Wondering..About Backup After Wipe - G2 and Desire Z Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So, just messing around after i wiped my phone to install a different ROM, I did a backup of my wiped phone. If their is nothing on the phone, what is it actually backing up? It was like 365mb file, and I was to scared to run it after the fact (because I just know one of these times I'm going to push the limits and screw my phone up with my curious thoughts).

It's backing up the /system directory (mostly) along with the bootloader and clockworkmod recovery. The "wipe" option simply deletes everything on your cache and data partitions. You use it when:
~ You want to switch from (example) a rom to a different kind of rom, say virtuitous to cyanogenmod
~ You want to start from scratch again
Clockworkmod wouldn't let you delete your system partition without installing a new rom... this would be a bad idea
You can restore and boot off of that recovery you just made. It'll boot up with the "touch the android to begin" and google account setup wizard.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 running Cyanogenmod.

ibemad1 said:
It's backing up the /system directory (mostly) along with the bootloader and clockworkmod recovery. The "wipe" option simply deletes everything on your cache and data partitions. You use it when:
~ You want to switch from (example) a rom to a different kind of rom, say virtuitous to cyanogenmod
~ You want to start from scratch again
Clockworkmod wouldn't let you delete your system partition without installing a new rom... this would be a bad idea
You can restore and boot off of that recovery you just made. It'll boot up with the "touch the android to begin" and google account setup wizard.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 running Cyanogenmod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so What ROM will be running though? Would it be the one that I had before the wipe?

Related

[Q] Newb question: How do you flash custom ROMS

I rooted my EVO running stock Froyo last night with Unrevoked 3.2. It worked flawlessly and phone is experiencing no problems. Now i'm all excited to run the custom ROMS but kind of confused as how the flashing of the custom ROMS works. Do I have to wipe out the entire contents of my SD card everytime I want to run a custom ROM? I only have the 8gig card. I was under the assumption that I could save my current stock setup and download and flash into a custom ROM and revert back to the stock rooted setup when I wanted. I downloaded a program called ROM Manager v2.0.2.6 but unsure how to use it. Looks like a 1-click solution to loading custom ROMs but I dont want it to wipe out my phone. Can someone please help me to understand the steps to take to load a custom ROM? I was thinking of trying out Fresh or something similar which still has HTC Sense in it. Feel free to message me on here. Thanks in advance.....
lostsoul1977 said:
Do I have to wipe out the entire contents of my SD card everytime I want to run a custom ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No.
I'm not sure about using ROM manager, perhaps somebody else can help with that.
The process is simple...
Connect your EVO to your PC and enable disk drive.
Transfer the ROM zip to the root of your sd card (if your computer mounts as drive F: ... just transfer to F:\)
Eject/disable disk drive
Boot into recovery (turn device off, hold volume down and power button at same time until you see your hboot screen, choose recovery)
Perform a nandroid backup (just in case you need to get back to where you are)
Perform wipe
Use recovery option to flash zip from sdcard
Select the ROM zip
Those are the quick and dirty instructions, I'm a newb with this stuff, I've had my EVO for 2 weeks and I've not had a single problem. I had CM6 on it and I just flashed Fresh 3.2 to test that out and test 4G this weekend.
I would advise doing a Nandroid backup of your current setup. Then go the development section and choose a rom that suits you. Each developer normally will tell you how to go about flashing there rom.
Basically you would need to go into recovery and choose the flash from zip...
ok first no you dont have to erase your sd card every time you flash a rom.
you should however do a factory dalvik and cache wipe. this will erase all settings yuo previously had and will uninstall all apps.
to combat this you can use programs like Titanium back up to back up all your apps. (system settings are not recommended to be blind restored as they can cause issues between roms)
You can also make a back up of your stock rom you have now to do this through rom manager simply make sure you have the latest clockwork recovery flashed (very top button in rom manager) then go down to where it says back up rom click it and it will do the rest. This is recommended before you do anything.
once you ahve your nand back up (the back up through rom manager) and have your apps backed up through something like titanium back up. place the rom yuo want to flash on your sd card and follow these steps.
boot into recovery (either through rom manager or by powering down the phone and then holding vol down and power until it launches the boot loader and select recovery)
select wipe data/factory reset
select wipe cache partition
Select install zip from sd
select choose zip rom sd
scroll to and select the rom you moved to the sd card
select yes and let it do its thing once done select reboot phone.
It will take a little extra time the first time it boots up vs normal jsut let it sit and it should after a while boot into the custom rom.
or follow link
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=How+do+you+flash+a+custom+rom+on+an+evo
video assistance
Thanks everyone! I'm running titanium backup at the moment and backing up the entire system. I had ROM Manager do a backup of my stock ROM last night, so I think i'm good. ROM Manager also downloads ROMs for me and sets them to load at boot up. Most of the ROMS suggest doing a full wipe?
a full wipe jsut means factory/data cache and dalvik which is basically wiping all info on the phone itself. the sd card however doesnt need to be wiped
i installed baked1.7 and all loaded smoothly. I'm assuming I now have to re-download titanium backup to restore my apps and all?
Also, i'm finding no info on how to load the wimax update and the htc radio update files and the custom kernels for baked1.7
lostsoul1977 said:
Also, i'm finding no info on how to load the wimax update and the htc radio update files for baked1.7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Load those updates onto the root of your sd card. Get quickboot from the market to easily boot into recovery mode. Or you can power off, then hold vol down while powering on to get into bootloader and select recovery. Flash zip file and select those files. Reboot and your wimax/radio should be updated.

Boot manager

I'm currently running DINC2HD, and was wondering how boot manager works exactly. I'm going to be camping on the 10th, and I'm not sure if I'll have a reliable charging source. I was planning on running MIUI while I was gone. I don't wanna have to restore a backup and take the extra time for that. Can someone please tell me exactly how boot manager works??
Sent from my DINC2HD
if its anything like a multi-boot pc, it creates separate partitions on your card and saves each each install there and inside each partition is all the apps and whatnot, just like a regular install of a ROM is, but that's just me guessing, i don't have the app seeing as i usually stick to just one rom lol
digitalsynner85 said:
if its anything like a multi-boot pc, it creates separate partitions on your card and saves each each install there and inside each partition is all the apps and whatnot, just like a regular install of a ROM is, but that's just me guessing, i don't have the app seeing as i usually stick to just one rom lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I usually do too, but like I said, I'm gonna be camping, and I'm not sure when/where I'll be able to charge, so I was gonna use a ROM I KNOW has amazing battery life.
When installing in BM, do I need to wipe and all that stuff, or is that only if I'm overwriting a slot?
tylerlawhon said:
When installing in BM, do I need to wipe and all that stuff, or is that only if I'm overwriting a slot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Boot manager itself is just an app like any other, you don't need to wipe anything.
So here's a very basic description of how it works... It doesn't partition your SD card, it just creates a folder of it's own, and then sub-folders to hold the different roms you install. When you install a rom, it basically creates images of the usual Android partitions - system, data, cache, etc. These are standard .img files, just like the ones Clockwork creates when you do a backup. After the images are created and wiped (formatted, which you should do initially) it installs your rom into these essentially the same way as Clockwork installs a rom to your phone's actual partitions. I assume it modifies the kernel that comes with each rom to mount the image files on the SD card instead of the phone's partitions.
When you want to boot a rom, it just replaces your current boot image with the modified one and restarts the phone. With the modified boot image, the system, data and cache images on the SD card are mounted to the correct locations and Android starts up none the wiser. The rom will initially run a little slow, because the SD card is slower than the internal memory, but after things get cached it speed up considerably.
When you want to reboot to another rom, or back to the phone's rom, Boot Manager again swaps boot images that mount the desired rom's partitions (in the case of the phone's rom) or files (in the case of an SD card installed rom).
When you first run Boot Manager, it makes a Clockwork flashable backup of your current boot image, which you can flash if a rom hangs or loops on startup. Alternatively, you can also simply boot into recovery and do an advanced restore, choosing just the boot image to restore from a backup. It accomplishes the exact same thing.
It can be a little hit or miss, with some roms just plain refusing to start through Boot Manager, but it does work and when it does, it's pretty amazing given what it's actually doing.
ChrisDDD said:
Boot manager itself is just an app like any other, you don't need to wipe anything.
So here's a very basic description of how it works... It doesn't partition your SD card, it just creates a folder of it's own, and then sub-folders to hold the different roms you install. When you install a rom, it basically creates images of the usual Android partitions - system, data, cache, etc. These are standard .img files, just like the ones Clockwork creates when you do a backup. After the images are created and wiped (formatted, which you should do initially) it installs your rom into these essentially the same way as Clockwork installs a rom to your phone's actual partitions. I assume it modifies the kernel that comes with each rom to mount the image files on the SD card instead of the phone's partitions.
When you want to boot a rom, it just replaces your current boot image with the modified one and restarts the phone. With the modified boot image, the system, data and cache images on the SD card are mounted to the correct locations and Android starts up none the wiser. The rom will initially run a little slow, because the SD card is slower than the internal memory, but after things get cached it speed up considerably.
When you want to reboot to another rom, or back to the phone's rom, Boot Manager again swaps boot images that mount the desired rom's partitions (in the case of the phone's rom) or files (in the case of an SD card installed rom).
When you first run Boot Manager, it makes a Clockwork flashable backup of your current boot image, which you can flash if a rom hangs or loops on startup. Alternatively, you can also simply boot into recovery and do an advanced restore, choosing just the boot image to restore from a backup. It accomplishes the exact same thing.
It can be a little hit or miss, with some roms just plain refusing to start through Boot Manager, but it does work and when it does, it's pretty amazing given what it's actually doing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, you're saying in theory I should be able to click install zip, find MIUI and without clicking any of the wipe options I should be able to make a usable MIUI setup that I can go back and forth to?
tylerlawhon said:
So, you're saying in theory I should be able to click install zip, find MIUI and without clicking any of the wipe options I should be able to make a usable MIUI setup that I can go back and forth to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it's recommended that you wipe all three images when you initially install a rom, but that's the 3 images Boot Manger creates. I was just making the point that you don't need to wipe anything on your phone's currently installed rom.
But yea, after that, Miui should install and run just fine. You will need to install GApps to get the market on MIUI, since Boot Manager needs to install itself on each new rom you instal. This is so you can manage and reboot to other roms from roms installed through it. After that, you should be able to reboot back and forth at will.
I never had to install g-apps on MIUI before.... is that a recent thing?
Also, what Ext type should I choose? Ext4, or Ext2?
tylerlawhon said:
I never had to install g-apps on MIUI before.... is that a recent thing?
Also, what Ext type should I choose? Ext4, or Ext2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I was thinking about CM7, which doesn't include with the market app.
I've always installed as Ext2... never had much luck with 4.
I tried Boot manager while running CM7 and I was able to install it but got a force close when I open the app, I also try it with MIK's Inc2 HD 3D rom and didn't work either.

[Q] Had low memory after apps update, will not boot now - MIUI-XJ

Hey guys, got a strange problem here. I'm running MIUI-XJ 2.3.30 A2SD.
Had 8 apps to update via Google Play and 31mb internal left (over 600mb on sd-ext, too). In the middle of updating the apps I've got a Google Play crash followed by few other fc's, phone said my internal memory is too low to operate and such - so I tried the most obvious fix, which is of course rebooting the phone.
That was a mistake, apparently. Phone will not boot anymore - goes through the bootscreen and gets stuck on the yellow MIUI splash. It's not a bootloop, the phone just freezes and the only thing I can do is battery removal. Tried booting it up with no sd card as well, nothing seems to help though.
Is there anything I can do except full wipe via recovery? I had some important sms and spent quite a bit of time customizing the desktop, I'm not to keen on doing that again.
Is it possible to delete some apps via adb or something like that? Or is there a point in trying to install the rom again on top of my system?
Thanks in advance, help really appreciated!
Try clearing dalvik cache and cache from recovery and then boot. Thereafter clear some space or change your a2sd scheme.
Thanks for the answer! Makes me feel silly I did not think of that myself lol, sounds like an obvious solution.
Problem is, it still does not seem to help though - wiped /cache and dalvik-cache on data, sd-ext and system - still nothing, same problem persists. Stuck at MIUI bootanimation.
Any other ideas? I'm really kind of desperate to recover the data.
- Take a nandroid backup first. So you can start over if need be.
Some things to try
- Only flash ROM and see if it helps.
- Wipe data. Flash ROM fresh. Install Titanium Backup. With TB locate nandroid on sdcard and try to extract your data. Maybe restoring the launcher and messaging will do the trick. Not sure . Try. You can always start over.
- Fix permissions in recovery
There's an app called AROMA Filemanager that can be started from recovery and allows you to modify all phone partitions, all you need is to mount them before starting the app. Here it is:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=25911276
Tried flashing the ROM again on top of my system - no effect whatsoever, still gets stuck at bootanimation. Also, tried the permission fix as well as the RMD recovery "apk uid mismatches" fix. Still nothing.
Going to give the AROMA a try, having some problems right now though - using RMD recovery, no touch support. Trying to flash 4ext touch from fastboot somehow!
Thank you. Will keep you updated.
UPDATE//
Managed to get the AROMA up and running, deleted few apps from /data/apps, nothing to delete from /system really. /cache is cleared, so are all 3 dalvik-cache folders.
System still does not want to start.
Any ideas what might have happened? Seems like I'm running out of options and will have to do a clear install, after all.
You probably damaged some important system files so tho phone can't load system. The best solution is to restore some nand backup if you have, or to do a full wipe and start from scratch.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Flashes and Thunders
If that was the case, reflashing the ROM on top of my current system should fix the problem, while it didn't - right? Also, I find it hard to believe that "important system files" could have been damaged during routine Google Play apps update...
Than a full wipe and fresh install is inevitable...
Sent from my HTC Desire using Flashes and Thunders

wipse system in TWRP

I accidentally wiped the system in TRWP and the phone won't boot, it just shows white screen with HTC logo and the red text down.
Did I just wiped my android from the phone?
I can get into bootloader and recovery. But I dont have rom in my internal storage. (because I deleted everything) How can I put rom.zip into my storage again and do the flash?
PLEASE HELP!
delete please have found an answer
JernejB2 said:
delete please have found an answer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Threads typically aren't deleted on XDA. If you found a solution, post it for the benefit of others that may have the same/similar issue.
In the future, you shouldn't be wiping anything, if you have no idea what it is, or what the outcome will be. It says right on the TWRP Wipe section, that the default wipe is the only one you need most of the time. And it says that for a reason. And the remaining options are also called "Advanced" for good reason.
Yes, "system" is the Android Operating System. By wiping it, you wiped the whole OS.
Recovering from this is typically done by putting a ROM on removable SD, or alternately using adb push to put a ROM on the phone. Then boot into TWRP and install the ROM.
You should also typically have TWRP backup of your current ROM, for easy recovery. Basic good practice to always have a TWRP "nandroid" backup whenever messing with the phone (root, ROMs, other mods). And there is usually not a good reason to wipe "everything" (all at the same time) and therefore also wipe your backups wherever they may be (internal storage or SD card).

How do I erase everything on galaxy s3 i747

Hi,
I have i747 that has a clockworkmod recovery. How do I erase as much as possible of everything so that my phone is as clean as possible before I install a new ROM on galaxy s3?
I tried to factory reset phone, did all the 'delete/erase' options within clockworkmod recovery (except advanced section) and yet I see some residual folders from the previous installation. is there a way to completely erase wipe out everything without bricking the phone?
Thanks!
user-747 said:
Hi,
I have i747 that has a clockworkmod recovery. How do I erase as much as possible of everything so that my phone is as clean as possible before I install a new ROM on galaxy s3?
I tried to factory reset phone, did all the 'delete/erase' options within clockworkmod recovery (except advanced section) and yet I see some residual folders from the previous installation. is there a way to completely erase wipe out everything without bricking the phone?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should really flash TWRP recovery before proceeding. CWM hasn't been maintained or updated in a long time. It is likely to give you problems flashing anything new.
To completely blank a phone in TWRP I use Wipe -> Advanced Wipe -> Dalvik, Cache, System, Data. Followed by Wipe -> Format Data then type "yes" to confirm; always a good idea if you're switching between Touchwiz and AOSP in particular. That will leave you with totally blank internal storage. You'll have to flash a ROM from an external SD, or load a ROM zip over USB while booted in recovery because internal storage will be wiped clean.
It might be a good idea to look into what bootloader and modem you're running too. If you're still using CWM, you might be on pretty old firmware that isn't going to work right with newer roms. Just don't start flashing bootloaders/modems willy-nilly. Samsung made this phone kind of easy to hard brick on the newer firmwares. There's a right way to update it, if you find you have to.
jason2678 said:
You should really flash TWRP recovery before proceeding. CWM hasn't been maintained or updated in a long time. It is likely to give you problems flashing anything new.
To completely blank a phone in TWRP I use Wipe -> Advanced Wipe -> Dalvik, Cache, System, Data. Followed by Wipe -> Format Data then type "yes" to confirm; always a good idea if you're switching between Touchwiz and AOSP in particular. That will leave you with totally blank internal storage. You'll have to flash a ROM from an external SD, or load a ROM zip over USB while booted in recovery because internal storage will be wiped clean.
It might be a good idea to look into what bootloader and modem you're running too. If you're still using CWM, you might be on pretty old firmware that isn't going to work right with newer roms. Just don't start flashing bootloaders/modems willy-nilly. Samsung made this phone kind of easy to hard brick on the newer firmwares. There's a right way to update it, if you find you have to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much for providing such a detailed answer!! You make many very good points!!
Just to reflect on those...
1) Yes, CWM recovery has not been updated for about 2-3 years. I have 6.0.4.7 version. Where do I check how stale it really is? I tried googling for CWM recovery and saw tons of links with everyone talking about CWM but ZERO sites with actual CWM .zip or .img file
2) I did 'adb bugreport' and was able to find information on my bootloader and a modem:
Bootloader: I747UCUEMJB
Radio: I747UCUEMJB
I am not too sure for what I would need to use this information for though
3) when completely blanking the phone (doing all those wipe/erase actions you mentioned), would that erase the recovery as well or is recovery is kept on a some other partition that never gets touched
4) When installing TWRP over CWM, would TWRP override CWM or install side to side along with CWM?
Thanks!
The will need to run an updated bootloader and modem before installing the latest custom roms.
user-747 said:
2) I did 'adb bugreport' and was able to find information on my bootloader and a modem:
Bootloader: I747UCUEMJB
Radio: I747UCUEMJB
I am not too sure for what I would need to use this information for though
3) when completely blanking the phone (doing all those wipe/erase actions you mentioned), would that erase the recovery as well or is recovery is kept on a some other partition that never gets touched
4) When installing TWRP over CWM, would TWRP override CWM or install side to side along with CWM?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3 - Those wipes will just blank /system, /data and other partitions that would affect a rom. More critical areas like bootloader, modem, and recovery will remain untouched and intact.
4 - TWRP will overwrite CWM in the /recovery partition. They can't coexist.
2 - If you're comfortable with Odin, this thread might be the easiest and safest way to get updated. The Odin tar will get you up to NE4 firmware that should work with all the newest roms. Before modding, you could check for updates a few times in that stock rom. There should be two, one from NE4 to NJ1, and one NJ1 to NJ2. NJ2 is the newest and almost certainly last update for the i747.
If you don't like using Odin, there are recovery flashable zips to update the firmware for i747 too. You just have to be very careful how you go about it or you can brick the phone.
audit13 said:
The will need to run an updated bootloader and modem before installing the latest custom roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was able to install the most recent octos just a few days ago with my stale configuration: old bootloader and old cwm recovery. My phone i747 currently has nougat.
When you speak of 'latest roms' what exactly do you have in mind?
jason2678 said:
3 - Those wipes will just blank /system, /data and other partitions that would affect a rom. More critical areas like bootloader, modem, and recovery will remain untouched and intact.
4 - TWRP will overwrite CWM in the /recovery partition. They can't coexist.
2 - If you're comfortable with Odin, this thread might be the easiest and safest way to get updated. The Odin tar will get you up to NE4 firmware that should work with all the newest roms. Before modding, you could check for updates a few times in that stock rom. There should be two, one from NE4 to NJ1, and one NJ1 to NJ2. NJ2 is the newest and almost certainly last update for the i747.
If you don't like using Odin, there are recovery flashable zips to update the firmware for i747 too. You just have to be very careful how you go about it or you can brick the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am actually quite familiar with Odin. I used to root i747 with it. Then I wanted to update to the latest official rom and ironically soft-bricked the phone to the point where it was dead...nothing worked at all. If I remember correctly I wrote i9305 Rom to i747 phone. Then I found out that during boot the phone internally still scans through sd card and was able to take advantage of that to install recovery and consequently cyanogenmod os. I remember tons of Adb done. Since then the phone regained all functionality and now works very smooth with freshly installed octos. However, I see I am missing some hard drive space ie unusually large usage by octos. This makes me wonder if the 'bad original partition + bootloader +modem' are still in there but not invoked for some reason and the explanation behind my what appears to be successful installs is working os, etc are written to a separate partition which is now invoked. Is this hypothesis legit or not real? Is it at all possible that my cwm somehow is installed on a partition that is delete-able or that cannot be a possibility and all recovery goes into write-protected space?
And while we are in this topic, what are the obvious advantages of a newer boot loader if I can still install whatever custom roms?
user-747 said:
I was able to install the most recent octos just a few days ago with my stale configuration: old bootloader and old cwm recovery. My phone i747 currently has nougat.
When you speak of 'latest roms' what exactly do you have in mind?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes, a phone will not display the correct imei with the latest custom ROM unless the phone is running the most recent bootloader and modem for the particular phone.
audit13 said:
Sometimes, a phone will not display the correct imei with the latest custom ROM unless the phone is running the most recent bootloader and modem for the particular phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Good to know.
I think this phone only has a 12 GB data partition. About 1.5 GB is reserved for /system, another 1 GB for /cache, and there are a host of other partitions. That's some of your used space. The rest could be cruft from old installs left over in userdata that a standard wipe of /data didn't get unless you format internal storage.
If what you have is working for you, then I wouldn't touch bootloader and modem.
jason2678 said:
You should really flash TWRP recovery before proceeding. CWM hasn't been maintained or updated in a long time. It is likely to give you problems flashing anything new.
To completely blank a phone in TWRP I use Wipe -> Advanced Wipe -> Dalvik, Cache, System, Data. Followed by Wipe -> Format Data then type "yes" to confirm; always a good idea if you're switching between Touchwiz and AOSP in particular. That will leave you with totally blank internal storage. You'll have to flash a ROM from an external SD, or load a ROM zip over USB while booted in recovery because internal storage will be wiped clean.
It might be a good idea to look into what bootloader and modem you're running too. If you're still using CWM, you might be on pretty old firmware that isn't going to work right with newer roms. Just don't start flashing bootloaders/modems willy-nilly. Samsung made this phone kind of easy to hard brick on the newer firmwares. There's a right way to update it, if you find you have to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jason2678 said:
I think this phone only has a 12 GB data partition. About 1.5 GB is reserved for /system, another 1 GB for /cache, and there are a host of other partitions. That's some of your used space. The rest could be cruft from old installs left over in userdata that a standard wipe of /data didn't get unless you format internal storage.
If what you have is working for you, then I wouldn't touch bootloader and modem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the insight!
I went ahead and updated by recovery to TWRP via Odin just a few minutes ago...
I see Under Advanced Wipe another option for Wipe -> Advanced Wipe -> Internal Storage. Should I also wipe out internal storage? What is it for anyway? Whats the difference between 'internal storage' and 'system'?
user-747 said:
Thanks for the insight!
I went ahead and updated by recovery to TWRP via Odin just a few minutes ago...
I see Under Advanced Wipe another option for Wipe -> Advanced Wipe -> Internal Storage. Should I also wipe out internal storage? What is it for anyway? Whats the difference between 'internal storage' and 'system'?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly I'm not 100% sure what the Internal Storage wipe does under Advanced Wipe, and I don't feel like making then restoring a backup right now just to test it . I never use it. If I had to guess, I bet it wipes /data and possibly a few other partitions without preserving user files in /data/media/0, see below, but don't know that. It certainly won't blank the whole internal storage; some areas like recovery, modem, and aboot are far too important and won't be touched.
Here's what I can tell you. Doing Wipe -> Advanced Wipe -> system, data, cache, dalvik is typically good enough for flashing a new rom (switching from Touchwiz to AOSP can require some additional care), some would even say overkill the way rom installers are scripted today, but old habits die hard. However, Advanced Wipe -> Data will wipe /data without wiping /data/media. Since android got multi-user support, files reported to be in /sdcard are actually stored in /data/media/0 for the primary user, so that means that downloads, pictures, user app files and things like that can be left behind by just wiping data since /data/media is left untouched. It is useful if you don't want to shuffle your files off then back on the device to flash something new or if you're using a device without an external SD and have a rom zip stored on device in /sdcard, but it leaves stuff behind if you're looking for a clean start.
To completely blank /data pick Wipe -> Format Data and TWRP will format /data and leave nothing behind, not even /data/media like the normal Advanced Wipe -> Data preserves. Just make sure you're prepared for the phone storage to be blank. You'll have to flash from external SD or push files from a computer over usb. TWRP does automatically start up mtp and adb shortly after booting if you need to push files over usb.
/system is a partition of special reserved space just for the rom and system apps and not user files. It is usually mounted read only when booted up normally to keep us from messing anything important up. I hope this helps and doesn't just muddy the waters more.
jason2678 said:
Honestly I'm not 100% sure what the Internal Storage wipe does under Advanced Wipe, and I don't feel like making then restoring a backup right now just to test it . I never use it. If I had to guess, I bet it wipes /data and possibly a few other partitions without preserving user files in /data/media/0, see below, but don't know that. It certainly won't blank the whole internal storage; some areas like recovery, modem, and aboot are far too important and won't be touched.
Here's what I can tell you. Doing Wipe -> Advanced Wipe -> system, data, cache, dalvik is typically good enough for flashing a new rom (switching from Touchwiz to AOSP can require some additional care), some would even say overkill the way rom installers are scripted today, but old habits die hard. However, Advanced Wipe -> Data will wipe /data without wiping /data/media. Since android got multi-user support, files reported to be in /sdcard are actually stored in /data/media/0 for the primary user, so that means that downloads, pictures, user app files and things like that can be left behind by just wiping data since /data/media is left untouched. It is useful if you don't want to shuffle your files off then back on the device to flash something new or if you're using a device without an external SD and have a rom zip stored on device in /sdcard, but it leaves stuff behind if you're looking for a clean start.
To completely blank /data pick Wipe -> Format Data and TWRP will format /data and leave nothing behind, not even /data/media like the normal Advanced Wipe -> Data preserves. Just make sure you're prepared for the phone storage to be blank. You'll have to flash from external SD or push files from a computer over usb. TWRP does automatically start up mtp and adb shortly after booting if you need to push files over usb.
/system is a partition of special reserved space just for the rom and system apps and not user files. It is usually mounted read only when booted up normally to keep us from messing anything important up. I hope this helps and doesn't just muddy the waters more.
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Thanks!
I will try to do wipe and reinstall Rom tonight and will update this thread. While we are in this topic, when flashing twrp via Odin in phone's download mode, I noticed that it says: Qualcomm secureboot: enabled. Does this mean my bootloader is locked?
user-747 said:
Thanks!
I will try to do wipe and reinstall Rom tonight and will update this thread. While we are in this topic, when flashing twrp via Odin in phone's download mode, I noticed that it says: Qualcomm secureboot: enabled. Does this mean my bootloader is locked?
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No, the i747 never had a locked bootloader. You couldn't boot unsigned stuff like CWM, TWRP, or octos if it did.
jason2678 said:
No, the i747 never had a locked bootloader. You couldn't boot unsigned stuff like CWM, TWRP, or octos if it did.
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Thanks!
user-747 said:
Thanks!
I will try to do wipe and reinstall Rom tonight and will update this thread. While we are in this topic, when flashing twrp via Odin in phone's download mode, I noticed that it says: Qualcomm secureboot: enabled. Does this mean my bootloader is locked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went ahead and did all the wipes and formats you recommend and all worked like a charm. OctOs installed like a charm, my disk space is regained, gapps are working, IMEI is good. so far I cannt find anyting that does not work. Thank you @jason2678 for your valuable feedback on my questions!!

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