Hey guys, I'm posting here to discuss a common feild of today's modern Android devices. That is nowadays you all might be frequently seeing devices with a sort of "combined" internal storage for apps and media both at the same place as both fill the space from the same internal partition or perhaps the only internal partition. My question is that how is this possible as how can both the user media files and apps be on the same partition without affecting or getting in contact with each other as file manager does not show apps but the space is used and same for app storage.
So how does this happen or how does this work and is there any way to implement this on regular phones with partitioned internal storage for apps and media separately (as this partitioning by the oems are sometimes frustrating as mostly the give very small app storage space and unnecessarily larger storage space which is usually replaced by a larger external micro SD card on small storage devices like 4 GB or so)?
Eg of combined storage devices include most Lenovo devices and never Micromax devices.
Thanks in advance for replying.
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The iPhone allows apps to be stored anywhere on its memory but you cannot use the phone as a USB mass storage device or upgrade its memory. This isn't likely to change.
The WP7 allows apps to be stored anywhere on its memory but you cannot use the phone as a USB mass storage device. You can upgrade the memory on some phones with certain SD cards and in the future there will likely be more SD card options.
For Android, the current system is "internal" or "ROM" memory that houses the OS and apps--ranging from 512MB to 8GB--and media memory. You can generally upgrade the memory and use the media memory as a USB masss storage device. Some apps will allow you to Apps2SD and install a portion of the app on the SD card.
Other phones certainly have sacrifices but you can utilize 100% of their memory for whatever you like. On Android, you have part of your phone you can only utilize for apps and part of your phone you can only use for media. This results in wasted space--you may have multiple GBs free of media space but no more space for apps, or lots of free app space but no where to store more media.
Is this the future for Android? Hoping that your new phone comes with the same ratio of ROM/external as apps/media you want? Does Google have plans for Android's memory architecture?
I'd say yea rather waist of space but with fro yo developers can start code it to allow storage on device. This means that they see our issue and trying to solve it on further launched os updates.
If you can't wait for that I recommend installing titanium backup, to force apps over to your SD. This is a method I use and no I might be unable to use certain widgets but I don't find them THAT important anyhow.. Specially regarding you free up space!
So I guess it's a question of patience and what you would prefer at times, use of some widgets or not.
Example handcent hope spelled it properly. They disallow moving to SD, so I just force it over there and ignore that 1x1 widget showing unread text messages.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Nexus S have a lot of storage for the apps plus it shares internal memory any way, so is there point to move apps to SD?
Does it make apps to run slower if they moved to SD?
Some of the apps installs to SD by default, should I move them back to phone?
Thanks.
as a general rule, it's more beneficial to install apps that can run properly from SD to SD during installation
this saves internal memory space
it doesn't really affect performance
the original concept of App 2 SD was for the older phones that had very little internal storage memory
AllGamer said:
as a general rule, it's more beneficial to install apps that can run properly from SD to SD during installation
this saves internal memory space
it doesn't really affect performance
the original concept of App 2 SD was for the older phones that had very little internal storage memory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally disagree with the general rule part.
I think it's pointless to bother moving something to the /sdcard on a Nexus S (Galaxy S, Vibrant, Captivate, etc) unless you're running out of internal ROM space for apps. Even with 130+ apps (many of them larger ones like co-pilot, 3D games, etc), I never have gone above 500mb used for apps on either my Galaxy S or Nexus S.
I won't say I can't imagine ever needing more than a gig, but it doesn't seem likely in the near future.
There's also a downside to using apps2sd when you're not out of space on the internal memory: you're giving up limited sdcard space for media storage like music and movies. Granted not much, but without an external sdcard, our Nexus S is even more limited in that regard. On my Galaxy S I had almost 28 gigs of stuff on the two cards (int and ext sdcard)...YMMV.
Everyone's usage patterns are different, so there's no right/wrong answer here.
From Droid Forums:
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...ion-storage-vs-internal-storage-question.html
The droid 3 has 512 meg ram (random access memory) for running OS and apps being used.
It also has 16 gig of internal storage (basically like an internal sdcard/flash drive).
This 16 gig is divided up in to different pieces, some to store the system (OS) files, some to store your apps that you download. It appears to use a little about 2.5 gig for this.
The rest of the internal storage is mapped as /sdcard (about 11.5 gigs). This is where you store pictures, .mp3s, etc....and where apps you download will store their data (kindle books, launcherpro backups, etc...).
A physical sd-card you install is "extra" space for you to store more pictures and songs and such.
Q1) How is the OS allocating between the 512MB RAM and the 16GB internal storage?
Two different pools.
512MB ram is RAM for the phone's OS and running apps.
16GB internal storage is storage of the system files and apps downloaded.
Q2) Are my applications installed across memory and the storage?
Memory is for running apps
Storage is for storing apps
There is no cross memory usage
Q3) Do I have control of where the apps are stored between the onboard memory and onboard storage?
No. On board memory is not for you to use, it's for the OS and running applications.
On board storage is divided in to sections, some for downloaded apps from the Market and where the system files are and another section for your files (documents, pictures, songs, etc..).
The 1.53GB remaining is the /data mounted partition for apps you get from the Market (or other sources). The 11.35GB is for where you would put pictures, music and such. They are both off the internal 16GB storage just separated in to different partitions. (2gb for /data, 11.35 for /sdcard).
Adding an additional (real) sd-card to the slot will mount as /sdcard-ext giving you more storage for pictures, music and such.
◦Like
Tom Crews
SnkBitten - http://android.snkbitten.com/
(available on Rom Manager)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This question was asked in relation to the Droid 3, and the below answer is awesome, and I get it 100%, But I am wondering: Does this apply to the D2G at all? The 8GB internal storage that it has is massive compared to most phones in the same "class". I bought the phone, assuming, actually, that the 8GB was somewhat useful, but it's only been useful by ensuring I never, ever have to install an app on the sd card.
I have 120 apps, yet, 5.93 of this 8 GB is still available. In other words, NOTHING I ever do will come close to filling it, short of finding a way to put my pics/videos/music there.
It seems the Droid 3 allocates this space logically. But is there a way to make the D2G do it? An app, maybe? Or has it been doing it all along without me even realizing it?
You need to be rooted to be able to use that space.
Gasai Yuno said:
You need to be rooted to be able to use that space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am rooted. Now what?
This requires either adb shell or a terminal.
First, you need to create a new folder for your stuff in /data, and set the permissions for it to 644 sdcard_rw:sdcard_rw.
Second, to be able to access it from your PC (and make the phone scan it for content along with the SD card contents) you will have to bind it to a folder on the SD, using mount's bind option.
I think that the bind mount won't survive reboots, so you'll have to bind it every time you boot your phone (you can always automate it via a script though).
I know there are several apps that will move apps to external storage but are there some apps that are better left on internal storage due to performance issues? Listing every app probably isn't feasible so are there distinct characteristics or types of apps that I should leave on internal storage vs external?
Hi, I have an old Redmi6A phone (Lineage OS 17.1) that only has 8GB of internal memory. This is very little if you use Whatsapp. Of course I added a 32Gb SD card, but with whatsapp I have trouble saving my photos on the card. What are the possible workarounds?
1- Is there a difference depending on whether you set the SD card as portable storage or internal storage?
2 - My phone is rooted. I've looked for practical solutions including magisk, but no module matches.
3 - Beyond whatsapp, what should I do: is there an app that allows other apps to be installed on the external media? Is this a good idea? Is it better to limit the storage of data on the SD card to avoid the crash of these "deported" apps?
Just an advice or two would make me happy...
If Android device allows to make external SD-card part of internal storage memory ( keyword: Adoptable Storage ) then you are good. Check it.
I believe that my android device allows me to do this. The French translation does not use the words adoptable storage "stockage adoptable" but the 1st drawing seems to match.
What I have read on the subject indicates that the reading and access time to the data on the external card is much longer than on the internal memory. How does android arbitrate what it stores on the internal or external memory? Can the user control this?
I assume and hope that the most crucial apps are on the internal memory
It's on you how much of the SD-card's storage memory ( in % ) you'll add to internal memory: 1,2,...,100.
Yes, reading / writing to device's "portable memory" basically takes longer. So with regards to file transfer speeds, choosing the right memory card is crucial. Look here:
The best SD cards for 2023: top memory cards for your camera
We've tested and ranked all of the best SD cards you can buy
www.techradar.com
Android by default uses device's internal memory. The least app's allow to store their data on external SD-card: this is set by app's developer.
I tested the 2 options; first the adoptable storage but for some reason it didn't work; I mean the operation was correctly done but the 32Gb was not added to my internal memory; just a few hundred Mb more. I repeated the operation 3 times to rule out the possibility of an isolated incident.
So I was forced to reformat the SD card as external memory. Everything went well. But now I'm back to the original situation.
My search led me to 2 apps (Link2SD and App2SD) to override the restriction to move to the SD card. Those apps don't seem to be really used anymore: their peak corresponds to the 2015-2016 versions of Android (Marschmallow and Nougat) and are quite complex to handle since you have to format the external SD card in several partitions to be able to consider moving anything.
What do you think about this type of solution?
As @xXx yYy already said:
The least app's allow to store their data on external SD-card: this is set by app's developer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thus forget the named 3rd-party-tools that claim they can.
BTW: look inside here
Whatsapp folder in Android: Here's where to find it
WhatsApp folder with all media files in Android can be found on new location if you are on Android 11. Learn here where to find it.
mobileinternist.com
Napafroi said:
I tested the 2 options; first the adoptable storage but for some reason it didn't work; I mean the operation was correctly done but the 32Gb was not added to my internal memory; just a few hundred Mb more. I repeated the operation 3 times to rule out the possibility of an isolated incident.
So I was forced to reformat the SD card as external memory. Everything went well. But now I'm back to the original situation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After an external memory got converted to portable memory it's Android what automatically moves data from internal memory to portable memory as long as they moveable to gain internal memory space. Thus the few 100MB you reported.
You always can configure the amount of portable memory indeed to be used by Android's Storage Manager ( SM ) using ADB.
Well, I think I'm getting used to this adoptable storage which is really confusing since the size doesn't take into account the extra 32Gb (in the storage manager and also in solid explorer).
I don't know if it's a bug but sd maid and its memory analysis function allows me to check that telegram, osmand (including downloadable maps) and vivaldi browser will install directly on the adaptable storage. That's all I ask.
It's still surprising not to be able to view the content of the SD card; maybe it's a bug like others have experienced like on this thread
I wanted to experiment a nandroid backup on MicroSD adopted-storage with TWRP which was refused.
xXx yYy said:
You always can configure the amount of portable memory indeed to be used by Android's Storage Manager ( SM ) using ADB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I understand better the interest to calibrate the portion of adoptable storage...
Screenshot no. 5 shows 2.7 GB of the portable memory ( real capacity 31 GB ) are used.
To get the whole portable memory as internal memory used using ADB try this
Code:
adb shell
sm list-disks -> This cmd returns id of SD-card e.g. 179:160
sm partition disk:179:160 private -> Here you use the id of SD-card
where the numbers are the Android's name of your disk.
I just did this.
Reboot but it didn't change anything. Maybe the card is defective...
EDIT : oh wait, yesterday I inserted this same micro SDcard in an old samsung galaxy tab4 with the "same" custom rom (LineageOS 17.10) as adoptable storage. The 32Gb capacity was not added to internal memory as well. Maybe this rom is buggy for managing adoptable storage.
Sorry for my english
The ( meanwhile outdated ) Lineage OS 17.1 - a Lineage OS 17.10 probably doesn't exist - is based on Android 10 and can "Adoptable Storage" as you initially confirmed.
IMO you are probably doing things wrong
"migrate data" is the 2nd necessary step after 1st step "adoptable-storage" is created. It will ( try to ) move all apps from phone into SD-card ( if app is moveable ), means all new installed apps will directly get installed into SD-card as long as android:installLocation="auto" is defined in app's AndroidManifest.xml.
When 100% disk space got adopted you can't see your SD-card any longer, the only way to check disk usage is from Android's cmd line running df -h /mnt/expand/* ( if Android is rooted consider 3rd party apps like Link2SD instead ).