Bitcoin Forum

Just looking to see if anyone has any information on how I could possibly go about recovering a .dat from my Galaxy S9+ that I fucking factory reset with 0.5 BTC on it.

I've read a number of articles about people recovering data from "factory reset" phones... does anyone have any insight on what programs to use?

Fucking rookie move I know!

Thank you

Damn!!!

I feel really sorry for you, 0.5 BTCitcoins are, at current prices, a little fortune.

The first step should be to look for any backups you may have done in the past, maybe in your computer, or automatically in the cloud. But I suppose you have already contemplated this possibility and this is not your case.

The second option would be using paid tools. There are some articles on the internet advertising different ones, but I haven't used any of them before, so I cannot really vouch for any. I hope other members can help you out with this task, if the first step mentioned above is not feasible for you.

At last, you might always consider, as the last chance, contacting a professional: there are people out there that have expertise recovering data from erased or damaged drives, and I suppose they could help you recover the data. But, of course, they must be trustworthy, otherwise those 0.5 BTC could "fly".

I wish I could help you more, but this is all I know. I hope you the best. Do not despair.

No dice on this one.


I think this is my best chance.

I realized what I had done while the phone was still resetting itself.  The phone was then turned off and I haven't messed with it since.


haha, I thought about calling a police forensic investigator, but I just can't bring myself!  :P


I don't let myself cry over split Bitcoins :P, but it would be cool to figure out a way to scrape that .dat!

Thanks for your 2cents <3

First thing is don't install or copy anything onto your newly factory reset device, any attempts to do so could easily corrupt any lost file you may want to recover.
I did try recovering deleted media, mostly photos from my formatted Samsung Galaxy s7 using Recuva through PC ages ago. It was a success needless to say but a few of the files were corrupted because I had already installed a number of apps on my phone.

I don't know how things are with Galaxy s9+ currently but hey, for 0.5 BTC. Try everything you can. Another App I have ever used to recover data is the drfone wondershare app. Of course be careful with the apps (first check them through Virustotal before running). Back then, I wasn't as security conscious and paranoid of malware as I am now  :D

Factory resets of android phones don't scrub data from the internal disks.

Let me go on a different tangent and suggest do not attempt data recovery off a phone on your own. He process is very different from recovering stuff from a desktop hard drive. Who knows if you accidentally mess something else up and overwrite he place where the wallet.dat once was, or corrupt it more.

Instead, I recommend finding a paid professional data recovery service near your area that services phones and can extract deleted files from them, and take it there. The phone will likely be destroyed in the process of recovering the wallet but it's likely that you will get the wallet file back (remember that no data was actually scrubbed). Is their servicing fee worth it for 0.5BTC? Hell yes. We're talking a few hundreds to thousands vs. over $18,000 bucks on the table.

Again, professionals are more likely to know how to successfully extract deleted files than you and I.

You'd be better off seeking assistance on a phone-centric forum like XDA Developers: https://forum.xda-developers.com/

They have a Galaxy S9+ specific section here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/c/samsung-galaxy-s9.7530/

I would recommend that you tell them you specifically need to recover certain "App Data" and not just pictures/videos etc. A lot of the popular "data recovery" apps focus only on retrieving your texts/pics/vids etc and recovering actual application data can be a bit trickier and require more work that installing some type of "AndroidPhoneDoctorDataRecoveryExtractor2020" type app.

I don't know of any wallets on Android or any wallets in general that uses .dat. Did you reset the phone with the wallet file on it or did you meant some Android Wallets?

Most Android wallets do not store their wallet files in the basic internal storage but they would usually store it within the area which requires root access. I know Knox makes it hard and makes the device less useful when rooted but if you did root it, it would be slightly easier. Rooting it now *might* require a factory reset again so I don't recommend that.

I guess there are some explorers available to access the root directory even without rooting the mobile but it is only possible if the mobile install such apps.

I am just an Android user so don't have much knowledge about it but recovering data from Android is harder ever after the format but its still possible unlike IOS.

My theory was that he had just copied the file into his phone from the Bitcoin core wallet in his computer as a way of "backing it up" because I have also never seen an android wallet that generates such a wallet file. If this is the case, then the files won't be located in the phone root directory and wouldn't need special permissions to have it recovered.

If it is a wallet file generated by the mobile wallet app then it's going to be a hard process which might require a data recovery specialist.

I don't know what app you are using but if you made a backup file, you maybe have a chance. The Bitcoin android wallet creates backup in the following format > bitcoin-wallet-backup-2021-01-08-10-30
The file has no extension and if you happen to made one, you might be able to recover it.
Anyway we need more info what app you used,

If you don't have any backup files in your wallet, there's nothing we can do is to find a Samsung mobile phone with third-party recovery software. (at least those are trusted ones but I don't know who it is). 

Those third party services are offered to recover deleted text messages, videos, audios, contacts, documents, files that came from your internal storage.  And there are features that you can transfer files to your PC upon recovering those lost files that contain your wallet information.

• How to Recover Lost Data from Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+ [2020 Update] (https://www.fonedog.com/android-data-recovery/recover-lost-data-from-samsung-galaxy-s9-plus.html)
• Recover Various Files from Different Android Devices (https://www.smart-iphone-recovery.com/android-data-recovery/)

But it should be this is your last option of recovering lost files.

I don't think you can easily recover deleted data or formatted phone by just using a 3rd party software. Samsung phones these days have always security updates with Knox so most of the data are encrypted even you recover them with a 3rd party software you can't able to decrypt them unless if you have some knowledge about repairing phones.

I heard that most of the encrypted data can be decrypted with some tools that mostly used for repairing phones. Try to look for some phone technicians near you just hire them to recover your data. I believe they can recover the data with jtag boxes like UFI, Easy jtag, Riff box or any jtag that could read the whole EMMC.