How to make an SD card the main memory on Android. How to use the SD card on an Android device

Do you want to use microSD card as a real memory extension and install applications on it? To do this, you need to format it as internal memory. This is fairly easy to do on most phones, but unfortunately some manufacturers like Sony, LG or Samsung don't have this feature by default. But if your smartphone is equipped with Android Marshmallow or newer, then you can use the command line. True after that, avoid Android updates. How to combine memory correctly, we will tell in this article.

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The easy way

If you're lucky, your smartphone will allow you to do this without connecting it to a PC. This method will most likely be your only hope if you are using more new version Android (7.0 Nougat or 8.0 Oreo). Here's how to check:

Install SD card in Android phone and wait for it to be recognized
Open Settings > Storage
Touch the name of your SD card.
Touch the three vertical dots in the upper right corner of the screen.
Click "Settings" .
Select Format as internal memory.
Click "Clean and Format"
Android will then prompt to transfer the data

If your smartphone does not allow you to do this, the process becomes more difficult. We will move on to it below.

What to do if your phone won't let you format microSD as internal storage

Some smartphone manufacturers disable the normal Android feature to format the microSD as internal memory, hiding the ability to do so from your phone. But it is still possible to activate this process using a PC without requiring any root privileges.

The exact steps vary depending on android versions your phone. This method worked well with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and Android 8.0 Oreo, however we ran into trouble on Android Nougat.

For phones using Android 6.0 Marshmallow

When the MicroSD card is formatted as internal memory, applications can be fully stored on it. This means that if you download the application overall size 2 GB, then the SD card should have 2 GB of space. If, however, the MicroSD card is formatted only as a backup, there will not be enough memory, as it says PLATYPUS_DIARRHEA on reddit.

Just because a menu option is invisible doesn't mean it doesn't work. A few days after posting on Reddit, it was revealed that it was also possible to format the MicroSD card as internal storage in the Galaxy S7 using the command line. We have successfully tested instructions with samsung galaxy S7, Sony Xperia Z5 and LG G4 running Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

All three smartphones work from the factory or have been updated with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and have a microSD card slot. Also, there is no menu option to format the microSD card as internal storage. The feature is only available on HTC One A9 and Motorola on all Moto smartphones.

Why did Samsung, LG and Sony hide this item? I connected each of the three smartphones to the computer, and each of them had one microSD card.

I then entered in the commands described in my blog. Once you open a command prompt window and connect your smartphone, you can enter the first command:

adb shell

Now the command line is ready to run system commands on your smartphone. In this case, we want to format the SD card or part of it as internal storage. Even if Sony, Samsung and LG deny us this option in the graphical user interface, we can still execute this command through the console. First, however, we need the ID of the SD card. You can find it out with the following command:

sm list disks

In my case the disk is called 179.64 . Perhaps yours is different. Note the exact ID. In the following command, we will format and partition the MicroSD card. Your content will be removed. If there are important files on the card, copy them to another drive or computer. If you want to keep a MicroSD card in your smartphone all the time, you can now partition all your memory. To do this, enter:

sm partition disk:179,64 private

The operation takes a few seconds or minutes, depending on the capacity of the memory card. If you want to use only a certain percentage so that other devices can read it, you must exclude it from the personal section. The 50:50 split command looks like this:

sm partition disk:179.64 mixed 50

This is the end of Paul O'Brien's guide, but not the end of the job. If you now want to use the reallocated memory, you must migrate applications and data as well. This can be done through the "Storage" section in the menu android settings. Select the MicroSD card, then go to the top right side of the menu and click "Move Data". You cannot select this menu item before splitting.

Now all downloaded applications will be completely written to the MicroSD card. Only system apps and updates use internal memory. This means that you will never get an error due to lack of space.

Smartphones with Android Oreo

Recent Android updates have changed the rules a bit, but it's still possible to use this method with ADB. Just start working with ADB by the method above, but after entering shell adb you will be prompted to set certain values.

Enter the following lines to unlock the ability to format microSD cards as internal storage on your phone:

G8141:/ $ sm set-force-adoptable true
G8141:/ $ sm list-disks
disk:179.0
G8141:/ $ sm partition disk:179.0 private
G8141:/ $ sm set-force-adoptable false
G8141:/ $ exit

We tested this method on a Sony Xperia XZ Premium running Android 8.0 Oreo and it worked. In the screenshots below, you can see a 16 GB microSD card installed as internal storage:

Problems with system updates and Nougat

Some readers have reported difficulties installing system updates in Android 6.0 after using the above methods. Upgrading to Android 7.0 Nougat is not possible after installing MicroSD as internal storage. Our test devices with Android 7.0 Nougat don't even respond to the console commands shown above.

Due to the lack of documentation on the web, we can only recommend that you perform a number of operations before updating the system. Back up your photos or music to your computer or the cloud and free up as much space on your SD card and smartphone as you can.

Delete unnecessary applications and return the data to the internal memory. Then format the MicroSD card as removable media. Only then can you safely install the Android update.

What's the catch?

MicroSD cards do not work as fast as the built-in memory of a smartphone. So don't waste your money on cheaper ones, and instead buy yourself memory cards with reasonable read bandwidth. Extreme Pro and MicroSD from Sandisk were, in our opinion, the best in terms of price / quality ratio. At bandwidth 74 MB/s writes, you shouldn't experience lag. Such cards are best suited for installation as internal memory.

Interestingly, only the LG G4 was able to read the extended memory correctly. Samsung showed an unnaturally large amount of occupied memory, and Sony's memory was even negative. However, we didn't have any complications, and even when we were connected to a computer, we were able to access all of our data properly, although we could only see the general and not the specific part of the memory. Difficulties arose only in the case of a system update (see above).

Memory Boost: Complete Success

We subjected all the smartphones described above to a single endurance test. We have installed Final Fantasy IX on all devices. The game size is 1.8 GB. After installation, it is easy to see which of the two types of memory, internal or SD card, was used. In all cases, after installing on the SD card, there is 1.8 GB less space. This degree of success cannot be achieved with SD cards formatted as external memory, as full data migration is not possible.

Compare the values of internal memory and SD card memory in the screenshot to confirm.

What happens if you remove the microSD card?

Of course, the question is what happens if the MicroSD card disappears from the system. In fact, this creates a serious problem for your applications. Eventually, they can no longer access their data. Since sections from your operating system and factory reset information is still stored in the internal memory, a removed or broken SD card cannot cause great harm. When we removed the microSD card, the app icons simply disappeared, and when we reinstalled them, they returned back.

If you lose or break your SD card, your data will be lost. Since they are encrypted as internal memory, you may not hope for data recovery. Instead, use regular backups. So feel free to enjoy the cheap memory expansion of your Marshmallow smartphone.

Safe removal of an internal broken SD card

To safely remove the SD card from your smartphone, you must reverse the process above. Since you probably don't have enough storage space on your internal storage, you'll first need to move your photos and other data to some other storage, such as your PC's hard drive.

Then go back to settings "Storage and USB drives" and press "Move data to internal memory" on the menu. Then format the SD card as an external memory. Perform both steps (backup and format) so that your data cannot be lost and you can use the SD card with other devices.

A memory card is needed to store information. In order not to lose valuable files, memory cards should be purchased only from trusted places.

How to use the memory card

The memory card is easy to use. All modern devices have special inputs for such cards. As a rule, they are located on the side or bottom panels. Usually, the device itself has a picture showing exactly how to insert the memory card (for example, beveled corner to the right). Insert it into the connector as it should, and start working with the equipment.

Some memory cards have an additional button. Lowering it down to the inscription Lock, you will block the card. Thus, it will be impossible to delete information from it, nor to write a new one.

How to check a memory card through a computer

The simplest of the options for checking a memory card and its volume is checking through a computer. You need to insert a memory card into a special slot in a computer or laptop (or using a card reader). Next, select a memory card in the detected devices and go to its properties. All the necessary information will be displayed there.

Format

There are three different SD formats in total, available in two form factors (SD and microSD):

SD (microSD) - drives up to 2 GB, work with any equipment;
SDHC (micro SDHC) - drives from 2 to 32 GB, work on devices with support for SDHC and SDXC;
SDXC (microSDXC) - drives from 32 GB to 2 TB (currently maximum 512 GB), only work on SDXC-enabled devices.

As you can see, they are not backwards compatible. Memory cards of the new format will not work on old equipment.

Volume

Support for microSDXC declared by the manufacturer does not mean support for cards of this format with any volume and depends on the specific device. For example, HTC One M9 works with microSDXC, but officially only supports cards up to and including 128 GB.

Another one is associated with the volume of storage important point. All microSDXC cards use the exFAT file system by default. Windows has been supporting it for more than 10 years, it has appeared in OS X since version 10.6.5 (Snow Leopard), exFAT support has been implemented in Linux distributions, but out of the box it does not work everywhere.

High speed UHS interface

I or II is added to the logo of a card with UHS support, depending on the version

SDHC and SDXC cards can support the Ultra High Speed interface, which provides higher speeds (UHS-I up to 104 MB/s and UHS-II up to 312 MB/s) if the device has hardware support. UHS is backward compatible with earlier interfaces and can work with devices that do not support it, but at standard speed (up to 25 MB/s).

2. Speed

Luca Lorenzelli/shutterstock.com

Classifying the write and read speed of microSD cards is as complex as their formats and compatibility. The specs allow four ways to describe card speed, and since manufacturers use them all, there's a lot of confusion.

speed class

Macro speed class for ordinary cards represents a digit inscribed in the Latin letter C

The Speed Class is the minimum write speed to the memory card in megabytes per second. There are four in total:

Class 2- from 2 MB/s;
Class 4- from 4 MB/s;
Class 6- from 6 MB/s;
Class 10- from 10 MB/s.

By analogy with the marking of conventional cards, the speed class of UHS cards fits into the Latin letter U

Cards operating on the high-speed UHS bus have only two speed classes so far:

Class 1 (U1)- from 10 MB/s;
Class 3 (U3)- from 30 MB/s.

Since the minimum value of the entry is used in the designation of the speed class, theoretically a card of the second class may well be faster than a card of the fourth. Although, if this is the case, the manufacturer will most likely prefer to state this fact more explicitly.

Max speed

The speed class is enough to compare cards when choosing, but some manufacturers also use the maximum speed in MB / s in the description, and more often not even the write speed (which is always lower), but the read speed.

Usually these are the results of synthetic tests in ideal conditions, which are unattainable in normal use. In practice, the speed depends on many factors, so you should not focus on this characteristic.

Speed multiplier

Another classification option is a speed multiplier, similar to the one used to indicate the read and write speed of optical discs. There are more than ten of them, from 6x to 633x.

The 1x multiplier is 150 KB/s, which means that the simplest 6x cards have a speed of 900 KB/s. The fastest cards can have a multiplier of 633x, which is 95 MB/s.

3. Tasks

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Choose the right card for specific tasks. The biggest and fastest is not always the best. For certain use cases, volume and speed may be excessive.

When buying a card for a smartphone, volume plays a bigger role than speed. The advantages of a large storage are obvious, but the advantages of a high transfer rate on a smartphone are almost not felt, since large files are rarely written and read there (unless you have a smartphone with 4K video support).

Cameras shooting HD and 4K video are a completely different matter: both speed and volume are equally important here. For 4K video, camera manufacturers recommend using UHS U3 cards, for HD - regular Class 10 or at least Class 6.

For photos, many professionals prefer to use several smaller cards to minimize the risk of losing all the pictures in force majeure. As for the speed, it all depends on the photo format. If you shoot in RAW, it makes sense to invest in microSDHC or microSDXC class UHS U1 and U3 - in this case, they will reveal themselves to the fullest.

4. Fakes

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No matter how trite it may sound, but buying a fake under the guise of original cards is now easier than ever. A few years ago, SanDisk claimed that a third of the SanDisk memory cards on the market were counterfeit. It is unlikely that the situation has changed much since that time.

To avoid disappointment when buying, it is enough to be guided by common sense. Refrain from buying from untrustworthy sellers and beware of "original" cards that are priced well below the official price.

Attackers have learned how to counterfeit packaging so well that it can sometimes be very difficult to distinguish it from the original. With full confidence, it is possible to judge the authenticity of a particular card only after verification with the help of special utilities:

h2testw- for Windows;

If you have already experienced the loss of important data due to a broken memory card for one reason or another, then when it comes to choosing, you will most likely prefer more expensive card famous brand than the available "noname".

In addition to greater reliability and safety of your data, with a branded card you will receive high speed and a guarantee (in some cases even a lifetime).

Now you know everything you need to know about SD cards. As you can see, there are many questions that you will have to answer before purchasing a card. Perhaps, best idea will have various cards for various needs. So you can use all the advantages of the equipment and not expose your budget to unnecessary costs.

For most people, microSD is just a form factor, but it really isn't. You can easily insert any microSD card into a standard slot, but not every one of them will work, since cards differ in many ways.