got an HTC M8, had it a couple of years or so, happy enough with its performance but im finding its always warning me now that im low on space. i look at my storage and the 16Gb internal memory is nearly full, my 32Gb card has plenty of space on it.

so……. i swapped as many apps over to sd as i could. problem is, every time it updates an app it sticks it back on internal memory. so i disabled updates but the consequence of that is none of my apps are ever updated. i can probably live with that but should it be so?

my main problem tho is my photos. i swapped all my photos/videos over to sd card, but now when i open the gallery, or google photos, theyre not there, only a load of sh1tty whatsapp pics that i get sent, no actual photos.
so obviously moving them means that the gallery or google photos cant access them now. if i go to a file explorer i can work out that theyve gone to afolder on the card called htc space saver or something, but thats a faff to find, its not easily available to me.

i think on the whole im a pretty light user of a phone, plenty of people must have hundreds of apps, videos, films etc on their phones, i have relatively few. so how does everyone else bypass this problem?

is there an easy workaround to leave plenty of internal space, have most things on my sd card, and be able to access it all easily?

thanks a lot

Watching with interest – same problem here.

I have the same issue about App updates not moving onto the SD card but I store photos on the card and both Gallery and Google Photos see them there.

For Google Photos there’s a setting required. Open the app and hit the hamburger menu.

TBH I auto-upload all photos and don’t really care if they’re on the phone.

Download ES Explorer and it will give you an indication of what is using the space internally/on the SD card as well as give you a clean-up option.

Do you use WhatsApp?

If so, every time you send a pic/ video/ file, Android creates a duplicate copy of whatever you sent. If you sent the same picture 20 times, it saves 20 copies of it. Absolutely bizarre.

I found this was taking up a crazy amount of internal memory. Use file manager to browse to the WhatsApp folders and you’ll see the sent folders. Check in there and there could be lots of duplicate files clogging up space.

scotroutes – Member
TBH I auto-upload all photos and don’t really care if they’re on the phone.

This is the correct way. Or as my mate found out in lisbon a few year ago, you’ll be rather upset when someone grabs your phone out your hand a sprints off link usain bolt.

You can always view through google photos with an internet connection anyway.

If you’re already using Google photos, why not back all your pics up and remove them from the phone? Easy to do with the ‘free up space’ function in Google pics.

I periodically download all my pics and vids to my back up on the desktop.

but I store photos on the card and both Gallery and Google Photos see them there.

hmmmm……. mine definitely doesnt, i dont spose you know why? if i go into gallery now, then show/hide folders, ive got gallery, whatsapp images and whatsapp video ticked in a dark blue tickbox, whereas camera shots is ticked in a light blue tickbox. i have no idea why camera shots should be different.

For Google Photos there’s a setting required. Open the app and hit the hamburger menu.

had a quick look but not sure what you mean. i found something that selected ‘show sd card’ but it hasnt made any difference.

TBH I auto-upload all photos and don’t really care if they’re on the phone.

wheres the setting to do this? not sure if mines selected or not.

Download ES Explorer and it will give you an indication of what is using the space internally/on the SD card as well as give you a clean-up option.

have done, then selected clean up and it says its cleaned up some obsolete stuff, not sure what but its created a bit more space, thank you.

Do you use WhatsApp?

If so, every time you send a pic/ video/ file, Android creates a duplicate copy of whatever you sent. If you sent the same picture 20 times, it saves 20 copies of it. Absolutely bizarre.

I found this was taking up a crazy amount of internal memory. Use file manager to browse to the WhatsApp folders and you’ll see the sent folders. Check in there and there could be lots of duplicate files clogging up space.
yes i do, just used es explorer to have a look and cleared out my sent folders. there wasnt too much in there and so hasnt made a lot of difference but thanks, its something else to keep an eye on.

ideally tho id just like it all set up so all my photos and vids are readily available to view without having to keep looking at cleaning stuff out.

thanks a lot

EDIT:

If you’re already using Google photos, why not back all your pics up and remove them from the phone? Easy to do with the ‘free up space’ function in Google pics.

just had a look at settings in photos and cant see how to do that either (sorry) 🙂

I periodically download all my pics and vids to my back up on the desktop.

i have a chromecast, so everythings in the cloud really. bit dodgy maybe but it is what it is. plus id say i mostly view photos ‘on the hoof’ so itd be nice to be able to just go to a pic on my phone when i want it, out and about, that sort of thing…..

Google Photos
Hamburger menu
Settings
Backup & Sync

Go to my files
All files
Tap Device storage
Hold on one you want to move
Sd card will be an option
Click move to there.

Google Photos
Hamburger menu
Settings
Backup & Sync

just looked and thats selected, to sync to my gmail account.

says back up device folder is ‘gallery’.

when to back up is set to roaming, strangely. should it be ‘while charging only’?

and if its already set to backup/sync my media to gallery, why cant i see my photos in there now i moved them to sd card?

thanks

EDIT:

Go to my files
All files
Device storage
Hold on one you want to move
Sd card will be an option
Click move to there.

not sure which program youre talking about there, im assuming es or file manager or something? my problem isnt really moving stuff to sd card, its viewing it once its there.

Standard problem with Android is favouring internal storage (Win Phone, not that anyone uses it, also has similar problem), though it’s partly down to the relatively slow speed on an SD card compared to the internal flash memory. Some apps just don’t work well on SD card, so default tends to be internal and some can’t be moved.

Worse is apps in firmware that can’t be moved or deleted. Especially annoying if you have an operator branded phone crammed with bloatware.

Was supposed to be the intention that internal storage was for running things, and SD was for data. That would be fine if manufacturers would spec the phones with decent amount of internal storage.

Anyway, you might have apps on internal storage that are consuming a lot of data. You can go through each app under settings and I think clear data for them. It might reset the app and have to log in again though.

Photos you can move in various ways, or just sync to Google/OneDrive/whatever and then delete them off the phone. Set the photo app to store on the SD card by default, and do the same for any app or phone setting that has a setting on where to store data.

I’ve had the same problem for a while. Massive SD card with loads of space, that no apps will use.

Doesn’t help that lots of services almost require you to have their app rather than use their website. I just want to use your website to get a small piece of information once a month or so, no I don’t want your sodding app!

Ahsat had the same problem with her HTC M8. Never found a solution though. The new HTC M10 is using the storage correctly though

Not sure what release of Android you are using but the latest ‘clean’ version allows you to format the sd card as internal memory.

If the HTC gives you that option back everything up and do that

Mount it on a PC via USB. Move all your photos off the phone. Delete the .thumbnails folder inside \DCIM.

Not sure what release of Android you are using but the latest ‘clean’ version allows you to format the sd card as internal memory.

Not all OEMs turned on Flexible Storage in their config so its hit or miss depending on device 🙁

Not sure what release of Android you are using but the latest ‘clean’ version allows you to format the sd card as internal memory.

If the HTC gives you that option back everything up and do that
yes it does, just found it! okay, before i go ahead with that then, how do i ensure ive got copies of everything thats on sd? it needs to be in google photos doesnt it? how do i ensure its all in the cloud before formatting? and i assume once formatted i then have a 48Gb internal storage which would work like the M10 then? ^^^

and should i ever upgrade phones, can it be formatted back to a normal card?

Mount it on a PC via USB. Move all your photos off the phone. Delete the .thumbnails folder inside \DCIM.

doh, should have read your post first mate, altho to be honest i dont have a pc, its a chromebook so no physical HD, or not a big one at least…… back to ensuring its backed up to the cloud?

thanks

how do i ensure its all in the cloud

its a chromebook

Use the Chomebook to log into your account. Can you see any photos?

Use the Chomebook to log into your account. Can you see any photos?

yes i have, it was confusing me because for some reason its stuck a couple of months of whatsapp images and videos all under sundays date. so i was thinking all my pics had gone but if i scrolled all the way down past these pics, then yesterdays photos are there. strange…..

anyways, the fact that theyre all in ‘photos’ means theyre backed up yep? which means im good to go?

now before i format, do i need to move all the apps back onto internal memory? if so they may not fit, so i guess i just format and then reinstal anything im missing afterwards, that right?

thanks

was all ready to go ahead with this but then started googling, and seems theres a lot of negative opinions and bad experiences of doing this.

cards reading data too slow, cards failing and thus a dead phone etc. im a bit frit to do it now.

going back to basics, as my gallery doesnt seem to show any of my photos now theyre on the sd card, are there any other ‘picture/photo’ apps that will show all content rather than using the gallery? and any way of photos automatically being saved to sd so i dont have to keep moving stuff over?

and any way of photos automatically being saved to sd so i dont have to keep moving stuff over?

Not exactly the same but I use Microsoft’s Onedrive which automatically uploads photos to my Onedrive cloud folder. Works well for me.

What gallery app are you currently using?

I’ve got Google Photos & Quickpic on my phone.

The camera is storing to SD card & all of the pics I’ve taken are visible in both of those apps.

Have you tried running ccleaner? Should free up a fair bit of space

Not exactly the same but I use Microsoft’s Onedrive which automatically uploads photos to my Onedrive cloud folder. Works well for me.

not sure microsoft will work on an android phone, would it?

What gallery app are you currently using?

its the stock gallery app that comes with the phone.

allthepies….. you may be correct.

Have you tried running ccleaner? Should free up a fair bit of space

nope, ill look into that.

not sure microsoft will work on an android phone, would it?

Works fine on my Moto e, also worked fine when I had a work iphone.

Me and the mrs use Dropbox which automatically uploads a photo or video when taken. So now and again I just clear my phone.

thinking bout the onedrive and dropbox, arent they just the same thing as my google ‘drive’ and google photos? so just uploading to the cloud, which im doing anyway?

just like an easy way to view all my photos whenever i want to, even offline.

Google Photos appears to be backing up the OPs photos so that’s already taken care off.

A dead SD card is a rare occurrence and would only affect any Apps you’d moved onto it. All the “phone” Apps are always on the Internal memory and can’t be moved. Any photos that are on it can be downloaded should the card fail.

Just move over as much as you can and get on with it ya big jessy

Browse it from windows, delete all pics, vids etc. make sure things like podcasts are removed after listening or do a full factory reset.
You can go to my aps in the play store and select what you want on fresh.

A dead SD card is a rare occurrence and would only affect any Apps you’d moved onto it. All the “phone” Apps are always on the Internal memory and can’t be moved.

thats not how i understand it, reading up on it suggests the card becomes part of the phones gubbins, so the phone doesnt work if the cards taken out (or fails)

get on with it ya big jessy

:-p

Yesterday you were asking how to move all the photos you’ve ever taken ever onto the SD with no notion of whether they were being backed up anywhere or not. Today having confirmed that your data is safe you’re concerned about the card failing?

sadexpunk – Member
thats not how i understand it, reading up on it suggests the card becomes part of the phones gubbins, so the phone doesnt work if the cards taken out (or fails)

Nah, I’m pretty sure this is not correct.
The phone will function without the SD card in it, even if some of the apps won’t work. None of the ‘operating system’ for want of a better word will be on the card.
You can take the card out & try it…..

Although it’s a bit of a pain in the arse, I would get all your files backed-up and then work out what apps you want to keep & what aps you can do without.
Then do a complete factory reset on the phone.

Once it’s up & running again, only re-install apps that you really have to & make sure anything that stores files, writes them to the SD card.

I have just replaced my 4 year old Xperia T, which was running Kitkat (I think) and was severely limited for internal storage that could be used for apps.
Before deciding to replace it, I did a factory reset around Christmas time & only re-installed the essentials which helped a lot with how well it ran.
Battery life was still rubbish, mind…..

sadexpunk – Member 
not sure microsoft will work on an android phone, would it?

Lots of Android and iOS apps now from Microsoft, and some are better than their Windows Phone equivalent.

MS is concentrating on services and apps now rather than phones, so they’re making them for the most popular ones.

Bonus with OneDrive is if your main PC and/or laptop is Windows, you get the inclusive OneDrive storage from that, plus if you buy an Office365 subscription you get 1TB of storage on top of the Office suite, plus Word, Excel etc you can use on the phone also.

And SD card failure – had it loads. microsd in particular. Some I can recover, some have been terminal death. Various brands. eMMC often used for internal storage is more reliable and also faster typically.

Anyway, just keep everything in the cloud and then you can kill the phone and/or card, just replace and it’s all still there.

thats not how i understand it, reading up on it suggests the card becomes part of the phones gubbins, so the phone doesnt work if the cards taken out (or fails)

*cough*
BOLLOCKS
*cough*

Yesterday you were asking how to move all the photos you’ve ever taken ever onto the SD with no notion of whether they were being backed up anywhere or not. Today having confirmed that your data is safe you’re concerned about the card failing?

my end goal is the same, i want to eliminate all the low storage messages plus be able to access photos as before.

gaining more internal storage has resulted in the photos not being available in my gallery.
i wouldnt be too bothered at all about an sd card failure (now i know my photos are safe) but i would if the card was integral to my phone working or not.

thats why im interested in the different tangents for achieving the same thing, formatting the card as internal storage, different apps to view photos, or camera settings to auto save photos to card, that sort of thing.

but however i get there, my end goal is to free up a full internal memory, and have my photos easily available.

Nah, I’m pretty sure this is not correct.
The phone will function without the SD card in it, even if some of the apps won’t work. None of the ‘operating system’ for want of a better word will be on the card.
You can take the card out & try it…..

ok, now im back to considering this….. 😀

EDIT:

*cough*
BOLLOCKS
*cough*

its from reading articles like this on android forums and all the posts at the bottom…..

That article is about Adoptable Storage. You don’t need to go down that route to create more space using your current setup unless it’s to remove the occasional hassle of moving apps over when you’ve updated them.

ah sorry, thought it was exactly the same thing, ‘adopting’ your sd card to be internal storage……