Question about different storage locations on the Xperia Z3v

Buddy_Jones

Hello,

My phone is a Sony Xperia® Z3v purchased 6/2015.

My question pertains to the different storage locations on the phone. I hope that I am making my question crystal clear.

About the “Internal Storage” folder on my phone. I noticed that when I take a picture using the phone’s camera, it automatically puts the picture in a folder called, “Camera.” I can see this folder when I open the “File Commander” on my phone, and I can view the picture this way.  Also, I can view this picture by opening up the “Album” on my phone.

I noticed that when I open File Commander, I can also get to a bunch of folders under “Internal Storage.” I can create sub folders in this folder and move my pictures here, if I want to.  If I move a picture to this location, it is no longer viewable by opening, “The Album.” But who cares. Not a big deal, as I can always just open the File Commander if I want to see my pictures.

Next – I connected my phone to my PC running Windows 7 and noticed that all the folders are recognized and show in windows explorer EXCEPT the “Internal Storage” folder.

My question is WHERE should I store my pics and videos and other files on my phone so that if the Android operating system were to fail and I had to reinstall it, the files would not disappear?  If I make a file system under “Internal Storage” and save my files there, will the files be gone if the operating system has to be reinstalled or if I upgrade to a later version of the OS?

This question is kind of like the situation in Windows on a PC where if you let it, Windows will save your files where it wants to (like in some folder called “My pictures” or whatever) and if you need to reinstall Windows, those files will be gone. This is why on my PC, I save and store all of my files in folders that I create and in locations other than the windows folder – so that if I have to reinstall Windows in the future, my files will still exist in those folders.

I have my files backed up on CD so there is no need to discuss the micro SD card, the cloud, or saving copies on my PC. Thanks!

47seijar

I always recommend storing camera pictures and any other media you can on an SD Card. The Z3+ supports memory cards but I see no mention of it on the Verizon site for the Z3v. If you don't have the ability to use expanded memory like an SD Card then I highly recommend a cloud backup like Box, Dropbox, or OneDrive.

I've never been one to mess with the Android file structure or to create new sub-files. It gets messy and can lead to unintended behavior by the operating system.