I'm pretty confused at the moment about the differences between stock froyo a2sd, A2SD+ and 'old A2SD+'. so far from what i'm seeing, using A2SD+ seems to be the best idea, but i'm not sure why this is better, or how to install it as there seem to be tons of different ways.
1. Which one should i use
2. How do you partition your SD card
3. what is this all about ext 2,3,4?
4. Can i set up the partitions using the clockwork mod recovery or rom manager? and how.
Just Sorry if this is repeated else where but i've found it pretty hard to find what i'm looking for (yes even using the search function)
I'd also like to know the answer to this, especially q3
i partitioned my sd card using Rom Manager but i didnt get an option for Ext 2/3/4 when i installed LeeDroid 1.6.
Seems like the new Froyo Roms say Ext 4 is the way to go.
I too would like to know this.
Also, do I need to format into partitions before / during / after flashing a ROM?
I can't partition with ROM Manager at all. It reboots into clockwork recovery mod, and it says
Finding update package Finding update package update package... E:failed to seek in /cache/update.zip (Invalid argument) I:verify_file returned 1 E:signature verification failed Installation aborted.
edit: fixed by nandroid restoring back to 2.1 and trying again
1. A2SD+ is probs the best to use
2. create ext2/3/4 within ROM manager
3. the extension is a portion of your sd card to store your apps i dont know the difference between the 3 but essentially you create the ext2/3/4 so your apps can be forced to the sd card, the froyo apps2sd is designed for apps that are coded to go on the sd card, the Dev of the app has to make it able to run on an sd card. that's why on some apps, you will see the option to move to sd card is shaded out, that is because the Dev has not coded that particular app to run on the sd card
4. see #2
hope this helps
DesireableHTC said:
1. A2SD+ is probs the best to use
2. create ext2/3/4 within ROM manager
3. the extension is a portion of your sd card to store your apps i dont know the difference between the 3 but essentially you create the ext2/3/4 so your apps can be forced to the sd card, the froyo apps2sd is designed for apps that are coded to go on the sd card, the Dev of the app has to make it able to run on an sd card. that's why on some apps, you will see the option to move to sd card is shaded out, that is because the Dev has not coded that particular app to run on the sd card
4. see #2
hope this helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If i create the partitions in Rom Manager, does this create ext 2/3 and 4? what partitions size / swap etc settings should i use? I have a 4gb card so what ever is best really for that?
DesireableHTC said:
1. A2SD+ is probs the best to use
2. create ext2/3/4 within ROM manager
3. the extension is a portion of your sd card to store your apps i dont know the difference between the 3 but essentially you create the ext2/3/4 so your apps can be forced to the sd card, the froyo apps2sd is designed for apps that are coded to go on the sd card, the Dev of the app has to make it able to run on an sd card. that's why on some apps, you will see the option to move to sd card is shaded out, that is because the Dev has not coded that particular app to run on the sd card
4. see #2
hope this helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In ROM Manager if you Select "Partition SD card" in Utilities, you pick the size etc but you dont get to pick Ext 2, 3 or 4, does this matter?
coriron said:
I'm pretty confused at the moment about the differences between stock froyo a2sd, A2SD+ and 'old A2SD+'. so far from what i'm seeing, using A2SD+ seems to be the best idea, but i'm not sure why this is better, or how to install it as there seem to be tons of different ways.
1. Which one should i use
2. How do you partition your SD card
3. what is this all about ext 2,3,4?
4. Can i set up the partitions using the clockwork mod recovery or rom manager? and how.
Just Sorry if this is repeated else where but i've found it pretty hard to find what i'm looking for (yes even using the search function)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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".
@neoKushan Thank you very much. I understand the theory behind it a lot better now. Didn't actually realize EXT was a kind of file system so it makes a lot more sense now. So seemingly Apps2SD/+ is a lot better than the froyo (in certain situations). What is the best method to partition your sd card and install Apps2SD+? I think i've seen that a lot of the ROMS now will install the Apps2SD+ for you if you have partitioned your SD card, so i'm guessing thats the only step i need to take.
As far as I have seen, all of the recoveries out there have a way to partition the SD card. So AmunRA's or ClockworkMOD's (ROM Manager).
My personal preference is ROM Manager as it's very easy to do from the GUI.
Word of Warning, though: Partitioning your SD WILL DELETE ALL DATA ON IT!
Do what I did: Copy the contents of your SD card to your PC, partition the SD card, then copy the contents back.
thanks, that is superb! thanks for taking the time to type it up
this should be posted in the faqs section as it will might stop a lot of these recurring threads
one other question, some ROMs ask you to wipe your Ext partition, where do you do this ?
If i reboot to ClockworkMod Recovery there is a Wipe cache Partition, is this it?
thanks
neoKushan said:
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".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@neoKusha
Top post! Thanks very much.
So if you're using A2SD+, do the "move to phone" and "move to SD card" buttons actually do anything or are they just left there from legacy A2SD? And what does the "Auto" setting of ModInstallLocation actually do? How does it decide whether to install to internal or external?
chipyy said:
So if you're using A2SD+, do the "move to phone" and "move to SD card" buttons actually do anything or are they just left there from legacy A2SD? And what does the "Auto" setting of ModInstallLocation actually do? How does it decide whether to install to internal or external?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Move to SD would still work, all it would do is move from the ext partition on the SD card to the FAT32 partition (in the .android_secure folder).
neoKushan said:
Move to SD would still work, all it would do is move from the ext partition on the SD card to the FAT32 partition (in the .android_secure folder).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doh, so essentially they mean the opposite?!
What about the ModInstallLocation app, if you leave that set on Auto, how does it decide where to install things?
Rom Manager asks me to set the partition sizes, then reboots into clockworkmod recovery. No partitioning appears to have been done to the phone though. What am I supposed to do? Or is this a bug?
+1 THX very much to neoKusha! couldn't be explained on a better way!
just one question: ROMmanager makes an ext3 partition, isn't it?
THX again
Dg
chipyy said:
Doh, so essentially they mean the opposite?!
What about the ModInstallLocation app, if you leave that set on Auto, how does it decide where to install things?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Think about it like this. When using "old" Apps2SD (or Apps2SD+), you're installing your apps to a hidden part of the SD card, a part so hidden that even Android itself doesn't realise it's there, it just thinks it's your phone's internal storage. So when it says "move to SD", it doesn't realise that it's already ON the SD.
As for the ModInstallLocation, I don't use it so I can't comment, but no matter what it picks, it'll always end up on the SD card if you're using Apps2SD, all that changes is which partition it'll end up on. "Internal" storage will be the EXT partition and "SD" will be the .android_secure folder.
However, if you're using Apps2SD, you're better off installing to "internal" storage (As in, the EXT partition) as it's more compatible than Froyo's SD card storage.
irishdroid said:
Rom Manager asks me to set the partition sizes, then reboots into clockworkmod recovery. No partitioning appears to have been done to the phone though. What am I supposed to do? Or is this a bug?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure, perhaps it's already partitioned. Have you tried doing it from within Clockwork recovery itself?
Dave_G7 said:
+1 THX very much to neoKusha! couldn't be explained on a better way!
just one question: ROMmanager makes an ext3 partition, isn't it?
THX again
Dg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe so.
from another post I have this sizes:
0mb swap
512 mb ext
neoKushan said:
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".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One last question... When I let ROM Manager create a Ext partition it also ask for the swap setting? What to choose here, I have chosen the default now.
Hi all, I feel like I'm completely lost at how Android or Samsung designed this.
First to clarify, I have the SGH-T989 with a 16GB microSD plugged in.
Under "Settings" - "Storage", I can see three categories: "SD card", "USB storage", and "System storage". It reports the size of my microSD card under "SD card", then it seems to divide what I understand is the internal memory into two parts: "USB storage" and "System storage". So "USB storage" has a total space of 11.25GB, and "System storage" has a space of 1.9GB.
What does it mean by "USB storage"?
And also, under "Applications" - "Manage applications" - "On SD card" tab, it is reporting the size of the "USB storage" on this tab. It seems to think the "USB storage" (which from what I understand is actually part of the internal memory) is the "SD card", and not treat my real microSD card as the "SD card". More importantly, if I move some app from system storage to SD card by clicking on "Move to SD card", it will be moved to the "USB storage" instead of my real microSD card. What is going on here? Does it mean that I'll never be able to really move an app to my real microSD card? Then what's the use of an external SD card?
System storage is simply where your apps are installed. usb storage is technically just your onboard storage. so if you move the app to USB storage it is technically no longer in the system storage. To me it's a good thing. I like to keep my actual external sd card for movies and pictures and music. Also those apps should still be pretty fast as they not on the slower sd card. ...
This is just how I would explain it to a friend.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Well for me it is actually different....if i'm moving app to SD then it is going to external SD and not the USB storage. Is there some setting which i need to change so that it move the apps to USB storage and not external SD.
edited post I thought i could trick the system into letting move and app to internal sd by unmounting the external sd card but it didnt work.
Edit:
Actually the "Move to SD card" will move the app from system storage to external SD card, not the USB storage.
android4sunny said:
Well for me it is actually different....if i'm moving app to SD then it is going to external SD and not the USB storage. Is there some setting which i need to change so that it move the apps to USB storage and not external SD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right. I was wrong.
I'm curious why the storege is so very low. Isn't the phone 16GB? 11.25 of which 8.9 open is low.
the rest of the space has been partitioned for the internal apps
But I can only use the 1.9G to store my apps out of the 16G internal storage? If I move apps to SD card they get moved to the external SD card. Is there a way to move them to the rest of the internal storage (which is called "USB storage" on the phone)?
513263337 said:
But I can only use the 1.9G to store my apps out of the 16G internal storage? If I move apps to SD card they get moved to the external SD card. Is there a way to move them to the rest of the internal storage (which is called "USB storage" on the phone)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean when you move to SD card it actually gets moved to the USB drive, right? I don't like the way Samsung did this. We should have be able to move app or anything else to either internal, USB, or SD card. If we root will be able to do this?
I have the AT&T SGS2 and I'm wondering the same thing. I don't have an external SD card and my system storage is about to get full. I still have 9GB free in my USB storage but there doesn't seem to be a way to move my apps from system storage to USB storage. What do I do? Why is it partitioned this way?
Firepac said:
I have the AT&T SGS2 and I'm wondering the same thing. I don't have an external SD card and my system storage is about to get full. I still have 9GB free in my USB storage but there doesn't seem to be a way to move my apps from system storage to USB storage. What do I do? Why is it partitioned this way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm actually wondering about the same thing. Although it claims it has 16GB internal storage the actual size that we can install apps is just 1.9G, rest of it is partitioned as some kind of USB storage that can't be used to install apps, very annoying...
Also I only have about 20 apps installed on my system storage and they're all about a few MBs each. I only have about 400MBs of system storage is free. What could be taking up so much space?
Edit: Okay just found that a few games were storing their data on the system storage even though the system says it's installed on USB...
USB = System Internal Storage
try to move as much stuff as you can to the External SD card
\sdcard\external_sd\
that's how it looks like when you install stuff
^typical XDA...ask simple question, get incorrect answer, LOVE IT. By the way this is a thread i SEARCHED GOOGLE FOR, while being told by another XDA member to USE THE SEARCH FEATURE in a different thread.....sweet
so let me rephrase the goddamn question(s)
WHY WHEN WE MOVE APP TO SD CARD DOES THE PHONE MOVE THE APP TO THE REMOVABLE microSD CARD AND NOT INSTEAD USE THE INTERNAL STORAGE (11.2GB) WHICH IS MORE PLENTIFUL THAN THE 1.9GB SUPPLIED?
when running some apps/games from a microSD card they cause force closes, data loss, and other wacky things to occur. <- is WHY we dont want them stored there...
IS THERE A WAY TO SELECT TO USE THE INTERNAL SD CARD (11.2GB INSTEAD?
...not as far as i can tell, ive tried it all includng removng the microSD card and attempting to install an app, the phone says not enough space even though i had 1.9GBs remaining in the "USB Storage" partition
The T989 SHOULD fil the INTERNAL CARD FIRST in my opinion....
i have over 200 apps/games on my device and ive only had it for ~2 months no media, only apps/games and i have 200mb remaining in the partition allocated for apps and 1.9GB remaining in the "USB Storage" partiton,....I DONT want apps/games stored on my 64GB microSD card, i remove it often, thats where my media is stored....
heres another kicker, the T989 reports a low memory warning and inabilty to store apps in the Intenal (1.9GB) partition at ~200mb, even though most apps are FAR smaller than anything that would impact that remaining space
HATe410 said:
WHY WHEN WE MOVE APP TO SD CARD DOES THE PHONE MOVE THE APP TO THE REMOVABLE microSD CARD AND NOT INSTEAD USE THE INTERNAL STORAGE (11.2GB) WHICH IS MORE PLENTIFUL THAN THE 1.9GB SUPPLIED?
IS THERE A WAY TO SELECT TO USE THE INTERNAL SD CARD (11.2GB INSTEAD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That 'why' is a bad question and you should feel bad for asking it. It was designed that way in the phone. As to your second question, a proper one, try this https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.a0soft.gphone.app2sd&hl=en. It lists in the description what you asked for but seems ambiguous from the pictures.
HATe410 said:
^typical XDA...ask simple question, get incorrect answer, LOVE IT. By the way this is a thread i SEARCHED GOOGLE FOR, while being told by another XDA member to USE THE SEARCH FEATURE in a different thread.....sweet
so let me rephrase the goddamn question(s)
WHY WHEN WE MOVE APP TO SD CARD DOES THE PHONE MOVE THE APP TO THE REMOVABLE microSD CARD AND NOT INSTEAD USE THE INTERNAL STORAGE (11.2GB) WHICH IS MORE PLENTIFUL THAN THE 1.9GB SUPPLIED?
when running some apps/games from a microSD card they cause force closes, data loss, and other wacky things to occur. <- is WHY we dont want them stored there...
IS THERE A WAY TO SELECT TO USE THE INTERNAL SD CARD (11.2GB INSTEAD?
...not as far as i can tell, ive tried it all includng removng the microSD card and attempting to install an app, the phone says not enough space even though i had 1.9GBs remaining in the "USB Storage" partition
The T989 SHOULD fil the INTERNAL CARD FIRST in my opinion....
i have over 200 apps/games on my device and ive only had it for ~2 months no media, only apps/games and i have 200mb remaining in the partition allocated for apps and 1.9GB remaining in the "USB Storage" partiton,....I DONT want apps/games stored on my 64GB microSD card, i remove it often, thats where my media is stored....
heres another kicker, the T989 reports a low memory warning and inabilty to store apps in the Intenal (1.9GB) partition at ~200mb, even though most apps are FAR smaller than anything that would impact that remaining space
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's just the way the partitions are designed in the phone.. It's not necessary for it to be that way but that's the way this phone is designed and there isn't much you can do about it either..Other than moving apps to you external sd card which you apparently don't want to do there isn't really any other options
Well, the last time I installed Link2SD, it all went well - I partitioned, and got it set up working. Then I disabled it because I didn't really need it. Now after a few CM7 updates, I've found that I want to use Link2SD again.
So I partitioned my SD card again - 7GB FAT32 for normal storage, 456MB EXT4 for Link2SD.
I set up Link2SD and it created the mount script, I rebooted and found that if I looked at my internal memory size, it's still 150MB. Last time I used Link2SD the partition of my SD card was added onto my internal storage. I can still link apps to the SD partition, but my internal memory still comes up as 150MB, which makes me unable to install any more apps because it thinks it's full.
What have I done wrong? I'm using the latest CM7 build with a class 4 8GB SD card.
Link2SD doesn't adding your external storage to internal, it's just transfer everything you want to external storage. Your phone will say that you have 150 internal memory which is true but the catch is your free space there - if you set your link2SD options like they should be free space shouldn't change almost at all.
My guess is that you had data2SD with you previous ROM you used, that one do just that what you mentioned - add external space to internal (teoreticaly).
kobredabre said:
Link2SD doesn't adding your external storage to internal, it's just transfer everything you want to external storage. Your phone will say that you have 150 internal memory which is true but the catch is your free space there - if you set your link2SD options like they should be free space shouldn't change almost at all.
My guess is that you had data2SD with you previous ROM you used, that one do just that what you mentioned - add external space to internal (teoreticaly).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, looks like I got the two confused then. Thanks for clearing that up for me
I cant really see the point of Link2SD then, since the phone thinks its installed on the internal memory when its installed on the SD partition. Android thinks the internal memory is full and doesn't allow you to install any more apps...
Sent from my Wildfire S using XDA
dudeman1996 said:
I see, looks like I got the two confused then. Thanks for clearing that up for me
I cant really see the point of Link2SD then, since the phone thinks its installed on the internal memory when its installed on the SD partition. Android thinks the internal memory is full and doesn't allow you to install any more apps...
Sent from my Wildfire S using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm it shouldn't be like that at all, something is wrong with you link2SD setup there...
Try this, open link2SD, hit Multi-select and choose Select all. Then hit Actions and choose Create link. That should transfer all apps that could be transferable to external storage (application files, dalvik-cache files and library files) and check your free internal space then (changes maybe not be visible immediatly, do one reebot just for case)
And i guess that you, before that, choosed right file type of your internal storage in link2SD (ext4 in this case). You can see external partition in link2sd's storage info, right?
kobredabre said:
Hmm it shouldn't be like that at all, something is wrong with you link2SD setup there...
Try this, open link2SD, hit Multi-select and choose Select all. Then hit Actions and choose Create link. That should transfer all apps that could be transferable to external storage (application files, dalvik-cache files and library files) and check your free internal space then (changes maybe not be visible immediatly, do one reebot just for case)
And i guess that you, before that, choosed right file type of your internal storage in link2SD (ext4 in this case). You can see external partition in link2sd's storage info, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah EXT4 is fine, it all shows up. Thanks for you help, I'm just gonna go with Data2SD
In the Settings/SD & phone Storage, it shows
SD CARD
Total Space: 1.9GB
Available Space: 1.1GB
INTERNAL STORAGE
Total Space: 6.6GB
Available Space: 6.2GB
PHONE MEMORY
Total Space: 748MB
Available Space: 210MB
Is it possible to move my apps to INTERNAL STORAGE? I tried Link2SD and App 2 SD, but it doesn't allow me to move my apps to internal storage, only from phone to SD card. Thanks!
I don't think that it is possible to move apps to the internal storage. I'm not sure why there is such a huge space that is essentially useless on this phone. At any rate, the easiest way to fix any problem that you have been having is by buying a larger SD card. I know that it probably isn't what you wanted to hear but I think it is the easiest solution. I am not 100% sure but I think that the largest SD supported by the dinc is 8gb, I wouldn't mind being able to stick in a 16gb or 32gb and have all of my music readily available instead of using google play but GP is certainly a great alternative, especially with my grandfathered unlimited data I hope this helps!
I do believe CM7 has an option to switch what you use for internal storage.
If your getting the low space warning or just want to install more apps without getting it, then check out the ext4 mod. It moves your apps data from a tiny partition to a much larger partition giving you more room for apps. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1488351
cmlusco said:
If your getting the low space warning or just want to install more apps without getting it, then check out the ext4 mod. It moves your apps data from a tiny partition to a much larger partition giving you more room for apps. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1488351
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't a lot of the ROMs have that mod built in now?
nschiwy said:
Don't a lot of the ROMs have that mod built in now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes there are many that do.
The dinc should support up to 32 Gb sdcards according to the specs. I'm using a 16Gb card with no problems.
Also, as has been said, on CM7 you can switch the mounting of the internal storage (emmc) and the sdcard, so the phone sees the emmc as the sdcard. This would allow you to put apps on the emmc.
I must say it seems a bit odd how HTC set up the partitions on the dinc. It is good for one thing though - if your'e a ROM flashing addict, Boot Manager can install ROMS to the emmc. The emmc is faster than your average sdcard, so it works great.
Thanks everyone for the replies. I'm not sure, but is this ROM EMMC supported to switch to internal storage?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1267158
It says "EMMC PC mount works" but not sure if I could use this to store my apps in. If it is, do I just drag the apps folders into here?
Any replies would be greatly appreciated!
Guahan said:
Thanks everyone for the replies. I'm not sure, but is this ROM EMMC supported to switch to internal storage?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1267158
It says "EMMC PC mount works" but not sure if I could use this to store my apps in. If it is, do I just drag the apps folders into here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Emc pc mount means when you plug the phone to the pc and select disk drive the sd and emmc mount to the pc. I assume at one point the rom had issues doing so.
Chek out an app called link2sd. It can move apps to both the sdcard an emmc.
cmlusco said:
Emc pc mount means when you plug the phone to the pc and select disk drive the sd and emmc mount to the pc. I assume at one point the rom had issues doing so.
Chek out an app called link2sd. It can move apps to both the sdcard an emmc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In Link2SD, it only shows MOVE TO SDCARD, not EMMC..
Guahan said:
In Link2SD, it only shows MOVE TO SDCARD, not EMMC..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the link2sd preferences there is an option to activate saving to emmc.
I see...
Native apps2SD settings > Install Location > Automatic, Internal, or External.
If I choose Internal, it will store the apps in the drive with the 6.6GB?
Update:
It's not saving the apps in the Internal Storage that has 6.6GB, it's either saving it on my phone or sdcard
Guahan said:
I see...
Native apps2SD settings > Install Location > Automatic, Internal, or External.
If I choose Internal, it will store the apps in the drive with the 6.6GB?
Update:
It's not saving the apps in the Internal Storage that has 6.6GB, it's either saving it on my phone or sdcard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm im not sure i havent used it since the ext4 mod came out.
What EXT4 mod? Does it do the same thing?
Is it this one?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1488351
I'm not getting a low on space issue, just wanting to move apps to the 6.6 GB internal storage section.
Guahan said:
What EXT4 mod? Does it do the same thing?
Is it this one?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1488351
I'm not getting a low on space issue, just wanting to move apps to the 6.6 GB internal storage section.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ext 4 mod moves the /data/data partition on to a folder on the l data partition giving you significantly more space to install apps. You.could mount the emmc as sd an vise versa then mobe apps to the sd card which is actually the emmc.
The link I put, is that it?
Guahan said:
The link I put, is that it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is.
Your 2GB is the MicroSD external card, mounted by CM7 as "SD Card", and is used by almost everything, including app storage.
Your 6.6GB is a partition of the eMMC internal card, advertised as an internal 8GB, mounted by CM7 as "/mnt/emmc", and used by almost nothing. Some people use it as a media drive and place their music, pictures, and videos here.
Your 748MB is a partition of the eMMC internal card, mounted by CM7 as "Internal Storage", and is used by the system and the apps. A 150MB partition within this partition called "/data/data" causes "low on space" problems, which can be fixed by uninstalling certain apps or using the Ext4 mod.
If you didn't upgrade your MicroSD card, and you don't use the eMMc for media, you could force CM7 to use the 6.6GB instead of the 2GB. CM7 usually has an option for this called "Use internal storage" but I can't find it on the CM7 builds for the Incredible. So I used the following procedure instead:
1. Copy all the files in your current SD card to the eMMc
2. Edit the vold.fstab file manually, or download it here: https://www.box.com/s/e66b71720ce28911167d
3. Copy the file over using adb or root explorer
adb
Code:
adb remount
adb push vold.fstab /system/etc/vold.fstab
root explorer
Code:
use PC to transfer vold.fstab to your SD card
open root explorer
copy the vold.fstab file
navigate to /system/
navigate to /etc/
mount as r/w
paste the file
4. reboot and enjoy