Hello.
I have maybe silly question, but I found, that even after "full wipe" in recovery (system, data, cache) there are still files in the phone (you can see them through TWRP file manager).
So I want to ask, what are these files for? Can they be wiped or it can brick the phone?
One reason why I'm asking is, that after install of Phh's SU there is somewhere saved his app, which survived the wiping and clean ROM install...
If you install official ROM, it wipe everything right? (it wipe even internal storage)
Thank you
Perform format data in TWRP and all files should be gone and your phone is decrypted too.
Thanks for reply.
But it looks like formatting data only deleted internal partition. Or are these files generated automatically on next reboot? (even to recovery)
Related
I've had my nexus since December and have tried several ROMs since then--not a total noob, but there's a lot I don't know.
I've been wondering what part of the memory is left untouched by the factory wipes that I've been doing in preparation to flash a ROM? And is there any need to periodically wipe that portion of the memory to remove any remnants of ROMs or deleted apps or anything else that is potentially problem causing or just eating up memory space?
And would your answer explain this: I once did a factory wipe and then accidentally selected reboot before flashing the new ROM and the phone booted normally into the ROM I thought I had just wiped.
factory wipe (data/cache) in CWM only removes the apps, user data, and cache
it leaves /data/media alone (this is the /sdcard/ partition)
so if you hit reboot after a factory reset, it will still keep the same rom as /system is untouched unless you remove it or the rom installer script for the new rom deletes the partition.
When you wipe you clean the ROM for a new one to come. and as far as I know there's no storage to be cleaned up. When yo wipe cache and data it should be good to go.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
if you factory wipe using CWM, it will keep the data/media folder, which is all your sdcard contents. other than that the rest of the data folder (apps/settings) will get wiped.
if you wipe userdata using fastboot, either by typing in 'fastboot erase userdata' or when using the -w command when installing factory images then your sdcard will get formatted too.
Anytime you want to change Rom's just move the important files/pics/etc to a subfolder of /data/media or just copy them to your PC first. I think its good to factory reset every once in a while to clear out the remnants of uninstalled programs. Seems to speed up the phone too in my opinion.
Mounts & Storage → Format System "Not SD"
It will help with issues people mostly run into.
bOx Stash - https://www.box.com/shared/d8a46b7252c38069deb1
I'm going to install a new ROM for the first time, planning to install Wicked.
For installing a ROM, I understand you are free to do it from the internal or external storage - you just need to find the file from the recovery's file manager. No problem.
HOWEVER, instructions for this (and many ROMs I've read about) tell you to do a "full wipe" (data, cache and dalvik).
Does this mean I can't (shouldn't) install from internal storage? Or, what are the consequences of not wiping the data partition? Can it be wiped after somehow loading the ROM file?
j111 said:
I'm going to install a new ROM for the first time, planning to install Wicked.
For installing a ROM, I understand you are free to do it from the internal or external storage - you just need to find the file from the recovery's file manager. No problem.
HOWEVER, instructions for this (and many ROMs I've read about) tell you to do a "full wipe" (data, cache and dalvik).
Does this mean I can't (shouldn't) install from internal storage? Or, what are the consequences of not wiping the data partition? Can it be wiped after somehow loading the ROM file?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A "full" wipe isn't exactly a full wipe. You wipe system, data, and cache. While it's true that your internal SD card is on the /data partition, it is untouched by the wipe data function. As far as consequences to not wiping data... all sorts of problems can crop up if you don't wipe it; especially if you're moving between different ROMs (i.e. going from stock TouchWiz to an AOSP variant) or different versions of Android like 4.2.2 to 4.3, etc. If you're going from, say Wicked V9 to Wicked V10, it shouldn't be a problem to leave data intact because it's still Android 4.3. Wicked V8 to Wicked V9 would likely require a data wipe because it's going from 4.2.2 to 4.3.
lordcheeto03 said:
A "full" wipe isn't exactly a full wipe...While it's true that your internal SD card is on the /data partition, it is untouched by the wipe data function
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Click to collapse
Thanks. So the internal sdcard is not wiped by the data wipe? Is it possible to ask for the details of what the data wipe does in exact terms? Sounds like it doesn't do any formatting, so it must do a delete (rm -rf) of certain directories? Any idea which ones and which ones it leaves alone?
j111 said:
Thanks. So the internal sdcard is not wiped by the data wipe? Is it possible to ask for the details of what the data wipe does in exact terms? Sounds like it doesn't do any formatting, so it must do a delete (rm -rf) of certain directories? Any idea which ones and which ones it leaves alone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wipes the userdata partition, and others, there's like 30 different partitions. This partition is where your apps and app data is stored. It does not wipe the sdcard partition which is your internal sdcard.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727
I see. So what data is stored on the internal sdcard partition? Is this the file system that you see by default when you connect to a computer via USB (MTC)? Where pics are stored and whatnot...
j111;50555364Is this the file system that you see by default when you connect to a computer via USB (MTC)? Where pics are stored and whatnot...[/QUOTE said:
Yes.
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I might do something stupid playing with TWRP and wiping data to f2fs even if after i flash my rom its ext4 again...but now i have a problem with storage...it shows a folder without knowing whats inside called "System Data" i wipe everything except sdcard now i reflash my rom from 20GB its now 8.25GB i can't take a screenshot its sais its corrupted...any help??do i need to wipe my internal storage too??what happent?
Hello all,
Sorry for this semi-noob question. I have had many android phones and rooted all of them but this is my first Nexus device. I've unlocked my bootloader and have TWRP installed and I'm ready to install a ROM. Unfortunately I am unsure of how I can do a full wipe without wiping my internal storage too.
On every other phone I have had, I would go to advanced wipe and then wipe system, data, cache and dalvik cache but I just did that and it wiped my internal storage :/
I had to flash the stock system image through ADB because ADB sideload wasn't working. Now I'm afraid to wipe system again before trying again because I feel like it will wipe my internal storage again. How can I wipe system properly before installing a new ROM?
Thanks!
Now the interesting question here is: What is internal storage?
You seem to think it is the entire emmc, including your system, cache and data partitions but that is not how that term is used.
As far as I have been able to figure this out "Internal Storage" in Android refers to the entire /data partition which in itself again is divided into a user accessible part where your photos, videos, files are stored ( /data/media and mounted as /sdcard/0 ) and the rest of the /data partition which is used for apps you install and their data. That part is not accessible to the user unless you have root.
Now, for 99% of all wipe operations all you need to do when installing a new rom is to wipe the data partition of all user installed apps and their data, dalvik and cache - also called a 'clean install'.
Any rom installer worth a damn will format /system before installing a new rom, so wiping /system is redundant.
TWRP made this very easy: Enter the Wipe menu and swipe the button. Default is to wipe /data (without wiping /data/media), cache and Dalvik. Flash the rom - done.
berndblb said:
Now the interesting question here is: What is internal storage?
You seem to think it is the entire emmc, including your system, cache and data partitions but that is not how that term is used.
As far as I have been able to figure this out "Internal Storage" in Android refers to the entire /data partition which in itself again is divided into a user accessible part where your photos, videos, files are stored ( /data/media and mounted as /sdcard/0 ) and the rest of the /data partition which is used for apps you install and their data. That part is not accessible to the user unless you have root.
Now, for 99% of all wipe operations all you need to do when installing a new rom is to wipe the data partition of all user installed apps and their data, dalvik and cache - also called a 'clean install'.
Any rom installer worth a damn will format /system before installing a new rom, so wiping /system is redundant.
TWRP made this very easy: Enter the Wipe menu and swipe the button. Default is to wipe /data (without wiping /data/media), cache and Dalvik. Flash the rom - done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Internal Storage" as I used the term refers to just the user accessible part of the data partition where (as you said) photos, files, etc are stored. On previous versions of TWRP for phones I have had, you could wipe system, date, cache, etc and it would always leave internal storage intact. Ergo, after wiping, you could navigate to your downloads folder and find the ROM you wanted to flash. The issue I had was that I wiped "system" using TWRP and it wiped my "internal storage", meaning my downloads and photos and everything - leaving me with no ROM to flash.
You answered my question perfectly toward the end with this
Any rom installer worth a damn will format /system before installing a new rom, so wiping /system is redundant.
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Click to collapse
I come from a series of phones where this was not standard behavior for ROM installers, so failing to wipe system would lead to a dirty flash and almost assuredly cause issues. Thanks for the input, I will just do a data wipe from now on.
You shouldn't count on roms wiping system automatically.
A well established rom like pure Nexus for instance does not wipe system at flashing, leaving it up to the user to clean or dirty flash.
Always read and follow the installation instructions that come with the rom and you should have little problems. If there aren't any instructions, stay away from the rom is my advice, especially of you are a new user.
As to your question: go to the wipe menu in twrp. Then do an advanced wipe. Check every box except internal storage and wipe. Then proceed to flash your rom.
peltus said:
You shouldn't count on roms wiping system automatically.
A well established rom like pure Nexus for instance does not wipe system at flashing, leaving it up to the user to clean or dirty flash.
Always read and follow the installation instructions that come with the rom and you should have little problems. If there aren't any instructions, stay away from the rom is my advice, especially of you are a new user.
As to your question: go to the wipe menu in twrp. Then do an advanced wipe. Check every box except internal storage and wipe. Then proceed to flash your rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'm not a new user by any stretch, just new to the Nexus 5x.
As to your question: go to the wipe menu in twrp. Then do an advanced wipe. Check every box except internal storage and wipe. Then proceed to flash your rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is exactly what I did when it wiped the ROM file (and all photos/sms backups) from my internal storage. That's how I have always wiped before flashing a new ROM in TWRP and this is the first time it ever wiped my internal storage, hence my question. I think I'll just stick to ROM installers that perform a system wipe. I plan on running the odex stock based ROM I just installed for a while anyway.
The_mamba said:
Thanks, I'm not a new user by any stretch, just new to the Nexus 5x.
This is exactly what I did when it wiped the ROM file (and all photos/sms backups) from my internal storage. That's how I have always wiped before flashing a new ROM in TWRP and this is the first time it ever wiped my internal storage, hence my question. I think I'll just stick to ROM installers that perform a system wipe. I plan on running the odex stock based ROM I just installed for a while anyway.
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Click to collapse
Sorry for assuming you're a newby. Last time i wiped that way in twrp (June 2016) it left my SD card alone. Maybe you checked the wrong box?
peltus said:
Sorry for assuming you're a newby. Last time i wiped that way in twrp (June 2016) it left my SD card alone. Maybe you checked the wrong box?
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Click to collapse
No worries, I appreciate the help either way. I suppose it's possible I checked the wrong box but I am very diligent about that because I have REALLY screwed myself over with that in the past. I accidentally wiped internal storage once or twice on my HTC One and had to RUU back to stock, losing everything including root. Luckily recovery is quicker and easier on the 5x (and the phone is brand new so it had no pictures on it).
I'm afraid to try it again even with a nandroid since the recovery files or stored on internal storage so wiping that would leave me SOL too. Like I said, I'll probably just ride on this ROM until the Nougat or so and then make a full cloud backup before trying a full wipe again.
Wiping system did not erase your files. /system is read only, so you nor your apps can store anything there.
I respectfully disagree with @peltus. In those parts of XDA where I "grew up" a dirty flash is a rom flash without wiping data. And I would be grateful for a link to a rom where the installation script does not involve formatting or wiping /system.
I could be wrong but I believe TWRP's wipe of data is without data/media.
Internal Storage wipes the entire data partition.
One if these days with more time I'll give it a try
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
BONUS: What is a data/media device?
https://twrp.me/faq/datamedia.html
The relevant part:
Since /data/media is part of /data, we pretty much never actually format the data partition. Formatting data, of course, also removes the media folder that contains the internal sdcard. When you choose a factory reset [or wipe data], instead of formatting, we use rm -rf commands to remove all the folders except for the media folder so that we can remove all of your apps and settings while leaving your "sdcard" intact. In TWRP we also have a wipe internal storage option that rm -rf's the media folder and a "Format Data" option that formats to recreate the entire file system in case something goes completely wrong or to remove device encryption.
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[ ] - added by me.
I feel like explaining this somewhat more extensively as it was not clearly documented somewhere. In the case of a totally new and different ROM (so not an upgrade to a newer version which the ROM developer stated as safe for upgrading), you should wipe the following partitions:
/system (where your ROM resides)
/data (without /data/media if you want),
/cache (probably not needed though as it does not contain a whole lot usually).
When upgrading, if deemed possible, you don't format anything, and flash the new ROM over the old one. In many ROMs, /system will usually still be erased/formatted by the flashing procedure. However, most ROMs automatically reinstall Gapps, root, F-Droid etc. through an addon.d script specifically designed for ROM upgrades, which is convenient when upgrading. When flashing a totally new ROM, erasing /system yourself is hence not strictly necessary, but to make sure the old ROM packages do not interfere with the new one through addon.d, it's best to erase it before flashing.
In TWRP, this formatting for a new ROM goes as follows:
You can simply perform a "factory reset" in TWRP (which deletes most of /data, the Dalvik cache in /data and /cache). Now your settings and apps are removed. Your user data in the internal storage is untouched, which is actually at /data/media, a.k.a. /sdcard where it is mounted too. Then format /system via advanced wipe.
For the same result, you can also just via the "advanced wipe" wipe data, Dalvik cache, cache and system.
Alternatively, choose "format data" (which then wipes /data completely, including internal storage (/data/media) as well as Dalvik cache) and wipe /cache and /system) via "advanced wipe".
For the same result, you can also just via the "advanced wipe" wipe data, Dalvik cache, cache, system and internal storage.
You can leave the other partitions (such as modem partitions, persist, preload (unless your new ROM uses it), EFS, boot (since the kernel is updated by your new ROM) and a few others). In fact, most of these you cannot even format using TWRP.
Note that a factory reset in a custom recovery is usually different from the factory reset in the stock recovery (confusing, I know): it only deletes /data (without /data/media) and cache. In the original recovery it formats /data completely (similar to the "format data" option in TWRP).
See also here and here.
BTW some people on this forum seem to think you should wipe things several times, like wiping the floors ...
Of course, that's nonsense. Flashing too: it should only be done once. These bits are digital people!