Memory cards for mobile phones: educational program. Lack of internal memory on a smartphone - step-by-step instructions on how to use an SD card as internal storage

Some Android devices have slots for memory cards (usually microSD format). If your device supports SD cards, you can:

  • increase memory capacity;
  • use the card for some functions and applications.

To find out if your device has an SD card slot, visit the manufacturer's website.

Note. Some of these steps can only be performed on devices running Android 6.0 and later.

How to install an SD card

Step 1: Insert the SD card.
  1. Check where the SD card slot is located.
  2. Turn off your phone.
  3. Remove the SD card tray or remove the back cover of the device (depending on the model). If necessary, lift the tab that holds the card.
  4. Place the SD card in the slot. If you raised the retaining tab, lower it.
  5. Reinstall the SD card tray or back cover of the device.
Step 2: Turn on the SD card.
  1. Wait for the SD card notification to appear.
  2. Click Tune.
  3. Select desired type storages.
    • Removable storage:
      You can transfer the card to another device along with all your files (such as photos and music). Applications cannot be moved to a removable drive.
    • Inner memory:
      The card can store apps and data only for that device. If you move it to another device, all data on it will be deleted.
  4. Follow the onscreen instructions to set up your SD card.
  5. When finished, click Ready.

How to use an SD card

How to move apps to SD card

If you connected the card as internal memory, you can transfer applications to it.

Note. Not all applications can be transferred to an SD card.

How to move files to SD card

If you have installed an SD card as a removable storage device, you can transfer various files to it, such as music and photos. After that, they can be deleted from the device’s internal memory.

Step 1: Copy files to SD card.

Step 2: Delete files from your internal storage.

You can view the contents of the SD card and see how much space is left.

When the SD card is used as internal storage

When the SD card is used as a removable storage device

  1. Swipe down from the top of the screen to open the notification panel.
  2. Under the SD card notification, tap Open.

If your device does not have enough internal memory, can use SD card as internal storage for your Android phone. This feature, called Adoptable Storage, allows the Android OS to format external storage media as permanent internal storage. The information on the installed SD card is encrypted and cannot be subsequently used on another device.

SD Card is very convenient option for storing photos, songs and videos. Even if you have a large amount of internal memory on your Android smartphone, you may always need a large chunk of memory to store long videos captured by your phone's high-definition camera.

It is important to know

There is one drawback, the SD chip can lag when recording high-definition video.

Android by default in the internal memory and only occasionally uploads data to the SD card. This way, you are prevented from installing any additional applications if your phone is running low on internal storage space, for example, in the case of budget Android One devices.

What is storage storage?

Storage storage is the main memory of your smartphone, but if necessary, it can be expanded using an SD card. This on Android it is called Adoptable Storage. This will allow you to use the removable microSD card installed on your Android phone as your primary storage. This way, you can easily solve the problem of how to make an SD card the main memory on Android and overcome the lack of space if the phone has a small internal volume.

Features of using the card as the main storage

There are a number of some important features that should be taken into account during this procedure.

Will be useful

When using a storage device, be it an SD flash drive or a USB drive, it is important to remember what format the device is in and whether the operating system supports it Android system, and there are four main file format types: FAT32 or exFAT, ext4 or f2fs.

How to change phone memory to android memory card? The question is not entirely correct, it is impossible to completely replace it, you can only “increase” additional volume.

Using your SD card as your main storage can be great solution for music lovers and those who like to watch TV series on the way to work or on a long trip. But, as often happens, memory expansion always depends on the cost of the required device, after all, they differ both in speed and in volume, as well as in the adaptable information storage function. Here are some nuances that can be considered from different angles - as in negative side, and in the positive:

How to use SD card as internal memory on Android?

Is the internal storage sufficient for you to store all your data?

How to replace the phone's internal memory with an external SD card on Android? Configuring your SD card to act as internal storage on Android is essentially a fairly simple process. There is nothing complicated about this and you will see for yourself later.

It is possible that the Adoptable Storage function is not supported by your device, even if the smartphone runs Android 6.0 or higher (this can happen, it all depends on the model and brand of the smartphone). The device manufacturer may have disabled this function. However, there are methods to use command line, which allow you to force the use of a flash drive to store data.

Below are the basic formatting steps.


On the next screen you have last chance decide for yourself if you want to change your mind

It is important to know

Don't forget to back up your data; after formatting, the information will disappear without a trace!


After the formatting process is completed, you can use the removable SD card as a “temporary” or “removable” permanent place. But keep in mind that hot swapping and ejecting will no longer be available as you may have previously done. That's why Do not remove the flash drive without using the Eject parameter. In addition, you can practically delete the place accepted by the operating system, which, accordingly, is not recommended, since this can cause certain errors in the operation of the device. Now you know how to make a memory card the main memory on Android.

For most people, microSD is just a form factor, but in reality it is not. You can easily insert any microSD card into a standard slot, but not all of them will work, since the cards differ in many ways.

Format

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

  • SD (microSD) - drives up to 2 GB, work with any equipment;
  • SDHC (microSDHC) - drives from 2 to 32 GB, work on devices supporting SDHC and SDXC;
  • SDXC (microSDXC) - drives from 32 GB to 2 TB (on this moment maximum 512 GB), work only on SDXC-enabled devices.

As you can see, they are not backward 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 capacity and depends on the specific device. For example, the HTC One M9 works with microSDXC, but officially only supports cards up to 128 GB inclusive.

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

High speed UHS interface


An I or II is added to the UHS card logo depending on the version

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

2. Speed


Luca Lorenzelli/shutterstock.com

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

Speed ​​class


The speed class macro for regular cards is a number inscribed in the Latin letter C

The Speed ​​Class is associated with the minimum write speed to a 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 regular cards, the speed class of UHS cards fits into the Latin letter U

Cards running on the high-speed UHS bus currently have only two speed classes:

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

Since the speed class designation uses minimum value records, then 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 indicate this fact more explicitly.

Maximum speed

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

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

Speed ​​multiplier

Another classification option is the 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, that is, 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. Objectives


StepanPopov/shutterstock.com

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

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

Cameras that shoot 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 photography, many professionals prefer to use several smaller cards to minimize the risk of losing all the images in force majeure circumstances. As for 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 fully.

4. Fakes


jcjgphotography/shutterstock.com

No matter how trivial it may sound, but buying a fake under the guise original maps Now it's easier than ever. Several years ago, SanDisk claimed that a third of SanDisk memory cards on the market were counterfeit. It is unlikely that the situation has changed much since then.

To avoid disappointment when purchasing, just follow common sense. Refrain from buying from untrustworthy sellers, and beware of offers of "original" cards, the price of which is significantly lower than the official one.

Attackers have learned to fake packaging so well that sometimes it can be very difficult to distinguish it from the original. You can judge with complete confidence the authenticity of a particular card only after checking using special utilities:

  • H2testw- for Windows;
  • If you have already experienced the loss of important data due to memory card failure for one reason or another, then when it comes to choosing, you will most likely prefer a 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 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 different cards for different needs. This way you can take full advantage of the equipment without exposing your budget to unnecessary expenses.

The amount of information required for work and entertainment is increasing every day. The quality of photographs and video files increases, and along with it their “weight” also increases. As a result, the built-in memory of our gadgets, especially those from the budget segment, is sorely lacking. This problem can be easily solved, especially in phones with a removable battery. Why in them, how to choose a memory card for a phone for any budget and many other issues will be discussed in this article.

Memory card. What is this?

As a rule, the memory card is a small black rectangle, but sometimes appearance is different. Depending on the model, it has a different amount of memory. IN modern models Various gadgets use only one type of memory card - microSD, although there are quite a large number of them.

Previously, when mobile phones were just beginning to acquire additional memory, each manufacturer tried to invent its own format, different from the others. For example, the memory card of an LG phone could not be installed in a Nokia. Over time, this trend, as well as specific charging connectors, gradually faded away. This has its own advantage, because after changing your smartphone, you now don’t have to re-purchase this important accessory for it.

How much volume do I need?

When it comes to the required capacity of an SD Card, you should first ask yourself what files you work with most often. In order to get your bearings at least a little, you can take a look at the following list, showing the approximate size of the files we are used to:

  • Melody or track - from 3 to 10 megabytes.
  • Photo - from 1 to 5 megabytes.
  • Film (depending on quality) from 700 megabytes to several gigabytes.

If you are used to using only high-quality content, then you will have to think about memory cards of 32 GB or more. If the card is needed only to store a small playlist and current photos, its volume can be easily calculated using the above information. We can definitely say that with large volumes of photos internal space not enough, and a memory card is required. A phone with 2 GB of memory is simply not capable of storing the number of videos and photos that modern youth are accustomed to taking.

Feature regarding the capacity of the new memory card

Probably everyone who has previously encountered memory cards or flash drives has noticed that there is a little less space on them than stated by the manufacturer. Why does this problem occur and can it be fixed?

In reality there is no problem. The reason lies in the principles of computing space by a computer or telephone. We are accustomed to multiplying all quantities by a thousand, as, for example, there are a thousand grams in one kilogram. However, in the computer world, calculations are done a little differently, and a number of 1024 is considered to be one. As a result, such an error arises on the missing 24 bytes for every thousand. Therefore, manufacturers should not be blamed for such a “shortage”, and an SD memory card with “cut down” memory is actually quite normal.

What is a memory card class

All memory cards are divided not only by capacity, but also by class. Therefore, when you decide how to choose a memory card for your phone, do not forget about this parameter. The class displays the speed at which any information is written to it. There are cards of various classes, but the most popular in our stores are 4, 10 and U1.

In fact, everything is clear with digital classes - a four is equal to a write speed of up to 4 MB/s, and a ten is equal to up to 10 MB/s, respectively. With the U1 class it is a little more interesting, since manufacturers promise speeds not up to, but from 10 MB/s, but what the maximum possible will be, you have to check on the spot. This class is considered a newer standard, and the SD memory card marked with it differs in better side from their predecessors.

In addition to the above, there are also digital classes SD Card 2 and 6, as well as the new generation class U3. Digital are no different from their predecessors, that is, they correspond in the same way to the maximum recording speed. Class U3 is currently considered the highest and allows you to write information at speeds of over 30 MB/s. But despite high level development of smartphones, such a high speed is not needed by any of them yet, so we will not consider it in detail.

Which one do I need?

Let's look at what each class of memory card can be used for. This will be another step towards how to choose a memory card for your phone and not make a mistake.

  • Class 2 memory cards are designed for data storage and represent the slowest and most cheap option. You can record music and video files on them, but the recording process itself will be quite lengthy. Problems may occur when viewing high-definition videos.
  • Class 4 memory cards are the most popular and common. Fully meet the speed needs of budget phones and smartphones related to multimedia files. Still, it’s better not to use it for games and programs.
  • Class 6 memory cards - may already be a replacement for the internal memory of some electronic devices and are designed for recording and storing any type of files.
  • Class 10 memory cards are the fastest type of cards, the maximum capabilities of which can be used by any smartphone. Allows you to record video in high resolution and perform other tasks that require high-speed recording of information.
  • U1 class memory cards are an improved class 10, with a slightly higher write speed and significantly faster reading, as a result of which they can be used for program files, since loading from them will be much faster.
  • U3 class memory cards are used very rarely, since their characteristics are only needed when recording video in 4K resolution, and the cost is very high.

What is the maximum memory card capacity supported by the device?

Often, most manufacturers themselves indicate in the characteristics of a phone or smartphone what size memory card is recommended to be installed in the gadget. However, sometimes this information is not indicated directly, but using encoding different types kart. It's worth taking a look at the device specification and seeing which cards are supported. The following may be written there:

  • microSD cards are an old standard that requires the installation of a phone micro memory card with a capacity of no more than 4 GB. Sometimes some Chinese manufacturers write that cards up to 8 GB are supported with the same marking, but no more.
  • microSDHC cards are the most common format among budget phones and smartphones today. Provides the ability to expand memory with cards up to 32 GB, which is quite enough for most users.
  • microSDXC cards are a new format that allows you to work with volumes up to 2 TB. Often cards of this size can have very high cost, however, a very popular, inexpensive, and at the same time functional solution would be to install additional memory of 64 or 128 GB.

How to decide on the manufacturer

In fact, there is not much difference between memory cards various manufacturers No. They are all quite reliable, so the final weighty argument when choosing can only be the price or attractive appearance. The speed of the card, as discussed above, depends only on its class.

Sometimes on older devices there is a situation where memory cards of the maximum capacity for the gadget do not work from all manufacturers. Even the developers of this or that gadget cannot answer what this is connected with. For example, a similar question was previously discussed on forums - I bought regular card memory, I didn’t see it point-blank, although it worked with other devices without problems. Therefore, when buying a memory card, it is best to take with you the device for which it is intended. This way you can avoid unnecessary stress associated with returning an incorrect accessory.

Instructions for installing a memory card

How exactly and where to place the card itself is often written in the user instructions for the device. However, another important point is often missed. Some devices can easily read data written to a card with a file system of one of the common formats. But after prolonged use, failures may occur, which can lead to the loss of important information.

To prevent this from happening, it is recommended that immediately after installation, while there is no data on the card, you format it directly using your phone or smartphone. Don’t be lazy to do this operation, because later it can protect you from unnecessary worries. This concludes the recommendations on how to choose a memory card for your phone. We hope you will not have any problems purchasing this accessory.

The problem of lack of memory is one of the fundamental ones for both PCs and mobile devices. With a small amount of free memory, the system usually begins to slow down, freeze, and is unstable and unreliable. This is especially true for Android devices, many of which initially have a rather small amount of main memory (the so-called “Internal Storage”). In such a situation, some users may have the idea of ​​trying to use an external SD card as the main memory on their Android device. In this material, I will tell you how to make an SD card the main memory on Android gadgets, and what methods will help us with this.

Let's look at how to make an SD card the main memory on Android

To accomplish this task, you will need a high-speed SD card (preferably class 10 or faster). Cards of 6, and especially 4 and 2 classes are not suitable for such purposes; your system, due to their use, will significantly slow down its operation, which is unlikely to please any of the users.

It is also important to understand that the lifespan of such an SD card due to the active load on it will be significantly less than if the load on the card was in standard mode.


Method number 1. Changing the contents of the Vold.fstab file

The first of the described methods involves changing the contents of the system settings file “Vold.fstab”. After making these changes, the Android OS will consider your SD card as the internal memory of the device, but keep in mind that a number of previously installed applications may stop working.

It is important to know that this method only works on rooted devices running Android OS below (!) than version 4.4.2. In Android OS versions 4.4.2 and higher, most likely you simply will not find the specified file.

Also note that there is a bug in the implementation this method(in particular, adding extra characters to the required lines) can have a very sad effect on the performance of your device. Therefore, carefully weigh possible risks, and if, after all, you have made a decision, then proceed to implement it.

So, to implement this method, do the following:

For example, these could be lines like this:

  • dev_mount sdcard/storage/sdcard0 emmc@xxxxxx
  • dev_mount sdcard2/storage/sdcard1 auto/xxxxxx

To make the necessary changes, we need to swap the path in the specified lines, that is, simply put, instead of 0, put a 1 in the first line, and in the second, instead of 1, put a 0.

After the changes, these lines will look like:

  • dev_mount sdcard/storage/sdcard1 emmc@xxxxxx
  • dev_mount sdcard2/storage/sdcard0 auto/xxxxx

Save the changes you made, and then reboot the gadget.

Another option on how to make a memory card the main one on Android:


Method number 2. We use the settings of Android OS 6.0 and higher

In addition to the first method, in which I looked at how to switch the phone's memory to a memory card, there is another method that works only on the settings of Android OS 6.0 (Marshmallow) or higher, and allows you to use the SD card as the main one for saving files and working with them . To implement it, I recommend making a copy of the data from your SD card (if any on it), since this map will be formatted by the system.

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