Hello, fellow gTablet users!
I'm kinda newbie here, so first of all my apologies to everyone if that was already asked, 'cause I did some research on the matter and couldn't find all the necessary info for solving my particular issue.
Ok, so here's the deal. I was using my gTab for about half-year now. When I received it, I installed VeganTab-7 Ginger Edition on it (thanks for the devs - very nice ROM!) and it worked flawlessly until yesterday. But then something not good happened and the tablet stopped booting. Now it starts from birds screen, goes on to G-Tabdevs screen, after which VeganTab GingerEd boot screen appears, it has flashing letters for a couple of seconds and then tablet goes black and tries to boot again. I guess it's a boot loop so it's kinda soft brick and I'll have to do wipe data/factory reset through CWM to solve the issue. So this isn't the biggest problem - I've already found all the instructions.
The real problem is that I didn't make backup of my data (guilty!), but I don't want to lose some of it, especially the browser data. I was using Opera Mobile, so I guess that its data should be on /data partition. So I'll need an advice on how I can dump the necessary data before doing factory reset!
I've already tried connecting to desktop, using guide from this (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1010943) thread (third method from it), but it didn't work, at least on my Win7 Pro x64 SP1: the tablet shows as removable disk, but I can't access it. I tried to mount /data or /sdcard partitions through CWM recovery menu, but it tells me that it can't find /dev/block/... - I guess that's block device, associated with those partitions. So what are my best options of backuping data?
And the last question: I'll probably install some other ROM just to try something different, but unfortunately I don't remember what loader I have. I'm nearly sure that I installed VeganTab for 1.1, 'cause I did it back in May 2011 and there wasn't one available for 1.2 yet. But just to make sure: how can I find my loader version before I do reset? Or maybe I just have to do the reset and look for it when back on stock ROM?
Seriously, guys, doesn't anybody know how to solve these problems?
Boot into CWM first, then try mounting both /data and /sdcard using the CWM menu. Note down the exact error message displayed in each case. Then connect the USB cable and run these ADB commands on your PC:
Code:
C:\> [B]adb shell dmesg >dmesg.txt[/B]
C:\> [B]adb shell fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk3 > fdisk.txt[/B]
C:\> [B]adb shell fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk2 >> fdisk.txt[/B]
Post the error messages and those 2 .txt files here.
Thank you for reply, rajeevvp.
When I'm trying to mount /data and /sdcard it says respectively:
Code:
E:Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk3p2
(No such file or directory)
Error mounting DATA:!
E:Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk3p1 (or /dev/block/mmcblk2p1)
(No such file or directory)
Error mounting SDCARD:!
Unfortunately I didn't have ADB installed. Now I'm trying to use the guide from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=902860, but fail on step 4, cause there is nothing like "Nvidia harmony" appearing under other devices in my dev manager, just "Nvidia Tegra 2 USB Device" under Disk Drives and "USB Mass Storage Device" under Universal Serial Bus Controllers. I guess these devices are gTablet's internal memory presented as disk drive...
I'll try to install ADB and then write back how it worked.
Interesting error messages. Now I really have to see those text files.
If you're having problems installing ADB on Windows, try using Linux.
Ok, thanks you very much! I'll try that, but unfortunately tomorrow, as it's already too late here.
Btw, I read your post about linux - you're suggesting Knoppix Live CD there. Is it mandatory to use it? I mean I already have PartedMagic live CD burned, maybe I could use it instead...
anary said:
I mean I already have PartedMagic live CD burned, maybe I could use it instead...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If sudo and adb work, then no problem.
rajeevvp said:
Boot into CWM first, then try mounting both /data and /sdcard using the CWM menu. Note down the exact error message displayed in each case. Then connect the USB cable and run these ADB commands on your PC:
Code:
C:\> [B]adb shell dmesg >dmesg.txt[/B]
C:\> [B]adb shell fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk3 > fdisk.txt[/B]
C:\> [B]adb shell fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk2 >> fdisk.txt[/B]
Post the error messages and those 2 .txt files here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I finally managed to do it. Sorry for the delay.
The files are attached. Did everything how you told me.
Actually I don't think that I understand too much in Android inner mechanics But having looked through these files, I thought that inner sdcard device (mmcblk3) doesn't seem to produce any strange behavior...
Btw, thanks a lot for your advice about using Knoppix - it's really very easy and handy!
anary said:
But having looked through these files, I thought that inner sdcard device (mmcblk3) doesn't seem to produce any strange behavior...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have lost your /data partition altogether. You are supposed to have 2 partitions on that internal SD card: a 14GB FAT32 partition and a 2GB ext3 partition. You only have a single FAT32 partition spanning the entire SD card now.
I may be able to help you get both partitions back if you give me these details:
1. How and when did this happen?
2. Current ROM.
3. Current version of CWM.
4. Did you try to repartition the (internal) SD card recently?
5. Have you ever repartitioned the internal SD card? If yes, then using which version of CWM?
6. After you noticed the problem what steps did you take to fix the problem?
Yeah, I remember I was curious where it stores OS's kernel if all it has is FAT32 partition - now I get it...
Ok, here are the details:
1. I don't really know what has happened, but I guess that it happened when I tried to use tablet like cardreader for microsd card. During that I sort of formatted external sd - maybe that actually was internal memory? I checked through file manager though, and all the files seemed intact...
2. VeganTab GingerEd from this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1031250. I'm pretty sure that I didn't install anything except for it.
3. Don't know. But it says ClockworkMod Recovery v2.5.1.1-bekit-0.8 in recovery menu, so I guess its version is maybe 0.8.
4. No I didn't, at least intentionally.
5. I think I did it just once, when installing the ROM. I'm pretty much sure that I used this instructions for repartitioning: http://viewsonic-gtablet-for-dummies.webs.com/repartition.htm (not exactly this, but I did the same as it's written there). To install the ROM I used the instructions from the ROM thread, mentioned above. I didn't whant to do a lot of modding, just wanted the device to work at least better than with stock ROM, so didn't try to change any other low-level things.
6. I just tried to mount partitions through CWM recovery and I tried wiping out cache partition and Dalvik cache. Nothing else.
anary said:
Yeah, I remember I was curious where it stores OS's kernel if all it has is FAT32 partition - now I get it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OS kernel is not stored on the SD cards. They're stored on a "boot" partition on the NAND flash. And, if the OS was messed up you would get hung up on the initial splash screen (the one with the 3 birds)--you wouldn't go into a boot loop.
1. I don't really know what has happened, but I guess that it happened when I tried to use tablet like cardreader for microsd card. During that I sort of formatted external sd - maybe that actually was internal memory?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what caused this problem. CWM-2.5.1.1-bekit-0.8 does not work on the external SD card (but, CWM-2.5.1.3 and CWM-4.0.1.5 do).
Did you format the internal SD card using CWM?
I checked through file manager though, and all the files seemed intact...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Files where? The internal SD card or the external one? And, how did you check this? After formatting the internal SD card, the very next boot into the ROM would've put you into a boot-loop because the /data partition is missing.
I think I may be able to get stuff from /data, but, everything on /sdcard is most likely gone. (Actually, the files are most likely all there, but, without direct access to the tablet, it's very difficult to get the retrieve any of them.) Just don't touch the tablet until I've figured out the commands you will have to use.
That's what caused this problem. CWM-2.5.1.1-bekit-0.8 does not work on the external SD card (but, CWM-2.5.1.3 and CWM-4.0.1.5 do).
Did you format the internal SD card using CWM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I was going to format external SD card and I tried to do it through Android (or maybe VeganTab) menu. I think that doing this, I could accidentally format internal SD, but I'm not sure this could be done from within the OS. During the same logon session I checked files on internal SD with file manager and all of them were where they should have been. So I thought that all was ok. But when I rebooted next time, it wasn't booting... That's why I told you that maybe it was because of formatting.
And just to be clear: I didn't do anything using CWM after it stopped booting, apart from wiping system and Dalvik caches.
Do you have a large capacity micro SD card (anything larger than the maximum amount of data that's currently on the internal SD card) that you can use to save retrieved data into?
rajeevvp said:
Do you have a large capacity micro SD card (anything larger than the maximum amount of data that's currently on the internal SD card) that you can use to save retrieved data into?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. Won't be any problem.
anary said:
Yep. Won't be any problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. Format that micro SD to contain a single DOS partition; then we'll proceed.
rajeevvp said:
OK. Format that micro SD to contain a single DOS partition; then we'll proceed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok. That's done.
Boot into CWM, go into the "mounts and storage" menu, unmount all mounted partitions, connect the USB cable, and run these commands using ADB--do not back out of that "mounts and storage" menu while we're fixing this. We're trying to see if the data on the current /sdcard partition can be retrieved.
Code:
$ [B]adb shell[/B]
~ # [B]mount -r /dev/block/mmcblk3p1 /sdcard[/B]
~ # [B]ls -l /sdcard[/B]
If the ls listing looks OK, then we force a filesystem check before copying the data to the external micro SD card:
Code:
~ # [B]mount -r /system[/B]
~ # [B]umount /sdcard[/B]
~ # [B]/system/bin/fsck_msdos -f -y /dev/block/mmcblk3p1[/B]
If the listing doesn't look OK, then the data on /sdcard is lost.
Post the exact output of each command.
Ok, mount says this:
Code:
mount: mounting /dev/block/mmcblk3p1 on /sdcard failed: Invalid argument
and ls after that gives no output - I think it shouldn't give any, 'cause I didn't mount anything...
Does this mean I'm screwed?
Try this mount command:
Code:
~ # [B]mount -r -t vfat /dev/block/mmcblk3p1 /sdcard[/B]
The same result.
Hey there!
So I restarted my phone I got into the endless samsung logo loading screen... How fun.
I'm aware that I need to do a factory reset, but sadly I didn't backup my contacts and pics... I used only internal memory btw (no sdcard).
Anyway, I boot into the stock Android System Recovery and used adb in order to pull the necessary files before I reset, and saw some strange things:
1. When I press df to see overall size, i get /dev with size of 415m, and /system with size of 503m. This is nowhere near my almost 16 gigs of used internal memory... Can you explain that? Maybe I didn't mount something?
2. "adb pull / " command gives me only one folder named sys, that contains hundreds of files. All these files are only 7 megs of overall.
3. When I browse the internal memory with adb shell, the /data, /sdcard and /sdcard1 folders are empty, although i never formatted nor deleted anything.
Maybe i need to mount something i'm not aware of?
Thanks!
My phone is rooted, but I don't even have an /mnt folder, not to mention /mnt/sdcard/ .
So basically I can't locate my internal memory
Try /storage/sdcard0/
The contacts database, is stored somewhere in /system partition.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
Hi all,
I have increased the internal memory of my GT-S5830B with this guide (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2082465) and all works fine.
Later I create a swap file in the SD Card with this guide (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2376735) and it works too.
But, when the Swap File is active the app's instaled by Google Play can't be loaded, and I can't install others or do anything with SD Card, is the similar reason when the phone is plugged to a PC as a Mass Storage.
Anyone know if this situation have a solution? Maybe I need to use a Swap partion and not a Swap file?
Thanks
assuming you are using Samsung Galaxy s5830 i/B/M/C/5839 i < rooted> best solution to remove all apk + lib+dex+data <in pro version> is installing link2sd, which does not require all of hardship you went through in order to increase your internal memory mate.
Link2SD moves apk + dex + lib files of the application to the second partition and creates symbolic links in the original locations on internal storage.
application by itself does not create necessary partitions though, you need some third party apps to accomplish it or CWM recovery can perform it ,, check this post for some comprehensive guideline ,, also you may need to check the Developer's topic http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=919326 for further reassurances
But I think my problem is not with the method utilized to increase the internal memory, it working very good and I can use all apps installed on sd-ext partition including when the phone is connected to PC as Mass Storage.
Any comment about the Swap file configuration?
I found the problem, its occurs when I activate the Swap file during boot, if I start it after the boot all the apps works.
I think it can be related with the script used to activate the Swap file, see below.
Code:
#!/system/bin/sh
su
BUSYBOX=/sbin/busybox
$BUSYBOX mount -t vfat /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /sdcard
chmod 777 /sdcard/swapfile
$BUSYBOX swapon /sdcard/swapfile
Maybe I need to use a Swap partition if I want to mount the Swap during boot process?
That attached images show all the thinks running, increased internal memory and swap file.
(Sorry for my english)
My phone, S3 16 GB wasn't rooted and installed custom recovery. Someday, it appears on the screen that "internal storage is damaged". So I want to backup internal storage, attempted flashing twrp and rooting the phone through CF-autoroot, but it unable to mount /data in twrp.
To create a internal memory dump, I find this article.
dfir.science/2017/04/Imaging-Android-with-root-netcat-and-dd.html
I tried to this.
adb devices
List of devices attached
4300********061 recovery
/data directory is empty.
adb shell
su
:: permission denied
I think phone isn't properly rooted. Installing a supersu.zip from twrp, it says "install failed".
adb forward tcp:8888 tcp:8888
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0 | busybox nc -l -p 8888
nc 127.0.0.1 8888 > android.dd
It created a dump file of 3.5 GB size on windows, although internal memory had 15 GB in use. And mounting the dump file from OSFMount is failed.
In this situation, is it possible to get a full memory dump of internal storage, specially /data partition?
--------------------
Update.
Retry dumping of /data partition, and view this dump file from testdisk in linux. It worked.