Database Develop

sdcard, encryption, backups?

I wonder if the encrypted sdcard access will be exactly like wp7.....
if the phone is damaged, and all my files/pictures have not been mirrored yet.....
can I still put the card into a reader and get them off?
I watched another thread and it wasn't clear if card access and encryption will be as restrictive as it currently is. a damaged touch screen alone could mean allllll my pictures would be gone, as there is no way to access them.
I know about syncing, but that doesn't always happen 5 minutes before someone drops their phone at a wedding

At least by what we heard it seems that the phones that do have a SDCard-Slot will use regular SD-Cards - that is to say: FAT formatted so you should be able to take it out and use on your PC. What we don't know yet is how data will end up on the card if you use it on the phone. I guess there will be a setting allowing you to store pictures/videos on the SD-card instead of in the phone's memory but you won't be storing App data there as at least in the Leaked SDK some time back Apps were only able to read from the SD-Card but not to write to it.

hmm, sounds like real phone backups still aren't going to be possible.
sigh

Given that Microsoft was specifically looking for people to improve the Backup experience and that there are at least some Cloud Backup capabilities that were leaked I actually believe that we will see much improved Backup possibilities - this has nothing to do with the SD-Card support. But as we don't know any details yet I did not mention that.

Given that Microsoft was specifically looking for people to improve the Backup experience and that there are at least some Cloud Backup capabilities that were leaked I actually believe that we will see much improved Backup possibilities - this has nothing to do with the SD-Card support. But as we don't know any details yet I did not mention that.
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cloud backup has very little appeal to me. an imaging of the phone to sdcard is simple, effective, and easy enough to encrypt if security is an issue.
why Microsoft is opposed (or hasn't thought of) simple sdcard backups is beyond me.
I can't imagine waiting an hour ( and the data used) for a cloud solution to mirror a persons phone from a damaged phone to a new, undamaged device.

[Q] Accessing a healthy SD card

Everything is perfectly fine with the phone, it isn't malfunctioning, no water damage, no issues turning on or anything, I'm just lazy I guess you could say. Basically, I just got a new phone (Samsung Galaxy Note - original) and I knew the day would come, that when I updated the phone, nothing would transfer because I would have to get a new sim card (the HTC HD7 takes a regular while the Galaxy Note takes a mini or w/e) and the HTC HD7 has like 0 backup functioning except the online cloud (which is next to nothing). I understand that the HTC HD7 has a removable SD card that holds all its internal data (I actually had to restore once on my husband's because his phone kept freezing, it took actually removing it to fix).
I am hoping that maybe I can remove it and either transfer all the data (contacts, picures, sms, etc) to a computer by putting it directly in the computer (rather than using zune or some other backup software) so I can then use the samsung program to transfer it onto my new phone or otherwise put the SD directly into the new phone and access the files that way so I can access and save the information I need directly from the card. Is this at all possible with a healthy card? I have a feeling its asking a lot (I'm thinking its encrypted) but I have 3 years worth of phone usage, there is A LOT of data I have to transfer, and the zune may backup pictures, but not those I haven't removed from texts; backup software usually compresses and will only transfer back to the same device; and the online cloud wont transfer (like the address book I'm pretty sure can't be transferred to any phone except the one it was set up with, but even if it could, I think its specific to windows phone, windows phone is like the least cross-platform compatible, even compared to blackberry surprisingly).
I have my phone developer unlocked (and have the interop available although not active because it was making some apps act up. I basically got my phone to a point where I could sideload a few apps and upgrade to windows 7.8 but that is about it. My husband's phone isn't however, and he is still at windows 7.5), not sure if that makes a difference/helps/hurts.
Any help is appreciated, or additionally suggestions on how to transfer multiple items from the HTC HD7 to the Samsung Galaxy Note.

superbeastarina said:
Everything is perfectly fine with the phone, it isn't malfunctioning, no water damage, no issues turning on or anything, I'm just lazy I guess you could say. Basically, I just got a new phone (Samsung Galaxy Note - original) and I knew the day would come, that when I updated the phone, nothing would transfer because I would have to get a new sim card (the HTC HD7 takes a regular while the Galaxy Note takes a mini or w/e) and the HTC HD7 has like 0 backup functioning except the online cloud (which is next to nothing). I understand that the HTC HD7 has a removable SD card that holds all its internal data (I actually had to restore once on my husband's because his phone kept freezing, it took actually removing it to fix).
I am hoping that maybe I can remove it and either transfer all the data (contacts, picures, sms, etc) to a computer by putting it directly in the computer (rather than using zune or some other backup software) so I can then use the samsung program to transfer it onto my new phone or otherwise put the SD directly into the new phone and access the files that way so I can access and save the information I need directly from the card. Is this at all possible with a healthy card? I have a feeling its asking a lot (I'm thinking its encrypted) but I have 3 years worth of phone usage, there is A LOT of data I have to transfer, and the zune may backup pictures, but not those I haven't removed from texts; backup software usually compresses and will only transfer back to the same device; and the online cloud wont transfer (like the address book I'm pretty sure can't be transferred to any phone except the one it was set up with, but even if it could, I think its specific to windows phone, windows phone is like the least cross-platform compatible, even compared to blackberry surprisingly).
I have my phone developer unlocked (and have the interop available although not active because it was making some apps act up. I basically got my phone to a point where I could sideload a few apps and upgrade to windows 7.8 but that is about it. My husband's phone isn't however, and he is still at windows 7.5), not sure if that makes a difference/helps/hurts.
Any help is appreciated, or additionally suggestions on how to transfer multiple items from the HTC HD7 to the Samsung Galaxy Note.
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The SD-card is formatted in such a way that you can't access on Windows or Mac. What you can do on the other hand is to go to your local phone store and let them resize your SIM-card.
Best regards,
Thomas

[Q] Recovery?

This is probably a lost cause, but maybe there's a glimmer of hope. I just unlocked my bootloader and realized that my phone has been wiped. I'm pretty tired which is part of the reason why I made the mistake of unlocking it without backing up my files. Is there anyway to recovery any of my old pictures or files that were on the phone previously? I'm not one to make backups frequently (last was Nov), which was when I was starting to attempt this process., but I will definitely make them frequent from now on. I was hoping I might be able to use a program like recuva, but since the phone isn't detected as a drive letter I can't.
tldr - Unlocked bootloader, forgot to make backup. Is there a way to recover anything?

First rule of data recovery: stop using the device, NOW.
Doesn't matter if it's your only smartphone or not and is a necessity, every moment it's on means another moment that data can (and probably has been) overwritten by new data and is never going to be recovered.
Having said that, the "drive" meaning the internal storage should still show up as a drive letter and accessible in Windows, and it should show up as accessible under Linux or even OSX as well since it was wiped and is now basically ready to be used (given that the old data is probably there but the file allocation or journal entries for the data were cleared out). All that happens when you unlock the bootloader is the device forces into a full factory reset so when that's done, you're left with a clean fresh installation of the OS with no personal data on it (which you already understand, of course, hence your post/thread) but the phone SHOULD be working normally at that point; there's no reason if it's working properly that you wouldn't see a drive letter when it's attached to your computer - I'm guessing it's a PC since you mentioned Recuva which is a Windows-only application.
As long as you have the necessary drivers installed (HTC Sync installs them, then you can remove HTC Sync and the drivers will remain as a separate Add/Remove Programs entry), the phone should show up like any other device attached to the PC.
If it's not showing up as a drive letter then something else is wrong.
If it does show up (and again, the longer the phone is on the higher the chance important data of any kind will get overwritten) then you can use one of the following:
- TestDisk which is a completely free data recovery application that shouldn't have issues finding data on the internal storage if it's still there - I personally have used this data recovery software with pretty much perfect success in the past for accidental wipes of data on Android devices; I make no promises, just offering the suggestion
- EaseUS MobiSaver for Android is a somewhat newer product and it claims to be completely free (some data recovery software will find data but then charge you to actually do the recovery process) but I can't say for certain if that's the actual case. It claims to be able to recover data so, if it's free then it can't hurt I suppose
Just realize again that the longer the device is powered on the higher the chance that data is being damaged if it's sitting there on the internal storage so, pick one of those applications, give it a run and see what happens.
Good luck...

Thanks, I'll have to look into those a bit later. I shut the phone off within a short amount of time after the wipe, unfortunately that was probably longer than it should've been on. I'm going to switch to another phone for the time being and leave the M7 off. I could access it, but it isn't assigned a letter and instead shows up as a device, i'm guessing that's because it's internal storage. I did find another method, but i'll try those first.

[Q] Help with Internal Storage Data Recovery (No Root)

Hi guys,
Somehow I have lost all my files from Internal Storage. It's weird - they disappeared after unplugging the USB cable from my laptop the last time my phone was connected. Now only the default folders are there.
I want to use data recovery software to retrieve as many photos as I can salvage, but ofcourse the phone doesn't mount as a drive on a computer so I cannot do that. There are some other methods online like this one but they require root. As you all know, root isn't easy on the Z3 compact, and the only working method which doesn't require you to unlock your bootloader needs you to flash the firmware again so then I will lose all chance of recovering any data.
Right now I have stopped using this phone and have only received 5-6 emails and messages after losing all my data so hopefully its not overwritten yet.
Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you!

Impossible without root.

Found a way. Used WebDAV to make it a network location, mapped it as a drive on my pc, used regular data recovery software...

No way, did it actually work?

GlebunV2 said:
No way, did it actually work?
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Click to collapse
Nope
Turns out only my SD card was being scanned by the software and internal memory ignored...I found one software in the end that could scan the internal memory mapped as a network drive, however the reported success rate was lower than recovering data from a local drive and I had to buy it for some $500 so I just gave up in the end...I think it was called Active something...

Question Do I need root?

Hi All, long time user of XDA forums but havent had to root a phone in a while.
I deleted some pictures in error from my phone yesterday and am desperately trying to figure out a way to get them back. They dont appear in the recycle bin and they dont appear with a standard file search app, thousands of pictures do but not the ones I deleted.
Apparantly I need to root the phone to get better access rights to do this, but am I right in believing that rooting the phone will delete everything anyway?
Any way to do this please? I really need some help with these important images.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (UK) 5G SM-G998B/DS
Regards Tony

Don't try to use trashware like DrFone.
The internal memory is encrypted by default so if you lose that encryption key for any reason you are boned.
If you can use adb to access the unused portion of the drive, that may work.
Using ADB in recovery mode - recovering files from a locked phone
Hello, here's my problem: I accidentally put a schematic as a code on my phone that I immediately forgot. Now that I only have access to the lock screen, I can't put my phone in file transfer mode because I'd like to retrieve it before resetting...
forum.xda-developers.com
If you are successful know that the folder structure has been lost. The jpegs will be disassociated from their exif data, time stamps, image numbers, etc have been lost forever.
Using that phone at all may overwrite the data as it's now free space for the system to use; power down the device until ready to attempt recover.
Backup all data before you begin whatever you attempt!
Personally at this point I would have written them off. If you do recover data, you'll understand why. In the future use a gallery that has a trash bin if possible.
Redundantly backup critical data to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC. A OTG flashstick can be used for quick "dirty" backups. Don't use as a primary backup.

If you can mount your phone on a PC using a USB cable, you could try a PC based file recovery program. (I honestly don't know if it would work over a USB cable, but no harm if it doesn't.)
Be careful where you get the recovery software. There are lots of people willing to promise the world, take your money, and blame the file recovery ghods when they can't recover squat.
The one I'd try first has the worst user interface, but it's free and has saved my butt more than once. It's called PhotoRec. (It's packaged in with a drive recovery program called TestDisk.) PhotoRec supports a bunch of Linux/Android disk formats (many only handle FAT and NTFS variants, which won't help you). Just be sure you read the instructions and be sure to direct the output to a dedicated folder on a drive different than your phone.
TestDisk Download
Download TestDisk & PhotoRec. TestDisk is a free and open source data recovery software tool designed to recover lost partition and unerase deleted files. PhotoRec is a file carver data recovery software tool.
www.cgsecurity.org

I just noticed that PhotoRec finally has a Windows based GUI implementation called QPhotoRec. Same download location as I mentioned in the previous message. But should be a fair bit easier to use.
Note: If QPhotoRec can't see your phone on the USB cable, you might still want to give PhotoRec a try.

One last note... As long as you continue to use your phone, it is still writing things to the drive that holds the pictures you want to recover. If the phone happens to overwrite the place the photos sat on, they're gone forever. So it's best if that you power off your phone until you can make an attempt to recover the photos and you move quickly to make the attempt... Good luck.

After the recent dumping of Samsung Cloud and the forced migration to a Microsoft cloud drive,I lost a bunch of photos from my alternative device (I had 2 phones and 2 Samsung Cloud accounts- but the changeover couldn't handle the 2 account bit, both phones ended up with the exact same data) and I tried several methods to recover the lost data and eventually had to give up. Good luck.

Relying on cloud to backup files is crazy. Keep a couple hard drives/usb drives for that.

rafaelinux said:
Relying on cloud to backup files is crazy. Keep a couple hard drives/usb drives for that.
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Click to collapse
Cloud backup is safer than keeping a couple of hard drives and usb drives. By design cloud storage is replicated a minimum of 3 times across 3 regional data centres, each having multiple copies on distributed storage with multiple backup services and UPS.
Your data is not safer on two USB drives vs a Google data centre. Do you keep them in fireproof and electronic magnetic proof safe? If not then your backups are not protected at the first step, physical protection. Do you cycle the hard you use, change the drives regularly so that there is no chance of hardware failure, do you consider MTBF rates of the devices you use? USB drives have a limited number of writes so using them too much may risk the data on them. Do you use multiple off-site safes? If both are in one place and there is some disaster (building collapse, or fire for example) then you've lost your backups. Each site needs a fireproof/EM proof safe which adds a huge extra cost.

did you check the trash folders?? usually deleted files stay on for 30 days unless physical deleted from the trash like windows

ScalesOnline said:
Hi All, long time user of XDA forums but havent had to root a phone in a while.
I deleted some pictures in error from my phone yesterday and am desperately trying to figure out a way to get them back. They dont appear in the recycle bin and they dont appear with a standard file search app, thousands of pictures do but not the ones I deleted.
Apparantly I need to root the phone to get better access rights to do this, but am I right in believing that rooting the phone will delete everything anyway?
Any way to do this please? I really need some help with these important images.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (UK) 5G SM-G998B/DS
Regards Tony
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What app did you delete the photos in?
Each app will have its own "delete/recycle" solution. For example, if you delete photos in Google Photos they are kept in the "Bin" for 30 days. If you used a file manager it may have a recycle bin or may have permanently deleted using write over to provide a true delete function.

Rooting like years agao
I am cool with what i have now

Yes you do for acces to internal memory