Does Android 4.4.2 have something like shortcuts or soft links?

[lvirden]

There are some applications which do not appear to provide a way to indicate that its data should be kept on an external micro SD card.
This results in one or two applications taking up nearly all available space on the quite small internal storage of a Galaxy S4.
Is there a tool that might be able to be used to move the storage for such an application, leaving behind a soft link or shortcut pointing to the SD card?
Sure I could delete all such applications. I would rather have a way to keep applications rather than being forced to delete them.

 

[jae_63]

Probably not possible without rooting your phone, for many such apps.

Once you're rooted, then apps such as FolderMount and Link2SD can help you, or you can master the use of mounting filesystems and using symbolic links ("ln -s") from the Linux command-line.

(Even without rooting) You can partition your SD card from a PC/Mac such that it contains two partitions: one a "traditional FAT" and the other a more modern filesystem, such as ext4. With an ext4 filesystem, there is sufficient control over file permissions that one can safely work without risking file corruption or unauthorized data tampering by other applications.

See this link for a fairly gruesome discussion of how I dealt with this problem recently.

http://androidforums.com/android-applications/855055-amazon-prime-music-symlinks.html#post6758315

 

[lvirden]

Well, thank you for your answer.
I am frustrated by android apps that leave their data in the phone's internal memory even when you move the app itself to an external SD card.
The comixology apps for DC and Marvel as well as for comixology itself all work that way. This means that any digital comics get left in the "main memory" and fill it up so fast that there is not even room for updating existing apps!
I was hoping that a simple symlink would fool the app into using space where I wanted it used.

Oh well, that's what I get for using an under configured computer....

 

[jae_63]

Link2SD supports movement of app data to the SD card (if your phone is rooted, and your SD card has been suitably partitioned)

 

[chanchan05]

Depends on the phone manufacturer if they allow for it. Google itself doesn't have that feature because Nexus devices don't have external cards, but all Samsung phones I've used has a move to sd card option for apps.

 

[lvirden]

I am using a Samsung S4, with ATT as the service provider. However, I have not rooted it and I am hesitant to do so while still insured for problems.

I also have not partitioned my SD card. It was only a 16 GB card so I didn't think at the time that it would need partitioned.

I will have to investigate more about this.

Thank you for your help.

 

[chanchan05]

I'm not rooted as well on my Samsung Galaxy Note II. Just go to the manage apps menu (settings>more>application manager) and click open some app settings. Some of them will have a "Move to SD card" button.

 

[lvirden]

Yes, that's where I first became confused. I did that for all my apps that I could move, and yet the phone continued to indicate it was using over 8 GB of the 9 GB available.
I found the diskusage app and used it to discover that the data for the comixology apps remained on the internal storage instead of being moved when I moved the application.