I am wondering how it really works and why for example if the device software seems broken. All it takes is a simple restore and it’s expected that it will all fix everything?
Also how come the restore partition never gets corrupted and is able to install the brand new software again and get it all working?
In: Technology
A factory reset is meant to restore the device to the state it was in when it left the factory. What exactly that means depends on the device.
Devices have multiple kinds of software and memory. Firmware is the base level of software that is stored in memory that is immutable under normal operation of the device.
For many simple devices, this is all the software they have: all other memory is reserved for user settings and data. In that case a factory reset might just mean wiping the main memory, so things go back to default settings and all the user data is gone.
More complex devices like your phone will also have system software like the operating system and built in applications stored in normal memory. They will often also store a pristine copy of the system software in a protected partition of the normal memory, or a dedicated memory module. A factory reset means both clearing the main memory and then copying the pristine copy of the system software back into place.
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