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Hi!
In order to conserve memory space on the Universal what are the fiiles that can be moved to the SD card without affecting its performance?
Lets start by making a list.
a) Moving IE cache, cookies and history through registry settings
Go to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\Cache".
You can change the default value "\Windows\Profiles\Guest\Temporary Internet Files" to "\Storage_Card\ie\cache".
Change the other values in the Shell Folders section of the registry to the folders you created and then soft reset.
b) Today's themes can be moved to the SD card's root directory
c) Ringtones?
d) Camera's pictures and recorded videos?
e) pim?
f) IE favorites?
g) Voice tags?
h) Others like dlls etc
Could the required reistry settings be posted here, if necessary
Thanks
This is a very interesting topic IMHO.
Worth to be "revived"!
What else can be moved to SD?
Thx!
JP
keep in mind that "main memory" is flash ROM on the Universal. Technically not very different from a SD card. More of a question "what files do I need to have on the device when the SD card is not inserted".
Unlock the extended ROM and move that contents over to the SD card - gives you 10 MB more Flash ROM.
There is not much point in moving DLLs and other stuff over to the SD card, since those DLLs etc are in the system ROM which is locked. they will still occupy the space even if you have "moved" them.
You cannot influence the true main memory (the RAM) any more in WM5
Picture & videos
Pictures and videos can already be stored to your SD card by opening the camera and clicking the setting button, then going to tools and the general tab. Select Storage Card from the drop down menu where it says 'Save as'
I wonder if in your ROM version the changes you make to PIE will keep. My experience with changing the default PIE cache size is that it will not stay on the new setting, but reverts to the old value. It may take a few days, to a week but changes are not persistent.
A few issues to consider
First, on soime devices there is a delay between coming back from sleep and getting the storage card active. This can mean that programs stored there won't work correctly. An example of this is MS Voice Commander. Anything that will be left running shouldn't be installed on the SD card.
Also remember that an SD card has different characteristics than RAM and one of those is a limit on the number of times that a spot can be rewritten. Putting things like your PIE cache on the card isn't a great idea unless you want to have errors or keep replacing the card. For data that doesn't change frequenty, it is fine.
Hello,
I just discovered I'm even more of a ignorant farmgirl than I thought... this time it's the MiniSD card I don't know anything about.
I mean: of course you plug it in and you browse to it to add/move/remove files... but it would seem that's not enough. So, can anyone point me to a SD-on-Wiz Faq, please?
A few things I'm looking into:
- How do you get the Wiz to automatically look among SD card-based files from an app? (i.e. "Open" from Word looks into the card first)
- How do you get the camera to save pictures directly onto the SD card, so as not to waste precious device-based memory?
- What are the actual differences between installing apps onto a SD card compared to the device memory? I noticed some apps seem to behave differently according to where they are placed.
- Is there any way to create a card-based auto-multi-installer to do all the dirty work of reinstalling apps automatically after a hard reset?
I'm sure I left out several other interesting and useful things...
Thanks in advance for your contributions!
there´s some reg tweaks you can do so the wizard will store stuff on the sd-card and not in main memorey (i. e. IE cache files, Camera pics, etc.)
just search the forum you´ll find some stuff there.
For the difference between SD-Card and main storage installation. i have no idea. haven´t noticed any change in my apps. maybe just in speed of loading apps. but that´s all i noticed.
for doing backup of your apps. a lot of programms you intall on your sd card don´t need to be reinstalled after a hard reset. just need to put the shortcuts and links back in the folders.
hope i could help.
greets Freez
Making the camera save pictures to the SD card can be done by changing the settings in the camera app under options.
There is no way to automatically have all apps look on the SD card first, every app needs a change in their settings or in the registry to accomplish that.
Installing apps on the SD card has pros and cons. The pros are of course that your storage space on the device (in the ROM) gets used up less, so you can install more apps on your device. It is however not necessary to leave it as empty as possible as it was in WM 2003 SE. In WM 2003 SE (on for instance the Magician) apps were installed in RAM and the more you installed on the device, the more RAM was used up and the less RAM there was available for running apps, resulting in a slow down of the device. Furthermore running out of battery power would result in the device turning off, emptying the RAM and lossing all data and installed apps. In WM5 this is different. Since ROM is used for storage and RAM for executing only, you can fill your ROM to the max without slowing down the device. Furthermore an empty battery will mean no data loss. Concluding, there is no necessity to install as much as possible to the SD card and leave your ROM space empty.
The cons of installing to your SD card are that some apps (e.g. today-plug-ins) don't like being installed on SD card. For today plug-ins this has to do with the start-up process of the Wizard. After turing the device on or waking it from sleep, the device will first load the apps and then initialize the SD card. The device will try to load the apps on the today screen (the plug-ins that is) that are stored on the SD before the SD slot is initialized and the apps cannot be found by the device, creating glitches and problems.
Another con for me is that I like to switch between my SD with TomTom navigation maps and my SD with my mp3/movie collection. If I install most apps to SD, this means that I will have to change my SD again if during a movie or MP3 I want to use one of these apps quickly.
However, if you use only one SD for installing and not much else, this problem does of course not exist.
If your storage in ROM is not full, there is no reason to install aps to SD.
Thak you for the info so far!
Koskie: paint me 'tard... I never even saw the camera Options menu until you mentioned it...
I am about to start getting some cards and here is what I was thinking...
1. a 512 or 128MB card for everyday use. Store IE cache, ringtones, pictures, and some programs (solitaire, puzzles, monopoly etc).
2. A series of 2GB cards for music, movies and TV content when I travel. I was planing on installing TCPMP on each one to avaoid putting that in my device memory.
As far as restoring after flashing or a hard reset, I currently keep a copy of all programs, ringtones, pim backups etc on my home computer. It is organized by file type, utils, games, rings etc. so when I flash I just go through again and reinstall one by one. I've found this is easier than figuring out where to download everything all over again.
@bubism: no problem, took me a while to figure it out too, that option is well-hidden!
@dcdivenut: Good plan. Those small size cards are really cheap. Why don't you install TCPMP on your device memory? It is not too big. Or have you crammed your mem so full that you have no more place for it.
I also have all apps I ever installed still on my desktop, including a list with all the reg edits I did and all apps I have currently installed with a short explanation for most apps and installation instructions when a standard install is not good enough (e.g. TomTom 5.21)
In case a hard reset is needed,I just grab the list and install all apps again, then do all the regedits. Still a lot of work, but quicker than having to search all apps and edits online. I recommend this approach to everyone.
Hey Koskie:
Can you post that list and what to do? I have a new 8125 and miniSD card and have no idea what to use the card for. I won't be putting music, pictures or videos on it since it is a work phone.
Ski
@ Skijackz: I use my SD card for music, TomTom 5.21 maps and video's only, all my apps are installed in main (=device) mem. I have approx. 16 MB free of Storage mem. If you have no use for your SD card and your storage mem is sufficient to store your apps, you can take it out and replace it with the plastic dummy that came with it. In that way your card slot is protected against dust and dirt, but the SD card will not use any power, thereby lengthening your uptime. If you use your device for navigation, you have to use the card to store the maps on it, since they are too big for your device mem.
The list I made is partly in Dutch, especially the notes, so it might not be very useful to you. Furthermore the list is a mess, since it works through my personal filing system (copy and paste wherever my cursor happens to rest). It is a mostly chronological list, I mostly added everything I found at the end. I'll attach it anyway, perhaps you'll find it useful. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask them here or through PM.
Thanks a lot for the tip on storing pics to the storage card!!! That's a real find! ....and much appreciated!!
This place is the BEST :!: :!:
Thanks Koskie!! This is a real help.
hi there guys
got an hermes 300 here... this is the problem:
when i got it i didnt had the storage card, the microSD card i got few days ago, a 2Gb Kingston... the card is well functioning and no problems...
before the card, everything was saved to main memory of ppc, aswell as MMS, camera pictures etc etc etc... now when i have storage card its same, dunno why? in camera settings i can switch only between main memory and network, no storage card shown... MMS is same, every copy is saved to main memory and it fulls it... nothing is saved to storage card... how to automatically switch all storage to storage card?
thx guys
Well where the apps store things is not automatic. In other words you need to go into an applications settings OR make changes to the Registry to set for example saving SMS or IE temp files from main to storage card.
Now the exact changes you need to make are already posted in this forum so searches should produce results. (if there is a particular setting you cannot find then ask again in this thread)
Now, a slightly different issue is where the camera stores photos:
Uunfortunately the camera is only capable of saving to one of two locations at any one time so:
If the view network folder is NOT enabled you will be offered:
"Main" or Storage card" and once set it will remember your choice and not ask again.
BUT with Network folder enabled and a storage card inserted you will:
be asked if you want to use "StorageCard" every time you start Camera, but in camera tools you will only be offered "Main" or "Network" even if you chose the card. It will not set to storage card even if you said you wanted this when camera started.
So, if you want to use main memory with a storage card inserted and don't want the silly question about using storage card each time, then you must disable the network folder. (Use Resco or Total Commander to do this - forget now if regular File Explorer does it)
Equally if you want to save to storage card you will also need "network" folder disabled otherwise it will save to Main memory even when you say yes to Storage Card on start up of the camera application.
The default setting for the Network folder is disabled, so if you are having problems it is likely to have been enabled by using the likes of Resco or Total Commander.
Cheers
Mike
In 2.2 FRF85B, if an app supports 2.2's built in apps2sd, when you install it from the Market, it AUTO installs ONTO the microSD card!
Go ahead, test it yourself with these 2.2 apps2sd compatible apps:
AK Notepad
FeedR
FML, Android
LED Tester
Movies
Pandora
Titanium Backup
World Newspapers
obviously there's more, but these are the ones I used and reinstalled from a fresh wipe on FRF85B, and they were automatically installed onto microSD card.
Didn't do it for me....but Titanium Backup did get an update and you can now click move to SD card in Applications menu.
didnt auto install for either :/
SiL3nTKiLL said:
didnt auto install for either :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can set the flag to 0,1 or 2. I believe 0=Auto, 1=Internal and 2=External. Maybe your flag is set to 1 (internal).
It works for me. I have never installed world newspapers before on this phone, so that also eliminates the possibility of the phone "remembering" this setting. I checked and it automatically installed to sd.
There is also a possibility that the developers of the app can set them to automatically install to sd card... but unlikely, since all those apps on your list automatically went to the sd card, not just some of them.
depends on the installLocation attribute: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element.html#install
I downloaded world newspapers and it automatically went to SD card and I'm on FRF83 : )
The developer sets a flag in the app for Auto, Internal or External.
Most of them set it on Auto, so the phone automatically installs on the card if you have low space on the internal memory.
I remember having a newly downloaded app auto installing straight into SD, i was back on FRF72 back then i think. Dont remember app name though.
At least developers are using it properly.
What is not clear to me is how "auto" setting will be handled in this scenario: first few app2sd supporting apps with "auto" attribute are installed to the phone memory, then a bunch of non-apps2sd apps is installed and phone space becomes low. Will Froyo at this point move apps2sd automatically to SD card? Hopefully it will, but need to double check that.
sergey.povzner said:
What is not clear to me is how "auto" setting will be handled in this scenario: first few app2sd supporting apps with "auto" attribute are installed to the phone memory, then a bunch of non-apps2sd apps is installed and phone space becomes low. Will Froyo at this point move apps2sd automatically to SD card? Hopefully it will, but need to double check that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Developers have two choices when they install the app:
Internal
External
If they choose internal, and there is room, they go internal. If there is no more room, they get installed on external.
If they choose external, they get installed on external.
I don't believe the OS will move your apps without you prompting it to do so.
From here:
internalOnly:
The application must be installed on the internal device storage only. If this is set, the application will never be installed on the external storage. If the internal storage is full, then the system will not install the application. This is also the default behavior if you do not define android:installLocation.
auto:
The application may be installed on the external storage, but the system will install the application on the internal storage by default. If the internal storage is full, then the system will install it on the external storage. Once installed, the user can move the application to either internal or external storage through the system settings.
preferExternal:
The application prefers to be installed on the external storage (SD card). There is no guarantee that the system will honor this request. The application might be installed on internal storage if the external media is unavailable or full, or if the application uses the forward-locking mechanism (not supported on external storage). Once installed, the user can move the application to either internal or external storage through the system settings.
So the issue arrises with this scenario:
1) install some apps2sd supporting apps with "auto" attribute to the the phone memory (cause that's the default). Phone memory is ok.
2) install a bunch of non-apps2sd apps.
3) phone memory low. Get a warning.
4) Now need to go and manually move apps2sd supporting apps to SD card.
Would be nice if OS would be doing that for you in step 4 since there's no easy way to know which apps can be moved to SD card without going through each app in the manage applications.
sergey.povzner said:
So the issue arrises with this scenario:
- install some apps2sd supporting apps with "auto" attribute to the the phone memory (cause that's the default). Phone memory is ok.
- install a bunch of non-apps2sd apps.
- phone memory low. Get a warning.
- Now need to go and manually move apps2sd supporting apps to SD card. Would be nice if OS would be doing that for you since there's no easy way to know which apps can be moved to SD card without going through each app in the manage applications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's right.
Apps2SD seems to be like a beta product. Besides a quick sign of which apps can be moved, the whole thing with the breaking widget is very annoying. What's the point of moving a big app to the card if it's going to break the widget...
But at least it works and saves us a lot of space while they make the whole thing better
Using Google Earth as a large app not supporting apps2sd in step 2, I just checked that all you get is a warning. OS will not move apps after installation is over.
vitorjna said:
But at least it works and saves us a lot of space while they make the whole thing better
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm generally happy even with this "beta" apps2sd. I'm just surprised that Manage applications doesn't have a list or sort function to display only apps that can be moved to SD card.
vitorjna said:
What's the point of moving a big app to the card if it's going to break the widget...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well there is no point, that's why you're not supposed to do it.
There are some large apps with widgets, such as Pandora, which would be nice to be able to move to SD, however I want to use the widget. I wonder how hard it would be for them to make the widget a separate app. That way you can move the large app core to SD, but keep the widget internal.
Also, I wonder if it would be possible for Android to do this automatically. The widget components in the package should be pretty easy to separate from the non-widget parts. Of course if this was done the widget would need to have some code to gracefully handle the cases where the SD part of the app are not available.
Galaxy S is my first Android device, so please excuse my noob-question:
I just try alot of apps and most of them will be uninstalled by me a few days later. Does Android do a "clean" uninstall, or are there still bits and pieces in something like a registry (yes I am a windows-user ;-)). Or does that depend on the uninstall-method which is provided by the individual app-developer?
Due to the fact that there is no "General Android" - Forum I will post my question in this forum which at least corrsesponds to my current device.
Thanks for your insight.
quicky
This is funny because I also wonder everytime I delete if there are registry pieces missing lool. but I'm sure that doesn't matter.. There are however SOMETIMES folders IN the SD card or the external Drive of a phone (like the 8gb/16gb partition of the Galaxy).
All android phones are like that, sometimes they leave a folder with settings or sometimes empty folders, and sometimes no folders at all.
I think it's just to keep cache or settings.. you can simply delete those when you enter your sd card.
In Android, every app has his own "sandbox". This is like a exclusive folder for the app, where it stores everything and other apps can't access.
When you remove an app from the phone, android removes this "folder" so there is nothing left behind.
There is just one exception to this: the SD card. Some programs will store some information (for example heavy games store maps, voices,...) to a folder in the SD card. So when uninstalling just look if your SD card contains some folder with the app name and safely remove it too (unless you plan reinstalling the app later!).