How to Expand Firestick Internal Storage Using USB

Overview

This article is about how to expand Firestick internal storage using USB.

 

One of the biggest complaints and issues about Amazon Fire TV stick 4K is running out of storage. The device only has 8GB of internal storage, but only 5GB of it is available to use due to the Fire OS operating system pre-installed on your device. This 5GB is basically not enough for some users who love to install and try many applications on their Firestick. 

When your Firestick is running out of storage, you can also experience various problems and technical issues, such as blank screen, app freezing, and more. That is why you are forced to delete some apps to free some space and maintain the good performance of your device. 

However, worry no more because the good thing is, you can now expand your Fire TV Stick internal storage using a USB Driver. It is probably good news for every Firestick user because by just following some simple steps, you can now add some storage space on your device to enjoy more applications to install. Continue reading, and we will show you the step-by-step guide on how you can expand your Fire Tv stick internal storage using a USB Flash Drive. 

 

What You Will Need

We list down some of the things you will need to start this process: 

• A Fire TV Stick 4K. 
• OTG Cable.
• USB 3.0 Flash Drive. (minimum of 64GB)
• Rufus Drive Utility – it is only needed if you want to format your USB flash drive. 
• Remote ADB Shell App – we will show you how you can get this app. 

 

Pick A Good USB Drive

Remember that not every USB drive works well on Firestick. As we have observed USB 3.0 drivers work well, but USB 2.0 and 1.0 have the least success rate, some of them are not compatible and did not work at all.

If your USB drive does not work on your device, we suggest formatting it with Rufus Drive Utility and see if the USB drive works properly after you format it. Sometimes there might be something wrong with the drive, and this process might affect you a bit. 

We also suggest getting one of the SanDisk 3.0 models with a minimum 64Gb storage space to ensure that it works well on your device. 

 

OTG Cable

The main function of the OTG cable is that you need to connect the two devices. The first is to connect your USB flash drive to your Fire TV stick 4K. After that, put back the Fire Stick to your TV and plugged it in. 

You will see how it will look like with an OTG by following the image below. 

 

 

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Expand Fire TV Stick 4k Internal Storage

After you prepare all of the things needed and follow the instructions above, you can now proceed with expanding your Fire TV Stick 4K storage by following the step-by-step guide below. First, we need to install the Remote ADB App

 

How to Install the Remote ADB App

1. On your firestick home screen, click on the Settings icon. 

 

2. Scroll down and select My Fire TV.

 

3. Click About.

 

4. Go to the Network and type in your IP Address.

 

5. After that, go back one step and click on the Developer options (Still on the My Fire TV menu section).

 

6. Turn on ADB debugging and Apps from Unknown Sources.

 

7. A box will pop up. Select Turn On.

 

8. Go back Home and choose FIND.

 

9. Select Search.

 

10. You can use your Alexa voice-enabled remote and say Downloader or type it and click on the suggestion when it appears.

 

11. Click on the Downloader icon.

 

12. Tap on Get/Download.

 

13. Wait for the installation to finish.

 

14. Click Open.

 

15. Select on Allow.

 

16. Click on the search engine. 

 

17. Type in https://reviewvpn.com/adb and then tap Go.

 

18. Wait for a few minutes for the app to be downloaded.

 

19. Click on Install.

 

20. Wait for a few minutes for the app to be installed.

 

21. Select Open.

 

How to Expand Amazon Firestick Storage using the Remote ADB Shell App

1. Launch the Remote ADB Shell app and click OK.

 

2. On the main screen of the app, you will see a blank space. Tap it and type in your IP Address, same with what you wrote down in step #4 of the previous process. Then click Next.

 

3. Type in 5555 in the next box and Tap Next.

 

4. Select Connect.

 

5. Check the box on “Always Allow from this computer.” and Click OK.

 

6. After that, you will see a command line. Click on the OK button on your remote to see the keyboard. 

 

7. Type in the sm list disks and click Run.

 

8. You can see your disk name listed in the background. Make sure to note the name as you will need it in the next step. Click back to exit the keyboard and see all of the text presented. 

 

9.After that, you will now need to choose how to format the USB drive. 

 

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Option 1: sm partition disk:8,0 mixed 50

If your drive name is ‘8,0’ then you can now move on to the next step with your Fire TV external hard drive. But if not, you are required to input the drive name before running the code. 

In choosing this option, you will create two partitions that are equal-sized on your drive.

For example, if you are using a 256GB 3.0 USB Flash drive, it will be split equally into two partitions equally having 128GB each.

These partitions will be used in two activities:

(1) for storing applications that you install on your device 

(2) For storing files and more. 

For us, we prefer this option over the other one because this option will allow you to manage your storage space from application to files.  

The good thing with this option is you can load movies, TV shows, and other media files from a computer onto the storage partition. You play these files through any of the media players available on the Fire TV Stick. You can also download any media from various APKs and transfer them onto the storage partition and view it later. This is a great option for those travelers who have limited Internet access.

 

Option 2: sm partition disk:8,0 private

This option is about formatting your entries disk as internal storage for running the application. It simply means that you cannot store any media files and watch them later. It will prevent you from accessing any media files you want from external storage.  

31. Whatever option you choose, you need to type it and select Run. As you can see, we chose option one.

 

32. After choosing a command, you will see from the background that your USB drive has been removed. Don’t worry, it’s normal.

 

33. Wait, and the USB will soon connect again.

 

34. The following command is to confirm that the format is successful and it worked properly. Type df -h and then click Run.

 

35. After that, you can now see the size of the two partitions and the available space in each. 

 

See the example below:

(1st)    /dev/fuse or the Fire TV stick 4K given storage. It only has 415MB left storage.

(2nd )  /dev/fuse or the external storage for storing media files and more. It only has 115GB and 736 KB used. 

 /dev/block/dm-2  or the 2nd partition for storing run applications only has 113GB and 89MB used. 

 

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App Installation Location

All of the applications that you install shall be stored on the dm-2 partition of the USB drive. However, some users noticed that some applications they installed through the Amazon app store are not on the USB drive.  

In order to find out your application storage location, you just need to follow these steps. 

1. On your Firestick, go to settings. 

 

2. Click on Applications.

 

3. Select Manage Installed Applications.

 

4. Now you will see a USB icon next to the apps currently running off the USB drive. 

 

However, some applications cannot be stored on the USB driver, it is because some author of the application does not specifically support or allow the app to be run from the Fire TV stick external storage source. 

Applications are run on the default internal storage space. If you cannot find an app that you downloaded on the USB storage drive, it means the app developer does not allow this kind of app storing and has put some of this within their code.

Some of the applications that support external storage are ES File Explorer and Philo. You can try one of these apps to make sure that your USB Flash drive is working properly. Fortunately, you can now move applications over to the USB drive using a Remote ADB Shell. 

 

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How To Transfer Apps from Onboard Storage to USB Drive With Screenshots

We will show you how you can move an application located on the internal storage to the USB flash drive. The first thing you need to do is write down that partition ID where we are moving the application. You can see this ID on the last step we do on the Remote ADB Shell App, which is the df -h.

1. From the ADB Shell app write down the ID from /dev.block/dm-2 beside the /mnt/: For this we will use the code b364d821-f0b7-4f6f-8c67-eeb62f364ae1 .

Note: You cannot use this code because it is different from this one.

 

 2. See all of the lists of the package names installed on your device by typing pm list packages and click Run.

 

3. After that, it will show you all of the lists of packages installed. Choose one app that you want to move. For this tutorial, we will move the UFC app on the USB drive, and the package name is com.neulion.firetv.ufc.android.amazon

 

4. Now, we will combine the partition ID with the app package name. It should be like this: pm move-package com.neulion.firetv.ufc.android.amazon b364d821-f0b7-4f6f-8c67-eeb62f364ae1 and then click Run.

 

5. After that, you will see a pop-up notification to know if it worked well.

 

6. Now go to the Manage application, and you will see that the UFC app now has a USB icon next to it. 

 

Why Use Surfshark on Firestick?

There are lots of reasons why you should pair your Firestick with a VPN such as Surfshark. Since online is becoming an unsafe world because of different privacy and security threats, you need to have an online companion that will protect you from these. 

One of the reliable tools to use is a VPN, especially Surfshark. This VPN is a proven and tested VPN trusted by millions of users worldwide. It is also an award-winning VPN that will give you lots of benefits and good quality of service worth every cent. 

Here is the reason why it is our VPN of choice:

• Prevent ISPs from interfering with your connection and speed up your internet.
• It gives you unlimited bandwidth and makes your internet speed faster. 
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• Supported with IKEv2, OpenVPN, and L2TP/IPsec VPN protocols

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How to Install Surfshark VPN on Firestick

If your Firestick still has the older interface, read this article to learn how to update it: Update Firestick Interface.

Follow our screenshots below to install the SurfShark VPN app on your Fire TV stick.

1. Go to the Home screen of your Firestick.

 

2. Navigate towards the Find tab. Press the Search button from the resulting dropdown.

 

3. Type in the keyword of SurfShark and select from the suggestions that will appear.

 

4. Click the official SurfShark icon from your search results.

 

5. Press the Download (You own it) button.

 

6. The SurfShark VPN installer will download on your device.

 

7. SurfShark VPN’s app will automatically install itself on your Fire TV stick.

 

8. Press the Open button after completing SurfShark VPN’s installation process.

 

9. Please wait for the SurfShark VPN to load its user interface.

 

10. You can now log in with your SurfShark VPN account credentials.

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FAQs

Is expanding through the USB process legal?

Yes, this process is 100% legal, and was officially announced by Amazon that Fire TV now supports external USB storage.

 

How can I make my external storage visible?

Follow these troubleshooting tips:

• Check if everything is properly plugged in.
• Make sure you enter the correct IP address.
• Format the external storage using the FAT32 format 
• Large storage devices require more power. Make sure you have enough power to address it. 

 

Can I manually format the external storage device using a PC?

Fortunately, Yes. Just follow the steps below.

1. The first is to connect the external storage device to your computer via the USB port.
2. Look for the icon of the USB drive and click on it.
3. Select Format
4. Choose FAT32 for the File System
5. Click  Default Allocation Size
6. Enter a name for the Volume Label
7. Tap Quick Format
8. Click Start
9. When a warning pops up and select Ok. 
10. Your device has been now formatted in the FAT32 format.

 

Conclusion

Firestick is one of the amazing software that has turned your plain home entertainment into an amazing one by allowing you to install any application you want on your Firestick. However, because of limited storage, you are not able to enjoy all of these. Luckily, you can now expand your internal storage using a USB flash drive, and with it, you can now install and run all of your favorite apps, media, and anything as much as you want. You just need to make sure that you follow all of the steps exactly as it is to avoid any errors. We hope this article helps you on how you can expand your Firestick internal storage using a USB flash drive.