# RFS formatter question



## Mchartre (Jul 15, 2011)

I am doing a clean reinstall to H57. I odined ee19 full, then cwm3, then rfs formatter. how long should the following boot take? I gave up on it once at 20 minutes. If i dont use the rfs, the bootup is normal. (I have tried this several times). lagfix was disabled when i started.


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## scarmon25 (Jun 11, 2011)

I always used the ext4 formatter since Heinz normally comes with a voodoo kernel and voodoo converts to ext4. Other than that I have seen mine take 20 min or so to boot after something like that. But I mean it was rare. Normally around 10-15 min at max. Whixh Heinz are you flashing ie with or without kernel and if with, which kernel

Tap-a-Talked from my CM7'd Mesmerize


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## akellar (Jun 11, 2011)

Not clear what you are referring to here. Did you flash the rfs formatter or the ext formatter? No point in the rfs at the point you said you ran it as you were already on rfs. If you did ext then that's a different issue. Are you rebooting right after that or flashing the rom/kernel first? If you haven't flashed the rom or a different kernel that would be your problem as stock kernel can't use the ext4 system.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using RootzWiki Forums


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## Mchartre (Jul 15, 2011)

I havn't actually tried to reinstall the h57 rom yet. I just wanted to start clean as possible, as previous installation was becomming more and more buggy. I intend to install PBJ, as i thought id give it a try, but the choice is somewhat arbitrary. Current attempt has been at sammy logo for almost 20 mins. Is the frs formatter doing something now?. The installation inside of cwm is only a few seconds. I am not even sure that I am getting any benifit if it does eventually boot. Any suggestions?

I flashed rfs formatter as suggested in several threads to cleanup strange behavior


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## scarmon25 (Jun 11, 2011)

The rfs formatter formats when flashed. If you flash the formatter then reboot. There is nothing to boot too as why its just sitting there. You need to flash the formatter, heinz, kernel all in the same session and in that order

Tap-a-Talked from my CM7'd Mesmerize


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## Mchartre (Jul 15, 2011)

OK, Thanks

I was not sure if the formatter retained the files on the phone, and did a conversion (like what voodoo does), or if it works like the format command on a computer. If I stop this now (35 minutes) and reboot to recovery and install rom w kernal, do you think that will work?


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## scarmon25 (Jun 11, 2011)

Yeah it should. Right now the phone is bare in rfs format. So if you flash the setup you want you should be good to go

Tap-a-Talked from my CM7'd Mesmerize


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## Mchartre (Jul 15, 2011)

Thanks for the advice. The phone has successfully rebooted. I should be back to full restore soon.
Would you say that performing the voodoo conversion in cwm is any different with the ext4 formatter that you refer too. are there any advantages to using it and then installing the h57 rom imediately after in cwm?
What is the purpose of odining the stock package if the formatter obliterates everything anyway? Ill do it anyway in the future, as I defer to those with experience. I just would fullly understanding what i am doing.

thanks again.


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## scarmon25 (Jun 11, 2011)

Supposedly voodoo.converts all four partitions the same as the formatter does. But I did notice a difference in the phone when I ran the ext4 formatter first. Then flashed the ROM/Kernel. Now that could have been due to many reasons. My perception or possible issue with my initial flash. Its up to you but when flashing touchwiz based roms flashing the ext4 formatter has become standard practice for me. Especially when flashing from one TW ROM to another.

Tap-a-Talked from my CM7'd Mesmerize


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## Mesmerbelly (Jul 19, 2011)

What is the formater I missed that somewhere along the way can someone please explain how this works


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## akellar (Jun 11, 2011)

Mesmerbelly said:


> What is the formater I missed that somewhere along the way can someone please explain how this works


It came from the Fascinate XDA forum. Basically its 2 files you can flash in CWM. The EXT4 formatter will basically do the same thing that voodoo lagfix does but more completely. The RFS formatter more or less does the exact opposite - restoring back to stock.


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## Mesmerbelly (Jul 19, 2011)

Well thank u sir


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## mbrulla (Jul 7, 2011)

Cannot recommend using the formatter enough.

Don't even consider flashing back to RFS after you've been on MTD without using the formatter.


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## Evilntention (Jun 11, 2011)

Y? I have successfully switched back and forth numerous times and never encountered a problem. I don't doubt they have a function and do what their supposed to but I have been back and fourth id say 10x times at least due to something or other and have never used either? Explain what makes it better please.


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## akellar (Jun 11, 2011)

Evilntention said:


> Y? I have successfully switched back and forth numerous times and never encountered a problem. I don't doubt they have a function and do what their supposed to but I have been back and fourth id say 10x times at least due to something or other and have never used either? Explain what makes it better please.


It's just a failsafe - it's not a requirement


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