what is /storage/emulated/legacy etc. and /storage/emulated/0 etc.

donec · Jan 13, 2013

I am not rooted.

I have researched and every time someone talks about this topic they start refering to doing things in root. I am a Linux user specifically a Linux Mint 13 KDE. However! I don't work with the terminal and have not since my DOS days, nor do I want to. IMO I'm too old to bother with it.

Now I use ES File Explorer as my file browser and I see there seems to be a duplication of almost everything on my device yet there is not enough room on the Nexus 4 16GB to hold 2 of everything I have loaded onto it.

So I assume the extra stuff I see are sym-links (I don't realy understand what they are just that they are not real). Am I correct?

Why when an app looks for duplicates does it show the stuff in /storage/emulated/legacy etc. and in /storage/emulated/0 etc. and report them as the same size?

Why am I allowed to create a folder in /storage/emulated/0 or /storage/emulated/legacy if they just contain sym-links? IMO I should not have access to those folders without being rooted.

Why when I add a folder in /storage/emulated/0 or /storage/emulated/legacy does it show up in /sdcard?

Eric Weir · May 6, 2013

donec said:
I use ES File Explorer as my file browser and I see there seems to be a duplication of almost everything on my device yet there is not enough room on the Nexus 4 16GB to hold 2 of everything I have loaded onto it.

So I assume the extra stuff I see are sym-links (I don't realy understand what they are just that they are not real). Am I correct?

Why when an app looks for duplicates does it show the stuff in /storage/emulated/legacy etc. and in /storage/emulated/0 etc. and report them as the same size?

Why am I allowed to create a folder in /storage/emulated/0 or /storage/emulated/legacy if they just contain sym-links? IMO I should not have access to those folders without being rooted.

Why when I add a folder in /storage/emulated/0 or /storage/emulated/legacy does it show up in /sdcard?

I was going to post a simpler version of this question: Why do I have [Android 4.2.2 on a Nexus 7] /storage/emulated/0/, /storage/emulated/legacy/, and /storage/sdcard0/ when they seem to have exactly the same contents? When, if I create something in /storage/emulated/0/ it's duplicated in the other two locations?

But I noticed this thread and decided to check it out. I am shocked that it'' gotten no response in five months.

Nuu~ · May 6, 2013

Eric Weir said:
I was going to post a simpler version of this question: Why do I have [Android 4.2.2 on a Nexus 7] /storage/emulated/0/, /storage/emulated/legacy/, and /storage/sdcard0/ when they seem to have exactly the same contents? When, if I create something in /storage/emulated/0/ it's duplicated in the other two locations?

But I noticed this thread and decided to check it out. I am shocked that it'' gotten no response in five months.

They are basically the same thing. 2 mount points pointing to the same storage device and partition.
If you create something in one folder, it will show up in the other. Same applies for deleting stuff.
They do not take away more storage space, as it is only available once but shown twice.

You also don't need to worry about it in any way because file browsers normally set their default directory to one of these locations.

As far as i know, Google changed the mount points in Android 4.2 to /storage/emulated/0/ due to them switching to MTP and EXT4(?) for the sdcard. The other mount points are still there for compatibility.
Don't quote me on that, though.

spaceman860 · May 6, 2013

They changed it for multi-user feature

Sent from my Nexus 4

DEFI4NT · Nov 22, 2013

Can I delete "legacy"

Nuu~ said:
They are basically the same thing. 2 mount points pointing to the same storage device and partition.
If you create something in one folder, it will show up in the other. Same applies for deleting stuff.
They do not take away more storage space, as it is only available once but shown twice.

You also don't need to worry about it in any way because file browsers normally set their default directory to one of these locations.

As far as i know, Google changed the mount points in Android 4.2 to /storage/emulated/0/ due to them switching to MTP and EXT4(?) for the sdcard. The other mount points are still there for compatibility.
Don't quote me on that, though.

Can I delete the legacy folder without harming anything?

lapocompris · Nov 22, 2013

DEFI4NT said:
Can I delete the legacy folder without harming anything?

Did you read the post that you quoted ?

"If you create something in one folder, it will show up in the other. Same applies for deleting stuff."

dethrat · Nov 22, 2013

DEFI4NT said:
Can I delete the legacy folder without harming anything?

Why would you even want to delete it in the first place? You wouldn't be gaining anything is just another mount point.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

eksasol · Nov 22, 2013

opssemnik · Nov 22, 2013

/storage, /sdcard are sym linked folders,that means when you open one of those, it redirects to the original(/data/media/0), as for the 0 is just a multi user feature implemented in android 4.2, but only enabled on tablet androids.
Why do this Sym-Link?: simple so it dosent break apps(not only file explorer type of app, but all apps).
Still dont get, why it would break?.Simple. android api have lots of ways to write/read files from folders, u can do manually,u can get the data path, u can get the sdcard path, etc,etc. so to not break that they just does these sym links, thats why in one app the storage contentents are listed on /sdcard but on others, is /storage, etc,etc. one example of an app that broke because of these changes to android is titanium backup, u need to change the internal storage on it, so it work.

dwipen · Jul 19, 2014

Are they really symlinks?

I want to make sure that they are sym linked files/ folders and not additional copies as it will directly impact the storage.
Emulated storage is the only reason i have not upgraded yet to Android 4.4 yet, despite ROMs being available ages ago..

1. Please let me know for confirmation, if there is no impact on storage space.
2. Can Link2SD be used in 4.4 with emulated storage?
3. If there is a file and its sym link/ copy; are the rights equally assigned to both files/ folders?
I mean to ask if there is a provision to have root previlege on the original file and read only rights on the sym link ? Is it possible??
the main reason for this question is that, if by mistake i do something on the sym lilnk, it should not affect the original file.
and whatever change i wish to operate on, i can do it on the original file itself.

Regards
Dwipen

opssemnik said:
/storage, /sdcard are sym linked folders,that means when you open one of those, it redirects to the original(/data/media/0), as for the 0 is just a multi user feature implemented in android 4.2, but only enabled on tablet androids.
Why do this Sym-Link?: simple so it dosent break apps(not only file explorer type of app, but all apps).
Still dont get, why it would break?.Simple. android api have lots of ways to write/read files from folders, u can do manually,u can get the data path, u can get the sdcard path, etc,etc. so to not break that they just does these sym links, thats why in one app the storage contentents are listed on /sdcard but on others, is /storage, etc,etc. one example of an app that broke because of these changes to android is titanium backup, u need to change the internal storage on it, so it work.

opssemnik · Jul 21, 2014

dwipen said:
I want to make sure that they are sym linked files/ folders and not additional copies as it will directly impact the storage.
Emulated storage is the only reason i have not upgraded yet to Android 4.4 yet, despite ROMs being available ages ago..

1. Please let me know for confirmation, if there is no impact on storage space.
2. Can Link2SD be used in 4.4 with emulated storage?
3. If there is a file and its sym link/ copy; are the rights equally assigned to both files/ folders?
I mean to ask if there is a provision to have root previlege on the original file and read only rights on the sym link ? Is it possible??
the main reason for this question is that, if by mistake i do something on the sym lilnk, it should not affect the original file.
and whatever change i wish to operate on, i can do it on the original file itself.

Regards
Dwipen

1- impact? no they are like .ink files in windows
2- yes link2sd works
3- the permissions are the same

kingrise · Jan 15, 2015

maybe someone here can explain whats going on

So my phone seems to have two systems (or probably more) running and it IS using up my memory. See attached photos. I own a 32gb Optimus G pro. Rooted and custom recovery. Beeen trying out a few ROMs. Well somehow I noticed that there is some kind of ghost app/system using up my memory. I only use 7.36 of my sd card (internal). Yet I only have 6gb of memory left. And I just noticed my calendar has double the entries.
Is there a fix??? Or do I have to reflash stock kitkat???
What happened? The only irregular thing that happened is when I was restoring a nandroid backup I fell asleep and woke up 3 hours later and noticed that somehow the phone was making another backup. Could that be the cause. Restoring doesn't fix this. What can I do?
I can't rfactory reset since I have a custom recovery. Doing it in the custom recovery has no effect.
Oh and I did flash freegee's cwm over hoangnova's cwm. Someone told me to update cwm through freegee because I couldn't flash any custom roms.

liovag · Jul 18, 2015

I have similar problem.

liovag said:
Hello,
I have order Meizu m1 note 32 gb version blue color from fastcardtech.com and i have received a couple of days ago. Today i notice that in storage menu, the file system holds 17.13GB
The phone is unrooted.

How is this possible, I am very disappointed, and frustrated.

This is a big thing. I have pay for 32GB version and i suspect that they fraud me.

Also i have connect the phone via usb to my pc and i saw that the total size is only 11,9GB and not 32.

Also i have install to the phone the ES File Explorer to check the storage capacity and i saw that the phone have 11.94 GB Total capacity and not 32 i suspect that you have change something to the phone software. to look 32gb but actually is only 16GB version. This is fraud.

I have make factory reset with erasing data and upgrade the system but remains the same. :/

Please give me your advice.

View attachment 3407558

View attachment 3407559

View attachment 3407560

spseansp · Oct 24, 2015

Imagine a HOUSE. The house = the storage location. Everything in it is your data... furniture etc. These are your files.
storage location \legacy = the back door.
storage location \0 = the front door.
If you delete a file = take your chair and throw it in the yard. Its gone from the house no matter if you entered the front door or back door.

Why2 · Feb 29, 2016

yes, it consumes double storage!

I also have the same observation. Whatever the explaination from previous replies, it consumes my storage double! And it hurts if you only have 8 GB internal storage in my Moto G.
X-plore app can show the storage mapping in my root folder.
What we need now is a solution how to avoid this double storage consumption.

So, we have two identical houses, instead of one house with two doors!

Sunnbuzz · Mar 28, 2016

Why2 said:
I also have the same observation. Whatever the explaination from previous replies, it consumes my storage double! And it hurts if you only have 8 GB internal storage in my Moto G.
X-plore app can show the storage mapping in my root folder.
What we need now is a solution how to avoid this double storage consumption.

So, we have two identical houses, instead of one house with two doors!

I completely understood the analogy about the house and furniture but it does not answer the above question.
Why does it reflect as double the amount of storage being used if it is technically one spot. Its not like its one spot with different files, its one spot with duplicate paths of ONE file that are somehow reflecting as double files, using double the amount of space.
Sorry I'm trying my best to explain and work logic into this lol

T1nyt1m · Apr 17, 2016

II've been trying to change the destination file for utorrent on my android from storage/emulated/legacy to storage/external_SD, for some reason when I do this utorrent says "file not found", and will only download to storage/emulated/legacy, can anyone help with this? It would be greatly appreciated

what is /storage/emulated/legacy etc. and /storage/emulated/0 etc.

Senior Member

Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

New member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Account currently disabled

Member

Account currently disabled

Senior Member

Attachments

Member

New member

New member

New member

New member

Similar threads

Top Liked Posts