Posted on 06/29/2008 8:38:39 AM PDT by Sherman Logan
My daughter has a 4 year old Sprint phone, Samsung A620.
It has died with 300+ of her contacts in it, which of course she never backed up.
The Sprint people says there's nothing they can do to recover the data.
Can anybody help? I doubt the guys on CSI would throw in the towel at this point.
Thanks, Sherman.
Call around to some of the independent dealers. There is a handy dandy little machine that will transfer all the info from one phone to another - but it’s a crap shoot if it will work on a dead phone. If the data is retrievable they’ll probably charge you 50-100 bucks to do it.
who has 300 contacts on a cell phone?? :)
My daughter.
300 contracts! No wonder the poor thing died!
The guys on CSI have 44 minutes plus commercials to solve two crimes each week.
300 contacts? I think you have a bigger problem. Maybe you should consider this s blessing.
Remove the memory chip and smash it with a hammer.
If there is a flash card in the phone, try removing the card (carefully) and putting it in a flash reader. See if anything can be read. You may see a Contacts folder if you’re lucky.
Otherwise:
Does the phone turn on? If so, you could try getting a USB data cable for it to see if anything can be found.
Also try asking at: http://Samsung.HowardForums.com
In the future, your daughter may want to take advantage of Sprint’s online contact backup features. Or get a phone that can sync contacts with your PC or Mac.
Hope this helps.
Define ‘died’...
If it won’t turn on at all...there’s nothing that can be done. If it powers up, it may be possible to retrieve the phonebook. Try an independent cell phone dealer/repair shop.
Then buy a pay as you go phone a small spiral note pad and a pen!
Battery okay.
It starts to boot up, but starts blinking before getting all the way up.
I’m with Keith on this one. Perhaps the phone died, but the memory card/chip/thingie did not?
There are two internet sites with a lot of expertise that might be able help you: sprintusers.com and howardforums.com
Great Basin Data Recovery. Scary smart guy when it comes to computers. He has taught computer forensics for years and has recently designed a new software investigative tool for internet investigations.
775-323-DATA (3282)
or contact us at:
info@greatbasindatarecovery.com
Hope it helps...
probably drug dealers and hookers.
How dead is dead? If it will power on there’s a good chance the nice people at the local Sprint store can recover the data.
One good reason to use a GSM phone, other than the fact that it will work about anywhere on earth, is the fact that contacts and other information can be stored on the phone’s SIM card and moved easily from phone to phone. AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM. Sprint and Verizon use CDMA, which does not have a SIM chip and stores information in the phones non volatile memory. With CDMA if the phone dies the memory may die too.
Anyone under the age of 30 who doesn't hang around on right wing web sights. :o)))
Mine died a few months ago. Just for the heck of it, I put in the freezer.
Took it out, turned it on, and it worked!
Foe awhile anyway. It was the display that had failed and the freezing for some reason let it display again, but it died again.
But was able to get contacts off...
ha ha
If the phone is truly DOA and the contacts were saved to the phone and not to the SIMM card then that’s probably why the Sprint folks say there’s nothing they can do.
And I wouldn’t even depend on the SIMM card to save my contacts.
I almost learned this lesson the hard way last year. I had disconnected my land line to save a few bucks. It made sense since I used my cell phone for most calls and especially for long distance and the calls I got on my land line were mostly wrong numbers and telemarketing calls (even though I was on the Do Not Call List).
One day I left work and went to call a friend who I was meeting for dinner to tell her I was running a bit late and I couldn’t find my phone. I ended up retracing my route until I got back to my office and I still hadn’t found my cell phone. Back at my office, I went to call her but since she had recently moved and changed numbers the only place I had it was in my cell phone. Then I panicked. Not only did I not have my only personal phone but I had also lost many phone numbers – personal and work related numbers.
It turned out that the phone must have fallen out of my purse in the office parking lot and one of my co-workers found it and figured out it was mine and sent an email to my work email.
I got the phone back the next morning and immediately did two things. First I wrote down all my important numbers in my organizer and then I logged on to my Verizon account and took advantage of a free service that automatically backs up my contacts from my phone so if my phone is ever really lost, stolen or fried beyond recovery, I can get a new phone and down load all my contacts to the new phone.
I also make a habit of exporting my email (Outlook) address book to an Excel file that I periodically back up and print out just in case.
I work for a tech company and like to think I’m very computer and techno savvy but while technology is a good thing in many ways, when it fails it’s a show stopper.
The machine is called at CellBrite. Most Verizon stores have them. Might try that.
Good advice.
Do nothing. When someone calls save the contact. If they don't call she likely didn't need their number anyway.
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