[No Root] Sdcard as internal storage. - Moto Z Play Guides, News, & Discussion

You can use your Sdcard as internal storage on all 6.0+ devices.
Refer to this video:
https://youtu.be/D64UNGaAUoI
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one thing to keep in mind: you'll want a fast card if you're planning on doing this. my sandisk UHS-1 cards has a speed of 30MB/s and I find it almost unusably slow for internal memory. simple reading apps took 10-15 seconds to load, and operating within the app was equally frustrating. formatted it and i just use it as storage, so everyone is happy

No cards are fast enough yet to make it worth the hassles, for me anyway

aviwdoowks said:
No cards are fast enough yet to make it worth the hassles, for me anyway
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Click to collapse
I'm using a combination card, 30gb adopted, 90gb external. It's a Samsung uhs1 card. Definitely slower response from heavier apps stored there, but it's nice to offload stuff that I use less frequently or that doesn't need a lot of speed (utilities, eBook readers, etc) to maximize onboard storage for the apps that need it. I dump media to the external portion so it is usable on other devices should I need to do so.

if you're interested in seamless performance, check out the new A1 series that SanDisk is producing. It conforms to the new standard that states it should be as fast as internal memory when used as adoptable storage. http://www.droid-life.com/2017/01/05/sandisks-new-256gb-a1-microsd-card-wants-apps/

Related

[Q] Galaxy s4 internal memory

Howdy, I have two questions.
(1). The Samsung galaxy s4 comes in 3 versions 16,32,and 64.
What class or how fast is this internal memory
(2) Is it faster to access info from internal opposed from external memory. Namely class 10
Thanks, Chris
Here is no class for the internal memory, but it will go/run at the fastest available speed. It will be faster than any sd card regardless of the sd cards class
The reason is because the memory is on hoard and built into the system where the sd has to go through a reader...kinda like having a middle man...it slows down the process - same reason why a 7200 rpm internal hard drive will always be faster then a 7200rpm external hard drive
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2
mg2195 said:
Here is no class for the internal memory, but it will go/run at the fastest available speed. It will be faster than any sd card regardless of the sd cards class
The reason is because the memory is on hoard and built into the system where the sd has to go through a reader...kinda like having a middle man...it slows down the process - same reason why a 7200 rpm internal hard drive will always be faster then a 7200rpm external hard drive
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still doesn't mean your sd might not be faster. The manufacturers can use cheap flash to cut costs and increase profits. So you might get 64gb of slow flash internal. I'd really like to see r\w filesystem benchmarks so they'd have to start using and touting "faster" flash.

SD Card Slot speeds

With black friday coming up, I'm looking for a large micro SD card. My main debate is through speed. I want the 128GB Sandisk microSD card, but it's capped to 30MB/s sequential reads, while the 64GB extreme goes up to 80MB/s. Can the tablet take advantage of those higher speeds? I want as little a difference between the internal memory and the external memory as possible. My only concern is 64GB may not be enough, as I download a metric ton of games, and I'm blowing through the internal memory. Basically, I'm asking for buying advice, and this is all very specific to the shield tablet. I have no other intended uses for the SD card.
I have a Samsung 64gb PRO up to 90mb/s and this is the result
Is that what the shield tablet is actually able to write at? If so, then it's worth it for the increased data loading in my games. That's my main concern. Also, how efficient is app2SD type transferring? I want to know if my SD card will be used effectively, or if I will still end up running out of storage space.
Nintonito said:
With black friday coming up, I'm looking for a large micro SD card. My main debate is through speed. I want the 128GB Sandisk microSD card, but it's capped to 30MB/s sequential reads, while the 64GB extreme goes up to 80MB/s. Can the tablet take advantage of those higher speeds? I want as little a difference between the internal memory and the external memory as possible. My only concern is 64GB may not be enough, as I download a metric ton of games, and I'm blowing through the internal memory. Basically, I'm asking for buying advice, and this is all very specific to the shield tablet. I have no other intended uses for the SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a new version of the 128gb that rated 48mb/s. But if you want faster card you can only get them in 64gb. Like the Samsung pro at 90mb/s.
aznmode said:
There's a new version of the 128gb that rated 48mb/s. But if you want faster card you can only get them in 64gb. Like the Samsung pro at 90mb/s.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm afraid to ask how much this new 128GB model is. I can't justify spending $200 on a micro SD solely for tablet storage.
Nintonito said:
I'm afraid to ask how much this new 128GB model is. I can't justify spending $200 on a micro SD solely for tablet storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got one for my note 4 at $109. Might find good deals on black Friday
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Memor...416866651&sr=1-1&keywords=128gb+micro+sd+card
Unfortunately this isn't available yet in canada
Mine is a Samsung 64gb UHS-1 pro, formatted with NTFS and 64gb cluster size:
Nintonito said:
Unfortunately this isn't available yet in canada
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see. But I think even at 48mp/s, it's not gonna be the same as internal. If you want something close then the Samsung Pro 64gb with 90mb/s is your best bet. But you are only going to match the read speed. The internal memory's write speed is still faster by 2x. But I really doubt you're going to care about that much if you're just transferring 1-2gb of data to the sdcard. And I'm assuming these are game data? Once those are transferred, it's pretty much done with. Even with my 64gb card now with 11.73 mb/s write speed is plenty fast when I move files to the card. If there are game saves that needs to write to the card, they are gonna be small data. I have about 20 game data on the SD card using Folder Mount and I don't find any issue launching them. The only one that I noticed takes longer is Half Life.
Yeah that definitely sounds good. Faster the better. I want a seamless experience.
Does anyone have experience with PNY sd cards? I saw one for $110 that's a 128GB card with 40MB/s sequential read speeds. How would the card perform, ans would it be enough?
Personally I don't think the extra speed will make that big of a difference. Those benchmarks provide controlled and consistent circumstances which are not realistic. Almost nothing you do on the tablet in normal use will push the read speeds. Tbh write speeds could be more important, as they are typically much slower then write speeds. I'm not saying read speed doesn't matter, but that there is certainly a diminishing return on speeds.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using XDA Free mobile app
http://www.amazon.com/Lexar-High-Pe...id=1417018420&sr=8-6&keywords=128+gb+micro+sd
Currently that's the fastest 128 GB card I've found, but you're going to pay for it out the nose. I'd vote to wait a bit and see if you can swing it with at 64 GB UHS card first, like the Samsung Pro series. The faster the card the more seamless the experience will be, and even though use will not mimic the benchmark situation it's still going to take less time to write and read to a very fast card in daily use so it will make a difference for sure.
livinonnoslp said:
http://www.amazon.com/Lexar-High-Pe...id=1417018420&sr=8-6&keywords=128+gb+micro+sd
Currently that's the fastest 128 GB card I've found, but you're going to pay for it out the nose. I'd vote to wait a bit and see if you can swing it with at 64 GB UHS card first, like the Samsung Pro series. The faster the card the more seamless the experience will be, and even though use will not mimic the benchmark situation it's still going to take less time to write and read to a very fast card in daily use so it will make a difference for sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about if I simply want to use it to load up and watch videos? No gaming nothing else. Is a SanDisk 128GB microSDXC @ 30MB good enough for that? Like say, this one?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SanDisk-128...05&prg=11353&rk=3&rkt=6&sd=151483862076&rt=nc
Yes that should be fine I just wouldn't put any apps on it at all only media
Thanks for your help guys. Ended up buying a Sandisk UHS-3 64GB card for $100. So far so good. Although android's sd card support for apps is SO BAD.

32GB=sufficient storage?

Self explanatory title (note I'm asking "sufficient", not "enough")
How are you guys finding the onboard storage situation w/ your 32GB models? I'm unclear how much use the SDcard would be. Sure, you can point your camera + Spotify cache to the SDcard instead but just looking at my iphone 6, I would still have need another 17-18GB to cover other apps and their data (this is w/o a silly amount of games). I know you can move some apps from onboard storage to your SDcard, how do you find the performance difference?
A bit bummed over SG's seemingly shortsighted decision to limit most global markets to the 32GB variant. From what I've seen online and with a few demo units, actual free usable storage comes in around 14-16GB, which is fairly pitiful. If Android "only" uses 8GB, where's the extra? Is TW and other add in that large?
I ordered a microsd card with high read/write speed. And the phone is pushing pretty near the card's theoretical limit. Benchmark have it at around 94MB/S read, and 47MB/S write, with a theoretical limit of 97 read 57 write on the card.
Key here is not to order a microsd card with extremely slow write, some of the popular sandisk models out there have 80 read, but only around 16-18 write, and that can be painful sometimes.
Is microsd slower than the new generation samsung internal storage? Yes, because the new samsung internal storage is reading at around 300MB/S. However, if you came from any phone that's not a samsung S6, S6 edge, or note 5, the microsd card read/write speed is probably similar enough to what you are used to as your old device's internal storage speed, and I honestly can't tell the difference since most apps stay loaded in the RAM anyways. I'm also surprised to find that I can move most of my installed apps to my microsd, the only one I have issue with right now is Grand Theft Auto Sand Andreas which is taking up over 2.2GB of internal space.
I had a note 5 before this, and with the 32GB internal on that, I was only left with around 2GB free. Right now I'm at 15GB free on the S7E with the exact same amount of photo/music/apps installed, granted I might have a smaller cache as of now but you get the idea.
To be honest, it's borderline for me. I'm 13.4gb free. I'm OCD about being anywhere below 10gb free. 64gb or enabling adoptable storage would have been better.
With the Gear VR ........ The Oculus app and the apps within Oculus can't be moved to the external SD storage. No option. And if you load any 360, 3D, or regular videos, they must be placed on internal storage for the app to locate them. I keep my 360 VR videos on my SD card, then from the file manager I copy what I want into the phone's storage, then delete the copies after I'm done using the Gear VR. Repeat and Rinse.
Not all games transfer data properly. I don't know if it's a Marshmallow, TouchWiz, or Developer Issue. Basically Need For Speed games (Most Wanted & No Limits) and Asphalt 8 Airborne are the ones I had problems with. It would allow the option to move to external storage and would state that it moved all the data too. But it didn't. It creates a replica data folder on the external storage, but without any data in it. The original folder on the internal storage is still there with all the data. I tried many things like moving the data manually to the correct folder, and deleting the original, but the games just ask to download data again which appears back in the internal storage. Those are the only games I tried to move so far, and I'm thinking maybe the games that download extra data after initially starting up are the issue. I doubt any issue would arise from smaller games like Minion Rush or Subway Surfers, but those are the games you don't need to move.
EDIT: So I found out the Milk VR app can see video on my SD Card. So far it's the only app in the Gear VR that seems to do so.
Yes. 32gb is extremely sufficient. Especially when you have SD card support.
Sent from my SM-N920W8 using Tapatalk
not sure why this topic always comes up and people are asking other people if they have enough space, it depends on your usage, not of others i'm coming from a nexus 5 with 16GB (~12GB usable) without sdcard option that i've used for the past 2,5 years and it was enough for me. although i must admit that i had to shuffle things around sometimes (e.g. move older pictures to my NAS), hence looking forward to the 32GB
im1knight said:
I ordered a microsd card with high read/write speed. And the phone is pushing pretty near the card's theoretical limit. Benchmark have it at around 94MB/S read, and 47MB/S write, with a theoretical limit of 97 read 57 write on the card.
Key here is not to order a microsd card with extremely slow write, some of the popular sandisk models out there have 80 read, but only around 16-18 write, and that can be painful sometimes.
Is microsd slower than the new generation samsung internal storage? Yes, because the new samsung internal storage is reading at around 300MB/S. However, if you came from any phone that's not a samsung S6, S6 edge, or note 5, the microsd card read/write speed is probably similar enough to what you are used to as your old device's internal storage speed, and I honestly can't tell the difference since most apps stay loaded in the RAM anyways. I'm also surprised to find that I can move most of my installed apps to my microsd, the only one I have issue with right now is Grand Theft Auto Sand Andreas which is taking up over 2.2GB of internal space.
I had a note 5 before this, and with the 32GB internal on that, I was only left with around 2GB free. Right now I'm at 15GB free on the S7E with the exact same amount of photo/music/apps installed, granted I might have a smaller cache as of now but you get the idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what SDcard are you using?
Quite pleased it has come up not being able to use gear vr with the SD card is very bad
ngmic said:
what SDcard are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PNY turbo, 64GB

Adoptable storage problems

I was just wondering how many of you have had problems/success with the adoptable storage. I have had two Moto x pures and both have messed up memory cards. I have lost 3 cards total that I could not access even when I tried from my PC. If you have had success I would love to know what card you are using. I've used a SanDisk ultra 64gb. A Samsung Evo 32gb and a lexar 32gb. The blue and gray ones. I'm not sure what the model was. All three of those are dead now pretty much because I can't access them.
What have you done to kill them? Are you rooted and flashing Roms or is this with the stock rom and no root? If the later do they just fail randomly or is there a specific trigger?
Running completely stock. No root. No Roms. I've never flashed anything on these particular phones. I never saw anything in common when the memory cards stopped working. It would just say the memory card was removed and then I would not be able to access it or anything stored on. When I would insert it into the computer it would say I needed to format the card.
Adopted storage puts a lot of stress on SD cards, unofficially even Motorola recommends against it (look in the Lenovo Support forums, several Motorola representatives recommend not to use adopted storage if you can get away with it). The problem is consumer microSD cards are not intended for constant read/write use that adopted storage puts the card though, thus they fail much earlier than "typical" usage situations. Again, this varies by card and it's quality, some will go a very long time, others not so much.
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Moto-X...ard-Portable-or-Internal-storage/td-p/3536596
Did you then format the card and test it? Either the card failed due to read write degrading it or it really lost connection and that damaged the file structure.
It may just be the file system not recognised by Windows. Use a low level SD card formatting tool and check after doing a full format.
Sent from my XT1572 using Tapatalk
An SDcard formatted for adoptable storage is encrypted and won't be readable on your computer.
Also, there are a bunch of counterfeit cards for sale these days. They work, sort-of. They're 4-gig cards modified to report a higher capacity. Once you put too much data on them, the filesystem can get corrupted.
Even if the cards are good, I've had nothing but issues with adoptable storage. I've only used it on a Moto E with 4 gigs of storage. My Moto X uses portable storage, and I've had no issues.
Adoptable storage for the most part had been a failure in my opinion. Some OEMs disable the function, such as Samsung. If you read around, you see many bad stories about the storage as well. Granted some people like it, but it is just not worth it all things considered. Personally, I think the original concept of saving select apps to the sd card worked better. If the app performance was poor, you could move it to internal. Would love to see that option come back.
Sent from mTalk
I used apptosd for years and it worked well.
So I guess next time I should just get a phone with more internal memory. I figured since I already had memory cards and adoptable storage was an option I could just save some cash and get the 16gb phone. I'm still hoping someone shares a positive story and what memory card they are using with success.
Me and my wife both had our 1st cards ruined in the Moto x pure. I don't remember the brand but since off eBay they could have easily been knockoffs. Wasn't using them as addoptive storage. I am now. PC would not recognize them. There are programs that I have had success with for free on PC to retrieve your photos from the cards even though the PC doesn't read them
affiatic said:
Me and my wife both had our 1st cards ruined in the Moto x pure. I don't remember the brand but since off eBay they could have easily been knockoffs. Wasn't using them as addoptive storage. I am now. PC would not recognize them. There are programs that I have had success with for free on PC to retrieve your photos from the cards even though the PC doesn't read them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my personal preference, I back up my photos to a PC monthly. But just to be sure I lose very little should my card go south, I use Google photos to backup while charging and on wifi. The unlimited option for photos means a slight reduction in size, but I also have peace of mind that I will still have them.
I was using adoptable storage for about a year in my old moto e lte without issues (sandisk 16gb), it was working great although I wasn't moving any apps to card. One time when I messed something up (definitely it was my fault) I couldn't acces my card but all I had to do was to put card into sd card reader and format it using partition wizard (you have to delete partitions that windows can't acces on it's own).
I have noticed my phone seems a bit slower launching some apps since I started adopted storage. Maybe an extra second to launch so it doesn't bother me. I am using am emtec u1 class 10 gold card. I don't know anything about the brand and am almost embarrassed to admit that I bought it at the hardware store lol
I have been using a SanDisk Ultra 32gb for 6 months without issue on stock non- rooted ROM. I don't take many pictures so no big deal for me if it gets corrupted. Amazon has the SanDisk 64gb Ultra for $16.00. Sadly I have the 16gb Pure.
I have the 16gb version with a Sandisk UHC-1 64gb as adoptable storage for about 2 months. Haven't had any issues so far and I moved the majority of my apps to the sd. Also haven't noticed any significant delay or performance impact either. I'm a casual user, no games or heavy demanding apps installed.

suggestions required on choosing 16gb or 32 gb variant

Dear experts..
please help me in choosing 16gb or 32 gb variant of moto g4 plus.
I liked the specs of moto g4 plus and have been looking to buy it since a very long time. and equally so scared of reading negative reviews.
Iam a very moderate mobile user , my requirements :
1. occassional calling - less than 1 hr on call / day
2.browsing
3.less than 1hr on social media / day
4. occasional usage of camera,music,videos
5. never touch any games apps
Now iam confused between choosing 16gb/2gb vs 32gb/3gb because of 2 reasons
1. there is difference of 3000 INR between these variants in india currently,
2. the negative reviews
- why should i spend 3000 more bucks on a mobile which "MIGHT " creats issues in future ? so i want to go for a lower version of this same mobile for lesser price?
please clarify these doubts :
- for my above mentioned requirements, is 2gb ram really sufficient ?
- iam having Strontium Nitro 32GB 70MB/s UHS-1 Class 10 microsdhc Memory card, i want to use this SD card as permanant internal storage. does it support as internal storage memory ? and is it advisable to do so ? will there be any lags ?
-Of the 16 gb internal memory, i guess only 9 gb is available, If i update g4plus OS to nougat and in future to android O , how much internal space would left to me in 16gb. ? can i compensate this space issue with SD card ?
- apart from Ram and space is there any thing that would bother me among these two variants in future ? ? iam going to use it atleast for 3 years..
Please kindly enlighten me, iam so confused.
Thanks in advance...
stay blessed...
-
pinke93 said:
Dear experts..
please help me in choosing 16gb or 32 gb variant of moto g4 plus.
I liked the specs of moto g4 plus and have been looking to buy it since a very long time. and equally so scared of reading negative reviews.
Iam a very moderate mobile user , my requirements :
1. occassional calling - less than 1 hr on call / day
2.browsing
3.less than 1hr on social media / day
4. occasional usage of camera,music,videos
5. never touch any games apps
Now iam confused between choosing 16gb/2gb vs 32gb/3gb because of 2 reasons
1. there is difference of 3000 INR between these variants in india currently,
2. the negative reviews
- why should i spend 3000 more bucks on a mobile which "MIGHT " creats issues in future ? so i want to go for a lower version of this same mobile for lesser price?
please clarify these doubts :
- for my above mentioned requirements, is 2gb ram really sufficient ?
- iam having Strontium Nitro 32GB 70MB/s UHS-1 Class 10 microsdhc Memory card, i want to use this SD card as permanant internal storage. does it support as internal storage memory ? and is it advisable to do so ? will there be any lags ?
-Of the 16 gb internal memory, i guess only 9 gb is available, If i update g4plus OS to nougat and in future to android O , how much internal space would left to me in 16gb. ? can i compensate this space issue with SD card ?
- apart from Ram and space is there any thing that would bother me among these two variants in future ? ? iam going to use it atleast for 3 years..
Please kindly enlighten me, iam so confused.
Thanks in advance...
stay blessed...
-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can go for the 16gb/2gb version
pinke93 said:
Dear experts..
please help me in choosing 16gb or 32 gb variant of moto g4 plus.... Please kindly enlighten me, iam so confused.
-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
~ "for my above mentioned requirements, is 2gb ram really sufficient ?"
2GB RAM is sufficient ONLY if you'd be carrying out these activities one at a time. Running social media app such as FB for an hour, whilst also browsing and/or listening to music, streaming media, is VERY likely to cause noticeable lag.
~ "Strontium Nitro 32GB 70MB/s UHS-1 Class 10 microsdhc Memory card, i want to use this SD card as permanant internal storage. does it support as internal storage memory ? and is it advisable to do so ? will there be any lags ?"
By permanent internal storage you most likely meant adoptable storage, which IS SUPPORTED by both 16gb and 32gb variants. IME you can never truly replace the efficiency of the inbuilt storage, specially for operations that would require constant yet quick I/O ops. Even while using your ext sdcard as adoptable storage its best practice to prioritize large external app data for the secondary storage - example offline YouTube content or camera RAW files.
Plus, external SD cards are not designed to endure rigorous read write operations and have a much smaller write cycle life. Besides, you may want to keep i mind that ext cards, are more prone to data corruption, and also if the card is ejected /damaged by mistake it'd crash the system given its functioning as internal storage.
As for the lags, not very noticeable in terms of animations, transitions or UI latency, but definitely in app launches, high load operations such as graphic rich games or image editing and saving edited files.
~ "Of the 16 gb internal memory, i guess only 9 gb is available, If i update g4plus OS to nougat and in future to android O , how much internal space would left to me in 16gb. ? can i compensate this space issue with SD card ?"
9 GB initial space in internal memory is rather low by today's standards. Even if you have set ext card as adoptable storage, several apps which have been designed for pre MM APIs vigorously cache data to internal drive by default, and unless you heavily tweak app data storage parameters you are likely to find much of 9gb taken up in no time.
So to specifically answer your question, yes you can compense for the low storage with am ext card but you'd be runnining a fairly tight ship, while also having to constantly keep check on storage performance.
~ " apart from Ram and space is there any thing that would bother me among these two variants in future ? ? iam going to use it atleast for 3 years.."
AFAIK storage & RAM are the only differences between the two variants. You should though do an accurate and detailed comparison on a site such as phonearena to be sure.
Bottomline: if the difference in price isn't unaffordable, you'd have much happier 3 years of use with the 32gb one.
All the best!
Sent from my Moto G4 Plus using XDA Labs
One thing I noted was that you're planning to use a UHS-1 memory card as adoptable storage. If so, I'd suggest upgrading to a UHS-3 memory card if you can (this doesn't just apply to our device, it's more general advice for adoptable storage). It's more expensive, but the write speeds of UHS-3 cards are rated at 30 MB/s minimum, whereas for UHS-1 I recall the minimum write speed is 10 MB/s - 10 MB/s may be too slow for operations (and your device may notify you of that). UHS-3 cards seem to work better for adoptable storage (though as frances91 points out, they will not keep up with the internal flash memory). Look for UHS-3 (or U3) markings, I think they also come with v30 markings - here's an example: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Memory-Cards/SanDisk-Extreme-microSDXC-Memory-Adapter/B01HXR51DI
Also, adoptable storage may mean that some apps get installed to your SD card rather than internal storage, which means that certain app functions (e.g. widgets) will not function until you move them to your internal storage. In addition to what frances91 has noted about data corruption (rare, but can happen), your adopted SD card is encrypted by your device, and so may not function if you eject/flash another system on your device until you erase the SD card. You therefore may wish to keep the SD card as portable storage, so apps are defaulting to internal storage for installation, and keeping your music/photos on your SD card. As portable storage, you can then eject the SD card as you wish.
I agree with frances91 though - if you see yourself using the device for 3+ years, I suggest spending the extra money now and buying the 3 GB/32 GB version to future proof yourself. Just ensure, if you see yourself flashing custom ROMs in the future, that the device you buy is not an Amazon Prime Exclusive (I didn't see one on Amazon India, just something to watch for).
Thank you very much @ echo92 , Frances91, killerhEmU .. will surely consider your points and buy it accordingly.. thanks for spending your valuable time to answer .
stay blessed

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