The behavior you describe may be caused by a change in memory handling implemented in the Android OS spec from V4.3. I'm not a tech expert, but have read some of the posts. From v 4.3, Android changes the way SD (and all) memory is handled: it "forces" specific permissions. The net effect is that only a program that wrote the SD data can access or change (or erase) that data. This change was described as done to improve the issue of data loss on APP removal. With multiple Apps able to access the same SD data (v 4.2.2 and earlier), removing one app might destroy data that is also being used by some other app. The techies noted this change, and that there would be issues, up to a year ago - I found some threads from ~Jan '14 and earlier that anticipated the issue you describe, where one app that used to access SD data no longer can after 4.3 or later is installed. I'd guess some developers may be able to rewrite their apps to overcome this issue, but time frame seems uncertain.