Develop Bugs

How to choose which partition to save files to?

Is there an option where I can choose between saving apps or photos into either the USB storage or device memory partition?

bumping this thread

I'm interested in this as well. I've moved media files to the external sd card and the phone doesn't see them. System info widget is only showing 1.67 GB internal storage while I know that can't be right. Still trying to figure out storage on this device. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

GadgetMonger said:
I'm interested in this as well. I've moved media files to the external sd card and the phone doesn't see them. System info widget is only showing 1.67 GB internal storage while I know that can't be right. Still trying to figure out storage on this device. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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For me, after I unplug the USB cable, it goes through a "Media Scan," and items that I had on the external SD Card are imported (at least ringers and notifications)... But I can't seem to get it to actually DO anything with the REAL SD Card... The phone thinks that the SD Card is the internal storage on the phone (the PHONE partition).
I copied some movie files over to the sd card to play them with Moobo, but there doesn't seem to be a way to navigate to them. I had to copy them to the PHONE partition.

Dalmus said:
For me, after I unplug the USB cable, it goes through a "Media Scan," and items that I had on the external SD Card are imported (at least ringers and notifications)... But I can't seem to get it to actually DO anything with the REAL SD Card... The phone thinks that the SD Card is the internal storage on the phone (the PHONE partition).
I copied some movie files over to the sd card to play them with Moobo, but there doesn't seem to be a way to navigate to them. I had to copy them to the PHONE partition.
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Hmmm... I don't think my device is working that way if it's supposed to. I put my ringers and pictures on the external sd, but they didn't get imported. They weren't there when I tried setting a ringtone and the pics weren't in my gallery. I did get the media scan. I just assumed that it was an antivirus app? And my phone definitely isn't seeing my sd card as internal storage. My card is practically empty yet I'm only showing 1.67 GB internal storage. Of course that could be a problem with the widget, but it does drop if I install anything from the market.

GadgetMonger said:
Hmmm... I don't think my device is working that way if it's supposed to. I put my ringers and pictures on the external sd, but they didn't get imported. They weren't there when I tried setting a ringtone and the pics weren't in my gallery. I did get the media scan. I just assumed that it was an antivirus app? And my phone definitely isn't seeing my sd card as internal storage. My card is practically empty yet I'm only showing 1.67 GB internal storage. Of course that could be a problem with the widget, but it does drop if I install anything from the market.
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On your SD card, do you have the ringers and notifications in the proper directory tree? Its got to be /media/audio/ringers or /media/audio/notifications
As for free space, when you go to SETTINGS ->STORAGE you should see THREE subsections... The first is your physical SD card, the second is "USB storage" which is the internal space you get to play with, and the third is "Device" storage, which is apparently 2GB instead of the 1GB as advertised.

Mine is working as expected.
SD card = 14.92 Total Available 11.68 GB (have a lot of photos, music videos and songs)
USB or Internal = 11.50 Total Available = 11.38 CB
Device Memory = 1.60 GB
The difference between actual and stated is for the hidden system files I guess.

does anyone have an answer to my original question?

Dalmus said:
On your SD card, do you have the ringers and notifications in the proper directory tree? Its got to be /media/audio/ringers or /media/audio/notifications
As for free space, when you go to SETTINGS ->STORAGE you should see THREE subsections... The first is your physical SD card, the second is "USB storage" which is the internal space you get to play with, and the third is "Device" storage, which is apparently 2GB instead of the 1GB as advertised.
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As for the ringers, yup. The phone recognizes them when they're on the root of the card, just not in external sd.
And yes I did find storage in settings. Nothing matches up with what the widget shows so... That makes 2 or three apps that I regularly use that aren't working right on this phone.
The internal memory still seems low to me though. In settings it's showing 1.77 GB. I guess the problem here is that I'm not understanding how to use the storage available. On my 3d I have internal phone which is at almost 6 GB with around 100 apps installed. Never have used app to sd applications. My sd card is a 16 GB and its loaded down to about 7 GB free. Music, pics and ringtones all go to the SD card and the phone reads the files and uses them accordingly.
My GSII has about 50 apps and is showing 1.77 GB free, but that drops whenever I download a new app. So it seems as though if I approach 100 apps I'll run out of internal memory. No? That means I have no choice but to use an app to sd application?

GadgetMonger said:
My GSII has about 50 apps and is showing 1.77 GB free, but that drops whenever I download a new app. So it seems as though if I approach 100 apps I'll run out of internal memory. No? That means I have no choice but to use an app to sd application?
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I believe there's 16gb of total storage on the phone.
2gb is reserved for apps.
14gb is reserved for OS and "other" such as photos, media, etc...
If you go into Settings-> Applications -> Manage Applications and select an App that you downloaded, you'll get the option to move the App to the SD card. You might try that.
Cheers

maxspiderx said:
Is there an option where I can choose between saving apps or photos into either the USB storage or device memory partition?
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Apps go to your 2gb partition and photos and music will go to the usb partition. You can move stuff from the usb partition to your as card. I downloaded ringtones and moved them to my as card and they work fine. As far as apps go if u download apps2sd supposidly u can move an apps to usb storage that way if u run out of your 2gb.
The Evo3D Killer!!!

musclehead84 said:
Apps go to your 2gb partition and photos and music will go to the usb partition. You can move stuff from the usb partition to your as card. I downloaded ringtones and moved them to my as card and they work fine. As far as apps go if u download apps2sd supposidly u can move an apps to usb storage that way if u run out of your 2gb.
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The problem is that once you move things to the SD card, you can't access them anymore, at least not from inside any apps that I've seen.
I'd love to put a bunch of MP3's and .AVI's on the SD card so I can play them, but none of the movie apps have an option to look at the SD card... Or rather, the CLAIM they look at the SD card, but really they're looking at the internal memory of the phone, not the actual SD card.

I have all of my media (mp3s and videos) on my external SD and they are being read just fine. Most apps will let you specify what location your media is stored. I use Mobo player and it lets you choose where the media directory is, even multiple directories. I use my external SD card so i point to: /mnt/sdcard/externa_sd/what ever folder name you want
Dalmus said:
The problem is that once you move things to the SD card, you can't access them anymore, at least not from inside any apps that I've seen.
I'd love to put a bunch of MP3's and .AVI's on the SD card so I can play them, but none of the movie apps have an option to look at the SD card... Or rather, the CLAIM they look at the SD card, but really they're looking at the internal memory of the phone, not the actual SD card.
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[Q] System storage, USB storage, SD card?

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.
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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)?
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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?
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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?
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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

Not enough space on SD card error.

I downloaded Talking Santa for the kids but it won't let me play it. A screen keeps popping up that there is not enough space on my SC card but I have 50 gigs of free space. My knowledge is very limited but I unmounted and mounted again and that didn't do anything. I'm also getting this error when I try to move an app to my SD card using app 2 sd.

The app seems to have extra files it needs to download when you open it. It looks like it is trying to put those files on the internal storage. Try deleting some files off your internal SD not external.

This phone does a stupid thing where the internal memory is split into two partitions: Internal and SD card. Apks go to internal and data to SD card. But SD card is really just another subsection of your internal memory! Nothing actually goes to your external removable SD card when you move apps to the "SD card". This is a problem that I know no solution to. Any help?

Haven't had an issue with apps not going to SD. I have noticed that it does leave the empty folder behind on my internal SD.

"move to sd" not working with some apps

I've been trying to free up some space on my internal memory by transferring nearly all my apps to my sd card using the "move to sd card' option in 4.3
Unfortunately it doesn't seem to transfer all all apps after giving the command. I check in app manager/sd card and they are all listed as transferred and they even have the "sd card app" size listed ,yet the largest apps are still on the internal storage, as the obb data are still there.
I've tried copying the entire obb folder to my sd card but I have no idea how to link the path so that the apps execute properly. If i try opening an app after deleting the obb file from internal default storage path, it just re-downloads the file from the server.
This is really annoying. I have just about every app "transferred" yet I'm nearly out of storage space. If I check the properties of my obb folder on internal storage its nearly 6 gb!
I have root. Please shoot me some ideas as to how to fix this, as i have been searching high and low the past 2 hours trying to find a work around.
I've also cleared about every cache and unneeded file.
Thanks!

Titanium Backup not working with external SD card

Exactly as it says. I have root but it does not seem to let me right to the external sd folder.
I actually get the warning that there is insufficient space. But there is more then enough space on the MicroSD card.