I have a qalaxy s5 phone witch has a broken front screen. I would like to recover the ( notes ) and all data off this phone. I am using Mint 17. Is there a software that will allow me to do this and how do I do this instructions please. Phone is a samsung sm-g870a. Thank you.

The S5 uses MTP by default ( I believe but can be configured ) to connect to a computer which should already be installed in Mint. You might need to install mtp-tools. It also might depend on which desktop you are running but your phone should be accessible from your file browser. If your phone's USB is not configured for MTP or PTP then you might be out of luck. I do not remember if you need to confirm attaching to the PC from the phone itself.

If you have a SD card installed then you can remove it and via a card reader to examine its contents. However, make sure you remove the battery to turn off the phone before removing the card.

If your phone is locked with a swipe pattern/pin/password etc. then you'll have problems as the Galaxy range won't allow you to access the phone over USB unless it's unlocked.

That is what I thought.