Database Users

Official MicroSD card support, what Google has said

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.
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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.
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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?
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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
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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

Suggestions and thoughts about external sd card issues

After updating my n900 to 4.4.2 KitKat and facing the horrible problem of failed external sd card write, i read alot about that situation, i found alot of complains of users all over the world, i imagined a bad future to my beloved android system, i imagined that i will someday be forced to abandon the plateform and go to windows phone or jolla or tizen phone (no apple phone forever !!!), i managed to solve the problem by the workaround posted for rooted phones, but then i thought that every phone and tablet of the billion activated android phones on earth should be rooted to solve the problem and their users should be technically good to be able to root their phones and be ready to lose warranty which i thought was impossible, ability to have a file system that we could do whatever we want just as our Pcs was one of the major advantages of android operating system to the extent that some of us do not need a pc anymore or at least use it less than the past, they are killing the media editing and creation abilities of the system (just like Pc) and moving the Applish way towards only media consumption, they are removing a function that we paid for , i thought about lawsuits for this, i thought also about suggestions as making five folders by default in external sd card pictures, sounds, videos , documents and others as public folders so for example two third party apps can share the same media on pictures folder etc (not a complete sandboxing) also if app is uninstalled the media on public folders not removed with the main app, i think this solution is better than that posted by google so we prevent media generated or edited by apps to be removed when app itself is uninstalled and also prevent mirroring the same media in two different app private folders of similar purposes also no clutter as apps are allowed to write only to this public folders and their private folders, i think it is a solution in between Google wishes and users wishes and avoid most problems caused by external sd card fail write by third party apps brought unexpectedly by the KitKat update, Also a tick box in setting for allowing write access of third party apps to external sd card just as unknown sources will be more than welcomed !!!

Been trying to do this for two years, still need to use sd card as internal memory

I ran out of storage for new apps a long time ago. My device is kind of useless for new things because there is no internal memory for INSTALLING APPS, even after removing 75% of my apps which includes system apps. There is just no more space. It still has 2gb of internal memory left BUT THAT CANNOT BE USED FOR INSTALLING APPS, stupidly. There are 8GB of total internal storage space.
I have plenty of storage for data. Just not for apps. I have a 32GB SD card as well.
App2SD apps, I maximized all possible data to be moved.
Apps with data larger than 20MB I just deleted the whole apps.
Still no more space.
Additionally, it means I CANNOT use this tablet for things like games, or for storing map data from gopilot live as a backup in case my phone dies. Which is VERY limiting. Especially because I used to like to play games on it but I had to remove all the games to make way for utilities.
Thus I DESPERATELY NEED to be able to install UNLIMITED NUMBER OF APPS using the SD card for internal storage.
I tried the vold.fstab method HERE, but it did not work.
PLEASE HELP!!! THANK YOU!!!
p.s. I WOULD BUY A NEW TABLET WITH MORE MEMORY BUT NO 7.0 INCH TABLET EXISTS THAT IS BETTER THAN THE TAB 4 BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL MAKING HUGE 8.0 and 8.4 INCH TABLETS THAT ARE TOO BIG SO I AM STUCK WITH THE TAB 4.

zxzxzxzxzxzxzxzxzx said:
I ran out of storage for new apps a long time ago. My device is kind of useless for new things because there is no internal memory for INSTALLING APPS, even after removing 75% of my apps which includes system apps. There is just no more space. It still has 2gb of internal memory left BUT THAT CANNOT BE USED FOR INSTALLING APPS, stupidly. There are 8GB of total internal storage space.
I have plenty of storage for data. Just not for apps. I have a 32GB SD card as well.
App2SD apps, I maximized all possible data to be moved.
Apps with data larger than 20MB I just deleted the whole apps.
Still no more space.
Additionally, it means I CANNOT use this tablet for things like games, or for storing map data from gopilot live as a backup in case my phone dies. Which is VERY limiting. Especially because I used to like to play games on it but I had to remove all the games to make way for utilities.
Thus I DESPERATELY NEED to be able to install UNLIMITED NUMBER OF APPS using the SD card for internal storage.
I tried the vold.fstab method HERE, but it did not work.
PLEASE HELP!!! THANK YOU!!!
p.s. I WOULD BUY A NEW TABLET WITH MORE MEMORY BUT NO 7.0 INCH TABLET EXISTS THAT IS BETTER THAN THE TAB 4 BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL MAKING HUGE 8.0 and 8.4 INCH TABLETS THAT ARE TOO BIG SO I AM STUCK WITH THE TAB 4.
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i'd say you just need test different apps all over and over akd different methods from XDA, i have on my phone sdcard as internal memory but same method wont work on tab 4..... you should use folder mount to move appdata to sdcard and use it from there, it helps if you have big app data on internal sd card.

thelous said:
i'd say you just need test different apps all over and over akd different methods from XDA, i have on my phone sdcard as internal memory but same method wont work on tab 4..... you should use folder mount to move appdata to sdcard and use it from there, it helps if you have big app data on internal sd card.
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No I tried that already. It does Not work because of the error "this has been limited due to kitkat so you're not authorized" or something to that extent. It's not an error, it is a limitation of the kitkat (and all subsequent) operating systems. Google did that on purpose to try to force people to have to upgrade their phone.

zxzxzxzxzxzxzxzxzx said:
No I tried that already. It does Not work because of the error "this has been limited due to kitkat so you're not authorized" or something to that extent. It's not an error, it is a limitation of the kitkat (and all subsequent) operating systems. Google did that on purpose to try to force people to have to upgrade their phone.
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well, you could install cyanogenmod to fix issue.....

bump

zxzxzxzxzxzxzxzxzx said:
Extreme measures is NOT a solution. That's like saying, "I'm having an issue with my computer..." and someone saying, "well, you could always get a new computer." NO. Not a solution.
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Cyanogenmod isn't an extreme solution, it runs better than touchwiz IMO and it takes up significantly less memory, which is a fact. It's more like saying, "I don't like Windows," and the reply being, "You should try out Ubuntu," especially since both cyanogenmod, like Ubuntu, is completely free

bump

zxzxzxzxzxzxzxzxzx said:
Reinstalling my entire OS is not a solution. Get over it. I am not reinstalling a new OS.
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With a quote like that you are on the wrong website my friend. Sorry for trying to help. And it is a valid solution since it would've solved the problem

Bump
Waiting for a real solution to the actual problem.

uh if youre not ready to install different rom i guess theres no solution

I'm having the exact same dilemma. In my case, not going to CM (or another rom/firmware/kernel..) is due to the fact that my children use the tablets, so the KidsMode needs to work. I've looked at that one from Zoodles, and its rubbish compared to the Samsung one available on their Galaxy devices. My original post never had any reply other than my own update.
By the way: I'm still searching for a solution to this... If only Samsung would/could release Marshmallow on this tablet, the Adoptable Storage option could be used...

Now, if you can just hold your breath...

lol I know right...?
Full disclosure: I've given up hope of finding a solution that will work with (essentially) stock 4.4.2, so now I'm looking into how to get the TouchWiz framework to run on a rom/kernel that DOES support support an external/internal swap.
Of course, that does nothing to help the OP, but IMO the best solution has already been presented to him: Install a custom ROM that supports what he needs. It's still the best solution since there don't seem to be any TouchWiz-dependent apps he needs.

Years later still no solution

zxzxzxzxzxzxzxzxzx said:
Years later still no solution
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If you are willing to root your device you can use Apps2sd to actually move(link) whole app into sd card.
You'll need to repartition your sd card to do it, but there are good guides to do it.
EDIT:
Oh it's renamed app2sd but here is the link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.co.pricealert.apps2sd&hl=fi for it
you can also try link2sd app

keikari said:
If you are willing to root your device you can use Apps2sd to actually move(link) whole app into sd card.
You'll need to repartition your sd card to do it, but there are good guides to do it.
EDIT:
Oh it's renamed app2sd but here is the link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.co.pricealert.apps2sd&hl=fi for it
you can also try link2sd app
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That's very limited and actually doesn't do anything more than the native android system does already, ever since about 2013 or so

zxzxzxzxzxzxzxzxzx said:
That's very limited and actually doesn't do anything more than the native android system does already, ever since about 2013 or so
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I don't know about how limited it is, but it's completly different than native android moving apps to sd. Linking is like actually increasing your devices internal memory(not really but somethign like that). Also it's easiest/(propably)best way to get more memory for apps.

Help w/J3 app storage

I have the 8gb model and I'm not sure how to move apps to an SD card. Only some apps can be moved and I don't even have space to download new one single to move. Is there a method without root that gives more control over moving apps to SD? I realize performance could take a hit
The old android methods don't seem to be applicable and I'm not sure what if anything is applicable now

Settings/apps/long press app/storage/change
Also make sure under the developers options the last to sliders at the bottom are engaged

Unfortunately there's a surprising number of apps that don't support the ability to be moved to sd card & lack that option. Even more unfortunately is the fact that Samsung did not enable the android 6 feature that allows you to format an SD card as internal storage. Which leaves buyers of this phone 3GB basically that quickly shrinks and as if to always mock your lack of space there's 2 or 3 versions of every type of app on the phone. Googles messaging apps, samsungs, Verizon's. Googles email client/gmail/Samsung client/Verizon's. Etc etc. and none can be deleted of course.

FiveOhFour said:
Unfortunately there's a surprising number of apps that don't support the ability to be moved to sd card & lack that option. Even more unfortunately is the fact that Samsung did not enable the android 6 feature that allows you to format an SD card as internal storage. Which leaves buyers of this phone 3GB basically that quickly shrinks and as if to always mock your lack of space there's 2 or 3 versions of every type of app on the phone. Googles messaging apps, samsungs, Verizon's. Googles email client/gmail/Samsung client/Verizon's. Etc etc. and none can be deleted of course.
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Transfer apps to email then email back it works if you saved .apk files

Samsung a7 tablet security update

Hi, I have the latest security patch for my 8" tablet waiting in the wings (SM-T220 with Android 13) but am reluctant to let it install, reason being; prior to Android 13 i was unable to load apps into sd card which was running me low on main memory. Android 13 fixed that, and i can now change many apps from internal (main) memory to external memory,
BUT I am concerned that the "security" patch might once again disallow changing apps from internal to sd memory. Anyone installed the update and can tell me if the security update causes that?
TIA
Mike

Welcome to XDA. Please be aware that we have device specific sections. As a courtesy, we will move this post to the appropriate section.
In the meantime, take a moment to review the Forum Rules and Forum Etiquette linked in my signature.

V0latyle said:
Welcome to XDA. Please be aware that we have device specific sections. As a courtesy, we will move this post to the appropriate section.
In the meantime, take a moment to review the Forum Rules and Forum Etiquette linked in my signature.
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Thanks for relocating it, i couldn't find the right section, however it seems no-one who looks here has installed the security patch, or at least no-one who has has bothered to reply.
I think my first reaction to Samsung's disabling of the ability to move apps to external memory was the right one - don't buy samsung in the future!

mikep32 said:
Hi, I have the latest security patch for my 8" tablet waiting in the wings (SM-T220 with Android 13) but am reluctant to let it install, reason being; prior to Android 13 i was unable to load apps into sd card which was running me low on main memory. Android 13 fixed that, and i can now change many apps from internal (main) memory to external memory,
BUT I am concerned that the "security" patch might once again disallow changing apps from internal to sd memory. Anyone installed the update and can tell me if the security update causes that?
TIA
Mike
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You did not write what region for SM-T220.
The April update with BIT 3 will prevent you from going back to the previous firmware version with Android 13 with BIT 2.
I've been using Samsung devices for a very long time, and I don't have much of a problem choosing updates because I don't do them.

mikep32 said:
(...)
I think my first reaction to Samsung's disabling of the ability to move apps to external memory was the right one - don't buy samsung in the future!
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Since you are approving approvals from Samsung, you can't have a grudge against the policy of the software owner, of which you are only a user.

Interesting. My 'beef' is that I replaced my previous samsung tablet because I ran out of internal memory. The t220 (Australian model) I got has 32 g internal memory which seemed enough at the time esp with the ability to load apps into external memory. It was, until samsung disabled that feature and once again i was running out of internal memory. Android 13 re-enabled that feature so I now have head room again in internal memory. My tablet downloaded the latest security patch but has not installed it. I won't let it install until I'm sure I won't lose the ability for apps to external memory. Hence my original question. In the meantime my tablet every day notifies me it is ready to install the security update, it jumps right over the top of whatever I'm doing sometimes causing me to lose what I've been doing - it just did that in fact! This seems to be very ill mannered. So, Samsung in future??

ze7zez said:
You did not write what region for SM-T220.
The April update with BIT 3 will prevent you from going back to the previous firmware version with Android 13 with BIT 2.
I've been using Samsung devices for a very long time, and I don't have much of a problem choosing updates because I don't do them.
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Click to collapse
Its australia. I' went with the android13 update hoping it would re-enable moving apps to external memory and was delighted when it did. The subsequent security update snuck under my radar and was downloaded to my tablet but not installed as like you I'm wary of updates and don't allow automatic installs. I'll let it if I'm sure it won't disable apps to external memory. If it does do that then I have another issue, how to stop the very rude update manager nagging me every day to let it install.

mikep32 said:
Its australia. I' went with the android13 update hoping it would re-enable moving apps to external memory and was delighted when it did. The subsequent security update snuck under my radar and was downloaded to my tablet but not installed as like you I'm wary of updates and don't allow automatic installs. I'll let it if I'm sure it won't disable apps to external memory. If it does do that then I have another issue, how to stop the very rude update manager nagging me every day to let it install.
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According to this site, there is only one firmware version with Android 13. Security updates should not have a significant impact on features.
To disable the intrusive message, disable the update in two places in the system settings before the first access to the Internet, and block Samsung update services via adb.

The android 13 update is fine, the follow-up security update may not be. I would not expect the security update to mess with other features BUT samsung might conceivably consider the ability to move apps to external memory COULD impact DRM - or for some other reason of their own. Maybe unlikely but if it were so I would once again need to replace my tablet for no other reason than internal memory shortage. That samsung initially permitted moving apps then disabled it then re-enabled it with android13 makes me cautious. There is no way back from the upgrade once installed.
I have used adb to disable further updates but the one already downloaded is not affected by that. I would be just as content to delete the downloaded security update file if I knew what and where it is. Or, someone who has installed the security update might be able to tell me if it affects moving apps.