Related
Update 9/1/2012: A user has successfully restored with this method! Continue to "Testimonials" for more info!
Update 9/2/2012: TrevE has now come up with a way to leverage Samsung's built-in restore to your advantage! Read below for more!
Update 9/3/2012: Changed adb commands to reduce Operation not permitted problems.
Thanks to the efforts of some great developers, there is now *possibly* a more comprehensive method to backup your IMEI. While I have not personally tested a restore using this method, a user in IRC has done a manual NVRAM wipe and restored it using this method, without the roaming issues caused by a occasionally-bungled QPST restore or manual IMEI injection. In addition, posts in this thread indicate a successful restore from an actual occurrence of the problem, all without the use of QPST and also without any roaming issues!
Before I go any further, the same old disclaimer still applies; you accept all responsibility for what you do to your own device!
Theory:
The theory is that the S3 has, in the boot process, a routine which is "tripped" when it detects an error condition. This routine is designed to "save" your IMEI by restoring images from two built-in backup blocks. The problem is, it actually does the opposite; for whatever boneheaded reason, the default backup blocks contain dummy images with an IMEI of 0 and no carrier identification. This is why your phone forgets what carrier it's on and what its IMEI number is; the restore routine actually overwrites the phone's only copy of the IMEI data with a dummy. Because much more data is lost than just the IMEI, this is also why a QPST injection (not a QCN restore) persistently leaves you on roaming.
In an initial attempt to solve this problem, users have attempted to "dd", or create an image of, a single block supposedly containing the IMEI when the phone is still in a good state. This is the efs.sbn method that you may have seen. However, upon further inspection, it turns out the IMEI data is actually spread across five different block devices, hence why the efs.sbn method is either ineffective or leaves you on roaming! After the block devices were identified, a SynergyROM team member created an easy-to-use recovery zip that allows you to image these five blocks, allowing you to reflash them should the Samsung boot process overwrite your IMEI! Re-flashing these blocks after they've been crapped up virtually ensures your phone has been fully restored to its pre-IMEI-loss condition, thereby preventing roaming or data issues seen consistently with a manual injection, or intermittenly with a QPST restore. You do not need SynergyROM to use this tool; I've done it from full stock.
But wait: there's more. About a week after the development of this tool, several unused boot entry points were discovered that revealed a way to control Samsung's built-in "safety" feature and actually make it work properly! Two backup blocks were put in by Samsung themselves; "fsg" and "backup". The great news is that, although these images may contain dummies by default, you can instruct the bootloader to write your good NVRAM data to them so that the good data is what's written to NVRAM in the event of an error. That is, instead of restoring a dummy image over your good IMEI...it restores a good backup instead and you don't lose a thing! How awesome is that?
Developers are now recommending a new IMEI backup regimen, leveraging Samsung's built-in IMEI backup and SynergyROM's manual backup, together with an optional QCN backup you can do for good measure. Of course I can't make any guarantees, but doing this backup should leave you in such a good spot that almost nothing can total your IMEI or leave you in a roaming state. Here are the new instructions on how to backup your IMEI, iron-clad. Do Parts A and B, in order, C is optional but will give you added peace of mind.
Backup:
Part A (Samsung's built-in backup):
1. If your phone does not have Terminal Emulator installed, you will need to use ADB. Download and install the Android SDK platform-tools for your platform. This is a bit non-trivial as it requires the installation of the Android SDK, however, you can find a guide for installing adb here. After installing, open a command prompt and navigate to the "platform-tools" folder within the SDK, where adb is stored. If you need additional help on this, simply ask in this thread.
If your phone is rooted and has Terminal Emulator installed, you don't need to do any of this. Simply open up the Terminal Emulator and go to step 2.
2. For ADB: Connect your phone to the computer and ensure it is in "Debug Mode" (Settings->Developer Options->USB debugging). Then. in the command prompt, type the following:
Code:
adb reboot nvbackup
For Terminal Emulator: The actual "beef" of the command is the "reboot nvbackup" line. Therefore, if you have Terminal Emulator installed, you can just run the command straight off your phone. Enter these two commands from the app:
Code:
su
reboot nvbackup
3. Your phone will reboot and copy the contents of two IMEI partitions to the two built-in backup blocks. You may see tiny blue text on the bootloader screen indicating that it is copying.
4. Allow it to finish and then reboot back into Android. The "fsg" and "backup" block devices now contain your IMEI information as they should have in the first place.
Part B (SynergyROM's "Plan B" manual backup):
1. Download the attachment at the bottom of this post. This is an update ZIP you can run right from recovery.
2. Reboot into recovery. On stock this can be done by turning off the phone and then turning it back on while holding UP and HOME.
3. CWM: Use VOL UP and VOL DOWN together with HOME to select "install zip from sdcard" then "choose zip from sdcard". Navigate to the folder you downloaded it to (most likely Download/). Select the zip you just downloaded to "flash".
TWRP: Touch "install" and navigate to the folder you downloaded the zip to (most likely Download/). Swipe to confirm flash.
4. Allow the backup to complete successfully. "Flash" is a bit of a misnomer; this is actually just a script that will safely backup your EFS and radio information to /sdcard/synergyrom/backup without touching your ROM at this point. When the script completes, reboot.
Part C: Backup with QPST:
Once the gold standard of IMEI backup, this method (in my opinion) should now be done only in the event of an unlikely complete catastrophe where neither Samsung's built-in restore nor SynergyROM's restore works. Simply follow the instructions here for extreme peace of mind; you don't need to do this if you don't want to, but I personally did.
Restore:
Do not do this unless your IMEI has been lost!
Performing Part A of the backup should ensure that you never lose your IMEI in the first place; the theory being that the Samsung built-in backup now has a good image to restore itself, as opposed to a dummy image. However, things may still happen. If you've still lost your IMEI, perform each of these methods in order of priority, "A" being the first.
Restore Plan A:
Run the following command from adb, just like when you backed up (have Android SDK installed, connect phone, and ensure USB debugging is enabled):
Code:
adb reboot nvrestore
This method triggers Samsung's built-in IMEI restore; except this time, you got good images on your side. Simply allow the phone to restore and reboot itself when completed. NEVER PERFORM THIS COMMAND WITHOUT DOING PART A OF "BACKUP" FIRST; THIS WOULD RESTORE THE DUMMY IMAGES INSTEAD AND WIPE YOUR IMEI!
Restore Plan B:
Sometimes a fluke happens and the nvrestore does not work. That's why this one is Plan B and not Plan A. Good thing you did Part B of "Backup"! Rather than instructing Samsung's bootloader to restore your NVRAM, this method will do so manually from recovery using a manually done backup.
It's just like when you backed up, except now you want to flash the zip containing your NVRAM info that the other zip built for you. This zip is located in /sdcard/synergyrom/backup. Simply navigate to this path and flash the zip beginning with "keybackup"; this will write images to 5 block devices from a time when your IMEI was all good. Reboot the phone; if all went well, you now have your IMEI back with no roaming!
Restore Plan C:
Both methods above may fail you in extremely unlikely circumstances. At this point, you'll need to try using QPST to get your IMEI back. If you did Part C in "Backup", you can follow instructions in that same thread to get you back up and running. In most QPST restores, you shouldn't have any issues with data or roaming.
Restore Plan D:
The planets have lined up, the Cubs have won the World Series, and all three above methods have failed you in what is surely a sign of the apocalypse. Far more likely, though, is that you didn't have a backup of anything and your IMEI is gone for good. The good news is that you can still get your phone working; the bad news is that you'll be stuck on roaming and may have problems with data. You'll need to perform an "IMEI injection" which is a kludgy last-resort restore method that manually writes the IMEI to NVRAM; the link I provided in Part C of "Backup" will tell you how to do it.
Testimonials:
This method has been tested good by the following users in this thread!
amaury48 said:
Just flashed CM10 09-01 nightly and lost data, confirmed I lost my IMEI. I had used the process in the OP a while ago to backup my IMEI. Just would like to confirm that I just flashed the backup it created and happy to report all is well again. Thanks for the post of this tool........saved my butt......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
alee said:
I'll join the club. Lost my IMEI while doing the latest CM10 nightly. Restored and was back in action in no time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nght12 said:
Hey, used your backup method and ended up having to use it later in the day. It works. I'd reply but I can't yet due to being a new member here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please continue to let everyone know if this restore has worked for you after an IMEI loss!
Happy flashing!
TrevE said:
The other trickery we ran into is partitions do not like to be written to for whatever reason outside of package_extract_file right outa the zip. dd'ing directly back failed over and over, I have no clue why, poor esc must have flashed 100 zips before I gave up looking into it. So the updater zip restore uses only package_extract_file, actually writing partitions out properly. I have high hopes that it will actually work, but until tested otherwise do as many types of backups as you can
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your restore dd commands won't work.
con247 said:
Your restore dd commands won't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good catch. I'll revise the guide appropriately.
So will this work on any ROM?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Yeah I'm on stock rom just rooted an cwm. Can I flash this zip an since I don't have synergy, where will the backup be stored?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Worked on CM10.
I'm all for redundancy of backups, so here's hoping this method fully works when restoring. I have not experience a loss of IMEI myself, but I definitely want to be safe. I know the original efs backup method was proven to be an incomplete backup, but I thought the QPST NV backup method was proven to work? Are you saying that restoring with tthe QPST method (where you have an NV backup before you lose IMEO) does not work and will still having roaming issues?
At any rate, it will be interesting to see if this is the "one true backup" to rule them all for IMEI. So basically, you flash the zip in recovery and it creates another zip with the backed up contents. And in the event of an IMEI loss, you just flash the new zip and should be good to go? At least, that's the theory, right?
Travisimo said:
I'm all for redundancy of backups, so here's hoping this method fully works when restoring. I have not experience a loss of IMEI myself, but I definitely want to be safe. I know the original efs backup method was proven to be an incomplete backup, but I thought the QPST NV backup method was proven to work? Are you saying that restoring with tthe QPST method (where you have an NV backup before you lose IMEO) does not work and will still having roaming issues?
At any rate, it will be interesting to see if this is the "one true backup" to rule them all for IMEI. So basically, you flash the zip in recovery and it creates another zip with the backed up contents. And in the event of an IMEI loss, you just flash the new zip and should be good to go? At least, that's the theory, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You nailed it!
Nice, I'm assuming this is similar to what the Synergy ROM team is now including?
nyjumpman said:
Nice, I'm assuming this is similar to what the Synergy ROM team is now including?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its the same. Just a standalone version.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Confirmed successful backup using CWM.
I can confirm this backup method works using CWM.
I first tried it with TWRP via Goo Manager and the script didn't execute properly.
I tried flashing the file while still in TWRP and I couldn't even find the zip file anywhere, user error I'm guessing.. lol.
So I flashed CWM over TWRP via ROM Manager PRO and flashed the zip file with CWM via ROM Manager PRO and the zip script executed nicely. I found the backed up zip file where the OP said it would be.
Here's to hoping I never have to use the backed up file, but it's good to know I have it there if needed.
Thanks again OP!
xCHPx said:
So will this work on any ROM?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This should work regardless of ROM as it is a recovery zip. I've tested it with CWM: I've never used TWRP so I don't know how well it would work in TWRP.
tu3218 said:
Yeah I'm on stock rom just rooted an cwm. Can I flash this zip an since I don't have synergy, where will the backup be stored?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tested a backup successfully on full stock, rooted. The backup will be stored in a folder called "synergyrom" but this just the name the tool gives to the directory (as the tool was created by the Synergy team) and has no impact on function or dependency on SynergyROM.
Travisimo said:
I'm all for redundancy of backups, so here's hoping this method fully works when restoring. I have not experience a loss of IMEI myself, but I definitely want to be safe. I know the original efs backup method was proven to be an incomplete backup, but I thought the QPST NV backup method was proven to work? Are you saying that restoring with tthe QPST method (where you have an NV backup before you lose IMEO) does not work and will still having roaming issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
QPST method is not perfect; it is better than a simple IMEI injection, but the boot bug writes crap over much more than just the IMEI. This is why either method may leave you on roaming (althogh a QPST restore only sporadically causes roaming). In addition, various DRM keys may be erased as well, leaving you potentially unable to play back HDCP/PlayReady titles; QPST does not restore these.
At any rate, it will be interesting to see if this is the "one true backup" to rule them all for IMEI. So basically, you flash the zip in recovery and it creates another zip with the backed up contents. And in the event of an IMEI loss, you just flash the new zip and should be good to go? At least, that's the theory, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's correct. When you "flash" the backup zip, nothing actually is written to the ROM as far as I can tell; it runs just like a script/batch file and saves your backup zip to /sdcard/synergyrom. The tool itself creates a new flashable zip in this directory, one that does modify your unit, which you can then use only in the event that the bootloader craps up the NVRAM.
Just did this on cm10. Backed up without issue and I see the folder it created. Thank you. I've done qpst as well so now I feel very safe
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
hopesrequiem said:
Just did this on cm10. Backed up without issue and I see the folder it created. Thank you. I've doneSame. Thanks for the info.ll so now I feel very safe
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Xparent Blue Tapatalk 2
So this requires an unlocked bootloader? I just did this but it skipped because my bootloader is still locked. Is that correct in that it needs to be unlocked for this backup process to work?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Just did this, thanks!
I now have 3 different types of backups. I feel safe now if I ever lose it.
Safe-r, I should clarify.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Made my back up on unofficial cm10 0816. Thanks.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
tu3218 said:
So this requires an unlocked bootloader? I just did this but it skipped because my bootloader is still locked. Is that correct in that it needs to be unlocked for this backup process to work?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no excuse to not be unlocked at this point.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
tu3218 said:
So this requires an unlocked bootloader? I just did this but it skipped because my bootloader is still locked. Is that correct in that it needs to be unlocked for this backup process to work?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol ur still locked???
here. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1839791
enjoy bro. now you got no excuces
Stryker1297 said:
lol ur still locked???
here. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1839791
enjoy bro. now you got no excuces
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i know i know lol I've been hesitant because of the IMEI issue and the phone is pretty damn good as is. But I'm slowly leaning towards flashing custom roms to get rid of the bloat, and since there are more ways now to hopefully restore the IMEI in case its deleted.
Can anyone tell me how to restore TA ? and where i can download TA restore file ?
I hope by "TA Restore File" you mean the program that allows you to do the restore. From what I've read on this forum, a TA is specific to your device (only). So to restore your TA you would have had to make a backup of your TA in the past!
I think that if you searched more, you would find what you're looking for. Backing up your TA (and restoring it) is mentioned in the top-most thread (the sticky thread) in the Xperia L General forum. That thread links to this thread, which likely holds the information you seek: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2292598
TA file is distinct to every phone.. You should have backed it up before unlocking bootloader.. Don't try to restore any other phone's TA file to your phone.. It will brick your phone.. Hope it helps..
I am looking for an application that can make my nandroid backup without having to go into recovery. But I am not sure if the backups that are created with the apps in this thread title are compatible with clockwork mod.
So, my question is:
Can clockwork mod recovery read the nandroid backup made by those online apps (Online nandroid backup pro or obackup nandroid)?
Thanks
Most likely not. Make one and try it before you rely on it
cesar.maranhao said:
I am looking for an application that can make my nandroid backup without having to go into recovery. But I am not sure if the backups that are created with the apps in this thread title are compatible with clockwork mod.
So, my question is:
Can clockwork mod recovery read the nandroid backup made by those online apps (Online nandroid backup pro or obackup nandroid)?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i guess nandroid backup made by a tool must be restored by the same tool.
note that when backuping with cwm a md5 file is created, and when restoring, md5 of the backup must match
Why do you want to take a backup without going into recovery if you don't mind me asking?
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jd1639 said:
Most likely not. Make one and try it before you rely on it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good suggestion. but i have not done it and probably will not try it considering that i should use the same tool for making and reading backups like samersh72 suggested.
samersh72 said:
i guess nandroid backup made by a tool must be restored by the same tool.
note that when backuping with cwm a md5 file is created, and when restoring, md5 of the backup must match
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i am glad i asked first before relying on something i might not have use when the need arrives. thanks for pointing that out for me.
rootSU said:
Why do you want to take a backup without going into recovery if you don't mind me asking?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no worries. i am glad you asked since i can be doing something i am not supposed to do (I am new to all this stuff).
the answer to your question is that i stumbled upon the possibility of doing the nandroid backups without having to go into recovery mode. plus the convenience of uploading such backups to the cloud and doing them automatically/periodically. both Online nandroid backup or obackup nandroid would help me with those features but then i thought "what if the clockwork mod recovery does not read those files?" that is why i made this topic.
is making an online nandroid backup bad? if it is better to make it inside the recovery fine by me. it does not take that much time either. i guess i just have to get used to make them and not forget.
anyway, looks that those online backups are not usable when in clockwork mod so i will not use those apps.
in the mean time, i have been looking in the rom manager premium app. it is made by clockworkmod.. can that application be used for online nandroid backups? maybe these are the same as those made inside the recovery? if so, i could use this application for the nandroid backups.
regards and happy new year!
You can try to make backups both ways and then ţry to restore the 3 rd party backup with CWM. If failed, you will have the proper CWM backup to restore as well. By the way, original backups are accessible to your device as files and you can simply sync that folder to the prefered cloud service - dropbox, box, drive, etc.
Sony Xperia SP aka C5303
andrey.mironov said:
You can try to make backups both ways and then ţry to restore the 3 rd party backup with CWM. If failed, you will have the proper CWM backup to restore as well. By the way, original backups are accessible to your device as files and you can simply sync that folder to the prefered cloud service - dropbox, box, drive, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I do; every night, automatic backups are made by Rom Toolbox and automatically uploaded to Dropbox by Foldersync.
PhilipTD said:
That's what I do; every night, automatic backups are made by Rom Toolbox and automatically uploaded to Dropbox by Foldersync.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you been able to restore a nandroid with to toolbox?
jd1639 said:
Have you been able to restore a nandroid with to toolbox?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't had to. Why? Is there a problem?
Sent from my Nexus 5
The reason I asked was I use tasker with recovery to automatically take a nandroid every Saturday when im asleep then upload it to my NAS using foldersync.
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PhilipTD said:
Haven't had to. Why? Is there a problem?
Sent from my Nexus 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know, I've never tried it. I just make one in my recovery. Never had any problems with that
jd1639 said:
Don't know, I've never tried it. I just make one in my recovery. Never had any problems with that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I have been using RT for years, and have restored plenty of nandroids in the past on other phones/ROMS with it. It always worked great.
Sent from my Nexus 7
rootSU said:
The reason I asked was I use tasker with recovery to automatically take a nandroid every Saturday when im asleep then upload it to my NAS using foldersync.
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Do you mind explaining how you do it? I already have Tasker and also have Rom Manager Premium. Need to get Foldersync
cesar.maranhao said:
Do you mind explaining how you do it? I already have Tasker and also have Rom Manager Premium. Need to get Foldersync
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The method I use will only work with a CWM based recovery. I find Philz best. This is because I am using extended commands, which are proprietary to CWM.
I wont go into detail on the foldersync part. All I will say is you set up a folder pair between your sdcard/clockworkmod/backup folder and your backup location, which could be a NAS, Computer thats always on or a Cloud location. I set mine to delete the backup from local storage before it takes a new backup and also afterwards. I also set within foldersync that they only run on wifi.
I have the 3 following profiles:
1.Nandroid Copy Pre
2.Nandroid Backup
3.Nandroid Copy Post
Pre and Post are identical in that they run the foldersync task. The only difference is the time they run.
I run the 3 profiles at these times on a Saturday:
1. 02:00 - 04:00
2. 04:00
3: 05:00 - 06:00
So basically, that is foldersync to NAS (deleting backup), taking backup, foldersync to NAS (deleting backup). I do this as I am tight on space. On my S3, I used to keep 2 backups locally, deleting the oldest before taking the next one.
So you're probably wondering what happens in the task for profile 2. Both actions are created using the Script > Run shell
Code:
1. sh /mnt/sdcard/clockworkmod/nandroid.sh
2. reboot recovery
1. calls a script called nandroid.sh as you can see. The contents are below:
Code:
# Set date and time
now=$(date +"%d_%m_%y-%H%M")
# Writes command for cwm based recovery to read
echo 'backup_rom("/data/media/0/clockworkmod/backup/'$now'");' > /cache/recovery/extendedcommand
That's it in a nutshell.
If you wanted to, you could run the task 1 before which does a delete of the backup and the sync after (its 2 for redundancy) to just sync without delete, always keeping 1 backup on your device.
rootSU said:
The method I use will only work with a CWM based recovery. I find Philz best. This is because I am using extended commands, which are proprietary to CWM.
I wont go into detail on the foldersync part. All I will say is you set up a folder pair between your sdcard/clockworkmod/backup folder and your backup location, which could be a NAS, Computer thats always on or a Cloud location. I set mine to delete the backup from local storage before it takes a new backup and also afterwards. I also set within foldersync that they only run on wifi.
I have the 3 following profiles:
1.Nandroid Copy Pre
2.Nandroid Backup
3.Nandroid Copy Post
Pre and Post are identical in that they run the foldersync task. The only difference is the time they run.
I run the 3 profiles at these times on a Saturday:
1. 02:00 - 04:00
2. 04:00
3: 05:00 - 06:00
So basically, that is foldersync to NAS (deleting backup), taking backup, foldersync to NAS (deleting backup). I do this as I am tight on space. On my S3, I used to keep 2 backups locally, deleting the oldest before taking the next one.
So you're probably wondering what happens in the task for profile 2. Both actions are created using the Script > Run shell
Code:
1. sh /mnt/sdcard/clockworkmod/nandroid.sh
2. reboot recovery
1. calls a script called nandroid.sh as you can see. The contents are below:
Code:
# Set date and time
now=$(date +"%d_%m_%y-%H%M")
# Writes command for cwm based recovery to read
echo 'backup_rom("/data/media/0/clockworkmod/backup/@$now");' > /cache/recovery/extendedcommand
That's it in a nutshell.
If you wanted to, you could run the task 1 before which does a delete of the backup and the sync after (its 2 for redundancy) to just sync without delete, always keeping 1 backup on your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
following this reply, i have been searching more on how to do this on my nexus 5. found some older topics on it, even found some where you also posted.
it will not be easy on my side to do this. at all.
cesar.maranhao said:
it will not be easy on my side to do this. at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where's the problem? Perhaps I can help. Its really easy
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rootSU said:
Where's the problem? Perhaps I can help. Its really easy
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easy? we surely have different levels of knowledge for sure. but i gladly take your help if you are willing to use the time for it.
lets see if i can sum my difficulties first.
- in your post you mention Philz recovery. so i googled it. i am not sure but is this the "upgrade" for rom manager premium where you can use touch? if so, i do not mind buying that upgrade (because i do not have the touch upgrade, only bought the premium rom manager app).
- i still do not have foldersync but that is probably very easy to configure so only thing left for me is to buy the app. no problems here.
- tasker profiles. never used tasker but already bought it because of its functionality. i tried to make a custom profile on my own and it did not work. been reading help so i can figure out the app and how to program it. it might take a while though
i believe thats it. like you see, i still have a long road ahead of me. if you have patience and want to provide help i will surely be thankful. besides, i am sure a lot of other people out there will find this topic helpful so you will not only be helping me
regards
cesar.maranhao said:
easy? we surely have different levels of knowledge for sure. but i gladly take your help if you are willing to use the time for it.
lets see if i can sum my difficulties first.
- in your post you mention Philz recovery. so i googled it. i am not sure but is this the "upgrade" for rom manager premium where you can use touch? if so, i do not mind buying that upgrade (because i do not have the touch upgrade, only bought the premium rom manager app).
- i still do not have foldersync but that is probably very easy to configure so only thing left for me is to buy the app. no problems here.
- tasker profiles. never used tasker but already bought it because of its functionality. i tried to make a custom profile on my own and it did not work. been reading help so i can figure out the app and how to program it. it might take a while though
i believe thats it. like you see, i still have a long road ahead of me. if you have patience and want to provide help i will surely be thankful. besides, i am sure a lot of other people out there will find this topic helpful so you will not only be helping me
regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not as long as you think
Philz touch is a cwm based recovery. Its like cwm but much more. Its free and can be found in our nexus 5 "android development" forum here. Should be easy to spot. Thread is posted by me It will still work with rom manager although i prefer to not have rom manager.
Foldersync has a free version too by the way
But let's break it into byte size chunks. Firstly decide if you're willing to flash philz recovery via fastboot or not. You don't have to. Cwm is fine for now.
Next step will be to create profile 2 and task. Let me know when you're ready for that. I can't promise you quick responses but i'll walk you through it.
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rootSU said:
Its not as long as you think
Philz touch is a cwm based recovery. Its like cwm but much more. Its free and can be found in our nexus 5 "android development" forum here. Should be easy to spot. Thread is posted by me It will still work with rom manager although i prefer to not have rom manager.
Foldersync has a free version too by the way
But let's break it into byte size chunks. Firstly decide if you're willing to flash philz recovery via fastboot or not. You don't have to. Cwm is fine for now.
Next step will be to create profile 2 and task. Let me know when you're ready for that. I can't promise you quick responses but i'll walk you through it.
-----------------------
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I do NOT reply to support queries over PM. Please keep support queries to the Q&A section, so that others may benefit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello. I have subscribed your thread about philz recovery. I am thinking of installing the zip file from clockwork mod recovery. Do you think it will be OK doing that way?
Why do you think it is better to not have rom manager?
Do not worry about "quick answers" , that way you give me time to read and learn. Going to read your thread on recovery, might learn something there
Regards.
Yep, that way is fine to flash
Personally I feel that apps and tool kits that do things like flashing are detrimental to the user experience. Doing things manually is the best way to learn, ergo the best bet in case you ever need to get yourself out of trouble. The manual steps are good to know so it's always best to be familiar with adb, fastboot and recovery yourself, instead of having apps and kits that manage these crucial steps for you.
Hey there,
not sure if this is the right forum but I'll try.
Before unlocking the Bootloader I created a backup using PC Companion and MyPhoneExplorer.
Please take a look at the Filesystem and let me know if there is a chance to get the TA.img out of this.,
Thanks and best regards,
Oliver
Pretty sure there's no way to do so. Otherwise the whole "root - backup TA"-procedure would've been obsolete.
I guess your DRM keys are lost.
PS: This is a question so next time please post in Q&A (even if you're unsure about that, a dev section is nearly never the right place )
Hi, first of all, thank you for reading me.
I think i messed up big time.
I had Havoc OS 4.1 installed since more than a year and it was kinda messy e.g. the sim card card wasnt recognized anymore so wasnt able to make calls because i played to much in the settings.
Having some stupid but incredibly addictive games on this smartphone i decided to keep it like this and since i'm a complete n00bs and being afraid of security risk of rooting my device i never rooted it.
Big mistake.
So, recently, one games needed an update (like they all do at least once a week) and since i'm anti-google/f***book (no comment please) i nvever saved my progress in the cloud and "that" game required absolutely an update.
I installed the update from an alternative apk source and , (applause if you want and laugh), it screwed up the game.
Now the nightmare begin.
Since the device isnt rooted i made a backup of /data partition. Gone crazy and before i might explode in an uncontrollable fury and madness i used LMSA to rescue the phone. And myself, lol.
Now i have stock android and i am googled to the bone. My butt hurts. My head too.
THE (first) simple question is : how can i restore this backup because i have the error 255?
Notes and observations; logically i would say because the device is back with stock rom and doesnt have the same os/rom installed and/or the partition and whatever is not the same wich may explain the error 255.
SECOND QUESTION: can i extract/uncompress this backup and take the precious data wich is my games progresses and restore it somehow?
I know i have to give as much information possible but i dont what else to give. If you need logs, or everything else just say it nicely and i will give it to you with immense pleasure.
Oh yeah, model : XT2113-2 5g Kiev RETCA 128gb a/b type and maybe was crypted before because twrp asked me the password to make backup or else.
Thank you in advance and i really hope somebody would help, if not i just loosed 1.5 years of stupid gaming because i messed up like an idiot. (A lesson well learned, the hard way...)
Thank you so much for not answering this simple question.
Kerplunk83 said:
Thank you so much for not answering this simple question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is it's a Motorola with a Qualcomm chip.
If you find a solution I would love to see it.
Finally a sign of life from someone here.
Thank you sd_shadow
sd_shadow said:
The problem is it's a Motorola with a Qualcomm chip.
If you find a solution I would love to see it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These precious brief and concise 2 lines of a simple answer is immensely welcomed.
Wich point me to reply that to my knowledge i interpret it as a security chip with big chances that its in relation to the knox technology.
It also point me to ask WHY, if i cant back up because of that, why/how is it possible to install a custom rom or gsi (sorry i still dont make the difference because i dont understand it) on this very protected smartphone?
That must explain why i had problems trying to root it and fail each time.
Finally i think that i should use another device for android gaming since i dont want to depend on f***book and google.
Thanks again sd_shadow. Even if it was a very simple answer it enlightens me alot.
Note: sorry for my bad english.
Kerplunk83 said:
how can i restore this backup because i have the error 255?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This error code means that at some point your backup of /data could not be extracted further. But for more detailed infos you must provide a recovery.log which will be generated when doing a backup of e.g. /boot.
>>> Please DO NOT copy+paste it here!! <<<Rename it (recovery.log > recovery.log.txt) to be able to upload it within "Attach files".
Kerplunk83 said:
can i extract/uncompress this backup and take the precious data wich is my games progresses and restore it somehow?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, use Titanium Backup (TB). Although it's very outdated it still features a restore of single apps out of a TWRP backup. Here's how you do it:
1. IMPORTANT: TB will only search for TWRP backup files on internal storage!! Use the default path created by TWRP, e.g.: /sdcard/TWRP/BACKUPS/ZY322V8K28/2023-04-08--06-53-20/
2. Install and open Titanium Backup.
3. In the upper right corner tap
MENU > scroll down to "Extract from Nandroid backup" > choose your backup folder
##############
Notes:
- Usually a TWRP backup of /data consists of several parts (data.ext4.win000, ~win001, ~win002 etc). TB requires all of them (or at least those ones with the /data/data/ path inside).
- If you are facing this error message:
Could not find any data in this TWRP backup
then your TWRP backup is compressed with gzip. To decompress it you must rename the file
data.ext4.win001 > data.ext4.win001.gz
and extract it with any archiver tool, e.g.:
- ZArchiver (Android)
- 7zip (Windows)
- Problems finding any TWRP backup data with Titanium Backup? Then please check your path!! (see above section)
Good luck!!
Thank you very much WoKoschekk i'll do it as soon i'll have the time for since i'm working today.
Thank you so much again, i'll keep you posted with logs and such.
I'm sorry i didnt gave news since, i'm not doing very well.
there's those 2 question i still have in my head;
1-With all the instructions you gave me is it worthy to continue because when i did the backup i wasnt rooted?
2- i'm sure i read many time to use Titanium Backup (wich is a paid app?) i have to be rooted or have root access.
Ultimately, how can i be rooted if there's a chip preventing me to do so?
I'll keep you posted when i'll be of better health, thank you.
Kerplunk83 said:
-With all the instructions you gave me is it worthy to continue because when i did the backup i wasnt rooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP backup = *.tar archive
TB unpacks the needed app's data and nothing else. You must be rooted to have access on /data for restoring your apps. But for the backup process it doesn't matter if you were rooted. Root is part of your boot.img.
Kerplunk83 said:
2- i'm sure i read many time to use Titanium Backup (wich is a paid app?) i have to be rooted or have root access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TB is for free. But a paid version unlocks additional features (not related to the TWRP restoring feature).
And yes... root is mandatory for TB. As I said before you must have r/w access on /data/*.
Kerplunk83 said:
if there's a chip preventing me to do so?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which chip?? You already have root access via TWRP. Magisk is only needed in system and just a patched boot.img (custom kernel).
Get well soon!
WoKoschekk thank you for this insanely fast reply.
All those answers and infos have now a gigantic value for me, if only i knew that before.
To describe a bit more my situation i slept only few hours since 5 days, vomiting, heavy coughs and fever.
I'm sure i'm not supposed to but i will anyway, i engage myself and promise to reward you (in particular) and others for the help you're bringing me. It wont be much but very important to me.
I'll go try to get (again) some rest. Just before i go, why was there a mention about my device;
"
The problem is it's a Motorola with a Qualcomm chip.
If you find a solution I would love to see it.
"
I dont ask you (WoKoschekk) or other to explain in the most explicit and endless details of what is exactly this "chip" and all the history that goes with it cause i dont want to be a pain but just why it was mentionned. Only, why?, it has ben mentionned.
I cant wait to get better since i finally see possibilities to get back those files.
Have a nice week-end and thanks again.
@Kerplunk83 To reveal the mystery behind "the chip": Motorola released two variants (Snapdragon/Mediatek CPU) of this model. Since the CPU largely determines the system structure, building a functional TWRP for both of them is very challenging. It seems that TWRP for the SD's variant got some bugs while the MT's variant runs more smooth. Due to this fact the error 255 is caused by something that you weren't be able to fix.
Regarding your problem: To restore an app and its specific app data you need the proper permissions to write in /data/data and /data/app. For this permissions you either need TWRP or Magisk installed. TWRP seems to be unable to write in that specific directory. On the other hand you don't want to install Magisk. I'm sorry but with this setup your problem can't be fixed.
Just out of curiosity, could you provide me a recovery.log showing error 255 during the restore process?
Please DO NOT copy/paste the whole log and post it here!! Instead of this you should rename the file (recovery.log => recovery.txt) because a file called *.log isn't allowed for upload. But a *.txt file is.
Options to create a recovery.log:
1. adb pull /tmp/recovery.log
=> copies a recovery.log into your ADB/fastboot folder
2. Do a backup of sth. like "boot" because the backup process will create a recovery.log by default
3. TWRP mainscreen > advanced > create log (kernel log isn't needed here)
=> log is stored on the default storage (internal or external) that you have choosen for backups etc.