I can't move my apps to my SD card.

[cinque8]

Hello,

I have a ZTE Avid Trio phone, running Android 6.01. I do not have the option to move any of my apps to my SD card. I even tried letting the phone format the SD card for internal use but that didn't work either. When I try to download an app from Playstore the phone shows less than 300 mb of storage space available even though a 32 GB SD card is installed. I have KingRoot and ES File Explorer installed but have not rooted my phone yet.

Thank you

 

[B. Diddy]

Not all phones support the Move to SD feature, so if you don't see that button anywhere, it's not supported. Are you saying that you did successfully format an SD card as Internal Storage? If so, what did the Settings>Storage menu look like afterwards?

 

[cinque8]

It still only showed less than 207 MB of internal storage.

Also ever since I have had this phone I get a error message that the SIM card this is installed is not compatible with the phone. But when I took the phone back to Metro PCS, the person that sold me the phone said that the SIM card was fine.

 

[B. Diddy]

Can you clarify if you formatted the card as Internal Storage or Portable Storage?

Also, that message doesn't seem to mean that the SIM is completely incompatible -- it says that it doesn't support all features of the device, which would seem to imply that basic functions should still work. It might be referring to something like video calling or mobile hotspot. Did you get the phone from MetroPCS directly, or was it originally from T-Mobile, and you're bringing it over to MetroPCS?

 

[cinque8]

I have two 32 GB SD cards, The SanDisk card is formatted for external use. The Samsung card is formatted for internal use.

When the SanDisk card is inserted, this is what shows for storage.



When the Samsung card is inserted, here is what shows for storage



When either card is inserted, and I try to download a app from Playstore, I get the same message that less than 300 MB of storage is available.

Thank you

 

[B. Diddy]

Strange, that ought to work. What happens if you tap the Samsung SD card listing -- do you get any options?

 

[cinque8]

When I tapped on the listing, there were no options.

So now I am starting to wonder if there is something wrong with this version of Marshmallow (6.01), or this version of ZTE, or both.

 

[B. Diddy]

Tap the 3 vertical dot button to the right of "Samsung SD Card" in that image. What options do you get?

 

[cinque8]

 

[B. Diddy]

That second screenshot is after you tapped Migrate Data? What happens if you go ahead with the data migration, and then try to install another app after that? Maybe the card has to be "primed" by first migrating data there.

 

[cinque8]

OMG ! ! ! IT WORKS ! ! !

I can now move some of my apps to the SD card.

I was getting ready to dump this phone and go get another one.



I learned a lot of valuable information on this post !

Thanks a lot B. Diddy !

BTW, do you know P. Diddy?

 

[cinque8]

And one last question:

On the internal storage and the SD card, what folder are the apps stored in?

Thank you

 

[B. Diddy]

Great! I'm glad you figured it out.

The directory where the actual app program files is installed is protected system directory, and not accessible by the user unless you root the phone. I'm not sure if you can see it on the SD card either when it's formatted as Internal Storage.

Enjoy the use of your SD card, but keep in mind that SD cards are inherently much less reliable than onboard memory, and can fail without much notice. There are many threads in the forums about SD cards that become corrupt or suddenly can't be read at all. This can cause problems if a lot of your important apps are installed to the card. Make sure you keep all of your important data backed up or synced somewhere on a regular basis.

Oh, and P. Diddy's no relation. I get confused with him all the time. Must be the millions of dollars I roll around in, and the solid gold Rolls I drive.