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I encrypted my phone but now want it not encrypted so have to factory reset. However, if I try to do this from the CWM Recovery it says

-- Wiping data... 
Formatting /data...  
Error mounting /data!  
Skipping format... 
Formatting /cache...  
Formatting /sd-ext...  
Formatting /sdcard/.android_secure...
Error mounting /sdcard/.android_secure!
Skipping format... 
Data wipe complete.

When I try to factory reset from the normal GUI it doesn't give me an error but finishes very very quickly and hasn't worked (presumably the output above has happened in the logs).

What can I do?

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Have you tried re-flashing the original recovery that shipped with the device? Perhaps that would allow you to perform a factory reset via the device's settings menu. – eldarerathis♦ Nov 14 '12 at 20:31
I've tried to do this but can't work out how to do it via Heimdall (Linux implementation of ODIN) - does it have to be via ODIN? Where would I find my original recovery? I may be just doing it wrong - which HOWTO should I be following for this? – Gausie Nov 14 '12 at 22:58
1  
I would think Heimdall could do it as long as you could find a stock recovery image in the proper format. What specific device is it? Often the XDA sub-forum for a device will have a collection of various stock images, so that's where I'd start, personally; the manufacturer may provide them, too, though (I've never really checked if Samsung does this). – eldarerathis♦ Nov 15 '12 at 0:01
Is this right? forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1863346 – Gausie Nov 15 '12 at 11:28
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Hm, I'm not entirely sure if the ROM package in those instructions has a recovery image or not. If it does, then that should work. There's another thread on XDA that talks about unrooting the S3 which might help, too: forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1710613 That should reflash your device back to stock Samsung firmware (it talks about Odin but you should be able to substitute Heimdall as far as I know). – eldarerathis♦ Nov 15 '12 at 16:07
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