Format Android micro SD card as an internal or adoptable storage
A question mark between good or bad feature
If you do not already know, Google introduced formating your micro SD card as internal storage and making it a part of Android system, first time in Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
Many saw that the main purpose of adding this feature is to increase the small internal storage of some Android devices which were released with a low storage like Android one device series.
And even if this feature sounds very interesting, it has a lot of serious disadvantages that you should think about before trying it.
I'm going to share my experience with this feature in my article, and as I was a victim, I will focus on the disadvantage mainly.
- Part one: Advantages
- Part two: Disadvatages
- Part three: Conclusion
Part one: Advantages
The only one advantage I see in using this feature is having more storage for apps only, it is better to store media on your portable micro SD card.
And the reason why I tested this feature is to store large games data of games I was testing on my new Android device; I have 16 GB internal storage and it is totally enough for all apps I need.
But does this really considered as an advantage? nowadays most on new Android phones comes with at least 16 GB internal storage, even some Chinese brands like Infinix does not release phones with lower storage, so the feature is only useful for old phones which can get Android OS upgrades either from the manufacturer or from the open source community and interested developers.
If you still want to try the feature, or you got a new Android phone from unknown Chinese brand which has low storage, I think you will re-consider after reading this article.
And the reason why I tested this feature is to store large games data of games I was testing on my new Android device; I have 16 GB internal storage and it is totally enough for all apps I need.
But does this really considered as an advantage? nowadays most on new Android phones comes with at least 16 GB internal storage, even some Chinese brands like Infinix does not release phones with lower storage, so the feature is only useful for old phones which can get Android OS upgrades either from the manufacturer or from the open source community and interested developers.
If you still want to try the feature, or you got a new Android phone from unknown Chinese brand which has low storage, I think you will re-consider after reading this article.
Part two: Disadvantages
A. Slow performance:
The first noticeable disadvantage is the slow performance, I was amazed by my phone performance until I used this feature on a 32 GB micro Kingston SD card - Class 10 with speed 45 MB per second, and I thought this is a fast SD card! but unfortunately my phone started to freeze and became slower, and was like that until I stopped using the feature.
So, would you choose larger internal storage over phone performance? maybe you are thinking about using SanDisk class 10 with 95 MB per second speed? please continue reading.
B. Encrypted storage:
A. Slow performance:
The first noticeable disadvantage is the slow performance, I was amazed by my phone performance until I used this feature on a 32 GB micro Kingston SD card - Class 10 with speed 45 MB per second, and I thought this is a fast SD card! but unfortunately my phone started to freeze and became slower, and was like that until I stopped using the feature.
So, would you choose larger internal storage over phone performance? maybe you are thinking about using SanDisk class 10 with 95 MB per second speed? please continue reading.
B. Encrypted storage:
Well, If you want to format your micro SD card as internal / adoptable storage , Android will encrypt it with a key and you won't be able to use this memory on any other device.
It is okay if you decided to dedicate this memory for this specific device only, but what if this device was damaged, will you be able to recover your data? Short answer: NO. Will you be able to recover the memory card itself and use it again? Short answer: IF YOU ARE LUCKY.
C. Not roms friendly:This feature is not recommended for Android geeks who like to switch custom roms a lot, because every time you want to switch a rom you have to re-format your micro SD card as portable again, and that means you have to back up your data first.
I noticed also that custom recoveries do not recognize the adoptable storage, only newer versions of TWRP do.
D. Corruption and the struggle
When you format your micro SD card as an internal memory you will have a high chance that the memory card will get corrupted by itself, and that what happened exactly in my case, I was sleeping and next morning when I woke up and unlocked the phone screen I saw a notification that the SD card was removed (Although it was inside untouched), so I restarted my phone and the only option I had was to "Forget SD card" because it was damaged.
Keeping in mind that my SD card was new and it doesn't complete one month inserted in the phone, also I bought it with 300 EGP = 17 USD currently.
What happened next were lots of scenarios, I tried everything to recover my SD card, including rooting my phone and getting the encryption key then trying to encrypt my SD card on Ubuntu linux with no luck.
I searched the web and I wasn't surprised when I saw it is a common problem, in rare situations some people were able to recover the SD card, but most of them failed and I am included.
I don't want to write what I exactly did, so you won't get bored reading my article, but trust me I tried everything you can imagine and anything that can cross your mind; I tried every single formating / recovery program available on different operating systems.
It is okay if you decided to dedicate this memory for this specific device only, but what if this device was damaged, will you be able to recover your data? Short answer: NO. Will you be able to recover the memory card itself and use it again? Short answer: IF YOU ARE LUCKY.
C. Not roms friendly:This feature is not recommended for Android geeks who like to switch custom roms a lot, because every time you want to switch a rom you have to re-format your micro SD card as portable again, and that means you have to back up your data first.
I noticed also that custom recoveries do not recognize the adoptable storage, only newer versions of TWRP do.
D. Corruption and the struggle
When you format your micro SD card as an internal memory you will have a high chance that the memory card will get corrupted by itself, and that what happened exactly in my case, I was sleeping and next morning when I woke up and unlocked the phone screen I saw a notification that the SD card was removed (Although it was inside untouched), so I restarted my phone and the only option I had was to "Forget SD card" because it was damaged.
Keeping in mind that my SD card was new and it doesn't complete one month inserted in the phone, also I bought it with 300 EGP = 17 USD currently.
What happened next were lots of scenarios, I tried everything to recover my SD card, including rooting my phone and getting the encryption key then trying to encrypt my SD card on Ubuntu linux with no luck.
I searched the web and I wasn't surprised when I saw it is a common problem, in rare situations some people were able to recover the SD card, but most of them failed and I am included.
I don't want to write what I exactly did, so you won't get bored reading my article, but trust me I tried everything you can imagine and anything that can cross your mind; I tried every single formating / recovery program available on different operating systems.
Part three: Conclusion
In my opinion, this feature is a big failure and Google should either improve it and fix those disadvantaged if keeping it is a must, or it should be removed.
Non of use want to buy a new SD card and it get corrupted because he didn't knew the consequences of using this very unstable feature, it it might be even worse if you decided to try it with a 64 GB micro SD card which will be expensive and it get corrupted.
Trust me, your phone is better without this feature.
If you had a similar experience, kindly post a comment here and share with us.
In my opinion, this feature is a big failure and Google should either improve it and fix those disadvantaged if keeping it is a must, or it should be removed.
Non of use want to buy a new SD card and it get corrupted because he didn't knew the consequences of using this very unstable feature, it it might be even worse if you decided to try it with a 64 GB micro SD card which will be expensive and it get corrupted.
Trust me, your phone is better without this feature.
If you had a similar experience, kindly post a comment here and share with us.
Thank you for all the details and recommendation.
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