[Q] Open .sbu bypass Kies

sloggan · Mar 7, 2011

Hello

Some days ago my Galaxy S got stolen, but I made a full backup a week back.

Now my problem is to open the .sbu files, since Kies wont open em, without a android device connected to the computer, it seems.

I have tried to search google and samsungs site for information,with no result.

Does anyone know an alternative way to open the .sbu files so I get the most important backup'ed up data back, such as contacts and images?

Thanks.

sloggan · Mar 8, 2011

No one who has a clue? I really need the informations in the backup file.. its weird u cant open it without a phone connected to the computer :S

kf999 · May 3, 2011

In my opinion, this is just one more place where samsung is a bit **** (pardon my french). Same happened to me. I backed up my Galaxy S last week, and this weekend it was lost/stolen. Now I'm stuck with some .sbu files that won't open. I want to avoid having to reverse engineer those damn .sbu files, but hope is fading.

I've just called Samsung Support, and the dude on the phone apologetically explained that it's only possible to restore this information to a new Samsung phone, there's no other tool to extract the information from these files. I told him this was pretty useless, and he agreed.

In addition, I fear the backups are pretty incomplete, and I think a lot of stuff won't be restored.

I hope someone reads my samsung review and buys something other than a samsung, to be honest. Just my way of getting back at them for wasting a lot of my time.

armomurha · Jul 3, 2011

I had this problem, because I changed the firmware to CyanogenMod and did not want to change back.

As I could not find any program to do this (only this or similar threads), I wrote small "program" (targetted for my self) to extract contacts (VCard data) from SBU file. It actually does not extract the file just finds VCard start and end tags, and writes VCard items into file (or files). This generated VCard-file can be used to import contacts to phone.

I only needed the contacts, so this "program" is not capable extracting anything else. It should not be hard trick to extract the file as it seems to be somekind of uncompressed archive file with UTF-16 encoding.

To execute the program you need Java JDK as the attached package contains only the source file. Detailled compile and execution instructions inside the file.

Hopefully this helps someone.

donstylez · Sep 25, 2011

Thanks!! took me awhile to figure out, but it did what it was supposed to do!

D4rK.F0rcE · Sep 26, 2011

donstylez said:
Thanks!! took me awhile to figure out, but it did what it was supposed to do!

Can you please explain what you did? I downloaded JDK, but still don't know how to open it...

brijir · Sep 27, 2011

Me too please.

D4rK.F0rcE · Sep 27, 2011

What a coincidence, the last version of kies gives you the opportunity to recover backups although you have a not supported firmware, see where to download it here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1278347

dcnqw · Oct 15, 2011

Eureka!

I found that running Kies Restore does a seemingly complete .sbu file extraction to a temporary directory such as:

C:\Users\{LogonName}\Documents\samsung\Kies\sbu\temp\{NumberID}\{Files Extracted}

One can copy the files one seeks from there.

I hope this helps some people!

It is a shame this is such a crummy part of the Samsung Galaxy S2 Experience that is not user friendly, is not efficient, and does not work well enough.

wetwetwater · Nov 13, 2011

dcnqw said:
I found that running Kies Restore does a seemingly complete .sbu file extraction to a temporary directory such as:

C:\Users\{LogonName}\Documents\samsung\Kies\sbu\temp\{NumberID}\{Files Extracted}

One can copy the files one seeks from there.

I hope this helps some people!

It is a shame this is such a crummy part of the Samsung Galaxy S2 Experience that is not user friendly, is not efficient, and does not work well enough.

Thanks for the brilliant tip! Managed to get my media files out from the .sbu

I backed up using kies, after restoring, the media files were missing. Sigh..

Another disappointed(a little bit) S2 user.

Thanks again!

Lennydk87 · Nov 22, 2011

Hey I got a .sbu file from a backup from a Samsung Galaxy S, and I would like to extract the files from the .sbu file, and I dont got a phone to restore it on to.

dzakic · Nov 23, 2011

dcnqw said:
I found that running Kies Restore does a seemingly complete .sbu file extraction to a temporary directory such as:

C:\Users\{LogonName}\Documents\samsung\Kies\sbu\temp\{NumberID}\{Files Extracted}

One can copy the files one seeks from there.

I hope this helps some people!

It is a shame this is such a crummy part of the Samsung Galaxy S2 Experience that is not user friendly, is not efficient, and does not work well enough.

Awesome! Thanks heaps. A colleague made a full backup (310MB) but the restore only extracts 10KB contacts onto his Galaxy S. We used this trick to save all his photos, and apparently his marriage

MarianG · Nov 24, 2011

Hello,
I also encountered an problem with an i9100 while I backuped it when the phone has 2.3.3 version and after I upgrade it to 2.3.5 I can't make restore to it

I also take a look into the the temporary folder and I saw all the informations but the phonebook is in bk extension exactly like this: 'phonebook.bk'
How can I restore this contacts?
Thanks!

psallitesapienter · Nov 25, 2011

Very nice little program!! I finally got my contacts back! If you have any further findings in how to open the .sbu file, please share them with everybody!!

leenukes · Dec 19, 2011

armomurha said:
I had this problem, because I changed the firmware to CyanogenMod and did not want to change back.

As I could not find any program to do this (only this or similar threads), I wrote small "program" (targetted for my self) to extract contacts (VCard data) from SBU file. It actually does not extract the file just finds VCard start and end tags, and writes VCard items into file (or files). This generated VCard-file can be used to import contacts to phone.

I only needed the contacts, so this "program" is not capable extracting anything else. It should not be hard trick to extract the file as it seems to be somekind of uncompressed archive file with UTF-16 encoding.

To execute the program you need Java JDK as the attached package contains only the source file. Detailled compile and execution instructions inside the file.

Hopefully this helps someone.

Thanks, you only ever posted this but it just helped me.

Fantastic effort.

CovXX · Jan 15, 2012

dose anyone know how to get sms back? i went to skyicecream sandwhich and it wont put back my texts or anything besides contacts and music

KevIRL · Jan 28, 2012

Help with the java program

Anyone who isnt sure how to use the brilliant little program for extracting Vcards here is a tutorial I found.

mobilecon.info/restore-data-inside-sbu-file-using-kies.html

morfinrider · Feb 3, 2012

Unable to use Kies Restore

dcnqw said:
I found that running Kies Restore does a seemingly complete .sbu file extraction to a temporary directory such as:

C:\Users\{LogonName}\Documents\samsung\Kies\sbu\temp\{NumberID}\{Files Extracted}

One can copy the files one seeks from there.

I hope this helps some people!

It is a shame this is such a crummy part of the Samsung Galaxy S2 Experience that is not user friendly, is not efficient, and does not work well enough.

--------
Apologies for sounding noob, but how can I run "Kies Restore"? My phone has gone for repairs and I need to get contacts out of the .sbu file. I am running Kies version 2.1.1.11124_17 and it does not give any "Restore" option, unless a phone is connected. Can someone help? Should I try an older/specific version of Kies?

leenukes · Feb 4, 2012

Just use the application in this thread.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

koooowweeee · Feb 22, 2012

does anyone know if the newer versions of kies fixes this?

2.1-2.2

thanks

[Q] Open .sbu bypass Kies

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