Apps to the SD Card

[augiecrazy8]

I did a few searches and couldn't find anything, so I decided to be lazy and start a new post on this. Has anyone found an app that will move all apps to the SD card to save phone space and speed everything else up?

Thanks in advance

 

[justjimjpc]

I did a few searches and couldn't find anything, so I decided to be lazy and start a new post on this. Has anyone found an app that will move all apps to the SD card to save phone space and speed everything else up?

Thanks in advance

you can only do this from a rooted phone ... and even then it is a bit klugey...

We can only hope that Google eventually gives us what we need ...

 

[augiecrazy8]

Sorry, rooted phone?

 

[shivers316]

Sorry, rooted phone?

http://androidforums.com/developer-101/3252-rooting-quick-guide-updated-3-10-09-a.html

 

[Deleted User]

I know everyone wants to be able to install apps to SD, but have you guys stopped to think how much slower things would run if it constantly accessed your SD card rather than built in memory? Is there even an issue? I personally don't know, but its something to think about. Also, whats to stop people from sharing these apps among friends.

 

[justjimjpc]

I know everyone wants to be able to install apps to SD, but have you guys stopped to think how much slower things would run if it constantly accessed your SD card rather than built in memory? Is there even an issue? I personally don't know, but its something to think about. Also, whats to stop people from sharing these apps among friends.

Here is a way to look at it ... yes the apps would be store on the sdcard .. but would be loaded into the same memory as now ...

There would be all that more system memory because it is not be used for storage as well as operation ...

Apps could actually be larger and run faster because the Heap or stack would be larger with more space available ...

many apps already used SD to store live data for their use while running ...

I have one that is a dictionary and has approoximately 1.5 million words on the SDCard and runs very slick ... definately better that going to the cloud each time for the words, defs, synom, homonyms, thesarus etc ..

 

[Deleted User]

Here is a way to look at it ... yes the apps would be store on the sdcard .. but would be loaded into the same memory as now ...

There would be all that more system memory because it is not be used for storage as well as operation ...

Apps could actually be larger and run faster because the Heap or stack would be larger with more space available ...

many apps already used SD to store live data for their use while running ...

I have one that is a dictionary and has approoximately 1.5 million words on the SDCard and runs very slick ... definately better that going to the cloud each time for the words, defs, synom, homonyms, thesarus etc ..

But wouldn't that be dependent on how fast your SD card is? Take for example me, i have a microSD that is 8GB and Class 6. Sure i can run everything nice and quick, but how about the person who hit the bargain bin and bought a 1gb card for 4.99 but its a class 2? Im sure there would be a wall to hit somewhere there.

 

[punkzanyj]

This was a priority for me at first, but a few things have made me not care about this anymore:

-Twidroid saves cache on SD Card.
-They Fixed that issue with the Market Cache expanding indefinitely.
-I have 58 apps, about 4-5 I don't actually need, and 14MB free still.
-Tons of Apps on the Market, most of which I don't want, don't need, or are duplicates of stuff I already have (notepad, flashlight, etc)

The real issue was available memory storage, and they've addressed that issue to my satisfaction.

A more pressing issue, in my opinion, is the battery. Improving battery life should take precedent over everything else at this point.

 

[justjimjpc]

I have a double thickness battery (lasts more than a day)... so battery is no issue ...
But I can't double memory .. In fact I can't add 1 byte to it without deleting apps ...

Looking down the road for more and better apps .. I will have no room without trashing ones I have already decided I want to keep ... (unless I, backup, delete, Install new, backup new, delete New, install old delete ... ad infinitum ) ...

Memory is the prime limiting factor for me ...

 

[Deleted User]

I have a double thickness battery (lasts more than a day)... so battery is no issue ...
But I can't double memory .. In fact I can't add 1 byte to it without deleting apps ...

Looking down the road for more and better apps .. I will have no room without trashing ones I have already decided I want to keep ... (unless I, backup, delete, Install new, backup new, delete New, install old delete ... ad infinitum ) ...

Memory is the prime limiting factor for me ...

This does make sense, but knowing myself, i would probably have the next versions of "G" phones. Also i thought we had RAM and ROM....not only ROM, so why would installing more apps take away from system memory? Or did i just read that wrong?

 

[justjimjpc]

This does make sense, but knowing myself, i would probably have the next versions of "G" phones. Also i thought we had RAM and ROM....not only ROM, so why would installing more apps take away from system memory? Or did i just read that wrong?

G1 does have Ram and Rom.. 192MB & 256MB respectively..

The Ram is the normal memory used by the processor for computations ... The ROM is used to store the OS and support files, in addition to the android/google & 3rd party apps...

Like a PC uses the HD as virtual memory when necessary, I believe that Android OS probably does a similar memory utilization of RAM/ROM.

But, even it doesn't there is still a limit to the amount of 3rd party apps stored in ROM ... Think of a single density 3.5" diskette to store the entire OS and all the programs you would run on a mimimal PC .... Not a sweet picture...

With 16GB or 32GB of Flash ROM we can store all the apps that will be developed for the life of the G1...

I prefer that flexibility...

 

[Ageless Stranger]

The biggest problem with writing a lot of data (such as cache) to SD media, is that SD media as a finite write capability per cell. Writing to SD is not like writing to RAM or hard drive, where you can keep writing and writing. For example, if a cell has a maximum write life of say 1 million times then once that cell has been written to a million times it can not be written to again, therefore it dies and your media is one cell short, thus your SD card now has less memory.

I am using arbitrary values here, and sometimes cells can be written to more than their proposed "maximum".

 

[justjimjpc]

The biggest problem with writing a lot of data (such as cache) to SD media, is that SD media as a finite write capability per cell. Writing to SD is not like writing to RAM or hard drive, where you can keep writing and writing. For example, if a cell has a maximum write life of say 1 million times then once that cell has been written to a million times it can not be written to again, therefore it dies and your media is one cell short, thus your SD card now has less memory.

I am using arbitrary values here, and sometimes cells can be written to more than their proposed "maximum".

Yep same problem with Harddrives ... one byte bad then the minumum sector is marked as defective ... that might be 1k, 2k, 4k, etc depending on the formating ...

However, in storing apps in flash ... it will usually be a one-time write and many non-destructive reads .... so a flash rom under these cases can last a long time and are easy to backup and replace ...

The G1 suffers from the Flash ROM in the first place and is not replaceable ... but in its case we hope it outlives the first buyers use of the phone ...
as you said (i think it was you) that you would have moved on to the next great model ... as for me I tend to keep a device for its entire life ...
so I have more than one device in play at all times ... So I am hoping the almost unlimited SD APP storage becomes a reality for the G1 and it's successors .

BTW : Just imagine by the end of 2010 SanDisk says they will have a 2TB flash (2 terabytes) Enough to store our entire lifes' needs onto a single chip ...

 

[Ageless Stranger]

as you said (i think it was you) that you would have moved on to the next great mode

The phone I had before the G1 was the HTC Blue Angel, that baby is still going strong, a bit worn around the edges and slow in comparison to todays standards but it just won't die. I don't change phones that often

 

[justjimjpc]

The phone I had before the G1 was the HTC Blue Angel, that baby is still going strong, a bit worn around the edges and slow in comparison to todays standards but it just won't die. I don't change phones that often

Glad you are not adding to the landfills ... we have a program here at work to donate old phones and they arerecycled to provide phones for the armed forces in the middle east or for phone cards...

 

[mcosmi]

well, first off, if you don't know what it means to root your phone, then you ABSOLUTLY SHOULD not be attempting it. Rooting your phone disables ability to get pushed updates, and should only be done by the most power user who wants complete control of every deep level of their android OS. Also, just some info about this...the n1 has plenty of internal space, i have 40+apps installed and still have plenty of room. the reason google does this is if you think about it, a good solution to a difficut problem. if google allowed you to install all your apps on a non-protected sdcard, u could simply swap paid-for apps and the developers would have a HUGE problem with that. the way a platform attracts developers is by helping them make $$$. if it were so easy to steal apps, no one would develop any for the android platform, and without developers and apps, the android platform would fail. this is the tightrope walk that has to be done between wide open and opensource, and then locked down paid-for apps. google is currently looking for ways to lock down portions of the sd card to allow installs there, but this is a total NON-issue on the n1 because it has so much space for apps. most apps are very tiny, and use the sd card for the bigger media files and other stuff the app uses. Really, unless you run out of internal space on your n1(which u wont) don't gt causght up on the number-size allocated to internal storage.

 

[mcosmi]

Sorry, rooted phone?

dont root if you dont know what it is. trust me.