Need File Recovery Help With Erased Cell Phone Images

I know my way around a computer pretty good, I don't speak the language but I can usually solve most problems with them.
I have a file recovery program already that I got from the back of that computer book called "Steal This Book", but it seems cheap and limited in it's abilities. I did buy the book.

I am trying to recover erased images off my Samsung SPH-M500...



The program I'm using now only shows me the filename on the phone's memory card but has no data it can extract from it. I'm using a USB connector from the cell to my cpu when I run the File Recovery program.

There's a very important picture I'd like to upload to this site and it was on that cell phone.

It's also saved on 1 of 2 broken hard drives as a desktop background image. I tried using those drives as slaves to this one, but they sputter like a bad car starter and it takes me about 10 minutes just to open one directory on them. They just kinda died on me all of a sudden, it was very strange.

My main questions are:

- What is a really good file recovery program I can get a hold of online? (That works on cell phones)

- What are the exact directories I need to type in to go directly to a saved desktop background image location(s)? Using XP that is.

Those are my only 2 options I can think of to recover my images.
I'd appreciate any help or advice from the experts.

Thanks in advance,
JJ

Undelete by microsoft, just download and run, in DOS prompt mode. also do you have memory card on phone? if so, stick it in the computer (if you have memory card reader) since that is a sure fire way to get them back. Here are the instructions for using it support.microsoft.com...

reply to post by JibbyJedi

i have heard about recovery software for personal computers, but never for mobiles.
maybe there some special companies, which could do that, but i guess that would cost a little fortune.

Originally posted by icepack
reply to post by JibbyJedi

 

i have heard about recovery software for personal computers, but never for mobiles.
maybe there some special companies, which could do that, but i guess that would cost a little fortune.

it does not matter what the medium is, if it´s pluggable into a computer, it can be restored. phones, cameras, whatever, no problem.

There are a number of programs that can do what you want. Below is a good list of pros and cons of some popular ones.

data-recovery-software-review.toptenreviews.com...

Just remember to not use the phone for anything until the data is recovered (any new data will reduce your chances of recovering deleted data) and always recover to a different drive.

Good louck

There are mobile phone recovery file programs available on private investigator sites via links ect.
Just google and you will be downloading for free the basic versions in minutes.... they work.
Still have to use computer as host though.

Originally posted by JibbyJedi
I know my way around a computer pretty good, I don't speak the language but I can usually solve most problems with them.
I have a file recovery program already that I got from the back of that computer book called "Steal This Book", but it seems cheap and limited in it's abilities. I did buy the book.

I am trying to recover erased images off my Samsung SPH-M500...



The program I'm using now only shows me the filename on the phone's memory card but has no data it can extract from it. I'm using a USB connector from the cell to my cpu when I run the File Recovery program.

There's a very important picture I'd like to upload to this site and it was on that cell phone.

It's also saved on 1 of 2 broken hard drives as a desktop background image. I tried using those drives as slaves to this one, but they sputter like a bad car starter and it takes me about 10 minutes just to open one directory on them. They just kinda died on me all of a sudden, it was very strange.

My main questions are:

- What is a really good file recovery program I can get a hold of online? (That works on cell phones)

- What are the exact directories I need to type in to go directly to a saved desktop background image location(s)? Using XP that is.

Those are my only 2 options I can think of to recover my images.
I'd appreciate any help or advice from the experts.

Thanks in advance,
JJ

Not sure about the 'phone but you could try "Unstoppable Copier" to copy the data from defective drives (it ignores the errors and just tries to copy the data regardless). Also, "SpinRite" sometimes works to recover the drives themselves.

If you want to really go for recovery in a big way, try Googling "data forensics" but it can be an expensive business for the part-time techie.

With XP, files saved onto the desktop are in "C:\Documents and Settings\%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\" (where the %USERPROFILE% variable is the one that is used by the logon profile) but if you are talking about the desktop background graphic, that could be anywhere in the file system and is only pointed at by the registry.

You could try looking in:
C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper (it will likely be called "internet explorer wallpaper")
C:\Documents and Settings\%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Pictures
C:\Documents and Settings\%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Microsoft\Internet Explorer
C:\Program Files\Plus!\Themes

Of course if the Windows install did not use the defaults, then the previous locations may not even exist and if it is on an old drive that you have plugged back into your PC, the drive letter will be different too.

I've been using Restorer Ultimate PRO from BITMART Inc. (bitmart.net) to salvage hard disks for some time and although I haven't confirmed it, if you can mount the phone as a USB drive a program like that should be able to read it. I've used it on large external USB drives before and let it run for a few days until it read and mapped the whole thing (I use an old desktop and lots of adapters for different disks). I've had to swap circuit boards on some hard drives to get them to temporarily work long enough to recover data and once had to open a hard drive and clean the platters and heads with less than spectacular results.

Overall, most of the programs of this type work OK if you have not been writing to the disk before you run them.

If it is real important, mission critical you may have no choice but to pay a professional to remove the platters to put in another like drive to recover but that begs the question where was the backup. On-line ordering, dynamic updates really indicate some form of RAID is needed. At home set up shadowing/mirroring depending on system since disks are cheap and backup regularly to DVD or external drive.

I have read about scanners that can retrieve erased data from a phone and if you know some of the local LEOs or PIs you can see if they have one they can use on your phone for you. If you are saving data to the SIM or memory card you might be able to plug it into PC and use various tools mentioned in other replies to recover.

Here is a good program called Recuva it's free and easy to use. I used it to get a file I deleted restored. Works really well.

So many good ideas and links, my thanks to all of you. I am very optimistic now and am excited to try these programs out.
Thanks again everyone!

Hi JJ,
feel like I'm failing to play catch up!

All the above suggestions are excellent and I can't really add anything.

I would however, suggest making copies of drives (corrupt or otherwise) before you start the recovery process.

Best of luck to you and I look forward to seeing the image(s).

a reply to: JibbyJedi

CardRecoveryPro is easy-to-use card recovery software that recovers deleted/lost photos, music, video, and multimedia files from almost all digital card source after disasters like deletion, corruption, formatting. The program enables the quick recovery of photos from different storage devices in just a few steps.
www.cardrecoverypro.com...

STEP 1 Download Card Recovery Tool & Install it for free.
STEP 2 Run the CardRecoveryPro software. Click [Start Scan], specify the drive letter, file type and destination location. Then click [Next] to start the scan.
STEP 3 When the scan is finished, select the files you want and click [Recover] button to restore the files.