- #Smartphone data recovery for linux full#
- #Smartphone data recovery for linux Offline#
- #Smartphone data recovery for linux professional#
In such case only CMD, CLK, DAT0, VCC (VCC, VCCQ) and GND (VSS, VSSQ) pins have to be connected. The only criteria for this method is that the reader also has to support 1 bit mode (Transcend USB card readers seems to be good candidates for this job). For an easy setup and without special tools usually the 1 bit mode is used. 8 bit or 4 bit parallel interface or a single 1 bit interface. These chips usually support multiple communication modes, using e.g. This means, that as soon as the connection to the necessary chip pins are solved, a simple USB card reader could do the job to read and write the memory. Most of them take advantage of the fact, that these chips are basically MMC (MultiMediaCard) standard memories, but in an embedded (this from where the “e” comes from) format.
There are multiple ways to communicate with the eMMC chips. Then a little flux was injected around the chip for better heat dispersion and I used a hot air station to reflow the BGA balls and to let me pull of the chip from the PCB. Fortunately, at least from data recovery perspective, the owner did not turn on the encryption, so circumstances were given to the next step.Īfter the PCB was removed from the body, I fixed the board to a metal working surface with kapton tape. If encryption is in place, the decryption also has to be solved somehow, which is nowadays, with more and more careful design and with properly chosen hardware components, is very challenging or could be (nearly) impossible. An enabled or enforced encryption could prevent a successful data recovery, even if the memory chip is not dead and its content could be dumped out. This means that the given memory chip has to be removed from the PCB and with the chosen interfacing method its content should be read out directly for further processing.Īn important point for this method is that the used encryption settings could be the key for the success, or for the failure. This was the first promising moment to get the owner’s data back. As all of the non-invasive activities failed, I decided to go after the so called “chip-off analysis” technique.
#Smartphone data recovery for linux full#
This is often a task in hardware hacking projects I am involved in, for example to gain full access to the OS file system in case of a car head unit or other embedded systems, just to mention another example. I had a couple of eMMC related projects in the past, where I had to deal with chip interfacing and direct memory dumping or manipulation. This is a simple, 32GB eMMC in a common FBGA package.
It was quite obvious to identify the memory chip on the PCB, which was a SK hynix H26M64103EMR. Due to the previous investigations the phone arrived to me partially dismantled, without a battery and with some metal shields already removed.Īs the very first step, I tried to find the data storage.
After the failed attempts the owner almost gave up the hope, but fortunately, we had a common acquaintance and this is how I came to the picture.
#Smartphone data recovery for linux professional#
Some damage identification and recovery probes were already conducted by other professional parties, even a new screen was ordered and tried, but none of the activities provided any promising result. Needless to say how important was for the owner to get his priceless information back from the device.
#Smartphone data recovery for linux Offline#
Well, a brick, with tons of useful data on it without any cloud synchronisation or offline backup. No screen, no charging, no communication on any interfaces, no sign of life, it was nothing more than a brick. The phone was dropped and it stopped working. Recently I have received a request to check data recovery possibilities from a damaged Sony Xperia Z5 Premium smartphone.