external sd storage

[bsasaski]

not sure if this is even the right place for this, as it is sort of a complaint, but also a feature suggestion, assuming this feature isnt actually here,

i got up to the storage max on my Galaxy SIIx, and thus bought a 16GB sd card. after much confusion i eventually used the computer to transfer all my podcasts frpm my phone onto the sd card. only one problem now. none of them are downloaded when i open the app (and have the sd card in). i can find them all in my music player or in ES File Explorer, but not in BeyondPod. I mean, i can listen to them now, it is just a lot less convenient. i am disappointed in this and hope that this will somehow be fixed, whether it's being able to download podcasts directly to the sd card, moving them to there or at least just recognizing them, because now i cant tell which ones ive listened to and which ones i havent.

[juwlz]

I'm not sure what's gone wrong for you, but BeyondPod can definitely work as you expect when your podcasts are on an external SD card. I have all my podcast files on an external card in my own Galaxy S3.

My guess is that you still have a BeyondPod folder on your built-in storage, and this is why BP is not looking at your SD card.

To recover, exit BeyondPod using the Exit option from the menu (it's important to shut it down completely). Then move your BeyondPod folder to your SD card (you don't need to connect to a computer - just use any File Explorer on the phone that can see both). You will need to overwrite any older files with the ones from your internal storage. It is important that no BeyondPod folder (even an empty one) exists on your built-in storage before you restart BP.

When you restart, you should be able to see all your podcasts as expected. If not, go to the last entry in General Settings and check what path BP reports as the storage path. I would expect it to be /mnt/extSdCard/BeyondPod/Podcasts on an S2 (NB: everything in the path is case sensitive). That's where BP is expecting to find your podcasts (and all its other data files).

If everything is where it should be, and BP knows where to find it, go to the advanced settings (Menu | More... | Settings | Menu (again) | Advanced Settings) and tick the option to Lock to Current Path. This will prevent BP from reverting to internal storage again on reboot if your phone takes a while to mount the card, so that it's not ready by the time BP's processes look for files there.

HTH
Julie

[bepod]

Galx note android 4.1.2. Has only /storage/
extSdCard0.

There's no /mnt/extSdCard.

Beyondpod folder keeps being recreated on /storage/sdCard0.

There's no way to rename this path /storage and no way to tell Beyondpod to use /storage. Looks like an old assumption?

[juwlz]

Welcome to the forum.

Thanks for the report. Android doesn't provide a way to "find" what external path any given ROM uses, so the code has to check all the known ones (as reported by users as devices are released) in turn. All the recent Samsung devices certainly use /mnt/extSdCard in the stock ROM AFAIK (including my own S3, which is running Samsung's stock 4.1.2). Are you using a custom ROM which uses a different path?

All is not lost though. Whatever ROM you're using, there IS a way to tell BeyondPod what path to use.

If you have any device with a path to external storage that BeyondPod doesn't know about, you can set it manually in the Advanced Settings (Menu | More... | Settings | Menu (again) | Advanced Settings). Near the bottom, you'll find Episode Download Path, which you should set to /storage/extSdCard0 (i.e. the path that you do have to external storage).

Then follow the procedure at http://www.beyondpod.mobi/android/he...rageFolder.htm

Note that it's important both to exit BeyondPod fully AND make sure that no BeyondPod folder exists on the default path (on the built-in storage) before restarting BP, or it'll use the one in built-in storage, and you'll need to start over again. Note that you don't need to connect to a PC to move the files: you can use any File Manager on the device to move the BeyondPod folder (including My Files, as supplied by Samsung).

Once everything's moved, go into Advanced Settings again, and tick the Lock to Current Path box. This will make sure that BP always tries to access your external card, even if your device hasn't yet made it accessible by the time the BeyondPod services start any time you reboot your device.

HTH
Julie

[Scalar]

Thx, for this answer!!!

[comish4lif]

Does anyone want their internal storage filled up with podcasts? My phone just doesn't have the extra space for that.

The external card ought to be the default location for Podcasts and users shouldn't have to go 3 levels deep in the settings to configure that.

I installed it. It filled up my phone's internal storage. I tried to move the folder, it disabled BeyondPod. So, I uninstalled and started over. It still didn't work. I uninstalled BeyondPod. I give up.

[juwlz]

Unfortunately, there used to be no way in Android to even ask the OS whether you had external storage on your device, so apps that automatically use it tend to be limited to those added or modified the device's manufacturer (because they KNOW it has it and where to find it).

Somewhat ironically, given that Google seems to want nothing to do with external storage, this facility has recently been introduced (with 4.4 I think), so for newer os versions it will be possible to ask if the user wants to use external storage on first start-up.

In the meantime, instructions for how to move your podcasts to external storage are here.

HTH
Julie

[Dennis Rockwell]

Don't forget that you can limit the number of episodes downloaded via the download options in the feed and the defaults. I'm very stingy with storage and only download one episode in most of my feeds.

[mimatsu]

excause me but where is Menu | More... | Settings | Menu (again) | Advanced Settings?
thanks

[juwlz]

Before I answer that, Beta versions 3.2.62 for phones and 3.2 0.62 for tablets include a way to move your podcasts from built in storage to a removable SD card without having to follow the instructions linked in the post above. Revised instructions are on the Beta page.

Menu | More... | Settings | Menu (again) | Advanced Settings is shorthand for:
Menu: press the menu button. Depending on your device, this will either a physical button or three dots

More...: Tap "More..." on the menu that gets displayed

Settings: Tap Settings on that menu

Menu (again): Tap the Menu button (hardware or three dots)

Advanced Settings: Tap Advanced Settings in the menu

HTH
Julie