How is the 16Gb of internal flash memory allocated for various purposes in these phones? It looks to me like about 12Gb is used for "USB storage", or in other words the file system that appears under the /sdcard directory (not counting any actual external card that may be present.
Is the other 4Gb then handled as directly-addressable memory for storage of apps and their internal data storage? I also assume that if you go into the Applications list and select "Move to SD Card" for an app, it actually just moves it from one part of the 16Gb internal memory to another -- is that correct?
As an Android developer, this caused a lot of confusion when the original Galaxy was released, as it essentially had what appeared as both an internal and optional external SD card. But at the Android API level, a call to getExternalStorageDirectory points you to the /sdcard directory, which is actually internal to the device!
I have the US version G7 power with 3/32 GB memory. I knew I would fill that 32 GB up right away, and did. But no problem--just put a card in the SD card slot, move things over, and all is well.
In working through that, I realized there are quite a lot of options and documentation on them is not that easy to find. So I though it would be helpful to create a thread with resources, information, and questions asked and answered.
FORMATTING SD CARD AS ADOPTABLE, PORTABLE, OR SPLIT BETWEEN THE TWO
When I put my the card in, I realized you can format the card as portable, adoptable, or split between the two.
So I have a 256 GB SD card and formatted split: 50 GB adoptable, 206 GB portable.
You can reformat an SD card as adoptable or as portable by installing it and then going to Settings/Storage. Note: Reformatting will erase the card and all information on it.
If you want to split the card between adoptable and portable, you'll have to follow instructions like these: https://stackoverflow.com/questions...sd-card-into-internal-storage-via-adb-command
WHAT IS ADOPTABLE VS PORTABLE MEMORY
Adoptable memory is supposed to act almost as ordinary internal memory on your device, but it is linked to your device and will be erased if you factory reset your device, or install a new ROM etc. It is encrypted and can't be read by any external device--or even your own device after factory reset, installing a new ROM, etc.
Most guides to Adoptable Memory give dire warnings that you will lose all contents of the Adoptable Memory if you do a factory reset, update your Rom, etc. This is true--but simply makes it the equivalent of your device's internal memory, which is also wiped in those same situations.
Portable memory is the the 'ordinary' type of SD card storage we are accustomed to on an Android phone: You can save files to it, but usually not apps. You can just pop the card into any computer or another phone and read anything off of it.
Splitting the SD card between portable & adoptable seems a good compromise to me: It gives you a good-sized portion of internal memory (32 GB built in plus 50 GB adoptable, in my case) while still leaving you 205 GB as portable memory that works like a regular SD card.
ONLINE RESOURCES FOR PORTABLE VS ADOPTABLE STORAGE
Here is some background on portable vs adoptable storage:
Gadget Guide Online - best one-stop explanation of how to set up an SD card as adoptable storage
Gadget Guide Online - good explanation of whether or not to set up your SD card as adoptable storage
Motorola customer support info on portable vs adoptable
Android.com general info about adoptable storage
Article on adoptable vs portable storage and pluses/minuses of each
Android Central article about portable vs adoptable storage
Short explanation of adoptable storage
Once you format the SD as described above, you can go into Settings/Storage and you'll see something like this:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
For some reason, the internal partition lists the full size of the SD card but 205 GB (the portable partition) is listed as "system".
When you load a new app, supposedly it will load onto either internal storage or SD Card/adoptable, whichever has more space (for apps that can be installed in either location--some apps seem to require being installed on internal storage).
If you set up ADB, you can issue commands like these to control where apps are installed:
adb shell pm get-install-location Gets current install location
adb shell pm set-install-location 0 Sets current install location to auto (install to internal or adoptable, whichever has most empty space)
adb shell pm set-install-location 1 Force install apps to internal memory
adb shell pm set-install-location 2 Force install apps to adoptable/SD Card
If you have root you can just execute the same shell commands in a terminal on your phone.
The Questions/Problems/Issues with Adoptable Storage
So this brings me to my questions:
Generally this option seems to be very poorly documented. You can find guides, such as the ones I've linked to above, that tell you how to set it up. But nothing that will give much detail beyond that--how Adoptable Storage really works on the phone in detail. Any links, guides, detailed information about using this feature?
Specifically, is there anything the user needs to do to use or manage this adoptable internal memory space?
Can you just set it and forget it, assuming you have another extra 50 GB (or whatever) of internal memory and the phone and apps will just figure it out?
If you click on SanDisk SD Card (internal Partition) in settings, there is an option to "Migrate data". Once you do that, there is an option in Internal Storage to "Migrate Data" which presumably migrates it all back, if there is room. I did the first Migrate Data after creating the Adoptable Memory on the SD Card and it seems to migrate some data and apps from internal storage to the SD Card adoptable storage. It migrated a relatively small fraction of all data--perhaps 1/3? So is that necessary, helpful, not helpful?
I went into Settings/Apps and found a number of apps that were moved to SD Card, but also a number that list themselves as potentially able to move to SD card, but not moved. But every time I click the button to move those, tries to move and gets mostly through the procedure, but finally returns "Couldn't move app. Internal error." The app stays on the internal storage. Is there any way to fix this problem (or does it even need to be fixed?)
When you take a TWRP Nandroid backup, does it include the Adoptable Storage apps & data?
Answer: If your entire SD card is adoptable storage, then TWRP should backup apps on the adoptable storage.
However, if you are set up with a mixed adoptable/portable SD card then TWRP seems to miss the adoptable partition. It doesn't back up those apps. A suggestion would be to use Titanium Backup to back up those apps & data.
Although my phone is 4gb / 64gb, I used to have many devices with 32gb. I have no idea how people fill up their internal memory (provided they have SD card). I keep all my music, pictures, videos, and documents on the SD card. Only apps go on internal memory. I suppose some may install an excessive amount of apps (why?), I've got everything I need (could even do away with some) and only used 21 of the 64gb I have.
My previous device was 64 GB but with no slot for an extra SD. So 64 GB was tons of space for a few years . . . until it wasn't.
Of course, a bunch of that was music, sound files, other large media type files.
When I moved to the G7 Power I actually went through my app list with a somewhat fine-toothed comb, but even with that winnowing I probably came in with 24 GB of the 32 filled, right off the bat.
Right now I've got 32.2 GB in the internal storage, and that is with all music, videos, and other such things moved to the portable SD storage.
And as I said before, that is with some effort at winnowing things down.
Why? Well in general it's none of anyone's business why, but first off, the device was pushing 20GB straight from the factory if I recall, just the operating system itself takes 11GB, there are a few more GB of pre-installed system apps that I don't really need but can't easily get rid of, and some more that actually are useful.
On top of that I have a couple of large apps that I like and use daily, I'm interested in programming so there is a whole set of apps that comes with that, I'm interested in photography so there is a whole set of apps that comes with that, I'm interested in music so there is a whole set of apps that comes with that, I use the phone for work so there is a whole very large set of apps that comes with that, and so on for a few more interests and hobbies.
If you use your phone to text and read an email, look at Facebook at take a snapshot, then yeah, you're phone will look very, very different from mine.
In short, different strokes for different folks.
Why I'm bringing this up now is, if you're putting in a 128 GB or 256 GB SD card in the phone now, which is a very sensible thing to be doing, then you'll do yourself a favor thinking through how much space you do want to reserve on that card for this Adoptable internal memory.
Because in 6, 12, or 18 months going back to increase the storage you set aside for Adoptable memory from 16 to 32 or 48 or 64 GB is going to take a bunch of hours and screwing around. To make the change you'll have to wipe the card, so you'll need to back up & restore everything on the portable side and then also figure out how to back up all & restore all the apps & data on the Adoptable side.
Better to think it through a little now and make sure to reserve plenty of space rather than too little space.
In fact I reserved about 50 GB in mine for Adoptable Storage and I wish I'd gone a bit higher--at least 64 GB or maybe even 80 or 90 GB.
That's very little off the top of a 256 GB SD card but leaves you with a lot more options on down the line.
And hopefully most of that Adoptable storage will indeed go unused most of the time, but it's better to leave a relative lot of headroom on your system than always have it bumping up against the limits.
Snooping a round some more today, I found what appears to be the answer to those three questions I had:
> Can you just set it and forget it
> "Couldn't move app. Internal error."
> If you click on SanDisk SD Card (internal Partition) in settings, there is an option to "Migrate data". . . . is that necessary, helpful, not helpful?
The answers are in the Gadget Guide Online Adoptable Storage set guide, which is really thorough.
The short answers are:
You can (and should) just set it and forget it
The reason you can't move things to the SD card adoptable storage manually is because Android is managing it automatically [[UPDATE: This is incorrect: Android does manage the process automatically but if you have a "Change" button under the settings/apps/specific app/storage, you should be able to tap that and change the card from internal to SDCard/adoptable. See more details in post below.]]
Doing the migrate data procedure is essential--either at the time of creating the Adoptable Storage or (as soon as possible) later, via the "Migrate Data" button.
In detail:
After the micro SD card is formatted, you are given the option to move some files to micro SD card.
Please note, when you choose to use micro SD card as internal storage, you cannot control which files are saved in SD card, and which files are saved in the phone storage.
It will be always decided by the system based on many factors, for example, available phone storage and file type.
You can choose to move them now, or move them later.
You should always choose” Move now”.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't choose "Move Now" just at that time, you can go into Settings/Storage, click your Adoptable Storage partitition, and in settings ('...') choose "Migrate data". This seems to engage the same routine.
Really Nice write up on Adoptable Storage
Here are a few pointers ive bumped into using adoptable storage on my kids E4+ and now on her G7 Power
1. try to use a fast sd card(obviously) im currently using a 64 gb A2-rated Sandisk even though the phone technically cant use that A2 speed
2. I did the 25% 75% split for her which added 16gb to Her "internal" and a solid for her 48gb external
3. I did NOT migrate data i did it manually since in her case she has like 10gb in just games so i moved the games to the "internal sd card" manually which allows all her true phone apps data etc to remain in the faster phone side of memory and keeps around 8GB free in the phone memory.
4. Set Titanium to backup All external data and it saves to the "Portable/External" portion of her Card
5 Her E4+ smoked the card twice where she lost all her games etc ..... Titanium made me look great in her eyes when I restored her stuff. ( takes time BUT worth it)
6. Go into developer options and set "allow apps on external" it may help with errors when moving some apps
This is for me and is what works for my kid who loves games on her phone..... 1 such game has a 3.1gb backup file i was totally shocked by this BUT whatever.....lol
flug32 said:
[*]The reason you can't move things to the SD card adoptable storage manually is because Android is managing it automatically
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
UPDATE: Now that I have reinstalled the system, I can in fact move apps from SDCard (adopted) to internal or vice-versa, for many or most apps.
The fact that I couldn't do so before without receiving an error message was an indication the system or adoptable storage device was messed up somehow.
TWRP Nandroid backsup & Adoptable Storage
So I ran into another issue regarding adoptable storage: On my device, when I take a Nandroid backup of DATA using TWRP, the apps stored on the adoptable storage are not backed up.
Checking it out more, here is what I found:
If your entire SD card is adoptable storage, then TWRP should backup apps on the adoptable storage. (This is not 100% checked as I don't have this setup to test. But the TWRP developers swear it works.)
However, if you are set up with a mixed adoptable/portable SD card then TWRP seems to miss the adoptable partition. It doesn't back up those apps. A suggestion would be to use Titanium Backup to back up those apps & data.
This post summarizes this and more related issues.
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 ).
Hi, someone can help me to best understood what is External storage and/or Download Management?
I've this in some app > Storage and cache.
Ty
With an Android device its default storage space is an inbuilt USB device what is called internal storage, any SD-card ( USB-device ) plugged into device is called external storage.
jwoegerbauer said:
With an Android device its default storage space is an inbuilt USB device what is called internal storage, any SD-card ( USB-device ) plugged into device is called external storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never plug any extra device in my pixel 7 pro.
Also, in Dropbox app (like from screen) there is External storage + download management or similar. I don't know why and I don't know if is safe to clear this extra data.
Ty.
Dropbox has an online support:
Contact it.
jwoegerbauer said:
Dropbox has an online support:
View attachment 5887507
Contact it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obviously, isn't related to Dropbox app.
Is just a question about android.
lupastro82 said:
Obviously, isn't related to Dropbox app.
Is just a question about android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As already mentioned Android's internal storage is the entire eMMC or eUFS storage chip. Any other called external storage.
If you talk about app specific data then the terms 'internal' and 'external' storage could have other meanings.
The internal storage is the system's app directory in /data/data/PACKAGE where all apps store their sensitive app data.
The external storage is then /internal/Android/data/PACKAGE where also user related stuff is stored, e.g. pictures, movies and documents.
In this case "external" is meant as "outside" the system's app directory.