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Broken screen, need to retrieve files off phone! help please

My screen first cracked and then the LCD completely went now... I have files I need to retrieve off the phone. It is rooted and running some ICS build... I believe the phone is in USB debugging mode, the screen still 'works' I can unlock the phone but nothing is displayed on the screen. Possibly someone could help me out with the adb process for pulling the contents off the /sd
Any help will be GREATLY appreciated, thank you for your time.

ur usb mass storage should still work. can u just plug ur phone to a usb port and get things off the phone ?

As previously stated. I believe the phone was in USB debugging mode. And now the screen is completely black... impossible to navigate to where i need to be.

You'll need adb setup on your computer, and you'll need to cd your way into the folder with adb.exe. Forgive me for hotlinking, but this will make it easier: Download this file, courtesy of NexusSHacks.com (I believe it is Zedomax around here). I would advise to unzip the contents in this file to your C:\Nexus directory, so that adb.exe is at C:\Nexus\adb.exe.
Now, plug in your phone. Open your start menu and search for "cmd" and open up Command Prompt. This is the basic Windows CLI (Command Line Interface).
First, you'll need to open the directory of the Nexus folder you created earlier. To do this, type in the command prompt:
Code:
cd C:\Nexus
Now, you want to make sure adb sees your phone:
Code:
adb devices
The adb service should start and if it sees your phone it will pop up a serial number. If there is no serial number, you can't use adb while inside android and you'll need to tick the option or find an alternative way. Assuming it finds your device, you are good to go.
In order to copy the /sdcard folder of your Nexus S, you will use the pull command. We will throw all of the files into C:\Nexus\sdcard, for reference. So in the command prompt, type:
Code:
adb pull /sdcard .\sdcard
It looks a little confusing but don't stress. Just make sure you type it in exactly (dot, correct slash, etc). This will take a little while since it might transfer up to ~15GB worth. You'll see a new line with "C:\Nexus>" with a flashing cursor when it is done. Then you can view all the contents of your sdcard at C:\Nexus\sdcard and do with them as you please.
Also note, for this you'll need up to ~15GB of free space on your C:\ partition, make sure you have this before you start. Good luck

old post I know, but I just dropped my Samsung Captivate (rooted with debugging on) and internal screen cracked (gorilla glass is perfectly fine!), so I am in the same boat. After DAYS... actually DAYS of trying everything from every forum I FOUND A FIX!!!
Now admittedly, I am unsure which of these two (or both) fixed the issue, but here is what I did:
via Google Play's online "shop", I installed "Auto Mount Your SD Card" by JRTStudio (admittingly, unsure if this did anything as I cannot verify if it installed or anything via the phone)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...wsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5qcnRzdHVkaW8uYXV0b21vdW50Il0.
then I DL'ed MoboRobo and after a few frustrated phone reboots, usb cable connections and much cursing IT CONNECTED!
http://www.moborobo.com/
I am currently DLing all my files from my broken phone!
I had to pass this along as I said... NOBODY seems to know about this as it has taken me DAYS to do this! Not even ATT (Current carrier) nor Spring (whom I am switching to in a month or so) could help me!

You save my life with that "moborobo". Thank you very much.

Glad I could help!!!

Thanks went to both of u, quit important piece of knowledge.
One question; r u downloading "moborobo" on ur Android, on your pc or on both of them?

just on PC, not needed on the phone unless you want to go via WiFi

Harbb said:
If there is no serial number, you can't use adb while inside android and you'll need to tick the option or find an alternative way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by this?
My adb service doesn't detect my phone, I used Droidzone's tutorial. I believe usb debugging needs to be on for adb to work, which in my case is useless cause my screen is broken so can't turn on usb debugging.
This is what happens:
---------------------------
C:\>adb devices
List of devices attached
C:\>
---------------------------
---------- Post added at 11:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 PM ----------
^when I say broken, I mean the whole screen is distorted, I cannot see anything

droidoidoid said:
What do you mean by this?
My adb service doesn't detect my phone, I used Droidzone's tutorial. I believe usb debugging needs to be on for adb to work, which in my case is useless cause my screen is broken so can't turn on usb debugging.
This is what happens:
---------------------------
C:\>adb devices
List of devices attached
C:\>
---------------------------
---------- Post added at 11:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 PM ----------
^when I say broken, I mean the whole screen is distorted, I cannot see anything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reboot to recovery. Bam, working ADB. You can navigate there pretty easily. Pull battery, then re-insert. VOL + & PWR, two click on VOL -, PWR button once. You're in recovery now.

QtADB also can be used is this case
http://qtadb.wordpress.com/download/

paskalion said:
QtADB also can be used is this case
http://qtadb.wordpress.com/download/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No go on this either.
Downloaded QtADB, ran the .exe
Pointed to the folder with the aapt and adb binaries, program opened up
Phone's connected and on (I can hear texts coming through), hit refresh a few times, still not detecting

polobunny said:
Reboot to recovery. Bam, working ADB. You can navigate there pretty easily. Pull battery, then re-insert. VOL + & PWR, two click on VOL -, PWR button once. You're in recovery now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a little tough. I'm using a Galaxy S so I'm following instructions for that, but it's hard to know if I'm in recovery mode or not. Since adb doesn't detect the device, it's hard to know whether the phone went into recovery mode, or whether adb is setup correctly. It would be handy for a voice sample to play "recovery mode" once the phone boots into it.

droidoidoid said:
That's a little tough. I'm using a Galaxy S so I'm following instructions for that, but it's hard to know if I'm in recovery mode or not. Since adb doesn't detect the device, it's hard to know whether the phone went into recovery mode, or whether adb is setup correctly. It would be handy for a voice sample to play "recovery mode" once the phone boots into it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're in the wrong forum, then.
And whether or not adb is installed properly, you would know in your device manager under Windows. Appears as a device.

polobunny said:
You're in the wrong forum, then.
And whether or not adb is installed properly, you would know in your device manager under Windows. Appears as a device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok... Galaxy S i9000 stuff goes in the Galaxy S i9000 forum.... that's probably why my other post got deleted! :laugh:
As for adb... it appears as a process in task manager, so it's running - I know that much. It's not appearing as a device in device manager (why would it if it's a process? or are you referring to my phone appearing as a device?)
Only areas I can think of that aren't correct are the environment variable and the way I'm doing recovery mode. Since I can't see the screen, I don't know which one is causing the issue! :crying:

Samsung broken??
Contact this guy in Paris , he's very good and friendly!! he repairs my blue Galaxy S3 in front of me
Tel: 0950 850 500 Direct Technique
repare-galaxy com
don't hesitate to call them because i know their skills and it's very good!!
tell them that u call from Mike ciao guys!!

Problem!
Harbb said:
Code:
adb pull /sdcard .\sdcard
It looks a little confusing but don't stress. Just make sure you type it in exactly (dot, correct slash, etc). This will take a little while since it might transfer up to ~15GB worth. You'll see a new line with "C:\Nexus>" with a flashing cursor when it is done. Then you can view all the contents of your sdcard at C:\Nexus\sdcard and do with them as you please.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, I got to this problem and I got stuck. I also have a Nexus S with a cracked screen. When I put in the final phrase into the command window it just told me that 0 filles were pulled! Why didnt it pull my files?
What I am trying to do is get all of my pictures and others off the phone.
Please help!

SkullMblem said:
Hey, I got to this problem and I got stuck. I also have a Nexus S with a cracked screen. When I put in the final phrase into the command window it just told me that 0 filles were pulled! Why didnt it pull my files?
What I am trying to do is get all of my pictures and others off the phone.
Please help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happened to me as well. You have to make sure that your phone has its sdcard folder mounted. Type "adb shell" to get access to the phones command terminal. Then type in "mount /sdcard" I think, or maybe it was "mount sdcard". Either way will probably work so long as you are in the root directory of the phone. You can navigate around in the phone just like a normal linux terminal. "ls" shows list of files and folders in the current directory, "cd foldername" moves into a folder, "cd ../" moves back, "cd /" goes to root directory, etc. Anyhow, once you have mounted the sdcard, you can type exit to leave the shell terminal, and then issue the command "adb pull /sdcard .\sdcard" to get the files. I had a custom rom image in the root of my sdcard so the move took quite a while ~15 minutes. On success of the pull command you should see a bunch of statuses like:
pull: sdcard/data/somefile -> .\sdcard/data/somefile
pull: sdcard/DCIM/somefile -> .\sdcard/DCIM/somefile
.
.
.
XXXX files pulled. 0 files skipped
(Some more transmission stats)
Hope it works out for who ever reads this.
Side note:
On my phone the screen was smashed. I replaced it and it still would not turn on, but it was still running. I had a rooted phone with CM10 rom on it. ADB debugging was one (if its off your pretty much screwed). I started up the phone, and plugged in the usb cable. I tried to use both adb and fastboot from windows terminal. "fastboot devices" would echo back nothing, and "adb devices" would echo back my phone's device number but state it was offline. So to get it online I did the following:
1.) pull batttery.
2.) boot into bootloader (hold power and volume up) the phone shouldn't vibrate if it does you have just normally powered it on. It took me quite a few times to get this to go into the bootloader. To make sure you get in the bootloader type "fastboot devices". If nothing comes up you not there.
3.) once verified you are in the bootloader you need to go into recover mode. Press volume down twice and then hit power (this would normally move the cursor on your phone down to recovery and select it if you could see whats happening on the screen).
4.) wait a bit for it to load into recovery, try typing "adb devices". You should eventually see you device show up as online. At this point you may enter the shell as above, mount the sdcard, exit the shell and pull your files.
Windows instuctions:
Prerequisites are installing adb.exe and fastboot.exe via installing the Android SDK on your computer. They will show up in the platform-tools folder of the install location. Add that folder to your environmental path variable so you can run the ADB and fastboot commands from any folder. Install the ADB driver for your phone (allows you to issue adb commands to your phone when USB is plugged in) by plugging in your phone and going to device manager, find your phone which should show up as a exclamation point, right click update driver, click "browse...", then "let me pick...", click top entry something like "show all", and then let the list populate. On the left look for "samsung" and then select the first one that is something like "samsung adb driver interface". And you should be good to go.
Sorry for the long winded post, I just like to try and explain as much as possible.

Successfully Recoverd data
Well My Samsung S2's Screen broke down few days ago.. Now i have retrieved the data by following the 2nd method in the following article..! I Hope this works for you aswell...
I can not Post the link here.. PM me if you want the link...!

[TIP] How to install Clockworkmod Recovery (detailed instructions)

Moderator Edit 12/8/12
Do not use this this method twrp is officially supported for the one x. Download goo manager from the market or check the dev section.
It is not my intention to step on the toes of other people who have been more than helpful when it comes to questions relating to the installation of this or that.
Although I am reasonably familiar with many of the installation procedures when it comes to ROMs and Kernels, including Clockworkmod Recovery, etc., I am still a bit hesitant because I simply want to make sure that I am not making a mistake. After all, we spend lots of money on our phones, and the slightest error can be permanent.
I respect and admire all the developers who work tirelessly to make our lives a little bit better, and who often fulfill our ongoing need to “fiddle” with our phones. Thank you!
That being said, here is a detailed explanation of how to install Clockworkmod Recovery.
First, your bootloader must be unlocked. It doesn’t matter if you have the “TAMPERED” entry; this procedure will still work. Second, you must also have all necessary mobile phone drivers installed, including ADB, ADB drivers, and fastboot. From this point forward, I will call all these files your “Fastboot” files. If you don’t have these files, you can download them by clicking on the link at the end of this post.
At this point I’m assuming you’ve placed your Fastboot files in a separate folder within the root directory of your PC (the “C” drive?). I put these files in a folder called fastboot, but it really doesn’t matter, as long as you remember the location.
Here’s an image from my Windows Explorer screen to give you an idea of what I did:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
So, here we go …
Download the Clockworkmod Recovery image file and change the name to CWM.img. This is an easy name to remember, which will help further along in these instructions.
Place your newly-named CWM.img file in the directory where your Fastboot files are located.
Power down your device.
While holding VOLUME DOWN, press and hold the POWER button for a few seconds. Continue to hold VOLUME DOWN until your bootloader screen appears.
Somewhere in the middle of your bootloader screen will be seven entries entitled FASTBOOT, RECOVERY, FACTORY RESET, CLEAR STORAGE, SIMLOCK, IMAGE CRC, and POWER DOWN.
Using your VOLUME keys, make sure FASTBOOT is highlighted, and then press the POWER button once.
You should now be in the FASTBOOT Bootloader screen. On my ONE X, and I’m assuming the same for everyone, the word FASTBOOT will be highlighted with a RED background. Either way, it should be highlighted.
Connect device to your PC via USB cable.
If all is going well, the word FASTBOOT should now say FASTBOOT USB. From this point forward, do not touch the device.
Open a Command Prompt window on your PC (Press the Start button, and in the search field type cmd, and then press Enter). Here’s an example of how your Command Prompt window may look:
You must now change the directory to where your Fastboot files are located. As I mentioned above, mine are in the directory c:\fastboot. Therefore, I would need to type the following command in the Command Prompt window: cd c:\fastboot
The “cd” refers to “change directory,” while the rest is where your Fastboot files are located. Here’s how your Command Prompt window will look like after you’ve typed the above, and BEFORE you press the Enter key.
Here’s an example of how your Command Prompt window will appear AFTER you press the Enter key:
Next you need to type the following: fastboot flash recovery CWM.img
Renaming the file to CWM.img simplifies the above entry because this name is easy to remember.
Here’s how your Command Prompt window will appear BEFORE you press the Enter key:
Now press the Enter key and let the program run.
The entire installation/flash will take only a few seconds. When complete, your Command Prompt window will return to your fastboot directory (see image below).
Ignore the error in my image above, the line called error: cannot load ‘CWM.img’
This error message appeared ONLY because I didn’t want to install Clockworkmod Recovery on my device a second time. Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?
Reboot your device.
DONE! You now have Clockworkmod Recovery on your phone.
These instructions are available in PDF format by clicking on the link at the end of this post.
Peter
Here's the link to the Clockworkmod Recovery file:
Clockworkmod Recovery Image
Detailed Instructions
Fastboot Files

Thanks for the excellent guide, Peter!
We were all hardcore newbies at one point and while it's annoying to see them ask redundant questions or ones that have been answered in the first post of a thread, you have to have some sympathy for them. Especially when they do something like get a soft-bricked device and begin to panic.

Thanks a lot for this!!
Would this work similarly on Linux or Mac?
Cheers!

THANK YOU this was very helpfull

Mac or Linux, I simply don't know ...
zmanw330 said:
Thanks a lot for this!!
Would this work similarly on Linux or Mac?
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Regretfully, I have little to no knowledge concerning Mac and Linux, so I don't know if it would work. Sorry.
Perhaps others can answer this question.
Peter

zmanw330 said:
Thanks a lot for this!!
Would this work similarly on Linux or Mac?
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Almost identical. On my Ubuntu machine I just need to type "sudo fastboot flash recovery xxx.img" and boom!
I can't see Macs being too different.

PeterHTC said:
First, your bootloader must be unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
has this been done? have I missed something in the past day?

So far this is only for Rogers version

Peter i am following your instructions to a tee but when i try to push cwm i get the same error that shows up on your screen, i am rooted and bootloader unlocked. Can someone help
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Users\Scott> cd c:\fastboot
c:\fastboot>fastboot flash recovery CWM.img
error: cannot load 'CWM.img'
c:\fastboot>

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
Sent from my HTC One XL using xda premium

No, you didn't miss anything ... so far
fionic said:
has this been done? have I missed something in the past day?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you didn't miss anything so far. The bootloader on AT&T units cannot yet be unlocked, but I'm sure it's only time. Once unlocked, then you can follow the installation instructions.
Peter

Peter said change the file name to CWM

I hope I'm not patronizing, but ...
sm625614 said:
Peter i am following your instructions to a tee but when i try to push cwm i get the same error that shows up on your screen, i am rooted and bootloader unlocked. Can someone help
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Users\Scott> cd c:\fastboot
c:\fastboot>fastboot flash recovery CWM.img
error: cannot load 'CWM.img'
c:\fastboot>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope I don't insult you, but did you connect the phone to your PC via USB? The reason I ask is that I got my error message because I disconnected my phone prior to hitting the Enter key. As I mentioned, I didn't want to install it a second time and risk doing something harmful.
Did you also get FASTBOOT USB highlighted on your device after you plugged it in?
Peter
Addendum: Don't forget that these entries in your Command Prompt are case sensitive. Capital letters must remain as capitals, and small letters as small ... exactly as shown in my instructions. Again, I hope I'm not patronizing anyone. That's not my intention.

Of course your not insulting me, your just being detailed lol. The phone is 100% connected to the computer via USB. I am in fastboot mode with FASTBOOT USE highlighted in red. I am following you instructions perfectly and i got the same error. Do you think i should reinstall htc sync to reinstall the drivers. I am quite lost here on why this is not working.

Did you ...
sm625614 said:
Of course your not insulting me, your just being detailed lol. The phone is 100% connected to the computer via USB. I am in fastboot mode with FASTBOOT USE highlighted in red. I am following you instructions perfectly and i got the same error. Do you think i should reinstall htc sync to reinstall the drivers. I am quite lost here on why this is not working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One thing I should have included in my first post (I will amend it shortly), is a link to the actual Clockworkmod Recovery file, which is currently available on another thread.
Did you download THAT file?
Peter
Addendum: Clockworkmod Recovery Files link now included in original post
Addendum 2: Re-installing HTC Sync might be helpful. It's what I would eventually do.

YES i have that file and i renamed it to the CWM.img name that you recommended. What do you think i should do?

I changed the first image in the original post ...
I changed the first image in the original post. It now includes the Clockworkmod Recovery file, marked as CWM.
Peter

Hmm, I would ...
sm625614 said:
YES i have that file and i renamed it to the CWM.img name that you recommended. What do you think i should do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I'm not entirely sure. What I would do is start all over again after restarting your PC and Phone. If it does not work then, uninstall and reinstall HTC sync. After that, I'm stumped. Sorry.
Peter

sm625614 said:
Of course your not insulting me, your just being detailed lol. The phone is 100% connected to the computer via USB. I am in fastboot mode with FASTBOOT USE highlighted in red. I am following you instructions perfectly and i got the same error. Do you think i should reinstall htc sync to reinstall the drivers. I am quite lost here on why this is not working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have a file named "CWM.img" in the same folder as fastboot? That part of the command is telling fastboot which file to install. Make sure the image file is named correctly, or you can alter the command to reflect the name of the file.

I think you should write it into the title and the post saying for now this is only for Rogers users. It might cause a problem bbecause you said even if the bootloader ssays tampered it'll work. And I'm on att and it says tampered bbut this won't work for ATT HOX.
Just a precaution
Sent from my HTC Vivid 4G LTE using Tapatalk 2

Nexus S touchscreen died - how to get data off the phone?

My daughter's Nexus S touchscreen has died. It died slowly in that on the first few occasions she couild pop the battery and it would come back. Now it won't come back at all and is stuck on the pattern lock screen.
Before we send the phone for repair under warranty she is keen to get the photos off the phone since a repair might reset the phone. I was thinking we could mount the phone as a USB device but it doesn't show up perhaps because it won't until the pattern lock is entered else anybody could get data off your phone bypassing security.
Any other things we could try before giving up and hoping the repair doesn't delete all the data?
Thanks

Boot into recovery, make a nand then extract data through adb?

adb pull /sdcard/path-to-whatever

Can you explain the path to whatever? Like if I want it in folder "A" on the desktop.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Check this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1573744

treUse said:
adb pull /sdcard/path-to-whatever
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of interest I tried this on my GN. adb recognises the phone and adb devices shows the serial number. But adb pull /sdcard says invalid remote file. No idea what that means since using ES File Explorer sdcard is a valid directory on the phone (and I suppose it would also be on the Nexus S)

lchiu7 said:
Out of interest I tried this on my GN. adb recognises the phone and adb devices shows the serial number. But adb pull /sdcard says invalid remote file. No idea what that means since using ES File Explorer sdcard is a valid directory on the phone (and I suppose it would also be on the Nexus S)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ADB "thought" you meant to copy a file.
To copy the entire sdcard directory you should do something like this:
Code:
adb pull /sdcard/ sdcard/backup/on/pc/
The command parameters are "adb pull <source> <destination>"
Just make sure source ends with a /

Maybe a Windows based software?? Droid Explorer, very useful.. http://de.codeplex.com/ :good:

Well I finally got the phone to play with. The screen indeed dead. I installed the Google USB drivers from the SDK and also the Samsung drivers.
When I boot the phone into the recovery menu I can run fastboot devices and see the following
????0AC4B09900?? fastboot (of course the ? are not there but I wanted to anonmyuse the serial)
So far so good.
In device manager under Android Phone it show Samsung Android ADB Interface
But if I try adb devices I get nothing.
Forgot to mention my daughter said USB Debugging was turned off but I am not sure that makes any difference and anyway, we can't boot Android to turn it on
So I select Recovery and see the Android with the exclamation mark. Windows beeps to indicate that some sort of devices has been installed,
But in Device Manager no phone shows which explains why adb can't fidn the phone but not why.
I can bring up the recovery menu but still no adb
Any suggestions?
Thanks

Boot into Fastboot and flash CWM Recovery.

RL77LUC said:
Boot into Fastboot and flash CWM Recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But it looks like I have to unlock the bootloader to do that and the phone is still under warranty so that would invalidate the warranty wouldn't it? She would like to get the data off the phone. A screen fix shouldn't zap the memory but you never know.

what this device installed CWM?? if installed cwm just bot it to cwm an goto mass storage

cukdus said:
what this device installed CWM?? if installed cwm just bot it to cwm an goto mass storage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone is stock

lchiu7 said:
The phone is stock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you unlock the bootloader to flash CWM your memory will also be wiped, so you will loose all the photos you want to save, so don't do that.
Also if you have the USB debugging off, the ADB commands won't work. I'm afraid you're SOL, since you have the bootloader locked you can't flash a kernel with USB host, that would allow you to use a mouse to navigate in the phone and since you don't have USB debug you can't pull files from the "SDcard"... Better take it to the store and try to ask them if they can save the photos before they do anything to the phone, but i guess if it's a digitalizer problem, they won't mess with the NAND.

Check out http://www.moborobo.com/ and see if it works for you.
If you have root you have extended functionality, like control the device from the PC. But if i recall correctly, even without root you should be able to get your files.

[TOOL] ADB Data Recovery (recover data from a phone with broken screen)

**UPDATE**
NEW VERSION
THIS RELIES ON ADB COMMANDS, SO IF YOU DO NOT HAVE USB DEBUGGING TURNED ON, OR A CUSTOM RECOVERY TO BOOT TO, THEN IT WILL NOT BE AS SIMPLE AS JUST RUNING THE PROGRAM.
Another user was having issues because he had an emulator installed, so I updated the file to give you the choice between an emulator, or device. I intend to update further to allow you to check for and select an individual device, that will come soon..
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recently my Galaxy s2's screen smashed, and, after replacing it with a GS4, i realized that many of my pictures were stuck on the internal sd card of the GS2. Being unable to turn on mass storage mode, I made a very simple tool that makes using adb pull a simple, painless process, even for the most computer illiterate of android users. Hope this helps if anyone needs it.
For anyone having issues...
If you had not previously activated USB Debugging, there are several steps you need to follow in order to enable ADB
SCREEN WORKING TOUCH BROKEN NO CUSTOM RECOVERY​first, if you can see your screen, and have access to an otg cable, plug a mouse in to the otg cable, and the otg cable into the phone. Use the mouse to enable USB debugging, or to transfer files.
HOW TO ENABLE USB DEBUGGING
SCREEN WORKING TOUCH BROKEN WITH CUSTOM RECOVERY​boot to your custom recovery ADB commands will work here. (usually hold vol- + pwr)
HOW TO BOOT TO RECOVERY
Once in custom recovery, connect the device to the PC.
open CMD and enter the following commands;
cd c:\android (this is your ADB path, c:\android is default)
adb devices
The result should be something like
List of devices attached
051a4dd5 recovery
^^this number will be different for you
if you get a result on ADB devices, then you can use the program
SCREEN BROKEN TOUCH BROKEN WITH CUSTOM RECOVERY​boot to your custom recovery ADB commands will work here. (usually hold vol- + pwr)
HOW TO BOOT TO RECOVERY
Once in custom recovery, connect the device to the PC.
open CMD and enter the following commands;
cd c:\android (this is your ADB path, c:\android is default)
adb devices
The result should be something like
List of devices attached
051a4dd5 recovery
^^this number will be different for you
if you get a result on ADB devices, then you can use the program
SCREEN BROKEN TOUCH BROKEN NO CUSTOM RECOVERY​now things get complicated...
*The following is paraphrased from this site
1. download the custom recovery image for your device. Copy the recovery image to a convenient location on your computer, preferably with a short path. We will be placing it on the C Drive directly (not in any folder) and using that in the next steps.
Note: The recovery image should have .img extension. If it is in a zip file, extract the .img file from it.
I recommend clockwork mod non touch from this page
2. Power your device off and reboot your device to FASTBOOT or DOWNLOAD MODE depending on which type of device you have.
(most devices are fastboot, SAMSUNG typically uses DOWNLOAD MODE)
how to boot to fastboot or download mode
[FASTBOOT]​3. Connect your device to your computer via USB and wait till you see the PC recognize the device
to check if your device is in fastboot and connected use CMD and enter the following commands;
cd c:\android (this is your ADB path, c:\android is default)
fastboot devices
you will see a list of connected devices. if not, something went wrong.
4. Launch Command Prompt and type the following commands;
cd c:\android (this is your ADB path, c:\android is default)
fastboot flash recovery c:\recovery.img
5. Wait for the process to finish.
6. Turn device off then boot to your custom recovery ADB commands will work here. (usually hold vol- + pwr)
HOW TO BOOT TO RECOVERY
Once in custom recovery, connect the device to the PC.
open CMD and enter the following commands;
cd c:\android (this is your ADB path, c:\android is default)
adb devices
The result should be something like
List of devices attached
051a4dd5 recovery
^^this number will be different for you
if you get a result on ADB devices, then you can use the program
[RECOVERY MODE (SAMSUNG)]​USE THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THIS PAGE
Once in custom recovery, connect the device to the PC.
open CMD and enter the following commands;
cd c:\android (this is your ADB path, c:\android is default)
adb devices
The result should be something like
List of devices attached
051a4dd5 recovery
^^this number will be different for you
if you get a result on ADB devices, then you can use the program
HOPEFULLY THIS HELPS. REMEMBER TO CHECK THE FORUM PAGE FOR YOUR DEVICE IF YOU RUN INTO ISSUES. THIS ISN'T ANYTHING THE MEMBERS OF XDA HAVEN'T DONE THOUSANDS OF TIMES OVER.
Don't forget to hit "Thanks"

i'll bump this thread for those who didn't see this amazing tool, this tool is really useful, thank you very much

Hi,
Sturggling to find the .adb file as my phone shows up as a "Portable Device" any ideas?
Cheers

Thank you!
I joined just to say thank you to FuzzyMeep Two. Thanks for an awesome tool! It worked better than advertised!
:good:
Thanks again!
-th3r3isnospoon

Question
Hi! Can I use that to restore data not from sdcard but from internal memory of the device? I was storing photos on device memory on my Asus TF300T and now its bricked. I need to restore these photos, my girlfriend has something like 1000 of them from her trip to Caracas. Its very important for her. I already managed to connect the device through fastboot and I launched anb in cmd. What should I do next? Please help me guys

koperkowy said:
Hi! Can I use that to restore data not from sdcard but from internal memory of the device? I was storing photos on device memory on my Asus TF300T and now its bricked. I need to restore these photos, my girlfriend has something like 1000 of them from her trip to Caracas. Its very important for her. I already managed to connect the device through fastboot and I launched anb in cmd. What should I do next? Please help me guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, when it references SD Card it means the internal "SD" storage built in to the phone, not the removable one. It should work as long as ADB can connect.
Sorry for taking so long to reply, i really hope you got your pictures back.

FuzzyMeep Two said:
Recently my Galaxy s2's screen smashed, and, after replacing it with a GS4, i realized that many of my pictures were stuck on the internal sd card of the GS2. Being unable to turn on mass storage mode, I made a very simple tool that makes using adb pull a simple, painless process, even for the most computer illiterate of android users. Hope this helps if anyone needs it.
P.S. I apologize if i have posted this in the wrong place, if so please let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really great stuff - so simple but so effective. Cheers and thanks.

Error msg
zobes said:
Really great stuff - so simple but so effective. Cheers and thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When i run that tool, i get the error mesg: more than one device and emulator,
I dont want to uninstall the emulator coz it was a headache getting it running
How i procede to select the device to be used

alisdairjk said:
When i run that tool, i get the error mesg: more than one device and emulator,
I dont want to uninstall the emulator coz it was a headache getting it running
How i procede to select the device to be used
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NEW VERSION
Try this, i haven't gotten to test it, so please let me know if it worked for you, I added the option of selecting an emulator or USB device, because of your post. Hopefully it helps.

When I try to run this I also get an error message saying that the adb.exe file cannot be found.
Please can anyone help?

Joeb29 said:
When I try to run this I also get an error message saying that the adb.exe file cannot be found.
Please can anyone help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you also installed ADB, as well as this software?
I'm also having an issue - I have installed java, java SDK and ADB, so I can now run the data recovery tool. But when I do I'm getting "error:device not found" - am I missing drivers or something? I couldn't get all the way on the ADB configuration, because part of it required me to do something on the device... anyway, looks like the computer isn't recognising the the phone at the moment.
Any help very gratefully received (phone is Samsung Galaxy S2).

joffmeister said:
Have you also installed ADB, as well as this software?
I'm also having an issue - I have installed java, java SDK and ADB, so I can now run the data recovery tool. But when I do I'm getting "error:device not found" - am I missing drivers or something? I couldn't get all the way on the ADB configuration, because part of it required me to do something on the device... anyway, looks like the computer isn't recognising the the phone at the moment.
Any help very gratefully received (phone is Samsung Galaxy S2).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same situation right now. Managed to make your program work then I get the "error:device not found". My phone does show up in the computer folder(albeit not in mass storage mode), but isn't that what this program was made to work around?
My phone is a LG Optimus G with a smashed glass... The LCD still displays fine, but I'm stuck at my swipe lock because the digitizer is dead.
Thank you for your help and your wonderful program.

Thanks for this app. My girlfriend broke her screen and digitizer on her Galaxy S4. She never turned USB Debugging mode and has a lock on her screen. When using your app I get the same error when I use adb by itself which is "error: closed". ADB detects my phone but any command I use in ADB or with your app I get that same error.
Do you know how to fix this? Thanks in advance.

Thanks a lot man.
dude this tool is just amazing and does exactly what it promised. I was spending sleepless nights thinking about how to recover my data from my broken galaxy nexus and now that I have it I can rest easy. Seriously can't thank you enough for this. Just joined xda to thank you buddy.:laugh::fingers-crossed:

Getting an error "The system cannot find the path specified."
I start the recovery tool, set eh adb path successfully, and then I get this error. If I try running the recovery to pull the DCIM library I get this:
"error: device not found"
What can I do?
Thanks!
Either way this is an amazing tool, seeing how it helped some people already. :good:

Hi, Seem to have the same problem as many others, Device not found. I cant change to MTP mode on my LG G2.
I hope someone can find a solution to this problem.
Program seems amazing doh.

Hello,
This is really a great tool ! I was wondering if you could add the possibility to recover the external sd card aswell.

Device not found
Tried to recover a Samsung Galaxy S3 mini with a broken screen
I installed adb and RecoverData, run it and then get a "device not found error"
What can I do?

Amazing app. thank you so much :good:

FuzzyMeep Two said:
**UPDATE**
NEW VERSION
Another user was having issues because he had an emulator installed, so I updated the file to give you the choice between an emulator, or device. I intend to update further to allow you to check for and select an individual device, that will come soon..
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recently my Galaxy s2's screen smashed, and, after replacing it with a GS4, i realized that many of my pictures were stuck on the internal sd card of the GS2. Being unable to turn on mass storage mode, I made a very simple tool that makes using adb pull a simple, painless process, even for the most computer illiterate of android users. Hope this helps if anyone needs it.
Don't forget to hit "Thanks"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, Thank you very musch, It's so usefull for me.. :angel:

Someone smashed my phone with a rock. (data recovery ?s)

Greetings et al,
Backstory: I climb large granite walls and my phone was left part way up and a party following found my phone and decided to smash the crap out of the screen. They left it on prominently displayed along a trail on a rock and someone else I knew found it and returned it to me.
Device: Google Pixel 3
Status: Screen smashed to bits, but I can power it on and see it in "adb devices" etc...
So it was this past Sunday that the scalawags smashed my phone. Saturday I had taken my daughter and son-in-law on their first ever large/multi-pitch rock climb, 600ft. plus. Unfortunately I had no downloaded the pictures of that event nor the videos.
* I don't know how to get this device in MTP mode so I can transfer the data w/o a screen
* I tried to shell to it and I get "error: insufficient permissions for devices"
* Does anybody have any suggestions on what path I should head down to attempt to pull the files off this thing?
-Thanks in bunches for any and all replies...

nemanator said:
Greetings et al,
Backstory: I climb large granite walls and my phone was left part way up and a party following found my phone and decided to smash the crap out of the screen. They left it on prominently displayed along a trail on a rock and someone else I knew found it and returned it to me.
Device: Google Pixel 3
Status: Screen smashed to bits, but I can power it on and see it in "adb devices" etc...
So it was this past Sunday that the scalawags smashed my phone. Saturday I had taken my daughter and son-in-law on their first ever large/multi-pitch rock climb, 600ft. plus. Unfortunately I had no downloaded the pictures of that event nor the videos.
* I don't know how to get this device in MTP mode so I can transfer the data w/o a screen
* I tried to shell to it and I get "error: insufficient permissions for devices"
* Does anybody have any suggestions on what path I should head down to attempt to pull the files off this thing?
-Thanks in bunches for any and all replies...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you don't have USB debugging enabled and can't swipe the screen to unlock the lockscreen, there aren't really any options for you other than replacing the screen or sending the device to a professional shop to see if they can retrieve the data from the hardware by pulling it directly from the chip.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
Since you don't have USB debugging enabled and can't swipe the screen to unlock the lockscreen, there aren't really any options for you other than replacing the screen or sending the device to a professional shop to see if they can retrieve the data from the hardware by pulling it directly from the chip.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do have USB debugging enabled.

nemanator said:
I do have USB debugging enabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok then, you might have an option. If there is a TWRP custom recovery for your specific model number, TWRP natively supports adb so it should work. You don't have to root but you can try flashing TWRP recovery on your device and then boot into TWRP then connect to PC and use adb with the "adb backup" command to backup all user data then extract the data that you want from the backup.
To find instructions for adb backup, do a google search for:
"ADB backup/restore"
Find the command to backup user data.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
Ok then, you might have an option. If there is a TWRP custom recovery for your specific model number, TWRP natively supports adb so it should work. You don't have to root but you can try flashing TWRP recovery on your device and then boot into TWRP then connect to PC and use adb with the "adb backup" command to backup all user data then extract the data that you want from the backup.
To find instructions for adb backup, do a google search for:
"ADB backup/restore"
Find the command to backup user data.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm getting device unauthorized at this point so now adb doesn't work. I'm not sure what changed to cause that. It was working. I had/have twrp installed. I tried a "flashboot boot twrp.img". I had to temp boot like this when I was rooting this thing. The fastboot flash w/ twrp.img bricked the phone. Anyway, after a flashboot boot twrp.img. adb devices lists nothing. So either it's not booting twrp.img successfully or I'm missing something.

nemanator said:
I'm getting device unauthorized at this point so now adb doesn't work. I'm not sure what changed to cause that. It was working. I had/have twrp installed. I tried a "flashboot boot twrp.img". I had to temp boot like this when I was rooting this thing. The fastboot flash w/ twrp.img bricked the phone. Anyway, after a flashboot boot twrp.img. adb devices lists nothing. So either it's not booting twrp.img successfully or I'm missing something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, your bootloader is locked, that is probably why you previously had to boot a TWRP .img instead of flashing it. Now, I'm not sure it will boot anything. Try flashing a copy of stock recovery, then try the fastboot boot TWRP again.
Other than that, I think you might be at the end of your rope.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
Ah, your bootloader is locked, that is probably why you previously had to boot a TWRP .img instead of flashing it. Now, I'm not sure it will boot anything. Try flashing a copy of stock recovery, then try the fastboot boot TWRP again.
Other than that, I think you might be at the end of your rope.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The device unauthorized was from the windows machine. I'm back on the linux box and adb can see the device again. I've tried oodles of ways of getting mtp enabled.
When in adb shell and trying to find my photos/videos, I'm getting funky filenames.
sargo:/storage/emulated/0 # ls
+dn0VjXCwXIGBTRlAAdSqA NKZ4osL+U6zJbQICkOBoOB VqEBnQxs1hu4ncv3woVfCB kmOAbyd,bVAJDnQSbomLyA wXQ6rmjvahUKbZQtHof35D
7CdpRTZ8PchPMx4DOUvlLD OuATvxF3HNScfmEIoaabiB Ya0QbX5aki6BstVDxMXi5LRPcRD nZETC6WByAa5h7jO2tDyqC
I didn't have much success with mtp when my phone was screen was operational but at least I could see and navigate to the DCIM folder. I'm not sure why adb shell is rendering the files as such.

nemanator said:
The device unauthorized was from the windows machine. I'm back on the linux box and adb can see the device again. I've tried oodles of ways of getting mtp enabled.
When in adb shell and trying to find my photos/videos, I'm getting funky filenames.
sargo:/storage/emulated/0 # ls
+dn0VjXCwXIGBTRlAAdSqA NKZ4osL+U6zJbQICkOBoOB VqEBnQxs1hu4ncv3woVfCB kmOAbyd,bVAJDnQSbomLyA wXQ6rmjvahUKbZQtHof35D
7CdpRTZ8PchPMx4DOUvlLD OuATvxF3HNScfmEIoaabiB Ya0QbX5aki6BstVDxMXi5LRPcRD nZETC6WByAa5h7jO2tDyqC
I didn't have much success with mtp when my phone was screen was operational but at least I could see and navigate to the DCIM folder. I'm not sure why adb shell is rendering the files as such.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If adb is working, try this:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/54959259/enable-mtp-using-adb
Or this:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2786395
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
If adb is working, try this:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/54959259/enable-mtp-using-adb
Or this:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2786395
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I believe I mucked it up worse. I used the command line to do a set persistent mode to mtp and forgot to add adb e.g. "mtp,adb"
I forget the specific syntax but it worked. I'm in MTP mode persistently but I'm not able to mount the device from windows or linux and both operating systems see the device.
I have no idea how I'm going to get back to adb mode.
Anybody have a clue as to why I cannot see the proper file names in /storage/... ?
Does MTP mode do some magic and decrypt the files or something?
They file names looked to be encrypted when I was able to get at the file system with adb.