Help Physical Damage to S3, can data be recovered?

[dustin139]

My Galaxy S3 is physically broken, will not power up. I've lost most of my contacts and nearly all the pictures and data on the phone. Sprint says there is nothing they can do. I'm thinking there must be SOMETHING that can be tried....seems like the phone could be taken apart and the access attempted somehow?

Does anybody have any suggestions? The lost data is very valuable, I do not mind paying a professional.

Thanks for the help.

 

[funkylogik]

You should be able to find the contacts online i think mate in your google account somewhere if you had contacts set to sync.
If you didnt have the pics set to autimaticly upload to the cloud (google+ or dropbox etc) then that will be harder but surely possible if the internal storage chip isnt damaged..

 

[GTWalling]

Your contacts should be on the Cloud with Google. What you are wanting to do will cost big $$$$. You just need to check for any tech repair and see what can be done. Anything of value on a portable device should have been backed up. A little late now, but a lesson learned.

 

[SUroot]

How is it physically broken? What happened?

 

[dustin139]

Thanks for the help. I thought I had it sycned with Gmail, but only about half of my contacts were in there.

I've got none of the pics.

Lesson learned. Any advice on how to find someone who can look at it?

 

[dustin139]

How is it physically broken? What happened?

I set it on the bed rail of my truck and drove off. It fell onto the driveway. Screen totally shattered and it won't power up. It was not run over though, so other then the screen, it appears to be in good condition. This is why I was hoping the data inside might still be in tact.

 

[funkylogik]

How do you know if its powering up or not mate? Have you plugged it into a pc? (Does a phone have to be powered up for a pc to recognise and access it?)

 

[SUroot]

I'll be honest, if it doesn't power up because the motherboard is faulty, you're stuck there. If by some major good luck, its some other component, perhaps it can be repaired and ergo, the data retrievable. Most "professionals" wouldn't even look at it from a data retrieval perspective.

I say send it to a repair centre for evaluation only (from a phone repair perspective not data recovery) so at least you know exactly what you're dealing with.

 

[dustin139]

How is it physically broken? What happened?

How do you know if its powering up or not mate? Have you plugged it into a pc? (Does a phone have to be powered up for a pc to recognise and access it?)

I took it to Sprint and they connected to it using their machine, but it was not a regular computer with a screen. They said there was nothing, however, the person trying to help me didn't seem like she really knew what she was doing.

I have not connected it to my PC. I will try that when I get home.

Thanks again for all the advice.

 

[funkylogik]

If anything, at least its a lesson learned. Everything can be backed up easily and automaticly. I feel your pain though

 

[SUroot]

Yeah.. For future, I use this to backup all my SDcard files to my NAS / computer that is always on

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dk.tacit.android.foldersync.lite

 

[funkylogik]

Whats NAS mate?

 

[CDPlant]

Whats NAS mate?

Network-attached storage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basically an external hard drive (or several housed in a case) that can be accessed through a network.

Also I certainly have sympathy for OP at the moment, for my external SD card decided to wipe itself a couple of days ago, and with it took all my CWM backups, photos, music, game data and my Titanium Backup files :/ Luckily my photos were backed up with Dropbox but I lost everything else. Wasn't happy to say the least. I'm now campaigning for RAID1 on SD cards and phones

 

[SUroot]

We've mostly all been there at sometime. I have so much wonderful advice for moving forward due to the losses I have taken.

 

[funkylogik]

Ahh thanks
Yeah i should really back up my back ups to the laptop. Ive got them on phone and Sd....
What kind of Sd was it?

 

[dustin139]

UPDATE!

I plugged phone into PC and new device plugged in sound goes off on the computer, however, the phone doesn't show up as a location I can click on.

Also, the phone does power up. When I hold down the power button the power on vibration occurs, so something is happening even though the screen remains dark.

Any suggestions?

 

[CDPlant]

It was a 16GB Sandisk Ultra if memory serves. I've ordered a 32GB one and I'll take much more care with backups of data in the future data is replaceable; photos are not, so it was more of a inconvenience because my pics were already backed up

 

[funkylogik]

It was a 16GB Sandisk Ultra if memory serves. I've ordered a 32GB one and I'll take much more care with backups of data in the future data is replaceable; photos are not, so it was more of a inconvenience because my pics were already backed up

Ive had the 32Gb one for a few months with no issues man. Think its just your luck (or lack of) tbh..

 

[funkylogik]

UPDATE!

I plugged phone into PC and new device plugged in sound goes off on the computer, however, the phone doesn't show up as a location I can click on.

Also, the phone does power up. When I hold down the power button the power on vibration occurs, so something is happening even though the screen remains dark.

Any suggestions?

You dont know anyone with a MHL-HDMI adaptor for the s3 do you so you could plug it into a tv and see whats happening?
Do you have the s3 drivers on your pc?

 

[GTWalling]

UPDATE!

I plugged phone into PC and new device plugged in sound goes off on the computer, however, the phone doesn't show up as a location I can click on.

Also, the phone does power up. When I hold down the power button the power on vibration occurs, so something is happening even though the screen remains dark.

Any suggestions?

Could be that the screen just needs replaced. Do you have the insurance added to your account? Did you have the Samsung drivers installed on your PC before you plugged it in?

 

[SUroot]

Could be that the screen just needs replaced. Do you have the insurance added to your account? Did you have the Samsung drivers installed on your PC before you plugged it in?

The eMMC should show up though, if that were the case. I would think motherboard damage is more likely in this case, although I'm no hardware engineer so I could be wrong.