How-to: Moving thumbnails to USB free up space on firestick 2 [solved]

[chrisc2r]

I have a firestick 2 (tank) with mrmc using up most of the available space to store thumbnails.

It is possible to use an OTG cable to add USB storage... however, it doesn't appear possible to transfer apps to the USB storage using the App management console. There's also no root access to the device and therefore standard linux methods of playing with the partition structure also can't be used.

It is, however, possible to move the thumbnails directory (which takes up all the space) onto the USB storage, and tell mrmc to look there instead. This method worked for me - use at your own risk. I've no idea if it's officially supported or not.

The first step is to ensure USB storage is recognised by the firestick, when you plug it in. If not, you'll need to format (presumaby to fat32 or ext4).

Next, In the Firestick settings, turn on adb connections and also stop mrmc.

Then, install adb on your laptop - it's available in ubuntu's package library

Code: Select all

>sudo apt-get install adb

Next, connect to the firestick via ip address

Code: Select all

>adb connect IP:5555

The firestick should ask you to confirm.

Next, load a remote shell on the firestick

Code: Select all

>adb shell

Now... create new directory on usb storage

Code: Select all

>mkdir -p /storage/usbotg/Android/data/tv.mrmc.mrmc/files/.mrmc/userdata

Copy the thumbnails from internal to usb storage

Code: Select all

> cp -r /sdcard/Android/data/tv.mrmc.mrmc/files/.mrmc/userdata/Thumbnails /storage/usbotg/Android/data/tv.mrmc.mrmc/files/.mrmc/userdata

Create new local settings file

Code: Select all

> touch /sdcard/Android/data/tv.mrmc.mrmc/files/.mrmc/userdata/advancedsettings.xml

Populate it with some settings...

Code: Select all

> echo \<advancedsettings\>\<pathsubstitution\>\<substitute\>\<from\>special://thumbnails/\</from\>\<to\>/storage/usbotg/Android/data/tv.mrmc.mrmc/files/.mrmc/userdata/Thumbnails/\</to\>\</substitute\>\</pathsubstitution\>\</advancedsettings\> > /sdcard/Android/data/tv.mrmc.mrmc/files/.mrmc/userdata/advancedsettings.xml

Now you probably want to test to make sure it still works!

Finally, delete the thumbnails from internal storage

Code: Select all

>rm -rf /sdcard/Android/data/tv.mrmc.mrmc/files/.mrmc/userdata/Thumbnails

Anyway, hope this helps someone.