Hey,
all my photos and videos are not opening any more. I believe it is an encryption issue. I originally encrypted my SD card. Just a ew days a go, I decided to change the unlock method from password to none (without thinking about encryption) and after this I could not open any of the media files on SD card in gallery or when copied to my PC. All files are still there with correct size and attributes.
So, I decided to look at encryption today and found that all boxes were unchecked decided to encrypt the SD card again. No luck. So decrypted the SD card and still same
Anything else I can do? This is a big bug, there should've been a warning or something to tell me about encryption when changing the unlock method...
spoOx786 said:
Hey,
all my photos and videos are not opening any more. I believe it is an encryption issue. I originally encrypted my SD card. Just a ew days a go, I decided to change the unlock method from password to none (without thinking about encryption) and after this I could not open any of the media files on SD card in gallery or when copied to my PC. All files are still there with correct size and attributes.
So, I decided to look at encryption today and found that all boxes were unchecked decided to encrypt the SD card again. No luck. So decrypted the SD card and still same
Anything else I can do? This is a big bug, there should've been a warning or something to tell me about encryption when changing the unlock method...
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Click to collapse
did you solved the problem ? im having same problem aftr uninstall whatsapp
So when I joined my phone to the corporate network, it insisted on (amongst other things), encrypting the SD card. After some annoyance with that, pins etc, I decided to revert back. I successfully removed the accounts etc and unchecked the encrypted SD card option.
However, when I did so, it said something about only applying going forward and I still keep getting asked for the pin to decrypt the SD card. So it seems that stuff is still decrypted on there? I have done some searching but have had little luck finding any definitive answers, most seem to be related to problems with people losing whatever key to decrypt items which is obviously not the case here since once I enter the pin, I can access items with no problem
So what's the deal? Do I have to save everything off and reformat the SD card to get back to normal? Seems kind-of wonky to me but that's Android, I guess.
Oh, I have tried reencrypting and unencrypting the SD card again and the Android version is 4.1.2 if that's any help.
So when I joined my phone to the corporate network, it insisted on (amongst other things), encrypting the SD card. After some annoyance with that, pins etc, I decided to revert back. I successfully removed the accounts etc and unchecked the encrypted SD card option.
However, when I did so, it said something about only applying going forward and I still keep getting asked for the pin to decrypt the SD card. So it seems that stuff is still decrypted on there? I have done some searching but have had little luck finding any definitive answers, most seem to be related to problems with people losing whatever key to decrypt items which is obviously not the case here since once I enter the pin, I can access items with no problem
So what's the deal? Do I have to save everything off and reformat the SD card to get back to normal? Seems kind-of wonky to me but that's Android, I guess.
Oh, I have tried reencrypting and unencrypting the SD card again and the Android version is 4.1.2 if that's any help.
[Solved]
Not sure how to mark this solved. Maybe a mod can do it.
So I ran into some issues with the phone and managed to back up my data, completely reformatted the card and copied all the files back to the SD card.
*Still* I would get the "encryption password" popup. Nothing was encrypted, I could view all the files if I used a card reader. Yet when I plugged it back in, I either had to enter the string or couldn't see the files at all (even though they were clearly unencrypted).
The culprit?
/.sds.bin
I deleted that and everything is fine again. I guess it hung around when I disabled the encryption and was causing my misery. I hope this can help someone else who might be having the same problem
Funnily enough, now that I know what I am looking for, I found the exact solution to my problem here.
https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/777978?start=0&tstart=0
In fact, there is a hidden and very magic file sitting on the card named ".sds.bin" which is the flag to Android that the data on the card (may) be encrypted. If you remove this file (easiest on Linux or OSX) and then put the card back into your phone, you will be back in business. It seems as if someone at the Google forgot to remove this file when I told it to decrypt my phone earlier this year.
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Click to collapse
Oh well, que sera sera.
Hi to all
after going thru all relevant pages about this I could not find solution.
I wish to password protect sd card in my phone. I have Sony Xperia neo with latest official rom and option for sd card encryption is missing. Now I know that there are programs to encrypt specific folders but that to my knowledge is not transparent to system and requires me to decrypt each file before use. I had older phones (nokia and palm) that could set sd card password and remember it but sd card was useless on other device, or if original device was reseted to factory defaults.
Any idea on how to address this problem? I find it interesting that this simple option is missing from such advanced os as android is.
Hi all
I have a Samsung S20 Ultra with a memory card that all of my photos are saved to, unfortunately I had to take my phone into Samsung experience store for a screen / back cover repair, the staff removed my Memory card and told me to factory reset due to GDPR as the device had to be sent away, when my device returned in the post 5 days later I went to put the memory card back in and a notice appeared stating the memory card is encrypted to a different device! I am totally devastated as there are pictures of my father who has passed away and other images that they are the only copies I have, I know now I should have unencrypted the memory card before the factory reset. I have spoken to Samsung directly so say there is nothing that can be done.
does anyone know of a way I can get round this I would be so very grateful!
Thanks in advanced
Stu
The best thing I could suggest is a third party solution that may be able to decrypt the information on the card, such as FeExplorer. Check to see if you have a "Decrypt SD card" option in the Lock Screen and Security settings, although I suspect it won't be able to do it.
The problem is, the encryption key is unique and stored in user data. When data is wiped during a factory reset, the key is wiped as well, so even if the user configures the same lock settings (password, pattern, etc) they key would be different.
I am not aware of an absolute solution, but here is what I would strongly suggest you do:
If able, make sure the contents of the card are backed up. Use cloud storage such as Google Drive.
Keep the card in a safe place; maybe put it in a small envelope or something, and mark it in such a way as to discourage accidental discarding or wiping.
Buy a new SD card to use in the meantime while you look for a way to recover the information on the encrypted card.
I am sorry for your loss, and I wish I had a better answer for you.
Edit: Found this on another site, maybe it's worth a try. MAKE SURE YOU BACK UP THE DATA ON THE CARD IN CASE THIS GOES WRONG.
On a PC: Copy (the encrypted and unreadable) contents of the sd card from the phone to your harddrive
On the phone: Settings -> Storage -> Sd Card -> Format sd card (this erases all the data on the sd card but don't worry you have a copy on the PC)
On the phone: Settings -> Security -> Encrypt sd Card (should be real fast since it's an empty sd card)
On the PC: Copy the contents of the sd card onto the phone
On the phone: Settings -> Security -> Decrypt sd card (edit: this may take a while depending on how much data was on the card)
sorry but none of the above "solutions" makes any sense. it is not possible to recover data. encryption key was located /data/misc/vold and /data itself was encrypted, too. Furthermore one can't access /data aka userdata partition.
BUT... and here comes the but.. adoptable-storage usually is DISABLED in One UI
So how is it possible your MicroSD Card is encrypted at all? It's not, except you have installed custom ROM or installed any 3rd party encryption tool (you would remember)
There is a good chance your MicroSD Card is plain exFAT or Fat32 unencrypted file system. I recommend to use a card reader for PC and make a 1:1 dump with gddrescue and analyze the dump with photorec or other file carver solutions.
There exist tools for windows too, for example
https://www.klennet.com/carver
https://www.z-a-recovery.com
https://www.runtime.org
Don't buy any software if your MicroSD Card is encrypted, it will definitely not work.
You can easily check if your MicroSD Card is encrypted by opening raw disk image with HxD hex editor and search for any plain text or series of zeros. gparted or testdisk will tell you if partition table exist
aIecxs said:
sorry but none of the above "solutions" makes any sense. it is not possible to recover data. encryption key was located /data/misc/vold and /data itself was encrypted, too. Furthermore one can't access /data aka userdata partition.
BUT... and here comes the but.. adoptable-storage usually is DISABLED in One UI
So how is it possible your MicroSD Card is encrypted at all? It's not, except you have installed custom ROM or installed any 3rd party encryption tool (you would remember)
There is a good chance your MicroSD Card is plain exFAT or Fat32 unencrypted file system. I recommend to use a card reader for PC and make a 1:1 dump with gddrescue and analyze the dump with photorec or other file carver solutions.
There exist tools for windows too, for example
https://www.klennet.com/carver
https://www.z-a-recovery.com
https://www.runtime.org
Don't buy any software if your MicroSD Card is encrypted, it will definitely not work.
You can easily check if your MicroSD Card is encrypted by opening raw disk image with HxD hex editor and search for any plain text or series of zeros. gparted or testdisk will tell you if partition table exist
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Click to collapse
when you put an SD card into a Samsung ultra it asks if you want to encrypt it through their own software, no third party apps were used
True, I realized after posting. Samsung is always bit special, they tried to think differently... In that case your data was lost in the moment of factory reset.
https://www.samsung.com/au/support/mobile-devices/how-to-encrypt-decrypt-sd-card
Stu_C said:
Hi all
I have a Samsung S20 Ultra with a memory card that all of my photos are saved to, unfortunately I had to take my phone into Samsung experience store for a screen / back cover repair, the staff removed my Memory card and told me to factory reset due to GDPR as the device had to be sent away, when my device returned in the post 5 days later I went to put the memory card back in and a notice appeared stating the memory card is encrypted to a different device! I am totally devastated as there are pictures of my father who has passed away and other images that they are the only copies I have, I know now I should have unencrypted the memory card before the factory reset. I have spoken to Samsung directly so say there is nothing that can be done.
does anyone know of a way I can get round this I would be so very grateful!
Thanks in advanced
Stu
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Click to collapse
Hello, have an experience that my samsung device were dead and my sd card still encrypted.
Firstly, you have to backup entire data on your sd card just in case.
And then, format your sd card using another device (maybe your another android).
Last, put your sd card to windows device and recover all data with DiskDigger software.
It's work on my sd card, give it a try.. Dont forget to backup all data