[Q] i9505 Access hidden picture files off device (Broken Screen) - Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi guys, bit of a problem here.
I've managed to foolishly destroy the display on my Galaxy S4 i9505. I plan on getting the phone replaced as part of a refurbishment plan with my carrier. I've backed up all the data, with the exception of one thing:
The images in the Samsung gallery app which I have used the "Hide files" option on.
The phone itself is in working order, with the exception of the display, which is not working at all, a tiny corner of the display is mostly fine but not responding to touch.
I read somewhere that these hidden files are placed in a subfolder with a \.hide\ directory name, although when I plug the USB cable in and attempt to access the files using Windows Explorer, I cannot see this directory and the images are not present in the existing directory.
A few things about the status of the phone:
Currently, the phone is NOT rooted. If a potential solution requires root, I should be able to do so without the use of the display, am I right?
USB Debug mode is off.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Related

Need Help, can't access the phone/password

I need some help XDA. I don't know if you'll help or not, but I'm law enforcement and I need to access a locked Droid X. None of the forensic solutions available support bypassing the lock code and I don't have access to the Gmail password for this phone.
What I was looking for is a way to flash the phone with a rooted recovery image that would not overwrite the user data on the phone, so that I could recover the contents of the phone. I've looked at several different options including adb/custom recovery images but it looks like I need to access the USB debugging mode to root the phone.
Can this be done and if so how. Is someone out there willing to help me with building a custom recovery image that doesn't overwrite or dump the user data?
maybe im oversimplifying this but have you tried just plugging it in to the computer? my x will automatically connect as a usb drive and allow me to access the files on the sd card, obviously this wont help if you are wanting call logs or txt messages unless they backed them up to the sd card, just a suggestion before custom recovery
xsurferx, I have tried that and the only thing I get is the phone will charge. In device manager the phone is recognized as a Motorola MB810 USB device.
There is no way to access the device available through Windows Explorer.
My bet is that the person who took the time to ensure that privacy is more important than convience ( deny data connect from usb, wipe sdcard, and strong enough password/encryption) has looked further into other routes aswell. But I don't know of any kind of flashable that would both preserve data and reset the lock screen. The phone is probably one of the best suited to not devulging its information. It would probably be easier to get a court order for the cell records. But I wish you luck.
Dispatched at the Speed of Light from my XOOM
If you're trying to access the SD card, take it out and use a SD card reader on a computer and should be able to fix permissions that way? Maybe....
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Thanks chbennet, I've already retrieved the cell phone records from the provider (via Search Warrant) and examined the victim's phone in this case. But as always I'd also like to have all of the evidence including the suspect's phone contents. I already have the SD card contents.
There has to be a way similar to the iPhone to restore the system data to default while keeping the user data (call logs, SMS, Images, video, browser history, etc.) in tact.
The iPhone does this by creating a system partition and a user partition. Is this the same in Android phones? Or is it one partition and directories?
I'd still like to see if there is someone that could build a ROM flash that would disable the passcode.
If it is rooted, there was probably a nandroid backup on the card. If there was, this might help.
http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-all-things-root/319602-read-copy-contents-nandroid-backups.html
Dispatched at the Speed of Light from my XOOM

Can't write to the nexus 7 internal

For some reason I cannot move files via Windows 7 file explorer to the Nexus. I can and have done this on every other mobile device that I've had before. What's the difference? Why can't I place pics and videos on it?
A few more details would be super helpful to give you a good answer. Start with if you are running a custom ROM and what if anything you have tried to solve the problem.
When you plug in your usb look under settings - storage and see if there is the option to mount storage.
Note 2 - Nexus 7 - Charge - Player 5.0 - Fascinate
<><><><><><><><><><>
Read twice, flash once
For some reason, now it's letting me even though I didn't change anything. Mods can delete this if they want. And thank you ezas for your reply.
Glad you got it sorted out.
Note 2 - Nexus 7 - Charge - Player 5.0 - Fascinate
<><><><><><><><><><>
Read twice, flash once
Brian Gove said:
For some reason, now it's letting me even though I didn't change anything. Mods can delete this if they want. And thank you ezas for your reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my limited experience using MTP (rooted stock N7 4.2.2 + Win 7 x64), what seems to work well is:
- copying files FROM the N7 which were already in the /sdcard mount point when the N7 last booted,
- copying files TO the N7 into a folder which already existed inside the /sdcard mount point when the N7 last booted.
(I should also point out that moving files this way seems to be 5-7 times faster than using "adb push" or "adb pull")
What seems to only work sporadically is trying to copy or write to things which were "recently created" in the /sdcard mount point. For instance, if you generate a large set of files using Android, you won't be able to find them from the PC until a seemingly random ? amount of time later. Similarly, if you create a folder on the N7 (let's say by using a file manager) with the intent of pushing some files there from the PC, you won't see that folder show up in a reasonable amount of time.
This behavior actually does make sense - in principle, it is impossible to allow instantaneous write access to a file system from two independent hosts without running risks of filesystem corruption. In previous versions of Android, external SD cards could be accessed using USB Mass Storage drivers, but only exclusively by either the Android device or the PC - never at the same time. The SD card had to be unmounted from Android in order to be seen by the PC.
But, what is curious is the delays involved. I wanted to do something similar to this the other day (copying a nandroid backup from the PC to a "new" folder on the N7), and thought that by correctly disconnecting from the PC followed by reconnecting to the PC would allow the newly-created folder to "show up" via MTP on the PC. No such luck however; I needed to reboot the N7 for that to happen.
Bottom line is that MTP will work (and quickly, too! - better than 10 MB/sec) - but only with the above limitations in mind. When in doubt, reboot the N7.

All data lost from 'Sdcard' Please HELP!

I've somehow lost all the data on my sdcard.
Device is an LG G2 D802, running stock lollipop 5.0.2 --> THIS ROM, V30b
I had my phone hooked to pc and all was OK. I was able to move files around and everything was present.
Then I tried accessing a folder (after being able too) having left my PC for a few minutes, and an error popped up on windows, I can't remember what, something along the lines of "the device cannot be accesses".
I then disconnected the USB
How can I retreive my data. I'm more concerned about pictures and videos.
I've tried a few apps, but aren't having much success.
A lot of files don't display correctly and some files aren't even being found.
Any help is appreciated

[Q] Mac User - Android File Transfer not recognizing S7 edge

I must be doing something stupid, but no matter what combination of options I user in Developer Options and USB transfer type, AFT does not recognize the device and asked to restart or reattach. What am I missing? Thanks in advance. p.s. I made the switch from an iPhone and have forgotten most of the Android stuff I knew several years ago.
jsamuels said:
I must be doing something stupid, but no matter what combination of options I user in Developer Options and USB transfer type, AFT does not recognize the device and asked to restart or reattach. What am I missing? Thanks in advance. p.s. I made the switch from an iPhone and have forgotten most of the Android stuff I knew several years ago.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It unfortunately does not work.
Download Smart Switch from here: http://www.samsung.com/us/smart-switch/assets/downloads/SmartSwitch_Mac_setup.dmg
Once it has been downloaded, it will tell you to unlock your phone and connect it.
Once that has been done, click the down arrow beside "Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge"; You will see a folder beside Internal Memory, so click on that folder, and from here, it will look similar to Android File Transfer.
You should be able to drag and drop files into the folders, create new folders, move sh*t around, etc.
Thanks. I'll give it a shot. When I first used the other day I didn't see the file transfer capability, only the basic backup and restore functions.
jsamuels said:
Thanks. I'll give it a shot. When I first used the other day I didn't see the file transfer capability, only the basic backup and restore functions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah unfortunately this is the only way I found to do it on a Mac.
Mac and Android don't really go well together
Worked perfectly. Too bad AFT doesn't work. I assume Google will update to support this phone. Again, thanks.
But Smart Switch is painfully slow in file transfer. There has got to be a way to get AFT working again. Mine just stopped, and when connecting the device, USB debugging on or off, the phone does not ask me if I want to allow the file transfer. I think mine stopped working after installing SideSync, and I never had Kies installed so that solution does not apply. This should not be rocket science!

[Q] Touchscreen doesn't respond after using bogus photo recovery software

Hello, ladies and lads!
Here's a short version of where I'm at: after installing Wondershare' s dr.phone Recovery on my mom's PC and using it on her phone:
its screen won't respond to touch (can't enter SIM card's PIN nor open screen lock)
the On/Off button won't turn off the phone on long press (maybe due to screen lock)
on restart there's a yellow text that reads "Set Warranty Bit : kernel"
the physical buttons still work
I can see the phone's files and folders only through PC's command prompt, using ADB ('This PC\Galaxy Grand Prime' folder in Win Explorer says it's empty).
Ideally I want to keep her data (FB Messenger, Skype, Chrome, WiFi passwords, etc), and her phone to function again. What do you think I should do?
I think I need an advice and suggestions from someone more experienced than me - I don't even know trusted sites where to download the firmware roms from.
The phone's details are (I'm afraid you'll have to walk me through to get more details to this list, as I'm new to the forum):
Phone: Samsung Grand Prime
Model name: SM-G530FZ
Firmware version: G530FZXXS1BQC2 (Android 5.0.2 with Baltic bloatware, I guess)
Now in detail:
My knowledge and experience regarding the smartphone software & restoration is very basic (I've only restored the firmware to a LG-L70 once some years ago, and that's it).
Before the problem I lost some over 600 media files from that phone by Cutting and Pasting a folder from phone's internal SD to PC's disc. Now I learned never to Cut-Paste important or irreplaceable files. The files ended up on the phone, because a folder with over 800 files couldn't be uploaded to the Google Drive (the camera's folder had over 1k files in it, so I moved some of them to another folder, which the phone created on the internal partition rather than the SD Card, where the original folder was from).
Instead of using a trusted software, I foolishly Googled a photo recovery program for phones, using my mom's PC. A list of bogus recovery program sites appeared (had to look them up on her PC, as I found only legit, widely trusted programs now, using my laptop. Those darn Google's personalized search result algorithms!).
Before using the dr.fone Recovery software I synced most of the data to her account.
Used the "free" dr.fone Recovery software as per its site's instructions, the phone did a restart and the touchscreen went unresponsive to touch. Later the software showed the lost files it found, and offered to restore them for a sum. Naturally I declined.
The software said that to return the phone to normal I need to disconnect the USB cable. I did so, but the phone's screen remained unresponsive to touch, even after restart (long-press [Pow] + [Vol-]).
I tried connecting an USB mouse via the dongle, but the mouse cursor didn't appear (maybe this phone doesn't have this functionality).
Now, after using that FAIL-covery program, I was overly cautious not to make things even worse.
I wanted to make a copy of the phone's internal SD state (or is it called a phone's hard drive?), to get the media files from the clone and to have a backup of mom's files.
But I failed: I downloaded APK, ncat, KingoRoot and BusyBox. Tried to follow the steps in this video: youtu[dot]be/KKkvkCgMeMA. Got stuck at "busybox not found" at about 10:27 mark in that video ("dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0" "busybox nc -l -p 8888"). Turns out you need to run some of the apps from that phone prior to that step, and I don't know any workarounds.
Then I remembered that the files were on the external SD in the first place. Well duh! I then connected the Micro SD card to PC's reader via a Micro SD adapter. To make a copy of the SD card's 1s & 0s, and to restore the media files from said copy I used ZAR (Zero Assumption Recovery) z-a-recovery[dot]com/. The backup creation (an .ISO file or some such) and media recovery are free of charge.
Now I only need to remove duplicates and blurry pics (I think I had a Moleskinsoft's Clone Remover from an old PC magazine's CD lying around somewhere for the latter). Oh, and I better not forget to run a malware scanner on her PC and remove the mr.fone installed services and folders from it. Went a bit off-topic here, sorry!
Last I pulled a wifi passwords file with "adb pull /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf" command as per instructions on this page: mashtips[dot]com/see-wifi-password-android/. I don't know whether putting the file back on that phone will do the trick or not.
That's pretty much all.
I hope the situation can be resolved and I appreciate your input! :fingers-crossed: Maybe someone has come across a similar post, has constructive commentary or knows something obvious that I haven't come up with? Thank you in advance!
Edit 30 Jan '19: Got the phone working. Accessed the phone with a Chrome browser extension (name here). All accounts except some mail account were gone. WiFi didn't work.
Found a stock ROM here: (address here).
Found the Odin3 tool here: (address here). It came with a different locale ROM.
Flashed the 1st ROM with Odin. The screen started to work.
Flashed the 1st ROM with Odin again. The WiFi started working.
I'll update this with links soon.
I've got the exact same problem after using Dr Fone app!
Hi there.
I've got the same problem with my Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime after using Dr Fone, like you. I contacted Wondershare website from which I downloaded the app but they haven't bothered replying. Not happy at all!!
I contacted Samsung's support team and after trying different things (the usual stuff: reboot; remove the battery and SIM card; restart in Safe Mode; etc) which didn't solve the problem, they ended up telling me to reset the phone to the factory settings but that didn't work either.
Now my phone is stuck on the Samsung Galaxy Welcome screen which asks me to choose the language I want on my phone. The touchscreen is still unresponsive.
How did you manage to fix the problem if the touchscreen was unresponsive?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Your-Mum said:
Hello, ladies and lads!
Here's a short version of where I'm at: after installing Wondershare' s dr.phone Recovery on my mom's PC and using it on her phone:
its screen won't respond to touch (can't enter SIM card's PIN nor open screen lock)
the On/Off button won't turn off the phone on long press (maybe due to screen lock)
on restart there's a yellow text that reads "Set Warranty Bit : kernel"
the physical buttons still work
I can see the phone's files and folders only through PC's command prompt, using ADB ('This PC\Galaxy Grand Prime' folder in Win Explorer says it's empty).
Ideally I want to keep her data (FB Messenger, Skype, Chrome, WiFi passwords, etc), and her phone to function again. What do you think I should do?
I think I need an advice and suggestions from someone more experienced than me - I don't even know trusted sites where to download the firmware roms from.
The phone's details are (I'm afraid you'll have to walk me through to get more details to this list, as I'm new to the forum):
Phone: Samsung Grand Prime
Model name: SM-G530FZ
Firmware version: G530FZXXS1BQC2 (Android 5.0.2 with Baltic bloatware, I guess)
Now in detail:
My knowledge and experience regarding the smartphone software & restoration is very basic (I've only restored the firmware to a LG-L70 once some years ago, and that's it).
Before the problem I lost some over 600 media files from that phone by Cutting and Pasting a folder from phone's internal SD to PC's disc. Now I learned never to Cut-Paste important or irreplaceable files. The files ended up on the phone, because a folder with over 800 files couldn't be uploaded to the Google Drive (the camera's folder had over 1k files in it, so I moved some of them to another folder, which the phone created on the internal partition rather than the SD Card, where the original folder was from).
Instead of using a trusted software, I foolishly Googled a photo recovery program for phones, using my mom's PC. A list of bogus recovery program sites appeared (had to look them up on her PC, as I found only legit, widely trusted programs now, using my laptop. Those darn Google's personalized search result algorithms!).
Before using the dr.fone Recovery software I synced most of the data to her account.
Used the "free" dr.fone Recovery software as per its site's instructions, the phone did a restart and the touchscreen went unresponsive to touch. Later the software showed the lost files it found, and offered to restore them for a sum. Naturally I declined.
The software said that to return the phone to normal I need to disconnect the USB cable. I did so, but the phone's screen remained unresponsive to touch, even after restart (long-press [Pow] + [Vol-]).
I tried connecting an USB mouse via the dongle, but the mouse cursor didn't appear (maybe this phone doesn't have this functionality).
Now, after using that FAIL-covery program, I was overly cautious not to make things even worse.
I wanted to make a copy of the phone's internal SD state (or is it called a phone's hard drive?), to get the media files from the clone and to have a backup of mom's files.
But I failed: I downloaded APK, ncat, KingoRoot and BusyBox. Tried to follow the steps in this video: youtu[dot]be/KKkvkCgMeMA. Got stuck at "busybox not found" at about 10:27 mark in that video ("dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0" "busybox nc -l -p 8888"). Turns out you need to run some of the apps from that phone prior to that step, and I don't know any workarounds.
Then I remembered that the files were on the external SD in the first place. Well duh! I then connected the Micro SD card to PC's reader via a Micro SD adapter. To make a copy of the SD card's 1s & 0s, and to restore the media files from said copy I used ZAR (Zero Assumption Recovery) z-a-recovery[dot]com/. The backup creation (an .ISO file or some such) and media recovery are free of charge.
Now I only need to remove duplicates and blurry pics (I think I had a Moleskinsoft's Clone Remover from an old PC magazine's CD lying around somewhere for the latter). Oh, and I better not forget to run a malware scanner on her PC and remove the mr.fone installed services and folders from it. Went a bit off-topic here, sorry!
Last I pulled a wifi passwords file with "adb pull /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf" command as per instructions on this page: mashtips[dot]com/see-wifi-password-android/. I don't know whether putting the file back on that phone will do the trick or not.
That's pretty much all.
I hope the situation can be resolved and I appreciate your input! :fingers-crossed: Maybe someone has come across a similar post, has constructive commentary or knows something obvious that I haven't come up with? Thank you in advance!
Edit 30 Jan '19: Got the phone working. Accessed the phone with a Chrome browser extension (name here). All accounts except some mail account were gone. WiFi didn't work.
Found a stock ROM here: (address here).
Found the Odin3 tool here: (address here). It came with a different locale ROM.
Flashed the 1st ROM with Odin. The screen started to work.
Flashed the 1st ROM with Odin again. The WiFi started working.
I'll update this with links soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Categories

Resources