Develop Bugs

[Q] Desperate newbie with deleted files problem….help please!!

I have a real cry for help!
Somehow all my pictures disappeared from my Galaxy Nexus. My only possible explanation (since it could not have decided to delete them itself!) is that I must have been a complete idiot and last night when I thought I was deleting a video I had just taken I must deleted the camera directory itself. This is supported by the fact that there was no ‘camera’ directory when I looked this morning. I then took a new photo and the directory reappeared. I have plenty of experience with PC’s but I’m a newbie with smartphones. I figured if I don’t write any more files to the phone then most of the actual data should still be there so I hoped to do some kind of undelete.
I’ve done some research and it looks like the ‘feature’ of only connecting as an MTP device (rather than USB mass storage) is potentially a killer blow. Without an assigned drive letter it seems that none of the usual recovery programmes will recognise the phone.
In theory an alternative might be to take a complete image of the phone contents and somehow recover the data from here?
I am pretty desperate as I have five months of pictures/videos of my kids etc, and most of that data must still be on the phone – but how to get to it?
Finally – yes I am a complete plonker, I shouldn’t have made such a stupid mistake and I should have backed up the phone or the pictures. I have learned my lesson. But given that, is there anything I can do?
BTW - the phone came from 3 network (via a reseller) and I have not touched it with respect to unlocking/rooting etc. It is in the state I received it.
HELP please!
Thanks very much...........

I believe the MTP vs. USB Mass storage would be a driver thing. There are many different versions of drivers so its possible there are ones that will mount the phone with a drive letter. I can think of some other things to try (Boot into fastboot mode by turning phone off then powering on by holding power, volume up and volume down at the same time and holding till it vibrates). You could also try Disk Management under windows to see if you can assign a letter
In the future I highly recommend setting up a google account and using Google Photo/Instant Upload to keep a backup of your photos. You dont even have to sync anything else

Thanks for your suggestions, much appreciated.
I’ve now tried going into fastboot mode and connecting to PC but no joy – Windows recognises there is a device connected (usually ID’d as an OMAP4440) but can’t find a driver.
Disk Management also doesn’t show the Nexus as a drive and therefore won’t allow a Drive letter to be assigned.

Try these (obviously no guarantees and I havent used any personally)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fahrbot.apps.undelete
http://android-photo-recovery.com/tutorials/deleted-file-recovery-for-google-nexus-phones.html
EDIT: Found another:
http://www.wondershare.com/disk-utility/recover-deleted-photos-from-nexus-s-and-galaxy-nexus.html

Thanks again, I appreciate all suggestions. Yes I have come across these and unfortunately they don’t solve my issue. The last two are amongst those I’d seen reported as not working as they need a drive letter. I had installed both anyway but found that to be true (
The first requires root access which I don’t have. If I understand correctly, to root I’ll need to unlock the bootloader first, and unlocking will erase all the data anyway??

Unfortunately, you are out of luck. You cannot mount the storage on a GNex in USB Mass Storage mode, and I am pretty sure that none of the "undelete" programs that run in Android support ext4 (which is what our GNex internal storage is formatted).
If you are running 4.0.1 or 4.0.2, you can still get root access without losing your data (but not on 4.0.4), but I can't see how it will help you given what I mentioned above.

I am on 4.04 so sounds like I can't get root access without overwriting, can I roll back to 4.01/2 without overwriting the data? (sounds unlikely but I have to ask - I upgraded from 4.02 without losing data....).
If not, is there a way to get a data image without rooting? That way at least I have the data preserved if at some future point it becomes possible to do an undelete on Ext4 data??

Gavdroid said:
[snip]
can I roll back to 4.02/3 without overwriting the data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately no.
Gavdroid said:
If not, is there a way to get a data image without rooting? That way at least I have the data preserved if at some future point it becomes possible to do an undelete on Ext4 data??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe there are utilities to "do an undelete" on ext4. The problem is how to get access to the data image. I don't really know of any way to pull off the data partition of a GNex to your computer, but it may be possible.
Have a look at this thread. I think shaaXo managed to find a way for your computer to see the memory on the GNex and likely dump it (although it is not very user-friendly).

That sucks. If it's deleted, it's gone for good. Sorry, buddy.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

Thanks very much I will go through that post and see where I get to!
Edit! - uh-oh, taking a quick look it seems you need to use CWM, which I take to be ClockworkMod, which I thought required the phone to be rooted to install it? And if I understand correctly, rooting requires an unlocked bootloader, which wipes your data??
I will take a deeper look in case I've misunderstood (very likely), but am I thinking clearly here?

Touch Screen is Unresponsive and I Need to Back-up My Phone

AT&T SGS3 running AOKP 4.2.2
I dropped my phone and broke the touch screen. It displays, but is unresponsive to touch commands. I'm looking to:
-Back it up on my PC or External Card, and
-Get it back to stock. I paid for the extra warranty so they'll just send me a phone before I even send mine back in, but I at least want to make a reasonable effort to cover up my rooting. I can just imagine them deciding I owe them $600. Basterds.
I have read the related threads, and they gave me some ideas, but I wanted some fresh thoughts. I currently have CWM on it, and I know you normally can't see the external card with CWM, but I haven't had a chance to poke around too much because I'm still at work.
I'll keep you guys updated.
Thanks.

Mendax_ said:
AT&T SGS3 running AOKP 4.2.2
I dropped my phone and broke the touch screen. It displays, but is unresponsive to touch commands. I'm looking to:
-Back it up on my PC or External Card, and
-Get it back to stock. I paid for the extra warranty so they'll just send me a phone before I even send mine back in, but I at least want to make a reasonable effort to cover up my rooting. I can just imagine them deciding I owe them $600. Basterds.
I have read the related threads, and they gave me some ideas, but I wanted some fresh thoughts. I currently have CWM on it, and I know you normally can't see the external card with CWM, but I haven't had a chance to poke around too much because I'm still at work.
I'll keep you guys updated.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even though the phone doesn't respond to touch does the computer recognize it as a storage device when you plug it in? If so you should be able to back up your photos and personal files. You could even do a nandroid in recovery then dump those from internal storage to your PC. However I've never tried restoring a nandroid backup to another phone.
Or if you already had USB debugging active you could likely fetch the files you want using adb through terminal but I couldn't help with that.
Just some of my thoughts
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

OK I just did a backup to my external SD card. CWM had a specific option for it, which originally I thought would be the obvious course, but I read on here that CWM didn't normally see external storage for some reason.
I just hope my external card is big enough. It should be.
*EDIT* Error on the data back-up. Probably not enough space. Is there anyway I can check what the issue is? because it would be really easy to buy a bigger SD card.
Also, are there any issues with restoring onto another phone? Would I just have to flash the same ROM onto it before restoring?
Thanks

m1batt1 said:
Even though the phone doesn't respond to touch does the computer recognize it as a storage device when you plug it in? If so you should be able to back up your photos and personal files. You could even do a nandroid in recovery then dump those from internal storage to your PC. However I've never tried restoring a nandroid backup to another phone.
Or if you already had USB debugging active you could likely fetch the files you want using adb through terminal but I couldn't help with that.
Just some of my thoughts
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would like to think that I had USB debugging on but I'm not entirely sure. Knowing me it would have been one of the first things I did.
I'm at work and they have a security guard against data transfer via disk. I can't see the actual storage, just the media Icon, or whatever that is. This may just be a result of the security settings here.
I'll have to check all this at home

Mendax_ said:
I would like to think that I had USB debugging on but I'm not entirely sure. Knowing me it would have been one of the first things I did.
I'm at work and they have a security guard against data transfer via disk. I can't see the actual storage, just the media Icon, or whatever that is. This may just be a result of the security settings here.
I'll have to check all this at home
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK I'm not seeing the storage when I USB to my desktop (Windows 7). Lame. I thought it might be that easy.
Hmm. Can't I use Odin or something to back-up to my desktop, then mount the files?

Mendax_ said:
OK I'm not seeing the storage when I USB to my desktop (Windows 7). Lame. I thought it might be that easy.
Hmm. Can't I use Odin or something to back-up to my desktop, then mount the files?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm also having trouble getting it to go to download mode. It starts to, then reverts to normal boot up.
A new phone's on the way, but I need to get some files of this one, and get it back to stock before I send it in.
What's the likely hood they would charge me for the phone if I send them back the broken phone with a custom ROM? Especially considering that it was undoubtedly a hardware issue and we paid for the extra warranty.
They already processed the return and shipped me a phone. They would have to get my phone, boot it up, and get mad enough to want to punish me, rather than just processing the refurb. I think it's highly unlikely they would try to rescind my warranty, but I'm really trying to give a college try at getting it to stock.
Anymore ideas would be appreciated.

m1batt1 said:
Even though the phone doesn't respond to touch does the computer recognize it as a storage device when you plug it in? If so you should be able to back up your photos and personal files. You could even do a nandroid in recovery then dump those from internal storage to your PC. However I've never tried restoring a nandroid backup to another phone.
Or if you already had USB debugging active you could likely fetch the files you want using adb through terminal but I couldn't help with that.
Just some of my thoughts
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, so I'm thinking about what you say about "dumping my nandroid onto my desktop". Would there be a way to access the files from this image using my desktop? There has to be some sort of "virtual droid" or emulator package where I could mount the data.
Thanks. This sucks

removes newouis
I gave up on recovering my pics and media. They weren't that valuable.
I flashed a stock ROM, but I didn't Triangle Away so my counter reads "1". Do I need it to read "0"?
I performed a factory reset hoping to wipe everything, including my personal photos and media, but there seems to be some confusion as to whether or not this deletes your pics and media. I performed this through the stock recovery as there is no way for me to do it through my ROM without a touchscreen.
What's the latest verdict on this? I read a few threads and it seems people still aren't in agreement.
Does a factory reset/delete through the stock recovery delete EVERYTHING including pics and media? If not, how can I do this? I was thinking that I need to flash CWM again and do some formatting/partitioning?
I'm really trying to read all I can, I just don't have hours to do this right now. I'd greatly appreciate some help.
Thanks

The stock recovery will not delete anything stored on internal storage. AFAIK cwm has the options to and you can use the volume buttons to scroll up and down and power to select the choice.
Making the iPhone jealous one user at a time.

mkfryan said:
The stock recovery will not delete anything stored on internal storage. AFAIK cwm has the options to and you can use the volume buttons to scroll up and down and power to select the choice.
Making the iPhone jealous one user at a time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK so I was finally able to look at my storage on my PC via USB, after getting it back to stock ROM, and the reset appears to have deleted everything. There are no pics or vids in the DCIM folder where in the past this is where they've always been. I'm going to content myself with this observation.
Now I just need to set my flash counter to 0. It's at 1. Although I think it's highly unlikely they're going to retro charge me for a phone that's already on the way. Also, my screen has been degrading over time. Now I believe I can't see anything on it. Is it still possible to use Triangle Away when I can't use or see the touch screen. I'm sure I'd have to go from the ADB shell or something. Any thoughts on this would be great. Thanks.

[q] needddd heeelllppp!!!!!! Cant get into my phone need access

Hi,
I am new to this forum and I need serious help please. I dropped my AT&T Lg Optimus G the other day and now the bottom part of my phone is not responding to my touch. I have a lockscreen on and I cant put in the full pin and press okay I don't have my debugging option on, its not rooted (still stock), and I have tried the USB OTG with no luck but I am waiting to try the Y-cable OTG. There has to be a way I can enter my pin and unlock my phone so I can activate the debugging and use android screencast or something. I JUST NEED TO GET INTO MY PHONE SO I CAN BACKUP MY STUFF.. Is there a way to active debug from the computer or anything? There has to be some kind of way other then hard reset which will delete my texts, notes, etc... WHAT OTHER OPTIONS DO I HAVE?
I have order the Optimus Pro and I need to get this done before it arrives so I can send my G off.
Someone please find a solution for me and I will be thankful beyond measures

Native7 said:
Hi,
I am new to this forum and I need serious help please. I dropped my AT&T Lg Optimus G the other day and now the bottom part of my phone is not responding to my touch. I have a lockscreen on and I cant put in the full pin and press okay I don't have my debugging option on, its not rooted (still stock), and I have tried the USB OTG with no luck but I am waiting to try the Y-cable OTG. There has to be a way I can enter my pin and unlock my phone so I can activate the debugging and use android screencast or something. I JUST NEED TO GET INTO MY PHONE SO I CAN BACKUP MY STUFF.. Is there a way to active debug from the computer or anything? There has to be some kind of way other then hard reset which will delete my texts, notes, etc... WHAT OTHER OPTIONS DO I HAVE?
I have order the Optimus Pro and I need to get this done before it arrives so I can send my G off.
Someone please find a solution for me and I will be thankful beyond measures
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to backup internal storage things ? or some like apps or whatsapp conversation ?
If you want to backup something of your internal storage, you can wipe data/cache. It will let your phone from like it come to your hands, and screen pin will gone.

nch26 said:
You need to backup internal storage things ? or some like apps or whatsapp conversation ?
If you want to backup something of your internal storage, you can wipe data/cache. It will let your phone from like it come to your hands, and screen pin will gone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I need to back up internal storage things like my notes in a app, my text messages, and other stuff that's not on my SD card. How can I wipe the data/cache so I can get into my phone???

Native7 said:
Yes I need to back up internal storage things like my notes in a app, my text messages, and other stuff that's not on my SD card. How can I wipe the data/cache so I can get into my phone???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But if you do that all of your app data will wipe. There is no other solution other than buy a new screen

[Q] Factory Resetting phone with no display.

I am trying to sell my wifes old S4 Mini after she dropped it and cracked the display. The problem I have is I want to factory reset it to clear any sensitive data.
Is it possible when the LCD will not come on at all? The phone does connect to my pc for file transfer fine.
If its not possible what files can I safely delete from the phone manually from the PC? After looking through the folders there is only the Android Data and OBB folders that need stuff deleting from.
If I can safely delete any from here is there a way to make sure they remain deleted and are not recoverable?
Cheers in advance!

Steveh8204 said:
I am trying to sell my wifes old S4 Mini after she dropped it and cracked the display. The problem I have is I want to factory reset it to clear any sensitive data.
Is it possible when the LCD will not come on at all? The phone does connect to my pc for file transfer fine.
If its not possible what files can I safely delete from the phone manually from the PC? After looking through the folders there is only the Android Data and OBB folders that need stuff deleting from.
If I can safely delete any from here is there a way to make sure they remain deleted and are not recoverable?
Cheers in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
you can check this link
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2277765

un4saken said:
Hello,
you can check this link
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2277765
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, anyone got any idea how long it is before the Samsung logo comes up as the thread I read says you need to stop pressing Vol Up + Power + Home at this point?
I'm trying different times but I just cannot get it into bootloader, ADB isnt recognizing any devices.

It's fast, press power and immediately as it vibrates press home and vol+ but give it a minute to let the recovery boot, then connect if the command fastboot devices show a device you're good to go
I think flashing a stock with odin+pit file and repartition wipe all but this is risky

Bootloop issue HTC One M8 - wanting to avoid a hard reset to recover photos

Hi! So I'm currently having issues with my HTC One m8 as it started acting up recently when I was taking photos, it would crash and reset and continue this process if I opened more than two applications open. All of a sudden it crashed while I tried to back all my photos online and then would no longer switch on past the htc boot screen and would freeze in a bootloop. Ever since I have been unable to reach the normal screen of my phone to try and retrieve photos. In terms of resetting the phone manually that's easily doable and getting on to the recovery settings is no problem.
I'm trying to avoid a hard reset, and been looking online and saw something about using Fastboot USB, which I have currently on my phone screen while plugged in to my computer. Is there a way I can retrieve photos directly/indirectly from this before hard resetting my phone? Or should I bring it to the shop?
Any help is super appreciated!
From a not so tech savvy student

Is the phone modified (TWRP installed, root)?

It is not yet rooted no, should I root it?

EWStudent2 said:
It is not yet rooted no, should I root it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, that wasn't the point of my question.
With a modded device, you can access storage in custom recovery. Or you can also adb pull files from internal storage (I believe). You can't do either of these, if the phone isn't modded.
And you can't unlock the bootloader, and root the phone at this point. Unlocking the bootloader by definition, wipes all data on the phone (for security).
You are sure the save location is internal storage, and not the removable SD if you have one (internal storage is default)? If it is on SD, it will not be wiped. Probably not the case, but just mentioning it, in the unlikely event it is the case.
Otherwise, I don't think there is any way to retrieve the photos, unfortunately. You should be backing up your data on a regular basis, not waiting for a disaster then trying to retrieve the data. This comment assumes that it's all your photos you are talking about (no backup was done previously); and not just the ones taken since the last backup (since just losing a few photos is usually not a heartbreaking event).