Xiaomi: How to Safely Unmount an SD Card

MIUI keeps a live connection to the SD card open for indexing, gallery caching, and app storage even when no app is actively writing to it. Pulling the card out while this connection is active can damage the file table or leave photos and app data unreadable on the next device.

Unmounting the card tells MIUI to close every active read and write process before you remove it physically. This matters most when you plan to use the same card in a laptop, another phone, or a card reader right after taking it out of your Xiaomi.

Steps to unmount the SD card

Open Settings ➤ About phone ➤ Storage ➤ Unmount SD card. MIUI closes all connections to the card and confirms it is safe to remove.

If an app is still using files from the card, MIUI may show a warning instead of unmounting instantly. Close that app first, then repeat the steps above.

Skip this step if you are only rebooting the phone or putting the card back in later the same day, since the system remounts it automatically without extra action. Unmounting becomes necessary once the card physically leaves the device.