Confused about internal and external SD card - Galaxy S III Q&A, (US Carriers)

This is probably a dumb question, but I am confused a little about the SD card situation. I have a Verizon S3. I see the phone comes with 16gb of storage that is in the folder SD Card, and that when I put my own SD card into the phone that I can find it under the mnt folder in the root directory. My question, is the SD memory that came with the phone built in, like a virtual SD card, or is that a card that is removeable? If it is not removeable, how do I setup my phone to make my personal SD card the one is being shown when I go to /SD Card/? I have a class 10 and prefer to have easy removable access to my default SD card, and having it under mnt/extsdcard is a bit annoying.

The sdcard is internal storage. All your apps etc will be saved there. If go to /mnt/extsdxard that's your memory card. Apps can no longer be downloaded to your extsd. Your camera has an option to make pics taken save to your sdcard. You'll find the pics in /extsdxard/dcim/camera
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PulseMonkey said:
The sdcard is internal storage. All your apps etc will be saved there. If go to /mnt/extsdxard that's your memory card. Apps can no longer be downloaded to your extsd. Your camera has an option to make pics taken save to your sdcard. You'll find the pics in /extsdxard/dcim/camera
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Ok so then I guess my best solution is for anything I want to know I can access with my personal SD card is to just redirect things to it. I don't put installed apps on SD but figured a lot of things are better on a removeable card incase my phone breaks or bricks and I want access to those files. I can just configure apps that allow me to choose where to save things to save them on my external card if I think I want that. Thanks for the info.

Related

SD card help / question.

Ok, so i have my atrix. Now i dont really get this part.. when i use efile for instance or anything like it. I already had a mnt/sdcard with stuff on it before i even had a sd card. All i had was the internal memory the phone came with. Why is it under sd card?
So i have 2 folders
sdcard
and
sdcard-ext which is my new card i take it because there is nothing in it yet.
Question should i transfer everything to my actual sd card? like backup it all? any info on how to do this or if i should is a good idea. Should i keep my internal memory clean as possible? thanks.
the atrix treats the internal 16gb memory as an SD card hence the SD card name. Now to differentiate between the Internal and External the other is called SD-EXT. Basically what ever you place in the SD slot, be it 16gb 32gb etc, it will show as the SD ext. Where you palce your files is up to you. By default most Apps will use your SD folder instead of SD EXT (titanium backup for example)
tjjensen23 said:
the atrix treats the internal 16gb memory as an SD card hence the SD card name. Now to differentiate between the Internal and External the other is called SD-EXT. Basically what ever you place in the SD slot, be it 16gb 32gb etc, it will show as the SD ext. Where you place your files is up to you. By default most Apps will use your SD folder instead of SD EXT (titanium backup for example)
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So how would i go about transferring everything from my internal to my external sd card? Should i do it and can it be done? Or should i just leave it how it is? Plus for titanium backup should i backup my stuff on my external card for that or what? im kinda confused. ANy help would be appreciated. thanks
wishb0n3 said:
So how would i go about transferring everything from my internal to my external sd card? Should i do it and can it be done? Or should i just leave it how it is? Plus for titanium backup should i backup my stuff on my external card for that or what? im kinda confused. ANy help would be appreciated. thanks
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Well you can use your computer to move files if you place your phone in mass storage mode, or if you are rooted you can use a program like root explorer. The only things you should need to transfer would be backups of programs or music. everything else is fine on the internal storage. The only things I put on my actual sdcard are my music and documents. I would not worry about transferring anything, internal storage is really just as safe as an sdcard unless you brick your phone.

external_sd vs ext_sd

Got a noob question for you guys. I just installed a 32g sd card and I would like that to be recognized as my main sd card when I install apps (Beyond Pod comes to mind) For example, with Beyond Pod, it sees my internal 16g as my sd card instead of my real sd card. How can I do this? It was never a concern on my Sensation as it automatically chose the sd card.Thanks.
Ok, after a search I did a EXT3 partition but it didn't really help. If someone could tell me how or direct me to a way/app that can correct this for me, i'd appreciate it
Maybe there is a setting that allows you to choose default install location, but you should be able to manually move any app to sd. Settings>applications>manage applications>(menu button>sort by size)choose an application>move to sd card
Just be aware(I'm sure you are) if you install an application to sd that has widgets you use, those widgets won't work right anymore.. Personally I leave everything on the internal SD as it seems to have better performance, but I put my music, movies, etc on the external..
Thanks, I know about the move to sd I was just hoping there was a default way to just set the external sd as my main sd card.
Sent from my HTC Amaze 4G using XDA App
Maybe the app has to support it? I know with spotify, before you log in, hit the menu button (on the phone) and it will give you an option to select sd location. Granted you have to enter it manually but i figured it out.

New Note, lots of questions Part1

Got my new Note, this is my first droid phone, and I got LOTS of questions. I currently have the i717 version, unrooted.
1) Is currently is any reliable way to install ICS on the i717?
2) How do I check if there were any previous kernel or ROM flashes?
3) Is there a reliable way to root the device WITHOUT increasing the counter (assuming it is currently at 0)?
4) How do I move installed apps, which are currently under "System Storage" to "USB storage"?
I can answer all of your questions very simply. Search and read.
yep all ur answers are here just gotta read,
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
Hi guys, found 2 answers so far, still looking for #1 and #4 if someone can point me to the right threads to ready it would be appreciated.
no ics for this device just yet and to move to sd there's an app u can use i just don't know the name or i think u can even use root explorer not sure on that one ill let someone else shine in on that
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
funziebear said:
no ics for this device just yet and to move to sd there's an app u can use i just don't know the name or i think u can even use root explorer not sure on that one ill let someone else shine in on that
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
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Ya from what I gathered, there is ICS for the international version. I have yet to see something for the i717.
I dont have an SD yet, I was referring to moving them from System to USB storage.
I will be getting as SD soon though.
GalNote said:
Ya from what I gathered, there is ICS for the international version. I have yet to see something for the i717.
I dont have an SD yet, I was referring to moving them from System to USB storage.
I will be getting as SD soon though.
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There are two potential SD cards for the Note. One is the internal SD card. This is actually the part of the phone where you store your music and other files. It's the space allotted by the OS for storage. The Note comes with 16GB of internal storage, but 2GB is reserved for the system. You cannot access this for data storage. There is also a portion of the internal SD card that is used by the OS itself.
The remaining amount of storage is about 12GB. This is accessible through a file explorer such as Root Explorer, ES File Explorer, etc, and is located in the /sdcard folder. This is where any App2SD type app will move apps to. This is also where you store your music and other files like photos, etc.
The Note also has a slot for an external SD card. To access it, you take the battery cover off and right next to the SIM card, there is a little slot for the micro SD card. The Note is published as handling up to 32GB micro SD cards, but there are plenty of people using 64GB micro SD cards with their phone.
Using the external SD card would allow you to add additional music and photos and other files. It is not used at all by the OS or system, so you would have as much space on it as you can after formatting it. (You lose some space after formatting.)
So to summarize: the Note has 16GB, about 12GB available through the internal SD card. You can add additional storage using the external SD card (officially up to 32 GB, unofficially up to 64Gb).
lactardjosh said:
There are two potential SD cards for the Note. One is the internal SD card. This is actually the part of the phone where you store your music and other files. It's the space allotted by the OS for storage. The Note comes with 16GB of internal storage, but 2GB is reserved for the system. You cannot access this for data storage. There is also a portion of the internal SD card that is used by the OS itself.
The remaining amount of storage is about 12GB. This is accessible through a file explorer such as Root Explorer, ES File Explorer, etc, and is located in the /sdcard folder. This is where any App2SD type app will move apps to. This is also where you store your music and other files like photos, etc.
The Note also has a slot for an external SD card. To access it, you take the battery cover off and right next to the SIM card, there is a little slot for the micro SD card. The Note is published as handling up to 32GB micro SD cards, but there are plenty of people using 64GB micro SD cards with their phone.
Using the external SD card would allow you to add additional music and photos and other files. It is not used at all by the OS or system, so you would have as much space on it as you can after formatting it. (You lose some space after formatting.)
So to summarize: the Note has 16GB, about 12GB available through the internal SD card. You can add additional storage using the external SD card (officially up to 32 GB, unofficially up to 64Gb).
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Got it, but still have a little question. I noticed when I install any app, it goes directly onto the 2GB system reserved space. What if I run out of that 2GB, what happens in that case, can I move the installed apps into the 12GB or I have to move it into the purchased/external SD card?
GalNote said:
Got it, but still have a little question. I noticed when I install any app, it goes directly onto the 2GB system reserved space. What if I run out of that 2GB, what happens in that case, can I move the installed apps into the 12GB or I have to move it into the purchased/external SD card?
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Read this paragraph again.
The remaining amount of storage is about 12GB. This is accessible through a file explorer such as Root Explorer, ES File Explorer, etc, and is located in the /sdcard folder. This is where any App2SD type app will move apps to. This is also where you store your music and other files like photos, etc.
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^^ got it, thanks.
K I researched and read, I still cannot find out if I can safely root my Bell i717, without increasing the flash counters.
Also, it seems there is no ICS yet available for this device.
Can someone please chime in?
wow this thread cleared up a lot for me. Still got a few questions though...so when i go to settings and click on an app and click "move app to sd" it moves it to the "internal sd" which has about 12gb of space? so then what goes on the external sd card? is the storage on the SD card ONLY accessible when you plug it into a computer and put it in mass storage mode? I remember when I had my nexus one, moving apps to sd actually put it on the external sd card..
The note is not a DROID. Droid is a verizon marketing term.
You can reset your flash counter. So even if you increase it by flashing CWM or rooting then just reset it back to 0. That's what I did.
Once CWM is installed flash all the ROMs you want through CWM. Just back up nandroid first and you can always go back.
I use a 64GB microSD card and store nandroid backups, photos, videos, podcasts, etc.
The internal SD (USB Storage) is used for app data.
GalNote said:
Hi guys, found 2 answers so far, still looking for #1 and #4 if someone can point me to the right threads to ready it would be appreciated.
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Root ir phone throigh odin then go search dev thread for the rom u want read the requiements then flash they r all good
note @ 1.83
... You don't need root to flash a ROM.
Instead of rooting with Odin, just flash CWM with Odin then flash the ROM from there.
The only reason to root first, is to run titanium backup if you so desire

Extsdcard vs sd card. How is it saving?

I went into root explorer.
I went into /mnt/
And I noticed there's two options....
/Extsdcard and /sdcard
Seems like all my downloads, music, and everything is getting saved to /sdcard
What does this mean?
P.s. I have a 64gb micro sdcard card.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
your extsdcard is your external one in your phone you can remove. i would recomend saving most your files like your music and such to that. sdcard is your internal memory of your phone. you have less space there and should save it for more important things. hope that helped
It means everything is being saved to your Internal Storage. I haven't quite figured out how to default everything to the ExtSdcard yet. I know the camera can. The phone will read everything from the ExtSdcard fine though, such as music and other files.
The ext sd card can be used for the camera/video, CWM backups, music files you copy from your computer, and you can move most any files there that you download.
The internal sd card will be used for all of your apps, there's no way to 'move to sd card', you just have the full 16/32gb internal sd for all of it. Since you will always be forced to use the internal sd card for all app needs, I just try to keep everything on my ext sd card I can (my cwm backups are 1.7gb!). Not that it really matters for me though, I downloaded every app I ever use and a few games and only hit 1.2gb used on my internal sd card.
You can also go to th advanced tab within the stock browser and select memory card for default storage. I am guessing that is ext SD as the other option is "Phone".
Thanks for the information!
This was quite confusing at first. Time to start moving files
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permanent fix for this?
My issue is that everything defaults to the /sdcard (internal partition - i'm calling it that for ease of terminology) and some apps just don't give you another option of where to save the media to (or don't let you browse over to the right thing). as it stands, the phone seems to be mounting that internal /sdcard partition as if it were external media, ie in android's default location for external media. thus, apps are looking ofr the REAL SD card and think they've found it but they haven't.
the reason this is a problem for me is 1. i have to change this in every app that allows me to, and 2. CWM sends backups to the internal one automatically and i can't change it and have to manually move the backup images to my external.
the reason i'm going into all of this is i'd like to find a way to entirely get rid of the /sdcard folder representing the internal memory and have the external card take its place. I'd like the rest of my 29ish GB of internal storage to be part of the system partition - where apps go, etc. it's not that i want to use that space, it's that i want to "move to SD" to the right SD. i just don't want the apps and system to treat ANY internal space as if it were external or mounted or anything of the sort.
my last phone, Atrix 2, had like 2-4gb internal. I'm just suggesting stretching that amount all the way to 32gbs and using the SD card as an SD card.
the question, basically, is whether there is any way to make this happen? i came across a thread (google "sd card mount point modification" as i can't post external links yet) elsewhere that discusses doing this with a VTAB and was wondering if this is something that is addressing my (our?) issue, whether it's a recommended solution, and whether it would work on the S3. i'm fine following technical instructions but I have very limited knowledge of the way addressing etc. works on Android and this filesystem. any help (or a redirect to a thread where this is more appropriate to ask) would be greatly appreciated.
Does this issue persist with custom roms? Is it an Ics bug that won't let you install apps to extsdcard or a Samsung intentional crap? I know one other android phones I had I could save apps to sd card no issues.
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sabre31 said:
Does this issue persist with custom roms? Is it an Ics bug that won't let you install apps to extsdcard or a Samsung intentional crap? I know one other android phones I had I could save apps to sd card no issues.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
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haven't tried any, waiting for something where key things like camera, LTE, etc all work. It's not that I can't install to extSD, it's that the default is "sdcard" (ie the internal space allocated). it's really a function of the way the system/phone allocates that extra internal space - rather than calling it "internal storage/system storage", they are calling it the "primary sd card" and the actual sd card is being called "2nd sd card". it's this treatment of the spaces by the system that i'm unhappy about, i guess.
that's a good point though, and i am hoping that a custom ROM will do this differently. will update when i find one i like
EDIT: gonna do the Task & Ktoonsez AKOP Rom this weekend, should know how the spaces are treated. again, will update.

Emulated SD card I'd like to remove

I was attempting to root my Alcatel 9007t tablet, so I could move apps to my SD card, unsuccessfully.
So I ended up following some instructions and ended up emulating an SD card on my internal, or something or the other
It renamed my actual SD card to something else
So now, I have rooted my phone, I believe, but using link2sd card I can now move my apps, but I get an error on a certain few apps.
I can't link the data, or what have you, to the SD card, and I think its because of this emulated SD storage
Regardless, I would like to remove the emulated SD storage, and rename my SD card to something normal.
Getting to root this thing was difficult, so I would not want to start this whole thing over.
Or if I could get link2sd to link my data to my SD card , that would be excellent.
I am moderate noob so pls hlp
Footnote: no I cannot link to SD thru my storage settings, maybe is there somehow I can do that. I just want to link or move app data to SD card. This is from a downloaded apk that is making kit difficult. The app seemed to install to SD card, but the data is on the emulated SD on the internal
Halp
You will have issues as apps are not made to be on the sdcard and some apps even block the option.
zelendel said:
You will have issues as apps are not made to be on the sdcard and some apps even block the option.
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OK but my tablet is rooted now and I can do it mostly with no problem.
I just want to rename and unemulate false SD card on internal and get it back to normal

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