How to use an SD card on an Android device. Android system capabilities. How to use an SD card as internal storage 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 (currently maximum 512 GB), work only on devices with SDXC support.

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 important point is related to the storage capacity. 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

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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 the minimum entry value, 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.

These are usually the results of synthetic tests under 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

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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 photos, 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

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No matter how trivial it may sound, it is now easier than ever to buy a fake under the guise of original cards. 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 use common sense. Refrain from buying from untrustworthy sellers, and beware of offers of “original” cards that are significantly lower than the official price.

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 a memory card failure for one reason or another, then when it comes to choosing, you will most likely prefer a more expensive card from a well-known brand than an affordable “no-name” one.

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. It's probably a best idea to have different cards for different needs. This way you can take full advantage of the equipment without exposing your budget to unnecessary expenses.

Most modern smartphones are equipped with a memory card slot. Xiaomi is no exception. The presence of this function allows you to save important information on the device (music, photos, documents, notes), expand its capabilities and functionality, and also use the mobile device as an external storage device. When Xiaomi does not see the memory card, owners face some difficulties, especially if the phone was a way to store data for school or work.

What to do first

If you decide to immediately format the card or take the gadget in for repair, do not rush to do it. First, insert the SD into another device (tablet or computer) and check its operation. These simple steps will help you figure out whether the problem is with your phone or your removable storage device. Only after this can you choose a solution.

If possible, test another memory card with your smartphone; it is quite possible that both devices are functioning properly.

What could be the reasons for the breakdown?

Sometimes the violation may lie directly in the smartphone. To restore the functionality of the flash drive, copy the information to a computer or other device, follow these steps (depending on the situation):

Smartphone software crashes. Remove and insert the flash drive back, reboot the gadget. System operation will be restored.
Xiaomi does not support SD from some manufacturers or, due to its limited capabilities, cannot work with high-capacity drives. Study the technical parameters of the gadget; perhaps it cannot handle memory cards larger than 8 GB, but you offer it 32 GB. It is worth noting that sometimes correct operation is not possible due to the type of file system.
Broken contacts in the slot. When Xiaomi does not see the storage SD card for this reason, remove the card and insert it back. If the problem occurs repeatedly, you should take the gadget in for repair. Fixing a breakdown takes a few minutes and is relatively inexpensive.

How to restore functionality

When an SD card fails, the following reasons can be noted:

The flash drive memory is full. Take it out of your phone and open it on your computer, deleting unnecessary files or saving them on your computer. By freeing up space on the drive, you will restore the functionality of the device;
Virus infection or incorrect file system format. You need to format it on your phone or computer. With this method of solving the problem, the data on the device will be lost.

To format using a smartphone, follow the following algorithm:

go to the Menu and select the “Memory” section;
select the “Remove memory card” or “Clear memory card” function and wait for the process to begin;
After formatting is completed, the “Connect SD card” function will appear.

Depending on the Xiaomi model, the name or order of functions may change.

To format using a computer, you should adhere to the following algorithm:

connect the card to the computer using a card reader;
On your computer, open the “My Computer” section (the icon is located in the Start menu or on the desktop), select SD, which is usually displayed as a flash drive (or removable disk);
By right-clicking on the flash drive, a menu will appear in front of you where you need to select the “Format” function;
click the start button and wait until the formatting is completed;
done, the memory card should restore its functionality.

A smartphone may not see SD for various reasons, and this is not always a serious problem. However, if none of these methods work for you, your best bet may be to contact a qualified repair professional. You should not disassemble the gadget yourself and try to repair it.

Starting with version Android 6.0, it became possible to use a flash card as internal storage device data. Now the device, after certain actions, can use the memory available on the SD as freely as the internal one. The article will tell you how to connect an SD card in this quality and what restrictions are imposed on it.

How to connect a flash drive as internal memory

Before connecting the drive, you must transfer from it all important information. During the setup process, it will be completely cleared and the data will not be returned.

First of all, you need to go to Settings, and then go to the section " Storage and Drive", where you should click on the SD card.

Next you need to select “ Tune" and click " Inner memory" Immediately after this, the device will warn the user that all information will be deleted and it will become impossible to read it on other devices without full formatting.

Here you need to select “ Clear and Format" and wait for the memory clearing process to complete. You may then receive a message indicating that the media is running slowly. As a rule, this means that the flash drive used is not of very good quality and its use as device storage may also affect the performance of the smartphone itself. For good and fast work recommended to use UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) drives.

After formatting is completed, the smartphone will ask you to transfer information, you should agree with this and wait until the work is completed. After the transfer, the work of turning the flash drive into internal memory will be almost complete; all that remains is to reboot the device.

Features and limitations of using an SD card

There are a few things you should be aware of before you start using a flash drive in this way.

After conversion, all data, except for some applications and system updates, will be placed on the SD drive.
When connected to a computer, only this part of the memory will be available for interaction.

In fact, all actions are performed only with a flash drive, the real internal storage of the phone not available for interaction and is practically not used at all. Firstly, this means that when you remove the drive, almost all your data, photos and applications will be lost. Secondly, if the volume of the flash drive is less than the actual storage capacity of the smartphone, then the amount of available memory will decrease, not increase.

Format the card using ADB for use as internal storage

The function is not available on some devices, but it is possible to connect a flash drive as storage in another way. However, it is worth noting that this method is very labor-intensive and can cause damage to the device Therefore, if you are not confident in your abilities, then it is better not to do this on your own.

To use this method, you will need to perform many steps. You need to download from the site and install Android SDK, then download and install from the official website device drivers, and also, you need to enable “ debug modeUSB» on the device.

adb shell
sm list-disks (after execution, an id will be issued in the form disk:ХХХ,ХХ should be written down and entered in the next line)
sm partition disk:ХХХ,ХХ private

Then you will need turn off the phone, go to settings and click on sd, select menu and click “ Transfer data" That's it, the actions are finished.

How to set a memory card to standard mode

To return the flash drive to standard mode, you just need to go to its settings, as in the first option, and select “ Portable media" Before doing this, all important information should be transferred to another location, because the drive will be formatted during the process.

In some cases, the phone does not see microSD, but not all users know why this happens and how to fix the problem

Moreover, this problem is serious, since it does not allow access to all the information stored on the flash drive.

For users whose phone is a player or a device for Internet surfing, this problem can pose a serious problem.

The essence of the problem

How does this problem manifest itself? How to understand that the phone really does not see the device? This is quite simple and becomes clear immediately after installing the memory card.

The device does not reflect that it was installed. At the same time, there is no memory card icon on the panel on the working screen, nor is removable storage displayed in the Memory section in Settings.

Accordingly, in all phone directories (for example, Music, Gallery) there are no corresponding files, previously .

Sometimes after installing external media into the phone, the device does not immediately display a message about its installation, as it usually does.

Sometimes while working with microSD it may suddenly turn off and a message like "Memory card is disabled".

In the most rare cases, the device reports that the memory card is damaged.

The problem can occur on both a new device and an old one. And also both with an old memory card and with a new, empty media. Regardless of this, the reasons are often the same in all cases.

Possible reasons

There are several reasons for this phenomenon. Conventionally, they can be divided into two large groups: problems with the phone and problems with the drive itself. The first group includes:

Direct damage to the memory card slot;
Other hardware problems in the device;
Problems with the functioning of the software, due to which the device cannot be seen.

The memory card itself may have the following problems:

Failure of the device (especially when a previously working card suddenly ceases to be recognized or the device reports its malfunction, which is typical for old memory cards with a lot of wear);
Physical damage to the contacts on the card or other problems;
File system mismatch (some new file systems do not “see” old phones, then it is shown that the drive is missing).

Depending on the cause of the malfunction, one or another method of eliminating it can be chosen.

<Рис. 2 Слот>

Elimination

There are several ways to deal with such problems. They are selected depending on the reason that caused the malfunction.

If this reason is not clear, then you will have to try several methods.

Working with hardware

<Рис. 3 Контакты карты памяти>

First of all, you need to check what exactly the problem is. Insert another memory card into the device, and if it is detected, then the problem is in the drive itself.

If not, then the problem is most likely in the phone.

What can the user do in this case? It is recommended to clean the card slot from dust, and also wipe the contacts on the media itself. This can be done with a cotton swab.

Most likely this will not solve the problem, but sometimes it helps. However, if it turns out that the card slot is broken, then the only way is to replace it.

Recovery

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Each one has a Recovery mode. Running it will allow you to “roll back” all dubious settings to factory settings.

Thus, if the device previously saw cards, but now does not see them, then this method can help.

First, perform a normal reboot of the device (not turning it off and on, but rebooting);
If this does not help, proceed to recovery;
Press and hold the power and volume down buttons at the same time for up to 10 seconds (most often, this is how access to the recovery function opens);
As soon as the device restarts, a special start menu will open in Windows;
Go to the Wipe cache partition item (you need to do this using buttons or by clicking on the screen, depending on the device);
Reboot your device (rebooting may take much longer than usual).

The map should now be detected. If this does not happen, then you will have to work with it on a computer.

Formatting

<Рис. 5 Форматирование>

Install the memory card into your computer using an adapter. Open it through the “My Computer” section to make sure the device is working.

If the computer does not see the drive, then the memory card is faulty.

Press Win + R and wait for the Run window to open;
Enter the command diskmgmt.msc in it;
Now a window should open in which all memory devices will be displayed - external, internal, formatted, unformatted;
If the letter designating the card matches the letter, for example, of the optical drive, etc., then you need to rename the card;
In rare cases, renaming may solve the problem;
If the problem is not solved in this way, then you need to completely format the card and create a new file system (of course, it is worth remembering that the data from the media must be copied before this);
You can format the device from Explorer;
Right-click on the memory card;
A menu will open in which you need to select the line Format;
A window will open in which you need to remove the marker from the window next to the inscription "Quick Format";
Below, indicate that you need to create a format file system (most often this parameter is set by default);
Click OK;
Wait for the process to complete.

After that, install the memory card in your phone. It should be successfully recognized. If this still does not happen, then it is possible that there is still a specific hardware problem.

Restoring work

<Рис. 6 Восстановление через ПК>

Restoring the operation of a MicroSD card is a specific case when a medium that was successfully recognized before suddenly ceases to be detected by the same device.

In this case, there was no damage to the media or phone, no changes were made to the phone software, etc.

This method can also help when the phone reports that "Memory card cannot be accessed", “The memory card is damaged, etc.”.

This method is quite effective, but only for old cards. And only on the condition that they worked properly before. There is no point in using this method for new cards.

Connect the memory card to a PC or laptop to make sure it is working properly;
Open Explorer and right-click on the map;
Select Properties from the drop-down menu;
Go to the Service tab;
Run Disk Check, having previously specified the need to automatically correct detected errors and malfunctions;
In the same section you can conduct Surface test with automatic recovery of bad sectors (although this is not necessary).

A more complex option is troubleshooting by working in the HKLM branch. This is done as follows:

Find the SYSTEM directory in the folder tree;
In it, open the StorageDevicePolicies section;
The parameters that need to be changed will appear on the right side of the window;
Assign a zero value to the defining parameter (write the number zero in parentheses in the combination 0x00000000(1)).

The card should now interact normally with the phone.

File system

<Рис. 7 Файловая система>

There are memory cards in microSD HC and microSD XC formats. The second option is typical for cards with a capacity of more than 32 GB.

They have a different file system, which has its own advantages (for example, recording speed and duration of recording segments), but is not recognized by all phones, tablets and other devices.

So, some phones are simply not designed to support cards larger than 32GB. In this case, it is almost impossible to change the file system without special skills.

However, it is worth remembering that the type (HC or XC) of the card is written directly on it, so it is important to choose the appropriate one.

WHAT TO DO IF ANDROID (PHONE) DOESN’T SEEN THE MEMORY CARD?

The phone does not see the MicroSD flash drive: what to do, how to fix it?

Many people want to know how to install applications on an SD card in Android devices. If a user has a phone or tablet with a small amount of permanent memory and RAM, then they probably uninstall programs often to free up space. But there is a way to increase the storage capacity by using an SD card.

Methods for installing programs

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By default, Android games and applications are installed on the built-in storage of your smartphone, which may be too small. If you have an SD, you can make sure that some programs are installed there by default, thereby freeing up space for more information. Under certain conditions, you can transfer almost any installed program to a removable flash drive.

How to install an application on an Android SD card? There are several different ways to carry out this operation. The correct method depends on the operating system version and the data you want to move. In the settings of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, you can adapt the SD as built-in memory, automatically installing allowed games and software on the removable drive.

Some smartphones without a new operating system allow you to move an application to the memory card manually, but only if the developer allows it. An alternative way to transfer programs is to use the Link2SD application.

It should be noted that programs launched from the card will likely run slower than those located in the built-in memory.

That's why you can only transfer applications to an external flash drive if absolutely necessary. It is recommended, whenever possible, to use this method for programs that do not require high speed for normal operation.

How to adapt an SD card for internal memory

Traditionally, SD on Android served as portable storage. This means that you can store videos, music and photos on them for use on your smartphone. SD can be connected to a computer to transfer files two-way. When used as a portable storage device, the card can be removed without affecting functionality.

Read also: How to install flash player on Android - instructions

How to install applications on a memory card? The Android 6.0 Marshmallow system allows you to use SD as built-in storage, turning it into an integral part of your smartphone. If you accept a removable flash drive as the main storage, then by default new software will be installed on it. If desired, the user can move the program back to the built-in memory.

If an external drive is used as the main storage, then it cannot be removed without affecting the functionality of the gadget. In this case, the card cannot be used on other devices (including PCs). The SD card is formatted as a local EXT4 drive, encoded with 128-bit AES encryption and mounted as part of the system. Once the Marshmallow system accepts the drive, it will only work with that drive.

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To transfer data, you need to connect Android directly to your computer. It is not possible to remove the SD from the device and connect it directly to a PC to transfer files. If the drive was used as portable storage and it contains data, then you need to transfer it to the built-in memory. If you do not do this, the programs will be deleted and will have to be installed again.

When using SD as internal storage, you need to make sure that the card is fast. When purchasing a new drive, you should look for Class 10 and UHC. If you choose a cheaper and slower SD, it will slow down the device as a whole. If you plan to configure the drive as internal storage, then it is better to spend the money on purchasing a fast card. The Android system will test the SD speed during the synchronization process and warn the user if it is too slow and could negatively affect the performance of the gadget.