What SpaceSweep deletes

A reference for what each SpaceSweep tool can remove, what is permanent, and the safety checks it makes.

What is permanent

Action	Permanent?	Notes
Delete in Duplicate files, Junk files or Large files	Yes	Files are deleted directly. They do not go to a trash folder and cannot be recovered.
Media in the trash junk	Yes	Removes photos and videos you could still restore from your gallery's trash.
Trim caches	Cache only	Android removes cached files, which apps rebuild. No personal data.
Clear app cache folders	Cache only	Android empties apps' cache folders in shared storage.
Per-app Clear	Your choice	Opens Android's settings. Clear cache is safe; Clear storage deletes the app's data.

Where SpaceSweep looks

• Duplicate files, Junk files and Large files scan your phone's shared storage: the storage you see in a file manager, with folders like DCIM, Download, Pictures and Music.
• Hidden folders (names starting with a dot) are skipped by the duplicate scan unless you turn on Include hidden folders.

What SpaceSweep never touches

• Anything outside shared storage, including apps' private storage.
• Android/data and Android/obb, where apps keep their own files.
• The target of a symbolic link. Links are never followed.
• Anything you have not selected. With a filter on, Delete acts only on what is on screen.

Checks made at the moment of deletion

• A file whose size or modification time changed since the scan, or that has become a symbolic link, is skipped, not deleted.
• A duplicate group always keeps at least one copy, and nothing in the group is deleted unless the kept copy is still on disk and unchanged.
• An empty folder is checked again for content just before it is removed.
• Deleted photos, videos and music are also removed from Android's media index, so galleries do not show broken thumbnails.

After a delete, SpaceSweep says how many files it deleted. If any were skipped, Details lists them with the reason.

How duplicates are matched

Files are first grouped by size. Files of the same size are compared by a SHA-256 hash of three 16 KB samples, from the start, middle and end. Only files that still match are read in full and hashed. Two files are duplicates only if their full contents are identical.

Default settings

Setting	Choices	Default
Ignore files smaller than (Duplicate files)	1 KB, 10 KB, 100 KB, 1 MB	10 KB
Include hidden folders (Duplicate files)	On or off	Off
Keep rule (Duplicate files)	Oldest, newest, shortest path	Oldest
Size (Large files)	10, 50, 100, 500 MB	50 MB
System apps (App cache)	On or off	Off

Next steps

• Troubleshooting and FAQ
• Permissions