BlackBerry® Curve™

[Moon_Juice]

BB Curve 8900
OS v4.6.1.231 (Platform 4.2.0.108)

Current Settings:
Memory>Encryption Mode OFF (now)
PWD> Disabled
Security>Content Protection Disabled/Include Contacts NO
Security>Content Compression ENABLED

I have searched the Internet and I have seen others with my problem but found no answers. I took a number of videos on my Curve 8900 before I knew to disable SD Card content protection. A few of these saved as .3GP files that are fully usable on both my device and my laptop. These videos were fully viewable and shareable even though Options>Memory>Encryption Mode was enabled in "device mode" with "encrypt media" set to "yes" at the time these videos were shot. During this same time period, other videos I shot were saved as two files each, one with a .3GP.lock extension and another (with an identical filename but much smaller nominal file size) with a .3GP.lock3 extension. These videos with .3GP.lock/.3GP.lock3 extensions do not play on my device or my laptop, and return an error message on the device: "unable to display file." I've tried renaming them, rebooting my device, turning off media encryption, turning it back on, disabling the device password, pretty much everything except setting a new media encryption password or pulling the battery. I have made backup copies of all the affected videos on my laptop and on another microSDHC card of the same size as the one I am using. I ran CHKDSK (with both options checked) on the memory card using my laptop, but I didn't see any error messages.

Under my current settings, which I have listed above, I successfully shot and viewed a video on my 8900 not half an hour ago, so I know things are working - except that when I went to rename the file I got a "file system error" dialog and the device wouldn't let me rename the video (UPDATE: I've been able to rename the video, but it's a copy of the original and it's on the second memory card, not the one to which it was originally saved).

These videos are important and cannot be replaced or re-shot. I understand that if I don't enable content encryption this probably won't happen in the future, but how do I decrypt the videos I already have? I need to be able to view and share these video files. I cannot stress enough how important these videos are and that they cannot be replaced.

Is it possible this is a "known issue" and if so, is there a fix available?

This device was purchased NIB in-store about two weeks ago.

Can anybody help me?

[JSanders Resident Expert]

Has the OS on the device been updated during any of this?

[Moon_Juice]

no, this is what it came with.

[JSanders Resident Expert]

And no changes have occurred as in copying to a different media card, etc.?

[Moon_Juice]

I'm not sure I understand the question. I have tried to copy the files to a different location on the same media card for the purpose of renaming them. I have also copied the files to a different media card altogether, same maker, same capacity. The original files are still in the original location however. Will it make a difference if I have the original media card in the device with the original files on it versus if I have the second card with the copies on it? Because if it's going to matter, then I'll need to switch media cards again. The one with the originals is actually my "spare" and I use it for video recording due to its greater amount of free space over my main.

I also should mention that I haven't tried using the BB Desktop software with my device or with these files. I'm just throwing that out there in case it comes up during our troubleshooting.

[JSanders Resident Expert]

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Moon_Juice wrote:

 Will it make a difference if I have the original media card in the device with the original files on it versus if I have the second card with the copies on it?

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Yes, that will certainly make a difference. The original encrypted files on the original media card must be in the original device with the original OS, in order to decrypt them.

Do you see how ineffective encryption would be were anyone who wanted to do so, could take your device, remove the media card, copy the files off, change a file extenstion, or copy the files to a second media card, or a PC, etc., and view the encrypted files?

That would certainly make BlackBerry file encryption a joke and useless.

[Moon_Juice]

I absolutely understand. This also means my backup files are essentially useless if they're backups of the encrypted versions. The copies were made just as a precaution, and long after I'd tried to decrypt the originals using the original hardware and media. So let's put the original media back into the device. What do I need to do to decrypt my video files? As I mentioned, I've already changed the encryption settings, as well as rebooting the device. By this I mean an actual reboot per se, and not just a power cycle, although I tried that too.

[JSanders Resident Expert]

ok, you should be able to remove encryption if you place the original media card with the original encrypted files back in the the devcie which placed the encryption. I won't guarantee it not, because I might be missing something additional you've done in the process (a simple battery pull reboot would not interfere with it).

But yes, it should work. Turn off encryption and you should have back pure unadulterated media files.

[Moon_Juice]

I've already turned off (and on again and off again) encryption while the original card was inserted. It hasn't worked so far. Video files that started life unencrypted stayed that way, and the problematic encrypted ones stayed THAT way. No password settings or other content protections are currently enabled on the device (that I know of) except Key Store and Password Vault.

Should the device be powered ON while I remove one card and replace it with the other? Because at any point during this process I've always powered-down the device when I swap microSD cards.

[Moon_Juice]

I've tried using Media Manager to transfer the affected files to my computer. That didn't help. I tried moving the files from the media folder on the device to another folder on the device and back again. That didn't help. I tried enabling a security password on the device and then browsing to the files. That didn't help and I disabled media encryption again.

If it hasn't been clear from the start, each video is actually broken down into two files with the same name, but one has a .lock extension and the other has a .lock3 extension. I believe it's necessary to combine them somehow in order to decrypt them and restore my original videos, and I think that involves selecting both files at once to perform any operation on them.

In a side note, Roxio Media Manager on my computer has been causing many other problems and I used the BB desktop manager installer in Add and Remove Programs to uninstall it.

I can't find any link or other means on the BlackBerry.com help pages to contact RIM directly about this issue, so you guys are my only hope.