Titanium Backup cannot backup to micro sd

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fincan

Senior Member
Dec 9, 2007
282
92
around VA
Hi all,

For the past month or so, Titanium Backup cannot backup anything to my external sd any more and reports "Insufficient storage space". When I look at the folder location under TiBu preferences, it says "folder is not writable", however when I check the permissions with Root Explorer, it says it is writable, and everything else can really write to it anyway (e.g. google music can write there just fine).

If I switch the backup location to internal storage, it works fine but that defeats the purpose, I want to use my external microsd.

I've already tried uninstalling/re-installing, updating my SuperSU, rebooting the phone etc.

Any ideas?
 

dratsablive

Senior Member
Feb 20, 2011
1,325
250
HARRISBURG
Hi all,

For the past month or so, Titanium Backup cannot backup anything to my external sd any more and reports "Insufficient storage space". When I look at the folder location under TiBu preferences, it says "folder is not writable", however when I check the permissions with Root Explorer, it says it is writable, and everything else can really write to it anyway (e.g. google music can write there just fine).

If I switch the backup location to internal storage, it works fine but that defeats the purpose, I want to use my external microsd.

I've already tried uninstalling/re-installing, updating my SuperSU, rebooting the phone etc.

Any ideas?

Could be related to the update to 4.3 which changed permissions for writing to the external SD Card.

Check this thread out.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2436494
 

Alpine-

Senior Member
Aug 7, 2007
1,058
353
You are right. I rolled back my platform.xml thinking that the sd card issue has been fixed in 4.4, changing it back did the trick. Thanks :)

I updated to Kitkat 4.4 and am rooted. Im having the exact same issue with Titanium. It tells me the target dir is full and that it cant write/access the SD card. I changed permission of the SD Card with Root explorer but it doesnt stay.

How do I "roll back" platform.xml? I have no idea how to fix this. Never had any issue like this before in all my years of swapping roms and upgrading android builds.
 
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fincan

Senior Member
Dec 9, 2007
282
92
around VA
I updated to Kitkat 4.4 and am rooted. Im having the exact same issue with Titanium. It tells me the target dir is full and that it cant write/access the SD card. I changed permission of the SD Card with Root explorer but it doesnt stay.

How do I "roll back" platform.xml? I have no idea how to fix this. Never had any issue like this before in all my years of swapping roms and upgrading android builds.

You have to edit yoour platform.xml file so Titanium Backup works again. Since you are already rooted, you can refer to this post for what to edit, where the file is etc.:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=44370296
 

Alpine-

Senior Member
Aug 7, 2007
1,058
353
You have to edit yoour platform.xml file so Titanium Backup works again. Since you are already rooted, you can refer to this post for what to edit, where the file is etc.:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=44370296

Thanks, I found an identicle How-To here: http://www.androidauthority.com/galaxy-s4-gpe-android-4-3-sd-card-fix-254960/

They are the same, both work. This one is a little easier to follow. I'm shocked this bug mad it over from 4.3 and into 4.4.2 official builds. All is well now though.
 

Parinibbana

Senior Member
Dec 28, 2013
178
153
Titanium Backup with insuffiecient storage space - 1 problem , 3 solutions

To summarize, I have come across three solutions to this problem. In fact, it´s four solutions now, since one additional method was pointed out by Vandevandel (see number two below).

1.
Change the backup-location to /storage/emulated/legacy/TitaniumBackup
Just open Titanium and go to Settings/Preferences/Backup folder location
Change to: /storage/emulated/legacy/TitaniumBackup

2.
There is an elegant way of giving TitaniumBackup write access to the external sdcard, without having to forfeit security (as in method 3 below).
Since the time of Android 4.3, Google uses a very clean security-solution by giving apps that request write access to external SD, permission only to their own folder - not to the entire card!
In order to get TitaniumBackup to work without compromising security, you can simply create a folder on the external sdcard,using the following folder-structure: /storage/extSdCard/Android/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/

If you already have existing backups, move them with a file-explorer from their current place to: /storage/extSdCard/Android/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/
Lastly, go tothe preferences of TitaniumBackup, choose "Backup folder location" and choose the above specified folder.
Finish.

Very clean and safe.

3.
There is a solution for gaining write access to the external sdcard (/mnt/sdcard2). The sdcard is mounted r/w, but the owning group is media_rw which is linked to the WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE permission. This permission was not required for access to the external sdcard prior to Android 3.2, but for security reasons this is the case now.

If you're rooted and want to make the ext. sdcard writable to all apps, please try the following:
1. Using a root-enabled file manager, navigate to /system/etc/permissions and make sure you have mounted the file system r/w.
2. Edit platform.xml and find the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission.
3. Add an additional group definition for this permission...<group gid="media_rw" />
4. Save the changes to the file.
5. Restart your tablet.

Original:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
</permission>

New:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
<group gid="media_rw" />
</permission>

Done.

After this change, any apps that request the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission (which includes almost anything that accesses either of the sdcards) will gain group membership in both sdcard_rw AND media_rw, giving them r/w access to both sdcard filesystems.

This may also fix problems with other apps that have issues writing to the ext. sdcard, but please be aware that in terms of security, solution two (see above) is preferable.

4.
If you had Titanium Backup installed on a previous ROM, doing a non-wipe install could stop the process of Titanium Backup. You might receive a pop-up notification that Titanium Backup has stopped working. Reinstalling the app might lead to an insufficient storage space error — when an app is uninstalled or modified, it leaves a .odex residue file which causes the error. So all you have to do is delete the .odex file of Titanium Backup.

Here’s how:
Using any file explorer like Root Explorer or ES File Explorer, go to /data/app , find and delete ”com.kermidas.TitaniumBackup-1.odex“. Now you can install Titanium Backup again!
If there is no such file in your folder, that´s OK. But please don´t delete any .apk file!

Good luck!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you find this post useful, pls feel free to click "Thanks".
Have a nice day
 
Last edited:

idrak3

Senior Member
Mar 24, 2008
92
8
To summarize, I have come across three solutions to this problem.

1.
Change the backup-location to /storage...
Open Titanium and go to Settings/Preferences/Backup folder location
Change to: /storage/emulated/legacy/TitaniumBackup

2.
If you had Titanium Backup installed on a previous ROM, doing a non-wipe install could stop the process of Titanium Backup. You might receive a pop-up notification that Titanium Backup has stopped working. Reinstalling the app might lead to an insufficient storage space error — when an app is uninstalled or modified, it leaves a .odex residue file which causes the error. So all you have to do is delete the .odex file of Titanium Backup.

Here’s how:
Using any file explorer like Root Explorer or ES File Explorer, go to /data/app , find and delete ”com.kermidas.TitaniumBackup-1.odex“. Now you can install Titanium Backup again!
If there is no such file in your folder, that´s OK. But please don´t delete any .apk file!

3.
I've found a simple solution for gaining write access to the external sdcard (/mnt/sdcard2) on Android 3.2. The sdcard is mounted r/w, but the owning group is media_rw which is linked to the WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE permission. Unfortunately, this permission was not required for access to the external sdcard prior to 3.2 so most file management utilities do not request it when they run...meaning they only have read access to the card.

The simple solution, if you're rooted, is as follows:
1. Using a root-enabled file manager, navigate to /system/etc/permissions and make sure you have mounted the file system r/w.
2. Edit platform.xml and find the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission.
3. Add an additional group definition for this permission...<group gid="media_rw" />
4. Save the changes to the file.
5. Restart your tablet.

Original:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
</permission>

New:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
<group gid="media_rw" />
</permission>

Done.

After this change, any apps that request the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission (which includes almost anything that accesses either of the sdcards) will gain group membership in both sdcard_rw AND media_rw, giving them r/w access to both sdcard filesystems.

This may also fix other apps that have issues writing to the card.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you find this post useful, pls feel free to click on "Thanks".
Have a nice day

thanks
 

yeatsie

Member
Mar 25, 2012
47
8
Step 3 worked for me after just upgrading to my Note2 to DN3 v5 and having this Titanium Backup Pro issue on app reinstall - many thanks!
 

killachandra

Member
Jul 27, 2013
24
4
Install Easy Fix

Hi all,

For the past month or so, Titanium Backup cannot backup anything to my external sd any more and reports "Insufficient storage space". When I look at the folder location under TiBu preferences, it says "folder is not writable", however when I check the permissions with Root Explorer, it says it is writable, and everything else can really write to it anyway (e.g. google music can write there just fine).

If I switch the backup location to internal storage, it works fine but that defeats the purpose, I want to use my external microsd.

I've already tried uninstalling/re-installing, updating my SuperSU, rebooting the phone etc.

Any ideas?

Just install this 300kb app and run it. it will fix the issue. worked perfectly for me
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.sdfix
 

fabian1xp

New member
Mar 19, 2014
4
4
Titanium Backup Fix for Folder is not writable

Hi all,

For the past month or so, Titanium Backup cannot backup anything to my external sd any more and reports "Insufficient storage space". When I look at the folder location under TiBu preferences, it says "folder is not writable", however when I check the permissions with Root Explorer, it says it is writable, and everything else can really write to it anyway (e.g. google music can write there just fine).

If I switch the backup location to internal storage, it works fine but that defeats the purpose, I want to use my external microsd.

I've already tried uninstalling/re-installing, updating my SuperSU, rebooting the phone etc.

Any ideas?

Install NEXTAPP SDFIX and run it will fix
 
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hawkerpaul

Senior Member
Sep 25, 2011
3,305
6,242
UK
www.practicenet.co.uk
Another thing to look out for:

Sometimes, I've seen a file/folder get created in the TB backup folder called .write_test
What actually creates this and why is still a mystery to me.

If this exists, TB will refuse to write to that folder, and will give the "insufficient storage" error.
Delete it through Root Explorer, and you should be good to go.
 
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  • 122
    Titanium Backup with insuffiecient storage space - 1 problem , 3 solutions

    To summarize, I have come across three solutions to this problem. In fact, it´s four solutions now, since one additional method was pointed out by Vandevandel (see number two below).

    1.
    Change the backup-location to /storage/emulated/legacy/TitaniumBackup
    Just open Titanium and go to Settings/Preferences/Backup folder location
    Change to: /storage/emulated/legacy/TitaniumBackup

    2.
    There is an elegant way of giving TitaniumBackup write access to the external sdcard, without having to forfeit security (as in method 3 below).
    Since the time of Android 4.3, Google uses a very clean security-solution by giving apps that request write access to external SD, permission only to their own folder - not to the entire card!
    In order to get TitaniumBackup to work without compromising security, you can simply create a folder on the external sdcard,using the following folder-structure: /storage/extSdCard/Android/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/

    If you already have existing backups, move them with a file-explorer from their current place to: /storage/extSdCard/Android/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/
    Lastly, go tothe preferences of TitaniumBackup, choose "Backup folder location" and choose the above specified folder.
    Finish.

    Very clean and safe.

    3.
    There is a solution for gaining write access to the external sdcard (/mnt/sdcard2). The sdcard is mounted r/w, but the owning group is media_rw which is linked to the WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE permission. This permission was not required for access to the external sdcard prior to Android 3.2, but for security reasons this is the case now.

    If you're rooted and want to make the ext. sdcard writable to all apps, please try the following:
    1. Using a root-enabled file manager, navigate to /system/etc/permissions and make sure you have mounted the file system r/w.
    2. Edit platform.xml and find the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission.
    3. Add an additional group definition for this permission...<group gid="media_rw" />
    4. Save the changes to the file.
    5. Restart your tablet.

    Original:
    <permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
    <group gid="sdcard_rw" />
    </permission>

    New:
    <permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
    <group gid="sdcard_rw" />
    <group gid="media_rw" />
    </permission>

    Done.

    After this change, any apps that request the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission (which includes almost anything that accesses either of the sdcards) will gain group membership in both sdcard_rw AND media_rw, giving them r/w access to both sdcard filesystems.

    This may also fix problems with other apps that have issues writing to the ext. sdcard, but please be aware that in terms of security, solution two (see above) is preferable.

    4.
    If you had Titanium Backup installed on a previous ROM, doing a non-wipe install could stop the process of Titanium Backup. You might receive a pop-up notification that Titanium Backup has stopped working. Reinstalling the app might lead to an insufficient storage space error — when an app is uninstalled or modified, it leaves a .odex residue file which causes the error. So all you have to do is delete the .odex file of Titanium Backup.

    Here’s how:
    Using any file explorer like Root Explorer or ES File Explorer, go to /data/app , find and delete ”com.kermidas.TitaniumBackup-1.odex“. Now you can install Titanium Backup again!
    If there is no such file in your folder, that´s OK. But please don´t delete any .apk file!

    Good luck!

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    If you find this post useful, pls feel free to click "Thanks".
    Have a nice day
    13
    I updated to Kitkat 4.4 and am rooted. Im having the exact same issue with Titanium. It tells me the target dir is full and that it cant write/access the SD card. I changed permission of the SD Card with Root explorer but it doesnt stay.

    How do I "roll back" platform.xml? I have no idea how to fix this. Never had any issue like this before in all my years of swapping roms and upgrading android builds.

    You have to edit yoour platform.xml file so Titanium Backup works again. Since you are already rooted, you can refer to this post for what to edit, where the file is etc.:
    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=44370296
    9
    Better solution

    Hi !
    All these solutions are not very "clean". They give the right to all apps that asked for sd write access to write to the root of external SD, and thus allow them to intefere with other apps..
    With Android 4.3, Google used a very clean solution :
    Apps that request write access to external SD, will have access to thier own folder in sd card !
    So to have Titanium Backup to work without compromising security and having to install another app that request root access, you can simply move files that are inside /storage/extSdCard/TitaniumBackup/ to /storage/extSdCard/Android/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/

    Now say in TB preference that this is your new saving folder.

    Works like a charm, and it's better for security.
    :good:
    8
    I created /storage/extSdCard/Android/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/ but it still says "This folder is not writable." :( There is no folder /storage/extSdCard/TitaniumBackup/, maybe that's because i just installed TB.

    Just to be sure as I don't know your proficiency level: What exactly did you do? (exact folder locations on what medium)
    You just need
    /Android/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/
    on your SDcard directly. Just in case you might have created literally
    /storage/extSdCard/Android/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/
    The base path in the front is different from system to system and your path to the SD card might be another.

    However, what Android version are you on?
    Because on 5 and 6 this isn't much of an issue any more, because Titanium guides you into granting the permissions via the Documents Provider with any folder:
    ->Titanium
    -> Preferences
    -> Backup Folder Location
    -> click on the "Storage Provider" text (text, not the button below)
    -> DocumentProvider storage
    -> in the top right menu, make sure "Show SD card" is enabled
    -> open the drawer on the left
    -> pick your SD card
    -> directly on the root directory (not in any subfolder) pick "select"
    -> now choose whatever folder you want inside of Titanium, as it now has writing permission on the whoöe SD card
    6
    Hi all,

    For the past month or so, Titanium Backup cannot backup anything to my external sd any more and reports "Insufficient storage space". When I look at the folder location under TiBu preferences, it says "folder is not writable", however when I check the permissions with Root Explorer, it says it is writable, and everything else can really write to it anyway (e.g. google music can write there just fine).

    If I switch the backup location to internal storage, it works fine but that defeats the purpose, I want to use my external microsd.

    I've already tried uninstalling/re-installing, updating my SuperSU, rebooting the phone etc.

    Any ideas?