I recently bought a new and faster Micro SD card for my Epic 4G. I tried to copy the files on my old Micro SD card over through my Windows computer; however Windows Explorer failed. I have a number of applications installed on my SD and Windows was just not happy with .gz format files, etc.
A number of back up and cloning utilities were suggested at various forums; the one that I found be the best, in terms of small footprint and ease of use, is the HDD Raw Copy tool from HDD Guru. It is free, so small and light that you can run it as a portable app, easy to use and did I mention free?
You can find the app on the HDD Guru website. (Forum rules prevent my including the link in this post.)
It is going to be part of my tool kit from here on out. I hope this helps someone.
Here you can download a free copy
Thanks for the post! Was looking for a solution to this, tried copying in OSX, Windows, TeraCopy no luck so far... Your solution looks promising!
This program will only work for two SD cards that are the same size. I tried to clone my 8Gb SD4 card to my new 16Gb SD10 card and it did exactly that: it turned the 16Gb into a 8Gb SD card.
That's because it directly copies the partitions. You need to resize them afterwards. I used minitool partition wizard (can't post links, google it), which did the trick nicely. For moving the contents of my 2GB SD card over to a 16GB one, the procedure was pretty straightforward: write contents to an image using HDDRawCopy, use the same tool to write the image to the new card, and then resize using the partition wizard.
noouch said:
That's because it directly copies the partitions. You need to resize them afterwards. I used minitool partition wizard (can't post links, google it), which did the trick nicely. For moving the contents of my 2GB SD card over to a 16GB one, the procedure was pretty straightforward: write contents to an image using HDDRawCopy, use the same tool to write the image to the new card, and then resize using the partition wizard.
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Click to collapse
Minitool Partition would make my laptop go bonkers , making it run in emergency grub command prompt with no help
This was sent from a Galaxy Ace. Problem?
thanks for this.. im bizarrely going a backward route.. from a 32gb class 4 card, to a 16gb class 10 card.. (work that one out)
Which involves the fun of reducing the partitions on the 32gb first, and then raw copying :S
BhNeP said:
This program will only work for two SD cards that are the same size. I tried to clone my 8Gb SD4 card to my new 16Gb SD10 card and it did exactly that: it turned the 16Gb into a 8Gb SD card.
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This is a good example of someone who would like to help, but only gives a half solution, thus misleading the inexperienced user.
Mazarin07 said:
This is a good example of someone who would like to help, but only gives a half solution, thus misleading the inexperienced user.
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Heaven helps those who help themselves.
It's a nice tip. Everyone interested should read the all thread (1 page!). 4th post.
Alternative
Using ADB, has in my experience, always! been the best and most secure way to pull/push from and to my LT18i.
It's simple, light and secure.
get sdk-tools and extract it to your ROOT drive on Windows (EG. C:/)
(Im not experienced enough on this forum to post outside links, so use google and search for Android SDK.)
In your sdk-tools folder,now make a folder called:
sdcard_{today's date}
Example - sdcard_08042013
Plug in your phone, leave it on Charge only.
Now -
Step 1 - get a DOS window (Start - Run - cmd)
Step 2 - in that window enter (use copy/paste): cd c:\sdk-tools
Step 3 - in that window enter (use copy/paste): adb devices
(that ensures that adb is running, and your device is connected)
Step 4 - if using ICS, in that window enter: adb pull /mnt/sdcard sdcard_{date}
If using JellyBean enter: adb pull /storage/sdcard0 sdcard_{date}
Wait....done!
And when you are ready to push the backup to your phone again:
adb push sdcard_{date} /mnt/sdcard
Just for the record, if you break your phone or sdcard doing this, I hold no responsibillity. You do this, it is your doing.
I am not an expert in ADB nor android phones in generel. This information is something i've picked up along the way.
This is an ALTERNATIVE, and not to be mistaken for the ONLY CORRECT way.
There are plenty of other options to achieve the same goal, this is just one of them.
Good luck and Godspeed!
Using Linux / Ubuntu to copy / clone
I'm currently moving from a 16GB to a 32GB UHS-I microSD card...and I'm just copying the files over in Ubuntu Linux (with Show Hidden Files enabled in Nautilus [the file management system])...simply enabled SHOW HIDDEN FILES in the VIEW menu.
The phone is on and active...connected by USB to my laptop.
I'm hopeful it will work, and I'll re-post / update this if it does.
== UPDATE ==
Yep...that all worked sweetly! The problems other people have experienced might be simply down to the fact that a RAW copy is not taking place, so some of the "hidden" system files etc. are not being copied in Windows etc.
sorry in this old and stupid topic but I think it should be deleted because I tried the tip and didn't read the other posts and end up screwing my sd cards.
the thing is that you really don't need anyting to clone an SD card and to work it with android.
the problem is that people don't actually copy all the files because there are hidden files. they have to check "VIEW HIDDEN FOLDERS" on windows explorer or something like that. and then copy. it will work flawless.
no need for 3rd party stupid clone moron programs that screw your sd cards. this topic is just useless and missleading and will trick the ones who don't read the entire topic.
I think it should be deleted asap.
__-_-_-__ said:
sorry in this old and stupid topic but I think it should be deleted because I tried the tip and didn't read the other posts and end up screwing my sd cards.
the thing is that you really don't need anyting to clone an SD card and to work it with android.
the problem is that people don't actually copy all the files because there are hidden files. they have to check "VIEW HIDDEN FOLDERS" on windows explorer or something like that. and then copy. it will work flawless.
no need for 3rd party stupid clone moron programs that screw your sd cards. this topic is just useless and missleading and will trick the ones who don't read the entire topic.
I think it should be deleted asap.
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Click to collapse
No this is the best way of cloning SD cards. If you have a basic seup of your card then sure you might get away with just copying files over. If like me however you have a partitioned card with an ext2/3/4 partition this is the better way of cloning cards.
baggio4378 said:
No this is the best way of cloning SD cards. If you have a basic seup of your card then sure you might get away with just copying files over. If like me however you have a partitioned card with an ext2/3/4 partition this is the better way of cloning cards.
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it's the same ****. you just have to partition before copying,
noouch said:
That's because it directly copies the partitions. You need to resize them afterwards. I used minitool partition wizard (can't post links, google it), which did the trick nicely. For moving the contents of my 2GB SD card over to a 16GB one, the procedure was pretty straightforward: write contents to an image using HDDRawCopy, use the same tool to write the image to the new card, and then resize using the partition wizard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I copied everything using HDD Raw copy. Now I am mini tool partition wizard. The problem i am facing is that I want everything to be present in exFat format so I can copy stuff bigger than 4GB. Now I when I create partition on the unallotted part of microSD ( I am going from 32GB to 64GB) it's not letting me use merge command as is saying it's not available in free home edition. Also the format or the microSD is showing as other not exFat.
I am trying to go from 32 to 64GB and keeping exFat as the format of the card.
Thanks
Nope
__-_-_-__ said:
sorry in this old and stupid topic but I think it should be deleted because I tried the tip and didn't read the other posts and end up screwing my sd cards.
the thing is that you really don't need anyting to clone an SD card and to work it with android.
the problem is that people don't actually copy all the files because there are hidden files. they have to check "VIEW HIDDEN FOLDERS" on windows explorer or something like that. and then copy. it will work flawless.
no need for 3rd party stupid clone moron programs that screw your sd cards. this topic is just useless and missleading and will trick the ones who don't read the entire topic.
I think it should be deleted asap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No... You mistakenly did something with your cards w/o first double checking. The post wasn't bad. It's actually pretty straightforward and the best way to CLONE your cards. Don't blame the post for your mistake.
norman619 said:
No... You mistakenly did something with your cards w/o first double checking. The post wasn't bad. It's actually pretty straightforward and the best way to CLONE your cards. Don't blame the post for your mistake.
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not sure if you are a troll or if you are just stupid. who the **** are you to call me a liar? I nothing to my cards. I've confirmed that what I said is completely true. you don't need to clone. you just need to copy the information. obviously you need to copy ALL of the information so if you stupid retard don't understand what hidden files are it's not my fault.
__-_-_-__ said:
not sure if you are a troll or if you are just stupid. who the **** are you to call me a liar? I nothing to my cards. I've confirmed that what I said is completely true. you don't need to clone. you just need to copy the information. obviously you need to copy ALL of the information so if you stupid retard don't understand what hidden files are it's not my fault.
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Well obviously you are the stupid one indeed, I get the feeling that you are a horse with eye-flaps on dude, don't you read what the other dudes here are saying ? It looks like you are total noon without even a basic knowledge of filesystems.. Just so you know: android is based on LINUX and WINDOWS IS NOT - IT IS A STANDALONE OS THAT IS QUITE DIFFERENT FROM LINUX... So there it goes - windows uses FAT32 or NTFS - Linux DOES NOT and nor does ANDROID, and what you don't know at all is that WINDOWS FILE SYSTEMS DO NOT SUPPORT FILE PERMISSIONS THE WAY THAT THE ANDROID SYSTEM SUPPORTS IT.
So people, what I am trying to say is that, if you are a basic user and use your SD for pics and music only - the windows way would work (probably) BUT if you are using your SD for apps and etc, actually the ADB way might just be the best for you
And finally - I don't mean to be mean or to offend anyone, it's just that noob uneducated guy that expresses his non-proffesional "beliefs" in a way that is offensive to the users who actually have contributed to the thread and he tries to get a very useful thread deleted, which is driving me crazy nuts! I hate flaming other people and I hate seeing a noob that flames good guys for the sakes of post number and a stubborn hatefull debate - that's why I am flaming the flamer.
And some advice - dude, please don't use the f-word on forums - its not cool - its kiddish - you're probably thirteen y-o
Still a good way to clone and resize and partition! Thank you.
On my AndroidOne Nokia 7.1 I noticed that the SD card is mounted as /storage/XXXX-XXXX where XXXX-XXXX is the volume's serial number.
Here's how I cloned my smaller SD card onto a larger one:
Formatted the 200GB µSD using http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm (Windows says it’s too large)
Copied using ROBOCOPY /S /ZB /V g:\ f:\
Changed the volume serial number using SysInternals’ VolumeId.exe:
PS> cmd /c vol f:
Volume in drive F is LUMIAUSD200
Volume Serial Number is 1F04-2747
PS > Volumeid.exe f: B14F-130C
VolumeId v2.1 - Set disk volume id
Copyright (C) 1997-2016 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com
Volume ID for drive f: updated to b14f-130c
PS > cmd /c vol f:
Volume in drive F is LUMIAUSD200
Volume Serial Number is B14F-130C
After that I inserted the new card into the phone, and voilà! all apps were happy (since the mountpoint had not changed).
HTH
I think I read that the way our tab combines the stuff that would normally go in the external memory with our internal memory is a honeycomb thing, if so does ics add the stuff that normally would go on the sd card to internal memory also? If not is there a chance that our tablets will be able to add stuff to the sd card like normal or is it hard wired in our tabs & changing the OS won't make a difference? is the 7.7 tab with ics also set up this way?
For example when we download stuff it would go on the real/external sd card or have the option to add apps to sd from settings menu? ...I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I feel cheated on memory cuz alot of the space that's being used should be on my sd card like music & pictures. Thankfully now I can copy stuff to my sd card thanks to the sd tweak I found here so I can at least manually add pictures to the sd card now without having to do it from the computer all the time. I think that's the dumbest set up they could have added on an Android.
Thank you to everyone for all of your contributions, it is really appreciated.
Sent from my galaxy 7+ using taptalk
kcerica said:
I think I read that the way our tab combines the stuff that would normally go in the external memory with our internal memory is a honeycomb thing, if so does ics add the stuff that normally would go on the sd card to internal memory also? If not is there a chance that our tablets will be able to add stuff to the sd card like normal or is it hard wired in our tabs & changing the OS won't make a difference? is the 7.7 tab with ics also set up this way?
For example when we download stuff it would go on the real/external sd card or have the option to add apps to sd from settings menu? ...I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I feel cheated on memory cuz alot of the space that's being used should be on my sd card like music & pictures. Thankfully now I can copy stuff to my sd card thanks to the sd tweak I found here so I can at least manually add pictures to the sd card now without having to do it from the computer all the time. I think that's the dumbest set up they could have added on an Android.
Thank you to everyone for all of your contributions, it is really appreciated.
Sent from my galaxy 7+ using taptalk
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Click to collapse
No, Samsung likes MTP.
You did the tweak, but did you understand what it was?
On honeycomb the apps that write to the external need a new permission. The older apps dont have it, so you got a error if you try.
I think it is very probable it stays on ICS.
But we never needed to connect to PC to do this transfer. The built in file browser has this permission.
This is my first tablet so please forgive these dumb questions. I've been spoiled for years with CM# on my phones so I'm having a hard time adapting.
Is there a way to force apps to use the MicroSD card when saving? Example: In Dolphin HD, you can set your download directory. It defaults to "/mnt/sdcard" which is internal memory. I want to change it to "/Removable/MicroSD" but it keeps telling me that path is not available and to pick another. I googled a bit but all they tell me to do is save to internal then copy to external. I know I'm going to get tired of that really soon...
Some apps allow me to save to the external card. I set K-9 to download attachments to the card and it took the path but when I actually save an attachment, it says it's successful but I can't find the attachment in either internal and external memory. And yes, I did confirm I typed in the right path.
Any suggestions?
TIA
I don't know if this is the issue, but ASUS has decided to mount the external memory cards under a directory in the root directory ("/Removable/microSD" and "/Removable/SD"). Have you rooted your TF700? Most other systems I've used (the SGS2 primarily,and the LG O2x) had the external cards mounted under /mnt/sdcard/(_)External_SD, or under "mnt/emmc" as is the case under CM#. It might drop down to not having write access to these directories (although that'd be strange and never encountered efore on my devices, at least)...
EDIT: under Opera, for example, I can save an embedded image on XDA on the external microSD and I can find it with Total Commander (and open it with QuickPic).Still, I'm rooted.
MartyHulskemper said:
I don't know if this is the issue, but ASUS has decided to mount the external memory cards under a directory in the root directory ("/Removable/microSD" and "/Removable/SD"). Have you rooted your TF700? Most other systems I've used (the SGS2 primarily,and the LG O2x) had the external cards mounted under /mnt/sdcard/(_)External_SD, or under "mnt/emmc" as is the case under CM#. It might drop down to not having write access to these directories (although that'd be strange and never encountered efore on my devices, at least)...
EDIT: under Opera, for example, I can save an embedded image on XDA on the external microSD and I can find it with Total Commander (and open it with QuickPic).Still, I'm rooted.
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Click to collapse
Thank you for the reply. I haven't rooted yet but plan to do so this weekend. I'll see if that makes any difference.
as for reading from the card, yes, I can confirm that I can do the same - anything I put on the external card, my apps can read from it. I just can't seem to make apps write to that card, only internal.
Thanks!
asoong said:
Thank you for the reply. I haven't rooted yet but plan to do so this weekend. I'll see if that makes any difference.
as for reading from the card, yes, I can confirm that I can do the same - anything I put on the external card, my apps can read from it. I just can't seem to make apps write to that card, only internal.
Thanks!
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Click to collapse
You're welcome. Indeed, I meant that I can save an online image using my browser of choice onto the external memory. That's what seems to be the bottleneck in your case.
MartyHulskemper said:
You're welcome. Indeed, I meant that I can save an online image using my browser of choice onto the external memory. That's what seems to be the bottleneck in your case.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the explanation. Yes, I can confirm Opera works as advertised. Seems to be the only browser that can.
Stock and FF do not allow custom download directories
Dolphin HD didn't accept paths to external memory (and won't allow downloads larger than 2GB )
Chrome didn't allow downloads at all :crying:
Thanks again!
I saw a question here in XDA where a person was asking how his torrent app could save downloads to the external SD card without root, in KitKat. This can actually be done, with many apps.
Surprisingly, there were no answers, except to tell him to root. That is not always the case! I've been saving and writing data to my external SD card since I got my KitKat device and, I am not rooted. I didn't know this was not a well known technique, or I would have posted this information a long time ago. I just did an internet search (to see if it was well known or not) and it came up empty! But, if this method is common knowledge and I just missed it (wrong search criteria, for example), I apologize!
With KitKat, you do not have to be rooted for many apps to be able to write to an external SD card, if you follow Google's guidelines!
Let me explain via an example:
One main requirement is that the app in question can actually see and use the external SD card - some cannot. Also, please be aware, depending upon your device manufacturer, the path examples given in this explanation may vary.
For the example, I am going to use a made-up app called MyTorrent. Let's say MyTorrent has a home-directory of '/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.company.mytorrent/files' where it stores its downloads, but you want it to save the downloads to the external SD card instead of internal memory. With many apps, this is easily and completely doable!
To have MyTorrent use the external SD card to save its downloads, you need to first make sure a home-directory was created for MyTorrent on the external SD card. There should be an Android directory on the external SD card, just like there is in internal memory. An app's external home-directory path will look a lot like its internal home-directory path, something like: '/storage/extSdCard/Android/data/com.company.mytorrent/files'. If the app you are setting up does not have a home-directory on the external SD card, just create one manually (use the internal home-directory path as a template).
Finally, just point MyTorrent's download location to its external SD card home-directory! As long as you can select the external home-directory path as the app's download destination, it should work. If this technique doe not work, it is usually because of how the app is written or, you got the external SD card home-directory wrong. Google set KitKat up so that any app has write permission to its own external SD card home-directory.
This is not a perfect answer and does not open up the external SD card for KitKat's use carte blanche, but it will help free up a lot of wasted, limited internal memory.
This method also works for file managers. Unfortunately, only their external home-directory will be available to them, but it is a good place for manual copy-type backups and zips.
Gonna check it out with my torrent. I saw this thing in Snap Camera app, when I wanted to save videos in SD card, but it saved in its directory, not anywhere else.(but I didn't understood that it can only save in its dir)
DarkLTU said:
Gonna check it out with my torrent. I saw this thing in Snap Camera app, when I wanted to save videos in SD card, but it saved in its directory, not anywhere else.(but I didn't understood that it can only save in its dir)
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Click to collapse
I use Flud, and it works fine for me. But, like you reiterated, it must use its own home directory.
BTW, it works (in most cases) the same way with Lollipop, too.
I have been using Drive Syncrypt (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.semaphore.drivesyncrypt) for a while now, primarily to backup work-related documents to my Google Drive (PDFs, Power Points, etc.). My phone started running low on space so I finally purchases a micro SD card and moved all of my files there. Down side is that Drive Syncrypt doesn't read from external SD cards so I can't point it there to back stuff up.
I looked around for a way to "trick" the app so that it wouldn't see it as an external SD card, but my researched proved to be more confusing than helpful. Some suggestions included "mounting the folder as a drive" (no idea what that really means), creating a symbolic link to the folder on the SD card, etc. This is all stuff I am not well versed in.
My question is: is there a way to make it look like a folder on an external SD card is not actually residing on the SD card, allowing me to point apps like Drive Syncrypt to it for syncing purposes?
Thanks in advance, any help would be greatly appreciated. If more details are needed or anything is unclear please let me know.
Bump?