The big "how do you restore your apps and settings after flashing a ROM" thread?
Hi all,
Just rooted my phone a couple of days ago and been playing around with some ROMS.
Now I've found one to my liking so I am installing configuring everything again but what if there's a new version of my ROM I want to install, I have to do everything all over again which is a bit silly in this modern time
As I see it
- you have apps installed from market
- you have manually installed apps (e.g. modded widgets, applications and stuff)
I currently use Astro to backup the apps, this works well but
- the market doesn't recognize the apps (to do with market cache I suppose)
workaround: you can use the atrackdog app to follow application updates
- it doesn't restore app settings
some of my apps have backup mechanisms of their own but not all
I've flashed a GB rom now and I've selected the google backup option, is this reliable? What does it exactly backup?
Any other tools available? I heard about titanium back but also read stories where it doesn't always work.
Anyhoew: what do you use? what works for you?
Would be great if we could consolidate everything here and figure out the best/easiest way.
Cheers
B
Titanium Backup - restores apps and data
Job done
EddyOS said:
Titanium Backup - restores apps and data
Job done
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do the apps show up in the market again?
Cheers
B
Titanium backup - backups apps dta/settings fo apps. and basically everythig (settings,sms etc.).
berre said:
Do the apps show up in the market again?
Cheers
B
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, they do.
ok great so how's the best way to use this?
I've downloaded the free version, and the busybox
I guess I have to use the filter for files of type "user" so I only see my apps?
which batch should I run then, backup all user data + system data?
*edit will this restore stuff like my launcher settings and design, email accounts in enhanced email and stuff like that too?
cheers
B
Don't know, just used it to backup my Angry Birds saves as the rest I do from scratch anyway
berre said:
ok great so how's the best way to use this?
I've downloaded the free version, and the busybox
I guess I have to use the filter for files of type "user" so I only see my apps?
which batch should I run then, backup all user data + system data?
*edit will this restore stuff like my launcher settings and design, email accounts in enhanced email and stuff like that too?
cheers
B
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Almost everything will be restored. Free version will prompt for each app
Swyped with my Starburst based Desire. Forgive any typos!
Be careful backing up system settings though as they often don't restore very well on different ROMs, i broke my first flash on Cyanogen by restoring bluetooth settings from a Sense ROM.
I use My backup Pro app for this
And I can backup and restore everything but the widgets
Open Titanium, click Backup/restore, hold down the menu key then go to batch, then backup all user apps. Don't back up system settings, as this will conflict with the new OS and cause instabilities. Android should auto backup Wi-Fi and calendars online for you, mine does, but it's Gingerbread 2.3.3 I'm not sure if this feature was around in the Froyo days.
Everything will be restored as it was, except widgets on the homescreen, you'll need to remove them and put them back on, all settings for them will save so you don't have to mess about customizing things.
You've probably worked it out by now, but just in case this is my 2 cents.
I'm using Titanium Backup for the Apps.
For the Messages I've got MyBackup and MIUI Backup but I prefer MyBackup because I've got different Roms.
But I never restore the System Settings.
I just don't factory reset, format, wipe or however you call it when I flash a rom, I lose the texts though.
Related
I just updated to the leaked Froyo Rom. Before doing so, I backed up using Titanium. Then, once the Rom was installed, I did a restore of "all applications and system settings." But for some reason, all my homescreen settings did not return. For example, on one Homescreen, I had the Touchdown Calendar widget, which has now been replaced by the HTC mail widget.
What happened to my homescreens and all the widgets I had arranged on them? Argh, this is exactly what I didn't want to happen!!!!!
Edit: And it didn't restore any of my SMS messages either!!!! Where is everything?
Edit #2: Also, all of my Stock data, Facebook setup, Twitter setup is all empty. I thought this was all supposed to restore with Titanium. I used "backup all apps and system data" before moving to this ROM.
not a good idea to restore data if you were coming from any 2.1 rom
Stockmoose16 said:
I just updated to the leaked Froyo Rom. Before doing so, I backed up using Titanium. Then, once the Rom was installed, I did a restore of "all applications and system settings." But for some reason, all my homescreen settings did not return. For example, on one Homescreen, I had the Touchdown Calendar widget, which has now been replaced by the HTC mail widget.
What happened to my homescreens and all the widgets I had arranged on them? Argh, this is exactly what I didn't want to happen!!!!!
Edit: And it didn't restore any of my SMS messages either!!!! Where is everything?
Edit #2: Also, all of my Stock data, Facebook setup, Twitter setup is all empty. I thought this was all supposed to restore with Titanium. I used "backup all apps and system data" before moving to this ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is nothing wrong with Titanium, unless you want to argue that it should be programmed with even more features than it already has to prevent you from being able to do what you did. You restored settings and configurations that were from a different system version, and things didn't work right -- no surprise there.
I don't know what you can do about your SMS backups (I have never saved any), but as for the rest you probably need to bite the bullet. Wipe, re-flash the ROM, then set everything up again from scratch and if you are going restore old stuff with TI, stick to apps this time.
Good luck!
Worked great for me...but I only do apps and make sure to unchecked what I don't want
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk
OP = FAIL
You asked about it in the other thread and it was explicitly stated...
You never want to restore system files from one version of a rom to another, it can only create problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a problem that you inflicted upon yourself after being warned that it was a bad idea.
ncwildcat said:
Worked great for me...but I only do apps and make sure to unchecked what I don't want
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, worked like a champ.
najaboy said:
OP = FAIL
You asked about it in the other thread and it was explicitly stated...
This is a problem that you inflicted upon yourself after being warned that it was a bad idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+ he posted in the wrong section, yet another FAIL
better to restore one by one, apps should restore fine, but accounts and such that are os specific surely wont work
askwhy said:
There is nothing wrong with Titanium, unless you want to argue that it should be programmed with even more features than it already has to prevent you from being able to do what you did. You restored settings and configurations that were from a different system version, and things didn't work right -- no surprise there.
I don't know what you can do about your SMS backups (I have never saved any), but as for the rest you probably need to bite the bullet. Wipe, re-flash the ROM, then set everything up again from scratch and if you are going restore old stuff with TI, stick to apps this time.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I've already lost the data/setup settings, why would I Wipe, re-flash, and set up everything from scratch. It's not like 2.2 is crashing after I did the Titanium restore, I'm just missing my SMSes and my home screen arrangement.
Stockmoose16 said:
If I've already lost the data/setup settings, why would I Wipe, re-flash, and set up everything from scratch. It's not like 2.2 is crashing after I did the Titanium restore, I'm just missing my SMSes and my home screen arrangement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whatever floats your boat. Personally I wouldn't trust the integrity of the system after doing what you did, and would want to *know* that everything was proper before calling it a day.
Stockmoose16 said:
If I've already lost the data/setup settings, why would I Wipe, re-flash, and set up everything from scratch. It's not like 2.2 is crashing after I did the Titanium restore, I'm just missing my SMSes and my home screen arrangement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For future reference, 'SMS Backup & Restore' is a much better option for backing up your SMS messages. Never rely on Titanium Backup for SMS backups.
criDikal said:
For future reference, 'SMS Backup & Restore' is a much better option for backing up your SMS messages. Never rely on Titanium Backup for SMS backups.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used SMS backup and restore, but for 2nd time since I've had it, I didn't realize the scheduled backups just stopped occurring for no reason. So I lost my SMSes from the past couple weeks. Must be a bug in the program.
use launcherpro home app. it has an option to backup and restore all your icons and homescreen settings (minus widgets due to system limitations)
anytime im wiping and installing, i do a couple things
1. backup apps thru titanium then verify backed up apps
2. backup homescreen and settings thru launcher pro
3. drocap2 all my home screens so i can resetup my widgets
4. nandroid
all 4 items happen everytime, I have little worry about ever losing my settings.
askwhy said:
I don't know what you can do about your SMS backups (I have never saved any), but as for the rest you probably need to bite the bullet. Wipe, re-flash the ROM, then set everything up again from scratch and if you are going restore old stuff with TI, stick to apps this time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use google voice and it saves all my texts when I login.
Stockmoose16 said:
I just updated to the leaked Froyo Rom. Before doing so, I backed up using Titanium. Then, once the Rom was installed, I did a restore of "all applications and system settings." But for some reason, all my homescreen settings did not return. For example, on one Homescreen, I had the Touchdown Calendar widget, which has now been replaced by the HTC mail widget.
What happened to my homescreens and all the widgets I had arranged on them? Argh, this is exactly what I didn't want to happen!!!!!
Edit: And it didn't restore any of my SMS messages either!!!! Where is everything?
Edit #2: Also, all of my Stock data, Facebook setup, Twitter setup is all empty. I thought this was all supposed to restore with Titanium. I used "backup all apps and system data" before moving to this ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you do a nandroid backup like you should do before every single wipe of your phone? No?
Well if you did then you would be able to go into ClockworkMod Recovery -> nandroid -> advanced recovery -> restore data. When you reboot the phone EVERYTHING will be exactly just like you left it on your previous 2.1 installation. I have done this and have not had one single problem. Not one single thing is in a different place then it was when I was using 2.1. All my text messages, call logs, home screen widgets, ect. are there.
JTCGiants56 said:
Did you do a nandroid backup like you should do before every single wipe of your phone? No?
Well if you did then you would be able to go into ClockworkMod Recovery -> nandroid -> advanced recovery -> restore data. When you reboot the phone EVERYTHING will be exactly just like you left it on your previous 2.1 installation. I have done this and have not had one single problem. Not one single thing is in a different place then it was when I was using 2.1. All my text messages, call logs, home screen widgets, ect. are there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did use Nandroid, but I want to move to 2.2. Is there any way to move to 2.2 without losing the system data? If the answer is "no," I don't understand. What happens when HTC releases the official version, do they expect people to delete all their apps, homescreens, etc every time an update is released?
WARNING!
Ask your questions in correct thread. If a new thread must be started, and a question is asked, use the General section. Thanks
i used titanium backup for apps+system settings going from skyraider 1.9 to 2.0 and i ran into very small problems like getting my wallpaper to load and being able to restore my adw settings. As far as i can see so far no big deal
i used mybackup pro to back up apps+data then my home screens, sms, dictionary and a few other things. pretty much had my phone exactly the way it was when i had it running 2.1
he's not totally alone
Some slack should be cut for the OP as he's not alone in the widget issue. I have used TB for ages now perfectly ok to swap apps and info from my 2 x10's. But this last time I have ended up with a home screen that has "missing" widgets. The screen space is allocated so I can't replace them but the widget doesn't show or work. I have put this down to the 2 phones not have.g the same home screen layout, but is bloody annoying as now I can't reclaim this space!!
Ok, so to me this program seems great - backs up pretty much EVERYTHING for me, so that if I flash and wipe a new rom, it restores everything to a usable level. Now my issue is I can't understand what people mean when they say you might as well not wipe at all. If you can't use TB to restore after a wipe, what is the point of using TB at all???
Is there a way to select parts that are "ok" to restore after a wipe? or is TB pretty much pointless?
Thanks
Read this it will help explain how TB can mess with your ROM.
http://geekfor.me/faq/why-you-shouldnt-be-using/
P_Dub_S said:
Read this it will help explain how TB can mess with your ROM.
http://geekfor.me/faq/why-you-shouldnt-be-using/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I read that but his post didn't really make it clear for me:
problem is that when a user makes the backup on one rom/build/version and imports it on another
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What exactly does this mean? I am running CM6 nightlies. Should it be wiped and not restored via TB each time? What about going from RC1 to RC2?
If the situation is such that you can restore via TB, then why not just flash the new one and skip wiping altogether?
Well one nice thing about Cm rom's is you can have google backup all the programs you download from the Market so no need for TB there. Where the problems can lie with TB is the SQLlite database files when restoring your user settings. If something has changed from rom versions and you restore your old sqllite settings and now its missing some information thats needed for the newer version rom it can cause problems like force closes or reboots.
For nightly's I just upgrade without a wipe. If I do have any quirks then I try a wipe which usually fixes whatever quirk I'm having.
P_Dub_S said:
Well one nice thing about Cm rom's is you can have google backup all the programs you download from the Market so no need for TB there. Where the problems can lie with TB is the SQLlite database files when restoring your user settings. If something has changed from rom versions and you restore your old sqllite settings and now its missing some information thats needed for the newer version rom it can cause problems like force closes or reboots.
For nightly's I just upgrade without a wipe. If I do have any quirks then I try a wipe which usually fixes whatever quirk I'm having.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, I've been skipping the wipe unless there is a quirk.
So basically it sounds like TB is a total waste of time if you are running CM6? Sorry... just hard for me to understand why people love the program so much if there is no real application for it? Or is it just outdated by the backing up with Google?
it's like this - TB allows you to backup apps and settings. You may want to use this in addition to the backup that google provides - what if you find a great app, but its removed from the market? I don't think that the google backup will help you then - it will only restore what's currently in the market (disclaimer - I don't use CM6, so I'm not 100% on that).
The waste of time thing comes into play with people who have issues with a rom, so they re-flash the rom and restore apps and settings with TB. It might have been some of the settings (that were just restored with TB) that were causing the issues in the first place.
fachadick said:
it's like this - TB allows you to backup apps and settings. You may want to use this in addition to the backup that google provides - what if you find a great app, but its removed from the market? I don't think that the google backup will help you then - it will only restore what's currently in the market (disclaimer - I don't use CM6, so I'm not 100% on that).
The waste of time thing comes into play with people who have issues with a rom, so they re-flash the rom and restore apps and settings with TB. It might have been some of the settings (that were just restored with TB) that were causing the issues in the first place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^what he said
I LOVE TB but I use it to restore my apps and their data ONLY, I do not use it to restore system data.
I think with tb....when you restore your apps you have the choice to restore the apps with out the user data. Also you can choose to wipe them of data Before you restore.
Powered By CM-6 + Snap
berardi said:
yeah, I've been skipping the wipe unless there is a quirk.
So basically it sounds like TB is a total waste of time if you are running CM6? Sorry... just hard for me to understand why people love the program so much if there is no real application for it? Or is it just outdated by the backing up with Google?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlike Google's backup, TB backs up your /data/data folder, not just the APK's from your market-downloaded applications.
In other words, it backs up your application data, your apps you installed manually/downloaded, and all of your settings, such as Bluetooth name and pairings, WiFi networks (and security settings), etc.
My rule of thumb is, if going from one build to another (ie, Stock to CM6, etc.) then do NOT restore any system settings/apps. Just do a backup of YOUR apps, as-is, move over to the new ROM, restore apps and their settings, then go to the Market and update everything. Simple as that, and you shouldn't get any errors.
fachadick said:
it's like this - TB allows you to backup apps and settings. You may want to use this in addition to the backup that google provides - what if you find a great app, but its removed from the market? I don't think that the google backup will help you then - it will only restore what's currently in the market (disclaimer - I don't use CM6, so I'm not 100% on that).
The waste of time thing comes into play with people who have issues with a rom, so they re-flash the rom and restore apps and settings with TB. It might have been some of the settings (that were just restored with TB) that were causing the issues in the first place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks that definitely helps. Market-removed apps seems like a good reason to have it. (I already bought it just trying to determine how to use it anyways)
Ok so is it fair enough to say it has a relatively "niche" market with the addition of market backups? I hate to be a bull in the ChinaShop but it seems like people really tip toe around the idea of TB being outdated by market backups. I get the general idea of what you guys are saying but I'm trying to decide what I want to do in personal practice.
I don't think I've experienced any issues but who knows if I've had less than optimal performance because of restoring previous settings. Are there any "safe" items that can be backed up and restored or is nothing really "safe" they all have entries in sqlite database that might be duplicated?
Thanks again guys for humoring me
I'm new to the rooting, rom'ing, etc and was wondering what the best way is to try a new ROM and minimize setup of all my apps(and their settings) again on the new ROM??
I tried the Warm Z 2.2 ad reloaded my installed apps with Astro but I had to redo all the settings for the apps and where they were on the screens. is thre any way to avoid this and make switching ROM's fast and easy?
THANKS !!
-Chuck
You can use apps like Titanium Backup to backup not only the apps themselves, but their settings. That said, it's generally not a good idea to restore data (i.e. settings) between ROMs. You can introduce some buggy behavior by doing so.
As for backing up your home screens, that is trickier. Widgets? Forget about it. Shortcuts: maybe. Some programs like MyBackup Pro can backup home screens. Some launchers (like LauncherPro) have their own backup features built in for homescreen shortcuts. But even these methods of backing up will be unlikely to restore widgets unless the framework between the ROMs is almost identical.
byrong said:
You can use apps like Titanium Backup to backup not only the apps themselves, but their settings. That said, it's generally not a good idea to restore data (i.e. settings) between ROMs. You can introduce some buggy behavior by doing so.
As for backing up your home screens, that is trickier. Widgets? Forget about it. Shortcuts: maybe. Some programs like MyBackup Pro can backup home screens. Some launchers (like LauncherPro) have their own backup features built in for homescreen shortcuts. But even these methods of backing up will be unlikely to restore widgets unless the framework between the ROMs is almost identical.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so I shouldn't restore my apps w/ settings if I load a different ROM, only the downloaded apps..and then set them all up again?
Would I be OK to continue with Astro or is Titanium any better for this purpose, I have both now... Or should I dump Astro and just use Titanium Pro?
Thanks !!
KB3MMX said:
Ok, so I shouldn't restore my apps w/ settings if I load a different ROM, only the downloaded apps..and then set them all up again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can always take a gamble if you want, but yes: only restoring the apps themselves is the safest bet.
If you want to think of it as a spectrum...
Safest > Download apps again from market
Still very safe > Restore apps from Titanium (or Astro, or whatever), but don't restore data
Moderately risky > Restore apps with their data, but don't restore system settings
Very risky > Restore all apps, all data, all system settings
KB3MMX said:
Would I be OK to continue with Astro or is Titanium any better for this purpose, I have both now... Or should I dump Astro and just use Titanium Pro?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been a very long time since I used Astro, so I don't know what the functionality is like. That said, backing up apps is not a hard task, so if Astro is working, I'd say there's no harm in continuing to use it.
byrong said:
You can always take a gamble if you want, but yes: only restoring the apps themselves is the safest bet.
If you want to think of it as a spectrum...
Safest > Download apps again from market
Still very safe > Restore apps from Titanium (or Astro, or whatever), but don't restore data
Moderately risky > Restore apps with their data, but don't restore system settings
Very risky > Restore all apps, all data, all system settings
Been a very long time since I used Astro, so I don't know what the functionality is like. That said, backing up apps is not a hard task, so if Astro is working, I'd say there's no harm in continuing to use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome! That help me alot, thanks !!
Not that I have discovered for initial set up of a new rom, but if you make a backup of that rom when switching between ones you have already set up, switching between backups is quick and easy, no additional set up required
0soPolar said:
Not that I have discovered for initial set up of a new rom, but if you make a backup of that rom when switching between ones you have already set up, switching between backups is quick and easy, no additional set up required
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great idea, thanks !!
My understanding is that GingerBread (2.3.x) will handle automatically restoring your apps after a wipe or you switch between ROM (each with clean wipe).
It asks about "backing up google".
I'm currently using MikG 0.5 and was using MikG RC1 for quite a while (since it was released 3 weeks?).
I was hoping starting with a fresh wipe it would restore my apps but it does not.
I think on one of these gingerbread ROMs (I've tried a bunch) I think it did partially restore apps. Not just paid ones. I forget if it was complete or not.
Is there something explicit you have to do to make this all work?
mswlogo said:
My understanding is that GingerBread (2.3.x) will handle automatically restoring your apps after a wipe or you switch between ROM (each with clean wipe).
It asks about "backing up google".
I'm currently using MikG 0.5 and was using MikG RC1 for quite a while (since it was released 3 weeks?).
I was hoping starting with a fresh wipe it would restore my apps but it does not.
I think on one of these gingerbread ROMs (I've tried a bunch) I think it did partially restore apps. Not just paid ones. I forget if it was complete or not.
Is there something explicit you have to do to make this all work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That still seems to be hit or miss. Is there any reason you're not using Titanium Backup?
-viperboy- said:
That still seems to be hit or miss. Is there any reason you're not using Titanium Backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because I don't like it. Recently I wanted to use it for a piece of software for TTS I bought and was no longer available in the Market. And it completely fell on it's face. All I did was copy the APK from system from a restored back up and it installed fine.
I also don't want to restore potentially incompatible apps. I assume Google will trigger Market to install latest right from the start.
I also don't have to explicitly choose what to back up and what to restore.
I've seen the Google Stuff work, and it works well when it works.
mswlogo said:
Because I don't like it. Recently I wanted to use it for a piece of software for TTS I bought and was no longer available in the Market. And it completely fell on it's face. All I did was copy the APK from system from a restored back up and it installed fine.
I also don't want to restore potentially incompatible apps. I assume Google will trigger Market to install latest right from the start.
I also don't have to explicitly choose what to back up and what to restore.
I've seen the Google Stuff work, and it works well when it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the problem. Honestly, TB can be complicated to use but what you're describing sounds like user error. You also don't have to explicitly choose what to backup and restore in TB either. Just go into Menu > Batch > Backup all user apps to backup and then Restore all user apps when you want to restore. Then just use the Market to update any out of date apps. It takes forever for the Market to get your apps back anyway, I always use TB and so does almost anyone else on a custom ROM.
Call me a purist, but I don't like Titanium Backup either. Granted, I don't use a ton of market apps, only about a dozen or so ... just not a problem. To get back to the original question, Google has always restored my apps on CM6/7, up to and including the 3-7 gapps. The newer gapps used with Android 2.3.4 are where everything began to break down.
-viperboy- said:
That's the problem. Honestly, TB can be complicated to use but what you're describing sounds like user error. You also don't have to explicitly choose what to backup and restore in TB either. Just go into Menu > Batch > Backup all user apps to backup and then Restore all user apps when you want to restore. Then just use the Market to update any out of date apps. It takes forever for the Market to get your apps back anyway, I always use TB and so does almost anyone else on a custom ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to back it up like that. I think it causes problems.
I backed up this app explicitly, went to restore explicitly and it didn't work. Pretty Simple.
I'd like the google feature. I want something that coordinates with the mark app and installs the instead if the backup is old.
mswlogo said:
I don't want to back it up like that. I think it causes problems.
I backed up this app explicitly, went to restore explicitly and it didn't work. Pretty Simple.
I'd like the google feature. I want something that coordinates with the mark app and installs the instead if the backup is old.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck
Heya.
I want to backup my contacts, my SMSs and App Data before doing a super wipe and flashing a new rom. I'd also like to backup my phone settings and apps too, but that probably kinda removes some of the beneficial effects of the wipe.
I've used Titanium Backup to do these things before, but I've been getting more and more FCs that no one else using the rom have reported so I'm thinking my wiping hasn't been fully effective.
What are the best ways to backup these things? I want the backup methods to be easy to do and restore but should leave othing bad behind so I wouldn't get extra FCs.
Best for contacts: Google (?)
Best for SMS: ?
Best for App Data: ?
Thanks alot!
Diffler said:
Heya.
I want to backup my contacts, my SMSs and App Data before doing a super wipe and flashing a new rom. I'd also like to backup my phone settings and apps too, but that probably kinda removes some of the beneficial effects of the wipe.
I've used Titanium Backup to do these things before, but I've been getting more and more FCs that no one else using the rom have reported so I'm thinking my wiping hasn't been fully effective.
What are the best ways to backup these things? I want the backup methods to be easy to do and restore but should leave othing bad behind so I wouldn't get extra FCs.
Best for contacts: Google (?)
Best for SMS: ?
Best for App Data: ?
Thanks alot!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use mybackup root and dont have any problems there is a free version on the market to try first.
Hit the thanks if it helped
Ricey
Before flashing a new rom be sure to do backups if you don't want to have problems. But also be aware that some programs may perform different on different ROMs because of kernel, sense ans no-sense roms etc. Some programs I backedup on some roms worked like charm and on some roms they FC, but after uninstall and instal from .apk program works again.
For program and DATA I use Titanium. You can restore only APP, Only DATA or both APP+DATA (which can restore high scores in games or program settings you set).
Titanium backup can also restore screens and system datas like Wi-Fi settings, accounts, SMS messages...... With that system data I found most problems because roms have a different versions of stock programs, and restoring data for facebook old version while backup is made on new version can be a problem. Happened to me. It is best if you restore system data to exact same rom or an updated version of last used rom (my experience).
Contacts you don't have to backup, at least i don't, because they will be pulled back to your phone when you set your google account.
I take screenshots of homescreen and app drawer, just in case that I don't forget something to install.
Full wipe you have to do when you completely moving from one rom to another. If you just upgrading you don't have to full wipe (only if it is necessary, but it will be written on home page of a rom developer). Every rom come with detailed instruction how to install. Some of them have application (.zip) to full wipe and format system. It there is such application you have to use it, if you want FC free DHD.
Hope it helps,
Thanks, looks good. Is it okay to move settings from older rom with older kernel and other things to a newer rom or can these cause force closes? How about app data, I'd like to keep my progress on few games for example, does backuping app data and moving them to a wiped fresh rom cause force closes?
Thanks!
EDIT: Didn't see the last post before this reply, it clears up stuff, thanks!