Help 32 Gig SD Card Showing 8 Gig total?

[getbusyyo]

I have a brand new, out of the box Bionic. I did a file-to-tile transfer of all of my files from my 16 gig SD card to my Sandisk 32 gig sd card, yet I'm only showing 8 gig of total space available. However, when I go to the unmount sd card setting, it shows it as having 29.whatever available. I know that it'll show less than the full 32 due to files, etc., but any ideas as to why on my widgets it's only showing up as an 8 gig?

 

[getbusyyo]

By the way, I'm unrooted, running stock rom, software version 2.3.4 build 593.

 

[EarlyMon]

Where did the SD card in question come from?

There are a lot of counterfeit SD cards out there.

 

[getbusyyo]

Straight from Verizon.

 

[EarlyMon]

Ok, so it's not that.

Ok, then let's try this - if I'm not mistaken, your Bionic has an internal SD card (the name for the extended on-board memory) and the actual external SD card.

Try something like Astro File Manager or EStrongs File Explorer and check the size of each while running.

If your "internal" SD is located at /mnt/sdcard or /sdcard on the system, then probably the widget is reading that instead of the external one.

 

[getbusyyo]

I'll give that a whirl. Thanks for the advice.

 

[getbusyyo]

That's exactly what the problem is. From Astro, it's showing all of my internal files in the /mnt/sdcard folder.

Solution?

 

[EarlyMon]

Gosh, I don't have one personally, my phone isn't laid out that way.

Ok by you if I move this to the Bionic support forum? I'll bet the cats over there would have some good suggestions.

 

[getbusyyo]

I now have a file within the parent directory called sdcard-ext.

By all means (and doing my best George Thorogood impression), move it on over.

 

[EarlyMon]

That should be a directory pointer to your actual external SD card.

Move complete - maybe the big dogs here can help further on this. Best luck, click on my name and drop me a PM if I can help further.

(musical accompaniment for this post provided by the Delaware Destroyers!)

 

[getbusyyo]

...big dogs...

(musical accompaniment for this post provided by the Delaware Destroyers!)

I'm glad you got that one, and didn't respond with "George WHO?"

 

[Thom]

The names are confusing ... in Astro there are two folders ... when you first open Astro hit the up arrow at the top of the display.

There are two folders /sdcard and /sdcard-ext

sdcard is the internal one. sdcard-ext is the external one.

You can select folders in Astro and move them to another folder.

From what you wrote I ASSUME yon have the folders in /sdcard and need to move them to /sdcard-ext.

(I'm a cat person.)

... Thom

 

[getbusyyo]

I honestly don't get what's happening.

Does this phone have both an internal SD AND internal storage? Because my widgets (ASI, Sense Clock) are both reading separate numbers on SD vs. Internal. 3.5 gig of internal and 8.1 gig of external (SD). Obviously, the OS thinks that /sdcard is the true sd card, but is there additional internal storage, as well?

What moron would develop such a badass phone and then do something as stupid as putting an SD card (be it an actual sd card or otherwise) as onboard storage????

 

[rdsok]

Remember that just because you don't understand why it is setup the way it is, doesn't make it stupid. They have it that way for both technical and security reasons.

The internal SD card is partitioned into 3 sections... The 8Gb storage area, a 4Gb application area and the other 4Gb is for the webtop... a total of 16Gb in 3 partitions on the internal SD card.

Then there is the external SD card to provide additional storage for whatever you wish.

Applications can't run from either of the storage areas since that would be a possible security issue such as having a virus or other infection placed on there as one example.

 

[Thom]

We need to know what you are looking at when you see what it is that you are questioning.

The naming is confusing. Some apps refer to it the old way. Some apps refer to it the new way.

Your last question first. The new naming was apparently introduced in support of Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4). They redefined the meaning of SD card. They were pretty much forced to do so. A lot of apps (hundred of thousands referred to files on the SD card and the desire was to have them access the internal SD card without forcing every one of them to have two versions (pre ICS and post ICS).

The Files App refers to Internal phone storage and SD card. Files Internal phone storage is the same as the sdcard folder in ASTRO. Files SD card is the same as sdcard-ext folder in ASTRO. The ASTRO names are the actual folder names.

There are also sections on the internal SD card that are hidden. This is where the programs are actually installed. That is the reason the numbers don't seem to add up.

A screenshot from Titanium Backup Pro is below. It shows the sections on my un-root-ed Bionic and calls the visible sections SD card and Ext SD card.

... Thom

 

[getbusyyo]

Pretty confusing.

When I use the pre-installed file manager, it breaks it down into two categories: Internal storage and SD Card, which in viewing, looks correct (correct being in my eyes the file structure I'm used to having last run 2.3.3 on DX).

And yes, when I view files in Windows Explorer from the phone, it breaks it down into two partitions. Is there a way to combine the internal storage and /sdcard partitions? If so, (or if not, for that matter) would renaming the /sdcard folder interfere with the phone's functionality?

Ultimately, my HOPE is that I can simply rename /sdcard so my widgets (and likewise, downloading apps) will stop recognizing the phone's internal "sd card", and rename /sdcard-ext to /sdcard (as I'm used to).

Forgive any noobitry. It seems like this is a massive leap, even going from a rooted DX.

 

[Thom]

Pretty confusing.

When I use the pre-installed file manager, it breaks it down into two categories: Internal storage and SD Card, which in viewing, looks correct (correct being in my eyes the file structure I'm used to having last run 2.3.3 on DX).

And yes, when I view files in Windows Explorer from the phone, it breaks it down into two partitions. Is there a way to combine the internal storage and /sdcard partitions? If so, (or if not, for that matter) would renaming the /sdcard folder interfere with the phone's functionality?

Ultimately, my HOPE is that I can simply rename /sdcard so my widgets (and likewise, downloading apps) will stop recognizing the phone's internal "sd card", and rename /sdcard-ext to /sdcard (as I'm used to).

Forgive any noobitry. It seems like this is a massive leap, even going from a rooted DX.

God I hope not. If you try it with ASTRo you get a program check (I just tried it).

I suggest that you really want to consider the implications ... it is designed so you could have a fist full of SD-Ext cards. Say you have 200 movies. You can pull the current SD-Ext card and drop in another and play the movie on that card.

If you had the internal data needed by an app stored on that card (and that is what you are suggesting) then when you pulled the old card out the data would not be present.

Some running apps would crash. When new apps started they would start with some collection of default parameters and not the parameters you changed (and stored on the SD-Ext card that is no longer loaded).

I suggest to you that the best thing you can do is to embrace ICS and convert to the new naming structure ... or ... I guess you could choose to go crazy ...

An example of where apps are going ... the three camera apps I have installed allow you to specify where to store the images. They all default to the SD card. Simply change each to specify the SD-Ext card and all the pictures are now on the SD-Ext card.

The screenGrabber app does the same thing.

I chose ...
/mnt/sdcard-ext/dcim/camera ... and ...
/mnt/sdcard-ext/dcim/screen ... as the locations to store them all.

... Thom

 

[getbusyyo]

Thanks a lot, Thom. I guess my overall concern is really what I'm SEEING using old widgets, not designed for ICS. When I SEE that I have 8 gigs on my sd card (even knowing that I have 32 [or close to it]) it just kind of annoys me. I guess the widgetmakers out there had better start upping the ante if this is going to be the common denominator for phones to come.

Additionally, are we expected to get an OTA update to ICS any time soon? I haven't done a lot of reading about this phone since I've been a part of the DX community for so long.

I'm not too keen on downloading a leaked version.

 

[Thom]

Thanks a lot, Thom. I guess my overall concern is really what I'm SEEING using old widgets, not designed for ICS. When I SEE that I have 8 gigs on my sd card (even knowing that I have 32 [or close to it]) it just kind of annoys me. I guess the widgetmakers out there had better start upping the ante if this is going to be the common denominator for phones to come.

Additionally, are we expected to get an OTA update to ICS any time soon? I haven't done a lot of reading about this phone since I've been a part of the DX community for so long.

The apps are being updated. It will take time. Using the scheme that was adopted some of apps can continue to operate without adjustment (there will be a bunch of those).

People get drawn in (sucked in) to a path that may simply be incorrect. Task Killers are an example. You seem to have all these tasks "taking up space" and you never use them. I think I will run a Task Killer and make more space available ... wrong. Many of them are designed to start automatically and exist in the background. When they are needed you get to them in an instant instead of having to wait for them to load. If you kill them then they will restart very soon and you get to kill them again.

What just happened was ... an apparent problem ... an available app to solve it ... I'm doing something.

What was actually going on was ... no problem ... you invested in an unneeded app ... the unneeded app is EATING CPU time as it deletes the same apps over-and-over-and-over-and-over. You just invested in something that is unneeded and it makes your device run slower.

There is one ICS phone currently available. No one really knows when ICS will be available on the Bionic. 3-6 months out?

... Thom