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[Q] What happen if I flash new ROM?

Hi, I recently got my nexus S, I'm looking to flash MIUI ROM into my phone.
Will I lose all my contacts,txt msg, etc...?
If so, how do I back up and import them after flashing the new ROM?

Hey! Glad to hear you are going to flash a new rom, if you decide to flash a New rom over the rom you are using "WITHOUT" wiping or factory resetting then your contacts apps will be there when you turn on for your first time on the new rom, however that is your choice, it is recommended by developers to wipe/factory reset before flashing new rom but, again, thatisyour choice, so why not wiping/factory reset when you can download back up and restore apps that will back up those paid apps or those important contacts for free on the market and they will back up on ur sd card and to later restore aftera fresh new rom!! Hope ihelped.
Sent from Inc via premuim app

Thanks for the quick response.
I guess I will back up my stuff first before flashing new ROM. By the way, I have not root my phone yet, are there any application that I could use to backup my data, or do I have to root my phone in order to backup my data.

Data like? Apps or your network settings? Mms? Didn't quite catch that? Well first of all you have to root your phone on order to flash new roms, when you root you get what is called a "recovery" on there there is this option where you can back up your current rom also called " nandroid backup" it saves contacts, apps, settings, and data! Idk if that's what you meant. But after a flashing a new rom just go back to recovery mode and then backup/restore then advaced restore then choose data. It should restore your data.
Sent from Inc via premuim app

Thanks for the info, sorry I wasn't clear enough.

maiDroid said:
Thanks for the info, sorry I wasn't clear enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey! That's what we are here for lol
Sent from Inc via premuim app

[Q] Dual, Tri, or Quad-Boot?

I'd like to quad-boot my Nexus 5 with Android, Ubuntu Touch, Sailfish, and Firefox OS. Can this be done? I would also happily settle for tri-boot or dual-boot. What is the best way to go about this? My phone is not rooted (yet).

Multirom, probably

Thanks, I've been researching this all morning and I've come up with a couple problems.
There doesn't seem to be a way to do a full backup of the stock phone. A Nandroid backup would be perfect but in order to do that, custom recovery must be installed which requires unlocking the bootloader which wipes the phone. One of MultiROM's features is "Boot from USB drive attached via OTG cable". Can I do that and leave the phone's internal memory 100% untouched so I don't have to unlock the bootloader and wipe the phone?
It sounds like MultiROM itself requires custom recovery so I won't be able to receive OTA updates for an Android booted from MultiROM. Does that mean I will have to wipe Android each time I want to update it?
I don't think there would be any need to root the phone in order to set up and use MultiROM, correct?

You do have to unlock bootloader.

Think you are trying to run before you can walk. With 4 roms where would you store apps as well for them all. Most of those have little support anyway
SENT BY ENTANGLEMENT

Aren't apps written to the ROM are you're using the OS like the rest of the user data?
Lack of support is OK.
Can I leave the phone's memory untouched and install MultiROM on a USB stick? I would think custom recovery would be required in order to boot from USB which would require unlocking the bootloader which wipes the phone.

You do have to unlock your boot loader and root your device for multirom to work,
Just back up your data and restore it after you finish the process.
I currently have an N5 with multirom installed and can boot
4.4.4
Dirty Unicorns 5.1.1
Pure White 5.1.1
Ubuntu Touch
FirefoxOS
The storage space is shared on android roms so you can view your file downloads, music and videos. You can view on Ubuntu Touch
The apps are separated by the Roms, so you can install the same app on each rom with different settings.
I have a 32 GB N5 with 580 songs, Copilot GPS app + data on the 4.4.4 rom, and a 2 TWRP backups (one for original 4.4.4 and one for the multirom) I still have 7.96 GB left of storage

qnc, the problem is there is no way to do a full backup without first unlocking the bootloader which wipes the phone. There are various backup techniques available but none of them restore your phone exactly as it was like a NANdroid backup/restore does.
Android shouldn't need to be rooted in order to install MultiROM. That can be done from the command line with the phone connected to a computer via USB.
Have you tried Sailfish OS? That's the one I'm most excited about due to their Android app compatibility layer.

xdadevelopersrocks said:
qnc, the problem is there is no way to do a full backup without first unlocking the bootloader which wipes the phone. There are various backup techniques available but none of them restore your phone exactly as it was like a NANdroid backup/restore does.
Android shouldn't need to be rooted in order to install MultiROM. That can be done from the command line with the phone connected to a computer via USB.
Have you tried Sailfish OS? That's the one I'm most excited about due to their Android app compatibility layer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh understood. I missed the full backup.
I only worry about SMS/MMS backups and pictures. I don't worry about app data.
Question what data would be lost if a full backup is not done?
I have not tried Sailfish OS, I will look into it to see what it is.

qnc said:
Question what data would be lost if a full backup is not done?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google Authenticator stuff for one thing. But in general the point of a full backup for me is I don't have to think about it and I won't be surprised after the restore.
qnc said:
I have not tried Sailfish OS, I will look into it to see what it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's created by the former Nokia OS team in Finland. You can actually run Android apps inside the OS.

xdadevelopersrocks said:
Google Authenticator stuff for one thing. But in general the point of a full backup for me is I don't have to think about it and I won't be surprised after the restore.
It's created by the former Nokia OS team in Finland. You can actually run Android apps inside the OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, I don't use Authenticator much, if at all.
I'm guessing that I probably don't since I don't worry about it. I change ROMs on my phone so much it would probably be a hassle for me.
Sailfish OS sounds very cool I will look at it and flash later today.

qnc said:
I see, I don't use Authenticator much, if at all.
I'm guessing that I probably don't since I don't worry about it. I change ROMs on my phone so much it would probably be a hassle for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So when you want to update a stock Android install, you have to backup/restore since you're using third-party recovery/bootloader?
Please let me know how you like Sailfish if you get a chance.

no i dont have to back up and restore for upgrade
since i upgrade manually i just flash everything except userdata image. i get the upgrade without deleting data.
also i flashed sailfish OS. it is really smoorh.
gestures are killing ubuntu.
im posting in sailfish right now.

Nice, my Nexus 5 shows up today (right after the 5 o'clock free crack giveaway) so I'll be dialing in MultiROM over the weekend.
So you keep your userdata on a separate image? How do you do that?

xdadevelopersrocks said:
Nice, my Nexus 5 shows up today (right after the 5 o'clock free crack giveaway) so I'll be dialing in MultiROM over the weekend.
So you keep your userdata on a separate image? How do you do that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is just a matter of flashing each image individually.
I'm on my phone so I can't find the link, but there are directions on how to update while saving user data.
You just flash bootloader, recovery, system, boot, radio images and do not flash userdata image.
You systems is upgraded and you keep you user data and apps.
You then must root and ad back custom recovery, but thstcis pretty simple.
There are directions on XDA I just can't find link on my phone right now.

Android 5.0.1/5.0.2 - Encrypted and Rooted - Bootloop/bricked: Can I recover?

Hi guys, here's my dilemma:
Samsung Galaxy S6 with Android 5.0.1 or 5.0.2 (I forget which)
Rooted & Full device encryption
Want to recover my information if possible; no factory reset
My questions:
Is there a way to fix a system to recover my data on a rooted & fully encrypted device?
Would flashing work, and how would I go about the recovery process?
Do I need to know the exact OS (cant remember if 5.0.1 or 5.0.2)
Is there a way to get the encrypted data copied and decrypted so I can read it again? (I heard something called adb can be used?)
Things I have tried: Powering down for a while, clearing cache partition, etc. This is the 4th time it has happened in 1.5 years, and I'm tired of it. Warranty/insurance affected by root status so would have to pay for $150 trade-in. Just want my data and ideally move to a new phone.

Do you not have a recovery backup you can restore ? What exactly are you concerned about loosing in terms of data.. are you worried about loosing pictures saved on your phone or say.. text messages ?

@fOmey - I'm not sure if I had a recovery backup. I did have TWRP(?) installed, though. I am worried about losing many pictures and also app data (to do lists, etc.) that aren't synced with a cloud service.

kzwin444 said:
@fOmey - I'm not sure if I had a recovery backup. I did have TWRP(?) installed, though. I am worried about losing many pictures and also app data (to do lists, etc.) that aren't synced with a cloud service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Boot into TWRP and check if you have a backup, if you don't have a backup you can dirty flash your rom and with a bit of luck you'll boot into your OS.

TWRP Question - so confused

Hi all.
Hope someone can help me. When I got my Samsung S8+, I quickly installed TWRP and then rooted it with magisk the same day I received it.
After that I removed a LOT of bloatware and installed hundreds of apps and everything was fine for 6 months.
One day it gave me a weird lock error, because I think I accidentally removed the OEM Unlock and the phone went crazy.
I had no phone for a few days but eventually I managed to flash stock rom and phone went back to normal.
I lost root, but I managed to keep all my data.
Now I want to see if I can get root again. However, all the tutorials to get TWRP require that I wipe my phone.
My questions are:
Can I root my phone without wiping all my data? Is there a chance that my bootloader is unlocked already or did flashing stock rom remove that?
If I have to wipe my data, how can I keep all my apps (and the app data). I have Titan Backup but that needs root to work so I don't see how to save the app data?
Thanks

Here is the query result using your basic question. . .
https://forum.xda-developers.com/search.php?searchid=446156896

nkomp18 said:
Hi all.
Hope someone can help me. When I got my Samsung S8+, I quickly installed TWRP and then rooted it with magisk the same day I received it.
After that I removed a LOT of bloatware and installed hundreds of apps and everything was fine for 6 months.
One day it gave me a weird lock error, because I think I accidentally removed the OEM Unlock and the phone went crazy.
I had no phone for a few days but eventually I managed to flash stock rom and phone went back to normal.
I lost root, but I managed to keep all my data.
Now I want to see if I can get root again. However, all the tutorials to get TWRP require that I wipe my phone.
My questions are:
Can I root my phone without wiping all my data? Is there a chance that my bootloader is unlocked already or did flashing stock rom remove that?
If I have to wipe my data, how can I keep all my apps (and the app data). I have Titan Backup but that needs root to work so I don't see how to save the app data?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Inorder to root, you need twrp and in order to get twrp working you need to wipe everything first.
I don't know if there is the possibility to backup app data without root, however i found this articel.
Just because I'm curious, which apps are important for you to have a local backup? I went through all my apps and didn't found a single app which isn't either naturally stored in the cloud (like whatsapp, FB, Snapchat,..) or has the function to export/backup things like tasker. :fingers-crossed:

Hi Jaannis.
I have a lot of apps that do not store their data in the cloud but locally in the phone. Without being too specific, some of these are notes, some are social apps (connections with hundreds of different people around the world with conversations, pictures and videos) and some are personal collected data.
I managed to migrate all the data the last 5 years using Titan and I think it's silly after managing to save them suddenly to lose them. On the other hand it kind of looks like there is no other way. Without Titan backup working, I will need to lose everything.

SMS Backup w/o app

Hello,
My GFs phone has suddenly decided to crash almost every app as soon as you open them. I've decided that I'm going restore her phone.
Problem is that I need to backup her text messages. Seeing how SMS Backup and Restore, SMS Backup+, and similar apps won't work, I was wondering if there is a solution to transfer via USB or something similar that doesn't require an app.
Thanks!

munte89 said:
Hello,
My GFs phone has suddenly decided to crash almost every app as soon as you open them. I've decided that I'm going restore her phone.
Problem is that I need to backup her text messages. Seeing how SMS Backup and Restore, SMS Backup+, and similar apps won't work, I was wondering if there is a solution to transfer via USB or something similar that doesn't require an app.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium backup does it. provided your phone is rooted.
There is also an app on the pc called syncios. that wont require root
My advice, Since you are already reseting your phone(which is the most tedious step reqd to root) i think you should just unlock bootloader and root and then install stock cm13 or any other rom if you want.
Use bacon root toolkit for the same. google it.

malcolmm21 said:
Titanium backup does it. provided your phone is rooted.
There is also an app on the pc called syncios. that wont require root
My advice, Since you are already reseting your phone(which is the most tedious step reqd to root) i think you should just unlock bootloader and root and then install stock cm13 or any other rom if you want.
Use bacon root toolkit for the same. google it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your response! Fortunately apps started randomly working again, so I was able to use SMS Backup & Restore to make a backup.
I'm going to help her return to stock CM, because she's on Oxygen OS right now, and turns out they haven't had a security update since 2015 (GULP!).