[Q] Phone reinitialized ITSELF, internal memory 100% full, need backup - AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note II

Ok, so last night before my wife went to bed she plugged in her phone after it ran out of battery. I was still awake at least a half hour later and noticed the phone boot up. When some time had passed and I noticed the screen was still on, I looked over and noticed that it had booted into the initialization process - like she had just purchased the phone.
So I'm panicking because she has loads of photos on there and I need to save them if possible. The weird part is - and I'm sure this is why this happened - the memory is completely full (I think). Under "Storage" settings it says "Not enough storage space" and under that it shows "Total Space: 10.97GB" and then "Applications: 186GB". So the bar at the top just shows a fraction of green which is applications and nothing else. The rest of the categories it should be showing pop up and disappear every time I re-enter Storage (downloads, pictures, videos, etc) but they are not shown on the top bar.
This phone is NOT rooted. Because it was her phone, I did little to it beyond install a file manager to copy pictures to an external memory card (which rarely worked well.) This file manager is gone and so is every downloaded program.
When I plug the phone into the computer, I have two options: Connect as Camera and Connect as Media Device. When I open explorer it shows a folder "Phone" and says "0 bytes free of 10.8GB." The media device option does the same thing.
I have enabled the USB debugging device option which says that "debugging mode launches when USB is connected" but that changes nothing - I still connect as camera or media device and I still say the same thing.
The only "solutions" I am finding are to download some ****ty spyware invested program to recover files.
At this point, I only want to salvage whatever pictures I can. Nothing else. I am afraid that if I download anything to the phone it is going to start overwriting the "lost" data but maybe not because the phone is still aware it's there. I can't clear up any space either from the phone because the only thing it shows is on it is stock apps. After copying the pictures to a computer I will format it and she can start fresh.
PLEASE give advice on how to simply access the internal storage to copy pictures to my computer. As I've explained I'm kind of at a brick wall, so I need an obvious solution if there is one. Thanks!

Please help. I have tried everything. I can't even download a File Manager because it says "insufficient space." Because it reinitialized, I *only* have the default apps. There are NOTHING I can delete.
So while the phone is full, the OS is in a fresh state with no possibility to download a program to find pictures and transfer to SD card.
Anyone?

If the phone is in fresh state then you should have a gallery application to check to see if you have any photos on the internal memory.
If your photos were on the SD card get a sdcard reader from a store and plug it directly into your pc.
Sent from my SGH-I317 using xda premium

Related

Some applications and files disappear from SD card after SAFELY removal in Windows 7

Good afternoon, dear xda-developers forum members.
I really hope to find some help here.
In last two months I had the following issues:
1. This one happened two times already: after using my phone as a flash in windows 7 and "safely removal" of it, all my applications which were installed on SD card were saying that "Application is no longer installed" when I tried to run it, although other documents and files were readable from ASTRO File Manager, i.e. SD card was mounted. In Settings->Applications all these applications had black icons with SD card image on it and rather with package name than regular application name(for example com.navitel instead of regular Navitel, etc.). I've restored all these applications from Titanium Backup, but I'm afraid that there is something more disappeared also which I don't know about.
2. My "Android" folder on sd card became a file with weird contents(this folder was used for NFS Shift data only). I couldn't restore it. Again: if this folder corrupted, then there is definitely something else also corrupted.
After I saw these things for the first time, I used Windows checkdisk with auto-fix errors. It found a lot of files and put it into "FOUND.000" directory. I recognized in these files few apk-files of installed applications from SD and also few images from my SD. Then I restored applications to SD card and for some time it seemed ok. But one time it happened again.
My assumption is that Android fails to re-mount SD card after I disconnect it from PC.
I don't know what to do... is it Android bug or is it Desire bug or what? I swear that I ALWAYS make "safe USB removal" in Windows before disconnect the USB-cable and I ALWAYS wait for the message "It's now safe to disconnect your device".
I'm very disappointed with all that Please, advise me something useful...
P.S.: If needed I can give you any debug information you want, I'm a programmer, so I've been around
You could try to format your SD card, just backup the contents first, see if that works. As for Android, it does a pretty good job of mounting straight after. What version of Android are you running?
GoogleJelly said:
You could try to format your SD card, just backup the contents first, see if that works. As for Android, it does a pretty good job of mounting straight after.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will, but strange that it happened, because I formatted the flash before using it for the first time...
I have two assumptions:
Maybe I shouldn't press power button to switch the screen off just after disconnecting USB cable from PC. I was doing that as a habit, because every time you disconnect your phone from PC, the screen turns on.
Maybe I shouldn't try to run application which is installed on SD just after disconnecting phone from PC. Maybe I should have waited for a minute. I've tried to do it once, because I wanted to see the result as soon as possible, so the phone said that "Application is no longer installed", I though that Android haven't mount SD yet and tried later. It worked. But next time when I used USB cable, all SD-card apps became uninstalled.
GoogleJelly said:
What version of Android are you running?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry, forgot to mention. I'm using HTC Desire with Android 2.2(2.10.405.2).
Fast Boot option may be the culprit
In case anyone checks this old thread...
CUT TO THE SOLUTION BELOW -- SEARCH FOR ////
Some (not all) of my apps moved to SD (all by Titanium Backup Pro) have begun to disappear and (sometimes) reappear without warning after I began to add and delete large Virtual Machines created in QEMU from my 16GB SanDisc class 10 microSD card on my HTC Droid Incredible running rooted stock Verizon Android Froyo 2.2.3. I know this thread is far from my phone's "home base", but from what I can tell this problem with disappearing apps located on an sdcard is NOT determined by hardware or even Android version.
I also happen to use LauncherPro by Federico Carnales instead of the built-in HTC Sense launcher. I noted elsewhere on XDA that a user had suggested that because at least some (maybe all) launchers start before the SD Card that this may be a problem, especially if changes are made to the sdcard that the launcher did not perform, or was not active during their performance by other apps such as Titanium Backup. That fits my situation, because I unmounted the SD, physically removed it to a PC, and added/deleted large VM files to save (lots) of time. No problems of this sort before I did this, so there must be some connection.
I noted that other users have tried reformatting SD, substituting different brands of SD, using newer/older SD etc. None of these reliably helped. So I skipped these options.
//// The (simple!) solution I tried that SEEMS to work (only time will tell!) is buried in the main Android Settings (accessed from the Menu button while in Home screen). Under "Applications" there is a setting "Fast Boot" that I checked long ago and forgot about (it seemed like a good thing to do at the time). The text warns "Turn off to use some Market apps" (that shows the age of my 2-yr old used phone and Android OS -- ohmygosh!-- because it refers to Market rather than Google Play Store!) Anyway, I unchecked the option and rebooted the phone.
Yes, it took a bit longer to boot (maybe a whole minute!), but after waiting about another minute ALL my home screen apps had normal icons and loaded properly. Titanium Backup Pro batch scenarios confirmed there were no apps in a forced uninstalled state (i.e. I had not done the deed, the system somehow had done it or at least rendered the apps "invisible" to Titanium, which decided they needed reinstallation).
The only odd behaviour was that auto brightness was turned off after I unchecked Fast Boot and rebooted. Going into Android Settings > Display and rechecking "auto brightness" took care of that. No other oddities or strange behaviours thus far (but it has only been about an hour).
I will report back here on this thread only (Samsung Fascinate > Fascinate Q&A > What just happend? apps on sdcard) if anything else requires reporting. Silence implies success!
link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1873670
(I am copying this post to other relevant threads, but will not post anything further elsewhere -- only there. This is a bit arbitrary (although this thread appears to be the most recent active one on this topic), but I hope this approach pleases the XDA sysops/admins) :angel:

[Q] cant copy files to the phone from pc

i have, on sprint, the galaxy s3, NOT the i900 or whatever that means. mine says model number SPH-L710
i have it rooted with the phantom rom installed, with superuser permissions. however, not sure what happened
but for some reason, i can no longer transfer files, any files, from my pc to the phone. this includes pictures,
music, documents--anything. the files are my personal files and music i ripped, and never had a problem
copying before, and all this just started. unless im hooking it up wrong, which i doubt--using the usb cable from
pc port to the phone directly. it does show the charge icon, and in the usb settings, usb debugging is checked
and also checked on media device (mtp). another option which isn't checked is camera (ptp), unchecked.
what happens when i try is, on the pc i get a box that pops up and says--do you
want to copy (file name), your device might not be able to play or view the file. i do have 2 options, to skip or copy
anyway. well when i click copy, it goes through the motions, but its not on the phone. no matter what file i try, a
pic, small wav file, etc....just will not copy and no
where one the phone is the file. another issue that seems to be going on is, the best way i can
explain it is--when the phone is hooked up to the pc, is it possible for whatever it is thats running to make the
phone able to receive copied files, go to sleep? because another error message i get when trying to copy is
it sits there for awhile, then eventually says "device not responding, disconnected" and on the phone itself its
on the main home screen like i wasn't doing nothing.
ive rebooted the phone several times, same results--nothing wil copy to the phone....
sooo, what am i missing?
update--- since that post, something else now happened. the phone flashed on, saying "sd card not mounted"
when it is. it is in the right way and all that, but when i go into settings/storage...at the very bottom it says
sd card, insert sd card
lol...so what the heck is that all about? the card is definatelly in there, and astro file manager shows some
files on the card but........
Well, it could be a couple of things.
First of all, make sure you have the Samsung USB drivers installed. It could be a corrupt driver, but probably not. It won't hurt to reinstall it, anyway, just to be sure. Here's link:
http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/c...nt_L710_GSIII_Samsung_USB_Driver_v1_4_6_0.exe
Make sure your phone is not locked when you're trying to transfer files. If you have a PIN or a PATTERN lock enabled and it locks, it will disable the MTP application from trasferring files.
Try reflashing the ROM as well. Maybe the MPT application got corrupted somehow?
As a last resort, you can restore your phone to stock unrooted status and see if that resolves the issue.
I had the same thing happen to me. I fixed the problem by going into device manager and clicking on to mtp and updating it..
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
I had the same thing happen to my SdCard and now it is kinda dead... before yours gets damaged, remove it and insert in a PC with a sdcard reader. Run command prompt (Start>Run>cmd and enter) and do a scan disk or check disk by entering "chkdsk /x /f driverletter:" use the drive letter assigned to the sdcard then enter, let it do it's thing.
This will fix the file system and you shouldn't more problems with the sdcard not being read. As for the MTP, do as the other member said and try updating the MTP device in in device manager or uninstall the drivers and install directly from Samsung.

[Q] need help freeing up space on internal memory

I need help my sprint note 2 keeps saying sys memory is running low it show 7.4g used by misc files is there anyway to move these to my sd card without rooting because rooting looks pretty risky and complicated.
ruizjes2 said:
I need help my sprint note 2 keeps saying sys memory is running low it show 7.4g used by misc files is there anyway to move these to my sd card without rooting because rooting looks pretty risky and complicated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have used space analyzer and storage analyzer to see all the crap buried there and deleted it. These were left over form the previous flashes. Also your cache might be filling up, might want to try wipe cache+dalvik.
Glad to help as I just did this last weekend. There are threads here, but the Example for Dummies:
Get Odin and put that on your Laptop (3 minutes)
Get CF-AutoRoot and put Zip on your Laptop (3 minutes)
Load CF-AutoRoot into Odin, connect phone, click start in Oden, wait until complete (3-5 minutes)
Reboot, look at apps, you should see SuperSU, You have Root!!!
Next, get TriangleAway from Google Play (its here for free)
Then get FolderMount (free, but get paid for $1.99 for unlimited moves)
TriangleAway, this resets your phone status from "Modified" to "Normal" If your phone status is "Modified", OTA updates get messed up. In , settings, have this start on boot! (I will explain in a minute)
FolderMount open that on phone. Go to apps, it will show you all apps and their size. Press and hold. give link a name (usually the app name), destination (on the card, leave the default, normally same as source) Do this for all large programs/apps! You are limited to 3 links on the free version. Paid has unlimited! NOTE: Do not mess with device while data is moving. Let it run. Then on main screen, click pin on right, if it turns green. all done!
Next (and do not ask why, I'm not that technical) from the main screen, click the + to add a link. Manually link the DATA and FILE folder. This appears to contain most of the crap that fills up internal storage. NOTE: Do not mess with device while data is moving. Let it run. Then on main screen, click pin on right, if it turns green. all done. (These 2 will take some time to move)
Now, In settings in FolderMount: (1) click to have it launch on boot. (2) set delay for 2 minutes!! This is because, FolderMount "tricks" the system by creating links in internal storage to actual data on storage card. TriangleAway, upon boot. dismounts BOTH cards and removes SuperSU so phone boots as "Normal" first, Then when up, mounts cards and gives you back root.this can take a minute. FolderMount, upon boot, is attempting to assign these links to cards, which are not mounted yet, hence the 2 minute delay!!
I currently have 27GB on my external 64GB card, and using 4.3GB internal. Problem solved. Here are some links :to help you. Thank them!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1933542
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1494114
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2192122
Good Luck!

Not all files showing up in windows file explorer.

I am using windows 8.1 (tried on 2 different systems with same OS) and viperone rom 2.5.0 on my HTC one M8. (this is a problem i always had even on the stock rom, I thought that a custom rom might fix it but i was wrong).
When i connect my phone to my computer, it gets detected instantly.
It finds the internal sd card but also the external sd card.
HOWEVER, when i go to the internal sd card (So the memory the phone has by default) There is no Android folder. (you know, the one with the .com-facebook blabla files in it)
When i open a file explorer on my phone I can perfectly see all the files and folders on my Internal SD card. But when I use the pc to find these files, allot of them don't show up. Even some files in the ROOT of the sd card are not showing up, and these are simple .png and .log files. AS IF WINDOWS 8.1 DOES NOT DOESN'T RECOGNIZE THE FILES, and therefor decides to just not show them.
- YES i have turned on Show hidden files and folders -
Oh yeah, sometimes these folders do randomly pop up in there on the pc but then the are gone just as fast as they appeared. Also transfering files is very, very slow and gets interupted from time to time because windows "Cannot connect to device" or "Lost connection to device".
I keep wondering, why can't it be easy like an simple usb stick/drive. Those things are just plug 'n play. I recon that android should have this same option but it keeps disappointing me
I remember the good GingerBread days where you pressed the button on your phone CONNECT STORAGE TO PC. And it worked every single time, without delay or other crap. Just like CWM with its USB Storage function.
Look for a folder named "storage", in there you find the folder "emulated" and in there is the folder "0" open it and you'll see all the folders you have on your phone

Phone not connecting to my computer anymore... Need to transfer images

So my friend, having made a move to the iPhone 6+, asked me to help her move pictures, etc. from her old phone to her new phone. Unfortunately, I don't know what went wrong and her phone (t989) won't connect to the computer. The notification that it's in USB mode doesn't show, the sd cards (internal and external) aren't being read / even visible on the computer, and it's a stupid phone that I personally want to destroy.
Caveats:
She is on Gingerbread still having never updated her phone. All her pictures are on her internal SD card too. Apps are of course restricted by her OS (but it wouldn't be that hard to find old apps, just time consuming). Google Play Store crashes frequently while downloading apps. She isn't rooted (obviously, I don't blame her since she isn't interested in all that, and the only root method seems to be to use ODIN, but that would wipe her internal clean which I don't want to do.
What I've done:
I've done a hard reset on the phone (shut down, remove battery, insert battery, turn on). Not sure if the seconds matter, but it was a quick take out, put in. Maybe a few seconds, definitely not 30 more. But when the phone turned on, her time went back to 1970 or something.
I've tried to copy the DCIM of the internal onto the external, but she has like 5k pictures and using My Files, it quits the transfer randomly without an indication where it quit or why.
AirDroid, but that gave me invalid package. Could have installed manually, but didn't have that much time and didn't think about it.
Bluetooth on the mac doesn't stay connected to the phone.
My goal:
Figure out how to connect to the computer preferably over USB. I still need to transfer her whatsapp messages too but without it showing up on the computer, I'm stuck. I've downloaded Samsung drivers, I have Samsung Kies installed. I just don't know what is wrong with it.
Any ideas? I've done all this on my laptop, but I told her to come over some day to use my desktop and see if it works on there (I was using a Windows Bootcamp partition on my macbook pro). I tried to connect the phone to OSX as well, but I didn't install Kies, which might be a reason... but the USB connected notification just doesn't want to come.

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