[Q] How to wipe personal Data without losing root? - Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Hey guys, I'm going to sell my GNex this weekend. I'm looking to erase all my data and personal information without losing the root? Will i even lose root if i do a system hard reset?
First off. I have a backup of stock ICS. First day I got it from Google Play Store. I rooted it that night. Right now I have JB installed, and it's backed up as well as a Nandroid. So i have Stock ICS and JB (which i'm currently using)
So my main question. Before i sell this device. How do i go about erasing all my private info. like messages/contacts/emails etc.. and have it like it's brand new without losing the root?
Thanks,

Delete all the files in /sdcard and do a factory reset. You will still have root.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

ThatTechShow said:
Hey guys, I'm going to sell my GNex this weekend. I'm looking to erase all my data and personal information without losing the root? Will i even lose root if i do a system hard reset?
First off. I have a backup of stock ICS. First day I got it from Google Play Store. I rooted it that night. Right now I have JB installed, and it's backed up as well as a Nandroid. So i have Stock ICS and JB (which i'm currently using)
So my main question. Before i sell this device. How do i go about erasing all my private info. like messages/contacts/emails etc.. and have it like it's brand new without losing the root?
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could just boot into recovery and just do a factory reset/wipe and then just reboot the phone.
works like a champ

Wolfbeef123 said:
You could just boot into recovery and just do a factory reset/wipe and then just reboot the phone.
works like a champ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That will only work with the stock recovery. If he has cwm installed, it will leave the contents of /sdcard in place.

efrant said:
That will only work with the stock recovery. If he has cwm installed, it will leave the contents of /sdcard in place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do have CWM installed. I saw that if you just do the factory reset. that'll get rid of all personal data.
What about what's inside the SDcard? are those files important?
Also since i'm selling this. Should I delete my JB Nandroid and Stock ICS Backup ?
Thanks

ThatTechShow said:
I do have CWM installed. I saw that if you just do the factory reset. that'll get rid of all personal data.
What about what's inside the SDcard? are those files important?
Also since i'm selling this. Should I delete my JB Nandroid and Stock ICS Backup ?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do what I said above.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

My only fear (am I the only one that is paranoid) is that they will us a memory recovery tool to recover the contents. Is there a way to true wipe, write all 1's or 0's to the sdcard? If that is really a true wipe....
Just curious, I know there are programs out there that do it to hard drives.
Thanks

lugose said:
My only fear (am I the only one that is paranoid) is that they will us a memory recovery tool to recover the contents. Is there a way to true wipe, write all 1's or 0's to the sdcard? If that is really a true wipe....
Just curious, I know there are programs out there that do it to hard drives.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe the following command will do that (issued in fastboot mode): fastboot format userdata
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Related

Internal SDCARD Memory Wiped?

I decided to flash back to stock because I was having some reboot issues. Everything went fine except that I noticed my internal (sdcard) memory was wiped after returning it to stock and re-locking the bootloader and all my backups were gone and music etc... Is this normal? Kinda crappy since we can't just pull a SDCARD to stop it.
You relocked your bootloader. This will cause a wipe all across the board. If you wipe via recovery, it does not wipe your sdcard.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
zephiK said:
You relocked your bootloader. This will cause a wipe all across the board. If you wipe via recovery, it does not wipe your sdcard.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Relocking the bootloader does not cause a wipe... but unlocking it does.
As well, flashing the data partition with the stock data image will wipe the /sdcard folder.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
efrant said:
Relocking the bootloader does not cause a wipe... but unlocking it does.
As well, flashing the data partition with the stock data image will wipe the /sdcard folder.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
OP, you may want to seriously consider Titanium Backup if you are not already using it. Then setup a dropbox account, and sync your backups to dropbox. Makes things real easy to restore if you wipe everything. You could also keep a copy of your Titanium backups on your PC for quick retrieval as well.
xRogerxC said:
+1
OP, you may want to seriously consider Titanium Backup if you are not already using it. Then setup a dropbox account, and sync your backups to dropbox. Makes things real easy to restore if you wipe everything. You could also keep a copy of your Titanium backups on your PC for quick retrieval as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both good ideas. I do both of these.
Any way to do this unrooted and still locked? So that when I want to re-root and unlock I wont lose it all again?
martouf13 said:
Any way to do this unrooted and still locked? So that when I want to re-root and unlock I wont lose it all again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Leave your boot loader unlocked. There is no reason to relock it
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Apologies for thread hi-jack...
Gentleman, by leaving the boot loader unlocked will the eventually 4.0.3 OtA still push onto the phone?
I'm completely new to the android scene having come over from the iPhone 4.
- I unlocked bootloader (lost all data as expected)
- Rooted
- Used CMW to install the 8mb 4.0.2 update (GSM)
- Used titanium to back up for the future
- I've left the bootloader unlocked, so my question is - will i have to do the manual update for 4.0.3 as i did with 4.0.2 or will it push?
Thanks all
VipKSM said:
Apologies for thread hi-jack...
Gentleman, by leaving the boot loader unlocked will the eventually 4.0.3 OtA still push onto the phone?
I'm completely new to the android scene having come over from the iPhone 4.
- I unlocked bootloader (lost all data as expected)
- Rooted
- Used CMW to install the 8mb 4.0.2 update (GSM)
- Used titanium to back up for the future
- I've left the bootloader unlocked, so my question is - will i have to do the manual update for 4.0.3 as i did with 4.0.2 or will it push?
Thanks all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will push automatically whether your bootloader is locker or unlocked. However, as with all updates, it may be faster to manually update it if someone who gets it early posts the update link.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Is CWM required to flash stock images, whether they be either the small update files or the full factory images?
VipKSM said:
Is CWM required to flash stock images, whether they be either the small update files or the full factory images?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you can do it with fastboot as well.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[Q] Factory Reset sd gone! help!

i did a factory reset via stock recovery and all my photos and documents are gone.
how can i recover them?
factory reset... clears all data.
you dont get it back.
without installing or coping anything, use any data recovery program to recover your videos and pictures.
Never done with GN, but have done with S2 on its internal memory.
I use restorer 2000 for all my recovery tasks on pc.
Zepius said:
factory reset... clears all data.
you dont get it back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For clarification, factory reset / wipe data using the stock recovery clears everything (including the internal sdcard). Custom recoveries (CWM and/or TWRP) will wipe everything except the internal sdcard.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
atifsh said:
without installing or coping anything, use any data recovery program to recover your videos and pictures.
Never done with GN, but have done with S2 on its internal memory.
I use restorer 2000 for all my recovery tasks on pc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You cannot do that on a GNex.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
To sum everything up: You are officially screwed. At least you learned that you need to back things up?

GOOD GOD, what have I done?

I've been rooting for the past 4 years, so I'm not a COMPLETE idiot. But I have no idea how I did what I just did. (Well, I do, but I'm in denial
I've used exhange for work email for last year and a half. Over this past weekend, I couldn't get in to email, and kept getting a popup to encrypt. I figured I had to, to get to my email(and probably so). So, I did it. And then realized I couldn't get into Recovery. In full agitation mode, and while in recovery, I fruitlessly tried wiping, and just as fruitlessly, tried to get to my data to try and just flash a new ROM over it(couldn't do either, because of the encrypted data). SOMEHOW, I freaking managed to format system by the time I was done.
SO, in summation- I can get to recovery, can't restore a backup, can't get to my data, and can't get my phone to boot.
What the crap do I do now? From what I've read, it would appear I have to unroot and flash a stock/unrooted image, is that correct? Will I wipe out all data on the phone in the process? Can someone push me in the right direction for the easiest way to do it? (keeping in mind, can't get my frigging data, nor can I mount).
Oy Vey.
Many thanks in advance!
I think you should download a stock image from google at https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images and just install it. I assume you can still get in fastboot mode. Of course you will lose your data, and I don't think you can omit flashing the userdata because I think you will wipe the encryption salt. I think someone with more expertise should answer this.
Dlnp22 said:
I've been rooting for the past 4 years, so I'm not a COMPLETE idiot. But I have no idea how I did what I just did. (Well, I do, but I'm in denial
I've used exhange for work email for last year and a half. Over this past weekend, I couldn't get in to email, and kept getting a popup to encrypt. I figured I had to, to get to my email(and probably so). So, I did it. And then realized I couldn't get into Recovery. In full agitation mode, and while in recovery, I fruitlessly tried wiping, and just as fruitlessly, tried to get to my data to try and just flash a new ROM over it(couldn't do either, because of the encrypted data). SOMEHOW, I freaking managed to format system by the time I was done.
SO, in summation- I can get to recovery, can't restore a backup, can't get to my data, and can't get my phone to boot.
What the crap do I do now? From what I've read, it would appear I have to unroot and flash a stock/unrooted image, is that correct? Will I wipe out all data on the phone in the process? Can someone push me in the right direction for the easiest way to do it? (keeping in mind, can't get my frigging data, nor can I mount).
Oy Vey.
Many thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could try flashing TWRP through fastboot. I think it has support for decryption. I'd look it up first though.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
times_infinity said:
You could try flashing TWRP through fastboot. I think it has support for decryption. I'd look it up first though.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 on TWRP! Back from the dead. GREATLY APPRECIATED!
Now on to to this freaking pesky encryption. What a mistake.
At least now I can copy my data off the phone, then wipe/revert to stock to get rid of the encryption(I hope?) then re-root.
I rooted well before the Galaxy Nexus Toolkit came out. Assuming there's a one click(or multiple clicks ) for unrooting and rooting?
Dlnp22 said:
+1 on TWRP! Back from the dead. GREATLY APPRECIATED!
Now on to to this freaking pesky encryption. What a mistake.
At least now I can copy my data off the phone, then wipe/revert to stock to get rid of the encryption(I hope?) then re-root.
I rooted well before the Galaxy Nexus Toolkit came out. Assuming there's a one click(or multiple clicks ) for unrooting and rooting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could just flash the factory images, flash recovery through fast boot afterwards, and flash a superuser zip if you're gonna run stock rooted or just flash ROM of choice.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
times_infinity said:
You could just flash the factory images, flash recovery through fast boot afterwards, and flash a superuser zip if you're gonna run stock rooted or just flash ROM of choice.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
***edit: I think I'm good to go! Thanks for everyone's help!!!

[Q] Possible to create a .tgz file to flash (as a backup)?

I have a toro galaxy nexus, and i wanted to create a flashable tgz file with everything in it (radios, system, userdata, boot, bootloader, etc). I wanted to do it because I have my Gnex working wonderfully with a custom ROM, all the apps I wanted installed, with the updated radios and bootloader, etc...was wondering if its possible to "pull" what i have on it now and either put it into a tgz file or a way to do it directly...that way i could just flash it with the rooting kit if ever i got into trouble...
Just make a nandroid backup. I really fail to see how that doesn't do exactly what you you want and with less effort.
063_XOBX said:
Just make a nandroid backup. I really fail to see how that doesn't do exactly what you you want and with less effort.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well i think a nandroid backup only backs up; system, data, and boot...but i want to do a tgz file with everything there, so that if instead of going back to stock to clean up my files (if i got a corrupt media file or something going wrong in there), i can go back to a point where everything is right where i want it...i know the factory google tgz file includes; system, data, boot, radio, bootloader, userdata and whatever else i may be missing...
its just to shortcut the "going back to stock" to clean up the system...especially because right now there is no google factory image for 4.2 for the Toro galaxy nexus...
It does lack a radio and bootloader but for the most part its exactly what you're asking for. I'm not sure how likely what you're actually asking for is.
063_XOBX said:
It does lack a radio and bootloader but for the most part its exactly what you're asking for. I'm not sure how likely what you're actually asking for is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I was hoping for a full backup of everything...would make it easier to return back to a stable point with a custom rom instead of going back to factory then re flashing everything...
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 2
So again I ask, is it possible? If so, how? Not if I should or shouldn't...
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 2
808phoneaddict said:
So again I ask, is it possible? If so, how? Not if I should or shouldn't...
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Omapflash
Sent from my i9250
Seriously?
Nandroid and do regular backups.............
Beamed from my Maguro.

[Q] Any way to back up a non rooted GS3?

I have an AT&T Samsung Galaxy SIII, not rooted, Jellybean updated. I was on the home screen a few days ago, randomly reset, and was stuck on samsung logo, before i send it to AT&T to get a replacement, is there any way to save my pictures that were on it? it turns on, i havent tried going to download or recovery mode as im unsure what these do besides the fact that i know one of em factory resets everything and not sure which. just wasnt sure if there was a program to use for crashed or broken gs3's only reason i think there might be a way is cause i was able to save files from a crashed external HDD using a program online, any and all help is appreciated
Try using Odin to flash a stock rootedRom (just not the LG1 stock, as it will wipe your internal sd). A factory reset in recovery won't erase your pictures, just any apps you have installed and the data (stuff like settings for those apps) associated with those apps.
mrhaley30705 said:
Try using Odin to flash a stock rootedRom (just not the LG1 stock, as it will wipe your internal sd). A factory reset in recovery won't erase your pictures, just any apps you have installed and the data (stuff like settings for those apps) associated with those apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you talking about stock recovery? because a factory reset using that erases everything on your internal sd card.
sent from my i747 with xda-premium
I don't think it does when done from recovery. If done from backup and reset in the settings menu, it will wipe your internal. But, wait for others to confirm as i don't have time to test this for you
mrhaley30705 said:
I don't think it does when done from recovery. If done from backup and reset in the settings menu, it will wipe your internal. But, wait for others to confirm as i don't have time to test this for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct it just wipes /data and not the media folders.
Thanks all, I forgot to check this before I sent it in
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

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