Since I can't post in the q & a forum I am posting here but mods feel free to move it. So I have a wm6.1 device and a Mac computer and I regularly send files, like cab and music files with out an issue. However, today I noticed that I send a music file like usual and the file is no where to be found on the devices however space about the same size as the file is being taken up. So I send another two files(one music and one cab file) with out an issue at all. Then later on I send a cab file, but I don't see it on the device even though space is being take up. This may have happened prior to this, but I didn't realize it or something. So how can A) regain that space by deleting those files not showing up, or B) find the files that are not showing up and use them as I intended to. I am loosing space because of this. Option of last(and I mean last) resort is a hard rest which I don't like to do. Thank you....
yrsmart said:
Since I can't post in the q & a forum I am posting here but mods feel free to move it. So I have a wm6.1 device and a Mac computer and I regularly send files, like cab and music files with out an issue. However, today I noticed that I send a music file like usual and the file is no where to be found on the devices however space about the same size as the file is being taken up. So I send another two files(one music and one cab file) with out an issue at all. Then later on I send a cab file, but I don't see it on the device even though space is being take up. This may have happened prior to this, but I didn't realize it or something. So how can A) regain that space by deleting those files not showing up, or B) find the files that are not showing up and use them as I intended to. I am loosing space because of this. Option of last(and I mean last) resort is a hard rest which I don't like to do. Thank you....
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get a good file browser and search for the missing files. You may want to use a wild card search (*.cab,*.mp3)
if you still can not find them look in the folders in /Windows and /Temp or or equivalent on the device
well i am using total commader so I dunno how good that is or not. Not to mention I have done what you suggested and even searched for files added with in the last 3 days and nothing on all fronts but yet the sapce is being taken up by something that I can't seem to find on my device. Memory maid was no help either(granted I only did a clean up). But thank you.
have you tried using the default file explorer?
Not sure if this is the right forum for this post, but here goes...
I've been using SugarSync for a few months now to see if it works for me the way I need. Now, after flashing a couple ROMs (and reformatting my SD card) for experimentation, I find that the SS website is listing two instances of my Inspire, one has a folder structure and synchronized files, the other does not have anything listed at all.
Unfortunately their system does not delete devices, but merely moves them into a 'recycle' area, so that you can reinstate them later. That's not what I want to do at this point, I'd rather start over "from scratch" by completely purging the two devices and adding my phone.
The reason I want to purge and begin over again is that when I tried to 'restore' my device, I wound up with duplicate pictures, and they were placed in a different path in a folder that was not the original - IOW, instead of using the DCIM/100MEDIA folder, SS was placing the synchronized pictures in the 'My Sugarsync Folders' directory.
Anyway, I have made two attempts at email support and one post on their forum, but none of these attempts have received any response.
Wondering if any of you guys have had this happen to you, and what the solution might be.
Nobody else is experiencing this problem?
I have a lot of old redundant data on my SD card. If I have an app installed to SD, when uninstalling it sometimes it leaves the SD data behind. Also, everything on my SD card is as it was on my old desire, I simply put it into my sensation when I upgraded. And I've now rooted and tried various ROMs over the past half a year. So safe to say there's a lot of redundant data on it taking up room.
The thing is, it's not straight forward knowing what's actually used or not, so is there a trick or an app that can help identify which files or data haven't been accessed in ages, suggesting it's redundant?
I use es file explorer, its great because you can look into the folders and see what is actually there . I just cleaned mine out yesterday and found most folders are clearly marked so its not to much of an issue. If there was a folder I did not recognise I looked into contents if I still did not recognise I left it alone. Most folders were easily recognized. Hope this helps
Sent from my Sensation 4G using xda premium
That's just it, I have plenty that I don't recognise, so I'm not sure if they're still needed or not.
Yes I understand you don't want to delete a needed file. For me when I actually opened the folders I was able to see what was inside then took it from there. Hard part for you is finding the old phone files from the new ones. I wish I could be of more help but if your not recognizing the files when opened it makes it really hard. My old application files were clearly labeled so it made my clean out really easy. Perhaps you can find a clue inside to let you know if it was from the old phone or not. Mine was pretty straight forward, I see where yours is much more difficult. Hopefully someone has a better solution for you. I do wish you the best. Sorry I don't have a better answer than looking into the files themself . It worked for me because I was able to recognize my folders. Good luck, I'm sure someone will have a solution.
Sent from my Sensation 4G using xda premium
No problem, thanks anyway.
Most of the folders in the root of the SD card are fairly obvious in most cases. For the ones I'm not sure about I try and Google 'What is (insert folder name)' Android.
The ones in the root will usually be named by the app or publisher name so that helps give a clue.
In the Android/Data folder there will likely be some rubbish. Best thing to do with the folders there is Google them if unsure as they'll usually be named after the APK that they came from.
My SD is fairly clean so I don't have many examples to give unfortunately.
I have run out of space on my phone. (Again. Why can't I add an sdcard to this nexus thing dammit?) I'm going through the Storage sections under Settings, picking and choosing what I want to keep and discard. There's a number of items appearing in Downloads that I want to move to my PC, but I can't find the files and the only commands available are Open, Delete and Share.
How do I locate the items so can copy them?
My phone is not rooted and is running Lollipop 5.1.1.
Downloads as shown in from Settings >> Storage:
i.imgur.com/LzJz05I.png
Downloads as seen by ES File Explorer:
i.imgur.com/EJZUHYu.png
(sorry, no active links. I don't have the reputation to post links).
I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but the first image shows the list of things that you've downloaded (and then maybe moved to another folder?) while the second shows what is in your downloads folder now. In other words, one image shows an application, the other shows files.
The Downloads app seems to show items downloaded in the traditional sense (like from my browser, those are the items also seen in 2nd screen shot)
as well as items downloaded by apps, and these are saved somewhere else, not in /sdcard/download.
My question is how do I follow the items from the Download app to their actual location, so I can do something with them?
Double tap on the item opens it. Long press selects it. I need to copy it (or rename or move or...)
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
If my suggestion is correct, and nobody so far has contradicted it, then the download list needn't correspond in any way to what's actually on your phone at this moment. You may have moved the files, deleted them... there may not be anything to find. What you're seeing is just your file download history, not what actually exists now.
One tool that I find invaluable for this sort of thing is Search Everything - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.marlon.searcheverything
It indexes all your files and displays them on the fly - as you type each letter the list of files shown diminishes until you're left with the one you're looking for. If you're looking for a downloaded file then it shouldn't be hidden in an unreachable system folder requiring root. If Search Everything doesn't find what you're looking for, it's a pretty safe bet that it's been deleted.
On your comment about the reason for your question, that your phone is getting full, have you tried Disk Usage to see where the heavy usage is? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.diskusage
And finally consider Stickmount - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.chainfire.stickmount
In combination with an OTG cable (a couple of dollars) and a USB stick, Stickmount allows you to store files on the USB stick, so you can have effectively unlimited storage.
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!
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This makes no sense, please explain in more detail.
android1977 said:
This makes no sense, please explain in more detail.
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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.
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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.
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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.