LG K30 / K40 Move Apps to SD Card via Adoptable Storage

LG K30 & K40 comes with 32GB internal memory. Out of this, hardly 16GB is available as usable storage space. Over a period of time, this limited space is consumed by apps, games, photos, videos, etc.

The good thing is that K30 / K40 has got expandable memory. A micro SD can give you a boost in storage space. However, the bad news is that apps and games are not installed on the SD Card. They use internal memory.

To fix this issue we can use the adoptable storage feature on LG K30. This way we can create a partition on the SD card which acts as the internal storage. It becomes the default storage space for app installation.

So, Let’s find out how to move apps to SD card on LG K30 / K40 –

How to Move Apps to SD Card on LG K30 / K40

NOTE: Make sure you take a complete backup of your internal storage and SD card before moving further. You should use a high-speed Micro SD memory card (at least Class 10) to partition it as internal storage.

 

First of all, we have to install the memory card.

Use the SIM ejector tool to pull out the SIM Card / Memory Card Tray as shown above.

Place the Micro SD card in its respective slot and push the tray back in its slot.

Now, pull down the notification bar on your K30 and click on the “Settings icon”.

We are now in Settings.

Select the “General Tab”. Move down to the bottom of the page and choose “Developer Options”.

If you’ve not enabled Developer Options on your K30 yet, check out the below post –

LG K30 Developer Options

In the “Developer Options” we have to look for “USB Debugging”.  Tap it to enable.

Now that USB Debugging is enabled we are ready to connect our phone to the computer.

Connect your LG K30 to the PC using a USB Data Cable.

Wait for the ADB Interface Driver to Install. You can check the Driver installation status in the Device Manager on your PC.

The driver is visible under Android Device as shown above.

If you’ve not installed the LG K30 USB Driver on your PC, download and install from the below post –

LG K30 USB Driver

 

To enable Adoptable Storage, we have to write the commands in ADB Mode.

We are going to use the Minimal ADB and Fastboot Tool to write the ADB Commands.

Download and install Minimal ADB & Fastboot on your computer using the below link –

DOWNLOAD

After the installation, launch this tool as shown above.

 

Minimal ADB & Fastboot launches the cmd window as shown above

Type adb devices and hit enter on your PC keyboard

It shows the device LMX410 but says “unauthorized”.

At this point, check your LG K30 phone screen.

We have to approve the request to “Allow USB Debugging” by tapping “OK” as shown above.

 

Now again type adb devices and hit enter.

This time LMX410 is under the “List of devices attached”.

LMX410 is the model number of LG K30.

The next command line is adb shell sm list-disks

You can type or copy-paste this command in your cmd window.

In my case, the disk is 179,64

It will vary according to the memory card used. It can be 179,0 or 179,128 etc. in your case. The command line will change accordingly in the next steps.

Now type the next command line which is adb shell sm list-volumes all and click enter

Now type this command line adb shell sm set-force-adoptable true and press enter

This step is a crucial one –

If you wish to use the whole of your memory card space as internal storage then the command line would be

adb shell sm partition disk:179,64 private

To use part of the SD card as Internal and remaining as External storage the command line will change. In my case, I’m partitioning 60% of the SD card space as Internal Storage. The command line for this is

adb shell sm partition disk:179,64 mixed 60

The partitioning takes a while depending upon the speed of your SD Card.

The next command line is adb shell sm list-volumes 

Type this command and click Enter.

We have to copy the UUID from this step. Check out the below screenshot.

I’ve copied the UUID as shown in the above screenshot. This will be different in your case.

We have to use it in the next step.

Based on the UUID the next command line would be

adb shell pm move-primary-storage 1edc2b00-0fdc-437d-b498-a884d294cd68

 

It says “Sucess” after hitting enter.

The data is moved from the internal memory to the SD Card. You can see it says “Move complete” in the above screenshot.

The SD Card is ready to be used as internal storage for app installation.

Now, Let’s check the “Storage” Status on our K30.

Pull down the notification bar and click the settings icon.

 

Select General Tab < Storage as shown above.

You can see the SD Card is divided into 2 parts. The First SD Card belongs to internal Storage. You can rename it to differentiate.

If you wish to revert the changes. You can format the SD Card and again use it as External Storage. 

 

To do this, Tap on the first “SD Card” as shown above.

Now hit the “3 dots” icon located at the top-right corner.

Tap “Format as Portable”.

 

Hit “Format” and wait for the process to complete.

 

The SD Card Internal Storage Partition is now gone. The whole of it is available as external storage.

NOTE: I’m not sure how practical is the adoptable storage feature. You should use it with caution. If you’re using it on your K30 please share your outcome via the comment section below.