Welcome to our second #GalaxyS7 post for the day. In this one, we tackle some memory issues that were reported by some S7 users over the last few days. Hopefully, they’ll find our suggestions effective in fixing their problems, or in taking the right course of action.
If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page.
When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers.
Below are specific topics we’re bringing for you today:
Problem 1: Galaxy S7 data recovery, missing photos after transferring files to SD card
Hi there. Would really appreciate your help with my Samsung Galaxy S7 issue. I tried to transfer holiday photos from my phone’s internal memory to a mounted microSD card. Most of my pictures are now missing, but not all. Unfortunately the missing ones are from a recent holiday. I have plugged my phone into a PC and cannot find the images on the phone or mounted MicroSD card (the PC can recognise both memory locations). I have since started reading about the possibility of retrieving missing or lost files by “rooting” the phone but know nothing about this, including the risks and likelihood of success. Can you assist? — Brett B
Solution: Hi Brett. Firstly, the success rate of any data recovery depends on a number of factors. The most important thing though is the fact that files can only be recovered if they are still present in one of the drives. If something happens during the transfer that caused them to be deleted or permanently corrupted, the chance of getting anything back is very slim, if there’s anything at all. For example, if you accidentally deleted the missing files instead of transferring them to the SD card properly, those files may be good as gone. You’ll need a highly specialized technician and software to check if there are fragments of those files still left in the internal storage device. Data recovery of this type can be expensive so if you think those files are worth a few hundred dollars, you can tap the expertise of some companies that handles this kind of situation. We are not data recovery specialists and data recovery software are usually proprietary to special companies so there’s nothing much that we can do help. Even if those files are still intact somewhere in the internal storage device (placed in some folder you are not aware of), we still can’t figure it out.
Secondly, rooting is technically not data recovery although it can make it easier for a technician to browse folders in the system. Rooting your device means disabling the default security feature of Android to allow a user complete access to root-level folders and directories, which are otherwise inaccessible to non-rooted devices. It’s not a solution for this problem. Even after you’ve rooted your phone, you may still need to use a special data recovery software to scan your device for locations of those missing photos, if they are still tucked in somewhere. Again, if those files had been deleted for good and the original sectors of their bits and pieces have already been overwritten by new data, you may never get them back, even with the help of advanced recovery tools.
If you think you’ve simply misplaced those files to some folder instead of moving them to the SD card, you can go ahead and root your phone so you can check every folder and subfolder in the system. If you haven’t tried rooting before, be sure to visit sites that provide rooting guides. Google is your friend in this case. Simply type in your phone model and include the phrase “rooting guides”.
Remember, your phone will become vulnerable once it’s rooted. There’s a reason why Google chose to the system files in the first place. Once you’ve located your missing files, be sure to unroot the phone.
Problem 2: Galaxy S7 can’t read photos, videos, and audio files transferred to the SD card
Hello. I bought a new 128GB micro SD card for my Samsung Galaxy S7 due to low internal storage space. Formatted the SD card to the phone, transferred movies, pictures, music and PDF files from my Windows 8 laptop to the new SD card via a converter card. All files are able to be read on the laptop. Replaced the SD card into the phone, soft reset the phone. All of the .mp4 movie files do not show up at all. All of the .mp3 music files do not play, show up as having 0.00 play time and has a “music playback error.” All of the .jpeg picture files are unable to be opened/viewed. But strangely all of the PDF files are unaffected and can be accessed as per normal. I am very confused as to why this could be happening. any help regarding this matter would be greatly appreciated. Regards. — Ryan
Solution: Hi Ryan. Below are the file formats supported by Samsung Galaxy S7 by default:
Audio Playing Format
MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA
Video Playing Format
MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM
Video Playing Resolution
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160)@60fps
We’re also positive JPEGs are supported so this is an interesting case. Either there’s a glitch with your phone’s software, or the files themselves are corrupted or incompatible in some other respects. If you have a different Samsung phone, try to transfer a known working video (in mp4 format), music (in mp3 format), or photo (in JPEG format) from it to your S7. If the S7 still fails to read the said file, then that means the issue lies with your phone. In this case, you’ll want to do a factory reset to return all settings back to their defaults. Here’s how:
- Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
- Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
- When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
- Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
- Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
- Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
- Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
- The phone will now reboot longer than usual.
Once you’ve factory reset the phone, set it up again and make sure to reformat the SD card in it.
Problem 3: Galaxy S7 missing photos from SD card
Hi. I’ve had a bad memory card in my phone. For a good few months now no issues. I had taken pictures previous in the day. Yesterday went on last night to upload these images to facebook etc but they was gone? I’ve gone into my image file and now the files I had from memory card are no longer there. I’ve lost all the pictures?
I’ve tried going into settings to look into it but there is nothing in settings to help me into the setting of memory card. I have also taken it all out several times ‘re booted my phone several times and nothing is happening not telling me memory card is inserted when I put it in no pictures coming back nothing. What can I do? — Rheannon Minett
Solution: Hi Rheannon. There’s no setting or option in your phone’s Settings menu that will modify the configuration of the SD card. You can only expect two things from it: it either works or not. This means that those files you’re missing have most likely become corrupted or unreadable. Unfortunately, once a file has become corrupted, there’s nothing much that you can do about it. You can’t repair a broken file. Even if Android can detect that there’s a broken file, it may still not be able to fully read it to give you a full picture.
If you’re unlucky and the issue lies on the SD card, there may not even be files to recover in the first place. SD cards can fail anytime for a lot of reasons even if you take care of it properly. If your case involves a corrupted SD card, you may still be able to use it again after you reformat it. The files you’re after will be permanently erased but at least you’ll still have a working SD card to begin with.
Your issue is similar to Brett’s above so kindly refer to our advice to him.
Problem 4: Galaxy S7 won’t read SD card, Google Play Music won’t read audio files from SD card
Hi! I have issues with my SD card on my Samsung Galaxy S7 phone. My phone doesn’t read it. I have tested it in my computer and it works well. All my apps where I save stuff on my SD card are not working as well. For example, Google Play Music doesn’t play the music I have saved on my SD card anymore when I’m offline. Netflix does the same thing…Can you help me? — Oli_9707
Solution: Hi Oli_9707. When it comes to SD card, it’s recommended that you let the device that you’ll insert it in to format it. This means that you want to reformat the SD card using your S7 first. Doing so will minimize bugs.
If you’ve already reformatted the SD card using your S7 ahead of time, then make sure that said card is compatible. So how would you know if it’s compatible with your S7 or not? It’s simple, insert it in the phone and see if reads files normally. If it doesn’t, then obviously something’s not right with that card. Consider using another SD card or simply replace it.
Also, keep in mind that not all apps are designed to work off an SD card. If you can’t move it to an SD card, then its developer does not intend it to work that way.
We think that the reason why Play Music app can no longer access your music files from the SD card is that the card itself is corrupted. If a reformat of said card won’t work, get a replacement one.