How do I upgrade my SD card?

On my Galaxy S5 I want to upgrade to a larger capacity SD card. I know how to physically open the phone and remove and install the SD cards but I'm not sure if I have to move apps back to my phone memory first. Also, I'm not sure about whether to unmount first or not. Do I have to format the new card?

Could someone provide a step by step procedure to follow where the phone doesn't end up looking for needed files or data on the old card.

Scott S

Accepted answers

Scooter47

Ann154,

Today I decided to let my local Verizon store show me how they do it on the Samsung Galaxy S5. The gal there was also a GS5 owner and knows this phone well. Here's what she did:

She moved existing apps to "Device Storage".With the phone powered up and running, she went to "Storage" in "Settings" and "unmounted" the existing SD card.With the phone on and battery in she removed the back cover and popped out my old SD card.She inserted my new larger SD card and "mounted" it.Once "mounted" the phone automatically formatted the new card.She went back to the "Application Manger" and moved my apps back to the new card.I later moved all the non-restricted apps to the new card giving as well.

I expect your suggested procedure would also work well but this method eliminates the need for a PC.

Scott S

All comments

Ann154

Personally I would use a computer to copy the entire contents of the old SD card onto the new SD card. Then install the new SD card in the phone and reboot.

Ann154

Also you really shouldn't have any applications installed on the SD card.

Scooter47

Thanks Ann154. I thought about doing that but read online that this worked well sfor some folks and not at all for others. I have a PC with a card reader and I know how to copy the files over to a new card. I guess I don't know if the phone uses the same file format as a Windows computer or even if the new card will come pre-formatted.

Scott S

Scooter47

I started with only photo files on the old card. I swapped all them over to my PC. Looking at the remaining files on my SD card I see two games on it which I downloaded from the Playstore.

Ann154

I have selected all the folders on a SD card, copied them to a computer and then copied to a new SD card. The phone had no issues with the new SD card and it registered the larger size.

Scooter47

Ann154,

Today I decided to let my local Verizon store show me how they do it on the Samsung Galaxy S5. The gal there was also a GS5 owner and knows this phone well. Here's what she did:

I expect your suggested procedure would also work well but this method eliminates the need for a PC.

Scott S