Database Info

Sd card

Help me my wife lost all music and photos on sd card here's what happened:
Set folders on sd card as follows:
MUSIC
PICTURES
These folders have been setup since she had the phone her phone has never been rooted and she is running panda home as her default home launcher when she went to pull the drawer up her phone froze and reset itself after reset she no longer has picture or music folders on sd card are they hidden somewhere or is it to late?
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

Do flash drive and SSD file systems function like HDD file systems in that if you haven't overwritten the memory area... the files might still be there?!? I use GetDataBack for NTFS (or FAT) to help friends all the time to recover hard drive data that has "accidentally" been erased. It always manages to find something... unless it's a actual head crash, in which case they're usually screwed. (Or at least at the mercy of specialized firms that have clean rooms for dismantling and reassembly... to the tune of $400/hr. and up! And they never listen to me about the importance of data redundancy... <sigh>)

K thanks for info but will this work even though files were saved to sd card?
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

monthlymixcd said:
Do flash drive and SSD file systems function like HDD file systems in that if you haven't overwritten the memory area... the files might still be there?!?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Data can be recovered even after its been overwritten. There's varying beliefs on data sanitation, however most governmental and military branches around the world employ techniques with multiple overwrite passes. One pass isn't necessary enough.
monthlymixcd said:
unless it's a actual head crash, in which case they're usually screwed. (Or at least at the mercy of specialized firms that have clean rooms for dismantling and reassembly... to the tune of $400/hr. and up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not applicable to flash technology.

Secure Deletion

A few weeks ago there was something on the UK news about smart phone data and how when you sell/recycle your phone most people leave accessible data on the phone after a factory reset. There was lots of trying to shock people (reading out text messages and browser history) but the solutions were barely discussed, all that was said was something like "There are programs that can overwrite your data"
So what do people do when they sell their android phone? I've seen an app in the play store called nuke my device, it basically overwrites the internal SD card then does a factory reset, I'm still not sure that would totally erase all data though?

I know all about methods for PC hard drives, but I too wouldn't mind knowing how android systems should be handled.

Yeah I know about PC Hard drives too. I have bought the nuke my device app from the play store, its cheap, I haven't used it yet!

To block undeleters it's sufficient to fill space with "generic" data then delete the file
As for removing the chip and using an external programmers, some indeed expose raw memory over the pins (MTD chips) and there's no reasonable way to wipe the hidden areas (well, assuming you want a device that still works - otherwise there's the Cobra 6 method), others have on-chip mappers (all SD cards including eMMC) which can have a TRIM command -- which however has historically been a major cause of bricks on some controller firmwares...

When I posted I was looking at some similar threads, someone made a program that deleted everything on the phone except the recovery (then you could flash another rom - I don't know if it overwrote or just deleted) I think it was for an Asus transformer tablet.
Whenever I've sold something before I have just connected it to my computer and written large files to all the available space. I don't have any sensitive data but I like to make sure everything is deleted before I sell something.
I'm surprised there's not more information/apps or whatever on this subject (wiping android) there's lots of programs for PC's to securely wipe drives. Some sites mention about encrypting the phone then wiping it, I guess that's the way to go.

My first thought was too, that it must be different from hard drives.
My initial idea would be to encrypt everything. Luckily since Honeycomb, Android supports this out of the box(but it's not hardware based) So even if data can be restored, it'd be nonsense(if the manufactorer implemented it correctly). You could choose a strong password, because you won't need to remember it anyway since you wipe the phone afterwards.
I found this article that agrees with me androidcentral.com/securely-wiping-your-android-phone-makes-it-just-fine-sell-fud
Then there is this article on lifehacker: lifehacker.com/5808280/what-should-i-do-with-my-phone-before-i-sell-it
Money quote:
Alternatively, there's the ultimate security tool if you're worried about someone pulling data from your phone: don't sell it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A little off topic: Another solution would be to just store sensitive data on a SD card and remove it before selling. Plus you could use tools like EDS(Lite) to store sensitive data in container. Sync them via a cloud service and open them on your computer with TrueCrypt.

Any updates how to do this?

Boot into recovery and dd /dev/urandom over the /data, /cache and /sdcard partitions, then from the GUI reformat them...
Not perfect but well enough to prevent someone imaging from those partitions to their PC and running an undeleter (or hex editor) on the partition images!

Thanks

[Completed] [Mod] Maximizing relocating internal data to external SD, LG Optimus Fuel L34C KitKat

Can you please help a noob figure out where this post belongs?
I make no pretense to being a developer, and I was very hesitant to join XDA, but these are questions concerning modding which I have not found answers to, despite posting to a number of other Android forums, so I was forced to "raise my sights."
I have an LG Optimus Fuel L34C (KitKat). I am an Android noob but I have a history with Linux, so I know just enough about what goes on behind the KitKat curtain to make me dangerous. So yes, I also care about the journey. And I'm already heavily invested in this quest, so despite my lack of expertise, I'm willing to do the leg work to make it happen.
My one saving grace is I have a backup fetish. And I want to continue to make Nandroid backups even when the L34C's puny internal storage (1790 MB usable) is maxed out (or nearly so). But I don't want to resort to backups to the cloud because 1) it offends my inner geek that I have to rely on someone else for backup support, and 2) as a delusional paranoid, the concept of "the cloud" gives me the willies.
I'm using TWRP Manager (Root) for Nandroid backups now, but TWRP only can write to the internal SD. Which means that once internal storage is about half full, there's no longer enough space remaining for any more Nandroids. And a bare bones installation with just enough additional apps installed to perform the Nandroid already takes up about 700 MB. So there's no chance of any further Nandroid backups after downloading or installing just two or three hundred more MB.
So my primary goal is to be able to write Nandroid backups to the external SD card (or, pipe dream, to write them to USB). If this also allows me to install apps or store other (internal) data on the external card, so much the better.
I just bought a second L34C because the WiFi on the original L34C pooped the bed. So now I have a new and unmodded L34C to experiment on. I had (towel) rooted the old phone, write-enabled the external SD card and installed the TeamWin open recovery image v2.8. And I replaced the OE 4GB external SD card with a 16GB class 4 card, partitioned half in Fat32 and half in Ext3.
The primary obstacle was that I could never get the second partition on the 16GB card to mount, which prevented me even from experimenting with symlinks. I also installed the latest version of Link2SD, but when I tried to use it to move an app that Link2SD labeled as movable, I got this:
!Failure
App2SD is not supported by your device. Because your device has a primary external storage which is emulated from the internal storage. You can link the app in order to move its files to the SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dunno why it's blaming Apps2SD unless Link2 is built around Apps2.
Curiously, I installed Aparted, too, and it was able to access (and process) the 2nd partition, even though it wasn't mounted. I've not heard this definitively but I'm led to believe this is down to the L34C's lack of support for init.d. So I downloaded a copy of daishi4u's custom boot image, which includes support for init.d, but the old phone crapped out before I could try it.
So with background in place, and a spanking new L34C in hand, on to the questions.
#1. With the current state of L34C/KitKat development, is what I'm asking even possible? Once the internal SD card has got too crowded for a Nandroid, is there a solution that will allow me to continue making local Nandroid backups? In particular, I'm thinking there might be another Nandroid backup app that I am unaware of that can write its backups to some location other than the internal SD card.
If this already has been accomplished (and is documented online), please just point me to the details and I'll get out of your hair.
2. I picked daishi4u's custom boot image because the reputation of daishi4u's work is known to me, and because it offered init.d support. If you think another boot image is preferable, please enlighten me.
3. Is Link2SD's problem with the L34C truly the emulated storage? I ask because I know developers typically code apps to make a best guess as to the cause of an error, but despite their best efforts, an app still is liable to be exposed to unanticipated conditions, resulting in a problem that might be beyond the scope of their programming to understand and enunciate.
4. Is the lack of init.d support in fact what prevents an L34C mounting additional partitions on the external SD card? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?
5.a. I found a post in another forum that was near three years old stating that the extra partition on an Android external SD card must be no more than 2GB, and preferably just 1GB. If this ever was true, is it still the case for KitKat? And what is the source of the limitation?
5.b. If there is a 2GB partition limit, is there a limit to how many 2GB partitions can be externally mounted? A Nandroid backup of a heavily configured L34C could take up most of 2GB, so it would be especially useful work-around if there were one (additional) partition for the Nandroid and a second (or third, or fourth, ...) for moving apps and random data off the internal SD.
6. Which app(s) would you suggest I try for moving apps/data/folders to the external SD? There are so many available, and I have not been able to find any comparisons/contrasts of their relative merits, so I would appreciate your recommendations to avoid having to resort to the 'shotgun' approach. This is presuming I'm able to get more than one partition on the external SD card to mount.
I've not lost sight of the fact that some of these apps do not require a second partition on the SD card (creating something functionally akin to an iSCSI partition on it?), but I'm not counting on finding a solution in one of them.
Thank you for taking the time to read my long-winded post.

Well personally I don't keep more than one nandroid on my phone but what you may wish to do is transfer them to your pc for safe keeping and not have to worry about it. You could also try inserting your sd card into your pc and manually transferring the nandroids from your pc to your sd card afterwards. It may work.
Now with regards to the sd card write protection issue, I could not locate anything for your device in particular but if you register you can ask your question here and someone may be able to help you.

Better NOT to (re)format a SD card ?

I just got a Samsung EVO+ microSD card. I was wondering if I should format it before using it. So I looked up the net on what was the best way to format a SD card. Came across many suggestions like use your smartphone, SD formatter, Windows format etc. Then I came across this :
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/How_to_Damage_a_FLASH_Storage_Device
To damage such a device, all you have to do is reformat it with any of the usual Linux-based tools like fdisk, mkfs, and dd. Chances are excellent that you will manage to choose a layout that makes the device work extra hard, thus slowing it down and wearing it out faster.
You can also accomplish the same feat using various Windows tools that are part of the Microsoft OEM Preinstallation Kit, and probably with other Windows-based tools (e.g. dd for Windows, and perhaps even with the GUI format capability).
...
Factory formatting.
The manufacturers of FLASH storage devices understand this. When they format the device at the factory, they know which filesystem they are putting on (typically either FAT16 or FAT32), the page and erase sizes for the NAND FLASH chips inside, and the characteristics of the FTL software in the internal microcontroller. (Actually, there is yet another factor - multiple NAND chips or multi-plane chips can further influence the locations of "efficient" boundaries.) Knowing this, they can choose a layout that encourages "easy case" internal operations.
...
How to win.
It boils down to the fact that you need to micro-manage a lot of details to ensure that things fall on suitably-aligned boundaries. You need to consider both the partition map and the filesystem layout in concert. One way to separate the problems is to make each partition begin on an erase block boundary, then layout the filesystems so their subordinate data structures (particularly the cluster or "fs block" array) fall on erase block boundaries assuming that the partition itself begins erase-block-aligned. What is a good alignment boundary? Well, 256 KiB is good for most new chips, but to give some breathing room for the future, maybe 1 MiB would be better - or perhaps even 4 MiB.
Better yet, try to avoid reformatting FLASH-based devices when you have the choice.
...
Bottom-line recommendations:
If you can, stick with the factory map
If you must make a "blast it on with dd" image, be very careful and conservative with the partition and filesystem layout, according to the techniques above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I intend doing is to make a (Symantec) Ghost image of the entire "disk" (the SD card) before I actually use it. This is done on Windows of course. The image preserves the geometry of the entire "disk". If I ever need to format the SD card, I will just restore this image to the SD card. This should result in a "factory formatted" card.
Many of you are more knowledgeable than me, please comment.

I cant get what you say.
You want to change the partition type of sd card or you want to just erase what is on sd card

^
1) It's better not to format a SD card unless you really have to.
2) I'm preserving the "geometry" of my new SD card using a Ghost image -so that in the future if I need to format it I will just restore that image. The SD card will then be as good as factory formatted.
Any other method of formatting won't guarantee that.

This is a great job but why you want to do that man.

Then back it up, make that ghost image and save it in case anything ever goes wrong. Then put the card in your phone and format it from there, that way it's almost guaranteed to be formatted correctly to be used with your phone.
Sent from my SM-G386T1 using Tapatalk

One Plus 7 Rooting Technical query

Hi Friends
I have got a One plus 7 phone having 128GB Internal memory from a friend who has accidentally Reset it causing loss of photos.
I want to access phone's internal memory fully to recover data.
I have asked him to root it and bring to me for recovery. He has taken it to some expert who has enabled Developer mode and Rooted phone.
So when I check Debugging mode is enabled , Developer options are selected and phone is rooted.
However Still internal memory is not accessible. I have checked with person who has done rooting.
He said he has done System rooting and storage Rooting also needed to fully access internal memory. I tried Kingosoft Rooting software which failed to Root the phone.
Can someone pls. let me know how to make Storage Rooting ?
Thanks.

If a Factory Reset was applied then all user-data got wiped, means they no longer are accesssible by you: it would need forensic tools to recover them.
To create a bitwise copy of the storage space where the wiped data physically still are located - typically in partition /data - phone's Android must be rooted and accessible by ADB.
BTW: A phone's Android is rooted when in Android OS a binary called su is present and executable.

[IMG alt="jwoegerbauer"]https://forum.xda-developers.com/data/avatars/s/1890/1890170.jpg?1604936797[/IMG]
jwoegerbauer​Thanks for replying. I want to recover data and whatever software needed I will buy, My concern is already I have done what you say but still phone memory is not accessible.
As you said A phone's Android is rooted when in Android OS a binary called su is present and executable.
Can you pls. outline how to achieve this

How utterly st-.-pid is that? Why not doing it right and backup the pictures in the first place to Google or sth? No backup, no mercy. How can people be that ....... and run around taking pictures and only having the version inside the phone? I would not invest a single dime in this and if it is you who lost the pictures let it be a lesson to you.
Btw, pretty sure, there is no way of recovering anything here after that wipe.

Dear terry
Not every person in the world is having similar knowledge and resources for backup learn technology. In countries like India 60% population even does not know what is mobile forget about rooting and backing up. Household peoples , housewifes students kids are there who know basic only. I think you will have to to broaden your knowledge about the world
There is no internet ,staorage cloud space with 90% poor population.
What you are telling is considering europe /USA and developed countries.
Don't forget developing and poor countries as well.
I will try even if it is not going to work. But doing nothing and simply telling its not recoverable is not good idea.