Can't delete photos from sd card

[sodaceratops]

I can't delete any photos from my sd card or move them to internal storage. I have 23 GB of photos/videos that I can't lose. I don't have a computer to back them up on or any other device nor do I know anyone with a computer (no friends, at least). I think the card needs to be reformatted but I'll lose everything. I can email/text the photos/videos but it would take SO LONG to email 23 GB worth of photos/videos to myself. What should I do?

I have a Samsung s9.

 

[B. Diddy]

Have you tried backing them up to Google Photos? https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6193313?co=GENIE.Platform=Android&hl=en. If you choose High Quality, you get unlimited backup.

 

[sodaceratops]

None of the photos can be seen by anything else. I can see them in my gallery and my sd card files. Can't see them in Google photos. Thought everything was synced with my Samsung cloud but I can't see them there either.

 

[B. Diddy]

I checked, and it looks like Google Photos can't auto-backup from the SD card.:-\ Does your local public library have PCs you can use? You could try removing the SD card from the phone (make sure to Unmount it first in Settings>Storage), inserting it into the PC's SD slot, copying the data to the PC's hard drive (if they let you), then inserting a new SD card and copying those files back.

I'm sure you realize this now, but never rely on SD cards as the sole storage for important data. SD cards are inherently unreliable, and are more prone to failure or corruption than other storage media like a phone's internal storage or a computer's hard drive. And even the most reliable SD cards have a finite lifespan, which depends on how many read-write cycles the card goes through. Always keep important data backed up on a regular basis to some reliable storage (and preferably, make more than one backup one more than one storage location).

 

[methodman89]

I have no trouble backing up Google photos from the SD card to the cloud.
Open photos, tap the hamburger, select Settings, select Backup and Sync.
Good luck

 

[B. Diddy]

Oops, my mistake -- methodman89's right. You can back up from the SD card. (I should've checked on my Lenovo Tab 4 8", which has an SD card, before responding.)

Open your Google Photos app, tap Menu>Device Folders, and see if any of the SD card folders show up there.

 

[sodaceratops]

Nothing can "see" them. Can't find them in Google photos or Samsung cloud. I can see them in my gallery and in "my files" but they don't appear and I can't access them from anywhere else.

 

[sodaceratops]

My library doesn't allow you to download/upload anything using their computers, or rather, they come with no space to be able to do so. Can I use a USB or other storing device to try to back up the SD? Or will the photos likely not be seen if I can't find them anywhere else in my phone.

 

[B. Diddy]

Yes, you should be able to use a USB flash drive using the OTG adapter: https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/what-is-usb-otg/. Since the files appear in My Files, you can try copying them to a USB drive, and then seeing if you can access them from any PC using the USB drive. Make sure you use the Copy command, and not Move, since the latter will automatically delete the source files.