data recovery after factory reset.

[bluerogue85]

So I have a s9+ snapdragon running the latest Android 9 pie. My files got wiped out after a factory reset and I wanted to get some closure. Can I get those files back? It was not backed up on Google or Samsung cloud. Nor was it on a sd card. It was in the internal phone storage.

I hear you can recover the data so long as you don't overwrite the data. Files aren't really lost and still technically in your phone. These are pics and video actually. It's all I care about. I hear people saying you have to root phone and do a deep scan of the phone to try to recover the data but I hear you can't root cause it doesn't work on my version of s9+. (Snapdragon and android 9) I also heard you gotta take it to forensics data recovery. I called them but they said nope files are gone. But I read on Google recoverable.

Please anyone, help me. I've been down since I lost my pics and video. I took vids and pics back to my homeland where I haven't been back in 10 years.

PS. I was on vacation when this happened. My company unfortunately has access to my phone and if you miss type your password a certain amount of times it triggers the factory reset and wipes it out. I decided to stop a certain amount of times and then my 20 month old son started pushing buttons and there you have it. Factory reset.

 

[Youdoofus]

files are lost bud. Sorry

did you ever connect your phone to any cloud for backup purposes?

 

[bluerogue85]

It's connected but I didn't back up photos or vids. Everything else I did. Is there a way to root this version of phone I have? Temp root at least without tripping Knox?

 

[!Noki!]

No you can't ...it's gone...
Factory reset wipes /data internal storage

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

 

[Youdoofus]

No you can't ...it's gone...
Factory reset wipes /data internal storage

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

mostly correct. It wipes the table of contents of storage, but doesnt actually wipe(remove) anything. The issue is that it starts writing 1's and 0's wherever it wants to because as far as it knows, the internal storage is empty (which it isnt). It then starts unintentionally corrupting file after file as it writes system data and everything else it writes. Can he recover the data? Maybe. Is it likely? Not even remotely. The only way to recover it is to turn it off, like now and get it connected to a lunix instance, adb into it and see whats still there. Which is likely nothing usable.

Completely unrelated side note: Youre from Sibiu? I visited there about 2 years ago. Positively GORGEOUS place!! We saw the sun set over cobblestone right between two rows of buildings. It was surreal!

 

[Youdoofus]

It's connected but I didn't back up photos or vids. Everything else I did. Is there a way to root this version of phone I have? Temp root at least without tripping Knox?

yes there is a way to root it, and thats probably your only hope. Turn the phone off, read up on the new-ish root methods, apply them to your phone and see what you can get via ADB. Dont hold your breath, but that is the only way to get there. Treat it like a recently wiped hard drive, because thats technically what it is. Its the "C: drive" of your phone essentially

 

[bluerogue85]

mostly correct. It wipes the table of contents of storage, but doesnt actually wipe(remove) anything. The issue is that it starts writing 1's and 0's wherever it wants to because as far as it knows, the internal storage is empty (which it isnt). It then starts unintentionally corrupting file after file as it writes system data and everything else it writes. Can he recover the data? Maybe. Is it likely? Not even remotely. The only way to recover it is to turn it off, like now and get it connected to a lunix instance, adb into it and see whats still there. Which is likely nothing usable.

Completely unrelated side note: Youre from Sibiu? I visited there about 2 years ago. Positively GORGEOUS place!! We saw the sun set over cobblestone right between two rows of buildings. It was surreal!

Can you please teach me step by step how to do that or point me to a link. Cause thats what i read about how its not really gone. Has to have data over write the existing that was supposedly deleted. Did you mean Linux or lunix?

 

[Youdoofus]

Can you please teach me step by step how to do that or point me to a link. Cause thats what i read about how its not really gone. Has to have data over write the existing that was supposedly deleted. Did you mean Linux or lunix?

if i typed lunix, then i meant Linux, and if i typed Linux, i meant Linux. Either way, i meant Linux. So, step by step... eesh thats gonna be a lot. First thing is to turn your phone off if you havent already. Itll keep writing stuff to the internal storage even if it doesnt say its doing so. Thats jsut what it does and it doesnt know that you dont want it to do that while its powered on. If youre able to do so, you can just turn on USB debugging in developer options and connect it to your computer without rooting it but granting permissions for your computer to access the drive. All of this requires having your phone powered on. The most dangerous thing ive told you to do is turn on usb debugging since it will write to the internal storage that you now have access to dev options, and then usb debugging. When the phone is powered on, try to keep it on airplane mode to avoid giving it reasons to actually do stuff. Linux isnt really necessary either as most software recovery tools will recognize the device and storage just fine, but the likelihood of it being able to actually recover anything is slim. If that doesnt get you full access to the internal storage, then youll have to either root or use linux or both. Its been a while since ive attempted this, so forgive me if my steps are off. That being said, these are the progressive steps one would need to take in order to do what youre trying to do.

 

[Nigmea]

does it wipe the phone though? Or does the phone allocate the areas where data is as free? If it only installs system and sets the previously used memory as "available or free". it can be recovered
Edit : if your phone was encrypted it wouldn't matter. Did your phone use secure start-up? (required a pin or password etc) then it would show adblock opening.

 

[bluerogue85]

does it wipe the phone though? Or does the phone allocate the areas where data is as free? If it only installs system and sets the previously used memory as "available or free". it can be recovered
Edit : if your phone was encrypted it wouldn't matter. Did your phone use secure start-up? (required a pin or password etc) then it would show adblock opening.

my company triggered the factory reset after failed attempts of putting password in. see it uses a thing called airwartch or vmware not sure what its called but yea..still hoping to recover vids and pics if i can root my phone and just do a deep scan just not sure how. esp for my version phone of s9+ snapdragon android pie. i have not taken pics or vids. just twitter, fb, email. some internet browsing. but not sure if those overwrite new data as well.

 

[TheMadScientist]

my company triggered the factory reset after failed attempts of putting password in. see it uses a thing called airwartch or vmware not sure what its called but yea..still hoping to recover vids and pics if i can root my phone and just do a deep scan just not sure how. esp for my version phone of s9+ snapdragon android pie. i have not taken pics or vids. just twitter, fb, email. some internet browsing. but not sure if those overwrite new data as well.

You can try an app called disk digger. It's your best bet. About the best on the market. If you root. Or reinstall the firmware in Odin. Kiss em good bye
The way this works is front to back. A file is normally written from front to back. Once it gets the end. It starts over. Then there goes old deleted files
Files are not deleted until over written. But actually marked for deletion. Not gone till next write cycle

If it can't then their gone. But every day you use your device the chance gets slimmer. Just cause your not downloading stuff. Cache and sick files are over writing.

 

[bluerogue85]

You can try an app called disk digger. It's your best bet. About the best on the market. If you root. Or reinstall the firmware in Odin. Kiss em good bye
The way this works is front to back. A file is normally written from front to back. Once it gets the end. It starts over. Then there goes old deleted files
Files are not deleted until over written. But actually marked for deletion. Not gone till next write cycle

If it can't then their gone. But every day you use your device the chance gets slimmer. Just cause your not downloading stuff. Cache and sick files are over writing.

Is there a way to root my phone without wiping it out first? Really trying this as my last option. To at least get some pics and or vids back.

 

[TheMadScientist]

Is there a way to root my phone without wiping it out first? Really trying this as my last option. To at least get some pics and or vids back.

Probably not.

 

[bluerogue85]

Which link can you guys point me to to root? I have s9+ snapdragon. What are all my choices? Thank you.

 

[bluerogue85]

I think I found one but link is broken. Syndicate. I really need this so I can at least do a deep scan of my phone. I need root!

 

[MorfRobert]

I'm sorry to hear that you lost your precious pictures and videos from your vacation. It's a bummer that your data wasn't backed up on Google or Samsung cloud, nor on an SD card.

 

[AniemDariel]

You're right that it's possible to recover the data as long as it hasn't been overwritten. However, it can be difficult to do so without rooting your phone and doing a deep scan, as you mentioned. Unfortunately, it sounds like you can't root your phone due to its version.

You might want to consider reaching out to managed IT services that specialize in data recovery. They might have more advanced techniques and tools to recover your data. It's worth a shot since the pictures and videos mean a lot to you.
Good luck, and I hope you're able to recover your memories!