Quite often, many owners of Android devices, when viewing the contents of an internal drive or removable media (SD card) using file managers, encounter the LOST. DIR directory. What kind of folder is in front of us in this case, let's try to figure it out. Finally, some advice will be given on whether to delete it, move it, or rename it.
LOST. DIR - what kind of folder: main purpose
If you look at the files contained on the memory card or in the absence of one, an incomprehensible folder LOST. DIR immediately catches your eye. Not all users clearly understand what role it plays.
Let's see what's what. First of all, it is worth noting that the Android operating system is essentially built on the principle of Linux, which had (and still has) a special command to restore files or check the disk fsck.
By analogy, Windows also has such a system command. This is chkdisk. And it is not only a means of complexverification, as most users believe.
As it is already clear, the command itself is intended for checking a disk or a logical partition, but the result is stored in a strictly defined place. Almost the same is observed in the case of the LOST. DIR directory. What kind of folder is created in sections? Yes, just a file storage in which copies of objects are created if, for example, a user removes a card from a mobile device for some reason. Roughly speaking, this is a kind of data storage.
By the way, the same applies to removing the SIM card from the smartphone when the Google account is temporarily deactivated. But many people probably noticed that after changing the number, but when logging in with your username and password, some files are restored quickly and in full.
That's why the LOST. DIR folder on Android can be empty and take up to hundreds of megabytes or more. Probably, it is not worth explaining that everything depends only on the number of user files, both in the internal memory of the device and in the memory of a removable card.
Why is the LOST. DIR folder created and where is it located?
The folder itself is not initially created during normal operation of an Android device. As mentioned above, the system creates such temporary storage and places objects there when retrieving cards. However, this is not the only reason.
In some cases, the directory can be created automatically during system failures, for example, during copyingfiles, turning off the device during some active process with files, or simply when the OS itself freezes.
Actually, the directory itself is created only in two root directories: either it is a folder on the internal drive (if the card is not used), or the same folder on the SD card. Moreover, each of them is solely responsible for the data stored on each of the above devices.
Folder LOST. DIR on a flash drive or internal drive: safe deletion
Basically, after looking at the size of a directory, many users decide to get rid of it. But here it is worth paying attention to the fact that you should not underestimate the role of this folder. Sometimes, when default settings are used rather than manually choosing a location, system or user data may be backed up here.
Therefore, before you start deleting a folder, you need to check its contents - you never know, or maybe the necessary files are saved there, which then will simply be impossible to recover. Applications can be restored from the same Google Play service (Play Market, Android Market). But if the user's files or the same contact book was registered on one of the two storage media with subsequent deletion of data from the SIM card, then you have to think about the appropriateness of such operations.
Here we've de alt with the LOST. DIR directory a bit. What kind of folder and why it is created, I think, is already clear. Now a few words about removal. By and large, if it does not have anycritical data for both the system and the user, it can be “demolished” quite elementarily, using any file manager or the system’s own tools for this. Nothing bad will happen. It is worth noting here only that if situations related to incorrect operation or forced termination of file processing processes are repeated, the folder will be recreated automatically. The user will not even know about it (the system does not give notifications about this, but works in the background).
Conclusion
Now it is at least a little clear what the LOST. DIR folder means and what it is for. As you can see, there will be nothing particularly critical in deleting it permanently. But this should be done only if the owner of the mobile gadget does not need the data in it, as well as backup copies of files and folders or created system images for subsequent recovery.
