How to move data to sd card samsung

Many cheap Android phones come with a paltry 8GB of storage, and even 16GB isn’t really enough for lots of apps, high-resolution photos and videos, plus a music library. Fortunately, the vast majority of Android phones have a memory card slot, into which you can slot an inexpensive microSD card.

What you need to know about microSD

Before you buy one, check what capacity your phone will support. Flagship phones tend to accommodate 128GB or higher, but many cheap Androids accept only 32GB. To be fair, 32GB will be enough for most people. We’ve tested and rated all the best microSD cards. 

Once you’ve got the microSD card, it’s easy to set things up so that it becomes the default place for new apps, photos, videos, music and more. You can switch the storage location within your camera settings or Google Play Music settings, for example. But what about the stuff already clogging up your phone’s internal storage?

How to move apps to SD card

First, let’s clear up something important: not all apps can be moved to microSD, and some phones won’t let you move apps to SD at all. This means phones with just 4- or 8GB of internal storage can still run into problems even with a microSD card if you download and use a lot of apps.

Whether or not an app can be moved to microSD is down to the app developer and, sometimes, the phone manufacturer. 

The Galaxy S9 is one of several phones that does allow you to move apps to SD, but you should note that those apps won’t be available when you remove the SD card. The screenshots below have been taken on a Galaxy S9 and may look a little different to what you’re seeing on your own phone, but the process should be largely the same.

To move an app to the SD card select it in the Settings > Apps menu, then tap on Storage. If you are able to move the app to SD you will see a ‘Change’ button next to Storage used: Internal shared storage.

Here we’ve selected Barcode Scanner, which was not preinstalled on the phone and can be moved (preinstalled apps often cannot be moved). Also note our screenshot of Bixby Voice, however, which lacks this Change button and therefore can’t be moved.

To move an app to SD tap the Change button and select the SD card option in the pop-up menu. You’ll see a screen offering to export the app, warning you that you shouldn’t remove the SD card while this is in progress. Tap Move. The transfer will then take place.

It’s worth pointing out that many free apps are available that offer to automate this process for you. If you’re concerned about storage then adding yet another app probably isn’t the best idea, but you can always uninstall it once it has done its job.

Move to SD card greyed out

In older versions of Android you may find the option to Move to SD card will be greyed out, as is the case with the Amazon Music app that is preinstalled on this EE Harrier Mini. These apps cannot be moved to microSD.

Format SD as internal storage

Note that some phones require you to set the SD card as internal storage first, before you can migrate any data. The HTC U11 is an example so you’ll need to find the microSD card in the storage section of the settings menu and ‘Format as internal’. The process will be similar on other phones.

How to move photos, video, music and files to SD

The easiest method of moving files to SD is browse to Settings > Storage on your Android phone or tablet, then look for an option to ‘Transfer data to SD card’. Not all Android devices have this option, and if yours doesn’t you’ll need to manually move the files. 

The second easiest way to quickly move photos, video, music and other files to a microSD card is to do so using a PC or Mac. Hook up the phone to your computer via a USB cable, then open a new window to browse its contents.

You should be able to see the phone’s internal storage and SD card as two separate storage devices. We’re using Android File Transfer on a Mac, which shows the Internal storage and SD card on separate tabs. 

To move files from Internal storage to SD card simply drag-and-drop files to copy them from the internal storage to the Mac desktop and back to the phone’s SD card, then delete them from the phone’s internal storage. Just don’t try to move any Android system files.

File manager app

Another option is to use a file manager app. Many Android phones come with such an app preinstalled, but it is not a standard part of Android. We’ve downloaded the free File Manager app from Topnet999, but ES File Explorer is another popular app.

Tap on the Storage tab at the top of the app to see the various storage available on the phone. Here sdcard0 was our phone’s internal storage, while sdcard1 was the microSD card. Let’s start with photos.

First open sdcard0 and browse to DCIM > Camera. Here you’ll find any shots taken by your camera. Tap the three dots at the bottom right of the screen and choose Multi-select. Tap on each item you want to move to SD; when selected the white text becomes yellow. Now choose Move, browse to the microSD card and choose Move here. 

Repeat the process for any music and other files stored on your device.

When you get a brand new phone out of the box, it always gives you peak performance. But this may be short-lived once photos, apps, files, and updates accumulate and hog system resources.

One of the best ways to deal with an Android phone that tends to feel sluggish over time is by expanding its storage using an SD card. This little device, the size of your thumbnail, has been around for more than two decades and can hold large amounts of data depending on its capacity.

Their capacities range from 128MB up to 1TB depending on the type of SD card. Be sure to check the maximum microSD card capacity your device supports before you get one.

While we’d like all phones to come with unlimited storage, that’s probably not in the offing any time soon. Plus, your phone won’t magically move all your files and images to the SD card once you insert it. You need to set it up to hold your files, apps and media. This way, you’ll free up precious storage space on your phone’s internal memory.

Not all Android phones support microSD cards though. Some also require you to set up the SD card as internal storage before migrating data.

How To Transfer Files To An SD Card On Your Android Phone

• Transfer files from Android internal storage to SD card
• Transfer images from Android internal storage to SD card
• Change default camera storage to SD card
• Transfer apps from Android internal storage to SD card
• Storage alternatives

Note: We’ve used the Samsung My Files app for the instructions below on a Samsung Galaxy S8+ (running Android Pie), but they should be similar for most Android phones.

Transfer Files From Android Internal Storage To SD Card

The benefit of saving your files to your SD card or other external storage for that matter, is that you can swap them to a different device. This is particularly helpful when you want to share data with another device, upgrade your own device efficiently, or move files to long-term backup or storage.

To move your files from your phone’s internal memory to an SD card, use your phone’s File Manager app (in our case, it’s My Files).

Using File Manager 

• Open File Manager or My Files from its location on your phone.

• You’ll see a list of the different file categories and the storage options available on your phone. Tap the Documents folder.

• At the upper right side of the screen, tap Menu (three vertical dots) to show a drop-down list of actions.

• Tap Edit and select All the files, or choose individual files you want to move. 

• Go back to My Files using the Home icon, and tap SD Card. Tap the desired location on the SD card and select Move Here. If you’re unsure, you can always tap Cancel to start over.

• Your phone will start moving the files to the SD card. Do this for any other files you’d like to move to the SD card.

Note: If your phone doesn’t have a pre-installed file manager app, like Samsung’s My Files app, you can download and install a third-party app to help you with this.

Transfer Images From Android Internal Storage To An SD Card

Do you need to make room for your precious memories? You can move all your images from your phone’s internal memory to the SD card.

• Open My Files (or your File Manager app) and tap Internal Storage.

• Find Camera and long-press on it.

• Tap the Menu (three vertical dots) icon at the top and tap Edit.

• Tap Move on the lower left side of the screen (the position of this menu depends on your device). Go back to My Files using the Home icon, and tap SD Card.

• Tap DCIM. If you don’t have a folder labeled DCIM on the SD card, tap Create folder and label it DCIM, and then tap Done to set off the transfer.

Note: While you can assign your images to be transferred to the SD card, not all phones let you assign screenshots to capture and save on SD. In this case, you’ll have to keep copying and moving your screenshots to the SD card so they don’t fill up your phone.

Change The Default Camera Storage To SD Card

Instead of having to move your images and videos to your SD card every time, you can change the directories on the Camera app so that the SD card becomes the default storage location. 

It’ll save the media files to the DCIM folder, but you need to confirm that your camera app offers this option first. If not, you can always download a different camera app from the Google Play Store.

• Open the Camera app on your phone. Tap the gear menu icon at the upper-left side to open Settings.

• Tap SD card (it can be labeled as External Storage or Memory card depending on your device)

From now on, all photos or videos you take will be saved directly to the SD card.

Transfer Apps From Android Internal Storage To The SD Card

• Open Settings on your phone and go to Apps>App Info.

• Tap Storage and then tap Change next to the default storage. Select your SD card. 

Note: If the Move to SD card option is greyed out, it means the particular app you’re trying to move cannot be transferred, because not all apps can be moved. 

Plus, not all phones allow you to transfer apps. Some won’t let you move any apps to the SD card at all. This is entirely at the discretion of the app’s developer or the device manufacturer.

If your phone allows you to move apps, you should note that the apps won’t be available on the phone if you remove the SD card.

Storage Alternatives

If your SD card fills up and you run out of space, you can use a memory card reader to move the files or images to your computer. From there, you can back up the files or images to an external drive with higher capacity, or upload to online cloud storage like Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox for the long-term.