Best way to mount external SD card to internal folders? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So I have an HTC M8 which accepts an external SD card. I have it mounted as external/portable storage not internal/adoptable storage. (Technically I also have a portion of this card mounted as f2fs to be used with apps2sd).
There are many apps which backup restore preferences from /sdcard (the internal memory) such as Titanium Backup.
This only works if I don't wipe my internal storage when flashing a new ROM.
Since these apps don't have a configuration to allow them to point to another location, I need to find a way to map my /external_sd/TitaniumBackup to /sdcard/TitaniumBackup.
I would like this to be as low-level as possible to the directory is available as early in the build/boot process.
I am also using Magisk if this helps.
Is anyone else doing something similar? What's the best way?
thanks

Related

Confusion about SD-Card in Samsung Galaxy SII

Hello All,
Just got a white one without any external SD-Card (the micro SD) installed. I was able to root it using the CF-ROOT V5.0 guide which is an excellent resource for noobs like me.
Using the CWM (which shows in the applications menu after the root) I was able to take phone complete backup.
Now the confusion begins that even though there was no external SD card installed the backup took place and then it was saved in
Code:
/sdcard/Clockworkmod/backup/folder_name_date_time
Infact /sdcard is the home directory to start with, which is shown when I browse files using the built-in file manager called "My Files".
So when is there is no SD-Card installed, why is the internal home directory called SD-Card , where the nandroid backups are saved automatically ? (i guess the internal storage is also called SD-Card, is it so ? bad naming idea then)
Now I did install a 2GB external SD-card and formatted it using the storage options within the settings menu.
So apparently this (actual) SD-card is mounted in the directory called
Code:
/sdcard/external_sd
Then again I tried taking a nandriod backup hoping that it would automatically detect this available external sd card and would save the backups, which did not happen and the nandroid again took backup to the internal SD storage.
So how to direct nandroid to take and place backups on the external SD card.?
Secondly I have also read about the Sd-Ext partition, can someone please explain what is this partition , how is it made, and what is the benefit of using this partition. Can i make it a default location for installing application and what other uses can I have of an SD-Ext partition.?
Do i need App2SD and Link2SD in order to use SD-ext partition for any purposes.?
If I take a backup again using nadriod would it place it on the SD-Ext partition or the left over space in the regular SD card partition. ?
Thanks a lot for reading and clearing up my confusion mentioned above.
Internal card is named SD card in CWM .
Me i just copy the clockwork backup folder to PC and External SD card .
jje
JJEgan said:
Internal card is named SD card in CWM .
Me i just copy the clockwork backup folder to PC and External SD card .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well,
Thanks however I am hoping some more details to satisfy the specific queries I had, waiting for the gurus to shed some light.
Thanks again.

[Q] Problem with backup using CWM 5027

I am using CWM 5027.
When running a backup I get errors about missing external SD but one is installed. The errors are:
No /sdcard/.android_secure found. Skipping backup of applications on external storage.
No sd-ext found. Skipping backup of sd-ext.
Since it backs up to the SD I'm not sure you would want it to also back up the SD itself. Seems like an infinite loop problem (at least until it runs out of space). However, the fact that it doesn't see external storage, particularly for the first error, seems to be something I should fix. Does this have anything to do with how the SD card is named? Or does it have to do with how apps on external storage are stored? I used the normal android tools to move large apps to SD.
Thanks.

[Q] How to use /mnt/emmc/ (external sd card) for applications?

As you know in Sgs 2 there are internal storage, sd card (also built in phone) and additionaly external sd card slot. I would like to use this external one as location to move installed apps. There is option in application manager to move some apps to sd card but to the one built in, not the external. I have 32GB external card while built sd card has now only 100 MB free space and I can't download data for installed apps.
How to use external card for apps installation or moving some already installed apps on it?
Your internalSD is part of your phone where as the externalSD is not .You can backup apps to the externalSD but thats all.If you pass working apps to the externalSD you take them out of the system and so out of the phone and they will stop working.That is why there is only the option to move apps to SD (internal).
there is an additional option in the android system, to set a partition for your apps on external SD, you cant do this with Stock Rom anyway, but no idea on SGS2, any custom rom has offered this option so far.... this partition called "sd-ext" see the definition below:
"This is not a standard Android partition, but has become popular in the custom ROM scene. It is basically an additional partition on your SD card that acts as the /data partition when used with certain ROMs that have special features called APP2SD+ or data2ext enabled. It is especially useful on devices with little internal memory allotted to the /data partition. Thus, users who want to install more programs than the internal memory allows can make this partition and use it with a custom ROM that supports this feature, to get additional storage for installing their apps. Wiping this partition is essentially the same as wiping the /data partition – you lose your contacts, SMS, market apps and settings."
Ok, so any idea about such like ROMs or any manual/instruction thread?

[Q] External SD Card Usage

Just got my E4GLTE and of course the first thing I did was root it, unlock it, and make a nandroid backup. I just moved from a Motorola Photon 4G and on that device the internal memory (pseudo sdcard) is mounted on /mnt/emmc and the external card is on /mnt/sdcard. Assuming you run out of app space in base memory, you can always move most of your app to the SD Card. Since the E4GLTE mounts the external SD Card on /mnt/sdcard/ext_sd, it appears that actual external storage can only be used for media or data where the app (or the system using the Storage tool) has a function to map to a different directory.
Have I described the situation properly? Does anybody else see the limitations this might pose or suggest workarounds?
..rob
bitbearmi said:
Just got my E4GLTE and of course the first thing I did was root it, unlock it, and make a nandroid backup. I just moved from a Motorola Photon 4G and on that device the internal memory (pseudo sdcard) is mounted on /mnt/emmc and the external card is on /mnt/sdcard. Assuming you run out of app space in base memory, you can always move most of your app to the SD Card. Since the E4GLTE mounts the external SD Card on /mnt/sdcard/ext_sd, it appears that actual external storage can only be used for media or data where the app (or the system using the Storage tool) has a function to map to a different directory.
Have I described the situation properly? Does anybody else see the limitations this might pose or suggest workarounds?
..rob
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I see this as a problem as well. I have looked into the vold.fstab file (where the system looks to see how it should mount partitions) but changing them just makes neither partition mount. I have a feeling that it might be something in the kernel but I will keep digging around.
Also if someone does figure it out how do you prefer them to be mounted? Internal as /emmc and external as /sdcard? Internal as /sdcard/int_sd and external as /sdcard? Maybe something else?
I guess it would depend how the apps and the kernel handle it, which of course, would vary with a custom ROM. Early builds of CM9 for the MoPho alternated back and forth, but there is also an option to swap what is internal and external as well. When it wasn't mounting at all, you could edit the vold.fstab, which would be my first inclination, so thanks for saving me that step!
I think, from most implementations I've seen, when a device has internal and external storage its been mounted as /mnt/emmc and /mnt/sdcard. Its like that on most of the custom ROMs I've used (on Nook, OG EVO, Hero, MoPho).
..rob
Im really lost on the whole external sd thing. I just want to be able to have my apps on there but android has made it seemingly impossible to do so anymore. Is there a write up or something on how this can be done with todays ICS?
Sent from my EVO using xda premium

How to move-link data from internal sd to internal storage?

My phone with Android O has an unfortunate partition table atm - large internal storage, small internal "sd" storage.
To my surprise, many apps insist to put their data on the sd parition like offline maps or email storage. So atm, half my internal storage is empty, and my sd is full :-\
All tools I have found move data/apps from the internal storage to the (external) sd card (apps2sd, link2sd, appmgr), and anything I have tried (Directory Bind, Folder Mount) aren't successful move-linking the "Android" folder on the sd to the internal storage. Moving and symlinking with the shell doesn't work either.
Question: Is there any app/way to make apps use the internal storage instread of the internal sd card (if they offer no config option)? Thanks!
.. Answering my own question:
After another day of fooling around I discovered that apps2sd "Folder Mount" tool can be mis-used to link external to internal with the "bind" option, even though it insists with a warning screen that this very thing shouldn't be done

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