After an issue where smartphone makers thought creating devices without expandable storage was a good idea, now we’re back to normal, and it has been that way for several years. SD cards in Android phones won’t go away, so it’s a good time to remember how to mount and unmount them.
Here we will show you how to mount the SD card, unmount it and most of all what all that mounting key means.
In this article, Niketrainers.com.co will tell you:
Why mount an SD card?
No matter which device you put your SD card in, you have to mount it which means the SD card will be readable on whatever device it is on. Think of it a bit like a mini-install that makes the SD card visible to the device and works well with the processes and software on your phone. When you unmount it, the SD card will be disconnected from the device.
If the SD card is not mounted, it will not be visible on the Android phone. If you do not unmount the SD card before removing it, you risk losing data on the card as it did not offer a chance of disconnecting at the software level before removing the hardware (something like taking the computer off the network going through the shutdown process).
How to mount an SD card on an Android phone
Mounting the SD card should be as simple as inserting it into your Android device and then following the “Mount” instructions. Some newer smartphones automatically mount the SD card without asking, while in others you may need to go to “Settings -> Storage -> SD Card” and follow the instructions to install it from there. Once mounted, your SD card will be ready to use with your Android device.
How to unmount (or eject) an SD card
In most cases, the term “unmount” has been replaced with the much more familiar term “Eject” as it essentially means the same thing (although don’t expect your SD card to pop out of your Android phone like a VHS tape).
To eject your SD card, go to “Settings -> Storage” and then tap the “Eject” icon next to your SD card. Or, fully tap the SD card, then tap Eject. (Some older phones will have a “Dismantle” option instead which does the same).
Most of you already know this, but to be sure unmount / ejectdo notdelete the data from the SD card (not to be confused with formatting that completely erases the SD card).
The SD card was not detected by the phone
If the phone does not detect the SD card, try reformatting it on your computer to the “exFAT” format which can be read by most Android phones. Insert the SD card into your Windows PC, right-click File Explorer, then click “Format”.
The main options you want to select in the new window are “exFAT” and the disk size is 1024kb, which is a good default.
If that doesn’t work, try a different microSD card in the phone to find out if the problem is with the phone or the card.
Application
You should now know everything there is to know about the increasingly integrated process of mounting and detaching (see ejecting) an SD card. If PCs are something to go through, we can get to the point where you can just remove SD cards without having to “eject” them first, but for now, just play it safe and properly mount and unmount following our guide.