[Q] How does the S3 handle the SDCard? - T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII

Hey guys, I was looking to purchase a new Samsung device and just had a question for the people who use one regarding how Sammy handles the external sdcard. If anyone could answer just one question, I will greatly appreciate it.
1) What happens when you mount via usb to the pc? Does it ask which storage to mount or does it mount both?
2) Can you direct titanium backup and twrp backups to read/write from the sd external directly? This would be my main utilization for the external.
3) No game files (such as vice city) can be placed on the sd? I thought so but was told no?
4) Is there a decrease in performance when reading from the sd instead of internal? I would like to place my music on the sd and was wondering if the media scan would take longer.
Thanks so much guys!
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app

1) Both,
2) Yes.
3) Not usually.
4) Didn't notice one.

^^Pretty much what he said. With games data (like asphalt and madden) it seems that if you move the 300-500mb of data to the sd it won't read it, it will try to re download the data to the internal sd
Sent from Flip's S3

Regarding question 3... It's true that app2sd & the like are absent on the SIII, Though it's possible via init.d script to basically swap internal & external storage, making 64Gb of internal storage possible with the right card!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Related

[Q] Managing the SD Card and External SD Card

So, this device handles storage slightly differently than my HTC EVO 4G did. That, which pretty much needed an SD card for storage, mounted it in /mnt/sdcard/. This phone however, mounts the external SD card in /mnt/sdcard/external_sd/. I am guessing this is because this guy has 16GB internal storage already, and changes are if you were to dissect the phone, you'd probably find an SD card in there too.
I am thinking I'll just move my card contents over to internal storage. Programs that backup/restore data to /mnt/sdcard/ don't realize that this path isn't actually external storage.
I am wondering how this will affect those of us that frequently reflash. Does that partition get wiped when the ROM is wiped? Or is it really just another SD card internally that isn't touched by the system kernel or ROM except for storing user data?
I also have another Q, that's not online with the OP exactly but related to the topic. I'm coming from an e4g to the et4g and plan on using my sdcard from the e4g in the et4g (at least until I buy a 32gb card). I notice that there are many system files on the sdcard from the e4g, are these gonna be an issue with the et4g?
also, I was thinking to make a backup of the card as is to a hard drive, then delete all the files and reformat the card (fresh start), then add back only those I feel are necessary (backup apks, titanium backup files, pics & vids)....is this feasible?
lastly, are there any "don't touch" files on the scard that I should be aware of.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
KaliS-Pugilist said:
I also have another Q, that's not online with the OP exactly but related to the topic. I'm coming from an e4g to the et4g an plan on using my sdcard from the e4g
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, what is your question? You should be able to move the card, but like I stated, the paths seem to be different. It may be the same for you since both devices are Samsung, but maybe not.
muzicman82 said:
So, what is your question? You should be able to move the card, but like I stated, the paths seem to be different. It may be the same for you since both devices are Samsung, but maybe not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry, mistakenly hit the submit button before putting my questions (hate when that happens)....
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
KaliS-Pugilist said:
I also have another Q, that's not online with the OP exactly but related to the topic. I'm coming from an e4g to the et4g and plan on using my sdcard from the e4g in the et4g (at least until I buy a 32gb card). I notice that there are many system files on the sdcard from the e4g, are these gonna be an issue with the et4g?
also, I was thinking to make a backup of the card as is to a hard drive, then delete all the files and reformat the card (fresh start), then add back only those I feel are necessary (backup apks, titanium backup files, pics & vids)....is this feasible?
lastly, are there any "don't touch" files on the scard that I should be aware of.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There shouldn't be anything you shouldn't touch. As far as I know, I think a program like Titanium Backup will archive everything.
What I would do is use Titanium Backup to backup old phone and restore to new phone. Then start the programs you use with personalized data at least once. If you end up with paths on both the phone storage and external storage, move the external over to the phone, replacing/combining.
I ended up doing this and found that my external SD card is now empty.. Starting clean!
It's pretty amazing how far 16GB built into a phone can go. I don't use my phone for movie watching or music often, so we'll see. Maybe I will.
I just notced on the e4g that there are 2 paths that both seem to lead to the same. destination file.
one is: /mnt/sdcard
the other is: /sdcard
the content is exactly the same. not sure if that info helps you any.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
KaliS-Pugilist said:
I just notced on the e4g that there are 2 paths that both seem to lead to the same. destination file.
one is: /mnt/sdcard
the other is: /sdcard
the content is exactly the same. not sure if that info helps you any.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shouldn't make a difference. I think there are two mounts to support applications that look to just /sdcard.
May i have 3rd grade level instructions on how to move all the contents from my sd card(evo) into the internal memory please?
Thanks,
Ian B
Mr Ian B said:
May i have 3rd grade level instructions on how to move all the contents from my sd card(evo) into the internal memory please?
Thanks,
Ian B
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you move the SD Card from your EVO 4G to the Epic 4G Touch, attach a USB cable to your PC. In the notification area on the phone, you have to touch the USB Connected status and then touch the button that says "Connect USB storage".
This will mount TWO removable disks. One will be the size of your SD Card. The other will come in at around 11.5GB. The 11.5GB is the internal storage.
Just use Windows to move everything over. You may want to back up both before you make changes just in case.
If the hardware doesn't mount in Windows, you may need to install the drivers first. They are installed with Samsung Kies, which is on their site.
If you need more info, let me know.
muzicman82 said:
There shouldn't be anything you shouldn't touch. As far as I know, I think a program like Titanium Backup will archive everything.
What I would do is use Titanium Backup to backup old phone and restore to new phone. Then start the programs you use with personalized data at least once. If you end up with paths on both the phone storage and external storage, move the external over to the phone, replacing/combining.
I ended up doing this and found that my external SD card is now empty.. Starting clean!
It's pretty amazing how far 16GB built into a phone can go. I don't use my phone for movie watching or music often, so we'll see. Maybe I will.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok thanks...im thinking to do this. im going to back up the entire sdcard on my PC (and ext HD) before i do anything.
also, i see about 15 files that have a "." prefix, ex) ".dataviz" are these system files for the apk's that are installed? should these be deleted or just leave and if i find it has been created on the phones storage just move it over?
anyways...my et4g just came in today, so after work i'm going in my cave to unbox and forget about the rest of the world.

[Q] Not able to move Apps to the SD card

Hi
I bought the Note 10.1 with 16 GB memory thinking that I will be able to move the APPS to the external 32 GB memory I had installed. However APP2SD tells me that "the device does not have a real primary external storage or the primary storage is emulated".
I set the install location as 2 through the SDK adb devices command prompt screen. Still I am not getting the option to transfer the APPS to the SD card.
Can someone tell me whether this option can be activated or is it blocked by Samsung. I am able to transfer the APPS to external storage in my HTC Desire phone with ICS update
oh wow, apps2sd doesn't work on the Galaxy S3.
I hope that's not the case for the GN2. Can anyone else confirm?
On my Note 1, I'm currently using Directory bind: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1410262
to move stuff off that apps2sd doesn't work with, but it requires root.
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/treat-your-sd-card-as-your-real-external-storage-with-swapsd/
is another option, but I'd hate to use that. Internal memory should be much faster than external card memory.
- Frank
Wrong forum?
Take a look in the note 10.1 forum, under Galaxy Note 10.1 Android Development. There are 2 guides how to move your apps to sd. Though you need root for both i suppose!
And that is the exact reason Google doesn't want OEM's to include expandable storage. When apps are moved to the SD card, they are unable to sync correctly with the OS. SD cards will be a thing of the past within 2 years...
Unable to apps to micro sd card.
ChodTheWacko said:
oh wow, apps2sd doesn't work on the Galaxy S3.
I hope that's not the case for the GN2. Can anyone else confirm?
On my Note 1, I'm currently using Directory bind: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1410262
to move stuff off that apps2sd doesn't work with, but it requires root.
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/treat-your-sd-card-as-your-real-external-storage-with-swapsd/
is another option, but I'd hate to use that. Internal memory should be much faster than external card memory.
- Frank
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the GN2, and I can confirm that moving apps to the sd card is not possible. Is there some other program that's needed in order to make moving apps to the sd possible? And advice would be much appreciated.
Instead of starting another thread, I would also like to know the answer to this as I just received my note 2 and I cannot move apps to sd card.
i noticed that too... i wanted to move some of the apps to the sd card but it doesn't have the move to sd card option...

Frustrating sdcard issue.

First I'll start by noting that I haad my n2 several days before purchasing a 64gb sd card. So system was already setup with a few apps installed pre-sdcard.
However now that I have it in, nothing saves to it. Everything still saves to the internal sdcard. I dont care about apps and such installed from market or xda, those are fine.
But anything I download from Tapatalk or the web browser automatically saves to internal. Pictures taken as well.
Im coming from an evo3d where pics and all media/files I downloaded would go to the sd card and not internal.
I do see that for whatever reason samsung nsmed there internal as sdcard which probably makes a lot of apps think that is the external and not internal but its extremely annoying. I dont know if its because I started using phone before I had an external one in or if thats by design.
But its ridiculous to think I'd have to manually copy everything over from internal to external sfter downloading something when my 3d used to place on external.
Do I need to factory reset to correct this or what. Whats the point of an external card that isnt being utilized??
Also it isnt recognized at all in twrp which after some reading I see it doesn't support 64gb? What gives?
Do I need to format it a certain way?
Thanks in advance.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2
I have not been able to move my Tapatalk download folder, but you can relocate where things download to under settings in the browser and camera apps.
For formatting, I'd format the card via the phone under storage if you haven't already tried that.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2
I changed camera to external so it now saves to /storage/extSdCard/DCIM which is good but dolphin broswer only lets u select /storage/sdcard0 which is default internal storage. Doesnt even show the extSdCard as an option. Why in the world would they do it like this. Very gay.
Had no issues on previous HTC models going to the correct place.
Would I be able to use root explorer to rename the directories?
Need this fixed more than anything. Some apps dont even give you the option to change path as they assume sdcard0 is your actual sdcard. :/
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2
sdcard0 to extsdcard
I found a scripts the tricks ICS to use your external sdcard as your internal storage. So when apps write data to sdcard0 it is actually writting to your external sd. I tried it and it works!
I dont have permission to post outside links but you can find it at galaxynote2root in the tutorials section.

[Q] Recently bought 64gb microsd - how to make it the default storage?

Hey Guys,
I just recently bought my wife a 64gb micro sdcard and I was hoping I could make it the default storage for everything if possible.
What I meant about that is for caching like maps, dropbox, fxcamera, maxgo, hbogo, and many more. ( it is currently located at /sdcard0/Android/data ).
Another thing is for some apps like whatsapp/groupme/viber, to save videos/pictures there. There seems to be no settings in whatsapp to save attachments to the external.
The only thing I've managed so far is to set the camera to save to the ext sdcard, that is about it!
Is there a way to move /sdcard/Android/Data to the external SD card?
Also, is there a way to install apps to the external sd instead of internal? She just had the phone in 10 days and it is almost full
Thanks!
EDIT: Wife GN2 is stock, unrooted -> will not root ever
EDIT 2: I just read that you can't move apps to the EXT SDCard anymore with JB - but that is fine as long as I can assign cache/default directory storage of apps to the External SD .. if someone knows how to
BUMP!
I just did a lot of research and found out that with GS3 and GN2 you can't transfer app to ext SD or install apps on the ext SD anymore when in stock.
Wow, that is so bad! Three big games would fill the 16gb already. I'm pretty sure Google has a good reason for that.
Anyway, some features of the GN2 like burst shot does not allow to save pictures to the external sd card (which is fine) but is there a way to automatically transfer files from internal to sdcard, while deleting files from the internal files while doing the process. It is like rsync in Linux.
As much as possible I want the GN2 to purely use the external SD instead of the internal.
Any app that can do that? Unrooted.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1931500
That is what I use & make sure you are running a custom kernel (eg: persues) to get the addon to work.
RMXO said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1931500
That is what I use & make sure you are running a custom kernel (eg: persues) to get the addon to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info. Too bad its for my wife. She does not want her phone to be rooted.
keplenk said:
Thanks for the info. Too bad its for my wife. She does not want her phone to be rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you're going to be very limited since your wife doesn't want to be rooted.

Switching primary storage

IDK if someone asked this already but is there a way to make sd card the primary save location instead of phone storage? I have a 32gb card and even though its much easier now to transfer files when hooked up to cpu I still prefer to save things to my card then decide what to keep on my phone storage.....
No it's not possible. Apps MUST be stored in the internal memory, which is one of the most talked about issues with the newer Samsung phones. You can only store your pictures and videos taken by the camera in the external memory.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 2
MMakoto said:
No it's not possible. Apps MUST be stored in the internal memory, which is one of the most talked about issues with the newer Samsung phones. You can only store your pictures and videos taken by the camera in the external memory.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's not an, 'issue' with Samsung phones, it's a jelly bean 'issue' and there are workarounds like link2sd and other apps that do this for you... I'm not installing every 2gb game on the playstore on my phone so I haven't run into memory problems, yet. lot of people given ill advice
Sent from my SGH-M919
re: swap internal sd to external sd
kharyb said:
IDK if someone asked this already but is there a way to make sd card the primary save location instead of phone storage? I have a 32gb card and even though its much easier now to transfer files when hooked up to cpu I still prefer to save things to my card then decide what to keep on my phone storage.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is possible to swap internal sd to external sd with a cwm/twrp flashable zip file mod.
Here is the link to the thread, it will say Galaxy S3 but it also works on other phones
but since the S4 is so new right now, the OP did not update his thread.
It should work on our Galaxy S4 too and it cannot hurt anything to try it.
It does not format the internal or external sdcard and it does not delete any files.
Here is the link where you can get a lot more information about it and download it
if you decide to give it a try: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1772234
Good luck with it.
Misterjunky said:
It is possible to swap internal sd to external sd with a cwm/twrp flashable zip file mod.
Here is the link to the thread, it will say Galaxy S3 but it also works on other phones
but since the S4 is so new right now, the OP did not update his thread.
It should work on our Galaxy S4 too and it cannot hurt anything to try it.
It does not format the internal or external sdcard and it does not delete any files.
Here is the link where you can get a lot more information about it and download it
if you decide to give it a try: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1772234
Good luck with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are the dangers of doing this?
The dangers are that if you try it you will not be able to return to this thead and report if it works or not. Many have tried, but ALL have failed! None have come back to tell about it! (as you can see, I have not yet tried it, but if I don't respond again, you will know that I did finally try it)
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app

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