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[Q] Help with Nandroid...what is it?

OK, I think I understand nandroid on a basic level. It backs stuff up. Everything. But I'm confused as to how it works. I have CM 6.1 RC1 on my phone right now. I want to try a Sense based ROM but don't want to lose everything. Especially my apps. If I do a nandroid backup before I install the new ROM will the data be compatible with the new ROM? Will the apps work with all their settings intact? Seems to me a different ROM would have weird little things that are incompatible. Seems to me nandroid is more of a way to revert to your previous ROM in case the new one doesn't work out. Does that sound right?

As I understand it, a nandroid back-up is basically a photo copy of your current rom, apps and settings. If you're using ROM manager go into that and choose the "Back up current ROM" choice and it'll back it up and save it to the SD card. If you install a new ROM you'll do a wipe and everything will be gone and then installed with the new ROM. To get it back to the way it was your have your back-up rom saved on the SD card and you can flash that to get it back to the way it was. Does anyone want to double check me on this since I could be wrong?

benutne said:
Seems to me nandroid is more of a way to revert to your previous ROM in case the new one doesn't work out. Does that sound right?
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That's exactly right. It's a flashable backup of a full ROM. If you want to only backup apps, use titanium backup.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-i896 using XDA App

TheEscapist said:
That's exactly right. It's a flashable backup of a full ROM. If you want to only backup apps, use titanium backup.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-i896 using XDA App
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Flashable? So I don't have to install the old ROM first then do the nondroid restore?

benutne said:
Flashable? So I don't have to install the old ROM first then do the nondroid restore?
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A nandroid restore is done through recovery, not the ROM. So you could have a Sense based ROM and nandroid (assuming you have made one and it's on your SD card) to a CM ROM
What you should do is install a ROM, set it up how you like/want it then nandroid right away. You can do that with a few ROMS, test them out, choose your favorite and go with it, always keeping the option to go back to any of them

is it only done through rom manager, or can i get a nandroid backup in cwm recovery?

naranova7 said:
is it only done through rom manager, or can i get a nandroid backup in cwm recovery?
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You can backup in recovery. I never use ROM manager anyway.
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App

i second that duce rom manager is pretty bad now adays the only thing its good for is installing recovery and fixing permissons but thats about it.

Bierce22 said:
i second that duce rom manager is pretty bad now adays the only thing its good for is installing recovery and fixing permissons but thats about it.
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$su
#flash_image recovery /sdcard/nameofrecovery.img
.....
$su
#fix_permissions
.....
ROM manager entirely unnecessary

Saving a ROM's backup to my computer

I want to clear my phone completely back to bare-bones 2.1. I do want to save my last good set up with froyo, so;
1) Is it a good idea to do a complete restore.
2) Is it better to leave the phone as is (leaving b/u in tact) or can I save the last b/u to my computer? If so how (Tibu, ROM Man???). How would I return this file back to the phone if necessary?

I never do any more backing up than Titanium Backup of apps. I know clockwork recovery can make a nandroid backup. It saves it to a folder on the internal sd card (Clockworkmod I think) and you could copy that to your computer. Then copy it back if you want to restore. The feature is there, I assume it works, but I have never personally done it. You could do all this through clockwork recovery, make the back up, and restore later if you want. You can leave the backup on your phone after you go back to stock, odin will not clear it off unless you do a "Master Clear". Then you would just have to reflash clockwork recovery, and you could restore.

I've transferred both tibu and nandroid (rom manager) backups to my pc and then restored from them after a master clear by copying them back to the phone from the pc. With the nandroid backup, you have to reinstall the rom first, and it must be the same rom you backed up.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Good advice thanks:
quarlow said:
I never do any more backing up than Titanium Backup of apps. I know clockwork recovery can make a nandroid backup. It saves it to a folder on the internal sd card (Clockworkmod I think) and you could copy that to your computer. Then copy it back if you want to restore. The feature is there, I assume it works, but I have never personally done it. You could do all this through clockwork recovery, make the back up, and restore later if you want. You can leave the backup on your phone after you go back to stock, odin will not clear it off unless you do a "Master Clear". Then you would just have to reflash clockwork recovery, and you could restore.
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and
creepyncrawly said:
I've transferred both tibu and nandroid (rom manager) backups to my pc and then restored from them after a master clear by copying them back to the phone from the pc. With the nandroid backup, you have to reinstall the rom first, and it must be the same rom you backed up
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I was thinking this was the case. My only concern is on the re-install, would I be correct in my asumption, that not only would I need the rom installed but the theme as well?

tomween1 said:
Good advice thanks:...would I be correct in the thought that not only would I need the rom installed but the theme as well?
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Disclaimer: I've not tried it. A nandroid backup restores everything in the rom plus apps, but not the kernel, so it should restore your theme and your apps. In that case you may not even need the tibu.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

creepyncrawly said:
Disclaimer: I've not tried it. A nandroid backup restores everything in the rom plus apps, but not the kernel, so it should restore your theme and your apps. In that case you may not even need the tibu.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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Well it's done, we'll see how it goes when I need it

I think the trick is having a working base rom and it being the same as the backup. Id be curious to try restoring a previous version of the same rom. How bad could it get?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Want to know about backing up roms and restoring them
I want to know wheter we can backup a rom of one mobile and restore it in other mobile. please answer asap.

Abhishek1008 said:
I want to know wheter we can backup a rom of one mobile and restore it in other mobile. please answer asap.
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That may not be a simple question to answer with any certainty. I would not even consider attempting it unless both phone models are exactly the same, you didn't say for sure that this is what you were meaning. If the models are the same: insure they have the same bootloader and modem installed. Then I still would not do it unless the ROM on the second phone is comparable to the ROM you are moving to it. The reason for this caution is that partitioning schemes are not the same on all ROMs, it can even change in a newer version of the same ROM.

dawgdoc said:
That may not be a simple question to answer with any certainty. I would not even consider attempting it unless both phone models are exactly the same, you didn't say for sure that this is what you were meaning. If the models are the same: insure they have the same bootloader and modem installed. Then I still would not do it unless the ROM on the second phone is comparable to the ROM you are moving to it. The reason for this caution is that partitioning schemes are not the same on all ROMs, it can even change in a newer version of the same ROM.
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This :good:

User apps + data = FC??

After flashing some new roms lately, I've been unable to restore my user apps with data, or else the apps will force close (weirdly, some apps work okay with a data restore, but the vast majority will fc). Also, when trying to restore back to my old rom (AOKP) via Nandroid, I get an error saying cannot mount /data, stopping the process. I tried deleting all my backups, making new ones, flashing stock, and yes I follow the OP exactly. I wanted to see if anyone has ever had this issue either on this ROM or another one. Any help appreciated, thanks.

To restore a Nandroid, you actually have to flash the rom first, then after it fully boots up restore your Nandroid. As for Apps and data, try restoring the apps first, rebooting, then restoring the data.

Referring to your app restore suggestion. That doesn't work. I've tried it
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA

Then i don't what else to suggest. You tried downloading apps fresh, then restoring your backed up data?

Common issue for me. Just wipe data first and it should work. No need to flash the ROM
Sent from my ICS Samsung Captivate

korockinout13 said:
Common issue for me. Just wipe data first and it should work. No need to flash the ROM
Sent from my ICS Samsung Captivate
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Are you saying restore app + data. Then wipe data. Then restore data again?
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mrhaley30705 said:
Then i don't what else to suggest. You tried downloading apps fresh, then restoring your backed up data?
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Yep. Doesn't work
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA

Use TiBu instead of Nandroid. Only had issue with porting my WiFi settings from GB to ICS.
But in general restoring apps with settings and data is a pain. That prevents me from becoming flash junkie.

I understand your concern with using nandroid. That was just a side statement. The issue is restoring USER apps with data. Why is this occurring now when it has never occurred before
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA

mikel.canovas said:
After flashing some new roms lately, I've been unable to restore my user apps with data, or else the apps will force close (weirdly, some apps work okay with a data restore, but the vast majority will fc).
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I just want to add that this exact same thing has happened to me on a variety of ICS ROMS (including AOKP M5) and I too follow the installation instructions including wiping and formatting.
Very annoying.

mikel.canovas said:
Are you saying restore app + data. Then wipe data. Then restore data again?
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA
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Sorry, sorry. I was specifically referring to the nandroid backup issue. IF while restoring, you can't get past "Cannot mount /data!", THEN wipe data, and continue restoring data by doing advanced restore from there (so you don't have to restore /boot and /system again...)

korockinout13 said:
Sorry, sorry. I was specifically referring to the nandroid backup issue. IF while restoring, you can't get past "Cannot mount /data!", THEN wipe data, and continue restoring data by doing advanced restore from there (so you don't have to restore /boot and /system again...)
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Ah okay. Thanks for the tip.
So no one has any idea what's the cause of this. Everyone who has come across this issue, including myself, seem to have no clue how to fix it. There's basically an exact same q&a thread on vibrant forums with the same issue and there's like 5 people there who cannot figure out why
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA

What happens if you dl from market without restoring data? Still get fc's?

without restoring data? No FC. After restoring data, FC.

Hey Mikel I just flashed Docs Master v11 which just came out. For the first time in a long time I did not have the app f/c problem at all. Everything ran fine right from TIBU restore.
I flashed this ROM exactly the same way as I've flashed the last few AOKP roms. Hmmmm..
Sent from my SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

[Q] Stupid Question

I've rooted my phone and I want to get the new MaximusHD ROM (4.3, HTC Sense, Rooted)
How can I replace my ROM while preserving my data (WhatsApp messages, pictures, etc)?
I am sorry but I am coming from the world of Apple and iTunes did everything for me. Android is a totally new beast!

Use titanium Backup from playstore
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium

Philipp_94 said:
Use titanium Backup from playstore
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
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Thanks
I downloaded the software.
What do I do? There are so many options. I don't need to backup the apk because I can redownload it from the Play Store.
All i care about is my user data.
Can I flash my ROM without losing data?

wirelessrevolution said:
Thanks
I downloaded the software.
What do I do? There are so many options. I don't need to backup the apk because I can redownload it from the Play Store.
All i care about is my user data.
Can I flash my ROM without losing data?
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What do you mean by user data?
Pics music videos etc, basically anything in your SD card will be saved.
I think.
App data, you need to backup the whole app. That's how Ti backup works. You can't download the app form play store and apply your user data to it.
EDIT: just make a nandroid. Then backup whatever you need. If the restore fails, then you have something to fall back on.
Sent from my HTCONE using xda app-developers app

sauprankul said:
What do you mean by user data?
Pics music videos etc, basically anything in your SD card will be saved.
I think.
App data, you need to backup the whole app. That's how Ti backup works. You can't download the app form play store and apply your user data to it.
EDIT: just make a nandroid. Then backup whatever you need. If the restore fails, then you have something to fall back on.
Sent from my HTCONE using xda app-developers app
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Thanks but I have no idea what a nandroid is or how to do it.

wirelessrevolution said:
Thanks but I have no idea what a nandroid is or how to do it.
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Go to TWRP (personal favorite) or CWM.
Then, back up EVERYTHING.
Except media. But I'm not sure that's actually an option lol.
Oh yeah no need to back up the cache or the recovery either.
I believe CWM doesn't let you choose, you just hit back up and it backs up what it needs to.
Note: you can not selectively restore from a nandroid very easily. It is meant to be sort of a time machine, so if something screws up, you just restore your phone back to how it was.
Sent from my HTCONE using xda app-developers app

Dirty vs Clean install
sauprankul said:
Go to TWRP (personal favorite) or CWM.
Then, back up EVERYTHING.
Except media. But I'm not sure that's actually an option lol.
Oh yeah no need to back up the cache or the recovery either.
I believe CWM doesn't let you choose, you just hit back up and it backs up what it needs to.
Note: you can not selectively restore from a nandroid very easily. It is meant to be sort of a time machine, so if something screws up, you just restore your phone back to how it was.
Sent from my HTCONE using xda app-developers app
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Yeah, TWRP lets you back up all your info. You can pick and choose and it lets you back up the current rom, so if you have issues you can go back to it. Copy that folder to a computer, because what you want to do is a dirty flash and might run into problems. It's best to flash by wiping clean and then replacing or you run into problems with the rom with some of the data.
Just my opinion.

My advice would be to read a lot more about how nandroid backups work and about how backup apps like Titanium Backup work as well before trying anything.
That being said the above advice about doing a nandroid from recovery is a must, especially if you're new to the android world and aren't sure what you're doing. The nandroid is your fail-safe in case anything goes wrong. It will allow you to restore your phone back to exactly how it was when you did the backup.
As far as bringing the app data that you want into your newly flashed rom, this is what I do:
1. Have a rooted device
2. Download Titanium Backup (I bought the pro version, I think you need it to do batch backup/restore)
3. Batch backup all user apps (I also backup my call log and sms/mms messages)
4. Reboot device to recovery and perform a nandroid backup
5. Flash new rom
6. Wipe data/Factory reset
7. Reboot into new rom
8. After doing all the initial device setup (google account, etc.) install Titanium Backup and restore all missing apps NOTE: RESTORE ONLY THE APPS NOT THE DATA!
9. Now this is the part that I do that technically isn't recommended because restoring data can cause issues but it's the only way I've found to restore app data that otherwise can't be restored. Do a batch "restore all apps and data" but select "data only" and "deselect all" and go through and manually select only the apps you really need to restore the data (this can also be done manually through Titanium but I still use the batch function). Also I restore the call log and sms/mms at this step.
Hopefully this helps. Best advice I can give you though is before you do anything, make sure you understand all of the steps completely. I've lost everything too many times because I didn't know what I was doing.

bluetint said:
As far as bringing the app data that you want into your newly flashed rom, this is what I do:
6. Wipe data/Factory reset
8. After doing all the initial device setup (google account, etc.) install Titanium Backup and restore all missing apps NOTE: RESTORE ONLY THE APPS NOT THE DATA!
9. Now this is the part that I do that technically isn't recommended because restoring data can cause issues but it's the only way I've found to restore app data that otherwise can't be restored. Do a batch "restore all apps and data" but select "data only" and "deselect all" and go through and manually select only the apps you really need to restore the data (this can also be done manually through Titanium but I still use the batch function). Also I restore the call log and sms/mms at this step.
Hopefully this helps. Best advice I can give you though is before you do anything, make sure you understand all of the steps completely. I've lost everything too many times because I didn't know what I was doing.
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Question:
Why can't he restore apps and data together? I've anyways done that, and it's seemed to have worked for me. Maybe I just didn't notice any lost data?
Also. Restoring with the free version is a pita because you have to give it permission for every app individually.
Just saying.
And you do not need to wipe your media, but I recommend that you back it up.
Also: WOAH WOAH WOAH. Did you just tell the OP to flash a ROM, THEN wipe?
I'm pretty darn sure you should not do that.
Sent from my HTCONE using xda app-developers app

sauprankul said:
Question:
Why can't he restore apps and data together? I've anyways done that, and it's seemed to have worked for me. Maybe I just didn't notice any lost data?
Also. Restoring with the free version is a pita because you have to give it permission for every app individually.
Just saying.
And you do not need to wipe your media, but I recommend that you back it up.
Also: WOAH WOAH WOAH. Did you just tell the OP to flash a ROM, THEN wipe?
I'm pretty darn sure you should not do that.
Sent from my HTCONE using xda app-developers app
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The reason I say not to restore data for every app is that not every app needs it's data restored to get everything back (i.e. Google Hangouts, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and I've always been warned that restoring data can cause issues. So my reasoning is the less I restore the better.
And I know using the free version of Titanium Backup is a PITA, that is why I said I use the paid version.
I never said to wipe media (I assume you mean the virtual sdcard) I said to wipe data/factory reset (the name of the option in CWM)
And there is nothing wrong with wiping after a flash. The wipe gets rid of user apps/data, anything installed with the rom is fine. If I'm mistaken, I apologize. However, I have never had an issue wiping after a flash.
If the OP doesn't want to follow my advice that's fine, I was simply describing what I've been doing on various devices for the last couple of years.

[Q] Backing up Rom with Safestrap when running KitKat

Anyone know if it's possible to do a backup with safestrap and flash a different KitKat rom? I'm currently on a KitKat rom, but what if I wanted to flash a different KitKat rom and not want to lose my stuff? When I mean lose my stuff, I'm talking about losing my rom setup...not text, logs etc. Basically I'm asking how to backup with safestrap like we did on jellybean since safestrap hasn't been updated to work with KitKat.
If it's possible, could someone share the how to steps?
Thanks in advance.

chrispyutec said:
Anyone know if it's possible to do a backup with safestrap and flash a different KitKat rom? I'm currently on a KitKat rom, but what if I wanted to flash a different KitKat rom and not want to lose my stuff?
If it's possible, could someone share the how to steps.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can back up texts, call logs, etc. With super backup from playstore. Then make sure pictures are on external sd card. Backup apps with titanium backup.
Then follow guides on installing other rom. Once your up and running reinstall titanium backup, restore apps that you want. Restore logs and texts etc with super backup.
Safe strap backs up the whole rom. So that will do you no good for installing texts and such back.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using xda app-developers app

chrispyutec said:
Anyone know if it's possible to do a backup with safestrap and flash a different KitKat rom? I'm currently on a KitKat rom, but what if I wanted to flash a different KitKat rom and not want to lose my stuff? When I mean lose my stuff, I'm talking about losing my rom setup...not text, logs etc. Basically I'm asking how to backup with safestrap like we did on jellybean since safestrap hasn't been updated to work with KitKat.
If it's possible, could someone share the how to steps?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't do a NANDROID backup at this time. You can use Titanium Backup to backup everything on your phone (app+data, text, call log, etc) If you restore it to a different ROM make sure not to restore system apps because that can cause some conflicts.

Agent said:
You can't do a NANDROID backup at this time. You can use Titanium Backup to backup everything on your phone (app+data, text, call log, etc) If you restore it to a different ROM make sure not to restore system apps because that can cause some conflicts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and no... You can't do a full nandroid. But you can use SS to backup all the essentials to get your ROM Back up if you restore it.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app