Hi all,
to make it short i deleted a ton of pictures by accident, for what i've seen, the apps that really work on recovering files and windows softs like fonepaw or dr.fone require root access, but i've read that in the rooting process you have to perform a factory reset wich will wipe out everything on your phone, so whats the point on rooting a device to recover files if you have to erase everything in middle? Is there a way to perform a "simple" root without any deletion?, i don't want to change anything in my phone, no flash, no roms, no unlock bootloader, etc, etc, i just want to recover the files and i'll inmediatle unroot to take everything back to normal.
Thank you all in advance!
Related
Hi everyone,
I am about to sell my old galaxy S3, and I would like to completly wipe it:
I have already read tons of topic, i don't want to:
- manually delete files
- wipe from recovery
- format from the setting menu
etc.. I have already done these steps before and i am not satisfied:crying:, i would like the next owner to not be able to find any file on my phone with softwares such as getDataBack or DiskDigger...
I read on xda that the only way to "erase" a file is to replace it.. so if i fill my phone with many useless files I may not be able to recover any file anymore..?
but that's why i poste here.. i would like to know if there is a software which can do this by itself ? or if there are other methods...
thanks a lot for your help
cheers
anyone ?
Here's a tutorial I found online!
Step one: Encrypting
I recommend encrypting your device before you are getting ready to wipe it. The encryption process will scramble the data on your device and, even if the wipe doesn't fully delete the data, a special key will be required to unscramble it.
To encrypt your device on stock Android, enter settings, click on Security, and select Encrypt phone. The feature may be located under different options on other devices.
Step two: Perform a factory reset
The next thing you will want to do is perform a factory reset. This can be done on stock Android by selecting Factory data reset in the Backup & reset option in the settings menu. You should be aware that this will erase all of the data on your phone and that you should backup anything you don't want to lose.
Step three: Load dummy data
Following step one and two should be enough for most people, but there's an extra step you can take to add another layer of protection when erasing your personal data. Try loading fake photos and contacts on your device. Why you ask? We will address that in the next step.
Step four: Perform another factory reset
You should now perform another factory reset, thus erasing the dummy content you loaded onto the device. This will make it even harder for someone to locate your data because it will be buried below the dummy content.
Still feeling a little paranoid? Repeat steps three and four as many times as you like. As I mentioned above, though, for most people simply following steps one and two should be enough. Without the encryption pin, which is overwritten in the initial factory reset, it will be almost impossible to unscramble your data.
Step five: Try using data recovery software to see if you succeeded in completely wiping your original data!
Then again, you could always take a hammer to your phone or toss it in the toilet. You know, if you aren't interested in selling it.
Hello, thank you very much for those explanations !
I will do all these steps and check if backup softwares find something
I'm running stock just updated to Lollipop. Need to factory reset. I've learned that reset now completely erases ALL info, which I'm trying to avoid. It appears custom recoveries like CWM and TWRP will leave your personal info intact (sd partition). So my question is, just for the purpose of doing a custom recovery based factory reset... do I need root?
cgibsong002 said:
I'm running stock just updated to Lollipop. Need to factory reset. I've learned that reset now completely erases ALL info, which I'm trying to avoid. It appears custom recoveries like CWM and TWRP will leave your personal info intact (sd partition). So my question is, just for the purpose of doing a custom recovery based factory reset... do I need root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no... BUT.. if aren't already locked or S-off... the mere act of unlocking your bootloader to flash a custom recovery will in fact factory reset your phone anyhow.
dottat said:
no... BUT.. if aren't already locked or S-off... the mere act of unlocking your bootloader to flash a custom recovery will in fact factory reset your phone anyhow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So now that I'm on 5.0 there's no possible way to reset my phone without wiping out my media?
If so, what's the easiest way to backup/recover photos? I've gone through and backup up my whole phone, both to my computer and to google pictures, however it seems google backup just lumps all your pictures into one folder if I'm not mistaken, which is no good for me. Music isn't as important, I need to reorganize that anyway.
cgibsong002 said:
So now that I'm on 5.0 there's no possible way to reset my phone without wiping out my media?
If so, what's the easiest way to backup/recover photos? I've gone through and backup up my whole phone, both to my computer and to google pictures, however it seems google backup just lumps all your pictures into one folder if I'm not mistaken, which is no good for me. Music isn't as important, I need to reorganize that anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are able to boot the phone to OS just connect it to your pc and start grabbing the internal storage stuff. You can also use htc-backup app to back up apps and texts and email accounts.
dottat said:
If you are able to boot the phone to OS just connect it to your pc and start grabbing the internal storage stuff. You can also use htc-backup app to back up apps and texts and email accounts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah like I said I've backed up my stuff to my computer, but that's a pretty clunky way to have to restore stuff then. Also, my phone is acting up big time now and I'm at work for the rest of the day. So I was hoping there was a way I could just reset and go. Like I said I know I am also backed up to Google +, but I can't figure out a way to have them sync'd to Google in the same way I have them on my phone. They just all go to 'photos' and sorted by date. There are no albums unless I manually move picture by picture.
I stupidly trusted the "transfer to SD card" function and now my Z5 Compact has moved a big chunk of my photos from internal storage to… nowhere. They've been deleted and I'm not sure if I can get them back. I've managed to recover the thumbnails using FonePaw so I'm assuming the original full resolution files are still hanging around somewhere in the internal storage.
All the "recovery" tools I've found require your phone to be rooted in order to recover the deleted files from the internal storage. I'm aware that, in order to root the phone, the bootloader needs to be unlocked but that there are issues with losing DRM keys and the impact of that on some of the phone’s functions (specifically a number of the camera features). Given the camera was the primary reason I purchased this phone, I am reluctant to do something that messes with that, especially since this is the second handset as the first one was replaced under warranty after only three months (and this one still has 4 months of warranty left and has been having intermittent issues). There is also the issue that unlocking the bootloader factory resets the phone and therefore wipes all the data.
I know there is a bit of a workaround in that I can downgrade the firmware from Marshmallow to Lollipop and temporarily root the phone in order to backup the TA partition so I can restore the DRM keys et al after unlocking the bootloader and rooting the phone. Again, as I understand it the firmware downgrade will wipe my phone.
Normally wiping my phone wouldn’t bother me beyond being a pain to reinstall apps etc. What concerns me is that, given my missing files are likely floating somewhere in the internal storage ether, would a factory reset completely wipe those files from the phone permanently? Or would I likely still be able to recover them using appropriate software even after the reset, downgrade, unlocking of bootloader, and rooting?
I don't know much about it (and I’m willing to find out more for myself) but Is it possible to use something like adb backup to back up the whole phone and restore that to the phone after rooting in order to recover the missing files? Or will that also only work on a rooted phone?
If it's unlikely that my missing files would survive the repeated resets during the rooting process then I will probably just take this as a lesson learned the hard way and not bother trying to recover the files. Given the way my luck has been going, this handset will also fail before 12 months and I’ll have no warranty – and still no files!
Thank you in advance for any light you can help shed on this dilemma
A family friend has given me his Xperia Z5C (running 7.1.1.) as he's accidentally deleted some photos and wanted me to take a look at recovery.
We all know that to get the necessary access the device needs to be rooted, but this also requires wiping the device. My question then is how secure is the wipe / erase when rooting, is it a full overwrite (in which case there's little point trying) or is there a chance that some data might be present at the block level after rooting?
I'm not inclined to go through the process of rooting if it's futile, but if there's a chance there may be some files still recoverable, he'd probably want me to try.
Thanks for your help.
Hey.
I use a Redmi note 7. A couple months ago, some important photos and videos from my phone got deleted. My phone isn't rooted. Hence, I'm unable to use data recovery softwares like dr. fone, and other apps like disk digger don't seem to work for me. In order to root my redmi phone, i would first need to unlock the bootloader, which will require a factory reset and will wipe all my current data also. I'm skeptical if i will be able to recover those deleted files after a full factory reset using dr. fone. It'll be helpful if someone can tell if there's a way around.
@shaunak saxena
You've no chance.
As far as I know, if you just want to recover some media files, such as photos and videos ,root is not required. Mobikin Doctor for Android free version should be helpful, use it to detect the lost videos and photos, check if the lost files are there. If they are, recovery is possible.