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When I started with a fresh SD card, there were only very few folders in it. As time passed by when I tried many apps, I could see the folder list in my SD card seems to grow.

It is understandable that while an app is being uninstalled, it leaves behind its folder where it would have kept few files, which may be the settings file or game scores etc.

Is there any way I can remove all those orphaned folders in a batch or short operations? I have seen the question "How do one know which folder is created by which android apps" and can manually do it, but I am interested in kind of automatic solution.

My phone info: LG Optimus One (P500) running stock 2.3.3 V20D (rooted).

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  • Currently there are too many apps out there and every developer has their own naming for the folder that their apps create. It would be practically impossible to automate removal of such folders.. I've always been doing it manually. DCIM is one folder I never remove unless I don't need my images.
    – varunyellina
    Dec 11, 2012 at 9:12
  • Agreed. User created folders are to be differentiated as well. I wonder why the uninstaller does not provide a way for an user to remove an app completely (which will also remove folders created by the app).
    – Narayanan
    Dec 11, 2012 at 9:35
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    Agree to all above -- I doubt there's any complete solution. But as you are rooted, you might want to take a look at SD Maid - System cleaning tool, which at least finds a lot of the orphans.
    – Izzy ♦
    Dec 11, 2012 at 15:43
  • Can somehow Tasker be used to trigger removal of folder (with confirmation) when an app is uninstalled? Just a thought...
    – Narayanan
    Dec 12, 2012 at 4:37

1 Answer 1

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Unfortunately, as the comments state, there is currently no way to automate this - and I for one wish there was, as I find myself deleting loads of folders as well.

You should do it manually - but methodically, and it starts to seem to take a lot less time, as you start to think about it.

One thing to look out for is folders for game apps that you installed, as they may contain the downloaded game data - which can be quite large, which you may wish to keep incase you want to install and play the game again.

Like Izzy mentioned, SD Maid finds some of the orphan files for you - but not all.

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