How Can I Get My Data Off a Broken Phone?

In today’s fast paced world, a sudden mistake leaving you with a broken phone can be a distressing experience, especially when the screen isn’t working or the phone isn’t turning on. If you don’t have a proper backup your data could be lost forever. Data recovery is going to be your best option, especially if it’s an older phone. In this guide we’ll explore the nuanced process of salvaging data from a broken phone, shedding light on the importance of trying all of your options before giving up on the data forever.

Identify the Damage:

A broken screen or malfunctioning battery doesn’t necessarily mean your data is lost forever. In many cases, the internal components of the phone, including the storage, remain intact even when the external elements are compromised. Leveraging this fact, you may be able to recover your data with a simple repair. Typically it comes down to a screen or battery replacement.

Screen Replacement for Data Recovery:

If your phone still has display but doesn’t touch, or maybe there’s no display at all but you can still hear the phone working a new screen might be a good repair. Often times if the phone is still displaying at functioning at all the internal components haven’t sustained too much damage and will still work after replacing the screen. If you think this may be the case try:

1. Assessing Your Phone:

• Try turning your phone off and on again. Test to see if the screen lights up or has any changes. If you have no display whatsoever check to see if the phone is vibrating. Try having someone call you to see if your ringer goes off. If your phone isn’t doing anything like that and it seems to be completely dead don’t worry. A new battery may do the trick.

2. Data Extraction:

• Once the new screen is in place, you can then, use programs or hardware to get the data off of your phone, or possibly just continue to use the phone like you were before. Phones like Samsungs have something called Smart Switch which is great for backing up your data to a USB stick or SD card. I would also recommend if you haven’t already to back-up everything that you don’t want to lose as this could happen again.

3. Data Transfer:

• If you find yourself with a new phone and you want to get data off of the old broken phone and onto the new one you can do something called a data transfer. When you are setting up your new phone depending on what type of phone it is you may be faced with the option to restore a back-up or transfer data from an old phone. Now that you have your old phone working again you should be able to transfer the data seamlessly.

It’s Not the Screen, It’s My Battery!

This is a bit of a tougher situation as battery diagnostics and such typically require some specialized tools to detect. If your phone isn’t working whatsoever and you want to test the battery you’ll need a multimeter to test the amps and volts that your phone is consuming. Typically if your battery is dead it will take low or no amps. If your phone is taking power though, it may be a screen or the phone may have board damage.

1. Test the Battery:

• In cases where the battery is the primary issue, test it to make sure that is the case. If you have access to a multimeter use it to test to see if your battery / charging port is taking any amps. If you don’t have access to a multimeter, generally speaking batteries last from 1-4 years, so if your phone is on the older side, you may want to try a new battery.

2. Temporary Power Solutions:

• Another one of those specialized hardware devices I had mentioned earlier is something called a direct power supply. This is something that plugs into your phone and supplies power to your motherboard directly rather than charging the battery. Since this device bypasses the battery all together you can test to see if the phone turns on and functions like normal. If that is the case then the battery or the charging port may have issues. If the phone still isn’t turning on with the direct power supply though, you may have more grave issues.

3. Getting the Data Off:

• Now that you have either replaced the battery or have the phone hooked up to a direct power supply you can go ahead and proceed with either extracting the data to an external drive like a USB or an SD card. Or you could also do a data transfer to a new phone if you got a new one in preparation.

Precautions and Expert Involvement:

While the prospect of recovering data through screen or battery replacement is promising, it’s crucial to highlight the importance of professional intervention. DIY attempts can exacerbate the damage and compromise the chances of successful recovery. Make sure you feel comfortable with what you’re doing before attempting it. It should also be noted that if your screen is not damaged and you want to replace your battery, typically you have to remove the screen to get to the battery and you may damage the screen in attempting to do so. Always understand everything you attempt. If you do not feel confident, it doesn’t hurt to seek professional help. Most shops offer some sort of data transfer or data recovery service.

Conclusion:

In the realm of broken phones, where data hangs in the balance, the avenues for recovery are expanding. A new scree or battery could unlock the potential to retrieve valuable information and memories. As technology evolves, so does the expertise in data recovery, providing a lifeline for those facing the unexpected challenge of a broken phone.

Questions or need further guidance? Feel free to reach out!

Back to my repairs.

-Noah Wilson