So my gf's phone factory reset itself. She turned it on in the morning and it was a clean phone, asking for google data, clean reset, nothing but stock on there. She lost all her pictures(which is the end of the world for her), apps, everything.
I plugged the phone to the PC and it shows 5Gb free of 11.3GB. Perhaps that means the data is still there? The internal memory has all the stock folders(android, dcm, notifications, etc.) but nothing is in there. Is there anyway I can perhaps save data?
This has been asked many, many times -I've not heard a single success.
You can dump the whole 16Gb data partition to your pc using ADB, then use a date mining program on your pc to search for file fragments. It's like trying to unscramble eggs so you're unlikely to recover much.
Google xda adb partition dump s3 for the guide on how.
boomboomer said:
This has been asked many, many times -I've not heard a single success.
You can dump the whole 16Gb data partition to your pc using ADB, then use a date mining program on your pc to search for file fragments. It's like trying to unscramble eggs so you're unlikely to recover much.
Google xda adb partition dump s3 for the guide on how.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I'm glad to be the first who succeded. The things I did was install Philz TWRP with Odin. Made a backup of data partition. Used this command "type data.ext4.tar.a data.ext4.tar.b data.ext4.tar.c data.ext4.tar.d data.ext4.tar.e data.ext4.tar.f >> data.ext4.tar" to join the cwm tars into one tar. Then I used WinRAR to extract the archive. I just searched with explorer for all ".jpg" and ".mp4" then copied them to a new folder.
All the "lost" files were in the Lost.Dir folder. There was thousands of them though, but like I said, searching for extensions makes it easier. I managed to save all my(her) files.
Related
I've seen a number of requests for this functionality and recently it became necessary for one user who had a disabled Home Key to clear cache and data without the use of ClockworkMod. I have reserached two methods to address this issue. These instructions require some familiarity of android, computer and tablet terminology and usage. Feel free to ask for clarifications in comments. Here we go...
Method I - Stock Recovery Command File
Technical: Stock Recovery command file can be used to perform a few additional functions as well as to alter the path to update files. These commands will execute with all privileges available to recovery mode.
Advantages: Very easy to use. Very little technical knowledge required. No third party software is required for use.
Prerequisites: You will need a MicroSD card formatted FAT32 and a method for transferring files from your computer to the MicroSD.
Usage:
1) Prepare a text file named "command" (no file extension) with one of the following commands on a single line. The wipe data command will wipe both data and cache. Wipe cache will wipe cache only.
--wipe_data
--wipe_cache
2) Place the file in a folder named "recovery" in the root directory of your MicroSD card.
3) From a powered down state, insert the MicroSD card into your tablet and boot into recovery by powering it on while holding down the Volume Up key.
4) Allow the command to execute completely then the tablet should reboot (this may not occur automatically depending on firmware installed).
Method II - Updater Script
Technical: The attached "Updater Scripts" perform delete commands (recursively if necessary) on the named directory or file(s). The directories are mounted automatically by the system before the script executes but it could be easily revised to include that step if necessary. The partitioning, formatting and directory structure are left untouched. Only files are deleted.
Advantages: No third party software is necessary for execution. Relatively easy to modify for more surgical precision (i.e. leaving installed apps but clearing possibly corrupted system data). Included example: "Clear Battery Stats"
Prerequisites: You will need a MicroSD card formatted FAT32 and a method for transferring files from your computer to the MicroSD.
Usage:
1) Download the attached archive (ClearData.zip) to your computer.
2) Extract the files to your computer. You should then have a folder named "recovery" (which contains a file named "command") and an additional archive named "update.zip"
3) Place the recovery folder and the update.zip in the root directory of the MicroSD card.
4) From a powered down state, insert the MicroSD card into your tablet and boot into recovery by powering it on while holding down the Volume Up key.
5) Allow the script to execute completely then reboot the tablet (this may occur automatically depending on firmware installed).
This will become handy someday.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
You're welcome. One quick note... the new stock recovery adds a menu simiilar to ClockworkMod. These methods will still work since the recovery folder/command file are checked first but it really isn't as necessary any more.
Need Help
Tried both methods above but either way I get to the viewsonic splash with the message "Booting recovery kernel image" in the upper left and it just stays there, stuck there, I left it for a long time to see and it never leaves that screen.
Any ideas?
Me too
I can't get into clockworkmod either. My machine is running faster. I almost hate to mess it more.
lrgche said:
Tried both methods above but either way I get to the viewsonic splash with the message "Booting recovery kernel image" in the upper left and it just stays there, stuck there, I left it for a long time to see and it never leaves that screen.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's an indication that you may have more serious problems. nvflash will be required. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=861950
Once done you will likely need to install ClockworkMod and repartition your internal storage.
Loukoebel said:
I can't get into clockworkmod either. My machine is running faster. I almost hate to mess it more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your tablet boots properly but you can't get into CWM then it probably isn't installed properly (or at all). http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=865245
Keep in mind that CWM is NOT compatible with all ROMs. Make sure the developer for your chosen ROM recommends it before installing it.
Does your method in opening post have to be run from external micro sdcard?
Both methods are performed with an external MicroSD card. They will work from internal also but it is a little more difficult to get the files in place if your tablet is not booting properly.
K J Rad said:
Both methods are performed with an external MicroSD card. They will work from internal also but it is a little more difficult to get the files in place if your tablet is not booting properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so your method is a simple way to replace one of the main uses of Clockword MOD?--Plus you stay stock more or less.
That is correct. Method II can also be modified to be less intrusive (leave user apps installed) or embedded into update scripts to perform a wipe during new ROM installs.
K J Rad said:
That is correct. Method II can also be modified to be less intrusive (leave user apps installed) or embedded into update scripts to perform a wipe during new ROM installs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wipe data does what--remove the apps installed?
And the partitions?
Your post is very interesting. It implies that you have a knowledge of the g-tabs partition structure. I have played with Linux off and on for the last 10+ years. When I began, I used Slackware and when you set it up you had to manually create partition tables using fdisk. You were only required to create two - the data partition and a swap partition but it was often recommended that you create several others - one to contain the home directory to prevent users from using all the disk space (in the days of small disks) for example. It appears that there are a lot of partition on the g-tab. Up to now, I have used various wiping tools like clockwork or calkulins wipe all on faith. I would really like to know what all the partitions are and what is in them. I have used terminal to get to the root folder and tried to do an fdisk to display the partitions but try as I might everything remains hidden. It would seem that a script like yours could be adapted to do many things but I would certainly want to understand the structure a little better before I did anything. I have searched and been unable to find that information. Can you point a way for the curious to learn more about the partition structure on the g-tab?
Wish I had a direction I could point you in. What I've found so far has mostly been stumbled upon while looking for something else. What I can tell you is this...
1) When using fdisk in Android you must specify the device to look at. Try something like: fdisk /dev/block/mccblk3 That should list the current partitions as defined by CWM or whatever was used originally.
2) Within one of those partitions in the list generated above are sub-partitions holding the bootloader, system, data, etc partitions. You can see how they're described in the .cfg files in the nvflash restores that are lying about.
lsu205 said:
Wipe data does what--remove the apps installed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Removes user apps and their associated data as well as system related data and settings.
K J Rad - any idea if the partition size can be set with these methods (2048 & 0) in case I can't get clockwork installed?
CodeNamePapa said:
K J Rad - any idea if the partition size can be set with these methods (2048 & 0) in case I can't get clockwork installed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm looking for a solution to that problem. Unfortunately these methods still require the ability to get into recovery mode which likely won't work if you're having trouble getting CWM installed.
If, however, you can get into recovery... then it is theoretically possible to create a script that would accomplish that. As soon as I have one I'll be adding it to the mix ;-)
Edit: I've found something I think will work. Will do some testing tonight. It will still require access to recovery.
I wasn't sure if you saw my other post but I am seeing no partition 0 when I NVFlash with a verifypartition.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=13059520&postcount=57
I haven't yet but I will. Let's try to keep this thread on topic. Thanks.
More thoughts:
because I went w/ cyan7 is it possible i have a "bad" kernel and that the stock bekit-1105 or the roebeet-3588 files are crashing w/ the kernel in place already?
I know custom ROMs can have a custom kernel applied separately, but I have no idea whether cyan7 loads it's own kernel...
I have yet to try the nvflash_gtablet_46 version, as I see the img files w/in are different from the original 1105 .zip
Also:
read on another thread that part 2 and part 3 aren't loading for other users when doing nvflash - I did notice that it pauses, runs some stuff, then starts loading part 4 through to the last part, then success. - do part 2 and 3 run for you?
edit: I see a 4349 downgrade.zip in another thread for those who got the OTA update but want to go back to stock 3588 prior to jumping off somewhere else - I can't expect that would help me as I can't do squat w/ recovery yet, but could that possibly "reset" any bad kernel problems? - again, I'm just thinking out loud.
This is well outside the scope of this thread but I find some of what you mention interesting so I'll address it and then end any further off topic discussions.
I did not build nor have I ever used Cyan7 so I have no basis for an opinion on the matter other than this... Each ROM comes with a kernel installed so if properly done an nvflash should overwrite any "bad" kernel.
Part2 and Part3 do indeed load, they are just displayed differently than the other Parts. Just minutes ago I flashed down from Mountain Laurel (4349 based with the new bootloader and recovery) with absolutely no trouble. I can, and have, read back those partitions after an nvflash to prove that point.
The 4349 downgrade will only work for you if recovery is working. Having never used it I don't know that it would "reset" the kernel but any subsequent flashing of a new ROM image would.
I am working on a stock recovery solution for partitioning but it isn't likely to help anyone who is stuck in an APX loop. I do have some ideas on what might help for that condition but I haven't been able to get my hands on one for testing and trying to help people here is like being a consulting mechanic for a car repair that's in someone else's shop having work done on it that you're not being told about.
I'll be happy to address any further comments or questions regarding your specific issue in an appropriate thread or via PM. Thanks.
i tried to copy some music but it blocked, i tried several times but same issue. then i unplugged the phone and replugged it. i could still see all files but not access anything. i just reboot the phone and there all files on the sdcard had disappeared !
i plugged again on the pc, i could see a few files that i don't see on the phone with a root browser. i unplugged and plugged back and there no files anymore even on the pc (of course on my options i can see hidden or system files).
Strange enough when i check partition size on the pc it says i have over 500Mo used and when i look on sdmaid (android app) it tells me that mnt/sdcard is 543Mo size. but me i can't see any files. Apps using the sdcard (like evernote) had to recreate a new folder on the sdcard and i lost my datas. if i check folder by folder it tells me only 2.6Mo used... (LOST folder being empty)
i guess it is possible to recover all as i can see the used space but i don't know how.
i tried recuva or testdisk but it does not detect this kind of partitions
i searched on xda/sonyforums/google but did not find anything relevant
does anyone know about this issue ?
(using ka10.2+ksskernel 4)
lagren said:
i tried to copy some music but it blocked, i tried several times but same issue. then i unplugged the phone and replugged it. i could still see all files but not access anything. i just reboot the phone and there all files on the sdcard had disappeared !
i plugged again on the pc, i could see a few files that i don't see on the phone with a root browser. i unplugged and plugged back and there no files anymore even on the pc (of course on my options i can see hidden or system files).
Strange enough when i check partition size on the pc it says i have over 500Mo used and when i look on sdmaid (android app) it tells me that mnt/sdcard is 543Mo size. but me i can't see any files. Apps using the sdcard (like evernote) had to recreate a new folder on the sdcard and i lost my datas. if i check folder by folder it tells me only 2.6Mo used... (LOST folder being empty)
i guess it is possible to recover all as i can see the used space but i don't know how.
i tried recuva or testdisk but it does not detect this kind of partitions
i searched on xda/sonyforums/google but did not find anything relevant
does anyone know about this issue ?
(using ka10.2+ksskernel 4)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this problem and had to reflash a stock rom. That fixed it but I lost everything on the card. Not a big deal though since I had backed stuff up. Seems like it may get corrupted somehow.
i tired some recovery softwares, it did not really work (hexamobile found a lot a of things but not the ones i needed and undelete found almost nothing) but i noticed with "undelete" that it proposed me 2 "mnt/sdcard" path with different results, so i guess the problem is here ! Also when i plug to my computer i don't see the folders created today, only the ones created yesterday :/
thanks for the feedback Mr Satan, i chek a bit if i find a better solution but if not i will have to do like you did
Hi all.
I've just installed some app that broke down my S3 stock OS.
The OS was rooted, and I gave the crappy app superuser access...
It was supposed to change the DPI setting, but now it's boot-looping over the Samsung logo.
Now I'd like to recover my data, photos and stuff...
CWM Recovery 5.5.0.4 is installed.
I can start a backup, but it won't complete since I don't have a large enough SD card at hand (it's a 32 GB SGS3 with a bunch of large videos...).
I don't care about the movies, just the photos, but there's no option for a selective backup...
I also tried updating CWM to a more recent release with Odin (downloaded .img and tar'ed it...), but it won't go further than SetupConnection.
I've not tried a factory reset of anything else yet...
Is there a way I can still recover my data, or should I just get over it and try to flash the whole thing back with Odin?
Thanks for your help.
Adb backup?
maybe reinstalling the ROM can fix it ?
The other thing you can try is adb pull /build prop, edit LCD density back to 320 and adb push it back
Thanks for your answers.
adb looks like the way to go, but I never managed to get it working on my computers.
"adb devices" won't list any, "adb shell" returns "error: device not found".
USB debugging was enabled in the OS.
Is the phone supposed to be in recovery mode or download mode? None works... (Also tried with the OS running before it started crashing)
Is there a setup guide somewhere?
Actually, working with Android on Windows (XP x64) has been a total nightmare so far.
On my main computer, Device Manager loops forever on device detection / driver installation, and successive driver installation/uninstallation/reinstallation mangled WMP10 completely (and since it's tied to Windows, I can't reinstall it).
On other computers, driver installation went fine, I hardly managed to copy movies to the phone through MTP / WMP, and never managed to copy anything back.
I only ever managed to move files over wifi, but that's at wifi speed, not USB2 speed...
And now that I gave Kies a try (stayed away from it so far), it keeps eating 100% CPU whenever I run it.
I had that adb problem then I installed android command centre, and bam, it worked! Will try and find link for you....brb
Finally managed to run adb on the computer with Kies installed.
I'll look into this.
Here go
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=36671130
Can't use adb pull/push anymore: in a previous attempt to reduce the nandroid backup size, I formated the system and cache partitions.
Then I managed to run a full backup with CWM Recovery, but can't find my files in there.
The backup files only contains application data, but the sdcard folder is totally missing.
Well, it appears the problem indeed was in build.prop.
My backup has 2 files: build.prop.bak and buid.prop.temp.
.bak has the old density, .temp has the new value.
Somehow the app failed to rename build.prop.temp to build.prop, and made the system unbootable.
adb backup won't work either: it's waiting for a confirmation on the phone, and doesn't seem to work in recovery mode.
Now browsing /data/media with adb shell !
I had to mount /data manually (in recovery), I guess the same is true for a recovery backup, and that's why I couldn't find my files.
Think I'll manage to get it all back now.
Thanks a lot slaphead20.
I was just about to wipe away all these family pictures!
Nico57m said:
Now browsing /data/media with adb shell !
I had to mount /data manually (in recovery), I guess the same is true for a recovery backup, and that's why I couldn't find my files.
Think I'll manage to get it all back now.
Thanks a lot slaphead20.
I was just about to wipe away all these family pictures!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI TWRP will not wipe ur sd when u do factory reset
but ur problem not with data its with system and u can fix it simply by reflashing the u r using without any wipe
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Hi,I ended up deleting alot of my pictures off my phone by accident and was wondering if there is a tutorial in linux to recover them?I found this tutorial but i dont have a windows machine on hand to try it out:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1994705
I have searched but havent came up with anything as far as how to do it in linux.I apprecitate the help.thanks
cadogan32 said:
Hi,I ended up deleting alot of my pictures off my phone by accident and was wondering if there is a tutorial in linux to recover them?I found this tutorial but i dont have a windows machine on hand to try it out:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1994705
I have searched but havent came up with anything as far as how to do it in linux.I apprecitate the help.thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite frankly data recovery in linux = major pain in the butt, desperation to recover from a ext4 partition once led me to an app called "photorec" don't be fooled by the name it's a data recovery app, oh I was on Ubuntu and I don't know whether other Linux distro's have this or use it, after going through settings, synaptic, terminal commands *shudder*(it still gives me the creeps) I recovered a corrupted piece of my important data, turns out even a minor use in the partition in question will corrupt most deleted data, so I suggest you use a Windows PC for recovering, it will give same results without taking you through a ride in Hell.
Edit :that windows tutorial is another Hell there is an easier way for you, mount the device in UMS mode in your windows PC run data recovery software like Recuva for the mounted partition.
Sent from my GT-P6200 using xda app-developers app
Yeah sounds like ill stick with the windows method when i get a chance.Thanks for the help!
few days ago I installed the CM 12 in s3 of a friend of mine yesterday and asked me to install the stock firmware because he had problems, I download firmware and installed with odin but on reboot I saw that all the files are lost, how can I recover them?
Hmm, don't know this will work with nand but you could try to connect this phone to PC and check with Recuva or similar application to restore formated data. Or you can make a raw dump of internal storage and search for files marks inside.
It is long term play unless you will find a proper tool to o that.
Also I don't remember wiping procedure is to remove files stamps or overwriting with zeros. In second scenario you will not be able to recover anything in home yourself.
I think the easiest way will be to make a dd dump via add and work on the created image. But you need a basic knowledge to install adb in PC and use terminal commands. Try with Recuva first.
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P3110 / I9300 / I9100 / NEXUS 5 / iPAD2