How To Recover Data from a damaged SD card

This is from the XDA forums, and I’m really mad because I had pictures on an SD card that I just could not recover for over a year before I found this post… and now I can’t find it.

Anyway, I hope this helps somebody out there.  From sonarchist on the XDA forums: Damaged microSD Card…(this is how I recovered my Data)

…….right in the middle of a super demanding day, the message “damaged SD Card / Reformat” appeared on my Epic, when I least expected it (inopportune is the word)………… changing firmware is never without its more interesting moments, + this may or may not be a symptom (went froyo to gingerbread), however,……….. am sharing this post to the Epic community, as i sense this to be an important enough issue………..no one really knows the specific cause of sd card corruption + failure: it’s variable + always somewhat circumstantial (ie, saw it mentioned elsewhere that overheating from an overclocked cpu could cause damage as well)……………….so, moving forward I simply want to contribute as a brief description, here, how i was able to recover (most) of the files from my ‘damaged micro sd card:’

First, when i saw ‘damaged sd card / format card’ on the phone, when it became possible 4 me to do so many hours later, instead of ‘formatting’ I replaced the damaged card for a new one (pny 16gb sdhc class 10)…booted the phone everything was fine (15.91gb space available)……..as expected, no files in the SD Card………………….next:

(1) placed ‘damaged’ sd card into the reader that came w/ the device, and mounted to pc, selected the drive (followed by confirmation beep ‘device detected’ sound, then the language: ‘d:\ not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable’ came on the screen……….went to RUN and typed CMD……..from new window, I typed Chkdsk d: /r and the PC began reading the contents of the damaged SD card (most of the android zip files etcetera were there, as were a number of files w/ no content) + next i typed ‘exit’ (no quotations, just the letters) to return to the windows desktop…….OK, so now the only files missing are the pix + video mov’s (far as I can remember).

……….(2) next, to recover pix + video, from the pc desktop i opened ZARecovery (if you do not already have it go to Data Recovery Software, Solutions, Tutorials, Forum – ZAR Data Recovery and download the free recovery program from that site).

………….(3) from the ZARrecovery main page, selected sd card as device, selected ‘next’, selected ‘root’ folder for all files that ZAR was able to detect as recoverable, entered destination folder name (for transfer of recovered pix + video to PC….note: NEVER to sd card itself!), + lastly, selected ‘start copying selected files’………and that was it, closed ZAR + began viewing the content of the recovery folder to get an assessment of what had actually been recovered, and what had been lost……………..fortunately 4 me, the loss was minimal, as I tend to create backups (Nandroids, every half year; pic, videos, email attachments = pretty regularly).

Hope this helps those of you that have been experiencing microSD Card damage (from whatever source).

Remember, + not to speak to the Choir, but can not to overstate this: BACKUP…………. BACKUP…………. BACKUP………….BACKUP

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Facebook thinks twice on giving dev access to phone, address data

I posted about this a few days ago.  Thankfully, it looks like Facebook reconsidered, in no small part due to the “useful feedback” (aka nerd-rage uproar) that ensued.

I know I’m already deleted my personal info, although there is, of course, no guarantee that it was ACTUALLY deleted.  *grumble*

From Lifehacker

Facebook has put off its plan to allow developers access to users’ phone numbers and home addresses. The company posted an update on its Developer Blog Tuesday morning, saying that it got “useful feedback” about the decision and that it would be making changes so that it’s clearer when users are about to share such sensitive info. As a result, the “feature” is being turned off until a better solution is found.

via Facebook thinks twice on giving dev access to phone, address data.

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Ars Techinica: How your Web browser rats you out online

A fascinating article about user “fingerprinting.”  Basically it looks at the way you have your computer and browser setup in order to “profile” your activity on the web.  It has nothing to do with cookies, and the more you customize your settings (presumably to prevent identification) the more unique you become (at least until everyone does it).

Anyway, a great read.

You’re concerned about your online privacy, and you do all the right things to keep from being tracked around the Web: purge your cookies regularly, clean out Flash “supercookies,” even switch to browsers like Browzar, which lets you “search and surf the web without leaving traces on your computer.” Doesn’t matter—your browser is giving you away.

via How your Web browser rats you out online.

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No rules: Internet security a Hobbesian “state of nature”

A report from DC think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies pains a pretty stark picture about the security dangers of major enterprises around the.  Ars has a summary, and you can get a direct link to the pdf document by clicking here.

No rules: Internet security a Hobbesian “state of nature”

By Nate Anderson |

Life in cyberspace can be nasty, brutish, and short. So says a new report PDF on international cybersecurity, which argues that the Internet is a Hobbesian “state of nature” where anything goes, where even government attacks maintain “plausible deniability,” and where 80 percent of industrial control software is hooked into an IP network.It’s also a world where the US is both a model and a bully. When 600 senior IT security managers were asked which state actor was most likely to engage in cyberattacks, the top response was the US 36 percent, even among traditional US allies. On the other hand, US security practices were some of the world’s most admired.

via No rules: Internet security a Hobbesian “state of nature”.

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Google and China: the attacks and their aftermath

I posted on this earlier, and Ars Technica has a followup post this morning.  I think the most relevant concern is below, which has to do with the cost of allowing government monitoring:

Why only subject lines? If the attackers could get access to subject lines, why couldn’t they access entire e-mails? Apparently because the hackers infiltrated automated systems set up to provide such information to law enforcement in the US and elsewhere. (Getting access to the contents of e-mail messages is harder under US law than getting access to addresses, subject lines, etc, which are considered to be on the “outside of the envelope” and subject to pen register searches).

According to a Macworld source, “Right before Christmas, it was, ‘Holy s—, this malware is accessing the internal intercept [systems].'” Later, Google cofounder Larry Page supervised a Christmas Eve meeting on the security breach.

Fun fact: Google’s security team managed to penetrate one of the servers being used by the attackers, which was how the full extent of the attack—more than 30 companies—was revealed.

Breaches by design. Former Ars writer Julian Sanchez, now covering security at the Cato Institute, sees a problem with these automated law enforcement tracking systems in place at most major ISPs and Web companies. “As an eminent group of security experts argued in 2008, the trend toward building surveillance capability into telecommunications architecture amounts to a breach-by-design, and a serious security risk. As the volume of requests from law enforcement at all levels grows, the compliance burdens on telcoms grow also—making it increasingly tempting to create automated portals to permit access to user information with minimal human intervention.

“The problem of volume is front and center in a leaked recording released last month, in which Sprint’s head of legal compliance revealed that their automated system had processed 8 million requests for GPS location data in the span of a year, noting that it would have been impossible to manually serve that level of law enforcement traffic. Less remarked on, though, was Taylor’s speculation that someone who downloaded a phony warrant form and submitted it to a random telecom would have a good chance of getting a response—and one assumes he’d know if anyone would.”

via Google and China: the attacks and their aftermath.

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Furious Google throws down gauntlet to China over censorship

Pretty astounding news, and really important regarding US relations with China.  I suspect China will hack my account now, but thought this should be further publicized anyway.

Well, we’ve got to hand it to Google—the company’s “don’t be evil” schtick has long worn thin and governments around the globe are already probing its potential monopoly power, but who else would come out swinging against the entire Chinese government and announce an end to its own collaboration in censorship, all while recognizing that it could lose access to the entire Chinese market? And do it in a blog post?

This far but no further

The extraordinary announcement came this afternoon: Google has had it with China’s pervasive web of censorship and spying, and the company is done censoring its search results in China. The decision wasn’t made in a vacuum, but rather came after years of increasing cyberattacks from the Chinese mainland. A recent, massive infiltration attempt that targeted Google and 20 other tech companies was the final straw. Though Google stops short of naming the Chinese government as the party behind the attacks, the implication is clear.

via Furious Google throws down gauntlet to China over censorship.

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