[Q] How can you wipe EVERYTHING from the phone - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi everyone,
I've booted into recovery, wiped the dalvick, wiped the cache, wiped the data+factory reset, then installed villain rom,
and sure enough, my /sdcard folder is still full of junk... even though the phone didn't come with an SDCARD (slot is empty, if I add and sdcard it mounts in external_sd).
So i'm wondering, how can you, totally, permanently, irrevocably, delete absolutely everything from the phone, without exception
Thank you!

Input *2767*3855# into dialpad.

This will leave the sd card untouched right? Right now when I install roms I back a few apps up seperately to external, run Ti, then do a nand. I take the whole internal sd and transfer it over to my pc and that is my backup. I have been leaving the sd in with the phones internal wipes and it is untouched. This is what I want, I have my music and wallpapers, ringtones etc there and they can sit through a wipe without being touch and its saves having to move them back onto the phone. Wasn't sure if the hard reset would also wipe the sd card which is why I have been pulling it. I think on my next flash I may just back up the sd card and let fly if no one has tried it yet.

krabman said:
This will leave the sd card untouched right? Right now when I install roms I back a few apps up seperately to external, run Ti, then do a nand. I take the whole internal sd and transfer it over to my pc and that is my backup. I have been leaving the sd in with the phones internal wipes and it is untouched. This is what I want, I have my music and wallpapers, ringtones etc there and they can sit through a wipe without being touch and its saves having to move them back onto the phone. Wasn't sure if the hard reset would also wipe the sd card which is why I have been pulling it. I think on my next flash I may just back up the sd card and let fly if no one has tried it yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This will wipe everything apart from your external SD Card! It will be like the device came from the factory.

Yes, this is why I do it and I knew that, I like a completely fresh start on a new rom and Ti makes it pretty painless. I just wasn't sure if it also wiped/formatted the sd card which is what I don't want. This way I can leave all my music and such there that just moves from one rom to the next and not have to mess with it so this is exactly what I was hoping to hear.

Well looks like my thread was highjacked :-(
I'm trying to delete everything, including the SD

cigaro78 said:
I'm trying to delete everything, including the SD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just format the SD card manually.

Thats what i do format SD card via |Windows .
Plus for overkill via CWM advanced format system sd card etc .
jje

Will This un root my phone ?

cigaro78 said:
Well looks like my thread was highjacked :-(
I'm trying to delete everything, including the SD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is kind of what I suggested the hard reset will do. It will wipe everything!

did you try this?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6948568&postcount=6
this will really wipe everything, including internal storage

Related

Clear memory from phone?

Hi
I just transferred ALL pics and movies from phone memory to my external card thats 8 GB.
Still it says my phone have 6GB free of 11GB..
So 5 GB are used on what??
Have tried cache cleaners of many kinds but they dont delete much..Maybe 5 MB.
So im wondering why the phone memory take so much GB when im not able to see it anywhere.
Under phone i have a lot of folders,but it dont seem like they are big.
Whats the best thing to do to get more memory on the phone?
Formating?
Well I don't know what you want but if you press *2767*3855# then the phone will do a Factory Reset (All data on Phone memory will be wiped clean, setting and other stuffs too). Remove your SD Card before doing it.
Regards.
ithehappy said:
Well I don't know what you want but if you press *2767*3855# then the phone will do a Factory Reset (All data on Phone memory will be wiped clean, setting and other stuffs too). Remove your SD Card before doing it.
Regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok.Just think its strange the phone take 5 GB on nothing i can see..
What happens to my backup i made on CWC?
And is this the same kind of factory reset i do in settings-private-?
I can reset to factory there to..
Cache is stored on the data partition not on the sd card so that won't help. Have you already rebooted and check the (hidden) files/folders in /mnt?
2GB for the system/user data.
And loads of other small partitions for cache's, boot loader, modem, etcetc.
Also look at this thread which has all the answers you want.
TheGhost1233 said:
Cache is stored on the data partition not on the sd card so that won't help. Have you already rebooted and check the (hidden) files/folders in /mnt?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No..Dont know how to do it.My first android

SD Card can't be read or formatted - Help needed

I have been using checkrom revolution hd v4 for 2 weeks with DK 2.5.2 with no problems. But after a nornal reboot today, the SD card (internal) can't be read even after several reboots. I tried to formatted it but it can't be formatted either. Just bought my SGS2 two months ago only.
What should i do to recover function of my SD card again? Is it because of the custom rom that caused this issue?
Please help. Thanks!
Sent from my GT-I9100
Try doing a full-stock restore, making sure to do a factory reset, wipe the cache and Dalvik cache along the way. If you're still having problems, take it to a Samsung service center.
That's really strange though - I'd assume that if the OS can't read/write the internal storage, then it shouldn't be able to flash a ROM, or even really load the OS?
just a thought... have you tried to: connect your phone via usb as external drive and have windows do a repair of harddrive.
i had a sdcard which was "read only" under android, after that procedure it worked again flawless
in my case the cause was a faulty titanium backup file....
screamworks said:
Try doing a full-stock restore, making sure to do a factory reset, wipe the cache and Dalvik cache along the way. If you're still having problems, take it to a Samsung service center.
That's really strange though - I'd assume that if the OS can't read/write the internal storage, then it shouldn't be able to flash a ROM, or even really load the OS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
matis1 said:
just a thought... have you tried to: connect your phone via usb as external drive and have windows do a repair of harddrive.
i had a sdcard which was "read only" under android, after that procedure it worked again flawless
in my case the cause was a faulty titanium backup file....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the help! I suspect it might be Titanium Backup problem. The OS finally read the internal SD after a few more reboots but all the data inside is wiped out Not to mention I accidentally formatted my external SD by mistake as well. Sigh...got to restore everything bit by bit. Do you think it could be a media problem initially (i.e. problem with the internal SD)?

What needs to be on the microSD card?

I want to redo my phone like I just got it. I'm going re-flash everything with either the stock rom or a custom rom. What needs to be on the original card? Like starting from new without all the cluttered folders and random files.
I have updated ie. Hboot 1.5, radios, 2.17 and S-off still.
You should make a backup of your SD card "its always nice to have a backup"
--Side Note--
Also I suggest making a nandroid backup before backing up your SD card so you will have a copy of a recent nandroid in your SD backup incase you have to restore it one day.
--End Side Note--
""Warning"" if you do this and still have applications on your phone/current Rom that have placed folders/that are linked to/on the SD card you could experience force closes,app freezes etc. To fix this uninstall and reinstall the application.
""End of Warning"'
This can be done via Windows 7,Vista,xp.
Format your SD VIA pc/laptop and restore it to the factory defaults. Then put it back into your phone. Then boot up. Once booted into your Rom hit menu then choose settings. Then scroll down to "SD & phone storage" and tap on it. Then unmount the SD card. Then format the SD card. Once its done formating it will automatically mount the SD card and place the correct folders on it. Reboot afterwards and you should be good to go. Hope this helps.
Also here's a link you might find helpful
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10878511&postcount=8311
#Root-Hack_Mod*Always\
^^^^ What he said.
If you are going to do a factory reset or a rom flash, you should be ok wiping the card. If you were to try to wipe the card with the current rom you are on, you will run into problems as all your apps will freak out when they see their data missing.
And you don't need to have anything on the sd card from the start. Wipe the card, then flash your new rom and put the card in, android should format it properly the first time. It will just add the required folders/paths that it needs.

[Q] Completly wipe phone...

How do I Completly whipe my phone? I've cleared the cache, and done a factory reset, i've re-flashed with Odin to the stock rom, and yet, when I reboot, and go look under "My Files" , there is still crap there from before ( Most notably, 4 or 5 diffrent folders for Go Locker, Go STore.. etc ).
How do i clean this thing out for a 100% restart?
are the things your seeing on an external SD card?
No. The Directories are ( And i'm ommitting quite a few here, just to give you the idea ).
Android
Application
bluetooth
camera360
...
...
DCIM
external_sd
...
...
...
etc ad nausium..
So since i have the external_sd mount there in the middle, this must be the internal right? WHen I select the external_sd directory, that does contain my external card, and that's fine. I expected that to have stuff on it since i've not formatted it yet.
My DCIM dir still has all the pictures etc in it as well.... ( which I would not have expected since I did a factory wipe, yet there they are too ).
Any idea?
timgt said:
are the things your seeing on an external SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He's saying he wants to wipe his internal SD because it has all his app data from previous ROMs/installations (such as stock). He's probably going to a new ROM and wants maximum storage space and getting rid of all the leftover trash.
Exactly. Just want to make sure the wipe is complete or previous issues will just haunt me.
Look in those folders they should be empty.....The phone creates the folders upon turning on (by factory),,those are the essential folders needed...check it out let us know...they should be empty
They all have stuff in them, and many are not from the os. GoLocker, GoLauncher, etc all have dir's there with data in them, all some , those in particular, i don't have loaded. I've not re-loaded anything yet.
Try going here; Settings > Storage > Format USB Storage
Thats the ticket Thank you.
Or in cwm recovery, go to mounts and storage, and format sdcard
clockcycle said:
Try going here; Settings > Storage > Format USB Storage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can doing this cause any unwanted and/or unexpected problems?
Nope. It just wipes sdcard storage, like you just took it out of the box
studacris said:
Nope. It just wipes sdcard storage, like you just took it out of the box
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I'm confused about erasing external sdcard storage and/or internal storage.
"Formatting USB Storage" is which one of these?
And which storage location can you get yourself into trouble with "wiping/formatting?
Maybe neither?
Thank you!
Neither as far as I could tell. I did both. The SD Card is just that, your external memory card. The USB is the "user" storage on the phone, so nothing critical there either. Wipe away safely
Neither as mentioned. As long as youre doing it do from the storage settings from within the stock rom's menus. It only wipes your user data on the external sd and internal storage, if you chose to do so. You may lose any programs installed/moved to sd card also.
Going into CWM youre opening yourself a whole 'nother can of worms. I highly do not recommend going this route if you are not 100% sure of what youre doing. You can seriously render your device useless, aka brick (a term used too lightly).
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk
Incorrect.
All you could do in cwm is wipe the os.. In which case just button combo into recovery and flash a ROM.
A Brick is missing or corrupted bootloaders. you cannot format bootloaders in cwm.
And avoiding something because it could be dangerous...instead of taking the maybe 5 minutes to understand what's happening add ya know, actually learn something is just not in the spirit of xda AT ALL.
Read. learn. Try. Share.

Marshmallow SD as internal storage after factory reset

Dear all,
Had to do a factory reset after my Android 6 crashed and wouldn't reboot properly. My SD card was set as internal. Now Android says it doesn't support the card and needs to format it again.
Why? What sort of half-baked development is that, Android not readopting the card... ? Users can lose photos and other important data that way, no?
Is this preventable while still using SD as internal?
Thanksfor helping
tomix123 said:
Dear all,
Had to do a factory reset after my Android 6 crashed and wouldn't reboot properly. My SD card was set as internal. Now Android says it doesn't support the card and needs to format it again.
Why? What sort of half-baked development is that, Android not readopting the card... ? Users can lose photos and other important data that way, no?
Is this preventable while still using SD as internal?
Thanksfor helping
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well when you did a factory reset with you sd set as internal. the data now being stored on your sd was wiped and this made your sd corrupt. until twrp finds a way to fix this or pushes a new method for this issue I would stay away from formatting data/cache while using your sd as internal
Thank you.
If that is so, it's misleading. Because a reset isn't supposed to touch data or the SD.
So what would have happened if I had removed the SD prior to resetting?
I had no choice because wiping cache or dalvik didn't help and fixing permissions or reflashing also didn't... and I had no more access to the UI...
tomix123 said:
Thank you.
If that is so, it's misleading. Because a reset isn't supposed to touch data or the SD.
So what would have happened if I had removed the SD prior to resetting?
I had no choice because wiping cache or dalvik didn't help and fixing permissions or reflashing also didn't... and I had no more access to the UI...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A reset does just that it resets the device. Which means it wipes all user data. If you had user data on the sd card then it as stated messed it up.
This was a move mainly focused at low tier devices that came with no internal memory. To be honest it will never be perfect. So here is my advise. Don't use it if you don't have to. Keep your SD card as external storage for pictures and such.

Categories

Resources