Hi
I've just done a factory reset using Titanium Backup and the Nova Launcher backup system. It was a complete disaster (well, maybe not complete--I needed the cleanup) as neither of the backups functioned correctly and I lost all my apps, etc. After restoring from scratch, I did a bit of research. By default, both Titanium and Nova backups were saved to sdcard0 (as opposed to externalsdcard). I'm a relative newbie to the S3, but I think sdcard0 is the internal phone storage and therefore wiped when I did the factory reset. Am I correct?
If so, I have to wonder why both backups defaulted to this storage location. I've since moved both folders to external sd card and changed the backup paths on both apps. To preclude similar disasters, can I rename the somewhat confusing sdcard0 to something more recognisable (internal or phone storage seems reasonable) or would this cause more mayhem?
If I'm completely out to lunch with all of this, can someone educate me on the mysteries of the S3's storage configuration
Thanks in advance
Warthog
Hmm ...
Warthog01 said:
...
If so, I have to wonder why both backups defaulted to this storage location. I've since moved both folders to external sd card and changed the backup paths on both apps. To preclude similar disasters, can I rename the somewhat confusing sdcard0 to something more recognisable (internal or phone storage seems reasonable) or would this cause more mayhem?
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The default is there since there are phones which have no extSDcard (the very cheap Android models and going up to Nexus and even more expensive models).
Do not rename anything - just remember that extSDcard (or the SECOND card that you get to see) is the 'removable' one.
Also note that even sdcard0 is not wiped by "normal wiping", and you probably issued a specific command in recovery or something in order to reformat that!
xclub_101 said:
The default is there since there are phones which have no extSDcard (the very cheap Android models and going up to Nexus and even more expensive models).
Do not rename anything - just remember that extSDcard (or the SECOND card that you get to see) is the 'removable' one.
Also note that even sdcard0 is not wiped by "normal wiping", and you probably issued a specific command in recovery or something in order to reformat that!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many thanks, XClub!
I certainly don't remember issuing any command that would have reformatted the sdcard0, but you never know. Was I right in redirecting both backups to the extSDcard?
At some time you have flashed an Aosp 4.2.x Rom or the 4.2.1 leak.
As this has facility for users your sd card is formatted to accommodate different user data via an emulated set up.
To get things back to normal on 4.1.2 I suggest backing up your sd card and formatting it in settings/storage.
Hi Slaphead and thanks
I had to chuckle at your reply, because I wouldn't know how to flash a ROM (or a leak) if you took me by the hand to show me
Surely that's not something I could have done inadvertently? Anyway, if you're suggesting I backup and format the SD Card, can you give me a couple pointers so I don't screw it up somehow?
Cheers
Warthog
Warthog01 said:
Hi Slaphead and thanks
I had to chuckle at your reply, because I wouldn't know how to flash a ROM (or a leak) if you took me by the hand to show me
Surely that's not something I could have done inadvertently? Anyway, if you're suggesting I backup and format the SD Card, can you give me a couple pointers so I don't screw it up somehow?
Cheers
Warthog
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry,I read in haste!
Titanium does default to storing on internal sd, so a factory reset would wipe the backup, ditto nova launcher, so in titanium set folder to backup to external sd, no need to worry too much about nova as the titanium backup of it will restore its layout.
Apologies for the confusion, my fault!
Thanks again--I've already set up Titanium to back up to external card, so the next time I contemplate a factory reset, I can do so without fear!! :fingers-crossed:
yeah, and next time ask in the correct section
Glebun said:
yeah, and next time ask in the correct section
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try--hope you have a better day tomorrow (and, oh, dear, I forgot to hit Thanks)
Related
So, I was looking at my SD Card info through settings and I only have 2.43gb free. I only have 7 songs, not many photos, videos or anything else. I went through my SD and cleaned it up, but nothing changed.
I am running SC 2.5v no theme, and nothing really on my SD card for roms, themes or anything like that. I know this is a stretch, but what could be taking so much memory on the SD. I don't have titanium, i have cleaned my back ups and don't back up my apps... I know. Crazy. Anyone have any ideas. I know you don't know what is on my SD but, anyone have this issue as well?
gotsflat4love said:
So, I was looking at my SD Card info through settings and I only have 2.43gb free. I only have 7 songs, not many photos, videos or anything else. I went through my SD and cleaned it up, but nothing changed.
I am running SC 2.5v no theme, and nothing really on my SD card for roms, themes or anything like that. I know this is a stretch, but what could be taking so much memory on the SD. I don't have titanium, i have cleaned my back ups and don't back up my apps... I know. Crazy. Anyone have any ideas. I know you don't know what is on my SD but, anyone have this issue as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you partition your sd card?
Sent From My CM 7 Nightly #7 (Mixer theme) Monster Evo.
No. Should I? I have never ran across anyone doing that on a Fascinate...
gotsflat4love said:
No. Should I? I have never ran across anyone doing that on a Fascinate...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That could probably explain why.
Sent From My CM 7 Nightly #7 (Mixer theme) Monster Evo.
Mount the SD card on your computer and then select all the files in explorer (turn on show system files and hidden files first!), and check their total size (size and size on disk). If the size on disk for all the files is far lower than the amount reported as being used for the volume, something odd is probably up.
If the 'size on disk' is actually about the same as the amount of used space on the volume, you can then start checking the folders/files to see what's taking up the space.
@Jason Black: Why'd you want to repartition it? Or did you mean reformat it?
Another thing you could do is look for hidden files on windows when u open up removable drive then on the upper the upper left hand side hit tools then view then scroll down and hit the bubble that says show hidden files and see if thats what's taking up space
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
KitsuneKnight said:
Mount the SD card on your computer and then select all the files in explorer (turn on show system files and hidden files first!), and check their total size (size and size on disk). If the size on disk for all the files is far lower than the amount reported as being used for the volume, something odd is probably up.
If the 'size on disk' is actually about the same as the amount of used space on the volume, you can then start checking the folders/files to see what's taking up the space.
@Jason Black: Why'd you want to repartition it? Or did you mean reformat it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Non of that. I was simply asking of the sd card was partitioned.
Sent From My CM 7 Nightly #7 (Mixer theme) Monster Evo.
Do you use ROM Manager, or have you used it? Also, do you have/use Titanium backup to create backups or have you done any nandroid backups in CWM? Also, if you download things on your phone, that would be another thing to check and clear out.
imnuts said:
Do you use ROM Manager, or have you used it? Also, do you have/use Titanium backup to create backups or have you done any nandroid backups in CWM? Also, if you download things on your phone, that would be another thing to check and clear out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk
imnuts said:
Do you use ROM Manager, or have you used it? Also, do you have/use Titanium backup to create backups or have you done any nandroid backups in CWM? Also, if you download things on your phone, that would be another thing to check and clear out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah you can try clearing download cache in rom manager and also, those nanbackups take up a good amount of space if you have a lot of apps and data. I also have 2.40g left. Thats a lot of space unless you are downloading movies lol.
Sent From My CM 7 Nightly #7 (Mixer theme) Monster Evo.
I recently had that issue and went through my sd card and deleted unnecessary files. Old Roms such as superclean 2.1-2.3 I found in multiple places each taking up about 150MB. The main culprit was the nandroid backups. I had 4 backups each took up about a gig. They were in the clockwork mod folder. Im now limiting myself to 1 backup at a time.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
I had a lot of lost space on my card a while back. I suspect from removing the card/inserting the card while still mounted and losing clusters.
I simply put the card in my PC. Backed it up to my hard disk (hidden files and all). Formatted the card. Copied the files back. This restored the lost space. (and gave me a backup too which is handy)
Thanks everyone for the replies. I only have 3 nandroid back ups so far. I have rom manager, but the one adrynalyne posted with fix permissions. I have titanium, but dont use it.
I will mount my SD card to my comp and take a look at it. See if I can find hidden files.
Ok. I figures it out. I use a PC for rooting purpose stuff, but put a bunch of files on my SD card from a mac. Well I found out that when you delete files on your sd card from a mac.
It creats a hidden folder call .trash where it stores everything you delete. I used stock "My Files" hit menu when open, click more, setting then select show hidden files. You can delete all .trash or whatever .(folder) there. That is the hidden files mac create.
I hope this can help someone. Once i deleted those folders, I wernt from 1.8gb to 12.58 gb.
gotsflat4love said:
Ok. I figures it out. I use a PC for rooting purpose stuff, but put a bunch of files on my SD card from a mac. Well I found out that when you delete files on your sd card from a mac.
It creats a hidden folder call .trash where it stores everything you delete. I used stock "My Files" hit menu when open, click more, setting then select show hidden files. You can delete all .trash or whatever .(folder) there. That is the hidden files mac create.
I hope this can help someone. Once i deleted those folders, I wernt from 1.8gb to 12.58 gb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Macs also create other dot files when coping data, including a dot file for every file you copy over (it's to store the file's metadata... that's really not useful), as well as some others. Some poster around here has a link in his sig with a 'guide' on disabling those things...
In my /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup folder i have 9 backups. I'm guessing I might want to keep the oldest one in case it has a backup of my stock phone (I'm rooted now) and the latest one. The rest can be deleted, right?
Zacisblack said:
I recently had that issue and went through my sd card and deleted unnecessary files. Old Roms such as superclean 2.1-2.3 I found in multiple places each taking up about 150MB. The main culprit was the nandroid backups. I had 4 backups each took up about a gig. They were in the clockwork mod folder. Im now limiting myself to 1 backup at a time.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
eibbed0001 said:
In my /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup folder i have 9 backups. I'm guessing I might want to keep the oldest one in case it has a backup of my stock phone (I'm rooted now) and the latest one. The rest can be deleted, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TBH I haven't made a back-up since december 2010 and have deleted all mine long ago. With odin/TiBkup I find it to be an error free process. Restores always seem to have their own issues so I just gave up on them. But yes you can delete all older ones and keep the most current.
good day.
^^ same here. Haven't done a nandroid since November. Nandroid backups are a pain. It only takes like 10 minutes to get all your settings back the way you want them after a good ol' clean odin. Plus titanium backup, of course
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA Premium App
Agreed. Delete all your old backups. I had about 10 on mine at one pint. They eat about 1gb each
I've been KANGBANGED!!!!!
I've done a Nandroid restore a couple of times now and it went smoothly. A couple of cache and Dcache clears before, wipe data, clear caches again, install ROM, clear caches a couple of times, boot to make sure the ROM functions, then recovery, cache clearing, then advanced restore and restoring just data works for me. I used to use TiBu to restore everything but this has been working out fine, although I'd heard some people had problems with it. Although now that I think about it, I've only done this when re-flashing the same ROM as before. Maybe with different ROMS some things don't play nicely.
Still, I don't need 9 backups just sitting there taking up space, so thanks for the go ahead on deleting them. And I still do TiBu and MyBu backups because I've found you can never have too many resources when things go bad!
Hy guys, there is something I dont understand about nandroid. I flashed my rom, kernel, downloaded apps, change setting, homescreen etc. and now i would like to back it up exactly as it is. I read that nandroid is best for that but it doesnt backup sd card? whats up with that. I look at my sd card with root explorer and there are many folder and files that were made by apps when they were insteled on the phone.Does it backup that also? Also i have many apps, apps2sd, will it make backup of them also?
It won't back up your entire phone onto your phone. It would get really big with all the music, videos, etc, that a person might have. If you have your external card mounted then you can attach via a USB cable to your computer then either with adb or with a file manager copy all of /mnt/sdcard youlle get the important things that nandroid does not. The exception I can think of is that it doesn't seem to back up your modem firmware, so if your partial to a particular one then just have it as a flashable file.
Ok, thanks, so it doesnt backup internal sd card because someone told me yesterday that it does? If i copy the entire sd card to PC and latter copy it back to mobile like that will it work. First i recover nandroid backup, than i format internal sd card and than copy all the files back to sd card.
A Nandroid backup will copy a lot, but it can't copy everything or there wouldn't be room on the device for it to be practical. It is quite supprising how much it will keep; it just isn't a complete backup solution is all.
Addressing your question though, as for copying the entire sd card, you really only need to copy the folder /mnt/sdcard or /sdcard ; the latter is a symlink to /mnt/sdcard
If you try to copy your entire sdcard then it is possible to end up with data from partitions that will take forever to copy and that you really don't want, for example /proc on the phone is just kernel information that doesn't even exist when the phone is turned off. To keep things simple, everything is part of the ROM and kernel except for /mnt/sdcard and in the case of and external sd card, /mnt/sdcard/external_sd but the latter (/mnt/sdcard/external_sd) will be copied along with the first one provided it is mounted when you do it.
The only other exception to what needs to be backed up is a partition called /efs and there are various tutorials with various methods about how to do that. I would follow one of them rather than just copying the data out as its a partition that holds unique information about the phone that it can't function with if it gets messed up. This is more immediately important and I think there's quite simply some apps that will do it for you if you look at the sticky threads here. The files will be on your phone though so you'lle want to pull them off on to your computer for sure.
As for your friend's advice, though, you won't typically ever need more than a Nandroid backup unless something happens to that other data, for example if there's filesystem corruption. If you do a restore of your ROM then it still retains all your music and photo goodies or whatever, app settings get wiped though where they are retained with Nandroid. The only thing that I'd worry about is if the impending update to Ice Cream Sandwhich somehow wipes suff, or if you play around at the command line a lot make a mistake unintentionally. If it weren't for the updates and beta ICS releases we're seeing then I'd simply be telling you not to worry about it, but to back things up and be done with it.
By the way, doesn't Kies back things up? I don't have it so I don't remember but it seems like that's how I initially got things onto it and that it has a sync option. Perhaps this is enough?....
Igor 3 said:
Hy guys, there is something I dont understand about nandroid. I flashed my rom, kernel, downloaded apps, change setting, homescreen etc. and now i would like to back it up exactly as it is. I read that nandroid is best for that but it doesnt backup sd card? whats up with that. I look at my sd card with root explorer and there are many folder and files that were made by apps when they were insteled on the phone.Does it backup that also? Also i have many apps, apps2sd, will it make backup of them also?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man just do the backup and don't worry about the sd card files/folders. The reason it doesn't back them up is because they stay there anyway. Eg, if you uninstall an app, a folder that was created by it on your sd card is still there. Flashing firmware, including wipe versions doesn't touch the 11.5gb internal storage or external storage.
BTW, most of my internal sd card is used up and 25gb is used up on my external card. If the backup was to include those a 64gb memory card wouldn't be enough.
Between the S1 and S2 I've backed up and restored over 100 times, including after fully wiping the phone (but not formatting sd cards) and the phone always looks and functions exactly as before, including apps.
So, only copy memory card files to PC if you intend to format the internal / external cards or if you are worried you might lose stuff if the memories become corrupted.
Sent from my GT-I9100T
Thanks guys for you help. I dont use Kies also so i dont know and, yes, i format sd card before flashing every rom so i would probably format it also before making restore of nandroid backup. Also when i delete some app a delete a folder created by it on sd card. OK, than i will make a nandroid backup and copy mnt/sdcard on PC so if it ever gets corupted i can restore everything. As for efs folder, Neak kerenl made a backup of that automatic so i just made a copy of that on PC.
Every so often I go though the folders on the sd cards and clean them up a little but I have never formatted the sd cards. I don't really think you should do it with every flash.
Sent from my GT-I9100T
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.
This might be a stupid question, but better to ask then regret it when the time comes. I recently purchased a 32 GB Duracell class 4 sd card, I don't really trust the thing as much as I should, it acts strange at times when it comes to apps running off of it and such. Anyways the question is when you preform a nandroid backup with CWM it auto defaults to the backup directory within the CWM folder on the SD card. Is there a way to change the location of this folder to the internal storage on the device itself? Or when it comes time to restore a backup choose your own location? I trust the phones storage so much more then this sketch SD card.
Thanks for the assistance.
Take out the card when you wanna back up b restore without the external directory it should switch to internal
studacris said:
Take out the card when you wanna back up b restore without the external factory it should switch to internal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See, thats exactly why I love this site, wouldn't of thought of such a simple solution. Thank you.
blackendsoul said:
This might be a stupid question, but better to ask then regret it when the time comes. I recently purchased a 32 GB Duracell class 4 sd card, I don't really trust the thing as much as I should, it acts strange at times when it comes to apps running off of it and such. Anyways the question is when you preform a nandroid backup with CWM it auto defaults to the backup directory within the CWM folder on the SD card. Is there a way to change the location of this folder to the internal storage on the device itself? Or when it comes time to restore a backup choose your own location? I trust the phones storage so much more then this sketch SD card.
Thanks for the assistance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in cwm, there should always be the option to use the internal sdcard (at least with "my" cwms )
Hi. My phone was bootlooping this morning, I decided to wipe data (I had a backup of /data) reflash, and carry on. However, I accidently confused the factory reset option in TWRP with the one in the bootloader, and clicked the bootloader one. This wiped my internal sd card. I tried to use things like Undelete from play, but it only works on the external sd. I've been trying to follow this guide (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1994705) to regain my data, but I don't know what the name of the /data partition is (for example, for the galnex, it's mmcblk0p12). Does anyone know A. what the name of the partition is for the evo, or B. an easier/different way to recover my files? Thanks in advance for any assitance.
/data is mmcblk0p37 according to steelh over in this thread
roids87 said:
/data is mmcblk0p37 according to steelh over in this thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
awesome. however, is /data the same as internal sd card?
Va1ha1a said:
awesome. however, is /data the same as internal sd card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure. You could try and use the Mount Point Swapper and see if undelete will work then. I'm just tossing out some ideas. I've never actually tried to recover anything.
I'm gonna necrobump that first thread you linked to and see if anyone knows. I'll also try mount point swapper.
Edit: I've tried everything. mount point swapper caused bootloops, the guide i mentioned earlier created .raw files with nothing inside, etc. The upside is that I didn't have my roms, photos, or music on the internal. I can't remember. What else does android normally store there?
Va1ha1a said:
I can't remember. What else does android normally store there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Usually not much, random app data, downloads, photos, music(depending on settings). You may get a warning in Titanium Backup(if you use it) about a different android id, you can restore your old id, or keep your new one. I have yet to see any issues. I've restored old id's and kept new is's without issues.
roids87 said:
Usually not much, random app data, downloads, photos, music(depending on settings). You may get a warning in Titanium Backup(if you use it) about a different android id, you can restore your old id, or keep your new one. I have yet to see any issues. I've restored old id's and kept new is's without issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I don't think I had anything of massive importance on there (at least not that I can remember)