Develop Bugs

16GB internal + SD card. How does it work?

how does Apps2SD work when you have internal memory and an SD Card?
If you don't have an SD card, do the apps go to internal Memory.
Just curious how this all works since my current phone doesn't have internal RAM.
What I would like to do is keep Music/videos in one storage and apps in the other.

Since the phone has 16GB storage on it, theres no reason to use App2SD at all. You can run all your apps off the phone's 16GB storage.
The 16GB (actually ~11.5GB) comes up as "USB Storage" in Settings > Storage if thats what your wondering.
An SD card will show up separately under SD Card. Though in a file manager, the 16GB onboard shows up as your storage, the SD card under an "external sd" folder

Treefallingquietly said:
how does Apps2SD work when you have internal memory and an SD Card?
If you don't have an SD card, do the apps go to internal Memory.
Just curious how this all works since my current phone doesn't have internal RAM.
What I would like to do is keep Music/videos in one storage and apps in the other.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant possibly see why anyone would still use Apps2SD with this amount of internal storage. Accessing apps from an external drive is so much slower.

Actually there is only 2 gb of storage for apps. The rest of the internal memory is for media and other files. If you choose to install to SD it will install to external SD card.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

satur9ine said:
Actually there is only 2 gb of storage for apps. The rest of the internal memory is for media and other files. If you choose to install to SD it will install to external SD card.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes there is 2gbs for apps. If u use app2sd u can put the apps on the other internal partition thy has 11gb. Works for me when I tried it.
Sent From My Evo Killer!!!

strongsteve said:
I cant possibly see why anyone would still use Apps2SD with this amount of internal storage. Accessing apps from an external drive is so much slower.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is good to know. So based on all the other comments, Apps go to the internal memory or the extended internal memory and I can keep music/video/books on SD.
thanks all.

Finally got hands on with phone. I noticed the internal memory is listed as USB storage but when I go to app management it doesn't give me the option to move apps out of ram to USB memory, just move to SD card.
What gives?

How do they get away with saying it's 16GB internal when it's actually 11.5GB?

Its pretty amazing how much this phone brings to the table... 1gig ram, 16gig internal storage.. this phone keeps.blowing me away, it really does. I am very impressed with samsung. I would be running roms on my evo and it didn't have enough ram to hold the contents of a web pagr if I multi tasked to xda. I would hold the home button and fast switch to the internet again and the browser would have to load it all over again instead of having enough ram to just keep it there. I'm inlove haha

IA-32e said:
How do they get away with saying it's 16GB internal when it's actually 11.5GB?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not exactly sure how it works but I think 2gig is partuined for apps and some more for the rom right?

This hasn't worked for me. Everytime I try to move apps to internal storage, it says that there is no sd card inserted, and I need to insert one.

Can some suggest a good way to use the memory?
The Incredible had 8GB internal but the phone was setup never to use it, except for pictures. Everything went on the SDcard. I bought the Incredible used and the guy did a full reset from with in Android but when I got it the internal memory was still full of pictures, unfortunately nothing X-rated or blackmailable.
The E4GT is just as *ssbackwards. In / you have an sdcard which is internal storage. In sdcard you have a link for ext_sd and usbStorage. I put my Music in usbStorage and no music app can find it. How crazy is that? I just want one sdcard link that actually goes to the sdcard, that I would use for Media. The internal sdcard memory used for /data and a home folder. Come on Samsung, doesn't that make more sense?

bluefire808 said:
I'm not exactly sure how it works but I think 2gig is partuined for apps and some more for the rom right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok that makes sense.

gedster314 said:
Can some suggest a good way to use the memory?
The Incredible had 8GB internal but the phone was setup never to use it, except for pictures. Everything went on the SDcard. I bought the Incredible used and the guy did a full reset from with in Android but when I got it the internal memory was still full of pictures, unfortunately nothing X-rated or blackmailable.
The E4GT is just as *ssbackwards. In / you have an sdcard which is internal storage. In sdcard you have a link for ext_sd and usbStorage. I put my Music in usbStorage and no music app can find it. How crazy is that? I just want one sdcard link that actually goes to the sdcard, that I would use for Media. The internal sdcard memory used for /data and a home folder. Come on Samsung, doesn't that make more sense?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1. I too would love to know if there's a "best practice" for how to manage the storage memory on the EG4T. Should I just put all media in the onboard USB storage, and then only use my SD card as overflow, or are there certain things that might be better put on the SD card? I'm probably overthinking this, but I'd like to get a handle on this now while the device is new and I don't have much on it yet.

*** Bump ***

I have filled the internal sd with some games and have room on external sd how do I transfer aps from internal sd to external sd? I have searched found some things about a apk converter??? I love the 16gb internal but it is not enough for my needs. I did see the adb method to swap internal and external sd cards.

HappyFillmore said:
I have filled the internal sd with some games and have room on external sd how do I transfer aps from internal sd to external sd? I have searched found some things about a apk converter??? I love the 16gb internal but it is not enough for my needs. I did see the adb method to swap internal and external sd cards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
look into darktremor apps2sd maybe? not claiming it works, just a suggestion

bluefire808 said:
I'm not exactly sure how it works but I think 2gig is partuined for apps and some more for the rom right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The rom takes up about 3 gigs (just under) and 2 gigs are partitioned for apps. The rest is partitioned as USB Mass Storage (11.5) So 11.5+2+2.5 = 16, thats a rough estimate of how it breaks down anyways. The OS is usually between 2.5-3 gigs depending on how much the manufacturer adds to it. Stock Android is 2 gigs. Sammy doesnt add major bloat so it comes out to like 2.5 to 2.65 gigs. Motorola however usually comes out to 2.75-3 gigs. Which is why I like Sammy. ICS is about 3 gigs stock though, so remember that when you decide to upgrade to ICS later on. You'll be sacrificing memory on a device that wasnt built for it. Sammy added that extra memory for when ICS does come out, just in case. They were aware of the extra memory in ICS.

[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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right. I was wrong.

I'm curious why the storege is so very low. Isn't the phone 16GB? 11.25 of which 8.9 open is low.

the rest of the space has been partitioned for the internal apps

But I can only use the 1.9G to store my apps out of the 16G internal storage? If I move apps to SD card they get moved to the external SD card. Is there a way to move them to the rest of the internal storage (which is called "USB storage" on the phone)?

513263337 said:
But I can only use the 1.9G to store my apps out of the 16G internal storage? If I move apps to SD card they get moved to the external SD card. Is there a way to move them to the rest of the internal storage (which is called "USB storage" on the phone)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean when you move to SD card it actually gets moved to the USB drive, right? I don't like the way Samsung did this. We should have be able to move app or anything else to either internal, USB, or SD card. If we root will be able to do this?

I have the AT&T SGS2 and I'm wondering the same thing. I don't have an external SD card and my system storage is about to get full. I still have 9GB free in my USB storage but there doesn't seem to be a way to move my apps from system storage to USB storage. What do I do? Why is it partitioned this way?

Firepac said:
I have the AT&T SGS2 and I'm wondering the same thing. I don't have an external SD card and my system storage is about to get full. I still have 9GB free in my USB storage but there doesn't seem to be a way to move my apps from system storage to USB storage. What do I do? Why is it partitioned this way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm actually wondering about the same thing. Although it claims it has 16GB internal storage the actual size that we can install apps is just 1.9G, rest of it is partitioned as some kind of USB storage that can't be used to install apps, very annoying...

Also I only have about 20 apps installed on my system storage and they're all about a few MBs each. I only have about 400MBs of system storage is free. What could be taking up so much space?
Edit: Okay just found that a few games were storing their data on the system storage even though the system says it's installed on USB...

USB = System Internal Storage
try to move as much stuff as you can to the External SD card
\sdcard\external_sd\
that's how it looks like when you install stuff

^typical XDA...ask simple question, get incorrect answer, LOVE IT. By the way this is a thread i SEARCHED GOOGLE FOR, while being told by another XDA member to USE THE SEARCH FEATURE in a different thread.....sweet
so let me rephrase the goddamn question(s)
WHY WHEN WE MOVE APP TO SD CARD DOES THE PHONE MOVE THE APP TO THE REMOVABLE microSD CARD AND NOT INSTEAD USE THE INTERNAL STORAGE (11.2GB) WHICH IS MORE PLENTIFUL THAN THE 1.9GB SUPPLIED?
when running some apps/games from a microSD card they cause force closes, data loss, and other wacky things to occur. <- is WHY we dont want them stored there...
IS THERE A WAY TO SELECT TO USE THE INTERNAL SD CARD (11.2GB INSTEAD?
...not as far as i can tell, ive tried it all includng removng the microSD card and attempting to install an app, the phone says not enough space even though i had 1.9GBs remaining in the "USB Storage" partition
The T989 SHOULD fil the INTERNAL CARD FIRST in my opinion....
i have over 200 apps/games on my device and ive only had it for ~2 months no media, only apps/games and i have 200mb remaining in the partition allocated for apps and 1.9GB remaining in the "USB Storage" partiton,....I DONT want apps/games stored on my 64GB microSD card, i remove it often, thats where my media is stored....
heres another kicker, the T989 reports a low memory warning and inabilty to store apps in the Intenal (1.9GB) partition at ~200mb, even though most apps are FAR smaller than anything that would impact that remaining space

HATe410 said:
WHY WHEN WE MOVE APP TO SD CARD DOES THE PHONE MOVE THE APP TO THE REMOVABLE microSD CARD AND NOT INSTEAD USE THE INTERNAL STORAGE (11.2GB) WHICH IS MORE PLENTIFUL THAN THE 1.9GB SUPPLIED?
IS THERE A WAY TO SELECT TO USE THE INTERNAL SD CARD (11.2GB INSTEAD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That 'why' is a bad question and you should feel bad for asking it. It was designed that way in the phone. As to your second question, a proper one, try this https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.a0soft.gphone.app2sd&hl=en. It lists in the description what you asked for but seems ambiguous from the pictures.

HATe410 said:
^typical XDA...ask simple question, get incorrect answer, LOVE IT. By the way this is a thread i SEARCHED GOOGLE FOR, while being told by another XDA member to USE THE SEARCH FEATURE in a different thread.....sweet
so let me rephrase the goddamn question(s)
WHY WHEN WE MOVE APP TO SD CARD DOES THE PHONE MOVE THE APP TO THE REMOVABLE microSD CARD AND NOT INSTEAD USE THE INTERNAL STORAGE (11.2GB) WHICH IS MORE PLENTIFUL THAN THE 1.9GB SUPPLIED?
when running some apps/games from a microSD card they cause force closes, data loss, and other wacky things to occur. <- is WHY we dont want them stored there...
IS THERE A WAY TO SELECT TO USE THE INTERNAL SD CARD (11.2GB INSTEAD?
...not as far as i can tell, ive tried it all includng removng the microSD card and attempting to install an app, the phone says not enough space even though i had 1.9GBs remaining in the "USB Storage" partition
The T989 SHOULD fil the INTERNAL CARD FIRST in my opinion....
i have over 200 apps/games on my device and ive only had it for ~2 months no media, only apps/games and i have 200mb remaining in the partition allocated for apps and 1.9GB remaining in the "USB Storage" partiton,....I DONT want apps/games stored on my 64GB microSD card, i remove it often, thats where my media is stored....
heres another kicker, the T989 reports a low memory warning and inabilty to store apps in the Intenal (1.9GB) partition at ~200mb, even though most apps are FAR smaller than anything that would impact that remaining space
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's just the way the partitions are designed in the phone.. It's not necessary for it to be that way but that's the way this phone is designed and there isn't much you can do about it either..Other than moving apps to you external sd card which you apparently don't want to do there isn't really any other options

[Q] RE: Ext SD CARD

I realised that Galaxy W got 3 layers of memory which is phone storage, USB storage and ext sd card, and I found out that most of the apps are saved in internal storage (USB storage), but it has very limited spaces, so I would like to move all the apps to my ext sd card.
Anyone can guide me that how to do so???

Flash the ROMs here
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda premium

There are 3 storage options on this phone...
ROM aka Device Memory = 1GB = Where apps install to.
Internal SD aka USB Storage = 2GB = Extra space
External SD aka SD Card = upto 32gb microSD card.
So you dont need to use an external SD card until you've used up nearly 3gb of space!
Have you used 3GB already?

Vyker said:
There are 3 storage options on this phone...
ROM aka Device Memory = 1GB = Where apps install to.
Internal SD aka USB Storage = 2GB = Extra space
External SD aka SD Card = upto 32gb microSD card.
So you dont need to use an external SD card until you've used up nearly 3gb of space!
Have you used 3GB already?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no installation of apps on the so-called USB Storage/Internal Storage......This is intended for data associated with apps, and storage for stuff like pics/photos/music.
There is built-in App2SD support in all Androids since Froyo, but it is not automatically invoked....you need to go to Settings/Manage Applications.
Look under Downloaded, where all the d/l Apps are listed, and tap on any app you wish to install on your SD Card, your external SD card, this is not internal so-called SD/USB Storage.
Any App that can be moved, will have a Move to SD card option.....those which are not written to enable movement, will be greyed out.
You could also get App2SD from market, which will give you a notification when an App is downloaded that it can be moved, and allows you to do this when you select the notification. It works well......IMHO. I use it and cannot fault it.
There is also another App 2 SD, which does a similar job, but has a Pro paid-for version......reports on Market that it does not support External SD, which is what we have, so avoid....IMHO

Right so still abit confused over this. Before i installed Kerza'a rom onto the phone.
Under the settings and storage and where is shows sd card, usb storage and Device memory.
On sd card it use to show my 8gb card and in the usb storage it use to show the 1.7gb that came on the phone.
After i installed kerza's rom it switched. But no matter what i do my apps still save to the smaller 1.7gb space.
Is there anything that can be done?

This means that KP's ROM switches mount points for SD's, and your Large SD Card is now considered as Internal SD.......
and no Apps can be moved to Internal, by Samsung design, they move to external SD.
arco says this will change with ICS, when and if we get it......
On the good side, your apps are now on probably faster Internal Storage (now mapped as External SD)......and you have more than enough to cater for apps IMHO. And you can probably force move other apps, maybe with Titanium Backup, or other ways, just be careful, some Apps should not be moved, so trial and error.
Even when I used DT's A2SD, on my previous, the biggest sd-sxt I used was 1GB.

[Q] My HTC 16 gig has become 10 gig?

Hi,
I have rooted my phone, applied the revolutions ROM and also ElementalX Kernal.
Everything is working but when I plug the phone into the PC to sync of look at the files. The Internal SD card says 10 gig not 16 gig.
If I look on the phones storage it says 16 gig still.
Is this something I have done wrong. Is this even possible? I havn't done any partitioning. Just followed the guides.
On a side note - the main reason to custom ROM my phone was so I could save full games and apps to the external SD but it appears I still cannot do this. Can someone advise the proper method in which I can save a complete game on the external card, effectively bypassing the google restrictions. apparently doing everything I have done is still not enough. All the apps I have installed to move files across from internal to external still only send the partial file, not the whole. My 16 gig will soon enough be full and my 64 gig SD card is a complete waste. I didn't buy it for videos and pictures but for games and apps...
thanks

jnatley said:
Hi,
I have rooted my phone, applied the revolutions ROM and also ElementalX Kernal.
Everything is working but when I plug the phone into the PC to sync of look at the files. The Internal SD card says 10 gig not 16 gig.
If I look on the phones storage it says 16 gig still.
Is this something I have done wrong. Is this even possible? I havn't done any partitioning. Just followed the guides.
On a side note - the main reason to custom ROM my phone was so I could save full games and apps to the external SD but it appears I still cannot do this. Can someone advise the proper method in which I can save a complete game on the external card, effectively bypassing the google restrictions. apparently doing everything I have done is still not enough. All the apps I have installed to move files across from internal to external still only send the partial file, not the whole. My 16 gig will soon enough be full and my 64 gig SD card is a complete waste. I didn't buy it for videos and pictures but for games and apps...
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone will show the total capacity of 16GB but you never get the full 16GB (around 14GB is actually available) Of that remaining storage which is partitioned is the OS and other files which takes it down to about 9 which is what you have for use.
Use folder mount for moving games to the sdcard.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devasque.fmount

jnatley said:
I have rooted my phone, applied the revolutions ROM and also ElementalX Kernal.
Everything is working but when I plug the phone into the PC to sync of look at the files. The Internal SD card says 10 gig not 16 gig.
If I look on the phones storage it says 16 gig still.
Is this something I have done wrong. Is this even possible? I havn't done any partitioning. Just followed the guides.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
16GB is the total space available. Some of this space is covered up by system, cache, recovery and other partitions. The PC just shows the data partition, which in most cases is something around 10GB in size.
jnatley said:
On a side note - the main reason to custom ROM my phone was so I could save full games and apps to the external SD but it appears I still cannot do this. Can someone advise the proper method in which I can save a complete game on the external card, effectively bypassing the google restrictions. apparently doing everything I have done is still not enough. All the apps I have installed to move files across from internal to external still only send the partial file, not the whole. My 16 gig will soon enough be full and my 64 gig SD card is a complete waste. I didn't buy it for videos and pictures but for games and apps...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For this you could use Link2SD, as the donate version gives you the possibility to move full apps to SD.
As a prerequisite you would have to format and partion your SD Card first, e.g. using MiniTool Partition Wizard.
Save all Data on your external SD. After this you have to create TWO primary partitions.
The fist hast to be
FAT32, Primary for all your stuff (Musik, Pictures, Downloads, Backups, ....)
EXT2, Primary (otherwise Link2SD can't create a mount point for the linked Apps
Have you done this an instered your card back into your M8, you open up Link2SD. It will on first run ask for root rights and of which kind your link partition is. Simply choose ext2. Link2SD will then search for the correct primary partition on your external SD and mount it. After this you can Link your Apps to the ext2 partition using Link2SD.

I see. I understand regarding the 10gig storage now. Phew I thought I had lost 6 gig through somehow.
I have installed folder mount and paired a game using source and destination and it moved the file across. I went to check my storage and my internal storage states 1.6gig and my external SD states 0bytes.
I believe this is correct as the phone thinks the internal storage is being used so it says 1.6gig however the files are all on the external.
so if this has worked, why do I need to partition as you mentioned? Has the 1.6gig file not actually moved across then as I have not partitioned it?
thanks

Should I be partitioning the External SD card correct. Not touching the internal?
Also I wouldn't have a clue how large the partitions should be. Is there a ball park figure for a 64 gig SD card considering most space I will use for apps and games rather than music/videos.
Thank you

Phew, didn't see that @gsmyth answered as well. Folder mount is of course a solution as well.
I'm using a 64GB external as well and partitioned it to an amount of 54GB (FAT32 for my music and stuff) and 10GB ext2, as an equivalent to my internal storage available for any data.

Memory and SD-Card Problems

Hi.
My wife has already in use the Nokia 5.1 for a while. At that time we have also used a 64GB SD card and formatted it as internal memory. Thus, just under 80GB should be available as one drive.
However, the additional memory of the SD card is obviously not used, because although almost 60 GB continue to be free, the mobile phone complains about missing memory if you want to make photos or install apps.
The attempt to format the SD card as external memory brought no improvement, especially as apps like the camera can not access it then.
What do you have to do so that the storage space of the SD card is attached to the internal memory and is used by the mobile phone?
Thanks in advance.