9/11/2014 4.0 ice cream sandwich - Android Folder Hierarchy -
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Android Folder Hierarchy
On Android's root (/), what is the purpose of each folder? I am
wanting to learn the folder hierarchy structure of Android 2.3 and
4.x, if they
have different folders in "/".
4.0-ice-cream-sandwich 2.3-gingerbread file-system
edited Jul 2 '13 at 12:44
GAThrawn
18.4k 5 47 103
asked Jun 9 '13 at 12:47
Devyn Collier Johnson
224 2 17
1 Related, for Jellybean (4.1+) What kind of data is stored in
/data/user directory? GAThrawn Jul 2 '13 at 12:43
1 Answer
First, you need to be aware of two facts:
Android uses more than one file system (think of "multiple
drives/partitions" when comparing
with your computer
while sharing a common base, directory structures might differ
between manufacturers
So as starting points, I further recommend the and the (you
might also want to take a look at the most frequented questions
using those tags).
file-system tag-wiki partition tag-wiki
In my answer, I will concentrate on the mentioned "common base".
However, there still might be
deviations made by some manufacturers.
Partitions
As said, Android makes use of multiple partitions. In the file
system, they are represented by
"directories", which serve as their mount-points:
| Partition | Explanation |
| /boot | kernel & Co. |
| /cache | app cache |
| /data | user data partition |
| /data/data | app data |
| /dev | devices |
| /mnt/asec | encrypted apps (App2SD) |
| /mnt/emmc | internal sdcard |
| /mnt/sdcard | external sdcard |
| /proc | process information |
| /recovery | used in recovery mode |
| /system | system ROM (read-only) |
Details below
virtual file systems
these might differ. Often, is the internal SDCard, while the
external SDCard is found
in .
/mnt/sdcard
/mnd/sdcard/external_sd
Above list is far from being complete, but should hold the most
important partitions.
Directories
Here I again will concentrate of the partitions which are most
interesting (or this answer would get
far to long and, for most readers, boring.
and /data /data/data
These are in most cases two separate partitions, but there might
be cases where this is handled
otherwise. One thing they have in common (add here as well):
they get wiped on a
, while the other partitions are usually left untouched by
that.
/cache
factory-reset
9/11/2014 4.0 ice cream sandwich - Android Folder Hierarchy -
Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange
http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/46926/android-folder-hierarchy/46934#46934
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, while the other partitions are usually left untouched by
that.factory-reset
As for the directories contained, I will again concentrate on a
selection; most things here you either
cannot touch without having your device rooted.
| Directory | Explanation |
| /data/anr | traces from app crashes (App Not Responding) |
| /data/app | .apk files of apps installed by the user |
| /data/backup | Googles Cloud-Backup stuff |
| /data/dalvik-cache | optimized versions of installed apps
|
| /data/data | app data |
| /data/local | temporary files from e.g. Google Play |
| /data/misc | system configuration (WiFi, VPN, etc.) |
| /data/system | more system related stuff (certs, battstat)
|
| /data/tombstones | more crash stuff ("core dumps") |
for details on the Dalvik cache, see:
each app gets its own data directory assigned here, using the
app's package name. There might be
a similar directory on your SDCard, mostly used by apps with
larger amounts of data.
usually, files are stored here temporarily to be
installed/executed. Google Play e.g. downloads
files to this directory, before installing the downloaded app on
your device
dalvik
.apk
Of course, I intentionally skipped several directories. If you
really want to go into details, this site
might not be the best fitting place (as we deal with end-user
questions -- and end-users normally
don't touch these things). In that case, several
places/ressources might be recommended:
XDA Developers
good technical books on Android (there's e.g. Andrew Hoogs
, which goes much deeper into details here)
Android Forensics and Mobile
Security
Where can I ask questions that aren't Android Enthusiast
questions?
answered Jun 9 '13 at 15:02
Izzy
40.6k 15 74 254
