Solved! Restore camera's gallery storage

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dschmidt

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Oct 22, 2018
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I changed a lot of settings in my Samsung Galaxy, and messed up the photo storage. Now when I take pics they go straight to the DMIC (whatever) card, and not to the gallery. How can I get the phone to store them in the gallery again? Thank you!~
 
Solution
NOTE: Doing this will clear 'all' the data on your phone, so it is suggested you not choose this option unless you have to, or aren't worried about losing anything on the device.

Be sure you back up any data you want to keep, to a computer or cloud account, before doing the reset.


To "Hard Reset" the phone...

1. Make sure that the phone is actually powered off.

2. Remove your SD card, if there is one in the device.

3. Press the "Power" and the "Volume Up" buttons, together, until you see the start-up logo on the screen.

4. Once you can see the logo, release the buttons and allow the device to enter the "System Recovery Mode".

5. Next use "Volume Down" button to get to the "wipe data/factory reset" option.

6. When in recovery...
Actually, where they are stored wouldn't be the problem. The gallery is only an app for viewing and in some cases altering photos, not where the photos themselves are actually kept. So they are never 'stored' in the gallery. If you moved the photos to the SD card, then the gallery should still be able to locate them. Assuming the problem is that you aren't seeing them in the gallery.

If that is the case, you just need to check the gallery's settings to make sure it is searching all over to locate the images. If that isn't the problem, then please explain more.
 

dschmidt

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Oct 22, 2018
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This ["check the gallery's settings"] is what I do not know how to do. When I open the gallery, there is only a pull-down for locations, albums, all, people and favorites. No mention of how to get into the Gallery settings. When I go to 'Settings', there is no option I can see that adjusts Gallery settings. Can you please explain how to correct the Gallery settings so it will search/read the pics on the DCIM card?
 
I am a tad confused about the card you are mentioning. There are two cards that can be in a phone. A SIM card, which gets you service, and a SD card which is for storage. Now, there can be a DCIM folder which is where images would normally go on many phones. So if that is where they are going, that isn't a problem.

Alas, some galleries don't have settings. So changing it would not work, however it should search the card and the phone for images.

Something you can try is to clear the data for the camera app (assuming that you are taking pictures through said app) and then restart (turn off and on) the phone. This should change any camera app settings back to normal. I would also do this with the gallery app. Just be sure you back up the photos before hand, so you don't accidentally lose them. Even though they are on the phone/card, and not stored in either app, that doesn't mean the phone can't glitch and remove them.
 

dschmidt

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Oct 22, 2018
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This ["check the gallery's settings"] is what I do not know how to do. When I open the gallery, there is only a pull-down for locations, albums, all, people and favorites. No mention of how to get into the Gallery settings. When I go to 'Settings', there is no option I can see that adjusts Gallery settings. Can you please explain how to correct the Gallery settings so it will search/read the pics in the DCIM folder? (Sorry I called it the DCIM 'card' in the previous post.
 
Not all phone galleries have settings. Yours may not. You can try going into "Settings" and "Apps". Then locate the gallery app and tap "Clear Data". Just make sure you have backed up your images. They shouldn't get removed, but strange things happen. This should reset the gallery app to its original settings. Then restart (turn off and back on) the device and see if they show then. Also, the above info about doing this with the camera app should help.
 

dschmidt

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Oct 22, 2018
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i guess mine doesn't. When I go to 'Settings', and then 'More' I see a tab for "Appliance Manager", "Line" and "Samsung Account" only.
When I go to 'My Device' and go to "Accessory" I see tabs for "Dock Sound", "Audio Output Mode" and "Desk Home Screen", but nowhere do I see a 'Gallery' app .
When I go to 'Apps' (heading bar at the top of the screen, and select 'Gallery' (like in regular use) there is no option for changing settings.
When I go into 'Widgets', I see a photo labeled Camera and Gallery, but apparently it is just about how to move the icon itself around on the screen .

I can't understand. The camera used Gallery to view the photos before I changed something and dumped data a few months ago, afterwards, not.

I just got a false sense of elation, and thought I'd solved it, when I thought "See if the camera app has a 'settings'...sure enought it did, and when I scrolled down to 'Storage', (it was set on 'phone') so I switched it to SD card. I tried a few test shots, but they weren't in the gallery, and when I checked on the computer, they were showing up in the DCIM folder either. I then did a reset, but now it seems to be not working or the photos are going somewhere I can't imagine.
I just tried a restart, to see if that would change the settings...OK, the test shot showed up in the little square at the bottom of the screen after it was taken, and is in the DCIM folder (seen from the computer) but not in the gallery.

I'm lost.

It's also odd...now when I go into 'Settings', and 'Storage', I cannot get the same files to open for me as a few months ago when I did my 'housecleaning'. I'm at a loss here. Also, is there a way to access the DCIM folder from the phone itself? The only way I've ever seen it is when I have the device hooked up to my computer.

I also just learned in 'About Device' that my device runs Android 4.2.2, baseband version I9082DXUBMI1 and is a GT-I9082.



 
Looking for the settings while connected to a computer wouldn't work. I am talking the phone's "Settings" to clear the data for the gallery and/or the camera app.

I am starting to wonder if when you did your 'cleaning' on the phone you deleted things you shouldn't have. Sadly the only way to resolve something like that would be to "Hard Reset" the device. Which means wiping everything and then starting over with the phone as it was originally (before you put anything on it).
 

dschmidt

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Oct 22, 2018
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Would you be kind enough to step me through the process of doing a 'hard reset'? I've backed up my photos and copied my contact numbers, there's really nothing else I need.

Thanks

 
NOTE: Doing this will clear 'all' the data on your phone, so it is suggested you not choose this option unless you have to, or aren't worried about losing anything on the device.

Be sure you back up any data you want to keep, to a computer or cloud account, before doing the reset.


To "Hard Reset" the phone...

1. Make sure that the phone is actually powered off.

2. Remove your SD card, if there is one in the device.

3. Press the "Power" and the "Volume Up" buttons, together, until you see the start-up logo on the screen.

4. Once you can see the logo, release the buttons and allow the device to enter the "System Recovery Mode".

5. Next use "Volume Down" button to get to the "wipe data/factory reset" option.

6. When in recovery mode the "Volume Up" and "Volume Down" buttons are how to can navigate and highlight what option you need.

7. Once you have selected the "wipe data/factory reset", press the "Power" button to select that option.

8. On the following screen, repeatedly press the "Volume Down" button until the "Yes - delete all user data" option is what is selected.

9. Then press the "Power" button to hard reset the phone.

10. If you took your SD card out in step 2, when the device is up and running again, reinsert the SD card.
 
Solution

dschmidt

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Oct 22, 2018
13
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EXCELLENT!! I will try this and let you know. Thank you for the SPECIFIC step-by-step instructions. We dinosaurs appreciate that, it makes me feel better to have the steps laid out in concrete terms. I'll give it a shot today after my schoolday (I teach at an international school here in Bangkok) is over, and let you know how it goes ASAP.

Thanks again! I forgot to ask, the SD card is the extra-memory card, and not the SIM card, correct?
I did not have the SD card installed (the wife did when she bought it) so I've never seen it. I have replaced the battery once, however, so I know how to extract the SIM card. But if it's different from that, can you explain how to get to it?

Thanks again

 
Yes. The SD card is for storage space while the SIM card is for service. If there is a SD card in the device, it could be in a few places. Some have them on the outside (door or just slides in) some have them inside (near the battery or behind it). However it should say it is a SD card and have the amount of space on it in GB. :)
 

dschmidt

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Oct 22, 2018
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This finally worked, but took a lot of tries. After the phone just kept turning back on each time, I finally went to google and found that the Power, Volume Up, AND the Home button all must be pressed simultaneously. Even after doing this, it still took several tries, as the phone would simply turn on and not go to the reset options. I finally realized to press the Volume and Home keys first, then 'add' the Power. This eventually got it to go to the reset options. Then, setting up the google stuff, I'm told the password and username weren't matched, but I let that go for now.
I'm also amazed at the power consumption. When I started all these shenanigans, I had 67% power. After a few off n' ons, it was down to 44, then after finally getting it all done, I got the warning beep to plug it in and recharge. So I did, and now it's about halfway. I'll have to change the icon from the pic of a battery to the percentage in numbers but that can wait.
Just tried a test pic. I'd gotten the option to change location to SD card? I selected yes, took a pic, opened the gallery and lo and behold, there it was ! Funny...all this headache when that's all I really wanted. Now to reload my contacts. Good thing there's not many.

Thanks for your help. Given my ability to screw things up, I'll probably be in touch again soon. :lol:

David S.

 
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