Failed to delete files on removable storage

Question

I was trying to delete files from local storage on the Android Lollipop by the following line:

new File(path).delete();

Deleting file that resides in Internal storage works fine. But failed to do so on file that is located on external removable storage. I've checked that the file do exists but cannot be overwritten. Moreover, permission has already been granted to the app.

In order to read or write files on the external storage, your app must acquire the READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE or WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE system permissions.

As stated in the documentation, no luck though.

Googled for available solutions, but doesn't satisfy the problem.

The path was "/storage/19F6-2B13/fdasfdas". That points to a file. — Wei, May 26 '17 at 06:14
Before you delete the file, can you check `file.exists()` and see whether the file really exists ? — Rust Fisher, May 26 '17 at 07:02
As mentioned, I've performed checks on the file. The method returned to true. — Wei, May 26 '17 at 12:59

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 26 '17 at 07:24

2

You can not delete file on removable media starting from KitKat (API 19). You have to interact with user by means Storage Access Framework, get access object for the file you are going to delete - DocumentFile - and call delete operation on it. You can read this for deep understanding of this nightmare.

answered May 26 '17 at 07:24

isabsent

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That helped. There's no nightmare on older API – Wei May 26 '17 at 13:02
Yes, everytime google release new version of Android, they make new nightmare for developers – HendraWD Aug 30 '17 at 10:51

Failed to delete files on removable storage

1 Answers1