How to Move Data and Content From Android To An External SD Card

Introduction

There are a lot of Android devices out there with small storage capacities. Typically on the low end to mid-range android devices comes with smaller capacities like 4,8,16 GB of internal storage. While this might not be enough for a lot of users, some of these devices come with a micro-sd slot as a blessing in disguise. However, the second hurdle comes from the Operating system platform itself. Certain Android versions like 4.2.x KitKat does not support installing or migrating apps to a sd card. In certain cases, only the apps which install on its own directory seems to support this feature. A lot of solutions are available online that requires you to root your device. In this post, I have collated all the possible solutions for moving app data to your SD Card. If you want to know more about how to move data and content from Android to an external sd card, read along.

How to Move Data and Content From Android To An External SD Card

Before getting started, you would need to keep in mind that your Internal eMMC based storage is almost 3 times faster than your external sd card. See the table below for your reference:

Source: Samsung

Quick Note: Android Marshmellow allows you to “Setup” your External SD card as internal storage

For Android Marshmellow (Android 6.0) Devices when you permanently make your SD Card as your internal storage, the following points are applicable:

• You will not be able to use the SD Card on any other devices, including PC.
• The Internal SD Card will be formatted with EXT4 and encrypted with 128 bit AES encryption.
• The phone will become unusable, once the SD card is removed or unmounted from the device.
• Class 10 UHS or above sd card speeds is recommended.

Source: How2Geek

How to move App Data on Android 4.4.x & 5.0 (Android KitKat & Lollipop)

The typical settings for going to individual App properties are from Settings>Apps><Select APP>. From the App properties, you will be able to tab on the option “Move or SD Card” option as given in the following screenshot:

There are easy to use, useful Apps available on the App Store which allows you to list all the apps which can be moved to your SD Card. See AppMgr III (App 2 SD) example below:

AppMgr III (App 2 SD) on Google Play

Hopefully, this helped. In a later post, I will talk about how to partition your SD Card and Root your device to use it as your primary drive. Feel free to write to us for any comments or suggestions.