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Another Newbie Question here.
So AT&T only provides the 16MB Note 2, so of course we add a nice juicy 64GB SD card. But it seems that the stock phone does not really use it for much (that I can tell) to store anything.
First question: On the stock ROM, what apps can be told to use the SD card as default, and how do you change the app settings?
Second Question, for the future: Assuming one Root's the Note 2, what can be safely moved to the SD and how? Or is another ROM required?
Humbly yours - thanks in advance!
Flame Red said:
Another Newbie Question here.
So AT&T only provides the 16MB Note 2, so of course we add a nice juicy 64GB SD card. But it seems that the stock phone does not really use it for much (that I can tell) to store anything.
First question: On the stock ROM, what apps can be told to use the SD card as default, and how do you change the app settings?
Second Question, for the future: Assuming one Root's the Note 2, what can be safely moved to the SD and how? Or is another ROM required?
Humbly yours - thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also have a 64gb card. I put all of my Titanium backups and Nandroids on the external SD (right now TWRP doesn't work with the exfat formatting of my card, so if I want to restore I'll have to move it from ext to int SD).
I also have Spotify set to store any offline music on the external SD. You can do this by installing an old version of Spotify, pointing it to external SD, then updating the app. A quick Google search will find this if it's something you want to do.
It's hard to tell you what to move to the external card without knowing what apps you use. You can get an app called Directory Bind that will point any internal SD location to your external SD. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1889550
SD card setup/directory optimization
Really like Android and the Note 2 so far.
Thanks for the directory bind guide link...interesting. Maybe my answer is somewhere in there, so I will take a look either way.
New to external SD use on Android as well (or any phone, that is). I have a 64GB sandisk as well, and It was pre-formatted for Android apparently with some s/w on it. Which is fine, if that is the way I should go.
Just playing around with it at first and copied a music album over, in similar format to my iTunes directory structure -I figured, why not. Perhaps there is a better way to structure my directories though? More general way for all apps to recognize? Moot point?
I assume different apps might require different directory structures...to be efficient, or to be able to work with those dirs/files. I'd rather have the most optimal structure now, before I start messing with creating more directories, etc down the road.
The general questions are, should I format this as something else? What is best to use? (Still looking into different file manager/transfer apps for now, and MAY root and keep stock ROM in the future, but acclimating myself with Android OS has been more than enough for now...I do enough Linux at work, so not in any rush )
Since I went there, I don't know if the OP's question was fully answered...so again, here's a quick (newbie) question for those who root but keep the stock ROM: can apps be moved to the SD card in that case? Or do I need to break out of stock ROM to do that?
Thanks in advance!
Wanted to report back that I tried a simple case of using Directory Bind for something non-critical as a test. Used it to remount Titaniumn Backup to the external SD. Yes, I know you can just point it there. Just wanted to test Directory Bind.
It seemed to work until I rebooted the phone. Then it lost all the binding even tough I had checked off to save it for reboot and saved the binds to a file. So just beware that if you were using Directory Bind for something critical - you might have to recover the phone! I removed the package for now.
dponte said:
Really like Android and the Note 2 so far.
Thanks for the directory bind guide link...interesting. Maybe my answer is somewhere in there, so I will take a look either way.
New to external SD use on Android as well (or any phone, that is). I have a 64GB sandisk as well, and It was pre-formatted for Android apparently with some s/w on it. Which is fine, if that is the way I should go.
Just playing around with it at first and copied a music album over, in similar format to my iTunes directory structure -I figured, why not. Perhaps there is a better way to structure my directories though? More general way for all apps to recognize? Moot point?
I assume different apps might require different directory structures...to be efficient, or to be able to work with those dirs/files. I'd rather have the most optimal structure now, before I start messing with creating more directories, etc down the road.
The general questions are, should I format this as something else? What is best to use? (Still looking into different file manager/transfer apps for now, and MAY root and keep stock ROM in the future, but acclimating myself with Android OS has been more than enough for now...I do enough Linux at work, so not in any rush )
Since I went there, I don't know if the OP's question was fully answered...so again, here's a quick (newbie) question for those who root but keep the stock ROM: can apps be moved to the SD card in that case? Or do I need to break out of stock ROM to do that?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your'e just talking about music, you can put it in any folder and any structure you'd like. The Android Media Server process scans your entire SD card for media (including music) except for folders with a ".nomedia" file in them. It will use the tags to identify the artist, song, and album, then sort them based on that information.
Flame Red said:
Wanted to report back that I tried a simple case of using Directory Bind for something non-critical as a test. Used it to remount Titaniumn Backup to the external SD. Yes, I know you can just point it there. Just wanted to test Directory Bind.
It seemed to work until I rebooted the phone. Then it lost all the binding even tough I had checked off to save it for reboot and saved the binds to a file. So just beware that if you were using Directory Bind for something critical - you might have to recover the phone! I removed the package for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bummer
don't bother moving any apps to the external sd, since you have TONS OF ROOM in your internal memory on this phone..On the original note, I had over 300 apps installed on the internal, and still had over 5 gigs of room left..
just keep your music, movies, pictures, and other space hogs on it..trust me, leaving apps alone will never be a problem when you have a phone with this much storage space!
wase4711 said:
don't bother moving any apps to the external sd, since you have TONS OF ROOM in your internal memory on this phone..On the original note, I had over 300 apps installed on the internal, and still had over 5 gigs of room left..
just keep your music, movies, pictures, and other space hogs on it..trust me, leaving apps alone will never be a problem when you have a phone with this much storage space!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
11GB is a lot (available to start with on the ATT model) if you use the external for media (and app cache) and leave the internal for apps mainly...agreed.
Most apps are small in size...however, one app like NOVA3 is 2GB and that is a big bite of your 11GB available, so that is a little concerning
I haven't had the device or android long enough to know, but, are app databases and cache allowed to reside on the external card --in lue of the ability to move apps to the SD being taken away since Jelly Bean (was it at that update)? Can someone point to a good thread on the reason and discussion about that? Thanks.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1994046
App2SD change external to internal.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda premium
You can make your external your main storage device by using this root technique. But some people don't advise it saying it slows down your processing on apps.
wase4711 said:
don't bother moving any apps to the external sd, since you have TONS OF ROOM in your internal memory on this phone..On the original note, I had over 300 apps installed on the internal, and still had over 5 gigs of room left..
just keep your music, movies, pictures, and other space hogs on it..trust me, leaving apps alone will never be a problem when you have a phone with this much storage space!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note II is a Unified Storage device. It has 11gb available for both user content (pictures, movie, music etc) and apps. I lost 2gb of space moving from my S2 to the N2.
S2 is not a Unified storage device, so it has 11gb of storage available for user content and a separate Apps partition of 2gb.
Hello I am looking for a Rom or whatever that would make my sd card the phone storage instead the 500mb u get with the phone
Up
There are a couple of apps that can do it they basically just link to your external try directory binder
Sent from my LT28i using xda app-developers app
hey i got link2sd and more things but that doesnt help i got 30 mb left.
Frenkel said:
hey i got link2sd and more things but that doesnt help i got 30 mb left.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What you are asking is impossible, you can´t make bigger the space of you´re phone, using the sd card.
Allthough you can try to use some applications to move the apps to you're SD, apps like Link2Sd(You need root) or more.
Also you can root you´re mobile and use titanium backup to delete apps you don´t need and you can´t remove,normally, but attention, if you remove some apps you´re phone can stop working.
I hope i helped!
If you have unlocked bootloader, you can flash Lupus GB kernel. It have 640MB data partition. And with the help of Link2SD (to move as much apps as you can to SD) it should be enough for some time
You could also partition SD card so apps2sd or link2sd can use it expand storage but is somehow harder to setup. You might check http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/SD_card_partitioning
Frenkel said:
hey i got link2sd and more things but that doesnt help i got 30 mb left.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you rooted? If so get titanium backup pro (it's worth the $6 or $7). There's an option for moving dalvik-cache to /cache in there. Depending on phone, you can free up 80-100 MB of space by doing this. Here is the manual method, but it may not work on a lot of devices. Lack of space on these phones was my driving force for rooting it. I'm not certain about this (maybe someone who knows can chime it), but I believe making a separate small ext3 partition for your apps (something like 1-2GB) on your SD card helps out with speed of apps stored on there using link2sd.
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.
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!!
Hello..
I have htc desire 816 with 8gb of internal storage ....when i bought it,it had about 4gb free of that storage.....which is quite normal.
After buying it, I updated to lollipop 5.1 then i got it rooted......
Lately i've noticed the insufficient internal sotrage,so I've uninsalled ALL the apps and games from internal and external memory,however,that only freed up about 2 gb of the intrrnal storage ....so what is taking all that space despite there is No apps ....I know that the system files are taking some space....but those files only took 4gb when i bought the phone
Now i don't have any apps ,However, there is only free 1.8gb
I tried using clean master,but it only cleaned about 300mb of junks and cache
This is strictly a personal opinion but you should lose Clean Master and anything else made by Cheetah Mobile.
As for your storage issues... You state you've rooted. Have you done a backup? If so, are you sure your recovery is saving backups to the external storage?
Sent from my YOGA Tablet 2-830F using Tapatalk
Ibrahim elhossiny said:
Hello..
I have htc desire 816 with 8gb of internal storage ....when i bought it,it had about 4gb free of that storage.....which is quite normal.
After buying it, I updated to lollipop 5.1 then i got it rooted......
Lately i've noticed the insufficient internal sotrage,so I've uninsalled ALL the apps and games from internal and external memory,however,that only freed up about 2 gb of the intrrnal storage ....so what is taking all that space despite there is No apps ....I know that the system files are taking some space....but those files only took 4gb when i bought the phone
Now i don't have any apps ,However, there is only free 1.8gb
I tried using clean master,but it only cleaned about 300mb of junks and cache
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had the same issue. The firmware is in it's own partition with room for updates but some of those files fill up your internal storage as well, they did for me when I updated so the solutions are either use a root file explorer or Titanium Backup app to move some user apps to system apps , use the forum here in XDA for altering your SElinux permissions and enable write permissions to your system partition(WP.MOD_KO) so that you can use Link2SD app to move your user apps to your external SD card or pay to obtain full S off using the Sunshine app and have those permissions plus more enabled at the system level so that you can also use Link2SD app to move user apps to the external SD card.
The last 2 methods are the most used and also require you to reformat your external SD card into 2 partitions using EaseUS PARTITION MANAGER on a P.C. Instructions for doing this are easy and available on Youtube and Google if you want to read them instead. These are really the only ways to help your storage issue other than just not using very many apps. I chose the full S off method and Link2SD but the other works it just alters your SElinux permissions and has to be removed to do stock updates whereas S off doesn't affect stock updates. Only system file changes do like the mod I described.
I also echo the previous posters thoughts on Cleanmaster and most all "task killing" apps. Android has built in RAM management that does a good job on its own of managing memory and there is the on screen square button on the right that shows you open apps and tabs and allows you to quickly close them all out. You'd be better off regulating Wavelocks using Amplify app and Greenify to freeze apps from staying on . Root required and there are paid version but the basics are free in both apps.
I had a brain f**t and misread that you've uninstalled "all" of your apps so the previous poster might be onto something if you've done any TWRP nandroid backups to internal instead of micro storage. They can take up to 2 to 4 gbs just on their own even with compression enabled. If you haven't and even if you have my previous info and advice is still accurate for improved storage space.
On my phone, the .thumbnails folder in DCIM takes 1 GB...
TobiBot said:
On my phone, the .thumbnails folder in DCIM takes 1 GB...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah mine says 550 mb total in thumb data but it is not pictures from my camera like the other few kbs are. Can't open it so I wonder if it's some sort of cache for something else. Don't know all the ins and outs of the Android file structure but I do know that when I started flashing custom roms,CM in particular, my internal storage went up due to the lack of bloatware coming from my stock Rom. Good to know this though. Not going to delete it though for now till I find out what it is.
Some Facts About Thumbnails
thoctor said:
Yeah mine says 550 mb total in thumb data but it is not pictures from my camera like the other few kbs are. Can't open it so I wonder if it's some sort of cache for something else. Don't know all the ins and outs of the Android file structure but I do know that when I started flashing custom roms,CM in particular, my internal storage went up due to the lack of bloatware coming from my stock Rom. Good to know this though. Not going to delete it though for now till I find out what it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some Apps, like WhatsApp save pics in .thumbnails to work smooth, i think.
You can delete them, but they will create themselves at the next boot again, i also tried to write an init.d script which deletes them at boot, but it doesnt work.
Also if you create a file ".thumbnails" which isnt writable, the system doesnt give you the space
Ive read something about creating this file before first boot after flashing so it works, but i havent tried it...
Damn thumbnails
Sorry if my english is horrible ^^
TobiBot said:
Some Apps, like WhatsApp save pics in .thumbnails to work smooth, i think.
You can delete them, but they will create themselves at the next boot again, i also tried to write an init.d script which deletes them at boot, but it doesnt work.
Also if you create a file ".thumbnails" which isnt writable, the system doesnt give you the space
Ive read something about creating this file before first boot after flashing so it works, but i havent tried it...
Damn thumbnails
Sorry if my english is horrible ^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your English is perfectly fine. Better even than some to whom English is their "first" language. Thanks for that breakdown and I bet that's what it is. I forgot about the apps storing their stock images in your phone. I used to love using the app called Pocket until I found that it stores all the saved links and images directly on your phone. I saved almost a full gb by deleting it finally. Great app other than that and if I had a device with more storage I'd still have it on my phone instead of just my computer. This is all why it pays to be curious about your own phone storage and learn how to navigate a good root file explorer.