Help Unbrick method that preserves internal SD storage?

[sremick]

Yeah, so my Captivate is messed up now. Not entirely sure why, but that's not really the point.

Right now if I try to turn it on, I get the spinny pinwheel for a second, then it disappears. I can also get into download mode by inserting the battery while holding the up and down volume keys. That's about as functional as my phone is at the moment.

I have my critical data backed up to my external MicroSD via Titanium Backup, so that should be safe. What I'm concerned about is some data on the internal 14GB "SD" storage. Trying to see if there's a way to get at that.

Is there an "unbricking" method that preserves the internal "SD" storage? I was looking over the 130+ page Odin 1-click thread and didn't see an answer (short of spending days reading through all the pages).

Anyhow, hoping some of you with experience recovering messed-up Captivates can offer some insight and suggestions. I've already set up an in-warranty swap but I'd like to see if I can resurrect this phone even temporarily in order to copy some data out of sdcard/ if I can.

Thanks

 

[Shelbster]

I have used Odin 1 click back to stock on numerous occasions. It has never wiped my internal sd card. There are 2 options on the Odin 1 click. The one on the left says "start" the one on the right says "master clear".

If you want to preserve your sd card data, do not press master clear.

Edit: If you do use odin one click, make sure you open up Odin first, THEN plug your phone into the computer to get into download mode.

 

[sremick]

Good to know about Odin. However, part of the problem is I believe my USB port is hosed. I'll still experiment, but I'm not optimistic of any method that requires using the USB port.

Are there methods or "tricks" to snap it out of a non-booting state that don't involve using USB? If I can just get it to boot one more time, I can copy data onto the MicroUSB or copy off via Bluetooth.

 

[Shelbster]

I don't know of any recovery methods without connecting to a computer. Perhaps someone with more technical knowledge can chime in here.

You said you think your usb port is fried. Have you tried putting your phone into download mode and connecting to odin? What happens if you try that?

 

[sremick]

Well, I was able to mess with the USB port enough to get it to boot again, so I quickly copied off my sdcard/ folder. So I'm covered there.

I might see if I can still flash it back to stock before I return it, just in-case they manage to get it to boot too. But I'm going to wait until the replacement arrives and I try to restore my data, in case I missed something.

On a random aside... as a loaner I have a Motorola Backflip. It came with Android 1.5. I flashed it all the way to Android 2.1. That's 3 versions up, including a massive major release (2.x). Can you imagine Samsung doing that? giving us Android 3.0 on the Captivate?

Just makes me more bitter that neither Motorola nor HTC (companies that actually support their phones) have a top-of-the-line Android phone on AT&T. And bitter that neither uses AMOLED screens.