yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] XoOSkaterKidOoX:
I'm having problems with storage. Everything is taken up my phone, and my sdcard has nothing. I need to know how to transfer out some stuff to open up some free space.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] MissLaniS:
I think IM on ICS. I posted my info for you..

Appreciate your help!!

* Sent from my Stupid Sprint Samsung Galaxy S2, Epic 4G Touch, using XDA App-Developers App *
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] ndial2498:
Plug into pc and move files from there thats what I do
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] MissLaniS:
But why does my phone put everything on my USB storage, when I click the button to, send to SD Card?? Shouldn't it put it on the SD card??

& when I plug my phone into PC now, I don't get asked if I wanna connect phone to PC to transfer files.. I get two weird options that I never saw before...
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] MissLaniS:
Is there a way to make the phone install directly onto SD card, for all apps & stuff??

IM running out of room on my USB storage and my whole SD card is basically empty..
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Thoughts and Considerations on Restoring Apps

After doing *lots* of Pristine installs, and some deep spelunking within the folders and settings of various apps...

... and based on valuable inputs from XDA friends ...

... I've come to the conclusion that:

Perhaps 90% of apps are safe to be reinstalled from Titanium Backup.

A sizable number of apps are also safe to have their data restored by copying the relevant data directory in /data.

The question is: How to make sure that the app you're trying to restore is part of the 90%?

My terse answer: Unless you know *exactly* what the app is doing (e.g., by perusing its source code), you can't really be sure.

You can always experiment, though; just remember to do a Nandroid Backup prior to restoring an app.

What I can give you, are several guidelines:

Games that are not too 3D-oriented are most likely safe; they are not likely to install additional libraries to mitigate whatever shortcoming the W has

Games that heavily rely on 3D ... unknown. Some of them are known to delve really deep into the Android library files, and even install their own custom libraries depending on your ROM/kernel capability

Productivity apps, e.g., Office Suites or To-Do Lists or PDF Viewer or ... many others of their ilk, are most likely safe to be restored. They are never known to install their own libraries, and/or have settings dependent on the ROM/kernel

Utilities... now we're getting into unknown territory... some of them are safe (the ones that don't mess up with the innards of Android); some of them are dangerous. I recommend re-downloading from Play Store

Be wary of apps that, when they were first installed, requested to add "additional files", either via Play Store (you can see in the Notification Tray, "Additional Files") or on first run (usually they will call it "Downloading assets"); these apps might be downloading binaries that depends greatly on what the system state is at download time. Let's call them the unknowns.

That's it. So, the warning that "You'll lose your savegames" is not really absolute; if you're lucky, you can restore from a TiBU-made backup.

Always remember to do Nandroid Backup.

========================================

Games known to be restore-able:

Funky Smugglers

Minecraft

Subway Surfer

Utilities known to be restore-able:

ClockSync

Solid Explorer

-- Sent from Opera Mobile for Windows --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] jiunks:
I think this topic must be stickies

.... coz this topic very important

Sory if my english is noot good
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] piefert:
In some way thats true, i do believe though that much people never have a look at the stickies. Would be a shame if this topic wouldnt be seen

Sent from Galaxy W with CM10 (thanks to Arco!)
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] hadidjapri:
actually i dont think extensive rom flasher will follow this guide :p but i do agree with pep about going pristine

Sent from my GT-I8150
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Hehe... too much things to do for them, likely...

But if you're like me, flashing only to fix bugs, and already settled on a (relatively) stable ROM, going Pristine should be a habit :)

-- CM9b4 / CastagnaIT 7.3 BFS+ExtUV / DXKL1 / GT-I8150 --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] Broken Puzzles:
Well doing this just seems alot more effort if you have alot of apps and games and why alot of people won't do this. I mean I have 70 apps/games installed so having to manually install all of them again is just to much effort.
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Well, I also have a lot of apps and games, but for me the added stability is totally worth it.

Especially since there's a café providing fast and free wifi near my office :p

-- CM9b4 / CastagnaIT 7.3 BFS+ExtUV / DXKL1 / GT-I8150 --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] reddvilzz:
If you didn't want to install again all your apps one by one just backup your apps with titanium backup pro and then restore ONLY the apps after doing pristine route.

For me the pro version of titanium backup will automate the installation so just leave your phone after restoring from titanium backup cause it will automagically install all your backed up apps without you having to select it one by one.

And don't restore the apps data because it will ruins your halfway through pristine route. :p

Sent from my GT-I8150 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Well... *most* .apk's *should* be safe...

But, considering that Play Store *can* detect what's your OS and *does* offer apps based on your OS, there's a possibility that the .apk has been optimized for your (previous) OS's generation (e.g., GB or ICS or JB). If you stick with the same generation, in general there shouldn't be any problems. But if you change generations, there *might* be problems.

I decided that it's better to be careful than sorry, so I don't restore any apps, even without attached data :)

-- CM9b4 / CastagnaIT 7.3 BFS+ExtUV / DXKL1 / GT-I8150 --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] Broken Puzzles:
Thats weird since the stability is the same after factory reset your phone 5 times before flashing anything new and restore from Titanium backup. Also I don't know if you see the flaw in your method especially if you play alot of games and thats if you only reinstall the apk and not the data you have to start all over again and let me tell you that pisses off any gamer when it happens. Not just on a phone but on anything but just saying.

I do use titanium backup to restore all my apps but I was just pointing out that while this method is good and has a possibility of making the ROM more stable it does provide more problems like I said above if you are an avid gamer and losing all your save data and having to start again will drive you insane.
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Factory reset 5 times?? What's the point? Since a single factory reset already means a reformatting of your partition...

Your flash memory is not like an overly-dirty carpet that needs to be shampooed and vacuumed several times before all the grime comes out of it. One format -- done. Nothing left.

I'm just pointing out the fact: Many problems that many experienced when they flashed CM9 -- did not happen to me. Ever. And I *strongly* suspect that leftover bits (settings, incompatible code, etc.) is the culprit.

That is a flaw that I'm perfectly capable of living with.

As you note, in the thread's title, I'm not claiming of something along the lines of: "Want your CM9 to be stable? This is the way!!1!one!!eleven". I use a simple title of "Going Pristine: What, Why, How".

The onus lies on the viewer of this thread, whether they can live with the consequences or not.\

For me -- and other non-gamers, or non-avid gamers -- losing save data is not a 'problem'. An 'annoyance', for sure, but not 'problem'.

Again, I am not forcing my methods on you or other W users here. I'm just stating the fact: 1) What is meant by 'going pristine', 2) Why 'going pristine' is good, and 3) How to 'go pristine'.

That said...

I understand your concerns, and I'll edit my first posting to warn avid gamers that they will go insane :cyclops:
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] Broken Puzzles:
Well I had problems in the past with only 1 factory reset as some left over stuff from the old rom was carried over to the new one so I do that just in case and it cleared up the problems I was having.

Not saying your not fine with that flaw but just pointing out that while your method is best suited to someone not using their phone for its entertainment features but more serious stuff.

Well obviously its not a problem if your not a gamer otherwise you would freak when losing your save data, not just on a phone but on any gaming device.

Not saying your forcing others to do this but again just pointing out that unless you are more of a casual user of your phone and don't really bother with gaming then this method is great otherwise like me you are going to just restore all your apps with data anyway.
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Ah, you mean doing a factory reset after flashing the ROM?

I see. That might help... but since the non-resetted portion of your phone (SD cards) still contain leftover bits from the previous ROM, there is a possibility of additional problems. Which will lead to yet-another-factory-reset, ad nauseam (or at least until it's stable enough).

I personally prefer having it started out stable, then adding bits and pieces until it becomes unstable... easier to troubleshoot which part is the culprit :)

Point taken. :good:

I've edited the OP to more clearly indicate some (potential) drawbacks in a (hopefully) humorous way :cowboy:
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] vhick:
Is link2sd still work in our phone? I read somewhere that link2sd never work with cmw 6. Even myself see a wierd note when I boot into recovery after flashing link2sd.

Another question, please give me a reason why I use ext2 compare to ext3/4? I search the net but I only found speed for ext2 and data loss prevention and stability in ext3/4. I wonder why if there's any benefit specifically in our phone.

Thank you...
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Yes, it still works.

The 'weird' note that you saw must have been CWM's warning that the ROM *seems* to want to install a Recovery that will overwrite CWM.

Just ignore it. Choose 'No' for the answer (that is, just press the Home button to execute the first answer, which should be 'No' IIRC).

CWM shows the warning because the method used by Link2SD to initialize the 2nd partition hooks directly into a known method of restoring Recovery.

Okay, the explanation is technical, please bear with me.

ext3/4 introduce what is known as 'journaling' to prevent inconsistent metadata on unclean interrupted writes. The 'journal' is a region of storage set aside to write a 'log' of metadata changes, circularly. Due to the circular log, the region will be intensively used. No problem on magnetic disks, *big* problem on flash memory due to two factors:

1. Limited number of write cycles. Every update to the circular log shortens the life of the Flash memory extensively.

2. The necessity of wiping a whole block of memory (1 or 4 MB, depends on manufacturer) even if ext3/4 need to overwrite just 1 KB of data. This requires *extremely* expensive read-modify-write cycles. Compounded with the single core we have on the W, this means expensive context switching as writes get stalled and the OS hands over timeslice to other waiting threads.

ext2 has no journal, so it's much more flash-friendly, but if writes (in this case, creation/deletion of files) got interrupted uncleanly, you might lose some data or worse.

However, since Link2SD only put apk files in the 2nd partition, and these apk files are never edited (except on upgrades), the drawback of ext2 is not really applicable (IOW, ext2 is *extremely* suitable for nearly-read-only storage access pattern).

-- CM9b4 / CastagnaIT 7.3 BFS+ExtUV / DXKL1 / GT-I8150 --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] keithross39:
Hi Pepoluan, hope you don't mind, but I've linked to this thread in my "Rooting, ClockworkMod and Custom ROMs" (sticky) thread....think it will help a lot of people :)

Sent from my CM10 powered Wonder with Tapatalk 2......it's all good...... :) :)
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
No problem. In fact, the honor is mine :cool:

-- CM9b4 / CastagnaIT 7.3 BFS+ExtUV / DXKL1 / GT-I8150 --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] vhick:
For long searching....at last I found the solution! Kudos!

Thank you so much, and its clearly now, specially using link2sd and understanding ext2/3/4 filesystem :)
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] mosta_9741:
sorry for the noob question but y should i have 2 partitions on my sdcard and wts the use of the second partition (ext2) and if i have a 32 GB sdcard wt will be the best partitioning for it (how much for the fat32 and for the ext2)
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] reddvilzz:
It is true though. But i just didn't have any wifi in my house and even if i have it will take a long time for me to go to the wifi place. Because i'm a home guy :p

And to redownload all the apps via playstore? Man that will drain my data limit fast because i have some games that worth of hundreds mb :p

Sent from my GT-I8150 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Like I have written, you need the 2nd partition if you plan on using Link2SD.

Based on my experience, there is no benefit having a second partition larger than 1.5 GB.

-- CM9b4 / CastagnaIT 7.3 BFS+ExtUV / DXKL1 / GT-I8150 --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] bengonk:
Pep my friend, could you please tell me how to change the CWM backup format like you said in your first post??search the whole forum but i still don't get the answer..:confused:
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] reddvilzz:
Just go to cwm > backup and restore > change backup format

There you go

Sent from my GT-I8150 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] bengonk:
Sorry fella, one more question..

does that option already applied in CWM ver.6.0.1.0 or it just has applied in the newest version of CWM (6.0.1.9) ???
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
AFAIK the option to choose between TAR or DUP starts to become available in CWM6

Someone CMIIW

:D
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Re-reading my reply, I realized that there *might* be a benefit for a > 1.5 GB partition: You can use it to hide 'sensitive' files like your collection of porn cute kittens & puppies pictures.

:D

-- CM9b4 / CastagnaIT 7.3 BFS+ExtUV / DXKL1 / GT-I8150 --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] hotheabilly:
Lololol :D :D I hid my collections on a folder and put a .nomedia files in that, voila its gone lolol :D :D

-sent from my awesome phone-
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] reddvilzz:
Pep how can i partition my sd card? Can you show me how?

I don't ever understand a single bit about partitioning sd card.

If you don't mind can you explain it to me too? Like benefits, description, cons, and should i do it or not.

Thanks before pep :D

Sent from my GT-I8150 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] hadidjapri:
i put it to /sdcard/ and name the folder as "toolchain" with .nomedia file and put some compiler file to camuflage :cyclops:
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] reddvilzz:
Waw.. this almost like a tips to how to hide your *porn* stuff

lol :D

Better not off topic guys. Or you can just make a new thread of that with the title "[How To] Hide You Porn" hahaha

Sent from my GT-I8150 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] mosta_9741:
lol done that :D
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
You will need:

A PC with Windows® operating system

An SD Card reader plugged directly to a USB port (not via a USB hub)

The MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition (Free) utility

General procedure:

Copy files off your SD Card to somewhere safe in your PC

Open MiniTool Partition Wizard, right-click the icon representing your SD Card, choose "Delete All Partitions"

Click the "Apply" button

Click the empty region to the right of the SD Card icon, choose "Create Partition". Make sure you have the following settings set:

Type : Primary, not Logical

File system : FAT32

Align to: MB

Adjust the size to have "space before" to 4 MB and "space after" to be at least 4 MB larger than the planned size of the 2nd partition

Click OK

Click on the leftover empty region, choose "Create Partition". Make sure you have the following settings set:

Type : Primary, not Logical

File system : ext2

Align to: MB

Adjust the size to be a multiple of 4 MB. "Space before" can be set to 0, and there might be some leftover in "space after", just ignore them

Click OK

Click Apply

Do note that normally Android will ignore the 2nd partition, not mounting it at boot.

Install Link2SD, which will automagically mount the 2nd partition at boot as /data/sdext2, plus giving you easy access to features like App2SD (moving app to SD Card 1st partition, but disabling its widgets) and Link2SD (moving app to SD Card 2nd partition, but leaving a symlink in the Internal Storage, thus making its widgets still available)

.
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] reddvilzz:
So pep it is better for me to partition my sd card or not? Because i don't know anything about it. I could just follow the steps you tell though.

Sent from my GT-I8150 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] bengonk:
I can't see any option to change the backup format in my 6.0.1.0 CWM..:(

But, after i flashed the newest version (6.0.1.9), finally i have had that option..
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] stpdkid:
finally..

you're the one who explain this link2sd very..very..details..if im not wrong a year ago there's someone ask about this(not exactly this link2sd but what app can we use to install many app)..me and our mr.irish suggest this link2sd but didnt explain like what you did..

one more thing(off-topic)..

which sevel you ol?i mean where? :o

just a guess that you're ol from sevel:)
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Ahaha... no, I use the Coffee Bean on the Ground Floor of my office ;)

-- CM9b4 / CastagnaIT 7.3 BFS+ExtUV / DXKL1 / GT-I8150 --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] stpdkid:
hmm..i thought sevel..:3
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] kabychow:
Sry, can I ask after I partition my 16gb sdcard, one is fat32, primary and another is ext2, primary. After that, my sdcard left 7gb space and ext2 disappear... can anyone tell me how to fix it? I've try format it but its still 7gb :o
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
How much did you allocate for each partition? And how did you partition?
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] kabychow:
Nvm I fixed it using minitool partition just now, thanks :D
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Glad to hear that :o

You've just reinforced my belief that MiniTool is hands-down the best partition editor for SDcards :)

-- CM9b4 / CastagnaIT 7.3 BFS+ExtUV / DXKL1 / GT-I8150 --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] climbatiz3:
This is the best way to get the fluid rom. Thanks to pep for the detail info...
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] TiTAN-O-One:
Alright after much frustration on my phone perfomance, i decided to go pristine but without the partioning thingy cos its quite a hassle... SO, let me recap before i start...

1. Backup sd card contents to PC... (Done)

2. Format sd card to FAT32... (almost done)

3. Wipe everything except external SD (Not done)

4. Install ROM

If you notice, i didnt copy clockworkmod cos i didnt do backup...

Im deciding whether to flash CM10 A3 or SlimBean...

Tell me if there are new versions or which is faster...:D:D
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Hehe... I personally still shy away from CM10 because it's still very buggy. So that means, unfortunately, I can't help you on that one.

-- Sent from a GT-I8150 running ICS perfectly well. F'U, Sams#!t --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] TiTAN-O-One:
Fear not... I got Slimbean and used your method... Its superb... Not to mention forvivos kernel...:D:D:D
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
... and don't forget to use Seeder :D

(@ryuinferno and me have been busy tuning the flashable version, and we're quite proud of our work's results... so please forgive us for plugging our labor of love ;))

-- Sent from a GT-I8150 running ICS perfectly well. F'U, Sams#!t --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] TiTAN-O-One:
I almost forgot seeders... No wonder something just feels not right…:D
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] kabychow:
is flash a firmware via Odin also a way to ''go pristine''? :)
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] TiTAN-O-One:
Not sure, let's ask Pepoluan if he comes back...:rolleyes:
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Not sure, since I never used Odin.

But I think not, because Odin doesn't seem to wipe the SD Cards.

-- Sent from a GT-I8150 running ICS perfectly well. F'U, Sams#!t --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] mosta_9741:
nope, for me i used to update stock roms on each other without wiping anythn and it always saved all my data
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] AzizWahid:
Adapter

Can i use my sd card adapter instead of using the sd card reader to partition my sd card?

And, can i copy back all the things that i had copied to my pc from the sd card after i have partitioned and formatted my sd card? :confused:

Thanks :)
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Like this thing below?

Sure you can. After all, an SD Card adapter merely maps the pins on the microSD to the pins on the SD.

Some of them, yes. For example: Pictures, music files, videos, documents (.doc, .xls, .pdf, .txt).

Some of them, no. For example: Titanium Backup files (except SMS/MMS, Call Log, and Contacts), application files living in \data folder.

Basically, with "Pristine", you want as few leftover (from the previous ROM) as possible.
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] taurus18:
i don't really understand about 'Pristine'
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Read first post, then. I think I've made it clear enough by systematically presenting the 'what', 'why', and 'how'.

-- Sent from a GT-I8150 running ICS perfectly well. F'U, Sams#!t --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
You forget the part of 'not restoring any backups'.

I see it as an abbreviation. It's much simpler to say:

"Pristine"

than saying

"format everything including both SD Cards and don't restore anything"

Plus, a guideline of what to do is given. And an explanation on why 'Pristine' might be helpful is also given. In a quite detailed way.

For someone you accuse of being 'egotistical', I seem to be doing a lot of work, eh?

-- Sent from a GT-I8150 running ICS perfectly well. F'U, Sams#!t --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] keithross39:
I've had to order a new battery for my phone....when it arrives I'll be reinstalling my ROM (I made a few changes and now it occasionally "hangs" ). I will be using the "pristine" method as it seems the ONLY certain way of eradicating any remnants of my now glitchy current ROM.....

Thanks for taking the time to share your clearly superior method Pepoluan... :)

Sent from my CM10 Jellybean powered Wonder despite what Samsung says......it's all good...... :) :)
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] mountaineer07:
Is there any other way to format external SD (of course to go Pristine) :silly:? I do not have a Card reader :rolleyes:, still haven't found anyone to borrow :p.
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Well, CWM does have a menu item for formatting the SD Card, but I haven't tried it at all, out of a (possibly baseless) fear that it might somehow format the wrong partition, thus bricking the phone...

-- Sent from a GT-I8150 running ICS perfectly well. F'U, Sams#!t --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] TiTAN-O-One:
:sly: Seems scary... I thought everyone knows Pristine already? :confused:
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
I'm just paranoid, is all... :D

Like flashing CWM: I didn't do it until a helpful soul (forgot who exactly) shared how to flash it using Terminal instead of Odin.

-- Sent from a GT-I8150 running ICS perfectly well. F'U, Sams#!t --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] keithross39:
Could that have been IvanKurnia? He was the one who showed me the terminal method......

Sent from my GT-I8150 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] pepoluan:
Very likely so.

-- Sent from a GT-I8150 running ICS perfectly well. F'U, Sams#!t --
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] dewadg:
I've ever do it, but I just know that it's named Pristine
[Samsung Galaxy W I8150] killeeeeer:
Did it yesterday, and feel the phone took long breath xD thanks for the thread