Develop Bugs

[Q] How to back up entire phone before downgrade for root

Hey guys,
I've searched the forums to no avail regarding this.
I'm currently on a newer sense rom on my desire z: 1.82. Which means if I want to root I need to downgrade. Every guide I read always starts with: make a backup. Good idea, but all the "complete backup" tools (titanium backup, rom manager, ...) require root to do their work.
So how the hell can I get a complete system image (preferably all partitions) without root so I could later return to my current stock rom with all my settings? Clearly I seem to be missing something here. I tried to start rom manager and titanium backup with psneuter temp root but that didn't work either.
Thanks for your help.
Cheers,
elitem0b

You can't, actually.
Sent from my HTC Desire Z(etta Awesome) using XDA App

Well since there is no other answer yet I assume that you simply can't do it ... what a shame. Anyway, to answer my own question there is a way to at least back up the apps, settings and system apps.
In case anyone else may need this:
Code:
adb pull /system/app/ c:\backup\destination\system\app
adb pull /data/app/ c:\backup\destination\data\app
adb pull /data/data/ c:\backup\destination\data\data
adb pull /data/misc/ c:\backup\destination\data\misc
First line backs up system apps
Second line backs up custom apps
Third line backs up custom apps' data
Fourth line backs up settings (e.g. wifi settings)
I put the apps in exactly the same folder structure so I know what to restore to which location in case I want to.
PS: You end up backing up more than you are probably able to restore (e.g. system apps) but it can't hurt
Cheers,
elitem0b

You can use titanium backup after temp root. If gyou use the rage method there is very low risk of damaging anything or even try using visionary for temp root ONLY then delete it after your done backing up and getting work root. This will allow you to save apps and data. Looks like you figured out a way to save system data but I wouldn't bother if I were you. All your contacts are backed up on Google anyway. There's not a whole lot of data to save that's worth risking a brick after.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

elitem0b said:
Well since there is no other answer yet I assume that you simply can't do it ... what a shame. Anyway, to answer my own question there is a way to at least back up the apps, settings and system apps.
In case anyone else may need this:
Code:
adb pull /system/app/ c:\backup\destination\system\app
adb pull /data/app/ c:\backup\destination\data\app
adb pull /data/data/ c:\backup\destination\data\data
adb pull /data/misc/ c:\backup\destination\data\misc
First line backs up system apps
Second line backs up custom apps
Third line backs up custom apps' data
Fourth line backs up settings (e.g. wifi settings)
I put the apps in exactly the same folder structure so I know what to restore to which location in case I want to.
PS: You end up backing up more than you are probably able to restore (e.g. system apps) but it can't hurt
Cheers,
elitem0b
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I just finally managed to downgrade. Here is what I did to back up.
I used Astro to back up apps. I can easily restore apps after downgraded (but I have to firstly download Astro in order to restore apps)
Contact and calendar was backed up with Gmail.
Navigation map was saved in SD, so I didnt need to do anything.
But I lose my emails in hotmail account. I cant download the older mails (unlike GMAIL)
Now, my next step would be to gain permaroot
Cheers...

[Q] Can I free up System ROM memory?

Okay so in Titanium Backup my free System ROM memory is 229MB. SD Card Maid says 211MB free. Im not sure why they both have different values but, can I make any of these unused MB converted to usable system space for more apps? I've tried making some apps system apps through Titanium Backup and that takes more ROM memory and makes the used internal memory less, but that just makes the apps unusable. Im using CM7 Nightly and CWM Recovery. Thanks for the help.

Well I probably found an answer in this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=855424 but if anybody has another suggestion .....

Sure you can. I recommend using Titanium Backup to uninstall system apps. Be sure to make a full backup using whichever recovery you currently are using jiust encase you delete something important. I removed apps related to live wallpapers, friend streams, twitter etc. Features I don't use. Hope this helps.

I forgot to ask. Do you have a SD-EXT partition set up? May want to look into that.

Removing system apps doesn't free up storage for installing user apps. You can manually move apps into the system partition if you want, but you have to redo that after that app gets upgraded. The other option is to play with MTD partition size as mentioned in the thread you found.

You can't flash the apps to system/data?

sednafx said:
You can't flash the apps to system/data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/system/app is where they'd go. You don't necessarily need to flash them there, you can use Titanium or a root-capable file explorer to move them. Some apps need some extra steps to work with their native libraries though. In addition the problem I mentioned of updates going back to /data/app instead of updating in the system partition, you also have to keep track of what you've moved in and do it again if you flash an updated ROM (without wiping).

bkrodgers said:
/system/app is where they'd go. You don't necessarily need to flash them there, you can use Titanium or a root-capable file explorer to move them. Some apps need some extra steps to work with their native libraries though. In addition the problem I mentioned of updates going back to /data/app instead of updating in the system partition, you also have to keep track of what you've moved in and do it again if you flash an updated ROM (without wiping).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct. Good points.

I don't have an SD EXT but I'll look into that. The link I posted helped alot. Thanks for all your help guys.

hi guys .. i don't know if this is a dumb question .. i am not expert at flashing custom roms .. in my titatinum backup info .. my system rom got 200+mb free and now i want to flash a custom rom but its size is 300mb+ ?? should i still continue or is there anything else to solve this??

[Q] Safely Remove Backup Assistant?

I'm fairly new to the whole root/S-OFF/custom ROM world.
After flashing cmlusco's Touch of Blue ROM, I realized that it did not include Verizon's Backup Assistant. Makes complete sense to not include it, however, I found myself in a situation where I briefly needed it. No problem - I just flashed the Backup Assistant apk through recovery and was able to successfully use it.
Now I want to get rid of it. What is the recommended method for completely removing Backup Assistant? What is the safest method for removing it?
I appreciate any assistance/advice

Use a program like "Titanium Backup" to uninstall the Verizon app. It's free in the play store. Once downloaded, press:
1) Menu button
2) select Filter
3) then check "All apps" under filter status
4) check "User" under filter type
5) click Apply then find and uninstall the Verizon app.
Titanium Backup is very useful if you want to uninstall System apps or regular apps since it is a root app. Just be careful what you uninstall cuz you can uninstall virtually anything (widgets, apps, apk's) using this app.

Or you can just use a root file explorer to navigate to /system/app and delete or rename the VzWBAClient.apk, VzWBAService.apk, VzwLBSPerm.apk, and VZWInstaller.apk. Then reboot and it will be gone.

cmlusco said:
Or you can just use a root file explorer to navigate to /system/app and delete or rename the VzWBAClient.apk, VzWBAService.apk, VzwLBSPerm.apk, and VZWInstaller.apk. Then reboot and it will be gone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's much faster/easier to just uninstall it with TB

cmlusco said:
Or you can just use a root file explorer to navigate to /system/app and delete or rename the VzWBAClient.apk, VzWBAService.apk, VzwLBSPerm.apk, and VZWInstaller.apk. Then reboot and it will be gone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I ended up doing - thanks for the info.
I was originally going to use Titanium to accomplish this, but it gave a warning that important system files could also be deleted. Given that I've backed everything up, I assume that there wouldn't be any real issues even if Titanium did delete something critical.
Which brings up another question: is Titanium doing the same thing as manually deleting the 4 files listed above? I suppose I could test this by reinstalling Backup Assistant, using Titanium to uninstall, and looking to see what is left...

S2theSea said:
This is what I ended up doing - thanks for the info.
I was originally going to use Titanium to accomplish this, but it gave a warning that important system files could also be deleted. Given that I've backed everything up, I assume that there wouldn't be any real issues even if Titanium did delete something critical.
Which brings up another question: is Titanium doing the same thing as manually deleting the 4 files listed above? I suppose I could test this by reinstalling Backup Assistant, using Titanium to uninstall, and looking to see what is left...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basicly yes its doing the same thing just automating it for you. If you delete with titanium the files get deleted, if you freeze with titanium the files are either renamed or moved.

cmlusco said:
Basicly yes its doing the same thing just automating it for you. If you delete with titanium the files get deleted, if you freeze with titanium the files are either renamed or moved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More good info - thanks again. I appreciate the patience and willingness of the community to help educate newbs like myself.
BTW, excellent work on the Touch of Blue ROM - it's been running nearly perfect for me after ~2 weeks.

S2theSea said:
More good info - thanks again. I appreciate the patience and willingness of the community to help educate newbs like myself.
BTW, excellent work on the Touch of Blue ROM - it's been running nearly perfect for me after ~2 weeks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, glad you like it.

[H815] New firmware V20h un-debloatable???

Yesterday, I installed firmware V20h at my H815. It seems, that LG added some mechanism that makes it impossible to uninstall bloatware and crapware apps permanently despite of correctly installed root rights.
I uninstalled some Google apps like Music, Books... etc. successfully via Titanium Backup, but after having rebooted, they were back again.
Can anybody confirm this? Maybe, there is a solution I have not known about yet... ?

Maheshwara said:
Yesterday, I installed firmware V20h at my H815. It seems, that LG added some mechanism that makes it impossible to uninstall bloatware and crapware apps permanently despite of correctly installed root rights.
I uninstalled some Google apps like Music, Books... etc. successfully via Titanium Backup, but after having rebooted, they were back again.
Can anybody confirm this? Maybe, there is a solution I have not known about yet... ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did those apps got updated? maybe you just deleted them from data/apps and not from system folder.
slds,

No, Mate, unfortunately not... I am sure, because after having failed uninstalling I deactivated them. When doing that, anyway, all updates are uninstalled. Afterwards, I retried uninstalling, but after rebooting, they have still appeared as deactivated in App menu... It really seems impossible to permanently delete any preinstalled crap with this new firmware...
Have you ever heard about "DT Ignite"? This is a tool for the carriers / manufacturers to generate revenue of unwanted stuff after deinstallation. I suppose, LG inserted a similar mechanism in this new ROM version or maybe - all the system partition is mounted read-only without Root-Apps like Titanium Backup noticing this.
At first, I supposed /cust folder contents could be the culprit. There is really a folder /cust/H3G_COM/overlay/app containing many .apk files, but the Google apps are not among them. So these contents can not be the culprit or at least not only. Later on, I will make another backup and then delete all the /cust folder contents. Let's see what will happen then.

I finally managed to uninstall all the crapware I wanted to get rid of. With Titanium Backup Pro, it did not work - after reboot, all the crap was back. Then I tried with ES FileExplorer Pro. I gave Root-Explorer r/w rights for all the root file system and then used its System App Uninstall functionality. After another reboot, all the crap has definitely gone!
But I still do not understand at all, why it is such a rocket science to debloat this ROM version! I have NEVER had such problems with things like that! And I have already rooted and debloated many different ROMs for many different devices!

Why do you even bother removing them? They are installed in the system partition so you won't gain any space by removing them. Disabling them is just about the same as removing, they will be virtually ignored by your device (it's the same thing as freezing apps in titanium backup). I see no point in removing those apps manually.
Also, if you are calling this bloat you obviously never used a Samsung device. Plus, I believe that LG is obliged by Google to put those apps in the phone (remember Nokia didn't get Android back them because they wanted to have their maps platform instead of Google maps?).
Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

Delete the folders using Root Backup instead. I've always found Titanium Backup really temperamental with removing apps on the System partition specifically on Marshmallow. Same thing as you, said it uninstalled them but they were still there after a reboot. A swift delete using root browser got rid of them.
These days I don't even bother and just use the debloater tool (3.90).

No way to remove facebook, messanger or instagram from HTC 10

Found a question that's interesting for me as well, but no answer...
Is there any way to remove those apps being stock without root? (If not, how to remove them with root?)
Also unneeded apps:
*Google
[Slides]
[Sheets]
[Docs]
[Exchange Services]
[Play Movies]
[Play Music]
[Hangouts]
[Keep]
*Social
[Facebook]
[Messenger]
[Instagram]
[News Republic]
*HTC
[Connect]
[Help]
[...]
P.S. I can understand the preinstallation of GApps, but why the heck would i like to have Facebook, Messenger and Instagram preinstalled on my system, that cannot even be uninstalled?

KotTHECat said:
?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you have to have root. to remove them you install a file explorer with root access, like Root Explorer is my favorite.
You browse to the system folder of the phone and youll see an apps folder and a priv-app folder. the stuff your looking for will be in there and you delete the entire folder of the apps you don't want. reboot when finished and they should be uninstalled.
it will be best to start with backing up your untouched system incase removing some app gives you problems, which it can when messing with system apps.
there is also play store apps the will uninstall for you, other apps can also "freeze" bloat without actually removing so you can see side effects of removing them

You can remove them all easily without root but you'll need a custom recovery like TWRP.
I do this before first boot to clean up apps and add HTC file explorer etc.
You can flash TWRP, remove apps then restore the factory recovery.
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

I just disabled them on mine, not like you would free up considerable space and if they are disabled, you don't get the updates eating in to your storage as the original just sits in the system partition.

afuller42 said:
you have to have root. to remove them you install a file explorer with root access, like Root Explorer is my favorite.
You browse to the system folder of the phone and youll see an apps folder and a priv-app folder. the stuff your looking for will be in there and you delete the entire folder of the apps you don't want. reboot when finished and they should be uninstalled.
it will be best to start with backing up your untouched system incase removing some app gives you problems, which it can when messing with system apps.
there is also play store apps the will uninstall for you, other apps can also "freeze" bloat without actually removing so you can see side effects of removing them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any way to remove Facebook completely without any problems after? Was thinking to maybe just buy the Chinese Version from China since China does not allow Facebook in the first place.