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I forgot my password to unlock my Samsung Galaxy Tab, so I did a factory reset to get into it. Now I would like to recover as much of my previous data that I can. Is this possible? If so, how do I go about recovering it?

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  • You still got your SDcard contents
  • You still got synced data on Google cloud associated with your Google account and other cloud services.
  • Everything else is wiped out and cannot be restored

All you can do is log in with same Google account on your device and it will restore some data from cloud like Google Contacts, Calendar and, maybe, settings for some apps. Purchased apps are still available from Google Play and you don't need to buy them again. Install Dropbox, Google Drive and other apps which store their data outside your device.

In future, try to keep copy of everything important on other device such as your computer or in cloud. Nowadays you can get lots of free storage on many services like Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, Skydrive etc. You can avoid wiping your device in future but you cannot avoid losing it or breaking it, so backups is very important.

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If everything could just be easily recovered after a data wipe/factory reset, that same data would be available to the finder (possessor) or any lost/stolen tablet (or smart-phone). That said, there are forensic tools out there (if you can gain access to them) which may be able to recover ALL recent data and history. – david6 Oct 6 '12 at 7:51
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@david6 which is only true when you have root access to the device in question. And even then only partly, as after the device is started up following a factory-reset, structures will be rebuilt (Dalvik Cache etc.), and new installed/configured apps write to the file system where other data might have been before. Plus, even with good forensic tools it's not "as easy as 1-2-3", but requires at least some, but more likely a lot of manual work. – Izzy Oct 7 '12 at 23:06
I was referring to RAM/ROM-debug tools that (in theory) only LEO and Intelligence persons have access to. – david6 Oct 7 '12 at 23:29

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