How do I format my internal storage (Full Format) - Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hey Guys,
Im selling my phone and did a factory reset and want to do a full wipe of my internal storage before selling my phone. I want to do a format where someone wont be able to download a file recovery app and look at all my photos, etc. Basically id like to find an app (and i dont care if it takes ages to run) that will fill my storage with random data and do a format.
Thanks!!!

ricochet69 said:
Hey Guys,
Im selling my phone and did a factory reset and want to do a full wipe of my internal storage before selling my phone. I want to do a format where someone wont be able to download a file recovery app and look at all my photos, etc. Basically id like to find an app (and i dont care if it takes ages to run) that will fill my storage with random data and do a format.
Thanks!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Answer was already posted HERE
​

tkalli said:
Answer was already posted HERE
​
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok thanks ill test it on my S2 and get back

ok i tried what you sent on, and although this does a wipe. It doesnt seem to write to all sectors to ensure the internal storage is fully wiped. I did a full wipe using CWM and then used a program called diskdigger and it was still able to pick up photos that were "deleted" from my device.
Can anyone advise an app or program that will fully wipe my internal storage (fills each sector with random data)

Any reply for Ricochet69? I am also having the same question.

yep
mount usb storage, run any eraser type programs available to you on the mounted drive (like eraser.heidi.ie). In a bind you could also encrypt it using truecrypt and choose the method that will format all areas with random data. You could also pull from /dev/random and pipe it to the card to pseudo-wipe it (something like dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/whateveryoursdcardmountis bs=1M)

I've found that flashing a stock rom and making a factory reset + wipe cache + wipe dalvik prior to that does the trick. Dunno if it's what you are looking for, though.

ricochet69 said:
Hey Guys,
Im selling my phone and did a factory reset and want to do a full wipe of my internal storage before selling my phone. I want to do a format where someone wont be able to download a file recovery app and look at all my photos, etc. Basically id like to find an app (and i dont care if it takes ages to run) that will fill my storage with random data and do a format.
Thanks!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use this Android_Revolution_HD_Super_Wipe_Galaxy_S3.zip. then install new rom from external sdcard.
regards
Colin

and what about the internal memory? Is factory reset enough or not finally?

tkalli said:
Answer was already posted HERE
​
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it was not.

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

[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.

Please delete this thread.

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

[Q] hidden files taking up all my space

So the past few weeks has been my first experience with safe strap and everything.I have been using only the Hyperdrive rom. After having some issues with the RS14 update, i had to delete the rom slot and make a new one. Ive noticed that i have a ton of hidden files, because i have almost no space left on the internal storage. anybody have any ideas on how to find and delete these files? I would also like to know what you guys set the slot as, as far as given space. this is the only rom im going to be using so i want to maximize my space.
m4gkman said:
So the past few weeks has been my first experience with safe strap and everything.I have been using only the Hyperdrive rom. After having some issues with the RS14 update, i had to delete the rom slot and make a new one. Ive noticed that i have a ton of hidden files, because i have almost no space left on the internal storage. anybody have any ideas on how to find and delete these files? I would also like to know what you guys set the slot as, as far as given space. this is the only rom im going to be using so i want to maximize my space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you do format sdcard that should clear up space (factory reset will not clear them). For the space, Safestrap use the internal storage only, so the O/S, boot etc i would need about 900meg, and the data partition is depended on how many apps you planned to install, let say you assign 1gig for data then the total you need is approx 2gb, if you think you're going to have more apps then assign 2.5 or 3..it's all up to you.
buhohitr said:
If you do format sdcard that should clear up space (factory reset will not clear them). For the space, Safestrap use the internal storage only, so the O/S, boot etc i would need about 900meg, and the data partition is depended on how many apps you planned to install, let say you assign 1gig for data then the total you need is approx 2gb, if you think you're going to have more apps then assign 2.5 or 3..it's all up to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the hidden files are in the internal storage, not my sd card.
buhohitr said:
If you do format sdcard that should clear up space (factory reset will not clear them). For the space, Safestrap use the internal storage only, so the O/S, boot etc i would need about 900meg, and the data partition is depended on how many apps you planned to install, let say you assign 1gig for data then the total you need is approx 2gb, if you think you're going to have more apps then assign 2.5 or 3..it's all up to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i might just have to do a factory data reset, and start from scratch and reroot and start over. I really dont want to have to do that though
m4gkman said:
i might just have to do a factory data reset, and start from scratch and reroot and start over. I really dont want to have to do that though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory reset won't clear, you need to format sdcard,
buhohitr said:
Factory reset won't clear, you need to format sdcard,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
even though the issue isn't in the ext sd card?
m4gkman said:
even though the issue isn't in the ext sd card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
screenshots taken without sd card in.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skaterdave/12530759613/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skaterdave/12530758613/
sorry for the links, the images werent' working
m4gkman said:
even though the issue isn't in the ext sd card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think you understand the misc files are hidden, there no way you can delete them. When you boot into recovery, do the following:
wipe cache, wipe dalvik cache, wipe system and format sdcard. Format sdcard is formatting your INTERNAL space, not your external sdcard. After done reflash rom.
buhohitr said:
I don't think you understand the misc files are hidden, there no way you can delete them. When you boot into recovery, do the following:
wipe cache, wipe dalvik cache, wipe system and format sdcard. Format sdcard is formatting your INTERNAL space, not your external sdcard. After done reflash rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When i hit wipe on safe strap, is it the format data button, or a full advanced wipe? sorry im asking so many questions, still really new to safestrap.
m4gkman said:
When i hit wipe on safe strap, is it the format data button, or a full advanced wipe? sorry im asking so many questions, still really new to safestrap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, just want to make sure we're on the same page. A 16gb Galaxy S4 only has 6gb available as stock phone. If you assigned 3gb for safestrap, then you should only have 3gb left for storage. So my question is the junk files are on the new rom (3gb safestrap) or from the original O/S? I don't believe safestrap offers the option to "format internal SDcard". If you want to continue to use safestrap, you should be on top of the storage space. Since I don't know all the junks are from, but I suggest you should start clean; Uninstall safestrap, Odin your phone back to stock ROM using PIT file. Now you should have a super clean phone. Record your storage space to see what's the total space, how much in used and how much free. At this point you should also take a look at app to SD, where all the new apps will be install to your external SDcard instead. From now on after you flash new rom or install safestrap, you should check your storage to have an idea what used up the space.
buhohitr said:
Hey, just want to make sure we're on the same page. A 16gb Galaxy S4 only has 6gb available as stock phone. If you assigned 3gb for safestrap, then you should only have 3gb left for storage. So my question is the junk files are on the new rom (3gb safestrap) or from the original O/S? I don't believe safestrap offers the option to "format internal SDcard". If you want to continue to use safestrap, you should be on top of the storage space. Since I don't know all the junks are from, but I suggest you should start clean; Uninstall safestrap, Odin your phone back to stock ROM using PIT file. Now you should have a super clean phone. Record your storage space to see what's the total space, how much in used and how much free. At this point you should also take a look at app to SD, where all the new apps will be install to your external SDcard instead. From now on after you flash new rom or install safestrap, you should check your storage to have an idea what used up the space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like thats what im going to have to do. Glad i still have bootcamp to use odin, because i didnt use odin, i used safe root. Think it will be the same process?
m4gkman said:
Looks like thats what im going to have to do. Glad i still have bootcamp to use odin, because i didnt use odin, i used safe root. Think it will be the same process?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have Windows? or just MAC?
buhohitr said:
Do you have Windows? or just MAC?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a mac, running bootcamp with windows xp as well. But when i rooted this phone i used the mac method of safe root
m4gkman said:
I have a mac, running bootcamp with windows xp as well. But when i rooted this phone i used the mac method of safe root
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, doesn't matter which one you pick, but just use Odin to flash stock rom with PIT file found here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2290859, this should put you back to factory and a super clean storage.
buhohitr said:
Ok, doesn't matter which one you pick, but just use Odin to flash stock rom with PIT file found here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2290859, this should put you back to factory and a super clean storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unfortunately odin only works on windows, thats the only reason i have bootcamp hahaha. thanks for all your help. ill be back at my main computer on monday so Ill post after i give it a shot.
m4gkman said:
So the past few weeks has been my first experience with safe strap and everything.I have been using only the Hyperdrive rom. After having some issues with the RS14 update, i had to delete the rom slot and make a new one. Ive noticed that i have a ton of hidden files, because i have almost no space left on the internal storage. anybody have any ideas on how to find and delete these files? I would also like to know what you guys set the slot as, as far as given space. this is the only rom im going to be using so i want to maximize my space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why are you assuming that it's "hidden files"? It's probably just the bloated stock ROM.
A 16Gb GS4 with just the factory stuff will have at best 8Gb available - the OS and standard applications all use up that internal memory space.
(Just /system alone is 4.2 Gb on my phone, for example. Then there's the /data stuff, including the dalvik cache, etc.)
Re-flashing a full wipe ROM will maximize the available space, but it's never going to have 16 Gb free on a 16 Gb phone.
---------- Post added at 08:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:04 PM ----------
m4gkman said:
Looks like thats what im going to have to do. Glad i still have bootcamp to use odin, because i didnt use odin, i used safe root. Think it will be the same process?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have a Mac, you can use Heimdall to flash ROMs, including factory stock.
k1mu said:
Why are you assuming that it's "hidden files"? It's probably just the bloated stock ROM.
A 16Gb GS4 with just the factory stuff will have at best 8Gb available - the OS and standard applications all use up that internal memory space.
(Just /system alone is 4.2 Gb on my phone, for example. Then there's the /data stuff, including the dalvik cache, etc.)
Re-flashing a full wipe ROM will maximize the available space, but it's never going to have 16 Gb free on a 16 Gb phone.
---------- Post added at 08:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:04 PM ----------
If you have a Mac, you can use Heimdall to flash ROMs, including factory stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) because everytime i clear a rom slot and make a new one in safe strap, i get less and less space. if you look at the images in the links i put up, you can see that there is a lot of Misc files in the system folder, and none of them can be seen. and it shows that even on the hyperdrive rom.
3) heimdall doesn't work for some reason on my computer, and because im on 4.3 already, i have to use safe strap and cant just flash roms
m4gkman said:
1) because everytime i clear a rom slot and make a new one in safe strap, i get less and less space. if you look at the images in the links i put up, you can see that there is a lot of Misc files in the system folder, and none of them can be seen. and it shows that even on the hyperdrive rom.
3) heimdall doesn't work for some reason on my computer, and because im on 4.3 already, i have to use safe strap and cant just flash roms
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think this is a case of "Hidden files" - possibly something getting left behind after removing a Safestrap slot, but that's not proven.
You should install a program like "Disk Usage" from the play store. That will tell you where the space is being consumed on your internal storage. The "Miscellaneous files" entry doesn't give you the detail that you need to diagnose this.
I can't help you with Heimdall without knowing why it doesn't work.
buhohitr said:
Hey, just want to make sure we're on the same page. A 16gb Galaxy S4 only has 6gb available as stock phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is not correct. On launch day (May 23rd) my S4 had 9.51gb free space before i put anything on it.
Eric214 said:
That is not correct. On launch day (May 23rd) my S4 had 9.51gb free space before i put anything on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I'm not exact on the number, but basically it took about +/- half of the total...) don't be too technical )

CM11 No SD Card error when downloading files

Hey all, first want to say that CM11 is superb. With that I am having one issue. I am on a Verizon Note 2. Installed Nightly 050414 last night. When going to a site on chrome and trying to download a file I receive a pop up error from the system NO SD CARD. A little back ground. Before this I had Jelly Bean ROM installed. I had also done the SD card swap internal for external.
Last night before installing CM I did a full reset and wipe including DALVIK. Install went through fine. I can install apps from the play store. Also tried downloading a few files from dropbox in browser and get same error message. When going into file manager I have SD card = /storage/sdcard1 and internal storage = /storage/emulated/0. Had never seen the term emulated when referring to storage in android so thats throwing me off as well. If anyone could help me figure out exactly what's going on and what to do to fix it I would be eternally grateful. If any other info is needed please let me know and I will grab it for you. Cheers all!
cnmsales said:
Hey all, first want to say that CM11 is superb. With that I am having one issue. I am on a Verizon Note 2. Installed Nightly 050414 last night. When going to a site on chrome and trying to download a file I receive a pop up error from the system NO SD CARD. A little back ground. Before this I had Jelly Bean ROM installed. I had also done the SD card swap internal for external.
Last night before installing CM I did a full reset and wipe including DALVIK. Install went through fine. I can install apps from the play store. Also tried downloading a few files from dropbox in browser and get same error message. When going into file manager I have SD card = /storage/sdcard1 and internal storage = /storage/emulated/0. Had never seen the term emulated when referring to storage in android so thats throwing me off as well. If anyone could help me figure out exactly what's going on and what to do to fix it I would be eternally grateful. If any other info is needed please let me know and I will grab it for you. Cheers all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would recommend reflashing..But do a FULL wipe.. factory reset and wiping dalvik is not a complete wipe.. If you can in a file manager transfer CM11 to you external sd card. Then once thats accomplished go into recovery, wipe internal, data, system, cache and dalvik and a factory reset(that is a complete wipe:good
Then reflash. That should fix your issues
I originally did a full reset and dalvik wipe? Am I missing something here? The reason i'm asking is I don't see anything different than what I did. What didn't I do the first time specifically?
cnmsales said:
I originally did a full reset and dalvik wipe? Am I missing something here? The reason i'm asking is I don't see anything different than what I did. What didn't I do the first time specifically?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Internal sdcard..
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Free mobile app

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