I have an old Samsung phone that's completely dead and won't turn on anymore. After a few years, I really wanted to recover some photos from it, so I took it to a repair shop. Unfortunately, they told me it needed a new motherboard, and three different shops confirmed they couldn't fix it. I'm wondering if there's any way to retrieve the photos without having to repair the phone. Can the hard drive be connected to a computer in any way?
4 Answers
What model do you have? Knowing the specific Samsung phone can help. Typically, you need the phone to turn on and enable file access for a computer to view the internal storage.
In theory, you could desolder the flash chips to retrieve the data directly, but it's a complex and costly process. Plus, there's a chance that the data might be encrypted.
Have you tried connecting it to a charger? Sometimes, a dead battery is the only issue, and it might turn on when plugged in.
No, it still won't turn on.
Unfortunately, the "hard drive" in your phone is part of the motherboard, so you won't be able to get the photos off it without fixing that first.
It's a Samsung Galaxy S10.