Data to Mem Card

[Handy22]

I Have a Samsung Galaxy Tab A and I have added a 64GB memory card, I added it when I purchased the tablet several years ago. I was rather surprised about 4 months ago when I got a warning that the 32GB ROM was full. After doing some checking I discovered that virtually no data has gone to the Mem Card. I have a number of books on the tablet and had set it so that they would be stored on the Mem Card but I can't see them on it. I also have a mapping app that uses a lot of storage and would like the data to go on the Mem Card but unfortunately not having much luck.
Please help me, I'm an old faithfully Windows man that tried using IOS, I gave up after 12 months of aggravation and now using Android, I think I like it but I've got a lot to learn.

TIA Andrew

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! What model number is your Tab A, and which Android version is it running?

Keep in mind that sometimes, when an app uses the SD card as storage, you may not be able to see those discrete files, since the directory might be protected by the system (so that they're only accessible by the app, not by you using a file manager).

Go to Settings>Apps, and select an app, then Storage. Do you have a Change button under "Storage Used"?

 

[Handy22]

Unfortunately there isn't a Change button.
As to the Android version it is 11 and the last update was last month.
I have installed File Manager + and it is showing the Main Storage as 97% full and the SD card 10% full.
I have no movies,no music and no photos on the tablet, yet I still manage to use 32GB, can't understand it.
As I said earlier I'm a windows man, my last mobile was MS Lumia 950 and because it is no longer supported by MS I have changed completely to Android.
My phone is a Galaxy S22 and tablet a Galaxy Tab A. The old lumia only had 32GB of total memory(ROM & SD) and it held hundreds of photos and hundred of songs and yet I never seemed to run out of memory.
Maybe as an Android newbee I'm doing something wrong, I'm open to any suggestions.

Andrew

 

[Handy22]

Missed your other question, the model is a SM-T295.

Andrew

 

[B. Diddy]

Show us a screenshot of the Settings>Storage menu. http://forums.androidcentral.com/ge...ide-how-post-screenshots-android-central.html

Although the total internal storage of your tablet is 32 GB, the amount taken up by the OS and preinstalled Samsung apps and other bloatware is often in the range of 10-12 GB. According to these specs, you only have 21 GB of storage available to you: https://www.phonemore.com/specs/samsung/galaxy-tab-a-8-0-2019/sm-t295/

Apps these days are getting bigger and bigger, and they use more storage as well for accumulated data. So it's not unusual for a 32 GB device to run out of storage relatively easily. SD cards are really only good for saving discrete files like media and documents, and those usually don't take up that much space (e.g., the average Kindle ebook takes up only about 2-3 MB). SD cards are probably most useful if you want to keep your entire music library on the device, rather than stream from the cloud. But one of the big downsides of SD cards is their unreliability -- they tend to crash or fail more often than onboard memory, so you should never rely on an SD card to be the sole storage location for important data.

 

[Handy22]

Hmmm, having trouble attaching the screenshot
Basically what it says is

Internal Storage
96% used
Images 0B > Videos 0B >
Audio 5.57MB > Documents 49.25MB >
Instal Files 0B > Compre files 0B >
Apps ! System 9.25GB
Other 21.44GB Recycle 0B

So, you were very close with your figures!
The "Other" is obviously where the problem is, well at least I think that is where it is!
It would appear I can go into Images, Audio, Installation File etc to see what is in there but I can't get into "Other".
I do have a mapping and navigation app (Exploroz) that is large but I would never have thought it was more than 10GB.
Is there any way I can see what is in this group? If the problem is ExplorOz then I'm tempted to uninstall it then reinstall it

Another problem I have that is to do with Android Auto is, Is it possible to have an app come up on the launcher within the vehicle?
I have a Holden Colorado (2017) and I can get AA to work in it but would like other apps that are on the phone to appear in launcher.
I have both TomTom and CoPilot on the phone, TomTom will appear on the screen in the vehicle but not CoPilot, the maps on TomTom are out of date and I mean 5 years out of date, where as CoPilot is fairly current. So although I used TomTom many years ago (on another phone) and have a lot of loyalty to it, the currency of the maps leaves a lot to be desired. As a result I now prefer Copilot.

 

[B. Diddy]

"Other" can mean a lot of things, and it's important to keep in mind that just because it's "Other" doesn't mean it's not important.

Various social media and messaging apps can sometimes build up huge amounts of data, so if you have any apps like that, check the app info for each and see how much storage they're using.

DiskUsage can also give you a better idea of what's using up space.

Sorry, but I can't comment on Android Auto on an older device, since I don't have direct experience with that. I would guess that the app developer needs to code it such that it can show up in Android Auto, so you might consider emailing the CoPilot developer to see if they have any insight into this.