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OT Question about Android tablet and SD card

TSasha SmithTSasha Smith Posts: 27,368
in The Commons

I have an android tablet with small internal memory but a 32 gb SD card.  How can I get the android to save movies, music, apps to the SD card instead of the internal storage?  I have an Alcatel Pixi I think that is what it is called.  It is always running low on internal storage but the SD card is barely used.  What can I do to fix this situation?

Comments

  • zombietaggerungzombietaggerung Posts: 3,868

    Under your settings when you first put in the SD card there should be an option to set the SD card as the default save location. And if you've downloaded any apps you should be able to move several of them to the SD card, which will free up more space. And also make sure to "format" the SD card when you first put it in your tablet, so that the devise is sure to see it.

  • ArtiniArtini Posts: 10,436
    edited May 2016

    I have the similar problem. Android developers made it extremely difficult to save anything on the SD card, unless you have the version 4 of Android, which handled that much better.

    Post edited by Artini on
  • wolf359wolf359 Posts: 3,940
    edited May 2016

    Hi I am running android 4.4 on my 
    samsung device.
     Google, ( the makers of the android OS)
    have decided, as of version 4x,block the ability
    to save Directly to external SD cards on all 
    but the OS's on the top end device such as the newest Galaxy Edge S7.

    There is much speculation about the reason for this restriction such as the sudden appearance of phone models that are permanently sealed and do NOT allow for 
    battery replacement  or upgrading internal storage capacity.angry

    This forces you to buy a more expensive phone just to have higher built in storage capacity. 
    My son had to settle for an 8 gig capacity
    "Galaxy note"  because the larger capacity
    models were out of his price range.

    In any case you will have to use the built in file manger ,or a third party one to manually move your large files to your external high capacity SD card. 

    Post edited by wolf359 on
  • joeyteeljoeyteel Posts: 65

    The change was made in KitKat that blocks writing to the SD card. They sort of fixed it in Lollipop, but so many things will break. Offiicially it was for "security" and "stability" reasons. The models you see that support it post KitKat without weird work arounds have actually deliberately modified the OS to change permissions on the SD card mount point to allow writing to the full card without needing for an app to specifically request permissions.

    Interesting side bit of info: Apps can write to the SD Card under the Android/data/<package identifier>/ folders without needing extra permissions or root.

  • TSasha SmithTSasha Smith Posts: 27,368

    Sorry but why is there a slot for the SD card when I cannot figure out how to use it?  Is there any purpose to it?

  • Kendall SearsKendall Sears Posts: 2,995
    edited September 2016
    it is more of an app issue than user issue. in android 4.4+ the app needs to know how to write to the SD correctly. However, few app developers ever got off their butts and learned how.

    Under android 5+ the app can ask for permission and the user can grant it (again the developer must have a clue).

    Currently, if the app is coded incorrectly, you let it save to the internal space and then use a file manager app to move the written file.

    Kendall
    Post edited by Kendall Sears on
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