How to manage the limited internal memory of a smartphone with whatsapp

Napafroi

Member

Sep 10, 2019

Hi, I have an old Redmi6A phone (Lineage OS 17.1) that only has 8GB of internal memory. This is very little if you use Whatsapp. Of course I added a 32Gb SD card, but with whatsapp I have trouble saving my photos on the card. What are the possible workarounds?

1- Is there a difference depending on whether you set the SD card as portable storage or internal storage?
2 - My phone is rooted. I've looked for practical solutions including magisk, but no module matches.
3 - Beyond whatsapp, what should I do: is there an app that allows other apps to be installed on the external media? Is this a good idea? Is it better to limit the storage of data on the SD card to avoid the crash of these "deported" apps?

Just an advice or two would make me happy...

xXx yYy

Senior Member

Feb 4, 2017 1,021

If Android device allows to make external SD-card part of internal storage memory ( keyword: Adoptable Storage ) then you are good. Check it.

Napafroi

Member

Sep 10, 2019

I believe that my android device allows me to do this. The French translation does not use the words adoptable storage "stockage adoptable" but the 1st drawing seems to match.

What I have read on the subject indicates that the reading and access time to the data on the external card is much longer than on the internal memory. How does android arbitrate what it stores on the internal or external memory? Can the user control this?
I assume and hope that the most crucial apps are on the internal memory

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xXx yYy

Senior Member

Feb 4, 2017 1,021

It's on you how much of the SD-card's storage memory ( in % ) you'll add to internal memory: 1,2,...,100.

Yes, reading / writing to device's "portable memory" basically takes longer. So with regards to file transfer speeds, choosing the right memory card is crucial. Look here:

The best SD cards 2022: top memory cards for your camera

We've tested and ranked all of the best SD cards you can buy

www.techradar.com

Android by default uses device's internal memory. The least app's allow to store their data on external SD-card: this is set by app's developer.

Last edited: Thursday at 5:24 PM

Napafroi

Member

Sep 10, 2019

I tested the 2 options; first the adoptable storage but for some reason it didn't work; I mean the operation was correctly done but the 32Gb was not added to my internal memory; just a few hundred Mb more. I repeated the operation 3 times to rule out the possibility of an isolated incident.
So I was forced to reformat the SD card as external memory. Everything went well. But now I'm back to the original situation.

Napafroi

Member

Sep 10, 2019

My search led me to 2 apps (Link2SD and App2SD) to override the restriction to move to the SD card. Those apps don't seem to be really used anymore: their peak corresponds to the 2015-2016 versions of Android (Marschmallow and Nougat) and are quite complex to handle since you have to format the external SD card in several partitions to be able to consider moving anything.

What do you think about this type of solution?

mayer2

Member

Jan 31, 2012

As @xXx yYy already said:

The least app's allow to store their data on external SD-card: this is set by app's developer.

Thus forget the named 3rd-party-tools that claim they can.

BTW: look inside here

Here's where WhatsApp files are stored on Android - Mobile Internist

WhatsApp folder with all media files in Android can be found on new location if you are on Android 11. Learn here where to find it.

mobileinternist.com

Last edited: Yesterday at 12:56 PM

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xXx yYy

Senior Member

Feb 4, 2017 1,021

Napafroi said:

I tested the 2 options; first the adoptable storage but for some reason it didn't work; I mean the operation was correctly done but the 32Gb was not added to my internal memory; just a few hundred Mb more. I repeated the operation 3 times to rule out the possibility of an isolated incident.
So I was forced to reformat the SD card as external memory. Everything went well. But now I'm back to the original situation

After an external memory got converted to portable memory it's Android what automatically moves data from internal memory to portable memory as long as they moveable to gain internal memory space. Thus the few 100MB you reported.

You always can configure the amount of portable memory indeed to be used by Android's Storage Manager ( SM ) using ADB.

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Napafroi

Member

Sep 10, 2019

Well, I think I'm getting used to this adoptable storage which is really confusing since the size doesn't take into account the extra 32Gb (in the storage manager and also in solid explorer).
I don't know if it's a bug but sd maid and its memory analysis function allows me to check that telegram, osmand (including downloadable maps) and vivaldi browser will install directly on the adaptable storage. That's all I ask.
It's still surprising not to be able to view the content of the SD card; maybe it's a bug like others have experienced like on this thread

I wanted to experiment a nandroid backup on MicroSD adopted-storage with TWRP which was refused.

xXx yYy said:

You always can configure the amount of portable memory indeed to be used by Android's Storage Manager ( SM ) using ADB.

So I understand better the interest to calibrate the portion of adoptable storage...

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xXx yYy

Senior Member

Feb 4, 2017 1,021

Screenshot no. 5 shows 2.7 GB of the portable memory ( real capacity 31 GB ) are used.

To get the whole portable memory as internal memory used using ADB try this

Code:

adb shell
sm list-disks    -> This cmd returns id of SD-card e.g. 179:160
sm partition disk:179:160 private  -> Here you use the id of SD-card

where the numbers are the Android's name of your disk.

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Napafroi

Member

Sep 10, 2019

I just did this.
Reboot but it didn't change anything. Maybe the card is defective...

EDIT : oh wait, yesterday I inserted this same micro SDcard in an old samsung galaxy tab4 with the "same" custom rom (LineageOS 17.10) as adoptable storage. The 32Gb capacity was not added to internal memory as well. Maybe this rom is buggy for managing adoptable storage.
Sorry for my english

Last edited: Yesterday at 4:40 PM

xXx yYy

Senior Member

Feb 4, 2017 1,021

The ( meanwhile outdated ) Lineage OS 17.1 - a Lineage OS 17.10 probably doesn't exist - is based on Android 10 and can "Adoptable Storage" as you initially confirmed.

IMO you are probably doing things wrong

"migrate data" is the 2nd necessary step after 1st step "adoptable-storage" is created. It will ( try to ) move all apps from phone into SD-card ( if app is moveable ), means all new installed apps will directly get installed into SD-card as long as android:installLocation="auto" is defined in app's AndroidManifest.xml.

When 100% disk space got adopted you can't see your SD-card any longer, the only way to check disk usage is from Android's cmd line running df -h /mnt/expand/* ( if Android is rooted consider 3rd party apps like Link2SD instead ).

How to manage the limited internal memory of a smartphone with whatsapp

How to manage the limited internal memory of a smartphone with whatsapp

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