SD card as default write disk – pros and cons?

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1

Hello,

having explained another Fairphoner earlier today how to set the SD card as her FP1’s default write disk, I actually came to wonder if there were any downsides to that step. So that’s my question:
Has setting the SD card as your default write disk any downsides? I’m especially interested in energy consumption and durability of both the Fairphone and the SD card, but would be interested to learn about other pros and cons as well. :slight_smile:

Urs

2

Some cons here:

  • security: Data stored on the SD card is much easier to access for an attacker than data stored on internal memory.
  • “split apps”: Removing or replacing your SD card can result in corrupted apps when they store part of their data on the SD Card
    And some pros:
  • easy and fast data upload from external device. It is for example often much faster to copy gigabytes of music or pictures on the card when you do it using a computers SDcard slot.

Personally I store all sensitive and volatile data (emails, app-data, cloud storage etc.) internally and use the SD-Card as storage for uncritical data such as music, pictures and videos.

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Thanks :slight_smile: My primary idea was that the more data I can save to the SD, the less I would lose in case of internal storage (or near-total) failure/damage. I haven’t used any email app so far, so app-data would primarily be contacts and photos. Given I have my complete music library on the phone, I had no choice other than saving that one right to the SD anyway.

4

In my experience the internal storage is much more reliable than sdcards. I had a few sdcards which stopped working (not mounting, data deleted, no write possible). I store everything important on my internal (pictures, etc.) and everything which i don’t care or which i can copy again (music, backups) is on my sdcard.
There are some articles out there about the reliability of sdcards and in short: they’re scrap.

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5

Thanks, too. I think I will finally try the backup app next time my phone is hooked to the computer.
I always transfer all new photos to my computer when charging anyway, so only app data needs to be backed up on the SD.

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