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Starting Over after TWRP and Rooting

I installed TWRP, then rooted 10.4.2.18.
I need to start over as well, between the random app loading, gestures and stop, I think from scratch would be nice.
Can I do a factory data reset?
I have a backup from TWRP but I didn't label it very clearly and I'm not sure what it is.
It's unlocked and rooted - by doing the reset I'm assuming I'll loose it the root - am I correct?.

OK, so I asked what:
1. the wrong forum?
2. The wrong site?
3. Worded it wrong?
4. Too noob?
I could go on. Over a 100 people looked and NO-one can even point me to the right place if it's been answered before, or have an answer!?

RBraverman said:
OK, so I asked what:
1. the wrong forum?
2. The wrong site?
3. Worded it wrong?
4. Too noob?
I could go on. Over a 100 people looked and NO-one can even point me to the right place if it's been answered before, or have an answer!?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try factory data reset from settings app if you like. It is a variable on what you will loose and gain. It is a good place to start. Don't do wipe from the bootloader menu or wipes formats from twrp.
Note: Some wipes and formats can be used in twrp in the case where you will flash a rom after, when flashing stock it seldom helps.
Note: Twrp allows you to choose the name for your backup
You can also flash any of the asus stock firmware but you will have stock recovery (instead of twrp), probably loose root, and all of your apps and data.
My choice for best asus stock firmware is 10.4.2.18. It is not best for everyone but I like it.
Good Luck!
Sorry I didn't notice your post. For everyone else I'm sure they didn't wish to deliver such iffy information.

For future reference, a factory reset will take your ROM back to the point of a fresh install. You will lose all data that has been added since first flashing your ROM. If you were running a custom rooted ROM then you will not lose root. If you go back and flash a non-rooted ROM then you WILL lose root.
If you have data that you need to keep, I recommend using an app like Titanium Backup. Go in and choose to do a batch backup up all your apps. Once you have done a factory reset, you can sign back into Google Play and download Titanium. You can then go in and restore the apps you want. I don't recommend installing all of those apps with their data. Titanium gives you multiple options on how and what you want to restore. Only install the individual app data that you must to have. Usually, I'll restore all of my apps with no data at all. I will then go back in and individually restore the app data that I need.
If changing a ROM, restoring app data for all of your apps can have adverse side effects. That is why I say to only install what you need. Hope this helps. :good:

the best way to start from scratch is do a factory reset then use fastboot to upgrade you're firmware

tobdaryl said:
You can try factory data reset from settings app if you like. It is a variable on what you will loose and gain. It is a good place to start.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I wanted to know - and do - but I wasn't sure what was replaced when I loaded twrp.
tobdaryl said:
Don't do wipe from the bootloader menu or wipes formats from twrp.
Note: Some wipes and formats can be used in twrp in the case where you will flash a rom after, when flashing stock it seldom helps.
Note: Twrp allows you to choose the name for your backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did label them, I backed it up - I think - right after I installed twrp and rooted it, ( I usually do ) but I'm not 100% sure so I didn't want to try and screw it up.
tobdaryl said:
You can also flash any of the asus stock firmware but you will have stock recovery (instead of twrp), probably loose root, and all of your apps and data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm generally not too concerned about loosing stuff, as long as I know WHAT I lost, so I can replace.
tobdaryl said:
My choice for best asus stock firmware is 10.4.2.18. It is not best for everyone but I like it.
Good Luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Checked and that's what I'm on and so far happy with it.
I un-installed a ton of apps, while I was waiting for an answer, and the thing doesn't seem possessed any more, so I'm adding them back in one at a time giving each 2-3 days.
tobdaryl said:
Sorry I didn't notice your post. For everyone else I'm sure they didn't wish to deliver such iffy information.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ABSOLUTELY no reason for an appology. I'd done a search and not come up with anything I could use, and couldn't believe no-one had done this before.

Everything sounds good.
I need to give you one piece of info.
The only thing flashing twrp replaces is stock recovery. Everything else remains the same.
Good Luck!

tobdaryl said:
Everything sounds good.
I need to give you one piece of info.
The only thing flashing twrp replaces is stock recovery. Everything else remains the same.
Good Luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BUT when you do a data backup and reset, doesn't the system draw FROM the "stock" recovery?

RBraverman said:
BUT when you do a data backup and reset, doesn't the system draw FROM the "stock" recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are talking about backup with twrp, by default system, emmc, and data are backed up.
Reset erases user apps and data; all basic data would need to be entered as if you had just purchased the unit.

tobdaryl said:
If you are talking about backup with twrp, by default system, emmc, and data are backed up.
Reset erases user apps and data; all basic data would need to be entered as if you had just purchased the unit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OH! I was under the impression that it read an image from to the boot parition/recovery partition and wrote that. NOW I get it.
THANK you.
Last question - If I do this (installed es file manager last night and the bloody thing wild), is root.signed.zip still good for rooting this? It's unlocked and 10.4.2.18.

RBraverman said:
OH! I was under the impression that it read an image from to the boot parition/recovery partition and wrote that. NOW I get it.
THANK you.
Last question - If I do this (installed es file manager last night and the bloody thing wild), is root.signed.zip still good for rooting this? It's unlocked and 10.4.2.18.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use es file manager for working with both sdcards. I have used it since I received this tablet and find it very useful. Maybe uninstall and reinstall. For a root browser I use rom toolbox pro.
I have not used root.signed.zip but downloading and looking at the installation I don't find a problem. I'd say try it.

wetbiker7 said:
For future reference, a factory reset will take your ROM back to the point of a fresh install. You will lose all data that has been added since first flashing your ROM. If you were running a custom rooted ROM then you will not lose root. If you go back and flash a non-rooted ROM then you WILL lose root.
If you have data that you need to keep, I recommend using an app like Titanium Backup. Go in and choose to do a batch backup up all your apps. Once you have done a factory reset, you can sign back into Google Play and download Titanium. You can then go in and restore the apps you want. I don't recommend installing all of those apps with their data. Titanium gives you multiple options on how and what you want to restore. Only install the individual app data that you must to have. Usually, I'll restore all of my apps with no data at all. I will then go back in and individually restore the app data that I need.
If changing a ROM, restoring app data for all of your apps can have adverse side effects. That is why I say to only install what you need. Hope this helps. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just saw your post - don't know where I went ...
I do not have a custom ROM, so what you are saying is no matter how I start over, I'm going to have to re-install TWRP, re-root it and ad apps - correct? It seems to me that settings|backup and reset, I'll leave TWRP intact just reset.
OK, I'm somewhat screwed I think - if anyone's out there (sorry pretty frustrated), I cleaned the D-Cache and the cahe, better but not good. Then a settings|reset and the from within the OS and the same problem does what it wants when it wants, opens programs (usually google voice), pops up the window to set wallpaper, freezes etc. Then I restored a backup from early January from WITHIN TWRP, and cleaned the caches - same. Restored another and cleaned same. I have cleaned the system, as I cannot see/figure out which clean rom custom I can use on this, as I think that might be my only hope. Other than tossing in the junk pile as it's unusable like this.
Whatever is going on is IN the system, which leads me to a custom rom as my only possible salvation - (think I just said that, hum).
Any ideas?

How can I completely erase data from my Android phone before selling?

I got a new iPhone 7 and wanna sell my old Android galaxy 5, so, my concern is whether the simple deleted data can be easily recovered by some data recovery tools, because there are many sensitive data on my old galaxy 5. So, i wanna know if it's necessary to completely erase data on Andorid before selling? and how?
PS: does factory reset can completely erase the data without recovery?

factory reset should be totally enough.

DeeZZ_NuuZZ said:
factory reset should be totally enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the data can be accessed by data recovery software with only a single factory reset. There is a CNET post about this. A more secure way is writing random data to the phone to overwrite the current device. You can see more details from this guide: how to safely erase android phone

A few steps.
1. Factory Reset.
2. After Factory Reset, go through with setup to be able to accept Files from your PC.
3. Copy and Paste Junk Files, Pictures, Audio, or whatever isn't important if accessed at all, but Move onto Phone MORE DATA than what was there before which Overwrites All of Your Previous stuff.
4. Do Another Factory Reset.
Now, your Phone is Safe to Sell.

S1ikIfy said:
the data can be accessed by data recovery software with only a single factory reset. There is a CNET post about this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so, if the factory reset can't wipe Android completely, do you have a great way to erase data from Android phone without recovery possibility?

Selling my S6 - How can I complete wipe everything on the device?

Hey,
I want to completely wipe my Samsung S6 before I sell it/giver it away, so that when the new user won't find anything when they scan the device for deleted files.
What's the best way to achieve this?
I figured Encrypting my device and doing a factory reset or wipe within TWRP would suffice, but does it? Has anybody achieved a completely clean device and how?

freekystar said:
Hey,
I want to completely wipe my Samsung S6 before I sell it/giver it away, so that when the new user won't find anything when they scan the device for deleted files.
What's the best way to achieve this?
I figured Encrypting my device and doing a factory reset or wipe within TWRP would suffice, but does it? Has anybody achieved a completely clean device and how?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IShredder works for me.. Or just do it oldschool.. Delete and factory reset. Stuff your phone with crap files to overwrite old files and do that as many times as you feel safe and done.. And if you want to experiment with it try to use some recovery software after to see if you got rid of everything

Horgyboy said:
IShredder works for me.. Or just do it oldschool.. Delete and factory reset. Stuff your phone with crap files to overwrite old files and do that as many times as you feel safe and done.. And if you want to experiment with it try to use some recovery software after to see if you got rid of everything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that only works for traditional hard drives rather than on flash memory (SSD/NAND) -- It would seem to me encrypting and factory reset/full wipe in TWRP would work better.
Installing stock firmware encrypts the phone, factory reset/full wipe to completely wipe the data including the key that unlocks the data and doing that another time would probably make data inaccessible especially after a time of use.
AFAIK custom roms are usually not encrypted to allow root to be installed.
I could be wrong however... Has anybody got experience using this method?

The phone needs to be encrypted first before performing a factory reset. Factory reset will make it look like all data has been deleted but actually personal info like photos, texts, emails etc will still be stored in memory and just marked as deleted. This means they can be quite easily restored if someone decides to use a data recovery tool on your phone once it's out of your hands. Both data encryption and factory reset can be done easily from the phone's settings. Data encryption is in the Lock Screen and Security section. Reset can also be done remotely from the findmymobile.samsung website

SMG386T1 Partition Recovery

Hi, I've been meaning to write this since 2016 or 2017, I think, butI think I can still remember all the important details of this crisis...
So I had rooted this 'Galaxy Avant' phone originally so I could disable/remove the extra stuff of the systems' in the hopes of improving the phones' performance, but I didn't change the OS from whag metropcs gave me at that time. I also had a password and/or a pin lock on both the sd card, startup, and internal memory. Everything was okay until I ran into a wifi issue where it wasn't connecting to a semi-public wifi hotspot, so I thought if I cleared the wifi apps' cache the issue would go away. Trouble was I didn't know that the wifi cache wasfor some reasin the same as the system's cache, and a few seconds after clearing it, my phone crashed, and continued to restart itself. So I panicked and tried removing the password/pin locks for easier backup to recovery/resetting. Well the external sdcard managed to decrypt, but when I proceeded to attempt the same for the device, it decided to factory reset itself.
I lost nearly everything from that event. I did periodic backups to the sd card but not daily and since that phone was also responsible for my own memory retention, at least a month or two of my soul is still missing. Any new contact, commitment, itinerary, life decision, goal, deadline, or other important note from that time was wiped and can't be found anywhere else, and I still don't know who else is or was affected from this (especially if I had just made their acquaitance).
So all that to say I must get this device back to how it was before the cache-wiping incident. The phone hasn't been turned on since, except to dump the system image onto my linux desktop. With testdisk I can see what I assume are the deleted partitions from before the factory reset, but I don't know how to undelete+decrypt them and/or copy them back to the device. Please tell me honestly that there's a way to do this, and what that way is. My functioning really depends on it...

shmusername said:
Hi, I've been meaning to write this since 2016 or 2017, I think, butI think I can still remember all the important details of this crisis...
So I had rooted this 'Galaxy Avant' phone originally so I could disable/remove the extra stuff of the systems' in the hopes of improving the phones' performance, but I didn't change the OS from whag metropcs gave me at that time. I also had a password and/or a pin lock on both the sd card, startup, and internal memory. Everything was okay until I ran into a wifi issue where it wasn't connecting to a semi-public wifi hotspot, so I thought if I cleared the wifi apps' cache the issue would go away. Trouble was I didn't know that the wifi cache wasfor some reasin the same as the system's cache, and a few seconds after clearing it, my phone crashed, and continued to restart itself. So I panicked and tried removing the password/pin locks for easier backup to recovery/resetting. Well the external sdcard managed to decrypt, but when I proceeded to attempt the same for the device, it decided to factory reset itself.
I lost nearly everything from that event. I did periodic backups to the sd card but not daily and since that phone was also responsible for my own memory retention, at least a month or two of my soul is still missing. Any new contact, commitment, itinerary, life decision, goal, deadline, or other important note from that time was wiped and can't be found anywhere else, and I still don't know who else is or was affected from this (especially if I had just made their acquaitance).
So all that to say I must get this device back to how it was before the cache-wiping incident. The phone hasn't been turned on since, except to dump the system image onto my linux desktop. With testdisk I can see what I assume are the deleted partitions from before the factory reset, but I don't know how to undelete+decrypt them and/or copy them back to the device. Please tell me honestly that there's a way to do this, and what that way is. My functioning really depends on it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to Sammobile .com or samsung-updates .com, enter your model number in their search feature to find your stock firmware. If you can find the firmware, you can use Odin to flash the firmware to restore the device to normal function.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
Go to Sammobile .com or samsung-updates .com, enter your model number in their search feature to find your stock firmware. If you can find the firmware, you can use Odin to flash the firmware to restore the device to normal function.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but the device already functions normally; it reset itself to factory defaults, after all.
I just want to be able to restore the device to as it was before the accidental cache wipe—apps as they were, files, and all...

shmusername said:
Thanks, but the device already functions normally; it reset itself to factory defaults, after all.
I just want to be able to restore the device to as it was before the accidental cache wipe—apps as they were, files, and all...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, you mean you want to recover your lost data. All I can say is try some data recovery software on PC, there isn't any guarantee that it will work though. Data recovery on android is not very reliable.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

firmware flashing vs factory reset

Hi. i have an issue with my tablet and samsung support wants me to do a factory reset.
My question is then if i flash a firmware from samfrew.com will that remove as much data as a factory reset? or is the data stored in another partition or something similar to that?

A Factory Reset - as it name implies - only restores Android phone to the state it was brought into the market, it does NOT alter phone's Android as flashing a firmware does.

ok? so are you saying that doing the factory reset will rollback all the software updates samsung has rolled out?

Masterkong said:
ok? so are you saying that doing the factory reset will rollback all the software updates samsung has rolled out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, but factory reset, will wipe your internal drive completely. If you have a sd card store all your photos/music etc on sd card.
Only real time, you want to flash stock firmware
etc, is if you eg... want to upgrade your firmware to newer versions, or come back from root.etc.. etc.
Chances are... if you don't know what you doing... you can soft brick your device etc.!
Factory reset, seems like the better options.?
Even though once or twice (in the past) , a factory reset, did not help, where flashing correct, Official firmware version, actually help solved my issue.
So it's your choice.!
Good luck.
to

Masterkong said:
Hi. i have an issue with my tablet and samsung support wants me to do a factory reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's the issue?
Try clearing the system cache; it never hurts, it's easy and can cure erratic behavior.
Old loads will probably benefit with a clean load but for minor issues it's a shotgun overkill approach to troubleshooting.
Techs like because it works and makes things real easy... for them, not you!
Worse the issue can easily reoccur if it was caused by an app, setting, etc. Normally it's best to find the root cause rather than do a factory reset.
Exceptions are old loads and if you did a OS upgrade, in which case a factory reload fully warranted.
A reflash should only be done to upgrade or if the original factory load image has been corrupted (very unlikely).

ok.
i have an samsung galaxy tab S6 and since the upgrade to Android 11/OneUI3.1 international key on any hardware keyboard stopped working. regardless of layout set. Dvorak etc. does work though.
so i think it is a software bug and not some lingering configuration.
support asked me first to clear the cache on samsung keyboard app and when that didnt work they asked me to reset all settings in general management. no bueno there either. next thing they want me to do is facory data reset.
so my thinking is if this is a software bug that won't do any good. but reflashing the tablet with android 10 should work if the faulty software is in android 11, or rather in samsungs OneUI i guess.
does this make sense?

but i digressed. what i wanted to learn was what data is affected in a factory reset compared to a firmware flashing.

Masterkong said:
but i digressed. what i wanted to learn was what data is affected in a factory reset compared to a firmware flashing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I basically answered your questionin above post..!
Factory reset will wipe your internal data.!
Where as flashing correct Official Firmware depends...... .!
eg If you do a dirty flash... you keep your data..! Data stays intact, but chances are "anything" (system apps) can get corrupted.?
Resulting eg, in excessive battery drain or an app not working properly.
(In Samsung devices when flashing you use /if you flash... eg Home_CSC etc with the other relevant files)
Otherwise/alternative, if you flash
(.. with the correct Official Firmware using)
eg CSC_XXX file, your device will automatically factory reset..!
Bottom line is, it depends how you flash your device.
example.....
HOME_CSC_xxx -> data will stay intact.
CSC_xxx-> device will factory reset.
Note,
If you knew the basics, about flashing official firmware......
you should have known, above information.?
So i suggest that either you do some reading /research, regarding flashing correct official
Firmware etc or you stand risk of soft
bricking you device..
Good luck

Masterkong said:
but i digressed. what i wanted to learn was what data is affected in a factory reset compared to a firmware flashing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All critical data photos, contacts, music, vids, etc should already fully backed up, redundantly.
The whole idea of a reload or flash is a fresh start from issues that are present.
OS's are 100% expendable, critical data is not.
It's a little game to see how long you can keep a OS copy running well, but that's all it is.
Erratic behavior could indicate a virus or rootkit.
A benign instability could end up corrupting important data, even backups.
I'm ready to reload -now- should be how you roll; keep your data organized and backed up.
If you have a SD card slot, use it as a data drive. OS/programs/download folder on the internal memory or primary drive, and all critical data on the the data drive. You can nuke the OS but your data is safely (hopefully) still on the data drive, you backup that drive at least twice.