An app is duplicating files on my SD card, how can I stop this?

[Nightowl001]

An app is duplicating files on my SD card

I have something going on with an unknown app where the downloads folder has hundreds of duplicated files. My downloaded files folder is up to 3447 and, I'm only guessing here, but I think it only had somewhere around 500 before this? I'm not sure which app is doing this. This is occurring in two places and both are on the SD card. The first is the downloaded photos and the second is the downloaded files. It may be that the two are one and the same just that the photos folder only shows the downloaded photos from the downloaded files folder. Also, there are photos that I have never seen before, a woman in a blue dress, a truck on fire, and others that I do not recognize. Additionally, I have noticed that other folders on the SD card are being accessed and changed as well because the dates of files inside those folders do not make any sense such as a photo that I took two weeks ago appeared yesterday as being taken yesterday. The date of that photo was dated for yesterday...

I have deleted apps, disabled apps, and stopped email from checking for new email (changed it to manual only). I thought it might be a setting in my email as a lot of the files are downloaded files from my email, but it continued after that. I'm not sure what to check next. I have been searching for anyone else having this issue, but I have not been able to find the answer. Either it is just me, or I haven't searched for the right combination of words.

Is there an app that would let me know what apps are accessing what folders? Or is there a way for me to figure out which app is causing this? I hate to even say this, but I remember when I switched from the iPhone 3G to Android. I thought my Android blew the iPhone away until I figured out that Android does not allow me to limit the access to certain things on my phone. If I want an app, I either allow it to access whatever it wants to access or I don't download the app. That is one thing I miss with the iPhone...about the only thing I miss really.

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: An app is duplicating files on my SD card

Welcome to Android Central! Can you be clearer about the directories in question? The Downloads directory (i.e., the directory that the phone by default saves files that are downloaded from the web) is on the Internal Storage, and typically not the microSD card (unless the phone has an option to change the default download location). Are you saying there's a separate Downloaded Photos directory?

Where are you seeing these directories? Are you using a file manager app, or are you using a Gallery app? Bear in mind that apps may cache various image files during their normal usage, and they normally shouldn't show up in your Gallery if the app developer did their homework and created a ".nomedia" file in the app's image cache directory. .nomedia instructs the system to ignore that directory when looking for images to add to the Gallery database. If they didn't create that .nomedia file, then all cached images for that app will appear in your Gallery.

 

[Nightowl001]

Sorry it took so long to get back. A lot of overtime and forgot my password.

I am using the factory file manager. There, I click on SD card. Then downloads. That folder now has 3548 files. Some are duplicates, some are photos that I recognize and are VERY old! Several years old. I have not viewed them, but some show a date of today. I know I did not download it today. I think it is an app that has permission to access photos and files. If I knew which one I would delete that app. I hate all of the permissions these apps are asking for. Sometimes I get why they need the permission, but a calculator app that needs access to my photos? Why? I wish we could turn those permissions off.

As for the photos, I am using the factory gallery. When I go there, I click on all downloads. That shows the same photos that are on the SD card in the downloads folder. The only difference is when I go into file manager and access the SD card downloads folder, there are also PDF files, word files, and Excel files along with the photos.

 

[Nightowl001]

I am very surprised more people are not having this issue. It is getting ridiculous!

 

[Nightowl001]

Update. I'm positive it is the factory email application that is causing this issue, but I have no idea why it is or how it is doing it. The reason I believe this is because several of the files are from old emails. The only other thing is "could" be is an application that is backing files up...