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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How To Perform Nearly Any Task From Your Browser’s Address Bar

For those of you who miss using quick command-line shortcuts to accomplish tasks, this post by Lifehacker might be for you.  I have to admit that sometimes it is more trouble that it is worth, but I also like the ability to quickly add something to my google calendar without going through 5 clickes to even get to the page.

 

It works like this: when you enter text on a web application, the result is often the web page sending that text along to a server as part of a URL. A Google search for lifehacker android results in a URL of http://www.google.com/search?q=lifehacker+android. By finding the right URLs—for Google Calendar events, Google Maps directions, Twitter statuses, and more—we can use keywords in the address bar to submit text to any of those web sites.

via How To Perform Nearly Any Task From Your Browser’s Address Bar.

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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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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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A Day in the Life of 3G – PC World

A Day in the Life of 3G – PC World.

Finally, a good article that tests 3G networks across multiple cities in an objective manner.  Of course, you can still have some local street-by-street variation and indoor-outdoor variation, but I am impresed by their methodology.

And the results?

chart - 3g speed and reliability results by city

Testing Results in a Nutshell

In Novarum’s tests for us, Verizon Wireless demonstrated a good mix of speed and reliability. Across more than 20 testing locations in each of the 13 cities we tested, Verizon had an average download speed of 951 kbps. Verizon demonstrated good reliability, too; the network was available at a reasonable and uninterrupted speed in 89.8 percent of our tests.

Sprint’s 3G network delivered a solid connection in 90.5 percent of our 13-city tests. Sprint’s average download speed of 808 kbps across 13 cities wasn’t flashy (at that speed, a 1MB file downloads in 10 seconds), but dependability is an important asset. The Sprint network performed especially well, both in speed and in reliability, in our test cities in the western part of the United States.

The AT&T network’s 13-city average download speed in our tests was 812 kbps. Its average upload speed was 660 kbps. Reliability was an issue in our experience of the AT&T system: Our testers were able to make a connection at a reasonable, uninterrupted speed in only 68 percent of their tests.

Somewhat surprisingly, our testers also found that the “bars of service” readings on their phones were rarely an accurate predictor of the quality of the ensuing connection. In most places and with most wireless providers, the “bars” did little more than indicate whether the phone had access to some service or to no service. (See “What Do Bars Say About Your Connection?“)

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