[Galaxy S I9000 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] DesElms:
Why won't anyone chime in?

After doing a Google search on the text string "move to usb storage," this is the second or third forum thread I've found in which such as the thread-starter's question has been asked...

...yet no one will respond. Of all the places where I figured someone would know what's going on, this forum would be the one. Yet, just look: No response.

I make this point because my Samsung Infuse 4G is suddenly and inexplicably exhibiting the symptom, to wit: The button which used to say "move to sd card" on it now suddenly says "move to usb storage" on it.

The phone is an unrooted/still-locked (and please do not suggest rooting or unlocking as part of your response) Samsung Infuse 4G (SGH-i997), which was released as a new model just one (1) year (at this writing) ago, in May of 2011. It was released with 2.2 Froyo on it. Go figure.

The 2.3 Gingerbread upgrade was only released in February 2012, then promptly (like, literally, after only 3 days) withdrawn; then re-released in April of 2012.

I finally upgraded to 2.3.6 Gingerbread this month (at this writing), in May of 2012. I learned from my Samsung Captivate 2.3 Gingerbread update/upgrade experience that one should back-up everything to a PC, and then restore the phone to factory state before applying the 2.3 Gingerbread upgrade/update; and that said upgrade/update should be applied immediately after said restoral to factory state. Doing it that way -- and ONLY that way -- virtually guarantees that the upgraded 2.3 Gingerbread installation will be good and accurate and reliable. The rationale is that the Samsung/AT&T engineers, when they were testing the 2.3 Gingerbread upgrade, obviously test using only phones in 2.2 Froyo factory state. Stop and think about it: What else would they use? And so just about the only way for the end-user to ensure that s/he will end-up with the same results as said engineers would be to replicate what they did. By doing that on both the Captivate and the Infuse, I got perfect, pristine, error-free 2.3 Gingerbread updates/upgrades, while most others (who applied the 2.3 updates/upgrades to 2.2 Froyo phones which had been in use for a while) got into forums and complained that this wasn't working, or that wasn't working. They had troubles. I did not. Do the math.

So, in any case, everything on my Infuse 4G since the 2.3 Gingerbread update/upgrade has been terrific. Perfect. Not a single problem. And one thing I know, for sure, is that when I went into...

Menu > Settings > Manage Applications

...and then if I pressed on an app which was movable to SD (but which was installed to the device), the little button to the right of the "Clear Data" button had the words "Move to SD Card" on it (or some variant thereof... perhaps "Move to SD storage"... I can't remember, excatly. The point is, that the purpose of the button was to move the app from its place of installation in the phone's 2GB of internal/processing storage, out to the phone's 2GB external SD card. In both 2.2 Froyo, and now the upgraded/updated 2.3 Gingerbread, that has always been that button's purpose. That I can't, now, remember the precise words on said button doesn't change that point.

Now, though, suddenly (and inexplicably) that button has the words "Move to USB storage" on it.

That's the symptom that the thread-starter, here, was trying to convey: The button which used to say "Move to SD storage" on it all of a sudden contains the words "Move to USB storage."

And there's yet another (I believe related) symptom: If I open an "App2SD" type app (such as, in my case, specifically, the App2SD component of the "ZDBox" app), and then ask it to take a look at the external SD card, it, indeed "sees" what apps are installed out onto the external SD card...

...yet the amount of free space thereon which it reports is not the free space on the external SD card but, rather, the free space on the internal SD card.

Confused? Here... let me try too explain a little differently...

The Samsung Infuse 4G ships with a non-removable 16GB internal solid state storage card in it; and also with a little 2GB card in the phone's external SD card slot.

Two (2) gigabytes (2GB) of the 16GB solid state card is partitioned-off to become the phone's "internal/processing" storage... where apps are installed, and temp files are created, and RAM paging occurs, etc., etc. All phones have it... on some phones it's only 1GB, on others (like mine) it's 2GB, and on newer phones it's 3GB or sometimes (though rarely) even 4GB.

The remaining 14GB of the non-removable 16GB internal is called "internal SD" storage. By reading various forums, one can see that many users are confused by this "internal SD" storage because it behaves like "external SD" storage in most ways (and so all kinds of music and photos and whatever else the user wants to store in it may be so stored), yet the phone's OS refuses to see this 14GB of "internal SD" storage as true "SD" storage for purposes of "App2SD." This problem is particularly well-known among Samsung Captivate (SGH-i897) users, who often complain in forum postings that they can't move anything to SD using App2SD technology...

...and that's because, again, the Android OS simply refuses to "see" the 14GB of "internal SD" as true "SD" storage... ostensiibly because it's got a 2GB system partition on it.

So Samsung wised-up when it released the Infuse 4G (SGH-i997). Unlike the Captivate (which shipped with an empty external SD card slot), the Infuse 4G shipped with a little 2GB SD card in its external SD slot.

So, then, in other words, the Infuse 4G shipped with the 16GB internal solid state card which was partitioned into a 2GB "internal/processing" storage system partition, plus a 14GB "internal SD" mass storage partition. And then, additionally, there was a 2GB external SD card in the external SD card slot.

Moreover, because of this, Samsung then slightly modified the Android OS on the Infuse such that all apps which could be installed to external SD (using App2SD technology) were automatically so installed... by default. This is different from how the Captivate behaves, to wit: Even if a Captivate has a an SD (be it plain ol' SD, or a higher-capacity SDHC) card installed into its external SD card slot, it still always installs all apps to the 2GB of internal/processing storage; and then if the user wants whatever apps are capable of being installed out to external SD installed thereto, then s/he must do it manually. So the Infuse 4G, then, default use of external SD storage for app installation (using App2SD technology) an integral part of its OS.

And the reason, obviously, is that it's very easy to put too much into the 2GB of internal/processing/system storage, and either slow-down or choke the phone. Both the Captivate and the Infuse 4G really start to become dogs once the 2GB of internal/processing/system storage gets down below around 512K in size. So by installing out onto an external SD card as many apps as will allow themselves to be so installed, the Infuse 4G can keep the avalable working space in its 2GB of internal/processing/system storage as big as possible. Take it from me (who has tried it both with all apps installed internally, and with about half of them installed out onto external SD), it makes a huge difference. The Samsung Infuse 4G which has as many apps as possible installed out onto the external SD card (using App2SD technology) is considerably faster and more responsive than one with all its apps installed to the 2GB of internal/processing/system storage.

So, then, Samsung, having installed a 2GB SD card into the external SD slot in new, as-shipped Infuse 4G phones, decided to make its actual App2SD-style use something which it does by default (unlike the Captivate). With an Infuse 4G, whatever can be installed out to the external SD card will be so installed, by default; and so then if the user wants it installed back in the 2GB of internal/processing/system storage, s/he must manually so move it. Again, the Captivate, even if it has an SD card installed into its external SD card slot will not behave that way.

Okay... so, then, that's how the Infuse 4G ships from the factory. And with both the factory-installed/shipped 2.2 Froyo, and also even after the 2.3 Gingerbread update/upgrade, the App2SD button in the applications management area of the phone always had the words "Move to SD storage" on it (that is, unless the app was simply not capable of being moved to external SD, in which case said button was grayed-out... but even then it still had the same "Move to SD storage" words on it).

Moreover, under both the factory-installed 2.2 Froyo, and also under the 2.3 Gingerbread update/upgrade, any third-party App2SD apps which were able to report both used and avialable external SD space would always report what was on the SD card in the actual external SD card slot, not what's both used and available in the "internal SD" card. Such apps, in other words, never got confused about which SD storage is the true "external" storage.

However, the symptom which the thread-starter and I now have, suddenly and inexplicably (in my case, after about three weeks of trouble-free post-Gingerbread-upgrade/update use; and in his case, after I have no idea what) is that all of a sudden...

a) the App2SD button which used to say "Move to SD storage" on it now says "Move to USB storage" on it; and,

b) at least on my phone, any third-party App2SD apps accurately show any apps installed out on the external SD card, but when they report how much space is both used and available thereon, it actually reports what's in the "internal SD" storage... where, trust me, no apps are installed.

So, then, the bottom line would appear to be that the external SD card is being recognized as external SD for purposes of having apps installed onto it, but the OS is calling it "USB storage;" and (perhaps) because of that, all reporting as to used/available external SD space is being read from the "internal SD" card, where no apps are installed.

So, then, I ask the experts here: What's causing this? And why would the symptom, at least in the case of my phone, rear its ugly head only after about three weeks of perfectly excellent post-Gingerbread-update/upgrade performance?

Here's something which may be relevant... and, in fact, I believe it's actually somehow the culprit: When I updated/upgraded to 2.3 Gingerbread, I did the pre-update/upgrade factory reset, and then the update/upgrade, itself, with the factory-installed 2GB SD card in the external SD card slot. And so, therefore, it got initialized and reformatted as part of the factory reset (to factory-state 2.2 Froyo), and was also read as "native" during the 2.3 Gingerbread update/upgrade. And all of my trouble-free post-Gingerbread-update/upgrade use was with the 2GB card in the external SD card slot.

However, just a few days ago, I upgraded that little 2GB external SD card to a big 32GB SDHC card. But I didn't just do it willy-nilly. I was careful. First, I backed-up everything on the 2GB card to my PC; then I unmounted the 2GB card; then powered-down the phone; then removed it. Then, with the phone still off, I inserted the 32GB card; then I powered-up the phone; then I unmounted the 32GB card; then I reformated it (under 2.3 Gingerbread); then I rebooted the phone; and then I restored everything from the 2GB card backup on the PC to the new 32GB card.

And the phone seemed to work okay thereafter. My mistake, for our purposes, here, is that I didn't go look at the App2SD button and see if it still had the words "Move to SD storage" on it, or whether it at that point said "Move to USB storage" on it, after installing the 32GB card and restoring the 2GB card's contents to it.

So, then, my suspicion, obviously, is that the problem is due to the post-Gingerbread-update/upgrade substitution of the 32GB card for the original factory-installed 2GB card.

And so I would ask the thread-starter if he did anything like that, too. However, since it appears that he got the symptom immediately after his 2.3 Gingerbread update/upgrade (and I didn't see mine until three weeks later, after swapping the factory-installed 2GB external SD card for a big 32GB SDHC one), our symptoms, though similar, may actually be caused by different things. Who knows.

What both the thread-starter and I are looking for, here, though, is some help -- some ideas, thoughts, notions, suspicions, etc. -- from the people around here whom we've come to realize tend to know more about these phones than almost anyone else. This forum is where all the real experts are...

...and we were hoping that at least one of them could somehow shed some light on this.

One theory I had was that even though I formatted the new 32GB card in the phone, under 2.3 Gingerbread, I nevertheless moved the hidden...

.android secure

...folder (where the apps installed to the external SD card using App2SD technology are installed) from the 2GB card's backup on my PC to the new 32GB rather than using the...

.android secure

...folder that is automatically created by the formatting on the phone. In other words, once I formatted the 32GB card in the phone, I then promptly deleted the...

.android secure

...folder, and also the...

LOST.DIR

...folder to make the 32GB card completely empty (except for formatting information); and then I simply copied those folders...

.android secure

...and...

LOST.DIR

...over from the 2GB card's backup on the PC over to the new 32GB card. I did all this, it's worthy of note, via a USB connection between the phone and the PC.

I had hoped that because it was all done using a USB connection (with the phone connected to the PC via USB, and said phone being told to make said connection in "mass storage" mode), and so, then, because the phone was actually writing to the 32GB card (as opposed to my removing said 32GB card from the phone and inserting it directly into the PC), the writing of the...

.android secure

...folder would be the same as when said folder is created during formatting. But my fear, now, is that it was not...

...and that that's the reason why the phone's App2SD components are now calling the 32GB SDHC card in the phone's external SD slot "USB storage;" even though for App2SD purposes, the phone's still installing stuff there.

So, then, my further question is: Is my hunch correct? Did my moving the...

.android secure

...folder from the 2GB card's backup on the PC, over to the new 32GB card (rather than using the one created by formatting), somehow confuse the phone into exhibiting its current symptoms?

For what it's worth, as a test of that theory, I moved all apps from the external SD card back to the 2GB internal/processing/system storage (which, yes, slowed-down my phone a little... but that's okay temporarily); then I rebooted; then I unmounted the external SD card; then I reformatted it; then I rebooted again.

However, sadly, even after that, the App2SD part of the OS still sees that card as "USB storage," and so the words "Move to USB storage" (rather than "Move to SD storage") are still on the button which normally moves apps from phone to SD (using App2SD technology).

I realize that I can fix all this by just backing-up everything to my PC, and then doing a complete GSM reset of the phone back to factory state (though, technically, it would be 2.3 Gingerbread "factory state"... which, because the phone only ever shipped with 2.2 Froyo on it, would be a misnomer); then restore contacts and bookmarks and stuff; and then just reinstall everything.

And that's what I'm right on the cusp of doing...

...but I'm hesitant only because I just did all that post-Gingerbread/update/upgrade. And so I'm loathe to go and do it all again...

...expecially because I don't know what caused the symptom in the first place.

That said, if I'm right that it has something to do with the upgrade from the 2GB external SD card to the 32GB one, then one thing that would be different this time is that the new 32GB card would be initialized as the phone's external SD card as part of the factory reset...

...which might just do the trick.

Still, I want the thoughts/opinions of the experts, here, before I do it.

So, then, you experts out there...

...thoughts? Opinions? Criticisms? Ridicule? I'm open to it all.

Thanks, in advance, for the help.

Looking forward to hearing from... er... well... at least someone.