Develop Bugs

[Q] do you need to wipe sd-ext?

is it necessary to wipe sd-ext between rom flashes? realistically isn't it just a bunch of apps on sd, so wouldn't leaving them on there have the same effect as just restoring them with titanium?
just partitioned my sd to take advantage of the apps2sd built into miui so im brand new to this. also i didn't find anything useful by googleing this so any help is appreciated.

Its always best to wipe it, if you're partitioned.

PhxkinMassacre said:
is it necessary to wipe sd-ext between rom flashes? realistically isn't it just a bunch of apps on sd, so wouldn't leaving them on there have the same effect as just restoring them with titanium?
just partitioned my sd to take advantage of the apps2sd built into miui so im brand new to this. also i didn't find anything useful by googleing this so any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've attempted do this for the same reasons with mixed results. When I did it my data was set to be stored internally though. I've wondered how it would work if data was on ext partition. U might be able to do a2sd reinstall and have em restored with data.

I does seem like there would be a way to make it work....it certainly would be a hell of a lot easier than wiping and restoring with titanium.

what exactly gets wiped when i wipe data?

Hello everyone,
after more then 2 years with my trusted N1 i finally had to move to a new phone because i broke the screen of my old one.
having the GN now for allmost a week, and within the first few hours of owning the device it got 3 OTA updates and is now at 4.1.1. i am quite happy with it but 2 days ago i startet messing around wiht it. so i ulocked the boodloader and rooted and got myself franco kernel on the GN.
as expected everything worked fine.
today i wantet to give some 3th party roms a try. i tried installing MIUI and euroskanks cm10. both with rom manager.
but on each of them i got in a bootloop after flashing, just showing the franco kernel boot animation.
i flashed both roms without wiping the data (just the cache)
i suspect that is my problem.
i am a little bit scared about the wipe data option for flashing new roms. on my N1 it worked fine since all my files on the sd card where not touched and i could get started allmost immediantly.
unlocking the bootloader of the GN wiped everything out off my phone and i had to copy it all back from a backup.
if i choose wipe data will that also (again) wipe my complete device or just the "OS part" and leave my data alone?
if it wipes everything how do i avoid having to make a backup of my data and restore it afterwards after each and every rom i flash?
i have noted the mnt/sdcard folder on my GN that (apparently) just links back to the root of the memory. what is the puropse of this folder? just to be compatible with "old" apps that insist on writing files to the SD-card or something else?
thanks for the info

no data from sdcard gets removed.
its basically a "NON REMOVABLE sdcard"... think of it that way.

patlabor said:
Hello everyone,
if i choose wipe data will that also(again) wipe my complete device or just the "OS part" and leave my data alone?
if it wipes everything how do i avoid having to make a backup of my data and restore it afterwards after each and every rom i flash?
i have noted the mnt/sdcard folder on my GN that (apparently) just links back to the root of the memory. what is the puropse of this folder? just to be compatible with "old" apps that insist on writing files to the SD-card or something else?
thanks for the info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. It will wipe your "OS part" + apps. Will leave data in "sdcard" alone. Factory Wipe clears the virtual "sdcard"
2. Can't be avoided, I use Wugfresh's toolkit to make app backups a breeze. Takes a little more time than it used to when I had my OG Droid with a EXT partition but hey, at least you'll always have a current backup of your apps.
3. Yes. It'd actually be less obvious it's still called /sdcard/ if you weren't rooted and poking around . I believe JB switches this to sdcard0 now to account for devices that have external sdcards to be mounted as /sdcard1 and so on.

Ok, I guess I get it.
Just one more thing to make sure.
It looks like all my files are in the root of my phone and mnt/sdcard has just one folder but with the same files as the folder with the same name in my root.
When I wipe data now will it keep everything or just the files in my mnt/sdcard folder?

patlabor said:
Ok, I guess I get it.
Just one more thing to make sure.
It looks like all my files are in the root of my phone and mnt/sdcard has just one folder but with the same files as the folder with the same name in my root.
When I wipe data now will it keep everything or just the files in my mnt/sdcard folder?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Custom recovery (AKA not CWM or TWRP or whatever you're using) will wipe your SD card. Just remember that.
All the custom recoveries wipe /data/ while keeping /data/media/ (your sd card).
Nothing on your "SDcard" will be lost.

I'm in the same situation as the original poster and would like a "definitive" answer. CWM has both a factory reset and a format /data option (in a separate submenu). Which preserve the content of the virtual sdcard ? Which is the raccomended way to try out a JB rom? I have 10+ Gb of data in the sdcard and i would like to avoid moving everything forth and back via MTP protocol...
Thanks
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

IF you are using CWM recovery, "wiping data" will erase the entire userdata partition EXCLUDING /sdcard. This means that everything under /data (except /data/media which = /sdcard) will be erased. This includes all apps you have installed in /data, and most data for those apps.
IF you are using a stock recovery, "wiping data" or "factory reset, will wipe the entire userdata partition, including /sdcard.
Wiping data or factory restore/reset/whatever does NOT touch the system partition or return the device to "factory condition". So if you have installed apps in /system or have root, the will still be there.

do nandroid backups work properly?

i've been trying out new CM10.1 nightlies and nothing has worked as well as 3/17, so i keep reflashing my 3/17 nandroid backup. however, ive noticed that after 1 or two times of doing that, the phone battery has sucked and my data connection is acting funky.
when restoring from nandroid, does it basically wipe the phone and restore it exactly back to how it was, or do files from frequent flashing and trials of other nightlies still stick around?
if so it is the latter, would i benefit from moving my backup to my external SD card, doing a total wipe of the phone 100%, and reflashing the nandroid backup?

At the very least you should wipe cache,dalvic, and factory reset, which you could've learned from a simple search.

When you dirty flash rom updates and backups, you begin to run into these small bugs. Layering your software like this will add up. It's safe to keep a copy of your backup on your sd card, yes. If you perform a full wipe (wipe data, cache, dalvik, and system) you will be removing the OS entirely and allowing for a completely clean install. That's what I recommend. Since you are not formatting/wiping data, you will not lose any.

TeknoGodz said:
At the very least you should wipe cache,dalvic, and factory reset, which you could've learned from a simple search.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes. i know. that was already done. i was asking about something more in depth. thanks for nothing.

xBeerdroiDx said:
When you dirty flash rom updates and backups, you begin to run into these small bugs. Layering your software like this will add up. It's safe to keep a copy of your backup on your sd card, yes. If you perform a full wipe (wipe data, cache, dalvik, and system) you will be removing the OS entirely and allowing for a completely clean install. That's what I recommend. Since you are not formatting/wiping data, you will not lose any.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
much appreciated. i did a full system wipe 100% and just restored from the nandroid fresh (it had worked before all teh crazy flashing.).
thanks!

Just to add to this thread, a Nandroid does not capture everything.
Such as, if you have maps saved to your internal SD card from a navigation app, those maps are not picked up as part of the nandroid.
I make a habit of copying my internal SD card contents onto my computer and then restoring them after restoring a Nandroid.

[Q] Cleaning my internal memory before ROM flash

I flash a lot of roms on my phone. Recently I noticed that there was a lot of left over programs and apps on my internal memory. I have nothing on the phone I want to keep that is not already backed up via TitaniumBackup.
What I would like to do, is wipe everything that I can without messing up partitions or Mount points or the needed stuff in ./data/media so I can flash a new room on a totally clean phone (except for the nessasary files needed like the data/media stuff and recovery stuff ect..)
Normally when I flash I do this: (in TWRP)
1. Nandroid backup
2. Wipe/factory restore
3. Wipe data and system again
4. Flash new ROM
5. Wipe devlik/cache
6. Reboot
When I finally get to the desktop I start up root explorer and look around my internal memory. This is were I still see a lot of old apps still sitting there. I want them gone. I'm afraid to wipe/format internal memory while in TWRP because I will lose everything right ? Even the stuff that is needed to boot the phone to recovery.
Any suggestions ?
Thanks
T-Mobile Samsung G S4
SGH-M919
TWRP v6.x.x.x
16 gig micro sd-card

Go in twrp and click wipe, advanced, and click everything. after wiping Mount the phone to PC via twrp and move the rom and kernel to sd card. Unmount then do the steps you usually do to install a ROM, including wipe.
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Thibor69 said:
I flash a lot of roms on my phone. Recently I noticed that there was a lot of left over programs and apps on my internal memory. I have nothing on the phone I want to keep that is not already backed up via TitaniumBackup.
What I would like to do, is wipe everything that I can without messing up partitions or Mount points or the needed stuff in ./data/media so I can flash a new room on a totally clean phone (except for the nessasary files needed like the data/media stuff and recovery stuff ect..)
Normally when I flash I do this: (in TWRP)
1. Nandroid backup
2. Wipe/factory restore
3. Wipe data and system again
4. Flash new ROM
5. Wipe devlik/cache
6. Reboot
When I finally get to the desktop I start up root explorer and look around my internal memory. This is were I still see a lot of old apps still sitting there. I want them gone. I'm afraid to wipe/format internal memory while in TWRP because I will lose everything right ? Even the stuff that is needed to boot the phone to recovery.
Any suggestions ?
Thanks
T-Mobile Samsung G S4
SGH-M919
TWRP v6.x.x.x
16 gig micro sd-card
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have your TiBu backups, nandroids, and ROM zips, pictures, videos, etc already on your SD card; there is no harm in formatting your internal memory. You won't lose recovery, you won't have a problem with booting, nothing of that sort.

When I was running SynergyRom on my S3, wiping Internal memory was usually Always suggested because of the reasons you mentioned.
Move your Nandroid and files you want to flash to your extSdCard card for obvious reasons.
I have TWRP 2.5.0.2 as my Recovery, which has been running without issues for months.
Enter Recovery:
Press -
Wipe
Format Data
As a safety valve, you'll be asked to Type in Yes to continue this Internal wipe.
You'll retain the partitions you mentioned.
I think the above will get you to where you want to be.
You can always double check afterward as you've already done before.

Biker1 said:
When I was running SynergyRom on my S3, wiping Internal memory was usually Always suggested because of the reasons you mentioned.
Move your Nandroid and files you want to flash to your extSdCard card for obvious reasons.
I have TWRP 2.5.0.2 as my Recovery, which has been running without issues for months.
Enter Recovery:
Press -
Wipe
Format Data
As a safety valve, you'll be asked to Type in Yes to continue this Internal wipe.
You'll retain the partitions you mentioned.
I think the above will get you to where you want to be.
You can always double check afterward as you've already done before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wanted to say good question and responses. Helpful.

completely wipe the phone?

Just wondering, as i'm probably selling my Galaxy S3 soon... what's the easiest way to completely wipe everything off the phone? Pictures, apps, documents.... everything? Will re-install a custom ROM after wiping.... just want to make sure all personal data is off the phone.

elementaldragon said:
Just wondering, as i'm probably selling my Galaxy S3 soon... what's the easiest way to completely wipe everything off the phone? Pictures, apps, documents.... everything? Will re-install a custom ROM after wiping.... just want to make sure all personal data is off the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I imagine using twrp would be the best way. Not sure if there is another alternative. Maybe odin.
First before wiping system you may want to wipe internal storage (after backing up your internal storage to your computer or something first of course). Then boot up your current system and transfer a rom you want to install to your internal storage. Then reboot to twrp and wipe system, factory reset, cache and dalvik. Then install a rom fresh and then it should be ready to go. This is what I do after selling a device, before shipping to a customer.

.... wouldn't copying a custom ROM to the internal storage BEFORE wiping System and everything also erase the custom ROM i just transferred to the device?
And i mean wiping EVERYTHING. basically as if the phone was just taken out of the box, and unlocked, rooted, and custom ROM installed. No left over files whatsoever. Don't think wiping just System does that, does it? Wouldn't i do the "Wipe Internal Storage" or something like that? Think that's about what i did on my Motorola Atrix when i sold that.

* edit looking into the wiping system part to see exactly what it erases.
Wiping system, factory reset, cache and dalvik should erase everything except storage. You could wipe internal storage after you freshly install a ROM. But hopefully there are no errors, because you will have no files on storage if something had went wrong during installation. I would also have a ROM file on an external sdcard that you could plug in if you needed to.
You will probably want to leave one ROM file on the device for the person you are selling it to, just incase.
Sent from my Nexus 5

stelv said:
* edit looking into the wiping system part to see exactly what it erases.
Wiping system, factory reset, cache and dalvik should erase everything except storage. You could wipe internal storage after you freshly install a ROM. But hopefully there are no errors, because you will have no files on storage if something had went wrong during installation. I would also have a ROM file on an external sdcard that you could plug in if you needed to.
You will probably want to leave one ROM file on the device for the person you are selling it to, just incase.
Sent from my Nexus 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I am selling it with the 8GB Micro-SD card anyway, since i've got no use for it with the Nexus 5. And i believe that's what i did with the Atrix. Wiped storage/system/factory reset/cache. Pretty much everything that made sense to wipe.... and just kept the ROM on the SD card out of the phone, just to make sure i didn't accidentally wipe that somehow.
And i'll probably just do what i usually end up doing for stuff like this. Wipe everything, install the ROM and make sure it boots, and just shut it off when it comes to the initial setup screen.

Here are some useful links
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1823906
http://teamw.in/whattowipe
Sent from my Nexus 5