To clear up some storage space on your device, I want to show you the process for how to delete a Nandroid backup on the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T.
Over the last couple of days, I’ve shown you how to create a Nandroid backup on the OnePlus 3 as well as how to restore a Nandroid backup on the OnePlus 3. I also recommended that you get in the habit of creating Nandroid backups on a regular basis. Just like with all digital data that is important to you, having a recent backup can save you a lot of time and hassle if something bad ever does happen.
TWRP has really big buttons on the main menu for both creating and restoring a Nandroid backup. Deleting a Nandroid backup though, isn’t as straight forward.
This is hidden within one of these menus and unless you’ve done it before, you’ll likely just be hunting around for it and might not ever find it. So today I want to talk you through the step by step process for how to delete a Nandroid backup on the OnePlus 3.
As with the previous two tutorials, you will first need to have the bootloader of the OnePlus 3 unlocked. You will also need to install TWRP on the OnePlus 3 so that you can create your backups. You don’t need to root the OnePlus 3 to do anything in TWRP so unless you want root access then you can skip that altogether.
OnePlus 3 Delete Nandroid Backup
- Reboot the OnePlus 3 into Recovery Mode
- Tap on the ‘Restore’ Button at the TWRP Main Menu
- Tap on the Nandroid Backup You Want to Delete
- Tap on the ‘Delete Backup’ Button Toward the Bottom
- Then Swipe the White Arrows to the Right to Confirm
- When the Backup is Deleted, Tap on the ‘Reboot System’ Button
Explanation
To begin this process, we will need to reboot the OnePlus 3 into Recovery Mode. It doesn’t matter how you get into recovery mode (by holding buttons during boot or by using the advanced boot menu), the end goal will be the same with your device being in the proper boot mode. Once your OnePlus 3 is in Recovery Mode, go ahead and tap on the Restore button in the TWRP main menu. This will list all of the previously created Nandroid backups that have yet to be deleted.
From here, simply tap on the Nandroid backup you want to delete and then look toward the bottom of the screen. You’ll see the white arrows that you can swipe to the right that will begin the restore process. This is not what you want to do right now (I’ve accidentally made this mistake before). Instead, you’ll want to tap on the button right above it that’s labeled Delete Backup. Once you tap on this button, then you’ll be asked to swipe the white arrows to confirm.
So now you’ll want to swipe the white arrows to the right and then your OnePlus 3 Nandroid backup should be deleted almost instantly. As you can see from the video above, it took about a second to delete my 4.7GB backup and I don’t see it taking much longer even if it is bigger. Once the OnePlus 3 Nandroid backup has been deleted, you will see two buttons appear at the bottom of the screen. If you want to do something else in TWRP, like create a Nandroid backup of the OnePlus 3, then press the Back button.
However, if you’re done and simply want to reboot back into the core Android OS then just tap on the Reboot System button. Your OnePlus 3 will go through the typical boot animation sequence and then you’ll be taken right back into Android.
