Why does the Android OS allow for such a big mess to be made?

[Red_Avatar]

I'm talking about the SD card, to be more specific. Imagine if Windows just plonked all the data of applications in the root folder of your hard drive - they used to do this back in the DOS days, dumping files all over your hard drive, but luckily these files are now mostly constrained to sub folders of "My Documents" and "Appdata".

So why on earth do all apps create custom folders, clogging up the folder tree of your SD card and making it a big mess - not to mention finding personal folders becomes tedious. There's no reason for over 50 folders to be in the root of the drive, 40 of those being just for installed apps. If only a custom app could solve this but I fear this is beyond the capabilities of apps and needs to be resolved by Google. My SD card is NOT a trash can, dear app developers ...

 

[aysiu]

Good call, but cleaning this up now would be difficult, as suddenly any application that stores stuff on your SD card would be broken.

The workaround I would suggest is putting all your stuff in a folder you call 1A so you can have /sdcard/1A/Music and /sd/card/1A/Photos and so on. Then in your file browser application, set /sdcard/1A to be your starting directory instead of /sdcard

 

[snapper.fishes]

I feel your pain. I hate messy directories too.

Makes me wonder though, is "Program Files" patented?

 

[Brucew0617]

You mean the SD card? I think that's OK, because I will manage it, found a folder to hold music, a folder to hold video etc. But some apps will create the folders, and the name make me feel so bad.

 

[snapper.fishes]

You mean the SD card? I think that's OK, because I will manage it, found a folder to hold music, a folder to hold video etc. But some apps will create the folders, and the name make me feel so bad.

And depending on how many apps you have, there can be a LOT of folders.

 

[Usta]

Exactly. If you like to try new apps and install a lot of them, the directories get messy even after you uninstall those apps.
Very often I have to go and manually remove folders that are left behind by removed apps.

 

[skunkonkrunk]

I share your pain, I hate messy folders also.

I also chose to do what some people here have done. My folders are INCAPS11 exactly like that, so it is easy for me to find what I want. Kinda like an "out of sight, out of mind" thing. Almost....

 

[PSkeptic]

I'm talking about the SD card, to be more specific. Imagine if Windows just plonked all the data of applications in the root folder of your hard drive - they used to do this back in the DOS days, dumping files all over your hard drive, but luckily these files are now mostly constrained to sub folders of "My Documents" and "Appdata".

So why on earth do all apps create custom folders, clogging up the folder tree of your SD card and making it a big mess - not to mention finding personal folders becomes tedious. There's no reason for over 50 folders to be in the root of the drive, 40 of those being just for installed apps. If only a custom app could solve this but I fear this is beyond the capabilities of apps and needs to be resolved by Google. My SD card is NOT a trash can, dear app developers ...

Because your SD card IS your "App Data" or "/home" or "C:\Documents and Settings"... That's why.

Apps leave that data there, because originally, people were swapping out apps, due to low amounts internal storage.

Most apps know where they put their data, and therefore look right there. The idea of "browsing" your folder tree was really and afterthought.

 

[takeshi]

The idea of "browsing" your folder tree was really and afterthought.

I suspect this plays a role. I mean, consider how many devices don't ship with a file manager. How many of the majority of users out there actually worry about this anyway? A lot of us enthusiasts that frequent Android forums worry about it but, as is typically forgotten/overlooked/not even considered, we're just a tiny percent of the overall Android user base.