Picture set as wallpaper, deleted pic, wallpaper remains

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Level 6

14,833 points

Picture set as wallpaper, deleted pic, wallpaper remains

I took a photo and used it as wallpaper on my phone, then managed to delete the photo from the camera roll. However, it still shows as wallpaper.

I actually like the image, and would want to recover it if I could, even in the low res format it will now have. Does anyone know how I can access the image? It isn't in the wallpapers, nor the camera roll, and downloading all images to my laptop (using Image Capture) doesn't bring it in either. I guess it must be lodged internally somewhere!

I also upgraded to 3G, expecting to lose the image but it has transferred over to the new handset too. It \ must be in the phone somewhere!

MBP, 2.6Ghz, 250Gb HD, 4Gb RAM, Mac OS X (10.5.3), Some old steam powered stuff, still used most days :-)

Posted on Sep 12, 2008 4:32 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 12, 2008 4:49 AM in response to Hal MacLean

It's in the phone, and in the backup of the phone (which is why it transferred to the new phone). However, it's not accessible (obviously!). Basically, deleting the pic from the Camera Roll removed the directory pointer, but the image was retained because it was in use. I suspect if you set another wallpaper you could not reselect that image (but I could be wrong on that).

Only way I can think of to get it out is to make a copy of the backup (in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backups), then parse the SQLite database of the backup. There's a python script for that, which you can run via Terminal. The script can be found HERE. Up to you to decide if it's worth the effort... 😉

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Answer 2

Hal MacLean Author

Level 6

14,833 points

Sep 12, 2008 5:45 AM in response to neuroanatomist

Genius!

Yes, that script worked a treat. There were some permission settings to change on the script itself before it could run, and on the output the ownership of the folder was set to System, so that also had to be 'chown'ed, and applied to all content too.

The file I was after is called 'LockBackground.jpg' and lives in the 'Library' folder. Unsurprisingly it came out at just 48Kb and the size of an iPhone screen 🙂 More than good enough for now...

Thanks very much for the pointer!

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Answer 3

Hal MacLean Author

Level 6

14,833 points

Sep 12, 2008 5:25 AM in response to neuroanatomist

Thanks!

I'll give it a go - it's a pic of my kids, which is why I'd like to at least try to get it out!

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Answer 4

Sep 12, 2008 5:44 AM in response to Hal MacLean

Good luck!

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Answer 5

Sep 12, 2008 5:48 AM in response to Hal MacLean

Glad that worked! Cheers...

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