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Advice on Moving Micro SD Card from current Android phone to new Android phone

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My friend is upgrading from his old Android mobile phone to a new mobile phone soon and has asked me to help him

Obviously I do a big back up of the old phone before the move using Google and then follow the procedure to transfer data onto the new phone

What is the procedure for moving the micro SD memory card from the old phone to the new phone

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Comments

  • Murmansk
    Murmansk Posts: 1,135 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper
    I'm not an expert on this but from my limited experience of doing this the key is that you do, as you have, the backup to Google Drive; don't put the card straight into the new phone as you may find it formats it and the files on are lost. 

    I'd be inclined to copy the files from the card to a PC or other storage medium before putting it anywhere near the new phone
  • First point, if the new phone has more storage than the old (as they often do) then consider not using an SD card for regular storage. They are not as robust as internal storage and if they are routinely removed/reinserted to move data then there is the risk of physical damage to the flimsy SIM drawer.

    Definitely copy all the data from the card before removing it from the old phone, there's never any surity that the card will work at all in the new phone, or will require a reformat to do so.

    Some transfer utilities like Samsung Smart Switch will copy the contents of any SD card as part of the process, but will put the data into internal storage on the new phone, a problem if you've got a full high capacity card to copy.
  • First point, if the new phone has more storage than the old (as they often do) then consider not using an SD card for regular storage. They are not as robust as internal storage and if they are routinely removed/reinserted to move data then there is the risk of physical damage to the flimsy SIM drawer.

    Definitely copy all the data from the card before removing it from the old phone, there's never any surity that the card will work at all in the new phone, or will require a reformat to do so.

    Some transfer utilities like Samsung Smart Switch will copy the contents of any SD card as part of the process, but will put the data into internal storage on the new phone, a problem if you've got a full high capacity card to copy.

    I was going to do a back up to his Google account
    And then load the back up onto his new phone 

    At what point do I move the SD card from the old phone to the new phone 
  • What data is on the SD card? 
  • DoneWorking
    DoneWorking Posts: 387 Forumite
    Third Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 3 December 2024 at 2:25PM
    What data is on the SD card? 

    He says he generally stores photos and docs on the SD card to save using up memory on the phone 
    There is only 4Gbytes saved on the 64 Gbyte SD card 

    He cannot load apps on the SD card 
  • Unless there is a particular need to move the data on the SD card from phone 1 to 2, get the card backed up while it's in phone 1, verify that the data has been copied to the PC (or whatever) and forget about it until the new phone has been set up, apps copied, logins renewed etc.

    Put the SD card (still in the old phone if you like) in a safe place.

    Then, if there is still a requirement for an extra 64GB of storage, go to Argos and buy the best 64GB SD card they have, it'll cost about £10. Put it in the new phone.


  • Unless there is a particular need to move the data on the SD card from phone 1 to 2, get the card backed up while it's in phone 1, verify that the data has been copied to the PC (or whatever) and forget about it until the new phone has been set up, apps copied, logins renewed etc.

    Put the SD card (still in the old phone if you like) in a safe place.

    Then, if there is still a requirement for an extra 64GB of storage, go to Argos and buy the best 64GB SD card they have, it'll cost about £10. Put it in the new phone.



    Thanks 
    That's very helpful 

    Is there an easy guide to using the micro SD and Google Files for checking the contents I can pass on to him.

    If he did as you say above and put in a new SD card in the new phone 
    And saved the old SD data on to a pc 
    How would he be able to transfer that data from the pc onto the new SD card in his new phone 

    I'm a newbie to all this 
    But trying to help him best I can 
  • I'm obviously being too obtuse, I'm doing my best to persuade your friend that there is (probably) no need for an SD card in the new phone.

    What make/model are the old and new phones? 
  • I'm obviously being too obtuse, I'm doing my best to persuade your friend that there is (probably) no need for an SD card in the new phone.

    What make/model are the old and new phones? 
    His old phone is a Moto G62 5G 
    He hasn't made his mind up yet on new phone but looking like it might be a 
    Moto G54 5G
  • If he were to choose that phone then it has 256GB of storage vs 128 on the old phone.

    The question again is why does the data from the card need to be moved to the new phone?

    If it does need to be moved then move the data from the card onto the old phone (Settings, Storage, SD Card etc) before you start the transfer process.
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