diff --git a/library/src/android/support/multidex/MultiDex.java b/library/src/android/support/multidex/MultiDex.java
index 8d5e1ab..1e04c19 100644
--- a/library/src/android/support/multidex/MultiDex.java
+++ b/library/src/android/support/multidex/MultiDex.java
@@ -60,8 +60,9 @@
 
     private static final String OLD_SECONDARY_FOLDER_NAME = "secondary-dexes";
 
-    private static final String SECONDARY_FOLDER_NAME = "code_cache" + File.separator +
-        "secondary-dexes";
+    private static final String CODE_CACHE_NAME = "code_cache";
+
+    private static final String CODE_CACHE_SECONDARY_FOLDER_NAME = "secondary-dexes";
 
     private static final int MAX_SUPPORTED_SDK_VERSION = 20;
 
@@ -155,7 +156,7 @@
                       + "continuing without cleaning.", t);
                 }
 
-                File dexDir = new File(applicationInfo.dataDir, SECONDARY_FOLDER_NAME);
+                File dexDir = getDexDir(context, applicationInfo);
                 List<File> files = MultiDexExtractor.load(context, applicationInfo, dexDir, false);
                 if (checkValidZipFiles(files)) {
                     installSecondaryDexes(loader, dexDir, files);
@@ -363,6 +364,42 @@
         }
     }
 
+    private static File getDexDir(Context context, ApplicationInfo applicationInfo)
+            throws IOException {
+        File cache = new File(applicationInfo.dataDir, CODE_CACHE_NAME);
+        try {
+            mkdirChecked(cache);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            /* If we can't emulate code_cache, then store to filesDir. This means abandoning useless
+             * files on disk if the device ever updates to android 5+. But since this seems to
+             * happen only on some devices running android 2, this should cause no pollution.
+             */
+            cache = new File(context.getFilesDir(), CODE_CACHE_NAME);
+            mkdirChecked(cache);
+        }
+        File dexDir = new File(cache, CODE_CACHE_SECONDARY_FOLDER_NAME);
+        mkdirChecked(dexDir);
+        return dexDir;
+    }
+
+    private static void mkdirChecked(File dir) throws IOException {
+        dir.mkdir();
+        if (!dir.isDirectory()) {
+            File parent = dir.getParentFile();
+            if (parent == null) {
+                Log.e(TAG, "Failed to create dir " + dir.getPath() + ". Parent file is null.");
+            } else {
+                Log.e(TAG, "Failed to create dir " + dir.getPath() +
+                        ". parent file is a dir " + parent.isDirectory() +
+                        ", a file " + parent.isFile() +
+                        ", exists " + parent.exists() +
+                        ", readable " + parent.canRead() +
+                        ", writable " + parent.canWrite());
+            }
+            throw new IOException("Failed to create directory " + dir.getPath());
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Installer for platform versions 19.
      */
diff --git a/library/src/android/support/multidex/MultiDexExtractor.java b/library/src/android/support/multidex/MultiDexExtractor.java
index 27da6b3..4aef9f2 100644
--- a/library/src/android/support/multidex/MultiDexExtractor.java
+++ b/library/src/android/support/multidex/MultiDexExtractor.java
@@ -251,15 +251,7 @@
     /**
      * This removes any files that do not have the correct prefix.
      */
-    private static void prepareDexDir(File dexDir, final String extractedFilePrefix)
-            throws IOException {
-        /* mkdirs() has some bugs, especially before jb-mr1 and we have only a maximum of one parent
-         * to create, lets stick to mkdir().
-         */
-        File cache = dexDir.getParentFile();
-        mkdirChecked(cache);
-        mkdirChecked(dexDir);
-
+    private static void prepareDexDir(File dexDir, final String extractedFilePrefix) {
         // Clean possible old files
         FileFilter filter = new FileFilter() {
 
@@ -284,24 +276,6 @@
         }
     }
 
-    private static void mkdirChecked(File dir) throws IOException {
-        dir.mkdir();
-        if (!dir.isDirectory()) {
-            File parent = dir.getParentFile();
-            if (parent == null) {
-                Log.e(TAG, "Failed to create dir " + dir.getPath() + ". Parent file is null.");
-            } else {
-                Log.e(TAG, "Failed to create dir " + dir.getPath() +
-                        ". parent file is a dir " + parent.isDirectory() +
-                        ", a file " + parent.isFile() +
-                        ", exists " + parent.exists() +
-                        ", readable " + parent.canRead() +
-                        ", writable " + parent.canWrite());
-            }
-            throw new IOException("Failed to create cache directory " + dir.getPath());
-        }
-    }
-
     private static void extract(ZipFile apk, ZipEntry dexFile, File extractTo,
             String extractedFilePrefix) throws IOException, FileNotFoundException {