I know, I'm stupid for not ensuring I had a good backup, but it's done, I'm dealing with it.
But, I'm trying to find out if there's anything I can do to recover a file. It's a database file for an app called Time Tracker. It's a .db file.
I thought i prepared for a phone wipe to install a new rom. I did a backup to Google Drive from the program, like I've done a dozen other times. Only this time, it didn't actually back up the .db file. So, not verifying it, I went ahead and formatted the phone, complete wipe, even internal sd.
I've been looking all day trying to find a way to recover the file, so far nothing works. All recovery methods I've found only work for specific types of files like pictures, videos, office files, etc. I downloaded a couple of them and tried but like I said, they only work for specific files and .db isn't one of them.
I'm still using the phone because I have no choice, but I haven't installed anything else.
Is there any hope of recovering or am I SOL?
Oh, yes, next time I will do multiple backups and I'm looking at automated online backup for the future.
Related
Hello.
I finally got the confidence to load Clockwork.
The first thing I did was boot to the utility and repartition the storage as suggested for TnT lite. No problems there, rebooted and poked around a little. I was surprised how much quicker things were with no other changes.
Then I reconnected to my PC, created a ROMs directory and copied the TnT lite.rar file over.
** Here is my problem **
I disconnected from the PC using the "deactivate USB" button. Opened the ES file explorer and there is no ROMs directory but there are 40+ corrupt files in the SDCard directory.
I'm assuming there is a routine to rebuild or repair the file system? Could someone tell me how I should do this, and if that's not the proper course, what should I do?
***The tablet is functioning fine in all other ways as far as I can tell. I was able to delete all but two of the files. The two remaining, "unable to delete". I was going to continue with the installation of TnT lite but with the file systems integrity in question I wondered if I should wait until I've repair it.***
Thanks in advance,
Neudle
Moved to general
No advice?
No suggestions for repairing the folder?
I noticed that when I hook the tablet to my pc, the device name is now nothing but hieroglyphics in windows explorer. Also the two files that I can't delete which are nothing but garbage.
Is it possible to format the internal sdcard?
Thanks.
**Fixed**
Well that was dumb, I managed to fix it 5 minutes after I posted this. I was poking around in clockwork to see if there was something that looked like it might help. Even though I had already repartitioned I ran the routine again. The corrupt files are gone and now in Win explorer it reads "Removable Disk F:" instead of the hieroglyphics.
Neudle,
I think your experience is one of the strongest points that could be made for everyone installing CWM (ClockWorkMod) on their G-Tablet.
A quick look down through the list reveals many things that make life easier -- backup of the ROM, repartitioning (which usually clears out several problems), mounting the USB sdcard when you have serious problems and need to copy stuff onto the tablet to install, yada, yada, yada.
I maintain a VEGAn TAB tablet and a "stock" tablet (no Tnt, VEGAn, Z, etc.) I have put CWM on both --- and I have spent enough time to known fairly well what CWM will do. Sure has helped with my "playing" with both devices.
Glad you are on track!!! Best wishes....
Rev
I've been doing a lot of reading lately and I am finally about to flash my first ROM. Below is a list of what I've done as far as backup and prep. What I want to know is if there is anything important that I missed?
Made a nandroid backup with CWM
Backed up apps with Titanium Backup
Backed up efs directory from the phone
I have a copy of settings.db on my compuer
I have Odin 1-click on my computer
I have a jig made up just in case
Also, since I am on stock 2.1(JH7), I assume I don't need to go through the odin 1-click step, right?
Thanks in advance for your help
looks like you have everything covered except one thing (maybe): if you have an unlocked phone, check the forums to learn how to get your unlock back *before* flashing
i also put a copy of my sd card onto my computer in case something goes bad, but that's just my paranoia/ocd
and you should flash at 100% battery and reset the battery stats while flashing. you can even flash while the phone is plugged into the computer or ac outlet, so the flashing process doesn't drain from the phone battery. some ppl say this is voodoo, but i always flash at 100% and reset the battery stats while changing roms because its a convenient time to reset stats
sublimaze said:
looks like you have everything covered except one thing (maybe): if you have an unlocked phone, check the forums to learn how to get your unlock back *before* flashing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, thanks. I'm glad you mentioned that. I do have it unlocked and I didn't even think about it. I have to go to Thailand in a few weeks for work so I need it unlocked.
I think I remember reading that the unlock code is located in the nv_data.bin file and can be found by searching the file with a hex editor. I'll have to read a little more and play around with that before I flash.
I have been reading a lot lately, but could not find an answer to my noob question. I was just wondering if I flash an I9000 based ROM and lose my unlock or my product code gets messed up, can I just copy the original nv_data.bin file to the new ROM or will that cause me other problems. I know there are post as to how to fix this, but they are geared toward people who didn't make a backup and copying original would be much easier and quicker. Thanks.
^^^ Any help with above question?
I also have one other question. I've been poking around with Root Explorer and I see that all the sytem apps are naturally stored in /system/app folder, but I don't see the downloaded apps in there. I see what apperar to be my downloaded apps in /data/app folder. Is this where they are stored and if so, can I just copy them out and then copy them back after I flash a new ROM? If so, is there anything else I have to do with them to make them work again (like chown through adb)? I was wondering this because I have some paid apps and I don't know if they will automatically be available for download again once I sign on to the market and I don't want to lose them. Thanks for any help.
Hi,
I just had to format my hard drive and thus lost all my WP7 restore files.
Is there anyway to recover all those file so that I can perform a restore on my phone?
I've tried different data restore softwares, but the files are all messed up and I can't remember which folder to put the files in.
Please help me. Thank you.
That really sucks, but this does raise a pretty good question. Where do the phone restore files save to? And how can somebody make sure their backup is going to transfer to a new HDD?
On Win7, try this:
\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Phone Update\XXX-XXX-XXX\Data
I found 5.8Gb of data in this directory following my upgrade to 7390. This helps explain why the update took nearly an hour to complete...
FWIW, i've moved the data off my pc to another drive and everything functions well. The Zune update page no longers shows the option to restore to the previous update, 7008. Other than that, it all looks normal.
aquanaut88 said:
On Win7, try this:
\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Phone Update\XXX-XXX-XXX\Data
I found 5.8Gb of data in this directory following my upgrade to 7390. This helps explain why the update took nearly an hour to complete...
FWIW, i've moved the data off my pc to another drive and everything functions well. The Zune update page no longers shows the option to restore to the previous update, 7008. Other than that, it all looks normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Can you show me the files and folders contained in that backup?
I wanna try my luck again with this
yea, the other guys are right, I had the same issue but if you follow this you will guarantee that you will find your files
Thanks. But what I need to know is the folders to put my recovered files to
In my case it seems they're here:
C:\Users\your user name here\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Phone Update\xxxxx - xxxxx - xxxxxx - xxxxx\RestorePoint\xxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxx\Data
I hope it helps
If you formatted your Hard Drive after you made your backup, you might be SOL unless you have a backup of your hard drive after you backed up your phone.
If you dont, The only real way is to find a rom for your phone.
The folder would be in...
%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows Phone Update
Most of the time when one flashes a new ROM one has to do a data wipe (factory reset), and it erases all one's personal files like movies, music, pictures etc, quite annoying to say the least.
I found a way to avoid this, and it's pretty simple:
1-in CWM go to mount,
2-mount both data and system,
3-format them both.
This will perform the factory reset without erasing our precious files (the installed apks will be gone though, but no biggie if you backed up them with Titanium).
Then you can wipe cache + dalvik and flash your new ROM.
I used this method to go from ICS to CM 10.1, from CM 10.1 to Paranoid Android, and finally back to ICS, without loosing a single kb of my files.
Edit:
I have a p6210, no idea whether it works on other models or not. I guess it does but who knows...
Give it a try if you feel like it, but don't forget to make a back up before in case it goes wrong.
After flashing, your files won't be in the mnt/sdcard anymore but in a newly created folder in mnt/sdcard/0, or, depending the rom you are using, in storage/sdcard/0.
Or, some roms may create a file called legacy and stock everything there, or sometimes your files may be stocked before the sdcard folder, search for either /0 or /legacy.
Use a root browser and have a look, your files are still in your device (have a look as well at your storage in general settings, it will show how many gbs are in your tab).
Once you have found your files all what you have to do is to move them back where they belong, ie the /sdcard folder, it takes 10 seconds.
unclefab said:
Most of the time when one flashes a new ROM one has to do a data wipe (factory reset), and it erases all one's personal files like music, pictures etc, quite annoying to say the least.
I found a way to avoid this, and it's pretty simple:
1-in CWM go to mount,
2-mount both data and system,
3-format them both.
This will perform the factory reset without erasing our precious files.
Then you can wipe cache + dalvik and flash your new ROM.
I used this method to go from ICS to CM 10.1, from CM 10.1 to Paranoid Android, and finally back to ICS, without loosing a single kb of my files.
Give it a try if you feel like it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not cool man.Fu** lah.I lost everything.Around 7 GB of files.Fu** lah.I have no backup.I thought it would work.I was going from cm10.1 to cm10.What am I going to do?
Re: Easy way to keep one's personal data after flasing a new ROM
ALWAYS create a backup before erasing/flashing ANYTHING!! It's always as a precaution, to avoid losing something that you don't want to. And it only takes like 5 seconds literally. I lost some stuff when I unlocked the bootloader on my nexus10 by factory resetting, and I must say I didn't have a smile on my face. But it happened, u live n learn. I'm afraid if u wiped without making a nandroid backup your probably out of luck. Unless your skilled in using forensics techniques to try to recover it. Can't think of any options tho.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Balaram12 said:
Not cool man.Fu** lah.I lost everything.Around 7 GB of files.Fu** lah.I have no backup.I thought it would work.I was going from cm10.1 to cm10.What am I going to do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What did you do?
Did you follow the exact procedure?
I flashed again some roms today and it worked again.
But one thing is that the files are not in the mnt/sdcard anymore but in a newly created folder in mnt/sdcard/0, or, depending the rom you are using, in storage/sdcard/0.
Or, some roms may create a file called legacy and stock everything there, or sometimes your files may be stocked before the sdcard folder, search for either /0 or /legacy.
Use a root browser and have a look, your files are still in your device (have a look as well at your storage in general settings, it will show how many gbs are in your tab).
Once you have found your files all what you have to do is to move them back where they belong, ie the /sdcard folder, it takes 10 seconds.
This said, meishkov is right, one should allways have a back up in case anything goes wrong, I should have mentioned it in the OP but I forgot, my bad...
Edit:
OP edited.
Oh well, noone tried?
Would be nice to hear some reports...
Balaram, it would be fair from you to detail a bit what happened and to tell if you found back your files.
Anyway, this method worked for me and I thought that it might have interested some people here, roms flashers and devs alike, but if that s not the case then no worries.
If someone feels that I should erase the whole thread just tell me and I ll do it...
I need to wipe two Android Phones that do not have the "encrypt" option. I am selling them very soon so this is important. One phone is running stock Gingerbread, the other is using a custom rom running ICS 4.04.
I attempted a secure wipe on the ICS phone by choosing every wipe option found in TWRP (dalvik, cache,etc), then I did 2 factory resets and flashed a NEW ROM after that. Guess what..? I used the free program "DiskDigger" on my PC and I found THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of recoverable files. FULL pictures, not just thumbnails; I found videos, I found zip files, I found voice recordings, I found music, and more!
There is no way in hell I can sell these phones until I know they are CLEAN of my information. What pisses me off is that with iPhone, it's as simple as pressing "Erase All Content And Settings". That takes maybe 5 minutes tops and it works on iPhone's as old as the iPhone 3GS! I thought custom flashing a new rom and wiping cache in TWRP would do the trick but NOPE.
Can anyone help me?
I have an idea:
Just keep copying some random worthless files over and over till your memory fulls up
then do your erase and reset, check again with your DiskDigger again th make sure only the worthless files are retrievable instead of your personal.
Luaai said:
I have an idea:
Just keep copying some random worthless files over and over till your memory fulls up
then do your erase and reset, check again with your DiskDigger again th make sure only the worthless files are retrievable instead of your personal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this really my only option? If so, that is sad and scary at same time, because results are still not guaranteed.
For comparison's sake, I ran Recuva which found 1,243 files. It found A LOT less, so I am glad I tried DiskDigger first. Still, Recuva showed a lot of pictures, and even if they were recoverable, you can see the FULL picture in the preview window!
umirin said:
Is this really my only option? If so, that is sad and scary at same time, because results are still not guaranteed.
For comparison's sake, I ran Recuva which found 1,243 files. It found A LOT less, so I am glad I tried DiskDigger first. Still, Recuva showed a lot of pictures, and even if they were recoverable, you can see the FULL picture in the preview window!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look, when erase a file from your memory it dose not actually erase it, it just hide it from gallery or file explorer and mark it on memory allocation table to be overwritten when copy other file. So your best option is to overwrite with another worthless files. Just give it a try, you wont lose any thing.
I think you might also use any safe erase application or disk utility while connecting your phone as a USB memory. Google it.
Luaai said:
Look, when erase a file from your memory it dose not actually erase it, it just hide it from gallery or file explorer and mark it on memory allocation table to be overwritten when copy other file. So your best option is to overwrite with another worthless files. Just give it a try, you wont lose any thing.
I think you might also use any safe erase application or disk utility while connecting your phone as a USB memory. Google it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that flash memory is different from magnetic drives. I say it's not guaranteed because who knows how many files I have to copy over and over to replace the old stuff.
What I need is a proper sanitizing app like DBAN, but for Android. I am going to check Google Play tomorrow and see if I can find one that still works on Gingerbread and ICS. I have checked these kinds of apps in the past and they were all garbage; I could still recover files easily.
An update for you... I downloaded these two apps and ran them on both phones. Here are the results...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pinellascodeworks.securewipe&hl=en - Secure Wipe
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aiuspaktyn.secureeraser&hl=en - Secure Eraser
On the stock Gingerbread phone, 3 photos were found by DiskDigger and I was able to preview them and recover them. Recuva found 20 files, the same 3 pictures, plus some overwritten garbage. I ran both apps AGAIN and got the same results, those same 3 photos were still there, intact. So what I then did was click on the photos in Recuva and selected "Secure Overwrite Checked". I ran the scans a THIRD time, Recuva first. It found 15 different files, 11 ignored all labelled as "unrecoverable" or "very poor". Only one photo was from before was found, but there was no preview. I recovered it, but no photo program could open it, so it looks to be successfully overwritten and corrupted.
On the phone running custom ROM ICS: I ran DiskDigger and it found 0 files; Recuva found 3 files after secure wiping. One was in "poor state" and two were in "excellent" state - a .bin file and .M file. I overwrote these files in Recuva and ran the scans a second time. DiskDigger found nothing, Recuva found 3, 14 ignored, all were "unrecoverable".
So I have some peace of mind now. Before running these Secure erase programs, DiskDigger found 99% of the contents on the phone that was running custom ROM ICS. So wiping dalvik cache, other cache, multiple factory resets, and flashing a new ROM did NOTHING!
If anyone has suggestions on other recovery programs, I will do a third check to put my mind at ease.
Wow... very surprised that there is no discussion on this. Do people not care about about the security of their devices?