Rezound + Exchange requires SD card encryption?

[misslilly]

This week I gave my new phone to my IT dept to get synched with the Exchange server to get my work email. I totally forgot to remove my (2 year old) SD card that had everything on it: Pics, texts, docs etc... and now it's "damaged"?!

When I got the phone back from IT, I noticed it kept asking me for an encryption password. The keypad lock password and my Exchange password both didn't work. Since I was running out of tries I just hit cancel and I decided to follow up with IT the next day. I also noticed that many apps were gone, but I couldn't re-install them.

By the next morning, the notification bar kept saying the SD card was damaged. I tired to read the card in another phone, and it wouldn't mount. I tried to use a card reader in my laptop, and it couldn't read it. Seems like the only option is to reformat...

I put a NEW SD card in the Rezound (with Active Exchange now working), and the phone still wanted me to reformat the new card, and also encrypt it. Now, I have to use the keypad lock password, and then also enter the SD encryption password - every time!! This was never required on my original Incredible.

Questions:
- Are there any alternatives to get the files back from the old SD card? I'm not sure if it's damaged because of
1) age of the card (2 years)
2) unknown encryption password accidentally by my coworker in IT, or
3) incomplete process with the Exchange set up

- Why do I have to encrypt an SD card at all??

Life goes on, but it kind of sucks to lose all my files..... I have not reformatted the old card, so any suggestions are welcomed!!! :hail:

 

[nikecar]

Your IT is incompetent. There are programs that supposedly recover. Data, and you should check the manufacturers website to see unless someone else posts a program.

We connect via exchange here and I never give them the phone. We do it ourselves and we get the settings from them. The new exchange server tells us we must allow the admins to have access to wipe blah blah blah, but they don't actually do anything.

 

[misslilly]

Nikecar - After trying to recenter my chi over this SD card fiasco, I'll take any humour I can get at this point. Lesson learned with that IT guy! Hopefully SanDisk might have some options for me.


As for the recent connection Exchange server, it's still making my Rezound really buggy...

• the NEW SD card is now also "damaged," even though I have reformatted twice and already encrypted it
  
• 4G connectivity is now VERY spotty. Never had a problem until I set up the connection Exchange
  
• Apps are having trouble installing (no connectivity, or just error messages). I have to try about 4-5 times to download successfully
  
• Indicator light will flash green, for no reason (no new texts, emails, alerts....just flashes sometimes)

I'm wondering if this now morphed a software problem that I can't overcome. I've rebooted, removed the battery, etc. Everything short of a factory reset since I'm working offsite for a few days. Any ideas?

 

[nikecar]

I'd reset it and ask the IT guys for the settings and do it yourself. Every now and then there might be a smart idea, but usually not with it.

 

[misslilly]

Agreed.... well VZN is thankfully sending me a new phone, since something seems to be up with the card reader.

They couldn't explain the requirement for the SD card encryption.... might have something to do with the exchange system requirements

I'm debating on whether I should keep everything on one device, or just add a line for the exchange email. I know, I know, two phones = nerd alert! But mixing business with pleasure cost me a lot of data on that SD card.....

Thanks for your help!

 

[FoxKat]

Misslilly,

Depending on the encryption method, you may be able to recover it, but you would need the original key or password for the encryption, and the card will have to be reverted to the state it was in before they messed it up. If the original card wasn't encrypted, then hopefully it can be recovered by using one of many utilities on the market. I use R-Studio, which I find the best combination of deep search and recovery success coupled with ease of use.

As for the card itself, DO NOT format it. If there is any chance of recovery, you want to write absolutely NOTHING to it, pull it out, leave it in a safe place until you can get it into the hands of a COMPETENT data recovery technician.

Why they are asking for encryption now, relates completely to their protocol. Since you will be on an exchange server for your email, you will have access to the entire email system you do at work. With no encryption, that data is at risk of being copied by others. With encryption even if they copied the files, they couldn't decrypt (I know, not a word...) them and and the data is safe from unauthorized eyes. In the corporate world, they have trade secrets and confidential communications they need to protect.

They may also now be able to wipe your phone remotely and if you are terminated or lose your phone, they can do so right from their terminals, again to protect the data from being released. This happened to me in a former position, where I resigned. Unbeknownst to me as I was handing in my resignation, the IT department was alerted, and they wiped my entire contact list, schedule and email history, even contacts and personal schedule information and emails that were personal and private and had nothing to do with the company. It took me over 6 weeks for them to respond to my threats of a law suit before they recovered the data from a backup on their servers, combed through everything and removed all "sensitive" information and burned my personal contacts, calendar and email onto a CD. What a fiasco.

If you do use the phone on the exchange server, I recommend two things. First, don't use corporate email for any personal communications. Second, backup every personal piece of data regularly. Protect yourself.

 

[nikecar]

I could understand if it's a work phone they want encryption on, but not a personal one. Good luck.

 

[misslilly]

@Nikecar - I don't understand it either! Especially since the encryption wasn't required on my Incredible... so all of this caught me by surprise with the Rezound. Before, I only had to put the keypad code/lock on the phone. This employer doesn't buy phones for employees since we "aren't required" to have a smart phone with access work email. But most people still do it to make life easier.

 

[misslilly]

Foxcat - thanks for the reply! Very helpful and much appreciated!:icon_ banana:

What are your thoughts on these questions? Nikecar feel free to chime in too!

1. Keep things separate - I'm taking your advice and will NOT combine business & pleasure anymore when I get the new Rezound. You are correct about remote access/wiping. I remember the second IT guy mentioning it when we re-set the exchange access... and dealing this SD card situ is bad enough! I'll either get a additional line with a used phone or just forgo the work email access all together.

2. Is the current phone SOL? Or just SD card #2? Or both? - I plan to move forward with the new phone once it arrives, but I'm curious to know if the current phone is just screwed up for good, or if I should also ditch SD card #2 - which is brand new. I've reformatted #2 a bunch of times already. All is well for a few moments, but after I take one picture, the SD card no longer works - meaning there is "an error on the SD card" and I can no longer save pics to SD. Should I reformat aaaaaaaaaaagain and use this in the new phone, or just play it safe with a THIRD SD card? Could the current Rezound have impacted #2 in a way that might carry over to the new replacement phone?


3. Encryption on the original SD card - Hopefully the first IT guy remembers WTH he inputted for the encryption password. Now I'm wondering if he typed something as simple and 12345678 and just forgot to tell me about the second password (I wasn't in his cube when he set it up. First mistake). I'm pretty sure he encrypted it because the phone kept prompting me for a password, and I never removed the SD card prior to the exchange set up. (When I did encrypted the second time around, the second IT guy had me input an additional password - presumably for SD card #2).

4. Data recovery - can this still happen even if a card reader (as well as another phone) couldn't read card #1 (that has all my files)? The card reader kept asking me to reformat first, and the phone kept asking me to mount the card (and I did not reformat #1). Would a data recovery tech/expert be able to bypass this?


Thank you both for all of your input!!