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[Q] Internal Storage Related Freezing?

I've had my TF101 since it first came out, and I've run plenty or ROMs over it and had a good ol' jolly time. Recently, when I had a movie on a USB stick and tried to move it to the external storage, the system would just sit there. ES File Explorer showed a status bar that never moved.
I tried a couple other file managers - no go.
Today I took it up and tried to move over a file via USB (it's running ICS) and the progress bar didn't move.
Okay, Recovery mode >> Factory reset / Wipe cache / Wipe Dalvik >> Boot into ICS.
Now it let me copy over files!
I installed Revolution, the latest version, onto it and used the Full Wipe which does an EXT4 format. So all is well until I start performing actions related to the internal storage.
As I was re-downloading apps, I decided to grab an offline map from Google. At the same time; all apps stopped downloading and the Google Maps download failed.
At this point, it will often tell me that the Google Play Store has stopped unexpectedly. It will also not let me resume or cancel any download. Any attempt to force stop an app or clear its cache or delete its data will simply not yield a response. I can still run around the OS and click things.
I tried this while a MicroSD was plugged in and while it wasn't. It happens when the dock is connected or disconnected. It happened on my old EOS nightly and on the current Revolution. This leads me to believe it's likely a formatting or hardware problem. Any thoughts?
Also, thank you so much for taking the time to read through this.
TL;DR? Internal storage craps out after mild use, tablet remains unfrozen.
Cheers,
Sacrosaint.
UPDATE:
I've been playing around with the device some more. After the 5 reboots or so that it took to install all my apps, I managed to save ~200MB of offline maps without an issue. Only when I then tried to install Google+ did I get an "Insufficient Storage" warning and a play store crash. Maybe this means something?

Reformat again using wipe data/factory reset 3 times. Then run superwipe.zip 12 times, to make Sure it works. Also make sure your CWM is a working version.
Make sure in storage that 'other' isn't taking up alot of space as well, logs can do this.

I have the same problem. I did try the multiple data wipes, followed by multiple SuperWipes (Full) and still no dice. It is not stable beyond 5 minutes of use. It crashes various programs and processes until it is in an unusable and unbootable state.
Help? Please?
StevieJake:crying:

This is an interesting reoccurring problem for some..
Early on we were getting some problems with this type of things and there was a fix via edited the superwipe script to allow a bit more in
one of the system partitions..will take me a little while to find the thread..might pay to have a look and see if this fixes it..
But it does bring up the question again and the need for a deep format that actually does a full wipe of everything..i was under the impression that that mike's superwipe did this..and Nvflash would do it too..i am meaning a one time run of these should do it..?
Therefore multi runs of these programs should not be needed..
***putting it out for discussion****
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

[Q] Can't Mount Internal /SDcard SGS2

Hi Guys,
After installing the Jellybean version of Resurrection Remix using a clean install like I'd done a million times before, I came across the problem where now the internal "/sdcard" won't mount. I've read a lot of different threads on the web about this but no one seems to have a fix, except for a similar thread from Android Stack Exchange (I can't post it yet).
However, that doesn't work (when I use the ADB shell, I can detect the device, reboot it, remount the /system but not remount the /sdcard). I thought it might possibly be because I tried to fix it a few days ago by formatting the "phone" drive when it popped up on my after connecting it, and the page I referred to talks about the internal SD card being FAT formatted (not NTFS which WIn7 does automatically!).
I've also used Odin to reflash a stock ROM thinking that would fix it, done the whole "format", "factory reset", wiped partitions, caches and delvik caches etc etc to no avail. Now, even when I use recovery to try to mount the /sdcard I get an error, and if I try to format the /sdcard from the recovery menu that doesn't work either.
Problem started with Clockwork Mod 6.6 and so I've downgraded to 5.5 and ICS stock ROM. Still no good.
It's affecting a lot of apps (for example, I can't restore by backup password file to awallet, and it has all my banking details on there!) and I really need to fix it ASAP.
Any ideas?
I'm absolutely desperate and have spent days trying to figure this one out, but I am beat. I need some serious help here and you guys are the ones I think who could help. Anyone??
Cheers,
CJ.
:crying:

[Q] Unable to mount /data

My wife's Galaxy S3 suddenly decided it didn't want to boot past the Galaxy SIII logo (which includes the blue Cyanogen mascot at the bottom)
I was going to attempt to re-flash Cyanogenmod 10.2, but for some reason TWRP prompted me for a password upon going into recovery. Hitting Cancel here allows me into TWRP. I flashed the latest version on TWRP, and still I am prompted by that password.
I then found that I was unable to wipe Dalvik Cache, and then found that I'm unable to mount /data.
Well that's not good. I assume that I'll have to use Odin to go back to stock and re-partition? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Sounds like your /data is encrypted. When you're prompted for a password, that's to decrypt the /data partition (it's probably the PIN she uses to unlock the phone). Hitting cancel simply leaves /data unencrypted and unmounted. If you hit mount within TWRP, you'll probably see a "Decrypt Data" button. Try using the PIN and see if that works.
Joe
erc. said:
My wife's Galaxy S3 suddenly decided it didn't want to boot past the Galaxy SIII logo (which includes the blue Cyanogen mascot at the bottom)
I was going to attempt to re-flash Cyanogenmod 10.2, but for some reason TWRP prompted me for a password upon going into recovery. Hitting Cancel here allows me into TWRP. I flashed the latest version on TWRP, and still I am prompted by that password.
I then found that I was unable to wipe Dalvik Cache, and then found that I'm unable to mount /data.
Well that's not good. I assume that I'll have to use Odin to go back to stock and re-partition? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

joeinternet said:
Sounds like your /data is encrypted. When you're prompted for a password, that's to decrypt the /data partition (it's probably the PIN she uses to unlock the phone). Hitting cancel simply leaves /data unencrypted and unmounted. If you hit mount within TWRP, you'll probably see a "Decrypt Data" button. Try using the PIN and see if that works.
Joe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I think you're right about the encryption. How does /data become encrypted? She doesn't recall encrypting it through settings, of course. Her usual pin doesn't work to allow access either. If I can't figure out the password to decrypt /data, what's next?

Within CM, the ability to encrypt /data is selected within settings. It will ask you to set a pin or passphrase, have more than 80% battery and will reset to encrypt (you'll see a green wireframe android icon and an encryption progress meter). This is all a conscious decision, so someone must have gone in there to set it, if that's the reason why it's asking for a password. You can set a different password for encryption, but you would have to do this from the command line, which doesn't sound likely here.
If encryption was interrupted, it's possible the drive isn't encrypted, but TWRP thinks it is (the key data is stored at the end of the partition). I'm paraphrasing, but if that bit is set, it will always think the partition is encrypted. The only way to wipe that is to completely wipe the /data partition, which you probably don't want to do unless you've got good backups (and nandroid will not backup /data/media, so be careful with that option).
Do you know if the phone had adb debugging enabled? You could try running logcat while it boots to see what the issue is. I had something similar happen to mine (hanging at the CM icon at boot) when I upped from the October CM10.2 nightlies to the M1 release and ended up using ODIN to return to stock - it's a good thing I had backups!
You can get a shell while in recovery to poke around. You can try mounting from the command line there (the /data partition will be listed in the /etc/recovery.fstab file).
If all else fails, and you have good backups, you could try wiping /data from within TWRP, but keep in mind that all pictures, texts, music, etc will go with it! I would only do this as a last, last resort.
I've seen several threads lately about issues with the partition layout in recent flashing (esp. with the MF1 update). I've reverted back to stock as a precaution, myself.
Joe
erc. said:
Yes, I think you're right about the encryption. How does /data become encrypted? Her usual pin doesn't work. If I can't figure out the password to decrypt /data, what's next?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

joeinternet said:
Within CM, the ability to encrypt /data is selected within settings. It will ask you to set a pin or passphrase, have more than 80% battery and will reset to encrypt (you'll see a green wireframe android icon and an encryption progress meter). This is all a conscious decision, so someone must have gone in there to set it, if that's the reason why it's asking for a password. You can set a different password for encryption, but you would have to do this from the command line, which doesn't sound likely here.
If encryption was interrupted, it's possible the drive isn't encrypted, but TWRP thinks it is (the key data is stored at the end of the partition). I'm paraphrasing, but if that bit is set, it will always think the partition is encrypted. The only way to wipe that is to completely wipe the /data partition, which you probably don't want to do unless you've got good backups (and nandroid will not backup /data/media, so be careful with that option).
Do you know if the phone had adb debugging enabled? You could try running logcat while it boots to see what the issue is. I had something similar happen to mine (hanging at the CM icon at boot) when I upped from the October CM10.2 nightlies to the M1 release and ended up using ODIN to return to stock - it's a good thing I had backups!
You can get a shell while in recovery to poke around. You can try mounting from the command line there (the /data partition will be listed in the /etc/recovery.fstab file).
If all else fails, and you have good backups, you could try wiping /data from within TWRP, but keep in mind that all pictures, texts, music, etc will go with it! I would only do this as a last, last resort.
I've seen several threads lately about issues with the partition layout in recent flashing (esp. with the MF1 update). I've reverted back to stock as a precaution, myself.
Joe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Joe, I appreciate you taking the time to answer the questions. I did edit my earlier response while you were responding, but to go into slightly more detail, her phone was just sitting on the arm of the couch, when she realized that it was off (it had been on just prior to that). She assumed the battery had died, but when I charged it to 100% and tried to boot it, that's when we found out that it wouldn't boot.
Anyway, wiping data isn't an issue. I have all of her photos and videos backed up, and most of her important stuff is stored in Google Drive. Unfortunately, trying to wipe data actually throws an error. Can you wipe /data if you can't even mount it?
EDIT: When I try to format data in TWRP, I get errors saying "E: Failed to decrypt data", and then it stops at "Updating partition details..."
Possibly a coincidence, She was previously using CM10.2 nightlies and just recently went to the M1 release.
So if we can't mount or wipe /data from recovery, I assume the next step is to go back to stock with Odin? And if that's the case, can you point me in the right direction? I am downloading Official VRBMF1 4.1.2 right now. Do I need a PIT file or something to fix the partitions?
Thanks again

Hrm..
I'd say going back to stock with ODIN will definitely get things back on track. You might need a PIT file to re-partition the device. You'll want to make sure it's the PIT for your model of phone (Verizon 16GB GS3, for example). Google turned up this:
http://teamuscellular.com/Forum/topic/3882-pit-files-for-all-us-variants-of-sgsiii/
I'm the SCH-I535 16GB so I used that one.
One other caveat - be sure you're running ODIN from a real PC - I was using a Virtual Machine and that caused issues.
Joe
erc. said:
Hey Joe, I appreciate you taking the time to answer the questions. I did edit my earlier response while you were responding, but to go into slightly more detail, her phone was just sitting on the arm of the couch, when she realized that it was off (it had been on just prior to that). She assumed the battery had died, but when I charged it to 100% and tried to boot it, that's when we found out that it wouldn't boot.
Anyway, wiping data isn't an issue. I have all of her photos and videos backed up, and most of her important stuff is stored in Google Drive. Unfortunately, trying to wipe data actually throws an error. Can you wipe /data if you can't even mount it?
EDIT: When I try to format data in TWRP, I get errors saying "E: Failed to decrypt data", and then it stops at "Updating partition details..."
Possibly a coincidence, She was previously using CM10.2 nightlies and just recently went to the M1 release.
So if we can't mount or wipe /data from recovery, I assume the next step is to go back to stock with Odin? And if that's the case, can you point me in the right direction? I am downloading Official VRBMF1 4.1.2 right now. Do I need a PIT file or something to fix the partitions?
Thanks again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

joeinternet said:
Hrm..
I'd say going back to stock with ODIN will definitely get things back on track. You might need a PIT file to re-partition the device. You'll want to make sure it's the PIT for your model of phone (Verizon 16GB GS3, for example). Google turned up this:
http://teamuscellular.com/Forum/topic/3882-pit-files-for-all-us-variants-of-sgsiii/
I'm the SCH-I535 16GB so I used that one.
One other caveat - be sure you're running ODIN from a real PC - I was using a Virtual Machine and that caused issues.
Joe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I wish I could come back with more insightful information, but through a bunch of poking and prodding in recovery, I was able to eventually format /data without having to use Odin. Thanks for the link, though. I'm saving the PIT file (same as yours), because who knows when it'll be needed.
This is actually the second time this phone has been stuck at the Galaxy SIII logo screen (with Cid, before the boot animation) in the past couple weeks. Both times were with the Cyanogenmod 10.2 M1 release. I think I might try RC1 to see if it behaves any better, but if not, it's back to stock she goes. If my wife didn't find TouchWiz so hideous, I'd likely go skip trying RC1 and go straight to stock and wait patiently for the 4.3 OTA.

[Q] Can someone explain to me the Android File System

So, I'm trying to understand how and why the file system acts the way it does.
Example. I have
/sdcard
and this has a bunch of stuff under it
then i have
/sdcard/0
this has some of the same stuff under it as /sdcard, but is a different file system
Why can I not just have a simple file system that I can understand! I seem to have issues with space because sometimes wiping the phone does not wipe the /sdcard/0 so I am working out of /sdcard/0 as opposed to the base of /sdcard
Any help? I am an idiot so explain like I'm 5, if possible.
Thanks in advance.

n0xide said:
So, I'm trying to understand how and why the file system acts the way it does.
Example. I have
/sdcard
and this has a bunch of stuff under it
then i have
/sdcard/0
this has some of the same stuff under it as /sdcard, but is a different file system
Why can I not just have a simple file system that I can understand! I seem to have issues with space because sometimes wiping the phone does not wipe the /sdcard/0 so I am working out of /sdcard/0 as opposed to the base of /sdcard
Any help? I am an idiot so explain like I'm 5, if possible.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
5 year old explanation.
4.3 and above Android systems implement a multi user file setup similar to what Windows and OSx uses. The 0 folder is your account, your significant other could be 1, your dog could be 2, this keeps going depending how many users are registered to the device. It's actual intent is to use multi user on a tablet interface, not a phone, but because jellybean is used on both phones and tablets the file structure is the same.
Normally you don't have to worry about much of this, but if you came from 4.1 jellybean then multiuser wasn't implemented yet. This would double up your data in both places.
To me it sounds like you're OK, it's going to show double files because it's essentially reading the exact same folder, the format isn't going to understand what you're trying to do because it doesn't really know where to look for your data files. Basically, leave your 0 folder alone because that's where your data is supposed to be stored.
Was that 5 year old enough?
Edit: if you format your internal SD card in your recovery, then you'll erase the doubled data, and your folder structure will be repopulated under the 0 folder system. If you're running out of internal storage that's what you should do. Then clean flash the rom of your choice following the format.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

BadUsername said:
5 year old explanation.
4.3 and above Android systems implement a multi user file setup similar to what Windows and OSx uses. The 0 folder is your account, your significant other could be 1, your dog could be 2, this keeps going depending how many users are registered to the device. It's actual intent is to use multi user on a tablet interface, not a phone, but because jellybean is used on both phones and tablets the file structure is the same.
Normally you don't have to worry about much of this, but if you came from 4.1 jellybean then multiuser wasn't implemented yet. This would double up your data in both places.
To me it sounds like you're OK, it's going to show double files because it's essentially reading the exact same folder, the format isn't going to understand what you're trying to do because it doesn't really know where to look for your data files. Basically, leave your 0 folder alone because that's where your data is supposed to be stored.
Was that 5 year old enough?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah! That's a pretty solid explanation! I couldn't seem to find anywhere that broke it down that way.
So let me ask one more 5 year old question.
I seem to have TONS of space used up on my SD card, that I cannot free up.
I have a 16Gig GSIII, when I attach my phone to windows, I have 7gb free of 12gb. I just wiped system, cache, and dalvik, and have a clean version of Beanstalk 4.4.2.
How am I using 5gb when the OS itself is only, ~199Mb.
Is there anyway to have a completely clean install? Even when I soft bricked, and then revived w/odin and an old kernal, I don't think it was totally clean.

n0xide said:
Yeah! That's a pretty solid explanation! I couldn't seem to find anywhere that broke it down that way.
So let me ask one more 5 year old question.
I seem to have TONS of space used up on my SD card, that I cannot free up.
I have a 16Gig GSIII, when I attach my phone to windows, I have 7gb free of 12gb. I just wiped system, cache, and dalvik, and have a clean version of Beanstalk 4.4.2.
How am I using 5gb when the OS itself is only, ~199Mb.
Is there anyway to have a completely clean install? Even when I soft bricked, and then revived w/odin and an old kernal, I don't think it was totally clean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup! I just told you in my post edit, left that out by accident.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

BadUsername said:
Yup! I just told you in my post edit, left that out by accident.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks again! Great answers, and just the info I need!
So, to format it in CWM. I would go to
Mounts and Storage
format /data
or
format /data and /data/media (/sdcard)
i assume I don't touch
format /cache or format /system
and.. last thing I promise, how do I make sure I keep a copy of gaaps and a rom on the sdcard, if I format it?

n0xide said:
Thanks again! Great answers, and just the info I need!
So, to format it in CWM. I would go to
Mounts and Storage
format /data
or
format /data and /data/media (/sdcard)
i assume I don't touch
format /cache or format /system
and.. last thing I promise, how do I make sure I keep a copy of gaaps and a rom on the sdcard, if I format it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't keep anything on the SD card after formatting, it'll be completely wiped clean, but you should do the second option. Also you should always format system when you clean flash a rom anyway.
I'd use an external SD card to flash the rom from. Alternatively, you could sideload the rom (if you know how). I don't know how.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[Q] p3110 NAND filled... how to wipe?

Dumb question. 'Just open CWM and wipe user data, cache, and dalvik cache.' Done it, a good few times.
Basically, I put CyanogenMod on it last year, and then didn't like it and ended up putting a hacked-up copy of the stock ROM on it, which didn't work properly so a couple of weeks ago I put a testing release of CyanogenMod 11 on it, and so far I'm happy, except for a couple of small things which are a little irritating. Immediately after being wiped and reflashed, it reported about half the storage as being used, and when I look at the filesystem from my main computer, it's saying the same - about 5GiB on the device, about 2GiB used... and about 600MiB available. So somewhere, there's a lump of *something* taking up a huge chunk of my storage.
I'm prepared to do a full wipe, however full I can, and reflash it - provided I can keep the recovery environment (Philz Touch). But how can I do this? I've looked through all the options available in the OS and in the recovery environment, and found nothing I haven't already tried.

markfptuson said:
Dumb question. 'Just open CWM and wipe user data, cache, and dalvik cache.' Done it, a good few times.
Basically, I put CyanogenMod on it last year, and then didn't like it and ended up putting a hacked-up copy of the stock ROM on it, which didn't work properly so a couple of weeks ago I put a testing release of CyanogenMod 11 on it, and so far I'm happy, except for a couple of small things which are a little irritating. Immediately after being wiped and reflashed, it reported about half the storage as being used, and when I look at the filesystem from my main computer, it's saying the same - about 5GiB on the device, about 2GiB used... and about 600MiB available. So somewhere, there's a lump of *something* taking up a huge chunk of my storage.
I'm prepared to do a full wipe, however full I can, and reflash it - provided I can keep the recovery environment (Philz Touch). But how can I do this? I've looked through all the options available in the OS and in the recovery environment, and found nothing I haven't already tried.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you checked to see if your nandroid back ups are on your internal card. They take up a lot of space. If you didn't specify them to save to external they will save to internal by default. ROM manager app or something similar can tell you where the back ups are stored.
Sent from my GT-P5110 using Tapatalk

Shepguessed said:
Have you checked to see if your nandroid back ups are on your internal card. They take up a lot of space. If you didn't specify them to save to external they will save to internal by default. ROM manager app or something similar can tell you where the back ups are stored.
Sent from my GT-P5110 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went into it again and formatted the filesystems - but they didn't seem to format completely - and then reinstalled CyanogenMod. When I looked there were suddenly a couple few files in the clockworkmod backup directory which, when I removed them, freed up all that space.
So it was an even dumber question than I thought - I've solved the problem by just poking at another setting I'd not noticed before.
You wouldn't think I've been doing OS builds for over ten years, would you...?

markfptuson said:
I went into it again and formatted the filesystems - but they didn't seem to format completely - and then reinstalled CyanogenMod. When I looked there were suddenly a couple few files in the clockworkmod backup directory which, when I removed them, freed up all that space.
So it was an even dumber question than I thought - I've solved the problem by just poking at another setting I'd not noticed before.
You wouldn't think I've been doing OS builds for over ten years, would you...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I learned that looking in the cwm backup folder is the best place to look for solving missing storage issues. Glad you solved it.
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