File Restore App?

[1776]

Is there any app that does not require root that will restore a deleted file on the SGP 5 (like the Windows trash can restore function)?

[CrowdAds]

[Blackdog]

I'd be interested in that too.

[alljokingaside]

I could be off-base here since I'm still learning about it, but since Android is Linux-based, deleting (at least in root) would be permanent if you've deleted from anything in the system from root. Since the files on your SD Card are Fat32 based, it might be recoverable....

I've heard of Hexamob Recovery PRO, but only in name.

Again, just a stab in the dark(ish).

[Daniel644]

Don't think its possible, delete from FLASH based storage, ie the devices internal and the external microSD types of memory is a permanent delete, IIRC.

[barryem]

The way it works in a fat file system is that when you delete something it's directory entry is marked deleted. Nothing else happens. Then when the file system needs space for something else it knows it can use that space.

Until that happens you can undelete by reversing it's delete mark. It puts that mark in the first character of the file's name field so when you undelete something you have to come up with a new first letter of it's name. Most undelete programs ask you to remember that letter. A very few will just randomly put a letter in there and you can rename it later if you want to. But that's all that really happens when you delete a file, or undelete it.

Don't confuse this with the recycle bin. Files aren't marked deleted when they're put into the recycle bin. They're marked deleted when the recycle bin is emptied.

A file can be undeleted until the file system uses some of it's space for something else. At that point it can no longer be undeleted without resorting to forensic techniques.

Many years ago one of my duties at work was to recover critical files that had been accidentally deleted, and sometimes from crashed hard drives. This was before the days of Windows and it's recycle bin. We once had a trader who lost a file critical to a deal that was about to close and I spent a couple of weeks recovering the critical parts of it. Most was lost but the deal was saved and I got a nice bonus.

I've been retired well over 15 years now so I can't say with any assurance that some of this hasn't changed, but the principles still hold true.

Barry

[1776]

From what I have found out since posting the question is that there is such an app but it only works on a rooted device - and since I am not ready to risk rooting the SGP, I was hoping for an app that did not require root. I lost an hour and a half of work done on my SGP due to a deleted file - so I figured it would be nice if there was such an app. This was not on the external SD card - which I do have software on my PC that will undelete on flash memory. The file was in the the Samsung's memory according to the app that I used to create it. It was a text file and suddenly it was gone.