Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones often face a shortage of internal storage, especially in budget models, where the base memory is limited to 32 or 64 gigabytes. MIUI and its successor HyperOS by default do not provide the user with the ability to transfer applications to an external drive through the standard settings menu. This is done to ensure the stability of the system and high speed of reading data, since modern memory cards are often inferior to built-in flash memory.
However, there is a proven technical method that allows you to circumvent this limitation by debugging the USB And the computer, forced transfer of applications to the computer. SD-The card is possible only after activation of the hidden mode of the developer "Force External" through the ADB-This process requires care, because incorrect actions can lead to failures in the operation of individual programs or the operating system itself.
Before you start complex manipulations, you need to understand that not all applications support external drive. Some programs, especially system services and banks, may refuse to start or work incorrectly after transfer. It is important to weigh the pros and cons, and have a computer with Internet access to download the necessary tools.
Preparation of the device and external storage device
The first step is to choose a high-quality memory card, since the speed of the transferred applications depends on the class of writing and reading the drive. Low-cost microSD cards can become a bottleneck, which will cause games and heavy programs to load longer than usual or freeze. UHS-I or UHS-II from proven brands.
Once the card is installed in the smartphone slot, it must be formatted correctly. In modern versions of the MIUI shell, the system will offer two use cases: as a portable storage device or as part of internal memory. For our purpose, it is critical to choose the first option - portable storage, since the "internal memory" mode in Xiaomi often works unstable and binds the card to a particular device.
- 📱 Insert the memory card into the off smartphone or through the notification menu after turning on.
- ⚙️ Go to Settings. → The phone. → Warehouse and select yours SD-map.
- 🧹 Click the "Clean" or "Format" button by selecting the option to use as a portable media.
Make sure that the map is not important data, because during the formatting process, all information will be irretrievably deleted. If the drive already had files, pre-copy them to the computer or to the cloud storage. Once the formatting is complete, the system will notify you of the successful preparation of the media for work.
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Use memory cards no more than 256 GB for maximum compatibility with older Xiaomi smartphones, although modern flagships support both 512 GB and 1 TB.
Activation of the developer mode and debugging via USB
To do this, you need to access hidden system functions that are closed to the user, and you need to activate the developer menu, which is hidden in the depth of the settings, which is a standard procedure for Android devices to access system parameters.
Find the About Phone section at the top of the settings menu and find the MIUI Version (or OS Version) bar. You should quickly click on this item 7-10 times in a row until a pop-up notice shows that you have become a developer, and then a new option will appear in the settings menu "Additional" or immediately "Developers".
⚠️ Warning: Do not change other options in the developer menu unless you are sure of their purpose.Reset debugging settings or change the minimum width DPI It can make the interface unreadable.
Inside the developer menu, find the USB Debug and activate it with a switch, and the system will give a warning about the potential risks to be accepted, and it is also recommended to enable the USB Debug option if it is available in your firmware version, as this will allow the computer to manage files and applications.
☑️ Checking readiness ADB
Installation of ADB drivers and platform on your computer
A smartphone cannot communicate with a computer at the system command level without a set of tools, and you will need a minimal set of tools from Google, known as Platform Tools, which you should download exclusively from the official Android developer website to avoid malware.
Once the archive is loaded, it must be unpacked into a convenient folder, such as the root of the C disk or on the desktop, so that the path to the files is short and does not contain Cyrillic characters, which will make it easier to enter commands in the future. Windows may also require the installation of universal Google drivers USB Driver or specific Xiaomi drivers ADB/Fastboot Tools.
Connect your smartphone to your computer using a high-quality cable, and you'll see a request on your phone for debugging permission from that computer, and you'll be sure to tick "Always allow from this computer" and click "OK." Without that confirmation, your computer won't have the necessary permissions.
- 💻 Download the Android archive SDK Platform-tools from the official Google website.
- 📂 Unpack the contents of the archive in a folder without spaces and Russian letters in the title.
- 🔌 Connect the phone and confirm the request RSA-key-screen.
To check the connection, open the command line in the tool folder. In Windows, you can do this by clamping Shift and right-clicking on an empty space in the folder, then selecting "Open PowerShell window here" or "Open terminal." Enter the command adb devices. If the device serial number appears in the list, then the connection is established successfully.
What to do if your computer can’t see your phone?
Activation of forced transfer of applications through ADB
The most important step is to introduce a special command that changes the behavior of the operating system. Android by default prohibits the installation of applications on external drives for most programs, but the pm set-install-location command allows you to change this priority.
In the open command line window or PowerShell, enter the following instructions:
adb shell pm set-install-location 2Number 2 At the end of the command, you'll prioritize external memory. Once you enter, press Enter. If the command is successful, the system will not issue any message, the cursor will simply move to a new line. To check, you can enter the command adb shell pm get-install-location, and the system will output the message. 2[external].
| Value of parameter | Description of action | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Automatic selection by the system | Standard status |
| 1 | Only internal memory. | Not suitable for our purpose. |
| 2 | External Memory (SD) Only | Required importance |
It is worth noting that this command does not automatically transfer already installed applications, it only gives permission to install new programs on the map and adds a “Move” button to the settings of some already installed applications, unless the developer has prohibited this at the code level of the program.
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The team changes the global priority of the installation, but does not guarantee the transfer of all applications, since the final decision depends on the manifest of each specific application. APK-file.
The process of transferring installed applications
Once the mode is activated, you can move the data. Go to Settings. → Annexes → All applications. Select the program you want to move. If the application supports portability, the memory management menu will have an active button "Move to the port". SD-map.
In some versions MIUI The interface may be different and the movement button may not be available even after input. ADB-In this case, use third-party file managers with root rights or specialized utilities like App2SD, However, their effectiveness on newer versions of Android is limited by security policies.
When transferring heavy games with cache (for example, PUBG, Genshin Impact: There is often a situation where only the APK-The file, and the cache stays inside, and this takes up space, but it doesn't free it up completely. In these cases, sometimes you have to manually transfer the cache folders from the internal memory to the appropriate directories on the back of the cache. SD-map, observing the structure of the paths.
- 📂 Open the settings of a particular application.
- 🔄 Click the "Move" or "Change" button (if available).
- ⏳ Wait for the process to end without turning off the smartphone screen.
Note that after the transfer, the application icon remains on the desktop, but the physical data is now located on an external drive. Launch speed can decrease slightly, which is especially noticeable in resource-intensive games and applications with heavy graphics.
Return to standard settings and possible problems
If you notice a smartphone that is unstable, frequent crashes of applications or slowing down of the system, it makes sense to return all settings back, you need to reconnect the phone to the computer and enter a command that returns the priority of internal memory.
adb shell pm set-install-location 0Once the 0 command is executed, the system will return to the automatic installation location selection. Applications that have been transferred to the map may require re-installation or manual return, as automatic reverse transfer does not always work correctly.
⚠️ Attention: Extraction SD-cards without first disabling in the settings ("Unmount") can cause the data of applications that were transferred to it.
One common problem is the “Application not installed” error when trying to install new programs, which can mean that the memory card is damaged, has too low write speed, or the file system of the card is not supported to execute the application code, in which case, try formatting the card again or replacing it with a faster model.