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-   -   Hard reset - Complete format (https://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=43039)

nMIK-3 2010-02-02 03:09
Hard reset - Complete format
 
My N900 start acting weird and I just requested an exchange.
While the new unit is on its way I've done some research here and in the web of how I can completely format my old N900, in order to send it back.

It is sooo lame that a format option is not available in the menu right out of the box.

The only acceptable solution I found here at Maemo.org forums and in the web is this long process.

My question is, is this the only way to format and clean up your N900?? Isn't there any other simpler way? And finally why Nokia excluded such an important function from the N900, if I remember correctly it was available on a pre-release N900 firmware :mad:.

piascyk 2010-02-02 05:06
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
sorry but thats the way its done. there is a program called nokia software updater on their site but i think it will only update and probably not reflash "fresh". the process you are referring to is what i've used many many times when i install too many development packages. just did it yesterday and my phone is fast as hell loaded with mostly stable apps and most of the gaming software.

ROne21 2010-02-02 07:46
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
Not bad....just did my first hard reset/flash.

nMIK-3 2010-02-02 19:49
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
Full format tools, with remote support should be added in the OS with upcoming firmware update. This is completely unacceptable.

Bingley Joe 2010-02-02 20:07
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
:confused: The N900 has built-in OS updates, but I don't know off hand of an OS on any device that will let you completely wipe it and reinstall a fresh copy over top.. how would that even be possible while it's 'live'?


In any case.. the original question has me wondering about something that perhaps someone could clarify for me once and for all:

1 - in order to completely return the N900 to out-of-the-box status, it's my understanding that one must both flash the firmware as well as the EMMC. Is that correct?

2 - assuming that's correct, my understanding is that you do it in that order: first flash the firmware, second flash the EMMC. Is that correct?

3 - assuming that's correct, the EMMC file doesn't appear to have been updated since the N900 was released, so I'm guessing that it's perfectly fine to flash the very latest firmware, and then flash this 'vanilla' EMMC file on top of it?


Any details or insight about that process would be greatly appreciated. :)

hwong_pz 2010-02-02 20:18
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
@Bingle Joe:
yes, you are right, you'll have to flash both the eMMC and firmware to get into the out-of-box state. Flashing with the "vanilla" then the latest firmware (or any) is fine as well. However, you'll need to flash the eMMC first before flashing the firmware, as stated on the wiki (last bullet under flashing eMMC - http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_tablet_firmware).

piascyk 2010-02-02 20:20
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
the hard reset forum i looked at here had the directions with emmc listed first so thats how ive always done it.

i reflashed 2 days ago and i did the vanilla emmc first, then the original firmware fresh install, then 2 updates to 2.2009-51.1. i havent tried downloading the newest firmware for reflashes yet.

both emmc and firmware seem safe to flash at any time in any combo.

nMIK-3 2010-02-02 21:22
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
My point is that even-thought the above solutions is doing the job, while from many of us is not that big of a deal to follow such a complicated approach but for most of the people this method is extremely difficult and time consuming. A simple format option/button for a complete clean up should be under "settings" like it is in the most major Operating Systems.

Such situations are the main examples that proves how powerful Maemo is for the hardcore users and at the same time how immature it is for the retail market.

Rob1n 2010-02-02 21:50
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nMIK-3 (Post 507531)
A simple format option/button for a complete clean up should be under "settings" like it is in the most major Operating Systems.
You mean most Phone Operating Systems. This is beacuse most phones are so tightly locked down that the user is prevented from changing anything in the system itself, making a reset just a case of wiping out the user settings and data. The N900 is a far more open phone and, similarly to Linux, OS X, or Windows, doesn't have a way to reset the user's modifications without a reinstall.

nMIK-3 2010-02-02 22:00
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
1 Attachment(s)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob1n (Post 507579)
You mean most Phone Operating Systems. This is beacuse most phones are so tightly locked down that the user is prevented from changing anything in the system itself, making a reset just a case of wiping out the user settings and data. The N900 is a far more open phone and, similarly to Linux, OS X, or Windows, doesn't have a way to reset the user's modifications without a reinstall.
I agree and this is what I meant. A reformat (in our case re-installing Maemo and clean up everything) all with a simple click. Again, I repeat this function was available under tab in "Settings" menu in a pre-release firmware and is a mystery of why Nokia didn't included it, in the final release.

Rob1n 2010-02-03 08:58
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nMIK-3 (Post 507591)
I agree and this is what I meant. A reformat (in our case re-installing Maemo and clean up everything) all with a simple click. Again, I repeat this function was available under tab in "Settings" menu in a pre-release firmware and is a mystery of why Nokia didn't included it, in the final release.
That exact same function is still in the current firmware (works on my phone anyway), but doesn't do what you seem to think it does. All that does is set the settings (as in, those set in the settings dialogue) back to their factory defaults. It doesn't remove installed apps, data, changes to system files, etc.

nMIK-3 2010-02-03 10:38
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob1n (Post 508136)
That exact same function is still in the current firmware (works on my phone anyway), but doesn't do what you seem to think it does. All that does is set the settings (as in, those set in the settings dialogue) back to their factory defaults. It doesn't remove installed apps, data, changes to system files, etc.
I am not referring to the "Restore Original Settings" which is present and it does what you said above, I am referring to the "Clear Device" option on the right side. This was a button for a complete format/clean up of the device and no it is not available in the final firmware.

Catacylsm 2010-02-03 11:05
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
Unless it is but has been removed from the UI? maybe we can track it down somehow.

Rob1n 2010-02-03 13:07
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Catacylsm (Post 508307)
Unless it is but has been removed from the UI? maybe we can track it down somehow.
I suspect it just didn't work. I don't see how they can do this without keeping a full (untouched) copy of the firmware on-device. I'd guess that all that was done was clearing the user data and uninstalling packages - basically clearing out everything that gets backed up by the Backup app.

nMIK-3 2010-02-03 20:09
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Catacylsm (Post 508307)
Unless it is but has been removed from the UI? maybe we can track it down somehow.
This would be great :)

Catacylsm 2010-02-03 22:09
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
I agree there Rob, or maybe just a nice clean wipe of the eMMC, but if we can track anything related to this down, this could be very interesting.

slender 2010-02-03 22:16
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
BTW.
Has someone run emmc flash and phone flash and tried after that recover files from emmc. Just tough that for sake of security I hope that it writes zeros to emmc before flashing.

Rob1n 2010-02-04 09:07
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by slender (Post 509419)
BTW.
Has someone run emmc flash and phone flash and tried after that recover files from emmc. Just tough that for sake of security I hope that it writes zeros to emmc before flashing.
I doubt it does. It's very difficult to recover files from flash though, as blocks get remapped all the time for wear-levelling.

slender 2010-02-04 10:33
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob1n (Post 510052)
I doubt it does. It's very difficult to recover files from flash though, as blocks get remapped all the time for wear-levelling.
ok.Because i recovered some default music files with recuva.

Rob1n 2010-02-04 10:48
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by slender (Post 510148)
ok.Because i recovered some default music files with recuva.
If you've not written anything then it'll be easy enough. I think that reflashing will rewrite enough to make it difficult though - I've not tried though, so I could be wrong.

McChicken 2010-02-09 10:49
Sending to Service...want to clear it
 
Hmmm.
I am going to send my N900 to service, and I like to send a "clean" device back to Nokia as somethimes the exchange for another unit instead of repair.

think I can manage to re-flash it by myself but
is there a way for a non-coder / non-linux to do this to not provide "My" data to others, as I do have confidential business data in it ?

any (simple) guidance will be appreciated

Rob1n 2010-02-09 11:20
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
Not entirely sure what you mean. The flashing instructions are at http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_tablet_firmware, and they don't require either Linux or coding ability to follow.

McChicken 2010-02-09 11:27
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
Thank you Rob1n for that link, did not have it...
BUT my question is a CONFIDENTIAL issue, what do I need to do to be pretty safe that no other "normal" person will be able to retrieve my data ?

ossipena 2010-02-09 11:45
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by McChicken (Post 517529)
Thank you Rob1n for that link, did not have it...
BUT my question is a CONFIDENTIAL issue, what do I need to do to be pretty safe that no other "normal" person will be able to retrieve my data ?
It depends on other persons budget. If it is high enough, probably nuking your N900 with big a-bomb is enough...


e: why not overwriting your sensitive data multiple times before reflashing?

Rob1n 2010-02-09 12:06
Re: Hard reset - Complete format
 
The only way to be fairly confident of erasing all data on a flash drive (so it cannot be easily recovered) is writing data to the entire drive (blocks are re-allocated on write to spread the wear, so you can't be sure that overwriting the blocks originally allocated to a file will actually affect the original data).

The simplest way to do this on the N900 is in X Terminal, using dd. The following code will create a single 1G file, containing only zeroes - repeat with different file names until the disk is full.
Code:
dd if=/dev/zero of=file1.dat bs=1M count=1024
Alternately, you could do a similar thing by mounting it in mass storage mode and copying garbage files to the disk until it's full.


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