1. nature boy's Avatar
    so i searched, and i couldn't find anything really and definitively answers my question.
    i have always encrypted my sd card, you know, just for that extra security. and after i was reading horror stories of people losing all the content on their card and stuff, i've also linked my phone to a cloud service (box, if that matters) to automatically upload photos when they're taken (but only on wifi, because i have limited data).

    anyway, i find myself at disneyland with my family and we were using our main camera for most pictures, but i was also using my phone for quick snaps of the kids. the hotel wifi is spotty at best, and lo and behold i find my sd card completely wiped somehow. i don't know if it was an accidental pocket complete wipe, or it just failed on me. it still writes and reads, but all media is gone (pictures, music, documents). the first thing i do when i get back to the hotel with spotty at best wifi, i check my box account to see if i was safe, and it turns out that i was missing a couple days of our trip, which had some pictures i'd like to still have.

    i tried multiple recovery programs (recouva, zag or something, and easeus), and they all "see" and recover my files, but when i transfer them onto my computer, they are unreadable (although recognizable as a picture or vid). is this because of the encryption? and am i sol because of it?

    i appreciate any helpful advice that pertains to this situation. thanks, everyone.
    09-25-15 04:42 AM
  2. baarn's Avatar
    Yeah, unfortunately this problem is not new and in spite of some people blaming it on cheap or dodgy SD cards, I personally have the strong suspicion that it's an OS Bug. And BTW, it happened to me too on an unencrypted card.

    I'm don't know how the BlackBerry media card encryption works, but based on you mentioning that the recovery programs were able to see and recover the encrypted files, it suggests that the file system metadata is unencrypted and only the file contents are encrypted.

    If nobody has any better suggestions and if you have extracted all there is to extract from the media card or done a low level backup copy of it and if the recovery programs recovered the files perfectly, there may be a *very small* chance that you could simply copy the encrypted files back onto the media card and stick it back in your device. The decryption key is still in the device, so if it accepts the rearranged files it might decrypt them.
    09-25-15 05:47 AM
  3. rthonpm's Avatar
    If the card has failed due to a corrupted file system or some kind of physical damage you're not going to have much luck. The encryption on top of the file system makes recovery very difficult. It's the risk/reward of encryption on any device.

    Posted via CB10
    09-25-15 05:48 AM
  4. aiharkness's Avatar
    Yeah, unfortunately this problem is not new and in spite of some people blaming it on cheap or dodgy SD cards, I personally have the strong suspicion that it's an OS Bug. And BTW, it happened to me too on an unencrypted card.

    I'm don't know how the BlackBerry media card encryption works, but based on you mentioning that the recovery programs were able to see and recover the encrypted files, it suggests that the file system metadata is unencrypted and only the file contents are encrypted.

    If nobody has any better suggestions and if you have extracted all there is to extract from the media card or done a low level backup copy of it and if the recovery programs recovered the files perfectly, there may be a *very small* chance that you could simply copy the encrypted files back onto the media card and stick it back in your device. The decryption key is still in the device, so if it accepts the rearranged files it might decrypt them.
    That's what I would try. Get another SD card, copy the files to the card, put the card in the device. Do not put the new card in the device and sync or copy the files to the card in the device. Copy the files to the card on the computer and then put card in the device.
    09-26-15 06:55 AM
  5. nature boy's Avatar
    Yeah, I tried that, but when I saw the files missing, I stupidly and immediately unencrypted the card. I'm not sure why I did it, but I did. So I figure what must have happened was that encryption key was deleted off the device when I unencrypted it. I know, it was stupid.

    I guess it's ok though, I only lost some videos that weren't that good, and I think one picture of one of my kids with a mickey hat on. Not that big a deal.

    Thanks for the help anyway!

    Posted via CB10
    09-28-15 04:57 PM

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