Hi, there are so many ROM's to try and I don't like to go trough all the trouble of installing programs and tweaks all the time.
I would like to setup one ROM for primary use make a complete backup of the phone, programs settings etc.
Than flash another ROM try it and if it is not working as expected to return to the previous ROM and setup.
Something like making a HDD image on a PC before trying a different OS.
Any ideas how to do this?
Mobile devices don't have HDD installed,therefore partitioning is not possible,Roms are flashed to the Memory of the phone.So only one Rom can be flashed!!!
Um....Based on mDOC specification, The flash chip DO have partitions, and actually you can get 10MB more for data storage if the ROM eliminated the ExtROM partition (IPL/SPL, OS ROM, Radio ROM, ExtROM and user data are actually in same flash chip, just in different partitions).
However, you know that The mDOC chip in Wizard is only 128MB. It is not possible to have 2 OS installed in the same mDOC disk becaue you aren't possible to get enough space. Even if you get enough space, you need to hack the SPL to have your desired partition loaded and relocate the user partition.
starkwong said:
It is not possible to have 2 OS installed in the same mDOC disk becaue you aren't possible to get enough space. Even if you get enough space, you need to hack the SPL to have your desired partition loaded and relocate the user partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The idea was not to have two OS'es on the device.
I just wanted to try out a different ROM, but after reflashing the previous ROM to be able to restore the applications and settings as they were before flashing.
something like:
Flash ROM_A
Install Applications
Tweak and setup device.
Make Backup of everything.
Flash ROM_B
see if it fits, is it OK or not, etc.
If not, Flash ROM_A,
Restore Backup for ROM_A
Return to regular usage....
Any ideas on how to do this?
Just get a copy of ROM_A, then use SPB Backup to backup your user data before flash ROM_B...
In case of problem, just flash ROM_A and restore the SPB Backup.
OK, I'll try that.
Related
My Wizard's running low on internal storage, how would I go about getting rid of the extended rom and expanding the internal storage to fill the space it leaves? Would I be able to do a backup using SPB backup, then flash a ROM (not sure which one I'd need), then restore the backup?
I don't think it's currently possible to remove the Extended ROM without somehow rewriting the partition tables but that's beyond most people, including me! However if it was possbile then it would msot likely be possible to do a straight forward backup and restore so long as it was the same OS image.
How to read all ROM+FLASH memory and then write ROM+FLASH memory.
So will be 100% workable backup tool.
Is it able?
you can use tools such as QMAT from revskills.de wich is able to read complete NAND structures, but i think if you never looked @ the Memory structure of a HTC device you wont be happy to own such tool.
The memory is devided into several parts so there would NEVER be a 100% read & Write tool cause you cant access everything totaly in one step. Just read about how to dump rom / radio (possibly how to reflash SPL) as i think that would be enough to backup and restore for normal users, or ? what u want with the bootloader ? Or an NV items tree ?
Greets
backup tools can't correct restore file system, some registry values and etc.
4 of 5 times of restoring from "file" backup was unsuccessful.
Is it possible with clone software like spriteclone ?
Right now I'm using CM 6.1.1 on my Nexus One. When I flashed CM for the first time I wiped my SD card right after I installed the ROM, so I really don't remember too much about what happened to my apps or anything like that. So, my question is, if I want to install CM 7, can I just wipe my phone with ROM manager right before installing it, and then not wipe my SD card afterwards? Will the apps, pictures, ect., that is on my SD card right now magically appear untouched on CM 7? I guess I'm just not sure how the SD card contents will be affected when flashing ROMs, and I'm not sure if after you flash a new ROM, the ROM can use all of the stuff that's on your SD card just like the ROM you had before did.. Does that kinda make sense? I feel dumb for asking all this. Also, when I save a backup of my ROM, the backup will just be a copy of all of my phone's internal memory and the operating system, right? And when I wipe my phone and install a new ROM, the new ROM just replaces all of my phone's old contents? So if I ever flashed my original ROM again, it'd bring back all of my phone's contents, system memory, operating system, apps installed on the phone, ect?
Thanks for taking the time to read my long, poorly written batch of questions Help would be very very appreciated!
SD card isn't touched when flashing ROMs.
You can restore your backup and it'll be all like it was.
If you use DT A2SD - things start being more complicated.
Yumunum said:
can I just wipe my phone with ROM manager right before installing it, and then not wipe my SD card afterwards?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can leave your SD contents as is, they won't be touched.
Will the apps, pictures, ect., that is on my SD card right now magically appear untouched on CM 7?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pictures, Music, Videos etc that are stored on the SD card will remain untouched by flashing a new ROM, however apps are a different story. Basically you've got two main types of Apps on SD cards. The first is froyos implementation which is basically used to free up space on the phone memory but will not survive a wipe or flashing a new ROM. The alternative is Dark Tremors A2SD which uses a dedicated partition on your SD card (Created through recovery) to store apps by tricking the system into thinking the folder on your SD card is actually on internal memory. Once a new ROM is installed over the current (Which obviously must use DT A2SD also) these apps should be available again with their settings etc remaining.
I guess I'm just not sure how the SD card contents will be affected when flashing ROMs, and I'm not sure if after you flash a new ROM, the ROM can use all of the stuff that's on your SD card just like the ROM you had before did
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, all data/media remains but apps require A2SD or its variants.
Also, when I save a backup of my ROM, the backup will just be a copy of all of my phone's internal memory and the operating system, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you backup/nandroid you take a screenshot of sorts of your system. By default I think most recovery images save the boot, system, data and cache partitions when a backup is being made. Certain recoveries offer to backup other partitions such as sd-ext (Where A2SD stores the apps). Backups are designated by folders with a time stamp, I personally rename these to reflect the contents e.g. MM.v.20 tells me this is MicroMods v.20 of his GB ROM. Obviously yours will differ but I find this keeps things organised. Basically think of nandroid as the Android equivalent of Acronis true image or Norton Ghost for the PC. It lets you create any number of backups which will restore your device to the exact state at the moment of backup.
And when I wipe my phone and install a new ROM, the new ROM just replaces all of my phone's old contents?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A newly flashed ROM will basically restore your device to factory settings but on the new ROM. Once you've signed in to your Google account certain settings and content will be automatically downloaded e.g. Calendar appointments, Contacts. Other settings will not be restored e.g. Display brightness, alarms.
So if I ever flashed my original ROM again, it'd bring back all of my phone's contents, system memory, operating system, apps installed on the phone, ect?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, again it would return to the factory settings. However you can restore nandroid backups you have made of your original ROM which would return the system exactly to its previous state.
Basically if you're on a stock ROM it won't have A2SD. If you wish to use A2SD from now on then find a ROM which uses it, partition your SD card appropriately (Plenty of guides around) and you'll have minimal problems moving from ROM to ROM. As for Nandroid you'll find that most ROM devs recommend wiping all data from the phone (Not SD card) before flashing their ROM. Otherwise files or settings from other ROMs can cause some undesired effects on your current one.
Good luck and get reading the Nexus wiki, it's very helpful for these types of questions
Note: For some reason I vaguely remember someone noting that Froyos A2SD can be used to move apps to another ROM or at least the base app itself (If not the individual setup/settings) but I can't seem to find any info after a quick Google and it never interested me enough to look into it further. Perhaps someone can clear this up?
Hollow.Droid said:
Note: For some reason I vaguely remember someone noting that Froyos A2SD can be used to move apps to another ROM or at least the base app itself (If not the individual setup/settings)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont think thats true.. suppose it's formatted during a wipe.. titanium backup serves the purpose like a charm.. (with all the settings for the apps and the resumes for the games)
Sent from my Nexus One
I have a similar question to the OP. I use a 1GB EXT through DT's A2SD. If I wanted to flash a new ROM would the following be my step-checklist?
1 - Nand backup (just in case)
2 - Backup apps with Titanium
3 - wipe system data & cache
4 - flash new rom
5 - restore apps?
I'm just wondering what the procedure is to keep the apps in A2SD on a new flash without re-setting up.
Wiggz said:
I have a similar question to the OP. I use a 1GB EXT through DT's A2SD. If I wanted to flash a new ROM would the following be my step-checklist?
1 - Nand backup (just in case)
2 - Backup apps with Titanium
3 - wipe system data & cache
4 - flash new rom
5 - restore apps?
I'm just wondering what the procedure is to keep the apps in A2SD on a new flash without re-setting up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah that would be fine..
btw 1: if you upgrading a cm nightly, you need not wipe system n cache..
2: if you do a titanium backup before, then you can finish all the steps in the recovery in one go..
n I dint quite get what you are asking. but from what I know, apps 2 sd folder (ie android.secure) is erased in a wipe.. that isnt changing
Sent from my Nexus One
shreyas - thanks for your help.
I understand the A2SD (EXT) partition onthe sd will be wiped, but I'm assuming I would have to do nothing to get the new rom to see the ext and use it?
That's really my question. Would recovering my apps from Titanium push them back on the A2SD location or would I need to install A2SD again?
i don't think so..
I suppose that the pro version must support the direct a2sd.. but give it a try.. if it dosent work then you have do manually..
Sent from my Nexus One
Hello everyone,
I tried searching the forums but did not find exactly what I was looking for.. Please excuse me if I missed a post..
I need to move my sd card from my g1 to a new phone, and I currently am running super E w/ danger SPL running from SD card. I need to make the G1 boot from the internal phone memory withj something smaller like Super D, so I can use it in another phone. Can someone please verify the steps required to replace danger SPL with old one?
Questions:
I found something saying Hard SPL is the regular one.. I can just find this and flash it as an update.zip?
Or by chance, Is danger SPL sooo cool, where I can somehow flash super D rom but since its small, it will automagically install to phone memory instead of the sd card?
Thanks for reading this, I am just nevous since I do not have a replacement phone yet, so I have to make sure I dont brick my antique android phone just yet..
Dominic
I suppose you are mixing up several things:
- DangerSPL is the program loader used to start up your phone. It's starting always the ROM installed within you phone's memory and it's not related in any sense to SD-Card.
- Super-E is the name of the OS you are running on your phone. Also this is mostly independent from SPL and SD-Card. Mostly in that sense, that the SPL is defining some default partitioning of your phone's memory and if the system partition is too small you cannot install the ROM. But you can always use custom partitions to change the memory layout to your needs.
- The ROM (Super-E) should run also without any SD-Card inserted, unless you are using something like a2sd / a2ext / data2sd ... If you are using such settings, move the applications and data to your phone's internal memory, disable a2sd / a2ext / ... and you can remove your SD-Card while the phone is still running.
As you can see, I do not understand, why you want to change the SPL and the ROM
Basically, I was under the impression when i installed danger SPL, I thought this special SPL redirected the os partition to the sd card in order to install larger roms on the sdcard due to the limited internal phone memory on a g1.
Now that i need to repurpose the sd card, i need to install a smaller sized rom that will fit in the internal phone flash.
Is this not correct?
Thank you for your assistance!!! I appreciate the reply!
The "DangerSPL" was suggested to be used before the possibility of custom partition layout was known, because it has a different default memory partitioning (~92MB on /system, instead of ~75MB with the standard layout). So you can install ROMs which need more space, but DangerSPL is not moving / acessing any parts of the ROM from your SD-Card.
Nowadays with custom partitioning there is a much more flexible way to define your memory layout. From that point of view there is no longer the need for "DangerSPL", nevertheless this SPL provides full fastboot capabilities, but that's another thing.
I just have a quick question. I have a Samsung Galaxy Exhibit T599n and running Beanstalk 4.4+ rom. I am having a few issues with the rom after a few month, such as random reboots, issues with PC connection (Phone only runs in Charge only mode, and phone does not pop up the option to use charge only, camera, or media mass storage modes when I connect to PC) and also no longer connects to Kies.
My question is, if I re-flash the SAME version of the rom that I have installed (I have the most recent version) over the current version I have installed, will I lose my apps and settings? Just want to know what to prepare for if I reflash. Should I do that and get to keep my apps and settings? Or is a factory reset necessary to fix my errors?
Do a factory reset that should do it .. if not it might be hardware problem.
EDIT: You can use Titanium Backup if you have root acess to backup all your apps.
steff00 said:
Do a factory reset that should do it .. if not it might be hardware problem.
EDIT: You can use Titanium Backup if you have root acess to backup all your apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent, thank you.
One other question, I had a problem with this last time I did a factory reset. I have my SD card partitioned to install my apps on there (Phone only came with 1GB internal, and would only hold a couple apps) so my SD card is 32GB, with 8GB partitioned to install my apps on. I remember having trouble with them last time I tried to flash a new rom and ended up having to reinstall Beanstalk from scratch and completely wipe the app partition as well.
Ok soo if i understood , you rom that you gona flash on your 32 gb sd card and flash from that also you can get app link2sd i think its called which let you transfer apps to sd card, correct me if i am wrong.
Code:
I already have it set up that way. I have the rom installed, I have the 2nd partition on my SD card, and have the apps linked to it with Link2SD. But, I last time I tried backing up roms that were installed on that partition, I have a bounty of issues. When I went to reinstall the apps, the files were still on that 2nd partition, there were dormant files left over everywhere, so when I'd try to restore the apps from backup, I got a plethora of errors and the rom began crashing. Just wondering if there's any way to backup and use roms that are installed on that 2nd partition using Link2SD?
partyboynx2 said:
I already have it set up that way. I have the rom installed, I have the 2nd partition on my SD card, and have the apps linked to it with Link2SD. But, I last time I tried backing up roms that were installed on that partition, I have a bounty of issues. When I went to reinstall the apps, the files were still on that 2nd partition, there were dormant files left over everywhere, so when I'd try to restore the apps from backup, I got a plethora of errors and the rom began crashing. Just wondering if there's any way to backup and use roms that are installed on that 2nd partition using Link2SD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, well since you have only 1 gb of internal storage for use i dont think i can help you with that.. because backup itself take a lot of space and not sure if you can make it to backup on your 2nd partition.
Or you can try transfer your backup files to your PC/laptop and delete everything then ty doing it and transfer back to phone after.