# Undo factory restore on iPad mini ?



## hippy1975 (28 Jul 2013)

Really really hoping someone can help please, I need to find out if there is a way to recover photos on iPad mini that were deleted possibly by way of a factory reset....
The situation is, my brother is terminally ill and someone stole his iPad mini last week, the guards (major kudos to them) got it back 4 days later but everything has been wiped.   There were some photos on there that are hugely hugely sentimentally important and I'd do anything to get them back for him.
I downloaded some recovery software (tenorshare) but the only photos found to recover are ones the thieves took, I'm guessing maybe they did a factory reset and if that's the case, does anyone please know how I could recover the pics from before that ?
I'm afraid no back-up to iCloud or iTunes had been done, it hasn't been plugged into laptop since it was bought 2 months ago, yes, I'm kicking myself, please don't anyone jump down my throat about not doing the backup we've been dealing with much more serious matters these last few months. 
Would be SO grateful if anyone can help, thanks!


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## sustanon (29 Jul 2013)

You can try this,

http://www.ufusoft.com/data-recovery-for-mac/


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## hippy1975 (29 Jul 2013)

Thanks sustanon, that seems to be specifically for Mac, but I'll see if they have a pc version.

I'm thinking now maybe they didnt do a full erase & reset, because some of the pics/screenshots they took were of an app my brother had on the iPad, which is not there now, but I'm thinking they must have deleted stuff manually, as if they did erase & reset it wouldn't have been there for a screenshot to be taken, does that seem about right ?


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## Latrade (29 Jul 2013)

I know you say you didn't back up to iCloud, but if you set up the device with an iTunes account, it may have backed up the data for you.


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## hippy1975 (29 Jul 2013)

Thanks Latrade, I'll try that, guess I need to do that on his laptop, can't seem to access his iTunes on my laptop (I can get into the store but not his library)

I've tried several different recovery softwares with no luck


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## Latrade (29 Jul 2013)

hippy1975 said:


> Thanks Latrade, I'll try that, guess I need to do that on his laptop, can't seem to access his iTunes on my laptop (I can get into the store but not his library)
> 
> I've tried several different recovery softwares with no luck


 
No it's on the ipad itself rather than iTunes. When setting up the iPad you can link it to an existing iTunes account or create a new one, this will also set up an iCloud account.

Have you tried logging into the iCloud account under the settings? If they aren't there then there's no easy solution to getting the pictures back, at least not via home software that I know of (most rely on previous iTunes back up files).

There are data recovery companies who might be able to help.


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## AlbacoreA (29 Jul 2013)

Like any disk, the more you use it the more chance you'll overwrite any old files. I don't think you are going to get this back via iTunes. You'll have to use some linux based software.


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## Time (29 Jul 2013)

Any data recovery place will charge you mega bucks to attempt such a fools errand.


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## AlbacoreA (29 Jul 2013)

Time said:


> Any data recovery place will charge you mega bucks to attempt such a fools errand.



Why fools errand. 

A format doesn't generally wipe data off a disk. Unless Apple format does something different. 

You'd need to do something like this...
http://www.thedailybuggle.com/recover-iphone-photos-accidentally-deleted/


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## Time (29 Jul 2013)

50 to 100 an hour with no guarantee of success.


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## AlbacoreA (29 Jul 2013)

How would you pay a plumber or a mechanic? You can do it yourself, if you got the skills. 

Recovering the data will depend on what's happened to the disk after it was formatted. Which is why you make an image of the disk before trying things on it.


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## AlbacoreA (29 Jul 2013)

hippy1975 said:


> Really really hoping someone can help please, I need to find out if there is a way to recover photos on iPad mini that were deleted possibly by way of a factory reset.......



Any chance any of these were emailed to other people? Or printed anywhere? If they were taken at an event would anyone else have the same or similar photos?


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## mathepac (29 Jul 2013)

@hippy1975, PM sent just now.


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## Steven Barrett (19 Jun 2014)

Time said:


> Any data recovery place will charge you mega bucks to attempt such a fools errand.



Depends on how much the lost data is worth to you. 

A number of years ago, I paid a company €750 to recover data on clients leads that I lost when my laptop crashed and died. It was well worth it as the income generated as a result of their work far exceeded the fee paid. 


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie


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