Can I directly transfer the SD card from 630 to 830 leaving everything intact or do I have to format it before switching?

[cruisezero]

SD card compatibilty

Today I bought a new Lumia 830 phone. I am upgrading from 630. My 630 already has a micro sd card I'm using to store basically everything (apps, docs , music, pictures). Can I directly transfer the SD card from 630 to 830 leaving everything intact or do I have to format it before switching? I would like to not loose all the app settings (some apps that has been removed from store) and pictures/music (I guess I can back those up but just a pain). Anyone with similar experience or any suggestions will be helpful. Thanks.

 

[Yadiel Johnson]

Re: SD card compatibilty

Quoted from windowsphone.com "You should not remove the SD card in your phone, or replace it with a new one, because your Windows Phone won't work properly. Existing data on the phone may be lost, and that SD card can't be used in other devices or Windows Phones."

 

[Fred Wilson2]

Re: SD card compatibilty

Ah baloney, I switch SD cards around from my 3 windows phones all the time and even in a Android phone.

Just note that any apps you have installed on the SD card will NOT transfer to the 830.
You'll have to re-download those apps.
Best to backup your 630 first, then when you set up yourr 830 and log into your microsoft account, you'll have the option to restore that backup to your 830 which will bring the apps to the 830.


Fred

Quoted from windowsphone.com "You should not remove the SD card in your phone, or replace it with a new one, because your Windows Phone won't work properly. Existing data on the phone may be lost, and that SD card can't be used in other devices or Windows Phones."

 

[mj0]

Re: SD card compatibilty

Baloney indeed. When upgrading from my 635 to my 830 I simply shut down the 635, took out the SD-card and put it into the 830 without any extra steps in-between. In addition to the app situation you will also lose all playlists that you might have either created on your 630 or transferred from your PC/Mac. In order to restore all my playlists I've had to delete my entire music, then resync the phone with my Mac. Maybe it would've worked without deleting everything first (not sure how 'smart' the Windows Phone application for OS X really is) but since I went for the safe route I can't tell.

 

[dysje]

Re: SD card compatibilty

You can transfer the SD card without problems. But the playlists could be stored in the app or the local phone memory of your device, depending on which app you use to play music with. This means that if you want the playlists back, you'll need to backup that part of the local phone memory too in case it's stored there... otherwise it's all up to the app I'm afraid.

Transfering the SD has only one issue; you won't be able to use the original apps you have on your SD on a new device because the apps are encrypted. You'll be able to see the files, browse through them, but since they're all encrypted they are useless. The key is based (and stored) on the original device, and your new device can't get it's hands on it.

In short: you won't be able to save your apps when switching phone, ever. The phone however will tell you this after inserting the SD card and ask you to wipe the original phone's app data and start anew. So yes, you will lose all in-app data that isn't backupped with the usual backups either. Some apps though have an export or backup feature of their own.

But beyond the apps issue there should be no problem transferring SD cards.

 

[pankaj981]

Re: SD card compatibilty

If you have offline maps stored on the SD card then that can be transferred, including WhatsApp chats (depending on whether you use it)