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H E L P !! Lost note :-(

JayBee99

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I have an Apple iPad 4 where an important note "disappeared". Two Chinese software packages (Dr. Fone Wondershare and iOS data-recovery.exe of Apowersoft) supposedly can restore it. Does anyone know the software? Does anyone have experience with it? Do I invite the plague into my house (killted iPad, data theft or so) when I use them? Which is the better?

Many thanks in advance for any useful hint!
 

giradman

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Hi JayBee.. - welcome to the forum! :) First, please tell us which iOS is installed on your iPad 4; and second, where was the 'note' (e.g. in Notes or another app) and how did it disappear (i.e. did you delete it)? Also, tell us how you are using online services like iCloud, Dropbox, etc. - the note may still exist there.

As to downloading (and likely paying for the presumed better apps - debatable!) 'data recovery software' is usually a 'crap shoot' - but respond to the other questions above and more specific advice can be offered. Dave
 
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JayBee99

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Hi JayBee.. - welcome to the forum! :) First, please tell us which iOS is installed on your iPad 4; and second, where was the 'note' (e.g. in Notes or another app) and how did it disappear (i.e. did you delete it)? Also, tell us how you are using online services like iCloud, Dropbox, etc. - the note may still exist there.

As to downloading (and likely paying for the presumed better apps - debatable!) 'data recovery software' is usually a 'crap shoot' - but respond to the other questions above and more specific advice can be offered. Dave

Hi Dave, thanks for the quick reaction. Unfortunately I must confess that I'm a complete Apple-novice. I own the iPad for some 1 1/2 years and presume to have the latest iOS (since I clicked "yes" to the frequent updates). Also I must confess that I did NOT use any backups (like iCloud, Dropbox, etc.). The note, indeed, was in "Notes" and possibly I hit the trash can and subsequently the confirming msg without noticing it. It happened so fast :-( Suddenly it was gone. How stupid not to backup regularily (it's so easy, just send it by mail to my PC). BTW, the 'data recovery software' offers some trial versions for free (e.g. to recover just ONE item --- and that's just what I need).
Now you have all the info I can give, and I hope you are the wizard to help me! Regards Jay
 

giradman

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Hi Dave, thanks for the quick reaction. Unfortunately I must confess that I'm a complete Apple-novice. I own the iPad for some 1 1/2 years and presume to have the latest iOS (since I clicked "yes" to the frequent updates). Also I must confess that I did NOT use any backups (like iCloud, Dropbox, etc.). The note, indeed, was in "Notes" and possibly I hit the trash can and subsequently the confirming msg without noticing it. It happened so fast :-( Suddenly it was gone. How stupid not to backup regularily (it's so easy, just send it by mail to my PC). BTW, the 'data recovery software' offers some trial versions for free (e.g. to recover just ONE item --- and that's just what I need).

Hi Jay - as to your iOS, simply enter Settings -> About, then look half way down the right-side column for your iOS version - current one is 9.2. If you have no backups (whether in iTunes on a computer and/or in the cloud - I do both) and deleted a note on the device in Notes, the item is likely gone, sorry. As mentioned before, you can google iPad data recovery software and get plenty of hits but most will eventually cost and some are quite expensive - of course, there are data recovery services often at exorbitant prices.

For myself, I have no experience in helping others recover data (nor have had a need myself), so hopefully others may 'chime in' w/ suggestions - this is an oft asked question here, so a search might bring up some more ideas; but, I'm afraid the note is gone - iCloud backups are done automatically if setup properly and using Apple's cloud services to synchronize your important data is also easily done - maybe next time? Good luck - Dave :)
 

twerppoet

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If you are running iOS 9.x then the Notes app should have a Recently Deleted folder. Tap the back arrow at the top left of the notes colum until you see the Folders list. This should exist so long as you've manually delete one or more notes. If you didn't delete the note, then it's probalby not there.

If mememory serves, the Recently Deleted folder keeps notes for 30 days before auto-deleting them.

Good luck.

image.jpeg
 
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JayBee99

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Thanks for the news, but ... looks like I'm running an old iOS: The Item "Version" (the language on the iPad is german) it says: 8.1 (12B410) and the pad waits to be updated to 9.2. If I click the app "notes", I see the names of all notes (but no such thing as "recently deleted"). Now what? :-(
 

giradman

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Thanks for the news, but ... looks like I'm running an old iOS: The Item "Version" (the language on the iPad is german) it says: 8.1 (12B410) and the pad waits to be updated to 9.2. If I click the app "notes", I see the names of all notes (but no such thing as "recently deleted"). Now what? :-(

Hi again JayBee.. - if TP's suggestion does not help, and as I've implied several times, you note has likely gone to 'cyber-heaven' - your only option is to try data recovery software or a service, as discussed previously - this probably will be costly w/ no guarantees.

Not too long ago, I started a thread HERE in the Mac Forums (I'm RadDave there) concerning data recovery on flash storage - take a look, especially at post #14 from a tech at Prosoft Data Rescue - if Apple uses the discussed TRIM feature on its iDevice flash storage, the data cannot be recovered according to his opinion. Dave :)
 

twerppoet

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Thanks for the news, but ... looks like I'm running an old iOS: The Item "Version" (the language on the iPad is german) it says: 8.1 (12B410) and the pad waits to be updated to 9.2. If I click the app "notes", I see the names of all notes (but no such thing as "recently deleted"). Now what? :-(

With no backups, then the chances of you recovering the note is near zero. I have no experience with the flash recover tools you've mentioned, but the nature of such tools means that the longer you wait the less likely you are to get the note back. And it wasn't a good chance to begin with.
 
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JayBee99

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Thank you both for your serious efforts to help, but „important note, RIP!“ :mad:

btw: Something like RadDave’s #10 happened to me when calling a professional data recovery service. That strengthens my belief that all (ALL!) sw developing companies lack a US department (User Stupidity).

Best regards, Jay

(later) However, if all the bad news are right --- how can all the data rescue services make money (and apparently a lot of)??
 
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giradman

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Hi JayBee.. - LOL! So, you looked at that link - great! The post response was kind of 'tongue in cheek', obviously; I hope that you looked at the entire thread (not really that long) - the Trim feature is briefly described below (more HERE), and as stated kind of 'cleans up' quickly after files are deleted on solid state storage devices, making recovery of data much less likely or impossible - data recovery services (and software) will have to concentrate on the hardware from which data can be recovered and/or get into another 'offshoot' of the technology. Of course, as more people switch to SSDs w/ this feature, backups will become critical for retrieving one's files. Dave :)

Trim was introduced soon after SSDs were introduced. Because low-level operation of SSDs differs significantly from hard drives, the typical way in which operating systems handle operations like deletes and formats resulted in unanticipated progressive performance degradation of write operations on SSDs.[2] Trimming enables the SSD to handle garbage collection overhead, which would otherwise significantly slow down future write operations to the involved blocks, in advance.[3]
 
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JayBee99

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However, if all the bad news are right --- how can all the data rescue services make money (and apparently a lot of)??
What do you think?

At my bank I have a virtual account called "experience". The more real money I loose, the bigger it gets. ;) Thanky to you all I've learned a lot. :)
 

giradman

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However, if all the bad news are right --- how can all the data rescue services make money (and apparently a lot of)??

What do you think?

Hi again - well, this is not my profession or an area of great expertise, so I'd only be guessing and/or doing a LOT of googling to find an answer, but a 'fool and his money are soon parted' - ;)

There are plenty of 'google hits' on data recovery including articles on why the service can be SO expensive - and many claim the ability to recover data from all sorts of storage devices, including SSDs - since I've never used such a service, I don't know what their guarantees may be - however, if I needed their skills, I would look for one offering a 'free' (or nominal) initial evaluation on the odds of retrieving my information.

Like I said before, there are numerous storage devices still in use in which 'some' data likely can be recovered - how this will change in the future is only guess work for me and how these services will adjust to these changes in storage technology is yet a further unknown; sorry, no magic ball in my possession.

BUT to emphasize again, backing up computer data is important and the majority of computer users do not perform routine backups, e.g. look at the chart below, only about 15% of of users do daily or weekly backups - for myself, my backups are weekly and include both Time Machine & cloning software (each x 2), plus offsite backup of my wife's personal files to Carbonite and an external SSD of my MBPro's personal files - you can see that I'm into different options and redundancy - these inexpensive HDs can easily fail themselves, especially after 3-4 years in use. Dave :)
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Screen Shot 2015-12-20 at 10.52.44 AM.png

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JayBee99

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Hi dave, thanks for all the valuable info. I now installed iOS 9.2 and said goodbye to the note. From now on: backup backup backup backup backup backup ...!!!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
¡Feliz Navidad y un Feliz Año Nuevo!
Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein glückliches neues Jahr!
İyi Noeller vemutlu bir yeni yıl!
Prettige Kerstdagen en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!
Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus un laimīgu Jauno gadu!
С Рождеством иНовым Годом!

Over and out. Jay
 

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