How do I recover my Galaxy S3 photos?

[smacera]

Galaxy S3 Corrupt Memory Photo Recovery

My battery went flat and wasn't able to shut down properly. When I turned it back on all my apps disappeared except for a few and all my photos and video from the internal memory. I can txt, make calls collect emails AND all my contacts from the memory are still there.
I need to recover my photos, I connected my S3 to my laptop and the phone memory is visible and also the sd card, but I can't access the 16gb memory.
Tried rooting on the weekend so I could get super user, but I can't install any apps & GooglePlay is gone.
Is it possible to install my OS 4.3 using a laptop with formatting everything first?
Please help, I need to recover my photos from the internal memory, any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm very confused with what to do???

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Galaxy S3 Corrupt Memory Photo Recovery

Welcome to Android Central! Even if the phone shut off automatically due to a dying battery, that shouldn't make the apps disappear, unless it somehow did a full factory reset upon restart (which can happen occasionally although I can't say why). Are you sure that the apps themselves are gone, or just the shortcuts? Does anything show up in the App Drawer?

 

[smacera]

Re: Galaxy S3 Corrupt Memory Photo Recovery

Thanks so much for getting back to me. Where is the app drawer located, I've looked in application manager and they're all there except reading 0.00B most important thing is to recover the photos?
As long as I can recover the photos and backup, I'll be happy to reset and start again, really desperate to recover these photos, would love to hear any suggestions.

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Galaxy S3 Corrupt Memory Photo Recovery

The App Drawer is just your list of all installed app. Tap the icon on your homescreen that looks like a grid of dots, in the Favorites Tray.

Have you used a file manager app like MyFiles (or a 3rd party app like ES File Explorer) to look in your internal storage for the photos?

 

[smacera]

Re: Galaxy S3 Corrupt Memory Photo Recovery

Ah, I see. Yes, I still have a lot of apps but I'm missing about 20 that I downloaded myself. I do still have MyFiles, if I use it and click device storage it says no files, but if I go, Settings, More, Storage, in android, it says 11Gb used??
Is there some way of hacking into my phone with the PC to recover the photos?
Thanks

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Galaxy S3 Corrupt Memory Photo Recovery

Boy, something must have really malfunctioned. When you use MyFiles, do you see a folder called /DCIM/Camera? That's where photos you took with your camera should be located.

 

[smacera]

Re: Galaxy S3 Corrupt Memory Photo Recovery

Thanks for the replies, in MyFiles, if I click on Device Storage, it won't show any folders, just says no files.
I've tried TenorShare and Wondershare Dr.Fone which seem to be very similar programs, I was able to select USB Debugging, but was unable to select USB Mass Storage which I believe is what I need to activate in order for the PC to see the photos, both programs were unable to see the photos or videos, Only the contacts which are on the internal memory.
I think maybe that when the phone shut down by itself, it screwed up the programming slightly, which is why it won't let me access the internal memory. Is there anyway to refresh or update the OS with a PC without formatting or resetting everything?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Galaxy S3 Corrupt Memory Photo Recovery

You can try flashing the stock ROM via Odin, but I'm not sure if that will also wipe the phone. http://forums.androidcentral.com/am...ide-samsung-how-flash-stock-rom-via-odin.html

Let me ask the author of that guide.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Re: Galaxy S3 Corrupt Memory Photo Recovery

Flashing with Odin is at least like a reset. I always assume that Odin wipes the device.

 

[smacera]

Re: Galaxy S3 Corrupt Memory Photo Recovery

Thanks B.Diddy, sounds like a good option, please let me know if it will wipe everything before I try. Thanks again

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Galaxy S3 Corrupt Memory Photo Recovery

Not sure if you saw Golfdriver97's response above, but it's likely that flashing the stock ROM will in fact wipe the phone.

At this point, I don't know if there's anything else you can do. There are programs like DiskDigger, PhotoRec, and Recuva that can sometimes help recover lost files, but they're usually more successful on external media like SD cards.