Database Users

Does flashing a ROM normally wipe not only system but also data and sdcard?

I just tried a ROM for the first time on my Nexus 7 (though I've used a lot on my past phones) and holy ****, coming from a non-Nexus device, I wasn't expect this, it wiped out my internal storage partition (/sdcard) as well as my data partition.
Losing the international storage partition is really painful, as that's where all my clockworkmod backups were.
Does this happen every time a ROM is flashed on a Nexus 7? (In case it makes a difference, this is the ROM I flashed.) Does this happen every time an update to a ROM is flashed?
For future reference, is there any way to try ROMs and flash updates without wiping out my whole internal storage?

Do you have a 3G?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

over the air system updates shouldn't delete any data but as far as I know flashing a different rom will wipe everything. With a phone the data is stored on a separate physical device such as a microsd card but with the nexus 7 its all held on the internal memory. You could use an otg cable and thumb drive as external storage for backup purposes.

dparrothead1 said:
Do you have a 3G?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I have a 3G.

corumuk said:
over the air system updates shouldn't delete any data but as far as I know flashing a different rom will wipe everything. With a phone the data is stored on a separate physical device such as a microsd card but with the nexus 7 its all held on the internal memory. You could use an otg cable and thumb drive as external storage for backup purposes.
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So what do people normally do when an update to a ROM comes out? Do they fully backup everything and then do an advanced restore in CWM to get back their data? Or are most people starting fresh on every ROM update?

corumuk said:
over the air system updates shouldn't delete any data but as far as I know flashing a different rom will wipe everything. With a phone the data is stored on a separate physical device such as a microsd card but with the nexus 7 its all held on the internal memory. You could use an otg cable and thumb drive as external storage for backup purposes.
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What?
A rom shouldn't wipe the Emmc (internal sdcard), coming from Samsung phones that all have 16gb of internal storage plus a slot for an external card, i have never had it wipe my storage. Either internal or external.
I have also flashed a few roms on the Nexus and the ONLY thing that wiped my storage was unlocking the bootloader.

Looks to me like you were answered in the ROM Thread that you referenced.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=35322271
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Based on my experience with the original Droid, flashing a new rom usually calls for wiping system, cache, data, boot, and dalvik. Internal memory data is deleted, but external microsd storage is not cleared. The N7 only has internal memory, and that is cleared when doing the wipes prior to installing a new rom. You should copy pictures, video, documents, downloads, music, saved texts, etc. to a pc or OTG storage along with the backups before the new rom.

Wiping system and data in recovery does not touch /sdcard. sdcard should remain intact unless flashing a factory image.

regalpimpin said:
Wiping system and data in recovery does not touch /sdcard. sdcard should remain intact unless flashing a factory image.
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This.
If you want to be completely and absolutely sure it will not delete anything, open the zip go to:
META-INF/com/Google/android and open up the updater-script file in a text editor, look through and you will see every command that is given in the flash.
You will most likely only see it format the /system partition. Which is why you manually have to do a factory reset in recovery, which formats
/data (where your user apps and preferences are stored, as well as the dalvik cache is)
/cache
And the android secure file which is in fact located on the Emmc, but that is the only file on that partition it touches.

Thanks all, turns out the line that killed me was in the instructions for the ROM I flashed, the flash instruction was:
fastboot -w flash system system.img
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That -w flag is what wiped my internal storage.

manekineko said:
Thanks all, turns out the line that killed me was in the instructions for the ROM I flashed, the flash instruction was:
That -w flag is what wiped my internal storage.
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So what did you do with that ?

manekineko said:
Thanks all, turns out the line that killed me was in the instructions for the ROM I flashed, the flash instruction was:
That -w flag is what wiped my internal storage.
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@manekineko @studacris Can you please elaborate, what do you mean by that ? I am intending to flash a different ROM on a different device.I extracted the firmware zip and checked every file but couldn't find "wipe (-w) in fastboot with system.img".
Thank you

Storage still full after clean install

I upgraded to the latest pure nexus rom last night and decided it's best to do a clean install. So I wiped everything but internal memory. Which only holds twrp backup (10gb) and ti backup (1.3gb) but after install out still shows I'm using almost 40gb on storage. Is there some sort of hidden folder that I'm not seeing that is holding a ton of stuff. I can only account for about less than 30gb being used. 10gb for OS, 10gb backup, and less than 5gb for ti backups and rom zips.

If you didn't wipe your /internal storage it would be logic everything is kept original.
Do a wipe of /internal storage and your storage space will lower.

therock3181 said:
If you didn't wipe your /internal storage it would be logic everything is kept original.
Do a wipe of /internal storage and your storage space will lower.
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Right but even looking thru all my folders I don't see where it's adding up to 39gb being used. Only thing I have on it is twrp backup and ti backup and rom zips

r1nstang said:
Right but even looking thru all my folders I don't see where it's adding up to 39gb being used. Only thing I have on it is twrp backup and ti backup and rom zips
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Did you download music from play music ?

therock3181 said:
Did you download music from play music ?
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It's all cached never downloaded And I wipe cache anytime i flash a rom

r1nstang said:
It's all cached never downloaded And I wipe cache anytime i flash a rom
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Then like I said. Do a internal storage format but do a backup of your TWRP and TI folder on your computer before.
Just a head ups. I always do an advanced format and check everything before doing a clean install. I don't restore/keep my backups. I am the type of guy that starts from scratch to limit the problems.

Any solution to your lost storage space issue? I've noticed that after copying my internal storage to my computer and then wiping internal storage in twrp it still show over 5.5gig storage used and I ain't talking about system use. When I plug my phone into my pc it shows 5.5gig used internal storage but when selecting all files and show properties only totals to less the 5meg. Now that's after performing an internal storage wipe in twrp.
I had experienced the same kind of issue on my tablet external storage. Sd was showing 8gig of 16gig used and when I plug that sd into my pc it would show the same. But after doing the select all files/properties it would show a total of less then 3gig. I moved all files to my pc, now showing over 5gig used but the SD is empty(no hidden files). Format my SD, now showing completely emplty, move my files back to SD, plug into tablet. Now showing less the 3gig used .
Obviously some lost/invisible data hiding somewhere that a quick format could fix but with the 6P you can't perform a true format. Twrp wipe does not format, just wipes.

StatikBlue said:
Any solution to your lost storage space issue? I've noticed that after copying my internal storage to my computer and then wiping internal storage in twrp it still show over 5.5gig storage used and I ain't talking about system use. When I plug my phone into my pc it shows 5.5gig used internal storage but when selecting all files and show properties only totals to less the 5meg. Now that's after performing an internal storage wipe in twrp.
I had experienced the same kind of issue on my tablet external storage. Sd was showing 8gig of 16gig used and when I plug that sd into my pc it would show the same. But after doing the select all files/properties it would show a total of less then 3gig. I moved all files to my pc, now showing over 5gig used but the SD is empty(no hidden files). Format my SD, now showing completely emplty, move my files back to SD, plug into tablet. Now showing less the 3gig used .
Obviously some lost/invisible data hiding somewhere that a quick format could fix but with the 6P you can't perform a true format. Twrp wipe does not format, just wipes.
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Um, are you considering that you lose space for the os?
Also that 16gb card is right, you're not gonna get a full 16gb of storage. Most 16's end up being about 14gb after a format

Yes as mentioned in my post multiple time I am not talking about system storage use (OS). Especially when I refer to an external memory experiencing the same issue (completely wipe SD in twrp, plug same SD into PC, showing 5.5 gig still used on empty card, format SD, now showing completely empty on both PC and Android).
Not sure why, but somehow storage space gets lost, hard to explain. One would need to take the time to accurately compare what one has saved on internal storage and the amount Android says is used.

TWRP Format Data

Hi all sorry for asking a dumb question, but would "format data" button inside TWRP's Wipe section (the button above factory reset) also delete a TWRP backup?

the_hatrix said:
Hi all sorry for asking a dumb question, but would "format data" button inside TWRP's Wipe section (the button above factory reset) also delete a TWRP backup?
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If your twrp backup in microsd card then it will not delete.
"Format data" will delete ( system/data/cache/dalvic cache/internal storage)
If you are planning to clean your device to install new clean rom then Make a backup of current rom and all your data in microsd card/usb drive before you do this.

So if the backup was in the internal sd it would have been deleted then right?

the_hatrix said:
So if the backup was in the internal sd it would have been deleted then right?
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Yes it will be deleted
Go to my files and copy entire TWRP folder from internal storage to microsd card if you need your backup.

Thanks!

Format data
Trex888 said:
If your twrp backup in microsd card then it will not delete.
"Format data" will delete ( system/data/cache/dalvic cache/internal storage)
If you are planning to clean your device to install new clean rom then Make a backup of current rom and all your data in microsd card/usb drive before you do this.
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Hi, please can I recover files from internal sd after Format data ? I wanted to root my phone to recover files with disk digger and I followed a thread including Format data to root android phone and now I'm trying to recover all my lost files. If you have any advise please let me know if I have a chance .
Thank you !

infostar said:
Hi, please can I recover files from internal sd after Format data ? I wanted to root my phone to recover files with disk digger and I followed a thread including Format data to root android phone and now I'm trying to recover all my lost files. If you have any advise please let me know if I have a chance .
Thank you !
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After FORMAT DATA there is nothing there to recover.
Everything has gone, sorry.
Only if you had made a TWRP backup, stored in the external sdcard, then you could restore it and get your DATA files back.
But in that case also, your personal files(pictures, music etc) are not included in this back up.
Only APPS data, meaning files that make apps working, are restored this way.
ALL your personal data, are stored in the internal storage.
If you have performed a DATA format, nothing is there anymore.

infostar said:
Format data
Hi, please can I recover files from internal sd after Format data ? I wanted to root my phone to recover files with disk digger and I followed a thread including Format data to root android phone and now I'm trying to recover all my lost files. If you have any advise please let me know if I have a chance .
Thank you !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you can recover data if it was not overwritten, even if it was deleted. You can use special software.

Which options do we need to select to backup existing ROM? And to do a recover in case of device failure.
Boot? System? System Image? Vendor? Vendor Image?

Maybe a dumb question but: If you format data, can you boot in current rom?

Treeager said:
Maybe a dumb question but: If you format data, can you boot in current rom?
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No, you can't lol. Format data wipes everything on the storage of the device. You better install a rom after wiping everything or you will get stuck in bootloader / bootloops.
In some a/b slot devices, if you don't have a rom installed, your custom recovery is also wiped because it usually resides on the boot.img.

Internal Storage Not Getting Detected In Recovery and On PC

My Moto G4 Plus doesn't detect the internal storage in the recovery . I even tried using the PC but even on that the internal storage doesn't show up...I can't do anything with my phone now as no updates or installation to the ROM can be made and booting to the ROM is resulting in a bootloop..Someone please find a solution.
[emoji26] [emoji26] [emoji26]

Naveenthemi said:
My Moto G4 Plus doesn't detect the internal storage in the recovery . I even tried using the PC but even on that the internal storage doesn't show up...I can't do anything with my phone now as no updates or installation to the ROM can be made and booting to the ROM is resulting in a bootloop..Someone please find a solution.
[emoji26] [emoji26] [emoji26]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check if internal storage is mounted in recovery [ TWRP recovery > Mount > select /data partition ]
If still not?
Have you tried downloading files on external storage?
Move files to external memory card or USB OTG stick and mount them in recovery and try to flash.

____Mdd said:
Check if internal storage is mounted in recovery [ TWRP recovery > Mount > select /data partition ]
If still not?
Have you tried downloading files on external storage?
Move files to external memory card or USB OTG stick and mount them in recovery and try to flash.
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Click to collapse
I can't even access the ROM ..I'm stuck in recovery and the internal storage doesn't show up no matter what I mount..The data in the internal storage is not at all accessible ..Do u have any other methods to fix this?
Thanks

Internal storage dead
I had same issue with one of my previous phone, turns out internal storage was dead and only solution was to change motherboard.
But don't spend a buck on this phone now. Time for a new phone ,party!!

Naveenthemi said:
I can't even access the ROM ..I'm stuck in recovery and the internal storage doesn't show up no matter what I mount..The data in the internal storage is not at all accessible ..Do u have any other methods to fix this?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might try flashing the stock ROM in fastboot. If that doesn't fix things, little else will.
Before you ask for a link, use the search function on the forum.

Try this!
Flash the stock Recovery and then do a factory reset! and then check if the internal is showing up! did you encrypt your phone??

abhi212b said:
Try this!
Flash the stock Recovery and then do a factory reset! and then check if the internal is showing up! did you encrypt your phone??
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Yep..that's the problem...now I have fixed it by going to a service centre...

How to Transfer Files from PC while in TWRP Recovery

Hi guys is anyone there can help me , bec everytime i wipe my DATA (Typing Yes) it erase also my Internal storage , so how can i flash ROM if its wiping my Internal storage ?

crossover01 said:
Hi guys is anyone there can help me , bec everytime i wipe my DATA (Typing Yes) it erase also my Internal storage , so how can i flash ROM if its wiping my Internal storage ?
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All you have to do is plug your phone in to your pc and just drag them (your rom files) to your storage. That's all

Or if you want, you can use an USB OTG.