I apologize if this has been answered earlier.
I use a stock N1 with ADW.Launcher and a bunch of other apps. I recently noticed that even when I uninstall an app from my phone, there are some directories / files that remain on the phone.
Is there any reason why these do not get deleted when the app is unistalled.
May be the same answer as installers written for windows. If the developer didn't do a good job with cleanup, you get trash leftover you need to manually clean.
i agree with both above. i found devs dont do good with uninstalling and leaving folders left behind, i wonder if there is an app that clears them?
The best way is to realize what should and shouldn't be there and manually take care of it. To write an application to clean up after 50,000+ other applications that are messy. Would be a programming nightmare and I would not want to support such an application.
or someone could make some sort of app similar to those on pc, montors what and where files are being installed to so if uninstall doesnt take em out alteast you know where to look exactly.
Edit: better yet, the app itself can uninstall everything on the users request! now that would be an app i wouldnt mind paying a good buck for.
I agree, apps itself should uninstall everything with user consent.
Also I don't think a lot of us mind taking the manual route as long as we know what to delete ..
Any way to find out what files belong to what apps?.... or is it the same as on any unix/linux platform.
thats what i was trying to say. windows has a simple app that makes a txt file of all files being installed including registery. launch the app to monitor first, install like normal. in this case, the app itself will make a database of the app then the user can use that app to delete everything catched that was installed. that would be very nice. i find myself doing google search to see where files came from and when i see i uninstalled that i have to delete it myself. this would save me lots of time. i dont really worry about it though i have a list of apps i must install and with all the froyo i keep wiping the os to try new roms. until everything is stable ill worry then but for now im good.
garryvirdi said:
I apologize if this has been answered earlier.
I use a stock N1 with ADW.Launcher and a bunch of other apps. I recently noticed that even when I uninstall an app from my phone, there are some directories / files that remain on the phone.
Is there any reason why these do not get deleted when the app is unistalled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you mean the directories on the sd card?
Yes directories and files on the SD card.
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Sent from my Nexus One
garryvirdi said:
Yes directories and files on the SD card.
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Sent from my Nexus One
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could have data that could be reused if you decide to use the app again. Settings, preferences, keys, notes, photos etc..
I do hope that the default folder for apps defaults to something like /sdcard/appdata/ instead of the root folder /sdcard/ (unless explicitly set)
ok, so maybe I'm a little obsessive compulsive but wow
is it just me or do most applications just spit folders and data all over your sdcard?
i just uninstalled an app i found that i dont use and found two separate folders in the root of the sdcard still remaining.
looks like there were only two apps that had created/used a folder named data inside of the sdcard, seesmic and flixster
I fully agree with you all the apps just create folders on the root of the sd and when i plug it in the computer it's a mess.
Developers really need to use the folder Data, i don't care what's in the app folder but it's not nice to see them all on the root
I agree. It's called lazy programming.
I agree!
At the very least, applications should be forced to only write to a specific directory. I.E. .data, .app_data, etc. When cleaning my SD Card, it so hard to tell what's needed and what's not
I completely agree. It is a giant mess, and it's annoying scrolling through all that garbage to get to the few folders I actually use.
I don't know what I am doing wrong. I have placed a file called .nomedia in each of the image folders I don't want in the gallery, but they remain.
I've restarted the phone, Force Stop, and Clear Data. I've unmounted and remounted the SD card, manually, and through the USB mount.
Even deleted an image through the gallery and it refreshed.
To create the file I tried:
-touch .nomedia
-creating a file called .nomedia in a text editor
-empty .nomedia files, and ones with something in them
-creating it on the phone, and on the computer
The file has no 'hidden extension' I'm sure of that, especially when I used touch. I can see the file in ASTRO when viewing hidden files, it is correct.
I've either gone completely crazy, my phone is messing with me, or I've overlooked something very simple.
Any one have any ideas?
Running stock 2.2 right now.
Add a "." to the beginning of folder name instead.
Yes, I know that works. But I would prefer not to do that. Because I can't easily browse to those folders, as I need them for other things in different applications, some of which won't let me view the hidden files.
I am beginning to wonder if I should try a wipe of the SD card and put everything back on. It seems that there is something fishy going on.
I've recently done this with several folders on my N1, a few that had ringtone mp3's in it and some others with jpg's I didn't want showing up in notification or gallery.
After remounting the SD card, they no longer showed in Gallery... but you've done lots more than that, so I can't imagine what the problem could be.
I just created a new file using Ghost Explorer, but have also done it in the past mounting the SD card and creating the filename (touch)
Ok, so not sure how I fixed it, because I went the nuclear route. Backed it up, formatted, and copied everything back. Also opened the gallery while it was unmounted, and recreated all the .nomedia files.
Something there fixed it...
Wait a minute, maybe not... I don't see any images apart from the Picasa linked ones
The logcat actually showed that it was finding and ignoring .nomedia files though.
Well, I'll just have to find a happy medium. I'll give it some time to see if it will scan for more, and check for extra .nomedia in the wrong places.
Oh how lovely, they're all back. And I still see a whole lot of .nomedia being ignored in the logcat.
Eh, enough fiddling for the day.
Could you show us the lines in logcat where it's ignoring .nomedia?
Oh, it's not very helpful. No mention of the directory. Just a lot of lines saying
Code:
D/ ( 3214): found .nomedia, skipping directory
Over and over, exactly the same.
You say you placed a file called .nomedia in folders you want hidden but they still show. What about folders that already have .nomedia, are they showing as well? Maybe, if you haven't tried. Copy an orignal .nomedia file from a folder not showing up in your gallery to your personal folders.
It sounds like you created the .nomedia file from your phone directly. I don't know how that works, but here's what worked for me:
Open text editor (notepad in Windows), File -> Save As, give ".nomedia" as the name, and under "Save as type", use "All files". This made a file that worked for me.
Also make sure you have the file browser showing file extensions, so you know that .nomedia file isn't actually .nomedia.xxx.
Sistum Id said:
You say you placed a file called .nomedia in folders you want hidden but they still show. What about folders that already have .nomedia, are they showing as well? Maybe, if you haven't tried. Copy an orignal .nomedia file from a folder not showing up in your gallery to your personal folders.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've tried that too, what I think is that there is some sort of cache or something in the gallery app that I an't get rid of. I've tried another gallery app form the market, and it works with the .nomedia perfectly. If this really ends up driving me crazy I'll wait until I flash CM6 and see if that fixes it, just don't want to right now while I'm away on vacation.
cigar3tte said:
It sounds like you created the .nomedia file from your phone directly. I don't know how that works, but here's what worked for me:
Open text editor (notepad in Windows), File -> Save As, give ".nomedia" as the name, and under "Save as type", use "All files". This made a file that worked for me.
Also make sure you have the file browser showing file extensions, so you know that .nomedia file isn't actually .nomedia.xxx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, if you read my original post I've created the file many times, many ways. I know about extensions, I know how these things work. I've always just used touch before to do it, but this time since it didn't work I tried many other ways just to be sure. ls -al on the directory shows it is .nomedia exactly, nothing more, nothing less.
Clarkster said:
Yeah, I've tried that too, what I think is that there is some sort of cache or something in the gallery app that I an't get rid of. I've tried another gallery app form the market, and it works with the .nomedia perfectly. If this really ends up driving me crazy I'll wait until I flash CM6 and see if that fixes it,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i'm in the same boat, i've got Google maps icons in the gallery and some other assorted stuff that doesn't belong there. Did a Google search on the .nomedia thing, tried to incorporate a .nomedia (TXT) file into the offending folder a couple different ways but they're still there. I think i'll do the same, flash CM6 then go from there.
Interesting thought about the cache thing, I wonder if it could be something related?
Did you all clear the Media cache? I'd say force close it, clear its cache, then relaunch it?
Something weird is going on.. I had this happen too, but only because I hadn't remounted my SD card.
khaytsus said:
Did you all clear the Media cache? I'd say force close it, clear its cache, then relaunch it?
Something weird is going on.. I had this happen too, but only because I hadn't remounted my SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, I mentioned that in the first post. Force stopped it and cleared the cache.
There seems to literally be nothing left to do other than try a complete wipe, which I will do when I get CM6 on it.
Hi,
Maybe you know the windows app Belvedere, it's an app tha organizes files and folders (moves, renames, erases...) based on certain rules. I'm looking for an app like this for android. Something that , for example, moves the photos and videos into folders based on the day they were taken. ¿Is there an app like this? If not ¿What do you recommend me to keep my files organized?
Talking about organization, each app does whatever it pleases with the sd folder so it becamos a mess. I'm little obsesive about organization, so ideally I'd like to have some special folders in the root of the sd (Music, Pictures, Downloads, Ringtones...) and keep everything else at least hidden.
¿Is there a File Explorer that allows to create something like a virtual file hierachy or just uses bookmarks or similar? Something that when I open it lets me see the "folders" (real, bookmarks or links) I menntioned before. Or maybe, since it is linux based, create the folders using softlinks...
One last doubt. I recently discovered that in order to make the sistem recognize my ringtones I have to put them in the "ringtones" folder at the sd root. I have also learnt about the .nomedia file. My question is ¿how many of this special files and folders?
That's all. Hope you can help me and thanks in advance.
I just have a weired problem on my HTC One.
When I plug it into PC there is a folder called "Storage", in it are some of my music files (only SOME).
Also some of my files (those mentioned above) are 2 times in my Music App. One time at "storage/emulated/legaxy/Music/" and at "storage/emulated/0", but its one file because when I delete it frmo one location it gets deleted at the other too.
Anyone can help me to get rid of one of that storage lpcations?
Thanks
Robin
It's intentional, there are a few ways of getting to the sdcard location, they're just symlinks. Without them, older apps won't work.
Not sure why your music app can see both, did you mess with it's search paths?
BenPope said:
It's intentional, there are a few ways of getting to the sdcard location, they're just symlinks. Without them, older apps won't work.
Not sure why your music app can see both, did you mess with it's search paths?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No haven't changed anything there... Maybe a app like SD Maid or CleanMaster is causing this?
Thanks