sd card protection - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

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.

Related

SD Password protection Android Missing Feature

hy every one,
i think android is missing one feature of daily use
it is sd card password protection. i want to protect my sd card data with password but i dont find any app or any thing to do this. on my old nokia cell , protecting sd card was very easy. i want to protect my sd card so if i lost my sd card then no one access files on my sd card ..........
plz help me if you have any solution.........
At this time i have no nokia set so i want to know if my sd card is password protected and i put this sd card in my android set then what will happen??? will it work and ask me for password??????
Nasir javed said:
hy every one,
i think android is missing one feature of daily use
it is sd card password protection. i want to protect my sd card data with password but i dont find any app or any thing to do this. on my old nokia cell , protecting sd card was very easy. i want to protect my sd card so if i lost my sd card then no one access files on my sd card ..........
plz help me if you have any solution.........
At this time i have no nokia set so i want to know if my sd card is password protected and i put this sd card in my android set then what will happen??? will it work and ask me for password??????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All SD card could be read on a computer. So I'm not sure whether you can password protect it. Do a google search for related infos.
And if you're looking for apps, which locks your pictures/videos/files etc. then you may try this app --> File Hide Expert. Also, you could find more similar apps in Play Store. Just install and try, and use the one that suits your choice.
~Cheers.
coolsandie said:
All SD card could be read on a computer. So I'm not sure whether you can password protect it. Do a google search for related infos.
And if you're looking for apps, which locks your pictures/videos/files etc. then you may try this app --> File Hide Expert. Also, you could find more similar apps in Play Store. Just install and try, and use the one that suits your choice.
~Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you sure all sd card are read able even when they are pasword protected?????????
i think long time ago i try this and my computer was not detecting my sd card and after removing password it works again!!!!!!!!!
and i have installed apps for hiding my sd card or its content or lock etc... but actually i dont need this and i think its impossible for android to do this may be in next version they add this feature! ..........
You'd need some way of password protecting the files themselves and not just password protecting access to the sd card from within android. Otherwise someone could just put the sd card into a reader and bypass the android restrictions.
Zip and Rar archives have password protection capabilities but then you'd have to extract and repack files each time you wanted to modify them. Microsoft Office formats have password protection, not sure who supports this on Android.
SecretVaultpro - More info here:
http://secretvaultpro.blogspot.sg/
I am not sure if Android can assign a password, but I do know that in every SD card CPU there is a facility where a passphrase can be programmed into it. My E61i phones can do this. They program a passphrase into MicroSD card so those cards only work on those phones and with everything else the card can't be properly recognised. This is not encryption. It's similar to a lot of USB flash drives where a PIN is required to use it or access a hidden partition. With an SD card a passphrase is needed to unlock access to the card. Forget the passphrase and you may as well throw away the SD card.
I too am looking to see if there is something on Android that can use this standard security feature.
Nasir javed said:
hy every one,
i think android is missing one feature of daily use
it is sd card password protection. i want to protect my sd card data with password but i dont find any app or any thing to do this. on my old nokia cell , protecting sd card was very easy. i want to protect my sd card so if i lost my sd card then no one access files on my sd card ..........
plz help me if you have any solution.........
At this time i have no nokia set so i want to know if my sd card is password protected and i put this sd card in my android set then what will happen??? will it work and ask me for password??????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wondered why android didn't have this feature when I first used it, since most probably don't encrypt their cards, meaning their files are easily accessible if lost out stolen.
Old symbian Nokia phones had the set password function from the system file manager, so that you needed to supply the password to the phone before using it, I don't think windows could open SD cards with passwords if you used a card reader, you would first remove the password on the phone. Also formatting would be difficult if you forgot the password.
I'm unsure how secure it was but certainly I'm sure it's better than none.
I believe this may even go back to the days of mmc 8-10 years ago, still after all this time or smart phones and what OS's don't even acknowledge the feature, I wonder why?
Sent from my GT-P6800 using XDA Free mobile app

[Q] Encryption, photos and videos not working. any way to retrieve?

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...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you solved the problem ? im having same problem aftr uninstall whatsapp

Android 4.2 Full Encryption : Feedback please?

Hello,
I'm interested in encrypting my phone (rootbox 4.2) including the external SD Card (if that's possible..?) but i need to know if you do it, then let's say you take that sd card out of the phone and plug it in your pc, how do you access the data? And is that still impossible to unencrypt the phone after it was encrypted (i mean on last android versions)?
Thanks.
Never got any answer here... Still interested by any feeback : i need full encryption!
Yes it is possible to encrypt and unencrypt the phone and sd card or just the phone itself via the setting menu on your phone. To access encrypted files on a device or pc I don't think it is possible because your sd was encrypted with your phone.Here's also another website for more info type in( do you encrypt your sd card? android central) on your web browser.
Sorry but i don't get all you're saying, can you give a link? I'd like to encrypt everything AND being able to decrypt it on a PC whenever i want. That's probably possible but maybe not yet avalaible by user friendly methods..
Bump, if anyone knows more about all these things..

[Q] SD card and device security

Hey there,
I was reading about encrypting my SD card via settings > storage, but am turned off by the thought that flashing a rom or doing a factory reset will render the sd card useless because the encryption key would be bad. What is the best alternative for securing the SD card say, if the device was stolen? Can this be avoided by "keeping the previous Android device ID" in titanium backup when prompted?
As for the device itself, I am putting some trust into the Android Device Manager, which finds the phone much like Apple's 'Find my iPhone' via the google dashboard, but worry about the feature working when the time comes (if ever!)
Ammi doing it rite? What are some security advices you can give an android user, or perhaps a worthy article on the topic?
EDIT: After looking into the security > storage screen for my phone(HTC One M8), the process only encrypts new files, not currently existing files- which seems to be ineffective and a pain for encrypting all files. I am assuming files transferred to the SD card via USB connection on a PC is never encrypted? Only files loaded onto the SD card through the OS?

Samsung Encrypted Memory card help to Decrypt

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
Click to expand...
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
Click to expand...
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

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