Why did hundreds of photos and tens of videos in my phone gallery either turned blank or disappeared?

[Worrying]

Even tons of the Whatsapp photos of my father's cooking , videos and some few hundred songs that my friend played for me are missing. I am really so sad as these are all my precious memories which I cherish very much.

I am very careful to back up everything in my Whatsapp daily so I don't understand why this is happening. Could someone please help me solve the mystery so that I can prevent the same thing from happening again? Does my phone have a virus or something? I am a stupid pig when comes to technology 😢

[NamerOfStars]

I'm not sure; I have no experience with that particular program. But here's something you can do:

-plug your phone's charge cable into your phone, and the other end in a USB port on your computer. This should start charging it, slowly; look for the "charging" icon to know that it's connected.

-if that works, set your phone to allow for file transfers over a USB connection. This usually defaults to "off", but you can change that in the options. Exactly how varies; look up instructions for your specific model online.

-if you can get that to connect, then your computer should let you browse the files on your phone as if it was a USB drive. Proceed carefully, and make sure you don't delete anything. Search for the folder your camera pictures are stored in; on Android phones, this is usually called "DCIM", not sure about Iphones. Opening that folder on your computer should show you the pictures you've taken.

-if you can see them, you can copy them, making a backup set of those pictures on your computer. Backing up important files like this is always a good idea, even if everything on your phone works just fine.

[Worrying]

Wow, thank you so much for the details. Am very grateful 🙏🏻

[NamerOfStars]

You're welcome. Hope you get it sorted out!

[strateguy632]

seems like an old phone like a "corrupted link" in the files. if you have a second phone see if you can move the photos called "migrate" maybe the other phone can open them?

[Worrying]

Oh, there are actually photos call "migrate"?
What cause the corrupted link? Thanks, I will try that. Do I need to move my SIM and SD cards and insert them into another phone to open them?

[strateguy632]

oh i meant the move was called migrate but if you saved photos on sd then try it first. move the sd card to another phone hopefully it will open there.

[Worrying]

Ah, I see. Thanks a lot!

[MrOracle]

That's an Android phone, so did you have an SD card (memory card) in your phone? Removing the card, or having the card fail, can result in all of those "blank" pictures. Even if you don't have an SD card, it's possible that the folder your pictures were in was deleted, renamed, moved, or that the storage is starting to fail (it can happen).

This is why it is super important to make backups of your photos - and while I recommend using cloud backups (Google Photos will automatically back up your photos to the Google cloud, for example), but I still recommend making separate backups somewhere else - another computer, to a USB drive, or something physical that you have control of.

You can replace lost, stolen, or damaged hardware - that's just money. Your data cannot be replaced, so you must take responsibility for backing it up, and I always recommend at least two different forms of backup for anything you consider important.

[AviatorTom]

Since this affected photos in more than one app, I might think that the photos are still there, but the software that displays them has gotten corrupted.

Make sure to update your phone with the latest photo software, which you can get from the Aple Store or Google Play, depending on what kind of phone you have.

You can also find the Photos folders on your phone and transfer them to a computer, where you can see them.

[Worrying]

Okay, thanks, I will try that also!

[Worrying]

What do you think corrupt the software?

[strateguy632]

the steps for this is plug the usb plug into the phone and the computer usb. then open "my computer" or "my pc" or "this pc" then find the phone and in it go to folder named DCIM it should have photos or images there.

[Paris13]

I am So Sorry, I KNow How I'd Feel. Not Sure Why UNless Someone else Knows How to Get Into your Phone. xxoo

[linka_pat307]

That only happens when you download audio that goes to gallery, never had photos turn into that

[Worrying]

How to prevent audio from going into gallery?

[strateguy632]

that would not cause the "empty" report.

[linka_pat307]

I have no idea but I think the website or app you use for downloading the audio matters

[Worrying]

Oh, I actually didn't download anything. Those missing photos, videos and songs are all self-taken or self-made ones either by myself or my close ones.

[linka_pat307]

I can help , why don't you seek help from a friend
Text him barryliverstone

[Worrying]

@linka_pat307Ah, that's so kind of you ❤️

@BarryLiverstone

[linka_pat307]

My pleasure just be kind to him

[Worrying]

@linka_pat307 Haha, I will 🤣

[Kelly6]

This is new