How to recover data after factory resetting your Android
(Pocket-lint) – A factory reset, also known as a hard reset, allows you to remove all the data and settings from your Android phone, returning your phone to its original (factory) condition. Performing a factory reset is a drastic and extreme action because it erases all the data from your Android phone, but it might be necessary for some situations.
You may need to perform a factory reset on your Android phone for several reasons. Perhaps you want to clear unwanted data to maximize your store. Or perhaps your phone has been suffering from performance issues, and you perform a factory reset to enhance performance. But once you perform a factory reset, how do you recover your lost data?
This article provides a detailed step-by-step description of how to recover data after a factory reset with or without backup.
How to recover data after factory reset with backup
If you’ve performed a factory reset, you might be looking for ways to recover your data. If you maintain a backup of your data on an external drive, computer, or Google, the recovery process is fairly simple — you can recover the backup files after performing the factory reset. We highlight two different methods to recover data after a factory reset with backup.
Steps to recover Android data from local backup (Windows):
- Connect your Android phone to your computer via a USB cable.
- Select Charging this device via USB.
- Select USB For.
- Select File Transfer.
- Drag the files you want to restore to your Android phone.
- Eject the USB cable.
- You can now access the files on your Android phone.
Steps to recover Android data from Google backup:
- Open Settings on your Android phone.
- Navigate to Settings > Advanced > Backup > App data.
- Select the backup file you want to restore.
- Tap on the Automatic Restore button.
- The entire backup file will be restored to your Android phone.
Drawbacks of the local backup and Google backup methods:
- You can only restore data from your local or Google backups if you regularly maintain backup files or activate automatic updates on Google.
- Google backups have to be restored entirely – you can’t select which files you want to restore. That means your phone will go back to the condition it was in during the time of the selected backup file, which means you may also restore corrupted files to your phone.
How to recover data after factory reset without backup
You may need to recover data after a factory reset without backups for several reasons. If you haven’t been maintaining backup files, you can’t rely on them to recover your data. You may have also lost your backup files. Or perhaps you don’t want to risk restoring corrupted files that may have been causing problems in your phone before the factory reset. In all of these situations, you will have to perform data recovery without backup files.
Most people believe there’s no way to recover data after a factory reset without an active backup file. But thanks to third-party data recovery tools, like DroidKit, you can selectively recover the data you want without backups. DroidKit has a feature called Android Data Recovery which scans, previews, and selectively retrieves deleted or lost data without having to root your system. Below, we provide a detailed description of how to recover data after a factory reset without backup.
Steps to recover Android data without backup using DroidKit:
1. Install and open DroidKit on your computer.
2. On the welcome page, select Quick Recovery from Device.
3. Select the types of files you want to recover and select Start.
4. Connect your Android phone to the computer via a USB cable.
5. Preview the files you want to recover on a gallery.
6. Depending on whether you want to restore the files to your computer or Android phone, select To PC or To Device.
7. Once you see the ‘Recovery Completed’ message, select View Files.
DroidKit’s recover feature offers the following benefits:
- Preview & Restore: Preview the files before retrieving them to your phone or computer – you don’t have to restore unwanted files and data.
- No Root: You don’t have to root your Android phone, making DroidKit completely safe.
- Deleted Files: You can also recover files that you have deleted from your Android phone.
- Multiple File Types: You can recover 13 types of data from your Android phone – messages, videos, photos, audio, call logs, documents, calendar, books, WhatsApp attachments, contacts, LINE attachments, ZIP files, and APK files
- Simplicity: DroidKit is extremely simple – no education or professional help necessary.
Some people assume that a factory reset permanently wipes all the data from their Android phones. But that’s not true. If you’ve maintained a backup on local drives or Google, you can recover the backup files. But even if you haven’t maintained backups or don’t want to recover the backup files, you can still use DroidKit’s Android data recovery features to selectively preview and restore your data.