Develop Bugs

[Q]SD Card/Partion [Solved]

Ok, so I went to do a backup today and got an error and noticed not enough space to backup. I plugged it into my PC and it showed that I only had 1.5 gb of free space out of a possible 13.3 gb. So I started looking for a folder/file that was taking up room on the "sd card" and could not find anything out of the ordinary. So I downloaded an app from the play store called storage analyzer and it is showing 6.4 gb of free space in storage/emulated/0. Is there something I am missing with this? All my other phones had a physical SD card and I could just clean it up if I had issues. I am a bit nervous formatting the SD card on my GN so can someone shed some light on why there would be such a discrepancy between what my PC, Recovery, and an analyzer app would see or the best way to format/clean my SD card. Any tips/help/advice will be greatly appreciated.

The same problem i had a while ago. The thing is that your data that is missing is in /sdcard/emulated/ (my recovery was only doing backups there) and your phone while booted reads only /sdcard/emulated/0 . At least that was my problem. Try reflashing the whole phone again. That means backup of sdcard reflashing to newest recovery, wipe all including sdcard and install from sideload whatever rom you want.
It did the trick for me.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

KekeJr said:
The same problem i had a while ago. The thing is that your data that is missing is in /sdcard/emulated/ (my recovery was only doing backups there) and your phone while booted reads only /sdcard/emulated/0 . At least that was my problem. Try reflashing the whole phone again. That means backup of sdcard reflashing to newest recovery, wipe all including sdcard and install from sideload whatever rom you want.
It did the trick for me.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
Thank you for the reply, glad to know that I am not crazy or alone. :silly:
I may give this a try soon, I would like to give some of the 4.4 roms a try but want to get my storage lined out before I try one.

ThePhantom97 said:
Thank you for the reply, glad to know that I am not crazy or alone. :silly:
I may give this a try soon, I would like to give some of the 4.4 roms a try but want to get my storage lined out before I try one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright, more help needed. Damn its been too long since I have used ADB and I am using an new laptop so bear with me. Also I have searched for several hours on this and just not coming up with a solution. Ok, I managed to get TWRP v. 2.6.3.2 installed on my GN via fastboot. And my goal is to format/wipe my SD card and sideload a 4.4.2 rom. I have a good understanding of the process and have found several videos on the subject. Now here is where my problems begin. First off I have Android SDK installed and have the google drivers installed and I have downloaded the drivers from Samsung again on this laptop. I have backed up my SD card and am ready to begin, but I wanted to verify I could open sideload in TWRP and now the frustrations start. When I try to open sideload under "Advanced" I get the following text:
"Updating partition details...
Starting ADB sideload feature..."
And nothing else happens, even after waiting several minutes, and this happened on v. 2.6.3.1 and that is why I updated to the newest version of TWRP. I have a feeling it has something to do with the drivers but I have not figured out which drivers are needed with TRWP. Is it the Samsung drivers or the Google drivers from SDK. I have unistalled the drivers via Device Manager and let windows install the drivers automatically, and I have uninstalled and re-installed manually using the Google USB drivers. So if anyone has ran into this or knows how to assist me I would greatly appreciate the help. Also keep in mind that I am not a complete noob when it comes to my android phones, but I am a bit out of practice. I am just having some issues locating an answer via these forums and many other searches.
Also, if I format my SD card would it be possible to push a rom to my phone via ADB? I am willing to try an alternate method just want to be able to install a 4.4 rom after formatting my SD card. Anyway any assistance would be awesome at this point. Thanks for reading my long explanation.

One of the other issues was that when I started sideload in TWRP and then typed ADB devices in terminal no devices were present (why I thought could be a driver issue). However, for some weird reason beyond my understanding it is working fine today. I plugged in my phone to begin my trials again today and tada it works, I typed "adb devices" in terminal and now it shows up with a sideload status and I am able to sideload a rom. Sometimes I hate computers/electronics and I chose a career in them.

ThePhantom97 said:
One of the other issues was that when I started sideload in TWRP and then typed ADB devices in terminal no devices were present (why I thought could be a driver issue). However, for some weird reason beyond my understanding it is working fine today. I plugged in my phone to begin my trials again today and tada it works, I typed "adb devices" in terminal and now it shows up with a sideload status and I am able to sideload a rom. Sometimes I hate computers/electronics and I chose a career in them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most probably you did not have the proper drivers for fastboot installed since i had the exact same problem on Win 8.1 x64 . Now i hope you got your phone fixed. Be just very careful when it comes to /factory partition as that one holds your IMEI and if you erase that only a backup will save you or some mobile service. I know i have to fix mine since i formatted that and did not do a backup before

KekeJr said:
Most probably you did not have the proper drivers for fastboot installed since i had the exact same problem on Win 8.1 x64 . Now i hope you got your phone fixed. Be just very careful when it comes to /factory partition as that one holds your IMEI and if you erase that only a backup will save you or some mobile service. I know i have to fix mine since i formatted that and did not do a backup before
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what you mean, I am so nervous when it comes to erasing/deleting/formatting with all the that is why I spend a lot of time reading up and researching and hitting up the folks here at XDA before I commit to something. I have been addicted to android and flashing all the cool roms uploaded by all the great devs around here. I would not know how I would spend my time if this place wasn't here...lol. But yes, I was able to wipe/format my internal SD card and side load a rom and get most of my storage space back. I have came to the conclusion that the actual rom takes up some of the internal storage because after formatting the internal storage and flashed a rom and gapps there was 1.5gb used. I did not move a single file into the storage, but there was still that much used.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!! SD card not recognized

hltetmo running tweaked 4.4.2. 2 days ago, listening to some new music i'm working on, mid-song says music file not supported.rebooted. music not showing up in media player. attempted to go through file browser, gives message "can't enter into "extSDCard" folder: maybe it is not readable? can't format, occasionally get about 5%of my music files. settings show 15.66 gigs available out of 59.47 total. computer doesn't read any folders on it, but Philz touch reads everything? need to save my music!!!!!!!!!! suggestions?

Try odin to stock

xmuertex said:
Try odin to stock
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Click to collapse
don 't see how that would do anything. put card in friends unrooted 3, didn't read, same issue with space used. thought about that, but don't wanna waste time. did factory reset, reflashed rom. computer not even reading

Last thing is format

xmuertex said:
Last thing is format
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
won't let me. on phone or computer. phone gives me progress report, when finished, still shows 15.66 available. computer gives me message, "windows cannot format this drive". tried data recovery programs. each one saves the same 16 pictures. shows nothing else

Sounds like a defective SD, return or throw away

xmuertex said:
Sounds like a defective SD, return or throw away
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Click to collapse
not what i wanted to hear! think it's possible to recover the data?

Is not readable by a PC i doubt it byt see what an expert can say

strange thing is, recovery see every folder and zip. but, laptop, file browsers. nothing. am i looking in the wrong area to fix this?

This happened to me last year. Definitely a bad SD, but I used EaseUS data recovery to get most of my data off of it before RMAing it.

Trying to recover the data now. Gonna take a while, though. 45 plus gigs is a lot. Wish me luck. After I recover what I can, can I format through recovery mode and reuse card, or no?

kabuk1 said:
This happened to me last year. Definitely a bad SD, but I used EaseUS data recovery to get most of my data off of it before RMAing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RMA?

never mind. didn't think RMA Return Merch. too sleepy

ok so, i mounted through terminal emulator as rw. was able to transfer files over to my computer. but, i still cannot format it. phone goes through he motions, nothing gets deleted. windows laptop and macbook both show it as 1 MB. any suggestions or advice as to how to format through terminal emulator? seems like only option

With the problems you're having, you might want to get a new sd card. There are some good deals on the Samsung evo card at best buy and Amazon today.

That's what I'm probably going to end up doing. :-/

You could try 'parted' on Linux. There's a link to one compiled for Android in XDA somewhere.
Frank

Frank Westlake said:
You could try 'parted' on Linux. There's a link to one compiled for Android in XDA somewhere.
Frank
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Click to collapse
Thanks. I'll look into that. It's crazy. For my card to read, I have to format it through settings. Then everything is available

That's probably because of the type of file system.
So it's all [SOLVED] now?
Frank

No. Lasts about an hour, then stops again. At least I was able to back up everything. As soon as I can afford a new card

Phone no longer has anything in 'Internal Storage', can't download files

A while ago my SD card apparently stopped working and my phone asked me to format it to be used as internal storage, wiping all of the data on the card. I was pretty annoyed but after that I had no problems. Recently I removed the SD card as I was going to root my phone with the All in One Toolkit and it seemed to work until I opened SuperSU and was told I had no SuperSU binaries. (I'm not sure if this is relevant but I thought I would mention it just in case).
I then went onto Google Chrome and tried to save a random image and was prompted to overwrite *completely random image name* in documents. No matter which option I hit (overwrite or create new file) I am given the notification it has downloaded but if I tap it then I'm just taken to a black screen with a triangle and an exclamation mark. When I go into the file manager and go to internal storage there is absolutely nothing in there.
I thought this might have something to do with the SD card so I put it back in but was again prompted to format it, so this time I did it as removable storage and it hasn't made a difference. Any ideas?
Android Version 6.0
Software Number 6.13.206.5
If you need any more info let me know.
Thanks!

dezzybird said:
A while ago my SD card apparently stopped working and my phone asked me to format it to be used as internal storage, wiping all of the data on the card. I was pretty annoyed but after that I had no problems. Recently I removed the SD card as I was going to root my phone with the All in One Toolkit and it seemed to work until I opened SuperSU and was told I had no SuperSU binaries. (I'm not sure if this is relevant but I thought I would mention it just in case).
I then went onto Google Chrome and tried to save a random image and was prompted to overwrite *completely random image name* in documents. No matter which option I hit (overwrite or create new file) I am given the notification it has downloaded but if I tap it then I'm just taken to a black screen with a triangle and an exclamation mark. When I go into the file manager and go to internal storage there is absolutely nothing in there.
I thought this might have something to do with the SD card so I put it back in but was again prompted to format it, so this time I did it as removable storage and it hasn't made a difference. Any ideas?
Android Version 6.0
Software Number 6.13.206.5
If you need any more info let me know.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you update the binaries?

xunholyx said:
Did you update the binaries?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was never given an option, it said they couldn't be installed by the app. I was going to try the fix where you install them directly by saving a zip to your phone's internal storage and then installing it but then I noticed the problem with my internal storage.

dezzybird said:
A while ago my SD card apparently stopped working and my phone asked me to format it to be used as internal storage, wiping all of the data on the card. I was pretty annoyed but after that I had no problems. Recently I removed the SD card as I was going to root my phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you chose to make the SD a part of internal storage (known as the new "adoptable storage" option in Marshmallow), you merged it (with the phone's internal storage) as part of the data partition. Then you yanked out a part of that partition, by removing the SD (and why you did that in order to root, I don't know).
I'm not too familiar with what happens (or is supposed to happen, anyway) when you choose adoptable storage, then remove the SD. But I think its safe to say, that resulting storage issues is not a surprise.
dezzybird said:
I was going to root my phone with the All in One Toolkit and it seemed to work until I opened SuperSU and was told I had no SuperSU binaries. (I'm not sure if this is relevant but I thought I would mention it just in case).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The toolkit hasn't been updated in over a year, and causes many issues for that reason. It hasn't been updated for Marshmallow (Android 6) and therefore can't root MM. Toolkit also contains an obsolete version of TWRP which will also cause some issues.
Good rule of thumb: whenever rooting an Android device, you should be sure to use updated methods; and verify the method works with your Android version.
Since you have TWRP installed, try going to the Wipe section in TWRP. Then select the button that says "Format Data" and see if that helps your issue with writing to internal storage. Do not select to wipe any other things in the Advanced section of Wipe (another rule of thumb - if you don't know what it is don't wipe it. For instance wiping "System" will delete the OS entirely).
Of course, formatting data will cause any data to be lost. So backup accordingly (if there is anything left) before you format data.
Once you have the storage issue sorted out (hopefully the above helps), ditch the toolkit, and do the following steps manually:
1) Unlock bootloader (should already be done)
2) Flash TWRP 3.0 with fastboot
3) Flash SuperSU 2.65 in TWRP, to properly root

Aye, I couldn't find an alternative to the toolkit so I just ran with it but I guess I've learned that lesson.
I've managed to sort the issue now so I'll post what I did here for any people who may happen upon the thread in future. I'm still not sure what caused the issue in the first place; maybe it was the memory card, maybe I selected the wrong thing to wipe in TWRP, maybe it was the toolkit or maybe a bit of everything because I'm stupid.
Before I discovered the issue I was going to install the SuperSU binaries manually (since they didn't install for some reason) and install a custom ROM, so I decided to just go ahead with it. After flashing the ROM and then SuperSU.zip everything worked fine and I had a fully rooted phone running Cyanogenmod. According to the guide I was reading I had to wipe a number of things (the Dalvik Cache, System, Cache, and Data) anyway so I don't think it mattered that I had somehow erased the internal memory as it seemed to be reinstalled with the ROM. This is just a guess though, all I know for sure is it's fine now (fingers crossed).
So next time I'd just use the toolkit to help unlock the bootloader and maybe flash a recovery as that seemed to work fine, but manually flash SuperSU.zip to root yourself in case the toolkit is what broke it.
Thanks for your help!

dezzybird said:
Aye, I couldn't find an alternative to the toolkit so I just ran with it but I guess I've learned that lesson.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best way to achieve bootloader unlock and root is to just do the steps manually.
You don't need a toolkit to do these things. Anyone that can follow instructions and type a few fastboot commands can do it.
All that folks need to do it manually is here. Everything in Section 1 is valid, with the exception that the TWRP version number in the command needs to (obviously) match the number you are trying to install (the example given in the guide is an older version). Some things in Section 2 and 3 are obsolete (s-off method, firmware version) but that's irrelevant in this case (and for most folks) since those things aren't necessary to unlock the bootloader, root, or flash custom ROMs.
dezzybird said:
Before I discovered the issue I was going to install the SuperSU binaries manually (since they didn't install for some reason)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean "for some reason"? I told you the reason. The toolkit uses an old, long obsolete version of SuperSU that existed before MM. It therefore can't root MM, and there is no reason to believe it would. New Android builds often (almost always) require new root methods, and old versions of SuperSU are usually going to cause you trouble. That is why you should always research the current root methods, when trying to root.
dezzybird said:
After flashing the ROM and then SuperSU.zip everything worked fine and I had a fully rooted phone running Cyanogenmod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to root after flashing a custom ROM, they are already rooted.
You also don't need to root in order to flash a custom ROM. Unlocked bootloader and custom recovery is all you need to flash custom ROMs.
dezzybird said:
According to the guide I was reading I had to wipe a number of things (the Dalvik Cache, System, Cache, and Data) anyway so I don't think it mattered that I had somehow erased the internal memory as it seemed to be reinstalled with the ROM. This is just a guess though, all I know for sure is it's fine now (fingers crossed).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These are not correct assertions. Doing the default wipe in TWRP (it says most of the time, this is all that is needed, and it means it!) doesn't touch internal storage.
On a similar note, flashing a ROM doesn't touch internal storage, either. It just flashes system partition and boot.img partition.
dezzybird said:
So next time I'd just use the toolkit to help unlock the bootloader and maybe flash a recovery as that seemed to work fine, but manually flash SuperSU.zip to root yourself in case the toolkit is what broke it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd strongly advise against using the toolkit at this point, or suggesting to others to use it. As I've already tried to explain (but you seem to be ignoring) the components of the toolkit are woefully obsolete. By the time you flash recovery manually (with fastboot) and manually flash the proper version SuperSU, there isn't much of value that the toolkit does. The bootloader unlock procedure via HTCDev.com is pretty self-explanatory (and the guide I've posted explains whatever isn't already obvious). And is justifiable to say that if you can't handle doing these things manually, you probably shouldn't have root.

I was just stating what I did to fix the issue and what I would have done instead with the same amount of knowledge I had when I started. I did search for stuff like "how to root HTC One M8 2016" and whatnot and the toolkit showed up in like the first 4 results, plus it was linked in the sidebar of the Android subreddit as the go-to option so I assumed I'd be good to go but apparently not.
After I flashed the ROM I didn't see SuperSU which I had been led to believe was what signified if the phone was rooted (if you had SuperSU > Rooted. If not > Not rooted) but apparently not. Like I mentioned, this was my first time rooting a device and I was kinda winging it as a learning experience, hence not doing things optimally (or particularly right)
Thanks for the info, that'll definitely make things easier next time!

dezzybird said:
I was just stating what I did to fix the issue and what I would have done instead with the same amount of knowledge I had when I started.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And what I am saying is: what you stated you "would have done instead" (or do "next time") is in fact not the correct thing to do.
Also, when you say "this is what I would have done" it read strongly like a suggestion to others what "they should do".
Just trying to prevent obvious pitfalls for both you and others in the future.
dezzybird said:
I did search for stuff like "how to root HTC One M8 2016" and whatnot and the toolkit showed up in like the first 4 results, plus it was linked in the sidebar of the Android subreddit as the go-to option so I assumed I'd be good to go but apparently not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My advice would be to stick to XDA, and just use the search function here; or simply browse the forums. Reason being, randomly Googling for root methods will often yield random "root" websites with poorly organized, outdated information; which is often just stolen from XDA in the first place.
The question (and answer) of rooting this device pops up pretty frequently; as well as common pitfalls, solutions, etc. While the forums may be a bit intimidating to work through, the answers are all here; and not hard to find, once you become accustomed to how the forum is organized.
dezzybird said:
After I flashed the ROM I didn't see SuperSU which I had been led to believe was what signified if the phone was rooted (if you had SuperSU > Rooted. If not > Not rooted) but apparently not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The knowledge in the following 2 paragraphs are fairly esoteric, but proboably could have been found in the CM thread or other threads:
CM has a slight oddity to it (and I'm sure its devs have there reasons) versus many other ROMs (but you may find a similar thing in other AOSP based ROMS) in that the ROM is pre-rooted, but root access is toggled "off" by default. To turn it on, do to phone's Settings>Developers Options, and there you find the option to toggle root on or off (default is off).
If you don't see Developer Options in Settings, its a bit of a quirky Android trick to make it appear. Go to Settings>About>Software information>More, then tap the "Build number" 7 times, and you will see a toast message that "You are now a developer" (yeah, that is what it really says!) and the option is now available in Settings.

Question, Galaxy a50 broke internal storage after flashing TWRP

Hey there,
I have the Galaxy a50 SM-A505Fn and I just broke my internal storage by flashing TWRP and Multidisabler.
First, I should note that I am completely blind, so I use TWRP with ADB in CMD.
First I tried to root my phone with a patched boot image, using Magisc, but that didn't work, so I switched to TWRP.
After flashing it with Odin and booting into the recovery, my pc saw it as Galaxy A50 and the folders inside it were literal giberish and I couldn't paste anything in it, so I switched to a micro SD to flash Disabler and that worked surprisingly well.
Note, I did the wiping before that.
After the disabler worked, I rebooted into TWRP and used the command to reboot into recovery, as I was instructed, then the phone booted up just fine.
I set it up, and gained root with Magisc manager, but after connecting it to the PC to get the sound files I wanted to change it was still giberish and didn't let me make folders or paste anything into it.
The card also looked like it had the internal storage files like you would see on any phone, it had like 256 KB used on it from 2 gb it is formated at since I used it for a pi before and didn't have time to fix the capacity on it back to 64, but again you can't put anything onto it while in the phone.
Any help on how to make it work like normal?
Also apps don't see the storage properly either, so I can't use it for the reasons I rooted it for.
Thanks a lot.

After reading about it, it seems that the storage is encripted.
I managed to flash Infinity os on it, but the thing doesn't talk since it is missing text to speech, so I wanted to flash a zip to make it talking.
After rebooting into twrp, again, still encripted.
Got the zip onto my card, but doesn't flash, which is fine since that can be fixed, but I can't really do anything to fix it.
Does anyone know the command to format data?
twrp format data doesn't work like in the TWRP guide.
Any ideas?

you need to install multidisabler

yamen_tn said:
you need to install multidisabler
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did that already, that is how I flashed a rom on it, but was still encripted.
The rom said that there is a problem with my device, but it set up just fine.
I am back on ful stock right now and it decripted, I might try it again in some time.
The only things I want from root is to be able to change system sounds, to add haptic feedback which I already did and tweak it so it works faster.
If I could change the sounds without root and without event sound that would be awesome and would let me stay on stock.

Dragos597 said:
Did that already, that is how I flashed a rom on it, but was still encripted.
The rom said that there is a problem with my device, but it set up just fine.
I am back on ful stock right now and it decripted, I might try it again in some time.
The only things I want from root is to be able to change system sounds, to add haptic feedback which I already did and tweak it so it works faster.
If I could change the sounds without root and without event sound that would be awesome and would let me stay on stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good thing you got it decrypted back again, i have had kind of the same issue with internal storage decreasing drastically multiple times, as far as i understood it happens when i install patched AP with magisk then install multidisabler and reboot it without formatting the whole device, maybe try that when your root next time to get past the internal storage issue. Note that mine was in android 9 and device storage was not encrypted unlike yours.
And as a suggestion, if there's someone near you who can help you with actually rooting your device with magisk rather than TWRP it will be much easier.
Regards

SuizShaw said:
Good thing you got it decrypted back again, i have had kind of the same issue with internal storage decreasing drastically multiple times, as far as i understood it happens when i install patched AP with magisk then install multidisabler and reboot it without formatting the whole device, maybe try that when your root next time to get past the internal storage issue. Note that mine was in android 9 and device storage was not encrypted unlike yours.
And as a suggestion, if there's someone near you who can help you with actually rooting your device with magisk rather than TWRP it will be much easier.
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got the patched image for AP from a friend, also patched TWRP, but it did that after flashing auto disabler and wiping everything, so I still don't get it.
Anyway, it is back for now and I will have to see if it breaks next time I install twrp on it.

Rooted A320FL, how to achieve permanently mounted adoptable storage?

Hello!
This is my first post in this forum, please be indulgent if I don't understand some stuff or abbreviations immediately.
I recently bought a Galaxy A3 2017 (SM-A320FL) to replace my old one with shattered screen and back cover. I tried the new Poco X3 for two weeks, but I wasn't satisfied with it since it was just wayyy too large for me, and also the phone speaker was unbearably loud (all people around me could follow the conversation on phone, even on lowest volume), which then led to the decision of sending it back and buying another used A3 2017 in good condition, as I was very satisfied with it, except of limited internal storage which continued to be an issue over months and years. And since the spare parts would have cost the same as the smartphone costs used at the moment, the decision was easy.
To avoid the single problem I had with the old phone, I wanted to root the phone right from the start so I could adopt the SD card as internal storage and/or change the folder some apps (especially WhatsApp) are storing their data and media in. Since the phone is factory reset and I have the other one which is still functioning, I don't have to take much care while trying things, which is great. I took yesterday evening until late night for that plan, and although a lot of threads and posts I read said that rooting the stock OS with latest update of Android 8 is not possible, I did it after some trial and error with flashing the custom recovery TWRP through Odin and then flashing SuperSU through TWRP. If a tutorial is needed, I'd happily write down how I did it, just ask.
But I still have a problem with adopting the storage. And as far as I understood, this is related to the storage encryption of Android/Samsung. Please explain if someone knows, I'd really like to understand the mechanisms that make all of this so laborious. I tried to mount the storage in TWRP when I started it first after flashing (it persists btw, as some people said it is gone and no recovery system can be found after the phone booted normally once, why?), but ran into the problem of "internal storage (0MB)". This was solved by wiping it, then I was able to mount the SD card as internal storage and the internal storage also was shown with a reasonable size in MB. I then started the phone which was obviously factory reset by the wiping. Unfortunately I couldn't see any results in the OS (does stock Android or file manager even show these changes in some way?) and also noticed the adopted storage was not anymore adopted when inspecting it in the TWRP recovery and again the internal storage was at 0MB. I then stumbled upon the app "Root Essentials" which is said to be able to adopt the storage, but needs a zip file which must be flashed by the recovery for that process. I tried it, but the flashing process does not work, as it can't find an installation of the app - my guess is, that this also is related to encrypted storage and the 0MB problem, how should the flash be able to look for something in encrypted space?
Soo, my problem now is, that I want to adopt the storage and don't know how to continue & where to begin. I also don't know if that app "Root Essentials" is any good, just read it at several places while googling so gave it a try. The phone is rooted with TWRP (0MB problem persisting) and stock OS now, and the adoptable storage per se is no must-have for me - if there is any other solution to migrate apps and more importantly their data to the SD card, please let me know, I'd be perfectly fine with that also.
Thank you!
Flo

Hey there Flo,
I am facing the same issues like you, always having to clear up space (e.g. Chrome cache) because the internal storage is not enough for the apps. And you cannot move many of the apps to the SD card, only their data. Last time I had to rermove Teams altogether because it was eating up 500+MB, and I couldn't afford it anymore as the free space dropped below 600MB.
Sooo, here are some basics I have learnt while looking for solutions.
Current custom ROMs are not an option for me as I use this phone for banking and production tasks, and I could not find any of them stable and issue-free enough to switch from the stock one.
The stock ROM is full of bloatware, especially Samsung stuff I do not need, and some others, like the Facebook app. However, you cannot extend internal storage with your SD card as Samsung does not allow this, and this is impossible with the stock ROM.
So I am stuck here, as I cannot leave the stock ROM, but I am constantly running out of space. Currently, I have rooted my device and installed TWRP, too, and I am planning to try one of the debloated stock ROMs to see if they can solve at least my problem with running out of free space on the internal storage.
In any case, what I can confirm is that you either have the stock ROM, and then you can only install apps on the internal storage, or if you want to extend your internal storage with the SD card, you'll have to choose one of the custom ROMs that allow this and wave goodbye to Knox and some other features.
I hope the above helps.

Hi!
Thanks for your detailed answer!
I didn't find a way to adopt the storage persistently, and I think at this point I'll just take your word that it won't be possible with the stock ROM. I knew that the stock ROM adopt storage option isn't able to be brought back by some adb shell commands as it was possible earlier (until 6.0 Marshmallow I think), but I thought that it maybe is possible by tricking the storage the OS sees with the mount in TWRP before the first start. Doesn't seem to work at all (for mostly unknown reasons, at least for me ).
And same for me, I don't know if the custom ROMs nowadays are better a lot, but doesn't sound like that as you described it. I flashed Resurrection Remix on my Galaxy S4 a few years ago, and although I liked the customizability and slimness, I too often ran into bugs and errors with it, which is why I abandoned the phone in the end.
However, I kind of found a fix I can live with on the SM-A320FL: I downloaded Link2SD from Playstore and also upgraded to the plus version, which is reasonably priced. This enables to also store app data on the SD card. I tried it with the 64GB SD card I had rolling around, partitioned it with MiniTool Partition Wizard following this guide to conform Link2SD requirements, and it worked perfectly. I also uninstalled all sorts of bloatware, and as far as i saw the shift to external storage of the apps I tried works fine. All data, including app, cache and app data is moved (and/or linked, not sure) to the ext2 partition on the SD card (which is shown to be a broken partition in Android storage settings btw, but that's fine). If any, only <1KB of file size per app remains in internal storage, which seems great!

I am currently waiting for my ordered 256GB SD card (U3, A2) to arrive next week, then I will do the full port from the old to the new A3 and I'll see how WhatsApp and Spotify behave being stored in external storage. Hopefully Link2SD is able to shift them, especially WhatsApp, since that was the main factor in cluttering the internal storage very fast and efficient.
If the Link2SD doesn't work for WhatsApp media, I'll give FolderMount a try, the direct mount then seems to work for many.
Since you mentioned it: What are the great features of Knox? The secure folder? Data encryption by screen lock? I can't remember using Knox features knowingly in the past three years. Is Knox not already blown by flashing a custom recovery?
Thanks for your help!
Flo

The internal storage data partition not mounting in TWRP is due to the partition being encypted when Android is booted, but also due to quota being enabled and latest version of TWRP for this phone (3.2.3-0 AFAIK) being unable to mount this. Fix for this is to flash a zip from Zackptg5 which disables both these options. See https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...y-a3-sm-a320f-fl-y-2017.3562302/post-79260952 for full details
I see that OrangeFox is available now (https://orangefox.download/device/a3y17lte), so maybe this is able to mount without these problems, I am going to flash this soon so I will let you know!
FYI I am using H-ROM by Astrako. Very close to stock (it is a port from the A7) and seems to work well. VoWiFI is working in this ROM which was essential for me.

lastsaskatchewanpirate said:
The internal storage data partition not mounting in TWRP is due to the partition being encypted when Android is booted, but also due to quota being enabled and latest version of TWRP for this phone (3.2.3-0 AFAIK) being unable to mount this. Fix for this is to flash a zip from Zackptg5 which disables both these options. See https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...y-a3-sm-a320f-fl-y-2017.3562302/post-79260952 for full details
I see that OrangeFox is available now (https://orangefox.download/device/a3y17lte), so maybe this is able to mount without these problems, I am going to flash this soon so I will let you know!
FYI I am using H-ROM by Astrako. Very close to stock (it is a port from the A7) and seems to work well. VoWiFI is working in this ROM which was essential for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did “orange fox” work?

King p1n said:
Did “orange fox” work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, with OrangeFox I didn't need to flash the zip file from Zackptg5 which removes quota. I didn't get on with the latest H-ROM 6.0 (too many niggles, particularly ambient light sensor doesn't work so no adaptive brightness; fingerprint scanner doesn't work in apps; video call doesn't work in WhatsApp), but OrangeFox worked really well, definitely recommend it. Sorry for not remembering to come back and update sooner!

lastsaskatchewanpirate said:
Yes, with OrangeFox I didn't need to flash the zip file from Zackptg5 which removes quota. I didn't get on with the latest H-ROM 6.0 (too many niggles, particularly ambient light sensor doesn't work so no adaptive brightness; fingerprint scanner doesn't work in apps; video call doesn't work in WhatsApp), but OrangeFox worked really well, definitely recommend it. Sorry for not remembering to come back and update sooner!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you
Which rom do you use and recommend?
Or can orange fox be used with the stock rom?
Doing this on behalf on a friend who is struggling with storage issues, been years since I’ve touched android

King p1n said:
Thank you
Which rom do you use and recommend?
Or can orange fox be used with the stock rom?
Doing this on behalf on a friend who is struggling with storage issues, been years since I’ve touched android
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently I use H-ROM 2.0 (https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...7-port-v2-0-pie-oneui-64-bits-treble.3940532/) which works well. Only two main niggles that I might change back to stock - video doesn't work in WhatsApp (but is OK in WhatsApp Business) and some VoWiFi calls have echo, but this might just be normal for VoWiFi, not had echo on normal cell network calls. Stock ROM is now available with Android 8 (Oreo) so when I have time I was intending to try that again, maybe with debloat to remove some of the stock apps.
I would recommend OrangeFox, and although I started with TWRP and flashed this over the top, I think you should be OK to just flash this straight from Odin. TWRP would only flash in old version of Odin, I would guess OrangeFox maybe would be the same. Flash in AP using older version Odin3 v3.12.10. Untick auto reboot, when complete power off with vol down + power, then force to recovery using volume up, home and power

lastsaskatchewanpirate said:
Currently I use H-ROM 2.0 (https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...7-port-v2-0-pie-oneui-64-bits-treble.3940532/) which works well. Only two main niggles that I might change back to stock - video doesn't work in WhatsApp (but is OK in WhatsApp Business) and some VoWiFi calls have echo, but this might just be normal for VoWiFi, not had echo on normal cell network calls. Stock ROM is now available with Android 8 (Oreo) so when I have time I was intending to try that again, maybe with debloat to remove some of the stock apps.
I would recommend OrangeFox, and although I started with TWRP and flashed this over the top, I think you should be OK to just flash this straight from Odin. TWRP would only flash in old version of Odin, I would guess OrangeFox maybe would be the same. Flash in AP using older version Odin3 v3.12.10. Untick auto reboot, when complete power off with vol down + power, then force to recovery using volume up, home and power
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just to clarify I could use Orange fox with stock rom and enable adopted storage? So I can use SD for apps when necessary.

I did get adopted storage working of sorts, but certain screens were missing from storage in the setting menu (I think Samsung didn't include or removed these as the phone was not intended to work with Adopted Storage), so it would crash when trying to perform certain actions. I can't actually remember now if you could move apps to the Adopted Storage using the standard system menus, it was so flakey that I stopped using that and switched to using Link2SD (which I had already used before so had a Plus license for) and this does exactly what I needed. These are the steps I used to get Link2SD working: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/app-1-6-link2sd.919326/post-82757807. I don't think you need the Plus version, but it doesn't cost much, removes the ads and lets you move a few more files. Hope that helps