how to change SDCard Mount Folder - Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello,
Im trying to change my mount point for my external sd card on my SIII from /mnt/extSdCard to /sdcard/external_sd. My reasons for doing this is some apps cant access the /mnt directory. So i did a little looking around and several posts suggested editing the /system/etc/vold.fstab and changing the lines in there to the correct directory.
I did this successfully and rebooted. It mounted correctly to this location but im getting a load of errors now saying things like "Unfortunatly, Factory Test has stopped", "...android.process.media has stopped", "...mtp has stopped", "...software update has stopped" I dont keep any apps on the external sd card.
Can someone help me with this please?
Thanks

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Are you sure the folder /sdcard/external_sd/ exists.
Also, if you take your sdcard out do you still get these problems?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

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Ya i created the folder myself, it does actually mount correctly to this folder when i make the change but i get all those messages. It works ok if i change the mount folder back again to the original location

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Any ideas guys, im really stuck with this.

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When you start your phone withour the sdcard physically in, do you still get errors after you changed fstab?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

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Sorry, yes i still get the errors after i remove the SD card, i also get a message in the notification area saying "blank USB Storage" but im sure that doesnt matter.

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Paste your fstab, you might have made an error.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

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Is this possibly caused by mounting the folder inside the internal sd (which is also mounted folder)
The line that im changing is:
Original: dev_mount sdcard /mnt/extSdCard auto /devices/
New: dev mount sdcard /sdcard/external_sd auto /devices/

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Here ya go
## Vold 2.0 Generic fstab
## - San Mehat ([email protected])
##
#######################
## Regular device mount
##
## Format: dev_mount <label> <mount_point> <part> <sysfs_path1...>
## label - Label for the volume
## mount_point - Where the volume will be mounted
## part - Partition # (1 based), or 'auto' for first usable partition.
## <sysfs_path> - List of sysfs paths to source devices
######################
#storage_struct = series, /mnt/sdcard/extStorages
#storage_struct = parallel
{
supported_exfat = yes
}
dev_mount sdcard /sdcard/external_sd auto /devices/
platform/s3c-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc1/
#usb host device
{
media_type = usb
supported_exfat = yes
}
dev_mount sda /mnt/UsbDriveA auto /devices/platform/s5p-ehci
#usb host device
{
media_type = usb
supported_exfat = yes
}
dev_mount sdb /mnt/UsbDriveB auto /devices/platform/s5p-ehci
#usb host device
{
media_type = usb
supported_exfat = yes
}
dev_mount sdc /mnt/UsbDriveC auto /devices/platform/s5p-ehci
#usb host device
{
media_type = usb
supported_exfat = yes
}
dev_mount sdd /mnt/UsbDriveD auto /devices/platform/s5p-ehci
#usb host device
{
media_type = usb
supported_exfat = yes
}
dev_mount sde /mnt/UsbDriveE auto /devices/platform/s5p-ehci
#usb host device
{
media_type = usb
supported_exfat = yes
}
dev_mount sdf /mnt/UsbDriveF auto /devices/platform/s5p-ehci
#EOF
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

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Why don't you just create a symbolic link from the old location to the new location? That way any requests to the original mount point are redirected to the new one. I'm sure the reason for all the errors is the original mount point is hard-coded into those APKs.

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Product F(RED) said:
Why don't you just create a symbolic link from the old location to the new location? That way any requests to the original mount point are redirected to the new one. I'm sure the reason for all the errors is the original mount point is hard-coded into those APKs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds like a good idea. Would this actually mean that apks would be able to see these links and follow them without a problem.
How do I create a symbolic link?

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Product F(RED) said:
Why don't you just create a symbolic link from the old location to the new location? That way any requests to the original mount point are redirected to the new one. I'm sure the reason for all the errors is the original mount point is hard-coded into those APKs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would that work? Most SD cards wont support symlinks.
I just tried to create one with Root explorer and it failed. Couldnt be bothered to try with terminal but assume the same result.

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Ah, you might need to edit your build.prop and change
ro.removablemounts
So it equals /sdcard/external_sd
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

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Zanith said:
Ah, you might need to edit your build.prop and change
ro.removablemounts
So it equals /sdcard/external_sd
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that works, that's a better solution. Symlinks are possible as far as I know; someone once made an app to be able to move and then symlink Gameloft game files to the memory card so that internal storage wouldn't have to be used. I'll try and find it.

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ok i tried changing the line back to /extSdCard and im it mounted correctly but im still getting these errors. Ive posted my current void.fstab here. Crap, its very hard to do anything with this phone as those messages keep on popping up.
## Vold 2.0 Generic fstab
## - San Mehat ([email protected])
##
#######################
## Regular device mount
##
## Format: dev_mount <label> <mount_point> <part> <sysfs_path1...>
## label - Label for the volume
## mount_point - Where the volume will be mounted
## part - Partition # (1 based), or 'auto' for first usable partition.
## <sysfs_path> - List of sysfs paths to source devices
######################
#storage_struct = series, /mnt/sdcard/extStorages
#storage_struct = parallel
{
supported_exfat = yes
}
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/extSdCard auto /devices/
platform/s3c-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc1/
#usb host device
{
media_type = usb
supported_exfat = yes
}
dev_mount sda /mnt/UsbDriveA auto /devices/platform/s5p-ehci
#usb host device
{
media_type = usb
supported_exfat = yes
}
dev_mount sdb /mnt/UsbDriveB auto /devices/platform/s5p-ehci
#usb host device
{
media_type = usb
supported_exfat = yes
}
dev_mount sdc /mnt/UsbDriveC auto /devices/platform/s5p-ehci
#usb host device
{
media_type = usb
supported_exfat = yes
}
dev_mount sdd /mnt/UsbDriveD auto /devices/platform/s5p-ehci
#usb host device
{
media_type = usb
supported_exfat = yes
}
dev_mount sde /mnt/UsbDriveE auto /devices/platform/s5p-ehci
#usb host device
{
media_type = usb
supported_exfat = yes
}
dev_mount sdf /mnt/UsbDriveF auto /devices/platform/s5p-ehci
#EOF
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

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Change it back to what you wanted, then change build.prop as I said.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

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I'm in the same boat as you.
After messing with vold.fstab too (before reading this thread), getting my S3 nearly impossible to use (because of the popups), and doing some research, I ran into this:
Is Google blocking apps writing to SD cards ?
http://www.chainfire.eu/articles/113/Is_Google_blocking_apps_writing_to_SD_cards_/
So, apparently, we've hit a deadend. The write permission to the ext. SD card might be gone from ICS 4.0.4 (or from ICS overall), and no 3rd-party apps will be able to write to it in a near future. Forget about app2sd too.
The path might be hardcoded in several parts of the framework, and that's whe we get so many errors after editing vold.fstab.
Damn you, Google!

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Oh man I only edited one line and then changed it back. I did this Friday without problems, just did it today and getting all these messages. Didnt update my version of android either, dont understand why it wont go back.
All for the sake of just wanting another mount folder.

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I'm sure google are aware of this issue, they were working on making android use the /mnt/sdcard0 notation to support multiple sdcards.
Is it the same with cm9 where somebody can change these reference.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

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OK figured out what i did wrong, of coarse it was stupid. Firstly i got an original untouched fstab file from someone i know who has another s3 and copied it to the /system/etc. Im not sure if it was because it was an untouched file or that i messed up but what i think i did was copy it to the location all along and edit an fstab file that was in /etc instead of /system/etc.
I don't know if the same thing happened to you but ive attached the untouched fstab file for you to copy and try and get your phone working. Hope this helps.
So guys back to point you were saying about linking?
https://rapidshare.com/files/3622250406/vold.fstab