Database Info

Applications to SD - WITHOUT PARTITONING (BETA TEST)

I'm looking for beta testers for a new App2SD implementation that does not require your MicroSD card to be partitioned which is potentially unsafe and can result in a loss of your data. If you'd like to test this new implementation before it's release here on XDA shoot me an email at [email protected] with what firmware and version you're using.
More information will be released after I get a few positive beta tests out of the way.

loopback device, eh?
I tried that a while back but never could get the loopback driver to load early enough in the boot process reliably.
Hope you have better luck than I did.

As [email protected] pointed out to me a while ago, this is not a good idea for security reasons. If your loopback file sits on the FAT partition, it is accessible by all of the apps, it can be read, overwritten and deleted by a rogue app bypassing the entire android security model. If this is what you intend to do, it's probably not "safer".

Hey, shot you an email. Ready to try it out. But only for beta.
Hit me up, I have no apps to lose.
But security? Idk just let me know whats up.

what happens when you mount the SD card to your computer?

I'd like to try it, but i don't yet have a class6 sd card. Is that necessary?

i'd be willing to give this a shot. I have no data to lose as well.

southsko said:
what happens when you mount the SD card to your computer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's true. Won't all your apps disappear when you mount the SD?

This smells fishy not many app developers with 1 post can this be someone testing their new exploit/virus?No offense to original poster im just sayin....???
Edit:Sorry to OP clearly not a virus,and good luck on getting it stable I will gladly donate to your cause partitioning is a pain!

don't be a jackass, many people have had great ideas and decided to come to XDA to share them. just because you are a complete idiot who can't program does not mean that the OP is too.
@@OP
you are playing with fire my dear friend. i don't think that mounting your apps on the FAT32 partition is a good idea at all. not only because it would allow any program to access and write without asking android permission first, but because it would allow people to mount the SDcard and steal paid apps even easier. i beg of you please rethink your idea

I imagine the phone would be crashing when the phone is mounted to the computer. lol. just kidding. =]

tubaking182 said:
don't be a jackass, many people have had great ideas and decided to come to XDA to share them. just because you are a complete idiot who can't program does not mean that the OP is too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WTF?Just came back to edit my post and put that its for real cause like I should have done first I found this http://noderat.com/loop2sd/.But as for your insults who the hell are you?How the f**k do you know what I can or can not do?I was posting in the first place to start trying be more active in the forums no reason for you to be a **** anyways,I was tryin to help people not get what I thought may have been a virus was that really that bad?

i'm not sure that is 100% true. when i mount my phone(apps2sd) my phone decides to mount the ext2 partion and the FAT32 partition, i am using ubuntu so my computer is able to read the partition, but my phone doesn't crash(i've yet to try running an app while mounted though)

Android can acces the sdcard while mounted.
Try terminal emulator.

crotalusfreak said:
This smells fishy not many app developers with 1 post can this be someone testing their new exploit/virus?No offense to original poster im just sayin....???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, take it from someone who has many posts and 15 years of unix experience, it is a bad idea.
Most of the devs here had this same idea, but as I mention in my previous post, this is opening yourself up to many bad security issues. To all those who answer, "I have no data to lose", that's fine as a beta tester. But what's the point in beta testing something that cannot be safely used by anyone who does have data (or apps) to lose?
I should point out to those who perhaps do not realize some the consequences of my original post, that it is not just a potential data loss problem, but a potential arbitrary code execution vulnerability. If an application manages to replace the loopback file with a new loopback file, it could inject altered common applications. If this succeeds, it means that previously trusted applications which have been granted privileges (or root using the various su apps) at install time, could be replaced with trojan versions which can have complete control over your system... steal your passwords... reflash your bootloader and literally install a permanent trojan... brick your phone... <insert other scary things besides data loss here>.
It's your phone, do what you want. I just figured that I would re-post that this not a new idea, but one that has been rejected by those of us with unix experience who realize the consequences. If you are just messing around, go ahead, it's not likely to hurt your phone. But, as a general method to build upon and be depended on, this should not have a future. If this becomes common practice, it is highly likely that exploits will be written to take advantage of this vulnerability.
So, if you are asking yourself if something is fishy, yes something is: it's a logical idea which seems great on the surface, but it has an unfortunate flaw.
Note: I am not suggesting malicious intent on the OP's part, just that they may not have thought of the consequences of suggesting this as a common method to do apps2sd. And if the OP (or someone else) is able to point out a method to avoid the things I warn against I will happily retract my statements (if I agree that this method would indeed work) since this method has some obvious benefits. However sadly, I think that is highly unlikely.

maxisma said:
Android can acces the sdcard while mounted.
Try terminal emulator.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it can't. It can only access the empty mountpoint.

If you want to do this, there IS a way to make it work SAFELY....
Find the functions that control sdcard mounting and unmounting and FIX it so that it will mount an ext2 first partition. Then forget about the whole loopback thing as thats not going to do anyone any good... If you do it like this, then unionfs it, then unmounting the sdcard should safely vanish the apps that are stored on the card (leaving the internally stored apps), might crash the launcher, but that'll restart immediately and won't even error out.
A second step in the right direction would be to find the place where programs are detected from, which currently looks in /data/app, /data/app-private, /system/app, so it can clearly handle loading software from multiple locations -- add in a new path. Or maybe link app-private to /sdcard... A little more challenging would be to allow it look in multiple locations for thing that are ALL currently in /data/data and /data/dalvik-cache.
And then when its done, submit a patch for the source.

Wow what a response. Here's a few key bulletpoints:
I'm not a forum poster, not the kinda person for it but I have been on XDA Dream since I got my pre-launch G1 as a CSR.
There are potential security flaws with the current ext2 method of a2sd, and bypassing root to mount the ext2 partition is possible.
a2sd is not stable in any format, so it's a use at your own risk until android improves kinda deal.
I'm not cool enough to write a virus, but thank you for the ego boost
Anybody using a third-party firmware is not safe nor secure. If you're reading this forum you're not safe nor secure. The idea of homebrew roms is to add extra features that are not in Android to begin with and with that comes security risks. No ROM is ever perfect but I'd trust a Google or T-Mobile rom with my security before any homebrew-anything.So yes it's use at your own risk
This has the same results for mounting on a PC as MarcusMaximus's a2sd.sh
This doesn't really make it any easier to steal paid apps, it's always been easy and always will be but this doesn't change it.
If you guys have other questions shoot me an email, like I said I don't really do much forum-posting (never had much of anything to say, maybe this'll change all that)
[email protected]

JakeEv said:
I'd like to try it, but i don't yet have a class6 sd card. Is that necessary?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The faster the better but I've done it with the stock card that came in the G1 as well as a Class 6.

id try it since i can not get apps2sd to work.
[email protected]
using JF 1.51

Security Issues - Encryption of the SD Card

Hi, there!
Like many others, I have only recently switched from WM6.5 to Android (with my new HTC Desire).
WM 6 introduced the possibility to encrypt the SD Card, making it only readable in the PPC it was originally encrypted in. I found this a very helpful tool and had bought a respective app from Spritesoft. Unfortunately, their Android software is still in the beginning status, and therefore, I bought yesterday the app from WaveSecure.
I was surprised, however, that they do not offer an encryption for the SD card as I know it from my old TyTN II.
Is anybody here who can advice - tweak, app, or whatever?
I mean, it's nice to secure the phone - but the sensible data are being stored in files on the SD card in the end. And if you lose your device, it may well be broke, but the SD card lives and cannot be wyped in a broken device either.

I couldn't agree more. There are a few applications that either offer individual file passwords, which is not very secure, or just offer encryption of its own text files, like OI Safe. I used to use a commercial application on Windows Mobile, Sentry 2020, which allowed you to create a an encrypted volume within your storage, internal or external. This was ideal, as it allowed you to store any kind of files in this. After a timeout period, the volume was automatically closed and your files were secure. It is a shame that the last activity in Sentry's website is in 2007.

I should be receiving a desire very shortly and am very concerned by the current lack of device level encryption.
Does anyone know if there are any products in development that will soon allow device encryption?
Is the hardware and OS itself capable of supporting full device encryption?

hi, i want to reopen this issue because today i asked myself the same question.
i have tested several apps but most of them are not useable for a large number of files or folders.... what we really need is a secret partition and something like truecrypt.... i didn´t find anything in the net... so if somebody has an idea or solution for that, i would be happy...
thank you!

htclerman said:
hi, i want to reopen this issue because today i asked myself the same question.
i have tested several apps but most of them are not useable for a large number of files or folders.... what we really need is a secret partition and something like truecrypt.... i didn´t find anything in the net... so if somebody has an idea or solution for that, i would be happy...
thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you encounter anything using AES/Rijndael or at least Blowfish or Twofish algorithm? I need something to encrypt single files/folders only. TIA!

wizja said:
did you encounter anything using AES/Rijndael or at least Blowfish or Twofish algorithm? I npartitioneed something to encrypt single files/folders only. TIA!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you speak about apps?
If yes, there is nothing out there
I know that is working fast with a big number of files. There must be an option to encrypt a whole partition,
That's the only thing that would make sense.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

http://tasker.dinglisch.net/tour.html
Claims to support encryption, kind of complicated through.

htclerman said:
Do you speak about apps?
If yes, there is nothing out there
I know that is working fast with a big number of files. There must be an option to encrypt a whole partition,
That's the only thing that would make sense.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the ability to put apps on the SDCard this is going to be an unlikely feature to work well....
Your best bet is looking for something with a good remote wipe/lock feature.

If you have a partition formatted with ext2/3/4, it's only a matter of copying over static binaries of lvm, device-mapper and cryptsetup, and creating a script called via initrc or controlled via /etc/init.d
I've posted about a similar solution for /data. Search for it.

Push for implementating it in Android:
Using dm-crypt to Encrypt the SD Card...? - xda-developers
Using dm-crypt to Encrypt the SD Card...? - CyanogenMod Forum
Issue 11211 - android - Android too insecure - Encryption of the SDcard is crucial - Project Hosting on Google Code
Issue 3748 - android - Add support for partition/block device encryption - Project Hosting on Google Code

Beta testers wanted: NES, tool to manage data partition

Update 03/08/11
NotEnoughSpace has finally graduated to the Android Marketplace!
Beta testers can currently get it at its "thank you" price of $0.99.
I will set the regular price in a week so hurry
*** *** *** ***
Note #1: your phone needs to be ROOTED to use this application.
Note #2: so far, only tested on Droid Incredible and HTC Desire.
From the built-in help:
About this application
This application's goal is to help you understand and possibly work around a common vexation of using Android; i.e. these messages:
"not enough space"
"Low on space. Application data space is low."
What is happening?
You've checked your phone's vitals and it appears that it has plenty of space left, both internal storage and SD Card storage. So, what's happening?
Android allows your applications to store their data, primarily, in a dedicated partition whose size happens to be much smaller than even the phone's internal storage space. Generally south of 150 MBs.
This is the partition that fills up so quickly and that Android has been complaining about.
And the help goes on and on so I'll stop here.
The short version
Using this application, you can see which applications use up most of your phone's data space and decide what to do with them.
You can also move the biggest directories to the phone's SD Card.
Additionally, you can use the app to cleanup the Dalvik cache but it's not the app's primary function.
Please, help test it!
I will gladly welcome any constructive criticism; I expect most of it to be along the lines of "The tool is not quite accurate" and that's what I wish to address first.
To create a debug report (these are very important):
Simply select the "Debug" menu and follow the on-screen instructions.
The whole email business is so that you can copy/paste from a desktop client.
The .apk can be downloaded from nexus.zteo.com/projects/beta/
Update 12/04/10
The application should now display correct stats for phones/ROMs that use Busybox. If you have already tested it and it said "NaN" please try it again.

This should be interesting, maybe kinda Android GpartED?

cyansmoker said:
Using this application, you can see which applications use up most of your phone's data space and decide what to do with them.
You can also move the biggest directories to the phone's SD Card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Curious, does this mean you can move and symlink data, or are you talking about Froyo Apps2SD?
teorouge said:
This should be interesting, maybe kinda Android GpartED?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obviously not, he's managing what's there, he's not partitioning anything.. Did you read?

khaytsus said:
Obviously not, he's managing what's there, he's not partitioning anything.. Did you read?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Come on, what's the matter dude? I did read, and from what I read I thought whole partition handling was the only thing this app would be missing. Single files is a good start, but making that "kinda GpartED" would be killer. Though I fear you should be in bootloader/recovery to work on those, don't know how Android deals with them (i.e. in Windows you have programs you can change partitions size "on the fly" with). Now that I elaborated more, are you still angry?

This application would be genius. I'm wondering however, will the phone still be able to access that data once it is moved off of the system memory and onto the SD Card? And is it possible to actually partition the /data/data section so that it will use more than the allowed 150mb that it has, like open it up so that instead of it being partitioned to a small amount, it just roams free with the rest of the 748mb or whatever that is in the system memory.

A promising app, thanks.
Navigon, however, doesn't like its data to be moved to SD card. Even after moving it back with the app, it FCs (Android 2.1). I think I have to reinstall. So be careful if you're trying to do the same.
Edit: After reinstalling the .apk (without doing anything with the maps), Navigon works again. The packet installer didn't ask me if I wanted to replace the existing installation (as is otherwise usual in such a case).
Edit2: There seems to be a general problem. The next app I tried was mediaU. It has a large database which I moved (using NES) to the SD card. It also FCed after having moved its database, and restoring to the old location (again using NES) also didn't succeed. No error message during restore, but app still won't run.
Phone: Galaxy 3, Android 2.1 (original ROM).

mizch said:
A promising app, thanks.
Navigon, however, doesn't like its data to be moved to SD card. Even after moving it back with the app, it FCs (Android 2.1). I think I have to reinstall. So be careful if you're trying to do the same.
Edit: After reinstalling the .apk (without doing anything with the maps), Navigon works again. The packet installer didn't ask me if I wanted to replace the existing installation (as is otherwise usual in such a case).
Edit2: There seems to be a general problem. The next app I tried was mediaU. It has a large database which I moved (using NES) to the SD card. It also FCed after having moved its database, and restoring to the old location (again using NES) also didn't succeed. No error message during restore, but app still won't run.
Phone: Galaxy 3, Android 2.1 (original ROM).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tonight I'm gonna try for sure and report back, this does look promising! Did you succeed with some apps?

teorouge said:
Did you succeed with some apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
K9 seemed to work. However, I had to reflash for another reason, and now K9 reports its lib as being in the standard location (reported by NES). For now, I have stopped testing NotEnoughSpace so I can not say more.

mizch said:
K9 seemed to work. However, I had to reflash for another reason, and now K9 reports its lib as being in the standard location (reported by NES). For now, I have stopped testing NotEnoughSpace so I can not say more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
eh? K9 has native use of the SD card if you enable it... Why would you use this on it?

Thanks for doing this testing, guys.
I will install these apps and test them myself.
teorouge: you moved the database/ directory, is that it?
mizch: so, you re-installed K9 after reflashing, right?
Everybody: what about the "free space" numbers reported by the app? Do they seem correct to you? I had to use a dedicated algo to compute them, taking block size in account, and I've had reports of fairly surprising discrepancies.

Free space doesn't seem to update after moving, though I see the difference in the Titanium Backup count: tried for a couple of apps (G Earth and well... don't remember!) and it did move everything, free up space on /data and I can still use those apps. Still afraid to move many apps, just moving one at the time and test.

I just tested it out on my Droid 1, which is running CM6.1RC5 (Not sure if thats relevant or not), and it doesnt seem to work very well on my phone. All apps came back as 4KB, at the top it showed this... Total:261.8MB Used:NaNKB Free: 259.1MB Database NaNKB Files: NaNKB Preferences:NaNKB Cache:NaNKB.
Heres the debug report: 1:/dev/block/mtdblock6 268032 224572 43460 84% /data
2:62855 /data/data
3:4096/0/265352

Sorry - never mind; found the info in FAQ.txt after downloading
cyansmoker said:
Note #1: your phone needs to be ROOTED to use this application.
Note #2: so far, only tested on Droid Incredible and HTC Desire.
From the built-in help:
About this application
This application's goal is to help you understand and possibly work around a common vexation of using Android; i.e. these messages:
"not enough space"
"Low on space. Application data space is low."
What is happening?
You've checked your phone's vitals and it appears that it has plenty of space left, both internal storage and SD Card storage. So, what's happening?
Android allows your applications to store their data, primarily, in a dedicated partition whose size happens to be much smaller than even the phone's internal storage space. Generally south of 150 MBs.
This is the partition that fills up so quickly and that Android has been complaining about.
And the help goes on and on so I'll stop here.
The short version
Using this application, you can see which applications use up most of your phone's data space and decide what to do with them.
You can also move the biggest directories to the phone's SD Card.
Additionally, you can use the app to cleanup the Dalvik cache but it's not the app's primary function.
Please, help test it!
I will gladly welcome any constructive criticism; I expect most of it to be along the lines of "The tool is not quite accurate" and that's what I wish to address first.
To create a debug report:
Simply select the "Debug" menu and follow the on-screen instructions.
The whole email business is so that you can copy/paste from a desktop client.
The .apk can be downloaded from nexus.zteo.com/projects/beta/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have more details about this program anywhere? I went to the download page but see no further info...

Help Section Typo
Under A Quick user guide in your user guide(?) that prompts when you run the apk for the first time there is a typo in the last sentence:
You can touch any application to explore its content and figure out what is taking up some much space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far I havent run into any issues with the apk...

Not to burst anyones bubble, but Choose Install Location has been doing this in a comprehensive way for weeks. http://www.appbrain.com/app/choose-install-location-free/com.beidl.chooseloc

Free Memory?
bdt1995 said:
I just tested it out on my Droid 1, which is running CM6.1RC5 (Not sure if thats relevant or not), and it doesnt seem to work very well on my phone. All apps came back as 4KB, at the top it showed this... Total:261.8MB Used:NaNKB Free: 259.1MB Database NaNKB Files: NaNKB Preferences:NaNKB Cache:NaNKB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same problem as bdt1995. Running CM 6.1 RC1.. the only difference is the total memory is 196.2 and the free is:194.3 MB cuz I'm using a Nexus.. CM6 might be the problem?

bdt1995 said:
I just tested it out on my Droid 1, which is running CM6.1RC5 (Not sure if thats relevant or not), and it doesnt seem to work very well on my phone. All apps came back as 4KB, at the top it showed this... Total:261.8MB Used:NaNKB Free: 259.1MB Database NaNKB Files: NaNKB Preferences:NaNKB Cache:NaNKB.
Heres the debug report: 1:/dev/block/mtdblock6 268032 224572 43460 84% /data
2:62855 /data/data
3:4096/0/265352
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here (total 196.2MB, Free 194.3MB, all apps 4KB), system details in my sig. Using apps2sdext, over 200 apps.
Debug info:
Code:
1:/dev/block/mtdblock5 200960 112144 88816 56% /data
2:96070 /data/data
3:4096/0/198951

Same problem as above with Cyanogen 6.02, However it looks promising.
I Think that moving data to standard SD can leads to security issue, because SD can be readed and written by any apps. Should be better if the app recognize /EXT partition, if exist, and move data here.

i'd like to try it and i get my lil sis to try it also she gets this problem a lot i have the droid incredible and my sis has the droid eris.

bdt1995, rnh16, britoso, mmorselli:
Thanks for the debug info. Indeed Cyanogen is a tad "exotic" for NES at this point.
Please download the latest version of NES -- I just uploaded it. It contains an extra debug line which should allow me to make it work so please paste your debug output here one more time.
JerseyFF:
Oops, thanks.
lhinsz:
Because it is a beta version, it hasn't been released yet and all the information you may need is contained in the Help screen. I tried to make it comprehensive.
BigNate:
Should work with HTC devices, yes. Could you or you sister paste her phone's debug screen here?
Zandog:
I do not think that both apps share the same goal so no lives should be lost (Seriously, not much of a bubble to burst?)

Anybody using Dropsync with 5.0.x?

The app developer hasn't updated it for Lollipop's new folder hierarchy permission, and he seems to be pointing everyone who asks about it to his Kitkat workaround (https://metactrl.com/docs/sdcard-on-kitkat/). I tried to create the necessary directory via ES File Explorer, but it couldn't create it. Consequently, Dropsync has become completely useless for me. Does anybody use it and have advice? I might be willing to root it if it solves the problem entirely... I hadn't had a reason to root prior. Lollipop penetration is so low that I can't find information on it anywhere else, hence why I'm hoping someone with a Shield has figured it out.

Unfortunately the only apps I've seen accessing the file system properly are the ones that have the special lollipop hack that it looks like was begrudgingly added at the last second.
That much being said, it is ENTIRELY possible that if you are not able to write to your SD card, it is because the SD card is not properly formatted. I recently posted an article somewhere in this forum about how I reformatted my SD card and got apps to write to it and everything was peachy keen.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2973307
Disclaimer: I really hope this works for you but given my Thanks it's only been called functional by one other person besides me.

I actually did try formatting as NTFS (after seeing your post) and it was unsuccessful. However, I did quick format and I see now that your post says to format it twice. Perhaps I'll try it again this evening.
Thanks for your input, either way!

Any reason why not to root? DS works fine for me on 2.1 and starkissed kernel

Mathman85 said:
I actually did try formatting as NTFS (after seeing your post) and it was unsuccessful. However, I did quick format and I see now that your post says to format it twice. Perhaps I'll try it again this evening.
Thanks for your input, either way!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry to hear that. I probably formatted my SD card a couple times too.
berryman13 said:
Any reason why not to root? DS works fine for me on 2.1 and starkissed kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because warranty. Because good old days of not needing root.

Regarding root, I simply haven't had a need to with the Shield. With my phones and older tablets, there is functionality that I could only gain through root. But with the Shield, it's not like I'm removing carrier bloat, tethering behind the carrier's back, etc. I'm not necessarily worried about the warranty aspect... I do have microscopic hairline fractures on the corners, but I'm not petty enough to submit for a warranty exchange for cosmetic blemishes that don't affect performance, and I don't foresee other warranty-worthy issues.
Would root allow me to completely resolve the issue, though? As I mentioned, the developer's write-up specifically covers fixing the issue on KitKat, not Lollipop.

berryman13 said:
Any reason why not to root? DS works fine for me on 2.1 and starkissed kernel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OFF TOPIC but, what is the starkissed kernel? I searched the shield tablet forum for that keyword and this was the only mention it found....

PSA: If you encounter a problem where an app asks for write permissions for the sd card, but selecting it in the documents menu that pops up causes it to crash, format the drive as NTFS and assign a volume label. I had formatted as NTFS but not assigned a volume label and had this issue... once I assigned a label, it was remedied.
And the dropsync developer is updating the app to support these permissions very soon.

Accessing system folder without root access

Hi all.
I'm after quite specific need but would like to know more general answer / solution if possible at all.
I know that wihtout being rooted there's not much one can do with system folders, but still, there are some ways and tricks to get to them, one of them being Backup option provided by android, using ADB shell.
I'm after specific file, that is /data/data/com.android.mms/shared_prefs/com.android.mms.categoryInfo.xml
Using Htc One M8, stock rom, I've tried to do adb backup of com.android.mms application, but all I got was 1kb (actually 41 bytes) sized file, which contains nothing.
I wonder, is there any other way to get to the specific system app folder, if you're NOT rooted?
Any help would be highly appreciated.
Additional info: I'm after that file because it has stored Secure message box password in Plain text. My phone is about to go to the service due to several issues, including battery getting way overheated when used, and not charging over 25% at all, and the only thing left to make a backup is the secure box storage, which I used as an "Other inbox" folder in order to have the main Inbox a bit more "clean", and I know I've set it to something stupid and short, and I've accessed them not long ago, but for the f's sake I can't get in the folder anymore (and I'm highly betting that after several attempts even the real password is no longer accepted, and that being the reason I can't figure out the pass by trying, but there's nowhere info it thats true, and if so, how long to wait before real one would be accepted etc...)
Big thanks if anyone could help out, if not - not gonna be the end of the world. But would kinda like to store some of the messages that are newer than my latest backup...
Cheers!

cucolino said:
Hi all.
I'm after quite specific need but would like to know more general answer / solution if possible at all.
I know that wihtout being rooted there's not much one can do with system folders, but still, there are some ways and tricks to get to them, one of them being Backup option provided by android, using ADB shell.
I'm after specific file, that is /data/data/com.android.mms/shared_prefs/com.android.mms.categoryInfo.xml
Using Htc One M8, stock rom, I've tried to do adb backup of com.android.mms application, but all I got was 1kb (actually 41 bytes) sized file, which contains nothing.
I wonder, is there any other way to get to the specific system app folder, if you're NOT rooted?
Any help would be highly appreciated.
Additional info: I'm after that file because it has stored Secure message box password in Plain text. My phone is about to go to the service due to several issues, including battery getting way overheated when used, and not charging over 25% at all, and the only thing left to make a backup is the secure box storage, which I used as an "Other inbox" folder in order to have the main Inbox a bit more "clean", and I know I've set it to something stupid and short, and I've accessed them not long ago, but for the f's sake I can't get in the folder anymore (and I'm highly betting that after several attempts even the real password is no longer accepted, and that being the reason I can't figure out the pass by trying, but there's nowhere info it thats true, and if so, how long to wait before real one would be accepted etc...)
Big thanks if anyone could help out, if not - not gonna be the end of the world. But would kinda like to store some of the messages that are newer than my latest backup...
Cheers!
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Yes and not.
if you don't have root access, you can not copy an application from the system folder, to make this the ADB would need root permissions. but....
You can download the stock rom, and copy/extract/edit the app you need it.

xdedeone said:
Yes and not.
if you don't have root access, you can not copy an application from the system folder, to make this the ADB would need root permissions. but....
You can download the stock rom, and copy/extract/edit the app you need it.
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Click to collapse
Actually no, if the file is user specific, as in my case, the help of stock rom's file is not gonna help.
Anyway, SOLVED now.
As per this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2054401
The backup of the app was made and got the file. I've done the same thing without success, because on HTC, the messaging app is com.htc.sense.mms and NOT com.android.mms.
Therefore creating backup of the com.htc.sense.mms did result kin getting exactly what I needed.
In the extraction of the tar .ab archive using dd in linux, I got folder app, within there is a folder com.htc.sense.mms, wihtin there's a folder sp, and there is com.htc.sense.mms.categoryInfo.xml which has the secure box password stored in plaintext.
Voila! )