Polaroid PMID1000b Link2sd/apps2sd Question

[Rleip21]

I have been messing around trying to get apps to install on the external card because this tablet only has 1gb assigned for apps. Anyway any of the apps I use the "move to sd card" command they always put the apps on a different partition of the internal memory, which is an internal sd card I guess. I can use Link2sd to create link and it puts the .apk and three other files on a second partition of my external sd. My question is how can I use the move to sd card command to actually move the app to my external sd and not to the internal? tried googling like crazy and can't find anything.
Thanks,
Ryan

[dolorespark]

how can I use the move to sd card command to actually move the app to my external sd and not to the internal?

Short answer: you can't - that's why apps2sd exists.

Longer answer: the built-in feature won't knowingly move stuff to an external card but you can use a questionable hack to fool it into doing so. If I recall correctly, you edit vold.fstab and switch the entries for the internal and external SD cards, so the external gets mounted as the internal (and vice versa). I haven't tried this myself so I can't say how it works in practice.

[Rleip21]

Apps2sd

I will research that method, but apps2sd installs to onother part of my internal not to my external that is my problem

[Rleip21]

Researched method

Well I did research that method and it seems a little troublesome. I saw a bunch of people say they bricked their devices so I think I will pass on that method. If you totally switch the drives how does it know where all the system files are. Any other ideas.

[dolorespark]

I saw a bunch of people say they bricked their devices so I think I will pass on that method. If you totally switch the drives how does it know where all the system files are.

There certainly are a lot of clueless types out there but I think you'd have to work really hard to brick the device this way.

Your device's internal storage (NAND) is divided into a number of partitions: /boot, /system, /data, etc. The so-called "internal SD card" is just another partition on that NAND. The external SD card may be a separate device, but for system purposes, it's yet another partition.

All you're doing / should be doing is swapping the identities of two partitions that are not needed for correct system operation. Consider: when you connect your device to a PC and enable USB access, both of these partitions become inaccessible to your device for the duration. If that doesn't brick your device, neither should swapping them.

Understand that I'm not advocating doing any of this, I'm only providing information. Personally, if I were running out of space, I'd delete a bunch of stuff long before I'd consider playing these games.

[Rleip21]

Info I found. Is it right

This hack will swap the position of the internal sd card to the external one you bought earlier.

1. Using any file manager (Root Explorer), navigate to /etc.
2. Copy vold.fstab to root of your extsd and transfer to pc.
3. Using a text editor ([COLOR=#007F00 !important]Notepad[/COLOR]), edit the following lines:

dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard [COLOR=#007F00 !important]auto[/COLOR]/devices/virtual/block/nand1
dev_mount extsd /mnt/extsd auto/devices/platform/sunxi-mmc.1/mm_host /devices/platform/sw_hcd_host0 /devices/platform/sw-ohci.1 /devices/plaform/sw-ohci.2
TO
dev_mount extsd /mnt/sdcard auto/devices/virtual/block/nand1
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/extsd auto/devices/platform/sunxi-mmc.1/mm_host /devices/platform/sw_hcd_host0 /devices/platform/sw-ohci.1 /devices/plaform/sw-ohci.2

4. Save.
5. Copy edited vold.fstab file back to /etc.

[elektrik]

This hack will swap the position of the internal sd card to the external one you bought earlier.

1. Using any file manager (Root Explorer), navigate to /etc.
2. Copy vold.fstab to root of your extsd and transfer to pc.
3. Using a text editor ([COLOR=#007F00 !important]Notepad[/COLOR]), edit the following lines:

dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard [COLOR=#007F00 !important]auto[/COLOR]/devices/virtual/block/nand1
dev_mount extsd /mnt/extsd auto/devices/platform/sunxi-mmc.1/mm_host /devices/platform/sw_hcd_host0 /devices/platform/sw-ohci.1 /devices/plaform/sw-ohci.2
TO
dev_mount extsd /mnt/sdcard auto/devices/virtual/block/nand1
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/extsd auto/devices/platform/sunxi-mmc.1/mm_host /devices/platform/sw_hcd_host0 /devices/platform/sw-ohci.1 /devices/plaform/sw-ohci.2

4. Save.
5. Copy edited vold.fstab file back to /etc.

slooks right to me. like dolores said, you've just swapped wheat the system thinks of location extsd and sdcard, by swapping them.

[Rleip21]

Tried and failed

Tried it but it does nothing. Rebooted device and everything. Still installs apps to internal.

[Rleip21]

Set install location

I saw one other method was by using adb to set install location to 2 which is the external. Would this work or do you have any other ideas on the first thing I tried which doesn't seem to work

[dolorespark]

dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/virtual/block/nand1
dev_mount extsd /mnt/extsd auto/devices/platform/sunxi-mmc.1/mm_host /devices/platform/sw_hcd_host0 /devices/platform/sw-ohci.1 /devices/plaform/sw-ohci.2
TO
dev_mount extsd /mnt/sdcard auto/devices/virtual/block/nand1
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/extsd auto/devices/platform/sunxi-mmc.1/mm_host /devices/platform/sw_hcd_host0 /devices/platform/sw-ohci.1 /devices/plaform/sw-ohci.2

This didn't work because it's incomplete/incorrect. Either you swap both items lying between 'dev_mount' and 'auto' OR you swap everything after 'auto'.

Just to confirm this, I installed a couple of games and moved one to the internal SD card. Then, while in Recovery, I swapped the entries and rebooted. When I moved the second game, it ended up on my external card. To confirm this, I enabled USB storage and looked at both internal & external using Windows. Each one had the expected app in its ".android_secure" directory. Unfortunately, after I unwound my changes and got both back onto the /data partition, neither worked and both had to be uninstalled (they did work while they were still on the cards, though).

I saw one other method was by using adb to set install location to 2 which is the external. Would this work or do you have any other ideas on the first thing I tried which doesn't seem to work

I'm not familiar with this "install location" setting. Where did you see that mentioned?

[Rleip21]

How did you do this?

Can you show me exactly how you edited the lines because I didn't get what you were saying. Also, why and how did you go into recovery mode? Do I need to actually go into recovery mode. Also I just changed the lines in root explorer and saved it. I imagine that is alright to do.

Here is the link to setInstallLocation to sd card.

http://www.howtogeek.com/114667/how-to-install-android-apps-to-the-sd-card-by-default-move-almost-any-app-to-the-sd-card/

Thanks for your help and trying it out.
Ryan

[Rleip21]

Got it. Your the man

Thanks. Figured out what you meant. Switch both sdcard and extsd. Now says I have 14.8 gb storage. Thanks for your help.