Database Users

Take Kitkat update OR keep Jelly Bean ?

Hi all:
this time I see Google insist that any new smartphone should be ships with the latest Android version.
What Google is looking for in KitKat ?
For me I will not update to KitKat !
Because of the following:
"The WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission must only grant write access to the primary external storage on a device. Apps must not be allowed to write to secondary external storage devices, except in their package-specific directories as allowed by synthesized permissions."
That means your microSD card is secondary storage and apps will not be allowed to use it, Google has screwed up the KitKat API as they think there is a big security problem with external SD cards !!!!!
Oh... your SD Card is completely useless, applications will no longer be able to create, modify or remove files and folders on your external SD card. As a for-instance, you can no longer use a file manager to copy files from your computer to the SD card over a network.
in short Google want you to use their cloud services instead of your SD card, I feel like we are going back in time, and Samsung is involved in this game.

one-option said:
Hi all:
this time I see Google insist that any new smartphone should be ships with the latest Android version.
What Google is looking for in KitKat ?
For me I will not update to KitKat !
Because of the following:
"The WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission must only grant write access to the primary external storage on a device. Apps must not be allowed to write to secondary external storage devices, except in their package-specific directories as allowed by synthesized permissions."
That means your microSD card is secondary storage and apps will not be allowed to use it, Google has screwed up the KitKat API as they think there is a big security problem with external SD cards !!!!!
Oh... your SD Card is completely useless, applications will no longer be able to create, modify or remove files and folders on your external SD card. As a for-instance, you can no longer use a file manager to copy files from your computer to the SD card over a network.
in short Google want you to use their cloud services instead of your SD card, I feel like we are going back in time, and Samsung is involved in this game.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is already a fix for that

I'm using KitKat and have no problem with ext.sd. everything is working good.

KK goes without saying!!!

KitKat!

Better kitkat :good:

KitKat. period. I flashed the stock firmware first before flashing custom formware. No issues.

yep, kit kat.

definitely kitkat.

Have a break (with jellybean). Have a KitKat.
cheers ~

Zoddex said:
There is already a fix for that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, my S4 is not rooted , that fix also could miss your phone, I don't know what is the point in having a MicroSD slot, then Kitkat will make it useless !!!
as it is not enough that Touchwize rom taking much of the phone storage, but Kitkat will make things even more hard !!!!
Guys just be aware of what you are going to do with your S4

Zoddex said:
There is already a fix for that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Link PLS ...

Mittaa said:
Link PLS ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here you have it (from Google Play): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.sdfix

kponto said:
Here you have it (from Google Play): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.sdfix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Better late than never, but thanks anyway LOL
Found the same solution weeks ago :good:

I would suggest go for KitKat as it's awesome for performance and battery is beastly
Sent From S4 I9500 Crash Rom Final 4.4.2

[Q] Move Apps to EXT SD Card

Guys, I'm trying to move my games to my External SD card since I've got only 1gb left of my internal, but when I try to do it just from the Application Manager inside Settings, it only moves a few megabytes (X-Com Enemy Unknown has 3.7gb and moved to SD 60mb of it, awesome...)
I'm rooted, using X-Note 13, knox tripped 2 minutes after getting inside the house with the phone, I don't care about warranty or stuff, just... Could someone provide a fix, please? Tried App2SD, Link2SD and other apps like this, but it seems all they do is just move provide me with a shortcut to the same Application Manager from Settings that does the same useless thing. I didn't get a 64gb sd card to move 60mb out of 3.7gb from a game, seriously...

I think it depends on the programing of the game what can be moved and what not. Some programs can't be moved at all, but most of the big games I have, large portions of the data was moved to SD card during the install all by itself. If you just purchased the card, maybe reinstalling the game from start would give you better results, if that was an option? Also it seems to me you're using close to 25 GB of internal storage but you only mention one game, surely you must have many other large programs installed, what about them? There are some programs that can fool the system into "thinking" your external SD card is internal memory and your internal memory becomes external, but I don't have details ATM, also this could create problems if your SD card went bad.
And maybe you should take a hard look and see if you really need all those programs? If I didn't keep the tabs and clean all the junk, delete less frequently used programs etc. on regular basis, 96GB of memory wouldn't be enough either LOL.

I mentioned just one game as an example. I have quite a lot of space-hungry games, such as Bard's Tale, Modern Combat 4, Gangstar 4, Amazing SpiderMan2, etc...a total of around 40 games, mostly large games, and I have basically moved everything I could from Application Manager, yet it moved very very very little out of them. I tried deleting and reinstalling them, formatting my sd card, reflashing the rom from scratch with fresh sd, basically same thing every time. I got this phone to be able to have a mobile console with me that can also receive calls (boring job, games on phone help a lot), and now my sd seems so pointless
Internal Memory 26.3gb - 1.2gb free
Ext SD Card 59.0gb - 42.6gb free

bump, please?

The only app that worked for me is FolderMount [ROOT].

RinaldiMe, thanks a lot man, I just bought that app, testing it now, but from it's description, it should do exactly what I hope . It requires individual move of each app and folder, but it does the trick, thank you so very much
Will come back with replies as soon as I move 5-10 apps and test it out more
L.E.: Nope, bought the app, not just the free version, moved some files, still didn't work, apps just thought they didn't have their files and wanted to redownload...
Back to square one

bump (

posedatull said:
bump (
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm assuming your on kk bootloader and dunno if Mattiadjs int2extsd mod will work on 4.4, but I've been using his script meant for JB 4.3 that switches where the huge data and obb files are stored to your extsd instead of internal storage.
Try checking the galaxy s4 thread for the kk mod, I'll try looking too and post a link for ya. I know what your going thru as I have over 500+ apps/games and needed the 128gb SanDisk to store all my obb/data files along with pics and mp3 media.
Here's the link to the kk int2extsd mod
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=46146090
Sent from my SM-N900T using xda premium
---------- Post added at 02:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:47 AM ----------
Folder mount should work too it's just more complicated and is more meant for cm roms imo.
Sent from my SM-N900T using xda premium

posedatull said:
Guys, I'm trying to move my games to my External SD card since I've got only 1gb left of my internal, but when I try to do it just from the Application Manager inside Settings, it only moves a few megabytes (X-Com Enemy Unknown has 3.7gb and moved to SD 60mb of it, awesome...)
I'm rooted, using X-Note 13, knox tripped 2 minutes after getting inside the house with the phone, I don't care about warranty or stuff, just... Could someone provide a fix, please? Tried App2SD, Link2SD and other apps like this, but it seems all they do is just move provide me with a shortcut to the same Application Manager from Settings that does the same useless thing. I didn't get a 64gb sd card to move 60mb out of 3.7gb from a game, seriously...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TRY THIS MATE
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s2/themes-apps/tool-directorybind-data-to-externalsd-t1410262

@fahdil3536, tried that app, but it doesn't seem to work... I will try more tomorrow after work, maybe I didn't set the folders properly (doubt it,but still). Seems the most promising thing I found out until now, thank you

posedatull said:
@fahdil3536, tried that app, but it doesn't seem to work... I will try more tomorrow after work, maybe I didn't set the folders properly (doubt it,but still). Seems the most promising thing I found out until now, thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any luck with that link I sent you, it's really easy to use as you just flash it in recovery. Your rom and kernel need to support init.d and it only works on TouchWiz roms.
Sent from my SM-N900T using xda premium

d12unk13astard said:
Any luck with that link I sent you, it's really easy to use as you just flash it in recovery. Your rom and kernel need to support init.d and it only works on TouchWiz roms.
Sent from my SM-N900T using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
myeah... tried that link, did what I expected... broken basically everything
Restoring a backup now, hoping it'll work. Basically it still saw my internal sd as internal sd, but it didn't see my card properly anymore (and yes i did check the exfat or fat32 version to use)

Are you tried App2sd?

posedatull said:
@fahdil3536, tried that app, but it doesn't seem to work... I will try more tomorrow after work, maybe I didn't set the folders properly (doubt it,but still). Seems the most promising thing I found out until now, thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read op instructions. You have to put the same name folder both internal and external. Example: titanium backup. Both of internal and external must have the same name and caption.
Put all the titanium backup data in external titanium backup folder.
Leave titanium backup folder in internal empty.
Run the app, and select the correct path.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Don't bother mate it didn't work. Maybe its not compatible with KK.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Anyone? Please
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Yeah, apparently SD cards are useless when it comes to apps nowadays... awesome

posedatull said:
Yeah, apparently SD cards are useless when it comes to apps nowadays... awesome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any luck? this seems to be a generic android problem. can't believe no one figured out a solution yet. tried link2SD but it doesn't seem to see the full game size... detects something like 50 mb offf a 3 gb game...

assume u r note r rooted...install Xposed installer, then download a module obb on sd , enable it at the modules after downloading and installing, reboot and them move any game obb data from the note internal memory to the SD after creating folder Andriod/obb at sd
working at my note 9005 4.4.2 echoerom v19

[Q] Has note 3 got the sdcard fix?

Has galaxy note 3 gotten the 4.4.3 which fixes the sdcard write restriction? Or does it still have to be rooted to write to the sdcard?

??? Why?
I was on Stock ND3, my sd card is fine.
I change to stock NE4, and everything is ok with my sdcard.
And both I tried without root.
Sent from somewhere under the sky, at the corner of this rounded earth.

andsa said:
Has galaxy note 3 gotten the 4.4.3 which fixes the sdcard write restriction? Or does it still have to be rooted to write to the sdcard?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes it has gotten the OTA fix update a good while back.
i am using it.. i got the sd card fix on android 4.4.2 .. android 4.4.3 has other fixes
Sent from my SM-N900 using XDA Free mobile app

Does Samsung released 4.4.3 for Note 3? I’m using 4.4.2 updated recently but still not sd card write permission fixed.

4.4.3 is barely out for the Nexus, it's going to be a while before we see it on the Note 3.
What they fixed in the recent 4.4.2's is the ability to read from the MicroSD.

ShadowLea said:
4.4.3 is barely out for the Nexus, it's going to be a while before we see it on the Note 3.
What they fixed in the recent 4.4.2's is the ability to read from the MicroSD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I heard that same, but this post confused me.
Read or write? mine from the start read well all data by external/non stock apps but cant write. After a recent update few weeks back its still does same. I use wifi FTP to transfer files but its cant write in SD card.

soumen.sam said:
Yes I heard that same, but this post confused me.
Read or write? mine from the start read well all data by external/non stock apps but cant write. After a recent update few weeks back its still does same. I use wifi FTP to transfer files but its cant write in SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When the first 4.4.2 update came out, 3rd party apps couldn't even read the SDcard. Samsung fixed that problem in the consequential update.
You still can't write to it without either A, apps that use a workaround, or B, Root Access.
ES File Explorer, for instance, works. (For the most part, renaming doesn't.)

ShadowLea said:
When the first 4.4.2 update came out, 3rd party apps couldn't even read the SDcard. Samsung fixed that problem in the consequential update.
You still can't write to it without either A, apps that use a workaround, or B, Root Access.
ES File Explorer, for instance, works. (For the most part, renaming doesn't.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All right, I didnt know that. My phone came with 4.4.2 stock and just one or two updates after that and didnt see this (sd card read) issue never. Thanks for the clarification.

[Q] Lollipop & SD Card

So I updated to Lollipop via the root method in this forum. My apps are having problems accessing the SD Card. For example, in PowerAmp, I can't delete music on my sd card. Titanium backup will not create backups because it can't access the SD Card. BitTorrent Sync is another app that doesn't have access to the SD Card.
I thought that Lollipop allowed apps to have access to the Sd Card now unlike Kit Kat. I believe the App has to be written to take advantage of this in Lollipop. Is the issue that my apps don't support this? Is there some fix i can do like in kit kat? Is anyone else having this problem?

You're correct. It depends on the app. For instance, es file explorer will prompt for it and have you select the bottom level of the sd card ( I know, it's the root directory, but didn't want to use that term because it has nothing to do with the phone being rooted and wanted to avoid confusion)...anyway, after that selection you can do things as expected through that app and the sdcard. btw, I'm completely stock.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

When I upgraded to lollipop I couldn't write or delete from my sd card. Even with es file explorer. I had to go to the play store and find an app to fix it. Just search SD Fix and choose one with good ratings (I can't remember the one I used)

are you both rooted/custom Rom? for stock and me at least, I just updated to lollipop then updated the es file explorer app and that was it.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

sainthooligan said:
are you both rooted/custom Rom? for stock and me at least, I just updated to lollipop then updated the es file explorer app and that was it.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am rooted, no custom ROM. I just installed ES File Explorer (didn't have it installed before) and I was able to navigate to the SD Card and delete files. So I'm wondering if PowerAmp, TBU and BitTorrent Sync don't have the functionality yet? I'm going to try and un-install and re-install each one and see if that helps. When I upgraded from KK to LP, I did a data restore for apps. Not sure if that might have messed anything up.

I think you're probably OK and didn't mess anything up...best bet is to check with the app dev directly to see if they've considered or are possibly working towards that. So far, I've only encountered one app that uses that functionality from my set of many that's installed...that one is es file explorer. I'm checking with the devs of a couple others I use.
Sent from my primary sender for sending...

sainthooligan said:
I think you're probably OK and didn't mess anything up...best bet is to check with the app dev directly to see if they've considered or are possibly working towards that. So far, I've only encountered one app that uses that functionality from my set of many that's installed...that one is es file explorer. I'm checking with the devs of a couple others I use.
Sent from my primary sender for sending...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I wonder if I should just use an SD Card Fix app in the meantime because I really need the ability for those 3 apps to edit files on my SD Card.

not sure, but sounds like it worked for briantacker. If it does work for you, please post what you did & which app you used so that others may profit from your success as well.
Sent from my primary sender for sending...

sainthooligan said:
not sure, but sounds like it worked for briantacker. If it does work for you, please post what you did & which app you used so that others may profit from your success as well.
Sent from my primary sender for sending...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so I tried un-installing and re-installing BitTorrent Sync but I was still getting a message that it did not have permission to write to the SD Card. So I installed this, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.sdfix , even though it's for Kit Kat and it worked. I've only tested it with BitTorrent Sync but I'm sure it will work with the other two apps.

nynativ said:
So I wonder if I should just use an SD Card Fix app in the meantime because I really need the ability for those 3 apps to edit files on my SD Card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sd card fixer for kit kat worked for me. Titanium works fine now and i can backup to the extsdcard.
Sent from either galaxy tab 10.1 4.4.4 or Verizon Galaxy S5 on rooted 5.0

Yeah, looks like that fixed my issue with Titanium backup and Poweramp.

From what I can tell, even though I used the app you recommended, not all apps get access. The one that I found that didn't is didn't is Dolphin Browser. I was hoping to be able to save to card. Oh well. I know the fix worked because titanium backup will backup to card. I guess that I may have to email the developer.

Apps on SD Card

I loved Stock Android around when KitKat was out, but I came to hate it when Lollipop came out. I decided to get the Moto X and try out Marshmallow, but I'm already running into problems with/hating Google's (and Motorola's) oversimplified features.
Usually when I get a phone a put in an SD card so I can store some apps and data on there, as well as music, pictures, files, etc. that has been on the card for years. I pop in the SD card to the 16 gig phone ready to move Spotify and some other apps to the card, but then I run into that whole "format as internal storage. It says that formatting it will wipe the card (obviously), but it also says once I do I will only be able to use the SD card with this device, and when I asked a friend for help, she said I wouldn't be able to transfer data from the card anymore either.
I started searching everywhere on the internet for a workaround, but I can't find anything. Is there any workaround with this? I'm already rooted and on a ROM so I'm open to any suggestions. If not I'm just going to sell the phone or downgrade to lollipop.

Which version of twrp are you using ?
You need to make sure you have this version of twrp.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3200520
Prior to this version, twrp was broke in regards to the new adaptable storage that came in Android M, then finally a few weeks ago, 3.0.0 came out, fixed that, and also a few other things. I can not use the combined/adaptable storage feature in Marshmallow like it was intended. To be honest, it was the major reason I got this phone and bought the 16gb version. Its all good now tho.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

Sheetzie03 said:
Which version of twrp are you using ?
You need to make sure you have this version of twrp.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3200520
Prior to this version, twrp was broke in regards to the new adaptable storage that came in Android M, then finally a few weeks ago, 3.0.0 came out, fixed that, and also a few other things. I can not use the combined/adaptable storage feature in Marshmallow like it was intended. To be honest, it was the major reason I got this phone and bought the 16gb version. Its all good now tho.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I have 3.0.0 installed on my phone, should I reinstall it or install 3.0.1?

coolwiththecool2 said:
Yeah I have 3.0.0 installed on my phone, should I reinstall it or install 3.0.1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you explain what the problem is again? Starting with twrp 3.0 , adaptable storage should work as its suppose to.
And yeah I just seen 3.0.1 is out I'm thinking just flashing the .IMG will work, I used flashify
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

Sheetzie03 said:
Can you explain what the problem is again? Starting with twrp 3.0 , adaptable storage should work as its suppose to.
And yeah I just seen 3.0.1 is out I'm thinking just flashing the .IMG will work, I used flashify
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is Marshmallow wants me to format my SD card as internal storage just to store apps on it, and I am trying to find a way to store apps on there without formating it, as I've been doing with all previous Android versions.

I don't get why you wouldn't want to use the adaptable storage option. What's wrong with backing ur sd up to pc, format as internal(adaptable storage? , and then copy back from pc. If I'm missing something, my bad.
Otherwise,
Pretty sure there isn't way to do what you want on 6.0... But again, I don't know what you are actually losing out on other than having to back the card 1st, format, and copy back. A small hassle
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

Sheetzie03 said:
I don't get why you wouldn't want to use the adaptable storage option. What's wrong with backing ur sd up to pc, format as internal(adaptable storage? , and then copy back from pc. If I'm missing something, my bad.
Otherwise,
Pretty sure there isn't way to do what you want on 6.0... But again, I don't know what you are actually losing out on other than having to back the card 1st, format, and copy back. A small hassle
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to use the adaptable storage because I will only be able to use the SD card with this phone and I won't be able to transfer data from it either.
This is a problem because I currently use the SD card between two phones, as a makeshift flash drive, and as storage for my DSLR so I can edit photos with my phone.

I went through this whole ordeal myself recently.
You can't have it both ways. I chose to format my card as portable storage so it will remain readable in any card reader. The draw back is apps can't be stored on it, nor most app data.
To work around this i'm making every app a system app. This will alleviate some of the burden of the internal storage. Some apps will just not work as system apps. I think swype is one example.
Some apps will require their .lib to be placed in the appropriate lib folder under system (lib or lib64 for 64bit binaries). Google maps and hangouts are two examples that come to mind. You'll know if you need this if the app crashes when starting.
The ideal solution is to have a phone with at least 32GB storage or more. This becomes a non issue then.

Yeah, Motorola removed the Move to SD card feature in favor of "the richer experience natively provided by Android."
I think you can use TWRP "Partition SD Card" to create 2 partitions on the SD, though... a FAT32 partition to share with your other devices and an EXT4 partition that you can use to store apps. You'll need an android app like Mounts2SD to copy apps to/from the external storage.
The other option is to downgrade to 5.1.1 or use a 6.0 ROM that still has the old Move to SD card feature. I'm not sure if there are any, though.

gpz1100 said:
I went through this whole ordeal myself recently.
You can't have it both ways. I chose to format my card as portable storage so it will remain readable in any card reader. The draw back is apps can't be stored on it, nor most app data.
To work around this i'm making every app a system app. This will alleviate some of the burden of the internal storage. Some apps will just not work as system apps. I think swype is one example.
Some apps will require their .lib to be placed in the appropriate lib folder under system (lib or lib64 for 64bit binaries). Google maps and hangouts are two examples that come to mind. You'll know if you need this if the app crashes when starting.
The ideal solution is to have a phone with at least 32GB storage or more. This becomes a non issue then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To the op Sorry man, I didn't really know all this. But this post seems to explain it pretty well. Looks like you may have to sell or downgrade. That sucks.
As far as this specific post is concerned, I'm trying to follow my best. As you said, best would be to buy at least at 32gb well some, including me have already bought a 16gb, unfortunately. Personally, iv chose to use adaptable now that twrp 3.0 is out. When i Install apps, wherever they go is where they go. After seeing this thread, I'm thinking maybe there is way to do things a different way to save some space. I went ahead and went into apps and tried moving Spotify from internal to SD card. but after I did this, I noticed every time I close the app it signs me out lol wth... that's a problem. I didn't know why it was doing that. Is this an example of an app not being able to run correctly on the SD rather than internal? Also, i tried moving maps from internal to sd, seemed to be running fine, but shortly after, i noticed on a reboot, it somehow uninstsalls. Its gone as if i uninstalled it manually but i obv did not. Like what? How is this even possible. I wanted to give you a few examples of what i tried and what was happening. But I asked myself why am I even doing this, is it to save space? If it is, that's fine.
But yeah man, it seems you know more than me about this , that's safe to say. But based on what iv written here, can you give me some advice on things to do if I'm using the adaptable storage option. Should I be moving apps? Why? Which ones? Or just leave things as is? Again i have a 16gb model with a 32gb card running adaptable storage. If there are ways to save space by moving apps certain places I'm fine with that. I'd just like to get your opinion on what exactly I should be doing based on the model I have, size card, and running adaptable storage. Hey sorry too bother you about this. I had noticed you replied to the op of this topic and you know what you are talking about.
And to the op, sorry if iv hijacked your post man.
Peace
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

gpz1100 said:
<snip>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I should have gotten the 32gb version, although it's kind of my fault because I already had a negative opinion of post-kitkat stock Android yet I got the device anyways. Maybe I can resell the device on swappa and get a 32gb version instead of buying a new one, mainly because the only two phones of the 2015 generation I have interest in is the Moto X Pure and the One M9. Worst case scenario is settling for Samsung (as oneplus said, never settle)
To make matters worst, I temporarily moved all the data to my computer and formated the SD card as internal as a test, only to find out the two apps I put on there don't want to act properly because the SD card is too slow (which is why the feature shouldn't even be here in the first place).
divinemyth99 said:
<snip>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I do do one of those options it would most likely be the second one because last time I messed with partitions on an SD card I, somehow, bricked the phone. I could look for a tutorial somewhere, but this phone's XDA forums is relatively quiet compared to other phones I've had (especially Android development).

@Sheetzie03, I can't help you with adoptable space as it's not something I have much experience with. It could be spotify relies on other components which are not accessible when on the sd.