[speedzak]

Never imagined a day like this would arrive.
I had seen many other people discussing about the risks of putting all the information into digital soft format without a hard copy. I used to sometimes think about different issues I may face if I do lost my phone, laptop etc.. But to say the truth, I always had a comfortable false feeling that I AM SAFE!

It was 03-03-09! I put my personal work horse companion Nokia E51 on it's daily charging routine after my usual night surfing. As expected, there was a power cut soon thanks to NEPA (now known as PHCN ie.. Power Holding Company of Nigeria). My phone blinked once when the generator came on and I glanced at it, expected it to be charging and went to sleep.
I woke up for my morning dose of coffee and Bhp! Fire up my E! 1.... 2.... 4.... 8.... 16.... 32.... 64.... 128.... 256.... 512.... 1024.... Damn!
I see only a white screen. No other response.
Switch off! Switch on! (Old windows habits never die). It's just that bland white screen. Repeat, repeat, repeat and repeat! Naasti!

Many things just fast forwarded in front of my eyes and came to a screeching halt. My complete phone book and contacts which I had accumulated over the last 10 years. Many field reports which I had prepared as part of my only work in the last 6 months that I typed in my phone due to laziness to sit on a laptop/pc. Many important notes I had scribbled down avoiding a pen and paper. Many websites I had saved and kept as a reference and last but not the least, all my bhp venom stock stored as my lifeline. I have no access to anything! My god! Truly, my gawd!!
The day was harder for me as if I had lost my jewels below the navel.

I decided to take it to the nearest Nokia care. They recommended a software flash on the phone. Now fully aware that I'm going to loose all my data on the phone. I request, cajole, warn and beg him to try something else. He does spend some time hooking it into his service system and gives me a sad face. "Sir! Nothing else but a flash."
Somewhat hopeful that I've backed up my contacts and most of the important data on my memory card (micro sd) some days earlier, I nod unhappily. He removes the card, hands it over to me and gets back to proceed with the butchering job.

10 minutes of tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk on the chair and I'm presented my E back and voila! It works and the screen appears like how it came out from it's box about a year ago. Blue dotted nokia theme and grand valse singing as the test call was made!

First thing I check (even though I was sure of it) was the phone memory. Bilkul clear!
With full confidence and relief that I had the good thought of backing up to my memory card, I pop it in. MEMORY CARD PASSWORD: I blink for a moment. Wow! Did I put in a password for this? Yes, with the amount of mms scandals stored, I would've done so. I am proud of my intelligence. I type in my favourite password used on my phones. INCORRECT PASSWORD, TRY AGAIN!
.
..
...
I just lost the earth below my feet.

To be continued.... :(

[muneemmk]

What if you plug it into a memory card reader ? you still won't be able to access it ? anyway rest of the story puleez

[HappyWheels]

Sorry Speedy, but I just ROFL'd!!!

Talk about double tragedy, this is the one!

Guess its is about time I made physical backups of my documents!

And yes, please continue... No, not to laugh more, but to know if you got out of this grid lock.

[hemanthisgreat]

It would have been safe, if you had backed up your data on the email or something, ie online.

[srijit]

cant you just buy a card reader? or pop it into a laptop slot?

[hemanthisgreat]

Originally Posted by srijit

cant you just buy a card reader? or pop it into a laptop slot?

In any case, I think it will ask for password.

[hydrashok]

Uh oh! Among the worst things that can happen to you, when you're away from home for a long time.

Had you activated the 'remote lock' functionality of the phone earlier? I mean the facility that lets you lock the phone remotely by sending an SMS with a set phrase to the phone (in case it gets stolen)? If you had, that same phrase will have been registered as the password for the Mem Card. If you haven't formatted the Mem Card yet, do try this out.

Do take online backups from time to time. ZYB Keeps you in sync with your friends lets you do this. And now Nokia's Ovi (free now, will be chargeable later) and I think Google Contacts let you do this. I know backing up to the laptop will be difficult as you may not have access to it all the time. A second Mem Card for backup will also be a good idea (I do this).

Do let us know whether you managed to fix things. Everyone is writing YetiBlog(R) ishtyle these days.

[Digital Vampire]

Originally Posted by hemanthisgreat

It would have been safe, if you had backed up your data on the email or something, ie online.

I highly doubt storing sensitive information like phonebooks online is a good idea. Your friends are going to hate you if the information leaks into the hands to telemarketers.

My friend had a stupid habit of keeping every details in his Gmail account until one day it got hacked by some script kiddies and somebody withdrew an "undisclosed sum" from his credit card.

I heard later that the money part was settled with the credit card company, but he had to go through months of mental agony before that.

My recommendation is good ol' paper method and keep it somewhere really safe.

[jkdas]

Forgot the password? Cant you guess it?

Whats your firmware?

When you backup; backup everything (minus the songs and videos). I do it once in a while. Last time I backed up and updated the the firmware. The phone felt faster (it used to get stuck pulling contacts) . I tried to push back the backup but sms didnt work out, rest was ok.

And hope things went ok.

[srijit]

Originally Posted by hemanthisgreat

In any case, I think it will ask for password.

Dont think so. You can access the memory card via Linux or Mac, not only Windows. The protection might be even for the particular phone. He can also try it on another phone

Couple of links for you to check, Zak
Useless from your POV
Recover / Reset Memory Card Password for N72 - All About Symbian Forums
-=MMCPwd=- Restore your MMC password - Café Mobil

[kphilip]

Sad thing zac, i know ur phone was more than ur lap top or anything of ur gadgets..Dint u back up ur contacts in ur lap top??

[hemanthisgreat]

Originally Posted by Digital Vampire

My friend had a stupid habit of keeping every details in his Gmail account until one day it got hacked by some script kiddies and somebody withdrew an "undisclosed sum" from his credit card.

That is very true. But for that i keep a different gmail account. which I do not use for everyday mail and have not told anybody about it. It has a different password and also other mails get forwarded to it. I know this is not foolproof. But keeping sensitive credit card details and online banking details there is sheer stupidity.

[speedzak]

"The world is round", I've been told many times.
It never felt so true before this as it went round and round around me. And I felt it laughed without any mercy on my dilemma!

INCORRECT PASSWORD?
"Dude! What's wrong with you? I don't have 2 - 3 wives nor many girlfriends and I don't carry many phones around my neck. I have been using this password from the time you guys invented phone security in Nokia! Have you lost your mind to say that I've typed in a wrong password?" Yes! I did try shouting that to my E as my driver thought I'm a real nut case while taking me home.
I type in some more probables. E kept on barking the same idiom (is that what you call for an idiot phrase?) back. Huh!! Next, I put in some of the best vocabulary I've ever learnt in my life. Nothing seems to help! And slowly but firmly, I reach a point of reality: I HAVE FORGOT THE PASSWORD FOR THIS MEMORY CARD! My mind kept on arguing and mummed.. It's not possible, Zak!.... But that was it. This 2 GB micro SD card is no more accessible until I get my password correct.

Anyway, I do what any sane guy would've done. I get the internet settings organised and download opera mini. xxx.google.com!! A whole bunch me results pop up and many similar stories like mine are listed up in many forums and sites. Almost every site mentioned about a way to get the password retrieved from the phone memory.
1. Get an application called FExplorer and install it on the phone.
2. Fire it up and access the root, C: and browse to the system folder.
3. There will be a file stored as MMCSTORE. Rename it to add .txt extension.
4. Open it in note editor and it will have the stored password.

I jump up with joy! The world doesn't go round and round anymore.
I do almost everything as said. As the application was downloaded, it went ahead to installation. Suddenly an error message pops up! Cannot install this SIS application!
But Why??.......

Online again.

As I read carefully, it says that this method is doable on Symbian 60 1st and 2nd edition phones only! Symbian 60 3rd edition phones seems to be more strict on password management.
The world goes round and round!

It doesn't take much time before I realise that the above method wouldn't work in my case any way. Because, I had a flashed phone and the system folders were as empty as new. Any old password traces would've been wiped out. Hmmm.. Hmmm.. Hmmm.. Did I just weep?

Method 2!
As mentioned by Hydra, the remote lock option was explained in some websites. This was specific with Symbian 60 3rd edition phones.
With more confidence and desperately, I go ahead.
But it doesn't work. :(
Phone just keeps asking for a new message code and when I set the new message code, verifies it and tests it, all works fine. But there's no change to the memory card or it's password condition.

By then, I was on the verge of collapsing! Clocks on the walls started ticking loudly as my flight to Morocco was just another 38 hours away. I'm left in a castaway island without anybody to call or get in touch with. I call my wife, request her to email me all the contacts I have left home, present in her phone, my computer whatever. She does it in some hours and I get my lifeline extended a bit.
But my house was shifted to a new one last week. All my stuff is just being organised back home. My pc is in pieces. And god knows what, in my absence, my wife has thrown into the very unfriendly garbage bin.

I stare blankly onto the blank horizon in front of me.
The world is just spinning faster and faster!

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by Digital Vampire

My friend had a stupid habit of keeping every details in his Gmail account until one day it got hacked by some script kiddies and somebody withdrew an "undisclosed sum" from his credit card.

thanks for the reminding. I did some cleanup myself today.

[quicksilver]

Zak, now that you have recovered enough to be writing about your dilemma, I hope you got it sorted some way. I did not realise the situation was this bad when you said you lost your contacts. Will check on ways to crack the card (though I guess you'd have exhausted all published means by now).