Database Users

Swap ExternalSd to internalSd app should be made and released by Samsung

I think an app to swap external sdcard to internal sd card should be made and released for free by Samsung itself considering 64Gb class 10 internal memory is a deal maker! Listen to your users needs who always used to buy your flagship phones Samsung. The only software programmers who have full access to external sdcard controls which is currently restricted by other programmers are employed by Samsung. So I believe it's your duty to put it in your next rom update. Any users think alike please show your mind and keep this thread alive.
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samsung will never do that ....how will they sell there 16gb or 32gb models when you got this app ....its all about the money in the end

You have a point. But they should at least set the storage codes free so we can have 3rd party apps for that. As far as I know it's only Samsung devices on the market to see internal memory as sdcard and android system doesn't accept moving apps to second external sd card so we can't use our high end devices efficiently just because Samsung doesn't allow us to swap sdcards. How cool is that?
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captainhakan said:
As far as I know it's only Samsung devices on the market to see internal memory as sdcard and android system doesn't accept moving apps to second external sd card so we can't use our high end devices efficiently just because Samsung doesn't allow us to swap sdcards.
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Not true.
Pretty much any device that originally came with Honeycomb or later is much the same, with additional internal storage partioned so that it looks like an SD card when it isn't.
Regards,
Dave
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So we need a kernel which doesn't map the internal memory as SD, but as internal memory?
That way we still have a possibility to insert an SDcard and see it as SDcard instead of /Storage/ExtSDcard.
I think I would not have bought this device when knew the usable memory was so limited to only about 10Gb!

[Q] S4 internal memory

Hi XDA members,
I just got my new S4 and was playing around with it until i wanted to move my files from my old phone (S2) to the S4.....
I bought the 16gb version but when I plug it in it only shows 9,22 GB how come?
I know there is space needed for the rom and such but i dont think the rom needs 7gb of space?
is there a way to get my beloved GB's?
Thanks for any response

The internal memory is never a true 16Gb to begin with. It's closer to 13 or 14. I forget the reasons why, it's something to do with manufactures misrepresenting t hings slightly. For example a 1tb hdd has only about 958gb available.
Secondly, the s4 rom is indeed massive. It's up around five to six times the size of vanilla android thanks to all the features Samsung added to it.
There are ways to mitigate the problem, the newer firmware has the ability to move apps to the external sd card and if you're rooted you can use the "folder mount" app to transfer any folder to the external.
I hope that going forward Samsung will start providing 32Gb internal as standard especially if they keep adding more "features" aka bloat. In the mean time it's what we have to deal with.
Sent from my GT-I9505

dr.m0x said:
The internal memory is never a true 16Gb to begin with. It's closer to 13 or 14. I forget the reasons why, it's something to do with manufactures misrepresenting t hings slightly. For example a 1tb hdd has only about 958gb available.
Secondly, the s4 rom is indeed massive. It's up around five to six times the size of vanilla android thanks to all the features Samsung added to it.
There are ways to mitigate the problem, the newer firmware has the ability to move apps to the external sd card and if you're rooted you can use the "folder mount" app to transfer any folder to the external.
I hope that going forward Samsung will start providing 32Gb internal as standard especially if they keep adding more "features" aka bloat. In the mean time it's what we have to deal with.
Sent from my GT-I9505
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Yeah I got myself omega rom without the bloatware but still..
oh well guess ill get myself a 32 gb sd card

10.7GB available space

I'd like to know why people are moaning about there being "only" 10.7GB available space on the 16GB model. Samsung are one of only a few companies to still give us MicroSD card slots to expand memory. We can put ALL our music, ALL our videos, ALL our photos and SOME of our apps onto MicroSD so stop complaining! There's not many manufacturers that let you do that these days.
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I dont believe its its 10.7 GB I believe it was around 8 GB. As for the kitkat update the permission for apps to write on the sd card is gone. Only apps that came with the phone are only able to write on your sd.
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internal storage
ROMANTiC KiD said:
I dont believe its its 10.7 GB I believe it was around 8 GB. As for the kitkat update the permission for apps to write on the sd card is gone. Only apps that came with the phone are only able to write on your sd.
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dude no permission to install on ext-card since android4.0 ICS (it s not for KK)
and it has ~10GB.
on demo units thr was something about unpacked 5 and mwc and ... so first of all we saw report about 8GB internal by mistake
then new reports shows it has 10GB
source

Yeah those demo units were set up for the event so had less available space. The retail units will have 10GB+.
As for permissions, the S4 on 4.3 allows app to sd. I assume it will be the same for 4.4 on the S4 otherwise all the links will become broken. Samsung implement the feature since Google stopped doing so.
I have a Mega 6.3 on 4.2.2 and that has app to sd.
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I believe the developer has to code there app specifically to allow for the APP Data to be moved to the SD Card, the actual APP has to stay on internal memory. At least thats how I understand it is supposed to work.
The main thing is that pictures/videos/music can go on the SD card as in reality that is what takes up the majority of the space on my device. The rest of the internal memory can be used for games and apps, 10gb is enough for 3-4 of those large games like San Andreas. If you need to keep more than 3-4 of those games on your device at a time, you should invest in the 32gb model or invest in a 32GB Nexus 7.
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Kitkat uses memory/storage differently.10gb is plenty if you dont play any good games.
A lot of the best games are 1-3gb in size, and moving the app and game data to the micro sd card may not be possible with this version of kitkat? need clarification is this can be done, although not all games use the memory card.
If the 32gb model is readily available then this is the way to go.

Good Luck with that! Until we see a retail version NO ONE knows what a retail version will have available space wise. The fact that you SAW 8.56gb AVAILABLE at MWC means that is what you should expect. Especially with Samsung, they aren't known for removing stuff, but for adding stuff.
That's why the Note 3 is still the way to go. 3gb ram and 32gb is the smallest configuration.

OK I've Googled it and actually seen what Google are up to That is really bad. They want to get rid of external storage because "people are confused with it". How thick are some people?? If they're confused, don't use it. I love having the choice of using something or not using something. Google gets more and more like Apple each day, forcing things on people.
There is no way I'm updating my Mega 6.3 to KitKat as I have lots of apps on the SD card at the minute.
We'll be able to still store videos, music and photos on the SD card presumably? Will photos and videos taken with a phone running KitKat be able to save them directly to SD card, or will we be forced to use "The Cloud"?
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32Gb or 64gb should be the options. Like the iFruit. (OMG wash my mouth out with Lifebuoy! )
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Eric214 said:
Good Luck with that! Until we see a retail version NO ONE knows what a retail version will have available space wise. The fact that you SAW 8.56gb AVAILABLE at MWC means that is what you should expect. Especially with Samsung, they aren't known for removing stuff, but for adding stuff.
That's why the Note 3 is still the way to go. 3gb ram and 32gb is the smallest configuration.
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Click to collapse
The MWC unit showed only 8.56 GB because some demo videos, apps, etc has been stored in the internal memory for demo purposes and occupied about 2.33 GB of internal space. Out of the box you will get 10.7 GB in the retail version and the MWC device also had the same.
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Eric214 said:
Good Luck with that! Until we see a retail version NO ONE knows what a retail version will have available space wise. The fact that you SAW 8.56gb AVAILABLE at MWC means that is what you should expect. Especially with Samsung, they aren't known for removing stuff, but for adding stuff.
That's why the Note 3 is still the way to go. 3gb ram and 32gb is the smallest configuration.
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Click to collapse
It literally had a MWC 2014 folder with 2GB of data lol. Check Sammobile.

[Q] A small advice: Xperia tablet Z2: 16 gig version enough?

G'day
My question: is a 16GB tablet enough space?
(This I wrote so any reader can quickly see if he wants to read on or not, so: for reading comfort).
Casus:
- I am probably the last on earth who buys a tablet laugh
- I found a I think nice deal: new Xperia Z2, 16GB, with original power charge cradle, 350 EUR.
- The problem: 16GB.
- I also have a bloatware HTC One SV which refuses to take updates 'because of not enough space (and I can't uninstall any apps since it is all Google standard apps that can't be uninstalled). So that triggered my thinking:
So that makes me worry: is 16GB enough space for the OS and all the stuff apps will want to install on the internal 16GB, now and in the future?
Ellaboration:
- As is said in many threads on this forum, put in a SD card and store, music, docs etc on that. Sound thinking.
- But, as I am generally rather a noob on smartphones and apps (not on FreeBSD, 'though, so not a complete 'puternoob :angel, I have no clue which part of the storage I can't control. I mean, if every app only wants it data stored on the internal disk, and if the OS will grow from (I think 4 gig now?) to suddenly 15 gig in Android 5.0 (I understood that is comng to the Z2 too), then the external SD card will be rather useless - the apps and the OS won't use it.
Of course, I'd rather have the 32GB, but that comes in at 500 EUR, so I thought I'd try to save myself the 150 EUR and spend these on flowers for my wife instead :victory:
So, will the 16GB in all fairness be enough for the OS and all the stuff apps will want to store on it (so: data on the external SD, provided of course then the installed apps will want to 'see' the external SD for reading the stored docs/movies/music/pics)?
Thank you in advance very much for any help
Bye,

I have the 16gb one, it's enough space for me I have many large games and a bunch of apps on it and I think I don't even used up half the space. Although it depends on what you plan on using your tablet for.
One way of making sure you have enough space is to root and unlock the device that way you can install custom roms which typically are smaller than the stock one, or just uninstall the bloat that comes with stock.
I don't know where you heard that android 5 will be 15 gigs but I highly doubt that it will be that big.

For me it is not enough, i have the 16GB Xperia Z phone, and i was sick of the "Not enough space" warning, so i bought the 32GB Z2 Tablet and i couldn't be happier. I have lots of games, all the apps i need. i also enjoy emulators so i can have them plus gigs of roms, and all the media i need in a 32GB SD card.
I will never, ever, buy a 16GB device.

With sd card and root you have atleast 16 + 64 GB to use for data and also for apps. Haven't try 128 GB sd card but 64 GB works fine.

It's not much more money for double the space. Seems silly not to save up a bit longer and buy the 32gb version. You can never upgrade later and apps and operating systems get bigger and bigger.

Thank you all very much for your reply
Of course, I agree, it is better to buy 32GB when you can. But given the current price offer for the 16GB, buying the 32 GB makes 16GB more costs 150 EUR, 195 USD, more.
So 16GB for 195 USD/150 EUR; GB's, the new gold :laugh:
So I didn't say Android 5.0 will be 12GB, but, I mean: I like to buy as a not 'throw away next year'-consumer; I tend to try and use my gear for 10 years (works fine for my FreeBSD servers, used to work fine with my old Nokia's as well, I have no idea how it will turn out with smartphones and tablets).
So, given that:
IF 16GB will be useless one or two years (or three, or four) down the road, I will be forced to pay 150 EUR/195 USD more now for the lousy 16GB extra.
So that is what I am trying to find out: provided I agree user data should be stored on an external card so you can leave the internal card for the OS and apps and their config and flux data, I still have no clue how many of the OS and apps will respect this rule as well. I mean: if media app X decided it can only read the media (books, audio, vids), if it resides on the internal HDD, I am forced to move media from the external SD card to the internal HDD.
Question comes up: is there some sort of mandatory Android programming rule that every app should be able to read user data from external SD cards? Or is it up to a perhaps sloppy programmer, who decides the app can only use user data when it is on the internal HDD? (Don't laugh: Windows 3.1 demanded all data on C:\ ...).
Also, I understood for some (stupid) reason Google seems to have decided apps are no longer allowed to be stored on the external SD card (?)
(Well, I do understand why Google wants this: it wants the world to use their cloud for storage and stuff: handy for subscriptions and for sales of data to governments; double the pleasure).
So I still don't know what to do :cyclops:
Thanks again for your comments; very much appreciated

SD card and storage controversy

Such a huge disappointment to me personally....Samsung is apparently not allowing adoptable storage, meaning that everyone in Europe will be stuck with 32 gb minus whatever is reserved for the OS. I am still at a loss as to how Samsung came up with the brilliant idea to have only 32 gb models available.
It seems that the same also goes for the new LG G5.
Well, I was very close to buying my first ever Samsung phone....

It might have to do with the ufs storage being so fast that sticking a cheap/slow sd card will hamper loading times with apps that are installed on it . Thats my guess at least.

Something like this will probably work. I would bet this technique will work fine on the s7 with either no or minor modifications.
https://reddit.com/r/lgg4/comments/3z1bfi/enable_adoptable_storage_on_your_lg_g4_stock_no/
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I think it's a good idea. Store your media in microSD, let UFS handle apps. There is a good write-up here to understand the concept.
http://www.androidcentral.com/inside-marshmallow-adoptable-storage
Adoptable storage is really only useful for two things:
- An SD card placed in a phone or tablet and never to be removed
- A USB storage device attached to your Android TV box, and never to be removed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That means your microSD is NOT removeable while using adopotable storage option.
If you try to remove it, things go haywire.
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Click to collapse
There's also the bit about how SD cards have a limited number of times they can be read from and written to. Using an SD card the "normal" way means failures are uncommon. When you start caching data and reading and writing at a rate higher than a card was designed to handle, problems can arise.
Click to expand...
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I personally prefer it split. The default folder structure is a complete mess and its such a pain having to find my documents, music, camera folders etc when they are all mixed in with junk folders so its much better to have them stored separately on the sd card. I just wish that Chrome would add the option of changing the default download location.

NYanakiev1 said:
Such a huge disappointment to me personally....Samsung is apparently not allowing adoptable storage, meaning that everyone in Europe will be stuck with 32 gb minus whatever is reserved for the OS. I am still at a loss as to how Samsung came up with the brilliant idea to have only 32 gb models available.
It seems that the same also goes for the new LG G5.
Well, I was very close to buying my first ever Samsung phone....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, I was going to pre-order one with 64gb or 128gb but only 32gb available; what a disappointment. I don't like to use micro SD card. I'm not getting one for that reason.

I'm holding out for a 64gb model. 32gb just isnt enough,

This won't affect me, since I don't game, my 16gb S4 already has enough OS/app storage, & I use my 128gb SD as static music storage. However, I agree that this option should be present for people who have different usage patterns than mine, especially since Sandisk just released super fast SD cards. Even better would be 64/128gb built-in to make the point moot for just about anyone.

Dwayne01 said:
I'm holding out for a 64gb model. 32gb just isnt enough,
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Well if you're in the states you won't be getting a 64GB version lol so I would suggest getting an SD card so you can start enjoying this beautiful phone

I too am disappointed with no 64gb option. Unreal. Freaking kids that complained got what they want. Now i personally will not buy it because I'm forced to use slow ass sd card. Stupid. So stupid. No one realizes that ufs is stupid faster then the best sd cards except for the diehards.

v2.2v said:
Well if you're in the states you won't be getting a 64GB version lol so I would suggest getting an SD card so you can start enjoying this beautiful phone
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I'm in the UK, so there is still hope

Samsung's explanation seems kinda dumb, they could have just added that option in Developer settings or something.

I wonder if this is something that could be enacted in a custom ROM.

I guess I understand the disappointment but 32 gig is plenty of room especially if ya pack all pictures and music off the side.
It will be yet a better reason to root and free up bloat of space is an issue??

daLareid said:
Samsung's explanation seems kinda dumb, they could have just added that option in Developer settings or something.
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Click to collapse
No, it's quiet brillant from both LG and Samsung.
Phone are not made for people in XDA. My friends (some of who work in IT or other engineers) don't even know or care about 'Developer Settings'. My parents know nothing more than taking photos on defualt settings, listening music, messages etc., Do you think these people will have any idea about adoptable storage?
Samsung doesn't care about XDA people, and rightly so. You don't run a trillion dollar business based on whims of XDA folks. What's best for common man is what's their aim. And I applaud them for thinking beyond geek mentality. Same goes for LG.

CLARiiON said:
No, it's quiet brillant from both LG and Samsung.
Phone are not made for people in XDA. My friends (some of who work in IT or other engineers) don't even know or care about 'Developer Settings'. My parents know nothing more than taking photos on defualt settings, listening music, messages etc., Do you think these people will have any idea about adoptable storage?
Samsung doesn't care about XDA people, and rightly so. You don't run a trillion dollar business based on whims of XDA folks. What's best for common man is what's their aim. And I applaud them for thinking beyond geek mentality. Same goes for LG.
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I understand and kind of agree with this, but by this same reasoning, they should never have brought back the idea of expandable memory in the first place.
Virtually all of the people you refer to as not needing, caring about, or even necessarily understanding the idea of adoptable storage are not much more likely to need, care about, or understand the idea of portable storage either.
And yet, here we are with the SD card slot re-added to the 2016 models. Samsung must have been responding to a minority of their consumers complaining about loss of expandable storage or they would never have done this.
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TJCacher said:
I understand and kind of agree with this, but by this same reasoning, they should never have brought back the idea of expandable memory in the first place.
Virtually all of the people you refer to as not needing, caring about, or even necessarily understanding the idea of adoptable storage are not much more likely to need, care about, or understand the idea of portable storage either.
And yet, here we are with the SD card slot re-added to the 2016 models. Samsung must have been responding to a minority of their consumers complaining about loss of expandable storage or they would never have done this.
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Click to expand...
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The idea remains the same as with the GS5, I'm not sure what you're talking about. Expandable =/= adoptable.
Once a storage device is adopted, it becomes part of the system and is no longer removable. Sure you can physically remove it, but you'll be prompted to put it back while apps and services crash on your phone or tablet. It's adopted — taken in and loved by the system, and made part of the whole.
This means Adoptable storage is really only useful for two things:
An SD card placed in a phone or tablet and never to be removed
A USB storage device attached to your Android TV box, and never to be removed.
When you insert an SD card into the HTC One A9 (the only device I've been able to try it on because Google hates SD cards) you have the choice of using it as a Portable device or an Internal device if you go to reformat it. If you choose Portable, it acts like any other SD card and you can take it out and swap it between devices at your leisure.
If you choose Internal, things change. The device is formatted as a local, 128-bit AES encrypted EXT4 drive and mounted as part of the system. It's then set as the preferred storage, and you're prompted to move data over. Newly generated data is placed on the adopted storage by default.
If you try to remove it, things go haywire.
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http://www.androidcentral.com/inside-marshmallow-adoptable-storage

dandroid13 said:
The idea remains the same as with the GS5, I'm not sure what you're talking about. Expandable =/= adoptable.
http://www.androidcentral.com/inside-marshmallow-adoptable-storage
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Click to collapse
Previous post to mine said no adoptable storage on s7 because the great majority of buyers wouldn't understand or care about it.
I was pointing out (or trying to, at least) that if that was the reason that adoptable storage was not included in the s7's version of MM, Samsung probably wouldn't have resurrected the SD slot at all, since the same logic would apply (i.e. the vast majority of buyers for a huge, huge seller like a Samsung flagship probably won't bother using the SD slot even for its remaining use as portable storage).
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TJCacher said:
Previous post to mine said no adoptable storage on s7 because the great majority of buyers wouldn't understand or care about it.
I was pointing out (or trying to, at least) that if that was the reason that adoptable storage was not included in the s7's version of MM, Samsung probably wouldn't have resurrected the SD slot at all, since the same logic would apply (vast majority of buyers for a huge, huge seller like a Samsung flagship won't bother using the SD slot even for its remaining use as portable storage).
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, without adoptable you can put it in and forget, no need to care about formatting and losing your data. It would create more confusion.

Adoptable Storage is fine for $100 phones sold in emerging markets because their internals are slow performance wise. For a flagship all its storage will perform at the lowest common denominator which is the speed capabilities of the external SD card. LG and Samsung's choice makes sense. Use the slower less reliable storage for big ass video, RAW, and FLAC files and the faster storage for everything else. Their approach also lets media be shared via the external SD being removable which is impossible with Adoptable Storage. Just because Google puts something out doesn't make it good. As for performance, I can't remember any long threads saying using external storage to play files was ever a problem performance wise.
And for those with the bucks your worries about slow external storage can be solved...
https://www.sandisk.com/about/media...-card-featuring-worlds-fastest-transfer-speed