What files are safe to delete in the SD card?

[emigre]

Hi everyone,

I just updated my Aria to FR007 and really want to have a 'brand new' phone look + feel.

I would like to delete ALL unnecessary files in the SD card & phone memory cos at the moment, I feel like something is not amiss.

I only have 574mb left out of the stock 2gb SD card. And my internal phone storage have only 132mb available space left.

I would like to save only my nandroid backup in the SDcard and nothing else. So deleting all other datas like saved apps, games, contacts, images, music and others are fine.

Please advice what procedure I need to follow as I am not familiar with what files are safe to delete. Is it safe to just do this:
Settings > SD & Phone Storage >Factory Data Reset ?

Thank you for your advice!

 

[Thundervore]

I would like to know this as well because out of a 8GB SD card (7.59GB) i only have 549MB remaining and i only have 1 nandroid back up and 3 GB of music on the phone.

 

[BelacNongaw]

That's a loaded question dependant upon what apps are installed. Many apps create folders and populate the sd card in some form.

Best I can tell you, mount the storage and copy the sd content to your computer. Erase the sdcard content and see what happens after reboot. Should only potentially bother 3rd party apps.

Sent from my Liberty using XDA App

 

[emigre]

Thanks for the advice BelacNongaw.

I thought about that too but I was thinking maybe there are some system files or essential files that MUST be in the SD card. And also, wouldn't deleting everything in the SD card also delete my nandroid backup? And Clockwork? <-They do reside in the SD card, yes?

Let me reiterate please: I want a 'brand new' phone while keeping only my last nandroid backup Will a factory reset do?

Thanks again everyone!

 

[cjtulowiecki]

I had the same problem and the only thing I noticed was nandroid backups take a lot of space and also apps that have been deleted keep their folders in the sd card

Sent from my HTC Liberty using XDA App

 

[emigre]

Okay this is what I did:
1. Back up my SDcard to the computer (plug it in, mount as disk drive, copy all contents to a folder on the desktop).
2. Restart the Aria in Recovery mode (Vol. down while Power up)
3. Go to Recovery > Partitions > Format SD Card

Now I have 1.84gb of SD storage with these folders (viewed in Astro):
1. .footprints / thumbnails / voices
2. LOST.DIR
3. tmp / .astro / astro

Haven't tested everything yet but eBuddy and Market are doing well, downloading and app installation are running fine too.

Now I'm quite concerned about the following:
1. Does this mean that I do not have clockwork anymore? Because there was a 'clockworkmod' folder in the SDcard before I formatted it.
2. Am I screwed?

Thank you for any suggestions/advice. I hope this thread can offer some helpful tips to those who need it in the future.

 

[BelacNongaw]

You are fine. The clockworkmod folder is where rom manager downloads and your nandroid backups are stored. You can just copy it back or rom manager will generate it again next time you nandroid backup.

Sent from my Liberty using XDA App

 

[emigre]

Thanks for reminding me BelacNongaw.

I just made a nandroid backup of my bare minimum Aria, and it automaticall created a clockworkmod folder in the SDcard with the md5 file.

Anyways, it's great to have all these space now

 

[fastatlast]

Great post guys I was wondering this myself. I recently rooted my inspire 4g to factory restore but all 3rd party apps are still on the sd card and i have no intention of re-installing any of them so i am looking for a safe way to delete unnessesary folders without deleting the vital ones, ill give your suggestions a try.

 

[CallMeAria]

Technically you can safely delete everything that's on the sd card. Android will automatically create whatever folders it needs. Of course you'll lose any data saved to the sd, but you wont mess up your phone at all.

Sent from my cm7 Aria.

 

[amogil]

i have a g2 but i have the same thoughts i want the space back from sd card not worried about loosing any thing just dont want to mess the phone up

 

[smiles.smiley]

Don't worry. SD card is totally an external of the phone. Delete everything, it doesn't matter. And backup your needed files to any place you like. You can move them back to your reformatted SD card whenever you like.