yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android General] chris5s:
Thanks for collating all the info here :good:

Looks like the op has kept the first post updated regularly with all the relevant and recent info - right?

Started to read from page one, but after about page 60 or so I kinda got lost in the off-topic stuff lol, but that happens, right :)

Anyway, expecting my tab 10 to arrive in a day or so and look forward to putting some theories into practice!

Also means I will be retiring my (now ancient) HP Touchpads, which although great devices, are now just a bit outdated in terms of hardware. Although no complaints about dev support for them!

Peace.
[Android General] cleveratticus:
Hi there folks!

Just wanna drop in and say thanks to the OP. This guide was comprehensive and simple. Just so everyone knows, I was only able to get root after the latest OTA only by using the "alternate method" which honestly I was more comfortable with.

Dunno if there is a bounty on CM or custom kernels but.... I'm willing.
[Android General] nannycrick:
Hey SpynxRa.....if you find yourself in a bootloop, or have mistakenly deleted a system app you shouldn't have, all the help you need is on the very first page of this forum. (called the OP). Tzul has a repository with ALL you'll need to reboot/restore this Tab2. Download what you need & save it to your computer. Just in case you zig instead of zag. We've all been there before you.

Now...to find some good stuff for my A8-5500F
[Android General] chris5s:
Ay one have a better link for the recovery please? I've tried multiple times to download from the link given but it always fails.

TIA.

Peace
[Android General] bigrammy:
It doesn't get much better than a Microsoft Onedrive link which I just tested and it works perfect for me. :confused:

Try it again maybe just a glitch.
[Android General] chris5s:
I think you must have fixed it, ya bugger, downloaded straightaway lol. Honest to god, I tried a dozen times and it kept getting halfway thru then saying failed...Tried from my Linux box and it worked...oh well, thanks tho!

Peace
[Android General] bigrammy:
No problem it was probably just a gremlin which I think just got into my PC :D
[Android General] Tzul:
[MENTION=1795513]chris5s[/MENTION] My OneDrive traffic was exhausted. But I have some of the files on AndroidFileHost, too.

And here's clsA's AndroidFileHost page.
[Android General] chris5s:
Thanks. I managed to get the latest recovery anyway, so all's good.

For information, the tablet came with 5.0.1 installed which I rooted with the King Root app, replaced with SuperSu, then flashed the most recent TWRP recovery image thru command line.

Loving this tablet so far, very responsive, great screen and seems to handle well most things I've thrown at it so far. Maybe I'm just feeling the love after years of my HP Touchpad, which of late has definitely lost its shine!

Thanks for all your help.

Peace.

---------- Post added at 03:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:11 AM ----------

@Tzul can I ask, what is the file UPDATE-android-fs-1.0.4-install-sud.zip?
[Android General] nannycrick:
Hey......a quick "senior moment" question.....how did we get the bootloader unlocked again?

I have tried everything I remember to unlock the bootloader on the A8-5500F and it's all not working! I have successful root w/ SuperSU 2.65 Pro, Busybox Pro all working. I can't get TWRP installed?!

Running.......A5500_442_000_029_150408_ROW. rooted & debloated of course!

I appealed on the forum I found for it. Nothing back yet.

http://xdaforums.com/android/general/lenovo-a5500-f-t3118363

And yes....the disp!ay isn't as glorious but it's still very good for it's size, and the speed is good, so no complaints...... except the bootloader and stock keyboard. I had to install Google Keyboard as it now allows for some height adjustment for landscape mode. A definite plus in a smaller display. Applause Google!
[Android General] Tzul:
[MENTION=1795513]chris5s[/MENTION] See the description on the download page. More info here.

[MENTION=4717484]nannycrick[/MENTION] What exactly are you trying to achieve by "unlocking the bootloader"?

The Lenovo Tab 2's bootloader was never locked to begin with. The older version of it simply didn't support the "fastboot flash" command for all partitions.

Since your new Lenovo A8-50 A5500-F runs on a MediaTek chip as well (MT8121 apparently), you can use the SPFT to flash TWRP as recovery. Provided there is a suitable TWRP release for this tablet.

If you like, I can patch your bootloader (lk.bin) to support "fastboot flash" for all partitions. Just point me to a download link.
[Android General] nannycrick:
I think the forum I was following is for an older model of the A8-5500F. For some reason the forum.

It said the bootloader had to be unlocked before TWRP could be flashed. Mine is a newer model. I'm still looking for a custom recovery for it. Until then, I'll have to enjoy just being rooted & debloated.

You learn something new with every one you get!

And Chris55s.... I'm here because I'm a former owner of a Tab2 A10-70F that suffered a fatal accident! It's replacement is it's little sister...the A8-5500F. Very similar.....but not. Sorry for leading anyone off topic.
[Android General] Old faithful:
I've had problems with one drive too, not being able to access it, honestly I loathe it, had to install some MS update on my OS that f'd up some of my customizations, much prefer noname hosting services myself, really miss megaupload, was so straightforward to use (mega is a PITA in comparison).

Back to your regular schedule now folks ;)

---------- Post added at 11:12 ---------- Previous post was at 11:09 ----------

One of the many 'pleasures' using OneDrive. Don't you love Microsoft... :rolleyes:
[Android General] zMILWAUKEE:
Why dont you guys use Media Fire, very easy and good download speeds. If it's not enough space you could always pay for the service and get a bunch more cloud storage.
[Android General] Tzul:
If the bootloader really was locked, then that would be true. But I doubt it was locked.

I was using OneDrive to host those files simply because I hadn't tried it before, and because I have a whopping 115 GB of space there (at least until next year). ;)

I have no problems with it, except for the limited bandwidth, but that's common for Dropbox and other competitors as well.

Looks like too many people downloaded the > 1 GB firmware packages recently.

Then I remembered that I had an AndroidFileHost account, too. Unfortunately it doesn't appear to allow update/replacement of files, meaning I cannot upload revisions of a file while keeping the same download link. That's a pity.
[Android General] nannycrick:
I doubt that too...on this a8-5500 s/n 59407798. It's newer than the thread I was reading. AndroidMTK has firmware for this a8. Gonna load it just in case. Wonder if the original twrp recovery for the a10 will work...or does it have to be ported to the specific device?
[Android General] along82:
Well, I made a boo-boo and need a little help. I allowed the latest OTA to install, forgetting I had the tablet rooted. The update failed and it only boots to the stock recovery now. I've tried everything I can think of to get this tablet working again. All sd card roms fail to install, and I can't flash the recovery with fastboot. It'll connect with fastboot, but it seems flashing the recovery is blocked. Any ideas are appreciated
[Android General] Tzul:
[MENTION=4717484]nannycrick[/MENTION] Yes, TWRP should be adjusted for each new device, if only with the proper partition info (fstab), so that everything shows up correctly in the backup and restore menus. But you can try to run it anyway.

[MENTION=4817966]along82[/MENTION] Strange, the update should refuse to install if your tablet was rooted the normal way.

What do you mean by "sd card roms"? Just use the stock recovery to flash a "type 1" update, or better, use the SP Flash Tool to flash a complete firmware.

Tab 2 A10-70F or A10-70L? For the F, you could use this, for example.

If you can't flash the recovery with fastboot, that means you're still running the old "Android 4" bootloader. Flashing the complete SPFT firmware I just linked will fix that.
[Android General] charlestek:
Don't eat too much McDonald's food, it is not good for you!
[Android General] nannycrick:
charlestek....I tried sitting at my local McD's. I can't do it in the evening. The high school kids working in the back ALL set their phones to Wi-Fi and eat up the available bandwidth. They crashed my 841MB firmware download at 689MB! Going to my son's for the big stuff from now on!

I know it was they that crashed the download....there wasn't another soul in the building but me! Little heathens!
[Android General] charlestek:
File a complaint that she spilled hot coffee on you and you were burned badly.....

We should start a Crowdfund for your home internet. I don't know how you survive without ISP service. You could also buy a highly directional 2.4Ghz antenna if there is open wifi somewhere close to your house.
[Android General] nannycrick:
My son's house has high speed Xfinity Wi-Fi. I'll go there. I can download what I need, play & spoil the grandkids, and leave the wrecked playroom behind when I leave. A Win win for me!

My "unofficial" backup Wi-Fi tether router....my hubby's LG F3 running AS8v22 rom by Sandix. Wifi router by Robaho. It averages 15 kb/s without suffering the infamous Sprint/VM data cap! I don't like to do "big loads" on it but it works for everything... laptop, tablet, or printer.
[Android General] charlestek:
I know we spoke about his before. How much does the ISP charge for internet only cable service say at least 10MB-50MB/sec?
[Android General] nannycrick:
I can get a paid Wi-Fi mobile hotspot of 2GB-5GB [MENTION=2305537]10-1[/MENTION]5 mb/s for about $45-$75 a month depending on who I go with. We just can't afford it right now.

Now if I could hit that lottery......
[Android General] charlestek:
Is there no cable internet service available in the area?

You can buy high gain 2.4 ghz directional antennae here:

http://www.l-com.com/wireless-antenna-24-ghz-wifi-antennas?cmp=LM2

---------- Post added at 01:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:30 AM ----------

Is there no cable internet service available in the area?

You can buy high gain 2.4 ghz directional antennae here:

http://www.l-com.com/wireless-antenna-24-ghz-wifi-antennas?cmp=LM2

But you would need a router that has the proper antenna connector(s), but routers are cheap.
[Android General] nannycrick:
There is but it's expensive. I pay about $90 a month just for basic cable tv thru Comcast. A directional antenna won't work in the city with everyone living on top of one another. I had one and could only get 4 channels...but that's just tv, not internet. I can bundle tv, phone, and Internet for additional $70 a month but I don't need a land line phone! A paid Wi-Fi hotspot module is the cheapest way to go here but our budget is real tight. I'll be financially good until July 29 fixing Windows 10 upgrade screwups, then things will be tight again for this little geek!
[Android General] loner.:
You can get Spectrum (Charter Cable) here. 60 megabytes a second for $29.99 a month for the first year before they charge normal rates. I think they offer it all over the US.
[Android General] nannycrick:
Thx. I checked it out. Not available here. We have Xfinity (Comcast), Direct TV, and Dish Network. That's it. We also have Verizon for home internet but it's more expensive than Comcast. I need a hotspot deal. For right now.... it's the old man's LG F3 doing a good job!
[Android General] charlestek:
I'm sorry I'm going too off topic in too many threads. PM me if you want more antenna info.

I live in the Boston Area and use an inside hdtv antenna, that works well.

To read about indoor models, look here:

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/useful-gadgets-super-flat-indoor-tv-antennas-do-they-really-work/

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/useful-gadgets-wall-mounted-indoor-dtv-antennas/

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/useful-gadgets-wall-mounted-dtv-antennas-revisited/

http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/columns/2012/07/hdtv-expert-useful-gadgets-indoor-dtv-antennas-the-third-times-the-charm.php

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/useful-gadgets-three-antennas-and-a-preamplifier-for-cord-cutters/

Large indoor or outdoor models here:

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/useful-gadgets-mohu-sky-outdoor-tv-antenna/

Mohu and Clearstream Micron Sites:

http://www.gomohu.com

https://www.antennasdirect.com/store/HD-TV-antennas.html

Bj's wholesale frequently sells the Antennas Direct indoor and indoor/outdoor Micron antennas, and you can also look on Ebay and Amazon.
[Android General] nannycrick:
I'll check that info out thanks. I live in the Virginia mountains so I get what resources there are. Not the boonies but as close to it as I could get without loosing cell/network service all together! LOL!
[Android General] nannycrick:
Okay..... reporting some success with recovery installation on my A8-5500F. Since I can't find a TWRP recovery that will work with this tablet, I had to use MTKDroid Tools to make a custom CWM recovery. It worked to flash a SuperSU update. Managed a nandroid backup, and I can breath easier now. I hate to run without a recovery. It's like leaving home with no pants on! You just KNOW what kind of embarrassment is going to happen! Still checking on some of the Russian sites for a twrp recovery. Those guys have been known to be brilliant!
[Android General] nannycrick:
My TWRP dilemma is over.....

Remembered that I had downloaded Easy Magic TWRP Installer, by Yuweng from XDA, to port twrp onto a Sammy n9106 knockoff tablet I had.

It worked to port TWRP into my A8-5500F. The twrp I had tried previous wouldn't even flash via SPFT!

Now I'm rooted, booted, nandroided, and "Da LiL Sista" is ready to face the world!

Here's a link for anyone would may have a issue with a twrp port.....

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2798257

I'm sharing with the hapless over at the A8-5500F forum!

ps....got xposed, viper4fx, walkman, fonter, kitkat write fix, all installed without issue. Viper4androidFX w/Sony Beats is better than the version of Dolby that was installed since the A8 doesn't possess those amazing speakers.

Thanks for being a supportive "family" even though my A8 isn't a part of this forum! You guys are the best.
[Android General] Theshawty:
Thanks for this guide. I rooted my Lenovo Tab 2 with Kingroot and when I attempted to replace it with SuperSU I always got a notification saying it failed. That's until I realized KingRoot set an admin profile. Disabled that and I'm now running superSU.
[Android General] chris5s:
Any idea why I can't save stuff browser downloads and photos to my external sdcard? Trying to save photos, for example, says "failed to save" and Opera won't let me select the card as a download location.

In Settings-Storage I have enabled sdcard as default storage. The sdcard fix from Play Store doesn't work either.

Sorry if I'm missing something really simple!

Peace.
[Android General] chris5s:
For various reasons (i.e. don't ask!) returning to stock ROM, but it's taking a while - see screenshot.

Should I be worried lol? Loaded drivers and set scatter file in SPFT as per OP, it seems to be taking a while...
[Android General] chris5s:
Nvm, seems to be working now....
[Android General] charlestek:
Accidentally erased a photo, can't recover without root?

I had a picture of a piece of paper with medical information for my mother and accidentally deleted it. It never occurred to me before, after owning the tab 2 since last Christmas, that there is no "recycle bin" or

"deleted files" directory or functionality within the OS (still on KitKat) to recover a deleted photo.

When a get a round tuit, I am going to upgrade to Lollipop and root the tablet etc. etc, according to the first pages of this thread.

However, right now I just did a little googling and all I can see is that you cannot recover a deleted photo (assuming the memory doesn't get overwritten with something else) without root.

I am going to connect the tablet to my Win 10 machine with MTP or whatever they call it and try to look for the image, but not sure if I can get at it.

Any ideas would be appreciated!!!!

Thanks,

Phil (no, my name is not Charles)
[Android General] Tzul:
[MENTION=7184758]charlestek[/MENTION] I assume the photo wasn't on the SD card, otherwise you could process the card with PC file recovery software.

If the photo was on the internal storage, you should create a full partition image of that as soon as possible. The SPFT is perfect for that. Any further second that Android is running and actively changing data on the userdata partition worsens your chance of recovery.

Start the SPFT, go to the Readback page, add a new region, double-click it, set "0x8f800000" as start address and "0x313580000" as length (or "0x6b7380000" for 32 GB tablets). Save it as userdata.img or something like that.

Then try file recovery software that can handle disk/partition images and the ext4 filesystem, because that's the one that userdata uses. The free TestDisk might work.

Good luck!
[Android General] charlestek:
Will do

[MENTION=5919159]Tzul[/MENTION],

Thank you. It's been a while since I did a recovery, I think in your previous post to me you also gave me the beginning address of user data. I have to go through the earlier part of this thread and reread that for a minute.

Why in the bleep would Lenovo's "Gallery" app do such a stupid thing.... Mind you on Windows, 98% of the time when I delete something, I use shift delete to permanently delete it, but there is that 2% when I want the file held in the recycle bin just in case. This is really bad programming for a stock photo app for a non technical user.

Actually since I upgraded all my PC's to Windows 10, I think you posted a link to signed MediaTek usb drivers for Win 10, I need to find that too.
[Android General] Tzul:
[MENTION=7184758]charlestek[/MENTION] The driver is here, if you haven't found it yet.

Some Android file managers (e.g. ES File Explorer) do have a recycle bin, but yeah, that's not a general feature of Android so far.
[Android General] charlestek:
[MENTION=5919159]Tzul[/MENTION], nice, thanks I downloaded the signed drivers. Well the other issue is that the "Gallery" is a Lenovo App I presume?

For the most part I think that Google (and Apple's Ios line) makes the Os for ordinary users. Like I said, normally when I want to delete something in Windows, I hate having to press the shift key to make sure it is permanently sent to the bit bucket in the sky. But you would think that accidentally deleting a photo or other file would happen reasonably often for a common user, and google would have a "feature". And you certainly don't want to have to worry that another running program will have used the memory addresses you just released and overwrote any of them. Ok, hopefully this weekend I will get the tablet upgraded to Lollipop and rooted, so I can use a common app for recovery, but I think I'm also going to install the "Dumpster - Recycle Bin" App from Google Play.

I guess I'll have to try to have to post this "feature" request on a Google Android Developer forum, or maybe a "bug" request.

This machine I'm using only has USB 2, and the options.ini I believe was set for high speed usb, so the userdata region of 16GB is chugging along like a snail at 6.8 MB/sec, under the blue progress bar, it reads "EMMC High Speed".
[Android General] clsA:
look for diskdigger pro file recovery in the play store it saved me a couple of times
[Android General] charlestek:
Clsa, thank you.

I did install this app (or at least the free version), but the tablet isn't rooted, so it did not find the image I deleted.

The tablet isn't rooted because I haven't needed to use it rooted yet. Since it is KitKat, like I said, soon I will

upgrade to rooted Lollipop per the instructions on the first page of this thread. But that is going to be too late to help for this file.
[Android General] clsA:
I would say it's worth installing TWRP and SuperSU if you really need the file
[Android General] charlestek:
Testdisk works on non removable drives only

I copied the userdata to a file in a directory on one of the hard drives on this machine.

I don't want to run testdisk on the whole disk, that thing is huge.

I copied the file to flashdrive, but testdisk does not see removable drives

So the userdata is a bit by bit image of the userdata memory in a ntfs file?

I'm trying to figure out what I can use to interpret the file with windows.

---------- Post added at 12:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:44 AM ----------

Ok, I'm trying a deep scan with this freeware, Recuva:

https://www.piriform.com/recuva

A deep scan is going to take at least an hour or more.

So the scanner is essentially filling a buffer and looking bit by bit for a header pattern of a jpg or other image format and then looking for the end of file delimiter for it??

I think....???\

It's been decades since I did file I/O. This wepage shows the C code, but what the file looks like in memory I don't know.

https://developer.android.com/training/basics/data-storage/files.html

Recuva only found 3 small images one gif, one bmp and another gif, not what I'm looking for, and certainly there has to be more than that.

I assume the camera app stores in internal memory. I looked at both memories with the file explorer on the Tab 2 but did not see where the images were kept.
[Android General] clsA:
pictures are in / storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera

on sdcard their in /storage/sdcard1/DCIM/Camera
[Android General] charlestek:
I Recovered the Image, an easier way

Csla, thank you, I just read your message after I recovered the image, after having read https://www.recovery-android.com/pictures-tored-on-android.html, so I did find out where the images are "tored".

I turned the tablet on, connected it to the Win 10 PC with the usb cable and it mounted the ??? internal memory.

Navigated to \DCIM\CAMERA Saw the IMG_blah.jpg files there. Looked at them, but the one I wanted was indeed gone.

In Windows, ran "Recuva", told it to scan in \DCIM\CAMERA. It found three jpg's. One of them was the image I deleted and needed.

Told Recuva to recover the file to my Windows desktop. Got it.

However, I still am curious how the userdata file I saved with SPFT is formatted bit wise in the file that sits on my NTFS drive in Windows...........?????
[Android General] Tzul:
No, it's an AOSP app. It was basically superseded by Google Photos.

The speed is normal and you can't improve it, as far as I know. Remember, that's not a "normal" USB data transmission, but an old and slow (virtual) COM port.

The idea is/was to run recovery software on an image file rather than an actual "live" drive, because that has advantages.

With TestDisk, you can load an image simply by specifying it as argument in a command line prompt:

"testdisk_win.exe userdata.img" or "photorec_win.exe D:\wherever\userdata.img"

Maybe I should have explained that better.

The image file you created is not NTFS, but ext4, because that's the format / filesystem of userdata on the tablet.