SM-G950F DevBase sudden data loss in internal memory - Samsung Galaxy S8 Guides, News, & Discussion

This is just going to be sort of a blog post of what happened to me recently. Not asking questions, or anything of that kind, just if someone else faces this problem then we can see we're not alone.
OK So I was using DevBase (sorry, forgot the version and installed lineage, it was one of the android 8.x.x versions from around a couple of months after official 9.x.x was released, because I hated the new UI.), rooted, Magisk installed (basically for AdAway only, because I didn't know of Blokada before) and Xposed installed (wasn't using it for anything, just experimented with it a couple of months ago and didn't bother removing it yet).
I've always had my storage space close to full, both internal and external memory cards. It's ususally full of pictures and videos saved from reddit, 4chan, tumblr, my meme and porn collections. I could just copy them to my pc, but having to use that ****ty MTP protocol which copies everything slow A.F. and unreliable as hell as well... I very rarely make a backup of my phone. I was just planning to do a major backup (basically just moving my stuff to my pc) of the past year or so of using this phone.
I think it's also worth mentioning that my phone has always been in a sh.tty condition. I bought it with a fully cracked screen, with a mostly non working lcd, and it was network locked before someone unlocked it. I replaced the screen and the back glass with some cheap chinese generic stuff (I know...), which I also managed to misalign the adhesive on, so it wasn't water- or dust resistant anymore and has been to 2 heavy rains since then (where it detected water in the usb port, didn't let me charge it, and had to plug it in while booting in order for it to let me charge it). My sd- and sim card slot has also been having issues since I've got the phone basically, it never did go fully in, even though it was working fine. The case I was using (a spigen case, which later turned out to be a counterfeit, and the seller was also removed from ebay along with the listing, but looks very good) held it in place so I just thought I'm going to see what's going on with it when buying a new battery and new usb port when it fails, and when I have to replace the back glass anyways which is also cracked by this time (xd). So yeah, these might play a role in all what happened.
Couple of days ago I started getting weird messages in the camera app that I couldn't record video to internal storage (64gb). Even though in ES File Explorer it showed a couple of gigs free, these numbers have never been too accurate. I deleted some old, unused apks (I don't use google play or services, I install everything from apks) and large unnecessary videos from both the internal and external storage (wasn't sure which one the camera was using). Still got the same message in the camera app, and in ES File explorer there were some weird happenings, like the deleted files didn't reall disappear, and when I tried to delete them again it said it couldn't find the file. I was too tired for this bs so I just set the camera's saving location to the external sd (128gb), and called it a day temporarily.
A couple of days later I deleted some of the apps in order to free some space up on the phone. I also put my apps into folders, my app selector has never been so tidy. Everyone in our house has been having problems with wifi in the past couple of weeks so I didn't really worry when some issues with wi-fi came up. There was an exclamation mark besides the wifi symbol and it was using 4g. As if it was connected to a wifi network, but had no internet access. This has been the case in the past a few times. This tim though, when I turned of mobile data, wifi just worked fine with the exclamation mark. When I turned it back on, it was using 4g again. Turning wifi on and off didn't seem to help, so I disabled and removed AFWall+, which I thought could be causing problems here. This didn't help either, so...
I decided to restart the phone. It restarted, and after booting, all I had was a black screen with a notification bar. I was waiting, but nothing seemed to happen. The screen didn't even want to turn off for a while. Then I got my lockscreen, where I don't use any codes or anything. At this point I don't remember in which menu I am, probably just the black screen still, with the phone app crashing constantly, and some other apps occasionally. OK, I thought, I'll just restart this and it'll work fine, even though this many crashes at the same time never happened to me before with this phone. It restarted, first thing I noticed that the apps weren't in folders, rather they were just in alphabetical order. Then I noticed some notifications about setting up certain samsung apps etc. When I started some apps, I noticed, none of them had data. My (not synced, of course, because muh botnet) Firefox bookmarks, history, let alone the open tabs. My music playlists in AIMP, the phone numbers, logins to discord, messenger. Everything was lost. In ES File Explorer the internal memory, which was almost full, had 40gbs free... oops...
Fortunately, my external sd, where my recent photos, videos, and 100gb music library is, is intact. Thank god. I just made a backup of that to my pc, formatted the sd, and now through adb in twrp recovery I'm trying to create an image of the internal 64gb memory to the external 128gb, so I can mount the image on my pc and maybe revive some of my memes and such. This is needed because you can't mount your phone easily to the pc in order for it to show up like a mass storage device. You can't use recuva and others on MTP devices....
I now have a 64gb image of my data partition. , or whatever that was mounted to. I will look into restoring the files later.
Moral of the story: nothing. Maybe that I should've been better off using stable roms, use lineage instead of trying to remove/disable google stuff from some touchwiz roms, make backups regularly.

Related

Dead Cap.

Wondering if anyone can think of anything I can try before returning the phone this afternoon.
What happened:
Yesterday, I rebooted the phone because a prog had hung and wasn't responding to force quitting via Applications. When I tried to turn it on, it didn't respond -- zilch. I plugged it in and tried a few times to turn it on over the next hour with no luck. Finally it started to boot and hung at the ATT screen, but after sitting there for a min, horizontal lines appeared across the screen. Tried again over the next hours with the same result.
Left the battery out overnight. A few minutes ago, I tried it again and it actually got past the ATT screens, but after the Samsung logo sequence was done it hung on the blank screen. The phone is rooted and clockworkmoded, so I tried to boot into recovery to do a nandroid restore. No dice: I get an error about not being able to write/read to the sdcard.
So at the black screen, I can shell into the phone. Can't SU (seg fault). Can't get to the internal SD storage (which is all I really want at this pt. I took a bunch of awesome pics while surfing yesterday and want em).
It looks to me like there is some sort of corruption of the internal storage. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
From the looks of it your nand crapped out...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Yeah thats what I'm thinking.
This does highlight a flaw in the storage setup: having internal storage like the iphone is seriously awesome from the usability standpoint. But android is set up to assume that when you back up, it's to a removable card. So I have a Ti backup, but that doesnt help me if I can't get to it if the phone dies.
Seriously bummed. I've had a really crazy # of dead iphones (like 6 over two models -- its one of the reasons I finally switched) but the upside was that when it was switched out I was rocking all my stuff on the new phone within an hour. With this, I'm now starting from scratch.
FWIW: I got the phone working again by wiping user data and reformatting the internal storage. I'm guessing that there was something corrupted.
Here's the warning I'd offer though: Ti backups etc do you no good if they're on the same file system as the phone boots off of. I was backing up regularly, but since they were on the internal drive that did me no good. Unless I'm missing something, Ti doesn't allow you to choose a location (just a folder name) for backups.
if it lets you choose a folder name then choose sdcard/sd that is where the phone's linux mounts your external SD Card.
Also I keep my Titanium backups and Nandroids on my Computer for extra safety.

[Q] Apps on SDcard go missing? usually??

Is anyone running into a problem with apps that have been moved to sdcard just disappearing? Most of the time I see little green droid icons all over my launcher (ADW), and lots of missing apps in the app drawer. I can reboot several times and eventually all show up.
I'm running ee4_debloated-v421 / 0730_charge_voodoo kernel / sdcard_patch. Am on my second handset (first one had a clicky button go dead). The earlier handset occasionally did the same thing.
I presume the sdcard is the culprit, as it is the common element. But I have popped it out, run fdisk and defrag all with no errors.
Any theories??
I had this happen when I first got my charge. How I fixed it was I took the SDCard out of my phone and put it into my flash media reader, and then did a full format using HP's Format tool with default device settings. It took a long time to do the full format, but after doing so, I didn't have any more issues with apps disappearing that were installed to the SDCard.
Full format, huh... (gulp) well it's certainly worth a try! I'll report back.
Thanks,
Larry
ljcorsa said:
Full format, huh... (gulp) well it's certainly worth a try! I'll report back.
Thanks,
Larry
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know when the phone first came out, there were several users with SDCard problems. I'm not sure how others fixed them, but a full format and a half hour or so fixed mine
Well, I'm disappointed to report that the problem did not disappear :-( Could it be the contents? I copied *everything* from the card before full formatting with the HP tool (which tooks hours as you said), then copied it all back. Same result... if I reboot enough times it will come up with all apps showing.
I've ordered a Class 10 card. Plan to use the HP tool on it straight away. What else would you recommend? Maybe move all the apps back to the phone? Would you start from a fresh load of the ROM?
Many thanks,
Larry
ljcorsa said:
Well, I'm disappointed to report that the problem did not disappear :-( Could it be the contents? I copied *everything* from the card before full formatting with the HP tool (which tooks hours as you said), then copied it all back. Same result... if I reboot enough times it will come up with all apps showing.
I've ordered a Class 10 card. Plan to use the HP tool on it straight away. What else would you recommend? Maybe move all the apps back to the phone? Would you start from a fresh load of the ROM?
Many thanks,
Larry
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that DroidXcon over in the Android Central forums advises NOT to move apps over to the SDcard because of problems like you have experienced...the higher (class) speed card may help. I've noticed that on my stock class 2 card when I view a subdirectory that contains large wallpaper files using QuickPic or Gallery, the thumbnails will often "time out" and not display towards the end of the list unless I refresh the listing several times. I would assume it is for the same reason that recording video to the class 2 card will time out after a few minutes.
Good luck with the Class 10 card...keep us posted!!!
Well, the Class 10 arrived in time to try again, so formatted with HP Utility and copied all the saved files over. Same behavior.
If it's the sheer quantity of apps on the SD card and there is a timeout involved, that might explain it! Reformatting the card would effectively defrag it which would speed it up, perhaps explaining imnuts' observation. And if reading in all those apps at startup is not I/O bound but maybe CPU bound, that would explain my experience.
I'm going to try moving apps back to the phone just to see.
Wow, this is persistent. Moved all the apps from SD back to phone using TiB, which seemed to hang sometimes. Tried different access methods with no clear winner. Anyway, after a reboot, the situation was unchanged. Unreal.
So I am starting from scratch with a freshly-formatted Class10 card, a full data/cache wipe, and a new ROM: GummyChargedFE1.9.1. Haven't had a problem yet, but haven't restored anything to SD either. Proceeding cautiously.
Ok, I'm converted. GummyChargedFE1.9.1 solved this problem. Everything seems to run better. Added the V6 SuperCharger thing which tweaks minfree levels and much more, and the combination runs extremely well.
Biggest problem for me is that I'm satisfied... spent the last two years trying to get my "original" Droid to run well, then got the Charge, started over. What do I do for an encore?
Fast Boot option may be the culprit
In case anyone is following this old thread ...
I did not need to install a new ROM
CUT TO THE SOLUTION BELOW -- SEARCH FOR ////
Some (not all) of my apps moved to SD (all by Titanium Backup Pro) have begun to disappear and (sometimes) reappear without warning after I began to add and delete large Virtual Machines created in QEMU from my 16GB SanDisc class 10 microSD card on my HTC Droid Incredible running rooted stock Verizon Android Froyo 2.2.3. I know this thread is far from my phone's "home base", but from what I can tell this problem with disappearing apps located on an sdcard is NOT determined by hardware or even Android version.
I also happen to use LauncherPro by Federico Carnales instead of the built-in HTC Sense launcher. I noted elsewhere on XDA that a user had suggested that because at least some (maybe all) launchers start before the SD Card that this may be a problem, especially if changes are made to the sdcard that the launcher did not perform, or was not active during their performance by other apps such as Titanium Backup. That fits my situation, because I unmounted the SD, physically removed it to a PC, and added/deleted large VM files to save (lots) of time. No problems of this sort before I did this, so there must be some connection.
I noted that other users have tried reformatting SD, substituting different brands of SD, using newer/older SD etc. None of these reliably helped. So I skipped these options.
//// The (simple!) solution I tried that SEEMS to work (only time will tell!) is buried in the main Android Settings (accessed from the Menu button while in Home screen). Under "Applications" there is a setting "Fast Boot" that I checked long ago and forgot about (it seemed like a good thing to do at the time). The text warns "Turn off to use some Market apps" (that shows the age of my 2-yr old used phone and Android OS -- ohmygosh!-- because it refers to Market rather than Google Play Store!) Anyway, I unchecked the option and rebooted the phone.
Yes, it took a bit longer to boot (maybe a whole minute!), but after waiting about another minute ALL my home screen apps had normal icons and loaded properly. Titanium Backup Pro batch scenarios confirmed there were no apps in a forced uninstalled state (i.e. I had not done the deed, the system somehow had done it or at least rendered the apps "invisible" to Titanium, which decided they needed reinstallation).
The only odd behaviour was that auto brightness was turned off after I unchecked Fast Boot and rebooted. Going into Android Settings > Display and rechecking "auto brightness" took care of that. No other oddities or strange behaviours thus far (but it has only been about an hour).
I will report back here on this thread only (Samsung Fascinate > Fascinate Q&A > What just happend? apps on sdcard) if anything else requires reporting. Silence implies success!
link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1873670
(I am copying this post to other relevant threads, but will not post anything further elsewhere -- only there. This is a bit arbitrary (although this thread appears to be the most recent active one on this topic), but I hope this approach pleases the XDA sysops/admins) :angel:

[Q] Can't see files on internal SD from PC?

Has anyone experienced this?
I was looking last night to figure out where the space had gone on my internal "SD". I have a Videos folder that I copy things onto to watch at work that appeared to be empty, which was great, but then I got low space warnings when copying things to that folder, which was not so good.
I looked around, trying to figure out what was eating so much of my memory (this is all done via my Win 7 PC over USB) and couldn't see anything that was that big. I looked in a Pictures folder that I know contains pictures of my kids and wife that I keep separate from my camera pics and that's when I knew there was something up. It didn't show any files. Weird.
Root Explorer shows the files just fine (the Videos folder contained 1 season of a British Comedy and 5 stand-up comedy videos).
Not a huge deal, but I'm wondering if anyone has run into this before. I never saw this happen prior to restoring to stock a few weeks ago (now on Slim Bean 3.1). Maybe someone else has had this happen and knows a fix (or maybe it's the precursor to the phones memory failing, which I'd really like to know ASAP cause it's still under warranty). Like I said, not a big deal right now as I can still access the files with Root Explorer, but I've never heard of this happening (heard of it happening the other way, though).
Phone is connected via MTP, not as USB Mass Storage. Have not tried it in any other mode yet (and won't be able to until I get home from work).
ive ran into alot of ddifferent time on my phone ive noticed that the drain normally isnt your files you put on the internal its more of the Games and stuff which we dont tend to notice and back uo and restores. when my pc wouldnt find the files i downloaded a app called USB switcher what i did was toggle it from whatever mode i was already in MTP to UMS vice versa and it started shwoing me the files i dont know anything about it being hardware failure or not but maybe this might help

Random Reboots (OG shield tablet)

Hi
Can't remember whether or not this has been asked and answered, but here goes...
Shield tablet
5.1.1
Non-root
For the past 2 months or so I've been plagued with random reboots ( up to 2-3 times a day)
I've tried to
wipe cache 2 times
delete a whole bunch of apps
Change power settings
I have NOT YET tried to do a full wipe, due to the fact that I've got waaaay to many apps that don't sync data with google so it would be a major hassle to fix settings, copy data out and so on.... But am looking at backup solutions that include DATA ( helium)
I haven't been able to ascertain pattern.
Any suggestions on what I can do , or for that mater any way to find out why the hell it restarts.
Thanks in advance!
D
That's strange. So just reboots, no shutdowns?
I can only assume, maybe a rogue app with reboot access.
Just reboots
And It seems totally random.... everywhere from 4 times a day to non... Load dosen't seem to matter . From netflix and web to plain and simple spotify. It's driving me up one wall and down the other... can't figure it out, and really don't want to factory reset
Any form for event viewer or something that I can take a look at?
Worst part is I use it to take work notes and on a few occasions it's died (rebooted) on me in the middle of notetaking... starting to really mess with things ... and yes I know, do a factory reset, and I will if I run out of options. But my fear is that after I reinstall all the apps I'm back to square one, and it all starts all over again.
Maybe hibernating all non stock apps with Greenify could solve the riddle; if it's indeed a software issue. Once the problem ceased, activate one app at a time till the reboot bug reoccurs..
Hi
Sry for the slow reply
Been testing the Greenify for about 2 days and the same is still happening. I've more or less put all non stuck apps into hibernating list.. and run it every so often, as well as activated the hibernate at screen off. And it still happens... wish there was an event log or something that could point me in the right direction.
That's too bad. What if it is malware? I'd say make a factory reset. Stay clear of non stock apps and watch and see. If it still reboots, it must be a hardware issue. You still have warranty, aye?
Nope warranty is out, I think. I mean 2 year but got it back in 2014 at some point.
A damn it, was hoping to id the damn offending app and fix it without having to factory reset....
No one knows of any event / log feature in android ( akin to event viewer in windows)...??
I just read on Amazon that someone had the same issue inconsistent reboots and the culprit was a micro SD card.
Do you have on inside your Shield?
I had this problem like 3 months ago. When tablet was charging the led indicator was blinking on green an orange. The problem was that the cable from battery was connected bad, I just had to connect it with solder. (My tablet is replaced )
Niii4 said:
I just read on Amazon that someone had the same issue inconsistent reboots and the culprit was a micro SD card.
Do you have on inside your Shield?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I do have an NTFS formated sd card installed...
Do you know of any easy way to check...or even better fix it?
Replace the SD card with another one or don't use one for now. You can still backup via USB or WiFi.
It may be a incompatible issue or a damaged SD card.
Backup via usb? As in copy paste the content of the SD card?
I have a lot of apps on the SD card, and not enough space on local storage to move back to tablet ....
Was hoping for some software based diagnostic or test to check the sdcard
Yes, you can copy n paste. Or save new data on a new SD card etc.
I presume there are Android SD card checker apps. But I think that won't help if it's an incompatible issue. Anyway, unmounting the current SD card won't erase its data. It's the sour apple you've to try.
Just somehow experienced the same.
Android 7.0 - no root no anything.
It's weird. Now it rebooted with 1% and then died. Before it just rebooted around 40%. Anyone found a solution?
Thanks

[Resolved] Tablet rebooting randomly + file changes are reverted

Hi,
I've got an nVidia Shield Tablet (not rooted) with a 64GB card formatted as internal storage.
In the past two days or so I have noticed that the battery drains surprisingly fast, and have noticed that it is rebooting by itself, particularly when I'm trying to copy files over.
I'm leaving tonight for a couple of months so I was loading some useful documents and files but then realized that not only was it rebooting often, but none of the files were retained after the tablet reboots itself. I tried to delete some files and when it rebooted those files reappeared too. In file manager the storage space is now at a constant 38.08GB, if I add anything or delete anything when it reboots it just goes back to that 38.08GB mark and all the other file changes would have been lost. However, all the videos / documents / pictures / apps that I had on there still all work with no problems.
Oh and as I was playing with it just now Google Play Services just crashed, which was something that I had seen once before in the last couple of days as well.
Are there any diagnostics tests I can run? I tried mounting the SD card on my PC but since it's formatted as internal storage it could not be recognized by Windows so chkdsk does not work.
Any help would be appreciated! I really hope I can get this sorted out before I have to leave, since I was really counting on being able to use it to do some work. Thanks!
Edit: It seems to have fixed itself somehow... how odd.

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