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Factory reset doesn’t erase all data + clearing activities folder via computer doesn’t free up space and doesn’t clear activity history on watch.

Esther
9 months ago

Hi all,

I did factory reset my watch, because I had problems with sleep tracking and the watch telling me the wrong time.. only my data is not erased like it normally did when factory resetting. Thursday I emptied the activity history via emptying the ‘activities’ folder that I accessed via my laptop, but that didn’t erase the activity history on the watch so I also cleared all activity history stored on the watch. All activity history on my watch was gone after that.

Last night it didn’t track sleep again, so I did a factory reset. My watch went back to the stock watch face, so thought everything went well. But when arranging the apps/ glances again I saw my HRV status. And the activity history contains every activity I did since I bought the watch! While all January activities were off of my watch for a month already. And I emptied the activity folder via my laptop and cleared the activity history on the watch. 

Is this normal behaviour? (Is it caused by physio true up maybe? But why did this not happen with previous factory resets?) How can you empty the watch when you want to send it in for repair or when you want to sell it? Or how can you free space when it’s full??


I thought HRV has to be recalculated again for ~3 weeks after factory reset? 

factory reset (I guess that the icon telling me here?):

Or not??: 



I did this reset: settings > system > restore (not sure if it’s the right translation) > delete data and reset settings. I also removed my watch from connect and express, forgot the watch in Bluetooth settings on phone, deleted my app from my phone, rebooted my phone and computer. Installed everything again. I’ve got the email that you get when activating a new device  

I thought factory reset would bring the watch back to how you receive it when you first open the package after buying it? 

Is there another folder, besides the 'ACTIVITIES’ folder, I need to empty to really erase the activity history from the watch and free up space? 

I also noticed the free space on the watch hadn’t changed after emptying the ‘ACTIVITIES’ folder. So the folder is empty, but before and after emptying the folder the watch says “1.57GB” free space. Also after rebooting my computer and even after factory resetting the watch. 


  Help? Slight smile

  • 0 9 months ago

    Typically this type of thing will only occur if you choose Reset Defaults Settings instead of Delete Data and Reset Settings. Please give these steps a try again and let me know if your activity data still remains on the watch after following these steps.

  • +1 9 months ago in reply to Garmin-Inder

    Thank you for your reply.

    I did the second reset option in your link. I had to set up my wallet and sleep schedule etc again and the watch showed the stock watch face (the one I also saw when I bought the watch).

    Only all other data, including the whole activity history, reappears. Even though I’ve already emptied the complete activities folder with every .fit file on my computer the day before the factory reset. And that folder remained empty. But that did t clear the activity history on my watch, so I deleted them all from within the watch as well. Only now they reappeared after the factory reset.. 

    In the mean time I also found more people with similar issues, this is one of them: https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/sports-fitness/f/edge-1030/151384/can-t-delete-old-activities 

    Is it safe do to the same, remove the .fit files from the summary folder? this thread is 5 years old, so i don’t  know if it still works the same? 

    Edit: I’ve connected my watch to my computer and removed the new activities I did save since the factory reset, so the activities folder is now empty again and the activity history on my watch as well! Finally! I hope it stays this way, because after the latest factory reset they reappeared on my watch.

    The only difference is: the last time I cleared my activities folder via my computer, the activity history on my watch stayed put and I had to clear the history via the settings. and now it’s also gone from my watches history, without needing to clear the history from within the watch settings.

    (Another difference is that I updated my watch yesterday to the new software, but I guess that’s just a coincidence:) )

  • 0 9 months ago in reply to Esther

    That is odd! But keep an eye on it and if this occurs again do let me know so we can further investigate. 

  • 0 9 months ago in reply to Garmin-Inder

    I will! And I thought it’s odd as well, but computers do strange things sometimes..! 

    The activities still haven’t reappeared on the watch, so it’s promising. And the problems with sleep tracking are solved as well, at least the last two nights,. That’s why I performed a factory reset in the first place.

    So I hope all is well now and I can enjoy the watch again :-)

     

  • 0 8 months ago in reply to Garmin-Inder

    I'm having a similar problem with my instinct 2 thinking that it is full when the activities menu on the watch is empty and when the folder is empty when I plug it into my computer.  I have been in contact with customer service, and I've tried probably 4 or 5 methods of troubleshooting per garmin's request.  Nothing works.  My watch is still unable to record activities.  This is frustrating because, for me, that is the sole purpose of a garmin watch.  I see this is a more common problem than I realized since others are posting about it. But your proposed solution is one that I've already tried, and my watch still doesn't work.