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[Q] rom flash without sd card

Could use some help... I've flashed many roms before but this is my first doing so to a device without sd card storage (i9023). How would I go about flashing a rom to my phone? and how can i nandroid backup without it being deleted when I wipe the device?

Don't worry bro... Wiping Data(factory reset), Dalvik, and Cache, won't also wipe your /sdcard partition.
/sdcard can be wiped out with "format" which can be found on "mounts and storage" section.

OK, thanks. just to confirm, when you say /sdcard, you refer to the internal storage correct?
syntax_gosong said:
Don't worry bro... Wiping Data(factory reset), Dalvik, and Cache, won't also wipe your /sdcard partition.
/sdcard can be wiped out with "format" which can be found on "mounts and storage" section.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

wethead4 said:
OK, thanks. just to confirm, when you say /sdcard, you refer to the internal storage correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that's correct.
"/sdcard" won't be formated if you do wiping for other partition.

furthermore, even you wiped sdcard, you can also mount usb to your PC and transfer file after you wipef.
one more thing, there is one thing called "Odin" can allow you flash without sdcard

[Q] Error E:format_Volume: make_extf4fs failed on on dev/block/mmcblk1p2

Im having a trouble reflashing a ROM. During my efforts to fix my horrible battery life problem by doing Odin back to stock and reflashing DK ROM something else has gone wrong.
I go to to Recovery and I tried to wipe data and Reset to Factory
it says
Formatting / data......
Formatting / Cache....
Formatting / sd-ext....
E:format_Volume: make_extf4fs failed on on dev/block/mmcblk1p2
Formatting/sdcard/.android_secure....
Data wipe Complete.
It also says, sd-ext.img not found when I restored my Nandroid backup. Not sure whats going on here...
When it restarts, its still the same old rom with everything still there, just with user data wiped like my google login. How do I fix this? I have already Odin back to stock, rerooted and CWM and am still getting this issue. Could this be contributing to my terrible battery drain?

Nothing wrong, that's normal.
ROMs on phones that didn't have enough local space to install any real number of apps, etc (think Nexus One, or HTC Evo 4G) used to create a second partition on the SD card. This partition was formatted to ext4 and mounted in place of stuff like /system/apps or /data, etc..
Nandroid simply tries to format the partition if it's there, and obviously it isn't. I doubt anyone here has that partition. The sd-ext.img would be the image file nandroid would create if you did have the partition and you backed it up.

But the problem is I cant flash another ROM without doing the factory reset, and when I do factory reset I get that error and the new ROM isnt flashed.... I have never had this error before when I flashed DK originally, or on my last Blaze phone. I need to fix this issue so I can flash a different ROM, or next newest update to this ROM.

You've got some other problems then, because I get that error all the time and have for some time on all sorts of phones.
Once the /data partition is formatted, your wipe is complete. The /cache is good stuff too... once you see those two lines, you are all resetted.
If you nandroid restore, you're going back to what you had.

So why wont it factory reset then? Everytime I do factory reset in recovery, it shows all my files and stuff still on the phone. It never completely wipes my phone. I dont know what to do or what the problem is...
Is there a certain way everything is supposed to look in mounts and storage? Whats supposed to be mounted or unmounted? And what should be formatted?

Factory reset doesn't wipe your sd card. For that you have to format it from the settings menu.

dr4stic said:
Factory reset doesn't wipe your sd card. For that you have to format it from the settings menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you explain how to do that?

I beilive he means in CWM, under mounts and storage, format /sdcard
Sent from my SGH-T769

No, I meant in android. I'm sure a quick Google search would turn it up, but here goes: Settings -> Storage... you'll want to unmount first, then format.
SD card = removable card
USB Storage = internal storage
Just remember, this will destroy ALL your data on whichever you choose to format. Everything, your pictures, music, etc...

Wondering why my data transferred over when I installed CM10.1.

Before I installed CM10.1 my phone was a stock Verizon Samsung Galaxy SIII with JellyBean 4.1.1 on it. I had all of my apps, pictures, etc. on it. (I also have no External SD card). I ended up rooting the phone and installed ClockWorkMod I pushed wipe/factory reset within the ClockWorkMod menu (up/power/home). I also wiped the caches and Dalvik cache. I then installed CM10.1. Once CM10.1 was installed I went to settings > backup & reset and then did a Factory data rest. This did yet again another factory reset with CM10.1.
I am wondering how in the world I still have all of my 500 images / videos in my Gallery that were on my original stock JellyBean 4.1.1. Could someone please tell me. Also, please tell me what I should have done to get a completely fresh installation without a single thing from the past. The only thing I guess I could have done was a factory reset when I was on JellyBean 4.1.1 to wipe everything, then install CM10.1.
(BY THE WAY I always have Back up my data, backup account, Automatic restore all UNCHECKED)

The factory data reset doesn't wipe the InternalSD, it just removes apps and settings and puts the phone back to how it came out of the box (settings wise). To delete all the data on your internal SD card, go to Mounts and Storage and you'll see an option for "format /data and /data/media (/sdcard)". That will delete everything on your internalSD.
Here's the catch, though. If you don't have an EXTERNAL SD with the rom you want to flash on it, you'll wipe off whatever rom you were going to flash, leaving you with a phone that has nothing to "boot up".
If you want to start clean, wipe /system, /data, /cache, and dalvik cache, flash your rom, then format the internal SD, don't do it the other way around.
I think that'll work....someone else chime in if I'm wrong about wiping sd after rom intall (that'll get rid of the /0 folder...could cause a problem booting up...)
The easiest way is to just buy an external sd card....doesn't have to be big (2 gig), put your flashable zip on it, wipe /system, /data, /cache, internal sd, and dalvik cache, then flash the zip on the external.

letinsh said:
The factory data reset doesn't wipe the InternalSD, it just removes apps and settings and puts the phone back to how it came out of the box (settings wise). To delete all the data on your internal SD card, go to Mounts and Storage and you'll see an option for "format /data and /data/media (/sdcard)". That will delete everything on your internalSD.
Here's the catch, though. If you don't have an EXTERNAL SD with the rom you want to flash on it, you'll wipe off whatever rom you were going to flash, leaving you with a phone that has nothing to "boot up".
If you want to start clean, wipe /system, /data, /cache, and dalvik cache, flash your rom, then format the internal SD, don't do it the other way around.
I think that'll work....someone else chime in if I'm wrong about wiping sd after rom intall (that'll get rid of the /0 folder...could cause a problem booting up...)
The easiest way is to just buy an external sd card....doesn't have to be big (2 gig), put your flashable zip on it, wipe /system, /data, /cache, internal sd, and dalvik cache, then flash the zip on the external.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually have an external SD card where I keep CM10.1 and gapps for JellyBean 2.4.1. So I can just go into mount and storage and click every single format option there except for the external SD one right. Then I can install CM10.1 and gapps. Right?

HunterT said:
I actually have an external SD card where I keep CM10.1 and gapps for JellyBean 2.4.1. So I can just go into mount and storage and click every single format option there except for the external SD one right. Then I can install CM10.1 and gapps. Right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeppers. That's the best way to make sure you're starting so fresh and so clean, clean.

[Q] Internal Data Wipe pre Rom Flash

I am curious about doing an internal data wipe before flashing a new Rom. I am using TWRP 2.5.5. I am on the 4.2 bootloader and am about to update to the new CROMi. I know that doing a factory reset wipes dalvik, cache, and system, am I wrong in thinking this still leaves some stuff left over on your internal SD? If it does, I want to format all of it. I have the 4.2.1 bootloader, the CROMi rom, and a 4.2.1 stock nandroid backup I made in TWRP all saved on my external SD. What I dont understand is if I format all the data on the internal, how will the tablet know what to do when I boot it back up? Will TWRP be lost? If it does boot back up, what will it boot back up to? I just dont quite understand this internal SD formatting thing so well, so I am asking for some help so I can avoid doing something stupid. I know this is possible because I have read about other people doing it in the CROMi thread, I just want to make sure I am not missing anything

Your tablet has the following partitions (and some others which are irrelevant for this discussion):
- Bootloader
- Recovery
- Linux kernel
- Cache partition (/cache)
- System partition (/system)
- Data partition (/data)
The internal SD card is an emulation that uses /data/media as storage. So if you format /data, that removes all user data including the contents of your "internal SD card" emulation. I don't know why the normal "factory reset" somehow deletes only the rest of /data excluding /data/media. It may be convenient but not what I would understand as "factory reset".
If you format /system (which is not touched by a factory reset), you won't be able to boot Android unless you install a new ROM before you reboot. You don't need to format /system, it's done by the CROMI installer anyway.

_that said:
Your tablet has the following partitions (and some others which are irrelevant for this discussion):
- Bootloader
- Recovery
- Linux kernel
- Cache partition (/cache)
- System partition (/system)
- Data partition (/data)
The internal SD card is an emulation that uses /data/media as storage. So if you format /data, that removes all user data including the contents of your "internal SD card" emulation. I don't know why the normal "factory reset" somehow deletes only the rest of /data excluding /data/media. It may be convenient but not what I would understand as "factory reset".
If you format /system (which is not touched by a factory reset), you won't be able to boot Android unless you install a new ROM before you reboot. You don't need to format /system, it's done by the CROMI installer anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aweomse! Thanks for helping me understand that a little better. My first ROM was CROMi 3.4.4 and I researched all this for about an entire week before I started this but I never fully understand the difference with formatting internal SD and factory reset. I have always installed the new ROM before rebooting anyway but it is nice to know CROMi does the system wipe for you. Didnt know that. If I were to do a complete wipe, would I need to install the most recent 4.2 bootloader prior to installing CROMi so it is there for CROMi to build on?
Oh, and btw your Kernels for CROMi are outstanding.

Turin87 said:
My first ROM was CROMi 3.4.4 and I researched all this for about an entire week before I started this but I never fully understand the difference with formatting internal SD and factory reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is even official TWRP documentation about wiping: http://teamw.in/whattowipe
(I personally have never used any of the wipe options so far, so I am just repeating what I read about it)
Turin87 said:
If I were to do a complete wipe, would I need to install the most recent 4.2 bootloader prior to installing CROMi so it is there for CROMi to build on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no "wipe bootloader" option, so there is no need to reinstall the bootloader. Wiping the bootloader would also brick your device and you would need nvflash to recover.

_that said:
There is even official TWRP documentation about wiping:
(I personally have never used any of the wipe options so far, so I am just repeating what I read about it)
There is no "wipe bootloader" option, so there is no need to reinstall the bootloader. Wiping the bootloader would also brick your device and you would need nvflash to recover.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know. Glad I didnt attempt that. My firmware version was .30 so nvflash was not an option for me. Thanks again for your help.

[Q] Corrupted internal storage

ill keep this simple. tried to advanced wipe data and cache with TWRP which returned an E:/ unable to mount for both data and cache. internal storage is now saying its 0MB after i "fastboot erase" on as many of the partitions it would return success with (ie, what was mounted) flashall is asking me for a specific device.
How do i reset the internal partitions so they become mountable again? i believe in erasing the ones i had, it has deleted them altogether and i need to flash original firmware to get it to auto restructure (im guessing)
EDIT: so i downloaded this (link not allowed) i just dont know how to implement it through adb or fastboot
somewhere i read that the latest moto PQ versions for CWM and TWRP both have some selinux problem when wiping data, causing a force unmount (parroting. i DONT know what im talking about)
the first time i installed with CM11 with twrp (after CMW only allowing me to install 10.2) it worked great, except google play and whisperpush(whatever that is) crashing consistently. i should have used 'fix permissions' instead of going for a wipe+re-install
please help, what commands do i need to use through fastboot to restore the partitions, or where can i get the fxz file to use with RSD?
this is a brand new out of the box Sim-modded and pre-rooted PQ

SOLVED (i think)
god im so ****ing stupid.
due to corrupting the file structure and not being able to mount the cache or data partitions, when i installed CM11 snapshot it picked my external SD as the data storage /android/data/
FIX: unmounting and removing the external SD i rebooted to system, booted back to recovery. -> factory reset.... auto reboot, cant mount messages, then a second time it said SELinux supported message. ->factory reset again and finally no red messages, wipe to system (got an error, but probably cause system = external SD). i then inserted the external SD, installed the ROM and everything looks normal and working right
TWRP will restore file structure with 'factory reset' BUT ONLY IF you remove your external sd
i hope this thread saves time and headaches for someone.