N9 Data Recovery after loss of Passcode / Automatic Backup
 

Hi,

It should not happen, but it did: I'm not able to access my N9 because it's locked with the Passcode and the one I remember does not work. I've tried several combinations, but no luck =(
After a lot of research I see there is no way to use the phone again without reflashing it (the hard way aka "Zeroize"). That means I would lose all my data saved on the phone. Too bad I did not do a backup before (Yes, I know, my fault). Has anyone an idea how I can access my data from outside (recovery USB) or boot the phone in a recovery mode? I just don't want to lose all picture I took with it... After that I could reflash/"Zeroize" the device and hopefully use it again.
Or maybe there is an unknown backdoor? Perhaps the IMEI or IMSI as a passcode alternative?!

After I got my phone working again, I want to make regular backups automatically. Are there any suggestions? The best would be: I'm coming home, the phone connects to my WLAN and recognizes that I'm at home (configured SSID), then it creates a backup and syncs that to my home NAS (maybe with rsync). Is there anything similar already available?

Thanks for any suggestions!
Tobias

Re: N9 Data Recovery after loss of Passcode / Automatic Backup
 

ok I don't understand clearly what data do you intend to recover (only MyDocs or other data like messages etc)?

There is a method to fix MALF state which sends your phone into open mode (just do a full reflash after you've recovered data to put it back to normal mode): http://wiki.meego.com/N950/Fixing_MALF_state

Follow till step 7 and get your device mounted after which you can recover whatever you want from the rootfs, userfs and MyDocs partitions...

Re: N9 Data Recovery after loss of Passcode / Automatic Backup
 

The main thing I'd like to recover is the MyDocs partition. If it's possible to recover messages and contacts it would be great, but not that important (I have the contacts backed up *uff* and the messages are not that important). Can I just copy the tracker database and restore it, or is there a different way to recover messages and contacts?

I'll try the steps in "Fixing MALF state" later and post my results here. BTW: What does "MALF" stand for?

Thanks a lot for the link!

Cheers,
Tobias

Re: N9 Data Recovery after loss of Passcode / Automatic Backup
 

Simply MALFunctioning device :)
A device is in 'MALF state' if for some reason (e.g. some wrong upgrade/flashing) it is not able to boot properly and it shows only a specific warning screen "Device not working properly" instead of the usual home screen.

Re: N9 Data Recovery after loss of Passcode / Automatic Backup
 

Yeah, "MALFunctioning"... That's what I thought =)

Thanks to "thedead1440" for the link. I could successfully rsync everything to a backup harddisk! Great... Now I'm reflashing the original PR1.3 and hope to get it running again.

How can I restore contacts and messages after the flashing the device? I've copied everything (rootfs, /home/user and MyDocs) to my backup harddisk, so I should be able to access all data. As far as I know the messages and contacts are stored in the tracker DB, so maybe I can restore everything from there? If yes, how should I do that?

Thank again for helping out saving my data! =)

Re: N9 Data Recovery after loss of Passcode / Automatic Backup
 

It seems that the tracker DB was not correctly copied because of permission troubles... Too bad, but that's live. I found a not so old Backup on the device I made before upgrading from PR1.2 to PR1.3 so I could restore that.
Now everything works. Thanks again for the help.

I'll try to find a solution to create automatic backups. If I find something, I'll write it here in the forum.
BTW: Does anyone know how to make backups with the built-in Backup/Restore app through the command line?