Develop Bugs

SD vs USB storage

Ok, so here is my question, sorry if it was asked, i used the search and couldn't find something like me.
So whenever I install games, many uses about 200-300MB of space, it will use my USB storage which its coming to a fill very soon, if i keep downloading new games. My question is, how can i make use of my 16GB SD card to install game files. And, I just re-read the GS2 box, and it saids it has 16BGB-32GB, is there a way i can upgrade the internal USB Storage, or what exactly did that mean?

The 16-32 Gbs are like iPhones they come with 16orll or 32 gbs units. Have you tried pushing the data from tthe gamed to the sdcard?
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App

I know i can copy it from USB to SD, or move, but i know that wont do what i want to do. Since it will be move, whenever i load the game and looks for the files, it wont look in the SD card, but the USB storage.

I thought the GS2 only came as a 16GB model. It will accept up to a 32GB microSD card and Android seems to be pretty intelligent about being able to find stuff on the external SD card if it's not in USB storage (internal). It finds my ringtones and images on my external SD card without me having to do anything.
If the apps/games you're using aren't enabled for being moved to the SD card (Settings/Applications/Manage Applications/On SD Card) then you'll have to find some other way to make space, perhaps moving your images to the external SD and configuring the camera app to store images there, or uninstalling apps.

it can actually use larger than 64 GB microSD see my HowTo guide

I'm curious as well because some titles like Asphalt 6 and GTA 3 download much more data than the .apk was to download.
For instance GTA3 from the market is 12.93MB, and if you move to external SD Card, you're moving only 13MB, but the game data to download is around 450MB and where's that stored? I have an external 32 and I'd rather prefer to store everything on that primarily.

I was so seeing the same thing. I have 32gb SD card and I would to find a workaround for this silly issue. Any input would be awesome!
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

On a regular linux system, it would be a simple matter of finding the folder where the data files were stored, copying them to a new drive and then configure /etc/fstab to mount the new drive on top of the data file folder.
not sure if this is possible with Android and would require root if it were possible.

mayhem204 said:
I was so seeing the same thing. I have 32gb SD card and I would to find a workaround for this silly issue. Any input would be awesome!
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
imabug said:
On a regular linux system, it would be a simple matter of finding the folder where the data files were stored, copying them to a new drive and then configure /etc/fstab to mount the new drive on top of the data file folder.
not sure if this is possible with Android and would require root if it were possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, it's that simple indeed
just check out my HOWTO guide, it's in the INDEX stickied

tried app2sd?

sorry for the delay respond to all.I was away from a computer for awhile. So, i see all this talk, and it has helped me understand a bit more. I actually decided to delete some already beaten games to make space.
In regards to the pics and music, they have always been in my SD card. But i will download app2sd and see if it works. The actual app itself does not bother me. Most of the time, they are very little. Is the download after what does bother me. Most games need from 300mb to nearly 1Gb of space. Now thats a lot, when a phone comes only wiht 11.5GB of 16GB and we know why that happens.

dragonfire665 said:
Ok, so here is my question, sorry if it was asked, i used the search and couldn't find something like me.
So whenever I install games, many uses about 200-300MB of space, it will use my USB storage which its coming to a fill very soon, if i keep downloading new games. My question is, how can i make use of my 16GB SD card to install game files. And, I just re-read the GS2 box, and it saids it has 16BGB-32GB, is there a way i can upgrade the internal USB Storage, or what exactly did that mean?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you cant upgrade internal but u can always put an sd card in for extrernal

dragonfire665 said:
sorry for the delay respond to all.I was away from a computer for awhile. So, i see all this talk, and it has helped me understand a bit more. I actually decided to delete some already beaten games to make space.
In regards to the pics and music, they have always been in my SD card. But i will download app2sd and see if it works. The actual app itself does not bother me. Most of the time, they are very little. Is the download after what does bother me. Most games need from 300mb to nearly 1Gb of space. Now thats a lot, when a phone comes only wiht 11.5GB of 16GB and we know why that happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
app2sd is not going to help you, if you already have the stuff installed to SD card
those cheesy App2SD apps only shows you which Apps can be moved to SD
you need Link2SD the real deal, the one that actually convert stuff over to the hidden partition in your SD card to use as Internal memory, which you are short on
just look up my HOWTO guide, it's stickied in the INDEX topic

how to transfer SD to new one?

With some programs installing partially to external SD card, how do I transfer them when I upgrade it to bigger size, when system files are invisible? My data files are easy, I just copy them to my laptop and then back to the new card, but invisible system files?
Better yet, how do I make them visible on Win7 laptop, as this is really, really annoying me beyond belief. I could be thinking the card is empty and format it, when it could have whole bunch system crap on it. I really don't feel like reinstalling 100 or so programs again, some of them paid.

You can use adb to pull all files/folders from old sdcard to laptop and push them back to the new one.

pete4k said:
With some programs installing partially to external SD card, how do I transfer them when I upgrade it to bigger size, when system files are invisible? My data files are easy, I just copy them to my laptop and then back to the new card, but invisible system files?
Better yet, how do I make them visible on Win7 laptop, as this is really, really annoying me beyond belief. I could be thinking the card is empty and format it, when it could have whole bunch system crap on it. I really don't feel like reinstalling 100 or so programs again, some of them paid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are no programs/apps which use the external sdcard by default for installation purposes.
Now if you are talking about Apps2SD that's a different story, but that's something which
YOU have initiated, the actual programs/apps by default install themselves entirely in the
internal memory of the phone.
Good luck!

Misterjunky said:
There are no programs/apps which use the external sdcard by default for installation purposes.
Now if you are talking about Apps2SD that's a different story, but that's something which
YOU have initiated, the actual programs/apps by default install themselves entirely in the
internal memory of the phone.
Good luck!
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Click to collapse
That is absolutely not true. Just downloaded game ARC Redux, App info says 37 MB internal, 521 MB ext SD card, right after install and I have not changed any installation settings nor move to SD (is there a setting where programs should install? I know developer can allow program to install on SD or not, is there such option for user?). Worst comes to worse I'll instal ADB, but there must be easier way. I remember I had some program that would show all invisible files in windows, can't remember what was it, maybe it would work. I can't believe I'm the only one having this dilemma.

Partition Sizes

Curious if anyone has modified the partition table on the device? With the System taking up 4 some gigs... seems silly not to shrink it down a bit for more app usage. Any thoughts on this one or am I just thinking silly on it?

I think the same but i found nothing. I flashed a debloated rom for the 10.1 and now have 1.2GB free on system parts. I used titanium backup to transfer some app from data to system but it's boring. But it's nothing compared to my MicroSD card memory

eowindel said:
I think the same but i found nothing. I flashed a debloated rom for the 10.1 and now have 1.2GB free on system parts. I used titanium backup to transfer some app from data to system but it's boring. But it's nothing compared to my MicroSD card memory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did transfer some apps over as well, or in reality can remove them because they sit on the SD partition because of updates (really wish it would just update to system by default). I know moving some updates over just screws it up, let alone just moving screws up the icons on the desktop portion.
I don't have a de-bloated rom right now. The way I see it, its being used or wasted at this point. Apps don't seem to be slowing it down, though im sure a few are running in the background, but nothing that has hampered battery life like my previous Nexus 7 (2013). This seems to do much better at not wasting power. Guess im not being as picky as I use to with random apps chewing up space.
I would of jumped all over a 32GB edition from the get go. Paired with a 64GB SD card, its win win. Even now it is, just can't install everything I want to in 1 go since most apps still are stored locally on the main internal SD Partition and can't be transferred over. I can live with it, and im sure someone will figure it out. I know I use to do it with an old phone that had, next to no internal memory (a loong time ago). PITA to update, but well worth being able to use the phone.

You can use FolderMount [ROOT] to create a symbolic link between internal SD card and external to move your application.
For example if you want your google offline music on sdcard you can mount /sdcard/android/data/com.google.android.music on external sdcard.
It is possible to do it for every folder so it solves the problem :highfive:

eowindel said:
You can use FolderMount [ROOT] to create a symbolic link between internal SD card and external to move your application.
For example if you want your google offline music on sdcard you can mount /sdcard/android/data/com.google.android.music on external sdcard.
It is possible to do it for every folder so it solves the problem :highfive:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah just read into that. Thanks for the link so it reminds me.
Course, internal storage is always faster But for music/movies obviously SD Card just works fine with that.

[Q] Newb Question about: SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB 3 SM-T210R 7.0"

Hello. I bought a SM-T210R for my daughter she burnt through her 8GB pretty fast. I told her to just move her apps to the SD card..... Than I found out you couldn't. I rooted it. I would like to know if there is a good app to use to move the apps. I tried some of the apps on the store app2sd, and a few others. They don't seem to work and suggest you ask Samsung for a new rom.... Any Ideas? I am sure it has been asked before, I was looking through all the threads couldn't seem to locate one. So I am sorry if you are answering this question yet again :cyclops: Thank you in advance.

trinitykilla said:
Hello. I bought a SM-T210R for my daughter she burnt through her 8GB pretty fast. I told her to just move her apps to the SD card..... Than I found out you couldn't. I rooted it. I would like to know if there is a good app to use to move the apps. I tried some of the apps on the store app2sd, and a few others. They don't seem to work and suggest you ask Samsung for a new rom.... Any Ideas? I am sure it has been asked before, I was looking through all the threads couldn't seem to locate one. So I am sorry if you are answering this question yet again :cyclops: Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gl to sd (root) or foldermount. I am not responsible for any damages to your tablet. But these two apps worked for me.
Sent from my SM-T210R using XDA Free mobile app

trazfer said:
Gl to sd (root) or foldermount. I am not responsible for any damages to your tablet. But these two apps worked for me.
Sent from my SM-T210R using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion I'll giveum a shot. But note I hold everyone responsible for damages!!!!! First you, Then Obama and then THE WORLD muhahahahahahaha!!!!
Really tho thanks

4.2.2
trinitykilla said:
Thanks for the suggestion I'll giveum a shot. But note I hold everyone responsible for damages!!!!! First you, Then Obama and then THE WORLD muhahahahahahaha!!!!
Really tho thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi I know android 4.2.2hasent been officially released for our tablet but a Dev called @mkaymuzik has been porting it works really good and it has move apps to sd card just incase his doesnt help

Since you're already rooted and (I assume) running a custom recovery, there's a somewhat easy solution for this. First, back up everything from the internal memory located at /sdcard, and copy it all over to whatever physical SD card you plan on using - I went with a 64gb. This is probably fastest if you just back up all of /sdcard to the pc, and use some kind of card reader to transfer it over, you'll get much better speed, but you can do this all over MTP with the usb cable if you don't have a reader. Next, reboot into recovery and flash this kernel, which among other things adds support for a storage swap. Clear the cache for good measure, this won't affect any user data. Reboot, and using a terminal emulator or adb shell, run the following command:
Code:
su
setprop persist.customboot.sdcard internal
Reboot once more, and you'll find your physical sdcard is now mounted as /sdcard, while the internal is mounted as /.sdcard (which virtually nothing will use, but that's fine). Any large games you install should put their data in /sdcard/Android/obb, or /sdcard/Android/data, or just random folders on /sdcard, all of which are now your physical card. Once you've finished the swap, you'll want to delete most/all of the files on /.sdcard, since everything there directly uses space in /data/media. Now the only thing that will eat up your internal memory are actual .apk files.
This does have one downside, the storage interface in settings doesn't really know what to think of the mod. It will claim you only have 8gb internal, but then show the free space available on the physical card. If you've got more than 8gb of stuff on the card the bar graph is completely useless, but at least the text does show the correct free amount. I've currently got around 20gb of misc games installed and working great, however if you have any Humble Bundle games keep in mind that these don't use .obb files and the larger ones will quickly eat up your internal space with gigantic .apk files.
You might also want to disable zram once you flash the new kernel. It compresses ram that's not actively being used, effectively giving you more ram at the cost of cpu/battery. I find we have plenty of ram and I'd rather have longer battery life. As root, the command is:
Code:
setprop persist.service.zram 0
You'll need a reboot after running it, of course, but you can enable the sd card swap and disable zram at the same time, rebooting only once.
This is probably the most transparent method, once it's set up you won't need to manually move new apps as you install them, and you don't need to worry about apps that write to random locations on the sdcard.

bakageta said:
Since you're already rooted and (I assume) running a custom recovery, there's a somewhat easy solution for this. First, back up everything from the internal memory located at /sdcard, and copy it all over to whatever physical SD card you plan on using - I went with a 64gb. This is probably fastest if you just back up all of /sdcard to the pc, and use some kind of card reader to transfer it over, you'll get much better speed, but you can do this all over MTP with the usb cable if you don't have a reader. Next, reboot into recovery and flash this kernel, which among other things adds support for a storage swap. Clear the cache for good measure, this won't affect any user data. Reboot, and using a terminal emulator or adb shell, run the following command:
Code:
su
setprop persist.customboot.sdcard internal
Reboot once more, and you'll find your physical sdcard is now mounted as /sdcard, while the internal is mounted as /.sdcard (which virtually nothing will use, but that's fine). Any large games you install should put their data in /sdcard/Android/obb, or /sdcard/Android/data, or just random folders on /sdcard, all of which are now your physical card. Once you've finished the swap, you'll want to delete most/all of the files on /.sdcard, since everything there directly uses space in /data/media. Now the only thing that will eat up your internal memory are actual .apk files.
This does have one downside, the storage interface in settings doesn't really know what to think of the mod. It will claim you only have 8gb internal, but then show the free space available on the physical card. If you've got more than 8gb of stuff on the card the bar graph is completely useless, but at least the text does show the correct free amount. I've currently got around 20gb of misc games installed and working great, however if you have any Humble Bundle games keep in mind that these don't use .obb files and the larger ones will quickly eat up your internal space with gigantic .apk files.
You might also want to disable zram once you flash the new kernel. It compresses ram that's not actively being used, effectively giving you more ram at the cost of cpu/battery. I find we have plenty of ram and I'd rather have longer battery life. As root, the command is:
Code:
setprop persist.service.zram 0
You'll need a reboot after running it, of course, but you can enable the sd card swap and disable zram at the same time, rebooting only once.
This is probably the most transparent method, once it's set up you won't need to manually move new apps as you install them, and you don't need to worry about apps that write to random locations on the sdcard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome thanks!!

[Method] Merging SD Card with Internal Storage

This post documents a method of enabling Adoptable Storage with adb commands on sony phones where previously similar solutions seem hard to find. Please link similar methods if they exist somewhere else, I am curious to read.
Personal success on SO-02K (NTT DoCoMo XZ1c ) fw version 47.2.B.5.38 Android Pie, 128G A2 card.
The method results in a fraction of the microSD Card being recognised by the system to be able to transfer apps to, and another fraction where the sd card remains external storage.
The Stock Camera will only be able to save to the mentioned external storage partition after this process, and it will fail to save to internal storage.
Some apps may not work when transferred to the sd card and have to stay in onboard storage.
Premise
I carried out the process with a freshly flashed phone, with a minimal amount of apps present in the system. I cannot guarantee same success with an almost-full phone, although in principle it should be the same. If anyone has success on a more full system please let me and others know.
ADB Debugging should be turned on in developer options and authorization of PC given in advance; root or bl unlock not necessary.
SD Card will be WIPED in the process. For your data's safety do backup everything on your phone, both internal memory and external memory before proceeding! Don't yell at me if in the end it'll have to be restored.
Process
adb shell
sm list-disks this should return two integers such as 179,0
sm partition disk:179,0 mixed xx where the 179,0 should be your result in step 2 and xx be the amount of space reserved for /sdcard ; wait until command finishes. For the mixed xx see Miscellaneous#2 for explanation. Please also reply if you know the command to revert the changes made in this step, because I'd expect it be useful in the future and I don't know what it is.
Turn on force allow apps on external in bottom of developer settings if haven't done so.
Open camera app, click on OK until warnings go away, then set save directory in SD Card. Test if it saves successfully, if not, see Miscellaneous#1.
Reboot, then try moving some apps to your sd card! Some core function apps are not movable; that is to be expected.
Miscellaneous
If your camera won't allow you to open up settings (keeps saying cannot save), then you have run into a problem I have never seen before. If you can go into camera settings but the SD Card option is greyed out, that means either you have not reserved enough space in mixed xx or the command may have gone wrong. Or the card may not be in perfect condition for Adoptable Storage. You can unplug the sd card to see if the camera works fine after that, but I haven't tried that. If anyone knows the corresponding command to revert the changes made in Process#3, please let everyone know!
The mixed xx part allows a part of the sd card to remain.... an sd card. xx% of the space in your card will be recognised as external(portable) storage by your phone, and is readable by a PC. This portion will be the place where your future photos and videos are saved in, as the camera will fail saving to internal space. Thus you may want to use the fastest card you have and set xx based on your use patterns. The other part, the (100-xx) % of space is recognised by the phone as internal storage that it can put apps in, although some apps (especially some games) will still save assets in the phone's on board storage no matter where you move the main app.
This post is re-written from original post(chinese)

Thanks for sharing this but in my experience it does not work. I followed the guide and It looks like it worked, however now I don't understand how to move the apps away from the internal memory to exploit the new storage space provided by the SD "internal" memory... each time I try to move an app I get a "not enough memory" error message although there are about 64Gb free, no matter what app I try moving. I also noticed that deleting an app from the phone and then re-installing the app in the phone will finally install it in the SD but several apps I tried didn't work any more once re-installed in the SD storage.

indago said:
Thanks for sharing this but in my experience it does not work. I followed the guide and It looks like it worked, however now I don't understand how to move the apps away from the internal memory to exploit the new storage space provided by the SD "internal" memory... each time I try to move an app I get a "not enough memory" error message although there are about 64Gb free, no matter what app I try moving. I also noticed that deleting an app from the phone and then re-installing the app in the phone will finally install it in the SD but several apps I tried didn't work any more once re-installed in the SD storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi and Merry Christmas!
I do get system warnings saying the phone is full while it isn't; it seems that Android freaks out a little trying to gather disk usage info when the SD card is merged with internal space. However I can move most non-system-apps.
Did you move the app with the (Press&Hold App Icon)->App Info ->Storage->Change function? I found I didn't include this part in the original writing and might have been a source of confusion. Assuming it was done in App Info, could you tell me what apps don't work, and perhaps I can try on my phone. I also wonder how much storage did you allocate to each of the two partitions on the SD card.
Another potential source of error is the card itself, in some cases, the card may have bad blocks that Android doesn't correct for and cause read problems, as my SD card now begins to show. Sometimes I wake up to see my home screen devoid of apps, and I have to reinsert and restart the phone multiple times before the SD card gets recognized by the phone again.

Did you move the app with the (Press&Hold App Icon)->App Info ->Storage->Change function?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes.
Assuming it was done in App Info, could you tell me what apps don't work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
all. I was not able to move any app.
I also wonder how much storage did you allocate to each of the two partitions on the SD card
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
50% of 128Gb, that is 64Gb each.
Another potential source of error is the card itself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it doesn't seem the card, since the remaining 64Gb left for external storage, that is where the camera app is saving photos and videos and some other apps save data, still works fine.

Here it is the screenshot of how Android now sees the storage configuration (android settings > storage) after I performed the procedure described above for configuring adoptable storage (writings are in Italian but I think it should be easy to understand).

indago said:
Here it is the screenshot of how Android now sees the storage configuration (android settings > storage) after I performed the procedure described above for configuring adoptable storage (writings are in Italian but I think it should be easy to understand).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mine looks the same. I don't know what to suggest. I'll look around on other forums to see if people have the same problem.
This post is re-written from original post in Chinese which in turn is adapted from a lost post on gfan.com.
It also turns out that googling sm partition would give a lot of information most dated back to android 6.

I've been looking around as well, but was able to find only people reporting failures in enabling odoptable storage on Sony devices. However, one difference between your phone and mine is fw version: mine has 47.2.A.11.228 (no brand) - don't know if this can make any real difference.
By the way, I'm wondering whether it could be possibile to install a rarely-used app in the internal memory, then "park" the app in the SD card's external memory by moving its files, then eventually move it back to internal memory only in the case you need opening that app. If it works, it could be a trick for keeping all the apps you want "freezed" in the phone, by taking the usually unused apps in the external memory, then moving one of them in the internal memory only in the rare circumstance you need using it. Then moving it back to the external memory if you think you won't use it any more for a long period. Obviously one could simply uninstall and reinstall those rarely-used apps on occurrence, but that would take more time, consume data traffic and lose the app existing data, so I think that >IF< this kind of trick could be feasible, I'd go for it.

indago said:
I've been looking around as well, but was able to find only people reporting failures in enabling odoptable storage on Sony devices. However, one difference between your phone and mine is fw version: mine has 47.2.A.11.228 (no brand) - don't know if this can make any real difference.
By the way, I'm wondering whether it could be possibile to install a rarely-used app in the internal memory, then "park" the app in the SD card's external memory by moving its files, then eventually move it back to internal memory only in the case you need opening that app. If it works, it could be a trick for keeping all the apps you want "freezed" in the phone, by taking the usually unused apps in the external memory, then moving one of them in the internal memory only in the rare circumstance you need using it. Then moving it back to the external memory if you think you won't use it any more for a long period. Obviously one could simply uninstall and reinstall those rarely-used apps on occurrence, but that would take more time, consume data traffic and lose the app existing data, so I think that >IF< this kind of trick could be feasible, I'd go for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Striking news in the new year-- my sd doesn't work now. Yesterday I checked everything worked, but now no apps installed on my sd card open. using sm list-volumes shows both internal and portable partitions on the SD are mounted, but the apps still refuse to open.
The card looks like it's corrupted, now the two partitions can't even be recognized with my card reader, I guess I'm screwed.

at my asus max m2 .... working, camera, i can move app to sd card and they still works
butttt the only thing is at settings/storage/ information; it shows numbers that dont are correct and a option "to forget sd card " ?!?!?
well i don't know.....