9/11/2014

4.0 ice cream sandwich - Android Folder Hierarchy - Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange
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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

asked Jun 9 '13 at 12:47

Devyn Collier Johnson
224
2
17

103

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 file-system tag-wiki and the partition tag-wiki (you
might also want to take a look at the most frequented questions using those tags).
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, /mnt/sdcard is the internal SDCard, while the external SDCard is found
in /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.
/data

and

/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 /cache here as well): they get wiped on a
factory-reset , while the other partitions are usually left untouched by that.

http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/46926/android-folder-hierarchy/46934#46934

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9/11/2014

factory-reset

4.0 ice cream sandwich - Android Folder Hierarchy - Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange
, while the other partitions are usually left untouched by that.

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
| /data/local
| /data/misc

|
|
|

| app data
| temporary files from e.g. Google Play
| 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:

dalvik

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
.apk files to this directory, before installing the downloaded app on your device

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 Android Forensics and Mobile
Security, which goes much deeper into details here)
Where can I ask questions that aren't Android Enthusiast questions?
answered Jun 9 '13 at 15:02
Izzy
40.6k

15

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http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/46926/android-folder-hierarchy/46934#46934

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