How to transfer a photo from your Xiaomi phone to a memory card: 5 working ways

Are you tired of the constant notifications “Not enough memory” on your Xiaomi? photos take up the lion’s share of internal storage, and transferring them to the next store. SD-The map through the standard Gallery menu often works incorrectly or is not available in new versions. MIUI. In this article, we will analyze all the current ways to move photos - from built-in tools to hidden functions of the file manager and even commands. ADB for advanced users.

The problem is aggravated by the fact that Xiaomi artificially restricts the work with external drives: for example, in the case of the MIUI 13/14 You can't just assign it. SD-The map is the main storage for the camera (unlike Samsung or Huawei), but there are workarounds, and we tested them on Redmi Note models. 10 Xiaomi 13 Important: Some methods require formatting the card as an internal drive, which has its own risks.

1.Preparation: Which Memory Card to Choose for Xiaomi

Before you transfer the photo, make sure yours is yours. SD-Xiaomi officially supports microSD cards up to 1TB, but there are nuances:

• 🔹 Speed class: Class is enough for photos 10 or UHS-I, but for video 4K need U3/V30.
• 🔹 File system format: FAT32 (4GB max file) or exFAT (without restrictions). NTFS unsupported!
• 🔹 Brands: Recommended by SanDisk Ultra, Samsung EVO Kingston Canvas, which are less likely to be faked.
• 🔹 Volume: for 10,000 photos in RAW You need a minimum of 128GB.

⚠️ Note: If you plan to use the card as an internal storage (method) №4), It's encrypted and it's not readable on other devices, and it can slow down your phone if you have a Class card. 4/6.

Method 1: Transfer through a standard "Gallery" (MIUI 12-14)

The simplest method, but it doesn't work on all models. In MIUI 14, the portability function is often hidden:

1. Open the Gallery app.
2. Choose an album or individual photos (click your finger for multiple selections).
3. Press three points. ⋮ → «Move it».
4. In the list of storages, select yours. SD-map (it may be called a map) SD card or extra storage).
5. Create a folder (such as Photos) or select an existing one.

🔴 Challenges and solutions:

• 🚫 No Move item? Update Gallery via Google Play or use the method №3.
• 🚫 So, the photos were moved but they were left in the internal memory? It's copying, not moving. Delete the originals manually.
• 🚫 SD-card not displayed? restart your phone or check the card on another device.

💡

If the Gallery hangs when transferring a large number of photos, break them into batches of 200-300 pieces.

3. Method 2: Xiaomi File Manager (Hidden Functions)

The File Manager can do more than it looks to transfer photos:

1. Open Files → go to Images or DCIM.
2. Select files (long press) → Press "More» (⋮) → «Move it».
3. In the top panel, select SD-map → specify the destination folder.
4. Confirm the transfer.

⚠️ Note: If you are transferring a photo from the folder DCIM/Camera, The new camera pictures will still be stored in the internal memory. To change this, you need to configure the camera (method). №5).

Method 3: Use of SD-The card is an internal memory (adoptable storage)

This method radically solves the problem of memory deficiency, but has serious consequences:

• 🔧 The card will be encrypted and will only work on this phone.
• 🔧 After extracting the map, the application will stop working on it.
• 🔧 The speed of operation depends on the class of the card (U1 will slow down!).

Instructions:

1. Put it in. SD-phone-card.
2. Go to Settings. → Memory. → [Name of the map] → Three points (⋮) → Storage settings.
3. Select “Inner Memory” → “Clean and Format.”
4. After formatting, select “Move Data Now” (or do it manually later).

⚠️ Note: On some models (Redmi 9, POCO M3) After such formatting, you can not return the card to portable storage mode without completely resetting the phone!

5. Method 4: Transfer over a computer (reliable and fast)

If the phone is slurred or SD-The card is not determined, connect Xiaomi to the PC:

1. Connect your phone to your computer via USB-C (use the original cable!).
2. On your phone, select File Transfer (MTP) mode.
3. On PC, open “This Computer” → find a Xiaomi device.
4. Copy photos from the Internal Storage folder → DCIM file-wise SD-map.
5. After copying, delete the originals from your phone.

Advantages of the method:

• 🚀 Speed: transmission by USB 3.0 into 5-10 time faster than through MIUI.
• 🛡️ Security: You can check files for viruses before perenosom.
• 🔄 Control: Progress and copying errors are visible.

💡

If Windows can't see SD-Map in the phone, update the drivers MTP via Device Manager or use the Mi program PC Suite.

6. Method 5: Setup the camera to save the photo to SD by default

To automatically save new photos to the map:

1. Open the Camera app.
2. Press on. ⚙️ (setting) → «Preservation site».
3. Choose. SD-card (if the option is inactive, see the solution below).

🔴 If the paragraph «SD-card blocked:

• 🔓 Format the card as an internal memory (a method) №4).
• 🔓 Use it. ADB-team (for advanced teams):

adb shell setprop persist.camera.save.path /storage/XXXX-XXXX

(where XXXX-XXXX — ID yours SD-You can find it through the adb shell ls. /storage)

7. Frequent errors and their solutions

Even after the photo is transferred, there can be problems.

💡

If you move photos and they take up space, check the.thumbnails folder, which may have thumbnails left over, and delete it through the root file manager.

FAQ: Answers to Tough Questions