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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Internal/External SD Cards

Just got my GS2 today and I must say this is the easiest phone I have rooted to date! I have been working my way around the OS and found that apps are not seeing my files on my External SD Card. Is there a way to sort of sync these? I guess I dont mean sync, but have apps search both internal and external storage for files? Take beautiful widgets, I have a ton of images on the ex sd card. When I launch the app to apply one of those images it looks in phone storage and gives no option to search the ex sd card.
Thanks

cordell12 said:
Just got my GS2 today and I must say this is the easiest phone I have rooted to date! I have been working my way around the OS and found that apps are not seeing my files on my External SD Card. Is there a way to sort of sync these? I guess I dont mean sync, but have apps search both internal and external storage for files? Take beautiful widgets, I have a ton of images on the ex sd card. When I launch the app to apply one of those images it looks in phone storage and gives no option to search the ex sd card.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
easiest thing would to move everything to the internal sd card. i dont like how the phone sees SD card (internal) then from there i have to navigate to the folder called 'external sd' to look at my microSD files.

tool2269 said:
easiest thing would to move everything to the internal sd card. i dont like how the phone sees SD card (internal) then from there i have to navigate to the folder called 'external sd' to look at my microSD files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly, but what good is it to have an external card if the apps dont use it? If I have to move everything to the internal card, what can I put on the external card and be able to use/access? None of my apps recognize the external card, lol.

i use my external sdcard for music & movie business and use the internal for everything else. i sync back & forth between pc & cell a lot so having a CLEAN (aka, none of those extra android folders) sdcard makes browsing and syncing much easier, cleaner, and organized. also, without that android bloat i can tell exactly how much goodies i have just by looking at the size of external sdcard
ps: external sdcard is more or less just a subdir on the internal sdcard.... its /sdcard/external_sd if i remember correctly.

i just slap my movie files onto thte internal sd since i delete them afterwards... didnt realize 16 gb is a lot of space lol

I removed some movies from the internal memory but when i go to storage, the available free space is the same as when the movies where there. I held the movie file down and selected delete when the pop up menu came up.
Any suggestions to clear the inetrnal memory or do i need to format the usb storage which will delete everything from internal memory?
Thanks,
Ian B

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.

Programs uninstalled after reboot

Hi!
I was looking after this issue since my holidays. My Glide just uninstalls random applications that are on SD card (external_SD) after reboot. The replication is 8 out of 10. I had almost 30 apps on the SD card (mostly games).
What I did:
-restart the launcher
-wipe/factory reset
-change microSD cards
-reformat microSD card
How can I tell apps are uninstalled?
-checked Market
-checked TiBu (Backup/restore > Uninst. filter)
As I said, different apps are uninstalled every reboot. If I again reboot my device, the app(s) previously removed will be installed and another app(s) is removed.
Temporarily, my apps are transferred on my Internal storage (2gb) and so far, no issues. This quite puzzles me for I did not encounter any issues using my microSDs in file transfers, media and etc except for this one.
May you have similar issues and have solutions for them, please share and it will be greatly appreciated.
I posted this in the subforum for this only happened on my Glide (did not see in my Captivate and Infuse with same micrSDs). If you see this as inappropriate, please leave me a message or reply, or simply report my post.
Thanks

Correct me if I am wrong but apps moved to SD actually install to the 4gb USB storage in the unit (/sdcard). Nothing goes to the external SD (/sdcard/external_sd) unless manually moved there. If you want to install a program to the SD you have to use root utilities.
Doesn't help you with your issue but you should be able to completely remove the SD card and see if you continue to have the problem.

I haven't noticed this on my wife Glide but it does happen on my Skyrocket.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA App

Installed adw launcher last night and haven't had a problem with the disappearing apps.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA App

eddiert said:
Correct me if I am wrong but apps moved to SD actually install to the 4gb USB storage in the unit (/sdcard). Nothing goes to the external SD (/sdcard/external_sd) unless manually moved there. If you want to install a program to the SD you have to use root utilities.
Doesn't help you with your issue but you should be able to completely remove the SD card and see if you continue to have the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No your wrong when you hit the button move to SD Card it actually goes to the MicroSD card. I tried hitting that button without a Microsd card and I get an error it says not External card detected or something like that. When I installed my MicroSD card it moved the apps to it.
JB

dudejb said:
No your wrong when you hit the button move to SD Card it actually goes to the MicroSD card. I tried hitting that button without a Microsd card and I get an error it says not External card detected or something like that. When I installed my MicroSD card it moved the apps to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct. Good to know. I verified that I have a few apps moved to SD and they do not work when the SD is removed.
However, I can not replicate the OPs original issue. I put the SD back in and the apps are launchable again. All apps remain after reboot. When the SD was swapped was it with a different brand/model. I am using an 8gb Sandisk.
I could not replic

dudejb said:
No your wrong when you hit the button move to SD Card it actually goes to the MicroSD card. I tried hitting that button without a Microsd card and I get an error it says not External card detected or something like that. When I installed my MicroSD card it moved the apps to it.
JB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's weird because I was able to move to SD without inserting a Micro SD card and when I move to SD, it moves them to the internal USB storage instead of the Micro SD card.

vil33 said:
That's weird because I was able to move to SD without inserting a Micro SD card and when I move to SD, it moves them to the internal USB storage instead of the Micro SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weird how we both have different results here. I have the Rogers running Android version 2.3.5 and Kernel version 2.6.36.3
JB

responses are greatly appreciated....I also tried moving two apps on SDcard after transferring them to the internal (2GB) storage. my glide automatically removed one of them after reboot. Well it's not a concern until i ended up running out of space on my internal

I noticed this as well on some apps I just reinstalled them on the internal and will not transfer them to the SD I again. I guess some programs don't want to be transferred to SD.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I927R using XDA App

dudejb said:
Weird how we both have different results here. I have the Rogers running Android version 2.3.5 and Kernel version 2.6.36.3
JB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the exact same phone, I think you are confused. Move to SD never moves to external SD. Why else would apps like 'Apps2SD' exist then?

Apps2Sd allows you to map certain folders that are hard coded to the sd internal. For example game loft games install on the internal applicaton 2 gig partition a small installer and then Download extra content on the internal sd card. Apps2Sd allows you to map the game directory from the internal sd to your micro sd card. Similar in linux with a sym link. The Move to Sd from the Os (gingerbread). Allows you to alleviate some room from your 2 gig applications partition and move apps to the Microsd card.
JB
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I927R using XDA App

dudejb said:
Apps2Sd allows you to map certain folders that are hard coded to the sd internal. For example game loft games install on the internal applicaton 2 gig partition a small installer and then Download extra content on the internal sd card. Apps2Sd allows you to map the game directory from the internal sd to your micro sd card. Similar in linux with a sym link. The Move to Sd from the Os (gingerbread). Allows you to alleviate some room from your 2 gig applications partition and move apps to the Microsd card.
JB
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I927R using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could it be that whether it move to internal or external SD depends on the app? None of my apps have been moved to the external microSD yet. Maybe it is because I have extra space on my internal microSD? Also when I go to Manage Apps > On SD Card, it shows the space used and remaining on the internal SD(USB storage).

vil33 said:
Could it be that whether it move to internal or external SD depends on the app? None of my apps have been moved to the external microSD yet. Maybe it is because I have extra space on my internal microSD? Also when I go to Manage Apps > On SD Card, it shows the space used and remaining on the internal SD(USB storage).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you are rooted, look for a folder named .android.secure on your Glide's hard drives. That folder contains apps that are moved to SD card. I see mine on /sdcard/external_sd/.android.secure

Hi, even if this thread is an old one, the same issue happened to my phone:
I can't use the internal memory to move apps because they are uninstalled every time the phone is rebooted. What is the clue?
Sent from my NX505J using Tapatalk

[Q] How does the mounting work on the note2? Confusing.

I have my device set to save pictures to the SD card. I took a 20 burst shot to make some space be used.
I use FTP to access my SD card, the folder I access is /sdcard. That is also the folder I open in ES file explorer.
For pictures, they are saved in /sdcard/dcim
All makes sense, right?
Now, in the settings, I see:
http://i.imgur.com/W43Hg.png
http://i.imgur.com/uhQ0U.png
So really, my SD card is not used by anything, also, the internal storage seems to be 10GB.
So there is a fake SDcard 6GB big? Which is apparently the only one I can access?
How do I use my REAL SD card for pictures saving? And what is even the location of the actual SD card?
This all seems really strange to me. In my previous phone (HTC EVO3D) there was just the root folder, which had an sdcard folder, which was the actual SDcard. I wonder why there is a fake SDcard in this device? Anyone that can explain this?
Also, it is possible to have it like this:?
Main storage: 16gb
SDcard storage: 32gb, location of this: /sdcard
That would make SO MUCH more sense.

Have you tried /storage/extSdCard ?
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

D3_ said:
Have you tried /storage/extSdCard ?
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is correct, that is indeed the place of my external SD.
I did some testing, and found out:
Normal pictures are saved on the actual sd: /storage/extSdCard/DCIM
Burst shots are saved on the "fake" /sdcard/DCIM
I guess burst shots need more speed then my class10 sd? STUPID!
So again back to the other questions: why is this? And is there any way to combine this? THIS SUCKS for storage organization via FTP etc, also, downloaded game data is saved to the fake sd, which is again STUPID. Some games take 1gb or more. What if I need more then 6gb of apps/gamedata storage? WHY did they do it this way? This REALLY frustrates me already.
Somebody please tell me there is some way to make the actual SD the default SD.

On older (Gingerbread) Android devices there was internal storage, and the sd card that you plugged in was "sdcard". On almost all newer devices there are actually three or more places things are stored:
internal (~2gb depending on the device, holds the android system, "personal" which stores phone info like contacts. This is what you flash/odin stuff to)
sdcard (Looks like any sdcard to android. Usually mounted to /mnt/sdcard. This is the "internal" sd card, built into your device)
sdcard 2 (The external sd card you put into the sd card slot. Usually mounted to /mnt/extSdCard, as noted above)
There are a few ways this is implemented. The internal sd card might be partitioned, with "internal" being on the first partition and "sdcard" on the second. This way you can format the internal sdcard without bricking your device.

Acorns said:
On older (Gingerbread) Android devices there was internal storage, and the sd card that you plugged in was "sdcard". On almost all newer devices there are actually three or more places things are stored:
internal (~2gb depending on the device, holds the android system, "personal" which stores phone info like contacts. This is what you flash/odin stuff to)
sdcard (Looks like any sdcard to android. Usually mounted to /mnt/sdcard. This is the "internal" sd card, built into your device)
sdcard 2 (The external sd card you put into the sd card slot. Usually mounted to /mnt/extSdCard, as noted above)
There are a few ways this is implemented. The internal sd card might be partitioned, with "internal" being on the first partition and "sdcard" on the second. This way you can format the internal sdcard without bricking your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But that sucks? I also just noticed moving apps to sd is no longer an option. But how about gamedata? GTA3 takes 1GB. Some games take 2GB, but the only place to put those apps is in the internal 10GB storage? And pictures are storable on external SD, but not burst shots, which are saved in the internal SD? Stupid.
I just can't imagine any way this is positive.

Apparently it's a jellybean limitation - it's really putting me off ATM - there are many threads complaining about this feature but most feel that it is not going to change.
This next bit is all from my reading (I do not use android yet because of this storage holdup):
Apparently Google either doesn't want us to, or can't, use SD cards to store apps etc (makes sense - too easy to pirate etc) but why codes encrypting them to your device can't be included I don't know. Due to something to do with the file structure, particularly of the SGS3 and SGNII, JB can't/won't link to them. There are work rounds - nearly all (if not all) of which require rooting - they do work (according to reports) - just search the xda SGNII forum to find many posts on this. Unfortunately, even App2SD can't move the apps due to this file structure (this bit is samsung design)
For me it's a real shame, I am a Bit of an app addict, and, although I don't have many games (use mostly productivity apps) the game I do get are the "console games" which have a large footprint and larger installation files - I'd fill 16GB in a day. So I'm having to make a choice - 16GB and root, wait for the 32GB (looks likely the 64GB will never make international release) or just not bother at all. Ill probably go 16GB and root as it would save me a fortune on contract (due to Tethering feature). Shame really, for me, 90% of the attraction of android was "unlimited" storage - it still is, but just a bit more difficult to get.
Didn't know about burst shot storage (annoying but can see why) - presumably you can transfer them to external SD afterward if needed?
Snote only saves on the internal SD too!

Hey I just put in a 64gb microsd and formated it. It shows up mounted and avaliable space but I cant view the photos I had on it on my phone. When I connect it I get to see them on my computer. So how do I access extsdcard