Factory Reset

[NicolletteV]

I was having glitches with my phone so I did a factory reset on my phone last night. I have a external SD card that i did not format (because I didn't want to wipe it clean) and when I opened my pictures, it had erased all of them and is now displaying a landscape picture with an exclamation mark next to it. I am so heartbroken over losing all of my pictures. They were very special to me. Anyone know if I can get them back or view them on a computer?

 

[dezymond]

Did you have them synced/backed up to your Google account?

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Welcome to the forum! If the pictures were saved to the SD card and not the phone itself, they're still there. It usually takes a while for a phone's gallery to rebuild the thumbnails of pictures it finds on an sd card.

If they weren't on the sd card, that makes things more complicated.

You can download a file explorer app to the phone to search for them. Some popular ones are ES File Explorer and Astro File Manager. Or, you should also be able to hook up to a computer and use it's file explorer.

The folder you'll be looking for will likely be called DCIM and may be within other folders like "Camera" and/or "Android," but if you set the phone up to save them to another location, you'll need to know that location. This, of course, only works if the pictures were on the SD card to begin with.

As @dezymond suggested, it's a great idea to setup auto-backup of your pictures. Google Photos will allow you to do so with unlimited storage of "High Quality" images. Dropbox, Facebook, and Microsoft OneDrive also offer photo backup options.

 

[NicolletteV]

Did you have them synced/backed up to your Google account?

I did not

 

[NicolletteV]

Welcome to the forum! If the pictures were saved to the SD card and not the phone itself, they're still there. It usually takes a while for a phone's gallery to rebuild the thumbnails of pictures it finds on an sd card.

If they weren't on the sd card, that makes things more complicated.

You can download a file explorer app to the phone to search for them. Some popular ones are ES File Explorer and Astro File Manager. Or, you should also be able to hook up to a computer and use it's file explorer.

The folder you'll be looking for will likely be called DCIM and may be within other folders like "Camera" and/or "Android," but if you set the phone up to save them to another location, you'll need to know that location. This, of course, only works if the pictures were on the SD card to begin with.

As @dezymond suggested, it's a great idea to setup auto-backup of your pictures. Google Photos will allow you to do so with unlimited storage of "High Quality" images. Dropbox, Facebook, and Microsoft OneDrive also offer photo backup options.

They were on the SD card. I had 1,000 on there. I will try a file explorer app. Thank you.

 

[NicolletteV]

I did not

I had my backup stored onto a google account. Were my pictures on there?

 

[dezymond]

Do you have an SD card reader to have it read on your computer? Most microSD cards come with an adapter to have it be compatible with a standard SD card slot reader.

If they're on your SD card, the like @Jonny Kansas said, they should still be on there.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

I had my backup stored onto a google account. Were my pictures on there?

That only backs up settings and etc. Unfortunately, without setting up a separate app to backup your photos, they won't be on your google account.

When you go into the main settings of the phone and look under "Storage," does it show the SD card?

 

[NicolletteV]

Do you have an SD card reader to have it read on your computer? Most microSD cards come with an adapter to have it be compatible with a standard SD card slot reader.

If they're on your SD card, the like @Jonny Kansas said, they should still be on there.

I do have an sd reader. I will try that tonight. Thanks

 

[NicolletteV]

That only backs up settings and etc. Unfortunately, without setting up a separate app to backup your photos, they won't be on your google account.

When you go into the main settings of the phone and look under "Storage," does it show the SD card?

Yes it does. It shows that I have 58.78 gb of total space and 49.28 gb available

 

[Jeffrey]

Good news.. Gallery should rebuild them. Let us know..

 

[dezymond]

Any update? I see you have the s5, that's a fairly current phone and should rebuild your gallery fairly quickly.

Have you tried to see if the pictures are still on the SD card with your computer?