What Is Difference Between External and Internal Storage in Android: GT Explains

What have smartphones, laptops and smartwatches in common? They all come with storage space to save system files, applications and user data. Storage on Android phones is divided into two categories. External and internal storage. But what is the difference between external and internal storage? Which one should we use?

While most people think that external storage consists of SD cards and external hard drives, this is not entirely true. Let us understand the real difference between these two types of storage and when they are used.

How is internal storage different from external storage?

The official documentation of Android on storage gives us some guidance. When you install an application on your phone, it creates a unique private folder that only the installed application can access. These files are stored in the internal memory, to which other applications or users can not access.

Android system files are also stored in internal memory, which are not accessible to the user. You will either download an application, or you can install your smartphone on your roots to access these files.

There are two types of external storage. One is the memory or SD cards that we insert manually. This is the most common form of external memory, understood by most smartphone users. According to this definition, cloud storage like Dropbox is also an external storage. This is called secondary external storage. So, what is the primary?

Primary external storage is user-accessible storage but still part of the built-in memory. This is where you store your photos, documents, and other data, even if you do not have an SD card installed. In short, the built-in memory of your phone is divided into two parts. Internal and external. The SD card you have installed may also be called removable external storage.

Why internal and external matter

Internal storage is mainly used by Android OEMs and application developers to store sensitive files and data. The goal here is to protect them from unintentional or accidental damage. But there is more. Files stored in directories created in the internal storage are not accessible by other applications. This provides an indispensable layer of security and privacy for your data.

The files stored on the main external storage are accessible directly using the built-in application of the file explorer. Other applications can also access this data. This is where the permissions come in. When an application wants to access this data, it requests permission to access primary or secondary external storage. The application can not access files stored in the internal memory unless it belongs to the respective application.

But not all applications do it. The Android ecosystem is known for many things, and in one way or another, privacy protection is not a major concern. In many cases, applications have been found guilty of unauthorized user data theft or even to the knowledge of users. In such cases, the importance of the main internal storage that is not accessible by other applications becomes all the more important.

3. Other reflections

We now know that the internal memory is used to store operating system files and applications that are not accessible by other applications. We also know that there are two types of external storage. The primary external storage is used to save data to which others can access. For example, the application settings are stored in the internal storage memory, but MP3 files downloaded using the same application are stored in the external storage (primary or secondary).

The SD card is a secondary external storage, but it is not part of the system. You can remove it and carry it with you wherever you want. You can also connect it directly to your laptop or other compatible device. You can argue that a smartphone can also be connected to a laptop. However, when you connect the smartphone via a USB cable and mount the internal drive, you can only access primary and secondary external storage. Some users call primary external storage as integrated shared storage because it is part of the system but is freely accessible to the user.

Some applications allow users to store data on the SD card. This provides flexibility to the user and better control of his data. When you uninstall an application, all the data stored in the application folder is also deleted. Sometimes not all data is deleted or empty folders are left behind by the applications. This can accumulate over time, resulting in storage problems and delays in the systems.

Many premium smartphones have completely removed the SD card, but instead offer built-in memory in different memory configurations. These can start from 2 GB and go up to 512 GB. This makes it even more necessary to split the built-in memory into internal and external memory.

So, the next time you open your phone's settings and go to Storage to check the available space, it will really be a primary external storage accessible by design. Only internal storage allows the end user to better distinguish the SD cards they may have installed.

Authorizations, Authorizations

It's all about control, permissions, privacy and security. Here is the really short version. Internal storage allows applications to back up sensitive data, which by default prohibits read-write access to all other applications and users. Primary external storage is part of the user-accessible integrated storage and other applications, but often with permissions. Secondary external storage consists of removable SD cards on the phone – a plug-and-play alternative.

Then: Do you own a Xiaomi smartphone? Learn now how to increase the internal memory of any Xiaomi phone.