photo gallery- main external hard drive not showing my tracked pictures

[Android Central Question]

my photo gallery is no longer showing my external hard drive as a picture location but all of the pictures are stored there. it will show in the tracked folder but in the gallery photoshop it is missing. When I access the pictures in my folder or from a listing site it shows up but in the photo gallery only the picture folder I accessed another way shows up in the gallery. It is like the external hard drive is not attached to photo gallery but opened picture folders show up.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Which device are you using? Are you saying you're connecting a physical external hard drive via OTG?

 

[Rukbat]

If you're using an external drive, it has to be connected when you start (or restart) the phone. Those are the only times Media Scan runs, and Gallery and Photos look in Media Scan's database for the pictures you have. If you start the phone, get to your home screen then plug in the drive, Media Scan doesn't know about the drive.