Help accessing external storage - Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Questions & Answers

Hello all i have the tab s6 that i got primarily for photo editing using lightroom. Unfortunately it seems i cant access any form of external storage through lightroom in order to view pictures and then import them into lightroom to edit them. It seems that I first have to transfer the pictures into the internal storage of the tab, in my case 256gb, and only then i can see the pictures in lightroom prior to importing them. By doing this i would essentially end up with duplicate photos and then reducing the storage even further.
The only way i can access the external storage is via the files manager app installed. Is there any work around this? In ios i can see the pictures from the external storage through lightroom prior to import.

What Android version? Scoped storage is fully active in Android 11/12 and it's a mess.
Unless the app has special permissions like that file app, scoped storage will puke on them and limit their access. You may be able to do a adb edit work around, not sure as I refuse to deal with these OS versions.
Maybe try using a OTG flashstick as a work around.

Running Android 11 and no new update available. And lightroom app permission under files and media it says “allow access to media only” dont see other options

Any app that allows full access to external drives where i can see the full size picture thats stored?

adinis78 said:
Any app that allows full access to external drives where i can see the full size picture thats stored?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lightroom developers need to modify it for it to work most likely. Not a trivial task.
Do some searches to see if you can modify this behavior with adb edits. Yeah, now even bloody iPhones are easier to use than Androids, thanks for nothing Gookill...
I would just download the whole file copy onto the PC. You need to back it up anyway...

Last thing i want is too root the tab and gave things go wrong. Havent rooted an Android device in years and always more of a hassle than what improvements where promised

adinis78 said:
Last thing i want is too root the tab and gave things go wrong. Havent rooted an Android device in years and always more of a hassle than what improvements where promised
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I prefer using stock. Adb editing is just modifying the user partition, a factory reset will undo the changes if you goof up.
If it came loaded with 11 you can't flash it back to 10 because of the boot loader version.
Try some Google searches ie something like "scoped storage workaround adb". Add xda to it to find threads about it here. Maybe Package Disabler could help but I doubt it as scoped store is a core feature.
There's a lot of pissed off Android users right about now... you're not alone.
Share your wuv and give Google some feedback.
I have to N10+'s, one is running on Pie, the newest on Q. Both behave almost identically, however Samsung added dozens of small system apks to do that... Samsung went to a lot of trouble to do that.
You confirmed my fear Samsung couldn't or wouldn't be able to do the same with the models running on R and above.
The culprit is Google not Samsung.
It's the game that moves as you play it.

Something so simple that they are alienating photographers and are forcing them into ios, maybe I should have gotten an ipad pro

adinis78 said:
Something so simple that they are alienating photographers and are forcing them into ios, maybe I should have gotten an ipad pro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are work arounds but you shouldn't need to do this. At this point Android is more iPhone than Android... a tard wannabe iPhone that is.
Return if you still can.
If you get a Samsung running on P or Q it will function normally and still have sufficient security.
Be wary of buying devices as they may list P or Q as the loaded OS when in fact they've been updated or factory loaded (depending on manufacturered date) with R.

Tried to look into the scoped storage but seems to be too much of a hassle and not really working possibly depending on what you need. There doesnt seem to be a definitive answer to my particular issue in regards to having lightroom (adobe) have access to external storage. I might just have to bite the bullet and get a 1tb microsd card although thats a huge expense.
On another note, Adobe should make it a requirement to have access to external storage, its possible in IOS and windows and tell google to allow it.

Test a small sd card first to make sure it works as you want with scoped storage.
Get a V30 rated card, Sandisk Extreme works well.

Take a look at this thread.

blackhawk said:
Take a look at this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks but not really what i am looking for. Will test out and old microsd card i have from an old android phone and see how that goes

So some positive news to report. Tried an old microsd card. As expected it automatically displays the photos in the photo app just like the built in storage. So tried to copy a picture that i had backed up in the external ssd, did this via the file manager app. Then the moment of truth, opened up Lightroom and i have access to the additional microsd card, the picture that i copied from the ssd along with all the other old photos showed up in lightroom. So, as much of an inconvenience this is, it seems that for my needs and workflow, i would need the extra microsd card.
So here would be my work flow after taking pictures
1-Backup all the pictures taken on a certain date into the Samsung T5 SSD.
2-Also copy all of the pictures into the extra microsd card (1tb)
3-Go through all the pictures on the microsd card using lightroom to decide which ones to edit and then import them into lightroom.
4-Do all my edits then save those edits into the built in storage, upload to Facebook, instagram, etc. then save those final edits into the Samsung T5 SSD.
5-Format the 1tb microsd and repeat the whole process when needed.
Extra steps but it seems this is the only way. Thanks Google
EDIT: after thinking about it I think a 512gb would be more than enough for my expected workdlow and would be a significant savings vs the 1tb

Yay This will be a better setup than you had.
I always build dual drive PCs; the OS, apps, DCIM folder and the temporary download folder go on internal memory.
All critical data goes on the data drive. This is then backed up redundantly to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC.
Do Not use DCIM in the name of photo folder on the SD card; there can only be one folder with that name.

I'm having the same problem with this scoop storage issue that Google has handed us My 1tb card is full of music that I can't access it worked fine on my Note 8 but it doesn't work hardly at all on my new Note 10 I can't even get a playlist to function right people have talked about editing Android manifest in Android studio Man that's so far above my ability but I wouldn't just format my card I know I bought the best one I could buy and I still have the problem and I've had my card for some time I hope someone comes up with a solution

alpastor said:
I'm having the same problem with this scoop storage issue that Google has handed us My 1tb card is full of music that I can't access it worked fine on my Note 8 but it doesn't work hardly at all on my new Note 10 I can't even get a playlist to function right people have talked about editing Android manifest in Android studio Man that's so far above my ability but I wouldn't just format my card I know I bought the best one I could buy and I still have the problem and I've had my card for some time I hope someone comes up with a solution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Scoped storage is a mess. Back up the 1tb card's data at least twice on 2 different hdds, more backup is always better.
Or use a different SD card in the device.
With the test SD card format the card with the device (all data will be lost, etc, etc), then doing the data transfer through the phone load the data. See if that works.
Regardless it's best practice to leave the SD card in one device and not "share" it with other devices. Having other devices write to it can lead to card corruption.
Don't know if this will help or not. I'm still running on Android 9 and 10. Gookill sucks elephant balls bad now... no way I'll upgrade my N10+'s to 11 or 12, they're running too good as is.

Thank you for getting back with me I have a real hard time keep you track of stuff nowadays but I don't need the aggravation of this scoop storage stuff as it is I have to pay someone to root my phones anymore because I just can't do it.
I used to be fairly good at it but not anymore so dr.ketan is promising updates in April and unless the issue is addressed by him I'm going to go ahead and downgrade my Note 10 Plus to Android 9 or 10 wherever that point is I can avoid all this crap
I think I read on one of the posts that they didn't really see any speed difference between 9 and 12
I think 9 was what was on my phone when I bought it in December.
And it was my phone guy that brought it up to 12 and put on dr.ketan's ROM. But I am so used to backing up stuff to SD card that it's driving me nuts. And isn't that the idea of TWRP anyway to be able to back up to your SD card and restore if you screw things up? Anyway thank you again for getting back with me and if you hear of any news about a fix or patch that someone like me could put on to fix it other than having to have the skills of a developer let me know I appreciate it I'd even be willing to be a beta tester.
Take care Rick

Related

using the external microSD card

This is my first tablet and I'm new to Android (always had Windows Mobile phones) so maybe this is common knowledge to Android users but I sure as hell can't find the answer via searching.
I finally bought a microSD card for my Prime but can't figure out how to use it efficiently. I can access it an copy files and folders to it via the File Manager so I know it works. However, I can't figure out how to make the camera save pictures and videos to it by default. After looking at that for a while I looked at my other apps and none of my programs seem to have an option to make use of the microSD card. Took me a while to figure out I can't even install programs to the SD card like I can with my Windows Mobile phone. I can deal with that last part though with 32 gigs on the internal card but if the only way to use the microSD card is to manually copy files over to it where those files are then inaccessible for all the apps so I have to manually copy them back over every time I need to use them, that's not acceptable.
What am I missing here? I can't believe this was intentionally designed this way. Is there some global setting that I'm missing to open things up?
I think most use the external card for music & vids and such that they carry over TO the tablet. I also noticed you cannot set apps to save there and I have an app that monitors apps when they install. & if they are SD compatible it alerts you.... it never works in this setup. No doubt you could - if rooted - move apps to SD card as I do this on my Droid all the time.
As for camera & vids no way to set SD as default.
Unless there been a change since honeycomb saving and running apps to sd is not native. Most people state that due to all the space the device comes with you don't need it since apk are so small. But I had 4 games take up 4.5 gb of space on my device so that rational does not float.
If you ever root your device there is app called gl to sd
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1328053
worked great on honycomb (waiting till i get home to use new root so have not tried on ICS yet) I moved all my games to SD and they ran fine .. games like shadow Gun GTA III DeadSpace Backstab 9mm.
Just my two cents if there is way for using the sd card natively in ICS I also wold love to know.
On my measly 512mb OG Droid I have 110 apps on the SD card. Ahhhh thank God root.
For this 32gb beast I decided to forgo SD card apps as it does slow the app down (has to r/w from slower card) and Widgets can bust.
It is lame though that we cannot set cameras & vids to auto save but again you'd get a performance hit to a small degree.
The situation was worse before Honeycomb, in Gingerbread you could have a 16GB phone but the way it was partitioned only 1GB to 2GB was considered "internal memory" for app installation space/data while the rest was partitioned into a virtual "sdcard" folder that you needed things like App2SD to move over to that parition space (and not even fully, portions of app/data/cache would stay in the internal memory space). With HoneyComb/ICS the full 32GB or 64GB storage space is visible and useable between the internal/sdcard mounts. I got the 64GB Prime so I wouldn't have to worry about app install space any more since I like to load hundreds of apps/games. I also have a 64GB microSDHC card which I use to store a bunch of videos/music.
Thanks for the reply guys. Surprised that Android is built to limit itself like that. Really though, 32 gigs is a lot of space for the apps themselves. If it was just a matter of having to install the apps on the internal card, I wouldn't even bother cause I know with my use I'd never approach the limit if that was the only limitation.
However, not being able to save data used by the apps to external SD card is an issue as I see it. Will probably get around to rooting my Prime just so I can move some of the apps to the external SD card so they'll, hopefully, save and use the data there to keep my internal card free. I have a few aviation chart based apps that will be taking up quite a bit of space. I don't think it will max it out on their own but I like having plenty of extra space.
Not being able to save the video and pics from the camera directly to the external card is a bit ridiculous though. Perhaps a developer can fix that? In the mean time, I've thought of a work around that, while not perfect, will work for me I think in regards to keeping the camera videos and pics from clogging up my internal drive. I've installed an app called SyncMe that syncs via wifi network to my computer. I'll set it automatically to move all the camera data from my internal card to my computer and then I'll have another event that syncs the files on my computer to my tablet external SD card. The effect will be a daily transfer of all my camera activity to my external SD card while also making them available on my computer until I have time to sort through them.
Yea, once you play around with it a bit you'll find what works best for you. Some apps wont install on the external sd card and a lot of apps behave better when install on internal memory. Apps to SD is great for some but not all apps. Now separating the data from the apps that are internal to the external ? I'm not sure how well that will work.
Oh wait. I just re-read what you wrote. Yes - you can save the data to the external sd card and you will want to. There are lots of apps that do that, our Primes came with a backup app that will allow you to select apps to backup and/or apps with data. Sometimes you only want to restore apps and not data.
Your work around for storing pictures and video to external sd sounds like it will work well. 32gb is a lot of space. It's also really easy to use the File Manager to copy them over. I can't speak for everyone, but I'm guessing a lot of us here, especially if we rooted our phones, have grown accustom to setting schedules for apps to backup or data and for me - that includes things like pictures. Some of these backups will sync to a cloud so the data/pictures are safe and wont get lost. With 32gb I'm not concerned about space.
I wasn't really concerned about space that much until I recorded some video of my son's basketball game. Just over 6 min and the video was well over 800mb.
I could see that adding up real quick if I didn't stay on top of it and I know I won't without some 'auto' help. Got concerned that I might clog up my internal card with personal stuff that would inhibit my work stuff, which is what this is was for in the first place.
Haven't looked at the backup utility yet but every other app I've tried, I can't see a selectable option for getting choosing where to save and access data. Well, except for the SyncMe and File Manager I already mentioned. Oh, and I noticed that the gallery can see the photos and videos I moved to the external card so that's good.
Well, I found another reason to not like the microSD card option but this time, it's directly related to the Prime rather than a generic Android problem.
Took my prime out for work. First full day with hotel stay since buying the microSD card. By the time I get back to the hotel to settle in for the night, I notice the microSD card is missing. WTH!!!
Now, there wasn't anything on it that I don't have on the computer at home BUT, that card wasn't cheap. If it comes out of that slot so easy as to be gone after my first full day away from home with the Prime, I can't trust it at all.
First question, is there an easily accecible log file that would show when the card was unmounted? If so, that might narrow down where to look for it. Might actually be able to find it if I know when it came out.
Second question, does anyone know if the SD card slot on the dock is more secure? I would really like more space but I'm not paying for another microSD card.
To answer one of your questions, the dock SD card is much more secure, it does not stick out of the dock at all unlike the Micro SD in the tablet
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
I would definitely recommend you have at least a sleeve for your Prime. That will help with the microSD not popping out, too. I have been carrying mine with me for weeks and haven't had mine pop out at all. No, I'm not aware of a way to find out when it was unmounted.
And yes - the dock has a SD card reader, so it's bigger and it will insert flush as opposed to sticking out a little due to the beveled design of the sides of the Prime. And with the usb port......well it's limitless really - maybe not to carry for every outing, but at home it's so easy to contect to the external hard drive and transfer movies and pictures that way. I really like the dock. Also, the prices of microSD cards have come waaaaay down. Sandisk, class 6, 16gb, $20.
"Haven't looked at the backup utility yet but every other app I've tried, I can't see a selectable option for getting choosing where to save and access data. Well, except for the SyncMe and File Manager I already mentioned. Oh, and I noticed that the gallery can see the photos and videos I moved to the external card so that's good."
The built in app backup does save your data to either or both places. This is data from your apps. Not things like downloads or pictures. It saves your apps too but you don't really have to do that since as soon as you sign into the market your apps are there. I have 2 other 3rd party apps that do the same thing with more features (schedules, bookmarks, etc)
Yep - the gallery and video player are going to find the pictures and videos/movies that you put on the removable sd card. The built in media player lets you tell it where to look for movies/videos. There really is plenty of room in the 32gb for most of your needs. Unless you root and start storing multiple weekly nandroid backups, you'll likely only need to manage your files when you "want to" - i.e. when you want to transfer pictures and videos on and off the Prime and/or when you back the Prime up. I have a 16gb $20 sandisk class 6 microsd that I've loaded up with 10 movies, but now I only have 4 gb left. I have over 80 3rd party apps installed to internal, that combined with the apps that came with it amount to only about 5gb, (plus misc pictures, videos, several hundred books, etc) and I still have 22 gb left. So I'm moving more movies to internal. I didn't get a 32gb tablet to leave a bunch of dead air
I have a TON of pictures and videos in my gallery. TONS. Thousands. But I've been using an android phone for several years so I'm synced with Google and the Cloud. Every picture I take with my phone or tablet is stored in the Cloud, private, available only to me unless I choose to make it public. I can access them anywhere from any computer within seconds of taking them. So they don't take up any space at all on any of my devices. Neither does my music anymore
Yeah, the 32 gigs is good for my needs. Not for my wants. I justified buying this thing to carry aeronautical chart which takes up several gigabits of space. Quite a bit of space but not so much that it overwhelms the internal card. However, when using it for secondary tasks like an HD video recorder, that space get chewed up fast. MicroSD was my plan for stuff like that. Will have to rethink that now.
Was planning on getting a sleeve or a case once I had the tab and keyboard and could figure out exaclty what I wanted for it (just got the keyboard) but that card got lost way too easy. Not buying another one even with the sleeve/case.
Well, the card showed up. Well, more accurately, it was sitting in a convenient place for me to stumble across it this morning.
Lucky for me for now.

[Q] Where'd all my space go, again?

Greetings.
I've had the pleasure to deal with many android devices, ranging from the very first EVO 4G to a rooted nook and KFire, galaxy tab, and my current GAlaxy S4. Nonetheless I've noted a pattern that hopefully one or several of you can help with...
I usually have SD cards that are larger than the native storage of most of my devices however.... I always run out of room for apps. I wouldn't say I install everything I See but I do install apps I need for work (medical apps) which for the most part don't exactly take much space but some are known to take 300-1Gb at most. Anyway, my devices always seem to fill the native storage while the SD Card remains fairly unused. Here is an example of my phone.
So my main gripe/issue is: My SD cards are always fairly empty and only have contents I've actively copied over to them from my desktop or notebook. I am under the impression that most programs do not install the data to SD Card and use the native storage instead. Is there anyway this can change? Any tips to get more space (besides backing up pictures and deleting those, 700+ mb!).
Thank you in advance!
good question.
theartofbone said:
Greetings.
I've had the pleasure to deal with many android devices, ranging from the very first EVO 4G to a rooted nook and KFire, galaxy tab, and my current GAlaxy S4. Nonetheless I've noted a pattern that hopefully one or several of you can help with...
I usually have SD cards that are larger than the native storage of most of my devices however.... I always run out of room for apps. I wouldn't say I install everything I See but I do install apps I need for work (medical apps) which for the most part don't exactly take much space but some are known to take 300-1Gb at most. Anyway, my devices always seem to fill the native storage while the SD Card remains fairly unused. Here is an example of my phone.
So my main gripe/issue is: My SD cards are always fairly empty and only have contents I've actively copied over to them from my desktop or notebook. I am under the impression that most programs do not install the data to SD Card and use the native storage instead. Is there anyway this can change? Any tips to get more space (besides backing up pictures and deleting those, 700+ mb!).
Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am in agreement with you, as I have progressed thru numerous phones too. After going the route of the first moto linux phone and then jumping aboard the Android system when the first G1 came out from HTC and have always had similiar problems.
There original solution was special purpose apps that would allow you to backup your apps to SD card, then other apps came along to allow you to actually run apps from SD Card but seems that not all apps can actually be accessed from SD card. I havent kept up with it all like I first did and have become rather lazy and carefree or even sloppy with how I maintain my devices files and apps organized. Much now to an overwhelming large mess of old devices and storage media not to mention profiles tied to email google accounts. Its difficult to even start over as every device wants to have a profile to sync to. It could entirely be possible to top out the memory on a brand new device after snyc to one or two profiles.
Also it seems for the average consumer that has a unrooted device it is impossible to thoroughly clean or interrogate the internal device memory . seems like the revisions of the android operating system makes file management of internal memory even more difficult to manage.
I didnt want to get too carried away but I totally feel frustrated as you do, sorry I dont have a solid technical answer to resolve your problem. I am asked all the time to fix my girlfriends tablet and I cant explain it to her where all her memory has disapeared to after a few factory resets. Doesnt seem to matter, if you load alot of apps to just give them a spin for a test ride. Even if you delete or move them to store on sd card . It seems alot of junk files still seem to reside in the internal storage and eventually will eat away at the memory until it gets to the point of inoperability. App managers can make the situatin worse by creating even more orphaned files and junk too. All this stuff is not accessible to view and review and manage.
The only answer is to have a rooted device and the expertise to properly manage this inaccessible memory?
Is there a decent file management that a nonpower consumer can rely upon?

Renaming pic on SD card 4.4.4

First let me preface my inquiry with a few statements.
Renaming pics was previously an inconvenience but now I make my living with these photos so this has become an absolute nightmare.
I am absolutely so frustrated with what I can only describe as Google's stupidity. For being some of the smartest people in the world they do some things that a three year old would know better.
Also I have tried to do research on this before posting a new thread here, but all I find is outdated piecemeal information .
So please don't judge me. I've tried my best to figure this out without creating a new and/or redundant thread but I need someone who actually knows what is going on and who can explain to me what I can and can't do and how to fix what I've already done and how to set up my process in the future so as to complete my task as efficiently as possible. I mean really, isn't that what the goal of all this digital interaction is supposed to be about?
Now that I got that off my chest, here's my situation:
I work in what I call a "fun" business. I take pics and videos of guests on my phone (Android 4.4.4).
Not being able to rename the pics on the SD card from a garble of random letters and numbers to something identifiable is so STUPID it's incomprehensible. The devices are designed to take thousands of pics and we're told to store the pics on the SD card to save storage space on our devices, but we then can't rename them to something we can identify? Whether this was an accidental oversight or on purpose, my three year old niece would know better than that.
That being said, I do understand that the limitations of 4.4 don't allow third party apps to make certain changes to files on the external storage (SD) card.
So here's my delimma: I moved my pics to the SD card before I realized this limitation. So now I have hundreds of pics I need to post to Facebook, etc., but I need to rename them so I can identify them before I start posting.
Also I'm ASSUMING that I CAN rename a pic that is stored on my device's internal storage. If I am incorrect about that please correct me on that issue before moving forward with a solution.
If that assumption is correct I then am assuming that the easiest fix would be to transfer the pics back to the native internal storage and rename them there.
But again 4.4.4 seems to also limit my ability to move/transfer/copy/paste the pics from the SD card back onto the phone's internal storage.
I have thought about transferring the pics to cloud storage where I can rename them, but then I have two copies of the same pics but with different names, which is another nightmare scenario. (In the end I would like to have a renamed (identifiable) copy of the pics on my phone (SD card preferably, but if not practical, then on my phone's internal storage) and one on the cloud. (Any suggestions on the best cloud storage for pics and videos?)
Then I could (can I?) transfer the renamed pics back to my SD card so I have offline access to the pics. But this seems highly inefficient and time consuming. And then if I did this process then I would need to then continually delete the unrenamed pics because of storage issues on the phone, again inefficient.
And using a desktop is not practical as I'm working remotely and I really need to rename immediately as the pics start piling up quickly.
So my first step is going to be to change the default storage location of the pics to the internal storage of the device so I can test whether or not I can rename the pics immediately.
Whether or not this adjustment works for my future pics, I still have the issue of renaming the pics I have already moved to my SD card.
So........
1. Is there a workaround for renaming the pics on the SD card?
2. If not, is there a workaround for moving the pics back to internal storage? In this case I could use a Windows desktop to facilitate this operation as it should be a one-time operation, assuming I can immediately rename my future pics that I'm now going to store by default on the device's internal storage.
I would greatly appreciate any complete and consider suggestions on how to best address my problems. Thanking you in advance.
Vincent
You are correct that Google revoked the permission for third party apps to write to external storage. The only permanent fix seems to be patching your platform.xml to include media_rw group. Do you have root? If so install sdfix: kitkat writable microsd from the play store, follow the prompts and reboot. As always backup first just in case something goes wrong in the process. And you don't need to keep the app. Worked for me on both 4.4.2 and 5.1.1. Hopefully this helps.
You are also correct that you can copy or move the pictures to internal memory and rename them from there, but you should also be able to use your phone's built-in file manager to rename them on the SD card.
I just can't believe it was that simple. I have several File Manager apps on my phone.
I didn't really think about an Android stock File Manager.
I didn't know which one it even was.
I should have picked up on the error message specific verbiage about "third party apps".
I ran a test on what I believe is the Android stock File Manager app and I think it worked.
I'll test it again later and post back the results.
That was the solution. Just using the stock file manager allowed me to rename pics on the SD card.
Thanx for the help. My life is so much easier now!
Sent from my Z987 using XDA-Developers mobile app

LG V30, recovery of internal storage w/out root?

Hello all,
This is my first post here. I did some searching and didn't find a direct answer to this scenario, but my apologies if I missed something.
Recently I used my PC to move files from my phone's internal storage onto a microSD card that was mounted in the device. I used the cut & paste function in Windows explorer (didn't occur to me that I could do it on the phone itself), and did this in batches. Unfortunately since that time I've discovered some of the files are corrupted--they have the appropriate size, but can't be opened. Perhaps there is a way to analyze the file structure of the JPEG to see if a byte is missing, but aside from that, I'm interested if I can run TestDisk on the internal phone storage in some way to see if the files could possibly be recovered. I found a few tutorials (example: https://roubert.name/joakim/androidfilerecovery/), but all of them require rooting, and unfortunately my phone is not rooted.
From my review of the procedures on this forum, it seems that unlocking the bootloader and/or rooting ends up requiring that the phone be wiped. Is there any way around this? And does anyone have any other suggestions on investigating whether my photos can be recovered or not?
Thanks for any help!
Lost most likely. Copy the files to the PC. There are more tools available for Windows than Android.
From now on copy/paste, verify size and readability, then delete the source files.
Check Event Viewer during the transfer time to see if errors were reported in Windows. Maybe a bad cable, port, driver issue, etc.
In the future regularly and redundantly backup critical data on at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC. I keep all critical data, music, vids, docs, backups go on the SD card and use it as a data drive. Only apps, the DCIM (backed up to the SD card regularly) and download folder go on internal. Then I backup the SD card.
There can only be one folder on Android with the name dcim. So when you backup the images in the internal memory dcim folder to the SD card rename it something like Master Pics to avoid issues.
Think it through and develop a system; everything you need to do a full reload/restore should be on the SD card. Few people utilize the SD card as it should be... it shouldn't be just a random collection of files. It adds an extra layer of protection for your data. Always use a quality V30 rated card like the Sandisk Extreme.
Any chance the photos were backed up to some service online? Google Photos is free and generally present on most Android phones, Samsung has their cloud, and some carriers do as well...
In the future, like @blackhawk said, backups are FAR more important than recovery. ANYTHING important to you should be backed up ("3-2-1" is a good policy to practice). For photos, Google Photos is great because it's free (to a limit, of course) and very easy to use. I've been recommending that to everyone, even iPhone users, because recovery is harder than ever these days - SSDs and flash can fail catastrophically and without warning much more easily than the old spinny drives which usually give some warning.
Sorry there isn't much better news. You may be able to find some un-delete software and try it. There may be paid services as well, but for the most part, it's probably lost...
If you do find something that works, do let us know... always good to find out new options! Good luck.
schwinn8 said:
Any chance the photos were backed up to some service online? Google Photos is free and generally present on most Android phones, Samsung has their cloud, and some carriers do as well...
In the future, like @blackhawk said, backups are FAR more important than recovery. ANYTHING important to you should be backed up ("3-2-1" is a good policy to practice). For photos, Google Photos is great because it's free (to a limit, of course) and very easy to use. I've been recommending that to everyone, even iPhone users, because recovery is harder than ever these days - SSDs and flash can fail catastrophically and without warning much more easily than the old spinny drives which usually give some warning.
Sorry there isn't much better news. You may be able to find some un-delete software and try it. There may be paid services as well, but for the most part, it's probably lost...
If you do find something that works, do let us know... always good to find out new options! Good luck.
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Click to collapse
Sadly, no. Didn't use a backup service online. Thanks for the advice though--I used to be pretty good about backing things up routinely, but have gotten lax. Sadly this is the consequence.
DakenSG said:
Sadly, no. Didn't use a backup service online. Thanks for the advice though--I used to be pretty good about backing things up routinely, but have gotten lax. Sadly this is the consequence.
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Click to collapse
That's a typically error when using MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) and you shouldn't use it for transferring files whenever it's possible. MTP was developed to offer a wide range compatibility for the most storage devices but it's very buggy and very slow.
Next time you should use the internal file explorer to copy data to your SD. This is the best practice.

Question Encrypt SD Card

Hello!
I bought this phone this week and so far I love it, long time Google Pixel user (p3a, p3xl, p4xl) that got enough of Google's AI deciding everything for me.
The cameras are amazing (Still gotta get used to it, so rn I am using auto mode) and the screen is unbeatable.
I have ONE issue with this phone, I mainly got it because I am currently deGoogling my online profile and I am planning on downloading everything from google photos and transfer it locally to my sd card and make backups every week (and store it on server in an ecrypted container). But I have been looking through the settings and can't seem to find the "Encrypt SD Card" mode, I want to encrypt it because I don't want the risk of me losing the phone and some random taking it and looking through everything I have on my SD card (that's unencrypted).
I am aware that If the device breaks down or stolen I won't be able to recover the data, but I'd much rather risking losing my data than someone else getting access to it.
Is there a way around this? I was looking into EDS or Cryptomator, but both seem to be too messy (having to access the files in the app) or need ROOT for mounting the countainers, do you guys recommend anything I can do here? I got about 70GB of photos and Videos to store on the sd card.
Looking forward to receiving replies,
Chali
Never encrypt data drives as you are the one most likely to be lock out. Many times it's through no fault of your own.
Physical security is the only real security. Phones don't just get lost unless you are careless. You ever lose your wallet?
You should probably rethink what you keep on the phone and how you handle the phone especially in unsecured environments.
blackhawk said:
Never encrypt data drives as you are the one most likely to be lock out. Many times it's through no fault of your own.
Physical security is the only real security. Phones don't just get lost unless you are careless. You ever lose your wallet?
You should probably rethink what you keep on the phone and how you handle the phone especially in unsecured environments.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very true, but I will be making backups to other devices so that's not an issue for me. I usually split it in 3 online clouds and 2 HDD.
Would you place all your sensitive info in an external SD card without encryption?
xDontStarve said:
Very true, but I will be making backups to other devices so that's not an issue for me. I usually split it in 3 online clouds and 2 HDD.
Would you place all your sensitive info in an external SD card without encryption?
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Click to collapse
Redundant backup is the only way. That sounds like a good plan. More hdds that have time staggered data and not store in one location. A Faraday cage ie earth grounded firebox is ideal.
A near lightning strike can wipe them... or magnets.
Like I said I never encrypt data drives including the one on my phone. Maybe if I had a vast empire to protect but that is not the case.
The only option i found is to put sensitive data in main internal phone's memory and a remote wipe if stolen (as i supposed phone itself is encrypted , not the sdcard) in case of sensitive infos (id cards, bank info etc)
but you have to backup its internal stockage ie some folders like "documents" regularly
invasion13 said:
The only option i found is to put sensitive data in main internal phone's memory and a remote wipe if stolen (as i supposed phone itself is encrypted , not the sdcard) in case of sensitive infos (id cards, bank info etc)
but you have to backup its internal stockage ie some folders like "documents" regularly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An effective and safer option than encrypting the data drive. Encrypting the SD card will also impact read/write performance. How much I'm not sure.
I will reply to myself, I used EDS from the playstore. I created a hidden volume using veracrypt on pc and store files in it, I can access most files and documents within the EDS app, it works great.
xDontStarve said:
I will reply to myself, I used EDS from the playstore. I created a hidden volume using veracrypt on pc and store files in it, I can access most files and documents within the EDS app, it works great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But EDS needs root , just to prevent an useless purchase for unrooted users
invasion13 said:
But EDS needs root , just to prevent an useless purchase for unrooted users
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can explore the files inside the container (only FAT and exFAT formats) inside the EDS app and open them using another app, ROOT is needed to mount the volume (essentially being able to access it from any app)
You can adopt it
Google adb android adopt storage
orangpelupa said:
You can adopt it
Google adb android adopt storage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello, thanks for your reply, but would that break when I disconnect the SD card?
xDontStarve said:
Hello, thanks for your reply, but would that break when I disconnect the SD card?
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Click to collapse
It won't break the SD card when removed, but it will be unreadable on other devices.

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