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[Q] Lost files after Factory Reset in HBOOT, Can i recover them?

Good day,
I recently flashed a new version of jellybean to my HTC one x. I was going to follow the regular method i use (wipe data, clear cache, push boot.img to device, flash rom, flash google apps), however, before i flashed, i realized my sd card was corrupt. So i used this method (which worked for me previously and was posted on an external website):
Download a recovery tool, extract recovery img, push with adb fastboot to device, factory reset on hboot, device restarts and fixes corrupts sectors in sd, reboot, push twrp.img to device, restart in recovery, and now you can reflash.
to fix it.
The method asked me to use the "factory reset" option on HBOOT and i did. (I also did this the last time i flashed a rom, with no problems)
However, this time, after hitting that option, i went into TWRP to flash zip and i saw absolutely no files or folders in my sd card. However, i could still mount the sd card and transfer files. But apparently, all my previous files (music, pictures, video etc) were deleted.
Is there anyway i could restore these old files?
Thank you.

Nope, you quite thoroughly wiped everything with that approach.

akumaukpo said:
Good day,
I recently flashed a new version of jellybean to my HTC one x. I was going to follow the regular method i use (wipe data, clear cache, push boot.img to device, flash rom, flash google apps), however, before i flashed, i realized my sd card was corrupt. So i used this method (which worked for me previously and was posted on an external website):
Download a recovery tool, extract recovery img, push with adb fastboot to device, factory reset on hboot, device restarts and fixes corrupts sectors in sd, reboot, push twrp.img to device, restart in recovery, and now you can reflash.
to fix it.
The method asked me to use the "factory reset" option on HBOOT and i did. (I also did this the last time i flashed a rom, with no problems)
However, this time, after hitting that option, i went into TWRP to flash zip and i saw absolutely no files or folders in my sd card. However, i could still mount the sd card and transfer files. But apparently, all my previous files (music, pictures, video etc) were deleted.
Is there anyway i could restore these old files?
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you could google some data recovery software. i would avoid writing to the sd card though until you do.
i dont have any suggestions personally, i think i used one before that came with ultimate bootcd... it may not have though.
theres no easy way. and i warn you, it takes a while.
---------- Post added at 09:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:54 PM ----------
iElvis said:
Nope, you quite thoroughly wiped everything with that approach.
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Click to collapse
hmmm? does it overwrite the data?? i would assume like any other hard drive the data is still technically "there" until overwritten... no?

exad said:
hmmm? does it overwrite the data?? i would assume like any other hard drive the data is still technically "there" until overwritten... no?
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Click to collapse
I'm not sure how completely a factory reset in bootloader corrupts the sdcard (and remember this is flash memory, not a hard drive). Presumably something is still there but I think you're unlikely to be able to recover music or video files in useable format no matter what data recovery software you use, if it's even useable in this case.

iElvis said:
I'm not sure how completely a factory reset in bootloader corrupts the sdcard (and remember this is flash memory, not a hard drive). Presumably something is still there but I think you're unlikely to be able to recover music or video files in useable format no matter what data recovery software you use, if it's even useable in this case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah yeah i didnt take the corruption into account. under normal circumstances though flash memory should be recoverable all the same.

This happened to me. I tried recovering my invaluable photos with many different programs.. Found squat. It essentially writes 0 to every sector "permanently" deleting things from the average user. If the same was done on a hard drive, some *may* be recoverable by professionals. But in this case you aren't going to get much recovered, if at all.
Sent from my Nexus 4

if you never did the sd card repair you might of recovered something. now i doubt it, you could try Ontrack EasyRecovery which is one of the best recovery apps, also try GetDataBack, and Recuva. those are the only recovery apps i use, try all possible recovery methods in those apps the vary in results so dont give up with a single scan. make sure not to write to sdcard again. you most likely will need to do some sorta raw scan since you killed you partition so programs wont be able to use it i believe.

[Completed] OnePlus One Photo recovery question

STRANGE BUT, when I recover photos from "userdata" partition with various recovery apps / PC software I get bunch of images but not one from camera.
If I edited/cropped or sent to email which caued photo to be saved by some other app it will be recovered. How is this so ???
-------------------------------------------------
Details : OnePlus One bought with CM11, OTA upgrade to CM12.
One day GSM radio stopped working. Its not SIM card isssue, or network coverage.
Tried varius stuff I could find, in desperation decided to make factory reset to see if it is helping, if not then flash OxygenOS and see if it is working.
So my **** up is that I remembered to backup photos after unlock bootloader which wiped the phone.
I tried various apps for recovery of photos directly on phone, then I tried Dr. Fone and EaseUS android recovery (only two that I found that can do recovery of lolipop OS with only Internal Storage), they require rooted phone and ADB interface, so I did everithing.
At the end I made DD raw copy of "userdata" partition and scanned on PC with Recuva, PhotoRec and at leaset thre others (ext4 specific)-
Every time I recovered more or less the same images and I get bunch of images but not one from camera.
What is s special about these files ????
They are just JPEGs on that same partition where recovery software found other files/images.

Duplicate.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/help/oneplus-one-photo-recovery-question-t3180899

mi4 won't boot but can access partitions

My new xiaomi mi4 won't boot after 2/3 months of use. I don't know what happend. I tried connecting it to usb, the phone mounts all partitions and I can access them.
I remember when I accidentally formated all my partitions from my other mi3 and it happanned the same, I could see the partitions. I just used miflash and it worked again.
Before I can flash a new rom I need to backup my images, etc but I can't find them anywhere! I attached an image from the data partition folder.
Where is the folder that most roms show when connected via mtp? I can't find it anywhere, neither my images, videos, etc folders (where my personal data is).
Thanks!

[Help Needed] Data (Photos, Videos, Documents) Recovery after soft bricking?

Hello everyone,
I need your help. Sorry for the long post.
I have a OnePlus One. It was running on CM 13.0 (Android 6.0.1). I had TWRP and MultiROM installed.
I have had an issue where whenever I flash a zip file in TWRP, the phone will show an error after installing the zip: "Unable to mount storage". This appeared in red color on the screen right after showing the progress of the zip installation. The phone worked fine and all the flashed zips worked great as well. However, the error that appeared every single time when I flash a zip file bothered me. So I tried to fix it. (I know, if it's not broken don't fix it, but sadly I tired).
I followed this video to get rid of the error => (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7yDPszoQ5s). However, instead of getting rid of the error, I ended up with a huge problem. My phone couldn't recognize the data in the internal storage. It showed that the internal storage was empty. When I tired to reboot in TWRP, It said: "No OS installed are you sure you wish to reboot". I realized that the video I followed was for a different problem and that I ended up with the same issue the video was trying to fix! I tried every single option the video suggested to fix the problem and nothing helped.
I connected my phone to my laptop and downloaded the latest CyanogenMod zip for my phone and I flashed it. when I rebooted my phone I got a screen that asked for my password. I typed a random password (I discovered later that the phone will accept any password and say it's correct). I got the following error: "Decryption Unsuccessful... The password you entered is correct, but unfortunately your data is corrupt... To resume using your phone, you need to perform a factory reset. When you set up your phone after the reset, you'll have an opportunity to restore any data that was backed up to your google account...Then the only thing I can select is "reset phone." ". I pressed the reset button on the screen, the phone rebooted and showed the same error. Then I tired flashing PAC ROM and I got the same error again. Then I flashed OmniROM and the phone worked! It didn't show the error.
I have a Titanium backup for all my apps and I also have a nandroid backup for my previous ROM (in my memory stick using an OTG cable). However, I don't have any backups for my internal storage (photos, videos, documents... etc). I am guessing that these files are still in my internal storage. I didn't copy any new files to my phone because I think if I do, then the phone will keep replacing my old files (that I can't see) with the new ones.
My question is: Is there a way to get back these old photos and videos from the internal storage? Note that I didn't delete these files, but the phone can't read them. Also, I checked the nandroid backup that I have and the file system type of the previous ROM was EXT4. My current file system type is the same, EXT4.
Thank you for the help!

twpr backup from a nexus to another nexus

Hi guys,
I own a Nexus 5 16gb with purenexus 6.01 I'm buying another 32gb and to speed things up I would like to transfer the Nandroid backup of the first on thesecond.it can do? there would be stability problems?
i will use the 32gb as main phone and the 16gb for "home experiments" about rom, kernels and another...
thank you

It is possible to restotre it, but HELL DONT EVER RESTORE EFS!!!! it will mess up the imei and you will loose conectivity

aciupapa said:
It is possible to restotre it, but HELL DONT EVER RESTORE EFS!!!! it will mess up the imei and you will loose conectivity
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Click to collapse
of course, just boot, system and data (cache?).
I'm just afraid that in the boot.img is saved some serial number [phone, or a wifi mac address] that do not meet on the other device, can lead to malfunctions or brick

Luca TIR said:
of course, just boot, system and data (cache?).
I'm just afraid that in the boot.img is saved some serial number [phone, or a wifi mac address] that do not meet on the other device, can lead to malfunctions or brick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been restoring all of my partitions with twrp for a long time, no problems. TeamWin had informed users that restoring the EFS partition on a specific device (nexus 5x, 6, don't remember exactly) would brick the device. But restoring your 16gb backup to a 32gb device might have other problems such as not seeing your entire memory.
Judging by the fact that if you flash your 32gb nexus 5 with the google factory image then you have to manually "wipe data/factory reset" via recovery to get it to recognize 32gb (or else it says you have only 16, small heart attack there), then that means that the memory capacity is defined somewhere in the software (obviously). Also, the partitions would be of different sizes. You'd have no problem transferring backups between identical devices, though when you have a different memory storage, you need to reinstall everything.
Hardware information such as MAC adresses are not saved anywhere, they are retrieved at runtime. Consider that you can even change a MAC address on the fly and the device would have no problem with it as long as you turn it off and on again (ifconfig wlan0 down && ifconfig wlan0 up) (as far as the OS is concerned, because you can't truly change it, I think it's hardware defined). Same goes for IMEI etc. But the flash memory consists of many partitions that need to be of specific size. If you restore a partition with different size than it's original one, you might soft brick it.
In conclusion, no, don't transfer your backup. Unlock the device, flash recovery, flash zips, setup your device again...

chrisk44 said:
I have been restoring all of my partitions with twrp for a long time, no problems. TeamWin had informed users that restoring the EFS partition on a specific device (nexus 5x, 6, don't remember exactly) would brick the device. But restoring your 16gb backup to a 32gb device might have other problems such as not seeing your entire memory.
Judging by the fact that if you flash your 32gb nexus 5 with the google factory image then you have to manually "wipe data/factory reset" via recovery to get it to recognize 32gb (or else it says you have only 16, small heart attack there), then that means that the memory capacity is defined somewhere in the software (obviously). Also, the partitions would be of different sizes. You'd have no problem transferring backups between identical devices, though when you have a different memory storage, you need to reinstall everything.
Hardware information such as MAC adresses are not saved anywhere, they are retrieved at runtime. Consider that you can even change a MAC address on the fly and the device would have no problem with it as long as you turn it off and on again (ifconfig wlan0 down && ifconfig wlan0 up) (as far as the OS is concerned, because you can't truly change it, I think it's hardware defined). Same goes for IMEI etc. But the flash memory consists of many partitions that need to be of specific size. If you restore a partition with different size than it's original one, you might soft brick it.
In conclusion, no, don't transfer your backup. Unlock the device, flash recovery, flash zips, setup your device again...
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Click to collapse
clear, precise and convincing ... you're right .especially different partitioning and memory size did not convince me, you have confirmed to me. I try suffered some rom nougat when I get the device
p.s.:no small heart attack please, i'm an ambulance driver :laugh: (really)
many thanks

The emulated sdcard is not backed up by twrp anyway. I would just adb pull that partition and then push all the files back on the knew device. Data and system should be fine with twrp.

(apparently) it's working!!!
Today, I received the "twin"
just out of curiosity I tried to restore the backup on the 16gb and 32gb [purenexus 6.01] and all seems to work.but I have yet to test it.
Now I go to work tomorrow I put the sim card and use it normally to confirm that everything is ok.
p.s.:the data on the free / busy sd internal memory are righteous