I have a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S5, SM-G900V, running Android 4.4.4. I accidentally ran a factory restore, wiping out my files. I want to try to get the data off of it, since the files may not yet be overwritten, but I have no idea of how to go about this, especially using a method that does as few writes to the internal memory as possible (to increase the chance of success). I would very much rather not root, or at the very least not trip Knox or otherwise void my warranty. However, I might be willing to risk it if necessary. I have never rooted before, and it seems as though rooting utilities have a difficult time with this phone (at least in part thanks to Verizon).
I have not found any guide on how to do data recovery in this situation. I've tried at least one recovery program that was completely useless, though that might be due to lack of root. I am familiar with computers, and Linux, but Android is very foreign to me, and it seems like most data recovery attempts require me to mount the device on a computer as a disk drive. Although I've gotten it to connect for file browsing and transfers, I have not managed to get a connection where it acts like a mountable, normal disk. Naturally this rules out getting a memory image with this method, leaving me rather stranded.
Can anyone provide me with some assistance? I'm not expecting to fully restore the phone, but I've got some files (especially the memo and contacts) I'd rather not say goodbye to since my last backup.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
NoBricksPlease said:
I have a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S5, SM-G900V, running Android 4.4.4. I accidentally ran a factory restore, wiping out my files. I want to try to get the data off of it, since the files may not yet be overwritten, but I have no idea of how to go about this, especially using a method that does as few writes to the internal memory as possible (to increase the chance of success). I would very much rather not root, or at the very least not trip Knox or otherwise void my warranty. However, I might be willing to risk it if necessary. I have never rooted before, and it seems as though rooting utilities have a difficult time with this phone (at least in part thanks to Verizon).
I have not found any guide on how to do data recovery in this situation. I've tried at least one recovery program that was completely useless, though that might be due to lack of root. I am familiar with computers, and Linux, but Android is very foreign to me, and it seems like most data recovery attempts require me to mount the device on a computer as a disk drive. Although I've gotten it to connect for file browsing and transfers, I have not managed to get a connection where it acts like a mountable, normal disk. Naturally this rules out getting a memory image with this method, leaving me rather stranded.
Can anyone provide me with some assistance? I'm not expecting to fully restore the phone, but I've got some files (especially the memo and contacts) I'd rather not say goodbye to since my last backup.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My experience has been that once a factory reset has been done, that's it. Your phone is back to the state it was when shipped from the manufacturer. Any personal info is gone. One caveat though. Unless you've backed up to a "cloud" (VZW provides this with Contacts natively) or saved to a micro disc, you are out of luck.
Wish I had better info for you.
Related
Hi guys,
Can someone tell me the best way to make an exact copy of a brand new phone so that I can always go back to the 'as new' config.
This would be a new phone straight from the box.
Thanks
frostyboy998
frostyboy998 said:
Hi guys,
Can someone tell me the best way to make an exact copy of a brand new phone so that I can always go back to the 'as new' config.
This would be a new phone straight from the box.
Thanks
frostyboy998
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Data factory reset?
Well the best way is to get a copy of the image that the factory uses.. Well, perhaps that is impractical.
The most faithful copy that we could probably do from home would be using dd from the command line to make a sector by sector image. But you need super user (root) to do that. Possibly you could do it from an ADB session without root (untested). Using the linux dd utility or an ADB session are cumbersome and rather technical for many end users though..
In practical terms, either as gee2012 suggested above. I'm not certain that would get you to an exactly out of the box experience.. but it would be close.. easy to do and repeatable. So a decent solution. And should the file system get really messed up, you could presumably reflash a full OEM image to get back to that point as well.
Or another approach that I would favour myself would be to do a full Nandroid instead to resolve small discrepancies that probably exist between out of the box and the state a factory reset would put the device in. The downside being that a full Nandroid is easiest to do with a custom recovery.. and that will trip the Knox counter which will have warranty implications for some. Whether it affects your warranty depends on country you reside in, how well national legislation there protects consumer rights, whether your carrier cares about Knox and whether you care about the warranty much to begin with.
I would take the out of box phone, flash a custom recovery, and then do a full Nandroid backup. Your nandroid then will be an exact representation of your out of the box configuration, save for the recovery per se. To restore precisely would be one or two steps. Restoring the Nandroid would revert everything except recovery to the out of the box condition. And should that point matter, then one could do the second step of restoring the stock recovery as well..
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Download from Sammobile the ROM, so you can flash via ODIN.
Thanks for your comments.
Here is my reasoning.....
I currently use a Galaxy S3, pending getting the S5 very soon.
When I first got my S3 it seemed perfect. Everything worked well.
I have since done a number of Kies updates and also a couple of Sammobile updates via Odin.
Every time I updated, there seemed to be some things that didn't work as well.
So I decided to try and revert to the original firmware that came with my mobile, via Sammobile and Odin.
I have done this, but now, whenever I leave a wifi zone, my mobile internet seems to connect when it feels like it. Sometimes not at all.
I have to switch mobile internet off, restart the phone and then switch mobile internet back on, to get it to start up.
When I get my new S5, I would like to have an exact copy of the phone, so that I can always revert to my very own original setup if I choose to.
Apparently after updating beyond Android 4.3, there came a change in the format of the EFS folder, which prevented stepping back.
I don't want to be forced into that position again, so want a perfect copy!
From my reading, it appears I would have to root the phone, install Titanium backup, do a full nandroid backup, then unroot the phone and reset the counters to be back in warranty.
Am I right or would that not work?
frostyboy
edit: After updating firmware on a phone, does a factory reset change back to a previous firmware? I would think not. I think it would just reset all the added consumer stuff. (contacts, apps, emails and sms etc)
frostyboy998 said:
Thanks for your comments.
Here is my reasoning.....
I currently use a Galaxy S3, pending getting the S5 very soon.
When I first got my S3 it seemed perfect. Everything worked well.
I have since done a number of Kies updates and also a couple of Sammobile updates via Odin.
Every time I updated, there seemed to be some things that didn't work as well.
So I decided to try and revert to the original firmware that came with my mobile, via Sammobile and Odin.
I have done this, but now, whenever I leave a wifi zone, my mobile internet seems to connect when it feels like it. Sometimes not at all.
I have to switch mobile internet off, restart the phone and then switch mobile internet back on, to get it to start up.
When I get my new S5, I would like to have an exact copy of the phone, so that I can always revert to my very own original setup if I choose to.
Apparently after updating beyond Android 4.3, there came a change in the format of the EFS folder, which prevented stepping back.
I don't want to be forced into that position again, so want a perfect copy!
From my reading, it appears I would have to root the phone, install Titanium backup, do a full nandroid backup, then unroot the phone and reset the counters to be back in warranty.
Am I right or would that not work?
frostyboy
edit: After updating firmware on a phone, does a factory reset change back to a previous firmware? I would think not. I think it would just reset all the added consumer stuff. (contacts, apps, emails and sms etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting with Towelroot doesn`t trip KNOX but flashing a custom recovery to make a nandroid backup will and is irreversible. Best is to backup the EFS folder after you are rooted with an app here http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/development/efs-samsung-tool-universal-support-t2602325 or with adb as documented here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2737448.
BTW Triangle Away doesn`t work on the S5 atm so resetting the status to official after you flashed custom software with Odin isn not possible
Dear esteemed experts,
I’m hoping you can assist in my hour of need: My partner has a stock unrooted European G900F S5, which unfortunately had a massive software glitch causing it to crash on start up. Long story short we managed to get to the factory reset options and do a full reset, which cured the problem, however my partner’s data has now been lost.
She regularly backed up and had all the autobackups enabled so contacts, sms, mms, pics, videos, settings, etc were all restored with relative ease, but it appears the most valuable thing to her, her WhatsApp conversation backups were stored by Whatsapp on the internal memory rather than the SD card (brilliant piece of software design going on there) so they are gone. Smart Switch restored all of the other WhatsApp data on the internal memory as part of its “data” backup but not the backup files…
I’d like to run a data recovery program to see if they can be recovered, but am hitting dead ends at every turn: none of the specialist android recovery programs (such as dr fone) appear to work on a lollipop S5 unless it is rooted; none of the usual PC recovery suites can work on MTP or PTP modes and a mass storage connection is no longer possible (at least without root); and the only way to permanently root is to downgrade the stock rom (which will likely overwrite the data I am trying to recover) and use something like towel root on KitKat. In any event, she’s very happy with an unrooted phone with OTA updates and so wouldn’t wish to end up with a rooted phone anyway, so I’d have no real interest in a custom bootloader install, etc: I just want temporary access for dr fone!
To that end, I wondered if there was by any chance a crafty way of obtaining a temporary root in lollipop (a re-root after restart is absolutely fine by me) just so I can run a recovery program and see if we get any luck? If it came to it I think she’d be prepared to sacrifice a knox trip if she got her conversations back….
Apologies if this has been asked before, but I could only fish out advice on permanent rooting for s5 in my searches (both here and on google).
Many thanks for your assistance!
Dav
No way to root lollipop without tripping KNOX if you are not willing to downgrade to KitKat first, which would defeat the object as you could root with towelroot then anyway
Only way to root Lollipop is to flash CF Auto Root with ODIN, which WILL trip KNOX, and it is permanent unless you choose to unroot / flash stock again
This is the file you need to flash with ODIN (Extract and add it to the AP or PDA section of ODIN with the phone in download mode)
http://download.chainfire.eu/397/CF-Root/CF-Auto-Root/CF-Auto-Root-klte-kltexx-smg900f.zip
PS: Questions go here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/help
Hello,
I am trying to work around/bypass the password lockscreen for a friend that accidentally set it (I think her kid did) and doesn't know what the actual password is. I've already tried ADM and Samsung's "Find My Mobile" service but neither were helpful.
So I'm pretty sure my only two options now are to backup the existing data to my PC (though I'm not sure how given that I don't have access to important functions like ADB, custom recovery, etc.) and then factory reset the phone, OR just deal with the KNOX/warranty flag being tripped and delete the necessary files from /data/system using a custom recovery. If there's another alternative I'm missing, I would love to hear it.
Excuse me for already jumping ahead, but assuming I go the latter route, what would be the easiest way to flash a custom recovery? I've already looked at various other posts on this phone's board regarding rooting and everything looked quite involved.
The phone says it's a G935PVPS4BQE1, if that helps.
Thanks in advance.
P. S. I currently come from a OnePlus One, though I previously had a Galaxy S3 and remember quite vividly how much of a huge pain it was to properly root the device and deal with KNOX. I imagine the rooting process is even more of a pain with more recent Samsung phones.
(SOLVED)
Hi,
Ive been searching around all week now trying to find a way to do the above, root my note 4 without a factory reset.
As far as i can gather, my bootloader is unlocked.
I suspect it has had somekind of non-t-mobile standard wizardry performed upon it prior to my ownership (2nd hand). The reason i think this (naive?) is as i understand it, these, in the UK, were locked to t-mobile sims new, however, mine can use any sim. also, since my ownership (couple years +), maybe 3 or 4 times it has randomly rebooted and gone into some kind of anti-"fiddling" mode stating something along the lines of "this phone has none genuine blah blah and is now locked. take it into a t-mobile shop to get fixed". A simple battery pull has "fixed" the issue each and every time.
Now, the actual main reason i want to root this, apart from the obvious other advantages, is to be able to perform a complete backup (including all the backup locked out apps). i have a few apps ive paid for, but have since been pulled from the play store, thus, should this phone die, i have no way of restoring them.
it seems that, the only way to backup these apps is to root the phone. i can only find ways in which to root my phone that involve a factory reset. hence im stuck in a catch 22.
According to posts i've read, fastboot doesn't work with my phone. I have been reticent to actually follow through with any method which may reset/factory wipe my phone (as, if i understand it correctly, changing the bootloader/recovery will?).
even though i have found apk's for some of these apps, they are only for the trial versions, and not what i have previously paid for. furthermore, some of these companies have either gone bust, or simply refuse to respond to my emails. losing their cache i can live with, losing the full apps i "can't".
i use a laptop with arch installed. i have occassional access to a windows10 pc.
please please tell me it is possible to root this phone without losing these apps. Or at the very least, a way of pulling/backing up these apps.
ive not found a browser that can see into the data\app folder. adb can see into the data\app folder and pull apps, but not the apps i want to backup which have been pulled from the play store that ive paid for.
phone details:
model sm-n910t
android 6.0.1
baseband n910tuvu2eqi2
kernel 3.10.40 - 9385989
[email protected]#1
build no mmb29m.n910tuvu2eqi2
Hrafnblod said:
Hi,
Ive been searching around all week now trying to find a way to do the above, root my note 4 without a factory reset.
As far as i can gather, my bootloader is unlocked.
I suspect it has had somekind of non-t-mobile standard wizardry performed upon it prior to my ownership (2nd hand). The reason i think this (naive?) is as i understand it, these, in the UK, were locked to t-mobile sims new, however, mine can use any sim. also, since my ownership (couple years +), maybe 3 or 4 times it has randomly rebooted and gone into some kind of anti-"fiddling" mode stating something along the lines of "this phone has none genuine blah blah and is now locked. take it into a t-mobile shop to get fixed". A simple battery pull has "fixed" the issue each and every time.
Now, the actual main reason i want to root this, apart from the obvious other advantages, is to be able to perform a complete backup (including all the backup locked out apps). i have a few apps ive paid for, but have since been pulled from the play store, thus, should this phone die, i have no way of restoring them.
it seems that, the only way to backup these apps is to root the phone. i can only find ways in which to root my phone that involve a factory reset. hence im stuck in a catch 22.
According to posts i've read, fastboot doesn't work with my phone. I have been reticent to actually follow through with any method which may reset/factory wipe my phone (as, if i understand it correctly, changing the bootloader/recovery will?).
even though i have found apk's for some of these apps, they are only for the trial versions, and not what i have previously paid for. furthermore, some of these companies have either gone bust, or simply refuse to respond to my emails. losing their cache i can live with, losing the full apps i "can't".
i use a laptop with arch installed. i have occassional access to a windows10 pc.
please please tell me it is possible to root this phone without losing these apps. Or at the very least, a way of pulling/backing up these apps.
ive not found a browser that can see into the data\app folder. adb can see into the data\app folder and pull apps, but not the apps i want to backup which have been pulled from the play store that ive paid for.
phone details:
model sm-n910t
android 6.0.1
baseband n910tuvu2eqi2
kernel 3.10.40 - 9385989
[email protected]#1
build no mmb29m.n910tuvu2eqi2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried Odin? Samsung phones don't use fastboot but have their own flashing tool.
QuoPrimum said:
Have you tried Odin? Samsung phones don't use fastboot but have their own flashing tool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm now rooted, cheers
I used ODIN on windows and CF_Auto Root.
I was just incredibly worried about getting a phone wipe/reset. I think, with having read through so many different guides and discussions, and having first tried to find a linux only solution, I'd ended up confusing myself. It just seemed that, when I thought I understood the process enough to actually physically start the rooting, all I could see was boot loop, bricking and factory reset issues in the guides.
Awesome forum.
Any apps you buy on the play store don't just disappear.
Check your actual purchase list for your Google account, it'll force a cached page.
Which is how I found out Activision pushed a (paid) mobile version of Zombies, removed it, then pushed the same game to the market which they continued to update.
Hello everyone,
My old S10+ suddenly shut down and entered a bootloop. The last things I did were the following:
copied some data from my old to my new phone
Switched my SIM-card to my new phone
watched some Youtube in my browser (since stock had some issues)
Then, out of nowhere, my android system turned off. Since then it is stuck in a bootloop.
I can still access Android Recovery and download mode. I tried re-flashing stock firmware, but I get the error that the Android firmware seems to be corrupt.
My question is: How can I get my phone to work again without losing my data?
There is still some important data left on my old phone. My 2FA app for instance. So I would rather go to a repair shop and pay instead of losing said data.
But before I do that I wanted to get some advice what else I may be able to do. I haven't tried sideloading an OTA since I don't quiet understand it and want to be on the safe side. persist.safemode.sys does not seem to exist. And I read about perhaps backing up my "emmc" with TWRP but, again, I don't quiet grasp the concept yet.
I have some experience with adb, ROMs and flashing. The latest recovery-logs are attached, if they are of any help
Well, repair shop went and formatted everything
Even though I asked them not to
Let this be a lesson for everyone: If you care about your data, back it up AND don't bring it to a repair shop
DasMalzbier said:
Well, repair shop went and formatted everything
Even though I asked them not to
Let this be a lesson for everyone: If you care about your data, back it up AND don't bring it to a repair shop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the future use a SD card* as a data drive. All critical data goes there. Do Not encrypt it.
Had you done that you probably be ok. Always backup redundantly and regularly to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC.
*A V30 rated Sandisk Extreme is a good choice