I apologize in advance for asking the following noob questions. I have been an iPhone user for 3 years and wanted to take advantage of the GS3, which I am loving even without it being rooted. I am fairly tech-savy and believe I'll have no problem rooting my phone. There are just a few things I want to thoroughly understand. I've been sold on the fact that I want to root my phone to gain control of it, remove the bloatware, and extend it's battery life, etc. If there is a thread or posting or website somewhere that explains what I need to know very well, please direct me!!
I was looking for some major tips on the best way to achieve my goal of rooting and flashing to a new ROM...If someone could, PLEASE answer EVERY question. I'd like to fully understand how to get to my goal of rooting and flashing to a desired ROM without bricking it. If this gets desires attention, it could be a great sticky posts for other newbies!
1. First and foremost...What is a kernal? I see things about CM9/CM10 kernals. Is it something like a ROM? How is it related/different?
2. What is the CMW, what is a Touch Wiz?
3. What is the overall best way for a newbie to root their phone and install a desired ROM? Odin or???
4. As I understand thus far, there is rooting, then there is ROM flashing, and then there is something to do with unlocking the bootloader... I'd like to fully understand all of these.
Here's my goal and what I'm seeking help on... I think I want to use the Synergy ROM. What is the first step I must do? Do I somehow root my phone and then use Odin to flash to the Synergy ROM? Or is the first step simply opening Odin, connecting phone, and flashing to Synergy ROM? Do I not even use Odin to flash to Synergy? I'm confused here based on the install info in Synergys FAQ - do I use Odin at all??? Do I need to back anything up? Do I need to download or use some app to block Verizon OTA updates permanently??
In the Q&A of the Synergy ROM thread, it states:
You should have an unlocked bootloader if you wish to take full advantage of this ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Must I unlock the bootloader seperately via this thread here, or do ROMs or other kernals (or whatever) have the unlocked bootloader built-in?? Do I install the bootloader before I root or after I root? What's the best way to unlock the bootloader(mmmeff's EZ-Unlock App, Terminal Emulator, or Adam Outler's Casual for Rooting/Cwm/Unlocking Bootloader)? Also, how do I keep the bootloader from being updated OTA, to keep from having problems????
I think that answers most/all of my questions. I'd hugely appreciate a response and answers to clarify all this, or links to some post or site I'm missing that explain all this to me. My goal to to root my phone, likely install a ROM, and do all this without bricking it, and hopefully without voiding any warranties (though not a big deal).
Thanks a bunch in advance!!
All the answers you seek can be found in droidstyle's guide. It's a sticky in the development section.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Introduction to Rooting:
This is meant as a very basic disccussion for people completely new to rooting and Android. As a result, it will omit many details and simplify others. If there is a blatant mistake, please let me know and I'll correct it, but if there's something that's just not QUITE right, chances are it's simplified on purpose. Also, it's not meant to be a rooting guide (as there are excellent ones out there already) so much as an explanation of concepts most of us take for granted, but noobies don't.
DISCLAIMER: I, nor anyone else referenced (or not) in this thread, am not responsible for what you do with your phone. Rooting and otherwise altering your phone has the potential to brick your device, void your warranty, and many other horrible horrible things. Perform these actions at your own risk.
What is root/rooting?
In Unix-style operating systems, "root" is the name of the user who has all permissions and is therefore able to run/modify/change/delete just about anything. If you're familiar with Windows, this account is called Administrator. The default account (that's you!) on an Android phone does NOT have these privileges. Rooting is the process of obtaining them (i.e. obtaining root access). Once you root, you can "flash" new software onto your phone without restriction. This is great because you now have control over what programs are on your phone, what your UI looks like, how your phone handles resources, what kernels you run, and more!
Once your phone is rooted, you don't always wield all of that power. You control your access to all these new abilities with a program called SuperUser (available on the market and baked into ROMS). This program can grant these special rights to any other program that requests them. So let's say a program wants to write data to a place it's not allowed. It will ask SuperUser to up its privileges and then BAM! it can write where it wants to. You yourself can gain SuperUser privileges in a shell by typing su. Then YOU can read, write, and execute to your hearts desire.
Before you root:
Before rooting, there are some basic things you should know. A lot of people rush into it without bothering to learn everything they should. Sometimes it goes well, and sometimes it doesn't.
Phone partitions: Your phone has a number of partitions. The important ones to know at first are:
1. System - this partition is essentially what you think of when you think of the operating system, the Android UI, and preinstalled
apps. When people talk about flashing ROMs (e.g. CyanogenMod, Synergy, etc), they are talking about flashing a new system
partition.
2. Boot - this is the kernel and ramdisk. The kernel is responsible for managing the interactions between the phones software (including the ROM) and the
hardware. Altering the kernel can increase/decrease performance, battery life, and more because it manages applications and system resources. When
you flash a new kernel, it flashes to the boot partition. You may not notice a big difference like you do when changing ROMS, but behind the scenes, your
phone's performance can be drastically altered. A *LOOSE* analogy is that the ROM is like the body and interior of your car (including exterior color, AC,
stereo, heated seats, TV in headrests, etc.) and the kernel is like the engine. You may not see it, but you'll know it's there if it's awesome or it sucks.
3. Aboot - this was largely unimportant for newbies until the bootloader lock/unlock situation. The short story is that aboot contains functions which
authenticate the boot partition (that's the kernel, remember?). It checks to see if your boot partition is Verizon legal and if not, it aborts the boot process
and politely tells you to contact Verizon. This authentication is what is referred to as a "locked" bootloader. It prevents you from completely booting the
phone with a custom kernel. The bootloader is "unlocked" by replacing the stock aboot partition with one that does NOT check up on the boot partition.
This is important because it allows us to run whatever kernel we want.
4. Data - this contains user installed apps, settings, contacts, bookmarks, etc, etc, etc. You can wipe this partition (as opposed to the above partitions) and
still boot into the operating system. You will have just lost all your setting and apps. This is called a factory/data reset.
5. Cache - this is stuff that you frequently use so it's kept available for better performance. You can wipe it without much consequence.
6. Recovery - this partition contains a separate operating system that allows you to recover from a corrupted/absent/otherwise jacked up operating system. It
has other functions as well. The big ones are to backup your device and restore said backups, to wipe certain partitions, and to flash things to your
phone (i.e. install new ROMs, recoveries, or other programs). The stock recovery is limited so you will definitely want a custom recovery, created by the
fine devs in the community, on your device.
What is a ROM and what is a kernel? I touched on this above. A ROM is what goes on the system partition. It contains what you think of as the Android OS including the UI and preinstalled apps. It controls how programs interact with you, the user. A kernel controls how those programs interact with the phones hardware. You need both a ROM and a kernel to have a functional phone.
How do I get started rooting and flashing?
There is an excellent guide stickied in the development thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1762709. However, many of us
forget what it's like to be a COMPLETE newbie and to someone who has no idea about anything, even fantastic guides like that can be a little intimidating.
You can follow the steps, but may not understand what you're doing. The steps to take to start out with are:
1. Make sure you understand what I've written above. Make sure you are comfortable with the possibility of bricking your phone.
2. Root your device. As I said above, this is simply gaining root/Admin/whatever you want to call it access on your phone. In and of itself, it does NOT alter
the ROM or kernel or much of anything else. However, there are many different ways to obtain root and some of them DO alter these things. The easiest
and safest way to root (IMO) is to use Noxious Ninjas excellent tool. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1792342. If you like it, I
encourage you to donate or at least "Thanks" him. It works by taking advantage of debugfs permissions to get su (remember this from above??) onto
your phone with permissions set so you can run it. It therefore doesn't change ROMs or anything else. You won't lose data, apps, or anything else. It just
sneaks su right onto your current setup.
3. Install a custom recovery. This will allow you to do all the fun stuff I talked about above. I recommend installing EZ-recovery from the market and flashing
CWM 6.0.1.0.
1. Install EZ-recovery
2. Under the "Recovery" heading, click the Recovery radio button and select CWM 6.0.1.0 next to it.
3. Click flash
4. Backup everything as if your life depended on it. This means backing up your IMEI as shown here
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/32397-tutorial-imeibackup-nv-with-qpst-us-variants/ and making a nandroid. A nandroid is an image of your phone
including your ROM, your data, and your kernel(depending on what phone you have). You can restore a nandroid backup and you'll be right back where
you were before flashing or changing things around. The steps to making a nandroid are:
1. Turn off your phone.
2. Hold down volume up, home, and power until recovery appears.
3. Use the volume rocker to go to "backup and restore" and hit the power button
4. Select backup and then select the external (default) or internal (labeled "internal") SD card
You can restore a nandroid in a similar fashion (although you should wipe data/cache first - see below).
5. Unlock the bootloader. You must do this seperately from flashing ROMs and kernels. Refer to this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1839791 and give appropriate thanks! A warning...if you mess up your aboot partition, there's really nothing (that I know of) you can do to revive your phone besides send it to someone with JTAG or back to Verizon.
You're now ready to start flashing ROMs.
As a precursor, there are ROMS that are based on TouchWiz modified Android from Verizon/Samsung and there are ROMS based on AOSP (e.g. CyanogenMod). TW roms need a TW kernel and AOSP roms need an AOSP kernel. Until you get comfortable with everything, I would stick with TW. Also, some roms come with kernels and will flash the kernel to your boot partition as well as the ROM to your system partition. Some ROMs don't come with kernels. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS read the OP of a rom you want to flash to find out kernel information as well as how to install the rom and anything else you may need to know. The general steps to flashing a ROM are (remember to read the OP for specifics):
1. Backup apps, data, call log, contacts, messages, etc. My program of choice for much of this is Titanium Backup available on the market. Buy it as you'll
use it a billion times.
2. Download the ROM you want and check the MD5
3. Place the ROM on the root of your SD card. Do NOT unzip it.
4. Reboot into recovery and make a nandroid backup
5. Wipe data/factory reset and wipe cache. Wipe it more than once if paranoid.
6. Go to "install zip from sdcard" and select the ROM you want
7. If you want/need to flash a kernel, install that zip from the sdcard too with the same command
8. Reboot and restore all that you backed up
Remember:
- ALWAYS backup before doing anything
- verify MD5
- wipe data and cache (unless told not to by the ROM dev)
- NEVER accept an OTA (having a custom recovery should block OTAs anyway)
PS. The techniques, tools, roms, etc in this post are not mine and arte the products of hours of hard work by multiple devs. Please thank them accordingly.
Bleelas said:
Introduction to Rooting:
This is meant as a very basic disccussion for people completely new to rooting and Android. As a result, it will omit many details and simplify others. If there is a blatant mistake, please let me know and I'll correct it, but if there's something that's just not QUITE right, chances are it's simplified on purpose. Also, it's not meant to be a rooting guide (as there are excellent ones out there already) so much as an explanation of concepts most of us take for granted, but noobies don't.
DISCLAIMER: I, nor anyone else referenced (or not) in this thread, am not responsible for what you do with your phone. Rooting and otherwise altering your phone has the potential to brick your device, void your warranty, and many other horrible horrible things. Perform these actions at your own risk.
What is root/rooting?
In Unix-style operating systems, "root" is the name of the user who has all permissions and is therefore able to run/modify/change/delete just about anything. If you're familiar with Windows, this account is called Administrator. The default account (that's you!) on an Android phone does NOT have these privileges. Rooting is the process of obtaining them (i.e. obtaining root access). Once you root, you can "flash" new software onto your phone without restriction. This is great because you now have control over what programs are on your phone, what your UI looks like, how your phone handles resources, what kernels you run, and more!
Once your phone is rooted, you don't always wield all of that power. You control your access to all these new abilities with a program called SuperUser (available on the market and baked into ROMS). This program can grant these special rights to any other program that requests them. So let's say a program wants to write data to a place it's not allowed. It will ask SuperUser to up its privileges and then BAM! it can write where it wants to. You yourself can gain SuperUser privileges in a shell by typing su. Then YOU can read, write, and execute to your hearts desire.
Before you root:
Before rooting, there are some basic things you should know. A lot of people rush into it without bothering to learn everything they should. Sometimes it goes well, and sometimes it doesn't.
Phone partitions: Your phone has a number of partitions. The important ones to know at first are:
1. System - this partition is essentially what you think of when you think of the operating system, the Android UI, and preinstalled
apps. When people talk about flashing ROMs (e.g. CyanogenMod, Synergy, etc), they are talking about flashing a new system
partition.
2. Boot - this is the kernel and ramdisk. The kernel is responsible for managing the interactions between the phones software (including the ROM) and the
hardware. Altering the kernel can increase/decrease performance, battery life, and more because it manages applications and system resources. When
you flash a new kernel, it flashes to the boot partition. You may not notice a big difference like you do when changing ROMS, but behind the scenes, your
phone's performance can be drastically altered. A *LOOSE* analogy is that the ROM is like the body and interior of your car (including exterior color, AC,
stereo, heated seats, TV in headrests, etc.) and the kernel is like the engine. You may not see it, but you'll know it's there if it's awesome or it sucks.
3. Aboot - this was largely unimportant for newbies until the bootloader lock/unlock situation. The short story is that aboot contains functions which
authenticate the boot partition (that's the kernel, remember?). It checks to see if your boot partition is Verizon legal and if not, it aborts the boot process
and politely tells you to contact Verizon. This authentication is what is referred to as a "locked" bootloader. It prevents you from completely booting the
phone with a custom kernel. The bootloader is "unlocked" by replacing the stock aboot partition with one that does NOT check up on the boot partition.
This is important because it allows us to run whatever kernel we want.
4. Data - this contains user installed apps, settings, contacts, bookmarks, etc, etc, etc. You can wipe this partition (as opposed to the above partitions) and
still boot into the operating system. You will have just lost all your setting and apps. This is called a factory/data reset.
5. Cache - this is stuff that you frequently use so it's kept available for better performance. You can wipe it without much consequence.
6. Recovery - this partition contains a separate operating system that allows you to recover from a corrupted/absent/otherwise jacked up operating system. It
has other functions as well. The big ones are to backup your device and restore said backups, to wipe certain partitions, and to flash things to your
phone (i.e. install new ROMs, recoveries, or other programs). The stock recovery is limited so you will definitely want a custom recovery, created by the
fine devs in the community, on your device.
What is a ROM and what is a kernel? I touched on this above. A ROM is what goes on the system partition. It contains what you think of as the Android OS including the UI and preinstalled apps. It controls how programs interact with you, the user. A kernel controls how those programs interact with the phones hardware. You need both a ROM and a kernel to have a functional phone.
How do I get started rooting and flashing?
There is an excellent guide stickied in the development thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1762709. However, many of us
forget what it's like to be a COMPLETE newbie and to someone who has no idea about anything, even fantastic guides like that can be a little intimidating.
You can follow the steps, but may not understand what you're doing. The steps to take to start out with are:
1. Make sure you understand what I've written above. Make sure you are comfortable with the possibility of bricking your phone.
2. Root your device. As I said above, this is simply gaining root/Admin/whatever you want to call it access on your phone. In and of itself, it does NOT alter
the ROM or kernel or much of anything else. However, there are many different ways to obtain root and some of them DO alter these things. The easiest
and safest way to root (IMO) is to use Noxious Ninjas excellent tool. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1792342. If you like it, I
encourage you to donate or at least "Thanks" him. It works by taking advantage of debugfs permissions to get su (remember this from above??) onto
your phone with permissions set so you can run it. It therefore doesn't change ROMs or anything else. You won't lose data, apps, or anything else. It just
sneaks su right onto your current setup.
3. Install a custom recovery. This will allow you to do all the fun stuff I talked about above. I recommend installing EZ-recovery from the market and flashing
CWM 6.0.1.0.
1. Install EZ-recovery
2. Under the "Recovery" heading, click the Recovery radio button and select CWM 6.0.1.0 next to it.
3. Click flash
4. Backup everything as if your life depended on it. This means backing up your IMEI as shown here
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/32397-tutorial-imeibackup-nv-with-qpst-us-variants/ and making a nandroid. A nandroid is an image of your phone
including your ROM, your data, and your kernel(depending on what phone you have). You can restore a nandroid backup and you'll be right back where
you were before flashing or changing things around. The steps to making a nandroid are:
1. Turn off your phone.
2. Hold down volume up, home, and power until recovery appears.
3. Use the volume rocker to go to "backup and restore" and hit the power button
4. Select backup and then select the external (default) or internal (labeled "internal") SD card
You can restore a nandroid in a similar fashion (although you should wipe data/cache first - see below).
5. Unlock the bootloader. You must do this seperately from flashing ROMs and kernels. Refer to this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1839791 and give appropriate thanks! A warning...if you mess up your aboot partition, there's really nothing (that I know of) you can do to revive your phone besides send it to someone with JTAG or back to Verizon.
You're now ready to start flashing ROMs.
As a precursor, there are ROMS that are based on TouchWiz modified Android from Verizon/Samsung and there are ROMS based on AOSP (e.g. CyanogenMod). TW roms need a TW kernel and AOSP roms need an AOSP kernel. Until you get comfortable with everything, I would stick with TW. Also, some roms come with kernels and will flash the kernel to your boot partition as well as the ROM to your system partition. Some ROMs don't come with kernels. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS read the OP of a rom you want to flash to find out kernel information as well as how to install the rom and anything else you may need to know. The general steps to flashing a ROM are (remember to read the OP for specifics):
1. Backup apps, data, call log, contacts, messages, etc. My program of choice for much of this is Titanium Backup available on the market. Buy it as you'll
use it a billion times.
2. Download the ROM you want and check the MD5
3. Place the ROM on the root of your SD card. Do NOT unzip it.
4. Reboot into recovery and make a nandroid backup
5. Wipe data/factory reset and wipe cache. Wipe it more than once if paranoid.
6. Go to "install zip from sdcard" and select the ROM you want
7. If you want/need to flash a kernel, install that zip from the sdcard too with the same command
8. Reboot and restore all that you backed up
Remember:
- ALWAYS backup before doing anything
- verify MD5
- wipe data and cache (unless told not to by the ROM dev)
- NEVER accept an OTA (having a custom recovery should block OTAs anyway)
PS. The techniques, tools, roms, etc in this post are not mine and arte the products of hours of hard work by multiple devs. Please thank them accordingly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THANK YOU!!!!! Very helpful! I had no idea I needed EZ-Recovery to flash CWM as the primary recovery tool - that saved me big time as I was about to unlock the bootloader later today.
After posting this last night, and awaiting responses, I was browsing and trying to take in as much as I could. I finally realized that each section in the linked guide is a different way to either root or install a ROM. After I figured this out, and read about Odin being best for newbies, I decided to take the risk and wing it, even though I wasn't 110% sure.
So, now I'm rooted and have ROM manager/CWM installed, TiBu, and ES File Explorer installed. Now I'm just trying to figure out what I can/cannot remove as far as bloatware. A few items I'm sure I'd like to keep (working), so I don't want to mess with anything that might be used in another app/widget....Which brings me to my next question...
What's the best way to remove bloatware? I found an excel spreadsheet online that shows what's safe/unsafe to remove but I'm confused as to what I should do to get rid of items I NEVER want, and how to turn off items I MAY want in the future. If I freeze these items, do they stay frozen upon reboot, and until I unfreeze, or otherwise? What's the difference between a .APK package and a single process, etc?
Thanks in advance! I feel like I entered Android Elementary last night and already graduated to Android Junior High!
P.S. The captchas on this site to post ARE THE WORST CAPTAS IVE SEEN IN MY ENTIRE FRIGGIN LIFE, MY GOD!!!! I must refresh it 20x til something is RELATIVELY clear. Seriously????
ike034 said:
1...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too..... But the post are suppose to me helpful and or contribute in some way....
But at least we can thank all over the place......
Weioo said:
THANK YOU!!!!! Very helpful! I had no idea I needed EZ-Recovery to flash CWM as the primary recovery tool - that saved me big time as I was about to unlock the bootloader later today.
After posting this last night, and awaiting responses, I was browsing and trying to take in as much as I could. I finally realized that each section in the linked guide is a different way to either root or install a ROM. After I figured this out, and read about Odin being best for newbies, I decided to take the risk and wing it, even though I wasn't 110% sure.
So, now I'm rooted and have ROM manager/CWM installed, TiBu, and ES File Explorer installed. Now I'm just trying to figure out what I can/cannot remove as far as bloatware. A few items I'm sure I'd like to keep (working), so I don't want to mess with anything that might be used in another app/widget....Which brings me to my next question...
What's the best way to remove bloatware? I found an excel spreadsheet online that shows what's safe/unsafe to remove but I'm confused as to what I should do to get rid of items I NEVER want, and how to turn off items I MAY want in the future. If I freeze these items, do they stay frozen upon reboot, and until I unfreeze, or otherwise? What's the difference between a .APK package and a single process, etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear you're rooted and learning a lot! Now you're opening another HUGE can of worms, namely how Android organizes the application framework, what are services, processes, activities, tasks etc. You may have already found the information you're looking for, but a montrously dumbed down version is that the APK is a package containing the compiled program and all the extraneous files it needs to run while a process is an actively running application. In order to debloat, you can either freeze an application with another program like TiBu, or you can manually freeze it by changing the app extension, or you can delete the APK, or you can remove it from the rom you want BEFORE you even flash it. What you choose depends on your goals...why you want to debloat.
Weioo said:
THANK YOU!!!!! Very helpful! I had no idea I needed EZ-Recovery to flash CWM as the primary recovery tool - that saved me big time as I was about to unlock the bootloader later today.
After posting this last night, and awaiting responses, I was browsing and trying to take in as much as I could. I finally realized that each section in the linked guide is a different way to either root or install a ROM. After I figured this out, and read about Odin being best for newbies, I decided to take the risk and wing it, even though I wasn't 110% sure.
So, now I'm rooted and have ROM manager/CWM installed, TiBu, and ES File Explorer installed. Now I'm just trying to figure out what I can/cannot remove as far as bloatware. A few items I'm sure I'd like to keep (working), so I don't want to mess with anything that might be used in another app/widget....Which brings me to my next question...
What's the best way to remove bloatware? I found an excel spreadsheet online that shows what's safe/unsafe to remove but I'm confused as to what I should do to get rid of items I NEVER want, and how to turn off items I MAY want in the future. If I freeze these items, do they stay frozen upon reboot, and until I unfreeze, or otherwise? What's the difference between a .APK package and a single process, etc?
Thanks in advance! I feel like I entered Android Elementary last night and already graduated to Android Junior High!
P.S. The captchas on this site to post ARE THE WORST CAPTAS IVE SEEN IN MY ENTIRE FRIGGIN LIFE, MY GOD!!!! I must refresh it 20x til something is RELATIVELY clear. Seriously????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you decided on a ROM you want to use yet? Personally I think that takes a lot of the decisions about de-bloating out of the equation. Pick a ROM, flash it, and see what you got? I first did the de-bloated root method and didn't have the stock e-mail app! While it is easy to download an e-mail app from the play store I was still shocked that it was considered bloat by the builder of the particular de-bloated version I chose.
Currently I am on Synergy 1.7 r23 with Darkhorse theme. I also like the Color in HD theme but can't decided between the two.
Bleelas said:
Glad to hear you're rooted and learning a lot! Now you're opening another HUGE can of worms, namely how Android organizes the application framework, what are services, processes, activities, tasks etc. You may have already found the information you're looking for, but a montrously dumbed down version is that the APK is a package containing the compiled program and all the extraneous files it needs to run while a process is an actively running application. In order to debloat, you can either freeze an application with another program like TiBu, or you can manually freeze it by changing the app extension, or you can delete the APK, or you can remove it from the rom you want BEFORE you even flash it. What you choose depends on your goals...why you want to debloat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, the explanation of what a .APK is helped a TON! Thank you!
dan_joegibbsfan said:
Have you decided on a ROM you want to use yet? Personally I think that takes a lot of the decisions about de-bloating out of the equation. Pick a ROM, flash it, and see what you got? I first did the de-bloated root method and didn't have the stock e-mail app! While it is easy to download an e-mail app from the play store I was still shocked that it was considered bloat by the builder of the particular de-bloated version I chose.
Currently I am on Synergy 1.7 r23 with Darkhorse theme. I also like the Color in HD theme but can't decided between the two.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know you've been helping me in my other thread. Thanks again for everything! I believe you know now, I am on Synergy r46, running quite stable so far but I haven't done much to the phone since flashing.
I've got a noob question... is there any way to back up your IMEI and install the samsung drivers from a Mac besides running Parallels or VMware? I rooted using Adam Outler's Casual and would like to start flashing ROM's but don't want to risk it without backing up my IMEI first.
See the note in this thread that backing up IMEI is obsolete. Nowadays you use the method linked from that thread, which does not involve making a backup first.
Weioo, I'd like to thank you for your intelligent questions, willingness to read, and attitude in this forum. It's good to see someone posting in the correct place, educating theirself, and not coming into the forum saying something like "plz help my phone wont boot and i didnt read enouf". So, respect. :good:
Anyway, to add something to this thread. What version of Clockwork Recovery are you using? If you're using version 6+, let me say a little how to manage your backups. The new CWR stores its backups in /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/, which will only be about 20mb in size - this is normal. The backup file is just sort of an index, and the other couple hundred megabytes meat of the backup is stored as a ton of tiny files in /sdcard/clockworkmod/blobs/. If you ever need to clean up space on your phone's storage, always delete the backup file and do not touch the blobs directory. When you make your next backup, CWR will clean up the space freed from deleting that backup file.
What's actually going on is that instead of making one big file as a copy of a phone's complete image (as CWR did in previous versions), it saves space by backing up each file individually. If you have two backups with the exact same file (having the same hash), CWR deduplicates that by only backing it up once. The blobs folder has each fine, with the hash as its filename, and the backup file includes which hashes (filenames) it needs to function. When very few things change in between backups, the new backup only has to add new blobs for the things that changed (and thus have a different hash). You don't delete the blobs directly because it's not obvious which ones are used and which aren't. When CWR cleans up space, it reads the backup files and deletes blobs that aren't associated with any existing backups.
rednukleus said:
See the note in this thread that backing up IMEI is obsolete. Nowadays you use the method linked from that thread, which does not involve making a backup first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay thanks, but if I do flash something and lose my IMEI, to do that process I'd need to be running Parallels or VMware on my Mac. Basically I'm trying to figure out if there is another way to do this using a mac or would I need to buy one of those programs if I lose my IMEI?
Great beginner post
lazarus2405 said:
Weioo, I'd like to thank you for your intelligent questions, willingness to read, and attitude in this forum. It's good to see someone posting in the correct place, educating theirself, and not coming into the forum saying something like "plz help my phone wont boot and i didnt read enouf". So, respect. :good:
Anyway, to add something to this thread. What version of Clockwork Recovery are you using? If you're using version 6+, let me say a little how to manage your backups. The new CWR stores its backups in /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/, which will only be about 20mb in size - this is normal. The backup file is just sort of an index, and the other couple hundred megabytes meat of the backup is stored as a ton of tiny files in /sdcard/clockworkmod/blobs/. If you ever need to clean up space on your phone's storage, always delete the backup file and do not touch the blobs directory. When you make your next backup, CWR will clean up the space freed from deleting that backup file.
What's actually going on is that instead of making one big file as a copy of a phone's complete image (as CWR did in previous versions), it saves space by backing up each file individually. If you have two backups with the exact same file (having the same hash), CWR deduplicates that by only backing it up once. The blobs folder has each fine, with the hash as its filename, and the backup file includes which hashes (filenames) it needs to function. When very few things change in between backups, the new backup only has to add new blobs for the things that changed (and thus have a different hash). You don't delete the blobs directly because it's not obvious which ones are used and which aren't. When CWR cleans up space, it reads the backup files and deletes blobs that aren't associated with any existing backups.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This should be stickied!!
My apologies for the newb questions, but last night I modded my phone to Eclipse 2.1 version 10-20-12 with the latest GAPPS 10-21-12 ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1934572 ). This latest GAPPS seems to be missing a bunch of applications including GMAIL registration (to access the Play store successfully) as well Google Now and many other Google based apps (Google Maps, Google Voice, etc etc). I don't believe the ROM was installed incorrectly - I went through the prerequisite Wipe Cache/Wipe Partition/Wipe Dvalik Cache and even Fix Permissions. Also the Voice Search application is missing, but maybe that's tied in with the Google suite of apps not running correctly.
Being that I'm a newb on this site I can't post the question over on the Eclipse page (not allowed access with less then 10 posts) but I find it impossible to properly register/access Google Play as well as using any of the Google Apps. I went ahead and downloaded Google Now separately and installed the APKs but this just resulted in the program crashing when the GPS is enabled (keeping it disabled keeps Google Now at the "Initializing" screen).
Thanks for any support that can be provided.
ResolveD
Disregard the previous post - used GAPPS from 10-12-12 (w/o Dvalik cache wipe) and Google Now, Voice Search, G-mail register, Google Play all work fine now. The only issue I see is presently with the Google Now browser not scrolling through links, but you can always use the magnifying glass (which shows you previews of the webpages it finds).
Anyways HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ROM!!! Eclipse 10-20 build (4.1.2) w/10-12 GAPPS. Easily the best ROM out there so far :laugh:
Deleting System apps
Now that I have finally rooted my VZW GS3, and installed Titanium Backup Pro, am I able to delete system apps from there without damaging anything? I have not installed a custom ROM, all I have done is root, unlock bootloader and install CWM. I want to get rid of bloatware (e.g. Polaris Viewer) can I use TI BU Pro?
levilib said:
Now that I have finally rooted my VZW GS3, and installed Titanium Backup Pro, am I able to delete system apps from there without damaging anything? I have not installed a custom ROM, all I have done is root, unlock bootloader and install CWM. I want to get rid of bloatware (e.g. Polaris Viewer) can I use TI BU Pro?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
levilib said:
Now that I have finally rooted my VZW GS3, and installed Titanium Backup Pro, am I able to delete system apps from there without damaging anything? I have not installed a custom ROM, all I have done is root, unlock bootloader and install CWM. I want to get rid of bloatware (e.g. Polaris Viewer) can I use TI BU Pro?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wanted to add that it may be better to just freeze the apps, or at least run a nandroid backup so you can revert to stock. Without all system apps intact an OTA update would fail.
apacseven said:
Just wanted to add that it may be better to just freeze the apps, or at least run a nandroid backup so you can revert to stock. Without all system apps intact an OTA update would fail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not worried about an OTA update, and I made a nandroid, I just want to make sure I'm not going to delete anything important. are there any apps you can think of that I would want to delete but it would cause problems?
Hello,
I hope that this is the right side of the forum to describe my problem. I desperately need help. It's a long story:
I had on my Samsung phone the app of "Chrome", which I always use to surf the internet. Using the google browser IN THAT APP, I have downloaded lots of things (I'm a scholar, so I like to read and I use to download everything that I found interesting). I have updated the app and I was frustrated, because I couldn't take anymore screenshots while surfing in "incognito mode". So, I decided to delete the update: i went into "settings", then "apps", and then I have brought back the app of "Chrome" as it was when i bought my phone. Sadly, I then noticed that I had lost every file in my download folder; I had lost every file downloaded with that app.
I had not synchronized my Google account, I can do no backup. I'm so angry and sad because I've always thought that the files downloaded would have stayed in my phone until I and only I would have decide to delete them.
I have done a lot of research on the internet and I have found out that there are some apps that can recover a very large part of lost files. But, in order to do this, I have to root my phone.
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy J2 SM-J250Y/DS, and the Android version is 7.1.1. I have seen that rooting a phone could be very dangerous; also, to me is very complicated. But there is a program called Kingoroot, which, once installed on my computer, could (it's a possibility, I know!) rooting my phone easily.
What should I do? Should I try the rooting method? It seems to me the only way...
I ask you any suggestions... Please help me. I am a depressed student that, in this life, can only enjoy reading and books...
(I am Italian, and I hope my English is understandable. If I did any mistake, please forgive me.)
Sorry can't help you get what you lost back... I feel your pain.
After losing thousands of bookmarks over the decades I started using Colornotes to save my important bookmarks.
You can save the hyperlink with a title, color, and whatever text you want to add. If you punch the hyperlink it opens in the default browser.
The app allows you to save it's data to your sd card which you can backup on your PC.
Use ApkExport to make a loadable copy of the app to future proof it.
ColorNote Notepad Notes - Apps on Google Play
ColorNote® - Easy to use notepad for notes, shopping list, to-do list, calendar
play.google.com
Thank you very much for your reply.
But... If I root my phone, and if the rooting is done without any damage, is there a possibility to get most of my files back? Or, even if I root my device, I will never be able to recover them?
It sounds like it deleted the data when you rolled the apk back (to factory load?).
If so it's going to be very sketchy at best to recover them.
I guess history's been deleted as well?
There are many coders here that have far greater knowledge than myself with Chrome.
My understanding of rooting is very basic as with Chrome which I rarely use.
If no one else replies in a day or two, bump it back to the top. Hope you find a work around solution.
AlexiusFrigerius said:
But... If I root my phone, and if the rooting is done without any damage, is there a possibility to get most of my files back? Or, even if I root my device, I will never be able to recover them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting Android by means of TWRP and/or Magisk ( keyword: SuperSU ) affects its /data partition where phone's data typically are housed. Therefore it cannot be excluded that data stored there is overwritten and can therefore no longer be restored.
jwoegerbauer said:
Rooting Android by means of TWRP and/or Magisk ( keyword: SuperSU ) affects its /data partition where phone's data typically are housed. Therefore it cannot be excluded that data stored there is overwritten and can therefore no longer be restored.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there the possibility if deleted that it's still on the system cache and is there a way to recover it if so on a none rooted phone?
Maybe using ABD?
Don't some on the "one touch" root solutions claim to preserve the data?
Android doesn't have a recycle bin thus nothing gets cached. Deleting a file means nothing else than marking the space it occupies - whereever this disk space is located - as usable so that it can be overwritten by the system.
Have never used a "One-Click-Root" utility ...
blackhawk said:
It sounds like it deleted the data when you rolled the apk back (to factory load?).
If so it's going to be very sketchy at best to recover them.
I guess history's been deleted as well?
There are many coders here that have far greater knowledge than myself with Chrome.
My understanding of rooting is very basic as with Chrome which I rarely use.
If no one else replies in a day or two, bump it back to the top. Hope you find a work around solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it's just like I told. And yes, even history has been deleted.
Thank you for your help! I will wait until someone may give me a solution, or a possibility for a solution.
jwoegerbauer said:
Rooting Android by means of TWRP and/or Magisk ( keyword: SuperSU ) affects its /data partition where phone's data typically are housed. Therefore it cannot be excluded that data stored there is overwritten and can therefore no longer be restored.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I understand...
jwoegerbauer said:
Android doesn't have a recycle bin thus nothing gets cached. Deleting a file means nothing else than marking the space it occupies - whereever this disk space is located - as usable so that it can be overwritten by the system.
Have never used a "One-Click-Root" utility ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your explanation.
jwoegerbauer said:
Android doesn't have a recycle bin thus nothing gets cached. Deleting a file means nothing else than marking the space it occupies - whereever this disk space is located - as usable so that it can be overwritten by the system.
Have never used a "One-Click-Root" utility ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I was aware of the overwrite issue but on an unrooted device I don't think you can access the system cache. Even if you could the data could be so juxtaposed from lose of file structure as to be unusable.
One-Click-Root worked on older versions of Kitkat allegedly.
So... I understand. But I want to try. I want to root my phone. But I have to know how and I must prevent my phone from all the risks.
blackhawk: you said that the "One-Click-Root" method worked only for Kitkat Android. But I have read here that with Kingoroot i could have a chance:
How to Root Android Nougat (7.0/7.1) | KingoRoot Apk
Root any Android Nougat 7.0 7.1 device with KingoRoot.
www.kingoapp.com
(It's important: I AM NOT SPAMMING Kingoroot, I just want to understand If I can trust what it's written in their site. Also, in the link, at the end of the page, there is written that I can root my phone with my PC, which, to me, seems a safer way. It's the main idea I had when I decided to write in this forum, because I wanted to know the opinions of people that are very able to use these methods and these kind of programs.)
AlexiusFrigerius said:
So... I understand. But I want to try. I want to root my phone. But I have to know how and I must prevent my phone from all the risks.
blackhawk: you said that the "One-Click-Root" method worked only for Kitkat Android. But I have read here that with Kingoroot i could have a chance:
How to Root Android Nougat (7.0/7.1) | KingoRoot Apk
Root any Android Nougat 7.0 7.1 device with KingoRoot.
www.kingoapp.com
(It's important: I AM NOT SPAMMING Kingoroot, I just want to understand If I can trust what it's written in their site. Also, in the link, at the end of the page, there is written that I can root my phone with my PC, which, to me, seems a safer way. It's the main idea I had when I decided to write in this forum, because I wanted to know the opinions of people that are very able to use these methods and these kind of programs.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try it; it will either work or nothing will happen. Even if it works it's likely those files are gone. Maybe better to chalk it up to another lesson from the University of Hard Knocks.
You could try contacting Google tech support to see if they have any ideas.
The last AT&T firmware update was specifically to block easy rooting by Kingroot; the rats learn quick.
blackhawk said:
You can try it; it will either work or nothing will happen. Even if it works it's likely those files are gone. Maybe better to chalk it up to another lesson from the University of Hard Knocks.
You could try contacting Google tech support to see if they have any ideas.
The last AT&T firmware update was specifically to block easy rooting by Kingroot; the rats learn quick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for your help. I understand: I must give up. But the most important thing is to learn something about anything we do. Anything could help for future situations.
"It's a shame to stumble twice on the same stone" (Polybius, 31,11, 5).
Thank you again. Goodbye!
AlexiusFrigerius said:
Hello,
I hope that this is the right side of the forum to describe my problem. I desperately need help. It's a long story:
I had on my Samsung phone the app of "Chrome", which I always use to surf the internet. Using the google browser IN THAT APP, I have downloaded lots of things (I'm a scholar, so I like to read and I use to download everything that I found interesting). I have updated the app and I was frustrated, because I couldn't take anymore screenshots while surfing in "incognito mode". So, I decided to delete the update: i went into "settings", then "apps", and then I have brought back the app of "Chrome" as it was when i bought my phone. Sadly, I then noticed that I had lost every file in my download folder; I had lost every file downloaded with that app.
I had not synchronized my Google account, I can do no backup. I'm so angry and sad because I've always thought that the files downloaded would have stayed in my phone until I and only I would have decide to delete them.
I have done a lot of research on the internet and I have found out that there are some apps that can recover a very large part of lost files. But, in order to do this, I have to root my phone.
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy J2 SM-J250Y/DS, and the Android version is 7.1.1. I have seen that rooting a phone could be very dangerous; also, to me is very complicated. But there is a program called Kingoroot, which, once installed on my computer, could (it's a possibility, I know!) rooting my phone easily.
What should I do? Should I try the rooting method? It seems to me the only way...
I ask you any suggestions... Please help me. I am a depressed student that, in this life, can only enjoy reading and books...
(I am Italian, and I hope my English is understandable. If I did any mistake, please forgive me.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I would suggest you can try free tool for Android Phone such as Stellar Data Recovery for Android which easily recover deleted files like, photos, audio files, videos files from your Android phone internal memory storage.
Source: https://www.stellarinfo.com/media-tools/android-data-recovery.php
{Mod edit: Quoted post has been deleted}
That drfone again. Scamware.
Do Not Use.
Drfone if used will encrypt "recovered" data and ask you to pay for it. After which the original data is gone leaving only the encrypted copy.
It is not free... not to be trusted!
Ran into this scam many years ago.
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.