Hello, I was playing with Kodi over the weekend to run it from my Western Digital MyCloud (WD). I had initially moved my Thumbnails folders to WD and was using advancedsettings.xml to redirect the thumbnails folders to WD.
Recently I ran into a way to move the whole Kodi folder to WD (or any network storage). If this has been mentioned before, my apologies for the redundant post. Anyways...
For background, when you start Kodi, the app reads a file (if present) to find where its files are located. If this file is not present, Kodi uses the default location to find its files. Through this file, you can redirect your Kodi to look at alternate location to run. The name of the file is "xbmc_env.properties" and it has a single line listing your desired location. I have attached it to this post. More info here:
http://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Change settings folder for Android
The steps to make this happen are:
-- Create your network share on WD. I went with a public share and using CIFS to access the share.
Say, my share is "\\192.168.1.2\MyKodi"
-- Create a mount on FTV to that share. For mounting help, see http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/help/run-script-firetv-boot-t2986158
Say, my mount is "/mnt/obb/KodiShare"
-- Make sure you can read/write to this mount by testing it with an app like ES File Explorer.
-- Now, you will need to start with a clean install of Kodi.
-- Do not install any addons or do any restores of your Kodi backup at this point.
-- Once Kodi is installed, open it once so that your folders are created for you. Then shut down Kodi.
-- Create a file named "xbmc_env.properties" and put it in /sdcard. The file has to be named exactly that and it has to be located at /sdcard.
-- Now, open Kodi. Let it stay up for a min or so. In the background, Kodi will make a ".kodi" folder in your mount and will create a skeleton structure of all folders/files. Basically, you will see "/mnt/obb/KodiShare/.kodi"
-- CAUTION: If you are starting with a fully customized Kodi with your addons, Kodi WILL NOT MOVE your addons/etc. during the previous step!
You will need to do that manually.... (move the userdata and addons folder manually from /sdcard as if you are restoring a backup)
-- The folder ".kodi" on your mount will have identical structure as is for a default install. You can verify it by drilling down into your mount.
-- Now shut down Kodi.
-- At this point, you will have 2 ".kodi" folders. One will be in your mount and the other at /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.
-- You are now ready to restore your backup (if you have one). If you do not have any backups, you can skip this step.
You will copy your "userdata" and "addons" folder to /mnt/obb/KodiShare/.kodi.
You will be over-writing those 2 existing folders already present there.
-- Now, go to "/sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi". Delete everything in the ".kodi" folder, all 6 subfolders. (this is where the space savings are realized)
You can delete all this because the data within ".kodi" has been moved to your mount (or WD).
Keep the empty ".kodi" folder though.
-- Start Kodi. You should see it functioning normally.
------------------------------------------------------------
So, what happens if you shut down FTV, restart your FTV but your share is not mounted correctly and you start Kodi? On my FTV, when I do that, my Kodi at start will show a hazy blank screen. It will stay like that for a few seconds (If you hit the back button on FTV remote while the Kodi screen is still hazy, Kodi will exit out without creating your base folders in /.kodi. This saves you the hassle of deleting them again after you have restored your mount) and then Kodi will start. But you will not see any addons/customizations etc. Kodi will start as if its a default clean install. Its a fail safe play by Kodi so that it does not crash. If you look at "/sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi", you will find that it is not empty and you will see the 6 subfolders in there. To fix this, once you can properly mount again, just shut down Kodi and restart it and it will start with all your stuff intact. You can either leave the ".kodi" folder in your /sdcard as is or you can delete them again, it makes no difference.
I have been testing this for last couple of days, and the performance is just fine (just a tad slow but not a killer). The exit of Kodi (from its home page) is slow though, it takes around 7 seconds for it to shut down on my FTV. I would imagine that NFS should be faster than CIFS, but I have not tested that yet.
Great Guide
If you want to use the usb stick follow the guide above and just change the follow
Using ES File Manager
Select extUsb
Add folder call it kodi_data
then download this attachment xbmc_env.properties.txt
rename it so its called xbmc_env.properties
copy or push file to sdcard directory
Now Install Kodi
It does seem that once you have used Kodi enough (lke your addons and whatnot), I notice "almost" no degradation in performance. Of course, even this minute slowness is not applicable to actual streaming as this is using your FTV hardware and not your external share.
One note though, I did notice a gradual slowness if you are using subtitles for your movie/show. Because by default, the subtitles are saved to the "temp" directory which is now on the external share. And subtitles are sensitive to the timings. I saw a gradual slowness, around a 3 second delay at the end for around a 2 hour movie (Subtitles are completely in sync at the start, but lag around 3 seconds by the end of the movie). You can always, in Kodi, go to Settings, Video, Subtitles. On the right, scroll down to "Subtitle storage location" and change it to "Custom location". On the next line for "Custom subtitle folder", you can navigate to "Root Filesystem" and select a folder in /sdcard. Select a folder that you can regularly clean out.
ISMADDER said:
Great Guide
If you want to use the usb stick follow the guide above and just change the follow
Using ES File Manager
Select extUsb
Add folder call it kodi_data
then download this attachment xbmc_env.properties.txt
rename it so its called xbmc_env.properties
copy or push file to sdcard directory
Now Install Kodi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So overall what does this mean? Kodi data will be stored on my thumb drive instead of Ftv internal storage?....I've installed rbox pre-rooted latest rom last night and moved Kodi over to my flashdrive but I haven't backed up as yet,normally my Kodi data reads over 1gb and will like to have it installed ob my thumb drive if it won't drastically slow it down
nickyb003 said:
So overall what does this mean? Kodi data will be stored on my thumb drive instead of Ftv internal storage?....I've installed rbox pre-rooted latest rom last night and moved Kodi over to my flashdrive but I haven't backed up as yet,normally my Kodi data reads over 1gb and will like to have it installed ob my thumb drive if it won't drastically slow it down
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes tested it last night no issues yet
ISMADDER said:
Yes tested it last night no issues yet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks will try when I get home
one question I pushed kodi over to my usb will it make any difference or should I send it back to internal storage then proceed?
nickyb003 said:
Thanks will try when I get home
one question I pushed kodi over to my usb will it make any difference or should I send it back to internal storage then proceed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would leave Kodi on FTV. It really does not take too much space. If you move your data using this method, all your FTV will use is around 60 MB for the app and some for cache (which can be cleaned out). My FTV tops out with cache around 130 MB on storage space for Kodi.
As a tip, for taking good backup, I will install Kodi. I will add all my addons and customizations (like keyboard, advanced settings, ACE stream setup, etc) and Kodi core settings and do a backup. I don't go into any addons or stream stuff. I then do a backup, this will keep your backup size to a minimum (the goal is to reduce the Thumbnails folder size in your backup). Also, in your backup, you can go into /addons/packages and delete all the files from there (just the contents in that folder, not the folder itself). The folder stores the older versions of addons you have installed. That usually saves around 50 MB depending on your installed addons. This gives you a good compact backup.
I am not sure how the performance will be with a USB... I had tried moving Thumbnails to USB a while back and Kodi did slow down (usually when I am pulling any page with icons). If you have a good backup, you can check it out with different scenarios pretty quickly.
makes no differents ive got mine on the usb
I see AFTVNews has posted an excellent guide covering this:
http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-partially-or-entirely-move-kodi-data-to-external-usb-storage/
And I can confirm, I changed the subtitle location to a folder in /sdcard and the same movie with the same subtitle source/file does not lag.
I did this on my 16gb flashdrive and noticed a slight lag in opening addons nothing major but streams work flawlessly and my AFTV has been on 4gbs+ compared to the 2gbs+ before this update
Thanks
Geat guide.:good:
Related
If some of you are having some real 'bog downs', you may want to investigate your SMB and Shared Folder environment.
Basically, these devices scan your local network for media automatically and in turn tried to 'index' everything. This work really hits the CPU hard.
If you install OSMonitor, you'll see '/system/bin/mediaserver' with a high CPU usuage. I'm not sure right now how to disable it though. However, killing off the process makes the device really snappy.
It obviously indexes your internal and sdcard. It appears whenever you add or remove files or download new apps which create files on the public storage, it updates it's index.
I had a 300mb folder with thousands of small files and my mediaserver process went CPU crazy each time i installed an app.
smb should not be scanned by default.
If you look at /network folder, you will see a 0 byte file ".nomedia" - this prevents the system from scanning smb drives.
sondeu said:
smb should not be scanned by default.
If you look at /network folder, you will see a 0 byte file ".nomedia" - this prevents the system from scanning smb drives.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a really good tip, thank you! I had done a copy of the Archos root over to my SDcard, that's what caused my mediaserver to peg out. It was only a few hundred mb, but there were a lot of files. Once I removed that off my sdcard, I was good.
Is there any way to add a .nomedia file to the directory where the Market downloads it's apps to? That should prevent the indexing that occurs every time you install a new app...
skeeterfood said:
Is there any way to add a .nomedia file to the directory where the Market downloads it's apps to? That should prevent the indexing that occurs every time you install a new app...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assuming that would work, you'd have to do a temp root, then push the .nomedia file to the /data (or /data/data and /data/app) folders. I think .nomedia acts recursively and adding it to '/data' would do the trick.
what is the purpose of having the indexing of files at all? why not just read the directory when you open your file manager???
are directories with the .nomedia file are still read by the filemanager? can you still browse to them and open files within the directory?
This is not connected to Archos, this was introduced by google for use in Music and Gallery.
The first phones where a little slow indexing the memory and this way after putting something on the phone it would after some time show up in the std player with thumbnails and so on.
is it possible to turn off this scanning and indexing completely?
Only if you have the sources and access to /system
ok, another point for custom rom modifications
ok, any advice what to do? this mediaserver process drives me crazy. the tablet gets close to "unusable" while that process is eating up all the cpu and battery
I have been using CM9 ICS on my Note for 4 days on and off. And needless to say, it has been a great experience. So I thought I would start this thread for everyone else who is using CM9 and would like to share their tips/tricks.
- I would like to start off with this particularly useful tip I discovered. The music player crashes a LOT and when you boot back up you notice several copies of you tracks. This happens to me the most with the stock music player. Hence I have switched to winamp which seems to be a lot more stable. The fix for the duplicated files after a crash (force close) is very simple. You either need to perform a factory wipe from clockworkmod (messy) or go to Settings>Apps>ALL>Media Storage>Clear Data and REBOOT. Once you have a fresh start, you need to backup the "[PLAYLISTS] Media Storage" data with Titanium Backup. Next time you have a crash, fire up Titanium Backup and restore the DATA ONLY from the Media Storage backup you made earlier. Reboot. Your library should be free from duplicates now. I also recommend switching to winamp. Winamp too crashes sometimes but you can use the same fix for it. If you happen to load more tracks, launch winamp and make sure the library has updated fine and perform another backup of Media storage from Titanium Backup. BTW, winamp also has an option for lock screen integration.
-I use ES explorer for general messin around with the filesystem. How you set it up is also simple. Get ES explorer, go to settings and enable Root Explorer, superuser will ask for permission, say yes. Now scroll up a bit and you will see the Home Directory option. Set it to "/". Yes, that is just slash. Now when you hit 'up' in the explorer window you can leave the sdcard location and explorer the system files. Now you internal sdcard's(storage) location is "/sdcard" or "/mnt/sdcard". The external (microsd) path is "/mnt/extsdcard". I haven't tried OTG USB mounting but the path for that would be "/mnt/usbdisk".
-There are SEVERAL ways of getting files on you sd, internal or external. The easiest way is to reboot>recovery>mounts & storage>mount USB storage. But that gives you access only to the internal sd. You can use ES explorer for sharing files wirelessly with your windows machine using the SMB protocol which is very robust. I suggest you google for instructions. You can also use QtADB, which gives you access to you external card too. And then there is dropbox. Dropbox now uses a temp system location for downloading files. The path to the temp folder is "/sdcard/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files/scratch". You can use ES explorer to go to that path and 'retrieve' your downloaded files. Works especially well with .zip's.
-Now, the default boot animation is cropped on the sides and is kinda lame. So I thought I would try and fix it. I couldn't fix it with resizing the jpegs. So I just snagged some bootanimations from the web. I liked the one I attached below the most. It's called Machina and runs full screen on the Note. No cropping Now once you download that zip, you need to get it on your sd. Do it any way you like. Set up root on ES explorer and also enable Write Mode. DON'T FLASH THE ZIP WITH CLOCKWORKMOD. Locate the file on ES explorer, copy it, navigate to "/system/media" and paste it. You'll notice there is a bootanimation.zip there. That is the default one and you should back it up on your sd. Once backed up, delete the default one and rename the download zip to "bootanimation.zip". Reboot. BTW, I take no credit for the boot animation.
Please hit the thanks button if any of this helped you. I will be adding more info as I come across it.
Click HERE to see a quick youtube video of the boot animation.
Camera doesn't work, I'll pass
I got the nexus bootanimation to be fullscreen. I 'borrowed' hdr jpgs from a tablet build. HERE is a short youtube clip. You will find the zip attached below. Again, DO NOT FLASH WITH CLOCKWORKMOD.
stefan.buddle said:
Camera doesn't work, I'll pass
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not everyone cares about the camera lol
Thank you for the thread and the animations!
Another tip for file transfer (which has been mentioned earlier, in the CM9 thread) is to use Airdroid. I use that method as it feels more convenient to be able to keep the phone on.
I like the machanic bootanimation thx
Akerskuuug said:
Thank you for the thread and the animations!
Another tip for file transfer (which has been mentioned earlier, in the CM9 thread) is to use Airdroid. I use that method as it feels more convenient to be able to keep the phone on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Airdroid is quite possibly the best/most useful app I have seen on Android until now! Thanks for the tip.
acidburn89 said:
-Now, the default boot animation is cropped on the sides and is kinda lame. So I thought I would try and fix it. I couldn't fix it with resizing the jpegs. So I just snagged some bootanimations from the web. I liked the one I attached below the most. It's called Machina and runs full screen on the Note. No cropping Now once you download that zip, you need to get it on your sd. Do it any way you like. Set up root on ES explorer and also enable Write Mode. DON'T FLASH THE ZIP WITH CLOCKWORKMOD. Locate the file on ES explorer, copy it, navigate to "/system/media" and paste it. You'll notice there is a bootanimation.zip there. That is the default one and you should back it up on your sd. Once backed up, delete the default one and rename the download zip to "bootanimation.zip". Reboot. BTW, I take no credit for the boot animation.
Please hit the thanks button if any of this helped you. I will be adding more info as I come across it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also you can put the bootanimation.zip to /data/local which makes it permanent if you update the rom(in the future i hope )
Placing the bootanimation in /system/media makes it change in every rom update-flash cause the flash formats the system but leaves /data as it is
And if you have different bootanimations in /system/media and /data/local the /data/local bootanimation wins
afilopou said:
Also you can put the bootanimation.zip to /data/local which makes it permanent if you update the rom(in the future i hope )
Placing the bootanimation in /system/media makes it change in every rom update-flash cause the flash formats the system but leaves /data as it is
And if you have different bootanimations in /system/media and /data/local the /data/local bootanimation wins
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice. I can confirm that it works. Thanks!
acidburn89 said:
-There are SEVERAL ways of getting files on you sd, internal or external. The easiest way is to reboot>recovery>mounts & storage>mount USB storage. But that gives you access only to the internal sd. You can use ES explorer for sharing files wirelessly with your windows machine using the SMB protocol which is very robust. I suggest you google for instructions. You can also use QtADB, which gives you access to you external card too. And then there is dropbox. Dropbox now uses a temp system location for downloading files. The path to the temp folder is "/sdcard/Android/data/com.dropbox.android/files/scratch". You can use ES explorer to go to that path and 'retrieve' your downloaded files. Works especially well with .zip's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What i also discovered.If you connect phone to the pc with usb cable you can not see the sdcards in windows explorer....BUT i installed some time ago the Android Commander windows application (google it) and i can see both sdcards (ext and int) and i can also copy paste files from/to phone to/from pc
afilopou said:
What i also discovered.If you connect phone to the pc with usb cable you can not see the sdcards in windows explorer....BUT i installed some time ago the Android Commander windows application (google it) and i can see both sdcards (ext and int) and i can also copy paste files from/to phone to/from pc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe I'm just plain stupid and I have missed something, but I tried installing AC and connecting the phone without result. Did you do anything more than just connect it using USB?
Akerskuuug said:
Maybe I'm just plain stupid and I have missed something, but I tried installing AC and connecting the phone without result. Did you do anything more than just connect it using USB?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope.Do you have usb debugging ticked?i also have google drivers installed in my pc
Adjust Touch Sound volume
Hi,
I recently flashed my SGN to CM9 Nightlies. still in practical mode
Does anybody know how to lower down the touch sound volume? quite noisy typing at night..
Thanks.
can someone please explain to me why, since updating to 4.2, I have what looks like a duplicate of my SD card contents in a sub folder called storage/emulated/0/?
all my gallery apps, Gallery, DroidIris etc. see duplicates of all my pictures now?
And If I save a pic from a browser It points to the folders in storage/emulated/0/, not the SD card ones?
deleting any file in one folder effects the other, so it is probably not a true duplicate thats taking up space is it?
I assume this has to do with the multi user addition to 4.2, but I have not set up a second user at all.
Does this just occur to people upgrading, or to people who installed a fresh version as well?
Cheers.
CarsnGadgets said:
can someone please explain to me why, since updating to 4.2, I have what looks like a duplicate of my SD card contents in a sub folder called storage/emulated/0/?
all my gallery apps, Gallery, DroidIris etc. see duplicates of all my pictures now?
And If I save a pic from a browser It points to the folders in storage/emulated/0/, not the SD card ones?
deleting any file in one folder effects the other, so it is probably not a true duplicate thats taking up space is it?
I assume this has to do with the multi user addition to 4.2, but I have not set up a second user at all.
Does this just occur to people upgrading, or to people who installed a fresh version as well?
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this has been added as part of the multi-user feature and is where the data/content is stored for other users. It has been mentioned on the forum somewhere else, cant remember where I seen it though.
I also wondered this but then thought logically.
Two users using the same SD card wouldn't be a good idea.
So they sort of virtualise the SD card, and then when a new user is created a sort of partition is created for the user.
I was wondering what that was in ASTRO I thought it was something I did wrong and yes if you delete one file it will end up deleting both of them so be careful luckily I deleted some old downloads I didn't need anymore GOD BLESS YOU GUYS
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
thats all fine, thanks guys,
but now, if I download a new pic from dolphin browser to the /emulated/0/pictures folder, the gallery sees my SD/pictures as well as the /emulated/0/pictures folder, the original has 99 files in, and the new one 1 file in, both are called "pictures".
the "save picture as" action opens up its own file explorer, and it wont let me go back far enough in the file tree to access the SD/pictures folder so I can only save in the new /emulated/0 folder and its sub folders?
cheers.
I can't find the folder on my pc. I am trying to run a backup app and it stores it there. I try to replace the backup location to downloads for example and it won't work. It's driving me mad.
The linked directories are linked to look like separate directories but they link to what is called a mount point that the actual physical storage and the actual file. What you do in any of folders will be done in all the folders.
I'm still wrapping my mind and this and my Linux knowledge it's weak. So I'm not going to try to suggest how to deal with these folders. As much as possible I'm letting the app handle the files.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
CarsnGadgets said:
can someone please explain to me why, since updating to 4.2, I have what looks like a duplicate of my SD card contents in a sub folder called storage/emulated/0/?
all my gallery apps, Gallery, DroidIris etc. see duplicates of all my pictures now?
And If I save a pic from a browser It points to the folders in storage/emulated/0/, not the SD card ones?
deleting any file in one folder effects the other, so it is probably not a true duplicate thats taking up space is it?
I assume this has to do with the multi user addition to 4.2, but I have not set up a second user at all.
Does this just occur to people upgrading, or to people who installed a fresh version as well?
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same for me. Music player, gallery and other apps now show two copies of files. Any solution to fix this yet?
algus said:
Same for me. Music player, gallery and other apps now show two copies of files. Any solution to fix this yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you are confusing a symlink'd directory with a second copy.
No one - so far - has reported a real problem related to duplicate file - so don't be expecting a fix.
Spend the time reading up on Linux directory structures instead.
rmm200 said:
No one - so far - has reported a real problem related to duplicate file - so don't be expecting a fix.
Spend the time reading up on Linux directory structures instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
It's not broken do don't expect a fix. It only 'looks' like you have duplicate files. A change you make in any single place will show up in all locations. Delete a file in one place it will be gone everywhere. The whole file system is an optical illusion. Layers on layers of naming parts of the file system.
For instance /sdcard is actually /data/media/0 if you created another user on your tab they would get /data/media/1 but they would find their files under /sdcard in a file manager.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
I understand that it is a link. As I said problem is that applications show two copies of all files put in /sdcard folder. Because applications treat each link as a separate file. This is exactly what the original poster and I wrote in our posts.
So far I fixed this problem for myself by deleting all files from /sdcard (they disappeared from other linked locations as well) and saving them back straight to /storage/emulation/0 (they appeared in other linked locations, including /sdcard, but this time the gallery and other apps show single copy of each file in their collections).
This is not confortable for a typical user to learn about all these linked folders and I consider it as a drawback of Jelly Bean.
algus said:
I understand that it is a link. As I said problem is that applications show two copies of all files put in /sdcard folder. Because applications treat each link as a separate file. This is exactly what the original poster and I wrote in our posts.
So far I fixed this problem for myself by deleting all files from /sdcard (they disappeared from other linked locations as well) and saving them back straight to /storage/emulation/0 (they appeared in other linked locations, including /sdcard, but this time the gallery and other apps show single copy of each file in their collections).
This is not confortable for a typical user to learn about all these linked folders and I consider it as a drawback of Jelly Bean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am trying to understand what you are seeing.
On my device, the gallery app only shows pictures in my user: emulated/0. This is from selecting a picture and then asking for info on it.
What apps are showing duplicates, other than a file explorer that you would expect to show symlinks?
I should add - are you copying pictures directly to /sdcard from somewhere else?
Well I had a problem...because of all the multiuser crap I was unable to restore a titanium backup cause of all the emulated directories that another user makes...I had to delete every /0 directory that it made cause if you install another Rom it makes a new /0 directory inside the other /0 directory so after flashing CM10, MIUI and slim bean I finished with a directory like this: sdcard0/0/0/0.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
restoring backups seems to be a problem too in cwm. Hmm how to fix it
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
I ran into this problem with Titanium Backup and my Nexus 7. I was trying to copy the titanium backup folder on the Nexus 7 to my windows PC (also tried mac too) as it was taking up a lot of space on the Nexus but Windows and Mac wouldn't have any of it. It just copied the folder and not the contents. Android file Transfer manager on mac just keeped crashing. I did not try adb pull folder with WugFresh toolkit, so that may work. I ended up copying from the nexus 7 to a USB drive using an OTG cable.
I been looking into this too, this is what I find so far I did a fresh install after I installed my Rom I wipe storage on my N7 so I have a clean storage nothing on it about 27.80gb after I installed one game that is 2gb and its show on both storage emulated and 0 n after my available space is 23.72gb. So I think its does create a duplicate that take space. But Im not sure.I going to run some more tests. If this is true this kinda suck cus then my 32gb n7 is only 16gb then.
Ps. Also if u reboot ur n7 and u go to storage there is another folder under emulated with 0 with the same files you can deleted this folder is save you won't loose anything but if you reboot and go back to storage the file reappear and you can delete but once u reebot again it will reappear again and over again.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
No way are there 2 copies of files (unless you are auto backing up, which I do). My free space was 3.9gb before and after 4.2. Have all the extra meaningless folders.
You could think of the emulated storage locations like a shortcut. You could place multiple shortcuts to your 'My Documents' folder on your desktop without creating multiple copies of 'My Documents'.
Same problem with Galaxy Nexus
I have the same problem with my Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.2.1
In my Windows Explorer i dont see the same files like in my Phone with Total Commander on my Storage.
This is not funny.
Intro
This is a summary of bala_gamer's guide for using Directory Bind on Galaxy SIII but with my own additions and tips.
I'm using Galaxy Note II (N7100) but should work on other models too.
You need ROOT and this app called Directory Bind.
All credits go to original guide author and the app creator.
What does this app do?
Directory Bind lets you move big (or small, your choice) data files/folders from games, apps, navi software to your external SD card. If you use 16GB variant of the Note 2 you can quickly use up the space with a few big games, so what is the solution?
Directory Bind will take care of this. It will move the folders containing big files you choose to the external SD card. Read on for instructions.
What you need?
- ROOT (guide here)
- Directory Bind (get the app here)
- External SD Card mounted (I used SanDisk Class 4 32GB formatted to FAT32)
1) Setting things up
When you install Directory Bind you need to set up a few things first. You only do this once but you better do it right. If you don't, things might not work as they should. These settings work best.
Open Directory Bind and give it ROOT access
Press the (softkey) Menu key -> Preferences
Check Bind on boot, Alert on unbind fail, Alternate dbase mgmt, Persistent service
Leave the rest unchecked
Select Default data path and set it to:
Code:
/mnt/extSdCard/
Select Default target path and set it to:
Code:
/sdcard/
Make sure those target paths are EXACTLY like ones I wrote. These WORK, others probobly WON'T.
This is it. You now have everything ready to move stuff from internal to external sd card.
2) Step by step guide to moving things
OK, we are ready to move things now. I will give step by step guide with pictures and an example. (click on image to view)1) First install the app/game you want, open it and download all files you need. For this example I will use the game BackStab.
Screenshot of Storage before installing the game:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
2) Screenshot after the game downloaded it's data. You can see it used about 1,3 GB on internal storage:
3) Open the game check it works and it downloaded all it needs. Now exit the game. Go to task manager and kill it if it's running (if it's not, proceed). Go to Settings -> Application Manager search for your game, select it and Force Stop (if it's greyed out, proceed).
4) Open Directory Bind (your list will be empty at first, so just ignore my list) and hit Menu softkey, select Add new entry:
5) Now hit Menu softkey again and select Data transfer Assistant (if your keboard pops up ignore it or press back):
6) Now you will select your source. Source for games is usually within Android folder and subfolders data or obb. Sometimes it's directly on /sdcard/appname. For some gameloft games it's under /gameloft/games. You must find where the game stored it's data. In my case it's under /sdcard/gameloft/games/GloftSDHM.
So I will tap on gameloft -> games -> GloftSDHM: *** DON'T hit Select just yet!!! ***
And now when we are within the folder which we want to move we tap on Select:
8) Now the mount (target) path is set to the internal sd card folder, where game stored it's files. In my case this is
Code:
/sdcard/gameloft/games/GloftSDHM
Check that you have indeed selected the correct folder!
The source (data) path is external SD card folder where files will be moved. As pictured, I created an extra, optional, folder just to make it easier identifying the game later. You don't need to do this, leaving default will be just fine.
Make sure Transfer files from target to data is checked and hit Add
8) If you see "Data directory not exist, create now?" select "Create". It will say Copying files... I recommend you leave the phone until it finishes. It usually takes a few minutes.
9) Once it's done make sure there is a checkmark on the right and tap on the grey diskette icon:
It will now turn green:
10) DONE! This is it. Exit Directory Bind and reboot the device. It's not mandatory to reboot, but I recommend you do. When the phone turns on, you will see a notification that Directory Bind is performing binding. Wait a minute or two. Now go into Settings -> Storage aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand:
There you have it. Available space on internal card is back and the files are now moved to external SD card. You can now fire the game up and it should work the same as before. I didn't notice any lag or longer load times, runs just as smooth as before moving.
3) Tips & Tricks
Use the same method as described above for each individual game/app.
I don't recommend binding the complete Android/data or Android/obb folder. For me, it broke some games, and some games that use /obb didn't work. Individually binding each game worked every time.
I can confirm that Class 4 microSDHC 32GB works perfect. No lag, no longer load times, everything the same as from internal. So Class 4 or above is recommended, can't say for Class 2. I formatted to FAT32 and works just fine.
You don't NEED to reboot after each binding, but I recommend it, just to be sure everything is working. I always install the game, play it a minute, exit, perform binding, reboot. Then try the game again for a minute, and check storage before and after. For me it worked every time.
If there is an option within the game/app to download extra data to external SD card I recommend using that option directly. Only bind those games/apps that do not support this on their own. Example would be The Bard's Tale there you can select to download that huge HD 3,5GB file straight to external SD.
Make sure you set source (data) and mount (target) as instructed. Just do it.
On last picture of storage you can also see the color graph which represents internal SD card and how full it is. Don't panic as the grey (free) space will eventually disappear when you move a lot of files. It seems the graph can't "read" what we done and thinks internal SD is full. Just ignore it, only check the Available Space number and there you will se how much free space is left on internal SD.
Also important, if you use a file explorer and navigate to the original folder on SD internal, where data was before (in my case sdcard/gameloft/games) the original folder will still exist, and also checking Properties you will see it has the same size. It will seem as this was only copied to external SD and the original folder still exist. This is not the case! On internal SD this folder is actually kind of a "shortcut" or a "link" and does NOT infact use space. So if you delete anything from there, it will actually delete stuff from external SD. This one is hard to understand, but you will get it eventually.
The End
Thanks for reading, I hope it helps some of you. Bye :victory:
In My Case.
l success for binding android/data/com.xxxx.xxx
But when im binding android/obb/com.xxx.xxx
Its still asking donlod file..
How to fix it?
I would advise that first when you install a game that has obb file, run it first and let it download data. Then go play it a few minutes.
Then exit the game, best reboot phone. Then go perform binding of the folder inside obb. Then reboot AGAIN.
Then go try game. This method has worked for me, for the following games requiring obb files:
Six Guns
Great Big War Game
Total War Battles
Also make sure your settings are EXACTLY like mine on beginning of post 1.
Could you write which game is causing you trouble? Maybe I can test it out to see if it works for me.
I was trying that too.
Game example NBA 2k13,iron fist,sonic 4,sonic cd,the avenger,
Almost game that data in android/obb cannot run well.
For Binding succes with the green disket,but when the game run,still asking donlot data.
Then i delete binding(transfer file back) it run smothly without donloding data.
Thank you for the guide. I had tried everything I could to get this to work with no success. With your guide, worked first try.
@uchox: sorry I don't have those games so I can't test. But it's weird, for me every game I tried works. I would recommend maybe unbinding everything, uninstalling directory bind, installing latest version from thread and going fresh. Follow my guide to the letter, it really should work. If it doesn't, it must be game specific, as for me every game even which use obb worked.
@serpa4: No problem. I had same issues, made the mistake of binding entire /obb and /Android subfolders. It broke my games and had me in all sorts of trouble. So with a little experimenting I found the solutions described in post 1 best to use. So I also wrote a guide, so that people new to this don't have to go through "testing phase" just follow my guide and done.
On my Note 2 should i start target path as /sdcard/ even tho on my note 2 it starts with /sdcard0??
@ruffryder281: if you open up a file manager like ES File Explorer or Root Explorer and navigate to root/mnt/ what folders do you see? Except asec, obb and those starting with Usb...
Do you see sdcard and extSdCard? Or sdcard0 and extSdCard? or all 3?
If you have sdcard and extSdCard set those.
If you have sdcard0 and extSdCard set those.
If you have all 3 check whats inside sdcard/ and what inside sdcard0/ and use the one that open internal SD.
friend could help me? will start at the part where the transfer of the file the notice that there is the directory you want to create, I put YES, but he asks again, and is in the loop, I'm putting it back to YES and ask the same thing again, checked the mnt paths in the names are right. Will I need to create the directory on my sdcardext manually.
@marvelspires: Well this is weird, I never had that problem. For me it always asks to create folder I say yes and that's that. You could try creating a folder.. Are you using the latest version of DirectoryBind? Did you set everything as I said in the settings? Paths are set as described? (triple check). Have you managed to bind anything, or does this happen with everything, or better said, have you tried to bind only one specific thing, or did you try multiple?
Thanks tipsek. I've just moved my first three games successfully and now I'm about to try my sat nav maps
Can we continue to use Titanium backup normally, or do we have to unbind first? (I don't use Titanium to backup a game's data files, just the app itself). Sorry if that's a dumb question but I thought I better plan ahead.
Sorry, I just found the answer to my question here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=34693332&highlight=titanium#post34693332
Use Titanium as normal
nevermind, works ok now!
bu
directory bind doesnt work fine...
tatschke89 said:
directory bind doesnt work fine...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what phone do you have and are you rooted? i got it working now with my note 10.1 :highfive:
Okay so I did what you said and moved the data for gta 3 to my ext sd, however the files I moved still exist on my phone. Do I delete them or what?
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
tatschke89 said:
directory bind doesnt work fine...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@tatschke89: Could you be more specific? What doesn't work? Give some details like what phone you have, ROM, are you rooted, which app/game (or everything) doesn't work and what exactly you mean by that. For me, it works for every game/app I tried and I have been using it for over a month now.
---
Note_2 said:
Okay so I did what you said and moved the data for gta 3 to my ext sd, however the files I moved still exist on my phone. Do I delete them or what?
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@Note_2: The answer to your question is in the Tips & Tricks section of the guide, last bullet says:
Also important, if you use a file explorer and navigate to the original folder on SD internal, where data was before (in my case sdcard/gameloft/games) the original folder will still exist, and also checking Properties you will see it has the same size. It will seem as this was only copied to external SD and the original folder still exist. This is not the case! On internal SD this folder is actually kind of a "shortcut" or a "link" and does NOT infact use space. So if you delete anything from there, it will actually delete stuff from external SD. This one is hard to understand, but you will get it eventually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
God why did they ever remove the option to send stuff to the memory card *_____*
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
Works for AmazonPlayer too, but after all binding and moving are done, you don't see albums in device, even after reboot. You must use use "download" from cloud tab, it's very quick, AmazonPlayer won't download the entire album, but just update something, and you can now see the album in the device tab.
I ended up binding the entire /sdcard/Android directory to /exSdCard/Android after a factory reset (clean slate - there was no data on that folder). Although the OP states it causes issues it never did for me. Probably the incompatibilities are created when moving the files from one card folder to the other: I suspect permissions / ownerships are set incorrectly / not carried over? I don't know, but at least for me it's not causing any issues whatsoever. My card is a SanDisk 64GB class 10 formatted as ExFat (in Mac OS X as it wouldn't read if I formatted it on the device).
Well, I remember when moving entire Android/data and Android/obb folders that I had trouble with a few games that used Android/obb folder. They gave me errors and wanted to download their files again. Once I binded each seperately those issues were gone, that's why I recommended binding each directory seperately. If it works for you to bind entire Android directory without problems that's great. Also you started fresh maybe that's key here. I do wonder, have you tried installing for example one game that uses Android/data and Android/obb folders to store their extra files AFTER you binded the entire Android/ folder? What happens, do the files automatically download to externalSD and links are created on internal, or do the files download on internal and stay there, or do they move to externalSD?
I am not rooted.
I have researched and every time someone talks about this topic they start refering to doing things in root. I am a Linux user specifically a Linux Mint 13 KDE. However! I don't work with the terminal and have not since my DOS days, nor do I want to. IMO I'm too old to bother with it.
Now I use ES File Explorer as my file browser and I see there seems to be a duplication of almost everything on my device yet there is not enough room on the Nexus 4 16GB to hold 2 of everything I have loaded onto it.
So I assume the extra stuff I see are sym-links (I don't realy understand what they are just that they are not real). Am I correct?
Why when an app looks for duplicates does it show the stuff in /storage/emulated/legacy etc. and in /storage/emulated/0 etc. and report them as the same size?
Why am I allowed to create a folder in /storage/emulated/0 or /storage/emulated/legacy if they just contain sym-links? IMO I should not have access to those folders without being rooted.
Why when I add a folder in /storage/emulated/0 or /storage/emulated/legacy does it show up in /sdcard?
donec said:
I use ES File Explorer as my file browser and I see there seems to be a duplication of almost everything on my device yet there is not enough room on the Nexus 4 16GB to hold 2 of everything I have loaded onto it.
So I assume the extra stuff I see are sym-links (I don't realy understand what they are just that they are not real). Am I correct?
Why when an app looks for duplicates does it show the stuff in /storage/emulated/legacy etc. and in /storage/emulated/0 etc. and report them as the same size?
Why am I allowed to create a folder in /storage/emulated/0 or /storage/emulated/legacy if they just contain sym-links? IMO I should not have access to those folders without being rooted.
Why when I add a folder in /storage/emulated/0 or /storage/emulated/legacy does it show up in /sdcard?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was going to post a simpler version of this question: Why do I have [Android 4.2.2 on a Nexus 7] /storage/emulated/0/, /storage/emulated/legacy/, and /storage/sdcard0/ when they seem to have exactly the same contents? When, if I create something in /storage/emulated/0/ it's duplicated in the other two locations?
But I noticed this thread and decided to check it out. I am shocked that it'' gotten no response in five months.
Eric Weir said:
I was going to post a simpler version of this question: Why do I have [Android 4.2.2 on a Nexus 7] /storage/emulated/0/, /storage/emulated/legacy/, and /storage/sdcard0/ when they seem to have exactly the same contents? When, if I create something in /storage/emulated/0/ it's duplicated in the other two locations?
But I noticed this thread and decided to check it out. I am shocked that it'' gotten no response in five months.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are basically the same thing. 2 mount points pointing to the same storage device and partition.
If you create something in one folder, it will show up in the other. Same applies for deleting stuff.
They do not take away more storage space, as it is only available once but shown twice.
You also don't need to worry about it in any way because file browsers normally set their default directory to one of these locations.
As far as i know, Google changed the mount points in Android 4.2 to /storage/emulated/0/ due to them switching to MTP and EXT4(?) for the sdcard. The other mount points are still there for compatibility.
Don't quote me on that, though.
They changed it for multi-user feature
Sent from my Nexus 4
Can I delete "legacy"
Nuu~ said:
They are basically the same thing. 2 mount points pointing to the same storage device and partition.
If you create something in one folder, it will show up in the other. Same applies for deleting stuff.
They do not take away more storage space, as it is only available once but shown twice.
You also don't need to worry about it in any way because file browsers normally set their default directory to one of these locations.
As far as i know, Google changed the mount points in Android 4.2 to /storage/emulated/0/ due to them switching to MTP and EXT4(?) for the sdcard. The other mount points are still there for compatibility.
Don't quote me on that, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can I delete the legacy folder without harming anything?
DEFI4NT said:
Can I delete the legacy folder without harming anything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you read the post that you quoted ?
"If you create something in one folder, it will show up in the other. Same applies for deleting stuff."
DEFI4NT said:
Can I delete the legacy folder without harming anything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would you even want to delete it in the first place? You wouldn't be gaining anything is just another mount point.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
....
/storage, /sdcard are sym linked folders,that means when you open one of those, it redirects to the original(/data/media/0), as for the 0 is just a multi user feature implemented in android 4.2, but only enabled on tablet androids.
Why do this Sym-Link?: simple so it dosent break apps(not only file explorer type of app, but all apps).
Still dont get, why it would break?.Simple. android api have lots of ways to write/read files from folders, u can do manually,u can get the data path, u can get the sdcard path, etc,etc. so to not break that they just does these sym links, thats why in one app the storage contentents are listed on /sdcard but on others, is /storage, etc,etc. one example of an app that broke because of these changes to android is titanium backup, u need to change the internal storage on it, so it work.
Are they really symlinks?
I want to make sure that they are sym linked files/ folders and not additional copies as it will directly impact the storage.
Emulated storage is the only reason i have not upgraded yet to Android 4.4 yet, despite ROMs being available ages ago..
1. Please let me know for confirmation, if there is no impact on storage space.
2. Can Link2SD be used in 4.4 with emulated storage?
3. If there is a file and its sym link/ copy; are the rights equally assigned to both files/ folders?
I mean to ask if there is a provision to have root previlege on the original file and read only rights on the sym link ? Is it possible??
the main reason for this question is that, if by mistake i do something on the sym lilnk, it should not affect the original file.
and whatever change i wish to operate on, i can do it on the original file itself.
Regards
Dwipen
opssemnik said:
/storage, /sdcard are sym linked folders,that means when you open one of those, it redirects to the original(/data/media/0), as for the 0 is just a multi user feature implemented in android 4.2, but only enabled on tablet androids.
Why do this Sym-Link?: simple so it dosent break apps(not only file explorer type of app, but all apps).
Still dont get, why it would break?.Simple. android api have lots of ways to write/read files from folders, u can do manually,u can get the data path, u can get the sdcard path, etc,etc. so to not break that they just does these sym links, thats why in one app the storage contentents are listed on /sdcard but on others, is /storage, etc,etc. one example of an app that broke because of these changes to android is titanium backup, u need to change the internal storage on it, so it work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dwipen said:
I want to make sure that they are sym linked files/ folders and not additional copies as it will directly impact the storage.
Emulated storage is the only reason i have not upgraded yet to Android 4.4 yet, despite ROMs being available ages ago..
1. Please let me know for confirmation, if there is no impact on storage space.
2. Can Link2SD be used in 4.4 with emulated storage?
3. If there is a file and its sym link/ copy; are the rights equally assigned to both files/ folders?
I mean to ask if there is a provision to have root previlege on the original file and read only rights on the sym link ? Is it possible??
the main reason for this question is that, if by mistake i do something on the sym lilnk, it should not affect the original file.
and whatever change i wish to operate on, i can do it on the original file itself.
Regards
Dwipen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1- impact? no they are like .ink files in windows
2- yes link2sd works
3- the permissions are the same
maybe someone here can explain whats going on
So my phone seems to have two systems (or probably more) running and it IS using up my memory. See attached photos. I own a 32gb Optimus G pro. Rooted and custom recovery. Beeen trying out a few ROMs. Well somehow I noticed that there is some kind of ghost app/system using up my memory. I only use 7.36 of my sd card (internal). Yet I only have 6gb of memory left. And I just noticed my calendar has double the entries.
Is there a fix??? Or do I have to reflash stock kitkat???
What happened? The only irregular thing that happened is when I was restoring a nandroid backup I fell asleep and woke up 3 hours later and noticed that somehow the phone was making another backup. Could that be the cause. Restoring doesn't fix this. What can I do?
I can't rfactory reset since I have a custom recovery. Doing it in the custom recovery has no effect.
Oh and I did flash freegee's cwm over hoangnova's cwm. Someone told me to update cwm through freegee because I couldn't flash any custom roms.
I have similar problem.
liovag said:
Hello,
I have order Meizu m1 note 32 gb version blue color from fastcardtech.com and i have received a couple of days ago. Today i notice that in storage menu, the file system holds 17.13GB
The phone is unrooted.
How is this possible, I am very disappointed, and frustrated.
This is a big thing. I have pay for 32GB version and i suspect that they fraud me.
Also i have connect the phone via usb to my pc and i saw that the total size is only 11,9GB and not 32.
Also i have install to the phone the ES File Explorer to check the storage capacity and i saw that the phone have 11.94 GB Total capacity and not 32 i suspect that you have change something to the phone software. to look 32gb but actually is only 16GB version. This is fraud.
I have make factory reset with erasing data and upgrade the system but remains the same. :/
Please give me your advice.
View attachment 3407558
View attachment 3407559
View attachment 3407560
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Imagine a HOUSE. The house = the storage location. Everything in it is your data... furniture etc. These are your files.
storage location \legacy = the back door.
storage location \0 = the front door.
If you delete a file = take your chair and throw it in the yard. Its gone from the house no matter if you entered the front door or back door.
yes, it consumes double storage!
I also have the same observation. Whatever the explaination from previous replies, it consumes my storage double! And it hurts if you only have 8 GB internal storage in my Moto G.
X-plore app can show the storage mapping in my root folder.
What we need now is a solution how to avoid this double storage consumption.
So, we have two identical houses, instead of one house with two doors!
Why2 said:
I also have the same observation. Whatever the explaination from previous replies, it consumes my storage double! And it hurts if you only have 8 GB internal storage in my Moto G.
X-plore app can show the storage mapping in my root folder.
What we need now is a solution how to avoid this double storage consumption.
So, we have two identical houses, instead of one house with two doors!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely understood the analogy about the house and furniture but it does not answer the above question.
Why does it reflect as double the amount of storage being used if it is technically one spot. Its not like its one spot with different files, its one spot with duplicate paths of ONE file that are somehow reflecting as double files, using double the amount of space.
Sorry I'm trying my best to explain and work logic into this lol
II've been trying to change the destination file for utorrent on my android from storage/emulated/legacy to storage/external_SD, for some reason when I do this utorrent says "file not found", and will only download to storage/emulated/legacy, can anyone help with this? It would be greatly appreciated