Help swapping sd cards, questions

[boatman]

I have a d1 with 16g card, my son has a d2 with 8g. i have lots of programs and pictures on the card from the past 16 months, the d2 is pretty new.

My son wants his music on his phone, its more than 8g, I have just about 10 g free.

So we can swap cards.

I can copy all the dcim file/folder to a computer and back again.

What about programs that are installed to the card?

How do I go about swapping cards. Do I format them first, and if so, do I do that on the computer, or is there a way to do this on the phone? I don't think I can just delete my dcim folder and then swap cards, right?

Thanks for the help.

 

[whs37]

Check the filetype of the SD card on your computer (in Properties). It is probably Fat32. In that case you can just copy the Dcim to your PC (for backup). That should free up the card. No further formatting required.

 

[boatman]

thanks. but I have about 25 directories with stuff starting with .androidsecure that looks to a bunch of .asec files, then amazonmp3, android, astrid, boos, data, dcim, dictdata.... nitrodesk, noteeverything....

I was hoping not to lose everything on my card.

Can I format his card, (how is the best way to do that), and just copy my entire card to his, and vice versa?

 

[whs37]

Since the card is formatted already, there is no need to reformat it. Just move all this stuff to a backup to free up the card. From there you can move whatever you want to the other card (after you freed this up too).

 

[cwcheese]

boatman,

You are on the right track, you would need to create two directories on your PC hard drive, call 'em 8GB_SD and 16GB_SD, then copy all the dirs and files from each SD card into the respective directories on the PC. After this backup, just delete all the files and dirs on each SD card and copy the data across from the PC to the appropriate SD card.

I'd do this using an SD adapter for the microSD via a slot on your PC rather than by USB cable from the Droid because the Android OS may still be using some of the dirs that begin with a dot (.), that's a standard Unix/Linux filesystem structure. I would not format the card, just delete the files and copy over them, Android/Linux will take care of managing the space.

 

[boatman]

great. thanks for the help!

 

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

I have to disagree with cwcheese. A quick format is never a bad idea when swapping files to/from an SD card. It's not strictly necessary, but it only takes a few seconds and generally removes any worries about the card's integrity in my mind.

 

[whs37]

Why copy - just move the files off. Then there is no need to delete them in a later step. And if the card is empty, there is really no need to reformat it - unless it makes you feel better.

 

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

Why copy - just move the files off. Then there is no need to delete them in a later step. And if the card is empty, there is really no need to reformat it - unless it makes you feel better.

Exactly.. 99% of the time, it's unnecessary.. But SD cards have been known to act wonky, ESPECIALLY when in Android phones.. These forums are littered with posts by users suffering issues that go away when a card is formatted.

Just like clearing some things out of memory SHOULDN'T make your phone go any faster, but sometimes, it actually does. The way things should work in theory and the way they work in the real world are often very different.

 

[boatman]

Format with the card in the reader in the computer? Format fat 32? Also, if I format, and copy files back over, it has the .android dir and the dcim directories. Doesn't android create these on a blank card when you put the card in the phone. They are not there when the card is formatted, but they are there on the phone when used, so is it an issue to put them on the card then put the card into thephone?

 

[whs37]

If you absolutely want to format, check what the format is right now - I assume Fat32. The folders will be recreated on a blank card. How else would you be able to use any new card.

 

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

If you want your camera's pictures back, copy the DCIM folder back, but there's really no need to copy over android dir as the phone will just write it again.

 

[jacwashere7]

Ive done this many times bewteen many cards.. he's my opinion ... COPY everything to your local drive in the folders mentioned above..including all folders android automatically put on your card.. there will not be an errors when u add in the "new" card back into each phone... i would'nt "move" them because what if you had a power lose or some sort of error and you would lose all your info in space.. when all done copying each sdcard over.. just format them.. it will delete everything on the cards and ensure you didnt miss hidden files or folders as well.. then put everything back on the corresponding sdcard..

 

[AngryHatter]

Exactly.. 99% of the time, it's unnecessary.. But SD cards have been known to act wonky, ESPECIALLY when in Android phones.. These forums are littered with posts by users suffering issues that go away when a card is formatted.

Just like clearing some things out of memory SHOULDN'T make your phone go any faster, but sometimes, it actually does. The way things should work in theory and the way they work in the real world are often very different.

I suspect a lot of the "wonkiness" observed is a matter of the electrical connection being compromised by jostling, movement...bumps in the night.
I say this because a quick re-seating of the card seems to eliminate much garbage behavior.

Think about the ram (any memory on a buss structure) in your computer and how many errors you'd have if you were dragging your computer everywhere you went...threw it on the coffee table...et cetera.