So what exactly is adoptable storage

[paininthenuts]

I'm going to tell why I ask this question, although I know in theory what adoptable storage is. You see, when I formatted my sd card as "normal" extended storage, I could put put pictures and music on it etc. Apps wouldn't go on the card, and thus I was only left with little over 1 gb of storage left on the hard drive. After having dreadful problems with the phone when attempting to change the sd card to adoptable storage, and having to send it back to Motorola for repair, it was returned in working order. I formatted a new 16gb Samsung Evo card to adoptable storage, and migrated what I could from the hard memory. I also put some music, videos and pictures on to the sd card. Guess what, I still have just over 1gb of available space on the hard memory, the same as I had before I formatted the card. In short, I have not gained anything by formatting the sd card to adoptable storage. What a waste of time !!

 

[Almeuit]

I'm going to tell why I ask this question, although I know in theory what adoptable storage is. You see, when I formatted my sd card as "normal" extended storage, I could put put pictures and music on it etc. Apps wouldn't go on the card, and thus I was only left with little over 1 gb of storage left on the hard drive. After having dreadful problems with the phone when attempting to change the sd card to adoptable storage, and having to send it back to Motorola for repair, it was returned in working order. I formatted a new 16gb Samsung Evo card to adoptable storage, and migrated what I could from the hard memory. I also put some music, videos and pictures on to the sd card. Guess what, I still have just over 1gb of available space on the hard memory, the same as I had before I formatted the card. In short, I have not gained anything by formatting the sd card to adoptable storage. What a waste of time !!

I would take a look at this article. Jerry explains it pretty well .

Inside Marshmallow: Adoptable storage | Android Central

 

[anon(632115)]

Adoptable storage is not the "cure-all" everybody thinks it is.

 

[Vyrlokar]

You need to understand how Android manages internal and SD card storage to really understand how adoptable storage works:

See, Android divides storage in many buckets* (this is a simplification and can change a bit depending on Android version and on the phone manufacturer, but the gist is the same everywhere):

• OS: This is where the core stuff that makes the phone lives. This bucket is only updates with OS updates (including security patches if you're lucky enough to get them). It also includes pre-installed apps, be they google stuff like the play store, gmail, the google app, manufacturer apps (by samsung, etc),... This is the only part that survives a factory reset. You can't really touch this without root.
• Apps and app data: This is where apps are installed, and where apps keep their private files. When you update a pre-installed app, the original app remains in the OS bucket, and an updated copy lives here, meaning that that preinstalled app takes twice as much space as a normal app. Again, your access to this is very limited without root.
• User data: This is nowadays in the device's internal memory, but originally phones had very little internal memory and so this lived in the SD card. This is why the directory is still called sdcard, because it used to be a real SD card, and apps expected this bucket to be there. You have full control over what's here, and that's where apps put your photos, your videos, and also where your downloaded files go... One important directory here is the android directory, since apps will place their large files (think about games, the APK for the game is usually at best 100 MBs, but they might include gigs of additional data for textures, music, scenarios,...). You have full control over this directory.
• External Storage: This is the actual SD card. Normally it's reserved for multimedia files and documents.

What adoptable storage does, is move all the user data, normally under the sdcard directory that resides in the internal memory, to the external SD card, and makes the apps use that instead of the internal memory to store their stuff. Apps and appdata buckets will remain in your internal memory. Depending on your apps, you might not experience large savings (some apps are smart enough to use external storage if possible, even if it's not adopted, while others will put everything in the app and app data bucket.

*I call them buckets instead of partitions, since now the app and appdata, and the user data share the same partition.

 

[paininthenuts]

You need to understand how Android manages internal and SD card storage to really understand how adoptable storage works:

See, Android divides storage in many buckets* (this is a simplification and can change a bit depending on Android version and on the phone manufacturer, but the gist is the same everywhere):

• OS: This is where the core stuff that makes the phone lives. This bucket is only updates with OS updates (including security patches if you're lucky enough to get them). It also includes pre-installed apps, be they google stuff like the play store, gmail, the google app, manufacturer apps (by samsung, etc),... This is the only part that survives a factory reset. You can't really touch this without root.
• Apps and app data: This is where apps are installed, and where apps keep their private files. When you update a pre-installed app, the original app remains in the OS bucket, and an updated copy lives here, meaning that that preinstalled app takes twice as much space as a normal app. Again, your access to this is very limited without root.
• User data: This is nowadays in the device's internal memory, but originally phones had very little internal memory and so this lived in the SD card. This is why the directory is still called sdcard, because it used to be a real SD card, and apps expected this bucket to be there. You have full control over what's here, and that's where apps put your photos, your videos, and also where your downloaded files go... One important directory here is the android directory, since apps will place their large files (think about games, the APK for the game is usually at best 100 MBs, but they might include gigs of additional data for textures, music, scenarios,...). You have full control over this directory.
• External Storage: This is the actual SD card. Normally it's reserved for multimedia files and documents.

What adoptable storage does, is move all the user data, normally under the sdcard directory that resides in the internal memory, to the external SD card, and makes the apps use that instead of the internal memory to store their stuff. Apps and appdata buckets will remain in your internal memory. Depending on your apps, you might not experience large savings (some apps are smart enough to use external storage if possible, even if it's not adopted, while others will put everything in the app and app data bucket.

*I call them buckets instead of partitions, since now the app and appdata, and the user data share the same partition.

All well and good, but for the end user there is no advantage at all !!

 

[anon(632115)]

In my opinion there is a significant disadvantage. SD cards fail. Bye bye data. These cards are unrecoverable

 

[acejavelin]

This is probably all the information you would ever need...

https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/prod_answer_detail/a_id/109134/p/1449,9582

 

[paininthenuts]

This is probably all the information you would ever need...

https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/prod_answer_detail/a_id/109134/p/1449,9582

I used a Samsung Evo UHS1 x10 speed, and the phone told me it was slow.

 

[acejavelin]

I used a Samsung Evo UHS1 x10 speed, and the phone told me it was slow.

That is literally the card I have in my phone, was in my G and now in my X... Works perfectly, probably a year old now.

Samsung 64GB EVO Class 10 Micro SDXC Card with Adapter up to 48/MB/s (MB-MP64DA/AM) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IVPU7AO?tag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUacUvbUpU5403144

 

[paininthenuts]

That is literally the card I have in my phone, was in my G and now in my X... Works perfectly, probably a year old now.

Samsung 64GB EVO Class 10 Micro SDXC Card with Adapter up to 48/MB/s (MB-MP64DA/AM) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IVPU7AO?tag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUacUvbUpU5403148

To be fair it appears to be working OK, but after formatting that was the message