He tried to safeguard family memories and the safeguarding is what broke them. He "moved photos and videos" from his Samsung onto a USB device, but on the laptop "the photos do not open and only one third of the videos work". Then, trying to fix it, he "tried putting the device back into the phone and moved the files back across but they won't even work on the phone now." Files that copied but won't open point to a failing or faulty USB stick that corrupted them in transfer — and moving the broken files back to the phone risks having overwritten the originals, which makes the stick's contents worth recovering carefully, and anything still on the phone worth preserving untouched.
| Media | A USB flash device holding photos and videos moved from a Samsung phone — most photos won't open, only a third of videos play; the files then copied back to the phone, where they also now fail. |
| Reported situation | Media moved from a Samsung phone to a USB stick · photos not opening, two-thirds of videos broken on the laptop · files copied back to the phone in an attempt to fix them · files now failing on the phone too · family memories at stake. |
| Fault class | Corruption introduced by a failing or faulty USB stick during transfer — the copied files damaged, with the phone's originals possibly overwritten by the round trip; the stick assessed in the lab, the handset preserved by its owner. |
| Equipment used | USB stick imaged under a hardware write-blocker before anything, and the stick's controller and flash health checked · corrupted files analysed at hex level in X-Ways Forensics, images and video carved in PhotoRec, containers rebuilt against references where damaged · the owner guided on preserving the handset untouched and exporting any originals that survive on it — handset storage itself sits outside our lab's remit · every recovered file validated by rendering, the best surviving version kept. |
Files that copy but won't open indicate the copy itself was corrupted, and the stick is the suspect. A transfer that completes but leaves photos unopenable and most videos broken points at the destination — a failing or low-quality USB stick that did not write the data reliably. The files arrived damaged, not intact, which is why they fail to open. That "moved" likely meant the phone deleted its copies after the transfer makes the corrupted stick versions the primary concern.
Copying the broken files back to the phone was the risky move, and it must be understood honestly. Moving the corrupted files back onto the phone may have overwritten whatever originals were still there — replacing good data, if any survived, with broken copies. That the files now fail on the phone too suggests the corrupted versions landed there. This is why the round trip is the dangerous step: it potentially turned one damaged copy into two, and put the phone's originals at risk.
Both sources still matter, because the good version may survive in either. The stick holds the corrupted copies, from which the image and video data can often be carved and repaired despite the broken index. The phone may still hold originals, depending on whether the round trip fully overwrote them — handset storage sits outside our remit, so the route there is preservation: no more writes, and any survivors exported over a cable. The stick worked in the lab, the phone's survivors kept safely, and the best version of each file retained is the route to recovering the memories.
The stopping instruction is critical now, for both devices. Every further write to the stick or the phone risks overwriting the recoverable data that remains. Both should be set aside and used no further — the stick imaged and worked on a copy so its corrupted files can be carved and repaired, the phone kept out of use so any originals still on it stay reachable until they're safely exported.
The honest prognosis is a spread, stated per source. Corrupted files on the stick are often partly-to-largely recoverable through carving and container repair; the phone's originals depend on how completely the round trip overwrote them. The stick recovered in the lab and the handset preserved carefully at home together maximise the chance every memory survives somewhere — reported honestly by source, with the recoverable extent confirmed before any charge. And the forward lesson: a cheap USB stick is not a safe home for irreplaceable memories, which belong in more than one reliable place.
The USB stick was imaged under a hardware write-blocker before anything, and its controller and flash health checked. Corrupted files were analysed at hex level in X-Ways Forensics, images and video carved in PhotoRec and containers rebuilt against references where damaged. The handset stayed with its owner: our guidance was to stop using it and export any originals that survived, since handset storage sits outside our lab's remit. Every recovered file was validated by rendering, and the best surviving version of each kept.
Stick imaged and its corrupted files carved and repaired, the owner talked through exporting what survived on the phone, and the best version of each memory kept. The diagnostic costs nothing and completes within two working days of arrival, and the quote is one fixed written figure with VAT already in it; if the data can't be brought back, no charge is made. The decode: the files broke because a faulty stick corrupted them in transfer — and copying them back risked overwriting the phone's originals. Working the stick in the lab, preserving what the phone still holds, and keeping the cleanest of each is how the family memories come back.
Stop using both the stick and the phone — files that copy but won't open were likely corrupted by a faulty stick, and further writes to either risk overwriting the recoverable versions that remain. Don't copy the broken files back to the phone; that can overwrite surviving originals, turning one damaged copy into two. Set both devices aside untouched — send the stick in for imaging, and export anything that survives on the phone before it's written to again. And in future, keep irreplaceable memories in more than one reliable place, not on a single cheap stick.
Our case files are written up from genuine enquiries our lab has handled for customers across Swansea and South Wales, anonymised to protect client confidentiality. Each one describes the diagnostic and recovery approach our engineers apply to that fault, using the equipment listed.
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