Generally speaking, Android data recovery requires the device to be rooted. Is it possible to perform Android data recovery without root? In this post, MiniTool Software will introduce some simple and available solutions for you to recover deleted files from an unrooted Android.
Is It Possible to Do Android Data Recovery without Root
When you encounter data loss issues in Android, surely you would like to find a way to get the lost and deleted data back. Thus, you might begin to search for one solution on the internet.
Then, you will discover that all Android data recovery programs require your Android phone or tablet to be rooted in advance if you want to recover data from the Android device directly. But, you may still want to know: is it possible to do Android data recovery without root?
Before answering this question, there are some key points you should know about rooting your Android device.
The Advantages of Rooting Your Android Device
Rooting an Android device enables you to gain privileged control over various Android subsystems.
To be specific, more often than not, Android users choose to root the Android device due to its advantages – for instance, running special apps and freeing up internal memory for more apps & files.
In addition, if you want to use a third-party Android data recovery software to directly recover lost or deleted data from your Android device, you need to root the Android device in advance so this software could successfully detect the data on the Android device.
The Disadvantages of Rooting Your Android Device
However, some of you still don’t want to root the Android device because it has some disadvantages at the same time. Here, we will show you the main disadvantages as follows:
1. Rooting will void your Android device’s warranty
After rooting your Android device, the manufacturer’s warranty will become void. Should any issue develop, even it is not caused by rooting, you will lose your Android device’s warranty. In view of this situation, many Android users refuse to root the Android device.
2. It increases the likelihood of bricking the Android device
A ‘bricked’ Android device means that the device is dead as a brick in your pocket. If this happens, you will not be able to use the Android device as before.
3. It will bring a higher risk of infecting viruses
Just like your computer, the Android phone is a target for viruses and malware. After you root your Android device, you will be able to flash your Android device’s ROM by using custom programs.
As a matter of fact, such changes to a program’s code will make your Android device susceptible to virus infection.
Therefore, some of you don’t want to take risks to root their Android devices.
Now, let’s go back to the issue mentioned at the beginning of this part: is it possible to do Android data recovery without root?
Here, you should know that Android data can be saved on both the internal memory of the Android phone and SD card.
If you want to recover deleted files from SD card Android, you do not have to root your Android in advance. In this respect, it is possible to recover deleted files from unrooted Android.
Then, in the following part, we will tell you some available solutions for conducting Android data recovery without root. You can have a reference.
How Can You Recover Deleted Files from an Unrooted Android
From the above introduction, you know that in the context of this post, Android data recovery without root actually means SD card recovery for Android.
As for Android SD card recovery, the MiniTool team has developed multiple data recovery software to do this job.
For example, MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android is specially designed to recover Android data from Android devices as well as Android SD cards.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery can be used be recover lost and deleted data from all kinds of storage devices, and Android AD card is included;
In addition to these two programs, MiniTool Photo Recovery is able to retrieve photos and videos from the Android SD card.
Then, we will show you the usage of these three programs in SD card recovery for the Android field separately.
Before Android SD card data recovery, you need to insert the SD card into an SD card reader and then connect the reader to your computer. Then, in the following three solutions, we will not repeat this step.
Solution 1: Use MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android
Firstly, we will briefly introduce a professional Android data recovery software: MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android.
It has two recovery modules: Recover from Phone and Recover from SD-Card. Naturally, you should use Recover from SD-Card to recover data from your Android SD card. The lost and deleted Android files you can get back include photos, videos, music files, word documents, and more.
With the Free Edition of this software, you can recover 10 files of one type each time (look here to see more limitations: Limits in MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android Free). You can first use this free software to see whether it can find your needed files.
MiniTool Android Recovery on WindowsClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to rescue lost or deleted data from an unrooted Android device using MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android.
1. Remove the SD card from your Android device and connect it to your computer via a card reader.
2. Open MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android.
3. Select the Recover from SD-Card module to continue.
4. Click Next.
5. Click Next and then the software will begin to analyze and scan your Android SD card.
6. When the scanning process ends, you can see a data type list on the left side of the software. You can select one type from the list and view the items in it on the interface.
For instance, if you want to recover deleted photos android without root, you can select the Picture option under the RAW & Document section and then go to find your needed files.
If you want to recover your Android files from the SD card without limitations, you can upgrade this freeware to a full edition. You can enter the MiniTool official store to make an update. After getting the license, you can directly register the software on the scan result interface.
Solution 2: Use MiniTool Power Data Recovery
MiniTool Power Data Recovery is another software that can be used to retrieve data from Android SD card. It has 4 recovery modules and Removable Disk Drive is the exact module you should use to perform Android data recovery without root free.
This software has a trial edition that enables you to check whether it can detect the files you want to restore. You can press the following download button to get it and have a try.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Remember that you can only use this trial edition to scan the device you want to recover. If you need to save your needed files that are detected by this software, please choose to use a full edition.
Now, take the Personal Deluxe Edition of this software as an example. This edition is recommended for personal use.
1. Insert the SD card to a card reader and connect it to your computer.
2. Select the Removable Disk Drive module from the left module list.
3. Click the Android SD card. If you only want to choose some specified files from the Android SD card, you can click on the Settings feature to make your choices.
4. Click Scan.
5. When the scanning process finishes, you will enter the scan result interface. Then, you can choose the files you want to recover and click on the Save button.
6. This software will show you a pop-out window on which you can choose a proper path to save the selected files.
At last, you can open the specified storage path on your computer to use these recovered files immediately.
Solution 3: Use MiniTool Photo Recovery
In case that you just need to rescue deleted photos and videos from your Android SD card, you can choose a special photo recovery software. MiniTool Photo Recovery is just such a software that can help you recover deleted files Android unrooted.
The unregistered version of this software allows you to retrieve 200MB data totally. So, you can download this software on your computer to try it.
MiniTool Windows Photo RecoveryClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
After installing this software, you should follow these steps to retrieve data from Android SD card.
1. Connect your Android SD card to your computer through a card reader.
2. Open MiniTool Photo Recovery.
3. Click Start.
4. The SD card will be shown in the drive list. If it is not here, you need to press Refresh to make the software recognize it. Then, select the SD card and press Scan.
5. The scanning process will end in a few minutes. Then, you can see the scan results. Choose one photo/video type from the left list and view its details items.
6. Select the files you want to recover, press Save, and then choose a suitable location to save them.
Since you can only recover 200MB data with this freeware, you need to use an advanced edition to rescue all of your needed files. Update it or not, it depends on you.
Another Choice to Recover Deleted Files from an Unrooted Android
The above 3 solutions are especially useful when there is no available Android backup file. If you have backed up your Android data, you can get your lost or deleted Android data from the previous back up file.
There is an official article that introduces the detailed steps of backing up and restore your Android data: Back up or restore data on your Android device.
Bottom Line
If you want to perform Android data recovery without root, you can just try these solutions mentioned in this post to help you out. We hope you can find a suitable method here.
Should you have any issues when using our software or handling the recovering deleted files from an unrooted Android issue, you can send an email to [email protected] or let us know in the comment.
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Stella has been working in MiniTool Software as an English Editor for more than 7 years. Her articles mainly cover the fields of data recovery including storage media data recovery and phone data recovery, YouTube videos download, partition management, and video conversions.