S20 Aug 1 2022 security update - Encrypted SD Card no longer accessible

[ChessM]

How do you recover an encrypted SD card that is no longer accessible after the Aug 1  2022 security patch level?

The card no longer understands that it is encrypted, so I can not access any of my music and pictures stored there.

The system now thinks the card is not encrypted, so it can not read old data, but can still write new data to the card, which is readable....

Factory unlocked S20

[nowdeleted]

Have you tried the SD card with a pc?? You might be able to re format the card, but you will lose all data that is stored on it.

[sam_ay246]

I'm having the same issue

[ChessM]

A PC reads the card.  Of course it is encrypted, but the directory is there as well as the unencrypted file names.  As windows scan of the SD shows no errors with the file structure.

The phone simply acts like it for got the SD card password and will not use it.

Acts like I had performed a factory reset .... without first un-encrypting the SD card.  And as mentioned in the OP, the card will still work, as I can save files & pictures to it on the phone (being saved un-encrypted), just can not read any thing that was encrypted.

[ChessM]

Seems others are having this issue too -

https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Galaxy-S20/S20-Encrypted-SD-data-Corrupted-After-Phone-Update/td...

[sam_ay246]

Some people have had luck with this (disclaimer, I haven't tried this yet):

• Copy all files (encrypted or not) on the SD card to your PC. This is important to make sure you don't lose any more data.
• Encrypt the SD card again from settings. Hopefully, it will recognize the encrypted files and decrypt them.
• If that doesn't work, delete the files from the SD card, and try encrypting the (now empty) SD card from the settings (might have to decrypt and re-encrypt).
• Copy over the files from your PC to your SD card

[ChessM]

I've seen this as a suggestion - have not seen where it actually worked.  Please update if it does!!

[sam_ay246]

Sad to say it doesn't work. The progress bar just hangs at "Checking SD card..."

[sam_ay246]

Did you file an error report? Hopefully that will get someone's attention.

[Members_f0yGQ13]

The problem with this suggestion is it isn't just that S20 lost the ability to read the decryption key, the encrypting an SD Card fails I cant get any SD Card to encrypt on my S20. Just sits on checking SD card for hours never progressing. Samsung "Pro Care" recommended the resetting of all settings then recommended a factory reset which will ensure the data stays lost.  I get this is an error on my end since I have not backed up my SD card recently but this encryption feature being broken and losing years of past data along with no longer being able to encrypt future data is unacceptable. We know the device passcode and have the same device not yet factory reset. Samsung needs to share what salt they use to generate the encryption key so we can run that on our PC and decrypt the data ourselves but they won't share that information with us.