So, I've gotten pretty use to backing up the phone, wiping, flashing new rom even if it is just an update to my existing rom, and then restoring just the Data from my backup. Now, if I decide to go to a totally different ROM, I know it is almost required to do a wipe before flashing, but will I still be able to restore Data without it screwing up the phone? And just for clarification, I would be switching from one ICS ROM to another ICS ROM.
Threads from other phone sub-forums seem to indicate there should be no problem.
Not really. In my experience I never had issues with this, even when going back and forth from Gingerbread to ICS (I didn't restore data for some apps in those cases, though).
App data or system data? Never had a problem restoring app data between different ROMs using Titanium. Restoring any system data is almost sure to create random and possibly severe bugs. Its only okay to keep system data between different builds of the same ROM, and even then its not 100% foolproof.
There shouldn't be a problem with restoring app data from previous backups. I do this all the time with GOSMS. It's System Data that you should never restore unless the dev explicitly says you can. To save yourself the headache of problems, bugs, incompatibility and possible bootloops, always a good idea to keep system data separate between builds, updates and flashes unless told otherwise.
If in doubt keep your backup just in case and if you do have problems reflash then start restoring data one app at a time... Or a few at a time if you have a lot. I wouldnt restor any Gapps as they are all stored to your gmail anyway.
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk
I should specify I am not using Titanium. When I restore, it is from the cwm recovery advanced restore menu, and there is only a single Data option.
If you're talking about CWM "restore data" option then it's system data so what redpoint73 said applies.
redpoint73 said:
App data or system data? Never had a problem restoring app data between different ROMs using Titanium. Restoring any system data is almost sure to create random and possibly severe bugs. Its only okay to keep system data between different builds of the same ROM, and even then its not 100% foolproof.
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Click to collapse
OK, thats what I was trying to confirm, I was not sure what "Data" meant in the recovery advanced restore option.
Thanks!
Related
quick question, is there anything wrong with going back into cwm after i flash say unofficial cm and flash my data back for apps n what not? or is this gonna be conflicting for some reason? im jus trying to figure out how you guys bounce thru roms so easily. thanks
wait for someone else to confirm this but i think as long as the backup is from the same type of ROM(sense or not) then you may be able to perform an advanced restore and get the data, but personally i have not needed to try this as the google restore feature seems to work fine, and i don't mind having to re-setup the options in my apps each time.
also you can always try not wiping the phone when you update, then your data is still there and you will only need to wipe if you get stuck in a boot loop or something is acting funny.
obviously you should still have a backup of your phone in working condition or else you could ens up seriously boned
The entire reason you're supposed to wipe the user data before flashing a different type of ROM is because the data is incompatible and it could cause crashes/freezes. So if you flash back the data after you're done, then you're defeating the purpose of wiping the user data, thus possibly making the ROM unstable again.
gotcha. thanks for the response.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
You should be able to use titanium backup to do this for all downloaded apps.
sundar2012 said:
You should be able to use titanium backup to do this for all downloaded apps.
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Click to collapse
Am I understanding this right? If I have everything setup the way I want it, apps dl'd and on whatever homescreen, settings set and so on and I use Titanium Backup, then flash a custom rom, say like CM 6.1, I can use Titanium Backup to put everything back layout wise the way I had it without having to redl apps and redo settings?
So, I have been having some major problems with my phone. Tons of force closes, major lag times and things like that. I have tried a handful of different ROMs, including CM7, the nightlys, Miui and a few others. I hear great stories about people and rooting and I want to be one of them. I am tired of all the hassles. So, when talking to someone in the office who has had no issues with his Droid 2, he suggested, and said he has read, the best thing to do is go back to stock, unroot, as they will remove all possible conflicting files that could be causing problems. Then, re-root, and install whatever.
Any thoughts on that? Generally, my process for installing a new ROM, I boot into recovery manually, clean cache, clean Dalvik, then install ROM. Then, I restore apps and data from Titanium and restore the Nandroid from Rom Manager. The past couple times, I have done the factory reset, but eventually, a day or 2, it goes back to the same problems. Maybe, I should just try it without the restoring the Nandroid (even though it is a backup from when there was no problems) and the app data from Titanium. I assume, you know what happens when you assume, that both the Nandroid and Titanium backups are clean as I backed up when I was having no issues.
So, any thoughts here? Unroot, then re-root or is there something else I should try to wipe everything clean to solve the problems? Currently, on the original Droid Incredible (got it on the release day, so the first screen), running 2.2 when I rooted, currently on Miui 1.9.16, but just installed it 10 minutes ago and was running the Cyanogen nightly's before hand..
Thanks in advance
When flashing a new ROM you should always do the following before flashing, especially if you're flashing completely different ROMs:
Wipe user data/factory reset
Mounts and Storage - format /system, format /boot, format /data, format /cache
Advanced - Wipe Dalvik, Wipe Battery Stats
Then flash the ROM zip.
Try not restoring apps and data from Titanium, as restoring the app is okay, but restoring data can cause unwanted things to happen more times than not.
When you say restore nandroid from ROM Manager, what do you mean here? A nandroid is backing up your ROM via ROM Manager, which gets stored to your clockworkmod/backups folder...you shouldn't be pulling anything from that...
If you flash the RUU to return to stock and re-root, make sure you use the 2.2 RUU. If you use the 2.3, you need to be s-off to get rooted again. If you use the 2.3 RUU and you're s-on, no root for you...come back one year.
The ONLY time you want to restore a nandroid backup is if you've wiped your device clean and want to return to a previously backed up setup. You should never restore a nandroid backup over a ROM you've just installed. If that's what you're doing, that's your problem. You're effectively replacing whatever ROM you just flashed in it's entirety.
As for Titanium, I restore apps with data all the time, but system data should almost never be restored as it's OS and app version specific. Basically, if it's green, it's safe. If it's red, don't mess with it. If it's white, like a user app, app and data are usually safe to restore.
ROM Manager is a bigger pain in the ass than it's worth and is useless for anything more than flashing a new recovery. If my recovery is working reliably, I never install ROM manager. Most devs will tell you to never flash with ROM manager anyways. Any function that ROM Manager performs can be performed in recovery in a safer, more reliable fashion.
loonatik78 said:
The ONLY time you want to restore a nandroid backup is if you've wiped your device clean and want to return to a previously backed up setup. You should never restore a nandroid backup over a ROM you've just installed. If that's what you're doing, that's your problem. You're effectively replacing whatever ROM you just flashed in it's entirety.
As for Titanium, I restore apps with data all the time, but system data should almost never be restored as it's OS and app version specific. Basically, if it's green, it's safe. If it's red, don't mess with it. If it's white, like a user app, app and data are usually safe to restore.
ROM Manager is a bigger pain in the ass than it's worth and is useless for anything more than flashing a new recovery. If my recovery is working reliably, I never install ROM manager. Most devs will tell you to never flash with ROM manager anyways. Any function that ROM Manager performs can be performed in recovery in a safer, more reliable fashion.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the correction, I forgot to put system in there...restoring system data is not good.
+1 on ROM Manager issues, always get a zip file of the ROM, and flash through recovery.
RMarkwald said:
When flashing a new ROM you should always do the following before flashing, especially if you're flashing completely different ROMs:
Wipe user data/factory reset
Mounts and Storage - format /system, format /boot, format /data, format /cache
Advanced - Wipe Dalvik, Wipe Battery Stats
Then flash the ROM zip.
When you say restore nandroid from ROM Manager, what do you mean here? A nandroid is backing up your ROM via ROM Manager, which gets stored to your clockworkmod/backups folder...you shouldn't be pulling anything from that....
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Click to collapse
That is pretty much what I do, except for the Mounts and Storage parts.
For the Nandroid part, maybe I have my terminology mixed up. I do a restore from Rom Manager...which I thought was called the Nandroid backup. It seems to me, that it makes sure the launcher and things are set up right.
loonatik78 said:
The ONLY time you want to restore a nandroid backup is if you've wiped your device clean and want to return to a previously backed up setup. You should never restore a nandroid backup over a ROM you've just installed. If that's what you're doing, that's your problem. You're effectively replacing whatever ROM you just flashed in it's entirety.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I rarely use the ROM Manager to do anything, just restore (what I thought was called the Nandroid) to make the launcher the way things were..
But it seems like that is my problem. I am installed the new ROM, then just restoring a back up of all the problems. DUH.. Guess I should try it all without restoring anything from the ROM Manager and see how it all works. That will be my project tonight..
Thanks
MikeDaub said:
That is pretty much what I do, except for the Mounts and Storage parts.
For the Nandroid part, maybe I have my terminology mixed up. I do a restore from Rom Manager...which I thought was called the Nandroid backup. It seems to me, that it makes sure the launcher and things are set up right.
I rarely use the ROM Manager to do anything, just restore (what I thought was called the Nandroid) to make the launcher the way things were..
But it seems like that is my problem. I am installed the new ROM, then just restoring a back up of all the problems. DUH.. Guess I should try it all without restoring anything from the ROM Manager and see how it all works. That will be my project tonight..
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to restore your launcher, try it through Titanium Backup. If that doesn't do it, and I can't promise you it will work correctly, you're probably SOL on restoring a launcher unless some other backup app does the job better.
loonatik78 said:
If you want to restore your launcher, try it through Titanium Backup. If that doesn't do it, and I can't promise you it will work correctly, you're probably SOL on restoring a launcher unless some other backup app does the job better.
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Click to collapse
I am fine with not restoring it, I just thought "that is what you should do".
I don't venture too far from the regular settings, so it isn't a pain to do, just thought I should...
RMarkwald said:
When flashing a new ROM you should always do the following before flashing, especially if you're flashing completely different ROMs:
Wipe user data/factory reset
Mounts and Storage - format /system, format /boot, format /data, format /cache
Advanced - Wipe Dalvik, Wipe Battery Stats
Then flash the ROM zip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One more quick question since I am thinking of it....is this same process if doing nightly updates from Cyanogen, or just is I change from say, Cyanogen to Miui or something??
Thanks again for all the help..
MikeDaub said:
One more quick question since I am thinking of it....is this same process if doing nightly updates from Cyanogen, or just is I change from say, Cyanogen to Miui or something??
Thanks again for all the help..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Generally, CM nightlies can be flashed over top of each other without a wipe since the vast majority of the code is identical. However, if an issue crops up, a wipe and flash might be a good thing to try. Probably won't help though, since nightlies, by definition, are experimental.
Always wipe and flash when moving from one ROM type to another.
loonatik78 said:
Generally, CM nightlies can be flashed over top of each other without a wipe since the vast majority of the code is identical. However, if an issue crops up, a wipe and flash might be a good thing to try. Probably won't help though, since nightlies, by definition, are experimental.
Always wipe and flash when moving from one ROM type to another.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's kinda what I figured, but I thought it was worth asking so I don't completely wipe the whole thing every time I install an update. The nightly I am on now seems to be working, so the new plan is keep whats working until it doesn't work anymore, or some major update comes along..
Thanks again for the help. I really appreciate it.
If the issue continues you can try copying everything off of your SD card to your PC and reformatting your SD card. Remember to use FAT32 format. Then copy everything back to your SD card. I've read threads were this helped the force close issues for many people - Just a thought.
jackbtha1 said:
If the issue continues you can try copying everything off of your SD card to your PC and reformatting your SD card. Remember to use FAT32 format. Then copy everything back to your SD card. I've read threads were this helped the force close issues for many people - Just a thought.
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Click to collapse
Certainly worth a thought. The card that is in it now came from a different phone. I am pretty sure I formatted it when I first plugged it in, but it can't hurt to try...
Thanks
So heres a noob question.
If I use (Rouge currently) to do a "backup" under options. And then start flashing ROMs, if I restore that backup I did, does that get me 100% back to the point of when I did the backup? Meaning, it restores -everything- like it never happened?
I've always wondered this, so if I'm flashing things, I can always get back to my fully stable setup exactly like it never happened by restoring? Or does the backup via Rouge( or CWM, or whatever ) only back certain things and I'll have to do more setup after restoring to get back up and running exactly like I had the phone before?
Sorry for the noob question, just want to make sure I got this straight.
It will restore everything 100%. You also have the option to restore other partitions separate, system, boot, and the most important , data.
Sent from a phone with kNOw CIQ ...
TeamERA said:
It will restore everything 100%. You also have the option to restore other partitions separate, system, boot, and the most important , data.
Sent from a phone with kNOw CIQ ...
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Click to collapse
This is what I assumed, thank you for the confirmation!
Here is a follow up question:
If I do a Titianium Backup for apps and sys data. Then I flash a new ROM, I usually do a Titanium restore of both Sys and App data ... It gets me up and running the quickest.
1.) Is this safe, or will sys data mess with the ROM
2.) Is there a better, more supportable way to do this?
RubenRybnik said:
Here is a follow up question:
If I do a Titianium Backup for apps and sys data. Then I flash a new ROM, I usually do a Titanium restore of both Sys and App data ... It gets me up and running the quickest.
1.) Is this safe, or will sys data mess with the ROM
2.) Is there a better, more supportable way to do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) It's always best NOT to restore system data when flashing a new rom. All your system data is specific to the rom you are flashing, so you don't want anything to conflict with the new data you are using now. Will cause a lot of problems in the long run.
2) TB is the best way to restore apps and apps+data that I know of. MyBackUp Pro is another good one, but TB works best for me. I'm sure there are others in the market also.
And I moved this to the Q&A section.
Well, this is what I thought too in fact I rooted my phone, installed CWM and the next step I performed was a nandroid backup thinking I could get my stock setup back if I ever wanted it. All was good. Then I flashed for a while and found a setup I liked and before proceeding I did another nandroid. THEN a while later I got to a point were I found myself, for time purposes wanting to fall back to my second backup so I thought: "hey, lets try restoring from this nandroid file I so maticulously spent time creating"!
That's when, for me at least, this whole nandroid Backup/Restore exercise falls on its face. Because when I tried to restore the backup I made it gave me a MD5 error..and I know there's a workaround that you can use by modifying the file I think that's basically what your doing? I didn't try it, I figured if the file needed to be modified before it could be restored what was the point anyway.? I just used my plan B which was Titanium Backup.
Anyway I keep my eyes open for an answer to this mystery, I think it has to do with the different CWM versions from one ROM to the next? Still not sure though?
Oh and hopefully this post wont just get rudely deleted like my first post on the same subject did? I made the same mistake you have by posting in the "General" area instead of the Q&A section!
the only time I have had a Android fail for md5 was when I changed the name of the backup. so maybe that's what you did?
RubenRybnik said:
So heres a noob question.
If I use (Rouge currently) to do a "backup" under options. And then start flashing ROMs, if I restore that backup I did, does that get me 100% back to the point of when I did the backup? Meaning, it restores -everything- like it never happened?
I've always wondered this, so if I'm flashing things, I can always get back to my fully stable setup exactly like it never happened by restoring? Or does the backup via Rouge( or CWM, or whatever ) only back certain things and I'll have to do more setup after restoring to get back up and running exactly like I had the phone before?
Sorry for the noob question, just want to make sure I got this straight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have done many restores and everything comes back just like it was before.
---------- Post added at 12:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:28 PM ----------
RubenRybnik said:
Here is a follow up question:
If I do a Titianium Backup for apps and sys data. Then I flash a new ROM, I usually do a Titanium restore of both Sys and App data ... It gets me up and running the quickest.
1.) Is this safe, or will sys data mess with the ROM
2.) Is there a better, more supportable way to do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only use Titanium backup to backup and restore specific apps on my phone. I use CWM for the system.
patrao_n said:
the only time I have had a Android fail for md5 was when I changed the name of the backup. so maybe that's what you did?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope. I followed step by step...pretty hard to mess it up with qbking77 video's? Is there any other possible reason, you can think of?..and really, how many people test out thier restores? I'm just wondering?
Just one quick point of clarification regarding the Nandroid backup/restore. From what I've read, the restore will bring back your kernel and ROM but NOT the modem version. If the modem is important to you you'll have to flash that back separately.
Magicspell said:
Just one quick point of clarification regarding the Nandroid backup/restore. From what I've read, the restore will bring back your kernel and ROM but NOT the modem version. If the modem is important to you you'll have to flash that back separately.
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Click to collapse
Good point ... Thanks to everyone for the replies, got a much better understanding on the backup/restore process in both cwm and titanium now ) Thanks!
One more question about the MD5 ... So you can not change the name of the backup of CWM? I didn't think name change would effect how MD5 is generated.
RubenRybnik said:
Here is a follow up question:
If I do a Titianium Backup for apps and sys data. Then I flash a new ROM, I usually do a Titanium restore of both Sys and App data ... It gets me up and running the quickest.
1.) Is this safe, or will sys data mess with the ROM
2.) Is there a better, more supportable way to do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can also use your latest nandroid back up to restore data. I just tried this as a test with my wife's phone (i also did a separate back up in TB just in case) and it works well.
She was on one of Calks ROMs, and I wanted to switch her to the bare version of the ROM. I wiped data/cache/dalvik, installed the bare rom and rebooted. Once booted, I verified everything was gone (apps, contacts, sms, settings, ect). Then I went back to CWM and went to back up and restore->advanced restore-> restore data. When I booted back up, all her apps, contacts, sms, settings were back. I guess this would be a quick and dirty way to restore your stuff when jumping between a lot of ROMS.
s9amme said:
You can also use your latest nandroid back up to restore data. I just tried this as a test with my wife's phone (i also did a separate back up in TB just in case) and it works well.
She was on one of Calks ROMs, and I wanted to switch her to the bare version of the ROM. I wiped data/cache/dalvik, installed the bare rom and rebooted. Once booted, I verified everything was gone (apps, contacts, sms, settings, ect). Then I went back to CWM and went to back up and restore->advanced restore-> restore data. When I booted back up, all her apps, contacts, sms, settings were back. I guess this would be a quick and dirty way to restore your stuff when jumping between a lot of ROMS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So just to be clear ... "Restore Data" in CWM is just Apps and Apps data, no system data is restored correct?
RubenRybnik said:
So just to be clear ... "Restore Data" in CWM is just Apps and Apps data, no system data is restored correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes on apps and data.
I mean will it cause problems with the new rom if I restore apps + data using titanium backup from a different rom
I always restore *user* apps/data with tb after flashing a new ROM. If an app acts up, I wipe its data. If it still acts up, I delete it. But usually everything works OK. I don't restore *system* apps/data because it causes too many problems.
Ryu234 said:
I mean will it cause problems with the new rom if I restore apps + data using titanium backup from a different rom
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Click to collapse
Personal experience I have never had any problems restoring just user apps from one ROM to another or even from one phone to another. Many people seem to have some thing against Titanium Backup but I strongly suspect they are holding it wrong.
I'm just wondering, If I backup my tab (data files, apps, etc.) using CWM, then flash CM12, can I advance restore my apps and data files into it without problems? Im afraid I don't want to download again all of my apps after installing CM12..
nephilim1 said:
I'm just wondering, If I backup my tab (data files, apps, etc.) using CWM, then flash CM12, can I advance restore my apps and data files into it without problems? Im afraid I don't want to download again all of my apps after installing CM12..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most likely not. Pretty much any other base (you didn't say what you were coming from. CM11?) going to CM12, migrating user data like that (same as a "dirty flash") will cause major issues (not booting into OS is the likely result).
Just use Titanium Backup to migrate your apps and app data. That worked fine for me going to CM12.
redpoint73 said:
Most likely not. Pretty much any other base (you didn't say what you were coming from. CM11?) going to CM12, migrating user data like that (same as a "dirty flash") will cause major issues (not booting into OS is the likely result).
Just use Titanium Backup to migrate your apps and app data. That worked fine for me going to CM12.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I forgot, I came from stock. By the way, I decided to download again the apps that I needed. Thanks anyway for the info.
nephilim1 said:
I forgot, I came from stock.
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Click to collapse
Going from Sense to CM12, its definitely a bad idea to try to migrate data. Downloading the apps again is certainly an option; although a cumbersome one, and of course this just restores apps and not the app data (may or may not be a big deal in your case). For anyone flashing ROMs, I'd recommend checking out Titanium Backup for very reliable and easy backup and restores of apps and app data. And its worth it to pay the few dollars to get the Pro key to unlock all the features, including the batch functions, which allow you to backup and restore all your apps (or filter as you like) with just a few taps.
In particular Titanium Pro can extract apps and app data from Nandroid backups.