svim
Extreme Android User
Sounds like you need to just need to stop and start organizing your photo library from a clean point of origin.
-- Copy all the photos from your phone to a single folder on your computer. All of them -- whatever is in the internal storage, whatever is on the microSD card. I'd skip that mess with sorting them into folders and categorizing them, you need to get everything in a one directory.
-- Be sure to confirm and double-check that whatever you're copying over to your computer is actually there. Don't just assume you've copied something over, check that all those photo files are actually in that folder.
-- Now focus just on the files in that folder. Use whatever photo managing program is on your computer do start sorting and cleaning up your photo library. It'll be easier to do all of this on your computer with its larger display. If you have a lot of pics this might take a while so it might work out better to do this in timed sessions, but from your description you need to get your photo library cleaned up.
-- Once that's all done, now delete all the photos on your phone in both the internal storage and microSD card. Open up your Settings >> Apps menu, find the Gallery app, tap on the 'Force stop' button and then find the Clear data button and tap on that. Clear data will reset the Gallery app back to it original default state.
-- Copy your cleaned up photo library from your computer onto your phone, either in the DCIM folder in the internal storage or on the microSD card. Again, skip making folders and such, use the 'Albums' function in the photo manager app to organize how your photos are displayed. You'll find it much easier to just keep storing all your photos in a central location than dumping them in different places in different folders. Let the photo manager app do the work of presenting them the way you want.
-- Once all your photos are copied over onto your phone, start up the Gallery app and let it do its initial scan and index all your photos. I'm going to suggest that you skip using Gallery at all and install the Google Photos app from the Play Store. It's basic interface is also a photo manager not unlike the Gallery app, but more importantly it also includes an automatic backup & sync function. The Google Photos app will back up and sync your phone's photo library into your online Google account so your photos will always have at least one solid backup. Something happens to your phone, it fails, or gets lost, or whatever and you'll still have full access to your entire photo library. If you do chose to use Google Photos instead of Gallery, just install the app, open it, and let it scan and index your photo library. The first initial backup might take a while if you have a lot of photos accumulated or a slow upload bandwidth (best to use WiFi if you have a capped mobile data plan), but after that it just runs in the background. But if you opt to stay with the Gallery app, you do need to set up a good backup solution in any case. Try installing Samsung's Smart Switch on your computer and on your phone:
https://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/app/smart-switch
-- Copy all the photos from your phone to a single folder on your computer. All of them -- whatever is in the internal storage, whatever is on the microSD card. I'd skip that mess with sorting them into folders and categorizing them, you need to get everything in a one directory.
-- Be sure to confirm and double-check that whatever you're copying over to your computer is actually there. Don't just assume you've copied something over, check that all those photo files are actually in that folder.
-- Now focus just on the files in that folder. Use whatever photo managing program is on your computer do start sorting and cleaning up your photo library. It'll be easier to do all of this on your computer with its larger display. If you have a lot of pics this might take a while so it might work out better to do this in timed sessions, but from your description you need to get your photo library cleaned up.
-- Once that's all done, now delete all the photos on your phone in both the internal storage and microSD card. Open up your Settings >> Apps menu, find the Gallery app, tap on the 'Force stop' button and then find the Clear data button and tap on that. Clear data will reset the Gallery app back to it original default state.
-- Copy your cleaned up photo library from your computer onto your phone, either in the DCIM folder in the internal storage or on the microSD card. Again, skip making folders and such, use the 'Albums' function in the photo manager app to organize how your photos are displayed. You'll find it much easier to just keep storing all your photos in a central location than dumping them in different places in different folders. Let the photo manager app do the work of presenting them the way you want.
-- Once all your photos are copied over onto your phone, start up the Gallery app and let it do its initial scan and index all your photos. I'm going to suggest that you skip using Gallery at all and install the Google Photos app from the Play Store. It's basic interface is also a photo manager not unlike the Gallery app, but more importantly it also includes an automatic backup & sync function. The Google Photos app will back up and sync your phone's photo library into your online Google account so your photos will always have at least one solid backup. Something happens to your phone, it fails, or gets lost, or whatever and you'll still have full access to your entire photo library. If you do chose to use Google Photos instead of Gallery, just install the app, open it, and let it scan and index your photo library. The first initial backup might take a while if you have a lot of photos accumulated or a slow upload bandwidth (best to use WiFi if you have a capped mobile data plan), but after that it just runs in the background. But if you opt to stay with the Gallery app, you do need to set up a good backup solution in any case. Try installing Samsung's Smart Switch on your computer and on your phone:
https://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/app/smart-switch