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[Q] Recovering data after root?

I'm about to root my new NS and every guide I see reminds me that the internal storage ("SD card") will be wiped - I'm cool with that. But since I'm unrooted I can't use Titanium yet to back up my apps.
So my question is - once I root, what's the best way to get everything back without manually doing everything all over again?

fchipm said:
I'm about to root my new NS and every guide I see reminds me that the internal storage ("SD card") will be wiped - I'm cool with that. But since I'm unrooted I can't use Titanium yet to back up my apps.
So my question is - once I root, what's the best way to get everything back without manually doing everything all over again?
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Click to collapse
I see a lot of people say appbrain lets them easily reinstall all their apps after a wipe. Apps, but not app data.
Not sure how that works, i haven't tried it myself. edit: little google search revealed this on how to do it:
Without root, there's no way you're going to save your data that's on the internal storage space.

distortedloop said:
I see a lot of people say appbrain lets them easily reinstall all their apps after a wipe. Apps, but not app data.
Not sure how that works, i haven't tried it myself. edit: little google search revealed this on how to do it:
Without root, there's no way you're going to save your data that's on the internal storage space.
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Click to collapse
Yeah I just read some more about it - apparently it's just not at all possible yet, or ever.
Oh well better get to rooting before I have TOO much to lose.

fchipm said:
Yeah I just read some more about it - apparently it's just not at all possible yet, or ever.
Oh well better get to rooting before I have TOO much to lose.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, that's why I'm an early rooter on all my phones.
App developer's should be encouraged (or allowed by Google) to put their app data into someplace that the user can back up.
I wonder if the reason app data is put in a root-only read place of the device by default is part of the sand-boxing security.

Best backup before root
The only thing I really had to hunt for was to backup Angry Birds. Thankfully there's an app called Angry Cheaters that is both free and gives you save files for Angry Birds.
I just went through this process yesterday. Google actually saves most/all of your apps and will reinstall when you reenter you gmail address. It also restored my wifi passwords (in addition to obvious things like email/contacts). Just be careful if you have to wipe multiple times while exploring root that you let this process do its thing, it forgot a few apps that way. Thankfully appbrain had moved all of my previous apps to another list.
The only other thing I couldn't back up was some auto mileage data, so I just wrote that into notepad and called it a day.
Is there anything else you are specifically trying to get? I was really only focused on Angry Birds.

Hmmm here is a question/thought
If unlocking your bootloader whipes everything clean, would it be a possibility to run data harvesting apps on the device to get w.e data you lost back?
both on the "sd" and /data/data

I use an app called "rsync backup" ... it can generate a DSS key to install on your server of choice, and tell it to back up /mnt/sdcard/ ... the only thing it won't access on the USB Storage area is a folder called ".android_secure" ... but everything else copies just fine.
I routinely sync my phone with this app to my workstation at the office, and a system at home.

haha.. this is why i unlocked the bootloader/rooted my s right away, i didnt have any data to back up. makes it painless

simms22 said:
haha.. this is why i unlocked the bootloader/rooted my s right away, i didnt have any data to back up. makes it painless
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Click to collapse
Kinda wish i did this, but oh well.
Still curious if my idea is even possible..anyone have any input?

Anybody fimiliar with mybackup app!!

My root attempt failed.
Anyway I trying to get my phone back up and running. I have the stock setting back and attempting to restore from mybackup pro. When it goes to restore it displays each app saying, can not restore apk files because of the phone setting and can not restore app that are not from the market.
Well all my apps are from the market so any idea what to do next? It shows my backup file it just doesn't load it because of my setting which I can not change. My file shows all my apps as a apk file.

swatcop1 said:
My root attempt failed.
Anyway I trying to get my phone back up and running. I have the stock setting back and attempting to restore from mybackup pro. When it goes to restore it displays each app saying, can not restore apk files because of the phone setting and can not restore app that are not from the market.
Well all my apps are from the market so any idea what to do next? It shows my backup file it just doesn't load it because of my setting which I can not change. My file shows all my apps as a apk file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not going to restore apps like that unless you're rooted and have sideloading capability.
If the phone is telling you it can't restore apps that aren't from the market, and all of your apps are from the market, then there isn't a problem, in itself...
It's where those market apps are at when you're trying to restore them that's the problem. Even though you originally got them from the market, mybackup is trying to pull them from your SD card. Unless you're rooted with sideloading, the phone considers any .apk that isn't directly installed from the market to be an "unknown source," and blocks it.
If you previously chose to have the phone backup your apps and settings via Google, market would reinstall the apps for you. If not, you're going to have to manually redownload them from the market, based on the list you can see in mybackup/from what you remember you had installed.
Inspired Ace 1.0.1¦ XDA Premium

Just great, here goes hours of fun!!!! Now I am determine to root.
Thanks

Just thinking I do have the side loader wonder machine and have installed apk files (swype) using it. Can I go into my SD card some how and grab the files that way. I am needing some of the data that I have in some of my apps.
For example, I use the "keeper" to store my personal info and account numbers. I need to retrieve this info along with a few others!!!

swatcop1 said:
Just thinking I do have the side loader wonder machine and have installed apk files (swype) using it. Can I go into my SD card some how and grab the files that way. I am needing some of the data that I have in some of my apps.
For example, I use the "keeper" to store my personal info and account numbers. I need to retrieve this info along with a few others!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I'm not familiar with that app, but it depends on how it stores it's data.
If it has some kind of mechanism for storing your data remotely, like on some server or something, and would auto sync your data in a similar fashion to how Google does it with contacts, then that would work.
If it had some kind of export function to put your stuff in a separate file that you could retrieve later...
Otherwise, I don't know what to tell you, because if it wasn't one of the above two scenarios, chances are the app stores your data in a private database, in a special area of the phone that is inaccessible to any other app on an unrooted phone.
If this is the case, though it appeared mybackup was doing what you wanted it to, it wasn't doing EXACTLY what you wanted it to... It was backing up the apps themselves, the .apks, but not the data that corresponds to them.
It's confusing and a bit misleading for someone new to all of this Android customization stuff.... I got burned the same way the first time I rooted.
You kind of have to root before you start initially filling your phone with data. Once you root though, you CAN use mybackup pro to backup apps + data. I own the app myself. It's capable of doing it, it just needs root access first.
Hope you get it worked out...
Inspired Ace 1.0.1¦ XDA Premium

Thanks for the time you took to reply!

swatcop1 said:
Thanks for the time you took to reply!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem.
Nothing beats a good old text file on the computer with your passwords as a backup. (In a password protected zip file or something).
Inspired Ace 1.0.1¦ XDA Premium

[Q] Cleaning / wiping app for Android?

My ICS is quite slow and I realized after checking it on the PC that there is a lot of garbage left in it after the app unistallation. Some folders are still there, some files and god knows what. I was thinking whether there is a sort of cleaner app that would remove all that garbage from the system? Similar to Windows CCleaner or something like that.
Anyone knows?

If you want to really clean it then just go into recovery and do a factory reset. I tend to do this every now and then, just to get rid of crap apps that I install and never remove.

I think you are looking for my app SD Maid .

Dark3n said:
I think you are looking for my app SD Maid .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I LOVE YOU MAN! Need to check it out! I'll update you!

Backing up apps and data

I notice that if you want to backup an app and it's data, the apps that do this require root.
This has largely never been of concern to me as usually within a week of a new phone I've rooted and installed a custom ROM.
But now I need Good for Enterprise on this phone so rooting is not an option. But this inability to now backup data is beginning to annoy. It seems to me as a lay person that this should be a basic feature especially if you want people to have a good experience when they upgrade their phone.
Does Google have a good reason for having designed the OS in this manner?
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3010 using Tapatalk

milomak said:
I notice that if you want to backup an app and it's data, the apps that do this require root.
This has largely never been of concern to me as usually within a week of a new phone I've rooted and installed a custom ROM.
But now I need Good for Enterprise on this phone so rooting is not an option. But this inability to now backup data is beginning to annoy. It seems to me as a lay person that this should be a basic feature especially if you want people to have a good experience when they upgrade their phone.
Does Google have a good reason for having designed the OS in this manner?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its mainly for security purposes. If apps were able to read the data of other apps just like that (without acquiring root access from the user) then it'd be quite easy for a malicious app you installed on accident to read the data from that banking app you have installed. And you wouldn't even know until its way too late.
I suppose one could argue that Google could implement it in such a way the backup apps would need to seek permission from the user before reading the data from other apps, but seeing that most users barely pay attention to what it is that they're granting permission to....its probably better to leave it out altogether.
On a final note though, maybe Google would rather have you store your precious & valuable data on their servers instead. As they do offer backup options for your contacts, calendar, passwords, and even certain app's data.

So how does iOS get around this or does the vulnerability you talk about exist?
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3010 using Tapatalk

milomak said:
So how does iOS get around this or does the vulnerability you talk about exist?
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Click to collapse
I've not used iOS in a while so I really don't know. I sincerely doubt iOS has apps that can backup data though. Seeing that they're only just getting a file manager in iOS 11.

milomak said:
I notice that if you want to backup an app and it's data, the apps that do this require root.
This has largely never been of concern to me as usually within a week of a new phone I've rooted and installed a custom ROM.
But now I need Good for Enterprise on this phone so rooting is not an option. But this inability to now backup data is beginning to annoy. It seems to me as a lay person that this should be a basic feature especially if you want people to have a good experience when they upgrade their phone.
Does Google have a good reason for having designed the OS in this manner?
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3010 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try the Helium app, it's worked for others but as always, your mileage may vary.
Also, the built-in Google backup feature in system settings should backup apps and data then after updating the device(s), during setup wizard, it should prompt asking if you want to restore apps, data and settings from the Google backup.
But....
If you leave the devices on stock firmware and un-rooted, then during stock updates you should only have to wipe the cache partition. Factory reset shouldn't be necessary if you're only updating stock, wiping only the cache partition during/after flashing/updating should be all that you need to do. This should update your device(s) system and leave all your settings and other data intact.
You can also try using a file manager such as ES File Explorer on android to create backups of the apps you installed (this will not work with system apps), in ES File Explorer, the backed up apps will be in sdcard/backups or storage/emulated/0/backups, or something similar. You can copy those apk backups to PC then look in internal for storage/emulated/0/Android/data folder, this folder contains folders for all of your installed apps that store app data, the names of the individual folders should correspond with the app it stores data for. You can copy these folders to PC.
To restore these apps and their data, copy the backed up apk files to your internal to the folder of your choice, then go to system settings>security>unknown sources and turn it on so you can install your apps from the apk files you backed up instead of from Google or PlayStore. Then using a file manager on android, go to the folder you copied the apk files to and click on them to install them from there, then copy the folders containing your app data to your storage/emulated/0/Android/data folder then reboot, you may have to boot to recovery and wipe the cache partition (do not factory reset, only wipe cache). This method may or may not work depending on the app being restored.
I'm not an iOS user but as far as I know, iOS is strictly dependant on Apple/iTunes, you just about can't do anything with iOS that doesn't involve iTunes, including backups probably.
Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk

What's the best app for uninstalling bloatware on a rooted device?

An app that will remove a system app with "ALL" its files safely and permanently.

Dylan2232 said:
An app that will remove a system app with "ALL" its files safely and permanently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are plenty of them on play store. I believe all I tried so far work good on rooted devices

Playstore SD Maid pro works very well...

Dylan2232 said:
An app that will remove a system app with "ALL" its files safely and permanently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium Backup Pro is always a good go-to. Really, there are no shortages of apps that do what you want, though. Do you have other criteria?

mattgyver said:
Titanium Backup Pro is always a good go-to. Really, there are no shortages of apps that do what you want, though. Do you have other criteria?
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Click to collapse
That's about the only requirement...an app that will remove every single file that an app installed.
I factory reseted my phone yesterday and going through the memory, i noticed folders and files of apps that had already been uninstalled long ago, as well as ones that weren't but i assumed the factory reset would take care of it. So i am guessing some apps (all?) leave traces behind. Thats what i don't want.

Dylan2232 said:
That's about the only requirement...an app that will remove every single file that an app installed.
I factory reseted my phone yesterday and going through the memory, i noticed folders and files of apps that had already been uninstalled long ago, as well as ones that weren't but i assumed the factory reset would take care of it. So i am guessing some apps (all?) leave traces behind. Thats what i don't want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, almost every app will add some sort of files to folders. Places like /storage/internal/Android/ or /storage/internal/data/data/
If you go to App Info, or use Titanium Backup (TiBu), and clear data and cache THEN uninstall, you should get rid of the vast majority of folders and stuff the app(s) installed. SDMaid has CorpseFinder, which can find orphaned files.

mattgyver said:
Titanium Backup Pro is always a good go-to. Really, there are no shortages of apps that do what you want, though. Do you have other criteria?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mattgyver said:
Yeah, almost every app will add some sort of files to folders. Places like /storage/internal/Android/ or /storage/internal/data/data/
If you go to App Info, or use Titanium Backup (TiBu), and clear data and cache THEN uninstall, you should get rid of the vast majority of folders and stuff the app(s) installed. SDMaid has CorpseFinder, which can find orphaned files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, im a little OCD about this...im looking for zero trace. There's gotta be something out there that can do it. SD Maid, i dont see how it can get everything everytime because really, how can it know? Especially when the app developer doesn't want the files to be known.

Dylan2232 said:
Yeah, im a little OCD about this...im looking for zero trace. There's gotta be something out there that can do it. SD Maid, i dont see how it can get everything everytime because really, how can it know? Especially when the app developer doesn't want the files to be known.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I doubt you'll find anything that's 100% ALWAYS going to scrub 100% of everything.
You can hedge your bets and reformat your internal storage every few weeks if you get paranoid about space and orphaned data.