Transfer applications to the Xiaomi flash drive: the full guide

Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphone owners often face critical shortages of internal memory. MIUI or HyperOS takes up a significant portion of storage, and modern apps and games weigh gigabytes, making installing new programs a pain. Cache clearing is only temporary, and buying a new device isn’t always possible right now.

Fortunately, there is a technically advanced but effective way to transform the conventional USB-flash-drive SD-map (through OTG) This process is called Adoptable Storage, which, unlike moving files, allows Android to think of an external drive as a partition where you can install heavy games and services.

But just inserting a flash drive is not enough. Xiaomi defaults to hiding this feature in its shells, believing that the user should have enough internal memory. To activate the feature, you will need to use special ADB debugging tools and follow a strict sequence of actions. Any violation of the protocol can lead to loss of data on the medium.

Before you start, make sure you have a high-quality flash drive with high write speed, as this directly affects the performance of the smartphone after the modification. Slow drives can cause "freeze" interface and long download applications. You will also need a computer running Windows, macOS or Linux and USB-cable.

Preparation of equipment and software

The first step is to carefully prepare the workplace. You'll need not only the smartphone itself, but also a serviceable cable that is guaranteed to transmit data, not only charge the battery. Cheap cables from some devices' kits often do not support data transfer, which will be the first obstacle. Also make sure that the flash drive is not important data, as in the process it will be fully formatted.

For Xiaomi smartphones, it is often enough to install universal Google USB Driver or specialized Xiaomi Mi PC Suite software, although the standard Windows 10/11 drivers are often enough to work with ADB. Without properly installed drivers, the computer will not see the phone in debugging mode.

⚠️ Warning: The process of formatting an external drive into internal memory mode will irreversibly delete all files from the flash drive. Pre-copy photos, documents and music to your computer or cloud storage.

The next critical element is the Platform Tools toolkit (ADB and Fastboot), which is Google's official developer toolkit, and can be downloaded from Android Developers, and once it's uploaded, it needs to be unpacked into a convenient folder, like the root of the C disk, so that the path to the files is short and Cyrillic-free, which can cause errors in the command line.

Activation of the developer mode and USB-debugging

Without the inclusion of hidden system functions, access to deep memory settings is closed. Xiaomi's standard settings do not allow you to manage memory partitions as required for our task. You need to unlock access to the Developer Menu. To do this, go to Settings, then select About Phone.

In the menu that opens, find the MIUI Version (or HyperOS Version of the OS) line, you need to quickly click on this line 7-10 times in a row, the system will start counting the clicks and eventually report that you have become a developer. If a password request pops up, enter the unlock password for the screen.

Now go back to the main settings menu and scroll down to Additional (or Advanced Settings) and a new Developers item will appear. When you enter, find the USB Debugging Switch and activate it. The system will alert you to the dangers — confirm the action. It is also recommended to enable the option “Debug over USB (security settings)” if available in your firmware version.

When you connect your phone to a debugging computer, you'll see a dialog box on your smartphone screen asking for debugging permission from that computer. Make sure you tick "Always allow from this computer" and click OK. If you don't, the ADB commands will be ignored by the device.

Instructions for connecting ADB and starting commands

After you have your phone ready, go to the computer. Open the folder where you unpacked Platform Tools. In the folder address bar (or in the empty folder, holding the Shift and right-clicking), select "Open PowerShell window here" or "Open command line" to run commands immediately from the desired directory.

First, check the connection to the device. Type in the adb device command. If done correctly, the serial number of your smartphone marked device will appear on the list. If you see the word unauthorized, look at the phone screen and confirm access. If the list is empty, check the cable or drivers.

adb shell

This command takes you to the shell of the smartphone itself, and you can now control the file system, but before you get into the system, you need to understand the current state of the storage, and type in the command to output the list of disks:

sm list-disks

In the answer, you will see your external drive ID, such as disk:179.64 or disk:8.1. Write or copy this number, as it is unique for each connection session and will be used in the following commands for formatting.

Formatting a flash drive as internal memory

This is the most critical step. We're going to use the sm command to convert the file system. Standard formatting of FAT32 or exFAT doesn't allow you to store applications. We need to create an encrypted ext4 partition that Android will consider part of the system.

The syntax of the command is as follows: sm partition [disk_id] private instead of private. [disk_id] substitute the ID you got in the previous step, for example, if your drive disk:179,64, the full team will look like this:

sm partition disk:179,64 private

Once you input the command, it takes between seconds and a couple of minutes, and it's partitioning and encryption, don't turn off the cable, don't take the flash drive, and when you do that, the phone can automatically reboot or just blink.

⚠️ Warning: After this operation, the flash drive will no longer read on the computer in normal mode. Windows will offer to format the disk, but you can not do this, otherwise you will reset all changes and lose data.

Now the system thinks it has more internal memory, but by default, new applications can continue to be installed on the old partition. To transfer already installed programs, you need to use the pm move-package command. First, we learn the name of the package, for example, com.telegram.messenger, and perform the transfer:

pm move-package com.telegram.messenger [volume_uuid]

Where [volume_uuid] — it UUID The partition is created, which you can recognize through the command sm list-volumes. Often, it is enough to simply install a new application, and the system itself will suggest installing it on an external drive if configured correctly.

Comparison of Storage Methods and Performance

It is important to understand the difference between the usual use of a flash drive and the Adoptable Storage method. OTG Allows you to read media files or install them APK-They're manual files, but the application data is stored in the internal memory (/data/app).

However, the speed of external memory may differ from the built-in memory. UFS Xiaomi is now running much faster than budget USB-This can lead to longer downloads of heavy games or slight delays in the interface.

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Use only high-speed drives (USB 3.0/3.1) with a speed class of at least Class 10 to minimize system performance loss.

Return to factory memory settings

If you decide to abandon the USB drive as internal memory or sell the device, you need to return the drive to its original state. You can't just pull the USB drive out - the system will give errors, because some of these applications are physically absent from the device.

To return, you need to connect the phone to the computer again, enable debugging and enter the formatting command into storage mode:

sm partition [disk_id] public

This command will recreate the file system into a format readable by computers. All applications on the flash drive will be deleted or become inoperable, so before the procedure it is better to delete them through the smartphone settings while the flash drive is still active as internal memory.

⚠️ Note: Do not remove the flash drive "on hot" without first unmounting through the settings menu (Storage) → Choose. USB-accumulator → Extract. This can damage the file table and cause data loss.

Once you put it into public mode, the phone will suggest formatting the drive. You can accept that. Now, the flash drive can be safely removed and used on a PC or other device as a normal drive. USB-drive.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Back up your important data from the flash drive to your computer regularly. External drives are less reliable than the smartphone's internal memory and can fail at any time.