Many Android phones come with loads of storage space, but unfortunately, they don’t meet the ever increasing everyday storage demands. A solution to this problem lies in the potential of using SD cards as an alternative means of storage on your Android mobile device. Android phones have an in-built feature known as Adoptable Storage, which enables users to add an extra layer of storage space for music, pictures, videos, files, and so on.
The interesting thing is that the Adoptable Storage feature allows SD cards to serve as a permanent internal storage medium. This means that everything you save on your phone will be moved to the external storage (SD card) you mounted, and not your phone’s internal storage. With SD cards in play, you never have to worry about your phone’s storage getting full, and developing lagging problems.
Despite all the perks of SD cards, they have one particular drawback- some mobile applications aren’t authorized to install on them. In simpler words, when you install an app on an Android device, the OS is programmed to install the app on your phone and transfer the app data to the SD card. This means you’ll be unable to install an application on your phone if there isn’t enough storage space on it, and it wouldn’t even matter if your external storage had 1 Terabyte of free space.
Adoptable Storage is a great innovation, and when it was first tested on the Android 6.0 Marshmallow version, it was widely accepted and many Android users still enjoy the luxury of the feature today. With adoptable storage, Android users no longer have to delete precious content from their phones to create space to allow their phones run optimally and save other media files. Another major advantage of Adoptable Storage is the fact that it allows MicroSD Data Recovery. You can easily save files from your phone’s internal storage to your SD card. That way, it serves as a back-up storage medium. If anything happens to the data on your phone, you can easily access them on your SD card and restore them back to your phone.
Other advantages of using SD include:
- They are portable and removable
- Eliminates data and memory volatility
- Low battery power-draining potential
- Cheap and easily accessible
Points to note about SD Cards
SD cards aren’t flawless. Like every innovation, SD cards have their downsides, and before deciding to use them for MicroSD Data Recovery or as permanent internal storage, it is vital for you to understand the problems and restrictions you may experience.
- Restrictions on application installation
This has been mentioned previously, but it is really important to explain in details. Some mobile apps may not install on your SD card; only the data is stored on it. Installing an app on an SD card also has its drawbacks. If you have an app installed on your external storage, it means if you remove it from your phone, the app and app data disappear from your phone. It gets worse. On mounting the SD card back on your phone, the data on the app would have most likely diminished, rendering the app useless, and most times, inaccessible.
- SD cards are slow compared to the primary memory
When it comes to speed, primary memory beats even high-end SD card storage. You may experience some lagging when you try to access the data on your SD card. This reality is quite painful, and despite the attempts by the Android OS to increase the speed of your SD card, it’s quite incomparable to that of the phone’s primary memory.
- Finite/Limited Read-Write Cycles
The lifespan of an SD card is quite limited and short, due to short read-write memory cycles, which ultimately lead to degradation and final breakdown. Think of it as wear and tear; the higher the number of read-write cycles, the higher the degradation of the SD card, and since these cycles happen quite often, the SD degrades at a relatively quick rate.
- Encryption
When you make use of the Adoptable Storage feature and convert external storage to internal storage on your Android device, the OS on your phone personalizes the SD card and the data on it by encrypting it. Basically, your mobile phone locks the SD card, so that no other device is able to access the information on it. This is a good security measure, but it could also become a major issue if you change your mobile device.
Note: Remember to unmount your SD card in your mobile phone settings before removing it physically. Refusal to do this may cause some major damage to your SD card
How to use SD card as internal storage on Android devices?
The configuration process that converts your SD card to permanent internal storage is quite simple, and in a few easy steps, you’ll be done. By design, your mobile phone will wipe off (format) all the pre-existing data on the SD card, ensure that you have all the data on it backed up somewhere.
If your Android device doesn’t support the Adoptable Storage feature, then it means you’re still running on a version of Android lower than Android 6.0, or the manufacturer of your phone disabled it. Samsung for example, has disabled the adoptable storage feature, even in their recent phone models.
Follow the steps below to configure your SD card on your Android device
- Check for an SD port which is usually behind the battery or by the side of your phone. Properly insert your SD card into the port, and wait for the detection notification on your phone.
- Go to settings and find the storage segment
- Since your phone already detected the SD card, you should find the name of the SD card here. Click on the SD card name.
- Check the top right corner of the screen, and you’ll find three vertical dots. Click on these dots.
- From the list of provided options, click on ”Storage Settings”
- Click on the ”Format as internal” option
- Tap ”Erase and Format”
- You’ll receive a notification on the speed on of your SD card if it is slow
- You’ll be provided with the option to move all your data to the SD card immediately, or do it later.
- You’re done with the configuration process! Tap ”Done”.
After the completion of this process, you have successfully converted your SD card/ external storage to your phone’s internal storage. Now you can save as much files as you want.
Note: SD cards come in various sizes (4gb, 8gb, 16gb, 32gb, 64gb, and higher). So purchase SD cards with enough space to serve your media storage and MicroSD Data Recovery needs.
If for some reason you decide to change your SD card’s configuration to the portable mode, the process is easy too.
- Follow the steps in the initial configuration process above up to the point where you have to tap on the three dots on your phone’s screen.
- Tap on the dots and from the range of options displayed, tap on ”Format as portable”
- Tap on the ”Format” option below on the screen. Wait for a few minutes for the process to complete, and you’re done!
With a portable SD card, you can insert your SD card on any other device without any encryption restrictions.
MicroSD Data Recovery has been made possible through the Adoptable Storage feature on many Android devices. Now, Android users can have no fear about permanently losing data if they change their phones, lose it, or damage it.