When it comes time to change the storage medium of our phone, we find a fairly common problem that sooner or later almost all Android users face. When a memory card is full, you may have to swap the card for a larger one and go through the process of moving the contents from the old to the new.
Changing and replacing the memory card of our Android mobile with a larger or faster one without losing any data may seem complicated but it is not so much. There are many tools, free and paid, more complex and simpler, that help us simplify the entire process.
Best of all, by following the different tips you can directly clone the data from the Android SD card exactly the same on the new card without losing any files.
Is it good to “clone” the content between cards?
On paper, nothing bad should happen when cloning the content of one MicroSD card over another, but it is something that we do not usually recommend for the same reason that we indicate doing a clean installation when we perform a factory respect of a mobile: Avoid transferring errors unwanted.
It is possible that one of the reasons that lead you to want to change cards is that your mobile behaves in a strange way and if we clone possible malicious files between storage systems, what we are going to do is take the failure from one place to another .
However, this is not the most common and if you have bought a new and faster Micro SD card, in order not to lose the contents, the best thing is to transfer all the files from one to another, either through a computer or, if you want to give fewer laps, from the mobile itself.
How to do it from your mobile
When it comes to cloning MicroSD cards, what we will have to do is view or copy the data from the old one over the new one. We can do this by connecting two cards at the same time through a USB OTG and an external card reader or by keeping the data in the smartphone memory while we exchange cards.
All the options will allow us to replicate the content of a storage medium on the new one.
Use the phone settings
This method is only valid if we have a free space in the phone storage that is larger than the content hosted on the MicroSD card.
To transfer data from a memory card to internal storage you must open the Settings menu, enter Storage and click on SD Card .
At this point you must confirm that the internal storage is visible by touching the menu icon (three vertical dots) and see that it clearly says Hide internal storage (which, obviously, means that it is already showing). Now follow the next steps:
- Press and hold the files you want to move to the internal memory of the mobile
- Tap the menu icon (three vertical dots) and select Move / Cut / Copy
- Then select a place in your internal memory and click on move or copy, according to the option chosen previously
Now you must turn off the mobile, remove the old MicroSD, insert the new one, and return to the Settings menu Storage and memory and select Transfer data to SD card. Select the types of files you want to transfer and you’re done.
If you want to transfer file types other than media files , you can use the built-in file explorer.
Use the file explorer
Depending on the customization layer you have, this method that we just reviewed may or may not work. It can even serve but only with a certain type of files such as multimedia. If you want to ensure that all the content of the old card is transferred to the new one, it is best to use the file explorer that you have installed on your phone.
Again you must first transfer the data to internal storage and then exchange the cards following a similar process:
- Open File Manager or My Files from your phone.
- You will see a list of the different file categories and storage options available on your phone. Select the memory card.
- At the top right of the screen, click on the Menu (three vertical dots) to display a drop-down list of actions. Click on Edit and select All files (or choose the files individually if you do not want to clone all the content)
- Select Move or Cut and host them in the phone’s internal memory.
- Turn off the mobile, exchange the MicroSD cards and repeat all the steps
- This time, select the internal storage as the base and locate the files that you have copied in the previous steps.
- Select Move and host them in the phone’s internal memory.
Use two MicroSDs at the same time
It is not the most comfortable option, since it does not require a single accessory but two, but if you have them you can simplify the process. What you need is a mobile compatible with OTG technology (today, it is rare that it does not have it), an OTG cable and a MicroSD card reader.
- Buy USB OTG cable
- Buy USB card reader
Now you simply have to connect the new MicroSd to the USB adapter, wait for the smartphone to recognize it and follow one of the two methods that we have indicated a few lines above. You will need to use the file explorer or phone settings to transfer the data from the card to the USB drive, which is how it should be identified on your phone.
The simplest, use a PC
Today the simplest thing would be to use a computer to transfer the content of your MicroSD to a new one in the simplest way . Of course, you should have a card reader, obviously, or use your smartphone as “external memory”. These would be the steps to follow:
- First transfer the data from the SD card to a computer or other external storage drive
- Turn off the device and remove the SD card. Insert the other new card and turn on the device.
- Then, transfer the data to the MicroSD card from the computer or the medium that was even used to host the contents of the old one.
You can use a USB cable to connect your device to a computer to transfer and manage your files. To do this, when you connect it to the PC, you must select the option “USB Storage”. Then you will see that the content of your card appears as a flash drive. If not, you can always try using the Android File Transfer program .
Host all the content in a folder that you create on your PC or, if it has a card reader, transfer it directly to the new MicroSD. You can select the “cut and paste” options or directly drag the content from one storage medium to another.
