Database Users

[Q] Reset Touchwiz Gallery

Hello,
i use S5 SM G900F with Lollipop 5.0 (BOD3)
I recently managed to delete all my pictures out of my gallery by a mistake. I use a software to synchronize the dcim/camera directory with a hard disk at home. so i was able to restore the photos back in the camerafolder. Now i see many blank thumbnails in the category tabs (scenes,events, persons etc.). i am not able to delete them. I rebooted serveral times and waited for the card scanner to do his work but the problem still exist. the restored pictures did not even been added to the categories!
So i decided to use app manager to delete data of the gallery app (and camera app). But after restart the problem still exist!
What do you think i have to do to start over with gallery again?
thanks in advance...

I solved the symptoms of my problem. I moved some photos to a categorie with empty thumbnails, removed them again and the empty thumbnails were deleted too.
I still not sure how to remove all data from gallery database but for now my problem is gone.

Wiping all data from my S5 before I give it to someone

Hi, I want to give my S5 to someone but want to ensure all data is deleted on it.
Obviously I've done the factory reset but apparently the files are still salvageable. I know it's difficult to 100% erase data but I'd like to at least be sure it's harder than just running a program to retrieve the files.
I'm running this erase app on it: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aiuspaktyn.secureeraser&hl=en
but some of the comments say it doesn't work because the files can be retrieved with disk digger.
Cheers.

I've logged into playstore on the phone so as to be able to access the apps.
I've run the erase app 3 times on the phone's internal memory.
I've now run diskdigger on the phone. It doesn't seem to recover any personal photos (good!) but it recovers other images from what seem to be part of the samsung bloatware, which I then move to the DCIM folder so as to be able to view them. This is how I figured out they were bloatware.
I then run diskdigger again and it seems to find more images from the bloatware (though they could be duplicates of the already recovered photos). Every time I run diskdigger it seems to find more photos. I'm wondering, if I keep running it, it'll eventually find my personal ones?
Also, it only digs for photos. What about all my other data like my text messages, memos etc?

Just Flash the Stock rom via odin
download your specific device firmware via samfirm tool or from sammobile
flashing stock rom wont affect knox count so flash it
and then goto stock recovery and clear cache and data partition

Recovering deleted photos on an unrooted 6P

While trying to free up some space on my phone by deleting photos that were backed up to the cloud using the Google Photos app, I somehow managed to delete my entire camera photos folder (DCIM). 95% of the photos are already in the cloud, but I lost about 400 photos from an 8 days trek in Perú since it happened on the way back to town after 8 days without any connection.
I was trying to use apps like DiskDigger to recover the photos but didn't have any luck - the problem is that I am not rooted of course - I'm running stock 7.1.2. And from what I've learned so far rooting wipes the entire phone.
Is there a way to extract an image file of the user data partition in order to recover the lost photos? I've read that PhotoRec can do that once you have the image file.
If anyone could shed some light on that process or suggest another solution I'll be forever grateful!

There are forensic programs that I've seen people use for that purpose. Because the data is still there but marked as free space until it's overwritten

I confirm that PhotoRec works great.
But if you left default settings that is encrypted, there's no easy known way to decipher them. Block is ciphered with a key derived from the master key in the unreachable hardware module.
And even unencrypted, you'd need root to pull raw partition which AFAIK requires unlocked BL which wipes data.

Deleting Photo Permanently

I am using Stock OS.
If I delete a photo, is it deleted for good?
I just want to know because I've took some sensitive screenshots (e.g. account numbers, financial transactions, etc.) in the past.
Can they be recovered? If yes, how can I delete them for good?

shriekyphantom said:
I am using Stock OS.
If I delete a photo, is it deleted for good?
I just want to know because I've took some sensitive screenshots (e.g. account numbers, financial transactions, etc.) in the past.
Can they be recovered? If yes, how can I delete them for good?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1)If your phone's bootloader is unlocked, reboot to fastboot mode, connect your phone to your pc, open the command window by pressing and holding shift and do a right click. Do this command : fastboot format userdata. (backup is needed fist because everything will be deleted.
2) If you are using stock recovery, just reboot to recovery mode and wipe everything in stock recovery.

@shriekyphantom MiX (Mixplorer) has an inbuilt shredder function for deleting any file :good:

I believe he's not looking for that type of data cleaning services. I think he's asking if the phone automatically creates a backup of every photo in the cloud. The answer is no, unless you use Google Photos. And even then, I do not believe they let you store, by default, screenshots.

The safest way is what Yousvel said probably. -_-
So, OP5 doesn't have a function like a Recycle Bin?

Help Needed to access/move/save pics on device saved by Google Photos App.

Is there a way to unlock the bootloader on the LG K20 Plus without wiping the device? Our brother passed away and he saved his final pics to his Google Pictures app. We don't have access to his Google account. We can access the pics on the device, but can't save them to the memory card or transfer to PC. Apparently, the folder Google stores to is protected. I thought of unlocking the bootloader and rooting, but from what I've read, this wipes the device and we will lose the pics.
We're just trying to get the last few pics of him for our own memories. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Yes unlocking bootloader requires a command which will erase all data. And assuming the device is unmodified with original stock ROM and not rooted, it's very likely encrypted so even if you managed to load up twrp via fastboot without running the boot unlock command (which erases all phone data) and create a backup of the phone's /data mount, you'd wouldn't be able to copy and paste on a similar bootloader unlocked phone.
As for Google Photos, you say you have access to the device and the pictures. Which means the account is still logged in on the phone and you can work within the Google Photos app to send or share any picture and album link o another contact, let's say you, which you can then access on your phone or PC and save. It may be arduous and require doing screenshots of each photo in full screen but given your circumstances it may be worth it. I wasn't aware of Google Photos encrypting the storage directory for pictures. If the pics are on the device they should be able to transfer easily if they're internal storage. Otherwise Google Photos likely has backed them so up to the cloud and deleted original copies off the phone. But still if you can access the phone and the Photos app without needing to sign in to Google, then just add all the pics to a new album and share the album link to any trusted contacts who can then go through the pics and save a copy.

Thank you
We've been hesitant to connect the phone to WiFi for fear of auto deletion, since we don't know what his settings are in the app. It's arduous, but screenshots it is. Once we get all of the screenshots saved, we'll connect to WiFi and see if the phone is still logged in. We might get luck and find more pics for our family.
Thank you again. My bro and I were at this for hours trying everything we could think of to transfer the thumbnails to SD as well as the PC for mom.