Hello XDA, I am in need of great assistance regarding backups and restores, I am somewhat new and not very experienced with this. I'll keep this short.
Here is what I would like to do:
I have a Galaxy Nexus from the Play store and running 4.2.1 from a stock google image I flashed, I have it set up the way I want to with all my apps, etc. Turns out I don't like the performance from this version on my phone as it feels slugish so I want to either try a 4.2.1 ROM or go back to 4.1.2 but I don't want to set up everything again, both having to download the apps and setting them up the way I have them right now, same with my phone settings (brightness, keyboard settings, etc).
Can I do that and if so how? I have a pro version of Titanium Backup but having my backup restored on another rom breaks it and puts me in a boot loop upon reboot. I also tried making a nandroid backup but upon restoring it brought everything back, including the old ROM! Upon some reading I found out about the advance restore and to just restore data but that puts me back in the same boot loop on the new ROM.
Ultimately what I want to do is restore my phone and app settings in a simple way, I don't care about to manually downloading the apps but I do want to restore their settings and phone's settings in an easy way so I can safely try out new ROMs without having to set up every configuration again.
Please help me I've struggled with this for a while and it always keeps me from trying roms.
dont restore system apps/settings, that can cause you to get bootloops... you can try this if you want
- Backup your current setup either with TWRP or CWM (I prefer TWRP)
- Do a full wipe (cache/dalvik cache, system and factory reset)
- Flash the new ROM, gapps and your preferred kernel
- Restore ONLY data from the backup your made
- Reboot and enjoy
k786 said:
dont restore system apps/settings, that can cause you to get bootloops... you can try this if you want
- Backup your current setup either with TWRP or CWM (I prefer TWRP)
- Do a full wipe (cache/dalvik cache, system and factory reset)
- Flash the new ROM, gapps and your preferred kernel
- Restore ONLY data from the backup your made
- Reboot and enjoy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that's exactly what I did the last time, I created a backup in CWM, performed a full wipe, flashed the ROM, etc, booted up the phone, then went back into recovery and restored the data only from the advanced restore in CWM and that caused me to be stuck in a boot loop when I rebooted.
Could really use some help hopefully someone else can respond.
Zevh said:
I think that's exactly what I did the last time, I created a backup in CWM, performed a full wipe, flashed the ROM, etc, booted up the phone, then went back into recovery and restored the data only from the advanced restore in CWM and that caused me to be stuck in a boot loop when I rebooted.
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Click to collapse
Restoring the /data partition is the problem, it contains the settings for both system and user apps. Probably some system settings are the issue.
Just use TB to restore user apps and their data and then selectively restore system data (NOT the system apps.) I usually restore only SMS/MMS, call logs, and WiFi access points.
Restore system data one or two apps at a time, rebooting after each restore. If bootloop or FC's occur then you know what not to restore next time. Just clear data for the effected app and continue.
Also, in TB the xml restore is usually a safer bet where it's available.
cschmitt said:
Restoring the /data partition is the problem, it contains the settings for both system and user apps. Probably some system settings are the issue.
Just use TB to restore user apps and their data and then selectively restore system data (NOT the system apps.) I usually restore only SMS/MMS, call logs, and WiFi access points.
Restore system data one or two apps at a time, rebooting after each restore. If bootloop or FC's occur then you know what not to restore next time. Just clear data for the effected app and continue.
Also, in TB the xml restore is usually a safer bet where it's available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This did it! Tried it yesterday and it worked, I got almost everything back, thanks!
Related
So I got Cm7 running using rom manager, used titanium backup to restore apps + system data, then fixed permissions. For the last 10 minutes it's been stuck in the CM7 screen....
What should I do? Can I pull the battery without harm? Does it take that long to boot after fixing permissions?
Edit: pulled the batter and am trying to boot into recovery...going to wipe the dalvik/cache again.
Edit2: same thing for the last 6 minutes....dang. I guess I'll just nandroid in 5 minutes if it doesn't' get out of it.
Edit3: going to nandroid back. I might try it again later flashing from a Zip instead of using rom manager. I probably won't restore system data either next time. If anyone has any suggestions though please post them.
Edit4: not good...phone is bootlooping cyangen screen after nandroid.
Edit5: Cleared factordata, cache, and when I go to clear dalvik I'm getting
e unknown volume for path sd-ext
Any ideas here?
Edit6: I'm reflashing 6.1.2....okay...got through the boot and now I'm setting up the phone.
You may need to wipe everything now and reinstall fresh. Do a search for Calkulin's tools here and download the format all zip and put it on the root of your sdcard. Flash it just like you would a rom from recovery. It will wipe boot, data, cache and system. Then try flashing cm7 from recovery. Usually boot loops happen because of there not being enough space on one of your partitions like system or boot etc.
housry23 said:
You may need to wipe everything now and reinstall fresh. Do a search for Calkulin's tools here and download the format all zip and put it on the root of your sdcard. Flash it just like you would a rom from recovery. It will wipe boot, data, cache and system. Then try flashing cm7 from recovery. Usually boot loops happen because of there not being enough space on one of your partitions like system or boot etc.
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Click to collapse
Will do....I know I had been installing apps to the SD card using CM6 and when I first got CM7 up it said my phone memory was low. I thought it would say on the SD card.
I'll probably try tomorrow again if I get the courage and I most definitely will DL Calkun's tools.
Thanks!
I'm going to guess the nandroid didn't work either because of the phone memory low issue?
I would reccomend re-doing what you did originally, except when restoring with titanium, do NOT restore system settings, only apps and data. That's probably the cause.
teh roxxorz said:
I would reccomend re-doing what you did originally, except when restoring with titanium, do NOT restore system settings, only apps and data. That's probably the cause.
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Click to collapse
Wiped manually, installed from zip, and didn't restore system data. CM7 has been running for about an hour now.
Thanks everyone!
Glad that you got it working man.
Is ANY system data safe to restore from Titanium?
Had the exact same problem myself... I'm restoring my Myn nandroid as we speak, and I'll mess with it more tomorrow.
Does anyone know what (if any) system data is safe to restore from Titanium? I just want my contacts and text messages basically... I don't know exactly what caused the problem from Titanium since I made sure not to check any of the Sense-related items.
For about 20 min after I pulled the battery I couldn't get the phone to do anything except vibrate three times when I tried to get into recovery. Eventually coaxed it into the bootloader where I selected to boot into recovery to nandroid back. Almost had a heart attack!
phsteve said:
Had the exact same problem myself... I'm restoring my Myn nandroid as we speak, and I'll mess with it more tomorrow.
Does anyone know what (if any) system data is safe to restore from Titanium? I just want my contacts and text messages basically... I don't know exactly what caused the problem from Titanium since I made sure not to check any of the Sense-related items.
For about 20 min after I pulled the battery I couldn't get the phone to do anything except vibrate three times when I tried to get into recovery. Eventually coaxed it into the bootloader where I selected to boot into recovery to nandroid back. Almost had a heart attack!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should never restore system settings.
For contacts, open accounts and sync, tap your google account, then sync contacts, and that'll be done.
For texts, people highly recommend sms backup or my backup. Then backup apps and data, then restore only apps and data, and you'll be set.
My gf froze something in tb that she wasnt supposed to, and now whenever you slide down the lockscreen she gets a force close (process com.android.phone) so the phone is unusable. Is there anything I can do about this in recovery?
If you can get the phone to boot, you can defrost it if you can launch TB. Uninstalling Titanium Backup will not automatically defrost the app.
You can reflash the rom without wiping data (wipe cache & dalvik) to get your system apps back to normal. If you've flashed any mods or modified any system files then you'll lose those changes and you'll also need to reflash your kernel if you've flashed a different one.
plainjane said:
If you can get the phone to boot, you can defrost it if you can launch TB. Uninstalling Titanium Backup will not automatically defrost the app.
You can reflash the rom without wiping data (wipe cache & dalvik) to get your system apps back to normal. If you've flashed any mods or modified any system files then you'll lose those changes and you'll also need to reflash your kernel if you've flashed a different one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I was gonna reflash the rom as a last resort. Just hoping there was some way I could undo changes tb made through recovery or something.
I noticed in TWRP 2.5 that there is the option to backup/restore 'Preload'. I have also read that the ROMs based on TMo 4.1.2 need preload working properly to boot, unlike previous ROMs. Should that option to include it be checked when backing up and restoring the stock 4.1.2-based ROMs?
I've also noticed that the the Preload size is 0 when backing up other roms in TWRP, so I haven't concerned myself with it. Before TWRP 2.5, I knew nothing of preload (I guess I still don't really know anything). Any thoughts?
Well, I guess I'll find out what to do by trial (and error?). I backed up JMT JB3 (including preload) to flash the Koodo update and run it for a while. I'll restore it later on and see how it boots.
I'm not sure how it works. I'm on JMT3 myself right now. I used ODIN to update to the official release when it came out, and it was doing fine, but I wanted to try some of the custom ROMs out there that are based on it. I was rooted with CWM, and did the usual backup that has worked since I can remember. I don't remember what ROM I tried next, but I didn't like it much, so I restored my back up. It restored correctly, or so I thought. After some use I started getting FC here and there. I couldn't fix it, so I did a factory reset from within the phones settings, not through recovery. As soon as it tried to reboot I kept getting a boot loop. I never was able to get it booted. I was able to boot to recovery, flash cache and wipe scripts that were recommended, and flashed JMT3. All is good now. I know trying a cache wipe or factory reset through CWM won't work since I tried it before, so I didn't even try it for this one.
So long story short I don't know how CWM (or any recovery) handles the preload. All I know is the scripts work to flash clean, or wipe cache/dalvik/fix perms, but I haven't gotten them to work after restoring a back up. My thinking is to be careful until someone figures it out because I don't think backing up will help if I ever need to. I'll have to start fresh each time I want to flash anything.
Here are the scripts I'm talking about: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2235141
Thanks for sharing your experience. I have those same scripts handy - had to use them when I flashed JMT3.
If or when I restore, I figure I'll wipe my current preload and restore the preload in my JMT backup, then flash the Infamous cache wipe script (or equivalent function in recovery if TWRP develops something similar). I'll post again to share my results when the time comes.
I ended up wanting to restore old stock 4.0.4 in TWRP 2.5.0.0 recovery. Part of me wanted to do it just so I could test the backup/restore of the preload.
I first backed up my current rom (stock Koodo/Telus 4.1.2) with the cache and preload included. I then wiped data, system, caches and preload, and ran the restore of my old backup. The 4.0.4 booted just fine. Once I was done checking for the info that I wanted, I went back to recovery and wiped all the same stuff (everything except internal and external SD) under advanced wipe options. I then restored my stock Koodo/Telus 4.1.2 backup. It seems to be running fine now although I haven't experimented much to test for any FCs. It didn't seem to have any issues booting at least.
I may have been doing some excessive wiping - I assume restoring a partition also formats it before overwriting it. I'm not even sure I needed to wipe anything to restore 4.0.4, but I didn't want a preload (110 mb) causing issues in a rom that doesn't need it at all. In any case, I know what can be done to avoid issues restoring stock 4.1.2, although I'm still not sure what needs to be done to avoid issues.
You did it exactly right. When using a 4.1.2 Samsung rom, be it custom or stock, and backing up or restoring; the preload folder is just as important as data or system. Basically the point of the preload patition is to get the system partition to fit. By symlinking the apps from preload to system Samsung has saved room and allowed a bigger rom to work on our hardware.
As an example, I am on TWRP 2.4.? and cannot backup preload. When I tried a different rom, then went back to my backup I had FCs like crazy. Because I had used the Infamous wipe script it had wiped the preload folder but there was nothing to restore to it from my backup. I had to reflash the rom I was using (really I just wanted the preload folder installed) and then restore my backup to get it working.
I hope all this makes sense. I'm going to Twrp 2.5 so I can backup my preload folder (when I stop being lazy).
Thanks guys.
HTC Clock widget looks weird today after running filesystem repair in TWRP on /system, white background with white data so I am going to restore /system back up in TWRP as something is wrong when trying wp_mod.ko on my rooted S-ON HTC One M8 4.4.3 T-Mobile Sense 6.
But I have few questions as I only found how to restore to stock for warranty/returns or from different non-stock ROMs. ANd I have same stock ROM that I want to restore before /system got damaged.
I want to keep my apps and their data. Possibly home screens and settings to save lots of time.
I did back up user and system apps and their data in Titanium Backup and /data and /System partition in TWRP
1. When flashing different ROMs it is always required to do wipe in TWRP. What about if it is the same stock ROM?
If I want to just restore my /system partition backup before it got file system errors, what do I need to do exactly to keep my apps and settings if possible?
2. Is wipe to factory required?
3. WIpe just certain things and which?
4. Is there a way to back up and restore Xposed modules' settings?
Thank you in advance for help.
Hi,
1. Flashing different roms should always start with wiping system, data, cache and dalvik. Use titanium backup to backup your user apps. And you can restore them after. Don't restore sysyem apps. Usually if you are just flashing an update of the same rom, you can dirty flash, unless the Dev says otherwise. That means just going into recovery and flashing the rom update. No wiping. If you have any issues though, the first thing you'll be told is to clean flash.
2. For a different rom, yes. See number one.
3. See number one.
4. See number one... Titanium backup.
As far as system settings, like sounds and what not... You will have to set them again after a clean flash. If you use a launcher from the play store, like Nova for example... You can backup with titanium and restore after and your home screens will be restored. With the stock launchers, no. You will have to arrange them again.
Hope that helps. ?
So I made a backup through OrangeFox of my A13 AOSP rom (checked every option). Now I tried to restore the backup and the restore goes normally but when I reboot to system it shows Poco logo for couple seconds then reboots to recovery and internal memory is messed up. I formatted data and tried installing the rom then restoring data alone, then data and super system, Ans the result was the same which is the rom animation starts and "starting Android" loading screen appears but never goes away. Any idea on how to get it working?
Thanks in advance
Are you trying to restore the Backup after you formated data/reflashed ROM ?
I trusted TWRP backups twice, and both times it failed.
I think to backup /data, you also have to backup /metadata, because /metadata stores the encryption-key for /data.
I also recommend the app "Swift Backup" from Play Store, it's the best app for backing up apps + appdata, messages, and call history. Requires Root to backup app-data of course.
Aserar said:
So I made a backup through OrangeFox of my A13 AOSP rom (checked every option). Now I tried to restore the backup and the restore goes normally but when I reboot to system it shows Poco logo for couple seconds then reboots to recovery and internal memory is messed up. I formatted data and tried installing the rom then restoring data alone, then data and super system, Ans the result was the same which is the rom animation starts and "starting Android" loading screen appears but never goes away. Any idea on how to get it working?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah seems like is a tough (or impossible) mission to recover a backup in alioth.
I've done twice too, and both didn't booted too.
And this in twrp skkk, so I guess it's the same thing in all recoveries.
lapirado said:
Yeah seems like is a tough (or impossible) mission to recover a backup in alioth.
I've done twice too, and both didn't booted too.
And this in twrp skkk, so I guess it's the same thing in all recoveries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cyanGalaxy said:
Are you trying to restore the Backup after you formated data/reflashed ROM ?
I trusted TWRP backups twice, and both times it failed.
I think to backup /data, you also have to backup /metadata, because /metadata stores the encryption-key for /data.
I also recommend the app "Swift Backup" from Play Store, it's the best app for backing up apps + appdata, messages, and call history. Requires Root to backup app-data of course.
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Click to collapse
Okay so I figured it out. You basically need to flash the same backed-up rom first and fully boot it to system. This will take care of encryption, then reboot to recovery, then restore your backup (boot/data/super). At this point reboot won't work yet. You need to go back to recovery and reflash the rom again then boot into system. For me it booted once but the status bar was missing. I did a restart and voila! It worked.
Aserar said:
Okay so I figured it out. You basically need to flash the same backed-up rom first and fully boot it to system. This will take care of encryption, then reboot to recovery, then restore your backup (boot/data/super). At this point reboot won't work yet. You need to go back to recovery and reflash the rom again then boot into system. For me it booted once but the status bar was missing. I did a restart and voila! It worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing your solution!
Sounds a bit quirky but I'm glad someone got TWRP Backup Restores working!
Man the bloody forced encryption.. i hate it.