Database Info

Is it important to backup before a reset?

Just curious. There are lots of talk of backing up data. Is it really needed when doing a complete reset of the phone.
g2x rooted stock

nah, I don't think so, unless you're gonna flash different ROMs. The reason why I did a factory reset is because I backed up all my system data with Titanium backup and no longer had any available space left. So not knowing what to delete, I just did a factory reset and after that still I found the left over traces were still taking up space, so I just reformatted both external and internal memory.

jacob808 said:
nah, I don't think so, unless you're gonna flash different ROMs. The reason why I did a factory reset is because I backed up all my system data with Titanium backup and no longer had any available space left. So not knowing what to delete, I just did a factory reset and after that still I found the left over traces were still taking up space, so I just reformatted both external and internal memory.
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Using an ordinary file manager (don't use root explorer if you want to delete all your files manually cause if you don't know what your doing then you can possibly brick your phone) you could of deleted every single file that you don't need. Android won't allow you to delete important files when using a ordinary file manager so you won't harm your device. I've tried deleting files such as "Android Secure" and all it does is create another Android Secure folder.
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redishbrown said:
Just curious. There are lots of talk of backing up data. Is it really needed when doing a complete reset of the phone.
g2x rooted stock
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No a backup isn't needed, but it is similar to having insurance on a vehicle. Just in case something happens you are covered.
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redishbrown said:
Just curious. There are lots of talk of backing up data. Is it really needed when doing a complete reset of the phone.
g2x rooted stock
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Depends on what you're okay with losing and having to re-download.

Making space on SD

I have a really noob question. I deleted a couple nandroids but my SD is still the same size. Could I safely delete the clockwork mod folder on my SD. I thought about doing this and making another backup in hopes of making space. I figured my storage would have increased some deleting two cyanogenmod backups?
I don't know what's in that folder and not sure if I'll screw my recovery up. I don't think so but not 100% certain? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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You can delete everything in that folder, it won't hurt you. FWIW I think some asop roms misreport the free space on sdcards, so if youre running cm10 you may have more than you think.
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Thanks! I hope so. Will hit the thanks when I get on my phone. Tablet app is buggy?
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Download the app Disk Usage. Let it run. Will show you what is using your memory. Breaks it down. Far left is broad break down. As you go right it breaks each larger group into smaller things. all the way at the right is the files themselves. So left might say System, Media, Apps, etc. Next column will break that down further.
Also are you using Blobs with CWM, the default option now? That saves everything, then every back up after it only saves what has changed since the last save, to save space and time. So if not much has changed since you last flashed, deleting those two saves might not affect much. You might be better blowing the whole folder away and starting fresh like you said. So the base Blob info is your current state.
Sent from a GlaDos Baked Potato

From what I understand, you can delete backups (through cwm, rom manager, etc) but the space won't be cleaned up all the way until you boot through recovery again and CWM does the reclaim space process. I'm assuming that actually goes through and delete appropriate blobs, etc.

ponyboy82 said:
From what I understand, you can delete backups (through cwm, rom manager, etc) but the space won't be cleaned up all the way until you boot through recovery again and CWM does the reclaim space process. I'm assuming that actually goes through and delete appropriate blobs, etc.
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After deleting backups you must go to backups/restore and choose (clear unused data) or something close to that. This freed up a ton of space for me
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[Q] Something eating my internal SDCard

I think CWM backup failed attemps due to lack of space have eaten my sdcard somewhere with hidden or partial files, as I deleted /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/ and the problem persists.
My files are below 2GB. I have tried several tools such as SD Maid but couldn't solve the issue. Even walk all my sdcard tree manually with ES file explorer (hidden files included).
What do you recommend me to Iook at? I want to start using CM10 and test AD2P
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josjator said:
I think CWM backup failed attemps due to lack of space have eaten my sdcard somewhere with hidden or partial files, as I deleted /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/ and the problem persists.
My files are below 2GB. I have tried several tools such as SD Maid but couldn't solve the issue. Even walk all my sdcard tree manually with ES file explorer (hidden files included).
What do you recommend me to Iook at? I want to start using CM10 and test AD2P
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Yeah, it a issue of lots of people around here. Have u installed games like big one.?
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I have some games, but all the files, including hidden ones, are about 2GB, so something is taking 1.75GB
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josjator said:
I have some games, but all the files, including hidden ones, are about 2GB, so something is taking 1.75GB
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After Uninstalling the Game, you need to delete data from There downloaded folder. If you can find the folder of there, then can perform the action.

kataria.vikesh said:
After Uninstalling the Game, you need to delete data from There downloaded folder. If you can find the folder of there, then can perform the action.
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Wipe the Internal memory from setting's....

mj.vikram said:
Wipe the Internal memory from setting's....
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but that will wipe all data including installed applications data..

Try DiskUsage.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.diskusage&hl=en
It should help you identify what eats your sd card

Finally I found the source of the problem. CWM was doing backups in /sdcard/external_sd/clockworkmod/backups. Any backup that failed - for example due to lack of space - won't be seen by CWM, and apparently, by any file explorer in Android itself. I could see them in my PC. After removing I'm back to a normal situation

Internal memory full on S3

Hello, I know this question has been asked before but it has been for other phone models and some years ago so the advice given may no longer be the best. Pretty much I have flashed many roms in the past, but I always erase the downloads when I am going to no longer use it. My vzw s3 has 12.05GB of total space available. I have only 1.3GB left to use. I don't know what is causing the space to be used up because my apps only take up 1.2gb, pics 1.2gb, downloads only 1gm and the rest only takes up about another 2 gigs. I only have one backup as well. So I should have atleast 4-5 GB of space free. Is there anyway I can just wipe all the files that are taking up space? Or any suggestions? I don't mind wiping everything off my phone as long as it doesn't ruin my root and brick my phone. Thanks in advanced

Dmavs3113 said:
Hello, I know this question has been asked before but it has been for other phone models and some years ago so the advice given may no longer be the best. Pretty much I have flashed many roms in the past, but I always erase the downloads when I am going to no longer use it. My vzw s3 has 12.05GB of total space available. I have only 1.3GB left to use. I don't know what is causing the space to be used up because my apps only take up 1.2gb, pics 1.2gb, downloads only 1gm and the rest only takes up about another 2 gigs. I only have one backup as well. So I should have atleast 4-5 GB of space free. Is there anyway I can just wipe all the files that are taking up space? Or any suggestions? I don't mind wiping everything off my phone as long as it doesn't ruin my root and brick my phone. Thanks in advanced
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Since you don't mind wiping everything format /sdcard in recovery. Just make sure to have a rom on the external sdcard if you plan on just starting everything over.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4

Oh, what exactly does format SD card do?
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Dmavs3113 said:
Oh, what exactly does format SD card do?
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It deletes everything from /sdcard which is your internal storage. I'm unsure if it wipes the rom as I never use it so I suggest you put one on the external sdcard just in case. You could even pull your external sdcard format sdcard and boot up. If it removes the rom, pop the external sdcard back on and flash that.
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Hey so it worked just great. The ROM is untouched although I did an external backup. I got all my 11gb back. The only thing I wasn't expecting was my pictures being deleted. I thought those would be saved
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Dmavs3113 said:
Hey so it worked just great. The ROM is untouched although I did an external backup. I got all my 11gb back. The only thing I wasn't expecting was my pictures being deleted. I thought those would be saved
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Glad you got the storage space back. Not fun hearing about the photos being gone but formatting /sdcard wipes everything on internal (without discrimination) like I posted.
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Yeah, tomorrow I'm going to try reverting back to the backup to see if my pics are back then save them elsewhere and rewipe again.
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Dmavs3113 said:
Yeah, tomorrow I'm going to try reverting back to the backup to see if my pics are back then save them elsewhere and rewipe again.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
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Don't think it will. But one can certainly hope.
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If I've helped, please hit the thanks button

Pictures won't be in that backup. But you should be using Google's backup options to prevent this sort of thing. Google will backup ask your photos, videos, contacts, apps, etc if you let it. Also set your camera app to save to external sd.
I have the same issue as you with regards to space, I wonder if there's a space sniffer type app for phones that will show you where all your space is being eaten up.
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If you've switched between 4.1.2 and 4.2+ ROMs you may have caused some accidental shuffling in how /sdcard is organized.
In Android 4.2 they changed the internal structure to where /sdcard data is actually located. If you use a file browser you may have noticed a mysterious folder at /sdcard/0 which is where 4.2+ stores everything.
It's important to know this so that /sdcard data can be moved back and forth depending on the Android version of the ROM you're using.

I would use es file explorer. It is awesome for browsing the folders on your phone as well as moving files to and from your internal storage. I also always use my external SD for pictures, music and videos I always go into es file explorer before I wipe internal storage to make sure I won't lose something important. Or you can use Google to back up. Google plus will backup photos as well as Drive. Although I've found the auto backup on Google plus to be easier and more convenient.
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Chinese malware system pop-up?

I had this on my old Z1, and now I have a note 4 and it's on it as well... Every few days I get a pop-up on my phone with a Chinese word (screen shot will be added), and despite all my efforts with anti-virus / anti-malware apps, it persists. I found nothing on it online... Except that it may be related to something called baidu, I'm not sure. I used Google translate to try to make sense of this pop-up, all it says is " 堰" which translates into "weir". I used es file Explorer to search my entire phone for that Chinese word, and for baidu, it came up with nothing. I deleted all apps that I thought were suspicious, and still nothing. Could someone help me with this? It's driving me insane. Thank you.

I need help with this guys! Please! Need some jedi developer to help me out I shall be eternally grateful!
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You can try backup your apps, and try to factory reset. :thumbup:
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rafi_android said:
You can try backup your apps, and try to factory reset. :thumbup:
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Sir, I flashed an entirely new ROM from sammobile, wiped data, and cache. The only thing left for me to do (considering I'm a noob at this stuff) is setting my phone on fire. I even changed my sim card, and SD card. Deleted everything on ext SD, and internal SD. If I was superstitious I'd say my phone is possessed.

Jimmyness said:
Sir, I flashed an entirely new ROM from sammobile, wiped data, and cache. The only thing left for me to do (considering I'm a noob at this stuff) is setting my phone on fire. I even changed my sim card, and SD card. Deleted everything on ext SD, and internal SD. If I was superstitious I'd say my phone is possessed.
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If im not wrong, baidu is from es file explorer right?
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It's not the ROM but the apps you are using...I suggest trying to unsintall them and see if the problem still persists

Can you revoke the permission from malware like android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW