Use an external sd card as internal storage - Motorola Photon 4G

Today I got a 32 GB, SanDisk Micro SDCard, mainly for the use with Google Music (I have a 7,200+ library). However, I didn't find a source which had a solid solution, to at least have Google Music use the external sd card. So, I just messed around with it, and I found out how to Swap (reverse) the sd card 'locations', properly.
In vold.fstab, in the directory /system/etc/, you have two lines. Edit them with Root explorer's included "text editor", or any other good text editor. Make sure you have r/w on. Find the below two lines:
Code:
# external sd card
dev_mount sdcard_ext /mnt/sdcard-ext:none:lun1 auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc3 /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc1
and
Code:
# internal eMMC
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard 18 /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.3/mmc_host/mmc0
What I did, and what proved successful (to use both internal, and external storage, which are reversed), is this:
Code:
# external sd card
dev_mount sdcard_ext [COLOR="Red"]/mnt/sdcard[/COLOR]:none:lun1 auto /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc3 /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc1
and
Code:
# internal eMMC
dev_mount sdcard [COLOR="Red"]/mnt/sdcard-ext[/COLOR] 18 /devices/platform/tegra-sdhci.3/mmc_host/mmc0
Replace the regular lines, with the red lines, save, restart your phone, and BAM, your internal is now marked as external, and your external, is now your internal
I use Stock 154_5, Unlocked, rooted.
Enjoy, and press the thanks button

Also, you can revert them back, if you changed them. Just put the stock code back into the file.

Also, I just discovered:
You can only use the internal storage, when connecting to a computer. The 'internal' (which, we switched around), will not be detected. If you do connect your device to a computer, after you disconnect it, the 'internal', storage, which is really the external, because we switched it, will not be detected, and you must restart your phone.

I'll test this on MIUI. I have the 64GB version. Same problem.

ZeroManArmy said:
I'll test this on MIUI. I have the 64GB version. Same problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool. Let me know if it works. Yeah, 64 GB only for movies and pictures.... Isn't worth it for me. Lol

What do you have for CM9 or MIUI?

ZeroManArmy said:
What do you have for CM9 or MIUI?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Stock 154_5, Unlocked, rooted.

URGENT,
i am using samsung galaxy note device , i have follow your instruction to change the vold.hstab file.
Now my device has recognize my ext sd card as sdcard. But my device cant recognise my internal sdcard, so i have lose my root explorer. and I couldn't reedit the vold.hstab file back.
I have try to hardreset, and try to reinstall root explorer, but it always give an restart and error : "process.media force close "
From my understanding the failure of installing the root explorer because my device can't recognise sdcard anymore
I go to setting--> storage , I found the sdcard is not detected, only usb storage detected
how to solve this problem?

n1cky6969 said:
URGENT,
i am using samsung galaxy note device , i have follow your instruction to change the vold.hstab file.
Now my device has recognize my ext sd card as sdcard. But my device cant recognise my internal sdcard, so i have lose my root explorer. and I couldn't reedit the vold.hstab file back.
I have try to hardreset, and try to reinstall root explorer, but it always give an restart and error : "process.media force close "
From my understanding the failure of installing the root explorer because my device can't recognise sdcard anymore
I go to setting--> storage , I found the sdcard is not detected, only usb storage detected
how to solve this problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well your problem is because, this is for the Photon 4G. Not the Note. Have you tried other File managers, such as Antek?

D2dyno said:
Well your problem is because, this is for the Photon 4G. Not the Note. Have you tried other File managers, such as Antek?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyhow, It is impossible to install any applications, if try to install,device will restart
But, it's okay now, I have reflash my rom, all the problem solved
Thanks for your responds

n1cky6969 said:
Anyhow, It is impossible to install any applications, if try to install,device will restart
But, it's okay now, I have reflash my rom, all the problem solved
Thanks for your responds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, and I'm glad to help.

Man am I happy I came across this thread!!!
I've been reading forever in some of the rom threads for an answer to this question! A few of the roms I've tried out had the internal and external storage swapped with no option to switch and that kept me from using them because I use internal storage for apps data and such and then my external memory card for backups and personal files!
The only 2 roms that this can be fixed in is jokers CM9-unofficial-ICS rom (there is actually an Advanced Option in Settings) and the MIUI.us port (there is a storage mod flashable swap, which didn't work for me, and there is an option in the Aroma installer to choose what you want for Internal Storage).
Now that I've come across this, imma try it out and see if I can't get it to work on some other roms I have used!
Thanks for the discovery! I'll let ya know how it works out for me!
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium

Jleeblanch said:
Man am I happy I came across this thread!!!
I've been reading forever in some of the rom threads for an answer to this question! A few of the roms I've tried out had the internal and external storage swapped with no option to switch and that kept me from using them because I use internal storage for apps data and such and then my external memory card for backups and personal files!
The only 2 roms that this can be fixed in is jokers CM9-unofficial-ICS rom (there is actually an Advanced Option in Settings) and the MIUI.us port (there is a storage mod flashable swap, which didn't work for me, and there is an option in the Aroma installer to choose what you want for Internal Storage).
Now that I've come across this, imma try it out and see if I can't get it to work on some other roms I have used!
Thanks for the discovery! I'll let ya know how it works out for me!
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear! ICS ROMs handle external SD cards way better, so I prefer them now.

D2dyno said:
Glad to hear! ICS ROMs handle external SD cards way better, so I prefer them now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear you there! The ICS roms rock! Jokers ICS rom has been my favorite due to the option to switch to use Internal memory for apps/app data. The other CM9 variants (AOKP/AOKPCB) had it default to use external memory as storage for apps/app data with NO option to swap. Now that I came across this, when my battery is a little better than 37% lol, imma do your mentioned edits!
Only difference from what I see from stock is that instead of "sdcard-ext" its "emmc". My current setup has "emmc" set as sdcard-ext (external storage) and sdcard as, well sdcard (internal storage) lol.
My issue has been that those have been swapped where "emmc" = internal storage and "sdcard" = external storage. With it being that way, it makes it a PIA to restore from Titanium Backup.
But this is all a thing of the past haha
I'm glad I'm not scared to read (like I feel like a lot of users are). I've seen a lot of posts where ppl were asking about how to swap the storage locations with no solid answers. Granted I didn't come across this solution immediately either...BUT I did and I plan to link to this thread and give you props in hopes that others find this useful as I know others are definitely having the same issue!
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium

I just successfully tested this on the AOKPCB from and it worked perfectly! Not gonna lie, that makes me VERY happy!!

Maybe everyone typing thanks could actually "THANK" this person?

Works on tablet
Ok tried this on a cheap tablet that I bought for playing around like this. An Arnova AN 7G3 7" with 4gb memory, 2 gb internal and 2gb internal sdcard. It was close to your file, all I had to change was sdcard and extsd. Before I did the switch and after seeing someone had trouble with apks after the switch, I made sure to move all apks to tablet, then copied all folders from sd to extsd. I also made a copy of the orignial vold file, just incase. Changed vold file rebooted and everything was great. Made a copy of altered vold file, then replaced with orignial and rebooted.....all still ok, replaced file with altered file and rebooted ,again all ok. Moved all apks that I could move to sdcard from tablet, free up 650mg on tablet. All moved apks worked fine.
AN 7 G3 is rooted out box runing stock ICS 4.0.1
Thanks for the info

ALD3 said:
F theOk tried this on a cheap tablet that I bought for playing around like this. An Arnova AN 7G3 7" with 4gb memory, 2 gb internal and 2gb internal sdcard. It was close to your file, all I had to change was sdcard and extsd. Before I did the switch and after seeing someone had trouble with apks after the switch, I made sure to move all apks to tablet, then copied all folders from sd to extsd. I also made a copy of the orignial vold file, just incase. Changed vold file rebooted and everything was great. Made a copy of altered vold file, then replaced with orignial and rebooted.....all still ok, replaced file with altered file and rebooted ,again all ok. Moved all apks that I could move to sdcard from tablet, free up 650mg on tablet. All moved apks worked fine.
AN 7 G3 is rooted out box runing stock ICS 4.0.1
Thanks for the info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear it works on more than just GB

Thanks
D2dyno said:
Glad to hear it works on more than just GB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks as I have been trying to find info for months. I posted in Arnova section of Arctablet news on how to do this tablet and a heads up and Thanks to YOU as well as a link to your work here. Hope you don't mind and did give credit to YOU. Check it out when you have time
http://www.arctablet.com/blog/forum...n-7-g3-recognize-you-micro-sd-as-internal-sd/

Just saw this topic and I have a (noob) question.
Does this work on any android phone or it's specific for this Moto one?

Related

[MOD] Swap your usb storage with external SD!

Tired of that small 5gb usb storage? Here is my hack to swap your external SD card with the USB storage!
This is usefull especially if you use GPS apps that download maps or games that download big data files! I got the idea and studied several hacks for the galaxy 1900 so partial credit goes to whoever made those hacks.
DISCLAIMER : I have only tested this on the 4.0 U.S version running 2.3.5 and am not responsible for a brick (although it seems impossible to brick your phone while messing with this file).
So basically start by going to /system/etc using root explorer or similar (yes, you need root). Once there backup the vold.fstab file to somewhere ON ROOT (I put it in /data/app/)! This is important so you can access it if you need to restore it (also make sure root explorer is installed on device memory, not SD card). Now take my modified vold.fstab and replace the original in /system/etc, then change the permissions to rw-r--r-- (long click the file, then select permissions) . If all goes right after you reboot your device, USB storage should now be your SD card and vise versa! Be aware any apps on your USB storage will now have to be transfered using a PC, move the .android_secure folder to your SD card. Hope it works!
EDIT: here is a modified version for the yp-g70, all credit goes to rjsmith2007 for making and testing this!
Won't Maps pull data from the Ext SD anyway? All my music is on ext SD and players have no problem finding it; I would think maps would be the same. It's really like a 5gb and 16 gb (in my case) partition (isn't it?).
I'm looking for a reason to root, SD card/space is not one of them. My battery only charging to 90% is though, need to recalibrate (since it's never hit 100%)
tcat007 said:
Won't Maps pull data from the Ext SD anyway? All my music is on ext SD and players have no problem finding it; I would think maps would be the same. It's really like a 5gb and 16 gb (in my case) partition (isn't it?).
I'm looking for a reason to root, SD card/space is not one of them. My battery only charging to 90% is though, need to recalibrate (since it's never hit 100%)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am referring to when you download maps with an app like sygic;
it saves it to the /sdcard/ directory instead of the /sdcard/external_ed/. Also gameloft games do the same and can use up your room pretty fast. I find this pretty useful myself, since I have a 32gb sd card, but just wanted to post it so if anyone does ever need it, it's here for them.
iJimaniac said:
DISCLAIMER : I have only tested this on the 4.0 U.S version running 2.3.5 and am not responsible for a brick (although it seems impossible to brick your phone while messing with this file).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried it with my Galaxy S Wifi 5.0. The mapping of the internal sd to the external_sd folder fails, but it works for mapping my external sd to the sdcard folder.
Edit: I took a look at the original and made a modification to yours to work with the YP-G70 model (the 5 inch one). Just copy the file from within the zip folder to your /system/etc folder.
rjsmith2007 said:
I just tried it with my Galaxy S Wifi 5.0. The mapping of the internal sd to the external_sd folder fails, but it works for mapping my external sd to the sdcard folder.
Edit: I took a look at the original and made a modification to yours to work with the YP-G70 model (the 5 inch one). Just copy the file from within the zip folder to your /system/etc folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! I appreciate it! I post it on the original post and give you the credit.
Thanks man. I appreciate it. I was trying to do this myself before, but ended up having to format my SDcard and gave up. Thanks for the help!
rjsmith2007 said:
Thanks man. I appreciate it. I was trying to do this myself before, but ended up having to format my SDcard and gave up. Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
glad I could help!
Can't I just copy all of the data from my internal sd card onto my computer, remove the internal sd card, copy those files onto a larger sd card and put the larger sd card back into the galaxy player? Im sorry if this Queston has been asked before, or if it sounds stupid, but I can't find the answer to this Queston anywhere! Thanks in advance!
(P.S) This post was made with a Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0! No joke!
freshpintreez said:
Can't I just copy all of the data from my internal sd card onto my computer, remove the internal sd card, copy those files onto a larger sd card and put the larger sd card back into the galaxy player? Im sorry if this Queston has been asked before, or if it sounds stupid, but I can't find the answer to this Queston anywhere! Thanks in advance!
(P.S) This post was made with a Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0! No joke!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
There's still a bit of confusion with respect to terminology, I think (including myself).
I *think* that when the SGP5 displays "internal sd card", it's only part of the "internal 8GB memory". That "internal 8GB memory" is probably, I guess, something like an SDCARD or flash memory module that's soldered to the mainboard, and with Android, I think that it's split into a couple of areas.
Here's my "guess" of how things are arranged, using the terminology from Settings==>SD card and device storage:
"System storage": Part of the 8gb internal memory, e.g., includes /system, etc.
[1.65GB, in my SGP5]
"USB Storage" = "internal sd card" = /sdcard: The rest of the 8gb internal memory.
[5.01GB, in my SGP5]
"SD Card": The external microSD card, if you have one plugged in. Appears at /sdcard/external_sd.
[29.81GB, in my SGP5, where I have a 32GB microSD card plugged in.]
That System storage + USB Storage totals 1.65+5.01 GB, or 6.66GB. I guess the remainder of the 8GB is for bootloader, etc.?
Jim
Looks about right. Task Manger has them labeled like you list them, except there is a "Personal data" partition. It's 133mb on my 5.0. Maybe email and contacts?
I'm guess apps get installed on "System Storage", plenty of room there without having to move stuff to USB or Ext. I pretty much just use my ext card for media and pictures.
For some reason this caused issues with my Market connecting to the internet, any idea why? Anyone else experience issues with this modification?
Hmm, no no one has mentioned that problem, and I have been using this for months - no problem. Sorry if it did that, have you tried restoring the original? Also, an update to the instructions is to change the permissions to rw-r-r. I didn't notice anything wrong without changing the permissions, but you never know.
jimcpl said:
Hi,
There's still a bit of confusion with respect to terminology, I think (including myself).
I *think* that when the SGP5 displays "internal sd card", it's only part of the "internal 8GB memory". That "internal 8GB memory" is probably, I guess, something like an SDCARD or flash memory module that's soldered to the mainboard, and with Android, I think that it's split into a couple of areas.
Here's my "guess" of how things are arranged, using the terminology from Settings==>SD card and device storage:
"System storage": Part of the 8gb internal memory, e.g., includes /system, etc.
[1.65GB, in my SGP5]
"USB Storage" = "internal sd card" = /sdcard: The rest of the 8gb internal memory.
[5.01GB, in my SGP5]
"SD Card": The external microSD card, if you have one plugged in. Appears at /sdcard/external_sd.
[29.81GB, in my SGP5, where I have a 32GB microSD card plugged in.]
That System storage + USB Storage totals 1.65+5.01 GB, or 6.66GB. I guess the remainder of the 8GB is for bootloader, etc.?
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty close.
https://github.com/Entropy512/initramfs_yp-g70/blob/master/misc/recovery.fstab is the Player 5.0 partition table.
As you can see, nearly everything is on partitions of mmcblk0 - on the Player 5.0, this is eMMC (embedded MMC) storage. The total size of mmcblk0 is 8GB
The partitions here include (but are not limited to):
p10 - EFS - this contains device-specific config data, on phones that includes IMEI, on our device it's probably Bluetooth and WiFi MAC addresses
p11 - Kernel
p12 - Recovery (on some devices, recovery is a separate kernel partition - Samsungs have this partition set aside even though most of their devices don't actually use it. You can put anything you want on p12 and it won't do anything usually. For us, recovery is part of the kernel initramfs on p11)
p13 - /system - This is where the system firmware, often called the "ROM" sits. A number of people are trying to fight the "ROM" terminology, since it's not really true - flash isn't read-only, thus it isn't the "ROM" any more
p14 - In the linked file it's /datadata, but the device actually mounts it as /dbdata - various SQL databases for apps live here
p15 - /cache - a cache partition separate from data. Files stored here are intended to be safely wipable/deletable
p16 - /data - Various user data. Your apps live here unless you've moved them to SD. Most system settings are here too. ICS merges this partition with the internal SD so they are one and the same
p17 - /emmc in recovery and, if someone ever has the time to port it, CM7, /sdcard in Samsung factory firmwares. This is the "internal SD card".
There are a few other partitions that are not touched by recovery that exist, such as the LFS partition and the bootloader partitions. These are all small.
mmcblk1 is the external SD. Usually only one partition, which is /sdcard in recovery/CM7 and /sdcard/external_sd in Samsung factory firmwares
On the 4.0, I believe it uses Samsung's older NAND flash technology and not eMMC, so the partitions on internal storage appear as stlN/bmlN
i think i did something disaster...
i am using Samsung Galaxy W. I did follow your above instruction. The problem is after restarting my phone, I go to setting>storage and it shows total space and available space for SD card and USB storage is UNAVAILABLE. What is available is only Device Memorry which is 1.03GB.
Thinking that your vold.fstab is not compatible with my Samsung Galaxy W, I replace it with the original vold.fstab that I backed up earlier. However this does not solve the problem.
Then what I did is I tried to reset the phone to its original factory setting (Setting>Privacy>Factory Data Reset..),. Unfortunately the same problem still persist. And i think this is silly and catastrophic step since i loss my original vold.fstab which is stored in the internal memory.
Any of you can help me?
Many thanks to all of you
Well, did you change the permissions on your backup back to rw-r--r--? And yes, this mod should only be used for the device intended for. Are you sure that you replaced the modified vold.fstab with the original one? Did it give you an warning about overriding (it should have)? Are you sure you used your backup and not accidentally mine? What program did you use to copy?
Hmm stupid question, but how do you replace the existing file? I am using root explorer an it says it is read-only when I try to paste it in there.
Edit... Never mind... I didn't have it mounted correctly.
I have tried this multiple times, but every time I reboot it says "USB storage damaged, may need reformatting." So I press reformat, and it's done in like 1 sec and the problem still persists.
Any ideas?
Hmm, odd. I know you have the same version player as me, are you running 2.3.5 or 2.3.6, maybe that could affect it? Did you try before you did a lot of modifications to your device? What type of SD card you got, I use a 32gb class sandisk. I don't think that would matter, but you never know. I recall getting that error when I was working on the mod, but I got it fixed before I released it. Weird.
Oh yeah, what do you have your sd card formatted as? I use FAT32, not sure if that could affect it. May want to try reformatting the card on a PC, then try.
I have a 8gb kingston micro sd card, and I'm running 2.3.5. I had this problem a long time ago too when I was still on stock. Maybe it's my sd card. I will reformat it and try again, and if it doesn't work I will try a different sd card.

[Q] Access nook internal SD card from PC?

I am running CM7 Alpha Final on my nook, and before I installed it I repartitioned my internal memory on my nook using the method you can find on here (the command line one). Before I put CM7 on my nook, when I plugged in the USB cable it used to load the SD card, and the nook internal memory as two separate drives on the PC.
Now it only loads the SD Card, it doesn't even see the internal drive as being present. How can I get that to become visible again?
You could try searching this forum.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Cubanluke88 said:
You could try searching this forum.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See, I did that already. I found the thread where the CM7 guys were trying to figure it out and apparently did add a fix (that I either don't have in alpha final or I'm doing improperly) and a link to a nook color app that I'm not sure works on my tablet.
Also a bunch of code in that thread I'm not entirely sure I want to try messing with just yet. So...
Any chance of help here?
Dalrint said:
See, I did that already. I found the thread where the CM7 guys were trying to figure it out and apparently did add a fix (that I either don't have in alpha final or I'm doing improperly) and a link to a nook color app that I'm not sure works on my tablet.
Also a bunch of code in that thread I'm not entirely sure I want to try messing with just yet. So...
Any chance of help here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe you need to edit your build.prop. Change the following lines to look like this:
ro.additionalmounts=/mnt/media
ro.vold.switchablepair=/mnt/sdcard,/mnt/media
Reboot and both partitions should be mounted. Credit to succulent for finding this out.
mounting internal sd
Hi
I am new to all this is so can you please be more specific about how to do this or is there a fix written for it.
Or has the final zip been repaired and updated.
Hope you or someone else can help with this, seems a shame for so much good work to be spoiled by this glitch.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=23487384&postcount=138
kingtechmartyn said:
Hi
I am new to all this is so can you please be more specific about how to do this or is there a fix written for it.
Or has the final zip been repaired and updated.
Hope you or someone else can help with this, seems a shame for so much good work to be spoiled by this glitch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to make these changes manually in a file called build.prop located in /system.
I made this change and I still only see my 8GB card labeled "removable drive" and 1GB labeled "My Nook when connected to my PC with USB storage turned on.
How do I access the remaining free memory in my 16 GB NT?
Yours is working just fine.
Right now, you only have access to the 1GB internal. You need to repartition your internal memory if you want to see the rest.
Cubanluke - you are always a good source for support - can you point me to a good link that explains how to repartition the internal memory?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1531120
It seems like a lot but its quite easy to follow if you read it and follow the steps exactly.
Solar.Plexus said:
I believe you need to edit your build.prop. Change the following lines to look like this:
ro.additionalmounts=/mnt/media
ro.vold.switchablepair=/mnt/sdcard,/mnt/media
Reboot and both partitions should be mounted. Credit to succulent for finding this out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mine already has those settings but pc won't show internal or external sd tried reflashing and same problem
you're on cm7 internal on a 16gb nook tablet?
Solar.Plexus said:
I believe you need to edit your build.prop. Change the following lines to look like this:
ro.additionalmounts=/mnt/media
ro.vold.switchablepair=/mnt/sdcard,/mnt/media
Reboot and both partitions should be mounted. Credit to succulent for finding this out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does this work for the same problem I am having with CM9 0.04 (I have tried this without success)?
Cubanluke88 said:
you're on cm7 internal on a 16gb nook tablet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes i am
Me too - CM7 on a 16Gb NT
don't know if this has got anything to do with it but when i flash rom and go to wipe data/factory reset it formats /data, /cache, /sd-ext, but E:format_volume: make extf4fs failed on /dev/block/mmcb1k1p2 don't know if this is error or normal
also if i go to storage settings it shows sd card and show internal storage total space as 11.87gb not showing rest of internal space by which i mean the 1gb or so i should have for my data

[MOD] Mount Point Swapper

This flashable zip will allow to choose how to mount your internal and external storage.
Your two options are:
Internal storage as /mnt/sdcard and external storage as /mnt/sdcard/ext_sd
Internal storage as /mnt/sdcard/ext_sd and external storage as /mnt/sdcard
I have not been able to successfully mount the internal anywhere else unfortunately but will continue looking into it.
SIDE EFFECTS/ISSUES WITH THIS METHOD
You can not mount the external sdcard to a computer
In storage settings, External storage shows under "Phone storage" and the internal storage shows under "Storage card"
Selecting "Unmount storage card" will unmount the internal storage ("Mount storage card" will remount it though)
If you remove or boot with out the external sdcard neither storage space will be available for use
Possibly others...
Changelog
v1.0.1
Updated touch calibration
Changed update-binary-installer
Bug fix
No Version
Initial release
350 views from 2 different threads and not a single PM.
I'm definitely interested, however I am curious about what the reason/benefit of this mod would be.
mike.r.olson said:
I'm definitely interested, however I am curious about what the reason/benefit of this mod would be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The benefit would be all the big games will store the game data on the bigger external card. Along with other settings certain apps store. Also, if you have to exchange your phone, you keep all of your data.
Sent from my El Tevo
mike.r.olson said:
I'm definitely interested, however I am curious about what the reason/benefit of this mod would be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It would make your sd your storage... 16gb built into phone or my 64gb card hmmmm lol
Sent from my ice cream powered Evo Lte!
maxdamage2122 said:
I need a couple people with TWRP/CWM recovery to test out a couple flashable zips for me since I have not unlocked my bootloader yet. If you are interested please PM me and let me know which recovery you are running. PLEASE DO NOT post anything in this thread till I am done testing and have posted the zip. I should have it up late tonight (sadly I have work today) if everything goes as planned.
I have figured out how to mount the external storage as /sdcard and the internal storage as /sdcard/ext_sd. I have not been able to successfully mount the internal anywhere else unfortunately but will continue looking into it.
SIDE EFFECTS/ISSUES WITH THIS METHOD
You can not mount the external sdcard to a computer
In storage settings, External storage shows under "Phone storage" and the internal storage shows under "Storage card"
Selecting "Unmount storage card" will unmount the internal storage ("Mount storage card" will remount it though)
If you remove or boot with out the external sdcard neither storage space will be available for use
Possibly others...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll test it for you, but I would also like a few things changed. Maybe increase app storage? Or could we dedicated some of it to phone ram?
sent from my EVO LTE
Updated OP with flashable zip.
Hey, can we PM, we may be on to something, we have the same dilemma lol.
maxdamage2122 said:
350 views from 2 different threads and not a single PM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bet not too many people have filled up their internal storage...once they do they will be posting here in drones.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
This is a big benefit thanks cause when flashing roms twrp doesnt see the external sd card
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
What I'd really like to see is the ability to have swap.
pbedard said:
This is a big benefit thanks cause when flashing roms twrp doesnt see the external sd card
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP does allow you to view the external sdcard you have to go into mounts and change it. Be sure to change it back though or your back up's wind up on your external card.
Sent from my EVO using XDA
There should be a couple extra steps put in the OP.
And remember original storage is:
Internal storage = the app itself
Phone storage = the apps data
sd card= everything else
1. any apps that (the apk file itself) are installed in the phone storage, should be moved to internal storage.
2. Any of the game data that is on phone storage, should be moved to the actual sd card (sdcard2). This data is in the Android folder on phone storage (sdcard). So it should be moved from /mnt/sdcard/android/data to /mnt sdcard/ext_sdcard/android/data. Really just move the whole folder to the sd card. I moved the whole folder to phone storage from the sd card when I got the phone so I didn't have to sit there and download all the game data for the bigger games and such again.
3. Follow the steps in the OP of this hack.
4. If you want to get some of your 2 GB app storage space back, move the apps as you wish to phone storage. This will be the app apk file not the huge game data. But this time phone storage will be the actual sd card. So it won't take away from your 10 GB it will take away from the sd card.
The apps that get moved will get moved from /data/app to /mnt/sdcard/.android_secure.
also at this step I would say move a couple big apps/games as oppose to many little apps/games. Better to have a couple big ones to load not that often, than to have many little apps to load more often and cause more slowdown. The more little apps you have on the sd card the more possibility the phone gets slowed down, cause no matter what sd card u have, it's gonna be just a little slower than what came on the phone. So moving just a couple 50 mb games should go a long ways.
Now the question is what to do with that 10 GB. If I do this hack, which I eventually will, I would probably fill this space with titanium backups, have the pictures and video saved here, roms and such I will flash I recovery, ringtones, wallpapers. You kinda don't have to many more choices with this space. if I'm gonna take space away from the memory card but don't want to delete any of my 40 GB of music, I would want to move whatever I could in that 10 GB of space so it doesn't get wasted. Remember moving apps or huge game data doesn't go into the 10GB anymore.
There are pluses to this hack and there are minuses. Until I get the exact figures on what I can put where I am going to wait on doing all this, but I hope I helped give a bit of an overview to what is going on with your storage space and how it is used.
I posted this in the other thread too so no one misses it cause moving stuff around is time consuming and annoying.
Swyped from my eVo
What I was thinking is to redo partition sizes. The 2.3gb for internal app storage get increased a little more.
Could we use some space to increase our RAM as seen in task manager? Mount the rest as the /android or /data folder so our apps would load faster instead of ex_sdcard.
Mount the external SD as the sdcard as normal. Sounds crazy I know..
sent from my EVO LTE
How does this differ from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1716166??
EarlyMon said:
How does this differ from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1716166??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the same. The OP of that thread didn't see my thread when he made his. Mine is a flashable zip and his is the manual method (good for people that don't have unlocked bootloaders).
The zip failed for me in TWRP
No real error, just says failed!
Weird..
sent from my EVO LTE
Spyderekz said:
The zip failed for me in TWRP
No real error, just says failed!
Weird..
sent from my EVO LTE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Updated OP with a new version. Try that one out.
Flashed the new zip last night, everything is sweet. In fact I was having a problem moving apps from the internal [2GB) to the phone storage [10GB) and having the moved apps survive a reboot before I did this hack. I would move them, and after next time I would reboot, it would have the storage space taken up but not be installed. This is what made me flash this cause I was only going to have the 2 GB for apps. So after doing this and reboot everything is where it's suppose to be. Fixed my tons of problems with Google music too. storage and ram are a pain in the ass with this phone.
Follow my instructions and everything will be great.
My question is when I do flash new ROM and the swap mounts gets undone, can I flash this after the ROM in the same session or after a fresh install and reboot?
Swyped from my eVo
ryanalan82 said:
My question is when I do flash new ROM and the swap mounts gets undone, can I flash this after the ROM in the same session or after a fresh install and reboot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can.
Edit: Flash in the same session.
Flash after rom
sent from my EVO LTE

please help, my storage paths are messed up...

Hi guys, I'm using CM9 the final build (stable) and I never had any problems with this rom...
But now, I have a real bizarre problem here... I do not know where it came from, but I assume it's because I plugged my device to the computer as Mass Storage device for the first time ever, (I usually use MTP)...
The problem: suddenly I noticed that when I get into my file explorer (no matter which one) within the Internal SD Card I see the contents of the removable memory card (external SD Card)...
On the other hand when I jumped to the External SD Card (removable card) I found that it's had the content of the Internal SD Card ... Bizarre ehh? But Everything works as usual, except my ringtones and stuff like that, I guess because the Paths are changed... Anyway when I connect the device as MTP to the computer and get inside the Internal Storage (with my Windows Explorer) everything is fine! same for the External storage, everything is fine there too!
I guess that somehow the paths to my partitions Mixed up (only for the device itself)...
when I removed the Micro SD card and boot the device, I can see in my file explorer that the path " /mnt/sdcard" is empty!
but when I go to "/mnt/emmc" I can see that all my data is there, the "android" folder and "data" folder and etc.. are there too..
I don't know what to do to get back to normal...
As you can see in my screenshot, the Device thinks that internal memory has 30 GB and the external memory has 11... but the 30GB is my MicroSD card and not my device internal storage...
Can anyone help me plz?
10X
Search for this issue, it was mentioned here several times also with solution.
Odoslané z GT-I9100 cez Tapatalk 2
thank you for your quick reply....
I searched but no luck... I even googled for it but nothing...
I'll search again.
Ok I found something... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1030613
but I think that this is the opposite of what I'm looking for...
and they are talking about CM7, I think that it's not relevant for me, Also I don't want to do any mistakes and end up with birck :\
Can you please at least give me a link to thread?
10X
GadgetAvi said:
Ok I found something... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1030613
but I think that this is the opposite of what I'm looking for...
and they are talking about CM7, I think that it's not relevant for me, Also I don't want to do any mistakes and end up with birck :\
Can you please at least give me a link to thread?
10X
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you know any previous CM9 version or CM9 based Rom you used where the mount point was ok or the way you want, then proceed to next step.
- open the zip of that Rom you downloaded, navigate to /system/etc
- we'll need this file: vold.fstab
- so extract vold.fstab to a location on your phone
-using ROOT browser/explorer, replace vold.fstab in /system/etc folder on your phone with the one you extracted
-change permissions of the new file to rw-r-r (644)
-reboot your phone
Everything should be working well now
Swyped from my Samsung Galaxy SII
wow, man thank you very much!
you gave me an idea, I wanted to check if this problem caused by me or if it's came with the Rom...
so I downloaded the latest Nightly to my PC and opened up the .fstab file and I can see that it goes like that:
# internal sdcard
dev_mount emmc /mnt/emmc 11 /devices/platform/dw_mmc/mmc_host/mmc0/mmc0 nonremovable,encryptable
# external sdcard
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/s3c-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc1
so I assume thata I'm not the only one with this "problem" as I can understand, CM team changed that in purpose ?
so maybe other CM9 users also got this?
maybe this is not a peoblem as I was thinking?
anyway I think I'm gonna change it back to Sdcard... I loved it as it was...
10x
OK, I something really weird is going on here...
I installed the latest CM9 rom on my friend's S2 and i can see that the .fstab file on his device is exactly the same as my .fstab file!
same device, same rom , same .fstab file and on my device the internal SD card is the Micro SD and on his device the Internal SD Card is the REAL internal storage?!?
something really weird is going on here... What can I do?
Do I have to Format my device and install some other ROM? because flashing the last CM9 Nightly didn't helped me :\
plz help
GadgetAvi said:
OK, I something really weird is going on here...
I installed the latest CM9 rom on my friend's S2 and i can see that the .fstab file on his device is exactly the same as my .fstab file!
same device, same rom , same .fstab file and on my device the internal SD card is the Micro SD and on his device the Internal SD Card is the REAL internal storage?!?
something really weird is going on here... What can I do?
Do I have to Format my device and install some other ROM? because flashing the last CM9 Nightly didn't helped me :\
plz help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok.
That's weird, really.
Try this:
Goto Settings, storage and press options, select swap mount points.....
Swyped from my Samsung Galaxy SII
I don't have this option...
I have "USB computer connection" and "Storage Configuration"... (CM9 standard).
anyway, I edited that .Fstab file and it seems that everything is ok now... weird cuz as I already said previously, on my friend's device everything is ok without editing that Fstab file...
Dono what is the problem, but I'm glad that everything got back to normal for me.
I tested it in CWM and the mounting is correct, so the External SD is the Micro SD card (my ROMs location ).
thanks again...
Maybe I'll check that Paranoid android you've got in your signature
EDIT:
OK I double checked and no, not everything is ok!
now when I connect my device to my PC as MTP and open it, I see that on my computer the Internal Storage is the MicroSD and the External Storage is the actual internal Memory of my device!!!!!
I'm tired of it... grrrrrr... dono what to do now...

Help Please. SDCard not mounting

The thread says it all. I have a rooted EVO LTE running the CM 10. Everything was working fine until I accessed the SD Card from within TWRP to copy a file. Now I get errors when I look at the command line within TWRP "failed to mount /sdcard {Invalid argument)". Can anybody help me? Thanks so much to all of this community.
finman76 said:
The thread says it all. I have a rooted EVO LTE running the CM 10. Everything was working fine until I accessed the SD Card from within TWRP to copy a file. Now I get errors when I look at the command line within TWRP "failed to mount /sdcard {Invalid argument)". Can anybody help me? Thanks so much to all of this community.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I currently have the same problem and mannnn am I f'n pissed.... i did a factory reset from within the bootloader which is what caused mine to stop working right...anyways I am also looking for a solution so when i do I will give you the info.
zoned_out said:
I currently have the same problem and mannnn am I f'n pissed.... i did a factory reset from within the bootloader which is what caused mine to stop working right...anyways I am also looking for a solution so when i do I will give you the info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only way I was able to fix this was to mount the SDCard over USB in Recovery Mode and reformat it. I lost what was on there, but it's working now.
I formated my card through windows 7 and I still have the same problem. I never had this issue on any of my previous rooted phones I am really gettin pissed with the lte...
Sent from my EVO using xda app-developers app
Are you guys also having trouble accessing the Camera? Mine doesn't seem to pick up my SD card and only allows me to use the Camera using external storage...
Well when I pull my camera up my phone days " no external storage available" then at the bottom if my screen another pop up says "insert an SD card before using the camera" I have my SD in....idk what to do. I searched the threads already but nothing besides some guy saying format my SD...I did that but now I have the same problem along with my pictures and music being erased.
Sent from my EVO using xda app-developers app
Well you could have put the files on your comp first and then reformatted, but I am having the same problem. I guess we just gotta hang in there. It will be fixed soon I hope.
I'm having the same issue with the Aug. 31 CM10 nightly. I cannot access my SD card. If I look in system memory, it shows the card and the size, but I cannot access it, same as you guys. Trying with TWRP to wipe, it shows a bunch of e: failed to mount /sdcard (invalid argument). Still no solutions?
d1scopotato said:
I'm having the same issue with the Aug. 31 CM10 nightly. I cannot access my SD card. If I look in system memory, it shows the card and the size, but I cannot access it, same as you guys. Trying with TWRP to wipe, it shows a bunch of e: failed to mount /sdcard (invalid argument). Still no solutions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was able to mount the SDCard over USB in Recovery Mode and reformat it from my computer. Obviously I lost my data that was on the SDCard, but none of the apps I had running were affected. Once I did this and rebooted into CM10, everything was fine and I just made a fresh Titanium Backup of all of my apps. My previous TWRP Nandroids were on the SDCard, so they were lost, but I can always reinstall another ROM and restore my Titanium Backups and go from there. Hope that helps.
I had this same exact problem, but the external storage it is referring to is actually your internal sd card, and not the external.
What you need to do is go into TWRP and mount YOUR INTERNAL sd card (don't switch to external), and in windows 7 format it.
More detailed instructions: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1812774
midfieldmaestro said:
I had this same exact problem, but the external storage it is referring to is actually your internal sd card, and not the external.
What you need to do is go into TWRP and mount YOUR INTERNAL sd card (don't switch to external), and in windows 7 format it.
More detailed instructions: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1812774
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This!
midfieldmaestro said:
I had this same exact problem, but the external storage it is referring to is actually your internal sd card, and not the external.
What you need to do is go into TWRP and mount YOUR INTERNAL sd card (don't switch to external), and in windows 7 format it.
More detailed instructions: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1812774
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AWESOME! Thanks!
So I'm having a similar issue, except I didn't try to access the external sd card from TWRP. And yes I've verified its the actual physically removable card.
I can see it in the system storage menu. However when I try to access it in Estrongs, it's no longer mounted as ext_sd in the sdcard folder. I did some digging and found it's now mounted as external_sd in the root folder of the phone. Looking in the storage folder, it still shows up as sdcard1, and my internal storage is still sdcard0. This seems to have happened after I flashed one of the nightlies, like 9/1 or 9/2. Any ideas on how to resolve this?
I'd rather not revert to my last backup, which was a Sense rom. I think this is screwing with the media scanner, because none of my sounds for alarms calls or texts work anymore
BeerMit said:
So I'm having a similar issue, except I didn't try to access the external sd card from TWRP. And yes I've verified its the actual physically removable card.
I can see it in the system storage menu. However when I try to access it in Estrongs, it's no longer mounted as ext_sd in the sdcard folder. I did some digging and found it's now mounted as external_sd in the root folder of the phone. Looking in the storage folder, it still shows up as sdcard1, and my internal storage is still sdcard0. This seems to have happened after I flashed one of the nightlies, like 9/1 or 9/2. Any ideas on how to resolve this?
I'd rather not revert to my last backup, which was a Sense rom. I think this is screwing with the media scanner, because none of my sounds for alarms calls or texts work anymore
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is a work around for the HTC method of listing the sd cards, in my opinion HTC really screwed the pooch with the way they labeled the file system. The way sense accesses the external sd is through a shortcut to the physical address of the external sd. It really screwed with apps like power amp which had no problem reading both cards but if for example you went to power amp and marked what folders had your music by selecting the folders through the ext_sd folder shortcut it would read and list your music twice. another user who flashed cm10 noticed this (not the ext_sd file problem but the way CM10 was confused by the structure) and quickly wrote (then generously shared) a script that would rewrite the address correctly. I guess that a similar script (or that very same one) was introduced to the installer for the nightly builds
Wow thanks for the clear explanation. I too thought the ext_sd method was screwy, with all of my custom notification sounds showing up twice. Any idea on how to fix my alarm and call sounds not working? Can't afford to miss a day of class lol
This isn't definite as I haven't had to but going to fix permissions might help if some programs aren't recognizing the file tree
Welp, it was worth a shot, but no go. Ima keep tinkering. Thanks anyway tho
Well here's what I did after I flashed the original rewrite script, I had to factory reset (changes survived)and then wipe system, then reflash the nightly build (fastboot kernel for boot 1.15+)
Edit: I still have the shortcut folder on my internal however its not linked anymore so nothing shows up, everything else works fine
Ok, tried a full reset, wiped data, system, caches. Ringtones are working again, as are text tones. Alarms, still silent as ever... I'm so confused right meow
Sorry to hear that man

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