Hiding folders created by apps? - Nexus One General

Hi guys,
I know this is an issue for many alike myself, I HATE how some android apps and the system automatically create folder on the SDcard (tmp, LOST.DIR, albumthumbs, adobe etc) and even worse have stupid names for some of them. Im quite the perfectionist so i really would like to have them gone (hidden) or at least renamed. As hiding them is the easier option I want to know if this is even possible?
I've tried mounting my SDcard and changing those files to hidden, but in Android they still display. I've tried the '.' method of hiding but this causes errors for some apps as the folders aren't being located correctly.
I've searched around with no solution as of yet so if anybody has a way please let us know.
no stupid comments about hiding your porn and **** please.

I hate to not be any help, but I would also like a way to do this.
I hate looking into my SD card and seeing a bunch of random sh!t.
so bump i guess

Even though it don't bother me i don't understand why developers don't do like linux apps and use /sdcard/.twidroid type of folder?

This drives me insane as well. Unfortunately there isn't much you can do about it. This is on the developers of the apps to fix.

Does Google actually recommend a specific folder to put these files, something like .config or .cache like in Linux?

It would have been so easier if all these folder went inside a single folder like program files .. I m too frustated bocs these app folders

They recommend /Android/data/<package_name>/files/
see: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/data-storage.html#filesExternal
One option is to override what the below two routines return. (AOSP code)
getExternalStorageDirectory() and
getExternalFilesDir()
i.e. set it to /sdcard/data/
ps: I remember asking this a year ago, still bugs me that nobody has done it yet.

suhas_sm said:
It would have been so easier if all these folder went inside a single folder like program files .. I m too frustated bocs these app folders
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 This would be a good idea.

Related

Volatile Directory - 80MB

Hello Guys,
Today I installed a cab to my phone. Usally I have around 100MB free on my device. But today there where only around 10MB?
I searched around and found a mysterious directory in the Application Data directory called "Volatile" which exactly eats up the missing space...
I said to myself, mhh are you trying to move that directory to storage card and risk a hard-reset? I did it and my device still works.
But I want to know from where this directory "Volatile" came?!
Scilor
the app data\volatile folder is a system temp folder. clearing shouldn't be a problem (unless maybe you clear it before restarting after installing something, perhaps).
You can also reg edit the location to move it to your storage card, at
hklm\system\filesys and change the path.
Thank you, so what exctly it is for?
scilor said:
Thank you, so what exctly it is for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its the wm5 and above equivalent of \temp in wm2003. just somewhere the system dumps files, especially when installing and such like. so long as nothing is running when you do, just empty it now and again.
Keep it off!
As for the HD2 - you may NOT delete this folder!
Reason for my frequent hardresetting in the past was deleting this folder - directly or by third party apps to gain storage space.
If you did so - your phone won't be able to recognize soundformats - it won't ring or play anything after deleting this folder!
Cover arts will be skipped very fast, because sense thinks that tracks are played in no time. Very frustrating bug.
Discovered it this morning ... and wanted to share it with the community as none knows about that.
I never had a problem with this, I only deleted the content. But thank you for that info.
So I will now just move the files to my SD card
I emptied it regularly when I was on winmo, never had a problem.

Deleting Android off HD2.

Is everything related to the Android OS stored in the Android folder we put in the root of our SD card? Does the system create files elsewhere?
Basically I want to know if I wanted to get rid of all traces of Android off my phone, would it be as simple as deleting the "Android" folder? (using Froyostone)
Thanks.
Gigamaster89 said:
Is everything related to the Android OS stored in the Android folder we put in the root of our SD card? Does the system create files elsewhere?
Basically I want to know if I wanted to get rid of all traces of Android off my phone, would it be as simple as deleting the "Android" folder? (using Froyostone)
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty much
Android makes some other folders outside the "android" folder itself. If you want to get rid of all traces of it, I would recommend you back up whatever you need off the sd card and format it through WM.
bates_1974 said:
Pretty much
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong. Don't give out wrong information
to put it basically some android builds stay mostly in their own directory
and some are installed to the root of the sd card.
but other system files end up on your sd card too. also any apps you may have installed may save their own data to your sd card.
you could delete android and put a new build on and reinstall an app and it could read its old settings from a folder it made on your sd.
if you totally want to start from scratch you really wanna format the sd card.
my lazy way of doing it is to delete all the files and folders i see named in the new build im installing, and then seeing what files and folders seem androidy and deleting them too lol.
i guess im gonna get round to formatting sooner or later
Conflikt Icey said:
Wrong. Don't give out wrong information
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong information?
you dumb ****, I said pretty much
If you delete your android folder common sense should prevail in which other folders it can create to delete typically ones in lower case or starting with .
He should know what folders he had, depending how much you've used android would determine what other folders are created, so like I said
PRETTY MUCH
bates_1974 said:
Wrong information?
you dumb ****, I said pretty much
If you delete your android folder common sense should prevail in which other folders it can create to delete typically ones in lower case or starting with .
He should know what folders he had, depending how much you've used android would determine what other folders are created, so like I said
PRETTY MUCH
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Evidently he doesn't know which other folders were created by running android. If he did, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have asked
Conflikt Icey said:
Evidently he doesn't know which other folders were created by running android. If he did, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have asked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why we have a SEARCH button, it's there for a reason
bates_1974 said:
That's why we have a SEARCH button, it's there for a reason
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well obviously. My point is if you are going to attempt to answer a question, you might as well give an accurate answer as oppose to giving vague/wrong answers that don't help anyone. Or just don't comment
ummm hate to interrupt but at least agree / disagree with my post??? lol
Conflikt Icey said:
well obviously. My point is if you are going to attempt to answer a question, you might as well give an accurate answer as oppose to giving vague/wrong answers that don't help anyone. Or just don't comment
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vague maybe, wrong not at all, all that's needed is a bit of common sense, if you and the OP can't figure that out I suggest you roll out that 3310 of yours.
DontHate said:
ummm hate to interrupt but at least agree / disagree with my post??? lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read my post after yours you'd see I outline the same route as you stated, agree.
Conflikt Icey said:
well obviously. My point is if you are going to attempt to answer a question, you might as well give an accurate answer as oppose to giving vague/wrong answers that don't help anyone. Or just don't comment
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You were about as useful the OP's question as he was..
As already mentioned, best thing to do is backup what you know you want and format it.
I think DontHate's nickname sums it pretty much all up... . Relax.
To go back to the initial question, you said "get rid of all traces" and to me it sounds like you want to take it to service or something like that, and don't want to show that you were messing about with it .
If that is the case, I don't think it will really matter what's on the card, more like you should revert back to your stock radio and stock WinMo rom.
remove thefollowing :
android folder
.android_secure
.bookmark_thumb1
.footprints
com.google.android.apps.maps - if you use it
tunnybrowser - dolphin hd browser
you might have some others dependant on what you have installed
Take it as a memory game.
Before placing any android files on the microSD card, take a mental snapshot of everything in the root directory of the card.
After usage, testing, the consequent removal of Android files need only be the files that weren't in the earlier mental snapshot.
That way, you get to improve your memory AND still use Android on your HD2 at the same time!?!?!??!?!
P.S. Do not forget the thumbnails folder in the DCIM folder.
I always simply delete the "Android" folder and haven't had any problems doing so.

[Q] Strange *.REC Files

He Guys
I wanted to backup my sdcard, so I pulled everything over via adb. But then some strange files struck to me. One of them is about 1GB big. They're named like FSCK0000.REC and so on. The other file is -2GB big? How does that even work?
I guess these files have something to do with my file system, because FSCK is a file system check. But why does this cause so big files? I'm really confused. My build works as good as everytime. So I'm pretty sure they don't affect it. But I'm not sure if it is a good idea to just delete them. Did anyone of you ever had this strange issue?
Edit: These files seem to be logfiles. If I open them with the notepad, they're full with logs about apps and system infos.
I'm pretty sure these are system log files and are created by certain builds of HD2 Android. I use to get hundreds of them (albeit very small) which clogged up any file browsers. Delete them and they come back. I think they are created when Android unexpectedly crashes.
But then I updated my Android build and have never seen them since.
GodsGift said:
I'm pretty sure these are system log files and are created by certain builds of HD2 Android. I use to get hundreds of them (albeit very small) which clogged up any file browsers. Delete them and they come back. I think they are created when Android unexpectedly crashes.
But then I updated my Android build and have never seen them since.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I think you're right. So I deleted them. But they were huge
Whatever, nothing happend.
Thanks.
I think they are from CurrentWidget
No, current widget saves the logfiles per default as currentwidget.log.
But I've found the solution, those are logfiles that are created if your phone hangs up and you have to kill it. It might be some kind of recovery or whatever, but it defenitely does not hurt to delete them
So, thanks anyway.
Cheers

Trying to understand file system

I use Solid Explorer and am not rooted. When I look at ways to get to a "file" at root, I see:
Root/sdcard/file
Root/storage/sdcard0/file
Root/storage/emulated/legacy/file
Root/storage/emulated/internal memory/file
Root/mnt/sdcard/file
Why so many and what does it all mean? Can I delete any of the folders? Any of them open in my browser if the file is an html file with file:///
understand filefystem
tcat007 said:
I use Solid Explorer and am not rooted. When I look at ways to get to a "file" at root, I see:
Root/sdcard/file
Root/storage/sdcard0/file
Root/storage/emulated/legacy/file
Root/storage/emulated/internal memory/file
Root/mnt/sdcard/file
Why so many and what does it all mean? Can I delete any of the folders? Any of them open in my browser if the file is an html file with file:///
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would not recommend trying to delete any of the folders; most of them are basically symlinks, and deleting them will NOT reclaim storage. As to understanding the filesystem after the move to 'multi-user android 4.2', I have problems in that aspect myself. Indeed, on my (rooted) nexus, I have difficulties in getting my folders visible for other applications (where on 4.1 they were very visible indeed).
As one of the cracks on this forum, Chainfire, who releases the StickMount app, has similar problems (he has not been able to make StickMount work yet on Android 4.2), I guess there are some real questions out there.
Chances are, within the next few days or weeks, more is known about the way the filesystem is working, and perhaps tips as how to make it better will come floating about.
For now though, I would just "sit still" if I were you, and just ignore all the other ways, and just use one of them.
(And which one? I guess I would go for /sdcard/file myself...
Kind regards,
Roel
Happy I'm not the only one. Before the update "Root/storage/sdcard0/file" seemed to be the path. Now it looks like each app chooses it's path randomly. I would guess many developers are pulling their hair out (or cursing Google)
I think I've got my head round the symbolic links but can't, along with tcat007, understand the reasoning. Another question that I hope is proper here is "How does Windows 8 (and earlier) decide what is "Internal Storage" - I've got a subdirectory that can be seen through either the sdcard or storage paths but will not display in W8.

Question about Gallery showing unintended files

So when I open the gallery app it appears as if it's scanning all folders on my entire SD card and showing an images that lies in any folder or subfolder....? How do I stop this...? I only want it to show 'pictures' pictures that I take... Is there any way to select what folders gallery displays?
Isn't there like some kind of naming system you can use...
Oh here we go.
http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20072405-285/how-to-hide-photos-on-android/
I know that would be a bit tedious... but that's the best I can think of for now.
SefEXE said:
Isn't there like some kind of naming system you can use...
Oh here we go.
http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20072405-285/how-to-hide-photos-on-android/
I know that would be a bit tedious... but that's the best I can think of for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip. I know on a file level this can be done (this is *nix based so appending a . for hiding folders is common) however I was really looking for a more elegant solution... maybe something even built into settings or the gallery that I hadn't seen before that allows you to set which folders are your picture folders. The method of putting a . in front of the folder name means that many applications that NEED that data would also not be able to read it either. For example .mymusic where I would store music and by association album art which I would not want to show up in gallery. If music players didn't have the ability to scan hidden folders (many don't and why would they need that?) then I would not be able to use that music player. This seems a bit ridiculous to me seeing as Android is touted so much as the most advanced mobile OS in the world... something as basic as setting media type/folders/locations shouldn't be something that users should have to hack around to fix... It's a bit annoying to say the least. I have like 40 folders showing up in gallery consisting of album art, icons I've downloaded, other files I've downloaded for work that happen to contain images in them etc... That should not be showing up in my 'photo' gallery.
If there are any other suggestions I would really appreciate some more input on the best way to fix this.
IIRC you can put a .nomedia file in a folder to prevent the gallery from scanning files in that folder, but that might still run into the problem of interfering with other applications. Also, some applications seem to ignore the .nomedia request...
itpromike said:
If there are any other suggestions I would really appreciate some more input on the best way to fix this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Second best thing I can think of is what developers have been doing since Android came out, probably.
Find(or make) a replacement app that does what the basic gallery can do, but with more bells and whistles. :silly:
I know there's a few out there. There's got to be one that does what you're saying. I have a few extra folders that display images... A few album covers, extracted winrars... But it's not as bad as it is for you.
Sorry I'm not too helpful, but I try to chime in where I can.
I just use Solid Explorer to put a .nomedia file in the folder. Gets all the images I've downloaded from Tapatalk out of my gallery.
Sent from my Paranoid Nexus 4 using Tapatalk²
Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I've resorted to just using the .nomedia file in all the folders. I realized recently though that this presents some unique challenges for music/audio/ringtones etc... however. oh well, can't get everything you want I guess. You would think that an OS as advanced as Android would have a better way of handling such a common occurrence....
itpromike said:
Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I've resorted to just using the .nomedia file in all the folders. I realized recently though that this presents some unique challenges for music/audio/ringtones etc... however. oh well, can't get everything you want I guess. You would think that an OS as advanced as Android would have a better way of handling such a common occurrence....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried quickpic? There might be an option in there, not sure as I've never used it. It also doesn't integrate with the stock camera app well.
Sent from my Paranoid Nexus 4 using Tapatalk²
Have you thought about hiding in the pictures in a vault app? If it's only specific pictures you don't want shown, then you can just encrypt them and decrypt them when you want them again. It will hide those pictures from any apps that try to access them while they're encrypted

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