Galaxy S8 files in SD card won’t show in Gallery and in music app after an update

Did you encounter SD card issues after installing an update on your #GalaxyS8? If yes, then this troubleshooting post may help you resolve it. Make sure to do all our suggestions in the correct order in order to narrow down the causes.

Problem 1: Galaxy S8 SD card says unsupported after deleting some files

I cleared some files from my SD card last night and then the next day i went to use my music player to play music from my card and nothing would work. All the files still showed they were on my music player at that point. I tried to restart my phone to see if that would fix the problem and then i get a message in my notifications that my card is unsupported for some reason. I’m not sure what my next step is but i’m hoping to save the files if possible. — Fred Patterson

Solution: Hi Fred. If the music files are stored in the SD card, then the “files” that you see in the music app must have only been an index and not exact copies. In order to play music, music apps usually scan your device’s internal storage and SD card to search for any audio file it can find. Once it has indexed everything, it doesn’t necessarily move those music files from their original location in order play them. Instead, your music app simply read those files, move them to its cache, then play them. So, if the missing files were originally located in the SD card, and the SD card has become corrupted for some reason, you’re out of luck. Corrupted SD cards usually becomes unreadable by a device so even if some of the files are not actually damaged or corrupted, there may still be no way for you to save them to another device.

The best thing that you can do now is to let another phone or device check if the SD card is still readable. You can do that by inserting it to another phone or card reader so a computer can try to access its contents. If no other device can read the contents, then that’s the end. We don’t know enough about the thing that you did exactly before the card got corrupted and even if we do, we don’t think we can undo the damage done to the card anyway.

If another device fails to read the SD card, you have to other choice but to reformat it so you can use it again. Don’t forget, SD cards can die anytime, just like any storage device. Make sure that you make copies of irreplaceable files in another device to prevent losing them for good. If you don’t have a computer or another device where you can make copies of your files, try using free cloud services like Samsung cloud, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, etc.

Problem #2: Galaxy S8 files in SD card won’t show in Gallery and in music app after an update

So I have an S8 and there’s been a recent system update around the last week of March. After the update ALL my SD card files won’t show up in the galleries or even Samsung Music. The apps in the sd card seem to be working fine and the SD card HAVE NO PROBLEMS whatsoever as I’ve tried it in other phones to make sure and even used a few different SD cards but among those SD cards all of the files still won’t show in the galleries so it’s not the cards fault but the phone’s system itself. I can still access them via My Files manually but it’s a real hassle; and I can’t make playlists or store pictures properly anymore. From documents (even the PDF reader won’t show my saved documents from the SD card), pictures to music. I’ve tried rebooting my phone, checking the system update, NOTHING WORKS! It never happened before, just because of this recent update and I don’t see topics regarding this problem; I’m at my wit’s end. An insight would be a great life saver. — Rayne

Solution: Hi Rayne. The new update may have changed some important directories that links certain apps and features to the SD card. This sometimes happen especially after installing a major operating system upgrade. We don’t know what update you installed but if you’re positive that this is the only different thing that you did prior to noticing the problem, then you may have to do some drastic solutions to fix it.

Delete the system cache

The first troubleshooting step that you want to do is to clear the cache partition. Some issues following an update are caused by a corrupted system cache. To eliminate the possibility of a system cache issue, you should clear your device’s cache partition. This is a portion of your device’s storage device that stores the system cache. By clearing it, you’re basically telling the phone to delete the cache. Don’t worry. Clearing the system cache won’t result to data loss so you can do it safely. Here’s how to do it:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
Press the Volume down key to highlight “wipe cache partition.”
Press the Power key to select.
Press the Volume down key to highlight “yes” and press the Power key to select.
When the wipe cache partition is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

Check for app updates

Third party apps may not work properly or at all if they become incompatible after an operating system update. Although this rarely happens, you won’t be able to fully eliminate the possibility. To lessen the chances of this issue from happening on your device, make sure that all your apps are updated or running their latest available versions. We assume you only install from Google Play Store so simply open it and hit the Update All button. If you happen to install apps from other sources outside the Play Store, be sure that they are all compatible with Android Oreo or whatever operating system your S8 is using.

Verify if a third party app is causing the trouble

To check if one of your downloaded apps is to blame, consider running your phone to safe mode. In this mode, only pre-installed apps or those that came with the original operating system, will be allowed to run. So, if you’ll be able to browse your files via Gallery app on safe mode but not normal mode, you know you have a problem with one of your apps.

Booting your S8 to safe mode is easy. Just follow these steps:

Turn the device off.
Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.
Uninstall apps that are causing a problem.

If you think an app is the reason for the problem, here’s what you need to do to identify it:

Uninstall a third party app.
Restart the phone to go back to normal mode.
Check for the issue.
If the issue is still there, repeat steps 1-3.

Return all software settings to defaults

Ideally, any of the solution options above should be enough but if the issue stays, the most that you can do is to factory reset your S8. This will force the device to return the software to its known working state. We know that this problem does not exist when Android is on its factory condition so the bug will most likely be fixed.

To factory reset your S8:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.