new to android ics, help me understand storage

[flipside7]

i recently got a cheap andriod tab, after using only ios, and im trying to understand the memory page in the settings app.

first, in settings/memory, it shows first internal mem, i understand that. then it shows internal mem again, as a separate storage, very confusing.


second, i scroll down, and i can see my sd, it always shows the same usage, in grey, as opposed to colors in internal mem, wierd.

third, in the apps section of the settings, under the sd card tab, there are checkboxes, some checked, what does this mean???

fourth, i was playing around, and unmounted the sd, then i went to settings storage, and erased the sd card(not inserted), and it erased some data.

all the app i had are still there and functional, and still appear under settings/apps/sd. when ni clicked on zombiewood app, it fired up, but is downloading info again, like it did initially.


sooo, it looks like that was the data it erased.



this is very confusing to me, can someone plkease clue me in?????

 

[PvilleComp]

There are sometimes two partitions of internal memory. One partition is for apps the other is for data like pictures, music, etc. The SD is also used by apps, if it is present, to store local data and temp files. It can also be used for music and pictures. The confusing nature of the partitions is one of the reasons Google is trying to get away from SD Cards, but the public loves the idea of removable storage.

 

[B. Diddy]

i recently got a cheap andriod tab, after using only ios, and im trying to understand the memory page in the settings app.

first, in settings/memory, it shows first internal mem, i understand that. then it shows internal mem again, as a separate storage, very confusing.

The first memory that's listed is probably the Application Memory, which in most Android phones and some tablets is a partition of the internal storage memory that is dedicated to installation of apps. It varies from around 512 MB to 3 GB, depending on the device.

The second internal memory that you mention is probably the rest of the internal storage memory that can be used for storage of things like videos, music, photos, etc. If you have an option to move an app to internal storage, this is where it goes. It is often confusingly referred to as "SD card," and in fact the directory is called "/mnt/sdcard," but it is NOT your physical SD card that you inserted. It's just that the system regards this internal storage as essentially an unremovable SD card.

The third memory that's listed is the external SD card--the physical SD card that you insert into your device. Not sure why it's all in grey instead of in different colors, but it's probably related to the fact that you can't move apps to the external SD card, which reduces the variety of files that can be stored there.

third, in the apps section of the settings, under the sd card tab, there are checkboxes, some checked, what does this mean???

The check marks mean that those apps have been "moved to internal storage." This can be done by the user (go to Settings/Apps, select the app, and tap Move to Internal Storage), but sometimes the app does this by default if it has a lot of related data, so as not to fill up the Application Memory too quickly. Remember that if your device has an Application Memory partition, then once it's filled up, you can't install any more apps. Moving apps to Internal Storage helps to avoid this problem. As mentioned above, though, you can only move apps to Internal Storage, and NOT the external SD card--unless you use 3rd party apps like App2SD, which may or may not work on a given device.

 

[awriternot]

The first memory that's listed is probably the Application Memory, which in most Android phones and some tablets is a partition of the internal storage memory that is dedicated to installation of apps. It varies from around 512 MB to 3 GB, depending on the device.

The second internal memory that you mention is probably the rest of the internal storage memory that can be used for storage of things like videos, music, photos, etc. If you have an option to move an app to internal storage, this is where it goes. It is often confusingly referred to as "SD card," and in fact the directory is called "/mnt/sdcard," but it is NOT your physical SD card that you inserted. It's just that the system regards this internal storage as essentially an unremovable SD card.

The third memory that's listed is the external SD card--the physical SD card that you insert into your device. Not sure why it's all in grey instead of in different colors, but it's probably related to the fact that you can't move apps to the external SD card, which reduces the variety of files that can be stored there.



The check marks mean that those apps have been "moved to internal storage." This can be done by the user (go to Settings/Apps, select the app, and tap "Move to Internal Storage"), but sometimes the app does this by default if it has a lot of related data, so as not to fill up the Application Memory too quickly. Remember that if your device has an Application Memory partition, then once it's filled up, you can't install any more apps. Moving apps to Internal Storage helps to avoid this problem. As mentioned above, though, you can only move apps to Internal Storage, and NOT the external SD card--unless you use 3rd party apps like App2SD, which may or may not work on a given device.

This helped so much. All this time I thought I was moving the apps to my SD card.

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