using the external microSD card - Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

This is my first tablet and I'm new to Android (always had Windows Mobile phones) so maybe this is common knowledge to Android users but I sure as hell can't find the answer via searching.
I finally bought a microSD card for my Prime but can't figure out how to use it efficiently. I can access it an copy files and folders to it via the File Manager so I know it works. However, I can't figure out how to make the camera save pictures and videos to it by default. After looking at that for a while I looked at my other apps and none of my programs seem to have an option to make use of the microSD card. Took me a while to figure out I can't even install programs to the SD card like I can with my Windows Mobile phone. I can deal with that last part though with 32 gigs on the internal card but if the only way to use the microSD card is to manually copy files over to it where those files are then inaccessible for all the apps so I have to manually copy them back over every time I need to use them, that's not acceptable.
What am I missing here? I can't believe this was intentionally designed this way. Is there some global setting that I'm missing to open things up?

I think most use the external card for music & vids and such that they carry over TO the tablet. I also noticed you cannot set apps to save there and I have an app that monitors apps when they install. & if they are SD compatible it alerts you.... it never works in this setup. No doubt you could - if rooted - move apps to SD card as I do this on my Droid all the time.
As for camera & vids no way to set SD as default.

Unless there been a change since honeycomb saving and running apps to sd is not native. Most people state that due to all the space the device comes with you don't need it since apk are so small. But I had 4 games take up 4.5 gb of space on my device so that rational does not float.
If you ever root your device there is app called gl to sd
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1328053
worked great on honycomb (waiting till i get home to use new root so have not tried on ICS yet) I moved all my games to SD and they ran fine .. games like shadow Gun GTA III DeadSpace Backstab 9mm.
Just my two cents if there is way for using the sd card natively in ICS I also wold love to know.

On my measly 512mb OG Droid I have 110 apps on the SD card. Ahhhh thank God root.
For this 32gb beast I decided to forgo SD card apps as it does slow the app down (has to r/w from slower card) and Widgets can bust.
It is lame though that we cannot set cameras & vids to auto save but again you'd get a performance hit to a small degree.

The situation was worse before Honeycomb, in Gingerbread you could have a 16GB phone but the way it was partitioned only 1GB to 2GB was considered "internal memory" for app installation space/data while the rest was partitioned into a virtual "sdcard" folder that you needed things like App2SD to move over to that parition space (and not even fully, portions of app/data/cache would stay in the internal memory space). With HoneyComb/ICS the full 32GB or 64GB storage space is visible and useable between the internal/sdcard mounts. I got the 64GB Prime so I wouldn't have to worry about app install space any more since I like to load hundreds of apps/games. I also have a 64GB microSDHC card which I use to store a bunch of videos/music.

Thanks for the reply guys. Surprised that Android is built to limit itself like that. Really though, 32 gigs is a lot of space for the apps themselves. If it was just a matter of having to install the apps on the internal card, I wouldn't even bother cause I know with my use I'd never approach the limit if that was the only limitation.
However, not being able to save data used by the apps to external SD card is an issue as I see it. Will probably get around to rooting my Prime just so I can move some of the apps to the external SD card so they'll, hopefully, save and use the data there to keep my internal card free. I have a few aviation chart based apps that will be taking up quite a bit of space. I don't think it will max it out on their own but I like having plenty of extra space.
Not being able to save the video and pics from the camera directly to the external card is a bit ridiculous though. Perhaps a developer can fix that? In the mean time, I've thought of a work around that, while not perfect, will work for me I think in regards to keeping the camera videos and pics from clogging up my internal drive. I've installed an app called SyncMe that syncs via wifi network to my computer. I'll set it automatically to move all the camera data from my internal card to my computer and then I'll have another event that syncs the files on my computer to my tablet external SD card. The effect will be a daily transfer of all my camera activity to my external SD card while also making them available on my computer until I have time to sort through them.

Yea, once you play around with it a bit you'll find what works best for you. Some apps wont install on the external sd card and a lot of apps behave better when install on internal memory. Apps to SD is great for some but not all apps. Now separating the data from the apps that are internal to the external ? I'm not sure how well that will work.
Oh wait. I just re-read what you wrote. Yes - you can save the data to the external sd card and you will want to. There are lots of apps that do that, our Primes came with a backup app that will allow you to select apps to backup and/or apps with data. Sometimes you only want to restore apps and not data.
Your work around for storing pictures and video to external sd sounds like it will work well. 32gb is a lot of space. It's also really easy to use the File Manager to copy them over. I can't speak for everyone, but I'm guessing a lot of us here, especially if we rooted our phones, have grown accustom to setting schedules for apps to backup or data and for me - that includes things like pictures. Some of these backups will sync to a cloud so the data/pictures are safe and wont get lost. With 32gb I'm not concerned about space.

I wasn't really concerned about space that much until I recorded some video of my son's basketball game. Just over 6 min and the video was well over 800mb.
I could see that adding up real quick if I didn't stay on top of it and I know I won't without some 'auto' help. Got concerned that I might clog up my internal card with personal stuff that would inhibit my work stuff, which is what this is was for in the first place.
Haven't looked at the backup utility yet but every other app I've tried, I can't see a selectable option for getting choosing where to save and access data. Well, except for the SyncMe and File Manager I already mentioned. Oh, and I noticed that the gallery can see the photos and videos I moved to the external card so that's good.

Well, I found another reason to not like the microSD card option but this time, it's directly related to the Prime rather than a generic Android problem.
Took my prime out for work. First full day with hotel stay since buying the microSD card. By the time I get back to the hotel to settle in for the night, I notice the microSD card is missing. WTH!!!
Now, there wasn't anything on it that I don't have on the computer at home BUT, that card wasn't cheap. If it comes out of that slot so easy as to be gone after my first full day away from home with the Prime, I can't trust it at all.
First question, is there an easily accecible log file that would show when the card was unmounted? If so, that might narrow down where to look for it. Might actually be able to find it if I know when it came out.
Second question, does anyone know if the SD card slot on the dock is more secure? I would really like more space but I'm not paying for another microSD card.

To answer one of your questions, the dock SD card is much more secure, it does not stick out of the dock at all unlike the Micro SD in the tablet
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk

I would definitely recommend you have at least a sleeve for your Prime. That will help with the microSD not popping out, too. I have been carrying mine with me for weeks and haven't had mine pop out at all. No, I'm not aware of a way to find out when it was unmounted.
And yes - the dock has a SD card reader, so it's bigger and it will insert flush as opposed to sticking out a little due to the beveled design of the sides of the Prime. And with the usb port......well it's limitless really - maybe not to carry for every outing, but at home it's so easy to contect to the external hard drive and transfer movies and pictures that way. I really like the dock. Also, the prices of microSD cards have come waaaaay down. Sandisk, class 6, 16gb, $20.
"Haven't looked at the backup utility yet but every other app I've tried, I can't see a selectable option for getting choosing where to save and access data. Well, except for the SyncMe and File Manager I already mentioned. Oh, and I noticed that the gallery can see the photos and videos I moved to the external card so that's good."
The built in app backup does save your data to either or both places. This is data from your apps. Not things like downloads or pictures. It saves your apps too but you don't really have to do that since as soon as you sign into the market your apps are there. I have 2 other 3rd party apps that do the same thing with more features (schedules, bookmarks, etc)
Yep - the gallery and video player are going to find the pictures and videos/movies that you put on the removable sd card. The built in media player lets you tell it where to look for movies/videos. There really is plenty of room in the 32gb for most of your needs. Unless you root and start storing multiple weekly nandroid backups, you'll likely only need to manage your files when you "want to" - i.e. when you want to transfer pictures and videos on and off the Prime and/or when you back the Prime up. I have a 16gb $20 sandisk class 6 microsd that I've loaded up with 10 movies, but now I only have 4 gb left. I have over 80 3rd party apps installed to internal, that combined with the apps that came with it amount to only about 5gb, (plus misc pictures, videos, several hundred books, etc) and I still have 22 gb left. So I'm moving more movies to internal. I didn't get a 32gb tablet to leave a bunch of dead air
I have a TON of pictures and videos in my gallery. TONS. Thousands. But I've been using an android phone for several years so I'm synced with Google and the Cloud. Every picture I take with my phone or tablet is stored in the Cloud, private, available only to me unless I choose to make it public. I can access them anywhere from any computer within seconds of taking them. So they don't take up any space at all on any of my devices. Neither does my music anymore

Yeah, the 32 gigs is good for my needs. Not for my wants. I justified buying this thing to carry aeronautical chart which takes up several gigabits of space. Quite a bit of space but not so much that it overwhelms the internal card. However, when using it for secondary tasks like an HD video recorder, that space get chewed up fast. MicroSD was my plan for stuff like that. Will have to rethink that now.
Was planning on getting a sleeve or a case once I had the tab and keyboard and could figure out exaclty what I wanted for it (just got the keyboard) but that card got lost way too easy. Not buying another one even with the sleeve/case.

Well, the card showed up. Well, more accurately, it was sitting in a convenient place for me to stumble across it this morning.
Lucky for me for now.

Related

Move to SD doesn't work on rooted NT

I had no problem rooting my NT, and was able to restore it to factory also with no problem. I rooted it again, and I've discovered that when I move apps to the SD card, they will not run properly and do not show up properly in various browsers. I planned on using a 32GB SD card to provide plenty of memory for apps, but that seems to be out. AppMonster can backup and restore just fine, Titanium Backup works fine with the SD card, so I can use it for archiving and backing up stuff, but the number of apps I can install is limited to the space left to me by B&N.
I had high hopes for the NT when it was announced, but B&N's decision to lock things down has produced a device that is not nearly as useful as the NC. I wouldn't advise anyone to buy a NT unless all they want is a device to read B&N digital content or watch Netflix (which works well). The B&N app store is a laugh.
trippap said:
I had no problem rooting my NT, and was able to restore it to factory also with no problem. I rooted it again, and I've discovered that when I move apps to the SD card, they will not run properly and do not show up properly in various browsers. I planned on using a 32GB SD card to provide plenty of memory for apps, but that seems to be out. AppMonster can backup and restore just fine, Titanium Backup works fine with the SD card, so I can use it for archiving and backing up stuff, but the number of apps I can install is limited to the space left to me by B&N.
I had high hopes for the NT when it was announced, but B&N's decision to lock things down has produced a device that is not nearly as useful as the NC. I wouldn't advise anyone to buy a NT unless all they want is a device to read B&N digital content or watch Netflix (which works well). The B&N app store is a laugh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure you need to do this? My Application Settings shows 1.7 gig used and 10 gig free. I believe apps install to the B&N partition by default.
Sent from my BNTV250 using Tapatalk
(Not that it isn't a useful feature. Perhaps it will be available once we can run custom Roms.)
Sent from my BNTV250 using Tapatalk
I noticed this issue too; thanks for posting about it.
I purchased a class 4 32GB microSDHC card with my Nook Tab. I have used the "Move to SD" option in the "Manage Applications" menu and while it does move the app, the Nook does not seem to be able to launch the app from the SD. Using ES File Explorer I found the apps on the SD card and when I clicked them, they got reinstalled to the Nook's internal memory.
So what I have is 32GB for Photos, Music, Video, and backup??
Not what I expected...
Looking over my file folder structure on both the NT and the sd card it appears that the primary (application portion) of an app is installed to the NT (B&N memory part) and the database portion is installed on the sd card - i.e. epocrates (a pharmacopia) has the database on the sd card but if I try to copy the whole app to sd it won't run. Overdrive offers me the option of storing epubs I download to either the sd card or the B&N memory part. With over 70 apps (according to TiBackup), 350 mb of photos and 3 gb of movies that I copied over to the /data/usrdata folder I made - Root Explorer shows 4.02 gb used/7.85 gb free.
~ G
trippap said:
I had no problem rooting my NT, and was able to restore it to factory also with no problem. I rooted it again, and I've discovered that when I move apps to the SD card, they will not run properly and do not show up properly in various browsers. I planned on using a 32GB SD card to provide plenty of memory for apps, but that seems to be out. AppMonster can backup and restore just fine, Titanium Backup works fine with the SD card, so I can use it for archiving and backing up stuff, but the number of apps I can install is limited to the space left to me by B&N.
I had high hopes for the NT when it was announced, but B&N's decision to lock things down has produced a device that is not nearly as useful as the NC. I wouldn't advise anyone to buy a NT unless all they want is a device to read B&N digital content or watch Netflix (which works well). The B&N app store is a laugh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same issue here. after apps are moved to 32SD, they either disappear or don't work. My 1g is filling up fast. ....
sirsamiam said:
Same issue here. after apps are moved to 32SD, they either disappear or don't work. My 1g is filling up fast. ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also have a rooted NT via the latest Zerg and have observed the same issue. App2SD I think is a known issue, however using the standard manage apps options from Android also produces the same errors with the apps not being moved properly.
Keep in mind, rooting your device via the method in the development thread indeed does automatically make used of the "locked" B&N storage area that would normally not be available. If the root installed correctly, you should see "## used of 11GB" on the manage applications screen where ## is the space you have already used.
For now I'm using the internal storage for apps and the card for media, but hopefully the developers will find a way to implement proper app moving in the next update.

[NABI 2] Free up Internal Storage - Basic Tips

Fuhu's Nabi 2 comes with 8 GB of internal storage, but the actual space available for app install evaporates quickly. Here are a few tips from my experience that may help you figure out possible space hogs.
Part of the problem is due to the Nabi 2's file storage system. Instead of its external storage being located at /mnt/sdcard, it is instead at /mnt/sdcard2. This causes problems as many programs will assume they are saving to the external drive at sdcard, but are instead using precious space on the limited internal drive.
There are a couple different work-around rooted options, but at this time they seem to me a bit like a bandage. If you feel like tackling these more advanced drive swapping options, see Root External 2 Internal SD (How-to for Nabi 2 by e2950) and DirectoryBind by slig (How-to for Nabi 2 by Clarkiss). Root External 2 Internal SD swaps the two. DirectoryBind causes apps to install their extra data to sdcard2.
The first thing to do when you've got a failure to install an app due to insufficient space is to check the device's storage. Get there by accessing Android's Settings, Storage, and when the graph and list come up on the right, touch Apps. You can sort by app size or by alphabetical. Sort by size and the list will show which apps are taking the most space. Another way to get to the same place is via Android's Settings, Apps, and select All at the top.
A. Easiest is removing unwanted demos and preinstalled apps. Touch the name of the app and select Uninstall. I am unsure if this will require root or not. I didn't try while still unrooted and don't know if some apps are locked in by Fuhu.
B. My first space hog was actually the Gallery. One of the first things we do after getting recovery and root on the Nabi 2 is to install GApps. In doing so, Google's Gallery replaces Fuhu's. I have uploaded many Picasa albums over time and, using my Google account on my son's Nabi 2, syncronized and downloaded 300 MB onto the internal storage.
Unsync and clear Google Gallery:
1. Open Android's Settings, Accounts & sync, [Your Google Account], Uncheck Sync Google Photos
2. Settings, Storage, Apps (All), Gallery, Force Stop, Clear Data
3. Reboot
After rebooting, the downloaded albums and photos Google had sync'd will be gone, freeing up precious internal space.
Update: More picture/video space hogging was found in /mnt/sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails There were two thumbnail files adding up to 277MB hiding out.
C. Having multiple rooted android devices, one of the first things I set up after rooting is Titanium Backup (TB). Normally, TB saves its backed up files to sdcard. But, because sdcard is the Nabi 2's space constricted internal storage, this causes a problem quickly. The solution is to change TB's backup storage location. This can save hundreds of MBs. This was the first problem I tackled, so I don't remember how much
1. In Titanium Backup, open Preferences, Backup storage location
2. Change the default location from /mnt/sdcard/TitaniumBackup to /mnt/sdcard[BOLD]2[/BOLD]/TitaniumBackup
TB will handle copying your contents from the old directory to the new one.
D. My next surprise space hog was cloud storage app Box. Hogging a respectable 138 MB of files apparently sync'd/cached, this one was easy to clear.
1. In Box, open Settings, and touch Clear Cache under the Folder Activity heading.
These are basic, simple, and temporary tips which will only free a little more space to allow installation of that one last app you mean to get on your Nabi 2. Any other suggestions would be more than welcome.
I'm hoping that as the Nabi community matures and XDA grants us our own subforum (hint: lets do our best to stoke more Nabi 2 threads), that solutions are created to truly fix the lack of space to make this device pain free and open up its true potential.
Sent from my NABI2-NV7A using xda premium
Bait-Fish said:
....
There are a couple different work-around rooted options, but at this time they seem to me a bit like a bandage. If you feel like tackling these more advanced drive swapping options, see Root External 2 Internal SD (How-to for Nabi 2 by e2950) and DirectoryBind by slig (How-to for Nabi 2 by Clarkiss). Root External 2 Internal SD swaps the two. DirectoryBind causes apps to install their extra data to sdcard2.
....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This Root External 2 Internal SD (How-to for Nabi 2 by e2950) works great with my Nabi2. But does not work on boot. Does anybody knows why?
arvati said:
This Root External 2 Internal SD (How-to for Nabi 2 by e2950) works great with my Nabi2. But does not work on boot. Does anybody knows why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried and tried myself too and never got it to work at boot or really even swap over the storage in any usable way. I have since given up on that.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk HD
Bait-Fish said:
I tried and tried myself too and never got it to work at boot or really even swap over the storage in any usable way. I have since given up on that.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I finally got it to work at boot and looked like everything was ok. Watched as I added apps and such, seemed that 80% of everything still installed to original Internal storage. Only real change was anything I downloaded went straight on micro sdcard. I also gave up.
Despite me using the external2internal app and it LOOKING like it was all swapped in the settings under data, the apps still all seem to go on the original tiny internal sd card and also when you use settings to look at installed apps, the free space it quotes tallies with the internal card, not the swapped-large-external card.
I can only assume something has gone a bit wrong in the settings of the app.
I dont understand how the nabi2 settings sees huge space under "storage" but tiny space under "apps" its as if the external2internal app has only swapped the two cards for "some" of the nabi's setup/brain
Any ideas please?
I was never able to get Ext2Int working properly so I abandoned that route.
Something that does work for me is [APP][ROOT] FolderMount - Link folders from internal SD to external to free space. It doesn't swap the internal for external outright, but does allow you to move specific data hogs to sdcard2. I still need to do a little walk through on it. . .
FM can move files from the original location to the destination of your choice if the files don't require root permissions. If they do, you have to move the files using a root file explorer of your choice.
FM will not work for moving apps due to its inherent time delay before actually changing the link to the new location. It's 30 seconds to 3 minutes after boot.
Sent from my VS910 4G using Tapatalk 2
Bait-Fish said:
I was never able to get Ext2Int working properly so I abandoned that route.
Something that does work for me is [APP][ROOT] FolderMount - Link folders from internal SD to external to free space. It doesn't swap the internal for external outright, but does allow you to move specific data hogs to sdcard2. I still need to do a little walk through on it. . .
FM can move files from the original location to the destination of your choice if the files don't require root permissions. If they do, you have to move the files using a root file explorer of your choice.
FM will not work for moving apps due to its inherent time delay before actually changing the link to the new location. It's 30 seconds to 3 minutes after boot.
Sent from my VS910 4G using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks very much, Im not sure if that would work for me as most of my little boys apps are pretty small in size, most around the 20mb mark, with a few being 100mb so its not the big games or datahogs thats a problem, its the sheer weight of numbers of how many of these small apps he has installed.
So Im not sure if FM would actually be able to move any of his apps over to the external and actually work.
Even though he has so many apps, selective removing isnt a solution as he remembers them all. He is autistic trust me he remembers them hehe
Thanks and all help is appreciated.
Alex
DiskUsage is a good app to visually find large data stores. On my phone, I found Amazon caching all of the apps it had downloaded but I cancelled the installation on, over 1.5 GB! I don't use Amazon the same way on the Nabi though.
Sent from my VS910 4G using Tapatalk 2
reply
nice..
Bait-Fish said:
DiskUsage is a good app to visually find large data stores. On my phone, I found Amazon caching all of the apps it had downloaded but I cancelled the installation on, over 1.5 GB! I don't use Amazon the same way on the Nabi though.
Sent from my VS910 4G using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I had a look at diskusage but honestly I am so noobish that I couldnt quite tell exactly what it was explaining to me.
Looking on things like data or apps there were things listed that almost seemed twice and also some noted as apk's and I wasnt sure if this was the game itself, of if it was the apk file that installed the game and the tablet is storing the apk's as well as the installed games.
As a beginer at this kind of thing, its quite hard to get your head around it all.
And we have now officially run out of space and trying to magane through as best we can.
Thanks for the suggestion
Alex
The actual APKs, not good to move with FolderMount. But, if there's a bit of data in /data/data, /data/obb, /android, FolderMount can move that to your external storage, freeing space for more apps. At least you looked into it. My son has a couple apps that take 100s of MBs of data. That makes freeing space easy.
Sent from my VS910 4G using Tapatalk 2
Bait-Fish said:
The actual APKs, not good to move with FolderMount. But, if there's a bit of data in /data/data, /data/obb, /android, FolderMount can move that to your external storage, freeing space for more apps. At least you looked into it. My son has a couple apps that take 100s of MBs of data. That makes freeing space easy.
Sent from my VS910 4G using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Ill have a look at that data aspect when I can next get the tablet off of him, Thanks I appreciate the advice.
Dont think Ive seen the obb folder...
When I plug the nabi into the PC lead and it pops up like an SD drive on my PC, there does seem to be a lot of folders that people mention that I dont seem to be able to see. Possibly like a kind of hidden folder? Also the size of the SD looked at through the PC always shows as much smaller than it is.
So Im really thinking that there is a chunk of the internal-sd card, or internal memory, that is hidden from the basic pc cable connection. Is that right and if-so how am I able to see that area to be able to back it up and/or be able to mess with it?
Thanks
Alex
I don't have a Nabi 2 anymore but have any of you used the app Link2sd? I've been using it on another 4 gig device and works really well. You have not split your micro sdcard into 2 partitions. Link2sd uses the second partition and you use the first as your micro sdcard. When you click Link app to SD, it moves it, then open app and see if it runs OK. If not you'll have to click move to SD to put it back so it will work.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I957 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Yes. That and FolderMount are what keep my son's Nabi functional.
A 2 GB partition was a bit small for me though. For anyone that goes that route and had a large SD (64 GB), give the Link2SD partition at least 3 GB. I had to start over after doing it the first time.
Or, count and calculate the apps you mean to move them add extra space for future expansion. That'd be the smart way
Sent from my SCH-I545 Dev Edition using Tapatalk 2
Im really dumb on these things and am terrified of busting my sons nabi (he relies upon it so much now).
So does this move the whole app, or just the data bits of the app? I heard that the bigger apps that are heavy on data move well, but the smaller apps that are mostly just the apk dont always move. Almost all my sons apps are the small kind. So Im not sure if this will still work.
Also, we hardly have anything at all to put on our external sd, we only bought it because we thought we could get apps on it. So is there any reason not to put a huge partition on the sd for the program? Our sd is 32gb, so I guess formats at about 28gb, so I was thinking of having the partition 25gb
Thanks for all the thoughts and help people.
PS: Is foldermount necessary as well? Or can I just try this with Link2SD? Im nervous enough about trying to learn one new software but integrating two at the same time concerns me somewhat.
Thanks
Alex
Some thoughts.
Honestly, from my experience with both, do Link to SD with a respectable partition. Something big enough to grow into, maybe 5 GB. Or, 10 since you say you have a lot of external SD space, but that is surely overkill since the apps data will burst your internal before the apps exceed 10 GB.
That allows you to move the largest apps to the external. Their data will still be on the internal though. That will be your next headache.
I find my FolderMount pairs frequently unpinned and I have to log into Daddy mode and re-enable them. I think that would not be good for you, alexbobspoons. When the FolderMount pairs are not enabled, some of the larger data apps (Mini Motor or My First Trainz Set) will download their data again when my son tries to play them (to internal since the pair is not active). My four year old will tell me now so I can straighten it out. I use FolderMount to move the entire /sdcard/android/data and /sdcard/android/obb folders to the external.
But, like I said, focus on Link to SD and that should free some storage pretty well. I found it a bit more difficult than FolderMount. Also, I am unsure how Link to SD plays into making a nandroid, if it's all copied and restored properly. I haven't really tried that yet.
Update: And again, FolderMount was not linking my pairs this morning. I haven't tried to ask for help on that issue since the Nabi's storage is all funked up by default. FolderMount had an update so I will see if that changes anything. Also of note, I haven't upgraded to the latest Nabi update either.
While I was in there, I checked that I used all 2 GB I alloted for Link to SD (I should have done at least 4 GB) on the external. FolderMount has about 7 GB on the external.
Sent from my SCH-I545 Dev Edition using Tapatalk 2
Hi thanks again for the advice.
Am I right in thinking that most apps are composed of just two components, one component being the apk itself (which can be moved to external using link2sd), the other being the data (which can be moved to external using foldermount).
Is this right??
If-so, then IF I am using the disk-usage app correctly, then almost all of my sons apps are in the apk bracket with hardly any usage on the data aspect.
So if this is the case, then I wouldnt much need to use foldermount, and would simply need a huge partition on the external SD to have all the apps (apk's?) moved to. If that is the case, then I dont think I would bust the nabi2's internal memory with the data as theres hardly any of it.
Am I then right in thinking that after moving all the stuff via link2sd that my internal memory would be almost all empty, and all I need to do in future is 1: Buy new app and download, 2:Link2sd the new app, 3:Hand tablet back to son and all done.
Am I understanding it all correctly so-far please?
Thanks
Alex
PS: You mention nandriod.... whats nandroid?? Thanks.
Yes. apks are the apps. You've got the idea.
A nandroid is a term used for the backup image made while in custom recovery (TWRP on our Nabi 2s). It's like ghosting your PC. If you mess up after, you typically can restore that backup nandroid and make it like nothing ever happened.
I'm guessing the apps moved with Link to SD will not exist when the external SD is ejected. And, not backed up in the nandroid.
Ok thanks for that.
Well I have a spare 32gb sd card so my plan is:
1: Backup the nabi using twerp onto my existing sd card
2: format and prepare new sd card
3: remove ext2sd app in case it conflicts
4: put new sd card into nabi
5: Install link2sd
6: attempt to move apps over onto the external sd and see what happens
hopefully, the internal memory should get nice and empty, while the external memory slowly fills with the other stuff.
Then if it works, I can download all his missing apps and move each one to external sd
Fingers crossed.
Cheers
Alex
alexbobspoons said:
Ok thanks for that.
hopefully, the internal memory should get nice and empty, while the external memory slowly fills with the other stuff.
Then if it works, I can download all his missing apps and move each one to external sd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alex,
Were you met with success? I'd like to clear out my daughter's Nabi 2, but I'll go your route if it worked. Also, has anyone found a way to save pictures or videos to the CD card by default?

[Q] Where'd all my space go, again?

Greetings.
I've had the pleasure to deal with many android devices, ranging from the very first EVO 4G to a rooted nook and KFire, galaxy tab, and my current GAlaxy S4. Nonetheless I've noted a pattern that hopefully one or several of you can help with...
I usually have SD cards that are larger than the native storage of most of my devices however.... I always run out of room for apps. I wouldn't say I install everything I See but I do install apps I need for work (medical apps) which for the most part don't exactly take much space but some are known to take 300-1Gb at most. Anyway, my devices always seem to fill the native storage while the SD Card remains fairly unused. Here is an example of my phone.
So my main gripe/issue is: My SD cards are always fairly empty and only have contents I've actively copied over to them from my desktop or notebook. I am under the impression that most programs do not install the data to SD Card and use the native storage instead. Is there anyway this can change? Any tips to get more space (besides backing up pictures and deleting those, 700+ mb!).
Thank you in advance!
good question.
theartofbone said:
Greetings.
I've had the pleasure to deal with many android devices, ranging from the very first EVO 4G to a rooted nook and KFire, galaxy tab, and my current GAlaxy S4. Nonetheless I've noted a pattern that hopefully one or several of you can help with...
I usually have SD cards that are larger than the native storage of most of my devices however.... I always run out of room for apps. I wouldn't say I install everything I See but I do install apps I need for work (medical apps) which for the most part don't exactly take much space but some are known to take 300-1Gb at most. Anyway, my devices always seem to fill the native storage while the SD Card remains fairly unused. Here is an example of my phone.
So my main gripe/issue is: My SD cards are always fairly empty and only have contents I've actively copied over to them from my desktop or notebook. I am under the impression that most programs do not install the data to SD Card and use the native storage instead. Is there anyway this can change? Any tips to get more space (besides backing up pictures and deleting those, 700+ mb!).
Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am in agreement with you, as I have progressed thru numerous phones too. After going the route of the first moto linux phone and then jumping aboard the Android system when the first G1 came out from HTC and have always had similiar problems.
There original solution was special purpose apps that would allow you to backup your apps to SD card, then other apps came along to allow you to actually run apps from SD Card but seems that not all apps can actually be accessed from SD card. I havent kept up with it all like I first did and have become rather lazy and carefree or even sloppy with how I maintain my devices files and apps organized. Much now to an overwhelming large mess of old devices and storage media not to mention profiles tied to email google accounts. Its difficult to even start over as every device wants to have a profile to sync to. It could entirely be possible to top out the memory on a brand new device after snyc to one or two profiles.
Also it seems for the average consumer that has a unrooted device it is impossible to thoroughly clean or interrogate the internal device memory . seems like the revisions of the android operating system makes file management of internal memory even more difficult to manage.
I didnt want to get too carried away but I totally feel frustrated as you do, sorry I dont have a solid technical answer to resolve your problem. I am asked all the time to fix my girlfriends tablet and I cant explain it to her where all her memory has disapeared to after a few factory resets. Doesnt seem to matter, if you load alot of apps to just give them a spin for a test ride. Even if you delete or move them to store on sd card . It seems alot of junk files still seem to reside in the internal storage and eventually will eat away at the memory until it gets to the point of inoperability. App managers can make the situatin worse by creating even more orphaned files and junk too. All this stuff is not accessible to view and review and manage.
The only answer is to have a rooted device and the expertise to properly manage this inaccessible memory?
Is there a decent file management that a nonpower consumer can rely upon?

Xperia M4 internal being used as external

Sony ****ed up on this. See, this phone has an 8GB Internal storage. But 4 is used by Android, about 1 and a half by the apps pre installed, but because of the fact that you can't download anything from Play when I reach 500MB left in storage, I'm left with 2GB or so. Now I got an SD card, a 64GB one, to deal with this very problem. Now I'm a gamer, so naturally I wanna download some games. Obviously, games take a bit more space than your average app. So the solution is to have it install to external by default, that is the SD card. But for whatever reason, despite having 60GB left, I apparently have no space in external, I can't install anything. So the first thing I try is to, and painfully so, delete enough things on the internal to fit this smaller 500MB game. And it works. Clearly, it thinks the internal is the external, and so does all apps that show what is internal and external. Apparently I have two externals. Google Play isn't the only problem. If a game is looking for the data to it, which is typically found in obb, even if I have it in the actual SD card it searches in the internal thinking it's the external. Even the OS itself, the settings app, gets confused. Reading that, for an example, 500MB of the app is on the external, when it really still is on the internal. So how do I solve this? I'm willing to root if necessary.

Help accessing external storage

Hello all i have the tab s6 that i got primarily for photo editing using lightroom. Unfortunately it seems i cant access any form of external storage through lightroom in order to view pictures and then import them into lightroom to edit them. It seems that I first have to transfer the pictures into the internal storage of the tab, in my case 256gb, and only then i can see the pictures in lightroom prior to importing them. By doing this i would essentially end up with duplicate photos and then reducing the storage even further.
The only way i can access the external storage is via the files manager app installed. Is there any work around this? In ios i can see the pictures from the external storage through lightroom prior to import.
What Android version? Scoped storage is fully active in Android 11/12 and it's a mess.
Unless the app has special permissions like that file app, scoped storage will puke on them and limit their access. You may be able to do a adb edit work around, not sure as I refuse to deal with these OS versions.
Maybe try using a OTG flashstick as a work around.
Running Android 11 and no new update available. And lightroom app permission under files and media it says “allow access to media only” dont see other options
Any app that allows full access to external drives where i can see the full size picture thats stored?
adinis78 said:
Any app that allows full access to external drives where i can see the full size picture thats stored?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lightroom developers need to modify it for it to work most likely. Not a trivial task.
Do some searches to see if you can modify this behavior with adb edits. Yeah, now even bloody iPhones are easier to use than Androids, thanks for nothing Gookill...
I would just download the whole file copy onto the PC. You need to back it up anyway...
Last thing i want is too root the tab and gave things go wrong. Havent rooted an Android device in years and always more of a hassle than what improvements where promised
adinis78 said:
Last thing i want is too root the tab and gave things go wrong. Havent rooted an Android device in years and always more of a hassle than what improvements where promised
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I prefer using stock. Adb editing is just modifying the user partition, a factory reset will undo the changes if you goof up.
If it came loaded with 11 you can't flash it back to 10 because of the boot loader version.
Try some Google searches ie something like "scoped storage workaround adb". Add xda to it to find threads about it here. Maybe Package Disabler could help but I doubt it as scoped store is a core feature.
There's a lot of pissed off Android users right about now... you're not alone.
Share your wuv and give Google some feedback.
I have to N10+'s, one is running on Pie, the newest on Q. Both behave almost identically, however Samsung added dozens of small system apks to do that... Samsung went to a lot of trouble to do that.
You confirmed my fear Samsung couldn't or wouldn't be able to do the same with the models running on R and above.
The culprit is Google not Samsung.
It's the game that moves as you play it.
Something so simple that they are alienating photographers and are forcing them into ios, maybe I should have gotten an ipad pro
adinis78 said:
Something so simple that they are alienating photographers and are forcing them into ios, maybe I should have gotten an ipad pro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are work arounds but you shouldn't need to do this. At this point Android is more iPhone than Android... a tard wannabe iPhone that is.
Return if you still can.
If you get a Samsung running on P or Q it will function normally and still have sufficient security.
Be wary of buying devices as they may list P or Q as the loaded OS when in fact they've been updated or factory loaded (depending on manufacturered date) with R.
Tried to look into the scoped storage but seems to be too much of a hassle and not really working possibly depending on what you need. There doesnt seem to be a definitive answer to my particular issue in regards to having lightroom (adobe) have access to external storage. I might just have to bite the bullet and get a 1tb microsd card although thats a huge expense.
On another note, Adobe should make it a requirement to have access to external storage, its possible in IOS and windows and tell google to allow it.
Test a small sd card first to make sure it works as you want with scoped storage.
Get a V30 rated card, Sandisk Extreme works well.
Take a look at this thread.
blackhawk said:
Take a look at this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks but not really what i am looking for. Will test out and old microsd card i have from an old android phone and see how that goes
So some positive news to report. Tried an old microsd card. As expected it automatically displays the photos in the photo app just like the built in storage. So tried to copy a picture that i had backed up in the external ssd, did this via the file manager app. Then the moment of truth, opened up Lightroom and i have access to the additional microsd card, the picture that i copied from the ssd along with all the other old photos showed up in lightroom. So, as much of an inconvenience this is, it seems that for my needs and workflow, i would need the extra microsd card.
So here would be my work flow after taking pictures
1-Backup all the pictures taken on a certain date into the Samsung T5 SSD.
2-Also copy all of the pictures into the extra microsd card (1tb)
3-Go through all the pictures on the microsd card using lightroom to decide which ones to edit and then import them into lightroom.
4-Do all my edits then save those edits into the built in storage, upload to Facebook, instagram, etc. then save those final edits into the Samsung T5 SSD.
5-Format the 1tb microsd and repeat the whole process when needed.
Extra steps but it seems this is the only way. Thanks Google
EDIT: after thinking about it I think a 512gb would be more than enough for my expected workdlow and would be a significant savings vs the 1tb
Yay This will be a better setup than you had.
I always build dual drive PCs; the OS, apps, DCIM folder and the temporary download folder go on internal memory.
All critical data goes on the data drive. This is then backed up redundantly to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC.
Do Not use DCIM in the name of photo folder on the SD card; there can only be one folder with that name.
I'm having the same problem with this scoop storage issue that Google has handed us My 1tb card is full of music that I can't access it worked fine on my Note 8 but it doesn't work hardly at all on my new Note 10 I can't even get a playlist to function right people have talked about editing Android manifest in Android studio Man that's so far above my ability but I wouldn't just format my card I know I bought the best one I could buy and I still have the problem and I've had my card for some time I hope someone comes up with a solution
alpastor said:
I'm having the same problem with this scoop storage issue that Google has handed us My 1tb card is full of music that I can't access it worked fine on my Note 8 but it doesn't work hardly at all on my new Note 10 I can't even get a playlist to function right people have talked about editing Android manifest in Android studio Man that's so far above my ability but I wouldn't just format my card I know I bought the best one I could buy and I still have the problem and I've had my card for some time I hope someone comes up with a solution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Scoped storage is a mess. Back up the 1tb card's data at least twice on 2 different hdds, more backup is always better.
Or use a different SD card in the device.
With the test SD card format the card with the device (all data will be lost, etc, etc), then doing the data transfer through the phone load the data. See if that works.
Regardless it's best practice to leave the SD card in one device and not "share" it with other devices. Having other devices write to it can lead to card corruption.
Don't know if this will help or not. I'm still running on Android 9 and 10. Gookill sucks elephant balls bad now... no way I'll upgrade my N10+'s to 11 or 12, they're running too good as is.
Thank you for getting back with me I have a real hard time keep you track of stuff nowadays but I don't need the aggravation of this scoop storage stuff as it is I have to pay someone to root my phones anymore because I just can't do it.
I used to be fairly good at it but not anymore so dr.ketan is promising updates in April and unless the issue is addressed by him I'm going to go ahead and downgrade my Note 10 Plus to Android 9 or 10 wherever that point is I can avoid all this crap
I think I read on one of the posts that they didn't really see any speed difference between 9 and 12
I think 9 was what was on my phone when I bought it in December.
And it was my phone guy that brought it up to 12 and put on dr.ketan's ROM. But I am so used to backing up stuff to SD card that it's driving me nuts. And isn't that the idea of TWRP anyway to be able to back up to your SD card and restore if you screw things up? Anyway thank you again for getting back with me and if you hear of any news about a fix or patch that someone like me could put on to fix it other than having to have the skills of a developer let me know I appreciate it I'd even be willing to be a beta tester.
Take care Rick

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