Hello,
I bought g Tablet last week and want to sell it now.
I installed Gingerbeard 2.3, then Installed Honeycomb 3.0 with NVFLash
I have accessed email and personal websites like facebook, also had some photos of me and family in it.
but now I want absolutely to delete everything on the G tablet and restore it to original factory, so the buyer have no chance to pick any previous information on the device .
would NVFlash it again do the job? or what do? thanks.
If you just want to remove all personal data (and not also take the software back to stock), then remove any external SD cards, boot into ClockworkMod Recovery, and then:
1. Do "wipe data/factory reset", which will clear /cache on the NAND flash, then
2. Repartition the internal SD card, which will clear out your internal SD card.
Even after several wipes and nvflashes, the data can be recovered by someone who knows how to do it.
So what to do? Well I suggest to do the usual wipes and nvflashes, and then I fill the memory with huge files (i.e. Dvd rips or anything like that) and then delete again. It's almost the same technique used by wiping programs on PCs which write zeores and ones on the disk to overwrite the whole thing.
A bit time consuming, but if you are that paranoid you can do it that way.
Cheers!
Rayan
Sent from my Atrix using Tapatalk
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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
Hi all,
I searched long and hard for an answer to this one, but I can't make heads or tails of it. It started when I noticed that any apps I installed wouldn't stay through reboots, and any uninstalled apps came right back. So I tried reflashing Flashback 7.0 and 7.2, but the apps were still there. It does look like 7.2 installed correctly, although the apps were still there.
Then I tried flashing several different roms (TnT, Cyanogen, Vegantab, stock), but they wouldn't boot. Flashing back to Flashback allowed the tablet to boot, but the data was still there.
I tried manually formatting /data through cwm, but I got the lovely "Error formatting /data" message. Doing the normal cwm data wipe and repartition (4096,0 and 2048,0) didn't do anything either. I tried NVFlashing back to stock 4349, no good. I tried Flashback loaded with cwm 3.0.2.8 and the stock 1.2 recovery, but no avail. I blew away the partition table and nvflashed, no good. I tried pulling the battery, no good. I tried flashing the FORMAT utility, still stuck with this data. No matter what I do, it will only boot after installing Flashback 7, and then it retains the state it was in before going wonky.
The tablet works more-or-less for every app currently installed, apps load fine, all hardware appears to work fine, but once it's rebooted everything goes back to how it was when it went belly-up.
This has gotten the better of me, I'm hoping there's some nuance that you brilliant folk know of that I'm missing. Thank you for your time.
Both /data & /sdcard reside on the internal sd and are not touched by nvflash or by installing a new rom (all of which go on the internal nand (not sdcard). There are serveral ways to clear them. You can clear /data by doing a "factory/data reset" & repartitioning in CWM wll destroy/recreate both /data & /sdcard (so make sure you backup anything you want to save on /sdcard before you repartition). The standard repartition is 2048,0, but in some situations it is benefitial to repartition to 4096, 0 & then immediately repartition back to 2048,0.
After installing a new rom you should always do a factory/data reset, wipe cache & wipe dalvik to clear out data/installs from the prior rom.
Al
Thanks Al,
I forgot to mention, I've already repartitioned several different times, going up to 4096,0 then down to 2048,0 as I've seen recommended elsewhere. The wipe data/factory reset option also doesn't seem to be affecting the data staying put.
I remember a person with a similar situation. I believe rajeevvp had the person do some testng & it came out (in that case) to be a bad internal sd. He developed a way to use the external sdcard as the internal sd. I'll see if I can find the post or you can PM him.
Al
See this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1156200 and specifically post #44 Guide to swap internal and external SD card assignments on the ViewSonic gTablet for users with partly-functional internal SD cards.
Al
Looks like the same issue all around. Thank a million, here's to hoping it works.
Get me a dmesg output first.
Second, since you're on the 1.2 bootloader branch, don't flash the custom CWM zip file which is only for bl 1.1. Just skip that step (step 1). The rest of the steps are bootloader-independent. Step 1. is only for letting you make backups and restores using the external SD card instead of the internal one.
Third, I'd like to see the results of the test commands given in the thread that aabbondanza posted above.
Finally, for CWM 3.x and higher, I have another (and easier) technique that I think will work for backups and restores, but, I never tested as I didn't want to change bootloaders. Let me know if you're willing to be a guinea pig for testing this.
rajeevvp, the result of the test directory/file creation on /data and /sdcard were similar to the other poster, with the directories and files not being retained after unmount or reboot.
The results of the test commands are attached. Thanks again for all your help. Additionally, of course I'm willing to be a guinea pig for anything you've got in mind.
sktsswth said:
rajeevvp, the result of the test directory/file creation on /data and /sdcard were similar to the other poster, with the directories and files not being retained after unmount or reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From the dmesg1.txt file I see that you have the non-standard internal SD card make that seems to cause this sort of problem:
<6>[ 10.001007] mmc2: new high speed SDHC card at address aaaa
<6>[ 10.007139] mmcblk3: mmc2:aaaa SE16G 14.8 GiB
<6>[ 10.011722] mmcblk3: p1 p2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can either return the tablet to VS or try my workaround hack along with a new CWM for 1.2-based bootloaders (soon).
Either way, I'd like to continue this discussion further in this thread.
rajeevvp said:
From the dmesg1.txt file I see that you have the non-standard internal SD card make that seems to cause this sort of problem:
You can either return the tablet to VS or try my workaround hack along with a new CWM for 1.2-based bootloaders (soon).
Either way, I'd like to continue this discussion further in this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since some of these tablets are showing up with different internal sd cards than most of us, is it possible that when we are having these people nvflash back to stock, that the bct's config of these new chips would be different & we are causing the problem by flashing the incorrect bct back to the device? Would it be safer to modify our nvflashes to read & use the user's bct when nvflashing back to stock?
The title should give a pretty good overview. However, for completeness, here's the deal. (BTW, I've searched and haven't found a good answer. It could be that I'm not searching properly though.)
The Vibrant is running MIUI 2.3.7. It has worked perfectly, GPS included. I upgraded to a GSII during the Valentine's day thing, and now need to wipe the Vibrant so I can give it to my daughter.
I've backed up everything available to my computer, and am now looking for the best way to essentially reset the phone. I want to put MIUI back on it ultimately.
I understand that 'factory data wipe/reset' in CWM doesn't remove everything. Should I format stuff via CWM? Should I Odin back to stock, then reflash everything? If so, does that remove saved passwords, apps, etc.?
Thanks for your help!
Wipe factory reset will clear apps and user data like password.
It will not remove anything on SD card though like music, pics.
You can format SD card and external SD card.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
No need for external SD at this time, so I'm keeping it
So, format SD card from CWM? The word format frightens me a bit. I guess the OS stays in a different partition, so I don't have to worry about deleting that, right?
You can always just hook it up to your PC and pull everything off the internal that way. Then when your teen gets it there won't be anything on it.
thermanlee said:
The title should give a pretty good overview. However, for completeness, here's the deal. (BTW, I've searched and haven't found a good answer. It could be that I'm not searching properly though.)
The Vibrant is running MIUI 2.3.7. It has worked perfectly, GPS included. I upgraded to a GSII during the Valentine's day thing, and now need to wipe the Vibrant so I can give it to my daughter.
I've backed up everything available to my computer, and am now looking for the best way to essentially reset the phone. I want to put MIUI back on it ultimately.
I understand that 'factory data wipe/reset' in CWM doesn't remove everything. Should I format stuff via CWM? Should I Odin back to stock, then reflash everything? If so, does that remove saved passwords, apps, etc.?
Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This will get you back to stock eclair. Make sure you have java installed on your computer.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1278683
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.
I'm looking to reset my Motorola Atrix 4G. I'm on AT&T in the U.S. I have MROM 7 (20130330) version 2.3.7
I am wanting to format my internal drive and clean everything up. I have gone into CWM and done the factory reset but I still have folders from apps that I don't use and pictures. I have done the factory reset in MROM and have the same thing, but it doesn't wipe the internal drive.
Do I need to flash a fruit cake to version 2.3.(4,5,6), then run MFBSR script to put it back to stock. Then run the factory reset? SBF files scare me and I'm not really wanting to go that route, but I can if that is what I need to do. Sam Cripps Reboot Project Site which has all the fruit cakes is down for a couple of days and Zeljko1234's Back Up Fruit Cakes drop box isn't working. Does anyone know any where else to find them?
I'm not ready to sell my phone at this time but I would like to know how to sanitize it when I am ready. I have searched for the past two days and haven't been able to find anything that said what specifically you have to do to completely start with a clean system. Or maybe it is out there and I just missed it. Any advice would be appreciated.
Why are you trying to make it so much more complicated than it really is?
Of course none of the methods mentioned are not going to wipe the storage. They are not meant to do that.
How about you just go to Settings > Storage > Erase SD card?
Or hook the phone to the computer and format the phone's internal drive from it.
ravilov said:
Why are you trying to make it so much more complicated than it really is?
Of course none of the methods mentioned are not going to wipe the storage. They are not meant to do that.
How about you just go to Settings > Storage > Erase SD card?
Or hook the phone to the computer and format the phone's internal drive from it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ravilov,
Thank you for the reply. If I format the hard drive from the computer, what do I need to do from there to get the phone back operational. That does sound the easiest. I have already formatted the SD Card and it worked, but I couldn't format the SD Card through any ROM that I flashed.When the second screen came up and I clicked Erase everything a pop up at the bottom said "Invalid path : null"
Thanks again.
You shouldn't need to do anything else after formatting the drive to make the phone functional again - the phone should never stop being functional. Note that I'm talking about user storage here, not the whole entire phone storage (good luck trying to access the whole entire phone storage on the computer through USB mass storage anyway).
Haha yes I realized that after hooking it up to my computer. I felt like an idiot but sometimes you need to look at the simplest things first. That's why I edited the title so the moderators can delete this thread.
Once again, thank you for your reply and support of our phones.
Sent from my MB860 using xda app-developers app