Database Users

Install in Storage Card or Internal Memory?

Where do you guys usually install your apps to? Are there any benefits in installing to the Storage Card vs. installing in the internal memory of the phone?
Is the phone faster if all apps are installed on the storage card?

some apps definitely would not respond well if you install it in the storage card, especially if the app needs to 'wake up' from the power standby, due to the battery saving mode for external storage.
with X1, the phone storage is plenty that it doesn't make any difference for you to install in phone storage versus external. Upon fresh hardreset, my phone would have at least 204MB after deleting away the demo videos, etc. And this is standard ROM, not custom ROM.

Tri3Dent said:
Where do you guys usually install your apps to? Are there any benefits in installing to the Storage Card vs. installing in the internal memory of the phone?
Is the phone faster if all apps are installed on the storage card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The truth is that it is "horses for courses"
If you regard the device as a phone with a bit of residual computer capability, then 300Mb of Storage will last a lifetime
If you regard it as a computer with a phone segment attached, then use the SD card for everything you can. The tnyynt SD tweak for speeding card access is brilliant to the point where I am unable to tell the practical difference between Storage and card use.
I use mine as a work computer with a phone attached. My 16Gb card is already 55% full (ie. just under 9Gb of data and programs) - this cannot fit in Storage.

man what kind of programs and data that you have that takes over 8 gigs on your phone.
music and videos i can understand, programs and data???? i got a 4 gig card and the only program that i have that takes up 1 gig is the maps for tomtom 7.910
hopefully the 32 gig card will be compatable with the x1 in the near future.

c_legaspi said:
man what kind of programs and data that you have that takes over 8 gigs on your phone.
music and videos i can understand, programs and data???? i got a 4 gig card and the only program that i have that takes up 1 gig is the maps for tomtom 7.910
hopefully the 32 gig card will be compatable with the x1 in the near future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, well 1) as I said, my device is used as a computer with a phone segment attached, so having >8Gb "on my phone" is not really accurate. I have >8Gb on my card (ie. HDD) and growing
2) Music and video ?? None of them, I use hifi and TV for those when I'm home
3) I use the device for geological/geotechnical mapping on a world-wide basis, together with CAD/3D modeling of collected and supplied data. So high-level topo data, drillhole data, outcrop data, survey data, engineering constraints, zillions of reference reports etc etc + the slew of large programs needed to run these data collections
So for me, smaller, faster ROM = better and better
4) you bet I'm hanging out for the 32Gb cards

problem with having too little phone storage is some program use storage as temp
currently i have about 40gb storage free but still
the comic book reader crash often because the .net program in question
unzip the whole comic to some temp dir in phone storage
when it operates and apparently the comic use more then 40gb
would be easy for the programmer to fix so it didn't unzip all or did it to
the sd card but..

I put pretty much all programs that can be installed onto the card on the card... I also have shedloads of files on there mainly for language learning (I am learning Chinese and also have some Russian stuff)... from 16gb I am down to 7.7 and thats only cos I deleted a few tv shows from China...
PS I am reposting this due to the deletion bug thing... I did have a longer post but cant remeber all my witty reply...

flip a coin

DarkTremor question

I have 2 questions I am fairly new to the a500 although I have had an evo 4g for years and I have been flashing roms for many more.
I know thebquestion has been asked is there a way to move apps to the sd card. I am wondering if darktremors app2sdgui might work for our tablets and if so how to ise it. I have been seeing threads where people are using 64gb sdxc cards but whats the point if you cant move apps. Im starting to think thosbtablet sucks half the games dont work and you cant freely moves apps.
Anyway my other question is if there is no way to use app2sdgui is there any roms available that allow you to move apps and still have all the tablets good features? I have searched and from what I can tell most roms dont really say they can do it.
Thanks from the bomb
Sent from my A500 using xda premium

adambomb_13 said:
I have 2 questions I am fairly new to the a500 although I have had an evo 4g for years and I have been flashing roms for many more.
I know thebquestion has been asked is there a way to move apps to the sd card. I am wondering if darktremors app2sdgui might work for our tablets and if so how to ise it. I have been seeing threads where people are using 64gb sdxc cards but whats the point if you cant move apps. Im starting to think thosbtablet sucks half the games dont work and you cant freely moves apps.
Anyway my other question is if there is no way to use app2sdgui is there any roms available that allow you to move apps and still have all the tablets good features? I have searched and from what I can tell most roms dont really say they can do it.
Thanks from the bomb
Sent from my A500 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong forum. This should be in the questions section.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I don't have a full understanding of all this myself, but I *believe/think* that the A500 is already moving apps to the SD card -- the internal SD card. The 8, 16, or 32gb of memory that came with whatever model of A500 you purchased is considered the internal SD card, whereas the micro sd card slot is considered the external SD card. Your tablet has 1gb of RAM, which in phone terms is thought of as internal or system memory, like your (and my) EVO 4G has 512mb of RAM. Since the EVO doesn't have any internal SD card, in order to run the newer, larger footprint ROMs we have to use an apps2sd type utility to move as much as we can to the external micro SD card in the EVO 4G.
If you're running out of internal memory in your A500, you can move some data that seems to default there. This happens a lot with apps that aren't really designed for tablets because these apps think that your internal storage is your external micro SD card. I moved all my photos, music, and eBooks from internal storage (where they defaulted) to my external micro SD card. Now I'm only using around 4gb out of the total 16gb that came with my model of A500, and I have tons of apps, games, etc installed. Moving the data barely put a dent in my 32gb external micro SD card, which I mostly use for 720p movies/videos.
Anyone please feel free to correct me about Honeycomb tablet memory handling above!

It's a limitation of Honeycomb not the tablet. Hopefully ICS when it's released soon will solve this problem. I don't know why google designed the tablet specific OS Honeycomb like this it was stupid. There are several work around programs like GL to SD that work so so. I had GL to SD installed and it severely slowed down my tablet so I got rid of it. My first A500 I bought was the 8gb version which I returned a week later after buying the 32gb unit. The 8gb just didn't cut it without being able to take advantage of the sd card for game data.

internetpilot said:
I don't have a full understanding of all this myself, but I *believe/think* that the A500 is already moving apps to the SD card -- the internal SD card. The 8, 16, or 32gb of memory that came with whatever model of A500 you purchased is considered the internal SD card, whereas the micro sd card slot is considered the external SD card. Your tablet has 1gb of RAM, which in phone terms is thought of as internal or system memory, like your (and my) EVO 4G has 512mb of RAM. Since the EVO doesn't have any internal SD card, in order to run the newer, larger footprint ROMs we have to use an apps2sd type utility to move as much as we can to the external micro SD card in the EVO 4G.
If you're running out of internal memory in your A500, you can move some data that seems to default there. This happens a lot with apps that aren't really designed for tablets because these apps think that your internal storage is your external micro SD card. I moved all my photos, music, and eBooks from internal storage (where they defaulted) to my external micro SD card. Now I'm only using around 4gb out of the total 16gb that came with my model of A500, and I have tons of apps, games, etc installed. Moving the data barely put a dent in my 32gb external micro SD card, which I mostly use for 720p movies/videos.
No its not like this. The phones do have internal memory also. The ram has nothing to do with internal memory, even tho some advertise the ram and internal memory as greaterstorage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thread belongs in q&a section not dev sorry all
Ok sorry but my testing with the gl to sd app...
the order of chaos game i used that app to move it.. The game took forever to load and ping times went so High you could not play the game..
I Have a pny class 10 16 gb sd card.. tested to get about 8.7 mb transfur rate. and that is about average on most so called 10 mb (class10 cards)
my tablet runs very smooth with no apps running in background.
so i DO NOT RECOMEND THESE APPS.. Just my openion dont bash me if yours is diffrent.. i also dont understand how people are filling up the 16 gb tablet.. that alone has to be slowing your tab down...

internetpilot said:
Your tablet has 1gb of RAM, which in phone terms is thought of as internal or system memory, like your (and my) EVO 4G has 512mb of RAM. Since the EVO doesn't have any internal SD card, in order to run the newer, larger footprint ROMs we have to use an apps2sd type utility to move as much as we can to the external micro SD card in the EVO 4G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're confusing RAM and FLASH storage. Many older Android devices have a very small area reserved for applications and ROMs, it has nothing to do with RAM. RAM is memory where applications are loaded when you wish to execute them and gets erased every time you power off the device, flash storage is where the applications are stored and loaded from.
---------- Post added at 06:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:32 PM ----------
erica_renee said:
i also dont understand how people are filling up the 16 gb tablet.. that alone has to be slowing your tab down...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got the 32GB version + 16GB microSDHC and it's already filled to the brim. I just happen to consume lots of media, including comics, movies, music and books.
Also, the tablet doesn't specifically slow down by the amount of files on it, the process of indexing everything can temporarily slow it down but after indexing is done it doesn't consume resources anymore. Using some sort of an application that just loads everything to memory and doesn't care about trying to watch how it uses the memory is has reserved however can and will slow the tablet down, but that's an application issue, not a filesystem or OS issue per se.

So if the internal memory is like is primary I can't see why it wouldnt be easy to make the external micro sd and ext of the internal. Is that possable?
Sent from my A500 using xda premium

I found this post online for switching internal to external in honeycomb. I'm getting a 64gb sdxc for my 16gb a500 so it should come in handy.
I have had a mod to voold.fstab under previous Android versions so the OS looked at the physical MicroSD as the external card, not the internal 8 gigs in the Adam. Handy because some programs always wants to look for files on the external card. It was quite easy to do the same thing to Honeycomb, and in case anybody else needs it, here's the full code for the file (which is under \ETC, you need Root Explorer or simalar to edit/replace it):
Code:
## Vold 2.0 NVIDIA Harmony fstab
####################### ## Regular device mount ## ## Format: dev_mount <label> <mount_point> <part> <sysfs_path1...> ## label - Label for the volume ## mount_point - Where the volume will be mounted ## part - Partition # (1 based), or 'auto' for first usable par tition. ## <sysfs_path> - List of sysfs paths to source devices ######################
dev_mount microsd /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.2/mmc_ host/mmc1 # todo: the secondary sdcard seems to confuse vold badly dev_mount sdreader /mnt/external_sd auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci. 3/mmc_host/mmc2 dev_mount usbdisk1 /mnt/usb_storage auto /devices/platform/tegra-ehci
So the actual changes are in the fourth and third lines from the bottom, changing around a few numbers. You'll see the difference if you open the original. I have saved a copy of it on the SD card, so if (or rather when) the next update comes I can simply copy it to the \ETC directory with Root Explorer and do a reboot, and it's back where I want it.
Sent from my A500 using xda premium

richierich118 said:
No its not like this. The phones do have internal memory also. The ram has nothing to do with internal memory, even tho some advertise the ram and internal memory as greaterstorage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WereCatf said:
You're confusing RAM and FLASH storage. Many older Android devices have a very small area reserved for applications and ROMs, it has nothing to do with RAM. RAM is memory where applications are loaded when you wish to execute them and gets erased every time you power off the device, flash storage is where the applications are stored and loaded from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, makes sense now that you both mentioned it. Sorry about that. So, it would seem to me that HC actually isn't using any A2SD solution, it's just that tablets typically have significantly greater internal storage and Google didn't expect anyone to really need it. If that's the case then it at least makes a little sense to me that HC doesn't have that built-in and than not many devs seem to be working on this type of project, especially for an A500 which can so easily use external USB storage for the usual storage hogs like media files.

i cannot see why people are so hellbent on apps2sd. seriously, i cannot. well, okay. i admit that it /does/ free up space on your internal apps partition.... but i can't see the point of wasting space on your external SD card.
the apps partition on the iconia tab is roughly 1GB. that's not too bad, unless you've got HD games and crap. i remember Sonic CD and Gameloft's NOVA 2 download stuff to the internal storage; which doesn't clutter up your app partition (the game is like 5mb for sonic cd and like 20mb for nova 2 on the apps partition, the rest is loaded from internal SD).
also, the tablet doesn't suck, if you're having issues with games, they aren't optimised for the advanced hardware that is used in the Iconia Tab. this is tablet hardware, not a smartphone logic board with a few addons and a sexy HD screen. the app developer hasn't taken the time to develop for tablets, most likely.
i guess less is more for me, but w/e.

How does apps2sd actually work? I haven't paid any attention to what filesystem format the internal SD is, but wouldn't just symlinking files work? Or does the Android kernel support loopback filesystems? I'm just wondering, perhaps I'll dig some details myself just for the sake of curiosity and see if I can come up with a solution.

Apps2SD works by moving programs residing in /data/app to the SD card. This can be accomplished in two ways:
1. Classic Apps2SD - This form is mainly used for Android units prior to Froyo, but can be used on Froyo and Gingerbread (and I presume Honeycomb and ICS, but I have never tested it with those Android platforms). By using a Linux partition that is formatted on your external SD card, the /data/app directory is symlinked to that partition. This tricks Android into thinking it is still storing applications in your Internal memory when, in reality, the programs are being stored on your SD card. The upside to this format is that any program can be moved over (and it is done automatically). The down side is that you will need to create two partitions on your SD card (one Linux partition for Apps2SD and one FAT32 partition for SD card storage) and your kernel must be able to run scripts on boot.
2. Secure Apps2SD - Starting with Froyo, Google implemented their version of Apps2SD. Their version moves your programs to a secured area of your SD Card and creates binding mounts to the actual programs themselves so that Android can run them off the FAT32 SD Card. The advantage of this is that no special formatting or programming is needed to implement this, as it is part of Android. The downside to this is that, without special programs, not ever application can be moved to the SD card (the program must be recompiled using at least the Froyo SDK...however, this issue is becoming less noticeable as more programs are being compiled using either the Froyo SDK or Gingerbread SDK).
The Acer Iconia A500 uses neither of these methods. The tablet is equipped with 8, 16 or 32GB of internal storage. Your applications are still stored on the /data partition, but your SD Card is nothing more than a FUSE mount to /data/media, which means both data and apps have access to the full 8, 16 or 32GB of internal storage, so there's no compelling reason that I can think of that you would need Apps2SD on this tablet. If you want your tablet to treat the external SD card as the actual SD card rather than internal storage, you would be better off changing the symlink to /sdcard from /mnt/sdcard to /mnt/external_sd (note that, when you do that, you won't be able to move files from your computer to the tablet by simply mounting the SD card, as the FUSE mount is not pointed to the external SD card, but to internal memory...you will either need a creative solution to change the FUSE mount to /mnt/external_sd on boot or you'll need to use ADB).
WereCatf said:
How does apps2sd actually work? I haven't paid any attention to what filesystem format the internal SD is, but wouldn't just symlinking files work? Or does the Android kernel support loopback filesystems? I'm just wondering, perhaps I'll dig some details myself just for the sake of curiosity and see if I can come up with a solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Moving all downloaded apps to SD card

So i noticed recently that while many games and apps i download can be moved to the sd card no problem (riptide 2 for example), there are dozens of big applications that don't seem to have the option to be move (GrooVR for example).
I have a 200gb sd card and only 32gb internal storage so i was hoping to move a LOT more stuff to the external storage. I don't understand why some apps can't be moved. Anyone else experienced this? Is partitioning the card and using adaptive storage the only true way to free up internal space?

I think that may be our only solution without root. I noticed too that some large apps will allow to move to SD card but it doesn't move all the data, it only moved around 125mb and left well over a gig in the internal. Doest work as good as it should imo.
sent from the sm-g935t unrootd.

Apps to SD or Adoptable Storage... I'm torn. My 200GB card should be here tomorrow and I'm not sure how I want it set up just yet. I'm assuming the adoptable option is able to keep more on the card... can anyone verify this though? Searching the forum hasn't helped much.

Just be sure your card has a fast write speed if you're gonna use adoptable storage. Or else there will be slow down on some apps.
I've tried this before but since went back. But im gonna try adoptable again with a 128gb Evo pro plus sd card. It wont be as fast as Samsung internal speeds of course but if its not too bad I'll post an update. I plan on trying it out with some large games.
sent from the sm-g935t unrootd.

Its a good card. Sandisk deal on amazon few weeks back. But does anyone know why i can't move certain non-system apps to sd via settings?

If the issue is write speeds for things like recording video and transferring media files to the phone for playback I'm not concerned. Don't mind waiting to copy files and don't really record video (ever). Now if playback is a big issue (the part I'm not sure about as most reviews hit primarily on write speed concerns) then I'll stick to the old Apps to SD methodology. I'd just like something more seamless and more consistent.
I haven't looked into it yet, but is it a pain to "divorce" a card? Do you pretty much end up resetting everything?
---------- Post added at 03:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:01 PM ----------
DRSdroid said:
Its a good card. Sandisk deal on amazon few weeks back. But does anyone know why i can't move certain non-system apps to sd via settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may be wrong or things may have changed, but initially when this function was introduced the developer had to specifically set a flag that the app was allowed to be moved. Hence the introduction of some utilities which boasted moving even incompatible apps to SD.

cuezaireekaa said:
Just be sure your card has a fast write speed if you're gonna use adoptable storage. Or else there will be slow down on some apps.
I've tried this before but since went back. But im gonna try adoptable again with a 128gb Evo pro plus sd card. It wont be as fast as Samsung internal speeds of course but if its not too bad I'll post an update. I plan on trying it out with some large games.
sent from the sm-g935t unrootd.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let us know how it works for you. I was trying to avoid it, but i dont think i have a choice. The VR apps are big and most will not move to SD

DRSdroid said:
Let us know how it works for you. I was trying to avoid it, but i dont think i have a choice. The VR apps are big and most will not move to SD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure.. I might do it this weekend if time permits. I have to back up everything again and factory reset and reinstall all my apps again manually. Damn I miss titanium back up. It and viper are the only things I needed root for..
Wish we could have a working eq on this phone. The default is ok but it could be way better. My note 3 is how I listen to music for now.
sent from the sm-g935t unrootd.

cant move all apps to sd
Well, i maybe know how to move apps(not including system apps) to sd. Most of phones have developer options (if you dont know what is it, u can open it by going to settings, click on about phone, and click 10 on "build number" and then it will be unlocked), in developer options scroll down and look if you have "force allow move to sdcard/external".

kakikaka1 said:
Well, i maybe know how to move apps(not including system apps) to sd. Most of phones have developer options (if you dont know what is it, u can open it by going to settings, click on about phone, and click 10 on "build number" and then it will be unlocked), in developer options scroll down and look if you have "force allow move to sdcard/external".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Beat me to it

did it worked?

Move App Data to SD Card?

Anyone had any luck moving whole apps over to their SD card. It's frustrating that for something like Asphalt 8, the data file is over 1Gb and can't be moved over to the SD card. I've tried Link2SD, TitaniumBackup doesn't seem to have the option anymore and I'm not keen on sacrificing performance/stability by going down the adoptoble storage route. Ideas?

Hi, I went with the adoptable storage option (found a tutorial somewhere to enable it via ADB console, partitioned my 64GB card 50%/50%) and it is working great, no real sacrifice neither in stability nor performance (in real use I note no difference whatsoever).
The only drawback is that the storage settings page cannot show the accurate free space anymore. Not a big deal for me.
Regards,
Sandro

sandro.bertini said:
Hi, I went with the adoptable storage option (found a tutorial somewhere to enable it via ADB console, partitioned my 64GB card 50%/50%) and it is working great, no real sacrifice neither in stability nor performance (in real use I note no difference whatsoever).
The only drawback is that the storage settings page cannot show the accurate free space anymore. Not a big deal for me.
Regards,
Sandro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm, interesting. I may give adoptable storage another look. Have you noticed any impact on the 'write' performance specifically?

I just I installed asphalt 8 and noticed that Data which is over 1.5gb stays on the internal memory card even after moving app to SD card. That is just so stupid. I thought something is wrong with either my card or the phone until I came across this thread.
What good is the SD card if the biggest part of the game can't be moved to it?

Moto E4 (Verizon) [xt1767] Move Apps to SD without root

This phone has no root and likely never will.
Is there anyway to move apps to the sdcard without formatting to internal (adopted storage)?
I don't want to do that because It encrypts the card and im fearful if the phone was ever damaged I'd never be able to pull the card and recover anything.
At the very least is there a way to shuffle off the OBB files to the sdcard without root?
Bonus question: is there a fix for this if root was possible?

Raztan said:
This phone has no root and likely never will.
Is there anyway to move apps to the sdcard without formatting to internal (adopted storage)?
I don't want to do that because It encrypts the card and im fearful if the phone was ever damaged I'd never be able to pull the card and recover anything.
At the very least is there a way to shuffle off the OBB files to the sdcard without root?
Bonus question: is there a fix for this if root was possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that I'm aware of. But you could do a hybrid sd card to put apps on the adopted partition, and keep your photos/music/other stuff on a standard unencrypted partition.

dandrumheller said:
Not that I'm aware of. But you could do a hybrid sd card to put apps on the adopted partition, and keep your photos/music/other stuff on a standard unencrypted partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Genius, That sounds like a workable solution.
So do I need to format the card in any special way or can I just repartition the card in half and android will see both partitions?

Raztan said:
Genius, That sounds like a workable solution.
So do I need to format the card in any special way or can I just repartition the card in half and android will see both partitions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the guide I followed:
http://blog.sam.liddicott.com/2016/02/android-6-semi-adopted-storage.html?m=1
I got yelled at over on Reddit for suggesting this for to the potential for killing your SD card (as they're not 'designed' for this much read write action). That may be true. I've been running this way with no issues for over a year. YMMV.

dandrumheller said:
Here's the guide I followed:
http://blog.sam.liddicott.com/2016/02/android-6-semi-adopted-storage.html?m=1
I got yelled at over on Reddit for suggesting this for to the potential for killing your SD card (as they're not 'designed' for this much read write action). That may be true. I've been running this way with no issues for over a year. YMMV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been following a similar dual partition practice on a rooted Android 5.x device using symbolic links to migrate apps to the ext4 formatted partition while retaining a larger FAT32 partition for general use. I used the free version of Partition Wizard on Windows to format the SD card to my liking. To date no issues with card endurance.
I never considered this approach for adoptable storage until seeing your post! Very interested in trying this on on an unrooted Android 6 device that's getting a little snug on internal storage. I'll post outcomes if they differ from your findings.
Thanks again for sharing!

Confirm, Works on Verizon Moto E4
I tried to be clever about it and repartitioned with Gparted, Then aligned the fat under linux mint.
I popped the SDcard back in teh phone and it detected 2 SDcards.. great I thought.. I went into the smaller partition 48gb / 10gb
Hit internal memory format.. to my horror it took over the entire card..
I tried the guide and it worked fine, although you're sort of at it's mercy on how it formats.. it's a fairly simple procedure.
I am somewhat confused though after I did it before I moved anything to the card it says 5.5gb of space is being taken by "system" on the internal portion of the sdcard, It says total internal memory is 32gb but actually it should be more like 26gb (16 onboard + 10gb sdcard)
Im seriously confused on how to tell what files are stored on the sdcard and what's stored on the onboard memory.. it shows them separate under "storage" but ES explorer just shows the 48gb fat partition and the 10gb.. does not seem to be able to separate the internal and the sdcard, but it shows total space as 10gb so something really wrong there.
Maybe cause Im using a old version of ES before it went to hell.. 4.0.3 I think.
Im not sure now when I select sdcard if im getting the 48gb portion the SDCard or the 10gb "adopted storage" sdcard..
Very confusing.
EDIT: Ok I think I see what's going on.
The 10gb Im seeing is actual internal memory.. So it does not appear I can access the 10gb I set aside on the sdcard at all.. is that how it's suppose to work?
I installed a few large games, If I go into storage and click on the 10GB partition it says each game is saving about 50mb out of about 700mb /ea on the card.. whoa what a savings, I don't what that 50mb is but it sure ain't the huge ass obb file sitting in internal memory.
If I go into the app's data storage list it says it's storing to the adopted 10gb but obviously that's a lie since only a fraction is actually making it to the card...
if this is the best I can hope for out of adopted storage I'd be better off just going full portable.
Am I missing something?

Raztan said:
Confirm, Works on Verizon Moto E4
I tried to be clever about it and repartitioned with Gparted, Then aligned the fat under linux mint.
I popped the SDcard back in teh phone and it detected 2 SDcards.. great I thought.. I went into the smaller partition 48gb / 10gb
Hit internal memory format.. to my horror it took over the entire card..
I tried the guide and it worked fine, although you're sort of at it's mercy on how it formats.. it's a fairly simple procedure.
I am somewhat confused though after I did it before I moved anything to the card it says 5.5gb of space is being taken by "system" on the internal portion of the sdcard, It says total internal memory is 32gb but actually it should be more like 26gb (16 onboard + 10gb sdcard)
Im seriously confused on how to tell what files are stored on the sdcard and what's stored on the onboard memory.. it shows them separate under "storage" but ES explorer just shows the 48gb fat partition and the 10gb.. does not seem to be able to separate the internal and the sdcard, but it shows total space as 10gb so something really wrong there.
Maybe cause Im using a old version of ES before it went to hell.. 4.0.3 I think.
Im not sure now when I select sdcard if im getting the 48gb portion the SDCard or the 10gb "adopted storage" sdcard..
Very confusing.
EDIT: Ok I think I see what's going on.
The 10gb Im seeing is actual internal memory.. So it does not appear I can access the 10gb I set aside on the sdcard at all.. is that how it's suppose to work?
I installed a few large games, If I go into storage and click on the 10GB partition it says each game is saving about 50mb out of about 700mb /ea on the card.. whoa what a savings, I don't what that 50mb is but it sure ain't the huge ass obb file sitting in internal memory.
If I go into the app's data storage list it says it's storing to the adopted 10gb but obviously that's a lie since only a fraction is actually making it to the card...
if this is the best I can hope for out of adopted storage I'd be better off just going full portable.
Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure what the method is for determining where a specific app lands when installed. Maybe up to the developer? But going into settings > storage shows me what's below. Drill down to the apps section, and you can manually choose what storage you want for each app.
This is my setup with a 128gb card with 32gb used as adopted storage.

Your's looks similar to mine.
Are you able to actually access the adopted storage partition... browse for files? see I can't.. I can see internal storage and the public portion of the sdcard..
The adopted storage is not accessible via file manager.
It does not look like it will switch over once internal is full either.. I filled up the internal memory and then tried to install a app and it is telling me im out of space.
If this is the the way adopted storage is suppose to work it's fairly useless imo.

Raztan said:
Your's looks similar to mine.
Are you able to actually access the adopted storage partition... browse for files? see I can't.. I can see internal storage and the public portion of the sdcard..
The adopted storage is not accessible via file manager.
It does not look like it will switch over once internal is full either.. I filled up the internal memory and then tried to install a app and it is telling me im out of space.
If this is the the way adopted storage is suppose to work it's fairly useless imo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not aware of any file manager that can see the adopted storage. Haven't filled up internal to know if it will "spill over".
Some apps cannot be moved to adopted. Some install there by default.
My use case is to dump my low use or less resource demanding apps to the adopted storage, freeing internal faster storage for high use apps.
It's certainly not an ideal solution, but it at least provides an option for reducing limited internal storage...

I gotcha, I can only seem to get about 50mb's to transfer over, dead trigger 2 and hitman sniper
the bulk of it (the OBB files) stick around on internal whether or not I tell it to "change" to the sdcard or not..
Oh well Im just gonna reformat to portable and just limit what I install.. Why does google do this crap to us.
I lived without root on some of my previous phones but from here on out if it don't have root I got no use for it

Raztan said:
I gotcha, I can only seem to get about 50mb's to transfer over, dead trigger 2 and hitman sniper
the bulk of it (the OBB files) stick around on internal whether or not I tell it to "change" to the sdcard or not..
Oh well Im just gonna reformat to portable and just limit what I install.. Why does google do this crap to us.
I lived without root on some of my previous phones but from here on out if it don't have root I got no use for it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NVM, forgot you said no root. My apologies

Raztan said:
I gotcha, I can only seem to get about 50mb's to transfer over, dead trigger 2 and hitman sniper
the bulk of it (the OBB files) stick around on internal whether or not I tell it to "change" to the sdcard or not..
Oh well Im just gonna reformat to portable and just limit what I install.. Why does google do this crap to us.
I lived without root on some of my previous phones but from here on out if it don't have root I got no use for it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I messed around with this for a bit. Was able to partition the card to my liking using the simple sm command outlined in this post (manual method). Much easier and more understandable than the previously linked approach IMO. Installed and moved a few things; everything worked as expected although the feedback from Google's storage panel is less than reassuring. They really want to make the process transparent and in doing so dilute the detail that enthusiasts appreciate.
Someone asked if you could see inside adopted storage with a standard file manager. Nope, as the contents are encrypted and Google does not provide an API TTBOMK.
There are random posts mentioning lost of home screen icons on reboots and other 'weirdness' when using adopted storage. I didn't experience any of that but also didn't spend much time testing.
In the end I stepped away and returned the entire SD card to portable storage as the benefit wasn't worth the potential hassles. That said, I could see this as a potential solution for those who are bumping up against the limits of internal storage AND need/want to reserve part of the SD card for general purpose storage.

Davey126 said:
I messed around with this for a bit. Was able to partition the card to my liking using the simple sm command outlined in this post (manual method). Much easier and more understandable than the previously linked approach IMO. Installed and moved a few things; everything worked as expected although the feedback from Google's storage panel is less than reassuring. They really want to make the process transparent and in doing so dilute the detail that enthusiasts appreciate.
Someone asked if you could see inside adopted storage with a standard file manager. Nope, as the contents are encrypted and Google does not provide an API TTBOMK.
There are random posts mentioning lost of home screen icons on reboots and other 'weirdness' when using adopted storage. I didn't experience any of that but also didn't spend much time testing.
In the end I stepped away and returned the entire SD card to portable storage as the benefit wasn't work the potential hassles. That said, I could see this as a potential solution for those who are bumping up against the limits of internal storage AND need/want to reserve part of the SD card for general purpose storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any icons on home screens for apps that are in adopted storage will vanish after reboot until the device has time to re read adopted storage. Size and speed of card, and amount of data there all impact this. Pretty sure widgets are unavailable to apps on adopted storage as well.
It pretty much works about the same as the old apps2sd / link2sd options that we had to use back in the days of tiny on device storage sizes.

dandrumheller said:
Any icons on home screens for apps that are in adopted storage will vanish after reboot until the device has time to re read adopted storage. Size and speed of card, and amount of data there all impact this. Pretty sure widgets are unavailable to apps on adopted storage as well.
It pretty much works about the same as the old apps2sd / link2sd options that we had to use back in the days of tiny on device storage sizes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have used symbolic linking (Apps2SD/Link2SD/etc) for sometime on rooted devices and never ran into such issues. I am also able to migrate apps and all associated data w/o limitation.
As you pointed out hardware/card speed and quantity of data likely are likely factors when using adopted storage. There is less setup and boot verification with symbolic linking; much of that takes place before the device is ready for user input. It's not a perfect solution as the mount scripts sometimes get borked and have to be rebuilt but supervisory apps detect/correct that with minimal intervention.
The biggest benefit of adoptable storage is it can be used on stock/unrooted devices. It's also relatively transparent for noobs. Beyond that it's more of a PiTA IMHO.

Davey126 said:
I have used symbolic linking (Apps2SD/Link2SD/etc) for sometime on rooted devices and never ran into such issues. I am also able to migrate apps and all associated data w/o limitation.
As you pointed out hardware/card speed and quantity of data likely are likely factors when using adopted storage. There is less setup and boot verification with symbolic linking; much of that takes place before the device is ready for user input. It's not a perfect solution as the mount scripts sometimes get borked and have to be rebuilt but supervisory apps detect/correct that with minimal intervention.
The biggest benefit of adoptable storage is it can be used on stock/unrooted devices. It's also relatively transparent for noobs. Beyond that it's more of a PiTA IMHO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's been a long time since I've played with symbolic linking. At the time it felt pretty cumbersome to me, relative to my current experience with adopted storage. Definitely less user control and fine tuning with adopted though. Also, as you mention, no root required.

Davey126 said:
Someone asked if you could see inside adopted storage with a standard file manager. Nope, as the contents are encrypted and Google does not provide an API TTBOMK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya that sucks, It wouldn't be so bad if it would just move the largest chunk of an app over which on games is the OBB file(s)
Im sure google thinks this is better than the old move to sdcard option but imo they took a big step back.
I read their reasoning is how "wild west" the sdcard access was.. ya well if they're so worried about security maybe crack down on the overly abusive permissions on apps.. you can control some access, but some permissions they just treat like it's no big deal.
I guess google knows best right? /sarcasm.
Davey126 said:
In the end I stepped away and returned the entire SD card to portable storage as the benefit wasn't work the potential hassles. That said, I could see this as a potential solution for those who are bumping up against the limits of internal storage AND need/want to reserve part of the SD card for general purpose storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya that's where Im at, Im just gonna be real selective about what I install, with only 16gb's about 5 of which is the system (that's crazy imo that android needs that much space) leaving only around 10-11gb of user space a few large games can really eat it up on top of cache, and other apps.
I think GTA SA for example takes like 2-3 gb (iirc, been a while)
madbat99 said:
NVM, forgot you said no root. My apologies
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not at all, Im also interested in root solutions it won't help me on this phone but it would be good to know what other options are out there..
Next phone has to have root.. no two ways about it.

Raztan said:
Ya that sucks, It wouldn't be so bad if it would just move the largest chunk of an app over which on games is the OBB file(s)
Im sure google thinks this is better than the old move to sdcard option but imo they took a big step back.
I read their reasoning is how "wild west" the sdcard access was.. ya well if they're so worried about security maybe crack down on the overly abusive permissions on apps.. you can control some access, but some permissions they just treat like it's no big deal.
I guess google knows best right? /sarcasm.
Ya that's where Im at, Im just gonna be real selective about what I install, with only 16gb's about 5 of which is the system (that's crazy imo that android needs that much space) leaving only around 10-11gb of user space a few large games can really eat it up on top of cache, and other apps.
I think GTA SA for example takes like 2-3 gb (iirc, been a while)
Not at all, Im also interested in root solutions it won't help me on this phone but it would be good to know what other options are out there..
Next phone has to have root.. no two ways about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was going to say the Xposed module obb on SD looks promising. But then I remembered that no root was mentioned.
https://labs.xda-developers.com/store/xposed/com.smartmadsoft.xposed.obbonsd

madbat99 said:
I was going to say the Xposed module obb on SD looks promising.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya exposed framework is one of my favorite things on a rooted device, although someone told me it's semi broken on a lot of newer devices?

Raztan said:
Ya exposed framework is one of my favorite things on a rooted device, although someone told me it's semi broken on a lot of newer devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works great on my moto e4 sprint (virgin mobile). And rovo89 just updated it for Oreo (beta of course), so it should be good. I'm using it with greenify, amplify, and gravitybox.

Raztan said:
Ya exposed framework is one of my favorite things on a rooted device, although someone told me it's semi broken on a lot of newer devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Outdated info; works fine on Marshmallow, Nougat and (very soon) Oreo.