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[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)
Hello,
to all of you.
Actually some days ago, my phone that is NOTE 4 SM-910G started to create problems with random restarts and once appeared a message that data partition has been damaged, but when I restart the phone after pulling the battery after then everything seems normal but when I checked the whatsapp folder it don't show the videos but in the storage check tab of settings of the phone, it is clear that videos are still present on the internal memory of the phone, because it occupied the storage, now, please tell How to recover these videos? these are very much important after this I can factory reset the phone, but for now please tell the solution.Hope to see reply soon.
Thank You.
MOBILGEEK
Hello,
to all of you.
One thing more I want to add that My device has root access.So, please soon.Thank you.
Regards,
MOBILGEEK
1. Restore from backup (whatsapp has this built in feature to auto backup images and videos).
2. If restore is not possible try browsing for the files or searching the device to see if you can find them as the storage manager reports on files present.
A|ex said:
1. Restore from backup (whatsapp has this built in feature to auto backup images and videos).
2. If restore is not possible try browsing for the files or searching the device to see if you can find them as the storage manager reports on files present.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
Thank you for this reply, actually the videos are not showing in the WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Video folder and whenever I try to open the video in whatsapp it shows the message that "Sorry, this media file doesn't exisr on your SD Card", but it still occupies the space I hope you understand what I am saying, it simply means that files are present on mmc but not showing in the device, or the nodes that points to the files are missing, so I need some recovery software.Hope to see reply soon.
Thank you.
Regards,
MOBILGEEK
MOBILGEEK said:
Hey,
Thank you for this reply, actually the videos are not showing in the WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Video folder and whenever I try to open the video in whatsapp it shows the message that "Sorry, this media file doesn't exisr on your SD Card", but it still occupies the space I hope you understand what I am saying, it simply means that files are present on mmc but not showing in the device, or the nodes that points to the files are missing, so I need some recovery software.Hope to see reply soon.
Thank you.
Regards,
MOBILGEEK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please see my original post as you did not answer a single question.
Whatsapp will always display images/ video if you have deleted the files from under and not via whatsapp as these still exist in the database.
A|ex said:
1. Restore from backup (whatsapp has this built in feature to auto backup images and videos).
2. If restore is not possible try browsing for the files or searching the device to see if you can find them as the storage manager reports on files present.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A|ex said:
Please see my original post as you did not answer a single question.
Whatsapp will always display images/ video if you have deleted the files from under and not via whatsapp as these still exist in the database.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
Thank you again for this quick reply,
Ok, let me tell you one by one,
Q1.Restore from backup (whatsapp has this built in feature to auto backup images and videos).
Ans.Can you please tell where whatsapp store backup images and videos? so that I can restore from there, because when I check through the file manager then in the folder "WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Video" I found nothing, but all the other folders like images etc. have all the data.
Q2.If restore is not possible try browsing for the files or searching the device to see if you can find them as the storage manager reports on files present.
Ans. As I told all the data are intact but the Videos are missing also physically from the Storage media but still it occupies the space, I am saying this because I have 4 gb free space before disappearing the videos, now I have 3.98 gb so, videos are still there but not showing neither in whatsapp nor in file manager.
I hope this removes little dirt.
Thank You.
MOBILGEEK
MOBILGEEK said:
Hello,
Thank you again for this quick reply,
Ok, let me tell you one by one,
Q1.Restore from backup (whatsapp has this built in feature to auto backup images and videos).
Ans.Can you please tell where whatsapp store backup images and videos? so that I can restore from there, because when I check through the file manager then in the folder "WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Video" I found nothing, but all the other folders like images etc. have all the data.
Q2.If restore is not possible try browsing for the files or searching the device to see if you can find them as the storage manager reports on files present.
Ans. As I told all the data are intact but the Videos are missing also physically from the Storage media but still it occupies the space, I am saying this because I have 4 gb free space before disappearing the videos, now I have 3.98 gb so, videos are still there but not showing neither in whatsapp nor in file manager.
I hope this removes little dirt.
Thank You.
MOBILGEEK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whatsapp backup and restore:
https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/android/20887921
For the media what are you using to browse the files?
Have you tried ES File Explorer and letting it search for the media for you
A|ex said:
Whatsapp backup and restore:
https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/android/20887921
For the media what are you using to browse the files?
Have you tried ES File Explorer and letting it search for the media for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
How are you?
Nothing useful found on the link that you provided, I have used the default file manager to search for files and even used ES FILE explorer to search for files, but found nothing, actually, I am again saying this, files are on the media but not showing in the file explorer and also not running in the whatsapp.
Thank You.
MOBILGEEK
I'm not sure, but try Samsung smart switch, and make a full backup internal memory to your desktop first. Do you use Windows? Then disable hidding folders settings in Windows. And then look for the videos in the backup folder .
oMaRcO said:
I'm not sure, but try Samsung smart switch, and make a full backup internal memory to your desktop first. Do you use Windows? Then disable hidding folders settings in Windows. And then look for the videos in the backup folder .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldnt waste your time. He keep saying it says it says files are on the media but he doesnt give enough information.
If you have root/ explorer you should be able to find the files. if you cannot find the files with an explorer and root the files are not there. It doesnt matter if you have hidden files or using windows the explorer with root will find files, hidden or not.
He has no backup and using whatsapp to retain files.
Was running stang5litre's S7 ROM for a good long while but kept having issues. Figured I'd backup, then go back to stock to see if I can handle not rooting/ROM'ing. So far I'm cool with it - BUT - I use QuickPic as my picture Gallery. Well... upon coming back to stock, the folders I had in QuickPic, where I had a good amount of pictures I wanted to keep, the folders were gone*. Hence, my pix appear to be gone.
SO. The questions are: has anyone seen that before with QP and know of a fix for it? Maybe it just turned those folders into hidden folders or something? Two: is there a way to extract from a FlashFire backup those picture files?
Appreciate any help,
Steve
*and absolutely shame on me for not keeping a copy of them in the cloud
Mine was actually the other way around. I was missing pictures and quick pic found them when the stock gallery couldnt. That's also when I started regularly backing up to the cloud too.
scauffiel said:
Two: is there a way to extract from a FlashFire backup those picture files?
*and absolutely shame on me for not keeping a copy of them in the cloud
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you did a full FlashFire backup including internal storage, then you should be able to restore it, but you'll need to be rooted. You could root and restore internal storage, then make copies on your PC/cloud/SDcard/ect, and finally flash back to stock. This will only work if you backed up internal storage, which is selected by default.
Yeah, I was really hoping there's be something like 7zip I could use to easily extract the images instead of going through that entire rigamarole. <sigh>
What is /data/data/com.android.providers.downloads?
My /data/data/com.android.providers.downloads/cache directory is 3.4GB, which is a major chunk of my internal storage, which is down to around ~768MB. Can I safely delete the contents of /data/data/com.android.providers.downloads/cache?
I have so little internal storage that I can't complete app updates without going in and manually cleaning up cruft. And yes, I've moved apps to external storage and am saving photos and movies on it as well.
My thanks to those who take the time to help me with this.
C'mon folks. 74 views and no one has any advice?
Please, help me with this.
Fat Rat Bastard said:
C'mon folks. 74 views and no one has any advice?
Please, help me with this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just checked and I don't have this file! So can't really give any advice ... sorry!
robmeik said:
Just checked and I don't have this file! So can't really give any advice ... sorry!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the reply!
On my phone I can't see this directory with my filesystem GUI of choice, X-Plore File Manager, but it's accessible from a terminal. which is how I discovered it was filled with over 3GB of cruft. I'm about ready to just clean the cache dir in that path and see what happens. :silly:
Answered
So, tired of waiting for input (except for you, robmeik. Thanks!) I decided to just clear the /data/data/com.android.providers.downloads/cache directory an pray it is just what it appears to be, a temp directory. Turns out, yes, that is all it is. I deleted the files and have suffered no deleterious effects.
Hi, Fat Rat Bastard. So sorry no one replied to you because I have the same issue. What happened when you deleted those large files? Did you android device even notice them missing?
-Ileana
help me too here
can you help me here in the same case . I wanted to ask that did you accessed the said flder and deleted it? as for me I am unable to locate it. Can you please tell me how to access the folder data/user/0/com.android.providers.downloads/cache . As I downloaded some stuff via the google app and it is now showing up anywhere else.
anonVJ said:
can you help me here in the same case . I wanted to ask that did you accessed the said flder and deleted it? as for me I am unable to locate it. Can you please tell me how to access the folder data/user/0/com.android.providers.downloads/cache . As I downloaded some stuff via the google app and it is now showing up anywhere else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need a rooted phone and a root capable file manager to access that folder, android 101
Free: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1523691
Hello i deleted my photos from Samsung Cloud,s Bin not knowing the photos stored on my phone also being deleted after making Bin empty.
Any soultion to get them back?
wiebenik said:
Hello i deleted my photos from Samsung Cloud,s Bin not knowing the photos stored on my phone also being deleted after making Bin empty.
Any soultion to get them back?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you deleted them from the recycle bin then there's no way to recover them
in the meanwhil i just found out that my photos can be recovered. it sounds logic because they stored also local (on my phone) i will give it a shot tomorrow. I first need a huge SD card