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[Q] Total n00b question about Nand backup

Alright, so I have been testing the waters with my HTC Magic over the last several weeks. I have it unlocked and rooted, updated radio, everything has been going quite well. A few weeks back, I settled on a ROM that seemed to work best for me, and I have installed plenty of apps, widgets, and I have the customization down to a T.
But I wish to continue trying out different ROM's. Who knows, I may find something I like even more! As a fallback though, I wish to preserve all the hard work I put into my current setup. I can't find anything definitive about exactly what a Nandroid backup does, but from what I can see, it is implied that it will save all apps, settings, etc. I'm just wondering if that's correct.
So let's I'm running Android 1.6, I do a Nandroid backup, and then I wipe everything and install a compatible Froyo ROM. Would I be able to restore the backup and have everything the same as before? Or, let's say I don't like the ROM, so I wish to return to the same one I'm currently running. When I restore the backup, will it look like I never changed anything at all? Will there be lost apps or settings, or possible broken apps??
Should sound pretty straightforward, but I just want to be 100% sure before I mess around. Thank you all very much

As far as apps & settings try titanium backup, the donate version offers a 1 click back up, comes in pretty handy if you do alot of flashing, there is a free version as well but you have to manually back your stuff up one at a time, which is a pain if you have alot of stuff, but free is free & it is always nice to try before you buy... My back up pro will accomplish the samething, but I prefer titanium as I feel it has a little better options. So nand backup for your roms & titanium for apps and data and you can go nuts flashing and trying out roms with relative ease... The only issues you may run into would be compatibility of apps going from 1.6 to 2+.
Sent from my phone.

Thank you very much for the quick response.
So let me get this straight. Nand only backs up my ROM, but nothing else? I need another app to backup apps/widgets? I will check out Titanium Backup.
Worst case scenerio, I used ShootMe to take screenshots of everything important

A nand backup/restore should get everything back to how it was. Titanium backup is handy for keeping your apps, settings, etc... When switching from rom to rom.
Here:
http://tinyurl.com/2e7p95o
Sent from my phone.

maxomus said:
A nand backup/restore should get everything back to how it was. Titanium backup is handy for keeping your apps, settings, etc... When switching from rom to rom.
Here:
http://tinyurl.com/2e7p95o
Sent from my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is a link to the tutorial i wrote on Nandroid
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_to_backup_or_recover_via_Nandroid

I have a question about NANDROID
ez. I used the ROM: LeeDrOid_V1.9a on my HTC desire. I did a full backup NANDROID. now update the ROM to LeeDroid_v2.2a( this ROM is include a new kernel for overclock to 1113mhz), and do a restore my backup NANDROID.
IT seems everything comes back to V1.9a( I check in " software Information" shows software number is v1.9a, even the kernel is rollback too)
is it normal?
I want to use LeeDroid_v2.2a because it has new kernel for overclock to 1113mhz but I dont want to install all apps again. what should I do?

[Q] Phone Backup

Hey Guys, I'm a little bit of a noob here. I have had my captivate for about 6 months now and I started to get a little frustrated with the way the Captivate was set up compared to my old HTC Hero. I didn't have to root the Hero and could do anything with it I wanted. With the captivate it was another story. I rooted the new Captivate and it has been a wild ride. I follow the forums to see what is available after having Super User installed. I have to say I went a little crazy into the exploration of what i can and cant do. I learned what I cant do the hard way and spent almost 3 day's having problems with odin3 one touch flasher. Once i got everything back running to factory settings I decided to just set up the phone the way I like it and updated the config. for example I added the root access and updated the settings.db file to allow 3rd party apk installs. I than also deleted the wealth of useless crap At&T Preloaded onto the OS such as the apps and the 20 AT&T contacts. Fortunately now my phone and layout is exactly to where I want it. Unfortunately now I am afraid to perform other root mods on the phone and have to re flash the original factory settings on it and have to set it up all over again. I am not much of a programmer but do know end user support very well and was hoping that there would be a way to create a backup of the root directory so that in case I brick my phone (happend twice when I tried to replace the launcher program) I can just flash my backup so that I don't have to install apps, configure settings, and adjust the layout all over again? I was thinking of creating an update.zip would do it that i could keep on my sd card and flash it from recovery.
Can Somebody please Help!!!
Thanks,
Jay

Generally speaking, unless you use the same ROM, it is a bad idea to restore system settings.
Check out Titanium Backup from the Market. It works really well at backing up apps, data, and system data. Be sure to get the donate version so you don't have to manually install every single app (huge time/effort saver). It won't give you an update.zip file, but if you reinstall it and point it at it's backup folder, it can restore all of your data with minimal effort.
If you are prone to bricking your phone, back it up to an external SD card by entering "/<external sd>/Titanium Backup" as the backup path, replacing <external sd> with the real path (it's different on 2.1 and 2.2 ROMs).
Good luck.

Thanks, I actually already have Titanium Backup lite and i backed it up using the batch Backup all user apps + System Data but have no idea how to restore these backups if my phone bricks. I dont necessarily want to flash the phone to try it out. Any chance you know of where i can find out a little bit more information on how to restore backups with this app?

I also have the ClockworkMod Recovery where i have backed up my phone to an SD card. It says during the process Backing up system, data, datadata and than generates an md5sum. After this the phone boots back up and I was wondering if recovering using ClockworkMod is the same as flashing an update.zip rom but instead of using the stock version? Also this app seems a lot easier to use at there is an option to reboot into recovery and select roms

[Q] ?'s about backing up phone.

So I have managed to flash several different roms and feel good about that. I think I am going to use the one I am using now. But when I do flash back to a previous rom all my user data is gone. for example contacts and stuff like that. Is there a way i can backup everything on my phone so that if i flash a rom i don't like i can go back. I use rom manager and I think this is how you do it, but just need some advice. Also when I make a backup can i copy and paste it, then put it on my desktop just incase i have to use it again? If I choose this method of saving my backups, would i just boot into revovery if ever needed? Sorry this is long winded but I am just tired of having to tired of having to go and fetch my contacts.

I've been reading a lot on this site, but would also like to know if it's possible to port data between rom installs. Particularly contacts, apps installed & text messages. is it simply a matter of restoring a portion of an previously back-up rom?
And yes, i think you can move stuff to your desktop as that's what I've been doing. I keep a copy of the stock EVO/Sprint rom on my SD card as well as the latest Cyanogen rom (with wimax) in case other roms don't work out.
Slowly but surely I'll get this.

Help With EVERYTHING

Well, I have a Samsung Galaxy S 4G from T-Mobile. I recently just started to get new apps, themes, and launchers. I saw the Holo Launcher and it seemed pretty good. I liked the whole "ICS" feel of it.
I looked at rooting and flashing ROMs, kernels, and modems. I just needed some help with some questions I had. So if you could help me, that would be great, because I'm a kind of paranoid person and I don't want to screw up my phone.
What is CWM? And do you have to install this onto the phone or is it already there?
How do you enter CWM on this particular phone?
Does it matter which way you root? Will the way you root impact other decisions you will have to make in the future for the phone? Or does it not matter? And what is the best and easiest way to root?
Is it possible to unbrick a phone?
When you have a flashed ROM on, what if you want to flash another ROM? Do you have to flash back to stock or can you just flash the new ROM?
In the Unofficial CM9 ROM, one of the steps say: "(Optional) Flash gapps-ics-20120429-signed.zip if you want the Market plus other Google apps." Do you have to do this with every ROM? And do you just flash it on the same way as a ROM? What is the process in this context?
How do you know what version your CWM is?
Finally, does anyone have a video tutorial that they could give me that is specific to the Unofficial CM9 ROM?
If you could answer any of these, thank you. I'm just a paranoid person when it comes to things like this.

Start here - this is our Wiki: http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S_4G
Read it once, then read it again. That will answer most of your questions.

gapps isn't covered in the Wiki, but basically, as I understand it, for some legal reason the Google applications and some of their required libraries can't be distributed with CyanogenMod / AOKP and similar ROMs. As a result, they are packaged separately. There are different versions for GB and for ICS.
You don't need to install them, but you won't be able to access Play / Maps / GMail / Google Calendar / Google Contacts and the like without installing at least some of the zip. You do need to re-install it after every flash as they get installed in the "system" part of your phone, not the "user" part.

And one more thing. Where do the NANDroid Backups go? Do I need to put it on my computer or will it always be in my phone?

DevSun said:
And one more thing. Where do the NANDroid Backups go? Do I need to put it on my computer or will it always be in my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you make a Nandroid backup, it is saved in a folder called clockworkmod on your SD Card - something like sdcard>clockworkmod>backup. You should definitely also save a copy of that folder to your computer, just in case.

Okay, and also...
Do I always have to delete the data/cache when installing a ROM? And do you always have to do UMMU?

DevSun said:
Okay, and also...
Do I always have to delete the data/cache when installing a ROM? And do you always have to do UMMU?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Follow whatever directions the developers provide with their ROMs, and you'll be golden.

[Q] CWM Recovery Question On SGH-I727

Hello, I have recently been able to install and make a backup of my SGH-I727 using CWM. I have also purchased Titanium backup and made application backups.
I have a few specific questions that I have not been able to find an answer to :
1) Will a CWM backup contain all the apps that are on the phone as well? Meaning, if I restore with a backup image I made, will the
unit be exactly as it was before the backup (i.e. home pages, apps, etc)?
2) If the answer to #1 is YES, then what is the use of Titanium backup/restore?
3) I saw on a YOUTUBE video a user "teaching" how to use CWM, before the RESTORE, he formatted the /cache, /data and /system partitions, then did the RESTORE. Is this needed? required? recommended? best practice?
4) I have gb 2.3.5 on the device now and it works fantastic. I would like to try ICS but before I go there, I want to make sure I have a way to get back to what I have now. Is a CWM backup all I need?
5) Will installing a stock Kernel (ICS AT&T in my case) get rid of CWM Recovery? Or will it be there when I want to go back to the backed up version?
6) Lastly, and maybe this one should not be in this thread but lets try : I am learning about Android, and I see references to the "modem/radio" files for each device. Will a CWM backup also backup the radio/modem code in case the ICS install does not go as planned?
Thank you!!

I think you need to do more reading. Many of these questions have been answered.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

1. Yes a cwm or twrp b/u will put all your apps back just like you never left.!
2. You use titanium when you flash a new rom because of course the new rom won't contain your apps.
3. I've done lots and lots of restores and never wiped first....but wouldn't hurt i guess.
4.yup.!
5.no the recovery remains untouched.
6.I don't think the radio gets backed up or restored. But it's not critical to the rom operation and can be reflashed when ever..

calderonr said:
Hello, I have recently been able to install and make a backup of my SGH-I727 using CWM. I have also purchased Titanium backup and made application backups.
I have a few specific questions that I have not been able to find an answer to :
1) Will a CWM backup contain all the apps that are on the phone as well? Meaning, if I restore with a backup image I made, will the
unit be exactly as it was before the backup (i.e. home pages, apps, etc)?
2) If the answer to #1 is YES, then what is the use of Titanium backup/restore?
3) I saw on a YOUTUBE video a user "teaching" how to use CWM, before the RESTORE, he formatted the /cache, /data and /system partitions, then did the RESTORE. Is this needed? required? recommended? best practice?
4) I have gb 2.3.5 on the device now and it works fantastic. I would like to try ICS but before I go there, I want to make sure I have a way to get back to what I have now. Is a CWM backup all I need?
5) Will installing a stock Kernel (ICS AT&T in my case) get rid of CWM Recovery? Or will it be there when I want to go back to the backed up version?
6) Lastly, and maybe this one should not be in this thread but lets try : I am learning about Android, and I see references to the "modem/radio" files for each device. Will a CWM backup also backup the radio/modem code in case the ICS install does not go as planned?
Thank you!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. 99.9% back to what you had
2. if you install a new rom you can use titu to restore your apps and settings, 99.9% of apps should work, but some people like reinstalling thier apps fresh and not from backups
3. i wipe b4 i reinstall from backup, but dont wipe/format your sdcards, thats where all the backups of cwm and titu are, good practice is to backup your sdcards onto your computer, that reminds me, i need todo that
4. yes except for the radio
5. if you mean stock firmware , then yes custom recovery gone, you will get everything back to stock - recovery, kernel, rom, radio. if you mean just the kernel then no
6. no cwm/twrp do not backup or wipe the radio , you will still have what you had b4, but the ics stock firmware install you will get another radio and should be fine, worry about flashing the firmware correctly(do the wipes), radio is easy to flash/reflash with custom recovery(cwm/twrp)

vincom said:
1. 99.9% back to what you had
2. if you install a new rom you can use titu to restore your apps and settings, 99.9% of apps should work, but some people like reinstalling thier apps fresh and not from backups
3. i wipe b4 i reinstall from backup, but dont wipe/format your sdcards, thats where all the backups of cwm and titu are, good practice is to backup your sdcards onto your computer, that reminds me, i need todo that
4. yes except for the radio
5. if you mean stock firmware , then yes custom recovery gone, you will get everything back to stock - recovery, kernel, rom, radio. if you mean just the kernel then no
6. no cwm/twrp do not backup or wipe the radio , you will still have what you had b4, but the ics stock firmware install you will get another radio and should be fine, worry about flashing the firmware correctly(do the wipes), radio is easy to flash/reflash with custom recovery(cwm/twrp)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Vincom and all,
Thanks for the responses....Very useful and I think I am putting all the dots together now. Before I ask this let me say that I am a computer programmer as well but for IBM mainframe systems, so I am a technical person but the distributed computing world (Windows/Unix/Linux, etc) is not that familiar to me, therefore these follow up questions.
I am trying to understand the difference between FIRMWARE, and ROMS and Kernels.
1A) I gather firmware is the software that drives the hardware like device drivers..correct?
2A) I also gather that the Kernel is the version of the operating system. Correct?
3A) ROM is the one that is stomping me a bit...is that the UI version? Like Gnome in Linux?
When I look at my S2, in About Phone I see the following :
Baseband Version - I727UCKJ2
Kernel Version - 2.6.35.11
Build Number GINGERBREAD.UCKJ2
4A) Lastly, when I do a CWM backup, what am I backing up? The ROM and the Kernel? Does it also back up the firmware?
Anyway thanks to all for your input and help!...I love my Android device!

Hello there, To answer a few of your questions.
1.A. Typically Firmware is a patch or software update/version that affects what the hardware is supposed to do..Google definition-Permanent software programmed into a read-only memory.
2.A. Kernel - pretty good explanation of it...
3.A. Google definition - The Android ROM is the Android operating system. This is the User interface (Sense UI in HTC phones) and the file system for maintaining contacts etc. It is composed of a Linux kernel and various add-ons to achieve specific functionality.- I would define it as a user-developed version of android if we are talking about custom ROMs.
4.A. Yes when you back up it backs up everything except the radio.
To further explain why people might use TIBU and CWM/TWRP is because most people make a full nandroid (cwm backup) for safety / oops moments or just to try out a different rom. TIBU is usually used when users go from rom to rom and dont want to mess with playstore taking its sweet time to reinstall. (only restore app/app data. NEVER RESTORE SYS DATA unless on the same version of android. the sys files are always different rom to rom or version to version)
Baseband is the Radio, Just fyi there are several different versions of radios for our phone but they are typicall Version specific. ie: gb radios wouldnt work on JB
Not as a troll or flame but I am just curious why you are still using GB? My advice is just to install cm10 + gapps and look up installing cyandelta from the playstore.
I offer that as a suggestion because it will update your phone autonomously. also review the forums for which radios are best for cm (I'm still using uclf6 even though there are newer versions)