Depend On What Device You Have And Its Specification
Different devices will require a different process to transfer your data from the SD card to another one.
Method 1 – If it is a computer and it is a Windows-based or Apple Computer
- Check whether you have an SD card slot on the computer
- If not, you need to get one external SD card reader/writer (article: How card reader works)
- Insert your existing SD card into the card slot or the SD card reader/writer
- Click Windows Explorer (for Windows PC) or Finder (for Apple Computer) to access the SD card
- Copy the data on the existing SD card and transfer it to your desktop computer
- Eject the existing card
- Insert your new SD card into the slot or the reader/writer
- Click the Windows Explorer (for Windows PC) or Finder (for Apple Computer) and get access to the new SD card
- Copy the data from the desktop computer to the new SD card
Method 2 – If your device is an Android mobile phone
- Likely your card is a microSD card
- You will need to transfer the data from the microSD card to a computer or to the mobile phone’s internal storage if space is allowed.
- For transferring data to the computer, use Method 1 stated before.
- To transfer the data to your phone’s internal memory, tap Setting > Storage
- tap SD card
- select the data you want to transfer
- tap Move to / Copy to
- select the internal memory and tap Move / Copy
- Switch off your mobile phone and remove the microSD card
- Insert a new microSD card into the designated slot on the phone and turn on the device
- You can start transferring the data to the new microSD card from the computer or from the phone’s internal memory
- to transfer data from the computer to your microSD card, refer to Method 1 stated above
- for transferring data from phone internal storage, tap Setting > Storage > Internal Storage
- tap Files
- select the data you want to transfer to the microSD card, then tap Move to / Copy to
- tap SD card and tap Move / Copy
Method 3 – Your device is a Digital Camera
- You can use a USB cable to connect your Digital Camera to the computer to transfer the data to and from the SD card in the Digital Camera
- Click the Removable Disk below your computer icon to see your data on the SD card inside your camera
- Click the DCIM folder to see what is inside and select the file/data you wish to transfer
- Highlight those files/data you want and Click Copy
- Select the folder/destination you want to store your data, and click Paste
- Disconnect the USB cable from your computer
- Make sure your camera is off and remove the existing SD card inside
- Put in a new SD card and connect the camera to the computer via the USB cable
- Turn on your camera and go to your computer to transfer the data to the SD card
Method 4 – Use Professional Software AOMEI
- This method is more efficient when you want to transfer many data
- First, connect your existing SD card to the computer
- Open AOMEI Backupper Software
- Click “Sync” on the left menu and select “Basic Sync”
- Click “Add Folder” to find the data on your SD card you want to transfer to the PC
- Select a local path on your computer to store your data
- Click “Start Sync” to start the transfer of data from your SD card to the computer
- Next is to transfer the data from the PC to the SD card
- In the same step as above, click “Sync” and select “Basic Sync” in the center of the screen
- Click “Add Folder” to find the data on your PC and select it.
- Choose the SD card you want the data to be transferred
- Click “Start Sync” and do the transfer
- Once completed the screen will prompt the Finish message
Tips and Tricks Before Transferring Data To Your SD Card
- For Windows-based computers, you can use SD Formatter Tool to format your SD card.
- For an Apple computer, you can use Disk Utility to format the card.
- If your device is an Android phone, use Android File Transfer Tool to transfer files/data between your phone and the computer.
- Make sure the data you are transferring, can fit all of them on the new SD card. You may want to check the file size of your data and use the right SD card with sufficient storage memory.
- The new SD card should fit into the device you are using. For example, if your device is an Android phone, you would need to use a microSD card instead of the standard size SD card.
How Many Times You Can Transfer Your Data On The SD Card
Typically most SD cards allow 10,000 write-and-erase cycles, as long as you use the card properly. Therefore, you can transfer your data on the card about the same number of write-and-erase cycles as stated. In ideal conditions, the data transferred can last for 10 years at least.
Most of the SD cards in the market have a lifespan of around 10 years. We have another article on this website, explaining more detail about the lifespan of an SD card. You can read about it.
Important Note
- Both SD cards must be compatible.
- If your card is a microSD card, you need an adapter if your computer has an SD card slot or the reader/writer only accepts a standard SD card.
- Before you use your new SD card, make sure it is formatted.
Conclusion
With the rapid technological changes year after year, SD cards also evolve as other related industries make their improvement.
SD card has gone a long way, from SDSC to SDHC, and moving on to SDXC format. The capacity of the SD card has increased from 128MB to 2TB currently. Currently, the largest SD card available in the market is 1TB.
It is important to maintain the data on your SD card, ensuring all of them are up-to-date and with optimal performance. To do that, you may require to transfer your data to the new SD card format, before it gets outdated.
Want to know more about your SD card lifespan, which type of SD card is suitable for different applications, and the largest SD Card currently available? Check out our other articles on this website.
