Symlink to external Micro SD

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d2616ae26016

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Nov 28, 2013
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Hi. I'm on a rooted Nexus 5, stock ROM and kernel. I have a Micro USB SD card reader and since I have many GBs of music I'd like to put the music on the SD card (which is mounted on the device using StickMount) and then symlink it to the internal memory so that I can play it using Google Play Music and other apps. How can I do that? Thank you.
 

gee2012

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Jul 13, 2010
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Hi. I'm on a rooted Nexus 5, stock ROM and kernel. I have a Micro USB SD card reader and since I have many GBs of music I'd like to put the music on the SD card (which is mounted on the device using StickMount) and then symlink it to the internal memory so that I can play it using Google Play Music and other apps. How can I do that? Thank you.

Look here for info https://www.google.nl/search?q=goog...7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8.
 
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Alex240188

Senior Member
May 4, 2010
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The problem is Google play music only looks in the music directory for songs.
Also you cannot create symlinks in the fused sdcard.
You could try the following in a terminal emulator.
(Note you may have to change the following paths as I can't remember the exact path stickmount mounts your device to)
Code:
mount -o bind /sdcard/music/sd /sdcard/usbdisk/sda1
This should create a folder called sd in the music folder which Google play music is looking in. It should be then linked to your mounted storage in stick mount.
But beware this may crash your phone when you remove the card requiring a reboot.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
 
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danarama

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Aug 22, 2010
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mount -o bind /sdcard/music/sd /sdcard/usbdisk/sda1

Have you tested this? The reason I ask is that unless something has changed which I don't know about, this will not be possible. Since 4.2, Google changed how android handles mounts and this is no longer possible with root (root does not have elevated enough permissions).

Hence why I created this script back in the 4.2 days:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2178863

*Note, I no longer support that script so do NOT use it...

...which in turn lead to this:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2192122

I myself use FolderMount as it works well and scripts are just a bit too clunky (hence why I ceased working on and supporting my script).

The only issue is you will need to move everything in your current music folder (which foldermount will do nicely for you) so you must always have your external media with you to play music. You cannot simply expand your current folder, its all or nothing (unless you can mount a subfolder of your music directory and music will see that? Not sure, you'll have to test).
 
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d2616ae26016

Senior Member
Nov 28, 2013
66
3
Have you tested this? The reason I ask is that unless something has changed which I don't know about, this will not be possible. Since 4.2, Google changed how android handles mounts and this is no longer possible with root (root does not have elevated enough permissions).

Hence why I created this script back in the 4.2 days:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2178863

*Note, I no longer support that script so do NOT use it...

...which in turn lead to this:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2192122

I myself use FolderMount as it works well and scripts are just a bit too clunky (hence why I ceased working on and supporting my script).

The only issue is you will need to move everything in your current music folder (which foldermount will do nicely for you) so you must always have your external media with you to play music. You cannot simply expand your current folder, its all or nothing (unless you can mount a subfolder of your music directory and music will see that? Not sure, you'll have to test).

I'm now trying foldermount, but it seems it's moving all my music from the external SD do the internal memory... Then what? Is it supposed to move all the music back to the SD card before unmounting? I can see no point to this...
 

Alex240188

Senior Member
May 4, 2010
1,131
739
Hull
Have you tested this? The reason I ask is that unless something has changed which I don't know about, this will not be possible. Since 4.2, Google changed how android handles mounts and this is no longer possible with root (root does not have elevated enough permissions).

No I hadn't tested this. I just knew it was an alternative to symlinking which worked on the one x. I didn't realise that they had killed this in 4.2.
I also didn't know about foldermounts which should be a great alternative.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
 

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    Hi. I'm on a rooted Nexus 5, stock ROM and kernel. I have a Micro USB SD card reader and since I have many GBs of music I'd like to put the music on the SD card (which is mounted on the device using StickMount) and then symlink it to the internal memory so that I can play it using Google Play Music and other apps. How can I do that? Thank you.

    Look here for info https://www.google.nl/search?q=goog...7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8.
    1
    The problem is Google play music only looks in the music directory for songs.
    Also you cannot create symlinks in the fused sdcard.
    You could try the following in a terminal emulator.
    (Note you may have to change the following paths as I can't remember the exact path stickmount mounts your device to)
    Code:
    mount -o bind /sdcard/music/sd /sdcard/usbdisk/sda1
    This should create a folder called sd in the music folder which Google play music is looking in. It should be then linked to your mounted storage in stick mount.
    But beware this may crash your phone when you remove the card requiring a reboot.

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
    1
    mount -o bind /sdcard/music/sd /sdcard/usbdisk/sda1

    Have you tested this? The reason I ask is that unless something has changed which I don't know about, this will not be possible. Since 4.2, Google changed how android handles mounts and this is no longer possible with root (root does not have elevated enough permissions).

    Hence why I created this script back in the 4.2 days:

    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2178863

    *Note, I no longer support that script so do NOT use it...

    ...which in turn lead to this:

    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2192122

    I myself use FolderMount as it works well and scripts are just a bit too clunky (hence why I ceased working on and supporting my script).

    The only issue is you will need to move everything in your current music folder (which foldermount will do nicely for you) so you must always have your external media with you to play music. You cannot simply expand your current folder, its all or nothing (unless you can mount a subfolder of your music directory and music will see that? Not sure, you'll have to test).
    1
    I'm now trying foldermount, but it seems it's moving all my music from the external SD do the internal memory... Then what? Is it supposed to move all the music back to the SD card before unmounting? I can see no point to this...

    Sounds like you've done it backwards.

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk