# [Protip] 4.2 and Recoveries



## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

Hey all, I'm seeing lots of discussion in the 4.2 threads regarding recoveries. I'd like to clear some stuff up, and try to keep it consolidated here, as it doesn't really belong in the ROM threads.

First off; let me just explain the issue. Because of multi-user support in 4.2 basically what will happen is if you open recovery on 4.2 on an older recovery, its going to move everything on your internal SDCard to a folder called just "0" the folder structure will be the same, but it'll all be in there instead, and when the ROM boots it will create the normal SDCard folders outside of it. So basically it will duplicate all the folders and start generating in a new path, sorta a pain in the ass.

So, if you haven't went to 4.2 yet, go ahead and get one of the two new recoveries. You need to use either CWM 6.0.1.9 OR TWRP 2.3.2.0; your choice.

Both recoveries can be had from BMc's androtransfer currently (d2vzw recovery is CWM):

Download HERE

Credits to Invisiblek for compiling the TWRP version, not sure who exactly compiled the new CWM.

To install them:

For the TWRP as its a zip just put it on your SDCard, boot into recovery, and flash the zip. Boot back out of recovery before installing 4.2, then boot back in so its on the newer version, and flash away.

For CWM, its the .img file, so just use EZ Recovery from the Play Store to install it.

Now if you flashed 4.2 without updating your recovery, that's fine. It'll still flash fine, its just going to play havoc with your SDCard folders. Here's what you need to do:

Update your recovery using the methods listed above. If you are updating TWRP, because it doesn't read the internal SD right, upload TWRP zip to your internal SD using airdroid (since MTP is broken in 4.2 currently) then use Root Explorer or similar to move it to your external SD. Boot into recovery and flash from there.

Now that that issue is fixed so it'll stop re-building the messed up folders, use Root Explorer or a similar program and navigate to /sdcard/0/ press Menu should give you an option for Multi-Select, select all the folders/files in the /0/ directory, hit menu or down on the bottom choose Move (again depends on the browser) back up one level to the main /sdcard/ directory, and hit Paste. It will tell you there is files with the same information (because the ROM rebuilt the file structure) choose Merge, and let it do its thing. Depending on how many files you have, it may take a little while, just be patient.

Bam! Fixed.

Any further questions? Post below....


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## TenderloinShadow (Nov 4, 2011)

Ah Goose, what would us poor schlubs do without you.


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## kingdroid (Jun 14, 2011)

If I'm coming from the new cwm 6.0.1.9 and wanna try twrp would I by fine jus flashing the new twrp via my external SD as far as folders mix up go??...

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

kingdroid said:


> If I'm coming from the new cwm 6.0.1.9 and wanna try twrp would I by fine jus flashing the new twrp via my external SD as far as folders mix up go??...
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


Yup

Tapped from my 4.2 jelly-beaned d2vzw


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## kingdroid (Jun 14, 2011)

Goose306 said:


> Yup
> 
> Tapped from my 4.2 jelly-beaned d2vzw


thank u sir.. I was thinking of pulling the IMG file from the zip u think that will work through ez recovery??...

EDIT: Jus pulled the IMG and I flashed jus fine only thing is that it says my recovery version is 2.3.2.3 weird no??...
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## jlokos (Mar 7, 2012)

kingdroid said:


> If I'm coming from the new cwm 6.0.1.9 and wanna try twrp would I by fine jus flashing the new twrp via my external SD as far as folders mix up go??...
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


Is there a touch version of CWM available? Also, can I still use my old nandroid backups if I update to the new cwm? Thanks for putting this info in a separate thread.


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## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

jlokos said:


> Is there a touch version of CWM available? Also, can I still use my old nandroid backups if I update to the new cwm? Thanks for putting this info in a separate thread.


Depends on what version of CWM you had. If it was CWM 6.x then yes previous backups should work fine (6.x is where it went the blobs type of backups) most all of our recoveries for CWM have been that version, but if yours is below 6.x you may have issues.

Regarding touch... I have no idea, however I do not believe so. If you didn't mind trying something new TWRP is all-touch, and has quite a few more features than CWM (personally I think they do touch better too) ability to .zip nandroids to save space, keyboard in recovery to rename backups on the fly, themes, etc... I used to be a pretty hardcore CWM user due to previous devices I had were only supported by CWM so I was familiar with it, and my old roommate's KF was buggy as shit on TWRP. But I've used TWRP for the last four mounths or so on this device and my Nexus 7 and have absolutely no complaints.


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## warriorpluto (Dec 11, 2011)

OK I have a question. I looked in the backup section of cwm cause when I went to 4.2 and it mixed up my folders. It seems when I did a backup with cwm it only saved a few kb worth of data. Then there is a folder with blobs. Did it really save all my stuff or is the backup corrupted? It said it completed successfully and it took a while to do it. I'm on 4.2 for s3 and would like to go back to 4.1 since the camera isn't working yet

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## warriorpluto (Dec 11, 2011)

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

warriorpluto said:


> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


Yeah ok let me explain that a bit. CWM backups have gotten a bit smarter to try to save some space.

When it says the .dup extension that means its a duplicate. What that means is it basically redirects CWM back to the original (non-duplicate) so the duplicate will be small as its basically a redirect. The only thing your backup is basically actually saving itself in that folder is the recovery.img and the boot.img; all the rest is duplicated elsewhere. That usually where the blobs are. (Blobs are usually the larger files i.e. system/data/cache partitions)


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## warriorpluto (Dec 11, 2011)

I went back to the latest cwm recovery and try to restore but it says no files found. I moved the cwm folder back to sdcard. What directory is this log for the files in? Or do I need to go back to a pervious cwm to restore?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## warriorpluto (Dec 11, 2011)

It says it made a backup but I can't even see the folder in adao or es file explorer

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## jlokos (Mar 7, 2012)

Goose306 said:


> Depends on what version of CWM you had. If it was CWM 6.x then yes previous backups should work fine (6.x is where it went the blobs type of backups) most all of our recoveries for CWM have been that version, but if yours is below 6.x you may have issues.
> 
> Regarding touch... I have no idea, however I do not believe so. If you didn't mind trying something new TWRP is all-touch, and has quite a few more features than CWM (personally I think they do touch better too) ability to .zip nandroids to save space, keyboard in recovery to rename backups on the fly, themes, etc... I used to be a pretty hardcore CWM user due to previous devices I had were only supported by CWM so I was familiar with it, and my old roommate's KF was buggy as shit on TWRP. But I've used TWRP for the last four mounths or so on this device and my Nexus 7 and have absolutely no complaints.


Thanks for the information. I am using CWM 6x. I would try TWRP, but I'm not sure what happens to my CWM nandroids; I assume they will no longer work.


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## warriorpluto (Dec 11, 2011)

jlokos said:


> Thanks for the information. I am using CWM 6x. I would try TWRP, but I'm not sure what happens to my CWM nandroids; I assume they will no longer work.


No they won't work. In the meantime after going through all the trouble with all my back ups failing to restore I read this was a problem with cwm. So I zeroed my phone and started from scratch. No more cmw for me. Twrp all the way. Less errors with backup
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## kingdroid (Jun 14, 2011)

Well speaking for myself I flashed the new recovery from TWRP v2.3.2.3 and ran with it for a day before I got the courage to flash a 4.2.. I ran liquids new release and I still got the 0 sub folder idk y but I did.. I hope it doesn't keep happening every time

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## Nght12 (Feb 17, 2012)

Okay, I'm running CWM 6.0.1.9, the new one and I still got the /o/ folder but when I go to move everything back in es file explorer it isn't there, goes from sd card to system like normal.


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## 78cortina (Jul 12, 2012)

Is this version for i9300? cause I tried flashing and all I got was an error.


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## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

78cortina said:


> Is this version for i9300? cause I tried flashing and all I got was an error.


No this is for d2vzw

Tapped from my 4.2 jelly-beaned d2vzw


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## droidxuser123 (Jul 26, 2011)

I keep getting mismatching checksums for CWM.


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## Bradfan04 (Jun 14, 2011)

I'm getting mismatched checksum and an error when I flash the TWRP. I though it may have been a bad download but I re downloaded and still got the same results.

Edit: I found this from invisiblek in another thread.

http://truelinux.net/sch-i535/recoveries/TWRP-2.3.2.0.recovery.zip

I flashed this and it worked for me.


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## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

Bradfan04 said:


> I'm getting mismatched checksum and an error when I flash the TWRP. I though it may have been a bad download but I re downloaded and still got the same results.
> 
> Edit: I found this from invisiblek in another thread.
> 
> ...


It is literally the exact same zip. I've flashed both and they both end up on TWRP 2.3.2.0, the one on androtransfer is just another mirror that BMc put up.

If you were getting mismatch checksum you probably had a bad d/l I would assume. Androtransfer has been having some issues as of late. Possibly may have also gotten corrupted on-server? I can attest to the fact I pulled that d/l link off androtransfer and it flashed fine on my buddy's GS3 (I originally got mine from the TWRP link originally posted by Invisiblek myself)


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## kingdroid (Jun 14, 2011)

Goose306 said:


> It is literally the exact same zip. I've flashed both and they both end up on TWRP 2.3.2.0, the one on androtransfer is just another mirror that BMc put up.
> 
> If you were getting mismatch checksum you probably had a bad d/l I would assume. Androtransfer has been having some issues as of late. Possibly may have also gotten corrupted on-server? I can attest to the fact I pulled that d/l link off androtransfer and it flashed fine on my buddy's GS3 (I originally got mine from the TWRP link originally posted by Invisiblek myself)


so when u run twrp it says 2.3.2.0??.. cause when i do it it says 2.3.2.3.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

kingdroid said:


> so when u run twrp it says 2.3.2.0??.. cause when i do it it says 2.3.2.3.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


Correction mine is 2.3.2.3 as well I was basing that number on on the zip download (I didn't bother to boot into recovery) that being said it brings up a good question for those still having folder issues...


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## TenderloinShadow (Nov 4, 2011)

yeah, ive still had trouble with twrp. It has major issues reading my internal sd after flashing 4.2 ROMs. I'm using your version Goose. BMc's CWM works fine though.


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## goldsmitht (Jun 13, 2011)

Got some weird answers n other boards, so thought I'd come to source.
I'm using twrp 2.3.2.3, and have made new nandroids f my backups. If I flash any of the 10.1 ROMs, will I be able to go back to any of my backups, and will I still have to move my sdcard out of the 0 folder, or does new version fix that.
Been told I won't even be able to flash my backups on one board
Thanks

Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


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## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

goldsmitht said:


> Got some weird answers n other boards, so thought I'd come to source.
> I'm using twrp 2.3.2.3, and have made new nandroids f my backups. If I flash any of the 10.1 ROMs, will I be able to go back to any of my backups, and will I still have to move my sdcard out of the 0 folder, or does new version fix that.
> Been told I won't even be able to flash my backups on one board
> Thanks
> ...


Save your backups to external SD and you are good to go. The whole 0 folder thing seems intermittent. I've flashed plenty w/out it making the 0 folder, I've also had it create the 0 folder. Its inconsistent. Regardless its fairly easy to fix, just annoying (use the method in OP, can also do on PC now that MTP mount works.)

Tapped from my 4.2 jelly-beaned d2vzw


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## eric3316 (Aug 27, 2011)

Do these recoveries work okay when we go back to 4.1.2 for our backups and stuff.


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## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

eric3316 said:


> Do these recoveries work okay when we go back to 4.1.2 for our backups and stuff.


yes


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## kingdroid (Jun 14, 2011)

So I'm wondering will the damn 0 folder always come up every time I flash a 4.2 ROM??.. I've been running cwm 6.0.1.9 since its release even before i flashed a 4.2 ROM I use it on all of my 4.1.2 ROMs but every time I wanna try out 4.2 I get that folder and i have to move everything back to sdcard.. Is this norm now

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## cvo515 (Sep 21, 2011)

kingdroid said:


> So I'm wondering will the damn 0 folder always come up every time I flash a 4.2 ROM??.. I've been running cwm 6.0.1.9 since its release even before i flashed a 4.2 ROM I use it on all of my 4.1.2 ROMs but every time I wanna try out 4.2 I get that folder and i have to move everything back to sdcard.. Is this norm now
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


Pretty sure its doing it on GNex too. So probably
Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


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## kingdroid (Jun 14, 2011)

cvo515 said:


> Pretty sure its doing it on GNex too. So probably
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


tht sux ass.. Its not hard to move em back its jus annoying.. Especially cuz I'm a crack flasher lmao

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## goldsmitht (Jun 13, 2011)

OK, flashed cm10.1, got it set us, and pretty much flashed back and forth a couple of times. Third time's the charm, as then I get the "sdcard0" folder! Not the first few times. AND only when I flash back to cm10, cm10.1 folders are fine. And other than annoying, is this going o cause any problems? TWRP 2.3.2.3 seems to go right to my backups, and I have to figure and music on power play, but nothing else other than annoying.

How do I fix this, and do I need to?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


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## SlimSnoopOS (Jan 19, 2012)

Just letting y'all know, GooManager has TWRP 2.3.3.0. I'm on JB TW so don't ask me how it works on AOSP JB 4.2 lol


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## cvo515 (Sep 21, 2011)

After i merged all stuff back onto normal SD as per OP my recovery cannot find any of it. It appears it's looking for that 0folder. I also cannot delete that 0 folderusing root explorer for some reason. I want my SD back to normal...anyone know where to go from here

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## blaineevans (Jul 11, 2011)

Koush has 6.0.2.3 (touch) on his website, has this been updated for 4.2?

Also, has anyone noticed the TWRP bug where the time may be off by ~20 minutes? That and setting it to the correct time zone comes out incorrect.. I'm on PST and have to set it to CST to match the hour (but the 20m error persists).


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## goldsmitht (Jun 13, 2011)

everyone using CWM, should really look to switching to TWRP if possible. All touch, easy to use, onscreen keyboard to make naming simple, AND gets rid of the "blobs".

i had used CWM until i tried TWRP, and once i tried, i switched. I only had two backups in CWM, one stock and one TW. I did some recent file clean up, and noticed that my 2 backups had generated 2000+ files, almost all blobs, AND was taking up over 2+ GB in data! That alone made it simple. 
also, during a day of going back and forth between 4.2 and 4.1.2 i too developed the "sdcard0" bug, but TWRP 2.3.2 handles it fine, doesn't have any problem finding my backups and i've just left it.


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## cvo515 (Sep 21, 2011)

I figured it out.....renamed my 0 folder to 0.old. twrp didn't search for it and it used my standard internal SD instead. Perfect. Thanks for guide OP

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## mikewelch5 (Jul 27, 2011)

I've got a question. I followed the directions in the OP and I am still stumped. When I connect my phone via USB and click on internal storage, nothing is showing up still.

One thing I did notice from the OP is that he says "[background=rgb(245, 245, 245)] use Root Explorer or a similar program and navigate to /sdcard/0/"[/background]
My directories have no such path.

I have crazy stuff, like /mnt/sdcard

/storage/emulated 
/storage/sdcard0
/storage/sdcard1 
/storage/emulated/0
/storage/emulated/0/legacy 

Sorry for being a noob, but I don't know what I'm doing haha.


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## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

mikewelch5 said:


> I've got a question. I followed the directions in the OP and I am still stumped. When I connect my phone via USB and click on internal storage, nothing is showing up still.
> 
> One thing I did notice from the OP is that he says "[background=rgb(245, 245, 245)] use Root Explorer or a similar program and navigate to /sdcard/0/"[/background]
> My directories have no such path.
> ...


You are /storage/ directory or /mnt/ directory

you need to get to root / then you should see the proper folders.

Otherwise access is at /storage/sdcard0 (they are mostly all just symlinks anyways, you just need to get to the internal SD)


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## kingdroid (Jun 14, 2011)

Goose306 said:


> You are /storage/ directory or /mnt/ directory
> 
> you need to get to root / then you should see the proper folders.
> 
> Otherwise access is at /storage/sdcard0 (they are mostly all just symlinks anyways, you just need to get to the internal SD)


will this jus b the new thing with 4.2 all those directories and will it take up more space??.. All the files n all those folders seem to be the same.. If it doesn't matter then I won't keep moving Em and deleting those folders

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

kingdroid said:


> will this jus b the new thing with 4.2 all those directories and will it take up more space??.. All the files n all those folders seem to be the same.. If it doesn't matter then I won't keep moving Em and deleting those folders
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


Space is not really a consideration... I mean technically yes but the amount of space required to make a folder is mostly negligible... And think of a symlink like a shortcut in windows... You open it and it just points to a different directory is all.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Xparent Red Tapatalk 2


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## kingdroid (Jun 14, 2011)

WOW!!!!!! i jus went through my cwm folder on my sd card and i have 4 nandroids with over 4000 blobs equaling 9.80gb... tht is insane i think ima jump ship to twrp i jus hope its not tht rediculous.. wow thts a lot of my memory tht i can use elsewhere.. any help goose whats ur input u know more than me... plz give me some advice or anyone who can help..


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## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

kingdroid said:


> WOW!!!!!! i jus went through my cwm folder on my sd card and i have 4 nandroids with over 4000 blobs equaling 9.80gb... tht is insane i think ima jump ship to twrp i jus hope its not tht rediculous.. wow thts a lot of my memory tht i can use elsewhere.. any help goose whats ur input u know more than me... plz give me some advice or anyone who can help..


TWRP is smaller backups. It can also zip them if you please. The whole idea behind the blobs is that you could have multiple backups using the same data for certain portions to potentially save space but its questionable whether that actually happens. Right now I have seven backups in TWRP (AOKP 4.1, AOKP 4.2, Blackbean, Eclipse, galaxymod, liquid 4.2, and MIUI) total space on my sdcard is 5.61 GB. And they are all in their folders, no blobs, all renamed directly from recovery so no date management/changing names later BS. That size is also unzipped, so if they were zipped the storage space would be smaller.

TWRP is IMO a much better solution. Currently on 4.2 it can seem to randomly have the 0 bug folder and it will rebuild it, but its random not every time, and TBH the benefits of TWRP outweigh any negative to me.


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## blaineevans (Jul 11, 2011)

blaineevans said:


> Koush has 6.0.2.3 (touch) on his website, has this been updated for 4.2?
> 
> Also, has anyone noticed the TWRP bug where the time may be off by ~20 minutes? That and setting it to the correct time zone comes out incorrect.. I'm on PST and have to set it to CST to match the hour (but the 20m error persists).


Bumping my own question for post count.

C'mon Goose, you're slacking here.


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## kingdroid (Jun 14, 2011)

Goose306 said:


> TWRP is smaller backups. It can also zip them if you please. The whole idea behind the blobs is that you could have multiple backups using the same data for certain portions to potentially save space but its questionable whether that actually happens. Right now I have seven backups in TWRP (AOKP 4.1, AOKP 4.2, Blackbean, Eclipse, galaxymod, liquid 4.2, and MIUI) total space on my sdcard is 5.61 GB. And they are all in their folders, no blobs, all renamed directly from recovery so no date management/changing names later BS. That size is also unzipped, so if they were zipped the storage space would be smaller.
> 
> TWRP is IMO a much better solution. Currently on 4.2 it can seem to randomly have the 0 bug folder and it will rebuild it, but its random not every time, and TBH the benefits of TWRP outweigh any negative to me.


thank u sir, I'm deleting all tht ish and going twrp no mas cwm tht ish takes up waaayyyyy too much space.. U have more back ups and they take up half the space of my 4.. I kept reading reading trap abt blobs but didn't think it was this bad.. When I get a chance today I'm switching my nandroids to twrp. Thanks again goose

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## indyssee (Aug 22, 2011)

kingdroid said:


> thank u sir, I'm deleting all tht ish and going twrp no mas cwm tht ish takes up waaayyyyy too much space.. U have more back ups and they take up half the space of my 4.. I kept reading reading trap abt blobs but didn't think it was this bad.. When I get a chance today I'm switching my nandroids to twrp. Thanks again goose
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


I use CWM and change the backup format to tar. This will keep it from creating the blobs and the nandroids will then be pretty much identical to the ones in TWRP. You do have to change it every time though. I have nothing against TWRP, its just CWM has always worked perfect for me.


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## kingdroid (Jun 14, 2011)

indyssee said:


> I use CWM and change the backup format to tar. This will keep it from creating the blobs and the nandroids will then be pretty much identical to the ones in TWRP. You do have to change it every time though. I have nothing against TWRP, its just CWM has always worked perfect for me.


yeah I've always liked cwm cuz its what I learned from since my DX days but those blobs r lame so trying twrp now but I'll trybur method if I go back

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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