Using Your SD and SD-Ext Cards

[Thom]

Since there seems to be interest in discussion this subject I moved my post over from the Tips thread and created a new thread for the discussion.

When my Bionic is connected to my workstation with the USB cable that came with my Bionic ...

The display when I select Computer on my workstation is shown below.

I did rename the drives. They are easily recognizable by their total size.

Also ... see ... Bionic Reference - Terms - Links ... about the confusion in naming the SD and SD-Ext cards.

I also included a listing of the SD Card/drive seen from the PC-side and SD-Ext Card/drive seen from the PC side.


... Thom

 

[Jeffery]

Am I misguided, or is the reason the internal SD only shows 8GB because half of it is hidden?

 

[Thom]

Yes. The hidden partitions are where the apps are installed.

Take a look at the Titanium Backup Pro screen below from my un-root-ed Bionic and you will see the sections listed at the bottom of the screen.

... Thom

 

[johnlgalt]

Actually, it's split into 3 partitions, IIRC- 8 for internal storage, 4 for Apps and 4 more for WebTop (?) - I'll have to go look and see, it may be even more than just these three....

 

[PhoebeAnn]

Take a look at the Titanium Backup Pro screen below from my un-root-ed Bionic...

Looking in the Market, I see that Titanium Backup Pro requires Titanium Backup, and they both require Root. I'm not up to rooting anything yet, but it looks like TB might be useful even without Root. Comments?

 

[Thom]

Looking in the Market, I see that Titanium Backup Pro requires Titanium Backup, and they both require Root. I'm not up to rooting anything yet, but it looks like TB might be useful even without Root. Comments?

Yes it requires root-ing. I was not recommending root-ing to anyone. Root-ing brings a lot of added responsibilty to the Bionic owner and should only be done if you are totally comfortable with it and are willing to accept that responsibility.

If anyone asks me "why the hell would I ever root?" my response is "because the best backup app available for the device requires it". I don't know if that is a sufficient reason to do it.

The reference you point to was just answering the question of how the cards were broken up (i.e., partitioned). It is shown on an un-root-ed Bionic (mine). At the top it says root failed (I can not use it for backup) but at the bottom it shows how the cards are divided and why 16GB is not available on the SD card.

If you use the Files app it only shows two elements. See ... SD Card Naming in http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-bionic/438060-bionic-reference-terms-links.html#post3398984.

... Thom

 

[PhoebeAnn]

Yes it requires root-ing. ... At the top it says root failed (I can not use it for backup) but at the bottom it shows how the cards are divided and why 16GB is not available on the SD card.
... Thom

So... Can I install it in an unRooted device and use it passively as you did, then maybe some later day Root and use it for backup?

 

[Thom]

So... Can I install it in an unRooted device and use it passively as you did, then maybe some later day Root and use it for backup?

Yes ... but it is of little use.

Since I bought it and use it on my root-ed Droid X I installed it on my un-root-ed Bionic.

The only reason for using it here was to show that there is stuff that is hidden when you use Files or ASTRA.

... Thom