Regain access to old data of mine - Samsung Galaxy S7 Questions and Answers

Hey Guys
Im in a bit of a situation here
It sounds a bit odd, but when making up my electronic stuff, i dug out my old Galaxy S7 and several other phones and i got a bit nostalgic about those times and what i did back then.
So i started charging them up and scrolling to the photos and messages of that time. (im not the type of guy who has everything synced, i mostly start from scratch on a new phone).
However on this device, i was not able to figure out the PIN Code nor the Google Account i was using back then.
So i am now trying to get access to this data by working around the pin code or something like that.
I thought that with the ADB shell i could do this and i found some hints on google about it. However as it looks, you need to have USB debugging enabled to get the shell access. Which of course i haven't and i cannot set as i am not able to get into the system the usual way.
There is no custom recovery or similar flashed on the device. Stock. I might even have wiped it back then but just curious And searching solutions for problems like that is in my nature.
So does anyone know a way how to get there?
I am not interested about the os or something, just my old personal data.
Is unlocking through odin still a thing? and can i get a custom recovery on the device that way WITHOUT loosing the data on the phone? so through that recovery i cloud get a shell to bypass the lockscreen?
Or is there just no solution to that?
I found that there is some SD Card installable flashes to bypass the lockscreen, but here i would first have to buy an SD Card. Since this is just a project i dont want to waste money. Do you guys know if this works for sure? I mean, can i even install this tool without a custom recovery? I have the menu option to apply updates from sd card in the standard recovery, just not sure if this does the trick.
Any other approach?
And yeah, i would probably find it out one day by just trying the codes, but it locks you for 60 minutes after every try now, so this would take ages ^^

Related

Phone Security/Encryption/Protection against loss or theft?

Hi guys, im fairly new to the WM scene, but have finally customized my Xperia X1 to be just how I want it.
This brings me to this question about security.
At the moment what worries me, is if I lose my phone or someone steals it. They would have access to all my information, my contacts, my software, my emails, passwords and other such personal information that I would rather not give out. Obviously the safest solution would be to leave it in the house, but that's something none of us want to do!
Now I was thinking about encrypting the Internal memory and the memory card so that the files could not be hacked or looked at by prying eyes when connected to a computer for instance. But I couldn't seem to find any software which would do such a thing. I currently use TrueCrypt on my PC which stops nearly everything.
What I really want to do is the following:
1. Password the device.
2. Encrypt it, so that the files cannot be taken off or read.
3. Automatic password lock after 1 minute.
4. Stop files being accessed through a PC (by others of course but not myself).
5. Any other methods people could access the phone with a computer, flashing and such tools to get into them.
I know the memory card has encryption to stop anything other than the device reading the card. But this doesn't work on mine for some reason as I can plonk the card in a reader and get access to all my files in various computers I have tried.
I realize it will never be truly secure but let's be honest. The average thief wouldn't exactly know how to hack into a phone and access it's files.
Now im not fussed if say for instance it was stolen, the thief flashed the phone and used it for themselves. At the end of the day, they've got the phone, wether they are using it or not isn't going to make a difference, but making sure they can't access the files is a top priority.
One of the main programs I worry about is these "Wallet" programs that you can get. They are very handy for storing all your card details and such on, but are they truly safe? That is what I wonder.
Any replies would be really appreciated as I always worry about losing my phone at the moment due to it having no protection!
Are there any suggestions anyone can make to me?
Anyone got an opinons on this? I was hoping for a reply.
Hi vmrmic,
I know that Check Point has a encryption solution for Windows mobile since I work there
http://www.checkpoint.com/products/datasecurity/mobile/index.html
Check supported devices:
www.checkpoint.com/supportedhandhelds
X1 is not up there but it works fine. I have tried it. Officially supported in a couple of weeks
Note that this solution is intended for business and not a one by one installation
If you have more questions find the forum on checkpoint.com since I don't always check this forums.
Regards
Check out Throttle Lock http://www.throttlelauncher.com/portal/
Not every thing your asking for but a great solution
TB

Anyway of backing up though the bootloader?

The other day my TP hung after I ignored a call while using it tethered. I soft reset it, but now it only boots to the TouchPro screen with red lettering on the bottom. Even though I have Sprite, it has been awhile since I ran a backup, however most of my important data is on a SD card. I was able to get into the firmware update screen and there use TeraTerm to run info commands. However I was very disappointed to find out that all of the MFG commands, such as 'd2s', 's2d', 'r2sd' have been removed. Obviously using Sprite ever day would help (I still use Archie for SMS messages), however it seems odd to me that no one has a ROM reader for this phone. When it is flashed does it not do a read back verify? I figured a post here wouldn't hurt, as I have looked extensively everywhere else. Has anyone put the boot loader back to .25 which had the ROM to SD command? I understand HTC reasoning behind removing these commands, still it would be nice if there was a way of pulling an image that way. Maybe Sprite could add it in to their backup software? My next step will be to re-flash and in doing so wipeout any chance of recovering more of my data. With a Windows based OS, there really needs to be more recovery options than what we currently have.
J!

[Q] PANIC

If I break forum etiquette in some way please excuse the lapse - this is my first post to any forum. Honestly, it's a bit intimidating but I'm more than a little desperate right now. Near panic would be a better description of my state.
My Droid Incredible is stuck in a continuous boot loop. 24-48 hours after downloading a sleep sound generating app (if this is relevant), I was trying to use a different app and a pop-up stated "internal error" and would not load the app. I tried another and same result. I tried to kill all running apps with advanced app killer and same result. I turned off the phone thinking that it would correct when turning it back on but no luck. Now it just power cycles in a continuous boot loop. There has been no solution through tech support or a store visit. I don't care about the phone. At this point I would like to strap it to a steak and throw it in a lion cage. I do care about the data its holding - none of which is backed up in any way. There is no sd card and no back-up in my gmail account. I need to try and rescue the following data: voice memos from the HTC app, notes from the 3bannana (catch notes) app, photos, videos, apps, bookmarks from the dolphin HD browser and the Android browser, pdf downloads, text messages, call log settings, etc.
I have tried to boot the phone with a sd card installed. I have tried to view the data from a Celebrite machine at the Verizon store - it sees the drive but not the data. I tried to get into a "safe mode" menu by depressing down volume+center click+menu. Nothing has worked.
Is there any desktop software (or any other solution) that would enable me to restore (rescue) the data from the phone while it is in this state?
If there isn't, please just make something up so I can continue for a while in a delusional state of hope and get over this gradually.
Thank you for your wisdom and mercy.
Kandinsky1 said:
If I break forum etiquette in some way please excuse the lapse - this is my first post to any forum. Honestly, it's a bit intimidating but I'm more than a little desperate right now. Near panic would be a better description of my state.
My Droid Incredible is stuck in a continuous boot loop. 24-48 hours after downloading a sleep sound generating app (if this is relevant), I was trying to use a different app and a pop-up stated "internal error" and would not load the app. I tried another and same result. I tried to kill all running apps with advanced app killer and same result. I turned off the phone thinking that it would correct when turning it back on but no luck. Now it just power cycles in a continuous boot loop. There has been no solution through tech support or a store visit. I don't care about the phone. At this point I would like to strap it to a steak and throw it in a lion cage. I do care about the data its holding - none of which is backed up in any way. There is no sd card and no back-up in my gmail account. I need to try and rescue the following data: voice memos from the HTC app, notes from the 3bannana (catch notes) app, photos, videos, apps, bookmarks from the dolphin HD browser and the Android browser, pdf downloads, text messages, call log settings, etc.
I have tried to boot the phone with a sd card installed. I have tried to view the data from a Celebrite machine at the Verizon store - it sees the drive but not the data. I tried to get into a "safe mode" menu by depressing down volume+center click+menu. Nothing has worked.
Is there any desktop software (or any other solution) that would enable me to restore (rescue) the data from the phone while it is in this state?
If there isn't, please just make something up so I can continue for a while in a delusional state of hope and get over this gradually.
Thank you for your wisdom and mercy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have a custom recovery image and the partitions aren't corrupt you should be able to recover everything with adb.
If you don't have a custom recovery then it might be impossible to recover anything.
Have you rooted the phone and installed a custom recovery?
With respect to backups - GMail for example is stored in the cloud - so the data on your phone is just a clone - you won't loose your mail - other apps I don't know, you'll have to check each.
If you can't get stable adb access you will need to research a factory reset for your phone which should fix it (but will wipe your data).
djmcnz said:
If you have a custom recovery image and the partitions aren't corrupt you should be able to recover everything with adb.
If you don't have a custom recovery then it might be impossible to recover anything.
Have you rooted the phone and installed a custom recovery?
With respect to backups - GMail for example is stored in the cloud - so the data on your phone is just a clone - you won't loose your mail - other apps I don't know, you'll have to check each.
If you can't get stable adb access you will need to research a factory reset for your phone which should fix it (but will wipe your data).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I have not rooted my droid, have no custom recovery image and don't even know what adb is. As you can tell, I am a complete novice - but a novice in serious trouble if I can't recover the data. When you say stable adb access, what do you mean?
I was hoping to find some type of desktop recovery software that may be able to recognize the drive on the phone and then view and copy the data. Is it possible that this might exist. By the way is there a more appropriate sub-forum to place this post?
Thanks for your help,
Caleb
Kandinsky1 said:
Unfortunately, I have not rooted my droid, have no custom recovery image and don't even know what adb is. As you can tell, I am a complete novice - but a novice in serious trouble if I can't recover the data. When you say stable adb access, what do you mean?
I was hoping to find some type of desktop recovery software that may be able to recognize the drive on the phone and then view and copy the data. Is it possible that this might exist. By the way is there a more appropriate sub-forum to place this post?
Thanks for your help,
Caleb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol ADB is the Android Debugging Bridge - in layman's term, it's a way to gain terminal access to your phone and do several other things with your phone. Mostly for debugging, but can be used for these purposes if you're rooted/installed a custom recovery.
That said, it would be at this point in time, virtually impossible to save your data that hasn't been backed up. Even if you had root, this might have been a bit more accomplishable (though usually a custom recovery never hurt ). If you're REALLY desperate, there might still be a way, though the chances of it working and providing good results is a mixed bag of results.
I'm assuming that if you didn't have an SD card in there in the first place that it has some built-in memory, right? Well, If not, then Catch notes would not have worked as it depends on an SD card to hold backups and (if i believe correctly) notes. Also, I'm assuming that you had some accounts set up on your phone (HTC/Google). If not, then I don't know how you've gone this long without it, but I'm almost positive you did have at least those two. In that case, the voice memos might be saved as well as the call log settings. Contacts might also be synced, so its more of the physical stuff we need to worry (texts/pdfs/bookmarks/pictures/videos)
Now, there are ways to recover using a computer. It all requires that you get your phone to work again (don't throw it to the lions yet!) So, we'll need to try and unbrick it. Follow the instructions here to try and get your phone back into factory state. It's true this will delete all your data, but as you are now, you have even less of a chance of recovering it.
From here, you're going to just skip past the setups and everything. After that, you're going to mount the phone as a disk drive. Now, this is where things can either go really good or really bad for you.
Get a recovery software for Windows, Linux, or Mac here. I honestly prefer Recuva as it has worked well for me in the past and this other program I had to pay for (can't remember the name. Search google and you might find it ;P), but Recuva should serve these purposes well.
The reason why these things work very inconsistently is that when you delete stuff in your phone/computer, they don't actually get "deleted". Rather, they are flagged as "not needed" and is left there until the phone/computer needs more space. It'll search out any flags, then overwrite them. In our case, that will work for and against us. Since we have to rewrite about 1 GB of data to reinstall the system (or was it +- 500 MBs?) we'll have to assume that about that much will be lost to us. That's why usually videos are unrecoverable. They are large and usually take up the most space, so they will be hard to recover if anything.
However, this works out for us as we can recover things like texts, contacts, your color note files, bookmarks, pictures, and whatever else you can dream of with a very high success rate. This is because they are small enough and if they don't get touched, you can probably get them in their original form. However, if parts of it is overwritten (i.e. texts, video) , you'll know cause the texts will have funky characters that dont make sense and the video wont load. Use this to your advantage and recover only small things first. Rule of thumb: if its small and seen by the software, most likely untouched. Grab these first.
I apologize for this really really long post. I just wanted to explain every part to you so you can understand the thinking behind why I'm asking you to do something as delete your precious data. However, like I stated earlier, there is almost 100% chance you won't get everything back and you could still possibly lose all your data should the software not see it. However, I feel this is much better than not having any chance at all and just staring at your phone waiting for it to grow brains and spit out the data in a conveniently-hidden SD card. So, I hope this works for you and if things go well, let me know! =]
~jojojohnson7410
In case hard reset didn't work...
You can follow the following section by clicking here:
How to revert to factory (stock, S-ON, no root):
Get S-ON by flashing THIS FILE (218.5kb) via recovery the same way you would flash a ROM. If you're not on the stock radio, you'll first need to FLASH THE STOCK RADIO. If you don't know how to do this, then you've never flashed off the stock radio, so you're good.
Revert your phone back to the stock, unrooted ROM. You have two options.
Option 1: Download HTC Sync and run the RUU. You can download the RUU HERE (180MB).
Option 2: Download THIS FILE (172.5MB) and place it on the root of your SD card. Reboot your phone into HBOOT (Bootloader, NOT RECOVERY!!!). Once the bootloader checks the image, it will ask you if you want to update. Select Yes and let the update run. After the phone reboots, you will have a stock, factory Droid Incredible running the November update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's all the way at the top. Do this only if the hard reset didn't work. If you need help using this or encounter any problems, let me know =] (oh, PM me cause sometimes I forget to check >.>)
~jojojohnson7410

Need help backing up NS with broken screen, maybe relocking

The Short Version: Screen's trashed, bootloader is unlocked, can I install Clockwork Recovery without losing the data on the phone right now? And can someone at least step me through the Clockwork Recovery menu, as my SAMOLED display is actually damaged (I've done the software hacking before)? If I can't do the CWR thing, can I at least force the phone into USB boot mode so I can pull the backups I do have in USB Storage before Samsung nukes the phone?
The Long Version:
Title says it all. I know there are other "help me back up my phone with a busted screen" threads, but the ones I've seen so far all reference camera buttons and such. There's some data on the "local" storage I'd like to try and recover, if at all possible, specifically data in a time clock app, a car maintenance log app, and save games would be a nice little bonus. The apps have native back-up features, but they aren't automatic, and I can't trigger them with the broken screen.
Here's the kicker: I rooted once and installed CM7, CWR, and the rest of the usual toys, right before ICS came out. Then once ICS came out, I ran into all sorts of trouble with the manual upgrade, and basically undid everything... almost. I know the bootloader is still unlocked, and I'm pretty sure I removed Clockwork Recovery (like a damn fool). Is it possible to reinstall CWR without nuking the main storage? And, of course, since my screen is totally trashed, is it possible for someone to help me navigate the menus?
I'm pretty confident in actually installing CWR and removing it and relocking the bootloader. Tons of guides out there, and I've done it once before, I just need to know if I can do this without losing my data. If I can't, is there some way to force the phone into USB Storage Mode so I can at least recover the data on the phone that is auto-backed-up (or backed up previously)?
Thank you for anything you can do to help me out here!

[App Idea] Plan B for data recovery on broken stock phones.

I feel this idea could be useful for a lot of us, not on our phones since we are likely rooted but on our family members and non tech friends stock phones. Which we usually end up fixing.
My idea if it is possible would be be for a "Plan B" type app for use after a broken screen, were the completely stock phone without ADB enabled needs data extracted.
My hope is that someone could make a app that is remotely installed from play.google.com that automatically turns on ADB debugging (if possible without root)
After that most data can be extracted with "adb backup" or adb pulls.
I can't count how many times this would of helped me in the past if it existed. Any dev up for the job? I am sure it would be appreciated by people.
Guess no one was interested in this idea.
shadowofdarkness said:
Guess no one was interested in this idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think many of us are interested but one (so far) can help.
would be a good idea.... who ever was in need for something like that will be likely to pay for that... :laugh:
I could see this being a massive security risk. Sure the app could be handy, but it would also make stealing info from a phone very very easy.
So on that note, I don't think it will ever make it through, though I am sure there are ways.
Just install something like SMSBackup+: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zegoggles.smssync
Set it to automatically back up to their gmail, every so often, and then when it comes time to have to do repairs, you can get all of their calling/sms stuff back, since Google automatically deals with the contact infos.
it wouldn't be a security risk since the only way to install it would be from play.google.com which no one can do without your password. also pour planning with other software is not the point of this since I have been asked to recover data from devices by people that I honestly had no clue they owned the device before they broke it.usually family I don't see on s normal occurrence.
I've always been taught to keep a back up of anything you consider important.
Either way...
There are ADB backup solutions out there, there are recovery apps in the Playstore that will scan for missing or deleted files.
If you have access to the Playstore you have access to all the already available recovery apps. Why the need for an app that will basically root and unlock the device from behind their 'lock screen'?
If you have no direct GUI access, you want an app that you run on your computer that forces the phone connected via USB, to unlock and let you access whatever you want before you restore the phone. This is a massive security problem, because anyone could download that app, and use it to break into phones.
Sound like the 'prior planning' apps, are the best way to go.
I think you are missing my point. I know that prior planning is the best but it it not always possible when dealing with people so tech illiterate that even thought they own the device they barely understand it is not a iPhone because that is what a smartphone is to them.
My intended use is for physicaly broken phones (mainly screen) where I can't control any apps with the screen or turn on ADB from settings.
You thought on the security risk is wrong since out of the ways I can think of to install it via play store on the phone is would not be used since that would mean the attacker could just go into settings and do it the normal way. sideloading is impossible since it would be redundent due to that already needing ADB on.
The intended way via the web is safe enough since the attacker would need your email, password.
Do you hate the "Plan B" app that gps tracks your lost or stolen phone that is already in the play store and gave me this idea. It shows in the store as having between half a million and a million installs. Do you think those people should of went without such a app and lost their phone since they should of just pre planned since it is better.

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