Unfortunately, the lack of space on the internal drive of Android devices has recently been felt quite strongly, because with the development of the capabilities of the OS itself, many programs and games have become much more demanding on the free resources and memory capacity of gadgets. That's why many people use removable SD cards. But Android applications on the memory card are not always desired.
Installation Overview
In any version of the Android OS, the installation of applications on the memory card is disabled by default. In principle, if the device itself and the OS version support this feature, as they say, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Rummaging a bit in the settings, you can set your own parameters.
This is a relatively short-lived and simplest process, which will be discussed a little later. You can install applications on the memory card in other ways. Let us dwell on these situations for now.
Downloading applications to a memory card
Before solving the installation problem, consider loading content onto a removable storage medium. The fact is that in “Android” the installation of applications on a memory card in most cases should be closely connected with the process of downloading installation distributions, since they can also have quite large volumes.
Almost all Android devices support downloading content to an SD card, regardless of the OS version or installed firmware. To specify the place to save files to a memory card, just enter, for example, into an Internet browser and in advanced settings specify removable media as the storage location. You can do the same in the case of creating photos, when you need to use the application settings to configure.
You can do even easier by downloading applications using a desktop computer or laptop, and then copying them to an SD card. In principle, the download location can also be changed in any file manager.
Ways to install and relocate applications on SD cards
Now about the most important thing. Using installed or already installed applications from a memory card is not so difficult. First of all, you need to see if the device itself supports such features. It also happens that the transfer, and even more so the installation, of applications to removable media is simply blocked by the manufacturer of the gadget. What to do in this case?
For the Android OS, applications can be installed on the memory card in several ways. For example, you can first install a program or game using the standard method on an internal drive, and then transfer it to another location (in this case, an SD card).
For direct installation on the card, you can use third-party utilities. It is clear that the creation of applications for Android in most cases implies the ability to install or transfer to another location.
Using system settings
If you really need to install the Android application on a removable media, you first need to consider several aspects. First of all, go to the settings, where to select the “Applications” item, and then go to the settings for the applications themselves. There is a special line “Transfer to SD card”. If the device or the application installed on the internal memory supports this function, the transfer will be performed within a couple of minutes, after which the active button “Move to phone” will appear for each transferred program or game.
As already clear, in the Android OS, the application will be launched at the end of the transfer process from the memory card.
But do not rush to rejoice. Sometimes both the mobile devices themselves and the creation of applications for Android use such functions simply does not provide. In addition, even root privileges or the use of super user mode may be required.
Top programs
There are a lot of programs for transferring or directly installing programs or games on removable media today. As a rule, almost all programs of this type are classified as freeware (free). True, it is worth paying attention to the fact that some utilities are very easy to use, and some professional programs will have to tinker with in order to understand what's what.
Among the simplest means of transferring programs to removable media are popular packages such as AppMgr Pro.
This application automatically analyzes the data of installed applications, and then gives the result in the form of a sorted list, which separately lists Android applications that can be easily transferred to a memory card. After selecting the necessary applications and confirming the actions, the transfer will be carried out automatically without any damage to the system.
No less interesting is the Link2SD utility. But an ordinary user will have to deal with it for a long time, because you will need to break the card into sections from a computer, for example, using the MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition software package, one of which must have the FAT32 (Primary) file system , and the second - ext2 (depending on devices and versions of the "OS" it can be ext3 / ext4). It is in the second section that portable or installed programs will be stored.
The most extreme case is the use of a mobile device with a connection to a computer or laptop via a USB interface. To install applications on a memory card, you will first need to install the program on both a smartphone and a computer. After connecting and synchronizing, you can install applications directly from the control program window from a computer terminal.
There are a large number of software products of this type. Separately, it’s worth highlighting, say, Mobogenie or My Phone Explorer, and the second utility supports not only Android devices. Working with such programs is quite simple. You just need to select the installation file and specify the installation location of the program (again, if such support is available for both the device and the program).
Forcing the installation of programs on a memory card
In some cases, you can try to apply another non-standard method. In the "operating systems" "Android" installation of applications on a memory card by this method is called forced.
The essence of the process is to install ADB RUN on the PC. On a smartphone, when connected via a USB port , USB debugging must be enabled .
After starting the application on the computer, you will need to enter the following commands:
Su - if you have root privileges (if not, the command is skipped).
pm getInstallLocation ("0" by default).
pm getInstallLocation 1 - installation in the device’s own memory.
pm getInstallLocation 2 - install on a memory card.
pm getInstallLocation 0 - return to default settings.
In principle, there are few commands, but you see for yourself, this is not the most convenient way. Although in some cases it can be used quite effectively when other methods do not help.
Application Health Issues
It is believed that in the Android OS, installing programs on a memory card is not all. After installing or moving the application, you need to run it and test it. If the launch does not occur, or the program does not work as it should, you will have to repeat the above steps first. You can try to transfer the application to the initial location and check its performance there. If everything is normal, then it means either the program or the memory card, or the incorrectly performed transfer or installation operations.
Conclusion
To summarize, we can say that here we considered the simplest and most common ways to transfer and install applications on removable memory devices. Naturally, each utility has its own characteristics, as well as portable or installed programs. Even various modifications of mobile gadgets, not to mention Android OS versions or firmware, can play a very significant role. But in most cases, at least one way will prove effective for many.