moving apps to SD card are not acually moving.

[earwaxking]

Hey guys, so this might be obvious to some android users but im an Android rookie (this being my first android device). i came form the Iphone family, and boy do i like this better. Anyway, i have a 16gb SD card and when i move my apps to the SD cards storage through the built in application manager app it says that the app has been moved. for example i will use real racing 3, it shows that there is only 1.36mb in device app (im guessing it needs that for like a shortcut) and then 1.3gb SD card app (meaning that is what is stored on my SD card so i thought). then i realized that my device free storage did not increase at all so i did some picking through my device folders. i found the folders obb and data in Sdcard/Android. now i know that the sdcard folder is in fact the device not the actual SD card. while i was looking through there i saw a real racing 3 folder with a size of 1.3gb. So my point is if im moving the app to my SD card why is there still data stored on my devices storage. Ive tried things like deleting catch and even deleting the folder (hoping that is was leftovers). Ive also tried moving the folders to my actual SD card but then the app just re-downloads the files back to my device once i launch it. this problem happens for all apps that install extra data after first launch (ea games, and all gameloft games, or anything over 100mb from what ive seen). so please help me i have not seen anything on the internet with similar problems.

Also Ive realized that now whenever i download an application it is installed to my SD card by default. is there any way to prevent that? i was unable to find any such setting.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Hey guys, so this might be obvious to some android users but im an Android rookie (this being my first android device). i came form the Iphone family, and boy do i like this better. Anyway, i have a 16gb SD card and when i move my apps to the SD cards storage through the built in application manager app it says that the app has been moved. for example i will use real racing 3, it shows that there is only 1.36mb in device app (im guessing it needs that for like a shortcut) and then 1.3gb SD card app (meaning that is what is stored on my SD card so i thought). then i realized that my device free storage did not increase at all so i did some picking through my device folders. i found the folders obb and data in Sdcard/Android. now i know that the sdcard folder is in fact the device not the actual SD card. while i was looking through there i saw a real racing 3 folder with a size of 1.3gb. So my point is if im moving the app to my SD card why is there still data stored on my devices storage. Ive tried things like deleting catch and even deleting the folder (hoping that is was leftovers). Ive also tried moving the folders to my actual SD card but then the app just re-downloads the files back to my device once i launch it. this problem happens for all apps that install extra data after first launch (ea games, and all gameloft games, or anything over 100mb from what ive seen). so please help me i have not seen anything on the internet with similar problems.

Also Ive realized that now whenever i download an application it is installed to my SD card by default. is there any way to prevent that? i was unable to find any such setting.

Welcome to the forums and Android!

First, the app developer needs to fully incorporate moving an app to the external SD card. Second, more often than not, having the app data spread out in multiple places makes it harder to open.

Instead, you can do this: Keep your internal storage for your apps, and keep pictures and music on your external SD card. Second, you can disable apps in the Application Manager, delete the data they contain, and that will do two things, first, it clears up data in your internal memory, (may not be a lot, but it will be some), and second, it opens up more RAM for you to use, and not say Yahoo! Finance.

 

[earwaxking]

Hi thank you for the response but the whole reason I wanted to move apps to my SD card is so that I have more room, since the internal storage is so tiny. Also I know that the developer needs to allow the functionality of apps 2 SD card and the games that I'm having this problem with say they do. And when you say to delete the data of the app to clear room on the device, that deletes game files making it impossible to play until I download it again.

Also once again why is the play store installing the apps straight to my SD card.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Hi thank you for the response but the whole reason I wanted to move apps to my SD card is so that I have more room, since the internal storage is so tiny. Also I know that the developer needs to allow the functionality of apps 2 SD card and the games that I'm having this problem with say they do. And when you say to delete the data of the app to clear room on the device, that deletes game files making it impossible to play until I download it again.

Also once again why is the play store installing the apps straight to my SD card.

Sorry, I meant after disabling apps, you can clear that data.

Sent from a SlimROM S3.

 

[earwaxking]

Sorry, I meant after disabling apps, you can clear that data.

Sent from a SlimROM S3.

When you say disabling, do you mean stopping the app from running in the background? If so that doesn't really help since no matter what if I click delete data it just re-downloads after I start the app again.

 

[Golfdriver97]

When you say disabling, do you mean stopping the app from running in the background? If so that doesn't really help since no matter what if I click delete data it just re-downloads after I start the app again.

This should work for the s4. http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...ng-apps-galaxy-s3-tab-2-no-root-required.html

Sent from a SlimROM S3.

 

[Sweet Pikake]

Hey guys, so this might be obvious to some android users but im an Android rookie (this being my first android device). i came form the Iphone family, and boy do i like this better. Anyway, i have a 16gb SD card and when i move my apps to the SD cards storage through the built in application manager app it says that the app has been moved. for example i will use real racing 3, it shows that there is only 1.36mb in device app (im guessing it needs that for like a shortcut) and then 1.3gb SD card app (meaning that is what is stored on my SD card so i thought). then i realized that my device free storage did not increase at all so i did some picking through my device folders. i found the folders obb and data in Sdcard/Android. now i know that the sdcard folder is in fact the device not the actual SD card. while i was looking through there i saw a real racing 3 folder with a size of 1.3gb. So my point is if im moving the app to my SD card why is there still data stored on my devices storage. Ive tried things like deleting catch and even deleting the folder (hoping that is was leftovers). Ive also tried moving the folders to my actual SD card but then the app just re-downloads the files back to my device once i launch it. this problem happens for all apps that install extra data after first launch (ea games, and all gameloft games, or anything over 100mb from what ive seen). so please help me i have not seen anything on the internet with similar problems.

Also Ive realized that now whenever i download an application it is installed to my SD card by default. is there any way to prevent that? i was unable to find any such setting.

would this help? most apps that are downloaded can be move to external SD card, as per previous suggestion, if it's grayed out, that app cannot be move.

 

[anon(2203367)]

I'm having the same issue. For instance I downloaded large games like nova 3 and gta 3. It says they are installed on the sd card, but it's actually taking up the space on internal storage rather than sd card storage. Anyone know how to get it on the sd card like it's supposed to be?

 

[pbryant_knight]

I have exactly the same problem.

I'm new to the Android world and came across from the iPhone. Now, i was reluctant to do this as i like the stability of Apple devices. I have several and they have never broke or crashed. Altough i love the S4 and think the phone is amazing, so far in the week i've owned it i discovered first that i couldnt really transfer apps to the SD card and secondly, my last SD card crashed and wiped everything on it, including all my recent photos since i picked the "save to SD card" option to free up space on my device for the apps that i cannot really transfer across. (admittedly it was a cheaper brand SD card so i bought a Samsung 32GB high speed one and so far have had no problems, touch wood)

The latest update was supposed to enable users to store apps (that have the developers permission) onto the SD card. This is the only reason i moved from apple as i had a 32GB iPhone and ran out of space with having lots of games on it. when the update was announced i thought "wow, i can have this fabulous phone AND all the same games and apps i have on my iPhone". Why then, when i pick the "move to SD card" option does it say thay have moved but in reality, they are still on my device and hogging all the space? These are the apps that have permission to be moved as well (Ie: i know the likes of GTA - Vice City doesn't have the option to move as the devs musn't have allowed it).

This is seriously affecting my enjoyment of the phone as i have loads of games in my app wishlist that i can't download due to the SD storage thing not working and also the really crappy amount of space you have free when you get the phone.

SOMEONE out there must have an idea of why this is happeneing, and/or a solution to the problem. Is it a problem with the update? Is it due to this "virtual SD slot" on the device itself? Are Samsung looking to fix it in an update in the near future?

Any help appreciated as this is driving me nuts!! Especially when my phone lies to me and tells me they have transferred to the SD whenn they really haven't.

Cheers

Peter

 

[earwaxking]

Hey Peter i found a solution for it if you are rooted. there is an app called folder mount and its made specifically for this reason. it takes the datat that is supposed to be on the SD card and moves it to your SD card and makes a shortcut where it used to be. so pretty much it tricks the device into thinking that it is still installed on the device but instead its on the SD card. just make sure you set the app to mount on boot up. its free so totally worth it.