndvbmd4bWluZy5hbmRyb2lkLmFwcDJzZCJd
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...GwsMSwxLDEwOSwibW9iaS5pbmZvbGlmZS5hcHAyc2QiXQ..

Cool
It never occurred to me to just check the app store lol!
Thanks for that. Guess my brain is a bit laggy today, spent all night
getting this rooted.
Actually rooting it was beyond simple, the real issue was with Java not being recognized by Windows, so I couldn't run ADB.
All it came down to was the Environment Variable, once set it could see
the application and load the usb drivers. Then after getting it loaded I had to play with it, so went to sleep got up a hour later to go to work hehe.
Anyway thanks for the responses, this forum has been a God Sent!
nordis,

There's no way without root is there?
Sent from my R800i using XDA

KindaUndisputed said:
There's no way without root is there?
Sent from my R800i using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, some of the data from the apps are stored in /root/data/data.... You'll need root to move them (in our case ICS, in gingerbread you were able to do this unrooted). Did it work nordis?

Wasn't at system when you sent that last response.
Hi,
Sorry was going back n forth between work and home.
I have a couple of them pulled down, all with very similar names.
A couple look really promising. I will post it once I'm finished but it looks
like the majority of these will allow me to move everything that I want to
move off of the internal storage and on to the SD card.
Well all except the XDA forums, for some reason those all state internal only.
Not a big deal though. If I can move the GPS apps off the internal storage, and
my ForEx apps I think I'm good.
nordis,
---------- Post added at 01:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:12 AM ----------
This sucks,
Apparently some rocket scientist over at Asus decided that on a 16GB Base System that it was more than enough storage space to do anything anyone could want, and that the external storage would only be to transfer files to an from the device.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=26151036&posted=1#post26151036
I literally wont be able to use these systems with in a couple of days from now.
Not being able to save application data on a storage drive has to be the single most asinine thing I've ever see a electronics manufacturer do. This is really a deal breaker now. If I'm unable to get this data from point A. to point B. and still be able to access it from with in the applications, these things are useless!
This is not a Opinion, this is a requirement for me.
If there was a big disclaimer some place that said HEY YOU REALLY ONLY HAVE ABOUT 12GB OF SPACE TO WORK WITH, AND AFTER THAT YOUR S.O.L! I would have moved right past these.
I just don't even know what to do now, Play Frisbee with these things or something I guess, on the way back to the store!

nordis2010 said:
This sucks,
Apparently some rocket scientist over at Asus decided that on a 16GB Base System that it was more than enough storage space to do anything anyone could want, and that the external storage would only be to transfer files to an from the device.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=26151036&posted=1#post26151036
I literally wont be able to use these systems with in a couple of days from now.
Not being able to save application data on a storage drive has to be the single most asinine thing I've ever see a electronics manufacturer do. This is really a deal breaker now. If I'm unable to get this data from point A. to point B. and still be able to access it from with in the applications, these things are useless!
This is not a Opinion, this is a requirement for me.
If there was a big disclaimer some place that said HEY YOU REALLY ONLY HAVE ABOUT 12GB OF SPACE TO WORK WITH, AND AFTER THAT YOUR S.O.L! I would have moved right past these.
I just don't even know what to do now, Play Frisbee with these things or something I guess, on the way back to the store!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, I'm guessing the apps didn't work. Suggestion why don't you just download the maps for your current State, there's really no need to download all the maps from USA, if you're not using them everyday. If you ever need to go to another state just download the maps for that state before going. This will help you save some space. You could also consider getting the 32GB version. The only way to fill the 12gb of free space is installing about 15 Dark Meadows apps (approx. 800MB each). The larger size regular games (non THD) take around 50-100 MBs, meaning that you have space for 120 games (12GBs). This would be completely ridiculous since no one plays that much games, I have about 10 installed right now and I only play like three of them (and I'm a gamer).
Unused data should be freed, if you don't want to lose the data on those apps you barely use you can run Titanium backup to back up your data and transfer the data to your pc for later use if needed. Every media you have (videos, photos, music, etc.) you can store them in the external SD card.
Still I understand your frustration, we should be able to transfer stuff to our card without any hassle. AFAIK this isn't just an ASUS problem but an overal ICS problem.

I know
I did for just my state an the surrounding states I live near.
For the past couple of days I had been looking at running some small app on the SD card, they jump you through hoops and loops going through some partition process for the Micro SD card.
However I think I can do this right on a Windows 7 system with the Drive Management utilities built into Windows, and a Micro SD to USB reader.
Which I already have, I used for my sons DS way back, I put the card in it, through it in the system, it see's it, and tells me that it can be read, formatted, partitioned the whole 9 yards. So I will try it at work today and let you know how it turns out. If this can be partitioned this way, and then use one of these apps L2SD or something like that then it's a very simple solution.
Sorry I will post the exact name of the app I was looking at once I have tested this if it works. Along with detailed instructions.
Thanks again for all the help.
nordis,

I'm linked it all works I used a SD to USB adapter in Windows
Hi,
I'm linked and you can set it up to use the SD Card as the default for downloads now.
First things you need to do this.
You have to be have Root access on your device before you can do any of this. You have to make sure you go into settings on your device and Enable USB Debugging before you start any of this.
1. You need to partition your Micro SD Card. I used the a SD to USB Adapter, and Partitioned my 32GB Card the SD Card on a Windows 7 system as follows.
Set the 1st partition to 1GB. Set the second partition to use the remainder of the card. Download "EaseUS Partition Master Home Edition" it's free, you pull it down from www.download.com
2. You need a boot loader this is what that 1st 1GB partition is for. I used
bootice you can download it from here free http://code.google.com/p/grub4dos-ireneuszp/downloads/detail?name=bootice_0.9.2011.0512.rar
This is all you need to do with this app. Run Bootice, go "Parts Manage" > "ReFormat USB disk" (don't worry, it won't "format" the USB) > choose the dropdown option for your new first partition > click "Set Accessible" and it's done already! After that you can just click cancel/close/etc.
3. Download and run Link2SD from the Android Market, you can actually do this step first. Also this app is free.
Here is a Guide I found online for Link2SD. http://www.xperiablog.net/2011/12/12/link2sd-guide-never-worry-about-internal-memory-limits-again/
This guide shows you how to move apps, No proprietary system apps, but those are note the ones you really have to worry about taking up space anyway. It also shows you how to go into the Link2SD settings and make your Micro SD Card your default download location from places that auto install applications like the Android Market. Very nice, this was exactly what I needed, I'm very pleased with this so far.
I have to give another thank you to jgaf for this, he pointed me in the direction of the Link 2 SD software in the first place, very much appreciated!
Sorry it took me so long to post this after I got setup it's been a busy weekend though.
Good luck.
nordis

Good to hear nordis now you can keep your TF300Ts Maybe you should make a new thread with the steps you did to get it working, so other people can find it easily.

Good idea.
Just have to finish some other things up and I will
move the details over to a new thread.
nordis,

Done, I posted it in the main Q&A section. Cleaned it up a bit, added a couple of lines where I thought people may have some questions. I hope it's pretty straight forward for everyone. I went through all this like a breeze when I partitioned my card this way, hopefully every one else will as well.

Get the 32gb version of the 300.
If you can fill up 30gb with apps, you need to learn to not keep everything you don't really use.
Put your music, movies, and photos on the Sd card, you won't have a problem with app space.
The 32gb version is only $20 more. It's not like you can't afford it.

Wasn't aware of it at the time, and they don't offer it at Best Buy
When I purchased the ones I was getting I just went to Best Buy so I could get them right then.
Didn't want to wait or order them off the net, and all that Best Buy sells apparently is the 16GB version. I wasn't aware at the time that there even was a 32GB version.
However I would fill that up eventually as well. It's just not good business marketing to make a device with such a limitation in the first place. You should be able to download, and install apps where you want them and need them.
Anyway situation is resolved for me now I'm happy.
nordis,

Moving app data to SD card without root

Okay so this topic must be very common. I have the Moto E but since this is a software related question which is pretty much the same on Moto E and G, I chose this place.
Not everybody wants to root their phone. And I'm one of them cuz I dont want my warranty be void.
Ok, so the Moto E has 4 gigs of internal storage out of which only 2 gigs is available. Well, that's nothing. It filled up just like that in no time and I didnt even have any idea on who the hell used it up expect some small apps and games (Max. 50 megs in size). I just restored the phone to factory setting and decided to start from the scratch.
Now my phone has nothing expect the default apps.
Now comes my question. I can move the app to SD card but the data remains in the internal memory. Is there any possible way out there that would let me move the data part to SD card as well? I found lots of stuff ion the internet searching for this but nothing worked. I followed this tutorial: http://karthikkn.wordpress.com/2013/...ut-rooting-it/ but what it basically did is setting the default install location to SD card which did work but is pretty much useless I guess cuz its the same as manually moving the app to SD card. Date still resides in the internal memory.
I repeat my question, is it possible to move the data to SD card without rooting the phone? This is really annoying cuz I'm that kind of a guy who would love to install loads of games and apps but would really hate it if this space problem prevents. I have a 32 gig class 10 memory card with me already mounted.
Another question is: After updating the default app like Play movies, Play games, Youtube, Maps and all, the internal memory space was rapidly consumed. Tapping on "Uninstall updates" restores the space. I wonder how can updates take same amount of extra space which is equal to the size of the download? Arent updates meant to "replace" the existing version? So that shouldnt take much space I guess? But installing an update takes the same amount of space as that of the download size which is quite absurd. Any comments to justify this?

SD card as internal memory - will all apps use this including system?

The Moto E 2 seems like a good phone but with a somewhat small internal memory of 8 GB. But as it has Android 6 I thought it could work by just adding an SD card as internal memory.
But I can't find a definite answer whether this additional memory will really be undistinguishable from the "real" one. Some people wrote you still have to move apps to the new memory, some even said it only works with apps where the devs allowed it (i. e. hardly any at all). Also it seems system apps cannot use the additional memory which would be another major drawback on an 8 GB phone.
Can someone who already done it please tell me how the additional memory will be used? Can system apps be moved, can all user apps be moved, will data such as whatsapp videos be moved? Thanks.

Sorry for bumping... has nobody an idea?

The phone will see the storage as one instead of two. So will the PC if you connect the phone to it.

bur2000 said:
The Moto E 2 seems like a good phone but with a somewhat small internal memory of 8 GB. But as it has Android 6 I thought it could work by just adding an SD card as internal memory.
Yes, you can add a SD card but android OS doesn't really like SD card, your media, app won't run smoothly.
But I can't find a definite answer whether this additional memory will really be undistinguishable from the "real" one. Some people wrote you still have to move apps to the new memory, some even said it only works with apps where the devs allowed it (i. e. hardly any at all). Also it seems system apps cannot use the additional memory which would be another major drawback on an 8 GB phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can move your app, game data, media (img, music, video,...) to SD card very hard but forr app/game data, it won't run 100% as it used to be on internal storage.
My recommendation is to find other phone with more storage if you want to enjoy some apps/games with big size or move all media to Sd card but app/game data.
Have fun!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

This is a phone for my mother. She needs more than 8 GB but wants a phone the size of Moto G or E. Apparently there are none that fit that criterion other than some Samsung phones and those are pricey. I like Motorola but their new 16 GB phones are all 5" or more. And the older smaller Moto X or G aren't available anymore.
As much as I disliked Steve Jobs, I 100% agree with him on his opinion towards screen size...

Lg g5 not moving apps

I have a gold tmobile LG g5 that I just got second hand. Not rooted or modified in any way, and I have a Samsung micro sd 32gb class 10. Normally you can go to storage, format, and format as internal, but here it just says format as portable. And I can't move apps to it. Is this normal

If you're still following this thread, Most apps (due to the way they're written) won't run from the SD card, so the developers turn that option off (so that they don't have to answer all the "how come your app stopped working after I moved it to my SD card?" questions). Besides, you don't move the app, you move small pieces of it, and there's a link left in internal storage pointing to each piece. Many times that results in the links taking up more total space than the app, so you actually lose storage space.
Adoptable storage (using the SD card as internal storage) was actually developed for those little 8GB phones. (After loading the OS, the recovery partition and the download partition, there's not much space left for apps.) I've been running a 32GB phone for over 4 years now, I'm a software develop, a software junky and I help people with app problems [so I install a lot of apps just to see what the problem is, then I forget to uninstall them] and at the moment, I have 20.88GB available in internal storage - Of course I don't keep a lot of 6GB movies on the phone, but if you do, you can store over 40 full-length movies on one 256GB card - and that's what should be on the SD card - videos, music, documents, etc - anything that's not an app [oe widget, which is the same thing]).

200MB free is considered low on storage?

My phone (Samsung Galaxy On5) has over 200 mb of storage free, & it still alerts me daily that I'm running low on storage. If I try to install anything from the play store, even something that's less than a MB in size it displays a popup asking me to uninstall a bunch of apps to make room. I just installed something on another device then transferred it over to this one (saved on SD so It's not taking up any internal space) & tried to sideload it & it still wouldn't install it. Is there a fix? It seems to me like Google has no real interest in fixing major issues with Android that have existed practically since the beginning like devices being "low on storage" while Android is the top mobile OS. Perhaps if something like Pinephone would actually succeed & give Android some competition Google would care & address the issues? /r (By the way, there really should be an '<r> </r>' tag.)

tsaxda said:
My phone (Samsung Galaxy On5) has over 200 mb of storage free, & it still alerts me daily that I'm running low on storage. If I try to install anything from the play store, even something that's less than a MB in size it displays a popup asking me to uninstall a bunch of apps to make room. I just installed something on another device then transferred it over to this one (saved on SD so It's not taking up any internal space) & tried to sideload it & it still wouldn't install it.
the issues? /r (By the way, there really should be an '<r> </r>' tag.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well yeah, 200MB is definitely low on storage. And this message can certainly be annoying but it's not a bug, but a "security" mesure, if you need to take a photo or something, or if an app needs more space to run, it'd be a good thing to have 200MB leftover.

Nowadays apps can take >200Mb just for cache so yeah, it's considered nothing. I personally try to keep at least 1GB free.
Have you checked your storage whether something can be deleted? This is a great app for showing you storage use

You can put in up to a 256 gb SD card, what are you waiting for?
Use internal memory for the OS, programs and downloads (temporarily).
Use the SD card as the data drive.

Yeh, Up to 256 gb SD card should work a treat...

galaxys said:
Yeh, Up to 256 gb SD card should work a treat...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
10+ takes up to 1 tb, put a Lexar .5 tb V30 in it for $75. Not too shabby... daul drives are a beautiful thing. Can do a full reload now with no PC and little or no internet connection; completely self contained.

Very cool indeed!

galaxys said:
Very cool indeed!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The newer generations of Samsung's are capable of very faster read/write times on a fast sd card.
The 10+ shows no lag when using media files off the card. Literally have over 200 albums stored as .wav files there and movies too.
Provides a little bit of a buffer too from malware getting into the data; I've picked off a couple in the downloads folder before they got going including a jpeg. The whole card is backed up on the PC and a 2nd hdd... just in case.
Lol, have an old Dell e6400 laptop I picked up cheap. Just realized 3 weeks ago I could swap out the DVD/CD player for a hot swappable hdd insert tray... $100 latter it now has a 2tb data drive. Split the page file between the two for now, OS and data speeds are a lot better.
You can -never- have too many internal bays on any device, only not enough.

blackhawk said:
Use the SD card as the data drive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by "set it as the data drive"?

The problem is I factory reset because of being low on storage, & left off a lot of the apps I had before & I'm still every bit as low on storage as I was before if not more. What am I supposed to do when I'm not the one at fault for my phone being low on storage? I would root so I could rip out all of the samsung bloat but A. I can't afford to buy a new phone should something go wrong, & B. I don't think the galaxy On5 has a 1-click root which means having to use a windows computer which I don't have.

Android phones have an in-built feature known as Adoptable Storage, which enables users to add an extra layer of storage space for music, pictures, videos, files, and so on.
The interesting thing is that the Adoptable Storage feature allows SD cards to serve as a permanent internal storage medium. This means that everything you save on your phone will be moved to the external storage (SD card) you mounted, and not your phone's internal storage. With SD cards in play, you never have to worry about your phone's storage getting full, and developing lagging problems.

I looked it up & from what I can tell it's disabled on my phone (Thanks again Samsung.). So that's not an option. Yet another reason to steer clear of Sammy if at all possible. I remember Google saying when they gave the first presentation on android that they wouldn't allow preinstalled, un-removable, then they did, & still do.

tsaxda said:
The problem is I factory reset because of being low on storage, & left off a lot of the apps I had before & I'm still every bit as low on storage as I was before if not more. What am I supposed to do when I'm not the one at fault for my phone being low on storage? I would root so I could rip out all of the samsung bloat but A. I can't afford to buy a new phone should something go wrong, & B. I don't think the galaxy On5 has a 1-click root which means having to use a windows computer which I don't have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use 20gb just for apps, caches and a tempory download folder. So if you 16gb of memory yeah I see the issue and had to trim the the tree with S4+ before.
Use this package disabler:
Home - Package Disabler
The only NON-root solution that let’s you disable any unwanted packages that come pre-installed / installed with your phone / tablet.
www.packagedisabler.com
Disable crap you don't need and then use that same app to clear it's data. The app is still there just not running and sucking up memory by adding more via data/cache.
Clear browser cache regularly, limit the phone to two browsers max. Clear data regularly on gmaps if you don't need that data or disable if you don't use it. Police the caches regularly, SD Maid (16mb) does a good job.
As for your music, vids, documents, pics, put all of that on an SD card.
Although you can use the SD card as internal memory as jwoegerbauer points out it's best not to unless you can't avoid it. You may have to though if you can't live without some of those large user installed apps.
I could cut my 10+ down to 14gb internal if I had too... so can you.
There are apps I rarely use. As pointed out already you should have at least 1gb of free space preferably 2gb or more head room.
Sort it out as what you're doing now isn't good Android husbandry.

tsaxda said:
I looked it up & from what I can tell it's disabled on my phone (Thanks again Samsung.). So that's not an option. Yet another reason to steer clear of Sammy if at all possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not on your model without root apperantly.
How to adopt SD card as internal storage on Samsung devices?
I recently upgraded to 6.0.1 Marshmallow on my Galaxy S5 and I would like to adopt an SD card as internal storage. However, there is no option to do this. When I format the SD card, there is no "
android.stackexchange.com
It can cause operational issues anyway including crashes. Try to use the KISS (keep it simple studip) principle whenever possible to limit things that can go wrong.

tsaxda said:
I looked it up & from what I can tell it's disabled on my phone (Thanks again Samsung.). So that's not an option. Yet another reason to steer clear of Sammy if at all possible. I remember Google saying when they gave the first presentation on android that they wouldn't allow preinstalled, un-removable, then they did, & still do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whether Adoptable Storage is default feature on a phone or not can easily queried with following ADB command sequence:
Code:
adb devices
adb shell "sm has-adoptable"
If true is returned than phone has this feature.

tsaxda said:
My phone (Samsung Galaxy On5) has over 200 mb of storage free, & it still alerts me daily that I'm running low on storage. If I try to install anything from the play store, even something that's less than a MB in size it displays a popup asking me to uninstall a bunch of apps to make room. I just installed something on another device then transferred it over to this one (saved on SD so It's not taking up any internal space) & tried to sideload it & it still wouldn't install it. Is there a fix? It seems to me like Google has no real interest in fixing major issues with Android that have existed practically since the beginning like devices being "low on storage" while Android is the top mobile OS. Perhaps if something like Pinephone would actually succeed & give Android some competition Google would care & address the issues? /r (By the way, there really should be an '<r> </r>' tag.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
200mb its nothing storage broh