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I recently lost a lot of the data on my external SD card after restoring a CWM 6 backup from the external card. Several folders have had the first letter of their name replaced with μ (mu), the rest capitalized, and contents emptied, others are simply missing. For example "μOWNLOAD." Sadly my clockworkmod folder has become an empty "µLOCKW~1," and I had 3 backups included, most importantly my stock root backup.
I noticed that my LOST.DIR folder had 259 new random number files and is nearly 4 GB, suggesting that the files are stuck in there, but I have no idea how to figure out what is what or even if it is possible to save any of them. I tried the suggestion posted here, but nothing in the clockwork folder was found. I can pick out what I think are the 3 pairs of "system.ext4.tar.a" and "data.ext4.tar.a" files based on them being several megabytes larger than everything else, but I have no idea how to separate them or how to pick out the right "boot.img", "recovery.img", and "cache.ext4.tar.a." I'm assuming that I don't need "cache.ext4.tar,"data.ext4.tar," and "system.ext4.tar," because they all show 0 bytes in the new backup that I made on the internal card.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I might be able to save the backup?
EDIT: Also is it "safer" to keep important things on my internal or external card? I kept all of my backups on the external card specifically to avoid something like this happening during a flash or at some other time, but googling tell me that several people have had seemingly random issues with SD cards and the S3.
From my experience everything in the lost. Dir gets its file extension stripped. I had this happen to my music folder and I had to change all the files to mp3. It may be more of a pain than its worth to change every file back. And because there not all the same type who knows what file is suppose to be what
I would move any data off and reformat the card
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
I had everything of import other than nandroids backed up offsite so the remaining data doesn't matter, and I expect that everything is gone, but no harm in trying.
Also, if you ever need to rename a lot of files at once again, you might want to try File Renamer Basic, it is extremely useful for batch operations like that.
Yea I just used the command line built into windows. I was surprised it had the option to do it. Ever since they stopped basing windows off Dos they got rid of some commands. I thought I was gonna have to get a live version of linux. But if there isn't anything wrong with the current rom I would just make a new backup. Format the card first before you move anything back on it
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
I was having terrible battery drain when first got the phone, took out my SD-Card and now get nearly 5-6 hours screen on time!
I don't know if it was the SD-Card or the new modem/rpm (I'm still on the OTA ICS one)
but for me I use google play and I keep a copy of all my nandroids on my computer for safe keeping. and keep only the ones I need recently on the internal, and I have plenty of space left, so for me it was better to just keep the SD-Card out, it was making it hard to choose to put on sd-card or internal LOL
Maybe I've been lucky, but coming from the Droid 2 the battery life on this seems amazing (CleanROM), I have had the external card in since I bought it however.
I was mainly worried about stability issues, mainly I was always worried that a factory reset or changing roms would affect the internal card, so it would be safer to keep things on the external card.
I'm sorry if i have mistakes in this text . i'm persian . i don't know english well/
I have a solution for this problem:
I've lost my data twice. first time i thought that it is virus so i format my SD card .
this time I LOST some important data therefore i tried to get them back.
I noticed that LOST.DIR is included my data.
I connect my phone to PC (galaxy s4) then i copied all LOST.DIR files in to my PC.
then i opened one of them with windows photo viewer. ( right click -> open -> choose windows photo viwer) then i saw one of me missing photos (luckly).
however it will take a long time to take back all of your missing photos but still you will get it.
(sorry for mistakes)
I'm not a person that loads up my phone with frivolous apps. In life I try and keep a simple approach, less is more, less clutter, less baggage, use things how they were made instead of weighing them down with accessories and mods, you know? Not that I'm against a few choice mods, but by and large, I keep it simple.
So it is quite shocking to me when my Photon Q displays the following error messages and refuses to even let me down load a 200kb app due to lack of storage space on internal memory.
This happened after I did a CWM backup. But obviously there are other factors at play. First of all, someone dev'ing for this phone should seriously look into the internal/external memory issues and try to break the chains. It is ridiculous.
Second of all, why is CWM taking up so much room on my phone with backups? Can I delete all these "blobs"? What can I keep and what should I delete over time when doing CWM backups?
Notice the 2 different errror messages: Low on volume space (phone space is getting low) and Low on space (phone storage space is getting low)
What are you guys doing personally on a day to day basis to deal with this issue? What do you recommend?
TIA
I've been using TWRP rather than CWM, but backups do take up a lotta space... I have one here that is 804 MB- getting close to a whole GB just for 1 backup. I personally try to keep only one or two backups on my internal storage, i'm not sure if CWM can read backups from the actual sdcard, but you can transfer them there for storage at least. it is a pain tho. I also hate how your whole storage gets erased when you do a full stock restore with RSD Lite.... it was much easier when when all your pics and files were stored on an actual sdcard.
I backup to the external SD card.
And the whole external/internal thing has been addressed in quite a few threads.
arrrghhh said:
And the whole external/internal thing has been addressed in quite a few threads.
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Click to collapse
That's debatable.
matt2k12 said:
That's debatable.
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Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1887631
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2008517
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1877031
And I know it's not in our section, but it was referenced in our section...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2231480
I believe I read somewhere not long after the Q was released and we got CWM ported to it that the latest versions now do incremental backups....the 'blobs' are the side effect of that if you will. If you delete them you effectively are deleting your backups. And yeah, you do need to make sure you're backing up to external storage rather than the phone storage given the limited space there unfortunately.
I personally use TWRP and backup to the external SD but i also noticed that the backups are big. I play with different mods and roms all the time so i keep several copies of backups on my computer. you can just copy/move them off the SD for archiving reasons and keep only what you need on the device. I think the same can be said for CWM backups but i havent used it in a while.
Mordannon said:
I personally use TWRP and backup to the external SD but i also noticed that the backups are big. I play with different mods and roms all the time so i keep several copies of backups on my computer. you can just copy/move them off the SD for archiving reasons and keep only what you need on the device. I think the same can be said for CWM backups but i havent used it in a while.
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I moved my backups but still. Google must come up with a remedy for their "Internal Storage Only" deal. Some games are 2 gigs. Install 2 games and you dont even have room for other apps or back ups. Pretty ridiculous. Hopefully CM 10.1 devs can do something about it.
Hello, I wanted to know about how SD cards and Root and all the stuff that is associated with rooting (ROMS, backups, etc) interact. I am on Verizon, currently have a Droid X2, which is a really bad phone, and am due for an upgrade already. I am considering choosing between the HTC One and the GS4, but leaning towards the One because of the design/speakers/snapiness/etc. But there is one thing that I'm concerned about. It doesn't have expandable storage. No expandable storage = no SD Card. I wanted to know because I've seen a few reviews and some of them say that Rooters should stay clear of the One because it doesn't have an SD card.
Another thing: I currently own a Nexus 7 which is rooted, so no SD card there either, but I never realized that I won't be able to quickly restore all of my apps through titanium like I do on my X2, because I realized that all the backups are saved on my X2s SD card, so whenever I factory restore or change ROMs, it's convenient to have my apps and the app data on the SD card. So if I were to wipe my Nexus 7 or change ROMS, the backups would be gone because they are stored on the internal storage, right?
So my questions are:
What role does an SD card have in the Rooting processes and root related things? Is it necessary? What are the advantages of having an SD on the device?
Can any of the roles an SD card has be worked around without one?
Can I have my backups backed up to the cloud or other method in which they can be quickly restored, like on my X2 with the SD card?
Why do the reviewers stay to stay clear of devices without SD card slots?
Should I get the One, and now that I think of it, should have I got my Nexus 7 since I'm a rooter and might change ROMs/have to factory reset?
So my questions are:
What role does an SD card have in the Rooting processes and root related things? Is it necessary? What are the advantages of having an SD on the device?
Nothing; the advice about the One just meant that people who root and ROM their devices tend to horde a lot of phone-related files, so expandable storage is a plus since it allows you to cost-effectively add storage as needed. As for advantages? Being able to add storage as you need it, for cheap, and the ability to seamlessly move your files from phone to phone or computer easily. Plus, apps require internal storage, so another plus of having external storage is that you can put all of your media and other files on external storage to save app space.
Can any of the roles an SD card has be worked around without one?
Sort of; both phones (One and S4) support USB OTG. It's a cheap, $2 cable on eBay that's a microUSB adapter on side (goes into the charger port on your phone) and a full-sized USB port on the other. It lets you plug in flash drives, keyboards, mice, etc. There's also this: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andyfei/mini-microsd-reader-for-android-smartphones-and-ta
Can I have my backups backed up to the cloud or other method in which they can be quickly restored, like on my X2 with the SD card?
If by backups you mean Titanium Backup, yes. Titanium Backup has a native export to cloud option that supports Google Drive, Dropbox, and other providers. If you mean Nandroids (full device backups), just copy them off your phone to your computer. They're saved in a folder on either your SD card or internal storage (guessing your SD card on your Droid X2). I don't recommend at all restoring app backups from two different devices, let alone two completely different versions of Android. It's guaranteed to screw up your ROM in one way or another. It's fine to restore an app to a different device/version of Android, but not the data with it.
Why do the reviewers stay to stay clear of devices without SD card slots?
A few reasons, though none of them have to do with the ability to root:
- If your phone dies (completely, due to damage or just having a bad unit), the data is pretty much gone and unrecoverable. If you were using a microSD card, you could have just pulled it out of the phone and called it a day.
- You can expand the storage for cheap; one of the biggest flaws of the iPhone is that going from 16GB to 32GB costs $100. A 16GB microSD card is like, what, $10? Nuff said.
- Apps can only be installed to internal storage (unless you use some root apps that are a pain in the butt). If you offload all your media (photos, music, videos, etc) to your external storage, you can have room for all your apps. Remember that games are starting to take up over a gigabyte each in some cases. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Need For Speed: Most Wanted, Asphalt 7, etc.
Should I get the One, and now that I think of it, should have I got my Nexus 7 since I'm a rooter and might change ROMs/have to factory reset?
It depends on your preferences. The One is a great phone in itself; it depends on you whether or not the lack of microSD card slot is a deal-breaker. It won't affect your ability to root the phone, but consider the answers to your questions that I gave you (I'm not swaying you from or towards it). The Nexus 7 is a great tablet; again, having a microSD card slot has nothing to do with the ability to root your device.
Product F(RED) said:
So my questions are:
What role does an SD card have in the Rooting processes and root related things? Is it necessary? What are the advantages of having an SD on the device?
Nothing; the advice about the One just meant that people who root and ROM their devices tend to horde a lot of phone-related files, so expandable storage is a plus since it allows you to cost-effectively add storage as needed. As for advantages? Being able to add storage as you need it, for cheap, and the ability to seamlessly move your files from phone to phone or computer easily. Plus, apps require internal storage, so another plus of having external storage is that you can put all of your media and other files on external storage to save app space.
Can any of the roles an SD card has be worked around without one?
Sort of; both phones (One and S4) support USB OTG. It's a cheap, $2 cable on eBay that's a microUSB adapter on side (goes into the charger port on your phone) and a full-sized USB port on the other. It lets you plug in flash drives, keyboards, mice, etc. There's also this: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andyfei/mini-microsd-reader-for-android-smartphones-and-ta
Can I have my backups backed up to the cloud or other method in which they can be quickly restored, like on my X2 with the SD card?
If by backups you mean Titanium Backup, yes. Titanium Backup has a native export to cloud option that supports Google Drive, Dropbox, and other providers. If you mean Nandroids (full device backups), just copy them off your phone to your computer. They're saved in a folder on either your SD card or internal storage (guessing your SD card on your Droid X2). I don't recommend at all restoring app backups from two different devices, let alone two completely different versions of Android. It's guaranteed to screw up your ROM in one way or another. It's fine to restore an app to a different device/version of Android, but not the data with it.
Why do the reviewers stay to stay clear of devices without SD card slots?
A few reasons, though none of them have to do with the ability to root:
- If your phone dies (completely, due to damage or just having a bad unit), the data is pretty much gone and unrecoverable. If you were using a microSD card, you could have just pulled it out of the phone and called it a day.
- You can expand the storage for cheap; one of the biggest flaws of the iPhone is that going from 16GB to 32GB costs $100. A 16GB microSD card is like, what, $10? Nuff said.
- Apps can only be installed to internal storage (unless you use some root apps that are a pain in the butt). If you offload all your media (photos, music, videos, etc) to your external storage, you can have room for all your apps. Remember that games are starting to take up over a gigabyte each in some cases. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Need For Speed: Most Wanted, Asphalt 7, etc.
Should I get the One, and now that I think of it, should have I got my Nexus 7 since I'm a rooter and might change ROMs/have to factory reset?
It depends on your preferences. The One is a great phone in itself; it depends on you whether or not the lack of microSD card slot is a deal-breaker. It won't affect your ability to root the phone, but consider the answers to your questions that I gave you (I'm not swaying you from or towards it). The Nexus 7 is a great tablet; again, having a microSD card slot has nothing to do with the ability to root your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for replying so quickly, I appreciate that! I know that SD cards don't affect rooting whatsoever, but some features that you need to root like titanium backup for restoring app data/apps.
As far as cloud backups go, I know how to backup my applications and app data to the cloud, but how would you go about restoring the apps and data? I'm asking because if you have an SD card you find the location on the SD card where your backups are and you just restore straight from titanium. Since they're in the cloud, would you have to manually move them from PC to the internal storage folder? Or download them from the cloud one by one to you're device? (I know you can create a flashable zip file, but last time I tried it on my X2, it boot looped, so I had to factory restore it.)
That's my main concern is backups and restoring data. How do you do it from the cloud that's as fast as from an SD card? Or how do you perform restores at all from the cloud? Thanks so much!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Thank you for replying so quickly, I appreciate that! I know that SD cards don't affect rooting whatsoever, but some features that you need to root like titanium backup for restoring app data/apps.
On phones running Ice Cream Sandwich and above, the internal storage shows up as an SD card (the phone may not say it, but if you go into Android's root directory with a file browser, you'd see /mnt/sdcard/ , which is really just the internal storage. If you put a memory card into a Galaxy S3 or S4, the card shows up as /mnt/extsdcard/. Most technical apps allow you to choose where to save/load to and from. Titanium Backup is one of those apps. You can copy your backup folder from the memory card in your X2 to the internal storage in the One. Or you can even use one of those USB OTG cables to put it on a flash drive or card reader directly into the One (remember, a USB OTG cable gives you a full USB port).
As far as cloud backups go, I know how to backup my applications and app data to the cloud, but how would you go about restoring the apps and data? I'm asking because if you have an SD card you find the location on the SD card where your backups are and you just restore straight from titanium. Since they're in the cloud, would you have to manually move them from PC to the internal storage folder? Or download them from the cloud one by one to you're device? (I know you can create a flashable zip file, but last time I tried it on my X2, it boot looped, so I had to factory restore it.)
To be honest, I haven't used Titanium Backup's cloud feature because my home internet isn't too fast, so uploads would be slow, so I don't know much about restoring from the cloud. But I would assume you'd be able to do so. A quick Google search should help you out.
That's my main concern is backups and restoring data. How do you do it from the cloud that's as fast as from an SD card? Or how do you perform restores at all from the cloud? Thanks so much!
Well pulling files over the internet will always be much slower than reading them from local storage; like I said, you can specify to Titanium Backup where your backups are located. You can even export certain app backups into one file (if you hit Menu in TB, you'll see the option if you scroll down a bit). Then you can import it to your One. Or like I said, just move the TB folder on your memory card to your One's internal storage. Like I said, I don't have experience with cloud backups for TB or Nandroid, so Google or someone else would get you a better answer than I can give you.
Can you please help a noob figure out where this post belongs?
I make no pretense to being a developer, and I was very hesitant to join XDA, but these are questions concerning modding which I have not found answers to, despite posting to a number of other Android forums, so I was forced to "raise my sights."
I have an LG Optimus Fuel L34C (KitKat). I am an Android noob but I have a history with Linux, so I know just enough about what goes on behind the KitKat curtain to make me dangerous. So yes, I also care about the journey. And I'm already heavily invested in this quest, so despite my lack of expertise, I'm willing to do the leg work to make it happen.
My one saving grace is I have a backup fetish. And I want to continue to make Nandroid backups even when the L34C's puny internal storage (1790 MB usable) is maxed out (or nearly so). But I don't want to resort to backups to the cloud because 1) it offends my inner geek that I have to rely on someone else for backup support, and 2) as a delusional paranoid, the concept of "the cloud" gives me the willies.
I'm using TWRP Manager (Root) for Nandroid backups now, but TWRP only can write to the internal SD. Which means that once internal storage is about half full, there's no longer enough space remaining for any more Nandroids. And a bare bones installation with just enough additional apps installed to perform the Nandroid already takes up about 700 MB. So there's no chance of any further Nandroid backups after downloading or installing just two or three hundred more MB.
So my primary goal is to be able to write Nandroid backups to the external SD card (or, pipe dream, to write them to USB). If this also allows me to install apps or store other (internal) data on the external card, so much the better.
I just bought a second L34C because the WiFi on the original L34C pooped the bed. So now I have a new and unmodded L34C to experiment on. I had (towel) rooted the old phone, write-enabled the external SD card and installed the TeamWin open recovery image v2.8. And I replaced the OE 4GB external SD card with a 16GB class 4 card, partitioned half in Fat32 and half in Ext3.
The primary obstacle was that I could never get the second partition on the 16GB card to mount, which prevented me even from experimenting with symlinks. I also installed the latest version of Link2SD, but when I tried to use it to move an app that Link2SD labeled as movable, I got this:
!Failure
App2SD is not supported by your device. Because your device has a primary external storage which is emulated from the internal storage. You can link the app in order to move its files to the SD card.
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Dunno why it's blaming Apps2SD unless Link2 is built around Apps2.
Curiously, I installed Aparted, too, and it was able to access (and process) the 2nd partition, even though it wasn't mounted. I've not heard this definitively but I'm led to believe this is down to the L34C's lack of support for init.d. So I downloaded a copy of daishi4u's custom boot image, which includes support for init.d, but the old phone crapped out before I could try it.
So with background in place, and a spanking new L34C in hand, on to the questions.
#1. With the current state of L34C/KitKat development, is what I'm asking even possible? Once the internal SD card has got too crowded for a Nandroid, is there a solution that will allow me to continue making local Nandroid backups? In particular, I'm thinking there might be another Nandroid backup app that I am unaware of that can write its backups to some location other than the internal SD card.
If this already has been accomplished (and is documented online), please just point me to the details and I'll get out of your hair.
2. I picked daishi4u's custom boot image because the reputation of daishi4u's work is known to me, and because it offered init.d support. If you think another boot image is preferable, please enlighten me.
3. Is Link2SD's problem with the L34C truly the emulated storage? I ask because I know developers typically code apps to make a best guess as to the cause of an error, but despite their best efforts, an app still is liable to be exposed to unanticipated conditions, resulting in a problem that might be beyond the scope of their programming to understand and enunciate.
4. Is the lack of init.d support in fact what prevents an L34C mounting additional partitions on the external SD card? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?
5.a. I found a post in another forum that was near three years old stating that the extra partition on an Android external SD card must be no more than 2GB, and preferably just 1GB. If this ever was true, is it still the case for KitKat? And what is the source of the limitation?
5.b. If there is a 2GB partition limit, is there a limit to how many 2GB partitions can be externally mounted? A Nandroid backup of a heavily configured L34C could take up most of 2GB, so it would be especially useful work-around if there were one (additional) partition for the Nandroid and a second (or third, or fourth, ...) for moving apps and random data off the internal SD.
6. Which app(s) would you suggest I try for moving apps/data/folders to the external SD? There are so many available, and I have not been able to find any comparisons/contrasts of their relative merits, so I would appreciate your recommendations to avoid having to resort to the 'shotgun' approach. This is presuming I'm able to get more than one partition on the external SD card to mount.
I've not lost sight of the fact that some of these apps do not require a second partition on the SD card (creating something functionally akin to an iSCSI partition on it?), but I'm not counting on finding a solution in one of them.
Thank you for taking the time to read my long-winded post.
Well personally I don't keep more than one nandroid on my phone but what you may wish to do is transfer them to your pc for safe keeping and not have to worry about it. You could also try inserting your sd card into your pc and manually transferring the nandroids from your pc to your sd card afterwards. It may work.
Now with regards to the sd card write protection issue, I could not locate anything for your device in particular but if you register you can ask your question here and someone may be able to help you.
After reading about the problem people have with video playback the latest OTA versions"IN: 11.0.6.7.KB05DA ; EU: 11.0.6.8.KB05BA ; NA: 11.0.6.7.KB05AA "
I want to ask what is the best way to backup as much data as possible before updating in case I need to wipe and downgrade later. On my older phones when I was rooted I would just fire up TWRP and take a nandroid backup before updating. If any problems I would just restore that.
What is the best alternative without root? Adb backup? and manual sync/copy of photos and stuff to the cloud/my computer. I read about adb backup that not working properly for some people and possible being deprecated in the future.
One of the reasons I got the 10+ was for the SD card slot. I use the SD card like a data drive. The internal memory is for the OS, programs and to temporarily store downloads (to check for malware).
Samsung's also have Smart Switch to back up settings data, apps, etc. That backup copy is also on the SD card (haven't tested it yet).
Right now I can do a complete reload with little or no internet connection and be good to go in about 2 hours.
You can use external memory instead though. Cloud crap takes too long, same with Playstore.
Use ApkExport to copy all your apps and updates then load directly from those copies.
Save all critical data on the external hd. Make sure your bookmarks are recoverable. Any app that allows you to backup their settings, do so and add those as well.
Make sure you copy your contacts and text messages.
I keep master folders on my phone for documents, music, vids, dcim by year, etc that match to those stored in my laptop which serves as a secondary backup to my SD card. Keep at least two backup copies and store in separate locations. Ideally one should be completely off line and stored in a earth grounded metal box.
Hdds are preferable to flash memory.
Workout a plan within the limitations of your device and software before you need it.