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How do I wipe EVERYTHING on my internal SD card?

Hi guys.
I want to start from scratch regarding my internal SD card (not using external) because I have a lot of junk that just needs to be gone.
I'm running Synergy's latest nightly and am going to flash a Jelly Bean ROM (don't know which yet) right after wiping everything.
So my question is, what do I do to make sure everything is wiped, and my phone still boots? I'm kind of lost.
I usually use CWM to flash, so what do I press in order to do this?
Thanks a lot.

You have to format the internal card with a filw explorer or in a recovery
Sent from my SGH-I535 using xda premium

ikr said:
You have to format the internal card with a filw explorer or in a recovery
Sent from my SGH-I535 using xda premium
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Understood, but what happens when I try to reboot back into the phone; will it boot normally?

I ditto this question. I'm also curious about formatting my internal card and starting from scratch. I know factory reset from cwm recovery doesn't do it. I'm afraid to just start doing things and bricking this thing. Even though I was told by my cousin who has flashed many phone its very hard to hard brick a Samsung.
Sent from my Paranoid Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk.

Blutonic said:
Hi guys.
I want to start from scratch regarding my internal SD card (not using external) because I have a lot of junk that just needs to be gone.
I'm running Synergy's latest nightly and am going to flash a Jelly Bean ROM (don't know which yet) right after wiping everything.
So my question is, what do I do to make sure everything is wiped, and my phone still boots? I'm kind of lost.
I usually use CWM to flash, so what do I press in order to do this?
Thanks a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
section 6 of my guide :good:

Please forgive me but where is your guide?
Sent from my Paranoid Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk.

Blutonic said:
Understood, but what happens when I try to reboot back into the phone; will it boot normally?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it should boot fine. The sd just holds your junk and possible some config info for some apps.

piiman said:
Yes it should boot fine. The sd just holds your junk and possible some config info for some apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I'm just going to boot into CWM, Reformat, and Reboot. Hopefully everything goes well.
I'll get back to this topic to tell you how it went.

Ok, reformatting from CWM, then rebooting worked perfectly!
Going on to JB now, thanks for the help everyone.

Uhhh....right-click + "delete" while connected to your computer. Or from settings.
Sent from my SGH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Blutonic said:
Ok, reformatting from CWM, then rebooting worked perfectly!
Going on to JB now, thanks for the help everyone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After reformatting, the rom was still installed right? but all your apps and clutter was gone?
Just curious cause I also did data/factory reset from cwm and all it did was delete the rom and apps but all the stuff left over from the apps and music/photos/videos were still there.

uf21 said:
After reformatting, the rom was still installed right? but all your apps and clutter was gone?
Just curious cause I also did data/factory reset from cwm and all it did was delete the rom and apps but all the stuff left over from the apps and music/photos/videos were still there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey buddy they're talking a little different then just data reset. To erase all that other stuff go into cwm under mounts and storage and click format internal SD card. The ROM will still work but it will erase everything on your internal memory so if you have pictures you want back then up
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

kintwofan said:
Hey buddy they're talking a little different then just data reset. To erase all that other stuff go into cwm under mounts and storage and click format internal SD card. The ROM will still work but it will erase everything on your internal memory so if you have pictures you want back then up
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
I thinks thats what I'm looking for. Last question, if I do that will my system settings stay, will I have to sign into everything again and will all my apps be gone?

uf21 said:
I thinks thats what I'm looking for. Last question, if I do that will my system settings stay, will I have to sign into everything again and will all my apps be gone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In all honesty I'm not sure if it will erase settings as well. I don't believe it will but some app settings are stored on the SD card so you may have to sign back into some things.
If you choose to factory reset at the same time then yes you will have to reset everything up.
One thing to keep in mind if you make your backups without selecting external SD card they will ask be erased so you will have no backups
If I helped you in some way.... pass on the favor and help the next person!

kintwofan said:
In all honesty I'm not sure if it will erase settings as well. I don't believe it will but some app settings are stored on the SD card so you may have to sign back into some things.
If you choose to factory reset at the same time then yes you will have to reset everything up.
One thing to keep in mind if you make your backups without selecting external SD card they will ask be erased so you will have no backups
If I helped you in some way.... pass on the favor and help the next person!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been asking around since yesterday and no one could give me a straight answer until now, so thanks for your help, much appreciated.

uf21 said:
I've been asking around since yesterday and no one could give me a straight answer until now, so thanks for your help, much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad I could help out!
If I helped you in some way.... pass on the favor and help the next person!

kintwofan said:
Glad I could help out!
If I helped you in some way.... pass on the favor and help the next person!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quick question, I just went into cwm recover then mounts and storage and the options are
Format /cache
Format /system
Format /data
Format /preload
Format /sdcard
Would sdcard be the internal sd card?
It sounds like that wipes everything (rom and all) and not just internal sd?

uf21 said:
Quick question, I just went into cwm recover then mounts and storage and the options are
Format /cache
Format /system
Format /data
Format /preload
Format /sdcard
Would sdcard be the internal sd card?
It sounds like that wipes everything (rom and all) and not just internal sd?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You just want to wipe internal? if you want to be safe, take out your external sdcard, then do format /sdcard . This will wipe your internal sdcard.

[Q] How to completely wipe all data from my phone

Hello Sensationalists,
After 3 years I have upgraded my phone to an HTC One and would like to sell my old phone.
It is currently running ICS Android Revolution HD 7.3.
What I would like to do is wipe all data from my SD drive and sell the phone with a pre-installed latest version of Android Revolution. I have found several tools for erasing but do not want to brick my phone or do anything rash, so here I am asking the pro's :
What would be the best way to erase all data from my HTC Sensation (full erase, non recoverable) and provide the buyer with a clean installation of the phone?
I believe the factory reset is no longer possible due to the custom ROM installation etc. (been a while since I have worked with the phone so not sure).
Please be easy on me with the technical terms and abbreviations, I'm a little rusty :angel:.
Many thanks in advance!

just use the full wipe option from recovery and then install ARHD ROM again

rzr86 said:
just use the full wipe option from recovery and then install ARHD ROM again
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Click to collapse
Wipe data/Factory reset?
It asks me 'About to wipe data, cache and sd-ext partitions.. Wipe all Userdata?'. This is what you mean right? It's in the recovery EXT4 program.
And if I have done that then the entire thing is unrecoverable? So no private data can be found by using recovery programs?

Slickzor said:
Wipe data/Factory reset?
It asks me 'About to wipe data, cache and sd-ext partitions.. Wipe all Userdata?'. This is what you mean right? It's in the recovery EXT4 program.
And if I have done that then the entire thing is unrecoverable? So no private data can be found by using recovery programs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you have 4ext recovery use the format all partitions except sdcard option
i assume it is unrecoverable

rzr86 said:
if you have 4ext recovery use the format all partitions except sdcard option
i assume it is unrecoverable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But I want to wipe the SD card as well. Should I do 'Format all partitions (except SDcard)' and after that 'Format sdcard'? I read that people use special programs to completely wipe all data from SD cards with programs like 'RoadKill's diskwipe'. But if this program does the same thing then I'm good, I doubt it though, that's why I ask .

Slickzor said:
But I want to wipe the SD card as well. Should I do 'Format all partitions (except SDcard)' and after that 'Format sdcard'? I read that people use special programs to completely wipe all data from SD cards with programs like 'RoadKill's diskwipe'. But if this program does the same thing then I'm good, I doubt it though, that's why I ask .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
now i see
you want to wipe the sdcard too
hmm,
i don't know if from 4ext will be unrecoverable but it would be better to use a program to wipe it from pc

rzr86 said:
now i see
you want to wipe the sdcard too
hmm,
i don't know if from 4ext will be unrecoverable but it would be better to use a program to wipe it from pc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing is, I'm afraid that if I do this, reinstalling my phone will be a pain since EXT4 is put on the SDcard as far as I know. So if EXT4 doesn't wipe the data completely, and I have to use a PC program, I want to make sure I don't brick the device or delete crucial content for a clean installation.
So let me rephrase: How to wipe (unrecoverable) all data from my HTC Sensation including the SDcard, without losing the possibility of reinstalling the phone whilst avoiding the possibility of bricking the device/losing the possibility of a clean installation
I don't want the person that buys my phone to have access to files formerly stored on the SDcard or the phone itself.

Slickzor said:
The thing is, I'm afraid that if I do this, reinstalling my phone will be a pain since EXT4 is put on the SDcard as far as I know. So if EXT4 doesn't wipe the data completely, and I have to use a PC program, I want to make sure I don't brick the device or delete crucial content for a clean installation.
So let me rephrase: How to wipe (unrecoverable) all data from my HTC Sensation including the SDcard, without losing the possibility of reinstalling the phone whilst avoiding the possibility of bricking the device/losing the possibility of a clean installation
I don't want the person that buys my phone to have access to files formerly stored on the SDcard or the phone itself.
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Click to collapse
by formating anything from 4ext won't brick the device at all
by the way 4ext is not on sdcard
it has its own partition in emmc

rzr86 said:
by formating anything from 4ext won't brick the device at all
by the way 4ext is not on sdcard
it has its own partition in emmc
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I did not know that, thanks! I'll just use a program from my PC then to wipe all data, then do a format all partitions (except SDcard) and do a clean installation of Android Revolution 7.3 ICS for the new buyer. This should suffice then right? Will this also wipe the data on my phone, numbers etc.? (I will destroy my simcard since I won't need it any more).

Slickzor said:
I did not know that, thanks! I'll just use a program from my PC then to wipe all data, then do a format all partitions (except SDcard) and do a clean installation of Android Revolution 7.3 ICS for the new buyer. This should suffice then right? Will this also wipe the data on my phone, numbers etc.? (I will destroy my simcard since I won't need it any more).
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Click to collapse
it will wipe everything

rzr86 said:
it will wipe everything
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Click to collapse
Perfect, that's what I need. I'll start... ehh.. wiping then... :laugh:

It worked btw, a full format from windows 7 made it impossible to recover data by using recovery programs. All data was wiped and new OS is running . Thanks a lot!

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.
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vladashram said:
Yes it treats the virtual sdcard as an actual sdcard, and will not format it.
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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....

[Q] Wiping device 100% clean.

Hey guys, i havent owned a device in which i ever needed to use fastboot in and i learned how to for my one plus. Something is confusing me though... when i flash pieces of a rom onto my phone why do i not need to erase the phone first? Is it possible to erase everything off your phone before using fastboot and i mean EVERYTHING including the rom thats on it. When i had my gs4 i used twrp to wipe the entire device except the external sd card which had the rom in it and once it deleted everything off the phone i would install the new rom. Im kind of a clean freak in a sense... so how do i do that with the one plus and also if there is a way to completely wipe my device would it somehow mess something up... its kinda risky since opo doesnt have ext sd card which you can put a rom in if its bricked and just go into recovery and flash it... so what do you experts think?!
Edit: BASICALLY what i want to know is... if my device had no os to boot on and was basically lets say soft bricked it would be very easy to just use fastboot and install a rom correct?

When installing a ROM all you do first is wipe system/data/cache/dalvik cache using TWRP. At no point do you need to wipe the internal storage (virtual sd card). Fastboot shouldn't even come into the equation when installing a ROM. But, if you happen to wipe your OS and also wipe your internal storage, you can use adb while in TWRP to push a ROM zip to the phone to flash. My advice: don't ever wipe your sd card, there's no need for it.
Transmitted via Bacon

timmaaa said:
When installing a ROM all you do first is wipe system/data/cache/dalvik cache using TWRP. At no point do you need to wipe the internal storage (virtual sd card). Fastboot shouldn't even come into the equation when installing a ROM. But, if you happen to wipe your OS and also wipe your internal storage, you can use adb while in TWRP to push a ROM zip to the phone to flash. My advice: don't ever wipe your sd card, there's no need for it.
Transmitted via Bacon
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Click to collapse
Are you sure? Kay. I'll trust you on that until I feel adventurous and wanna try it but thanks anyways.
Sent from my A0001 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Yeah I'm sure, why would you need to wipe the sd card? The point of wiping the system, data, cache, and dalvik cache partitions is so you don't have remnants of a previous OS lingering when installing a new OS (obviously that will cause problems). The internal storage does not contain elements of the OS, it contains user data and user media. It is very (read: extremely) rare for data on the internal storage to cause problems and need to be wiped.
Transmitted via Bacon

timmaaa said:
Yeah I'm sure, why would you need to wipe the sd card? The point of wiping the system, data, cache, and dalvik cache partitions is so you don't have remnants of a previous OS lingering when installing a new OS (obviously that will cause problems). The internal storage does not contain elements of the OS, it contains user data and user media. It is very (read: extremely) rare for data on the internal storage to cause problems and need to be wiped.
Transmitted via Bacon
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The reason why is because i want to actually delete all my data. I dont know any other way that any other app can delete literally all my data off the phone and make my phone be at the max capacity again.

Just wipe your internal storage from recovery in addition to the other things already listed
Inviato dal mio A0001 utilizzando Tapatalk

[Completed] (status 6) installation aborted - That error on 4 diffirent MODs

Hi guys.
I am a noob in this, but i have done my research and did what i was told.
i have an I9100 and i have rooted it.
when installing CM12.1 (tried 3 diffirent versions) i am always getting status 6 installation aborted.
can the problem be with the kernels? i tried 3 diffirent kernels for I9100.
Please help
Much appreciated.

Hello,
Welcome to XDA.
If you are certain that the ROMs you are flashing are for the I9100 specifically(not another model), then you may be able to use jrummy's root browser to unzip the ROM zip that you are trying to flash, after unzipping, find the META.INF folder and open it then edit the updater script in that file, then using jrummy's root browser compress everything back into a flashable zip, when it prompts you asking which compression level you want to use, select "best", after its zipped, make sure it's placed on your extsdcard(do NOT put it on internal sdcard). When you get in recovery, go to the advanced options and select the option that lets you wipe individual partitions, wipe the system partition and the data partition(DO NOT WIPE ANY OF THE OTHER PARTITIONS), after wiping the system and data partitions you flash the ROM and see what happens.
If you need help understanding all that, you can ask in the forum linked below.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/help
I hope this helps, good luck.

Droidriven said:
Hello,
Welcome to XDA.
If you are certain that the ROMs you are flashing are for the I9100 specifically(not another model), then you may be able to use jrummy's root browser to unzip the ROM zip that you are trying to flash, after unzipping, find the META.INF folder and open it then edit the updater script in that file, then using jrummy's root browser compress everything back into a flashable zip, when it prompts you asking which compression level you want to use, select "best", after its zipped, make sure it's placed on your extsdcard(do NOT put it on internal sdcard). When you get in recovery, go to the advanced options and select the option that lets you wipe individual partitions, wipe the system partition and the data partition(DO NOT WIPE ANY OF THE OTHER PARTITIONS), after wiping the system and data partitions you flash the ROM and see what happens.
If you need help understanding all that, you can ask in the forum linked below.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/help
I hope this helps, good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry i wasnt clear,
my phone now has "Kernel_Dorimanx-V10.44-LP-SGII-PWR-CORE_-[08-01]-[26-06]-LP-SGII-PWR-CORE.zip"
When im flashing "cm-12.1-20151114-NIGHTLY-i9100.zip" , i get status 6 error.
i followed the instructions on how to fix it using notepad++, and it still doesnt work. tried 4 roms, same error.
unfortunately my external sd card with the backup was wiped. so i have no rom installed.
did i brick my phone? if so let me know what i did wrong please.
much appreciated friend.

When coming from jelly bean or kit kat to lollipop you have to format system and data partition before flashing. Did you do that, you didn't mention in your last two posts that you did that.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
When coming from jelly bean or kit kat to lollipop you have to format system and data partition before flashing. Did you do that, you didn't mention in your last two posts that you did that.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
I was coming from icecream sandwich, and yes, i wiped data, cache partition, and dalvik cache.

Uncle Sam the 1st said:
I was coming from icecream sandwich, and yes, i wiped data, cache partition, and dalvik cache.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, those are the normal wipes, I'm talking about the format options. Which recovery do you have? CWM or TWRP?
If CWM, boot to CWM, then choose the mounts and storage option in recovery, in that menu you will see the option to format partitions, format system and data partitions, don't format any other partitions or you'll cause more problems. After they are formatted go back to main menu in recovery then continue into flashing your ROM and Gapps. If it doesn't work after that then there are probably things like your modem or bootloader that need to be updated, if that is the case then it means you need to flash any stock updates that came after Jelly bean for your device(to flash stock updates you have to be unroofed and have an unmodified system partition) and then flash your custom ROM, but you need to check that because some devices can't be rooted after certain updates have been taken, it varies from device to device.
If you have TWRP then you'll see an option saying format or wipe in TWRP, choose that option and find where you wipe system and data(again, do not format any other partitions). Then after format is done go flash the ROM.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
No, those are the normal wipes, I'm talking about the advanced format options. Which recovery do you have? CWM or TWRP?
If CWM, boot to CWM, then choose the advanced option in recovery, in the advanced menu you will see the option to format partitions, format system and data partitions, don't format any other partitions or you'll cause more problems. After they are formatted go back to main menu in recovery then continue into flashing your ROM and Gapps. If it doesn't work after that then there are probably things like your modem or bootloader that need to be updated, if that is the case then it means you need to flash any stock updates that came after Jelly bean for your device(to flash stock updates you have to be unroofed and have an unmodified system partition) and then flash your custom ROM, but you need to check that because some devices can't be rooted after certain updates have been taken, it varies from device to device.
If you have TWRP then you'll see an option saying format or wipe in the TWRP main menu, choose that option and find where you wipe system and data(again, do not format any other partitions). Then after format is done go flash the ROM.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
i have CWM but i dont see any option to format partitions. and frankly i dunno what am doin anymore
i dont wanna loose this phone it means alot to me.
i was wondering, at this point can i unroot it and go back to original firmware and then do everything again?
If so can you please post the links i will need to do so.
you have been very helpful thanks man.

Uncle Sam the 1st said:
i have CWM but i dont see any option to format partitions. and frankly i dunno what am doin anymore
i dont wanna loose this phone it means alot to me.
i was wondering, at this point can i unroot it and go back to original firmware and then do everything again?
If so can you please post the links i will need to do so.
you have been very helpful thanks man.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, the format options are in the mounts and storage option in recovery, i misspoke earlier, it has been a while since i used CWM, I use TWRP because of some things i do. Try doing the format system and data and then installing your ROM and see if it works.

Droidriven said:
Sorry, the format options are in the mounts and storage option in recovery, i misspoke earlier, it has been a while since i used CWM, I use TWRP because of some things i do. Try doing the format system and data and then installing your ROM and see if it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cant i install TWRP and do it like u said ? cz i tried doing the format system and data and nothing changed. :/

Turns out the Roms i was trying to install were faulty.
i downloaded a new rom and flashed it successfully.
thanks for your help Droidriven. :good:

Uncle Sam the 1st said:
Turns out the Roms i was trying to install were faulty.
i downloaded a new rom and flashed it successfully.
thanks for your help Droidriven. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry man, I was at work, I just got home. Glad you got it going, enjoy.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk