Saving data off old Samsung (without USB-C)

Null

Null

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kiwifarms.net
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Nov 14, 2012
My old Samsung that has all my photos of Australia has a completely destroyed screen and I cannot access it. It's so old it only has Micro USB. My Micro USB -> USB-C -> HDMI adapter is not working (no input detected). The phone definitely works and my old work alarm still goes off. How can I save my phone?
 
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HDMI?
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A dingledong like that should be all that you need assuming the port itself isn't proper fucked. Then just use any USB-C cable and it has no right to not work because that shit should be compatible down to the first iteration of USB as long as it has the two data lines and two power lines.

EDIT: Okay, the screen is fucked. Now, this is another issue since if you can't unlock the phone you can't get it to do data transfers, and I have no idea if Samsung even has support for HDMI adapters.
 
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The port works because it charges. i have that exact converter but the HDMI doesn't appear to work on it. It's a Galaxy 5 I've determined.
 
Uhh okay, so the big issue is that you can't see what you're doing. Now, I have no idea if you can get a Galaxy S5 to send video data to an external screen over USB, however if you get one of these:
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You can then plug in a mouse, a keyboard, a USB stick, a sound card, drawing tablet, a USB hub, whatever, Android will detect it properly. So perhaps one option to get that shit to work in any capacity is trying to plug shit in via an adapter like that. I know that you can run a mouse, keyboard and a Plug&Play soundcard in a USB hub with one of these.

Also, I'm assuming you've already checked you don't have a microSD card in it, and you're certain that the data is on the on-board memory?
 
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I have an adapter. Mouse and keyboard work on all my phones. But I can't fucking see anything.
 
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Try going off of blind hitting to see if you can unlock it if it has a PIN lockscreen. I checked it on my phone, albeit it's stock Android 13, and the sequence is unlocking the screen, pressing Space to go to the PIN pad, typing it in and then pressing Enter. But then the issue will be getting a connection working since you need to verify it on the screen.

Goddamnit it all loops back to the screen. adb would be perfect but then again you need to authenticate the PC and that requires a working screen.

EDIT: Basically, if you'd be able to connect to your phone via adb in some way, you'd be able to get everything back. adb is basically a way to communicate with the device on a lower level for developers, and with it you can transfer files, install apps, delete apps, delete system apps without root and many more.

The trick question is: can you get your phone to connect via adb without an accessible screen or a custom bootloader? If there is a way, you could be able to access the file system without a working screen.
 
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Query: Is the touch component of the screen also completely destroyed.
Query 2: Did you employ a pin?

Some keyboards, though unfortunately usually only bluetooth ones, feature keys to unlock android screens, bypassing the need to swipe. Assuming you have a pin however, this won't help.
I'd try the following. Turn on phone. Press volume up to maximize sound. connect a physical keyboard via micro usb-usb adapter. Press enter, then enter the pin. Sound feedback should tell you whether the screen unlocked or not.
Use a standard micro usb data cable to connect to your pc. If the phone is unlocked (with the pin entered), you have a decent chance the default setting is mass transfer and your phone will show up like any drive.

If not, I'd honestly just have the screen replaced entirely - the other option is to attempt to employ a touchpad found on some keyboards, which will send the same signals as a touchscreen swipe to open the menu from the top and enabling usb mtf. Doing this via trial and error would be a living nightmare though, so I'd go with the replacement option personally.
 
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Bloitzhole said:
Query: Is the touch component of the screen also completely destroyed.
Query 2: Did you employ a pin?

Some keyboards, though unfortunately usually only bluetooth ones, feature keys to unlock android screens, bypassing the need to swipe. Assuming you have a pin however, this won't help.
I'd try the following. Turn on phone. Press volume up to maximize sound. connect a physical keyboard via micro usb-usb adapter. Press enter, then enter the pin. Sound feedback should tell you whether the screen unlocked or not.
Use a standard micro usb data cable to connect to your pc. If the phone is unlocked (with the pin entered), you have a decent chance the default setting is mass transfer and your phone will show up like any drive.

If not, I'd honestly just have the screen replaced entirely - the other option is to attempt to employ a touchpad found on some keyboards, which will send the same signals as a touchscreen swipe to open the menu from the top and enabling usb mtf. Doing this via trial and error would be a living nightmare though, so I'd go with the replacement option personally.
Click to expand...
I've tested something on my shitty old Samsung Galaxy Trend Plus. It's running on Android 4.4.2 and it had ADB on when I last fucked around with it, but I've noticed some things. It has a swipe lockscreen, so right after booting up it was available via ADB, and after disabling it, it didn't ask for any confirmations if I want my PC to access the memory.

So, assuming Null's Galaxy S5 is running a similar version of Android that just accepts any USB connection without asking, the one thing he could try is to see if he can blindly unlock the phone with a regular keyboard plugged in via USB OTG. Space should act as the main toggle of the screen, and when entering the PIN one can enable NumLock, use the numpad and hit Enter.

And if he manages to unlock the phone that way, AND it won't ask for confirmation of the USB connection, he should be able to access his DCIM folder. I think this is worth a try as a more simple method before trying to repair the screen.
 
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You'll need micro USB to hdmi. Going from micro to type c to hmdi is hit or miss on if it will work, depending on the adaptors. Not all adaptors are equal. Especially if they are the cheaper Chinese brands.

A splitter is your best bet. Skip the type c bridge.

Some screens maintain their touch ability even if the actual display is fucked.

From there, if the option is available and you're able to get in to, download phone link for Windows from there you can control your phone from your computer.

AuviPal 3-Port Micro USB OTG Hub Adapter (3 USB Ports + Power Port) for Fire Stick 4K, Playstation Classic, Raspberry Pi Zero, Sega Genesis Mini, S/NES Classic Mini and More - Black https://amzn.eu/d/iUSfRrO
 
husband is in IT and is a hardwarefag, he says you can't do shit without fixing that screen, sadly

edit: frankly the question is how much are you willing to spend to get access to precious memories?
 
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Slav Power said:
So, assuming Null's Galaxy S5 is running a similar version of Android that just accepts any USB connection without asking, the one thing he could try is to see if he can blindly unlock the phone with a regular keyboard plugged in via USB OTG. Space should act as the main toggle of the screen, and when entering the PIN one can enable NumLock, use the numpad and hit Enter.
Click to expand...
Yeah this is worth a shot first, it only takes a few minutes. If it's an old enough version of Android you might be able to get into adb. If not, you will need a screen, because it's impossible to navigate the dev tools menu to turn adb on even if you can unlock it.

If the phone can connect to a wifi hotspot the much more fun way to do this would be to get RCE and pop a reverse shell through their shitty keyboard update mechanism, and then just copy whatever files you want off. They might have pushed a security patch, but it would depend on your carrier I think.

 
Null said:
i have that exact converter but the HDMI doesn't appear to work on it
Click to expand...
Search for an "MHL" adapter, usually direct micousb to HDMI plus a charging input, shouldn't be too expensive)
($6.99 from Walmart, listed as supporting the Galaxy S5)

Those adapters have active components in them to allow connections to non-MHL enabled displays.
Modern usb-C to HDMI adapters likely use usb-C's HDMI ALT mode, which is different from MHL at a protocol level, and likely won't work through a micro-C adapter.
 
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If you have some way to grant debugging capabilities (clicking at random? keyboard?), or have done so already for other reasons, get scrcpy. I also accidentally the screen on my previous chinkphone, and this works perfectly.
 
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idk what it's like in Serbia, but in most places there's a mobile phone repair place run by chinks or pajeets who'll fit a new screen for cheap. It might be a Wish-tier screen, but it should last long enough to enable to transfer of photos via micro USB and/or installation of an FTP server so you can access files over wifi in future.
Kapitan Bomba said:
If you have some way to grant debugging capabilities (clicking at random? keyboard?), or have done so already for other reasons, get scrcpy. I also accidentally the screen on my previous chinkphone, and this works perfectly.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the heads up, fren. This looks very useful.
 
I just went through this cycle myself, unfortunately there is no way to dial in via command line to just yank data from it. Your only option is to take it to a repair shop where they will affix a screen temporarily to allow you go through the adb auth cycle and make the file transfer or purchase a screen yourself and make the repair. I looked through applications I could install that would give me mouse/keyboard/remote desktop access, but there was no way to activate it or unlock the phone even if I did manage to install remote via the play store, nor would the USB authenticate for an adb session without hitting yes on the dialog box. I never tried the Micro-usb -> MHL stuff though, I was pretty dispirited by that point and I assumed it would not work.
 
Like @attractive_pneumonia mentioned above, suggestions to use adb (android debug bridge) are not gonna work.

(You generally can't use adb unless you've enabled developer options on the phone and turned on USB debugging at an earlier time. )

IMO best ideas

(1) Replace screen (either DIY or at those little cell phone fixer businesses owned by Asians and Arabs).
(2) MHL HDMI adapter (might work)
(3) Get a copy of Cellebrite (LE phone tool)

MHL (mobile high definition link) came out around 2011 and let's you connect HDMI to a phone. MHL is supported on Samsung Galaxy 2 through Samsung Galaxy 5, and was removed from Samsung Galaxy 6 onward.

As I write this now, it's occurring to me that I don't know what the MHL adapter will get you. Since it's a one way technology it only will send data from the phone screen to HDMI but won't let you interact with it.

So basically back to replacing the screen - unless you previously enabled USB debugging on the phone.
 
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