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Default Music and Picture Location

Xerses

Xerses

Well-Known Member
I would like to have my music and pictures stored in the internal 12GB partition of my phone instead of the internal 2GB system partition. I have a Telus Galaxy S II X (same as T-Mobile SII) running 2.3.5 and I do not want to use an SD card since I have almost 12GB of built in storage available.

I created a music folder and put my MP3s in it. If the folder is in the internal 2GB system partition the Google Music app sees it and is fine. If I move it to the external_sd partition, which is built in memory, the app no longer sees the MP3s. How can I fix this?

I would also like to make the default camera app store pictures taken, in a folder in the same storage partition instead of the internal 2GB. Can this be done?
 
If you have mp3's or pictures in a folder on the 12gb partition, the apps should see the media in it. Move all your pictures into a folder called Pictures, and reboot. Not sure about your default apps, but Quickpic lets you select which folders to look at, and do most mp3 players let you select which folders to use for music. You may have to hit a "refresh" button in the apps menu.
 
Thank you for your replies, but...

1) The default music player has no options of any use.

2) Whenever I change something (add/remove a file/folder) I see the media scan start and end.

If I add a folder called Music to the internal 2GB of memory, the scan starts and ends and the MP3s are added to my music player. If I do the same to the external_sd or usbStorage folders, the scan happens, but nothing is seen by the music player.

I am about to reset my phone to default and start everything over because I did some reading about this last night. I used to have an 8GB micro SD card where music was stored and seen by the music player. It would seem that once you have inserted an SD there are issues with moving apps to internal storage. So I am guessing that this is also the cause of my problems.
 
For apps that do not allow you to select which folder for music, can try Data Storage | Android Developers

SDK states below.

  • Music/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as user music.
  • Podcasts/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as a podcast.
  • Ringtones/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as a ringtone.
  • Alarms/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as an alarm sound.
  • Notifications/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as a notification sound.
  • Pictures/ - All photos (excluding those taken with the camera).
  • Movies/ - All movies (excluding those taken with the camcorder).
  • Download/ - Miscellaneous downloads.
 
sohguanh said:
For apps that do not allow you to select which folder for music, can try Data Storage | Android Developers

SDK states below.

  • Music/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as user music.
  • Podcasts/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as a podcast.
  • Ringtones/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as a ringtone.
  • Alarms/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as an alarm sound.
  • Notifications/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as a notification sound.
  • Pictures/ - All photos (excluding those taken with the camera).
  • Movies/ - All movies (excluding those taken with the camcorder).
  • Download/ - Miscellaneous downloads.
Click to expand...
This is very interesting and sounds great, but I have a stock phone and I am not a programmer.
 
If you actually do see files with .mp3 extension in that folder on your 12gb partition, then a factory reset is probably the way to go. If you can see the files and you double click on one, does it open your player and play (it should)?

This is an excellent file explorer for seeing what file types are recognized on each partition: FX File Explorer (Beta) - Android app on AppBrain
 
tcat007 said:
If you actually do see files with .mp3 extension in that folder on your 12gb partition, then a factory reset is probably the way to go. If you can see the files and you double click on one, does it open your player and play (it should)?

This is an excellent file explorer for seeing what file types are recognized on each partition: FX File Explorer (Beta) - Android app on AppBrain
Click to expand...
I use ES File Explorer and the files are MP3, they play in the default player and the ES player when I click on them. The OS is screwed up from what I can see so I am going to reset to default now and see how it goes. It sucks, but that is the way it is! :)
 
I used the manual to default my phone, but...

The storage partition still has data and the Ringtone directory I put in the main 2GB internal memory stays where it is. I also tested the music player and it does not see the MP3s. I am getting fed up.
 
I also tested the music player and it does not see the MP3s. I am getting fed up.
Click to expand...

If Android stock Music player and third party music player all cannot see the MP3 then the problem is at your file system. Is your Android phone on warranty? Can take to them and see how they can help.
 
Even after a re-install there will by system data on the internal card (like ringtones "and such"), user accessible to add ringtones "and such" to. After reading through this thread: http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s2-international/423975-internal-memory-question.html

I think your phone is not acting correctly and you need to get it replaced, may have a defective card or partition or whatever's in there.

One last thing you could try is go to manage applications and to the music app, and clear cache, clear data, and then force stop. Then go open it and see what it fetches.
 
Thanks to both of you.

I called Samsung and this is what I was told...

"The USB Storage and external_sd are only for downloaded content via the phone (apps and other) and not for music and photos. You must use an SD card for music and other items."

This was after registering my Telus Galaxy S II X on the Samsung Canada Webs site. It is possible that the Telus version is different than other versions.

I will try to clear cache, etc, as stated above and see what happens. I bought this phone on Oct. 28th so it is only 2 months old and warranty applies. Also, Telus confirmed that the Samsung rep confirmed that ICS will be out for my phone in March/April. This will completely rewrite the system and will change everything so I will wait and see since I still have tons of warranty. I will post once I have cleared and stopped the app to see what it does.
 
Seriously, that is ODD. Maybe something specific to your S2. My Samsung device has all music and pictures on external SD, and so is my friend's.
 
Well, I have no luck on the clearing of the Music app cache. So it looks like I will be getting an SD card for now and wait for the release of ICS in March or April to see what happens.
 
I cleared the default Music app cache, there was no change. It still does not see the MP3s on the external_sd partition. I tried the 3 app and it also says I have no MP3 files on the SD.

Does anyone know if a there is a hidden file or something to that effect in the USB_storage or external_sd directories that may be required by the OS?

EDIT: I just moved an MP3 to the internal 2GB and started the 3 app. In settings, the storage section shows External 11GB (11GB free) since I moved my test MP3 to the internal memory. In the directory filter setting it shows external_sd and USB_storage as music directories. Something is definately wrong here.
 
For anyone who owns a Samsung Galaxy S II X (SGH-T989D)...

I finally got a reply from someone (on XDA) who understands how this phone's storage system works.

A user on XDA (elbermu) explained it as follows
"The phone (SGS2) has normaly ~ 11.3GB of internal storage allocated or mounted as /sdcard, regardless of the name this is the internal storage, then the external SD card is mounted as external_sd within the same folder structure (/sdcard/external_sd), if you don't have any SD installed the external_sd this not used.

Forget the external_sd folder, it is used for the external sd card when inserted. As what you refer to the USB Storage in the screenshot is the actual /sdcard or the 11.3GB, so when you write in the /sdcard you are you are using this 11.3GB portion. As you said when you put files in the /sdcard folder you should be able to "see" them. You can put music files in the /sdcard/media/music/ and the pictures in /sdcard/DCIM/pictures (just a suggestion).

There is another folder /sdcard/usbstorage, i'm not sure but this is used when mounted USB OTG (like putting a card reader)."

So, I set my phone back up to the way I had it before I reset to default. I installed all my apps.

Internal Storage meter shows 673MB of 1.97GB used
USB Storage meter 11.25GB free
SD Card meter at 0 since I have no card installed.

I dropped 1GB of music into \sdcard\Media\Music and the USB Storage meter went up indicating 1GB used.
I put images in sdcard\DCIM\Images and once again the USB Storage meter went up indicating more of the 11.25GB being used and the Internal Storage remaining at 673MB.

The Samsung support should have been smart enough to explain this to me this way. The \sdcard\external_sd and \sdcard\usbstorage are folders that are NOT to be used to store media.

\sdcard\external_sd = folder where microSD card items appear when card is inserted.
\sdcard\usbstorage = folder where USB OTG items appear when USB storage is connected with a USB OTG cable.

Any media stored in other folders will automatically show up in the USB Storage meter when looking at the storage screen

Thread on XDA:
(Issue with music and pictures in external_SD - xda-developers)
 
That's exactly how my Samsung Galaxy Player works. I guess we were all confused as to where you were putting stuff. Glad you got it figured out.
 
Thank you for your help with this. The more information I got the more I grasped what I was doing wrong.

The real issue here is that the storage screen shows USB Storage as 11.25GB and the folder \sdcard\usbstorage sounds like where you should put media. At least I learnt something new! :)
 
Oh man. Tcat, we were both confused. I thought you had an external SD card installed. LOL.

That's how my phone works too.
 
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