Solving the problem with files on the memory card. Solving the problem with files on a memory card How to recover files from the lost dir folder

The other day, an acquaintance came to me with the following problem: he had a LOST.DIR folder with a size of about 100 MB on his phone’s SD card. Let me immediately note that the phone runs on the Android operating system. The first thing my friend presented; This is a virus and I was puzzled by the question of how to cure it.
I naturally reassured him, because the LOST.DIR directory is not the fruit of the labors of harmful programs. Everything is much simpler and more prosaic. The Android system has a special program similar to the chkdsk utility in Windows and fsck in Linux. It's called File System Check. It checks the contents of the disk and helps to find and return files lost due to a violation.

In the case of an SD card, the utility makes a folder LOST.DIR and puts files there that were lost in this case, for example, if you pulled the memory card out of the device while recording was in progress.

Is it possible to delete the LOST.DIR folder and how to do it?

Usually the files in this directory appear small, but over some time their number can grow to a large size. First you need to go into it and check; Is there any important data there that you wouldn’t want to lose? After this, you just need to delete the LOST.DIR folder with any Android file manager.

What is it for?

It is quite obvious that you have the LOST.DIR application installed on your device. From time to time the size of this folder may vary in gigabytes. In such situations, you may wonder about its contents and usage, and whether it can be removed to free up certain amounts of memory.

What is the LOST.DIR folder on the flash drive?

So, more details. Lost.dir is a system folder. This is where the Android OS puts files that were restored during system boot (i.e. when you turn on the phone). This is similar to the Recycle Bin in Windows. Files that are stored inside this directory are often recovered. In most cases, you will not find anything in this directory when you browse it. All data is encrypted and will be unreadable files or will not appear at all when viewing LOST.DIR. What kind of folder is in Android is clear. But how to understand its contents? In fact, everything is very simple. To understand its functionality and purpose, you need to know the principles of storing data on the device.

What files are stored in LOST.DIR?

What kind of folder is intended for such information? If you were saving any information, and suddenly the phone turned off during the copying process. Or, if you removed the SD card while files were being written to it, Android places copies of those files in the LOST.DIR directory to try to restore them the next time you boot (the next time you start the system). The data is also renamed during the copying process. So, if you find files with unknown names in the folder, do not be surprised as these are just renamed versions of the previous data present on your device.

Reasons for this conservation

Files may be stored in the LOST.DIR folder for the following reasons:

The user abruptly pulled out the SD card from the phone while data was being transferred.
An interruption occurred while downloading files on your Android device.
The Android operating system suddenly froze.
The device was turned off while the read/write process was in progress.

Recovery

What to do? To stop the constant loss of files from the LOST.DIR folder in your phone, you need to quickly recover the missing data before your Android smartphone storage space gets overfilled with some new data. Therefore, it is recommended to use any suitable LOST.DIR Android recovery tool. For example? Applications Yodot Android Data Recover, Recuva are several programs that can help in most cases.

With the help of such services, you can recover all types of files - pictures, APK files, audio, video, and so on from your Android smartphone or tablet. The utility returns missing or deleted data from internal as well as external memory (MicroSD cards). Many applications can even restore system files of famous brands Sony, HTC, Samsung Micromax and so on. When synchronized with a computer, you can work on Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP, Windows Server 2003 and 2008 operating systems.

How does the recovery process work?

Important point. You know what files are in your LOST.DIR folder. How to recover all lost data? This process can be studied using the Yodot Android utility as an example. All other services work in a similar way.

First of all, you better stop using your Android device as soon as you realize that the files have been deleted. Then follow these steps.

Connect your phone or tablet to your computer. Then, on your PC, check if your device shows up as a drive letter (for example, E:).

If not, remove the memory card from your phone or tablet and then connect it to your computer using a card reader (memory card slot on your PC/laptop or USB reader). In this case, you should see it as removable media. If the memory card is working, try connecting it with the device again. Otherwise, the data recovery program will not work.

The process of recovering LOST.DIR files on Android is as follows. Download Yodot Android software and install it on your Windows PC. Now connect your Android device to this PC operating system using a USB data cable. Launch the utility and then follow the instructions on the main screen.

The software scans and displays all drives associated with the Windows system installed on the computer. Select the drive that represents your Android smartphone and click the Next button. Then you need to select "Lost File Recovery" to "pull" the missing files from LOST.DIR in Android.

Allow the application to scan the selected drive. In a few minutes, the program provides all the files and folders from LOST.DIR that you can recover.

Select the files you want to return from two view types (for example, Data View and File Type View). Review them to check your choices and then save the extracted data to the desired location. However, remember that you must do this on the same Android device.

Is it possible to delete the contents of LOST.DIR?

A frequently asked question following the above mentioned “what is the LOST.DIR folder displayed on the flash drive?” The answer is “lost data storage.” So, can you remove it? To save memory space, you may well delete its contents since it only acts as a recycle bin. You can also remove it entirely, but it will reappear the next time you start the system. When Android displays the "Preparing external SD card" message, it is actually checking the contents of LOST.DIR. And if this directory cannot be found, it is created again.

How to avoid data loss?

And finally. Once you have an idea of what kind of LOST.DIR folder is being created on your media, you can take preventive measures to eliminate data loss.

Avoid abruptly removing the Android device's memory card when transferring data to/from the system.
Back up images or other files to another device.
Use reliable antivirus software to protect yourself from virus attack. You can find such services in the official Google Play online store, including for free.

Already heard about LOST.DIR or even tried to find this directory. But many are not yet familiar with him. In a word, this is a system directory that will help you recover lost data from your phone. Due to the fact that users are not yet fully familiar with all the intricacies of the system, studying the properties and characteristics of LOST.DIR is quite an important point.

Why is the LOST.DIR folder needed on the SD card of an Android device?

What is this LOST.DIR folder? This is a system feature that helps Android users recover data when the system boots. It is very similar to the Basket. In most cases there is nothing in this directory. But if, while trying to save or move data, the phone suddenly turns off or forcibly removes the SD card, Android will place copies of the damaged documents in the LOST.DIR folder. This way, the next time you boot, the data can be restored and opened. After some period of use, it may turn out that the LOST.DIR directory on the flash drive takes up quite a lot of space.

What files are stored in LOST.DIR

Keep in mind that this contains renamed copies of unfinished data. Even if you find some strange names here, don't be surprised as these are just backup versions. Your data may end up in the LOST.DIR directory in the following situations:

Forcibly removing the SD card from the Android phone, especially when transferring data;
interrupting the process of copying photos, videos and other documents to the memory card or vice versa;
sudden freezing or rebooting of the phone while shooting video or recording conversations;
turning off or rebooting the device while reading or writing data.

The Android system uses these directories to temporarily store various documents and content. First of all, it stores temporary data for moving between PC and Android device. The directory serves as if it is used when transferring between a computer and a smartphone when problems arise such as disconnection when copying information, or if the SD card was unexpectedly removed. The documents themselves often contain only titles, which consist of numbers. The creation date is usually specified randomly, for example, 01/10/1980.

Is it possible to delete a folder?

Android device functionality does not require a directory. If, when viewing your memory card, you accidentally find this directory, you can safely delete it. If the directory appears in Android memory after the files are transferred incorrectly, try transferring the data from PC to Android device or vice versa again.

Restoring documents from a temporary copy folder is usually impossible without additional applications. Under certain circumstances, you can specify a final name, sort the data by size, and manually add the appropriate document extension. For example, sort your existing data by size and you will be able to find among them (if there are few of them). Copy the data that matches the size of the photos to another directory. Then rename them by adding ".jpg" at the end. in most cases, this method helps to recover small files.

Safe removal of LOST.DIR

To delete a directory without any consequences, you first need to make sure that the last copying operations from or to your phone were completed successfully. Check the integrity of all your media - photos, music and videos. A correctly copied file has the correct name and extension. To delete a folder, you can use any file manager. Check the SD-Card directory and simply delete the LOST.DIR folder in the standard way. After rebooting the device or removing and connecting the SD card, the system will create the folder again, only there will be nothing in it.

Afterword

How to recover data from LOST.DIR? To recover lost or deleted data, you can use the appropriate program, one of which is Photo Recovery. This decision must be taken immediately as any delay in recovery may result in permanent data loss. Missing or damaged documents may be overwritten by others.

This tool will help you recover missing photos, videos and audio files if they are lost from LOST.DIR directory. It is designed with advanced technology that deeply scans the memory card and extracts all types of media. The software allows you to use document previews as a hint. It does not always manage to restore the contents of the document, but sometimes this function can play a decisive role.

To get started, install Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery and launch the program. Go to the “Recover photos, audio and video” tab to recover music and video from any SD card, external USB drive or computer hard drive. Connect the media to your computer. Now select the desired drive to scan and then click “Scan”. If you want to customize recovery based on file types, click Pre-scan.

In Advanced Scan mode, you will have the option to scan according to resolution, such as photo, video and audio, and you can also select a data volume range. These options reduce scanning time. After clicking the "Scan" button, the utility will show that a scan is in progress. File recovery will be presented in a tree structure on the left side of the window pane. After scanning, you can use the preview. Click the "Recover" button to save them to your computer. Select the desired location on your computer to save the recovered files.

At the first glance at the contents of the memory of an Android device, the owner of the mobile device draws attention to the mysterious inscription “LOST DIR”. Not everyone knows why it is needed. There are hypotheses that it is analogous to the recycle bin in Windows, but this is far from true. Also, “LOST DIR” is not the result of virus applications. “LOST DIR” appears if Android enables “File System Check” and places lost files in the folder that appear when the CD card is removed during the data saving process. Usually it does not take up much space, but over time its volume may increase. You can easily log in to view the content.

Android OS is developed based on Linux technology, and it has a special file recovery function. Similarly, Windows from Microsoft also has a similar special function - “chkdisk”. .

What is the purpose of a directory?

It does not appear during normal operation of the device. It is needed for temporary storage of files in case the memory card is removed while the copying process is not completed.

But there are other reasons. Sometimes the folder appears as a result of Android malfunctions. For example, when the device is turned off while a file process is active or because the system freezes. Thus, this functionality is necessary for disk analysis and its result is stored in a specially allocated part of memory.

Is it possible to delete a folder?

Secondly, if important data has not disappeared from the SD memory and there is no need to restore files, then you can begin the liquidation process.

Safe removal of "LOST DIR"

Basically, it is missing important files for Android OS. It is possible to safely remove it very simply by using a file manager. This operation will not cause any damage to the system. It should be noted that if the user interrupts the data copying again, the directory will appear again.