Я обычно использую эту технику:
File folderLocation = new File("/blah/blah/mysystem/myfolder");
if (folderLocation.exists()) {
if (!folderLocation .isDirectory()) {
throw new IOException("File-system item with path [" + folderLocation.getAbsolutePath() + "] exists but is not a folder.");
}
} else {
if (!folderLocation.mkdirs()) {
throw new IOException("Could not create folder with path : " + folderLocation.getAbsolutePath());
}
}
// we are guaranteed that the folder exists here