Smart Switch - What a mess it made! Help?

[Lucretia Victoria]

Hello there all!
First, I'd like to let you know I've been an IT tech since the late 90s, from DOS to every version of Windows. Phones, tablets, all of it. So I don't need any coddling, or "did you restart your computer?" Kind of help.
I didn't think THIS could fail so miserably!

Apologies, I'm not great at forum rules, because I haven't used one since maybe the late 90s... I did search for my exact problem, and I could not find it, so I hope posting it here is okay. Some forms get very touchy when you don't post in the right place I certainly hope I don't get in trouble here! I have several phones, my newest one being the Z-Fold 4. 3 Tablets as well.

I took my 3 other phones, asked Smart Switch for each, to send to the new Fold 4.
I thought I would be adding all the pics, videos and music to the new one. I read it doesn't duplicate anything, it did btw.

SO
My Z Fold, which was beautifully set up and customized, is funky now.
I lost a whole lot of my gallery, the folders are more out of order than usual! Here I thought the photos would go up in count, not erase m9st of them!

Icons, widgets are now grayed out- say they aren't updated for my phone now.

Things moved around, I didn't want apps - now the Z Fold has a bunch of OLD apps I didn't want. Some apps also disappeared!

Now I also have apps and web pages freeze constantly, and hitting close app doesn't help. I have to restart.

FYI, I take really good care of my devices. I customize everything just right for me. Loving the accessibility features and larger screen.

HOWEVER BACK TO OUR REGULAR SCHEDULED PROGRAM...

Is there and UNDO THIS BLEEPIN MESS button? Can you reverse it all? Can I go find who created this and tell them they really .... *censored* ... and should buy me a new phone?? Ya know these aren't cheap.... But I highly recommend it!

Well, thought I'd try here....

Peace Love Happiness

 

[Bla1ze]

So, you were trying to move 3 different phones to one device using Smart Switch? Am I understanding that correctly. In any case, you can just factory reset the Z Fold and start again. Personally, I don't suggest using any of the switching apps, especially if there's things that you do and don't want. Just start fresh, install what you want and don't worry about it. Google can handle the rest such as your photos and contacts if you allow it.

 

[Lucretia Victoria]

So, you were trying to move 3 different phones to one device using Smart Switch? Am I understanding that correctly. In any case, you can just factory reset the Z Fold and start again. Personally, I don't suggest using any of the switching apps, especially if there's things that you do and don't want. Just start fresh, install what you want and don't worry about it. Google can handle the rest such as your photos and contacts if you allow it.

Yes, one at a time - all had a lot different pics, music & vids. It offered to transfer all 3 old phones, so I went for it.

 

[Lucretia Victoria]

Yes, one at a time - all had a lot different pics, music & vids. It offered to transfer all 3 old phones, so I went for it.

Problem is, I don't use clouds much, or Sync. These clouds suck up every single pic instantaneously, when I don't want them saved. So I turn them off. What I did have in cloud storage - I emptied into this phone for my project!

The bad part, cannot use micro sds in this phone. I did purchase a transfer wire for that.

The plan was get everything to the Z, and then put everything on Micro, flash drives, and trx to my Dell All In One to create CDs/DVDs.
Now I've purchased a player that connects to the phone.

Either way, my goal was the annual get ALL media saved in several places, tangibly.

Everyone tries to avoid the dreaded reset. I don't know how I'll get the missing photos. My Gary Numan pic folder has 27 pics. It had over 300...

I thank you my friend, for your very quick response - I was still trying to post and getting "We ran into a server problem, wait 90 seconds try again" when you replied! I didn't think it posted...
I will continue my journey. Who knows if I'll ever see some of these things again....


C’est la vie.
There are so many terrible things in this world. A phone is what it is in the grand scheme.
Hope my family photos stayed, still checking. We lost our parents in 2021.

I just try to keep the Karma and positive energies flowing out into the universe. I try to be kind, and thankful for the things I do have. Especially the people I love.

Peace!

 

[Bla1ze]

Problem is, I don't use clouds much, or Sync. These clouds suck up every single pic instantaneously, when I don't want them saved. So I turn them off. What I did have in cloud storage - I emptied into this phone for my project!

Yeah, I can understand that. Sorry I don't have a better solution to offer you, but perhaps someone else might come along and offer a better way. I hope you didn't lose anything in the mix, I've been there before as well.

 

[mustang7757]

I would recommend smart switch on PC and back up each device that way some Android version don't play well when transferring to new Android version , I think it's better way then smart switch between devices