Shortage internal memory- the main problem that users of tablets and phones are trying to combat. It's very easy to solve. It is enough to purchase an SD memory card of the required capacity, place it in the device and save games or applications to it. There will be no problems with the purchase - the market provides a wide range of choices, but installing applications on a memory card can cause difficulties, especially for users of gadgets on the Android OS. How to transfer files to SD?
What should you know before installing applications?
According to statistics, about 78% of contemporaries choose phones and tablets running Android OS. Multitasking software product of earlier versions (up to 2.1 inclusive) does not provide in the settings the ability to save or transfer games to SD. In later versions (2.2 and earlier), installation of applications on the SD card is included in standard features OS.
But purchasing a gadget with the latest version of the OS or updating it will not solve the problem, since when installing the software, it is still impossible to choose the place where you want to install the program yourself. The reason is that the installation of the object in most cases is carried out along the path programmed by the product developer - into the internal memory of the device.
Did you know: automatic installation applications to the card and their subsequent transfer can only be carried out if the authors of the application have not blocked the ability to choose the installation location. This fact may be indicated in the characteristics of the downloaded program.
How to transfer installed applications to an SD card using built-in tools?
If, after installing the next game, the phone or tablet reminds the user that there is insufficient volume free space on disk, then already installed software products or their cache can be transferred to an external SD memory card.
The built-in OS tools will help with this. If on Android applications were not installed on the SD card, then you can try transferring them as follows:
- In the main menu, find and select “Settings”;
- Go to the “Applications” section;
- Select the list item “Manage applications”;
- Check "Third Party";
- In the list that opens, find and select the required software product;
- Click "Move to SD card".
Did you know: to determine whether the software can be transferred to additional memory, you need to pay attention to the last (6) menu item. If when choosing software product the move button is not active (absent from the menu at all), then the operation cannot be performed - the developers do not provide the option. There's no point in trying again.
Is it possible to free up the internal memory of my phone?
You can, to do this you need to know how to configure your phone so that applications are installed on the memory card or transferred after installation. They will help with this special utilities: AppMgr Pro III (for earlier OS versions), FolderMount (suitable for latest versions OS), Link2SD and others. To use any of the proposed programs, the user will need root rights - administrator or superuser access.
The choice of utility depends on the desired result - transferring the applications themselves, their cache, sorting by operations, and so on. To install applications on an Android card without complications, you need to be a confident user. Therefore, you should use this method of freeing up internal memory carefully.
Details under the cut.
Attention! I personally tested this method on Android 2.3. You can find out about the possibility of this method working on Google.
First you need to install Android SDK Tools (link for Windows). After installation, you need to download the packages. You will see how to do this in the screenshot below:
Now go to your phone settings and go here:
Applications>Development>USB Debugging (check the box).
Now connect the device to your computer via USB. Go to the folder where you installed SDK Tools. Select the platform-tools folder with the right mouse and click “Run” command line Here".
In the command line window that opens, type (all without quotes):
After the "$" icon appears, print the following (case is important):
“pm getInstallLocation” and press Enter. You should see the following on your screen:
This means that the system itself will determine which applications to install where. This doesn’t suit us, so we write:
"pm setInstallLocation 2"
This is how we communicate that we want applications to be installed on the memory card. Let's check the result:
"pm getInstallLocation"
The answer should be:
Now close the command prompt window and disconnect your phone from the computer. Reboot it. Now all applications will be installed on the memory card.
It is worth noting that when downloading from Play Store and temporary information will still be recorded in the phone’s internal memory. There is no way to cure this without root, but if you install programs not from the Play Store (from a pre-downloaded APK), you can install the program without recording temporary information. You can do this as follows.
Install APK program Leecher on your computer (in principle, you don’t even need to install it, just unpack it; included in the topic), download it from Google Play to the phone the Device ID program (only 13 kB) and find out the unique ID of your phone.
Then, by launching the APK Leecher program on the computer, we enter our account information, ID and make some settings (download folder, language) and now we can search for applications and download them directly on the computer from Google Play. There is no need to worry about your data - it does not leak anywhere, but is only used for authorization. Program settings:
Now you can download programs to your computer and, after transferring the downloaded APK files on a memory card, install them on your phone.
Example of the program: 
Best regards, timblaer.
If your phone or tablet has a small amount of internal memory, you can install games or programs on the SD card. Below are a few ways to do this.
Method 1: Using an SD card as internal memory (for Android 6 and later).
Android, starting with version 6, allows you to format the SD card so that it can be used as additional internal memory. When you install the card into your phone or tablet, a window will appear where you need to choose how to use it - as a portable memory for photos or videos, or as an internal drive for programs. The second option allows you to install applications on the SD card. Important: If you choose the second option, the SD card will be formatted, so transfer all important data from it first.Once the SD card is formatted, you can transfer your games or programs to it. Unfortunately, system applications cannot be transferred this way.
Method 2. Transfer programs or games using the “Applications” section (for Android 5 and earlier versions).
Android 5 and earlier allow you to move apps to your storage card without formatting it. You need to go to the device settings, find the “Applications” section, and in it - the game or program that you want to transfer. After selecting the application, click on “Move to SD card”.Method 3. Transferring applications using special programs.
You can transfer applications from internal memory to an SD card using special utilities, such as Move2SDEnabler, Link2SD, etc.Adviсe:
- Use high speed card memory (Class 10, UHS Speed Class 1 or UHS Speed Class 3), otherwise the performance of programs and games may be reduced.
- If you remove the memory card, you will lose access to applications.
- Removing a card formatted as internal storage in Android 6 or later is not recommended; you may lose data stored on it.
- If you are using Android version 5 or earlier, do not install applications with sensitive personal data (for example, bank details) on the memory card, as the information on the card is not encrypted.
Modern smartphones can replace a computer, but due to certain limitations they often have insufficient memory. This problem can be partially solved using an SD card. But by default, programs are installed in the internal storage. In this article, we will tell you how to install games on an Android SD card.
Transfer games and programs to an SD card
The first and most accessible method is to transfer already installed software to external storage. In this case, the following algorithm of actions is performed:
- Open your smartphone settings.
- Go to the “Applications” or “Application Manager” section - depending on the device model.
- On the page with a list of all applications installed on the device, select the game and open it.
- Depending on the smartphone model and firmware version, click “To SD memory card” (on gadgets with Android up to version 6) or
- Click on the “Change” button.
- Specify where to move the program. Select “Memory card”, confirm the action.
This method allows you to move games and programs. In this case, only the cache and most of the game are transferred to the flash drive. But this is quite enough to free up internal storage.
But this is not the answer to the question of how to save games in internal memory. This method allows you to move already installed applications.
On different versions Android uses various features to install games on the SD card by default. There are no universal instructions, so let’s look at the most popular methods:
- We define a flash drive as a data storage device. To do this:
- Open “Settings”.
- Go to the “Memory” section.
- In the “Use as default” item, check the box next to “Memory card” or “SD card”.
- Save the changes.
After this, you will be able to download default games and programs to the Android memory card.
- We combine a flash drive and internal storage. In this case, the SD card is formatted to a new file system and combines with internal memory. The system will not see the partitions, but will show the total amount of memory. Also, after this procedure, you will no longer be able to connect the SD card to a computer or other device. So, the following procedure is performed:
- Open developer options. If you haven't done this before, go to Device Details/Software Details. Find “Build number” and tap on this item quickly 12 times. A message should appear indicating that developer mode is enabled.
- Return to the main Settings page and find Developer Options.
- Enable the option “Allow saving to external…”.
After these manipulations, not all programs will appear in external storage, but installing games with cache will be possible on the SD card.
- Association of SD card with internal memory. This feature is available on devices with version Android firmware 6 and above. However, the option is not available on all phone models. To combine a flash drive and internal storage:
- Install an SD card on your phone. If the flash drive is already installed and was previously formatted as a portable drive, you need to remove it, connect it to the PC and format it at a low level using HDD programs Low level format, then install it on your phone again.
- In the notification window that appears, click “Configure”.
- Select “Integrate with device”.
After this, the memory card will be formatted and all data will be deleted. Please note that the SD card cannot be used with other devices.
Using Third Party Applications
The logical question arises whether it is possible to install the game directly onto an SD card if none of the above methods worked. In this case, you should download the appropriate application, which will perform all the necessary settings automatically. However, such a program requires root rights, which not every user can open. It is also worth noting that by gaining superuser rights, you risk deleting important system files, catching a virus, and so on.
We offer an algorithm of actions for experienced users so that games can be installed on Android directly on the SD card:
- Open root rights.
- Install the AParter application, which will allow you to create two partitions on a flash drive (for games and cache).
- To work with files and folders, install a file explorer with an expanded set of tools - for example, ES Explorer or CX Explorer.
- Download the utility that will install all programs on the SD card - Link2SD.
- Download Folder program Mount to specify the installation path.
As you can see, you will need to install 5 programs. Then you should configure the system:
- Go to “Settings” – “Memory” and disconnect the SD card.
- Open the AParter utility and create two partitions. To do this, tap on “+”, indicate 2 parts. It is important that the first one has Fat32 installed (for the cache), and the second one has Ext2 installed (for programs and games). Click “Apply”.
- Open the Link2SD program. On home page select the file system (in our case Ext2) and reboot the device.
- Launch Link2SD again. This time go to “Settings” and check the box for “Auto Link”.
- In the “Installation location” section, select “1 SD card section”.
- In the “Setting up Auto Link” section, it is important that all the boxes (three) are checked.
This completes the setup. All programs and games will be downloaded and installed immediately in external storage. Next, to work with flash drive files, you will need a third-party file manager- for example, “ES Explorer”, which has a wider range of tools. All of the above utilities can be downloaded from the Play Market.
Users of mobile devices with Android systems are often faced with the need to move some information from the internal memory to an SD card. After all, even the resources of modern models, the volume of ROM (internal memory) of which reaches 4–6 GB, will eventually cease to be enough even for useful applications– not to mention gaming ones. The way out of the situation is to move programs to external storage one of the suitable methods for this, or installing applications and games on a memory card (flash drive) on Android.
Option for older Android OS
Operating Android systems, released before version 2.2, did not allow moving applications and games to the memory card either manually or using special utilities. This could be done using unofficial firmware. Or by gaining root access to the system.For mobile device with version 2.2 and higher, you can use the settings to move applications from memory to card and vice versa. Although the installation location of the programs is still determined by the developer. And you can see whether you can free up additional space on your internal storage or not by following these steps:
- Opening system settings;
- By going to the application menu and opening the properties of one of them;
- Clicking on the “Move to SD card” button. Its absence means that the manufacturer has prohibited the transfer of information.
The reason for prohibiting transfer to a card is the large throughput internal information storage. An application located in memory will run faster and more reliably compared to running it from an external drive. And without getting root rights, you won’t be able to move it.
Using special applications
A program called AppMgr (or App 2 SD), like several other utilities that do not require “superuser” rights, does not allow you to move system information. You cannot use it to install on the SD card those applications for which this action is prohibited by the developer. But for programs that could be transferred manually (for versions 2.2 and higher), the process of changing the location is simplified.All applications are divided into three groups in the AppMgr manager:
The simple interface of the file manager and the ability to transfer several applications from one storage to another speed up the process of freeing the ROM from unnecessary data. And they allow you to see the big picture, rather than opening the settings of each program one by one. The result is increased device performance.
Method for new systems
Starting with Android 6.0 OS, users were able to use an SD card as internal memory. This allows, first of all, to expand the size of the device’s ROM, and, secondly, to immediately transfer applications to an external drive, without manual or software transfer. To configure the card you need:
After the system reboots, part of the ROM will be stored on the external card. The dimensions of the internal drive will become larger, and on the external, on the contrary, there will be less space left. And when you download the program, it will automatically be installed on the SD card.