19 replies to this topic

[Peter1]

Hello

When I click manage applications on my android based phone, I notice there are tabs like SD card, downloaded, running etc. Is the SD card optional to the point where you can delete the information on it or will that affect applications. I am wondering if I cleared the phones SD card of clutter if it would be a better phone?

I cannot take a prntscrn of it so don't know how to show you what is on it. It is too lengthy to type out.

I did notice I have to mount it before I remove it.

Thank you

Peter

Edited by Peter1, 20 January 2014 - 09:32 AM.

[8210GUY]

The thing you need to find out is if this is a removable physical SD card, or is it built into the phone, not all phones have expandable memory, and if this is the case here, it will be inbuilt, and will probably turn out to be the phones hard drive, or possibly added as built in mass storage, if this is the case then mass storage is the best place to have the files.

 

Now if this is a removable card, then thats great, again it is the place you should save and install all you can too, pretty much like a PC, the less clutter on the phones "hard drive" the better in a way, and will mean a smoother faster running phone as a rule, obviously some things will not be allowed to install to the card, this can't be avoided, but where there is an option it's the better choice, mind you there may be rare exceptions that would be better placed on the phones drive, but unlikely most would face this possibility.

 

With a separate card you want to go into your Camera settings, and select any pictures you take are saved to the card as opposed to the phone, this will help the phone a lot, more so if you take a lot of pictures, also repeat this for the Video element of the camera as well, so ALL image type data is saved to the card.

 

There is 1 downside to installing to the card though, if you remove the card those programs will not be able to run without the card being in place, so you need to look at the size of the card, and figure if it will just stay in the phone all the time, also decide if the card is big enough for your needs, if it gets full up in the future then installed programs will need to be reinstalled perhaps, unless you just completely move the data to your PC so the card always has space, but this is better to decide now rather than later, hope this helps.

[Peter1]

HI Allen

I just got a surprise, because I do not have a data plan, and when I was out today and turned it on hoping for wireless, I noticed there was nothing on the SD card. My wife just came in a there was another surprise, when I joined my home network, there is nothing on the SD card. There are items on 'running', 'downloaded' and 'all.' 

I immediately checked my gallery and my family photos are still there. I have had the little SD card out; as I said you have to mount it before doing so. then unmount it when replacing it. So I guess the photos are on the hard drive and should be moved to the SD card as you said to free up room. I have to see how to do that.  It is a T-Mobile Prism, Android OS, Huawei, U8651T.

Either I inadvertently moved the photos to the hard drive from the SD card or I made a visual error.

At any rate, I guess now is the time to get the photos over to the SD card.

Thank you

Peter

[Tomk]

 

Transfer files between internal storage & SD card

To transfer files and pictures between the internal storage and SD card, follow these steps:

 

1. From any Home screen, tap the Applications icon.
2. Tap File Manager.
3. Tap Phone.
4. Navigate to the desired folder and file.
5. Touch and hold the file you want to copy.
6. Tap Copy.
7. Tap SD Card.
8. Touch and hold the desired folder.
9. Tap Paste to.

http://support.t-mob...m/docs/DOC-6193

[8210GUY]

I don't know if it's possible on that device, but the simpler method (more so when multiple files are involved) is to go into your pictures, so you can see a gallery of all the pic's (thats what I can do in mine), so your not viewing 1 specific picture, then you click the Options, then look for a Select or Select All option (this is the best option as long as you do want ALL content moved), then click on Options again, and look for a Move or Move To option, this will move everything in a single go.

 

Note that if you only have a Mark option, by touching each image it leaves a tick mark, simply tick ALL the pictures before selecting the Move option, this is what one of my phones made you do, although you could just move a batch at a time, it's what you find the easiest that's all, but do also note that this will take a fair bit of power, so maybe have it on charge when you do this.

 

The above way looks like it will do it 1 at a time, but as I say I have never touched that model, but I'd be surprised if it didn't have these options, there is no question the above is rock solid advice, but having been involved with mobile phones as long as I have this is what I have found works for me each time, hope it helps.

[Peter1]

@tomk -That is exactly what I figured out this am. T Mobile had me getting an adaptor for my micro SD card but that is so I can create a folder. I have my photos out of the phone and in the SD media folder. I was told I can also use the DCIM folder. When my adapter arrives I will create a family folder and copy and paste. Thank you both for the help.

 

I don't think I can create a folder on the SD card until I get the adapter -correct?

[8210GUY]

There are 2 variables here, 1st is if your phone has a selection under Options, then yes you can make a folder directly, so go into your SD card using the phones menu to navigate to it, then select Options, and look for such an option, 2nd, if you have a cable to connect the phone to the PC, then you can easily go into the SD card navigating into it just like you would access a thumb drive.

 

Once in the SD card window, you can right click and select New - Folder exactly the same way you can on your desktop drive, furthermore you can then cut\copy and paste the pictures into it directly, simply treat the SD card the same as you would any thumb drive, and you can do this with ease, but you do need to connect via the PC for this method, hope this helps.

[Peter1]

It does. I am going to give you a prntscrn shortly of what I see when the phone is plugged in. I do not understand a lot of it.

 

A bit of cross posting but I wanted to ask if I replaced my hard drive in my Dell 8300 xps would I need to do anything with software or just mechanically replace it?

I'll send the pik shortly.

[Peter1]

The prntscrn will not help. My phone is rudimentary and the things I see can be understood with time. I understand about right clicking and creating a folder .

Thank you

[8210GUY]

You can't do a printscreen of the phone directly from the PC, but you can go into the phone from your "My Computer" where you can see the phones contents, and then you can take a printscreen of that, but from the phones screen directly you would need an App to do that.

 

This is what you should see in your My Computer with your phone connected to the PC;

 

Go into the phone (no different than going into a folder, you should see something like this;

 

Now go into the Card, you may see folders you know nothing about, they are what the phone has put there, just leave them as they are, but see if there is a DCIM folder, if there is great, if there is not, then go into your phone camera's settings, and tell it to save to the memory card, it should then create that folder for you, and when you go back into the Card folder, you should see something like this;

 

Within that there will be 2 folders probably, Camera and Video, go into the Camera folder, then right click and create folders as needed, I suggest using categories or if you have a lot of pictures, they will become a massive list, so breaking them down will make finding specific pictures easier, once your folders are created, move your pictures into there, and you should be good to go, you could just use the camera's names, which is normally the date they were taken, it's whatever works for you, hope this helps.

 

*edit

As to your hard drive, it's a straight physical placement, BUT, it depends what you are wanting from this, if your replacing your "C Drive" then you may be best served cloning the old drive and putting it's image on the new drive, If you have no need for the data (remembering if it's store bought there will be a recovery partition) and have a disk to install with, and you don't need to keep such files then just swap away, but if it's store bought and you do this then you will no longer be able to recover to factory state.

Edited by 8210GUY, 22 January 2014 - 11:29 AM.

[Peter1]

What you see is what I would love to see. It is so straight forward. I do not have any labels like SD or phone etc.

 

I do have a DCIM folder with photos in it.

I also have two folders F+ G on the left side of This PC one of which holds all my photos on the SD card and also in the gallery so I don't know which is the SD card.. I will try again but the lack of labels is hindering me.

[8210GUY]

Are you seeing this through your PC or the phone ?

Are you able to connect the phone directly to the PC via a cable ?

I will try and find out some more info and see what I can make of what you're seeing.

[Peter1]

Hi

I removed the icons or widgets from the desktop and the battery is noticeably stronger and longer.

In disc K, I made a folder, renamed it and put all the photos in it!

My questions now that I have had a chance to work on the phone;

Q-In Disc F there is nothing no matter how many times you click on anything so I do not know why it is there.

Q- There is a DCIM; what should I do with it as it contains thumbnails, I think, of all the photos as they are the same. Should I remove the folder the entries or nothing?

Q-In disk K there is an Android folder with Cache in it and there are tons of entries. Should I remove them or should I remove the folder or nothing at all?

OR is there a better way to clear the phone’s cache?

Q- It says to unmount the card before unplugging but when I go to storage it is already unmouted. I think it means before removing. I just click eject to each folder and when all say ok I unplug- ok?

 

I know the lost.dir replaces itself each time it is emptied like the Windows temp folder where stuff is dumped.

When it says removable disc I assume it is the SD card although it does not say it - ?

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[8210GUY]

TBH unless you know exactly what your deleting from the phone, do NOT touch it, you will run the risk of messing up the phone if you delete the wrong thing, and it's been too long since I was helping with them, the only safe things to delete are things you know are physical files, basically pictures, video's and music, that and deleting calendar events that have passed, and text messages once they have no further use (this is the biggest favor you can do for the phone, more so if you have a lot of messages).

 

Your screen shots show 3 items, shown as Drives F, K and L, can you confirm if these are all part of the phone, or is one possibly a card reader on the PC ?

[Peter1]

No card reader. What I showed you was just the phone with the SD card I it. I always thought you should empty the cache but I don't know the name of it or where it is. I can give T Mobile a call.

Thanx Alan