DCIM and files empty after OS A11 upgrade from A10 on LG G8 thinq

[MAHU24]

4 days ago I was prompted to install a new software update by my phone. In the past when an OS upgrade is the update, the phone has told me (as on my G4, G6), however it was described as a patch and bug fix update and had no recommendation to backup data.

Since my phone has been on A11, all 2 years of photos, videos, music, and downloads are all gone. Cannot view them in any gallery app from Google Play (so far), cannot find anything in "File Manager", and cannot view in default gallery.

However, when I go to settings>storage, it shows that there are 14GB of photos and videos on my internal storage.

I had photos backed up to google photos but apparently it only backed up the photos I took with my camera, and did not back up anything from Facebook, Snapchat, Download, etc.

So far I have tried clearing the gallery cache and data to no avail. I have also deleted all the .nomedia files and that did not help either. Is it possible that whatever media scanner LG uses on the G8 is not actually compatible with A11?

Any help in recovering my photos and videos would be greatly appreciated! I would like to try a PC based program to try and find them, but it seems every website has their own "Best" program to use. If I need to route my phone to get the data back I am definitely willing to do that as a last resort.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Install the Files by Google app from the Play Store, and select the Images category -- see if any of the photos show up there.

 

[MAHU24]

Unfortunately, nothing there either. But it too shows the same amount of available storage as my phones settings (which means the 14GB is there and google recognizes that)

 

[B. Diddy]

Try DiskUsage and see if it gives you any more information.

 

[MAHU24]

Says: "this app was built for an older version of android and may not work properly. Try checking for updates or contact the developer"

And after scanning it does not show up

 

[B. Diddy]

Do you remember what directories these photos were in? Were they saved to Internal Storage or an SD card?

 

[MAHU24]

They were all saved on internal storage. I have no SD card in the phone, yet. (now that I can't trust google to backup ALL of my folders as requested).
It just doesn't make sense to me that the update killed access to 14GB worth. The phone still shows they're there taking up space.

 

[B. Diddy]

Google Photos can backup any folder that contain photos as long as you select them. The Camera folder gets backed up by default, but you have to toggle on backup for any other folders, since many folders can contain app-related images that most users would not want to backup (like stock images, cached ad images, etc.).

At this point, it's starting to look like the update process glitched. This can unfortunately happen from time to time. This is only speculation, but it could be due to a poorly coded update, which would not be entirely surprising given LG's notoriously poor record for system updates.

Have you already used a file manager app to look through every possible directory that's accessible to the user? Make sure the file manager is set to show hidden files/folders as well.

Recovering deleted files on internal storage would require rooting, so that may be more trouble than it's worth, but you can read this guide: [Guide] Recovering Deleted Files - Android Forums at AndroidCentral.com. Since those files weren't technically deleted by you, maybe an app like DiskDigger or Recuva still be useful even without rooting.

 

[MAHU24]

I did select Google to back them up, and all the folders are on my Google photos... However they're all empty, nothing in them. I did select Google to backup EVERY folder because I've had this happen before with my LG G4.

I contacted LG but they were not much help unfortunately.

I have downloaded various file managers off google play with no success.

Is disk digger on PC worth it over the app?

 

[B. Diddy]

When you look in your Google Photos on the web, are you looking for these photos in a specific album on the web? Keep in mind that all backed-up photos should appear in the main Google Photos feed -- it doesn't create a separate album corresponding to the various folders you might have created on the phone. You would have to create those virtual albums yourself in Google Photos on the web. The Google Photos feed is sorted by date, so look around the date corresponding to those missing images (or just enter a search term that might correspond to them, like "beach" or "family"), and see if they show up.

 

[MAHU24]

Yes I searched through all the photos and the missing ones are not there. The folders are on Google drive along with older photos, but when I click on the folders to open them it links me to Google photos and shows nothing.

Ongoing emailing Google but they're the opposite of helpful.

I looked on Google drive, google 1, and Google photos, all both via app and web on my PC. No luck

 

[B. Diddy]

Sorry, running out of ideas.:-\

In Google Photos on the web, go to the Trash section. Are any of the photos there?

 

[MAHU24]

Nope. I've given up. A11 ruined most of the usability of my phone too. It's got so many bugs. I'm just going to backup what I do have now on an SD card and factory reset, install updates, then restore