[android] Android how to use Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory()

How can i use Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() to read a a stored image from the SD card or is there a better way to do it?

This question is related to android sd-card

The answer is


Have in mind though, that getExternalStorageDirectory() is not going to work properly on some phones e.g. my Motorola razr maxx, as it has 2 cards /mnt/sdcard and /mnt/sdcard-ext - for internal and external SD cards respectfully. You will be getting the /mnt/sdcard only reply every time. Google must provide a way to deal with such a situation. As it renders many SD card aware apps (i.e card backup) failing miserably on these phones.


As described in Documentation Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() :

Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() Return the primary shared/external storage directory.

This is an example of how to use it reading an image :

String fileName = "stored_image.jpg";
 String baseDir = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath();
 String pathDir = baseDir + "/Android/data/com.mypackage.myapplication/";

 File f = new File(pathDir + File.separator + fileName);

        if(f.exists()){
          Log.d("Application", "The file " + file.getName() + " exists!";
         }else{
          Log.d("Application", "The file no longer exists!";
         }

To get the directory, you can use the code below:

File cacheDir = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + File.separator + "");