Develop Bugs

Backing up my Desire

As far as I can find, there seems to be no simple app that allows you to do a complete backup of an Android phone. I used to use either Sprite or SPB Backup under WM which allowed you to create an executable file which you could run after a hard reset to restore your phone to its position at the date you made the backup.
It looks like that's not possible under Android. The built-in backup doesn't seem to do a lot as I still had to put back my apps and many of my settings.
What I have found are Sprite for Android, My Backup Pro and Titanium Backup, although Titanium needs a rooted phone.
Is there nothing similar in Android that essentially creates an image of the phone so that you can do a full restore after a hard reset?
If not, what is the best way to backup as much as possible?

Well, with custom ROMS there can be app2sd (saves the apps on the sd). That also backs up the apps you have.
Otherwise it's also possible (after a hard reset) to login the market again and download all your previous installed apps again.
For a complete backup (e.g. also to save a certain version of a rom, a full NAND backup) you have to make a 'Nandroid' backup.
But! That is only possible with a custom recovery rom as far as I know. And there isn't one yet for the Desire.
On my Hero I've been updating quite some ROMs without the need of a hard reset. Which is already quite an improvement over the WM rom updating With Android you can update ROM without hard resetting, and it usually keeps working just fine.
But then again, I always make a full Nandroid backup before installing the new ROM just to be safe.

Also a former WM user and Sprite Backup did a great job on those devices. Seems like Android works differently with that respect. In fact Sprite Backup seems to get quite a few bad reviews on the Market.

Flashing ROMs and backing up apps...

Question, how does backing up Apps with programs like Astro and TI or whatever work? Does it just keep you from having to re-download them from the market when you do a full wipe and flash a ROM? If so, does it restore their market link so that they are updateable? Or do they just do app data?
Sorry, I'm confused. I don't normally have much app data, so I just re-download all my apps each time, and was wondering if I was 'doing it wrong'.
And which program is recommended for backups?

I recommend Titanium Backup, but with the caveat that you should do some research to see how it works. It will back up apps, user settings, and even system settings - but that doesn't mean you can just restore them willy-nilly. For instance, if you backup your apps and app settings, then flash a new ROM, then restore those apps and settings, there may be conflicts between the new ROM and the old programs. It's really more of a just-in-case way to back things up. People have also reported that MyBackup works well. I use TI myself.
In fact, please read this article by flipz (he developed the Fresh ROMs).
All it does is basically takes a snapshot of your system. It copies app files and settings databases. Later, you can restore the apps and data (and even things like account settings and scenes if you know what you're looking for) and be back where you were, as long as things work correctly. There are batch operations, but it all still takes a while to be safe and know that you're not restoring things that will break your system.
It's good, but I recommend a complete nandroid backup (ClockworkMod or Amon RA) if you're not jumping around between ROMs. That's really a better "everything" backup method.
Hope that helps.

[Q] Backup application data

Anyone know of an application that can backup application data together with market links? (for non-rooted phones)
I know TB can do that and I already use that, but now my worry comes in when SE is releasing an update this week and we aren't sure whether we are able to root after this!

I was thinking the same.. I've backed up using mybackup pro.. backs up app and data.. not sure about market links though, but it's the best non rooted back up I've found..
Sent from The Arc!

im_iceman said:
I was thinking the same.. I've backed up using mybackup pro.. backs up app and data.. not sure about market links though, but it's the best non rooted back up I've found..
Sent from The Arc!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply.
I've used Mybackup Pro before with my X10, but I it couldn't backup the data unless you provide the "root" access to it and the restoration isn't as good as TB when it comes to rooted phone.
The biggest question here is that when the update is delivered, will we be able to root again using the Gingerbreak? If yes, then I've no problem sticking with TB, but if not then my worries start

I for one am not going to update until i know the new version can be rooted.
Other than that, i can second the recommendation to use mybackup pro. It's not a titanium replacement by any means, but it gets the essentials (sms, calendar, etc etc) done perfectly well (in fact i use it for this sort of thing in preference to TB anyway).

daveybaby said:
I for one am not going to update until i know the new version can be rooted.
Other than that, i can second the recommendation to use mybackup pro. It's not a titanium replacement by any means, but it gets the essentials (sms, calendar, etc etc) done perfectly well (in fact i use it for this sort of thing in preference to TB anyway).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. Agreed.
But here I'm looking at something which can backup the data of the application as well without a rooted phone and restore it in a non-rooted phone.
Any suggestion?

sounds like this needs root to work then..
Sent from The Arc!

im_iceman said:
sounds like this needs root to work then..
Sent from The Arc!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disappointed.
Most of the phones out there (Android excluded) can do this. The best example is iPhone; thought I don't like it, I like this feature. That's the whole idea for us to connect to the PC every now and then. I don't know how hard it is for the phone makers to come up with something like this to backup the whole phone, including apps and their data; while they have access to everything since they are the manufacture of the phone.
Every now and then, surely there will be software updates and they will wipe the data. We have to setup it up from scratch and it takes a long time for that and more or less you will loss the application's data; unless you are rooted and use TB to backup; provided the "root" is still available for that software update.
Previously I tried a simple application for backing up the data of the famous game "Angry Birds". This app requires no "root", but does the job pretty well. Now when a third party application can do that means surely the phone maker should be able to do more than that!!

sprite backup is what i used before titanium backup. no need for root, but it stores everything in batch backups...

akusokuzan said:
sprite backup is what i used before titanium backup. no need for root, but it stores everything in batch backups...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does that application have a option to backup application (from market) together with it's data? Am I able to choose which application to backup/restore? Classic example is backup "Angry Birds" with it's completed levels and it's settings.

After the update my phone has become quite slow and freezes at times for 1-2 seconds. I would like to do a factory reset to see whether it can solve the problem but only thing stopping me from doing that is I couldn't find a software (be it a PC based software or and Phone application) that could backup my phone's application together with their data!
Any more advises or help?

Titanium backup question, please halp meh...

Ok I have a lot of backups stored in TI, but I am wanting to re flash my ROM and wipe data ect..
My question is can I somehow make a backup of just the apps that are installed on my phone right now, so when I start to put the apps back I can flash all the apps I have now instead of going and unchecking all the apps I don't want installed right now?
I hope that makes sence, I'm not good at expressing what's in my brain onto txt...
Thx for help.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

Would be good if there was a question lol
Sent from my Samsung Legendary 4G, a Universe UTES phone, running "two.three.five"

There is a question..
And the answer is yes, select batch back up and only select the files you want to install, instead of just selecting all.
Sent from Cloud 9

I know how to do that. But I have a lot of apps that are backed up but not installed so it would take a while.
I just want to know if there is a quicker way.
I guess I could ask like this;
Is there a way to backup all current installed apps, then flash a new ROM or wipe data, and then re-install just the apps that u just then backed up? Completly ignoring all other backups of apps that are stored there.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

evilsock said:
I know how to do that. But I have a lot of apps that are backed up but not installed so it would take a while.
I just want to know if there is a quicker way.
I guess I could ask like this;
Is there a way to backup all current installed apps, then flash a new ROM or wipe data, and then re-install just the apps that u just then backed up? Completly ignoring all other backups of apps that are stored there.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can backup the current apps installed. There's an APP in the market called App Backup & Restore. This backs up all apps in your phone (giving you the option to check/uncheck which ones you dont want) and allows you to restore those apps with ease.
Check it out...I hope this is what you're looking for!

You could also back them up with a nandroid and do an advanced restore data and get all your current apps back.

kennyglass123 said:
You could also back them up with a nandroid and do an advanced restore data and get all your current apps back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You and I seem to think alike kenny, but you're always a bit ahead of me! I was thinking this same thing, or the other option, still in TB, would be to batch restore and then click the box "deselect all" so then you only have to go through and check the ones you want instead of unchecking the ones you don't. I think this was mentioned before as well.

I was wondering if you could provide a bit more info on the advanced restore data. I know it's an option available in CWM, but I'm wondering if there are situations where it wouldn't work as well as using some backup app. I think I read that if you were switching versions, like Froyo to Gingerbread, it probably wouldn't work well. But I've got the nandroid backup from EI22, just after I rooted and applied the GPS fix and silent camera mod, and I think the custom ROMs I've seen lately are all based on that, so would it work OK? The advanced restore of data seems like it would be a bit easier (or at least simpler) than using an app, but I don't know too much about how it works. Any clarifications about this would be appreciated. Thanks.

Dronak said:
I was wondering if you could provide a bit more info on the advanced restore data. I know it's an option available in CWM, but I'm wondering if there are situations where it wouldn't work as well as using some backup app. I think I read that if you were switching versions, like Froyo to Gingerbread, it probably wouldn't work well. But I've got the nandroid backup from EI22, just after I rooted and applied the GPS fix and silent camera mod, and I think the custom ROMs I've seen lately are all based on that, so would it work OK? The advanced restore of data seems like it would be a bit easier (or at least simpler) than using an app, but I don't know too much about how it works. Any clarifications about this would be appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should work fine. It only restores 3rd party apps and data and the data folder of your phone. The other stuff should be in your phones system folder.

Well personally I would just do a clockwork backup like the previous guys said, and then advanced restore my data onto the new rom. I've been doing this with Rom installs for 2 years and it's always worked pretty well.
Anyways, if you really wanted to use TB that bad to do it, I would go into your SD card folder, copy the TB folder onto the computer (All your old backups you don't want to get rid of would be in here) Delete the TB Folder on your SD card, then re-run TB again. Do a batch backup of all your apps (that you have currently installed). If you ever want any of the old backups of apps you don't currently use, they'll always be on the computer.

Make a new label & add all the apps you have installed right now & and that you want to restore on your new rom. Then when your new rom setup is ready to restore apps just filter that label you made & bach restore
Sent from the Drivers Seat of my Suby txting and Driving doing 100MPH+ in a school zone! Ha.

OperationMove said:
Anyways, if you really wanted to use TB that bad to do it, I would go into your SD card folder, copy the TB folder onto the computer (All your old backups you don't want to get rid of would be in here) Delete the TB Folder on your SD card, then re-run TB again. Do a batch backup of all your apps (that you have currently installed). If you ever want any of the old backups of apps you don't currently use, they'll always be on the computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh, exactly what I was getting ready to recommend, as this is a very easy way to do exactly what he wants
Thanks for saving me from having to type it out

Question about the data partition

So I really like lg's stock ui and its functionality and I want to see how I like using CloudyG3 but I really don't want to go through the process of losing my data and all of my games and stuff and having to re-download them or restore them again. My question is, can I just backup my data partition via twrp and restore it again upon switching roms? I feel like that would mess up something (given I do have qremote for aosp and I did flash the htc camera port but it keeps disappearing for some reason whenever I reboot) and end up bricking my precious phone. (Thanks)

You can, but problems can sometimes appear (force closes, etc). Best bet: backup everything (apps+data) with something like Titanium Backup and restore when needed.

Yeah I usually use titanium but sometimes it doesn't like to restore everything correctly and I end up with some of my apps there and some of them with their data missing. Thanks for answering also is there a way to modify which apps twrp backs up when backing up data?

I don't believe so. It backs up the whole partition as a single image.

Ah oh well thanks

Nope nevermind domt ever do that it ****ed up my phone haha. I had a backup though so it's all good