My phone won’t boot, how can I get my data out without losing anything?

Hoping someone here has been through something similar and can help.

So, my Galaxy A16 just stopped booting properly this morning. It’s stuck in a bootloop and keeps restarting after the Samsung logo. I can’t get it to power on fully, but I can access recovery mode. That’s about it.

The problem is..I have a ton of personal stuff on the phone from the last year or so (photos, work docs, voice notes), and I stupidly never set up Google backup after my last factory reset.

I took it to a local phone repair shop and they said they might need to replace the motherboard to fix the issue..but if they do, all the internal storage data will be wiped. Also tried connecting it to my laptop via USB but it doesn’t detect anything, since the OS doesn’t boot.

Any way at all I can retrieve the data from internal storage without rooting or wiping it clean?

Android recovery

All Replies

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

John Willy

Participant

July 9, 2025 at 3:00 am

Thank you so much guys..this is literally the first bit of hope I’ve had in days. Fingers crossed my phone doesn’t totally die on me by then

Mira Lennox Lennox

Participant

July 8, 2025 at 11:04 am

It sucks, but this is exactly why backup is so important. That said, if you’re not in a rush, try reaching out to someone who does board level repair. If the emmc chip (where your data lives) is fine, they might be able to clone it or extract data. Just make sure they’re not doing a factory reset during the process.

Kael Rowan

Participant

July 8, 2025 at 10:23 am

Low chance without a backup tbh. If usb debugging wasn’t turned on, ADB won’t work. Bootloader locked? That kills most recovery options too. I wouldn’t rush into replacing the motherboard unless you’re 100% sure nothing else is possible..’cause yeah, that’ll wipe everything.

Jace Elric

Participant

July 8, 2025 at 10:11 am

I’ve used data recovery software from my pc in a similar case but only when the phone was showing up as an MTP device, which in your case it doesn’t. Your best bet honestly might be to try a software tool that can scan the device storage even in “dead” state..but I think most still need some level of access (like fastboot or debugging enabled).

There are some Android recovery tools that work via PC..if you can get the phone into Download Mode or Fastboot, those might be able to read something. It’s rare, but worth checking.

Orin Thorne

Participant

July 8, 2025 at 9:25 am

If the motherboard is partially alive (and storage is intact), some professional recovery services can read data directly from the storage chip without booting the Os. It’s not cheap though, and most local shops can’t do that..they just do replacements. Look for labs that handle chip-off recovery or JTAG-level stuff.

Nina Calder

Participant

July 8, 2025 at 9:01 am

Bootloops really are a headache, especially when recovery mode is the only thing that works. Have you tried adb commands from recovery? You’d need usb debugging to have been enabled beforehand though, so kind of a shot in the dark unless it was turned on.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)