What is Folder? How to Recover Files

A user can also delete the Lost.dir folder on an SD card or USB by connecting the device to a PC. Keep in mind the Lost.dir folder may re-emerge in the future.

What Is LOST.DIR and How to Recover Files from LOST.DIR on SD Card

LOST.DIR is an Android system folder used to collect corrupted data produced by SD Card. If you need to recover LOST.DIR files, FonePaw Data Recovery can help you!

Nowadays increasing information and apps are eating up the storage space of smartphones. Quite a few people choose to purchase an SD card and use it to expand the storage of the phones. When managing the files, sharp-eyed people may find a folder in Android SD card called LOST.DIR with strange files in it which seems to have nothing to do with anything in your smartphone. Are Android LOST.DIR files really useless and can I delete the LOST.DIR folder? Let’s find out!

What Is LOST.DIR and What Is Inside the Folder?

LOST.DIR is an Android system folder used to collect the corrupted data produced when the process of writing data into SD Card is interrupted such as suddenly shutting off the phone or pulling out the external SD card. The corrupted data are usually renamed with a random number and copied to this folder. Some people compare it to the Recycle Bin on the computer. But I think there are still differences because the data in a LOST.DIR folder is not deliberately deleted by users and they are placed in the folder for they are corrupted. The files in recycle bin are deleted by users and can be easily recovered for only the volume space they take up is labeled as unused and they are not really erased in the volume.

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Is It Safe to Delete LOST.DIR Folder in Android?

As I have said, LOST.DIR folder contains only the corrupted data. If the corrupted data is not important to you or there is a backup of them, you can feel free to delete them. But if you have files missing on your Android SD card, LOST.DIR files can actually help you to recover the lost files.

You can either empty the folder or you can delete the whole folder for saving the precious memory. Some people may worry that deleting the folder may cause the system to work abnormally, which is a redundant fear. Every time the SD card is plugged into the phone or the phone is rebooted, the system will detect the files in LOST.DIR folder. When they cannot find the folder, they will create one.

To sum up, the corrupted files in LOST.DIR folder and the folder itself can be deleted at your will for saving storage space as long as you don’t need to recover files with LOST.DIR folder. However, there is no point in deleting the folder because it will reappear when the system reboots.

LOST.DIR Recovery: Recover Files from SD Card

If some files get lost on your SD card and you want to recove LOST.DIR files, you normally need to resort to a third-party app. Here I recommend a standout data recovery program, FonePaw Data Recovery, which can recover deleted and corrupted files from SD card, USB drive and computer. Let’s have a quick look at how to restore your files from LOST.DIR to the SD card with FonePaw Data Recovery.

Step 1: Download FonePaw Data Recovery to the computer by the below button and install it.

Step 2: Double click the icon of FonePaw Data Recovery to open it.

Step 3: Connect your phone to the computer (Make sure the SD card works normally on the phone and the computer can read and manage the phone).

Step 4: Tick off the file types you want to recover and check the SD card on the homepage.

Step 5: Click the “Scan” button on the right bottom corner.

Step 6: After finishing quick scanning, view the files by Type List or Path List. If you cannot find the files you want, you can try “Deep Scan” by clicking the button on the right top corner. Tick off files you want to restore.

Step 7: Click Recover button on the right bottom corner and select the path you want the recovered files to be saved in.

To sum up, LOST.DIR is a system folder used to collect corrupted data produced by SD Card. Files inside the folder is safe to delete. If you need to recover LOST.DIR files, FonePaw Data Recovery are helpful. If you have any question, feel free to contact us.

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What is LOST.DIR Folder? How to Recover Lost.Dir Files?

Lost.dir folder is a system folder on an Android device and is not malware or malicious. This folder is used to store “orphaned” system files on a removable storage device (like an SD card or USB device). These files may occur due to a sudden restart of the Android device or unexpected closure of an Android app or process. It can be said as a Recycle Bin of an Android phone (as on a Windows PC) but there is a difference. On a Windows PC, the recycle bin hosts the content deleted by the user whereas, on an Android device, the Lost.dir folder is automatically created by the system.

What is LOST.DIR Folder How to Recover Lost.Dir Files Fix

Please do note that some phone models, may also show a Lost.dir folder on their internal storage as well.

Lost.Dir Folder on Internal and External Storage of the Phone

Reasons for Creation of the Lost.dir Folder

Here are the main reasons why this folder is created on Android systems.

When an SD card or USB drive was removed while the files system was in use.
A download or update was abruptly terminated.
Android OS got stuck in the operation.
A running Android application suddenly crashed.
A faulty SD card or USB device.
The Android device was powered off when a file process was running.

Types of Data in the Lost.dir Folder

Usually, the following type of data may be found in the Lost.dir folder:

Memory Data
Staged Data
Exchange Data
App’s cached data
Documents, videos, photos, audios, or any other types of applications’ files

Delete the Lost.dir Folder

Usually, the Lost.dir (or any of its numeric extensions like Lost.dir-1, etc.) directory does not use a lot of space but in some cases, it may start to use a huge chunk of the storage space of the storage disk. In this case, a user may want to delete the folder. Keep in mind that if there is any essential data lost on the phone, then that can be recovered from this folder. If no data loss occurred, then a user may simply delete the folder. To delete the folder:

Firstly, perform a restart of the Android device.
Upon restart, launch the device’s File Explorer and head to the problematic storage section.
Now tap and hold the Lost.dir folder. Delete Lost.dir Folder
Then, in the option, tap on Delete, and afterward, confirm to delete the folder.

A user can also delete the Lost.dir folder on an SD card or USB by connecting the device to a PC. Keep in mind the Lost.dir folder may re-emerge in the future.

How to Recover the Files from the Lost.dir Folder

If essential files of a user are missing from the Android device, then a user may recover these files from the Lost.dir folder. Keep in mind that in some cases the contents of the Lost.dir folder will be automatically restored to the desired location once the Android device restarts. If a user wants to recover files from the Lost.dir, then he must act as early as possible, otherwise, it may be overwritten by other data.

Recover a Single File by Renaming the File Extension

If a user knows the extension of the file to be recovered, then that makes things quite easier. Before proceeding, make sure the viewing of the hidden files and file extensions is enabled on the PC.

Insert the SD card (through an SD card reader) or connect the USB to a PC. In the case of the phone’s internal storage, the user may connect the phone through a USB cable to the PC.
Now launch the File Explorer and open the problematic storage device.
Then right-click on the problematic file and select Rename. Open the Lost.dir folder in the SD Card
Afterward, change its extension as per the application like PDF, Docx, Xlsx, MP4, JPG, etc. Rename Lost.Dir File
Now double-click on the file and check if the file is recovered.

Please do note that the process can also be done on a phone where a user may batch rename all the files at once.

Batch Rename Files in the Lost.dir Folder

Recover Multiple Files by Batch Adding Extensions to the Files

Launch a web browser and head to the TrID-File Identifier web page.
Then download the ZIP file of the TrID as per the system’s OS like Windows or Linux. Download the TrID File Identifier
Now extract the downloaded ZIP and install the extracted file as administrator.
Then launch the Command prompt as administrator and navigate to the installation directory of TrID, usually, the following:

C:\TrID>

trid D:\lost.dir\* -ae

Use a Recovery Software

If none of the above worked, then a user may use data recovery software to recover data from an Android phone.

Recover Files from Lost.dir

Methods to Prevent Lost.dir Files Loss on an Android Phone

In place of recovering the data, it is better to prevent the data loss, in medical terms “Prevention is better than cure”. Under-mentioned methods can be used to prevent data loss:

Frequently clean the device’s junk and cache.
Always unmount the card or USB device before removing it.
Do not force restart the phone by holding the power button till the phone restarts.
Do not disconnect the phone’s internet connection when an update or download is in progress.
Uninstall unused apps.
Periodically restart the phone.
Always back up the phone.
If a certain card keeps repeating on showing the Lost.dir folder, then empty the card and format it

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Android-də LOST.DIR qovluğu nədir

What is lost.dir folder on android phone SD card? Have you lost your photo video files from samsung galaxy y android phone, and the data are stored in lost.dir folder on android phone SD card. Now you want to recover lost photos video files, and looking for the way for how can you do that?

You can recover pictures, video, music and other files in lost.dir on android phone. However, the folder is empty and does not really contain any files, even the folder is not empty, the catch files are encrypted and not readable. You need special tools to recover lost deleted or formatted photos, videos and other data from android phone. Let us know the reasons of corruption of

Causes of corruption of lost.dir files in android:

Suddenly pulling out SD card from Android phone
Interruptions while downloading files on Android device
Sudden freezing of Android device operating system
Switching off the device while some read-write process is carrying on, etc

Whenever you come across any of these situations then you may find losing or missing of files from Android device. In these kinds of situations, Android operating system places lost files, incompletely downloaded files and other corrupted files in a system construct known as LOST.DIR. One can easily restore those files when android device starts boot up process. Lost files are not present on some valid directory but they are present on the android device disk place and one can easily find the names with some random numbers. So, users find difficulty in restoring missing files that are moved to Lost.dir system folder.

Android devices are smart, effective and fast due to which it can be used to perform different operations apart from communicating like browsing internet, watch videos, download applications and much more. For example, suppose you downloaded some of the files on your android device and you want to save in your desktop for which you connect it to your system and initiate file transfer process but you system gets hang and stop responding to your request in between the process. After a while when you restart the system you see that files are missing from both your android device and computer that you were trying to copy from android to the system. Apart from this, abrupt deletion of data, corruption of SD card or flash card, formatting without taking copy of files, serous virus infection may also result the same.

In this way you can lose your folder very badly and can recover data by applying different methods. But if you are still to do so then you can also make use of Android Data Recovery. This software is trusted as one of the best recovery software for android device. Using this data recovery software, you can get to know how to recover Android Lost.dir files.