Database Develop

Full wipe between installing EMMC roms

I want to do a full wipe of all data when going from ROM to ROM installing to EMMC.
So far each time I install, some files are left over in one or other area.
I have yet to find a complete answer/quide on how to go about completely cleaning everything before installing a new ROM?
(Ideally the equivalent of formating and partitioning before installing Windows...)
At the moment I am cautious to try the WIPES and FACTORY RESET options in CWM as I have not found a solid answer as to what they do here.
(Is CWM the way to go here?)
Thanks for any help

There is utility like that for GTAB but didn't see one for NC
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=974422
And in this post all the way down in OP:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=985705

Let me see if I understand this correctly, you're saying you manually format each partition under CWR and are sketched about using the factory reset function? Ive both wiped and flashed between various emmc based roms as well as EXT4 based roms to the (EXT2?) based roms without a problem. Each time I use the correct CWR and manually format /system, /data, and /cache. If i'm understanding your question correctly then I hope this helps. It may not be the fix you're looking for but it works.

stevencpoynter said:
Let me see if I understand this correctly, you're saying you manually format each partition under CWR and are sketched about using the factory reset function? Ive both wiped and flashed between various emmc based roms as well as EXT4 based roms to the (EXT2?) based roms without a problem. Each time I use the correct CWR and manually format /system, /data, and /cache. If i'm understanding your question correctly then I hope this helps. It may not be the fix you're looking for but it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah - thanks, i think that is pretty much what i am after.
What is the difference between factory reset/wipe and formating the system/data partitions?
Is there anything on the boot partition that might get left over?

[Q] Why would you Wipe Boot Partition?

Hello,
I am about to install CM7. I currently Have Nookie Froyo 0.6.8 with CWM 3.0.0.5. I believe I need to update to CWM 3.0.1.0 first. Do I need to wipe / format the boot partition first or will the update to CWM / CM7 do that? What data lives in boot curerntly and what would be a situation / reason for wiping the boot partitition? When is it ever done?
Thanks in advance!
~J

you should not wipe boot when installing cm7

mooja said:
you should not wipe boot when installing cm7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What would be a situation / reason for wiping boot? When is it ever done?

OK. thank you, but what would be a situation / reason for wiping the boot partitition? When is it ever done? I'm trying to learn about all aspects of rooting / cwm.
Thank you
~J

Not needed,running cwm will handle everything. Also the boot should stay so that SD keeps priority for recovery reasons.
There is a ROM Manager option to wipe data/cache, this should be done if changing rom types (ex nookie to CM7) but isn't usually needed between minor versions of the same rom unless issues arise.

It wipes the boot sequence, doesn't matter what rom you're going too, you need the boot data.
I've wiped it twice. Both times required I restored to stock before moving to a custom rom. Just wipe data and cache, and you'll be fine.

when going from nookie Froyo to CM7, you are changing the file system from EXT-3 to EXT-4. Remember to format /system /data /chache, and wipe Dalvik-cache within CWM 3.0.1.0 before installing the CM7 rom. By formating the three partitions in CWM 3.0.1.0 you upgrade the file system.
There is almost never a reason to format /boot. You will only cause problems that are annoying to fix.
Remember to do a backup in CWM before you format and flash CM7. You never know.

Having problems with ext3 for months now... help :(

Hey xda!
I keep losing my ext3 partition with all my apps every few boots.
It actually usually happens after I have trouble installing/uninstalling apps, which send my phone into softboot mania. A hard reboot usually fixes the app install problem, but every so often unmounts the ext3, which I then have to reïnstall.
Over the past months I've been moving dalvik around, flashing new ROMs, full wipes all the time, checking ext3 for errors, using different software to format re-partition,... The problem is that these issues are non-persistent and so very hard to check if it's fixed. So every time I have to reboot I'll clench my heart and full on rage when I lose ext again
So today after partitioning my SD card again and doing a full wipe, only to lose my ext3 again after hours of setting my phone back up it dawned on me... could this be my recovery??
I'm on CWM 5.0.2.0
It served me well for like a year until I got into the whole A2SD thing...
Problem is I wanna go back to AmonRA now (think that was my first recovery) but Mod Manager won't let me anymore. And I don't have adb anymore, nor the knowledge of how I rooted and did all of that stuff 2 years ago (scatterbrain).
So... Any thoughts on this, is my recovery the issue here? And can I flash AmonRA without having to go through adb and all that?
tl;dr
My ext3 is ****ed (sporadically), I THINK recovery is to blame. I suck at adb, how to flash AmonRA?
Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Yeah...quit using CW around version 3 due to the exact same BS...I found I had to actually repartion the whole SD card several times and even lost my backups once...
AmonRA was good but the newest greatest and most amazing recovery inho is 4EXT! http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1291970 it has been the best recovery I have used bar none and the developer is awesome with support if needed!

Thanks for responding so quick, you did not lie about the awesomeness of 4ext!
I'm having a blast tinkering with the recovery control settings
Since we're in the same boat, maybe you can be of advice.. Would upgrading to ext4 do me any good? Any upsides to it?
When I got into A2SD, ext4 was too new and considered to be "DANGEROUS EXPERIMENTS" xD

EXT4 is the stock filesystem for all new Android phones.

Jack_R1 said:
EXT4 is the stock filesystem for all new Android phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh ok, so it would be ridiculous for me to get it now, thanks for clarifying
For the record, this issue has (as it seems for now) been resolved by flashing AmonRA and wiping -> repartitioning the card with that.

While AmonRA was great I found many advanced features in 4EXT. For instance you can go from ext3 to ext4 and back again with just the push of a button. EXT4 is a more efficient file system and most ROM's nowadays should support it...if not just switch back to ext3. Also 4ext will check for filesystem errors on your SD card and also check partition alignment. If you use 4ext to partition it will ensure proper partition alignment which the other recoveries don't do....

While I was impressed with ext4 features and all, I tend to go with stability over advanced features. Which is why I'm on Amon_RA's recovery, and also why I'm on an OTA build ROM, so ext4 support is ruled out for me. I want my phone just to have all the functionality I need, and have maximum reliability so I can always depend on it.
In the ext4 thread there's a good example of why I will mostly choose stability over extended functionality

Galloway said:
While AmonRA was great I found many advanced features in 4EXT. For instance you can go from ext3 to ext4 and back again with just the push of a button. EXT4 is a more efficient file system and most ROM's nowadays should support it...if not just switch back to ext3. Also 4ext will check for filesystem errors on your SD card and also check partition alignment. If you use 4ext to partition it will ensure proper partition alignment which the other recoveries don't do....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I confirm 4EXT is the best recovery (using it for few months now without any pbs) and ext4 partitions are reliable now! Don't hesitate.

[Q] Upgrading to Texas ICS p10 checklist

I've flashed custom roms many times, but I have a couple questions regarding Texas ICS p10.
Currently running:
MeDroid 4.1.
BlackRose with System 220MB Cache 16MB Data 200MB
Amon’s RA recovery
Here's a checklist of what I should do:
Backup everything.
Update Blackrose to system 210 / cache 8 / userdata 218.
Wipe everything / factory reset 3 times
What do I need to do regarding formatting/partitioning the sdcard? ext4? setting dalvik cache to use sdext or data partition? In Amon's RA recovery, I have a "partition sdcard" option, with options to
- Partition SD
- Repair SD:ext
- SD:ext2 to ext3
- SD:ext3 to ext4
Do I need to do anything to get a2sd working other than rebooting a couple times?
Flash Texas' p10.
Flash google apps.
Restore.
Done.
Thanks in advance.

Sounds like you got it
if you are ext4 from medroid, you should be fine--not sure, but ext3 may work too
your current partition sizes are ok
see this on a2sd
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=21222591&postcount=1374
i think you only rin a2sd install one time
i went to p10 and tiamets kernel and had some issues, restored back to p9 and lost my app links--even a sdcard reformat didn't work with p9 so went back to a medroid nandroid
haven't had time figure it out
medroid 6.1 is pretty stable for me
Ken

How can I check if the sdcard is formatted as 4ext?

Isn't it dangerous having a cache partition of only 8 MB?
Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

maybe gparted or a partition tool program
i am having sdcard issues atm so can't test--terminal em can check, forget command, but sometimes it wasn't accurate for me
i don't know that 8mb is dangerous--some larger apps may not work right--depends how rom handles them. cm7 handles them well--miui doesn't--or so folks say

Don't know about 8MB cache, but it's kinda vurnerable to have only 210MB system partition now. If you have any plan to switch to other ics rom, i.e. MeDroidMod, you'll only have a little size left, or even nothing left. I repartizied back to 220/16/200, which is acceptable for any rom.
Sent from my Nexus One

Ok, so I followed the checklist I listed above. p10 stalls at the blue X boot logo for 10 minutes now. Anyone know why it's doing this? I'm going to go do a full wipe/repartition/reinstall again. I left my hboot alone, as suggested twice.

Actually, I opened blackrose and it automatically installed the latest blackrose, which put my phone in recovery and apparently wiped the rom??? Anyway, now I couldn't change hboot partitions anyway, so I proceeded with the rest of the checklist...

Have a 220/16/200 partition?
Boot into recovery, if you have 4ext recovery, you can format everything except sdcard, then flash p10 & gapps.
Sent from my Nexus One

Yeah, I have that partition. I just wiped everything, repartitioned the sdcard and reflashed... currently 8 minutes in the boot animation...
Not sure what to do from here.

Installed latest medroid 1.3.2a and it just keeps booting back into recovery.... hrm.
Do I need to flash a boot img as described here?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=22731102#post22731102

Ok, it installed. Updating blackrose, which took out my ROM for some reason, reverted to the default hboot as far as I can tell. I put the 220 version back on wiped and reflashed and it booted just fine.

Ended up using Medroid 1.3.2a instead of TexasIce p10. Even though p10 has HWA, it has bugs (browser rendering on zoom takes 2 seconds, sometimes longer) and isn't as fast as Medroid in general.

just got 1.3.2a and is running great
samuaz is loading HWA version now, but may have same issues as T's

First boot on ICS may take a while ! Just chill out ^^

f2fs is not so good for /system

Hi, just reporting my findings on F2FS,
To use system partition in F2FS you need to convert rom, adjust scripts, etc.. so i was trying to find if it worth the hassle
Let's take in consideration two things:
1. F2FS have consistently better write speeds than EXT4 , but the same cant be said for read speeds.
2. EXT4 can become laggy when not trimmed, F2FS is always trimmed,
F2FS makes sense for /data and /cache partition but not for /system... /system partition have almost no changes so its 99% trimmed and usually read only
i used this app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=vog.com.aiv to benchmark bootup time in seconds
CM11 2305 nightly, /data and /cache in F2FS , only change is /system partition format (less is better)
ext4
32,06
28,55
28,01
28,13
27,08
27,77
f2fs
27,44
28,65
40,91
36,95
28,29
27,46
28,41

thanks for showing, but i still prefer using f2fs on system because some files in /system get called all time(i.e framework-res.apk),but its not that difference, our nand is already fast.

Even if it is not so good, it is still a step in the right direction.
I will probably try it at some point.

DZeros said:
Even if it is not so good, it is still a step in the right direction.
I will probably try it at some point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
F2fs is good, I'm using it, but Just for partitions with lots of writing operations only, simple as that.
And the big plus is that i don't need to worry with compatible roms and updates, just flash any rom updates, without any conversion, and flash kernel after..
Enviado de meu Nexus 4 usando Tapatalk

opssemnik said:
thanks for showing, but i still prefer using f2fs on system because some files in /system get called all time(i.e framework-res.apk),but its not that difference, our nand is already fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read times for /system are not faster in f2fs, but it's up to you
Enviado de meu Nexus 4 usando Tapatalk

Thank you for pin pointing this out. A lot of people still believe F2FS will make their phones fly for some reason. I've tested a phone with F2FS next to another running EXT4 and there was no real world performance boost or anything of that sort. F2FS got higher benchmark scores. That's it. Its no a placebo effect but in real world performance it makes no difference.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

So, i'm on full F2FS. And i agree with your post. Is there anything i must do to use system as EXT4 or just flash not-f2fs-rom ?

This would explain why there is now a longer than normal delay every single time when I hit the home button that is not noticeable when system is ext4. When on ext4 system this delay was hardly noticeable and with f2fs it seems like there is lag but as soon as it does go home I can then open the app drawer immediately with no lag whatsoever. If it was normally slow or laggy to go home then it took an equal amount of time to open app drawer as the lag existed everywhere, here it is only on the home button.

okanb3 said:
So, i'm on full F2FS. And i agree with your post. Is there anything i must do to use system as EXT4 or just flash not-f2fs-rom ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
flash any rom, and then flash one of those jolinard f2fs kernels with filename ending in auto.. they work with any partition layout!

diogo.sena said:
flash any rom, and then flash one of those jolinard f2fs kernels with filename ending in auto.. they work with any partition layout!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There must be another way, with this method,the rom doesnt boot.

ashishv said:
There must be another way, with this method,the rom doesnt boot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What rom and what kernel exactly did you use?

diogo.sena said:
What rom and what kernel exactly did you use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed velocity rom, rebooted into recovery again and flashed franko kernel 208 f2fs. The phone didnt get past boot logo.
Then i formatted system, flashed velocity ext4 again, this time without installing kernel. Surprisingly, the rom booted, but the phone was asking password to decrypt storage, ehich left it unusable. So i tried to go back to f2fs rom by formatting system and lashing f2fs velocity, but here again the phone didnt boot past the boot screeen. Finally i had to flash formatpartitions.zip , followed by flashing f2fs velocity, and finally the rom booted. BTW my phone was off for 2 days because of this lol.:laugh:

ashishv said:
I flashed velocity rom, rebooted into recovery again and flashed franko kernel 208 f2fs. The phone didnt get past boot logo.
Then i formatted system, flashed velocity ext4 again, this time without installing kernel. Surprisingly, the rom booted, but the phone was asking password to decrypt storage, ehich left it unusable. So i tried to go back to f2fs rom by formatting system and lashing f2fs velocity, but here again the phone didnt boot past the boot screeen. Finally i had to flash formatpartitions.zip , followed by flashing f2fs velocity, and finally the rom booted. BTW my phone was off for 2 days because of this lol.:laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, at least you solve it, but next time, try to use twrp from multirom thread instead of flashing fromatpartitions.zip, there's a feature to change back and forth between ext4 and f2fs for any desired partition, and use franco from this link
http://mirror.lnx.im/android/mako/franco/
( i used semaphore auto version, but it should work the same way for franco )

diogo.sena said:
Well, at least you solve it, but next time, try to use twrp from multirom thread instead of flashing fromatpartitions.zip, there's a feature to change back and forth between ext4 and f2fs for any desired partition, and use franco from this link
http://mirror.lnx.im/android/mako/franco/
( i used semaphore auto version, but it should work the same way for franco )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Twrp with ext4/f2fs format option for mako
http://d-h.st/g59
Multirom app, which will install the recovery without fastboot.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tassadar.multirommgr