[Solved] Where did .android_secure go on CM7? - Motorola Droid X2

Okay, before CM7, when using app2sd or any other app to move your apps from the internal to the external SD card, it would create a directory called .android_secure on the internal memory. This was regardless of whether or not you did the SD card flip-flop.
From what I read the .android_secure directory houses information on the apps that have been moved to the external SD card. This occurred even if you had the external card mounted to /sdcard and the internal card mounted to /sdcard-ext.
In CM7, I still see the .android_secure directory but nothing is in it. Does anyone have any idea where those files are being put now if anywhere? And if not, is this bad?
Just curious and trying to understand how all this stuff works as I try to learn to program for Android.

iBolski said:
Okay, before CM7, when using app2sd or any other app to move your apps from the internal to the external SD card, it would create a directory called .android_secure on the internal memory. This was regardless of whether or not you did the SD card flip-flop.
From what I read the .android_secure directory houses information on the apps that have been moved to the external SD card. This occurred even if you had the external card mounted to /sdcard and the internal card mounted to /sdcard-ext.
In CM7, I still see the .android_secure directory but nothing is in it. Does anyone have any idea where those files are being put now if anywhere? And if not, is this bad?
Just curious and trying to understand how all this stuff works as I try to learn to program for Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just looked through TiBu and I have several apps located on the sdcard. However, looking at my .android_secure folder, it's empty... Unlike on Eclipse... Hrm...
So, I did a little poking around. I adb'd in and ran a find command looking for an app that I know is on the sdcard.
Hrm... Not there... But I did notice that the name of the app, in this case I was looking for "com.aldiko.android", was in /mnt/asec. WTF?
Well, I know the app works because I'm reading a book with it. So, I checked under /data/app and /system/app... Not there... Huh?
I looked at the filesystem with a df -ha command that shows me all the mount points... /mnt/asec is a tmpfs... Hrm... Well now were are getting somewhere. No, wait... Now there is also a /mnt/secure/asec that is mounted to /dev/block/vold/179:33... But wait! That's the removable sdcard! WTF again?
I spoke with dragonzkiller and he said that /mnt/asec is an image partition on the sdcard and you can't see it using normal tools, but Android mounts it and reads and writes apps to it...
Okay, so that fixed my curiosity. Did that help yours?
Ciao!

Moon Shadow - NM said:
I just looked through TiBu and I have several apps located on the sdcard. However, looking at my .android_secure folder, it's empty... Unlike on Eclipse... Hrm...
So, I did a little poking around. I adb'd in and ran a find command looking for an app that I know is on the sdcard.
Hrm... Not there... But I did notice that the name of the app, in this case I was looking for "com.aldiko.android", was in /mnt/asec. WTF?
Well, I know the app works because I'm reading a book with it. So, I checked under /data/app and /system/app... Not there... Huh?
I looked at the filesystem with a df -ha command that shows me all the mount points... /mnt/asec is a tmpfs... Hrm... Well now were are getting somewhere. No, wait... Now there is also a /mnt/secure/asec that is mounted to /dev/block/vold/179:33... But wait! That's the removable sdcard! WTF again?
I spoke with dragonzkiller and he said that /mnt/asec is an image partition on the sdcard and you can't see it using normal tools, but Android mounts it and reads and writes apps to it...
Okay, so that fixed my curiosity. Did that help yours?
Ciao!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. I guess CM7 does it differently from how Eclipse and stock does it. Just was curious. I figured nothing was broken since it was moving the apps and such and working, but I was just curious.
Thanks again for the explanation.
UPDATE: I'm currently nandroiding so I can flash MIUI beta and I see where it's backing up the .android_secure directory, so it's definitely somewhere! Also, when I did the data wipe/factory reset, it formatted the .android_secure so it's definitely a partition.

Related

[ZIP][CM7] Nook Color SDcard and emmc swap!

Ok after many hours tonight I have managed to put together a couple .zip files that will install a modified vold.fstab on your Nook Color. (I am a total n00b at this)
The EMMC of the Nook Color has a partition for the ROM and a 5 GB partition that's mostly if not completely unused. Presently, there aren't any 3rd-party managers to move apps to that unused partition, so I modified the vold.fstab and am now able to use that partition for apps, files, etc.
NC.SWAP.VOLD.ZIP swaps the way the SD and EMMC directories are mounted. By swapping the mount points, and renaming EMMC to SDCARD, your apps, etc., will install to the internal storage, vs. installing to your SDCARD. Your physical SDcard is automatically mounted as "EMMC."
This also means that the music player still finds files, you can move files to "EMMC," and you can still eject the SDcard ("EMMC"), put it back in and it still shows up automatically. Now your NC won't freak out if you pull the card out without unmounting it - all of the apps are on the actual EMMC. You'd just find the SDcard under /mnt/emmc instead of /mnt/sdcard.
Because this ZIP file maps the change at an OS level, when you boot to recovery, your NC sees SD as the SDcard, so no issues occur. When you boot into your ROM, the mount points are swapped and you'll have access to the renamed "SDCARD" (5 GB) on your NC.
Use CWR 3.0.1.0 to install the .zip and check out the results with File Manager.
Thanks go out to Clark008, luciferii and Cali^Gal from #nookcolor, Loonacy and Raymondull from #Cyanogenmod, and EpicFail1236 from XDA.
Sorry if this is a bit crude, it's my first script ever. I would be happy to get any advice on how to make this better!
EDIT: I have been looking into renaming the emmc mount to say SD-External or better yet making it mount as /mnt/sdcard/sd-ext. it might be possible, ill be looking into it as soon as I can got laid up for a bit.
"Because this ZIP file maps the change at an OS level, when you boot to recovery, your NC sees SD as the SDcard, so no issues occur. When you boot into your ROM, the mount points are swapped and you'll have access to the renamed "SDCARD" (5 GB) on your NC."
/\/\ That clarifies a lot compared to the brief orig post. Will likely be flashing it this weekend.
BTW, if this expands and you need this 2nd post just have a mod give it to you. Thanks again!
BRILLIANT. Will be definitely testing this later today. Can't wait to run SD Tools on this
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk
it works! interesting how it'll work out as to unmounting, flashing roms. but with emmc being useless this is fantastic.
Thank you for the effort and time place in this mod
Yeah. The whole point of this was to utilize the 5GB internal emmc and not waste it. The next step is to mod the CWM to mount emmc as /sdcard so you can flash your zips from where you download them to (usually /mnt/sdcard/download), which in this case, goes to your emmc. But CWM will mount your external sdcard instead. For the time being, we can just put the zips we need to flash to the external sdcard, ie. /mnt/emmc.
I don't know if anyone noticed it yet, but if you usb mount after the swap, the transfer speed is kind of slow (~1.5mbps). I don't know if this is due to the emmc or that the read ahead cache needs to be tweaked.
We're open to make this even better. Feel free to comment and provide feedback.
This sounds like a step in the right direction, however, what I would like to see would be merging the emmc with the internal storage. What I mean is this; right now, when I go into "Storage", I see an "SD card" (8gb), "Internal Storage" (0.92gb), and "/mnt/emmc" (5gb). Why can't we combine the .93 Internal and the 5gb emmc together to make a 5.92gb Internal storage and eliminate the emmc from teh storage area? I'm sure there is a reason that I'm not aware of, but it seems that this would be the same as just about every other device. I am pretty sure the ROM is running from the emmc partition, so that has to have something to do with it, but I don't see a purpose for 3 storage places. I keep getting errors when I try to download apps and I don't even have very many installed. I have had to move most of them to the SD card to make room and some apps don't like to be installed on the SD card.
Another option would be to swap the emmc with the Internal storage. Then we'd be using the 5gb and the .92 gb would be sitting there doing nothing instead. Again, I'm sure there are reasons for this, I'm just asking to learn.
I agree.. ideally having the emmc mount be part of the system would be ideal.
Calla969 said:
This sounds like a step in the right direction, however, what I would like to see would be merging the emmc with the internal storage. What I mean is this; right now, when I go into "Storage", I see an "SD card" (8gb), "Internal Storage" (0.92gb), and "/mnt/emmc" (5gb). Why can't we combine the .93 Internal and the 5gb emmc together to make a 5.92gb Internal storage and eliminate the emmc from teh storage area? I'm sure there is a reason that I'm not aware of, but it seems that this would be the same as just about every other device. I am pretty sure the ROM is running from the emmc partition, so that has to have something to do with it, but I don't see a purpose for 3 storage places. I keep getting errors when I try to download apps and I don't even have very many installed. I have had to move most of them to the SD card to make room and some apps don't like to be installed on the SD card.
Another option would be to swap the emmc with the Internal storage. Then we'd be using the 5gb and the .92 gb would be sitting there doing nothing instead. Again, I'm sure there are reasons for this, I'm just asking to learn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have no idea TBH but thats far beyond my ability. really it would be nice to symlink emmc to the SD card or the other way around. the issue is that you cant symlink with fat partitions :-/
This is neet. I don't know enough to comment, but it looks valuble for some people.
I just use my stock emmc for music storage and let apps sit on SD w/ videos.
WobbleTheHutt said:
i have no idea TBH but thats far beyond my ability. really it would be nice to symlink emmc to the SD card or the other way around. the issue is that you cant symlink with fat partitions :-/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, but you can symlink to them. Why not set vold.fstab to mount the partitions onto other names and make symlinks named /sdcard -> /othername? That way, the symlinks can do their jobs or rearranging the namespace to suit our needs.
The ramfs isn't FAT32, is it?
I'm an old cmdline type, tricks like this are used all the time to fool software with stubborn opinions about filenames.
Dennis
Jiggity Janx said:
If this works as effectively as it sounds like it will it's gonna rock! With the multiple wifi/bluetooth file transfer options I can say bye bye to the need for an sd card!
EDIT: I think this thread is eerily quiet because of the popular advice written up HERE. Specifically #5...
IMO, with a great write up on the best ways to work with this, all of the things it will affect (positive and negative), and the proper words of warning then the individuals that take it upon themselves to modify their devices are the only ones that can be held responsible if it doesn't work out as they had hoped. They also have to understand that when they work outside the boundaries of an accepted "standard" that they are somewhat desolate and will need to come back into the fold before they can/will be helped...
Just my .02...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This may be slightly off topic, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what that post is complaining/ talking about, I have had no trouble bouncing between HC, CM7 and stock.
All you have to do is flash to stock and then worst case you force the boot failure and the nook resets its self automatically
The last few posts on that message are myself and another person who have had not trouble with that now the OP hasn't responded so i'm not sure what to make up that post.
Is it real and an actual issue?
Or did the poster overreact to something?
Can some one please explain it to me if I am wrong about something in using a EMMC version of HC?
chisleu said:
This is neet. I don't know enough to comment, but it looks valuble for some people.
I just use my stock emmc for music storage and let apps sit on SD w/ videos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems neet to me also. Always interested in using both emmc and sd space.
@ chisleau - I like the concept of putting all my music on emmc. Do you use an option in CM7 to install or move all your apps to your SD card?
thinking out loud (and not actually doing it) -- but we know that /data is /dev/block/mmcblk0p6 and and the "media" or "emmc" is located at /dev/block/mmcblk0p8 -- can't we just repartition and merge the two?
minotauri said:
thinking out loud (and not actually doing it) -- but we know that /data is /dev/block/mmcblk0p6 and and the "media" or "emmc" is located at /dev/block/mmcblk0p8 -- can't we just repartition and merge the two?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We can repartition but don't do it for this Reason -#5 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=12494638&postcount=1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=12494666&postcount=2
ROMs that follow proper packaging - This emmc swap mod is one of them. So we're fine for those who are still hesitating.
Clark008 said:
ROMs that follow proper packaging - This emmc swap mod is one of them. So we're fine for those who are still hesitating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I was hesitating, but between your post above and the "Thanks" from fattire to the OP, that is all the encouragement I need to take the plunge.
A few questions, tho, if someone can help me to understand this better....
I guess until I saw the OP, I did not realize that all apps in CM7 are installed to the SD card, as when I look at my installed apps in App Mgr, they don't show as being on the SD card. Is this some sort of CM7 voodoo or are my apps really on the internal memory?
Right now, with CM7, I am using the EMMC partition to store my music, under "My Files/Music". Power Amp can see this folder and it will play all my music just fine from within that directory on the internal partition, so if I install this update, what will that do to the 5Gb of internal storage I have now and the music on it?
Also, if I do install this update, what will happen to the apps and their associated data that I already have installed? Is this best done on a fresh build or will everything (apps/data and music) be A-OK after the Swap update is applied?
Just want to know what I am getting into by applying this update, as I have things pretty stable right now. If I could roll with apps on internal and music on SD, I would be more than fine with that, as long as I don't lose any of my apps/data/music in the process. If this is just mere partition re-naming/re-pointing, then I suspect my assets will remain intact?
Thanks to all who collaborated on this project!
why can't the entire internal partitions be imaged?
i use dd all the time to backup my sd card installs in case a test kernel or nightly goes poorly- or to burn a fresh install for multiple people. I just pop in the sd card into my laptop and burn the image back to the sd card.
if this was possible i'd have no issues with running off internal entirely if i could just burn the img. and get everything back as stock, including important device identifiers incase those were erased.
Need undo
This did what it's supposed to do but it seems to be causing a problem with the way I'm booting from sd. Is there a way to undo this?
Bump since I found this useful. +1 for CWM sdcard/emmc swap to enable SDcard-less flashing goodness from ROM Manager.

Memory folder/file name confusion USB/internal/external?

I recently installed an external sd card (Samsung 8GB class 10). I wanted to use it for photos, videos, music and app backups. Also to move some memory heavy apps to sd card. I realise with our sgs2's we're blessed with an abundance of internal memory storage, but wanted to cover myself for factory data resets and so on.
Anyhoo I can't seem to get my head round the folder/file name setup e.g.
Folder sdcard/ which contains sdcard/external_sd and also contains sdcard/usbstorage.
To confuse matters further I seem to have duplicate folders called:
mnt/sdcard/ which contains mnt/sdcard/external_sd it also contains mnt/sdcard/usbstorage.
I would have thought an external sdcard would have a separate root folder? My question is how to get "app to sdcard" to go to external_sd? Also what's the best folder/filename setup to sort out this mess? Thanks, any help would be much appreciated.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
OK so in the linux filesystem /mnt is the area devices are generally mounted to
So the links in the area are to the same sets of locations
/mnt/sdcard is the mount point for the internal SD on a non rooted phone this is the default file system
thus in /mnt/sdcard/external_sd in a non rooted filesystem would simply show up in the file system as /external_sd (and the same with the USB storage) they are in fact one in the same copying file via either path will have exactly the same result.
gazman69 said:
I recently installed an external sd card (Samsung 8GB class 10). I wanted to use it for photos, videos, music and app backups. Also to move some memory heavy apps to sd card. I realise with our sgs2's we're blessed with an abundance of internal memory storage, but wanted to cover myself for factory data resets and so on.
Anyhoo I can't seem to get my head round the folder/file name setup e.g.
Folder sdcard/ which contains sdcard/external_sd and also contains sdcard/usbstorage.
To confuse matters further I seem to have duplicate folders called:
mnt/sdcard/ which contains mnt/sdcard/external_sd it also contains mnt/sdcard/usbstorage.
I would have thought an external sdcard would have a separate root folder? My question is how to get "app to sdcard" to go to external_sd? Also what's the best folder/filename setup to sort out this mess? Thanks, any help would be much appreciated.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're having trouble with the phone directory layout and you have root, you can change it by making a symbolic link to point in another direction or directly change the mount partition table, but I think that would afect the ROM behaviour...
For the first thing, if the phone usually has this directories:
/system
/data
/sdcard
You can create a new one (/external_sd or whatever you want) and make it point to your external_sd directory, so in your root folder will have:
/system
/data
/sdcard
/external_sd -> /sdcard/external_sd
The command to do that is: ln -s /sdcard/external_sd /external_sd
Cheers guys. Thanks for your advice and knowledge on this one. I'm unrooted on stock voda rom 2.3.5. If I understand correctly (and I'm not entirely sure that I do;-). The two copies of the folder/file tree is fairly standard and does not cause any conflicts?
When I move an app to sd, it defaults to internal sd. I can then move them via file manager to external sd. But is there a way to make external sd the default card for this or at least a way to make a choice between them? Apologies if you've already covered this and I didn't get it.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

[Q] /mnt/sdcard/ is mising

Hey folks,
first of all, I'm sorry if my following problem has already been discussed elsewhere in this forum, but I wasn't able to locate a thread or post that fits my exact issue as I don't want to mess up another thread with this.
So here is my problem:
I've recentally updated the resurrection remix rom from v1.9.1 to v2.1 on my SGS2. My phone boots up normally and works like a charm. But then I mentioned that both of my music-apps (poweramp and stock-player) are showing every song twice, as there would be file duplicates. So I checked the content of my external sdcard (where I put my music on) with both the stock-file-explorer and ES file explorer and found out, that my external sdcard wasn't mounted in /mnt/sdcard anymore but in /mnt/emmc and when I clicked on the sdcard-icon in the stock-app it only showed me my internal storage. With ES file explorer I can't access my external sdcard at all. I already plugged the sdcard out of the device, rebooted, plugged it back in and rebooted again. But nothing has changed. Further I've taken a look with MyPhoneExplorer and figured out, that the folder /mnt/sdcard doesn't exist anymore (creating it by myself failed) while /mnt/emmc was still there. Long story short, here are the facts:
/mnt/sdcard --> doesn't exist anymore
/mnt/emmc --> shows the content of external sdcard
sdcard-icon in stock-file-explorer --> shows internal storage
ES file explorer --> can't access sdcard at all (maybe I'm too stupid to use it)
music-apps --> show all the files doubled
Please help me, what can I do to get my external sdcard back at /mnt/sdcard and the music-apps to show every file only once?
let's just talk about the mount points first:
on stock roms, the internal sd card is mounted as /sdcard/ and the external sd card is /sdcard/external_sd/
on aosp roms the internal sd card _should_ be mounted as /sdcard/ as well and the external sd _should_ be mounted as /emmc/ (external multi media card).
in recent cm9 builds, suddenly those mount points were reversed, which does not make much sense in my opinion.
with the jump from ressurection 1.9 to 2.1 you might have just hit that switch. have you performed a full wipe before and/or after flashing the new rom? maybe that'll do the trick
on aosp roms the internal sd card _should_ be mounted as /sdcard/ as well and the external sd _should_ be mounted as /emmc/ (external multi media card).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually that's the case. But what is mnt-directory good for then, if there already are folder providing the content of internal storage and external sdcards? and just btw. wikipedia says that emmc stands for embedded multimedia card and this was invented to be used as an internal storage, that's confusing me.
have you performed a full wipe before and/or after flashing the new rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I followed the installation guide very strictly and performed the wiping and factory resetting before and after the flashing as instructed.
But if the files are where they should be, why is my music indexed twice no matter what I do?
ps: I managed to access my external sdcard with ES file explorer after doing an analyse of the sdcard through the manager-option of ES file explorer.
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a solution for the problem, beside waiting for the next version of the rom. But to those of you who may face the same or a similar problem, here's a little workaround:
In poweramp you can define the folders to scan, so just allow it to scan only /emmc/ and the doubled files will disappear. Unfortunately this is not possible for the stock-player. Maybe this is helpful.
i never bothered to look up emmc and just assumed the "e" stood for external.
if it stands for embedded it would actually make sense to switch the mount points.
the fact that one device can be accessed using several paths, e.g. /sdcard/ and /mnt/sdcard/ is a linux thing. same thing is present on pcs, servers and embedded systems (video game console, set top boxes, mediaplayers...). the mount point /sdcard/ is for convenience.
the "picking up files twice" issue you have with your music probably comes from some mount problem. but here's an idea:
in any music player, find a song that is present twice in a row, and look at its details. you should be able to find the full filename including the folder structure. then you will know exactly, what causes the duplicates. it might be that your card is mounted in some other folder as well.
other than that, as you said, it might be best to wait for the next rom revision, or get your post count up and post in the development thread directly, where they can probably help you. if that is a general bug of the rom, i guess you are not the first to realize it and people should be working on it as it sounds really annoying.

obb "Game Data" to external_sd and Link2Sd Info [Updated 3/24]

UPDATE:
I now recommend using FolderMount instead of the scripts below.
Forum Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2192122
Market Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/...251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5kZXZhc3F1ZS5mbW91bnQiXQ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PART 1: obb "Game Data" to external_sd
Simple script that binds the internal obb folder to an external Gamedata folder on your sd to save space on Internal SD Card.
Use at your own risk.
1. Create a folder on the external_sd called "Gamedata"
2. Move all folders located in sdcard/android/obb to the newly created folder "Gamedata" (This takes a long time using Root Explorer, be patient. I recommend using Solid Explorer so that you can see the progress.)
3. Download the txt file and rename the extension to .sh OR Create a new script using:
Stock ICS:
Code:
mount -o bind /mnt/sdcard/external_sd/Gamedata /mnt/sdcard/Android/obb/
SnowJB (may or may not work on other JB ROMS) - Credit:
Code:
mount -o bind /storage/external_SD/Gamedata /storage/sdcard0/Android/obb/
4. Download Smanager from the playstore.
5. Find the script you created and set it to run with SU, make sure to save.
6. You can run it now to see if it worked. (If it did, make sure to edit the script to run at boot)
Notes:
I reclaimed about 6GB+ and was able to download several new games after doing this.
Occasional a folder called /Android/data/ gets created in Gamedata but it stays empty and doesn't effect anything. Just ignore it.
Newly downloaded game data will automatically be downloaded to the Gamedata folder. (As long as the addition data is downloaded through Google Play)
Works with Link2SD
This should work on every device that has an external sd card, however you might have to edit the paths to make sure they match up with how your device has the external sd card implemented (emmc, sdcard1, extSdCard). You may also have to edit the internal sd path for 4.2 and above to because of multi-user support.
Thanks to DeathmonkeyGTX! His music cache script gave me the idea to do the same for obb game data. They could probably be combined into one script, should you want to.
PART 2: Link2SD Info - for even more space saving
You can also use Link2Sd (found on the market) to store apps on the external sd card.
I formatted my external sd into two partitions. One 55 GB partition (For user data) and another 4 GB partition (for Link2SD).
Notes:
The highest app that I linked only saved about 50 MBs. Not really saving that much space, but after I linked several 50 MBs and under apps, I recovered about 1.2 GBs of space on the Internal.
The second partition can only be used for Link2SD.
To Set Up:
Backup your SD, format it to Fat32, use MiniTool to resize the first partition, then create a second partition (FAT 32 and make sure it is Primary) using the remaining space. You should now have two partitions. Now just launch the Link2SD app and create the start-up mount scripts. Reboot, launch the app once more, and finally start linking apps to your external sd card.
More info here: http://www.link2sd.info/home
I recommend reading the description and FAQ.
Both "PARTS" can be used together or separately just fine on ICS. However, I was not able to get Link2Sd working on SnowJB.
Seems to be working great! We now have so much more room for activities!
This is what I call a WIN: http://imgur.com/a/WBtHP
as far as I know I did everything I was supposed to but I went and deleted the files on my internal sd card and it deleted the ones on external sd card. I downloaded the app again and it saved the files in both locations and I deleted the internal one and it deleted both again. What could be causing this?
mws1986 said:
as far as I know I did everything I was supposed to but I went and deleted the files on my internal sd card and it deleted the ones on external sd card. I downloaded the app again and it saved the files in both locations and I deleted the internal one and it deleted both again. What could be causing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to delete the files before you set the script to run at boot. Otherwise you will be deleting the files on the external sd since the script tricks the system into thinking they are on the internal. I'm also think that your misunderstanding when you say they are on both. If you look at the total space when tapping the obb folder on your internal you will notice it goes from 11GB to whatever size you external sd card is. The two folders are binded so it would appear that they are on both but they are only on your external.
Joecascio2000 said:
You have to delete the files before you set the script to run at boot. Otherwise you will be deleting the files on the external sd since the script tricks the system into thinking they are on the internal. I'm also think that your misunderstanding when you say they are on both. If you look at the total space when tapping the obb folder on your internal you will notice it goes from 11GB to whatever size you external sd card is. The two folders are binded so it would appear that they are on both but they are only on your external.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just noticed this today, I ran this correctly (thank you for adapting it btw) and saw that I had "duplicates" on my internal. Then I saw that the total space was listed as 32 gigs... and it clicked, lol.
For a little clarification, you will see the folder in both places, the one on the internal card is just a link, it shouldn't actually take up any room on the internal card.
I was also able to get this to work for another folder created by a game that didn't put the files in obb folder.
(Just make a copy of the script and edit the pathways in it and run as root at boot.)
bleached45 said:
I just noticed this today, I ran this correctly (thank you for adapting it btw) and saw that I had "duplicates" on my internal. Then I saw that the total space was listed as 32 gigs... and it clicked, lol.
For a little clarification, you will see the folder in both places, the one on the internal card is just a link, it shouldn't actually take up any room on the internal card.
I was also able to get this to work for another folder created by a game that didn't put the files in obb folder.
(Just make a copy of the script and edit the pathways in it and run as root at boot.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it bugs me big time that some apps download files to different places. I noticed some apps that download additional files through the play store, download the data to the /android/data/ folder instead of /android/obb/. Google really needs to make that uniform, where all additional game data get downloaded to one place. I did, however, adapt my script to link the whole /android/ folder to the external sdcard.
I won't release that one because there is way more things that can go wrong. The /android/data folder is used for so much more than just games and if it's not set up just right you could get force closes and blank widgets on boot. But just FYI, it is possible and is working well for me.
Worked! Thanks a lot for the script man helped save a lot of data!
Sent from my LG-E970 using xda app-developers app
Well, I can't get this post deleted, but I was able to figure out my problem!
Thanks for posting this solution! So happy to have it!
Re: obb "Game Data" to external_sd and Link2Sd Info
I used both methods here, obb and links2sd and it helped me out tremendously. Nice work and thanks for posting this.
Sent from my LG-E970 using xda premium
Hey Joecascio2000,
Do you know how one would modify this script to work on the Stock 4.1.2 Jelly Bean LG-E973/1/5/0 CANADA / ATT / INTERNATIONAL rom?
I've read in that thread that the sdcard locations are different for Jellybean.
I've tried the following path to no avail.
mount -o bind /mnt/storage/external_SD/Gamedata /mnt/storage/sdcard0/Android/obb/
Using that path will have smanager error out stating the following:
card0:/AndroidObbSwap.sh'
mount: No such file or directory
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Yoreo said:
Hey Joecascio2000,
Do you know how one would modify this script to work on the Stock 4.1.2 Jelly Bean LG-E973/1/5/0 CANADA / ATT / INTERNATIONAL rom?
I've read in that thread that the sdcard locations are different for Jellybean.
I've tried the following path to no avail.
mount -o bind /mnt/storage/external_SD/Gamedata /mnt/storage/sdcard0/Android/obb/
Using that path will have smanager error out stating the following:
card0:/AndroidObbSwap.sh'
mount: No such file or directory
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have JB installed yet so I don't know exactly how the sd card and external sd card are mount. I'm assuming your paths are correct. But I suggest making sure that the script is running from the internal SD card. Also, I would add a "sleep" line just to make sure the external sd is mounted properly before running the bind.
Try:
#start
sleep 30
mount -o bind /mnt/storage/external_SD/Gamedata /mnt/storage/sdcard0/Android/obb/
#end
Joecascio2000 said:
I don't have JB installed yet so I don't know exactly how the sd card and external sd card are mount. I'm assuming your paths are correct. But I suggest making sure that the script is running from the internal SD card. Also, I would add a "sleep" line just to make sure the external sd is mounted properly before running the bind.
Try:
#start
sleep 30
mount -o bind /mnt/storage/external_SD/Gamedata /mnt/storage/sdcard0/Android/obb/
#end
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I gave that a shot, and it's still kicking out the same error. I think I'm going to post in that thread and see if anyone there can tell me if my path names are incorrect.
Well Joecascio2000, I figured it out after getting a good nights sleep. My paths weren't correct.
Anyhow, the correct path/command is as follows:
Code:
mount -o bind /storage/external_SD/Gamedata /storage/sdcard0/Android/obb/
Feel free to update your OP to notify anyone who may be using that rom to use the above script for things to work properly.
What would be the code to get this working with the new cm 10.1 conversion?
I tried
mount -o bind /storage/sdcard1/Gamedata /storage/emulated/0/Android/obb/
and a few others
Yoreo said:
Well Joecascio2000, I figured it out after getting a good nights sleep. My paths weren't correct.
Anyhow, the correct path/command is as follows:
Code:
mount -o bind /storage/external_SD/Gamedata /storage/sdcard0/Android/obb/
Feel free to update your OP to notify anyone who may be using that rom to use the above script for things to work properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I updated to OP to include your code and put a link to your post.
whoamanwtf said:
What would be the code to get this working with the new cm 10.1 conversion?
I tried
mount -o bind /storage/sdcard1/Gamedata /storage/emulated/0/Android/obb/
and a few others
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, not really sure how CM10.1 handles the external sd. Did you try the code directly above your post? It works for the JB port so it may work for the CM10.1 ROM.
EDIT:
Try:
mount -o bind /storage/sdcard1/Gamedata /storage/sdcard0/Android/obb/
That is what I have on my Captivate running CM10.1.
Re: obb "Game Data" to external_sd and Link2Sd Info
I'm not 100% for sure on this but doesn't cm10 handle the external sd as emmc?
Sent from my LG-E970 using xda premium
Re: obb "Game Data" to external_sd and Link2Sd Info
tmease1 said:
I'm not 100% for sure on this but doesn't cm10 handle the external sd as emmc?
Sent from my LG-E970 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know they used too on my Captivate but with the multiple users in 10.1 I think they might have changed it. And again it could be different for every device. I recommend using solid explorer to just search around. If you tap the little android icon in the top left it gives you the exact path of the folder you are in.
Sent from my LG-E970 using xda premium
Joecascio2000 said:
I know they used too on my Captivate but with the multiple users in 10.1 I think they might have changed it. And again it could be different for every device. I recommend using solid explorer to just search around. If you tap the little android icon in the top left it gives you the exact path of the folder you are in.
Sent from my LG-E970 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it is weird I found the exact paths and changed the script but it still doesnt work, even got it to where it looked like it worked, went green and no mount error but no data
whoamanwtf said:
Yeah it is weird I found the exact paths and changed the script but it still doesnt work, even got it to where it looked like it worked, went green and no mount error but no data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you add the sleep line? Some ROMS take longer to mount the sd card than others. If the sd card isn't mounted before the script runs nothing will happen.
Code:
#start
sleep 30
mount -o bind /storage/external_SD/Gamedata /storage/sdcard0/Android/obb/
#end
This will wait 30 seconds before running the script. If the paths are correct, I don't see why it wouldn't work. Under smanager, click menu>more> advanced>configuration, and turn on "Show On Boot Script Log". That should give you an idea as to what is happening.

[Q] Use /storage/external_SD instead of /storage/sdcard0

I have a LG Optimus L3 II, and since it has less than 2 GB of total ROM, I have bought an external SD card. I have some experience with Linux desktop systems, but not really with Android. On a Linux desktop, if I lack disk space, I can mount /home to the device I want using /etc/fstab, so all my personal files are transparently saved to the specified device.
I have noticed that my user files on the LG Optimus are all saved to /storage/sdcard0. Also, that there is a symlink from /sdcard to /storage/sdcard0.
What I would like to accomplish is to transparently have all my personal files on /storage/external_SD, but I'm not sure if I can just change /sdcard to point to the new location, or if I would need to change mount points somewhere, etc. I have searched on Google about this, but found nothing clear, and it seems this may vary from device to device. Also, I haven't tried anything yet, because I don't really think I would be able to recover if anything goes bad.
Thanks for your attention!
teresaejunior said:
I have a LG Optimus L3 II, and since it has less than 2 GB of total ROM, I have bought an external SD card. I have some experience with Linux desktop systems, but not really with Android. On a Linux desktop, if I lack disk space, I can mount /home to the device I want using /etc/fstab, so all my personal files are transparently saved to the specified device.
I have noticed that my user files on the LG Optimus are all saved to /storage/sdcard0. Also, that there is a symlink from /sdcard to /storage/sdcard0.
What I would like to accomplish is to transparently have all my personal files on /storage/external_SD, but I'm not sure if I can just change /sdcard to point to the new location, or if I would need to change mount points somewhere, etc. I have searched on Google about this, but found nothing clear, and it seems this may vary from device to device. Also, I haven't tried anything yet, because I don't really think I would be able to recover if anything goes bad.
Thanks for your attention!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't just replace /sdcard to point to a new location, as Android is always expected to run from the internal storage, and this can cause mayhem. Now, the first question you should answer to yourself is what you mean when you say "personal files": if you just need to store songs, pictures, movies etc., you can store them on the external SD without any issues.
However, the main problem with Android in this aspect is the applications (apps and their data). The best thing would be if you could natively install them on the SD. But this is not always possible, since SD cards are usually formatted with non native Linux file systems (such as FAT) ,in order for them to be mounted on Windows, meaning that they lack the infrastructure to run apps from within (like file permissions or symlinks).
Solution here is the following: Format your SD card to be either all or partially of an ext3/4 file system type (so it can at least hold all apps and their data), then install the Link2SD app, which moves the application to this SD partition and creates all links from the internal drive to this partition. The paid version of this app (Link2SD+, which costs $1) allows you to link also the application data to the SD card (not only the app itself). I have used this solution on many low end devices I had in the past (like yours basically), and it solved this issue perfectly.
Digdis said:
You can't just replace /sdcard to point to a new location, as Android is always expected to run from the internal storage, and this can cause mayhem. Now, the first question you should answer to yourself is what you mean when you say "personal files": if you just need to store songs, pictures, movies etc., you can store them on the external SD without any issues.
However, the main problem with Android in this aspect is the applications (apps and their data). The best thing would be if you could natively install them on the SD. But this is not always possible, since SD cards are usually formatted with non native Linux file systems (such as FAT) ,in order for them to be mounted on Windows, meaning that they lack the infrastructure to run apps from within (like file permissions or symlinks).
Solution here is the following: Format your SD card to be either all or partially of an ext3/4 file system type (so it can at least hold all apps and their data), then install the Link2SD app, which moves the application to this SD partition and creates all links from the internal drive to this partition. The paid version of this app (Link2SD+, which costs $1) allows you to link also the application data to the SD card (not only the app itself). I have used this solution on many low end devices I had in the past (like yours basically), and it solved this issue perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your answer, Digdis! What I'm really looking for is not to have applications installed on the external SD card, since 2GB is more than enough for applications for me. What I really want is to have stuff that generally goes to /storage/sdcard0 in /storage/external_SD, because this is where my personal files and settings goes to. For example, if I download something, no matter what size, or record videos, I would expect them all to go directly to the SD card. I know a few applications, not all, can be directly configured to use the external card, but it would be a rather unintelligent way, unless Google has decided to throw basic Linux design out of the window.
Also, what you are telling me is that applications will fail to run if Android/data/ is on an external SD card? Because if I just install applications on SD card, it won't really solve my problem, because I have few applications installed, but data on /storage/sdcard0 tends to grow a lot.
teresaejunior said:
Thanks for your answer, Digdis! What I'm really looking for is not to have applications installed on the external SD card, since 2GB is more than enough for applications for me. What I really want is to have stuff that generally goes to /storage/sdcard0 in /storage/external_SD, because this is where my personal files and settings goes to. For example, if I download something, no matter what size, or record videos, I would expect them all to go directly to the SD card. I know a few applications, not all, can be directly configured to use the external card, but it would be a rather unintelligent way, unless Google has decided to throw basic Linux design out of the window.
Also, what you are telling me is that applications will fail to run if Android/data/ is on an external SD card? Because if I just install applications on SD card, it won't really solve my problem, because I have few applications installed, but data on /storage/sdcard0 tends to grow a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK understood. First of all 2GB seems a bit low for both ROM and apps, but if you say it works for you...
Now, regarding automatic download of pics etc. to SD. You can try Xposed module Downloads2SD . Didn't try it, but you can give it a try.
You can actually do that by telling the system to mount them differently but LG handles that by initiation not fstab. I can try and help you.
Didn't explain it very well. Mount the External SD as sdcard0 and sdcard0 as External_sd so the phone will safe on sdcard0 which we just made the external_SD. There can be problems with pictures recognition or music stuff like that but it should work.
Thanks a lot, @Digdis, I'll keep everything you said for reference.
@christi9503 OK, please, let's try it!
teresaejunior said:
Thanks a lot, @Digdis, I'll keep everything you said for reference.
@christi9503 OK, please, let's try it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you rooted with a custom recovery? We need root for this and also you need to give me some files.
christi9503 said:
Are you rooted with a custom recovery? We need root for this and also you need to give me some files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it is rooted, but what do you mean with "a custom recovery"?
teresaejunior said:
Yes, it is rooted, but what do you mean with "a custom recovery"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CloworkMod(CWM) or TWRP recovery. So you can flash flashable zip.
christi9503 said:
CloworkMod(CWM) or TWRP recovery. So you can flash flashable zip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are both supported on this device?
teresaejunior said:
Are both supported on this device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Search around the forum a guy around ported all from what I know. Anyway install one of the recoveries to get ready.
What I want you to do now is this:
Check in storage path (with a root explorer) what folder you have like sdcard0, external_sd etc. Tell me all and what is the address (where it links)
EX: sdcard0 -> internal storage.
Also go in system/etc/ and copy me with a root explorer to sd card and then upload it on forums this file : init.qcom.post_boot.sh
christi9503 said:
Search around the forum a guy around ported all from what I know. Anyway install one of the recoveries to get ready.
What I want you to do now is this:
Check in storage path (with a root explorer) what folder you have like sdcard0, external_sd etc. Tell me all and what is the address (where it links)
EX: sdcard0 -> internal storage.
Also go in system/etc/ and copy me with a root explorer to sd card and then upload it on forums this file : init.qcom.post_boot.sh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Installing will probably take me some time, because Android is refusing to install anything now saying I don't have enough free space (although I have 199MB, but maybe it thinks is too little). The information you have requested I have already:
There is /sdcard/, which is just a symlink to /storage/sdcard0/.
/storage/sdcard0, which is the internal memory, is mounted like:
Code:
/dev/fuse /storage/sdcard0 fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
And there is also /storage/external_SD/, which is mounted like:
Code:
/dev/block/vold/179:33 /storage/external_SD vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0002,dmask=0002,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0
init.qcom.post_boot.sh is attached.
teresaejunior said:
Installing will probably take me some time, because Android is refusing to install anything now saying I don't have enough free space (although I have 199MB, but maybe it thinks is too little). The information you have requested I have already:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is why I urged you to start moving apps to the SD card. Android will refuse to install anything on your internal memory unless you have at least 10% free space.
teresaejunior said:
Installing will probably take me some time, because Android is refusing to install anything now saying I don't have enough free space (although I have 199MB, but maybe it thinks is too little). The information you have requested I have already:
There is /sdcard/, which is just a symlink to /storage/sdcard0/.
/storage/sdcard0, which is the internal memory, is mounted like:
Code:
/dev/fuse /storage/sdcard0 fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
And there is also /storage/external_SD/, which is mounted like:
Code:
/dev/block/vold/179:33 /storage/external_SD vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1015,fmask=0002,dmask=0002,allow_utime=0020,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0
init.qcom.post_boot.sh is attached.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well install recovery by adb with dd (in shell).
---------- Post added at 06:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:31 PM ----------
@teresaejunior
Under /mnt (on the root I think) you will have some folder like sdcard, external_SD etc inside that folder. Tell me what folders are there and the one that gets you in internal and the one that gets you in external pls.
CWM is installed!
In /mnt there are:
Code:
asec
obb
sdcard -> /storage/sdcard0
secure
teresaejunior said:
CWM is installed!
In /mnt there are:
Code:
asec
obb
sdcard -> /storage/sdcard0
secure
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok gonna give you a flashable zip in a second that will replace your post boot script. If it goes into bootloop we got a backup don't worry.
teresaejunior said:
CWM is installed!
In /mnt there are:
Code:
asec
obb
sdcard -> /storage/sdcard0
secure
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash this and tell me if they are swapped. Through CWM.
View attachment SwapL32.zip
christi9503 said:
Flash this and tell me if they are swapped. Through CWM.
View attachment 3082829
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it swapped, but now many applications are crashing or failing to open files. I copied all files from sdcard0 to external_SD and rebooted, but it still doesn't seem to help. Maybe I should have formatted the external SD to ext*?
teresaejunior said:
I think it swapped, but now many applications are crashing or failing to open files. I copied all files from sdcard0 to external_SD and rebooted, but it still doesn't seem to help. Maybe I should have formatted the external SD to ext*?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope you do not need to format it in order to work. Just make a clean install and use this swap. Maybe you copied them wrong. If the swap worked all is fine my friend.
christi9503 said:
Nope you do not need to format it in order to work. Just make a clean install and use this swap. Maybe you copied them wrong. If the swap worked all is fine my friend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, thank you so much, now _this is_ going to take a good time!

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