1

I got a new phone and want to put the SD card from my old one into it. Should anything be done to it, such as formatting or deleting files? There is a lot of funky stuff on the SD card, from TWRP and Titanium Backup etc. On the other hand I'd rather not delete just for the heck of it as there's a lot of stuff and some I do want to keep.

beeshyams
  • 40,739
  • 30
  • 119
  • 269
Celeritas
  • 1,795
  • 12
  • 45
  • 64

1 Answers1

3

There isn't a need to format it. However, depending on how the SD card is formatted (file system), it may at times not readable by the new device, in which case it is best to format it using the device if it has that facility or a laptop. FAT 32 is pretty much recognised across devices but be aware that it can't store files bigger than 4GB. As always, it makes sense to backup your SD card on your laptop, as you say data contained is important

In short, if the new device can read the SD card, don't bother

Additional information on compatibility of SD cards - Source

enter image description here

Should you decide to format and are unsure about the file system, information here should help you ( also consider which laptop OS you would want to work with ) - How many files can I put in a directory?

Community
  • 1
beeshyams
  • 40,739
  • 30
  • 119
  • 269
  • Is this true even if the new device has a different version of Android? – Celeritas Jan 18 '17 at 04:52
  • Yes. Version doesn't affect . Format of the sd card and ability of device to read that format is ask that matters. Being a new device, it should be able to read earlier card ( backward compatible) so you should be good – beeshyams Jan 18 '17 at 04:55
  • I'm thinking about something... Apps do generate data in the Android folder of storage, and those created with a newer version usually can't be read by an older one. What if one of those SD cards with new data are plugged into a device with old apps? Just curious. – Andy Yan Jan 18 '17 at 09:10
  • @AndyYan: I haven't tried that yet but the fact that the media itself is not compatible would render the app data unreadable, isn't it so? I have no idea if developers address this differently. Interesting – beeshyams Jan 18 '17 at 09:23
  • Yeah, too bad nowadays there are almost no SD-card equipped devices to emulate this on. Might as well try this on an internal storage when I have time. – Andy Yan Jan 18 '17 at 09:29
  • @AndyYan: Yep. Do update your findings in a self answered question- it would be educative. Thanks – beeshyams Jan 18 '17 at 09:32
  • Curious. Was your problem resolved? – beeshyams Jan 19 '17 at 04:42