I'd like to understand more about what happens internally when you move an app to the SD card. When you do this, how does the app know which bits have moved and what constitutes what can be moved and what can't. Does it do something like moving the files and the creating symbolic links to those files?
Then what happens when you upgrade and app? Assuming that it has some parts in the applications partition and some parts on the sd card, how does the upgrade know what files to put where?
Thanks for any clarifications. Feel free to point me towards another thread. When searching I couldn't really find and detailed information.
octessence said:
I'd like to understand more about what happens internally when you move an app to the SD card. When you do this, how does the app know which bits have moved and what constitutes what can be moved and what can't. Does it do something like moving the files and the creating symbolic links to those files?
Then what happens when you upgrade and app? Assuming that it has some parts in the applications partition and some parts on the sd card, how does the upgrade know what files to put where?
Thanks for any clarifications. Feel free to point me towards another thread. When searching I couldn't really find and detailed information.
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When you move the apps to the SD card its taking all the files needed to run that to the SD card. I may not be a 100% correct on this but im pretty sure that most System apps need to stay on the internal storage to run correctly and most 3rd party apps (games and such) can be moved the SD card to help free up space on the internal drive.
Droid Premium said:
When you move the apps to the SD card its taking all the files needed to run that to the SD card. I may not be a 100% correct on this but im pretty sure that most System apps need to stay on the internal storage to run correctly and most 3rd party apps (games and such) can be moved the SD card to help free up space on the internal drive.
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So in summary what you said is "the files are moved"? Thanks for that.
move apps to sd.
I would like to know where actually does the "move apps to sd" moves all the data, in which directory in sd card.
thanks in advance
The app will be installed in sd card but if that app has obb files then the files won't be moved to sd card cuz it has to be in internal in order to run properly..
Related
I have a few questions about app install locations for the g-tablet. There are three places where apps can go: 1. internal memory, 2. internal sd card, 3. external sd card.
For internal memory, I can see the installed apps (the apk files) at /data/app. I cannot find any evidence of any apps installed on the internal sd card (do they stay packaged in the apk file or get exploded out). What directory do they get put into on the internal sd card? In case you're wondering, according to App 2 SD Pro, I have 10 apps installed on the sd card.
Is there a way to install apps on the external sd card? Everything that I've read about and the sd card app managers that I've tried only work between the internal memory and the internal sd card.
Hmmm...nothing but crickets. Not even a question for more information? Well, here is a little more anyway. The tablet is rooted and I have tnt-lite 4.4.0 installed. I'm using Root Explorer to browse around in the file system.
This discussion might help, somewhat.
Yes, that other post was somewhat helpful. I can see the apps that have been moved to the "internal" SD card are at /mnt/asec with Root Explorer (I didn't have to unmount either...but the .android_secure folder did show as empty).
A couple of other questions for you:
1. Are you using a remote Linux machine to do those find commands or is there a way to get to that command line on the g tablet? I only have Windows so I may be stuck there.
2. Unmounting the SD card in the Settings will unmount the "external" SD card, right? not the "internal" SD card?
3. Do you know anything on my other original question about the "external" SD card? Can we move apps there some how? If not, I'd be game to try to write an app that will do it but my guess is that if there isn't an app that does it already, its probably harder than it seems that it should be.
Puhn said:
(I didn't have to unmount either...but the .android_secure folder did show as empty).
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If you unmount the SD card (internal or external -- depends on the ROM), you will see stuff in /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure/.
1. Are you using a remote Linux machine to do those find commands or is there a way to get to that command line on the g tablet?
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I use a telnet session into the gTablet, but, you can run the commands either inside a Terminal emulator or via adb. It usually doesn't matter how you run the commands.
2. Unmounting the SD card in the Settings will unmount the "external" SD card, right? not the "internal" SD card?
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Depends on the ROM. In CyanogenMod, the SD card is the removable SD card. The internal non-removable one is called "emmc" (mounted under /mnt/emmc). Other ROMs have /mnt/sdcard and /mnt/sdcard2 (Froyo/GB) or /mnt/sdcard and /mnt/external_sd (Honeycomb ROMs).
3. Do you know anything on my other original question about the "external" SD card? Can we move apps there some how? If not, I'd be game to try to write an app that will do it but my guess is that if there isn't an app that does it already, its probably harder than it seems that it should be.
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CyanogenMod does what you want by default. As I mentioned above, for it /mnt/sdcard is always the external removable SD card. So, everything "moved to SD card" ends up on the external SD. If you want other ROMs to behave this way, you'll have to change some of the /init*.rc files and the /system/etc/vold.fstab file and change what gets mounted as /mnt/sdcard (ie, which device is assigned the "sdcard" label). Look around, the changes are fairly obvious.
My recommedation, however, is to just install CyanogenMod and avoid the /init*.rc and vold/fstab hackery.
Good information. Huge THANKS !
One last question (hopefully)...if the SD card in CyanogenMod is the external SD card, I guess I have the reverse question for it. Can/how do you move apps to the non-removable SD card?
I guess what I'm getting at is I have a 16 GB internal, non-removable SD card and a 16 GB removable SD card that I'd like to maximize the use of. I'm not stuck with only being able to put apps on one or the other depending on the installed ROM am I?
Puhn said:
I guess what I'm getting at is I have a 16 GB internal, non-removable SD card and a 16 GB removable SD card that I'd like to maximize the use of. I'm not stuck with only being able to put apps on one or the other depending on the installed ROM am I?
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Heh. What started as a simple question about App install locations has now progressed to low-level mucking about with the system. What next--RAID using the SD cards?
To answer your question, with the standard, unmodified ROM you are stuck with only using either one or the other. But, since Android is based on Linux, (and since we have the source code for most of the programs on the system), it can be made to do a lot of non-standard things.
I'm pretty sure that the system can be modified to use both the internal and external SD cards for App installations, but, this will need a fair bit of customization of the ROM. Which means that if you switch ROMs or even upgrade the current one, the setup will have to be redone again.
Therefore, my recommendation, is that you use one of the SD cards solely for app installs and the other only for storing media/books/whatever. 16GB only for apps is a fair bit of space, I feel.
rajeevvp said:
Heh. What started as a simple question about App install locations has now progressed to low-level mucking about with the system.
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Well, I had hoped to avoid the mucking about part and that one of the available ROMs already had the ability to put apps anywhere but it sounds like that is not the case. I guess I wasn't clear with my original question.
Anyway, thanks for all of the answers. I'll stick with what I've got for now. At some point I may play around with some things and see how thoroughly mucked up I can get it.
Has anyone been able to successfully move an app from the internal storage to an sd card on the NT? I have tried using App2sd and Astro file manager to move apps, but every time I move one, it breaks the app and I end up have to reinstall it to the main storage.
How can I move or initially install apps to my sd card?
Thanks in advance.
Moves, but disappears
SuperToolbox moves them to the SDcard nicely, and they work until I reboot. Then they are GONE!
Is there a cure for this?
Apps2SD/ZDBox?
Has anyone had any better luck with this? Both Apps2SD and ZDBox break the app. And at least in the case of ZDBox, the application never even shows up on the SD card when I do a search.
Had to ask: Why would you want to move an app to SD? I understand that the nook has sufficient storage space to handle a lot (something like 13GB) of apps.
Drenhead said:
Has anyone been able to successfully move an app from the internal storage to an sd card on the NT? I have tried using App2sd and Astro file manager to move apps, but every time I move one, it breaks the app and I end up have to reinstall it to the main storage.
How can I move or initially install apps to my sd card?
Thanks in advance.
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in all honesty it weird that you would want to install apps on to your SD card since you basically have 13GB of access for apps. Installing apps from your SD card goes into the data folder on the NT if i am not mistaken, and apps take very little space unless you are downloading games which have like additional content that takes like 1gb of space. Even then you should still have sufficient storage...
you guys know that we can only use 1 gig of all that internal storage, right? because the other 12 gigs are dedicated to Barnes and Noble content...
blazednova said:
you guys know that we can only use 1 gig of all that internal storage, right? because the other 12 gigs are dedicated to Barnes and Noble content...
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Have you read any of the threads on the partitioning of the device?
My apps are installing on my internal USB storage for some reason and it's soon full. I can't put any apps to my external SD-Card and i wounder why that is happening.
What could I have done and what can I do to change it so my apps are installing on the external SD card?
Thanks!!
To begin with, you should have posted this thread in the "Q&A" section. However, to put applications in your external SD card, use Link2sd.
I'm sorry i placed it in the wrong section.
Well, when i open that app and look at my apps, it says they're already on the sd-card. Tho when i look at the map where they are placed, it don't say /external_sd. It's in /mnt/asec/xxxx.
How come?
Is it possible to move the apps manually (copy/paste) from the folder where the apps are saved to the external_sd map?
I used Link2SD to simply move some user apps that couldn't be moved by default to the SDcard, without linking, just the "app2sd" method into the main partition of the card. I read that if you move apps that way, shortcuts disappear. No problem, I'll just put them back. But every time I reboot the shortcuts disappear again, and even worse, my launcher puts all those apps at the bottom of the list, leaving "holes" in the screens where they once were. Any solutions to this?
link them instead of just moving them to sd
But my SD has no ext partition, do I have to move those apps back to the phone and then link them? I don't understand why apps normally moved to SD from "options" don't give these problems aswell.
Because as you said, you had to use link2sd to force move them to sd card, this means they weren't originally meant to be moved to sd. Just partition the sd card, it takes 2 minutes and will prove very useful in the future.
Mammt said:
But my SD has no ext partition, do I have to move those apps back to the phone and then link them? I don't understand why apps normally moved to SD from "options" don't give these problems aswell.
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check below link on how to create ext partition buddy...... just create an ext partition, move dose apps back to Internal Memory & Link dem!! viola.....
http://www.xperiablog.net/2011/12/12/link2sd-guide-never-worry-about-internal-memory-limits-again/
Dude, just link it instead of moving to the sd card it is much better if you link it
Sent from my SK17i using xda app-developers app
Is there a way to move apps to SD to free some internal memory? I'm currently running CM10.1
AshyKnuttz said:
Is there a way to move apps to SD to free some internal memory? I'm currently running CM10.1
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try foldermount.
Of course some of those applications should be movable to sd anyways. I wouldn't move anything that you use often. I wouldn't move anything that needs to be active most of the time, i.e. widgets.
My understanding---and someone correct me if I'm wrong---is no. The way the S4 mounts the SD card means that it's not recognized as external. I believe even the stock update doesn't really move apps, or at least appdata, to the SD card.
Now, I await someone to tell me that I'm wrong, or at least that I'm right for the wrong reasons.
MW
Macknzie said:
My understanding---and someone correct me if I'm wrong---is no. The way the S4 mounts the SD card means that it's not recognized as external. I believe even the stock update doesn't really move apps, or at least appdata, to the SD card.
Now, I await someone to tell me that I'm wrong, or at least that I'm right for the wrong reasons.
MW
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The SD card is recognized as external and is treated as such. What you're thinking of is the internal partition labeled SD card, which is emulated. The external card is its own entity in the file system and is denoted as external.
As for the OP, a third party app is the best and only way to move apps AND their data to your external SD card.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
Just want to clarify that foldermount is a solution for those apps you can't move into the SD card with apps2sd or some program like that.
najaboy said:
The SD card is recognized as external and is treated as such. What you're thinking of is the internal partition labeled SD card, which is emulated. The external card is its own entity in the file system and is denoted as external.
As for the OP, a third party app is the best and only way to move apps AND their data to your external SD card.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
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You know an app that would work on GS4/CM10?