Moving Images from Gallery to the Micro SD Card

[pm5544]

If I want to move a photo to my SD card that I just got today am I right that if I want to move a photo I need to go to my files then DCIM then Camera, and hold on to the picture I want to move then pick the move option then do I pick the folder called external_sd then chose LOST.DIR, and do I move it there?

I take it the folder called external_sd in my files relates to the micro SD card that I just inserted today?

In my files there appears to be a folder already named LOST.DIR located /sdcard/LOST.DIR which is below the folder named external_sd, can someone explain this and are the two related?

On the my files list the two separate folders show like this with the external_sd folder having the little what looks like a sd card on the brown folder.

external_sd

LOST.DIR

I just wanted to move the images that I have taken with the phones camera to be moved to the 16gb card that I inserted today.

 

[lunatic59]

You're almost right, but you don't want to use lost.dir. That's a system folder to place files (or bits of files) recovered during startup.

To copy the pictures, you can can create a new folder in external_sd which is the mount point for the inserted card. Copy your pictures there. Then if you plug in the phone to a PC or remove the card to use in a card reader, the files will be in that folder located in the root of the SD card.

 

[pm5544]

You're almost right, but you don't want to use lost.dir. That's a system folder to place files (or bits of files) recovered during startup.

To copy the pictures, you can can create a new folder in external_sd which is the mount point for the inserted card. Copy your pictures there. Then if you plug in the phone to a PC or remove the card to use in a card reader, the files will be in that folder located in the root of the SD card.

Do I want to copy them though? I really wanted to move them from the phones internal storage to the SD card to save on space.

Also I see that the set home directory is set as /sdcard, is this normal and what does it actually mean by home directory?

 

[lunatic59]

Do I want to copy them though? I really wanted to move them from the phones internal storage to the SD card to save on space.

Also I see that the set home directory is set as /sdcard, is this normal and what does it actually mean by home directory?

You certainly can move them, just understand that SD cards can and do go bad without any warning so if you intend to store files there you want to make sure they are backed up.

Let me see if I can explain this without going into a dissertation. When the original Android wad designed, phones had very little internal storage space. Memory expansion was done by inserting an external MircoSD card. It was engineered into android that they'd automatically mount at /sdcard. when phones began to show up with more memory, manufacturers partitioned that into system memory and user storage. The mounted that partition at /sdcard which the system and apps treated like an sd card, except it was more stable and faster than an actual card. If the phone also accepted an sd card, it had to mount somewhere and since /sdcard was taken and there was no real need for a standard since it was just plain storage, manufacturers called it whatever they wanted. Some used /external_sd, others used /sd_external some just called it /external. Now most phones have both system and user storage on the phone's internal memory and with Jelly Bean those partitions are virtualized which removes a lot of the limitations for app storage. Still, for compatibility, the users "Home" storage location will remain /sdcard.

Hope that's not too confusing.

 

[pm5544]

So can I just select the image and hold it, and instead of selecting copy chose move, and then do I just need to create a folder within the external_sdcard and then move it there?

I understand what you are saying about the sdcard possibly going bad in the future, but other than that I don't see the point just copying them as the sole purpose for me anyway would be to save space on the phones internal memory.

By the way, I am on Gingerbread operating system.

 

[lunatic59]

So can I just select the image and hold it, and instead of selecting copy chose move, and then do I just need to create a folder within the external_sdcard and then move it there?

Yes, exactly.

I understand what you are saying about the sdcard possibly going bad in the future, but other than that I don't see the point just copying them as the sole purpose for me anyway would be to save space on the phones internal memory.

A lot of folks use the external card for backups. If you (god forbid) ever drop your phone and break the screen. It's very hard to get the files off if you can't see what's going on.

 

[pm5544]

So I imagine that when I update or install apps through Google Play Store or take pictures with the stock camera they all go to the internal phone memory no matter what, and it's up to me whether I want to either copy or move them to the external_sdcard?

 

[pm5544]

I haven't as yet used the option to connect to my computer, only because I have an older OS which uses USB1.1 only which unfortunately would take longer transferring files.

 

[pm5544]

Oh I also meant to ask, when I inserted the microSDHC Sandisk 16GB card into the phone while it was switched on, it showed up as having total space as 14.83GB, and I take it that it would be already formatted?

The only app I have moved from the phone to the new card is Shazam, so I imagine that is why the available space shows as 14.82GB.

So in full I have that plus USB storage as Total Space being 1.10GB, Available space 1.00GB

System Storage...Available space 0.89GB

So just to get things so I understand it correctly, the phones internal space is the USB storage which is 1.10GB, and the SD card that I just got today is 14.83GB, have I got that right?

in other words sdcard is internal memory which also relates to the USB storage, and the external_sdcard is the new Sandisk card?

 

[lunatic59]

Oh I also meant to ask, when I inserted the microSDHC Sandisk 16GB card into the phone while it was switched on, it showed up as having total space as 14.83GB, and I take it that it would be already formatted?

The only app I have moved from the phone to the new card is Shazam, so I imagine that is why the available space shows as 14.82GB.

So in full I have that plus USB storage as Total Space being 1.10GB, Available space 1.00GB

System Storage...Available space 0.89GB

So just to get things so I understand it correctly, the phones internal space is the USB storage which is 1.10GB, and the SD card that I just got today is 14.83GB, have I got that right?

in other words sdcard is internal memory which also relates to the USB storage, and the external_sdcard is the new Sandisk card?

That's just typical misreporting. A k is 1024 bytes, a MB is 1024k, a GB is 1024 MB so by the time you do the math if you report a k as 1000, etc by the time you get to GB, you really only have about 92% of what you think you do.