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Problems with apps residing on SD card after unmounting USB storage

BeniFalk

Lurker
Oct 11, 2014
1
0
I have recently purchased an InFocus M512 phone. It runs KitKat (4.4.2).

I have loaded a few apps into the SD card (moved them to SD card after installation).

When I connect a USB Flash disk everything works as expected. When I subsequently unmount it (via settings -> storage -> unmount shared storage) I get the following message:
Unmount SD card? If you unmount the SD card, some apps may be unavailable until you remount the SD card.

When I accept it the USB storage is indeed unmounted (when I physically remove the USB Flash disk it I receive the notification that it was removed, as opposed to a notification that it was removed unexpectedly). The SD card seems to remain mounted - in particular I can access the files in it (via the stock file manager), however I cannot run any apps that I have moved to the SD card - when I press the app shortcut nothing happens. The only way to resolve this is to restart the phone.

If I remove the USB Flash disk without unmounting it, then I get the notification that it was removed unexpectedly (as expected) and afterwards I can run apps residing on the SD card with no problems.

Why unmounting USB storage causes unmount (?) of the SD card?
Is this the expected behavior? Is there anything I can do to fix this?

Thank you for your help.
 
Similar issue - so, when I plug in a usb via OTG cable, the SD card is still reachable using the stock file browser, but the apps on the home screen turn into broken links, and crash on launch. Thoughts? Suggestions? I know i'm bumping a dead thread, but it's a bit of a pain.


It's because the pathname to the apps is changed by doing that. When the SD is inside the phone, it's e.g. "SD1/Angry Birds", via USB OTG, it changes to something else, "SD2/Angry Birds" probably, so the links to the apps become invalid. That's how it is. Frankly this is the first time I've ever heard of anyone doing this, trying to run apps from OTG connected external storage media.

It's similar to when you have a shortcut to an application on the desktop with a PC, and if the drive letter changes for whatever reasons, e.g. C: becomes D:, the shortcuts become invalid and broken.
 
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The weird thing is that I'm not actually mounting or unmounting the SD card. The SD card stays where it is, but the issue occurs when i plug in any other usb thumb drive using OTG while the SD card is mounted. The file manager opens up with the new drive listed as /usbdisk and the SD card links come unstuck. Not instantly - the phone will go to lock screen a couple of times, and each time I open it back up a few more things are unlinked - their icons are replaced with a generic 'blueprint' icon that must just be the generic system file icon, and they crash on launch.
I've checked in my file manager, and the pathname still *appears* to be /sdcard1 before, during and after the other USB drive is mounted but there could be something changing slightly deeper in. It seems to cope ok if I unmount the SD card, mount the USB, and then remount the SD card, but that's a bit of a pain.
I think the easiest solution is just to do a bit of housecleaning, and move as many of the apps as possible back to the virtual sd internal memory.
---edit---
The usb I'm plugging in doesn't have any apps on it, and I'm not trying to run anything from it, it's just file storage.
---edit2---
when I unmount the USB, the apps linked to the SD instantly actually break, ie the red SD card warning circle appears on all of them as if the SD card had been removed. Unmounting and remounting the SD puts them all back.
My guess is it's something to do with the way the system deals with the USB drive, that does change the pathname of the actual SD card as well somehow. Don't think it's a bug or something broken, just the way it works, and I'll just have to work around it.
 
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