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I have lenovo k50a40 which is pretty old. I was using my SD card as internal(adoptable storage). By mistake I took out my SD card with taking any backup and inserted another card. Now old card is not working and I have lost all my files. After trying available methods I came to conclusion that files on old card can't be recovered as its not encrypted.

Now what I'm thinking is, does android used to put all photos directly on SD card or first it goes into internal then its copied to SD card? If it first goes to internal then to SD then removed from internal then I think I can root my device and use a recovery app to recover the photos.

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    Please read your question again and correct by edit - did you mean without backing up (I took out my sd card with taking any backup ) as it is encrypted (files on old card can't be recovered as its not encrypted) // Also added adoptable storage to the question, see it's tag wiki and related questions first// Also explain what methods you tried
    – beeshyams
    Nov 30 '20 at 11:55
  • Does this answer your question? Can't access my phone memory suddenly after using SD card as internal memory
    – alecxs
    Dec 1 '20 at 12:51
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your only chance to get files back is decrypt MicroSD Card with correct encryption key. as long as you did not discarded the adoptable-storage by forgetting SD Card or factory reset, they key will remain on device.

therefore you can try to root your device.
be aware unlocking bootloader will erase all data.
you have two possible options:

once you managed to access /data/misc/vold you can use linux dmsetup to decrypt your MicroSD Card and access the files

for more information refer to the adoptable-storage tag-wiki

How to decrypt Adopted Storage?

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  • if none of the root methods working another (not recommended) option is KingRoot it will work up to Marshmallow
    – alecxs
    Dec 1 '20 at 13:09
  • Sorry for delay. Here's what I did. Removed the main card by mistake then inserted another card and made it adoptable. Then I inserted back my main card. So the decryption key is now removed from my device or is still there?
    – CupOfCode
    Dec 10 '20 at 11:00
  • check the output of df in terminal
    – alecxs
    Dec 10 '20 at 12:21

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