How to transfer downloaded applications to an SD card. How to move an application to an SD card in the standard way. Default camera storage

With the development of technology, content is becoming more and more voluminous, which leads to a constant lack of free space on our devices. Fortunately, many smartphones have a special slot for a memory card, with which you can significantly increase the amount of free memory on your phone. Some users refuse to purchase SD cards and hope that the internal memory of the device is enough for them. They often make mistakes and still purchase microSD, which is perhaps difficult to do without. As a result, there is a need to move all the data accumulated over months (and possibly years) to a memory card. This is exactly what will be discussed further. In this article, we will take a closer look at how to transfer applications from internal memory to an SD memory card in Android. Let's figure it out. Go.

Let's look at popular utilities

The ability to transfer applications, unfortunately, is not available on all versions of the Android operating system. Therefore, only owners of Android above 2.2 Froyo (inclusive) and below 4.4 KitKat can perform this operation. Also, this cannot be done with every application. It is necessary that the developers provide such an opportunity, otherwise you will not succeed.

Now let's move on directly to how this is done. The first thing you need to do is open “Settings” and go to “Applications”. Select the utility or game you would like to move. If the program is installed in the main memory, you can move it by clicking the “Move to SD card” button. In this way, one by one, transfer each available program.

You must click the corresponding button in the application properties

If there are a lot of applications on your smartphone, this method can be tedious, because you will have to open each utility in turn and add it separately. So, this process can take you the whole day. Fortunately, there are more comfortable ways to solve this problem.

For example, use a special utility called FolderMount. With its help, it will be possible to move even those programs that are not available for transfer in the standard way.

For the application to work correctly, do not forget about root rights

To install and use FolderMount, you must be rooted. Then download and install this utility on your smartphone. Next, you will need to grant the program root rights upon its request. Through the "Application Analyzer" you can see a list of all games and programs that are available for transfer. FolderMount will then prompt you to create a folder on the SD card that matches the internal memory folder. Agree to this action to begin the data movement process. All this may take some time. Depends on the size of the folder being moved. When FolderMount completes the operation, tap on the pin icon located next to the folder. As soon as it turns green, you can close FolderMount, as this indicates that the partition has been mounted.

Continue to follow the instructions

The application cache is a very important component and often takes up even more free space than the program itself. Luckily, the cache can also be moved to a memory card using FolderMount. After launching the application, tap on the “+” icon located at the top right. In the input field, write the name of the game or program whose cache you want to transfer. Then select the cache folder, which you will find along the path “SD/Andoid/obb/utility name”. Next, in the “Destination” section, select the folder on the SD card where the cache will be moved. After filling out all the items, tap on the pin icon, as in the previous case, and wait until it turns green.

Usually the cache size is quite large, so you will need to wait

The undoubted advantage of this utility is that it is available for all versions of Android. In some cases you may need the full version of FolderMount. However, do not rush to get upset, it costs only one dollar. Agree, this is very little money for a comfortable and complete expansion of the memory of your phone.

In addition to FolderMount, there are other programs that allow you to transfer games and utilities from internal memory to microSD. One such program is Link2SD. A very easy to use, convenient utility that also copes well with the task.

The application displays information on the size of programs in the list and card of each of them

Another great software product is AppMgrIII (App 2 SD). It is also free and perfectly solves the problem of data transfer. In addition, using AppMgr you can clear the cache and delete junk files from your smartphone. In AppMgrIII, all programs on your smartphone are divided into groups:

  • On Phone. Those that are stored in the internal memory and can be transferred to microSD.
  • On SD Card. Those that are already stored in external memory.
  • Phone Only. Here are those applications that cannot be moved.

First of all, pay attention to the “Movable” tab (On Phone, Movable) and the cache size

If you want to immediately install games on a memory card, then unfortunately, this will not work. In any case, the game will be installed on the main memory, and from there it will have to be transferred to the SD card. This function is only available through the Move2SDEnabler utility.

These are the ways to move games and applications from the main memory of a smartphone to external memory. As you can see, this is done quite simply and quickly. Working with microSD is much more convenient and enjoyable, so feel free to copy all your data there. Write in the comments whether this article helped you understand the issue and share your experience of carrying out similar operations with other users.

The Android system is designed in such a way that files are usually saved on the internal storage. As a rule, it is therefore more convenient to store data on an external device.

If photos take up too much space on your internal storage, you can transfer them to an SD card

When the few megabytes run out, the user naturally has a desire to move the photos to another location. This is not difficult to do, but many of those have difficulty with such an operation.

Therefore, let's look at how to transfer photos to an Android memory card and make sure that it is done simply and easily.

What do you need to transfer files?

Checking the device for an SD slot

First of all, we advise you to make sure that your Android tablet or smartphone has a memory card and it is working. To do this, look at the side edges of the gadget - on one of them there should be a slot in which it is installed.

The card is inserted not from the outside, but from the inside, so remove the back cover and see if there is a drive there. In any case, if you are in doubt, you can always look at the instructions for the equipment.

So, let's assume that there is a slot for an SD card and it is installed. But does the system see it? To check this, do the following:

  • Open the menu - Settings section.
  • Find the Storage tab (it has this name on almost all Android gadgets).
  • In the window that appears, you should see information about the SD card and its status. If you do not find such data, then there are two options: the device does not see it or it is still not installed.

Once you are sure you have an SD card, you can proceed to the data transfer process.

Transferring photos from Android

To move pictures, you need to use, which you will find in the menu. As a rule, it is installed by default on all devices with the Android platform. If for some reason you do not find the storage on your phone or tablet, you can download it from the Google Play Market. All you need to do is simply type the phrase “file manager” in the search and download one of the programs you like.


In order to move files to an SD card, you will need a file manager
  • Launch the program.
  • Find the folder with the required data. If these are pictures from a camera, then they are in the appropriate directory. If these are downloaded photos and you received them from other equipment, then the folder may have a different name. When used for snapshots, the finished files will be in a directory with their name.
  • By the way, make sure you are looking for files in the Android device itself (usually there is a tab in the manager to go from the internal storage to the SD card itself).
  • When you have found the necessary files, click on one of them and do not remove your finger.
  • A list will appear where you can tick the files you are going to move. Do it.
  • Then open the application menu and select Move.
  • Now you need to designate the folder where you are going to transfer the files - indicate the path to it. If necessary, you can immediately create a new separate directory for them.
  • After that, click "Paste" and the application will move the data to the new location.

That's all! Now you know how to transfer photos to a memory card. As you can see, this is done quite simply: you are not required to have any special knowledge or skills. Moreover, we recommend storing photos on external devices so that the internal storage is free for applications and the Android system works as quickly as possible.

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Five years ago, having seen a person on the street pressing a device with a diagonal of 5-6 inches to his ear, many would have twirled their finger at their temple. Today, such a phenomenon is not a surprise to anyone. New models with displays smaller than 4.7 inches appear on the market less and less often; most manufacturers are striving to increase the diagonal. Many users seriously think about the question, can

The problem that affects many devices is that over time they lose speed. You may have noticed that newer devices are more productive, but backlogs of apps, files, and updates are consuming system resources, resulting in slower performance.

Moving from device memory to SD card

With proper maintenance and the right equipment, you can maintain optimal performance on your Android smartphone or tablet, as long as it has at least version 4.0 of OS and a microSD card slot.

Use external drives to free up storage space. High quality SD cards can be found at reasonable prices. But you should check the maximum microSD card capacity your device supports before making a purchase. Increasing the available storage space can be achieved in the following ways:

  • Move files to SD card;
  • Move applications to SD card;
  • Change the camera's default storage to SD card.

Basically, there is no set rule about how much internal memory of a mobile device should remain free for normal operation. But the “more is better” rule applies here.

Another benefit of storing files (especially music, videos and photos) on external storage is the ability to quickly transfer them to another smartphone or tablet. This can also come in handy when you want to back up your files when resetting your device to factory settings.

Moving files to an SD card

First, let's look at how you can transfer files and folders from the device's memory to an external card:

  1. Open the file manager on your Android device.
  2. Select local storage. It may be called “device memory”, “internal memory” or something similar.
  3. Find the files or folders you want to move. Tip: Camera images are usually found in the DCIM folder.
  4. Click the Menu icon to display a drop-down list of actions.
  5. Click Select or Select All from the action drop-down list. You should then see empty checkboxes next to the files, and the one empty checkbox at the top is usually labeled "Select All" or "0". If you don't see these checkboxes, long-press on a file or folder to display the checkboxes.
  6. Click empty checkboxes , to select individual files or folders you want to move, or click Select All at the top of the window.
  7. Click the Menu icon again to display a drop-down list of actions.
  8. Select Move.
  9. Browse to the desired destination folder on your external SD card, or click "Create Folder" to create and name a destination folder.
  10. Select a destination folder.
  11. Select Move Here.

Wait until your device finishes moving files and folders. Repeat these steps until you have moved all the desired files and folders from your device's internal storage to the SD card.

Transferring apps to an SD card

The average mobile app doesn't require a lot of memory, but after you've installed dozens of them, you need to do something. In addition, many popular applications require additional storage space and cache space.

Android OS allows you to move apps to and from the SD card. However, not every application can be stored on an external drive - pre-installed and system applications remain in the device's memory.

  1. Go to your device settings.
  2. Select Application Manager (or simply Applications) to see an alphabetical list of all the applications on your device.
  3. Select the application you want to move. You will be presented with the details of the application and what you can do with it.
  4. Click the "Move to SD Card" button. If this button is grayed out and does nothing when you click it, the application cannot be moved. If the button is called “Move to device memory” (or something similar), the application is already on the SD card.
  5. You may need to click on Storage to open a list of actions, including Edit. If the “Change” button is missing, the application cannot be moved.
  6. Click the Change button to view the storage options: Internal storage and SD card.
  7. Select your SD card and follow the prompts that appear.

Wait until your device finishes moving the app. Repeat these steps until you have moved all the apps you want from your device's internal storage to the SD card.

Default camera storage

You probably take a lot of photos with your smartphone, and you don't want to move photos and videos to an external drive every time. Solution? Change the camera's default storage. Do this once, and all the photos and videos you take will be saved in the DCIM folder on your SD card.

Most, but not all camera apps offer this option. If yours does not have such an option, you can from the Google Play store.

  1. Turn on the camera on your device.
  2. Click on the menu icon (usually a gear) to access camera settings.
  3. Select "Storage Location".
  4. Select SD card. It may also be called “External storage”, “Memory card” and so on.

Now you can take pictures knowing that they will all be saved to the SD card.

Transfer files to long-term storage

Eventually, the SD card may also become full. In such a case, you can move files from SD card to laptop or desktop using a card reader. From there, you can move the files to an external hard drive or upload them to an online storage site (like Dropbox or Google Drive).

Today we will look at the answer to the question of how to move files to a memory card. In fact, this is a very simple task, but not all users immediately understand how to complete it.

1. Method No. 1. Using a file manager

Important! In any case, you will need a file manager to move files to Android. It is impossible to do this without him.

This axiom is relevant for those cases when you want to use only your smartphone or tablet. If you allow the possibility of using a computer, then everything is much simpler and you can do without additional programs.

But now we will focus on using managers, that is, on performing a task directly from the phone. To begin with, we will look at the procedure for moving photos in the Samsung file manager (you can download it - this is so that you understand what we are talking about).

Here's what you need to do in this program:

  • Go to the "Pictures" folder. It's on the main screen of the My Files app.
  • Select the photos you want to move. To do this, hold your finger on any photo. You will be able to check boxes next to several photos. Do it. If you need to select everything that is in the memory of your phone/tablet, use the “All” option, which is located in the upper left corner. Then check marks will appear everywhere.
  • Click "Options" in the top right corner.

Rice. No. 1. Selecting photos in the file manager

  • After you tap on “Properties”, a drop-down menu will appear. It will contain options for what you can do next. Select the “Move” function.

Rice. No. 2. "Move" function in dropdown menu

  • After this, you have to choose which folder the previously selected information will go into. First, click on “Memory Card”.

Rice. No. 3. Travel path options

  • Then just go to the very folder where you want to see the pictures. There will be a “Done” button in the upper right corner. When you are in the desired folder, tap on it. Everything you select will go to this location.

Rice. No. 4. "Done" button in a folder

That's all! The selected photos will be transferred to the SD card.

If you want to do the same for other file types, the procedure will be exactly the same. And the principle itself remains unchanged for any file managers. That is, no matter what program you use, just follow three simple steps:

  • select files;
  • press the move button;
  • choose the place where they will go.

If you install Total Commander, ES Explorer or any other manager, the steps will be the same. Moreover, a long press is almost always used to select. After this, it becomes possible to check the boxes next to what you will move.

Some managers have a copy function, which can also be used successfully. For example, if you take the same ES Explorer, then there The above procedure can be performed as follows:

  • Select the desired file. As before, just hold it and check the box.
  • If you turn your smartphone or tablet horizontally, buttons for various functions will appear on the right. In other cases they are at the bottom. So, there is a “Copy” button there.

Rice. No. 5. Copy button in ES Explorer

  • Don't be surprised that nothing may happen next. Then you need to return to the window for viewing available storages yourself. To do this, simply swipe to the right. Select the location where the information will be copied.
  • Once in the desired folder, click "Insert". This feature will appear where the Copy button used to be, that is, on the right or bottom. Just click on it and within a moment the data will appear in the new location.

Rice. No. 6. Paste button in ES Explorer

  • Accordingly, now the files need to be removed from the place where they were before. To do this, go to the folder where they were originally. In the function menu, select “Cut” or “Delete”. After this you will have one file left in the new folder.

As you can see, everything is also quite simple.

2. Method No. 2. We use a computer

If for some reason it is impossible to complete the task through the phone or tablet itself, you will have to resort to the help of a computer. To do this you will need a USB cable.

If everything is ready, do this:

  • Connect your gadget to your PC or laptop via USB.
  • In the Computer, This PC, or My Computer window, depending on your version of Windows, open the connected device. It is quite possible that it will open on its own or a window will appear in which you will need to choose what to do with it next. In any case, you need to ensure that you see the contents of the memory.
  • You will see two disks - “Card”, that is, a memory card and “Phone”, that is, the device’s memory. Go to "Phone".

Rice. No. 7. Memory card and phone in computer

  • Select the file you want to copy. Then there are two options - moving or copying. If you like the first one better, open “Card” in a separate window, that is, launch “Computer” again and go into the memory of the connected device. Then simply use the mouse cursor to move the file from one window to another. And if you want to copy, right-click on the file, select “Copy” from the drop-down menu, go to the folder where it will be located, right-click again, select “Paste.” After everything, also remove it from the folder where it was originally.

Rice. No. 8. Copy and paste in Windows

Everything happens almost the same as when you normally move from folder to folder on Windows. Good luck!

By default, all applications are installed on the internal memory of the Android device. It is also used to store their cache. But even the memory of modern smartphones is sometimes not enough to download all the necessary software. It's good that there are memory cards with enough capacity for this. We will look further at how to use them to offload main memory.

How to switch Android phone memory to memory card

Let us clarify that in this case we are considering a situation where the user needs to ensure that downloaded files and programs are saved on microSD. By default, Android settings are set to automatically download to internal memory. So we will try to change this.

First, let's look at options for transferring already installed programs, and then - ways to change the internal memory to flash drive memory.

On a note: The flash drive itself must have not only a large amount of memory, but also a sufficient speed class, because the quality of the games and applications located on it will depend on this.

Method 1: Link2SD

This is one of the best options among similar programs. Link2SD allows you to do the same things you can do manually, but a little faster. In addition, you can forcefully move games and applications that are not moved in the standard way.

You can download Link2SD

Instructions for working with Link2SD are as follows:

  1. The main window will display a list of all applications. Select the one you need.
  2. Scroll down the app information and tap " Transfer to SD card».

Please note that those applications that are not transferred in the standard way may reduce their functionality. For example, widgets will stop working.

Method 2: Setting up memory

Let's return to system tools again. On Android, you can specify the SD card as the default installation location for applications. Again, this doesn't always work.

In any case, try the following:

1. While in the settings, open the “ Memory».

2. Click on " Preferred installation location" and select " SD card».

3. You can also designate storage to save other files by designating the SD card as " Default memory».

The location of elements on your device may differ from the examples given.

Method 3: Replacing internal memory with external memory

And this method allows you to deceive Android so that it perceives the memory card as system memory. From the toolkit you will need any file manager. The example will use Root Explorer.

Attention! You perform the procedure described below at your own peril and risk. There is always a chance that this will cause problems with Android, which can only be corrected by flashing it.

The procedure is as follows:

1. In the system root, open the folder “etc" To do this, open your file manager.

2. Find the file " vold.fstab" and open it with a text editor.

3. Wednesday and the entire text, find 2 lines starting with “ dev_mount"without a grid at the beginning. They should be followed by the following values:

  • « sdcard /mnt/sdcard»;
  • « extsd /mnt/extsd».

4. You need to swap the words after “ mnt/", so that it becomes like this:

  • « sdcard/mnt/extsd»;
  • « extsd/mnt/sdcard».

5. Different devices may have different symbols after “ mnt/»: « sdcard», « sdcard0», « sdcard1», « sdcard2" The main thing is to swap them.

6. Save the changes and restart your smartphone.

As for the file manager, it is worth saying that not all such programs allow you to see the above-mentioned files. We recommend using ES Explorer.

Method 4: Transfer applications in the standard way

Starting from Android 4.0, you can transfer some applications from internal memory to an SD card without using third-party tools.

To do this you will need to do the following:

1. Open " Settings».

2. Go to the section "Applications».

3. Tap (touch with your finger) the desired program.

4. Click the button Move to SD card».


The disadvantage of this method is that it does not work for all applications.

In these ways you can use SD card memory for games and applications.