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I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 i9505 (unlocked version). It was using the stock v4.4.2 but it was rooted and the bootloader was unlocked, I also had a different Recovery installed (Can't remember which one but it wasn't Clockwork). I am no longer using the phone so it doesn't contain any data that I need. I was preparing the phone to sell it so I decided to encrypt the storage as I read that that doing this would remove any possibility of old data being taken off.
During encryption setup, I had to enter a PIN before I could have it encrypted so I entered one. Once it finished encrypting (took quite a while), it rebooted and asked me for the PIN to decrypt the device, I entered the PIN. It seemed like it accepted this but then it rebooted. It kept doing this so I thought no big deal as it probably already achieved what I wanted. So I did a factory reset via the Recovery. However, the encrypted partition still persisted after the factory reset.
So then I decided to use Odin (v3.09) along with the latest stock ROM (v4.4.2 I9505XXUGNG8) to write over the whole phone thinking this would reset it. But the encrypted partition still persists and it keeps rebooting after I enter my PIN.
How can I completely factory reset the phone including removing the encrypted storage? I don't need any data on the phone, just need to reset it completely back to factory.
TIA
Probably flash a custom recovery and then:
In TWRP, under "Wipe" menu, there is "Format Data" function, which will effectively remove the encryption from the device
(alongside with all the data of course).
ps the information you had about encrypting your device is wrong. Basically when you delete a file from you phone, there is no way currently possible to get it back. That is caused by TRIM. Not even professional companies can restore it as of yet. So once you delete it, it's really gone.
Lennyz1988 said:
Probably flash a custom recovery and then:
In TWRP, under "Wipe" menu, there is "Format Data" function, which will effectively remove the encryption from the device
(alongside with all the data of course).
ps the information you had about encrypting your device is wrong. Basically when you delete a file from you phone, there is no way currently possible to get it back. That is caused by TRIM. Not even professional companies can restore it as of yet. So once you delete it, it's really gone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I'll give that a go.
This is a similar article to what I read about needing to encrypt the device to truly remove your personal data: http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/fea...elete-all-data-from-your-android-phone-603731
What about files that haven't been explicitly deleted? Say for example if I left all the files undeleted but I just did a factory reset, will those files be recoverable? That's what I want to protect against.
Techno79 said:
Ok, I'll give that a go.
This is a similar article to what I read about needing to encrypt the device to truly remove your personal data: http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/fea...elete-all-data-from-your-android-phone-603731
What about files that haven't been explicitly deleted? Say for example if I left all the files undeleted but I just did a factory reset, will those files be recoverable? That's what I want to protect against.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That articel is mistaken. As of Android 4.3, files that are deleted can't be recovered. A factory reset should be enough. It will also wipe your internal storage.
Thank you. Phone is all sorted now and back to a factory reset
EDIT 10/30/2016:
From some of the replies on this thread, I have reached the conclusion that this is not a widespread problem (duh.)
However, if you are locked out of your Nexus after a restore, I have found that the best solution was given by @toknitup420
Best Solution:
In TWRP (or ADB whatever you prefer) go into Advanced --> File Manager and navigate to /data/system/.
Locate locksettings.db and rename/delete it.
Reboot, unlock device, go to Settings --> Security and set a new screen lock passcode. The best part about this solution is that your previously registered fingerprints still work (mine did.)
Some suggested updating TWRP to the latest unofficial 3.0.2-3.
Flashing this version and restoring using it did not fix the issue for me personally, but if you would like to try then here is the link I found searching XDA.
**************************************************
OP:
Disclaimer: I am an XDA n00b, I've frequented these forums for a long while now, but I have never made an account and actually posted until now.
Also, I am using build NRD90U on my Nexus 6p
Not sure if anyone else has had these issues, but last night I had problems restoring from a nandroid backup on TWRP.
First issue:
TWRP would not restore System + Vendor + Data all in one operation. During the Data portion of the restore, it threw an error and cancelled the operation (for the life of me I wish I wrote it down, it was 3am and I just wanted to sleep.)
The Fix: I had to first restore System + Vendor, then reboot back into TWRP. Upon rebooting, TWRP prompts to allow modification of system. I accepted (by swiping) and proceeded to restore ONLY the Data from the nandroid backup.
Second issue:
Upon booting into my fully restored phone, I got locked out of the lockscreen. My pattern would not work, and no matter how many times I tried, I could not get to the "Forgot Pattern?" prompt so that I could change my password. Great.
The Fix: No option but to factory restore. I just booted into fastboot, followed Heisenberg's Flash Guide for the Nexus 6p Step 9 to flash everything except for my Internal Storage partition. Booted into a fresh version of android Nougat, and restored from a Titanium Backup.
I haven't seen any information or talk of turning off the passcode before backing up android in TWRP, but I suspect you should do this to avoid a fully restored system that you are locked out of . (Note: I am not talking about the passcode to boot feature, that was turned off for me in this case, and you should too because this is well known to cause issues when restoring. I am referring to the passcode at the actual lockscreen)
TLDR; Restore Data partition after restoring System + Vendor and reboot back into recovery, and turn off all passcode features before creating a nandroid backup.
This is a known topic, nothing new lol.
tatico28 said:
This is a known topic, nothing new lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for acknowledging the disclaimer, just trying to help folks on Google. I didn't find out about it until it was too late.
aeg3d said:
Disclaimer: I am an XDA n00b, I've frequented these forums for a long while now, but I have never made an account and actually posted until now.
Also, I am using build NRD90U on my Nexus 6p
Not sure if anyone else has had these issues, but last night I had problems restoring from a nandroid backup on TWRP.
First issue:
TWRP would not restore System + Vendor + Data all in one operation. During the Data portion of the restore, it threw an error and cancelled the operation (for the life of me I wish I wrote it down, it was 3am and I just wanted to sleep.)
The Fix: I had to first restore System + Vendor, then reboot back into TWRP. Upon rebooting, TWRP prompts to allow modification of system. I accepted (by swiping) and proceeded to restore ONLY the Data from the nandroid backup.
Second issue:
Upon booting into my fully restored phone, I got locked out of the lockscreen. My pattern would not work, and no matter how many times I tried, I could not get to the "Forgot Pattern?" prompt so that I could change my password. Great.
The Fix: No option but to factory restore. I just booted into fastboot, followed Heisenberg's Flash Guide for the Nexus 6p Step 9 to flash everything except for my Internal Storage partition. Booted into a fresh version of android Nougat, and restored from a Titanium Backup.
I haven't seen any information or talk of turning off the passcode before backing up android in TWRP, but I suspect you should do this to avoid a fully restored system that you are locked out of . (Note: I am not talking about the passcode to boot feature, that was turned off for me in this case, and you should too because this is well known to cause issues when restoring. I am referring to the passcode at the actual lockscreen)
TLDR; Restore Data partition after restoring System + Vendor and reboot back into recovery, and turn off all passcode features before creating a nandroid backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Warning: before you make a backup with TWRP you must remove all lockscreen security. If you do not do this you will not be able to unlock your device after restoring your backup (entering your pin will result in an "incorrect pin" message), you'll be forced to perform a factory reset to boot into Android. To remove lockscreen security go to Settings>Security>Screen Lock and set it to swipe/none."
I have two pins. One to unlock sim and one to unlock phone. I'm not sure which one you're referring to because I didn't turn off my pin to unlock sim card and I didn't get locked out after restore.
What did stump me was getting a half working phone since the restore included vendor.img which no one said to uncheck before restoring.
tropical cactus said:
I have two pins. One to unlock sim and one to unlock phone. I'm not sure which one you're referring to because I didn't turn off my pin to unlock sim card and I didn't get locked out after restore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, that is a feature that I do not use and didn't consider. What I was referring to was turning off the lock screen passcode (boot passcode should also be off, this is a known issue)
tropical cactus said:
What did stump me was getting a half working phone since the restore included vendor.img which no one said to uncheck before restoring.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah yes it is very unclear exactly what to have checked/unchecked for TWRP. I've always been under the impression a System + Vendor + Data backup is sufficient, maybe also check the EFS for extra security (you should back up EFS at least once and keep in a safe place, your phone depends on this to connect to cell towers. If it's corrupted and you have no backup, you're in trouble)
I use TWRP 3.0.2.3 and nandroids restored fine on 7.0 and 7.1 DP with lock screen pin enabled
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
scoot0073 said:
I use TWRP 3.0.2.3 and nandroids restored fine on 7.0 and 7.1 DP with lock screen pin enabled
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps it's because I was using TWRP 3.0.2-2.. I'll have to try again later tonight to see if that's the case.
Good to know though, maybe what I experienced is an isolated issue.
3.0.2.2 I believe if I remember I had to disable security lock screen pin b4 I made a nandroid.
But the unofficial 3.0.2.3 not the case
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
aeg3d said:
Disclaimer: I am an XDA n00b, I've frequented these forums for a long while now, but I have never made an account and actually posted until now.
Also, I am using build NRD90U on my Nexus 6p
Not sure if anyone else has had these issues, but last night I had problems restoring from a nandroid backup on TWRP.
First issue:
TWRP would not restore System + Vendor + Data all in one operation. During the Data portion of the restore, it threw an error and cancelled the operation (for the life of me I wish I wrote it down, it was 3am and I just wanted to sleep.)
The Fix: I had to first restore System + Vendor, then reboot back into TWRP. Upon rebooting, TWRP prompts to allow modification of system. I accepted (by swiping) and proceeded to restore ONLY the Data from the nandroid backup.
Second issue:
Upon booting into my fully restored phone, I got locked out of the lockscreen. My pattern would not work, and no matter how many times I tried, I could not get to the "Forgot Pattern?" prompt so that I could change my password. Great.
The Fix: No option but to factory restore. I just booted into fastboot, followed Heisenberg's Flash Guide for the Nexus 6p Step 9 to flash everything except for my Internal Storage partition. Booted into a fresh version of android Nougat, and restored from a Titanium Backup.
I haven't seen any information or talk of turning off the passcode before backing up android in TWRP, but I suspect you should do this to avoid a fully restored system that you are locked out of . (Note: I am not talking about the passcode to boot feature, that was turned off for me in this case, and you should too because this is well known to cause issues when restoring. I am referring to the passcode at the actual lockscreen)
TLDR; Restore Data partition after restoring System + Vendor and reboot back into recovery, and turn off all passcode features before creating a nandroid backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All you needed to do was delete locksettings.db in twrp before rebooting. That deletes lock screen security pin. Then you can just reboot and add pin back in settings. Easy.
toknitup420 said:
All you needed to do was delete locksettings.db in twrp before rebooting. That deletes lock screen security pin. Then you can just reboot and add pin back in settings. Easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought I read somewhere on XDA that this could potentially break the feature (a.k.a. wouldn't be able to reset a new passcode after getting access to homescreen.)
aeg3d said:
I thought I read somewhere on XDA that this could potentially break the feature (a.k.a. wouldn't be able to reset a new passcode after getting access to homescreen.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been doing it like that for months now with no issues.
toknitup420 said:
I've been doing it like that for months now with no issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK I'll have to try that as well, others seem to say it was an error that was patched in the latest TWRP (I was apparently using a slightly older version). Thanks for the tip!
scoot0073 said:
3.0.2.2 I believe if I remember I had to disable security lock screen pin b4 I made a nandroid.
But the unofficial 3.0.2.3 not the case
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK that seems to be the consensus, that I was using a slightly older version of TWRP with this bug. Going to flash tonight to confirm!
Hey guys,
I need quick help.
I was on DU Nougat and wanted to try RRemix. Didnt noticed this thing is encrypted, panicked when encryption started when booting up after clean flashing rr and shut down the phone in the mittle of the process.
No every time I enter twrp it asks for a pw to decrypt. when entering "default_password" it first displays unable to mount.. and then decrypting data.
When I first tried this I got into twrp and after booting up the system again, there was a message saying that encryption failed and that i can reset my phone now and will then have the opportunity to restore my data. when I press the "reset phone" button it brings me to the twrp menu where i enter the pw like above and the same thing starts again.
When in TWRP my sdcard shows empty.
Are there any options for me, or did I just lost all my phone data from months without a backup.
Thanks so much! Could cry right now...
xflowy said:
Hey guys,
I need quick help.
I was on DU Nougat and wanted to try RRemix. Didnt noticed this thing is encrypted, panicked when encryption started when booting up after clean flashing rr and shut down the phone in the mittle of the process.
No every time I enter twrp it asks for a pw to decrypt. when entering "default_password" it first displays unable to mount.. and then decrypting data.
When I first tried this I got into twrp and after booting up the system again, there was a message saying that encryption failed and that i can reset my phone now and will then have the opportunity to restore my data. when I press the "reset phone" button it brings me to the twrp menu where i enter the pw like above and the same thing starts again.
When in TWRP my sdcard shows empty.
Are there any options for me, or did I just lost all my phone data from months without a backup.
Thanks so much! Could cry right now...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately that is true, that you might have lost your data. I had the same issue when i flashed 7.1.1 DP1 over 7.0 and forgot to patch the boot image.
Read my thread where I have explained couple of things I tried to do but I have not been able to get my data back. http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/help/encryption-unsuccessful-data-t3493422
And since no one replied to my thread I presume there has been no successful case of data retrieval till now and there is no way we can get the data back.
TBH in my case I did not even know that it was encrypting the data because there was not visible cue just the google boot animation staying on for a long time than usual and hence my reason to suspect a bootloop and re-start the phone.
guess i should've named my thread "HELP ME". -.-
A safe creation of an encrypted volume usually starts by blanking the disk to avoid clear/encrypted differentiation to make cryptanalysis harder and to avoid exactly what you are trying to do. (Let's say the write speed being 160MBps it would take around 3 minutes to initialize the data crypto)
You could check by pulling the raw block /dev/mmcXX data partition on your PC and then use a tool to recover chunks from that file, like photorec on Linux.
Well, good luck. Always always have a backup...
rchtk said:
A safe creation of an encrypted volume usually starts by blanking the disk to avoid clear/encrypted differentiation to make cryptanalysis harder and to avoid exactly what you are trying to do. (Let's say the write speed being 160MBps it would take around 3 minutes to initialize the data crypto)
You could check by pulling the raw block /dev/mmcXX data partition on your PC and then use a tool to recover chunks from that file, like photorec on Linux.
Well, good luck. Always always have a backup...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello rchtk
Quick question, what do you mean by blanking the disk? What if the disk had data? I though encryption would still keep the data, only encrypt it with a key (pattern, key pin or password whichever).
prgopala said:
Hello rchtk
Quick question, what do you mean by blanking the disk? What if the disk had data? I though encryption would still keep the data, only encrypt it with a key (pattern, key pin or password whichever).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, they are gone!
As far as I know:
In-place encryption (ie without loosing data) only happens when migrating from KitKat to Lollipop.
Otherwise starting on an unencrypted data disk with forceencrypt will trigger the encryption and that will create a ciphered volume: mainly preparing the partition with ciphering metadata and creating a filesystem in it (again an empty filesystem is only metadata spread at several places). That would still leave old data in between these metadata that you could recover, so I guess the old partition is filled with random before that.
There's also encryptable partition flag, which will trigger in-place (keeping data) when the user goes in settings->security>encryption>encrypt.
Changing pin code will not erase data as it doesn't change the encryption of the data but only the master key.
Hello All!
Before you tell me to search or check threads, I already have. This problem does not have anything to do with forgetting to disable the pins and fingerprints before backing up. My problem has do do with I have already disabled/removed security before backing up my nandroid. I check/select everything that I can to backup and it successfully completes. When I go to restore, everything looks to be properly restored, but alas, there is a problem. When I reboot, it asks me for a password to get into TWRP (apparently "default_password). But when I get in and go to file explorer to find anything, my entire storage is wiped. Like no OS or any files. The only other issue I've had besides this is when restoring a nandroid, it doesn't complete and reboots to a bootloop.
I am on the newest version of TWRP, 3.0.3-0. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I, and anyone who has had to redo the complete phone setup/customization, do not enjoy taking over an hour to get things back up and running. Cruddy thing is I did a Titanium Backup for my apps and settings, but they got wiped.
boostin91tsi01 said:
Hello All!
Before you tell me to search or check threads, I already have. This problem does not have anything to do with forgetting to disable the pins and fingerprints before backing up. My problem has do do with I have already disabled/removed security before backing up my nandroid. I check/select everything that I can to backup and it successfully completes. When I go to restore, everything looks to be properly restored, but alas, there is a problem. When I reboot, it asks me for a password to get into TWRP (apparently "default_password). But when I get in and go to file explorer to find anything, my entire storage is wiped. Like no OS or any files. The only other issue I've had besides this is when restoring a nandroid, it doesn't complete and reboots to a bootloop.
I am on the newest version of TWRP, 3.0.3-0. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I, and anyone who has had to redo the complete phone setup/customization, do not enjoy taking over an hour to get things back up and running. Cruddy thing is I did a Titanium Backup for my apps and settings, but they got wiped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am genuinely interested in this because I back up on a regular basis after each security update but I have never had to restore. Now it is my understanding that even if security is disable the data is still encrypted. Perhaps I'm wrong about that but if you ever did have a password or pin to log into the phone with have you tried to enter that into TWRP?
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
You only need to back up the defaults... system, data, and boot.
What should I back up in TWRP?
https://twrp.me/faq/whattobackup.html
redduc900 said:
You only need to back up the defaults... system, data, and boot.
What should I back up in TWRP?
https://twrp.me/faq/whattobackup.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand the web is full of opinions, but I've read somewhere to backup EFS? I have also read somewhere before that what you said to backup, while is plenty sufficient, if you have space, to backup everything. I followed that and it lead me to an hour plus of restoring back to how it was. I will give it a go, hoping that I never have to use it, but it will work when the situation arises.
I've only ever backed up those three partitions, and never had an issue with restoring backups. You can certainly create a backup of the EFS/IMEI, but keep it stored in a safe place like on your computer or a thumb drive. One thing I should note is when restoring a backup, make sure to also flash the correct vendor.img if necessary.
I usually backup vendor with it but as earlier indicated I don't believe it's completely necessary. As far as EFS is concerned yes I would agree with backing that up however what I do is back it up to a separate backup folder and only write it if something were to ever happen to it otherwise leave it alone. That way you don't take a chance I'm corrupting something in that partition.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
I've never successfully restored a backup on the Nexus 6P regardless of what version of TWRP I used. Different builds of TWRP give me different problems but none has ever worked. I've completely given up doing nandroid backups on this phone because it's a waste of time and disc space. I never had a similar issue on any other phone that I have ever owned and am not a newbie when it comes to rooting and custom roms. What I always ended up doing after a problem restoring a backup is flash the complete factory image using the flash-all.bat command and start over with everything I want to flash.
jhs39 said:
I've never successfully restored a backup on the Nexus 6P regardless of what version of TWRP I used. Different builds of TWRP give me different problems but none has ever worked. I've completely given up doing nandroid backups on this phone because it's a waste of time and disc space. I never had a similar issue on any other phone that I have ever owned and am not a newbie when it comes to rooting and custom roms. What I always ended up doing after a problem restoring a backup is flash the complete factory image using the flash-all.bat command and start over with everything I want to flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem, so now I've started doing a TiBU and Verizon Messages backup, after all those are completed, transfer and save it to my PC. If I have any problems, I transfer from the PC to phone and it's less headache... kinda sorta.
Restore never worked to the fullest. I tried different versions of TWRP, same problem. Restore starts a red error line in beginning of the restore process an at the end it shows ‘Restore complete’. When I restart, everything looks restored but with bugs like:
-network or sim itself is not shown
-Bluetooth, wifi wont connect
-Quicksetting tiles not responding etc…
The idea of backing up via TWRP is to get every bit RESTORED properly, but it doesn’t work.
I take a full back up before moving to update the firmware version (example MIUI 10), if I do not like the firmware then I want to go back to the previous firmware version (example MIUI 9) and TWRP RESTORE feature never works. I have to again flash the rom and then restore everything via Titanium backup.
I always take a TWRP backup of all the items available:
System
Data
Cache
Cust
Recovery
Boot
EFS
Persist
Still it never restores properly. It’s a mere time waste or the restore option to be removed from TWRP as it never worked across of its versions.
Can anyone explain me in a line, what is Cust, EFS and Persist?
I really appreciate if anyone help me understand where I’m going wrong.
I have a V20 with Lineage 18.1 and am looking for something that can backup and restore the whole phone. The other day I tried to update Lineage and it downloads it, but when I hit Update, it restart and just display and android icon, and "No Command". Any ideas why this happens? So I download it to a folder and go into TWRP manually and tried to update, but the zip check failed and I was left with no option but to reset. Which means I have to spend hours reloading everything and going over every system setting. I really need a faster way to load an image to the phone, both for situations like that, and in case the phone is lost, so I can load the image to a backup V20.
I have tried everything I can find:
TWRP: may work for restoring to same phone, but not for a different one, even the same model.
CloneIT: Have tried a dozen times, but the receiver never sees the sender hot spot
Titanium Back Pro: Have tried it a few times, but have never succeeded in getting the whole phone back. I'm using Magisk 22 to root, then I put on Titanium, then I try to restore, but it doesn't work.
Google 1 (Google Drive built-in Backup): I tell it to restore a backup and it says it's doing it, and to complete setup of my phone, so I do. When done, I see it is restoring my applications.
I have a Mi A2 with Lineage 18.1 and I have the same question. Did you ever figure out a solution? With my LG G7 I can make partition image backups with the QFIL tool but for this device, I haven’t found a way to make images of full partitions for a real backup that can be reflashed. I think the most viable option is TWRP which I think is still installed on my device.