Database Info

Encryption

A few questions about encryption on the S7:
Some threads, e.g., TWRP, refer to "Samsung encryption". Does the S7 use some sort of proprietary Samsung encryption, or does it use the standard Android encryption?
Since I have now disabled encryption after installing TWRP, can I re-enable it? If so, how?
Would FlashFire allow me to flash ROMs with encryption still enabled?
Thanks in advance.

dildano said:
A few questions about encryption on the S7:
Some threads, e.g., TWRP, refer to "Samsung encryption". Does the S7 use some sort of proprietary Samsung encryption, or does it use the standard Android encryption?
Since I have now disabled encryption after installing TWRP, can I re-enable it? If so, how?
Would FlashFire allow me to flash ROMs with encryption still enabled?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Simply put, the method in which Samsung decrypts encrypted data isn't known
2. You can enable encryption but you must start from scratch. (As far as I am aware anyways). Means you must flash stock ROM in ODIN.
3. Not sure. You can certainly flash zips that modify /system. You can also use TWRP as long as you don't need to mount data. Switching ROM normally means a standard factory reset but if you are encrypted you can't use TWRP to factory reset and I am not sure if FlashFire can do it either.

Galactus said:
1. Simply put, the method in which Samsung decrypts encrypted data isn't known
2. You can enable encryption but you must start from scratch. (As far as I am aware anyways). Means you must flash stock ROM in ODIN.
3. Not sure. You can certainly flash zips that modify /system. You can also use TWRP as long as you don't need to mount data. Switching ROM normally means a standard factory reset but if you are encrypted you can't use TWRP to factory reset and I am not sure if FlashFire can do it either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2. do you have to really start from the scratch?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s7/how-to/how-to-encrypt-device-custom-rom-knox-1-t3392301
3. is factory reset not just a kind of a wipe? why cant twrp just format the encrypted partitions?
I spent also several days to fully customize my S7 (cfw S7 debloated) and i am quite happy yet.
But if I lost once a phone long time ago.. So encryption is a must, root too.
I would accept definetely a non-working TWRP, if I could get an encryption?
any advices?
thx.

tefole said:
2. do you have to really start from the scratch?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s7/how-to/how-to-encrypt-device-custom-rom-knox-1-t3392301
3. is factory reset not just a kind of a wipe? why cant twrp just format the encrypted partitions?
I spent also several days to fully customize my S7 (cfw S7 debloated) and i am quite happy yet.
But if I lost once a phone long time ago.. So encryption is a must, root too.
I would accept definetely a non-working TWRP, if I could get an encryption?
any advices?
thx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, once you disable encryption in TWRP and flash the dm-verity zip, the option to encrypt the phone won't even be available in settings. In the rare case that it is, it will always fail.
Since you want root and encryption, it is pretty simple.
Flash stock rom in ODIN (Backup, backup, backup anything valuable)
Obtain root using CF-Auto Root method
Install TWRP, allow modifications, don't wipe /data
You can only flash zips from external SD card. Internal storage will be unavailable in TWRP

I did a make backups with TWRP and TitaniumBackup.
May I ask some more questions, i do want to understand the procedure.
Galactus said:
Flash stock rom in ODIN (Backup, backup, backup anything valuable)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess the stock ROM is already encrypted - is that the reason why TWRP doesnt have access to /data (as well to the internal /sdcard) till the encryption is disabled?
Obtain root using CF-Auto Root method
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After flashing stock the bootloader is locked again, so I do have to unlock the "OEM unlock" per developer settings again? The phone wont be wiped afterwards?
Install TWRP, allow modifications, don't wipe /data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
May i recover/restore here a formerly per TWRP backuped ROM? I guess, this want be possible, hence TWRP doesnt has access to /data, nor to /sdcard?!
Which partitions I am allowed to restore, respectively is there a chance to recovery somehow the TWRP backup (it was soo much work).
Or can i disable encryption and enable it again, after restore?
You can only flash zips from external SD card. Internal storage will be unavailable in TWRP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After everything went well, I am going to encrypt the ext-sdcard too. I guess, TWRP will be useless then...

tefole said:
I did a make backups with TWRP and TitaniumBackup.
May I ask some more questions, i do want to understand the procedure.
I guess the stock ROM is already encrypted - is that the reason why TWRP doesnt have access to /data (as well to the internal /sdcard) till the encryption is disabled?
After flashing stock the bootloader is locked again, so I do have to unlock the "OEM unlock" per developer settings again? The phone wont be wiped afterwards?
May i recover/restore here a formerly per TWRP backuped ROM? I guess, this want be possible, hence TWRP doesnt has access to /data, nor to /sdcard?!
Which partitions I am allowed to restore, respectively is there a chance to recovery somehow the TWRP backup (it was soo much work).
Or can i disable encryption and enable it again, after restore?
After everything went well, I am going to encrypt the ext-sdcard too. I guess, TWRP will be useless then...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you flash the stock ROM, the phone is encrypted before first boot
Once you OEM Unlock, it stays that way unless you attempt to re-lock it. Once you flash a stock ROM and go to developer settings, you'll see OEM Unlock is still on
Encrypted device = No restoring of any kind in TWRP, that is the trade off. Some people use FlashFire to back up and restore. I tried once a while back and it didn't work. Others seem to be ok
If external sd is encrypted also, then your only chance is to use FlashFire. TWRP is basically useless

Galactus said:
Once you flash the stock ROM, the phone is encrypted before first boot
Once you OEM Unlock, it stays that way unless you attempt to re-lock it. Once you flash a stock ROM and go to developer settings, you'll see OEM Unlock is still on
Encrypted device = No restoring of any kind in TWRP, that is the trade off. Some people use FlashFire to back up and restore. I tried once a while back and it didn't work. Others seem to be ok
If external sd is encrypted also, then your only chance is to use FlashFire. TWRP is basically useless
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx for your reply
After I flashed stock and finally customized my installation, would this be safety feature to relock the OEM? Is a relocking wiping also the whole phone or only the unlocking?
So that means, that if go through this instructeres, i cant flash any CFW, neither i cant restore my TWRP backup?
Thats a pitty.

tefole said:
Thx for your reply
After I flashed stock and finally customized my installation, would this be safety feature to relock the OEM? Is a relocking wiping also the whole phone or only the unlocking?
So that means, that if go through this instructeres, i cant flash any CFW, neither i cant restore my TWRP backup?
Thats a pitty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you try to relock OEM, your device won't boot lol. I learned that the hard way months ago. Had to start from scratch.
What custom firmware are you trying to flash? If you mean custom ROMs then theoretically speaking you should be able to flash them using FlashFire.

Thank you for the hint - this will me spare the fate
I chose S7_extreme_debloated from @Battlehero.
I am quite happy with that CFW and i thought, i can install my apps and customize the system and start the encryption - didnt worked.
So, I will begin from the scratch too. It would be great, if I could start with this CFW after, flashing stock.

Reverting back to stock recovery

Hi,
I flashed Twrp but I can't backup, because it can't mount data.
I thought, I'd try to revert back to stock recovery and then flash twrp again.
Does anybody know how to do that without flashing an entire stock Rom?
Thanks

nearlygod said:
Hi,
I flashed Twrp but I can't backup, because it can't mount data.
I thought, I'd try to revert back to stock recovery and then flash twrp again.
Does anybody know how to do that without flashing an entire stock Rom?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
Why you just flash TWRP again and start from begining?
Anyhow if you wish to reflash your stock recovery You need to reflash a stock boot.img
Here you have 2 ways to do it:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=66934553&postcount=218
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=66922116&postcount=215
In those threads the point was to re root but the principle is valid you can use them as guides

nearlygod said:
Hi,
I flashed Twrp but I can't backup, because it can't mount data.
I thought, I'd try to revert back to stock recovery and then flash twrp again.
Does anybody know how to do that without flashing an entire stock Rom?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this problem and found out in my case, at least, it was because when I rooted, I didn't "format data" during the process. I've been told that if you don't format data during the process, you leave the data partition encrypted, and thus it can't be mounted (at least by non-system apps and processes). No guarantees here as always, but If you back everything up and redo the root process and do the data format, then you may be able to mount data. At that point you can restore your apps and info. I've also read (but haven't tried this!) that you can do a nandroid backup and restore ALL your data from that nandroid after you reset your phone (which the data format will do). You should google everything I have suggested and see if you can get what you need in this way, without having to reflash the ROM entirely or try to revert to stock recovery.

kettir said:
I had this problem and found out in my case, at least, it was because when I rooted, I didn't "format data" during the process. I've been told that if you don't format data during the process, you leave the data partition encrypted, and thus it can't be mounted (at least by non-system apps and processes). No guarantees here as always, but If you back everything up and redo the root process and do the data format, then you may be able to mount data. At that point you can restore your apps and info. I've also read (but haven't tried this!) that you can do a nandroid backup and restore ALL your data from that nandroid after you reset your phone (which the data format will do). You should google everything I have suggested and see if you can get what you need in this way, without having to reflash the ROM entirely or try to revert to stock recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1

Hi. Yes, I had to format everything. Now it works. Also the issues I had with Titanium Backup are gone. I flashed the ExtSdFix and I'm almost running like on Kitkat, yeah

[TWRP] Backup and Restore with TWRP

My OP6 has the TWRP 3.2.2 installed, with OOS 5.1.9 and Magisk. I would like to try out the new HAVOC rom, so i have done a full TWRP backup of all the partitions of the phone, and another one with only the BOOT, SYSTEM and DATA partitions.
But I have many doubts about the reliability of the TWRP restore: I read several posts related to bootloop and failures. I would like to avoid having to reinstall the whole phone from scratch.
Has anyone successfully full backed up and restored on the OP6 with TWRP? If so, which partitions did you backup?
The alternative would be to use Titanium backup, but the restore procedure would be much more complex.

I want answers about this as well. What partitions do we backup? What's the process to restore? I tried backing up everything then restoring it and i got a blank screen when I was suppose to see the boot animation.

Marlenio said:
My OP6 has the TWRP 3.2.2 installed, with OOS 5.1.9 and Magisk. I would like to try out the new HAVOC rom, so i have done a full TWRP backup of all the partitions of the phone, and another one with only the BOOT, SYSTEM and DATA partitions.
But I have many doubts about the reliability of the TWRP restore: I read several posts related to bootloop and failures. I would like to avoid having to reinstall the whole phone from scratch.
Has anyone successfully full backed up and restored on the OP6 with TWRP? If so, which partitions did you backup?
The alternative would be to use Titanium backup, but the restore procedure would be much more complex.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Our TWRP is very buggy i tried to restore whole backup using twrp and it failed showing error. But somewhere i got solution in xda.
Backup only data, system and boot and restore it will work.
But for safety always keep one extra full backup of all things like efs,modem, data, system, boot, vendor. Because sometime if something goes wrong u have rescue operation always there

Since this device is super easy to unbrick if needed I personally only keep a data backup of each ROM I use on my flash drive.
So I don't need to do a full setup when flashing a different rom.
Otherwise if something crazy happens and the device gets bricked, it's fixable with a PC.
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs

How to restore TWRP backup?

Is there a guide on how to restore a backup made in TWRP? I did this the other day forcing me to reflash the entire phone because it failed. So was just wondering about the proper way to restore backups on this phone?

baxtex said:
Is there a guide on how to restore a backup made in TWRP? I did this the other day forcing me to reflash the entire phone because it failed. So was just wondering about the proper way to restore backups on this phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a real pain but it works.
1. Store TWRP backup off the phone.
2. In TWRP wipe everything, then flash the same room as your backup on both slots. If using OOS, using the fastboot roms will do this easily.
3. Go through the initial setup in the OS.
4. Install TWRP (and Magisk if you were using it in the backup)
5. Restore the backup.
I know it is a headache, but the way this phone handles encryption makes it this way.

tabletalker7 said:
It is a real pain but it works.
1. Store TWRP backup off the phone.
2. In TWRP wipe everything, then flash the same room as your backup on both slots. If using OOS, using the fastboot roms will do this easily.
3. Go through the initial setup in the OS.
4. Install TWRP (and Magisk if you were using it in the backup)
5. Restore the backup.
I know it is a headache, but the way this phone handles encryption makes it this way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But this just sounds weird. I was on OOS 9 with TWRP and magisk. I app was misbehaving so I restored a backup I made the day before. Shouldn't that have worked? It sounds like this process would end up in the same situation. :S What about restoring only certain things, like the boot.img. Would that work?

baxtex said:
But this just sounds weird. I was on OOS 9 with TWRP and magisk. I app was misbehaving so I restored a backup I made the day before. Shouldn't that have worked? It sounds like this process would end up in the same situation. :S What about restoring only certain things, like the boot.img. Would that work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know to be honest. I did a lot of experimenting trying to port a rom (had to flash lineageos on the phone more than a few times) and would backup system, boot, and data. Then I would flash my failed rom, it would fail, and that process I wrote out earlier worked.
It is also possible that any and all Magisk modules we're causing your problem and starting with the fresh slate that the fastboot rom gives you would be important.
Also when you flashed OOS 9, if you didn't flash it twice you didn't have it on both slots, and you just restored your backup to the slot that didn't have OOS 9. The flash-all.bat in the fastboot rom will flash it to both slots.

Does TWRP Backup/Restore work for OP6 9.0.3 Stock? Fails/Bricks every time for me.

Trying to get a clean backup before I go mucking about trying different ROMs, and I can't get it to work like I am used to. Just came from Nexus 5 for my wife and Onplus One for myself, backup was very simple. I am sure it's because I don't quite understand how A/B partition affects the backup, but I am not succeeding on solving this myself.
I am full stock updated to 9.0.3, unlocked no problem got BluSpark 9.93 TWRP and Magisk 18. If I make a backup, using default partitions or all partitions doest matter, when I restore it gets stuck on boot animation, and no matter what I do from there it ends up hard bricked. I have gotten quite fast at MSM Tool fix, and no major data loss because I have manual backup on computer, however I dont want to MSMTool every time I try a new ROM.
The ONLY restore I have succeeded at is to do a complete MSMTool fix, update back to 9.0.3, get TWRP and Magisk back in place, then restore JUST the data partition. that brings back my settings, apps, logins etc, but it is a huge hassle to do. I want to get to the point where I can say "meh I dont like LineageOS, lets just restore my clean Stock backup" and be done in five minutes.

I3ig Al said:
Trying to get a clean backup before I go mucking about trying different ROMs, and I can't get it to work like I am used to. Just came from Nexus 5 for my wife and Onplus One for myself, backup was very simple. I am sure it's because I don't quite understand how A/B partition affects the backup, but I am not succeeding on solving this myself.
I am full stock updated to 9.0.3, unlocked no problem got BluSpark 9.93 TWRP and Magisk 18. If I make a backup, using default partitions or all partitions doest matter, when I restore it gets stuck on boot animation, and no matter what I do from there it ends up hard bricked. I have gotten quite fast at MSM Tool fix, and no major data loss because I have manual backup on computer, however I dont want to MSMTool every time I try a new ROM.
The ONLY restore I have succeeded at is to do a complete MSMTool fix, update back to 9.0.3, get TWRP and Magisk back in place, then restore JUST the data partition. that brings back my settings, apps, logins etc, but it is a huge hassle to do. I want to get to the point where I can say "meh I dont like LineageOS, lets just restore my clean Stock backup" and be done in five minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi same problem and a quick fix is to back up system image instead of system and vendor image instead of vendor
ps if you have a problem with password after flush this
https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=818070582850506962

I3ig Al said:
Trying to get a clean backup before I go mucking about trying different ROMs, and I can't get it to work like I am used to. Just came from Nexus 5 for my wife and Onplus One for myself, backup was very simple. I am sure it's because I don't quite understand how A/B partition affects the backup, but I am not succeeding on solving this myself.
I am full stock updated to 9.0.3, unlocked no problem got BluSpark 9.93 TWRP and Magisk 18. If I make a backup, using default partitions or all partitions doest matter, when I restore it gets stuck on boot animation, and no matter what I do from there it ends up hard bricked. I have gotten quite fast at MSM Tool fix, and no major data loss because I have manual backup on computer, however I dont want to MSMTool every time I try a new ROM.
The ONLY restore I have succeeded at is to do a complete MSMTool fix, update back to 9.0.3, get TWRP and Magisk back in place, then restore JUST the data partition. that brings back my settings, apps, logins etc, but it is a huge hassle to do. I want to get to the point where I can say "meh I dont like LineageOS, lets just restore my clean Stock backup" and be done in five minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just backup data partition and flash your OOS zip when you want to return to OOS in TWRP. After you flash it, restore data and you'll be golden.

mikex8593 said:
Just backup data partition and flash your OOS zip when you want to return to OOS in TWRP. After you flash it, restore data and you'll be golden.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried that before but it either got me stuck in a boot animation or completely corrupted the phone with random gibberish named folders and having to MSMtool to recover. If I was on Havoc ROM, my understanding is that you cannot just flash the stock OOS zip over the top to return to stock.
Even if it did work that still takes out TWRP and Magisk, which is what i'm trying to avoid. I know it works different than it used to on the old partition setup, but is it possible to just swap back and forth between different ROMs using recovery backups? I would like to give Havoc and Liquid a week of use each but I dont want to nuke and restart my whole thing every time I switch. its fun to try other things but at the end of the day I still want to have a phone that doesnt need to be set up yet another time.

I3ig Al said:
I tried that before but it either got me stuck in a boot animation or completely corrupted the phone with random gibberish named folders and having to MSMtool to recover. If I was on Havoc ROM, my understanding is that you cannot just flash the stock OOS zip over the top to return to stock.
Even if it did work that still takes out TWRP and Magisk, which is what i'm trying to avoid. I know it works different than it used to on the old partition setup, but is it possible to just swap back and forth between different ROMs using recovery backups? I would like to give Havoc and Liquid a week of use each but I dont want to nuke and restart my whole thing every time I switch. its fun to try other things but at the end of the day I still want to have a phone that doesnt need to be set up yet another time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only backup data, but I'm also decrypt, which helps. There really isn't a simple flip flop like you used to do. I backup data, then install OOS zip, flash TWRP, reboot recovery, flash noverity (for decrypt), magisk then kernel and reboot and all is the same as it was before.

mikex8593 said:
I only backup data, but I'm also decrypt, which helps. There really isn't a simple flip flop like you used to do. I backup data, then install OOS zip, flash TWRP, reboot recovery, flash noverity (for decrypt), magisk then kernel and reboot and all is the same as it was before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats a shame, it was really nice to be able to quickly change roms on my phone.
Regarding decrypt, I noticed one of my backup attempts was hampered when I had pin/fingerprint enabled before backup and since then I just make sure to remove all locking before backup. is this noverity thing used to strip the password from a backup or?
EDIT: so just to make sure I am understanding, when I do a backup in TWRP I can only really make use of the Data partition backup. and if i want to flash a ROM i basically have to do it as if it was a fresh install, get TWRP/Magisk back in, THEN restore my partition, every time I change ROM?

I3ig Al said:
thats a shame, it was really nice to be able to quickly change roms on my phone.
Regarding decrypt, I noticed one of my backup attempts was hampered when I had pin/fingerprint enabled before backup and since then I just make sure to remove all locking before backup. is this noverity thing used to strip the password from a backup or?
EDIT: so just to make sure I am understanding, when I do a backup in TWRP I can only really make use of the Data partition backup. and if i want to flash a ROM i basically have to do it as if it was a fresh install, get TWRP/Magisk back in, THEN restore my partition, every time I change ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best way to flip between ROMs is to take a data backup specifically for each ROM, but install the ROM as per instructions every time.
The noverity just maintains decrypt after you decrypt your data partition.
Restore your data any time while in recovery, and it'll be fine as long as it's data for that specific ROM. The order in which you do everything does not matter when restoring data and flashing the ROM.
EDIT: the order doesn't matter in regards to your data restore. Everything else matters in those steps, in their specific order, but you can restore data at any time as long as the other steps are in order.

mikex8593 said:
The best way to flip between ROMs is to take a data backup specifically for each ROM, but install the ROM as per instructions every time.
The noverity just maintains decrypt after you decrypt your data partition.
Restore your data any time while in recovery, and it'll be fine as long as it's data for that specific ROM. The order in which you do everything does not matter when restoring data and flashing the ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright that makes sense, thanks for the help. again, shame it's not as easy as it used to be, maybe this will finally get me to settle on a single ROM and just be happy with the phone I paid so much for lol.

I3ig Al said:
Alright that makes sense, thanks for the help. again, shame it's not as easy as it used to be, maybe this will finally get me to settle on a single ROM and just be happy with the phone I paid so much for lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The a/b partition is a failsafe that also makes updates easier overall. OOS is a solid ROM. I would recommend xXxNoLimits. That's what I use along with Smurfkernel. It's all preference.