Decrypting External SC Card on Galaxy S3

[wdurst2013]

I had to encrypt my SC card for work security & have since gotten a new phone. I am unable to see the photos & videos on the SC card now. The old phone has been decrypted & reincrypted both with and without the card in place. The phone still shows the # of photos in the folder but when you open the folder it shows only gray squares rather than the images. When I tap on the individual squares I get a message that says "unable to load photo".

I've done some reading & am gathering the encrypting is irreversable but am hoping someone out there knows something I'm not finding. Of course there are irreplacable photos & videos on that card.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[GSDer]

I'm pretty sure that you have to decrypt the SDCard on the same phone that it was encrypted on. If you no longer have access to that phone I think you're out of luck.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk 2

 

[wdurst2013]

I have decrypted it on the original phone with no success. I'm really thinking all these photos are gone. :'( All 1730 of them I'm just sickened. A very important lesson has been learned though....back anything that means something to you up. I know better than this.

 

[NikPik]

I have the Note 2 and encrypted my device because of work email. I am having the same problem as you since I actually reset my device this morning. Sad. I found an forum before the reset that mentioned something to download to decrypt the sd card....but cant find it right now. I just wanted to let you know that there is (apparently) a way to regain the sd card access.

Im keeping my fingers crossed. I have alot of pics as well. :-\

 

[solefalcor]

I think this is an interesting thread and I think there might be a solution. I was wondering if maybe truecrypt would work to decyrpt it. Truecrypt uses many different types of algorithms to encrpyt data. I was wondering what of algorithm the galaxy uses, probably something like AES. If so, then i see no reason why you wouldn't be able to mount your SD card to your computer and recover your pictures. That's actually what I was doing now was researching to see if it was possible to do this as i was preparing to encrypt my device

 

[Bao Nguyen1]

Im in same boat; mine is Note though. I just post the question on Note's forum, hoping someone might be able to help. Good luck and pls update if u find anything

 

[arkit]

I have the same problem but on the Samsung Galaxy S4. Encrypted the phone, had the SD card in it, had to factory reset the phone and now the files on the phone are there but do not show the images - just squares. Anyone have a clue? Cheers

 

[GSDer]

I thought encrypting the phone and encrypting the SDCard were two separate/independent procedures, but I've only fiddled with the SDCard, and that didn't end well (64GB SanDisk Ultra ended up totally corrupted/unusable).
If encrypting your phone caused the SDCard to also be encrypted then it sounds like you need to provide the correct key to get your SDCard returned to a normal state.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk 2

 

[arsalrulez]

Hi Guys, Im also IN
I've encrypted my Galaxy S4 coz of official email security and then memory card as well. Now I sell the phone and the data on memory card is there but cannot access the photos and other files on it.
Do I need to decrypt the memory card on same phone??

Need some serious help

 

[GTWalling]

As stated above, yes you will need the phone that encrypted the card.

 

[guptUser]

I have the same phone, but I had to reset it to factory settings due to some issue with the phone.
I had unmounted and removed the SD card prior to the reset.
Is there a way to decrypt the SD card on the same phone, after the phone was reset?

Thanks.

 

[GSDer]

I had unmounted and removed the SD card prior to the reset.

<- This is the point at which you should have decrypted the SD card - before you removed it and did the Factory Reset.

It's been quite a while since I fiddled with encrypting an SD card (it didn't end well - it corrupted my 64GB card and it was completely unrecoverable, even in a PC), so I don't remember - did it request a password?

When you insert the encrypted SD card in the phone now, does it prompt you to do anything with it?

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM 10.2 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Scrabs]

Ok, here's my problem:
I attempted to encrypt both my phone (Galaxy s3) and my sd card. Once complete, I couldn't access my sd card. So, I attempted to decrypt my sd card. As of right now, it's apparently still decrypting (Day2). When I hook my phone to the comp, it doesn't even see the sd card, let alone show any files. I just want access to my sd. I've got thousands of photos and songs on it. Am I screwed, or should I just be patient?

 

[saleh15]

do u find solution for the photos??

i have the same issues
i have gs4

thanks

 

[vinayp95]

A temporary solution is to re-encrypt your sdcard with the same password key which you used for encryption in the first place.
For permanent decryption, just follow these steps:
1.After you are done with temporary solution. Manually copy all your data from your sdcard onto your computer.
2.Then decrypt your sdcard.
3.Format your sdcard .
4.On completion of that, you can copy back your data onto your card.
And there you go all your data is recovered.
Disclaimer: The above method worked for me(on samsung galaxy grand 2) but if anything goes wrong. I'm not the one to be held responsible for it.Try in on your own risk!!!

 

[Rukbat]

I think this is an interesting thread and I think there might be a solution. I was wondering if maybe truecrypt would work to decyrpt it.

TruCrypt is a totally different thing - it creates what looks like unused space, then encrypts your files and stores them there. (It actually creates 2 such spaces, so you can put some dummy files in one of them and, if forced to give up the password, you give up the one to the space with the dummy files. It's called plausible deniability)

Truecrypt uses many different types of algorithms to encrpyt data. I was wondering what of algorithm the galaxy uses, probably something like AES. If so, then i see no reason why you wouldn't be able to mount your SD card to your computer and recover your pictures.

All you need is the decryption key if it's AES (which is a reversible encryption). But if it uses a salt, say the phone's IMEI, you'd need the original phone to do it.

(Any encrypted file can be decrypted - the largest prime number is only 2[SUP]57,885,161[/SUP] − 1, so it shouldn't take more than a few dozen centuries - maybe less time once we have working quantum computers.)

 

[GlimmerTwin]

Ok.... it sounds like a plan.. however, when you copied the files to the computer from the encrypted phone, doesn't it copy the file encrypted ? meaning that it wont play on the computer?.. therefore,when you copy it back to the SD card, wouldn't it still be encrypted ?

 

[GlimmerTwin]

This reply was meant for vinayp95.. sorry about that.. new to forum.


Ok.... it sounds like a plan.. however, when you copied the files to the computer from the encrypted phone, doesn't it copy the file encrypted ? meaning that it wont play on the computer?.. therefore,when you copy it back to the SD card, wouldn't it still be encrypted ?

 

[1x250]

Seems like I have similar problem with encrypted SD from my Flex2. I have done factory reset for phone because it was stuck on bootloop, and SD was left encrypted. After hard reset, the phone does not recognize the encryption and SD cannot be decrypted.

 

[kickous]

I got some "SD card encryption" error and I can't access any image/video on it. I used "Decrypt", but it was really quick (nothing was decrypted). Files left encrypted and I can't open them. :'''(
So I made backup of SD card for sure and I used "Encrypt" .. it was quick (nothing was encrypted) and I can access my files ...

It was done on the same phone off course ... Samsung S7, Android 6.