Transferring data from micro SD card to a new one

Forums › Android › Transferring data from micro SD card to a new one - issue

kirinlager007

17 posts

Geek

# 181210 6-Oct-2015 16:16

Hi

Need some advice here.

I got an Xperia Z and have decided to upgrade my 16GB micro sd card to a 32GB micro sd card. After reading a lot of forums, it seems pretty easy to just copy paste from the sd card to the computer, swap sd cards, and copy into card.... as long as you have a SD card slot in your laptop.

here's the catch, I don't have an SD card slot on my laptop so wondering if this is still possible via the USB cable connected to my phone and laptop?

I did give it a crack anyway, however after copying all the data from my old sd to the new one, and popping that into the phone... it seems that a lot of my apps are missing..... so either I've done something wrong, or it's just not possible to do this via a USB cable.

Would appreciate your advice! Thanks.

eracode

3940 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

# 1401151 6-Oct-2015 17:11

You can easily get a small USB adapter that has a slot for the card at the other end - use in USB port on your laptop. Copy from the old card onto your laptop, swap in the new card to the adapter and copy back from computer to the new card.

However some of the stuff you are wanting to transfer may not actually be on the old card. You should be able to re-download the apps from the store.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

graemeh

2078 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

# 1401153 6-Oct-2015 17:17

Every android phone I've used has had the apps stored on the phone, not the card. You can move them to the card.

Getting the apps installed on the phone is relatively easy, go to the play.google.com website using your PC, once you sign in you will be able to see all your apps and you can install them one by one onto your new phone. Once you tell the website to install them on the phone they will automatically download onto the phone. I find this much quicker than trying to do it from the phone.

nzgeek

598 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1401176 6-Oct-2015 18:01

Some Android devices do allow apps to be installed on a microSD card. Because these are treated specially by the OS, they may not show when you access the card via the phone.

As was mentioned, your best bet is to get a USB card reader for your PC. This lets you get at the bits that Android normally hides.

Note: You may also need to turn on the ability to see hidden files and folders in your desktop's file manager. If you don't, you might miss a few items.

kirinlager007

17 posts

Geek

# 1401455 7-Oct-2015 08:06

Thanks for the advice all. Just found a card reader on trademe for $4, so it's a good investment I reckon.