[Q] Dalvik/Chache/User data wipe? - Xoom Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So I'm about to install Tiamat's new ROM (I really want the init.d scripting functionality, plus it can't hurt to get up-to-date) but I can't remember if wiping my user data wipes out the /sdcard/ mount on my xoom. I've got 15gbs in there in all kinds of random stuff and I'd rather not wipe it if I don't have to.
What I THINK is that the Dalvik/Cache/User data wipe that I do before I install the ROM will do what it would on my phone - simply wipe everything that isn't on the /sdcard/ partition. Is this correct? I sure hope so.

Yes, that is correct. It won't touch your SD card.

Just to be certain...
Ok, but to be clear, I don't actually HAVE an sdcard, just the bigass bit of internal memory mounted AS /sdcard/. It won't mess with that right?

mikeserv said:
Ok, but to be clear, I don't actually HAVE an sdcard, just the bigass bit of internal memory mounted AS /sdcard/. It won't mess with that right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are asking about the user data wipe you will have to do I order to flash thetiamat rom,
ummm yes, it will wipe that (internal storage) but not wipe your external/removable sdcard.

Damn. Ok, well, I'll just back all of that up to the computer then. It'll take a while.

You need an sdcard to install the rom though.
Sent from my EVO 3D

Nope
Ok, so, like I thought, the "wipe data/factory reset" option in ClockWorkMod Recovery does NOT format the /sdcard/ partition, even though it is actually physically located on the internal storage.
Because of this I was also able to use the internal storage to store the tiamat*.zip rom file and flash from the internal storage mapped to /sdcard/. I'm now going to attempt to restore all of my settings and apps via Titanium Backup.
Thanks anyway guys. You did inspire me to do a full backup of my /sdcard/ partition onto my computer at least.

Sorry guys. I was way off. I was even smug about it. Well, as it turns out, you do need an SD card. Check out my post here to see what happened (a lot of dumb bad stuff): http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1152121

Related

[Q] Problem with backing-up my current system (CWM)

Hi all!
I've just rooted my TF, everything went fine (thanks to brk for his great RootingKit ).
But one problem: I want to backup my current 'setup' before I flash any custom-ROM. From my Galaxy S I know the possibility to backup the whole system with CWM, and it's working there - but not with my TF.
I get this message(s):
ClockworkMod Recovery v3.1.0.1 (solarnz-R3-230511-1902
Can't mount /sdcard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And I can't mount it manually under mounts and storage -> mount /sdcard --> leads to the same message (Can't mount /sdcard, Error mounting /sdcard).
Any ideas?
Greets,
LB
do you have a SD card in the transformer?
No, do I have to? Ok, I'll try it with an external sd.
EDIT: Now it works, thank you very much!
Lunchbox115 said:
No, do I have to? Ok, I'll try it with an external sd.
EDIT: Now it works, thank you very much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had that problem as well, stumped me until I put an external card in. The rationale is that you wouldn't want your backup on the internal drive, it's better practice to keep it separate and removable. Kinda like how you don't backup your PC onto another partition of the same drive.
Yeah, you're right, but I've already backuped some smartphones and none of them needed an external card for doing this.
It's not good to backup to internal storage, what if you're phone freeze or something and required a full wipe/factory reset?
All your backup data will be wipe too.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
On my Evo everything backs up to /sdcard by default, which is the removable card under the battery. Not sure about other smartphones, but if they're not saving to a remote directory (something that doesn't get wiped during a wipe) then they're putting your backups in a rather un-smart place. I'm sure it's all figured out on a by-device basis, of course. Why am I continuing this thread?

Best way to format the SD card?

I would like to start over and reinstall CleanROM 4.5 on my phone, and I thought it would be good to also format the SD card while I'm at it so that everything is clean. I've got a lot of junk in there from various ROMs and would just like to start fresh. What is the best way to do this?
Should I just do "Erase phone storage" from the settings menu of the ROM? Or maybe "Factory data reset"? Or should I be doing this from TWRP? What I don't want is to end up with a brick. I need to be able to transfer the CleanROM zip back over to the phone once it erases the SD card. Whats the best way to do this?
Erase phone storage does what you want. I've had bad luck with messing with phone storage in twrp. It rendered my sd card unreadable once.
Alright, that's good to know. Do you know what the difference between "erase phone storage" and "factory data reset" are? Just curious.
Erase phone storage seemed to do the trick. Thanks gunny.
Factory reset wipes the /data directory which is where user installed apps are stored. System wipe from twrp wipes /system also which is where the rom itself is stored.
ECEXCURSION said:
Alright, that's good to know. Do you know what the difference between "erase phone storage" and "factory data reset" are? Just curious.
Erase phone storage seemed to do the trick. Thanks gunny.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory Reset just resets the Os like you're starting from the scratch without touching your sd card data.
Erase phone storage wipes the data from your sd card ie. Photo's, music, and anything else you've put on there.
Sent from my HTC One XL

TWRP and No SD card ?

Hi guys I was wondering how does TWRP handle devices with no SD card ? Everytime I want to flash a ROM I have to wipe data does this wipe everything on your phone ? Do I make backups after every flash ?
The phone has a internal storage eMMC 5.0 of 16GB/64GB.
No it does not wipe your internal storage.
naruto.ninjakid said:
Hi guys I was wondering how does TWRP handle devices with no SD card ? Everytime I want to flash a ROM I have to wipe data does this wipe everything on your phone ? Do I make backups after every flash ?
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Click to collapse
Yes it treats the virtual sdcard as an actual sdcard, and will not format it.
It works this way even with devices with external sd cards. Internal memory is not touched.
What you're actually working on is only system partition.
/data/media is where your personal storage is. It's symbolically linked to /sdcard as well for old apps the need it. When you factory reset (format /data) it excludes /data/media. Nothing is lost. You also don't need to wipe every time you flash a ROM. At least you don't unless you are changing to a different ROM just not when updating, though it's probably advisable to at least wipe dalvik cache.
Sent from my One using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Thanks guys I was a little confused! Never had a phone without an SD card.
zephiK said:
The phone has a internal storage eMMC 5.0 of 16GB/64GB.
No it does not wipe your internal storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
vladashram said:
Yes it treats the virtual sdcard as an actual sdcard, and will not format it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DuckMcQUack said:
It works this way even with devices with external sd cards. Internal memory is not touched.
What you're actually working on is only system partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Jack of Clubs said:
/data/media is where your personal storage is. It's symbolically linked to /sdcard as well for old apps the need it. When you factory reset (format /data) it excludes /data/media. Nothing is lost. You also don't need to wipe every time you flash a ROM. At least you don't unless you are changing to a different ROM just not when updating, though it's probably advisable to at least wipe dalvik cache.
Sent from my One using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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Click to collapse
naruto.ninjakid said:
Thanks guys I was a little confused! Never had a phone without an SD card.
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Click to collapse
If your using twrp there is wipebwhich does a factory wipe which wipes the data and cache. Doesnt touch your actual data. If you go to advanced wipe in wipe you can choose whatever your want. And wipe whole phone. But if you do that you will need to backup and then sideload or use USB otg to flash a ROM back....

internal storage and flashing

Ok so I'm having a brainfart here...
flashing a rom, you wipe, it clears out the storage, userdata, etc (all your personal stuff) everytime I do this, I plug my n5 in, open up win explorer and then start copying my folders off (takes soooo long to do this) then flash the rom...
boot up (start everything, wifi, accounts, etc..)
then copy all my stuff back (takes another good chunk of time, usually cause i can't just grab it all and wait the time, I have to move smaller chunks of files, documents, etc)
so my question is how do you all manage your internal storage?? It has become so painful to keep moving my data on/off/on my phone (used to just pull the sd card) I have dropbox sync/upload my pics, but everything else sits on the phone.. am i missing something..
is there a better way to move/copy my personal stuff quicker/easier so it doesn't get lost, but isn't so time consuming ??
ekz13 said:
Ok so I'm having a brainfart here...
flashing a rom, you wipe, it clears out the storage, userdata, etc (all your personal stuff) everytime I do this, I plug my n5 in, open up win explorer and then start copying my folders off (takes soooo long to do this) then flash the rom...
boot up (start everything, wifi, accounts, etc..)
then copy all my stuff back (takes another good chunk of time, usually cause i can't just grab it all and wait the time, I have to move smaller chunks of files, documents, etc)
so my question is how do you all manage your internal storage?? It has become so painful to keep moving my data on/off/on my phone (used to just pull the sd card) I have dropbox sync/upload my pics, but everything else sits on the phone.. am i missing something..
is there a better way to move/copy my personal stuff quicker/easier so it doesn't get lost, but isn't so time consuming ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you tell me you wipe userdata/internal storage everytime you flash a new rom? You only have to wipe select data, cache, dalvik and system in TWRP. Not internal storage that's just a waste of your time
custom roms... yes, most want full wipes, then I had the storage issue (showing 16 vs 32) so wiped again...
(pretty much any flash, I get a storage mismatch and have to clean/wipe user to fix it, hence taking all my data off and putting it back on again)
@GtrCraft Internal storage isn't the same as sd card. Internal storage is where the system partitions are written to. Or I'm wrong?
zagorteney said:
@GtrCraft Internal storage isn't the same as sd card. Internal storage is where the system partitions are written to. Or I'm wrong?
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Click to collapse
You are wrong. There is a system, a data and a cache partition. The sdcard/internal storage is in /data/media so inside the data partition. But TWRP and probably other recoveries except stock have an option to wipe data without /data/media
---------- Post added at 05:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:16 PM ----------
ekz13 said:
custom roms... yes, most want full wipes, then I had the storage issue (showing 16 vs 32) so wiped again...
(pretty much any flash, I get a storage mismatch and have to clean/wipe user to fix it, hence taking all my data off and putting it back on again)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that's anither story. Don't know why you always get it and I never
GtrCraft said:
You are wrong. There is a system, a data and a cache partition. The sdcard/internal storage is in /data/media so inside the data partition. But TWRP and probably other recoveries except stock have an option to wipe data without /data/media
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once, I've wipe Internal Storage in TWRP and phone didn't boot anymore. So, how is that?
zagorteney said:
Once, I've wipe Internal Storage in TWRP and phone didn't boot anymore, but content of SD card stayed untouch. So, how is that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That isn't right at all, which TWRP do you use. And do you use the one for hammerhead
GtrCraft said:
That isn't right at all, which TWRP do you use. And do you use the one for hammerhead
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In generally yes, but I'm not 100% sure which one I had at that particullary moment. But that's why I was confused. So I never use wipe Internal storage in TWRP anymore, because I thought that I will also get system wiped.
Thank you very much on your effort. Regards, Zagor
GtrCraft said:
You are wrong. There is a system, a data and a cache partition. The sdcard/internal storage is in /data/media so inside the data partition. But TWRP and probably other recoveries except stock have an option to wipe data without /data/media
---------- Post added at 05:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:16 PM ----------
Yeah that's anither story. Don't know why you always get it and I never
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no idea, but that is generally the source of my woes on this issue.. I try to utilize dropbox and drive as much as possible but was wondering what everyone else does in lieu of copying every file off and back on after flashing and getting that error ( or others.)
ekz13 said:
I have no idea, but that is generally the source of my woes on this issue.. I try to utilize dropbox and drive as much as possible but was wondering what everyone else does in lieu of copying every file off and back on after flashing and getting that error ( or others.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, most people dont have the storage issue that often so they don't have to copy regurlarly. Maybe flashing a complete factory image will fix your problem
think I did that at one point... I'll do it again just to make sure since I have everything already off it at the moment.. tnx
GtrCraft said:
That isn't right at all, which TWRP do you use. And do you use the one for hammerhead
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Today I've tried your theory, but after I wiped internal in TWRP 2.8.6.1 phone actually boots, but only black screen appear. How's that?

TWRP

Next time I go to flash a new custom rom I'm thinking of wiping internal storage just to really clean things out. Since I use my external SD card for TWRP to store backups etc... There's still the required TWRP directory on the internal storage which remains empty. If I wipe internal storage how will that effect that directory?
melp57 said:
Next time I go to flash a new custom rom I'm thinking of wiping internal storage just to really clean things out. Since I use my external SD card for TWRP to store backups etc... There's still the required TWRP directory on the internal storage which remains empty. If I wipe internal storage how will that effect that directory?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know how that will affect the directory but I can tell you for sure it won't affect ROM installation. Every time I flash a new ROM, I always wipe internal storage and I haven't faced any problems​.
It won't really effect it, unless you use themes or changed the stock configuration... those are the only things stored in the twrp directory of internal storage. You will notice the next time you start TWRP it will likely give you the warning screen about an unmodified system partition and ask you to allow changes.

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