Formatting SD card

lindabea

I need a new SD card for my android phone. I can't decide whether to format the card as Internal storage or portable storage. Can someone please advise on the pros and cons for each type and perhaps what's best. Ideally, I'd like to store all pics/music on the SD card rather then phone memory so when I take a picture on the phone, it would be stored on the SD card. Or would I have to keep moving pics from phone to the SD card.

Not sure how it all works, so any advise would be much appreciated.

dipsomaniac

Best not to store photos on sd card imo as they are easily corruptible. I have Google photos installed for display and backup. I connect phone to pc monthly to transfer photos from phone (freeing up space) to Nas drive for additional backup

debitcardmayhem

If you format as internal you can't use the card elsewhere,eg a PC , however if you format as internal you can use a USB cable , bluetooth, cloud etc to copy them. I would go for internal , saves f&nnying about when out and about, but don't leave them on any SD for too long before copying and then backing up again to elsewhere to more than 1 place


Edit: of course you have a phone with lot's of onboard memory e.g. 128GB then use the sd as a transfer mechanism perhaps

DoaM

As above ... it really depends on how much internal storage the phone has. 64GB+ and an SD card can easily be portable storage. 32GB or less and it's worth formatting it as internal storage - provided that it's a fast SD card.

lindabea

DoaM wrote: »

provided that it's a fast SD card.

What is generally regarded as fast? I was thinking of getting a Sandisk 32GB Ultra SD card Class 10. I think it's rated at 80MBS. Would this be suitable or should I go for something else?

dipsomaniac

Yes, that class 10 card looks good. Out of interest how much storage do you have on your phone?

DoaM

Even with a Class 10 card the phone will likely give a "speed" warning about using it as internal storage ... just ignore the warning. (SWMBO has a Moto G6 ... we fitted a 64GB class 10 SD card and formatted it for internal storage - we got such a message too but there's been no noticeable performance issue).

PS - the price difference between a 32GB and 64GB card isn't massive - I'd suggest going for more than 32GB. And as already asked (a few times) ... how much storage does the phone have without an SD card?

mobileron

Make sure you back them up on Google Drive,its free.

lindabea

Thank you all for your replies. The phone memory is very small - 16GB. Model Nokia 5.

From the recommendations I received, I may be better off to format the disk as internal storage although I prefer it to be as portable. Is there a way I can 'force' the phone to store pics/videos on the SD card and all apps to go on the phone memory. From what I been reading, I may have to use the 'migrate' feature to transfer from phone to card.

mksysb

lindabea wrote: »

Thank you all for your replies. The phone memory is very small - 16GB. Model Nokia 5.

From the recommendations I received, I may be better off to format the disk as internal storage although I prefer it to be as portable. Is there a way I can 'force' the phone to store pics/videos on the SD card and all apps to go on the phone memory. From what I been reading, I may have to use the 'migrate' feature to transfer from phone to card.

Usually there is a setting on the camera app where you can set where the pictures are stored

DoaM

lindabea wrote: »

Is there a way I can 'force' the phone to store pics/videos on the SD card and all apps to go on the phone memory.

The exact method will depend on your phone, but it will be something like:

Settings >> Memory & Storage >> Default Location ... choose SD Card

But with 16GB of internal storage you'll very quickly use that up ... even if all your music, photos and videos go to the SD card. My Huawei P9 Lite has 16GB of internal storage ... I have 2GB free, even though I have a 64GB SD Card. (One of these days I'll do a reset and change my SD card to Internal).