Alcatel pop 5 unable to send stuff to sd card.

[mrose1966]

G'day all. I have an alcatel pop 5 with a 16gb sd card and cannot transfer anything to it. I have read some suggestions that I should go to the card in settings use the three dot menu which I have done. However, my options are: Rename, Eject, or Format as portable. Should I try ejecting the card or formatting as portable? Thanks in advance.

 

[webworkings]

Neither of what you mentioned would help if your are trying to make it work so that apps can run on it. I am including the needed steps below. If your device can't do it, or doesn't have one of the needed steps available, then the manufacturer has restricted this option on your device. Nothing you can do about that one. Then you would be limited to only moving things like photos, music, etc., to the SD card. Not apps.


First, you need to be using a phone that is running at least Android "Marshmallow" (or newer) or be able to upgrade to it. Second, you will need the instructions I am including below. And third, you need a phone that has not been restricted by the manufacturer from making this change. Which does happen.

NOTE: If any of the steps are missing on your phone, or they don't work for you, then you have a phone that either has an older Android version or has been restricted by the manufacturer.


How to turn the "External" SD card into "Internal" storage on "Marshmallow".

NOTE: Please be sure you start with a blank SD card. It needs to be blank because when the card is converted to "Internal" storage, it will be formatted (wiped) and encoded (making the cards data only readable by that device).

1. Go to device “Settings”, then select “Storage”.
2. Select your "SD Card", then tap the “three-dot menu“ (top-right), now select “Settings” from in there.
3. Now select “Format as internal”, and then “Erase & Format”.
4. Your SD Card will now be formatted as internal storage.
5. Reboot your phone.

NOTE: If you don't reboot the phone, many things may not work correctly, so make sure you do.


How to turn the "External" SD card into "Internal" storage on "Nougat".

IMPORTANT NOTE: Be sure you start with a blank SD card. When the card is converted to "Internal" storage, it will be formatted (wiped) and encoded (making the cards data only readable by that device), so anything on it prior would be gone.

1. Go to "Settings", and then select "Storage & USB".
2. At the bottom of the list you should see the SD card's details, including the option to format it and make it "Internal" storage.
3. Once this is done, reboot the device and you can start running things from the card.

If you don't reboot the phone, some things may not work correctly, so make sure you do the reboot.

 

[mrose1966]

Thank you. I obviously have a restricted phone. Is there an easy way to transfer things other than apps to the sd card?

 

[webworkings]

Well you can try doing so via the file manager app on the phone (if it didn't come with one you can download and install one). However that can limit the number of files you can move at a time.

You can also connect the device to a computer via USB cord, and then move the files over to an empty folder(s) on the computer and once all moved, then via the same USB connection, move them over to the SD card. Much faster.

Either way, you will also have to make some changes to the "Settings" in individual apps. Like say your "Camera" so that it will now save new photos to the card, etc., and also the same for viewing the files. So say in "Gallery" you would have to change it to view files from the card now.