Recovering deleted files from an Android device

[JayByrd]

This morning I accidentally deleted a number of files off of an Android device.

The device was connected to my PC; they were deleted via the PC, not with the onboard delete function.

This was an ill-fated attempt to transfer some photos to my PC.

I'm not completely clueless with the technology, but fixing this (if it's even possible) is over my head.

There are a number of apps that purport to be able to undelete. They all require root access to the phone, which requires installation of an additional app. Sigh.

Any advice? Would I be foolish to go down this rabbit hole of install-this-then-install-that-so-the-first-thing-can-work?

[LoneWolf_53]

I'm no recovery expert by any means, but my guess is that installing anything after doing a delete, would negatively affect any hopes of getting back what was deleted, since the process would overwrite stuff.

I'd be more inclined to put recovery app on the computer, then connect the Android device to the computer so it shows up as simply another drive, but whether that would be successful or not I do not know.

[maryjane48]

http://www.imoresoft.com/android-data-recovery.html

[Partmanpartfish]

I've used EaseUS recovery software on camera cards and it's worked well. You might try their free version for android to see if anything is recoverable.

http://www.easeus.com/android-data-reco ... overy.html

[JayByrd]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I actually forgot I posted this.

The files (photos) were on the phone memory itself; this particular device does not have an SD card. That complicates matters, as you know. Any application-based process to restore those files, requires me to root the phone. While I'm not a total newbie, I'm not confident in taking that risk.

After discussion with my wife (it was her phone, speaking of complicating things), and the nature of the photos lost (related to a Christmas event at her work, and clients want to see them), we opted to go with a data recovery company. I have no idea what they'll be able to restore, but that's the way we opted to go. Part of me wishes I'd tried to do this on my own, but I just can't stomach the risk of "bricking" my wife's phone.

[LoneWolf_53]

Hope you have success.

That being said I'm not sure I buy the "rooting" the phone thing. Any phone can be connected to a computer to show up as simply another storage device.

[rekabis]

we opted to go with a data recovery company

Holy crap that is going to be expensive. Last time I had to get a data recovery quote - and this was for a simple pair of hard drives - it was in the $2,000-3,000 range. Hope those photos were worth it!!

[django]

http://globalnews.ca/news/2413878/2413878/

[JayByrd]

Holy crap that is going to be expensive. Last time I had to get a data recovery quote - and this was for a simple pair of hard drives - it was in the $2,000-3,000 range. Hope those photos were worth it!!

Their flat rate for this service is $199. Keep in mind, we're talking about retrieving 100 or so files (and that's if they're all intact, which they surely won't be) from around 16gb of storage. I have no idea what the pricing would be for a larger-scale job.

http://www.coredatarecovery.ca is the company I'm using. I've been really pleased with their service so far.

[SandSandra]

This morning I accidentally deleted a number of files off of an Android device.

The device was connected to my PC; they were deleted via the PC, not with the onboard delete function.

This was an ill-fated attempt to transfer some photos to my PC.

I'm not completely clueless with the technology, but fixing this (if it's even possible) is over my head.

There are a number of apps that purport to be able to undelete. They all require root access to the phone, which requires installation of an additional app. Sigh.

Any advice? Would I be foolish to go down this rabbit hole of install-this-then-install-that-so-the-first-thing-can-work?

No, not all Android Data Recovery tools must be rooted, such as FoneCope. Don't use your phone before using any tools to avoid files being overwritten and causing permanent file loss.