External SD card

[Teatimeoclock]

Hello,

I'd like to know how the whole Tablet S memory system works.

It seems like an external SD-card cannot be used as "main memory" device, it is only a seconday "mass memory" storage and no application can use it for working purposes (it is not even selectable for accesing data).

Even specialized applications like "File Managers" cannot see the card storage!!

Could anybody shed some light into this topic?

Is this situation going to change on some future Android version?

Thank you very much.

Pedro

El mensaje fue editado por: Teatimeoclock

El mensaje fue editado por: Teatimeoclock

[bennybuche · Accepted solution]

It seems like an SD-card cannot be used as "main memory" device, it is only a seconday "mass memory" storage and no application can use it for working purposes (it is not even selectable for accesing data).

Yes, it's true for the moment and for the native Sony apps; they are not intended to be used for direct access. It's more like an external HDD connected to your pc

Even specialized applications like "File Managers" cannot see the card storage!!

No, that's not true. I use a 32Gb SDHC class 4 card to store and read videos (and pictures and music); it works perfectly. To access them, I'm using File Expert and File Manager HD (Honeycomb), combined with a third party video player, such as MX Video Player or MoboPlayer. They do the job perfectly...

[mpattenden]

I have a very similar set-up to benny and can confirm it works very well - the emphasis here is that it's only the native sony apps that have the issue, the third party apps we are both using are fine.

Padster

[Teatimeoclock]

Thanks Bennybuche and others,

Using File Expert only I cannot access the external SD-card (if that's my fault, I'll thank any help).

With respecto to Sony native apps or not:

1) I'm using Mantano epub manager and reader (not Sony) and I cannot make it "see" the external storage (also, any help will be welcome).

2) Neither Dropox can access the external SD-card

Regards.

Pedro

El mensaje fue editado por: Teatimeoclock

El mensaje fue editado por: Teatimeoclock

[mpattenden]

Pedro, I am not familiar with the apps you are using or file expert as I use file manager hd but when that starts you have to navigate higher up the tree to see the sdcard2 which is the sd slot - Hopefully benny will be able to give further instruction.

Regards

Padster

[bennybuche]

When you want to access to files stored on the external SD card, I suggest you access them from File Expert (and not from the app); when you select a file in FE (the external SD card is '/SDCARD2' at the root), FE shows you which app you can use to open it :smileywink:. Be sure the SD card is FAT32 formatted (did you access it from your pc? STS cannot read NTFS partitions)

Sorry, I don't know anything about accessing files from Dropbox as I'm not using it...

[Teatimeoclock]

Thanks a lot, "mpattenden" and "bennybuche",

Part of the problem is on my fault. I was confusing "/mnt/sdcard" and "/mnt/sdcard2". I think Android people should've chosen different name for the internal storage ;-).

"bennybuche", why do you prefer FE for dile system browsing instead of File Manager DH??

Anyway, thaks to your help I know how to access the external SD-card from my applications (except Dropbox ;-). But the general "memory manage" problem remains the same.

I've been told that Android 4 is going to some this point (and some others like multi-tasking). Do you know when is expected the Sony release for Tablet S?

Best regards.

Pedro

[bennybuche]

I prefer FE because there are no adds but File Manager HD does the job as well... that's why I mentionned the two possibilities. Some may prefer FMHD's look.

There is no official information about ICS on STS for now, I'm afraid...

[secret_seagull]

What a great thread .. /sdcard2/   when internal memory is called /sdcard/ !!  How dumb eh!  Especially when the file managers all seem start by default at the /sdcard/ level and you have to navigate up.

Who could have found that without your help guys, thanks  (and to the original question raiser).

So now I have to figure how to use the external SD efficiently, because what I originally thought was my SD card, and where I was sending my RSS feeds, is actually internal memory, and I've filled it up with podcasts. Unfortunately, the RSS Demon app doesn't allow you to navigate to /sdcard2/ for storage.

But I'll figure it. Thanks again for the replies above.

[diddy64]

what about games that use huge amount of data.Using the 8gb on the internal memory will not last long. I have a 32gb sd card that cant be used for such high data usage games. Any advice .

D