I got an android tablet last Christmas and a micro SD card with 16 GB with it. I put in the SD card and set it as my default write disk. I downloaded some apps until I was stopped by a prompt saying I have insufficient storage on my device, which was odd because I only downloaded like 5 apps. Seems to be that all my app data is being stored in the internal storage. I need help on how to move all the apps in my internal storage to my SD card? Please help!
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Help How to move apps to SD card??
- Thread starter Dracolyte
- Start date
Moving apps to SD was introduced in Android 2.2, improved a little in 2.3, and deprecated in 4.0. It only ever moved part of the app, and didn't move app data.
So Android really uses SD cards as media stores. This can include data downloaded by apps if the app is written to allow it - have a look at the settings of the apps which are using a lot of data and see whether they have an option to set the location they save it to. But many apps are just written to store stuff internally.
The other catch is that while recent Android devices (4.0 onwards) usually have an "integrated" storage model, where the whole internal storage (apart from the bit holding the system software) can be used for apps, app data or media, older devices would have separate areas for apps and app data and for general file storage, which meant that only a fraction of their space could be used for apps. And some manufacturers, usually of budget devices, still do that even though it's no longer necessary. How much storage do you have on your device?
So if you really need to move apps to SD then the only way is to "root" the device - hack it to gain administrator access. How you do this depends on the device model. This would then let you use apps (e.g. Link2SD) which can move apps to a partition on the SD card and place links in the internal storage so that the tablet thinks they are still on the device. But if you want to go that way do make sure you understand what you are doing before trying it. Let us know what model your tablet is and we'll see whether anyone knows how to do it for that model.
So Android really uses SD cards as media stores. This can include data downloaded by apps if the app is written to allow it - have a look at the settings of the apps which are using a lot of data and see whether they have an option to set the location they save it to. But many apps are just written to store stuff internally.
The other catch is that while recent Android devices (4.0 onwards) usually have an "integrated" storage model, where the whole internal storage (apart from the bit holding the system software) can be used for apps, app data or media, older devices would have separate areas for apps and app data and for general file storage, which meant that only a fraction of their space could be used for apps. And some manufacturers, usually of budget devices, still do that even though it's no longer necessary. How much storage do you have on your device?
So if you really need to move apps to SD then the only way is to "root" the device - hack it to gain administrator access. How you do this depends on the device model. This would then let you use apps (e.g. Link2SD) which can move apps to a partition on the SD card and place links in the internal storage so that the tablet thinks they are still on the device. But if you want to go that way do make sure you understand what you are doing before trying it. Let us know what model your tablet is and we'll see whether anyone knows how to do it for that model.
Tried towelroot, not compatible. :/
Tell us what model the device is and what Android version - rooting methods depend on both (always on device, sometimes on OS version).
All I know is my device version is 4.4.2, how to find model of device?
What does it say on the box? It's the device manufacturer and name we need. Maybe in Settings > About if you really don't know.
Oh I see, It says the model is a 'DigiLand'.
Because it's not part of Android since around 4.0.x.
Samsung added it back to some of their devices, but as it's not part of the basic OS the feature is only there is the manufacturer has invested the effort to write it back in. A budget tablet manufacturer is unlikely to do this .
I'd never heard of Digiland, and don't know how many different models they make. This XDA thread has suggestions from a number of people for one Digiland model though.
If you do get it rooted, be careful not to mess anything up (root does give you the ability to delete critical system apps, so don't change stuff if you don't know what it's for).
Samsung added it back to some of their devices, but as it's not part of the basic OS the feature is only there is the manufacturer has invested the effort to write it back in. A budget tablet manufacturer is unlikely to do this .
I'd never heard of Digiland, and don't know how many different models they make. This XDA thread has suggestions from a number of people for one Digiland model though.
If you do get it rooted, be careful not to mess anything up (root does give you the ability to delete critical system apps, so don't change stuff if you don't know what it's for).
Unfortunately, I can't root it because Root Checker says my device doesn't have root access.
So basically I can't root my device and not get access to moving data to my SD Card?
Root checker will only tell you whether the device has been rooted, not whether it can be rooted.
But if you can't root it then no, you cannot move apps to SD. You can use the SD for many types of file storage, but not apps or app data (unless the app in question gives you a choice as to where it saves its files to: check in the app's own settings).
But if you can't root it then no, you cannot move apps to SD. You can use the SD for many types of file storage, but not apps or app data (unless the app in question gives you a choice as to where it saves its files to: check in the app's own settings).