Android FileOutputStream creates corrupted file

Question

I have an app that creates multiple files using a byte array it gets from a Socket InputStream. The file saves perfectly when I just save one file, but if I save the one file then re-instantiate the file stream and save a different file, the first file gets corrupted and the second file is saved perfectly. I opened the two files in a text editor and it seems (about...)the first 1/5th of the first file is blank spaces but the second file is full, and they both have the same size properties(9,128,731 bytes). The following example is a duplication of the senario but with the same corruption result:

FileOutputStream outStream;
outStream = new FileOutputStream("/mnt/sdcard/testmp3.mp3");
File file = new File("/mnt/sdcard/test.mp3");
FileInputStream inStream = new FileInputStream(file);
byte[] buffer = new byte[9128731];
inStream.read(buffer);
outStream.write(buffer, 0, buffer.length);
inStream.close();
outStream.flush();
outStream.close();
outStream = null;
outStream = new FileOutputStream("/mnt/sdcard/testmp32.mp3");
outStream.write(buffer, 0, buffer.length);
inStream.close();
outStream.flush();
outStream.close();
outStream = null;

I tried this EXACT code in a regular java application and both files were saved without a problem. Does anyone know why the android is doing this?

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated

Answer 1

If anyone's having the same problem and wondering how o fix it I found out the problem was being caused by my SD card. I bought a 32gb kingston sd card and just yesterday I decided to try running the same code again accept using the internal storage instead and everything worked perfectly. I also tried the stock 2gb SD card it came with and it also worked perfectly. I glad to know my code works great but a little frustrated I spent 50 bucks on a defective memory card. Thanks for everyones input.

Answer 2

As jtahlborn mentioned you cannot assume that InputStream.read(byte[]) will always read as many bytes as you want. As well you should avoid using such a large byte array to write out at once. At least not without buffering, you could potentially overflow something. You can handle these concerns and save some memory by copying the file like this:

File inFile = new File("/mnt/sdcard/test.mp3");
File outFile = new File("/mnt/sdcard/testmp3.mp3");
FileInputStream inStream = new FileInputStream(inFile);
FileOutputStream outStream = new FileOutputStream(outFile);
byte[] buffer = new byte[65536];
int len;
while ((len = inStream.read(buffer)) != -1) {
    outStream.write(buffer, 0, len);
}
inStream.close();
outStream.close();

Answer 3

I see some potential issues that can get you started debugging:

1. You writing to the first output stream before you close the input stream. This is a bit weird.

2. You can't accurately gauge the similarity/difference between two binary files using a text editor. You need to look at the files in a hex editor (or better, Audacity)

3. I would use BufferedOutputStream as suggested by the Android docs: out = new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(file)); http://developer.android.com/reference/java/io/FileOutputStream.html

4. As a debugging technique, print the contents of buffer after the first write. Also, inStream.read() returns an int. I would additionally compare this to buffer.length and make sure they are the same. Regardless, I would just call write(buffer) instead of write(buffer, 0, buffer.length) unless you have a really good reason.

-tjw

Answer 4

You are assuming that the read() call will read as many bytes as you want. that is incorrect. that method is free to read anywhere from 1 to buffer.length bytes. that is why you should always use the return value to determine how many bytes were actually read. there are plenty of streams tutorials out there which will show you how to correctly read from a java stream (i.e. how to completely fill your buffer).