# Android phone internal and SD card storage question



## techblues (Mar 31, 2021)

First time posting here. If there is already an answer to my question, please provide a link.

The SD card on my Android phone died (yet to figure out how), and 30GB of the 32GB internal storage is used. I installed a new SD card, and formatted it as internal. I then moved the data from the internal storage to the SD card. Before the move, a note said that the move would free up 12GB on the internal storage.

After the move is completed, the SD card shows 12GB is used, but the internal storage still shows 30GB is used. And the total used shows 42GB (i.e. 30GB + 12GB). How can I free up that 12GB on the internal storage?

This is the tutorial I followed:

https://fossbytes.com/android-sd-card-internal-storage-adoptable-storage/


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

The proper way is to consult YOUR phone guide
Lets presume as you have not said - it i a Samsung
How do I move music, images, videos and other media to the SD card in my Galaxy device? | Samsung UK

The other point to bear in mind is that the phone will not complete the move as far as data allocation is concerned UNTIL it is turned OFF
not merely the quick press of the power button to sleep the screen.

The long press and then power off
and then check

Have you cleared cache.?

There are two methods of using SD card on most Android phones - internal storage or external
If you did choose internal then - After the completion of this process, you have successfully converted your SD card/ external storage to your phone's internal storage - the internal storage SHOULD now include the SD - eg 32 plus the capacity of the SD card.


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## techblues (Mar 31, 2021)

Thanks for the comment, and sorry for the belated reply. Been busy with other stuff for a few days.

My phone is MOTO G5, the SD card usage instruction for a similar version G5 PLUS is identical to the link I referenced in the original post.

https://support.motorola.com/in/en/...moto-g-family/moto-g5-plus/documents/MS116988

Before posting, I did turn off the phone and restart, and did clear cache for every app.

Some additional information after formatting the SD card as internal storage and moving the data from the internal storage to the SD card:

- The old photos were on both the internal storage and the SD card. The timestamps of the SD card's photos were all changed to the time of the move.

- After the move, taking a photo would end up on both the internal storage and on the SD card.

- After deleting that photo on the SD card, it would remain on the internal storage.

I suspect that something went wrong during the data move. Perhaps I should reformat the SD card as portable, then format it again as internal and move the data.

Comments?


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

Have a look where save to is configured for - on mine you can configure to SD or to internal or both
Also have you checked the storage space taken up by the* photos on the internal storage* compared with the space *taken up on the SD card*


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## techblues (Mar 31, 2021)

As mentioned in my original post, after moving the data, I did check both the internal and SD card storage. The internal storage is still almost fully used, and the SD card has the moved amount.

After carefully going through the link I referenced in my post, I think I know where the problem lies. The internal storage is encrypted, and can only be "moved" in a certain way.

*"Your Android will literally adopt the storage*
_With Adoptable Storage, Android encrypts the external SD card being used as internal storage, thus, it gets tied to a specific Android device. The key used to encrypt the data on the SD card is stored on the Android device's internal memory. So, it is not possible to mount the adopted storage to another device because of its encrypted nature.

However, you can remove the storage from your device and put it back on. The device will remember the details about the apps installed on the adopted SD card to reverse the settings with the adopted storage is connected later on. This way you can use another SD card also."_

Now I have to figure out how to remove the data from the internal storage ...


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

God luck with it.
It is a puzzle I have never had such problem
As I said Primary write/save on my android phone and my two android tablets can be internal, or SD card, but then I have never configured SD card as additional internal storage


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## plodr (Jun 27, 2014)

When I purchased my phone, a low end Samsung Galxy, I also purchased a micro sd card. The salesman put the card in. He did nothing in terms of formatting. All pictures are automatically saved to the sd card and never to internal storage.


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## techblues (Mar 31, 2021)

_>> As I said Primary write/save on my android phone and my two android tablets can be internal, or SD card, but then I have never configured SD card as additional internal storage_

That was my experience as well for my previous SD card. But that SD card died (don't know why) and all the data were stored on the internal storage without me knowing about it. I only found out that the SD card had died when the internal storage started to run of room. Replacing it with a new one is how I ended up with this current situation.

Perhaps SD cards don't die often, and not many had to face this problem.


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## plodr (Jun 27, 2014)

Attach the phone to the computer. Copy the pictures from the internal storage to the computer. When you are sure all pictures are on the computer and can be opened, remove them from the phone.

Last copy the pictures to the micro sd card on the phone. There should be a DCIM folder on the sd card first to copy them into. If you do not have this folder, create it.


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

I feel sure you will have seen this but just in case you have not
https://support.motorola.com/in/en/.../transfer-data-from-the-device-to-the-sd-card

and this
How to Move Apps to SD Card on Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus (androidbeat.com)

I am not certain the method mentioned by my colleague on post 9 will work for you, unless you format the card and change it from adopted internal storage to external storage - as using it as you are for internal storage the phone has encrypted the card and formatted it in a file system that windows will not see - by that I mean if it is a windows computer.


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## plodr (Jun 27, 2014)

Thanks for mentioning that. I never considered what happens if the card is formatted to a different file system. 
My micro sd card was simply put into the phone internally and started to be used without doing any formatting of it.


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## techblues (Mar 31, 2021)

Thanks for the suggestion and the links.

When the old SD card was working, connecting the phone to my Win10 PC would show the internal storage and the SD card separately. Moving data between them was easy.

With the new SD card, the PC would recognize the phone when connected, but would have these scenarios:

- With the SD card formatted as internal storage, the SD card is shown, with folders and files. But the internal storage is not shown.

- With the SD card ejected from the phone, nothing is shown.

I now think that this should be the first problem to solve.


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

I am sorry I have no suggestions
I THINK from your last post - as this 


techblues said:


> When the old SD card was working, connecting the phone to my Win10 PC would show the internal storage and the SD card separately. Moving data between them was easy.


is what happens with my phone and both of my tablets, providing of course I commission the USB connection for data as against charging, then the fault is with your phone.
The only other aspect is that my SD cards are configured as external storage and not the option expanded internal storage, but that does not explain why with the SD card removed the actual internal storage is not shown on your phone.

Perhaps if possible a hard reset of the phone may help


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## plodr (Jun 27, 2014)

> With the SD card ejected from the phone, nothing is shown.


Sounds like the internal storage of the phone has the problem.

When you connect the phone, the internal storage should always show.
Note: I have an android phone, two working android tablets (I have three but the oldest is stuck on fast boot) and a Kindle. In *all* my devices, the internal storage appears wheteher I have a micro sd card inserted or not.

You need to get the phone looked at to determine the problem with the internal storage.


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## techblues (Mar 31, 2021)

I have no recollection whether the original SD card was formatted as internal or external. My guess would be external. I have freed up ~2GB of space on the internal storage by deleting lots of photos. There is now some breathing room.

I completely agree that the problem is with the phone's internal storage, and a hard reset is needed.

I have never hard reset a phone before. From my research, I need to back up before reset, and then restore. A few questions:

- Is hard reset and factory reset one and the same thing? As described here:



> A factory reset, which is an option on your device, and a hard reset, which is accomplished by a combination of volume/power/other physical buttons depending on your make/model, will both wipe out all your data and force you to reenter all your email accounts, apps, contacts, so on so forth.


- After the reset, will the OS be the original version, or the current updated one?

- My Google Drive has ~12GB available, should be enough for the backup. In case I need more space, can I backup to a thumb drive or to my PC?

- Some data (contacts, bookmarks, etc.) are synced between my phone, PC and Surface. I don't need to back these up, but they probably don't take up much space.

- Before doing anything, I would format the SD card as external and eject it. After backup and reset, and before restore, what should I do with the SD card? If I insert the SD card and leave it as external before restoring, will the data end up there or on the internal storage?

A good tutorial would help.


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

Do not go for the reset
I think the problem may be the card see this
Moto G5 - Compatible SD Card for Internal Storage-Motorola Community (lenovo.com)

and re not being able to see the files when connected to the computer
Follow this


Connect the Motorola Moto G5 with PC using the USB cable.

Drag the status bar down.

Choose *USB charging this device*.

Tick an option, in this case, *Transfer files*.

Choose your Motorola Moto G5 on the desktop.

Choose *Open device to view files*.

To transfer files from your Motorola Moto G5 to your computer, choose *Internal storage*.

You are now able to duplicate or move the files from folders on the Motorola Moto G5 to the desired location on your computer.

If you were unable to connect your phone to your computer, please check our troubleshooter.
From here where you will also find the information for the reset

Product Support - Motorola Moto G5 - Motorola Support - UK (motorola-support.com)


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## techblues (Mar 31, 2021)

Both of my SD card are SanDisk.

After connecting the phone to the PC, I did select the File Transfer option.

The PC has Win10 Pro 64.

The Moto Support site is very helpful for reset, backup and restore. Thanks. The only question is whether to format the SD card as internal or external. My thinking:

- Format the SD card as external, eject.
- Backup, reset, and restore.
- Connect phone to PC and verify internal storage folders are shown.
- Insert SD card (as external), and verify it is shown on PC.
- Move internal storage folders to SD.


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

Well this is an amazing coincidence, I have just bought for her who must be obeyed - the wife, a new Lenovo tablet.
Inserted a new Sandisk Ultra SDXC UHS-1 -64GB which is A1 performance and the card would not format as internal storage
No matter what I tried it would not have it.
Unmounted it took it out
formatted it exfat on the computer
Put in back in the tablet, still would not accept it, formatted it in the tablet again and it failed - in that it completed the format - said checking the card and then reported it corrupted.

Unmounted re- inserted formatted as external storage - immediately accepted .

I have NOT tried it but I have come to the conclusion that you need an A2 card for internal storage
SanDisk Extreme 64 GB microSDXC Memory Card + SD Adapter with A2 App Performance + Rescue Pro Deluxe, Up to 160 MB/s, Class 10, UHS-I, U3, V30, Red/Gold: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

I think and it is only a thought that it is something similar to a ready boost on a computer - it will not accept certain flash pens or SD cards if they are not fast enough.

The whole situation is a nightmare widely mentioned on various sites as the makers of the tablets and phones have not IMHO got it right.
Even the more expensive phones and tablets seem to simply say micro SD up to xxxGB

*Other sites suggest speed etc does not matter but that is generally NOT mentioned in respect of internal storage - adoptable storage - eg internal or external *
How to buy the best SD card for your camera, phone, tablet | PCWorld
The other problem is that very few tablets and phones on what I would call the mean average cost do not even tell you that using a card as additional internal storage - speed does matter - as some apps downloaded and installed on the card will not run if the chip on the card is too slow.

The how often do you see this mentioned in the VERY brief user manual you get these days
Adoptable Storage | Android Open Source Project

Your thinking sounds right to me

I have now read many reports where Sandisk cards showed more problems than others.

Finally SAMSUNG appear to have decided to do away with the SD slot on their latest Galaxy phones. The 21 does not have one
Samsung's Galaxy S21 phones don't include microSD card support - The Verge

The microSD card is dead! What's next? - PhoneArena


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## plodr (Jun 27, 2014)

hmmm, I never considered the brand nor rating. When I bought my phone and indicated I wanted more storage, the guy at Best Buy grabbed one from the display that was on sale and said, "use this". It is a Samsung brand micro sd card. It is the only Samsung brand micro sd card I own. (I don't want to take my phone apart and see what specs are on it. All I have is the card holder for it.

I see they have different classes and sizes.
https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/memory-cards/


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## techblues (Mar 31, 2021)

An amazing coincidence indeed. My new SD is also Sandisk Ultra SDXC UHS-1 -64GB! My old SD is a Sandisk 32GB, most likely the same class. Never knew there is this compatibility issue. Things like this is what give me the tech blues.

Why do you want to format the tablet's SD card as internal? Are the SD cards in your phones formatted as internal or external? I wonder if internal has any advantages, given I can move data from internal to external.


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

Internal can only be in that device and can install apps on it, as it mirrors the actual internal storage of the device
External cannot be used to install apps - generally speaking and can be used on that device or taken out and put in another device or via the computer


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