[Q] Some apps are no longer showing an option to save to external card... - AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4

I just got my Note 4 today and I'm trying to restore all my apps and set them to behave the same way...
1) Helium does not give me an option to restore or save from the external card
2) Smart recorder - doesn't give me an option to browse my External card
Those are the only two I've tried so far but yeah I'm a little confused as to what is going on. Is there something I'm missing? Is it due to 4.4.4?

This is a "Security Feature" that KitKat broke. Yes, it sucks very bad. One of the biggest reasons for me that we need bootloader and root.

Omg lol. I don't think I can keep the phone if that's the case. Does android L fix this?
For Note 3, was there a way to get the stock rom to see the external SD card? I want to stay on stock but not sure if will if I can't use the card how I want. I've been on Pacman for so long on my s3 I had no idea how restrictive it was

Wierd thing is that the built in "My Files" has the ability to move things around as needed but so far that's it.

Interesting. I'm thinking about working with symbolic links using solid Explorer but not sure if the phone needs to be rooted. Damn this is annoying.

Gah. Thanks for the tip on my files. I just noticed I can't do anything with solid Explorer because of the lock down. This phone needs to be rooted asap! Lol

So after all these years and advances I'm back to a write protected extsd like I had in my first xoom tablet? S.O.A.B.

Related

[Q] Some random questions about 4G Touch

I have a few questions that have been accumulating that I would like to get the answers to. If you know the answer to any of the below please chime in.
1. There are a few grayed-out icons that are in my app menus from applications that I have uninstalled and some that are duplicates of applications that I still have installed. Any way to clear these out? I'm assuming these are a result from using the move2sd application at some point.
2. I have Vlingo start automatically when I connect a bluetooth headset. It finds it necessary to remind me how many missed calls I have since I last flashed the phone... I'm up to almost a 100 now. Any way to stop it from doing this?
3. I currently use a suction cup phone holder in my car. Is there any way to have it emulate the official Samsung car dock by going into car mode when I plug the power cable in or is this specific to the Samsung dock? Are there any alternatives to the Samsung car dock with this capability?
4. Whenever I mount the phone as a USB device it reboots itself after I unmount and disconnect the USB cable. Is this normal?
5. My phone is rooted but I have to have a password on it since I use it for work. Is there any way to NOT have it lock immediately after I use the power button to turn the screen off? In other words, I just want it to lock based on the Screen unlock settings timeout value. I know there are some widgets that will do this but I'd rather press the power button instead of scrolling to the screen with a widget.
Thanks for the help!
Argh... no one knows the answer to ANY of these???
Wayno-san said:
1. There are a few grayed-out icons that are in my app menus from applications that I have uninstalled and some that are duplicates of applications that I still have installed. Any way to clear these out? I'm assuming these are a result from using the move2sd application at some point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If they're still in the list they're probably stock apps that are designed not to be uninstalled. You can remove updates for them but the original app stays. In this case, Titanium Backup is a generally recommended solution to really uninstall those. Just please check what you're doing before you uninstall it.
I snipped #2 and #3 and #5 below as I don't have an answer for those.
Wayno-san said:
4. Whenever I mount the phone as a USB device it reboots itself after I unmount and disconnect the USB cable. Is this normal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not in my experience. Please make sure you have the current version for the drivers on your PC. If not running a stock ROM you may want to try that (ex. EL29 Rooted or not) and see how it behaves.
garwynn said:
If they're still in the list they're probably stock apps that are designed not to be uninstalled. You can remove updates for them but the original app stays. In this case, Titanium Backup is a generally recommended solution to really uninstall those. Just please check what you're doing before you uninstall it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, not stock apps. For instance I have two icons for Amazon... one color and one greyed out. Another for "Drawing Pad"... a program that I uninstalled, another dual icon for Google goggles, and another grayed out icon for PNF Lite, a game that I uninstalled.
garwynn said:
Not in my experience. Please make sure you have the current version for the drivers on your PC. If not running a stock ROM you may want to try that (ex. EL29 Rooted or not) and see how it behaves.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, thanks for the feedback.. I didn't think that this was normal. I think I'll wait until ICS and then reload everything from scratch, including the SD card. I hoping that this rebooting is not damaging to the file/file structure. I only transfer files about once weekly to sync up passwords. The rest of the stuff I just move through dropbox and such.
Wayno-san said:
Nope, not stock apps. For instance I have two icons for Amazon... one color and one greyed out. Another for "Drawing Pad"... a program that I uninstalled, another dual icon for Google goggles, and another grayed out icon for PNF Lite, a game that I uninstalled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm... possible that you had these installed and moved to SDCard and they're no longer there? That may explain that as well.
And just so I'm making sure that we're talking the same thing, you're talking about inside Settings->Applications->Manage Applications->All, correct?
I was actually referring to the "Applications" button off of the main screen, which shows all the applications... but you gave me an idea... I checked manage apps and removed (uninstalled) all the single instance grayed applications. The ones where both the color and gray icons are present are still there.
Is there a "cache" for the manage applications that I could try clearing?
Otherwise I'll try to uninstall and reinstall completely but I think I may have tried that route already.
Thanks for the help!
Couldn't you open the app drawer and push menu. Go to edit then long click on the icon and click the x to remove? Also in my experience when I remove an app a reboot should fix the apps still showing as greyed out. But you could also reboot recovery and wipe dalvik and cache it should remove those upon reboot
Sent from my BAD A$$ EPIC TOUCH 4G
Wayno-san said:
2. I have Vlingo start automatically when I connect a bluetooth headset. It finds it necessary to remind me how many missed calls I have since I last flashed the phone... I'm up to almost a 100 now. Any way to stop it from doing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite annoying, isn't it? I agree.
The only "solution" to this I've found is to delete all the missed calls.
Wayno-san said:
I have a few questions that have been accumulating that I would like to get the answers to. If you know the answer to any of the below please chime in.
3. I currently use a suction cup phone holder in my car. Is there any way to have it emulate the official Samsung car dock by going into car mode when I plug the power cable in or is this specific to the Samsung dock? Are there any alternatives to the Samsung car dock with this capability?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a an app in Google Play (Android Market) called Car Mode Control.
It will put you into car mode without the dock.
Wayno-san said:
4. Whenever I mount the phone as a USB device it reboots itself after I unmount and disconnect the USB cable. Is this normal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is not normal.
When you disconnect the phone, do you click "disconnect storage from PC?"
patrao_n said:
Couldn't you open the app drawer and push menu. Go to edit then long click on the icon and click the x to remove? Also in my experience when I remove an app a reboot should fix the apps still showing as greyed out. But you could also reboot recovery and wipe dalvik and cache it should remove those upon reboot
Sent from my BAD A$$ EPIC TOUCH 4G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried both of those but no dice (see pic)... oh well, I'll just live with it until ICS... hopefully it will not be much longer.
Kn0wBuddy said:
Quite annoying, isn't it? I agree.
The only "solution" to this I've found is to delete all the missed calls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, thanks. Not sure why they decided to force us to do that but I guess we'll have to live with it for now. Wonder if the Samsung ICS will suffer from this.
qfadder said:
There is a an app in Google Play (Android Market) called Car Mode Control.
It will put you into car mode without the dock.
That is not normal.
When you disconnect the phone, do you click "disconnect storage from PC?"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I just D/Led the app. Yes, I always use the safe eject option on the PC. Maybe it's some crucial app that shouldn't be on the SD card that is doing this? I'm actually getting a little more concerned about this because I've come back to a the phone a few times with an "SD card was unexpectedly removed" message waiting and ALL the apps on the SD card greyed out.
+1 thanks to all of you!
I experience number 1 quite often too and yes it has to do with moving apps to sd. I think this phone has issues reading sd cards. Only way I can remember fixing this is by playing around and switching the apps back and forth between phone and sd or sometimes tapping on both icons for the app on the app drawer will magically make the grayed out one disappear lol.. I'm using my sd card from my og epic which is a class 2. Maybe this phone needs a better quality sd card.. All I know is if I move all my movable apps to sd card my phone will go into a bootloop frenzy until I remove the sd card and let it boot without it. Then I would put the card back on and hope it won't reboot while scanning media (which it did sometimes) till eventually I would get lucky n get a full scan without rebooting. Now I only move a few apps n not all lol
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
Hmm, I'll have to try the double-icon tap trick. I have not experienced the boot issue. The last two cards that I've used have been class 10 cards, the current one being a Samsung. I would hope that their phone would work well with their cards. I did have issues with the first version of the Patriot 32GB Class 10 card that I previously used in the phone, but a replacement card with updated firmware seemed to have alleviated most of the issues. Nevertheless I switched to a Samsung card since I have a lot of mission critical info on my phone.
On another note I just ran out of space on the "internal SD" storage and since I'm not sure if there is a way to force apps to move to the "external SD" card, I guess I won't be moving apps to SD any longer.
Actually the apps go directly into the sd. They never go into the internal memory. I know that sounds weird being that when moving apps it shows you the available internal memory but as you move them you will see it won't decrease. That's because its actually going to the sd card. I confirmed this by checking my sd space from the storage section and it did decrease. And my sd card is a Samsung its from the first Epic
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
Suggested Fixes
1. - This sounds as if you have a corrupt SD Card. I suggest reformatting it. If this doesn't work, switch roms and do a clean install of said rom...
2. - Manually clear the calls
3. - I think this was already answered
4. - Try answer 1 above
5. - Samsung made the pw protected lockscreen this way. You can try the widget if you like.
BTW, if my answers for 1 and 4 don't work, go back to stock UNROOTED and see if the issues persist. If they do, go back to sprint. Your phone is not acting the way it should...
RayTrue04 said:
Actually the apps go directly into the sd. They never go into the internal memory. I know that sounds weird being that when moving apps it shows you the available internal memory but as you move them you will see it won't decrease. That's because its actually going to the sd card. I confirmed this by checking my sd space from the storage section and it did decrease. And my sd card is a Samsung its from the first Epic
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm unclear about how the install location is actually determined... I know that if the SD card is unmounted then a lot of the normally available programs go gray so I know those are installed on the external SD card.... however, the "internal SD", or "USB storage" on my phone is almost completely full so not everything is getting installed on the external (plugged in) SD card. All the gameloft games installed in the USB storage area along with IVONA voices and a few other programs.
VeNuM said:
1. - This sounds as if you have a corrupt SD Card. I suggest reformatting it. If this doesn't work, switch roms and do a clean install of said rom...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've run scandisks (using a microSD USB adapter) on the card and it shows everything OK. I also have not had any instances of lost or corrupt data (thankfully).
VeNuM said:
5. - Samsung made the pw protected lockscreen this way. You can try the widget if you like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which widget are you referring to?
Thanks again all!
5. My phone is rooted but I have to have a password on it since I use it for work. Is there any way to NOT have it lock immediately after I use the power button to turn the screen off? In other words, I just want it to lock based on the Screen unlock settings timeout value. I know there are some widgets that will do this but I'd rather press the power button instead of scrolling to the screen with a widget.
Idk. You refer to one at the end of your sentence above... Figured you had one...
VeNuM said:
Idk. You refer to one at the end of your sentence above... Figured you had one...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL, Ahh, OK. No I do not (yet).... I'm trying a lite version of "Smart Screen Off" right now. Works good (aside from being little too sensitive) but I want to find out how battery life is effected before I spring for the paid version.
BTW, I was able to get rid of the last of the grayed out icons by copying the effected programs to/from the SD card. All cleaned up!
Wayno-san said:
I'm unclear about how the install location is actually determined... I know that if the SD card is unmounted then a lot of the normally available programs go gray so I know those are installed on the external SD card.... however, the "internal SD", or "USB storage" on my phone is almost completely full so not everything is getting installed on the external (plugged in) SD card. All the gameloft games installed in the USB storage area along with IVONA voices and a few other programs.
Thanks again all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apps have a separate place where they go. It has a built in 2GB for apps that's separate from the internal memory. So apps are either installed there or the external sd card. Your internal must be full with other stuff like music, movies, photos and things of that nature.
Edit: Game apps even tho they don't install into the USB storage they do copy all files like the music and stuff into the USB storage. That can also be draining your space
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
Wayno-san said:
BTW, I was able to get rid of the last of the grayed out icons by copying the effected programs to/from the SD card. All cleaned up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your welcome! Lol
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA

[Q]Help: unlocking deleted pictures

Like an idiot I did not remember that with the stupid internal SD card, the unlocking would delete pictures/videos/etc. is there a way to get it back? I am unlocked but not rooted. This is a friends phone and I'd appreciate any help getting his pictures back.
Why can't this freaking thing have an external SD card?
You can't, once it's wiped its wiped
If he had google+ his pictures may be backed up to his account
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
loveubuntu said:
Like an idiot I did not remember that with the stupid internal SD card, the unlocking would delete pictures/videos/etc. is there a way to get it back? I am unlocked but not rooted. This is a friends phone and I'd appreciate any help getting his pictures back.
Why can't this freaking thing have an external SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No idea if something like this would work, but just throwing it out there: http://extundelete.sourceforge.net/
loveubuntu said:
Like an idiot I did not remember that with the stupid internal SD card, the unlocking would delete pictures/videos/etc. is there a way to get it back? I am unlocked but not rooted. This is a friends phone and I'd appreciate any help getting his pictures back.
Why can't this freaking thing have an external SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hehe dude go to www.torrentz.com once there Look for magic photo recovery download the torrent with utorrent or bittorrent once downloaded install to your pc and plug the phone... Start the photo recovery and Select the drive you need to run the recovery and choose the phone drive next or at the same time Select a folder where the software will put the recovered files and thats it magic
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
msedek said:
Hehe dude go to www.torrentz.com once there Look for magic photo recovery download the torrent with utorrent or bittorrent once downloaded install to your pc and plug the phone... Start the photo recovery and Select the drive you need to run the recovery and choose the phone drive next or at the same time Select a folder where the software will put the recovered files and thats it magic
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is that the GN does not support USB mass storage mode, so it will not see a drive...
efrant said:
The problem is that the GN does not support USB mass storage mode, so it will not see a drive...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh i see... Well worth the try i guess?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Thanks people. After a few hours of digging around, it appears that it can't be done. Oh well, dropbox sync from now on. I will never ever buy a phone that has a virtual sd card, Nexus device or not. Starting to like the new HTC devices.
loveubuntu said:
Thanks people. After a few hours of digging around, it appears that it can't be done. Oh well, dropbox sync from now on. I will never ever buy a phone that has a virtual sd card, Nexus device or not. Starting to like the new HTC devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope that decision isn't based on this one experience with the pics being deleted.. Because you know it would have been extremely easy to just transfer them to your computer via USB before unlocking and then transfer them back after.
It is possible I have recovered wiped files off of an sd card before although not the nexus's internal storage. the software recuva is free and should work. The key is that you do not want to write any files over the data that is gone, the more data overwritten the less chance of recovering. You might be able to recover some files off the storage with this program. Although I am not entirely sure how the nexus erases files through the unlocking process
everywhere warns you to backup because it will do a full wipe.
your fault, not the nexus.
Just had a thought...if you have a USB OTG adapter, you can try hooking up a USB drive and then use dd to dump all of /data to the drive. There are many file recovery tools that are able to analyze such dumps.
WiredPirate said:
I hope that decision isn't based on this one experience with the pics being deleted.. Because you know it would have been extremely easy to just transfer them to your computer via USB before unlocking and then transfer them back after.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not just this experience but in general I hate the fact that this phone does not have an SD card. I understand that we are going to cloud computing and the iPhone lovers have had it this way for a while and blah blah blah... I just feel more secure knowing that if I accidently drop my phone in the toilet (done that) or go in the pool while my phone is in the pocket of my swimsuit (done that too, why the hell do they make swimsuit with pockets is beyond me), I could get the SD card out and be able to recover some of my data. I guess we all have our quirks. I just love the little micro SD card.
kvizz said:
everywhere warns you to backup because it will do a full wipe.
your fault, not the nexus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
really? you bothered posting this response? Don't you think I know that? Thanks anyways. Someone actually thanked you for these comments. That is too funny. He must be a bigger troll.
theSpam said:
Just had a thought...if you have a USB OTG adapter, you can try hooking up a USB drive and then use dd to dump all of /data to the drive. There are many file recovery tools that are able to analyze such dumps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great suggestions, hopefully I won't need it in the future. The owner of the phone convinced me that it wasn't worth it. It was just an embarrasing thing. I should have known better.
theSpam said:
Just had a thought...if you have a USB OTG adapter, you can try hooking up a USB drive and then use dd to dump all of /data to the drive. There are many file recovery tools that are able to analyze such dumps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That won't work. You cannot use dd to dump /data because you need somewhere to write the dump. /sdcard is located on /data, and a USB OTG mounts in /sdcard, so it becomes circular.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
loveubuntu said:
not just this experience but in general I hate the fact that this phone does not have an SD card. I understand that we are going to cloud computing and the iPhone lovers have had it this way for a while and blah blah blah... I just feel more secure knowing that if I accidently drop my phone in the toilet (done that) or go in the pool while my phone is in the pocket of my swimsuit (done that too, why the hell do they make swimsuit with pockets is beyond me), I could get the SD card out and be able to recover some of my data. I guess we all have our quirks. I just love the little micro SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too was turned off at first by lack of ext storage, but now I dont even miss it. The phone seems to run smoother without having the ext card imo, dont have to worry about read/write speeds and compatibility. As far as recovering data from ext.. All my pics/vids are instantly uploaded to Photobucket as soon as I snap them, contacts/calendars/email are saved to Google. You can usually always just re-download ROMs/mods, not that you would instantly need them anyways if your phone is gone - plus anything like that you felt was too important to loose should be backed up to Box/Dropbox anyways. Did I miss anything that might be on the card you think you need? Because I almost guarantee I can find/already have a solution to that too.
WiredPirate said:
I too was turned off at first by lack of ext storage, but now I dont even miss it. The phone seems to run smoother without having the ext card imo, dont have to worry about read/write speeds and compatibility. As far as recovering data from ext.. All my pics/vids are instantly uploaded to Photobucket as soon as I snap them, contacts/calendars/email are saved to Google. You can usually always just re-download ROMs/mods, not that you would instantly need them anyways if your phone is gone - plus anything like that you felt was too important to loose should be backed up to Box/Dropbox anyways. Did I miss anything that might be on the card you think you need? Because I almost guarantee I can find/already have a solution to that too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right. It's probably that you can't teach an old dog new tricks
Another downfall of an sd card you forgot is the corruption issue. I've had a few go bad on me over the years, which probably can happen to the internal one also but hopefully the quality is better with an oem.
I don't like the mtp either. I've setup gmtp for my Linux box but this thing can't be easily used on just anything as a mass storage device on the road. Hate it although that may have benefits too.
I do have a Nook Color that can be brought back to life from all kinds of trouble with a bootable sd card.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
loveubuntu said:
You're right. It's probably that you can't teach an old dog new tricks
Another downfall of an sd card you forgot is the corruption issue. I've had a few go bad on me over the years, which probably can happen to the internal one also but hopefully the quality is better with an oem.
I don't like the mtp either. I've setup gmtp for my Linux box but this thing can't be easily used on just anything as a mass storage device on the road. Hate it although that may have benefits too.
I do have a Nook Color that can be brought back to life from all kinds of trouble with a bootable sd card.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very true. There are great advantages and there are disadvantages to removable storage. For the most part it always good to have the option. I, for one, am a data hoarder and would have loved to have the option. But I am very happy with the Nexus and glad I decided to take the chance on it. That was all I meant in my first post, just that I hope your not turned off by a device you like just because of the lack of removable storage. And your right about trying to teach a old dog new tricks. I still love and prefer all my oldschool apps even though there are new ones that may look/function better lol.
Man your friend must be pissed at you..
I suggest that you take a look at this android photo recovery solution which seems very helpful.
hope this helps.

External SD Card not writeable in TB on 8.4?

I know it's early on but I rooted my Samsung galaxy tab 8.4 and I am trying to do a backup of my apps and I cant do a backup to my external sd card. TB is saying it isn't writeable. I have used the back button and such to manually change the directory. I'm familiar with doing that. I can backup to internal storage but obviously I don't want to waste the space when I have a 64gb micro sd card. Thanks for the help.
bckrupps said:
I know it's early on but I rooted my Samsung galaxy tab 8.4 and I am trying to do a backup of my apps and I cant do a backup to my external sd card. TB is saying it isn't writeable. I have used the back button and such to manually change the directory. I'm familiar with doing that. I can backup to internal storage but obviously I don't want to waste the space when I have a 64gb micro sd card. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can confirm the same issue. I've verified that the root directory is set to R/W using "Root Explorer" from the play store. For some reason, I can't get TB to see it as R/W, though.
Saving other items to the external card seems to work just fine. Camera saves there, no issues. Weird.
leatherneck6017 said:
I can confirm the same issue. I've verified that the root directory is set to R/W using "Root Explorer" from the play store. For some reason, I can't get TB to see it as R/W, though.
Saving other items to the external card seems to work just fine. Camera saves there, no issues. Weird.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will get figured out soon enough. im just happy to be able to do a titanium backup. Lots of work installing stuff
I couldn't even create a Nova backup to the external SD card
Sent from my SM-T320 using Tapatalk
CAR1977 said:
I couldn't even create a Nova backup to the external SD card
Sent from my SM-T320 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a 4.4 permissions issue. I found a possible fix if it works I will post it.
This worked for me. You have to be rooted to do it though.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2617921
nrage23 said:
It is a 4.4 permissions issue. I found a possible fix if it works I will post it.
This worked for me. You have to be rooted to do it though.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2617921
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Confirmed, this works. Nice find!
Where did you find root?
Sent from my GT-I9505 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
uberboyd said:
Where did you find root?
Sent from my GT-I9505 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root was achieved yesterday. CF Auto Root
i am rooted and using es file explorer. when i try to save it a box keeps coming up saying an error occurred cannot save.
got it. have to mount the system.
bckrupps said:
i am rooted and using es file explorer. when i try to save it a box keeps coming up saying an error occurred cannot save.
got it. have to mount the system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root explorer works much better for modifying root directory the ES does.
Sent from my SM-P600 using XDA Premium HD app
nrage23 said:
Root explorer works much better for modifying root directory the ES does.
Sent from my SM-P600 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea thats what i figured out. So nice to be able to back up to the sd card and the process literally took a minute. Cool find.
I was able to fix this issue by simply installing Folder Mount. When you first open folder mount will offer to repair this permission issue for you. I said yes and it worked. Folder mount also stated this is specific to Sammy 4.4 roms... Just an FYI. Thought I would share.
Sent from my SM-T320 using Tapatalk
Unfortunately, it's not something that Samsung decided to do, it's something Google started back in Android 3.2 and is now apparently asking OEMs to follow their lead on - or else the OEMs aren't reading the codebase much, which I think is also a problem.
The external storage permssions were spotted and commented on by Chainfire (he who gave us root, hallowed be his name ) in 2012!
https://www.xda-developers.com/andr...-preventing-write-access-to-external-storage/
http://www.chainfire.eu/articles/113/Is_Google_blocking_apps_writing_to_SD_cards_/
I'm not 100% on this, but I think that the Samsungs are one of the first sets of devices to get KitKat and to have sdcards. (don't know what the status of the gpad 8.3 is) It will be interesting to see if the Gpad 8.3 does the same thing; I'm pretty sure the Tegra Note did, and then EVGA pulled back on their KitKat update due to bugs, of which this was one (glad they called it a bug, but if they'd looked at the code before implementing the changes...)
This issue goes way beyond the sdcard. Remember when your device could be connected to your computer and turn up as a mass storage device, not a media player or a camera?
The MTP protocol originally implemented by Google was hugely troublesome on that score when it was first introduced. There were absolutely insane failure modes. To get an accurate readout of what was on your device you couldn't disconnect from your computer and reconnect, you couldn't disconnect, reboot the Android device and reconnect - nope, you had to reboot your computer.
I haven't thoroughly tested failure modes but at least the warning on copy from PC to Android works correctly now.
When first implemented by Google, file deletions on in Android were not reported to the computer connected to it if they occurred while connected. So you could move a folder and then try to copy files that didn't exist, and Android wouldn't report the file was not there.
This is an example of silent failure, which is the worst possible failure mode. It gets beaten into the heads (or once did) of programmers that you always produce and report an exception on failure. Not doing so is negligent and might be actionable depending on the context.
I just deleted a file from the Samsung and it's taken more than 30 seconds for the Windows system to get information on what's on the Samsung.
Great - I also couldn't enumerate my local disk drives while I waited, more than 3 minutes (i7-2600k, 8 G ram - not a PC side issue!) I finally disconnected and reconnected the USB cable and was able to get my disks to populate immediately on disconnect, and an accurate poll from the Samsung on reconnect.
I suspect that Google's 'fix' for the not-notifying-on-delete bug is to throw a disk not ready message back at the host system.
So, why does Google not see any of the following as important?
- easy local disk mounting
- viable sdcard use
- well-written MTP implementation
I don't think it's about the cash - sure, Google's selling a few books and a few movies and such, but they're really an advertising broker; the revenue from that isn't why they're worth gazillions.
I think it's actually much more insane than that: Google is all about big data and the supremacy of databases over all else.
Including files themselves - Google wants to drive toward a world where files don't exist, only pointers in databases exist.
http://glasskeys.com/2011/02/28/why-google-uses-mtp-instead-of-usb-file-transfer-on-android-3/
is a perspective on MTP that is essentially diametrically opposed to mine - it's quoting Google as pointing out that there is both simplicity and allegedly a greater degree of security from MTP.
The security comes from the filesystem retaining 'nix style ACLs and helping to maintain sandboxing between applications by not exposing storage as a fat32 filesystem and thereby giving up granular access controls.
---------
(As an example of silent failure that I think may be the subject of civil litigation: the flaw that broke SSL/TLS validation on most Apple devices - phones, tablets and OS X based computers. If you look at the code, it's blindingly clear what happened.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/14...pdate-is-present-in-os-x-fix-coming-very-soon
http://arstechnica.com/security/201...aw-in-ios-may-also-affect-fully-patched-macs/
This flaw may well explain the Snowden documents that indicate that the NSA has access to any Apple device at will. When those documents were first being reviewed, there were two responses:
- it isn't true
- Apple is in bed with the NSA.
Ignoring a bug that easy to spot in a functional test for years tends to make me wonder if the second explanation may not hold water.)
Hopefully this can help someone. I couldn't edit my *.xml file even though I am ROOTED. But I found this:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.sdfix
and it worked!! Now Titanium Backup is able to write successfully to my sdcard.
The app works great. I would recommend it for anyone on 4.4
Sent from my SM-T320 using XDA Premium HD app
PRESOLVED: My Tab is possessed by the devil!
When I tried to write a file to my Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4's external SD card with Astro and it wouldn't work I was flustered. A little research turned up the crippled SD support in KitKat and how to fix things with the simple platform.xml hack. I did that, and all was right with the world again.
Then I got another 8.4, and actually cloned the first one to the second one with a nandroid backup. I also moved my SD card from the first to the second. Eventually I sold the first one and am just left with the second one. But somewhere along the way I lost the ability to write to the SD card, and I can't get it back!
The hacked platform.xml file was of course cloned along with everything else, but it just doesn't work. What's just as bad, or worse, is that apps which should write to external SD even without the hack (and which did, prior to this issue developing), such as Samsung's My Files, and Root Explorer, also are no longer able to!!!!
So to try and fix things, I flashed this ROM to my Tab: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2698460 But I still can't write to external SD, even with My Files!
Here's another problem, which may or may not be related: I also can't write to the external SD with the Tab connected to my computer. With a small file, the progress bar immediately jumps to 100% but then freezes and after a long time the copy times out with the message, "The device has either stopped responding or has been disconnected". With a large file the progress bar plods along, first at a normal speed but gradually getting slower and slower, until at some point it stops moving and the copy times out.
Please, I beg of you, help me exorcise my demon Tab!
SOLUTION: Before actually posting this plea for help, I re-formatted my SD card (in the Tab) and all functionality is restored. I post this at risk of making myself look like an idiot, in hopes that it might save someone else's hair.
Good on you for posting the problem and the solution. I doubt you'll be the only person to experience this.
Sent telepathically to my Galaxy S4
droidmark said:
... I post this at risk of making myself look like an idiot, in hopes that it might save someone else's hair....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From that comment it seems we need more bald users as no risk testers.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using XDA Premium HD app
droidmark said:
When I tried to write a file to my Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4's external SD card with Astro and it wouldn't work I was flustered. A little research turned up the crippled SD support in KitKat and how to fix things with the simple platform.xml hack. I did that, and all was right with the world again.
Then I got another 8.4, and actually cloned the first one to the second one with a nandroid backup. I also moved my SD card from the first to the second. Eventually I sold the first one and am just left with the second one. But somewhere along the way I lost the ability to write to the SD card, and I can't get it back!
The hacked platform.xml file was of course cloned along with everything else, but it just doesn't work. What's just as bad, or worse, is that apps which should write to external SD even without the hack (and which did, prior to this issue developing), such as Samsung's My Files, and Root Explorer, also are no longer able to!!!!
So to try and fix things, I flashed this ROM to my Tab: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2698460 But I still can't write to external SD, even with My Files!
Here's another problem, which may or may not be related: I also can't write to the external SD with the Tab connected to my computer. With a small file, the progress bar immediately jumps to 100% but then freezes and after a long time the copy times out with the message, "The device has either stopped responding or has been disconnected". With a large file the progress bar plods along, first at a normal speed but gradually getting slower and slower, until at some point it stops moving and the copy times out.
Please, I beg of you, help me exorcise my demon Tab!
SOLUTION: Before actually posting this plea for help, I re-formatted my SD card (in the Tab) and all functionality is restored. I post this at risk of making myself look like an idiot, in hopes that it might save someone else's hair.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wanted to add a postscript for anyone who might have a similar issue. I thought this problem was solved, as described above. Then a few days later when I booted up my tab, the SD card was shown as blank/unformatted. At that point I did some more digging and determined that it was actually a counterfeit 32GB card, based on an 8GB card. Got a refund, threw it in the trash and ordered a new 64GB card. Caveat emptor!

Did they downgrade multi-window in kitkat?

It says they only let 2 multi-windows now.... DIdn't before you could do 3 or 4?
Before that I could do as much multi-windows as I wanted? Why did they make this change? Is this a downgrade?
Or am I just imaging things? Was it always 2.
Also, Polaris Office 5 sucks it has so many glitches (document not supported, but it opens manually, doesn't free draw save for ppt, etc.) . I want the polaris office that was included in the original note 10.1.
Also, wtf google Why did you take the external SD card away...
There was a reason why I bought the 16 gb ones.
It was always 2 from the factory. You can root and enable 4 though.
Hahahalalala said:
Also, wtf google Why did you take the external SD card away...
There was a reason why I bought the 16 gb ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you use the cloud... Google wants to own your info, not just allow you access to it....
The bullsh!t line about security is ridiculous...
The cloud is not the answer. Download and upload speeds, data charges, file sizes and security issues. Just a few concerns. I use cloud storage and am in the process of reducing it. Trust Google? Hell, that is akin to demanding you trust the government. You cannot.
Via my Note 3
BclingergFJ said:
The cloud is not the answer. Download and upload speeds, data charges, file sizes and security issues. Just a few concerns. I use cloud storage and am in the process of reducing it. Trust Google? Hell, that is akin to demanding you trust the government. You cannot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree about the cloud not being the answer. I also agree that taking away a feature people relied on, even made purchasing decisions based on (16GB vs.32GB), for no truthfully explainable reason, is pretty crappy. But it's time to move on. The hobbling of external storage first came to light last December when the SGS4 GPe received 4.4.2. That's six months ago. Since then, nothing's changed. People's choices are:
Leave Android for another OS out of contempt for Google
Stay on 4.3 forever
Root and install a fix
Adjust the way you use the external SD card and come up with new ways to do things
Trade your 16GB devices for one with more storage
***** endlessly to strangers on discussion forums about how crappy Google's decision was and how your life has been ruined
Even with six months having passed, every day, on every forum I view, there's another new thread started about "why can't I save to external SD?" It's getting kind of old. So people need to pick one of the above and move on. And those choosing option 6, no one here can help you and answers to any and all questions you might ask have been posted dozens of times. F'd up external storage is Google's "new normal" and they aren't going to back down.
P.S. - I chose option 4
we can stop 16g android device and finally we have 32g or more.
Sent from my SM-G900S using XDA Free mobile app
hochui said:
we can stop 16g android device and finally we have 32g or more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone should tell Samsung.
This really isn't the catastrophe it's being made out to be. Video, games, and pics take up the most storage space. They can be stored and played off the external SD card. Most large apps allow you to move them to external SD too. All Samsung's apps (Video, Music, Gallery, My Files, Samsung Link) have universal access to external storage and can be used to manipulate files saved there. Any app can create its own sandbox on external SD and save/edit/delete files there. What's been lost is every app having access to everything on external storage. It's a pain in the a_s but there are work-arounds that aren't that onerous and most people, especially consumption users, will be fine.
4. root and SDfix
The only acceptable solution is to root and run SDfix from playstore.
I was forced to do that after kitkat OTA upgrade on my Note3 and external SD write was crippled overnight.
My Note10 is still on 4.3 rooted, but when I go 4.4, root+SDfix will be first on the list right after the upgrade.
BarryH_GEG said:
I agree about the cloud not being the answer. I also agree that taking away a feature people relied on, even made purchasing decisions based on (16GB vs.32GB), for no truthfully explainable reason, is pretty crappy. But it's time to move on. The hobbling of external storage first came to light last December when the SGS4 GPe received 4.4.2. That's six months ago. Since then, nothing's changed. People's choices are:
Leave Android for another OS out of contempt for Google
Stay on 4.3 forever
Root and install a fix
Adjust the way you use the external SD card and come up with new ways to do things
Trade your 16GB devices for one with more storage
***** endlessly to strangers on discussion forums about how crappy Google's decision was and how your life has been ruined
Even with six months having passed, every day, on every forum I view, there's another new thread started about "why can't I save to external SD?" It's getting kind of old. So people need to pick one of the above and move on. And those choosing option 6, no one here can help you and answers to any and all questions you might ask have been posted dozens of times. F'd up external storage is Google's "new normal" and they aren't going to back down.
P.S. - I chose option 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I pick 6... :silly:
Seriously though, the sdfix doesn't fix everything unfortunately but its the best option right now.
And just so we're absolutely clear, GOOGLE SUX!!!!!!

Saving pictures to SD Card

Have an SD card, formatted it for the phone. The phone doesnt let me change storage location for pictures taken. Is there an easy way to do this that I overlooked?
TheNamelessMan said:
Have an SD card, formatted it for the phone. The phone doesnt let me change storage location for pictures taken. Is there an easy way to do this that I overlooked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would imagine it's in one of three places:
1) In the camera app settings
2) Gallery settings
3) Haven't opened my Razer Phone yet,but,I'd also look in the general phone settings,guessing there's a storage section,perhaps it's there.
Once you do find it,if it's something you frequently access/change,you should be able to create a shortcut to it on your home screen,since Nova Launcher is the default U/I for the home screen(s)/app drawer.
KOLIOSIS said:
I would imagine it's in one of three places:
1) In the camera app settings
2) Gallery settings
3) Haven't opened my Razer Phone yet,but,I'd also look in the general phone settings,guessing there's a storage section,perhaps it's there.
Once you do find it,if it's something you frequently access/change,you should be able to create a shortcut to it on your home screen,since Nova Launcher is the default U/I for the home screen(s)/app drawer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. It's not there.
2. The only gallery pre-installed is google photos, and it's not there either.
3. Not there.
Ive been on chat support with Razer all day. They need to "examine" this in their lab, as this is a huge concern.
They said within a day or 2 someone will be getting back to me.
Do you currently have an SD Card installed?
I don't on the phone I'm using ATM (Note FE) & there's nothing there for storage settings, until an SD Card is installed.
If you have an SD Card installed, then it indeed sounds like someone dropped the ball in the software department....
Sent from my Samsung SM-N935F using XDA Labs
Yeah very strange...I doubt I'll hear anything from them. I'm surprised an issue this severe isn't being reported by other people.
I've done everything there is to do. factory resetting the phone, formatting the cards, in and outside of the phone. using other camera apps, other galleries...it's like the camera app and the sd slot aren't linked somehow. I switch phones often, and take alot of pictures, and never have any problem transferring the card between phones.
I guess lesson learned with using a debut device. Hopefully theres some kind of software fix soon. otherwise this thing is going back.
I have no option in the default camera app either to change storage location.. I also have a sd card inserted and formatted correctly as I can access it in other apps just fine.. There literally just isn't any option to choose location!
TheNamelessMan said:
Yeah very strange...I doubt I'll hear anything from them. I'm surprised an issue this severe isn't being reported by other people.
I've done everything there is to do. factory resetting the phone, formatting the cards, in and outside of the phone. using other camera apps, other galleries...it's like the camera app and the sd slot aren't linked somehow. I switch phones often, and take alot of pictures, and never have any problem transferring the card between phones.
I guess lesson learned with using a debut device. Hopefully theres some kind of software fix soon. otherwise this thing is going back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
chanter100 said:
I have no option in the default camera app either to change storage location.. I also have a sd card inserted and formatted correctly as I can access it in other apps just fine.. There literally just isn't any option to choose location!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps in the meantime,you can move the photos in the gallery app using a file exploer,or,the SanDisk app.
Not a long-term permanent solution by any means....
........Since this is near-stock Android experience,almost sounds like the photo storage software was ripped from the Pixel twins,as neither have an SD Card slot....
On the topic of SD Cards I have a few questions as regarding this. I have been using iOS since the 3GS and new to Android and this would be my 1st Android device.
I am not an app heavy user and have all the apps I use already on the internal storage and running at 17.67GB out of the 58.90GB.
1) Would an SD card be worth buying 256GB Class 10 U1 card to be used to just storage Photos and Videos?
(only reason on size is because I just want the biggest storage on one card rather than on lots of smaller ones.)
2) With unlimited data on my phone is it worth buying an SD Card at all if Google Photos is a thing?
(I dont like the idea of my media just being in the cloud which why im unsure what to do here)
iStasis said:
On the topic of SD Cards I have a few questions as regarding this. I have been using iOS since the 3GS and new to Android and this would be my 1st Android device.
I am not an app heavy user and have all the apps I use already on the internal storage and running at 17.67GB out of the 58.90GB.
1) Would an SD card be worth buying 256GB Class 10 U1 card to be used to just storage Photos and Videos?
(only reason on size is because I just want the biggest storage on one card rather than on lots of smaller ones.)
2) With unlimited data on my phone is it worth buying an SD Card at all if Google Photos is a thing?
(I dont like the idea of my media just being in the cloud which why im unsure what to do here)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An SD Card is more of a nice option in your scenario, but,it's one I'd recommend to have.
However, I'd recommend getting the fastest card you can buy with the same money you're willing to spend on the card you mentioned.
Get a U3 rated card, even if that means a lesser amount of extra storage, quality over quantity......
Sent from my Samsung SM-N935F using XDA Labs
KOLIOSIS said:
An SD Card is more of a nice option in your scenario, but,it's one I'd recommend to have.
However, I'd recommend getting the fastest card you can buy with the same money you're willing to spend on the card you mentioned.
Get a U3 rated card, even if that means a lesser amount of extra storage, quality over quantity......
Sent from my Samsung SM-N935F using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly I have concerns about the type of card thats best for the phone as Razer's spec site only says it can handle up to Class 10 and when I asked about U1-U3 they kinda didnt mention it at all.
Would a U1 or U3 work in a class 10 supported device and not give the extra read/write performance or will it not work at all?
iStasis said:
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly I have concerns about the type of card thats best for the phone as Razer's spec site only says it can handle up to Class 10 and when I asked about U1-U3 they kinda didnt mention it at all.
Would a U1 or U3 work in a class 10 supported device and not give the extra read/write performance or will it not work at all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd be lying if I said I knew with 100% certainty, but, I'll be putting a Samsung 256 GB SD Card (U3) in my Razer later today & I'll follow up with what I find then/post here in this thread.
Sent from my Samsung SM-N935F using XDA Labs
KOLIOSIS said:
I'd be lying if I said I knew with 100% certainty, but, I'll be putting a Samsung 256 GB SD Card (U3) in my Razer later today & I'll follow up with what I find then/post here in this thread.
Sent from my Samsung SM-N935F using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for testing this for me if i dont get any benefit out of the U1-U3 in performance i may just grab a Class 10 as I will want to format it for the device as I don't plan on moving SD cards between devices as I only have two devices using this media and the other is in my Nintendo Switch so again formatted for that device.
With Black Friday coming up Id like to get it sorted soon so i know what to buy.
Back on topic please
TheNamelessMan said:
Back on topic please
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My apologies,back on topic ...... :good:
BTW,I have the unlocked version/carrier-free.
Finally opened mine up,after initial set-up,had a 250MB update out-of-the-box,still nada regarding camera/photo/video storage options.
I found an app in the Google Play Store,Open Camera,that has the option:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.opencamera&hl=en
I tried to enter an alternate file (from my external SD Card) & it wouldn't take.
Looked in developer options,as I'm sure you have already,nothing specific for media/photos,just the adoptable storage option for (non-system) apps.
Just took a look @ Razer Insider/Forums,nothing set up for Razer Phone just yet.
https://insider.razerzone.com/index.php?forums/mobile/
Priorities for users here run the gamut,but,I'd safely guess most here would put fixing this near the top of Razer's priorities for bug fixes/updates.
@iStasis Sent you a PM..............
Got the phone last Saturday. This is the only issue I really have so far.
Submitted a support email. Hopefully this gets resolved soon. I suggest everyone submit a ticket for this and hopefully it will get resolved faster.
Having to same issue here. There is a camera app up date coming according to razer so maybe there will be a fix for it in the update
I guys spoke to razer about this and this is what they said
If the SD card is set to Internal storage, you have the option to migrate all the data. Then the default location of the data will be the SD card including the camera.
Have not tried it yet but will tomorrow
Slightly related, I can't seem to be able to transfer any files to my MicroSD card I've been using on my S8 and have it shown in the phone.... It won't show anything I transfer to it other than a System Volume Information folder that shows up for whatever reason.
Just copy/move your photos to your SD card manually.
Go to Settings>>Storage>>Internal shared storage>>Images.
Select the image you want to move/copy by long pressing the image file icon, tap the three dot menu on the top right, your SD card should show up from the left menu tree. From there, select the directory you want to move to on the SD card and voila.
Hope that helps.
lonetormenter said:
Just copy/move your photos to your SD card manually.
Go to Settings>>Storage>>Internal shared storage>>Images.
Select the image you want to move/copy by long pressing the image file icon, tap the three dot menu on the top right, your SD card should show up from the left menu tree. From there, select the directory you want to move to on the SD card and voila.
Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THX,but,that isn't what were looking for,most here know how to move pix from one spot to another.
We are wanting the option to choose the storage location , before the picture/video is taken,not just moving it afterwards.
Sent from my Razer Phone using XDA Labs

Categories

Resources