Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory does not return the path to the removable storage

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According to the source, getExternalStorageDirectory is implemented to return whatever is set as “external storage” in the device environment:

public static File getExternalStorageDirectory() {
    return EXTERNAL_STORAGE_DIRECTORY;
}

and EXTERNAL_STORAGE_DIRECTORY is:

private static final File EXTERNAL_STORAGE_DIRECTORY
        = getDirectory("EXTERNAL_STORAGE", "/sdcard");

static File getDirectory(String variableName, String defaultPath) {
    String path = System.getenv(variableName);
    return path == null ? new File(defaultPath) : new File(path);
}

In contrast, getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(String type) requires one of these strings:

DIRECTORY_MUSIC, DIRECTORY_PODCASTS, DIRECTORY_RINGTONES, DIRECTORY_ALARMS, DIRECTORY_NOTIFICATIONS, DIRECTORY_PICTURES, DIRECTORY_MOVIES, DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS, or DIRECTORY_DCIM. May not be null.

so it is not meant to return the sd-card root.

An alternative:

Finally, getExternalStorageState() will return the filesystem mounted in /mnt/sdcard/. According to CommonsWare in this answer: Find an external SD card location, there is no way to directly get the external sdcard (if it even exist).

An alternative would be to check isExternalStorageRemovable () and give a manual option if it is false.

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