[TIP/TRICK] Stop Stock Gallery From Creating .thumbnails Folder! Save SD Card Space!
First off, I'll start by saying: "I am not responsible if you brick your phone! Always make a nandroid backup before using my steps/messing with Autostarts! (It's a very powerful application!)"
If you use a 3rd party gallery app (Like QuickPic, my personal favorite...) - You are probably tired of wasting over 100mb of space on your SD card... (And waiting a long time for booting up as well...) I had no need for the /sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails folder taking up space on my SD card, so this is how to disable the stock Gallery app from doing so!
I researched a little on how to accomplish this and came up with little information, so I thought I'd share:
What you'll need:
1.) Autostarts app (I used: Version 1.7.0)
---
Steps/Directions:
1.) Run Autostarts
2.) Look for these entries: Media ejecting/mounted
3.) Choose either entry (ONLY CHOOSE ONE, IT DOES NOT MATTER WHICH! Choosing one entry will disable both entries in Media ejecting AND Media mounted!)
4.) Click on BootReceiver
5.) Choose Disable (A popup will show saying "This is a system app, are you sure? etc.)
6.) Done! Reboot. On boot, go to /sdcard/DCIM/ and look inside for the usual .thumbnails folder, it should be contained with a few (SMALL) files now!
Note: (Make sure you disable the entry BootReceiver ONCE, it should "strikeout" (as in: draw a line through) the entry BootReceiver, to show it has been disabled on boot.) - zmag
Hmm, seems I just looked in my folder and I saw the darn .thumbnails file again... If anyone knows how to disable the stock Gallery app from wasting boot time & sd space; PLEASE TELL ME!!! - zmag
Well, it looks like this is not a big issue for anyone out there - but it still annoys me.
I have since "frozen" the stock Camera and Gallery apps with Titanium Backup Pro, and still; no luck.
Now, granted when I reboot my phone and look in my DCIM folder it doesn't seem to be creating the .thumbnails folder 100% of the time. But the folder is still being created somehow, and my only guess is from a third-party app (and I can't seem to pinpoint which one) but I'm gonna test to find out which and post my results...
I wish someone out there could give me some input, I've been talking to myself here for too long. - zmag
This isn't the same, but you can create a filetype named '.nomedia' and place it at the root of the folder where you want and it will stop displaying the thumbnails in the gallery app.
http://smartadopter.wordpress.com/2...mbnails-showing-in-the-android-photo-gallery/
OK I believe I may have found the possible solution to this problem.
I was searching around on how to fix this problem as well, and tried a few things myself and believe I have found a solution, so I had to sign up for xda to share with everyone else. So please be gentle as this is my first post, although im a long time lurker.
I also got rid of the stock gallery (uninstalled with Titanium Backup) and now use Quick Pic. although I have removed the stock gallery it still builds that 60mb+ thumbnails directory on my SDcard. I was using SD Maid to delete it but it gets annoying that it kept reappearing even after the uninstall of stock gallery.
Now to start fixing,
I realized it was actually a large single file itself named ".thumbdata3-1967290299" in "sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails/" that was taking up the 60mb+ , the smaller individual thumbnails Quick Pic created only added up to a 1mb or so.
So what I did was I just grabbed a random useless file from my SD card I didn't need anymore (an alarm clock plus backup .bak file, but I would assume the *new file" option in root explorer would do the same) and I renamed the unneeded file the same name as the file in /.thumbdata/ (the the .thumbdata3-19672902099).
Now I had a .thumbdata file that was only 1.75kb and just simply moved it to the sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails/ folder and replaced the 60mb .thumbdata file with the smaller one.
After a few restarts of my phone, opening and browsing Quick Pic, checking my thumbnail size a few times with both SD Maid and Root Explore - I now have a much smaller 1.75kb file instead of the old 60mb file.
Hopefully this well help some of you out and solve your problem as well, as far as I can tell it is no longer making that thumbnail file expand so large on my phone.
Phone: HTC Hero CDMA
ROM: Cyanogenmod 7.1
Carrier: i-wireless/sprint
hewillmakehell said:
OK I believe I may have found the possible solution to this problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've tried both your copied file trick and making a new file with root explorer, both to no avail. ".thumbdata3--1967290299" always reverts to its old size if any app associated with the gallery is opened.
has yours really stopped reappearing?
i can't figure out where the large thumbnail data is stored, but it must be in the system somewhere...
problem solved
hey i figured out how to fixed this on my atrix. should be the same for all android phones.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=28447099#post28447099
There's no "external.db" inside my "com.android.providers.media" folder.
However, I didn't even understood what I was supposed to do with this file. What he meant with "trim the thumbnails table with an sql editor"?
I quoted the post you linked below:
i found the place where the thumbnail data is stored, which was making the huge thumbnail file and crashing Entertainment Center.
it isn't storing the entire ".thumbdata3--1967290299" file (which can be hundreds of mb for some people), rather a large (tens of mb) .db database file that is being used to recreate it on demand.
/data/data/com.android.providers.media/databases
external.db
with Root Explorer i could view the file, and Speed Software also sells an sql editor which you can use to trim the thumbnails table.
*be careful: deleting entries from this file also seems to delete it from the device! i deleted all records from the thumbnails and images tables..
learn from my mistake. i thought it would regenerate, but it deleted all images from /sd card. good thing i backed up all my photos first, but better to use the filter option and trim out only the records for files that are no longer on the device.
".thumbdata3--1967290299" now reappears, but a whole lot smaller.
Gallery opens so much faster now, and Entertainment Center works again!
hope it helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i bet it is hiding somewhere. maybe it's slightly different on other phones.
the issue was that i had an ever-expanding sdcard/dcim/.thumbnails/.thumbdata3--1967290299 file being recreated every time i accessed the gallery viewer, even after that thumbnails folder was erased.
my device was keeping track of ALL the media files that were ever on it, not just the ones presently on it. so the more files that passed through my device, the bigger the thumbdata file kept getting. the external.db file contains a table that lists all media files along with a bunch of attributes for each. apparently this db file is used to generate the thumbdata file. all the info for deleted files just leads to more padding inside the thumbdata file, so it keeps getting bigger.
by trimming the table i meant to delete the records in the external.db that correspond to thumbnails for media no longer on the device. that file is an SQLite file, so to open it you need a special viewer/editor. i first used the SQLite Viewer that comes with Root Explorer. with that, i could see the all the redundant thumbnail entries. to edit it, i got the SQLite Editor, though i'm sure there are other ways. then it's a matter of recognizing which files it lists that are no longer on your device, and getting rid of those rows from the table. in my case the external.db file went down from 8mb to 500kb after i did that.
screenshot 1 showing tables inside external.db, using SQLite Editor
screenshot 2 showing 'thumbnails' table
TBN FILE 2gb
hi
i have a huge thumbnail file in he sd card its almots 2GB
i have already came to opeing the list for thumbnails in the editor
but i dont know how to filter it that i can delete only the files which are not in the sd card (i.e already deleted ) plss guide me throught ,,, this and u will be a star:good:
whitebreadstyle said:
i bet it is hiding somewhere. maybe it's slightly different on other phones.
the issue was that i had an ever-expanding sdcard/dcim/.thumbnails/.thumbdata3--1967290299 file being recreated every time i accessed the gallery viewer, even after that thumbnails folder was erased.
my device was keeping track of ALL the media files that were ever on it, not just the ones presently on it. so the more files that passed through my device, the bigger the thumbdata file kept getting. the external.db file contains a table that lists all media files along with a bunch of attributes for each. apparently this db file is used to generate the thumbdata file. all the info for deleted files just leads to more padding inside the thumbdata file, so it keeps getting bigger.
by trimming the table i meant to delete the records in the external.db that correspond to thumbnails for media no longer on the device. that file is an SQLite file, so to open it you need a special viewer/editor. i first used the SQLite Viewer that comes with Root Explorer. with that, i could see the all the redundant thumbnail entries. to edit it, i got the SQLite Editor, though i'm sure there are other ways. then it's a matter of recognizing which files it lists that are no longer on your device, and getting rid of those rows from the table. in my case the external.db file went down from 8mb to 500kb after i did that.
screenshot 1 showing tables inside external.db, using SQLite Editor
screenshot 2 showing 'thumbnails' table
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the sam issue, but unfortunately your solution didn't help me. I have only a couple of pictures on my phone, but a lot of GBs of music on SDCard and I think this is he reason why .thumbdata3 file is so large on my phone.
I also tried using SDRescan as proposed here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28516079&postcount=6, 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.
mihir880 said:
hi
i have a huge thumbnail file in he sd card its almots 2GB
i have already came to opeing the list for thumbnails in the editor
but i dont know how to filter it that i can delete only the files which are not in the sd card (i.e already deleted ) plss guide me throught ,,, this and u will be a star:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it sure would be nice if android did that automatically
i don't know how though, sorry.. maybe there is a way, but it is surely safer to backup the media files to another drive, trim the db, then move them back if necessary.
---------- Post added at 09:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:42 PM ----------
strom87 said:
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
i guess that's one way of doing it. it just means all the thumbnails have to be recreated every time you open the gallery or file browser.
strom87 said:
I had the sam issue, but unfortunately your solution didn't help me. I have only a couple of pictures on my phone, but a lot of GBs of music on SDCard and I think this is he reason why .thumbdata3 file is so large on my phone.
I also tried using SDRescan as proposed here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28516079&postcount=6, 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
How did you removed write permission from the thumbdata3 file with RootExplorer. If I try this, then I get a message, that that is not possible on the SD-Card and nothing happens!! The permissions stay !!!
Sunnymen1975 said:
How did you removed write permission from the thumbdata3 file with RootExplorer. If I try this, then I get a message, that that is not possible on the SD-Card and nothing happens!! The permissions stay !!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try creating a folder instead of a file(no need to set permissions). So far, it's working
lbrfabio said:
You can try creating a folder instead of a file(no need to set permissions). So far, it's working
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another quick way that seems to work:
Code:
rm -rf /mnt/sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails && touch /mnt/sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails
rm -rf /mnt/sdcard/external_sd/DCIM/.thumbnails && touch /mnt/sdcard/external_sd/DCIM/.thumbnails
Hello, I also have this problem. Now I put another file with that name and that seems to work.
However, I came on this because my device went suddenly very slow.
Is it possible that the application that writes these .thumbnail files is still searching through the complete device, even when it cannot update the file?
And, how can I inspect what app is causing this file or slow down?
Fixed!... deleted .thumbnails folder and then created a file called .thumbnails using root explorer....thats worked for me in my THL w1..saved 1.2 gb of space!
Is there anyway to stop the stock camera from posting pics in the DCIM folder? I am somewhat ocd and would like them to be posted in a folder of my choosing.
estranged1977 said:
Fixed!... deleted .thumbnails folder and then created a file called .thumbnails using root explorer....thats worked for me in my THL w1..saved 1.2 gb of space!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Created a file or a folder?
petrsiri said:
Created a file or a folder?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try create folder (I do this and see no more thumbdata3-files yet two months)
Hi, I downloaded a big iso file (say file x) on my nexus 4. weird thing is I can't see the file from my pc when I connect my phone to my pc. I can see the folders on my phone but can't see the folder (say folder f1) that contains the file..
Even more weird thing is when I moved some file in the f1 to a folder (say f2) using Astro file manager that can be seen from my pc. I can see the file in f2 on my phone, but it's not on my pc.
Then I renamed a file (file y) in f2 in Astro. Both fy and f2 can be seen on my pc. But on my pc I can't see the name of y changed.
In short what kind of changes I made to my files on my phone, nothing happens on my pc. I have unplugged the cable and repluggd it but the situation is still the same.
Also, I can create folder/file from pc and they can be seen from my phone.
bump
thotwielder said:
Hi, I downloaded a big iso file (say file x) on my nexus 4. weird thing is I can't see the file from my pc when I connect my phone to my pc. I can see the folders on my phone but can't see the folder (say folder f1) that contains the file..
Even more weird thing is when I moved some file in the f1 to a folder (say f2) using Astro file manager that can be seen from my pc. I can see the file in f2 on my phone, but it's not on my pc.
Then I renamed a file (file y) in f2 in Astro. Both fy and f2 can be seen on my pc. But on my pc I can't see the name of y changed.
In short what kind of changes I made to my files on my phone, nothing happens on my pc. I have unplugged the cable and repluggd it but the situation is still the same.
Also, I can create folder/file from pc and they can be seen from my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All right, it's suddenly just fine. No idea why.
Was going to say it could be due to the horrible MTP that Android now uses instead of Mass Storage.
MTP Limits large files from being transferred to and from the device.
(and only shows some folders, usually the basic Music, Downloads, Pictures, etc - and folders that were created on the device via the computer)
But since it just showed up, I have no clue...
I have no problems with MTP, all my folders and files show up on my pc. Can also transfer large video files without a problem. The size limitation by the way is 4GB.
http://www.androidcentral.com/ics-feature-mtp-what-it-why-use-it-and-how-set-it
Sometimes you may have to reboot the phone to be able to see the files. Works for me. After download some files I can't see them immediately, have to reboot phone then plug in and files will be there.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
kzoodroid said:
I have no problems with MTP, all my folders and files show up on my pc. Can also transfer large video files without a problem. The size limitation by the way is 4GB.
http://www.androidcentral.com/ics-feature-mtp-what-it-why-use-it-and-how-set-it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had trouble with MTP, unable to write certain files... So I have to Zip them, copy them over, then unzip them from within Android. And I made some Backups of my Apex Settings and such, before uninstalling the app, when I plugged the N4 into my computer the location where Apex saved the file did not show.. Once I finally just saved them to my Google Drive from the phone, I was unable to copy them back over to the N4 (hence the reason for needing to ZIP them) - Also I recreated the Apex settings folder myself via Windows Explorer in the Android Folder of the n4 but Apex was unable to find it. When I clicked Backup within Apex, it normally will inform you of an overwrite if backup files already exist, but this did not happen.
I have the basic folders appear in Windows Explorer (Alarms, Android, DCIM, Downloads, Movies, Music, Notifications, Pictures, Podcast, and Ringtones) ... The Android Folder (where Apex saves its backups) would only display a few select folders (those related to media) so the Apex Backup folder is not visible in Windows Explorer...
Anyhow, I'm certainly not a fan of MTP... but will read the article you posted and maybe it will help/change my view
hey XDA,
I am not able to copy Flac audio files from my PC to the Internal Storage of my galaxy s4. When I paste the Flac files into the phone, it prompts for file format not supported, then I click 'No, just Copy' and for all files. But then it only copies the first file (If I selected multiple files) and then freezes. When I cancel the process, the first file is copied successfully.
How can i fix this?
Greets,
Mark
Tunestwo said:
hey XDA,
I am not able to copy Flac audio files from my PC to the Internal Storage of my galaxy s4. When I paste the Flac files into the phone, it prompts for file format not supported, then I click 'No, just Copy' and for all files. But then it only copies the first file (If I selected multiple files) and then freezes. When I cancel the process, the first file is copied successfully.
How can i fix this?
Greets,
Mark
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as for me i didn't like to copy file from my pc to my s4 using usb as it only support mtp mode and not usb mode
this only suggestion from me.if you getting continues error to copy your file through usb and you got good internet connection simply upload your file to cloud storage and download to your mobile
Zaraee said:
as for me i didn't like to copy file from my pc to my s4 using usb as it only support mtp mode and not usb mode
this only suggestion from me.if you getting continues error to copy your file through usb and you got good internet connection simply upload your file to cloud storage and download to your mobile
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But thats just ignoring the problem by doing it another way..
I want to fix it not turn around it.
Tunestwo said:
But thats just ignoring the problem by doing it another way..
I want to fix it not turn around it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry,nerver have this problem before..guess you need to wait for file to completely copy to your phone if it hang just wait until it complete
I have found out the solution today. I had the same problem on two phones, two systems, two laptops. People usually use same set of applications etc
I always used K-lite codecs to play videos on the PC. This causes the problem with copying the Flac files to the phone somehow. Uninstalling it makes it back ok.
cannot transfer files via usb- stuck in "calculating the time required to copy files"
been trying all afternoon to copy files from the phone memory to the computer (pc) but no luck. i am connected via MTP but it hangs at "calculating the time required to copy the files" then craps out. tried to boot in safe mode but still no luck. any help would be appreciated.
thanks!!
nycdave said:
been trying all afternoon to copy files from the phone memory to the computer (pc) but no luck. i am connected via MTP but it hangs at "calculating the time required to copy the files" then craps out. tried to boot in safe mode but still no luck. any help would be appreciated.
thanks!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try copying smaller groups of files at a time.
Ex
The Android folder will cause this issue when trying to copy it and all sub folders at once by simply selecting the Android folder and copying it.
Instead, create an Android folder in your destination folder (where you are copying to) then create each subfolder as well (data, obb, etc). Then just copy each folder within data, obb, etc, individually. It's a PITA, but this is how I've always bypassed the problem.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
did it work ?
I just had the same problem. It may be some sort of corrupted folder. Here's what worked for me:
I think it started when I tried copying multiple folders instead of just one at a time, as I usually do. I cancelled because it was taking so long.
After that I constantly got the exact same thing you describe ... Had to kill Windows Explorer over & over.
What I noticed: Windows Explorer could surf into other folders, but clicking on one particular folder always hung Explorer.
So, I went in on the phone's My Files app, and did the following:
1. Looked at the folder - It appeared fine.
2. I copied all the files out of the folder
3. Deleted the folder
4. Recreated it
5. Copied the files back in
It took a few tries, but after that everything is back to working normally.
Hey guys. Ever since I returned to my Moto X Style and updated it to Nougat, I've wanted to go back to using the Google Camera. But it keeps giving me the error "Can't connect to camera" when I try to take a video with it. Stock Moto Camera works just fine for video recording, though.
The second issue is that I can't access the contents of DCIM on my PC. Only my Samsung SD card storage shows up, and when I navigate to the DCIM folder, all I see is this:
https://imgur.com/a/7mMl0
Some kind of weird encrypted(?) file? I don't have encryption enabled.
I can access the contents of DCIM just fine on my phone. The only way for me to transfer DCIM's contents to my PC is if I move them to another folder like Downloads and access them there.
I guess this is some weird permissions issue that Motorola forgot to resolve. Now, I've tried the following fix from this Reddit thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidQuestions/comments/451h0k/dcim_folder_shows_no_photos_on_computer/):
On your phone, using a file explorer (I used ES File Explorer, but any will do), create a new folder, e.g. DCIM2
Navigate to the DCIM folder, select all files and folders
Move everything to DCIM2
Delete the DCIM folder (or simply rename it to DCIM-old if you're paranoid, but no real need for this)
Rename DCIM2 to DCIM
Connect phone to PC via USB, enable MTP mode. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the DCIM folder.
Bam! All photos and videos and folders are there! ...and appears to be a permanent fix!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And it doesn't work. I still see the same weird "Camera" file even after creating and renaming a new DCIM folder. So I have no clue what's going on.
Now, as for the Google Camera crashing on the video recording screen. I've tried everything. Tried moving it from external to internal storage. Tried resetting the app, tried wiping the cache partition, tried removing all Camera permissions save for the Google Camera app, etc. The Camera app versions I tried were the May 2016 arm and September 2016 arm64 ones (4.4+ and 7.0+), as well as earlier versions. Dunno what's going on.
If it's a hardware issue, then why is the Moto camera the only app able to record video flawlessly? Did Motorola do something to the phone with the most recent update? Because I was able to record video just fine using Google Camera.
Any input?
Thanks. I'm non-rooted, bootloader-locked on stock Moto 7.0.
Maybe I'm missing some packages/core apps that are causing Google Camera to malfunction? I don't know which ones, though.
EDIT: Tried Open Camera and it works just fine. I can take videos with it and everything saves to the SD card, and I can access Open Camera's recordings and pictures from my PC. Everything Open Camera takes is saved to the DCIM folder in the Open Camera folder. But I still can't access the photos and recordings I took with the Moto Camera app.