[Q] Moto X- Back up storage question - Moto X Q&A

Regarding the Moto X Verizon Developer Edition, not having an actual removable SD card, when making a backup, (or Nandroid after I root), is that backup file safe from a wipe? Or do I just save the backup to my PC to put back after? Is it possible to partition the drive to protect an area from wiping, as if it was a removable SD card?
Thanks in advance!

As long as you don't wipe the internal sdcard in recovery you'll be fine. You also can keep a copy of the backup on your pc. For TWRP the backups are stored in a TWRP folder on the internal sd. There's no reason to wipe this partition when going between roms.
Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

spunker88 said:
As long as you don't wipe the internal sdcard in recovery you'll be fine. You also can keep a copy of the backup on your pc. For TWRP the backups are stored in a TWRP folder on the internal sd. There's no reason to wipe this partition when going between roms.
Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, forgive me if I am stupid here, but when I observe the file structure in Root Explorer, I see in the root directory a folder called "sdcard" and a folder called "storage". The folder called "sdcard" looks like the "sdcard" folder which was on my GNEX (but it was an actual sdcard), and the folder called "storage" has a folder called "sdcard0" and "sdcard1", with the "sdcard0" folder looking like the other "sdcard" folder and the "sdcard1" folder is empty. So, is the "sdcard" folder in the root directory partitioned? if not, how is it protected from wiping?
Again, sorry if this is a stupid question...

amajamar said:
So, is the "sdcard" folder in the root directory partitioned? if not, how is it protected from wiping?
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Click to collapse
SDCARD is not a partition on the Moto X, it is within the /DATA partition.
In TWRP, when wiping /DATA, it will show on the screen "wiping DATA without wiping Internal Storage" (or words to that effect.) If you want to wipe the SDCARD, you would select Internal Storage on the advanced wipe menu. I think the answer to your question is that if you were to just wipe /DATA from a terminal, you could probably lose your SDCARD data; however, the properly written recoveries handle this properly and won't wipe SDCARD unless you specifically ask it to.

Related

Help in manually restoring Apps from Nandriod [UPDATE: Bootloop Logcat Attached!]

Ok, so my rom got corrupted and didn't have any backup of the data so I made a nandroid backup and flashed a new rom.
Now I have the nandroid backup in hand and I need to extract the apps and data from there. I used app extractor and it was able to extract and restore apps stored on internal memory (sd-ext since I use amarrullz script).
Here are some issues that I am still facing:
1. Appextractor wasn't able to restore my old sms. Any idea where they might be located? and guide/app to restore?
2. My apps which were located on the external sd card arn't there yet. I guess it has something to do with android_secure? I have most(or all?) of the apps which were installed in the external card in ".asec" format and I have no idea what to do with them. Can anyone guide me where the apps and thier data is located and how to restore them? I tried advanced restoring "data" from nandriod but that leads to bootloop.
Update : Sms issue was solved
The apps on sd end up in asec partition:
Data and lib files go in mnt/asec/[app name directory]
Dalvik cache goes to internal on data/dalvik-cache
Data goes on internal data/data
You can extract the contents of the nandroid backup to your pc and then use adb to push the files where they belong.
Good luck.
dxppxd said:
The apps on sd end up in asec partition:
Data and lib files go in mnt/asec/[app name directory]
Dalvik cache goes to internal on data/dalvik-cache
Data goes on internal data/data
You can extract the contents of the nandroid backup to your pc and then use adb to push the files where they belong.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I only have asec files which i have placed in mnt/secure/asec
2. Is dalvik-cache necessary?
3. data is copied
4. the libs and data of mnt/asec are not present in nandroid backup (atlest i couldn't find).
Logcat Attached.

Files in storage disappears after a rom install. 21GB used and I can't find it.

I decided to flash the Android Revolution 4.2.2 ROM after waiting diligently for an OTA. I made nandroid backup, wiped my data and flashed the ROM as usual. As expected all app and app data were gone, but all the files, music and picture were as well. The twist is that they are still there somewhere within the file system. In my storage info it shows that I have 20GB of unknown files on my device but they are no where to be found. I checked:
/sdcard/
/mnt/sdcard/
/storage/emulated/0/
/storage/emulated/legacy/
/storage/sdcard0/
and they all showed the same default clean install files(weird). Is there a way to mount some partition I don't know about to recover my files? Is this a problem with HTC's weird sdcard emulation? Is there even a way to completely delete everything on internal storage?
tevinwade said:
I decided to flash the Android Revolution 4.2.2 ROM after waiting diligently for an OTA. I made nandroid backup, wiped my data and flashed the ROM as usual. As expected all app and app data were gone, but all the files, music and picture were as well. The twist is that they are still there somewhere within the file system. In my storage info it shows that I have 20GB of unknown files on my device but they are no where to be found. I checked:
/sdcard/
/mnt/sdcard/
/storage/emulated/0/
/storage/emulated/legacy/
/storage/sdcard0/
and they all showed the same default clean install files(weird). Is there a way to mount some partition I don't know about to recover my files? Is this a problem with HTC's weird sdcard emulation? Is there even a way to completely delete everything on internal storage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As stated on mikes page it was highly recommended to format your sd before installation of 4.2.2... Because android 4.2.2 handles files differently from 4.1. Not HTC s doing I believe(correct if wrong)
tevinwade said:
I decided to flash the Android Revolution 4.2.2 ROM after waiting diligently for an OTA. I made nandroid backup, wiped my data and flashed the ROM as usual. As expected all app and app data were gone, but all the files, music and picture were as well. The twist is that they are still there somewhere within the file system. In my storage info it shows that I have 20GB of unknown files on my device but they are no where to be found. I checked:
/sdcard/
/mnt/sdcard/
/storage/emulated/0/
/storage/emulated/legacy/
/storage/sdcard0/
and they all showed the same default clean install files(weird). Is there a way to mount some partition I don't know about to recover my files? Is this a problem with HTC's weird sdcard emulation? Is there even a way to completely delete everything on internal storage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try data/media/
If it's not there then download DiskUsage and see if it helps you find it. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.diskusage
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
BEFORE RUNNING THE ADB METHOD IN THIS WEBSITE, MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN RECOVERY AND MAKE SURE THAT ADB IS WORKING. DO NOT RUN THESE COMMANDS MORE THAN ONCE OR YOU WILL WIPE YOUR ENTIRE SDCARD. BACK UP ALL YOUR DATA AND MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE ALL YOUR CRITICAL DATA OFF THE PHONE OR YOU WILL REGRET IT WHEN YOU WIPE OUT PRECIOUS MEMORIES AND DATA.
http://trickdroid.org/trickdroid-6-0-android-4-2-2-and-your-sd-card/
Use the ADB method. it will move everything.
I case anyone has the same problem. It was in data/media as redbull123 stated. It appears as if Astro File Manager doesn't display the files in the folder while ES File Explorer does.

Custom recovery lost?

Hey guys so i backed up my v20b stock software via cwm and thought that it was going to be stored in some kind of internal storage forever (like cwm itself), but now i realised that after i done factory reset it is probably gone ) Is there a way to create a recovery file for cwm to restore to v20b?Or could i use some elses file?
Your backup is in the internal memory, unless you format or wipe it specifically factory reset will not erase it.
In development section there are a few roms based on official v20b ou can flash thhose if you can't find your backup
Rudjgaard said:
Your backup is in the internal memory, unless you format or wipe it specifically factory reset will not erase it.
In development section there are a few roms based on official v20b ou can flash thhose if you can't find your backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i had 2 backups on stock and i didn't delete any of them, just did the factory reset once. When i go to recovery mode CWM doesn't find any backups on internal storage...So where did they go?
Mount usb storage from recovery and check the cwm folder they should be in there unless you did "wipe data"
did you install any 4.2.2+ rom? if you did, your cwm is reading the "wrong" folder for backups. it's reading under data/media/0/whatevercwmbackupfolderis, instead of data/media/whatevercwmbackupfolderis
Go into custom recovery and select "Restore Back-up". It will work. I had the same problem .
Yeah, i also did wipe data/cache/dalvik/(as you do) before installing 4.4.2 , no backups in data/media/cwm, so i guess my backups are gone?
No, wipe data doesn't wipe internal storage, if formats everything except data/media which is where backups are
You must specifically select "format internal storage" to loose your backups
Is other stuff you had on internal sd still present?
they have to be there, unless you formatted internal sd. try searching around more with file browsers, sorry i cant be of more help
Rudjgaard said:
No, wipe data doesn't wipe internal storage, if formats everything except data/media which is where backups are
You must specifically select "format internal storage" to loose your backups
Is other stuff you had on internal sd still present?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, but i do factory reset every time. Rom manager doesn't find anything, as well as cwm in recovery mode. Searched every CWM,DATA,BACKUP folder, nothing there.
i searched with ES file explorer with root access (i even created a new backup to be 100% sure root access is on, the new backup appeared in data/media). Btw, how much internal storage is there after factory reset? Because with Beanstalk i get 11,8 of 12,2, i was sure those 400mb where my software backups....

factory reset and /sdcard

Sorry if this is a noob question... But the N6 is the first phone that I've had with internal SD storage. What kind of wipes will erase the /SDCARD directory? The reason I ask is if I'm doing Titanium backups to /SDCARD, does that mean I occasionally need to move those files off before I do any kind of reset / flash?
When in TWRP, go to wipe -> advanced. And UNCHECK "internal storage", you can select everything else. This will wipe everything except your stuff on the phone (pics, files, titanium backup folder, etc.).
addxyz said:
Sorry if this is a noob question... But the N6 is the first phone that I've had with internal SD storage. What kind of wipes will erase the /SDCARD directory? The reason I ask is if I'm doing Titanium backups to /SDCARD, does that mean I occasionally need to move those files off before I do any kind of reset / flash?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
also I would highly recommend that you copy your titanium backups and other important files over to your computer just in case you know

TWRP 3 for droid turbo

OK other phone I had has external SD card. When I wiped data it wiped internal SD completely. Since turbo has no external SD, will it wipe completely or just Android file data and preserve other files on internal SD. If it does wipe internal SD completely how would you flash ROM? Thanks for any advice.
newbe1droidx said:
OK other phone I had has external SD card. When I wiped data it wiped internal SD completely. Since turbo has no external SD, will it wipe completely or just Android file data and preserve other files on internal SD. If it does wipe internal SD completely how would you flash ROM? Thanks for any advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That depends on what kind of wipe you do. If you do a factory reset in TWRP, it will not wipe your user data (downloads, music, everything else in /data/media/0 or /sdcard). However, if you select Format Data, or you pick Internal Storage in the advanced wipe menu, all of your user data will be wiped. Usually, a factory reset is all you need after flashing roms, so you don't have to worry about losing photos/music/etc.
Great thanks for the fast reply. OK other phone was sgs3. Sometimes when flashing and then running new ROM it seemed the settings stayed the same as previous ROM. Devs would have you format data for clean install. How would that work on this droid turbo?
I also wiped data and it wiped my internal storage. I thought maybe I had wiped internal storage accidentally or did something else wrong but this leads me to believe I didn't do anything wrong. Back to the previous version that worked for us? (I think it was 2.8.7)
Edit: I just read that choosing to format data will also format internal storage, but a factory reset which "wipes data" does not touch the internal storage. This is a little confusing if you aren't familiar with how everything is partitioned. Is internal storage actually on the data partition?
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
If I have the ROM and gapps on internal SD and format data I loose ROM and gapps right? Then how would you install ROM? Second if I delete Android file on internal SD would that make it a clean install? But other files would still remain. Just trying to understand so I don't brick or can't get ROM on. Thanks
SpyderPride said:
I also wiped data and it wiped my internal storage. I thought maybe I had wiped internal storage accidentally or did something else wrong but this leads me to believe I didn't do anything wrong. Back to the previous version that worked for us? (I think it was 2.8.7)
Edit: I just read that choosing to format data will also format internal storage, but a factory reset which "wipes data" does not touch the internal storage. This is a little confusing if you aren't familiar with how everything is partitioned. Is internal storage actually on the data partition?
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the internal storage is on the data partition. When you do a factory reset with TWRP and you read the script as it executes, it says something like "wiping /data without wiping /data/media." Doing the factory reset wipes everything on /data except /data/media, which is where your user data lives. So what gets wiped is all of the user apps and the data generated by the system apps, but your user data is preserved.
It makes sense that wiping data would wipe everything. I think having separate boxes for data and internal storage is to account for someone who might install an older version of android that is partitioned differently. I can't remember when the change happened, but at one point, the user data and app data were kept on separate partitions. I think that user data lived on /sdcard and apps lived on /data. That's why you see the /sdcard folder as a symlink when you go exploring with a root browser. It's symlinked to /data/media/0 to maintain backwards compatibility with older apps that are expecting /sdcard to exist.
Thanks st33v. My last phone had a /sdcard partition separate from /data so I think that is where the misperception came from. It also had /sdcard2, which was an actual SD card.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Yep my thinking too. You guys are great! Cleared it up.
If you wipe all your files simply use twrp and connect it to the PC. You can drag the files over for flashing.
mrkhigh said:
If you wipe all your files simply use twrp and connect it to the PC. You can drag the files over for flashing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome I was wondering if you could do that...

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