Database Develop

[Q] How do I manage files in internal storage?

How do I manage the files on the internal storage? I'm wondering if with all my flashing of roms and screwing around if I'm using up room with a bunch of backups.
Also, how much room is supposed to be there, 512 MB?

I personally use Astro, another good choice is Root Explorer if you need to view system files on the phone itself and not just the sdcard.
EDIT:Just read your post again and you specifically said Internal, so i would say Root Explorer is a good choice.

scgolfer7 said:
I personally use Astro, another good choice is Root Explorer if you need to view system files on the phone itself and not just the sdcard.
EDIT:Just read your post again and you specifically said Internal, so i would say Root Explorer is a good choice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, thanks!

move apps to external stoarge

I am the lucky owner of a new RAZR-i and have practically no real complaints (yet). However, I would like to move certain apps (some games use up huge amounts of storage: Asphalt Heat 7) to my sdcard (labeled "external1" on my razr-i).
That does not seem to be possible. In settings it offers to move stuff to the external card, but only movies etc, not apps. when I go to apps and select the game, it also does not offer any option and finally "App2SD" could not move it either.
There must be a way....Any suggestions?
Thanks!

You can't bay all accounts due to the way Motorola work...
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app

htcmodteam said:
You can't bay all accounts due to the way Motorola work...
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey.... I'm on the same situation... That's my only problem with RAZR i
Is there really no way to transfer apps to SD?
Tks.

hacks should work...
I haven't tried anything like this yet (only just got my RAZR i) but I did a similar thing on a LG C660.
The hack I used was to move /data/app onto the SD card and symlink it back. So the phone could find everything under /data/app but the actual .apks were on the SD card (useful because the internal storage was tiny).
I used an app called Simple2Ext to enable this hack but it was probably designed for older devices and may not handle the different paths used on the RAZR i. It also installed startup scripts (that ensured the SD card was mounted early during the boot so the symlinks were valid when they were first accessed) that are most likely not compatible.
If you want to move only some apps, move /data/app/<app>.apk to the SD card and symlink it back into /data/app. You'll need to manually clean up the .apk on the SD card if you remove the app.
With both of these, you can't boot the phone without the SD card or remove the SD card at any time while the phone is running.
An example of the commands you might use (entered into an ADB shell or terminal):
move all apps to SD card
Code:
$ su
# mv /data/app /external1
# ln -s /external1/app /data
move angry birds to SD card
Code:
$ su
# mkdir /external1/app
# mv /data/app/com.rovio.angrybirds-1.apk /external1/app
# ln -s /external1/app/com.rovio.angrybirds-1.apk /data/app
If you don't understand the above... please don't do this. It's dangerous and you could break your phone.

You can use directory bind for that:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1410262
Need to use the alternate DB (check the settings of the apps), but it works great to "move" folder from the sdcard to external.
This is the only workaround we have until a custom rom let us use external as SDcard.

Direcrtory Bind
Le_Poilu said:
You can use directory bind for that:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1410262
Need to use the alternate DB (check the settings of the apps), but it works great to "move" folder from the sdcard to external.
This is the only workaround we have until a custom rom let us use external as SDcard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using DirectoryBind with my Razr i and works almost perfect, I can't make a Data base backup so if I turn off the Phone I lose all the bind directories and I have to do it again, so I'm not turning off the phone never ever. The rest works perfect and very fast.
good luck!

xopendaz said:
I'm using DirectoryBind with my Razr i and works almost perfect, I can't make a Data base backup so if I turn off the Phone I lose all the bind directories and I have to do it again, so I'm not turning off the phone never ever. The rest works perfect and very fast.
good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you use the alternate db in the settings it will keep the bind directory after reboot
Envoyé depuis mon Nexus 7 avec Tapatalk

xopendaz said:
I'm using DirectoryBind with my Razr i and works almost perfect, I can't make a Data base backup so if I turn off the Phone I lose all the bind directories and I have to do it again, so I'm not turning off the phone never ever. The rest works perfect and very fast.
good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could use init.d scripts to do it automatically at boot.
But first you need to enable init.d (check here)

nrseife said:
I am the lucky owner of a new RAZR-i and have practically no real complaints (yet). However, I would like to move certain apps (some games use up huge amounts of storage: Asphalt Heat 7) to my sdcard (labeled "external1" on my razr-i).
That does not seem to be possible. In settings it offers to move stuff to the external card, but only movies etc, not apps. when I go to apps and select the game, it also does not offer any option and finally "App2SD" could not move it either.
There must be a way....Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really sure why you need to..... do you have 5Gb of apps????
Reason I ask is I have all my music on sd card, camera can be set to store directly to Sd card and if you've forgpt to do that when you fill phone like I did with a video the other day it asks if you want to transfer all videos and photos to SD card... Problem solved no messing about looking in options

Yes I do have more than 5GB of apps + sd data. and for me the problem is that the application is gonna try to store the data in the Sd card, and our main partition is called sdcard and external1 the sdcard so... all the data of the apps like need for speed, whatsapp, N.O.V.A ... is going to be stored in your internal memory because of that my phone memory was full in 48 hours.
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app

help me!!
xopendaz said:
Yes I do have more than 5GB of apps + sd data. and for me the problem is that the application is gonna try to store the data in the Sd card, and our main partition is called sdcard and external1 the sdcard so... all the data of the apps like need for speed, whatsapp, N.O.V.A ... is going to be stored in your internal memory because of that my phone memory was full in 48 hours.
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hello I tried using bind directory, but when I link the dorectorios and open a game simply does not recognize the link and I can not play anything that I start to request data, help! How Do I? Does init.d solved? I need an explanation. Also let me know which firmware have
thank you!

Directory Bind
josmel91 said:
hello I tried using bind directory, but when I link the dorectorios and open a game simply does not recognize the link and I can not play anything that I start to request data, help! How Do I? Does init.d solved? I need an explanation. Also let me know which firmware have
thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-Open Directory Bind
-Go to menu click Add new entry
-Enter in (data) path where you are gonna place the data en your external sd " /external1/ " where you want save it, the directory should be empty if doesn´t exists you will be asked to create it.
-Enter in mount(target) the path (directoy) of the data that you want to move to external1 , for example " /sdcard/Android/data/directory name "
-check Transfer files from target to data.
-click on Add.
Once the process has finished :
-Check your entry on the main menu by clicking on the check box.
-Click over the diskette on the right side to save it.
-Click on menu - Bind checked.
-Click on More - Backup Database. (I´m stil fighting to make the database backup) use to fail.
After this :
-Go to menu - preferences
- Check Bind on boot.
-Handle USB connection.
-Backup config file.
-use alternate db
Note: If you restart the phone and the database backup failed before, you will lose your bind directory, not the data, you will have to do it all over again, in other thread is explained how to backup the data base, because in my case, even with alternate db checked in directory bind settings, the data base backup is still failing.
Good luck!

xopendaz said:
-Open Directory Bind
-Go to menu click Add new entry
-Enter in (data) path where you are gonna place the data en your external sd " /external1/ " where you want save it, the directory should be empty if doesn´t exists you will be asked to create it.
-Enter in mount(target) the path (directoy) of the data that you want to move to external1 , for example " /sdcard/Android/data/directory name "
-check Transfer files from target to data.
-click on Add.
Once the process has finished :
-Check your entry on the main menu by clicking on the check box.
-Click over the diskette on the right side to save it.
-Click on menu - Bind checked.
-Click on More - Backup Database. (I´m stil fighting to make the database backup) use to fail.
After this :
-Go to menu - preferences
- Check Bind on boot.
-Handle USB connection.
-Backup config file.
-use alternate db
Note: If you restart the phone and the database backup failed before, you will lose your bind directory, not the data, you will have to do it all over again, in other thread is explained how to backup the data base, because in my case, even with alternate db checked in directory bind settings, the data base backup is still failing.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
excuse me what is your firmware?
---------- Post added at 03:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:04 PM ----------
I did everything I say, and the link is created all very bn!, but when I open the game seems to not link anything, the game asks me sd data again: '(I do not know what to do

stock ics 4.0.4 rooted
are you able to see the sdcard data on your external1 with Astro or other similar file manager? is a original not cracked app?
81.5.32002.XT890.retail.en.Eu
Do you see the files in both sides sdcard and external1?
How do you store the data in the phone? do you copy the data to external1 and then you move it to the sdcard and then you use directory bind? in this way for me it's working
Or you copy the data directly to the sdcard and after taht you use directory bind? in this way for me it' not working
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app

xopendaz said:
stock ics 4.0.4 rooted
are you able to see the sdcard data on your external1 with Astro or other similar file manager? is a original not cracked app?
81.5.32002.XT890.retail.en.Eu
Do you see the files in both sides sdcard and external1?
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hello
yes! I see them on both sides in external1 and sdcard but when I run a game sd data calls. sd data are always there but the game any game I ask.

How do you store the data in the phone? do you copy the data to external1 and then you move it to the sdcard and then you use directory bind? in this way for me it's working
Or you copy the data directly to the sdcard and after taht you use directory bind? in this way for me it' not working
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app

xopendaz said:
How do you store the data in the phone? do you copy the data to external1 and then you move it to the sdcard and then you use directory bind? in this way for me it's working
Or you copy the data directly to the sdcard and after taht you use directory bind? in this way for me it' not working
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did what you told me but I served.
you tell me what version of bind directory you use?

version 0.2.0k
you have root acces right? the root button on directory bind appears green?
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app

I wish Motorola would let you install to the (real) SD card.
I can't really use Spotify, despite having bought a 64GB memory card. I've now had to limit the number of games I can install too.
I expect music and films purchased on Play will also be limited?
In fact, I'd rather use the 64GB card for apps and the internal storage for photos and video recording!!

I will try, hopefully work!

[Q] Duplicate Sdcard after 4.2.2

I know this is an issue, but I'm not sure how to fix it. Basically in ES File Explorer, my sdcard is 9GB full, but in storage it shows 18GB full. Also, in the root storage folder is 0 and legacy in the emulated folder. I gather that 0 is my actual sdcard, but that legacy is the dupe. Can anyone share the fix for this?
Thanks.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Finagle69 said:
I know this is an issue, but I'm not sure how to fix it. Basically in ES File Explorer, my sdcard is 9GB full, but in storage it shows 18GB full. Also, in the root storage folder is 0 and legacy in the emulated folder. I gather that 0 is my actual sdcard, but that legacy is the dupe. Can anyone share the fix for this?
Thanks.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Navigate to /data/media/ and delete everything in this folder, except the '0' folder

Can't delete files
Matt said:
Navigate to /data/media/ and delete everything in this folder, except the '0' folder
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been living with duplicate folders for a year after upgrading to 4.2.2 but I've never been able to delete them. When I try to delete the unnecessary files in /data/media it takes a long time and just pops up with an "Could not delete 1 file(s).folder(s)!" in Total Commander. Could anyone give me some suggestions?

pete2bec2 said:
I've been living with duplicate folders for a year after upgrading to 4.2.2 but I've never been able to delete them. When I try to delete the unnecessary files in /data/media it takes a long time and just pops up with an "Could not delete 1 file(s).folder(s)!" in Total Commander. Could anyone give me some suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
copy your sdcard to PC
reboot to recovery
in twrp wipe / advanced wipe / Internal Storage
this will totally format the sdcard
copy your files from PC to phone .. done

Success!
clsA said:
copy your sdcard to PC
reboot to recovery
in twrp wipe / advanced wipe / Internal Storage
this will totally format the sdcard
copy your files from PC to phone .. done
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had 6GB free, backed up about 12GB data (which I haven't restored and might not) and now I have 22GB available with everything working normally, all of my contacts, etc.

pete2bec2 said:
I had 6GB free, backed up about 12GB data (which I haven't restored and might not) and now I have 22GB available with everything working normally, all of my contacts, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that sounds about right

Matt said:
Navigate to /data/media/ and delete everything in this folder, except the '0' folder
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This fixed my problem!
There were only two other folders within my media dir; 'legacy' and 'obb', and both were empty. After I deleted them everything went back to normal.
Cheers!

sdcard "01" folder in internal storage

Today, I have experienced a very "odd" problem. I have just found out that there is a folder called "storage" visible in my Internal Storage.
When I thought that, since it was visible, it did not contain much useful files (Only 2 xml files I found which would be in both internal and external storage) so I deleted that folder and everything in my SD Card and Internal Storage vanished.
I found out that the "storage" folder had a link to both storage devices but the weird thing is, why was that there and why is it visible? I could of sworn that I have never seen that before on my Xperia Z...
Can anyone else see their "storage" folder in the internal storage or is it just me?

ZeroInfinity said:
Today, I have experienced a very "odd" problem. I have just found out that there is a folder called "storage" visible in my Internal Storage.
When I thought that, since it was visible, it did not contain much useful files (Only 2 xml files I found which would be in both internal and external storage) so I deleted that folder and everything in my SD Card and Internal Storage vanished.
I found out that the "storage" folder had a link to both storage devices but the weird thing is, why was that there and why is it visible? I could of sworn that I have never seen that before on my Xperia Z...
Can anyone else see their "storage" folder in the internal storage or is it just me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi.
At root, i have sdcard and sdcard1 and storage. Inside storage folder i have sdcard0 and sdcard1. I have seen this before for long time ago.

CiscoX said:
Hi.
At root, i have sdcard and sdcard1 and storage. Inside storage folder i have sdcard0 and sdcard1. I have seen this before for long time ago.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but this is totally different from what I have experienced.
From Windows, Internal Storage would have a folder called "storage" with another folder called "01" inside the storage folder. So "Internal Storage/storage/01/" if it was read on a Windows PC. inside the storage folder, there is just 1 folder called "01", nothing else. inside "01" folder, there are ONLY 2 .xml files which are the same as the 2 .xml files you would have by default in the root of your Internal and External Storage.
In short- Internel Storage has a folder called storage, inside storage has a folder called 01, inside 01 there are only 2 .xml files. The strange thing is, if it were linked to Internal/External Storage, why only 2 .xml files are visible in the 01 folder?
EDIT: When I tried to delete the storage folder (At the time I did not know that it was linked) Windows loading bar for deleting files did not move so I had to cancel it. Once cancelled, everything in my external/internal storage was wiped off. Thankfully, I recovered most of my lost pictures with Recuva

Not sure but I think this folder came somehow from the recovery maybe a bug.
I hope you didn't lost important things.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using xda premium

ZeroInfinity said:
but this is totally different from what I have experienced.
From Windows, Internal Storage would have a folder called "storage" with another folder called "01" inside the storage folder. So "Internal Storage/storage/01/" if it was read on a Windows PC. inside the storage folder, there is just 1 folder called "01", nothing else. inside "01" folder, there are ONLY 2 .xml files which are the same as the 2 .xml files you would have by default in the root of your Internal and External Storage.
In short- Internel Storage has a folder called storage, inside storage has a folder called 01, inside 01 there are only 2 .xml files. The strange thing is, if it were linked to Internal/External Storage, why only 2 .xml files are visible in the 01 folder?
EDIT: When I tried to delete the storage folder (At the time I did not know that it was linked) Windows loading bar for deleting files did not move so I had to cancel it. Once cancelled, everything in my external/internal storage was wiped off. Thankfully, I recovered most of my lost pictures with Recuva
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this is very strange. I remember when i did see this after i bought my phone i was thinking this must be an bug. Another thing, in root i also have a folder named: ext_card and it is the same as sdcard1 here. Sdcard1 is my microSD card i have, but why so many folder linked to the same folders.
At root i go to storage, inside i have folders: emulated, removable, sdcard0, sdcard1 usbdisk.
Inside emulated i have 0 and legacy. etc etc
All of them are linked and goes to the same internal card and external card,

gm007 said:
Not sure but I think this folder came somehow from the recovery maybe a bug.
I hope you didn't lost important things.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it really is a bug, we need to know what did actually cause this to happen.
And yeah, Recuva was really useful for me
CiscoX said:
Yes, this is very strange. I remember when i did see this after i bought my phone i was thinking this must be an bug. Another thing, in root i also have a folder named: ext_card and it is the same as sdcard1 here. Sdcard1 is my microSD card i have, but why so many folder linked to the same folders.
At root i go to storage, inside i have folders: emulated, removable, sdcard0, sdcard1 usbdisk.
Inside emulated i have 0 and legacy. etc etc
All of them are linked and goes to the same internal card and external card,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Too many linked folders make it confusing, why would there be a linked folder visible in the Internal Storage though? this is what is really confusing me right now.
Need more reports if any one else has found this mysterious "storage" folder in their Internal Storage...

im not sure but if everyone with this folder are running 4.2.2 it is for the multiuser or multitasking feature of jellybean 4.2.2

skinsfanbdh said:
im not sure but if everyone with this folder are running 4.2.2 it is for the multiuser or multitasking feature of jellybean 4.2.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange, this is the first time I have ever seen this. I only saw this folder today and I have been on custom roms based on stock xperia firmware android 4.2.2 for ages now... Why would it appear just today? I don't think multitasking will cause this to happen since it doesn't create any folders/files related to it (afaik).

I've had something like this happen where in emulated/0 (my main internal SD storage) there was another 0 folder that freaked out recoveries and such. I had the similar "can't delete from windows" thing, but using a in-recovery file manager I just deleted it, problem solved. tl;dr if you want to delete it and its causing problems delete it from recovery.
Sent from rooted carbon note 2, with the xda app.

shbaldw said:
I've had something like this happen where in emulated/0 (my main internal SD storage) there was another 0 folder that freaked out recoveries and such. I had the similar "can't delete from windows" thing, but using a in-recovery file manager I just deleted it, problem solved. tl;dr if you want to delete it and its causing problems delete it from recovery.
Sent from rooted carbon note 2, with the xda app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly what im talking about. lots of threads in the htc one forum about it and being this device was released with 4.1.2(like the htc one) and has recently been updated to 4.2.2(like the htc one) maybe its the same thing, not saying it is because i dont know. just sounds like the same thing

shbaldw said:
I've had something like this happen where in emulated/0 (my main internal SD storage) there was another 0 folder that freaked out recoveries and such. I had the similar "can't delete from windows" thing, but using a in-recovery file manager I just deleted it, problem solved. tl;dr if you want to delete it and its causing problems delete it from recovery.
Sent from rooted carbon note 2, with the xda app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Windows did not make any progress in deleting it, it was stuck on the Preparing to delete... window. Once I cancelled it because it took too long, everything from sd card/ internal storage was gone. All because of that storage folder inside my Internal Storage...
I know about the emulated/0 issue (From previous HTC One X Android 4.2.2 AOSP roms) but this seems to be completely different from it.

skinsfanbdh;44594029...and being this device was released with 4.1.2(like the htc one) and has recently been updated to 4.2.2(like the htc one)...[/QUOTE said:
hmm, I updated my phone from 4.1.2 to 4.2.2 prior to seeing this. This might be the cause. Anyone else have this happen?
Sent from rooted carbon note 2, with the xda app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

shbaldw said:
hmm, I updated my phone from 4.1.2 to 4.2.2 prior to seeing this. This might be the cause. Anyone else have this happen?
Sent from rooted carbon note 2, with the xda app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it has anything to do with an upgraded android version. Like I said before, I have been on Android 4.2.2 a long time now (Upgraded when the firmware first came out) and I have never seen this folder before. I have just seen it yesterday. Another strange thing is that after I attempted to delete the storage folder, Everything was gone INCLUDING that storage folder. I haven't seen the storage folder after that happened. I'm going to go flash another rom and full wipe to see if the storage folder pops up again.
EDIT: Right, no there is no more storage folder in Internal Storage after a full wipe and formatted everything! Very strange indeed...

Wierd storage folder symlink inside internal storage!
ZeroInfinity said:
I don't think it has anything to do with an upgraded android version. Like I said before, I have been on Android 4.2.2 a long time now (Upgraded when the firmware first came out) and I have never seen this folder before. I have just seen it yesterday. Another strange thing is that after I attempted to delete the storage folder, Everything was gone INCLUDING that storage folder. I haven't seen the storage folder after that happened. I'm going to go flash another rom and full wipe to see if the storage folder pops up again.
EDIT: Right, no there is no more storage folder in Internal Storage after a full wipe and formatted everything! Very strange indeed...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know this is a very old thread but I face the same issue in Android 5.1.1 now and I too deleted the folder named storage only to see that all the data from the sd card has vanished because of that. Any idea what caused this buggy symlink to be created?
All my data is now gone because I just deleted one folder inside my sdcard, and I didn't even think to backup anything since I didn't even dream that deleting a single folder will delete the parent folder! Again recuva was my friend but still I am not able to recover everything in internal storage, any suggestions on what to use to scan the internal storage?

anantharam said:
I know this is a very old thread but I face the same issue in Android 5.1.1 now and I too deleted the folder named storage only to see that all the data from the sd card has vanished because of that. Any idea what caused this buggy symlink to be created?
All my data is now gone because I just deleted one folder inside my sdcard, and I didn't even think to backup anything since I didn't even dream that deleting a single folder will delete the parent folder! Again recuva was my friend but still I am not able to recover everything in internal storage, any suggestions on what to use to scan the internal storage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you upgrade to newer firmware using a zip? That's a common bug when upgrading via zip.
The only proper way is to backup ur entire internal storage and flash a full ftf. Then you will not have the annoying symlink.

langeveld024 said:
Did you upgrade to newer firmware using a zip? That's a common bug when upgrading via zip.
The only proper way is to backup ur entire internal storage and flash a full ftf. Then you will not have the annoying symlink.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did do a factory reset before flashing a new firmware. Not sure what else I should do..
And as for the internal storage recovery, I followed these different guides but raw file using vhdtool and recuva did not give me any single file that was last present in my internal memory and even extundelete didn't return any single file that was in the internal storage, some of these tools return hundreds of text files and images that I had no idea was in my internal storage but none of them return me any of the hundreds of images and videos that I was sure were in my internal storage.

anantharam said:
I did do a factory reset before flashing a new firmware. Not sure what else I should do..
And as for the internal storage recovery, I followed these different guides but raw file using vhdtool and recuva did not give me any single file that was last present in my internal memory and even extundelete didn't return any single file that was in the internal storage, some of these tools return hundreds of text files and images that I had no idea was in my internal storage but none of them return me any of the hundreds of images and videos that I was sure were in my internal storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but if you factory reset on 4.4.2 (for example) and then flash 5.0.2 fw via zip in recovery, you will get the annoying folder symlink.
The only way to upgrade to lollipop is by flashing a full ftf (which will wipe internal sd) after that you won't have the annoying symlink.
But you flashed zip instead of ftf and discovered the folder symlink which seemed not harmful to delete so you deleted it. Right?
Then there's no chance in getting the data (photos etc) back.
I was the same situation as you, twice, I tried every possibility to recover my photos but it ended up with nothing. Everything was gone.
On a mechanical harddrive, when you wiped data, the data will only be gone when the wiped sectors are overwritten (e.g. format harddrive, which overwrite with empty buffer).
As long as the wiped data in those sectors are not overwritten, you'll be able to recover almost all - if not all - data you deleted.
On flash memory instead, (such as ssd drives and internal storage of our phone) deleted data is immediately deleted.
(that's also one of the reasons on Android, you never have to defragment the internal sd, same story for an ssd)
I'm sorry for u to say but I'm afraid you're unfortunately lost the photos and there's no way to get it back.
But my advice to you is:
Never upgrade between android versions (e.g. 4.4 > 5.0) using a zip installable.
Only use full factory images (ftf), they will wipe internal sd in order to get correct mappings so backup everything before flashing.
Once u on a firmware, an update to the same firmware is allowed (e.g. from one 5.0.2 rom to another 5.0.2 rom).
I hope it helps u in the future.
Regards

langeveld024 said:
Yes but if you factory reset on 4.4.2 (for example) and then flash 5.0.2 fw via zip in recovery, you will get the annoying folder symlink.
The only way to upgrade to lollipop is by flashing a full ftf (which will wipe internal sd) after that you won't have the annoying symlink.
But you flashed zip instead of ftf and discovered the folder symlink which seemed not harmful to delete so you deleted it. Right?
Then there's no chance in getting the data (photos etc) back.
I was the same situation as you, twice, I tried every possibility to recover my photos but it ended up with nothing. Everything was gone.
On a mechanical harddrive, when you wiped data, the data will only be gone when the wiped sectors are overwritten (e.g. format harddrive, which overwrite with empty buffer).
As long as the wiped data in those sectors are not overwritten, you'll be able to recover almost all - if not all - data you deleted.
On flash memory instead, (such as ssd drives and internal storage of our phone) deleted data is immediately deleted.
(that's also one of the reasons on Android, you never have to defragment the internal sd, same story for an ssd)
I'm sorry for u to say but I'm afraid you're unfortunately lost the photos and there's no way to get it back.
But my advice to you is:
Never upgrade between android versions (e.g. 4.4 > 5.0) using a zip installable.
Only use full factory images (ftf), they will wipe internal sd in order to get correct mappings so backup everything before flashing.
Once u on a firmware, an update to the same firmware is allowed (e.g. from one 5.0.2 rom to another 5.0.2 rom).
I hope it helps u in the future.
Regards
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Thank you very much for the detailed explanation, after wasting two whole days trying everything described anywhere in the internet for recovering data from internal storage, I have also learnt it the hard way that it won't be possible to recover my data. Anyways the good news is google photos had backed up most of my photos, so it would actually be the call recordings, whatsapp history and other documents that I would have to loose permanently.
langeveld024 said:
Never upgrade between android versions (e.g. 4.4 > 5.0) using a zip installable.
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As for the upgrade issue, is this only for lollipop or any android version? I have never seen anything similar when I upgraded from 4.0 to 4.1 or 4.2 to 4.4 e.t.c. If I shouldn't use zip installable to upgrade android versions how else do I upgrade to kitkat or lollipop? I don't think there are any factory images published for lollipop for my phone since support for it ended long time ago.

ZeroInfinity said:
Today, I have experienced a very "odd" problem. I have just found out that there is a folder called "storage" visible in my Internal Storage.
When I thought that, since it was visible, it did not contain much useful files (Only 2 xml files I found which would be in both internal and external storage) so I deleted that folder and everything in my SD Card and Internal Storage vanished.
I found out that the "storage" folder had a link to both storage devices but the weird thing is, why was that there and why is it visible? I could of sworn that I have never seen that before on my Xperia Z...
Can anyone else see their "storage" folder in the internal storage or is it just me?
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Am again reviving this old thread as today I deleted a folder named sdcard inside my oneplus 3's internal storage and lost everyrhing. Though I had never upgraded my phone using any zip file and always went with the OTA update
I also made a thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-3/help/strange-t3537998

Storage issue (Phantom partition?)

So my One has been well above 20gigs of used space for some time, With an average of about 3 gigs of free space at any given time. I've checked my sdcard folder and it is about 5gb of space total (with downloads and everything else). There have been occasions where I plug the phone into USB and go to a folder quick and the files are ones I've never seen before (example in downloads folder the files are different then my actual downloads folder). I also have a directory 0, emulated, and legacy inside of Storage. These are exact synced copies of sdcard. Each taking up the same space (so 4x the actual amount of used space) and if I delete a file/folder for anyone of these directories it removes it from all including the sdcard.
Has anyone experienced this? is there a way to fix this without wiping the entire phone clean?

jmalone1187 said:
So my One has been well above 20gigs of used space for some time, With an average of about 3 gigs of free space at any given time. I've checked my sdcard folder and it is about 5gb of space total (with downloads and everything else). There have been occasions where I plug the phone into USB and go to a folder quick and the files are ones I've never seen before (example in downloads folder the files are different then my actual downloads folder). I also have a directory 0, emulated, and legacy inside of Storage. These are exact synced copies of sdcard. Each taking up the same space (so 4x the actual amount of used space) and if I delete a file/folder for anyone of these directories it removes it from all including the sdcard.
Has anyone experienced this? is there a way to fix this without wiping the entire phone clean?
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Do you go between AOSP/Sense roms? I don't see it anymore but it used to happen back when AOSP first starting coming out for the phone. It had to do with the multiuser support. It would leave all your Sense files but it would move the AOSP folder so you couldn't access them. Flashing a sense rom would let you access those files. I believe you can also access them by using a root explorer (es file also has a root option) and going up to /data/media you should be able to see those files and /data/media/0 should be the AOSP files.

jmalone1187 said:
So my One has been well above 20gigs of used space for some time, With an average of about 3 gigs of free space at any given time. I've checked my sdcard folder and it is about 5gb of space total (with downloads and everything else). There have been occasions where I plug the phone into USB and go to a folder quick and the files are ones I've never seen before (example in downloads folder the files are different then my actual downloads folder). I also have a directory 0, emulated, and legacy inside of Storage. These are exact synced copies of sdcard. Each taking up the same space (so 4x the actual amount of used space) and if I delete a file/folder for anyone of these directories it removes it from all including the sdcard.
Has anyone experienced this? is there a way to fix this without wiping the entire phone clean?
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Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2158466 here is some info

Thanks for the replies! Will give this stuff a shot. Thank you