Database Users

A little confused by sdcard and external_sd

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

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

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

cool enjoy
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saving the SD card file Help

Hello
I need to redo my phone xperia z2 so that you can save files to the sd memory, I tried already klilku instructions but unfortunately none helped me so I ask you for help, I have captured the root + bootlager blocked.
sorry for the mistakes I use a translator,sorry also for SP-topic in this section is not how you wrong I'm new

There's an xposed module called handle external storage, sounds like that's what you need

Mr.R™ said:
There's an xposed module called handle external storage, sounds like that's what you need
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been using this module but it seems, Move to SD is still not yet in the App Info.

I misunderstood, there is no apps2sd functionality yet, folder mount will allow you to move app data though

when it comes to downloading applications, games it saves on phone memory and wants to though applications were stored on sd card or also needs a tutorial for turning internal memory to external memory, I tried already a few tutorials but unfortunately does not help and I have android 4.4
Edit
I tried to do the program Link2SD but unfortunately when creating ext2 partition that is not loaded even in windows, the size of her doing 993 mb while on fat32 gives 59 gb. Adata 64gb card

Do i use the MM feature and use my SD card as internal memory?

Hi All
I have a Samsung i9505 and just moved to Resurrection Remix 5.6.2 ROM using marshmallow and am having issues with writing to the SD card with 3rd party apps.
I have used the ES Explorer fix and mount R/W and enabled root explorer however my 3rd party app still shows as read only. The app is doggcatcher. Whats odd I found an article to sort this problem out for Titanium backup and that worked fine. Also my camera picture and whatsapp all get saved to the SD card without issue.
In the end I have told doggcatcher to use my internal memory but that is quickly filling up.
I am tempted as the phone as 16GB internal memory, whether I should backup my files and choose the options where I can turn my 64gb external SD card as part of my internal memory as I never take out my SD card so that option might work for me but the reviews I am hearing are more negative than positive. I did try it out and went back to the traditional approach but thinking that maybe I didnt give it enough time.
I used FolderMount which was great on LL and recently purchase Link2SD to move files to the SD card but my internal memory still fills up. Currently foldermount isnt compatible with MM, link2SD is but I am having a few issues with it crashing and dont find it as easily to use as foldermount.
Any advice would be appreciated on what others have done.
Thanks

I don't know about anything else, but from what I heard is:
If you format as internal, you will have to do the whole "setup your sd card" step every time you flash a rom. Which is garbage, unless you stay on the same rom for like ever.
Dirty flashing a rom might skip that setup, as you don't lose the data/settingd etc. Problem is, you can't always dirty flash. Especially when changing roms altogether. PC's might not be able to read it either even if it is in your phone.
This is just what I gathered over the time, nothing from personal experience.

Umm interesting well I normally backup my phone nightly using both TB and nandroid backup so restoring to a new ROM as long as it doesn't format the whole CSR I should be OK or does it when you install the new ROM in which case my backups are no good unless I save them to the cloud like Dropbox or google drive?
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

ranjb said:
Hi All
I have a Samsung i9505 and just moved to Resurrection Remix 5.6.2 ROM using marshmallow and am having issues with writing to the SD card with 3rd party apps.
I have used the ES Explorer fix and mount R/W and enabled root explorer however my 3rd party app still shows as read only. The app is doggcatcher. Whats odd I found an article to sort this problem out for Titanium backup and that worked fine. Also my camera picture and whatsapp all get saved to the SD card without issue.
In the end I have told doggcatcher to use my internal memory but that is quickly filling up.
I am tempted as the phone as 16GB internal memory, whether I should backup my files and choose the options where I can turn my 64gb external SD card as part of my internal memory as I never take out my SD card so that option might work for me but the reviews I am hearing are more negative than positive. I did try it out and went back to the traditional approach but thinking that maybe I didnt give it enough time.
I used FolderMount which was great on LL and recently purchase Link2SD to move files to the SD card but my internal memory still fills up. Currently foldermount isnt compatible with MM, link2SD is but I am having a few issues with it crashing and dont find it as easily to use as foldermount.
Any advice would be appreciated on what others have done.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've the Same problem!

Unable to use microSD card for apps .... suggestions?

Hello, i recently come back to the "dark world" of Android purchasing the P9lite.
Nice specs, good bargain for the price.
Then i decided to put a microSD card into it, and with my usuall luck, it seems this feature (of a normal Android 6.0 Phone) is disabled.
Any suggestion / Help ?

Unfortunately, Android's compability with SD cards declines with every new version, no idea why though.
Your problem can be solved the easy way - if you are rooted that is.
If rooted, check this site for possible solutions:
http://www.tomsguide.com/forum/id-2...d-setting-card-default-download-location.html
However, normally Android 6.0 SHOULD be able to use the SD card as adoptable storage. I don't remember though if the P9 Lite asks you how to use the card on first insert. This method requires encrypting and formatting though. See here for info:
https://source.android.com/devices/storage/adoptable.html
I don't really have the problem because I only install few apps and no games whatsoever so the 16GB internal storage is enough for me.
Pictures and music are on my SD.
If you want to root, check the excellent guides here on the forum. Really takes you like 5 minutes with some basic knowledge

Rilen said:
Hello, i recently come back to the "dark world" of Android purchasing the P9lite.
Nice specs, good bargain for the price.
Then i decided to put a microSD card into it, and with my usuall luck, it seems this feature (of a normal Android 6.0 Phone) is disabled.
Any suggestion / Help ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can make your microSD your default storage location for all apps by changing in Settings:
Settings > Advanced Settings > Memory & Storage > Default Location > choose your microSD here
To my understanding, this will make all your apps (Whatsapp, Facebook, etc.) to use your microSD instead of Internal Storage.

ykkhern said:
You can make your microSD your default storage location for all apps by changing in Settings:
Settings > Advanced Settings > Memory & Storage > Default Location > choose your microSD here
To my understanding, this will make all your apps (Whatsapp, Facebook, etc.) to use your microSD instead of Internal Storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it des not work like that ...
You can only auto save pictures and music doing this.
U can't install any app on it...

Sorry i dont use sd card on my p9lite. But my phone is perfect except the signal issue

My old phone is ASUS zenfone 4, now im using huawei p9 lite. I wanted to transfer all my data n apps in asus to huawei. but it seems that i cant find the transfer data apps
how can i transfer all my data n apps to my new phone?

Is it possible to just install a custom ROM like CyanogenMod? I heard that this one supports this feature.

maybe nougat will fix this?
hopefully nougat will allow us to do this!!

Emui doesn't support adoptable storage and move apps on SD card. I think it's a marketing choice so they incentive users to upgrade to a better phone with more memory but that has an higher price.
I tried in the past to force adoptable storage with adb but without success, the only way it's to install a custom ROM based on CyanogenMod/LineageOS.

Rilen said:
No it des not work like that ...
You can only auto save pictures and music doing this.
U can't install any app on it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think apps will be installed on sd this way, as the used internal storage doesn't increase much when installing apps.

Hello everyone, I've the same issue. I root my device in order to be able to move my apps to micro sd card and set it up as default storage. And now, it looks that's not so easy.
I've formated my micro sd (32Gb) on my PC with Mini Tools Partitions Wizard like this : First partition : Create as Primary ; File System : fat32 ; Cluster Size Default ; Partition Size 19000Mb. Second partition : Create as Primary ; File System Ext2 ; Cluster Size Default ; Partition size 11521.93 Mb. Then I apply modifications. I insert the microsd card in my device, I reboot (don't know if needed), I open Link2SD, I try to move the app Messenger to sd card and I get : Failure "Error: java.lang.illegalStateException:â~fNo suitable external storage available". After that I touch on an other app "Messagerie" (Default app), and here I have the posibility to select 'Link to SD card, I try and I get the error : "Second partition not found, /dev/block/ : device not found, make sure you have two partitions on your SD card and both are primary."
In the Link2SD settings, I can't select the option "Auto link" or open "Auto link settings" it's grey and disabled.
Has someone read any news about that since March ? The P 9 Lite is a great phone but 16 Go internal storage is to tight ! Thank you for your help.

I removed my sd card for taking pictures from lappi and when I again insert it my phone is not showing sd card pictures .perhaps sd card is working fine in other mobiles what should I do?