Why are my apps disappearing? - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Ok, so I searched and found similar posts for Tablets and other devices. I'm starting this one for the Samsung Galaxy S2.
Model: SGH-T989
Android Ver.: 2.3.5
Baseband Ver.: T989UKID
Kernal Ver.: 2.6.35.11
Build Number: GINGERBREAD.UVKID
I haven't Rooted or Modded my phone in any way. I just got it 12 days ago. This has been happening now for a few days. Might be a conflict with some apps? or what?
Recently, I have lost some apps. So far about 4 in total. I would use it, then the next time I go to use it,a day later, or a few hours, it appears ghosted out and if I touch it, it would say, "you do not have this app installed". I didn't move it to my memory card either. I would have to re-download it again, and my files are still there after the re-install.
Does any one else have this issue?
Does any one know why this is happening?
I am attaching a few screen shots so you know what I am talking about.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

Missclicked quick reply with thanks -_-
Anyhow, that usualy shows if you moved your apps to external sd card, ive seen it on some phone after boot ups while it takes some time to read them depending on sd card usualy slow one. But if you dont do that, and use no sc card, maybe faulty usb storage? Just like faulty flash disc ? cant hold information and just ghosts on you.
not 100% sure tho just assuption.

Thanks for the reply! I do have a SD card installed, but I only have my music, pictures and Documents on there...no apps..I'm toying with the idea to restore the phone back to original out of the box status...I'm wondering if something got corrupt..I have pulled the battery and SD card and reinstalled them..It's randomly happening and to different apps..this is actually the second time it happend to angry birds...

It happened to me once as well. I don't have any apps installed on my SD card, but I had about 4 apps that did exactly the same as you.
I did a factory reset and all seems well now. I am not sure what the heck that was all about though. I don't have an answer for this problem either.
Also one thing I happened to notice by accident, when I do a factory reset, after the phone boots up, for like a few seconds it comes up with a notification box with a message and didn't get a chance to read it. Not sure what it said. But I noticed it the 2 times I did factory resets.
Although the issue with the ghost apps hasn't returned for me, it makes me wonder if I got a bum phone. I dunno.

chocodough said:
Although the issue with the ghost apps hasn't returned for me, it makes me wonder if I got a bum phone. I dunno.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to hope that it wasn't a bum phone and just some sort of software conflict, seeing how you've restored twice and it hasn't returned..
Question: Did you have to do a restore for the same problem, twice? or different reasons?

Homeuser66 said:
I'm going to hope that it wasn't a bum phone and just some sort of software conflict, seeing how you've restored twice and it hasn't returned..
Question: Did you have to do a restore for the same problem, twice? or different reasons?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya that really irked me doing it twice.
I did it once cause I wanted to go fresh with everything. Then after I got all my stuff reinstalled, I copyied all my pictures on my SD card, and then I noticed those icons dissappeared.
I wasn't sure what happened, so really mad, I ended up doing another factory reset to start over again, thinking like you that I might of had something corrupted.
So far so good, but it does make me wonder what it was that caused it. Cause the icon makes it look like the apps were installed on the SD card when none of mine are.
BTW, in your program list, are your Movies, video maker and videos icon black and white? I thought that was weird that they are B&W when all the other icons are color.

chocodough said:
Ya that really irked me doing it twice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ouch! Do I need to know anything before I perform this?...like what to save/back up?

Homeuser66 said:
Ouch! Do I need to know anything before I perform this?...like what to save/back up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really. I keep a list on paper of all the apps I usually install on my phone. All my contacts are on my gmail account.
It's just a drawn out process setting up everything over again from scratch. I don't backup apps, I prefer the fresh approach.

Well here is when it happened to me.
First off, I was not originally aware that you have to go under Wireless settings and enable USB transfer to copy stuff back and forth. I am used to the phone asking what you want to do when you plug it in.
So that being said, when I plugged the phone in, it said MTP mode I believe. If you click on the phone in explorer, it showed the phone memory and the sd card. So I started copying all my pictures to my SD card. Half way through it stopped and said the device stopped responding. I unplugged the phone, went into settings and formatted the SD card.
That is when I noticed I had like 4 apps that were ghosted with the SD card symbol saying they were not installed. That is why I thought I might of corrupted something, being that I never installed any apps on my SD card.
After that I noticed that setting under wireless which turns on USB mode to copy stuff back and forth. I did a factory reset, then used the USB mode and copied all my stuff and everything has been fine ever since.
I don't know if it was a coincidence or not. But I guess copying files in MTP mode shouldn't be done eventhough it still shows up in explorer.
I hope someone else chimes in here with any ideas or a reason why this happened. Even though everything is fine now, and it might of been a fluke, I was wondering if I should exchange my phone or not, being as I don't know if it was a phone issue or not.

chocodough said:
Well here is when it happened to me.
First off, I was not originally aware that you have to go under Wireless settings and enable USB transfer to copy stuff back and forth. I am used to the phone asking what you want to do when you plug it in.
So that being said, when I plugged the phone in, it said MTP mode I believe. If you click on the phone in explorer, it showed the phone memory and the sd card. So I started copying all my pictures to my SD card. Half way through it stopped and said the device stopped responding. I unplugged the phone, went into settings and formatted the SD card.
That is when I noticed I had like 4 apps that were ghosted with the SD card symbol saying they were not installed. That is why I thought I might of corrupted something, being that I never installed any apps on my SD card.
After that I noticed that setting under wireless which turns on USB mode to copy stuff back and forth. I did a factory reset, then used the USB mode and copied all my stuff and everything has been fine ever since.
I don't know if it was a coincidence or not. But I guess copying files in MTP mode shouldn't be done eventhough it still shows up in explorer.
I hope someone else chimes in here with any ideas or a reason why this happened. Even though everything is fine now, and it might of been a fluke, I was wondering if I should exchange my phone or not, being as I don't know if it was a phone issue or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know what the other posts are about lol, too lazy. Anyways I only copy files in MTP mode... havent had any problems, but if the SDcard you formated was the built-in, then there could be a chance of the apps having data stored...in which you just removed - leaving them corrupt.

chocodough said:
I hope someone else chimes in here with any ideas or a reason why this happened. Even though everything is fine now, and it might of been a fluke, I was wondering if I should exchange my phone or not, being as I don't know if it was a phone issue or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instead of quoting your whole post, I just took a bit..
I'm chiming in again..What you said/did makes sense..I wiped my phone clean to the "out of box" settings..and I didn't do it with the normal, Menu>settings>Privacy..ect...I actually did a Hard Format and Cleared all my cache...
Spent all day at work on my downtime, adding all my apps back on..so far everything is working as intended..I'll notice what happens when I plug it in to my comp and use Samsung Kies to sync my phone with my comp..but I never saw anything like that come up when I was syncing it before...will notice next time...

Related

[Q] Apps randomly disappear, still in Manage Applications with the grey SD icon

My problem is quite accurately described by the topic name. Every now and then, some apps from my SD card (such as Robot Unicorn Attack and Gameboid, not sure if the same apps do this all the time) just disappear from the app drawer and tapping their shortcuts on the homescreen returns a "The requested activity could not be launched" toast. But those respective apps still exist in Manage Applications, albeit with their package names and the grey SD icon. Does anyone know why that happens? I don't think it's the card, it runs perfectly otherwise.
I get the same thing on my EVO 4g. No idea why it happens, it seams to be random.
Same thing is happening to my epic4g. I think I reas something somewhere about a bad fs.I'm assuming that means filesystem. Only way I can think of to correct this is tow odin back to stock and start all over. That way the filesystem gets fixed. Also maybe try to format ur sd card. Of course don't forget to backup
jbuggydroid said:
Same thing is happening to my epic4g. I think I reas something somewhere about a bad fs.I'm assuming that means filesystem. Only way I can think of to correct this is tow odin back to stock and start all over. That way the filesystem gets fixed. Also maybe try to format ur sd card. Of course don't forget to backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, seeing as I am not using a custom ROM, I don't think the filesystem is the problem. I will format the card though, once I get the time for that and backups. But is there really no pattern for this happening?
metalboy94 said:
Well, seeing as I am not using a custom ROM, I don't think the filesystem is the problem. I will format the card though, once I get the time for that and backups. But is there really no pattern for this happening?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm gonna reformat my card too cause that has to be the cause. as to why this happened..... no clue but it sucks lol
jbuggydroid said:
i'm gonna reformat my card too cause that has to be the cause. as to why this happened..... no clue but it sucks lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I won't do that just yet, because it hasn't happened since I posted this thread.
Also, it seems a reboot might fix it, as I had not reinstalled one of the lost apps (Nesoid), but after a reboot it magically returned. That or unmounting/remounting the SD card, not sure.
Hey guys Try unmounting and then remounting ur SD card it fix dis for me.
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA App

SD Card Problem / "Blank SD"?

I know there is probably nothing that can be done, but it's worth a shot to ask...
The other night when I was texting on my phone at work, I got a random notification that said something to the effect of "SD Card has unmounted unexpectedly". I just cleared and figured it was no big deal. Later on, I noticed that I couldn't access any music or pictures that were saved so I restarted my phone, and still nothing showed up. I went to recovery and it wouldn't mount my SD card(external 16GB, by the way). When I look at my SD card in root explorer, some of the stuff still shows up but they all say "0 bytes". And now, I just have this constant notification that says "SD card blank or has unsupported file system". I click on it and it gives me the option to "Format" or "Cancel". My question is, is there any way to recover what's on the SD card before I format? I don't understand what caused this at all. I've never had a problem with my SD card on any of my EVOs before, and now it suddenly gets 'corrupted' or something? I don't get it... But I really don't want to lose every picture and song on my SD Card, if possible.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Did you try putting it in your pc to see if your files were there? I don't know if anything can be recovered. You probably don't want to hear this, and not to be a jerk, but that's what Dropbox and other backups are for. Someone might have an idea for helping out though, that really sucks if you lost it all. I'm always afraid of that happening.
This happened to me. I downloaded "test disk" to my PC and recovered everything
Edit: its a free program.
Sent from my EVO
metalfan78 said:
Did you try putting it in your pc to see if your files were there? I don't know if anything can be recovered. You probably don't want to hear this, and not to be a jerk, but that's what Dropbox and other backups are for. Someone might have an idea for helping out though, that really sucks if you lost it all. I'm always afraid of that happening.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, three years ago there was no Dropbox to count on and I never had this problem until now... I have some saved on the PC, but it's several months so I will still be missing some pictures, music, and other files.
clavin78 said:
This happened to me. I downloaded "test disk" to my PC and recovered everything
Edit: its a free program.
Sent from my EVO
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I will give this a try and hope I can recover everything as well.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Yeah, I've been slowly adding old stuff to Dropbox. Along with my subscription which is only $9 a month, and the free space we got with our phone I have like 100 gb. Hopefully you can recover your stuff though.
Well a couple of things to try, boot into recovery and try to fix permissions. I had a problem where out of the blue pics music and apps didn't work that were on the card. I couldn't get anything to work so I fixed permissions and everything came back. Now as far as recovery goes, what OS are you working with on your computer. If it is mac, try DISKWARRIOR that program is AMAZING, so far I have had to use it on a mac and a windows pc at work. This program literally found every doc, pic and mp3, flipchart and smartboard pages on each HD and the HD was corrupt enough that NOTHING was able to see it when I put the HD's in an external case.
mikejones13 said:
Well a couple of things to try, boot into recovery and try to fix permissions. I had a problem where out of the blue pics music and apps didn't work that were on the card. I couldn't get anything to work so I fixed permissions and everything came back. Now as far as recovery goes, what OS are you working with on your computer. If it is mac, try DISKWARRIOR that program is AMAZING, so far I have had to use it on a mac and a windows pc at work. This program literally found every doc, pic and mp3, flipchart and smartboard pages on each HD and the HD was corrupt enough that NOTHING was able to see it when I put the HD's in an external case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I run Kubuntu(Linux) on my personal computer that I built almost three years ago now(still a beast!)... I have Windows 7 on one of my secondary HDs for those rare times that I require the use of Windows. My mom has a Mac, though, so I hopped on there to see about DiskWarrior and it costs $100! Maybe if I can find a free trial version somewhere or something... I'm going to give a few things a try, though. Obviously the information is still on there but there's something causing it to not read correctly on anything. The Mac won't read it normally either...

Dude, where's my memory?

Anyone have any idea where all my internal memory is going.
I realized that I only had 2.85gb of memory on my internal sd
I deleted some crazy but I truly have no idea where it's getting these numbers.
It shows I have 7.83gb in miscellaneous files. When I opened it and added the files size up, it only comes to 2.07gb.
Not only that. I completely cleared my download folder and it still shows 20mb usage.
Damn I miss my 32gb s3
Am I missing something?
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Does it show something different from your computer when you plug it in?
Do you have any games or apps that downloaded extra data? Gameloft games love to use your internal storage and ignore the SD card.
flaring afro said:
Does it show something different from your computer when you plug it in?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No my computer matches up.
Link. said:
Do you have any games or apps that downloaded extra data? Gameloft games love to use your internal storage and ignore the SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a game guy. Just angry birds star wars. But that shows up under apps
Music from Google Play Music?
imnuts said:
Music from Google Play Music?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im guessing music also. Turn off automatically cache in google music.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
Try SD Maid and look at the Biggest Files tab.
imnuts said:
Music from Google Play Music?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just unchecked the Automatically cache on Google music. Made no difference
Link. said:
Try SD Maid and look at the Biggest Files tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ill give it a run thanks
I had that problem before on this phone but I just did a full wipe and started over and it was fine but I could not tell ya what caused it cause I haven't been really even using too many apps and games cause I have been too busy flashin different roms and playin around with the phone.. I have been being a huge slacker... If it's not too hard for ya I would just backup everything with TB and start over and then restore with NO app data included. I do it all the time but I have been crackflashin for years so I got it down to a science now. lol It is a pain though so if you can figure it out it would be better, of course.
** And YES, I do miss my 32gb S3 sometimes**
Okay. Downloaded SD maid.
Pretty much tells me exactly what I've seen on my storage tab.
I did clean some corpses (lol) but nothing out of the ordinary.
Don't mind the Six Feet deep episodes, those are on my SD card.
Btw, as far as roms go. I've only flashed beans v2 and I always fully wipe and never restore with data, ever.
I also have never had a problem with a rom, and I credit that towards always wiping clean. So what it takes a few more minutes to set up. At least you know it's a fresh install right?
So it looks like your 4GB of TWRP backups were the culprit?
Edit: Oops - I guess only 1.44 GB of the TWRP backups were on the internal SD.
FormeriPhoney said:
Okay. Downloaded SD maid.
Pretty much tells me exactly what I've seen on my storage tab.
I did clean some corpses (lol) but nothing out of the ordinary.
Don't mind the Six Feet deep episodes, those are on my SD card.
Btw, as far as roms go. I've only flashed beans v2 and I always fully wipe and never restore with data, ever.
I also have never had a problem with a rom, and I credit that towards always wiping clean. So what it takes a few more minutes to set up. At least you know it's a fresh install right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YUP! I am just sayin that something is not right and if you do it again and the problem is gone then "problem solved" ... But I didn't know if that was something you wanted to try? I went from the International Note 2 to the T-mobile Note 2 and now am on the Verizon Note 2 and I have seen this issue but I just don't have an answer for ya...?
EDIT: You do have some TWRP backups in your system files (in your internal storage) The one at the top anyways...
I'm confused about the Twrp backups. I only have 1 in there and it's the stock rooted backup.
This is my first time using Twrp. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
I have been using clockwork for the past 2 years. Flashed hundreds of roms from my OG DX, DX2, Bionic, Gnex, Sgs3 and now Note 2. Never had this issue on CWMR
Hmmm here's how I interpret it...
7.83 GB of Miscellaneous files
5.77 GB of which are dedicated to System Memory.
2.06 GB remain
1.62 GB of that being TWRP
0.44 GB dedicated to everything else listed.
I wonder what is in Note II's Android OS that requires 5.77 GB of memory.
TouchWiz is a big *****
Please read forum rules before posting
Questions go in Q&A
Thread moved
Just want you to know that you're not alone. Stock, I had those 5gb and now on Beans 3 it's still there. I've wiped more times than after eating dirty mexican food and nothing seems to work. I'll be creeping this thread hoping someone finds an answer.
I also have 5.77GB of Miscellaneous Items. Granted reading that post earlier 5.77GB dedicated to System Memory. So yeah. I guess mines alright.
FormeriPhoney said:
I just unchecked the Automatically cache on Google music. Made no difference
Ill give it a run thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is because it doesn't delete the previous cache, AFAIK.

T-Mobile LG V30 losing write access to SD card

I've had my V30 for less than a month and this hasn't been an issue until the past couple of days. Basically, from what I can tell so far, non google apps don't have access to the SD card for write functionality. I can open and read any file on the SD card, but can't edit it, even so much as to rename the file, or create a text file, etc. Instead, when an app is directed to edit a file on the SD card, what I get is a variant of the instructions to "tap on the left hand drawer on the next screen, and select your SD card's root directory to grant access permission" sometimes with pictures of how to do it, sometimes not (in this case, that is a direct quote from QuickPic).
The next screen will then pop up with the slide in menu on the left saying "Open from" as it should, but it only shows "Recent" below that. Swiping left to get rid of the slide in menu shows a screen that says "Recent" has a button on the top left which reopens the left slide in menu, two buttons on the top right (one looks like a grayed out sideways version of cellular signal and does nothing), and a button with three dots which ONLY offers the grayed out option "new folder".
Below that is a chest of drawers with the second drawer (from the top) slightly open, and the words "No items" underneath.
Now, if I use my camera app, it says to the SD card just fine and Gallery deletes files off the SD card, as does Photos (all apps from Google that were on the phone to start). (well to be fair, Gallery and Photos just moves the files to trash, and I don't see a way to delete them permanently other than to wait 7 days).
At this point, I can't move my downloaded audiobooks from the internal memory to external storage to be played on Listen Audiobook player, so any further purchases from audible (I HATE the audible app by comparison - Listen works with Tasker), or Graphic Audio are pretty useless to me at this point. I really need to get this to work again.
All apps are up to date. The only things that I've done recently that I can recall are update the apps, and start a Youtube Red/Google Play Music subscription. Obviously the phone is stock/not rooted, but I do have developers options on, but I haven't modified anything in there since I turned it on shortly after I got the phone. I've uninstalled apps and reinstalled them all to the same effect. I can't get write-access with my preferred non-google apps. Does anyone have any suggestions, or similar experiences?
iantlopp said:
I've had my V30 for less than a month and this hasn't been an issue until the past couple of days. Basically, from what I can tell so far, non google apps don't have access to the SD card for write functionality. I can open and read any file on the SD card, but can't edit it, even so much as to rename the file, or create a text file, etc. Instead, when an app is directed to edit a file on the SD card, what I get is a variant of the instructions to "tap on the left hand drawer on the next screen, and select your SD card's root directory to grant access permission" sometimes with pictures of how to do it, sometimes not (in this case, that is a direct quote from QuickPic).
The next screen will then pop up with the slide in menu on the left saying "Open from" as it should, but it only shows "Recent" below that. Swiping left to get rid of the slide in menu shows a screen that says "Recent" has a button on the top left which reopens the left slide in menu, two buttons on the top right (one looks like a grayed out sideways version of cellular signal and does nothing), and a button with three dots which ONLY offers the grayed out option "new folder".
Below that is a chest of drawers with the second drawer (from the top) slightly open, and the words "No items" underneath.
Now, if I use my camera app, it says to the SD card just fine and Gallery deletes files off the SD card, as does Photos (all apps from Google that were on the phone to start). (well to be fair, Gallery and Photos just moves the files to trash, and I don't see a way to delete them permanently other than to wait 7 days).
At this point, I can't move my downloaded audiobooks from the internal memory to external storage to be played on Listen Audiobook player, so any further purchases from audible (I HATE the audible app by comparison - Listen works with Tasker), or Graphic Audio are pretty useless to me at this point. I really need to get this to work again.
All apps are up to date. The only things that I've done recently that I can recall are update the apps, and start a Youtube Red/Google Play Music subscription. Obviously the phone is stock/not rooted, but I do have developers options on, but I haven't modified anything in there since I turned it on shortly after I got the phone. I've uninstalled apps and reinstalled them all to the same effect. I can't get write-access with my preferred non-google apps. Does anyone have any suggestions, or similar experiences?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mind posting a screenshot? I think that I'm tracking but wanna be sure
So you don't see the text "SD card" under recent?
Also could you try downloading a file explorer like file Commander to verify? It always asks for RW permissions.
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
psawjack said:
Do you mind posting a screenshot? I think that I'm tracking but wanna be sure
So you don't see the text "SD card" under recent?
Also could you try downloading a file explorer like file Commander to verify? It always asks for RW permissions.
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
I downloaded File Commander as suggested and the dialog is slightly different (it actually asked me to"Show internal storage" but that option affects no change. Internal storage didn't show up either.
But here's the screenshots you requested.
iantlopp said:
View attachment 4335204
View attachment 4335205
View attachment 4335206
View attachment 4335207
View attachment 4335212
I downloaded File Commander as suggested and the dialog is slightly different (it actually asked me to"Show internal storage" but that option affects no change. Internal storage didn't show up either.
But here's the screenshots you requested.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for uploading those. That is not what I see when granting permission. I can click on recent and then see the SD card.
So basically all non-Google apps can't even see the SD card? I have never seen that issue. So if you go to the settings/storage setting do you see both internal and SD card?
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
psawjack said:
Thanks for uploading those. That is not what I see when granting permission. I can click on recent and then see the SD card.
So basically all non-Google apps can't even see the SD card? I have never seen that issue. So if you go to the settings/storage setting do you see both internal and SD card?
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct. Google apps don't even give me that dialog, they just work. Here's another screenshot of settings -> storage:
iantlopp said:
Correct. Google apps don't even give me that dialog, they just work. Here's another screenshot of settings -> storage:
View attachment 4335223
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep that's exactly what mine looks like. You wouldn't by chance have your SD card encrypted would you, like from your previous phone?
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
psawjack said:
Yep that's exactly what mine looks like. You wouldn't by chance have your SD card encrypted would you, like from your previous phone?
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, and I still have access to all the data. I just can't modify it. (Except with Google apps)
iantlopp said:
Nope, and I still have access to all the data. I just can't modify it. (Except with Google apps)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if you plug it into a computer do you have RW to the SD card?
Also, did you go from Android 7.x.x on your old phone to the V30 or was the SD card formatted from older OS?
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
psawjack said:
So if you plug it into a computer do you have RW to the SD card?
Also, did you go from Android 7.x.x on your old phone to the V30 or was the SD card formatted from older OS?
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't test through USB right now, I'll have to do that tomorrow. But I had this on a V20, so yes, running Nougat. Also, this problem only recently manifested itself. It worked when I first got the v30 a month ago.
psawjack said:
So if you plug it into a computer do you have RW to the SD card?
Also, did you go from Android 7.x.x on your old phone to the V30 or was the SD card formatted from older OS?
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another thing...if you go to settings/apps and look at file Commander and then select file permissions do you see options for contacts, phone, and storage?
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
psawjack said:
Another thing...if you go to settings/apps and look at file Commander and then select file permissions do you see options for contacts, phone, and storage?
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, and storage is selected.
iantlopp said:
Yes, and storage is selected.
View attachment 4335237
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay,well I can't think of anything else to check tonight. Let us know if you can RW when it's connected to computer tomorrow or sometime.
Sorry.
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
If this only just started happening recently, you'll probably need to think back to what updates were applied around that same time. System updates, app updates, any changes to the system at all.
psawjack said:
Okay,well I can't think of anything else to check tonight. Let us know if you can RW when it's connected to computer tomorrow or sometime.
Sorry.
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tested on my laptop and editing the files worked as expected. So it's only non-google apps having the problem (I haven't definitely eliminated all google apps - just that the ones I've tested do work).
CHH2 said:
If this only just started happening recently, you'll probably need to think back to what updates were applied around that same time. System updates, app updates, any changes to the system at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No system updates as far as I can tell (Android security patch is September 1st, or essentially what was on there when I got the phone). And it's near impossible for me to tell which app updates have happened, as I tend to just tell it to update as soon as I see the prompt for it. I often update 5-15 apps every couple of days.
iantlopp said:
No system updates as far as I can tell (Android security patch is September 1st, or essentially what was on there when I got the phone). And it's near impossible for me to tell which app updates have happened, as I tend to just tell it to update as soon as I see the prompt for it. I often update 5-15 apps every couple of days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Start looking for suspect apps. Uninstall them. Restart phone. See if it changed anything. Repeat until offender is found. Sounds like this would be the only changes made.
CHH2 said:
Start looking for suspect apps. Uninstall them. Restart phone. See if it changed anything. Repeat until offender is found. Sounds like this would be the only changes made.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there any way to organize the apps by latest update, or latest install? I have hundreds of apps, and, as stated, update 5-15 every couple of days... this could take a LONG damn time.
CHH2 said:
Start looking for suspect apps. Uninstall them. Restart phone. See if it changed anything. Repeat until offender is found. Sounds like this would be the only changes made.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, it *should* be important to note that I also followed this tutorial -> https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-v30/how-to/guide-make-v30-faster-smoother-t3693083 and disabled almost all the things he showed to disable there. A few apps I do use so I didn't disable them, but I am made to wonder if that might be why it doesn't work? I used that tutorial maybe a couple weeks ago, and I really don't know when write functionality disappeared.
You know, I'm now more willing to bet that this is the case. I'm going to have to look at that tuturial again and see just what has been uninstalled that's causing a problem (all easily reinstallable via the purchased app).
iantlopp said:
Oh, it *should* be important to note that I also followed this tutorial -> https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-v30/how-to/guide-make-v30-faster-smoother-t3693083 and disabled almost all the things he showed to disable there. A few apps I do use so I didn't disable them, but I am made to wonder if that might be why it doesn't work? I used that tutorial maybe a couple weeks ago, and I really don't know when write functionality disappeared.
You know, I'm now more willing to bet that this is the case. I'm going to have to look at that tuturial again and see just what has been uninstalled that's causing a problem (all easily reinstallable via the purchased app).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, I didn't think to ask you if you did any debloating.
Could you export your current list of debloated apps and then restore all of the system apps?
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
iantlopp said:
Oh, it *should* be important to note that I also followed this tutorial -> https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-v30/how-to/guide-make-v30-faster-smoother-t3693083 and disabled almost all the things he showed to disable there. A few apps I do use so I didn't disable them, but I am made to wonder if that might be why it doesn't work? I used that tutorial maybe a couple weeks ago, and I really don't know when write functionality disappeared.
You know, I'm now more willing to bet that this is the case. I'm going to have to look at that tuturial again and see just what has been uninstalled that's causing a problem (all easily reinstallable via the purchased app).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that would have been important to know.

[Help Request] Non authorized deletion of Media

Phone: Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro (EU, Finland)
Android: MIUI Global 12.5.6, no modifications, no root, nothing done at all.
Hello!
Two days ago I noticed that one of my Whatsapp-conversations had lost some media. I didn't think much about it, until today I noticed it wasn't just one conversation. *Everything* chat conversation that i have, has lost *Every* picture, video and audiomessage, if older than 04.04.2022. And since i have used Whatsapp since forever .. it's tens of thousands pictures, videos and audiomessages. In chat, in place of the media there is a placeholder of a media and Download-option, and by pressing it, it "loads" for few seconds and then says "Download failed, Sorry, this media file appears to be missing. Please ask <contact name> to re-send it."
Some days just before 04.04.2022, like, 08.04.2022, there are also media that are Deleted, but the download option works for them still in the conversation. The media isn't shown in the gallery or anywhere else, unless it's downloaded again in the chat.
Another weird thing is, that the only things that saved are the media that I have sent myself. Any picture, video or audioclip i have made and sent through whatsapp during the years of usage, is still there. So only the senders media is gone. In every conversation or group chat. All i have left is the media i have taken with my own camera, which is the last thing i wanted to save if this kind of thing would happen.
What is going on? I'm really frustrated, scared, annoyed, mad and very Very sad for losing years and years of media from my friends, family and my wife. I never thought this could happen, since i do have backups enabled and i have switched phones couple times, since starting using whatsapp.
I found nothing on google about this.
I have not done any "automatic clean up" or such.
My storage space looks like this:
Spoiler
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
I'm also wondering, what is that "Other" stuff.
The whatsapp data used to take well over 16 GB but now .. it seems it's just gone.
Please help, anyone?
EDIT: While writing this post, I checked my gallery and i noticed another extremely scary thing:
Every picture and video that i have taken WITHOUT whatsapp and before 04.04.2022, is GONE.
Over two years of pictures and videos. My god. This was worse than i thought.
please, i really need help.
Is my phone broken or infected with some nasty virus? what can i do?
Get the social media trashware off the phone.
It's just asking to be fked. WhatsApp should have never been installed or used.
You don't backup your data? What did you think would happen?
Always redundantly backup critical data to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC. Never encrypt, clone or compress critical data backup drives. Use copy/paste commands. Verify folder count and size, ensure copy data is still readable after backup.
One scripted malware jpeg can implode the files in a folder on Androids. Saw one over 2 years ago. They may not be detected by antivirus, or anything. The trigger may be opening them, until then they sit waiting.
All downloads go in the download folder until vetted. At the very least open jpegs, pngs first in the download and watch for any changes to that folder.
With no backups you're in a beaucoup trouble as you can't do a factory reset to purge a virus or rootkit without losing all your data. If the phone is infected it should be taken offline NOW. Set a new Google account password as well as for bank accounts etc once the phone is factory reset or if another is used in it's place.
This may be a huge mess because you didn't plan ahead. You are what you install and download! If data isn't redundantly backed up it's only a matter of time until it is lost.
Take it to a repair specialist if you can't sort it out. They may be able to salvage the savaged data.
You may and probably will say that you can't live without WhatsApp, other social media apps*.
You see what your boy has done?
Don't try to clean a loaded gun...
* no social media account should ever be installed on the PC or phone. Access through browser only. Keep it in the cloud or you will get burned. Even then it poses a real multiple vector risk and should be used with caution... if at all.
I have used Whatsapp and backed it up to Google Drive with a separate Gmail account, for years and years. Last time i checked (probably last November or smth) my backup took approximately 16GB but now the backup is taking less than 3GB and i'm assuming that that 3GB is mostly text, of all the years, and because all the media is gone.
I have switched phones to new phones every now and then, and always used the backup from Google Drive. I thought that backup was enough. Now it seems to be gone At least i can't understand where it would be.
zaiross said:
I have used Whatsapp and backed it up to Google Drive with a separate Gmail account, for years and years. Last time i checked (probably last November or smth) my backup took approximately 16GB but now the backup is taking less than 3GB and i'm assuming that that 3GB is mostly text, of all the years, and because all the media is gone.
I have switched phones to new phones every now and then, and always used the backup from Google Drive. I thought that backup was enough. Now it seems to be gone At least i can't understand where it would be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Two flawed apps don't make it right. This was predictable. Cloud should be a secondary backup. I never considered Google backup reliable and even if I did I would never put all my eggs in one basket.
Always keep multiple offline data backup hdds that aren't stored in the same location preferably in an earth grounded safe or metal box.
WhatsApp is a major security risk and a known stronghold for scammers and hackers. What could go wrong? Find better workarounds and eliminate your dependance on these apps. I use phone, email, texting and online sites through the browser only. Vendors I use temporary guest accounts vs permanent accounts whenever possible.
I've lost a critical database before. Sometimes all you can do is learn from your mistakes and not repeat them. Only careful planning and redundantcy can prevent data lose. Expect things to fail; people, firmware, software and hardware.
If it never does, you'll be pleasantly disappointed.
This N10+ in my hand has the SD card date drive as backup, a OTG .5tb flashstick and at least 3+ hdds that are isolated. I'm bringing my second N10+ online with a 1tb SD card too. That might seem like overkill, but there's no such thing as overkill when things go south.
All the apps on both phones are vetted, and zero social media apps are loaded. Not even fb.
This is a deliberate strategy on my part with the primary mission of protecting critical data from being lost.
Would there be any way to fix my phone? to get whatever malware out, and get my well over 30 000 media back somehow? :/
zaiross said:
Would there be any way to fix my phone? to get whatever malware out, and get my well over 30 000 media back somehow? :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know; I'm not familiar enough with Google or WhatsApp recovery options.
Best bet be a 3rd party repair shop familiar with the phone, Google, etc. if you don't know how.
Hands on makes it a lot easier to do. They may spot something you missed.
For now don't use that phone or effected accounts.
"no modifications, no root, nothing done at all."
unfortunately in that case there is nothing you can do besides copying existing files, no recovery tools will work.
even with root access it's hard for layman to recover deleted files. I am not aware of any recovery tools for F2FS file system. in case of (FBE) file-based encryption it's impossible at all.
If you made an update to android 11 it's expected all your old media files aren't visible to WhatsApp any longer because scoped storage forced new location. apps no longer have permission to read from Internal Storage.
Code:
/storage/emulated/0/WhatsApp ->
/storage/emulated/0/Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp
also the .nomedia file makes directories invisible to Gallery (not sure about WhatsApp media though, I don't use facebook crap) so if your disk space is still occupied the files might be still there.
adb pull -a /sdcard to PC and see what's left...
Hope dies last, you could try this app. It may recover some existing pictures from cached files, hidden trash can, thumbnails at least
FindMyPhoto – Recover Photos o - Apps on Google Play
A truely free app to recover deleted photos on Android devices.
play.google.com
It turns out that my Trash folder is over 22 GB big. It seems most of my media is in there. Tens of thousands of media. All of them have been sent to there on 04.04.2022. I have no idea what has transpired on that day.
I could return them one by one, but that takes forever. Is there a way to return them all?
zaiross said:
It turns out that my Trash folder is over 22 GB big. It seems most of my media is in there. Tens of thousands of media. All of them have been sent to there on 04.04.2022. I have no idea what has transpired on that day.
I could return them one by one, but that takes forever. Is there a way to return them all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe a adb command.
Find the cause. Are old files set to deleted?
Run any cleaners?
It's possible it could be malware, were they deleted from the same folders or share a common jpeg? A scripted malware jpeg can raise hell and maybe very hard to detect.
A rootkit is another possibility.
Recover the data and redundantly backup all critical data on that device... now.

Categories

Resources