Images stuck in collections

[sonander]

Hi

From time to time I get photos that cannot be deleted from the album. I can select all and click delete, but one or 2 are still there, this prevents me from deleting old albums. Even if I try to go the file with the Files app I cannot delete them, this is super strange and annoying.

@TheBrew do you have any idea what may causing this?

Thanks
Peter

[TheBrew]

Wow, if you can't even delete them from the Files app, some process must be holding on to it somehow..

I've never seen this before. very strange. What is the mode you usually use, filmstrip or grid?

A few suggestions:

In case that process is ShutterSnitch, you can try killing ShutterSnitch (swipe up slowly from the bottom for an overview of you apps, and then swipe ShutterSnitch upwards so it disappears off the screen). Then try deleting the file(s) from the Files app again. If that works, then try, next time it happens, to kill ShutterSnitch, then re-open it and see if you can delete the files from within ShutterSnitch. That would be a bit easier.

And alternative way to perhaps get around it, would be to delete the whole collection via the collection overview. You can either tap and hold a thumbnail there to get a context menu with a Delete option or you can tap the Edit button and then tap the little x on the collection.
Why would that be any different? Well.. there's a lot of UI-updating going on when you delete files while inside the collection.

[sonander]

Hi

I am running in grid view. I attached a video showing how it looks if I move to Filmstrip, hasn't bothered you with that yet as I do not need Filmstrip.

I also have a video how it looks when I delete photos from some albums, but it is to large to attached (64MB). Do you have somewhere I can send a dropbox link? You can share it via the email address I used to register here.

BTW. Closing the app does not help, I have even tried to power off the iPad :(

Thanks
Peter

[TheBrew]

I've temporarily enabled private messages, so you can send me the Dropbox link via a private message here.

Can you elaborate on the attached video - what should I be seeing / not seeing?

If you can't delete the files using the Files app after a reboot of the iPad then there's something seriously wrong. Something not related to ShutterSnitch ..filesystem going bad?

I also don't see how you wouldn't be able to delete a collection even if the files are in there - it shouldn't matter. I'd love to see a screenshot / video of that failing.

[TheBrew]

Thanks for the PM, Peter!

I'm thinking it's related to a recover routing I added a long time ago, that'll recover files if they were somehow lost in the ShutterSnitch database, but still exists in the actual folder.

I'll look into how this could happen and get back to you.

It sound absolutely bonkers to me that you can't delete the files via the Finder though. I don't see what could possibly be holding on to those, let alone recover them if you delete them. What error message do you get if you try and delete them from the Files app? (Make sure ShutterSnitch is killed when you do it)

Side note: 6.2.2 was just approved, so I think if you go to the App Store app, tap your avatar at the top and then pull down to refresh, the update should be there.

[TheBrew]

Could also be raw file related. Tomorrow I'll try replicating your setup and see if I can make things fail on my side.

[sonander]

Hi Brew

See attached image when doing a delete from Files.

Maybe I need to reset my iPad.

Peter

[TheBrew]

So the files are actually in the trash.. Here's what I'm thinking:

Version 6.0 fixed a crash that could occur when deleting many files at once in Grid mode.

I don't have super deep knowledge of how the APFS filesystem deletes files, but I know things are ..complicated. This filesystem supports fancy duplication without taking up more space until one of the files are actually changed. Lots of complexity. If you're on a Mac you'll probably also have noticed how deleting files (and emptying the trash) doesn't always mean you gain back any disk space ..immediately. Things got very weird with APFS. Nice, but weird.
There are many steps to the deletion process. In this case it looks like the files are registered as moved to the user trash folder, but their previous location is never removed from the file table? Perhaps because iOS crashed midway?

The thing is: If killing my app doesn't fix it, then there's no changes I can do in the app to fix it. It seems to be a filesystem corruption issue. I can do my best to avoid it happening again, which is what I'm pretty sure I did with version 6.0. Anyway, on to what you can do to fix this:

I'd try deleting the collection by tapping and holding the thumbnail in the collection overview and then picking 'Delete' from there. But I assume you've tried that and got an error?

If you can't delete the collection that way, the nuclear option would be to back up ShutterSnitch, delete the app documents, re-install it and restore the documents. It should also back up the "bad" collection, but when it's restored it's restored like nothing happened, and you should be able to delete the files without issue.

Here's what I'd do to backup+restore:

First, just to be sure, I'd go to Options -> Settings -> Advanced tab -> Share Configuration, Select All, and Share, including Login Credentials. Then pick 'Save to Files' and save it somewhere locally on your iPad. (Or you can AirDrop. That just makes it a bit more fiddly importing it again. But you do you.)

Then, download "Apple Configurator" from the Mac App Store (I'm assuming you have a Mac. If you have a PC, perhaps iMazing can help you..?). Open Apple Configurator and attach your iPad to your Mac. Once it shows up in the app, right-click it and select Export -> Documents from the context menu. Then select the ShutterSnitch folder and click "Choose" and point to the folder you want to save it to.
Once saved, delete ShutterSnitch and re-download it from the App Store. Launch it and go through the initial setup process, restoring your subscription. You should now be staring at a blank collection overview. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and kill ShutterSnitch by swiping it off the top of the screen.
Then go back to Apple Configurator, right click the iPad and pick Add -> Documents. Choose the ShutterSnitch folder and then point to the archive you previously exported.

In case the documents restoration doesn't restore your settings/locations and so on, you can import the .ssconfig Configuration file you saved earlier.

[sonander]

Now when I have been able to reset the superuser password I will do a backup, remove the app, install the app and restore. Is there a documentation how to do a restore?

I tried to delete one of the bad collections, and nothings happens when I select delete. No error, nothing, but the collection is still there

Not sure we will get any further on this or do you want to try something else? Otherwise I will do the reinstall and see if it solves the issue, in worst case I will to reinstall the entire iPAD :(

/Peter

[TheBrew]

As I said, there's nothing I can do if the issue is outside of ShutterSnitch, so no, the only choice you have is what I described above. The recovery documentation is also what I wrote above.