Wipe Apps off SD Card??

[xXxJessicaxXx]

Hi,

Here's my issue:

My HTC Desire S had been restarting itself on its own frequently since the OS update so I sent it in twice in the hopes that at some point they might be able to fix it... Each time they did a factory reset and each time I re-installed all my apps. Of course there's not enough room on my phone to house all the apps so I moved those that I could to the SD card. Problem is, the SD card isn't intelligent enough to wipe the app off it if it gets wiped off the phone.

So, now I have the app data on my SD card basically three times (some less if I didn't re-install the app) I want to wipe my SD card and re-install everything but I don't want to accidentally delete something important to the card or the phone. Is there a way to go about doing this? Is there a certain type of file that belongs to an app that will help me identify whether or not I'm deleting the right thing? I think you get the idea

Thanks in advance for any help!!

 

[jefboyardee]

Just USB to your PC, see it as a drive and hand-pick files/folders to delete. But I can’t see how any drive can allow duplicate filenames, as you seem to be describing.

 

[xXxJessicaxXx]

Unfortunately that's not possible because with this particular model of phone any usb connection to a PC isn't recognized. The folder doesn't show up on my computer and HTC Sync doesn't recognize the device (also all ever since the software update). I mean I can put the SD card in my computer and try to delete the files but like I said I don't want to go randomly deleting things I think belong to apps and having them be important for the phone or card. I don't understand why it allows duplicates either but the card just keeps getting fuller and fuller every time I re-install my apps and add them to the card so it must be keeping them under different names (appname (1) or something maybe I don't know)...

 

[jefboyardee]

The following are merely ‘what I’d do’ suggestions:

Unfortunately that's not possible because with this particular model of phone any usb connection to a PC isn't recognized.

Wow, didn’t know there was such a beast. Don’t know how it could call itself an Android without that basic feature. You mean when you plug it in to PC, there’s no droid notification that says “USB connected?” And have you tried a different USB cable?

I can put the SD card in my computer and try to delete the files but like I said I don't want to go randomly deleting things

You could at least stick in the PC and copy the whole thing to a new folder, put it back in the droid and zap the obvious ones.

Just leave the .android_secure, DCIM, download, mp3download, ProgramData, media, and Music folders alone, and while you’re at it, leave battery.log alone too. Everything else, I believe, was planted there by some non-system app.

the card just keeps getting fuller and fuller every time I re-install my apps

What I’d do is the previous step, then put the almost-empty SD back in the droid, delete all the apps and start over one more time. Once it’s all reinstalled for the umpteenth time, make a new PC copy of that too, so you can compare before and after.

 

[xXxJessicaxXx]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Yea I was pretty shocked to see it too. Not to mention it really ticked me off whenever I wanted to put music on it or take pictures off it because I always had to remove the sd card, put it in my computer, load on there, and put my phone back together. I did try with multiple cables and multiple different USB ports and nothing changed. It does say USB connected and all but the folder doesn't show up and Sync doesn't find a device.

But maybe I will try what you suggested and hope that by leaving the ones you mentioned I don't mess anything up. Maybe I can find a list somewhere of what are standard files on an sd card.

Thanks again!

 

[jefboyardee]

But maybe I will try what you suggested and hope that by leaving the ones you mentioned I don't mess anything up

And leave the bluetooth folder alone too. Forgot that one, cuz I never use it.

And yes, for all you brains out there, what are the stock files and folders on an SD?