Question

Apparently external storage on Android (referred to by Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory) doesn’t have to be an SD card. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be external!

How can I refer to this storage in the UI? For example, if it is currently not accessible, I want to surface an error to the user. If I say “external storage” or “SD card”, I may confuse users of some devices. Is there a way to appropriately identify it?

Answer 1

A look at the docs for Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory():

Note: don’t be confused by the word
“external” here. This directory can
better be thought as media/shared
storage. It is a filesystem that can
hold a relatively large amount of data
and that is shared across all
applications (does not enforce
permissions). Traditionally this is an
SD card, but it may also be
implemented as built-in storage in a
device that is distinct from the
protected internal storage and can be
mounted as a filesystem on a computer.

Sounds like shared storage would be a good term.