Develop Bugs

Help with format

I have flashed a few of the different builds that have recently become available and in doing so I have had some weird happenings with my internal storage. First I had both /sdcard, and /sdcard/o where everything I had prior to flashing was in /sdcard, but now resides in /sdcard/0. I moved everything back over and all was dandy. However now I have /sdcard and in there is nothing. All my stuff is actually in mnt/shell/emulated??
I know that chadouming and the everyone else that are contributing are working hard to get a stable build of CM10.1 out to everyone, and when that happens I want to start fresh.
Now my question is how do you go about formatting your internal sdcard without screwing everything up?? Should I flash ROM, GAPPS, backup's from Nova, and Titanium then format? I just don't want to be left with a phone that won't boot for whatever reason.
typically in the past I have never done this. But contrary to some of the instructions for flashing ROMs in this forum I used too
Wipe system/factory reset
Wipe Cache
Wipe Dalvik Cache
format system, data
then flash rom then flash gapps. There is a lot I still don't understand about this stuff so any help would be appreciated.

brunswick000 said:
I have flashed a few of the different builds that have recently become available and in doing so I have had some weird happenings with my internal storage. First I had both /sdcard, and /sdcard/o where everything I had prior to flashing was in /sdcard, but now resides in /sdcard/0. I moved everything back over and all was dandy. However now I have /sdcard and in there is nothing. All my stuff is actually in mnt/shell/emulated??
I know that chadouming and the everyone else that are contributing are working hard to get a stable build of CM10.1 out to everyone, and when that happens I want to start fresh.
Now my question is how do you go about formatting your internal sdcard without screwing everything up?? Should I flash ROM, GAPPS, backup's from Nova, and Titanium then format? I just don't want to be left with a phone that won't boot for whatever reason.
typically in the past I have never done this. But contrary to some of the instructions for flashing ROMs in this forum I used too
Wipe system/factory reset
Wipe Cache
Wipe Dalvik Cache
format system, data
then flash rom then flash gapps. There is a lot I still don't understand about this stuff so any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, you didnt said that. You can't simply delete the 0 folder on sdcard. That's how thing work on android 4.2 and it's because of multi-user capabilities. put everything back in 0 folder nad it shoulbe alright. Note that it's zero and not "o"

I can't move things. I am able to select files, but it won't move them. Tried with CM file explorer and with root explorer. Won't work with either. Wouldn't be a problem if I could access them from my computer, but I can only see /sdcard when it comes up, so I can't access mnt/shell/emulated. Frustrating.
Sent from my Optimus G using xda premium

I have downloaded a program called android commander to access internal storage on my phone via pc but I can't get it to work. I can't for the life of me even get the drivers for the phone to install correctly. Grrrr. Don't want to lose this data but I cannot seem to gain access our move it.
Sent from my Optimus G using xda premium

i needed to move my backups from the 0 folder so plugged the phone on to pc and did it through windows.

gentledroid17 said:
i needed to move my backups from the 0 folder so plugged the phone on to pc and did it through windows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes this is my problem. I can only access the /sdcard portion of the internal memory through my pc. The 0 folder along with the original /sdcard folder is now located in the above mentioned directory /mnt/shell/emulated. It's very strange, and what is more frustrating ifs that I can select the files to move them through root explorer, but when I hit paste nothing happens.
Sent from my Optimus G using xda premium

brunswick000 said:
Yes this is my problem. I can only access the /sdcard portion of the internal memory through my pc. The 0 folder along with the original /sdcard folder is now located in the above mentioned directory /mnt/shell/emulated. It's very strange, and what is more frustrating ifs that I can select the files to move them through root explorer, but when I hit paste nothing happens.
Sent from my Optimus G using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i actually had to save to my desktop then back to sdcard. took a while but it worked.

gentledroid17 said:
i actually had to save to my desktop then back to sdcard. took a while but it worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be fine but I can't access that directory on my pc. Hence the problem.
Sent from my Optimus G using xda premium

how to erase securely the phone memory

Please any help on this...
I install several diferents roms, but I noted when I explore my storage, I find I have this folders:
-Sdcard0
-extSdCard ( this its my external sd card 32 gb )
everything its ok, but in my last installed rom ( MSG& Chubbs ) I noted this, in my Device memory ( Phone Memory ) named "Sdcard0" I have differents files... ok, but inside this folder I have ANOTHER folder called "0" and inside this "0" folder I have another files and a lot of them its the same names files ( alarms, android, aokp, application, autodesk, bell cache. dcim, download, etc etc etc ) ..
I try to reinstall any rom and before install the rom, I wipe cache- Dalvik Cache - Factory reset - and wipe System too...but when my phone start and I begin to work on this I see The Device memory its the same.. I have the Sdcard0 folder and inside I have the same "0" folder with a lot of same folders...
please How to clean this memory to only have one root folder? because I don't know if I erase the "0" folder or move the others folders inside the "0" folder or viceverse... maybe I brick my phone?
please any help?

With 4.2 ROMs you need to be wiping data too

xBeerdroiDx said:
With 4.2 ROMs you need to be wiping data too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
where are that option ? please...

In custom recovery. Do you use twrp or cwm?

xBeerdroiDx said:
In custom recovery. Do you use twrp or cwm?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TRWP ....

boni7010 said:
TRWP ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I remember correctly isn't the 0/emulated folder just a symlink and not actually taking up more space? Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure that's what I read a while back. If you wipe data just make sure to back your stuff up.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

Wilcox12 said:
If I remember correctly isn't the 0/emulated folder just a symlink and not actually taking up more space? Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure that's what I read a while back. If you wipe data just make sure to back your stuff up.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its take more space because its the same files an same size...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

please How to use securely TRWP to erase all the internal memory and then flash any rom witout brick my cell ?

Did you try formatting internal memory card from within settings?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

boni7010 said:
please How to use securely TRWP to erase all the internal memory and then flash any rom witout brick my cell ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're not going to brick your phone.
Just backup everything you need to your computer or sdcard. Just wipe everything, but don't wipe system or external storage and you should be fine. The worst case senario if something goes wrong afterwards is to reflash your Rom and gapps, which should be on your sdcard as well before you begin and your phone will be ok.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

Full wipe and still no space..

So I've been using paranoid android for a while and I've been wanting to go to Slim Bean rom for a while. So i flashed everything correctly blah blah performed full wipe etc. Directly after the full wipe and flashing it says i have 866 MB available.. How is that possible? I just performed a full wipe, every piece of data is gone.. No apps, music, pics, or cached data and have not even a single GB of data available?
Before switching ROMS i deleted all of my themeing data - custom lockscreen and wallpaper data and widgets. They take up a ton of space. But none of that is on my phone anymore.. Why the hell am I only being granted that tiny amount of space?

Just so we're on the same page, where does it say 866mb and what all was wiped in by our full wipe?

It says 866 MB on the storage setting in settings menu and on the internal storage menu on my computer - when i plug the phone in

I would check your nandroid backups as well as your ''0'', see if there are copies of it.

You wiped your internal SD card from recovery? Or did you just wipe data?
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium

Rawbster said:
So I've been using paranoid android for a while and I've been wanting to go to Slim Bean rom for a while. So i flashed everything correctly blah blah performed full wipe etc. Directly after the full wipe and flashing it says i have 866 MB available.. How is that possible? I just performed a full wipe, every piece of data is gone.. No apps, music, pics, or cached data and have not even a single GB of data available?
Before switching ROMS i deleted all of my themeing data - custom lockscreen and wallpaper data and widgets. They take up a ton of space. But none of that is on my phone anymore.. Why the hell am I only being granted that tiny amount of space?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In order to completely wipe the device, you need to wipe the sd card from recovery, or with a file manager.
Try this:
1. Download your favorite root file manager (My favorite is Root Browser Lite)
2. Check to see if your /sdcard folder is empty alternatively you can go to /data/media/0 to check this
3. If it is try navigating to /data/media/legacy/ this will be all of your stored files from before flashing to 4.2
Before deleting make sure you aren't deleting your clockwork folder or TWRP folder because that is likely where any nandroid backups would be located
If I have helped slap that thanks button please.

aeppacher said:
In order to completely wipe the device, you need to wipe the sd card from recovery, or with a file manager.
Try this:
1. Download your favorite root file manager (My favorite is Root Browser Lite)
2. Check to see if your /sdcard folder is empty alternatively you can go to /data/media/0 to check this
3. If it is try navigating to /data/media/legacy/ this will be all of your stored files from before flashing to 4.2
Before deleting make sure you aren't deleting your clockwork folder or TWRP folder because that is likely where any nandroid backups would be located
If I have helped slap that thanks button please.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so I deleted a few things from my 0 file because it had duplicates of existing files in it. I gained about 1 gb of extra space from that, thanks.
But now when I go redownload an app that I once had ( i.e widget locker ) it says unknown error code during application install : -24
I was searching and I think i may have deleted the widget locker that was located in my "0" folder. Is there a way around this? Can i make a new folder titled Widget Locker or something?

Try format data.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

pcshano said:
Try format data.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know how to do that but will it erase all of my data?

Rawbster said:
I know how to do that but will it erase all of my data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep it will wipe everything,
so make sure you save all your photo, documents before you format

pcshano said:
yep it will wipe everything,
so make sure you save all your photo, documents before you format
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok i'll be sure to do so. apps as well?

Rawbster said:
ok i'll be sure to do so. apps as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well if you want, make sure you save the backup on your computer
Sent from my SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

blank file??

i installed a game called contract killer 2 and when i uninstalled it, i noticed that it didn't delete the game data but when i try to delete the folder for the data, it says it deleted but i still see it and i went into that folder and i see three files that are blank, no file names at all...one of them says that it's taking up 2gb but i try to delete it and it's still there. i even tried with adb as root with no luck, does anybody know what's going on? i included a screenshot so you can see what i'm talking about. it makes no sense, LOL if anybody knows how to fix this, that would be awesome! thanks in advance for the help!

Copy your files you want (such as backups/nandroids, photos and music) on the internal storage to your computer, boot into recovery and wipe internal SD card.
In cwm: its under mounts and storage
In twrp: select wipe, then advanced wipe and wiping the internal SD card should be an option
Once you reboot copy all of your files back to the device...then reboot the device once again and everything should be back to normal...minus the unwanted file/files
Sent from my SGH-T999 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Thanks for your help! It worked!
Sent from my SCH-R530M using Tapatalk 4

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!