Hello when you delete apps on android does it leave "traces" on the phone even after uninstalling? For example, empty folders, directories, etc... I'm quite OCD about these things and feel "cluttered" not knowing. Any information about this would be appreciated.
Also, if even after deleting the app there are traces leftover, are there any apps to "scan" and "clean" these leftover files?
Thank you.
Sent from my SM-N910T3 using XDA Forums Pro.
It can happen, and I'm ocd about it too. SD maid has a "corpse finder" function to clean up incomplete uninstalls, and I also periodically plug my phone into my computer and sort the folders by date modified and just manually delete any ghost data left over.
kabuk1 said:
It can happen, and I'm ocd about it too. SD maid has a "corpse finder" function to clean up incomplete uninstalls, and I also periodically plug my phone into my computer and sort the folders by date modified and just manually delete any ghost data left over.
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Click to collapse
Glad I'm not the only one OCD with my phone....thanks for the info on SD MAID. Gonna get that right now.
I flash roms way too often to have to worry about that. ? That's my ocd.....rom flashwhoreitis
Related
Woops! I thought I had deleted some incriminating pictures from the gallery and with astro file manager BUT while looking through the SD card , I found old deleted pics!
How can I really delete pictures without them showing up in some cache directory?
I heard that in-order to do so you needed to email them to someone totally random. I can give you a totally random email address for this purpose if you like ;-)
I think there are Cache clearing apps on the market, last i remember anyways.
LOL...
Thats no good. It should delete without any apps...damn.
all it does is super compress them so they can be overwritten...
As you'll no doubt aware, most disks/SSDs, memory sticks, microSDs still contain most old "deleted" files, even if they aren't obvious, until where the data was has been overwritten by something else..
Couple of useful bits of code, TestDisk & PhotoRec can help recover lost stuff (or stuff someone thought they'd deleted (!!!!) )..
get them here..
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
NB Both these bits of software can completely screw machines/PCs/Laptops. whatever so BE CAREFULL!!!!!
I'm just about to try PhotoRec on the N1 and see what she finds... & will report...
My mate dodgy Rob found fascinating deleted SMS messages on his wife's (non-Android) 'phone.... the story of what he did about it is even funnier...
Cheers!
Lodger
Yup, Photorec can recover deleted stuff - .jpegs, .mov, .mpegs.. at least it did from my N1... - you have been warned ...
Running Ubuntu (Linux) & looking at the microSD card it reports 907 items on the microSD
Photorec recovered 3,724 items (!).. on the microSD and kindly copied them all to my Laptop..
If you really really need to feel confident something has gone then (I'm not an expert mind...) i understand you need to either..
a) (quick 'n dirty method ..) Fill up the apparently " empty" bit of the SD with garbage - eg some other .jpegs... or
b) To be really certain, re-format her: Several times... probably with several different file systems (FAT32, NTFS, EXT3...) , and don't chose the "quick" options...
Cheers!
Lodger
mine disappear after a soft reset
Damn.....not good. How am I suppose to receive rated r pics from girls and not have my gf find out!
iag48 said:
Damn.....not good. How am I suppose to receive rated r pics from girls and not have my gf find out!
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Click to collapse
youre a horrible man
cymru said:
I heard that in-order to do so you needed to email them to someone totally random. I can give you a totally random email address for this purpose if you like ;-)
I think there are Cache clearing apps on the market, last i remember anyways.
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Click to collapse
I developed CacheMate for clearing cache. It would not work for this purpose. There are a few places where the images would be stored. When in the DCIM directory in /sdcard using Astro, make sure you are viewing hidden file and directories. You can do this by check the "Show Hidden Files" checkbox in Menu > Preferences > Look and Feel. You need to delete the pics from the .thumbnails directory too. If you really want, you can always cue them up in the gallery and delete them that way (long pressing on the pictures brings up the multiple select checkbox). Hope this helps a little.
Thanks for the help.
Re: get pics back from sd card
Actually, the easy way to recover deleted photos from sd card or hard disk is to use a photo software. You can google it and you will get many photo recovery softwares. But they are mostly not free. I have come across the same thing like you. Finally, I get my pics back with Yesterdata.
Kind Tips:
Don't save the recovered data on your memory card again. Find another place for it like on your computer or other external disk, for safety's sake.
iag48 said:
Woops! I thought I had deleted some incriminating pictures from the gallery and with astro file manager BUT while looking through the SD card , I found old deleted pics!
How can I really delete pictures without them showing up in some cache directory?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This should not happen as deleted pictures remains on the phone. But there are nexus photo recovery tool that helps to undelete photos on nexus phones. See this article: recover deleted photos on nexus phone
hope this helps.
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
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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)
First about my phone, It's a Sprint CDMA Hero rooted and running Damages 2.09.1 rom. I have a 16gig card in it and the phone really works well.
Now my problem..........
My internal memory has a parasite that is slowly eating it away. I have figured out that when internal memory gets below 16MB it turns on the little warning in the status bar. So this is how I'm checking my internal memory so everyone that takes their time to respond to me is using the same method. I go to Settings> SD&Phone Storage, at the bottom of the screen that comes up is the "Internal Phone Storage" Available space and mine says 15.84MB. Today I installed a highly rated memory manager from the Market and it didn't help at all. So my first question is How much "internal Phone Storage" do you have left?
Now my second question is when you go to Settings> Applications> Manage Applications> and scroll way down to "Mail - HTC Corporation" and click on that. Now look at the storage. Mine says 15.64 MB Total. Which breaks down there to Application 2.59MB and Data at 13.05MB. Clearly my Mail program is holding the biggest chunk of memory. But I want to know how this compares to everyone else's. If this is true then it would account for the parasitic growth or loss of my memory.
So if I'm way different then this will start a good discussion on what to do about this problem. Just let me say at this point that I delete all email once I have read it. I delete the sent, draft and Trash folders too. I also go into the SD Card and delete everything that is in the .Mail folder. So if my phone is storing old email now I have to fine out where and delete it.........
Also I constantly clear out the various cache's that the phone has too. But this memory is slowly going away. Any help would be appreciated very much.
I also appreciate everyone weighing in on this perplexing problem.
Thanks for your help and comments.........
Lisa
You can try clearing data for mail. If you don't want to reset up your accounts, back up mail account settings with titanium backup and restore afterwards. Also, consider using apps2sd, and storage is a non issue.
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App
How do I clear out the "mail data"? I have looked for that data and can't find it. If you could tell me where that data us located I would clear it NOW!
Also I will look into that apps2sd now also.
Thanks for your help......
Lisa
Double post, sorry, mods please delete
"Internal Phone Storage" Available space and mine says 15.84MB. Today I installed a highly rated memory manager from the Market and it didn't help at all.
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Click to collapse
you are confusing storage (like a Hard Drive) and RAM (memory)... the memory manager only helps keep unneeded programs from running in the background it will not free up space on the internal 'hard drive'
you could also 'upgrade' to CyanogenMod 6 as Android 2.2 natively supports putting apps on the SD card.
mslisaj said:
...when you go to Settings> Applications> Manage Applications> and scroll way down to "Mail - HTC Corporation" and click on that...
...Also I constantly clear out the various cache's that the phone has too...
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Click to collapse
mslisaj said:
How do I clear out the "mail data"? I have looked for that data and can't find it. If you could tell me where that data us located I would clear it NOW!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You 'clear data' in the same place you 'clear cache', which you said you know how to do above. Its in the manage apps menu.
Well how do I clear space on my internal "hard drive"? How do I clear mail data which seems to be hogging my memory?
Houston we have a problem and don't know how to fix it....
Yyou go to the same place we told you before. Settings, applications, manage, then view all and sort by size. Then you will see what's taking up space. You can go into it there and clear data. If you are rooted, download cachecleaner and run it. If none of that helps then you either have to start uninstalling apps you don't use or you've done something that is affecting your storage space and you need to probably do a wipe/reflash.
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App
Well my Mail App or rather the stock HTC Mail app is the growing hog. When I go in to "Manage Applications" all I can clear is the Cache and NOT the data that is so big. I just don't get this. My memory, as I said has a parasite that is growing and eating memory. I'm right on the ragged edge of the flagged warning coming up about "low memory".
Here is a radical idea. Can I go in to the system> app folder and copy and save the HTC Mail apk and then delete the file and hopefully the entire Mail program from my phone. Reboot and then reinstall the HTC Mail apk and run it to reinstall it and then reset up my email? It's definitely the Mail application that is growing and I don't know why. It's saving mail somewhere...........
Also I downloaded and installed the Cacheclean program and ran it. It said all my cache was already clean so it proves I have been diligent about keeping what I can clean................
All help and idea's are appreciated.
mslisaj said:
Also I downloaded and installed the Cacheclean program and ran it. It said all my cache was already clean so it proves I have been diligent about keeping what I can clean
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Click to collapse
that's not what that means. that means either superuser permissions is not working properly, or you've lost root on your phone, or something related to busybox, per the app developer. believe me, i've ran into that application telling me the same thing multiple times. you could never keep cache that clean on your phone unless you never used it.
Well the cache cleaner isn't working. I checked the SU program and the cache cleaner is not listed there so I guess its not working. Busybox and SU are working for titanium so the cache cleaner is a dive.
Oh well I get A for effort. I'll just use this lousy hero till it runs put of memory and I guess get a better phone like a LG or Droid.......
Or when it's no longer functional you can run the ruu and see if that fixes anything
The htc mail app has a bug where the mail doesnt get deleted even when you empty the trash. Its stored somewhere hidden on the internal memory. Also if you sync mail for more than 3 days it seems to cause memory issues as well.
Best bet is to use the K9 mail app. It will allow you to keep things clean.
Now 13+ megs should not be causing an issue so obviously you have a decent amount of apps installed as well. Id recommend running the a2sd to keep your internal clean.
I am following through as I alway do to thank you all for your help and tell you how I resolved the problem. I received some great advice from everyone and the last tip, which is usually my luck was the best.
The bottom line someone questioned why I thought I lost root. I explained what was going on and the best and final suggestion was to down load the latest Superuser.apk and flash through "recovery". Yes I had to ask exactly what that meant but I followed the directions and did it. Problem solved. I had SU working on my phone for Root Explorer and Titanium Backup. Then I downloaded Cachecleaner and it worked this time perfectly and it found 25MB of junk on my phone and cleared it out. So now I'm running 40MB of internal memory with all my programs working rather snappy now. In my estimation I screwed up the SU with the memory manager that was recommended somewhere along the line. When it didn't do anything for me I uninstalled it and I think my SU went with it. But the phone is fixed and I want to thank you all for your time in responding to my problem and requests. Sometimes multiple............
Thanks again.....
Lisa
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?
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Click to collapse
No haven't changed anything there... Maybe a app like SD Maid or CleanMaster is causing this?
Thanks
greetings community,
i have tried to search it, but being pro newbie, I found nothing. Is it possible to make this folder little bit lighter it takes 22gb of space, and my poor phone has only 64gb
I have rooted devices
thank you in advance
You can delete some apps using root file manager. I've use root explorer and have for years but nowadays there are times where it will not allow me to delete some apps (YouTube, chrome are a few this has happened to me on..) that my phone will NOT allow me to. And yes I have magisk and root explorer pro has root permission when this has happened. One way to get these apps off when this has happened to me is use another root file manager. Amaze file manager did the trick. I was able to delete apps I could not with root explorer. I'm BIG on not having useless bloatware on my phone so disabling apps is NOT my style. I usually save a copy by making backup and throw the backed up apks on my laptop or a USB thumb drive and delete whatever in case I end up deleting something that messes with my phone...Far as what can be deleted and what can't you can just discover for yourself. That's what I've done. I'm currently on a custom rom and I normally don't do much deleting unless I'm using the Google stock rom. If and when I do wipe more off stock I'll return and give you a list of what I did clear out. Just look in /system/app, /system/priv-app, product/app, /vendor/app with a root app and go to town. That's what I've always done. I believe TWRP for Android 11, the test build that bigbiff dropped about a month ago works now to make backups so that would be something to maybe do before hand in case you end up needing to restore your rom. On a few other devices I've owned people would sometimes make a thread on here for apps that can be removed and all and then list what they took off and what not to. I believe this Is what you are talking about.. If so hopefully it helps
Far as making system folder smaller and not meaning apps I believe it's possible but I think maybe you would have to repartition your device to do that and although it's possible it's dangerous. One wrong move and you have a paper weight doing that. I messed up my original Pixel XL because power went out while I was doing it before I was done and it was a goner. If anything I say here isn't right or there is more information about this please someone share who has more knowledge of this sort of thing. I would love to know as well. Good day/night to all. Cheers.
100kaa said:
greetings community,
i have tried to search it, but being pro newbie, I found nothing. Is it possible to make this folder little bit lighter it takes 22gb of space, and my poor phone has only 64gb
I have rooted devices
thank you in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@100kaa
You would be better off deleting excess files, trash, and photos that are already backed up. The system partition can be mounted and some files removed, but for the most part it is a minefield. Google has a fantastic new tool (since changing Photos retention rules) called "Takeout" that allows you to back up the contents of many parts of your phone and allows you do d/l it in compressed format directly to your PC. Check it out. OTHERWISE- If you simply must carry large files like movies, music database, pictures etc. then consider getting a USB-C OTG drive.
https://takeout.google.com/
This is why you get a phone with an SD card slot.
You then use the SD card as your data drive.
Only the apps and temporary folders go on the internal memory.
Next best thing is a flash stick or use cloud based storage which has downsides to it. Even if your internal storage is huge you don't want to store critical data there. I use about 64 of my 500gb of internal vs 340 of 500gb on the data drive.
If a large data base is on a large internal memory a data restore takes... forever. Most times the SD card is spared in OS crash and burns. Plus it can be used to restore the OS drive apps and settings.
Much of the above doesn't help you now but it could with future devices. All my PCs even my laptop are configured as dual drives. I learned a long time ago it works well, saves sweat and data.