How to change memory on Xiaomi phone to SD-map

Users of budget and mid-budget smartphones Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO often face a shortage of space. MIUI or HyperOS system takes up a significant amount of space, and modern applications and games “weigh” tens of gigabytes. When the built-in storage is full, the phone starts to work slowly, and notifications about the lack of space are annoying all the time.

Fortunately, most devices support microSD card installation. However, standard storage only extends the gallery for photos and music. To turn the flash drive into a full extension of the system partition and transfer heavy applications to it, you need to change the mode of operation of the drive.

In this article, we will discuss how to properly prepare a card, change its type to “internal memory” and transfer data without losing performance, you will learn about the hidden functions of the system, the risks of formatting and how to optimize the operation of the device after the upgrade.

Preparation for storage expansion: selection and verification of the map

The first and most important step is to choose a quality storage medium: the speed of your smartphone after expansion will directly depend on the speed class of the card. Cheap models without labeling can run slower than internal memory, which will lead to “freezes” interface.

For comfortable operation of the system and application launch, it is recommended to use cards of the UHS-I or UHS-II standard with a speed class of at least 10 (denoted by the number 10 inside the letter U). The minimum volume should be 32 GB, but the best choice will be cards of 64, 128 GB or higher.

Before installing on your phone, be sure to check the map for errors with your computer. Use the H2testw or F3 utility to make sure that there are no broken sectors and the declared volume corresponds to the real one.

💡

Buy memory cards only in official stores or from authorized partners. There are many counterfeits in the electronics market that fail after a month of use.

Remember to back up all the data on the card. The process of setting up for internal memory involves complete formatting, which will destroy all the information on the media without the possibility of recovery by standard methods.

Activation of internal memory mode through the engineering menu

In standard Android settings, the “Use as internal storage” option is often hidden by the manufacturer. On Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones, it can be activated through a hidden debugging menu. ADB. For this you will need a computer and a cable. USB.

First, turn on the developer mode on your phone. Go to Settings → About Phone and quickly press 7 times on the MIUI Version (or OS Version). After that, the menu will appear under “Additional” or “Extended Settings”, where you need to find “Developers”.

Turn on the debugging switch. USB. Connect your smartphone to your computer. Open the command line on your PC in the folder with ADB-tools and enter a command to check the connection:

adb devices

You'll see a request for debugging permission on your phone screen -- click "Allow." Now type in a command that will force you to enable formatting of the card as internal memory:

adb shell pm set-force-portable false

Once the command is successfully executed, restart your smartphone. Now, when you install the card, the system will suggest formatting it as an internal storage, or you can do it manually in the memory management menu.

Step-by-step instructions: formatting and transferring data

Once the card is installed and the mode is activated, the system will prompt you to configure the drive. Select the option "Use as internal storage" (Internal Storage), the system will warn you that the card will be formatted and encrypted.

⚠️ Warning: Once encrypted, the memory card will only work with that particular phone, and you can't insert it into another smartphone or computer and read it without completely resetting it.

The formatting process will begin, and it can take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes depending on the size of the map and the speed of the recording, and you can't stop it, because it will damage the file system.

When formatting is complete, the system will prompt you to migrate the data. Select the option “Move content now.” The smartphone will automatically transfer photos, music and some applications to the new drive.

To force you to transfer already installed applications, go to Settings → Applications → All applications. Select the desired program (for example, a heavy game), find Memory and click Move. If the button is inactive, then the application developer has forbidden the transfer.

Performance comparison: built-in memory vs. SD-map

It is important to understand the difference between an embedded eMMC/UFS module and a microSD card. The smartphone's built-in memory is soldered on the board and has a direct high-speed communication channel with the processor. The memory card, even the fastest, is connected through a controller, which is often a "narrow neck."

Below is a table comparing the speed characteristics of different types of memory:

As you can see from the table, even fast cards are inferior to modern internal memory in the speed of random recording, which can manifest itself in the longer loading levels in games or the slow opening of “heavy” applications transferred to the flash drive.

However, for media files and social media cache, card speed is sufficient, and the main advantage is the freeing up of the system partition, which allows the phone to work more stable.

Set up the camera and save new files

After successful memory expansion, you need to configure automatic storage of new files. The camera on Xiaomi smartphones by default can continue to write photos to internal memory, ignoring the data. SD-map.

Open the Camera app, click on the three menu bars in the top corner and select Settings. Find the Save to SD-You can use the card and activate it. Now all new images and videos will be written to the external drive.

A similar procedure should be done in messengers. On Telegram, go to Settings → Data and memory → Path to files and specify a memory card. On WhatsApp, this option is in Settings → Chats → Storage.

For browsers (such as Chrome or UC Browser), it is also advisable to change the download path so that downloaded files do not clog the system partition. This is done in the browser settings in the Downloads section.

💡

Automatic media preservation on SD-If you forget to turn on this option, the system memory will quickly fill up again, despite all the efforts to expand the system.

Possible problems and ways to solve them

Sometimes, after transferring data, users encounter errors.The phone can communicate «SD-The card is corrupted" or applications stop running. Often this is due to poor-quality contact or low card speed.

Try to extract the map, wipe the contacts with a soft eraser, and paste back before the click. If the error repeats, the file system may be corrupted, in which case re-formatting through the Settings menu → About Phone → Storage will help.

⚠️ Note: If the system constantly requires you to format the card, although it has important data, do not rush to agree. Try to read the data through the card reader on the PC.

Another common problem is path desynchronization, where if you upgrade your MIUI or HyperOS firmware, links to the ported applications may get lost, and you'll have to reinstall the problematic applications again.

If the phone stopped seeing the card after the update, check if access rights are lost. In rare cases, resetting the settings of bootloader apps or completely resetting the phone (with a pre-backup) helps.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)