Database Users

A little confused by sdcard and external_sd

As the title says, I'm a little confused by the folder "sdcard" and the sub-folder "external_sd".
This is my first native Android device. I've been using Android on my HD2 for about 8 months now and I was fine with the "sdcard" folder actually being my sd card. Now, I've got internal memory of 16GB and that has an "sdcard" folder that my apps use to store stuff to the sd card, but they're not really storing anything on the sd card - it's a folder on the internal memory.
I'd ideally like to have internal memory and an sdcard folder that really is a sd card, so that when apps store things to "/sdcard" it does go to my sd card.
Can someone please clarify this for me?
Thanks

im not 100 precent sure on this but i think this is how it works.
thr tab has an internal non removable 2gb drove that is mounted as /
there is a internal non removable 16 gb drive that mounts as /sdcard ( /mnt/sdcard/ ) this is where your apps are installed.
then whaever external microsd card you insert gets mounted to /sdcard/external_sd/ ( /mnt/sdcard/external_sd/ )
. why its done like this is kinda stupid. apps like titanium backup you gave to type "sdcards/external_sd" as the backup folder if you want to put your backups on the microsd card since it thinks /sdcard is a removable device, which it isnt.
this is where i store pics vids and music crap.
also clockworkmod does seem to correctly put backups on the external card automatically.
heres a tip. create an empty folder on the external card called "THIS IS THE EXTERNALS SD" and likewise for the internal. that way when you are using a app or mounting as usb storage you can quickly and eaisly recognize what drive is what.
i dont know if tha answeres your question but i hope it helps.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk

gophet said:
im not 100 precent sure on this but i think this is how it works.
thr tab has an internal non removable 2gb drove that is mounted as /
there is a internal non removable 16 gb drive that mounts as /sdcard ( /mnt/sdcard/ ) this is where your apps are installed.
then whaever external microsd card you insert gets mounted to /sdcard/external_sd/ ( /mnt/sdcard/external_sd/ )
. why its done like this is kinda stupid. apps like titanium backup you gave to type "sdcards/external_sd" as the backup folder if you want to put your backups on the microsd card since it thinks /sdcard is a removable device, which it isnt.
this is where i store pics vids and music crap.
also clockworkmod does seem to correctly put backups on the external card automatically.
heres a tip. create an empty folder on the external card called "THIS IS THE EXTERNALS SD" and likewise for the internal. that way when you are using a app or mounting as usb storage you can quickly and eaisly recognize what drive is what.
i dont know if tha answeres your question but i hope it helps.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Gophet. That's pretty much what I assumed, and it was specifically apps like Titanium and Launcher Pro that backup to the SD card that made me ask the question in the first place. Shame I can't set backup folders for everything!
Cheers mate

cool enjoy
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk

gophet said:
there is a internal non removable 16 gb drive that mounts as /sdcard ( /mnt/sdcard/ ) this is where your apps are installed.
then whaever external microsd card you insert gets mounted to /sdcard/external_sd/ ( /mnt/sdcard/external_sd/ )
. why its done like this is kinda stupid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, the reason it is done like this is pretty logical.
Applications get stored in /data/apps (or /system/apps if they are system apps), and can use storage in /data/data. However, on most regular Android devices, the space in these partitions is quite limited, so if an application needs a lot more space (e.g. a game), it stores it's other resources where there is a lot more space and generally this in the sdcard. So many apps are hardcoded to look in /sdcard.
Since the GSM Tabs have 16GB of flash memory, it makes sense to have this space where it is going to be the most use, and that is going to be /sdcard because it is where most applications expect it to be.
If it didn't do this, you'd find that you would have to have a MicroSD card installed on the Tab in order for most applications to work properly, which is a nonsense when you have all that additional internal memory to play with.
Regards,
Dave

Cheers Dave.
That does make sense. I guess it's because I'm coming from a device where I only had about 70MB free space internally, so I needed an SD card, and was constantly moving apps over to it (if they would work there). I guess I need to rethink my ways and just use my SD card for media, with the "sdcard" folder being used for apps.

johncmolyneux said:
Cheers Dave.
That does make sense. I guess it's because I'm coming from a device where I only had about 70MB free space internally, so I needed an SD card, and was constantly moving apps over to it (if they would work there). I guess I need to rethink my ways and just use my SD card for media, with the "sdcard" folder being used for apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are referring to our beloved HD2 bud then why do you manually move apps? Just use a sd-ext partition, most the nand roms come with the support or you can flash a zip to enable it. You dont need to mess about with linux to create the partitions you can just use the one included in CWR, it creates a ext3 partition that works fine, ive been using it for ages.
Depending on the rom, the user data will either be moved to your partition or the partition will actually been seen by the HD2 as internal memory so our euro HD2 can actually have 1GB of internal memory.
I myself got a Tab recently and am loving it, its like the big brother to our HD2's
Hey did you notice how small the HD2 seems now?

TheATHEiST said:
If you are referring to our beloved HD2 bud then why do you manually move apps? Just use a sd-ext partition, most the nand roms come with the support or you can flash a zip to enable it. You dont need to mess about with linux to create the partitions you can just use the one included in CWR, it creates a ext3 partition that works fine, ive been using it for ages.
Depending on the rom, the user data will either be moved to your partition or the partition will actually been seen by the HD2 as internal memory so our euro HD2 can actually have 1GB of internal memory.
I myself got a Tab recently and am loving it, its like the big brother to our HD2's
Hey did you notice how small the HD2 seems now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm more than happy to move things to the SD card on the HD2. Titanium can do it in batches too, which makes life a lot easier. To be honest, I found a ROM that I liked a couple of months ago and I've just stuck with it. It's just a basic NAND ROM with no support for ext sd partitioning, but it's fine as it is. If I do ever flash a newer ROM to it then I'll probably stick with the same setup, to be honest. I'm a bit set in my ways
And yeah, it's funny you should say that about the size of the HD2. It used to feel quite large - a really good size - but after 1 day with the tab it feels like a matchbox in a giant's hand.

Best way to save free space? Symlink to external sdcard?

Hi guys,
What would be the best way to conserve the free space on my Razr M (XT907, 4gb ) while using your Safestrap software? Without having to restore over the Stock rom slot?
I currently have a 32gb external SD card installed in my phone that I am hardly making use of, which is silly. I seemed to have quickly maxed out my phone’s internal SD card 0 shortly after installing a Eclipse mod and snapping a few pictures/videos and installing GTA3 (large game). As simple as this task sounds, I have been unable to find clear instructions online on how to free up my space.
Maybe would there be any way to symlink the entire /safestrap directory to my external SD card? How about changing the default location that my apps are saved or installed to? I am comfortable connecting via ADB and making changes in Linux if necessary.
Thank you!
jskup
EDIT - ok, Eclipse Mod 1.1 doesn't have the best camera app, no configuration to save pictures to external SD

skuppej said:
Hi guys,
What would be the best way to conserve the free space on my Razr M (XT907, 4gb ) while using your Safestrap software? Without having to restore over the Stock rom slot?
I currently have a 32gb external SD card installed in my phone that I am hardly making use of, which is silly. I seemed to have quickly maxed out my phone’s internal SD card 0 shortly after installing a Eclipse mod and snapping a few pictures/videos and installing GTA3 (large game). As simple as this task sounds, I have been unable to find clear instructions online on how to free up my space.
Maybe would there be any way to symlink the entire /safestrap directory to my external SD card? How about changing the default location that my apps are saved or installed to? I am comfortable connecting via ADB and making changes in Linux if necessary.
Thank you!
jskup
EDIT - ok, Eclipse Mod 1.1 doesn't have the best camera app, no configuration to save pictures to external SD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use a free app that you can find in the Google Play Store called Link2SD. But first you will need to create a partition on your SD card. d33ps1x one of XDA's Senior Members was awsome enough to place a tutorial on the forum already. Here is the the link.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1432459
The title is
[TUTORIAL][Link2SD][ROOT]Updated! How to prep your SD card for it...Windoze Style
To do the actual partition on my PC I used a program called Mini Tool Partition Wizard v7.8. You can find it on line and get a free download. Just follow d33ps1x's instructions and u should be fine.
I was able to make a 4.5gb partition on my 64gb SD card that Link2SD automatically "links" downloaded apps to the partition and frees up the space on the internal memory.
Good luck. Hope this helps.
PS: Again all credit to d33ps1x

SARM1084 said:
I use a free app that you can find in the Google Play Store called Link2SD. But first you will need to create a partition on your SD card. d33ps1x one of XDA's Senior Members was awsome enough to place a tutorial on the forum already. Here is the the link.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1432459
The title is
[TUTORIAL][Link2SD][ROOT]Updated! How to prep your SD card for it...Windoze Style
To do the actual partition on my PC I used a program called Mini Tool Partition Wizard v7.8. You can find it on line and get a free download. Just follow d33ps1x's instructions and u should be fine.
I was able to make a 4.5gb partition on my 64gb SD card that Link2SD automatically "links" downloaded apps to the partition and frees up the space on the internal memory.
Good luck. Hope this helps.
PS: Again all credit to d33ps1x
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lifesaver! I'll give it a go. Now some more questions!:
This guy is saying I need a dev device.. I am rooted but I don't have an unlocked bootloader because I dont have a dev phone..problem?
Did your format ext2?
Have you had any instability? At all? Have you tried this with Safestrap?
Thank you,
skup

[Q] Unable to move apps to external SD on rooted phone

Hi!
So yeah i have a rooted i9505
When i select the option move to SD card it loads about a minute and says its on the SD card
But its still on the internal phone memory (well sometimes a few mbs of huge GBs games.
I also tried Link2SD and created a second EXT2 partition on my sd card and it said everything was correct
But even after "linking" the apps and it says they are linked correctly its still on the internal memory
How can i solve this?
I also already formated the card in the phone itself
Thanks

xeph20 said:
Hi!
So yeah i have a rooted i9505
When i select the option move to SD card it loads about a minute and says its on the SD card
But its still on the internal phone memory (well sometimes a few mbs of huge GBs games.
I also tried Link2SD and created a second EXT2 partition on my sd card and it said everything was correct
But even after "linking" the apps and it says they are linked correctly its still on the internal memory
How can i solve this?
I also already formated the card in the phone itself
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As for your first paragraph, it is working exactly as it is supposed to. In that regard there is nothing to solve.
As for the second, are you entirely sure that you're not merely viewing the symlinks that point to your sd card?
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

najaboy said:
As for your first paragraph, it is working exactly as it is supposed to. In that regard there is nothing to solve.
As for the second, are you entirely sure that you're not merely viewing the symlinks that point to your sd card?
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well when i "Link" them to the ext sd partition and i look at downloaded apps or all apps it says 1 gb free
But when i look at "storage" it still says 1 gb free but the bar above shows almost about 1/4 free from 9.23 gb
So i think it maybe works but storage and apps still says its on internal?

xeph20 said:
Well when i "Link" them to the ext sd partition and i look at downloaded apps or all apps it says 1 gb free
But when i look at "storage" it still says 1 gb free but the bar above shows almost about 1/4 free from 9.23 gb
So i think it maybe works but storage and apps still says its on internal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See use foldermount

qazmed said:
See use foldermount
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
storagemount also says 8.2 from 9.2 gb used internal
and ext2 sd 213 MB used but they were already used for formatting to ext2
and one game just dissapeared with Link2sd
i think thats why the bar shows less i cant find the game anywhere
Very strange
Edit
I rebooted the device after relinking in link2sd and now the dissapeared game is back in the list but now also the bar shows almost full so it was indeed because of the game
but i still cant get them on the partition while it says its there

Need help with Link2SD Plus and MiniTool

Hi, can anyone explain to me this app and how to make it work? Didn't find any good up to date tutorial.
Here is some info:
-I have TWRP rooted stock rom (SM-G935F)
-SanDisk extreme pro 64gb microSD card
-Plus version of Link2SD
-Pro version of MiniTool Partition wizard
Just can't make it work...So here are my questions:
-Can I use whole SD card as internal storage link? Or do I need 2 partitions, one classic mass storage, second one for linking? I am not planning to remove card from phone.
-Do I have to make some storage label in MiniTool, or can I keep it blank? And what about partition letter? For example G: , or can I set None?
-Can I use linked storage partition from computer via cable as MTP?
-What partitions are viable for S7 edge? And is there speed difference? (ext2/ext3/ext4) ... I was trying Fat32+ext4 and then whole card as ext4, phone always tells me card is broken and need format and I am at beginning again.
-If I somehow manage to make this phone to recognise it, how to actually use Link2SD app?
There are some topics and videos out there, but I didn't find anything up to date or in english.
Keep in mind I am just ordinary user who somehow managed to root his phone only becouse of this app - to expand low internal storage, without any knowledge about android, linux and filesystems. I just need to move some huge games to SD completly with obb.
Thanks for any advice.

Im having the the same issue with using Link2SD on my SM-G935F... Ive tried partitioning the sd card in every possible combination and still get a 'corrupt storage'' issue from the ext extention partition when rebooting my handset. From what I can tell its the actual Samsung firmware thats been rewritten to read the external storage differently due to their lack of foresite of allowing adoptable storage (code written out of their versions of Marshmellow 6.0 +, same as Sony for the Xperia range)... Fingers crossed a work around is found sooner rather than later as Link2SD is a lifesaver for releasing data and obb files from internal storage

I don't really know but I think the ext SD card is used as storage and even with solid explorer and similar file managers you have to grant permission before deleting or even creating a folder else it'll fail so I think you have to configure adoptable storage in order to be recognize as part of SD card to be used with Link2SD and also I haven't seen an update for Link2SD for a very long time.

Geoz said:
I don't really know but I think the ext SD card is used as storage and even with solid explorer and similar file managers you have to grant permission before deleting or even creating a folder else it'll fail so I think you have to configure adoptable storage in order to be recognize as part of SD card to be used with Link2SD and also I haven't seen an update for Link2SD for a very long time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also have the same problem. I tried ext2 and ext4 as the second partition. Allowing 4GB until 1.5GB partition because according to the old guides, it can only process up to 1.5GB of second partition. But still, it always says it's corruted, there was a time when It was successfully read by the app but after restart, the problem returns. There was even a time where the FAT32 partition was the one that is not recognized

Sooooooooooo....
is there any solution to this yet ? cannot find Anything STILL !

*Telcontar* said:
Hi, can anyone explain to me this app and how to make it work? Didn't find any good up to date tutorial.
Here is some info:
-I have TWRP rooted stock rom (SM-G935F)
-SanDisk extreme pro 64gb microSD card
-Plus version of Link2SD
-Pro version of MiniTool Partition wizard
Just can't make it work...So here are my questions:
-Can I use whole SD card as internal storage link? Or do I need 2 partitions, one classic mass storage, second one for linking? I am not planning to remove card from phone.
-Do I have to make some storage label in MiniTool, or can I keep it blank? And what about partition letter? For example G: , or can I set None?
-Can I use linked storage partition from computer via cable as MTP?
-What partitions are viable for S7 edge? And is there speed difference? (ext2/ext3/ext4) ... I was trying Fat32+ext4 and then whole card as ext4, phone always tells me card is broken and need format and I am at beginning again.
-If I somehow manage to make this phone to recognise it, how to actually use Link2SD app?
There are some topics and videos out there, but I didn't find anything up to date or in english.
Keep in mind I am just ordinary user who somehow managed to root his phone only becouse of this app - to expand low internal storage, without any knowledge about android, linux and filesystems. I just need to move some huge games to SD completly with obb.
Thanks for any advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. Link2sd is not working (mount script error) anymore on S7 Edge (SM-G935FD). System crashed and did factory reset. Hope this issue could resolve soon.

I have the same problem, witch I think is specifically for this model (SM-G935F). Its seems that even rooted, it has some security on system folders, that prevents necessary mounts be done

I tried a mod where I can use the sd card to be seen as internal memory, but that mod pushes all apps to the sd card, and if affect performance of apps like facebook and other apps I use daily
in my previous phones I used to use linl2sd and I was in control which apps to link to sd card, and I would never choose facebook or whatapp , I used to link big games only
Is there a way to make link2sd work on s7e instead of the silly mod that pushes all apps to sdcard

Samsung galaxy J5 memory full

I have troubles with J5, because it has 8Gb memory and official rom takes about 5.5Gb of rom so the rest is full almost imediatelly with 3 extra apps.
So I have rooted phone and put in external SD 32Gb and format is as internal memory, but still get notification all the time that storage is full.
I tried all custom roms here but none works, so I have installed official rom back.
Is there a way to do something to release that internal storage memory?

Blisk1 said:
I have troubles with J5, because it has 8Gb memory and official rom takes about 5.5Gb of rom so the rest is full almost imediatelly with 3 extra apps.
So I have rooted phone and put in external SD 32Gb and format is as internal memory, but still get notification all the time that storage is full.
I tried all custom roms here but none works, so I have installed official rom back.
Is there a way to do something to release that internal storage memory?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cm 12.1

Ragazzza said:
cm 12.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you I tried that but not working.

This this [Module] Magic Folder Binder (requires magisk)
Read #3 post for instructions how to use it
Basically whats that modules does is to mount folders on your external SDcard on internal memory, so you can move your app data to your SDcard and use it as normal.
Any questions ask on module thread.

American_Jesus said:
This this [Module] Magic Folder Binder (requires magisk)
Read #3 post for instructions how to use it
Basically whats that modules does is to mount folders on your external SDcard on internal memory, so you can move your app data to your SDcard and use it as normal.
Any questions ask on module thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I already formated SD card as internal memmory and moved all apps which can be moved, but basically none of google apps can be moved and that is a problem.
Also don't know what fills up memmory, because fresh installed rom have 5.5Gb and phone fills up in one month to 8Gb.
Some light room will be good but I tried all and nothing works.
Is there a way to remove google apps which usually can not be removed?

I bought j5 and I downloaded At least few apps and it started showing "low disk space " I decided to delete all apps and out of 8gb it shows that I have 4MB only. I can't install anything and this phone is useless

Mlomdeeni said:
I bought j5 and I downloaded At least few apps and it started showing "low disk space " I decided to delete all apps and out of 8gb it shows that I have 4MB only. I can't install anything and this phone is useless
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use the Samsung Smart Switch to restore the original ROM or use a custom ROM, it takes less space a have better performance