Database Users

confirm/explain internal storage

I read the FAQ thread and it says that of the galaxy s2's 16Gb internal storage, only 2Gb is user-available. Is that really true? I figured there was probably some other thread discussing this in more detail but I couldn't find it. Any pointers?
I can understand android + touchwiz taking up a little, but that difference is too huge. Does anybody know how the 16Gb is used, and how much is available for different purposes? Eg I could imagine maybe they have user-installed apps and user-data as two different partitions within the (16Gb - android - touchwiz).
For comparison my understanding of the sensation and evo 3d is that both of those have a 4Gb chip for internal storage and both have 1Gb user-available.

on my sgs2, there's about 2GBish of "device memory" (that's the default place for your apps, etc), 12GBish of "usb storage" (the rest of the internal memory) and 15GBish from my removable microSD card.

That 2GB is for installed applications storage, you get roughly 12GB of free flash memory storage to store whatever you want and the rest of it the phone uses for non-accessible things - system and OS-related, etc.
By the way, it's GB (GigaBYTE) not Gb (GigaBIT), or GiB (GibiBYTE) if you want to get more pedantic. A 'bit' is roughly 8x smaller than a 'byte'.

As I know, HTC sensation got 1gb internal storage for installing apps, and it had not extra space for storage.

thanks
Thanks everybody, having 2+12 Gbyte makes a lot more sense than just 2Gbyte. Glad to hear it does indeed have the space it's "supposed" to.

jasontschan said:
As I know, HTC sensation got 1gb internal storage for installing apps, and it had not extra space for storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it comes with an 8GB microsd card

So the SGS II has:
- internal memory : 2GB
- internal SD: 12GB
- external SD: up to 32GB
My question is, can you install an application on all of those mentioned above?
Or only on internal memory and external sd? Because on the app's properties page u have the option to move it only to internal memory or external SD.
Why?
Sorry if this question was asked before, I'm new to Android, and I did make a search before I asked, but I couldn't find this information.

I installed App2SD, but the movable apps only moved to the INTERNAL SD, not the external_sd.
All the things that installed and or created by the user or the apps themselves would go to the INTERNAL SD, and the external_sd is only used by the user manually putting things into it.

Since SGS II is one of the first Androids with 16GB "internal" Mem PLUS option to insert msd-card app2sd-apps are not modified to move to the "external_sd" which is actually a 2nd sd.
What I dunno if Android itself would allow to read apps from a second sd.
With time there will be an app that can manage this but not yet ............

Sticks02 said:
A 'bit' is roughly 8x smaller than a 'byte'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Roughly?

DarkTremor question

I have 2 questions I am fairly new to the a500 although I have had an evo 4g for years and I have been flashing roms for many more.
I know thebquestion has been asked is there a way to move apps to the sd card. I am wondering if darktremors app2sdgui might work for our tablets and if so how to ise it. I have been seeing threads where people are using 64gb sdxc cards but whats the point if you cant move apps. Im starting to think thosbtablet sucks half the games dont work and you cant freely moves apps.
Anyway my other question is if there is no way to use app2sdgui is there any roms available that allow you to move apps and still have all the tablets good features? I have searched and from what I can tell most roms dont really say they can do it.
Thanks from the bomb
Sent from my A500 using xda premium

adambomb_13 said:
I have 2 questions I am fairly new to the a500 although I have had an evo 4g for years and I have been flashing roms for many more.
I know thebquestion has been asked is there a way to move apps to the sd card. I am wondering if darktremors app2sdgui might work for our tablets and if so how to ise it. I have been seeing threads where people are using 64gb sdxc cards but whats the point if you cant move apps. Im starting to think thosbtablet sucks half the games dont work and you cant freely moves apps.
Anyway my other question is if there is no way to use app2sdgui is there any roms available that allow you to move apps and still have all the tablets good features? I have searched and from what I can tell most roms dont really say they can do it.
Thanks from the bomb
Sent from my A500 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong forum. This should be in the questions section.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I don't have a full understanding of all this myself, but I *believe/think* that the A500 is already moving apps to the SD card -- the internal SD card. The 8, 16, or 32gb of memory that came with whatever model of A500 you purchased is considered the internal SD card, whereas the micro sd card slot is considered the external SD card. Your tablet has 1gb of RAM, which in phone terms is thought of as internal or system memory, like your (and my) EVO 4G has 512mb of RAM. Since the EVO doesn't have any internal SD card, in order to run the newer, larger footprint ROMs we have to use an apps2sd type utility to move as much as we can to the external micro SD card in the EVO 4G.
If you're running out of internal memory in your A500, you can move some data that seems to default there. This happens a lot with apps that aren't really designed for tablets because these apps think that your internal storage is your external micro SD card. I moved all my photos, music, and eBooks from internal storage (where they defaulted) to my external micro SD card. Now I'm only using around 4gb out of the total 16gb that came with my model of A500, and I have tons of apps, games, etc installed. Moving the data barely put a dent in my 32gb external micro SD card, which I mostly use for 720p movies/videos.
Anyone please feel free to correct me about Honeycomb tablet memory handling above!

It's a limitation of Honeycomb not the tablet. Hopefully ICS when it's released soon will solve this problem. I don't know why google designed the tablet specific OS Honeycomb like this it was stupid. There are several work around programs like GL to SD that work so so. I had GL to SD installed and it severely slowed down my tablet so I got rid of it. My first A500 I bought was the 8gb version which I returned a week later after buying the 32gb unit. The 8gb just didn't cut it without being able to take advantage of the sd card for game data.

internetpilot said:
I don't have a full understanding of all this myself, but I *believe/think* that the A500 is already moving apps to the SD card -- the internal SD card. The 8, 16, or 32gb of memory that came with whatever model of A500 you purchased is considered the internal SD card, whereas the micro sd card slot is considered the external SD card. Your tablet has 1gb of RAM, which in phone terms is thought of as internal or system memory, like your (and my) EVO 4G has 512mb of RAM. Since the EVO doesn't have any internal SD card, in order to run the newer, larger footprint ROMs we have to use an apps2sd type utility to move as much as we can to the external micro SD card in the EVO 4G.
If you're running out of internal memory in your A500, you can move some data that seems to default there. This happens a lot with apps that aren't really designed for tablets because these apps think that your internal storage is your external micro SD card. I moved all my photos, music, and eBooks from internal storage (where they defaulted) to my external micro SD card. Now I'm only using around 4gb out of the total 16gb that came with my model of A500, and I have tons of apps, games, etc installed. Moving the data barely put a dent in my 32gb external micro SD card, which I mostly use for 720p movies/videos.
No its not like this. The phones do have internal memory also. The ram has nothing to do with internal memory, even tho some advertise the ram and internal memory as greaterstorage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thread belongs in q&a section not dev sorry all
Ok sorry but my testing with the gl to sd app...
the order of chaos game i used that app to move it.. The game took forever to load and ping times went so High you could not play the game..
I Have a pny class 10 16 gb sd card.. tested to get about 8.7 mb transfur rate. and that is about average on most so called 10 mb (class10 cards)
my tablet runs very smooth with no apps running in background.
so i DO NOT RECOMEND THESE APPS.. Just my openion dont bash me if yours is diffrent.. i also dont understand how people are filling up the 16 gb tablet.. that alone has to be slowing your tab down...

internetpilot said:
Your tablet has 1gb of RAM, which in phone terms is thought of as internal or system memory, like your (and my) EVO 4G has 512mb of RAM. Since the EVO doesn't have any internal SD card, in order to run the newer, larger footprint ROMs we have to use an apps2sd type utility to move as much as we can to the external micro SD card in the EVO 4G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're confusing RAM and FLASH storage. Many older Android devices have a very small area reserved for applications and ROMs, it has nothing to do with RAM. RAM is memory where applications are loaded when you wish to execute them and gets erased every time you power off the device, flash storage is where the applications are stored and loaded from.
---------- Post added at 06:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:32 PM ----------
erica_renee said:
i also dont understand how people are filling up the 16 gb tablet.. that alone has to be slowing your tab down...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got the 32GB version + 16GB microSDHC and it's already filled to the brim. I just happen to consume lots of media, including comics, movies, music and books.
Also, the tablet doesn't specifically slow down by the amount of files on it, the process of indexing everything can temporarily slow it down but after indexing is done it doesn't consume resources anymore. Using some sort of an application that just loads everything to memory and doesn't care about trying to watch how it uses the memory is has reserved however can and will slow the tablet down, but that's an application issue, not a filesystem or OS issue per se.

So if the internal memory is like is primary I can't see why it wouldnt be easy to make the external micro sd and ext of the internal. Is that possable?
Sent from my A500 using xda premium

I found this post online for switching internal to external in honeycomb. I'm getting a 64gb sdxc for my 16gb a500 so it should come in handy.
I have had a mod to voold.fstab under previous Android versions so the OS looked at the physical MicroSD as the external card, not the internal 8 gigs in the Adam. Handy because some programs always wants to look for files on the external card. It was quite easy to do the same thing to Honeycomb, and in case anybody else needs it, here's the full code for the file (which is under \ETC, you need Root Explorer or simalar to edit/replace it):
Code:
## Vold 2.0 NVIDIA Harmony fstab
####################### ## Regular device mount ## ## Format: dev_mount <label> <mount_point> <part> <sysfs_path1...> ## label - Label for the volume ## mount_point - Where the volume will be mounted ## part - Partition # (1 based), or 'auto' for first usable par tition. ## <sysfs_path> - List of sysfs paths to source devices ######################
dev_mount microsd /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.2/mmc_ host/mmc1 # todo: the secondary sdcard seems to confuse vold badly dev_mount sdreader /mnt/external_sd auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci. 3/mmc_host/mmc2 dev_mount usbdisk1 /mnt/usb_storage auto /devices/platform/tegra-ehci
So the actual changes are in the fourth and third lines from the bottom, changing around a few numbers. You'll see the difference if you open the original. I have saved a copy of it on the SD card, so if (or rather when) the next update comes I can simply copy it to the \ETC directory with Root Explorer and do a reboot, and it's back where I want it.
Sent from my A500 using xda premium

richierich118 said:
No its not like this. The phones do have internal memory also. The ram has nothing to do with internal memory, even tho some advertise the ram and internal memory as greaterstorage
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Click to collapse
WereCatf said:
You're confusing RAM and FLASH storage. Many older Android devices have a very small area reserved for applications and ROMs, it has nothing to do with RAM. RAM is memory where applications are loaded when you wish to execute them and gets erased every time you power off the device, flash storage is where the applications are stored and loaded from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, makes sense now that you both mentioned it. Sorry about that. So, it would seem to me that HC actually isn't using any A2SD solution, it's just that tablets typically have significantly greater internal storage and Google didn't expect anyone to really need it. If that's the case then it at least makes a little sense to me that HC doesn't have that built-in and than not many devs seem to be working on this type of project, especially for an A500 which can so easily use external USB storage for the usual storage hogs like media files.

i cannot see why people are so hellbent on apps2sd. seriously, i cannot. well, okay. i admit that it /does/ free up space on your internal apps partition.... but i can't see the point of wasting space on your external SD card.
the apps partition on the iconia tab is roughly 1GB. that's not too bad, unless you've got HD games and crap. i remember Sonic CD and Gameloft's NOVA 2 download stuff to the internal storage; which doesn't clutter up your app partition (the game is like 5mb for sonic cd and like 20mb for nova 2 on the apps partition, the rest is loaded from internal SD).
also, the tablet doesn't suck, if you're having issues with games, they aren't optimised for the advanced hardware that is used in the Iconia Tab. this is tablet hardware, not a smartphone logic board with a few addons and a sexy HD screen. the app developer hasn't taken the time to develop for tablets, most likely.
i guess less is more for me, but w/e.

How does apps2sd actually work? I haven't paid any attention to what filesystem format the internal SD is, but wouldn't just symlinking files work? Or does the Android kernel support loopback filesystems? I'm just wondering, perhaps I'll dig some details myself just for the sake of curiosity and see if I can come up with a solution.

Apps2SD works by moving programs residing in /data/app to the SD card. This can be accomplished in two ways:
1. Classic Apps2SD - This form is mainly used for Android units prior to Froyo, but can be used on Froyo and Gingerbread (and I presume Honeycomb and ICS, but I have never tested it with those Android platforms). By using a Linux partition that is formatted on your external SD card, the /data/app directory is symlinked to that partition. This tricks Android into thinking it is still storing applications in your Internal memory when, in reality, the programs are being stored on your SD card. The upside to this format is that any program can be moved over (and it is done automatically). The down side is that you will need to create two partitions on your SD card (one Linux partition for Apps2SD and one FAT32 partition for SD card storage) and your kernel must be able to run scripts on boot.
2. Secure Apps2SD - Starting with Froyo, Google implemented their version of Apps2SD. Their version moves your programs to a secured area of your SD Card and creates binding mounts to the actual programs themselves so that Android can run them off the FAT32 SD Card. The advantage of this is that no special formatting or programming is needed to implement this, as it is part of Android. The downside to this is that, without special programs, not ever application can be moved to the SD card (the program must be recompiled using at least the Froyo SDK...however, this issue is becoming less noticeable as more programs are being compiled using either the Froyo SDK or Gingerbread SDK).
The Acer Iconia A500 uses neither of these methods. The tablet is equipped with 8, 16 or 32GB of internal storage. Your applications are still stored on the /data partition, but your SD Card is nothing more than a FUSE mount to /data/media, which means both data and apps have access to the full 8, 16 or 32GB of internal storage, so there's no compelling reason that I can think of that you would need Apps2SD on this tablet. If you want your tablet to treat the external SD card as the actual SD card rather than internal storage, you would be better off changing the symlink to /sdcard from /mnt/sdcard to /mnt/external_sd (note that, when you do that, you won't be able to move files from your computer to the tablet by simply mounting the SD card, as the FUSE mount is not pointed to the external SD card, but to internal memory...you will either need a creative solution to change the FUSE mount to /mnt/external_sd on boot or you'll need to use ADB).
WereCatf said:
How does apps2sd actually work? I haven't paid any attention to what filesystem format the internal SD is, but wouldn't just symlinking files work? Or does the Android kernel support loopback filesystems? I'm just wondering, perhaps I'll dig some details myself just for the sake of curiosity and see if I can come up with a solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

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

External SD Card Free Space Doesn't Seem Correct

I have a 64GB sd card in my phone to use. Right now, I have about 18GB of free space. I've also figured out by looking at my folders on the SD card that I've used up less than 20GB. Why does my SD card show that I only have 18GB of free space then? I should have another 20GB+ of free space. What is taking up this space and where can I find it and get that space back?
For a quick FYI, I'm positive I've rooted and put my ROM into the stock partition.

ahchah08 said:
I have a 64GB sd card in my phone to use. Right now, I have about 18GB of free space. I've also figured out by looking at my folders on the SD card that I've used up less than 20GB. Why does my SD card show that I only have 18GB of free space then? I should have another 20GB+ of free space. What is taking up this space and where can I find it and get that space back?
For a quick FYI, I'm positive I've rooted and put my ROM into the stock partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to settings / storage, then tell us what it says the TOTAL SPACE is for your SD Card. That'll give us a better idea of whats going on and possibly help you.
It's possible your card is only formatted to 32gb due to it possibly being in fat32 and its a bit more of a challenge to format it to the 64gb. This might shed some light on what i'm talking about: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2041679

nbdysreal said:
Go to settings / storage, then tell us what it says the TOTAL SPACE is for your SD Card. That'll give us a better idea of whats going on and possibly help you.
It's possible your card is only formatted to 32gb due to it possibly being in fat32 and its a bit more of a challenge to format it to the 64gb. This might shed some light on what i'm talking about: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2041679
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like it says total space is 59.48GB

ahchah08 said:
Looks like it says total space is 59.48GB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then it is formated and showing correctly. On that same page it should tell you how much free space you have. My suggestion is to hook it up to your pc, highlight all the folders on the SD Card and click properties. Might have more there than you think. Its possible you have some backups going to the SD Card?

Samsung s8 sd card apps

Samsung s8 sd card finally can use to move/install apps and oculus apps ?

I can do that on my S7 Edge now so I suspect you will be able to. I moved Wands over to the SD card last night.

Honestly, the whole "move to card" crap is annoying. I've found that some apps claim to have migrated, but the amount of space they take up on the internal memory is far larger than it claims. With 64 GB (vs anemic 32 GB) you should be able to leave all the apps on the internal storage and only put the photos, music, and video on the external.
YouTube and others are equally misleading. When you tell them to save stuff to the SD, it claims to be doing that, but the app's data size on the internal storage obviously includes huge chunks of video.

you'll prob see worse performance in apps when they get moved to SD if you run them from there. I wouldn't move them.

Unhappily S7 don´t move apps to sd card, but only a little part of this....
sonofskywalker3 said:
I can do that on my S7 Edge now so I suspect you will be able to. I moved Wands over to the SD card last night.
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Click to collapse

Averix said:
Honestly, the whole "move to card" crap is annoying. I've found that some apps claim to have migrated, but the amount of space they take up on the internal memory is far larger than it claims. With 64 GB (vs anemic 32 GB) you should be able to leave all the apps on the internal storage and only put the photos, music, and video on the external.
YouTube and others are equally misleading. When you tell them to save stuff to the SD, it claims to be doing that, but the app's data size on the internal storage obviously includes huge chunks of video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, this is especially true with large games. Only way to move everything is by using adoptable storage. Which I wish Samsung allowed, because you can still choose what to put on internal or external.