SD card/storage

[stewarta13wsb]

I've had a couple of goes at this on the New Users thread but I think I should probably start a separate one.
I'm struggling to get my head round this.

Courtesy of Doogald - "You set it up for Adoptable Storage I assume? Adopted Storage uses the SD card as the actual internal storage for the device, so it will not show up in a file manager - it is not a separate device any longer."

And of course he was correct - I did - even if I didn't quite know I had, or why

I still don't understand what these two screen grabs tell me. On File Manager I can't see what's in there, and on the other (it settings) it's there, and it's got stuff on it.

I lost what was on the SD card to have Adoptable Storage, I'd lose it again to swap back, but should I - is it better?
Is there a better file manager than the Moto one on the phone that would show me more?

 

[El Presidente]

If that's been setup as internal storage, I'm not entirely sure why the top screen shot has separated them. It's my understanding that when you set it up, it should function as a single unit with no distinction between the 2. The 2nd screenshot implies that's the case though.

Try X-Plore, what does it tell you?

During the conversion process (both ways) the card is formatted and encrypted so its contents are only readable on that device which is why you lose data.

 

[stewarta13wsb]

screenshot from X-Plore.

 

[Slug]

If that's been setup as internal storage, I'm not entirely sure why the top screen shot has separated them.

That's how Android N displayed things on my 'Concept' Z3 when I tested AS; my SanDisk card was shown as a separate volume alongside the internal storage and system partitions. When formatted as external storage the card appears as a generic "SD card" in a "Portable storage" section beneath "Device Storage"

Regardless of format, all data will be lost when switching due to Adoptable Storage being encrypted.