How Does Android View Expandable Memory Cards?

[DialOut]

I'm new to Android, and before I really dig the hole with an $800 bill for a new phone, I have to ask: How does Android treat Micro SD cards? Are they treated like external drives - similar to desktop computers - or can you keep one in permanently and have it used like built in storage (e.g., saving photos by default, loading music, that sort of thing, without a lot of farting around every time it turns on or boots up).

Like, hypothetically, what are the differences in usability and app/file management between a 128GB phone and a 64GB phone with a 128GB Micro SD card plopped in?

Thank in advance for your help! I really appreciate it. I did a search and couldn't easily find an answer to my specific question.

 

[Unforgiven]

It varies by phone a little bit. Most phones allow you to set the default storage to internal or SD, and will store photos. music, etc on the sd card. This is how my Honor 8 works. Others (preferable for me) allow for adoptable storage, where the SD card becomes an extension of your internal storage. For example you have 32GB of internal storage and a 64GB SD card you wind up with 96BG of phone storage with no designation or differentiation between internal storage or external (SD) storage.

This is great if you understand it. The downside is that the internal storage AND external storage get enrypted, so you cannot remove the SD card as you render both inoperable (phone would need an FDR and card would need formatting).

 

[Hadron]

Also remember that there are some android phones (Google's own handsets and a number of higher-end Chinese models) that don't include a microsd slot. Always check before you buy.

 

[DialOut]

It varies by phone a little bit. Most phones allow you to set the default storage to internal or SD, and will store photos. music, etc on the sd card. This is how my Honor 8 works. Others (preferable for me) allow for adoptable storage, where the SD card becomes an extension of your internal storage. For example you have 32GB of internal storage and a 64GB SD card you wind up with 96BG of phone storage with no designation or differentiation between internal storage or external (SD) storage.

This is great if you understand it. The downside is that the internal storage AND external storage get enrypted, so you cannot remove the SD card as you render both inoperable (phone would need an FDR and card would need formatting).

In the second scenario, where it totals up the internal and external storage, does that mean you can never remove the card and use the phone, or just some apps won't be functional?

Would it be possible to set default storage for only a certain type of media on an SD card, like music, for instance?

sry for the stupid questions...I'm so used to iOS doing my thinking for me...blessing and a curse.

 

[Unforgiven]

In the second scenario, where it totals up the internal and external storage, does that mean you can never remove the card and use the phone, or just some apps won't be functional?

Someone far more versed in Unix file structures would need to answer to really get into the weeds on this. I only understand it conceptually. The process is called Adoptable Storage. Basically, your SD card becomes encrypted and part of the system storage. As such, the two cannot be separated without formatting each (factory reset on the phone and format the card). So, if you pull the card, you can't use either. Nothing works until they are both reset.

Read here for more: https://www.androidcentral.com/adoptable-storage

Would it be possible to set default storage for only a certain type of media on an SD card, like music, for instance?

Yes, though with choice you sometimes have more effort. iOS generally presents one way to do things and you don't have to do much to have things work their way. Downside to this is it may not work exactly the way you want. Android allows many ways to do everything, and sometimes you need to put in a little work to get things working just the way you want. Downside to this is maybe needing to get into the weeds a little bit to set things up.

sry for the stupid questions

No apologies mate. All of us were new to this at one point or another.

I'm so used to iOS doing my thinking for me...blessing and a curse.

QFT

 

[lunatic59]

Unfortunately Android is advanced phone ownership sometimes. You have to grasp at least the concept of what it's doing before you can make an informed choice and some people just don't want to be bothered.

That's why we're here ... to bother you. I mean to HELP you.

And sometimes it's more a matter of philosophy that technology. Personally I am not a fan of adoptable storage, although I marvel at the implementation.

@Unforgiven explained the "how" of it, let me delve into the "why" (and for me "why not") of it.

Obviously people want more, more, MORE! but we want it fast and we want it cheap and we want it our way. It's called the "American Plan". SD cards are pretty cheap and have been around for a while and are tiny, so where's the problem? First, SD cards are slow, at least in terms of the memory that's soldered to the motherboard of your phone. If you look at the article @Unforgiven linked it shows you through benchmarks the kind of performance degradation you might see by using an SD card as part of your system even using a class 10 card.

Second, they are fragile. SD cards fail regularly. And they fail without warning. One day they are working just fine and then poof, gone, and without backups you're connected to something using an inclined plane wrapped helically around and axis. Stressing them with the constant read/write cycles of system memory (something which they were never designed for) increases the likelihood of failure.

And it's not always an option. @Hadron pointed out that some phones don't include an SD card slot. Google, who wrote the darn adoptable feature in the first place, doesn't let you use it with the Pixels (or later Nexuseses) because they don't have SD card slots. LG, who does usually include SD card slots in their phones has chosen to disable adoptable storage for SD cards.

If you ask me, SD cards should be used as they were intended -- external storage. If you run into storage issues because you want to have 250 apps on your phone (I have 357 ) and it only has 8GB or 16GB of memory, adoptable storage might look like a solution, but if you ask me you are just setting yourself up for a disappointing and perhaps disastrous experience.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Off Topic: 357? Really? That's a hella lot of apps.

Back On Topic:
I'm in a position to test that "won't work without MicroSD card" theory tonight. I have Adoptable storage setup on my HTC 10 but I'm using an LG G6. I'll pull the card from the HTC 10 after 11:00 PM tonight.

 

[lunatic59]

OT: 357? Really? That's a hella lot of apps.

Sorry, got my numbers mixed up.

Spoiler

But that is including the included system apps.

 

[DialOut]

Obviously people want more, more, MORE! but we want it fast and we want it cheap and we want it our way. It's called the "American Plan". SD cards are pretty cheap and have been around for a while and are tiny, so where's the problem? First, SD cards are slow, at least in terms of the memory that's soldered to the motherboard of your phone. If you look at the article @Unforgiven linked it shows you through benchmarks the kind of performance degradation you might see by using an SD card as part of your system even using a class 10 card.

Second, they are fragile. SD cards fail regularly. And they fail without warning. One day they are working just fine and then poof, gone, and without backups you're connected to something using inclined plane wrapped helically around and axis. Stressing them with the constant read/write cycles of system memory (something which they were never designed for) increases the likelihood of failure.

Yeh, I know - I've had SD cards fail, and SD card readers take the plunge even while the card itself still works. Failure rate/read speed aside, if it's used as storage (e.g., music) is it possible to use the expandable SD for music for my V30? My main thing is, the V30 is 64 and then jumps to128, so it's not exactly a space issue, but my music is backed up on SD cards *anyway* so it might it easier to manage. Unless there's an app for that of which I'm unaware as a newbie.

As far as read speed goes, I've used SD cards for music backup for a while now and even with the newest cards songs will still occasionally stutter if I have the buffer set too low.

btw I really appreciate your more technical reply...that's the type of stuff I read out of pure interest in my spare time. Am I a boring nerd or what.

 

[lunatic59]

is it possible to use the expandable SD for music for my V30? Not adaptable storage.

Absolutely. I have the G6 and my SD card carries most of my music library.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

@DialOut Nah. You fit right in.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

HTC 10 unlocked from B&H Photo
Android version 7.0
Software number 2.51.617.21
Adoptable storage is enabled and a Samsung 128Pro UHS1 U3 microSD card
No Sim card

Turned off the phone and pulled the card then turned it on. I still have the same wallpaper and app icons are showing. Farkle Dice worked fine. Turned off the phone and put the card back in. Turned it on and there's Farkle Dice again and going back into storage and clicking on the Samsung SD card then settings it's asking me if I want to format as portable. Looks like the card is still formatted as adoptable storage.

I guess a better test would be if I had another unformatted card to stick in there to see what happens but at least this test proves you can take the card out after formatting it as adoptable without totally borking your phone.