I came across this post as my iPhone 3Gs had gone into recovery mode on its own accord. I had hundreds of photos unsaved and was gutted when I saw this post, I felt even worse as it was not the information (gdgmacguy) I wanted to read.
Unfortunately, the above post is simply wrong! A system cannot destroy information in a blink of an eye. If it were that easy, the forensic teams across the world would have a hard time. A criminal could simply force a phone into recovery to remove all the data. Please!
I managed not only to take the phone out of recovery mode but also, salvaged all the data held on it.
To be fair, I am a little annoyed at Apple for not offering a salvage option on the device for such a situation. And it may be that they will not like me sharing this information, in which case I believe this view to be morally wrong because photos are so important. We all make mistakes, in terms of forgetting to backup from time to time.
What I used was the Redsn0w software, running as an administrator in XP compatibility mode. In the ‘Extras’ section it as a Recovery Fix option. It simply runs some software that takes the device out of recovery mode. I had to run it twice for some reason but the second time (out of desperation) worked a treat. The phone is now exactly as it was before it went into recovery mode. More to the point, it allowed me to backup all the photos and videos that I had failed to do before hand. And let’s face it, photos and videos are usually the most valuable stuff we keep on our phones.
I hope this help anyone in the same situation. I really hope someone from apple reads it and is able to convince the bosses that a recovery option is very important. And to take note that YES it is possible to recover data on a phone stuck in recovery mode. And more than likely it would be easier for apple, compared to other non-apple professionals.
Good luck.