[Q] Titanium backup before flashing ICS Nightlies? - Xoom Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have been running titanium backup but I'd like to have some insight as to what the correct settings are when flashing a new nightly and gapps. Basically can someone tell me if the right way is in the batch settings and which one it is? Or should I just select apps one by one? What about data, should I back that up as well or leave that out.
I ask because I hate having to go through and reinstall all my apps and have been reluctant to restore from TB for fear of having some left overs in there that don't belong that will break the new rom or the gapps files.
Any help will definately be appreciated. If this has been answered before, and I'm sure it has but I searched and couldn't find it, then I appologize.

I'm not sure if it's the right or best way, but I just do a batch backup of all user apps + system data. That way if something is messed up in the new flash I can at least get back to what I had before. Plus, I figure I can always just restore only user apps and data if I need to do a full wipe.

Batch backup all user apps. Restore missing apps + data.
I do that every time and no issues.

This is my method for a full wipe
1. I batch backup apps and system data..
2. Then i restore only missing apps with data..
3. Then i go to restore system data menu DESELECT ALL then only check user dictionary to keep entries in it it the same so t diesnt have to learn each time
You can also try restoring widgets as well then reboot and ya widgets can come back on ya home screen but that is a bit hit and miss to be honest
Sent from my mind control device

Thanks!
I had been only doing an apps backup, but this time I did an apps+data along side in a new folder. I figured that way I could try both ways and see which works best. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't restoring the wrong sort of data and messing up the changes that Team EOS has been building into the nightlies.
I appreciate your responses and insight into the process.

Related

[Q] Titanium backup question

Searched and didn't find this specific question or anything close - so I'll post
I've been flashing roms a lot now that I've got the hang of it, but I think I was creating a problem for myself with titanium backup, which I think I've maybe now solved, but I'm not absolutely sure.
On the last couple of nighlies of CM that I've flashed I've been getting unfixable FC of the phone app (rom manager fix permissions didn't fix it and neither did wiping dalvik cache).
So I flashed ns-collab and I like it, but today I got the same FC problems and had to restore my nandroid to get the phone working (I was at work).
NS-collab is meant to be stable so I was starting to think that it's not the roms that are at fault but something I'm doing, and I had a feeling it was what I do with TB. So here is exactly what I do when I flash a new rom.
____________________________
I have TB set to "backup all user apps". That's it - no system data.
Before flashing the rom (even if it's just an update) I clear data, cache, and dalvik cache.
When I've got the new rom flashed I do not allow google backup to restore my stuff as I want it done with TB.
In TB restore I run "Restore all apps with data". When I do this I select the app+data checkbox in TB before clicking "Run the batch operation".
___________________________
So, I had a look at the apps that get restored when I run TB "Restore all apps with data", and I noticed there is quite a lot of android stuff in there like the dialler and lots of other services that are part of the android os and don't need restored with TB really.
I've just flashed the updated version of ns-collab and I removed all these android services from the TB restore before I ran it so I'll see if any problems crop up now.
But my question is, was I causing the phone to be unstable by allowing these android services to be restored by TB. Remember I did not select to restore system data, but I am wondering if system data was restored anyway because there were android apps in the list and I had the app+data option selected.
Hope the above isn't confusing and any advice will be appreciated.
Lot of information but I say you found your problem yourself.
I have not had issues in the past restoring: bookmarks, contacts/calls storage, SMS/MMS/APN Dialer storage, SMS/MMS PREFS etc.
I do think you are giving yourself a little extra work than needed. It is not necessary to do a data wipe before updating a ROM, wiping cache and dalvik cache should be sufficient and a lot of people don't even do that. Of course a good clean wipe every now and then is good and gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside like after you change the oil in your car
In general, I do not recommend a full batch restore like restore all apps and data. I find when restoring with TB it is a good time to clean up and only restore the apps your really want back on your phone. I also do a batch restore, de-select all and just go down the list and pick out the stuff I HAVE to have.
irishrally said:
I have not had issues in the past restoring: bookmarks, contacts/calls storage, SMS/MMS/APN Dialer storage, SMS/MMS PREFS etc.
I do think you are giving yourself a little extra work than needed. It is not necessary to do a data wipe before updating a ROM, wiping cache and dalvik cache should be sufficient and a lot of people don't even do that. Of course a good clean wipe every now and then is good and gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside like after you change the oil in your car
In general, I do not recommend a full batch restore like restore all apps and data. I find when restoring with TB it is a good time to clean up and only restore the apps your really want back on your phone. I also do a batch restore, de-select all and just go down the list and pick out the stuff I HAVE to have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you are right about me giving myself work. Because I'm still a noob I'm still over cautious I think.
Maybe I'll try doing it your way. Sounds sensible.
Anybody know definitively whether me restoring everything via all apps and data would have contributed to the FCs I have been getting?
buachaille said:
I think you are right about me giving myself work. Because I'm still a noob I'm still over cautious I think.
Maybe I'll try doing it your way. Sounds sensible.
Anybody know definitively whether me restoring everything via all apps and data would have contributed to the FCs I have been getting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try fixing permissions? I only use the batch for Backup all user apps.
Backing up bookmarks.. I use BookmarkSB and SMS (i know theres a app for that) but i use GVoice so i dont need it
I've never had a problem restoring user apps with data. Instead of restoring all, choose restore missing user apps with data or something like that.
Although, I've had problems restoring SMS and certain data for system apps on the NS. Can't figure out why it doesn't work but whatever.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
I would suggest you install app2sd & move your application to the sd-card. Each time you flash a new rom just wipe the /cache, dalvik-cache and battery stats. This is all you would ever require.
Thanks for all the replies. Quite a few suggestions there which I will try out.
Didn't have any FC problems at all at work today, so I'm hoping my more cautious restore last night might have done the trick.
buachaille said:
Thanks for all the replies. Quite a few suggestions there which I will try out.
Didn't have any FC problems at all at work today, so I'm hoping my more cautious restore last night might have done the trick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah FCs happen when you backup system apps / bookmarks etc. It could interfere

back up when switching between roms.

hi there guys,
I have some questions about how to make a total back-up of your rom, so you don't have to setup your apps and stuff like that, when you wanna try something new. Setting everything up when I wanna go back,is holding me back.
hope this is not a total repost, if it is just show me the old thread, cause I couldn't find it.
Errr... A classical Nandroid (whole Rom with Kernel, Apps and Settings) and/or Titanium Backup (Apps and Settings - possible to transfer data between different roms) should offer everything you need
...via Tapatalk
when I bake a backup with clockwork, I still need to set everything up, and install my apps again. What am I doing wrong?
Safidk said:
when I bake a backup with clockwork, I still need to set everything up, and install my apps again. What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always backup and restore from recovery menu of clockwork, this means when restoring everything is put back as it was.
Not sure why this isn't working for you
Sent from my HTC Desire S
I downloaded (and paid for) the newest version of clockwork manager from the marked. How do you do it, just from the app or do you boot in recovery? When you say full recovery does that include everything, so you don't have to setup anything?
Yes mate, boot into recovery, select "backup and restore", then backup - this will save a full copy of your system as it stands. When you backup from the recovery menu it will put everything back exactly as it was when you backed it up - ie all apps & data already setup
Sent from my HTC Desire S
and before I recover I need to do a complete wipe, right. System, catch and factory?
No.. you dont need to wipe before restrore.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA Premium App
ok, tnen I'm gonna try again. Don't see why its not working for me. There's not a secieal setup I need to do? I haven't done anything else than installing the app ;-)
Confusion?
I believe that there is a couple of differing questions are being asked and answered here.
A Nandroind backup or full device backup (excluding RADIO) will enable you to restore your device back to the exact state that it was in when taken. All the phone partitions SYSTEM/DATA/BOOT/CACHE/etc are all backed up. Therefore restoring one of these backups will ensure that the ROM, kernel and data will be restored together and the phone will be operational.
A Titanium Backup backs up applications and setup data that enables you to easily restore your installed applications and configuration. After a factory reset or a re-install of the same ROM.
It can often be problematic to use a titanium backup after changing the version of the ROM you used or when moving from one ROM to a completely different one. In fact quite often ROM cooks recommend that you don't use a Titanium backup restore in the setup of their ROM.
That being said I still take both types of backups on my device. As titanium backups are useful for restoring individual applications to a previous state if they encounter a problem or corruption.
I believe that the Nandroid backup is the most useful recovery tool we have available to us and always take one, before flashing any new ROM or ZIP file, better to be safe than sorry.
Although I'd also recommend that all personal data ie calendar & contacts should be backed up by sync'ing to the cloud and never just kept locally on the device.

Restoring a Nandroid...how can I optimize?

My understanding of backing up a nandroid is that it creates an exact backup of your phone, as is, which can then easily be restored.
As advised, I have been trying out a couple of different ROMs to see which is best for me and with the advice of many of you, Ive mostly figured that process out.
But where I am struggling is figuring out how to optimize my use of Nandroids to streamline this. Heres the specific issue:
I flashed a ROM and then set everything up. I created my desktop screens, shortcuts to key contacts and apps, widgets, etc. Loaded pictures into my photo app, labeled favorites...usual stuff.
I then created a backup.
When I went to restore this backup, I ran into a bunch of issues. For example, the contact shortcuts were still in my launcher (Apex), but if I click on them they either pull up an incorrect contact or say "no such contact exists". So in the end, I need to go through and create all of these shortcuts again from scratch. Similar experience when I open the photo app (JustPictures) where all of the favorite labeled pictures are now gone. Other examples include apps that were on the device, but now no longer appear.
None of this is hard to fix, but it is very time consuming and makes it hard to use backup/recovery as a way to seamlessly flash and move between configured ROMs.
Am I doing something wrong? Any advice on how to optimize this so I can make this process manageable and not a barrier to trying something new but easily reverting when necessary?
You must he doing something wrong. I have never had any issues restoring a backup. And have never seen anyone else post about such things. You need to explain every step you took. It literally should be as simple as rebooting into recovery, clicking "Backup", let it do its thing, flash some other ROM, go play around with it, dislike it, refrain from posting in the ROM thread something like "tried out this ROM but didn't like it so I'm restoring a backup," reboot back into recovery, select "Restore", choose your backup, let it do its thing, and BOOM, back to the way it was.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using xda app-developers app
If you're not "wiping clean" system,data,cache , before restoring backups , do it ... or you'll face the problems you mentioned ... Actually you should never install or restore anything without formatting all those 3 areas..
Use also a good recovery , sk8witski 14.6 latest one ...
mahanddeem said:
If you're not "wiping clean" system,data,cache , before restoring backups , do it ... or you'll face the problems you mentioned ... Actually you should never install or restore anything without formatting all those 3 areas..
Use also a good recovery , sk8witski 14.6 latest one ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I went back and tried re-doing this step and it helped.
A related question: I use Apex Launcher and have a desktop customized with shortcuts to most used apps and contacts.
When I am flashing a NEW ROM (not restoring) - what is the best way to restore the desktop and shortcuts without having to manually redo it for each new ROM I try? This is definitely the biggest barrier for me in testing new ROMs as it takes a lot of work to redo each time and, without redoing it, its hard to simulate the same usage and experience when I move to something new.
If I just restore Apex with Titanium after flashing, often all the links/shortcuts/widgets are broken and need to be redone. Is there an order with which I need to reload/restore things? Is there a better way to backup and restore Apex settings so that they will come back and properly link to the underlying contacts and apps on a new ROM?
Thoughts?
Isn't there an option within the Apex settings to save your current configuration, or backup data, or something like that? Check there and try that.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using xda app-developers app
Yes now I see that. I had been backing up via Titanium and restoring Apex using "restore App + Data".
I will play around with those, see what works or doesnt and report back in case its helpful to others.
Thanks.

[Q] Backup/Restore To New ROM

I'm not a big ROM tester and pretty much remain on stock. I do have root, custom recovery and unlocked bootloader on my GS3 (4.1.2 stock).
When you guys switch ROMs and a clean flash is required, what exactly are you all doing to backup and then restore your data?
Are you just backing up "all user apps" with Titanium and then immediately installing Titanium on the new ROM and restoring the backup?
What about system settings? You just run through those one at a time and set them to the way they were? What about custom contact ringtones and other customizations?
Sounds like a lot of work to me, but maybe I'm missing something.
Is there a better way to do this?
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I'm really trying to figure out how you guys are ok with doing a full wipe so frequently.
I am by no means a "constant ROM'er", but I have tried it a few times on a few different devices. Here is generally what I do:
1. Back up apps and data with Titanium Backup. I usually back these up to a folder on my external SD card just to be safe. Even though a factory reset shouldn't erase your backups on your internal memory, I just like to be safe.
2. After flashing a custom ROM I install TB as the very first app. ***HINT: If you have your phone setup to automatically restore apps thru Google, apps will automatically begin to download and install. This can slow down the whole process of restoring your apps and data. To keep this from happening, you can either disable the automatic restore OR don't sign in to google when you first set up the phone (that way google won't know which apps to begin to restore).
3. Run TB's restore apps & data BUT RESTORE SYSTEM APPS/DATA AT YOUR OWN RISK. In most cases from my own experiences and others, system apps and data do NOT restore well after flashing a new ROM.
Again, I am no expert and I simply follow the guides and advice of those much smarter and more experienced than I on these forums. Something I said above could be wrong so please correct me if anyone sees a fallacy.
I appreciate the reply. That's pretty much what I though. It's still a lot of work to tweak all the system settings back to the way they were. Ringtones, custom contact ringtones, various system settings, etc.

Methods to Move to Other ROMs

What methods are recommended to move from one ROM to another? I know how to backup and flash, but configuring everything all over again, from Gmail accounts, WiFi networks, ringtones and so on is a hassle which causes me to hesitate to explore other ROM's.
For those of you who stay on top of the latest and greatest, do you have any tricks that you can share? I'm familiar with root and some of the gates it opens, but I don't have any programming background whatsoever and I'm only good at following a how-to guide.
I've heard of Titanium but I'm confused what it does. I've heard arguments that variables of ROM's, odexed versus deodexed, and so on cause Titanium to not always work.
Any help is appreciated!
Sent from my SM-G900P using XDA Free mobile app
Before I switch ROMs, I usually use Titanium Backup to backup all user apps + data. I don't back up system apps because I don't know if that would be the best move when switching to ROMs that don't have cetain system functions of the previous ROM. While I'm backing up the user apps + data, I make a nandroid backup with TWRP. Then I flash the ROM, restore my apps, then play with the settings for about 10 minutes getting everything to where I want. It all takes me about 15 minutes to backup apps + data and nandroid backup, then about an hour to do everything after.
I do something similar. I backup my apps using Titanium Backup, and I to ONLY back up apps not system data ive done both ways and when I backed up the SYS Data I would sometimes get force close issues etc. I also use SMS backup/restore and backup my text messages (make sure u are backing up all this stuff to the external SD card not internal SD), I also use a file manager to make sure I got everything off internal memory an move it to external SD. Then I boot into Recovery Mode, wipe data, wipe dalvik, cache etc, ill flash my new ROM and then wipe dalvik and cache again (maybe pointless but I always have succes so Im not changing my ways now lol) after all that then I reboot and wait for it all to settle in, then sign into everything etc, and then for good measure, after its all done I power off and take batt out for 30 sec and then put it back in and power on and im good!
Been doing it this same way for years now and this is what works for me.
If u need help just let me know.
Sent from my Sexy Samsung S5
burowyako said:
What methods are recommended to move from one ROM to another? I know how to backup and flash, but configuring everything all over again, from Gmail accounts, WiFi networks, ringtones and so on is a hassle which causes me to hesitate to explore other ROM's.
For those of you who stay on top of the latest and greatest, do you have any tricks that you can share? I'm familiar with root and some of the gates it opens, but I don't have any programming background whatsoever and I'm only good at following a how-to guide.
I've heard of Titanium but I'm confused what it does. I've heard arguments that variables of ROM's, odexed versus deodexed, and so on cause Titanium to not always work.
Any help is appreciated!
Sent from my SM-G900P using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd like to know as well; on my Samsung Moment I could backup and restore data when flashing a new ROM, which quickly restored ringtones, call and message logs, etc. But this doesn't seem to be an option with current generation recoveries?

Categories

Resources