Database Info

Folder Structures in SDCARD

Hi everybody!
I just got my 1st Android Devide (DHD) and already root, clockwork, changed rom, etc. However, my problem is related to the directories structures inside my SDCARD.
I have 2 questions:
1- I moved some apps that I have in my main memory to my SDCARD via App Settings. However, when I go to my sdcard in windows explorer, I don't find these files. I'm not sure then if is really moving to my sdcard. I just realized some new folders, but they are empty. Does anyone knows what I'm doing wrong?
2- The second question it's linked with the first. I would like to organize in my SDCARD a nice folder structure. Something like:
/
/Songs/
/Photos/
/Documents/
/Backups/
/Games/
/Apps/
And then if you go inside the Apps folder, you have another folder with the name of the application. Pretty much like Program Files folder in Windows.
Is this possible? For Songs, Photos, Documents, I created a folder and it worked. But what about for apps and games that I got on the market?
My SDCARD has also a lot of folder/files that were copied when I put the sdcard on the device. I don't know if I can delete that. Any idea?
Thanks for the help in advance!

Moved to Q&A, not dev related.

Anyone?
Any tip?

[Q] What's on my SD Card?

I wanted to start this thread because I am having trouble, (and I assume other noobs are as well), understanding what's on my SD Card and how to navigate through it.
I've attached what I see when I open my device and check the internal storage.
My main reasoning for trying to understand all that's on my SD Card is because it's important! And because I'm trying to figure out where all my apps are stored. I recently installed the venom custom ROM, and since then have lost the knowledge of where my .apk files are stored. That's really what I'm after trying to find those files. I've searched every folder but still no dice. I used Titanium Pro to backup all my files but there is nothing located in the Titanium folder.
Can anybody help me identify where my .apk files are located?
I also have a few .apk files I wish to install on my phone. From what I've gathered the way to do this is to add them to where the other .apk files are located and then Fix Permissions. If I cannot locate my .apk files is there another file path I could save it to?
Lastly I have these two files I have not recognized before, BUGSENSE and .profig
What are these files?

So if you're downloading the apks off a website they'll be in the downloads folder if you downloaded then through Google play..they won't be on your sd unless you manually backed up them up through titanium

a box of kittens said:
So if you're downloading the apks off a website they'll be in the downloads folder if you downloaded then through Google play..they won't be on your sd unless you manually backed up them up through titanium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right okay, so if I choose to back them up onto the SD card then my .apk file paths should appear? Because as you can see now I have no app folders on my phone (sd card) currently.

I've backed up my phone via titanium still nothing in there is an .apk file.
I'm also interested in keeping my phone clean of useless things (another reason for this thread).

As file explorer. Settings allow up to root allow root. Go up from sd card. System/data folder
Sent from my VENOMized HoxL

Boom. That's what I was searching for. Thanks.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

dmcin23 said:
I've backed up my phone via titanium still nothing in there is an .apk file.
I'm also interested in keeping my phone clean of useless things (another reason for this thread).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you go to titanium backup location on sd card and open it you will find what you looking for. Its pretty easy to restore backup in titanium app itself.....also a true backup should be done in twrp recovery as it backs up everything (file partitions,kernel,radio,apps) it will save a copy (known as a nandriod backup) on your sd card that you can recover if your rom won't boot or you just need to restore .
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Make sure you enable writing to the root folder as well. System apps are in system/app.

[Q] Space not freed after messing with .thumbnails

Heya guys,
this is mostly a copy of a thread I created in a device-specific forum (original thread), but since nobody was able to answer the question there and considering it doesn't seem to be device-specific after all, I figured I'd go ahead and ask here as well. The copy & paste part begins here, with slight modifications:
A few days ago, I found that I was in dire need of some more free space on my Samsung Galaxy S4 / GT-I9505's internal storage and found that only the contents of /sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails were taking up space. After a while of trying to get rid of those files that kept creating themselves again, I followed some advice I read on an Android forum: I deleted the contents of the .thumbnail folder, went to Settings -> Apps and cleared the data of the Gallery and Media Storage apps, respectively, before rebooting the phone.
The contents did disappear for good, but neither Total Commander nor the list of installed apps in the settings nor the Storage summary in the settings showed any different amount of free space than before. To make matters worse, the number didn't even change after I found and deleted about 1 GB of files left by an already uninstalled app, i.e. it seems to be stuck on that value. At the same time, SD Maid tells me that I should have a good 5 GB of free space more than the system is showing. Neither restarting nor wiping the cache and dalvik cache helped.
My rooted GT-I9505 is running this unofficial port of AOKP 4.3, Milestone 1, and version 6.15.6 of PhilZ/CWM Advanced. I'm not sure whether there's more information I might need to provide, other than that the size of the thumbnails files apparently exploded (about 4 GB) when I moved quite a lot of data and obb folders to my external storage using FolderMount.
I didn't find any information about this kind of problem anywhere and am afraid I messed up so badly that I might need to reflash...or worse. Do you have an idea how I can try to fix it?

You could try installing Disable Service and forcing the media indexing service to never run.

gordon1986 said:
You could try installing Disable Service and forcing the media indexing service to never run.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the input! That sounds like a plan, but I'm not really sure whether I'm doing it right. I got the app, figured the media indexing service had to be found in the Media Storage app's entry, but I only found "MediaScannerService" and "MtpService" there. Since I try to be more careful now, I'd rather not deactivate any of those without being sure that it is what I am aiming for.
So, long story short: Is either of those the media indexing service or do I have to look somewhere else?

Best thing to do is delete the .thumbnails folder in DCIM folder. After this create a new file with the name .thumbnails in the DCIM folder.
Note: You have too delete .thumbnails FOLDER and create .thumbnails FILE. You can use es file explorer to do this.
It is based on the simple principle that in Linux ext file system a file and folder cannot have the same name.
Sent from my LT28at using xda app-developers app
Hit Thanks if this helped you.

osamaanjum said:
Best thing to do is delete the .thumbnails folder in DCIM folder. After this create a new file with the name .thumbnails in the DCIM folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I wasn't sure it would help, I tried what you suggested. Alas, it didn't work; the .thumbnails folder is empty without freeing the space taken by its former contents since I did what I described in my original post, after all. However, should I manage to fix this problem with a reflash, I suppose I'll do just that, replacing the folder with an empty file of the same name. Thanks.

It works for me.
I 've uploaded the image of DCIM directory (folder). In place of .thumbnails folder you can notice .thumbnails file.

[Q] Transfer backup to PC

First off, sorry if this is not the right place to post this.
I've googled around and can find lots of answers to 'where does ROM manager store backups' but that doesn't help me with this.
In the past I've backed up a ROM then moved it (using something like Root Explorer) to my external card and also because I want a backup on my computer - I just copied the file across.
But now the files (and folders) are invisible to my PC.
I tried moving it, renaming the folder, creating a new folder and moving the contents out of the original folder into the new one... but to no avail. The PC simply cannot see what ever folder contains the backup.
But If I look in the same location using Root Explorer, the backup is sitting there clear as day.
I pretty much always have 'show hidden files' turned on on my PC anyway - why can't I see/transfer the backup to my computer?

Can I safely delete these files?

There are a bunch of folders and files on my phone that may be leftovers from apps I once tried and uninstalled. They seem to just be taking up space in my sdcard folder. Most are empty folders. What are these and can I safely delete them? I need the sdcard space.
sdcard/.chartboost
sdcard/.CM_Cloud
sdcard/.mmsyscache
sdcard/.quickdial
sdcard/.SIc-yJMAhEcjs6wmSi9Uhdeyr_M=
sdcard/catlog
sdcard/Tencent
Any help appreciated

Sorry, too early in the morning... I initially read your question as being about external SD cards - duh...
Your best bet is to copy them all - to a hard drive or Dropbox/Google Drive/OneDrive - and delete them from your SD card. Then if something fails you can restore them one by one if an app fails until you find the one that it needs.
Since none of them are in /system/ it's probably not a big risk, but take a full TWRP backup before you do anything.

That's what I was planning to do but was trying to find out what they were about first. Guess I'll need to go that route.....