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I formatted my sd card as adopted internal storage as possible in Android 6.

However in the settings I can still move (some) apps to the "external storage". This is quite confusing as I thought they would be automatically placed on my sd card as this sd card is my "fake internal storage".

So I have three questions:

  • Why can I still move them there?
  • Where are they moved exactly to?
    Currently I noticed that the app data was stored in /storage/emulated/0 respectively /sdcard (which is a symbol link to /storage/emulated/0)
  • Does it make sense to move the apps like this?
rugk
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  • That's an interesting question indeed. Is your device rooted, so you can check where such an app goes to? I have a suspicion here: App2SD doesn't necessarily move to the external SD card (the physical one), but to the "primary external storage", which usually is the internal SD card if such exists. Your mentioning of /storage/emulated/0 seems to confirm this: "emulated" is the internal card. So if that's the case here, it indeed makes sense, as that "internal card" usually is a bit faster :) – Izzy Mar 30 '16 at 14:38
  • Yes I have root. However as I mentioned AFAIK there is a symbolic link from /sdcard to /storage/emulated/0 and this is the polace where the app data seem to be saved by default.

    However I don't exactly know where the apps itself (the apks?) are saved. Which directories should I check?

     – rugk Apr 01 '16 at 20:56
  • APKs usually go to /data/apps on internal storage. App2SD would store them in a hidden folder on the SDCard (.android_secure). And as I already wrote: Yes, that's the emulated/internal SDCard your /sdcard symlink points to – and I suspect that's the target here. So you could use your "root powers" to check for the folder there: make yourself root (running su in a terminal/shell) and then do an cd /sdcard && ls -a (the hidden folder will be shown to root only). – Izzy Apr 01 '16 at 21:35
  • Okay, ls -a there only shows my usual "internal storage" content. There is no folder called .android_secure. However when booting into my recovery (TWRP) I noticed that in external_sd there are some directories: app, local, media, misc and user. And app indeed contains my apllication I moved to the sdcard. – rugk Apr 02 '16 at 16:12
  • App2SD never moves apps completely, so it is to be expected something remained in your internal/adopted storage. Strange however you cannot find any hidden directory on the internal SD card, which is what App2SD would use here. I know the system tries to hide it, but it shouldn't hide it from root. Could you check for /mnt/secure/asec, which should be the equivalent (asec is the abbreviated form of android_secure)? – Izzy Apr 02 '16 at 16:32
  • /mnt/secure/asec is empty. – rugk Apr 02 '16 at 18:21
  • OK, then I'm out of ideas, sorry. – Izzy Apr 02 '16 at 18:27

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