Some recently taken photos/videos are only accessible by Google Photos, appear to be in its app data and not movable - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Very peculiar issue occurring: there are a fair amount of photos and videos that show up under google photos under library -> photos on device -> camera with SDCard Icon.
But the location for these files is "/external/video/media" or "/external/image/media" under ""On Device (size)." The other files taken in a similar way are correctly on "/storage/9C32-13OC/DCIM/Camera"
When clicking these files, they play normally, clicking share and More or Create Link says "Error, could not download media" and using Google Photos to Move / Copy says "Trouble Moving 1 item"
When ejecting the SDCard and physically removing it while keeping Google Photos open, all the files actually on /storage/<ID> disappear, and all these weird files remain and can be played. This is how I discovered it wasn't just today's videos, which were mysteriously not being uploaded to my nextcloud. No other app can see these videos/images, including the system's gallery app, and they are not in the internal emulated "SDcard"
These are on my SO's phone and I use the exact same model phone. I did discover that I do have some files like these but hey are all older than the oldest file on my SDCard, e.g. Google Photos has somehow decided to cache them. But on my SO's phone, these files are intermingled with the ones she's actually taken
Interestingly when I switch the google photos account to another google user logged on the phone, those files disappear. I did try moving files to the locked folder but it says "Trouble moving to Locked Folder. Try again later"— I did verify I could move files actually on the SDCard there, and they are then removed from all views except Locked Folder.
In this folder, on the top right when clicking the SDCard Icon, it does show the "SD Card folder" as "file:///storage/9C32-13OC/DCIM/Camera" as expected.
I searched for the filename in a file browser as well as in adb shell (using find / -name "filename" 2> /dev/null) and nothing comes up. As there are some lengthy videos in here, I used DiskUsage to see what might be using a lot of space, and the Google Photos app is using 7.55 GB of data, so it seems like they are being stored there. And it makes sense why they can't be found, as /data/data/com.google.android.apps.photos is only accessible by that app or the system, and I'm unrooted.
My SO said she took them the same way she normally takes photos and video, and of course when I take some they show up on the actual SDCard. I suppose in theory I could use adb backup and follow instructions on how to decrypt the data files, but really what the heck is going on?
We aren't on the latest phone or even the latest Google Photos app (could be a bug with this specific version, but then again google photos isn't taking the photos/videos, the system Camera app is). I could try upgrading her google photos but I also don't want to lose these videos of our kid. It does seem like it would back them up, but we don't have enough Google Storage to back them up online (hence why we use nextcloud), and they don't even show up under different google accounts as mentioned.
Phone: LG G7
Android 10
Google Photos: 6.21.0.504361003

robobub said:
EDIT: whoops, can this be moved to https://forum.xda-developers.com/f/android-q-a-help-troubleshooting.1236/ ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Done!
Regards
Oswald Boelcke

robobub said:
I suppose in theory I could use adb backup and follow instructions on how to decrypt the data files, but really what the heck is going on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well this didn't work, as google photos does not back up with adb, as some apps can specify this.
Some of these videos did get uploaded to google photos, but they are (now) compressed to under 1/8th their size (the original size is noted correctly in google photos), and from 4k to HD.
From what I had recalled, when they are first uploaded, they are available at their original size to be downloaded. So I tried deleting one to get it to re-upload, and now that video no longer shows up on my SDCard under "/external/video/media" so I basically lost the original HQ video of my kid, great.
Any ideas?

Related

Entertainment Center stuck

hello my atrix's entertainment center gets stuck upon selecting to browse each media category. Once I select videos or music I just get that "orange waiting box" for like eternity. I am using this rom http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1169409&highlight=keyboard+language which is the standard international rom for atrix. Any ideas? I have some videos I want to play from internal storage
Freezing on Motorola Entertainment Center Splash Screen
Similar issues on a Bell Atrix 2.3.6.
Mine used to hang when going through the pictures or videos menu..
Now it hangs on the splash screen and doesn't even load. Sometimes the glimmering bit shows and freezes, sometimes it just says "Motorola Entertainment Center." After 30s or less it asks to Force Close or just closes on its own.
System 45.21.78.MB860.BellMobility.en.CA
Android 2.3.6
Webtop WT-1.2.0-167_BELL
Build 4.5.2A-51_OLL-17.8
Any help's appreciated!
Thermanshs said:
hello my atrix's entertainment center gets stuck upon selecting to browse each media category. Once I select videos or music I just get that "orange waiting box" for like eternity. I am using this rom http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1169409&highlight=keyboard+language which is the standard international rom for atrix. Any ideas? I have some videos I want to play from internal storage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have you tried reducing the number of media files on your device?
I'm still trying to get mine to work too, but trimming the files got me past the splash screen at least. now i'm just stuck with the "Loading" circle and "waiting" inside each category - same as you i guess.
I would say my dcim/thumbnails definitely has an influence on the entertainment center. so maybe the gallery also plays a part. still messing around with deleting the thumbnails folder, refreshing it, etc.
problem solved!
i found the place where the thumbnail data is stored, which was making the huge thumbnail file and crashing Entertainment Center.
it isn't storing the entire ".thumbdata3--1967290299" file (which can be hundreds of mb for some people), rather a large (tens of mb) .db database file that is being used to recreate it on demand.
/data/data/com.android.providers.media/databases
external.db
with Root Explorer i could view the file, and Speed Software also sells an sql editor which you can use to trim the thumbnails table.
*be careful: deleting entries from this file also seems to delete it from the device! i deleted all records from the thumbnails and images tables..
learn from my mistake. i thought it would regenerate, but it deleted all images from /sd card. good thing i backed up all my photos first, but better to use the filter option and trim out only the records for files that are no longer on the device.
".thumbdata3--1967290299" now reappears, but a whole lot smaller.
Gallery opens so much faster now, and Entertainment Center works again!
hope it helps!
whitebreadstyle said:
i found the place where the thumbnail data is stored, which was making the huge thumbnail file and crashing Entertainment Center.
it isn't storing the entire ".thumbdata3--1967290299" file (which can be hundreds of mb for some people), rather a large (tens of mb) .db database file that is being used to recreate it on demand.
/data/data/com.android.providers.media/databases
external.db
with Root Explorer i could view the file, and Speed Software also sells an sql editor which you can use to trim the thumbnails table.
*be careful: deleting entries from this file also seems to delete it from the device! i deleted all records from the thumbnails and images tables..
learn from my mistake. i thought it would regenerate, but it deleted all images from /sd card. good thing i backed up all my photos first, but better to use the filter option and trim out only the records for files that are no longer on the device.
".thumbdata3--1967290299" now reappears, but a whole lot smaller.
Gallery opens so much faster now, and Entertainment Center works again!
hope it helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that, but what if the images are not the problem, but music or videos? I have tons of music on my SDCard and I don't know exactly what to delete in that database.
I tried using SDRescan as proposed here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28516079&postcount=6, but that didn't help.
I've done some more research and found a solution here: http://www.mobilephonetalk.com/show...in-memory-card&p=311954&viewfull=1#post311954. After I deleted the .thumbdata3 file, created a blank one with Root Explorer and removed write permission to it, the file stays at 0 bytes and Camera and Gallery apps still work fine.
strom87 said:
Thanks for that, but what if the images are not the problem, but music or videos? I have tons of music on my SDCard and I don't know exactly what to delete in that database.
I tried using SDRescan as proposed here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28516079&postcount=6, but that didn't help.
I've done some more research and found a solution here: http://www.mobilephonetalk.com/show...in-memory-card&p=311954&viewfull=1#post311954. After I deleted the .thumbdata3 file, created a blank one with Root Explorer and removed write permission to it, the file stays at 0 bytes and Camera and Gallery apps still work fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you still have all the music, deleting entries from the database won't solve anything because they will just be recreated the next time you open gallery.
your fix is probably the best for your situation.
solution... maybe...
Maybe you will find solution here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=35259164&postcount=7
Kyonex said:
Maybe you will find solution here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=35259164&postcount=7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just want to add, that it's the camera app causing the thumbdata3 to grow, each picture you take. (I verified file size change after taking pictures.) I'm trying the solution by creating the dummy file and making it read only now.

[Q] Dropbox camera upload from a different folder?

Hello!
I know Dropbox for Android (and iOS for that matter) will automatically upload pictures you take with the camera. But I want to have it also upload pictures that I save, either from a text message or from a website. Those pictures are saved to the "Downloads" folder, which I don't think Dropbox is watching for pictures. If I move pictures to the "DCIM/Camera" folder, SOMETIMES pictures will upload, but not always.
So is there a way to force Dropbox to auto-upload the pictures I save? I want that to happen so the pictures will be renamed to the date it was taken, which is why simply sharing them to Dropbox won't do.
Thanks!
Bump..also looking for an answer
Don't think so hmm. Maybe try to force a media rescan via one of those apps on the play store?
Alternatively use an app like Dropsync to do one way uploads or 2 way syncing to any folder to Dropbox.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2
Dropbox does watch the Downloads folder. Actually, it monitors every folder on the USB storage partition of your phone. For example, screenshots I take on my phone get uploaded to my Dropbox as part of the "camera upload" function of the official Dropbox app, even though I don't get those pictures by using the phone's camera nor are they stored in the DCIM folder.
To see this, take a screenshot of any screen on your phone (for my wife's HTC Vivid it's Power + Volume Up, for my SGS2 Skyrocket it's Power + Home). It'll get saved to /storage/Pictures/Screenshots (your exact path name may be different depending on how your phone designates the USB storage partition of your phone - note this is note the SD card, but the accessible storage on your phone when you mount it as a USB drive when plugging it into your computer). You should eventually see that those screenshots are uploaded to the same folder on your Dropbox as all the photos you take with your phone's camera.
If you're not seeing that, I'm not sure what the issue would be. I'd recommend going to system settings > applications > dropbox > force stop > clear cache > clear data > uninstall, then reinstall Dropbox and set up camera upload again, take a few photos with the camera to make sure it works, then retaking some screenshots to make sure that that works as well.
by default, it upload to "Camera Uploads" dropbox, can I change the default folder to other folder in dropbox? sub folder?
Thanks
henry8668 said:
by default, it upload to "Camera Uploads" dropbox, can I change the default folder to other folder in dropbox? sub folder?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No feasible solution
I don't think dropbox watch ALL folders. I noticed pictures for Whatsapp / eye-fi / any other apps which stores pictures in their own folder do not get backed up. Please advise if anyone have solution as to enable users as to which folders they want to upload to dropbox from their Android.
I use these two apps to sync additional folders on my phone to Dropbox's Camera Uploads. It may not be the exact solution you're looking for, but it works for me.
DropSync & CloudPipes
Try pasting photos in camera folder and rename similar to photo taken with camera. That may work
Sent from my C1904 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Hi,
I am very interested in these feauture. There is some solution to automatically upload pictures for other location in dropbox?
Many thanks

[Q] Album not showing all of the pics

Hi there,
first, I'm a new xda forum user. I've been using linux on desktops for over 10 years, so linux is familiar to me. But this Xperia Z2 is my first smart phone ever, had it 6 months now. The phone is with latest firmware, rooted with instructions found on this forum. Thats enough with introductions.
The problem: I had my internal storage space nearly filled up, the phone suggested to move stuff to sd card. I was stupid enough to do so, I let the phone move my pictures to sd card. Shortly after that the sd card failed. I used linux programs and a card reader to salvage the pictures from the card. I copied them back to internal storage, using File Commander. Now the pictures don't show up in the Album anymore. Which came first, not showing in the Album after moving files to sdcard or not showing because the card failed? I don't know, because the card failed before I used Album next time... Either I copied them in the wrong directory or I am missing something I should have also done. They have done a marvelous job in obfuscating the directory structure from "normal" linux system...
After I copied the pics back to internal storage, I got the placeholders showing in Album, in place of thumbnails... and clicking the placeholders I get a full screen placeholder pic. And the videos taken previously with some other phone or Z2, those get a different placeholder (kind of Play button), clicking them I get a "Cannot play video" message. All these pics/videos are viewable with PC.
Now, the questions:
What is the right directory where I should copy the previously taken pictures?
Does the Album create thumbnails again automatically, where should those be located?
How does the Album decide the timeline of the pics? Exif, file creation time, some other method?
Can I make a symbolic link to have that picture directory to hold it content on the sdcard?
Settings>Apps>all>Media Storage>Clear Data/Clear Cache
once you have wiped the data of this package it should start Fully Indexing your Storage Devices
Info
Flexy_75 said:
Hi there,
first, I'm a new xda forum user. I've been using linux on desktops for over 10 years, so linux is familiar to me. But this Xperia Z2 is my first smart phone ever, had it 6 months now. The phone is with latest firmware, rooted with instructions found on this forum. Thats enough with introductions.
The problem: I had my internal storage space nearly filled up, the phone suggested to move stuff to sd card. I was stupid enough to do so, I let the phone move my pictures to sd card. Shortly after that the sd card failed. I used linux programs and a card reader to salvage the pictures from the card. I copied them back to internal storage, using File Commander. Now the pictures don't show up in the Album anymore. Which came first, not showing in the Album after moving files to sdcard or not showing because the card failed? I don't know, because the card failed before I used Album next time... Either I copied them in the wrong directory or I am missing something I should have also done. They have done a marvelous job in obfuscating the directory structure from "normal" linux system...
After I copied the pics back to internal storage, I got the placeholders showing in Album, in place of thumbnails... and clicking the placeholders I get a full screen placeholder pic. And the videos taken previously with some other phone or Z2, those get a different placeholder (kind of Play button), clicking them I get a "Cannot play video" message. All these pics/videos are viewable with PC.
Now, the questions:
What is the right directory where I should copy the previously taken pictures?
Does the Album create thumbnails again automatically, where should those be located?
How does the Album decide the timeline of the pics? Exif, file creation time, some other method?
Can I make a symbolic link to have that picture directory to hold it content on the sdcard?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the Album will scan all storage when u open it but always it s not problem with Album app
some picture files cannot be scanned by any media app. (just by file managers)
for example u may use 3rd party camera app and its photo not appear on Album so it s not the album problem u should ask that developer to set MediaScan on her app files.
:good:
Geeks Empire said:
the Album will scan all storage when u open it but always it s not problem with Album app
some picture files cannot be scanned by any media app. (just by file managers)
for example u may use 3rd party camera app and its photo not appear on Album so it s not the album problem u should ask that developer to set MediaScan on her app files.
:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vast majority of the pics are taken with this phone. Even they don't show up more than as a placeholder pic. Every pic/video showed OK before these events I wrote in the opening post.
Envious_Data said:
Settings>Apps>all>Media Storage>Clear Data/Clear Cache
once you have wiped the data of this package it should start Fully Indexing your Storage Devices
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are corrupted somehow, again. I'll just have to ditch the pics and see if new pics show up as they should.

My phone doesn't see a lot of the media on it. (not a .nomdeia issue)

Ok, so I've been trying to sort this issue out for almost half a year now.
All of a sudden my phone just stopped being able to 'see' all the current media on it, I initially noticed this because my ringtone changed back to a standard one, when I checked the gallery it was empty.
At first I thought it was a .nomedia file hiding everything but I couldn't find any, and when I took new photos they appeared in the gallery as if everything before them had just been deleted.
I installed a different gallery app that had the option to "view hidden files" and there it all was, but the thing that puzzled me was that the new photos and videos were in the same folders as the old ones.
Even weirder anything I downloaded couldn't be seen, literally the only media the phone would see is media it created ITSELF (photos, videos, sound recordings and screenshots).
I became curious and checked the files on the PC and the main difference was that many of the media details like photo dimensions and video duration were missing on all the old non-visible media while it was present on all the new media.
I copied a few photos and videos over to the PC, let it add it's own info to the files, checked them to make sure dimensions and durations were all there, then copied them back to the phone to see if they would show up and all the information disappeared! Which explains why I can't see new files downloaded from the internet ect.
List of things I've tried:
- .nomedia files
- force stop/delete cache of gallery
- force stop/delete cache of media storage
- wipe phone cache from boot menu
- repopulate/rescan for media using a large number of app including fx, ex file explorer, media re.scan ect ect
- backed up all media onto PC and deleted from phone, then replaced from back-up
I'm honestly at a complete loss, does anyone know what could be causing this?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Do you have any app locker/privacy locker apps installed?
Thanks for the reply, I had a look through and wasn't able to find anything, I never knowingly installed an app like that.
There is the standard 'private' setting on the phone but turning it on or off makes no difference.
Faawks said:
Ok, so I've been trying to sort this issue out for almost half a year now.
All of a sudden my phone just stopped being able to 'see' all the current media on it, I initially noticed this because my ringtone changed back to a standard one, when I checked the gallery it was empty.
At first I thought it was a .nomedia file hiding everything but I couldn't find any, and when I took new photos they appeared in the gallery as if everything before them had just been deleted.
I installed a different gallery app that had the option to "view hidden files" and there it all was, but the thing that puzzled me was that the new photos and videos were in the same folders as the old ones.
Even weirder anything I downloaded couldn't be seen, literally the only media the phone would see is media it created ITSELF (photos, videos, sound recordings and screenshots).
I became curious and checked the files on the PC and the main difference was that many of the media details like photo dimensions and video duration were missing on all the old non-visible media while it was present on all the new media.
I copied a few photos and videos over to the PC, let it add it's own info to the files, checked them to make sure dimensions and durations were all there, then copied them back to the phone to see if they would show up and all the information disappeared! Which explains why I can't see new files downloaded from the internet ect.
List of things I've tried:
- .nomedia files
- force stop/delete cache of gallery
- force stop/delete cache of media storage
- wipe phone cache from boot menu
- repopulate/rescan for media using a large number of app including fx, ex file explorer, media re.scan ect ect
- backed up all media onto PC and deleted from phone, then replaced from back-up
I'm honestly at a complete loss, does anyone know what could be causing this?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you know the folder where they are all saved the just check the name because maybe there can be a dot(.) Before the folder name thus making it hidden
If yes,then just rename it without the dot and your work will be done
It is also possible that the properties of the folder maybe somehow changed thus in that case, connect your device to pc and right click on the folder and goto properties. If you see 'read only' , 'hidden' etc.. Then goto advance settings and change the properties to 'full control'
Hope this helps
Regards,
milkyway3

Oneplus Nord N10 Gallery Not Showing Photos and Images from Other Folders

I just got the Oneplus Nord N10 5G. I took a few test pics and viewed them. Then I put in an sd card and set the camera to use that. I moved the test pics to the new sd DCIM folder, but the gallery is not showing them. As a matter of fact it's not showing ANY images on the phone. I've see a few threads that suggested clearing the cache and data and I tried that several times, with the gallery and media storage, with restarts and leaving it fully off for a few minutes. After like the 4th time and leaving it off, it recognized the pics I had moved to the DCIM folder, but still doesn't see other photos and images from other folders, external or internal.
If anyone has any other suggestions I'm open to trying, but I'm wondering if I should just use a different gallery app instead of the stock one and if anyone has any suggestions?
If your device is rooted, just uninstall that piece of garbage.
I'm using Simple Gallery Pro (the non-pro version is obsolete), it has a bunch of features, such as:
It's open-source;
Recycle bin (optional);
Show (or temporarily show) hidden files;
Manage included and excluded folders (the thing you were looking for);
Password protect some features (or even the whole APP);
Automatically delete empty folders after deleting their content;
Edit files without changing last-modified value;
Built-in image and video editors;
Export/Import APP settings.
I payed for it but if you're a cheapskate you can get it for free on F-Droid.
lbsilva said:
If your device is rooted, just uninstall that piece of garbage.
I'm using Simple Gallery Pro (the non-pro version is obsolete), it has a bunch of features, such as:
It's open-source;
Recycle bin (optional);
Show (or temporarily show) hidden files;
Manage included and excluded folders (the thing you were looking for);
Password protect some features (or even the whole APP);
Automatically delete empty folders after deleting their content;
Edit files without changing last-modified value;
Built-in image and video editors;
Export/Import APP settings.
I payed for it but if you're a cheapskate you can get it for free on F-Droid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not rooted but it does give me the option to disable it. I'll test it out with the F-Droid version and if I like it the official version is pretty cheap. Thanks for the suggestion!

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