Modern users cannot imagine their life without a smartphone in their pocket, because for many it is not just a device that helps contact the desired subscriber, but also a kind of window to the world. The presence of a good amount of memory in the device is highly valued by active users; many store not only entertainment items on the device, but also many other things. useful information, including documentary information.

Agree, it’s not very pleasant when downloading important file will be faced with the impossibility of saving it due to lack of memory. Faced with the problem of lack of memory, many people think about how to replace the internal memory of the phone with a memory card. It should be noted that this problem is faced mainly by owners Chinese phones and tablets.

Let's try to understand this problem in more detail. To change the path where applications are saved, you need to have a specific program on your device. You should be aware of the possible risks and problems associated with them. If the memory is replaced incorrectly, an internal program failure may occur, which will lead to a complete flashing of the phone. An external storage device – a memory card – may also fail; to restore it, you will also have to use flashing the phone.

Editing the system file

So, in order to change internal memory to an external one and install any applications directly onto the card, you need to find it on your phone or install Root program Broswser or ES Explorer, presence in the system is also required root rights Read how to get them quickly.

Replacing memory occurs as follows: you need to select the Root Broswser or Explorer program and start it, then look for the vold.fstab file in the system, it is located at device/system/etc/, open and carefully read the file, we will need to edit a couple of lines.

To read this you will need to be familiar with the file structure. If you carefully examine the file, you will easily find the corresponding lines responsible for replacing internal memory with external memory. After finding the corresponding lines, you need to perform a small manipulation and change the internal memory to external memory, in other words, swap the lines so that everything looks like the image below.

In this case, the line dev_mount sdcard…. is responsible for standard file safety, and dev_mount sdcard2…. for an external one (SD card). In order for our built-in memory to exactly change to the external memory we need, for this we just need to change some lines. But not all and not completely, but only additional and final inscriptions that follow dev_mount sdcard/storage/sdcard0 and dev_mount sdcard2/storage/sdcard1. As soon as we do it in the image, we need to save it.

After replacing the internal memory with a memory card, you should restart the phone. After you reboot your device, you will be able to enjoy the availability of memory and the installation of all subsequent games will be performed on the SD card. Do not lose sight of the fact that you carried out all the manipulations manually and if there is something missing, you will have to send the phone for flashing.

There is an equally effective way to replace memory without using the Root Broswser program. To do this, you only need to perform a few manipulations with your phone using a computer, literally three clicks. First of all, you will need to run the HTC Driver Installer file and install it on your computer so that all the necessary utilities for further work appear.

The second manipulation will be to install the driver on the system media C:\\android-sdk-windows, then you should run the SDK Manager program to check the files and their readiness for installation. After this, you should connect the phone to the computer and confirm the command: transfer everything to the SD card, read on how to do this.

We use ADB

Connect your phone with USB debugging enabled in the settings.
Go to the folder with the program and run the adb.exe file using the command line cmd lines, with the shift button held down, right-click on the file and select open command windiws here

Will open command line in which we write adb devices

Now run the following command, which will swap the memory, just type it and press Enter.

After these manipulations, you should disconnect the phone from the computer and reboot the phone. After the reboot, you can verify that the button is working: transfer everything to the SD card and voila, you can safely use your phone. Now all applications and important documents and downloaded files will be saved on the external drive.

It should be remembered that when you remove the memory card from the phone, the installed applications will disappear, this is probably the only negative this method. It is also recommended to use external drives of at least class 10, as small drives will not bring the desired result.

The capabilities of the device can be seriously expanded if you replace the internal Android memory with a memory card. This will allow you to install many more applications on your tablet or other gadget, but the main requirement for performing this update is to have root rights on the device. Let's look at ways to use an SD card as the device's system memory, as well as the conditions associated with this.

Risks and conditions for replacing the gadget’s internal memory with an SD card

Before repeating the steps below, the user should consider several important points:

1. The lifespan of the SD card will be greatly reduced due to frequent read/write cycles when running applications.
2. The speed of the gadget may drop noticeably if you use a low-end MicroSD card.
3. If you make an error while editing system file The phone may not boot next time - you will have to reflash it.

In general, the procedure (especially for inexperienced users) is quite risky, so it makes sense to carry it out exclusively for old gadgets with a small amount of their own memory.

Using the Root Browser utility and editing the vold.fstab file

To swap memory, from Google Play You will need to install Root Browser.

Let us repeat that you can only fully work with it on rooted devices. After running the above application:

In Android, sdcard stands for internal memory, and extsd stands for external memory, i.e. SD card. By replacing these lines, we actually swapped these types of memory. On some systems these pieces of code may look different, for example like this:

They need to be replaced as follows:

After completing the described procedure, reboot the gadget. Before doing this, be sure to check that there are no errors in the modified code, so that there is no need for reflashing in the future.

The second way to increase memory using Link2SD

The application is available in Play Market and only works on devices with root rights. This file manager does not physically replace the device’s internal memory with an external drive, but it is capable of transferring any utilities to an SD card, significantly saving the gadget’s resources.

The peculiarity of the application in question is that the MicroSD itself will have to be split and properly formatted. Therefore, copy everything valuable from your card to your computer and start dividing the drive into sections.

Dividing the device card into sections if there is a custom Recovery

Every Android device has a recovery mode, but the method described below is only suitable for devices with . If you've never heard of CWM, move on to the second drive partitioning option. Next, we’ll tell you how to solve the problem if your device recovery mode has the Partition SD Card item:

Partitioning a MicroSD card via a computer

Connect the card to your laptop or PC. To do this, you can use a card reader or other equipment, the main thing is that it should be defined as a drive and not an MTP media device. Further:

Let me make a reservation right away that we are not talking about programs like link2sd. The principle is similar, but we will link not program directories, but the data directories of these programs, for example /sdcard2/Navigon -> /sdcard/Navigon or /mnt/extSdCard/Books -> /sdcard/Books, etc.
In addition, we need root (where would we be without it). By the way, after I found out about this program, this is another argument for me for root.

Many owners of Android smartphones or tablets with small built-in memory have probably encountered the following problem: a large SD card is inserted (for example, 16, 32 or even 64 GB), but after installing several heavyweight programs, our device or another program boldly declares that there is no memory on the card. enough space. Sometimes the program itself is small, but after installation it goes online and pulls gigabytes of data onto your smartphone.
Once again, having received the message “No space” and looking at the card, we see that it is almost empty, but the internal memory of the device is filled to capacity.
This is because internal memory is often used as the default directory for many programs. The fact is that it is mounted as /sdcard, which historically has always been an external SD card (it used to be the case on all smartphones). The external SD card is mounted in this case as /sdcard2, /mnt/sdcard2, /mnt/extSdCard or even /sdcard/.externalSD. As I understand it, this is done by the manufacturers so that the device works out of the box, i.e. no SD card at all.

Many “unscrupulous” programs always want to read/write data from/to the /sdcard/NameInsert directory. Rarely can this be changed in the program settings.
As a result, we have what we have, and several opportunities to improve the current situation:
Two latest methods are also not a panacea, because require certain skills from the user, in addition, they are not “clean” enough, for example, problems are known when connecting a smartphone to a computer via USB (cannot be unmounted), etc.

The DirectoryBind program, which a good person slig from xda wrote for himself and posted on the forum for public use, will help improve the situation.

QR code

Although the audience here is technically savvy, a couple of explanations need to be made for inexperienced readers of the habr. As he himself wrote (the not idiot-proof program), i.e. unlikely to pass the fool test.

After installation, run the program (the first time, naturally, we permanently allow Root rights), click the menu, then “Preferences” and set the default paths to the external memory “Default data path” for example /sdcard/external_sd/ and the internal memory “Default target path” /sdcard/ . We exit the menu.

Click the menu, then “Add new entry”

Now let's create new connection directories, for example, move the CamScanner folder to an external card. Long pressing on the folder path opens a small built-in file manager where you can create and/or select a folder. Folder on external map must be created (and empty).

By checking the “Transfer files from target to data” checkbox, files and folders will be transferred from the /sdcard/CamScanner/ directory to the /sdcard/external_sd/CamScanner directory.

It should be noted that connections are not automatically activated after creation (gray floppy disk icon, as in the screenshot below for gameloft). To complete linking folders, select the required links by checkboxes and click menu -> “Bind checked”. The active (linked) folder icons should turn green.

By the way, if you want to attach the entire external card, I fully recommend doing it not with /sdcard/externalSD/, but with a dot in front /sdcard/.externalSD/. This will save you from such troubles as double thumbnails in galleries, etc. True, it will not help for all galleries and players, because... some also search for media in hidden directories.
After suffering, I decided for myself to link only individual directories.

UPD. By the way, an external SD card is much slower than the internal memory, so transferring program data to an external SD naturally slows down the operation of this program. This should be especially remembered by those who decide to completely change the mount points of internal and external memory, because... Chances are your entire device will run slower than before.

I hope this program will complement your piggy bank. useful utilities for android devices.

If you decide to swap internal and external memory, i.e. reassign the external sd card to /sdcard and there is no such option in the device settings - if you have root, this can be easily done by performing the following operation:
In Root-Explorer we mount "/etc" as R/W (if R/O), find the file "/etc/vold.fstab", save a copy and open (long click) it in the Text Editor.
In the next two lines we change the names of the mount points: dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard emmc@fat /devices/platform/goldfish_mmc.0 ... dev_mount sdcard /mnt/external_sd auto /devices/platform/goldfish_mmc.1 ... to dev_mount sdcard /mnt/external_sd emmc@fat /devices/platform/goldfish_mmc.0 ... dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/goldfish_mmc.1 ...
You can read more. They also suggest, as an alternative, to use another interesting program Root External 2 Internal SD.
I will add that in both cases, before switching, you need to copy the entire contents of the /sdcard folder to an external SD card.
Remember that after the switch, your entire system may work better than before.
be careful- you need to understand that everything you do as root is done at your own peril and risk, and for example, saving the wrong “vold.fstab” can lead to the inability to boot the device and for treatment you will need to boot into recovery and edit “vold.fstab” already there.

This method can be used in conjunction with DirectoryBind, only now it’s the other way around: “Default target path” (/sdcard) and all connections created in DirectoryBind will point to an external card.

Low amount of internal memory on cheap smartphones and Android tablets the main problem is the inability to install applications; in such cases, replacing the internal Android memory with a memory card can help you.

For those who don’t understand from the title what this article is about: let’s assume you have 400 MB of internal Android memory, which is very little (about 12-20 installed applications), then you can think about taking and replacing the main memory with a memory card.

Before you start!

You Android versions 5.1 or later? Great! Then perhaps on your smartphone you can increase or!

Method 1

method 2

If you don't have such settings? Then read on to the article!

Risks and what you need to know

Replacing Android internal memory with a memory card only occurs if you have root rights installed (no root, method does not work)! For those who don’t know what Root is and how to get it:

Besides this you obliged know the Android file system structure.

Memory substitution is possible only if your Android device there is a system file vold.fstab on the way /system/etc , if you don’t have one, then this method Unfortunately not for you! Take advantage alternative ways(link 1, link 2, link 3). Also if Android does not have its own memory, then this article also not for you. The article is mostly for devices with a Mediatek (MTK) or Rockchip processor.

Since the system file will be edited there is a risk that you may make a mistake and device won't boot, in order to fix this you need to reflash the device, and also the memory card may fail and you will encounter the same problem, firmware will also help.

If you replace the internal memory with a memory card, the latter will have a very short service life (due to frequent reading/writing), and the speed may also drop Android work if very low class microSD cards.

Attention!

Before you start making any changes, use the official option to replace the memory card -.

Instructions for replacing Android internal memory with a memory card

1. Install the file manager Root Browser (if you chose another one, then do not write “smart” questions in the comments “I don’t see” “does not edit”)

2. Launch file Root manager Broswser and follow the path:

/system/etc/

3. Looking for a file vold.fstab and open it (click on the file and select Edit)

4. On file vold.fstab we see approximately this picture:

## Vold 2.0 fstab ## # Regular device mount ## ##Format: dev_mount ## label - Label for the volume ## mount_point - Where the volume will be mounted ## part - Partition # (1 based), or "auto" for first usable partition. ## - List of sysfs paths to source devices ######################################## # Mounts the first usable partition of the specified device #/devices/platform/awsmc.3/mmc_host for sdio dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/virtual/block/XXXXXX dev_mount extsd /mnt/extsd auto /devices/platform/XXXXXX/XXXXXXX /devices/platform/sunxi-mmc.0/mmc_host dev_mount usbhost1 /mnt/usbhost1 auto /devices/platform/sw-ehci.1 /devices/platform/sw_hcd_host0 /devices/platform/sw-ehci.2 /devices/platform/ sw-ohci.1 /devices/platform/sw-ohci.2

On in this example Please note that two lines are highlighted if you have read the structure carefully before file system Android, then you already know that /sdcard or /sdcard0 this is internal memory, and /extsd or /external_sdcard, /sdcrad1, /sdcrad2, /external_sd This external memory, that is, MicroSD.

All you need to do is swap these two lines:

dev_mount extsd /mnt/extsd auto /devices/virtual/block/XXXXX dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/XXXXX/XXXXX

Another example, on a different device:

Dev_mount sdcard /storage/sdcard0 emmc@fat /devices/platform/goldfish_mmc.0 /devices/platform/mtk-msdc.0/mmc_host dev_mount sdcard2 /storage/sdcard1

Change to the following:

Dev_mount sdcard /storage/sdcard1 emmc@fat /devices/platform/goldfish_mmc.0 /devices/platform/mtk-msdc.0/mmc_host dev_mount sdcard2 /storage/sdcard0 auto /devices/platform/goldfish_mmc.1 /devices/platform/mtk-msdc.1/mmc_host

Do you still have additional questions? Ask them in the comments, tell us what worked for you or vice versa!

How to swap memory on Android and why is it even needed? Should we engage in such manipulations at all and are they capable of causing irreparable harm to our device? Such questions are often of interest to people who are in control of a device with a small amount of built-in memory. If your smartphone has a corresponding capacity of, for example, four gigabytes, then you know that using such a device is nothing short of a pain. Because loading a sufficient number of multimedia files onto it is very, very problematic. So how can you swap memory from internal to external on Android?

Introduction to the problem

By the way, you should not think that only the Android operating system suffers from such a problem as a small amount of built-in memory. It is also available on iOS. These two systems constantly compete with each other. From time to time, “Windows Fawn” also intervenes in the combat, but it soon finds itself thrown out behind the tatami. What is affected? iOS theme? There are facts that invariably prove the “exposure” of this operating system in front of users. Initially, its code was a mystery. Nevertheless, a similar trend does occur. But the Android operating system, developed by Google specialists, is currently becoming more and more closed to potential developers with each update. This is exactly what bothers people who are so accustomed to this operating system.

Why do you need to know the answer to the question of how to swap memory on Android?

Currently, the OS we are talking about no longer allows users to install applications with the appropriate software - the so-called cache - on an external memory drive. In our case, let it be a MicroSD memory card. Probably, owners of devices with a capacity of 32 gigabytes and above will grin, but what should people do who have at their disposal from 4 to 8 GB, part of which (note this!) is spent on maintaining the operating system? The only way out of this situation is to perform certain manipulations. And here it is more important than ever to know the answer to the question of how to swap memory on Android. Actually, this is not difficult to do. However, extreme attention and, by the way, straight hands are required. If you have these parameters, then we will move on to consider the meaning of the operation in order to understand what will be performed and why.

How to swap memory on Android 5? What to do with other versions?

There is a way out of the current situation, when we have only a couple of gigabytes at our disposal to host a multimedia contingent. It consists, firstly, in acquiring an external one and secondly, in software replacement of a certain code that can convince our device that the internal one is external. Well, and, of course, vice versa. Thus, the smartphone will perceive the MicroSD card as internal board. I would like to note that the question of how to swap memory cards on Android sounds fundamentally incorrect, since there are several external drives cannot take part.

What is needed for replacement?

Regardless of what version of the operating system you have installed and what manufacturer’s device you have, we will need the same set of utilities. These are programs called and Total Commander(which a huge number of users know). Additionally, you will need to obtain one for the device.

Replacement process

In order to begin the operation, open the Root Explorer program. We move to the address /system/etc. There you need to find a file called vold.fstab. In it you should find lines and parameters that are responsible for the mount points of external and internal memory. They are called, respectively, like this: SDcard and extsd. After this, you will need to swap the parameters. This will complete the active phase of the operation. Don't forget to do backups files, and remember that such operations are performed by the user at his own peril and risk.