Where have my folders disappeared to from internal storage on my tablet? Android 6.0.1

[RoboRiot_77]

Hi all,

I use my older tablet only for reading. I have a bunch of ebooks on there and they are (well, should be...) stored in the internal storage, in a folder I made called "eBooks".

The books are still readable on my tablet, but I just went to put a new book on there and the folder has vanished... Any idea why this has happened and where it's gone? I've tried showing any hidden items, but that didn't work. I have no idea what's happened. It should just be there...

When I look on my eBook viewer, it shows the folder called "eBooks" in the folder structure (like when I'm trying to add a new book to the library from storage) but when I plug the tablet into my PC with a usb cable (same way I've always done) the folder is missing.

Help!

 

[B. Diddy]

Which tablet? When you connect via USB and swipe down the notification panel on the tablet, do you see a USB connection icon? If so, tap that and make sure MTP (or File Transfer) is selected.

 

[RoboRiot_77]

@B. Diddy
It's a Lenovo tablet (i forget the name. It's about 4 years old). I've been using this tablet for the last 4 years to read eBooks and digital comics and I've never had an issue until now. The file transfer should be fine as all the folders with my digital comics, etc. are present (that I created myself and put on there), and I can add/delete things from there as normal (which I do roughly once per week). The only folder that's been affected is the eBooks one. I only noticed when I went to put a new book on the tablet a few days ago. As the OP says, the eBook viewer can still access the folder from the tablet, I just can't see it in the folder structure when I plug the tablet into my PC...

 

[B. Diddy]

Could it be that you're looking in the wrong storage area (i.e., Internal Storage vs SD card)?

 

[RoboRiot_77]

Ha ha, no. I checked that at first as I wondered if I'd made an obvious mistake, but the folder has definitely vanished. Nowhere to be seen in either internal or sd card storage.

I'm assuming something somewhere has caused some sort of crash/corruption. I definitely created a folder called "eBooks" which is now missing. I just connected the tablet to my laptop via the usb and went into the internal storage and searched the name of one of the eBook authors, and a book by that author has somehow magically been transferred into the "Bluetooth" folder, along with 1 other (still no sign of the other 10 or so books, though...). Now I'm 100% certain I didn't move any books into the Bluetooth folder. The plot thickens...

 

[B. Diddy]

What's the exact directory pathname for the eBooks directory? You should be able to see that using the file manager on the device.

 

[mustang7757]

[Moved this for OS 6.0.1 forum to general help]

 

[RoboRiot_77]

It should just be Internal Storage > eBooks (if I'm getting that right..?)
I can see the folder from the device but it doesn't show up anymore when I'm connected to my laptop via the usb. It's a head-scratcher, but really, all I've lost is the ability to use that folder. I've created an identical one and placed it on the sd card, so that will have to suffice. Still no idea why a couple of books magically got put into the Bluetooth folder, though...

 

[B. Diddy]

See what happens if you make the eBooks directory a subdirectory of something else, like Media (so that the pathname is /storage/emulated/0/Media/eBooks.

 

[RoboRiot_77]

It's now resolved itself (well, after a fashion...) as I accidentally managed to delete it from the tablet file viewer after I selected the folder and wanted to hit the details menu, but the tablet lagged and I hit the trash can icon by accident instead!
Oh well, I didn't lose any books and I've put them onto the sd card instead. Still no idea why it happened, but I'll just chalk it up to one of those things that the digital age throws at me every now and then!
Thanks for the chat, anyway.