iPhone Data Recovery

[BWT]

Alright gents,

So last fall my wife’s iPhone randomly shut down. Will not power back on when sitting there looking at her phone in bed. I tried connecting to iTunes in recovery mode, I tried essentially everything I can think of (contacted Apple and they couldn’t help), we replaced it, and finally relented and sent it to a data recovery center they had no luck. They were highly rated.

Here’s the heart breaking news. It had hundreds of photos, videos, etc. of our newborn. At this point, money isn’t so much the concern (some things are worth the money) as it is the thought of not having those memories.

Knowing the diverse and technically inclined group of folks here - are there any recommended data recovery vendors that you’ve had good experiences with?

Thanks guys. We’ve got a second baby on the way and being an IT professional myself - I feel an immense amount of
guilt but simply said - never had this happen before.

Thanks.

ETA: No physical damage that led to this or water exposure. Just normal use and it went down *hard*.

[HeavyDuty]

I’m assuming you didn’t have iCloud backups turned on. Have you tried in person at an Apple Store?

[BWT]

I’m assuming you didn’t have iCloud backups turned on. Have you tried in person at an Apple Store?

We do have ETA: (iCloud) backup turned on, but we only ever leveraged the 5 GB included and didn’t expand to the 32 GB that that phone had. Probably worthwhile now.

As far as in store I called into Apple Support but did not go in person. I could try that it may be worth a shot. Apple telephone support does not offer recovery services or have a preferred vendor (or didn’t when I called in) to ship the phone to. I used to maintain about 150-200 iPhones for a corporation so at one time I felt like if it was 100% non-responsive via multiple lightning cables to an computer that a different iPhone was. There was probably a circuitry or physical issue present that could not be remediated.

That being said I’m not really beyond trying anything at this point. I don’t think Apple advocated going in-store at the time (the technician didn’t offer or suggest scheduling). But, I’ll see where we’re at now.

Thanks for the suggestion.

ETA: It also would not charge, etc.

[Caballoflaco]

We do have ETA: (iCloud) backup turned on, but we only ever leveraged the 5 GB included and didn’t expand to the 32 GB that that phone had. Probably worthwhile now.

As far as in store I called into Apple Support but did not go in person. I could try that it may be worth a shot. Apple telephone support does not offer recovery services or have a preferred vendor (or didn’t when I called in) to ship the phone to. I used to maintain about 150-200 iPhones for a corporation so at one time I felt like if it was 100% non-responsive via multiple lightning cables to an computer that a different iPhone was. There was probably a circuitry or physical issue present that could not be remediated.

That being said I’m not really beyond trying anything at this point. I don’t think Apple advocated going in-store at the time (the technician didn’t offer or suggest scheduling). But, I’ll see where we’re at now.

Thanks for the suggestion.

ETA: It also would not charge, etc.

Maybe it would be worth a try to have a repair shop replace the battery and lightning port, or at least see if they can test some of the hardware? Question mark is cause I’m not a tech guru, but I seent videas of people fixing phones that won’t power up doing that.

[johnson]

What did the data recovery center try? I don't have experience with this place but Louis Rossmann in NYC is highly rated for Apple logic board repairs. Not just swapping parts but SMD component level repairs.

https://www.rossmanngroup.com/

I used to repair phones and the first thing I would try is to open it up and check for damage and replace the battery with a known working one. Not saying this is the case with yours but I had many customers come in swearing that it's never been near water but there would be obvious signs of corrosion once you take a peek inside.

The furthest I went was replacing connectors when they were corroded or damaged when people tried doing their own repairs.

https://youtu.be/kChG36-VQJM

[Clusterfrack]

That really sucks. I agree that a visit to 1) the Apple Store, and 2) data recovery professionals are the next steps.

I hope you don't mind a short lecture on data security, for your benefit and also so this doesn't happen to others.

...never had this happen before... No physical damage that led to this or water exposure. Just normal use and it went down *hard*.

1) Assume that any storage device (or service) can be compromised at any time
2) Because of (1), back up and archive at intervals appropriate to the value of your data. If you cannot afford to lose something, it needs to be backed up (and probably archived).
3) A backup is not the same thing as an archive. A backup is a second copy of your data (e.g. iCloud storage). Because this is accessed regularly by you, and possibly by the bad guys, it is vulnerable to (1). An archive is a copy of your data that is stored securely (e.g. hard drive locked in a fire safe). Also, if your archive is physical, changes in technology can obsolete your media (e.g. DAT tape).

My family pictures (and other high-value data) are backed up on iCloud and Amazon, and archived on multiple hard drives stored in two locations.

Sorry this happened, and I really hope you can recover the data!

Alright gents,

So last fall my wife’s iPhone randomly shut down. Will not power back on when sitting there looking at her phone in bed. I tried connecting to iTunes in recovery mode, I tried essentially everything I can think of (contacted Apple and they couldn’t help), we replaced it, and finally relented and sent it to a data recovery center they had no luck. They were highly rated.

Here’s the heart breaking news. It had hundreds of photos, videos, etc. of our newborn. At this point, money isn’t so much the concern (some things are worth the money) as it is the thought of not having those memories.

Knowing the diverse and technically inclined group of folks here - are there any recommended data recovery vendors that you’ve had good experiences with?

Thanks guys. We’ve got a second baby on the way and being an IT professional myself - I feel an immense amount of
guilt but simply said - never had this happen before.

Thanks.

ETA: No physical damage that led to this or water exposure. Just normal use and it went down *hard*.

[BWT]

That really sucks. I agree that a visit to 1) the Apple Store, and 2) data recovery professionals are the next steps.

I hope you don't mind a short lecture on data security, for your benefit and also so this doesn't happen to others.



1) Assume that any storage device (or service) can be compromised at any time
2) Because of (1), back up and archive at intervals appropriate to the value of your data. If you cannot afford to lose something, it needs to be backed up (and probably archived).
3) A backup is not the same thing as an archive. A backup is a second copy of your data (e.g. iCloud storage). Because this is accessed regularly by you, and possibly by the bad guys, it is vulnerable to (1). An archive is a copy of your data that is stored securely (e.g. hard drive locked in a fire safe). Also, if your archive is physical, changes in technology can obsolete your media (e.g. DAT tape).

My family pictures (and other high-value data) are backed up on iCloud and Amazon, and archived on multiple hard drives stored in two locations.

Sorry this happened, and I really hope you can recover the data!

Absolutely- you’re right.

How I handled backups previously was kept them local to a machine, then copied them to an External H.D.D.

We’re prime members and photos (an app) is included with a 5 GB cap on video.

I’ve broken the news to individuals enough times about lost data I should do better.

Thanks! I’ll see if the Apple store will see us.

ETA: I performed a backup periodically with iTunes locally. Also, I’m heeding the “and to others” part of this - I realize not all of this is directed at me. But hey man if it saves somebody else the pitfall I’m in - I don’t mind being the cautionary tale.

[MEH]

https://www.rossmanngroup.com/iphone-repair-nyc/

[BWT]

https://www.rossmanngroup.com/iphone-repair-nyc/

How was your experience? How did you come to know of this company?

Talking with the wife - Apple said it wasn’t worth her coming to the store. I’ll look to find the phone and schedule something somewhere.

[MEH]

I haven't used him but they do it at a chip level. They won't repair the phone, just get the data off it. If they can't it's essentially no charge (a small amount is charged but its very minimal). If the photos are worth it, this is worth a shot.

The other that I would use is Jessa Jones at https://www.ipadrehab.com. Also, a no data no pay situation.


Apple's official position is that you can't ever recover the data. It's not true.