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After upgrading my OnePlus 6T from Android 9 to 11, all my images disappeared in WhatsApp, with typical error message:

"Sorry, this media file doesn't exist on your internal storage"

The reason seems to be (see this link) due to the fact that the location of the media folder changed, from WhatsApp/Media at the first level to Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Media.

So I am now trying to migrate this folder, by connecting my phone to my (Linux ) computer and using rsync: rsync -avhz /path on computer/Internal\ shared\ storage/WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp\ Images /path on computer/Internal\ shared\ storage/Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp\ Images.

However, I am facing a few issues:

  • I am not sure which folder I should transfer? I see in particular some .Links folder, should I include it?
  • Some files fail to be transferred with rsync, with message: rsync: mkstemp "/run/user/1000/gvfs/mtp:host=OnePlus_OnePlus_11e47384/Internal shared storage/Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Images/WhatsApp Images/.IMG-20200210-WA0124.jpg.8YamlC" failed: Operation not supported (95) what are those files?
  • Lastly, I am not sure I am using the right parameters to rsync :-(

Thanks!

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  • rsync over MTP is a bad idea. better enable developer options + adb and the open an adb shell on your PC. Inside the adb shell you can move files without transferring them over USB twice (first download then upload).
    – Robert
    Aug 4 at 7:52
  • that makes sense, thanks @robert. Which adb command should I use? Is there one that allows a fine-tune sync as rsync, in particular copying/moving files without overwriting the target (as the new whatsapp folders got filled in in the meanwhile)? Thanks!
    – Matifou
    Aug 4 at 10:15
  • I am not an expert for all the Linux command arguments but keep in mind that Android only provides basic commands and often also the parameters supported by the binaries is reduced as they are provided e.g. by toybox.
    – Robert
    Aug 4 at 11:54
  • thanks @Robert! I am still confused regarding the adb command you suggest to use? As it seems there is no rsync, I should use a combination of cp and rm to ensure that moving the files does not erase newer files on destination?
    – Matifou
    Aug 5 at 8:59
  • thanks @Robert! I am still confused regarding the adb command you suggest to use? As it seems there is no rsync, I should use a combination of cp and rm to ensure that moving the files does not erase newer files on destination?
    – Matifou
    Aug 5 at 9:00

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