[Q] How to decrypt internal storage after installing a new ROM - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi, got myself into a problem - hope someone can save me here
I had my internal storage encrypted because of some app that required that, anyway I did a full wipe/factory settings and installed the ROM again (4.2.2 Omega).
Now my internal storage is inaccessible at all, I guess due to the encryption.
Is there a way to decrypt the partition and get the files from there?
And how do I make it accessible again?

Related

Help: cannot mount encrypted internal sdcard after new CM9 nightly installation

Hi,
I might have played with fire, and now I have lost access to the internal sdcard of my Galayx S2 (GT-I9100).
I run a CM9 nightly build (2012-08-06) and decided to encrypt my phone using the built-in Android encryption feature.
Everything went well.
But then I tried update my S2 with a new CM9 Nightly. I did a cache wipe and a data wipe and installed the CM9 Nightly 2012-08-19).
The installation went well, but now I do not have access to my internal sdcard anymore (which should be mounted on /mnt/sdcard or /sdcard).
I tried to mount /mnt/sdcard from the command line and the Recovery but it did not work. And many android apps do not work well or at all if the internal sdcard is not mounted.
Is there a way to remount my encrypted sdcard again, using the PIN or the password I used when I encrypted it ?
And if not, is there a way to destroy this encrypted internal sdcard and reformat it as it was before encryption (but empty of course) ?
Is it possible to clean this mess and restart from scratch with Odin (losing my data but at least the internal sdcard can be mounted again) ?
I would very much appreciate any help to dig me out of this hole
lolo-kun said:
Hi,
I might have played with fire, and now I have lost access to the internal sdcard of my Galayx S2 (GT-I9100).
I run a CM9 nightly build (2012-08-06) and decided to encrypt my phone using the built-in Android encryption feature.
Everything went well.
But then I tried update my S2 with a new CM9 Nightly. I did a cache wipe and a data wipe and installed the CM9 Nightly 2012-08-19).
The installation went well, but now I do not have access to my internal sdcard anymore (which should be mounted on /mnt/sdcard or /sdcard).
I tried to mount /mnt/sdcard from the command line and the Recovery but it did not work. And many android apps do not work well or at all if the internal sdcard is not mounted.
Is there a way to remount my encrypted sdcard again, using the PIN or the password I used when I encrypted it ?
And if not, is there a way to destroy this encrypted internal sdcard and reformat it as it was before encryption (but empty of course) ?
Is it possible to clean this mess and restart from scratch with Odin (losing my data but at least the internal sdcard can be mounted again) ?
I would very much appreciate any help to dig me out of this hole
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I'm in the same position as you. Did you ever get an answer?
NEVER EVER do wipe cache and factory reset if you're updating nightlies!
Now, if I were you, I would try to fix internal memory with Windows tools.
Well, lesson learned.
Unfortunately I had given up on recovering my data on the internal sdcard. Therefore I opted to a method to reformat it.
That did the trick and I got back my internal sdcard (many applications cannot work properly without it).
Maybe I can find the tutorial pages I used if someone is interested.
Anyway, thanks for your reply
I have the same problem as you...
I´ve installed CM10 Codeworx over my encrypted CM9 ROM on Galaxy SII I9100
Jelly Bean runs but i have no internal SD Card... in CWM Recovery i also can not mount internal SD.
Any Ideas???
lolo-kun said:
Well, lesson learned.
Unfortunately I had given up on recovering my data on the internal sdcard. Therefore I opted to a method to reformat it.
That did the trick and I got back my internal sdcard (many applications cannot work properly without it).
Maybe I can find the tutorial pages I used if someone is interested.
Anyway, thanks for your reply
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you do that?
I've the same problem
Grank

[Q] Safely formatting internal storage

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....

Adoptable Storage Problem

Hi guys. Im on oos 3.1.1. I formatted the sdcard as internal, however when i try to migrate data, it says not enough space. What can i do about this?
U could try this. http://www.xda-developers.com/enable-adoptable-storage-for-galaxy-s7-and-s7-edge/ I did the same and it works. i dont know with migrate i did this direct after factory reset so i had no data.
@bassbounce Everything will still be stored in internal without migrating data.

Access SDCard After Internal Data Format

I took out my sdcard and did format data on the internal storage and now i can't mount my sdcard in twrp. Didn't think about the fact that removing the encryption on the internal storage would make it unable to recognize the encryption on the sdcard afterwards. Is there any way to fix this? Or did I just screw myself?
When I reinstalled the rom and tried to boot it still asks me for my password which still works even though I can't boot because it says that the data is corrupted. But the encryption key should still be stored somewhere apparently. There must be a way to use it to decrypt the sdcard.
Moto G 2015
latest TWRP
GZRom Tesla Nougat Rom

[G965F][STOCK 9.0] Permanently decrypt internal storage not working with TWRP

Hello,
the situation:
* Upgraded from Oreo to Pie with Samsung Stock (June build)
* Flashed TWRP, no-verity, magisk, xposed (Ed) etc.
* then factory resetted (reasons not important)
Everything worked fine. Then I encrypted my internal SD card with the 9.0 Samsung Stock ROM.
Complication:
* I realized TWRP cannot handle encrypted internal storage from Samsung Stock.
* Now I can flash (with Odin) a Stock ROM and TWRP.
* But I cannot unencrypt my internal storage using TWRP
* This MEANS I cannot flash magisk via TWRP etc.
> When I go to TWRP > wipe > wipe data, TWRP formats internal storage (it is then not displayed as "0 MB" anymore)
> However, when I re-flash stock rom - the internal storage gets apparently encrypted again without me chosing the option
Is there a way out? Otherwise I have effectively killed my S9+ for root usage under stock rom (which I need for camera performance - sole reason I bought the s9+).
Thank you in advance.
Akalias
My Devidc: G965F, Exynos
So i realize that twerp is not capable of decrypting internal data storage for the s9+. But is it a bug? I mean there must be a way to just wipe the internal storage without being able to handle Samsung encryption??
//Edit
just FYI: installing the following ROM with the "_rescue" suffix as explained by the dev, solves the problem of the encrypted storage!
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...-development/rom-u1arc5-devbase-v5-2-t3764822
Ok so this is getting interesting.
1. Encrypting with Samsung Stock
2. Wiping Data (wipe "yes") with TWRP
3. --> Internal Storage accessible again - but no ROM installed
4.A.1. Reflashing samsung stock
4.A.2 Internal storage automatically encrypted again
4.B.1 Alternatively: Flashing DevBase Samsung Stock
4.B.2 Internal Storage still decrypted and accessible via TWRP
4.B.3 Wiping DevBase ROM
4.B.4 Flashin original Samsung Stock
---> Internal Storage encrypted again and not accessible for TWRP
Question: Does encrypting the internal storage via Samsung Stock once, trigger a flag that causes the phone to be permanently be re-encrypted if flashing stock ROM?
Is there a solution to this?
So i assume no one has encounter this ever before or has enough technical acumen to give a hint?
"_rescue" totally worked.
TheAKAlias said:
So i realize that twerp is not capable of decrypting internal data storage for the s9+. But is it a bug? I mean there must be a way to just wipe the internal storage without being able to handle Samsung encryption??
//Edit
just FYI: installing the following ROM with the "_rescue" suffix as explained by the dev, solves the problem of the encrypted storage!
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...-development/rom-u1arc5-devbase-v5-2-t3764822
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the referral.
I was in the exactly the same predicament as yourself.
Flashing the latest XSG (UAE) firmware encrypted /data and I couldn't decrypt it.
_alexndr is a genius!

Categories

Resources