Why does an OS upgrade WIPE EVERYTHING OUT ?

[jack63ss]

Can someone explain the logic behind an OS upgrade that wipes out all the users data ? I've done a lot of different operating system upgrades on a lot of different platforms, but none, not even any of Microsoft's, wipes everything out. I understand it is much easier to do it that away and not have to deal with configuration issues, but computers are supposed to be labor saving devices. I do assume there is a logical explanation though, I just would like to understand it.
Thanks

 

[psionandy]

Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't... It depends on what the upgrade is, how its applied and what it needs to do to the storage.


I can't remember the last time an android upgrade lost any data on my devices though...

 

[lunatic59]

They're not supposed to wipe anything out ... at least not deliberately. If we're talking about flashing an update/upgrade rather than accepting an OTA, then that's a whole different kettle of worms.

 

[Hadron]

Yes, how did you do the update? One that just downloaded over the air should not do that (indeed I've known phones get stuck with restrictions from old OS versions just because removing them would have required an update that wiped the phone).

However, if you applied the update by downloading a full firmware image and flashing that from a computer that may be a different matter. And if you had to unlock your bootloader to do this then that will have wiped the phone (a security measure, since otherwise doing this would open the doors to someone bypassing the locks and accessing user data without authorization).

 

[chanchan05]

I have used Android devices over the last 7 years and had a major OS update for a lot of those and never seen one erase my data at all.

 

[Jhayzone]

Yup, never experienced an update that wiped my data. If that is the norm then I'm pretty sure that Google would have receive an immeasurable amount of backlash long ago from people who lost their cat pics.

No one is allowed to take our cat pics. Not even lord google.

 

[lunatic59]