When old SD card does not have much free space, to upgrade it with a new one is undoubtedly a good choice. Generally, you can copy all contents saved on old card to new card to achieve lossless replacement, but things always become complex when we are doing it. See 2 examples.
Example 1: the old SD card saves dozens GB of files.
If the old card stores lots of data, copying and pasting files would cost much time. If accidents like power shortage appear during this process, users may fail to complete the upgrade. Or worse, the source files get damaged or corrupted.
Example 2: the SD card is used to increase internal memory of Android phone.
With specified programs like link2SD, users are able to increase memory of android mobile phone. For more details of increase, you can read the article 7 Methods to Increase Internal Storage Space of Android. If the old SD card saves programs installed on Android phone, directly copying files to new SD card might make these programs malfunction.
Well, how can we get rid of these 2 problems? Below are our suggestions.
For Example 1, we suggest cloning the whole SD card to new SD card, which can help you save much time. The free drive clone software MiniTool Partition Wizard is capable of doing it. Just use its Copy Disk function to do the clone.
For example 2, we suggest taking the following operations:
1. Move all apps back to phone.
2. Unmount old SD card, and then connect it with computer using a card reader.
3. Copy and paste all remaining data to new SD card on computer. Of course, you can also choose to clone old SD card to new SD card.
4. Hook the new SD card to phone, and transfer apps to new SD card.
This would help you upgrade your small SD card to a larger one successfully. However, if your internal memory of Android phone can’t hold apps moved from old SD card, or you are unwilling to do these operations, you can also try this way: turn off Android phone, remove old SD card, connect both old card and new card with computer, transfer all files from old card to new card (or clone old card to new card), hook new SD card to phone, turn the phone on. But we have to say this may make installed programs malfunction.