Data recovery after Water Damage

[ajvogt]

My Galaxy S6 recently took a dip in a lake and would not turn on. After trying to displace the water with 91% isopropyl alcohol and I tried to power on again, but no LEDs and would not bootup still. I disassembled the phone and tried cleaning the board with a toothbrush and alcohol to clean any corrosion and hope that my attempts to turn it on did not permanently damage any components. After the cleaning the LEDs turn on, but the screen seems to be damaged.

At this point salvaging the phone is not a priority, some very important and irreplaceable pictures that were not yet backed-up are my only concern. When I connect the phone to my PC the MTP connection is established, but trying to connect with Samsung Smart Switch gives me a connection error and fails every time. I have installed the drivers and reinstalled the drivers, but the phone simply won't connect. Are there any alternatives to try on the software side for trying to recover the files? I imagine it is likely the faulty hardware that is causing the error, but I would like to exhaust all options.

 

[LeoRex]

Have you tried ADB? If you can get ADB to connect over the connection, you can copy the files over via the command line. Does the computer register a connected device at all... an external drive popping up, etc.

Hm... just remembered that you need USB debugging on for ADB to work....

 

[ajvogt]

ADB was my first thought, but as you said I need to enable USB debugging on the phone. Is there any way to force USB debugging on the phone or bypass it from my PC?

 

[IAmSixNine]

When trying to clean a device like that, especially board level, try to use 99% isopropyl alcohol and i also recommend using Contact Cleaner. It evaporates super quick and works well when using a toothbrush or small paint brush. Thats if you see any signs of corrosion.

EDIT Years ago i was able to revive some blackberry boards by putting the main board in a zip lock baggy with several ounces of 99% isopropyl alcohol. Basically i let the boards soak in it and then swished around the boards in the baggy to make sure it displaced any water in there.. let them dry for a few hours and they worked.
The key to that though was they more then likely didnt have any damage due to corrosion or any initial shorting by the liquid at the time they got wet.
Luckily it wasnt the ocean as salt water is nasty on electronics.