Where are the apps on my SD card?

[TomSp]

I am new to this tablet. I downloaded some new apps and I went to the settings and moved them to my 32GB SD card. I see five apps listed on the SD card in the settings, storage. However when I install the SD card in my computer I only find a folder that says Lost. Dir. I read about this folder in the forums. When I open the folder, on the computer, it says it is empty. Where are the apps that are listed on the SD card when it is in the tablet?
Also when I am on the tablet and in settings, storage, on SD card I show the five apps like I said and down the bottom where it shows the space being used I show 534MB used and 4.5GB free?? It is a 32GB card so I do not understand?
Can anyone explain?
Thank you,
TomSp

 

[argedion]

can you alloborate some for us? What tablet do you have? Which version of Android? What is the 32 gig sdcard? can you put the card itself in the computer and confirm that its a full 32gig? Many people have bought cheap sdcards thinking they were getting something they did not. How are you telling apps to install on the sdcard? are you using an app like link2sd?

 

[TomSp]

I have a iBSOL DUO by Vulcan which is a cheap tablet that I bought at Walmart. I wanted to learn how to use this as I travel a lot and I thought I may want to take this with me to Europe. It has version 4.4.2 KitKat. The card is a SanDisk Micro 32GB class 4 card with an adapter. When I put it in the computer it read s 29.7GB free of 29.7GB. I have one photo on there which is 96KB and the LOST. DIR folder which registers no space. I don't know what happened to the other 2.5 GB?
When I go on "settings" on the tablet and go to "apps" I get a list of apps that I have on the tablet. When I click on anyone of them one of the options is to "move to tablet" or "move to SD card" or no option for this (it would not be highlighted). If you click on "move to tablet" the option changes to "move to SD card " after a second or so. Is the app hidden in the partition on the SD card????
Also the only way I seem to be able to get apps is through "1Mobile Market" which comes preinstalled on this tablet. The tablet is not compatible with Google Play according to what it says on the tablet.

 

[argedion]

Yeah ok so lets help you understand a few basics the card size is fine you never actually end up with what's advertised so 32 gig you get 29 that's the nature of the beast. Ok so onward first when you click the option in the tablet app section to move the app to the sdcard it only moves portions of the app and not the whole app. I don't remember exactly where they are stored but it is a hidden folder.

I'm always leary of these cheap tablets they generally do more to hurt android than help.

 

[EarlyMon]

1Mobile is a huge Chinese app market.

Android support for moving apps to the sd card left years ago, a few makers still have it in settings - at best, only a portion of the app moves.

This may help some -

http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/app-storage-truth-t3044572

As you don't have the Play Store, I'm directing you to a thread that will let you directly download a helpful app we developed via your browser.

 

[Hadron]

The key bit is where argedion says they are in hidden folder. If the manufacturer has reinstated the old Gingerbread "move to sd", which is what it sounds like, they will be in .android_secure - the "." at the front makes it a hidden folder, so it won't show in most file browsers by default. But even if you enable showing hidden files and folders you won't see the apps in there. They don't want to make piracy too easy, so they don't let you just move it to sd and then copy it.

If you see your internal space usage decrease when you move the apps then it's doing its job.

Note that only part of the app is moved, and you shouldn't move apps if they have widgets which you use (because the widget will stop working).

Pre-installed apps can't be moved, but they live in a different partition so aren't using your user-accessible storage anyway so there would be no gain from moving them.

 

[TomSp]

The key bit is where argedion says they are in hidden folder. If the manufacturer has reinstated the old Gingerbread "move to sd", which is what it sounds like, they will be in .android_secure - the "." at the front makes it a hidden folder, so it won't show in most file browsers by default. But even if you enable showing hidden files and folders you won't see the apps in there. They don't want to make piracy too easy, so they don't let you just move it to sd and then copy it.

If you see your internal space usage decrease when you move the apps then it's doing its job.

Note that only part of the app is moved, and you shouldn't move apps if they have widgets which you use (because the widget will stop working).

Pre-installed apps can't be moved, but they live in a different partition so aren't using your user-accessible storage anyway so there would be no gain from moving them.

Thank you Hadron