I have a few questions about app install locations for the g-tablet. There are three places where apps can go: 1. internal memory, 2. internal sd card, 3. external sd card.
For internal memory, I can see the installed apps (the apk files) at /data/app. I cannot find any evidence of any apps installed on the internal sd card (do they stay packaged in the apk file or get exploded out). What directory do they get put into on the internal sd card? In case you're wondering, according to App 2 SD Pro, I have 10 apps installed on the sd card.
Is there a way to install apps on the external sd card? Everything that I've read about and the sd card app managers that I've tried only work between the internal memory and the internal sd card.
Hmmm...nothing but crickets. Not even a question for more information? Well, here is a little more anyway. The tablet is rooted and I have tnt-lite 4.4.0 installed. I'm using Root Explorer to browse around in the file system.
This discussion might help, somewhat.
Yes, that other post was somewhat helpful. I can see the apps that have been moved to the "internal" SD card are at /mnt/asec with Root Explorer (I didn't have to unmount either...but the .android_secure folder did show as empty).
A couple of other questions for you:
1. Are you using a remote Linux machine to do those find commands or is there a way to get to that command line on the g tablet? I only have Windows so I may be stuck there.
2. Unmounting the SD card in the Settings will unmount the "external" SD card, right? not the "internal" SD card?
3. Do you know anything on my other original question about the "external" SD card? Can we move apps there some how? If not, I'd be game to try to write an app that will do it but my guess is that if there isn't an app that does it already, its probably harder than it seems that it should be.
Puhn said:
(I didn't have to unmount either...but the .android_secure folder did show as empty).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you unmount the SD card (internal or external -- depends on the ROM), you will see stuff in /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure/.
1. Are you using a remote Linux machine to do those find commands or is there a way to get to that command line on the g tablet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use a telnet session into the gTablet, but, you can run the commands either inside a Terminal emulator or via adb. It usually doesn't matter how you run the commands.
2. Unmounting the SD card in the Settings will unmount the "external" SD card, right? not the "internal" SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on the ROM. In CyanogenMod, the SD card is the removable SD card. The internal non-removable one is called "emmc" (mounted under /mnt/emmc). Other ROMs have /mnt/sdcard and /mnt/sdcard2 (Froyo/GB) or /mnt/sdcard and /mnt/external_sd (Honeycomb ROMs).
3. Do you know anything on my other original question about the "external" SD card? Can we move apps there some how? If not, I'd be game to try to write an app that will do it but my guess is that if there isn't an app that does it already, its probably harder than it seems that it should be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CyanogenMod does what you want by default. As I mentioned above, for it /mnt/sdcard is always the external removable SD card. So, everything "moved to SD card" ends up on the external SD. If you want other ROMs to behave this way, you'll have to change some of the /init*.rc files and the /system/etc/vold.fstab file and change what gets mounted as /mnt/sdcard (ie, which device is assigned the "sdcard" label). Look around, the changes are fairly obvious.
My recommedation, however, is to just install CyanogenMod and avoid the /init*.rc and vold/fstab hackery.
Good information. Huge THANKS !
One last question (hopefully)...if the SD card in CyanogenMod is the external SD card, I guess I have the reverse question for it. Can/how do you move apps to the non-removable SD card?
I guess what I'm getting at is I have a 16 GB internal, non-removable SD card and a 16 GB removable SD card that I'd like to maximize the use of. I'm not stuck with only being able to put apps on one or the other depending on the installed ROM am I?
Puhn said:
I guess what I'm getting at is I have a 16 GB internal, non-removable SD card and a 16 GB removable SD card that I'd like to maximize the use of. I'm not stuck with only being able to put apps on one or the other depending on the installed ROM am I?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh. What started as a simple question about App install locations has now progressed to low-level mucking about with the system. What next--RAID using the SD cards?
To answer your question, with the standard, unmodified ROM you are stuck with only using either one or the other. But, since Android is based on Linux, (and since we have the source code for most of the programs on the system), it can be made to do a lot of non-standard things.
I'm pretty sure that the system can be modified to use both the internal and external SD cards for App installations, but, this will need a fair bit of customization of the ROM. Which means that if you switch ROMs or even upgrade the current one, the setup will have to be redone again.
Therefore, my recommendation, is that you use one of the SD cards solely for app installs and the other only for storing media/books/whatever. 16GB only for apps is a fair bit of space, I feel.
rajeevvp said:
Heh. What started as a simple question about App install locations has now progressed to low-level mucking about with the system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I had hoped to avoid the mucking about part and that one of the available ROMs already had the ability to put apps anywhere but it sounds like that is not the case. I guess I wasn't clear with my original question.
Anyway, thanks for all of the answers. I'll stick with what I've got for now. At some point I may play around with some things and see how thoroughly mucked up I can get it.
Related
Mini info, and Settings - sd card and device storage settings are both telling me that the internal storage is the sd card and the sd card is the internal storage. Is there a fix or is it ok.
Do you mean sdcard and sdcard2?
madiom said:
Do you mean sdcard and sdcard2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It says the sdcard is the sdcar/2 and vice versa
YOU BROKE IT!!! GGGAAAWWWDDD!!!
No, you are OK. Don't worry about it. It is showing up correctly, sdcard and sdcard2.
outdooz said:
It says the sdcard is the sdcar/2 and vice versa
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still not 100% sure what you mean, but I think you are OK, it may have to with the ROM you are using, see the quote below from the OP of VEGan Ginger
"****The Latest Flash player from the market now works. Latest google maps now works download from the market.****
Internal Memory is mapped to SDCard and external SD Card is mapped to SDCard2."
If I open a file manager all of my internal stuff is located on SDcard, The micro SD that I can eject shows as SD2.
Depends on which ROM you're running. A lot of them switch them around. There's advantages and disadvantages to both. It certainly doesn't hurt to have them switched. The reason people do it is so that you can pull out your external SDCard and manipulate files and have them usable by your programs. The disadvantage is that you can't easily access the internal card from your computer - you pretty much have to do it from recovery (such as ClockWork Mod), because when you tether it attaches to the one named "SDCard (in Froyo).
And, to make it more confusing, they go by different names in Gingerbread:
Code:
Actual storage Froyo Gingerbread
Internal card SDCard emmc
External card SDCard2 SDCard
Those are the default names. Again, many ROMs will switch them around.
Anyways, that's just for your future reference if you move to Gingerbread.
I don't think this is surposed to happen. When I take out the sd card the tablet shows a message that says it has benn removed but it the storage space still shows up in setting. It has 1.86 gigs and even when it is disconnected it says sdcard 1.86 gigs i tried rebootee but same thing
Did you partition it like is recommended?
That would show your app partition of 2GB. And the other part of it is for storage.
Got my new Note, this is my first droid phone, and I got LOTS of questions. I currently have the i717 version, unrooted.
1) Is currently is any reliable way to install ICS on the i717?
2) How do I check if there were any previous kernel or ROM flashes?
3) Is there a reliable way to root the device WITHOUT increasing the counter (assuming it is currently at 0)?
4) How do I move installed apps, which are currently under "System Storage" to "USB storage"?
I can answer all of your questions very simply. Search and read.
yep all ur answers are here just gotta read,
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
Hi guys, found 2 answers so far, still looking for #1 and #4 if someone can point me to the right threads to ready it would be appreciated.
no ics for this device just yet and to move to sd there's an app u can use i just don't know the name or i think u can even use root explorer not sure on that one ill let someone else shine in on that
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
funziebear said:
no ics for this device just yet and to move to sd there's an app u can use i just don't know the name or i think u can even use root explorer not sure on that one ill let someone else shine in on that
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya from what I gathered, there is ICS for the international version. I have yet to see something for the i717.
I dont have an SD yet, I was referring to moving them from System to USB storage.
I will be getting as SD soon though.
GalNote said:
Ya from what I gathered, there is ICS for the international version. I have yet to see something for the i717.
I dont have an SD yet, I was referring to moving them from System to USB storage.
I will be getting as SD soon though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are two potential SD cards for the Note. One is the internal SD card. This is actually the part of the phone where you store your music and other files. It's the space allotted by the OS for storage. The Note comes with 16GB of internal storage, but 2GB is reserved for the system. You cannot access this for data storage. There is also a portion of the internal SD card that is used by the OS itself.
The remaining amount of storage is about 12GB. This is accessible through a file explorer such as Root Explorer, ES File Explorer, etc, and is located in the /sdcard folder. This is where any App2SD type app will move apps to. This is also where you store your music and other files like photos, etc.
The Note also has a slot for an external SD card. To access it, you take the battery cover off and right next to the SIM card, there is a little slot for the micro SD card. The Note is published as handling up to 32GB micro SD cards, but there are plenty of people using 64GB micro SD cards with their phone.
Using the external SD card would allow you to add additional music and photos and other files. It is not used at all by the OS or system, so you would have as much space on it as you can after formatting it. (You lose some space after formatting.)
So to summarize: the Note has 16GB, about 12GB available through the internal SD card. You can add additional storage using the external SD card (officially up to 32 GB, unofficially up to 64Gb).
lactardjosh said:
There are two potential SD cards for the Note. One is the internal SD card. This is actually the part of the phone where you store your music and other files. It's the space allotted by the OS for storage. The Note comes with 16GB of internal storage, but 2GB is reserved for the system. You cannot access this for data storage. There is also a portion of the internal SD card that is used by the OS itself.
The remaining amount of storage is about 12GB. This is accessible through a file explorer such as Root Explorer, ES File Explorer, etc, and is located in the /sdcard folder. This is where any App2SD type app will move apps to. This is also where you store your music and other files like photos, etc.
The Note also has a slot for an external SD card. To access it, you take the battery cover off and right next to the SIM card, there is a little slot for the micro SD card. The Note is published as handling up to 32GB micro SD cards, but there are plenty of people using 64GB micro SD cards with their phone.
Using the external SD card would allow you to add additional music and photos and other files. It is not used at all by the OS or system, so you would have as much space on it as you can after formatting it. (You lose some space after formatting.)
So to summarize: the Note has 16GB, about 12GB available through the internal SD card. You can add additional storage using the external SD card (officially up to 32 GB, unofficially up to 64Gb).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it, but still have a little question. I noticed when I install any app, it goes directly onto the 2GB system reserved space. What if I run out of that 2GB, what happens in that case, can I move the installed apps into the 12GB or I have to move it into the purchased/external SD card?
GalNote said:
Got it, but still have a little question. I noticed when I install any app, it goes directly onto the 2GB system reserved space. What if I run out of that 2GB, what happens in that case, can I move the installed apps into the 12GB or I have to move it into the purchased/external SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read this paragraph again.
The remaining amount of storage is about 12GB. This is accessible through a file explorer such as Root Explorer, ES File Explorer, etc, and is located in the /sdcard folder. This is where any App2SD type app will move apps to. This is also where you store your music and other files like photos, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^ got it, thanks.
K I researched and read, I still cannot find out if I can safely root my Bell i717, without increasing the flash counters.
Also, it seems there is no ICS yet available for this device.
Can someone please chime in?
wow this thread cleared up a lot for me. Still got a few questions though...so when i go to settings and click on an app and click "move app to sd" it moves it to the "internal sd" which has about 12gb of space? so then what goes on the external sd card? is the storage on the SD card ONLY accessible when you plug it into a computer and put it in mass storage mode? I remember when I had my nexus one, moving apps to sd actually put it on the external sd card..
The note is not a DROID. Droid is a verizon marketing term.
You can reset your flash counter. So even if you increase it by flashing CWM or rooting then just reset it back to 0. That's what I did.
Once CWM is installed flash all the ROMs you want through CWM. Just back up nandroid first and you can always go back.
I use a 64GB microSD card and store nandroid backups, photos, videos, podcasts, etc.
The internal SD (USB Storage) is used for app data.
GalNote said:
Hi guys, found 2 answers so far, still looking for #1 and #4 if someone can point me to the right threads to ready it would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root ir phone throigh odin then go search dev thread for the rom u want read the requiements then flash they r all good
note @ 1.83
... You don't need root to flash a ROM.
Instead of rooting with Odin, just flash CWM with Odin then flash the ROM from there.
The only reason to root first, is to run titanium backup if you so desire
Just got my E4GLTE and of course the first thing I did was root it, unlock it, and make a nandroid backup. I just moved from a Motorola Photon 4G and on that device the internal memory (pseudo sdcard) is mounted on /mnt/emmc and the external card is on /mnt/sdcard. Assuming you run out of app space in base memory, you can always move most of your app to the SD Card. Since the E4GLTE mounts the external SD Card on /mnt/sdcard/ext_sd, it appears that actual external storage can only be used for media or data where the app (or the system using the Storage tool) has a function to map to a different directory.
Have I described the situation properly? Does anybody else see the limitations this might pose or suggest workarounds?
..rob
bitbearmi said:
Just got my E4GLTE and of course the first thing I did was root it, unlock it, and make a nandroid backup. I just moved from a Motorola Photon 4G and on that device the internal memory (pseudo sdcard) is mounted on /mnt/emmc and the external card is on /mnt/sdcard. Assuming you run out of app space in base memory, you can always move most of your app to the SD Card. Since the E4GLTE mounts the external SD Card on /mnt/sdcard/ext_sd, it appears that actual external storage can only be used for media or data where the app (or the system using the Storage tool) has a function to map to a different directory.
Have I described the situation properly? Does anybody else see the limitations this might pose or suggest workarounds?
..rob
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I see this as a problem as well. I have looked into the vold.fstab file (where the system looks to see how it should mount partitions) but changing them just makes neither partition mount. I have a feeling that it might be something in the kernel but I will keep digging around.
Also if someone does figure it out how do you prefer them to be mounted? Internal as /emmc and external as /sdcard? Internal as /sdcard/int_sd and external as /sdcard? Maybe something else?
I guess it would depend how the apps and the kernel handle it, which of course, would vary with a custom ROM. Early builds of CM9 for the MoPho alternated back and forth, but there is also an option to swap what is internal and external as well. When it wasn't mounting at all, you could edit the vold.fstab, which would be my first inclination, so thanks for saving me that step!
I think, from most implementations I've seen, when a device has internal and external storage its been mounted as /mnt/emmc and /mnt/sdcard. Its like that on most of the custom ROMs I've used (on Nook, OG EVO, Hero, MoPho).
..rob
Im really lost on the whole external sd thing. I just want to be able to have my apps on there but android has made it seemingly impossible to do so anymore. Is there a write up or something on how this can be done with todays ICS?
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
I went into root explorer.
I went into /mnt/
And I noticed there's two options....
/Extsdcard and /sdcard
Seems like all my downloads, music, and everything is getting saved to /sdcard
What does this mean?
P.s. I have a 64gb micro sdcard card.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
your extsdcard is your external one in your phone you can remove. i would recomend saving most your files like your music and such to that. sdcard is your internal memory of your phone. you have less space there and should save it for more important things. hope that helped
It means everything is being saved to your Internal Storage. I haven't quite figured out how to default everything to the ExtSdcard yet. I know the camera can. The phone will read everything from the ExtSdcard fine though, such as music and other files.
The ext sd card can be used for the camera/video, CWM backups, music files you copy from your computer, and you can move most any files there that you download.
The internal sd card will be used for all of your apps, there's no way to 'move to sd card', you just have the full 16/32gb internal sd for all of it. Since you will always be forced to use the internal sd card for all app needs, I just try to keep everything on my ext sd card I can (my cwm backups are 1.7gb!). Not that it really matters for me though, I downloaded every app I ever use and a few games and only hit 1.2gb used on my internal sd card.
You can also go to th advanced tab within the stock browser and select memory card for default storage. I am guessing that is ext SD as the other option is "Phone".
Thanks for the information!
This was quite confusing at first. Time to start moving files
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
permanent fix for this?
My issue is that everything defaults to the /sdcard (internal partition - i'm calling it that for ease of terminology) and some apps just don't give you another option of where to save the media to (or don't let you browse over to the right thing). as it stands, the phone seems to be mounting that internal /sdcard partition as if it were external media, ie in android's default location for external media. thus, apps are looking ofr the REAL SD card and think they've found it but they haven't.
the reason this is a problem for me is 1. i have to change this in every app that allows me to, and 2. CWM sends backups to the internal one automatically and i can't change it and have to manually move the backup images to my external.
the reason i'm going into all of this is i'd like to find a way to entirely get rid of the /sdcard folder representing the internal memory and have the external card take its place. I'd like the rest of my 29ish GB of internal storage to be part of the system partition - where apps go, etc. it's not that i want to use that space, it's that i want to "move to SD" to the right SD. i just don't want the apps and system to treat ANY internal space as if it were external or mounted or anything of the sort.
my last phone, Atrix 2, had like 2-4gb internal. I'm just suggesting stretching that amount all the way to 32gbs and using the SD card as an SD card.
the question, basically, is whether there is any way to make this happen? i came across a thread (google "sd card mount point modification" as i can't post external links yet) elsewhere that discusses doing this with a VTAB and was wondering if this is something that is addressing my (our?) issue, whether it's a recommended solution, and whether it would work on the S3. i'm fine following technical instructions but I have very limited knowledge of the way addressing etc. works on Android and this filesystem. any help (or a redirect to a thread where this is more appropriate to ask) would be greatly appreciated.
Does this issue persist with custom roms? Is it an Ics bug that won't let you install apps to extsdcard or a Samsung intentional crap? I know one other android phones I had I could save apps to sd card no issues.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
sabre31 said:
Does this issue persist with custom roms? Is it an Ics bug that won't let you install apps to extsdcard or a Samsung intentional crap? I know one other android phones I had I could save apps to sd card no issues.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haven't tried any, waiting for something where key things like camera, LTE, etc all work. It's not that I can't install to extSD, it's that the default is "sdcard" (ie the internal space allocated). it's really a function of the way the system/phone allocates that extra internal space - rather than calling it "internal storage/system storage", they are calling it the "primary sd card" and the actual sd card is being called "2nd sd card". it's this treatment of the spaces by the system that i'm unhappy about, i guess.
that's a good point though, and i am hoping that a custom ROM will do this differently. will update when i find one i like
EDIT: gonna do the Task & Ktoonsez AKOP Rom this weekend, should know how the spaces are treated. again, will update.
My phone has alot of build in memory, so it emulates an SD card. But that runs out of space fast.
I have an SD card in it now, but it's mounted as sdcard2.
Can I disable the emulated SD card and make it goto the real sd card?
I can't move apps to the sd card because the sd card is emulated. Programs like link2sd don't give me the option to choose where I want to install to. It just chooses /mnt/sd card, which is the emulated card, not /mnt/sdcard2, which is the real one.
/bump
Sent from my HUAWEI U8681 using xda premium
it does not emulate an sdcard. all android devices recognise internal memory as an sdcard. externals cards are recognised as sdcard2, external_sd or sd-ext. its perfectly normal for it to be like that
Sent from my U8160 using xda premium
Reread my question. You didn't answer it.
Sent from my HUAWEI U8681 using xda premium
I know this is about a month old, but I figured I'd chime in in case you're still having the issue.
No, there isn't a way to disable the SD card emulation. At least not that I've found. Only thing I found that works was to root my phone, partition a portion of a 32gig sd card and use Link2SD to use that as the default install location.
The instructions I followed:
http://www.noypigeeks.com/android/tutorial-a-guide-to-link2sd/
Again this requires a rooted phone, but seeing as you run the same phone I do (if your signature is accurate) it's not a problem. Just follow the instructions at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=40121670 Took me less than 10 minutes.
That seems to have worked, Thanks!
bubkusjones said:
I know this is about a month old, but I figured I'd chime in in case you're still having the issue.
No, there isn't a way to disable the SD card emulation. At least not that I've found. Only thing I found that works was to root my phone, partition a portion of a 32gig sd card and use Link2SD to use that as the default install location.
The instructions I followed:
http://www.noypigeeks.com/android/tutorial-a-guide-to-link2sd/
Again this requires a rooted phone, but seeing as you run the same phone I do (if your signature is accurate) it's not a problem. Just follow the instructions at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=40121670 Took me less than 10 minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Worked. Thanks.
benbricken said:
Worked. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i appreciate all you guys/gals do! thank you!!
Masters2150 said:
My phone has alot of build in memory, so it emulates an SD card. But that runs out of space fast.
I have an SD card in it now, but it's mounted as sdcard2.
Can I disable the emulated SD card and make it goto the real sd card?
I can't move apps to the sd card because the sd card is emulated. Programs like link2sd don't give me the option to choose where I want to install to. It just chooses /mnt/sd card, which is the emulated card, not /mnt/sdcard2, which is the real one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only working way for me is to install cyanogenmod 13 which will give you the opportunity to mount your second storage (sd card) as internal storage (first).