Hard Reset + Private Mode files help - Verizon Galaxy S 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Long story short. I did a hard reset on my SG5 without first saving and/or deleting any "Private Mode" data. I am not worried about restoring or recovering any of the files as they were backed up on my HD.
Is there are way to go back and delete these files from my SG5 now? Reason I'm asking is that under Storage my "Miscellaneous Files" folder has 5.65GB worth of data being taken up. There are no files larger than 121MB in the folder (total of 40-50 files; all very small). I've been trying to find a way to recovery this huge chunk of space.
Any help or am I SOL?
Thanks.
Running Stock Android 5.0 (never rooted).

dk-v1 said:
Long story short. I did a hard reset on my SG5 without first saving and/or deleting any "Private Mode" data. I am not worried about restoring or recovering any of the files as they were backed up on my HD.
Is there are way to go back and delete these files from my SG5 now? Reason I'm asking is that under Storage my "Miscellaneous Files" folder has 5.65GB worth of data being taken up. There are no files larger than 121MB in the folder (total of 40-50 files; all very small). I've been trying to find a way to recovery this huge chunk of space.
Any help or am I SOL?
Thanks.
Running Stock Android 5.0 (never rooted).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I'm not mistaken, the unseen GB of storage in the 'Miscellaneous Files' is that of the ROM and System. Someone may want to chime in if incorrect or misleading...

Related

corrupted CWM nandroid backup? repairable?

Im trying to restore a copy of my droid x system from this AM.
but as its copying the Data portion, i get into a file that it hangs on part of "casino" a .jpg, causes the whole thing to lock up and stop responding.
Anyway I can fix this backup? I have another backup but it restores the whole data section in 2 minutes...it doesnt seem to work either (((( Help!
apparently karma is not my freind this week
my backup was cut short due to lack of space on the SD card and CWM didnt notify me
kodakeos said:
Im trying to restore a copy of my droid x system from this AM.
but as its copying the Data portion, i get into a file that it hangs on part of "casino" a .jpg, causes the whole thing to lock up and stop responding.
Anyway I can fix this backup? I have another backup but it restores the whole data section in 2 minutes...it doesnt seem to work either (((( Help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have any other backups you can restore to? I would recommend taking a backup of where you are at right now, even though you obviously want to restore to an earlier point.
If all of your backups are having the same issue, you may have a corrupt SDcard or a corrupt file that is sitting in your /data partition. This is not a definite, so don't freak out, but if you see the same result with many/all backups, I would look into this.
If you can deal with wiping your /data partition... I would take a backup of your current setup, then wipe /data... Then try restoring that backup... If it works, then I would be inclined to believe that one jpeg file may be corrupt, and is causing problems for any backup that has that file in there...
This is just a speculation from the info you have provided and around 6 years of IT work....
EDIT: NEVERMIND! It looks like you posted again while I was typing up my guess, looks like I was off! LoL
yea i was basically able to salvage most of it between the system of one, with the data of another. so im about 75% back to where i was.
obviously i need to either a: keep less stuff on my SD card, or B: use my spare 2gb card for backups...
One thing you may want to try if you are running out of space from lots of Clocwork backups...
Create a folder on your PC/Mac and copy off the folders in the yyyy-mm-dd-hh-mm format and copy your backups from your SDcard onto your computer. Then you could delete them off of your sdcard. When I started making a lot of backups I was running out of room and copied some off. Then I deleted them off my sdcard. I have tested moving them back on, and restoring one that was on my PC, and didn't have any issues!
Just a thought...

URGENT: Factory Reset wiped sdcard

I have a rather urgent issue, in which a factory reset wiped my sdcard. First of all, is that normal? This is my first device with no external microsd, and my first time using TWRP. Before, I had been using various versions of Amon-Ra or CWM, and when I factory reset they never wiped the sd card. Next, whether it was normal or not, I need a way to recover my data. I had around 8 gigs in sdcard before it got wiped.
To give you more background info on what was going on, I had a rooted 4.1.2 16GB Nexus, and I decided that I wanted to try PA. I made a nandroid backup of course, and then proceeded to flash the rom. I followed the instructions on the PA thread, first doing a factory reset followed up by the actual flashing, then a wipe of cache/davlik. After I tried the rom out for a few minutes, I noticed that there weren't any redeeming features to make it worth the time-consuming switch from stock to PA, transferring all my data and setting up my settings once more.
I rebooted back into recovery and factory reset again, and then I went to restore and saw that there were no backups. Suspicious, I went to the install menu, and found my entire sdcard folder had been wiped out. What happened?
Edit: I'm currently still on the recovery, afraid to do anything in case I lose my data forever.
Was your boot loader already unlocked or did you unlock it right before you flashed the ROM?
littleemp said:
Was your boot loader already unlocked or did you unlock it right before you flashed the ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply, especially on Christmas, but I got around the issue myself. It had been unlocked for 2 months now.
I noticed that every time I booted into recovery, it would make a "0" folder and move the contents of my sdcard into that "0" folder. Then the 0 folder would go inside another 0 folder, and so on and so forth. It was a really strange issue because I was unable to restore my backup; TWRP could not find my /sdcard/TWRP/backup folder, because it did not exist! It was in sdcard/0/0/TWRP/backup. I used the built in file manager in TWRP, and moved the contents back into the proper folder. I could then restore, and now I'm feeling relieved.
However, two issues remain; the 0 folders are still there, and storage transfer speeds seem very slow.
Edit: I got rid of the 0 folders by moving my folders out of them and then deleting the 0 folders, but the size of my files seem to have been inflated. What took up 6 gigs before is now taking up 8.8gb. Lol wut? Also, when I hook it up to a computer it tells me that 12GB has been filled. So many discrepancies.
androidwkim said:
Edit: I got rid of the 0 folders by moving my folders out of them and then deleting the 0 folders, but the size of my files seem to have been inflated. What took up 6 gigs before is now taking up 8.8gb. Lol wut? Also, when I hook it up to a computer it tells me that 12GB has been filled. So many discrepancies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am having the same problem. I think everybody has that problem, because it's caused by jelly bean 4.2 and its new emulated storage.
The only way I have found to get arround it was to copy all files on the computer from the sdcard, then formating the sdcard in recouvery and moving everything back.
Only problem I am having right now is that I can't for the love of it copy my files. Stupid MTP filesystem is really buggy and extremly slow. I constantly crashes or gives me multiple erros. The one I am having at the moment is something about a parameter error.
Very annoying the stupid filesystem under 4.2.
Btw. I can't get the adb pull command to work either. When I tell it to copy system/storage/emulated/legacy (I believe thats where the sdcard is actually loccated, right?!) it doesn't copy a single file.
If anybody could help me I would be very greatfull.
xaboren said:
I am having the same problem. I think everybody has that problem, because it's caused by jelly bean 4.2 and its new emulated storage.
The only way I have found to get arround it was to copy all files on the computer from the sdcard, then formating the sdcard in recouvery and moving everything back.
Only problem I am having right now is that I can't for the love of it copy my files. Stupid MTP filesystem is really buggy and extremly slow. I constantly crashes or gives me multiple erros. The one I am having at the moment is something about a parameter error.
Very annoying the stupid filesystem under 4.2.
Btw. I can't get the adb pull command to work either. When I tell it to copy system/storage/emulated/legacy (I believe thats where the sdcard is actually loccated, right?!) it doesn't copy a single file.
If anybody could help me I would be very greatfull.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same fear, emotion and discovery a week ago when trying a new Rom thanks multi users feature .
You may try to switch from MTP mode to MSC in system setting to increase the speed.
Take care of the different tools because as example JROMFlasher will format the SD card for better cleaning. (I had backup!)
I think I read that the Factory Reset from the settings menu WILL erase everything.
Formatting with ClockworkMod, saves your sdcard files.
I also recommend unlocking asap just for laughs. Even if you don't plan on rooting or Modding... unlocking will ensure your files won't be deleted if you decide to or something happens that requires it
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app

[Q] Internal Storage Maxed Out - Rooted/Flashed

I'm having a heck of a time with the internal storage on my S4. What I have done so far: Rooted -> Flashed with Xousos v1.0 (no problem) -> Backup to SD card with CWM -> Flashed with Xousos v2.0 -> Flashed Theme Reverepats ICS (MF9) -> Flashed ComaDose = No Space
I moved all my apps to my SD card and even deleted dropbox and all documents sync to free up space. Before I do a rom flash I clear data/cache/davilik cache and format system. I know the S4's 16GB is really an 8GB - but to only have a few hundred megs left after a fresh flash and TiBackup restore of a handful of apps is not right.
I figure I must have copies of the previous installs somewhere on the internal storage, I just dont know where to look. So if anyone could point me in the right direction as to what directories I can delete or any steps to help free up some space, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance
SS attached
Check the "MISC" folder and check to see what are the folders that take up the most space. I have a feeling you are going to have a nandroid on there that is taking up about 3-4gbs
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Wipe system/and factory reset then flash ROM will fix it. Make sure the ROM and everything else you need is on your external SD first.
Sent from my Sprint Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 2
daniel4653 said:
Check the "MISC" folder and check to see what are the folders that take up the most space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^^^ that.
daniel4653 said:
Check the "MISC" folder and check to see what are the folders that take up the most space. I have a feeling you are going to have a nandroid on there that is taking up about 3-4gbs
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I apologize for the dumb question in advance, but do you know the location of that folder?
I went to storage/emulated/0 in root explorer and the file structure looks the same as the phone folder explorer but no large files - screen shot attached (largest file first)
GiantJay said:
Wipe system/and factory reset then flash ROM will fix it. Make sure the ROM and everything else you need is on your external SD first.
Sent from my Sprint Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This will be my last resort, I just did the wipe/flash and would like to try and solution the problem before I do the wipe
Get disk usage app and poke around the filesystem. It will graphically show you what folders are storing large amounts of data. It will be a lot faster using that tool with finding large files than going through each folder with a file browser app.
g420funk said:
I apologize for the dumb question in advance, but do you know the location of that folder?
I went to storage/emulated/0 in root explorer and the file structure looks the same as the phone folder explorer but no large files - screen shot attached (largest file first)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the storage screen (from your original post, where it showed the breakdown), just tap on miscellaneous and it should show you the folders that make up that 7.52GB
oscarthegrouch said:
Get disk usage app and poke around the filesystem. It will graphically show you what folders are storing large amounts of data. It will be a lot faster using that tool with finding large files than going through each folder with a file browser app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, this is a handy little app, especially with root access.
I attached a screen shot - it looks like the system data folder is dominating the space - is it possible there is still an old rom on there or possible a backup (like was mentioned earlier) and if so, how do I get to it?
jj14 said:
In the storage screen (from your original post, where it showed the breakdown), just tap on miscellaneous and it should show you the folders that make up that 7.52GB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was my last screen shot - when I tap miscellaneous the biggest folder in there is 3.69 MB - which is why I am so confused
I'd probably just make a nandroid backup, move any files from internal to external that I wanted to keep, turn off phone, remove SD card, boot phone back up, go into SD card in menu settings, format the card then go into accounts and do a full factory reset. I would think that would get rid of any unknown bloat from the internal storage. Yes you'll have to set the phone up again but it might fix your running out of space problem. A nandroid restore might throw the crap back in there. I don't know.
GiantJay said:
Wipe system/and factory reset then flash ROM will fix it. Make sure the ROM and everything else you need is on your external SD first.
Sent from my Sprint Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oscarthegrouch said:
I'd probably just make a nandroid backup, move any files from internal to external that I wanted to keep, turn off phone, remove SD card, boot phone back up, go into SD card in menu settings, format the card then go into accounts and do a full factory reset. I would think that would get rid of any unknown bloat from the internal storage. Yes you'll have to set the phone up again but it might fix your running out of space problem. A nandroid restore might throw the crap back in there. I don't know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wiping the internal sdcard did the trick. Reloading everything was not what I wanted but it did solve the problem
Thanks to everyone who helped in this thread, I appreciate it :good:
Mine started giving me the low storage space warning once the MF9 update downloaded. I had to wipe the internal sd card completely. What a PITA.
mich0020 said:
Mine started giving me the low storage space warning once the MF9 update downloaded. I had to wipe the internal sd card completely. What a PITA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that makes a lot of sense because mine did the same and the update notification wouldnt go away until I flashed the update. I guess next time I need to format the internal sd before I flash

[Q] Space not freed up after messing with .thumbnails

Heya guys,
yesterday, I found that I was in dire need of some more free space on my GT-I9505's internal storage and found that only the contents of /sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails were taking up space. After a while of trying to get rid of those files that kept creating themselves again, I followed some advice I read on an Android forum: I deleted the contents of the .thumbnail folder, went to Settings -> Apps and cleared the data of the Gallery and Media Storage apps, respectively, before rebooting the phone.
The contents did disappear for good, but neither Total Commander nor the list of installed apps in the settings nor the Storage summary in the settings showed any different amount of free space than before. To make matters worse, the number didn't even change after I found and deleted about 1 GB of files left by an already uninstalled app, i.e. it seems to be stuck on that value. At the same time, SD Maid tells me that I should have a good 5 GB of free space more than the system is showing. Neither restarting nor wiping the cache and dalvik cache helped.
My rooted GT-I9505 is running this unofficial port of AOKP 4.3, Milestone 1, and version 6.15.6 of PhilZ/CWM Advanced. I'm not sure whether there's more information I might need to provide, other than that the size of the thumbnails files apparently exploded (about 4 GB) when I moved quite a lot of data and obb folders to my external storage using FolderMount.
I didn't find any information about this kind of problem anywhere and am afraid I messed up so badly that I might need to reflash...or worse. Do you have an idea how I can try to fix it?
Aironfaar said:
Heya guys,
yesterday, I found that I was in dire need of some more free space on my GT-I9505's internal storage and found that only the contents of /sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails were taking up space. After a while of trying to get rid of those files that kept creating themselves again, I followed some advice I read on an Android forum: I deleted the contents of the .thumbnail folder, went to Settings -> Apps and cleared the data of the Gallery and Media Storage apps, respectively, before rebooting the phone.
The contents did disappear for good, but neither Total Commander nor the list of installed apps in the settings nor the Storage summary in the settings showed any different amount of free space than before. To make matters worse, the number didn't even change after I found and deleted about 1 GB of files left by an already uninstalled app, i.e. it seems to be stuck on that value. At the same time, SD Maid tells me that I should have a good 5 GB of free space more than the system is showing. Neither restarting nor wiping the cache and dalvik cache helped.
My rooted GT-I9505 is running this unofficial port of AOKP 4.3, Milestone 1, and version 6.15.6 of PhilZ/CWM Advanced. I'm not sure whether there's more information I might need to provide, other than that the size of the thumbnails files apparently exploded (about 4 GB) when I moved quite a lot of data and obb folders to my external storage using FolderMount.
I didn't find any information about this kind of problem anywhere and am afraid I messed up so badly that I might need to reflash...or worse. Do you have an idea how I can try to fix it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This will always be in the sdcard and sdcard/DCIM
Androiders96 said:
This will always be in the sdcard and sdcard/DCIM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your reply. However, the .thumbnails folder is empty since I deleted its content, cleared the data of the Gallery and Media Storage apps and rebooted as I described in my original post...so apparently, it will not always be there but still take up the space if you mess something up as I did.
Since then, the amount of free space seems to be stuck at the value from before the deletion of the .thumbnails contents, even though I deleted other, considerably large amounts of files since then as well, which should have freed up some more space. That can't be healthy for any kind of storage.
Some error in the file system, perhaps? Maybe some part of the OS keeps the space allocated but forgot what it was allocated for because I cleared the Gallery and Media Storage apps' information about it along with the data? I do not know, neither do I know how to fix it, and I'm getting increasingly worried.
Aironfaar said:
Thank you for your reply. However, the .thumbnails folder is empty since I deleted its content, cleared the data of the Gallery and Media Storage apps and rebooted as I described in my original post...so apparently, it will not always be there but still take up the space if you mess something up as I did.
Since then, the amount of free space seems to be stuck at the value from before the deletion of the .thumbnails contents, even though I deleted other, considerably large amounts of files since then as well, which should have freed up some more space. That can't be healthy for any kind of storage.
Some error in the file system, perhaps? Maybe some part of the OS keeps the space allocated but forgot what it was allocated for because I cleared the Gallery and Media Storage apps' information about it along with the data? I do not know, neither do I know how to fix it, and I'm getting increasingly worried.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, it's from the rom, every rom will appear .thumbnail
Cache images on the gallery
All will be stored in .thumbnail
I do not know how to fix this :/
Androiders96 said:
no, it's from the rom, every rom will appear .thumbnail
Cache images on the gallery
All will be stored in .thumbnail
I do not know how to fix this :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you're saying it's controlled by the rom and Media Storage and Gallery merely use system functions or the like to create and manage those thumbnail files? I see, thanks for that information.
I assume that means I'm humped. After all, I made those two apps forget that they told the rom to allocate the space, which the rom apparently still is doing...
I guess I'll try if reflashing the rom will help, but I most probably won't have the time for that for a week or two. Until then, I'd be more than happy and thankful to hear more ideas.

OP2 Internal Memory Formated... Need a recovery Option

Hello,
I was freeing up some space on my OP2 device as it was about 52GB Full of 54GB,
i deleted all not used and temp folders, i also found folder named sdcard and storage in same.
I opened them and both were empty, i deleted them as well and as i did that i got a error that it can not be deleted.
Then i just found that whole data on my cell is deleted, all the files and folders are wiped and those two as well.
Now i am asking that is their any way to recover my data, i.e all images, videos, pdf &docx files etc..
As this device can not be connected as a mass storage so that i can use any software on my pc to do so.
i have tried Disk Digger Pro version as well, but unfortunately no success.
Please guys please help me out to come out of this issue. All suggestions and solutions are welcome.
You can also share any paid add as i can buy it to recover my data, but i really need a helping solution.
Thanks in advance.
shubhamalive said:
Hello,
I was freeing up some space on my OP2 device as it was about 52GB Full of 54GB,
i deleted all not used and temp folders, i also found folder named sdcard and storage in same.
I opened them and both were empty, i deleted them as well and as i did that i got a error that it can not be deleted.
Then i just found that whole data on my cell is deleted, all the files and folders are wiped and those two as well.
Now i am asking that is their any way to recover my data, i.e all images, videos, pdf &docx files etc..
As this device can not be connected as a mass storage so that i can use any software on my pc to do so.
i have tried Disk Digger Pro version as well, but unfortunately no success.
Please guys please help me out to come out of this issue. All suggestions and solutions are welcome.
You can also share any paid add as i can buy it to recover my data, but i really need a helping solution.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's normal that all your documents, photos, messages, ets, have been deleted, as /sdcard is...your sdcard. And, well, no, I don't think there is any recovery options...
As long as your internal "sdcard" storage is not encrypted you should be able to just factory restore the phone back to full functionality. After that you should be able to connect phone as usb storage device to your PC and use standard undelete software to undelete your files, because factory restore doesn't actually format your internal storage, it only deletes the file index (FAT).
pitrus- said:
As long as your internal "sdcard" storage is not encrypted you should be able to just factory restore the phone back to full functionality. After that you should be able to connect phone as usb storage device to your PC and use standard undelete software to undelete your files, because factory restore doesn't actually format your internal storage, it only deletes the file index (FAT).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, but if he used the wipe function in TWRP, which use mkfs.ext4 (if I remember), do you think there is still a possibility for him to recover his data?
I'm not sure about it. But then again, I'd say that and testdisk/photorec is his last chance of restoring at least photos.
If this doesn't work, I'm afraid anything will work at all..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-nexus/general/guide-internal-memory-data-recovery-yes-t1994705
Sorry i guess no luck unless you see a recovery partition

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