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[Q] a few Noob questions regarding TWRP NANDroid backups

Hello, I have a few questions regarding the TWRP recovery particularly the NANDroid backups, please bear with me as I am new to this. I have made a few backups using twrp but I want to put them onto my pc in order to save space however when I plug my phone into my pc I don’t see the TWRP folder unless I boot into recovery and then plug it in. Is this how it is supposed to be?
I wanted to test out restoring a backup that I had saved onto my pc onto my device. To test this out I created a backup through TWRP booted into recovery plugged in my device into my computer copied the backup file located in the TWRP folder and then deleted it from my device. Next I wanted to copy the backup that I just put on my pc back onto my phone and then eventually restore it through TWRP. However I only get as far as copying it from my device onto my pc. When I try to copy it back into the TWRP folder on my device I get an error saying “cannot copy data.ext4.win000 its file size is larger than the device limit” The backup is 4.83gb and I have 10.7gb free. Does anyone know why this is happening?
Last question, seeing as a NanDroid backup is basically an image of your whole device, let’s say I am selling my device and I don’t want the buyer to have any way of accessing any of my data. Would the deletion of my backups, factory reset and an advanced wipe where I select all the partitions to be wiped be enough?
Thank you in advance for your help!

1 - no. You're on lollipop i presume. Read my /sdcard thread in general
2 - sounds like its being mounted as FAT with 4GB file limit. Try web push method
3 - not really. You'd be best overwriting the data partition with files first.

[Q] Help with TWRP

Flashed a ROM and the ROM moved the all files in the root of my storage to a folder within a series of subfolders.
This is bad because my TWRP folder containing my backups was in the root of my storage.
But of course things can't just work how you'd expect, so my computer and phone refuse to copy the TWRP folder back to where it belongs.
My computer refuses to copy the files "data.ext4.win000"
There seems to be nothing I can do about this. My phone wont copy it and my computer won't either.
However, I am wondering if there is a way to make TWRP restore from a backup that is not where it belongs.
Whenever I go to restore, it doesn't give me an option to search elsewhere for my backups. Yet for some reason I am allowed to install a .zip from wherever I want.
Is there some sort of terminal command I can do within TWRP to make this work? Thank you.

Phone doesn't recognize internal SDcard

Just installed O2 OS and when I went to do an app restore with Titanium I noticed it didn't recognize the SD partition.
If I go to Settings>Storage it says 27gb free (out of 64gb, so everything is still on the device), and lists where memory is being used but that only adds up to about 3gb
If I boot to twrp > Mount > enable MTP
Then plug into my laptop, everything is there, all my songs, pictures, backups, etc from when I was running CM11S under SDcard/0
In TWRP if I try to restore (I have two twrp CM11S backups) the screen is blank, and I can't change the restore directory so sdcard/0 where they are now located
When reboot and I plug the phone in on my laptop the phone storage is blank. I can't copy anything to the phone (says "The device has either stopped responding or been disconnected.") So I can't copy the TWRP backup and/or Ti Backup I saved to my computer
So I went back into TWRP > Mount > Enable MTP
Then tried copying my Ti Backup folder to the main device folder. Transfer seemed fine, so i rebooted. Same thing as before, it doesn't show any files on the sdcard
What's going on with the internal memory? Basically what I need to be able to do is do a restore back to CM11S and I'll try to start with a fresh Oxygen flash.

mooseknuckles1 said:
Just installed O2 OS and when I went to do an app restore with Titanium I noticed it didn't recognize the SD partition.
If I go to Settings>Storage it says 27gb free (out of 64gb, so everything is still on the device), and lists where memory is being used but that only adds up to about 3gb
If I boot to twrp > Mount > enable MTP
Then plug into my laptop, everything is there, all my songs, pictures, backups, etc from when I was running CM11S under SDcard/0
In TWRP if I try to restore (I have two twrp CM11S backups) the screen is blank, and I can't change the restore directory so sdcard/0 where they are now located
When reboot and I plug the phone in on my laptop the phone storage is blank. I can't copy anything to the phone (says "The device has either stopped responding or been disconnected.") So I can't copy the TWRP backup and/or Ti Backup I saved to my computer
So I went back into TWRP > Mount > Enable MTP
Then tried copying my Ti Backup folder to the main device folder. Transfer seemed fine, so i rebooted. Same thing as before, it doesn't show any files on the sdcard
What's going on with the internal memory? Basically what I need to be able to do is do a restore back to CM11S and I'll try to start with a fresh Oxygen flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Similar problem with oxygenOS.

While in TWRP with MTP enabled, I tried to copy my most recent TWRP backup (put it on my laptop this morning just in case) that I have on my laptop to the SDcard, everything copies over and shows up in TWRP restore except the Data files, it says they are too big to copy, each is around 1.5GB
Am I ok to do a restore without the Data files?

Well I seem to have solved it.
In TWRP I did a complete format
Rebooted into TWRP
Plugged into laptop with Mount>MTP Enabled
Transfered ROM onto device
Flashed
Rebooted to system
Everything seems to be back to normal. Phone is rooted, local memory reads and writes fine. Just have to transfer my Titanium backup from laptop to phone and do an app restore.

mooseknuckles1 said:
Well I seem to have solved it.
In TWRP I did a complete format
Rebooted into TWRP
Plugged into laptop with Mount>MTP Enabled
Transfered ROM onto device
Flashed
Rebooted to system
Everything seems to be back to normal. Phone is rooted, local memory reads and writes fine. Just have to transfer my Titanium backup from laptop to phone and do an app restore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what rom have you flashed? Cm or oxygen or other?

eternasparta said:
what rom have you flashed? Cm or oxygen or other?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oxygen
I have a new problem, when I try to pull down the notification tab, the second swipe down doesn't open the setting and quick toggle menu. If I restart the phone it lets me do it for about the first 10 seconds but then something must load that prevents it.
'back' is the only haptic button that works too. The others vibrate indicating they've been pushed but no action is performed. I check in Button Settings to insure they have tasks assigned to them
In Gmail, links also don't open
If I search with the Google search bar and try to open one of the results, i just get a grey-white screen that says "google apps", if i go back it usually opens the result to Chrome
Wiped Dalvik to see if that had any effect, it didn't.

[Completed] Restoring TWRP Nandroid .win files

My Mum's managed to mess up her tablet (seems to have reset it but not factory reset, as it's still encrypted, password protected, etc, just all her apps and even Apex Launcher have vanished) and the only recent backup I can find is a TWRP backup made with Online Nandroid Backup.
TWRP doesn't seem to recognise the files however, as it doesn't list any backups. I looked at the log and see that when pointed to the internal storage (which it can't mount as it's encrypted), it looks in /data/media/TWRP/ and I've recreated that structure on the microSD (where the backups are), giving me /data/media/TWRP/BACKUPS/0000000000000000/2015-04-05--07-14-50/
In that folder I have:
boot.emmc.win
cache.ext4.win
data.ext4.win
recovery.emmc.win
system.ext4.win
and .md5 files for each of those.
The .win files I can open with 7-zip, to show the files without that extension (e.g. data.ext4).
If anyone could help me restore this backup I (and more importantly my Mum) would be very grateful!
I tried installing Nandroid Manager and ES File Explorer and both failed, so something's clearly messed up. SU 2.46 is installed and I checked root with Root Checker and updated Busybox.

OK, I found a good tip to make a new backup (I just ticked boot to make it quick) and check where TWRP puts it. It turned out to be /micro_sd/TWRP/BACKUPS/Lenovo_A5500-HV/
So I moved my existing backup folder there, formatted /data to remove the encryption and then I was able to restore the backup. Now the tablet's stuck in a boot loop though and I can't even boot into recovery, so I'll have to start from scratch and then try and restore just /system and /data.

cwm backup is empty

hello guys,
i have a problem with restoring my nandroid backup.
so the digitzer of my s3 mini is broken and does not work partially. e.g. i cant enter my pin to unlock screen lock and i cant use twrp. so i used cwm (i guess it was 6.0.2.8.) to backup everything to my ext sd card. i dont know exactly if the backup was successfull but i cant remember any error messages and my backup is about 3,5gb big and there r following files:
boot.img
cache.ext4.tar
cache.ext4.tar.a
data.ext4.tar
data.ext4.tar.a
data.ext4.tar.b
data.ext4.tar.c
data.ext4.tar.d
nandroid.md5
recovery.img
system.ext4.tar
system.ext4.tar.a
now i wanted to restore only data on a new device: moto g peregrine via cwm. i installed cm12.1 on my moto, the backup comes from cm12.1 too.
error: md5 checksum mismatch -> i cutted nandroid.md5 and created an empty file named nandroid.md5 and copied it into the backup folder. then cwm restored. well... it says it was restored. but when i start android no data is restored.
so i tried to restore it via tatanium backup. this app finds my backup, but only system apps r listed. no user apps. (i just tried it again, no apps at all)
then i tried to open/browse the tar archives with a shell extension in windows. they are empty.
then i wanted to extract them with appextractor but it doesnt find a backup to extract.
then i tried nandroid manager. it finds the backup, it says, its 3,44gb big. when i browse the data.ext4.tar its empty. then i click on restore nandroid backup. it boots into recovery but then it says:
sd card marker not found
.....
E: unknown volume for path [/mnt/sdcard1/clockworkmod/backup/2012-01-01.00.00.35]
cant mount backup path
im using cwm 6.0.4.8
so can sum1 plz help how to restore it? or is it broken? is everything gone?
and another question: twrp has adb sideload-support. i could make a twrp backup via the openrecovery adb script but my internal storage has not enough space. if i could tell twrp to backup on the ext sd card perhaps it works
greetz

daemonicvs said:
hello guys,
i have a problem with restoring my nandroid backup.
so the digitzer of my s3 mini is broken and does not work partially. e.g. i cant enter my pin to unlock screen lock and i cant use twrp. so i used cwm (i guess it was 6.0.2.8.) to backup everything to my ext sd card. i dont know exactly if the backup was successfull but i cant remember any error messages and my backup is about 3,5gb big and there r following files:
boot.img
cache.ext4.tar
cache.ext4.tar.a
data.ext4.tar
data.ext4.tar.a
data.ext4.tar.b
data.ext4.tar.c
data.ext4.tar.d
nandroid.md5
recovery.img
system.ext4.tar
system.ext4.tar.a
now i wanted to restore only data on a new device: moto g peregrine via cwm. i installed cm12.1 on my moto, the backup comes from cm12.1 too.
error: md5 checksum mismatch -> i cutted nandroid.md5 and created an empty file named nandroid.md5 and copied it into the backup folder. then cwm restored. well... it says it was restored. but when i start android no data is restored.
so i tried to restore it via tatanium backup. this app finds my backup, but only system apps r listed. no user apps. (i just tried it again, no apps at all)
then i tried to open/browse the tar archives with a shell extension in windows. they are empty.
then i wanted to extract them with appextractor but it doesnt find a backup to extract.
then i tried nandroid manager. it finds the backup, it says, its 3,44gb big. when i browse the data.ext4.tar its empty. then i click on restore nandroid backup. it boots into recovery but then it says:
sd card marker not found
.....
E: unknown volume for path [/mnt/sdcard1/clockworkmod/backup/2012-01-01.00.00.35]
cant mount backup path
im using cwm 6.0.4.8
so can sum1 plz help how to restore it? or is it broken? is everything gone?
and another question: twrp has adb sideload-support. i could make a twrp backup via the openrecovery adb script but my internal storage has not enough space. if i could tell twrp to backup on the ext sd card perhaps it works
greetz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can connect a USB mouse and keyboard to navigate and select whatever you need to select or do in CWM or TWRP, it will work with either recovery.
As for transferring user installed apps and their data, you can try backing them up to your google account and then restoring them from google on the new device. Or use the USB mouse/keyboard along with ES File Explorer to go to your /data/app folder and create copies of your installed apps, the backups will be in your backup/app folder on internal, copy them to PC then go your Android folder on the device and copy the app data for those apps to PC, then transfer the app copies to the internal on the new device and install them or use adb to sideload each of those apk files to the new device, then transfer the copied app data for those apps to the Android folder on the new device, then boot to recovery and wipe only cache, do not factory reset in recovery then reboot.
I DO NOT GIVE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE

hi,
You can connect a USB mouse and keyboard to navigate and select whatever you need to select or do in CWM or TWRP, it will work with either recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but for this i need a special otg adapter cause the s3 mini doesnt support otg originally. and dont i need to install an app or something on my device and confirm a message on my screen? like u wanna do an adb backup. havent tried it yet. i will do i i guess.
As for transferring user installed apps and their data, you can try backing them up to your google account and then restoring them from google on the new device. Or use the USB mouse/keyboard along with ES File Explorer to go to your /data/app folder and create copies of your installed apps, the backups will be in your backup/app folder on internal, copy them to PC then go your Android folder on the device and copy the app data for those apps to PC, then transfer the app copies to the internal on the new device and install them or use adb to sideload each of those apk files to the new device, then transfer the copied app data for those apps to the Android folder on the new device, then boot to recovery and wipe only cache, do not factory reset in recovery then reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this presumes that i can unlock my lockscreen. doesnt it?
i will try to backup my data with cwm again. perhaps the backup is corrupted. and i will try to do an adb backup and control the phone via keyboard and mouse if i can unlock the screen and/or confirm a popup message.
can anyone say if i can make a twrp backup to my ext sd oder pc via adb shell? i know the command "twrp backup <options> <foldername>" but can i change the path where the backup will be stored?
thx for your reply

daemonicvs said:
hi,
but for this i need a special otg adapter cause the s3 mini doesnt support otg originally. and dont i need to install an app or something on my device and confirm a message on my screen? like u wanna do an adb backup. havent tried it yet. i will do i i guess.
this presumes that i can unlock my lockscreen. doesnt it?
i will try to backup my data with cwm again. perhaps the backup is corrupted. and i will try to do an adb backup and control the phone via keyboard and mouse if i can unlock the screen and/or confirm a popup message.
can anyone say if i can make a twrp backup to my ext sd oder pc via adb shell? i know the command "twrp backup " but can i change the path where the backup will be stored?
thx for your reply
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use adb to remove lockscreen. There's a couple different ways using adb, research them.
As for OTG capability, you can try adb side loading an app called Stickmount by Chainfire if you can find a way to enable it after installing it.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

ok thx.
i wanna use the openrecovery script with "adb shell twrp backup DO" but it says not enough space. so i want to store the backup on my ext sd. but how can i change the backup location to my ext sd? i only can specify a foldername within the backup path. but noch path :/
like here
http://www.pocketables.com/2014/10/using-twrps-new-adb-interface.html
hope sum1 can help me