Kitkat and external SDCards. What changes?

[trparky]

Some smart phones come with the ability to expand storage with a MicroSD card. The Galaxy S4 for instance.

I've been reading some things that make me a bit worried about devices that have a limited amount of internal storage such as devices that have 16 GBs of storage. My phone only has 16 GBs of storage. I always used the external SDCard for added storage.

Now it seems like with Kitkat, those days are gone. The external SDCard seems to be off limits for apps on Kitkat, or at least that's what I've been reading as of late.

Is there any truth to this? Has Kitkat essentially killed the external SDCard?

If this is all true, this is going to make me want to get the S5 simply because I only have 3 GBs of storage on the device and there's no way in hell that I'd get anything less than a 32 GB device.

 

[funkylogik]

Apps can still read from external storage so its still fine for media :thumbup:
I havent had any problems since using kitkat on my s3 :thumbup:

 

[trparky]

Is it rooted?

 

[Rush]

Is it rooted?

I don't think he's talking about a rooted device.

 

[funkylogik]

Yeah im rooted but that doesnt make a difference

 

[El Presidente]

External Blues: Google Has Brought Big Changes To SD Cards In KitKat, And Even Samsung Is Implementing Them

I saw that on AP last week, does the info there help?

 

[mikedt]

Besides just using the SD for music, photos and videos, will apps still able to store their data on the SD? e.g. offline mapping data. I'm thinking of something like AutoNavi offline satnav. Because if it goes putting 5GB of China into the internal storage it may not leave much room for other stuff.

Sure most of us don't have truly unlimited always on internet access, despite what Google seems to think.

 

[codesplice]

Besides just using the SD for music, photos and videos, will apps still able to store their data on the SD? e.g. offline mapping data. I'm thinking of something like AutoNavi offline satnav. Because if it goes putting 5GB of China into the internal storage it may not leave much room for other stuff.

Sure most of us don't have truly unlimited always on internet access, despite what Google seems to think.

Based on how I read the link posted by El Presidente, applications will still be able to read and write into their application-specific directories on the external storage. So, for instance, AutoNavi would have exclusive read-write access to /sdcard/Android/data/com.autonavi.xmgd.navigator4x (assuming that's the correct package name). It would absolutely be able to store the huge offline map files in that location - and, in fact, a lot of applications already function in exactly that way, so nothing would actually change.

The big catch there is that the application-specific directory would be removed if the application were to be uninstalled. Probably not much of an issue with GPS mapping applications, but I could see that causing some difficulty with alternative camera applications and the like.

 

[trparky]

What does that mean for /mnt/sdcard? Because on my phone I have two...

/mnt/extSDcard and /mnt/sdcard

 

[funkylogik]

extSDcard is the removable one :thumbup:

 

[trparky]

Are you saying that the Kitkat sdcard write restrictions only apply to /mnt/extSDcard and not /mnt/sdcard?

 

[codesplice]

Are you saying that the Kitkat sdcard write restrictions only apply to /mnt/extSDcard and not /mnt/sdcard?

The way I read it, the application-specific storage directory rules are applied to all external storage (including "secondary" and/or removable storage); additionally, read access is largely unrestricted for secondary/removable storage (with the exception of the private application-specific storage directories), while no user apps will have write permission outside of their particularly directory.

Clear as mud?

 

[itsallgood]

6458873[/URL]]External Blues: Google Has Brought Big Changes To SD Cards In KitKat, And Even Samsung Is Implementing Them

I saw that on AP last week, does the info there help?

Thanks for the link. It does shine some light on things, but I'm still concerned what problems I'm going to have when i have to upgrade to KitKat on my S4. For the most part, my SD card is for music, pictures, videos and apps that I moved to SD card. I use ES File Explore to manage all my files on internal storage and SD card. Since ES File Explorer is a 3rd party app, how are these new restrictions going to impact how I manage all my files using a 3rd party app? Thanks

 

[funkylogik]

They dont affect that. I think the only problem youll notice is apps not running from the external SD (which is gona be major PITA for people with a gs4)
Hopefully im wrong :thumbup:

 

[greyhndz]

Thanks for the link. It does shine some light on things, but I'm still concerned what problems I'm going to have when i have to upgrade to KitKat on my S4. For the most part, my SD card is for music, pictures, videos and apps that I moved to SD card. I use ES File Explore to manage all my files on internal storage and SD card. Since ES File Explorer is a 3rd party app, how are these new restrictions going to impact how I manage all my files using a 3rd party app? Thanks

I believe that ES file explorer is, at the present time, the only file explorer which recognizes the Ext SD, and even so, there are limitations regarding moving or renaming folders/files.

I've found that using USB connection and making changes in files on your PC is the most reliable way of moving things around.

I cannot confirm this, but I believe that in the app manager, where there is an option for moving an app to SD, it is actually moving it to the internal SD/emulator. I'm having a lot of difficulty tracking down files.

 

[funkylogik]

Nah mate. Im an ES user but you can still move files to extSdCard (SdCard1).
Honestly i think the only people who notice a difference will be the galaxy s4 users.
People complained about the lack of user storage on the s4 so samsung reintroduced moving apps to external SD.
Looks like Kitkat is gona ruin that.
Just feel lucky you didnt buy a galaxy s5 lol. On the 16gb version, only 8gb is usable!

 

[Tsepz_GP]

Moved Angry Birds Season to SD Card on my GS4 with 4.4.2 KitKat, game ran fine.

 

[funkylogik]

Is your s4 stock mate or was that using a root method? Thats pretty cool if its stock

 

[Tsepz_GP]

It is indeed stock .It allows moving to SD, but the App Data (saved games etc...) will stay in Internal

Here's a screenshot:

 

[funkylogik]

Nice one man. Ive seen a lot of the s4 guys on g+ saying they wont take the update because of this so thats good news for them

 

[Tsepz_GP]

Awesome
Yeah, this whole KitKat+SDcard situation has caused a major concern for us, I nearly didn't update either, but eventually decided to take thd plunge, and boy was it worth it!

 

[funkylogik]

Does it run well then? Im not a touchwiz fan so im running a kitkat rom on my s3 and its excellent. Does kitkat touchwiz have ART run time in dev' options?

 

[itsallgood]

6462171[/URL]]It is indeed stock .It allows moving to SD, but the App Data (saved games etc...) will stay in Internal

Here's a screenshot:

This is great news. One thing though, was any of your apps already saved to SD card before the update to KitKat? If so, what happed to the apps and its data?

 

[speedlever]

Awesome
Yeah, this whole KitKat+SDcard situation has caused a major concern for us, I nearly didn't update either, but eventually decided to take thd plunge, and boy was it worth it!

Can you move files from your internal and/or external SD card over a wireless lan to a PC with KK?

I like to use ES File Explorer to move files back and forth with my GS4 (i337) and 4.3. I'm hearing that KK prevents this.