Format Internal Storage Without Root/Custom Recovery? - Samsung Galaxy S7 Questions and Answers

Is there any way to reformat the phone's internal storage without root (ie. using Odin)? The stock recovery and settings menus don't offer any option for this and performing a factory reset seems to leave the internal storage intact. This is a stock unrooted, unbranded G930F. I do not want to install TWRP and trip Knox on this device. I've run into the Media Server battery drain problem and I think the cause is a corrupt file because the issue persists after a factory reset, but just deleting every visible file from a file manager seems messy and I'm not even sure it will work.

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Should I allow my PC to scan and fix my internal SD card?

A few days ago I entered phone hell. At the time, the phone was on the last stock upgrade from AT&T, wasn't even rooted and didn't have a custom recovery. Short story is that it soft bricked out of nowhere for no apparent reason. I finally gave up on fixing it, installed TWRP recovery, did a Nandroid backup, wiped everything twice and reinstalled stock through Odin. Fortunately the Nandroid backup recovered my data and my apps, so I was able to selectively restore through Titanium.
Now that even though both the internal and external SD cards are more than 50% empty, I can't do anything like update apps or sync gmail because of insufficient storage. When I connect it to my PC, Windows Explorer recommends that I scan and fix the card. I suspect that whatever Windows is seeing caused my brick and the lack of space issues.
Is it okay to let Windows do the scan and fix?
Long story short? No...
Enable hidden files and folders in explorer and find the directory that is eating up the space.
Either that or USB connect it, copy everything over, disconnect and wipe from phone (settings > storage > erase) and then reconnect and copy everything back

[Q] how to format internal SD

Hi all, I tried to look for such a simple question but didn't find an answer, so..
I have a friend who has to sell his Tab. I have to clean it, so I can restore factory reset (settings - backup and restore), but I suppose his files and datas won't be deleted.
How to format the internal SD in an unrooted tab? Is there any option in stock recovery?
Thanks a lot
flash custom recovery and try to wipe factory data
Use a file manager on the Tab or connect to a pc and delete everything in storage.

Partitioning Memory?

I am thinking of flashing a rom (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2516248). I have put all my music files onto my N5 (stock) already and I am wondering if there's any way to keep them on my phone when performing a data wipe (before doing a fresh install)
If not, is there any way to partition memory so that I don't have to redo my files each and every time I install another rom?
Thanks in advance.
Dont worry media file won't be wiped. But unlocking the bootloader does wipe everything.

How To recover my photos from my rooted android

Hi i recently made a backup with wondershare mobile trans and it created a .BAK file of 30gb and it is corrupted i don't know why, I can't read videos and photos (if you know any way to access the data in it even if it is corrupted please tell me), i tried extracting it with winrar but it only extracts 6gb of some photos , the rest is corrupted it can't finish extraction.
I flashed a new rom and orange fox recovery , i have root access , i installed disk digger with full root access but it can't find any photo (not a single one) in my internal storage , is there any way to recover my photos from internal storage ?
I flashed my phone before knowing The backup file .BAK was corrupted
If you flash a ROM then Android's internal storage memory - who is surprised ? - gets completely overwritten, means previously stored data have been lost.
jwoegerbauer said:
If you flash a ROM then Android's internal storage memory - who is surprised ? - gets completely overwritten, means previously stored data have been lost.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I formatted internal storage before flashing the new rom
Steps to recover your deleted data from your rooted Android device-
1. Connect Your Android device.
2. Launch Android Data Recovery software on computer and choose 'Data Recovery'
3. Choose file types to Scan
4. Preview and restore lost data from Android phone.
Stop using your phone to prevent new files from overwriting lost data. Then try to use data recovery software to detect the photos from internal storage. If it can be detected, recovery is simple.
jwoegerbauer said:
If you flash a ROM then Android's internal storage memory - who is surprised ? - gets completely overwritten, means previously stored data have been lost.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tend to think it's a lost cause especially if the drive is zeroed out when you flashed.
Don't know but...
This wouldn't surprise me as it's a wise precaution to ensure a clean flash/load.
Even if not overwritten the file structure is lost as that was certainly overwritten when you flashed it. All you will find at best is completely random disjointed files.
The images will have no metadata ie time stamp etc. If you have hundreds, thousands of random images just forgetting about them becomes the less frustrating option many times. There's no way to index them except by memory, one at a time.
Been there, done that

Stuck in recovery after rom update

Hello,
I just updated the rom Evolution X 11 on my Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro after using an older version for about half a year.
Now my phone does not boot anymore, its stuck in recovery (TWRP). Also all data seems to be encrypted and TWRP is not asking for a password.
Is there a way to get my phone to boot again or at least backup my data before I do a full wipe?
You should always do a full twrp backup before messing with roms.
The best solution would be to backup the "Data" and "Internal Storage" partitions. Data contains all apps, their appdata and settings, while internal storage contains all of your own files (photos, videos etc.). After you back these up, wipe your phone (system, data, cache, dalvik) and flash the version of evolution x you were using previously. Now restore data and internal storage and your device should be back to normal.
If you get a bootloop while booting after restoring data and internal storage, then wipe the device again and this time flash evolution x, but only restore internal storage. This way, it should boot and you will be able to recover your files, though your apps will be gone.
If you only restore internal storage then it will no doubt boot up and you will have access to your files, but since you'll have already backed up the important stuff (data + internal storage), you might as well try restoring data as well, as there is no harm, and if the phone boots correctly after restoring both partitions, your phone will be as it was before your updated your rom.
This happened a while back to me with my J5, the issue was that I made a full TWRP backup, then began to test other roms. After I was done, I tried to restore my backup, but it would constantly fail. I sat down for a while, confused and sad about how my TWRP backup had failed me. I tried every solution I could think of, eventually this solution I've mentioned in the above paragraph came to my mind. Thank god for putting it into my mind, otherwise I would've lost a lot of stuff (mainly whatsapp chats which werent backed up, and a lot of apps which I took the time to pain-stakingly configure in the best way for my device).
Anyways, enough of my story, hope this helps you out! If it does, message back here and let us know, and also mark my post as the solution if it was able to help you, so that anyone else who stumbles upon this thread can be saved too!
Cheers!
PhotonIce said:
You should always do a full twrp backup before messing with roms.
The best solution would be to backup the "Data" and "Internal Storage" partitions. Data contains all apps, their appdata and settings, while internal storage contains all of your own files (photos, videos etc.). After you back these up, wipe your phone (system, data, cache, dalvik) and flash the version of evolution x you were using previously. Now restore data and internal storage and your device should be back to normal.
If you get a bootloop while booting after restoring data and internal storage, then wipe the device again and this time flash evolution x, but only restore internal storage. This way, it should boot and you will be able to recover your files, though your apps will be gone.
If you only restore internal storage then it will no doubt boot up and you will have access to your files, but since you'll have already backed up the important stuff (data + internal storage), you might as well try restoring data as well, as there is no harm, and if the phone boots correctly after restoring both partitions, your phone will be as it was before your updated your rom.
This happened a while back to me with my J5, the issue was that I made a full TWRP backup, then began to test other roms. After I was done, I tried to restore my backup, but it would constantly fail. I sat down for a while, confused and sad about how my TWRP backup had failed me. I tried every solution I could think of, eventually this solution I've mentioned in the above paragraph came to my mind. Thank god for putting it into my mind, otherwise I would've lost a lot of stuff (mainly whatsapp chats which werent backed up, and a lot of apps which I took the time to pain-stakingly configure in the best way for my device).
Anyways, enough of my story, hope this helps you out! If it does, message back here and let us know, and also mark my post as the solution if it was able to help you, so that anyone else who stumbles upon this thread can be saved too!
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your help but backing up the data and internal storage doesnt seem possible right now because all the data is encrypted in TWRP...
If you can't backup anything, then wipe system, cache and dalvik, and flash the version of evolutionx you were previously using. Then boot, it should be fine. If it wont boot (give it some time, it will take the time of a fresh install), then this time wipe system+data+cache+dalvik, then flash whichever rom you like and you'll be able to access the files.
You can also try using platform tools and fastboot or adb ( i dont remember exactly which one) to copy the filess from your phone onto your pc.
Sorry if this doesn't apply to your situation, I've never used a phone which has been encrypted, as such I have no experience with them.
PhotonIce said:
If you can't backup anything, then wipe system, cache and dalvik, and flash the version of evolutionx you were previously using. Then boot, it should be fine. If it wont boot (give it some time, it will take the time of a fresh install), then this time wipe system+data+cache+dalvik, then flash whichever rom you like and you'll be able to access the files.
You can also try using platform tools and fastboot or adb ( i dont remember exactly which one) to copy the filess from your phone onto your pc.
Sorry if this doesn't apply to your situation, I've never used a phone which has been encrypted, as such I have no experience with them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds like a good idea. I found the old version on my PC.
Now I just need a way to install it... because twrp cant read the file. I tried with adb sideload but that results in an error for some reason. Flashing Magisk for example with adb sideload is possible.
Edit: Got it to work by using a tool called "Large Address Aware". Now waiting for the results...
PhotonIce said:
If you can't backup anything, then wipe system, cache and dalvik, and flash the version of evolutionx you were previously using. Then boot, it should be fine. If it wont boot (give it some time, it will take the time of a fresh install), then this time wipe system+data+cache+dalvik, then flash whichever rom you like and you'll be able to access the files.
You can also try using platform tools and fastboot or adb ( i dont remember exactly which one) to copy the filess from your phone onto your pc.
Sorry if this doesn't apply to your situation, I've never used a phone which has been encrypted, as such I have no experience with them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This did not help unfortunately... Im still in the same recovery-bootloop and my data is still encrypted.
It's probably still bootlooping as the data partition got modified when you flashed the newer version of evolutionx, and now it will not work with the old one. You can try wiping system+data+cach+dalvik and then flashing any rom of your choice. This will give you access to your internal storage (photos, media etc), but it will remove your apps and their settings. Whatsapp images are stored in the internal storage so you won't need to worry about those.
Again, this is risky, as it may not work (I don't know much about encryption), or you might still not be able to access your files after flashing the new rom. Proceed at your own risk.
PhotonIce said:
It's probably still bootlooping as the data partition got modified when you flashed the newer version of evolutionx, and now it will not work with the old one. You can try wiping system+data+cach+dalvik and then flashing any rom of your choice. This will give you access to your internal storage (photos, media etc), but it will remove your apps and their settings. Whatsapp images are stored in the internal storage so you won't need to worry about those.
Again, this is risky, as it may not work (I don't know much about encryption), or you might still not be able to access your files after flashing the new rom. Proceed at your own risk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for still helping me out but I already did a full reset yesterday. I did not lose much except for the time setting it all up again.
I still dont really get the point of encrypting all your data if you cant decrypt it even if you know the password...

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