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[Q] Phone Backup

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

Full phone backup without root

Did anyone try to backup the way suggested in this thread?
It'd be great, if it worked: a full backup (apps, settings, everything) without needing to root. I'm trying this right now, but when the phone prompts me to allow backup I tap on the "allow backup" button but it's if it weren't tapped (nothing happens, not even the tapping animation).
Someone tried this?
Edit: it would also allow access to some files that are unaccessible without root...

nor-ric said:
Did anyone try to backup the way suggested in this thread?
It'd be great, if it worked: a full backup (apps, settings, everything) without needing to root. I'm trying this right now, but when the phone prompts me to allow backup I tap on the "allow backup" button but it's if it weren't tapped (nothing happens, not even the tapping animation).
Someone tried this?
Edit: it would also allow access to some files that are unaccessible without root...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried by running the various adb backup options manually on Stock 2.21, but haven't had much luck, although got further than you. It will get part of the way through the backup, but silently errors out after a few packages and shows backup complete (when I know it isn't). Removing a problem app just results in it failing on the next one. On my Nexus 7 it works as expected, so there may be a bug in the stock version. Would be interesting if someone with CM or anything non stock could comment.

will1987 said:
I've tried by running the various adb backup options manually on Stock 2.21, but haven't had much luck, although got further than you. It will get part of the way through the backup, but silently errors out after a few packages and shows backup complete (when I know it isn't). Removing a problem app just results in it failing on the next one. On my Nexus 7 it works as expected, so there may be a bug in the stock version. Would be interesting if someone with CM or anything non stock could comment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree, would be interesting to see if the issue is related to HTC rom.
I've read on the Nexus 7 subforum that a user is stuck at my same point. I wonder what's causing this...

I had no luck either, although it has been awhile since I tried. I thought I read something on the original documention that made it sound like I wouldn't have any luck. Forget what it was now--

I was able to get this to work with my wifes stock unrooted one s (still on android 4.03 and sense 4.0).
in developer options you need to specify a password BEFORE you start the backup and enter that password on the "full backup" start screen.
i also couldnt get it to create a file for the backup in C:\ so i created a folder, and put it in there, but made sure to check permissions and that the folder was not read only.
I havent restored the data yet, but actually getting the backup file and it being an appropriate size (about 680mb), i would say i am optimistic about the results.
I will report back after i root and update the OS.

Nexus 5 Stuck in Google logo screen

Hi guys,
Unfortunately my Nexus 5 kinda died on me today and I'm almost devastated. The phone froze and then restarted (I pressed the power button a couple of time, so I’m not sure if I restarted it or it did it by itself) and stayed stuck on the Google logo screen. I tried a couple of things but none works – booting it in recovery -> wipe partition cache; shutting it down and restarting it; leave it like that and praying to God…
I need your help. What can I do in order to fix this and keep my personal data on the phone – apps (with their data – I have a couple of journaling apps that are very important to me), messages, pictures, history, calls and so on…
The most important thing for me is to retrieve this data, so a factory reset is out of the question. Is there any way I can fix this? If not, how can I recover/retrieve all my data from the phone?
P.S. I'm using the latest Android OS, without that last OTA update, the booloader is unlocked and stock...

You could flash twrp, create a nandroid backup, copy the backup to your phone for safe keeping, restore the backup to an identical phone (you'll have to change the serial number of the backup to the phone that will be used for the restore), and hope it all works.
If you don't have access to an identical phone, you could try wiping the phone and restoring the backup.
You could flash twrp and copy off the important data.
Lastly, you could flash a stock rom, flash twrp, and restore your data and apps.

audit13 said:
You could flash twrp, create a nandroid backup, copy the backup to your phone for safe keeping, restore the backup to an identical phone (you'll have to change the serial number of the backup to the phone that will be used for the restore), and hope it all works.
If you don't have access to an identical phone, you could try wiping the phone and restoring the backup.
You could flash twrp and copy off the important data.
Lastly, you could flash a stock rom, flash twrp, and restore your data and apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your kind and quick reply. I'm almost a complete android illiterate so I will bug you with a couple more questions, just for a better understanding.
So flashing TWRP means installing it...
1. Am I able to do this, considering the state of my phone? And will I be able to do the nandroid backup?
2. Is this tutorial good? http://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-install-twrp/
3. My phone is not rooted. Does this matter?
4. My phone has a capacity of 15 gb, of which approx. 1.5 gb were left free... Will I still be able to do the backup?
Thank you

The TWRP tutorial should be good - it's an XDA post...
You don't have to install TWRP, though it's a good idea unless you really don't want it. You can run it temporarily and on the next boot you'll be back to normal stock recovery. Booting temporarily will allow you to make a backup, but the risk is that you also back up the problem and then restoring the backup will also restore the problem - but it's worth a try.
"3. My phone is not rooted. Does this matter?" No, TWRP doesn't need root.
"4. My phone has a capacity of 15 gb, of which approx. 1.5 gb were left free... Will I still be able to do the backup?" Probably not - a backup is probably about 3GB, but if you manage to get as far as connecting to your PC and seeing your internal storage in Windows Explorer, you can copy the essential data (photos, etc.) to the PC and then do the backup and attempt the restore.
Press power & volume down simultaneously until you get to the bootloader screen with the green robot on its back. Connect the device to the PC - I'd recommend a direct laptop connection, not via a USB hub.
Start a CMD window and navigate to your PC adb/fastboot directory.
Type "fastboot devices" (no apostrophes) - if you're properly connected, you'll see something like "459uirgggg4 fastboot", which is your device id. A blank line means no connection.
To boot TWRP temporarily - "fastboot boot twrp.img".
To install TWRP permanently - "fastboot flash recovery twrp.img".
Once complete, use the volume keys to find "Reboot recovery". When you're in recovery, with any luck you may be able to see your internal storage in Windows Explorer, and you can at least retrieve your data. You could then try the restore, and if it doesn't work, a full installation of the latest ROM and rebuild your device from there (though Google automatically restores most of your apps if you had chosen that option).
Double-check these commands against other posts - I offer no guarantees, but at least a bit of hope...
Good luck.

Thank you! One more quick question, if I get as far as connecting and seeing my internal storage, would I be able to erase some data, in order to make room for the backup?

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. Photos are simple to identify, take up quite a lot of room, and can easily be transferred to your PC for safety and then deleted from the device. Anything free-standing (i.e. photos, for example, are independent of the app which captured them) and easily-identifiable, copy and delete from the device. Things like SMSs are trickier, since they may be held in not-obvious places or formats. If you take a copy to your PC, and delete to free space, you may have enough space for the backup, but as I mentioned you may just be backing up the problem as well as the system (backups don't tend to copy user data).

dahawthorne said:
Yes, that's exactly what I meant. Photos are simple to identify, take up quite a lot of room, and can easily be transferred to your PC for safety and then deleted from the device. Anything free-standing (i.e. photos, for example, are independent of the app which captured them) and easily-identifiable, copy and delete from the device. Things like SMSs are trickier, since they may be held in not-obvious places or formats. If you take a copy to your PC, and delete to free space, you may have enough space for the backup, but as I mentioned you may just be backing up the problem as well as the system (backups don't tend to copy user data).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, here's the current situation - I managed to connect it to my pc and it's visible.
I saved my photos and cleared up some space. I now have 9 GB of available memory.
I tried TWRP (didn't install it though, as I receive an error, saying that it can't complete the command) and manage to boot it and enter the backup menu.
Unfortunately, it cannot backup my data, as it remains stuck on "updating partition details"...
Not sure what to do... Should I wait longer? It stayed like that for approx. 50 min, before I restarted it. Should I try a previous version of TWRP? Should I try a different program/method of doing a nandroid backup?
Also, there were options to backup my: system, cache, data, boot etc. Choosing to backup only my data would do the trick? As I said, I'm most concerned about my journaling apps, that were not backed up.
Anyways, here is something interesting that happened after I restarted it during the TWRP stuck backup process - the phone started and passed the google logo screen! And I managed to enter it. Things appeared to be normal and I was overwhelmed by hope. However, when I tried to open an app, it froze and started all over again. And one more detail, the battery was low, like 10%. It was low yesterday, too, when it died the first time. Could it be related? Do you guys make anything out of this? Should I proceed by backing up my data and flash a new OS?

Nice to see some progress...
The first thing to do is to get the battery properly charged. Some functions (I'm thinking specifically of encryption, which demands at least 50% charge plus the device plugged in) won't work properly on a low charge. It may not be the cause, but it certainly won't help if the battery is low.
9GB is now plenty to take an entire backup. The TWRP backup screen shows how much data is in each partition. I'm not entirely sure exactly what "data" does back up - I very much doubt (from experience) that it will back up things like photos, but as I said before some data is stored in obscure places and you may be lucky. Back up everything except cache - the defaults in 3.0.2.
Definitely back up EFS. Read around and see the havoc it causes if you have problems and don't have it backed up.
So... you temporarily booted into TWRP? Latest 3.0.2? And the "updating partition details" message was after you pressed the backup button? There shouldn't be any delay - my backups of 6GB on my N6 take only 5 minutes - the N5 is slower but not that much slower, and you have a lot less to back up. If TWRP still continues to be difficult, yes, try the previous version. Even back to a version 2 if necessary.
Try the backup when the device is charged, save it to your PC, and then reboot. Fingers crossed. Good luck.

dahawthorne said:
Nice to see some progress...
The first thing to do is to get the battery properly charged. Some functions (I'm thinking specifically of encryption, which demands at least 50% charge plus the device plugged in) won't work properly on a low charge. It may not be the cause, but it certainly won't help if the battery is low.
9GB is now plenty to take an entire backup. The TWRP backup screen shows how much data is in each partition. I'm not entirely sure exactly what "data" does back up - I very much doubt (from experience) that it will back up things like photos, but as I said before some data is stored in obscure places and you may be lucky. Back up everything except cache - the defaults in 3.0.2.
Definitely back up EFS. Read around and see the havoc it causes if you have problems and don't have it backed up.
So... you temporarily booted into TWRP? Latest 3.0.2? And the "updating partition details" message was after you pressed the backup button? There shouldn't be any delay - my backups of 6GB on my N6 take only 5 minutes - the N5 is slower but not that much slower, and you have a lot less to back up. If TWRP still continues to be difficult, yes, try the previous version. Even back to a version 2 if necessary.
Try the backup when the device is charged, save it to your PC, and then reboot. Fingers crossed. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dahawthorne, thank you! I managed to make a backup after following your suggestion regarding the battery.
However, I didn't do a factory reset... not yet. Something strange happened while I tinkering with it (basically starting it and shutting it down with a furry) - it entered the OS! And everything was there and seemed to be fine, I was able to access my apps and saved a couple of things. But... when I clicked on a web page, it froze again and I was back at square one. Could it be that I have too many tabs/web pages in the background?

If it's only Chrome (or other browser?) that's making it freeze, you might want to try installing a different browser.
In the meantime, given your situation, I'd concentrate on recovering all the data you want and copying it to your PC for safety in case you have to resort to a factory reset or full re-flash of the ROM.
In case you can't find the data for the reasons I originally mentioned, you could try the Play Store for backup applications - e.g. there's a good SMS backup app which will back up & restore your texts. There may be something similar for your journaling app.
(And what's a "furry"...? )

Various troubles with my OnePlus 7pro (rooted) + questions about restoring Nandroid

Dear community, I am facing several troubles with my OP7pro which I think can be quite easily handled but my knowledge is just too little.
I am running OOS 10.0.2 with Renovate ICE, rooted with Magisk and on TWRP 3.3.1-70 - stock kernel and normally encrypted. I am facing various troubles that started after upgrading from 9.5.13 tot Android 10. I do not know if they are directly related. I do have Nandroids, BUT the phone is my daily driver, also for work, and a factory reset will just take too much time.
What are the troubles you ask?
- I am not able to enter the menu Buttons&Gestures/navigation/set up navigation bar. The screen blinks and I am back in the upper menu. If I press this menu again I get a "Settings stopped". This sucks, because I want to set up my on-screen buttons
- I used to use Plus Beat in combination with RICE on Android 9. Worked perfect. Whatever I set up, Plus Beat just does not work. That sucks big time.
- I am not able to set on screen buttons to for example switch between recent apps or get anything else but horizontal recents (which is slow and to me sucks). QuickSwitch via Magisk doesn't bring anything.
NOW TO THE QUESTIONS:
I GUESS (! but am not sure!) that a factoryreset could and should solve these problems. I could and would do that, but, I need to be up and running and have my settings back quickly. Internal memory (root) I could copy to PC and paste back afterwords. But is there some way I could put my settings (in the menu) and all my apps (250+) back via Nandroid data?
I have the following things backed up in TWRP:
- Boot
- System Image
- Vendor Image
- Data
- Modem
- EFS
If I do a complete new factory set-up (for example via Maurefranio's tool), to refresh my system (I guess the failure is in there), can I put back other parts of the Nandroid to have all the rest back? Also in the menu-settings, color-setting etc. etc. etc.?
I know it sounds rooky, but I hope someone takes time to help me a little. I do use Titaninium etc. but I can't spend hours and hours on a recovery. In that case I'd probably decide to keep using the OP7pro as I do, but it's frustrating that RICE and Plus Beat don't work fully and some other errors. The usability to me is 4 out of 10 - where in Android 9 it was surely 9 out of 10.
Greetings,
existenz

Are you running a substratum theme? That could be the settings issue. But that's about all I could help with. Never restored anything using twrp on this phone. Most I've done is backup my apps with swift backup, factory reset, or MSM tool, and restore my apps.
How quickly do you need your phone up and running? You could backup with swift backup, factory reset and only restore what you need for now then do the rest when you have time.

@GeekMcLeod: no, Substratum not even installed. All this trouble started after the regular update to Android 10.
But more my question is: IF I flash the whole phone back to factory setting (not a reset because the errors might still be there so a complete whipe and re-flash) - which part of Nandroid is usefull to get SETTINGS and APPS back? Just that. The internal memory I can copy and paste back.
I really hope someone can give me a quick instruction of how this works. Much appreciated!

exis_tenz said:
@GeekMcLeod: no, Substratum not even installed. All this trouble started after the regular update to Android 10.
But more my question is: IF I flash the whole phone back to factory setting (not a reset because the errors might still be there so a complete whipe and re-flash) - which part of Nandroid is usefull to get SETTINGS and APPS back? Just that. The internal memory I can copy and paste back.
I really hope someone can give me a quick instruction of how this works. Much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In that case, I would just use swift backup, backup to your device. Transfer SD card contents to your computer, factory reset. Transfer SD card files back. Swift backup can backup all apps and data. I believe that would work for what you want.
I, however, do not know what parts of the nandroid do what as I usually just don't bother with it.

GeekMcLeod: appreciate your advise, but Nandroid is there for a reason.
Is there anyone who can please help me what to do best? I mean, one of those Nandroid-partitions holds the clue, right?
I am also facing overnight Batterydrain of about 30% (from 80 to 50 in about 7-7,5 hours).

No Nandroid specialists in the house?

You need to wipe your data. Use Swift to backup apps, messages and call logs. Google will do it's best to restore settings upon setup. Your problem is almost guaranteed to be in data. If you need that data, I would recommend going back to whatever version of pie you were on before. Swift won't restore app permissions, as far as I know so be sure to double check if you restore apps with Swift.

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

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

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

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