Is It Possible to Retrieve Data After Factory Reset

[Gary Olson]

My wife did a factory reset to her 1 year old LG phone (tracfone) to restore from google backup a 3 year long text conversation she'd accidentally deleted. The reset did restore the conversation after signing back in to google, but then she realized (to her extreme horror) none of her audio or video files had been backed up and they now seemed to be lost forever. Many of these held representations of her now 99 year old grandmother who sadly often doesn't know who any of us are anymore (though she did in the video & audio renderings).

My wife has already suffered some pretty bad breaks lately but is now absolutely inconsolable over these lost files. And to add insult to injury, the only escape from darkness she's had in the past 1.5 years is a game she's been playing on her phone called Lily's Garden. She'd reached something like the 1100th level, but that has been reset back to level zero. She hasn't picked up her phone since and without that "escape" has become very depressed.

Is anyone aware of a way to get her files back, and/or get her back on track with Lily's Garden???? I'd be very much obliged!!!!

Gary

 

[mikedt]

My wife did a factory reset to her 1 year old LG phone (tracfone) to restore from google backup a 3 year long text conversation she'd accidentally deleted. The reset did restore the conversation after signing back in to google, but then she realized (to her extreme horror) none of her audio or video files had been backed up and they now seemed to be lost forever. Many of these held representations of her now 99 year old grandmother who sadly often doesn't know who any of us are anymore (though she did in the video & audio renderings).

My wife has already suffered some pretty bad breaks lately but is now absolutely inconsolable over these lost files. And to add insult to injury, the only escape from darkness she's had in the past 1.5 years is a game she's been playing on her phone called Lily's Garden. She'd reached something like the 1100th level, but that has been reset back to level zero. She hasn't picked up her phone since and without that "escape" has become very depressed.

Is anyone aware of a way to get her files back, and/or get her back on track with Lily's Garden???? I'd be very much obliged!!!!

Gary

There's certainly nothing easy, and may actually be impossible. App data along with other content is securely AES256 encrypted, and when an Android device is reset, the encryption key is cleared.

Was it this game, Lily's Garden?
https://tactilegames.com/lilys-garden/
Maybe try emailing the devs, Tactile Games, and enquire if they can do anything about restoring the level.

 

[Gary Olson]

There's certainly nothing easy, and may actually be impossible. App data along with other content is securely AES256 encrypted, and when an Android device is reset, the encryption key is cleared.

Was it this game, Lily's Garden?
https://tactilegames.com/lilys-garden/
Maybe try emailing the devs, Tactile Games, and enquire if they can do anything about restoring the level.

Thanks a million, Mike. My wife did email the developer this morning. I'll let you know what happens. Fingers (and toes) crossed.

 

[Hadron]

Yeah, good luck.

This is also why I always do my own backups of anything important. Even if some outfit like Google has stated that they will do a backup I wouldn't want to rely on them (remember that their terms will be that they accept no responsibility if it doesn't work).

 

[Stephanie Sy]

My wife did a factory reset to her 1 year old LG phone (tracfone) to restore from google backup a 3 year long text conversation she'd accidentally deleted. The reset did restore the conversation after signing back in to google, but then she realized (to her extreme horror) none of her audio or video files had been backed up and they now seemed to be lost forever. Many of these held representations of her now 99 year old grandmother who sadly often doesn't know who any of us are anymore (though she did in the video & audio renderings).

My wife has already suffered some pretty bad breaks lately but is now absolutely inconsolable over these lost files. And to add insult to injury, the only escape from darkness she's had in the past 1.5 years is a game she's been playing on her phone called Lily's Garden. She'd reached something like the 1100th level, but that has been reset back to level zero. She hasn't picked up her phone since and without that "escape" has become very depressed.

Is anyone aware of a way to get her files back, and/or get her back on track with Lily's Garden???? I'd be very much obliged!!!!

Gary

It would be difficult if the data has been overwritten after the factory reset.

 

[Gary Olson]

Yeah, good luck.

This is also why I always do my own backups of anything important. Even if some outfit like Google has stated that they will do a backup I wouldn't want to rely on them (remember that their terms will be that they accept no responsibility if it doesn't work).

If I was wise I'm pretty sure I'd recognize you as a real wise man. Yes, this is one of many good case studies for that argument. As her geek husband, I take responsibility for her tech, including backups. For some reason I have not been able to get my PC to recognize this particular phone. I tried backing it up manually just a few days before this happened, and now understand I should have spent time researching how to solve that problem. That would easily have solved this one.

Thank you!

 

[Gary Olson]

It would be difficult if the data has been overwritten after the factory reset.

Thank you Stephanie. After looking at a lot of software that promises to get some, much, and even ALL data back; and then reading reviews of the software; I believe you're right.

Thank you!

 

[svim]

Well this is unfortunately an after-the-fact suggestion but when you were having a problem getting that LG phone to mount on your PC that's often due to no LG driver. You can go here, scroll down and click on the 'See More' link in the 'LG Mobile Drivers' section to obtain the Windows or Mac installer.
https://www.lg.com/us/support/software-firmware-drivers
As for a backup/restore utility, you might want to try using LG's Bridge utility:
https://www.androidcentral.com/how-use-lg-bridge-your-lg-phone

 

[Gary Olson]

Well this is unfortunately an after-the-fact suggestion but when you were having a problem getting that LG phone to mount on your PC that's often due to no LG driver. You can go here, scroll down and click on the 'See More' link in the 'LG Mobile Drivers' section to obtain the Windows or Mac installer.
As for a backup/restore utility, you might want to try using LG's Bridge utility:
https://www.androidcentral.com/how-use-lg-bridge-your-lg-phone

It's important to avoid this in the future and you've just given me the know how.

Thanks!