Help for recovery of encrypted data from formatted SD card

[Galbanino]

Hello Guys,

Yesterday my phone (Samsung S7) fell and the screen and touchscreen is not working since then. Not surprised given that it is shuttered XD.

Anyway, I had an sd card in the phone with all the photos saved on it, without cloud backups. Not remembering that the card was encrypted, I have simply connected the phone to my pc and copy pasted all photos to a pc folder. The sd card has then been inserted into a new Samsung A20e and fast formatted.

My problem is that now I have all the photos on my desktop which are encrypted and can't be opened. As soon as I realized this I have removed the sd card from the A20e to avoid overwriting data in case it can be recovered.

I would gladly appreciate if any of you could tell me if there is a way to recover this data.

I can access the USB debugging mode on the S7 and navigate its files.
My inexperienced ideas were:

1. Is it possible to recover the encryption key from the files in the phone and then use this do de-encrypt the photos on the pc?
2. If I insert the sd card back into the S7, format it, encrypt it (through a pc screen mirrowing tool), copy the photos form the pc into the card would the phone be able to read them? This could be possible if the phone uses always the same encryption key without changing it.
3. Is there any use in trying to use one of those data recovery tools on the sd card? The data I would get will still be encrypted.

Thanks to anyone who'd be willing to help.

 

[bkdodger]

Welcome to the forum...sorry to hear issue ...there are some programs I've seen around but I don't recommend here on forum ...you would need something that can decrypt the card ... I would definitely not format again ...

 

[Galbanino]

Hello bkdodger,
Is there any particular reason why you don't reccomend these programs here? Also, if you could send me a PM with the names of the programs would be awsome.

 

[bkdodger]

Hello bkdodger,
Is there any particular reason why you don't reccomend these programs here? Also, if you could send me a PM with the names of the programs would be awsome.

I don't have any programs per se just that I know there are plenty from Google ...we don't allow external links to such programs on this forum ...

 

[Galbanino]

Hello bkdodger, I have tried one of the files recovery program but it doesn't manage to recover the files from the sd card, probably because they were encrypted and it does not recognize them??

Do you know if android phones use a different encryption key every time the same phone encrypts a new sd card?

 

[bkdodger]

Hello bkdodger, I have tried one of the files recovery program but it doesn't manage to recover the files from the sd card, probably because they were encrypted and it does not recognize them??

Do you know if android phones use a different encryption key every time the same phone encrypts a new sd card?

I'm thinking it will use different encryption..also from reading on Samsung phones only way to view what's on card would be unlocked phone from the original phone you encrypted card ..

 

[Galbanino]

I'm thinking it will use different encryption..also from reading on Samsung phones only way to view what's on card would be unlocked phone from the original phone you encrypted card ..

In that case I do still have the phone and can unlock it. the only problem is that the screen on the phone does not work but I can access the files through debug USB.

 

[ggrant3876]

In that case I do still have the phone and can unlock it. the only problem is that the screen on the phone does not work but I can access the files through debug USB.

Just saw this on another forum from October last year.
Answering my own question because I just figured out the simplest way possible (and tbh feel like a bit of an idiot for not realizing this before haha)

There was a method suggested on the comments thread of the OP, which might work as well, but what I ended up doing is using my USB hub (which has an hdmi port) and plugging the phone directly into my tv via hdmi. It required having my keyboard plugged in as well, but there were no permissions to bypass, and if you have a bt keyboard you could essentially use a physical keyboard to pair the bt keyboard, and then use a usb c to hdmi adapter to hook up to the tv -- cheaper option since this usb hub was like 50 bucks

 

[Galbanino]

hi both, thank you for the help you are trying to give but I think we are missing the point. The major issue is not unlocking the phone but recovering access to some encrypted photos that were copied from the sd card on onto the desktop.

Is there anyway I can recover the encryption key from somewhere on the phone and then use this to de-crypt the files?

 

[bkdodger]

hi both, thank you for the help you are trying to give but I think we are missing the point. The major issue is not unlocking the phone but recovering access to some encrypted photos that were copied from the sd card on onto the desktop.

Is there anyway I can recover the encryption key from somewhere on the phone and then use this to de-crypt the files?

You can only view those photos on phone with sd card...if you were able to change the setting to not encrypted them you can view elsewhere ...