Environment.Getexternalstoragedirectory Does Not Return the Path to the Removable Storage

Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory does not return the path to the removable storage

According to the source, getExternalStorageDirectory is implemented to return whatever is set as "external storage" in the device environment:

public static File getExternalStorageDirectory() {
    return EXTERNAL_STORAGE_DIRECTORY;
}

and EXTERNAL_STORAGE_DIRECTORY is:

private static final File EXTERNAL_STORAGE_DIRECTORY
        = getDirectory("EXTERNAL_STORAGE", "/sdcard");

static File getDirectory(String variableName, String defaultPath) {
    String path = System.getenv(variableName);
    return path == null ? new File(defaultPath) : new File(path);
}

In contrast, getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(String type) requires one of these strings:

DIRECTORY_MUSIC, DIRECTORY_PODCASTS, DIRECTORY_RINGTONES, DIRECTORY_ALARMS, DIRECTORY_NOTIFICATIONS, DIRECTORY_PICTURES, DIRECTORY_MOVIES, DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS, or DIRECTORY_DCIM. May not be null.

so it is not meant to return the sd-card root.

An alternative:

Finally, getExternalStorageState() will return the filesystem mounted in /mnt/sdcard/. According to CommonsWare in this answer: Find an external SD card location, there is no way to directly get the external sdcard (if it even exist).

An alternative would be to check isExternalStorageRemovable () and give a manual option if it is false.

Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() deprecated in API level 29 java

Use getExternalFilesDir(), getExternalCacheDir(), or getExternalMediaDirs() (methods on Context) instead of Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().

Or, modify mPhotoEditor to be able to work with a Uri, then:

• Use ACTION_CREATE_DOCUMENT to get a Uri to a location of the user's choosing, or

• Use MediaStore, ContentResolver, and insert() to get a Uri for a particular type of media (e.g., an image) — see this sample app that demonstrates doing this for downloading MP4 videos from a Web site

Also, note that your Uri.fromFile with ACTION_MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE should be crashing on Android 7.0+ with a FileUriExposedException. On Android Q, only the MediaStore/insert() option will get your content indexed by the MediaStore quickly.

Note that you can opt out of these "scoped storage" changes on Android 10 and 11, if your targetSdkVersion is below 30, using android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true" in the <application> element of the manifest. This is not a long-term solution, as your targetSdkVersion will need to be 30 or higher sometime in 2021 if you are distributing your app through the Play Store (and perhaps elsewhere).

environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() shows path which doesn't even exist

The path exists for your app's process.

Android, starting with 4.2, supports multiple accounts per device (originally just for tablets, now for all devices starting with 5.0). Each account gets its own distinct area for internal and external storage. The framework will return paths from methods like getExternalStorageDirectory() that are correct for the current account holder that is running your app. What these locations map to in terms of actual filesystem locations is up to Android, as part of its effort to secure access to storage.

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