Help No sense to memory "thing"

[brykins]

Couple of days into ownership of a SGS2 and although I consider myself to be pretty confident in using PCs and phones, I am struggling to get my head around the memory/storage setup on this thing.

As I understand it, I have 16GB, of which a section is split off to be (let's call it) SYSTEM - where the OS lives. Then there's 2GB split off to install apps in. That leaves about 12GB which the phone calls "usbStorage".

When I slot in a memory card, the phone calls that an external sdcard. No problems.

When I plug the phone into my PC, I get to access "Card" and "Phone".

All good so far. Makes sense.

But what makes no sense to me:

(a) when I browse "Phone" on my PC, there are a whole load of folders. One of which is "usbStorage". So WHERE are all the other folders? eg, "media"?

(b) why can't I copy and paste .jpg files from my PC into "usbStorage"? It gives an error saying "The device does not allow files to be placed in this location". Okay....so I have 12GB of space in "usbStorage" and can't put anything there?

It's certainly NOT very clear.

 

[mrvirginia]

have you tried making a new folder? i just made a "media" folder i believe and then made three subfolders "notifications" "ringtones" and "alarms".

when i went to put new wallpapers on my phone, i made a folder titled "wallpapers" and it shows up in the gallery as such. same for the folder i made titled "downloads" where i threw images i had previously downloaded via text message on my old Evo. i've had no problems with getting it to recognize any media i've installed.

 

[brykins]

I've created a "media" folder on the usbStorage (internal) space and am able to put my videos, pictures, etc in there no problem, when using Astro on the phone.

I still just don't understand where the rest of the directory structure actually *is*.

In the root of the phone I have "media". In the root of the phone I have "usbStorage/media". *Where* is /media? It's bothering me.

 

[mrvirginia]

I've created a "media" folder on the usbStorage (internal) space and am able to put my videos, pictures, etc in there no problem, when using Astro on the phone.

I still just don't understand where the rest of the directory structure actually *is*.

In the root of the phone I have "media". In the root of the phone I have "usbStorage/media". *Where* is /media? It's bothering me.

that stuff is probably hidden by the system. when you plug in your phone, you won't see every last directory. only way to do this is to root and then use something like root explorer.

i wouldn't use the usbStorage personally. i'd suggest making your own folders outside of anything you see listed when you first plug your phone in. not sure why the usbStorage is there but it doesn't bother me to just make another folder and call it what i want.

so yah, make a folder outside of usbStorage or any other folders you see. in other words, make your folders in the "home" directory.
ie.
\media
\wallpapers
\music

instead of \usbStorage\media etc

your "internal" storage is what you see when you plug your phone in, not just "usbStorage".
i have no idea why Astro would work but not when doing any copying over via PC.

 

[brykins]

Am tired now and need to sleep. Tomorrow I am going to copy over a 1GB file and put it in different places and see what the Settings -> Storage numbers do. That might tell me where these folders actually live.