Develop Bugs

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..

[Q] First Post, Help!

A couple of things. I've been reading xda for a while but am by no means anything other than a "noob" I know just enough to be dangerous to my phone, but so far only soft bricked my old cappy once. So a very grateful thank you to all the hard work you guys put in to pushing the development.
As a somewhat experienced noob I can say first hand that reading through all these threads and posts that lead in a thousand directions is pretty hard and time consuming. That's why all the "what ROM is best" threads. I sounds kind of selfish coming from someone who has contributed nothing other than traffic to xda, but a section for comparing different ROMs would stop most of those posts.
Now for the questions. Is there a way to put a .zip of the stock ROM on my sd card so I can go back to stock anytime I want? I know I can flash back to stock with odin, but can it be done thru the recovery console? I would like to be able to have several ROMs saved on sd and use recovery to flash between them. I'm not real happy with ROMManager... is freezes all the time, and I've not one time been able to flash with it.
Thanks

Make a backup! Install cwm on your device ...boot into recovery> create backup....
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium

k.zacher said:
A couple of things. I've been reading xda for a while but am by no means anything other than a "noob" I know just enough to be dangerous to my phone, but so far only soft bricked my old cappy once. So a very grateful thank you to all the hard work you guys put in to pushing the development.
As a somewhat experienced noob I can say first hand that reading through all these threads and posts that lead in a thousand directions is pretty hard and time consuming. That's why all the "what ROM is best" threads. I sounds kind of selfish coming from someone who has contributed nothing other than traffic to xda, but a section for comparing different ROMs would stop most of those posts.
Now for the questions. Is there a way to put a .zip of the stock ROM on my sd card so I can go back to stock anytime I want? I know I can flash back to stock with odin, but can it be done thru the recovery console? I would like to be able to have several ROMs saved on sd and use recovery to flash between them. I'm not real happy with ROMManager... is freezes all the time, and I've not one time been able to flash with it.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WOW one of the most brutally honest statements I've seen here in a while. That's good. And yes it's all very confusing at times, even for non-noobs lol.
Answer-->once you have rooted and cwm or twrp installed make a nandroid of your system, you can restore this at any time. Once you install a rom and get it running how you want and want to try another rom make a nandroid of that one in recovery, you can go back by restoring it. You can do this in this way until your happy with what your running or you run out of storage.
One word of advice...nandroids are snapshots of how your phone is at that moment...any apps, texts, modifications after the nandroid wont be in it....but...a nandroid combined with my back up or titanium backup is great, nandroid for the system and my back up or titanium backup for texts, apps, call logs and such and you can switch back and forth or install a new rom and restore user apps and call logs, texts, ect without losing those. Remember don't back up system apps or system settings as those may mess up on a different rom, only back up user apps(those you've installed).
Hope this helps a little
BTW--> don't use ROM manager to flash anything other than the recovery. Boot into recovery and flash stuff manually. Also, I would suggest twrp recovery as both have issues with auto naming backups, but at least with twrp you can name it whatever you want before you make it.

Just be careful. I remember a Nandroid not flashing the radio but they may have fixed that. Other than that you should loose nothing other than whatever apps you may have installed on the ROM your tinkering with.

.
I was hoping to make a backup of my non rooted completely stock ROM. I don't see how to do that if first I have to root and flash CWM or another recovery to do the backup. I didn't see any way to do it from the stock recovery. I have looked to see if anyone has posted an zip image of stock non rooted but the only way I've seen to go back to stock is odin3. Is that correct and am I just wasting my time? I wanted that image so I could go back and update to the new stock ROMs as they come out to test drive and see if I want to use them. Just seems easier that way.
Thanks for your responses

I THINK someone posted a zip format of stock but your best bet would be Odin since you didn't make a backup before. I was wondering this a while back too.. Kinda surprised its not in such high demand..
Edit: are nandroid backups device specific? Can one nandroid backup be used for multiple phones? If it can, I'll flash Odin and post nandroid of stock later tonight

jethro650 said:
WOW one of the most brutally honest statements I've seen here in a while. That's good. And yes it's all very confusing at times, even for non-noobs lol.
Answer-->once you have rooted and cwm or twrp installed make a nandroid of your system, you can restore this at any time. Once you install a rom and get it running how you want and want to try another rom make a nandroid of that one in recovery, you can go back by restoring it. You can do this in this way until your happy with what your running or you run out of storage.
One word of advice...nandroids are snapshots of how your phone is at that moment...any apps, texts, modifications after the nandroid wont be in it....but...a nandroid combined with my back up or titanium backup is great, nandroid for the system and my back up or titanium backup for texts, apps, call logs and such and you can switch back and forth or install a new rom and restore user apps and call logs, texts, ect without losing those. Remember don't back up system apps or system settings as those may mess up on a different rom, only back up user apps(those you've installed).
Hope this helps a little
BTW--> don't use ROM manager to flash anything other than the recovery. Boot into recovery and flash stuff manually. Also, I would suggest twrp recovery as both have issues with auto naming backups, but at least with twrp you can name it whatever you want before you make it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium backup is a must. And pay for the app, its cheap and you support the developer.
Also, I've had better results with cwm. As soon as I make a backup to my SD card I boot into the ROM and change the filename.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

g2tegg said:
Titanium backup is a must. And pay for the app, its cheap and you support the developer.
Also, I've had better results with cwm. As soon as I make a backup to my SD card I boot into the ROM and change the filename.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess we will have to agree to disagree titanium is not a "must" I've been using my backup pro for years without problems to make my backups. In my opinion its has a better more user friendly user interface with the same freeze/uninstall options. Also as a recovery twrp is gaining ground on cwm for its better options, one of which is renaming backups on the spot when you make it. Add in a file manger, terminal window, multiple flashes at once and many more options many think it is a better recovery. The way the newer cwm makes nandroids makes it very hard to delete individual nandroids, search cwm blobs for more info.
Also, check our mskips toolkit stickied in the dev section for a backup. You will need to be rooted but not to sure about the recovery. You may be able to do it with the stock recovery as I think it uses adb for pretty much everything it can. There is a way to make a backup on stock recovery through adb but you will need to be rooted, his toolkit will do that also.

E975: Backuping original LG's Software before going CM?

Hello there,
I googled a lot, I searched a lot here, but I did not find what I searched for.
I am thinking about testing the new Version of Cyanogenmod, the problem is that I in fact never did anything like this.
I want to set back the device to manufactures setting and then backup the original LG Software, so that I can go back to the standard before selling, or if CM isnt quite mine.
Anyone tips or links how to manage that?
Thank a lot before, sorry if this was asked before (I'm pretty shure), I couldn't find.
5MinutesAloneLG

After rooting and unlocking,make sure you place the efs backup somewhere safe. You can also make a nandroid backup and restore it if you don't like cm. or you can use kdz updater to flash stock firmware.
I'm sure you looked all the places,except the FAQ

Okay, this sounds good to me.
Does any of the 3 Methods give me the same way of a full backup from the original software, or is there something else that has to be done?
I searched for the Faqs, but I couldn't find any?
Thanks a lot!

5MinutesAloneLG said:
Does any of the 3 Methods give me the same way of a full backup from the original software, or is there something else that has to be done?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, these are different things. EFS backup is to save your butt in case something happens with your IMEI. This is one of the most important things, don't overlook it! Nandroid backup is a "snapshot" of your existing ROM, including all your installed apps and their settings. This is the easiest way to get back to your previous ROM after experimenting with others. And KDZ is not a backup - it's a factory image that will return your phone to the exact same state as it was when brand new.
I searched for the Faqs, but I couldn't find any?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look in @kimitza signature. It's his baby. :good:

the nandroid backup is like a restore image for windows. you will have all apps/settings from that time saved. here is a scenario:
1. On clean stock rom,root and unlock(unlock will also flash cwm recovery). Place FREEGEE folder somewhere safe.
2. Enter recovery mode and make a backup.
3. Flash any other rom ...and if you don't like it, restore the backup you made earlier.
4. Restore EFS with freegee.
5. Use Unroot from supersu.
6. Backup all your files(photo and other media to pc) then do a hard reset.
7. You will have a clean stock/official rom,like it came from factory.
All of this can be simplified by backing up your files and use kdz updater,followed by a hard reset. .It takes less time and it's safer.

I rooted it, but I dont have an hint of an idea how to do these efs backup?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=38886073&postcount=1&nocache=1&z=7530246020855317
what is to do with that zip? I'm from germany and I have no clue what run in recovery mode should tell me. On the Phone or on the PC?
If unzipped, what is there to do?
As I want to use the cm installer with 10.2 stable, I just want to backup everything important..

Sorry, wrong link, i meant this of course, its allready rooted
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=38438579&postcount=1

Sorry for posting again, but honestly, I'm not allowed to post in the efs thread, so I cant do anything right now.
Im still waiting to flash it.
Anyone should do efs backup, so basicly people should be able to tell me how to do that or?
Please anyone!

When you unlock the bootloader with freegee, it automagically makes a backup of the EFS,amongst other things(like bootloader state,imei,partitions etc). It's enough to place that FREEGEE folder somewhere safe. If you ever run into troubles(like no IMEI shown or you just want to go back to stock without using KDZ updater),just restore with freegee. It will relock you bootloader and restore EFS(with imei).

SM-P605 EFS backup

Hello! I have successfully rooted my sm-p605 Note 10.1 with CF autoroot and also flashed TWRP. So far so good!
I´m looking forward to flashing Android Revolution HD on it but I have not yet been able to backup EFS.
I have tried to do it with EFS Professional 2.0. There is no actual filter for this device so I tried using the Galaxy Note 3 filter as i think they have equivalent hardware, that gives me the error that I cannot create tar archive. I also tried to choose "all partitions" but that gives me checksum error.
I am not really sure that I wan't to risk bricking my 750 € tablet by flashing a custom ROM before getting a proper EFS backup.
Are there by the way a risk of corrupting EFS in case I only restore the stock rom backup made in TWRP?
That would be my second option, to only make some root enabled customization and debloating in stock TW and not touch any custom roms and in case of messing up, restoring stock backup.
So, is there anyone that have been able to backup EFS on their sm-p605/Samsung galaxy note 10.1 2014 LTE Qualcomm?
I do apologize for my crappy English, I ain't a native speaker.

After some research I came across some comments on various websites mentioning that it is possible to restore EFS by flashing stock firmware.
Can someone please verify this? That even if I will not be able to backup EFS i still can restore it by flashing Samsung stock firmware?

CarolusChristo said:
After some research I came across some comments on various websites mentioning that it is possible to restore EFS by flashing stock firmware.
Can someone please verify this? That even if I will not be able to backup EFS i still can restore it by flashing Samsung stock firmware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got no idea but you can use a file explorer to grab a copy of your EFS folder with a file explorer like ES and copy to your sd card then transfer to your PC...
Don't know how much of a help this will be but at least you have a copy if you think you can follow some of the recovery instructions and need the original files....

I flashed the same ROM and I remember during the installation it asked me if I want to backup the EFS. I pressed yes and it just did and install the ROM.

Any success on backup EFS folder? I've the same device and i'm planning to try custom rom too

[Q] Can't Flash the Stock Nandroid Backup

Hi Guys
First time poster here so hello from me, need a little advice please, I am trying to unroot my HTC One M8 (ATT) and I was going along quite nicely using the unlockr guide and then got to the "Flash the Stock Nandroid Backup" part and I am stuck big time!
Long story short I just can't find the files when I boot into recovery, I downloaded the stock stock Nandroid backup unzipped them or RAR and put it in the /TWRP/backups/ folder which I had to create the Backups sub folder. Then I boot into recovery mode and nothing, it can't see the files, I have the correct files I double checked I got the correct one but it just can't see it.
Anyone had this issue, I bet I am doing something stupid I just don't know what!
Help
Thanks
Stuart

If anyone could help me with this you would be doing me such a big favour, will be traveling tomorrow overseas and hoping to get it taken care of before I go. Thanks again
Stuart

It will be TWRP/backups/youserialnumber. Go into TWRP and make a back up of your boot partition. That should create the folder that you need to install your nandroid backup zip to.

Thank you so much for the reply, I did try earlier to try make a copy of the boot partition but I have never done it before and it didn't work out very well. Any advice or apps recommended please?
Thanks
Stuart

outatime80 said:
Thank you so much for the reply, I did try earlier to try make a copy of the boot partition but I have never done it before and it didn't work out very well. Any advice or apps recommended please?
Thanks
Stuart
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Boot into recovery
choose backup
uncheck everything except boot
backup
reboot phone
browse to where the back was made from you pc
put the nandroid you downloaded in the folder that was just created by TWRP backup.
reboot to recovery and restore the backup ... done