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my phone (Galaxy S9+) was recently stolen, and thankfully I got it back, but it was completely destroyed when I got it back. I'm not sure what they did to it (looks like they took a hammer to it), all I know is the display no longer turns on. It will still power up though.

I need to somehow retrieve the data from the encrypted SD card, and as I'm aware, the only way to do this is with the device that encrypted the card.

As far as I remember, the old phone has developer mode + remote debugging turned on, however I cannot access it via adb (presumably because I can't press the button to allow data transfer that pops up when you plug the phone into a computer). Its not rooted either.

Buying a new digitizer or paying for data recovery is simply out of the question as both are very expensive.

I do have some phone repair experience, and I see my last resort as disassembling my new s9 and using that screen to either decrypt it or copy the contents, but I'd really rather not take my brand new phone apart + these newer galaxies are among the hardest phones I've ever repaired.

Do I have any other options?

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  • adb access don't work because your device is locked. Is your device locked with a PIN, a password or pattern lock? Entering a PIN or password should be possible using an USB OTG adapter and a simple USB keyboard. – Robert Oct 3 '19 at 13:38
  • Is the type c to regular usb adapter that comes in the box usable for this? I've heard of otg, but never really understood what makes it classified as 'otg- - is it because its small, or does it serve some sort of purpose a regular adapter doesnt? – Elliot Tregoning Oct 3 '19 at 17:53
  • I don't think so. an USB OTG adapter has on ethe one side an USB-C male plug and on the other side a USB-A female connector, just like this one: amazon.com/dp/B01GGKYXVE (see the second image on the left) – Robert Oct 4 '19 at 11:26
  • Well, either way, the adapter I had worked -- it allowed me to unlock the phone, but it still won't show it in adb -- as I said before, I probably have to allow it, and the digitizer is completely unresponsive :( – Elliot Tregoning Oct 4 '19 at 13:05
  • In general Android has the possibility for keyboard navigation, therefore it is theoretically possible to enable ADB. However in reality it would require a second working S9+ you could use of practicing the keyboard commands. – Robert Oct 5 '19 at 11:27
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Answering my own question because I just figured out the simplest way possible (and tbh feel like a bit of an idiot for not realizing this before haha)

There was a method suggested on the comments thread of the OP, which might work as well, but what I ended up doing is using my USB hub (which has an hdmi port) and plugging the phone directly into my tv via hdmi. It required having my keyboard plugged in as well, but there were no permissions to bypass, and if you have a bt keyboard you could essentially use a physical keyboard to pair the bt keyboard, and then use a usb c to hdmi adapter to hook up to the tv -- cheaper option since this usb hub was like 50 bucks :P

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  • Congratulations that you managed it in the end. Could you please add the USB hub brand and product name - just to make sure in case not all USB-to-HDMI converters work. – Robert Oct 5 '19 at 14:00
  • Long model number so I'll just post a link newegg.com/p/0ZK-00GK-001C2 – Elliot Tregoning Oct 5 '19 at 17:44

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