Gallery App Automatically Loads Images From SD Card

dtarrant · 17 Jun 2022, 01:09

@Luksus
This is a report of unexpected behaviour. I was expecting to be able to control whether images from the sd card were loaded or not.
I will explain:
I recently transferred a 64gb sd card from my BQ M10 tablet to my Lenovo tab. The sd card contains hundreds of photos, together with several videos and other assorted items.
I launched gallery expecting to see just the photos that I have recently created. However, much to my surprise, the gallery app became very busy and proceeded to import all the stuff from the sd card.
I'm impressed it can do that, but I would prefer to be able to control when this should happen.

arubislander · 17 Jun 2022, 04:52

@dtarrant this is normal UT behavior. If you have any folders you wish not to be scanned for media, add a file named .nomedia to it.

domubpkm · 17 Jun 2022, 06:52

Another solution is to create a folder containing everything you want that does not appear in Gallery and put this folder in the folder 'my documents' of the SD CARD for example.

dtarrant · 17 Jun 2022, 08:23

@arubislander
Thanks for your reply.
Interesting - I don't remember having the problem when the sd card was in my BQ M10 tablet.
Time for some experiments I guess.
You suggest adding a file named .nomedia to any folder to be excluded. What should .nomedia contain, or should it be empty?
Or did you mean adding the suffix .nomedia to the folder name?

dtarrant · 17 Jun 2022, 08:34

@domubpkm
Thanks for your input - I'll have to investigate the file structure of the sd card with file manager to see how this could be done.
I'm a bit cautious of messing with the sd card folders in case I bork them. They contain important family stuff like my daughter's wedding photos and video.

Keneda · 17 Jun 2022, 08:47

@dtarrant said in Gallery App Automatically Loads Images From SD Card:

They contain important family stuff like my daughter's wedding photos and video.

First of all you should have 3 saves for that kind of stuff.

domubpkm · 17 Jun 2022, 09:44

@keneda Yes, having the important files in triplicate is good.

arubislander · 18 Jun 2022, 08:16

@dtarrant I meant just having file named .nomedia in the root of the folder you wish to exclude from the media scanning operation. This works for folders on the internal storage too. The file can be empty.

I would like to add my voice to those who said that having your important photos only on that one (or any) SD card is a very precarious situation.

dtarrant · 18 Jun 2022, 10:40

@arubislander
Thanks for your reply. I've tried putting empty .nomedia file in root of sd card and confirm it works.
However, at first imported stuff was still in Gallery, so used UT Tweak Tool to clear.
Then gallery only contained stuff recorded prior to inserting sd card!
Btw, agree the need for triple backups of important family photos etc.