Related
Everyone,
I've written this a bunch of times but and putting it in
it's own thread so folks can read and use it.
Memory and Storage:
/sdcard -- internal memory of the tablet
/sdcard2 -- microSD card in the external slot
/usbdisk -- USB key slot
Stock Recovery Info:
Main method: Put your recovery folder and update.zip on /sdcard, turn off the tablet, the press power and volume + to initiate standard recovery.
Second method: Put your recovery folder and update.zip on a microSD card. Edit the command file in the recovery folder with Notepad to change the location from /sdcard to /sdcard2 and save it with the name "command" (NO
.txt or other file extension). Then boot recovery with power/volume + and the OS will use the sdcard (assuming you don't have a live recovery/update.zip file in /sdcard).
Third method: If you can boot recovery to CWM but can't get your ROM to work, go in recovery to the mount menu and go down to the mount USB memory option and choose it. Then plug your connector cable from the miniUSB port to your PC. When you plug into your PC an Explorer window should open and you should have a drive letter representing the G-Tablet (it's G: on mine) on your menu. You now can select that letter and you have access to your tablet memory (/sdcard). I've even had a time or two when not a single file showed!!! I added update.zip and recovery and loaded
a ROM!
The tablet boot process apparently checks /SDCARD. If it doesn't find a recovery file there it does the same check if you have a miniSD external card installed. The large USB slot is not useable for booting or recovery so far as I have determined or read.
I hope this helps you.
Rev
EDIT: I didn't put one fact in here about recovery that everyone should know. When you run a recovery operation, the system deletes the command file so you can't accidentally do it again. If you have to run a recovery or
attempt to load something again, make sure you have a command file in the recovery folder with the correct command in it!!! Sorry I omitted this first time around.
Placeholder
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Hope everybody who needs this has seen it. I won't kick it up again.
Rev
Can you also add information about partitioning of /sdcard and why would one need it?
Is there another "hidden" flash memory available for firmware or all mods and custom ROMs go into /sdcard only?
Thanks so much, I thought I'm dead cuz I wiped out everything.
This may have been asked before, but how does one perform a full data wipe w/o using CWM? Thanks.
HackaMathecian said:
This may have been asked before, but how does one perform a full data wipe w/o using CWM? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to use nvflash (nvidia tegra SoC flashing utility). There are alot of posts about it. Do be carefull if you go this route, as even though you will not damage your tablet, it may be difficult to put it back to a bootable state if you don't do it properly.
thanks!
thanks great. simple and to the point. should help people that get confused. thanks again!
Vlad_z,
It has been my experience that when somebody gets boot loops, it often involves a
partition problem. Also, sometimes the G-Tablet does flaky things. I have one I
just shut down. Restarted it with boot looping and had to rebuild.
The three locations listed above are the three memory places you can store stuff
unless you find software that custom sets up something else.
Rev
Os Money:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=861950
This thread completely explains the NVFlash process.
Rev
That's kind of odd, my removable sd card ended up with the label ex-sd. Doesn't seem to be messing anything up though.
sixtofive,
I've never seen or heard of that with the stock ROM. Are you running a different ROM?
Some of them do change the directories.
Rev
So simply put, we should copy and backup the recovery folder and update.zip in /sdcard (or tablet storage) and when things get f'ed up, we move the recovery folder and update.zip back into the /sdcard?
Maybe it's just me, but I looked into the recovery that was already in the tablet and there's nothing in it; is that normal? If not, can anyone provide the back up recovery folder and update.zip just in case?
sam,
Recovery is simply a folder which holds a file named "command" in it. Command is a file
that has the command line in it with the command and parameters to "recover" or "load" files onto your G-Tablet.
Sometimes when your tablet gets messed up, you can still use recovery and are lucky. But sometimes the recovery partition gets damaged and then you have to look
for other ways to get in and fix things.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1010943
Many of us keep telling people there is a lot to learn here -- and Android doesn't have
all the stuff built into it Windows does. Nor is Android known for it's great documentation!
If everyone would read all the stickies at the start of the forums, it would provide
probably 80% of everything they need to know.
Rev
If OP also put links to stock ROMs, that would be great
interesting...even though I don't have a microSD card in mine /sdcard2 seems to be a valid directory within "root explorer"
what partition and memory structure should I be seeing on my brand new g-tablet? any suggestion on "mount" and "df" output?
Question, which is the best method or quicker to backup before attempting other rom installs?
Deleting CWM
How would one delete CWM so that the tablet can be returned?
Got my gtablet last evening. Seems there is a lot to learn.
thanks butchconner...
Thanks all the people who are contributing at xda. You are doing a wonderful job. In fact I bought this device because of you ( I think Viewsonic owes you guys a lot. At least they avoided a big loss because of you. )
Two questions:
1) Is it recommended to flash back to stock before changing roms?
2) Is there a link to the stock Rom files that I am missing?
Thanks
Hi techie friends,
My unrooted g2x is stuck in a reboot loop. Before I do a hard reset (power/volume down), I would like to retrieve my photos, which are stored in the internal memory. Is there a way? [Here is what I tried so far: I tried a soft reset (battery out) with no success. I connected the g2x to my PC but it is invisible. I tried holding just the volume down key and got a "s/w upgrade, please wait while upgrading..." screen. Is there any hope to retrieve my photos? I googled the issue and found nothing useful.] Thank you in advance for trying to help me! Catherine
Im having the same issue on a friends G2X... nobody has the answer?
hmmmmm, this is an interesting one. the very first thing i would do is get that phone backed up. you will need to flash a custom recovery(clockwork mod) in order to make a backup. search the development section. once you have a backup on your sdcard, i'd copy it to my pc. thinking.......
from recovery, you can try "fix permissions".
reboot. if that doesn't work, go back to recovery>advanced>wipe dalvik cache. reboot. if that doesn't work, try recovery again>mounts and storage and mount everything listed. see if the drives open up under "my computer" on your pc. for me, that last option doesn't work. but it could just be my pc or my recovery version.
or, you could flash any rom you want, and then mount the phone to your pc. then try running a data recovery program on the internal sdcard.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
forget the link i posted above. it seems it has trouble reading the internal sd. but i'm running get data back right now. it seems like it's working fine. if these pictures are absolutely worth saving, you might have to dish out some cash for a data recovery app. but always use a trial version first to make sure it works. and once you flash a new rom, keep the phone off until you are ready to run a recovery app. the less that gets written to the drive, the better your chances for retrieving those pics.
or, you can try this... https://market.android.com/details?id=com.hexamob.hexamobrecoverypro&feature=search_result . you'll need to be rooted and have superuser app on your phone. but this looks like the cheapest alternative. i have never used it though. reviews look good though.
I'm pretty sure a hard reset doesn't touch anything located on the sdcard. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it should only format the 1GB partition where the android system is installed and apps are stored. You will basically be starting with a fresh install, but should still have anything stored on your sdcard still intact.
G2X CM7
Hmmm,
Can't you just mount the internal memory via the latest Clockwork Recovery which is as I recall 4.0.0.2?
It worked the last time (the same option with the same trouble) on my Vibrant 3G
phburks said:
I'm pretty sure a hard reset doesn't touch anything located on the sdcard. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it should only format the 1GB partition where the android system is installed and apps are stored. You will basically be starting with a fresh install, but should still have anything stored on your sdcard still intact.
G2X CM7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, you are right. HR will not erase the SD content and I also think that it will leave the the internal NANDs partition intact. But I dont know where the pics in this case are stored.
Correct if I'm wrong.
Antigen said:
Actually, you are right. HR will not erase the SD content and I also think that it will leave the the internal NANDs partition intact. But I dont know where the pics in this case are stored.
Correct if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Camera pics are stored under DCIM on the sdcard. Really any user created content/files (pics, music, videos, documents, etc) are on the memory card and shouldn't be touched by a hard reset. So I think youre in the clear if that's the route you go.
G2X CM7
hello, i was about to flash a new rom on my hd 2 and i forgot that i put a wrong sd, and i partioned my sd and now i lost everything, is there a way to recover all my files? i havent done anything to the sd since i partioned it!
edit: i did this in CWM recovery
Try google this testdisk-6.12-WIP. It can restore partition along with files in it. Or try some data recovery software,mostly they works
Sent from my blek krupuk
do you know any program that can recover all kind of files, because i need all my files
anyone? please?
Not gunna happen what do u think happens when you delete things from your trashcan
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
i did the partion on the phone, i heared thats it possible to recover them if i havent written any new files
Try a program like Recurva I'm not sure if it works on flash memory though.
Malbadawi said:
i did the partion on the phone, i heared thats it possible to recover them if i havent written any new files
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is only applicable for magnetic disks. And also not if you deleted the whole damned partition, created it, and reformatted it again.
That alone is worse than writing a lot of files.
Consider your files lost. Next time back them up to somewhere.
i partioned it by cwm, and thought i had the wrong sd in.
Hi Malbadawi,
I would like to suggest you that go for Stellar Data Recovery Services & Software.
For my personal experience, when I had to recover files from hard disks or flash memory (usb key/SD), my best choice is GetDataBack (you will need FAT edition, not NTFS).
Just insert your sd in a card reader and follow the step by step tutorial. Do not attempt to reformat your card if your PC doesn't see that, the app will look into it at a lower level...
btw, a 100% recovery isn't always guaranteed, as you know, [email protected]!# happens
Yes, GetDataBack is a great program, try it instead of Stellar Data Recovery. But reformat card as said. Works fine for me.
Thanks all for replies i will try them when i get back home
Hi guys, i'm in desperate need of your help. i think my precious o3d might have been screwed.
first let me tell you what i did. as you know the internal sd card of o3d is 5gb or so and it fills up very quickly. this internal sd card is mounted as /sdcard. i have a class 10 16gb micro sd card and when i insert it, its automatically mounted as /sdcard/_ExternalSD. The applications or games, especially the ones that have external data folders which are like 1gb in size insists to be installed on /sdcard. You can't move those data folders to _ExternalSD, because then the apps doesn't work.
Then i came across this topic:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1189701
As you can see that was exactly what i needed. I had CWM 5.0.2.0 installed so i downloaded the first .zip then copied all of the files and folders excluding the _ExternalSD folder to the external sd card then rebooted into recovery. From there i flashed the zip and rebooted again. phone booted up and all was ok and it worked. now the phone sees the external sd card as the internal one and the internal sd card was mounted as /sdcard/_ExternalSD. I then formatted the internal sd card from the settings menu because i already copied all of the stuff there to the external card. It worked fine and the internal card is formatted. After that i decided to get a nandroid backup so i opened the rom toolbox program. From the menus i selected the backup option, gave it a name, clicked ok. the phone rebooted into cwm recovery screen but nothing happened. then i noticed something was not right because there was some error lines under the cwm menus saying "E:can't mount CACHE:recovery/command" etc. Then i selected the reboot phone option but the phone rebooted right back into the CWM recovery again!! At that point i knew that i was @#?^ed.
Anyways i researched a lot and came across this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1156549
i did exactly what he said and it worked, i mean it flashed nicely. then i rebooted the phone but it booted into the recovery again!!! But this time the CWM recovery was gone and i believe this is the stock recovery screen. I can browse the menu of it and make selections but the phone boots into the recovery every time it reboots.
The recovery screen looks like this:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7010/6654644033_b616bc0635_z.jpg
Then i flashed the phone to the latest official firmware V21A_00, it flashed nicely but it still boots right into the recovery everytime.
Then i installed the Android SDK and tried to push the original vold.fstab file to the system using the adb command line tool but it doesn't see the phone. I think adb works only when the system boots up normally, not in the recovery mode.
I don't know if there's a way to install the CWM from the stock recovery somehow. If you know how, please tell. The CWM has more options.
I don't know what else i can do. It started to look ridiculous. If there are any experts cool enough to help please do so. I'll be waiting. Thank you...
Edit:
I also tried this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1244490
I starts just fine but get's stuck on the "RESET" command, after a while it gives "DOWNLOAD FAIL!" error. I think the phone is supposed to restart automatically but it doesn't. Manually resetting the phone doesn't work either.
I'm about to pull my hair out...
Edit 2:
I also posted on the official LG Mobile forum here:
http://www.lgforum.com/forum/boards...d-goes-into-recovery-mode-every-time-it-boots
Fingers crossed
Quite a post!
From all your post there is no mention that you formated and did a factory reset after 21a flash.
Can you please try that if you haven't?
Sent from my LG-P920 using xda premium
thank you for the reply!
i tried all 4 wipe options on the recovery screen then rebooted. it's the same, i'm back at the good old recovery again
Did you try with the external sd card out?
This is strange, usually a kdz flash coupled with a format fixes the problem.
Some how it still can't find the internal SD card.
I don't have further recommendations. Sorry
Sent from my LG-P920 using xda premium
yes i tried with the external sd card out. it didn't work..
vpamir said:
yes i tried with the external sd card out. it didn't work..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hopefully someone else on this forum can suggest a way for you to unbrick.
your problem is although you have reset your phone, somehow it can't find a partition to boot from.
or
somehow the KDZ flashing is not totally successful.
good luck
If only there could be a way to be able to use the adb command from the Android SDK then i might be able to restore the vold.fstab file to its original, if the problem is that at all. Maybe then it'll work. To be able to flash the CWM Recovery again somehow might be a good thing too because it has more options like flashing .zip format roms but i have no idea how. Does anyone know if the stock recovery can flash some specifically named file to the system, does it have that kind of functionality? I'm desperate, please share your thoughts.
.............anyone?
I am sorry to say that but there is no solution for this problem yet. I have done the exact thing that you do and tried every single solution with no luck. The only way is to send it to lg repair service. My solution was to replace the mainboard.
Dostum gecmis olsun malesef tek cozum yolu anakarti degistirmek. Uzaman sayilirim android konusunda bosuna ugrasmayasin diye soyluyorum. LG servisi bile anca anakarti degistirerek cozum sunabildi. Temel problem internal karti formatlamis olman. Partititon table'i bozuyor bu islem malesef ve bu yuzden hicbir yontem ise yaramiyor.
Gecmis olsun tekrar...
so you say that the main problem was to format the internal sd card? well if formatting the internal sd card bricks the phone then why the hell is there an option to format it in the settings menu?
well if you didn't apply the swap fix, it wouldn't be a problem to format. When you swap the sd cards and format, it is the problem.
crime_of_heart said:
well if you didn't apply the swap fix, it wouldn't be a problem to format. When you swap the sd cards and format, it is the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so you did exactly the same thing as me right? i mean you applied the swap fix then formatted the internal sd?
replacing the motherboard to fix this seems to be a bit nonsense to me to be honest. what does the partition table have anything to do with the motherboard?
if only there would be a .kdz format custom rom which factory resets the internal sd card during the flash process and maybe fixes the bootloader somehow, that might be the solution.
yes i did the same and the only solution was to replace the motherboard. we need a sowftware that can reach to the emmc in low-level. like omap flasher. but we also need the correct drivers which doesn't exist yet.
crime_of_heart said:
yes i did the same and the only solution was to replace the motherboard. we need a software that can reach to the emmc in low-level. like omap flasher. but we also need the correct drivers which doesn't exist yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i don't know what the emmc is, i need to do research on that. but i still think that replacing the motherboard won't solve this issue because it seems non relevant to me. i messed up with the vold.fstab file. but after that it worked fine. i mean the internal and external cards swapped just fine. only after i decided to make a nandroid backup using rom toolbox all hell broke loose. i plan to wait a couple of days before turning the phone to LG service. i believe someone will come up with an idea.
yardım etmeye çalıştığın için teşekkür ederim bu arada
Well, there´s a new recovery for the O3D, v5.0.2.7 (I got it with ROM Manager).
It fixes 2 bugs of the previous (5.0.2.0) version: now the USB mass storage option in the mounts menu works (mount external SDCARD), and we can use ADB while in recovery. That way we can fix stuff in the phone filesystem while in recovery: we can now use ADB shell, or ADB push to replace files.
The problem is that I don´t know how to flash it to the phone while in the stock recovery. If someone can guide me on creating a signed ZIP containing this new recovery, flashable in the stock recovery, I would be glad to do that and post it here. I think these phones of you guys can be fixed using this method!
Marcovecchio said:
Well, there´s a new recovery for the O3D, v5.0.2.7 (I got it with ROM Manager).
It fixes 2 bugs of the previous (5.0.2.0) version: now the USB mass storage option in the mounts menu works (mount external SDCARD), and we can use ADB while in recovery. That way we can fix stuff in the phone filesystem while in recovery: we can now use ADB shell, or ADB push to replace files.
The problem is that I don´t know how to flash it to the phone while in the stock recovery. If someone can guide me on creating a signed ZIP containing this new recovery, flashable in the stock recovery, I would be glad to do that and post it here. I think these phones of you guys can be fixed using this method!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great news! But now i need to find a way to install the new CWM. Just as you said i believe what i need is to find or make a .kdz update which includes this new CWM.
What do you think?
I know this is possible, at least for the Galaxy Ace: I have a ZIP file for this device with a custom recovery image, flashable in stock recovery!
To make one for the Optimus 3D, I need to know the following:
- How can I obtain the .IMG of the new recovery? I have found some temp files in clockworkmod folder in my sdcard. The creation date of one of them matches the exact moment I upgraded my recovery, and the file size also matches a recovery image: 5.54MB. Is it the recovery image? Can I just rename it to recovery.img? How can I extract it to ensure it´s ok?
- After I get the recovery image, I can use the Galaxy Ace ZIP as the base to build the O3D zip file. Any help on what do I have to change to make it work correctly?
I also tried this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1244490
I starts just fine but get's stuck on the "RESET" command, after a while it gives "DOWNLOAD FAIL!" error. I think the phone is supposed to restart automatically but it doesn't. Manually resetting the phone doesn't work either.
I'm about to pull my hair out...
Edit: I'm 99% sure that this isn't a hardware related problem. And LG's software not being able to turn the phone to stock is totally [email protected]#$%!
On some "unbrick your optimus 3d" threads i came across this image:
http://attachments.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=667470&d=1311752328
i tried all methods around here but not once i came across a screen like it. weird...
well i give up guys. so much technical [email protected] going on and no one seems to understand this device enough. i'll turn it to the LG Repair Service today. Thank you everyone for your help...
I accidentally hit the FACTORY RESET option in HBOOT, and it seems the phone just rebooted into TWRP without doing anything. However it seems my SDcard is now empty and unformatted. Earlier I had two "Internal SDcard" options in TWRP\Mount but now I just have one, and if I try to click on Mount USB storage, the removable disk appears as an unformatted disk on my PC. Is there any to fix this? Is the SD gone for good or can I recover the data?
Run a Ruu and your phone should be fine again (dont forget to relock your bootloader)
I think your data you wiped is hopelessy gone..
Sent from my HTC One S using xda premium
I made a nandroid luckily, but I just realised that the problem is due to the sdcard not actually being able to mount. It says
E:unable to mount '/sdcard'
I'm using TWRP 2.5, maybe I will try with 2.3.1.0.
EDIT: Okay that didn't help. If I run a RUU won't it erase my SD card? I don't want to lose what's on there, is there any way to fix it and be able to mount it again?
Bottom line: I need the data on my SD... is there any way to recover it?
djsubtronic said:
Bottom line: I need the data on my SD... is there any way to recover it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No its gone sorry and no need for ruu just flash stock recovery and factory reset again.
Ten years of data just destroyed within the blink of an eye.
FML.
reformat the sd card and use recovery tools (google for them). most of your stuff will be easily brought back from the dead.
speedfreak007 said:
reformat the sd card and use recovery tools (google for them). most of your stuff will be easily brought back from the dead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did. It seems everything on the card was nuked. I tried about ten different recommended apps, none of them could find a single file even with deep searches.
djsubtronic said:
Ten years of data just destroyed within the blink of an eye.
FML.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry for your loss. Now, not to be a douche, but 10 years? Have you traveled through time with your One S?
Fruktsallad said:
I'm sorry for your loss. Now, not to be a douche, but 10 years? Have you traveled through time with your One S?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It easily could have been downloaded data. I'm really sorry to hear about your loss, but always keep a copy of your SD card on your PC, no matter what.
djsubtronic said:
I accidentally hit the FACTORY RESET option in HBOOT, and it seems the phone just rebooted into TWRP without doing anything. However it seems my SDcard is now empty and unformatted. Earlier I had two "Internal SDcard" options in TWRP\Mount but now I just have one, and if I try to click on Mount USB storage, the removable disk appears as an unformatted disk on my PC. Is there any to fix this? Is the SD gone for good or can I recover the data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
before going through the trouble of an RUU, if you can see the unformatted disk from your computer just try formatting it there into a FAT32 partition like you would any other drive. This has worked for folks successfully. But as for data recovery....
Dang that sucks... was there some sort of confirmation before starting the wipe? I've always been paranoid that I might fat finger it randomly and it just wipes without some kind of second check
Reflash the recovery img from fastboot then boot into recovery, you should be able to mount sd
Zero help to anyone, but I did exactly the same thing myself and had to mount the SD card in recovery and format.
It hurts!!
Well it's official. All my data is forever gone. And no there was no notification, I hit "FACTORY RESET", and it just paused for a second then rebooted into TWRP with my SD instantly destroyed. I tried every possible trick in the book. The problem for me wasn't just getting it to mount and work again, I could have done that in 20 seconds. The problem was to try and get it back WITH all my data, which I failed.
In the end, I made a RAW disk image backup of the sd card partition which for some bizarre reason ended up with a file that was 6 MB in size instead of 10 GB... I knew my data had somehow got nuked. I decided to just reformat it (Quick Format) as FAT32 on the PC, then I ran a host of data recovery programs, even those that were specialised in finding stuff from formatted drives. None of them could even find ONE file. But after format I was able to use it as normal.
I have really no clue how the entire drive was nuked within a fraction of a second, even all the data on it, but it is what it is.
On the bright side, for some reason my phone seems MUCH faster now, especially when installing apps, and the battery seems to last noticeably longer too.
djsubtronic said:
Well it's official. All my data is forever gone. And no there was no notification, I hit "FACTORY RESET", and it just paused for a second then rebooted into TWRP with my SD instantly destroyed. I tried every possible trick in the book. The problem for me wasn't just getting it to mount and work again, I could have done that in 20 seconds. The problem was to try and get it back WITH all my data, which I failed.
In the end, I made a RAW disk image backup of the sd card partition which for some bizarre reason ended up with a file that was 6 MB in size instead of 10 GB... I knew my data had somehow got nuked. I decided to just reformat it (Quick Format) as FAT32 on the PC, then I ran a host of data recovery programs, even those that were specialised in finding stuff from formatted drives. None of them could even find ONE file. But after format I was able to use it as normal.
I have really no clue how the entire drive was nuked within a fraction of a second, even all the data on it, but it is what it is.
On the bright side, for some reason my phone seems MUCH faster now, especially when installing apps, and the battery seems to last noticeably longer too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm. Maybe I should do it too lol.
You should automatically upload your photos or files somewhere. Mine upload to Dropbox so if anything bad happens, nothing too bad can go wrong.
djsubtronic said:
In the end, I made a RAW disk image backup of the sd card partition which for some bizarre reason ended up with a file that was 6 MB in size instead of 10 GB... I knew my data had somehow got nuked. I decided to just reformat it (Quick Format) as FAT32 on the PC, then I ran a host of data recovery programs, even those that were specialised in finding stuff from formatted drives. None of them could even find ONE file. But after format I was able to use it as normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's hard to do recover because normal format recovery might not work but you can try the old ver of Easy Recovery Pro 6.x(I don't know why but the lastest ver seems removed RAW recovery) and use the RAW recovery, it usually could find some stuffs. You can also try out Diskgenius.