Encryption is messing up EVERYTHING (ICS Version)

[thatishkray]

Hey guys. I'm having a very serious problem with my phone, which I am pretty certain is due to the encryption function. I am going to attempt to describe my dilemma as best as possible so that some kind, adept, brilliant droid expert maybe be able to thoroughly and informatively help me with this situation. With that sad, grab a chair, a nice warm glass a milk, and sit down by the hearth, because it's story time. dancedroid



Either a month or two ago, I decided to encrypt the data on my ICS updated Droid Razr. Now I knew/know what encryption is, but I wasn't sure exactly what it would do for/to my phone. Naturally, I thought it would encrypt the things it said it would encrypt--my email, SD card and the files in them, the files in my phone's storage, etc. So I encrypted it, much to my dismay, the encryption process didn't do any of those things, and if it did I didn't notice any changes. Fast forward some time later (perhaps a couple weeks) and for whatever reason something came up that led to me powering off/on my phone (I.E.: my phone died haha). When I turned it back on it prompted me to enter a code for my SD card. I had no clue why this prompt was here and I was unsure of what the code could be, so I ignored it. Afterwards I try to access my music but there are no songs there. After some time and reasoning, I concluded that this was a result of the encryption process and in order to access my music and several other things, I would need enter my code, which was my pin. (I feel that it should be noted that I encrypted both my SD card and my internal storage, yet it only ever prompted me to put in a code for my SD card, and my internal data was available/present regardless of whether or not I put in a code for my SD card.

Fast forward again and you'll see me yesterday, fed up with having to enter a code each time I turn on my phone. I recall back to the time where I first encrypted my phone. After the process was finished, I remember going back to the encryption menu and seeing options to decrypt. So I return to the menu to try just that, however, that option isn't there. What's there are just the standard ICS options to encrypt again. This struck me as odd, considering my things were already encrypted. So in an action of desperation I chose to encrypt everything in my phone, my goal being that after I encrypted my things, the option for decrypting would reappear...boy was I wrong. I start the encryption and the progress for completion starts at 60%...and then it just STAYS at 60%. I wait for the process for a good 30 minutes before I doze off at 12 am, and then wake back up at 5 am. I feel something OH-SO-HOT under my stomach, the thing being my phone. I check the progress and it is still at 60%. With mixed emotions, I turn off my phone, go back to sleep, wake up later in the late morning, turn my phone back on and it is still at 60%.

So here I am now, with my phone sitting next to me at 60% as I frantically surf the web to find whatever solution I can for this bull****. It seems that there aren't many problems similar to mine, so my efforts have been mostly fruitless. The internet has told me to either boot my phone in safe mode, soft reset, or do a factory reset, and well, even those solutions might not even work. I've attempted to boot it in safe mode, but it just gets stuck on the white droid logo-->http://i.testfreaks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/DSCF8018.jpg The soft reset did nothing, for after I did reset it and power my phone back on, it just resumed encryption at 60% complete. I am not sure how to do a factory reset because I cannot get into my phone's UI and system settings and I am unsure how to do a reset any other way. I will soon contact Verizon over the phone to see if they can help me (ha, I doubt it though). If that doesn't work I will go to one of their stores either today or tomorrow.

I would also very much like to only resort to factory reset as a last resort. :sad:

So please, if you think you can help me, DO NOT hesitate to do so. I will literally take any instruction or advice at this point. Thanks..

[Sorry if there are any typos and/or grammatical errors--this is quite a post, and I did my best to proof read but I feel as if i skipped over some mistakes. Again, sorry.]

 

[Xfactorx316]

I'm not sure that I have any solutions to really help and I'm sorry you are having troubles. The Factory Reset would be my last option as well. Are you able to boot the phone into recovery? You can do the reset from there. I can walk you through the steps if you don't know how to do that.

 

[thatishkray]

Isn't recovery the same as safe mode? If not, please, by all means, instruct me!

 

[tech_head]

Encryption on these devices is a bad piece of road on a one way street.
Get your data off if you get it recovered.
COpy it to a PC/Mac and then do a factory reset.
Encryption on these devices is bad because if you ever need to replace the device you cannot get to your data.

 

[FoxKat]

Encryption on these devices is a bad piece of road on a one way street.
Get your data off if you get it recovered.
COpy it to a PC/Mac and then do a factory reset.
Encryption on these devices is bad because if you ever need to replace the device you cannot get to your data.

100% correct! Encryption on these phones is completely dependent on the excepting phone being functioning in order to access the data. If the phone fails, kiss your data goodbye, forever...pictures, videos, music, documents, etc., gone.

In your case, the second attempt to encrypt appears to have failed and you may have lost your data forever. The only way possible to recover the data is if you are able to get the phone back to full working order, and even then it may still be lost.

Booting to Safe Mode may allow you to get out of the j am you're in now, but I have my doubts that the data will be there when you reboot. Still it's worth a try. First, power the phone off by pressing and holding both the power and volume down buttons for about 10 seconds our longer (until the screen goes black). Once the screen goes completely black, press the power button and hold until you see the red M Logo. Then release the power button and press and hold both volume buttons until the home screen appears and the words "Safe mode" appear on the bottom left corner of the screen (or until the main screen appears). Then release the volume buttons. Try logging into the phone. If successful, try to access the data. If successful, use a USB CABLE connected to your PC and copy the data to your computer. Once done, you can perform the Factory Data Reset and this time, don't enable encryption.

If you are unable to gain control of the phone, I'm afraid the data is likely gone and your only option is an FDR, which will wipe the encryption and all data associated with it.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[Xfactorx316]

Safe Mode isn't like the recovery screen. Safe mode allows you to boot up without all of the add ons you've downloaded running so that you can trouble shoot issues that you are having. If booting into safemode as FoxKat described above does not work, then I think it is time to do the FDR from recovery (since you said you couldn't get to it system setting anymore).

First power off your phone. When it is completely off press both volume buttons and the power button. Use the volume down button to highlight recovery and then press the volume up button. You will get the Motorolla logo and then it will go blank again. You should then have an android lying down with his chest open. Press both volume buttons and then you should have a menu at the top. Scroll down using the volume rocker to wipe data/factory reset - use the power button to select. You will have a new menu with a bunch of No's listed. Scroll down until you get to Yes -- delete all user data. Use the power button to select. I believe at that point it will ask if you want to clear your SD data as well (I'm not sure if this will be necessary to clear in your case).

Hope that helps!

 

[FoxKat]

Safe Mode isn't like the recovery screen. Safe mode allows you to boot up without all of the add ons you've downloaded running so that you can trouble shoot issues that you are having. If booting into safemode as FoxKat described above does not work, then I think it is time to do the FDR from recovery (since you said you couldn't get to it system setting anymore).

First power off your phone. When it is completely off press both volume buttons and the power button. Use the volume down button to highlight recovery and then press the volume up button. You will get the Motorolla logo and then it will go blank again. You should then have an android lying down with his chest open. Press both volume buttons and then you should have a menu at the top. Scroll down using the volume rocker to wipe data/factory reset - use the power button to select. You will have a new menu with a bunch of No's listed. Scroll down until you get to Yes -- delete all user data. Use the power button to select. I believe at that point it will ask if you want to clear your SD data as well (I'm not sure if this will be necessary to clear in your case).

Hope that helps!

xfactor316 is completely correct...just remember, this is a last resort for your situation since once done, there is absolutely no way to recover the data that is encrypted on the phone. Still, I think at this point the data is lost anyway. That said, if it were my phone and the data were that critical, I'd be on the phone not to Verizon technical support, but to Motorola technical support, and I'd be pressing for level 3 technical support to get to the bottom of this failure.

I happen to have spent several days and countless hours researching and trying to solve a problem with encryption for another member, and I came away from it very disheartened and also quite mad. I wouldn't put encryption on my enemy's phone let alone my own at this point knowing how it's configured and the "bad piece of road on a one way street." phrase that tech_head coined above. In fact, I can't think of a better description for it. It's a dangerous path to take since it can fail easily, and once failed there's no turning back. There needs to be a fail-safe way to recover the data via an interface on the desktop PC, and the data should ONLY be encrypted on the removable SD Card. So as a result, the ONLY data that should be stored which is sensitive should be defaulted to the removable card once encryption is enabled, and any sensitive data on the internal fixed SD card should be copied over during the encryption process. This would serve two main purposes. First, if anyone wants to dump the phone, all they'd have to do is remove the SD card and they're done. There would be no sensitive data on it for anyone to recover. Second, the data that IS sensitive and MUST NOT BE LOST OR COMPROMISED, would be ON the REMOVABLE SD CARD, and then with a utility that Motorola would provide, and using the MEID of the phone and the passcode chosen by the user, the data could be decrypted.

Of course, this isn't as secure as Motorola wanted to make it, so instead they made it so secure that if the phone fails, the data is lost. Brilliant! :blink: