Hi. I've been using a ROM for the last little while (SlimICS), and I like it, more or less. There's a feature in another ROM (ParanoidAndroid, per-app density), that I'd really like to try out, but this ROM also has a lot of features I don't want (tablet mode) and doubt I would like. I use TWRP as my recovery...if I use TWRP to make a backup of System, Data, Boot, Recovery, .android_secure, and EFS, will I be able to flash this other ROM, then restore the backup to go back to my old ROM after I play with the new one a bit? Will the backup of these items bring me back to exactly how it was before, if I do a Wipe Cache/Dalvik Cache/Factory Reset?
Sorry if these questions are answered elsewhere, I'm just trying to make sure that my limited understanding of all this isn't incorrect, in my specific situation.
If you make a backup through recovery, when you restore, it'll be exactly where you left off, settings and all, when you shut the phone down.
When backing up in Recovery, you are backing up the OS and apps. This is called a nandroid. This does not backup anything on the sdcard.
Yesterday, I flashed a different kernel version on my NS. Before flashing, I did a nandroid backup using Reovery. Unfortunately, the kernel failed to load properly and I was stuck in a boot loop. I restored my backup I have done previously, and my phone was back where it was, few minutes before. It is very easy to do and backups/restores and verified using MD5 checksum.
Keep in mind that some apps put stuff on the sdcard. So if you flash your phone to a new ROM, upgrade apps and then go back to another ROM, it is possible that some apps won't work anymore. I've never seen this happen but this is a possibility.
My XT1540/rooted/stock 6.0 ROM/ stock recovery now has an update available. I assume I can not accept this system update, even if I un-root my device. I do have a pre-rooted TWRP back up. I can reload that image, but my concern is the best way to get all my apps and data reloaded. I do have TB backups, but I thought that may not be a good option after system update. I am looking for advise how to proceed getting the latest system update and preserving all my current apps and data.
No offense, but did you Google it or search here? There are several tutorials in this device section and other similar Moto devices of the same generation that tell you different ways to do it...
Easy way... boot (not flash) TWPR, backup in TWRP, restore pre-root backup, accept OTA and allow it flash and fully boot, boot TWRP, flash your root of choice that you were using prior (Magisk or SuperSU), reboot and verify operation, then restore data partition backup you did prior to OTA, clear caches, and reboot.
This works 80% of the time... if your data partition is important then make an alternative backup.
acejavelin said:
No offense, but did you Google it or search here? There are several tutorials in this device section and other similar Moto devices of the same generation that tell you different ways to do it...
Easy way... boot (not flash) TWPR, backup in TWRP, restore pre-root backup, accept OTA and allow it flash and fully boot, boot TWRP, flash your root of choice that you were using prior (Magisk or SuperSU), reboot and verify operation, then restore data partition backup you did prior to OTA, clear caches, and reboot.
This works 80% of the time... if your data partition is important then make an alternative backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I have read conflicting information on the use of Titanium Backup, and that was my main reason for my post. My understanding of your reply is that TB would not be a recommended choice to restore apps&data (using either update.zip or batch mode) and that I have an 80% chance of restoring user apps and data by flashing the /data partition from my pre-OTA TWRP backup. And yes, I will make a pre-rooted backup prior to rooting or restoring apps.
I never heard of Magisk and will read more. In the mean time I will stick with SuperSU unless there is strong advise to go with Magisk.
MrTooPhone said:
Thanks. I have read conflicting information on the use of Titanium Backup, and that was my main reason for my post. My understanding of your reply is that TB would not be a recommended choice to restore apps&data (using either update.zip or batch mode) and that I have an 80% chance of restoring user apps and data by flashing the /data partition from my pre-OTA TWRP backup. And yes, I will make a pre-rooted backup prior to rooting or restoring apps.
I never heard of Magisk and will read more. In the mean time I will stick with SuperSU unless there is strong advise to go with Magisk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dislike TiBU... It is best to reinstall from scratch each time if possible, if not, this is a simple security update to TWRP should suffice.
Magisk is good, and it appears to be the root method most ROMs are going to because with Magisk Hide and a few tweaks that are built in, the device can still pass SafetyNet API checks, and there is no special process for systemless installing (it is the only way it can be done with Magisk). But if you are on SuperSU now and want to restore the data partition, do NOT switch that way... Get clean ROM and flash Magisk then install Magisk Manager. It has it's own community here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/magisk
I am not saying Magisk is superior, but it is quite versatile and most ROMs seem to be switching to it so devices can pass SafetyNet checks.
I was also thinking this would be simple. Pleasant surprise after almost a year and a half to get a security update. So I uninstalled SuperSU (Tried Full Unroot option & it failed, so then just uninstalled the app.....Looks like I may still be rooted), re-installed the stock recovery, and with absolutely no other modifications to this phone, performed the update. So it failed. I thought I was able to do this on my Nexus 4, but that was a while back, and I always did it with a file, not OTA; maybe that was just OS update, who knows. I was just looking for some security peace of mind while waiting for Nougat to become a bit more stable. If I am going to have to go through hoops to do this, then I guess I will just wait; not going to go through this twice. Besides, will it be another year for the next security update; heck, they are already 1 or 2 months behind already.
The answer is what others said, plus you can try flashing OTA updates with flashfire, and don't choose to wipe data.
Rohi09 said:
The answer is what others said, plus you can try flashing OTA updates with flashfire, and don't choose to wipe data.
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Click to collapse
Oh well. On a side note, always grateful for making Nandroid backups before I start playing around with anything though. Things were acting up after haphazardly trying various SuperSU options, so I had to do a restore.
These constant OTA update messages every few minutes that I have to keep canceling are brutal! I might have to install an app to kill them.
Rohi09 said:
The answer is what others said, plus you can try flashing OTA updates with flashfire, and don't choose to wipe data.
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Click to collapse
Are you saying OTA updates can be flashed successfully without unrooting.
MrTooPhone said:
Are you saying OTA updates can be flashed successfully without unrooting.
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Click to collapse
that's the idea, I have never tried it on moto g 2015 though. As far as I know every root solution had its own Uninstaller. which root interface do you use? magisk or supersu?
Rohi09 said:
that's the idea, I have never tried it on moto g 2015 though. As far as I know every root solution had its own Uninstaller. which root interface do you use? magisk or supersu?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have SuperSU. It would be great to flash an OTA over my current system, but I have heard many reports including @pjc123 above where it did not work.
All my searches resulted in suggestions in going back to stock, accept OTA, then use TB or some other similar program to restore saved apps & data. Tomorrow I will try @acejavelin 's above suggested method of flashing the /data partition. If that does not work, I will try TB. I will report my progress.
MrTooPhone said:
I have SuperSU. It would be great to flash an OTA over my current system, but I have heard many reports including @pjc123 above where it did not work.
All my searches resulted in suggestions in going back to stock, accept OTA, then use TB or some other similar program to restore saved apps & data. Tomorrow I will try @acejavelin 's above suggested method of flashing the /data partition. If that does not work, I will try TB. I will report my progress.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can flash unsu zip or magisk Uninstaller and try to install ota via flashfire, won't hurt trying, might save you some time.
acejavelin said:
No offense, but did you Google it or search here? There are several tutorials in this device section and other similar Moto devices of the same generation that tell you different ways to do it...
Easy way... boot (not flash) TWPR, backup in TWRP, restore pre-root backup, accept OTA and allow it flash and fully boot, boot TWRP, flash your root of choice that you were using prior (Magisk or SuperSU), reboot and verify operation, then restore data partition backup you did prior to OTA, clear caches, and reboot.
This works 80% of the time... if your data partition is important then make an alternative backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another dumb question, I am in the process of installing OTA. When I loaded the pre-root rom, I did not see any option to clear clear caches. I did see a wipe data and cache option which I understand to be a factory reset. I know I have seen it before but can't find it, so where do I clear cache after restoring data partition?
MrTooPhone said:
Another dumb question, I am in the process of installing OTA. When I loaded the pre-root rom, I did not see any option to clear clear caches. I did see a wipe data and cache option which I understand to be a factory reset. I know I have seen it before but can't find it, so where do I clear cache after restoring data partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another simple Google question...
Open TWRP, go to Wipes - Advanced, and select Cache and Dalvik cache (a misnomer today, it should be called ART cache) and swipe to wipe, then reboot.
Thanks to @acejavelin recommendations, I have successfully applied the latest system update to my XT1540. My steps were as follows:
Booted to TWRP (3.0.2-r5.img)
restored original pre-rooted ROM
rebooted, accepted system updates
backed up new pre-rooted ROM
installed SuperSU 2.62-3, rebooted
updated SuperSU to 2.79 via Playstore
restored /data partition from last saved rooted ROM
wiped Dalvik/ART Cache
Reboot system
took a while, a couple of minutes on “Hand stitched by Peter Crawly”, several minutes optimizing apps. The phone booted succesfully then I got an error message the update failed (which I hit OK) But looking at about phone, latest security patch is listed. Phone looks configured (apps, data, configuration) exactly as it was prior to the update.
Rebooted phone, all still seems fine.
Hello, how do I restore original pre-rooted ROM? When I made the backup I got a folder with 6 files:
boot.emmc.win
boot.emmc.win.md5
recovery.log
system.ext4.win
system.ext4.win.md5
system.info
None of them seems to be the .img file
bradmoss said:
Hello, how do I restore original pre-rooted ROM? When I made the backup I got a folder with 6 files:
boot.emmc.win
boot.emmc.win.md5
recovery.log
system.ext4.win
system.ext4.win.md5
system.info
None of them seems to be the .img file
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your are not going to see an img file. Once booted into TWRP, select Restore, navigate and select your original ROM. Those files you have listed are within the restoration directory that you select with TWRP. Just select the directory with TWRP.
Bad news, I could restore pre-TRWP image using that folder and aplied the update.
But now I am in a loop, it tries to install (again) the update and then boots to TWRP
Is there any way out of this loop?
Thanks!
no idea? Am I the sad owner of a bricked phone?
bradmoss said:
no idea? Am I the sad owner of a bricked phone?
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Click to collapse
You could try a factory reset if you're not worried about losing your data. A factory reset solves most of the problems, though I'm a little doubtful because a factory reset won't uninstall the new update (given that it installed in the first place).
bradmoss said:
Bad news, I could restore pre-TRWP image using that folder and aplied the update.
But now I am in a loop, it tries to install (again) the update and then boots to TWRP
Is there any way out of this loop?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it boots to TWRP, sounds like you didn't have a clean pre-root ROM as you did not have stock recovery. Did you try deleting Dalvik and ART cache?
So I decided to flash some ROMS on my Alcatel 5045D but I wasn't completely happy with them so I decided to go back to the stock ROM.
Before flashing anything, I made a full backup of all the partitions via TWRP to be able to restore it.
So here is the problem: After restoring it, it works, but every time I restart the phone, all my settings and app permissions reset.
What I've already tried:
- Restore the backup again
- Wipe Caches
- Wipe Data, System and Caches and then restore the backup again
Is there any solution for this without flashing a downloaded stock ROM?
pepesasa said:
So I decided to flash some ROMS on my Alcatel 5045D but I wasn't completely happy with them so I decided to go back to the stock ROM.
Before flashing anything, I made a full backup of all the partitions via TWRP to be able to restore it.
So here is the problem: After restoring it, it works, but every time I restart the phone, all my settings and app permissions reset.
What I've already tried:
- Restore the backup again
- Wipe Caches
- Wipe Data, System and Caches and then restore the backup again
Is there any solution for this without flashing a downloaded stock ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe, but it might turn into a wild goose chase, it is simpler and easier to just flash the stock firmware file via your device's compatible flashtool and be done with the issue.
If you are worried about losing data, you can backup your data by other means than TWRP, then flash the stock firmware, then restore your data then reflash TWRP.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
In the past I've always backed up my complete ROM incl. appdata with twrp. I didn't have to competely setup my device if flashing went wrong and reverted to stock. I had some bad luck flashing roms because the A/B slots are new to me. I now have my bootloader unlocked and everything setup on stock OOS, and made a twrp backup of super, recovery and data.
Before flashing another ROM I just want to make sure I can revert easily to the previous OS without doing a complete setup of app settings and stuff
My question is
Can I wipe/factory reset and then just restore with twrp?
Do I restore when in the active slot where current os is?
Are there any issues with password/encryption when restoring?
Expected scenario;
I'm on stock OOS, wiped and want to restore appdata, settings, homescreen, etc...
I failed to install custom ROM and want to revert to stock OOS without having to redo the entire setup
I did search google and this forum for an answer or guide but couldn't find one (please correct me if I missed a thread)
yusisushi said:
In the past I've always backed up my complete ROM incl. appdata with twrp. I didn't have to competely setup my device if flashing went wrong and reverted to stock. I had some bad luck flashing roms because the A/B slots are new to me. I now have my bootloader unlocked and everything setup on stock OOS, and made a twrp backup of super, recovery and data.
Before flashing another ROM I just want to make sure I can revert easily to the previous OS without doing a complete setup of app settings and stuff
My question is
Can I wipe/factory reset and then just restore with twrp?
Do I restore when in the active slot where current os is?
Are there any issues with password/encryption when restoring?
Expected scenario;
I'm on stock OOS, wiped and want to restore appdata, settings, homescreen, etc...
I failed to install custom ROM and want to revert to stock OOS without having to redo the entire setup
I did search google and this forum for an answer or guide but couldn't find one (please correct me if I missed a thread)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you read the first 3 posts of https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...recovery-project-8t-kebab-2022-03-09.4302449/ ?
BillGoss said:
Did you read the first 3 posts of https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...recovery-project-8t-kebab-2022-03-09.4302449/ ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HI, yes I did
I am still confused because it says before a restore I have to disable screenlock, if my phone is softbricked or has no OS does that count as not having fingerprint/lockscreen enabled?
yusisushi said:
HI, yes I did
I am still confused because it says before a restore I have to disable screenlock, if my phone is softbricked or has no OS does that count as not having fingerprint/lockscreen enabled?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you start TWRP, does it prompt you for a password/pin/pattern?
If Yes, then you have a lock screen password set. And if you can't get into the system to disable it, you'll have to format data (completely wipes all data).
If No, then you're good to go.
BillGoss said:
When you start TWRP, does it prompt you for a password/pin/pattern?
If Yes, then you have a lock screen password set. And if you can't get into the system to disable it, you'll have to format data (completely wipes all data).
If No, then you're good to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, first of all; thank you for taking time to help me!
I managed to completely wipe the phone including data, and afterwards I restored it by copying the backup (which was now on my computer) and restoring it. SUCCESS! All appdata seems to be there, homescreen, and after second reboot my fingerprint still worked as before.
I just have one more question if you don't mind;
Below partitions I backed up;
Data
Boot
DTBO
Super
However, I'm not able to copy over the "super" partition from my computer to my phone, is this normal? it's almost 8GB and I was convinced I wasn't going to get to the OS without restoring it but apparently I didn't need it (?)
I suppose with the Fastboot Enhance Tool I'll be able to also restore this?
You really only need to backup the "system" partitions (boot, dtbo, super) if you're changing to custom ROMs. If you're always on OOS then you can forget about backing them up.
You should be able to copy the full backup, including super files from your PC to your phone using ADB. I've done that lots of times.
I've never used the tool you referred to. But I do know that you can't use fastboot to flash the super partition - it's too big.
However, if you break it up into chunks (I did it in 512MB chunks) using SparseConverter (https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/tool-sparseconverter-v1-0-1.2749797/) then you can successfully flash it.
Just to confirm, if a ROM bootloops and I don't have access to a computer, there's no way to restore the TWRP backup? Seems like this defeats the point of even making on-device backups (AFAIK encryption can't be disabled for many roms)
tech.central said:
Just to confirm, if a ROM bootloops and I don't have access to a computer, there's no way to restore the TWRP backup? Seems like this defeats the point of even making on-device backups (AFAIK encryption can't be disabled for many roms)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can enter TWRP (even if your rom bootloops) there is a great chance you can restore backup in TWRP.