Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange
Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [external-sd]

For questions related to the external micro-SD card used by most Android devices to increase the amount of available storage. For the internal SD card, use 'internal-sd'. See the 'storage' tag wiki for a full overview of available storage-related tags.

##What does "external-sd" describe? Android devices generally use an SD card (usually the Micro-SD format) to increase storage available for data and, as of Android 2.2, applications.

For most devices the cards are removable. Specifications for those removable cards as well as many other technical details can be found at the Secure Digital Wikipedia article.

If your device's SDCard is non-removable, it is a so-called "Internal SDCard", and you should use the tag instead. For a full overview of storage related tags, please see the tag wiki.

##Quick SDCard troubleshooting guide Flowchart SD Card Troubleshooting
Flowchart SD Card Troubleshooting by Izzy (CC-BY-NC-SA)

##Selected "core questions"

917 questions
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5 answers

Check and fix SD card errors within Android itself?

Sometimes my SD card gets "corrupted" and this leads to many read/write errors. Usually, connecting the SD card to the windows 7 and selecting the "Error Checking" (Right click the drive > Tools > Error Checking) option finds the corruption and…
Irfan
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2 answers

How to upgrade / swap SD card without losing data and installed apps?

I have 2GB Micro SD card in my Android and want to upgrade to 4GB. How can I achieve it without losing anything from my 2GB card? I mostly use this card to store images/music and most of the apps.
hsinxh
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40
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1 answer

How to decrypt Adopted Storage?

Using the SD card as Adopted Storage encrypts it. How can it be decrypted?
poqdavid
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39
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5 answers

Best file system for an external SD card

I have a Galaxy S5 with Android 5 and got a new 64 GB SD card. What is the best file system for the SD card? FAT32 is not an option because I want files >4GB. Which file system offers the best performance ? Thank you for your help.
Asker
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38
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2 answers

How to adopt SD card as internal storage on Samsung devices?

I recently upgraded to 6.0.1 Marshmallow on my Galaxy S5 and I would like to adopt an SD card as internal storage. However, there is no option to do this. When I format the SD card, there is no "Internal" option, only a "Portable" option. I am…
steampowered
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34
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3 answers

How does the "Format as internal storage" feature work in Android 6.0+?

How does the "Format as internal storage" feature work in Android 6.0+? See screenshot below: Screenshot (click to enlarge) Why is it the case that "this USB drive will only work in this device"? Is it due to a partition format? I have tried to…
Bilo
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33
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5 answers

Installing to SDCard by default

I would like to know whether there is a way to tell Android to install applications on the micro SD card by default instead of having to download applications to internal memory first and then having to move them to the SD card manually. Thanks
user2239505
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26
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10 answers

Other than portability, are there any other advantages (or disadvantages) to storing apps on external storage?

Are there any particular advantages/disadvantages to storing apps on the external storage of an Android device? As I have a Nexus S, I can't think of advantages for me as I can't remove the storage, also the internal storage is more than enough for…
Dunhamzzz
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23
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2 answers

SD card partitioning? why? how?

I am going to install cm7 and it seems to me that is 'good' to partition my SD card. I did some reading but I am not sure if ext partition will become accessible as mass storage when an Android phone is connected to the computer. I still want to…
Radek
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22
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2 answers

Split external SD card partially into adoptable storage and portable storage

I don't want all my external SD card as adopted/internal storage, so I was wondering how I can split it into 1 part adopted storage and 1 part normal file storage (what Android calls "portable storage").
poqdavid
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21
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5 answers

Can I use ext4 on my SD card in a non-rooted phone?

I know that on a rooted phone, it's reasonably normal to create a small ext4 partition for App2SD to use, but I'm not asking about that case: I have a non-rooted HTC Desire running Froyo, and I'd like to format the whole of my SD card as ext4…
Andrew Aylett
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21
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3 answers

How do I secure/encrypt SD card data transparent to apps?

Are there any off-the-shelf options for securing the contents of an SD card so that files written by apps writing to SD are encrypted? If so, what is the best option? I'm looking for something for all apps. I would strongly prefer to do it without…
BrianCooksey
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21
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2 answers

How do I switch my Android device's SD card without causing problems?

I just got a new 32GB SD card for my Nexus One. On the old one I have a bunch of apps installed and store the data there because the internal memory doesn't handle it. So now I want to switch SD cards, but how do I go about doing that without…
Giyad Shkirgez
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18
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2 answers

Data Recovery - How to Restore Deleted / Formatted Files on HD Micro SD Card

Background: I put in a friend's SD Card to format it because it was having problems. Then I put mine back in and I think my phone formatted my SD Card. I had a ton of pictures on there that are now gone! I put the card into the computer and…
Brian McCarthy
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18
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3 answers

Why is the SD-card mounted to "/sdcard/external_sd" instead of "/sdcard" (or "/mnt/sdcard")?

I recently upgraded my phone to an LG Motion 4G (Android 4 ICS). I see that the sdcard is mounted at /sdcard/external_sd. I also noticed that this appears to be the same with some other newer models. Apps expect the sdcard to be at /sdcard. I assume…
Sepero
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