Q&A: How to Recover Data from BlackBerry Phone?

I have some photos got wiped out from my BlackBerry phone, is it still possible to recover them?

It depends. Things like whether it was a security wipe, whether your photos were stored in the mass memory (e.g. a micro SD card), whether you have backups, etc. all matter.

To make things easier for you to understand, I’m breaking down the situations into two scenarios (see below). Do a quick match to find the respective answer and recovery solutions.

If you just had a security wipe and reset your Blackberry phone, then there is no way to retrieve the lost data unless you have a backup. A security wipe permanently erases all data saved on your Blackberry phone (internal memory) by writing zeros to the space and making data unrecoverable. That’s why BlackBerry calls it a “security wipe.”

The ONLY solution is — to check if you have backups on your computer. For example, maybe you’ve set up auto-sync between your phone and your computer.

Also, when you perform a security wipe, Blackberry has an option asking you whether you want to automatically back up the data if your device is connected to a computer.

So again, check relevant folders on your computer. If you do find a backup, great! Now you can sync the backup data (photos, movies, songs, contacts, etc.) to your phone and start using them.

If you just wiped or formatted the mass memory card attached to your BlackBerry phone, then yes — it’s quite possible to recover the files. But the first thing you should keep in mind is to stop saving additional data to the mass memory card as it might cause data overwritten.

Then try a digital media recovery software such as Stellar Photo Recovery, which may help you retrieve pictures, videos, songs from common storage media including Blackberry memory cards.

Note: you’ll need to rely on a computer (either a PC or a Mac) to run the recovery software and assist the recovery process. Below is a quick step-by-step tutorial on how to use the program.

1. Connect your BlackBerry phone (mass memory card) to your computer via a USB cable or a card reader. Make sure your computer can recognize the card.
2. Get Stellar Photo Recovery and install the program on your PC or Mac. Be sure to install the right version (Windows or macOS).
3. Open the software, follow the instructions to select the disk drive (your Blackberry memory card represents) to start a scan.
4. When the scan is complete, you’ll see a lot of media files (photos, videos, music) listed on left side of the program. Preview them to see if your lost pics are there.
5. If you find them, congratulations. Select those you want to recover and save them to a local disk drive.

Stellar isn’t freeware, though it does provide a trial for users to evaluate. You’ll need to pay $49.99 to enable the Recover function to save any found images. You may want to check out our reviews of the best photo recovery software for more alternatives.

Good luck with your Blackberry data recovery efforts!