Galaxy S5 supports up to 128GB micro SD card
One of the advantages of Galaxy S5 is its expandable storage. You can use a micro SD card to expand the storage for your files.
Galaxy S5 supports up to 128GB micro SD card. So, you can save a lot of photos and videos without worrying about the storage.
By default, when Galaxy S5 detects a SD card, the new photos and videos will be saved to the SD card automatically instead of the phone internal storage (which is usually very limited) unless you change it.
How to save photos to SD card on Galaxy S5?
As mentioned, after inserting the SD card, the camera app will automatically save photos and videos to the SD card. In other words, by default, you don’t need to set it up.
But sometimes, for whatever reasons, it may not work as expected.
So, you may have to manually set the photo and video storage location to save photos to SD card.
Step 1: Start Camera app.
Step 2: Tap Settings icon as shown below.
Step 3: Tap Storage location as shown below.
Current storage location for photos and videos is indicated in the icon as well. Device refers to phone internal storage. Memory card refers to micro SD card.
Step 4: Tap Memory card as shown above.
If you want to switch back to the internal storage, you can choose Device.
Step 5: Tap anywhere to return.
Step 6: Take photos or record videos as usual.
From now on, Galaxy S5 will save photos to the SD card unless you manually change the storage location.
Why are my photos saved to phone storage, not the SD card?
Sometimes, you may notice that Galaxy S5 saves photos to the internal storage, although you set the storage location as memory card (SD card).
When Galaxy S5 burst mode is used, the photos taken with burst mode will be always saved into the internal storage, not the SD card. This is not a bug. It is designed in this way so that burst mode works well in you Galaxy S5. You cannot change this.
Why my video quality is poor when saving to SD card?
Not all SD cards are created equal.
For micro SD and SD cards, there is a speed rating for them. For photos, most Class 6 is sufficient. Due to the small price difference, it is advised to get a class 10 micro SD card for your Galaxy S5.
But for full HD videos, you need a Class 10 micro SD card, preferably with a speed of 20MB/s or higher. For example, you may try this Samsung Micro SD card.
For UHD (4k) video, you need a Class 10 micro SD card with a speed of 45MB/s or higher. Otherwise, the video quality will be affected. To record UHD videos on Galaxy S5, you should get at least this SanDisk Extreme Micro SD card.
Here are some micro SD cards you may consider for your Galaxy S5.
Can you save photos to SD card on Galaxy S5?
If you have any questions or encounter any problems to save photos to SD card on Galaxy S5 or set the storage location on Galaxy S5, please leave a comment in the comment box below.
The community will try to find a solution for you
Linh says
Recently, my pics will randomly show a gray box or band like going veritcally or horizontally across the pictures. Why is it doing this? Please help. I’ve had this phone only 2 months!
simon says
First, try to clean the lens cover.
You can try to clear cache and clear data for camera app in Settings–Application Manager –All–Camera.
You can also try other camera apps, e.g. Google camera or Camera360 to see whether you get similar problem.
If it is a hardware issue, you have to visit local service center. It should be covered under warranty in most regions.
Galaxy S5 manual: Galaxy S5 user guide/manuals (PDF)|| Galaxy S5 Guide: Galaxy S5 How-to guides ||Joseph says
When I want to save a picture like from Facebook, it didn’t store it on sd card automatically, why?
simon says
Because the app doesn’t support SD card. For such apps, you need to manually move the downloaded files to SD card.
Galaxy S5 manual: Galaxy S5 user guide/manuals (PDF)|| Galaxy S5 Guide: Galaxy S5 How-to guides ||KC says
I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 & whenever I download images from MMS messages is saves it to the phone instead of my SD card. I’ve searched and searched and found no way to change this. Help?
simon says
Media files in MMS are always saved to internal storage. This is universal for all Android phones. Got cannot change this behavior as it’s hard-coded.
Anyway, you can always move them to SD card manually.
Galaxy S5 manual: Galaxy S5 user guide/manuals (PDF)|| Galaxy S5 Guide: Galaxy S5 How-to guides ||