Develop Bugs

[Q] CWM - Deleting Blob directory?

I tried to Google and couldn't find the correct answer I was looking for.
In the ClockworkMod directory, There's 2 folders: Backup and Blobs
The blobs folder has now grown to 1.33GB and contains 6233 files.
Can I clear out this folder?
I had 4 backups in the backups folder and deleted 2 older ones, to help free up 600MB.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks

No, you can't. Or your back-ups will no longer work. The blobs are most of the back-up. Storing it this way means you can make incremental back-ups rather than all of them being stand-alone. Certain back-ups will share blobs, saving you space.
It's annoying, and it would be great if you could choose the stand-alone method or the blobs-method. But you can't.
Sent from my SGH-I927 using xda app-developers app

Thanks EvilAlex,
But if I am happy with my current phone state, I could then delete them all the files in the blob folder plus the files in the "backup" folder and just create a new backup in CWM correct? [basically starting fresh]

Yes, you could do that. I did so just a few days ago. The back-ups I still had were obsolete. Still, just to be sure, I moved the back-ups to my SD card, just in case. Might be a good precaution for you, as well.

as i use CMWR backups before i use to install new ROM only (and one after successful stable phone) what i use to do is move the "gonna be" obsolete to my backup hdd in my pc and then create new backup. if everything is good and i want to backup again i do the same. so i only left with one backup in hand. the apps i backup via titanium backup, so i need the CWMR backup only for really ****ed up situations.

Evil Alex said:
Yes, you could do that. I did so just a few days ago. The back-ups I still had were obsolete. Still, just to be sure, I moved the back-ups to my SD card, just in case. Might be a good precaution for you, as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My back-ups were old and obsolete, I do not need them more.
There is a folder 'd41' inside 'blobs'(clockworkdmod/blobs/d41), I cannot delete them, even blobs folder(deleted failed).
Even from PC, it says
"Cannot delete b41:The storage is write-protected.
Remove write-protection and try again."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please help, sir.
Thanks..

CLOCKWORK recovery backup blob folder info!

Hey guy's just figured id copy and paste this article I read about recovery backups and blob folder within..
If your like me you probaly wondering what this new blob folder is and why is it consuming alit of space...so I was gonna delete it but decided not too and read first this is what I found:
ClockworkMod Recovery now deduplicates files between builds. This results in way smaller backups.
Don't delete /sdcard/clockworkmod/blobs
Overview
I've gotten a few questions about how this works, so I figured I'd make a post on it.
https://plus.google.com/103583939320326217147/posts/L5aVZe7C9vg
Basically, here's what happens:
The files being backed up are hashed (sha256, not that it matters). Then it checks for a file with the name of the hash in
/sdcard/clockworkmod/blobs
So, if the hash of the file was*c5273884b90d490134e7737b29a65405cea0f7bb786ca82c6337ceb24de6f5ed, it looks for /sdcard/clockworkmod/blobs/c5273884b90d490134e7737b29a65405cea0f7bb786ca82c6337ceb24de6f5ed
If the hash file is found, it continues on to the next file. Otherwise, it copies the file to the blobs directory with the file name being the hash.
ROMs and user data, for the most part, do not change too much between builds and backups. So, your APKs, system files, etc, are generally only stored once. This saves a ton of space. Especially between incremental backups.
Some of you may be thinking "well, how do I delete a backup?".
First, never delete the blobs directory. This would actually delete all your backups by rendering them unusable.
Simply delete the usual backup directory, and the next time you run a backup, all the unused hash files will be automatically delete (a process known as garbage collection). The recovery will show "Freeing space..." while this is happening.

Thank you for the info! I was just looking for this today as my blobs was about 4gb large
Question:
If I wanted to free up space and backup my backups to my PC, could I just move the backup folders with the entire Blobs folder and be good to go?
Thanks.

msherman123 said:
Thank you for the info! I was just looking for this today as my blobs was about 4gb large
Question:
If I wanted to free up space and backup my backups to my PC, could I just move the backup folders with the entire Blobs folder and be good to go?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah personally that's what I did to save my backups i needed in case of anything...since the new system deletes your old one when making a new backup..it cleans or so called "unused space" now....what I did is save the whole clockwork folder and placed it on my computer and save them as according to what ROM now...this new setup I don't like....I had 4 GB in my blob folder too...what a waste of space. for a new idea..I understand there method of a full proof backup system..but why change something that wasn't broke in the first place right?...

wish777 said:
Yeah personally that's what I did to save my backups i needed in case of anything...since the new system deletes your old one when making a new backup..it cleans or so called "unused space" now....what I did is save the whole clockwork folder and placed it on my computer and save them as according to what ROM now...this new setup I don't like....I had 4 GB in my blob folder too...what a waste of space. for a new idea..I understand there method of a full proof backup system..but why change something that wasn't broke in the first place right?...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure, but doesn't cwm have an option to backup to single file like it used to?
Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk 2

I'm not sure man..if you see it let me know..I'd love the old setup. This new way is horrible... Lol

wish777 said:
I'm not sure man..if you see it let me know..I'd love the old setup. This new way is horrible... Lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In theory this should be a much more efficient use of space. Im sure each backup contains a lot of files/data that is already backed up in a previous backup basically wasting space on redundant data. This is kinda like backup cubing sorta...at least the way Im thinking of it. This method saves nothing ONLY if every single backup is absolutely unique which would make your blob huge. I like the idea....but I use twrp so it doesnt affect me.

wish777 said:
I'm not sure man..if you see it let me know..I'd love the old setup. This new way is horrible... Lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have cwm installed, but check settings, I am confident you'll find an option for tar or whatever format it was before.
Have you tried twrp? I heard great things about it.
Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk 2

sonny21 said:
I don't have cwm installed, but check settings, I am confident you'll find an option for tar or whatever format it was before.
Have you tried twrp? I heard great things about it.
Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know I been flashing roms for so many years that I guess im old school. .lol I never tried twrp..I guess I should try it from alot of people giving it such postive reviews..I guess im just stuck in my ways ibshould be more openmined about recovery....lol....thank you

wish777 said:
You know I been flashing roms for so many years that I guess im old school. .lol I never tried twrp..I guess I should try it from alot of people giving it such postive reviews..I guess im just stuck in my ways ibshould be more openmined about recovery....lol....thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah no problem, usually I like to stick to what works for me as well.
Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk 2

wish777 said:
You know I been flashing roms for so many years that I guess im old school. .lol I never tried twrp..I guess I should try it from alot of people giving it such postive reviews..I guess im just stuck in my ways ibshould be more openmined about recovery....lol....thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have found that TWRP and CWM have there specific needs and functions. I usually try both when settleing on a dailu driver. Kinda odd but they handle data slightly different and bugs turn up on a install depending on one or the other. (Under controlled conditions and data that you can reference) . I have just had to accept that some things work well with TWRP and others with CWM.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

Thank you guys for the info ..

wish777 said:
Hey guy's just figured id copy and paste this article I read about recovery backups and blob folder within..
If your like me you probaly wondering what this new blob folder is and why is it consuming alit of space...so I was gonna delete it but decided not too and read first this is what I found:
ClockworkMod Recovery now deduplicates files between builds. This results in way smaller backups.
Don't delete /sdcard/clockworkmod/blobs
Overview
I've gotten a few questions about how this works, so I figured I'd make a post on it.
https://plus.google.com/103583939320326217147/posts/L5aVZe7C9vg
Basically, here's what happens:
The files being backed up are hashed (sha256, not that it matters). Then it checks for a file with the name of the hash in
/sdcard/clockworkmod/blobs
So, if the hash of the file was*c5273884b90d490134e7737b29a65405cea0f7bb786ca82c6337ceb24de6f5ed, it looks for /sdcard/clockworkmod/blobs/c5273884b90d490134e7737b29a65405cea0f7bb786ca82c6337ceb24de6f5ed
If the hash file is found, it continues on to the next file. Otherwise, it copies the file to the blobs directory with the file name being the hash.
ROMs and user data, for the most part, do not change too much between builds and backups. So, your APKs, system files, etc, are generally only stored once. This saves a ton of space. Especially between incremental backups.
Some of you may be thinking "well, how do I delete a backup?".
First, never delete the blobs directory. This would actually delete all your backups by rendering them unusable.
Simply delete the usual backup directory, and the next time you run a backup, all the unused hash files will be automatically delete (a process known as garbage collection). The recovery will show "Freeing space..." while this is happening.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what if you just want to backup your nandroids to an external hard drive. I just copied most of my nandroids from the phone to my hard drive. and deleted them from the phone.
i didn't touch the blobs folder.
So now my backups I copied to my hard drive are useless without the blobs? And on top of that, if I understand correctly, the blobs needed to make those backups functional will be automatically deleted the next time i do a backup?
this sounds horribly horribly wrong. how do i copy functional nandroids from my phone to my hard drive?

mistermojorizin said:
what if you just want to backup your nandroids to an external hard drive. I just copied most of my nandroids from the phone to my hard drive. and deleted them from the phone.
i didn't touch the blobs folder.
So now my backups I copied to my hard drive are useless without the blobs? And on top of that, if I understand correctly, the blobs needed to make those backups functional will be automatically deleted the next time i do a backup?
this sounds horribly horribly wrong. how do i copy functional nandroids from my phone to my hard drive?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good question, I made 3 backups one of the stock rom, which I stored to my mac.
The most recent back up the blobs are still on my phone, does that mash my mac backups are defunct now?
Cheers.

Great post wish777. I wondered about deleting a CWM backup when I read about the blob system, so it's great to have the garbage collection clarified.
Still, I agree with the other posts, the blob system makes moving a backup off the phone and back again unreliable. I am also old school - I ghost everything. That's why I'm using TWRP instead. I'm happier just dealing with image files that stand on their own.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Why are TWRP backups so much bigger than CWM backups?

before i went to 4.2, i was using CWM and each backup usually only took up about ~1 gb of space.
now im using TWRP since it seems to work better with 4.2 and was recommended with 4.2, and backups are almost 2gb each.
i dont have much more than i did before. and this eats up SO MUCH SPACE on the internal SD i can only leave one backup on my phone, whereas i could have 2-3 backups before.
I;m not planning to jump back to cwm because its a huge hassle to to change recoveries. but is there anything i can do to downsize it? or save to my external SD and still have it working?
Ive tried backing up to external sd with bad results before.
Thanks for any help

Did you take the blobs folder in account when looking at the size of the CWM backups? I'm sure I'm over simplifying here, but CWM takes a 'snapshot' of your system on the first backup, and then only backs up things that have changed from then on, even if you delete the first backup. It makes things quicker for sure and since it only backs up changes, the backups are smaller too as they share some data. TWRP does a full backup each time. I use TWRP, but do miss the quick backups that CWM gave me.

lordmorphous said:
Did you take the blobs folder in account when looking at the size of the CWM backups? I'm sure I'm over simplifying here, but CWM takes a 'snapshot' of your system on the first backup, and then only backs up things that have changed from then on, even if you delete the first backup. It makes things quicker for sure and since it only backs up changes, the backups are smaller too as they share some data. TWRP does a full backup each time. I use TWRP, but do miss the quick backups that CWM gave me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, you are correct! That "blobs" folder is an extremely evil and deceiving... Its HUGE. I like TWRP because it backs up everything in one shot, so I can pull back ups off my phone and save them on my computer for "just in case." Can't do that with CWR....

BAM1789 said:
Yep, you are correct! That "blobs" folder is an extremely evil and deceiving... Its HUGE. I like TWRP because it backs up everything in one shot, so I can pull back ups off my phone and save them on my computer for "just in case." Can't do that with CWR....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have the option of doing a nandroid backup the old way in CWM. You just have to change the backup format and it will backup without the blobs folder. It's how I do it.

Enable compression on TWRP. Takes a bit longer but can usually decrease the size around 30% or so.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

CWM Weird Space Issue

Hello,
So I connected my Note 2 to my pc, and noticed that there was a lot of space being taken up by Titanium Backup, so I cut/pasted the files somewhere else, but my computer did not show that any space had been freed up. So then I navigated to the CWM folder, and cut and paste the only backup I have from the phone to my pc, and now on my computer shows it taking up 0 space. But when I look at the folder in the phone itself, it says CWM is taking up 3.15gb. Any help is much appreciated. I've already changed the destination of Titanium back up to my SD card. Below is a link to the screen shot of the space CWM is taking up on my phone.
http://db.tt/0Vc78M8T

Are you taking the entire cwm folder or just the backup folder? Because the is a folder labeled blobs inside the cwm fold er. That's where all the space is taken up.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

Weird, when I right click the whole cwm folder, it says it's taking up no space. Do you know for a way for the backup to go to my sd card instead of the phone drive?

inyrules said:
Weird, when I right click the whole cwm folder, it says it's taking up no space. Do you know for a way for the backup to go to my sd card instead of the phone drive?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure under the backup section on cwm there is an option for external. I would check but I use twrp
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

kintwofan said:
I'm sure under the backup section on cwm there is an option for external. I would check but I use twrp
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I'm going to flash twrp and then just delete the CWM folder all together from my phone. Thanks for your help!

I had the same exact problem and ended up uninstalling Titanium Backup and Rom Manager and now I'm using Rom Toolbox with TWRP. I was kind of attached to TB and RM (and CWM) since I've been using them for so many years, but RM got wonky and annoying, and I don't even want to talk about when I tried to upgrade to the touch version.

NOOB Q About Memory

Hi All,
Hopefully this should be a very quick question. I'm loading CM onto my phone, and this is the first ROM I've ever used. I've loaded CWM, made a backup, and I'm about ready to go and load CW on. I've noticed though that out of the 5 or so gig the phone comes with for internal memory, about 4gb is used up. Is this just the system and the back up and apps?? It seems quite a lot. Will CM fill this up further? Will I encounter any issues?
I hope thats all clear, but excuse me for being a beginner.
EDIT: This is now even more relevant now CM is flashed. I've just looked in the file viewer, and there's still all the folders etc from the old samsung, and amazonmp3 etc etc. I thought the "wipe data/factory reset" in CWM would have cleared all this.....
Many thanks for looking.

floateruk said:
Hi All,
Hopefully this should be a very quick question. I'm loading CM onto my phone, and this is the first ROM I've ever used. I've loaded CWM, made a backup, and I'm about ready to go and load CW on. I've noticed though that out of the 5 or so gig the phone comes with for internal memory, about 4gb is used up. Is this just the system and the back up and apps?? It seems quite a lot. Will CM fill this up further? Will I encounter any issues?
I hope thats all clear, but excuse me for being a beginner.
EDIT: This is now even more relevant now CM is flashed. I've just looked in the file viewer, and there's still all the folders etc from the old samsung, and amazonmp3 etc etc. I thought the "wipe data/factory reset" in CWM would have cleared all this.....
Many thanks for looking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory reset only wipes the data partition. For the first time installing a custom ROM, and especially going from stock to cm for the first time, you should wipe the system partition which can be done from cwm.
Sent from the dark side of the moon.
Want to know how to boost your devices performance and battery life? See my thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2495269

iKlutz said:
Factory reset only wipes the data partition. For the first time installing a custom ROM, and especially going from stock to cm for the first time, you should wipe the system partition which can be done from cwm.
Sent from the dark side of the moon.
Want to know how to boost your devices performance and battery life? See my thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2495269
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi again.
So I finally got round to trying to get this sorted.... and I'm failing. I've booted into CWM, rerun the "wipe/data factory reset", rerun the "wipe cache" then went into "mounts and storage" and did a format of the system partition, but it still hasn't cleared any of the data.
Am I doing something incorrectly? I didn't want to play around with it too much, in case i bork it all. Any help would be massively appreciated.
Also, I'm a bit concerned about what formatting the system partition will do. Does it just clear the rom already on there, and I can then flash Cyanogenmod back on from my sd card?
Thanks

floateruk said:
Hi again.
So I finally got round to trying to get this sorted.... and I'm failing. I've booted into CWM, rerun the "wipe/data factory reset", rerun the "wipe cache" then went into "mounts and storage" and did a format of the system partition, but it still hasn't cleared any of the data.
Am I doing something incorrectly? I didn't want to play around with it too much, in case i bork it all. Any help would be massively appreciated.
Also, I'm a bit concerned about what formatting the system partition will do. Does it just clear the rom already on there, and I can then flash Cyanogenmod back on from my sd card?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Formatting system partition wipes the currently installed rom / system apps.
How do you know that it is not wiping the data? If you do a system format and your rom still boots then it isn't working properly.
It could be a problem with the version of recovery (cwm / twrp) that you're using. It can't hurt to update it, which could be the case here.
Good luck. Let me know how it goes.
Sent from the dark side of the moon.

iKlutz said:
Formatting system partition wipes the currently installed rom / system apps.
How do you know that it is not wiping the data? If you do a system format and your rom still boots then it isn't working properly.
It could be a problem with the version of recovery (cwm / twrp) that you're using. It can't hurt to update it, which could be the case here.
Good luck. Let me know how it goes.
Sent from the dark side of the moon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for coming back so quickly!
So if you see the attached, this is what I'm looking at. The phone has 5.5gb internal memory, of which, looking at the below, I'm using about 1.5gb, BUT I only have 1gb left to use, and I get warnings about lack of memory.... So there's 3gb being used for.... I don't know.
When I first put cyanogen on, I noticed that the file structure from stock was still there (i.e. all the folder my old apps made). I expected when I put CM on that it would wipe everything, including all of those folders.

You can try an app called es file explorer, it has a feature that fully scans the contents of the internal SD card.
It should show a list of all the folders from the old stock data folders. You can multi select and delete what you want.
Another option which is more efficient, is to make a full backup of all the internal data in your PC. Then fully format the internal SD card via cwm and transfer which contents you need back from the PC such as photos and music. Asides from photos, music and other media items, most of those internal SD contents aren't needed as Android uses these folders for app data etc.
Always make back ups.
Your welcome.
Sent from the dark side of the moon.

iKlutz said:
You can try an app called es file explorer, it has a feature that fully scans the contents of the internal SD card.
It should show a list of all the folders from the old stock data folders. You can multi select and delete what you want.
Another option which is more efficient, is to make a full backup of all the internal data in your PC. Then fully format the internal SD card via cwm and transfer which contents you need back from the PC such as photos and music. Asides from photos, music and other media items, most of those internal SD contents aren't needed as Android uses these folders for app data etc.
Always make back ups.
Your welcome.
Sent from the dark side of the moon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I have got ES File explorer. I couldn't find a "scan" but I've gone through all the folder on my device and I can see the following:
/storage - 3.83gb
/mnt - 2.11gb
/sdcard - 893mb
A lot of this seems to be duplicated though.... The stuff on mnt seems to be a shortcut to whats in sdcard, and all that in storage seems to be in the other two. I don't technically think it's all duplicated, but different ways to get to the same stuff, which makes me very nervous about deleting any of it....

Just got a liitle program to give a break down. See attached.
Surely my system data shouldn't be that big?

I recommend you make a full back up in your PC and format the SD card and transfer the contents of your current SD folder back. I've done it before on different devices, I do it on first root / cm install coming from stock because of all the old obsolete data. Apps like clean master won't removing it because it's marked as important for stock users. It shouldn't be a problem.
Note:
Having different links to the data partition is normal. It's purpose is compatibility.
Sent from the dark side of the moon.
---------- Post added at 12:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:54 AM ----------
It's possible that's reserved for the system. Mine is similar. You can still use it if you convert user apps into system ones.
Sent from the dark side of the moon.

iKlutz said:
I recommend you make a full back up in your PC and format the SD card and transfer the contents of your current SD folder back. I've done it before on different devices, I do it on first root / cm install coming from stock because of all the old obsolete data. Apps like clean master won't removing it because it's marked as important for stock users. It shouldn't be a problem.
Note:
Having different links to the data partition is normal. It's purpose is compatibility.
Sent from the dark side of the moon.
---------- Post added at 12:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:54 AM ----------
It's possible that's reserved for the system. Mine is similar. You can still use it if you convert user apps into system ones.
Sent from the dark side of the moon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just found this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2083107
It's something to do with backups. I'm gonna read through that thread and see if I can find out what I can/can't delete without bricking the phone.
Massively appreciate your time and repsonses on this iKlutz. Just out of interest, did you do a backup when you installed a rom? Have you found that the backup is this big??

Use ES file explorer or other file manager with root explorer capabilities.
Go to /data/media
You should see:
0
clockworkmod
legacy
obb
In clockworkmod folder I've found a backup (2.0GB) that was made by mistake to internal sotrage, since I allways do backup in CWM Recovery to external SD.
Deleted and 2.0GB were gained.

luisbraz said:
Use ES file explorer or other file manager with root explorer capabilities.
Go to /data/media
You should see:
0
clockworkmod
legacy
obb
In clockworkmod folder I've found a backup (2.0GB) that was made by mistake to internal sotrage, since I allways do backup in CWM Recovery to external SD.
Deleted and 2.0GB were gained.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm. Data/Media is empty.... I might delete the back up from CWM. If the worst happens, I can always flash from the external SD card can't i? Do I "need" that back up of the device when it was stock?

floateruk said:
Hmmm. Data/Media is empty.... I might delete the back up from CWM. If the worst happens, I can always flash from the external SD card can't i? Do I "need" that back up of the device when it was stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do not delete.
Copy the folder(s) that you have in the "backup" to the external SD card to the "backup" folder in the "clockworkmod" folder.
Then, you can delete the backup folder located in "data/media/clockworkmod/".
I allways save the backup of the stock ROM's.
To restore in CWM recovery, simply choose "restore from external SD card". And to backup, choose "backup to external SD card", or it will backup to the internal memory.

floateruk said:
Hmmm. Data/Media is empty.... I might delete the back up from CWM. If the worst happens, I can always flash from the external SD card can't i? Do I "need" that back up of the device when it was stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you solve the issue?

luisbraz said:
Did you solve the issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No.... I don't really know what to do with it.
I've got an s3 mini with Cyanogen and CWM and the system data portion is only 54mb.
I might go into CWM and start deleting things. If I delete the backup I made of my stock phone when I first rooted and added CWM, I can't see too many issues.... I can always flash a stock ROM again can't I?

floateruk said:
No.... I don't really know what to do with it.
I've got an s3 mini with Cyanogen and CWM and the system data portion is only 54mb.
I might go into CWM and start deleting things. If I delete the backup I made of my stock phone when I first rooted and added CWM, I can't see too many issues.... I can always flash a stock ROM again can't I?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, using Odin you can flash stock ROM again.
Next time do the backups in CWM to the external SD card!