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What is the proper way to rom hop?

Greetings,
I want to be able to seamlessly switch from CM7 to MIUI to Sense, etc., keeping all of my settings, apps, etc for each setup. I assumed that I can do this by simply configuring each and doing Nandroid backups. But, when I try to restore my Myn's backup, I get an error.
Anyone know the proper procedure rom-hopping like this?
Thanks!
mike

1. Backup current apps and data in titanium backup
2. In recovery, backup current rom
3. Full wipe [factory/data, cache, dalvik]
4. Flash rom, reboot.
5. When booted into new rom, restore apps and data, NOT system settings.
6.
And if you want to switch back, go to recovery, backup current rom, then restore the backup you want; no need to wipe.
Also you'll get restore errors if you renamed the folder using invalid characters, or its corrupted.

Yes, you can just keep nandroid backups of each ROM you like after you get them set up and running how you want. Then you can restore whatever setup you feel like that day.
You can also back up your apps w/ titanium, that way if you install any new apps, when you restore another ROM, you can use ti to restore any missing apps that you've installed since the backup was made.

To the OP, your post is incomplete without the error message
Your steps seem like the proper way to go between roms. What you need to be aware of is, some apps store their data on the sdcard. Depending what is stored, you may get issues. Beautiful wigets comes to mind. It stores the skins on the sd card.
Are you getting error messages restoring from the backup image itself? What error. Are your image files intact?

Might be your version of recovery. I had a problem going from CM7 to anything else. I switched the recovery version in Rom Manager and fixed it

Sorry, I overlooked that. What error are you getting?
1. What % was your battery at? If it's below 30-40%, it won't restore or backup.
2. Have you renamed the backup? You can only use certain punctuation in the names or it won't work.

teh roxxorz said:
1. Backup current apps and data in titanium backup
2. In recovery, backup current rom
3. Full wipe [factory/data, cache, dalvik]
4. Flash rom, reboot.
5. When booted into new rom, restore apps and data, NOT system settings.
6.
And if you want to switch back, go to recovery, backup current rom, then restore the backup you want; no need to wipe.
Also you'll get restore errors if you renamed the folder using invalid characters, or its corrupted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good advice. One thing I'm curious about though. When you do a rom backup, it saves your apps/data etc. anyway, right? When you "restore" a ROM everything is exactly like you had it. So why is it necessary to do a Titanium Backup of all your apps/data (other than prudent good practice obviously) when your ROM backup will have the same. Is there another reason I'm missing?
Second, when you say backup "apps + data" but NOT system settings, what exactly do you mean? When you do a batch backup w/ Titanium Backup you can choose to do Apps or Apps + all system data. How can you quickly and easily backup apps + app data without all system settings? Manually go in and select certain (green) system data?

I do it in case I download any new apps while on one ROM that may not be included in my nand backup.
I don't restore app data, but theoretically you could restore the newer app data as well.

Alpine- said:
Good advice. One thing I'm curious about though. When you do a rom backup, it saves your apps/data etc. anyway, right? When you "restore" a ROM everything is exactly like you had it. So why is it necessary to do a Titanium Backup of all your apps/data (other than prudent good practice obviously) when your ROM backup will have the same. Is there another reason I'm missing?
Second, when you say backup "apps + data" but NOT system settings, what exactly do you mean? When you do a batch backup w/ Titanium Backup you can choose to do Apps or Apps + all system data. How can you quickly and easily backup apps + app data without all system settings? Manually go in and select certain (green) system data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason for backing up your apps and data is because when you install a new rom, like going from CM7 > MIUI, you should always do a full wipe, which will erase your user apps; erases all phone content. When you boot into the new rom, the titanium backup data is on the sdcard, and can be restored from there; that's why. And doing a full wipe when flashing a new rom kills off a lot of problems, like random fcs, ect.
No, you do the batch operation for backup user apps + system data, just to be safe that you get the data for the apps. That makes it easiest. When you RESTORE, you go into batch, there's an option for restore only user apps and data, right above apps + system data.

UBUNTU and desire..!!

hey ..i have htc desire S-off... and rcmixhd rom.... i just wanted to know how to back up all the components of my phone..i.e including contenst of the sd card as well as phone memory..
like apps ..contacts..etc..to my computer...and when i install new rom how to restore this stuff..please help..

Titanium backup for everything on the phone, sd card is just drag and drop.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

SMS backup is a wise choice for backing up your messages, if you change between old sense/sense 2.1/ AOSP ROMs

hi,
i think the what you need is a nandroid backup(in recovery mode), it saves the whole phone(like a snapshot)
but i would do this just once in a while, because these are quite big(300-700mb)
i would suggest you do on a regular base other backups, with apps
like TitatniumBackup can save your user apps + data, so this will not be lost
but system data(wifi spots, contacts, bookmarks, ...) could also be backuped but with care!
i can tell you how i do save all my data.
1. i do a complete nandroidbackup (if you want 2 go back from where you came)
2. a Titanium´Backup (sometimes system data could also be restored)
3. i use MyPhoneExplorer to backup my Contacts
4. MyBackup Root, to save my Sms/mms and other stuff (exept from Contact wich are put in the Google Account, i like it on the telephone memory)
Sounds a little bit much, but most of the apps have advantages at some point but also flaws on a other point!
ps.: yep i know most of them could be stored in the cloud but i like it lokal
pps.: the data is in folders on the sd(nandroid=/clockworkmod , titanium=titanium..., mybackup= /rerware)

Dr. div11 said:
hey ..i have htc desire S-off... and rcmixhd rom.... i just wanted to know how to back up all the components of my phone..i.e including contenst of the sd card as well as phone memory..
like apps ..contacts..etc..to my computer...and when i install new rom how to restore this stuff..please help..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.) Make nandroid-backup via recovery
2.) Use Titanium Backup for the apps and system-data (menu>batch>backup all apps + system-data), SMS Backup&Restore for the SMS. After this copy all data on sd-card to your computer.
3.) Do a full wipe and flash new rom
4.) Restore apps and systemdata with titanium backup (maybe you need to download it first); (DO NOT RESTORE SYSTEM-DATA IF FLASHING A NON-SENSE-ROM WHEN COMING FROM A SENSE-ROM OR REVERSE; this can cause heavy system- problems) and SMS with SMS Backup&Restore
5.) Reboot system
6.) Have fun

[Q] Best way to back up your phone when switching roms?

What are you guys using to back up your phones when switching Roms? I want to back up contacts, wifi settings, APPs etc.

If I'm switching ROMs I set them up from scratch again, after doing a Nandroid of the current one

Titanium Backup works really well. It's on the market. Probably on here somewhere also.

Will Titanium restore your screens? Its a bit tiring getting them alls setup and then starting from scratch on my droid incredible I never really set up the phone because I switched Roms so often.

veli69 said:
What are you guys using to back up your phones when switching Roms? I want to back up contacts, wifi settings, APPs etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use google for contacts and wifi settings, apps Titanium Backup
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

veli69 said:
Will Titanium restore your screens? Its a bit tiring getting them alls setup and then starting from scratch on my droid incredible I never really set up the phone because I switched Roms so often.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright, so for backing up your system you're going to want to use CWM and make a NANDROID backup. After you're done with that you will probably want to back up your apps. To back up app as well as data (such as angry birds scores) you will want to use Titanium Backup. Just remember not to restore system data, just apps/app data after flashing your ROM/Kernel.
For contacts (assuming you are on verizon) you had the option to chose where you store your contacts. Those options were either in your Gmail account or in "Backup manger" if you cant figure out where they are you can always make a file with all your contacts and place it on your SD card by going to the People App>menu>import/export>Export to storage.
As far as wifi settings go i am not aware of a way to do so.
And if you wanted to keep the launcher as it is (like where your apps are, folder, widgets, etc.) you will have to be on a custom launcher such as ADW or GoLauncher. This happens because the launcher is an app and when the app data is restored (from titanium backup) the placement of things are exactly how they were when you made the backup!

1) Nandroid. Always nanroid just to be safe - if something breaks, you need to have a working build to fall back on .
2) Contacts - I don't worry about it - they should all be synced with your Google account anyhoo.
3) Wifi settings - should also be synced with your Google account, and will be automatically restored when you set up the new ROM (assuming you tick the "restore data to my device" option in the google account setup screen).
4) Apps - TitaniumBackup for apps and data - not for system data though.
5) Launcher - some launchers will have an option built-in for backing up and restoring your screen layouts, folders, etc. Widgets will rarely be able to be restored no matter what method you use. You can also use Titanium to explicitly back up and restore your launcher's data - if you're still on the stock launcher, filter for System apps and look for an entry that starts out "[DESKTOP] Launcher ..." (it'll be in green) and backup/restore the data for that.

When you boot after first wipe it asks you for Google account details, then it will pull down your contacts, wifi settings etc. which we want.
But it also starts re-downloading all your Market apps, which we don't want because we've got them in Titanium Backup and we want to restore them with data (save games) and be linked to the Market for updates.
What's the correct way to handle this?
I've created issues before where some apps don't list in 'My apps' in the Market, and don't auto-update unless I search for them at which point it says 'Installed'.

I usually enable airplane mode immediately after the Google account setup, reboot, restore from titanium, reboot, and then turn the radios back on.

ClockworkMod Rom Manager. Its the best tool there is. yu can flash roms by pressing a simple button.

make sure you understand the difference between clockworkmod and titanium backup before you start modding your device. CWM will restore your phone exactly to how it was when you made the backup, everything from your screens, apps, setting, contacts, call and text logs. When you restore with CWM it will erase everything that was done after the backup point. Another thing to keep in mind is that you cant choose to restore specific things in CWM like you can with TB, you have to restore it all in one shot.
TB will restore apps, system apps and data associated with those apps. TB can also be used to backup settings, wifi access points and bluetooth pairings.
So if you get a bootloop or softbrick you have to use CWM. You need to do a factory reset/wipe before you flash a new rom, this is when you would use TB. Use TB to restore the apps, data and settings.
SMSbackup and calllogbackup in the market is also good for backing up or texts and call logs if you want to keep them. google will backup your contacts if you allow google to do this but you can always just save your contacts on your sim card

never ever restore system apps and data.
Especially if it was meant to be a full wipe.
Even then, clean start is always best so wipe and stop reporting bugs if you didn't do a wipe.

s2d4 said:
never ever restore system apps and data.
Especially if it was meant to be a full wipe.
Even then, clean start is always best so wipe and stop reporting bugs if you didn't do a wipe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On that note, some data for system apps can be safely restored - just never do it as a batch process. If I'm going to try restoring any system data, I do another full nandroid first (just in case) and then restore data one at a time.

I'm shocked no one has mentioned this app yet. Appextractor let's you restore things from your nandroid, Obviously some things shouldn't be restored, but many things can be safely restored.

EKnofsky said:
I'm shocked no one has mentioned this app yet. Appextractor let's you restore things from your nandroid, Obviously some things shouldn't be restored, but many things can be safely restored.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only problem I had with app extractor is the amount of SD storage space it uses - and doesn't automatically clean up. My nandroids are already ~2.7GB - I don't really want the whole thing also stored uncompressed. I quickly run out of storage space that way.
Oh, and it's painfully slow.
AppExtractor is useful if there's an important app you forgot to back up in Titanium, but doesn't really make sense to me as your primary restore method.

Isn't the Titanium data wiped when a new ROM is flashed? I assume that before flashing anything, copy the /sdcard directory to another computer?
And after flashing a new ROM, I assume that Ti has to be downloaded first in order to restore the other apps

thereddog said:
Isn't the Titanium data wiped when a new ROM is flashed? I assume that before flashing anything, copy the /sdcard directory to another computer?
And after flashing a new ROM, I assume that Ti has to be downloaded first in order to restore the other apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you're using the factory recovery, the Titanium data will remain intact. You will have to reinstall Titanium from the market - or use the tool built-in to Titanium to create a flashable *.zip. Just flash that *.zip before you boot your ROM the first time and you'll have Titanium pre-loaded.

use adb! works without root
adb backup [-f ] [-apk|-noapk] [-shared|-noshared] [-all] [-system|-nosystem] []
- write an archive of the device's data to .
If no -f option is supplied then the data is written
to "backup.ab" in the current directory.
(-apk|-noapk enable/disable backup of the .apks themselves
in the archive; the default is noapk.)
(-shared|-noshared enable/disable backup of the device's
shared storage / SD card contents; the default is noshared.)
(-all means to back up all installed applications)
(-system|-nosystem toggles whether -all automatically includes
system applications; the default is to include system apps)
( is the list of applications to be backed up. If
the -all or -shared flags are passed, then the package
list is optional. Applications explicitly given on the
command line will be included even if -nosystem would
ordinarily cause them to be omitted.)
adb restore - restore device contents from the backup archive
example: adb backup -all -system -shared -apk

nitramz said:
use adb! works without root
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this. I had seen adb backup alluded to elsewhere but not a concise post detailing the usage. I'd rather not have to use my computer to handle backups, but it sounds like a pretty cool option.

Try MyBackup PRO. It does exactly what you need. I have used it before and it is good.

Can you nandroid restore for apps & settings on new ROM or new version of same ROM?

Can you nandroid restore for apps & settings on new ROM or new version of same ROM?
Many people (myself included) are "flash-happy" and install new ROMs or ROM updates very frequently. While I love flashing new stuff, I hate the process of getting my phone set up all over again. Titanium Backup is currently my go-to app for backing up apps and restoring them after a flash. Nova Launcher has been super-helpful in keeping my widgets. However, many apps don't work until you open them after a restore (1Weather, Adfree, LightFlow, Lux, etc). So generally, the following is my tedious process for flashing:
1. Assign labels in TiBU to the apps I want to restore and run "backup all apps + data"
2. Wipe Data, Cache, Dalvik, Battery Stats
3. Flash ROM, GApps, Kernel, etc. Fix permissions
4. Install TiBU and then painstakingly restore apps (only non-system), then restore data for those apps.
5. Open each app and configure where necessary
6. Go through all the ROM settings and set them the way I like (nav bar icon size, clock posiiton, battery icon, etc etc etc).
Just the thought of going through this whole process makes me hold off on flashing too often, and I usually end up saving flashes for when I have a big chunk of time. Some people, I've noticed, flash new ROMs like they've got nothing better to do. It makes me wonder... do they have some trick for quickly restoring their phones after each flash? Is there some way to condense or streamline steps 4-6 in my process?
A Nandroid backup saves the System and Data partitions. What info does each partition contain? I realize that each ROM is different and it might be problematic to restore settings of one ROM to another, but what if you're simply upgrading to a newer version of the same ROM? I'm wondering if I can make a nandroid backup of CNA 3.6.6 and then restore only the Data partition after flashing CNA 3.8.0 so that the new ROM is in place but all the apps and settings are restored from the previous setup. If this does work, is it stable and smooth?
Or if I'm completely off about using Nandroid for this purpose, does anyone have any methods for getting back up to speed quickly after flashing new ROMs?

In titanium backup you can go to settings > create update.zip so next time you flash a new rom gapps etc you can install the update.zip as well and have TiBu off the back. If you have the pro key it will be more beneficial to you. You do have to log into you google account if you have the pro key before opening TiBu. I use Paranoid Android and I can backup my rom settings idk how CNA does it. That one you might have to manually do.
Between ROM updates you don't have to wipe data. Just Cache and dalvik.
I have recovered my data partition between wipes before but stopped because everytime I update or flash a new rom I usually go for a new look.
Here is my process between flashing new roms
1. Backup everything in TiBu (I already have the update.zip so I skip that. You only need to do it once or if the app gets updated)
2. Go into recovery wipe data, system, cache, dalvik
3. Install rom, gapps, kernel, TiBu
4. Restart
5. Load up sign into google account
6. Open TiBu and restore everything
Some apps naturally won't restore everything like Adfree for example will put the hosts file in your system for you, when you back that app up your only backing up the settings. When you back it up it only backs up the settings. Dropbox and Skydrive I have to manually sign back in. I never had lightflow so I don't know how that works. Its a little tedious but I usually give a rom a few hours before I actually go through all that.
Hope it helps

If you don't want to have to log in to your Google account before using the full version of Titanium Backup, just use App2Zip to make a flashable zip of TiBu and its Pro key. Then just flash it last, boot, and batch restore the rest of your apps and data.

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Backing up SMS, apps etc before ROM install...

Hi guys, sorry for the lame question. I feel bad asking because I've done dozens of different ROM installs on all kinds of different phones down the years, but there's always something I've never got.
How do I back up all my SMS's, installed apps etc and restore them after I've done a FULL WIPE and installed a new ROM? (SMS is the main one, I hate losing all those)

spireite_uk said:
Hi guys, sorry for the lame question. I feel bad asking because I've done dozens of different ROM installs on all kinds of different phones down the years, but there's always something I've never got.
How do I back up all my SMS's, installed apps etc and restore them after I've done a FULL WIPE and installed a new ROM? (SMS is the main one, I hate losing all those)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The process I'd suggest you for transferring your data when switching ROMs is:
1. Back up
For SMS's, use SMS Backup & Restore. It creates a backup XML which will be used to restore your SMS's after wiping.
For apps and their data, use Titanium Backup (Requires root).
For calls, Call Logs Backup and Restore. It also creates a backup XML like SMS Backup and Restore.
For contacts, I personally sync them using my Google account. If you don't like this you can use MyPhoneExplorer or any contacts backup app.
2. Full Wipe & ROM install
2b. Root your ROM if it is not rooted already.
3. Install Titanium Backup from an APK or Play Store.
4. Use Titanium Backup to restore user apps and their data. I suggest restoring ONLY user apps, unless you know what you are doing. Now it is also a good time to check which apps you really need to restore, since you may have back ups of applications that you don't need anymore.
5. Restore your SMS's and call logs from their backup XMLs using their respective applications.
6. Restore your contacts by syncing or by using the app you chose to back them up.

I've found some that backup to XML won't work if you have pictures in your messages. So either, save the pictures off, or you can use this app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=backup.email.inapp&hl=en
It uses your Google account to backup and store your MMS/SMS messages. It works great.

How about using LG backup. It can backup both apps and data so I think it can both backup sms and call logs...