Data recovery question

My question is regarding iOS data recovery.






If you search online for iOS data recovery there are many many software solutions available that will allow you to recover deleted media files (pictures, videos) Supposedly supported devices up to iPhone 7 running up to iOS 10.






However when I have looked into this further, apparently data recovery is impossible, due to 'data protection' and 'per file encryption' - as data on unallocated storage (deleted content) is unable to be physically examined on the SSD unless jail broken, in addition due to iOS encryption, once an item has been deleted, the decryption key is removed from the secure Elclave, rendering the data unreadable therefore recovery for deleted media impossible.






However I am confused because of the many programs available online offering free trial and claiming easy and successful media recovery from iOS devices.






Can somebody explain the truth about data recovery?

Posted on Apr 27, 2017 3:58 AM

Reply
4 replies

Apr 27, 2017 5:54 AM in response to simon37

If you read the fine print, those offering data recovery on iPhone 6 models or newer will have the caveat that the device must be still bootable, and you must remember your passcode. Basically all they can do is provide a workaround for a broken or unresponsive display. As long as everything other than the screen & input is working, and you have not forgotten your passcode (so the encryption system and secure enclave are still accessible for you) they may be able to pull some data. Even under these every restricted circumstances, they won't be able to recover everything.


And if your device has already gone into recovery mode, even knowing your passcode won't help, as the encryption is now permanently locked in, with no longer any means to decrypt it.


Any one of these companies though will happily take your money, claim to try to recover data for you, only to report that they were unsuccessful. They all have plenty of legal fine print to obsolve themselves of any responsibility when their software fails to provide you with any actually useful service.


These publically available, commercial software recovery tools are simply outgrowths of old, old technology to recover data from unencrypted drives and storage that got reformatted. They cannot deal with encrypted data, especially data from a complex synergistic hardware/firmware and operating system encrypted scheme like that used in current iOS devices.


Quite bluntly, even when successful in recovering non-overwritten data on a simple reformatted storage device, these commercial tools offer nothing more than other, open source Linux (and even, back in its day, MS-DOS) tools have offered for decades. They count in the fact that most people are not familiar with, or don't wish to learn to use open source data recovery tools run from a Linux or other boot device, or gullibly believe that these companies can magically crack strong encryption systems.

Apr 27, 2017 6:15 AM in response to Michael Black

Thanks for the response guys, I know you said data recovery can recover 'some' deleted data, however from the reports I have read, unallocated storage cannot be scanned unless jail broken - I'm addition - deleted data still not overwritten on the ssd would be unrecoverable as the decryption key is removed immediately after the deletion takes place - so even if the data was to be extracted from the unallocated storage - the data would be in an unreadable format.

Apr 27, 2017 7:44 AM in response to simon37

I said some data may be recoverable if the only damage to the device is a non-functional touch display, AND the owner still remembers their password. In that very restrictive circumstance, some data recovery may be possible, such as some photo's (just as they could be copied from the device to a PC under normal circumstances if one knew the screen lock passcode and the device was working normally). If you know the screen lock passcode, and if the device is still mostly functional the data recovery software can gain access to some data on the device.


Other than that highly restrictive circumstance, I don't know of any way to recover data on an iPhone 6 or newer iOS device.

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Data recovery question

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