Database Info

wm6.5 micro sd weirdness

I have an HTC touch Dual, windows mobile 6.5. I have a 16gb micro sd inside of it and everything was going pretty well. then today after taking some pictures and messing around with windows media player mobile, things went strange on my memory card. first i noticed none of my songs on windows media player would work. then i looked for them using total comander or whatever, and thats when i saw the strange files and folders. they are mostly system folders appearently, and i cannot delete them. All my programs installed on the card still work, and pictures i have on the card are still there (not the ones i took with the camera), in fact, the only thing that seems to be missing is my roms folder with all my emulator roms, and my music folder with all my music. this is a list of what i have on the card now:
6 empty "file folders" named "." (just a period, guessing they call it a "file folder because they are unsure what it is, but it does have the folder icon) they are all 0 bytes
a "file folder" called "┘kφ$╥M╞.¬√½", 0 bytes
another "file folder" called "║h88Ω*.***" also 0 bytes
another one called "î┤I¬U¡R.┼Xπ" 0 bytes
Then i have my images folder with all my images uploaded for backgrounds (not my camera pictures), program files, DCIM (which is now empty but i used to have all the pictures and videos from my camera), movies folder, pleco folder (chinese dictionary), and "my voices" which are the recordings i've done.
Now the best parts
a ╥¼ File called "╥/ê≤}. ╥¼" which is 2.85GB (Must be the roms)
a JQ File called "╝µｃ0.Jq" which is 3.60GB (must be all my music because this is how much i uploaded to the card)
and a ∩ File called "▓φα¡d≥c.∩" which is 2.71GB (and this one might be all my videos and pictures from my camera, but that seems like a lot and i don't remember having that many pictures)
So obviously my data is still here, but its just crammed into these unknown files. It's not like i really care about all the music and that stuff, I would have just deleted these files if it would have let me, but it won't let me at all. I really would hate to reformat my entire card because of all the programs i've installed and i don't want to go through all of that again... unless now that i'm thinking about it, i could just backup my program files then reformat my card. i'll probably try this. anyway, i don't have anywhere else i can put my micro sd card, just my phone, so if anybody has any idea whats happened to this darn thing, please let me know! thank you very much!

Your sd card is corrupt. Try to scan it (either on the device w/ pocket mechanic, sk tools or something similar), or connect in disk drive mode to a pc and scan it that way (right click on the drive-F: or whatever-then select properties-tools-fix errors). If scanning doesn't work (do it several times if it does), then you're screwed. Copy every file you can to your pc (one folder @ a time), then format the card. It will probably be fine after the format.
Next: change the save path on the camera, and pretty much every thing else, to main memory. Having crap written quickly to the card all the time can cause corruption. Scan frequently, at least once a week, if not more. Do not have temp folders located on the card. Really, really do not have a custom SIP on the card. Just try to use the card for storage, but not as main memory.

[Q] Can't access "My Photos" - via Gallery - on my microSD card anymore; HELP!

[Q] Can't access "My Photos" - via Gallery - on my microSD card anymore; HELP!
I don't know WHAT I may have done, but a few weeks ago, I updated my Droid 1's ROM to one of Bugless Beast's variants... and in the process, must have forgotten how to reselect my Gallery settings to recognize My Photos directory on the SC Card. I only get one folder with a bunch of logos in it, and that's it.
I can access all files and folders on my SD Card, and can even open each desired image - one-at-a-time in most file managers, but - try as I can, I can't seem to recall how to get Gallery to "see" the others on the SD card.
I even moved everything from the SD Card to my computer's hard drive (some 9 GB of files...) and did a format of the card - thinking it needed a wicked cleaning. Moved everything back, and - business as before... as in: "no luck". Still can't access any of the photo or movie files within Gallery.
...any takers??
Try as I might, I can't seem to find ANY location of a cache or data reference to Gallery. I used to be able to simply view ALL file folders that contained images... and now, it seems to be limited to a select few that have nothing to do with the "My Photos" folder or its respective sub folders. I wiped the cache and data on the device a good half dozen times prior to installing the latest Bugless Beast ROM V0.5, and yet - I still can't get it to "see" any of the desired image files on the microSD card. I even wiped all data on the card, formating it, and reinstalled all of the files. Still, no luck.
As an added bit of frustration, I attempted other ROMS, and had similar issues. Wasn't like this before I installed the latest 2.2...!
UPDATE... What's more, I also used to be able to select one of my sound files on my MicroSD card, and make it my ringtone, as well as assign similar audio files as alerts, etc. Now - I can't.
As my kids often text... "WTFIGO...?!?"
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Feel free to comment here, in this venue - so it might assist others, as well as post me - directly, to: [email protected]
Thank you for your kind assistance with this matter.

UPDATE STATUS REPORT:
After many attempts at trying different ROMS (Miui... VERY buggy; ShadowROM, Liquid Frozen Yogurt) I STILL had the same results - where only a few images still showed up in my Gallery (when I knew that NOT to be the case) and none of my audio files would save as ringtones, regardless of what I tried... I opted to go to "plan B" and to remove all files, reformat and reinstall the data to the 16 GB MicroSD card, resulting in the very same as before. VERY upsetting as noted earlier.
As I happened to have an extra 2 GB microSD card kicking around, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try to copy from my desktop - a few images of various kinds, as well as some audio files, and copy them into similarly desired and titled folders on the 2 GB card... then install same directly into the Droid 1.
Well, problem SOLVED. It was the ol' 16 GB microSD card. For future reference, it is marked as follows: "MicroSD HC C2 16 GB C16G Japan". I got this for my Samsung Omnia... a few years ago. I guess they really DO wear out after a while! Shame that. At least it's figured out! Thanks for listening to my rant...

[Q] .Thumbdata3 file

Whenever I try and upload a file to Google Drive or add a picture from my gallery to instagram, my phone creates a file called .thumbdata3 in the thumbnails directory on my SD card. The problem with this is not the creation of the file, it's that the file is exactly the size of all the free space on the memory card... When plugged into the computer it displays "0 Bytes Free" on the SD card...
So when I choose a file from the gallery to upload to google drive or instagram, it will hang on a black screen until this file has been created (filling up the SD card), and then upload... Then i check the free space, and it is 0Bytes.
Anyone else had this and fixed it?
PS Sorry for being a noob here

Bumping this...
Anyone had this? Or have a solution?

Same thing here, unfortunately no solution. Apparently it is safe to delete the file, but it will be recreated at some point, taking up all the space on the SD card again.
For me, it grew up to 400 MB and even beyond (IIRC), which seems a bit excessive, even taking into account that there are > 2000 pictures in the DCIM folder of my SD-card at the moment. Still, 400 MB is more than a quarter of the 1.4 GB that the pictures take up, which surely does not make much sense if that is supposed to speed up the process of reading/displaying the thumbnails!?
Does anybody know a fix? Is it ICS related? I'm on Stock 4.0.3 ICS BTW, and I never noticed this behaviour before the update...

Same here, with a SE Xperia Mini Pro (4.0.4). It happened with me when the phone tried syncing Evernote notes (with pictures attached).
Maybe this topic should be moved to a more generic sub-forum; apparently it's an ICS problem...

thumbdata3
I am also currently having this problem, specially when trying to upload/import photos from gallery to instagram. the ".thumdata3...." file can go as large as 2.5 gig for me, depenending on how much space I have on my SD card before importing pics from gallery to instagram

Same happenned to me - a siolutions that worked for me
Same happened to me the .thumdata3 ate up all remaining space (1.2G) on my Samsung Galaxy S2, android 4.0.3. Any time I deleted it, it was recreated any time I opened the camera app. Then the camera app was unable to take any pic due to sd full. If I deleted this file it was re-created any time I started camera again.
Installing and running the SDrescan app (from play store) helped. Though SDrescan made stock ringtones disappear. However reboot helped that, and the large file did not came back even after restarting camera.
This worked for me, though I am not sure in the reason. Might work for you as well, or not. I must say that android 4.0 is much worse than I expected. Not the first annoying error I have found.
My guess for the reason of the error happening: I once inserted an sd card with LOTS of media content. Then all this was cached somehow in gallery.
My guess for the reason this solution works: the app erases cached SD data thus helps reducing the thumbnail cache.

rasnadas said:
Same happened to me the .thumdata3 ate up all remaining space (1.2G) on my Samsung Galaxy S2, android 4.0.3. Any time I deleted it, it was recreated any time I opened the camera app. Then the camera app was unable to take any pic due to sd full. If I deleted this file it was re-created any time I started camera again.
Installing and running the SDrescan app (from play store) helped. Though SDrescan made stock ringtones disappear. However reboot helped that, and the large file did not came back even after restarting camera.
This worked for me, though I am not sure in the reason. Might work for you as well, or not. I must say that android 4.0 is much worse than I expected. Not the first annoying error I have found.
My guess for the reason of the error happening: I once inserted an sd card with LOTS of media content. Then all this was cached somehow in gallery.
My guess for the reason this solution works: the app erases cached SD data thus helps reducing the thumbnail cache.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same issue, but unfortunately your solution didn't help me. Initially I thought it did, but after a reboot and launching Camera app, it hanged and created the .thumbdata3 file once again.
I also tried messing up with databases using SQLite Editor, as described here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28466334&postcount=9, but that didn't help either.
I've done some more research and found a solution here: http://www.mobilephonetalk.com/show...in-memory-card&p=311954&viewfull=1#post311954. After I deleted the .thumbdata3 file, created a blank one with Root Explorer and removed write permission to it, the file stays at 0 bytes and Camera and Gallery apps still work fine.

I have an issue with the size of the thumbdata3 file in DCIM/.thumbnails on internal memory (camera is set to store to ext SD) at the moment it is 314MB on internal memory but the thumbdata3 file in the DCIM/.thumbnail folder on ext SD is less than 1MB (I only have around 100 photos and pictures on my phone) - but camera still works (other than in the scenario described below)
If I delete the large thumbdata3 file from internal memory and then attempt to use the camera, the photo is taken without any problem but when I try to view it in either gallery or QuickPic by clicking through from the 'last image taken thumbnail' in the camera and then click back to carry on taking another picture the camera FC's. It usually does this twice and is then absolutely fine - apart from the fact that the large thumbdata3 file has been recreated on internal storage.
I've tried it numerous times and every time the same results - delete thumbdata3 from internal memory, couple of camera FC's, large thumbdata3 file recreated, no more problems (bar the loss of 314MB of storage)
I've tried replacing the thumbdata3 file on internal memory with a copy of the smaller one from Ext SD, creating a blank thumbdata3 file and setting it as read only/no write permission and neither have helped.
Its a bit weird and annoying but I won't let it take the shine off my fun with CM9, however it would be nice to recover that large chunk of storage space to be put to better use.
All the same, many thanks Arco - Beta 1 is my first CM9 install and its great :good:[/QUOTE]
Hi - haven't full troubleshooted this issue yet, but see my notes here. I have the same issue (GNEX JB 4.1.1 stock) and for me it is caused by the app KeepSafe which hides/unhides pics/videos on your phone. Note I believe this is an interaction issue between this app and the media scanning functionality in JB (and I suspect ICS), and so there are likely other apps that have the same issue. For me it creates 1 or 2 .thumbdata3 db files each around 1.3GB.
Certainly, irrespective of app causing it, you can follow the steps to purge Gallery and Media Storage, resync your gmail account and they should disappear on their own. Opening the camera and taking a photo causes the db to come back at around 400MB with a single thumbnail - one of the test files I was hiding and unhiding with KeepSafe but has since been deleted. Can't really explain this behaviour!
Any way, I made some notes on what I tested, the results and some ponderings in case this helps someone work it out:
Thumbdata3
Hiding in keep safe seems to create both the thumbnails and thumbdata file.
Clearing data/cache for gallery and media storage removes all these files? So far doesn't seem to be the case. File and db still there after. Rerunning the media scanner now. Perhaps they caused it? Also forced resync of all items in gmail account. Thumbs and db now gone. Not clear if it was the media scanning completing or the re-sync, but steps to resolve issue now appear deterministic.
Tested with single pic. Restored. No thumbs. Re-hid, thumbnail appeared for this pic and a 435MB db file.
All thumbs were for pics hidden in keep safe. However previously there were far more thumbs. Speculate - cumulative issue thru successive hide/restore cycles, possibly due to file name collision avoidance.
Deleting pic in file explorer also causes the problem? Does not appear to be the case. Gallery/Media Scanner/Media Storage handles this manual intervention far better under ICS/JB. Previously, manually removing a picture rather than deleting it thru Gallery tended to mean the tile/thumb remained. Scanner didn't or didn't very effectively detect this. Probable algorithm change in ICS. Now it sees the deletion immediately. Possibly implicated in keep safe not correctly interacting with the gallery/media scanner properly under ICS/JB.

I´ve the same problem.
After restarting the phone, the camera freezes for a while and regenerates the file, no matter how many media files are in the phone or sd card, it always growth to 431mg after restarting.
(I also find many lost files in the LOST.DIR (almost 2.300gb...many are dissapeared files that I forget about them!)

The .thumbdata files on my SGSIII take up ~4 GB worth of space. Already a quarter of my phones internal memory is being wasted. I wonder if this is a bug or "working as intended"? It makes me wonder how google can still justify the lack of an external microsd card slot on their nexus phones when there is so much space being mismanaged by the OS.

It's works
strom87 said:
I had the same issue, but unfortunately your solution didn't help me. Initially I thought it did, but after a reboot and launching Camera app, it hanged and created the .thumbdata3 file once again.
I also tried messing up with databases using SQLite Editor, as described here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28466334&postcount=9, but that didn't help either.
I've done some more research and found a solution here: http://www.mobilephonetalk.com/show...in-memory-card&p=311954&viewfull=1#post311954. After I deleted the .thumbdata3 file, created a blank one with Root Explorer and removed write permission to it, the file stays at 0 bytes and Camera and Gallery apps still work fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's works with me!

that works
That works for me:
1. copy name of thumbdataX--x file
2. delete that file
3. create folder named the same as deleted file; reboot your device
4. look in folders named LOST.DIR (you can find it in the root directory of your internal memory and your SDcard) - huge temporary files may be left in these folders, so delete these files
New thumbdata file can't replace the folder and doesn't appears :victory:

until now the folder solution works :laugh:

Kyonex said:
That works for me:
1. copy name of thumbdataX--x file
2. delete that file
3. create folder named the same as deleted file; reboot your device
4. look in folders named LOST.DIR (you can find it in the root directory of your internal memory and your SDcard) - huge temporary files may be left in these folders, so delete these files
New thumbdata file can't replace the folder and doesn't appears :victory:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't work, camera still overwrites the .thumbdataX--x folder. And as /mnt/sdacard is using FAT32, I also can't set file permission to 000 or use /dev/null symlink.

[Q] Recovering Nandroid backup from LOST.DIR

I recently lost a lot of the data on my external SD card after restoring a CWM 6 backup from the external card. Several folders have had the first letter of their name replaced with μ (mu), the rest capitalized, and contents emptied, others are simply missing. For example "μOWNLOAD." Sadly my clockworkmod folder has become an empty "µLOCKW~1," and I had 3 backups included, most importantly my stock root backup.
I noticed that my LOST.DIR folder had 259 new random number files and is nearly 4 GB, suggesting that the files are stuck in there, but I have no idea how to figure out what is what or even if it is possible to save any of them. I tried the suggestion posted here, but nothing in the clockwork folder was found. I can pick out what I think are the 3 pairs of "system.ext4.tar.a" and "data.ext4.tar.a" files based on them being several megabytes larger than everything else, but I have no idea how to separate them or how to pick out the right "boot.img", "recovery.img", and "cache.ext4.tar.a." I'm assuming that I don't need "cache.ext4.tar,"data.ext4.tar," and "system.ext4.tar," because they all show 0 bytes in the new backup that I made on the internal card.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I might be able to save the backup?
EDIT: Also is it "safer" to keep important things on my internal or external card? I kept all of my backups on the external card specifically to avoid something like this happening during a flash or at some other time, but googling tell me that several people have had seemingly random issues with SD cards and the S3.

From my experience everything in the lost. Dir gets its file extension stripped. I had this happen to my music folder and I had to change all the files to mp3. It may be more of a pain than its worth to change every file back. And because there not all the same type who knows what file is suppose to be what
I would move any data off and reformat the card
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

I had everything of import other than nandroids backed up offsite so the remaining data doesn't matter, and I expect that everything is gone, but no harm in trying.
Also, if you ever need to rename a lot of files at once again, you might want to try File Renamer Basic, it is extremely useful for batch operations like that.

Yea I just used the command line built into windows. I was surprised it had the option to do it. Ever since they stopped basing windows off Dos they got rid of some commands. I thought I was gonna have to get a live version of linux. But if there isn't anything wrong with the current rom I would just make a new backup. Format the card first before you move anything back on it
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

I was having terrible battery drain when first got the phone, took out my SD-Card and now get nearly 5-6 hours screen on time!
I don't know if it was the SD-Card or the new modem/rpm (I'm still on the OTA ICS one)
but for me I use google play and I keep a copy of all my nandroids on my computer for safe keeping. and keep only the ones I need recently on the internal, and I have plenty of space left, so for me it was better to just keep the SD-Card out, it was making it hard to choose to put on sd-card or internal LOL

Maybe I've been lucky, but coming from the Droid 2 the battery life on this seems amazing (CleanROM), I have had the external card in since I bought it however.
I was mainly worried about stability issues, mainly I was always worried that a factory reset or changing roms would affect the internal card, so it would be safer to keep things on the external card.

I'm sorry if i have mistakes in this text . i'm persian . i don't know english well/
I have a solution for this problem:
I've lost my data twice. first time i thought that it is virus so i format my SD card .
this time I LOST some important data therefore i tried to get them back.
I noticed that LOST.DIR is included my data.
I connect my phone to PC (galaxy s4) then i copied all LOST.DIR files in to my PC.
then i opened one of them with windows photo viewer. ( right click -> open -> choose windows photo viwer) then i saw one of me missing photos (luckly).
however it will take a long time to take back all of your missing photos but still you will get it.
(sorry for mistakes)

256GB SD permissions and raw photos?

Many times a simple problem turns complex....... like now.
I take many photos on my phone, dSLR, GoPro, MavicPro, etc. and always shoot RAW. I do my post processing in Lightroom and Photoshop. On my S8+ I discovered LR is not importing the .DNG files. I find out it seems they need to be in the Camera Roll and I configured the stock camera to store them on the SD. I'm using the promo 256GB Samsung SD.
OK. I'll poke around with a file manager. In the rocess I find and try to delete an old folder. It asks for permission to access, I think no problem I've seen this many times before. HOWEVER, I can not grant permission the SD does not appear on the permissions screen!! Then I try a different software and see that the card is defined differently. One software even has it as a USB drive. Another simply calls it "Storage". In any case, I can't do much with it. The system seems to access it just fine in most cases.
I think OK I'll re-format it, dead end. How about merging it with the internal storage to have one huge single place for storage (not my favorite way since I may need to read the SD in a different device in case of a failure), this would solve my Lightroom issue as then I save .DNGs to the internal Camera Roll, nope.
I know I'm rambling.
The questions are:
Can this big SD be merged with the internal storage? Is there a size limit or is that not possible any more?
Anyone else using Lightroom Mobile and shooting RAW? What is your workflow?