What happens when you are in an app that is set to save to SD card and you try and save something? Does it work? If so, it's saving to internal. Or you have an SD card and don't realize it.
I'm not sure what global setting you are talking about to save to SD. But, if you are seeing some of your storage labeled as SD, some manufacturers label a portion of internal storage as SD for some reason. It is in fact internal.