Changing SD cards between different phones. - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I want to use an SD card in my new phone after using it in my old phone. Is it ok to just swap them over or is there some thing I should do?
I see lots of files marked "DiskCasheIndex". I don't know what they are. Are they device specific, so should be deleted or can I just put the card in the new phone.
Old phone was a Motorola XT720, new phone is Samsung GS2.

You can happily use the sd card on the other device, although I'd suggest checking to see first if there aren't any backups, photos & video files that you may want to save.
just in case you should copy all the cards contents onto your PC.
I'd then suggest quick formatting the card and starting from a fresh, the OS will recreate any directories/files that it requires.
Swyped from HTC Desire S using XDA Premium

Related

[Q] Move SD Card to New Phone Question

Currently I have a Droid Eris, and I've been using the SD card that came with it. If I get a different phone, in this case a Droid 2, that doesn't have an SD card, is it okay to just put the card from my Eris in the new phone? If not, what is the precautions and procedures do I need to take?
Thanks in advance.
I've tried Googleing this, and also searching XDA. I can't seem to find a definitive answer, but it seems like nothing bad would happen. Can anyone confirm?
Nothing bad should happen. You didn't mention what ROM you are using or if you're even rooted, but the only reason I mention this is if you are using a Froyo-based ROM and had moved some Apps2SD, then you might want to delete the "android_secure" folder which would contain those apps since that might confuse the Droid 2, which I assume runs or OTA updates to Froyo itself.
It doesn't sound like you've ever repartitioned your SD card, either, for instance with an Ext3 partition for 2.1-style Apps2SD use, but again, Froyo on any phone wouldn't like this AFAIK, unless you had it formatted a particular way.
If you never did anything fancy to your SD card like repartitioning or moving apps to your SD card, then you should have no problem whatsoever.
No matter what the case, nothing should cause any actual damage to either the new phone or the SD card. You could always back up your SD card's contents to your computer just to be safe, though. A good idea every once in a while no matter what.
I'm running KaosFroyo, and I do have some apps on the SD card. I planned on moving the apps back over to the phone, but I'll delete that folder as well. Thanks.

[Q] New SD Card

I have a new 16GB SD card that I want to put in my Evo3D.
Is there anything I need to transfer over to make it work? or does the phone create all the folders/files on start up?
Thanks!
holdfast043 said:
I have a new 16GB SD card that I want to put in my Evo3D.
Is there anything I need to transfer over to make it work? or does the phone create all the folders/files on start up?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone will create all the folders and items needed, which are very minimal.
If there is any issue, i.e. new card didn't come formatted correctly, android will prompt when you insert it to have it formatted.
If you miss the prompt, or it doesn't provide the prompt and you still want to format, its available under Settings->SD & Phone Storage -> Erase SD card.
Congrats on the new purchase. I'm still at 8 and need to upgrade one of these days...especially with these large nandroids and ROMs. Hope that helps!
joeykrim said:
The phone will create all the folders and items needed, which are very minimal.
If there is any issue, i.e. new card didn't come formatted correctly, android will prompt when you insert it to have it formatted.
If you miss the prompt, or it doesn't provide the prompt and you still want to format, its available under Settings->SD & Phone Storage -> Erase SD card.
Congrats on the new purchase. I'm still at 8 and need to upgrade one of these days...especially with these large nandroids and ROMs. Hope that helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Thats what I thought but wanted to make sure. Much appreciated!
This is my second full day with the phone and I am loving it. Not rooted yet, I think I will wait a bit.
odd
so, i wanted to upgrade my card, too.
16gb class 10.
copied the contents onto my desktop.
copied them on the new card.
however, just for kicks...i went into settings to play w/ the erase contents of sd card toggle.
nothing.
any idea why if it's an option you can't actually do it?
does one have to unmount it first?
thanks in advance...

[Q] New sd card issues

Bought a 16gb Kingston class 4 sd card for my 3D, problem is after I moved all items over to the new card. I moved over some rom files to flash and when looking at the contents of the card they are not there. Neither are the back up files of my TWRP backups. Titanium backup files aren't there either.
When I run Titanium again thenfiles are there, but after a reboot they are gone again????
Any ideas?
Also getting issues when downloading Swiftkey X language packs. Get an error that says "unable to load language packs."
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
Where did u get the micro sd card?
Sent from my super powered red wings evo 3d
I just bought a class 4 SanDisk 16gb card last night and so far haven't had any problems. I took the card out the phone, put it in the laptop and copied everything to a new folder then copied it all to the new card. My nand backup was all there cus I just flashed it back and everything restored. But i haven't done much else.
Sent from my double barrel Shooter. BANG!
Think I fixed it. Ended up wiping the card and wiping the phone also. I am a ROM Flashing fanatic so I needed more card capacity.
So I thought my sd card woes were gone. But, downloaded a few ROM's to try out on my PC. Transferred the files over to the phone via USB cable. While still connected to the phone I created a new folder and placed the ROM's into it to keep them more organized.
I went this morning to flash a new ROM as the one I was trying had an issue I did not like and now the ROM folder is gone. the LOST.DIR is at approx 1.3GB which to me would mean that the folder was moved there for some reason.
Also, when I try to restore my backup, the restore begins, but the phone then just goes black. Then have to pull battery. I am on TWRP Recovery.
Any ideas? I am assuming it is the new 16GB card I got, but any scans I do on it report no issues. Never had an issue with an sd card before.
Vdubtx said:
I went this morning to flash a new ROM as the one I was trying had an issue I did not like and now the ROM folder is gone. the LOST.DIR is at approx 1.3GB which to me would mean that the folder was moved there for some reason.
Also, when I try to restore my backup, the restore begins, but the phone then just goes black. Then have to pull battery. I am on TWRP Recovery.
Any ideas? I am assuming it is the new 16GB card I got, but any scans I do on it report no issues. Never had an issue with an sd card before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unfortunately, i've only had two issues with sdcards and they have been far and few between, but devasting when they occur.
the most recognizable behavior of a poor or failing sdcard that i've experienced are missing or inconsistent (names changed, locations moved, etc) files. personally, i would return the sdcard as it definitely appears to be defective and ask for either an exchange or money back.
sorry that isnt a very good solution, but for a brand new sdcard out of the box to keep losing files, moving them, etc. that definitely would be a red flag in my opinion. hope that helps!
Sounds like a bad SD card to me, had the same issues. I guess thats what happends when you buy sd cards off craigslist. I returned the failing SD card got my money back then headed straight to Frys got myself a PNY 32gb SD card and problem solved

[Q] Special procedure for exchanging microSD cards?

Hi, question, I want to change my microSD card, but that's of course where I installed my ROM (UnNamed) from and has other information that I've stored on it so far from the phone.
Can I just copy all the files from the first SD to the second or would this not work? And would it affect the ROM if I did so? If I switch microSDs do I need to reinstall the ROM from the new microSD? Thanks.
No worries about switching your micro sdcard. The rom zip file is like an installation file. Once installed, the rom does not need it for it to continue to work.
Just save the files you want to keep.
Unless you changed it, the default save location is the internal sdcard, not external. To make sure shut the phone off, and take the micro sdcard out. Boot it back up and make sure all your files are still there.
Sent from my páhhōniē

[Q] MicroSD card appears almost empty

HI
I took the 32gb memory card out of my old HTC Desire HD and put it into my new S3.
Very strange because although the directory structure appears, the file explorer reports that every directory is empty - which they aren't.
The storage statistics correctly tells me that the memory card is almost full - so why won't it read the files?
I think that's the same thing as what happened to me today. No idea why it happened, but the SD contents showed up correctly after rebooting my phone.
Thanks.
Comforting to know that it isn't only me. However I rebooted the phone but no change.
Sounds like a formatting problem. You might have to copy the data off to a computer using a card reader or the old phone then reformat the card using the gs3 before putting your data back on the card.
Sent from my LG-P920 using xda premium
Yes, I think that must be the explanation. What a nuisance.
I'll try it and report back. Ta
Well it is very wierd.
I formatted the sdcard both on the PC and also in the phone.
Despite this, the file explorer still reports the file structure - which now no longer exists.
I've rebooted the phone. Makes no difference.
Phantom file structure reported on the phones file explorer - even though the available storage size is correct in the storage stats.
Does the computer also report the phantom file system?
This seems really strange indeed.
Have you tried writing new files to the card on the gs3 then see if they show up in the computer?
Sent from my LG-P920 using xda premium
No. The computer shows correctly.
But now - even more wierd, I downloaded a lot of files to the phone's internal memory.
Although the SDcard is empty, the phone's file explorere now shows the SDcard as containing the files.
My head is spinning.
I wonder if this is at all related to my issue (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1698672). I also experienced a phantom file structure, but it only affected a few hundred picture and music files (out of several thousand).
Thanks for this suggestion.
I don't think that the issue is the same. It was never formated exFAT and also there is no trace of the files at all.
When the car is inserted back into the HTC there is no problem. When it is in the PC - no problem.
I have now tried with another card - 16gb. Same thing.
These are good quality cards which have been used for more than a year on other phones.
I'm starting from scratch today. I'm going to reformat the 16gb using a full format - FAT32 and see what happens.
It shouldn't neeed to be this hard
Just to reiterate:-
The really puzzling things are:-
The phone's faliure to see the files - but it sees the directory structure.
The phone sees a "virtual/phantom" directory structure after an in-phone formatting
The phone sees files on the card if they have been copied there from the internal memory.
have you tried another card with the same capacity? what about reformatting the card from the phone after backing up the contents?
iskuruts said:
have you tried another card with the same capacity? what about reformatting the card from the phone after backing up the contents?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup - done all of that. No difference
what ROM are you using? are you using a custom ROM?
No. Brand new received yesterday t-mobile s3
Is it possible that the internal memory and the sdcard are being spanned in some way so that to the file explorer they all appear as one?
In fact even my Profimail email application reports that the directories and files are on the sdcard when in fact they are now on the internal memory and the sdcard is newly formatted and empty
Are you sure that you try to access your sdcard via /mnt/extSdCard/ ?
Samsung points the folder /sdcard/ to the internal memory and not to your sd card, so please make sure this isn't the problem.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Ah - that sounds like a likely possibility.
Where can I find out more about this pelase.
Is there a way that I can point it at the physical card.
I really just want my phone to work in a way that I am used to and not in some wierd Samsung-controlled way
Yes, I can confirm that is what is happening.
It is really very ambiguous. ESfile explorer reports the directory structure on the external card but doesn't report the files. This is definitley a glitch which needs to be sorted out.
It also means that if you use windows file explorer to upload data directly on to the external card, it doesn't seem to be accessible to the phone.
Surely this can't be right

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