[vajourdan]

Hi. I had many saved pictures on my S2 device from PicSpeed, Facbook, etc. I know they're in my phone somewhere, but I can't access them. Is there a way to get them back? The only way I can figure to do it, is by transferring all my files from my phone to my computer, see if they are there, and then transfer them back to my phone. Would this be a good way to get my pictures back? Thanks!

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! When you removed the card from your S2, did you unmount it first (in Settings>Storage)? Removing a card without unmounting it runs the risk of corrupting the card, especially if the system was in the middle of writing something when you took it out. It's like removing a USB flash drive from your computer without ejecting it first.

Unmount the card from your S5, remove it, and put it in your computer's card reader, and see if you can find the files using the computer's file browser. If so, back up everything up now. Then reformat the card and Copy (not Move) everything back to the card.

If the computer can't read the card, try running chkdsk to look for bad sectors. http://forums.androidcentral.com/amb...d-sd-card.html

[dmcman73]

When you download photos from the internet, Facebook or even save them from Text messages, they are automatically saved to the phones storage not the SD card. Power your old phone up without the SD card in it and see if your photos are there, if they are, then they are on the phones storage. If you use the app that comes with the phone called "My Files", open it and you'll see at the top half all of your files broken out under "Pictures", "Videos", "Documents" etc. I would suggest using a blank SD card in your phone, go into one of those categories like "Picture" and long press on one of the files until a check box appears. Next, check the box labeled "Select all" at the top and then press the three dots (menu) in the top right corner and select "Move" from the menu. You will then be presented with two choices (as long as you have a blank SD card inserted) of Device Storage and SD Card, select the SD card and then tap on "Move here". Do that for each category (Videos, documents, etc). The reason I say use a blank SD card is because anything you have on the SD card will show up in the category list and you don't want to move items that are already on the SD card, use a blank card to keep this simple. If you want to do it another way, plug your phone into your PC and browse to the "Phone" folder once it mounts your phone. There is a folder called "Download" where all the files (including pictures) are stored when you download them from the internet. There is also a "Messages" or "Messaging" folder in the root of the device storage folder. where pictures you may have saved from text messages will reside (this folder will also have your backed up text messages if you backed any of them up). Then there is a DCIM folder where some pictures are stored from your camera in the event there was a problem with your SD card or it was too full. In the DCIM folder there is a Facebook folder where, pictures you may have saved from Facebook are. As for your PicSpeed, look for a folder called that.

[vajourdan]

The guy at the Sprint store mounted my S2 card into the S5 phone. Everything transferred beautifully, except not being able to see a lot of the pictures I saved. I can never remember the sequence to get to where they are. Anyway, when I get to the place that they're in, there's a long list of pictures, but they are white. I'll give the card in the computer a try. Thanks so much!

[vajourdan]

Thanks so much! I'll try the method of plugging my phone into my PC first and see how that works.

[dmcman73]

Also, one other thing, did you encrypt your SD card when it was in your old phone? If so, this would cause the pictures to not show up in the new phone. The only way I know of to get your pictures back this way is to reinsert your card into the old phone and connect it to a PC to transfer the pictures off.

If you already factory wiped your old phone, then that security key to decrypt the SD card will be gone and you'll be SOL. If you did not factory wipe your old phone and the card is encrypted, you can get your photos off the card by connecting the phone to your PC. After you copy the photos off your phone to your PC, performing a Factory wipe with the SD card still in the phone should remove the encryption so that you can view the pictures in another device.

[vajourdan]

Oh wow. I feel like a fool now! I had my old phone recycled at the Sprint store. Live and learn. I guess who ever got my old phone has some wonderful pictures to look at. Thanks for all of your help. I just got finished saving all of my pictures onto my computer.