Recovering photos from a dead android

WealthyB

Hi All

My sister in law has handed me her old, water damaged and screen cracked Samsung Galaxy S3 - containing two years worth of photos that were not backed up anywhere. Goes without saying they're of huge sentimental value.

there's just no reviving this phone; the best I can get is a blue light on it which responds to the power buttons, but otherwise I can't see it in Windows Device manager or attached as a external HD...

Has anyone used a specialist Data Recovery Service for extracting photos from a dead device like this? or would anyone have any other recommendations/software I might try myself?

Cheers!

loyatemu

is she sure they haven't backed up to Google Photos? go to https://photos.google.com and log in with whatever account she was using on the phone.

WealthyB

WealthyB wrote: »

Hi All

My sister in law has handed me her old, water damaged and screen cracked Samsung Galaxy S3 - containing two years worth of photos that were not backed up anywhere. Goes without saying they're of huge sentimental value.

there's just no reviving this phone; the best I can get is a blue light on it which responds to the power buttons, but otherwise I can't see it in Windows Device manager or attached as a external HD...

Has anyone used a specialist Data Recovery Service for extracting photos from a dead device like this? or would anyone have any other recommendations/software I might try myself?

Cheers!

Have you taken out the SD card and mounted it on your PC?

I've not used data recovery specialists but be warned it is very expensive. You would be looking at a couple of thousand minimum.

WealthyB

Thanks for the responses guys

1. Photo's are not backed up via Google Photos - she's only got the one gmail (personal or otherwise) and I've already checked her account.

2. The pictures are on the phones internal memory, the SD Card I could remove but it only had a handful of pics on it.

Cheers

If the photos weren't saving to external SD, the only real hope I can see is getting some kind of ADB connection working, then you could do something like adb pull /sdcard/ c:/. Have you tried booting into recovery?

I've pretty much made it my duty to inform everyone I know about Google photos the last couple of years. It's a shame people are still learning this lesson the hard way.

WealthyB

Basil3 wrote: »

If the photos weren't saving to external SD, the only real hope I can see is getting some kind of ADB connection working, then you could do something like adb pull /sdcard/ c:/. Have you tried booting into recovery?

I've pretty much made it my duty to inform everyone I know about Google photos the last couple of years. It's a shame people are still learning this lesson the hard way.

Can't boot the phone into recovery, as I can't see the screen My (limited) understanding is that I can't get a ADB connection without getting the phone into Recovery mode..

Couldn't agree more re cloud backups - this basically got landed with me cos you know "ah shure he's handy with computers" kinda thing.

WealthyB

WealthyB wrote: »

Can't boot the phone into recovery, as I can't see the screen My (limited) understanding is that I can't get a ADB connection without getting the phone into Recovery mode..

Couldn't agree more re cloud backups - this basically got landed with me cos you know "ah shure he's handy with computers" kinda thing.

It's been a long time since I've messed with Sammy's, but I would do a battery pull to ensure its off, then try this below:

"Press and hold the Volume Up, Power and Home buttons until you see the Samsung screen. Release the Power button but continue to press Home and Volume Up until you are brought to the stock recovery mode on the Galaxy S3."

Obviously you're not going to see the Samsung screen, so you'll have to guess a bit. After that, try connecting to a PC and pray.

WealthyB

Basil3 wrote: »

It's been a long time since I've messed with Sammy's, but I would do a battery pull to ensure its off, then try this below:

"Press and hold the Volume Up, Power and Home buttons until you see the Samsung screen. Release the Power button but continue to press Home and Volume Up until you are brought to the stock recovery mode on the Galaxy S3."

Obviously you're not going to see the Samsung screen, so you'll have to guess a bit. After that, try connecting to a PC and pray.

Cheers mate. Will report back as to how I get on (fingers, toes, everything crossed)

WealthyB

WealthyB wrote: »

Cheers mate. Will report back as to how I get on (fingers, toes, everything crossed)

Failing that, there's other things you can try like checking for Samsung drivers, trying different USB connections (USB, USB 2) etc.