DCIM Folder Is Empty - Tried Eveything

londonman81

I have a Samsung S8 with lots of photos and videos on it which I want to transfer onto a storage device.
However, when I connect the phone to my laptop and double-click on the DCIM folder, it just says 'Folder Is Empty' even though there are photos and videos on it.
This wasn't always the case, it used to show all the photos and videos without any issues.
I have watched various YouTube videos and made sure the USB connection is set to transfer files etc etc, but nothing seems to work - still the same empty folder every time.
I'm really frustrated at this, as there's no other realistic way of transferring files off the phone (WiFi upload is too slow, as is Bluetooth).
What else can I do (I have no other laptop/PC)???
Thanks

J_B

If your phone is logged into your google account, then it ought to automatically upload them to there and you can then see them https://photos.google.com/

neilmcl

As above, they should be backed up and accessible via Google Photos. Also, are you sure you're looking in the correct place, do you have an SD card installed?

Backbiter

Yes, the photos and videos are likely to have been transferred to your Google account, which is why you can still see them on your phone but can' t locate them in the DCIM folder.

neilmcl

Backbiter said:

Yes, the photos and videos are likely to have been transferred to your Google account, which is why you can still see them on your phone but can' t locate them in the DCIM folder.

They don't get "transferred", they get backed up so unless the OP has manually deleted the files they should still exist on the phone. My guess is that there on the SD card storage and the OP's looking at the internal storage instead.

AndyPix

^^ This exactly.

One other slight possibility is that the files in the DCIM folder have gotten a 'hidden' attribute.

Change your folder options to 'view hidden files and folders'

JJ_Egan

SD add on card ??

My Samsung Note 9 DCIM is empty on internal sd /memory with camera photos in External SD Card DCIM folder .

Belenus

Try this:

Right click on the DCIM folder, select 'copy' and than see if you can 'paste' it onto your PC.

That might or might not work.

What happens if you right click on the folder and select 'properties'? Does it show as 0 bytes, 0 folders etc or does it show details of contents?

a

Not sure how fast your cable/fiber/adsl vs your wifi is, but if your home local wifi network is good, on your phone install File Manager + which looks like this icon in the google store https://apkpure.com/file-manager/com.alphainventor.filemanager. It will turn your phone into an FTP server. Press a few buttons on the phone to get it into server mode. Your phone will tell you your wifi name, and ftp://192.168.1.???:???? which will probably never change

On your pc install Filezilla (FTP Client). Get the client to connect to the server. On Filezilla the screen is divided into two, both file manager type screens. Decide which side of the screen you want to represent the source files, and on the other side that becomes the destination side, Drag and drop from one side of the screen to another and wait.

Another way: Install Pcloud who give 8GB free, and your phone syncs up to the pc (similar to dropbox).

I prefer the first method, very reliable and much quicker transfer (3 phone button presses + 6 mouse clicks and a drag and drop), but for something small around 100Mb, may go for PCloud.

Now if the photos are more valuable than the phone. you could send it away for data recovery, but you need to overwrite as little on the phones memory as possible. Calculated  guess from £300 to £600 for recovery, and it is a gamble whether the data will be there or not?

DoaM

a said:

On your phone install Filezilla (FTP Client)

Did you mean on your PC?

a

DoaM said:

a said:

On your phone install Filezilla (FTP Client)

Did you mean on your PC?

Oooops, changed.  Ta.