How Do I Easily Move Apps to External Micro SD card on the PMID701C?

[SingleDad]

A week or so ago I picked up a couple Kodak 8GB Micro SD cards on sale for about $10.00 a piece at an office supply store. I mainly grabbed them because my 10 year old son is a digital hoarder and will quickly fill the stock memory on his PMID 4300 with pics, mp3s, and videos.

Since this was a decent deal I grabbed myself one thinking I could install or move some apps to the card on my 701C. (Especially since the manual recommends you install a MicroSD card before installing apps from Amazon appstore.)

When I go to manage apps and choose "Move to TF card" all the tablet does is move the app from it's internal memory to the about 2 GB partition of internal flash memory it calls "TF card storage". While that's great I'd really like to put some apps on the actual TF card/External Micro SD card I have installed and NOT the tablet's internal memory.

I realize not every app can be moved to an SD card but so far all of the tablet's I've encountered can be moved to what the tablet "thinks" is Micro SD storage. Is there any way to get apps and/or the tablet to recognize the external micro SD card in the slot as the TF card?

I know it's in there and recognized because it shows up as mounted and 7.45 GB. I can unmount and remount just fine.

[shawnbusker]

Mounting partitions?

Try unmounting the sdcard(internal) and unmount the external sd card and then remount the external sd card as /mnt/sdcard.

umount /mnt/sdcard
umount /mnt/extern_sd
And then the command to mount the sdcard, I'm not exactly sure of that command.

Shawn

[SingleDad]

Try unmounting the sdcard(internal) and unmount the external sd card and then remount the external sd card as /mnt/sdcard.

umount /mnt/sdcard
umount /mnt/extern_sd
And then the command to mount the sdcard, I'm not exactly sure of that command.

Shawn

Thanks for the input Shawn. Unfortunately I'm unable to unmount the internal SD card. shell commands will unmount the external sd just fine...but I can't seem to get the internal one to unmount.

I have root access and I've tried the commands exactly as you've listed them and variations thereof. All I ever get is a "failed" message in response to trying to unmount the internal sd card.

Does this have to be done via adb connected to a pc or should I be able to issue the commands through a terminal emulator on the tablet?

I even removed all apps that were installed to the internal sd area and "moved to device" and re-tried...made no difference.

I'm a noob so it definitely could be something I'm doing wrong. No matter what I do, apps always install to the partitioned internal memory and not to the external sd card. I know the main idea of the external SD card is to store media files but I also know it's definitely possible to install apps to the external sd on other devices. I just can't figure out how to do it on this one.

I'm thinking of trying this:http://www.bongizmo.com/blog/moving-...apps2sd-froyo/

It basically involves making the default installation location for the tablet the external sd card and not the internal memory. However I'm not convinced it will do anything other than default installations to what the tablet considers the SD card (its internal flash memory).

Any thoughts on what I'm doing wrong? Has anyone else managed to make the PMID701C recognize the external SD card as SD, INSTEAD of that 2 GB internal partition?

[chuckr01]

SD Card

Have you tryed loading Super Tool Box from the Market? It seems to be a good tool and tells me when an app is eligible to move. The other option is to go to the App Manaer in Settings and open each one individually and if they can be moved the option will be open to click and do them one at a time.

[SingleDad]

Have you tryed loading Super Tool Box from the Market? It seems to be a good tool and tells me when an app is eligible to move. The other option is to go to the App Manaer in Settind open each one individually and if they can be moved the option will be open to click and do them one at a time.

Thanks Chuck...I Have moved apps to SD using app manager. The problem is it only moves apps over to the internal sd. No matter what i try, it wont let me move apps to the sd card i bought and inserted.

[matt]

been there tried that failed

It seems that many apps and games leave a tsr on exit. For instance the appstore keeps checking for app updates. Switching external sd cards with different apps might be problematic. Also,the sd card is prob slower than internal mem. To save space,I backed up all my apps with File Expert after changing the backup location to the sd card (mnt/extern_sd) and uninstalled little used apps until I need them (deleting previous b/u's from the fake sd card).

Kill them evil apps! Everything works much faster without parallel processing, even flash 11 is working on mine altho with a ~300ms sync issue and my internet tv had the same prob.

Lie down with sheep, get up with fleece!

[tedlogan42]

I don't know if this counts as 'easily', but one option that could possibly work would be modifying where the different drives mount by using a root-capable text editor (I'm using Root Toolbox Pro these days) to modify the /system/etc/void.fstab file so that you swap the extsd and sdcard mounts. **NOTE** I haven't done that yet because I haven't picked up a spare microsd for this little thing, but after a reboot, the external sd card should now be mounted as /sdcard, so when you moved apps, they'd go there instead of to the smaller internal partition currently mounted to that slot.

[avgary]

Same issue with 701i - apps get saved to internal "SDCARD" and no way to move to EXTSD

Thanks Chuck...I Have moved apps to SD using app manager. The problem is it only moves apps over to the internal sd. No matter what i try, it wont let me move apps to the sd card i bought and inserted.

All I have on the EXTSD is some music and videos and here I thought moving apps to the "SDCARD" was taking them off the tablet's internal memory. As SingleDad, I wanted to move the apps to a larger EXTSD card and I couldn't figure out why there were only the music and videos on the EXTSD. I thought how could there be a different file system or hidden files but there are none. The apk's are still internal.

Answers here either miss the boat or don't understand the issue. Why can't people read what is exactly being asked?

Would rather not have to reinstall everything to test some "idea" of what might work. It seems like there is no way to have apps launch from external card.

Tablet is rooted with Google Market and Netflix works fine as does wifi but let me put apps on an external SD card.

[chuckr01]

Sorry if I touched a nerve

All I have on the EXTSD is some music and videos and here I thought moving apps to the "SDCARD" was taking them off the tablet's internal memory. As SingleDad, I wanted to move the apps to a larger EXTSD card and I couldn't figure out why there were only the music and videos on the EXTSD. I thought how could there be a different file system or hidden files but there are none. The apk's are still internal.

Answers here either miss the boat or don't understand the issue. Why can't people read what is exactly being asked?

Would rather not have to reinstall everything to test some "idea" of what might work. It seems like there is no way to have apps launch from external card.

Tablet is rooted with Google Market and Netflix works fine as does wifi but let me put apps on an external SD card.

I was only trying to offer a suggestion and maybe I didn't understand the question. I always thought that the move to SD card meant the External, maybe it doesn't, I'm to dumb to know the techno ins and outs for this stuff, so maybe I should duck out and let someone with your expertise jump in. Reprimand accepted. I personally don't think the apps use enough space to be an issue and certainly not if they are on the internal SD, but as you have aptly pointed out, I am a dumb a--.

[matt]

me too

Yes you are right of course. But even worse, any program that downloads a lot of data is going to place it in the fake SD slot.
YouTube, mp3's, vids, and databases will fill that memory quickly.
The FAOTD was Audubon s birds and to use offline will take a 600MB download. Guess where.

I would prefer the internal memory to be unpartitioned and the SD card to work like all the apps expect it to.

Does the Onda rom have the same problem? Or could this be addressed in a customized rom?

Sorry about the previous scattershoot, I'm just another…
Slightly Frustrated User.

[SingleDad]

Well I certainly don't think anyone here is a dumb@$$ and I don't think avgary was really implying that either. I'd like to point out my original post mentioned 2 Micro SD cards, but I'm not planning on swapping cards constantly. I bought two of the modest 8GB size cards because they were on sale. I grabbed one for my son's tablet and one for mine. I had planned on using the 8GB cards in our tablets and see how things went and then I'd ultimately upgrade to the fastest 32GB size the tablet could handle once I knew things went ok.

The way the tablet names things and handles things is confusing as it is. The whole fake internal MicroSD card is annoying and misleading to begin with. Even the product manual strongly urges you to install a MicroSD card before you download Amazon appstore and being installing apps to save precious internal memory. I realize S.T. is really simply recommending we use an external Micro SD card to store media files like personal videos and music; the wayy the do it is only going to confuse most people new to tablets.

While it's not the end of the the world, it is very frustrating to not be able to move or install some apps to a card I installed in the MicroSD Card slot. It's even more frustrating when I know it's possible on many other devices.

Many people will argue that you aren't going to fill the internal memory anytime soon with apps because they generally aren't huge file sizes, but I disagree. As Matt has mentioned, I've already downloaded several apps that upon install announce they need to download a lot more files to complete installation. Requiring downloads of around 600-700 MB for,support,framework, offline use etc. isn't all that uncommon. One game informed me I needed to download files ( I believe it was around 645 MB) in order to play the game. It was nice enough to pop up with a message asking me whether I wanted to download to internal memory or to the SD card to save space. I selected SD card but of course the tablet just thinks I'm referring to the fake internal TF card partition and it downloaded everything into its internal memory anyway.

Is it the end of the world I can't make my $99 tablet install apps to a REAL micro sd card? No. I realize the internal memory is likely faster than running an app from an sd card, but I'd still like the option to try and then decide which apps I'd like to have in internal memory and which can go on external sd.

I know I can always backup, delete and reinstall apps as needed if and when I get close to the internal memory capacity, but that's a bit of a pain and an approach I don't like to begin with.

[SingleDad]

I would prefer the internal memory to be unpartitioned and the SD card to work like all the apps expect it to.

Does the Onda rom have the same problem? Or could this be addressed in a customized rom?

I'm sure there is a way to unpartition the internal memory and then force the tablet to view the micro sd card slot as the TF card. I think shawnbusker was on the right track with his suggestion. I was thinking of something along the same lines, I'm just not smart enough to pull it off via android yet. I'm sure I'd have it figured out on a PC by now..but I'm new to all of this.

[SingleDad]

I don't know if this counts as 'easily', but one option that could possibly work would be modifying where the different drives mount by using a root-capable text editor (I'm using Root Toolbox Pro these days) to modify the /system/etc/void.fstab file so that you swap the extsd and sdcard mounts.

Yep that's basically the sort of thing shawnbusker was suggesting and what I was thinking of. I know I need to tell the tablet to NOT use the internal partition as a fake SD card and use the real micro sd card installed instead. I just haven't been sure where to begin looking to do that at. I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and give your suggestion a try tedlogan!

I'm sure things could go wrong if it the tablet is looking for an sd card that isn't there...but I typically wouldn't remove the card so it shouldn't be an issue for me.

[SingleDad]

I decided to poke around and view the vold.fstab file for my 701C.

The first line reads, "vold 2.0 fstab for HTC Passion"

lol..borrow much S.T.?

[sabercatpuck]

Looks like where we may need to focus efforts

in /proc is a file called mounts and one called partitions. mount looks like it sets up the partitions that you see in the partitions file, the good news is they are at least both set up as vfat. In it all of the NAND partitions are set up with a major 93, minor going up by 8 each time with the internal sd card being minor 56. The MMC (AKA external SD card) is seen as Major 179. In both cases the #blocks is in 1K (1024 byte) sections. Not sure what would happen if those were tried to be changed.

I do know that it is possible to actually boot off of the SD card if it is set up right, but I have not gotten in there to try it out yet