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[Q] nandroid backups and custom roms

Hi I'm new to android and just bought the verizon Galaxy Nexus (came from the iPhone but regretted buying it just months after buying it) and the new terminology is really confusing. Now that I've familiarized myself with most terms, I have a couple questions about performing certain things.
My first question is: When is a nandroid backup needed, why, and how do you perform one?
second question: If I want to flash a custom ROM, what precautions should I take?
Im sorry if any of these questions have been asked but I could not find them anywhere in the development forum.

Nandroid back up is an exact copy of what ever ROM is currently running on your phone. I.e if you are still on stock ROM then you would make a Nandroid and flash back to stock if you had bugs in a custom ROM.
To make a Nandroid you must first Root the device and install ClockWorkMod (CWM), Once installed hold both volume buttons up and down at the same time an power on the device. Then using the volume keys go to Restore mode and hit the power button, Navigate to backups and restore and then hit back up, this will make a Nandroid.
Precautions to flashing a custom ROM - Make a Nandroid of the stock ROM and you can always flash back.

But i didn't understand a thing yet... If I have a Custom ROM and want to go back to the stock one, and i have a nandroid backup of the stock one, first i have to re-flash the stock rom or i can directly restore the nandroid backup when i've still installed the custom rom?

You can directly restore the nandroid backup. It will start you over at stock just how your phone was when you backed it up
Sent from my Sensation using XDA App

Maybe you should watch a few videos on Youtube to get a bit familiar with Android and a few basics

mklass said:
Nandroid back up is an exact copy of what ever ROM is currently running on your phone. I.e if you are still on stock ROM then you would make a Nandroid and flash back to stock if you had bugs in a custom ROM.
To make a Nandroid you must first Root the device and install ClockWorkMod (CWM), Once installed hold both volume buttons up and down at the same time an power on the device. Then using the volume keys go to Restore mode and hit the power button, Navigate to backups and restore and then hit back up, this will make a Nandroid.
Precautions to flashing a custom ROM - Make a Nandroid of the stock ROM and you can always flash back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the very helpful response! Does a nandroid save absolutely everything? If not, what will I have to save manually? If I do a nandroid, is a titanium backup needed? The question above about having to revert back to the ROM before flashing the backup is interesting because I've heard that you must flash back to the previous ROM or you'll end up with a bricked phone...

azn android said:
Thanks for the very helpful response! Does a nandroid save absolutely everything? If not, what will I have to save manually? If I do a nandroid, is a titanium backup needed? The question above about having to revert back to the ROM before flashing the backup is interesting because I've heard that you must flash back to the previous ROM or you'll end up with a bricked phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes indeed a Nandroid back up saves EVERYTHING to do with apps installed + login credentials, widget layouts, notification sounds an lights, Messages, recent calls and so on. It may be a wise move to make a copy of the Internal SDcard which I do just in-case because I'm not sure if the Nandroid backup saves the Internal SDcard as it is a non removable card.
Regarding reflashing - You simply just wipe systme, data, Cache and Davlik Cache and reflash the stock Nandroid over and your device will be back to stock ROM.
The only time I would use Titanium back up is when moving from one ROM to another. Each time you flash a new ROM its basically a fresh install and will not have any of your settings saved i.e Wi-fi passwords, wallpapers, wiget layout, icons and folders, Gmail/facebook/twitter account details. Although Google offer a basic backup for your Apps none of the login credentials will be saved.
I have 2 Nandroid backups - 1 is my stock ROM, the other is my Modaco Custom ROM. Every time I flash some thing new over my Madaco ROM i.e custom Mods like new power menu or new kernel, I make a new Nandroid back up and delete the previous one. That way you will always have an exact copy of the ROM just the way you like it.
Hope this helps

Ah makes sense thank you so much! I get the overall picture but small details such as these are needed! I'm sorry if I'm annoying you with all these questions but I have a couple more: how would I make a copy of my internal sd card? My other question is that will I only need titanium backup if I plan on using more than 2 ROM's? Because I'm still a bit confused about why you would need titanium backup if nandroid does the same thing.. If there is a guide about when to delete the cache or do a wipe and stuff, sending a link or explanation would be much appreciated!

Titanium backup and nandroid
Backing up internal SD card is by simply copy pasting everything on SD to PC, Nandroid backup is complete backup of everything, ie if you restore a nandroid backup you will get everything the same before backing up, but Titanium is backup of apps, messages and call registers or contacts, you cannot restore the apps, messages and contacts from nandroid to New ROM, but you can from Titanium. Just in simple you can make titanium backup in case you want to use new ROM with all apps you previously used or use nandroid if you want just to test a new ROM and revert back to previous,
please hit thanks if it helps you or correct me if I am wrong

[Q] First time android user

I rooted my phone and flashed a custom.. My question are do i have to leave usb debugging on all the time or just when i want to transfer data from pc to cell?
And i want to change my sd card to a bigger capacity so can i copy my system backup from old sd card to new ? Will there be any problems later if i have to restore my phone?
One last question i rooted my phone through odin and flashed juggernaut rom w/ ics theme, the question is if iwant to restore my phone to stock will have to flash the stock rom or could i just restore using the backup on my sd card?
Thanks in advance for all the help guy.. Like i said i am new to android so all the help is appreciated

k786 said:
I rooted my phone and flashed a custom.. My question are do i have to leave usb debugging on all the time or just when i want to transfer data from pc to cell?
USB Debugging is only for certain operations and does not need to be on for a data transfer.
And i want to change my sd card to a bigger capacity so can i copy my system backup from old sd card to new ? Will there be any problems later if i have to restore my phone?
Make a folder on your desktop named "SD", copy the contents of your current SD. Then copy those files to your new SD, easy peasy. No problems.
One last question i rooted my phone through odin and flashed juggernaut rom w/ ics theme, the question is if iwant to restore my phone to stock will have to flash the stock rom or could i just restore using the backup on my sd card?
If you made a backup of your stock ROM you can just restore it, ClockWork will still be your recovery, however you can flash the stock recovery thru ODIN if you want it completely stock.
Thanks in advance for all the help guy.. Like i said i am new to android so all the help is appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope That Helps Bro !

iron kybers
Hey could you also let me know how to flash mods, eg. camera mod, etc? And what mods can i flash over a rom/theme without messing the rom/theme or my phone up?

Transfer exact copy of current rom to new phone

Hi, I searched and I'm sure it's already been answered but I can't seem to find my exact answer. Here's the question:
I have a rooted galaxy s3 that has a cracked screen, I got a replacement galaxy s3 that I am going to root soon...
What I need to do is make an exact copy of my rom on my cracked phone and then install it on the new phone. I want to keep all my settings, contacts, wallpaper, programs etc... exactly the same.
What is the easiest way to do this?
My recovery is CWM 5.5.. Thanks in advance.

Make a nandroid backup of the broken phone. Copy it to a pc. As long as the new device is the same you can just copy the backup to the new phone and flash using the same recovery you used on the broken phone

evoer said:
Make a nandroid backup of the broken phone. Copy it to a pc. As long as the new device is the same you can just copy the backup to the new phone and flash using the same recovery you used on the broken phone
Click to expand...
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Thank you so much for the fast reply, I went to rom manager and it had me update to ClockworkMod Recovery v6.0.1.2 I am looking for how to make a nandroid but all I see is "backup" after performing backup, I can't seem to find the new rom. no files seem big enough to have the entire rom in them. Where would I find said backup?

ericmcintire said:
Thank you so much for the fast reply, I went to rom manager and it had me update to ClockworkMod Recovery v6.0.1.2 I am looking for how to make a nandroid but all I see is "backup" after performing backup, I can't seem to find the new rom. no files seem big enough to have the entire rom in them. Where would I find said backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Scroll to the bottom of ROM Manager and choose to install an earlier version of CWM. Choose 5.5 (or whatever version you used on the current phone) flash that and it should recognize the backup you created on the first phone.

Neil Fruit said:
Scroll to the bottom of ROM Manager and choose to install an earlier version of CWM. Choose 5.5 (or whatever version you used on the current phone) flash that and it should recognize the backup you created on the first phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I meant I updated on the old cracked phone... is "backup to SD card" going to work? So, boot to the new CMW, "backup to sd", put SD card in new phone, boot to CMW, and restore from backup and I'll have exact carbon copy of old phone? Thanks again.

yeah, put the earlier version of CWM on the cracked phone and do a nandroid to the SD card. Install the same version of CWM on the new phone, put in the SD card with the nandroid from the cracked phone into the new phone, boot into recovery with the older version of CWM installed and restore the nandroid from the cracked phone. You should then be good to go.

Team Win Recovery for the win!
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

Restoring a nadroid onto another phone (same model)

Hi All,
I'm considering replacing my S3 with a different color one.
Curious if I'd be able to nandroid my device, copy that over to the new device (along with swapping in my SD card), and just restore the nandroid on the new S3.
Would this work? Would I have to root the new S3 first (obviously I'd have to install the same recovery)?
Is root something that is nandroided?
-Dirk

You'd just need to use the same recovery on the new phone, but it should work fine
Did you use philz to make the backup?

CNexus said:
You'd just need to use the same recovery on the new phone, but it should work fine
Did you use philz to make the backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup - philz.
So would I need to pre-root the new phone before restoring the other phone's nandroid (i.e. would root travel with the nandroid)?

dirkdigles said:
Yup - philz.
So would I need to pre-root the new phone before restoring the other phone's nandroid (i.e. would root travel with the nandroid)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, all you need is the recovery installed
Root is contained in the system, which is part of the nandroid so you can skip that step

[HELP] CM12 based ROM back to Stock Rom or Custom ROM

Good day!
I have been on CM12/CM12.5 and lately, I found out it's not working well for me. It's very buggy. I wanted to go back to either stock rom or one of the custom roms that I have, dr.Ketan v7 or Phoenix ROM 4.3. Is it possible? Can I request for a step by step instruction on how as this is quite new to me? Also, will my back-up (Super Back-up) SMS and Contact back-ups stored on my Internal Storage be erased once I flash the new ROM?
Thank you very much!

- Download new ROM and copy it to internal storage or sd card.
- Backup.
- Boot to recovery "twrp recommanded".
- Wipe ( Cache / System / Dilvik / Factory reset ).
- Then install zip , choose rom and flash it..
first boot may take minutes.... just wait it will boot..

Ba7rani said:
- Download new ROM and copy it to internal storage or sd card.
- Backup.
- Boot to recovery "twrp recommanded".
- Wipe ( Cache / System / Dilvik / Factory reset ).
- Then install zip , choose rom and flash it..
first boot may take minutes.... just wait it will boot..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont it need any mj5 stuff? The procedure you mentioned are like the instructions in installing CM custom rom, is it really the same? no need for Odin or something? thanks!

If you have TWRP recovery installed in your phone no need for Odin. You can download a flashable zip to phone and flash it using the twrp. Also I would suggest you to backup your sms and contacts. Infact do a full nandroid backup with twrp so if anything goes wrong you can go back to you last working state.

manubhagat said:
If you have TWRP recovery installed in your phone no need for Odin. You can download a flashable zip to phone and flash it using the twrp. Also I would suggest you to backup your sms and contacts. Infact do a full nandroid backup with twrp so if anything goes wrong you can go back to you last working state.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow! great to know. I think that this will be easier. if I'll be making a full nandroid back-up, does it cover the SMS and contact? then i'll store it on my external SD card? or is it safe to store on my internal memory just like how my Super Back-up app works?
I know that this is a bit off-topic but, what's the best/recommended ROM for Note 2 outside CM?

rowtare said:
wow! great to know. I think that this will be easier. if I'll be making a full nandroid back-up, does it cover the SMS and contact? then i'll store it on my external SD card? or is it safe to store on my internal memory just like how my Super Back-up app works?
I know that this is a bit off-topic but, what's the best/recommended ROM for Note 2 outside CM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it will cover SMS and contacts and I would recommend you store it on your SD card. I had tried DN4 rom which I liked, it had features like Note 4. Now I am also looking for another rom to try, will let you know once I do.

manubhagat said:
Yes it will cover SMS and contacts and I would recommend you store it on your SD card. I had tried DN4 rom which I liked, it had features like Note 4. Now I am also looking for another rom to try, will let you know once I do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry, will it also cover my files on my gallery? Would it also be redundant if I make a Titanium Pro back-up for my user app data then do a full nandroid back-up through TWRP Recovery mode? Thanks for accomodating all my questions! I'll look for the DN4 rom that you're referring to.

rowtare said:
sorry, will it also cover my files on my gallery? Would it also be redundant if I make a Titanium Pro back-up for my user app data then do a full nandroid back-up through TWRP Recovery mode? Thanks for accomodating all my questions! I'll look for the DN4 rom that you're referring to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on options you choose while doing nandroid backups, from twrp you can backup system, data, boot, efs, storage (internal, external). If your gallery is on internal storage then do backup internal storage as well. But since you plan to install a different rom backup you gallery, sms, contacts and other important files elsewhere may be on a computer so later on you can copy it back.
Remember nandroid backup is complete backup of your phone current state including the rom & settings while Titanium is individual backup for apps. So when you have a new rom you might want to restore individual app data from Titanium. Nandroid is for scenarios where you device becomes unusable or you don't like the new rom so you can easily go back to last rom & settings.

manubhagat said:
Depends on options you choose while doing nandroid backups, from twrp you can backup system, data, boot, efs, storage (internal, external). If your gallery is on internal storage then do backup internal storage as well. But since you plan to install a different rom backup you gallery, sms, contacts and other important files elsewhere may be on a computer so later on you can copy it back.
Remember nandroid backup is complete backup of your phone current state including the rom & settings while Titanium is individual backup for apps. So when you have a new rom you might want to restore individual app data from Titanium. Nandroid is for scenarios where you device becomes unusable or you don't like the new rom so you can easily go back to last rom & settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much! will try your inputs! Appreciate everything. Now I'm torn between leaving CM12.1 to DN4 or stay for a while. Hope I could also figure out my daily driver.

Hi I successfuly flashed the DN4 rom from CM 12.1, however I tried to restore some files from my Nandroid back-up. however, when I tried to restore everything including data and system, it removed my ROM. what should be selected to be restore if I just want to restore my phone settings and SMS and contacts?

rowtare said:
Hi I successfuly flashed the DN4 rom from CM 12.1, however I tried to restore some files from my Nandroid back-up. however, when I tried to restore everything including data and system, it removed my ROM. what should be selected to be restore if I just want to restore my phone settings and SMS and contacts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you make a backup of sms and contacts using Titanium? If yes you can try restoring from it. Also if you have Titanium pro you can open the nandroid backup and choose selective things to restore but better and quick is to restore your Titanium backup.
Note, as mentioned in earlier if you restore complete nandroid backup it will return your phone to last ROM state.