What to Do When SD Card Photos Are Not Showing Up in Gallery

Applies to: Issues where memory cards in mobile devices are not showing files, or photos on the SD card are not displaying in the gallery

On this page, we provide 6 solutions to help you fix the issue of SD card photos not showing up in the gallery. Here's a quick access to each solution:

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Issue: Photos and videos not showing up in the Gallery from SD card

"Hello, do you know what to do when the data on an SD card doesn't show up in the Android phone's gallery? I've run into a problem where my Samsung Galaxy S7 is unable to read photos and videos saved on the SD card in the gallery. How can I fix this issue? Please help!"

In fact, photos on the SD card not showing up on Android is a pretty common issue. This problem is slightly different from a USB drive not showing data files on PC. Based on our experience, an SD card not showing files could be due to:

• Connection issues
• Files are hidden or deleted
• Incompatible file system
• .NOMEDIA files on the SD card
• Virus infection
• Write protection

Other causes like electronic damage or physically damaged memory card can also lead to unviewable SD card photos in the gallery, but this is quite uncommon. It's now time to fix the issue. Here, we have listed 6 verified troubleshooting hacks for the SD card photos not showing problem. Try these methods one by one until you find the suitable one for you. Some of the methods may require you to work on a computer, make sure you have one accessible.

Method 1: Check the SD Card Connection

Connection issues can definitely cause problems with accessing files on the memory card. To see if a loose connection is causing your phone to not show files on the memory card, you can:

• Insert the SD card back into your Android.
• Try the SD card in another phone or computer.
• Clean the SD card and slot with a microfiber cloth.

If you've already tried cleaning and reinserting the SD card into your Android phone multiple times to no avail, connectivity isn't Suspect Zero. In that case, move on to the other fixes.

Method 2: Show Hidden Files on the SD Card

Sometimes, you might not see photos and videos on your SD card because they're set as hidden files. You can display hidden files by changing the album settings. To do this, follow these steps:

Step 1. Open the default file manager on your Android device.

Step 2: Go to the “Gallery” menu and select “Settings.”

Step 3: Tap on “Show Hidden Files” to see if your photos and videos appear.

If your Android device doesn't have this feature, you can download a third-party app from the Google Play Store, like ES File Manager, to try instead.

Method 3: Remove the Virus and Recover Your Data

A virus or malware infection can cause files on your memory card to disappear, either by hiding the data or deleting it. In this case, run an antivirus scan on your Android phone or computer to check for any infections. Remove any viruses or malware that it finds from your device.

However, if an antivirus detects and removes the problematic file from your device, you might lose data on your SD card. To recover it, you can use a data recovery tool for SD card recovery. It helps restore files lost due to deletion, formatting, virus attacks, OS crashes, and more. It also supports hidden file recovery, which comes in handy when the "Show Hidden Files" feature in Windows 10 is not working. Learn more about the 'Show Hidden Files' not working issue in Windows 10.

To recover deleted files from an SD card or memory card, download the Data Recovery Wizard tool first:

Step 1: Connect your SD card, memory card, or CF card to the computer and launch the Memory Card Recovery software on the PC. The SD card will be listed under the “Devices” section. Select the SD card and click on “Scan” to start searching for lost data.

Select the location and click on “Scan”.

Step 2: The software will automatically start scanning. The scan is powerful enough to find all lost files, even those that have lost their filenames. When the scan is finished, you can locate your deleted items from the tree view panel on the left. Then, if you're looking for a specific type of file such as photos, documents, videos, or emails, click the "Filter" button.

Step 3. You can preview the contents of files by double-clicking them. Then, select the ones you need and click “Recover” to restore them to a secure location on your computer or another external storage device.

Method 4: Change the Memory Card's File System

If your Android device isn't showing photos on the SD card, but you can see them on your computer, it might be because your memory card is formatted with an unsupported file system. Android doesn't support NTFS, but it's fully compatible with FAT32, Ext3, and Ext4. If your SD card is formatted as NTFS (which you can check in its Properties on your computer), it won't work on your Android phone. To fix the issue where your SD card photos aren't showing up in your gallery, back up your SD card files to your computer, then format the device and convert it to a supported file system for Android.

To backup files on the memory card, you can copy and paste them manually or use a free backup software like Todo Backup. The former doesn't require third-party software while the latter is faster. Choose your preferred method.

After backing up your photos, videos, or other files to a storage device, you can now format the SD card with peace of mind, without worrying about data loss.

Step 1. Insert the SD card into your computer using a card reader, and then open “This PC.”

Step 2: Right-click on your memory card and select “Format.”

Step 3. Choose “FAT32” as the new file system for the storage medium, and click “Start.”

4. In the warning window, click “OK” to confirm your action.

Step 5. Copy your backed-up files back to your SD card, then insert the card into your phone. Your files should now be accessible on your Android.

Method 5: Delete the .nomedia File from the SD Card

A .nomedia file on an Android device or a device connected to an Android is a flag that tells other apps not to scan for media files in the folder that contains the .nomedia file. As such, if there's one on your SD card, the Gallery app won't be able to read any data from it. In other words, photos, videos, and other files will be invisible to the Gallery app. To resolve the issue of an "SD card not showing up in Gallery" due to a .nomedia file, you can delete the file.

You'll need a third-party tool to delete the .nomedia files. Search online and choose a reliable one to help you remove the .nomedia files from your SD card. Once the .nomedia files are gone, your photos should show up in your gallery.

Method 6: Remove Write Protection from the SD Card

In most cases, when an SD card is write-protected, the files on it will still show up on your mobile device. However, in some instances, the write protection could be the reason why SD card photos aren't showing up in the gallery. If your SD card is write-protected, you can simply remove this attribute to make the files visible again.

Using Diskpart, you can clear the read-only attribute from a hard drive or an external storage device such as an SD card.

Step 1: Run the "Command Prompt" as an administrator

Step 2. Type diskpart, and then click “Yes” at the UAC prompt.

Step 3: Enter the commands in the following sequence:

< li >< strong > List volumes < li >< strong > Select volume X (replace "X" with the number of your write-protected hard drive) < li >< strong > Attribute disk Clear Read-only

If you don't consider yourself very computer-savvy or comfortable with the command line, don't worry. There are graphical solutions that can help you unlock your hard drive, USB drive, or even an SD card.

CleanGenius is one of those tools that can help you fix such issues on your disk without having to resort to the command line.

This is a simple and easy-to-follow guide on how to use this tool to address your concerns:

Step 1: Download and install CleanGenius (free) on your computer.

Step 2: Run CleanGenius on your computer, select Optimization, and then choose Write Protection mode.

Step 3: Select the write-protected device and click Disable to remove the protection.

Bottom line

Usually, one of these fixes will resolve the “phone not reading memory card” or “SD card photos not showing in gallery” issue. If none of these methods work, your SD card may have a electronic or physical malfunction, and you'll need to replace it with a new one.