I found I was repeating myself a lot when helping out people new to rooting their Evo. I also found that this knowledge I'm putting into this doc doesn't really exist in one place, but is spread throughout the entire Evo Forum. So below is some information to help out people with backing up their device, some backup tips, some general information on flashing, and tips and best practices for flashing. Hope this helps!!
Assumptions:
This guide assumes you are fully rooted at this point. If not follow any one of the guides in the Wiki that has been stickied on the main page of the Evo Dev forum. My personal recommendation is the Unrevoked. Very easy to use, just read up and make sure your phone is compatible.
To test root type "su" into a terminal. You should get a "#" back. You can use a terminal emulator from the market or ADB. To get ADB up and running follow this guide here. If that seems confusing than take a look at this guide I wrote for Notion Ink Adam Tablet users here. That guide is for Windows users, but Mac and *nix users shouldn't be much more difficult.
Backing up
NAND Backup:
Once rooted you can use the app quickboot to boot into recovery to do a NAND backup. If your ROM doesn't have this app installed, download from Marketplace. Open app and choose "Recovery". Once into your recovery use the volume buttons on the side to scroll up and down and power button to select to get to the option to backup. I have clockwork installed so my screen looks different, but you should be able to find the NAND backup option. This will take awhile so be patient.
Once done you can reboot and continue on as normal. This is an essential step (or using Rom Manager below). If you ever screw up something major or you try a new ROM and want to go back, this will allow you to restore easily and get back to a point where things worked fine. It would also be highly recommended to do one of these backups before doing something major that has potential to break things. Use best judgment here.
Rom Manager:
Even easier than the above is to use Rom Manager. Download it from the marketplace, run it, and let it update your recovery image for you. Once this is done go to the bottom of this app and choose "Backup Current ROM" This should do a full NAND backup. I would recommend buying this app for the other features it has, but it is up to you.
Titanium Backup (TB):
Once you have your NAND backup I would also recommend installing Titanium Backup from the Marketplace (I would also pay for the license because you get better performance and the dev deserves some green for this awesome app!). Once installed open it. The first time it will ask you to update Busybox. Let it and wait for this to download. When done it will ask you reboot app from the notification area. Do this and then wait for app to fully load, two messages should appear, the second one indicates it is fully loaded. Then hit menu and go to the batch section. Choose " Backup all user apps + system data".
This will backup everything on your phone for you to your SD card. This will take a while so go get some coffee and check back in. Do not close the app or turn off your phone, the screen can go blank and you can let it sit, but it will need time to run. I think when the screen turns off it puts an icon in notification that should be updating the progress of the batch. Once done, it should tell you in the notification area. For me it takes awhile with my 228 some elements I'm backing up. Your mileage will vary.
SMS/MMS
I recently came across a thread that mentions using Handy Backup for backing up SMS/MMS messages. I have not tried this app or used it so I don't have any directions to give on it. But I have had people ask and I have seen folks ask in other threads. So if TB doesn't give you enough, try this one too.
Backup to Computer:
I'm still looking for a better method for this one. I'm sure someone has something and if you do please let me know so I can update this section.
Currently I backup files and folders to my local NAS at home after major changes. Incremental changes I let TB handle. This is just a simple process of setting the SD card to storage and copy/paste. Works fine and I have only done this once so far after everything was set to my liking.
You might wonder why this important? Well if you are going to play around a lot with different ROMs and constantly read/writing info to your SD card, it is important because SD cards are not perfect. They can be corrupted and can fail from too much writing of info. It usually takes a lot of work to get one to the point of failure, but I managed to do it with my HTC Mogul so I can vouch that it can happen.
Important folders on SD card:
- /sdcard/clockwork/backup
This will get all backups performed by clockwork. If you grab the entire clockwork folder then you will get ROM downloads and such too. I don't really recommend this as it never takes more than 25 minutes for me to download any image. Plus with a secure NAND backup, you can always restore quickly.
- /sdcard/nandroid
This should backup the folder used by AmonRa recovery.
- /sdcard/TitaniumBackup
Folder used by TB for backing up of apps.
Of course throw in any other folders you deem important. What that is depends on you. Making a backup of everything else probably wont take long too. For me I rarely have more than 7gb of data on my card so backing up takes roughly 30-50 minutes.
All of this may seem like a lot of work, but once done you will have a robust system in place. And will allow you the opportunity to safely play!!
Restoring
Restoring is a simple process but can be time consuming. To speed things up you can pay for the full version of TB, which I highly recommend.
TB
Follow the directions below for what I do after flashing. If you have already read that and are ready to restore then do the following...
Open up TB and let if fully load, you will get two small popup messages. The second one means that TB has fully loaded the OS information. Then hit the menu key and choose batch. Scroll down and look for "Restore all apps with data". Run this batch to restore everything. Keep in mind if you backed up everything and are now changing ROMs that you might run into problems. I have yet to run across issues, but this is just an FYI. Also another reason to have a full NAND backup with Rom Manager. If you run into too many problems just restore with it and problem solved.
Restores and backups take awhile with TB, but are worth the wait. Once done with the full restore you can then do incremental backup and restores in the future.
Also don't forget to open up the apps after restoring and make sure the apps are setup how you want. Then double check with TB to make sure things are fully backed up, just click "Backup all new apps & newer versions". Once done with this reboot.
After a TB restore always reboot. After the reboot go into Rom Manager and NAND backup following the steps above in the backup section. This will ensure you have a full system backup with the settings you want.
Rom Manager
This one is pretty simple. Just open Rom Manager and choose "Manage and Restore Backups". Then choose your backup to restore. If you named the files by date and time you might have to do some guess work, but you should have a rough idea. Once you click the one you want just sit back and wait.
Flashing Tips and Problems
Watch Girls Gone Wild for help with this...
Many people have asked "Why flash custom ROM" or "What are the advantages"? Well I think one of the biggest reasons is performance gain from phone and apps. But for Evo users the number 1 reason should be better battery utilization. This can mean you see same amount of battery life, but with increased phone and app performance, or same performance, but longer battery life.
I think some people might be hesitant because it was one hell of a process rooting their device. Well to those people I say, you are over the mountain now. The hard part is done, flashing is relatively easy. I recommend doing it cause stock can cause some people minor issues and your are missing out on a lot of cool and useful customizations. And if you backup your phone as detailed above, you do not need to worry about losing anything.
Stock ROM with Root (back to defaults) or Completely Unroot:
To flash a stock ROM with root, download one from the wiki of ROMs. Then follow advice in below sections for flashing.
To unroot (This is the "I need to take my phone to Sprint" conundrum...) Follow the wiki link. Or go to HTC's website. Then go to the support section for the HTC Evo. Download the file from them and run it. You will be good to go. And if you followed the backup section above you do not have to worry about anything. Just re-root when you get your new phone or old phone back. And restore.
Also, I recommend taking out your SD card with all the root files on it. No need to bring this up or have to explain things any Sprint tech could easily see. Also if you used Unrevoked Forever you should follow this unroot guide here.
I Just Flashed with no Backups:
Below is what I did before I had Titanium Backup in place and after flashing a custom ROM...
Once booted right after flashing I make sure things look fine, fully sync to Google, then reboot. When I come back from that I turn on WiFi and go to Marketplace and Download section. Any apps I previously downloaded will be in that section waiting for me to download. Download them all at once, DO NOT leave that section before downloading everything, or you will lose that list and it will only show apps currently downloaded and installed.
Once done, open apps and customize to liking. Then download Rom Manager if you don't already have it and follow the above section. Once done with that follow the above section on Titanium Backup. Then enjoy your custom ROM.
Flashing in general:
ALWAYS make sure your battery is at least 50% full. The last thing you want is your phone to die on you in the middle of flashing.
Use Rom Manger and pay for the full version. It is a lot easier and can remove a lot of headaches and problems. If you really want to do it yourself you shouldn't have any problems, this is typically what I do and I haven't run any issues that couldn't be solved yet.
Follow the above backup guides before flashing another custom ROM. Save yourself time and trouble. Also I have read about people using NAND backups to sort of switch between different ROMs. In the short term that shouldn't be a problem, but long term that can make your SD card unstable. Make sure you follow the above section for backing up your SD card to computer.
If changing from one ROM to another it is best practice and almost always recommended to wipe data and dalvik cache. This also will alleviate many issues people run into. And if you follow my backup recommendations then it shouldn't be an issue to do either of these.
If not using Rom Manager, then put the zip of the ROM you want to flash on your SD card, and DO NOT unzip the zip file. Leave it on the root of your SD card as a zip file. Boot into recovery if you are not there already. Find the option to flash from SD card. Then choose the zip file or ROM you want to flash. Wait for everything to flash, then reboot using the option from the recovery menu. Wait for phone to boot. This can take a long time after flashing any new ROM so be patient.
Some ROM devs have other items you can add to their ROM. Follow their directions for flashing those items. Some devs want you to boot first than go back and flash, others allow for you to just start flashing right away with no waiting. Pay attention to the directions on your ROM thread. If you screw something up, try flashing the package again. If things look worse or it didn't work, re-flash your ROM or restore your backup and try again.
Otherwise, flash the ROM following directions above, flash the other packages and themes and items you want, and reboot. All should be well.
Once booted up follow guides above for backing up or restoring. Otherwise if you have problems look below before asking questions. If you can't find it here try searching before asking questions. If you still can't find it feel free to ask for help, but keep the question in the thread for your ROM you are flashing, or if you think it is a rooting issue, in the thread of the root process you followed.
Bootloop Issue:
This can be caused by a few things. For one, make sure you wipe data and dalvik cache before flashing a custom ROM. Even if the dev says it is not necessary do this before flashing a new ROM. It can help with these issues. The only exception here is if you are updating to a new version of the same ROM and the dev says there is no reason to wipe in between...
Also you can experience this if you are not fully rooted. Look toward the top of this guide for rooting advice.
Sometimes the ROM can take a while to boot after flashing a new ROM. Be sure you really do have a stuck boot or bootloop before doing a battery pull and troubleshooting. Give it some time to see if it fixes itself. If you are waiting over 30 minutes for something, you probably do have a legit issue.
Exclamation Point with Android Guy Screen
I got this when attempting to upgrade once. To get out of it, battery pull and put battery back in. Hold down "Volume Down Button" and then press power. KEEP HOLDING DOWN volume down button till white screen (Hboot) appears. Release volume down button. Wait for it scan. If it finds your PC file choose no and also no on reboot. NEXT CHANCE YOU GET remove, rename, or move the PC file from the root of your SD card. Choose "Recovery" from menu using volume buttons and power button to select. Once in recovery, choose flash from SD card and choose your ROM.
If you cannot find an image or do not have one, just go back and toggle USB. Then copy paste ROM to SD card. Keep in mind that you might need to wipe data and dalvik cache before flashing as mentioned above.
Another user commented this screen appeared when attempting to go into recovery from Quickboot app. This might mean the recovery image didn't install correctly, or could mean you do not have a recovery image flashed or installed. If this is the case, follow one of the guides in this wiki link to flash a recovery.
If you need to get out of this screen, just do a battery pull. Your ROM should boot up fine.
Battery Issues After Flashing:
Some have claimed issues with battery after flashing. To try recalibrating click here for Cyanogen's guide.
That's all for now!
I'm sure there is plenty more to add to this down the road, but for now this is all the dumping my brain can handle. Leave comments and suggestions and let's make this a strong guide with the right information to help those in need.
Very nice, hopefully you just saved someone a lot of heartache
Just added a section for un-rooting. Can someone please help me verify this is correct.
Thanks!
Awesome guide!
Thanks for the info in the Simple Root thread.
One question that was unanswered (and per your response I ask it here):
Are SMS/MMS info backed up using Nandriod or Titanuim??
I'm a little confused by which can do this.
Thanks again for the help.
ucf.elk said:
Awesome guide!
Thanks for the info in the Simple Root thread.
One question that was unanswered (and per your response I ask it here):
Are SMS/MMS info backed up using Nandriod or Titanuim??
I'm a little confused by which can do this.
Thanks again for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very good question on SMS/MMS. I think I have noticed that when using Handcent SMS app for sending and receiving SMS/MMS messages they are somehow backedup. I think Handcent has a folder on the SD card.
Otherwise if you are using stock messaging app, I am not sure it TB backs that up or not. If you want to verify this for me and let me know your results I would be happy to update my guide.
webs05 said:
Very good question on SMS/MMS. I think I have noticed that when using Handcent SMS app for sending and receiving SMS/MMS messages they are somehow backedup. I think Handcent has a folder on the SD card.
Otherwise if you are using stock messaging app, I am not sure it TB backs that up or not. If you want to verify this for me and let me know your results I would be happy to update my guide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wanted to say thanks for the breakdown, and with my experience Tb has backed up my sms when backing up "all system data and apps"
Thanks again OP
epmacman said:
Just wanted to say thanks for the breakdown, and with my experience Tb has backed up my sms when backing up "all system data and apps"
Thanks again OP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great info! Thanks epmacman and thanks webs05 for the great guide!
epmacman said:
Just wanted to say thanks for the breakdown, and with my experience Tb has backed up my sms when backing up "all system data and apps"
Thanks again OP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were you using stock messaging app? Or a third party one from Marketplace?
Thanks for the information. About to start this whole process soon so this really helped Just a quick question though, do classes of the sd card matter? Have a class 2 card atm but about to buy a 16gig class 6 and figured I should do everything then.
Reanimatedshad0w said:
Thanks for the information. About to start this whole process soon so this really helped Just a quick question though, do classes of the sd card matter? Have a class 2 card atm but about to buy a 16gig class 6 and figured I should do everything then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, a higher class makes a big difference in speed. Make sure you wipe the new SD card from within the Evo before doing anything.
Dumb question (I'm new to Android):
When switching ROMs, both of which you have a backup for, do you have to wipe, flash the rom, then flash the nandroid backup?
Or would wiping and then flashing the backup work the same?
I have Fresh and Avalaunch's Froyo with all my apps both backed up. I realize it won't save much time, but I wouldn't have to keep both ROMs on my SD card if I could just use the backup to switch.
Thanks for the guide.
elr0y said:
Dumb question (I'm new to Android):
When switching ROMs, both of which you have a backup for, do you have to wipe, flash the rom, then flash the nandroid backup?
Or would wiping and then flashing the backup work the same?
I have Fresh and Avalaunch's Froyo with all my apps both backed up. I realize it won't save much time, but I wouldn't have to keep both ROMs on my SD card if I could just use the backup to switch.
Thanks for the guide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you should wipe. the backup will save everything you had on the respective rom
Yes awesome guide thanks, just what I was looking for. Stupid question but when I do a "Backup Current ROM" in ROM Manager, does this also back up texts, apps, games etc?
Thanks again webs
elr0y said:
Dumb question (I'm new to Android):
When switching ROMs, both of which you have a backup for, do you have to wipe, flash the rom, then flash the nandroid backup?
Or would wiping and then flashing the backup work the same?
I have Fresh and Avalaunch's Froyo with all my apps both backed up. I realize it won't save much time, but I wouldn't have to keep both ROMs on my SD card if I could just use the backup to switch.
Thanks for the guide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To switch ROM by restoring nand backups all you should have to do is go into recovery and restore the one you want. If you wanted to be safe you could wipe first. As far as flashing that rom before nand backup no. There would be no point of that. The nand backup restores ALL, everything that was on that phone previously. It is a full backup.
huzvi88 said:
Yes awesome guide thanks, just what I was looking for. Stupid question but when I do a "Backup Current ROM" in ROM Manager, does this also back up texts, apps, games etc?
Thanks again webs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it should backup everything. Upon restore your phone should look and act just as it was when you created that backup. The backup system in Rom Manager boots the phone to recovery and does a nand backup for you.
webs05 said:
Yes, it should backup everything. Upon restore your phone should look and act just as it was when you created that backup. The backup system in Rom Manager boots the phone to recovery and does a nand backup for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha that was my next question. Thanks really appreciate it!
huzvi88 said:
Haha that was my next question. Thanks really appreciate it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your welcome, and the same goes to everyone else.
I'm an idiot i think and just bricked my phone.
I used revoke website to root my phone I did not do a nand unlock. I then installed rom manager because I wanted to backup the current stock rom. I used the option to flash in something from rom manager and then back up. after that my phone restarted and all I see is a picture of a phone with and exclamation point. am I bricked? anything I can do? sorry I'm a noob.
-U
usctrunks said:
I'm an idiot i think and just bricked my phone.
I used revoke website to root my phone I did not do a nand unlock. I then installed rom manager because I wanted to backup the current stock rom. I used the option to flash in something from rom manager and then back up. after that my phone restarted and all I see is a picture of a phone with and exclamation point. am I bricked? anything I can do? sorry I'm a noob.
-U
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol! You are fine. Fortunately HTC makes their phone tough to brick.
You are at that screen because you only did part 1 of Unrevoked's system. They have released part 2. Follow that and you should be good to go. Post questions on their threads. Good luck.
lol thanks
Hey Guys, I'm a little bit of a noob here. I have had my captivate for about 6 months now and I started to get a little frustrated with the way the Captivate was set up compared to my old HTC Hero. I didn't have to root the Hero and could do anything with it I wanted. With the captivate it was another story. I rooted the new Captivate and it has been a wild ride. I follow the forums to see what is available after having Super User installed. I have to say I went a little crazy into the exploration of what i can and cant do. I learned what I cant do the hard way and spent almost 3 day's having problems with odin3 one touch flasher. Once i got everything back running to factory settings I decided to just set up the phone the way I like it and updated the config. for example I added the root access and updated the settings.db file to allow 3rd party apk installs. I than also deleted the wealth of useless crap At&T Preloaded onto the OS such as the apps and the 20 AT&T contacts. Fortunately now my phone and layout is exactly to where I want it. Unfortunately now I am afraid to perform other root mods on the phone and have to re flash the original factory settings on it and have to set it up all over again. I am not much of a programmer but do know end user support very well and was hoping that there would be a way to create a backup of the root directory so that in case I brick my phone (happend twice when I tried to replace the launcher program) I can just flash my backup so that I don't have to install apps, configure settings, and adjust the layout all over again? I was thinking of creating an update.zip would do it that i could keep on my sd card and flash it from recovery.
Can Somebody please Help!!!
Thanks,
Jay
Generally speaking, unless you use the same ROM, it is a bad idea to restore system settings.
Check out Titanium Backup from the Market. It works really well at backing up apps, data, and system data. Be sure to get the donate version so you don't have to manually install every single app (huge time/effort saver). It won't give you an update.zip file, but if you reinstall it and point it at it's backup folder, it can restore all of your data with minimal effort.
If you are prone to bricking your phone, back it up to an external SD card by entering "/<external sd>/Titanium Backup" as the backup path, replacing <external sd> with the real path (it's different on 2.1 and 2.2 ROMs).
Good luck.
Thanks, I actually already have Titanium Backup lite and i backed it up using the batch Backup all user apps + System Data but have no idea how to restore these backups if my phone bricks. I dont necessarily want to flash the phone to try it out. Any chance you know of where i can find out a little bit more information on how to restore backups with this app?
I also have the ClockworkMod Recovery where i have backed up my phone to an SD card. It says during the process Backing up system, data, datadata and than generates an md5sum. After this the phone boots back up and I was wondering if recovering using ClockworkMod is the same as flashing an update.zip rom but instead of using the stock version? Also this app seems a lot easier to use at there is an option to reboot into recovery and select roms
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.
Hello again good people,
You may remember me asking questions in this forum recently, thank you again for all those who replied.
I'm back again after waiting for the official twrp to be released and reading all the forum posts in the guides section for the threads about twrpless-root (magisk) and the stickied twrp root guide by Funk Wizard. I am still a bit confused about a couple of things though. And still deciding which way is the best for me now that I still have a stock device. Please correct any mistakes I make.
When I root, in case something goes wrong, I cannot do a system settings -> factory reset. (Because it would softbrick?)
Is this where twrp comes in? Or will I still have to flash a stock image regardless, like I would if I go twrpless?
Is it true that I can make, and restore from a backup I make with twrp in case something goes wrong?
Isn't that something I can also do with Titanium Backup?
Twrpless root seems like it's a lot more easy to maintain with OTA's (download from the settings, reinstall magisk on second partition) than a twrp install would (having to connect my device to my pc and going through the steps again every time an OTA gets pushed).
The main reason I'm asking all these questions is because I still find it hard to pinpoint exactly why more experienced people in these forums favor one way or the other, and what exactly the added benefit would be of twrp in my situation. Personally, I want my phone to be more customizable (black theme, adaway, yt vanced and so on) but keep all the functionality. Banking apps, wifi, cellular and everything.
I'm not going to install custom roms. And a little bit of added ease of use with OTA sounds really good to me.
I have read that the systemless magisk twrpless might be the best fit for my needs, but after hearing your advice from my previous questionthread I decided to wait for twrp. Now twrp official is released and I dove into reading just about everything I could find I have doubts if it is something I actually need. In short I just keep swaying without being able to make a decision.
Sorry for the long post, I hope my questions are clear enough, since it's pretty late when I'm typing this. I just want to be thoroughly informed about all of this, I rather post too many questions and root correctly without concerns instead of having to make an SOS post later when my phone has exploded, lol.
And maybe there will be other newlings who can benefit from this information.
Thanks for reading!
Ok lets first address the types of backups.
Type one is system apps and data. This backup saves all apps (apk) and all data that is stored within the app folders. This is a Titanium backup.
Type two is a Nandroid backup. This backup saves your entire phones data including the internal storage, data, apps, pictures, music, cache, settings, passwords, EFS (encrypted file system) and even the Titanium backups backup itself.
Now let me explain what each of these backups are capable of. First we will start with Titanium Backup. If for some reason you brick your phone and lose all of your data. In order to use Titanium Backup you will have to install your operating system, unlock your bootloader, root your phone, install Titanium Backup and merge your data from wherever you have it to your device and install your apps + data one at a time.
Nandroid backup. Same scenario bricking or losing your data. You can simply fastboot the twrp.img once your phone boots into recovery you can merge nandroid backup point TWRP to the restore location and you have your operating system and all of your data back in place as if nothing happened. You will then flash Magisk back to your device then you would install TWRP clear your cache and once you reboot everything is just the way it was when you created the nandroid backup.
Installing an update with TWRP is as simple as downloading the update and flashing both the update and Magisk, clearing cache and rebooting.
Having TWRP would allow you to wipe and reinstall fresh like factory settings or you can restore everything you backed up.
Make Nandroid backups bi-weekly or monthly so you can always have an updated copy of your data.
Titanium backups I have scheduled once a week with 2 max backups. Why 2? If I update an app and my backup runs tomorrow I would be stuck with an app update that may be broken. This way I have the previous weeks backup to reinstall the app and data with.
Whichever you choose always always always keep redundant backups. One on the phone, one on your computer, one on a thumb drive ect ect.
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.)
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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).
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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.