Help How to shift data stored by apps in internal storage to external? Will it happen in Android L?

[Abhishek Mittal]

All the Android apps store their data in "/storage/sdcard0/Android/data" folder which is in internal memory. But there's a corresponding folder in MicroSD Card(external storage), "/storage/sdcard1/Android/data" where very few apps store data and that too in very little amount. I know it is due to limited permissions. So I have two questions :-

1. Is there any way/hack that if I shift this data of a particular app, manually from internal storage to external storage, I can make apps use it? (I'm getting low on internal storage. I tried shifting data of "Pocket" and "Cousera" apps but it didn't work.)

2. As Android Lollipop will again remove this restrictions on external storage handling from apps, will they all start saving/shifting data to external storage saving space on internal memory?

(I am using Moto E(XT-1022), Android version : Kitkat 4.4.2)

 

[Hadron]

Just moving the data to sdcard1 won't work, because the app or OS won't know to look for it there. In principle it should be possible to do by moving the data folders and putting symbolic links in their original location to point to the new location - that's basically how root-based fixes like Link2SD work. Of course you'd need to be rooted to do this, and if you are you could try using Link2SD or similar rather than doing it by hand (and you could use a root hack to work around SD permissions). I don't know whether it will care what filesystem you use on the card: when I used to do this type of thing a few years back we always used ext3 or ext4 partitions on the cards (a linux native format, unlike the fat32 that cards are normally formatted as), though I think Link2SD can work with a fat32 partition.

I've read that Lollipop will change the restrictions, or give you more control over how they are applied, but I can't recall details and don't have a suitable device for testing.

However, I'm not certain that you aren't misunderstanding. You say that apps not storing data on sdcard1 is because of limited permissions, but actually any app can store data in its own directory on SD in KitKat. The permissions issue is that they don't have write access to other parts of the SD card (which is a pain for many types of app). And actually moving apps to SD ceased to be a standard feature in Android back in 4.0.x, long before the KitKat SD permissions restrictions were introduced. So if the sort of thing I think you are thinking about changes at all it may be more to do with developers understanding the options better rather than any actual changes in the OS.

 

[Abhishek Mittal]

Thanks you so much for answering the question and correcting my misunderstanding.

Just moving the data to sdcard1 won't work, because the app or OS won't know to look for it there. In principle it should be possible to do by moving the data folders and putting symbolic links in their original location to point to the new location - that's basically how root-based fixes like Link2SD work. Of course you'd need to be rooted to do this, and if you are you could try using Link2SD or similar rather than doing it by hand (and you could use a root hack to work around SD permissions). I don't know whether it will care what filesystem you use on the card: when I used to do this type of thing a few years back we always used ext3 or ext4 partitions on the cards (a linux native format, unlike the fat32 that cards are normally formatted as), though I think Link2SD can work with a fat32 partition.

I've read that Lollipop will change the restrictions, or give you more control over how they are applied, but I can't recall details and don't have a suitable device for testing.

However, I'm not certain that you aren't misunderstanding. You say that apps not storing data on sdcard1 is because of limited permissions, but actually any app can store data in its own directory on SD in KitKat. The permissions issue is that they don't have write access to other parts of the SD card (which is a pain for many types of app). And actually moving apps to SD ceased to be a standard feature in Android back in 4.0.x, long before the KitKat SD permissions restrictions were introduced. So if the sort of thing I think you are thinking about changes at all it may be more to do with developers understanding the options better rather than any actual changes in the OS.