Solved! Transcend 64 GB microSD card used in an Asus tablet that I now wish to re-use in a Samsung J7 smartphone

Jun 16, 2019
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Will the Samsung J7 reformat the microSD card upon startup (erasing all my old files!)? How can I best preserve what is on the microSD card and/or use it (again) in the J7 smartphone?
 
Solution
It depends on what is on the card and how it is formatted. While the phone can ask to format it, it should not do so automatically.

There is no guaranty though. Some phones auto format, want them to or not. It will really depend on the carrier/service provider the phone is through. They could have set it up to do so.

If you are really worried about it, I would suggest you back up whatever data is already on it to another device. A computer would be the best option as it should be able to accept the card and read it without needing to format it, since it was already formatted to put the data on it.
It depends on what is on the card and how it is formatted. While the phone can ask to format it, it should not do so automatically.

There is no guaranty though. Some phones auto format, want them to or not. It will really depend on the carrier/service provider the phone is through. They could have set it up to do so.

If you are really worried about it, I would suggest you back up whatever data is already on it to another device. A computer would be the best option as it should be able to accept the card and read it without needing to format it, since it was already formatted to put the data on it.
 
Solution
Jun 16, 2019
4
0
10
It depends on what is on the card and how it is formatted. While the phone can ask to format it, it should not do so automatically.

There is no guaranty though. Some phones auto format, want them to or not. It will really depend on the carrier/service provider the phone is through. They could have set it up to do so.

If you are really worried about it, I would suggest you back up whatever data is already on it to another device. A computer would be the best option as it should be able to accept the card and read it without needing to format it, since it was already formatted to put the data on it.
Thx webworkings. My past experience with all types of SD cards has not been positive nor 'transparent'. (The Asus tablet ended up being a drawn-out SquareTrade battle for 'lemonade'. (I had to really work up a sweat for that glass...))
So my pc is running Win 10 H.E., 64-bit with an i-5 cpu/32 GB RAM. Is there a 'favorite' software you use when dealing with microSD cards and 'the like'?
(Reading the Transcend microSD 64 (Tm64) on my pc using "File Explorer") There are folders: Transcend>Android>data, which appears to have numerous files created by the Asus in cooperation with whatever version of Android OS it was running in 2015 (I can't recall). I don't recall either ever creating a folder named "Transcend" nor its children "Android" or "data". There's also file folders named .android_secure, LOST.DIR (appears empty), & WMV (contains one, 28 MB video file).
Presuming I can reload the Android apps I was using in 2015 on the Asus (onto my new J7), I have a vague hope that these files might "open" on my Samsung J7, if I can somehow 'properly save them to pc', then 'properly transfer them to the J7', or am I simply dreaming in Android la-la-land?
(If the J7 needs to reformat the Tm64 (Android 8.0) (still unknown) then the current iterations of the 2015 apps would have to 'recognize' their 'data' files in the (newly-created (by 'Android'?/by 'Samsung'?/by 'Transcend'?) 'generic'?) Android>data folders; right?)
[Sorry if I'm 'over-analyzing' all this. It's just the way my old-retred-brain works...]
 
No extra program. I prefer simple and direct. As to the folders, programs and/or apps create their own all the time.

Now if your SD card has any apps on it, you can't move them over to or use them on the new phone. Won't work. You may be able to access some data for them, if it is in a separate movable file, but any apps you will have to download and reinstall on the phone.
 
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Will the Samsung J7 reformat the microSD card upon startup (erasing all my old files!)? How can I best preserve what is on the microSD card and/or use it (again) in the J7 smartphone?

If the card is encrypted or setup as internal phone storage, you will need to first copy your files out USING THAT PHONE before switching. If you remove an encrypted card from the phone, and then wipe the phone or loose the phone, no way to get the data back from the card. So first step is do a backup to cloud storage or to your computer from the phone connected to a USB cord.
 
Jun 16, 2019
4
0
10
If the card is encrypted or setup as internal phone storage, you will need to first copy your files out USING THAT PHONE before switching. If you remove an encrypted card from the phone, and then wipe the phone or loose the phone, no way to get the data back from the card. So first step is do a backup to cloud storage or to your computer from the phone connected to a USB cord.
"It was the internal storage for the Asus tablet that quit." Tablet is long-gone; surrendered to SquareTrade for payout. Never again either Asus or 'SquareTrade electronics' (3 failures at repair & ST still refused to payout LEMON replacement; ST tried to blame 'apps' when identical apps worked fine on a smartphone.)
 
Then you are out of luck if it is encrypted. There is no way to access it. Android systems are set up so that if you change a SD card from "External" to "Internal" storage then they will not be accessible by any other device, other than the one the change was made in. And on top of that, were the device reset, same device, it then still wouldn't be able to access the data on the card.