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I was considering storing financial and personal information on my phone in the form of files and realized that though the fingerprint scanner is ok to prevent the casual browser from logging into the phone when it is left unaccompanied, a real hacker could easily see whats on there with very little effort.
The Atrix on the face of it looks like a secure phone with the fingerprint reader; however XDA users would know that nothing prevents a thief from entering fastboot and mounting the files and folders to see whats on there. No security app can prevent that.
Using the android built-in option and encrypting the entire sdcard is NOT an option for me at this time. I think its going to slow down the phone operation if the OS files are encrypted and each time it needs to decrypt each and every file and folder. Also it may present issues when testing new ROMs. (And I am dual booting - so my extSD also has a ROM which I would not want to slow down anymore than it already is)
So I searched for methods and apps to encrypt individual files or folders on the Atrix. There are quiet a few in the market and a few are free as well with good reviews. However most -even the ones with the best reviews seem to be just changing the file name and location and not doing real encryption. Also most of these use proprietary algorithms or methods to hide information. A really good app would be one that uses an open source algorithm to encrypt the files and folders - so that the algorithm would be tested and verified as being strong by the world.
Also another requirement was for the ability to frequently sync and update the files on the phone with the PC. The app should have a PC equivalent - that is the file can change on my PC and then I should be able to sync the changed file with the phone in some automated way.
Yet another requirement would be the ability to quickly encrypt and decrypt huge audio or video files. A few good apps could encrypt small audio and video files but not files of size 1GB or more. The apps would either freeze after some time or not encrypt them at all.
Finally I was looking for an option by which the files if I unencrypt them to be available across all apps for the duration of that session - not just in the app that encrypts and decrypts them. So in other words, once I enter the password, the folder should be mounted and available in any app that can browse the phone - until I decide to end or unmount the encrypted store.
I found only Cryptonite doing all of this. Unfortunately Cryptonite does not support Truecrypt containers on Motorola phones. There is some info here on the truecrypt port to android here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=872297&page=7
However I could not get it working with the Atrix. Has anyone had success getting Kryptonite and Truecrypt to work on the Atrix?
Cryptonite also supports Dropbox, but I am not a big fan of storing sensitive info in the cloud - however well known the company is.
Cryptonite does support encFS and I was able to successfully create encFS encrypted folder on my Atrix. I would have liked to have TrueCrypt than encFS, just because I have been reading that Truecrypt has better overall support.
The method I use now for storing and synching encrypted information is:
for the first time only: create the encfs folder on the PC, then mount Atrix as a USB drive and copy the encrypted folder to Atrix.
To sync the encrypted files with the PC, I have to connect the Atrix as USB drive, open EncFS on the PC and select the folder on the Atrix to mount as a drive volume. Also mount the PC encFS folder as another drive. Now sync with the PC using any sync tool like MS SyncToy.
I went through a lot of searching and came to this which I think is good enough at the moment. I would like to hear if anyone else has a better app or method to secure and sync secured files on the Atrix - especially if you have got Truecrypt to somehow work on the Atrix. And I post this so that is anyone else needs this information, it is here.
shenoyh said:
Yet another requirement would be the ability to quickly encrypt and decrypt huge audio or video files. A few good apps could encrypt small audio and video files but not files of size 1GB or more. The apps would either freeze after some time or not encrypt them at all.
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I don't know about the rest of it, I never used any strong security on my phone nor do I intend to, but I think you shouldn't ever expect to be able to "quickly encrypt and decrypt huge files". You're pretty much asking for impossible here. It's like asking to build a full-featured house, furnished and all, in 30 minutes or less. A lot of data will always require a lot of time to process. Heck, even, say, straight plain copying such a file to a computer would take quite a while.
No.
Your not going to get business class security on your atrix, or any current phone most likely.
LUKS manager is the closest thing to legitimate encryption (not gimicky BS) i have seen, but it has some fatal flaws.
Passwords and such are safe and easy to store with KeePass, which is also on windows/linux for syncing and has years of reputation (also free/open source). It isnt for files though.
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Atrix 4G
Rom: Cyanogenmod 7.2 [20120805]
Recov: Romracer 5.0.2.7-atrix5
Radio: N_01.97.00R
Kernel: Faux 1.00ghz-026b1
UV: -0/-25/-50/-100/-150/-225/-300
I searched and checked the FAQs, nothing appeared on this.
Micro. said some blabber about no one used this in Win 7 and that it slowed down the system. I used it, and loved it, along with a lot of other power users if you Google it.
Apparently, there are still shadow copies in Win 8, so I copied the folder to the window pane on the left in explorer. In the address bar, type:
\\computername\c$\Users\computerusername
e.g. \\mylaptop\c$\Spongebobsquarepants
Has anyone else been using this? Apparently on the network, previous versions, including the tab is still there. Anyone have any tips on this? If I could get the previous version tab in the properties section I would run around naked singing.
Shadow Copies are still present, but they're (in theory) used only for the "System Restore" feature that's been around in one form or another since Windows ME. You may recall that on Vista and Win7 you had to manually enable Previous Versions for any drive but the system one, and stuff like that? My guess is that that's why the feature didn't get enough usage; people didn't have it turned on to use it much.
Anyhow, like you, I made very heavy use of Previous Versions and was pissed to see it get cut (the new Windows Backup is almost good enough to be a substitute, but they serve different purposes, dammit!). I'd love to see a way to get it brought back for data files (as opposed to system files and programs only).
There is also "File History" which works much the same way but from a seperate GUI.
The backup files have to be stored on an external drive, but you can get around this by creating a network share that points at one of your local drives.
And it only does Libraries, but since you can create libraries, and put any folders you like in them, it means you can back up pretty much anything.
marcd2k12 said:
There is also "File History" which works much the same way but from a seperate GUI.
The backup files have to be stored on an external drive, but you can get around this by creating a network share that points at one of your local drives.
And it only does Libraries, but since you can create libraries, and put any folders you like in them, it means you can back up pretty much anything.
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Ah, I never knew this. I tried selecting the same drive as Windows 8 but it refuses, I selected my other partition with Windows 7 and it accepted that location. I'll see how that goes. Thanks a lot.
Hello guys. I know that my question is a little bit off topic but anyway please tell me your opinion. I want to make a safe backup of my all my picture that I have in digital format on my pc (from cameras, phones,etc.) and also some other important documents from university. So, beside the online backup, what alternative you think is good? what is better, external HDD or usb flash drive, considering that a 512gb flash drive could be bought from ebay just for 25$? Also, what do you think, which storage could last more, lets say 10 years? Thank you in advance
I think best quality DVD'S would be a better way to store pictures.
If they are critical then get a raid storage bank.
I would personally not rely on solid state device.
Modern hard drives are also good backup medium.
Do the backup on all.
Flash, HDD and cloud.
If one fails, you still have the other two
Chances are very low that all three fail.
@GDReaper thank you for the reply. Yes you are right i agree with you. maybe using at least 2 choices will be fine. The problem with the online backup that I am currently using is that uploading of every picture one by one (even if you select the whole folder in practice the proccess is decomposed) and that takes too much time beside my optical connection. So i must compress my folders into rar parts and upload them like that. when i need some file from that bunch i should again download all of the parts and unrar them....that is the actual problem. For that reason i think that a cheap flash usb drive would be my next alternative.
Hello all.....I am trying to recover deleted text messages, pic/vid messages on my stock Samsung Galaxy S5, G-900A, running android 5.0 (lollipop). I have tried to utilize a few different android data recovery systems but all have failed in locating any of the deleted messages---likely because root access is required? I have looked everywhere and am under the impression that this particular phone still cannot be rooted due to the AT&T locked boot loader. I also understand that these types of deleted msg files can be overwritten with extend use after initial deletion, however, I am only concerned with messages to and from one particular person, and there hasn't been much use on the phone since they were deleted anyway. This was one of my company phones used by an employee and it is important that I recover these messages. In my conversations with the AT&T Legal Department I was informed that even with court ordered subpoena they do not have the actual messages to provide because they are "deleted from their servers within a few days", but they were able to provide me with the actual data/message/call logs---which doesn't really help me with the issue. I know that there has to be some way or method to locate and recover these messages-----PLEASE HELP------Thank you in advance.
Additionally, I would like to add that I am not at all concerned with any future functionability of this phone, not sure if that even matters---just thought maybe if there are any important apps/programs/functions were modified or deleted to gain access to these messages I am absolutely willing.
Also, is there any way to copy or save the phones hard drive to my computer and access these messages/files through another function on my laptop????
It's unlikely you can recover them, one thing you can try is imaging the phone as you mentioned though, I only know how you could do it in linux though so I'm not sure how much use that will be to you.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
Could probably get the text messages printed out from your carrier for a price
Rakuu said:
It's unlikely you can recover them, one thing you can try is imaging the phone as you mentioned though, I only know how you could do it in linux though so I'm not sure how much use that will be to you.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
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Thank you very much.....Im not exactly sure what protocol is on this but I'm wondering if I could hire you or anyone else who might be interested to scan and locate these messages for me? I see that you live in houston, as do I; if it is possible to find these messages thru linux I certainly couldn't do it as I have no experience with that program/software.
cg81 said:
Thank you very much.....Im not exactly sure what protocol is on this but I'm wondering if I could hire you or anyone else who might be interested to scan and locate these messages for me? I see that you live in houston, as do I; if it is possible to find these messages thru linux I certainly couldn't do it as I have no experience with that program/software.
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Seems you might have less luck than I thought :/ this is what I could find about finding the messages https://cmanios.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/read-sms-directly-from-sqlite-database-in-android/ to get deleted ones though you'd have to recover the old db, which would be hard to do in and of itself with flash memory, and you'd be lucky to get anything out of what would likely be a partial database file, and that would be hard to read. On top of that, to get an image of anything, even unrooted user readable partitions(internal sd card) you need root, because the command can only be run from the phone it seems, since the phone is presently on 5.0 it's not possible to root it, so your chances are slim to none since no data recovery tool app on the phone would go to the location of the message db file, even if it did it would need root, and even then, to image the phone as far as I can tell also requires root. The only thing I can think of is removing the internal sd card, the ifixit teardown covers this kind of, the card isn't a standard microsd, so finding a way to mount it would be trivial(possibly re-soldering it to a usb?) , if you managed that though, then you might have a chance at attempting data recovery which as I mentioned earlier is already going to be 50/50. As for someone who you could pay for help with this, I can't think of any place, and I also would be of no help unfortunately, there may be someone on the forums or around town who will do it on their own behalf, as with before though I don't know anyone who could help with it though. All this said, it's all speculation for the most part, so I would wait for a second opinion by someone else before taking any action.
Rakuu said:
Seems you might have less luck than I thought :/ this is what I could find about finding the messages https://cmanios.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/read-sms-directly-from-sqlite-database-in-android/ to get deleted ones though you'd have to recover the old db, which would be hard to do in and of itself with flash memory, and you'd be lucky to get anything out of what would likely be a partial database file, and that would be hard to read. On top of that, to get an image of anything, even unrooted user readable partitions(internal sd card) you need root, because the command can only be run from the phone it seems, since the phone is presently on 5.0 it's not possible to root it, so your chances are slim to none since no data recovery tool app on the phone would go to the location of the message db file, even if it did it would need root, and even then, to image the phone as far as I can tell also requires root. The only thing I can think of is removing the internal sd card, the ifixit teardown covers this kind of, the card isn't a standard microsd, so finding a way to mount it would be trivial(possibly re-soldering it to a usb?) , if you managed that though, then you might have a chance at attempting data recovery which as I mentioned earlier is already going to be 50/50. As for someone who you could pay for help with this, I can't think of any place, and I also would be of no help unfortunately, there may be someone on the forums or around town who will do it on their own behalf, as with before though I don't know anyone who could help with it though. All this said, it's all speculation for the most part, so I would wait for a second opinion by someone else before taking any action.
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I sure do appreciate all of your help and consideration......i sure wish there was some other/easier way to accomplish this...however, i have been able to put the micro-sd card into a larger converter card thing and view on my macbook pro---although there are many many empty folders when i try to access them. Is there a particular file reader that i could download on laptop that would show any invisible files and allow me to view them? Sorry for the amateur questions....thanks again for your help.
cg81 said:
I sure do appreciate all of your help and consideration......i sure wish there was some other/easier way to accomplish this...however, i have been able to put the micro-sd card into a larger converter card thing and view on my macbook pro---although there are many many empty folders when i try to access them. Is there a particular file reader that i could download on laptop that would show any invisible files and allow me to view them? Sorry for the amateur questions....thanks again for your help.
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The microsd card from the phone does not have any text messages as far as I know, won't help to look at that, you need the internal one used by the phone which is a soldered to the board.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
In fact , the lost Samsung can be recovered back depends on whether the messages is completely deleted from Samsung ,you can restore deleted messages from Samsung from Samsung SD card ,or Samsung Memory card ,In addition, the program is also apply to almost all Android devices, including HTC, LG, Sony, Motolora, Google and so on. Hope this can help.
I pulled out my old Tab A 10.1 (2016) and forget just how ridiculously limited this thing is with space. I did some searching and found out that I should be able to use the "Format as Internal" feature, but the feature is nowhere to be found. The android version is at 8.1 Oreo, so it should at least be capable, but I can't tell why the actual button/feature is missing. Another method I'm seeing is by using ADB from the PC. the idea is fairly straight forward, and yet, not. I opened adb through cmd line. But the next step I'm supposed to do is enter sm list-disks to list my USB connected devices. But when I enter it, nothing happens. The command isn't among the list of commands brought up when you enter adb. So... I have no clue where to go next.
I just want my 256gb micro sd card to become the main/"internal" drive for my galaxy Tab A, so that all updates, apps, images, et, are saved, downloaded and installed on the SD card by default.
Not recommended. It will slow it down and may end up crashing it, losing data in the process.
Use the SD card as the data drive.
Internal memory is for the OS, loaded apps, the temporary download folder. The DCIM folder can go on either drive preferably the data. There can only be ONE DCIM folder on the device!
Always redundantly backup critical data to at least two hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC.
blackhawk said:
Not recommended. It will slow it down and may end up crashing it, losing data in the process.
Use the SD card as the data drive.
Internal memory is for the OS, loaded apps, the temporary download folder. The DCIM folder can go on either drive preferably the data. There can only be ONE DCIM folder on the device!
Always redundantly backup critical data to at least two hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC.
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Click to collapse
I appreciate it. I didn't realize it'd affect speed. But ... the issue is that the tablets only has 16gb internal. Half the apps I install cannot by move to SD card. Some streaming apps can while others can't. And before I even know whether or an app can be moved, there isn't enough room to install to internal. Ive search everywhere and can't find anything to install apps from play store directly to SD card. This is a major issue with updates too. I have absolutely no intension of installing games. But the majority of the following apps I do need for business purposes. I need to have social (Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Discord, Reddit, and Tik tok) for business purposes, as well as Etsy to shop and maintain my shop. Store apps I frequent for business materials (Amazon, Walmart, Target, Costco, Home Depot, and a few others). Utility apps for notes, docs, and calculating, among other things. Art apps for sketching and designing. And lastly some entertainment apps including Hulu, Vudu, Netflix, Disney+ Amazon Prime, and Kindle.
I know it seems like a lot, but please try not to criticize. I don't think it's too unreasonable being that I have all these apps and much much more just on my phone. I know it's a bit older, but I feel it's odd that my phone can hold this much without hinderance for updates, but a tablet can't.
I do truly appreciate your warning. I really do. But if you know the process (legitimacy), would you allow me to try it and I will take responsibility for the risk knowing full well you warned me? Please? Besides, the SD card was on sell, so it's not a big loss lol.
Take note that apps can only be placed on adopted storage media if the developer has specified support via the android:installLocation attribute.
jwoegerbauer said:
Take note that apps can only be placed on adopted storage media if the developer has specified support via the android:installLocation attribute.
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As simple as that statement may have been, that went over my head a bit. "developer" being Samsung? How do I confirm this? or are you saying that Samsung does not support it?
And is "adopted storage" the termed used for describing the adb approach?
varxtis said:
As simple as that statement may have been, that went over my head a bit. "developer" being Samsung? How do I confirm this? or are you saying that Samsung does not support it?
And is "adopted storage" the termed used for describing the adb approach?
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The 3rd party app doesn't is what jwoegerbauer
said.
This isn't the device for this job. Repurpose it for something else.
With those kind of apps you better get something with a huge internal memory.
Don't mix business with pleasure on a device; remember what pays the bills.
That said those apps you use for business are an open invitation for malware, phishing, hackers, etc.
blackhawk said:
The 3rd party app doesn't is what jwoegerbauer
said.
This isn't the device for this job. Repurpose it for something else.
With those kind of apps you better get something with a huge internal memory.
Don't mix business with pleasure on a device; remember what pays the bills.
That said those apps you use for business are an open invitation for malware, phishing, hackers, etc.
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Click to collapse
Fair enough. Thank you both! Ironically I had it as our over glorified house remote to control Home Theater PC (unified remote), XBox, Lights, Smart devices, etc... but everything is available on streaming, so we got rid of HTPC, and everything else we've been using through our phones. It does however make a very sleek looking $15 paper weight ^_^ (It's value is apparently only $15 lol) Ugh, I refuse to go to apple... I wonder what device would meet my needs. I'm about to wear out Google lol. Anyway, thank you both again.
varxtis said:
Fair enough. Thank you both! Ironically I had it as our over glorified house remote to control Home Theater PC (unified remote), XBox, Lights, Smart devices, etc... but everything is available on streaming, so we got rid of HTPC, and everything else we've been using through our phones. It does however make a very sleek looking $15 paper weight ^_^ (It's value is apparently only $15 lol) Ugh, I refuse to go to apple... I wonder what device would meet my needs. I'm about to wear out Google lol. Anyway, thank you both again.
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You're welcome.
You can find something for it to do... google repurposing old phones etc.
I have stock Samsung's only. They have a learning curve meaning they should be optimized before use. A model running on Android 9 or 10 would work nicely, disable firmware updates so it can't upgrade to 11 as that will break it. You want 256gb of internal memory, at least 6gb of ram and a SD card* slot is preferable.
If you use it for business consider getting 2 so you have a backup.
* all critical data goes here including everything you need for a complete reload.
Always backup critical data redundantly to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC. At the very least use a OTG flashstick to back the data up. Verify the data is readable and all there.
Never encrypt backup drives! Put them in a safe or deposit box if you must.
Develope a backup plan or eventually you will lose data.
blackhawk said:
You're welcome.
You can find something for it to do... google repurposing old phones etc.
I have stock Samsung's only. They have a learning curve meaning they should be optimized before use. A model running on Android 9 or 10 would work nicely, disable firmware updates so it can't upgrade to 11 as that will break it. You want 256gb of internal memory, at least 6gb of ram and a SD card* slot is preferable.
If you use it for business consider getting 2 so you have a backup.
* all critical data goes here including everything you need for a complete reload.
Always backup critical data redundantly to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC. At the very least use a OTG flashstick to back the data up. Verify the data is readable and all there.
Never encrypt backup drives! Put them in a safe or deposit box if you must.
Develope a backup plan or eventually you will lose data.
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Click to collapse
@[email protected] Thats a "lot" to take in. The information is straight forward enough, but when I feel like a monkey banging against an obelisk ... lol. I do get it, I promise. I'll have to figure out a plan. I just went and picked up an S7. Shame on me tho: I asked for 256gb and after halfway done setting it up (at home) it occurs to me its a 128gb. That WAS my bad. Not the sales rep. I should have been paying attention to price difference, but I got the protection pla, and had rewards points and there was a Sale, so the price balanced out, and ya. . . I have the attention span of a 2yo. But not gonna take it back. It runs very smooth and stores what I need/want. Work tablet anyway, so aside from nes/snes/genesis/n64 emus and Lemmings game from app store, won't be loading anything heavy (*head drift slowly up and to the right as I get lost in dreams of VR*) Plenty of free space. Just really really disappointed that the Device still have the Phone and Messages app even though Call & Text feature is disabled in the US. Anyway, Thank you!I really really appreciate the emphasis on backup. New to business, so have to keep in mind how important info is. Thank you again for everything!
It is a lot to take in.
It's a evolutionary process of learning and adapting... not all done at once.
Depending on your device and needs you will modify what I said to fit your goals.
If you load a lot of apps 256gb is probably better.
I don't like creating open box specials but do what you need to do...
You need at least 50gb of headroom after you're done loading everything.
You can get by with a lot less but personally I want at least 100gb of headroom after loading on the internal memory.
No such thing as too much... it comes in handy.
blackhawk said:
It is a lot to take in.
It's a evolutionary process of learning and adapting... not all done at once.
Depending on your device and needs you will modify what I said to fit your goals.
If you load a lot of apps 256gb is probably better.
I don't like creating open box specials but do what you need to do...
You need at least 50gb of headroom after you're done loading everything.
You can get by with a lot less but personally I want at least 100gb of headroom after loading on the internal memory.
No such thing as too much... it comes in handy.
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Ooooooh ya, I am right there with ya on Open box stuff. There are very few things I trust open box, but phones and tablets are not among them. So, I have everything installed and I'm at 27% used on internal. So I feel pretty confident so far.
varxtis said:
Ooooooh ya, I am right there with ya on Open box stuff. There are very few things I trust open box, but phones and tablets are not among them. So, I have everything installed and I'm at 27% used on internal. So I feel pretty confident so far.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I buy new phones only and so far its worked out well.
Sounds like you have enough internal memory
Get a V30 rated SD card like the Sandisk extreme. These run well. Format it in the device before using.
A .5tb one goes for about $75.