That feeling when you realize you've accidentally deleted something very important from your smartphone is awful. You might search and search, but always come up empty, but is it possible to actually recover that lost data? Do iOS or Android devices have anything different that makes it harder than recovering from an HDD?
The situation is a little complicated, but the short answer is yes, you can recover the data. The catch is that you need to act fast otherwise the general hardware settings will make this impossible and the data will be lost forever, unless of course you have a backup to save the day.
Apple and Android device manufacturers use NAND flash in their gadgets, which by default lowers the chances of data recovery simply because of how they work. In essence, flash memory makes data recovery impossible once the data is overwritten.
iPhone Data Recovery
Acting fast to save data is imperative for iPhone or iPad owners. They have up to 30 days to access the Recently Deleted folder in their Photos app to recover a deleted photo or video. The same timeframe applies to data stored in iCloud such as notes, contacts, mail, and more; if you accidentally delete data stored here but are synchronized with your other Apple devices using the cloud service, then it will still be possible to recover the data.
An iCloud account also gives users the opportunity to automate device backups, which includes all the data on the handset. After 30 days the data will be permanently erased and there will be no chance to recover it.
Android Data Recovery
Compared to Apple's strict privacy policy – which blocks user access to the hardware’s root level – Android smartphones can be rooted. However, if you find that important data has been deleted, then again you will need to act very fast otherwise the data will be overwritten and it cannot be restored. It is possible to retrieve data via recovery software, but you will need to root your device. Rooting means you get complete access to everything in the operating system and such permission allow you to change anything. Alongside this power, however, you will also open the handset up to viruses, which isn't sensible for the privacy-conscious user.
If you don't manage to recover files manually, then pick a data recovery application and run it on the device. It may be of help, unless the file you are searching for is unrecoverable. Don't expect too much from these third-party apps, however, it is rather better to focus on regular backups.
It is wise to save the data from an iOS or Android handset to an external drive, such as on your computer or in cloud backup storage. Apple's iCloud or Dropbox works fine for this, but you will also need to consider the cost of cloud storage. If that isn’t worthwhile, then iTunes can do the backup for you, but you need storage space on the computer selected to maintain the iOS backup. Android device owners can use either Google's own solutions or third-party apps to keep an up-to-date copy of their data.
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