Can I switch between device storage and SD storage for photos on Lumia 950?

[Windows Central Question]

I recently went to Alaska and shot most of the trip on my point and shoot camera. I used my Lumia 950 for a few select photos. The point and shoot photos are not good, the Lumia 950 photos are sharp, bright, and beautiful. I'm now thinking of using my Lumia 950 for all vacation photos. I don't want 300 photos in my phone so I was thinking of switching the setting to store them on the SD card. When I get home, like my camera SD card, I would put it in my computer and download to a file in my pictures library. Then wipe it clean for my next vacation. My questions are:

1. If I want to take a few select photos to keep on the phone can I switch between internal storage and SD card storage and go back and forth?

2. If so, how can I tell which photos are on the SD card and which are stored on the device?

This is probably a Smartphone 101 question, but I've never used an SD card on my phone before-I only keep a few photos on my phone. Basically I want to treat the SD card like it's my separate point and shoot camera. Is this possible?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Chintan Gohel]

I recently went to Alaska and shot most of the trip on my point and shoot camera. I used my Lumia 950 for a few select photos. The point and shoot photos are not good, the Lumia 950 photos are sharp, bright, and beautiful. I'm now thinking of using my Lumia 950 for all vacation photos. I don't want 300 photos in my phone so I was thinking of switching the setting to store them on the SD card. When I get home, like my camera SD card, I would put it in my computer and download to a file in my pictures library. Then wipe it clean for my next vacation. My questions are:

1. If I want to take a few select photos to keep on the phone can I switch between internal storage and SD card storage and go back and forth?

2. If so, how can I tell which photos are on the SD card and which are stored on the device?

This is probably a Smartphone 101 question, but I've never used an SD card on my phone before-I only keep a few photos on my phone. Basically I want to treat the SD card like it's my separate point and shoot camera. Is this possible?

Thanks for any help!

the settings for switching storage can be found in settings or in camera app settings - it should be a simple toggle
One way would be to check in file manager and see which are in the internal storage and which are in the sd card

By the way, get a reputable sd card

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[Bollycats]

Thanks, Chintan. I do have a reputable and large SD card in my phone, just haven't used it yet. Based on your answer I think I will do some testing before going on my next trip and see how it works. I was just worried that if I changed the setting to store on the SD card it would switch over all my previous photos to store on the SD card too and I don't want that. I also haven't used File Manager yet so I'll check there for my photos. I appreciate your help.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Thanks, Chintan. I do have a reputable and large SD card in my phone, just haven't used it yet. Based on your answer I think I will do some testing before going on my next trip and see how it works. I was just worried that if I changed the setting to store on the SD card it would switch over all my previous photos to store on the SD card too and I don't want that. I also haven't used File Manager yet so I'll check there for my photos. I appreciate your help.

I'm also interested in your experiment goes - I don't have a phone with sd card support but would like to see how this works out :smile:

 

[Bollycats]

Well, it started off great. It definitely works. Switching the setting back and forth is a pain though. As far as how to tell where each photo is stored, in the photos app I always look at my photos under Collection. There is another option called Folders. Here I have 3 choices-One Drive, Pictures on This Device, and Pictures on SD Card. I took several photos storing on the SD card and they showed up here. Perfect! This is where it went downhill. Apparently my phone and others are having lots of problems syncing to One Drive lately. I've read lots of threads, but can't seem to solve the problems. After seeing my photos in the Pictures on SD card folder they are now missing. It says "no readable photos, videos, or folders found". I'm sure they are still on the card (haven't connected to my PC) but for some reason my phone can't see them. (they did show up in One Drive) My multiple One Drive problems are 1. photos showing up twice in my collection 2. some photos uploading to One Drive-some not 3. those that upload to One Drive are very slow in doing so. Until the One Drive problems are solved I don't want to go ahead with putting vacation photos on the SD card. I'll take my point and shoot camera for the time being and attempt this project later.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Well, it started off great. It definitely works. Switching the setting back and forth is a pain though. As far as how to tell where each photo is stored, in the photos app I always look at my photos under Collection. There is another option called Folders. Here I have 3 choices-One Drive, Pictures on This Device, and Pictures on SD Card. I took several photos storing on the SD card and they showed up here. Perfect! This is where it went downhill. Apparently my phone and others are having lots of problems syncing to One Drive lately. I've read lots of threads, but can't seem to solve the problems. After seeing my photos in the Pictures on SD card folder they are now missing. It says "no readable photos, videos, or folders found". I'm sure they are still on the card (haven't connected to my PC) but for some reason my phone can't see them. (they did show up in One Drive) My multiple One Drive problems are 1. photos showing up twice in my collection 2. some photos uploading to One Drive-some not 3. those that upload to One Drive are very slow in doing so. Until the One Drive problems are solved I don't want to go ahead with putting vacation photos on the SD card. I'll take my point and shoot camera for the time being and attempt this project later.

1: Photos showing up twice: photos settings > switch on the toggle for linked duplicates
3: try checking for updates for onedrive app and use wifi if possible

I personally have always copied the photos from my phone to the pc via USB - 10 times faster and just as reliable. Onedrive backup on phone is nice and an ideal but it only works with unlimited data - which very few people have in any case