Option to move data and apps to Micro SD card is greyed out - Fire HD 8 and HD 10 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I purchased a new Fire HD 10, 9th edition, with 32GB of internal storage. I wanted to expand that so I purchased and added a new SanDisk 16GB card. All went according to plan and data and apps moved to the card. But after seeing it quickly filling up I purchased a new 32GB card. I turned off the Fire and removed the 16GB, then popped in the 32GB card. The Fire formatted the new card. It should be an easy process, but for some reason I'm unable to move data and apps to a new micro card. The option to move apps to new card is now greyed out. Also, neither card is now recognizable in any other device. What did I do wrong and how do I correct this? Thank you.

Did you take the card out while the apps you moved to it where still there? Or did you go through the procedure needed to move or delete the apps off before removing the card? There is a way in Settings.
You may have just screwed your tablet. The OS still thinks apps are on the SD card, but they aren't anymore.
You did the very thing most people use as a reason NOT to install apps on the SD card. It's too easy to just take out and mess up the system.
When apps are moved to the card, not everything goes there. Part of every app is still in system memory - it's the part that lets the OS know it's there. Then it looks to the SD to run it when you access it. Now, you've lost that connection as the OS still thinks those app are installed, but can't run anymore.
Wanting to move over apps to the SD card does have legitimate value, especially for devices with limited on-board memory, but one must know the risks, and how to handle it.

Yeah, I shut down the Fire and removed the 16GB card, assuming is was safe to do so since it was off. Then I inserted the 32GB card but it's not working. I'm assuming I'm looking at a factory reset, (not a big deal on a one week new unit), and then installing the SD.
Does the Fire use a unique file system? I ask because neither card is being recognized by my PC when I tried to format them. They are likely hosed?

When formatted as internal storage, the format is specific to Android. It can't be read in a PC. If formatted as portable, or external, it's in the Fat32 format that a PC can read easily. I don't know if the recent gen devices will format to eXFat. I know the 7th and 8th gen tablets don't.
Best use of an SD card is to format as external, keep all apps on internal memory, and store data - such as documents, photos, music, PDFs - all on the SD card. You can also set the tablet to download books, music and other media to the SD card, even while it's set as external.
Sent from my Amazon KFKAWI using XDA Labs

Thanks for the insights, Joel. It's safe to assume, then, that the two SD cards in question here are now headed into the trash? I guess I'll factory reset and install a new SD card as external. Worse things have happened.

You can try the bigger card again after the reset. It might then give you the option again on how to format it.
Sent from my Amazon KFKAWI using XDA Labs

Related

[Q] Upgrading SD card

I picked up an 8GB SD micro to upgrade the stock 2GB. What's the easiest/best way to upgrade it without messing up the various applications that are using it? Can I just drag-and-drop from the phone over USB to the new card in a reader, then swap? Or are there partitions, etc to worry about. I'm not using apps2sd or anything special currently.
there shouldn't be any partitions. i believe if you just copy/paste everything over, it should be fine.
Thanks, seems to work well.
I decided to first format the card in the Aria, then drag over the files and swap:
Menu->SD card->Unmount
Remove original card, insert new one
Menu->SD card->Format
Remove new card, insert original one
Attach USB, go into disk mode
New card in PC
Drag and drop all but .android_secure and LOST.DIR (which were created by format)
Eject, unmount, etc
Swap cards
Good to go!
well done.
I am receiving my Aria this week and want to immediately swap out the 2gig card for a 16gig card I own. Can I do this before I even power up the phone for the first time? Is there anything on the 2gig card that the first boot needs?
SD Card upgrade
mattbollenbach said:
there shouldn't be any partitions. i believe if you just copy/paste everything over, it should be fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will this work if the SD Card has partitions? I want to upgrade to a larger card. I want to make sure all apps move and work properly.

Changing SD card in Marshmallow?

So, Marshmallow for Pure should be right around the corner, and it's nice to be able to use SD card as internal memory. My question is, when I need to upgrade the SD card (say, from a 32GB to 128GB in the future), what is the process? The thing is I have a 32GB card lying around, and I don't need a storage at the moment, so I plan to just start using that for now. But then later, may need to upgrade it to a larger/faster card.
namartlu said:
So, Marshmallow for Pure should be right around the corner, and it's nice to be able to use SD card as internal memory. My question is, when I need to upgrade the SD card (say, from a 32GB to 128GB in the future), what is the process? The thing is I have a 32GB card lying around, and I don't need a storage at the moment, so I plan to just start using that for now. But then later, may need to upgrade it to a larger/faster card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is from the Styles update notes: https://motorola-mobility-en-in.custhelp.com/app/answers/prod_answer_detail/a_id/108821
Expandable Storage
Android Marshmallow enables your SD card to fully extend device internal storage rather than just being used for media files.
After inserting a new SD card to your phone, you will see a notification to set it up. You can choose to use your new SD card as a portable storage or as internal storage:
Portable storage: use your SD card to store your pictures, videos, audio and other media files. You can remove the SD card at any time and transfer it to other device.
Internal storage: in addition to media, you can store downloaded apps and games, all their media and data. The SD card acts as an extension of the internal storage of your phone.
If you have an SD card inserted in your phone when you upgrade it to Android Marshmallow, the card will be defaulted to portable storage. Any existing application stored in your SD card before the upgrade will run as expected (in portable storage). In order to move any new application to the SD card, you have to adopt it as internal storage first. To set your SD card as internal storage:
Back up and preserve any data you have on the card, as formatting for internal storage will erase it.
Swipe the status bar down with two fingers and tap the gear icon at the top right corner of your screen.
Once in the Settings menu, scroll down and tap Storage & USB, then select your portable SD card from the list.
Tap the menu icon (3 vertical dots) at the top right corner of the SD card screen and select Settings.
Select Format as internal and follow the steps in the tutorial.
Important: when the SD card is adopted as internal storage, it is formatted and encrypted to protect your information. It cannot be removed and transferred to other device. If you want to use the SD card as portable storage or in another device after adopted as internal storage, then you need to format it. When doing so, please remember that formatting erases all the data stored in your SD card.
thanks, I have read that but doesn't seem to answer my question... I suppose someone could write an app to do it... migrating from one SD card to another...
Dump the smaller card's data on to a pc, then transfer that to the larger card. But if you choose to designate it as internal storage I think you'd have to dump it into the cloud first.
Sent from my SM-T230NU using XDA Free mobile app
namartlu said:
So, Marshmallow for Pure should be right around the corner, and it's nice to be able to use SD card as internal memory. My question is, when I need to upgrade the SD card (say, from a 32GB to 128GB in the future), what is the process? The thing is I have a 32GB card lying around, and I don't need a storage at the moment, so I plan to just start using that for now. But then later, may need to upgrade it to a larger/faster card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My assumption is that since this is a formatting to internal storage extension, then you will later (when ready to upgrade to the larger storage card) dump the current data either into a cloud, or usb into a desktop by copying/moving the files (app, media, system etc) onto the desktop into a new folder with just those files, (maybe name it moto x files) then copy/move them from the desktop folder onto the device with the new larger memory card via usb after it's been formatted as the new internal extended memory.
If we change the SD card to internal storage will it mean that sdcard read/write operations will be slower??
So, if adopting the SD card as internal encrypts the card what happens if you try to download music to it from a streaming service like Rhapsody? Will it successfully download? Will it successfully play back in the Rhapsody app on the phone? I have the feeling Rhapsody support won't even have a clue what I am asking. ?
opti1 said:
So, if adopting the SD card as internal encrypts the card what happens if you try to download music to it from a streaming service like Rhapsody? Will it successfully download? Will it successfully play back in the Rhapsody app on the phone? I have the feeling Rhapsody support won't even have a clue what I am asking. ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe as long as it is in the phone it will work as normal. If it is removed from the phone you won't be able to read it.
Sent from my Moto XPE

migrating to new SD card with adoptable storage enabled

Hello,
Just wondering if anybody has any knowledge on how to install a new SD card when you already have adoptable storage enabled. I'm assuming I could power down the phone and copy everything over, but my new SD card is 200gb vs 128gb installed. I'm worried the partition table wouldn't be set properly.
Any advice would be great!
Thanks,
Jaime
I haven't tried but perhaps unmounting the SD card would help?
deepfriedbutter said:
Hello,
Just wondering if anybody has any knowledge on how to install a new SD card when you already have adoptable storage enabled. I'm assuming I could power down the phone and copy everything over, but my new SD card is 200gb vs 128gb installed. I'm worried the partition table wouldn't be set properly.
Any advice would be great!
Thanks,
Jaime
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The data stored on your card must be moved back to the internal storage in order to avoid breaking your apps. You can do that from the internal storage menu. If you can't fit everything, you'll have to delete things until you're under the limit. At that point, you can go back into the SD card storage menu and format it as "portable", meaning it will work in other devices. If there's any data still on it, you will lose it. Then put in the new card and set it up for "adoptable" as the previous card was.

Replacing/upgrading SD card

Whats he best/easiest way to replace my sd card. At the moment it is a 64 gb and I'm upgrading to a faster Samsung 128GB. The current card is formatted as internal memory. I can easily move/ delete/backup some files to a pc. I'm wondering about app files and data that might be n the sd card if I just reformat it as a media card as someone suggested
Thanks.
You must first change the card to external, the phone will move all the system files for you. If you don't have enough room on the internal to do this you will just have to temporarily move pictures video and music to a pc/cloud/usb etc.
Once you have it set to external just swap them over, do not take the SD out while set as internal.
I thought as much. Thanks kudos1uk for confirmation.
kudos1uk said:
You must first change the card to external, the phone will move all the system files for you. If you don't have enough room on the internal to do this you will just have to temporarily move pictures video and music to a pc/cloud/usb etc.
Once you have it set to external just swap them over, do not take the SD out while set as internal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi All,
I am having same issue now. I want to replace my 32GB with 64GB card. Firstly, HOW do you change the card to external? There is no option doing anything like this. I can only see option to format the card as internal, which means all data will be lost.
For some reasons, i can copy the files from the 32GB out via USB to PC, but if took out the 32GB and put in the 64GB and format as internal, i have no way to access it or put the files back into the card.
Does it have something to do with formatting? Initially i format my 64GB to exFAT, but after putting into the phone, i formatted it again as required by the phone which i assume it will be formatted to whatever that is compatible by the phone.
All i want to do is to migrate the stuff on my old sdcard to my new sdcard and use the phone as usual.
Please help!
Thanks
I now have a 128 gb card in my A1
As far as I can remember you can copy your docs/media etc files on to your pc but not any app files which you will need to reinstall on your new card. The system files should stay on the internal card.
I changed my card before the phone updated to pie and now es file manager only sees the new card.
Update.
I just checked in settings /storage/apps and there is an option to move them to internal though with limited space only a few could be moved.
I'm not impressed with the A1. Sometimes it hangs or crashes. My redmi 6 is more reliable.
slammy O said:
I now have a 128 gb card in my A1
As far as I can remember you can copy your docs/media etc files on to your pc but not any app files which you will need to reinstall on your new card. The system files should stay on the internal card.
I changed my card before the phone updated to pie and now es file manager only sees the new card.
Update.
I just checked in settings /storage/apps and there is an option to move them to internal though with limited space only a few could be moved.
I'm not impressed with the A1. Sometimes it hangs or crashes. My redmi 6 is more reliable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm...i am not sure whats the phone OS version now, not sure if it's Orea or Pie. Maybe i can check later. The internal storage has about 23GB user/32GB. The old 32GB micro SD card has about 10GB used/ 32GB. Even if i took out the whatsapp media and DCIM folder media, there is still a couple of GB of files in the microSD card. So far i can only see i can move the apps back to internal, which i have only 1 (which i uninstalled anyway). So there is still 10GB of files in my 32GB microSD.
How do i move the DCIM folders back to internal? Another problem, in the Camera app, i can't find anywhere to point the camera storage settings at all!
Thanks for your feedback.
Matrixlyn said:
Hmm...i am not sure whats the phone OS version now, not sure if it's Orea or Pie. Maybe i can check later. The internal storage has about 23GB user/32GB. The old 32GB micro SD card has about 10GB used/ 32GB. Even if i took out the whatsapp media and DCIM folder media, there is still a couple of GB of files in the microSD card. So far i can only see i can move the apps back to internal, which i have only 1 (which i uninstalled anyway). So there is still 10GB of files in my 32GB microSD.
How do i move the DCIM folders back to internal? Another problem, in the Camera app, i can't find anywhere to point the camera storage settings at all!
Thanks for your feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never mind. I have solved the problem.
I keep looking for the options in the 3 dots in my SDCARD menu. Instead i should select the INTERNAL STORAGE. Clicked the 3 dots, there is a MIGRATE option. :silly: This will copy back the files from the SDCARD to the internal memory (provided enough storage...i have to uninstall some games first). Then i can swap out the card and put in new card.
Thanks anyway, hope this will help other people in the future!

Tablet no longer recognizes SD card after October 2022 software update

My tablet kept bugging me to install the latest update, so I let it do so. After restarting, it no longer recognizes my 200 gb SD card. My computer has no trouble reading the card (it's backing everything up from it now). The card had been functioning just fine until the update. I put in a 128 gb (previously used) sd card I had around, and it didn't read it either. I then fed it a brand new (64gb) card, and it apparently formatted it and recognized it. Has Samsung changed the required file format for SD cards? It seems to want me to reformat my card (hence my backing it up first). Any other options? Of course, the info presented before the update said nothing about causing SD card issues
I dont know man.
I backed up the card, allowed the tablet to reformat it, and recopied everything by inserting the card into the pc. After the recopying it didn't recognize it again. AARGH! So I let it reformat it again, and am now copying just the essential stuff with the card in the tablet and the tablet connected via usb. Windows is telling me this will take 9 hours just to copy one folder with 6gb and 7k (smallish) files. I hope Windows is lying about the 9 hours! There was originally a folder .android _secure. I wondering if copying that over the first time is what prevented the tablet from recognizing the card. So that's not being copied over this time. There's another ginormous folder with about 100gb of largish files. But given the app they go with will probably insist on redownloading them anyway, I may leave them off.
I found there is a statement about the Micro Sd Card in the latest user-book (for Android 13). It says, the system support the format of exFat and Fat, but when you slot the sd card of different format to your device, the system will require a reformat to use it, or your device will not identify the sd card. You can check it on the Samsung website, for the edition I read is Chinese.

Categories

Resources