Oreo, good or bad, and how best to do it. - P8 Lite (2017) Discussion

Getting tired of waiting for the OTA on my PRA-LX1
One possible issue, I have the ADB tweak for adoptable storage in play, so do things break if I pull the adopted SD out?
Don't really want to get into rooting.
I thought I had the answer, but then there seem to be different files, different descriptions of it in different places.
Am I likely to regret switching to Oreo?

Related

[Q] Android DEBUG Tool??? - Question for DEVS

Is there a way to analyze what is wrong with someone's ROM and fix it without having to abandon the ROM to a different one, or waiting forever for someone else to maybe fix it? I've had to go to quite a few different ROMs as of late to get the functionality that I'm looking for because things didn't work with many ROMs, they had things broken. I would rather just learn how to fix them and then even post a fix for everyone. Devs, is this possible or would this only be something that the ROM COOK could do? Two recent examples include:
1. USB Tethering connecting to my PC, giving my PC a LAN IP, but not being able to get anywhere on my PC while my phone is still able to surf.
2. Bluetooth AD2P hiccups.
Then also add more functionality, like EPST functionality in Froyo and Gingerbread.
I've done a bit with logcat but as of yet is difficult for me to understand. I've successfully used debugging tools on Windows however in order to fix problems with applications that were hanging up on bad files, dlls, etc.. Was hoping I could learn how to do it with Android. Any help is appreciated.
petermg said:
Is there a way to analyze what is wrong with someone's ROM and fix it without having to abandon the ROM to a different one, or waiting forever for someone else to maybe fix it? I've had to go to quite a few different ROMs as of late to get the functionality that I'm looking for because things didn't work with many ROMs, they had things broken. I would rather just learn how to fix them and then even post a fix for everyone. Devs, is this possible or would this only be something that the ROM COOK could do? Two recent examples include:
1. USB Tethering connecting to my PC, giving my PC a LAN IP, but not being able to get anywhere on my PC while my phone is still able to surf.
2. Bluetooth AD2P hiccups.
Then also add more functionality, like EPST functionality in Froyo and Gingerbread.
I've done a bit with logcat but as of yet is difficult for me to understand. I've successfully used debugging tools on Windows however in order to fix problems with applications that were hanging up on bad files, dlls, etc.. Was hoping I could learn how to do it with Android. Any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't understand what the logcat is telling you, you will have a hard time writing any code for a fix. Might want to invest in a "linux for dummies" book and start there. I think there is even a book like that for android programming out now, iirc...
nandroids are for
sissies
Redundant posts cleaned out.

Whats with the USB OTG on this phone.

Coming from a long line of LG's, I do have to say I loved that LG's UI automatically recognized the USB and didnt need any apps to run it, and all other apps recognized it as well. So why doesnt the Nexus 6 do this? I am using stick mount but there are apps that dont recognize this, like with my G2 since it didnt have an SD card, so to save space i would setup titanium backup to store directly to the USB, but now it doesnt recognize it.
anyone have any ideas on how to work around this?
Custom ROMs can build automount in. I don't know of any off the top of my head, but have a read of the threads
Sorry if this seems like a flame, but stop posting the same junk all over....you posted in the two other threads, and now you went and created a third for what is probably your issue.
I have Stickmount working as expected on Stock, MeanPop and BlissPop. Its seen in Root Explorer and I can get it seen by TiBu (even though TiBu says its not writeable, it actually is).
cmh714 said:
Sorry if this seems like a flame, but stop posting the same junk all over....you posted in the two other threads, and now you went and created a third for what is probably your issue.
I have Stickmount working as expected on Stock, MeanPop and BlissPop. Its seen in Root Explorer and I can get it seen by TiBu (even though TiBu says its not writeable, it actually is).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
stickmount may mount it but it doesnt automatically allow third party apps to see it. I have several apps that I use to use withmy OTG and they can no longer recognize it. and my first question was about doing it period, so dont be an ass. its a simple questions as to why the Nexus doesnt automatically do it. and so far I havent had any of the custom roms I have tried automatically mount it.
harvickgm said:
its a simple questions as to why the Nexus doesnt automatically do it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is not a simple question. At least not to us, since none of us were present at any google meetings where this was either decided against or not discussed.
harvickgm said:
and so far I havent had any of the custom roms I have tried automatically mount it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't tell you any that have it. I assume Slim will have it in the future when their 5.1 ROM progresses as they had it previously on KK devices. Actually it's really only the kernel that needs to mount it in the fstab, but it is always nice to have ROM support too, where it is shown in the storage menu.
What apps do you have that cannot recognise OTG? All stick mount does is put it in a folder on your sdcard. I expect all apps can browse to folders on sdcard?
rootSU said:
That is not a simple question. At least not to us, since none of us were present at any google meetings where this was either decided against or not discussed.
I can't tell you any that have it. I assume Slim will have it in the future when their 5.1 ROM progresses as they had it previously on KK devices. Actually it's really only the kernel that needs to mount it in the fstab, but it is always nice to have ROM support too, where it is shown in the storage menu.
What apps do you have that cannot recognise OTG? All stick mount does is put it in a folder on your sdcard. I expect all apps can browse to folders on sdcard?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for your input. the original post should have asked about the transfer speeds as well, but thats not my biggest concern. quickpic use to automatically load everything up on as soon as the usb was mounted, but I havent tried it lately with any of the AOSP roms. I always liked the LG UI and never liked AOSP but since I see that stock google looks similar to AOSP that I have taken an interest to learn about them and play with their features and Euphoria 1.1 has it under storage settings but it doesnt do anything when I insert my usb. so it may still be being worked on or I could try a kernel that has it supported to see if that would do it.
but on older phones that never had SD cards I would use by USB for my Titanium Backup storage, but even with stickmount the app still wont notice it. I am going to try a few things that someone told me earlier and see if that works. my backups can become quite large and that valuable space when you only have 32gb.
so if yall have any ideas to try, let me know and I will be happy to give them a shot
Ah figured it out.. I realized I was still running my USB in exfat and once I reformatted it back to fat32 titanium now see's it.. Will have to play more to see if all is working right now
harvickgm said:
Ah figured it out.. I realized I was still running my USB in exfat and once I reformatted it back to fat32 titanium now see's it.. Will have to play more to see if all is working right now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah cool. Yeah ExFat isn't going to help unless you're on a Samsung - if they still indeed support that.
rootSU said:
Ah cool. Yeah ExFat isn't going to help unless you're on a Samsung - if they still indeed support that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My LG's supported it, but I hate the limitation on Fat32 when you need to transfer files larger than 4gb
harvickgm said:
My LG's supported it, but I hate the limitation on Fat32 when you need to transfer files larger than 4gb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep it's a pain. ExFAT is microsoft proprietary. I'm surprised some vendors even use it. Some custom Kernels may allow use of NTFS or something. FAT32 is my only option because I have to plug into Windows and Linux systems.
rootSU said:
Yep it's a pain. ExFAT is microsoft proprietary. I'm surprised some vendors even use it. Some custom Kernels may allow use of NTFS or something. FAT32 is my only option because I have to plug into Windows and Linux systems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm honestly surprised some new format hasn't been adapted, file sizes are getting to be so big now something will have to change soon.. I hope at least
harvickgm said:
I'm honestly surprised some new format hasn't been adapted, file sizes are getting to be so big now something will have to change soon.. I hope at least
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always think the same thing.
rootSU said:
I always think the same thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, so now I have a new problem, maybe you have a work around. Since stickmount shows up under the SD card, the system counts its storage space with the space on the phone. So even tho its a 64gb USB, it won't transfer thinking there is is not enough space on the disk. Any ideas?
harvickgm said:
OK, so now I have a new problem, maybe you have a work around. Since stickmount shows up under the SD card, the system counts its storage space with the space on the phone. So even tho its a 64gb USB, it won't transfer thinking there is is not enough space on the disk. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you're stuck on that one. The best way would be to mount it independently using the fstab of a custom kernel.
rootSU said:
I think you're stuck on that one. The best way would be to mount it independently using the fstab of a custom kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I have been meaning to try out a kernel with support but just keep forgetting. Will definitely have to do it today. Thanks man

My Journey Thus Far, am I wasting my effort?

I've been doing research and experimenting for the past few days, with only 6 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours. Long story short, I had a Droid TURBO on Verizon, loved it, the best phone I've ever had hands down. A month or so into having my Turbo, my family switched to Sprint, rendering my Turbo completely useless as a phone Skip a few more months ahead to 11/15 when I broke my Samsung S6. I was looking for an excuse to figure out how to do this, I'd done a few hours of research, but never really had a reason to attempt what I have been. My goal is to allow my droid turbo to call/text with my sprint number and plan. My first idea was to simply open up some bands, maybe change some APN settings, BOY was I in for a trip. I'm currently running the 5.1 OTA of Lollipop on my Turbo, which means I have a locked bootloader, however I've gotten as far as getting temporary root access on 5.1 OTA (SU3TL-39). I wasn't sure how temporary root worked at first so of course, I was trying to get "XPOSED" working with this temporary root, then I could modify the phones information and trick Sprint into thinking that my Droid Turbo, is actually my old phone. I attempted to change the IMEI swap the two different IMEI's however it was soon after that, that I found out that my temporary root doesn't actually save after a boot, or even in-between roots. Kingroot seems to have to keep re-rooting itself in order to keep it's temporary root alive. Anyways, I've been up all night, and I've got to get to Uni. I'd like to see what other ideas you all might have. At this point I've gotten invested in attempting to find my own method to rooting, or flashing a modified firmware of some type. I'd really like some guidance in these fields even if my Turbo will never work with Sprint. I appreciate those of you who read the post entirely.
EDIT: I've gotten many different theories, but the only way I see myself doing this is by somehow downgrading and starting from complete scratch, maybe even rebuilding the OS just to miss the security update? (All of these things are probably impossible, but I'd really like to think that we can figure something out together instead of letting the TURBO die.)
EDIT 2: ****, I really need to leave, but I had one last idea as I walked out the door, I'm sure it's out of the question, but maybe there's some way to physically modify the TURBO, or even modify the IMEI that the SIM card is looking for in the first place, but all just theories, will come back later with more ideas!
Tabrune said:
I've been doing research and experimenting for the past few days, with only 6 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours. Long story short, I had a Droid TURBO on Verizon, loved it, the best phone I've ever had hands down. A month or so into having my Turbo, my family switched to Sprint, rendering my Turbo completely useless as a phone Skip a few more months ahead to 11/15 when I broke my Samsung S6. I was looking for an excuse to figure out how to do this, I'd done a few hours of research, but never really had a reason to attempt what I have been. My goal is to allow my droid turbo to call/text with my sprint number and plan. My first idea was to simply open up some bands, maybe change some APN settings, BOY was I in for a trip. I'm currently running the 5.1 OTA of Lollipop on my Turbo, which means I have a locked bootloader, however I've gotten as far as getting temporary root access on 5.1 OTA (SU3TL-39). I wasn't sure how temporary root worked at first so of course, I was trying to get "XPOSED" working with this temporary root, then I could modify the phones information and trick Sprint into thinking that my Droid Turbo, is actually my old phone. I attempted to change the IMEI swap the two different IMEI's however it was soon after that, that I found out that my temporary root doesn't actually save after a boot, or even in-between roots. Kingroot seems to have to keep re-rooting itself in order to keep it's temporary root alive. Anyways, I've been up all night, and I've got to get to Uni. I'd like to see what other ideas you all might have. At this point I've gotten invested in attempting to find my own method to rooting, or flashing a modified firmware of some type. I'd really like some guidance in these fields even if my Turbo will never work with Sprint. I appreciate those of you who read the post entirely.
EDIT: I've gotten many different theories, but the only way I see myself doing this is by somehow downgrading and starting from complete scratch, maybe even rebuilding the OS just to miss the security update? (All of these things are probably impossible, but I'd really like to think that we can figure something out together instead of letting the TURBO die.)
EDIT 2: ****, I really need to leave, but I had one last idea as I walked out the door, I'm sure it's out of the question, but maybe there's some way to physically modify the TURBO, or even modify the IMEI that the SIM card is looking for in the first place, but all just theories, will come back later with more ideas!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are two problems that you're up against:
1. The /system partition is write protected. Even with temp root (or permanent root, for that matter), /system cannot be modified. To use anything via the xposed framework, the framework must be installed, which requires writing to /system, which is impossible. The only way around this is the moforoot exploit, which allows flashing of pre-modified /system images, eliminating the need to modify /system while the phone is running. However, this does not work on the 5.1 bootloader, which you have.
2. As you correctly state, the bootloader is locked. That means no downgrading and no flashing of modified firmwares using official flashing methods (fastboot, mfastboot) or non-mofo unofficial methods (TWRP, FlashFire).
This thread discusses hardware modifications. It's way above my head, so I'm not sure how useful it is: http://forum.xda-developers.com/droid-turbo/development/rd-turbo-jtag-emmc-direct-hardware-t3162558.
Hope this is at least moderately helpful.
I suppose there's no way to disguise an exploit within some of the core system files? Since all of these files are signature checked, but how exactly does signature checking work with the Lollipop, I doubt that it would be easy to trick, but maybe some reverse engineering of it? Trick it into thinking that everything is okay even though an exploit is riding alongside a system file.
Tabrune said:
I suppose there's no way to disguise an exploit within some of the core system files? Since all of these files are signature checked, but how exactly does signature checking work with the Lollipop, I doubt that it would be easy to trick, but maybe some reverse engineering of it? Trick it into thinking that everything is okay even though an exploit is riding alongside a system file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even if that were possible, it would not help you, since that would require being able to write a file to where the core system files are stored (/system). As for how signature checking works, I think it is enforced by whatever is stored on the /boot partition, but I'm not sure about that. A locked bootloader will not allow flashing modified images to /boot, and there are no known ways to bypass this.
When I get home, I'm going to do some experimenting on attempting to strip down and down grade to KK. I know that it most likely won't work, but I will gain some knowledge about it at least.
TheSt33v said:
Even if that were possible, it would not help you, since that would require being able to write a file to where the core system files are stored (/system). As for how signature checking works, I think it is enforced by whatever is stored on the /boot partition, but I'm not sure about that. A locked bootloader will not allow flashing modified images to /boot, and there are no known ways to bypass this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, the boot partition is what would have to be bypassed or unlocked in order to be able to write to system. That is where all the sig checks are locked in, right in the boot partition.
Well, we had a BL Unlock coming to us in a few days, maybe a week or two. With that, you can flash what you need to attempt to use with sprint possibly, depending on the bands the Turbo has
I've gotten the phone to work to an extent, I'm hoping if the BL unlock happens that it will open up lots of opportunity.

Downgrading from ZVA to ZV6 and rooting?

I'm recently new to this, just got a sprint G4 and I'm in Canada. It's supposed to be unlocked but it's not totally working, keeps trying to connect to sprint's data so I can only get 3G also can't send MMS. So I thought I'd try updating, see if that worked, it did not. I had updated to Marshmellow and it went askew and I couldn't get data at all then I downgraded to ZV6, fixed it so I could get 3G again then updated again. When ZVA came out I updated to that to see if it'd fix the issue but no luck. It's also very glitchy and bloated and tears through my battery though I've disabled most programs. So I'd love to try rooting or just the sim unlock fix or even ultrapop but I can't for the life of me figure out how to do it.
As I said, I'm new to this and it seems like a lot of great work has gone into it all but it's not exactly simple, as much as I keep bouncing around trying to get a grasp, I simply can't figure out what to do to not destroy my phone. I see that there's the low effort root, but that's for ZV5 which I can't switch to since I'm now on ZVA. I see another person said they figured out how to root ZV6 but there's no simple instructions on how to do that either.
So my questions are,
1. Is it possible to switch from ZVA to ZV6 without damage and
2. is anyone able to provide simple instructions from start to finish on how to do so and then from there to root?
I know I'm not the only one here who's got this or a similar issue and I think many people would appreciate the instructions laid out for beginners. I realize there's more to it than just a simple, do this, do that, such as hitting road blocks and such but these can be figured out. If anyone can do this I'd be happy to donate what I can, as well, it seems like a lot of people want something similar but get too intimidated with all the nomenclature and end up unable to do it. Or maybe it's just me?
Oh, and, thank you to everyone here who's done all the work sorting out this stuff for the rest of us, even if I don't understand all of it, I appreciate how much work goes into it.

Advice on how to recover media files on locked and one rooted stock OnePlus 3T

Hello,
I'm a bit of desperate and I come here to XDA with the hope to find some useful advide. :crying:
I know you probably have read many posts like these, but if you will read mine I hope you will find it different because there are some technical things to be explained (interesting at least for me).
I've lost 99% of my photos and videos taken in July on my phone (64 GB Memory model).
I know I know I should have implemented some sort of backups whatsoever in the cloud or with a home NAS, but unfortunately for me I'm not that kind of guy. The Android built-in backup is also disabled.
What has really happened here I think that probably somehow my daughter has grabbed my phone and has played with it and has deleted about hundreds of photos and videos taken in July. Of her mainly! Never underestimate the damage capabilities of a toddler.
In the meanwhile I've taken lots of photos in August and used a phone a lot and also got the OTA update to Oxygen 4.1.7 / Android 7.1.1
Now I have found that most of July media files are missing!!!!
At the moment there are 25 GB used out of the whole 54 in the Internal Archive Memory as it seen on the Phone Setup.
I have bought DiskDigger Pro for Android but somehow it cannot find the right files all it finds are Whatsapp Images and other files. Does not really find the missing files which I suspect have been somehow deleted.
I think it needs root privileged to dig deeper but I don't understand why, in theory the files should be recoverable on the same partition as the DCIM folder. To my understanding the files should be marked as "deleted" in the same partition as where the DCIM folder is. But there is also this TRIM mechanism on the newer phones flash memories that confuses me.
Q1) Can you please clarify why this and all other media files recovery programs which seem to be a bit serious need root to recover missing media files?
So given as assumption that I need to root, I've read here and there and it seems that sometime ago for OP One that was the possibility to root without unlocking the boot loader. But if I unlock somehow all the data will be wiped. And I fear this will make any further software base recovery method like diskdigger or photorec hopeless even with elevated root privileges.
Q2) Can you confirm that I cannot root without unlocking the bootloader and therefore without wiping the device?
For your information I have also bought tonight a 100 USD root + files recovery package one oneclickroot but the agent promised to refund me after I told her the model of my phone (scary!).
Q3) I know a couple of things in Linux, do you think is it possible without root to create a raw image of the internal phone memory or the proper partitions with a tool such as "dd" ? Then I would process those raw images on a Windows or linux PC with file recovery software.
Q4) Do you think that the wiping caused by the bootloader unlocking will render any possible further diskdigger like solution without hope? Or should I go that way because the wiping is not so deep after all?
I don't know what to think, the fact that the phone is also encrypted makes me fear the worst. Maybe after the wiping it will get re-encrypted over.
Q5) Any advice in general before contacting kroll on track and pay thousands of dollar with the hope to recover?
Thanks a lot for any useful reply! I hope this topic will bring a definitive guide on how to recover files on unrooted oneplus 3t!
I can't answer all your questions here, however I can say with 100% confidence that you cannot root without unlocking bootloader. Some people claim of other methods, but keep away from them.
And there is nothing to be scared of when rooting OnePlus 3T if you follow the correct steps.
Are you sure that your daughter deleted those photos? How can she specifically delete photos taken in July? Do you have Google photos installed?
Aneejian said:
I can't answer all your questions here, however I can say with 100% confidence that you cannot root without unlocking bootloader. Some people claim of other methods, but keep away from them.
And there is nothing to be scared of when rooting OnePlus 3T if you follow the correct steps.
Are you sure that your daughter deleted those photos? How can she specifically delete photos taken in July? Do you have Google photos installed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your answer.
I'm not scared of rooting, as I have rooted other phones in the past. I'm ready to spend 1000USD and maybe even more to recover these media files and therefore I'm not really scared of rooting or bricking the device. What really scares me is that by
unlocking bootloader -> wiping -> rooting -> (new encryption of the filesystem ?)
I will render the deleted missing files completely unrecoverable.
I don't have google photos and I'm not 100% sure that my daughter has deleted the files. Maybe I've done a cut & paste which has not worked correctly on the phone as I've only 1 or 2 days of the beginning of July in my external hard drive. But it's more likely that my daughter has played with the gallery application on the phone.
I don't have a lock gesture or pin and my screen can be unlocked just by sliding, however it seems my phone is encrypted.
This encryption I don't know how it works and how it relates with the bootloader unlocking, if someone have more information I would be glad to hear.
And also I've done some more research and it seems impossible to perform a "dd" command of the partitions without first being superuser / root. ;-(
Regards,
Claudio
Did you try connecting your phone to the pc and use the programm recuva?
I managed to restore my files with it once
I can feel your pain of loosing those valuable moments of your daughter. I feel sorry that I can help you much with this.
In future, I suggest you to use Google photos which can automatically backup all your photos for free.
StarShoot97 said:
Did you try connecting your phone to the pc and use the programm recuva?
I managed to restore my files with it once
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think that recuva can do anything here. I am not allowed to past links here but as explained here
ht*ps://forums.androidcentral.com/ambassador-guides-tips-how-tos/500142-guide-recovering-deleted-files.html
and here
ht*ps://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-nexus/general/guide-internal-memory-data-recovery-yes-t1994705
Recuva can't do anything for internal memory.
But thanks for the hint!
Aneejian said:
I can feel your pain of loosing those valuable moments of your daughter. I feel sorry that I can help you much with this.
In future, I suggest you to use Google photos which can automatically backup all your photos for free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One of the most affordable options I'm considering is this:
1) get another oneplus 3t
2) take some pictures and videos on it
3) delete those pictures and videos
4) root it
5) Install diskdigger to check if he can find anything after the wipe
I feel huge pain, my wife is also kindly pushing me. ^^
The problem ought to be that since this phone is force encrypted per default, unlocking the bootloader will destroy the encryption key for the previous installation won't it? Isn't that they point as to avoid anyone accessing your data by simply doing a factory restore and still keep the data in the internal storage. At least that's what I though, else where's the security of someone steals your phone.
Without that, any recovery software will just see rubbish when trying to recovery anything since it's encrypted.
pitrus- said:
The problem ought to be that since this phone is force encrypted per default, unlocking the bootloader will destroy the encryption key for the previous installation won't it? Isn't that they point as to avoid anyone accessing your data by simply doing a factory restore and still keep the data in the internal storage. At least that's what I though, else where's the security of someone steals your phone.
Without that, any recovery software will just see rubbish when trying to recovery anything since it's encrypted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot, eventually some technical info on xda
If I lose my phone someone can use it and read everything because there is no lock, no pin, no gesture nothing. I would try a remote wipe via google android devices or something like that. Life is too short to unlock your phone every time you look at it even if it is via finger print!
This being said I've read year
ht*ps://source.android.com/security/encryption/full-disk
this paragraph among the others is not clear to me
Upon first boot, the device creates a randomly generated 128-bit master key and then hashes it with a default password and stored salt. The default password is: "default_password" However, the resultant hash is also signed through a TEE (such as TrustZone), which uses a hash of the signature to encrypt the master key.
You can find the default password defined in the Android Open Source Project cryptfs.c file.
When the user sets the PIN/pass or password on the device, only the 128-bit key is re-encrypted and stored. (ie. user PIN/pass/pattern changes do NOT cause re-encryption of userdata.) Note that managed device may be subject to PIN, pattern, or password restrictions.
Does this paragraph give me hope or not?
Thanks a lot for your interest! Sleepless nights go on here.
lallissimo said:
I know I know I should have implemented some sort of backups whatsoever in the cloud or with a home NAS, but unfortunately for me I'm not that kind of guy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a really weak excuse. If the photos were that valuable to you, you should have been backing them up. There really is no excuse. Backup options are available that are effective, free, and require hardly any action on your part (aside form the initial setup - you've done more by disabling the default backup options).
Recovering deleted data is always a hit-or-miss proposition, at best. The longer you have the phone on, the higher the chance those memory sectors will be over-written. May have already happened.
---------- Post added at 10:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:46 AM ----------
lallissimo said:
I'm not really scared of rooting or bricking the device. What really scares me is that by
unlocking bootloader -> wiping -> rooting -> (new encryption of the filesystem ?)
I will render the deleted missing files completely unrecoverable.
I don't have a lock gesture or pin and my screen can be unlocked just by sliding, however it seems my phone is encrypted.
This encryption I don't know how it works and how it relates with the bootloader unlocking, if someone have more information I would be glad to hear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't matter. Unlocking the bootloader wipes all data on the phone by definition, regardless of whether it is encrypted or not. At least that is how it worked on previous Android devices I've owned, that did not have encryption by default. So I'd be willing to bet the same is try on the 3T.
lallissimo said:
I'm not 100% sure that my daughter has deleted the files. Maybe I've done a cut & paste which has not worked correctly on the phone as I've only 1 or 2 days of the beginning of July in my external hard drive. But it's more likely that my daughter has played with the gallery application on the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find it a little unlikely your daughter deleted all the photos. I don't see an easy way she could have done that to hundreds of photos, without an improbable number of screen taps. I'd use a good file explorer, and just keep digging. They might just be moved somewhere odd.
redpoint73 said:
This is a really weak excuse. If the photos were that valuable to you, you should have been backing them up. There really is no excuse. Backup options are available that are effective, free, and require hardly any action on your part (aside form the initial setup - you've done more by disabling the default backup options).
Recovering deleted data is always a hit-or-miss proposition, at best. The longer you have the phone on, the higher the chance those memory sectors will be over-written. May have already happened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the interest in my thread I really appreciate it.
I know a things or two about backups and I see your point. There is an ancient Chinese proverb saying something like this: Backup is that thing that should have done before.
However, being on xda I'd like to keep the discussion on a technical level if possible.
If you have any information or links on the way the internal memory is managed at physical level I'd like to discuss about it. As far as I know in order to extend the duration of this solid state memories the system makes his best to write on the blocks the least possible. I don't think I have already overwritten all the blocks of the internal memory. We'll see.
It doesn't matter. Unlocking the bootloader wipes all data on the phone by definition, regardless of whether it is encrypted or not. At least that is how it worked on previous Android devices I've owned, that did not have encryption by default. So I'd be willing to bet the same is try on the 3T.
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I'm almost sure that the wiping does not scrape the memory with all 0 and 1. That would take really a lot of time and also that would reduce the duration of the memory.
Take a look here for example
h*tps://www.krollontrack.co.uk/blog//top-tips/what-you-need-to-know-about-androids-factory-reset-function/
so my real enemy here is encryption.
I find it a little unlikely your daughter deleted all the photos. I don't see an easy way she could have done that to hundreds of photos, without an improbable number of screen taps. I'd use a good file explorer, and just keep digging. They might just be moved somewhere odd.
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You could be right, still I need to be root to dig deeper.
lallissimo said:
I'm almost sure that the wiping does not scrape the memory with all 0 and 1. That would take really a lot of time and also that would reduce the duration of the memory.
Take a look here for example
h*tps://www.krollontrack.co.uk/blog//top-tips/what-you-need-to-know-about-androids-factory-reset-function/
so my real enemy here is encryption.
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Click to collapse
This is just wishful thinking. That article sounds really paranoid to me. Whatever method the system is using to "scramble" the data is going to put it out of the realm of the cheap, consumer data retrieval tools (as you've pretty much already experienced). The article states:
A recovery is possible by looking at the data structures from a low-level and using specialist tools to recreate the data into a useable format
We aren't talking about free or $5 Android apps here. We're probably talking about specialist software that costs thousands of dollars. Yes, technically data is almost always retrievable. Law enforcement has tools that can retrieve "ghost" data images even after being overwritten multiple times. But such tools are feasible for consumers from a cost/benefit standpoint.
redpoint73 said:
This is a really weak excuse. If the photos were that valuable to you, you should have been backing them up. There really is no excuse. Backup options are available that are effective, free, and require hardly any action on your part (aside form the initial setup - you've done more by disabling the default backup options).
Recovering deleted data is always a hit-or-miss proposition, at best. The longer you have the phone on, the higher the chance those memory sectors will be over-written. May have already happened.
---------- Post added at 10:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:46 AM ----------
It doesn't matter. Unlocking the bootloader wipes all data on the phone by definition, regardless of whether it is encrypted or not. At least that is how it worked on previous Android devices I've owned, that did not have encryption by default. So I'd be willing to bet the same is try on the 3T.
I find it a little unlikely your daughter deleted all the photos. I don't see an easy way she could have done that to hundreds of photos, without an improbable number of screen taps. I'd use a good file explorer, and just keep digging. They might just be moved somewhere odd.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
redpoint73 said:
This is just wishful thinking. That article sounds really paranoid to me. Whatever method the system is using to "scramble" the data is going to put it out of the realm of the cheap, consumer data retrieval tools (as you've pretty much already experienced). The article states:
A recovery is possible by looking at the data structures from a low-level and using specialist tools to recreate the data into a useable format
We aren't talking about free or $5 Android apps here. We're probably talking about specialist software that costs thousands of dollars. Yes, technically data is almost always retrievable. Law enforcement has tools that can retrieve "ghost" data images even after being overwritten multiple times. But such tools are feasible for consumers from a cost/benefit standpoint.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If someone has more technical information about the encryption part I'll gladly look at it.
As far as wiping is concerned I have given a quick look at the source code, so for example here:
https://www.pentestpartners.com/sec...ta-from-wiped-android-devices-a-how-to-guide/
and if this is still what's inside my android phone I'm sure that mkfs.ext4 is nothing to fear when you need to recover data.
Problem for me is encryption, but yest I'm considering expensive solutions too. Just for the sake of the technical satisfaction, of course.

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