Database Info

[SOLVED] Completely format system data cache partitions[making all zeroes]

I know the obvious ans would be to use 4ext superwipe.
What I want is like re-writing those partitions with all memory locations set to zeroes. The 4ext full wipe only works like quick format in windows desktop.
Any ideas how to do it?
____________________
Solved. See post 17 for details.

pushpann said:
I know the obvious ans would be to use 4ext superwipe.
What I want is like re-writing those partitions with all memory locations set to zeroes. The 4ext full wipe only works like quick format in windows desktop.
Any ideas how to do it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had to search a bit, but found an article that explains how to do this. It links to 3 apps (havn't tested myself, just remember there's no going back), from the description the first one only works on SD card, the second one might (it does not mention which partitions it formats), and the last one seems to be removed.
I did not read the whole article, but I suggest you do that before doing anything.
Good luck.

pushpann said:
I know the obvious ans would be to use 4ext superwipe.
What I want is like re-writing those partitions with all memory locations set to zeroes. The 4ext full wipe only works like quick format in windows desktop.
Any ideas how to do it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
A RUU will reset everything back to stock, and fix any partition issues.
Is that what you are after?

malybru said:
Hi,
A RUU will reset everything back to stock, and fix any partition issues.
Is that what you are after?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As he said, he wants it to be completely formatted, meaning no data can be recovered, which is like a hard full wipe - no way to restore.
RUU does format the data partition, but it only removes records of files, and the data itself is still available and possible to read (until new files will be written over it).

No! I dont want to get involved with RUU stuff.. I just want to completely wipe my phone.. Like complete formatting of the USB drives. All system and data partitions set to zeroes.
In simple words, if you do quick formating on pendrives, you can restore (some or all data before format, depends on what you've put on the drive after format ) using some Data Recovery tools.
What i believe is that recovery just wipes the memory addresses, without putting zeroes on all the memory locations. have been googling for this for almost a week, haven't got any clue yet!

pushpann said:
I know the obvious ans would be to use 4ext superwipe.
What I want is like re-writing those partitions with all memory locations set to zeroes. The 4ext full wipe only works like quick format in windows desktop.
Any ideas how to do it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would do it this way (this is something I came up with, and if it screws up anything, you are responsible) :
Write a script that reformat your nand rom and then dumps (creates) a huge file containing zeroes. Then reformat using 4ext and repartition.
I am curious, why exactly do you want to do this? The lack of results from Google would suggest that this is not something people would normally do.
JAM THAT THANKS BUTTON.
Happy to help.

I assume you're not going to use the phone after?
If you aren't going to use the phone after, one word. Sledgehammer.
If you are keeping the phone; create a file on the partition filled with rubbish (linux has a command for this). Make sure it fills the entire partition and then run mkfs.ext4 /dev/block/partition. Repeat a dozen times or create a script to do it for you.
It's easier than erasing the whole NAND disk and partitioning it. Mainly because you'll wipe the recovery partition and create an expensive paperweight. Which brings me back to sledgehammer.
Sent from my HTC

pushpann said:
No! I dont want to get involved with RUU stuff.. I just want to completely wipe my phone.. Like complete formatting of the USB drives. All system and data partitions set to zeroes.
In simple words, if you do quick formating on pendrives, you can restore (some or all data before format, depends on what you've put on the drive after format ) using some Data Recovery tools.
What i believe is that recovery just wipes the memory addresses, without putting zeroes on all the memory locations. have been googling for this for almost a week, haven't got any clue yet!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On my first commented I linked to an article which gives two ways to wipe your phone (set to zeroes and all). Here are the two apps:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kovit.p.forevergone
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.ethz.infsyssec.sddroid
Try those to see if they format the Data partition.

Far_SighT said:
I would do it this way (this is something I came up with, and if it screws up anything, you are responsible) :
Write a script that reformat your nand rom and then dumps (creates) a huge file containing zeroes. Then reformat using 4ext and repartition.
I am curious, why exactly do you want to do this? The lack of results from Google would suggest that this is not something people would normally do.
JAM THAT THANKS BUTTON.
Happy to help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm.. My phone has become very laggy.. No matter what ROM flash, what firmware I flash.
DennisBold said:
I assume you're not going to use the phone after?
If you aren't going to use the phone after, one word. Sledgehammer.
If you are keeping the phone; create a file on the partition filled with rubbish (linux has a command for this). Make sure it fills the entire partition and then run mkfs.ext4 /dev/block/partition. Repeat a dozen times or create a script to do it for you.
It's easier than erasing the whole NAND disk and partitioning it. Mainly because you'll wipe the recovery partition and create an expensive paperweight. Which brings me back to sledgehammer.
Sent from my HTC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By hearing what you say, i kinda feel little scared to do these steps. Anyway thanks for the suggestion..
astar26 said:
On my first commented I linked to an article which gives two ways to wipe your phone (set to zeroes and all). Here are the two apps:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kovit.p.forevergone
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.ethz.infsyssec.sddroid
Try those to see if they format the Data partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those apps dont work.. By internal data they mean internal sdcard not system or data partition.
BTW just saw this app called lagfix. It says it will discard the unused blocks, but doesnot work on my phone.. Has anyone tried it? For me it's saying trim on system,data and cache not supported! DAMN

DennisBold said:
I assume you're not going to use the phone after?
If you aren't going to use the phone after, one word. Sledgehammer.
If you are keeping the phone; create a file on the partition filled with rubbish (linux has a command for this). Make sure it fills the entire partition and then run mkfs.ext4 /dev/block/partition. Repeat a dozen times or create a script to do it for you.
It's easier than erasing the whole NAND disk and partitioning it. Mainly because you'll wipe the recovery partition and create an expensive paperweight. Which brings me back to sledgehammer.
Sent from my HTC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I had similar thoughts. I was going for repartition becasue then the whole of nandroid can be wiped in one go.
To clean the phone, sledgehammer / mowing the device with a car (or both, one after the other) are the best methods.
Here's one more idea. Create a pseudo nandroid backup with all of your nandroid partitions(/system /data /cache etc) filled with garbage/zeroes. Then restore that. And bam, the nandroid is hard formatted (after a quick format of course).
Like always, it's your phone. I am not responsible for anything that you do to it.
JAM THAT THANKS BUTTON.
Happy to Help.

pushpann said:
Hmm.. My phone has become very laggy.. No matter what ROM flash, what firmware I flash.
By hearing what you say, i kinda feel little scared to do these steps. Anyway thanks for the suggestion..
Those apps dont work.. By internal data they mean internal sdcard not system or data partition.
BTW just saw this app called lagfix. It says it will discard the unused blocks, but doesnot work on my phone.. Has anyone tried it? For me it's saying trim on system,data and cache not supported! DAMN
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried it yesterday, it's meant for certain devices that did not use the TRIM command like they should (Many Nexus 7 tablets were slowed down by this issue), but it seems the Sensation does not need it (or at least our kernels do not support the command).
What seems as the only way to do so is to create many blank files and delete them (like many already said). you can create a large file and copy it a few times to the Data partition, which will fill it, and then delete it. using a normal file manager will work (or you can use "adb push" command to push the file a couple of times).

Far_SighT said:
Yeah, I had similar thoughts. I was going for repartition becasue then the whole of nandroid can be wiped in one go.
To clean the phone, sledgehammer / mowing the device with a car (or both, one after the other) are the best methods.
Here's one more idea. Create a pseudo nandroid backup with all of your nandroid partitions(/system /data /cache etc) filled with garbage/zeroes. Then restore that. And bam, the nandroid is hard formatted (after a quick format of course).
Like always, it's your phone. I am not responsible for anything that you do to it.
JAM THAT THANKS BUTTON.
Happy to Help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You sure it does complete format while restoring nandroid? BTW i still am not sure how to fill system and data partitions with zeroes or garbage! Anyway thanks for the heads up

pushpann said:
You sure it does complete format while restoring nandroid? BTW i still am not sure how to fill system and data partitions with zeroes or garbage! Anyway thanks for the heads up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You shouldn't have to worry about formatting empty space. No one ever, except possibly computer forensics is going to want information from an empty phone. They have access to browsing history from Google, call records from your mobile provider and ban access details from your banks. They wouldn't need your phone. There are things that make it hard for the average person. Including mounting the NAND disk in a way that it can be opened like a normal disk drive, and then running the tools to restore data. If someone really wanted data it's possible but they will not go through all that for 500MB of bank details, porn or whatever people do with phones these days. If you're trying to hinder the police because you did something wrong, then you should just stop.
Theoretically it can be done through an android device but cross compiling tools to recover data is long and tedious to do. There is nothing so important that someone would spend hours creating tools for an Android device to restore data that may already be irrevocably gone. Not to mention the learning curve for new software. If you are worried, burn the device and buy something new. That is the general rule for sensitive data. Make sure it's gone before you move on.
It's safe to click "Format all partitions" and then erase your SD card and give your phone away.
If it helps, install Android on top. Choose something big. Most of your application data is stored on your SDCard FYI.
Lastly, if it's lag you are trying to fix. Go backwards with Android not forwards. JellyBean demands more than ICS and ICS demands more than GingerBread. Having the latest OS doesn't work for everyone. For example, Windows 8.1 doesn't work for me because there's no fastboot support without huge editing of system drivers. The same is true in Android. GingerBread stability may be more important than ICS or JB features, or JellyBean features may be more important. However don't expect lag free 4.2 or 4.3, our devices may work with it, but they were never intended to go above 4.1(Ville C2 updates stop there too I think) due to hardware limitations. Others may argue differently, but you should question the effort they're (including me) putting in with kernel and device tree upgrades. It's amazing work nonetheless but it basically shouldn't have to be done if the device were supported. Buy a new device if you want the latest and greatest. My Sensation has become a trophy for me to the amazing things you can do with one of HTCs first dual core phones. I don't expect it to work without some kinks and bugs or even fatal flaws but I still respect it for having running Sense 3.0 to 5.0 (yes I've tried it).
Sorry for the rant. I'm a little bit grumpy, but hope it helps explains why you can mostly erase and install a new version of android then throw the device away and be relatively safe.
There's probably going to be someone who reads all of this and thinks I'm crazy, to that guy or girl. Thanks for reading all of it!
Sent from my HTC

DennisBold said:
You shouldn't have to worry about formatting empty space. No one ever, except possibly computer forensics is going to want information from an empty phone. They have access to browsing history from Google, call records from your mobile provider and ban access details from your banks. They wouldn't need your phone. There are things that make it hard for the average person. Including mounting the NAND disk in a way that it can be opened like a normal disk drive, and then running the tools to restore data. If someone really wanted data it's possible but they will not go through all that for 500MB of bank details, porn or whatever people do with phones these days. If you're trying to hinder the police because you did something wrong, then you should just stop.
Theoretically it can be done through an android device but cross compiling tools to recover data is long and tedious to do. There is nothing so important that someone would spend hours creating tools for an Android device to restore data that may already be irrevocably gone. Not to mention the learning curve for new software. If you are worried, burn the device and buy something new. That is the general rule for sensitive data. Make sure it's gone before you move on.
It's safe to click "Format all partitions" and then erase your SD card and give your phone away.
If it helps, install Android on top. Choose something big. Most of your application data is stored on your SDCard FYI.
Lastly, if it's lag you are trying to fix. Go backwards with Android not forwards. JellyBean demands more than ICS and ICS demands more than GingerBread. Having the latest OS doesn't work for everyone. For example, Windows 8.1 doesn't work for me because there's no fastboot support without huge editing of system drivers. The same is true in Android. GingerBread stability may be more important than ICS or JB features, or JellyBean features may be more important. However don't expect lag free 4.2 or 4.3, our devices may work with it, but they were never intended to go above 4.1(Ville C2 updates stop there too I think) due to hardware limitations. Others may argue differently, but you should question the effort they're (including me) putting in with kernel and device tree upgrades. It's amazing work nonetheless but it basically shouldn't have to be done if the device were supported. Buy a new device if you want the latest and greatest. My Sensation has become a trophy for me to the amazing things you can do with one of HTCs first dual core phones. I don't expect it to work without some kinks and bugs or even fatal flaws but I still respect it for having running Sense 3.0 to 5.0 (yes I've tried it).
Sorry for the rant. I'm a little bit grumpy, but hope it helps explains why you can mostly erase and install a new version of android then throw the device away and be relatively safe.
There's probably going to be someone who reads all of this and thinks I'm crazy, to that guy or girl. Thanks for reading all of it!
Sent from my HTC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont wanna sell my phone and I know that my data isnt that valueable that anyone will try to read my data with hard efforts. My sensation used to perform awesome 2-3 months back, and now that I must have quick formatted my system and data partitions more than 1500 times, i think a full wipe may do some help for those nag n lag issues.
And about going back to GB? Man, Everyone feels GB is sad after using ICS/JB. If my phone doesnot stop lagging every second after I format these partitions, i think its time for a new phone!
Anyway thanks for such a detailed reply

pushpann said:
I dont wanna sell my phone and I know that my data isnt that valueable that anyone will try to read my data with hard efforts. My sensation used to perform awesome 2-3 months back, and now that I must have quick formatted my system and data partitions more than 1500 times, i think a full wipe may do some help for those nag n lag issues.
And about going back to GB? Man, Everyone feels GB is sad after using ICS/JB. If my phone doesnot stop lagging every second after I format these partitions, i think its time for a new phone!
Anyway thanks for such a detailed reply
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The lag isn't from formatting. You can try ARHD ICS if you want. Or probably Sense 4+ with 4.1.2 but anything above that might not work out great.
Sent from my HTC

pushpann said:
I dont wanna sell my phone and I know that my data isnt that valueable that anyone will try to read my data with hard efforts. My sensation used to perform awesome 2-3 months back, and now that I must have quick formatted my system and data partitions more than 1500 times, i think a full wipe may do some help for those nag n lag issues.
And about going back to GB? Man, Everyone feels GB is sad after using ICS/JB. If my phone doesnot stop lagging every second after I format these partitions, i think its time for a new phone!
Anyway thanks for such a detailed reply
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How old is your Sensation? I could well be that your nand is dying. In that case, repartition your phone and make /system and /data from parts seldom used (like /cache).
If you want data security, full encryption will keep noobs away.

Thanks for the replies guys!
Today i actually did the zeroing of the partitions with Nandroid method.. I download an app called dummy file creator and it created dummy files(files with zeroes all over it. after searching in internet it seemed legit method of fully zeroing out the memory locations) in data partition untill it ran out of memory. Then i copied those files to system partition too manually till it also became full(I had to do this manually because the app didnt support creating dummy files in system partition) and made nandroid of data and system separately then did almost a dozen time 4ext format and restoring the nandroid. Finally i formatted all the partitions and installed Codename Lungo ROM(CM10.1).
HELL YEAH! it feels FASTer. Not sure if its gonna last long.

pushpann said:
Thanks for the replies guys!
Today i actually did the zeroing of the partitions with Nandroid method.. I download an app called dummy file creator and it created dummy files(files with zeroes all over it. after searching in internet it seemed legit method of fully zeroing out the memory locations) in data partition untill it ran out of memory. Then i copied those files to system partition too manually till it also became full(I had to do this manually because the app didnt support creating dummy files in system partition) and made nandroid of data and system separately then did almost a dozen time 4ext format and restoring the nandroid. Finally i formatted all the partitions and installed Codename Lungo ROM(CM10.1).
HELL YEAH! it feels FASTer. Not sure if its gonna last long.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just found something and wanted to add - for future reference - Android Tuner seems to be able to make the TRIM operation on all partitions on our sensation, in a much easier way.

pushpann said:
Thanks for the replies guys!
Today i actually did the zeroing of the partitions with Nandroid method.. I download an app called dummy file creator and it created dummy files(files with zeroes all over it. after searching in internet it seemed legit method of fully zeroing out the memory locations) in data partition untill it ran out of memory. Then i copied those files to system partition too manually till it also became full(I had to do this manually because the app didnt support creating dummy files in system partition) and made nandroid of data and system separately then did almost a dozen time 4ext format and restoring the nandroid. Finally i formatted all the partitions and installed Codename Lungo ROM(CM10.1).
HELL YEAH! it feels FASTer. Not sure if its gonna last long.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you guide me? i want to do that but i'm noob . how did you do that? pls help me

BSHD666 said:
Can you guide me? i want to do that but i'm noob . how did you do that? pls help me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hehe you found it:good:

[Q] Nexus 5 displaying wrong size: 32 GB only showing 16 GB

I have bought and rooted a 32 GB Nexus 5. I flashed all the .img files from factory image initially. The only problem is the phone only shows 16GB available in filesystem under storage, and 32GB (correctly) in fastboot as variant. Is there any way to either:
A) increase the data partition size so I do not need to format and lose my information?
or
B) Easily backup all information in data partition and reformat the phone to retrieve the lost storage and then restore this? Will this restore all app info as well? i.e all SMS/MMS/Call log information, game scores, save games etc.
or
C) Any other methods to do this without losing any data?

Klunn said:
I have bought and rooted a 32 GB Nexus 5. I flashed all the .img files from factory image initially. The only problem is the phone only shows 16GB available in filesystem under storage, and 32GB (correctly) in fastboot as variant. Is there any way to either:
A) increase the data partition size so I do not need to format and lose my information?
or
B) Easily backup all information in data partition and reformat the phone to retrieve the lost storage and then restore this? Will this restore all app info as well? i.e all SMS/MMS/Call log information, game scores, save games etc.
or
C) Any other methods to do this without losing any data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2513701 for fixing the 16GB issue, backup all first first as this will wipe your device. There is no other way unfortunately.

Please use search as stated in the rules. Asked and answered so many times before
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

gee2012 said:
Look here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2513701 for fixing the 16GB issue, backup all first first as this will wipe your device. There is no other way unfortunately.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks gee. Apparently after finally finding the right search strings, this can also be done with a nandroid backup. I'm going to give this a try first, if not, will go with the way suggested in that thread! Thanks!

rootSU said:
Please use search as stated in the rules. Asked and answered so many times before
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me. Frustration with finding the search strings was getting to me. No solid answers after 1 hr of trying everything I could think of. Finally used "restore nandroid to 32GB", and bang - its there. Just factory formatted and got the space back, then restored nandroid and voila! Everything back to before with 16GB more. :victory:
Sorry about the duplication, but guess I'm dumb late in the day haha :silly:

Here's a hint, use xda in your search string. e.g. nexus 5 32 gb is now 16 xda.

[Q] HOXL Data Recovery

Hi fellow xda-members,
I recently wiped my One XL 32GB with the HBOOT Factory Reset,
didnt know that it wipes the internal storage aswell...
Needless to say that I work with the phone and the data is priceless...
I already tried to pipe the whole mmcblk0 via netcat, which worked fine.
All but the FAT 25GB partition are getting recognised via testdisk.
Did 2 dd's, so I got 2 raw-images of mmcblk0 and mmcblk0p36.
None of the recovery tools (Recuva, testdisk, @active, pc inspector recovery, etc.) did find any files.
The Partition wasnt formatted and also wasnt mounted yet, there should be no changes made from android since the wipe.
If I open the mmcblk0p36 via hex editor, its complete null.
The mmcblk0 image has random data all over the whole area,
but also mostly null (estimated 80-90% null). The internal memory was almost full,
about 22/25GB, so there are 3 options:
1.:The HBOOT Factory Reset doesnt delete just the FAT, but also nulls the whole data. (Which would be weird, because the reset took 3-5 seconds, I doubt it can null 25gigs in 5 seconds ;D)
2.:The chip has a kind of "fast-wipe" option, which makes it possible to null 25gb in 5 seconds, never seen this before, but who knows
3.:The data wasnt nulled, but dd doesnt read 1:1, which would be also weird.
Is there any app/commandline tool for android to directly check
whats on the specific part of the internal storage?
Or are there ways to access the memory directly to get
a exact image of the internal storage for recovery other than "dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0"?
If none of the above, is there a chip-recovery expert that can recover the files with jtag/advanced hardware?
Thanks for all replys
criestr

Was the phone modified? If so, the factory reset in the bootloader doesn't just wipe the data, but it completely corrupts it, that's probably why you're getting no data show up with the recovery tools you're using.
Sent from my Evita

timmaaa said:
Was the phone modified? If so, the factory reset in the bootloader doesn't just wipe the data, but it completely corrupts it, that's probably why you're getting no data show up with the recovery tools you're using.
Sent from my Evita
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the phone is rooted and s-off'ed,
I personally didnt change the partition alignment,
but updated the hboot from somewhat 1.09 to 2.18 a few days before.
Has the layout been changed in the past?
And, if the data was really corrupted, what to do about?
Is there any chance to recover the files?
thanks
criestr

criestr said:
Yes, the phone is rooted and s-off'ed,
I personally didnt change the partition alignment,
but updated the hboot from somewhat 1.09 to 2.18 a few days before.
Has the layout been changed in the past?
And, if the data was really corrupted, what to do about?
Is there any chance to recover the files?
thanks
criestr
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see how the partition alignment is relevant, but no I don't believe it's changed. I don't think you're going to have much luck in recovering your data, if all those recovery tools aren't yielding any positive results.

timmaaa said:
I don't see how the partition alignment is relevant, but no I don't believe it's changed. I don't think you're going to have much luck in recovering your data, if all those recovery tools aren't yielding any positive results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the partition alignment has changed, the hboot factory reset could possibly null more/less/other/the wrong ranges of memory while wiping.
I have new results:
I've checked the fresh raw dumps with a hex editor, finding out the range of mmcblk0p36, the internal sdcard only contains nulls.
Thats why every recovery tool doesnt gather any file.
I know that dd copys every bit 1:1, so I am out of luck with dd.
Does someone have experience with jtag raw data recovery?
Is there a way to gather other/deeper data with jtag?
Thanks
criestr

Un-Partition via TWRP

I just finished installing the latest ROM (YOG4PAS1N0) from here:
[ROM][YOG4PAS1N0] Cyanogen OS 12.1 [Rooted][TWRP flashable][NEW OTA]
http://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/development/rom-cyanogen-os-12-1-t3186593/page10
and it works amazing!!! No issues so far...while I was doing it I decided to use TWRP 2.8.6.0 to do a back up. I know that the following is a very "old school" way of backing my data but what I used to do is just save all the files in the exact same way my OPO is shown via the windows file system, and so I used to cut and copy .....place in a folder and done.... I have every single picture I have EVER taken since I owned a camera phone in 2007 but thats besides the point,,,I backup up my data via TWRP and I noticed that it created a 10GB partition. I am ok with it cause I keep a pretty clean phone...I have 10 apps at most and some pictures and videos.
I was wondering in the interest of recuperating that 10GB is there a way to unpartition it? my back up is 2.67 GB large and as you guessed it, I saved it on my PC....so I could do with out it on my phone. BY the way I didn't do a system or data wipe when I installed the ROM...flash and dalvik and cache wipe....I figured if I screwed up, I could do a FULL FORMAT and copy paste the files I wanted. But the update worked flawlessly ..except for the 10GB "missing"....
This is not an emergency, I can live without the 10GB I was just curious.........I have 54GB out of which I am only using 9GB...plenty left
Thanks for any help and for taking the time and reading this...
I did search for the answer but most users have other partition issues such as not loading or not finding it....I also google TWRP partitions and I got a lot of "how to use it" stuff...but nothing on how to "un partition"

seco007 said:
I just finished installing the latest ROM (YOG4PAS1N0) from here:
[ROM][YOG4PAS1N0] Cyanogen OS 12.1 [Rooted][TWRP flashable][NEW OTA]
http://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/development/rom-cyanogen-os-12-1-t3186593/page10
and it works amazing!!! No issues so far...while I was doing it I decided to use TWRP 2.8.6.0 to do a back up. I know that the following is a very "old school" way of backing my data but what I used to do is just save all the files in the exact same way my OPO is shown via the windows file system, and so I used to cut and copy .....place in a folder and done.... I have every single picture I have EVER taken since I owned a camera phone in 2007 but thats besides the point,,,I backup up my data via TWRP and I noticed that it created a 10GB partition. I am ok with it cause I keep a pretty clean phone...I have 10 apps at most and some pictures and videos.
I was wondering in the interest of recuperating that 10GB is there a way to unpartition it? my back up is 2.67 GB large and as you guessed it, I saved it on my PC....so I could do with out it on my phone. BY the way I didn't do a system or data wipe when I installed the ROM...flash and dalvik and cache wipe....I figured if I screwed up, I could do a FULL FORMAT and copy paste the files I wanted. But the update worked flawlessly ..except for the 10GB "missing"....
This is not an emergency, I can live without the 10GB I was just curious.........I have 54GB out of which I am only using 9GB...plenty left
Thanks for any help and for taking the time and reading this...
I did search for the answer but most users have other partition issues such as not loading or not finding it....I also google TWRP partitions and I got a lot of "how to use it" stuff...but nothing on how to "un partition"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean when you say it created a 10gb partition? TWRP doesn't create a partition when it makes a backup so I'm confused as to what you mean by that.

seco007 said:
I just finished installing the latest ROM (YOG4PAS1N0) from here:
[ROM][YOG4PAS1N0] Cyanogen OS 12.1 [Rooted][TWRP flashable][NEW OTA]
http://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/development/rom-cyanogen-os-12-1-t3186593/page10
and it works amazing!!! No issues so far...while I was doing it I decided to use TWRP 2.8.6.0 to do a back up. I know that the following is a very "old school" way of backing my data but what I used to do is just save all the files in the exact same way my OPO is shown via the windows file system, and so I used to cut and copy .....place in a folder and done.... I have every single picture I have EVER taken since I owned a camera phone in 2007 but thats besides the point,,,I backup up my data via TWRP and I noticed that it created a 10GB partition. I am ok with it cause I keep a pretty clean phone...I have 10 apps at most and some pictures and videos.
I was wondering in the interest of recuperating that 10GB is there a way to unpartition it? my back up is 2.67 GB large and as you guessed it, I saved it on my PC....so I could do with out it on my phone. BY the way I didn't do a system or data wipe when I installed the ROM...flash and dalvik and cache wipe....I figured if I screwed up, I could do a FULL FORMAT and copy paste the files I wanted. But the update worked flawlessly ..except for the 10GB "missing"....
This is not an emergency, I can live without the 10GB I was just curious.........I have 54GB out of which I am only using 9GB...plenty left
Thanks for any help and for taking the time and reading this...
I did search for the answer but most users have other partition issues such as not loading or not finding it....I also google TWRP partitions and I got a lot of "how to use it" stuff...but nothing on how to "un partition"
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There is no 10GB partition. When a device says that there is 64 GB of storage, a bit of it is lost in formatting. It does not mean that when you plug in your phone you will get 64GB of storage. Additionally, there are several partitions, including data and system that are not visible to the user without root (or in recovery). These partitions also take up space on your phone (adding up to around 10GB of lost space), and are not visible when you plug in your phone. This is why your phone only shows 54 out of 64GB in the storage menu in settings, mine does as well. If you did have a 10GB partition on your phone, your phone would show 44GB when plugged in. I believe you can make the system partitions smaller, but its not recommended. This is simply off my memory so if I misunderstood the question or said anything wrong please be welcome to correct me.

f41lbl0g said:
There is no 10GB partition. When a device says that there is 64 GB of storage, a bit of it is lost in formatting. It does not mean that when you plug in your phone you will get 64GB of storage. Additionally, there are several partitions, including data and system that are not visible to the user without root (or in recovery). These partitions also take up space on your phone (adding up to around 10GB of lost space), and are not visible when you plug in your phone. This is why your phone only shows 54 out of 64GB in the storage menu in settings, mine does as well. If you did have a 10GB partition on your phone, your phone would show 44GB when plugged in. I believe you can make the system partitions smaller, but its not recommended. This is simply off my memory so if I misunderstood the question or said anything wrong please be welcome to correct me.
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I figured it was a 10GB partition because I was 10GB short (64GB out of the box vs 54GB) what I have, even though I now that OS and apps take up space. So what is the actual partition size that is created when TWRP creates a back up? The size of said back up? ....my mistake...
your explanation cleared it up. If I remove the back up from my phone will I recover that HDD space? or is it already saved for future back ups?

seco007 said:
I figured it was a 10GB partition because I was 10GB short (64GB out of the box vs 54GB) what I have, even though I now that OS and apps take up space. So what is the actual partition size that is created when TWRP creates a back up? The size of said back up? ....my mistake...
your explanation cleared it up. If I remove the back up from my phone will I recover that HDD space? or is it already saved for future back ups?
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Your backups are created on the visible portion of the data partition, in a folder called TWRP. No partition is created during a backup. You will not gain more than the available space on your phone by deleting the backup.

seco007 said:
I figured it was a 10GB partition because I was 10GB short (64GB out of the box vs 54GB) what I have, even though I now that OS and apps take up space. So what is the actual partition size that is created when TWRP creates a back up? The size of said back up? ....my mistake...
your explanation cleared it up. If I remove the back up from my phone will I recover that HDD space? or is it already saved for future back ups?
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Click to collapse
TWRP doesn't create a partition, it simply creates a folder in your internal storage to place your backups in. That folder will only ever be the size of your backup(s). The moment you delete/move a backup you have that space free again, they're just like any other file that consumes space on a drive (it only consumes space while it's actually there).

f41lbl0g said:
Your backups are created on the visible portion of the data partition, in a folder called TWRP. No partition is created during a backup. You will not gain more than the available space on your phone by deleting the backup.
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ok So it works like any other file / folder...erase and you have the HDD space again....Thanks for clearing that up

Everytime i install an app it says out of space.

Hi there
I have done a small search of the thread on this section of the forums but it seems I can not come up with the answer.
I have an old N5 16gb model. Running on DU 6.0.1 rom. Every time i install an app it says there is no space and i need to delete some apps before i can continue.
If i delete apps it still doesn't work. If i clear the cache it works.
As i go along it seems i am getting less and less apps on the phone. Android system is taking 3.42 gb of the partition.
I have never done anything to the partitions when i wiped the phone to put on a new rom. Just wipe and install rom.
Any suggestions?
Secondly If i flash a android 7 rom do i need to repart the phone? I haven't flashed anything in about a year so i am a little rusty.

dyabolikarl said:
Hi there
I have done a small search of the thread on this section of the forums but it seems I can not come up with the answer.
I have an old N5 16gb model. Running on DU 6.0.1 rom. Every time i install an app it says there is no space and i need to delete some apps before i can continue.
If i delete apps it still doesn't work. If i clear the cache it works.
As i go along it seems i am getting less and less apps on the phone. Android system is taking 3.42 gb of the partition.
I have never done anything to the partitions when i wiped the phone to put on a new rom. Just wipe and install rom.
Any suggestions?
Secondly If i flash a android 7 rom do i need to repart the phone? I haven't flashed anything in about a year so i am a little rusty.
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Click to collapse
Apps are getting bigger and bigger but you should check the twrp folder, maybe you have a backup or two that you don't need so you should erase them. Around 3gb per backup in average.

Stevica Smederevac said:
Apps are getting bigger and bigger but you should check the twrp folder, maybe you have a backup or two that you don't need so you should erase them. Around 3gb per backup in average.
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I figured that the apps are getting huge. Looks like it might be time to update the old phone then. Nothing in the twrp folders.
I have about 600mb left on the device. I have deleted everything else i can.

dyabolikarl said:
I figured that the apps are getting huge. Looks like it might be time to update the old phone then. Nothing in the twrp folders.
I have about 600mb left on the device. I have deleted everything else i can.
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Click to collapse
Then it's time to upgrade, no other solutions.

dyabolikarl said:
I figured that the apps are getting huge. Looks like it might be time to update the old phone then. Nothing in the twrp folders.
I have about 600mb left on the device. I have deleted everything else i can.
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You could try to format your internal SD or install DiskUsage to find out which app takes most of the space. I think it must be an app with a huge cache.
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.diskusage
(can't post links until 10posts)

Settings->Storage->Cached data click on it and choose to delete it.
About flashing 7 ROM it is highly required to do clean install(wipe everything), everytime you switch from one ROM to another, if this is what you meant by restarting device. Re-partition wont be needed, just wipe and flash.

Sashko98 said:
Settings->Storage->Cached data click on it and choose to delete it.
About flashing 7 ROM it is highly required to do clean install(wipe everything), everytime you switch from one ROM to another, if this is what you meant by restarting device. Re-partition wont be needed, just wipe and flash.
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Sweet! I do the cached data wipe every time i need to install something. It's the only way i can get something on there.
I was wondering about the repartition as i heard the 7 roms are fairly large.

dyabolikarl said:
Sweet! I do the cached data wipe every time i need to install something. It's the only way i can get something on there.
I was wondering about the repartition as i heard the 7 roms are fairly large.
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Click to collapse
Re-partitioning won't be necessary, if you use pico/nano/micro variants of GAPPS package.