[Q] Used factory reset - can I recover files? - RAZR i Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi all,
I used factory reset on my phone because I thought I was gonna keep my personal files (i.e. music, photos, etc). In my old android I had a SD Card so everytime I reseted it I kept all of those things. But on my RAZR i since the internal storage is already big enough I didn't even bother getting a SD Card, and I ended up forgetting all about this until after reseting my phone I went to look for my photos.
So my question is: is there a way I can look for these files to see if they are still in the internal storage? And if so, can I do it without having to root (and therefore losing the warranty)?

lminchillo said:
Hi all,
I used factory reset on my phone because I thought I was gonna keep my personal files (i.e. music, photos, etc). In my old android I had a SD Card so everytime I reseted it I kept all of those things. But on my RAZR i since the internal storage is already big enough I didn't even bother getting a SD Card, and I ended up forgetting all about this until after reseting my phone I went to look for my photos.
So my question is: is there a way I can look for these files to see if they are still in the internal storage? And if so, can I do it without having to root (and therefore losing the warranty)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Consider your files gone. A profressional could try to recovery them but it would cost more than your phone to pay them.

Related

Help? How do you retrieve erased information from SD Card?

Does anyone know how to retrieve items accidentally deleted from a SD Card because of a hard reset? I had so many photos and I would like to see if I can get them back.
You'll hav to get a 3rd party application to do it and you're not promised to get them back. It scans the whole card and just takes forever.
Dreashines said:
Does anyone know how to retrieve items accidentally deleted from a SD Card because of a hard reset? I had so many photos and I would like to see if I can get them back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
a Hard reset would not delete files on your SD card. You must have had the photos saved to your phone memory.
AllTheWay said:
a Hard reset would not delete files on your SD card. You must have had the photos saved to your phone memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought that it wouldn't erase them either. I have done hard resets before and my items were never erased before. I made sure everything I wanted to keep was on the memory card for this reason. But for some reason this time it erased everything. I guess this was one of those freak accidents. This is why I am asking for help.
I appreciate any help on this issue.
You did something wrong then because there's no logical way they could've erased that way. On the other side, you should have followed flashing procedures by removing the memory card and sim
Your so right, kareem9nba. I should have known better. Thank you for your help.
This is why every week, I copy all the contents of my SD card (where I keep everything) To my Desktop PC in a folder I call "SDBackup" I've working with Computer long enough to know, if you don't have a backup, you are asking for trouble.
People call this Murphy's Law.
I had an issue similar to this that scared the crap out of me.
I took my SD card out of my phone, powered off beforehand, and then loaded it into my speedy microSD adapter so I could copy lots of data from my computer to it. Upon inserting the card into my monitor's SD reader, Vista gave me to "You must format this card before it can be used" message.
It took 3 removals and reinsertions to get my PC and my Tilt to see the files again. I promptly backed up my files and did a full format on my storage card. Everything's been fine since.
Im a little more paranoid and do it at least once every couple of days, just because Im on the forum alot and frequently see horror stories where people end up losing alot of their stuff.
Active File Recovery 7.3 Build 101
Very Interesting Question that made me perform a new expirement
to answer your question directly best thing is to use a 3rd party application called Active File Recovery 7.3 Build 101 it will recover data even after format or delete by mistake.
but in your case its not necessary - hard reset only delete internal storge (sd card data is intact)
i did an expirement ( i stored photos and documents in my phone) and i performed a hard reset... i used Active File Recovery 7.3 Build 101 and guess what i managed to retrieve the TOC of my INTERNAL STOREAGE but not the files... but i guess if i looked for a more powerful application i could retrieve the files themselves
i flashed new rom and used Active File Recovery 7.3 Build 101 (resulting 0 files or 0 TOC to retrieve)
conclusion of my experiment that may not relate 100% with your question is if you hard rest (some of your data can be retireved) if you flash new rom or reflash a rom (0 data can be accessed) using commercial softwares
best luck and look for our experts comments
Dreashines said:
Does anyone know how to retrieve items accidentally deleted from a SD Card because of a hard reset? I had so many photos and I would like to see if I can get them back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
all undelete programs which works on pc's harddisks works just the same on a sdcard in a sdcard reader connected to a pc
there are plenty and many free
google is the answer

Photos Lost

Hey guys. I recently followed the guide and rooted my n1 without unlocking the bootloader. Today I flashed a new rom, after setting up the phone to my liking I went to show someone a photo.....they are all gone.
I tried restoring my previous nandroid backup. No luck.
Why would the photos on my sd card be erased from flashing the phone? Is there any way to get them back? I had countless important and irreplaceable photos stored on the phone...
Thanks guys
mount the SD card on your computer and check if they're there. It may be that for whatever reason the rom isnt picking them up - unlikely tho :-/
I'm guessing you did a full wipe including sdcard in the custom recovery by mistake.
oh and btw, if you did format the sdcard by mistake, you should probbaly mount it to your PC and use a 'uneraser' to try to recover your pictures. Better do it soon before more of the sdcard gets overwritten by new stuff.
They should be on your SD card. /DCIM/Camera/

[Q] Why do my images and videos keep getting deleted when i change firmware?

OK so, everytime i update my firmware, my images disappear.
by this i mean, they were in the gallery before i updated but now gone after the update.
this has happened numerous times, going from any firmware to any other, i think the only time it didnt happen was from jm6 to jm8.
also its pictures and videos from both the internal sd and the external sd. the music remains along with all other data however, can someone please explain this to me?
and it is not limited to pictures/videos taken with the camera, its ones i have transferred over also.
Thanks.
That's way you should take a backup before you flash a firmware.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Thats really odd, I've NEVER lost any data on my internal sd since I first got my SGS back in July and i've flashed atleast 10 times. Honestly I have no idea and I think you are the only one with that problem. But yeh. Always make a backup. Get a 3rd party app
Yes I already have backups, so I'm not really losing them, it's just annoying that it's only photos and videos that disappear. And it's only after a new flash. I've tried rescanning them and nothing shows up, I take out the memory card and they are not there, the folders are there but nothing else. Like I said all other data is there. Downloads etc.
Any idea why this could be happening?
make sure you configure the camera to record/save to the EXTERNAL SD card, by default it saves to the internal SD card
Again I already have but, as I said before, it's both the external and internal sd. They both lose only images and videos. All other data is there. It's very confusing.
coldlazymo said:
Again I already have but, as I said before, it's both the external and internal sd. They both lose only images and videos. All other data is there. It's very confusing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never heard about this.
I have flashed my phone alot of times and noting on my external card is touched.
I done this on my girlfriends phone to. All is untouched.
It also wise to remove all card when flashing.
So the question is what i do you do when you are flashing.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I do what I have been told, load up odin, put in the code modem and csc files, then press flash, no repartition. And the appropriate put file. I follow the instructions as put on this website for flashing the firmware. And I use titanium backup to backup everything. As far as I know, I am doing everything I should.
coldlazymo said:
Again I already have but, as I said before, it's both the external and internal sd. They both lose only images and videos. All other data is there. It's very confusing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
very very strange indeed
i don't lose what is on my External SD, only what is in my Internal SD (which is expected)
no idea why it would also format your External SD
solution is simple regardless
just take out your External SD before you flash

Data Recovery

I know before I start that this is a dumb question, but are there any utilities for Android/Galaxy S for Data Recovery?
I have just had a difficult time flashing a new ROM, and at the end of it the system has been wiped, including all data on the internal SD card, in the past when flashing new ROMs only the internal memory was affected, but like I said, this time I had a few issues.
What I'm most concerned about are my photos and videos, I know in a Windows environment recovery tools work well, I'm just hoping Android is the same, but I think I'm wrong.
eeney said:
I know before I start that this is a dumb question, but are there any utilities for Android/Galaxy S for Data Recovery?
I have just had a difficult time flashing a new ROM, and at the end of it the system has been wiped, including all data on the internal SD card, in the past when flashing new ROMs only the internal memory was affected, but like I said, this time I had a few issues.
What I'm most concerned about are my photos and videos, I know in a Windows environment recovery tools work well, I'm just hoping Android is the same, but I think I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen it suggested that once you can mount the internal SD to your PC, you can use the same tools you would use to recover data from any SD card. I can't confirm that however.
I would imagine that the main problem will be having data overwritten when you installed the new ROM. However, you can't lose anything by trying.
I try to save all such things on the external SD as much as possible, out of fear of just this sort of issue. Also it is a good idea to backup to your PC or to Dropbox any pictures or videos on your phone you couldn't bear to lose if someone swipes your phone...or if the SD is formatted.
Google Recuva and try what you can recover .
But wipe means wipe even under windows .
jje
Thanks guys, I did try a standard windows based data recovery on the mounted SD, which found a lot of data, however I am unable to locate my photos and videos.
I can find a lot of the photos by searching for jpegs, however all the ones I retriever are very small, much smaller than the original resolution. I'm starting to wonder where the full size images are stored and if they are stored as jpgs.
Seems odd that I can find the small image files but not the originals, the smalls ones are between 40 and 100kb each.
any more ideas?
eeney said:
Thanks guys, I did try a standard windows based data recovery on the mounted SD, which found a lot of data, however I am unable to locate my photos and videos.
I can find a lot of the photos by searching for jpegs, however all the ones I retriever are very small, much smaller than the original resolution. I'm starting to wonder where the full size images are stored and if they are stored as jpgs.
Seems odd that I can find the small image files but not the originals, the smalls ones are between 40 and 100kb each.
any more ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a strange question, but are you SURE the photos themselves were stored on the internal SD? I often store things on the external card and forget I set it up that way. You may want to check through all the folders on the external SD and see what is hiding there.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
Data recovery froom Android/Galaxy S
Hi,
Sorry to hear of your difficulty. You are absolutely correct you can use any of the data recovery software to recover your lost data.
Regards,
Stellar Phoenix Solutions
[email protected]
"trusted data recovery solutions"
eeney said:
I know before I start that this is a dumb question, but are there any utilities for Android/Galaxy S for Data Recovery?
I have just had a difficult time flashing a new ROM, and at the end of it the system has been wiped, including all data on the internal SD card, in the past when flashing new ROMs only the internal memory was affected, but like I said, this time I had a few issues.
What I'm most concerned about are my photos and videos, I know in a Windows environment recovery tools work well, I'm just hoping Android is the same, but I think I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Photos problem

I'm hoping someone can help me.
My wife has a Note 8 (N950U) and she accidentally deleted her entire camera folder. I thought she was backing up to GPhotos but she wasn't. She had no cloud back up, and the photos were saved to internal memory not an SD. She has some photos that she is desperate to try to recover (including the last photos of her mother before she passed away). I'm fairly technically savvy, but I haven't messed under the hood of Android before. From what I've read, the only way to try to recover deleted files in this scenario is to be able to run a utility like DiskDigger as root (and I'm aware that there is only a small chance that the photos can be recovered).
So I think I need to root the phone and I don't plan to leave it rooted, just need to root it long enough to run the recovery utility and then put it back.
I see there is the SamFAIL method to root but... do I understand correctly that it will only work on Android 7? (her phone is on Oreo firmware version N950USQS5CRID)
So I read that if you are on Oreo and want to use SamFAIL, you could downgrade to Nougat first and then follow the SamFAIL process. But I have had zero success with getting a downgrade to work. Is this a possible path or does the firmware loaded on this phone completely prevent any process to get to root?
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks
No root for Snapdragon Oreo and you can't downgrade. And do check this Q&A section, threads like this already exist.
Once you upgrade to any firmware version that has a higher bootloader version, you can never go back to anything with a lower bootloader, even if it is the same (nougatt,, oreo) so,, any oreo firmware will always have higher bootloader versions than a nougatt one, besides,, once you root, samsung pay and secure folder will be gone forever,, there is no way to get them back, no workaround, no trick,, nothing will do
Try running Data Recovery software on it. If she has written over the sectors, which contain the photo's data then you won't be able to recover it.
iceepyon said:
Try running Data Recovery software on it. If she has written over the sectors, which contain the photo's data then you won't be able to recover it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would that be possible even without root? I thought root would be required for recovery to work.
rjdmail said:
Would that be possible even without root? I thought root would be required for recovery to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need root access. If you connect the device to a computer and run the recovery software via that. You should be able to recover all the deleted data from your device that way. Using a data recovery app on your device requires root access.
iceepyon said:
You don't need root access. If you connect the device to a computer and run the recovery software via that. You should be able to recover all the deleted data from your device that way. Using a data recovery app on your device requires root access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a lot of scammy looking software out there when I search for this. Is there a recommended program for Windows that works for this type of recovery?
rjdmail said:
I'm hoping someone can help me.
My wife has a Note 8 (N950U) and she accidentally deleted her entire camera folder. I thought she was backing up to GPhotos but she wasn't. She had no cloud back up, and the photos were saved to internal memory not an SD.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not possible to recover photos from android internal storage by using any kind of methods. There are various reasons for this.
The internal storage is encrypted and no third party software knows about the process. Even TWRP cant mount the storage with encryption.
The MTP protocol prohibits windows recovery tools to access the internal storage directly.
By now, the physical area might have been overwritten and data would have been lost already.
Sorry, but still, i suggest you to go to files, turn on show hidden files, navigate to dcim/.thumbnail. there might be some photos available either in internal or sdcard.
Good luck.
rjdmail said:
I'm hoping someone can help me.
My wife has a Note 8 (N950U) and she accidentally deleted her entire camera folder. I thought she was backing up to GPhotos but she wasn't. She had no cloud back up, and the photos were saved to internal memory not an SD. She has some photos that she is desperate to try to recover (including the last photos of her mother before she passed away). I'm fairly technically savvy, but I haven't messed under the hood of Android before. From what I've read, the only way to try to recover deleted files in this scenario is to be able to run a utility like DiskDigger as root (and I'm aware that there is only a small chance that the photos can be recovered).
... snip ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Firstly, rooting the device you will need to format the internal storage, anyway, to get rid of the encryption, so doing that your wife will lose everything on her device, anyway. This includes apps, music, videos, and anything else she might have on it. It's like doing a factory reset. So that wouldn't have helped your cause.
Second, apps like DiskDigger doesn't actually recover anything, either. I tried it before when I lost some photos. All it does is scour your device for thumbnails of images. Some apps save low resolution thumbnails, some save slightly higher resolution, but even if it finds thumbnails of the images you want to recover, it'll never be the same quality as the original ones. This is from my own experience of using this app and one or two others like it.
Thirdly, flash memory works a little different to hard drives and Android also works different to Windows. When you delete something off flash memory, it doesn't necessarily just mark the file as deleted or keep remnants or something, like Windows does. You can test this yourself by copying something onto an SD card, then deleting it and sticking the SD card in a computer or laptop and running data recovery software on that. Chances are high it won't pick up the deleted content.
Sadly, like sandeepkumar0153 said, your best and likely only bet is to look in the thumbnails directory to see if there's thumbnails of the images, but be prepared that those images will be very low resolution. It might really be worth it.
My advice is to make peace with what happened and start getting into the habit up backing up important files like that. I've lost many, many photos and other stuff due to the same issues or situations where I couldn't boot the device and had to do factory resets. It's sad and painful, but it happens.

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