Will repartitioning SD mess up files? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I partitioned my SD card a while back, so that I could use Link2SDcard and as t turns out, I did not allocate enough space for app data. I'm wondering if I copy all my files to my PC, and restore them after partitioning again, will all the files link back up with Link2SDcard alright, or will the app not be able to find them anymore/ files not work anymore? Also, do I have to make sure I rename my partions the same as they were before?
I'm a bit nervous about this since I got a lot of app data I would rather not lose

flamingsword1 said:
I partitioned my SD card a while back, so that I could use Link2SDcard and as t turns out, I did not allocate enough space. I'm wondering if I copy all my files to my PC, and restore them after partitioning again, will all the files link back up with Link2SDcard alright, or will the app not be able to find them anymore/ files not work anymore? Also, do I have to make sure I rename my partions the same as they were before?
I'm a bit nervous about this since I got a lot of app data I would rather not lose
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When in doubt, take no chances. Since it's app data we're talking about, if the app data is protected, and if you have enough space on your computer, carefully use a tool to "make an image" of the SDcard, since it'll copy the entire card, including files that are not registered under normal circumstances. On linux, something like dd or even ddrescue will work for this purpose. I'm not 100% sure that'd work in all cases, but it's certainly a safe option if you have a pesky app. I would recommend this for more than just your phone/tablet, too, whenever sensitive data is involved.
Disclaimer: I'd love to get to the point you're at. I have yet to root my device.

Related

[Q] Recover Internal SD

So i soft bricked earlier through pure carelessness......i couldnt access clockwork recovery through stock so i adb pushed and flashed clockworkmod successfuly, only to discover that my internal sd card has been wiped!!!! is there anyway to undo this?? obviously, hindsight tells me that since i placed the clockwork update.zip onto the formatted sdcard may have hurt my chances.
someone PLEASE give me good news if there is any
TopShelf10 said:
So i soft bricked earlier through pure carelessness......i couldnt access clockwork recovery through stock so i adb pushed and flashed clockworkmod successfuly, only to discover that my internal sd card has been wiped!!!! is there anyway to undo this?? obviously, hindsight tells me that since i placed the clockwork update.zip onto the formatted sdcard may have hurt my chances.
someone PLEASE give me good news if there is any
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you had the hardware and/or software to recover deleted files you MAY be able to recover some of what was on your sdcard, however, I'm betting it will take some pretty specialized equipment to recover it from a phone. Plus, it will depend on how thorough the wipe was. (On a hard drive in a PC, when you delete a file it doesn't actually remove it from the discs, it simply removes your access to it from the OS and tells the OS that the space that was previously occupied by said file is now available for a write, the file will technically stay intact until something writes over it, but requires special software to recover)
More than likely, whatever was on your sdcard is a goner....but I can't be 100% positive. If you are able to see your sdcard now via pc, you could try downloading some recover software and trying that.
Dragoth12 said:
If you had the hardware and/or software to recover deleted files you MAY be able to recover some of what was on your sdcard, however, I'm betting it will take some pretty specialized equipment to recover it from a phone. Plus, it will depend on how thorough the wipe was. (On a hard drive in a PC, when you delete a file it doesn't actually remove it from the discs, it simply removes your access to it from the OS and tells the OS that the space that was previously occupied by said file is now available for a write, the file will technically stay intact until something writes over it, but requires special software to recover)
More than likely, whatever was on your sdcard is a goner....but I can't be 100% positive. If you are able to see your sdcard now via pc, you could try downloading some recover software and trying that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ive done this before on my motocliq, and was able to recover a lot....the only thing im worried about is that often times if you format your sd card the files are recoverable, UNLESS you then place new files onto the sdcard then you can hurt your chances....im basically just hoping and praying out loud until i get home to my computer
TopShelf10 said:
ive done this before on my motocliq, and was able to recover a lot....the only thing im worried about is that often times if you format your sd card the files are recoverable, UNLESS you then place new files onto the sdcard then you can hurt your chances....im basically just hoping and praying out loud until i get home to my computer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear yah, I make regular backups of my SDCard to my PC for just this problem. (That and I don't store anything on my SDCard that I can't afford to lose) so I've not run into an issue with this one before. Good luck on recovery, I hope you are able to get some stuff back.

how can i recover my lost.dir folder! ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Bro.
I need these pictures bak. I have no idea how I lost alllll my files in my camera.
The folder had them all. Over 600 files (that's why I need them!!!!!)
But when I go to change the extension, it doesn't show the picture!!!
What can I do?
murdamo305 said:
Bro.
I need these pictures bak. I have no idea how I lost alllll my files in my camera.
The folder had them all. Over 600 files (that's why I need them!!!!!)
But when I go to change the extension, it doesn't show the picture!!!
What can I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let's start with what exactly you did that resulted in you losing the pictures in the first place.
do you see a bunch of items in the lost.dir directory?
If so, then try opening some of the smaller ones with an image editing program. You never know... it might still open them. If that's the case then all you need to do is rename them with the proper extensions. Worth a try.
I lost over 600 image files myself for no apparent reason.
A google search quickly told me this was a "known android issue", but no effing idea why...
For me it want just camera images but ALL images on the sd card.
Sent from my SPH-D700
This is why flashing experimental/custom roms is often a process that will teach you to back up your stuff. Sometimes this lesson is learned the hard way....
You can try to mount the partition in Windows or MacOS and throw file recovery software at it, Recuva being one of the better free ones for Windows. Best of luck
lost.dir is a filesystem folder, (kinda like if you realy explore and ntfs drive, you'll find a SystemVolume folder, and a few other ones).
Your pictures aren't in the lost.dir folder. And you're probably one of the ones who had their internal SD wiped while using the dead horse kernel. Sorry to say, but there's no way to get them back.
masterotaku said:
This is why flashing experimental/custom roms is often a process that will teach you to back up your stuff. Sometimes this lesson is learned the hard way....
You can try to mount the partition in Windows or MacOS and throw file recovery software at it, Recuva being one of the better free ones for Windows. Best of luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why I remove my sd card everytome. I have no idea what happen.
Ima try that app
you can't remove your internal sd card
geoffcorey said:
you can't remove your internal sd card
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@murdamo305:
Exactly. So as another use has already suggested...BACKUP! Both Titanium and MyBackup are available freely from the Market. Android bug or not with a working backup handy you don't lose anything.
Here's your situation:
You = lost information, want it back.
Problem = the way sdcards store info + the filesystem = pretty much impossible to recover usable info from your sdcard (specially since it has been written to again, no matter what you think). Sorry to say, but you're SOL.
lost.dir is a filesystem maintenance folder, pretty much exclusively for OSX use. It's not a "trashcan" or anything like that. It's not user accessible.
Besides, that kernel doesn't have code in it that says "move everything to lost.dir". It's got a bug in it that essentially runs a remove recursively and forced on the /sdcard/ directory.
Do a "check disk". It worked for me when i corrupted my memory card.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
roadrash7 said:
Do a "check disk". It worked for me when i corrupted my memory card.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's that?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
This???
http://m.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-recover-data-from-a-corrupt-memory-card-or-usb-drive/
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Cleaned thread!
Please, don't profanity post.
geoffcorey said:
lost.dir is a filesystem folder, (kinda like if you realy explore and ntfs drive, you'll find a SystemVolume folder, and a few other ones).
Your pictures aren't in the lost.dir folder. And you're probably one of the ones who had their internal SD wiped while using the dead horse kernel. Sorry to say, but there's no way to get them back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can we delete it? there's nothing in it at all for me
you can delete it, but the android system will create it again.
I dont appreciate some of your assumptions
Just to automatically assume someone has their phone rooted and or flashed right off the rip is stupid. My fiancée just came to me telling me all her music on her SD Card was gone. Windows says the memory is still occupied however I found all the music files renamed to digit only filenames with no file extensions in the Lost.Dir. I renamed one to Test.Mp3 and opened it. Kabam it played a 3 and a half minute song. So to tell someone that welp your files are gone sorry nothing you can do this is what you get for doing something that they might not even have done in the first place. Her phone is stock no mods, no roms no tweaks. It is a rare occurance that happens in the Android OS. Not a direct result of what someone might have been doing.
hubsabubs said:
Just to automatically assume someone has their phone rooted and or flashed right off the rip is stupid. My fiancée just came to me telling me all her music on her SD Card was gone. Windows says the memory is still occupied however I found all the music files renamed to digit only filenames with no file extensions in the Lost.Dir. I renamed one to Test.Mp3 and opened it. Kabam it played a 3 and a half minute song. So to tell someone that welp your files are gone sorry nothing you can do this is what you get for doing something that they might not even have done in the first place. Her phone is stock no mods, no roms no tweaks. It is a rare occurance that happens in the Android OS. Not a direct result of what someone might have been doing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
100% agree with you, i also suddenly lost my pictures from my ext sd card, i founded the lost.dir with the files i just rename with the JPG extension and the pictures come back to life.
For everyone that append the same, don't lost your hope, you DON'T loose your files rename with the correct extension and you'll recover the lost file.
help
After I used sdformatter to do a full overwrite of my internal sdcard my android tablet mounts it but no longer shows the internal sdcard please help

[Q] Sd Card Almost Maxed Out

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!

Really frustrated... Major Problems with SD Card

So,
My SD card isn't recognized on the phone - saying it's unavailable, and my computer says it needs to be formatted.
I can't install any app, the phone just soft resets. So it's all due to my SD Card.
I can't format it because I have so much stuff on it - from pictures, to files, to everything. Anyone know how to fix it so I can at least get my stuff off it?
This is really not good if I have to format it...
I have no Idea how to help you, but what up bro didn't know you had the gs2 i remember you for the ole captivate forums lol.
You have to format it then use a recovery program.
My 2 suggestions, which I went through the same issue and got 95% of my stuff...
1. iCare Data
2. Recuva
I can't format it because I have so much stuff on it - from pictures, to files, to everything. Anyone know how to fix it so I can at least get my stuff off it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean you can't format it? What stops you from doing so?
Can you first, xfer all your personal stuff to other place/space/computer/....., then format it and move those stuff back in when done?
Why can't you do that?
votinh said:
What do you mean you can't format it? What stops you from doing so?
Can you first, xfer all your personal stuff to other place/space/computer/....., then format it and move those stuff back in when done?
Why can't you do that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason why you can't transfer it is because he needs to format it so its properly read.
I think his uSD can't be read properly in his phone, he didn't say it can't be read in his computer.
What is a Samsung Captivate Galaxy S II?
votinh said:
I think his uSD can't be read properly in his phone, he didn't say it can't be read in his computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If thats the case, then he should copy all existing data to his computer, format, then recopy everything back over...
But he did say in his OP that the computer said it needed to be formatted. So that tells me that his computer can see the card, but cant access it.
Use Recuva or testdisk (google is your friend).
testdisk works great for SD cards and USB devices. The issue will be that it will see the file, but not the filename, so it will numerically name them. small price to pay to get your info back from a would-be dead SD card..
0p3nsrc said:
Use Recuva or testdisk (google is your friend).
testdisk works great for SD cards and USB devices. The issue will be that it will see the file, but not the filename, so it will numerically name them. small price to pay to get your info back from a would-be dead SD card..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea thats why I like iCaredata (find it how you want to) but it keeps folder structure and other things so its easier to track your files.
Maybe try mounting the SD in CWM? I used this when the SD contents wouldn't show after a bad flash.
iRide113 said:
So,
My SD card isn't recognized on the phone - saying it's unavailable, and my computer says it needs to be formatted.
I can't install any app, the phone just soft resets. So it's all due to my SD Card.
I can't format it because I have so much stuff on it - from pictures, to files, to everything. Anyone know how to fix it so I can at least get my stuff off it?
This is really not good if I have to format it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe your sd card is defective (can't be ruled out). Have you tried another sd card?
LiLChris06 said:
Yea thats why I like iCaredata (find it how you want to) but it keeps folder structure and other things so its easier to track your files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only problem I've ever encountered is the picture size isn't the same as the original. Always smaller.
Just used iCaredata and it worked like a champ.
Thanks, Admin can close.

[SOLVED] GParted Damaged SD Files

So I repartitioned my SD card yesterday with GParted in Ubuntu, and I ended up coming out with a couple FSCK files (FSCK0000.000, FSCK0000.001, etc.) which replaced actual files I had on the card.
I'm not really familar with File System Check, but I'm wondering if it's possible to restore the FSCK files to their original state to make them usuable again. Not a huge deal, but it would save me a few hours for sure. Let me know if you have any ideas.
Solar.Plexus said:
So I repartitioned my SD card yesterday with GParted in Ubuntu, and I ended up coming out with a couple FSCK files (FSCK0000.000, FSCK0000.001, etc.) which replaced actual files I had on the card.
I'm not really familar with File System Check, but I'm wondering if it's possible to restore the FSCK files to their original state to make them usuable again. Not a huge deal, but it would save me a few hours for sure. Let me know if you have any ideas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No ideas and that's bad luck. I had a couple of cards go bad, but not because of Gparted. Made me learn the hard way to back everything on the SD card up before repartitioning.
Yeah, I've repartitioned many times before and never had troubles. Definitely my own fault for not backing up. Not all of my files were damaged though, just a few which is good.
And I'm almost 100% sure the data inside the files are still intact, because I found an affected folder containing my wallpapers, and was still able to view the images inside even though they were the FSCK0000 files.
It turns out I was right in assuming the data in the FSCK files were still there.
I was able to recover the files again by simply renaming with the correct file extension. I imagine they just weren't readable by the programs I was trying to open them with.

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