[Help]Data/Partition Recovery - General Questions and Answers

So hey there,
i had a Xiaomi MI A2 lite with some unofficial LOS version on Android 9 running for a longer time stable.
This morning i wanted to check my messages, and it crashed and restarted, the internal memory is filled up since weeks!
It than only wanted to boot into twrp, which i definitively disliked, but whatever, no real problem, will just steal time i thought.
I was still in bed, not awake fully, so i wanted to try out twrp's partition fixing options.
Of course i accidentally wiped my data partition.
Still thought there will be a way, but got stressed more and more ...
so started up my pc and researched, found this forum post: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/208106/how-to-recover-a-deleted-file-from-data-partition
which told me i could recover /data, just need to find some "Block Device" with "mount | grep 'on /data'", which got me the desired result i think, "/dev/block/dm-0 on /data type ext4 (rw,seclabel,relatime,data=ordered)"
Nice i thought, lets dd that over to the external sd card, got an "Error: 1" ...
I thought maybe it trys to buffer the file somehow on the full disk, so lets move it to a place, which i can access by PC over MTP from twrp, to copy it this way.
So did "dd if=/dev/block/dm-0 of=/external_sd/data.img" inside twrp's terminal, and voila, i had an empty data.img file on my sd, and no trace of "data" on my device any more.
So, is there some way for me now, to dump maybe the whole internal storage into a file through TWRP/ADB?
Or some other idea?
I'm pretty lost right now, i now, its my own fault, should've made a backup, but my 6 TB NAS was full, so i first need to order new HDD's to have space again ...
Had a lot of rly important stuff on that phone ...
Would even be open for commercial ideas ...

Most Android versions come with the Linux TAR utility. Why not pack the contents of data directories you are interested in into an archive - what at any time easily can get unpacked / restored in any location?
Example:
Code:
adb devices
adb shell "mkdir -p -m644 /<external-sdcard-name>/backup"
adb shell "tar -cvzpf /<external-sdcard-name>/backup/DCIM.tar.gz /storage/emulated/0/DCIM
adb pull /<external-sdcard-name>/backup/DCIM.tar.gz C:\DCIM
adp shell "rm -f /<external-sdcard-name>/backup/DCIM.tar.gz"
...
adb shell "tar -cvzpf /<external-sdcard-name>/backup/Musics.tar.gz /storage/emulated/0/Musics
adb pull /<external-sdcard-name>/backup/Musics.tar.gz C:\Musics
adp shell "rm -f /<external-sdcard-name>/backup/Musics.tar.gz"

Related

Rooting CDMA Hero [Mac]

Root the CDMA Hero
Edit: I assumed that everyone knew that you needed the Android SDK to root. If you didn't know and/or don't have it, you can download it from here. http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html. Extract it to a location of your choice. I put mine in /Users/Antonio(Would be your username)/Documents/Android/SDK
Now, this part is completely optional.
I'm going to show you how to add your sdk/tools directory to your .bash_profile file so you won't have to navigate to the folder each time.
Download this so you'll be able to see your hidden files http://www.mediafire.com/?diimft1ninn Run it, check "Show Hidden Files" then click Restart finder. Now, navigate to your home folder (/Users/%UserName%/) and see if there's a .bash_profile already there. If not, create with textedit.
Now add this to the file: export PATH=${PATH}:/Path/Of/Your/Sdk/Tools/Folder
Mine is /Users/Antonio/Documents/Android/SDK/tools
Now do not save it as rich text. If yours is in rich text, click on "Format" in the menu bar, and click "make plain text". Now save it as .bash_profile and uncheck "if no extension is provided, use .txt".
Now you can go back to Ghost and uncheck "Show all hidden files" and restart finder again.
Now, for rooting.
First, go to Settings > Applications>Development, and make sure USB Debugging is checked on your phone.
1. Download Asroot2 (http://zenthought.org/tmp/asroot2) and move it to your SDK/tools directory
2. Navigate to your SDK/tools folder (cd ~/Documents/Android/SDK/tools for me)(~ replaces /User/%Username% if you didn't know)
3. Then type:
Code:
./adb push asroot2 /data/local/
./adb shell chmod 0755 /data/local/asroot2
./adb shell
/data/local/asroot2 /system/bin/sh
And you should get:
$ /data/local/asroot2 /system/bin/sh
[+] Using newer pipe_inode_info layout
Opening: /proc/857/fd/3
SUCCESS: Enjoy the shell.
4. Then type:
Code:
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
cd /system/bin
cat sh > su
chmod 4775 su
At this point you should have root access.
Now, for the recovery image (gives you extra options like backing up with Nandroid, partioning SD, etc.)
1. Download the recovery image from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=596879
2. If you are still in adb shell from rooting type in exit until you are out. You should be in the directory where you extracted the recovery image. If not go there (You can put it in the SDK/Tools folder and nav there). Type in the following:
adb push recovery-RA-heroc-v1.5.1.img /sdcard/
You should get something like 868 KB/s (3352576 bytes in 3.767s)
3. Type in adb shell. If you see a dollar sign ($) then type in su and press enter. If it is a pound sign (#) you are good. Now type in:
Code:
flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-heroc-v1.5.1.img
Once that is finished you are done. To reboot into recovery type in adb shell reboot recovery.
Told you most of the steps are the same. I just copied from other members and slightly modified it for Mac.
Now, if we could get a moderator to merge all these "How to Root" threads.
Ugh... Doesn't seem to work on Macbook. Phone shows "USB Connected", but, see below...
Code:
michael-macbook:tools mglipin$ ./adb devices
* daemon not running. starting it now *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached
michael-macbook:tools mglipin$ ./adb push asroot2 /data/local
error: device not found
michael-macbook:tools mglipin$
What's up?
Start HTC Sync on your phone Dont worry that it pops up with an error abbout not finding a PC.
Then when you do adb devices you should see your phones serial number.
Alsomake sure USB Debugging Settings >Applications > Development is turned on
Thanks for this! I ended up getting mine rooted last night, but i had no idea about the recovery image thing. I gotta get that Nandroid going so i start removing some of the Sprint/HTC bloat!
ajones7279 said:
Root the CDMA Hero
3. Type in adb shell. If you see a dollar sign ($) then type in su and press enter. If it is a pound sign (#) you are good. Now type in:
flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-heroc-v1.2.3.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get to this step....and in my terminal it keeps coming up with
Code:
mtd: re-read error at 0x00440000 (Out of memory)
mtd: write error at 0x00440000 (Out of memory)
mtd: re-read error at 0x00440000 (Out of memory)
mtd: skipping write block at 0x00440000
mtd: write error at 0x00460000 (Out of memory)
error writing recovery: No space left on device
Any ideas???
SS70Chevelle said:
I get to this step....and in my terminal it keeps coming up with
Code:
mtd: re-read error at 0x00440000 (Out of memory)
mtd: write error at 0x00440000 (Out of memory)
mtd: re-read error at 0x00440000 (Out of memory)
mtd: skipping write block at 0x00440000
mtd: write error at 0x00460000 (Out of memory)
error writing recovery: No space left on device
Any ideas???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you replaced your SD card with something > 4Mb then the 3.4Mb recovery image won't fit on the stock 2Mb SD card.
I ordered a 16Mb card myself from Amazon.
I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with MicroSD card space. I have a 4 gig with lots of space.
I have a 2GB stock card and was able to flash. I initially had the same "Out of memory" error and fixed it by cleaning up my SD card -- copying off extra pictures, videos, podcasts, etc. I also rebooted for good measure, probably not necessary.
Thanks for the guide have everything working! The link to the recovery ROM is hard to get into, it is hosted here as well for anyone else that has a problem.
http://www.androidspin.com/downloads.php?dir=amon_ra/RECOVERY/&file=recovery-RA-heroc-v1.2.3.img
I was also getting the same error message. I didn't do anything to my SDcard, I just died a battery pull and tried again and everything worked.
Ooops, nvm
It is a 2Gb card and the recovery is 3.4Mb.
gilroykilroy said:
Unless you replaced your SD card with something > 4Mb then the 3.4Mb recovery image won't fit on the stock 2Mb SD card.
I ordered a 16Mb card myself from Amazon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It cant be the size of the SD card, I have well over 4GB free on my 8GB card. Does anyone know how much device memory you must have free to flash the recovery image?
It was definitely the device memory. I deleted about 10 programs and rebooted. After that it had no error messages.
5tr4t4 said:
I have a 2GB stock card and was able to flash. I initially had the same "Out of memory" error and fixed it by cleaning up my SD card -- copying off extra pictures, videos, podcasts, etc. I also rebooted for good measure, probably not necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mactruc said:
I was also getting the same error message. I didn't do anything to my SDcard, I just died a battery pull and tried again and everything worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same Here, the soft reset worked like a charm Just started my nandroid backup. Thanks again gentlemen.
herzzreh said:
Ugh... Doesn't seem to work on Macbook. Phone shows "USB Connected", but, see below...
Code:
michael-macbook:tools mglipin$ ./adb devices
* daemon not running. starting it now *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached
michael-macbook:tools mglipin$ ./adb push asroot2 /data/local
error: device not found
michael-macbook:tools mglipin$
What's up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to Settings > Applications > Development and make sure USB Debugging is checked. It was a step I left out (assumed people knew rather).
ajones7279 said:
Go to Settings > Applications > Development and make sure USB Debugging is checked. It was a step I left out (assumed people knew rather).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can vouch for this as well, had the same issue, and this took care of it.
Thanks for the Mac guide! Worked flawlessly.
so, i'm quite definitely (and obviously, as you'll see) a complete android noob. i apologize in advance.
i followed the guide to the letter, and ran into the "out of memory" error. so i cleared out a few photos from the sd card and rebooted the phone, then tried the last step again. i typed "adb shell reboot recovery" at the command line, and my phone started to reboot, but when it hit the first HTC logo the screen went completely black, the charging light went off, and i couldn't turn the phone back on at all. i ended up popping the battery out and back in, then booted it back up just fine. it booted normally, as it always had, so i'm assuming i did something wrong and it's not "rooted".
basically my question(s) is/are:
a) when i ran into the "out of memory" error and rebooted, should i have started the guide from the beginning again? or was i right to just continue on from the step i left off at?
b) if it worked and i did in fact succeed in rooting the phone, how can i find out for sure that it's rooted? is there a failsafe way to tell me that it worked?
c) if i did something else wrong along the way.. what should i do?
ersocia said:
basically my question(s) is/are:
a) when i ran into the "out of memory" error and rebooted, should i have started the guide from the beginning again? or was i right to just continue on from the step i left off at?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same issue. After the soft reset you should have done this:
Code:
mtd: re-read error at 0x004c0000 (Out of memory)
mtd: skipping write block at 0x004c0000
96-26-56-112:tools brynehobbs$ ./adb shell
$ su
# flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-heroc-v1.2.3.img
# reboot recovery
ersocia said:
b) if it worked and i did in fact succeed in rooting the phone, how can i find out for sure that it's rooted? is there a failsafe way to tell me that it worked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah dl PicMe from the market, its free and requires root to run.
ersocia said:
c) if i did something else wrong along the way.. what should i do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Figure out where you made the mistake and try again.
ersocia said:
c) if i did something else wrong along the way.. what should i do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just about everything is reversable...and the nandroid backup will save you from just about anything.
However, if even that fails and you find yourself feeling like this guy:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=581963
You can always return to stock with the exes from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=559622
Ran into the memory problem, but I have root now.
I didnt do anything to the sdcard or the device memory, all I did was hit phone+power+menu to do the reboot then did the commands to flash the recovery image and now I am running my nandroid backup.
I love the recovery menu also much better than the recovery menu on my rooted G1, but missing the recovery shell. Is there a way to get into the shell from the recovery menu or is adb the only way in.
edit: nevermind about the recovery shell just realized you cant have a software keyboard in the recovery shell
i am having a hard time rooting my sprint htc hero
the stuff that ajones7279 posted is not enough from me as i have only had a mac and android phone a few weeks and don't know very much
i would be grateful if some one could give me detailed info on how to root my hero on a mac
thank you

[GUIDE] Root Hero [MAC], Load Unofficial MoDaCo 1.2c, Nandroid Backup/Restore!

NOTE: This is a work in progress. While I have completed this guide myself SEVERAL times to ensure accuracy, It is possible that typos or errors in understanding exist. Please use at your own risk, and expect NOTHING from me. I will do my best to update this guide and improve the formatting as I find time. Feel free to leave feedback!
I cannot stress this enough: always have backups of any important information. While we may not be able to do full image-based backups until after root, you can still make sure we aren't deleting needed data. While yes, Google should hold your most important data and allow you to sync at any time, what would you do if Google went down? And I've even had trouble using the "Offline" function for some of the Apps. Therefore, Make a copy of everything on your SD card and read this excellent guide from Lifehacker about how to backup Google Apps data: Lifehacker
You will need an SD card. I recommend AT LEAST an 8GB Class 4. Most actually recommend a Class 6 for use with apps2sd, but I just wanted to let you know that it would still work with a Class 4. For those unaware, apps2sd allows you to save internal phone memory by placing after-market applications onto your SD card. Most users notice a speed benefit from this.
If you would like to purchase a Class 6 SD card, you can get a one here with three sizes available (4GB, 8GB, 16GB):
A-DATA MicroSDHC Class 6 Turbo With SD Adapter
To ensure the best possible load, perform a factory reset, and WIPE your SD card!
Code:
Menu > Settings > Security > Factory data reset > Reset phone > Erase everything
TRUE FACTORY RESET (UN-ROOT)
If you, like me, have already rooted and are trying to perform this process over again, you will unfortunately have to download the original ROM and flash it in Windows.
Download: RUU_Hero_C_Sprint_1.29.651.1_signed_release.exe
Run in Windows (I used XP through VMWare Fusion), and this will return the phone to the TRULY factory loaded state. Any other Factory data reset will simply reload the last ROM image saved, which, if you rooted and loaded MoDaCo, would be MoDaCo. I am encouraging you to follow this process to avoid any problems that may exist while the phone is rooted or loaded with the unofficial ROM. And even if you perform this process as a first-time rooter, it certainly wont hurt!
ROOT HERO [MAC]
(This is the process that allows modifications to occur on your phone):
The guide I follow and can verify is this:
Rooting CDMA Hero [Mac]
I do not use Windows as a primary platform, so I would recommend following this guide if you are on Windows:
How to root the CDMA Hero (DETAILED Windows guide)
You should be able to return to this guide after you have successfully completed the root process on Windows. Continue from the section "NANDROID BACKUP" below.
Per the purpose of this guide, I will detail my exact steps from the "Rooting CDMA Hero [Mac]" post. Thanks ajones7279!
Plug in your phone
Download Android SDK: http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
Unpack, Rename the extracted folder to "AndroidSDK" (This is case sensitive!), and Move it to "Applications" (I consider the Android SDK a set of applications.)
Open TextEdit, Click Format>Make Plain Text, then copy and paste the following:
Code:
export PATH=${PATH}:/Applications/AndroidSDK/tools
Save as: ".bash_profile"
On Phone: Go to Settings > Applications > Development>USB Debugging and make sure the option is checked.
On your Mac: Download asroot2: http://zenthought.org/tmp/asroot2
Save this file into: /Applications/AndroidSDK/tools
Open Terminal and run the following commands (You can copy and paste):
Code:
cd /Applications/AndroidSDK/tools
adb push asroot 2 /data/local
adb shell chmod 0755 /data/local/asroot2
adb shell
/data/local/asroot2 /system/bin/sh
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
cd /system/bin
cat sh > su
chmod 4775 su
exit
exit
At this point, the phone has root access.
Download: http://rapidshare.com/files/303797523/recovery-RA-heroc-v1.2.3.img
Save this file into: /Applications/AndroidSDK/tools
Go back to your terminal and type:
Code:
adb push recovery-RA-heroc-v1.2.3.img /sdcard/
adb shell
su
flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-heroc-v1.2.3.img
exit
exit
adb shell reboot recovery
Now, the phone will reboot into recovery mode. To preserve our freshly rooted state, we will make a Nandroid backup.
NANDROID BACKUP
*NOTE: These steps assume that you have already entered Recovery Mode on the phone through Terminal "adb shell reboot recovery" or the "Quick Boot" app.*
On phone: Using the trackball, scroll down and select "Nandroid v2.2 backup". This will create a backup of the phone in its freshly rooted state to your SD card, under the nandroid directory.
After it completes the backup, we want to make sure that we have the backup "backed up" by copying it to our Mac (Just in case anything happens to the SD card!).
Select "USB Mass storage on"
After your SD Card appears, copy the contents of the "nandroid" folder to anywhere you wish on your Mac (You are using Time Machine right?)
Once the copy is complete, eject the sdcard in mac and select "USB Mass storage off" on the phone.
NOTE: Nandroid does not backup the contents of your SD card. If you don't want to lose what's on your SD card, MAKE A BACKUP COPY!
From this point forward, if you do something that seems to really mess with the phones functionality, you can simply go back to your Nandroid backup!
RESTORE NANDROID BACKUPS
Select "Nandroid v2.2 restore" *THIS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON YOUR PHONE*
Your phone will be returned to the condition it was in as of the last Nandroid backup. You can control which backup is restored by deleting the unwanted, time-stamped folders within the "nandroid" directory on your SD card. If you leave only one time-stamped backup folder, that is the backup that will be restored.
Note that this will leave the custom Recovery ROM we loaded (recovery-RA-heroc-v1.2.3.img) in place.
I actually perform a Restore after every Backup. While this takes extra time, you know your Backup is intact and not corrupted in any way!
If you are looking for a complete factory reset, you will need to scroll up to "TRUE FACTORY RESET (UN-ROOT)"
PREPARE SD CARD FOR APPS2SD (A2SD)
For those unaware, apps2sd allows you to save internal phone memory by placing after-market applications onto your SD card. Most users notice a speed benefit from this.
Select "Wipe SD: fat32+ext2+swap" *THIS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON YOUR SDCARD*
Select "USB Mass storage on"
The mounted drive should now be empty. Double-check that it was partitioned correctly by opening Disk Utility and verifying 3 partitions on the sdcard: NONAME, disk1s2, and disk1s3. Close Disk Utility.
LOAD Unofficial MoDaCo 1.2c Core ROM
Forum Post: Unofficial MoDaCo 1.2
Download: Unofficial MoDaCo 1.2c Core
Save this file into: your SD card. (the root of your SD card, probably named "NONAME" if you didn't change it. You can change it to whatever you want though.)
Save the file as: "update.zip" (Or rename it)
Eject your sdcard and Select "USB Mass storage off"
Select "Apply sdcard:update.zip"
Select "Reboot system now"
If it successfully loaded, you now have a fresh load of the Unofficial MoDaCo 1.2c ROM! Congrats!
I would recommend that you create another Nandroid backup. Scroll back up to "NANDROID BACKUP" and follow the steps over again and come back to this point.
Now you are ready for the workarounds!
Guide: Workaround Issues (Unofficial MoDaCo 1.2c)
Why'd you make another guide?
nice guide man, no need to respond why you made another guide, the more the merry, nicely detailed as well
Shhhhhh.
I was just curious because there are like six...
I made another guide because while many of the forum posts acomplish bits and pieces, my guide provides the overall picture. Root, ROM, and Backup. And my upcoming "Workarond Issues" guide will collect scattered information in a similar fashion.
I find it ironic that I thanked you for your contribution and you find this guide excessive. Would you prefer that I removed the guide?
No not at all. Yours is nice and concise. There's just a lot, that's all. That's why I said it would be nice if a moderator could have merged all the ones that were already written at the end of mine. Didn't mean any harm.
Ah, I see what you mean. To be honest, I am also making this guide for self reference. If most all of the information I need is together its easier to help myself as well as my friends and the community. Thanks again for all your contributions.
Just to raise awareness, Nandroid does NOT back up your apps if you are using AppsToSD as in MoDaCo. You must back up your apps separately.
True, thanks for the heads up. I'll work on a separate guide that details how to backup your other apps. I believe that anything after-market can be backed up and restored through ASTRO though, and this is much easier for most than adb and Terminal commands (push/pull).
The whole 1.56.651.2 Firmware update is also making me wait to post any further guides, as some of my worksarounds may prove useless. It looks like we still have the Apps Renaming and Reverting issue though, and I didn't see the Sprint admin adress such issues specfically.
?
ok i did the update to the hero. and now found out about rooting(im new to all this) do i run that program you put in the beginning with windows? and then does that rom resolve the issue with battery with sms and other things the OTA update fixed? or should i get another rom or .img idk what to call it really and what does RUU stand for?
Alright,
A couple things to add to this guide, for the complete noob, as I can try to explain it a little more clear.
This should be done prior to doing anything within the guide.
First, connect your phone to your computer and mount your sd card. This can be done by connecting the usb cable, then on your phone, drop down the menu and chose, connect to p.c., Mount SD card. Make a folder and backup your entire sd card to this folder. Once done, delete everything off the card. if you don't, you will run into format and partitions errors later in the guide.
Eject the sd card on the computer, and end usb sharing on the phone. remove the USB cable from the computer.
Next, on the phone Go to Settings > Applications > Development>USB Debugging
Make sure that USB debugging is NOT CHECKED. If its checked later in the guide you will run into errors pushing the files onto the phone.
At this point you can start the guide from the beginning, under the main heading Root Hero [MAC]
I am running OSX 10.6.2 so i ran into a couple of issues.
Next. Under the part where you have to create the .bash file. This file should be saved in your user folder.
/Users/USERNAME where USERNAME is the name of your user account.
For instance my User account is Hamspiced so my user folder is:
/Users/Hamspiced/
when saving the file, uncheck "if no extension is provided, use .txt".
Next, I couldn't copy paste the code because it wasn't parsed properly. This is what i had to do.
And this should be a direct copy paste into terminal. If you don't know how to access terminal click the spyglass in the upper right hand of the screen, and type in terminal. then you should be able to directly copy paste this text.
Code:
cd /Applications/AndroidSDK/tools
./adb push asroot2 /data/local
./adb shell chmod 0755 /data/local/asroot2
./adb shell
/data/local/asroot2 /system/bin/sh
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
cd /system/bin
cat sh > su
chmod 4775 su
exit
exit
As stated you should have root access on the phone. you can verify this by downloading Terminal emulator from the Market, then running the app. Once inside the app if you hold Menu, you should bring up the onscreen keyboard. if you type in "su" (stands for super user) it will change the prompt from $ to #. If yours does not change, start over, something went wrong. If it did change then you can proceed to the next part of this guide.
Next the guide is trying to put the recovery Image to your phone. This doesnt restore your phone, it just puts the recovery portion to it, and it allows you to do all the cool things to your phone, like allow you to create backups, restore backups, and load customs roms.
again i ran into issues with parsing the correct format so these are copy pastes from terminal.
Code:
./adb push recovery-RA-heroc-v1.2.3.img /sdcard/
./adb shell
su
flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-heroc-v1.2.3.img
exit
exit
adb shell reboot recovery
If you get an access denied error pushing the recovery image, its because you had debugging turned on prior to connecting your phone to the computer. it must be off, then turned on once the phone is connected.
This will result in headaches, and endless google searching with no results.
Follow the rest of the guide regarding the Nandroid backup this backs up the entire phone settings. you want to save the raw phone backup as well as the backup after you load the rom. both are incredibly important!
Prepare SD Card for Apps2sd….
If when you checked Disk Utility and your SD card didnt partition properly follow these steps.
You must erase everything on your sd card for these steps to work. I ran into errors creating the partition. What i had to do was in the recovery mode chose factory recovery. when the phone restarted i had to go to Settings>Security>Factory Data Reset.
This restored EVERYTHING. THe phone, Sd Card, Etc. Everything was lost, however since in the begining, we made a backup of the SD card, and then we made a backup of our phone, we are fine.
Restart the phone in recovery mode once this finishes and restarts. (Hold Home and Power to turn on)
Next chose Part SD: fat32+ext2+swap this will partition the card properly. Then choose restart phone.
Once the phone restarts, we have to go through the normal steps that we did once we first received the phone for its first bootup. connect it to the computer, transfer over the Nandroid backup that should be saved from the first time you saved it on your phone. then restart the phone again in recovery mode.
Now you need to restore the nandroid backup. since you transferred it over, its the only nandroid backup there is, it will restore the phones origional settings. from here you can load the official MoDaCO rom fine on the SD card that is now formatted properly.
These are about all the issues and resolutions i ran into. Hopefully it helps someone else.
Guess it's subjective. I think I haven't turned off USB Debugging since shortly after I got the phone and didn't run into any problems. It's always on before I plug it in and I haven't ran into any errors while pushing a file to my sd card. Also didn't erase my sd card before I formatted (did back it up though of course) and everything went smooth. Dunno. It's always good to hear from diff people though. Also just edited my thread, thanks for the heads up.
need help rooting htc hero from sprint
i have 1.5 firmware bb version is 1.04.01.09.21 kernel version 2.6.27-533ce29dhtc [email protected] build number1.56.651.2 cl85027software 1.56 cant get root on this device can someone please help me
quis5550 said:
i have 1.5 firmware bb version is 1.04.01.09.21 kernel version 2.6.27-533ce29dhtc [email protected] build number1.56.651.2 cl85027software 1.56 cant get root on this device can someone please help me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=581686&highlight=root+mac
First, excellent guide! Personally, I used Universal Androot (snipurl.com/uaroot) to root my Hero, but this was a huge help in getting the SDK installed!
I'm running into a problem while trying to do the Nandroid backup. When I try to flash the recovery image, I get the following error message....
AJBlue98$ ./adb shell
$ cd /sdcard/
$ su
# flash_image recovery recovery-RA-herocv1.6.2.img
flash_image: not found
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I even try the command with the leading "./" and I get essentially the same thing...
# ./flash_image recovery recovery-RA-herocv1.6.2.img
./flash_image: not found
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm running the latest official Sprint 2.1 ROM on my Hero and Terminal on Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.4 on a late-2009, 17 in. MacBook Pro. Oh, and I installed the Android SDK into another directory (had it installed before I found this tutorial), so here's my $PATH...
-bash: type: /opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/Users/AJBlue98/soylatte/bin:/Users/AJBlue98/android-sdk-mac_86:/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/texbin:/usr/X11/bin: not found
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Am I missing something? I'll really appreciate the help!
—Adam
ajblue98 said:
First, excellent guide! Personally, I used Universal Androot (snipurl.com/uaroot) to root my Hero, but this was a huge help in getting the SDK installed!
I'm running into a problem while trying to do the Nandroid backup. When I try to flash the recovery image, I get the following error message....
I even try the command with the leading "./" and I get essentially the same thing...
I'm running the latest official Sprint 2.1 ROM on my Hero and Terminal on Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.4 on a late-2009, 17 in. MacBook Pro. Oh, and I installed the Android SDK into another directory (had it installed before I found this tutorial), so here's my $PATH...
Am I missing something? I'll really appreciate the help!
—Adam
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, you're missing the "flash_image" binary on your phone lol search xda for it and push it to /system/bin, then try the command again.
regaw_leinad said:
yeah, you're missing the "flash_image" binary on your phone lol search xda for it and push it to /system/bin, then try the command again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, regaw_leinad, for the lead! I found a copy of the flash_image file and copied it to my Android SDK folder, but when I try to push it to my phone, I get this:
AJBlue98$ ./adb push flash_image /system/bin
failed to copy 'flash_image' to '/system/bin/flash_image': Permission denied
failed to copy 'flash_image' to '/system/bin/flash_image': Read-only file system
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(I rebooted the phone and tried again after my original post. The error message changed. BTW I'm connected via USB with debugging turned on and "Charge only" selected as my connection type.)
I've tried running adb as root, but I get this:
AJBlue98$ ./adb root
adbd cannot run as root in production builds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, any help will be greatly appreciated!
—AJBlue98
ajblue98 said:
Thanks, regaw_leinad, for the lead! I found a copy of the flash_image file and copied it to my Android SDK folder, but when I try to push it to my phone, I get this:
(I rebooted the phone and tried again after my original post. The error message changed. BTW I'm connected via USB with debugging turned on and "Charge only" selected as my connection type.)
I've tried running adb as root, but I get this:
Again, any help will be greatly appreciated!
—AJBlue98
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok type
adb shell
then
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
to mount it as r/w
then try the flash image command again.
Adb root or adb remount won't work, because your boot.img isn't patched yet.
regaw_leinad said:
ok type
adb shell
then
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
to mount it as r/w
then try the flash image command again.
Adb root or adb remount won't work, because your boot.img isn't patched yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, I did that. I'm still charge-only and debugging turned on, and here's what happened.
(N.B.: I'm on a Mac, so I have to include "./" before running an application in the current directory. Also, I'm including "AJBlue98" in front of my "$" prompts to differentiate my Mac's local prompts from the adb shell prompts.)
AJBlue98$ ./adb shell
$ mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
mount: Operation not permitted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I tried these few things...
$ su
# mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
# cd /sdcard/
# mv flash_image /system/bin
failed on 'flash_image' - Cross-device link
# exit
$ exit
AJBlue98$ ./adb shell su mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
Permission denied
AJBlue98$ ./adb push flash_image /system/bin
failed to copy 'flash_image' to '/system/bin/flash_image': Permission denied
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now I'm completely flummoxed. As always, please help and thanks in advance!
Update: I got frisky, so I tried this, just for the heck of it...
AJBlue98$ ./adb shell
$ su
# cd /sdcard
# ./flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-heroc_v1.2.3.img
./flash_image: permission denied
# chmod 755 ./flash_image
# ./flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-heroc_v1.2.3.img
./flash_image: permission denied
# su ./flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-heroc_v1.2.3.img
Permission denied
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Update 2:
I got some help at irc.twit.tv from a good soul in the #twitlive channel, who pointed me to ROM Manager (downloadable from the Market). That just did the whole backup, hey-presto, no flash_image BS required.
Thanks for the help anyway, all!
ajblue98 said:
Okay, I did that. I'm still charge-only and debugging turned on, and here's what happened.
(N.B.: I'm on a Mac, so I have to include "./" before running an application in the current directory. Also, I'm including "AJBlue98" in front of my "$" prompts to differentiate my Mac's local prompts from the adb shell prompts.)
So I tried these few things...
Now I'm completely flummoxed. As always, please help and thanks in advance!
Update: I got frisky, so I tried this, just for the heck of it...
Update 2:
I got some help at irc.twit.tv from a good soul in the #twitlive channel, who pointed me to ROM Manager (downloadable from the Market). That just did the whole backup, hey-presto, no flash_image BS required.
Thanks for the help anyway, all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sweet, glad you got it worked out
there were a few errors in what you did above, but looks like you got everything working without it, so that's good

[GUIDE] How to mount ext4 formatted MicroSD card on Android 4.2.2 Phone/Tablet.

Why?
MicroSD cards are traditionally formatted using ExFAT filesystem. The trouble is that while universally compatible, ExFAT is rather primitive filesystem prone to data loss, and poor speed. Linux ext4 on the contrary is highly reliable and very fast.
Trouble is that, and I quote, "Android supports devices with external storage, which is defined to be a case-insensitive and permissionless filesystem." (see http://source.android.com/devices/tech/storage/)
Well that pretty much narrows it down to dumb stuff like ExFAT.
Note: As of JB (Android 4.1) default umask is 077, which means that files created by apps on the ext4 formatted SD card will only be readable by the same apps, unless you manually update permissions. See this thread for more: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=889471&page=5​
The good news is that Android has Linux at its core, which naturally supports ext4, and actually all of the internal storage is (or will be in near future) formatted this way. The design limitation mentioned above is somewhat artificial and is enforced by
restricted functionality of funky little daemon, called vold. The sole purpose of vold is not monitor external storage,
detect filesystem on it, mount it as specified in /etc/vold.fstab (or vold.xxx in Android 4.3), and then report to the Volume Manager.Volume Manager in turn notifies the MTP application, and all other apps, displays icons and handles rest of user-visible stuff.
Stock Android vold only supports ExFAT/vfat filesystem. It has been improved in Cyanogenmod to support ext4 and NTFS filesystems, but for those of us stuck with OEM Android this goodness in unavailable. In my experience simply re-building vold from CM as part of AOSP,
while yields an executable, this executable results in a boot loop for an unclear reason.
All hope lost seemingly, yet there is a silver lining.
Silver Lining?
If MicroSD card is mounted manually in the way that vold can see it, re-running vold will properly report it to the Volume Manager and it will be recognized and utilized by apps.
In theory this is easy to accomplish on any rooted device, in practice there are a number of obstacles:
On a locked device, it is not possible to update init script to run the commands at system bootup.
Since Android 4.2, mount propagation no longer work (as described here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=36889027),
so if sdcard is mounted in terminal, vold will still not see it. Hence the mount operation has to be done in adb.
Furthermore in Android 4.2.2, running adb on localhost is broken as a result of it loosing its private key.
See here https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=48126 for more.
The solution?
Pre-requisites:
Rooted device (don't have to be unlocked) with USB debugging enabled.
MicroSD card formatted as ext4 (inserted)
Terminal app, such as Android Terminal Emulator https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jackpal.androidterm&hl=en
Familiarity with adb.
Step 1 - Fix adb localhost.
Open terminal and type the commands:
Code:
su
setprop service.adb.tcp.port 5555
adb kill-server
stop adbd
start adbd
HOME=/sdcard adb start-server
adb connect localhost
adb -s localhost:5555 shell
exit
stop adbd
cat /sdcard/.android/adbkey.pub >> /data/misc/adb/adb_keys
start adbd
Step 2 - Install scripts.
Please note that the script msd2.sh has to be modified if your device uses different partition names.
To get list of partition names available run command:
Code:
adb shell cat /proc/partitions
There are 3 (very simple) scripts:
sd.sh is just a convenience so that you don't have to type su everytime.
It calls msd1.sh which takes care of starting localhost adb in a reliable way.
It then executes msd2.sh in adb shell, which actually does the mounting trickery.
To install scripts, download the zip file below, open terminal, unzip the archive and change into msd directory.
Then connect your phone to your PC and run the following commands:
Code:
adb push sd.sh /sdcard/sd.sh
adb push msd1.sh /sdcard/msd1.sh
adb push msd2.sh /sdcard/msd2.sh
adb shell
su
mount -o rw,remount /system
cp sd.sh /system/xbin/
cp msd1.sh /system/xbin/
cp msd2.sh /system/xbin/
chmod 755 /system/xbin/*.sh
mount -o ro,remount /system
exit
exit
Step 3 - Profit.
In terminal app run command:
Code:
sd.sh
There will be some messages in notifications bar and then you will be asked if it is ok to restart MTP application. Click Ok.
That should be it.
Note that this last command will have to be executed every time device reboots (see obstacle #1).
You can automate it using Script Manager app from marketplace. In this case, ask Script Manager to run msd1.sh instead, marking it as Root script.
Disclaimers
I've developed and tested this procedure on Samsung Galaxy S4 Active phone from ATT.
Should work for any other Android 4.2 device.
The steps outlined are non-destructive if done properly and should not affect any other functionality, yet obviously I do not assume any responsibility for you damaging your device in the process.
It is a good idea to read the linked articles before performing the procedure, to get a better understanding of what is actually going on.
Motorola Droid 4 (xt894)
Hello!
if you have a Motorola Droid 4 you need to change the third row in "msd2.sh" from
"mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk1p1 /storage/extSdCard && sleep 5 && /system/bin/vold" to
"mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /storage/sdcard1 && sleep 5 && /system/bin/vold"
in order to get it to work, thanks for the guide!
Best Regards
/ Rasmus
It works well on TW based MIUI
It works well on TW based MIUI, so many many thanks!!!
But I still have the permission problems mentioned.
AOSP based MIUI is ext4 compatibile out of the box, and without permission problems.
This trick is amazing, but the permission issue make it useless ...
I can not shot a picture and than have to manually change the permission of tehf ile in order to view it on the gallery ...
Is there a definititive solution?
My lg l3 e400..sd card not mounted
to sashavasco:
sir, pls help configuring my phone...the codes u've given at the top part seems to work accordingly..but after when i entered the command
"cat /sdcard/.android/adbkey.pub >> /data/misc/adb/adb_keys"
it says: "no such file or directory"
can you point out the problem of the device plss...
i appriciate your response..
my phone s LG L3 E400..CYANOGENMOD 9..external sd wont mount on my device
sashavasko said:
Why?
Step 1 - Fix adb localhost.
Open terminal and type the commands:
Code:
su
setprop service.adb.tcp.port 5555
adb kill-server
stop adbd
start adbd
HOME=/sdcard adb start-server
adb connect localhost
adb -s localhost:5555 shell
exit
stop adbd
cat /sdcard/.android/adbkey.pub >> /data/misc/adb/adb_keys
start adbd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am getting an error here: adb -s localhost:5555 shell stating device offline. I've done this 6 times now, and it's always the same error
Galaxy S4 i337 NC1 Rooted
kevp75 said:
I am getting an error here: adb -s localhost:5555 shell stating device offline. I've done this 6 times now, and it's always the same error
Galaxy S4 i337 NC1 Rooted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the same for me...
same error "unable to connect to local host:5555"
rooted Asus memo-7 build ME173X_US_user_4.2.404152_20140714 release-keys. But thanks for the heads up on Cyanogenmod.
>>If MicroSD card is mounted manually in the way that vold can see it, re-running vold will properly report it to the Volume Manager and it will be recognized and utilized by apps.
Re-running vold crashes it ("Segmentation fault") if sdcard is already mounted in ext4. If not, it restarts gracefully.
Stock android 4.4.2. AFAIK, vold must inform userspace stuff that sdcard is available, without it, android do not see any sdcard at all...
What can be done here?
p.s. Is there anywhere patched or recompiled vold which supports ext4?
Gigionaytor said:
the same for me...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here too. Please help.
ZeroBubble said:
same here too. Please help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same error!
I had to modify terminal commands a bit to allow me to connect properly. Only moving the "start adbd" command down because the key needed to be appended to "adb_keys" before starting the service back up.
Code:
su
setprop service.adb.tcp.port 5555
adb kill-server
stop adbd
HOME=/sdcard adb start-server
cat /sdcard/.android/adbkey.pub >> /data/misc/adb/adb_keys
start adbd
adb connect localhost
adb -s localhost:5555 shell
exit
I'm also still dealing with the "msd1.sh" script execution consistently asking about my fingerprint and not remembering it. If I don't press "continue" quick enough it claims the resource is busy, which prompted me to also change the msd1.sh script sleep from 2 to 5. I have gotten the notification that msd2.sh has been elevated, which seems like it ran, but my partition still doesn't get mounted, even though I've got the right one from the /proc/partitions output.
Another note, because I had BusyBox installed, I needed to prepend "busybox" (no quotes) to the mount command in the msd2.sh or else that wouldn't work either.
Anyone have thoughts?
I followed DemisesAngel suggestion. There was no error this time but nothing happens when running any of the 3 scripts. I tried mmcblk1 and mmcblk1p1, also changed microsd path to match, /MicroSD, but nothing works. Even with manual ext4 mount command ...
Clicking mount in settings still results in incompatible storage and file explorer shows no sdcard.
Edit: Set permissions, script will run but nothing mounts unsupported file system ...
Error directory already exist
I folllow the steps but i.think I meaaes up.
When u run through DemiseAngel scripts
At:
car /sdcard/.android/adbkey.pub >> /
Error:tmp-mkish:cant create /:Is a directory
To I attempt to find and rm it, or would that mess something up
Rca RCT677W22
I dont know if this thread is closed but I have one simple question, can I somehow partition sdcard and have a little space for music and other stuff, and to use ext4 partition alongside with this, lets say "visible" partition ( I mean on windows).
WrathBand said:
I dont know if this thread is closed but I have one simple question, can I somehow partition sdcard and have a little space for music and other stuff, and to use ext4 partition alongside with this, lets say "visible" partition ( I mean on windows).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, I have been able to create a formatted partition of less than the full size of an SD card. I did this because my Android seems to have issues with anything larger than 16GB and all I had lying around was a 64GB. I did not try to do anything with the remaining space. Maybe it could work, maybe not. I would have my doubts.
Second, thanks for this discussion. Here is what "kind of" works on my Android 5.1 TV computer:
su -mm -c mount -t ext4 -o noatime /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /storage/sdcard1 && sleep 5 && /system/bin/vold
chown -R root:sdcard_r /storage/sdcard1
chmod 771 /storage/sdcard1
I say "kind of" because this is still not seen as a true, external storage card by Android or file manager apps (and the like). However, all apps can read/write/traverse the folder tree and do what they need to. You do NOT have to be root except to do this. As things stand for me now, I have to re-issue this upon every re-start of Android. But using Tasker makes this pretty easy to accomplish.
long as a problem remains so do this thread ! . Well i am on 7.x and wonder if the op would post a method or even approach for getting a
Code:
ext4
partitioned sdcard so that vold is well aware of that and will mount sdcardfs on that giving all apps access to the partitions. I have 3 of these on my card .
Is there a method to auto mount ext4 partition on external SD that works on lineageOS 17.1 on S4 i9506?

Backup Unmountable Data Partition from TWRP Stock 8.1

This works fine on my phone. If it doesn't work on yours, standard disclaimer applies about bricking, phone exploding, etc... that's all on you.
The problem has been that regardless of patches and regardless of methods to make the stock 8.1 data partition readable from TWRP, my phone won't do it. So as follows is how I've backup up and restored as an alternative. I don't know if this works well on Windows (Probably not) or MacOS (More likely it will), so its only tested on Linux.
Install adb on the computer
On the running phone, enable usb debugging.
Connect to the phone, allow the computer to access it.
Get a shell
Code:
adb shell
Enter as follows to find the block device where data is mounted
Code:
mount | grep /data | grep block
My output was this
Code:
/dev/block/mmcblk0p24 on /data type ext4 (rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,discard,journal_checksum,journal_async_commit,noauto_da_alloc,errors=panic,data=ordered
The first part, "/dev/block/mmcblk0p24" is what I was interested in. You can see it's mounted at /data
You're in fact looking for this specifically at the beginning "/dev/block/mmcblk0p24 on /data"
If you're confused or you have multiple mount-points or what not, or you don't understand, Stop Now, you're about to screw things up.
Copy the first part of what you have here, in my case "/dev/block/mmcblk0p24" (don't use quotes though)
Reboot into TWRP.
Make sure /data is not mounted in the TWRP menu. If it is, then no need to do this as you can back it up directly from TWRP anyway, and you don't nee this.
Backup will make an image of the entire partition, so it will be big. As follows to backup, change the /dev/block/xxxxxxx to what yours is, if it is differant. Replace xxxxxxx with what your output was, mine was mmcblk0p24 (this needs to be input correctly for backup and restore, this here is where you can screw your phone up)
Code:
adb shell 'dd if=/dev/block/xxxxxxx' > DataBackupName.img
(Above, you DO use the single quotes)
DataBackupName.img can be named whatever you want to call it.
This takes a long time, my phone writes 12 gigs or so.
The above command should exit telling you how much data was written. You don't want to have an incomplete backup because the usb cable wasn't great or the process spit the dummy for some reason.
To restore, cross your fingers (works fine on my PC)
Also from TWRP and also making sure data is not mounted:
Code:
adb push DataBackupName.img /dev/block/xxxxxxx
You need to have the correct text to replace the xxxxxx. Screwing this up is very high risk of bricking your phone.
Okay all that said, my assumption is that the initial dump won't work on Windows as it needs to direct the output to a file and I have a hunch that the syntax above for directing the output might be done differently. If someone knows how to do the backup on Windows, or can clarify if it works or not as is (after testing) I imagine that would be helpful for Windows users. Feedback in general is good for others, solutions to problems are great.
Additionally, when I was looking for this solution, the answers were a bit old and had to be mildly adapted, but there was a complaint back then that adb couldn't handle the restore. That hasn't been the case for me. A more recent adb binary might fix this if you happen to have this sort of problem.
A benefit of this method, is that if your system can mount an ext4 volume, you can also mount the image, so if you only want one file from a previous backup, or you want to remove a file from the image, or add one, that's all possible... with Linux (Linux geeks know who they are). Note that the image also contains the contents of what gets mounted at /storage/emulated/0
You can compress the image file when its done to reduce the size.

Android 12 and Nandroid Backup.... ???

Using a Xiaomi Mi11 (rooted). Recently upgraded to MIUI 13 which is based on Android 12. Was going to do my usual TWRP backup before bringing the phone in to fix some minor problems with sticky volume keys, when I realized (!) my TWRP cannot even mount the /data partition, let alone decrypting and doing any backup.
So I started reading up on TWRP developments, and realized TWRP for now has lost its ability to see anything under /data if your phone is on Android 12.
Never a fan of things like Titanium backup where the backup is done on an app-by-app basis, so a lot of of settings like magisk modules / phone behavior, etc etc cannot be retained (at least that was my impression of it when I briefly tried those solutions). So when I decided to bring my phone in for repair anyway, I went ahead and wiped the phone clean, and had to live with losing 10 day's worth of my data - 10 days because fortunately I did a backup just before I upgraded from MIUI 12 to MIUI 13 10 days ago... (yeah could have done a lot of manual work to salvage some of the data before I wiped it clean, but I didn't bother with the tedious processes).
So I now have a fixed phone, no more sticky buttons, and restored my nandroid backup with the older MIUI 12 system (android 11 based), and not even considering moving back to MIUI 13 until there is a feasible way to do a TOTAL backup of the /data partition, in others words a nandroid backup on Android 12....
Question - is there any feasible method of doing a Nandroid Backup on an Android 12 system, with or without TWRP?
Thank you !!!
A NANDroid-backup is the bitwise 1:1 copy of existing Android system.
If phone's Anndroid OS is rooted then you always can launch a NANDroid-backup.
This can get achieved by pure ADB commands what of course requires ADB is enabled on phone.
xXx yYy said:
A NANDroid-backup is the bitwise 1:1 copy of existing Android system.
If phone's Anndroid OS is rooted then you always can launch a NANDroid-backup.
This can get achieved by pure ADB commands what of course requires ADB is enabled on phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you elaborate?
I can picture this issue -
if you do "adb shell" to enter terminal (or plain adb pull?) while your phone is switched on, a lot of files are being locked and/or being modified while the phone OS is running so how can someone just take a snapshot of everything under /data even with proper adb commands?
And if you go to recovery mode first, well at the present time no TWRP can access the data partition it seems. So again even with the appropriate adb commands, no copying is possible....?
Any clarification appreciated !
You would run
Code:
adb wait-for-device
adb root & adb shell "stop"
adb shell "mount -o rw,remount /data"
: run the backup command here
adb shell "start" & adb unroot
xXx yYy said:
You would run
Code:
adb wait-for-device
adb root & adb shell "stop"
adb shell "mount -o rw,remount /data"
: run the backup command here
adb shell "start" & adb unroot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear Android export @xXx yYy - wow ! This looks really promising !!
I just did a quick test by going straight to adb shell, "su", then "stop". My phone screen totally went blank, and I was amazed ! This is awesome !!! "start" and after a while the phone boots up again.
I then tried "top" while the phone is stopped. It seems to still have a few android related processes running, so I am not 100% sure if the whole system has been frozen. But you obviously know what you are talking about, and I have faith in you.
(by the way, I cannot "adb root", seems like after doing a quick search I will need to make my phone think it is a development build by patching the adbd daemon first on my phone.. suggestions on what to do appreciated)
You have just made me decide to spend the coming hours to test the following. Let me know if I should skip any of the steps below because you know it works so I don't need to waste time to validate:
1. Do a proper backup with TWRP first in case I screw up anything
2. start a terminal session with adb shell
3. "su", "stop"
4. "cd /data"
5. "tar -cvpzf /data/backup.tar.gz -C /data"
(If no error, this should be my nandroid backup...?)
6. flash phone and wipe everything clean, so it is back to brand new status, non-rooted
7. reboot phone, see if it is starting new as if I have just bought the phone
8. root the phone, then try and "stop", "delete everything under /data except /data/media", "delete everything under /data/media", "copy backup.tar.gz back to /data", "tar -xvzf /data/backup.tar.gz -C /"
9. If phone works and is back to the state immediately before backup, then restore successful
Take note that
Code:
adb root
is giving root access to adb ( adbd - read: adb daemon )
what has nothing to do with giving root access to current Android user with following shell command
Code:
adb shell "su"
Also take note that Android services aren't located in /data partition, the partition you want to back up.
With @xXx yYy 's help I think I am getting somewhere.
So essentially a "stop" command in android will stop Zygote (i.e. the mother of all app processes if I am not mistaken). Once you have stopped Zygote, I believe you are then free to make a duplicate of the entire /data environment.
So far that's exactly what I have done. Created a tar.gz file with a size of around 40GB. I believe I am halfway there in my quest to do Nandroid without TWRP, but what I still need to try is to restore the tar file after factory resetting the phone. Will be a time consuming process (as obviously I will also need to have a tried-and-true real backup created first in case I screw something up... I am doing everything on my main phone that I actually use everyday), so I will continue my experiment in the coming days.
One question I have already encountered however - I still cannot do "adb root", which would have allowed me to directly create the backup tar file AND pipe it to my PC all in one go. So far I have had to tar all within the phone, which means space will be a constraint, and it is more time consuming creating the backup file THEN think of a way to transfer that file out of the phone. Already posted a question here asking for help, and if anyone knows of a good way to get adbd to grant adb root request, please let me know.
Above all else, once I have a working method, and I have polished the process, I will be happy to share. I suspect many others are also yearning for a good backup / restore procedure on Android 12.
one can't backup /data partition this way, because tar is just a toybox applet not cabable of preserving secontext. get a gnu tar binary (for example from opengapps installer), set mount namespaces to global, set selinux permissive (if kernel allows it, important) and run from su
/storage/1234-5678 is exFAT and has enough free disk space
Code:
tar --selinux --xattrs --numeric-owner -vcpPf /storage/1234-5678/data.tar /data
/storage/1234-5678 is vfat or less free disk space
Code:
tar --selinux --xattrs --numeric-owner -vcpP /data | gzip | split -a 1 -b 1024m - /storage/1234-5678/data.tar.gz.
another approach would be loop mount some file and busybox cp -avc everything where the -c flag is responsible for secontext (proper busybox required)
--numeric-owner flag is recommended if you are planning to extract it on linux PC later
you could also exec-out straight to PC if no MicroSD Card available, but requires gzip or other compressed stream, otherwise windows will mess up linefeed with carriage return and render your file unreadable
Code:
adb exec-out "su -c 'tar --selinux --xattrs --numeric-owner -vcpP /data | gzip'" > data.tar.gz
restoring .tar.gz from TWRP is absolutely possible, it's just that TWRP can't handle encrypted userdata partition (yet)
Code:
cat /external_sd/data.tar.gz.* | gzip -d | tar --selinux --xattrs -vxpPC /
(where tar must called with full path to binary like /cache/tar or /tmp/tar, or unlink /sbin/tar applet and place binary /sbin, or just rename it gtar)
Note: bitwise 1:1 copy of apps is not possible/sufficient if you factory reset your device, because apps might save data in TEE TrustZone (which is flushed on factory reset)
Hi @seemebreakthis, very interesting discussion on Android 12 backup!
Did you reach a workable solution with this?
Since we can restore most apps from a Google backup, it seems the real issue is to recover the user settings etc. after the Google restore.
Interested in this. Any success thus far?
aIecxs said:
one can't backup /data partition this way, because tar is just a toybox applet not cabable of preserving secontext. get a gnu tar binary (for example from opengapps installer), set mount namespaces to global, set selinux permissive (if kernel allows it, important) and run from su
/storage/1234-5678 is exFAT and has enough free disk space
Code:
tar --selinux --xattrs --numeric-owner -vcpPf /storage/1234-5678/data.tar /data
/storage/1234-5678 is vfat or less free disk space
Code:
tar --selinux --xattrs --numeric-owner -vcpP /data | gzip | split -a 1 -b 1024m - /storage/1234-5678/data.tar.gz.
another approach would be loop mount some file and busybox cp -avc everything where the -c flag is responsible for secontext (proper busybox required)
--numeric-owner flag is recommended if you are planning to extract it on linux PC later
you could also exec-out straight to PC if no MicroSD Card available, but requires gzip or other compressed stream, otherwise windows will mess up linefeed with carriage return and render your file unreadable
Code:
adb exec-out "su -c 'tar --selinux --xattrs --numeric-owner -vcpP /data | gzip'" > data.tar.gz
restoring .tar.gz from TWRP is absolutely possible, it's just that TWRP can't handle encrypted userdata partition (yet)
Code:
cat /external_sd/data.tar.gz.* | gzip -d | tar --selinux --xattrs -vxpPC /
(where tar must called with full path to binary like /cache/tar or /tmp/tar, or unlink /sbin/tar applet and place binary /sbin, or just rename it gtar)
Note: bitwise 1:1 copy of apps is not possible/sufficient if you factory reset your device, because apps might save data in TEE TrustZone (which is flushed on factory reset)
Click to expand...
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You are a genius! That's excactly what i was searching for! Thank you!
This is a bit beyond me.. though I'm looking for a full ROM backup on Android 12. Does this work?
TWRP 3.7.0 is for Android 12 including Encryption Support (except for Samsung)

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