storage question for the a21

[corvairbob]

does anyone happen to know how to get the sd card to become internal storage on the a21? my lg k20 did adoptable storage so i went from 35 to 64gb for storage, but for the life of me, i can't get the a21 to do this. on the k20 if i formatted the sd in the phone i got the option to add it to internal storage, but it fails to do that on the a21. or did the newer android OS take that away?

 

[Hadron]

I know Samsung have never included this option in their higher-end handsets (though most of those no longer have microSD cards anyway). I don't know about the A series, but it's quite possible that they chose not to include it there, or even in any of their devices.

Differences are often manufacturer choices rather than changes in the Android OS itself, and adoptable storage is definitely one of the areas where this is true.

 

[corvairbob]

thanks i kind of figured that. i will see if the tcl 20 ex will allow adoptable storage. the wife has one that is 32gb so i may put in an unused sd card and see if it will adopt to make more storage. if it does i may get one of those and adopt the storage. t

 

[ocnbrze]

just be cautious of setting the sd card as internal. relying on the sd card as your sole data storage can be risky over time. the sd card will wear out at some point and get corrupted. if this happens, you will loose all of your data......so make sure that you back up regularly. and make sure that you get a good card and not some cheap chinese sd card.

 

[svim]

I tend to disagree that a good microSD card will 'wear out' like this. Yes it will eventually, as does the internal storage media chip will eventually too. Claims that SD cards have short life spans were a thing years ago but it's just out-of-date fear mongering now. Of course if this 32GB card in question is a dated one its life span usage is going to be something to consider but brand-name cards bought within the past decade or longer contain higher quality chips than before.

 

[ocnbrze]

I tend to disagree that a good microSD card will 'wear out' like this. Yes it will eventually, as does the internal storage media chip will eventually too. Claims that SD cards have short life spans were a thing years ago but it's just out-of-date fear mongering now. Of course if this 32GB card in question is a dated one its life span usage is going to be something to consider but brand-name cards bought within the past decade or longer contain higher quality chips than before.

i guess its me being overly cautious. i had bought several sd card many years back that eventually got corrupted and i lost a lot of stuff that was not backed up....so....since then i am just wary of sd cards and having it set as internal does more wear and tear than just using it as portable storage.

you are most probably right. and some may disagree with me, but i'm glad that some phones like my z fold 3 does not come with sd cards. i have plenty of room for my stuff now days that i do not need one now.

 

[corvairbob]

thanks, guys my lg k20 has a real good sd card and that has worked great now ro a few years it is a samsug 32gb sd card it cost me plenty but for the phone storage i figured a better one would be best. and i have lots of apps on it. using an app to move them but the a21 does not seem to like that app to move apps to the card. and the phone will not move them either so now i'm just going to look for a phone that actually has more internal storage. but like i said if the wifes tcl 20 ex will adopt the sd card i will get one of them from the local metro pcs store and just use that one.
what confuses me is most people say the sd card will just fail but then they all seem to like the sd card for their hard drives? i have a 500gb ssd and about all they are is a big sd card. anyway i did find out the lg g7 and g8 are now updated or can be updated for metro pcs with 4g lte use. so i'm also back looking at them again but in the metro brand. not a fan of verison or at&t brands it seems metro will let you do more with the phones.
thanks.

 

[svim]

The storage media chips used in a SSD drive are by design more robust and intended for long-term active usage (lots and lots of read activity, lots of write activity) while the storage media chips in a typical microSD card will also by design be smaller (in physical size and in storage capacity) and intended for only periodic active usage (significant less than what a SSD might encounter). They may both be solid-state storage but differ as far as purpose -- SSDs are for storage, SD cards are for convenience.

But that aside, I'll still contend you give all those 'microSD cards will fail' postings a lot of consideration on the realities of today's technology versus the rants based on hearsay. (i.e. facts vs opinions). SD card longevity was a factor years and years ago but things have progressed significantly since then. The problem now is the market is continuously flooded with cheap knockoffs.
Just continue being more selective and buy good, brand-name microSD cards. Spending a few bucks more for a better SD card is a better investment in your own data retention.

 

[corvairbob]

you are correct and i do spend more and get only scan disk sd cards. but on my phone it is to no avail as it will not let me do an adopt the sd card for internal storage. maybe they all do that now so i'm going to get a 64 or try for a 128 gb phone not going to get another samsung. i even went back the real old samsung with android 3 on it and that does the same thing but it may be the OS is just to old.
but the lg phones i have use 4.0 4.1 4.4 8 and 9 for OS systems and they do work so much better. so i think it is the phone mfg. and there background programming. to bad lg went out of business. maybe they will come back in the future.
but i'm looking at the oen plus and the moto g now some on another phone forum said those mimic the lg phone real close.
thanks.

 

[Hadron]

you are correct and i do spend more and get only scan disk sd cards. but on my phone it is to no avail as it will not let me do an adopt the sd card for internal storage. maybe they all do that now so i'm going to get a 64 or try for a 128 gb phone not going to get another samsung. i even went back the real old samsung with android 3 on it and that does the same thing but it may be the OS is just to old.

Yes, adoptable storage was only introduced with Android 6 so no Android 3 tablet will have this feature.

but the lg phones i have use 4.0 4.1 4.4 8 and 9 for OS systems and they do work so much better. so i think it is the phone mfg. and there background programming. to bad lg went out of business. maybe they will come back in the future.
but i'm looking at the oen plus and the moto g now some on another phone forum said those mimic the lg phone real close.
thanks.

Though 4.04 and 4.4 didn't have this feature either.
To be fair to Samsung my s21 runs fine, and my daughter's s8 ran fine for almost 5 years. But I've no experience of their other ranges.

One+ will probably solve this problem for you though: I don't know whether the Nord series support adoptable storage, but none of their other models have SD card slots in the first place .

 

[corvairbob]

thanks but if i get another phone that has 64 or 128 gb of storage i will not have to bother with adopting the sd card. some on either on this forum or on the reedit forum told me about the one plus and the moto g being the closest to the lg phones in there operation. also i was under the impression the lg g7-8 was going offline because of not having the 4g lte feature, but some said lg sent out an update that puts them back into the 4g lte program again. i think that may have been the reason i saw so many on ebay. the sellers must have thought there phones were going away.

so i'm looking again for the g7-g8 and the one plus and moto g phones. soon one will show up. i tired swappa but the ones i asked about do not offer returns so at least with ebay if the phone fails i can send it back.