Help All media files disappeared - Oneplus 5 - please help

Don't delete thumbdata...
Did you happen to use Google photos?

i once again will second google photos. it automatically backs up every photo to the cloud without you think about it. it will even do it only when connected to wifi to safe your data consumption. if anything i also will do a complete copy of my sd card from time to time in case i have downloading something on my phone that i know will not get backed up automatically. once u know u have a backup then feel free to delete stuff you do not want.

and i have no idea what thumbdata is, but anything with the word data in it, sounds important.

Hey guys, the OP would still have a huge problem even if he did use Google Photos:

"The folder Pictures, Movies, Music, Downloads, DCIM and probably some other have completely disappeared."

If an essential database was deleted, could be the Oxygen OS, or some other cleaning app, had a clean up on files it thought were junk and couldn't be reconciled.

I know Oneplus's Hydrogen OS has a somewhat aggressive file cleaner provided by Qihoo 360, not sure about Oxygen OS.

jimmy ju said:

After I deleted a file which I believed to be called thumbdata. or similar from my pictures folder

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Was it .thumbdata (note the leading dot) or .thumbdataX (where X is another character(s))? I'm curious as to why you decided to delete it.

instantly all kinds of media is missing of my phone.

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Have you used a file manager [on your phone] to explore your directories? Are you seeing anything you thought was missing? The file you deleted was probably an index/database containing information about your data, but I wouldn't think deleting it would cause other things, like music and videos, to be deleted, too.

MoodyBlues said:

Hey guys, the OP would still have a huge problem even if he did use Google Photos:

"The folder Pictures, Movies, Music, Downloads, DCIM and probably some other have completely disappeared."

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not really all the op would need to do is re-download everything back to the card.....or just keep the photos on the cloud. yoiu can access google photos pretty much anywhere.

ocnbrze said:

not really all the op would need to do is re-download everything back to the card.....or just keep the photos on the cloud. yoiu can access google photos pretty much anywhere.

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No, you're missing the part where he said movies, music, downloads, etc., have apparently disappeared. Google Photos doesn't help with that.

Does your Oneplus have any sort of file cleaning in it?

Things like Powered by 360, or Powered by Cheetah Mobile. These can be rather aggressive at deleting things, even if it's stuff you want to keep. Quite a few Chinese phones have them preinstalled as part of their OS, baked in.


These didn't come from Google of course, and so aren't usually a part of Android.

Transferring any type of file from a mobile device to a computer is always hit or miss.
I never, ever delete anything in my internal storage without first making sure the files have COPIED over safely.
Once copied, then I delete.
As far as the thumbdata file being deleted, which in turn deleted everything else, is unknown to me.
1 wrong move can cause such a problem. I suggested Google photos since at least you'd be able to get your photos and videos back.

How exactly did you delete these files? If you'd used the command line I'd wonder whether you were actually higher up the directory tree than you thought (i.e. deleted everything apart from a couple of folders that were either protected or which the app responsible recreated), but it would be hard to do that by accident using a file browser.

I've been trying to look at the contents of the .thumbdata files on my phone to see whether there's anything in but nothing is playing ball: none of the text editors wants to open something that size, and attempting to list them to a terminal screen (using "cat" or "more") displays nothing. But from everything I know and have managed to find removing the .thumbdata files should not have caused any problems in itself.

This is just supposition but your Android device's internal storage media is using the ext4 file system, an issue being the Windows OS doesn't support non-native file systems very well so every interaction between your OnePlus and your Win PC will involve some kind of kluge -- things like file/folder permissions and file metadata between the two different operating systems are in kind handled differently. Since some of those folders you listed would not be typically deleted unless you have root access so it does sound like while you were deleting those thumbnail images that there was some kind of inadvertent glitch that resulted in either deleting those directories or corrupting the file system (which might explain why that 1.7GB thumbnail file is showing). Again, Windows Explorer is by design meant to work seamlessly with NTFS/FAT (the default file systems for Windows), not ext4 (a common file system for Unix-based OS's).

As far as your lost files/data this is more of an after-the-fact suggestion but you might be better off in the long term using the Settings >> Storage menu in your OnePlus and/or install a file manager app more to do file/folder management (direct access locally) and rely on Windows Explorer less (indirect access over USB, or WiFi). You can do a lot of rudimentary file/folder management using the Settings >> Storage menu, and for more involved tasks try installing a file manager app like 'Explorer', it has an expansive feature set and it's free with no ads:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.speedsoftware.explorer
There are numerous other file manager apps to look into that are also very good options, like X-plore, Solid, or my current favorite Ghost Commander. Peruse through the screen captures on each app's Play Store page to find what you'd be most comfortable using. They all have similar functionality with the biggest differences being their user interfaces.

jimmy ju said:

What you call glitch did render them lost forever, right?

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Hey there, @jimmy ju. I've continued pondering your situation because it's just kind of nagging at me.

As any regular here can tell you, I despise window$ and consider it a POS. Its ability to screw things up is apparently boundless.

I am NOT convinced that your files are actually gone, but I have little to back that up other than the fact that Android--being a Linux--just doesn't allow willy-nilly, non-root user deletion of entire system directories/subdirectories.

If I had your phone in my hot little hands, I'd start out by thoroughly exploring its files/directories, to the extent possible on a non-rooted device. I'd make sure that the file manager I used had its settings to show hidden files.

After that, assuming I hadn't found the 'missing' files, I'd hook it up to one of my computers--my Linux-only computers--with the hope that two Linux systems talking to each other might disclose something not found so far.

I've had this nagging feeling that somehow, some way, window$ moved an entire chunk of the directory structure into a hidden file. I know that sounds farfetched, but when it comes to bizarre things window$ can do... ??

Given that online backup solutions aren't a viable option for you, as you've discovered relying on your mobile device to be your sole source for storing your data isn't a very safe thing to do. At this point so your future endeavors aren't dependent on just local storage of your phone, give some serious thought into implementing some kind of backup solution other than manually copying files back and forth (with the added issues that are inherent to interactions between different operating systems/file systems).
Just a suggestion but Syncthing is a service that you can set up to sync your files only within your own home LAN, no proprietary or otherwise corporate curated, online storage involved. Note this isn't a simple, push-a-button and everything is set up for you kind of solution so it does require one to put in some effort to initially configure things to work, and the app will tax your phone's system resources when you allow it to run in the background.
https://syncthing.net/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nutomic.syncthingandroid&hl=en_US
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncthing

As for something like Dr. Fone, be sure your files are safely backed up and readily restorable (emphasize 'safely') before using it. Back in the days of KitKat and earlier when the majority of our phones didn't have encrypted internal storage, using a reputable file recovery utility would often be a workable solution. But with today's phones, the internal storage is encrypted by default so there is that aspect, plus rooting current phones is much more involved than it used to be. So when Dr. Fone claims to be able to bypass the encryption schemes that even our friends at the NSA 'might' be able to bypass, while also being able to magically root/unroot your phone, it's up to you if you want to actually try it out. Perhaps the developers at Wondershare do actually have more insight on how Android phones function at their lowest levels than the rest of the industry. I have doubts about that but if you find Dr. Fone is able to retrieve all your deleted photos please be sure to post your success story.

jimmy ju said:

Oh I hope this doesn't give you sleepless nights, haha.
Well good to hear your input. Because bizarre is exactly what I felt when this happened. (Although you don't refer to the windows part as bizarre )

I googled file recovery and I think its drfone they claim the software can root your to find stuff and then unroot again in the process. Is this a thing?

And about the Gallery app. As the folder android was seemingly not affected, would the gallery app store enough data in there to recreate its old huge .thumbdata4--xxxx ? Or does this indicated there is hidden data?

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Dr Fone by Wondershare will NOT help you at all. It really is harmful spyware snake-oil. There's been a few reports on AF of it actually damaging and bricking devices.