Help with missing photo files

[itslikeimsayin]

I often take photos on my Moto XPE and then upload them to my computer via Android File Transfer. This weekend I took approximately 450 photos on a trip, but I'm having trouble accessing them via Android File Transfer. Here's what happened:

Right as I got home, my phone had a black screen and was unresponsive. Pushing the power button would send a pulse through the phone, but it took many tries before it restarted/awoke. When it did, it went into the mode where it says the SD card is missing. My SD card is formatted as adoptable storage, so it's essential to running smoothly. Eventually that message went away and the SD card seemed to be working. The first thing I did was check to ensure my photos from the weekend were still there, and they were.

But then...I turned Wi-Fi back on to begin the "Backup and Sync" process, and the number of photos needed to be saved began getting smaller and smaller way too quickly, as if it was backing everything up way, way faster than normal. So I turned Backup and Sync off and then all of my weekend photos were completely gone. I restarted my Moto X PE and they were still gone, but then a few minutes later they showed back up in Google Photos.

However, when I attach the phone to my computer via USB to use Android File Transfer, only a small handful of the photos from this weekend are viewable. Those were all taken at the very end of the trip. The first 90% or so cannot be accessed via Android File Transfer. When I click on the "info" for individual images, it says they're stored in their normal spot (DCIM>Camera), but I cannot access them to get them on my computer.

I was able to upload one image to Flickr, so I know the full files are still on the phone/SD card, but uploading all of them that way would be extremely time consuming. Does anyone know how to get Android File Transfer to "see" the missing photos? I read something about trying to "rebuild" the DCIM folder, but I'm not sure that would fix my issue, and I'm not sure I want to try that just yet.

Thanks.

P.S. Or does anyone know a wireless way to transfer photos from Google Photos to my Mac? I tried to pair my phone with my iMac via bluetooth and it didn't seem to work. I haven't turned "Backup & Sync" back on yet because I want to get the images off the phone first in case they disappear again when I turn it on.

 

[mrpackerguy]

Worse case scenario, couldn't you just remove the SD card from the phone and insert the SD card into the computer, or a card reader USB'd into the computer?

 

[itslikeimsayin]

Worse case scenario, couldn't you just remove the SD card from the phone and insert the SD card into the computer, or a card reader USB'd into the computer?

I don't believe so. It's my understanding that when you format the SD card as adoptable storage, that's all it's good for.

 

[Ry]

Worse case scenario, couldn't you just remove the SD card from the phone and insert the SD card into the computer, or a card reader USB'd into the computer?

Not with Adoptable storage.

 

[itslikeimsayin]

Just in case it helps figure this out, I re-installed a file manager app and it recognizes and displays the files that Android File Transfer does not.

 

[kbz1960]

Find fast WiFi and back them up to the cloud? This is why I'm reluctant to use my card as adoptable storage.

 

[itslikeimsayin]

Find fast WiFi and back them up to the cloud?

Yeah, I'm uploading them in batches to my Box account, so I've found a workaround, but hopefully this isn't an issue in the future because it's much more time and labor intensive. If anyone knows what went wrong with my SD card issue, please reply. Thanks.

 

[kbz1960]

Yes, it's odd that they aren't seen when connected to the computer.

 

[J Dubbs]

What went wrong is adoptable storage sucks..... it's a ticking time bomb waiting to ruin you're day. There's a reason some phone makers like Samsung disabled the feature ;-)
And yes I tried it myself along with 1000's of others on these forums and had nothing but trouble :-(

 

[matthewkuhl]

Memory card files inevitably become corrupted, in my experience. i won't use adoptable storage because of this.
My practice with SD cards is every so often to remove the card, copy its contents to a hard drive, wipe the card and then copy it all back. This serves as a disk defragmentation and has served well for me over the last few devices.

 

[BlueBlazer60]

First I don't use Adoptable storage. Second I use Windows and transfer by cable connection. So how much help the following will be, I have no idea.

Several times when I have transferred pictures from the DCIM folder to folders[SD Card] linked to my picture app they appear to have transferred correctly. But on connection to the computer, they are not in the folder expected on the SD card. They are still in the DCIM camera folder. But they don't show up on the phone there. Probably some of the location codes for the pictures are bad. If you installed a File Explorer app, go looking for the files to see where they are. Since I don't use Google Photos, I have no idea where it puts them by default. I don't use it on my phone but there is a Disk Usage app [Ivan Volosyuk] pick allows you so the file names and size in the areas normally not available without root access.

FYI - My 'real' camera indicates Bluetooth can not handle transfer of photos. Of course the photos in question are much larger file sizes.