4/30/2021 Android Partitions Explained: boot, system, recovery, data, cache & misc

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Android Partitions Explained: boot,

system, recovery, data, cache & misc
by Haroon Q Raja May 19, 2011 100 Comments

Unless you have been using your Android phone just for calls, SMS, browsing
and basic apps, you should know that Android uses several partitions to
organize files and folders on the device. Each of these partitions has a distinct
role in the functionality of the device, but not many Android users know the
significance of each partition and its contents. In this guide, we will take you
on a tour of Android partitions, what they contain and what can be the
possible consequences of modifying their content.

Let’s start with a list of standard internal memory partitions on Android phones
and tablets. These are:

/boot

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/system

/recovery

/data

/cache

/misc

In addition, there are the SD card partitions.

/sdcard

/sd-ext

Note that only /sdcard is found in all Android devices and the rest are present
only in select devices. Let’s now take a look at the purpose and contents of
each of these partitions.

/boot

This is the partition that enables the phone to boot, as the name suggests. It
includes the kernel and the ramdisk. Without this partition, the device will
simply not be able to boot. Wiping this partition from recovery should only be
done if absolutely required and once done, the device must NOT be rebooted
before installing a new one, which can be done by installing a ROM that
includes a /boot partition.

/system

This partition basically contains the entire operating system, other than the
kernel and the ramdisk. This includes the Android user interface as well as all
the system applications that come pre-installed on the device. Wiping this
partition will remove Android from the device without rendering it unbootable,

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and you will still be able to put the phone into recovery or bootloader mode to
install a new ROM.

/recovery

The recovery partition can be considered as an alternative boot partition that

lets you boot the device into a recovery console for performing advanced
recovery and maintenance operations on it. To learn more about this partition
and its contents, see the ‘About Android Recovery’ section of our guide to
ClockworkMod recovery.

/data

Also called userdata, the data partition contains the user’s data – this is where
your contacts, messages, settings and apps that you have installed go. Wiping
this partition essentially performs a factory reset on your device, restoring it to
the way it was when you first booted it, or the way it was after the last official
or custom ROM installation. When you perform a wipe data/factory reset from
recovery, it is this partition that you are wiping.

/cache

This is the partition where Android stores frequently accessed data and app
components. Wiping the cache doesn’t effect your personal data but simply
gets rid of the existing data there, which gets automatically rebuilt as you
continue using the device.

/misc

This partition contains miscellaneous system settings in form of on/off

switches. These settings may include CID (Carrier or Region ID), USB
configuration and certain hardware settings etc. This is an important partition

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and if it is corrupt or missing, several of the device’s features will will not
function normally.

/sdcard

This is not a partition on the internal memory of the device but rather the SD
card. In terms of usage, this is your storage space to use as you see fit, to store
your media, documents, ROMs etc. on it. Wiping it is perfectly safe as long as
you backup all the data you require from it, to your computer first. Though
several user-installed apps save their data and settings on the SD card and
wiping this partition will make you lose all that data.

On devices with both an internal and an external SD card – devices like the
Samsung Galaxy S and several tablets – the /sdcard partition is always used to
refer to the internal SD card. For the external SD card – if present – an
alternative partition is used, which differs from device to device. In case of
Samsung Galaxy S series devices, it is /sdcard/sd while in many other devices,
it is /sdcard2. Unlike /sdcard, no system or app data whatsoever is stored
automatically on this external SD card and everything present on it has been
added there by the user. You can safely wipe it after backing up any data from
it that you need to save.

/sd-ext

This is not a standard Android partition, but has become popular in the custom
ROM scene. It is basically an additional partition on your SD card that acts as
the /data partition when used with certain ROMs that have special features
called APP2SD+ or data2ext enabled. It is especially useful on devices with
little internal memory allotted to the /data partition. Thus, users who want to
install more programs than the internal memory allows can make this partition
and use it with a custom ROM that supports this feature, to get additional

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storage for installing their apps. Wiping this partition is essentially the same as
wiping the /data partition – you lose your contacts, SMS, market apps and
settings.

With this, we conclude our tour of Android partitions. Now whenever you
install a ROM or mod that requires you to wipe certain partitions before the
installation, you should be in a better position to know what you’re losing and
what not and thus, you’ll know what to backup and what not.

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100 Comments

Lord Aether says:

June 30, 2018 at 3:31 pm

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Nice post but you missed /persist

Reply

Meghraj Bhatta says:

March 27, 2018 at 7:17 am

how can we load new android os into totally

formatted mobile device which is automatically
jumped into ‘format disk partition and wipe phone’ ?
i am very worried about my phone…. any help please
contact me:: bhattameghraj70@gmail.com

Reply

jptlightx says:
November 19, 2017 at 7:15 am

What if you reboot your Android after removing the

contents of /boot? Is it fixable?

Reply

Abhijeet Rajgor says:

November 16, 2017 at 12:54 pm

How about explaining my device ??

Redmi 3s
Has 49 partition X)

Reply

Peppe says:
September 22, 2017 at 6:48 pm

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