Database Users

Access to GSM memory on HTC PDAs

Is it that hard to get read-only access to GSM processor memory? I know that in smartphones memory is shared, but in PDAs it does not (I'm specifically interesting in Magician). Is there a kind of mechanism how main CPU can access GSM memory? I now itsme was trying to re-create rsupgrade that is able to flash radio-stack: http://www.xs4all.nl/~itsme/projects/xda/xda-rsupgrade.html, but it seems that no solution were found. There is also incomplete description of the correspodning protocol http://www.xs4all.nl/~itsme/projects/xda/serial-protocols.html, but it is not clear whenever we can access normal gsm RAM this way or only flash...
Can people share with me some ideas how this issue can be solved? May be there is simple way of doing that, but I cannot see it...
P.S. If someone is interesting - I want to get an access to information about nearby cell towers like this people do: http://celltrack.spv-developers.com/?act=demo[/i]

Storage Card Memory Loss--Fault of Card or MDA?

I have the T-Mobile (USA) MDA, an HTC Wizard. In it I have a Sandisk 2GB miniSD card.
For the second time now, suddenly and inexplicably, most of the data on the card is missing. There was no operation I executed that could have deleted the data, it was suddenly gone, for no apparent reason. This happened once before?
Has this happened to others? Is it a bug in the MDA, that it sometimes deletes data from the storage card, for no reason? Are those miniSD cards inherently unstable, sometimes suddenly losing their data? Or might I have a defective card?
If the card is defective, I think I could call Sandisk, and get a new card under warranty. (If the MDA is defective, nothing I can do about it, no longer under warranty.) So, I'd like to have some idea--bad card or bad MDA?
Also, I have a USB card reader that can read miniSD cards, and have used that before to transfer data to the card from the computer. That seems to no longer work. I wonder if that is also an indication of a bad card. (Although it could also be the a failure of the card reader, or of my Windows XP installation.) Now I can only transfer data back to the card via ActiveSync.
Is there a utility, that either from the computer, or directly on the PPC, can check the disk surface of an SD card for errors, and fix them (similar to chkdsk)?
Any insight into this problem would be appreciated. Thank you.

I assume you checked the SD on a computer to verify the files were actually gone, and not just "hidden" from the MDA?
Do you have another chip you can test run? Maybe in a camera or something?

Myrddin Wyllt said:
I assume you checked the SD on a computer to verify the files were actually gone, and not just "hidden" from the MDA?
Do you have another chip you can test run? Maybe in a camera or something?
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"Hidden from the MDA" in what way? (Even when files are deleted they are not "actually gone", and can sometimes be recovered.) Do you mean turned into "hidden files"? No, that's not the case, as I have Resco Explorer set to view all hidden and system files, not to hide any files, and it didn't see the files, nor did any app. Nor did ActiveSync, when connected to the computer, Explore.
As I mentioned, my USB miniSD card reader doesn't seem to be functioning either, so I cannot look at the card directly on the computer.
I'm not sure what you mean by "test run another chip"? I do have another miniSD card, a 1GB card I had purchased first. I don't see what point would be served by "testing" that. It is not that this card is constantly deleting files. You could test this card, and it would seem to be OK. But it has happened twice already, that most (not all) of the data on the card was suddenly missing. So, there is definitely a problem, either on the card, the MDA hardware, or an app or the OS (WM5) on the MDA. But you cannot test it out by putting in another card, as one wouldn't necessarily see the same problem right away, as one also might not with this (problem) card.
Something strange happened since the original post though. Fortunately, I had a lot of the data from the storage card backed up to my PC. Via Activesync, I copied some of that back to the MDA Storage Card. After doing so, suddenly it looks like all the missing data has been restored, including a lot of data that I had not yet copied back.
What could have happened? Still wondering whether to call Sandisk and report a defective card.

undelete tools for normal harddisks work just fine on sd cards in sdcard readers

Rudegar said:
undelete tools for normal harddisks work just fine on sd cards in sdcard readers
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That isn't the question. I didn't ask how to undelete the files. And, as I said, my card reader isn't working either.
Also, as I said, I had the data backed up to HD, so really don't need to undelete.
So----what's the problem then? Obviously something's wrong if a memory card suddenly and inexplicably loses its data, now for the second time.
So I was asking--what could be causing this to happen? Has it happened to others? Is it likely a defective card? Or defective PPC?

me said:
Is it likely a defective card? Or defective PPC?
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Yes, but without an alternate means of testing either, it's a waste of time to speculate. Hence my admonishment to go find a card reader. You can run a complete format and look for bad sectors on the suspect SD chip that way...something you cannot do from the PPC to the best of my knowledge. Chances are, the boot sector (where the location of files in memory is written) on your SD chip is failing (if the chip is old, that is VERY likely, as flash memory has a limited number of rewrites that usually hits around the 2 year mark for heavy users, and if you're moving music on-and-off a lot, that's you....).
So, no, there's no way to be SURE, without getting your hands on a reader (and c'mon, they're like, $10).

So whats the deal with the 4GB internal?

My G2 with Cyanogen 6.1.1 is still only showing 1.28gb internal memory, does that mean the stock crap is still locked up somewhere? I really hate how they advertised it when it was never available in the first place

theratdude64 said:
My G2 with Cyanogen 6.1.1 is still only showing 1.28gb internal memory, does that mean the stock crap is still locked up somewhere? I really hate how they advertised it when it was never available in the first place
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This is from the HTC Vision Wiki about the memory,
The Missing 2GB
11-12-10: The following is our best understanding of the issue at-present. Scotty2 says this is "99.9%" the issue and "the only explanation that makes sense."
What Missing 2GB?
Although marketing from T-Mobile claim the phone contains 4GB of internal storage (not including the removable micro-SD card), once the phone was released, users quickly noticed that only ~2GB appears to exist.
Several theories for the "missing" flash memory storage were proposed, including a possible "shadow" installation of the operating system being hidden somewhere, as well as a possible 2GB limitation of the card when in "byte" rather than "sector" mode. Still a third theory proposed that perhaps the extra 2GB were somewhere outside the normal block device where the Android kernel's flash controller couldn't find it.
Apparently, none of these theories were correct.
So where is the missing 2GB?
To answer this, it is first necessary to understand a bit about how internal flash cards, such as the Sandisk card (also known as an "emmc") on the HTC Vision, store information.
Luckily, Sandisk has provided a helpful video. Pay particular attention to the discussion of SLC (single-level cell) and MLC (multi-level cell) in Chapter 5.
In an SLC configuration, a single bit is packed into each memory cell. In a multi-level cell, you can fit 2, 3, 4 or more bits in each cell. You get a lot of capacity with more bits per cell, but at the expense of speed and reliability.
In trying to figure out where the missing 2gb went, scotty2 noticed that most of the Sandisk card's block device (that is, the part with Android on it) had been partitioned within the regular "User Data Area" as an "Enhanced User Data Area".
Note that when we talk about partitioning the emmc, we're not talking about regular MBR partitions like /dev/whatever. An emmc partition is a very low-level partition of the flash. Each emmc partition constitutes a full block device, which can then be further partitioned into a bootloader, /system, /data, etc.
The card's datasheet wasn't too clear about what the "Enhanced User Data Area" did that was so different from the regular User Data Area, although one thing was clear-- once its parameters was set, you couldn't "un-set" it. To quote the datasheet, the Enhanced User Data Area "can be programmed only once during the device life-cycle (one-time programmable)."
But why was the entire Sandisk partitioned in this special "Enhanced" User Data area? No one knew.
Then tmzt found this. It's an article by Toshiba that suggests what's going on:
Those areas requiring better reliability are SLC or can be programmed as SLC. . . the Enhanced User Data Area, which may store, for example, system log files, are SLC. The User Data Area, which may store music, pictures, videos and other files is MLC. . . Each 1 bit configured as SLC results in 2 bits less of MLC. Theoretically an 8GB e-MMC device (densities are defined in MLC terms), could be configured virtually all as SLC and thus would be approximately 4GB. In most cases, it is more likely that the majority of the memory would be configured as MLC to support higher density.
You've probably figured out by now what's likely happened here. Assuming the Sandisk emmc works like Toshiba's, the 4GB flash has probably been, save for a few tiny partitions such as the radio, irreversibly configured to use SLC, rather than MLC. If so, the benefit is faster performance and perhaps greater stability (and more read/write cycles). But its capacity/density would be cut in half.
And that, my friends, may very well be where your 2GB has gone.
So To Conclude...
Assuming the above is a correct understanding of the issue, the following appears to be the case:
The HTC vision has a 4GB firmware card
It has been irreversibly partitioned to use a faster/more reliable configuration called SLC
This has resulted in a practical capacity/density of ~2GB
Update: Initial investigations from over a month ago reported that T-Mobile attributed this issue to "creative partitioning": ("I called into T-Mobile Android support and was assured this number is correct, and that I do have the full 4GB storage on-board... there's just some "creative partitioning" going on.") This may correlate with the explanation provided above.
Update 12/6/10: A more technical discussion of this (with pictures) is here.
heres the link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision#Rooting_the_G2

interesting

Well that is something to think about......

Physically removing internal storage from Samsung Galaxy S6?

So I've managed to soft-brick my device (see here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/sprint-galaxy-s6/help/soft-bricked-samsung-galaxy-s6-help-t3465144), and all I really care about is the data that's on it. Would it be possible to physically remove the internal storage and use it elsewhere to recover the data? What about physically replacing the OS (if this isn't a thing I apologize, I don't know all of the components of a phone and how they work)? Obviously taking the phone apart is not a problem for me, I just want to be able to access what's on it in some way, shape, or form. Even recommending a service that could remove it for me would be much appreciated. I'm also on a STEM university campus with access to lots of technology and technologically savvy people, I just don't know what I would need to request and from whom to be able to make my internal storage usable again. Thanks in advance!

nand
you will have to desolder the nand chip and used a device to read the contents.
here's a link to get you started. hardcoreforensics.com/blog/2012/01/02/arduino-mega-direct-reading-of-a-nand-flash-memory-chip/

bringrainfire said:
you will have to desolder the nand chip and used a device to read the contents.
here's a link to get you started. /
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Click to collapse
hardcoreforensics.com/blog/2012/01/02/arduino-mega-direct-reading-of-a-nand-flash-memory-chip

You can also read it while still in place. Find isp headers and pick up a jtag. You will have to do a lot of research. .

I guess I get to ask the first dumb question!

Hello all,
Used to be on here for about 10 years but now I don't have access to my old email so I'm back to being a newbie. I feel like one too since the last device I rooted was a HTC HD2. Those were the days... LOL I've been a longtime Windows guy since 6.1 and before and have followed the progress through 7, 8, 8.1 & 10 as an insider but I think it's time to start looking at Android again.
Anyway, saw this really great deal on Amazon for the Idol 5S and since I was already using an Idol 4S with Windows, I thought I'd give it a go. Especially for $211 it seemed like a pretty good deal to me. Now the first annoying thing is really why the price was so good and that's the Amazon Prime ads on the lock screen. No way to get rid of them. They've obviously rooted the phone already and taken away any developer options and that's what I was looking for when it brought me back to XDA.
My problem is that I have an SD card installed, I made sure to format it and it functions as you'd expect with one exception. When I connect to my PC via PTP (Win10 latest insider build), I see internal storage but not the SD card. If I change to MTP use for the USB, I get nothing at all just a charge. I've installed the correct drivers in Windows so I don't see why this should be an issue unless something has changed these days with you having no external access to the SD card? I was thinking of checking USB debug mode to make sure that was off but like I said, no developer options are available.
That brings me to my question (Dumb or not), anyone got any ideas? Is my new newbie status just making me blind? I guess there is no way to root this device yet until some clever dev comes up with a way but if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears. thanks in advance and have a great day! :good:

There are no dumb questions (as long as there are no sticky threads that already contain the answer ).
Are you using the SD card as an external storage or is it recognized by your phone as part of the internal storage (c.f. settings->storage)? The latter is an optional feature that got introduced with android M. Neither your phone nor your PC will distinguish between the phones internal storage and the SD card if you use this option.
You need to be aware that your SD card gets encrypted if you decide to use that feature and that only your phone is able to decrypt the data that is stored on the card. In other words if your phone dies due to whichever reason then you won't be able to recover the data on your card. In addition, the internal storage of nowadays smartphones is quite fast (in regard to its read/write speed). Most of the SD cards on the market aren't (in comparison to the internal storage's speed). This means that integrating an SD card to your internal storage slows your phone down.

Flippy498 said:
There are no dumb questions (as long as there are no sticky threads that already contain the answer ).
Are you using the SD card as an external storage or is it recognized by your phone as part of the internal storage (c.f. settings->storage)? The latter is an optional feature that got introduced with android M. Neither your phone nor your PC will distinguish between the phones internal storage and the SD card if you use this option.
You need to be aware that your SD card gets encrypted if you decide to use that feature and that only your phone is able to decrypt the data that is stored on the card. In other words if your phone dies due to whichever reason then you won't be able to recover the data on your card. In addition, the internal storage of nowadays smartphones is quite fast (in regard to its read/write speed). Most of the SD cards on the market aren't (in comparison to the internal storage's speed). This means that integrating an SD card to your internal storage slows your phone down.
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Thanks for the reply Flippy. I've tried to format the SD both ways. First as external storage and secondly as internal storage. Either way I do it, it is not showing up in Windows file explorer as expected. I see internal storage being the actual phone with no problem but no go on the SD card. It's a strange problem that I've never run across before. I've read that this may occur if USB debugging is on but since this is a pre-rooted phone by Amazon, I am unable to confirm if this is the case or not since there are no developer options or ways to get to USB debugging. They are omitted from the settings menu. I guess you get what you pay for buying from Amazon but I will hold out hope that the price and build quality will make this phone popular and some clever dev will find a way to root it so I can flash it with a new build without the limitations.
With regard to the build, it's very nice. All aluminum bezel, beautiful design. Responsive and snappy and a perfect form factor with it's size. I like it so far but I would say that I am looking forward to making it my own...
Thanks again for your response.

I need root my phone

[email protected] said:
I need root my phone
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I'm wondering if this phone will be rootable? Seems Google is making it harder with Nougat.