Database Users

Newbie question regrading storage cards

I'm new to WM5 having previously had a Blue Angel running 2003SE; so far I like my new toy by am wondering about the pros and cons regrading where to install applications Storage Card versus Main Memory. Obviously, installing on Storage card keeps memory free - this is a good thing, but will applications run slower from storage card?
What expereinace can you share regarding thsi?
Thanks
Chris

In WM2003, internal storage ROM is only used to store a backup of the OS and vendor extensions, and is only read during hard resets. Volatile RAM is used to store the OS, files, and applications during regular use (unless they are installed on the SD card), and so their storage must compete with the RAM needed for running programs.
WM5 changes everything -- with WM5, the OS, applications and files always get stored in a nonvolatile storage, be it internal or external, and this is separate from the RAM. Thus battery loss does not cause you to lose installed applications or files. RAM is totally available for running programs, and is not used to store files which are rarely used. There is no more competition for RAM between stored files and running programs.
The WM5 OS and applications running in the background will always use a certain amount of the 64 MB of RAM. You can free it up by removing unnecessary applications. You can also free up the non-volatile storage space by removing vendor extensions and cleaning up temporary files. See this thread, and search for "0506" in re: O2 XDA Exec ROM.
As I have not received my XDA Exec yet, I cannot comment on the speed differences between using internal storage and SD storage. Obviously both are slower than running programs stored in RAM, and depend on the speed on the storage card. But the difference between installing on a SD card and installing in the "default location" is less in WM5 than in WM2003. Installing in the default location won't reduce your available RAM, for example.
I'm sure others have opinions on how best to optimize memory.

thanks for the answer. I posed the question because I pretty much ran out of memory on my device. I have installed in Corporate mode, so don't have O2 active etc. I have just done a hard reset & will now install everything on my storage card just to see what happens

I have had a few WM5 devices. Basically install everything on a removable card. Only install on the internal storage utilities that you are likely to keep around and restrict this to a minimum and small things, like vbar, TRE, etc.
The disadvantage of course is that if you swap SD cards then you can't run applications until you put back in the card installed. I never have this problem as I have only 1gb card permanently in the system. I will shortly be upgrading to a 4gb card (as they are not around £100) which means this is less of a problem. Although note that in the current version of the xda exec's software the camera refuses to write to a 4gb card unless at least 2gb is full.
rgds

I too have a 1Gb card with a 4Gb on order. I'm not very bothered about the camera, but I have read about the 2Gb problem. Hopefully someone will fix this little bug, but until then I can save photos to main memory and then move them about

As a guide I install everything to a SD Card unless it's a today screen plugin or sync's in some way...

that's excatly my thought too - only things which have a today plugin go on the main memory; everything else to SD card - seems to work fine

SD card primer, anyone?

Hello,
I just discovered I'm even more of a ignorant farmgirl than I thought... this time it's the MiniSD card I don't know anything about.
I mean: of course you plug it in and you browse to it to add/move/remove files... but it would seem that's not enough. So, can anyone point me to a SD-on-Wiz Faq, please?
A few things I'm looking into:
- How do you get the Wiz to automatically look among SD card-based files from an app? (i.e. "Open" from Word looks into the card first)
- How do you get the camera to save pictures directly onto the SD card, so as not to waste precious device-based memory?
- What are the actual differences between installing apps onto a SD card compared to the device memory? I noticed some apps seem to behave differently according to where they are placed.
- Is there any way to create a card-based auto-multi-installer to do all the dirty work of reinstalling apps automatically after a hard reset?
I'm sure I left out several other interesting and useful things...
Thanks in advance for your contributions!

there´s some reg tweaks you can do so the wizard will store stuff on the sd-card and not in main memorey (i. e. IE cache files, Camera pics, etc.)
just search the forum you´ll find some stuff there.
For the difference between SD-Card and main storage installation. i have no idea. haven´t noticed any change in my apps. maybe just in speed of loading apps. but that´s all i noticed.
for doing backup of your apps. a lot of programms you intall on your sd card don´t need to be reinstalled after a hard reset. just need to put the shortcuts and links back in the folders.
hope i could help.
greets Freez

Making the camera save pictures to the SD card can be done by changing the settings in the camera app under options.
There is no way to automatically have all apps look on the SD card first, every app needs a change in their settings or in the registry to accomplish that.
Installing apps on the SD card has pros and cons. The pros are of course that your storage space on the device (in the ROM) gets used up less, so you can install more apps on your device. It is however not necessary to leave it as empty as possible as it was in WM 2003 SE. In WM 2003 SE (on for instance the Magician) apps were installed in RAM and the more you installed on the device, the more RAM was used up and the less RAM there was available for running apps, resulting in a slow down of the device. Furthermore running out of battery power would result in the device turning off, emptying the RAM and lossing all data and installed apps. In WM5 this is different. Since ROM is used for storage and RAM for executing only, you can fill your ROM to the max without slowing down the device. Furthermore an empty battery will mean no data loss. Concluding, there is no necessity to install as much as possible to the SD card and leave your ROM space empty.
The cons of installing to your SD card are that some apps (e.g. today-plug-ins) don't like being installed on SD card. For today plug-ins this has to do with the start-up process of the Wizard. After turing the device on or waking it from sleep, the device will first load the apps and then initialize the SD card. The device will try to load the apps on the today screen (the plug-ins that is) that are stored on the SD before the SD slot is initialized and the apps cannot be found by the device, creating glitches and problems.
Another con for me is that I like to switch between my SD with TomTom navigation maps and my SD with my mp3/movie collection. If I install most apps to SD, this means that I will have to change my SD again if during a movie or MP3 I want to use one of these apps quickly.
However, if you use only one SD for installing and not much else, this problem does of course not exist.
If your storage in ROM is not full, there is no reason to install aps to SD.

Thak you for the info so far!
Koskie: paint me 'tard... I never even saw the camera Options menu until you mentioned it...

I am about to start getting some cards and here is what I was thinking...
1. a 512 or 128MB card for everyday use. Store IE cache, ringtones, pictures, and some programs (solitaire, puzzles, monopoly etc).
2. A series of 2GB cards for music, movies and TV content when I travel. I was planing on installing TCPMP on each one to avaoid putting that in my device memory.
As far as restoring after flashing or a hard reset, I currently keep a copy of all programs, ringtones, pim backups etc on my home computer. It is organized by file type, utils, games, rings etc. so when I flash I just go through again and reinstall one by one. I've found this is easier than figuring out where to download everything all over again.

@bubism: no problem, took me a while to figure it out too, that option is well-hidden!
@dcdivenut: Good plan. Those small size cards are really cheap. Why don't you install TCPMP on your device memory? It is not too big. Or have you crammed your mem so full that you have no more place for it.
I also have all apps I ever installed still on my desktop, including a list with all the reg edits I did and all apps I have currently installed with a short explanation for most apps and installation instructions when a standard install is not good enough (e.g. TomTom 5.21)
In case a hard reset is needed,I just grab the list and install all apps again, then do all the regedits. Still a lot of work, but quicker than having to search all apps and edits online. I recommend this approach to everyone.

Hey Koskie:
Can you post that list and what to do? I have a new 8125 and miniSD card and have no idea what to use the card for. I won't be putting music, pictures or videos on it since it is a work phone.
Ski

@ Skijackz: I use my SD card for music, TomTom 5.21 maps and video's only, all my apps are installed in main (=device) mem. I have approx. 16 MB free of Storage mem. If you have no use for your SD card and your storage mem is sufficient to store your apps, you can take it out and replace it with the plastic dummy that came with it. In that way your card slot is protected against dust and dirt, but the SD card will not use any power, thereby lengthening your uptime. If you use your device for navigation, you have to use the card to store the maps on it, since they are too big for your device mem.
The list I made is partly in Dutch, especially the notes, so it might not be very useful to you. Furthermore the list is a mess, since it works through my personal filing system (copy and paste wherever my cursor happens to rest). It is a mostly chronological list, I mostly added everything I found at the end. I'll attach it anyway, perhaps you'll find it useful. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask them here or through PM.

Thanks a lot for the tip on storing pics to the storage card!!! That's a real find! ....and much appreciated!!
This place is the BEST :!: :!:

Thanks Koskie!! This is a real help.

Micro Drive & SDHC, which one is faster?

Hi guys, since i am getting my DOPOD U1000 this week, i want to know where is the best place to install my program and store my music and photo.
I have purchase a 4GB mini SDHC. Compare to the micro drive, which one should i use to install my program. (which one is faster?)
For music & movie, i think i will store it in Micro Drive. How about photos? Will there be delays if i store the photo taken by camera in Micro drive? or is it better to store in SDHC?
Thank

I had the Samsung SGH-i300. Nice WM Smartphone with 4 GB micro drive....it drains the battery like a starving beast. With improvements in technology, things should be a little better now, but don't expect too much, hence 128 ROM & 256 RAM (for regularly used apps and accessed files).
Micro drive will drain your battery severely. Best way to look at it is this way; put the files that you will most frequently access on your SDHC card and larger files like movies on your micro drive.
Photos? Difficult one really. Personally, I have two categories of photos; Newly taken ones which I want to see regularly for a while + Wallpapers etc [store these on SD card]
Older collection of Photos/Albums- occasional use but important to me personally th have always available [Store these on Micro Drive]
Movies and Music and PC data for various reasons [Micro Drive]
Regularly used apps not installed to default device location [SD Card]
Don't forget the micro drive is mechanical and therefore drains battery power more that's why it's good to use SD card for heavy use.

mackaby007 said:
I had the Samsung SGH-i300. Nice WM Smartphone with 4 GB micro drive....it drains the battery like a starving beast. With improvements in technology, things should be a little better now, but don't expect too much, hence 128 ROM & 256 RAM (for regularly used apps and accessed files).
Micro drive will drain your battery severely. Best way to look at it is this way; put the files that you will most frequently access on your SDHC card and larger files like movies on your micro drive.
Photos? Difficult one really. Personally, I have two categories of photos; Newly taken ones which I want to see regularly for a while + Wallpapers etc [store these on SD card]
Older collection of Photos/Albums- occasional use but important to me personally th have always available [Store these on Micro Drive]
Movies and Music and PC data for various reasons [Micro Drive]
Regularly used apps not installed to default device location [SD Card]
Don't forget the micro drive is mechanical and therefore drains battery power more that's why it's good to use SD card for heavy use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks mackaby007, that answer every single of my question. Will indeed follow the above setup when my device is here

wu5262 said:
Thanks mackaby007, that answer every single of my question. Will indeed follow the above setup when my device is here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi
if device hanging and must hard reset it, which drive will be formatted?
Micro Drive or Memory or ram or all ?
tanX

Arya said:
hi
if device hanging and must hard reset it, which drive will be formatted?
Micro Drive or Memory or ram or all ?
tanX
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
only the ram in device is clear, micro drive and mini sd will stay un-touch. Of course , there is a function that you can format the micro alone as well

wu5262 said:
only the ram in device is clear, micro drive and mini sd will stay un-touch. Of course , there is a function that you can format the micro alone as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tanX a lot
with this thing we must install programs on which? beacuse if a program have problem we must reset and formatting and other information(music,videoand..) willl be deleted!!!!

Arya said:
tanX a lot
with this thing we must install programs on which? beacuse if a program have problem we must reset and formatting and other information(music,videoand..) willl be deleted!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
see above post:
Program you use a lot, everyday! (on device memory)
Program you use sometimes, (on sd card)
Music and Video (on micro drive)
Flash photo (sd card)
Old photo (move to micro drive)
Hope that help

wu5262 said:
see above post:
Program you use a lot, everyday! (on device memory)
Program you use sometimes, (on sd card)
Music and Video (on micro drive)
Flash photo (sd card)
Old photo (move to micro drive)
Hope that help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tanX a lot

Big Post people....run now if u hate long posts.
Arya said:
tanX a lot:
with this thing we must install programs on which? beacuse if a program have problem we must reset and formatting and other information(music,videoand..) willl be deleted!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also Arya, don't forget that we're talking about WM5 here. There will likely not be many problems if you were using the same apps on a previous WM5 PPC.
Personally I will set up as follows:
1) Only install apps which have proved to be no probs in over 3 months of use, prior to getting the X7500.
2) Test each app for only 10-15 minutes with a couple of soft resets and whilst other apps run in background.
3) No more than essential apps initially (don't even want a X7500 if it can't run this).
4) These apps for me are: Batti v2.0, WA2, Resco Photo Viewer, Total Commander, Coreplayer (or TCPMP) and PocketMusic. Providing these work without issue for 15 minutes - 60 minutes, I do a Full backup with Spb Backup. Then I do a contacts backup using Spb Backup. Then I have my primary set-up to revert to if things go wrong as I install other apps in the future.
5) This should really come before the backup. Ensure UMTS connects and disconnects as it should and that my primary Wi-fi is protected (secured) and my sim contacts have been saved to my outlook contacts.
6)That's the basics. Then transfer all 'storage data' like Movies, Music and occasionally accessed Photos to Micro-Drive. Also PC data to be used in other places other than home or work can also be stored here.
7) Personal Ring-tone folder - SD Card
8) Regularly accessed Photos and recently taken Photos - SD Card...Why?...because I often take my SD card to transfer photos to mine and other PC's. If the X7500 has mass storage capabilities due to USB host capabilities, then this may change to Micro-Drive only, but that means I always have to walk with a lead. (No thanks - the X75 is big enough)
9)Before -all games to SD card...Now - all games to device unless they exceed 15mb.
10)Backup Device and have duplicate copy of personalized file structure and folders on Micro Drive, just in case.
I should now have 3 Backups:
1) Primary backup - Essential apps with everything working beautifully.
2) Contacts backup - make a scheduled backup of this once a week to include new additions and replace last Contacts backup.
3)Big Backup - Final and fully loaded Device backup including SD card and micr drive Backup.
Lastly should have been first. Play with original ROM without 3rd party apps for at least 48 hours (however many days it takes to achieve the hours). Why?..to ensure you are happy with the ROM before you go through all this work.
Remember the device backup is not transferable to other ROMs, nor will applications that were installed to SD card or Micro drive. Hence the reason why I put 'storage data' on the micro drive and SD card, because it can be used again.
Then I just install whatever whenever, without fear of a total rebuild.
Not least of all, be prepared to do it all over again when WM6 becomes available for the X7500.
And yes I'll be doing it - can live without Video calling.
Sorry for the long post people, but I hope someone finds it useful as it has taken me years to get a system that gives me no problems at all.....but that's exactly what I always end up with after all the problems have been resolved and tweaks applied...a device to die for. Not literally.

mackaby007 said:
Also Arya, don't forget that we're talking about WM5 here. There will likely not be many problems if you were using the same apps on a previous WM5 PPC.
Personally I will set up as follows:
1) Only install apps which have proved to be no probs in over 3 months of use, prior to getting the X7500.
2) Test each app for only 10-15 minutes with a couple of soft resets and whilst other apps run in background.
3) No more than essential apps initially (don't even want a X7500 if it can't run this).
4) These apps for me are: Batti v2.0, WA2, Resco Photo Viewer, Total Commander, Coreplayer (or TCPMP) and PocketMusic. Providing these work without issue for 15 minutes - 60 minutes, I do a Full backup with Spb Backup. Then I do a contacts backup using Spb Backup. Then I have my primary set-up to revert to if things go wrong as I install other apps in the future.
5) This should really come before the backup. Ensure UMTS connects and disconnects as it should and that my primary Wi-fi is protected (secured) and my sim contacts have been saved to my outlook contacts.
6)That's the basics. Then transfer all 'storage data' like Movies, Music and occasionally accessed Photos to Micro-Drive. Also PC data to be used in other places other than home or work can also be stored here.
7) Personal Ring-tone folder - SD Card
8) Regularly accessed Photos and recently taken Photos - SD Card...Why?...because I often take my SD card to transfer photos to mine and other PC's. If the X7500 has mass storage capabilities due to USB host capabilities, then this may change to Micro-Drive only, but that means I always have to walk with a lead. (No thanks - the X75 is big enough)
9)Before -all games to SD card...Now - all games to device unless they exceed 15mb.
10)Backup Device and have duplicate copy of personalized file structure and folders on Micro Drive, just in case.
I should now have 3 Backups:
1) Primary backup - Essential apps with everything working beautifully.
2) Contacts backup - make a scheduled backup of this once a week to include new additions and replace last Contacts backup.
3)Big Backup - Final and fully loaded Device backup including SD card and micr drive Backup.
Lastly should have been first. Play with original ROM without 3rd party apps for at least 48 hours (however many days it takes to achieve the hours). Why?..to ensure you are happy with the ROM before you go through all this work.
Remember the device backup is not transferable to other ROMs, nor will applications that were installed to SD card or Micro drive. Hence the reason why I put 'storage data' on the micro drive and SD card, because it can be used again.
Then I just install whatever whenever, without fear of a total rebuild.
Not least of all, be prepared to do it all over again when WM6 becomes available for the X7500.
And yes I'll be doing it - can live without Video calling.
Sorry for the long post people, but I hope someone finds it useful as it has taken me years to get a system that gives me no problems at all.....but that's exactly what I always end up with after all the problems have been resolved and tweaks applied...a device to die for. Not literally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your informations are very good and i hope every one use it
tanX a lot too

I have a 2GB Trancend 80x MiniSD and ran the speed benchmark test using SK Tools. Here's the result :
Storage Card (write); 535.28;KB/sec
Storage Card (read); 875.84;KB/sec
MicroDrive (write);14733.81;KB/sec
MicroDrive (read);11792.71;KB/sec
Storage card wins hands down as expected.

k_kirk said:
I have a 2GB Trancend 80x MiniSD and ran the speed benchmark test using SK Tools. Here's the result :
Storage Card (write); 535.28;KB/sec
Storage Card (read); 875.84;KB/sec
MicroDrive (write);14733.81;KB/sec
MicroDrive (read);11792.71;KB/sec
Storage card wins hands down as expected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry i am a bit confuse here, i though the bigger value is better, so storage card can write 535.28 Kb per second where micro drive can write 14733.81 Kb per second. Or am i wrong here?

Yeah, that's how I'm reading those values.

Guys, you're absolutely right ofcourse. Its 12:38AM here and I think I should go to sleep. Playing with the new U1000 for 8 hours flat I think I am starting to loose it. Thanks for setting the record straight...

k_kirk said:
I have a 2GB Trancend 80x MiniSD and ran the speed benchmark test using SK Tools. Here's the result :
Storage Card (write); 535.28;KB/sec
Storage Card (read); 875.84;KB/sec
MicroDrive (write);14733.81;KB/sec
MicroDrive (read);11792.71;KB/sec
Storage card wins hands down as expected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi k_Kik,
Could I seek the following clarification?
How was your card formatted?
- Do you back up the FAT table?
- Is it with FAT32 ?
- What was your cluster size?
Also, SK tools seems to always give a very good reading for the first test, then have a drastically lowered reading from second test onward (That has been my observation). Is your reading the first one or the second one onward? Also, the reading differs drastically depending on the above settings used to format the card. My own test shows the following: (All FAT 32 formatting and without FAT table backup)
Cluster size----1st write--1st read----subsequent write/read
0.5K---------- 13.26KB/s--798KB/s---not tested
1K------------15.76-------931------not tested
2K------------238---------930------not tested
4K------------264---------931 -----not tested
8K------------518---------931-------270/922-- 266/922
16K---------- 490---------911------235/748----232/688
32K----------518---------950------241/701------240/708----243/720
I also tested with FAT table backup as a formatting setting, and got the following result
32k---------144---------821-------91/750
My card is a class 4 4GB miniSDHC card made by Toshiba, manufactured in Japan.
It appears that in my case the best performance that SKtools would report comes from FAT32 with no FAT table backup, and cluster size of 32KB. Is your card formatted with the same setting?

MicroSD Card Question.

I have a question about the MicroSD cards you can buy for the Wing. Once I realized it was a good idea to have one for the wing (didn't take me long), I had one sent to me via UPS from some website. I got a 2GB. Anyway! My question is.. if I put the card in my phone, does it act as phone memory? Can I actually install .cab's and stuff ON the card and run them like they were actually installed on the phone?
Basically what i'm asking is if putting a MicroSD card into the wing is like putting a hard drive into a computer. It's not just a card to store things on, it's a card that acts as actual memory and you can install things on it too, right?
Today I kept getting pop-ups saying I had low memory. It was annoying as hell, so I uninstalled a few programs until I get my card. They were things I used like battery status and larger start menu, but oh well. I can do without them for a few days.
I know there's "Storage" memory and then there's "Program" memory. The Storage was at 0MB free and that's why I kept getting those pop-ups. My Program is at 18.34MB free.
Thanks in advance.

itslinx said:
I have a question about the MicroSD cards you can buy for the Wing. Once I realized it was a good idea to have one for the wing (didn't take me long), I had one sent to me via UPS from some website. I got a 2GB. Anyway! My question is.. if I put the card in my phone, does it act as phone memory? Can I actually install .cab's and stuff ON the card and run them like they were actually installed on the phone?
Basically what i'm asking is if putting a MicroSD card into the wing is like putting a hard drive into a computer. It's not just a card to store things on, it's a card that acts as actual memory and you can install things on it too, right?
Today I kept getting pop-ups saying I had low memory. It was annoying as hell, so I uninstalled a few programs until I get my card. They were things I used like battery status and larger start menu, but oh well. I can do without them for a few days.
I know there's "Storage" memory and then there's "Program" memory. The Storage was at 0MB free and that's why I kept getting those pop-ups. My Program is at 18.34MB free.
Yes, to answer your question, the microsd card is just like a hard drive. That's where you will prob want to store most of you applications, music, games, etc. This frees up memory on your main drive. I also have my camera setup to put photos on it too. I also keep a backup of all my cab files on my card. Whenever you have a card present, and you install a program, you get the option of installing on the card or the main drive. I believe our phones will take up to an 8 gig. I have 4 and it works great.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, to answer your question, the microsd card is just like a hard drive. That's where you will prob want to store most of you applications, music, games, etc. This frees up memory on your main drive. I also have my camera setup to put photos on it too. I also keep a backup of all my cab files on my card. Whenever you have a card present, and you install a program, you get the option of installing on the card or the main drive. I believe our phones will take up to an 8 gig. I have 4 and it works great.

dougstoner said:
Yes, to answer your question, the microsd card is just like a hard drive. That's where you will prob want to store most of you applications, music, games, etc. This frees up memory on your main drive. I also have my camera setup to put photos on it too. I also keep a backup of all my cab files on my card. Whenever you have a card present, and you install a program, you get the option of installing on the card or the main drive. I believe our phones will take up to an 8 gig. I have 4 and it works great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see. Thanks for the response. So I guess it would make more sense for me to uninstall everything I installed on my phone and reinstall it all on my card instead? That way most of my actual phone memory is free and it's all on the card? Any idea how much free memory there is to start off on the phone anyway? And what's the difference exactly between Storage and Program memory? I know Storage says Total: 31.44 MB and Program says Total: 47.89 MB. Is that how much the phone gives you to start with?

it will not merge with your storage
and memory is mainly what we call application mem like ram in a computer
not the harddrive
cabs should at install time ask if one wish to install to storage or sdcard

[Q] Questions about Sprint S4 sizes and interla/external storage.

I was wondering if anybody could help answer a few questions about the Sprint S4 for me.
Currently I have an HTC Evo 3D, the internal storage is so small that I have made a 4gb ext3 partition on my SD card using Link2SD just to alleviate some of this annoyance. The 32GB counting the 4GB partition is actually almost full.
First of all, is there any word on a 32GB version? I saw some forum threads a while ago about Sprint supposedly not carring the 32+GB versions, but I saw no official word, if there has been one.
And also, how does the 16GB of internal work? The first time I saw a phone with large internal memory was the original Droid RAZR. And it basically partitioned off the majority of the space like a virtual SD card. Most to all apps on it saved to here instead of the actual SD card assuming it was an actual external storage. Does the S4 do this too, or is the entire 16GB (minus obviously what the system partitions take up) used as internal?
The reason I am asking is because I have many apps and games which download anywhere from 50MB to 3 gigs of additional data, and they almost never ask you where to download it, and just use the first "external" space they find, and many are hard-coded to only use that space. Like I said, my 32GB card on my Evo 3D is practically full, I do NOT not want those apps to install that data on the internal memory and fill it up, I want that space to keep the apps installed on, while photos, music, and video, as well as that app additional data, will be on the real SD card. I am planning to get a 64GB card for the S4.

Cyber Akuma said:
I was wondering if anybody could help answer a few questions about the Sprint S4 for me.
Currently I have an HTC Evo 3D, the internal storage is so small that I have made a 4gb ext3 partition on my SD card using Link2SD just to alleviate some of this annoyance. The 32GB counting the 4GB partition is actually almost full.
First of all, is there any word on a 32GB version? I saw some forum threads a while ago about Sprint supposedly not carring the 32+GB versions, but I saw no official word, if there has been one.
And also, how does the 16GB of internal work? The first time I saw a phone with large internal memory was the original Droid RAZR. And it basically partitioned off the majority of the space like a virtual SD card. Most to all apps on it saved to here instead of the actual SD card assuming it was an actual external storage. Does the S4 do this too, or is the entire 16GB (minus obviously what the system partitions take up) used as internal?
The reason I am asking is because I have many apps and games which download anywhere from 50MB to 3 gigs of additional data, and they almost never ask you where to download it, and just use the first "external" space they find, and many are hard-coded to only use that space. Like I said, my 32GB card on my Evo 3D is practically full, I do NOT not want those apps to install that data on the internal memory and fill it up, I want that space to keep the apps installed on, while photos, music, and video, as well as that app additional data, will be on the real SD card. I am planning to get a 64GB card for the S4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The way samsung does it is actually very anoying. First thing they do is cut off 8.5 gigs of storage, thats your "internal memory" for system stuff. That's untouchable. You then have 9gigs give or take left for apps and the like which is EMULATED external storage. This emulated bit confuses android and so your real external sd card is only usable for movies and music. The only way to put apps on it would be to root your phone and use folder mount (which for some reason isn't working for me yet). So to sum it up:
16gb +ext sd card (lets say 32 gb)
8ish gb- system internal
9ish gb-apps EMULATED external
32 gb- movies, music, books/media BUT NO APPS UNLESS YOU ROOT REAL external

AAAAUUUUGGGHHHHH!</CharlieBrown>
Wow, I can not possibly think of a worse way for Samsung to handle it. The low internal memory giving me problems installing and updating apps was a major reason for wanting to upgrade. With this, it means I actually have less space for apps than my current phone, since I can't actually install to SD and the apps that download hundreds of megs to gigs of additonal data will be downlioading it to the internal instead of external.
I... honestly have no idea which phone to get now.
I know the Sprint S4 is unlocked, is there any way to use rooted tools or a custom rom to just make the memory internal and make it mount a SD as an actual SD? I am worried that unofficial roms might be lacking in features or glitchy.

Cyber Akuma said:
AAAAUUUUGGGHHHHH!</CharlieBrown>
Wow, I can not possibly think of a worse way for Samsung to handle it. The low internal memory giving me problems installing and updating apps was a major reason for wanting to upgrade. With this, it means I actually have less space for apps than my current phone, since I can't actually install to SD and the apps that download hundreds of megs to gigs of additonal data will be downlioading it to the internal instead of external.
I... honestly have no idea which phone to get now.
I know the Sprint S4 is unlocked, is there any way to use rooted tools or a custom rom to just make the memory internal and make it mount a SD as an actual SD? I am worried that unofficial roms might be lacking in features or glitchy.
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Well this is an issue with all honeycomb plus android phones. Google is trying to phase out the external sd card while increasing the internal memory. Well that's all good and fine EXCEPT that we are right in the middle of the phase out process where the sd cards are too small for that. 2-3 years from now googles plan will work, but samsung has to be on board for that to happen. For now the only thing you can do is use folder mount or wait for ext2intSD script. It will swap it so your external sdcard works as your internal and vice versa. However, we will have to wait for that to be released.

I don't get what phasing out the SD slot has to do with emulating the external SD storage when all apps can work on internal storage anyway.
What is folder-mount? And I tried link2sd on my evo 3d and its kinda problematic, I wanted to get AWAY from these problems by upgrading.

Cyber Akuma said:
I don't get what phasing out the SD slot has to do with emulating the external SD storage when all apps can work on internal storage anyway.
What is folder-mount? And I tried link2sd on my evo 3d and its kinda problematic, I wanted to get AWAY from these problems by upgrading.
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The reason why is that android its self, the code that google supplies, has to create partitions in order for it to work with only one internal sdcard so that the average user does not corrupt the system somehow. The emulated external storage is what google expects you to use so that you can't mess up. However, samsung just adds in an sdcard without changing anything which means its not set up correctly. This is a problem with all new sd card phones and finally think of folder mount as a better link2sd

But aren't the system partition and the internal storage partition separate partitions? I don't understand why the rest of the memory outside of the system partition needs to be an emulated external instead of just being an internal storage partition like on phones that do not have a large amount of internal memory.
Also, why do we have to link folders or use link2sd scripts and other such work-arounds? Can't we re-partition the internal memory with a custom recovery or through the bootloader?

not work brother
Sent from my ST18i using xda app-developers app

deadger said:
not work brother
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.... what? I have no idea what that means.
So, can the phone be repartitioned if you have root access? And is only the Sprint version partitioned like this, or all of them?