Develop Bugs

[Q] Cannot delete old backups?!

I changed from cwm to amon_RA and now I cannot delete my previous backups? Not through root explorer... Straight of SD or change owner / permissions... I'm s-off and tried mounting rw but nothing makes a difference.. any tips??
I tried
rm -rf /etc etc etc
in adb but still nothing? No idea why I cannot delete these files / folders .... nothing will let me

You can delete the files with your computer. Just go to your sd-card \clockworkmod\backup and delete the folders. That should work
Edit:
Get access with windows:
1. Open Windows Explorer, and then locate the file or folder you want to take ownership of.
2. Right-click the file or folder, click Properties, and then click the Security tab.
3. Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
4. In the Change owner to box, click the new owner
5.(Optional) To change the owner of all subcontainers and objects within the tree, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
No access with windows: You can boot a linux system (bootable cd,...) go to the terminal and change the owner with chown or chmod. Just use google to get more information about it.

PC wont let me that's why I posted... Can't edit anything - owners / permissions ... Ill try booting Linux or if not reformat my SD...
Thanks

[Q] How to copy nandroid backup?

Hi,
Is there any way to copy the nandroid backup (and blobs) to the PC without first copying everything over to the sdcard?
Apparently the /data/media is only visible in adb shell as super user and thus am not able to pull those files as normal user.
Thanks
Gaurav

Why don't you pull the whole "clockworkmod" folder located on your /sdcard/ via adb?
I have pulled it before and I think it would work just fine when pushing it back to the sdcard then restore it but honestly I did not try to push it back later and restore so try it on your own risk then report here for others to know

ahmadallica said:
Why don't you pull the whole "clockworkmod" folder located on your /sdcard/ via adb?
I have pulled it before and I think it would work just fine when pushing it back to the sdcard then restore it but honestly I did not try to push it back later and restore so try it on your own risk then report here for others to know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/data directory is not in sdcard and hence I'm failing to pull it via adb. Can adb pull directories with root only permission? What is the command for that?

What I did some time ago and even tried it now again to confirm is the following:
1- Connect my GNex to Laptop. I am running Ubuntu Linux by the way.
2- Open the Terminal and change directory to Desktop for example by typing: cd Desktop
3- Start the adb server by typing adb devices which should start the adb server and show the list of devices attached which in this case should be your GNex
4- Pull the data from GNex by typing the command: adb pull /sdcard/clockworkmod
5- The files will start being pulled to the directory you specified. In this example it is Desktop
The whole "clockworkmod" directory which is located on the sdcard of your GNex and you can access "without root" wil be pulled to your laptop.
I hope this makes it clear and it is useful to you

ahmadallica said:
What I did some time ago and even tried it now again to confirm is the following:
1- Connect my GNex to Laptop. I am running Ubuntu Linux by the way.
2- Open the Terminal and change directory to Desktop for example by typing: cd Desktop
3- Start the adb server by typing adb devices which should start the adb server and show the list of devices attached which in this case should be your GNex
4- Pull the data from GNex by typing the command: adb pull /sdcard/clockworkmod
5- The files will start being pulled to the directory you specified. In this example it is Desktop
The whole "clockworkmod" directory which is located on the sdcard of your GNex and you can access "without root" wil be pulled to your laptop.
I hope this makes it clear and it is useful to you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me explain that /sdcard/clockworkmod is not used for nandroid backup on my nexus 4. nandroid backups are stored in /data/media/clockworkmod which are only visible as a superuser and not a normal user.
So, my question is whether we can pull that directory (/data/media/clockworkmod) directly via adb instead of first copying it to /sdcard.

gauravsri said:
Let me explain that /sdcard/clockworkmod is not used for nandroid backup on my nexus 4. nandroid backups are stored in /data/media/clockworkmod which are only visible as a superuser and not a normal user.
So, my question is whether we can pull that directory (/data/media/clockworkmod) directly via adb instead of first copying it to /sdcard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That directory should not require root access.
adb pull /data/media/clockworkmod/ /clockworkmod/
A clockworkmod folder will be on your c:\ drive.
And the easiest way to push it back and keep folder integrity is to put the clockworkmod folder in an empty folder...and put it in platform tools.
adb push foldername /data/media/

It does require root access. Anyway, I figured out that if I reboot in recovery mode then adb connects as root user and I'm able to pull the files from that location.
Thanks

Jubakuba said:
That directory should not require root access.
adb pull /data/media/clockworkmod/ /clockworkmod/
A clockworkmod folder will be on your c:\ drive.
And the easiest way to push it back and keep folder integrity is to put the clockworkmod folder in an empty folder...and put it in platform tools.
adb push foldername /data/media/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot, i was looking the way to do this.

Cant Create Folder in Internal Memory '/' - rooted

I'm at bit of a loss here. Been rooting and all that for quite a long time.
Anyway, my freind has a mobile network not found error, upon investigation, it appeared he has *4999* IMEI problem. Fortuately, it appears he has EFS folder back up. I'm trying to restore it etc, but just am unable to create any folders in the internal memory of the phone, I'm rooted and on latest omnirom.
Create on your Phone Memory(Not Extrenal sd!!) a folder called "efsbackup"(without quotes)
Copy all files & folders from the EFS backup into "efsbackup" folder(The files are like in the picture)
Using root explorer, go to "efsbackup folder, select all files & folders there, and click Copy.
Still in root explorer, go to "efs" folder of your device(It is located where all main folders like data, system, etc.).
In "efs" folder, click paste. It will ask you if you want to replace your files, select replace to all files(So all your files from "efsbackup" folder will be in "efs" folder)
Now open terminal emulator
Write the following:
Code:
su
Then click enter. It will ask for super user permission, give it permissions.
Now write:
Code:
busybox chown 1001:1001 /efs/nv_data.bin
Then click enter.
Now write:
Code:
busybox chmod 06755 /efs/nv_data.bin
Then click enter.
Reboot device. Now everything should work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2389426
Please help

[SOLVED]
Just tried another program from playstore called 'Root Browser'

phrozenflame said:
[SOLVED]
Just tried another program from playstore called 'Root Browser'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok apparentely it copies the files but not the folders or i cant see the original folders and it copies them with 'folderame-copy' affix :|

[Q] .thumbdata3 file permanent removal?

Hey guys.
There has been something really annoying me lately. It's the .thumbdata3 file in /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/.thumbnail. Its always like a 200 mb + file and it just takes up wayy too much space on my internal storage. So is there anyway to permanently remove this file for good? Like somehow prevent it from forming again? By the way, i already have the latest albums app so that didn't fix the problem.
Sent from my C2004 using XDA Free mobile app

The only way I know about is deleting the folder .thumbnail and then creating an empty file named .thumbnail (this will prevent the folder being created again). However, be adivised that Album app may get laggy since it'll regenerate the thumbnails every time you open the app or use the photo widget. If you have a lot of them, your phone also may get hot and the battery will go quickly if you keep opening album app various times...
Furthermore, it's hard to know the real size of that file. Yes, it holds some space in internal memory, but it's definitely not the size shown. In my phone, for example, this file show as 870 MB, but once I delete it I get only 50-60MB of space back...

mbc07 said:
The only way I know about is deleting the folder .thumbnail and then creating an empty file named .thumbnail (this will prevent the folder being created again). However, be adivised that Album app may get laggy since it'll regenerate the thumbnails every time you open the app or use the photo widget. If you have a lot of them, your phone also may get hot and the battery will go quickly if you keep opening album app various times...
Furthermore, it's hard to know the real size of that file. Yes, it holds some space in internal memory, but it's definitely not the size shown. In my phone, for example, this file show as 870 MB, but once I delete it I get only 50-60MB of space back...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That worked for like an hour. Afterwards when i checked again, i actually found two .thumbnail3 files instead of one. They were both the same size. Any idea why?
Sent from my C2004 using XDA Free mobile app

This trick works only for folders (e.g. if you created empty .thumbdata3 file inside /DCIM/.thumbnails/ it won't work, that file will be replaced next time you open Album app). You need to remove the entire .thumbnails folder from DCIM and then create an empty .thumbnails file in DCIM. Next time it'll try to create the folder again to store the thumbdata3 files but it'll fail because a file with the same name already exist, doing nothing then...
Another way is opening a terminal (or adb shell) and running these two lines of code as root:
Code:
chown 0:0 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chmod 0440 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
That way this folder will be accessible only if Album app run with root access (which never occur)

mbc07 said:
This trick works only for folders (e.g. if you created empty .thumbdata3 file inside /DCIM/.thumbnails/ it won't work, that file will be replaced next time you open Album app). You need to remove the entire .thumbnails folder from DCIM and then create an empty .thumbnails file in DCIM. Next time it'll try to create the folder again to store the thumbdata3 files but it'll fail because a file with the same name already exist, doing nothing then...
Another way is opening a terminal (or adb shell) and running these two lines of code as root:
Code:
chown 0:0 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chmod 0440 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
That way this folder will be accessible only if Album app run with root access (which never occur)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually did both of the things you said above. And so far so good. Well done bro, you're amazing
Sent from my C2004 using XDA Free mobile app

mbc07 said:
This trick works only for folders (e.g. if you created empty .thumbdata3 file inside /DCIM/.thumbnails/ it won't work, that file will be replaced next time you open Album app). You need to remove the entire .thumbnails folder from DCIM and then create an empty .thumbnails file in DCIM. Next time it'll try to create the folder again to store the thumbdata3 files but it'll fail because a file with the same name already exist, doing nothing then...
Another way is opening a terminal (or adb shell) and running these two lines of code as root:
Code:
chown 0:0 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chmod 0440 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
That way this folder will be accessible only if Album app run with root access (which never occur)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please write full adb procedure for noobs please
I think this might be a very helpfull, since that problem exists in virtually all android 4.0+ devices and it is annoying as hell

It's simple. The first option is chown/chmod the .thumbnails folder but it may not work in all phones (however, it works fine in Xperia M). You have two ways to do that:
Using a computer:
1) Enable USB Debugging
2) Plug your USB cable (make sure you're in MTP mode)
3) Open adb shell from Terminal/Command Prompt and run the following commands:
Bash:
su
rm -r /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
mkdir /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chown 0:0 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chmod 0440 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
Using only your phone:
1) Install Terminal Emulator app if you don't have it
2) Run the same commands:
Bash:
su
rm -r /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
mkdir /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chown 0:0 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
chmod 0440 /data/media/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
If you get errors when running any of these commands, you should install busybox in your device and then try again. Also, as I said before, it may not work in all phones, and if that method failed, you can try the empty file method. In your phone, using a file manager of your preference, go inside DCIM folder and delete the entire .thumbnails folder. Then, create an empty file named .thumbnails and you're done. If this method also fails, your phone have a different filesystem layout (eg. doesn't have an emulated SD Card) and I don't know any method of archiving that in these devices.
Furthermore, be adivised that your gallery may get laggy since it'll regenerate the thumbnails every time you open the app or use a photo widget because you disabled thumbnail cache. If you have a lot of pictures, your phone also may get hot and the battery will drain faster, especially if you open your gallery frequently...

advanced question - internal and external file transfers

I have a rooted 5x nougat with twrp recovery and stock rom. When I attempt to copy my TWRP backup to my computer via MTP file transfer, I cannot. Same with my titanium backup folder. I also tried to move my TWRP backup to my DCIM folder such that I could try PTP file transfer but that didn't work either.
Indeed, i cannot even transfer files within my own phone's file directory. I'm using root Explorer. I've toggled and made the file system read-write. I tried to change file folder permissions, and that failed.
Any advice Xda family? I have the proper drives installed.
Apologies in advance if my verbiage isn't accurate technically. I'm pretty good with android but by no means an expert.
Mario

File Transfers
I'm not really sure as to why you'd have problems moving files within your phones internal storage, however I do have a solution (work around, really) to your MTP problem, as long as you have ADB working.
I also never got MTP working so I just use a file manager to check the path to the folder I want from my phone to my computer, and then use the command:
Code:
adb pull /path/to/folder/on/phone /path/to/destination/on/computer
And if I want to put something from my computer on my phone, I do the opposite command:
Code:
adb push /path/to/file/on/computer /path/to/destination/on/phone
Additionally, if you really need to move files around on your phone, you can use:
Code:
adb shell
su
mv /path/to/file /path/to/destination
Hope that helps!

Thanks. It does help and I have adb. I'll try that method. I'm not sure why I'm having that issue either.