I just bought a Nexus 4 last night and installed CM 10 on it. I have a question about this since it doesn't have an SD card. I came from flashing ROMs on my Doubleshot for a couple of years. Whenever I do the wipe drill in CWM, everything that is on the SD card is still there on the new ROM.
Yesterday, when I rooted the Nexus and installed CM, I guess I took for granted the same would happen. Normally, I don't care, but I had a sweet picture of my cat that I wanted to keep and forgot about it. I guess I learned my lesson, but assuming I go to flash another ROM in the future, do I need to make sure to back up this virtual SD card and will it always get wiped in the process? Or was this a byproduct of the rooting procedure. I knew I should have uploaded it to Facebook or something. I just wasn't thinking about it.
I guess that was because I unlocked the boot loader. Dang
Either you unlocked your bootloader then installed the ROM(unlocking wipes everything) or in recovery you wiped /data instead of doing a factory reset
Sent from my Jelly Nexus 4
The storage is unified on this device so you have to be careful what you wipe. Best bet is to get dropbox and let it sync photos as you take them that way you will never lose them. Also invest in a good backup program, I prefer Koush's carbon backup, so that you can sync your data for your apps.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...SwxLDEwMiwiY29tLmtvdXNoaWtkdXR0YS5iYWNrdXAiXQ..
Hi, yes, i believe I did format /data as well as a factory reset. I cannot remember exactly how. I do know that on the Doubleshot, they made a point to suggest formatting /system, /data and /cache. Is all that not necessary for a clean wipe between different roms?
Also, that backup app that was linked looks nice, but I already use Titanium pro. Does this one have any advantage?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
iceolate said:
Hi, yes, i believe I did format /data as well as a factory reset. I cannot remember exactly how. I do know that on the Doubleshot, they made a point to suggest formatting /system, /data and /cache. Is all that not necessary for a clean wipe between different roms?
Also, that backup app that was linked looks nice, but I already use Titanium pro. Does this one have any advantage?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just use factory reset option and your SD card contents will be fine.
Sent from my Nexus4™
Related
I know this is not a development thread but I must insist we have something like this in this area. I would ask a mod to keep this sticky or maybe link to it from another sticky thread. I feel it's important to all development for accurate results and debug information.
I see this all the time. People think they are fully wiping when a developer asks for it. I believe that some people still don't understand what a full wipe is because there is no such single option in ClockWorkMod Recovery. Most likely the reason for that is because Koush didn't want too many posts about "I'm stuck on Google logo" or "my phone won't boot". So here is a test you can do yourself: Backup your ROM of course, and then do a full wipe. Then don't install anything and just reboot. If you end up pass the Google logo and onto the boot loop screen, then what you think is a full wipe is incorrect. If you are stuck on the Google logo and nothing is happening however, then congratulations... you know what you're doing
For the rest of you, here are proper steps to fully wipe without leaving any trace of ROM on your phone:
wipe data/factory reset
format /system
format /boot
Now most people think that the first option is enough. That may often be the case but because the developer can drastically change the contents of the /system folder, things can get messed up if you don't format it. And guess what, that first option will not do it. Wipe data/factory reset only wipes the /data folder which contains your personal settings and all the apps you installed. The ROM is then left blank as if you just flashed it and you can start over. FYI, the format of boot partition simply wipes the boot animation and you can restore it using the advance option in recovery from ROM to another.
I've seen some zip files which do this automatically so that's fine but at least you know what needs to be done to fully wipe.
There you go. I hope this clears some things. Now lets flash some ROMs!
Thank you
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App
Sticky please!
I follow the above wipe method for my Epic Touch 4G,SGSII, with the exception of flashing Calkulins Format All.zip at the very end and i havent experienced any issues yet. Hope i didnt just jinx myself...
Simple, yet I'm sure beginners miss it. I also vote for a sticky.
Isn't the dalvik cache stored in the /data partition?
Hence, factory reset necessarily wipes dalvik but wipe dalvik only wipes the dalvik portion of the data partition?
Sent from my Sammy Nexus 4G using XDA App
all we need is a zip that does all of that and were good!!
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App
no need to wipe when restoring?
Or use amonRA. Best recovery yet.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
donsh00tmesanta said:
no need to wipe when restoring?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, restoring will format each partition before it restores it.
+1 for sticky
This is one reason I like the cwm mods...all the wipe options are in one place
kdepro said:
Isn't the dalvik cache stored in the /data partition?
Hence, factory reset necessarily wipes dalvik but wipe dalvik only wipes the dalvik portion of the data partition?
Sent from my Sammy Nexus 4G using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. Forgot that its the case. Op edited. Only 3 steps now.
Hi I really like your thread!
Can I post a similar thread on the Vibrant forum? I'll give you credit!
Sent from my Surround.
Does anyone know the edify syntax off the top of their head to properly accomplish this? most of my attempts haven't seemed to work. would they all be formatted EMMC, even SDcard and system?
Or switch to a better recovery.
http://rzdroid.com/ftp/recovery/gingerbread/2.1.4/RZR-2.1.4-download.html
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
VeryCoolAlan said:
Hi I really like your thread!
Can I post a similar thread on the Vibrant forum? I'll give you credit!
Sent from my Surround.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem go ahead. The more people know the better.
pfer10 said:
Or switch to a better recovery.
http://rzdroid.com/ftp/recovery/gingerbread/2.1.4/RZR-2.1.4-download.html
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I prefer kush's recovery. And this is a feature as far as I'm concerned. I usually don't do system format but when doing beta or alfa testing this is a must.
really2 good post man.. i've flash rom with full wipe as u said.. thanks a lot dude..
oICSv43 - *Matri1x* v13.0
Thanks. I never realized i should format the /boot. I have never done that.
Evo_Shift said:
Thanks. I never realized i should format the /boot. I have never done that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well technically you shouldn't have to but this thread is about a full wipe so to wipe any traces you need to wipe it.
I loved TWRP recovery, but then I did a factory reset. TWRP completely wiped my phone beyond what was needed and no I did not do a custom reset but the default one. I have a nexus 4 and the reset wiped all my data. Music, photos(even the nandroid backup that TWRP created!) CMW does NOT clean the internal data such as music and other folder, it leaves them. Why TWRP wipes it all is beyond me. Thank you for this great custom recovery however I lost a lot of data that cannot be ever replaced and lost hours and hours of time restoring everything since Titanium backups were deleted. This should not have happened. Have others experienced the same?
You probably selected internal memory by accident, I dont recognize the problem.
21plays said:
I loved TWRP recovery, but then I did a factory reset. TWRP completely wiped my phone beyond what was needed and no I did not do a custom reset but the default one. I have a nexus 4 and the reset wiped all my data. Music, photos(even the nandroid backup that TWRP created!) CMW does NOT clean the internal data such as music and other folder, it leaves them. Why TWRP wipes it all is beyond me. Thank you for this great custom recovery however I lost a lot of data that cannot be ever replaced and lost hours and hours of time restoring everything since Titanium backups were deleted. This should not have happened. Have others experienced the same?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Choose "advanced wipe" then exactly which partition to wipe
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
MasterLinuxer said:
Choose "advanced wipe" then exactly which partition to wipe
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, I checked out their site and here is why I shouldn't have to do that. When reading this http://teamw.in/whattowipe Notice the quoted "These options are there for convenience. For instance, if you're getting ready to sell your device, then it's a good idea to wipe everything on the device so that the new owner doesn't get your private data."
I'm just saying that the standard wipe that TWRP provides should not delete my internal mem.
21plays said:
First of all, I checked out their site and here is why I shouldn't have to do that. When reading this http://teamw.in/whattowipe Notice the quoted "These options are there for convenience. For instance, if you're getting ready to sell your device, then it's a good idea to wipe everything on the device so that the new owner doesn't get your private data."
I'm just saying that the standard wipe that TWRP provides should not delete my internal mem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do it all the time. The "standard wipe" has never wiped my internal memory. In fact, they've made it more difficult to accidentally wipe it than it used to be.
How come mine deletes
estallings15 said:
I do it all the time. The "standard wipe" has never wiped my internal memory. In fact, they've made it more difficult to accidentally wipe it than it used to be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weird! Btw, when I do a standard wipe, it even gives me a warning of deleting something and blah(dont remember) Do you get that warning too?
21plays said:
Weird! Btw, when I do a standard wipe, it even gives me a warning of deleting something and blah(dont remember) Do you get that warning too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe so. Should be a standard confirmation message.
When I factory reset via TWRP my internal storage does not get wiped.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4
Have done a factory reset three times last week through TWRP 2.6.0.0 and it always left /data/media alone. Maybe you accidentally toggled a full wipe?
Salty Wagyu said:
Have done a factory reset three times last week through TWRP 2.6.0.0 and it always left /data/media alone. Maybe you accidentally toggled a full wipe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe, but i'm sure i just used the default wipe. Either way I am using CWM touch and dont have to worry about that. Thank you all for your support)
Just wiped my phone last night to install Paranoids latest. Using latest TWRP I selected wipe, it stated that it was a factory reset and showed everything that would be touched, afterwards I booted up and restored 5 different backups all from my internal storage so it didn't wipe it lol
You sure you selected the right thing?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Well, I guess I did something wrong and it cost me big time. Maybe I will give TWRP another try, some other time, will definitely back everything to my pc or DB before I do
Thanks to all who replied
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
I have the same problem with TWRP
I did a factory reset and it deleted my backup created with TWRP as well as the ROM I was about to flash along with everything else in the "virtual SD card". Maybe I am missing something since I am new to phones without an SD card.
No, I think you either did a Format DATA (which explain what it is and force you to type "yes" to continue) or you went in advance wipe and selected the Internal Storage to wipe. Factory Reset does not delete the internal memory.
eksasol said:
No, I think you either did a Format DATA (which explain what it is and force you to type "yes" to continue) or you went in advance wipe and selected the Internal Storage to wipe. Factory Reset does not delete the internal memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have no idea how much I love you and how stupid I feel right now. For some reason I wasn't seeing the swipe to factory reset and you made me realize that. Thanks for helping a noob.
I accidentally formatted my internal storage a before using Advance Wipe, I think they made it too easy to accidentally check the Internal Storage box. It usually goes something like this: F#$%@#$^@$#%^#$%@#%@#%!!!!!!
I also have wiped my entire phone, how on earth do i get it back online to install OS again?
CWM is better i think.
21plays said:
I loved TWRP recovery, but then I did a factory reset. TWRP completely wiped my phone beyond what was needed and no I did not do a custom reset but the default one. I have a nexus 4 and the reset wiped all my data. Music, photos(even the nandroid backup that TWRP created!) CMW does NOT clean the internal data such as music and other folder, it leaves them. Why TWRP wipes it all is beyond me. Thank you for this great custom recovery however I lost a lot of data that cannot be ever replaced and lost hours and hours of time restoring everything since Titanium backups were deleted. This should not have happened. Have others experienced the same?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah Man Happened to me too just now. Cryiing. Literally crying all my media gone awayyy.
I liked twrp more but now
I think cwm is better than twrp because of this format it did to me.
Cwm was good but it has not been updated for quite some time" while twrp continues to improve imho.
Well even i prefer cwm or philz from cm11 but people still love twrp.
Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk
Found a good deal and now thinking of getting a used nexus4. What are the things that I should be looking out for?
Is there any chance that the previous user installed malware and can a factory reset, /system format remove it?
Sent from Dog.
I dont believe a factory reset will touch the system partition. If I were you I would flash the factory images before you start using the phone. That'll clean pretty much everything off the phone, and give you a clean slate to work with.
Sent using xda-developers app
Is it the same if I flash other ROMs instead of factory images to start with a clean slate?
Can I also use tibu to transfer my previous phone user apps settings?
Sent from Dog.
ahse0w said:
Is it the same if I flash other ROMs instead of factory images to start with a clean slate?
Can I also use tibu to transfer my previous phone user apps settings?
Sent from Dog.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just format system partition before flashing
Swyped from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4
ahse0w said:
Is it the same if I flash other ROMs instead of factory images to start with a clean slate?
Can I also use tibu to transfer my previous phone user apps settings?
Sent from Dog.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would do the factory image just because it overwrites some partitions that flashing a ROM will not.
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
This will also make sure that you have the most up to date bootloader and radio. If the previous owner was just flashing ROMs to keep up to date then the phone may not have had those updated.
TiBu should be fine for user apps, but I would avoid restoring system settings. Especially if you're coming from a different phone/running a different version of Android.
I had never really thought about people installing malware on phones and then selling them... Wiping out /system and /data would certainly take care of any potential threats, although if you're installing a custom ROM, that will happen anyway and you shouldn't have to worry about it.
Titanium works great for most apps and their data, and as others said, try to stay away from restoring system data.
Maybe it's not purposely installing malware but who knows what they did with the phone. They could have installed it when pirating some app. So I think it's best to give it a clean start.
Sent from Dog.
So, i was curious about Paranoid Android. So i decided to give it a try on my N7.
I started with an already unlocked, but otherwise stock N7, 2012, Running the stock KitKat ROM.
I installed TWRP, used an auto-root method which booted an image via fastboot, and rooted. Then I booted back into KitKat, and installed Titanium Backup Pro to back up a few apps I didnt want to lose in the flash.
Then, i booted back to TWRP, and ran a system backup, so I could restore if needed.
Once the backup was done, I installed Paranoid 4.2 beta4, from their paranoidandroid.ca, and gapps from goo.im.
Booted paranoid android well enough, but man, it was sluggish. Really sluggish. It was painful to get my google aco**** logged in and then setup my email accounts. Thats about as far as I got before I decided that this was just not usable, and decided to drop back to my stock rooted backup.
Now, through all of this, I dont have a ton of storage space avaialble. The backup took up 4gb, and its only a 16gb tablet. I had a few hundred mb available after the backup, and install of paranoid.
After restoring my backup, things were still pretty darn slow. I cleaned up a decent amount of space, i have about 1.5gb available now. Its improved, but still sluggish. I'm not ready to delete the twrp backup yet, as i may try paranoid again, or maybe another rom, but I want to get tot he bottom of this speed problem first.
Does android depend on free /sdcard disk space in order to function well? Knowing what I know about linux this seems strange. Or is it that I should have wiped cache/dalvik when I restored my backup? I did wipe both, and /data when I did paranoid.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
gangrif said:
So, i was curious about Paranoid Android. So i decided to give it a try on my N7.
I started with an already unlocked, but otherwise stock N7, 2012, Running the stock KitKat ROM.
I installed TWRP, used an auto-root method which booted an image via fastboot, and rooted. Then I booted back into KitKat, and installed Titanium Backup Pro to back up a few apps I didnt want to lose in the flash.
Then, i booted back to TWRP, and ran a system backup, so I could restore if needed.
Once the backup was done, I installed Paranoid 4.2 beta4, from their paranoidandroid.ca, and gapps from goo.im.
Booted paranoid android well enough, but man, it was sluggish. Really sluggish. It was painful to get my google aco**** logged in and then setup my email accounts. Thats about as far as I got before I decided that this was just not usable, and decided to drop back to my stock rooted backup.
Now, through all of this, I dont have a ton of storage space avaialble. The backup took up 4gb, and its only a 16gb tablet. I had a few hundred mb available after the backup, and install of paranoid.
After restoring my backup, things were still pretty darn slow. I cleaned up a decent amount of space, i have about 1.5gb available now. Its improved, but still sluggish. I'm not ready to delete the twrp backup yet, as i may try paranoid again, or maybe another rom, but I want to get tot he bottom of this speed problem first.
Does android depend on free /sdcard disk space in order to function well? Knowing what I know about linux this seems strange. Or is it that I should have wiped cache/dalvik when I restored my backup? I did wipe both, and /data when I did paranoid.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I gave cache and dalvik a wipe, and rebooted. What little performance gains I thought I got earlier from cleaning up the storage, are now gone. Its just as slow as it was again. Sigh. What have I done to my tablet?
Have you tried to do a full wipe of the device and factory reset?? (wipe internal storage included) I've found that this helps greatly with speed and stability on allof my devices. It is a hassle though.....
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Mojar7070 said:
Have you tried to do a full wipe of the device and factory reset?? (wipe internal storage included) I've found that this helps greatly with speed and stability on allof my devices. It is a hassle though.....
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't gone this far yet, because of the hassle. I may do this and see what happens.
Backed up my stuff, reinstalled paranoid, and did a full wipe.
So far, so good, appears to be much faster.
gangrif said:
Backed up my stuff, reinstalled paranoid, and did a full wipe.
So far, so good, appears to be much faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds good bro. Good to hear.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Yep. Still not sure why wiping my personal data did the trick, I did wipe all of the app and cache data the first time around...
Oh well, if it works it works, dont complain right? Thanks for the suggestion!
Hi. Just got the 60P. I was wondering if I have to backup my files everytime I need to hard reset the phone. I have the 64GB version and it would be a pain. Thanks.
I'm assuming you're talking about the internal storage and that by resetting you mean restore to factory default via settings. Then yes, you'll have to back up your files to a separate location before you reset. The internal storage gets wiped when you do so. You'll also get a warning stating that stuff like photos, videos and apps etc. get wiped.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
This comes as a surprise, really. No sense to bother to test roms then. What a pain.
Well, lets clarify this. When I had my gnex with only the internal storage, and would wipe in between roms, I wouldn't loss the files and roms I had downloaded. But would lose everything else like in a normal factory reset. Not sure how or why. Hopefully someone else can chime in. I mean cause what would be the point of creating nandroid backups if they just get deleted every time you wipe and flash a new rom.
Exactly. I had a previous nexus (nexus 3 maybe) and it kept my files.
Yeah so we need some clarification. Cause I'd like to flash some roms to but not if everything just gets deleted, including my roms and backups.
Okay so figured it out. When in twrp and wiping data, just make sure internal storage is not ticked. Then all your backups, roms, and whatever else will remain.
A factory reset will not touch your SD card. If you go in advance wipe in twrp you have the option to check internal storage but it isn't checked by default. If you check this it will wipe everything but there is no need to do this to clean flash ROMs.
tu3218 said:
Okay so figured it out. When in twrp and wiping data, just make sure internal storage is not ticked. Then all your backups, roms, and whatever else will remain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
murphyjasonc said:
A factory reset will not touch your SD card. If you go in advance wipe in twrp you have the option to check internal storage but it isn't checked by default. If you check this it will wipe everything but there is no need to do this to clean flash ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. TWRP leaves /sdcard untouched when you do a Factory Reset. /sdcard is where all of your pics, video, downloaded files reside. This is stated on the TWRP screen above where you swipe to perform a Factory Reset.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
Root and twrp it is then! Thanks guys!
Yes In TWRP you have Safe External SD card + Only Device Memory Reset