Today i am presenting a simple HTML page which everyone can use to visualize the file system layout of Android Phones.
http://anantshri.info/andro/file_system.html
I have tried to keep vendor specific stuff out of the list however if you think this needs correction feel free to point out and correct it out.
Link : http://anantshri.info/andro/file_system.html
November 27th, 2011 at 2:18 am
There are several errors wrt to applications. The top level /cache is *not* used by applications, but by the system.
/data/data is by package name (unique) not by activity – there can be many activities in an app but there is only one data directory.
Below /data/data/PACKAGENAME are some directories. In manage application settings the data size shown is the space used by this directory and its contents (subdirectories included). There is a subdirectory named ‘cache’ which is used as that. Preferences and other items are also stored in this directory hierarchy.
There are also directories on the sdcard. Applications should be putting their stuff in /mnt/sdcard/Android/data/PACKAGENAME instead of littering the top level of the sdcard.
Note that for all of the paths above, developers should be using the Android APIs which will return the correct paths for you – you should not be hard coding them.
Finally on the sdcard there is /mnt/sdcard/.android_secture. This directory contains encrypted applications that were installed to the sdcard instead of phone internal memory.
November 27th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
Thanks for this! I’m not into android, nor do I use it, but being into linux I was curious about the OS and related things.
This one gives quite a basic insight to start with.
December 11th, 2011 at 12:45 am
hi Roger,
thanks for taking the time out and helping with the structure.
changes as suggested are now implemented.
January 10th, 2012 at 8:04 pm
Thanks for your android file tree description. I’ve been trying to understand my Galaxy S file system to locate the dozens of ebooks I downloaded. Your file tree and explanations were a big help.
Thanks from Israel.
February 16th, 2012 at 12:15 pm
thanks for this info regarding file structure.It helped me in my project giving presentation.