gents,
I wonder in which folder the downloaded market apps go before the get installed.
Additionally the question rises if one can delete those files or do they get deleted automatically after installation??
HorNet505 said:
gents,
I wonder in which folder the downloaded market apps go before the get installed.
Additionally the question rises if one can delete those files or do they get deleted automatically after installation??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are run from the location they are downloaded to on the phone. So when you download a file from the App Market it will be stored in the folder, installed and run from said APK. If you move it to SD it moves the file from internal to external. If you uninstall the file if it sits on the phones memory it will automatically delete the file.
Not quite. They are stored on the cache partition. They are not always deleted, but they do not take up app space as the partition size is fixed. And when the space is needed on the cache partition, eventually they are deleted.
Is the cache folder visible to me? What's it called.
I got the problem that, despite all my apps are moved to my SD card, the updates fill up my internal memory. I understood that the updated apps are as well moved to the SD card. This is my default setting as well i
Downloaded apks are gets stored in /data/app. You need ROOT access to locate them. Root Explorer will let you access these files.
ip2op01 said:
Downloaded apks are gets stored in /data/app. You need ROOT access to locate them. Root Explorer will let you access these files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me make a correction here: installed apps are stored in /data/app (requiring root for write permissions). System apps are stored in /system/app (requiring S-OFF or Recovery mode for write permissions). Downloaded apks are stored in /cache/download, which is why in partition tables, where the cache partition is >5 MB, you should symlink the download folder to a folder in the sdcard, to be able to download apps larger than 5 MB. Otherwise the market will return the error "Insufficient storage available." or something like that.
Not that all of that really matters, seeing as this is a year old thread...
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
When I plug my phone into my PC I can see a file on my SD card called 'Android' with my game data.
But when I open ES File explorer on my phone there is another file called 'android' (small 'a') which appears empty, but I can't delete it.
When I go up to root /data/media I can see what looks like my SD card with the 'Android' and 'android' folders but there appear to be duplicate files while others are missing or moved.
I think after flashing new kernels this week there are duplicate files being created. I often have to re-download game data after flashing a kernel and I seem to be losing a lot of SD memory.
I just want to know which folders should I delete?
Using superuser permission should allow you to delete the "android" folder or file. If ES Explorer don't work, try Root Explorer or do it in adb if you know how.
In linux file systems, A and a can be two different files or folders.
Or you can reflash google factory image and that will wipe the entire internal storage.
Thanks.
I managed to delete both the Android folders.
Had to re-download all my game data but I've ended up with about 3 gig more memory.
Hi . I'm a newbie
My note 2 is running in low memory
Total memory is 10.46 GB
Free 3.50 GB
Apps 0.99 GB
Media near 1 Mb
Cache data and other near 110MB
So where is the rest? What should I do to free some space?
Thanks
romi1996 said:
Hi . I'm a newbie
My note 2 is running in low memory
Total memory is 10.46 GB
Free 3.50 GB
Apps 0.99 GB
Media near 1 Mb
Cache data and other near 110MB
So where is the rest? What should I do to free some space?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use a root explorer and go to
data/media
this is where all ur stuff is located.. Take out or deal it the way u want to deal with it
geekynoob said:
use a root explorer and go to
data/media
this is where all ur stuff is located.. Take out or deal it the way u want to deal with it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is nothing in that folder. And i'm totaly stuck
romi1996 said:
Hi . I'm a newbie
My note 2 is running in low memory
Total memory is 10.46 GB
Free 3.50 GB
Apps 0.99 GB
Media near 1 Mb
Cache data and other near 110MB
So where is the rest? What should I do to free some space?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What rom/system were you using before? In some situations when installing new rom version over the old without doing full wipe there are leftover files from old installation.
Using root explorer go to /storage/sdcard - list what is in there
go to /storage/emulated - there should be 2 directories there: 0 and legacy - list what is in there
lastly go to /mnt/shell/emulated - list what is in there - if you see there directories like "0", "legacy" then it's your original internal sd directory.
Now while installing new rom, almost all files from that directory should be moved to "0" directory for multiuser environment configuration, but sometimes they are not - the will be normally not visible in settings>storage information creating lost space" phenomena
Now comes the hard part - you can delete almost all files and directories except "0" and "legacy", but there may be some config files from your recovery and/or backup files from the same source (those directories will have in their names some familiar words, for example: devil, agni, clockworkmod, twrp) - you should not touch them. Browse directories (except "0" and "legacy") for old program data, obb files and directories, media, music and video files and delete them as they are not visible to your media players or programs. They are a bit like old "program files" and "documents" from Windows world
mat9v said:
What rom/system were you using before? In some situations when installing new rom version over the old without doing full wipe there are leftover files from old installation.
Using root explorer go to /storage/sdcard - list what is in there
go to /storage/emulated - there should be 2 directories there: 0 and legacy - list what is in there
lastly go to /mnt/shell/emulated - list what is in there - if you see there directories like "0", "legacy" then it's your original internal sd directory.
Now while installing new rom, almost all files from that directory should be moved to "0" directory for multiuser environment configuration, but sometimes they are not - the will be normally not visible in settings>storage information creating lost space" phenomena
Now comes the hard part - you can delete almost all files and directories except "0" and "legacy", but there may be some config files from your recovery and/or backup files from the same source (those directories will have in their names some familiar words, for example: devil, agni, clockworkmod, twrp) - you should not touch them. Browse directories (except "0" and "legacy") for old program data, obb files and directories, media, music and video files and delete them as they are not visible to your media players or programs. They are a bit like old "program files" and "documents" from Windows world
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use the 4.1.1 version. And the folder you mention not show up in anywhere.
romi1996 said:
I use the 4.1.1 version. And the folder you mention not show up in anywhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were you in the root folder when you started searching for mentioned folders? Root folder is the topmost folder with main subfolders (etc, system, sys, storage, mnt and others) - there is no way that you would not find "storage" folder - it MUST be there.
mat9v said:
Were you in the root folder when you started searching for mentioned folders? Root folder is the topmost folder with main subfolders (etc, system, sys, storage, mnt and others) - there is no way that you would not find "storage" folder - it MUST be there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No root folder is emty. But the dev folder have 184 sub folder .. that folder have so many that i can't count because the folder is too large. Can i delete dev folder?
romi1996 said:
No root folder is emty. But the dev folder have 184 sub folder .. that folder have so many that i can't count because the folder is too large. Can i delete dev folder?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a bit of a misunderstanding: Root folder is the main folder of whole file system, but it is also a simple folder named "Root" in the root folder (or otherwise called root directory) of the file system. It's the same if you crated in some directory a new directory and named it "directory" Easy, yes?
In the root directory you should have some typical directories: cache, config, d, data, dev, efs, etc, lib, mnt, proc, sys, system, storage and others
There must be a directory named "storage" and there must be a directory named "mnt" - those are the ones I was writing about before, please follow that.
Oh, and under any circumstances do not delete /dev (even if Android would allow that).
mat9v said:
It's a bit of a misunderstanding: Root folder is the main folder of whole file system, but it is also a simple folder named "Root" in the root folder (or otherwise called root directory) of the file system. It's the same if you crated in some directory a new directory and named it "directory" Easy, yes?
In the root directory you should have some typical directories: cache, config, d, data, dev, efs, etc, lib, mnt, proc, sys, system, storage and others
There must be a directory named "storage" and there must be a directory named "mnt" - those are the ones I was writing about before, please follow that.
Oh, and under any circumstances do not delete /dev (even if Android would allow that).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no folder name mnt in that storage folder there only folder name emulated . Sdcard0 sdcard 1 usbdisk0
Oh in the emulated folder have legacy folder and 0 folder.
But finally i found it in root folder .with some some of my stupid misunderstanding. But i greatly thanks you so much.
UPDATE so the mnt and my main sdcard. Folder like synced .it í like duplicate the file
mat9v said:
It's a bit of a misunderstanding: Root folder is the main folder of whole file system, but it is also a simple folder named "Root" in the root folder (or otherwise called root directory) of the file system. It's the same if you crated in some directory a new directory and named it "directory" Easy, yes?
In the root directory you should have some typical directories: cache, config, d, data, dev, efs, etc, lib, mnt, proc, sys, system, storage and others
There must be a directory named "storage" and there must be a directory named "mnt" - those are the ones I was writing about before, please follow that.
Oh, and under any circumstances do not delete /dev (even if Android would allow that).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Update : the mnt/shell have emulated. So which folder i should delete? .
I checked some folder i reconize some super strange thing in root.
The sdcard and extsdcard folder in root folder. . The storage folder has 2 folder too. . When i go to mnt/sdcard there ate have 2 more folder like that. And the super strange thing is these files in those folder is completely same like they are duplycating. Can you answer this?
Update : still don't know why the storage folder is 4.02Gb but when I take information of each one in that folder and combine it i got over 3Gb . What the hell?
romi1996 said:
Update : the mnt/shell have emulated. So which folder i should delete? .
I checked some folder i reconize some super strange thing in root.
The sdcard and extsdcard folder in root folder. . The storage folder has 2 folder too. . When i go to mnt/sdcard there ate have 2 more folder like that. And the super strange thing is these files in those folder is completely same like they are duplycating. Can you answer this?
Update : still don't know why the storage folder is 4.02Gb but when I take information of each one in that folder and combine it i got over 3Gb . What the hell?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a lot of duplicate directories like that because they are virtual directories, like shortcut files on Windows , but unlike in Windows they have the size of all children files (with some exception. It is complicated and hard to describe without .... a lot of explaining for which I have no time ) The directory /mnt/shell/emulated is of interest to us, in enclosed picture you can see "User directory" that contains all files that your current profile uses, some directories in pink - they may be there or they may not be, but you should not under any circumstances delete them, directories in green are free to delete. Please list any other directory you will find there and their sizes so I can advise what to delete.
View attachment 2614902
mat9v said:
There are a lot of duplicate directories like that because they are virtual directories, like shortcut files on Windows , but unlike in Windows they have the size of all children files (with some exception. It is complicated and hard to describe without .... a lot of explaining for which I have no time ) The directory /mnt/shell/emulated is of interest to us, in enclosed picture you can see "User directory" that contains all files that your current profile uses, some directories in pink - they may be there or they may not be, but you should not under any circumstances delete them, directories in green are free to delete. Please list any other directory you will find there and their sizes so I can advise what to delete.
View attachment 2614902
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Deleted. Rom recovery back up removed . Thanks you so much
I wanna reopen some files but i can't. The system keep telling can't open the file and the files is AcIv.mp3 or a video. Please help.
I decided to upgrade to Lollipop after holding out for awhile.... before I did though, as I knew I was going to run an RUU so I wouldn't have any problems with the OTA, I copied everything in my "storage" (all folders) to my windows laptop desktop via USB.
After upgrading, I copied it all back, making sure not to over-write anything.
What is strange is when I copied all my folders to my laptop initially, I didn't see a Download folder... which I expected to see. But after looking through the folders I had copied, I saw a folder called storage, and in that folder another called emulated, and then another called "0". In that folder I finally saw my Download folder.
I didn't think much of this at the time, however, when I look at storage from Root Explorer, I note there is a new Download folder at the "root" level of storage, but the storage/emulated/0 path is still there as well.... and following it takes me to my old Download folder....
So...to get back my original folders and contents before I upgraded to Lollipop, I have to copy over every folder in this path up 3 levels. i.e., from /storage/emulated/0/storage/emulated to /storage/emulated.
What is going on? Why is there an "0" and a "legacy" if I go up one level from /storage/emulated/??? Why did my old Download folder end up where it did?
I had this exact same thing in my mind.
Why is there such a folder ?
My phone storage was almost full and I found out this folder is taking up whole space.
I cut the storage folder and pasted it into memory card
now all my downloads go to memory card (mmc:storage/emulated/0)
+1
I have also this folder that takes a lot of internal memory space.
I experiment one thing:
I have 1 game that takes 2Gb of data and I have moved it to sdcard memory (using Android-M feature : move app from internal to sdcard )
I saw in this directory (emulated/0/ ) the 2Gb of this game. ????? So, I tryed to copy/paste this data to sdcard, in order to free internal memory space. But I loose the game's configuration.
I was thinking that moving app from internal to scard, the data of the app also move, isn't it ?
I need help to understand that ...
Nang06
I recently had a problem where I had to do a factory restore on a non-bootable phone... and my only option was to use adb shell to copy the extracted stock lollipop nandroid files to the TWRP folder in internal storage [there may have been other ways, but I was not aware of one.]. Thanks to 3484jacks, thebobmannh, ckpv5, and redpoint73. I hope I didn't forget anyone.
OK.. so that worked... but it was very messy. Why? Because my first (and obvious) choice was to create the subfolder under TWRP and then adb push the files to that folder.
The folder I am referring to is the "root" folder of internal storage, also called the /sdcard/. It usually has other directories/folders such as .data, Android, Ringtones and/or Media.... I am sure you know what I am referring to. And on this "root" of the internal storage (sdcard) is the TWRP folder which contains backups. The path to the backups is sdcard/TWRP/BACKUPS/{device serial number}/name-date of backup.
However, when I did an adb push to the above folder, by using the following command:
adb push c:/nandroid/ /sdcard/ TWRP/BACKUPS/FXXXXX/nandroid (<<==I had already created the nandroid folder as you cannot push an entire folder to your phone; only the files contained therein will be pushed over)
....my files did not end up in /sdcard/TWRP/BACKUPS/FXXXXX/nandroid. Instead they were copied to /sdcard/storage/TWRP/BACKUPS/FXXXXX/nandroid. For some reason when pushing to the sdcard, adb pushes it to a subfolder called storage. I am not sure why this is... perhaps it is because we really are not talking about a physical sdcard, but rather internal storage. In any event, to fix my phone I had to use adb shell and I copied all of the nandroid files from /sdcard/storage/TWRP/{. . .} to /sdcard/TWRP/{ . . .}.
If you are in the true root (system) directory, there are several paths which lead to "internal storage"... and I want to know if anyone has any clue why there are multiple paths and what they mean. Below are the multiple paths from the system directory to internal storage:
(root)/storage/emulated/0/
(root)/storage/emulated/legacy/
(root)/storage/sdcard/
(root)/sdcard/
All of above paths lead to the exact same place (or so it seems)...a place which very much appears like internal storage.
However, I have run into this weird creation of a storage folder on the sdcard (internal storage) before. Several months ago, I copied via USB my entire sdcard to my Windows desktop. Oddly, several folders that I would have expected to be on the sdcard (as they are when viewing with Root Explorer) were not there. When inspecting what I had copied to my desktop, I found that the Download folder and 4 or 5 other folders, ended up in a "/(sdcard)/storage" sub-folder. EXACTLY like what happened to me yesterday (but kind of in reverse as I was copying TO the sdcard)
So that is my first question... Why does this happen? What is emulated? what is the difference between (root)/storage/emulated/0/ and (root)/storage/emulated/legacy/????
My next question, very intimately related to the above, is more of a problem.
The nandroid files I referred to above which I had initially pushed to the sdcard whereupon they ended up in the storage subfolder are still there. And whether I use Root explorer or adb shell, I get a "DELETE FAILED" or "PERMISSION DENIED" error respectively. And in case you are wondering, I did a 'su -' in adb shell before I attempted this. I had to grant access to SuperSU as a toast came up asking for the root rights.
Strange....I never thought internal storage had permissions, but I guess they do.
So the big question...and a solution to getting rid of the mess of files which are taking up several GBs of space on my sdcard (internal storage)... how do I delete the /storage/ folder on my sdcard? The folder was not there before.
Even if I drill down to the individual files (either in adb shell or root explorer) I still get a PERMISSION DENIED.
Please help. NOTE: I thought about reformatting the partition... but what guarantee will I have if I try to push my backed up sdcard data BACK to internal storage?? I probably can make sure that I delete the problematic nandroid files above by deleting them first in Windows, but that doesn't mean my sdcard won't still have another storage subfolder create.... and who knows what will be in it? [and this is the genesis behind my asking the first questions above about internal storage, the "emulated" name in the path, and the multiple paths from the system folder. I figured if I understood what was going on, I would be more likely to fix it.]
Thank you in advance for any assistance!!!