ext_sd folder confusion

[gardengal4]

I was just browsing my phone on my computer and things look a bit weird and unexpected.

1. EXT_SD: Under HTC STORAGE>ext_sd there is DCIM, MyMusic and MyPictures (mostly empty) and four .jpg files with zero length. This ext_sd folder apparently got creamed along the way. The image files are all dated the same: 7/25/2012 at 9:25AM. It is possible this date may have been the date of the ICS update.

2. There is another drive L: that seems to have the "external sd" contents. There is: DCIM, Download, Upload, MyMusic, MyPictures, VaultService, Video, My Documents, and.data folders. When I first got the phone I downloaded my computer pics and music to MyMusic and MyPictures folders. Which I think was under the ext_sd folder.

3. There is also HTC STORAGE (J that has tons of folder including another dcim. Other apps seem to put pics there. (instagram, messaging, screenshots). Too bad they can't all share the same dcim folder.

Is there some historical usage of ext_sd folder that has changed along the way?

The reason I was looking around was because ever since ICS update, my sd card becomes unmounted randomly. My pictures are supposed to go to external sd, but when it is unmounted, they end up in HTC STORAGE:dcim and I have to go manually transfer them. This is a pain. I don't use Gallery for picture viewing but the App I do use for viewing only looks in the true external sd card or ext_sd. When I see the partial contents in ext_sd, that's when I know the sd card got unmounted and my camera settings need to be reset to external sd. It seems to be happening more often lately.

Can I safely delete the ext_sd folder? It really doesn't seem to be hosting anything anymore. Or should I do something else so that it is recognized as the ext_sd. Is it a link to L:?

 

[B. Diddy]

What drive is that first EXT_SD folder associated with? It looks like the J: drive is the phone's Internal Storage, while the L: drive is the external SD card. A number of folders (like DCIM) will be duplicated on both Internal Storage and the external SD card, because the camera can use both for storage.

 

[gardengal4]

What drive is that first EXT_SD folder associated with? .

ext_sd is under HTC STORAGE (J) (which is internal storage). I can navigate to it, but contents are bogus.

I truly think it used to be the true external storage. Maybe a link?

 

[B. Diddy]

That's weird. If there's nothing of value in that folder, you could probably delete it, and then see if it's created again by the system.

 

[gardengal4]

using a file explorer on the phone, I navigate to sdcard/ext_sd and the contents look like the two "external" areas mentioned above are merged in one view.

 

[acejavelin]

iirc... the ext_sd directory is a link used when the sdcard is mounted by the phone (not when it's mounted by a PC externally), if you use a file explorer of somekind when it is not connected to the PC, this directory /storage/sdcard/ext_sd should be a sym link to /storage/sdcard2 or similar depending on the ROM in use. If you delete it under Windows (not sure you can) you MAY break some applications functionality when the volumes are mounted on the phone if some of them use the old path to get to the external SD card. At one time many apps could only access the external SD card via /sdcard/ext_sd

I know this isn't very clear, but it has been a long time since I used a stock ROM... but here is a list of some possible things that are "the same" External SD:

/sdcard2
/sdcard/ext_sd
/storage/sdcard2
/mnt/sdcard/ext_sd

Only one of these is "real", all the other ones just point to the real one.

Android cannot merge and mount these correctly when your PC is mounting the volumes, so they appear fragmented.

Long story short, do not delete or mess with these directories, it can break stuff.

 

[B. Diddy]

That does make sense. I'll agree with that, and forget what I said before. Don't delete the folder.

 

[gardengal4]

iirc... the ext_sd directory is a link used when the sdcard is mounted by the phone (not when it's mounted by a PC externally), ...
Long story short, do not delete or mess with these directories, it can break stuff.

Yup, that's the only scenario that is making sense from what I was seeing. And I think somewhere along the way long ago something did break because there are strange folders and files in the ext_sd "directory" when viewed from the PC. I think I will clean them up via the phone file explorer. I think the ext_sd "directory" should technically be empty if it is a link to L:

Now, if I only knew how to stop the unmounting from happening. That's when I get the bogus files in the ext_sd "directory" from my pic viewer.