Forum Discussion
Help with Onedrive and Samsung Gallery
Hello. I am a Samsung user. I understand that the backup features between Onedrive and the Samsung Gallery are ending.
The notice on my device says to download the original files before the connection between Samsung and Microsoft officially ends or they won't remain on my phone, but whenever I try to do this I only get very few items available to download and it says these available items are only items 'not already on your phone'...which I don't understand. I simply want to keep what is *already* on my phone that I have backed up with Onedrive so I don't lose it later, as instructed. I don't understand.
I would greatly appreciate it if someone could help me out with this. I would like to keep photos and videos already on my device on my device so when the collaboration is over I'll still have them there. I think backing them up up on One Drive means that if I cut off the sync on the Gallery's end, it'll just remove the images synced to Onedrive already right out of my phone gallery and keep them on Onedrive. I am very confused. Help, please. Thank you!
Someone suggested simply removing separating my Microsoft account from my Samsung account but I don't know if that's the answer either.
1 Reply
I think there may be some confusion about how OneDrive and Samsung Gallery work together.
OneDrive does not normally move your photos from your phone to the cloud. In most cases, your photos exist both on the device and in OneDrive after they are backed up.
However, there is an important exception: after photos have been backed up, Samsung and OneDrive may offer a "Free up space" or storage optimization option. If that option was used at some point, some photos might have been removed from the device and kept only in OneDrive.
Before disconnecting Samsung Gallery from OneDrive, I would recommend:
- Install the official Microsoft OneDrive app and sign in with the same Microsoft account.
- Confirm that all your photos and videos are visible in the OneDrive app.
- Check whether an optimization or "Free up space" feature was used previously.
- Put the phone in Airplane Mode and try opening several older photos and videos. If they open normally, they are likely stored locally on the device. If they do not open, they may exist only in OneDrive and should be downloaded first.
Personally, I would trust the official Microsoft OneDrive app more than the Samsung Gallery integration when verifying what is actually stored in the cloud versus what is stored on the device.
Based on your description, my concern is that some files may have been removed from the phone by a storage optimization feature in the past, which would explain why OneDrive is now warning that the original files should be downloaded before the Samsung/Microsoft integration ends.
