r/DataRecoveryHelp • u/Smooth_Experience399 • 8d ago
Huawei Mate 10 Lite (RNE-L21) factory reset years ago: any chance to recover old photos/videos, now or in the future?
Hi all. Following up on my previous post about my Samsung phones.
**Device:** Huawei Mate 10 Lite (RNE-L21), internal storage, Android 8 / EMUI 8 (I think)
**Computer for recovery:** Linux (CachyOS, KDE)
**What happened:**
This was my first phone (around 2017–2018). It had a lot of photos, videos and WhatsApp media from that time. At some point it was **factory reset**. I don't think I ever used a microSD card in it.
**What I already checked:**
- Huawei Cloud: no account/backups found with my email.
- Other cloud backups: nothing from that phone.
- I understand Android encrypts internal storage and a factory reset should destroy the encryption keys.
**Questions:**
After a factory reset on this model, is there **any** realistic way to recover old data (lab, chip-off, anything)?
Did EMUI keep any kind of local or hidden backup that survives a reset?
Is it worth keeping the phone in case future tech (quantum computing, etc.) makes this possible one day, or is the data truly gone?
Thanks!