SDCard & Internal Storage

[AntGl]

Hello.
First posting so hopefully this is in the right place.

I have an Energizer S550 handset with Marshmallow (7.0) which has 4.5GB of internal storage. This spec is fine for me albeit slightly space limited when it comes to new apps.

Installing a Samung 64GB sdcard as internal memory (not portable) was relatively painless and the new space was recognised correctly.

The issue I have may be more to do with my understanding of Android that anything else.

All of my apps do not appear to be able to be installed nor migrated to the sdcard. The native 4.5GB storage always appear to take the hit...As a result I cannot really install anymore apps than the half dozen or so I have, as this area is always a bit tight for space.

The 64GB sdcard seems to sitting there unused largely. I get the feeling I'm not really using this.......

Any photos I take I immediately download & remove elsewhere so they aren't a factor particularly.

Any advice/thoughts re this ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[anon(10614692)]

Welcome to Android Forums. I couldn't find a method to allow the SD card to be used as adaptable storage. Which method did you use? If you have a card installed as adaptable storage the SD card space becomes internal storage so you shouldn't see the SD card as a separate storage space. When apps get installed they will always load to internal storage. See https://forums.androidcentral.com/a...89-internal-storage-full-but-sd-card-not.html for further information.

 

[Mooncatt]

Welcome to the forums and you did ask in the right place. My understanding is that when the SD card is used as adoptable storage, the two are co-mingled as one storage location, and you get no option to select where the apps go. It could be that the phone is prioritizing internal storage for apps, which would be a good thing.

The reason I'm not completely sure is because adoptable storage can be problematic and not really recommended. Some manufacturers don't implement it correctly in the first place. Even if they do, SD cards are slower to read and write, and can be corrupted relatively quickly. Apps are constantly writing to storage, and SD cards are not designed for such repetitive use. They are best suited for individual files that you write once. Another issue is the card becomes encrypted to that specific device. If/when it fails, you'll lose everything on it, and you'll also not be able to swap it into other devices without reformatting it.

I certainly understand your desire to use the SD card as adopted storage, but you should also understand its drawbacks. If you are able to replace the phone, that would be the best long term solution. The current minimum I would recommend is 64 GB internal with an SD card slot (formatted as portable, not internal), or 128 GB without an SD card. If you must keep this one and use the card as adopted storage, then I would let the phone do its thing and try not to worry about it unless an actual problem pops up. I would make sure you have a thorough backup system in place too.

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

Hi and Welcome to the forums. I agree with Mooncatt. 4.5 GB is really smallnstorage for modern smartphones and if the SD card is formatted as portable, even if you could move apps to it, most of the app would still stay on internal storage. It doesn't move the whole app.

I think that if you can get a newer phone it would serve you better at this point. There are some good budget phones and Amazon sell a good range of budget and mid tier phones if that is your price range.

Otherwise if it isn't broke don't fix it also works. Unless you develop a problem.

 

[AntGl]

Thanks you all for your prompt help. Very much appreciated.
In all probability the solution for me is likely to be a new handset given the potential pitfalls of applying an adoptable storage solution.

Cheers for this.
Ant

 

[Mooncatt]

Thanks you all for your prompt help. Very much appreciated.
In all probability the solution for me is likely to be a new handset given the potential pitfalls of applying an adoptable storage solution.

Cheers for this.
Ant

Good luck. If you do decide to replace the phone, feel free to start a new thread to ask for suggestions. Just let us know what sort of features you want and your budget.

 

[AntGl]

Great stuff
TVM
Ant