I've deleted some important files by mistake and I would really like to recover them. - General Questions and Answers

Hello,
I hope that this is the right side of the forum to describe my problem. I desperately need help. It's a long story:
I had on my Samsung phone the app of "Chrome", which I always use to surf the internet. Using the google browser IN THAT APP, I have downloaded lots of things (I'm a scholar, so I like to read and I use to download everything that I found interesting). I have updated the app and I was frustrated, because I couldn't take anymore screenshots while surfing in "incognito mode". So, I decided to delete the update: i went into "settings", then "apps", and then I have brought back the app of "Chrome" as it was when i bought my phone. Sadly, I then noticed that I had lost every file in my download folder; I had lost every file downloaded with that app.
I had not synchronized my Google account, I can do no backup. I'm so angry and sad because I've always thought that the files downloaded would have stayed in my phone until I and only I would have decide to delete them.
I have done a lot of research on the internet and I have found out that there are some apps that can recover a very large part of lost files. But, in order to do this, I have to root my phone.
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy J2 SM-J250Y/DS, and the Android version is 7.1.1. I have seen that rooting a phone could be very dangerous; also, to me is very complicated. But there is a program called Kingoroot, which, once installed on my computer, could (it's a possibility, I know!) rooting my phone easily.
What should I do? Should I try the rooting method? It seems to me the only way...
I ask you any suggestions... Please help me. I am a depressed student that, in this life, can only enjoy reading and books...
(I am Italian, and I hope my English is understandable. If I did any mistake, please forgive me.)

Sorry can't help you get what you lost back... I feel your pain.
After losing thousands of bookmarks over the decades I started using Colornotes to save my important bookmarks.
You can save the hyperlink with a title, color, and whatever text you want to add. If you punch the hyperlink it opens in the default browser.
The app allows you to save it's data to your sd card which you can backup on your PC.
Use ApkExport to make a loadable copy of the app to future proof it.
ColorNote Notepad Notes - Apps on Google Play
ColorNote® - Easy to use notepad for notes, shopping list, to-do list, calendar
play.google.com

Thank you very much for your reply.
But... If I root my phone, and if the rooting is done without any damage, is there a possibility to get most of my files back? Or, even if I root my device, I will never be able to recover them?

It sounds like it deleted the data when you rolled the apk back (to factory load?).
If so it's going to be very sketchy at best to recover them.
I guess history's been deleted as well?
There are many coders here that have far greater knowledge than myself with Chrome.
My understanding of rooting is very basic as with Chrome which I rarely use.
If no one else replies in a day or two, bump it back to the top. Hope you find a work around solution.

AlexiusFrigerius said:
But... If I root my phone, and if the rooting is done without any damage, is there a possibility to get most of my files back? Or, even if I root my device, I will never be able to recover them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting Android by means of TWRP and/or Magisk ( keyword: SuperSU ) affects its /data partition where phone's data typically are housed. Therefore it cannot be excluded that data stored there is overwritten and can therefore no longer be restored.

jwoegerbauer said:
Rooting Android by means of TWRP and/or Magisk ( keyword: SuperSU ) affects its /data partition where phone's data typically are housed. Therefore it cannot be excluded that data stored there is overwritten and can therefore no longer be restored.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there the possibility if deleted that it's still on the system cache and is there a way to recover it if so on a none rooted phone?
Maybe using ABD?
Don't some on the "one touch" root solutions claim to preserve the data?

Android doesn't have a recycle bin thus nothing gets cached. Deleting a file means nothing else than marking the space it occupies - whereever this disk space is located - as usable so that it can be overwritten by the system.
Have never used a "One-Click-Root" utility ...

blackhawk said:
It sounds like it deleted the data when you rolled the apk back (to factory load?).
If so it's going to be very sketchy at best to recover them.
I guess history's been deleted as well?
There are many coders here that have far greater knowledge than myself with Chrome.
My understanding of rooting is very basic as with Chrome which I rarely use.
If no one else replies in a day or two, bump it back to the top. Hope you find a work around solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it's just like I told. And yes, even history has been deleted.
Thank you for your help! I will wait until someone may give me a solution, or a possibility for a solution.

jwoegerbauer said:
Rooting Android by means of TWRP and/or Magisk ( keyword: SuperSU ) affects its /data partition where phone's data typically are housed. Therefore it cannot be excluded that data stored there is overwritten and can therefore no longer be restored.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I understand...

jwoegerbauer said:
Android doesn't have a recycle bin thus nothing gets cached. Deleting a file means nothing else than marking the space it occupies - whereever this disk space is located - as usable so that it can be overwritten by the system.
Have never used a "One-Click-Root" utility ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your explanation.

jwoegerbauer said:
Android doesn't have a recycle bin thus nothing gets cached. Deleting a file means nothing else than marking the space it occupies - whereever this disk space is located - as usable so that it can be overwritten by the system.
Have never used a "One-Click-Root" utility ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I was aware of the overwrite issue but on an unrooted device I don't think you can access the system cache. Even if you could the data could be so juxtaposed from lose of file structure as to be unusable.
One-Click-Root worked on older versions of Kitkat allegedly.

So... I understand. But I want to try. I want to root my phone. But I have to know how and I must prevent my phone from all the risks.
blackhawk: you said that the "One-Click-Root" method worked only for Kitkat Android. But I have read here that with Kingoroot i could have a chance:
How to Root Android Nougat (7.0/7.1) | KingoRoot Apk
Root any Android Nougat 7.0 7.1 device with KingoRoot.
www.kingoapp.com
(It's important: I AM NOT SPAMMING Kingoroot, I just want to understand If I can trust what it's written in their site. Also, in the link, at the end of the page, there is written that I can root my phone with my PC, which, to me, seems a safer way. It's the main idea I had when I decided to write in this forum, because I wanted to know the opinions of people that are very able to use these methods and these kind of programs.)

AlexiusFrigerius said:
So... I understand. But I want to try. I want to root my phone. But I have to know how and I must prevent my phone from all the risks.
blackhawk: you said that the "One-Click-Root" method worked only for Kitkat Android. But I have read here that with Kingoroot i could have a chance:
How to Root Android Nougat (7.0/7.1) | KingoRoot Apk
Root any Android Nougat 7.0 7.1 device with KingoRoot.
www.kingoapp.com
(It's important: I AM NOT SPAMMING Kingoroot, I just want to understand If I can trust what it's written in their site. Also, in the link, at the end of the page, there is written that I can root my phone with my PC, which, to me, seems a safer way. It's the main idea I had when I decided to write in this forum, because I wanted to know the opinions of people that are very able to use these methods and these kind of programs.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try it; it will either work or nothing will happen. Even if it works it's likely those files are gone. Maybe better to chalk it up to another lesson from the University of Hard Knocks.
You could try contacting Google tech support to see if they have any ideas.
The last AT&T firmware update was specifically to block easy rooting by Kingroot; the rats learn quick.

blackhawk said:
You can try it; it will either work or nothing will happen. Even if it works it's likely those files are gone. Maybe better to chalk it up to another lesson from the University of Hard Knocks.
You could try contacting Google tech support to see if they have any ideas.
The last AT&T firmware update was specifically to block easy rooting by Kingroot; the rats learn quick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for your help. I understand: I must give up. But the most important thing is to learn something about anything we do. Anything could help for future situations.
"It's a shame to stumble twice on the same stone" (Polybius, 31,11, 5).
Thank you again. Goodbye!

AlexiusFrigerius said:
Hello,
I hope that this is the right side of the forum to describe my problem. I desperately need help. It's a long story:
I had on my Samsung phone the app of "Chrome", which I always use to surf the internet. Using the google browser IN THAT APP, I have downloaded lots of things (I'm a scholar, so I like to read and I use to download everything that I found interesting). I have updated the app and I was frustrated, because I couldn't take anymore screenshots while surfing in "incognito mode". So, I decided to delete the update: i went into "settings", then "apps", and then I have brought back the app of "Chrome" as it was when i bought my phone. Sadly, I then noticed that I had lost every file in my download folder; I had lost every file downloaded with that app.
I had not synchronized my Google account, I can do no backup. I'm so angry and sad because I've always thought that the files downloaded would have stayed in my phone until I and only I would have decide to delete them.
I have done a lot of research on the internet and I have found out that there are some apps that can recover a very large part of lost files. But, in order to do this, I have to root my phone.
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy J2 SM-J250Y/DS, and the Android version is 7.1.1. I have seen that rooting a phone could be very dangerous; also, to me is very complicated. But there is a program called Kingoroot, which, once installed on my computer, could (it's a possibility, I know!) rooting my phone easily.
What should I do? Should I try the rooting method? It seems to me the only way...
I ask you any suggestions... Please help me. I am a depressed student that, in this life, can only enjoy reading and books...
(I am Italian, and I hope my English is understandable. If I did any mistake, please forgive me.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I would suggest you can try free tool for Android Phone such as Stellar Data Recovery for Android which easily recover deleted files like, photos, audio files, videos files from your Android phone internal memory storage.
Source: https://www.stellarinfo.com/media-tools/android-data-recovery.php

{Mod edit: Quoted post has been deleted}
That drfone again. Scamware.
Do Not Use.
Drfone if used will encrypt "recovered" data and ask you to pay for it. After which the original data is gone leaving only the encrypted copy.
It is not free... not to be trusted!
Ran into this scam many years ago.

Related

Recovering data from opo after deleting /storage folder and factory reset

Hi,
tl;dr:
Is there a theoretic way to recover data from the phone after:
1. deleting /storage folder
2. and then rooting (which means factory reset?)
If there is a theoretic way to recover it from the bits, is there a way to take a snapshot of the current state of the bit, so I can (in theory) recover the media in the future?
Long version:
First of all I know I'm very stupid..
Yesterday I've deleted my /storage folder since in first glance it looked empty.
Then I figured out what did I do, so I tried to recover the information.
I've searched the web for an application that does that and I found one that required rooting the phone, so I rooted the phone which means I made factory reset.
Then I tried to recover but it didn't manage to recover the photos and videos.. (it did recover whatsapp photos and some other things but not from the dcim folder).
I tried then several different applications that may not ask for rooting the phone so maybe I made a mistake by doing that (not sure that they wouldn't request for rooting either) but no success with that...
I'm willing to pay money to save that data but do you think it's not recoverable anymore?
I also called the 3 biggest recovery companies in my country, 2 of them told me that they don't think it's possible and one agreed to take it to their labs for a small price and then give me an offer.
If there is a theoretic way to recover it from the bits, is there a way to take a snapshot of the current state of the bit, so I can (in theory) recover the media in the future?
I'm very desperate and would be very thankful for your help
PeroPy said:
Hi,
tl;dr:
Is there a theoretic way to recover data from the phone after:
1. deleting /storage folder
2. and then rooting (which means factory reset?)
If there is a theoretic way to recover it from the bits, is there a way to take a snapshot of the current state of the bit, so I can (in theory) recover the media in the future?
Long version:
First of all I know I'm very stupid..
Yesterday I've deleted my /storage folder since in first glance it looked empty.
Then I figured out what did I do, so I tried to recover the information.
I've searched the web for an application that does that and I found one that required rooting the phone, so I rooted the phone which means I made factory reset.
Then I tried to recover but it didn't manage to recover the photos and videos.. (it did recover whatsapp photos and some other things but not from the dcim folder).
I tried then several different applications that may not ask for rooting the phone so maybe I made a mistake by doing that (not sure that they wouldn't request for rooting either) but no success with that...
I'm willing to pay money to save that data but do you think it's not recoverable anymore?
I also called the 3 biggest recovery companies in my country, 2 of them told me that they don't think it's possible and one agreed to take it to their labs for a small price and then give me an offer.
If there is a theoretic way to recover it from the bits, is there a way to take a snapshot of the current state of the bit, so I can (in theory) recover the media in the future?
I'm very desperate and would be very thankful for your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try Undeleter from play store..worked for me on N4..never tried on OPO
atulclassic said:
try Undeleter from play store..worked for me on N4..never tried on OPO
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't work :crying:
You might give DiskDigger a shot. I never tried it though.
PeroPy said:
Didn't work :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you rooted since undeleter requires root
atulclassic said:
are you rooted since undeleter requires root
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm...
After few weeks of working on that, I didn't make it to recover any of my photos/videos/whatsapp chat history (the things that were most important to me)
I tried several stuff, apperently all of the recovery programs that using the adb to directly connect to the phone through the PC doesn't work well enough, as well as the programs that works from the device...
I tried this article:
http://www.dflund.se/~jokke/androidfilerecovery/
but it didn't work for some reason...
Then I tried that one :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...de-internal-memory-data-recovery-yes-t1994705
I used a centos VM to get a image of the device partiotns the way they suggested (I couldn't make the busybox work).
I mapped that file as hard disk
I tried to use 'Recuva' it seems like it managed to restore files but something apperantly went wrong and the files wasn't helpful...
I tried to use 'easeus data recovery' it worked better, it found around 20k files.. There were alot of directories and I didn't look up at it so much but it recoverd alot of photos which I think were from the whatsapp media.
Incase someone who made the same mistake by deleting the 'storage' folder, get to this post, I recommend to turn off the phone immidietly and find a way to do that without rooting the device.. (although it might be impossible since as far as I know all of the methods I used were depends on a rooted device, but I didn't look up on this since the first thing I done is to root my device - which might be the mistake)...

[Completed] how to clean malware from kingo rooted android 4.1.1 huawei y300-100 phone

hi. really i just want my phone to be sure to clear from any malware, but this could also be a request of how to flash a new OS if this is needed. the phone runs as slowly as it ever did so i can't see any major difference in that. one thing is that a data usage app shows no increase in data since the possible infection, even though i know i am using the mobile data. and this seems strange as though something could be blocking this to hide its own communications.
i rooted my UK android phone with kingoroot a while back to gain SU access to allow me to store apps on the external SD card. that was ages ago and i don't access to the same windows PC. (i have a linux'd laptop)
foolishly i clicked on a whatsapp message with a 'free voucher offer' link, even though i though this was too good to be true and i knew i shouldn't click on this kind of nonsense.... i have since installed norton antivirus and it says the phone is fine, though i am still dubious that the app can check for any malware that may have entered into the lower levels of the system given kingoroot has messed with the access controls. for now i have removed any apps that have my bank details
i have read that in these circumstances even factory reset may guarantee clearing anything. is this correct? so am i right that the only way to be sure the phone is clean is to re-install a new boot loader and OS?
if so, this is a little beyond me and i find conflicting instructions as to what to do, or where to download the correct files. i find more links to installing non- standard android 4.3 or 4.4, with reports that these maybe aren't stable. if they are OK i'd happy with these, but 4.1.1 does most of what i want (apart from the lack of internal memory and not being able to store apps on the external SD)
would doing a firmware update to a newer version B209 do the same? (mine is currently B197) i can find a link from a place i trust from github, and if this helps the phone run better then i would be up for doing that anyway but again would not know how to.
do i have to undo the Kingoroot before i start any of this? is the CNET download link for kingoroot safe to use as the kingoapp.com website doesn't work for me anymore.
massive thanks in advance for any thoughts on this
flyaway76 said:
hi. really i just want my phone to be sure to clear from any malware, but this could also be a request of how to flash a new OS if this is needed. the phone runs as slowly as it ever did so i can't see any major difference in that. one thing is that a data usage app shows no increase in data since the possible infection, even though i know i am using the mobile data. and this seems strange as though something could be blocking this to hide its own communications.
i rooted my UK android phone with kingoroot a while back to gain SU access to allow me to store apps on the external SD card. that was ages ago and i don't access to the same windows PC. (i have a linux'd laptop)
foolishly i clicked on a whatsapp message with a 'free voucher offer' link, even though i though this was too good to be true and i knew i shouldn't click on this kind of nonsense.... i have since installed norton antivirus and it says the phone is fine, though i am still dubious that the app can check for any malware that may have entered into the lower levels of the system given kingoroot has messed with the access controls. for now i have removed any apps that have my bank details
i have read that in these circumstances even factory reset may guarantee clearing anything. is this correct? so am i right that the only way to be sure the phone is clean is to re-install a new boot loader and OS?
if so, this is a little beyond me and i find conflicting instructions as to what to do, or where to download the correct files. i find more links to installing non- standard android 4.3 or 4.4, with reports that these maybe aren't stable. if they are OK i'd happy with these, but 4.1.1 does most of what i want (apart from the lack of internal memory and not being able to store apps on the external SD)
would doing a firmware update to a newer version B209 do the same? (mine is currently B197) i can find a link from a place i trust from github, and if this helps the phone run better then i would be up for doing that anyway but again would not know how to.
do i have to undo the Kingoroot before i start any of this? is the CNET download link for kingoroot safe to use as the kingoapp.com website doesn't work for me anymore.
massive thanks in advance for any thoughts on this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Greetings and welcome to xda. Factory resetting or reflashing stock firmware should wipe any offending program so you will be ok there. If you ask your question here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/help
hopefully the experts there can help you with kingroot
Good Luck
Sawdoctor

[ROOT]Samsung SM-J120A Galaxy Express 3 / Galaxy J1 2016

Below you will find instructions how to root this device.
The following procedure has been tested up to firmware J120AUCU2APJ2
KNOX should remain 0x0
However you undertake this at your own risk.
Issues:
Wifi passwords not remembered (fix below)
Stock Flashlight app not working.
Model number may be missing from build.prop (fix below)
Instructions
1. Flash the eng boot image.
This is a special boot image normally used by engineers, it allows selinux to be booted in permissive mode with relaxed root restrictions.
Do not replace this image with the stock image after rooting your device or you will possibly soft brick your device.
(See below for how to recover)
ENG_BOOT_J120A_PG1
Download Odin v3.11.1
Reboot Phone in Download Mode (press and hold Home + Power + Volume Down buttons)
Connect phone and wait until you get a blue sign in Odin
Download the ENG_BOOT_J120A_PG1.tar to your PC and add it to AP / PDA in ODIN.
Make sure re-partition is NOT ticked
Click the start button, sit back and wait few minutes
2. Install and run Kingroot:
http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/kingro...-release/kingroot-5-0-5-android-apk-download/
You may need to run Kingroot several times to gain successful root.
3. Install and run SuperSU me to remove Kingroot and convert to SuperSU (not required) :
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...ore&pcampaignid=APPU_1_uzPDVbGyFcGNyATHrqmoCA
Alternative (free) method to replace Kingroot:
Follow Steps 3 to 12.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...ide-how-to-root-tripping-knox-kitkat-t3129484
Don't flash the boot partition with Flashfire, uncheck.
You will also need to flash the system version of SuperSU not EverRoot.
When you get to step 12, don't flash the firmware. Disable EverRoot and just flash this:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/supersu/v2-64-2-66-supersu-mode-t3286120
4. Wifi fix:
modify the line below in /system/build.prop:
ro.securestorage.support=true to false
5. To fix “Unauthorized actions have been detected”
disable 'security log agent'
6. Model number missing fix:
http://www.techgainer.com/change-fake-android-device-model-number-and-brand-name/
Enjoy your rooted device
To recover from a soft brick flash the firmware below.
https://firmwarefile.com/samsung-sm-j120a
FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED PLEASE.
THANKS.
DONATE ME HERE IF YOU WANT TO BUY ME A BEER OR HIT THE THANKS BUTTON IF I HELPED YOU
Still no TWRP, though, right?
fbueller said:
Still no TWRP, though, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not possible I'm afraid.
ashyx said:
Not possible I'm afraid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As ashyx mentioned in a previous post, Flashfire works. Loaded Xposed for Samsung via the Wa?? version.
spicybeansandricey, to clarify, Wanam is a modified version of Xposed for Samsung phones. Google is my friend, Google is your friend and Google is our friend. If you Googled it, you will find links to the same/similar packages linked by ashyx to get Xposed on Samsung phones. Since I was skimming the articles and successfully installed on a 4" screen, I wasn't sure about the name but only remembered the first 2 letters. In fact, the tutorial I followed was different from ashyx's post and gave no credit to XDA.
As an addendum, Flashfire works great and was able to back up EFS files. I just chose to backup EVERYTHING since I don't know what I will need later. My 128GB sd card cost more than the phone! LOL As for my vacation reading list and Google, I still have to read up on new superuser and root that can survive OTAs and root detection.
shirleys143 said:
Flashfire works. Loaded Xposed for Samsung via the Wa?? version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeh flash fire is pretty much the next best thing to custom recovery with a few little tricks of its own.
Anyone have a list of garbage that can be safely removed? Even after stripping some of the obvious stuff there's over 4Gb of system stuff.
Can I remove the Samsung stuff like Galaxy Apps and such? I don't want to remove anything that will make it unstable so that I can still reset it back to fresh and begin over, but without the bloat ware of that makes sense?
ViralThread said:
Anyone have a list of garbage that can be safely removed? Even after stripping some of the obvious stuff there's over 4Gb of system stuff.
Can I remove the Samsung stuff like Galaxy Apps and such? I don't want to remove anything that will make it unstable so that I can still reset it back to fresh and begin over, but without the bloat ware of that makes sense?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No matter how much you remove from system the size will never change, it's rather a pointless exercise. All you're doing is creating unused space.
ashyx said:
Yeh flash fire is pretty much the next best thing to custom recovery with a few little tricks of its own.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SO i tried to flash xposed via flashfire and got the old "system software not authorized by at&t has been found on your phone..." brick.
How to get xposed on there without bricking?
ashyx said:
No matter how much you remove from system the size will never change, it's rather a pointless exercise. All you're doing is creating unused space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what's the point of rooting? The primary reason was to remove the bloat and recover some usable space on the device. Out of 8GB there's less than 3gb of usable storage on it rendering it mostly useless for anything but a media player or emulator box loading crap off the SDCard.
What a waste.
ViralThread said:
So what's the point of rooting? The primary reason was to remove the bloat and recover some usable space on the device. Out of 8GB there's less than 3gb of usable storage on it rendering it mostly useless for anything but a media player or emulator box loading crap off the SDCard.
What a waste.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting is about more than debloating. It's about having control over your device.
Why don't you use adoptable storage if you need more space?
You can always move user apps to system to take up the space you've created. There are plenty of apps that can do this such as system app remover. That way not only do you utilise that space but you also free up storage space.
spicybeansandricey said:
SO i tried to flash xposed via flashfire and got the old "system software not authorized by at&t has been found on your phone..." brick.
How to get xposed on there without bricking?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you class a message, which is easily removed, as a brick?
ashyx said:
Rooting is about more than debloating. It's about having control over your device.
Why don't you use adoptable storage if you need more space?
You can always move user apps to system to take up the space you've created. There are plenty of apps that can do this such as system app remover. That way not only do you utilise that space but you also free up storage space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Adoptable storage is useless. Most of the apps will not see it and refuse to install data there, making it impossible to install anything large on the device or more than a few small apps/games.
I hadn't considered moving installed apps to system space I will give system app removed a glance. Thx
ashyx said:
How do you class a message, which is easily removed, as a brick?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i just asked how to install xposed on there, who cares about what i feel is a brick or not. a brick, soft or hard is still a brick.
is there a way to get xposed on the j120a without custom recovery? i tried flashfire, maybe my setting were incorrect? do you have a method?
thanks in advance.
spicybeansandricey said:
i just asked how to install xposed on there, who cares about what i feel is a brick or not. a brick, soft or hard is still a brick.
is there a way to get xposed on the j120a without custom recovery? i tried flashfire, maybe my setting were incorrect? do you have a method?
thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes there is, but due to your attitude sort yourself out. I honestly don't know why I bother sometimes with this forum.
ashyx said:
Yes there is, but due to your attitude sort yourself out. I honestly don't know why I bother sometimes with this forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats kind of harsh considering i just asked for instructions on how to get xposed on my phone. instead of helping you wanted to put me down for not using the word "brick" in a manner thats acceptable to you.
im sorry that we dont agree on semantics. i really have no "attitude" and how one can attribute an attitude to text on a website is debatable at best.
I have no ill-will, malice, or attitude, i had a general question that i was asking about and was looking to someone who looked like they had the answer for it. Normally, i "sort" these things out myself, but i went against my better judgement and asked here...(hence my 2 reply post history.)
if you can help me, i would gladly reward you for your time, via bitcoin, etc; I honestly have no issue other than i dont have the time to sit and look into this stuff like i use to 4-5 years ago. I promise you, i have no sort of attitude. this is just a forum FFS, and above all else, im not an 'ingrate.' i am always appreciative for any help that i receive.
If you could find the will to help me i would greatly appreciate it, otherwise lets not part ways with any ill-will, that's the last thing that i would ever want to happen.
thanks again for your time.
Ok so here's what my experience with system app remover was, and I hope I wasn't sounding rude or unappreciative, Immsimply trying to work towards a certain endpoint solution if possible.
System app remover did not permit me to relocate user apps into system space, in fact it won't let me move any apps as it claims "sdcard share the same disk with os", both in "move to phone" and in "move to sdcard" options.
Is there any reliable way to install apps directly to the external SDCard? Maybe install them to internal storage and then manually move them and symlink them? That wouldn't work for large apps but might allow installation of more smaller apps?
Essentially what you've stated means even the system is on its own "partition" right? So as I remove stuff that's stored in the /system folder, it's freeing space but not space my Android can access for the purpose of installation ?
Is that a proper summary of my situation?
Thanks in advance
spicybeansandricey said:
thats kind of harsh considering i just asked for instructions on how to get xposed on my phone. instead of helping you wanted to put me down for not using the word "brick" in a manner thats acceptable to you.
im sorry that we dont agree on semantics. i really have no "attitude" and how one can attribute an attitude to text on a website is debatable at best.
I have no ill-will, malice, or attitude, i had a general question that i was asking about and was looking to someone who looked like they had the answer for it. Normally, i "sort" these things out myself, but i went against my better judgement and asked here...(hence my 2 reply post history.)
if you can help me, i would gladly reward you for your time, via bitcoin, etc; I honestly have no issue other than i dont have the time to sit and look into this stuff like i use to 4-5 years ago. I promise you, i have no sort of attitude. this is just a forum FFS, and above all else, im not an 'ingrate.' i am always appreciative for any help that i receive.
If you could find the will to help me i would greatly appreciate it, otherwise lets not part ways with any ill-will, that's the last thing that i would ever want to happen.
thanks again for your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, let's start again. Maybe I mistook your response, it just seemed a little snipey. To get help in the right direction, proper details of what the actual issue is goes a long way to obtaining the solution. Stating a message caused a brick isn't anything I've ever come across before which is why I asked the question? However it seems further to that post you actually meant Xposed caused the brick after you saw that message and rebooted.
So going back to what I previously stated about correct details, here we are 3 unnecessary posts later.
Moving on...to install Xposed you need to ensure you use the wanam build of Xposed.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/unofficial-xposed-samsung-lollipop-t3180960
.
ashyx said:
OK, let's start again. Maybe I mistook your response, it just seemed a little snipey. To get help in the right direction, proper details of what the actual issue is goes a long way to obtaining the solution. Stating a message caused a brick isn't anything I've ever come across before which is why I asked the question? However it seems further to that post you actually meant Xposed caused the brick after you saw that message and rebooted.
So going back to what I previously stated about correct details, here we are 3 unnecessary posts later.
Moving on...to install Xposed you need to ensure you use the wanam build of Xposed.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/unofficial-xposed-samsung-lollipop-t3180960
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you so much!! that was what the "wa???" was in the first few post of this thread that i didnt understand. i sincerely was not trying to come off as pompous, snipey etc; so thank you for helping me. I run a vbulletin forum myself so im no stranger to miscommunication.
I appreciate your help, honestly and sincerely. ill give this a try and be back, my sincerest thanks again.
ViralThread said:
Ok so here's what my experience with system app remover was, and I hope I wasn't sounding rude or unappreciative, Immsimply trying to work towards a certain endpoint solution if possible.
System app remover did not permit me to relocate user apps into system space, in fact it won't let me move any apps as it claims "sdcard share the same disk with os", both in "move to phone" and in "move to sdcard" options.
Is there any reliable way to install apps directly to the external SDCard? Maybe install them to internal storage and then manually move them and symlink them? That wouldn't work for large apps but might allow installation of more smaller apps?
Essentially what you've stated means even the system is on its own "partition" right? So as I remove stuff that's stored in the /system folder, it's freeing space but not space my Android can access for the purpose of installation ?
Is that a proper summary of my situation?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whoops, my bad. That's was the wrong app to suggest. I actually meant this one that DOES move user apps to system. You can see the mistake with the similar names!
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...CBowAA&usg=AFQjCNFe58rupOZgD6hS3UfXr-2rkHxsyQ[/url]
By the way I suggest this busybox:
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...CB8wAg&usg=AFQjCNGS1LQ2kB8PZ4Y--lzVTOG1SKQWvA
ashyx said:
Whoops, my bad. That's was the wrong app to suggest. I actually meant this one that DOES move user apps to system. You can see the mistake with the similar names!
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...CBowAA&usg=AFQjCNFe58rupOZgD6hS3UfXr-2rkHxsyQ[/url]
By the way I suggest this busybox:
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...CB8wAg&usg=AFQjCNGS1LQ2kB8PZ4Y--lzVTOG1SKQWvA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick response.
I installed /system/app/remover and it seemed to offer a solution. However upon moving few apps to system with the app, it's merely removing them. So more tweaking needed.
Will keep update on progress.
Thanks again
---------- Post added at 03:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:29 PM ----------
Is it safe to remove all of the Samsung stuff? Will that break the reset ability?

Regarding the state of data backups in Android

Hi Everyone,
I am new to XDA, and I am really proud to be in this community.
I have created this thread to discuss about the current situation with backup of data in Android, as I did not find any thread which covers my specific concerns. This is meant to be part discussion, part rant, part guide, etc.
Now to the actual scenario. I have a Moto G (2014), which used to run stock unrooted 6.0, and I used a combination of Helium (free version), manual file backup, and import/export options from various apps to back up my data. I recently flashed the official 14.1 Lineage OS ROM with GApps Pico and Lineage OS su package to root. All went well, and I could restore the backups as planned. SMS restore did not work, but I did not bother much about that.
Now, if I try to use Helium to backup my apps, it shows me an error. No detail is provided about the error. On digging further into the ADB backup feature (which is the underlying technique for Helium), I found that I can not even backup the data to the .ab files everyone talks about. I came by a blog which advised creating the backup using .adb extension, and it worked for one or two apps. In all probability, .ab has been replaced by .adb files - experts can suggest, I can not find anything online.
Now came the second twist. I wanted to backup a game which does not support cloud save. And it apparently saves the app data in /data/app, which ADB backup probably does not support - again, experts can enlighten me on this. I noticed that apps saving in /data/data were getting backed up, while the /data/app one was not.
Now the question may arise that since I am rooted, I can easily access these backups through file system or Titanium, without the need for ADB backup. But I am really worried about a scenario when I have to buy a new phone (the current one is already running for 3+ years). I am really wary of rooting a new phone and losing the warranty in the process. In such cases, root based backups can not be restored to the new phone. To validate this, I tried to restore a specific save file to my unrooted tablet, but could not get in even using ADB shell (this may seem foolish, but I thought since ADB backup can access /data/data, may be ADB shell too can access the protected partitions).
So, after this long exercise, my finding is that, unless we are rooted, better forget the backup. It makes me very uneasy to know that I can not carry over my progress in a game to another phone because the developer does not support cloud save (even cloud saves are not full proof, but I will rant about that some other day).
Is there something I am missing? Or is this the scenario all over? And if it is, why can't a ten year old platform provide such a basic feature? And finally, if there is some tool/technique which lets me backup/restore data on an unrooted device, please point me to that.
I believe XDA is the only place I can put these questions/rants forward. Thanks for reading.
Please ask your question only in one place :good: I answered you here https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2717159&p=75474972

Backup problems and questions

Hi, first of all, thank you for reading me.
I think i messed up big time.
I had Havoc OS 4.1 installed since more than a year and it was kinda messy e.g. the sim card card wasnt recognized anymore so wasnt able to make calls because i played to much in the settings.
Having some stupid but incredibly addictive games on this smartphone i decided to keep it like this and since i'm a complete n00bs and being afraid of security risk of rooting my device i never rooted it.
Big mistake.
So, recently, one games needed an update (like they all do at least once a week) and since i'm anti-google/f***book (no comment please) i nvever saved my progress in the cloud and "that" game required absolutely an update.
I installed the update from an alternative apk source and , (applause if you want and laugh), it screwed up the game.
Now the nightmare begin.
Since the device isnt rooted i made a backup of /data partition. Gone crazy and before i might explode in an uncontrollable fury and madness i used LMSA to rescue the phone. And myself, lol.
Now i have stock android and i am googled to the bone. My butt hurts. My head too.
THE (first) simple question is : how can i restore this backup because i have the error 255?
Notes and observations; logically i would say because the device is back with stock rom and doesnt have the same os/rom installed and/or the partition and whatever is not the same wich may explain the error 255.
SECOND QUESTION: can i extract/uncompress this backup and take the precious data wich is my games progresses and restore it somehow?
I know i have to give as much information possible but i dont what else to give. If you need logs, or everything else just say it nicely and i will give it to you with immense pleasure.
Oh yeah, model : XT2113-2 5g Kiev RETCA 128gb a/b type and maybe was crypted before because twrp asked me the password to make backup or else.
Thank you in advance and i really hope somebody would help, if not i just loosed 1.5 years of stupid gaming because i messed up like an idiot. (A lesson well learned, the hard way...)
Thank you so much for not answering this simple question.
Kerplunk83 said:
Thank you so much for not answering this simple question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is it's a Motorola with a Qualcomm chip.
If you find a solution I would love to see it.
Finally a sign of life from someone here.
Thank you sd_shadow
sd_shadow said:
The problem is it's a Motorola with a Qualcomm chip.
If you find a solution I would love to see it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These precious brief and concise 2 lines of a simple answer is immensely welcomed.
Wich point me to reply that to my knowledge i interpret it as a security chip with big chances that its in relation to the knox technology.
It also point me to ask WHY, if i cant back up because of that, why/how is it possible to install a custom rom or gsi (sorry i still dont make the difference because i dont understand it) on this very protected smartphone?
That must explain why i had problems trying to root it and fail each time.
Finally i think that i should use another device for android gaming since i dont want to depend on f***book and google.
Thanks again sd_shadow. Even if it was a very simple answer it enlightens me alot.
Note: sorry for my bad english.
Kerplunk83 said:
how can i restore this backup because i have the error 255?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This error code means that at some point your backup of /data could not be extracted further. But for more detailed infos you must provide a recovery.log which will be generated when doing a backup of e.g. /boot.
>>> Please DO NOT copy+paste it here!! <<<​Rename it (recovery.log > recovery.log.txt) to be able to upload it within "Attach files".
Kerplunk83 said:
can i extract/uncompress this backup and take the precious data wich is my games progresses and restore it somehow?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, use Titanium Backup (TB). Although it's very outdated it still features a restore of single apps out of a TWRP backup. Here's how you do it:
1. IMPORTANT: TB will only search for TWRP backup files on internal storage!! Use the default path created by TWRP, e.g.: /sdcard/TWRP/BACKUPS/ZY322V8K28/2023-04-08--06-53-20/
2. Install and open Titanium Backup.
3. In the upper right corner tap
MENU > scroll down to "Extract from Nandroid backup" > choose your backup folder
##############
Notes:
- Usually a TWRP backup of /data consists of several parts (data.ext4.win000, ~win001, ~win002 etc). TB requires all of them (or at least those ones with the /data/data/ path inside).
- If you are facing this error message:
Could not find any data in this TWRP backup
then your TWRP backup is compressed with gzip. To decompress it you must rename the file
data.ext4.win001 > data.ext4.win001.gz
and extract it with any archiver tool, e.g.:
- ZArchiver (Android)
- 7zip (Windows)
- Problems finding any TWRP backup data with Titanium Backup? Then please check your path!! (see above section)
Good luck!!
Thank you very much WoKoschekk i'll do it as soon i'll have the time for since i'm working today.
Thank you so much again, i'll keep you posted with logs and such.
I'm sorry i didnt gave news since, i'm not doing very well.
there's those 2 question i still have in my head;
1-With all the instructions you gave me is it worthy to continue because when i did the backup i wasnt rooted?
2- i'm sure i read many time to use Titanium Backup (wich is a paid app?) i have to be rooted or have root access.
Ultimately, how can i be rooted if there's a chip preventing me to do so?
I'll keep you posted when i'll be of better health, thank you.
Kerplunk83 said:
-With all the instructions you gave me is it worthy to continue because when i did the backup i wasnt rooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP backup = *.tar archive
TB unpacks the needed app's data and nothing else. You must be rooted to have access on /data for restoring your apps. But for the backup process it doesn't matter if you were rooted. Root is part of your boot.img.
Kerplunk83 said:
2- i'm sure i read many time to use Titanium Backup (wich is a paid app?) i have to be rooted or have root access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TB is for free. But a paid version unlocks additional features (not related to the TWRP restoring feature).
And yes... root is mandatory for TB. As I said before you must have r/w access on /data/*.
Kerplunk83 said:
if there's a chip preventing me to do so?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which chip?? You already have root access via TWRP. Magisk is only needed in system and just a patched boot.img (custom kernel).
Get well soon!
WoKoschekk thank you for this insanely fast reply.
All those answers and infos have now a gigantic value for me, if only i knew that before.
To describe a bit more my situation i slept only few hours since 5 days, vomiting, heavy coughs and fever.
I'm sure i'm not supposed to but i will anyway, i engage myself and promise to reward you (in particular) and others for the help you're bringing me. It wont be much but very important to me.
I'll go try to get (again) some rest. Just before i go, why was there a mention about my device;
"
The problem is it's a Motorola with a Qualcomm chip.
If you find a solution I would love to see it.
"
I dont ask you (WoKoschekk) or other to explain in the most explicit and endless details of what is exactly this "chip" and all the history that goes with it cause i dont want to be a pain but just why it was mentionned. Only, why?, it has ben mentionned.
I cant wait to get better since i finally see possibilities to get back those files.
Have a nice week-end and thanks again.
@Kerplunk83 To reveal the mystery behind "the chip": Motorola released two variants (Snapdragon/Mediatek CPU) of this model. Since the CPU largely determines the system structure, building a functional TWRP for both of them is very challenging. It seems that TWRP for the SD's variant got some bugs while the MT's variant runs more smooth. Due to this fact the error 255 is caused by something that you weren't be able to fix.
Regarding your problem: To restore an app and its specific app data you need the proper permissions to write in /data/data and /data/app. For this permissions you either need TWRP or Magisk installed. TWRP seems to be unable to write in that specific directory. On the other hand you don't want to install Magisk. I'm sorry but with this setup your problem can't be fixed.
Just out of curiosity, could you provide me a recovery.log showing error 255 during the restore process?
Please DO NOT copy/paste the whole log and post it here!! Instead of this you should rename the file (recovery.log => recovery.txt) because a file called *.log isn't allowed for upload. But a *.txt file is.
Options to create a recovery.log:
1. adb pull /tmp/recovery.log
=> copies a recovery.log into your ADB/fastboot folder
2. Do a backup of sth. like "boot" because the backup process will create a recovery.log by default
3. TWRP mainscreen > advanced > create log (kernel log isn't needed here)
=> log is stored on the default storage (internal or external) that you have choosen for backups etc.

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