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Splitting this question from the comments to my answer to How to install ClockworkMOD Recovery on Sony Xperia Neo V (MT11a)?

Erik, one last thing. I accidentally made an extra backup which didn't even complete because my SD is full, how do I delete that backup, or any other previously done backup using CWR?

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5 Answers 5

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Clockworkmod stores its backups in /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup (replace /sdcard with the path for your external card if you're looking for backups to external memory). With versions prior to 6.0, you can move off (or delete) the entire directory to clear space. The entire backup is self-contained.

If you're using a 6.0 or greater version of Clockworkmod, this is no longer the case. The information about the backup is still in /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup, but the actual data is now stored in /sdcard/clockworkmod/blobs and is deduplicated between backups. The upside is that this should save some space between multiple backups. The downside is you can't just move off or delete a backup directory. With 6.0+, you now have to delete that folder, and then run the "free space" option. Initiating a new backup will automatically free space.

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  • I suggest to center the answer around the version 6.0 behaviour and make <6.0 the exception. Will not do any harm and as soon as everyone has 6.0 (needs time but will come eventually) this will better.
    – ce4
    Sep 13, 2012 at 5:59
  • So does it mean that I can't delete it when Adnroid is loaded?
    – Johnny_D
    Oct 22, 2013 at 19:14
  • This answer is actually somewhat innacurate now; more recently, CWM gives the option to use either the blob format or the full backup format, defaulting back to the full backup format (at least on the latest version I had on my SGS2). To answer your question, though, if you are using the full backup method, you can delete them while in Android. If you're using the blob method, you'll need to "free space" in CWM after deleting backups, either in Android or in CWM.
    – ND Geek
    Oct 23, 2013 at 19:36
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If you are using a version newer than 6.0 I'd recommend you use the delete backup function in CWM.

It's in backup and restore -> delete (and delete from external SD). Doing this will ensure that you don't delete a blob that is being used in another backup, as all backups now share the same blob directory.

After deleting from either place use the function recover free space from that same menú to delete the unused blobs

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Clockworkmod stores Nandroid backups in /clockworkmod/backup on the SD card. Each subfolder contains one backup and is named with the date and time you created it. This is the same information that you see in CWM's restore menu. You can remove them from within Android with any file manager or from your PC while you have your phone attached via USB.

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I had this idea: If you have CWM installed, you can delete (and make) the backup through the recovery mode. Go into recovery mode and select - backup and restore - delete from /sdcard then select the backup to delete done!

You also can do the backup through the recovery mode and ... there is an option backup to /storage/sdcard1 - I bet this will do the backup into the external SD Card. I haven't tried it, but i'm pretty sure it will do it.

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you can't remove them with your pc -- they are write-protected. it only works if they're on the external SD.

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    This is not true, internal SD storage is accessible from the PC on almost all devices. Some devices don't even support external SD cards.
    – Matthew Read
    Apr 15, 2015 at 15:10
  • they are write-protected -- But I just deleted two backup right now in my Internal Storage from PC. Both ~ 3.0 GB in size.
    – Firelord ♦
    Apr 29, 2015 at 4:25

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