How to move a photo from your phone to a Xiaomi memory card: a step-by-step guide

Xiaomi’s current smartphones have great cameras that allow you to take high-resolution images, but this quickly leads to overflowing internal memory. When the device starts to warn about the lack of space, the system can run slower and new applications stop being installed. The solution is to use an external MicroSD card that allows you to expand storage without buying a new gadget.

The process of transferring files on devices with a shell MIUI or HyperOS is as simple as possible, but many users are still unaware of the hidden capabilities of the standard manager. In this article, we will discuss all the current ways to free up space, from automatically configuring the camera to manually moving large amounts of data through the file system.

Before you start manipulating, you need to make sure that your memory card is working and correctly installed in the slot.If you use a device without a card slot, for example, some flagship models, this method, alas, will not work, but for most budget and medium-sized models Xiaomi Redmi and Poco, it is the main way to extend the life of the smartphone.

⚠️ Note: Before you start working with files, we strongly advise you to back up important data. Although the risk of losing information is minimal, accidental deletion or power failure during recording can damage files.

Preparation of memory card and storage configuration

The first step is to physically install the media and set it up first by the system, and once you've inserted the card into the tray and the smartphone recognizes it, you need to check the status of the drive in the settings menu, and usually the system itself suggests formatting the media if it's new or used on another device.

To check, go to Settings → The phone. → And here you'll see the separation between internal memory and external memory. SD-If the map is displayed correctly and the volume is as stated, then further action can be taken. It is important that the card file system is Android compatible, most often it is not Android-compatible. FAT32 exFAT.

If the system suggests formatting the card, agree, but remember that this action will delete all the data on it. Formatting is necessary to create the correct folder structure that the MIUI shell uses. Once the procedure is completed, the smartphone will be ready to record photos.

• 📱 Make sure the card is inserted before clicking and is defined in the "Storage" section".
• 📂 Make sure there is enough free space on the map for planned photos.
• ⚙️ If the card was used in another phone, it is better to format it again.

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Use Class 10 or UHS-I speed memory cards to record high-resolution video to avoid delays and frame skips.

Automatic photo saving to memory card

The most convenient way to avoid overflowing internal memory is to set the camera up to immediately save the pictures to an external medium, which will save you from having to regularly transfer files manually. In the standard Xiaomi Camera app, this feature is hidden in the additional settings menu.

Open the camera app and tap the three horizontal bars in the top right corner of the screen. In the menu that opens, select Settings. Scroll down to the Saving or Storage section. Here you will see the Save on the Settings. SD-Activate it, and all new images and videos will be automatically sent to an external storage facility.

It’s worth noting that some shooting modes, such as slow motion or certain filters, may ignore this setting and save data inside the phone due to the recording speed requirements, and HDR mode sometimes processes photos in internal memory before saving.

Once this option is enabled, the path to the folder will change, and your photos will now be located at /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera on the external map, not the internal partition, which is critical when searching files through the computer.

Massive movement of photos through the Explorer

If you've already taken hundreds of pictures and they take up space inside your phone, you have to move them manually, and for that, you have a powerful file manager built into your MIUI-based Android system, and you can work with files just like you would on your computer, using copy and cut functions.

Run the Explorer app (folder icon). On the home screen, you'll see the Images or Camera sections. When you click on it, you'll see all your photos. To select multiple files at once, click on one photo and hold your finger until the tick appears, then tick the remaining pictures or select "Select all" from the menu.

Once selected, press the "Move" button (three dots) and select "Move" or "Copy." The difference is that "Move" will delete the originals from internal memory, freeing up space, and "Copy" will create a duplicate. To free up memory, you'd better use the movement.

In the navigation path selection window, switch to"SD-Go to the folder. DCIM You can create a new folder, or you can select an existing one, like Camera. You can click "Insert" or "OK." It can take time depending on the number and weight of the files.

⚠️ Warning: Do not interrupt the movement process by removing the card or turning off the phone.This can damage the file system and lose some of the photos.

Cleaning of miniatures and hidden copies

Often users transfer photos, but space is not vacated, because of the operation of the miniature mechanism (thumbnails), the system creates reduced copies of images for quick display in the gallery, and these files can take up gigabytes of space, remaining in internal memory even after the originals are transferred.

To delete them, you need to turn on the hidden files in Explorer. Click on the menu (three bars) and select Settings, then activate "Show hidden files." Now, in the root internal memory, find the.thumbnails folder. This is where the thumbnail cache is stored.

The contents of this folder can be easily deleted, the system will create new thumbnails as you need to see the photos. However, if you have transferred all the photos to the map, you no longer need the old thumbnails. It is also worth checking the MIUI/Gallery/cloud/cache folder if you have used cloud sync.

For deep cleaning, you can use the built-in Cleanup function in the Security app. Select Memory and let the system analyze the device. It will find not only the thumbnail cache, but also the remnants of deleted applications and temporary files.

Working with WhatsApp and messengers

Not only are the camera photos taking up a significant amount of memory, but the images taken in messengers are also taking up the storage settings on WhatsApp and Telegram, and the save settings on WhatsApp and Telegram are different from the system camera, and by default they can store media in internal memory, ignoring the phone's settings.

WhatsApp needs to go to the settings of the app itself: Settings → Chats → Media Visibility. You can turn off gallery saves, but you can better set up a save path. With newer versions of Android, direct path change is difficult, so it’s easier to use the “Free space” feature inside WhatsApp storage settings by removing heavy videos.

For Telegram, the situation is simpler: in Settings → Data and memory → The path to files can be clearly indicated by saving to SD-This applies to downloads and cache. Regularly cleaning the Telegram cache through the app settings is a great habit for Xiaomi owners with a small amount of memory.

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Messengers often ignore the system settings of the storage, so they need to be configured separately within each application.

Solving problems in transfer

Sometimes the transfer process can be bugged, like the phone writing "Not enough space," even if the map is free, and it could be because the file system is different, or because one large file cannot be broken up, so try to transfer files in smaller groups.

Another common problem is that the photos are transferred but not displayed in the Gallery, in which case you need to update the media database. The easiest way to reboot the smartphone is to check if it didn't work, check if the folder with the photo is hidden (the folder name should not start from the dot).

It's also possible that the memory card is defined as "damaged." This is often the case with cheap or old cards. Try formatting it right on your phone. If the error is repeated, it may be that the card's resource is exhausted and needs to be replaced with a better model from a proven brand, like SanDisk or Samsung.

⚠️ Warning: If your phone is constantly losing touch with your memory card, don't use it to store single copies of important documents.

To diagnose the speed of recording, you can use special applications from the Play Market, which will show the real speed of reading and writing. For comfortable work with 4K photos and videos, the recording speed should not be lower than 10-15 MB / s.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)