Hi,
How it happended :I wanted to just Overclocked the CPU of my Swipe Monster tab XL916,and as a consequence my device got hanged .I rebooted it and it was still working but it had no User apps in it.
What happened:It was a strange when I checked out in Setting>Storage that now i had two internal storage partition(Strange)....One partition was just 16 mb( i call it the artificial internal storage) and other was The Other was the actual partition which was 5GB in size.Now its considering the 16 mb as the actual internal and assuming the actual internal memory as sd card(although i also have a addition external sd card on my device that is 8GB in size).
As a reult of which:Thus i could only install apps which actually get installed on sd card (or which can move most of its part to sd card for eg mx player).And also these apps get removed on every boot .
What i think could have happened:Maybe it could have changed some system files which led to changes in overall system partition table. I am seriously not able to understand what has went wrong with my device.Please help in in settling these changes to internal partitions.
Extra Info:One more thing have come to my notice that when i install some apps to the system memory(using adb push) it reflects in the artificial internal storage as well.(it became 34 mb from 16mb)That means the artificial internal storage is none other than a part of system memory which due to some problem in partition table is being reflected as internal memory.If you need output of any adb command just tell me.
Related
Clear your doubts guys!!!
Ok, so here's the deal, in a very longwinded way that should hopefully explain everything and answer ALL questions.
You have an SD card in your phone and, a bit like normal PC Hard Drives, you can "partition" them (split them into two or more sections of different filesystems). Normally, your SD card is just one big FAT32 partition, which is fine for storing your pics, messages, emails, etc.
Now, other then your Phone's SD card, your phone will have its own internal flash memory (or "NAND") storage. Tradditionally with Android, you could only install applications to this NAND storage, you cannot install them onto your SD card. So if you have an empty 32GB SD card, but only 5Mb of internal phone storage, you still wont be able to install many apps, if any at all.
This was done to protect the apps from things like piracy - it's not easy to access the location where apps are installed on your phone's internal storage (normally impossible without root), so you can't for example buy an app, copy it, refund it, then install it again.
Still, this is no good for those of us who like to install lots and lots of apps, legitimately, as we run out of internal storage very quickly.
So Google came up with a way to install apps to the SD card. A folder is created called something like .android_secure and this stores (I believe) encrypted versions of applications, but there's a few catches:
1) Apps aren't automatically stored here, you have to manually "move" them
2) Not all apps are capable of being moved, in fact most apps aren't, the developer needs to update their app and allow it. Some apps aren't and wont be updated and some developers may not want to allow it for whatever reason.
3) Not all app data is moved, most of it is but some data is left on your phone so many people still run out of internal storage quickly.
4) You can force ALL apps to be moved to this area by default, but it breaks incompatible ones - such as Widgets, which are unable to load due to the SD card not being "prepared".
So that's Froyo's version. Before Froyo existed, some very clever people came up with a thing called "Apps2SD". Remember I said that your SD card normally is one big FAT32 partition? Well, Apps2SD works by having your SD card patitioned into TWO filesystems. A normal FAT32 partition for your usual stuff and a secondary "EXT" partition. EXT is just a filesystem, like FAT32 or NTFS, but it's the filesystem used by Android internally. The SD card is normally FAT32 because it's a "universal" filesystem, that just about any machine will be able to read, whereas EXT filesystems are generally Linux only, but I digress.
EXT has several different versions. The most common one you'll see is ext3. The main difference between ext2 and ext3 is "journaling", which is just a fancy way of saying that should an operation (such as copying, writing or reading) be interrupted unexpectedly (say, by you turning your phone off), then no data should be lost or corrupted. You know how when you turn your phone on, it says "preparing SD card"? It takes a few minutes, but what it's actually doing is checking that the FAT32 partition hasn't been damaged, because FAT does NOT have journaling. If you used a computer back in the Windows 98 days, you may remember that lovely blue "Scandisk" screen that had to run every time you didn't shut your computer down correctly - that's the same thing. But then Windows 2000/XP came along with NTFS, which also has journaling, meaning you had less chance of loosing data. But I digress once more.
So you have your SD card partitioned into EXT and FAT32. Generally it doesn't matter if it's ext3 or ext4, but you don't get any real advantage with ext4 over ext3 in this instance. Apps2SD then runs a special script on your phone which "symbolically links" the folder from your phone's internal storage where your apps are normally stored, to the ext partition on your SD card. A symbolic link is a bit like a shortcut for folders, except it's transparent to the OS: In other words, Android doesn't know that when it's installing it's apps to the internal phone storage, it's actually being stored on the SD card. This effectively boosts your internal phone memory from the previous 5mb that you had in my example above, up to whatever size you made the ext partition on your SD card (often 512Mb or 1Gb, but it depends on how many apps you install).
Plus, because it's "journaled", it doesn't need to be "prepared", meaning it's ready to go as soon as the phone starts - so your widgets and apps work immediately (unlike "forced" Froyo Apps2SD, where widgets disappear).
The catch with Apps2SD is that whatever space the ext partition takes up is taken away from the SD card. So if you have a 4Gb card (with something like 3.5Gb of actual storage) and you make a 512Mb ext partition, your SD card will "shrink" to 3Gb. The space isn't actually lost, it's just being used by the ext partition. If you reformat your card, you'll get it back.
Finally, there's a difference between "Apps2SD" and "Apps2SD+". Remember I said that your apps are stored on a special folder inside your Phone's NAND storage? Well, that was a bit of a lie. It's actually stored in TWO places. There's a second area which is called the Davlik Cache. You don't really need to worry about what this is for (Hint: IT's to do with the Java runetime your phone uses to run apps), all you need to know is that apps use it to store data, which also eats up internal phone memory. Apps2SD+ moves davlik cache to the ext partition on your SD card as well, freeing up even more space. Some people believe that this may come at the cost of performance, as the internal NAND memory should be faster than your SD card (Which is why you also get people arguing over which "class" SD card is better for Apps2SD - the logic being that a faster SD card means less impact from this move), but the truth of the matter is that your applications will be running from your Phone's RAM anyway, so performance isn't really impacted at all. Since most apps are only a few hundred Kb's in size, or a couple of MB at the most, it's a non-issue.
Finally, any recent version of Apps2SD/Apps2SD+ should work with an SD card that is or isn't formatted with an ext partition. It'll check for this partition when your phone first boots and if it's not there, just use internal phone storage.
Having an ext partition WITHOUT Apps2SD+ shouldn't cause any issues, either, so you can format your SD card whenever you're ready.
So in summary:
Apps2SD "fakes" your phone's internal memory and puts it all on a hidden section of your SD card.
Apps2SD+ pushes even more content to the SD card, freeing up even more space on the phone itself.
"Froyo" Apps2SD has various limitations that "old" apps2SD does not, but is much easier to handle as it doesn't involve any kind of "partitioning".
IF U LIKE HIT THANKS​
Good idea, mate
QUESTION
the size of my internal storage is 11.4GB (which is 12GB from 16GB, so the phone uses the 4GB as system)
BUT when i format it, it says only 10GB (9.9GB to be exact) is available.
WHY? and what is using the 1.5GB rest of the storage?
Can it be cleaned up?
Another Question
So, as you can see i did a full format of internal storage to START OVER CLEAN
and i copied every thing to "A folder" in my external memory
BUT after i formated the internal memory i went to the External memory to find that my folder turned into a NON recognizable sort of file with 0kb of size.
the memory size shows that my files are in there but WHERE?
my little girl's birthday videos and pictures are in there so i really really need them back.
WHAT SHOULD I DO?
omid_freesky said:
So, as you can see i did a full format of internal storage to START OVER CLEAN
and i copied every thing to "A folder" in my external memory
BUT after i formated the internal memory i went to the External memory to find that my folder turned into a NON recognizable sort of file with 0kb of size.
the memory size shows that my files are in there but WHERE?
my little girl's birthday videos and pictures are in there so i really really need them back.
WHAT SHOULD I DO?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No idea what you are doing but to recover files you can try RECUVA .
Looks like you formatted external sd card .
jje
Take the card out and plug it into your computer.
(Or use my Usb mass-storage mode scripts around here somewhere if you're rooted, it makes no difference)
This is a known issue with the phone and exFAT, Fat32 seems to work fine.
Should the file really be damaged (and not only non-readable by the phone) you can use Recuva as suggested by the parent.
Thank you Guys for the help, and I GOT the whole thing back.
when i removed external memory and put it in my windows laptop (because i did it with mac the first time) i found the folder there.
i renamed it and put it back in the phone and it was OKEY.
QUESTION THOUGH:
as my first post i did this format to have a clean Empty 12GB of internal memory BUT i end up having less than 10GB even after format.
What is this and why can't i empty the rest?
You can't just format the internal memory as it is using a shared file system with the system. Can you tell us what you did to format it?
Sent from my GT-I9300
i connected it to the computer and did a format.
it was totally fine but it shows the Total size is 11.9GB and after format it still uses about 2GB and says 9.9GB available (2GB used)
the total size of the internal memory is 16GB and 4GB is used by the System but why 2 more is taken from the 12GB too
Probably installed apps. They share the available space with the folder you see as /sdcard/. Check your storage in the settings.
Sent from my GT-I9300
Hi, I'm currently running Firmware MediaPad ICS 4.0.3 HWMOD C232B005 which supposedly is pretty similar to stock. My problem is that the internal memory which apps are installed to, ae on the very same partition as the intenal sd card (mounted as /sdcard). Thus the andoird a2sd does not work, I get no "move to sd card option in Settings->Apps. With several games exceeding 500MB with the texture for the high resolution on the MediaPad, I need to be able to move some of them to SD. Also, I need the ames that store their data on /sdcard even if they shouldn't by Android standards (boo, Gameloft) to be stored on the REAL sdcard, whic is mounted as sdcard2. Preferably, I'd be able to do this without mucking about too much. Maybe the best option is to use CM10 if it's about ready for prime time? I guess it'll give me the choice of using /sdcard or /emmc as main storage. (Though it IS annoying CM by default incorrectly labels the sdcard as emmc and the internal memory as mmc - strictly opposite of defined standards for embedded devices.)
naguz said:
Hi, I'm currently running Firmware MediaPad ICS 4.0.3 HWMOD C232B005 which supposedly is pretty similar to stock. My problem is that the internal memory which apps are installed to, ae on the very same partition as the intenal sd card (mounted as /sdcard). Thus the andoird a2sd does not work, I get no "move to sd card option in Settings->Apps. With several games exceeding 500MB with the texture for the high resolution on the MediaPad, I need to be able to move some of them to SD. Also, I need the ames that store their data on /sdcard even if they shouldn't by Android standards (boo, Gameloft) to be stored on the REAL sdcard, whic is mounted as sdcard2. Preferably, I'd be able to do this without mucking about too much. Maybe the best option is to use CM10 if it's about ready for prime time? I guess it'll give me the choice of using /sdcard or /emmc as main storage. (Though it IS annoying CM by default incorrectly labels the sdcard as emmc and the internal memory as mmc - strictly opposite of defined standards for embedded devices.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's really easy, do this
settings > storage > set primary storage > SD card > restart tablet
all apps will be moved to external sd card, and hopefully also games data like gameloft files. if this didn't happen then do it manualy. if none of that worked well... just download the data again
I think even if you set primary storage to SD, your apps remain on internal. However it will force the Gameloft etc /sdcard storage to external.
I thought the old native apps to external SD functionality was deprecated from ICS onwards? But I could be wrong...
Sent from my HUAWEI MediaPad using Tapatalk 2
Setting the primary storage is the only option ICS provides, no other apps like app2sd work actualy, i tried them
but... root opens new doors remember, i'm sure there are some apps that can move all apps to external sd, although i son't think that's possible when it comes to system apps.
and here i have a question: is it possible to set en ext3 partition on the external sd so that apps can be moved there? i did this on my beloved "dead" htc wildfire and i tell you I LOVE IT! all apps on ext3 partition (256 mb) but when looking at storage settings they appear in internal memory!! crazy right? and that makes those apps load really fast whenturning the phone on.
Don't bother trying to use old a2sd hacks that were designed for Gingerbread and Froyo phones with only a few hundred MB of internal storage.
But I did verify, yes, if you select the option to designate primary (/sdcard) storage as the external SD, the option to move apps to SD reappears. I prefer to store as much as possible on internal rather than external, because the read/write speeds are faster. Of course, regardless of which you select, any app that does allow you to change its storage directory can have a path entered that locates the correct place.
Thanks for the replies everypne! My CM9 Galaxy S II does have an option for moving apps to sd card in the settings->apps menu for compatilbe apps, so I don't think this has been discontinued in ICS+?
Anyway, I figured there WAS enough space on the internal memory for the app I was installing when I got the insufficient space error. I also noticed I had different available memory on sdcard0 (internal storage) and /data (also the same partition of the internal storage) when I ran df in a terminal, and figured something was off, so I ditched the ROM I was using, wiped it all form recovery, and installed CM9. Seems to be working OK for now.
I'll still run out of space in the internal sd card - but for the huge data guzzlers like gameloft I'll try to use Directory Bind which I vaguely remembered reading about and so googled up. As mentioned, it is not really an option to have all apps default to save stuff on the external sd card for security reasons. But if directory bind works (or manually editing in bind mounts in init files), and hopefully it should still be smooth sailing.
Still not sure whether I want to trade it in for a 10" though. Such a pity I can't find any 10" without acceptable resolution, gps, 3g and a price I can justify. The Mediapad sure is a nifty device with a good screen, even though it is a little heavy. But no I'm going way of topic.
Just got a Jiake V8 which is 16gb but I noticed the internal memory is formatted to 1gb and the rest shows up as an SD card? Is there anyway to re-partition the phone to use the entire space?
or a reliable apps2sd maybe? I downloaded a partition viewer and it shows that there is 1gb allocated to data few random sizes for the rest system, etc. and the rest (like 10gb) as an sdcard. If there was just a way to combine the sd space (which is not actually an SD and is formatted in fat not ext4) and data to make 1 big application partition. That would be great. Any ideas?
Hello everyone,
I am looking for the help of real expert on Android. I have an old phone Galaxy S II (I9100) and I said to myself that I will use it as an MP3 player, radio, handheld camera, in short, such a home device. I made a hard reset, installed CyanogenMod, that I updated, installed the necessary applications and because the phone has storage for applications only 2GB many I moved to internal storage for data that is marked as an SD card (in the storage manager) and it has 16 GB For MP3 I bought 64 gigabytes Samsung SD card. And then there was my problem. When I slid the SD card and run the system, it didn't see the application transferred to the internal data storage. The problem I think is that the system has changed the path of the internal data storage and the actual SD card. So it doesn't seek for apps in the internal data storage, but in the blank SD card. Is there any way to replace or modify the path to both memories so that the system will be looking for applications where before, ie only the internal data storage and not on an external SD card? Than I will be able to change SD card any time and it will not affect installed apps moved into internal storage for data. I have installed CM 12 with a root. All three storages can system see. Thank you very much.