How to recover data? Phone stuck on DFU mode

[Asgrom]

Hi all, not sure if anyone has done this before. Basically my iPhone 6 is no longer turning on and keeps going into "DFU" mode, and it seems like the only way to fix it is to reset/reboot it. Problem with that is that it will erase all the data and I haven't backed up in a few years. I see there are a few tools out there, notably 3utools, Tenorshare ReiBoot, and iMyFoneFixppo that apparently can "download the firmware" and install that on the phone without damaging/deleting the data.



Has anyone actually tried this and can comment on whether downloading the firmware would actually work without deleting the data?



I took the phone to one of those phone shops and they say there is no water damage, the battery is good, and everything is ok, it is just the "circuitry" is malfunctioning so that a reboot would fix it. But for me the data is more important than the phone, so if anyone has any experience with this I would love to hear it.



I was also told if these online tools don't work, then I should consider a "data recovery" service such as Payam (EDITED - no website links). Anyone have experience with them? They charge $650 for the service, so not sure if I should go to that route. I am worried though that if I do use those online tools they may erase the data (even if they say they wont!) and so maybe I should go straight to Payam (or any equivalent data recovery service).



I also spoke to Apple and they said they can't do anything apart from help me restore my iPhone to my last backup.



Any other info or advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[scifan57]

Unfortunately, restoring your iPhone will erase everything on it. Installing an unofficial copy of iOS through another service won’t change that.
While the data is still technically on your iPhone there’s no way to access it.

 

[scifan57]

BTW, trying to install any iOS firmware from a source other than Apple itself will fail every time because part of the process is an online verification with the Apple update server.

 

[Asgrom]

Hi scifan57, thank you so much for the information. I wonder how these online tools (and there's quite a lot of them) get away with the kind of advertising stating that they can recover the data. I mean, surely people have tried their tools and would comment to say it doesn't work? Or say that it does work in the reviews. It just seems like there is not much information online about the capabilities. Their tools do other things and people seem to be commenting positively about that, but not specifically about recovering data. Perhaps that answers my question?

 

[scifan57]

If you look closely at their descriptions they’re actually referring to recovering data from an iTunes or iCloud backup in almost every case.

 

[Asgrom]

I just wish to post an update for those that may have experienced a similar problem to me. I decided as a last ditch effort I will send my phone to a data recovery company (refered to in my first post), and they advertised a "no fix, no fee" situation. I figured that I had nothing to lose out of it, for I was to reset/reflash the phone anyway and all data was to be lost.

I posted the phone on a Monday to the company, they received it on a Wednesday. By the next Monday they emaied me back to say that they have recovered nearly 93 GB of data from my phone! They express shipped my phone back and I just received it Wednesday. My iPhone is 128 GB, and I feel like 114 is usable, and that pretty much covers the pictures/videos/messages/notes (my phone wasn't completelly full so it might actually be all of it?). Perhaps some files are lost/corrupted, but from a brief look at what they sent me, all the new photos/messages are there, which is nice to see.

The cost of this was high, but I suppose people need to decide whether it is worth the expense. Or alternatively, make sure you back up your data! I learned that the hard and expensive way.