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I am computer savvy, began building PCs in the late 70's - early 80's, beginning with DOS 1.0. I know a little basic, a little UNIX, etc., but am not a programmer.
I am as psyched about my HTC Hero Android as I am about Windows 7. I love it! Like all users, I download and delete apps on a fairly regular basis. I also rooted my phone to OS 2.1. Here's my (minor) dilemma; the deleted apps (I think) leave artifacts, files and folders. When I rooted the phone, photos and other files are now in different folders. I also see twice the number of photos and wallpaper as the system seems to be creating logo sized duplicates.
I've been searching, without success, for something that will tell me what the file/folder hierarchy is. What's the structure? How to determine which apps use which folders. Which folders are used by the OS and the mobile OS? I want to be able to keep the memory and SD clean just as I do with my PCs, as well as copy files to the appropriate folders so that they will appear correctly in whatever app should be
calling them up.
I hope all this makes sense. And I hope you know of some source of information, be it a book, blog, or other, that will provide some insight in this domain.
Thanks for the help!
I rooted to Damageless' FRESH 2.1.
I have the sdk but have not opened it yet. I'll check out Android Commander.
I have sone some UNIX and did quite a bit in MTOS on large Telecom voice switches, so I can probably eek my way through.
Thanks for the direction BWBL.
Brian
basically Android is a dalvik virtual machine(stripped down java for embedded devices essentially) that is sitting on top of a Linux kernel. My understanding is that unless a program has root, it cannot access internal storage, especially write access. All prefs are saved to a database and applications are completely sandboxed, therefore no artifacts will remain on internal memory. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for your SD card. If you grant a program access to your SD card it can **** all over it and the OS doesn't. protect you. I have found that HTCs stuff is guilty of copying pictures all over.
bnbaldwin53 said:
I am computer savvy, began building PCs in the late 70's - early 80's, beginning with DOS 1.0. I know a little basic, a little UNIX, etc., but am not a programmer.
I am as psyched about my HTC Hero Android as I am about Windows 7. I love it! Like all users, I download and delete apps on a fairly regular basis. I also rooted my phone to OS 2.1. Here's my (minor) dilemma; the deleted apps (I think) leave artifacts, files and folders. When I rooted the phone, photos and other files are now in different folders. I also see twice the number of photos and wallpaper as the system seems to be creating logo sized duplicates.
I've been searching, without success, for something that will tell me what the file/folder hierarchy is. What's the structure? How to determine which apps use which folders. Which folders are used by the OS and the mobile OS? I want to be able to keep the memory and SD clean just as I do with my PCs, as well as copy files to the appropriate folders so that they will appear correctly in whatever app should be
calling them up.
I hope all this makes sense. And I hope you know of some source of information, be it a book, blog, or other, that will provide some insight in this domain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1)Backup apps with androzip.
2)Backup the entire sd to pc(you may need to format but should not).
3)Wipe(data,delvic,uid mismatches). This will get rid of those apk leftovers/uta fc's....
4)Install a fresh copy of damage
5)Now right after initial boot, back up your sd card file structure
6)Drop your pc backup folders in their corresponding freshly set-up counterparts
7)Do yourself a favor and get a good file browser and you can check out the system heirarchy for yourself. These are MY personal faves,
a)androzip-explore sd/free market
b)root explorer-explore system/paid xda
c)astro-both free/market
d)android commander-for pc free/google
e)android sdk is another invaluable tool free/google
If you need further assistance, feel free to pm. Good Luck
Awesome! Thanks Magnus.
So, apparently, it is still not supported and Google has no solution yet.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2275..._details_emerge_the_little_things_add_up.html
This detail, which came out in conversations I had with Google engineers today, explains why the Android file system organization is, well, a mess, and why I’ve had such inconsistent experiences with Android and removable storage across the various Honeycomb tablets I’ve tried (and I’ve tried all of them that are available so far).
“We don’t want to expose the user to file locations,” explained Hiroshi Lockheimer, director of engineering at Google. “How do you manage that as a user? The not-good answer is with the file browser.” Lockheimer says that many of the experiences I’ve seen so far are what individual hardware manufacturers have enabled, as opposed to what Google has provided natively. The good thing is that Lockheimer says Google is looking at ways to do this; but the problem hasn’t been solved yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it me or does that say nothing still?
Google says they don't want to give you a file browser / file explorer / file manager.
Fine - there's plenty of third party apps to that on the market - but why not fix the SD card slot support?
Although I agree that some of the structure stuff is a bit of a mess - there's lots of random folders created on the SD card, like .android_secure, .bookmark_thumb etc. that you probably don't want end users seeing.
At least now it's clear that it's Google who has to fix the SD Card issue and not Motorola.
poisike said:
At least now it's clear that it's Google who has to fix the SD Card issue and not Motorola.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I honestly didn't read that at all...?
I read that google were working on some sort of file manager, not SD card? am I misreading it? as far as I can see file manager, and SD card are separate issues?
also the transformer, and custom kernels have the sd card slot working, so not sure who is at fault for the xoom
Why is there a difference between the tablet and the phones?
I have access to the SD Card and file system there.
Not like every Windows user on the planet has never seen "My Computer". Organizing files is not some obscure concept that is to high level for users.
From what I can understand:
USB file system means the OS access the usb disk in block level which the app (file browser) will have access to the full path of the file.
The one that is supported by Honeycomb right now is MTP. This is totally different compared to USB. The actual file system is implemented by the device, not by the computer's operating system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol
My prediction, this USB thing will be solved by the upcoming ICE CREAM SANDWICH.
Because by then, phone and tablet are merged ... everything which is supported by phone (like SD card) must be supported by tablet.
So, yeah, we must wait till end of this year or early next year (worse case).
Still, it is too long for Motorola with their "promise", no?
@Kcarpenter
Very true - but I think the problem may lie with the Xoom using the MTP instead?
or is that a load of rubbish?
Eitherway, I guess from the Google point of view - they want it simple and try and hide the stuff they don't want n00bs messing with (a bit like Apple hide everything too so all their iOS are n00b proof!)
Also Phones open up to mass storage straight to the card - you don't get access to the internal memory at all. Whereas with the Xoom you would want access to that because there's loads of space there
gogol said:
My prediction, this USB thing will be solved by the upcoming ICE CREAM SANDWICH.
Because by then, phone and tablet are merged ... everything which is supported by phone (like SD card) must be supported by tablet.
So, yeah, we must wait till end of this year or early next year (worse case).
Still, it is too long for Motorola with their "promise", no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about just fixing the kernel like timat's - that'd do the same job for now
Still don't understand why they would slack on getting the SD card implemented. They have so much riding on honeycomb success. And the LTE radio needs to get installed too. Time to ramp it up.
I agree they should be able to enable it considering one of our own has already done so with a custom a kernel, I still love my xoom though!
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
mwaychoff said:
I agree they should be able to enable it considering one of our own has already done so with a custom a kernel, I still love my xoom though!
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agree completely.
and the LTE thing is running on awhile now - didnt someone say that the samsung tab 10.1 might beat Xoom to be the first LTE HC tab if Moto don't buck up?
Who needs google when you have bigrushdog?
Just did the 3.1 update and SD card slot still doesn't work. I thought it would've fixed this.
Yea, I read that article yesterday. It has NOTHING to do with the sdcard support.
Google was explaining why android in general has a fairly chaotic/unintuitive filesystem structure... NOT why they haven't biuld in support for SD.
it was well known this update was not addressing the sd slot. No wjere not one single ppace has google or moto saidnthe sd lotbwil not be active by the deadline they stated. They could give us slot access right now but the issue is as has been aluded to they would either have to give full file sys access or no file access like the phones. For those that will say it doesn't matter give us access. It matters to them as they will be creating huge issues with tech support by the much larger majority of users that would delete things that would kill or hamper the device. I mean even on here you have tons of people that can't follow clear simple directons to flash an update without screwing it up some how. Can you imagine Suzzy home maker or joe the guy who can not figure out how to do a windows update would do with full access. My guess is they will be doing a update with a file manager and permision set so nothing past the sdcard parent folder can be accessed and programs installed will have premissions set to prevent accidental delete without going into the file manger settings to change them to allow change of permisions.
This will solve both the issues and allow both sd card and internal storage access without opening up the core files to tinkering by BDUs
I am trying to understand the folder structure on the TF.
I have a 16GB micros SD card and I want all data type files to be saved there e.g. photos, downloads, music etc.
There is a folder at the top level called /SDCARD and I had assumed that this was the MicroSD card and all this sort of data is being stored in sub folder from there.
I have now realised that the MicroSD card is actually accessed from /Removable/MicroSD and that the TF has not stored anything on it. I have just moved my music and video to there.
Can I move all the other SDCARD subfolders to /Removable/MicroSD and then delete the SDCARD folder?
I can't see the point of having a folder called SDCARD it is very misleading.
Thanks for any help.
This is your internal storage. I'm not sure why it is displayed this way, maybe that will become standard in Gingerbread?
You cannot 'delete' the SDCARD folder. It is a mount point for the remainder of your internal storage (16GB or 32GB)
As bizarre as it seems when compared to a phone, this actually makes more sense. My Droid X has 6.5GB of the 8GB internal memory put aside for the /data partition. Despite having the phone for a full year and having a ton of apps installed, /data still has 5GB free. That's 5GB of storage I do not have access to, so it's effectively wasted.
On the ASUS (and others HC tabs?) that space exists as a virtual device /dev/fuse and is mounted as /mnt/sdcard. A symbolic link exists /sdcard which points to the mount point. The net result is, you have the majority of free space on the internal memory available to you. If you didn't, there'd be no incentive to buy the 32GB version over the 16GB version.
It is called /sdcard to maintain the illusion within the OS. This space, like it or not, is your primary storage. It makes your actual sdcard more of a transient storage location, great for just music, movies, etc., that you do not necessarily want to keep on the device long term. This is a great advantage as you can keep multiple sdcards with different content and not worry about messing up the core OS storage needs.
Be aware that the OS and apps expect to find certain data in /sdcard and moving the folders to your 'external' card will only force these apps and processes to recreate the folders in /sdcard. Also some apps will have lost some of their data and may not operate as expected or will act as when they were first installed (games will redownload supporting data, for example)
Sent from my rooted ASUS Transformer running PRIME 1.4
jhanford said:
You cannot 'delete' the SDCARD folder. It is a mount point for the remainder of your internal storage (16GB or 32GB)
As bizarre as it seems when compared to a phone, this actually makes more sense. My Droid X has 6.5GB of the 8GB internal memory put aside for the /data partition. Despite having the phone for a full year and having a ton of apps installed, /data still has 5GB free. That's 5GB of storage I do not have access to, so it's effectively wasted.
On the ASUS (and others HC tabs?) that space exists as a virtual device /dev/fuse and is mounted as /mnt/sdcard. A symbolic link exists /sdcard which points to the mount point. The net result is, you have the majority of free space on the internal memory available to you. If you didn't, there'd be no incentive to buy the 32GB version over the 16GB version.
It is called /sdcard to maintain the illusion within the OS. This space, like it or not, is your primary storage. It makes your actual sdcard more of a transient storage location, great for just music, movies, etc., that you do not necessarily want to keep on the device long term. This is a great advantage as you can keep multiple sdcards with different content and not worry about messing up the core OS storage needs.
Be aware that the OS and apps expect to find certain data in /sdcard and moving the folders to your 'external' card will only force these apps and processes to recreate the folders in /sdcard. Also some apps will have lost some of their data and may not operate as expected or will act as when they were first installed (games will redownload supporting data, for example)
Sent from my rooted ASUS Transformer running PRIME 1.4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After reading your explanation, it makes better sense to me. I was a bit annoyed, but I see how this could work to my favor. Using just the actual SD cards for movies, music, ect.
Moving data - Video
Sorry, I find what is said here a little disconcerting.
Why have SD cards and USB devices attached (eg. USB Flash drives, hard drives) when the data flow only goes one way, "in", and not out.
If I want to edit a video, the files are too large to email.
I can't find a way to move the video to an external device.
All one can do, as far as I can tell, is to upload the unedited video to YouTube.
Once there initially one get an error message saying that the file type is not recognized. It is...eventually, but only after it's fully processed. This is really confusing to the user. You'd think Google would give Android users a processing message rather than something that makes you think there is no way to view and share your video other than your tablet.
I couldn't find a way to tag a video either.
The default seemed to be "entertainment."
The options for sharing video are much to limited.
The only site you can upload a video to is YouTube.
I'd love to be able to put it on another site (e.g. a personal/corporate website).
I sure wish there were a way of off-loading and storing a folder generated from the Tablet to an external device, especially one with external ports like the Transformer.
If anyone knows of an app to do two way data flows, I'd sure like to know about it because my SHDC card and USB Flash drives look so lonely with nothing to do.
[email protected] said:
Sorry, I find what is said here a little disconcerting.
Why have SD cards and USB devices attached (eg. USB Flash drives, hard drives) when the data flow only goes one way, "in", and not out.
If I want to edit a video, the files are too large to email.
I can't find a way to move the video to an external device.
All one can do, as far as I can tell, is to upload the unedited video to YouTube.
Once there initially one get an error message saying that the file type is not recognized. It is...eventually, but only after it's fully processed. This is really confusing to the user. You'd think Google would give Android users a processing message rather than something that makes you think there is no way to view and share your video other than your tablet.
I couldn't find a way to tag a video either.
The default seemed to be "entertainment."
The options for sharing video are much to limited.
The only site you can upload a video to is YouTube.
I'd love to be able to put it on another site (e.g. a personal/corporate website).
I sure wish there were a way of off-loading and storing a folder generated from the Tablet to an external device, especially one with external ports like the Transformer.
If anyone knows of an app to do two way data flows, I'd sure like to know about it because my SHDC card and USB Flash drives look so lonely with nothing to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is nothing stopping you from copy files from the internal storage to an external sdcard. From the built-in file manager you can select a folder using the check boxes to the left of it, and then click the Copy or Cut button at the top of the screen, then navigate up until you see "Removable". Tap that and then "MicroSD" and then you can tap "Paste" at the top of the screen to copy or move to the new location.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
Drive letters or some kind of unique ID from the root would be favorable. I know it's meant to adapt to Android, but last time I checked, Honeycomb was a separat version of the OS. It's unfortunate that it has to fool both the user and itself to be effective.
moo99 said:
Drive letters or some kind of unique ID from the root would be favorable. I know it's meant to adapt to Android, but last time I checked, Honeycomb was a separat version of the OS. It's unfortunate that it has to fool both the user and itself to be effective.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It still maintains the overall Adroid/Linux filesystem structure, there are no lettered drives in *NIX.
I know that, bru. Calling it , I dont know, "Internal" instead of "SD Card" would make a little sense considering there are two separate ports for SD Cards on there. Writing an alias isnt that complicated
Not sure if you guys have used this but Ive found it pretty handy for online storage. Called drop box, you get 2Gb free and can upgrade and get more if you need it!
http://db.tt/2yz87DL
If anyone else has found simliar apps that offer more storage would love to know so just post here!
ShaunD103 said:
Not sure if you guys have used this but Ive found it pretty handy for online storage. Called drop box, you get 2Gb free and can upgrade and get more if you need it!
http://db.tt/2yz87DL
If anyone else has found simliar apps that offer more storage would love to know so just post here!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right. And by clicking that referral link above, both parties get a little extra space.
It's a pretty popular online storage / file sharing service and along with the DropBox Android app, a great extension for storage on tablets.
gammaRascal said:
Right. And by clicking that referral link above, both parties get a little extra space.
It's a pretty popular online storage / file sharing service and along with the DropBox Android app, a great extension for storage on tablets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed, so far loving it!
Another online storage tool is Spideroak. It works across many platforms including Android and Linux. I am still in the process of testing it out. Not quite as intuitive as Dropbox. But I used the promo code *worldbackupday* and got a free upgrade to 5GB of storage. Not bad.
I'm using ubuntu one for my tablet and pc with ubuntu
Wysłane z Acera A500
Just trying out Asus Web Storage. It has a very cheap option for unlimited storage.... Tempting!
I personally can't think of any use for these online storage systems. It would be okay if you could mount them and then have all your applications be able to access the files there directly, but if you always have to copy stuff back and forth first then... meh.
Well the great thing about DropBox is that it integrates into windows just like a regular folder.
Once you've installed the application (which has a very small footprint) you can use the Windows 'Send To' context menu option and send anything to the DrobBox folder on your computer and it syncs with the account, making whatever you put in there available from any web-connected device. (either in a public or private folder which you can also set up)
You can also setup shared folders between people/teams which has a semi-type check-in/check-out feature that shows when others are working on them. So, say I'm working on a design doc - I can open it directly from my DropBox folder (since its a regular windows folder) make changes, edits etc, save it and it syncs the new version with anyone else I'm sharing the folder with.
As far as the tablet goes, it really is an extension to storage but only in a minimalist sense. Launching the Android App shows you all your DropBox folders and you can navigate though folders and open files or download them to your tab (without having to mount the tab to your computer or do that SD card dance). The primary point being, you can access them directly from the DropBox app and not actually have them on your tab.
I use it mainly to store books and other documents (also my bootanimations and screenshots) so when I want to access them (or give access to them) I can share the link, or open the files directly on my tab - make changes, save and it saves to DropBox.
It really is flawless and elegant.
gammaRascal said:
It really is flawless and elegant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's also entirely reliant on people and systems over which you have no control. It can fail without warning, just because something between you and their servers goes wrong, and you have zero assurance of security either.
I hate the "cloud". I think it's stupid, pointless and potentially downright dangerous. You have zero control over your data or who has access to your data.
FloatingFatMan said:
It's also entirely reliant on people and systems over which you have no control. It can fail without warning, just because something between you and their servers goes wrong, and you have zero assurance of security either.
I hate the "cloud". I think it's stupid, pointless and potentially downright dangerous. You have zero control over your data or who has access to your data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What.are.you.talking.about?
All that reads like over sensitive hyperbole and paranoia to me.
You're suggesting that just because you have files in your DropBox folder that it's unsecure?
Anything can fail without warning - that's hardly an ongoing and preventative concern of mine. I could turn on the light in my bathroom and *might* pop and yet, here we are. I'm not about to take a flashlight in with me every single time *just in case*.
Your HDD can fail. Your CPU can pop. Your MB can short... I mean, what are you expecting? Putting files on DropBox is no more unsecure than burning it to a DVD or copying it to a Flash drive or leaving it on your HDD.
There are *levels* of security and DropBox is far more secure than you give it credit. If security is a serious concern of yours, turn off the internet.
And regarding the cloud. See paragraph 2.
gammaRascal said:
Well the great thing about DropBox is that it integrates into windows just like a regular folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know it does on Windows, but my tablet doesn't run Windows.
As far as the tablet goes, it really is an extension to storage but only in a minimalist sense. Launching the Android App shows you all your DropBox folders and you can navigate though folders and open files or download them to your tab (without having to mount the tab to your computer or do that SD card dance). The primary point being, you can access them directly from the DropBox app and not actually have them on your tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the whole point why I don't like these kinds of things: it's cumbersome if I always have to go through this or that application first in order to use a file. It should just be mounted on a specific directory and that's that. I can only hope someone will create something like that for Android soon.
I wonder though if there is any way of mounting SSH connections, like for example as through Fuse as is possible on Linux. Then I wouldn't have to worry about these kinds of things at all as I have ample amounts of storage space on my server.
The company I work for, one of the largest IT corporations in Europe, SELLS cloud services. I know what I'm talking about.
Your files are not secure, no matter the assurances you're given, and Dropbox has had some pretty major security flaws in the quite recent past. And as a recent screwup on Amazon's cloud services recently showed, if something goes wrong or some dumbass makes a mistake, you might not even get your data back intact. That sort of thing happens a lot more often than you think, too.
Hell, we sell the bloody services to the world, but our own internal network services are down more often than a whores knickers!
FloatingFatMan said:
The company I work for, one of the largest IT corporations in Europe, SELLS cloud services. I know what I'm talking about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not questioning whether you know or don't know what you're talking about.
FloatingFatMan said:
Your files are not secure, no matter the assurances you're given, and Dropbox has had some pretty major security flaws in the quite recent past. And as a recent screwup on Amazon's cloud services recently showed, if something goes wrong or some dumbass makes a mistake, you might not even get your data back intact. That sort of thing happens a lot more often than you think, too.
Hell, we sell the bloody services to the world, but our own internal network services are down more often than a whores knickers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are secure. Which, as you know, is a relative term.
If you need *more* security then don't use it. I don't know how much simpler it can be.
WereCatf said:
I know it does on Windows, but my tablet doesn't run Windows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why there is an Android App. The service is a ubiquitous sharing that acts like a regular Windows folder while in the Windows environment. It's not *beholden* to the Windows environment.
WereCatf said:
That's the whole point why I don't like these kinds of things: it's cumbersome if I always have to go through this or that application first in order to use a file. It should just be mounted on a specific directory and that's that. I can only hope someone will create something like that for Android soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure how you can suggest it's cumbersome if you haven't tried it. Open the DropBox application, navigate to a file and select it and it opens in whatever app you have it set to open. They only different between than and opening a native application and then finding the file you want to open and opening it is that using the DropBox method, the file has to be downloaded first - which maybe is a thing for you, I don't know.
If you want it on your tab, select the file and download it - it saves to the local DropBox folder and at that point you can access it locally like any other file. The only other option is to manually put the file on your tablet - via cable, SD card, email - whatever method you see fit. To me, *that's* cumbersome.
Like I said, DropBox is more about access than storage. People use DropBox because they want access to files over the web in the same manner they would over a home network (without using bloated VNC's and multiple programs). If you have no need for such a function then DropBox doesn't sound like something you'd use.
gammaRascal said:
I'm not sure how you can suggest it's cumbersome if you haven't tried it. Open the DropBox application, navigate to a file and select it and it opens in whatever app you have it set to open. They only different between than and opening a native application and then finding the file you want to open and opening it is that using the DropBox method, the file has to be downloaded first - which maybe is a thing for you, I don't know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't differ at all from opening file manager, navigating to samba share and downloading a file from there. That's why I said I'd like something that allows me to mount the whole thing as a regular directory on my tablet, THEN it would be useful. Like for example, the eBook reader I have shows as a collection all the books I have. If the cloud storage was mounted on a directory I could just point the eBook reader to that directory and POOF, they'd all be visible and accessible without having to copy anything back-and-forth.
Unfortunately there seems to be no such service for Android. Atleast not yet :/
If you have no need for such a function then DropBox doesn't sound like something you'd use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look, I'm not bashing DropBox. I just voiced a wish for additional functionality. I already have DropBox-like functionality via file manager and browsing to either Samba-share or SFTP-share, with 2Tb storage, on my own server, but if I could just mount the thing on a directory it'd be a lot, LOT more useful.
gammaRascal said:
What.are.you.talking.about?
All that reads like over sensitive hyperbole and paranoia to me.
You're suggesting that just because you have files in your DropBox folder that it's unsecure?
Anything can fail without warning - that's hardly an ongoing and preventative concern of mine. I could turn on the light in my bathroom and *might* pop and yet, here we are. I'm not about to take a flashlight in with me every single time *just in case*.
Your HDD can fail. Your CPU can pop. Your MB can short... I mean, what are you expecting? Putting files on DropBox is no more unsecure than burning it to a DVD or copying it to a Flash drive or leaving it on your HDD.
There are *levels* of security and DropBox is far more secure than you give it credit. If security is a serious concern of yours, turn off the internet.
And regarding the cloud. See paragraph 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do a Google search using the terms Dropbox Security Breach and then read the article at CNET, a reliable IT information source. FloatingFatMan is right, at least about the security of Dropbox. I'm a bit leary of the Cloud for the same reasons. Do you know who is controlling your data or any of the folks who have access to it?
*yawn*
Yu huh...
The secret to modifying files on the SD card is in theMediaStore*class. It's a*Content Provider*with access to the database built by the Media Scanner. This is mostly useful to apps like the gallery and music players, but anything that wants to see locally stored images, audio, or video will probably use it.
We’re really interested in a child class calledMediaStore.Files. Its job is to give links (URIs) to apps so they can query the database for files on a specific storage device. Through this mechanism, developers can get a specially crafted link that can be used to open a file with write access.
It seems that this method works because the links actually call on the Media Store to open and edit files. Since the Media Store runs with system privileges, it is free to make changes on external storage devices. In essence, apps are able to masquerade as a system service for the purpose of writing to the SD card.
Total Commander*appears to be the first*to have discovered*and implemented this workaround. There are still a few known bugs and some devices, like the HTC One M8 with its /sdcard2 mount point, aren’t supported yet, but it’s almost completely working on the Note 3. While the code has been in Total Commander for quite some time, a*recently posted beta*cleaned up several bugs and makes it the best implementation we've seen.
Source: http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/0...ng-to-the-sd-card-on-kitkat-but-for-how-long/
Check out "Total Commander - file manager" - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ghisler.android.TotalCommander
I expect this will be too quickly fixed to get excited about.
What it needs is for Google to add a permission, even with loads of warnings and confirmations, to allow us to make our own choices - and allow the use of file managers and other apps that need access to the whole memory card.
I'm willing to take the risk Google!
But, this is Sony, so even if Mr. Google fixes it, it'll be sometime in 2015 before that appears on a Z1, if ever.
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