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How to view internal memory on Moto g4?

KJinx101

KJinx101

Lurker
So I have a Moto g4 and it's my first device with Marshmallow. Because of this, I'm not sure if the issue I'm having comes from the device it's self or android's OS update from last year. Either way here's my issue. Normally, when use a file manager such as File Manager HD or ES File Explorer, you see your "Internal Storage" and "SD card." [Since I had one]. So on my last phone (which had lollipop) and older devices, I was able to navigate through all my files, and install mods and textures for games, etc. Same for when I plugged into my PC; I saw internal storage and my SD card. But on this Moto g4, I only see my SD card.

Normally the filepaths are under device\storage\sdcard1 or device\storage\emulated\sdcard0 (like on my last phone). On this one, the microSD is accessible from Device\sdcard, which is different. And when I go to Device\Storage\Emulated, the folder is empty. Also, I do have the SDcard formatted as internal storage, but I'm convinced that's not the issue because even when I remove it, on my PC, I see an empty folder for my phone altogether, and in file managers, there's nothing to access.

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As you can see in these two pics, the Moto E2 running shows both, whereas the g4 only shows my SD card when plugged into the PC. And it's the same with file managers within android.

Basically, I want to know if it's possible to make it to where I can view both the SD card and the internal storage without rooting my phone. Is there any command I can run through adb? Or anything that won't blatantly void a warranty or wipe my phone. (If not, that's okay too, but I'd like to know all my options). I hope this is enough information for someone to be able answer my question.
 
I'm pretty sure that if you have your SD card formated as internal storage, you won't be able to see it separately as you would if you had formated it as portable storage.
 
Jfalls63 said:
I'm pretty sure that if you have your SD card formated as internal storage, you won't be able to see it separately as you would if you had formated it as portable storage.
Click to expand...

The thing is even without the SD Card inside, I still can't see the internal storage; it's just an empty folder.
 
See my problem is that I'm not trying to view the SD Card's storage. I'm trying to view the internal storage, which isn't showing up. When I connect the phone via USB to the computer, the contents of the SD Card are read but not the internal storage, which I'm trying to access. If you look closely at the pictures in my original post, you can see that the SD Card appears on both devices when hooked up to PC, even though that on this one, I have it formatted as internal. So the SD Card is not a problem. I just think there's probably something that I don't know about hiding the internal storage.
 
I do not have this device and do not have a definitive answer. I suspect that the issue is that you have the SD card formatted for use as internal storage.

I suggest you take it to the place you purchased it and ask for guidance.

Using an SD card for Internal Storage extension has some drawbacks. The SD card access is slower than Internal Storage. The result is that almost everything will run slower.

... Thom
 
Can't upload photo to show you where to look. This new set up not working for me at this point.
 
Last edited:
Using a memory card as an internal storage device


Insert the memory card into the device.

Display a notification "Setting the SD-card."

Tap the text "Setting up the SD-card" that appears after you install the notification card or go to "Settings"> "Memory", select the map, and tap "Menu"> "Internal memory."

Check out the information in the notification, and select "Ext. storage device".

If the memory card stores the application before the card is formatted, the device prompts you to transfer the applications to the internal memory of the device.

Then, the memory card is formatted and encrypted, then it can be used as internal memory.

After formatting, you can choose whether to move the data stored on your device to the memory card is necessary. During this step, all the media files, images and documents will be moved to SD-card.

Once you select a place to store your data, all of the applications, databases, and other information will be stored in the selected location.

If you choose to transfer the data to SD-card, the card will select the storage location for all data and media applications.

If you skip this step, the internal memory of the device will be a place to store all selected by default.

As the only SD-card will be formatted and installed as an internal storage device, the device memory and the card will be displayed in the settings as a "memory device" and you can move the application, previously stored in memory on the card. Porting applications, their media files and other files and data on SD-card. Move applications to the card can be in the section of the application settings. To do this, go to "Settings"> "Applications", select the app and tap the "Change storage space."

As the only SD-card will be formatted and installed as an internal memory, downloadable from the Play Store application will be stored in one of its parts, depending on the chosen developer options (you can move applications as needed).


These applications will be stored in the selected location by default storage. Specify data storage for each application is not necessary.

For example, if you are using the SD-card as internal memory, the application "Camera Motorola» will always keep photos and video to the selected location, additional configuration of the application is required.

The amount of memory in use, both internal and SD-card can be viewed in the device settings. Used as an extension of the SD-card internal memory will be displayed in the "Memory Device".
 
@Thom Thanx anyways :)
@EvviSoft That much helps you set up an SD card, but even when you choose to store apps on the SD card you still can't access many files.

I actually have a hunch that the Moto g4, being set up with amazon as well, hides the internal memory to protect certain apps. Granting the user access to internal storage would mean that the user would be able to delete the amazon services and the offers, which would allow the user to do things like disable lock screen advertisements through deletion of those apps' respective folders. So they let you access the SD Card, but not anything else, and moving apps to the SD Card probably only changes their actual location and not your access. (Just putting things together in my head, not actually sure) If this were the case, though, I'd feel like there would be something I could run through the adb command line to get past it.

If anyone else has any ideas on this, maybe this much info would help. But I know this is an odd issue and there's not much anyone can do or even relate with, so I understand if not.
 
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