{"id":1700,"date":"2019-01-22T07:00:59","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T12:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=1700"},"modified":"2019-01-18T12:40:09","modified_gmt":"2019-01-18T17:40:09","slug":"a-reader-asks-what-is-the-best-software-to-recover-deleted-android-files-by-a-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/22\/a-reader-asks-what-is-the-best-software-to-recover-deleted-android-files-by-a-pc\/","title":{"rendered":"A reader asks: “What is the best software to recover deleted Android files, by a PC?”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It depends on where the files are located.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the files are on a removeable memory card,<\/strong> it’s easy! Just shut down the phone, remove the memory card, plug the card into a PC’s card reader and use any of the gazillion free and paid file-recovery tools available. (Examples<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No card reader? You can buy one for under $10. (Examples<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(As an aside, note that this — very easy file access\/recovery\/transfer<\/strong> —
is one of the better, but lesser-discussed, benefits using externally-upgradable storage in a phone. It can make it much<\/strong><\/em> easier to manage, transfer, or salvage photos, music, and other files that normally live on\/in your phone.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the files are on the phone’s internal storage, <\/strong>you may be out of luck. Although you usually can view and copy\/move a phone’s files via the Media Transfer Protocol<\/strong> (MTP) just by plugging the phone into a PC via USB, that’s usually not enough for file-recovery software to work: they need lower-level access than MTP provides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the least, you’ll probably have to turn on Android’s USB debugging mode<\/strong>; an option that allows for some kinds of lower-level access. USB debugging is one of Android’s normally-hidden Developer options<\/strong>; here’s how<\/a> to access them. (A word of warning — it’s a funky process!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Windows can then mount the phone as an external drive (that is, if Windows can assign the phone a drive letter), you may be able to use normal PC-based file-recovery tools, as mentioned above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this mostly works on older phones, which could present themselves as a Mass Storage Class<\/strong> (MSC) device — same as a flash drive — when connected to a PC via USB. Newer phones mostly don’t do this because, to mount the phone as a Windows drive, it has to be unmounted in Android; disabling the phone. There were instances of phones being bricked by this, back in the day; which is why newer phones generally don’t offer MSC access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You also can try third-party PC-based Android-file-recovery software, such as Easeus Mobisaver<\/a> (free and paid versions available). But those tools aren’t magic: If your phone\/PC setup doesn’t allow some kind of low-level access to your phone’s internal storage, the tools won’t be able to do anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, you don’t have many options now. But for easiest possible future<\/em><\/strong> file recovery on Android, think about using a cloud-based backup service, so that copies of your most-important files will be stored somewhere off the phone; and\/or placing all your most valuable files on add-on, plug-in memory cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: Only buy phones that allow for such expandable, add-on storage! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Permalink: https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=1700<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Want to ask Fred a question? Have a comment? Click here!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want free notification of new content like this? Click here<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It depends on where the files are located. If the files are on a removeable memory card, it’s easy! Just shut down the phone, remove the memory card, plug the card into a PC’s card reader and use any of the gazillion free and paid file-recovery tools available. (Examples.) No card reader? You can buy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,10,12,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-science-and-tech","category-smartphones","category-windows"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-rq","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":911,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/02\/a-reader-asks-how-can-i-reset-my-smartphone-without-losing-data-it-keeps-restarting\/","url_meta":{"origin":1700,"position":0},"title":"A reader asks: How can I reset my smartphone without losing data? It keeps restarting.","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-11-02","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Aaron used the Contact link to ask: \"How can I reset my smartphone without losing data? It keeps restarting.\" You\u2019ll have to temporarily move the data to another device (eg your PC; or a cloud-based file storage service like Drive, OneDrive, DropBox; etc.) How you do this depends on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":212,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/29\/a-reader-asks-how-do-i-recover-save-my-phones-internal-storage-before-doing-reset\/","url_meta":{"origin":1700,"position":1},"title":"A reader asks: How do I recover\/save my phone’s internal storage before doing Reset?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-08-29","format":false,"excerpt":"Q:\u00a0How do I recover\/save my phone's internal storage before doing Reset?\u00a0 (via Quora) A: It depends on where\u2019s the data stored --- but should always be relatively easy to do. 1) If the data is on a plug-in\/add-on memory card, recovery is trivially simple: Turn off the phone, remove the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4715,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2020\/04\/14\/my-phones-screen-is-broken-how-can-i-get-my-data-to-my-computer\/","url_meta":{"origin":1700,"position":2},"title":"“My phone’s screen is broken. How can I get my data to my computer?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2020-04-14","format":false,"excerpt":"(Answer requested by Gabriel Austria) Most Android phones use utterly-standard USB connections. Even if the phone's screen is cracked or otherwise damaged, if you can still turn the phone on and log in (by any means --- face, voice, fingerprint, pattern, password...), you usually can retrieve the phone's user data\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/smartphone-broken-screen-e1586359980898.jpg?fit=250%2C228&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1025,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/14\/a-reader-asks-why-did-a-phone-reset-not-free-up-memory\/","url_meta":{"origin":1700,"position":3},"title":"A reader asks: Why didn’t resetting my phone free up memory?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-11-14","format":false,"excerpt":"A reader asks: \"Why is my Android phone crying for memory just after a factory reset?\" That's not much to go on, but here are some ideas: 1. Resetting a phone will remove temporary files and random junk files that may have accumulated, but doesn\u2019t otherwise free space or shrink\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1588,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/07\/a-reader-asks-how-can-you-fix-an-sd-card-which-cannot-be-formatted\/","url_meta":{"origin":1700,"position":4},"title":"A reader asks: “How can you fix an SD card which cannot be formatted?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-01-07","format":false,"excerpt":"Q: \"How can you fix an SD card which cannot be formatted? Every time I reformat it the files are still there.\" A: The card is probably write-protected by hardware; or by software; or is simply broken. Hardware write-protection: Examine the card for a \"lock\" or \"write protect\" slider or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/write-protect.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1917,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/05\/a-reader-asks-how-do-i-transfer-files-from-an-old-possibly-infected-laptop-to-an-external-hdd\/","url_meta":{"origin":1700,"position":5},"title":"A reader asks: “How do I safely transfer files from an old, possibly infected laptop to an external HDD?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-02-05","format":false,"excerpt":"First, scan the \"possibly infected\" system using an external, self-contained, bootable, DVD- or flashdrive-based anti-malware tool. (Examples; many are free.) Boot and run the suspect PC from the anti-malware DVD or flash drive --- not from the possibly-infected hard drive. The anti-malware tool then runs, scans, and cleans all the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1700"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1708,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700\/revisions\/1708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}