Nearly a Decade of Photos Gone...

Danny1234

I transferred my photos through USB into the camera folder in DCIM (screenshots in the screenshots folder in DCIM) earlier today before shutting down my phone. I restarted it and all my photos besides the screenshots are gone and not in the recycle bin. I uploaded the photos to Fossify Gallery as the default one wouldn't let me upload photos to it. I checked the Fossify recycle bin and they are gone. I don't understand how my photos can just be deleted without any notice or action on my end. I checked the Samsung (my only backup in this case) which I clearly specified I wanted to COPY (not move) from (while using the Pixel to access the storage of the samsung). All my pictures are gone there too, and since I don't use a Google account there is no cloud backup. Why would everything just get deleted? I had important photos that are now just gone. I apologize if this is turning into a rant but for a first time user of GrapheneOS this is a truly awful first experience.

n3t_admin

Okay, let's roll up our sleeves with this one:

Danny1234 transferred my photos through USB into the camera folder in DCIM (screenshots in the screenshots folder in DCIM) earlier today before shutting down my phone.

How exactly did you transfer these files? From Windows, Mac, Linux?

Danny1234 uploaded the photos to Fossify Gallery

Fossify Gallery is not a cloud service. You can't upload anything onto it. It's just an image viewer for files you have in your phones storage.

Danny1234 I checked the Fossify recycle bin and they are gone.

Photos only appear in the recycle bin if they were deleted inside the app.

Danny1234 I don't understand how my photos can just be deleted without any notice or action on my end.

Me neither.

Danny1234 I checked the Samsung (my only backup in this case) which I clearly specified I wanted to COPY (not move) from (while using the Pixel to access the storage of the samsung).

I am now confused, did you transfer your whole library from another phone? If the Samsung was your only backup, where are the original files stored?

Danny1234 All my pictures are gone there too, and since I don't use a Google account there is no cloud backup.

Sorry if this sounds rude, but the general rule is: if data doesn't exist in 3 location simultaneously, it doesn't exist at all. Important files should be backed up on multiple mediums with 1 offsite backup (store in a relatives house for example).

Danny1234 I apologize if this is turning into a rant but for a first time user of GrapheneOS this is a truly awful first experience.

I am not sure if the OS is to blame here. This can have a dozen causes not related to the OS at all.

Danny1234 My pictures appeared to be replaced with my screenshots.

This is a very unclear statement. So some photos made it through while others didn't? This, again, requires more information about how the transfer was performed.

Danny1234 Why would Fossify Gallery do this?

Some users seem to have strong opinions on the stability and security of Fossify apps. It appears like the whole project is maintained by only one person, so I'd be cautious with their apps.

23Sha-ger

Danny1234
All good, depends on your OS, run PhotoRec:
https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/photoRec#Operating_systems

*
Before Cellebrite was a thing, we used to image disks and run this tool to extract stuff.

Danny1234

My pictures appeared to be replaced with my screenshots. Why would Fossify Gallery do this? And why did I give it full files access like an idiot?

Danny1234

It appears that a .nomedia file was placed in several locations including the folder with the deleted pictures. Would a log for what the app did be useful?

Danny1234

n3t_admin I transferred directly from the samsung by plugging the pixel into it, accessing the Samsung storage through the pixel, and copying the photos to the .thumbnail folder in the pixel photos folder. The way I did this was by copying the entire camera folder in the .DCIM folder on the samsung to the aforementioned .thumbnail folder on the pixel. I now realize that the .thumbnail folder was probability not for image storing. The camera pictures in .thumbnail were replaced by the screenshots in the screenshots folder, the .thumbnail folder was set as default in Fossify. I believe that Fossify attempted to move the screenshots to the .thumbnail folder, deleting my photos and duplicating my screenshots. What I don't understand is why copying from the Samsung deleted photos on the samsung device.

n3t_admin

Danny1234 uhh yeah, the thumbnail folder is managed by the system and stores previews for your actual photos. That is the case for all Android phones though. I guess they were regarded as orphaned files, since the originals weren't in the DCIM folder and thus purged on reboot. Very unfortunate.
I wouldn't even touch the DCIM folder at all. Imported photos always went to the /Photos folder for me, since that one is never touched by the system.

Danny1234 were replaced by the screenshots in the screenshots folder

They weren't even replaced; the system generated (new) thumbnails for the images it did find.

Danny1234 What I don't understand is why copying from the Samsung deleted photos on the samsung device.

Now, why these are gone from the Samsung phone, is an actual mystery. Does the storage size on the Samsung indicate that they are indeed missing and not moved somewhere else? If you check your free storage space, you should see the amount of storage taken up by pictures and videos (on the Samsung).

Danny1234

n3t_admin The photos were deleted, I gained around 40-50 gigs of storage. A few unedited ones were preserved in a secure folder but I can't access it from a PC and I don't have a Samsung account. One of these photos is valuable, how do I proceed?

n3t_admin

Danny1234 The photos were deleted, I gained around 40-50 gigs of storage

I don't quite understand; where did you gain 40-50 gigs? On the Pixel or the Samsung? I would expect a decrease if these were truly deleted from storage.

I also don't know what /data/sec is supposed to be; I haven't heard of that directory before. I can only imagine this is something Samsung-related.

Danny1234

I created a Samsung account with a new email but still cannot access /data/sec.

Danny1234

n3t_admin I gained the storage BACK on the Samsung, probably could have said that better.

Danny1234

n3t_admin I managed to get this off using quickshare and a third phone. I think it may not be a good idea to store stuff in DCIM in the future. Still have no idea how the pictures got removed from the Samsung. Most of the photos I should be able to get back with backups, but at this point anything not on other drives is gone. How do I mark this as solved?