[SMPLTUT] Easy Text2SD (And whatever else you want) - Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]

This is a very simple way to do Text2SD if a few steps!
It can be extremely useful to keep all of your texts between flashing roms or nandroids or a general screw up
1) Create a folder on your sdcard, you can name it whatever you want but I decided to name it Text2SD and put it in the data folder.
2) This will move your message database to the folder you chose
Code:
adb shell mv /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db /mnt/sdcard/*folder*/ (ie /mnt/sdcard/data/Text2SD/)
2b) Verify the file has been moved
Code:
adb shell ls /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/ (Should return telephony.db)
adb shell ls /mnt/sdcard/*folder*/ (Should return mmssms.db, aside from whatever else you might have in there)
3) This will create a soft symlink from the database file on your sd card to the directory on your phone. It has to be a soft link because a hard link cant cross 2 different drives
Code:
adb shell ln -s mnt/sdcard/Text2SD/mmssms.db /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/
3b) Verify the file has been linked
Code:
adb shell ls /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/ (Should return mmssms.db and telephony.db)
4) Reboot just to be sure and enjoy!
Code:
adb reboot
You can apply this to pretty much any other file and have things like bootanimation.zip2sd or build.prop2sd or whatever, I cant think of any good examples right now
Code:
argument explainations
mv: move or rename files (depending on inputs)
ls: list files in a directory
ln: make hard symlink
ln -s: make soft symlink
EDIT- Im having issues with messages force closing even after restoring the original file. You probably shouldnt try this unless you know what your doing
EDIT2- I was able to make it work again by fixing the permissions to rw-rw-rw- when i copied the file back. i cant get the permissions to be set right though since you cant change permissions linux style on fat fs. this can probably be fixed with an ext partition but i dont feel like copying everything off my sd card formatting and copying back on. maybe later or if someone can test

Related

Fixing app re-install/update issues

Now that we have root access I was trying to figure out the cause of the "old apps keep reappearing after an update and restart bug."
From the looks of it it seems the /data/boot-cache directory is corrupt. I tried my experiment with Google Sky Map and got the following:
Code:
$ adb shell
$ su
# cd /data/boot-cache
# ls -al *stardroid*
-rw------- system system 3988 2009-10-17 18:36 AndroidManifest.xml
# rm -rf *stardroid*
rm failed for -rf, No such file or directory
# rmdir *stardroid*
rmdir failed for [email protected]@com.google.android.stardroid.apk, Directory not empty
# fsck
fsck: not found
Same thing happens with all the other apps that misbehave when updated.
Do we have any way of running fsck or some other file system repair utility to fix these issues?
Code:
# rm -rf *stardroid*
rm failed for -rf, No such file or directory
# rmdir *stardroid*
rmdir failed for [email protected]@com.google.android.stardroid.apk, Directory not empty
Do we have any way of running fsck or some other file system repair utility to fix these issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or you could just empty the directory before you tried to remove it, since whatever 'rm' binary is provided apparently doesn't understand "-rf" and treated it as a filename.
posguy99 said:
Or you could just empty the directory before you tried to remove it, since whatever 'rf' binary is provided apparently doesn't understand "-rf" and treated it as a filename.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems it doesn't know -rf but works with -r. Let me see if this now fixes the issues.
Keep up the good work man I had this problem multiple times I think it bothered me more than not receiving sms or vvm.
The fix
That is it, you use -r not -rf. So the fix is as follows (I use Astro for getting the following information):
1) Use Astro and backup all your apps to your SD card.
2) The Astro Application Manager/Backup tool will list in red all the apps that it thinks are newer on the SD card than the phone thinks are installed.
3) For each of those apps select them and note the app installed name (first line, called "Name"). Usually com.xxx.xxx, etc.
4) Get a root shell to your phone (follow instructions elsewhere.)
5) cd /data/boot-cache
6) For all the names you generated in step 3 type
Code:
rm -r *<name>*
e.g. taking Google Sky Map as an example this would be
Code:
rm -r *com.google.android.stardroid*
7) Reboot your phone.
8) All apps should now appear in their latest, correct, version.
Google claims this problem is specific to the Hero and SenseUI. Does this cache folder exist on a normal Android build?
is there a chance someone can make an app that would automate this process?
does the issue come back after awhile?
goku14238 said:
does the issue come back after awhile?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anytime you update an app you will see the issue for that app.
This works great. I used it to fix my Handcent which messed up after I upgraded today.
+1 on this. You guys are really killing this phone.

[DEV] Apps2SD and Darchstar-2.1 ROM

The focus of this thread is to sort out the Apps2SD issue in cyanogenmod-darch 2.1 ROM (like the title says). Please do not post here unless it relates to this issue.
That being said, here is where I was at in the original darchstar 2.1 thread:
watzone69 said:
Taken from the instructions darchstar gave in the first post of his thread...
Code:
adb remount
adb push e2fsck /system/bin
adb shell
cd /system/bin
chmod a+x e2fsck
a2sd
reboot
First, the "chmod a+x e2fsck" command doesn't work for me (EDIT: I discovered that it WILL work in recovery mode). I had to use "chmod 777 e2fsck". After entering "a2sd" it gets enabled. After rebooting, apps2SD is NOT enabled anymore. I realized this by doing this test:
Code:
adb shell
cd /data/app
pwd
If your apps2sd is enabled, you will get "/system/sd/app" returned to you.
If you get "/data/app" returned instead then apps2sd is NOT enabled!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gbhil then replied...
gbhil said:
After you restart, can you re-enable a2sd by running a2sd from a terminal as root?
If so, do all your apps still appear and are they usable?
If the above is true, try adding this to the end of gumbo.sh
Code:
su -C a2sd
for a quick fix.
Start a thread (to keep things less cluttered) about it and I'll help you guys dig into the boot image and see why it's not sticking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, I rebooted and tried to run "a2sd" from the android terminal but it spits out a long string of errors:
Code:
--- Checking ext filesystems
e2fsck 1.41.6 (30-May-2009)
ext2fs_check_if_mount: Can't check if filesystem is mounted due to missing mtab file while determining whether /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 is mounted.
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2: clean, 13/249856 files, 31387/499713 blocks
mount: permission denied. (are you root?)
chown: /system/sd: Read-only file system
chmod: /system/sd: Read-only file system
mkdir failed for /system/sd/app, Read-only file system
chown: /system/sd/app: No such file or directory
chmod: /system/sd/app: No such file or directory
cp: cannot create '/system/sd/app/android.tether.apk': No such file or directory
cp: cannot create '/system/sd/app/android.tether.usb.apk': No such file or directory
cp: cannot create '/system/sd/app/at.abraxas.mountusb.apk': No such file or directory...
(etc.)
...rm: cannot remove '/data/app/org.gmote.client.android.apk': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove '/data/app/org.hermit.substrate.apk': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove '/data/app/org.iplatform.android.apk': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove '/data/app/org.mikeyin.livewallpaper.apk': Permission denied
mkdir failed for /system/sd/app-private, Read-only file system
chown: /system/sd/app-private: No such file or directory
chmod: /system/sd/app-private: No such file or directory
cp: can't open '/data/app-private/com.android.aldiko.apk': Permission denied
cp: can't open '/data/app-private/com.protocol.x.su.fbs.apk': Permission denied
cp: can't open '/data/app-private/com.rerware.android.MyBackupPro.apk': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove '/data/app-private/com.android.aldiko.apk': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove '/data/app-private/com.protocol.x.su.fbs.apk': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove '/data/app-private/com.rerware.android.MyBackupPro.apk': Permission denied
ln: /data/app/app: Permission denied
ln: /data/app-private/app-private: Permission denied
+++ Apps-to-SD successfully enabled
So, there is no "app" or "app-private" in the "system/sd". Is a2sd supposed to generate those directories or are they supposed to be there before hand?
Anyway, the result is that I lose all of my shortcuts to the apps and market shows them as not installed even though they are.
BTW, I am not a dev or even that great at code or linux but I can usually pick stuff up fairly quickly. Just want to help fix this!
EDIT: The only thing I have found to work is to flash this kernel:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=5712377&postcount=1406
However, some people get stuck in a boot loop after flashing this.
Running into the same issues as Watzone so I can confirm that he is doing it correctly. =P
Here are all of the related commands that have been suggested whenever the question of apps2sd has come up in the darchstar 2.1 thread.
Code:
adb remount
adb shell
mkdir /system/sd
Code:
adb remount
adb shell
busybox --install /system/xbin
a2sd
Code:
cd C:\android-sdk-windows\tools
adb remount
adb shell
chown system.system /data/app
chmod 0771 /data/app
For the next command, boot into recovery and do the following:
Code:
adb shell
mount /system
exit
adb push e2fsck /system/bin
adb shell
cd /system/bin
chmod 777 e2fsck
Now, boot normally and go back to your CMD prompt...
Code:
adb remount
adb shell
a2sd
EDIT: In other threads I have seen the command...
Code:
apps2sd on
...used to enable apps2sd.
Doing all of these WILL allow the final "a2sd" command to enable (testing with the "pwd" command) but it all goes KAPUT after a reboot.
why it's not being enabled at boot time is because the init.rc isn't calling /system/etc/init.d/04apps2sd . I'll be sure that we fix that in my next release
And there you go.
It works here, but now I know why. I'm still using an old version of the boot image that looks for /system/bin/a2sd to load it, and an older version of the ROM. No sense in me to keep flashing fixes until I'm done tweaking the kernel. When darch says the kernel is good, then I'll catch up lol.
We might as well use this thread to learn to play with the boot image though, that is if you guys want to.
Awesome can't wait for the next release then! Lotsa apps out there calling out to me! Thanks guys =)
gbhil said:
We might as well use this thread to learn to play with the boot image though, that is if you guys want to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You bet. It's about time I got my hands dirty.
I'm game let me know if you need me to test anything!
Cool deal. You need Linux to extract and compress the boot.img, and you need to be current with Perl and running jre5 or higher.
Ubuntu 9.04+ is set up out of the box, but any version can be made to work.
Then grab these files from Lox -
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=231902&d=1254004933
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=234040&d=1254622769
and extract them into your sdk/tools dir. (or any dir in your path)
get all that, then pick a boot.img from a rom and put it in a work folder.
Holler when you get that far, or if you have any q's.
I wanna learn myself. This should apply to mac os as well?
I have Mint on another machine. Gimme a bit to get caught up...
david279 said:
I wanna learn myself. This should apply to mac os as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Darwin might work. Never tried
watzone69 said:
I have Mint on another machine. Gimme a bit to get caught up...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
np. I'm @work so going slow is better anyway lol.
ok i just ran the files in terminal. so i guess it might work.
I'm back
Inisde the work folder you dropped the boot.img into, run this from a term:
extract-kernel.pl boot.img
extract-ramdisk.pl boot.img
it will give you several files and a new directory. That dir is the unpacked ramdisk. The init.rc file is the one we're looking for. Open it with a Unicode editor and read it. It has it's own syntax, but it's almost like bash and not too hard to figure out. Hopefully you loaded a bootimg that has a2sd in it. Look near the bottom of the file for the a2sd start up line. It will have a2sd, apps2sd, a2sd004 or something like that. Once you find it so you can see the name used, search the rest of the file for that name.
Those lines will show you how a service gets declared and called at boot time.
I'm up and running now. I downloaded python 2.6.4. Do I need to install it or just extract it somewhere? Please forgive my linux noobness.
The other 2 zip files are extracted and in my tools folder. I'm getting the boot.img now.
idk if this will work as i too am a newb to android and the way they deal with the boot process is somewhat a bit different from what i'm used to, but heres a new boot.img if you guys want to flash it to see if apps2sd works. note, this is not a zip, remove that suffix.
to flash it to your phone just move the boot image to your sdcard then reboot into recovery. from there go into adb and mount your sdcard, then flash the new boot image.
Code:
adb shell
mount /sdcard
flash_image boot /sdcard/newBoot2.img
reboot
tell me if it fixes your apps2sd problem or not.
watzone69 said:
I'm up and running now. I downloaded python 2.6.4. Do I need to install it or just extract it somewhere? Please forgive my linux noobness.
The other 2 zip files are extracted and in my tools folder. I'm getting the boot.img now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try it without doing anything to Python first....especially since I meant perl
Just try my last post and see if it works for ya. I'll edit my first post
gbhil said:
try it without doing anything to Python first....especially since I meant perl
Just try my last post and see if it works for ya. I'll edit my first post
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, I got "command not found" both times.
darchstar said:
idk if this will work as i too am a newb to android and the way they deal with the boot process is somewhat a bit different from what i'm used to, but heres a new boot.img if you guys want to flash it to see if apps2sd works. note, this is not a zip, remove that suffix.
to flash it to your phone just move the boot image to your sdcard then reboot into recovery. from there go into adb and mount your sdcard, then flash the new boot image.
Code:
adb shell
mount /sdcard
flash_image boot /sdcard/newBoot2.img
reboot
tell me if it fixes your apps2sd problem or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks darchstar, I'll try that in a bit.
watzone69 said:
Nope, I got "command not found" both times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you gotta make it executable
inside the directory with the perl scripts do this
Code:
chmod a+x ./

[TUTORIAL] Install applications into SD Card for Samsung Galaxy 5 (i5500)

DISCLAIMER: DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU BRICK / RUIN YOUR PHONE IN ANY WAY.
Hi Everyone,
I have some good news for the owners of Samsung Galaxy 5 (i5500) Smartphones.
Doing some research on Google and reading about efforts from other people who could install applications on SD card on other android phones, I was able to develop a method to install application into SD card for the Galaxy 5. Better yet, you won't even need a custom Rom.
Before I get into the specifcs let me state that the following steps are manual and no application is provided to automate the process, so advanced computer skill is required and some knowledge of unix/linux is a plus.
Here we go: PLEASE READ THE WHOLE THING BEFORE YOU START. I MAY HAVE OMMITED SOME COMMANDS OUT OF LACK OF ATTENTION.
1) You'll need to root your phone. There is a lot of guides about this available, just google for it. I've used the SuperOneClick Root to do this.
2) Partition your sd card like this: 1 - FAT, 2 - Linux ext2. Again, there is a lot of guides about this on the net, just google again. I've used Paragon Partition Manager 2010 to lower the size of my FAT partition, leaving a 550MB unallocated space at the end of the card. Then I formatted this space as ext2 in linux, using ubuntu live CD. Most guides around there recommends that you keep this partition between 500~750MB, so I didn’t try with greater sizes. Also, i kept my partition 1 as FAT 16, but FAT 32 might actually work too, try that if you want and post me a reply.
3) Download Titanium Backup (or another app backup tool) from market and backup your applications. You may need to restore your applications to correct some permission problems that may occur after completing this guide.
4) Install busybox. BusyBox is a software application that provides many standard Unix tools, which are not available on stock android. You can get a copy of busybox by clicking on “problems?” button on Titanium Backup main window. It will get installed on /data/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/files.
5) If you still don’t have Android SDK installed on your PC, download and install it from Google. You’ll need ADB (Android Debug Bridge), which is included in the SDK, to proceed. Now open a shell connection with your device by typing:
Code:
adb shell
Just keep in mind that you MUST be logged as root. Root command prompt is recognized by the # character. If you don’t have root type the ‘su’ command. If even with ‘su’ you couldn’t get root, please review step 1.
6) Create ‘sd’ folder int /system:
Code:
cd /system
mkdir sd
7) Mount ext2 partition into /system/sd
Code:
mount -t ext2 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /system/sd
8) Create a folder to store the applications into ext2 partition:
Code:
cd /system/sd
mkdir app
9) Copy busybox to /system/bin
Code:
cat /data/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/files/busybox > /system/bin/busybox
chmod 755 /system/bin/busybox
10) Copy your applications to ext2 partition:
Code:
busybox cp /data/app/* /system/sd/app/
11) Change permissions of copied applications:
Code:
cd /system/sd/app
chown system.system *
chmod 644 *
12) Now comes the tricky part: making Android mount your new partition at boot time. All the hard work would be useless if Android discarded the mount points every time we restarted our phones. To do this we’ll need to create 2 scripts and store then into /system/etc. Obviously the scripts should be started by init.rc and need to run as root. Fortunately Android’s init.rc have a gap that makes this possible. The scripts are named install-recovery.sh and init-sd2.sh.
install-recovery.sh content:
Code:
#!/system/bin/sh
/system/etc/init-sd2.sh&
init-sd2.sh content:
Code:
#!/system/bin/sh
MYLOG=/data/install-recovery.log
echo "$(date) Starting install-recovery.sh" > $MYLOG
echo "$(date) Waiting SD to become ready..." >> $MYLOG
sleep 10
mount -t ext2 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /system/sd 1>>$MYLOG 2>>$MYLOG
mount -o bind /system/sd/app /data/app 1>>$MYLOG 2>>$MYLOG
mount >> $MYLOG
echo "$(date) Finishing install-recovery.sh" >> $MYLOG
If you plan to edit this files on windows I recommend a tool that is capable of keeping UNIX file format, just like notepad++ free tool.
13) After placing the scripts, change their permissions:
Code:
cd /system/etc
chmod 555 install-recovery.sh
chmod 555 init-sd2.sh
14) Rename the default application folder. If everything works fine you can remove this later to save space:
Code:
cd /data
mv app app_old
mkdir app
chown system.system app
chmod 755 app
15) Restart your phone and cross your fingers
16) If you have problems with your widgets don’t worry. You just need to remove then from your homescreen and add again.
17) Check if your applications are running as they should. Restore backups you’ve made with Titanium Backup for the applications showing problems.
18) If your partition didn’t mount at boot, check log file at /data/install-recovery.log
19) From now on your new applications will be installed on your SD Card. You can modify the scripts to store other folders from /data into the ext2 partition as needed. I’ve been running my applications from SD Card for a week now without any problems or bugs.
20) If you can’t make it work, post your question here and I will try to help you out.
21) Donations are welcomed, just drop some money into my paypal account. Just kidding
Good luck and cya!
can this script use for moving /data/data to EXT2?
if can, from where i should start type the script?
i'm still newbie on this
so i'm alittle bit confused, i hope you can help me and sorry for my bad english
i'm already succes from step 1 to step 11
but i'm little confused at step 12
can you explain how to make the script?
should i make those 2 script via notepad++ and then copy it to /system/sd and then continue to step 13?
or should i just type everything on step 12 after step 11 in cmd prompt?
the problem is, if i make the script from notepad++ the android system will just discard my mount point when i restart my phone
and if i just type everything on the step 12 in comand prompt, when i'm type chmod 555 install-recovery.sh and chmod 555 init-sd2.sh like in the step 13, it always say that install-recovery.sh and init-sd2.sh file is not found?
so what should i do?
i'm stuck on step 12
step 12, type it on notepad++ and then you have to change the extension of the file with .sh, after that copied the 2 files to /system/etc
andikasuhendar said:
step 12, type it on notepad++ and then you have to change the extension of the file with .sh, after that copied the 2 files to /system/etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've already done that
but when i make the script via notepad ++, i'm already make the save type become .sh, so isn't it just the same?
but when i reboot the phone it's still not working
But how to copy this two script files to system/etc??? it's saying permision denied..
But how to copy this two script files to system/etc??? it's saying permision denied..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm use root explorer to move it to system/etc
The script can be moved but it still doesn't work at all :-(
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
And i can't move them even with root explorer.. i don't get what i'm doing wrong (
@agus
about the scripts, u can check with root explorer, try to view the script and make sure it was the exact same from the script above, coz i experience the same problem for the first time i try this. if u sure that the script are same then try to execute it using root explorer and then go to titanium backup and see if there is there is another storage (usually there is internal and SD card only).
@stasic
use the root explorer to copy the script to /system/etc, don't forget to change the root explorer option from R/O to R/W, this option should be on top of the page, just touch it to change from R/O to R/W.
andikasuhendar said:
@agus
about the scripts, u can check with root explorer, try to view the script and make sure it was the exact same from the script above, coz i experience the same problem for the first time i try this. if u sure that the script are same then try to execute it using root explorer and then go to titanium backup and see if there is there is another storage (usually there is internal and SD card only).
@stasic
use the root explorer to copy the script to /system/etc, don't forget to change the root explorer option from R/O to R/W, this option should be on top of the page, just touch it to change from R/O to R/W.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
veeeerrrryyyyyyyyy biiiiiiigggggggggggg thaaaaaaannnnnkkkkkssssss brrroooo
you was right, after i check the script via root explorer, the script was not the same, after i fix it, everything works like a charm
in a step 2... how to change linux ext2???
any software can change from FAT to ext2???
I've changed root explorer option to R/W and still no luck..
@agus
sama2 bro AKA ur welcome bro, have fun with the app2sd hehehe
@nima
search on google, how to format EXT2, if i correct u can use paragon partition for windows user, but if u use macintosh u can just go to disk utility and make partition with EXT2 format
@stasic
go to the /system/etc and see if it already R/W or still R/O
It's written that R/W but when I copy and paste still nothing happens..
thx guy.... i must try it
andikasuhendar said:
@stasic
go to the /system/etc and see if it already R/W or still R/O
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've rooted my g5 using superoneclick
but i still have R/O in /system/etc
when i tap R/O on the screen, i wont changed to R/W
what should i do?
maaf inggris nya acak2an
@siap
siapakahaku said:
i've rooted my g5 using superoneclick
but i still have R/O in /system/etc
when i tap R/O on the screen, i wont changed to R/W
what should i do?
maaf inggris nya acak2an
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In your PC command prompt execute:
Code:
adb shell
Make sure you are loged in as root and in ADB SHELL try this:
Code:
mount -o rw,remount /dev/stl12 /system
Then execute:
Code:
mount
If your mount result has a line like the one bellow, with the rw set, you'll be able to copy the files.
Code:
/dev/stl12 /system rfs rw,vfat,llw,check=no,gid/uid/rwx,iocharset=utf8 0 0
@stasic
stas1c said:
It's written that R/W but when I copy and paste still nothing happens..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try the same thing I posted above. I don't have Root Explorer installed here, so you should be able to finish this guide without it.
stuck in step 2
cant mkdir....
Hi, nice guide!
I succeded with this the first time I tried but now I have changed to a larger sd card and I can't get it to work.
The log file says that it failed to mount the mmcblk0p2 folder, and now when I check it doesn't even exist. What should I do?
Hope I can get help.. thankful for response. /Mattefacit

[Q] Simple adb question (or perhaps not?) Permission Denied

Hi all--in need of some help here--have been crusing the forums for three days and still hitting a brick wall...
Have a rooted (and minimally modded) Atrix 4g in serious need of a hard reset and all the pain that comes with as nearly every app force closes on startup.
Hoping to backup some of my data (contacts, SMS, etc), but unable to do so my usual way (an app, root explorer, or the like), so I'm attempting to use ADB pull to grab the .db files. I'm relatively comfortable with linux, but running into a problem with ro/rw permissions (I think).
have tried the following:
adb pull /data/...../mmssms.db (yields Permission Denied)
# cp /data/....mmssms.db (appears to copy, but no file in destination, and can't copy out of shell)
have been able to remount /system as rw, but not /data where the files are located.
Anybody have suggestions? I'd be most apprecative!
Copy the the files as superuser to your sdcard first and adb pull them from there.
Unfortunately, the whole reason I'm needing to reset is that every app (incl superuser accesses) force closes on start--no chance to move through the phone itself. Since the .db files are not in the usb-accessible file structure I'm thinking that ADB is the only way to access.
Does that make sense?
Hi, OP here--anybody else have a suggestion? Getting a little desperate here... Any thoughts would really be appreciated!
im assuming your accessing ADB via recovery?
You should be able to use su without superuser.apk's permission in that case - however, theoretically, you should not need to use su in recovery anyway.
you can try running
Code:
adb shell ls -l /data/data/*tele*/databases/mmssms.db
and see what you get permissions wise, maybe a chmod could fix it?
Otherwise you could try
Code:
adb shell mount -o remount,rw /data
Another alternative to cp and adb pull is cat
Code:
adb shell cat /path/to/mmssms.db > /path/to/destination-file.db
might copy remote mmssms.db to a local file, while
Code:
adb shell
cat /path/to/mmssms.db > /path/to/destination-file.db
exit
would copy remote to remote
Is /data mounted at all?
This is strange, you should have read access to everything, especially in recovery.
What phone and what recovery?
Its not something as simple as geting the URIs the wrong war round ('cmd local remote' vs 'cmd remote local')?
So, still tinkering... Will give it one last try before I call it quits and just wipe the bloody thing. So, your thoughts were spot on--its probably me missing something.
Quick data dump on progress to data:
Phone: Rooted Motorola Atrix running 2.2
no trouble accessing shell or via ADB
/data is mounted, though only in Read Only mode--can't seem to change, have tried several ways in various modes (shell, su, etc)
Permissions for mmssms.db are: -rw-rw---- radio radio
chmod 777 of the file yields: "Read-only file system," which makes sense since I can't seem to change /data... to rw
Tried to remount rw:
adb shell mount -o remount,rw /data
and
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mmcblk0p11 /system (for systeem
but get "Operation not permitted" in both cases.... UGH!
Hadn't thought of cat--great idea. Still no real joy however.
I seem to have managed a copy to /system, but can't seem to get it off the device or onto the SD card.
Thanks much for your help so far. Any final thoughts?
SO CLOSE!!!! (and yet...)
crags said:
Hadn't thought of cat--great idea. Still no real joy however.
I seem to have managed a copy to /system, but can't seem to get it off the device or onto the SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SO FRUSTRATING!!!! so close, but not quite there--HELP!!!
As noted at the end above, have been able to copy the mmssms.db file to /system/ after remounting as RW
Can't seem to copy or pull off the device--still getting "Permission Denied" no matter which course I try!?!?!
It sounds as if your doing this while booted into the ROM, and (maybe) without su (root)?
su-ing might help, just type su and hit return to enter a root shell
alternatively, going in through recovery ('adb shell reboot recovery') might help as most recoveries ignore permission rules - make sure to mount the partitions your using though.
It almost sounds like the sdcard has no write permissions - you can get the NAND partitions to mount rw, but cant copy to the sdcard.
On my Desire, there is (at least) two mount points: /sdcard and /mnt/sdcard - maybe on your phone only one of your mount points has write permissions?
Otherwise i suggest going in via recovery. You can still use adb (will have to manually mount - 'mount /system' 'mount /date' and 'mount /sdcard' usually work, otherwise use the menu item in recovery )
When in recovery, and after mounting partitions/card, try adb pull, cp /sdcard and cat > sdcard (and if possible cat > computer) plus anything else i forgot (quite tired )
if these dont work something is messed up somewhere in the ROM, or likely kernel and so without ideas a reflash would be the only real solution :/
I did have a bare-minimum+apps recovery script (attached) which might be worth a read to see if your forgetting something obvious - it works on my desire

Backup your EFS-partition using tar and dd

This guide has been made with and for the i9505, but will most likely also work on other Galaxy S4-models.
Please be extra careful on models other than i9505 as the 'mmcblkXpXX' partition numbers might differ on your device. How to check this is written in the procedure.
As I could not find a procedure in this forum yet, I have made one myself.
Of course all of the below is 'USE AT YOUR OWN RISK'.
Requirements before you start
Install KIES software (and included driver) and connected your S4 atleast once (to see if it works)
Have ADB-executable available. It can be found in the ADT Bundle from Google. There are also much smaller packages with ADB-only which will work. I might create one myself later on and attach it to this thread..
Device is rooted and has busybox-installed (default with motochopper root method). Applications with a similar name in Play Store will allow you to install busybox manually.
Enable developer mode, go to Settings - More - Device-info - Tap 7 times on 'Build number' to unlock 'Developer options' in the previous screen. Then go to 'Developer options' and thick 'USB debugging'
Connect USB cable to your computer and smartphone with 'USB debugging' enabled
Preparations for both backup methods
Now open a ADB-shell, in Windows this would be: 'cmd' in Start-menu (or CTRL+R).
Change the directory to the ADT directory: sdk\platform-tools. In my case:
Code:
cd C:\Android\sdk\platform-tools
Then start the shell using adb:
Code:
adb shell
If you get the error:
'error: device offline'
Then, check your device and allow USB debugging for the presented device. Now try again the command 'adb shell'
If all goes well, you will see the following:
[email protected]:/ $
Now switch to root-user:
Code:
su -
It is possible that the phone now asks you to permit or deny root access. Of course, please permit.
When the switch succeeds, the '$' changes to '#', but you can also verify it by the id-command:
Code:
[email protected]:/ # id
id
uid=0(root) gid=0(root) context=u:r:shell:s0
If it shows root, all is fine.
Then, check with the following command if /efs is available and mounted:
Code:
mount | grep efs
It should show something like:
Code:
mount | grep efs
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/efs /efs ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,no
atime,discard,journal_checksum,journal_async_commit,noauto_da_alloc,errors=panic
,data=ordered 0 0
Backup method using TAR
NOTE: In case you left the ADB shell, please return to it using command 'adb shell' and switch to root again via 'su -' as described above.
Run the folowing command to backup the whole efs-partition (all the files available on the system):
Code:
tar -cvf /data/media/0/efs.tar /efs
Your output will look like this:
Code:
[email protected]:/ # tar -cvf /data/media/0/efs.tar /efs
tar -cvf /data/media/0/efs.tar /efs
tar: removing leading '/' from member names
efs/
efs/imei/
efs/imei/mps_code.dat
efs/wifi/
efs/wifi/.mac.info
efs/FactoryApp/
efs/FactoryApp/test_nv
efs/FactoryApp/hist_nv
efs/FactoryApp/fdata
efs/FactoryApp/serial_no
efs/FactoryApp/factorymode
efs/FactoryApp/keystr
efs/FactoryApp/hw_ver
efs/FactoryApp/baro_delta
efs/FactoryApp/prepay
efs/FactoryApp/earjack_count
efs/FactoryApp/batt_cable_count
efs/bluetooth/
efs/bluetooth/bt_addr
efs/gyro_cal_data
efs/00000000.authtokcont
efs/carrier/
efs/carrier/HiddenMenu
efs/drm/
efs/drm/widevine/
efs/drm/widevine/5dsokxEEDXgQhkN50bp-Z2K5InM_/
efs/drm/widevine/5dsokxEEDXgQhkN50bp-Z2K5InM_/D3qpp0bxmJhbiZwIsCbXJ1434rc_
efs/drm/widevine/5dsokxEEDXgQhkN50bp-Z2K5InM_/RXFABDUxyT6Q+Zwx9ZhPGOq2Bq8_
efs/drm/playready/
efs/drm/playready/00004.PRV
efs/drm/playready/playready0.dat
efs/drm/playready/playready1.dat
efs/drm/playready/playready.hds
efs/wv.keys
efs/log/
efs/log/boot_cause
efs/.files/
efs/.files/.dx1/
efs/.files/.dm33/
efs/.files/.mp301/
efs/ss_data
efs/h2k.dat
efs/hw_offset
This will add all files in /efs to the tar archive located on your internal memory as 'efs.tar'.
Now, the permissions of this tar are incorrect (for this location) so we have to correct them:
Change owner and group:
Code:
chown media_rw:media_rw /data/media/0/efs.tar
And the file permissions:
Code:
chmod 664 /data/media/0/efs.tar
Now, your tar-backup is ready and can be copied via MTP towards your computer or you can use adb to copy it over. First type 'exit' twice to exit the adb shell. CTRL+C is an alternative to leave the 'adb shell'.
Code:
adb pull /mnt/shell/emulated/0/efs.tar .
This will copy the efs.tar to your current directory, which is in my case C:\Android\sdk\platform-tools. You can also replace the last . with the directory where you would like to put the file in.
Backup method using 'dd'
NOTE: In case you left the ADB shell, please return to it using command 'adb shell' and switch to root again via 'su -' as described above.
From the output of the earlier executed command 'mount | grep efs', you can get the path of the EFS partition. It start with '/dev/block/..' is the part which you can use to find the original partition on your device.
As you can see, in my case this is, and I do not expect it to be any different on your device:
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/efs
To check which 'mmcblk' partition it is, we should check out this link:
Code:
ls -al /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/efs
This will show you the mmcblk which is the EFS-partition:
Code:
ls -al /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/efs
lrwxrwxrwx root root 1970-01-05 23:39 efs -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p10
As you can see, the actual partition in my case is:
Code:
/dev/block/mmcblk0p10
I expect that this is the same for all i9505-devices, but it's better safe to check it. On i9500-devices this might be a different number as they have a different partition-layout, that's why we're checking this. It is very important to save this location, also for future restores.
Now, to backup the partition using dd, run the following command, please make sure that the part directly after 'if=' is the partition you found using the 'ls -l' command. In my case '/dev/block/mmcblk0p10':
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p10 of=/data/media/0/efs.img
When it finishes, it will show you something like:
Code:
27904+0 records in
27904+0 records out
14286848 bytes transferred in 1.195 secs (11955521 bytes/sec)
This command reads the efs-partition, byte-by-byte to your internal memory, which you can transfer later on to your PC using ADB or MTP.
As the file created is owned by root:root and doesn't have the default permissions used for files at this location, it can be corrected with the following 2 commands:
Change owner and group:
Code:
chown media_rw:media_rw /data/media/0/efs.img
And the file permissions:
Code:
chmod 664 /data/media/0/efs.img
Now, your DD-backup is ready and can be copied via MTP towards your computer or you can use adb to copy it over. First type 'exit' twice to exit the adb shell. CTRL+C is an alternative to leave the 'adb shell'.
Code:
adb pull /mnt/shell/emulated/0/efs.img .
This will copy the efs.img to your current directory, which is in my case C:\Android\sdk\platform-tools. You can also replace the last . with the directory where you would like to put the file in.
To restore the files
Now to restore the files, in case there is really a need to, like imei-number ****up or something with the MAC-address of your wifi, or whatever.. the following commands can be used:
Of course, once again. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!! Do not use this if not really necessary, as there are risks involved in doing this.
To restore the tar-backup, open 'adb shell' and switch to root using 'su -'. Now, first switch to the root directory, which is most likely not needed, but just to make sure the files will be extracted to the right location:
Code:
cd /
Before executing the next command, I assume that you have the efs.tar file in the root-directory of your internal SD-card.
Now, extract the tar file:
Code:
tar -xvf /data/media/0/efs.tar
This will extract the efs.tar file back to it's original location. It will show you something like:
Code:
[email protected]:/ # tar -xvf /data/media/0/efs.tar
tar -xvf /data/media/0/efs.tar
efs/
efs/imei/
efs/imei/mps_code.dat
efs/wifi/
efs/wifi/.mac.info
efs/FactoryApp/
efs/FactoryApp/test_nv
efs/FactoryApp/hist_nv
efs/FactoryApp/fdata
efs/FactoryApp/serial_no
efs/FactoryApp/factorymode
efs/FactoryApp/keystr
efs/FactoryApp/hw_ver
efs/FactoryApp/baro_delta
efs/FactoryApp/prepay
efs/FactoryApp/earjack_count
efs/FactoryApp/batt_cable_count
efs/bluetooth/
efs/bluetooth/bt_addr
efs/gyro_cal_data
efs/00000000.authtokcont
efs/carrier/
efs/carrier/HiddenMenu
efs/drm/
efs/drm/widevine/
efs/drm/widevine/5dsokxEEDXgQhkN50bp-Z2K5InM_/
efs/drm/widevine/5dsokxEEDXgQhkN50bp-Z2K5InM_/D3qpp0bxmJhbiZwIsCbXJ1434rc_
efs/drm/widevine/5dsokxEEDXgQhkN50bp-Z2K5InM_/RXFABDUxyT6Q+Zwx9ZhPGOq2Bq8_
efs/drm/playready/
efs/drm/playready/00004.PRV
efs/drm/playready/playready0.dat
efs/drm/playready/playready1.dat
efs/drm/playready/playready.hds
efs/wv.keys
efs/log/
efs/log/boot_cause
efs/.files/
efs/.files/.dx1/
efs/.files/.dm33/
efs/.files/.mp301/
efs/ss_data
efs/h2k.dat
efs/hw_offset
Then reboot your phone normally and see if it works again as you would expect.
If you restored the TAR-backup succesfully, you do not need to restore the dd-image. But in case your tar did not work or your /efs is not mounted due to corruption (in recovery) you can try the dd-recovery instead.
PLEASE BE AWARE THAT YOU SHOULD BE SURE ABOUT THE LOCATION OF THE EFS-PARTITION. THIS LOCATION WAS FOUND USING the 'ls -al /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/efs'-COMMAND EARLIER DESCRIBED. If you do not know this location, there's a risk you are overwriting other partitions (MODEM, SYSTEM, RECOVERY, ETC).
If you are sure about the original location, /dev/block/mmcblk......, then use this path just straight after 'of='. On my device the partition is /dev/block/mmcblk0p10.
Code:
dd if=/data/media/0/efs.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p10
Output will be similar to:
Code:
27904+0 records in
27904+0 records out
14286848 bytes transferred in 1.195 secs (11955521 bytes/sec)
This will read the efs.img and put it back in the original location.
NOTE 1: This thread gives you two options of backupping the EFS-partition. It is preferred to do both, better safe than sorry.
NOTE 2: Luckily, I have never had to restore any of the backups myself (not on this phone and not on earlier phones). This means that I was never able to test the restores, which counts for the most of us.
NOTE 3: DO NOT RESTORE unless you are really sure this will solve your issue. This will never resolve any lag or other problems with your rom.
NOTE 4: It is normal that the DD-file is much larger (10MB in size) as it also copies unused space and other meta-data of the partition.
NOTE 5: USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! Although the backup part is nearly riskless.
Note X: Feel free to thank me for this post.
Reservation for second post, just in case.
Isn't rooting and using rootexplorer to zip de efs folder to external SD card and just copying that with a microSD cabel way easier?
johan81 said:
Isn't rooting and using rootexplorer to zip de efs folder to external SD card and just copying that with a microSD cabel way easier?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, zipping is easier but you will lose your permissions (owner and file permissions (changed via chown/chmod)) so it is actually not a good backup. The permissions/ownerships are backupped with the tar- and dd-backup.
The dd-file includes more than just the file; it also contains the partition meta-data, in case your filesystem got corrupted and it is not possible to recovery it.
Good job man.
EFS Professional v2.0.35 is now support S4. You can also use this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1308546
shaq1907 said:
EFS Professional v2.0.35 is now support S4. You can also use this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1308546
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dont seem to work crashes out while backing up
working now with new update
anybody knows how to adb read the the entire partition table of the galaxy s4?

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