Hello All,
I am new to the Samsung Galaxy S series of phones...actually I'm new to any Samsung android device. So with this Galaxy S4 I'm trying to figure things out that came standard with HTC androids that I have had before this phone. One thing that I can't figure out is how to save downloads onto the microsd. For instance, any attachments that I get on my email through the gmail app...in the past when I downloaded any attachments on my HTC devices it would download onto the microsd in the "downloads" folder; but now on the Galaxy S4 anything that I download goes to the "Downloads" folder on the devices internal storage (sdcard). The same goes for MMS images and files...on my prior devices the images and files would save directly onto the microsd, but on the Galaxy S4 it saves to the same "Downloads" folder on the internal storage (sdcard). I thought this was something simple that could be done by changing some settings, since I never really gave it some thought with my prior devices...but it seems that there's really no way of doing this; at least none that I have found. I tried doing some research on this forum and online, and really didn't find anything that answered my questions. It might not seem like a big deal to most, but it seems like something that should be standard functionality, being able to download files and attachments straight to the microsd; instead of having to constantly move them from the internal sdcard to the microsd...it just seems tedious to keep on doing this. Any help and suggestions will be greatly appreciated...thanks in advance.
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Is is possible to delete files stored in SD card from apps other than stock myfiles app?. I tried HD manager and other file explorer app but no app can delete any file stored in SD card. Am i missing something? (my tab is not rooted and running stock honeycomb).
Do you have a cardreader? If so take out the sd card and try to delete the files you want to delete using your desktop/laptop.
Btw usually you should not need root for deleting files on your sd...
Sympathise with you...
I must admit that it's only in the last few days that I discovered this problem with external SD card file deletion/amendment.
I have looked into this and am quite frankly amazed that such a 'glitch/bug/oversight' could be allowed to find its way into a modern day operating system like Android, or the Samsung Tab OS (not exactly sure which is causing the issue).
Like the first poster in this thread, my Tab is not rooted and I don't really want to root it either. It would appear that there are 'fixes' available - but only for rooted Tabs.
Basically, it seems that the external SD card is READ ONLY when in the Samsung Tab. How ridiculous is that? The stock file manager that comes with the Tab will allow you to delete, rename of amend files on the SD card - but that seems to be the only app that will perform this.
I can kinda live with it - or, more to the point I have got to live with it. The big problem is that any file such as a Word doc, spreadsheet, txt note or even image can only be allowed to reside on the SD card as long as you don't ever want to edit it!! What a crazy situation that is.
For a sophisticated operating system like Android and a sophisticated device like the Tab I feel that this kind of issue should never have been allowed to happen. It's clear that the manufacturers know about the problem which is why they have made a half-way solution with the built-in File Manager. However that doesn't address the problem and places unnecessary restrictions on how you can use the device.
Shame...
OrangeSpiv said:
I can kinda live with it - or, more to the point I have got to live with it. The big problem is that any file such as a Word doc, spreadsheet, txt note or even image can only be allowed to reside on the SD card as long as you don't ever want to edit it!! What a crazy situation that is.
For a sophisticated operating system like Android and a sophisticated device like the Tab I feel that this kind of issue should never have been allowed to happen. It's clear that the manufacturers know about the problem which is why they have made a half-way solution with the built-in File Manager. However that doesn't address the problem and places unnecessary restrictions on how you can use the device.
Shame...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I made new word document in Polaris app and save it to SD card. Then, i edited it and save it to SD card again...it worked perfect. Also, i successfully used gallery app to deleted some pictures stored in SD card , same thing as well with stock music player. So, it seems only stock app (like Gallery, music player) have full access to SD card files (write, edit, delete).
alibukhamsin said:
Is is possible to delete files stored in SD card from apps other than stock myfiles app?. I tried HD manager and other file explorer app but no app can delete any file stored in SD card. Am i missing something? (my tab is not rooted and running stock honeycomb).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is listed a few items down in the common/known issues thread, here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1487991
Sent from my GT-P6800 using XDA Premium HD app
This is listed a few items down in the common/known issues thread, here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1487991
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your help .
I accidentally deleted all of the photos off my GS4's SD card. I have unmounted and removed the SD card to prevent overwriting and now I'm in a panic basically to figure out how to get everything back. I have done endless searches on the Internet and have downloaded software that it's working for me.
I have a Mac, so I need Mac-compatible software. I have tired EaseUS and Wondershare, but neither of them will pick up my phone. I don't know why. Debugging is turned on, but it only show's my Mac's hard drive and never my phone. I need a software for Mac that will allow me to just connect my phone and search for the deleted files. I have tried looking for an Android app that would work, but they all require root and I'm not rooted.
I know there are threads on this on a million sites, but I haven't found anything to help me. But it's also 2 am and I'm a girl that doesn't know much about tech stuff. If anyone has any advice on how I can retrieve all of my pictures or at least some of them, your help is greatly appreciated.
To save some people time in searching and asking the same question I had (and for 4.4.2 I think there will be plenty...):
I had severe issues using a brand new SD card in a brand new unrooted Galaxy S5. However, I now found through test that it was not the card.
I tried many things, formatting on my computer, formatting on another phone, etc etc. Nothing worked. I then tried to use the card on other devices, which worked fine! I then tried other cards, none of them seemed to work.
So I thought the S5 was defective. I did some searching online, and found that it actually is not defective. This is a feature of kitkat 4.4.2!
The card is perfectly usable, but under very restrict situations.
For example, reading is perfectly possible, but writing is controlled by kitkat. I found through some websites that Samsung decided to beef up security and at the same time make the use of external storage more clean.
Previously you could use any file browser to manage any file son any external storage, like an SD card. Although this gave great freedom, Samsung also seemed to believe that it is a source of security risk where rogue apps could read/write to folders they didn't create. They also seemed to believe this made management of files on external storage messy. To control this Samsung now allows properly installed apps to generate folders only in internal memory, and those same apps can only access folders they themselves created. The exception to this are factory standard default apps that come preinstalled on the device.
So my mistake was to use ASTRO file manager to move around a file. Once I read the issue online, I tried the same action with Samsung's pre-installed file manager, and to my surprise the file did transfer to the SD card!
To further clarify, I suspect this "feature" is limited to write activities. For example, backup to SD apps will fail to write apps to SD. Similarly, Airdroid cannot copy files from your desktop to the SD card, only to their own folder (and thus you need Samsungs file manager to move those files to the SD card).
What's interesting about this however, is that READ access seems to still be possible. ASTRO file manager can still read files from directories other apps made. Adobe reader can still read files on all kinds of folders.
The criminal spy app can still read and copy your banking files from your bank directory to its own directory for transfer to the criminal mind who will then plunder your account. So no, the security issue Samsung wanted to address has not been addressed.
What is my opinion about this? Well, I think Samsung made a nice attempt to improve security. However, they completely failed to address the biggest security risk, which isn't write access, but read access. And at the same time made it very painful and difficult to store large numbers of music, video and document files to the SD card. Because now you will either need to plug in your memory card into your computer, or move all those files via internal memory to the external SD card using Samsungs file manager, which of course takes much more time.
More info on the feature can be found here:
http://gs4.wonderhowto.com/how-to/b...ns-android-4-4-kitkat-your-galaxy-s4-0152036/
here:
http://support.solidexplorer.pl/responses/kit-kat-442-issue
And here:
http://developer.samsung.com/forum/...Lines=15&startId=zzzzz~&startPage=2&curPage=4
We could all ask Samsung to revert this "feature", but chances that they will, are remote since there are ways around this problem.
Of course, people who use many many apps/games will be out of luck, as they will be restricted to 16/32 GB.
Note to moderators: Can we make this a sticky for kitkat 4.4.2?
Root and you'll be able to R/W on the ext-SD card and try this app SDFix
Samsung has nothing to do with it... It's an Google's android policy.
So, the links I provided make that same statement. I.e. I'm aware of possible fixes. However, I bought my phone in Singapore so I could have a reliable unhacked, unrooted, unmodified phone. Others might also want original phones and not root their phone until their warranty runs out.
This was not my point though. My point was to provide some info that could be turned into a sticky so it is easier for people to find what could cause their memory card issues.
I still hope the original post will help others troubleshoot their memory card issues with their s5.
Dear friends,
My family just came back from a trip to California. And I did a stupid thing that cost all the photos I took with my Samsung note 3. After I took a lot of photos, I want to transfer the photos from internal storage to the external micro SD card, which I've been using for more than 3 years. But the problem is, I did an system update pushed by AT&T to android 4.4.4(KitKat) a while ago. And I didn't know it prevent to write to the ext SD card. The app I used to transfer photos to ext SD card is, MyFiles, a stock app comes with the Samsung phone. The nightmare starts, the app, MyFiles, didn't give out any error/warning message, just pretend the "move" operation was done successfully and erase all the photos from the source, internal storage (DCIM/Camera). I've been working with a data recovery shop in San Francisco, but no luck. I'm wondering if I can find any help here. Any idea that might bring back the photos?
And also, in this case, is AT&T or Samsung or even Google responsible for my loss? Thank you in advance!
Best regards,
Joe
For future reference, there are SDFix apps on playstore to fix the 4.4.x problem with extSDCards.
I'd remove the card and use a adapter to insert into a PC or laptop and then run Recovery software from either Linux or Windows to see what you can get back. They will be .jpg files and most undelete programs will let you put in a mask to find only those files.
With any luck, Android simply deleted them and has NOT written over the space on the card - most OS's will leave recently deleted file space until after other free space has been written to, so the sooner the better.
Good luck.
Hello everyone,
I've searched endlessly on this topic with no luck. If there are any posts on XDA that relate to this issue, please do refer me to them.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 phone. A few days ago, I realize that the DCIM folder has disappeared from my gallery. I do not have a micro SD card installed, so the DCIM folder is on the device storage. I've tried using recovery software such as "Jihosoft Android Phone Recovery" and "Wondershare Dr.Fone for Android", but I get loads of connectivity issues. I've tried using them on another S4 where only Jihosoft's worked, yet there are loads of deleted photos that do not appear.
Anyway, I am not asking about how to use such software, I just want to know if there is any efficient and solid way of dealing with this issue. It really bugs me to have valuable photos disappearing in thin air. Please and thanks !
-Kevin
Is the folder present when browsing with a file explorer?
That is basically an essential folder. Even if you delete it, android will create it again. So it doesn't just disappear.
try and do as little as possible that will make the phone write to your internal memory aka downloads (apps should be ok as it's in a different partition). if you do you are possibly overwriting a photo making it impossible to recover. I tried an app called dumpster recycle a few years back, I was impressed at the time at what it could recover...
http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.baloota.dumpster
Internal storage files can't be recovered due to something called trimming.
I don't know if this has changed with the recent android versions.
never thought about that, yes trim effectively formats deleted files...
I saw a guide on how to do it some time ago, so it is possible. But it seemed like you have to go through a lot of trouble for this.