Photos backup - where?

[N4Newbie]

I have tons of photos in my DCIM folder and they - as expected - automatically turn up in https://photos.google.com/.

I also have tons of photos in a folder named "Pictures" with multiple sub-folders. These are all set to backup in Photos -> Settings -> Back up & sync -> Back up device folders and, yes, "Back up & sync" is enabled.

Now, according to this - https://support.google.com/drive/answer/6305834?co=GENIE.Platform=Android&hl=en

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Yet, when I look at the actual backup here https://drive.google.com/drive/backups I don't see any mention of photos. So, are they being backup up or aren't they??

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[Almeuit]

I have tons of photos in my DCIM folder and they - as expected - automatically turn up in https://photos.google.com/.

I also have tons of photos in a folder named "Pictures" with multiple sub-folders. These are all set to backup in Photos -> Settings -> Back up & sync -> Back up device folders and, yes, "Back up & sync" is enabled.

Now, according to this - https://support.google.com/drive/answer/6305834?co=GENIE.Platform=Android&hl=en

View attachment 273943​

Yet, when I look at the actual backup here https://drive.google.com/drive/backups I don't see any mention of photos. So, are they being backup up or aren't they??

View attachment 273944​

https://photos.google.com

 

[Aquila]

Yes, they are backed up via the Google Photos app. The short list you're looking at in the final image is things that are backed up independently of other apps.

 

[N4Newbie]

https://photos.google.com

That's what I thought, but i'm not convinced. For one thing, I can't find any references to my folders nor any way to navigate to them.

 

[Almeuit]

That's what I thought, but i'm not convinced. For one thing, I can't find any references to my folders nor any way to navigate to them.

It doesn't backup the actual folder -- just the pictures from within the folder. It puts them all in one group. You can put them in their own albums or w/e after.

 

[N4Newbie]

It doesn't backup the actual folder -- just the pictures from within the folder. It puts them all in one group. You can put them in their own albums or w/e after.

So, if I were attempting to do an actual device restore, what, all of my images would end up in one place because the folder info is lost? Or, does it maintain a separate index so it knows where to put things when restoring?

It's not a huge deal for me because I am always very careful about copying this sort of stuff off to my PC prior to doing anything crazy like joining (more importantly, un-enrolling from) the Android beta program. Nevertheless, I am curious as to exactly how all of this is being handled.

 

[Almeuit]

So, if I were attempting to do an actual device restore, what, all of my images would end up in one place because the folder info is lost? Or, does it maintain a separate index so it knows where to put things when restoring?

It's not a huge deal for me because I am always very careful about copying this sort of stuff off to my PC prior to doing anything crazy like joining (more importantly, un-enrolling from) the Android beta program. Nevertheless, I am curious as to exactly how all of this is being handled.

Usually when restoring photos are not restored since they're in the cloud. It's one thing Google does differently from say an iOS backup.

If you were to wipe and restore it'll pull the apps and all that back but the photos stay in the cloud. They'd just be accessed via the Photos app.

 

[ImTurningViolet]

Usually when restoring photos are not restored since they're in the cloud. It's one thing Google does differently from say an iOS backup.

If you were to wipe and restore it'll pull the apps and all that back but the photos stay in the cloud. They'd just be accessed via the Photos app.

I can confirm. I dropped my phone earlier this week and got a new one and that's what happened when I restored everything.

 

[anon(10092459)]

I can confirm. I dropped my phone earlier this week and got a new one and that's what happened when I restored everything.

Glad to hear that you got your replacement!

 

[Aquila]

The folders are not restored.

 

[N4Newbie]

The folders are not restored.

Frankly, I think that is just plain unacceptable.

I mean, seriously, why? Suppose I had thousands of images arranged in dozens or hundreds of folders? Why would I want to lose all of that?

 

[Aquila]

Frankly, I think that is just plain unacceptable.

I mean, seriously, why? Suppose I had thousands of images arranged in dozens or hundreds of folders? Why would I want to lose all of that?

The photos in them are restored, just not the folder structure.

Google's position is that since they can already sort photos based on where and when they were taken, as well as which and what appears in them, folders aren't that necessary. That said, you're still able to make custom albums within Google Photos, and that structure does remain, just not custom folders made to sort photos in any particular device.

 

[e30ernest]

Sometimes I do wish Google Photos recognized the folder source while backing up though. I had hundreds of images and videos all from WhatsApp and Viber chats for example. I wish backups from them were automatically sorted out into albums based on the source app.

 

[LeoRex]

Frankly, I think that is just plain unacceptable.

I mean, seriously, why? Suppose I had thousands of images arranged in dozens or hundreds of folders? Why would I want to lose all of that?

Well, how are you categorizing them? Google Photos does some incredibly detailed indexing on all the photos you back up. Location, who is in the picture, what they are wearing, what they are doing, etc. The different criteria is actually amazing. My wife does the same thing you do and I've been trying to get her to utilize Photos' indexing more... I think she's starting to see the power there. Being able to cross reference everything no matter where, when or how it was taken is amazing.

She lost her brother to cancer this week and her mother had been asking to get some pictures for the memorial.. she was able to easily scan though everything, not just the ones she took with her phones recently, but the giant backlog of photos we stuffed into her Drive account as a backup (you can choose to have Photos include those as well). All the Disney pics, or finding that one pic when he was wearing the silly hat with my daughter, etc. took a little bit of stress out of a task that was already stressful enough.

Sure, when you go into it and see that sea of pictures, it seems like there's no organization, but in reality, it's more organized than any system of folders imaginable... You just have to ask.

 

[chanchan05]

I use Foldersync. It works exactly like any cloud sync, but allows you to keep folder structure and choose which cloud you want to save to (Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, etc).

 

[Forest Dane]

Just spent 5 minutes creating a folder of my grandson and wondered why I had two...
Google photos has restored all of my folders from my 6p

 

[Bboy486]

I use Foldersync. It works exactly like any cloud sync, but allows you to keep folder structure and choose which cloud you want to save to (Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, etc).

But this would require you save to OC first then use G photos as a backup right?

What about the issue where you have multiple phones taking photos in the family. Essentially I would need to download to the PC and let Google sync from there.

 

[chanchan05]

But this would require you save to OC first then use G photos as a backup right?

What about the issue where you have multiple phones taking photos in the family. Essentially I would need to download to the PC and let Google sync from there.

Actually I save to OneDrive so I disable Google Photos on all my devices. Google Photos work differently, so you should disable that if you want to save to PC with folder structures intact. Save directly to Google Drive using Folder sync.

There's no issue. Just download the cloud you're using to PC and set it up as it's own folder like Dropbox. You can assign each device a separate folder. For example, on my OneDrive I made a folder called phone photos and had my phone sync to that. Then I made another folder called tablet photos and made my tablet upload all its photos to that.