Making sense of your Android phone's storage folders

Since Android is a Linux-based operating system, your handset features a Linux-esque file system structure. Under this system there are six main ... LinksonAndroidAuthoritymayearnusacommission. Learnmore. MakingsenseofyourAndroidphone'sstoragefoldersFilemanagerscanbeapowerfultoolforkeepingyourphone'sstorageorganized,butit'snotalwaysclearwhatsomefoldersarefor.FeaturesByRobertTriggs•January19,2017Androidfilemanagerscanbeapowerfultoolforkeepingyourhandsetorganized,butAndroid’sorganizationalstructure,orseeminglackofone,canbealittledauntingforthe casualbrowser.Appdata,pictures,music,andmoreareallaccessedthroughasinglestartingfolder,andthat’scertainlyadifferenttaketothehierarchythat PCandMacuserswillbeusedto,andismuchmorepowerfulthanwhat’savailabletoiOSusers.WithAndroid, youwon’thaveaccesstothedeepestAndroidsystemfileswithabasicfilemanagerorPCconnection.Still,thisdoesn’tmeanthatyoucanjust deleteanyfileatwill.Here’sabreakdownofsomeofthemostcommonstoragefolders,whatthey’refor,andwhichonesyoucandelete. Storagehierarchy SinceAndroidisaLinux-basedoperatingsystem,yourhandsetfeaturesa Linux-esquefilesystemstructure.Underthissystemtherearesixmainpartitionsoneverydevice: boot,system,recovery,data,cache,andmisc.MicroSDcardsalsocountastheirownmemorypartition.DevicesthatshipwithAndroid7.0Nougatandtheintroductionofseamlessupdatesaddsinasecondsystempartition,oneofwhichisupdatedinthebackgroundandcanbequicklyswitchedtoonreboot,makingtheupdateappearseamless.Here’saquickbreakdownaboutwhat’scontainedineachpartition: boot– Thispartition containsthekernel,ramdisk,etc.requiredforthephonetobootwhenpoweredon. system– Thesystempartition housestheoperatingsystemfiles(alsoknownastheROM),whichincludes theAndroidUIandpre-installedapplications. recovery–AnalternativeoptiontobootingintotheOS,therecoverysoftwarecanallowtheusertobackupandrestoreotherpartitions. data– Thedatapartition savesuserdatarangingfromcontactsandmessagestoappsandmusic,andisthepartitionyoucanaccessviaafilebrowser.Thissectoriswipedwhenperformingafactoryreset. cache– Androidstoresfrequentlyuseddataandappcomponentshere.Thiscanbewipedtofixcertainissuesandisautomaticallyrebuiltandupdatedovertime. misc–Thispartitioncontainsotherimportantsystemsettinginformation,suchasaUSBconfiguration,carrierID,andotherhardwaresettings,usuallysavedintheformofon/offswitches. Withoutrootaccess,Androidusersonlyhaveaccesstothedatapartitionandthat’swhatyou’llbelookingatwhenconnectingyourphoneuptoyourPCorbrowsingviaafilemanager.YourmicroSDcard,ifapplicable,willalsoappearmountedunderthisuseraccessibledatapartition,whichyoucanalsoaccessviaPCorafileapp. Normallyyoucanonlyaccessappdatasavedintheuserdatapartition.Rootaccessisrequiredforappsanduserstoaccessothermemorylocations. Appsandcommonfolders(thedatapartition) Withthatbackgroundoutoftheway,wenowknowthatwedon’thaveaccesstoanyofthecoreboot,recoveryorAndroidsystemfileswhenbrowsingthroughthedatapartition,socausingacatastrophicsystemfailurewouldbeprettyhardtodo.Thisisdifferentforrootusersthough.Evenso,westillneedtobecarefulaboutwhatwedointhissector,ascertainappscanrelyondatasavedhereanddeletingormovingitcancausesysteminstability.Beforewegoanyfurther,youmaywanttohoponintoyourphone’sdatapartitiontotakealookwhat’sinthere.Todothis,phoneswithAndroidMarshmalloworNougatinstalledcomewiththeirownfilemanagerthatcanaccessthisfullpartition.Thisoption ishiddenawayunder Settings>Storage>Other.SomephonesonolderversionsofAndroidmayormaynotincludetheirownfileexplorer,dependingontheOEM.Alternatively,thereareplentyofthird-partyapplicationsavailableonthePlayStorethatcandothesamething.TwoofthemostpopularareFXFileExplorerandSolidExplorer.(Editor’snote:ESFileExplorerusedtobeagreatoption,butwecan’trecommenditanymoreduetoitsuser-unfriendlyadpractices.)It’salsopossibletobrowseyourfilesonyourPCbyconnectingviaUSB.JustmakesurethatyourphoneisinMTP(MediaTransfer)modesothatyoucanseethefulldatapartition. YourinternalstoragecanbeaccessedboththroughyourPCordirectlyonyourphoneviaafilebrowser. Ifyourinternalstorageislookingalittlefull,youmaynoticethatthereareanumberoffoldersherededicatedtoapps,perhapsevenleftoveronesthatyouhaveuninstalled.Asaruleofthumb,wedon’trecommendtamperingwithanyappfiles,butifyouhaveuninstalledanappandnoticethatafolderisleftbehindthenthereshouldn’tbeanyharmindeletingthefolder.It’sprobablyemptyanyway,orcontainssomelogfilesthatarenolongerofanyuse.Evenifyoudon’thavemanyappsinstalled,bydefaultthisuserdatapartitionwillcontainanumberoffoldersusedforstoringyourcontacts,picture,music,etc.Here’sabreakdownofthemostcommonfoldersthatyou’llfindhere,whichdon’tbelongtoathirdpartyapp. Android– Thisisthedefaultlocationusedforappcacheandsaveddata.Notrecommendedtodeleteunlessyoudon’tmindlosingyourappdata;doingsomightcausesomeappstomalfunction. Alarms,Ringtones,Notifications – Thisfolderstorescustom audiofiles foralarms,ringtones,andnotificationsthatcanbeusedbysomedefaultandthirdpartyapps. Cardboard– Thisisanotherself-explanatoryfolder,whichcontainsdataforsomevirtualrealityapps,butwillotherwisebeempty. DCIM– Picturestakenbyyourmaincameraapparesavedinhere.You’llfindthisfoldercreatedonyourmicroSDcardifyouopttosavepicturesthere,too. Downloads– Anythingthatyoudownloadfromawebbrowser,suchasChromeorFirefox,willappearhere. Pictures,Music,Movies,Video– Thesearealldefaultfoldersusedbyvariousappsforyourmedianeeds.Someappswillallowyoutospecifyotherlocations,butmostmediaplayerswillsearchthesedirectoriesbydefault.Screenshotsareoftensavedinthepicturesfolder. Podcasts– Thisfolderisusedbysomeappstoseparatepostcastfilesfromtherestofyourmusic.Willbeemptyifyoudon’tuseapodcastapp. So,whichstoragefolderscanI(orshouldI)delete? Withappfolders,it’snotrecommendtotamperwiththemunlessyouknowexactlywhatyouwanttodelete.It’ssafetoaddanddeletefilesfromanyofthemedialocations,butmightnotbewisetogetridofthefolderalltogether.Ifafolderisempty,suchastheAlarmsfolder,youmightthinkyoudon’tneedit,butit’salsonottakingupanymeaningfulspaceonyourdeviceandit’sprobablybesttokeepitlesssomeapprelyonitatalatertime. 10bestAndroidfileexplorerapps,filebrowsers,andfilemanagersApps Overtime,yourphone’sinternalmemoryislikelytolookalotbusierthanjustthesefoldersabove,asyouinstallanduninstallagrowingnumberofapps.Anoccasionaltidy-upisneverabadidea,butunlessyoumovefilesonandoffyourphoneregularly,Iwouldn’tworryaboutit.Plus,removingemptyfoldersisn’tgoingtofreeupanyspace;insteadyou’lllikelyhavetoremoveappsordeletesomemovies.Nowthatyouknowwhateachofthesefoldersisusedfor,you’llhopefullyfinditeasiertokeepyourAndroidhandsetthatlittlebitmoreorganized. Thanksforthesuggestion,SagarSiddhapura! FeaturesNewsComments