Need to root to recover data but unlocking bootloader wipes data, any hope of recovering these files?

[AC Question]

Need to root to recover data but unlocking bootloader wipes data

I have a Nexus 5 that runs Android marshmallow 6.0.1 with the recent Febuary patch and it has a locked bootloader(stock android). I tried many file recovery programs like Dr.Fone but they are unable to recover anything without root. I'm ok with backing up my data and unlocking and rooting my phone which would wipe all data, but would this pretty much guarantee that my deleted files(whatsapp voice notes, and yes they are also not present when i used a file manager to check if they were still there) would be overwritten and remove all hope of recovering these files?

 

[Rukbat]

Re: Need to root to recover data but unlocking bootloader wipes data

Try Recovering files via adb (Post #22). If you can create an image of the userdata partition, you can use PhotoRec (instructions at PhotoRec Step By Step) to recover all files from it.