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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
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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.

[Q] Partially Restore CWM backup?

Hey Guys!
So I've been around the place for a while, usually passive. I rooted my phone a few months back, and left it at that coz i was too scared of bricking my new phone . But now getting tired of waiting for the official ICS (Not the buggy leak) has got me thinking of getting a custom Rom (cant decide between Victory or Romulus).
I've just installed CMW, and my phones backing up as we speak. My question is this, is it possible to restore a partial backup? Im hoping that once i get the custom rom up and running, i can restore my contacts, texts and apps onto my new rom. I know titanium backup can restore apps but i assume all that is gone once i format before installing the rom, right?
Thanks guys any help appreciated!

fire_fist_ace said:
Hey Guys!
So I've been around the place for a while, usually passive. I rooted my phone a few months back, and left it at that coz i was too scared of bricking my new phone . But now getting tired of waiting for the official ICS (Not the buggy leak) has got me thinking of getting a custom Rom (cant decide between Victory or Romulus).
I've just installed CMW, and my phones backing up as we speak. My question is this, is it possible to restore a partial backup? Im hoping that once i get the custom rom up and running, i can restore my contacts, texts and apps onto my new rom. I know titanium backup can restore apps but i assume all that is gone once i format before installing the rom, right?
Thanks guys any help appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you install any new ROM, you (usually) need to perform a full wipe through CWM including: wipe user data/factory reset, wipe cache, wipe Dalvik, then flash. Now, that will delete ALL of your stuff, contacts, texts, apps, etc. However, if you have access to WiFi, when your ROM flash has completed, you will be prompted to re-enter your Google account and, at which time, your contacts will re-populate (give it some time). Though, be sure you sync with Google's servers prior to your flash, so that any new contacts will be re-added once your account has been added after the flash. Also, if on WiFi, when your account has been entered, go to Google Play Store, and click the "my apps" button, and again after some time (depending on the number of apps you had) they too will re-populate. As far as texts, you could try a text backup app -not too familiar with this, as I don't ever have a need to save any texts- and you should be good. Word of warning: DO NOT use Titanium Backup to restore ANY application data, only the apps themselves. Also, another good alternative to TIB is App Backup & Restore. Hopefully, this clears up any doubts you have with your "stuff" and how to retrieve it after a flash...

Apex used capital letters in "do not restore app data" with good reason. Only a handful of times have I not followed those directions and every time I got weird fc's and an overall more unstable system. It's a shame there isn't a good way to do it but it only leads to heartache. Always keep a solid backup. I keep two. One original and another after a couple days on a new rom so that I'm able to experiment down the line.
I hope you have a good experience with your new system and learn a bit. It gets a little addicting.
Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

Apex_Strider said:
When you install any new ROM, you (usually) need to perform a full wipe through CWM including: wipe user data/factory reset, wipe cache, wipe Dalvik, then flash. Now, that will delete ALL of your stuff, contacts, texts, apps, etc. However, if you have access to WiFi, when your ROM flash has completed, you will be prompted to re-enter your Google account and, at which time, your contacts will re-populate (give it some time). Though, be sure you sync with Google's servers prior to your flash, so that any new contacts will be re-added once your account has been added after the flash. Also, if on WiFi, when your account has been entered, go to Google Play Store, and click the "my apps" button, and again after some time (depending on the number of apps you had) they too will re-populate. As far as texts, you could try a text backup app -not too familiar with this, as I don't ever have a need to save any texts- and you should be good. Word of warning: DO NOT use Titanium Backup to restore ANY application data, only the apps themselves. Also, another good alternative to TIB is App Backup & Restore. Hopefully, this clears up any doubts you have with your "stuff" and how to retrieve it after a flash...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, once i clear everything and flash, to get back my apps all i have to do is reinstall "App Backup and Restore" then I can restore any saved apps? Because looking at the play store, the list in my apps (Not Installed) is too long, and contains apps that i simply installed to try and immediately removed.
One more thing as well, well actually 2. I was watching a video by mastermind278 on youtube on how to install custom Roms. He installs a rom by selecting restore from cmw recovery, so my question is, does that restore method work for installing most Roms, say for example, the Romulus rom? And finally, are the separate mods installed in the same way?

fire_fist_ace said:
So, once i clear everything and flash, to get back my apps all i have to do is reinstall "App Backup and Restore" then I can restore any saved apps? Because looking at the play store, the list in my apps (Not Installed) is too long, and contains apps that i simply installed to try and immediately removed.
One more thing as well, well actually 2. I was watching a video by mastermind278 on youtube on how to install custom Roms. He installs a rom by selecting restore from cmw recovery, so my question is, does that restore method work for installing most Roms, say for example, the Romulus rom? And finally, are the separate mods installed in the same way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can 'manually' select which apps you'd like to restore from within this app, so if there are some you'd rather forgo restoring, you can pick and choose.
As far as the flashing method through CWM, you'll just have to read and understand each of the ROM's flashing methods, as some of the GB ROM installs are different (flash or CWM restore). All of which are detailed in the threads for these ROM's. Along with that, any mods you'd like, you'll just need to refer to the install instructions for each...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

[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.

Is a (ClockWorkMod) Backup any good after upgrading (to cyanogenmod)?

I'm about to do an upgrade from an stock ROM to Cyanogenmod on a phone I have a lot of apps and settings on.
I know the guides always say "back up before upgrading in case it fails, then upgrade, you'll lose all your previous data". And I know that's the normal way it goes.
I'm a noob to the android OS structure, but is it possible to manually take any parts of the pre-upgrade backup data and paste it in the new OS?
For example how you can copy a lot of programs and AppData (profiles, settings etc) from one installation/version of windows to another.
In my case it would take a lot of extra configuration work even after I use the play store to re-download all the apps. Not to mention some apps are from for ex fdroid or github. And then there's the xposed modules.
Cheers!

I guess I'll upgrade and then try to overwrite app data folders and see how that goes.
I know a lot of you here upgrade your ROMs like every week. Do you spend like 3 days customizing your phone back after each flash?
[EDIT] Found an answer. No thanks to you friendly community (why did someone rate my thread down without saying anything?).
- I found out that Titanium Backup can batch-store all your apps and app data - I wonder if it stores stuff like my Catapult Launcher screen layout and folders.
- Also if all you're doing is an OTA upgrade, you can do it without loosing root: http://www.howtogeek.com/192402/why-androids-ota-updates-remove-root-and-how-to-keep-it/
So flash the new ROM, Root, restore from Titanium (since CWM does a system(-based) image afaik).

How to properly FULLY backup an android phone that doesn't have TWRP.

Please advise. I really **Really** want to be sure that if I try to backup my sister's phone that I do it properly and can fully and cleanly restore it to a new ROM with no issue. (Be sure that I'll also do external backups of Photos and SMS/MMS databases and whatever else possible onto a computer first, in case of data loss or if I screw up.)
---
Okay, so here's the situation: (Google Pixel 6 Pro)
So I installed a custom ROM on my sisters brand new phone a couple of months back. Problem is, the dev behind said ROM may stop maintaining it due to personal reasons. I'll need to in this case switch her phone to another ROM, so that she continues to receive security updates. By the sounds of it I have to wipe the phone completely when switching ROMs, including the user partition. (Correct me if wrong.)
I'm still fairly new to the custom ROM/unlocked bootloader world, so I wanted to kindly ask around for advice on how to **Properly** backup her phone in such a way that I can later fully restore her photos, SMS/MMS, apps, etc. more or less as though I never switched ROMs on her.
I've already heard of TWRP, but the phone doesn't have a version for it. I also heard about the promising Migrate app posted here. Last but not least is the ADB backup feature--however I also heard some conflicting information suggesting that of late Google is deprecating that feature and making it useless. (Please correct if wrong.) I'm still fairly new to the whole custom ROM scene (and rooting too, but in this case her phone is unrooted, only bootloader unlocked with a custom ROM).

Rule #1 - if a OS is fast, stable and fulfilling it's mission... let it be! Updates can and do break things. Pie and higher are relatively secure unless you do stupid things. This stock, optimized N10+ is still running on Pie; last update >2.5 years, current load is over 2 yo. Still fast, stable and secure. I spend very little time doing maintenance and this load runs like a bat out of hell. What's not to like?
If you have to reload latter so be it. Don't go looking for trouble by messing with firmware unless you absolutely need to. Taking a more conservative approach will save you time and trouble in the long run. Google doesn't care about your time or the trouble their updates cause you.

ruq said:
Please advise. I really **Really** want to be sure that if I try to backup my sister's phone that I do it properly and can fully and cleanly restore it to a new ROM with no issue. (Be sure that I'll also do external backups of Photos and SMS/MMS databases and whatever else possible onto a computer first, in case of data loss or if I screw up.)
---
Okay, so here's the situation: (Google Pixel 6 Pro)
So I installed a custom ROM on my sisters brand new phone a couple of months back. Problem is, the dev behind said ROM may stop maintaining it due to personal reasons. I'll need to in this case switch her phone to another ROM, so that she continues to receive security updates. By the sounds of it I have to wipe the phone completely when switching ROMs, including the user partition. (Correct me if wrong.)
I'm still fairly new to the custom ROM/unlocked bootloader world, so I wanted to kindly ask around for advice on how to **Properly** backup her phone in such a way that I can later fully restore her photos, SMS/MMS, apps, etc. more or less as though I never switched ROMs on her.
I've already heard of TWRP, but the phone doesn't have a version for it. I also heard about the promising Migrate app posted here. Last but not least is the ADB backup feature--however I also heard some conflicting information suggesting that of late Google is deprecating that feature and making it useless. (Please correct if wrong.) I'm still fairly new to the whole custom ROM scene (and rooting too, but in this case her phone is unrooted, only bootloader unlocked with a custom ROM).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There should be no reason to need to wipe user partition. It should only be necessary to, at most, wipe the system partition(stock ROM), data partition(user installed apps and user settings), cache partition and dalvik/ART cache then flash the ROM. These wipes will wipe system data, your user settings, user installed apps and their corresponding app data. These wipes will not wipe data/media, the partition where your photos, videos, downloaded files, etc.. are stored.
You can backup the app data for the user installed apps by connecting to PC then use the PC file manager to open your device's internal storage, go to the Android/data folder, in that folder is all of your user app data. Copy the Android/data folder to your PC. After you install your ROM, reinstall all of the user apps that were installed then you can connect to PC and then copy your backed up Android/data folder over to your device to overwrite the ROMs existing Android/data folder. This will restore your app data for your user installed apps.
Contacts should be backed up to Google and restored when signing into the device after the new ROM boots and re-syncing the device.
You will need to backup your SMS/MMS texts via a separate method. Just do a search for:
"Backup and Restore SMS android"
That should find several methods. Use a method that you are comfortable with.
If you use WhatsApp, backing up and restoring WhatsApp, WhatsApp account and your WhatsApp messages requires it's own specific method. You can find the method by doing a search for:
"Backup and restore WhatsApp"
Sorry, if I knew its specific method, I would explain it.
Is there anything else that you don't want to risk losing or anything specific that is on your device that you 100% absolutely need to be certain gets retained/restored after the update?
What custom ROM are you coming from and what ROM are you going to? Depending on the ROMs in question, you might be able to dirty flash the ROM.