I am selling my Moto X Play and want to make sure all my personal files were permanently removed from the device.
I did a Factory Reset from within the OS twice and noticed that my photos would still appear after the reset was completed.
So then I booted into TWRP recovery mode and went to wipe and wiped the internal SD and Data on the device, booted back into the system and the pictures were all gone. I then flashed a completely different rom and pictures are still gone now.
I just want to confirm that at this point that my files are completely erased and could never be recovered.
yes think now thet gone
Related
I'm switching ROMs and want to do a factory reset to be safe however my recovery doesn't read the external SD card. If I factory reset, could I get back into android to transfer my file over? I know you can probably adb while at recovery and do it that way but adb always gives me headaches.
EDIT: I was thinking it wipes user data on the internal SD. But I'm pretty sure it doesn't right?
EDIT2: Found the answer. Factory reset via CWM doesn't wipe user data but factory reset via settings does.
So, my previous post was a bit too optimistic. I've managed to get TWRP onto my phone, but when I went to actually load a custom ROM into it, I found that it couldn't read anything from my sdcard.
I'm having what appears to be a common problem: when I boot into Recovery, TWRP asks for a password. When I cannot provide it (because I have no idea what it is), TWRP is unable to access the data partition. Apparently, the partition is encrypted and I have no way to de-crypt it.
I've found dozens of other posts by users having this problem and the solution everyone is giving is to fully wipe the data partition and start over. But I *can't* wipe the data partition, because TWRP can't access it and fails almost immediately. I have tried a multitude of options, including:
* Installing old versions of TWRP - same behavior; asks for a password, fails to wipe/format the data partition.
* Installing ClockWork's recovery - same thing; fails to format/wipe the data partition
* Flashing back to stock recovery, using that to format my data partition; this worked fine but as soon as I put TWRP back, the problem came back.
On my last attempt, I used the stock recovery to completely wipe the data partition, and made absolutely sure that it never booted into anything but Download or Recovery modes after that. I was hoping that would prevent the stock software from ever re-encrypting the data, but somehow, when I booted TWRP, it still can't read my partitions. Note that my phone itself is not "encrypted" as far as the Settings application is concerned, but apparently Android is doing something behind the scenes anyway. There doesn't seem to be any option in the stock settings to turn off this encryption.
Is there any hope for getting a custom ROM onto this phone?
Thanks for the help!
Any solution? I'm running into the same issue where TWRP is asking for a password.
Now it's my turn. Pressed factory reset by accident in boot loader. Can get to TWRP but it says E: Unable to mount storage
e:Unable to mount /sdcard/TWRP/twps. when trying to read settings file. etc...
Advanced File manager in TWRP shows /sdcard/TWRP
Any ideas???? If I try to mount data in TWRP my Mac wants to initialize.
Thanks
TWRP shows internal storage 0 mb
I flashed the stock recovery, then ran it and somehow it booted right into CM11. Everything was lost, but it's working again.
Factory reset wipe everything! Including SD card.
null0seven said:
Factory reset wipe everything! Including SD card.
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Click to collapse
Possibly, but how come CM11 was still on there? I think that the Boot Loader in Moonshine's factory reset is not compatible with CM11. Luckily the stock recovery fixed things for me.
808phone said:
Possibly, but how come CM11 was still on there? I think that the Boot Loader in Moonshine's factory reset is not compatible with CM11. Luckily the stock recovery fixed things for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same issue, pressed by mistake factory reset in bootloader some time ago. I was pressing vol down to reach recovery, there was a slight lag and I pressed it a second time the immediately I've pressed power...so cursor has jumped 2 rows then executed. I've solved it only by flashing stock recovery and resetting to factory settings again, then flashed TWRP.
Now why you still had CM11...well not 100% sure but in TWRP when you wipe to factory the system partition is not formatted. I've paid attention once to the messages during a wipe and it was formatting data, cache, dalvik and android secure but not system. A reason can be that while flashing any ROM, the install script formats system at the beginning so theres no need to do that with factory reset.
Now I can only think that the factory reset from bootloader does the same and system is not wiped. Theoretically it is correct...system is read only especially on a stock non rooted device and resetting it to factory practically means that any trace of personal settings/aps and so on should be erased. And those are not stored on the system partition. There is also no hidden place on the phone where a recovery image of the original android OS is kept so this is not like on the laptops where you reset to factory and Windows is reinstalled from the recovery partition. My guess is that the factory reset just wipes all partitions that contain personal data and settings and leave system intact. So after a wipe and reboot is like you first start it.
You still had CM11 cause the wipe didn't format system...If anyone has a better explanation I would be glad to hear it. So From my point of view nothing went wrong and has nothing to do with the Maximus recovery or it's compatibility with CM11. It would have happen the same if you have used any other stock recovery
Factory reset, resets youre phone to original settings.
Anyway, its good that the phone works.
null0seven said:
Factory reset, resets youre phone to original settings.
Anyway, its good that the phone works.
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Yes. And it is not formatting system when doing this. So any os is installed will be kept
Sent from nowhere over the air...
Rapier said:
Yes. And it is not formatting system when doing this. So any os is installed will be kept
Sent from nowhere over the air...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to try it again but I wonder if moonshine's factory reset is incompatible with cm11?
Dont understand what do you mean by "incompatible". The factory reset from bootloader is not the same thing as the one from a custom recovery. You shouldn't do a factory reset from bootloader regardless of the ROM you're using
Moonshine is an S-Off method, I didn't used it myself so I don't know what factory reset option is in there
Sent from nowhere over the air...
I never said anything about the custom recovery. If you should never use it, why is it there and why does it make the SD card not available?
Wow, HTC says you can use it here:
http://www.htc.com/us/support/htc-one-x-att/howto/313779.html
I'm sure you know something others like me don't, but I when I mean "incompatible" I mean that I don't believe that it should make the sdcard unavailable and make the phone think it has zero MB. I think what you might have missed is that I used factory reset from the custom boot loader from moonshine. I was wondering if that factory reset was compatible - that's all.
Again, it was a mistake - it's not like I chose it on purpose. Thank you for the help.
808phone said:
I never said anything about the custom recovery. If you should never use it, why is it there and why does it make the SD card not available?
Wow, HTC says you can use it here:
http://www.htc.com/us/support/htc-one-x-att/howto/313779.html
I'm sure you know something others like me don't, but I when I mean "incompatible" I mean that I don't believe that it should make the sdcard unavailable and make the phone think it has zero MB. I think what you might have missed is that I used factory reset from the custom boot loader from moonshine. I was wondering if that factory reset was compatible - that's all.
Again, it was a mistake - it's not like I chose it on purpose. Thank you for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reset to factory from bootloader exists because on stock ROM there's no custom recovery that has that option....so it's in bootloader. For it to work properly though, you must have the stock recovery also. If you have a custom recovery like twrp/cwm and use the wipe from bootloader it'll mess your sd cause phone is not able to perform the wipe properly with that custom recovery. That's why, in order to get back to normal you should flash back stock recovery and perform the wipe from bootloader again.
Sent from nowhere over the air...
Thank you for the clarification. It makes sense. Too bad that reset is so close to the recovery command. It's pretty weird that I didn't have to run the wipe from the stock boot loader again. It ran and rebooted the phone into CM11. Anyway, I am glad I am back to running. Thanks.
About two weeks ago just before CyanogenMod's announcement of its closure I updated my Moto G2015 (1GB) to the latest nightly, which was CM14.1 released on the 25th of December, with its corresponding GAPPS version also released on the 25th of December (ARM, android 7.1, Full)
Yesterday the 7th of January my Google Apps decided that they didn't want to open, at first I thought it was just updating and since my battery was low I plugged in my device, I later realised that my device randomly went to a boot loop and stayed there. I grew impatient so I restarted the phone and went to the Recovery Mode (To Re-Flash the ROM), but to my annoyance the recovery (TWRP) just stayed on the 'Teamwin' logo forever, it would randomly go black then return to that logo. infuriated I turned on my phone and went to backup/reset and clicked 'factory reset'. it annoyingly booted me into recovery to reset the device, which of course I couldn't do.
Now the simple answer would have been for me to go and wipe the cache and data from 'google play services' and or 'launcher3' but I did, either it always shows 'calculating' preventing me from clicking 'manage space' or clearing 'cache' or when it did finally show, after I did click the button for the cache and or data to be cleared it would say 'calculating', and a quick check would discover that nothing was actually cleared.
Kind Regards, and Thank You to any help recieved,
NotSoGreat
Boot TWRP or CWM Recovery (not sure if it's still called CWM Recovery now that LineageOS has replaced it) with the command 'fastboot boot recovery.img' but replace recovery.img with your actual recovery image filename. If TWRP won't boot wait, sometimes a theme or corruption in the TWRP directory on internal storage can pause the startup of TWRP by several minutes, if that still fails boot CWMR and remove the TWRP directory or wipe internal storage.
Once you can get TWRP to boot properly, backup everything (MPT works in TWRP) and wipe and reflash, should be good to go.
acejavelin said:
Boot TWRP or CWM Recovery (not sure if it's still called CWM Recovery now that LineageOS has replaced it) with the command 'fastboot boot recovery.img' but replace recovery.img with your actual recovery image filename. If TWRP won't boot wait, sometimes a theme or corruption in the TWRP directory on internal storage can pause the startup of TWRP by several minutes, if that still fails boot CWMR and remove the TWRP directory or wipe internal storage.
Once you can get TWRP to boot properly, backup everything (MPT works in TWRP) and wipe and reflash, should be good to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply, what you're saying makes sense and would probably work, but I found a simpler work around. I'm actually annoyed I didn't do it earlier.
So simply put, I downloaded my stock recovery which worked and then I just factory reset my device from there, that reset the CM14.1 ROM and let my Google Apps work again. Now about the recovery, I'm a bit skeptical about Re Flashing it, but I think I'll try it next weekend and post the results.
NotSoGreat said:
Thanks for the reply, what you're saying makes sense and would probably work, but I found a simpler work around. I'm actually annoyed I didn't do it earlier.
So simply put, I downloaded my stock recovery which worked and then I just factory reset my device from there, that reset the CM14.1 ROM and let my Google Apps work again. Now about the recovery, I'm a bit skeptical about Re Flashing it, but I think I'll try it next weekend and post the results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried it since you wiped? It might just work now that the reset wiped internal storage...
acejavelin said:
Have you tried it since you wiped? It might just work now that the reset wiped internal storage...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try now.
acejavelin said:
Have you tried it since you wiped? It might just work now that the reset wiped internal storage...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, so I reinstalled and flashed the latest version TWRP, when I opened into it, it took about 1 minute before it opened up, it ran a quick operation that I just glimpsed, it looked like it was wiping cache and user data, my phone was rebooted and I was right, my phone had been reset for the second time today (I'm almost a pro at reinstalling all my apps). I rebooted into the recovery and Look and Behold, it was working.
Thanks slot for your help and time.
So I gave my old Nexus 5 to a friend and wanted to wipe the phone data.
The phone was rooted with supersu and xposed installed.
I did a "factory data reset" (under the "settings -> backup & reset" menu, NOT via the bootloader menu), and after it was done it rebooted into the new phone startup wizard mode. My friend then proceeded logging in under his Google account, and everything looked fine.
Today he tells me after taking a picture he saw that my whole photo collection was still on the phone. Why? It can't come from the cloud because this session never logged on my Google account.
Now I wonder what else stayed on the phone? I guess the Music folder, apart that anything I should worry about? Any way to flush everything that comes from my installation without my friend losing his current installation?
The phone was running a stock recovery or twrp?
audit13 said:
The phone was running a stock recovery or twrp?
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Click to collapse
twrp
Reset from the ROM settings will work to fully wipe the phone if it's running a stock recovery. With twrp installed, you need to wipe from twrp.
audit13 said:
Reset from the ROM settings will work to fully wipe the phone if it's running a stock recovery. With twrp installed, you need to wipe from twrp.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, but now that I don't have access to the phone anymore, do you know if there's a list of what was deleted and what was kept? Apps, launcher theme and customization, application settings were indeed removed. But what about call and sms history? Saved passwords / searchi history? Download/Music directories?
Unfortunately, I'm not sure what would and would not be kept with a TWRP reset from the ROM settings.
Safest thing to do would be to boot into TWRP, perform a wipe of the data and cache, and then reboot. This will require the person to set up the phone again.