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  • Windows format doesn't completely change sdcard volume name for Android

    From Marion@21:1/5 to All on Tue Feb 4 20:28:23 2025
    XPost: comp.mobile.android, alt.comp.os.windows-11

    The more I do to improve efficiency between Android and Windows, and specifically to make inevitable porting of each completely seamless,
    the more I learn how complex it gets when you are dealing with sdcards.
    <https://i.postimg.cc/bNGTzR6q/sdcard1.jpg>

    When you mindlessly double your portable memory, you end up with the new filespec being different than the old filespec due to the new volume name.
    <https://i.postimg.cc/7YngGTV4/swapportablememory.jpg>

    In order to make seamless the doubling of sdcard portable memory, I have,
    for years, Windows-formatted the new volume label to match the old name.
    <https://i.postimg.cc/1XDSvStx/formatlabel.jpg>

    That clever little trick wonderfully enables the filespec for the new
    sdcard portable memory to be the same as the old for Android apps.
    <https://i.postimg.cc/QN6nY1H5/sdcard09.jpg>

    Even Windows calls uses the new volume name, which is nicely consistent
    such that paths to map data on Windows are the *same* as on Android.
    <https://i.postimg.cc/zD9P15FX/sdcard11.jpg> OsmAnd~ Windows confirmation
    <https://i.postimg.cc/ZK4pNMTx/sdcard12.jpg> OsmAnd~ Android confirmation

    With the result that doubling portable storage is entirely seamless to all
    your Windows/Android apps whether they be editors or maps or file managers.
    <https://i.postimg.cc/dtVcLJTR/sdcard10.jpg>>

    However... with all magic... comes complexity (of understanding)...

    In another thread, an offshoot revealed that even if you change the volume
    name (aka volume label) of your portable storage sdcard, while Android apps
    can use either the old volume name or the new volume name (apparently), the question is why didn't Windows format *completely* change the Volume Name?
    *Clever helpful suggestion for portable memory using Windows & Android editors*
    <https://www.novabbs.com/computers/article-flat.php?id=57086&group=comp.mobile.android#57086>

    As a result, Android file managers sometimes display only the new name:
    <https://i.postimg.cc/C1rkysfz/roundsync.jpg>

    And some Android file managers only display the old volume name: https://i.postimg.cc/0yvf0ZGs/zarchiver.jpg>

    Yet, more often than not, Android file managers display both volume names!
    <https://i.postimg.cc/v8z1hhKn/ghostcommander.jpg>
    <https://i.postimg.cc/26yLxLXm/mixexplorer.jpg>
    <https://i.postimg.cc/PqGS9TnB/owlfiles.jpg>

    Why?
    Does anyone know what is going on to explain the recent observations above?
    --
    The whole point of Usenet is to find people who know more than we do and
    then to pool our collective resources to solve problems as a team.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From R.Wieser@21:1/5 to All on Tue Feb 4 21:53:34 2025
    XPost: comp.mobile.android, alt.comp.os.windows-11

    Arlen,

    the question is why didn't Windows format *completely* change the Volume Name?

    You're missing the, rather obvious, other possibility :

    Its not that Windows didn't completely change the volume name (where would Windows store the old one ? Have you checked ?), its Android which is doing something to show the old name.

    I leave it up to you to research what that it is.

    Hint: Isn't there something on the SD card which you *can't* change ? Whats the chance that that is involved ?

    Regards,
    Rudy Wieser

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Carlos E.R.@21:1/5 to Marion on Tue Feb 4 23:44:09 2025
    XPost: comp.mobile.android, alt.comp.os.windows-11

    On 2025-02-04 21:28, Marion wrote:

    ...

    However... with all magic... comes complexity (of understanding)...
    In another thread, an offshoot revealed that even if you change the volume name (aka volume label) of your portable storage sdcard, while Android apps can use either the old volume name or the new volume name (apparently), the question is why didn't Windows format *completely* change the Volume Name?

    No, it is not the old label, but the UUID, which in Windows is kept
    short, not using the 128 bits. It is possibly the same as the label, or
    at least in the same style.

    For instance, in Linux you can use "tune2fs" to write the uuid of an
    ext4 partition.

    -U UUID
    Set the universally unique identifier
    (UUID) of the file system to UUID. The
    format of the UUID is a series of hex
    digits separated by hyphens, like this:
    "c1b9d5a2-f162-11cf-9ece-0020afc76f16".
    The UUID parameter may also be one of
    the following:

    clear clear the file system UUID

    random generate a new randomly-gen-
    erated UUID

    time generate a new time-based
    UUID

    The UUID may be used by mount(8),
    fsck(8), and /etc/fstab(5) (and possibly
    others) by specifying UUID=uuid instead
    of a block special device name like
    /dev/hda1.

    See uuidgen(8) for more information. If
    the system does not have a good random
    number generator such as /dev/random or
    /dev/urandom, tune2fs will automatically
    use a time-based UUID instead of a ran-
    domly-generated UUID.


    So, the Windows format command should create the uuid randomly, and
    perhaps allows to change it.


    I suggest you find a command to at least display the uuid in Windows,
    and then format an usb mem stick to check what happens to it.


    Maybe here: <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/70770357/how-can-i-get-the-guid-of-my-disc-partitions>

    There is a sample code using Delphi, and some possibilities using the
    Power Shell.



    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)