Develop Bugs

[Q] CM nightly build caused problem. Don't know what to do.

Alright, I may have a brick on my hands but after playing with Android for two years I've found that's pretty tough to actually do so I'm still hopeful. Using Clockwork recovery, I did a factory reset and flashed the cm vision full 5 nightly build onto my G2/Vision. It gave me a boot loop so I went into hboot and tried to flash the PC10IMG. I'm getting a "Main version is older! Update fail!" message and have no idea what to do. Somehow I'm back to S-ON so I can't even try to flash a different update. If anyone has any ideas I will try anything. I love my phone and would hate to lose it three days after root happened.

I hate to be the one to say this, but didn't the thread say not to not to try it yet?

ruleftbehind said:
I hate to be the one to say this, but didn't the thread say not to not to try it yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you hate to say it and it doesn't help then why say it? And no it does not say that anywhere in the thread. Others have tried and had success.

You didn't make a nandroid backup?
No offense, but you said you've been playing with Android for 2 years. You should've known that the first rule is to backup what you already have!
Have you tried installing the stock ROM pre OTA in the "Downgrading ROM" thread?

tazz9690 said:
You didn't make a nandroid backup?
No offense, but you said you've been playing with Android for 2 years. You should've known that the first rule is to backup what you already have!
Have you tried installing the stock ROM pre OTA in the "Downgrading ROM" thread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm attempting it but adb won't copy my misc.img to my SD card, nor will it detect the miscnew.img I've made from someone else's misc.img.
Edit: Oh, and I WAS using the first release of the Clockwork mod for the G2 and I did not see a nandroid option there or I would have made a backup. I guess I shouldn't have tried it without a backup. Is there any way to use nandroid to flash someone else's backup?

What you need to do is mount your phone to your PC using Clockwork Recovery and copy over the misc files that way.
I had to downgrade to the stock rom myself and I used the misc files located in the below file.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=437017&d=1289270330

Jigga0o7 said:
What you need to do is mount your phone to your PC using Clockwork Recovery and copy over the misc files that way.
I had to downgrade to the stock rom myself and I used the misc files located in the below file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I already downloaded those files, and copied miscnew onto my sd. But when I try the
"dd if=/sdcard/miscnew.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p17" command it says the file does not exist. It doesn't work with the card mounted or unmounted.

If you can get into clockwork you should be OK. i think your mistake was doing a full factory reset rather than install CM and then wiping data and cache. go into clockwork and wipe everything.
Find the official pre-ota zip, go into hboot, and flash. if this fails, go into clockwork, wipe everything, then go into fastboot, flash the original recovery, then go into hboot and flash the pre-ota zip.
Otherwise, find the thread when people had problems flashing the OTA after removing goggles and use that method to reflash the pre-ota.

HELP NEEDED with CWM "error while restoring /data!"

Hey guys,
I have kind of a serious issue right now. I used Touch Recovery 5.8.0.2 and made a full backup today of my whole ROM (2.5GB) before trying out some mods which eventually didn't work. So I decided to wipe and restore the backup I made. No matter what I do I cannot get it to restore my data partition properly. I keep getting "Error while restoring /data!" message, however it does the boot image and system fine but doesn't continue to cache and sd-ext because of the failed data. Whenever I boot it up, some of my apps are missing from the home screen and practically all of them are not working when I launch them (force close). I also get boot up error of Google+ force close, among a bunch of other issues. This is happening even when I try to restore an older backup as well. My device is not working state right now and although I can just restore the stock images to get it working again, it is urgent that I restore my data ASAP! I tried wiping several times and even using the non-touch 5.5.0.4 recovery to restore and same thing keeps happening.
Any help would be highly appreciated!
Please don't tell me my backup is corrupt
Update 1: Eventually I gave up and started from scratch but I have confirmed already this happened on a fresh backup as well, at this time we are trying to figure out what is causing this so I can go back to safely backing up and restoring backups.
Update 2: We have test builds of TWRP Recovery that may have resolved this issue! We need testers!
Please see this post: Link Here
Update 3: We have test builds of ClockworkMod Recovery 6 that may have resolved this issue as well! We need testers!
Please see this post: Link Here
***Always see last few posts on the thread for updates on what we discovered just in case I don't update the OP***

Unfortunately I also have the same error today!
Please help us out.

JayantSparda said:
Unfortunately I also have the same error today!
Please help us out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is your phone encrypted?
are you running stock recovery?
are you running a stock Rom?
have you done a factory reset yet?

Hi Spectre85,
My phone did fine yesterday, I was running AOPK Milestone 3 with FAUX123 kernel.
But when I woke up, my phone looked like it's battery was emtpy.
- When I plugged the phone with the charger, I started the phone again.
- Unfortunately my phone keep looping at the Google screen over and over.
So I pulled the battery and put the battery back again in the phone.
- I went to the bootloader and went to CWM recovery.
Deleted Data, Cache and Dalvike cache.
- Tried to retrieve my backup rom, but keep getting this "Error while restoring /data!" message.
I've tried to install other roms as well, but I still keep getting the bootloop at the Google screen.
Have you guys have any advice for me?

spectre85 said:
is your phone encrypted?
are you running stock recovery?
are you running a stock Rom?
have you done a factory reset yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me, no, no (CWM Touch 5.8.0.2), yes (stock rooted 4.0.4), no but my goal is to restore my data not erase it.

I had this happen to me before, what I did was flash a factory image through fast boot and it was fine after.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Thanks guys..I flashed the factory image through Fastboot mode and the phone works perfectly again! Too bad I lost all my data, but I'm happier that I have my phone fully functional again

You can't access your backup right? There's no way you can copy the file to your desktop?

mohitrocks said:
You can't access your backup right? There's no way you can copy the file to your desktop?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did copy it. I have full access to the file. Also, just fyi my goal here is not just to get to working state (I'm aware of the stock images) but to actually recover my data. My phone is currently on stock images completely blank and working now.

Fast boot flash the nand images just like u did the stock ones.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

bwcorvus said:
Fast boot flash the nand images just like u did the stock ones.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nanadroid files can be flashed in fastboot? Are you sure? First time I'm hearing this. Doesn't fastboot need .img files? These are .tar files.

Open it up and see if its image...sorry all my recoveries use images.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

bwcorvus said:
Open it up and see if its image...sorry all my recoveries use images.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess it depends on the recovery version you use. I remember older versions actually had .img files. However 5.5.0.4 and Touch 5.8.0.2 both have ext4.tar files.
Which version of recovery do you use?

If you have root, you can restore your data partition using Titanium Backup. Use "Export from Nandroid Backup" within TB, select the nandroid backup and then select all apps that you want to restore

Immix said:
If you have root, you can restore your data partition using Titanium Backup. Use "Export from Nandroid Backup" within TB, select the nandroid backup and then select all apps that you want to restore
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting...will this include settings as well like my home screen icon/widget layout, wallpaper, etc?

open1your1eyes0 said:
Interesting...will this include settings as well like my home screen icon/widget layout, wallpaper, etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Titanium Backup can restore all your system apps as well as downloaded apps from a nandroid backup. Not as clean as a nandroid restore from CWM but essentially the same thing. But try to see if Titanium Backup can extract your nandroid backup. It all depends on what exactly went wrong with your nandroid backup to begin with. I don't think it restores cache. So not sure about wallpaper.

Immix said:
Yes. Titanium Backup can restore all your system apps as well as downloaded apps from a nandroid backup. Not as clean as a nandroid restore from CWM but essentially the same thing. But try to see if Titanium Backup can extract your nandroid backup. It all depends on what exactly went wrong with your nandroid backup to begin with. I don't think it restores cache. So not sure about wallpaper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right. This works great for restore data to select apps (got my notes and game saves back). I think the icon layout is held in the launcher settings, I'm about to try and restore the data to the launcher app and see what happens. I'm making a CWM backup of first of my current state (that's assuming this backup will actually work).
EDIT: Yes! That did it! Widgets position weren't saved but it's ok I only had a few so I manually put them back. Thank you! I never knew TB had the ability to work with nandroid backups.

I guess this now just leaves me figuring out what went wrong with the CWM backup. It happened twice (I have two backups from the same day that won't restore). Does anyone else use CWM Touch 5.8.0.2 and have successful backups? I would experiment to see if it works now but I don't want to end up with a corrupt backup and redo everything again.

Yes with me its the same thing my data its corrupt is even worse every time I do a nanobackup and restarted my phone the phone freezes on the boot logo and I have to go back to recovery trying to use my backups but I can't so I have to flash a new from again and start from the beginning again!!!! Anybody here has the same experience with that ???

So AGAIN, I'm having the same issue. This time on a recovery 5.5.0.4 that used to work for me when I originally got my phone. I think either my data partition might be too big or something but this really needs to fixed pronto. Anyone know how to contact Koush directly in regards to this matter?

GNex starts up but does not fully boot?

GSM Galaxy Nexus and I have been running CM9 with no issues until now. I believe I filled up my SD card with downloads and it went into a boot loop. I can not mount the storage to delete any files. I have tried deleting everything and restoring to a CWM backup and it does the same thing it. The phone will go through the boot animation and that's it. Is there any way around this? I'm guessing there has to be with some other recovery image that I can use to mount the USB storage. Please help as I am out a phone.

When in doubt, fastboot flash stock images and start over.

martonikaj said:
When in doubt, fastboot flash stock images and start over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did restore to stock 4.0.2 and it does not boot either. Also if I want to flash to that zip file how can i get it to the phone if I can't mount the USB drive?

GrandMstrBud said:
I did restore to stock 4.0.2 and it does not boot either. Also if I want to flash to that zip file how can i get it to the phone if I can't mount the USB drive?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no no no. not a nandroid backup or a stock ROM zip. Flash from fastboot via your computer the stock images. It'll wipe everything and start over.
There may be a better way to save you, but I'm not aware of it. Flashing stock images is kinda the "nuclear option".

martonikaj said:
no no no. not a nandroid backup or a stock ROM zip. Flash from fastboot via your computer the stock images. It'll wipe everything and start over.
There may be a better way to save you, but I'm not aware of it. Flashing stock images is kinda the "nuclear option".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dumb question but maybe it's not a dumb one. How do you flash it via fastboot? I'd rather be able to save my nandroid backup and not have to go through starting over. I'd think there has to be a way to mount the USB storage and delete some files because I'm guessing this is caused by the internal storage being full.

This is one of the top reasons you should at least get acquainted with fastboot. The nuclear option isn't really a good analogy. It is the peacemaker sit down at the table option. Square one. You get stock going you can flash your nandroid afterwards.
bow chicka wow wow.

So if I'm reading this right if I flash via fastboot it will wipe everything so if that's the case how can I restore from a nandroid backup if it wipes it? Is there a way to mount the USB so I can wipe some files without having to start over? That's what I'm looking for. I don't have a nandroid backup saved on my PC so this is all useless to me.

You can't mount as USB. :banghead::banghead::banghead:
There is nothing to mount to if the system is using it. I made my first nandroid the other day and guess what the first thing I did was? I backed it up on my PC. And guess what? It came in handy 4 days later after flashing some roms and going meh. I wouldn't mind having a SD card, but the small inconvenience of backing it up brought me back to stock bliss in 5 mins.
bow chicka wow wow.

Well thanks for the help now I'm back to stock with all my files lost, I'm so pissed right now. There had to be a way to pull files from fastboot or ADB

Galaxy Nexus Toolkit Backup

Hello again.
Since I am under 10 posts and not allowed to participate in the relevant thread plus searching didn't yield any results I am posting here.
After one month of using my nexus I want to play with it and try some custom things that all people talk so much about.Fact is I first want to backup current state where everything works fine in case something goes wrong.
I 've already backed up my apps and their data with Titanium Backup.
Now I need current OS state bootloader, etc.Am I right to believe this is the NANDROID backup? Is this the backup that can bring the phone back to its current state?
Second thing is that the Galaxy Nexus Toolkit v7.8.0 I am using recommends backing up the EFS partition.Did some research that revealed this hidden partition is about the IMEI - I can't understand how such a valuable data isn't hardcoded inside the phone.But nevertheless I would like to know where are those backups (NANDROID and ESF partition) stored (already checked backups folder in toolkit).
My phone's current state is: unlocked bootloader, CWM recovery, rooted and on stock 4.1.1.No mods or any other custom file.
Another question regarding the CWM recovery.How is it possible to go back to the stock recovery? By flashing the stock ROM?
Also from GN Toolkit I flashed CWM Touch but after trying an update through CWM ROM Manager I got the manual version (both 6.0.1).Can I reflash the touch version from Toolkit?
Sorry if some of those questions sound silly but I am new in Android and prefer the safe path.
Thank you in advance.

TR-909 said:
Hello again.
Since I am under 10 posts and not allowed to participate in the relevant thread plus searching didn't yield any results I am posting here.
After one month of using my nexus I want to play with it and try some custom things that all people talk so much about.Fact is I first want to backup current state where everything works fine in case something goes wrong.
I 've already backed up my apps and their data with Titanium Backup.
Now I need current OS state bootloader, etc.Am I right to believe this is the NANDROID backup? Is this the backup that can bring the phone back to its current state?
Second thing is that the Galaxy Nexus Toolkit v7.8.0 I am using recommends backing up the EFS partition.Did some research that revealed this hidden partition is about the IMEI - I can't understand how such a valuable data isn't hardcoded inside the phone.But nevertheless I would like to know where are those backups (NANDROID and ESF partition) stored (already checked backups folder in toolkit).
My phone's current state is: unlocked bootloader, CWM recovery, rooted and on stock 4.1.1.No mods or any other custom file.
Another question regarding the CWM recovery.How is it possible to go back to the stock recovery? By flashing the stock ROM?
Also from GN Toolkit I flashed CWM Touch but after trying an update through CWM ROM Manager I got the manual version (both 6.0.1).Can I reflash the touch version from Toolkit?
Sorry if some of those questions sound silly but I am new in Android and prefer the safe path.
Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
toolkit is not a safe path for you.
read these:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1812959
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1626895
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1529058
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1420351
learn how to troubleshoot and search, you'll be a whole lot happier. don't use toolkits.
TR-909 said:
Now I need current OS state bootloader, etc.Am I right to believe this is the NANDROID backup? Is this the backup that can bring the phone back to its current state?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nandroid doesn't backup the bootloader. if you ever need to go back to a specific bootloader version (which you won't), it is available online.

bk201doesntexist said:
toolkit is not a safe path for you.
read these:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1812959
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1626895
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1529058
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1420351
learn how to troubleshoot and search, you'll be a whole lot happier. don't use toolkits.
nandroid doesn't backup the bootloader. if you ever need to go back to a specific bootloader version (which you won't), it is available online.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a lot of reading.
Anyway thanks for pointing me to those threads (I don't mind reading hehe) but still I don't understand why toolkit is so bad.In my view the toolkit just automates a set of commands which otherwise I would have to give through a command prompt.Only good thing I can find avoiding a toolkit, is getting a deeper knowledge on the subject but maybe the risks of doing something wrong are increased (say a typo)?
Anyway let me read those and I may be back.

TR-909 said:
That's a lot of reading.
Anyway thanks for pointing me to those threads (I don't mind reading hehe) but still I don't understand why toolkit is so bad.In my view the toolkit just automates a set of commands which otherwise I would have to give through a command prompt.Only good thing I can find avoiding a toolkit, is getting a deeper knowledge on the subject but maybe the risks of doing something wrong are increased (say a typo)?
Anyway let me read those and I may be back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Toolkit is a automated set of other people's command, programme are coded by humans and human errors are bound to happen, not to mention if something went wrong somewhere, you won't know what went wrong. By doing the steps yourself, you will know exactly what went wrong, and it will simplify things should you have to ask questions here, which you most likely don't have to once you know how to use adb and fastboot, trust me.

Typos while doing your commands won't hurt because it simply will fail and not do anything. Immediately you will know you typed something incorrectly and know you have to do it again. With the kit you will not know at which step it failed so figuring out something will become a task. Doing it yourself sounds like it's longer and difficult but once you do it you will see how easy and simple it is plus you will understand what you did and why.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

TR-909 said:
[snip]
Now I need current OS state bootloader, etc.Am I right to believe this is the NANDROID backup? Is this the backup that can bring the phone back to its current state?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and yes.
TR-909 said:
Second thing is that the Galaxy Nexus Toolkit v7.8.0 I am using recommends backing up the EFS partition.Did some research that revealed this hidden partition is about the IMEI - I can't understand how such a valuable data isn't hardcoded inside the phone.But nevertheless I would like to know where are those backups (NANDROID and ESF partition) stored (already checked backups folder in toolkit).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I won't comment on the toolkit, but nandroid backups are stored in /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/ on your device.
As for the efs partition, you could back it up, but I don't really see what the necessity of it is. That partition is never written to by any ROM (stock or otherwise), so the only way it will get messed up is if you do something to it.
If you want to back it up on your device, just open a terminal window and type:
su
dd if=/dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.0/by-name/efs of=/sdcard/efs.img
That will store it in /sdcard, and then just copy it off your device.
TR-909 said:
Another question regarding the CWM recovery.How is it possible to go back to the stock recovery? By flashing the stock ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just pull the recovery.img file out of the version of the stock factory image that you are currently using, place it in the same directory where you have your fastboot.exe file, reboot your device into fastboot mode and type:
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
Or, just save it to /sdcard on your device and type the following in a terminal:
su
dd if=/sdcard/recovery.img of=/dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.0/by-name/recovery
TR-909 said:
Also from GN Toolkit I flashed CWM Touch but after trying an update through CWM ROM Manager I got the manual version (both 6.0.1).Can I reflash the touch version from Toolkit?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't help you out with any toolkit, sorry.

Hello efrant.
Seems you are the n00bs hero in here! I was reading your FAQ and threw some basic ADB commands through cmd to see how it feels ,lol.
Well reading made some good, I backed up through CWM but the backup size baffles me - only 21.4MB in total.Is this normal?
Also took a fresh backup with Titanium for all apps and data - this is a lot bigger 728MB in total.Still Storage (in Settings) reports that applications and their data hold 3.54GB.Is there some kind of ultra compression involved?
As for the stock bootloader I found that image (recovery-stock-jro03c-maguro) which I think is for my GN (GSM).I am asking in case something bad happens and go for a warranty claim.In that case I believe I 'll need to flash the stock bootloader, stock ROM and finally lock the bootloader.
As for the EFS partition is it impossible to be harmed? Say File System corruption, sdcard bad blocks, etc?
It's ok.I clearly understand your position on the toolkit and any similar programms out there.It's just they are so "convenient" and "time savers".Still you 're all right that most of the time you do not understand what you are doing when using toolkits.
Thanks to all of you for your great help. :good:
PS - to test my progress I am going to flash stock recovery through flashboot.I just hope I won't mess it up. :fingers-crossed:

To clear a few things:
TR-909 said:
As for the stock bootloader I found that image (recovery-stock-jro03c-maguro) which I think is for my GN (GSM).I am asking in case something bad happens and go for a warranty claim.In that case I believe I 'll need to flash the stock bootloader, stock ROM and finally lock the bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
we don't have any custom bootloaders, as of yet.
TR-909 said:
As for the EFS partition is it impossible to be harmed? Say File System corruption, sdcard bad blocks, etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not impossible, but many many users never had any issues. to be on the safe side, back it up.
TR-909 said:
It's ok.I clearly understand your position on the toolkit and any similar programms out there.It's just they are so "convenient" and "time savers".Still you 're all right that most of the time you do not understand what you are doing when using toolkits.
Thanks to all of you for your great help. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
glad you understand. just because something is convenient doesn't mean that it's the best for you.
TR-909 said:
PS - to test my progress I am going to flash stock recovery through flashboot.I just hope I won't mess it up. :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
easy. you can't fail with fastboot. like said before, if you type it wrong, it won't go through. :good:
'fastboot flash recovery recovery.img'
done.

Regarding the nandroid, copy off the whole clockworkmod folder.
Will the next nexus have a longer screen?

@bk201doesntexist: yes you 're right I was reffering to the stock recovery image.Thanks for correcting me
@Mach3.2: I 've read just the backup folder is needed (the one with the date and time).
For the sake of learning, I started in ADB then:
adb devices : to check I am online
adb reboot-bootloader: to get into fastboot
fastboot devices: check again status
and then
fastboot recovery recovery-CWM-touch-6.0.1-maguro
blah...
blah...
blah...
Finished and voila CWM touch recovery installed. :victory:
I am going to try with stock recovery but I am trying to find an official source to download it (if any).
EDIT: I see the only way to find the original recovery img is to extract it from the official ROM.So I am downloading from Google a .tgz and will continue from there.
Any comments for my backup sizes?
Now with my backups in hand what is the possible way to verify them? In theory with nandroid (from CWM recovery) and Titanium, I can restore phone in today's state.Right or wrong?
I am thinking of going a bit further flashing the stock ROM again (wiping everything) and then recovering from the backup archives as my next learning exercise.I should obviously backup photos, music, etc but I was wondering if SMS history is taken care by Nandroid or have to use a seperate application.Contacts are in google's server so np on that.
Thanks again.

TR-909 said:
[snip]
Well reading made some good, I backed up through CWM but the backup size baffles me - only 21.4MB in total.Is this normal?
Also took a fresh backup with Titanium for all apps and data - this is a lot bigger 728MB in total.Still Storage (in Settings) reports that applications and their data hold 3.54GB.Is there some kind of ultra compression involved?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are using the 6-series CWM, it does backups a little differently (incrementally), and stores the backup in two locations in /sdcard/clockworkmod. I personally use 5.5.0.2, which does a full backup and stores it in one location.
TR-909 said:
As for the stock bootloader I found that image (recovery-stock-jro03c-maguro) which I think is for my GN (GSM).I am asking in case something bad happens and go for a warranty claim.In that case I believe I 'll need to flash the stock bootloader, stock ROM and finally lock the bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As was mentioned above, all bootloaders available are stock bootloaders. A list can be found in the bootloader thread (link in my signature).
TR-909 said:
As for the EFS partition is it impossible to be harmed? Say File System corruption, sdcard bad blocks, etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But if you have bad blocks in the efs partition, you would probably need to get a new device, at which point you have no need for the backup, no? But I guess yes, better safe than sorry.
TR-909 said:
In theory with nandroid (from CWM recovery) and Titanium, I can restore phone in today's state.Right or wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With a nandroid alone you can return to today's state.
TR-909 said:
I am thinking of going a bit further flashing the stock ROM again (wiping everything) and then recovering from the backup archives as my next learning exercise.I should obviously backup photos, music, etc but I was wondering if SMS history is taken care by Nandroid or have to use a seperate application.Contacts are in google's server so np on that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wiping from CWM does not wipe the data you have on /sdcard, so no need to backup photos, music, etc.
SMS will get wiped, but both Titanium and a nandroid will back them up. However, you can use a third-party app (there are many of them) to do it as well, which is simpler actually.

TR-909 said:
@bk201doesntexist: yes you 're right I was reffering to the stock recovery image.Thanks for correcting me
@Mach3.2: I 've read just the backup folder is needed (the one with the date and time).
For the sake of learning, I started in ADB then:
adb devices : to check I am online
adb reboot-bootloader: to get into fastboot
fastboot devices: check again status
and then
fastboot recovery recovery-CWM-touch-6.0.1-maguro
blah...
blah...
blah...
Finished and voila CWM touch recovery installed. :victory:
I am going to try with stock recovery but I am trying to find an official source to download it (if any).
EDIT: I see the only way to find the original recovery img is to extract it from the official ROM.So I am downloading from Google a .tgz and will continue from there.
Any comments for my backup sizes?
Now with my backups in hand what is the possible way to verify them? In theory with nandroid (from CWM recovery) and Titanium, I can restore phone in today's state.Right or wrong?
I am thinking of going a bit further flashing the stock ROM again (wiping everything) and then recovering from the backup archives as my next learning exercise.I should obviously backup photos, music, etc but I was wondering if SMS history is taken care by Nandroid or have to use a seperate application.Contacts are in google's server so np on that.
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The backup is just a shell, it's backed up in blobs, so you will need to copy the whole thing off.

You 're both right that in that the CWM recovery "image" is incremental and the base backup is the blops folder - now the total size is 1.75GB which is logical.
@efrant: thanks for clarifying on backup now it all starts making sense.I 've read Titanium Backup can pull individual files (may I call it selective restore) from a Nandroid backup, say a single app and its data.If that is so then the Titanium Backup could be used as a reserve app and that could save me some precious space.
efrant said:
SMS will get wiped, but both Titanium and a nandroid will back them up. However, you can use a third-party app (there are many of them) to do it as well, which is simpler actually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I prefer to use less apps for doing the job so if Nandroid has the data it is fine with me.I hope it isn't that complicated to pull the data out.
@Mach3.2: You were right, my bad.The article I read was about CWM recovery 5.5.0.2 so now I copied the whole thing on PC. :good:

TR-909 said:
[snip]
I prefer to use less apps for doing the job so if Nandroid has the data it is fine with me.I hope it isn't that complicated to pull the data out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The issue is that SMS's are stored as data for a specific system app (I can't remember which one at the moment). If you change ROMs, it is generally not a good idea to restore system apps or system app data via Titanium Backup, as those apps/data could cause some instability. You may get lucky, you may not.

efrant said:
The issue is that SMS's are stored as data for a specific system app (I can't remember which one at the moment). If you change ROMs, it is generally not a good idea to restore system apps or system app data via Titanium Backup, as those apps/data could cause some instability. You may get lucky, you may not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Point taken.:good:
A bit more on the backup subject...
As I can see CWM recovery backups boot image, recovery image and the /system partition.I also saw in one of efrant's posts about different bootloaders but honestly I fail to comprehend the need for flashing a bootloader.
*In your "convert to latest yakju" post you recommend flashing it "5) Optional (NOT optional for n00bs) -- Flash the bootloader: fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-maguro-primela03.img (or whatever the name of the bootloader image that you downloaded)."
** Also the radio partition is a mystery so far.And I 've read a lot of guys talking of better connectivity (be it GSM, 3G, WiFi) through flashing custom (?) radio images.On list to be explored...
The recovery image is pretty straight and the system partition is the one with the OS - now all this can't be 1.7GB unless it backups the userdata partition too.
EDIT: It seems it also backups the data folder (hence the apps) so the size now makes sense.I reverted to 5.5.0.2 because incremental backup is fast and slick but brings two issues: first the "blops structure" gives me problems when I want to transfer those thousands of files via MTP and second it is much more practical when I want to backup completely different "builds" (that is my guess).
Also in between flashing ROMs a standard procedure is recommended about wiping data, clearing dalvik cache, etc
Could you please give me in details the series of tasks needed (or point me to a thread) for properly preparing a custom ROM installation when unlocked and rooted?
About restoration in the "new enviroment" I read this:
"If your bootloader is unlocked: yes, you can root (if you haven't done it already) and use TiB to backup apps + app data. Installing a ROM will not wipe your /sdcard. It's always a good idea to back it up though before a flash. Use TiB to restore apps + appdata to your new ROM. Be careful with system apps and settings, restoring such data can lead to issues."
Am I right in that "illegal" system apps are those painted with red colour in TiB?
Final steps I am going to backup SMS history and find a custom ROM to install.Any ROM recommendations for a "novice user" are welcome...
Off Topic: what would be the adb commands to push/pull folders (or files) from /sdcard to PC (eg. \sdcard\clockworkmod --> C:/Nexus) .Right now I am doing MTP transfers but would prefer the "adb way" if possible.
Thanks a lot for your support and sharing of knowledge!
PS - So much reading!

Wow, that's a lot of questions for one post! I'll try to tackle some of them.
TR-909 said:
As I can see CWM recovery backups boot image, recovery image and the /system partition.I also saw in one of efrant's posts about different bootloaders but honestly I fail to comprehend the need for flashing a bootloader.
*In your "convert to latest yakju" post you recommend flashing it "5) Optional (NOT optional for n00bs) -- Flash the bootloader: fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-maguro-primela03.img (or whatever the name of the bootloader image that you downloaded)."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think anyone knows what changes are in each new bootloader revision (given that they are closed source), but some have had issues with running Jelly Bean on bootloaders older than LA03. I guess "newer is better" holds true in this case.
TR-909 said:
** Also the radio partition is a mystery so far.And I 've read a lot of guys talking of better connectivity (be it GSM, 3G, WiFi) through flashing custom (?) radio images.On list to be explored...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, no one know what changes are made in each radio revision. I personally have not noticed much difference among a lot of the radios, but others have said otherwise. (And no, there are no "custom" radios. All radios are stock -- just from different versions of Android. (A list of radios can be found in the radio link in my signature.)
TR-909 said:
The recovery image is pretty straight and the system partition is the one with the OS - now all this can't be 1.7GB unless it backups the userdata partition too.
EDIT: It seems it also backups the data folder (hence the apps) so the size now makes sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, it backs up the cache, boot, recovery and system partitions, and everything in /data except /data/media (which is /sdcard).
TR-909 said:
I reverted to 5.5.0.2 because incremental backup is fast and slick but brings two issues: first the "blops structure" gives me problems when I want to transfer those thousands of files via MTP and second it is much more practical when I want to backup completely different "builds" (that is my guess).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also like 5.5.0.2. I found it to be the most compatible, i.e., it has no issues flashing anything (that I have tried anyway), whereas other versions have issues with certain things.
And I personally wouldn't use MTP to transfer files -- it is flaky at best. ADB is much more stable.
TR-909 said:
Also in between flashing ROMs a standard procedure is recommended about wiping data, clearing dalvik cache, etc
Could you please give me in details the series of tasks needed (or point me to a thread) for properly preparing a custom ROM installation when unlocked and rooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is not much to do:
1) Download ROM to /sdcard
2) Reboot into recovery
3) Nandroid
4) Wipe /data and /cache
5) Flash ROM
6) Reboot
TR-909 said:
About restoration in the "new enviroment" I read this:
"If your bootloader is unlocked: yes, you can root (if you haven't done it already) and use TiB to backup apps + app data. Installing a ROM will not wipe your /sdcard. It's always a good idea to back it up though before a flash. Use TiB to restore apps + appdata to your new ROM. Be careful with system apps and settings, restoring such data can lead to issues."
Am I right in that "illegal" system apps are those painted with red colour in TiB?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think so. I haven't use TB in a while, so I just checked and it looks like you are correct -- red.
TR-909 said:
Off Topic: what would be the adb commands to push/pull folders (or files) from /sdcard to PC (eg. \sdcard\clockworkmod --> C:/Nexus) .Right now I am doing MTP transfers but would prefer the "adb way" if possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have a read of the "basics" link in my signature. ADB is covered there.

Wow that's some great answers and a big motive for me to continue "digging".:good:
I will leave you in peace for the time being as here it's about to dawn.
Big thanks and have a nice day.
PS - To be continued...

There is a article on the main xda site about running a FTP server on your phone, maybe that will transfer the blobs faster than MTP.

Mach3.2 said:
There is a article on the main xda site about running a FTP server on your phone, maybe that will transfer the blobs faster than MTP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey mach3.2.
FTP wouldn't help because WLAN (802.11g) can't beat USB 2.0 speeds.In fact it is quite slow for such file sizes.You 're right though in that through ES File Explorer I can send the whole Clockworkmod folder (and the blobs) normally to my PC without the "invisible files" issue I encountered with Windows Explorer and MTP.
Thanks for suggestion!

TR-909 said:
Hey mach3.2.
FTP wouldn't help because WLAN (802.11g) can't beat USB 2.0 speeds.In fact it is quite slow for such file sizes.You 're right though in that through ES File Explorer I can send the whole Clockworkmod folder (and the blobs) normally to my PC without the "invisible files" issue I encountered with Windows Explorer and MTP.
Thanks for suggestion!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With MTP, copying using FTP may just be faster
And just to mention, there's 802.11N on you devices, although it's only single stream w/ 1 antenna..

All back ups gone, wish this had a SD card

OK, so I'm used to phones with external SD cards where backing up was very easy. With the GN its a pain in the ass. After flashing a rom and factory resetting it, CWM can not find my back ups. I can see them with root explorer on the "sdcard" but CWM doesn't. I tried dragging them to /data/media/, but cwm doesn't see them.
I saved the back up to my pc before resetting as well. Where can I put it so CWM sees it?
I have the same problem with Titanium Back up. I backed up all apps and data, but after the wipe they were gone. I saved the back up on my PC but now I don't see a titanium backup folder to drag them too.
I realize this question has been asked before but all my research points me to dead ends.
Any help would be appreciated.
edit: was able to to drag an old backup to CWM, tried to restore and it failed. Phone is now stuck at Google logo :/. Factory resetting it again did not help.

update your CWM.

Zepius said:
update your CWM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't matter, I flashed back to stock and rerooted. How can I avoid this in the future. It seems that if I wipe data I lose my back ups. How can I save my back ups in the future?

Zepius said:
update your CWM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.....

If you just put your backup in data/media/ then CWM might not see it. Mine are in data/media/clockworkmod/backup/

This is why I use TWRP now.
I've had a bad CWM backup/restore operation fail. I think the dev of CWM is losing the ball and TWRP is starting to become the better recovery solution now.

deleted

akira02rex said:
This is why I use TWRP now.
I've had a bad CWM backup/restore operation fail. I think the dev of CWM is losing the ball and TWRP is starting to become the better recovery solution now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never once had any errors or failed operations or issues of any kind since using CWM Recovery. Even with my old phone (which was not technically CWM, but based on it). Its hard for me to blame CWM and say that those issues are NOT user error.

If you go from a 4.1.X ROM to a 4.2.X ROM then you will have this problem because it changes the file structure that android uses. Same would occur on TWR. You just need to move the files to the correct location after the fact.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

pyroemaniac said:
If you go from a 4.1.X ROM to a 4.2.X ROM then you will have this problem because it changes the file structure that android uses. Same would occur on TWR. You just need to move the files to the correct location after the fact.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Problem is that I tried moving the backup from the old location to the new. When I tried to restore, it failed and never was able to boot past the google logo. I had to unroot and flash back to stock. A great feature that I wish CWM had would be to direct it to where we keep the backup and just restore from there. Since the change from 4.1 to 4.2 I have read many people having similar issues.

Do you have cwm making a md5 for your backup? If not hat is the only time I've had trouble restoring. I've switched from 4.2 to 4.1 and vice versa multiple times without problems.
Also are you using cwm touch or non touch?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Also, like others have said, make sure you are using the latest CWM. You can easily get it by downloading ROM manager and selecting "Flash ClockworkMod Recovery". It will also tell you what version you have and what version is the latest.

Thanks for the help. I'm also having problems with titanium back up. I copied the backup folder before the wipe, I dragged the files back to the titanium back up folder but TB doesn't recognize the back ups.

spillner said:
Thanks for the help. I'm also having problems with titanium back up. I copied the backup folder before the wipe, I dragged the files back to the titanium back up folder but TB doesn't recognize the back ups.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In Titanium Backup, select menu then preferences. Scroll down and select backup folder location. Tap the "detect" button then whole device. It should find it.

Also I'd grab a cheap otg adapter... And a 32gig min flash drive to backup to. I have mine run overnight (otg w/charging port) it's basically like having external just deciding when you need it
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

pyroemaniac said:
If you go from a 4.1.X ROM to a 4.2.X ROM then you will have this problem because it changes the file structure that android uses. Same would occur on TWR. You just need to move the files to the correct location after the fact.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
an up to date version of CWM or TWRP will 'move' (actually rename with the new path) your file system for you so you don't have to do it manually - that's why peeps keep on telling you to update your recovery...

help!
spillner said:
Problem is that I tried moving the backup from the old location to the new. When I tried to restore, it failed and never was able to boot past the google logo. I had to unroot and flash back to stock. A great feature that I wish CWM had would be to direct it to where we keep the backup and just restore from there. Since the change from 4.1 to 4.2 I have read many people having similar issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same exact problem. When I try to move the backup to the main sdcard directory (a 3 gig file) it fails halfway through. No matter if I use adb push or windows/mtp to copy/paste the file.
Any ideas? Please help, I just want to restore my old rom with all my data. I dont care about 4.2 if I dont have my data.
EDIT:
I FIXED IT! This is how I did it. I had backed up my SD card (including clockwork backups) to my computer using adb pull. So I used clockworkmod recovery to format the SD card and /data/media. Then I started up the phone. I used windows to copy the backups to the phone. Now when I went to clockwork and tried to use the restore backup, it worked correctly. I'm now back to my old phone

I have a solution
spillner said:
OK, so I'm used to phones with external SD cards where backing up was very easy. With the GN its a pain in the ass. After flashing a rom and factory resetting it, CWM can not find my back ups. I can see them with root explorer on the "sdcard" but CWM doesn't. I tried dragging them to /data/media/, but cwm doesn't see them.
I saved the back up to my pc before resetting as well. Where can I put it so CWM sees it?
I have the same problem with Titanium Back up. I backed up all apps and data, but after the wipe they were gone. I saved the back up on my PC but now I don't see a titanium backup folder to drag them too.
I realize this question has been asked before but all my research points me to dead ends.
Any help would be appreciated.
edit: was able to to drag an old backup to CWM, tried to restore and it failed. Phone is now stuck at Google logo :/. Factory resetting it again did not help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was able to solve this problem. Check my post (above this) and the edit! Goodluck!

Reviving this thread
I am reviving this thread because I would like to know if there is any way to preserve CWM backups and Titanium Backup files when wiping data for a new ROM install.
Is it possible to create a symlink using terminal and link to a static directory which could be protected from wiping data? This is granted the shell permits symlinks.
Thoughts?