Access internal storage on dead FP2

My fairphone 2 is completely dead since I dropped it flat on a stone floor. Having tried inserting the battery of another FP2 and plugging in the charger (my phone was still dead), and mounting my different modules into my friend’s FP2 (worked like normal), I now suspect it’s the core module that’s broken.
I now wonder if there is a way to access the internal storage of the fairphone, even though the core module is broken. I would love to get my pictures back.
Is there something I can do?
Thanks a million in advance.

Maybe a repair shop can get your core module back to life, which would then rather equal a successful repair.
Just getting the memory to work won’t do.

If someone is very skilled in fixing and smd soldering (@ElKrasso) :wink: he could swap chips from one core module to another just for recovering the data.
But finding someone who actually would do the magic plus keeping another functional core module to tinker with is rather impossible.

Too bad. :frowning_face:

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It is possible to desolder the internal storage and put it in an external reader (eMMC reader). This requires special equipment and skills, but there are companies who offer it as a service. It comes with a price tag, of course.

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Oh, fine. Any company names here?

Just as back in the days when companies offered to recover data from damaged hdd drives.
This could be hard work back then also for working under clean-room conditions.
I wonder if now the price/mb for a chip readout has rather increased or decreased.

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Found this on the web; though for windows devices only
https://recoverhdd.com/blog/recovering-emmc-memory.html

Or this, not sure if it is for android as well:
https://www.quora.com/How-can-data-be-recovered-from-an-eMMC-card

And here a video of a recovery (not exactly the kind of equipment I have at home :grin: ):

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It seems you are in Germany. You can find a few places by searching “android emmc datenrettung”. I don’t want to make a specific recommendation since I’ve never used such a service myself.

Exactly. But you don’t need a cleanroom for eMMC, just decent soldering equipment (and skills) and an eMMC reader. Every electronics repair shop which does chip level repairs should be able to do it. Expect to pay a few hundred Euros.

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NOT!
I always assumed this was all purpose equipment in every household. :smile:

Well what’s needed is a matching test pcb (for different chip layouts) onto which the FP2 memory chip has to be soldered.

I saw the converter/programmer box which provides signal conversion and connectivity to a computer.
The software is freeware. It’s no rocket science, but for a single treatment a bit pricey. If it weren’t for the personal data a new phone would come cheaper.

Anyway to me it looks like a market - how often (smart)phones break just when no one is prepared for it to happen. :money_mouth_face:
But things look different if the data is encrypted which is more common with recent OS versions.

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