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Total Available Internal storage on my Sony Ericsson is ~412MB. This is really low but many apps apparently need to be installed there and others still need a footprint even after being shifted to SD card.

What's the best way around this if I want to install more apps?

It's a shocking bit of design to be honest, unless I'm derping and completely missing out on something easy.

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  • This is by far my biggest complaint of owning an android phone. Now that I'm aware of it, my next phone will have much larger internal storage.
    – Ben
    Dec 14, 2012 at 19:18

2 Answers 2

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There are many "*2SD" methods, and they generally involve root access.

My personal favorite is Link2SD. It uses symlinks, which take up (practically) no space. The actual program, data, libraries, etc are stored on a second partition on your SD card. This comes with the downside of actually having to create two partitions on your SD card (meaning it will have to be formatted).

If you have root, you likely have a custom recovery installed that can automatically partition your SD card.

The upside of multiple partitions is that you can mount your sd card when plugged into a computer without causing the apps to disappear from your device. This is because only one partition is actually unmounted from android and mounted on the computer, and the other partition holding your apps is never unmounted.

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  • What does this answer do that mine doesn't?
    – Liam W
    Dec 14, 2012 at 19:10
  • @dymutaos -As another way: Is it not possible to use an SD Card Reader connected via an OTG USB cable, so that once apps are on an SD Card they can be stored externally, and then used via the reader and OTG USB Cable as and when required ?
    – Simon
    Dec 14, 2012 at 20:49
  • @Liam W - I think it says pretty much what your answer does, but it was probably accepted because I was 3 minutes earlier in answering.
    – Stephen S
    Dec 14, 2012 at 21:35
  • @Simon - I've not tried an SD card reader or Flash drive via OTG, so I can't say. But since OTG is so rarely used, I imagine that most *2SD apps aren't designed to take advantage of something plugged in via OTG.
    – Stephen S
    Dec 14, 2012 at 21:37
  • @Simon - Or are you asking how can the computer read the second partition? In that case, yes, you would plug the SD card into a reader. But you would also need extra software if you run Windows, as Windows will only ever read the first partition on a removable device (Linux/Mac have no problem).
    – Stephen S
    Dec 14, 2012 at 21:38
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The easiest way to get around this is to root your device and use an app that forces apps to the SD Card (e.g. DroidSail Super App2SD).

Limitations of This

  • Apps installed on the SD Card wont have widgets - they will be broken.
  • Apps will not be loaded until the SD Card is mounted.

Some Alternatives

  • Use the Link2SD app to move apps to the second partition of your SD Card

Pros

  • Can move libs, and dalvik-cache which take up loads of memory
  • Widgets still work
  • Apps mounted during boot

Cons

  • Also needs root
  • Needs a second partition on your SD Card.
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