One of the important but less talked about features of Google's Android 6.0 Marshmallow is Adoptable Storage, which allows the operating system to merge the internal memory of the smartphone with external memory granted by a microSD card into one partition.
Samsung, however, decided to omit the feature from the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7e edge, citing the possibility of all the data on a microSD card being erased when first inserted into the device and the fact that once the card is used with Adoptable Storage, it would not be read any longer by other devices, eliminating its capability of transferring files between devices.
The company's decision may not sit well with some users who were looking forward to using the Adoptable Storage feature on their Galaxy S7 or S7 edge, especially since the new flagship smartphones are bringing back expandable memory, which was missing in the Galaxy S6 line.
Fortunately, ROM developer and modder Paul O'Brien, more popularly known as MoDaCo, was able to find a way to get the new Samsung smartphones to access the feature without needing to have the devices rooted.
First, users are recommended to back up the data in the microSD card they will be using with their Galaxy S7 or S7 edge, as it will be formatted in the process. Users then have to make the decision on whether to split their microSD card into partly internal storage and partly conventional SD or to commit the whole memory to Adoptable Storage.
Users should then connect the smartphone to the PC, open the command terminal and type in the "adb shell" command. Users will have to enable USB debugging in the smartphone's developer settings, which is accessible through tapping its build number five times.
In the command terminal, users should then type in the "sm list-disks" command, which will display the disks that are available for Adoptable Storage. The disk ID will then appear, which should be written down as it would be used in the next step.
The "sm partition DISK TYPE RATIO" command should be entered next, with DISK referring to the disk ID, TYPE as either "private" for full adopted storage or "mixed" for split storage, and the RATIO referring to the slip if the mixed type was selected. Example commands are "sm partition disk:179:160 private" and "sm partition disk:179:160 mixed 50."
After the process is done, users can then check the new internal storage by going to the Settings menu of the Galaxy S7 or S7 edge, then to Additional Settings and Storage.
MoDaCo noted that the total space is not correctly shown, but everything should be working fine. Apps will be automatically installed on the storage with the most available space, but users can choose to move apps around manually.
