Backing up with Link2SD and Titanium Backup

Backing up with Link2SD and Titanium Backup - HTC Wildfire S

Two quick questions about backups:
What happens when you perform a Nandroid backup (via recovery) and your device is configured with Link2SD. In particular, what happens if you restore the Nandroid? What happens if you restore the Nandroid, but the partition for Link2SD is removed/changed.
When you have a device with many apps on Link2SD, what happens when you backup using Titanium Backup? As an example, suppose I wish to backup my scores for a certain game linked to the (second partition of the) SD card. The device is then wiped. Can Titanium restore the program without access to the second partition?

TSGM said:
Two quick questions about backups:
What happens when you perform a Nandroid backup (via recovery) and your device is configured with Link2SD. In particular, what happens if you restore the Nandroid? What happens if you restore the Nandroid, but the partition for Link2SD is removed/changed.
When you have a device with many apps on Link2SD, what happens when you backup using Titanium Backup? As an example, suppose I wish to backup my scores for a certain game linked to the (second partition of the) SD card. The device is then wiped. Can Titanium restore the program without access to the second partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1-If you restore the nandroid......it restores the EXT parition(the link2sd partition) as well.....The nandroid restores your phone to the EXACT state as it was before
2-Link2sd makes symbolic links to the apks that direct to the EXT partition......if any program has the need to use an Apk or data,it reaches the link which directs the program to the EXT partition
And titanium backup will restore the program even without access to the second partition

csoulr666 said:
1-If you restore the nandroid......it restores the EXT parition(the link2sd partition) as well.....The nandroid restores your phone to the EXACT state as it was before
2-Link2sd makes symbolic links to the apks that direct to the EXT partition......if any program has the need to use an Apk or data,it reaches the link which directs the program to the EXT partition
And titanium backup will restore the program even without access to the second partition
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Diggin up an old thread, because somehow I do have the same questions and came across the same scenarios of restoring apps which were linked to the external partition.
To be more specific, as guided for Link2SD, the external partition is the second primary partition (first partition needs to be primary Fat32) on the MicroSD card (SanDisk 16GB UHSC in my case) and can be ext2/3/4.
For my Galaxy S-IV running WanamLite 4.2 ROM, it gets mounted to the root folder /data/sdext2 , so in that case :
1. A nandroid backup supposedly should backup the /data/sdext2 as a normal folder, even though it is a linked mount directory and all the contents in /data/sdext2 actually reside on the 2nd partition on the MicroSD card.
2. Not sure about it, a titanium backup. It does not uses the APK , as in it does not execute the APK, it simply backups the apk file as contents. So they Link2SD is described to work is that it moves the actual APK file from the "internal" memory to the /data/sdext2 (which is actually on the MicroSD card), and leaves a symbolic link in the actual program folder. Guess I cant say that when titanium backup reaches to backup a certain app, does it or would it simply backup the symbolic link present in the original app folder or would it follow the symbolic link to find the actual APK in /data/sdext2 and then back it up.
The whole process with apps linked to /data/sdext2 in extrenal microSD card using Link2SD and trying to create a backup using Titanium backup works or should work fine , the real pain and trick comes when restoring such a mixed backup of apps (internal, SD, and external MicroSD) during a system upgrade or complete system wipe , installing a new ROM (with or without wiping the 2nd partition on MicroSD). To date i havent found a problem free solution to it and always have to make my way through to ensure apps are available.
Thanks.

csoulr666 said:
1-If you restore the nandroid......it restores the EXT parition(the link2sd partition) as well.....The nandroid restores your phone to the EXACT state as it was before
2-Link2sd makes symbolic links to the apks that direct to the EXT partition......if any program has the need to use an Apk or data,it reaches the link which directs the program to the EXT partition
And titanium backup will restore the program even without access to the second partition
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was backup nandroid on lin2sd system but i cant restore it coz i was reformat ext4 patition..so i think backup nandroid cant backup link2sd partition

Link2sd partition not seen by cwm
My cwm doesn't seem to see the link2sd partition. My cwm backup is around 3 go, and my link2sd partition is 7 go, so I assume that I need to manually backup the last one. Can't find an android tool to backup the hole partition in one (split) file.

Related

nandroid backup help,please

ok well on my Amon Ra Recovery.
there is an option for nandroid back up and theres another
option about nandroid + ext backup.
i think thats it.
but i have no clue what nandroid +ext backup.
what does ext mean? extension?
whats the extension for?
and there other options are google proprietary files back and restore.
what the heck is that?
please some give me answers.

it is for people have an multiple partitions on their SD card. ext is a type of partition

The ext partition is a linux partition type used by Dark Tremor's a2sd. Basically, if your custom rom supports a2sd, you can extend your apps installation space by creating an ext 2 (can be upgraded to ext 3 and 4) partition on the sd card besides the normal fat32 partition. If you don't have an ext partition, just do a simple nandroid backup. Otherwise do nandroid + ext backup if you do have one.

how to swap SD card and duplicate contents and partitions (A2SD+)?

Hi,
In the next few days, I will receive a new 8GB SD for my HTC Desire. But sice I'm using A2SD+, I'm wondering how I could migrate all the data + partitions to the news card? I'm aware I have to partition my new card first, but how is it possible to duplicate and copy the contents to my new card? I'm mainly concerned about the data on the 2nd partition, where all my apps are installed...

1.Do a nandroid backup of the existing rom with old card
2.Partition the new sdcard
3.Restore nandroid with the new sdcard
Nandroid will backup and restore the sd-ext partition also.

I would use gparted.
plug both sdcards in your PC
delete the partition on your new sdcard
copy both partitions over from your old sdcard
resize fat partition to fill the free space if your new sdcard is bigger
this way is quicker and easier in my opinion.
gparted is included in the ubuntu livecd if you've got one lying round. if not you can get a gparted live cd com the internets.

mercianary said:
I would use gparted.
plug both sdcards in your PC
delete the partition on your new sdcard
copy both partitions over from your old sdcard
resize fat partition to fill the free space if your new sdcard is bigger
this way is quicker and easier in my opinion.
gparted is included in the ubuntu livecd if you've got one lying round. if not you can get a gparted live cd com the internets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
imo its easer just to do a nandroid, put the new sd card in and use the advanced restore to restore the ext

thanks for the replies. So to partition, should I use the recovery to partition or can I use my computer (mac os x), since it's a linux partition that I need.
I didn't know that nandroid backup also backups my apps on the 2nd partition?
Is it also possible to use Titanium backup?

AndroHero said:
imo its easer just to do a nandroid, put the new sd card in and use the advanced restore to restore the ext
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
probably is, but i use linux on my desktop so its no hassle for me...
last time i did a nandroid of my ext partition i lost everything else on the partition (I use it for extra sdcard space and i've got debian installed there also.) the apps were saved but it didnt backup anything else on the ext partition, but i suppose this isnt a problem for most people.

[Q] Moving apps to A2SD+

Hi,
I met with a small issue regarding apps not storing correctly in ext3 partition.
I flashed with DeFrost 6.0d yesterday night and used Titanium Backup to only backup apps.
After which, I used TB again to 'Move user apps to SDcard'. Which I think breaks it, and move to SD card as I took a look at my sdcard storage, it left with 0byte. Before that I still have around few hundred mb.
My question is, right now, how do I move those apps back to the ext3? My internal memory after flashed is 144mb, but after using TB to restore apps, it shot down to 30+mb.
As a result, I am now unable to also update the apps through Market. All it says was installed unsuccessfully. I tried to move one apps back to internal memory, and update and it was successful.
How do I also know whether apps is installed using A2SD+ or Froyo appstoSD?
Thanks!

If you have a nandroid backup, you can restore from it. However it looks llike ur sd card might have got corrupted (either ext3 partition or fat32 or both). If it does not work, format and re-partition the sd card, wipe and reflash the rom and install the apps again.
If you have the latest nandroid, just format and re-partition (after backing up) the sd and restore it.
Edit: if the froyo a2sd is being used, then the apps will be in the .android_secure folder in the root of ur sd card (fat32) (in an encrypted format)

Thanks for the reply.
I found out that if I move the apps back to Phone, I will be able to update the apps and also, my internal memory will not decrease (only by .xxmb).
Does that mean that while pushing back to phone, a2sd+ actually is working on the background and the apps is actually stored in ext3 instead of phone memory?
My .android_secure folder is emptied btw.

Backing up apps

Hi everyone. I have another (probably) stupid question(s) about backing up apps prior to flashing ROM. I have installed all my apps and backed them up with Titanium. When I flash ROM it is easy to restore. All clear. Now, all my apps are on INTERNAL memory. Now I have decided to install games as well, I keep all my games on SD card.
1) Is it necessary to backup apps on SD card? Aren't they in .androidsecure folder on SD card? If so, will they be automatically visible to the new ROM/System?
2) Another variant of the question - If I use Link2SD, which doesn't move apps 2 SD like app2SD but creates links and uses second hidden EXT4 partition to store apps (apps look to the system as if they're on internal memory), is it necessary to backup these apps? Or will they become available simply by reinstalling Link2SD?
Thanx
D.

Since noone seems to know - I had to try myself. And the answers: Super Wipe script from Revolution wipes .androidsecure folder. The second SD card partition (EXT4) for use with Link2SD is not accessible, I wouldn't say wiped since it displays usage info, but all apps there are not accessible.
What remains to be tried is to make a backup with Titanium and see whether it restores everything Luckily, before trying I did full backup from recovery so I can continue experimenting with all my apps intact
D.

converting ext3 to ext4

I realise that I should have created my ext partition as ext4 not ext3 as the newer roms seem to need it. I had a search and it seems to be a bit complicated to simply convert the partition so I have a two-part question to see if what I have in mind will work.
I use Link2sd which I like and seems to work well (other than for Swype which I now have gotten rid of).
So, will this work (and I apologise for being somlistic in my approach):
I move all my linked apps to the SDcard proper using L2SD (there's not enough room on the phone's internal memory)
I copy my entire SD card to my computer just in case
I then use 4EXT and using the option "wipe or format --> EXT3" I reformat that ext3 partition as a ext4 partition
Using L2SD I relink all the apps to the new ext4.
Otherwise, if I were to reformat and repartition the entire SD card using Gparted, can I simply drag and drop the SDcard folder I backed up on my computer back onto the SD card then relink everything with L2SD?

Nandbackup
Copy all files to computer
Format sdcard to ext4
Copy files back
Nandrestore
via xda app

stankyou said:
Nandbackup
Copy all files to computer
Format sdcard to ext4
Copy files back
Nandrestore
via xda app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great - nice and easy. Should I move the apps to the main part of sd card first by unlinking them because I don't see the ext3 partition when I connect the phone to my computer.

The concept of doing a nandbackup is to copy thhe current status of the phone. Everything. So you relly don't need to do that.
Just make sure that the contents you see when you plug the phone to the computer is saved in the computer including the nandbackup you made.
The nand will basically take care of the files on the ext part when you restore it.
via xda app

stankyou said:
Nandbackup
Copy all files to computer
Format sdcard to ext4
Copy files back
Nandrestore
via xda app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If using 4ext you only need to convert ext to ext4(it backs up automatically). If you restore a nand made with ext3 you also loose the ext4 partition so you also need to manually convert all nand backups to ext4 using 4ext. Hope this makes sense...

nicklashidegard said:
If using 4ext you only need to convert ext to ext4(it backs up automatically). If you restore a nand made with ext3 you also loose the ext4 partition so you also need to manually convert all nand backups to ext4 using 4ext. Hope this makes sense...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It makes sense but I'm starting to get a bit confused as to what I now need to do.
What you're saying is the nand backup will put the phone back how it was to start with, ie the ext4 partition will revert to ext3? So what is the best way to do all of this? When you say "you also need to manually convert all nand backups to ext4 using 4ext. " how do I do that and do you mean before or after I restore the nand backup?
To make this easier, can I not simply forget the nand backup and do this: unlink all my apps with L2sd and put them onto the sd card like in native apps2sd. Then put the whole sd card on a folder on my computer, wipe and repartiton the sd card with ext4, move the whole folder back onto the fat32 partition and the use L2sd to relink all the apps onto the new ext4 partition?

simon12 said:
It makes sense but I'm starting to get a bit confused as to what I now need to do.
What you're saying is the nand backup will put the phone back how it was to start with, ie the ext4 partition will revert to ext3? So what is the best way to do all of this? When you say "you also need to manually convert all nand backups to ext4 using 4ext. " how do I do that and do you mean before or after I restore the nand backup?
To make this easier, can I not simply forget the nand backup and do this: unlink all my apps with L2sd and put them onto the sd card like in native apps2sd. Then put the whole sd card on a folder on my computer, wipe and repartiton the sd card with ext4, move the whole folder back onto the fat32 partition and the use L2sd to relink all the apps onto the new ext4 partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Put simply:
boot into 4ext recovery.
go into tools/Convert or change a backup --> ext4
convert ext
It will automatically backup ext, convert it to ext4 and then restore ext again (no data loss).
Delete all old NAND backups and start again (otherwise you'll restore your ext3 partition) or you can convert backups with 4ext (from ext3 to ext4).
Simples :victory:

nicklashidegard said:
Put simply:
boot into 4ext recovery.
go into tools/Convert or change a backup --> ext4
convert ext
It will automatically backup ext, convert it to ext4 and then restore ext again (no data loss).
Delete all old NAND backups and start again (otherwise you'll restore your ext3 partition) or you can convert backups with 4ext (from ext3 to ext4).
Simples :victory:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely brilliant - thanks! Done that and it worked.
How do I delete an old Nand backup - I'm looking in 4ext but can't see anything obvious or do I simply do another backup and that wipes the old one?

simon12 said:
Absolutely brilliant - thanks! Done that and it worked.
How do I delete an old Nand backup - I'm looking in 4ext but can't see anything obvious or do I simply do another backup and that wipes the old one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using the 4ext app go into manage backups or using a file explorer go into sdcard/clockworkmod/backup and delete the corresponding folder

nicklashidegard said:
Using the 4ext app go into manage backups or using a file explorer go into sdcard/clockworkmod/backup and delete the corresponding folder
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have booted the phone up but now it does not want to recognise the ext partition. Links2sd suggests that the device may not support ext4 yet I know lots of Desire owners on here have that. I guess I have to revert to get my apps back that are currently showing as not loaded.

Just convert back to ext3 again using 4ext.. kernel might not support ext4

nicklashidegard said:
Just convert back to ext3 again using 4ext.. kernel might not support ext4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn. Oh well, thanks for the help anyway.
Anyone know what kernel I would need and how would I go about installing it? Is this a fairly easy and safe thing to do?

simon12 said:
Damn. Oh well, thanks for the help anyway.
Anyone know what kernel I would need and how would I go about installing it? Is this a fairly easy and safe thing to do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd say just leave it as ext3. I've never come across a ROM that don't support ext3....

nicklashidegard said:
I'd say just leave it as ext3. I've never come across a ROM that don't support ext3....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking of installing this one: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1315961 I hear it is quite a stable one and that's most important to me. It says that ext4 is required for the ROM:
(Q) I get an error ”can’t Mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 (File Exists)”.
(A) That error and others like it are generally caused by a corrupt ext partition on your SD Card. The solution is to use 4EXT recovery, gParted, or a similar tool to reformat the ext partition to ext4. Leave the FAT32 partition alone and you shouldn’t lose any data. Don't use Windows-based partition tools!
Some suggest using ext3 as it is a known quantity and most ROMS will boot with an ext3 partition, however Runnymede AIO requires an ext4 partition.
and for AD2SDX to work (links you to here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18911182&postcount=1784 )
I'll have to look for another instead.

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