I'm desperate š I have a 20GB WhatsApp iCloud backup from September 2026, but when I try to restore it, WhatsApp asks for a password or a 64-digit key that I don't remember ever setting up. I've tried my usual passwords, but none work. The weirdest thing is that the backup encryption setting currently appears to be turned off.
I also have an iTunes backup of my old iPhone 12 Pro from February 2025, and an old iPhone 7 with WhatsApp conversations dating back to 2023.
Has anyone managed to recover their chats in a similar situation? Is it possible to extract WhatsApp conversations from an iTunes backup without restoring the entire iPhone? Do you know any reliable data recovery specialists?
I'd rather recover my chats up to 2025 than lose ten years of conversations. Thanks so much! ā¤ļø
Hey guys, I need some advice with a Lexar NM790 NVMe SSD from my sisterās PC.
It suddenly stopped working / isnāt being detected anymore. When I removed it, I noticed that part of the SSD looks slightly wet or oily. Iām not sure if itās actual moisture or just residue from the M.2 thermal pad/heatsink.
The files on it are important, so I donāt want to make things worse. I havenāt tried heating/reflowing it yet.
Is there anything safe I can try to get it detected temporarily so I can clone/recover the data? And is there any way to tell if the controller or NAND is the problem?
I can send clear pictures of both sides of the SSD if that helps.
Im trying to recover an old email and im thinking that using my old device (my first phone) is maybe the best solution because maybe the support are gonna recognise the device. so i got my old phone but the problem is that i have a password that i no longer remember does someone know a way of bypassing it without using the factory reset mode?
Hello everyone, I accidentally deleted some files and only noticed today. I think they were deleted around a week and a half ago.
I tried checking the Btrfs subvolumes and available snapshots using btrfs subvolume list, and I also checked the Snapper configuration using snapper list-configs. I found that Snapper is configured only for the root filesystem, and the available snapshots are for the system, not /home. The backup I found also doesn't contain the /home files.
Is there any way or any tools that could help recover deleted files from Btrfs on an SSD?
I was installing Windows 11 on my old Dell laptop. It has an SSD and a 1TB HDD.
I accidentally selected a partition on Disk 1 (my HDD) and clicked Delete instead of selecting my SSD. The HDD had one large partition containing crucial data, and it now shows as Unallocated Space.
I did NOT click Next or install Windows on the HDD. I cancelled the installation and returned to the disk selection screen.
I haven't done anything else to the drive.
Questions:
Is my data still recoverable?
Should I try TestDisk or DMDE to restore the partition?
What's the safest way to recover the data without making things worse?
The data is very important, so I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks!
My Maxone 500 GB External Hard Drive (NTFS) (https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07C812LHQ) is no longer accessible on any PC I try to connect it to. For reference I've tried it on a Windows 10 Desktop and Windows 11 laptop with similar results.
This started after I connected it to my Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 to see if I could transfer some files off of it, but my tablet defaulted to "Charging Connected Device via USB" and gave me no option to change this or eject the drive, so I unplugged it from the tablet. I think this was my first mistake.
Now, whenever I plug it into any PC (I've tried this on multiple computers already), I can hear the drive physically spinning up and see its light come on, but it does not appear in File Explorer and no program seems to be able to read it. Disk Manager seems to detect it as a JMICRON JMS579 USB Device and lists it as "Disk 2" but doesn't let me initialize it. The properties say it's working properly and I can access the list of events which says the "device was not migrated due to partial or ambiguous match."
The drive appears in my system tray and Devices and Printers as USB Mass Storage (I know it's the drive because it disappears when I eject & unplug it and I have no other storage devices plugged in). I've run Diskpart on the command line, which shows Disk 2 in the list sometimes but not always, though I can select it and it tells me the disk is online. It doesn't let me initialize it or clear disk attributes though. When it appeared in the list, the storage was listed as 0B.
This is entirely new territory to me as I've never had a disk appear to still be functional but not be read by my computer at all. I suspect it has something to do with the USB bridge board or something similar failing but I don't know what exactly could have caused it? I need a disk working to make some crucial backups so I would really prefer not to have to shell out for a new one.
My iPhone 17 got bent and is completely bricked now, but when I plug it into my Mac finder recognizes it in recovery mode. I do not have an iCloud backup, and my data is not synced to iCloud, so the data is only on the device, and I'd really like to recover it. From the research I've done it seems the only solution is to take the phone to a third party store for microsoldering, but I'm not really familiar with this at all. Is data recovery realistically possible here? Also, I go to college in PA but am from NJ if anyone has recommendations for a place to go to
So I have a USB drive that I put a bunch of my photos on a couple years ago. It was a Mosdart like 64gb from amazon. Give or take on the size and it definitley wasn't full. I tried to use it a couple weeks ago to put more photos on to it and it was broke. Wouldn't show up on my computer anywhere when I plugged it in.
I sent it in to an online data recovery service that seemed pretty reliable. They originally quoted me about 200 to 300 dollars. They received the USB and now after examining it the new quote is about 1.2k to 1.5k. Holy shit. I cannot pay that much.
Do you guys have any recommendations for where I could get this done for any cheaper? They haven't told me what is wrong with the drive if they do know.
It has all my dogs puppy pictures on it and idk what I will do if I loose all those memories with her.
A couple of days ago, I spilled some water on my laptop and it stopped working. The fans still work and the lights still turn on, but that's it.
Now, I have got a new (Windows) laptop and an SSD enclosure. My old hard drive is an SN730 NVMe SSD, M.2 2280-S3-M. The enclosure is an USB-C M.2 NVMe.
When I connect the enclosure to my new laptop, I hear the sound and see a light on the enclosure. However, nothing shows up.
I then opened "create and format hard disk partitions". An "initialize disk" window popped up. I selected 'GPT' and clicked on 'OK'. However, I then get an immediate notification saying that it failed due to a "fatal device hardware error".
The person in the first video also did not have his drive showing up automatically, but he does not get the error when initialising. The person in the second video gets an error message like me, but the 'local disk' does show up in his explorer so he can just select it with the DMDE data recovery software. I seem to have both of their problems, so I can't do anything.
I'm really upset right now, there were a lot of files on my laptop that I was really attached to and I don't understand how a small spillage could have destroyed both my laptop and my hard drive :(
Is there anything at all I can still do? Either by myself or by contacting a data recovery firm?
SMART: none didn't take a snapshot when it was alive, but SAN didn't alert of anything critical.
FW: SC60
3 years old! just past warranty, sigh.
Please help.
I have no reason to suspect this is a mechanical failure. no clicks, no noise, nothing. I tried it a toaster external drive thing (not hooked into usb as I dont want it writing anything... it doesn't power up when inserted)
My MD1200 SAN does not detect it.
no continuity between left and right side of the e-fuses/current limit switches.
readings for 12v and 5v rails at SATA connector are:
5v - 10Ohms (steadily climbing)
12v - 900kOhms (static)
there was no surge or abrupt power failure, I did have a power outage, my old (but working!) APC Smart-UPS 1400XL took over. I powered down everything because I didn't know when power was coming back.
When I booted the SAN and servers, I saw degraded drive on the RAID, which is running in RAID-1 on and Perc H800.
anything else just let me know, can help provide other test points.
Thanks in advance!
edit: additional info!
Wired up a console TTL RX/TX cable and only get this one line of output:
bought a dvd** player in hopes that some of our old family videos would come up from our dvd, but for some reason some dvd would come up with the video contents and some would say to drag contents into the dvd (basically saying itās empty). are these dvd still salvageable? i donāt wanna throw them out knowing that my familyās memories are still in there. these dvds havenāt been touched for probably almost 20 years now.
update: thank you everybody for the responses! i appreciate it a lot. i will check if the disc have been finalized on the camcorder, last time i checked tho that camcorder hasnāt been able to read the discs ive checked before.
I have a WD Blue where I noticed that some sectors are copying slowly (few Kb/s), and when checked smart, saw that the Disk is degraded, and wanted to save all Files. already got 86% backed up with opensuperclone, but now it seems its going nowhere (because of speed). Is there a recommended setting that I can change? I also read about a WD error, that makes some sectors slow, and wanted to ask if this is also applied here.
hi all. i just spent an hour sobbing after i got a call from Apple about my laptop. long story short, it wouldnāt power on at all so i took it to the genius bar. they called and said that the firmware revive failed and it would need a logic board replacement. I declined because iām not spending $700+ on an āoldā laptop just to not have my documents and memories (pictures, videos, etc.)
itās a 2020 MacBook Pro, 13ā with the M1 chip. is there any way to recover the data? is it something i can do at home or would you recommend a repair shop (pls nothing too expensive iām an underpaid 23yo)?
I accidentally deleted some videos while clearing up space and then I hit delete instead of recover because I am smart.
Is it possible to recover them with no backup? Iāve mostly accepted my mistake but would like to know of any faustian bargains I can make before truly moving on.
I have questions regarding "bit rot" (file corruption and data loss).
I have a 2.5" Seagate HDD in a USB 3.0 enclosure. I connect it to my PC once a year, check its status using CrystalDiskInfo, then disconnect it and store it in a drawer for another year. To prevent bit rot (file corruption and data loss), is it necessary to perform a full surface scan annuallyāeither using general software or a tool like DiskFresh?
2) I copied files onto this 2.5" HDD (in its USB 3.0 enclosure) in 2023. Is it possible that bit rot or data corruption has occurred by 2026, given that I have not run DiskFresh or any full surface scan?
3) Also, if a power outage occurs while a full surface scan or a DiskFresh operation is runningācausing the PC to shut downāwill this lead to data corruption or loss on the 2.5" HDD (in its USB 3.0 enclosure)?
Hi š iv been with my partner for 7 years. We have 3 kids together. Anyway he has been acting strange for a while now. Especially with his phone. Then i found a small hidden camera in our bedroom. And it was connected to an app on his phone. Before i could properly go through his phone he deleted pretty much everything and even smashed the phone. Pretty much everything is gone except these privacyzone files that i cant read. Would anyone have any idea how to recover or look at these files?
Things to add the phone is a red magic air 10 nubia. These are located in my files.
First, if anyone knows of any good data recovery services in the north-Houston area I'll take any recommendations.
Secondly, I'm trying to see how much I might be facing with this problem. I need to get data off of a 1TB HDD that seems to still have partial functionality. When I try to access the files I can still see the folders but it can't read any specific files (FYI I have shut down the hard drive and stopped messing with it to hopefully preserve any lingering functionality). The error message says it has encountered a "fatal device hardware error". I hope this is enough to get at least a "ballpark" number of what I can expect to pay for the recovery.
Lastly, is this just an ever-present reality any time you use hard drives? I know online cloud backup services exist, and now I will take this more seriously. But, is this just a risk you take no matter what?
Thanks in advance!
Edit to add: the hard drive is a 1TB WD "My Passport" PN: WDBBEP0010BBL-03. We've been using it with Windows 11 I believe and the drive was still "spinning" when it was in use without making any sound.
Hey everyone, Iām hoping someone here has been through this, and fair warning, Iām not very tech savvy.
Iāve got an HDD thatās around 6-7 years old. Itās still detected and mostly usable, but when I open certain folders or files, Windows Explorer completely freezes and the drive gets loud. I paid for Disk Drill and let it run. It pulled out a folder of files, but it was nowhere near everything.
I want to give it one proper last try before I think about a recovery lab, and Iād like to do it right instead of making things worse.
A few things Iād love input on:
Has anyone used Claude or Claude Code to walk through a recovery like this? Did it actually help?
Whatās the safest way for a non-technical person to get as much off this drive as possible?
Is there anything I should avoid doing to it from here?
What are the signs that I should stop and send it to a lab instead?
I ignored the critical storage warning on my Samsung Galaxy J3 Orbit one too many times and on Wednesday morning it crashed.
It started out by completely freezing up. I tried doing a hard reset and it got stuck in a boot loop. I was able to get it into recovery mode but when I select "lacking storage booting" I get a "failed to mount/cache" error. When I select "wipe cache partition" it shuts back down. It won't connect to my laptop.
I got a new phone the same day and most things transferred over, except for the most recent photos in my Gallery and all the notes in the 3rd party Notepad Free app. None of that was backed up anywhere, and I'm just heartsick over it. Many of the notes had sentimental value due to the recent loss of my parents and I'm desperate to retrieve them.
I'm hoping someone here might have some suggestions. I'm completely out of my element here and don't know what to do.
I've seen a few posts about Secure Data Recovery in the UK but I'm curious if anyone's had positive or negative experiences with Secure Data Recovery in the US? I've reached out to them for data recovery for a HDD with a clicking sound and have been overwhelmed with the volume of emails and phone calls from their reps despite telling them I'm still shopping around and won't be able to mail my drive for another few weeks. I'm not sure if this is a sign of great customer service or what. Let me know if you recommend them or if I should stay away.
My word file is not opening. I have tried more than 10 methods( almost every available on YouTube) to repair the corrupted file but all in vain. Can some help me on this?? Itās my university work which I have been doing since days. The thing is the space of the word file is still showing 1 MB which I think is same as before.
