How do I move from one WP 8.1 to another?

[Sir Lumia-a-Lot]

This may seem like a super easy question but I'm finding too many answers that contradict one another. In a nutshell, I have a Samsung ATIV S and I'm moving to a Nokia Lumia 1520 . Both are running WP 8.1 and both have have micro-sd slots. On my Samsung everything possible is on the SD card. The card is 32g.

My question is, what do I need to do to successfully swap phones? I'm guessing my contacts and such are on the Sim card so that shouldn't be a problem. What will transfer and what will not on the SD card? Will music and apps more over without a problem or do I need to do something to make this work? Everything is backed up on One Drive so how will that affect the move?

I would think Microsoft would make this an easy move but I'm not sure. Any advice would be great appreciated. No guessing please, I've already read enough of that.

Thank you

 

[gpobernardo]

Welcome to Windows Central.

Here's what can be transferred directly: all files (photos*, documents, music, videos) except apps.

For apps, there seems to be no way to transfer all of them directly just by inserting the SD Card from one phone to another. You will have to reinstall them through your Microsoft account. Some of the information may be re-downloaded (e.g. those that are backed up or synchronized in OneDrive), but not all information in all apps will be transferred fully.

What gets backed up in OneDrive (in the phone settings) are the phone settings and the list of apps currently installed in that phone and that back up particular for that device. This means that in a new phone, the backed up phone settings and list of apps installed in your old phone won't be carried over. However, your SMS should be transferred since these are also synchronized in your Microsoft Account. To elucidate, I have an L1020 with settings and apps backed up. I had an L535. I cannot restore my L1020 backup in the L535 because it is for the L1020. But my SMS from my L1020 will appear in the L535 under the same Microsoft Account. All the apps I bought and installed in my L1020 can also be reinstalled in the L535 since their "mine" through "my" Microsoft Account. The purpose of this back up is that if I needed perform a hard reset on my L1020, I can simply restore that backup.

Your contacts should have been synchronized to your Microsoft account, so they should be automatically transferred to your new phone as long as you use the same Microsoft account.

*- In some cases, some photo albums may not be recognized in the new phone immediately. The remedy is to simply rename the album to a different name, and then rename it back to its original folder name.

 

[Sir Lumia-a-Lot]

Thank you for your thorough answer. It brings up another question though, should I delete all the apps on my SD card before moving it to the new phones? If I don't wouldn't that leave a lot of bytes in the "other" folder, or something like that? I can't imagine they just disappear on their own.

Thank you

 

[gpobernardo]

You won't need to. A "new" phone should prompt you to format the SD Card the first time you insert it. At any rate, in case you don't get prompted, you can always format the SD Card nonetheless.

To minimize trouble, you may want to copy all your files (except app) to a temporary folder in your PC. Then insert your SD Card in your new phone. Proceed with formatting the card. Then return the files back to the SD Card. Note the footnote in my first response in case some photos don't appear in the Photo Hub.