Major issue - apps on SD card "dissappear"

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Gadgetguy2005

Senior Member
May 2, 2011
220
18
0
Toronto
Nov 23, 2014 at 5:23 AM
Hello all,

I spent the last couple of hours to install a large number of apps, games etc. to my shield tablet (after a lollipop factory reset). I moved most apps to the SD card from the app manager.

Then, I restarted - and all the apps i moved to to the sd card have disappeared. A few seconds later they came back in the application folder - but they did not come back to the desktop.

I tried again - put them on the desktop and in folders - then restarted. The same thing has happened: they disappeared from the desktop.

Initially they were not in the app folder either - but then they appeared a few seconds later.

It seems like lollipop has difficulty seeing if there are a large number of apps on the SD card and therefore removes them all from the desktop?

This is a major issue as I never experienced such a thing with Kitkat...

Any thoughts?
 
Last edited:
V

Varmer

New member
Oct 3, 2010
2
0
0
Nov 23, 2014 at 1:31 PM
I had this same issue and solved it. It is an SD card formatting issue.

My suddenly root-less Shield's apps couldn't write into my SD card and some icons kept disappearing from the home screens. I dug into the first issue (since Lollipop reportedly removes Kitkat's limitation in that aspect), and it seems all you need to do is format your card (in a PC) in NFTS. Cards come in exFAT by defect and formatting them in android uses that format as well, and for some reason apps in Lollipop can't write in an exFAT card. Formatting in NFTS not only allowed my file explorer to write onto the SD card, but it stopped the icons disappearing from my home screen as well.

Hope this helps!
 
G

Gadgetguy2005

Senior Member
May 2, 2011
220
18
0
Toronto
Nov 23, 2014 at 2:13 PM
Varmer said:
I had this same issue and solved it. It is an SD card formatting issue.

My suddenly root-less Shield's apps couldn't write into my SD card and some icons kept disappearing from the home screens. I dug into the first issue (since Lollipop reportedly removes Kitkat's limitation in that aspect), and it seems all you need to do is format your card (in a PC) in NFTS. Cards come in exFAT by defect and formatting them in android uses that format as well, and for some reason apps in Lollipop can't write in an exFAT card. Formatting in NFTS not only allowed my file explorer to write onto the SD card, but it stopped the icons disappearing from my home screen as well.

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Thank you for the help. I am able to write to the SD card (Formatted in the tablet).

The issue I think is a timing issue:

Lollipop boots up - before it loads the long list of apps from the SD card.

So immediately, during boot, those apps I moved to the SD card are not visible, therefore their icons are removed from the desktop or folders.

Then, a few seconds later the SD card read completes and the apps become visible in the apps folder. However, by that time the icons on the desktop are already drawn, so the apps are not on the desktop (or dock) any more.

Very frustrating. I will try to use an alternative launcher now - hoping that that will work better ...

If it does not, I will try moving the apps back to main memory to see at how many apps do I start getting the problem. (If I had only 5-10 apps on SD card, this problem did not existed. I experienced it only when I moved 20+ apps to SD)

Either way: this is not normal...
 
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Varmer

New member
Oct 3, 2010
2
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0
Nov 23, 2014 at 2:53 PM
If you formatted in the tablet you're still in exFAT. I had the same delay you speak of, but it's gone now with my card in NFTS. Never had an icon disappear ever since I reformatted, I even tried just now to make sure and everything works like a charm. I think you should give it a try, even if it is to discard possible sources of error.
Anyways, good luck!
 
G

Gadgetguy2005

Senior Member
May 2, 2011
220
18
0
Toronto
Nov 23, 2014 at 5:16 PM
Varmer said:
If you formatted in the tablet you're still in exFAT. I had the same delay you speak of, but it's gone now with my card in NFTS. Never had an icon disappear ever since I reformatted, I even tried just now to make sure and everything works like a charm. I think you should give it a try, even if it is to discard possible sources of error.
Anyways, good luck!
Click to expand...
I see what you mean - makes sense. Will copy all data from microsd to my PC - reformat and recopy. Lets see how that changes things.

Thank you
 
G

Gadgetguy2005

Senior Member
May 2, 2011
220
18
0
Toronto
Nov 23, 2014 at 6:04 PM
Gadgetguy2005 said:
I see what you mean - makes sense. Will copy all data from microsd to my PC - reformat and recopy. Lets see how that changes things.

Thank you
Click to expand...
Update: formatted card to NTFS. Results are exactly the same. The apps on the microSD take about 10 seconds to show up (I have about 50 apps on the microsd...).

So that did not solve the problem.

I will set up nova launcher now. Lets see if that helps to solve this (not a real solution - but could be a good work around)
 
S

Sarge29490

Member
Oct 10, 2014
25
12
0
Nov 24, 2014 at 3:39 AM
Gadgetguy I think your tablet did not update correctly, becuase after updating to lollipop I have 0 issues, no lag, wifi is much better - getting 2-3 bars where previously getting only 1 and no issues related to sd card (i am on the same formatting when i took my card out of the box)... Or maybe there is a problem with build and results of upgrade vary from tablet to tablet and i am one of the lucky ones :)

Goodluck, hope you find your solutions soon
 
D

DavidSchrader

New member
Oct 3, 2014
2
0
0
Nov 25, 2014 at 1:38 AM
Unresolved Issue

First, since when is NTFS the preferred format for Android??

Second, this same issue has been unresolved and persistent on the Google Now launcher for a long time, research it. All these format and speed questions are grabbing at straws. The issue is REAL and nobody is owning up to it. Google never has and now Nvidia will not with their launcher either. The new Nvidia launcher looks and acts just like the Google now launcher in form, function and this bug.

Nova Launcher does not have this issue and I was forced to switch to it even though I hate the overhead.
 
J

Judge584

Senior Member
Jun 20, 2008
382
69
0
Nov 25, 2014 at 8:03 AM
Yes it is, you have to be closest to the best setting. 128kb is default out of factory, so go with 64kb the closest you can do with NTFS.
 
Alfonso87

Alfonso87

Senior Member
Oct 30, 2013
451
81
0
Nov 25, 2014 at 9:00 AM
Varmer said:
I had this same issue and solved it. It is an SD card formatting issue.

My suddenly root-less Shield's apps couldn't write into my SD card and some icons kept disappearing from the home screens. I dug into the first issue (since Lollipop reportedly removes Kitkat's limitation in that aspect), and it seems all you need to do is format your card (in a PC) in NFTS. Cards come in exFAT by defect and formatting them in android uses that format as well, and for some reason apps in Lollipop can't write in an exFAT card. Formatting in NFTS not only allowed my file explorer to write onto the SD card, but it stopped the icons disappearing from my home screen as well.

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Worked here, thank you
 
G

Gadgetguy2005

Senior Member
May 2, 2011
220
18
0
Toronto
Nov 25, 2014 at 4:38 PM
DavidSchrader said:
First, since when is NTFS the preferred format for Android??

Second, this same issue has been unresolved and persistent on the Google Now launcher for a long time, research it. All these format and speed questions are grabbing at straws. The issue is REAL and nobody is owning up to it. Google never has and now Nvidia will not with their launcher either. The new Nvidia launcher looks and acts just like the Google now launcher in form, function and this bug.

Nova Launcher does not have this issue and I was forced to switch to it even though I hate the overhead.
Click to expand...
Thank you David : you are probably right. I may have had the same on kitkat, but since there I never used the factory (google or nvidia) launcher I did not run into issues.

On lollipop I wanted to avoid to use a third party launcher - hence the problems.

I use now Nova launcher - and it works. (And formatting to NTFS did not help - it had zero results)
 
H

Hoover1979

Member
Sep 14, 2014
8
0
0
Adelaide, South Australia
Apr 2, 2015 at 8:14 AM
My SD card (Sandisk 64Gb) is formatted to NTFS apps disappearing

I am having the same app disapearances. most of my apps have been moved to my NTFS SD card. I can't format it to FAT32 as my Shield tablet won't recognize it. Under storage it just states to insert SD card and mount it. rather than displaying the stats on the SD card (space used, space free) so my card HAS to be NTFS as of today I am having disappearing apps and they don't appear after a few mins and sometimes I have to reboot my tablet up to 10 times before they show up! this is beyond annoying! what is the point of being able to store apps on external storage when the apps disappear like that?!
 
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mskulltula

Member
Dec 23, 2013
37
14
0
Jun 24, 2015 at 4:08 PM
I'm on 5.1, having reboot "Android is Optimizing", and stalled loading of apps after boot from NTFS formatted 64 gig class 10 Samsung memory card, along with USB OTG not working. Has anyone came across a solution for any of these?
 
Pariahnoble

Pariahnoble

Senior Member
Nov 19, 2013
326
134
0
plus.google.com
Jun 24, 2015 at 5:23 PM
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