Why is Android creating (garbage?) external sdcard directories?

[Andrews]

Understanding how operating systems are organized is important.

Recently I swapped out my portable memory 64GB sdcard which was used in my
Galaxy since 2021 when T-Mobile provided me a handful of free 5G phones:

*Using Windows to make Android smoother*
<https://www.novabbs.com/computers/article-flat.php?id=55204&group=comp.mobile.android#55204>

When I swapped in the 128GB sdcard and tested for a week, everything was as
smooth as you could ever hope for. Nothing glitched. I'm amazed.

Given that happy experience, what the heck is the Android operating system
doing with all those other directories it created on my external sdcard?
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Ignoring "Pictures" & "DCIM" (which I periodically copy over to Windows),
what does Android do with all those (garbage?) directories on the sd card?

Are they (mostly) all just garbage?

Can it be that Android is using the sdcard mostly to put its garbage there?

[R.Wieser]

Andrews,

Post by Andrews
what does Android do with all those (garbage?) directories on the sd card?

When you check the "internal storage" on your smarthone you might notice
that the same directories are on there too.

IOW, what you see is (most likely) the OS regarding your SD card as its
backup medium - and as such initializing it for future usage.

Yes, I noticed that happening to - when my USB stick got inserted into the
smartphone of a friend of mine. I don't like it either.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

[Andrews]

Post by R.Wieser
Andrews,

Post by Andrews
what does Android do with all those (garbage?) directories on the sd card?

When you check the "internal storage" on your smarthone you might notice
that the same directories are on there too.

Yes. They're there also. Same garbage that I have never needed to use.
<Loading Image...>

Post by R.Wieser
IOW, what you see is (most likely) the OS regarding your SD card as its
backup medium - and as such initializing it for future usage.

Well, some of it is the installed apps but the point is I make a single
top-level directory on the internal memory just as I do on the external sd.
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It doesn't matter what the name is, but I make it "0000" for the internal
sdcard and "0001" for the external sdcard for three simple reasons:
1. It shows up on top in a typical sort
2. It tells me instantly which card I'm looking at
3. It's easy to remember when typing "/storage/0000-0001/0001"
(which a lot of the Android servers require you to tap out by hand)
<Loading Image...>

Post by R.Wieser
Yes, I noticed that happening to - when my USB stick got inserted into the
smartphone of a friend of mine. I don't like it either.

Well, Windows does the same thing so I also make a top-level directory on
Windows to store my stuff (C:\data), where I do the same on Android.
<Loading Image...>

[R.Wieser]

Andrews,

Post by Andrews
Yes. They're there also. Same garbage that I have never needed to use.

:-) Long ago people trashed their computers by deleting "garbage" files they
didn't recognise . Only to find out that that "garbage" was actualy used by
the OS.

Post by Andrews
Well, some of it is the installed apps but the point is I make a single
top-level directory on the internal memory just as I do on the external sd.

The problem is that you think the SD card is yours to manage, while Android
thinks its his. And I'm afraid that Android can out-stubborn you. :-( :-)

IOW, don't try to fight it, its not something you can win.

What you /could/ do is to, on the 'puter, write a bit of code/script that
will remove all empty (root) folders from the SD card. A clean-up so to
speak.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

[Andrews]

Post by R.Wieser
The problem is that you think the SD card is yours to manage, while Android
thinks its his. And I'm afraid that Android can out-stubborn you. :-( :-)
IOW, don't try to fight it, its not something you can win.
What you /could/ do is to, on the 'puter, write a bit of code/script that
will remove all empty (root) folders from the SD card. A clean-up so to
speak.

That was a good way to put it, which is that Android owns that sdcard.
Not us.

The good news is I wiped out everything on the sdcard except the one
top-level folder that I had created on it just after formatting it.

And it still worked.

The Android garbage folders came back though, as you implied they would.

Android owns that card. Not me. :->

[R.Wieser]

Andrews,

Post by Andrews
The good news is I wiped out everything on the sdcard except the
one top-level folder that I had created on it just after formatting it.
And it still worked.

I was not in doubt of that. Luckely SD cards that have methods to disallow
deep access to it are few and rather costly.

Post by Andrews
The Android garbage folders came back though, as you implied they would.

Yep. The same can, and does happen when two people share an USB stick.

Post by Andrews
Android owns that card. Not me. :->

*Both* of you own that card. Its just that (Googles) Android is a bit of a
"silent partner". :-)

Regards,
Rudy Wieser