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I have a folder on my SD card that I don't want images to appear from. Is there a means to exclude certain directories?
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA Premium App
Put an empty file called .nomedia in the directory.
This one works well for me - makes the process easier:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.studiokuma.nomedia
What kind of images don't you want to show up in your gallery?
The .nomedia method should work for you, if not you can always rename the folder with a "." at the beginning to make it hidden
Folder name examples:
.pr0n / .dontlookhere / .ignore
kyouko said:
What kind of images don't you want to show up in your gallery?
The .nomedia method should work for you, if not you can always rename the folder with a "." at the beginning to make it hidden
Folder name examples:
.pr0n / .dontlookhere / .ignore
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.nomedia works for me, as far as keeping stuff out of the gallery. Being all grown up in my computer usage, I choose to not let my computing devices hide stuff from me, so that .folder thingy doesn't work for me (and pictures in those .folders without a .nomedia file still seem to make their way into my gallery).
I do have a .stuff folder for my .porn though... Keeps it up near the top of the list...
how about the hideitpro app from the market? it's actually pretty cool. opens up as an audio manager, then you put in a password and there you have all the hidden files you want. not just pics...just an fyi
Install the app Just Pictures and ignore the folders you don't want to see.
The .nomedia "solution" prevents the album art to display in the media players.
I use the app QuickPic from the Market, and in the app you can choose which folders you want include and exclude. Pretty useful. You don't have the pretty 3-D effects from the default Gallery app but it's so much faster.
You can do the same thing with Fishbowl Gallery. You can set default albums, as well as hide albums. However, this still doesn't prevent someone from stumbling upon the default gallery app. The best solutions are either .nomedia, or do not have media on your phone that you do not want prying eyes to see. Alternatively, while cumbersome, you can use androzip or unrar pro to zip the material in question. Of course, by zipping your files, you can add the additional layer of security by encrypting it, if you're the paranoid sort.
Sent via Tapatalk on CM7.0.0-Vision Stable.
I remember this method. Any one know if the older file deletion ever got fixed with 2.2.1 or later?
If you don't know what I'm talking about here's a quick rundown.
You put the .nomedia file in a folder with pictures, upon reboot all those pictures are deleted. This had something to do with them already being scanned once and them being older than the .nomedia file so instead of ignoring them it deletes them. Something along those lines (anyone have the link to the original bug report from back in '08 or '09?).
Anyway, if it hasn't been fixed you've been warned, you stand a good chance of losing all media in those folders. So backup those files - but you knew that already
The easiest remedy to this is to remove the files, rename the folder to .whatever or insert the .nomedia file. Reboot. Then throw the files back onto the sdcard. That should eliminate any issues.
I've used the .nomedia solution awhile back to get icons, cover art, etc out of my gallery and it worked just fine... nothing was deleted (Droid X).
IIRC, I did have to clear the gallery app's cache to get it to "forget" about media that it had already found; on first lauch after clearing it's cache, expect it to be slow as it re-scans your device / sd card (..rebooting didn't work to clear the cach on my device... had to clear it via settings > application > manage apps..)
.nomedia file solution works
KCRic said:
I remember this method. Any one know if the older file deletion ever got fixed with 2.2.1 or later?
If you don't know what I'm talking about here's a quick rundown.
You put the .nomedia file in a folder with pictures, upon reboot all those pictures are deleted. This had something to do with them already being scanned once and them being older than the .nomedia file so instead of ignoring them it deletes them. Something along those lines (anyone have the link to the original bug report from back in '08 or '09?).
Anyway, if it hasn't been fixed you've been warned, you stand a good chance of losing all media in those folders. So backup those files - but you knew that already
The easiest remedy to this is to remove the files, rename the folder to .whatever or insert the file. Reboot. Then throw the files back onto the sdcard. That should eliminate any issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The .nomedia file solution works fine for me on Android 2.3.3.
The issue you mentioned is therefore fixed (nothing file was deleted unexpectedly).
Reboot was also necessary so that the native photo gallery app does not display the icons/pics any longer for the folders where I added the .nomedia file.
Furthermore, this works also for the music files.
(I use also TapeMachine app, and wanted to avoid that the sounds I recorded are listed in the Music Player).
If I place a .nomedia file in a directory, does that exclude all of its subdirectories from the gallery, as well?
Yes, it does. I just placed a .nomedia file in my /Music folder on my extsdcard and all the pictures in my albums are gone after a reboot.
UPDATE: I just tied this on my tablet (running 4.4.2) and it did not need a reboot. Gallery adjusted automatically. It was a folder on the extsdcard - and since 4.4.x restricts access to the sdcard, it stands to reason it saw the file placed and adjust the library automatically.
NiveusLuna said:
If I place a .nomedia file in a directory, does that exclude all of its subdirectories from the gallery, as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi all
I've installed some apps which have their folder on the sdcard with various images, sprites, sounds (one of these is a satnav app).
The problem is, these appear and clutter my gallery and music apps. I use both apps from motorola and not their google counterpart.
I already put a .nomedia file in the folders, rebooted the phone, cleared data on those apps, deleted thumbnail caches on the sdcard, and it doesn't work. They still show up.
So how can I do?
Thank you in advance
I've partially solved my problem with a media re-scan, triggered by renaming a folder containing media files (and then renaming it back)
The problem is that, if files into that folder change, because any app (or I) copies new stuff into them, all the hidden files pop up again in the gallery/media.
I wonder if it's an Android bug or a Motorola bug...
I've had the same problem and I solved it by placing .nomedia files in the unwanted folders and then force a media rescan with the app "Rescan Media" eek from the market
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.addz.mediascanner
or using quickpix to create that file
manojsuper said:
you have to create a new file called ".nomedia" not a folder >.>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did I say that?
I tried media scanner but it doesn't work. (fyi i'm not rooted)
When I move music around (ie from the download folderr to the music folder) it gets duplicated in the music app, both motorola's and google's. Once i unmount and remount the sd card it sorts the problem on itself.
Same thing when I move images, the thumbnails get duplicated and only one of the two loads correctly, but I can't get them to disappear unless i delete my gallery's data, and then i lose all the video thumbnails. My gallery is now full of old thumbnails, gray "unknown" thumbnails, and thumbnails that don't load.
thenext1 said:
I tried media scanner but it doesn't work. (fyi i'm not rooted)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I know, you don't have to be rooted to use the app I linked. There is a more extensive version of the app that specifically requires root which is what I base my assumption on...
The app only forces the android internal media-scanner service to re-index all files and it does so without giving any sort of feedback. Once the app is started the media-scanner is triggered and the app seemingly does nothing, so you wouldn't get a confimation or anything...
As I said I had the same problem, but using .nomedia-files and the app solved it... Be aware that if you place a .nomedia-file in a folder the contents of that folder and it's sub-directories are being skipped by the media-scanner.
I'd recommend cleaning up all the directories and systematically copy a .nomedia file in unwanted directories. After that launch the app ance more and you should be set...
Preggy said:
As far as I know, you don't have to be rooted to use the app I linked. There is a more extensive version of the app that specifically requires root which is what I base my assumption on...
The app only forces the android internal media-scanner service to re-index all files and it does so without giving any sort of feedback. Once the app is started the media-scanner is triggered and the app seemingly does nothing, so you wouldn't get a confimation or anything...
As I said I had the same problem, but using .nomedia-files and the app solved it... Be aware that if you place a .nomedia-file in a folder the contents of that folder and it's sub-directories are being skipped by the media-scanner.
I'd recommend cleaning up all the directories and systematically copy a .nomedia file in unwanted directories. After that launch the app ance more and you should be set...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is that, even if I put nomedia files everywhere needed, when I move files in/out of these dirs, they all pop up in Gallery/Music, including those that were previously hidden. And to solve this (talking only of Gallery now) I have to clear its app data. It would be just easier to hide the "all images" section of Gallery...
I miss the good ol android 2.1 times where you could fiddle with everything with any app without worrying for refreshes, etc...
Give ".no_media" a try?
cogeary said:
Give ".no_media" a try?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never heard of such a magic file name...
thenext1 said:
I never heard of such a magic file name...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neither have I, but ROM Toolbox uses it when it puts previews of boot animations onto my SDCard and the gallery doesn't pick them up.
Just use QuickPic from the market, if it's available to you. I've been using it for quite some time, install that and freeze the gallery app. Ability to hide certain folders is built right in.
+1 to the QuickPic app...the stock Gallery SUCKS!!! I hide all the folders I do not want to be scanned and now I have a clean photo library. I also use PowerAmp for music since I hide my music folder so that I don't see album art and PowerAmp allows you to select folders to scan (regardless if there is a .nodedia file or not) instead of scanning everything. I believe Winamp will do the same thing, not sure.
For most of yesterday I'd been trying to figure out why my CM7 G2X won't see any sound, video, or image file on my phone's SD Card. Both the stock Gallery app, and MX Player File Browser, just didn't see any of the media in the folders on my SD Card. And the Music player saw absolutely no songs on my SD Card. And my ringtone and IM tones were messed up.
So, while playing with different settings, on MX Player, I unchecked "Respect .nomedia (Exclude a folder if ".nomedia" file exists in that folder or a parent folder". Voila! I can see videos! I can see my images and songs!
Well, I looked in the root of my SD Card and there it was - a file called ".nomedia". Strangely, the icon for that file is the same icon as ROM Manager icon. Odd. because I had just updated ROM Manager. I deleted it and saw my media files again.
Well, today I saw a new update for ROM Manager Premium. The update states "5.0.1.4 Fix bug that places .nomedia file in the wrong directory if directories are missing." Huh. I guess the "wrong directory" is a cagy way of saying it puts it in the root of your SD Card so you can't see any of your media. And I do have the proper directories that ROM Manager needs.
O.K., I updated ROM Manager. Guess what? No media files again! And that damned file ".nomedia" is right back in the root of my SD Card, same as before, with the same ROM Manager icon staring back at me.
Look, it's not enough that people like me wasted money on ROM Manager Premium because the license check always crashes. Now, the app is messing up our phones?
Hope this helps
Stupid RomManager.
Easiest way:
Connect your phone via usb (with usb debugging enabled), open a cmd window and type:
Code:
adb shell
rm /sdcard/.nomedia
adb reboot
You can do this without a PC from Terminal Emulator at Android as well, just open it and type the following.
After a reboot everything is back to normal.
Code:
rm /sdcard/.nomedia
The problem in the FileManager is, that you have to enable "show hidden files" (or sth. like that), a leading dot (".") at a filename indicates a hidden file at Linux.
But of course you can just enable that option and delete the ".nomedia" file manually as well.
-
I use RootExplorer which can show hidden files... removed the .nomedia file and while some stuff showed up (gallery pics) most stuff still doesnt (all my custom notifications/ringtones and my music wont show in Ubermusic, Play Music or Winamp. I downloaded Rescan Media and ran it but still nothing.
Any suggestions?
WoodroweBones said:
I use RootExplorer which can show hidden files... removed the .nomedia file and while some stuff showed up (gallery pics) most stuff still doesnt (all my custom notifications/ringtones and my music wont show in Ubermusic, Play Music or Winamp. I downloaded Rescan Media and ran it but still nothing.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Update your rom manager, then delete the nomedia file, then reboot! You should be alright after that!
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app
BigDig said:
Update your rom manager, then delete the nomedia file, then reboot! You should be alright after that!
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fist thing I tried unfortunately
WoodroweBones said:
I use RootExplorer which can show hidden files... removed the .nomedia file and while some stuff showed up (gallery pics) most stuff still doesnt (all my custom notifications/ringtones and my music wont show in Ubermusic, Play Music or Winamp. I downloaded Rescan Media and ran it but still nothing.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look into your other folders on your card for ".nomedia". ROM Mangler could have placed that file in different places.
You might also want to remove the SD Card and put it in your PC, and search the entire card for ".nomedia". Make sure you only delete ".nomedia" in the folders that you want to show media.
Here is what I did...
I renamed my Music folder to "Music2" then rebooted my phone. Now after that I went into Ubermusic and started an SD Card scan but didnt wait very long (maybe 10 seconds) then went into Winamp and clicked on "Songs" and I could see it was searching. Eventually all my songs showed up so not sure if it was Winamp or Ubermusic
---------- Post added at 10:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:16 PM ----------
EEngineer said:
Look into your other folders on your card for ".nomedia". ROM Mangler could have placed that file in different places.
You might also want to remove the SD Card and put it in your PC, and search the entire card for ".nomedia". Make sure you only delete ".nomedia" in the folders that you want to show media.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Galaxy Nexus doesnt have a removeable SD card but the method I used in the post above worked
I'm cross posting here because this seems to be an active thread
In some instances Media Scanner will DELETE ALL THE PICTURES ON THE SD CARD
Here is an example google bug report on the issue http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=3692
When a ".nomedia" file is added to a directory that has already been scanned by the media scanner, any jpg and gif files in that directory and all sub directories will be deleted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have lost a year of pictures because of this. Before you assume I am making a mistake realize that the SDcard is now connected directly to my laptop and a search of the entire drive (including subfolders) with the string *.jpg gives no results. I can post a screenshot if you like.
Rom Manager caused my pictures actually be deleted and I am using recovery tools that scan the free space to get them back
If any of you suffered as I did try this OPEN SOURCE recovery tool specifically made for recovering pictures from an SDcard - PhotoRec - CGSecurity
Here is a screenshot of my current progress
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
edit: I just realized it also broke some of my applications that stored images on the sdcard that served as part of their menu system. SCREW YOU ROM MANAGER DEVS. I will never trust anything you publish from this day forward
braschlosan said:
I'm cross posting here because this seems to be an active thread
In some instances Media Scanner will DELETE ALL THE PICTURES ON THE SD CARD
Here is an example google bug report on the issue http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=3692
I have lost a year of pictures because of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to hear that. I'm running CM7 Nightly #225 and it seems CM7 fixed that bug - I tried to recreate that on my phone and it did not delete the files.
Quite strange; I was wondering why lately my phone has been weird and not reading any of my files from the SDcard. i cant find my music nor photos ive taken, but when i use rootexplorer i can find them.
Edit - thanks alot!! by deleting the .nomedia file, its all working!
How i fixed it
i used rom toolbox pro and went into the sd root.
Android > .data > .nomedia
and i deleted .nomedia and poof it worked
Thanks, had to play around with folder names and reboot, but it's working again now. I believe I have to post at least 10 times before I can thank a post though
EDIT
Ah, just had to post once and the thanks button shows up now!
Might-E said:
Thanks, had to play around with folder names and reboot, but it's working again now. I believe I have to post at least 10 times before I can thank a post though
EDIT
Ah, just had to post once and the thanks button shows up now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Back at 'cha - I gave you your first Thanks! Nice to know that only two people appreciate the work I did.
damn ROM Manager
well, this teach me to never hit the "update all" button in google play now. ONLY update apps that shows changes you need/want.
anyway, after 2 days of messing deleting .nomedia, only to have it come back at next boot and uninstalling apps that was suspect. i finally saw a thread about this.
The thread recommended: remove update/uninstall rom manager
delete .nomedia
clear data of Media Storage
reboot
this worked out perfectly for me and that damn .nomedia file hasnt come back for the past few reboots
Do not allow any apps to auto-update. And I have background data turned off all the time to save the battery.
The only time I have background data turned on is when I'm in Google Play. I always check permissions, (you MUST click "see all").
Here are the apps I have stopped updating because they suddenly want scary permissions:
Angry Birds - wants access to Google Billing Service (****!)
Camera 360 - wants ability to change WiFi state, modify passwords
Firefox - Modify global system settings, access user accounts, read sync settings
Google Translate - take photos and videos without user intervention, view available networks
YouTube - take photos and videos without user intervention, access user accounts
I'm hoping someone can help, I'm having this problem only with JB ROMs
ROM manager is not even on my phone, here's what I do in recovery
Wipe data/Factory Reset
Wipe cache partition
run dalvik-wiper.zip
reboot recovery
format /system /cache/ /data /boot AND /sdcard
reboot recovery
?? at this point this phone should have nothing on it right?
install ROM. (I have tried 5 or 6 of the JB ROMs in the Nexus S TMO develop section)
Copy over my pics and music. I install no Apps, just run gallery and it's empty, even after 2 hours.
Where does ROM manager do its damage after everything is formatted? Is it CWM that is causing the problem?
I've checked /DCIM and /Music on my sdcard backup and they don't have any .nomedia or hidden files.
where do I go next?
Thanks for the reply.
Same thing here. i have only CWM and root.
tried all kinds of stuff like format sd card new rom search and delete .nomedia
installed new rom manager now...
+quick system info shows cpu 100% and batery dies quickly (25% at night to 0 in the morning)
With sd card removed battery goes back to normal..
Today i used another phone,the old one, because of this..
It really sucks and im close to sell or smash it!
---------- Post added at 11:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:01 PM ----------
mikrron said:
Same thing here. i have only CWM and root.
tried all kinds of stuff like format sd card new rom search and delete .nomedia
installed new rom manager now...
+quick system info shows cpu 100% and batery dies quickly (25% at night to 0 in the morning)
With sd card removed battery goes back to normal..
Today i used another phone,the old one, because of this..
It really sucks and im close to sell or smash it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
don`t know how i did it, noe it`s working , you have to f#@&k it up a little with the sd card, Install/uninstal rom manager and nomedia files (note the nomedia wasnt placed in my gallery or music folders) , hope i don`t meet this in the future..
@mikrron, it's possible you have a bad misbehaving application. You might have a game that scans your sdcard and sends photos and other info to the game's servers. That would account for your bad battery usage.
Install the firewall DroidWall and block internet access to any application that doesn't NEED the internet to run, like cameras, most games, etc. See how much your battery life improves.
Sorry for performing necromancy on this thread but I encountered a problem. It is similar to the one described here (files can be browsed normally but no media-apps can see them. Even the settings>storage menu shows nothing on my sd card but reports that the free space is only 1.5gb out of 8gbs total.
If I fire up a file browser I can access all the files on the sd-card without a problem. I can even view the pictures with the gallery and the music app plays my music files alright, if I select the file from the browser and then use the corresponding program to deal with it.
If I just use the gallery or the music app or songbird or any other media player, they all report an empty media library. Media on the phone's internal memory can be scanned by these apps and included to their library without a problem.
After lots of searching around on the web, I found that most people that had this problem, managed to solve it by deleting some stray .nomedia files that were in their sd-cards (like you guys did in this thread).
So, I searched my sd card for those files (I know they are hidden), both through the phone's file-browser and by connecting it to my computer, and I failed to find anything. For good measure I backed all my data up, formatted the card, restored the data, cleared the media storage data and restarted my phone, all to no avail. I know that the sd-rescan apps are irrelevant here but I tried one of them anyways. It didn't help...
I should note that I have not tampered with the phone in any way (no custom roms, no rom manager, not rooted, no unlocked bootloader or anything else of that kind). Also my phone is a Sony Xperia Tipo, using android 4. Sorry if the post is out of place here... The thread seemed very relevant.
If someone has any idea about what the problem might be, I'd love to hear from them. Thank you in advance.
Is it possible that the nomedia file is in the secured android file that you cant access without su permission
All the way from mars
Hey everyone,
I was reorganizing my pictures on the sdcard when I began testing CM's new Gallery app (GalleryNext). At that time, I decided I wanted to reorganize my files. I used ES file explorer to search for a .nomedia file and copied the first result to the root of the sdcard while I looked a permanent place to put it after deleting and moving pictures. Looking back at the gallery, I noticed suddenly that all pictures disappeared from my gallery, which I expected.
However, after I moved the .nomedia file AND rebooted (several times), I've noticed my gallery is STILL empty. I also noticed PlayerPro doesn't see any music. My alarm app (Gentle Alarm) however still plays music to wake me up and the MediaMonkey app can see the music. What is going on? ES is set to show hidden files, the .nomedia files are where they need to be. I first cleared data on both Google and CM galleries (which didn't work), then I uninstalled Gallery Next (didn't work), and I tried SD Scanner which is an app that can trigger media scan on KK (I know the old methods don't work on KK). I also reflashed my ROM. After reflashing, I got ONE photo from my gallery to appear.
"What to do?"
rockingondrums said:
Hey everyone,
I was reorganizing my pictures on the sdcard when I began testing CM's new Gallery app (GalleryNext). At that time, I decided I wanted to reorganize my files. I used ES file explorer to search for a .nomedia file and copied the first result to the root of the sdcard while I looked a permanent place to put it after deleting and moving pictures. Looking back at the gallery, I noticed suddenly that all pictures disappeared from my gallery, which I expected.
However, after I moved the .nomedia file AND rebooted (several times), I've noticed my gallery is STILL empty. I also noticed PlayerPro doesn't see any music. My alarm app (Gentle Alarm) however still plays music to wake me up and the MediaMonkey app can see the music. What is going on? ES is set to show hidden files, the .nomedia files are where they need to be. I first cleared data on both Google and CM galleries (which didn't work), then I uninstalled Gallery Next (didn't work), and I tried SD Scanner which is an app that can trigger media scan on KK (I know the old methods don't work on KK). I also reflashed my ROM. After reflashing, I got ONE photo from my gallery to appear.
"What to do?"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also got this problem. My solution is transfer all files to computer, then format sd card. BUT all data will gone if you not backup first.such as RR3 data.
lala458 said:
I also got this problem. My solution is transfer all files to computer, then format sd card. BUT all data will gone if you not backup first.such as RR3 data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I just ended up copying everything elsewhere and reflashing the factory image, then re-doing everything. Although, it would have been nice not to. Just part of the gamble when using nightlies I guess.
I had the same problem few days ago.
I deleted appdata from settings, apps, all apps, gallery, then rebooted and used this app to fix it:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=burrows.apps.sdcard
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
I was about to post a question about this, but I just figured this out myself. My phone recently updated to Android 11. I have an SD-Card which has music on it - along with a lot of album art. Since the update, all these album art photos have been cluttering up my gallery. Every time I add a .nomedia file in here (which also was there before the update), it seems to get automatically deleted (no, not hidden). I tried copying a .nomedia file from elsewhere on the phone. I even tried popping out the SD-Card and adding the file via PC. As soon as Android touches it, it deletes the file again.
So, here is the issue. With Android 11, it is creating some default folders (I wish it wouldn't clutter up things with these empty folders that I never need or use). Those default folders include: Music, Pictures, Movies. These are created at the top level on the SD-Card and on internal storage. So, if you are also using one of those folders for something, it's going to auto delete the .nomedia file. In my case, I just moved my music into a Musics folder instead(and ensured it has a .nomedia file, of course.
Hopefully this will save someone else from wasting their time trying to figure out why this is happening!
pacaveli420 said:
I was about to post a question about this, but I just figured this out myself. My phone recently updated to Android 11. I have an SD-Card which has music on it - along with a lot of album art. Since the update, all these album art photos have been cluttering up my gallery. Every time I add a .nomedia file in here (which also was there before the update), it seems to get automatically deleted (no, not hidden). I tried copying a .nomedia file from elsewhere on the phone. I even tried popping out the SD-Card and adding the file via PC. As soon as Android touches it, it deletes the file again.
So, here is the issue. With Android 11, it is creating some default folders (I wish it wouldn't clutter up things with these empty folders that I never need or use). Those default folders include: Music, Pictures, Movies. These are created at the top level on the SD-Card and on internal storage. So, if you are also using one of those folders for something, it's going to auto delete the .nomedia file. In my case, I just moved my music into a Musics folder instead(and ensured it has a .nomedia file, of course.
Hopefully this will save someone else from wasting their time trying to figure out why this is happening!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This makes no sense, please explain in more detail.
android1977 said:
This makes no sense, please explain in more detail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're storing your music files in any of the default folders, Android is going to auto delete your .nomedia file if you try to put one there. Ergo, the solution is you need to store your music in a folder named something else.
pacaveli420 said:
If you're storing your music files in any of the default folders, Android is going to auto delete your .nomedia file if you try to put one there. Ergo, the solution is you need to store your music in a folder named something else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks that's what I did and got lucky, I was so desperate I signed up to XDA just to comment I gotta say XDA I love your site and been reading for a couple year's now, enjoy the information provided, thanks guy's for all your hard work
pacaveli420 said:
If you're storing your music files in any of the default folders, Android is going to auto delete your .nomedia file if you try to put one there. Ergo, the solution is you need to store your music in a folder named something else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for saving my media library! I've been tortured by this issue since using the new phone, finally!
hello, i just get Android 11 on my MI A3, and those folders ( music, pictures, movies )appears on my sd card, they are useless for me, is there a way to delete them?
before Android 11, i didn't have this problem because i choosed " use sd as external support " instead of "use sd as extended memory" when inserting the sd card, but now even if i make the same choice, the folders are there and i can't delete them.
Sort of off topic but not really:
How do I stop it from creating these default folders? It's extremely annoying. I don't have my SD card structured that way and never have. I've deleted the default music, movies, etc folders numerous times now as they just clutter up the root directory and they keep reappearing. Is there a solution to this?
This seems to be a part of Android 11s default folder structure which no one ever bothered to do something about. I wouldn't be surprised if it's there for "security reasons" as well as a communist one. As in you only have the option to use these "secure" folders or else it won't show up in your apps at all.
This might be a way for Google to slowly faze out SDCards entirely while only giving you the option to use said folders for your "private" stuff akin to how IOS (kinda) works. In other words, they are doing it on purpose and no one ever bothered to read the fine print.
Obviously private music and other media collections is the root (see what I did there) cause of the problem. They don't want you to have those at all, And want you to use streaming services instead (tinfoil hat). Which is probably what these folders will probably end up being used for.
Netflix and Spotify allow you to store music on your device, but it's encrypted and will probably end up there at some point in Androids lifecycle. Obviously these files don't need .nomedia since the files are encrypted and will only show up in said app either way which makes the above meaningless.
Most of this is speculation obviously, but we've slowly been moving towards this trend if you look at how System apps were split into app and priv-app and so on. At some point in time only certain apps that has had the blessing of Google will be allowed to read anything off your storage. This happened with Chrome not to long ago where they blocked side-loaded extensions from running.
You will slowly see Android turning into IOS because they (Google) and big-tech in general wants 100% control of what you can and can't do. And everything based on AOSP or LOS is gonna follow suit because no one gives a flying fudge because that's too bothersome. The fragmentation of custom builds based on LOS/AOSP in general already shows that this has always been the case for the last 10 years. Linux in general is no different either as can be seen with wokeism. Except that was through decimation via woke people and not big-tech.
I was going crazy thinking this issue was specific to my samsung's stock rom. I started searching about this once I noticed it on LOS 18. Glad I'm not alone
I tend to be a little OCD about my folder structures but at this point I don't mind making a separate folder to avoid album arts in my gallery.
I believe I found a solution to this. It's been about a week or two with no further incident now. My solution was to delete the default folders from the root of the SD card because I don't use them, then create blank files that used those names. Haven't had a problem since.
I use the top level pictures folder because of a compatibility issue with programs that have small file path character limits that cause the program to hang. I don't use them anymore but I haven't had a reason to move it back where I had it previously and that would only make the default folder issue worse if I did. Or at least it would have until now with this discovery.
I do not use the movies and music folders, and if I move my pictures folder back where I had it I won't use that one either. Having them pop up on their own to clutter my root directory on both my SD card and my phone itself was very annoying. After deleting the movies and music folders off of the root of my SD card for the billionth time and getting rid of the empty default folders on my phone again, I created two blank files on my SD card root called Music and Movies. Ever since then the default folders haven't reappeared. On top of that, it hasn't created any ".thumbnails" folders all over the place like it always used to do either. That includes doing so on the internal phone storage. Creating those files on the SD card seems to have broken the whole process. I imagine the same would work vice versa for OP since it sounds like they use those default folders. Find an empty default folder on internal storage, delete it, create a file and name it the name of the folder you deleted (case sensitive), and that should disable the annoying default folder management process too. I can't vouch for that method, but I can vouch for it working when you do so on the SD card.
I just noticed this today on my tab s7+.
From what I can tell, the .nomedia file nolonger does anything on its own. However, if I add the .nomedia file to a folder, then rename the folder placing a . in front, of course it hides the entire folder. When I rename the folder again, removing the ., the .nomedia file now works. No matter how many times I rename the folder, the gallery does not see it until I remove the .nomedia file.
pool_shark said:
I just noticed this today on my tab s7+.
From what I can tell, the .nomedia file nolonger does anything on its own. However, if I add the .nomedia file to a folder, then rename the folder placing a . in front, of course it hides the entire folder. When I rename the folder again, removing the ., the .nomedia file now works. No matter how many times I rename the folder, the gallery does not see it until I remove the .nomedia file.
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thank you pool shark.. i tried what you did/suggested and it worked. thanks.