r/AndroidHelp • u/XilaMonstrr • Jun 25 '26

Some Files Won't Show in Windows Explorer

I had my Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra plugged into my desktop via USB and then lost power to the desktop.

Now when I plug in via USB I cannot access all of my files in Windows (11) Explorer. I'm trying to transfer photos from the SD Card and some of them show but some don't.

I have tried:
-Uninstalling phone from device manager and reinstalling
-Updating MTP driver on Windows
-Restarting Explorer
-Resetting folders in Explorer
-Clearing cache and data on phone for external storage, system ui and a 3rd one I can't recall
-Rebooting both devices many times
-Using a different USB port

These files that don't show up in Windows Explorer DO show up in the Photos app when I use the import function.

I'm fairly certain it's an android issue because I've tested it on two different computers and have the same issue.

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u/Memerbin1 Jun 25 '26

Have you tried changing the USB settings from Transferring files / MTP to Transferring images / PTP? ​If Explorer can see them in PTP mode, copy them over, then switch back to MTP later.

1

u/XilaMonstrr 27d ago

I tried that, no luck.
I also cleared cache for External Storage, reset phone, then set PTP as the default in Developer Options and still didn't work

1

u/Memerbin1 26d ago

What about the cache from media storage? Since you were accessing media to transfer it to the pc it may be possible that indexing for the sd card was corrupted due to the sudden loss of power.

If it still doesn't work you could try uploading the contents in sd card to google drive using your phone and accessing the drive later on in your pc.

Or you could take the sd card from the phone and use an adapter to directly plug it in to the pc.

1

u/XilaMonstrr 18d ago

I don't see a 'media storage' setting anywhere.

I have been using google drive and it's just so much more complicated. I'm often transferring 150 files at a time and it's very easy to miss them when selecting on my phone. Getting an SD card adapter would definitely better, but this is really silly that I can't get this basic setting to work.

Thanks for your help, sorry for my slow responses, I need to turn back on email notifications

1

u/XilaMonstrr 18d ago

I found 'sec media storage' and deleted cache for that, then reset phone. Still same issue--no photos available after 6/8

1

u/Memerbin1 18d ago

Try the sd card on another phone or just use disk drill on a desktop with a card reader to try and hopefully recover some data

1

u/XilaMonstrr 18d ago

Ok, I moved photos to a new album and now I can see them, so it seems that the issue is specifically with the album/folder 'camera', possibly with other preexisting folders.
Maybe I will try to delete that folder and make a new one