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Trying to delete some files from my System partition. Someone suggested deleting /data/Tombstones (I.e., what's the Path to it so I can browse to it)

Using Astro File manager I navigated from the SDcard0 up until I got to what seems to be the root. It has folders like:

  • acct
  • cache
  • config
  • data (which is empty)
  • ...
  • firmware
  • ...
  • tombstones (which is empty)
  • system (is this the system partition), it does not contain a Tombstones folder.
Izzy
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Clay Nichols
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2 Answers2

5

on unroot device
adb shell or adb pull may no permissions read /data/tombstones.

adb bugreport

but adb bugreport can dump those files (indirectly).

// Tested on android 10.

$ adb bugreport ./output.zip

got files in zip

bugreport/FS/data/anr/*
bugreport/FS/data/tombstones/*

refs:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/58128529/4896468
https://stackoverflow.com/a/47681111/4896468
https://developer.android.com/studio/debug/bug-report.html

yurenchen
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2

If /data appears empty, the app showing that most likely has no root access ("root" in the sense of the privileged user, not the start of the file system). In order to browse that place, root is required.

Not all file explorers support this. For one, there are several specific "root explorers" around. I'd rather recommend ES File Explorer, which I use for years: it offers a lot of features you will welcome after solving your issue – and yes, "root access" is one of them. Provided your device is rooted.

And yes: what you're looking for is /data/tombstones, where "core dumps" of crashes are stored.

Izzy
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  • Argg... unfortunately, one of the symptoms of the problem (which I think is being caused by the System partition being corrupted or full) is that I can't install anything. I've removed things but still can't install.. It starts installing but never completes. – Clay Nichols Jan 21 '14 at 03:58
  • Is there any way to access that from a Windows PC (via usb connection)? – Clay Nichols Jan 21 '14 at 03:59
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    Sure, but on the same pre-condition: your device must have root access. Then you could utilize adb shell, make yourself root (su), and cd /data/tombstones. As for how to get ADB up and working on your PC, take a look at Is there a minimal installation of ADB? – Izzy Jan 21 '14 at 10:19
  • You will need root access to do anything to /data, /system and tombstone which you mentioned. Once root access is obtained you don't need to do that manually - apps like SD Maid (link) will clear tombstone, cache and other places to free up space for you. – Andy Yan Aug 03 '16 at 02:42