Hi guys. Just recently I've installed a custom ROM on my Galaxy S2. Before i attempted doing anything I've firstly rooted it then installed ROMmanager and installed "ClockworkMod" (to wipe out the data, cahce, and set to factory default) using CWM I installed 'hydrogen rom' on it (Before this i had the original stock kernel and stock rom on it).
My questions is that inside /emmc/ folder i can see my previous junk files left from the stock rom.
Another thing is when i plug my mobile to the PC via USB cable, i select 'mass storage' on my mobile however, i can only see "/mnt/sdcard.". I'm not even sure if its my SDCard or if its my internal. Either one is not showing up on my PC before it was showing both internal and external!! (microSDcard)
on actual root system folder, in the "/" i go into "emmc" folder, its exactly the same as "/mnt/emmc/" folder, are these just duplications can i delete BOTH, as i said earlier those are the things left from STOCK-ROM (It contains folders like DCIM,Data,Android, LOST.DIR,Samsung Apps which is not in use and i want to get rid of)
Same thing again inside "/sdcard/" (the current ROM) its same as "/mnt/sdcard/". I'm guessing the ROM installed it into my SDcard? But what happened to my internal storage? I can't even access it using PC.
can i just get rid of the folders its got all these unnecessary junk files left from original rom.
Also someone tell me if its safe to delete "/mnt/" folder because inside "/" root it contains both "/sdcard/" and "/emmc/"
Looking forward for solutions
Kindest regards
Thanks in advance
-sLy
sLy` said:
Hi guys. Just recently I've installed a custom ROM on my Galaxy S2. Before i attempted doing anything I've firstly rooted it then installed ROMmanager and installed "ClockworkMod" (to wipe out the data, cahce, and set to factory default) using CWM I installed 'hydrogen rom' on it (Before this i had the original stock kernel and stock rom on it).
My questions is that inside /emmc/ folder i can see my previous junk files left from the stock rom.
Another thing is when i plug my mobile to the PC via USB cable, i select 'mass storage' on my mobile however, i can only see "/mnt/sdcard.". I'm not even sure if its my SDCard or if its my internal. Either one is not showing up on my PC before it was showing both internal and external!! (microSDcard)
on actual root system folder, in the "/" i go into "emmc" folder, its exactly the same as "/mnt/emmc/" folder, are these just duplications can i delete BOTH, as i said earlier those are the things left from STOCK-ROM (It contains folders like DCIM,Data,Android, LOST.DIR,Samsung Apps which is not in use and i want to get rid of)
Same thing again inside "/sdcard/" (the current ROM) its same as "/mnt/sdcard/". I'm guessing the ROM installed it into my SDcard? But what happened to my internal storage? I can't even access it using PC.
can i just get rid of the folders its got all these unnecessary junk files left from original rom.
Also someone tell me if its safe to delete "/mnt/" folder because inside "/" root it contains both "/sdcard/" and "/emmc/"
Looking forward for solutions
Kindest regards
Thanks in advance
-sLy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in latest hydrogen rom emmc is ur internal card and sdcard is ur external card.so it is not safe to delete it. u can make it opposite by flashing a mount fix file from hydrogen rom's thread. to see both internal and external card in ur pc u should use mtp.
Too much confusion ._. Oke
/emmc/ = Internal --> Left over junk files
/sdcard/ = External --> HyDrOG3N-ICS 27.04
.... So i just installed hydrogen into my sdcard? Why wouldn't i be able to delete emmc folder though nothing is using it?
*EDIT*: Also the for the mount fix provided, there are no instructions I've got the mount-fix-patch. I can use CWM to install it, but what and where does it exactly switch to? Do i even need to edit the config batch files?
all imp files will b there so wen u delete emmc ur phone like a blank pc,then u need to install stock rom to make it recognize tht its android ,jus like pc if u format the main drive its blank,an u got to install some os to make it work....don touch if u don kno an read some threads for beginners.
Phone memory is your devices system memory, where all the important stuff is stored, its a partition on your phones intenal memory
mnt/sdcard is your phones internal memory, the 16GB (probably shows up as 11.5 or there abouts in your Storage manager, as some is reserved for the phone memory, OS etc)
mnt/sdcard/external_sdcard is your removable memory card, the one you put in yourself, this is default location on Samsung based roms
emmc Some roms move the contents of mnt/sdcard (internal) to emmc Edit: based on the previous comments LEAVE your emmc folder intact
Wezi said:
Phone memory is your devices system memory, where all the important stuff is stored, its a partition on your phones intenal memory
mnt/sdcard is your phones internal memory, the 16GB (probably shows up as 11.5 or there abouts in your Storage manager, as some is reserved for the phone memory, OS etc)
mnt/sdcard/external_sdcard is your removable memory card, the one you put in yourself, this is default location on Samsung based roms
emmc Some roms move the contents of mnt/sdcard (internal) to emmc Edit: based on the previous comments LEAVE your emmc folder intact
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the brief explanation, i understand now, and yes i was using original Samsung ROM provided by Vodafone (android v2.3.5) they kept saying we're going to release ICS didn't want to bother waiting and installed ICS rom myself
The only point i didn't understand is the duplication, if i delete the emmc would the other emmc file be deleted? Same thing goes for my sdcard(internal) which is duplicate folder itself /sdcard/ and mnt/sdcard both contain the files i put via PC I need to know if they working with some sort of auto-synchronization (or maybe one is a shortcut), so if i delete an app from my phone will it still store from the duplicate folder or delete it? What will happen to my storage if i put movies it would be double sized?! i would have storage issues then i wont be able to store properly.
**EDIT** just read your edited post, um but my emmc has like too many junk folders like "GOLauncher, Alienate, Quake3(400~mb),Gameloft(over 1GB), GPsSpeedmeterGPX" I just want to get rid of those junks inside my emmc as its not being used on my newly flashed ROM, i thought when i did "wipe data" i thought it would erase all the stuff and put everything into factory settigns, somehow it saved all the data and placed them into emmc lol!
is there an app or anything that clears everything left from previous ROM, like even the .apks and .pdf and .mp3 are still in my emmc folder. I might actually delete them but how would i tell the difference between a used System file and a regular non-used system file from the current ROM ? As rocky23 stated, that emmc contains important files, im still not sure if those important files such as "android,data" folders are being used from "emmc" folder. they are left overs from the previous ROM. Because in the internal memory "mnt/sdcard" it contains the same android,data, folders
omg, this just got even more confusing. I've installed the patches given in the hydogen ROM thread.
I can now confirm that "mnt/sdcard" is my INTERNAL and "/emmc/" is my external.
I've also used the MTP fix, however I can only now SEE my internal when i plug it to my PC before it was my externalSdCard.
Question: remember those Android, DATA folder i was talking about. left from the previous ROM, now thats been placed into my internal, and i can see all my pictures mp3's that was in the stock ROM. how do i know if the old ROM's Android and data folder is being used or not
Clearly i just want to factory Reset it. Should i do it again?
Oke there is something wrong here. After installing fresh Hydrogen ROM i used "USB to MTP FIX" and "Patch for Switching Mount Points."
After installing them on CWM i just realized i had to TICK the MTP option on USB-settings through the mobile.
Now I can see BOTH internal and External though it takes time to read(process), anyway.
My problem is "Internal Storage" and "SD Card" BOTH have identical folders and files in them, when seen through the PC using MTP "pops out as Portable media Device"
sLy` said:
omg, this just got even more confusing. I've installed the patches given in the hydogen ROM thread.
I can now confirm that "mnt/sdcard" is my INTERNAL and "/emmc/" is my external.
I've also used the MTP fix, however I can only now SEE my internal when i plug it to my PC before it was my externalSdCard.
Question: remember those Android, DATA folder i was talking about. left from the previous ROM, now thats been placed into my internal, and i can see all my pictures mp3's that was in the stock ROM. how do i know if the old ROM's Android and data folder is being used or not
Clearly i just want to factory Reset it. Should i do it again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Factory reset will not reset the patches you flashed from CWM,
2) If you dont want to restore any applications which you were using from ealier ROM, and you are going to install all the application freshly then you can do the factory reset and delete Android and Data from you SD card. the same will be rebuilt when you do fresh install in your new ROM.
Ok, I'm going to re-install the mod from scratch, should i just delete external SDCard by plugging it into my PC through USB?
How can i wipe previous apps and everything else internally, using CWM i did Wipe data and wipe cache, i dont think that worked.
What else can i do to erase all previous data, i want to start everything from fresh.
This time when i install it i want to install it on my internal not external
sLy` said:
Ok, I'm going to re-install the mod from scratch, should i just delete external SDCard by plugging it into my PC through USB?
How can i wipe previous apps and everything else internally, using CWM i did Wipe data and wipe cache, i dont think that worked.
What else can i do to erase all previous data, i want to start everything from fresh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wipe data factory reset + Format SD card , but makesure before doing format SD, you are able to mount USB and connect to PC to transfer your ROM installation zip to SD card, because by doing farmat all the stuff on the SD card will be wiped.
and freshly install your ROM zip
---------- Post added at 12:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:41 PM ----------
But dont forget to backup your required data like movies/picture/music to your PC first
---------- Post added at 01:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:45 PM ----------
sLy` said:
This time when i install it i want to install it on my internal not external
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont get what you mean,
there is no option to select the installation of a ROM...it will automatically install on your system partition. and apps on data partition.
yeah there are none, dont worry about that. Look using CWM recovery i did
-Wipe data/Factory reset
-Wipe cache partition
- -> Advance/ Wipe Dalvik Cache
i DIDN'T do anything else, i was about to install the new rom, but then i said let me just reboot and see the factory files. Guess what i used USB mass storage and allll the files are still there.?! Whats going on.?
*EDIT*: When i installed the Hydrogen ROM it installed it into my SDcard i guess it made a partition or something. 16GB
*EDIT 2*: IN CWM should i go into "Mounts and stoage" --> Format emmc and sdcard?
Factory reset and wiping caches will not clear the contents of your internal or external memory. They only clear the OS or OS related Caches.
If you want to wipe everything from your memory you'll have to fomart
System --> Storage --> Erase USB Storage or Erase SDCard Storage. This WILL Wipe EVERYTHING, including any backups of roms.
Before wiping anything make sure you can mount your internal and external storage via Recovery / CWM incase you need to transfer a rom or backup back to your phone
---------- Post added at 11:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:12 AM ----------
sLy` said:
Oke there is something wrong here. After installing fresh Hydrogen ROM i used "USB to MTP FIX" and "Patch for Switching Mount Points."
After installing them on CWM i just realized i had to TICK the MTP option on USB-settings through the mobile.
Now I can see BOTH internal and External though it takes time to read(process), anyway.
My problem is "Internal Storage" and "SD Card" BOTH have identical folders and files in them, when seen through the PC using MTP "pops out as Portable media Device"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I explained this before, Internal and SD Card will have identical folders in them.
If you install a apk on your phone memory, you'll need the same directories in your external memory if you decided to install those same apks on to your external memory. Same with photos, you can install them on phone memory, or you can have them stored on your external memory, again you'll need the same directories to house them which = same folders on both internal and external memory
---------- Post added at 11:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:18 AM ----------
sLy` said:
omg, this just got even more confusing. I've installed the patches given in the hydogen ROM thread.
I can now confirm that "mnt/sdcard" is my INTERNAL and "/emmc/" is my external.
I've also used the MTP fix, however I can only now SEE my internal when i plug it to my PC before it was my externalSdCard.
Question: remember those Android, DATA folder i was talking about. left from the previous ROM, now thats been placed into my internal, and i can see all my pictures mp3's that was in the stock ROM. how do i know if the old ROM's Android and data folder is being used or not
Clearly i just want to factory Reset it. Should i do it again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simple solution regarding your emmc issue. Pull out your memory card, put it in your pc, (back up incase) and erase everything / format. Put it back in your phone. Job done.
If emmc is gone it resided on your external, if its still there its internal. Although in my experience emmc always referred to external storage on CM based roms, but i'm not familiar with hydrogen roms. A previous user posted, hydrogen use emmc as internal. As i'm not familiar with this layout i don't want to comment on it.
I've got CWM-based Recovery v5.5.0.4 at the moment (non-touch) and I try going into mounts and storage then Mount USB storage nothing opens up on my PC
sLy` said:
I've got CWM-based Recovery v5.5.0.4 at the moment (non-touch) and I try going into mounts and storage then Mount USB storage nothing opens up on my PC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, in recovery go to mounts and storage, FIRST mount your sdcard and then mount your external_sdcard THEN mount USB Storage, WAIT a few seconds and see if that works
(I always unmount all three after i've finished)
There are no 'external'
/efs
/cache
/system
/data
/preload
/emmc
/sdcard
And i did mount /sdcard and went to the USB mass storage device still waiting, im getting nothing.
I've just checked "device managers" and it detects the SAMSUNG mobile, everything seems to be working fine. Still no USB-mass-storage
I just took out my SDcard out of my mobile to reduce the confusion, xD, I've booted my mobile and it works great without the SDcard hence, all my photos pictures, mp3's etc are working and visible still.
If almost afraid to say this, but i think you'll have to mount 'emmc' to see your external
Related
I recently made a mistake on my phone & got it stuck in a boot loop. I figure the easiest fix is to just wipe system & install a new ROM from the CWM Recovery Menu. My problem is I cannot access the external sd card.
When trying to navigate install zip from sdcard > choose zip from sdcard > external_sd/ it simply returns "No Files Found". I'm assuming because that's probably just a symlink.
If I go to Mounts & Storage and attempt to mount /sd-ext, I get "Error mounting SDEXT :!.
Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way, so any help would be appreciated. I'm still fairly new to the whole Android scene.
I should note that my USB Port is broken so using that is out of the question. I've already attempted twice to replace it (damn thing wont desolder), but that's a whole other bag of worms.. That I won't bother re-visiting unless it's my only option.
RayG210 said:
I recently made a mistake on my phone & got it stuck in a boot loop. I figure the easiest fix is to just wipe system & install a new ROM from the CWM Recovery Menu. My problem is I cannot access the external sd card.
When trying to navigate install zip from sdcard > choose zip from sdcard > external_sd/ it simply returns "No Files Found". I'm assuming because that's probably just a symlink.
If I go to Mounts & Storage and attempt to mount /sd-ext, I get "Error mounting SDEXT :!.
Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way, so any help would be appreciated. I'm still fairly new to the whole Android scene.
I should note that my USB Port is broken so using that is out of the question. I've already attempted twice to replace it (damn thing wont desolder), but that's a whole other bag of worms.. That I won't bother re-visiting unless it's my only option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You install a rom with cwm through the internal sd, not external; so yeah, you're going about it the wrong way.
*tear* Just what I didn't want to hear.
a little help
you could try flashing a different kernal ie siyah pr cm9 these have different versions cwm included so you might be able to access your ext sdcard just a thought.
It depends on the version of CWR you have flashed. Whenever I run ICZen the version of CWR (5 something) that Deficient Development bakes in lets you flash zips from the external SD; very convenient.
Can the OP use DroidExplorer, and transfer a rom to the internal? I've not used DroidExplorer, but have heard it talked about.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA
If there isn't a ROM on the internal SD card to install from recovery, and the current kernel version does not support install from the external SD. Then I would assume you would need to ODIN to stock.
Good luck!
Sent from my SGH-T959 using xda premium
Why can't you use something like Dropbox or Box and upload it from your PC, then download it to your phone and transfer to the sdcard of choice with a file explorer? Then flash away. In fact I just did this the other night bc I was too lazy to go to my PC and hook up my phone. I just uploaded it with my tablet and then downloaded it to my Vibrant.
Edit::: I just re-read your OP.
If I go to Mounts & Storage and attempt to mount /sd-ext, I get "Error mounting SDEXT :!.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is NOT the external sd card. SD-ext is another partition that has to be set up on the sdcard with something like Gparted or MiniTool Partition Wizard. It is for when you do not have the standard Samsung 2gb partition or the /datadata partition set up. FWIW, I have never seen this particular partition set up in the Vibrant.
I can't remember what the actual Mount option is in CWR but I definately know this is NOT it. Not sure if you remember seeing it or not but when you do a Nanadroid backup, it will always skip the SD-Ext part b/c there is nothing there. This is more mainly for older phone that were running Eclair and did not have native App2sd support. It was used as a hack to force that support.
i think go to a shop get your USB port repaired and get back to STOCK if you dont have any rom on your internal sd or do a (wipe cache etc etc) so that the phone will run on the ROM's kernel
Hi xda,
I'm not a typical android user and this was one of my firsts in messing around with my Tab 10.1. I have GTP7500 which I recently loaded up with CM10 and it's working fine except for the camera. Leave that and what I was going to say is that I'd like to remove my entire Internal Storage ( all the downloads, music, videos ) and stuff, i.e, like formatting the sd card. I'd like to know a way to format the internal storage of my Tab without affecting the system files as I don't want to create any troubles here. So, my questions are:-
1. Whether I can delete all the stuff shown inside the internal storage from my PC directly and would it affect the system? I cannot see any format option when I connect my tab to my PC so, I was hoping if I could manually delete all the files inside the storage and then doing a factory reset from cwm and installing the rom once again?
2. Or is there any app to do this?
3. Or if it is quite simple to do it the hard way, well, entering the fastboot and wiping the whole system (Read it somewhere before) and installing all the stuff again, then please do tell me that too. Otherwise, I'd go with the easy method, i.e, just format the internal storage.
Also, what about the format /sdcard option in the mounts and storages menu in CWM? I'm using CWM 5.5.0.4.
I think doing the "format /sdcard" in CWM should do what you are looking for as I have done that in the past. I would also temporarily back up the /sdcard contents onto your computer as a precaution in case an app was depending on any folders there, but I think it should be fine.
Thanks but still...
astrojo3 said:
I think doing the "format /sdcard" in CWM should do what you are looking for as I have done that in the past. I would also temporarily back up the /sdcard contents onto your computer as a precaution in case an app was depending on any folders there, but I think it should be fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick reply. But would it remove other stuff including the boot files and other core files of Android? I've somewhere seen similar posts and whom did the format /sdcard but they proclaimed they lost whole files and had to do bootloader and install cwm and other stuff all over again to gain access. I've already managed to do format the sd card while installing the ICS official ROM for my tab but I did that via Samsung's recovery menu, i.e, one you get when installing their official ROMs and did a factory reset which erased all my internal storage files. But the same option won't remove internal storage in cwm. So, is format /sdcard the option to do this? I'd be glad to get a clear answer.
sangeeth96 said:
Thanks for the quick reply. But would it remove other stuff including the boot files and other core files of Android? I've somewhere seen similar posts and whom did the format /sdcard but they proclaimed they lost whole files and had to do bootloader and install cwm and other stuff all over again to gain access. I've already managed to do format the sd card while installing the ICS official ROM for my tab but I did that via Samsung's recovery menu, i.e, one you get when installing their official ROMs and did a factory reset which erased all my internal storage files. But the same option won't remove internal storage in cwm. So, is format /sdcard the option to do this? I'd be glad to get a clear answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, format sdcard in CWM. It will only wipe the data stored there. Your bootloaders and ROM will remain unaffected, however I would still backup the sdcard to your computer before doing this just in case.
bkress said:
Yep, format sdcard in CWM. It will only wipe the data stored there. Your bootloaders and ROM will remain unaffected, however I would still backup the sdcard to your computer before doing this just in case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering about this, too. Thanks for helping!
Sent from my GT-P7500 using XDA Premium HD app
The method above does work. However, if you really want to wipe the whole device completely clean, using Odin to flash stock firmware will blow it all out and make you factory-fresh in one operation.
I have to much junk and empty folders on the phone. I tried format through CWM, format system, cache, data, emmc...everything is still there. I want to clean (as in new) my internal storage.
Does "factory reset" does that, or is it just for deleting any 'personal' data (pics, files) etc?
Thanks.
Wipe data/factory reset only wipes the data partition. What you want is to format the internal sdcard. Go to Settings | Storage and select "Format SD card."
creepyncrawly said:
Wipe data/factory reset only wipes the data partition. What you want is to format the internal sdcard. Go to Settings | Storage and select "Format SD card."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
Will I then be able to boot into recovery, or CWM will no longer be there and I'll have to use ODIN?
Also, am I losing ROOT when doing that?
No. No. No.
You can format the root files from CWM recovery. You said you tried that and it didn't do what you want.
Formating the internal sdcard will remove all your personal files from the phone, including pictures and any other files and directories you have created. If that's not what you want to do, then don't format the internal sdcard.
Formating the internal sdcard will not touch the system, kernel, data partition or any other root files. You will not lose root. So yes you will be able to boot into cwm recovery, or even into whatever system you have installed after formating the internal sdcard.
sbi1 said:
Thanks.
Will I then be able to boot into recovery, or CWM will no longer be there and I'll have to use ODIN?
Also, am I losing ROOT when doing that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Common sense, make a backup (meaning copy and save your personal info to somewhere else first, you can delete them later if you really don't need them).
Also, adding to what creepy has said, be sure "SD card" is your internal storage, not external uSD.
I suggest you removing the external uSD card first, just in case.
The reason I said so because with CwMR and Task's AOKP, format SD card is formatting the external uSD card, while "format /emmc" will be do the internal one.
Just precaution.
Thank you both.
Yes, I already 'discovered' that formatting SD Card in CWM formats the external ...luckily I didn't have anything important there.
I still don't get it though. Looks like we are talking about two different things.
I have my internal storage fully backed up. I want to wipe it clean, as in a PC Format. Is there a way to do that, or can I simply remove empty folders in file explorer? Too much junk has been collected there in a year and a half of many custom roms and different apps that I tried and removed.
sbi1 said:
Thank you both.
Yes, I already 'discovered' that formatting SD Card in CWM formats the external ...luckily I didn't have anything important there.
I still don't get it though. Looks like we are talking about two different things.
I have my internal storage fully backed up. I want to wipe it clean, as in a PC Format. Is there a way to do that, or can I simply remove empty folders in file explorer? Too much junk has been collected there in a year and a half of many custom roms and different apps that I tried and removed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Refer to 2nd post. Your internal storage has 2 partitions. One is where all the system data is, and the other is where all the personal data is (where apps install to). If you do what's written in the 2nd post, it will completely wipe clean the personal partition.
dsmboost said:
Refer to 2nd post. Your internal storage has 2 partitions. One is where all the system data is, and the other is where all the personal data is (where apps install to). If you do what's written in the 2nd post, it will completely wipe clean the personal partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will I still be able to access CWM and install custom rom from Ext SD?
sbi1 said:
Will I still be able to access CWM and install custom rom from Ext SD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, formatting internal sd card (doesn't matter which partition) does not touch either of those.
After some 2+ years of constantly changing ROMs, I've noticed that my i9100 shows more often than not the message of "your storage is getting full" or whatever it says. It does not work by clearing apps' data or even removing some of them because it ends up showing the warning soon. Also, factory reset has proved not to do much, since it just does a data wipe.
So I have decided to proceed with a format by entering Recovery > Mounts & storage > Format sdcard.
I just want to check first wether I will be able, after the format has finished, to flash CyanogenMod back from the same recovery (having placed it in the external SD card, which I understand is not formatted together with the internal storage) and have it working all ok, or the format will disable me from doing something else.
So my questions are:
That 'format sdcard' option in the Recovery means the internal storage, right?
The external SD card (the actual physical one) is not affected by the format, right?
Will I be able to flash CyanogenMod back again from the same Recovery after the format?
In case yes, any reboot in between the format and the flashing would brick my phone?
Help is much appreciated! :laugh:
jago84 said:
After some 2+ years of constantly changing ROMs, I've noticed that my i9100 shows more often than not the message of "your storage is getting full" or whatever it says. It does not work by clearing apps' data or even removing some of them because it ends up showing the warning soon. Also, factory reset has proved not to do much, since it just does a data wipe.
So I have decided to proceed with a format by entering Recovery > Mounts & storage > Format sdcard.
I just want to check first wether I will be able, after the format has finished, to flash CyanogenMod back from the same recovery (having placed it in the external SD card, which I understand is not formatted together with the internal storage) and have it working all ok, or the format will disable me from doing something else.
So my questions are:
That 'format sdcard' option in the Recovery means the internal storage, right?
The external SD card (the actual physical one) is not affected by the format, right?
Will I be able to flash CyanogenMod back again from the same Recovery after the format?
In case yes, any reboot in between the format and the flashing would brick my phone?
Help is much appreciated! :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well as i had flashed a lot of Roms too, maybe i can help you...i'll try!
after formatting sdcard, u wont lose ROM. u will just format your sdcard(12 gb i think).
1) i think the "format sdcard" option is supposed to mean the internal storage. but in some roms that i flashed, sometimes the sdcard mean the external sdcard and EMMC means the internal sdcard...so first take a look. go to install zip and select install from internal sdcard or external sdcard and look up in the screen, if it shows that u are in /sdcard or in /emmc, so u can know what sdcard are u really going to format
2) if u select to format the internal sdcard, it will only format the internal sdcard. nothing else.
3)well, as i said in the beginning, you won't lose rom in the format...u just formated sdcard, the rom and its stuff are still there, in the device storage(not sdcard or external sdcard, but in a card that is only for system/phone stuff(its like the phone has 2 cards. one u can use and send stuff(12gb) and the other one is for system files(2gb))
4) i think it would not brick it, since u just formated the sdcard, the rom is still on your phone but in the device storage, like i said above.
the ROM files arent stored in internal sdcard or external sdcard(those u can send files by usb), they are stored in the storage of the device that is only for system files. so if u do a format it wont affect Rom or Recovery.
hope it helped a little...cheers
Short notice from my side: I doubt formatting your sdcard will help to solve your original problem (low memory). This message appears if the /data space (those 2GB where all the system settings and application data are stored) is almost used completely. The easiest way to clean up this data is a system reset (which will make you loose all your data) or you need to look whether there are applications occupying much data there and remove these apps / tell them to store their data on /sdcard (if this is possible) or to selectively remove some log files / temp data. But in this you should be very careful, because removing the wrong data might cause strange system behaviour.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
AndDiSa said:
Short notice from my side: I doubt formatting your sdcard will help to solve your original problem (low memory). This message appears if the /data space (those 2GB where all the system settings and application data are stored) is almost used completely. The easiest way to clean up this data is a system reset (which will make you loose all your data) or you need to look whether there are applications occupying much data there and remove these apps / tell them to store their data on /sdcard (if this is possible) or to selectively remove some log files / temp data. But in this you should be very careful, because removing the wrong data might cause strange system behaviour.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that is not quite the problem I am faceing now. I explain myself: when I get that "storage almost full" message, if I check on Settings > Storage, the Internal Storage section (1,97 GB in total) shows an availability of only 205 MB and the bar is half full (see attached). First incoherence. I try to update any small app such as, for example, Bitcoin Wallet (1.3 MB) and it says it can't be updated because there is not enough space. Incoherent with the bar shown. Also, if I navigate to /data, it shows there is an amount of 2.31 GB inside that directory (incoherent with the amount shown by the Storage Manager. Other data folders, such as the one in /sdcard/data or the one in /data/data, are always smaller (3 MB and 425 MB respectively, also don't match any of the figures shown by the Storage Manager).
Some ROM installs ago, I remember I was able to install around 190 apps and no problem at all, and now I'm 160 and have to keep removing apps when I want to install more.
That's why I think my problem is not related to data, or fixed by a data wipe or factory reset. I understand there are too many files inside that are just lost from ROM to ROM, and not even the system know where do they belong to. It is running everything but fluent. I don't even remember what Project Butter is :silly:
RonDelonge182 said:
well as i had flashed a lot of Roms too, maybe i can help you...i'll try!
after formatting sdcard, u wont lose ROM. u will just format your sdcard(12 gb i think).
1) i think the "format sdcard" option is supposed to mean the internal storage. but in some roms that i flashed, sometimes the sdcard mean the external sdcard and EMMC means the internal sdcard...so first take a look. go to install zip and select install from internal sdcard or external sdcard and look up in the screen, if it shows that u are in /sdcard or in /emmc, so u can know what sdcard are u really going to format
2) if u select to format the internal sdcard, it will only format the internal sdcard. nothing else.
3)well, as i said in the beginning, you won't lose rom in the format...u just formated sdcard, the rom and its stuff are still there, in the device storage(not sdcard or external sdcard, but in a card that is only for system/phone stuff(its like the phone has 2 cards. one u can use and send stuff(12gb) and the other one is for system files(2gb))
4) i think it would not brick it, since u just formated the sdcard, the rom is still on your phone but in the device storage, like i said above.
the ROM files arent stored in internal sdcard or external sdcard(those u can send files by usb), they are stored in the storage of the device that is only for system files. so if u do a format it wont affect Rom or Recovery.
hope it helped a little...cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your help, dude! Much appreciated.
Anyway, I feel that, if formatting sdcard does not wipe everything, maybe then what I need is to go Recovery > Mounts and storage > format /system, format /data, etc. All of them except for the actual physical sdcard (wether it is /emmc or /sdcard) and the directory in which the recovery "lives".
So I have new questions now:
If I formatted /system, would the phone be bricked or the Recovery would still allow me to install a CM ROM stored in the sd card?
Is there any of the directories shown in Recovery > Mounts and Storage that represents the actual Recovery partition/space?
There's no recovery partition you can format.
You can format system, preload, and data partition.
But flash a ROM right after.
There are flashable scripts (ROM wipe or ROM nuke) you can use. It does all the formats and wipes, and even back up some of your folders.
Envoyé depuis mon Nexus 10 avec Tapatalk
jago84 said:
I think that is not quite the problem I am faceing now. I explain myself: when I get that "storage almost full" message, if I check on Settings > Storage, the Internal Storage section (1,97 GB in total) shows an availability of only 205 MB and the bar is half full (see attached).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a known bug, that Android's performance is decreasing very much as soon as there is less than 10% free on /data. Additionally I wouldn't trust the graphics you see, because especially if you have man small files, the space occupied on "disk" is much higher than the file size. If they are only adding the file size of the files stored there this will be misleading. As far as I know the block size is 4kb, so each file takes at least 4kb of the memory. You can try to move some apps to /sdcard, but this works only to an external one, so you can free some space. Otherwise have a look on /data/system/dropbox or /data/system/usagestats if you can find some files which can be removed.
jago84 said:
Thanks for your help, dude! Much appreciated.
Anyway, I feel that, if formatting sdcard does not wipe everything, maybe then what I need is to go Recovery > Mounts and storage > format /system, format /data, etc. All of them except for the actual physical sdcard (wether it is /emmc or /sdcard) and the directory in which the recovery "lives".
So I have new questions now:
If I formatted /system, would the phone be bricked or the Recovery would still allow me to install a CM ROM stored in the sd card?
Is there any of the directories shown in Recovery > Mounts and Storage that represents the actual Recovery partition/space?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, as Sergeileduc said, u can't format Recovery. so answering your questions:
1) yes, you would still be able to flash any other Rom, since formatting /system does not affect recovery. Wiping this partition will remove Android from the device without rendering it unbootable, and you will still be able to put the phone into recovery or bootloader mode to install a new ROM.
2) i dont think so...u can't format recovery...
hope it helped you...cheers!
well the 4rth question is no it wouldent brick your phone it will just hang at the galaxy s logo p.s thanks for helpin me on the other fourm
Just to add my own experience.....
Some months ago, my phone was suffering from poor performance (I was running CM10.1 at the time)
I decided to do a full format to totally "pristine" wipe my phone and start fresh. I copied a fresh version of the rom and gapps to my removable micro SD card and rebooted into CWM. I formatted cache, dalvic, preload, emmc and sd.....then just to be certain, I factory reset too.....
After that and while still in CWM, I flashed the rom and gapps and rebooted without issue......I believe this is what you want to do, so to answer your question. ...yes it is safe and possible to do this.....my phone is proof of that.....
Sent from my Rooted, De bloated Stock JB powered S2 via PhilZ kernel and Tapatalk 2....
keithross39 said:
Just to add my own experience.....
Some months ago, my phone was suffering from poor performance (I was running CM10.1 at the time)
I decided to do a full format to totally "pristine" wipe my phone and start fresh. I copied a fresh version of the rom and gapps to my removable micro SD card and rebooted into CWM. I formatted cache, dalvic, preload, emmc and sd.....then just to be certain, I factory reset too.....
After that and while still in CWM, I flashed the rom and gapps and rebooted without issue......I believe this is what you want to do, so to answer your question. ...yes it is safe and possible to do this.....my phone is proof of that.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Great feedback.
Just to complete my question, did you notice a significant performance improvement after the wipe-and-reinstall process?
It seemed to help a bit, but not as much as I'd anticipated. ..
Sent from my Rooted, De bloated Stock JB powered S2 via PhilZ kernel and Tapatalk 2....
My internal SD card is mostly full (11GB) after a year of using my i9300, and I'm not sure where all that space has gone (some pictures and video but I think a lot of apps I used throughout the last year but ended up deleting). So I figure the next time I try a new ROM I will delete the whole thing and start from scratch, backing up my data of course. I will back up the entire internal SD card to my computer and take a nandroid backup before doing anything.
Should I format the internal SD card or just delete all its contents?
I've noticed that when I try a new ROM the internal SD card isn't touched, so where does the ROM actually get stored?
What does the wipe data / factory reset option in ClockworkMod Recovery actually wipe?
Does a nandroid backup back up the internal SD card? I have a feeling the answer is no, but then what does it actually back up?
If I use TitaniumBackup to back up all my app data and move that backup to my computer, then I delete the internal SD card, wipe the system, tehen replace my old ROM with a new ROM, then use TitaniumBackup to restore my apps and their data, am I missing anything? For example, I don't think certain data gets backed up by TitaniumBackup, for example photos (even though that might be considered 'data' of the camera app), so what could I be unwittingly missing when I do my restore from TitaniumBackup? How will I know what things I need from what's currently on my internal SD card?
iamthemandroid said:
Should I format the internal SD card or just delete all its contents?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need to format it.
iamthemandroid said:
I've noticed that when I try a new ROM the internal SD card isn't touched, so where does the ROM actually get stored?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lets distinguish between these things.
The "internal SDcard" is NOT an sdcard. It is a partition on the internal memory referred to as /sdcard (on other phones /sdcard mounts to removable media but not here). However, as it happens, the internal memory itself is an eMMC (embedded MultiMedia Card) which is where the confusion arises, so let us refer to eMMC as "Internal Memory" from here on.
The internal memory has many partitions (It's 14.9 GiB in total). It has a /system partition (ROM goes here) a /boot partition (bootloader), /recovery partition (guess) and /cache partition and a /data partition (A few others that aren't of interest here).
Usually /data is where all your data and apps go (in /data/app and /data/data) however, we use the FUSE file system to cleverly put /sdcard (usually removable media) into /data/media. This way /data is fully used as user data space.
iamthemandroid said:
What does the wipe data / factory reset option in ClockworkMod Recovery actually wipe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Custom Recoveries wipe /data/app and /data/data. Stock recovery wipes /data which includes /data/media AKA /sdcard
iamthemandroid said:
Does a nandroid backup back up the internal SD card? I have a feeling the answer is no, but then what does it actually back up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. It backs up /system, /data (ignoring data/media) and /cache. It often backs up to /sdcard so it cant backup where it is saving the files to
iamthemandroid said:
If I use TitaniumBackup to back up all my app data and move that backup to my computer, then I delete the internal SD card, wipe the system, tehen replace my old ROM with a new ROM, then use TitaniumBackup to restore my apps and their data, am I missing anything? For example, I don't think certain data gets backed up by TitaniumBackup, for example photos (even though that might be considered 'data' of the camera app), so what could I be unwittingly missing when I do my restore from TitaniumBackup? How will I know what things I need from what's currently on my internal SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Backup titanium to /sdcard then copy EVERYTHING from /sdcard to computer, will catch everything. Titanium doesn't back up stuff on /sdcard unless it is explicitly part of an application and you select that option in preferences
Your best option would be to format Internal SD card. And as you install a new rom, as you can see you only have 11GB of free space. Thats what is left from your total 16GB. Android OS reserves some space for bootloader, rom and cache.
The factory reset in recovery will delete all your system settings, apps, messages, call log and such. But if I'm correct it shouldn't touch the pictures. Nandroid backup doesnt hold your whole Internal SD card in itself.
And titanium backup backups apps and their settings, but it will not backup messages or pictures.. You can for example manually copy pictures to your computer and then back to your device. And for messages there is a good app called 'SMS Backup & Restore'.
Hope this helps
Edit: Me and my slow typing
Etirel said:
Edit: Me and my slow typing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was on a mission
rootSU said:
I was on a mission
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guess so But you explained it a lot better than I did. So probably better that way
help me please formated sd with stock nanaroid on it..please help!!!!
i formatted my sd like a clown...i recoverd the files how ever i am unable to find my twrp back up ...i really need some help
DroiDBoSS said:
i formatted my sd like a clown...i recoverd the files how ever i am unable to find my twrp back up ...i really need some help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You formatted that means you have lost what was on the sd card .
If you put your Nandroid backup on that card then its lost .
JJEgan said:
You formatted that means you have lost what was on the sd card .
If you put your Nandroid backup on that card then its lost .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
know any ware i can download the rogers stock 4.1.2 firmware...and does it mess with my unlocked bootloader if i flash back?
DroiDBoSS said:
know any ware i can download the rogers stock 4.1.2 firmware...and does it mess with my unlocked bootloader if i flash back?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have I9300 or I9305 phone ???
If not this is I9300 you are in the wrong forum . Firmware/ mods from here may brick your phone .
Back up
rootSU said:
No need to format it.
Lets distinguish between these things.
The "internal SDcard" is NOT an sdcard. It is a partition on the internal memory referred to as /sdcard (on other phones /sdcard mounts to removable media but not here). However, as it happens, the internal memory itself is an eMMC (embedded MultiMedia Card) which is where the confusion arises, so let us refer to eMMC as "Internal Memory" from here on.
The internal memory has many partitions (It's 14.9 GiB in total). It has a /system partition (ROM goes here) a /boot partition (bootloader), /recovery partition (guess) and /cache partition and a /data partition (A few others that aren't of interest here).
Usually /data is where all your data and apps go (in /data/app and /data/data) however, we use the FUSE file system to cleverly put /sdcard (usually removable media) into /data/media. This way /data is fully used as user data space.
Custom Recoveries wipe /data/app and /data/data. Stock recovery wipes /data which includes /data/media AKA /sdcard
No. It backs up /system, /data (ignoring data/media) and /cache. It often backs up to /sdcard so it cant backup where it is saving the files to
Backup titanium to /sdcard then copy EVERYTHING from /sdcard to computer, will catch everything. Titanium doesn't back up stuff on /sdcard unless it is explicitly part of an application and you select that option in preferences
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I backup via philz_touch_6.00.8 but when i tried to restore philz_touch_6.00.8 could not find the backup folder or file. Also when i check the my data using file explorer also i could not find backup file or folder. Interesting that capasity of internal sd card is less then befor about 3 GB. Could you explain why i could not find and restore or remove ?