Solved! SD card

Feb 13, 2019
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I'm using a ZTE Tempo X with Android 7.1.1 The phone only comes with 8GB storage so you have to use a SD card for storage. I brought a brand new one from Amazon and can't get it to become "internal" storage. I click on Settings - Storage - and Save Location is grey as in you can't change it. When I click on the SD card the only options I get are Rename - Remove SD Card - Format as Portable - Migrate data. Hope someone can help me ASAP. I've been reading this thread for a while and can't figure this out. Making me feel like an old man at the age of 32

PS when I hit Remove SD Card , it says This SanDisk SD card is formatted to work on this device only. It won't work in any others. So to me that means I installed it correctly. So I can't figure out why Save Location is grey (unchangable)


I posted this in the SD Card thread but I saw that the posts there weren't getting any replies. Please don't move this there where it will go to die with those questions.
 
Solution
On may devices, while they give the option to format as "Internal" storage in the phone's "Settings", often it doesn't actually really format the card as "Internal" storage. I know, it makes no sense. Personally I think some of them limit the abilities so that they can get you to get newer phones with more storage, but that is just one theory. :) Try the following and see if it works for you.

First, you need to be using a phone that is running at least Android "Marshmallow" (6.0) or newer, or be able to upgrade to it. Second, you will need the instructions I am including below. And third, you need a phone that has not been restricted by the manufacturer from making this change. Which does happen.


NOTE: If any of the steps...
On may devices, while they give the option to format as "Internal" storage in the phone's "Settings", often it doesn't actually really format the card as "Internal" storage. I know, it makes no sense. Personally I think some of them limit the abilities so that they can get you to get newer phones with more storage, but that is just one theory. :) Try the following and see if it works for you.

First, you need to be using a phone that is running at least Android "Marshmallow" (6.0) or newer, or be able to upgrade to it. Second, you will need the instructions I am including below. And third, you need a phone that has not been restricted by the manufacturer from making this change. Which does happen.


NOTE: If any of the steps are missing on your phone, or they don't work for you, then you have a phone that either has an older Android version or has been restricted by the manufacturer. If that is the case, you will not be able to use this information.


How to turn the "External" SD card into "Internal" storage - Option A

NOTE:
Please be sure you start with a blank SD card. It needs to be blank because when the card is converted to "Internal" storage, it will be formatted (wiped) and encoded (making the cards data only readable by that device).

  1. Go to device “Settings”, then select “Storage”.
  2. Select your "SD Card", then tap the “three-dot menu“ (top-right), now select “Settings” from in there.
  3. Now select “Format as internal”, and then “Erase & Format”.
  4. Your SD Card will now be formatted as internal storage.
  5. Reboot your phone.

NOTE: If you don't reboot the phone, many things may not work correctly, so make sure you do.


How to turn the "External" SD card into "Internal" storage - Option B

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Be sure you start with a blank SD card. When the card is converted to "Internal" storage, it will be formatted (wiped) and encoded (making the cards data only readable by that device), so anything on it prior would be gone.

  1. Go to "Settings", and then select "Storage & USB".
  2. At the bottom of the list you should see the SD card's details, including the option to format it and make it "Internal" storage.
  3. Once this is done, reboot the device and you can start running things from the card.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you don't reboot the phone, some things may not work correctly, so make sure you do the reboot.

An Additional Note: Some apps (like system ones) are not movable. So while you can move downloaded ones, and some of the system ones, you will not be able to move many preinstalled apps.

A Final Note: If you set up the card as "Internal" storage, then the data on it will not be readable by any other device. To access the data you would have to connect he phone to say a computer and copy it over to the computer from the phone/card. Otherwise only phone can read the data. Also, be sure you do not reset (hard or factory) the phone. If you do, then all the data on the card will no longer be readable, even by the phone itself.
 
Solution
Feb 13, 2019
5
0
10
hahahaha I feel like an idiot. While I couldn't move any of my apps that were already downloaded to the SD card... when I downloaded new apps they automatically downloaded to the SD card...
Thanks for the help guys.. I'm just a little slow I guess hahaha