Database Develop

Nandroid backup - does it get EVERYTHING ?

Folx,
I got bitten by the rooting bug. However, as I do use the phone quite a bit, I want to play it safe , so that if the ROMs I am about to try, don't quite work out, I want to get back to stock img and the apps I have and the settings I have etc.
So - as I perform Nandroid backup - does it backup everything ? In other words, if/when I have to restore from the said backup, will I get EVERYTHING back - all the apps and settings, as if nothing has changed ?
Or will I have to reinstall and configure all the apps anew ?

Yes, you will get your apps and settings back.
However I think it doesn't backup other partitions like "radio", because I recently had a problem with my radio and nandroid restore didn't help, I had to flash it again. Anyway, yes, as far as apps, settings, SMS, contacts etc. are concerned you're good.

BlueScreenJunky said:
Yes, you will get your apps and settings back.
However I think it doesn't backup other partitions like "radio", because I recently had a problem with my radio and nandroid restore didn't help, I had to flash it again. Anyway, yes, as far as apps, settings, SMS, contacts etc. are concerned you're good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It creates img files of boot, data, system (and your ext partition on your sd card if you are using one). Anything found in those will be imaged and backed up. It is way too dangerous and pointless to backup the radio. Radio isn't a partition btw.
Don't confuse nandroid backups with other (titanium for example) backups that can carry your settings from one rom to another...

So I have to have the radio image in order to safely restore a NANDROID backup? This thread is old and I don't know if things have changed by now...
PS: Unsure if I have to start a new thread to get an answer to this...

If you won't have a radio image intact, your phone won't boot at all. It won't even turn on.

One ROM to another ROM: backup/restore question

First, I have to thank the XDA forums helping me come over from my long WinMo background. Mad Props...
Being new to Android and my nexus one, I'm feeling the ROM flashing bug and want to try out a couple of different ROMS but don't want to have to add all of my accounts each time since I use crazy long, nearly impossible to type, passwords.
Is there some way to restore some of the configuration of my N1 between different ROM flashes?
Sorry if this has been covered, but I can't find it. It looks like the data is backed up in my nandroid backups, but I can't seem to find out how to only restore configuration.
Thanks
Rick

Take a look at Titanium Backup.
It works really well.
You need to be rooted and superuser in order to use it.
To find out more about adding superuser to a stock ROM, check out this thread at Modaco.
Edit:
Nandroid backups are really "just" disk images afaik.
There's no way that I know of to extract information from them.
brgds
Royan

Ok, thanks. I am running the backup right now and will give it a try tonight. Worse case, I just restore the nandroid backup and try again.

I've always wondered, what stuff is safe and not safe to restore in Titanium Backup. I've done a full restore when switching between like roms, but I'm guessing that wouldn't be a good idea if you were going from cyanogen to a senseUI rom.

[Q] Random Titanium Backup Question...

Sup XDA... first time poster... on/off lurker... just a quick question i was messing with my captivate today trying to load 2.2 on it... kies wasn't working for me so i did a whole lotta messing around with the phone... in the process i backed up my stuff on TB... while trying to restore it, it restored from a previous upgrade i did in dec. i ended up losing most of my text messages, profiles i set up and important memos... anything i can do to restore it or am i screwed...?
I think i accidentally hit the back up user apps instead of user apps+data and restored user apps+data... could that be the reason...?

I don't think that TiBu backs up text messages. I use SMS backup+ on the market for that. It backs it up to my Gmail account. It does this automatically, and has the option to restore if I flash a new ROM.
I read somewhere that TiBu system data back ups can cause issues if you flash a new ROM and try to restore system data from a different ROM. So I have always been afraid of system data in TiBu.
If you back up the apps without the data, then the app will install, but it's a fresh install. That way anything you did in the app is lost. For example if you back up just the app Facebook, when you restore you are not signed in anymore. If you backup app + data, when you restore you are already signed in again. That could be how you lost memos from an app, but Text messages is another animal.
If you are playing with Kies, you should try the custom ROMs. They are extremely easy to install, there's lots of guides, and they run so much better than the 2.2 from Samsung/AT&T.

Don't really think you can do anything at this point to get your stuff back. You should do a nandroid backup before flashing new firmware, though. If the rom you flashed didn't work, or if you couldn't restore something with TB (or forgot to even do a TB backup), you can always roll your phone back to your previous firmware, complete with all your data.

quarlow said:
I don't think that TiBu backs up
If you are playing with Kies, you should try the custom ROMs. They are extremely easy to install, there's lots of guides, and they run so much better than the 2.2 from Samsung/AT&T.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree a ROM is the way to go. Huge improvement over just using a bloated 2.2.

NANDroid backup

what is a nandroid? how do you perform a NANDroid backup of your current ROM? im going to cm7 stable from kj1. just wondering cause it says in the steps to install cm7. thanks..sorry for the noob ques..

its making a complete backup of ur current rom settings,apps and all. with i897 gingerbread roms i dont think u can restore a nandroid backup. but u would normally do a backup in recovery with cwm.

yes, nandroid on i897 ginger roms do not work.
but the procedure would be to make a backup. then if you flash a different rom from what the backup was made from you would have to flash the rom back that was backed up THEN restore the nandroid and it will be like you never flashed away from that rom.
DO NOT EVER restore a nandroid to a set up it was not backed up on, it will bootloop.

studacris said:
DO NOT EVER restore a nandroid to a set up it was not backed up on, it will bootloop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you expound on that please...hahaha..sorry im reading it over and over..just need to clarify..what you mean? thanks btw guys for the reply..so basically nandroid backs up your rom..cause just the name sounded confusing..i mean why name it nandroid when they can just say in the intructions before flashing a rom to just "back up" your rom..haha..i thought nandroid was something else..cause i heard other people saying something about efs or whatever and backing it up but i dont even know what that is especially..thanks though for replies..got it..

Say you back up your current ROM, then flash another. You can't just restore ROM A onto ROM b. You have to flash back to ROM A and THEN restore the nandroid and it will be like you never flashed ROM b. All of you settings and everything will be intact.
Efs is totally different, that is a partition that contains your phones individual data, it's imei which you have to manually backup it's not included in a nandroid.

Components backed up by NANDroid
Which of these components does NANDROID back up?
- bootloaders?
- kernel?
- system apps and other apps?
- modems?
- other parts of the OS?
Thanks for sharing the knowledge.

The firmware and system settings.
No kernel
No bootloader
No modem

studacris said:
Say you back up your current ROM, then flash another. You can't just restore ROM A onto ROM b. You have to flash back to ROM A and THEN restore the nandroid and it will be like you never flashed ROM b. All of you settings and everything will be intact.
Efs is totally different, that is a partition that contains your phones individual data, it's imei which you have to manually backup it's not included in a nandroid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kindly clarify this please, i want to backup my stock rom before going custom.
So inorder to do a complete backup, we need to do a nandroid backup and also backup imei separately?? and then restore both of them when i flash back to stock??

ayush29k said:
Kindly clarify this please, i want to backup my stock rom before going custom.
So inorder to do a complete backup, we need to do a nandroid backup and also backup imei separately?? and then restore both of them when i flash back to stock??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are two separate issues, really, but you are correct that you should back up both.
Nandroid lets you go back to a previous state, as long as you flash back to the correct ROM before you restore it. It will not let you restore data to your new installation, though. If you want to restore your applications in your new ROM, you can download Titanium Backup from the market which will let you batch save your applications now and restore them on your new ROM (It can also save and restore system data, but don't restore system data between ROMs, it causes all sorts of weird issues).
Backing up your EFS folder is something you should do, but hopefully will never have to restore. Your EFS folder contains information about your phone and should never actually get touched in any way when flashing ROMs. However, things go wrong and sometimes this folder ends up getting corrupted for whatever reason, which can lead to a corrupt IMEI code and no service. If this were to happen, you would restore you EFS from backup. I think it's safe to say most of us have never had to actually do this, but better safe than sorry. You can do a search for backing it up and find several threads about it.
Happy flashing!

lol...I was about to do nandroid backup! These post wre real helpful...thank you!

See this thread in the Development Forum for Corn Kernel... It has a working nandroid. BTW, that kernel is for i897 Gingerbread Roms.

Components backed up by nandroid
KarateKick said:
Which of these components does NANDROID back up?
- bootloaders?
- kernel?
- system apps and other apps?
- modems?
- other parts of the OS?
Thanks for sharing the knowledge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
studacris said:
The firmware and system settings.
No kernel
No bootloader
No modem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I run a nandroid backup I see it processing these:
- boot image
- recovery image
- system
- data
- datadata
- .android_secure
- cache
- sd-ext
Can anyone explain some of these terms to me? I am pretty new to all this.

This thread has all the goodies defined pretty well http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1093062

Guys , if I have two same model phones , one with alot of games and modded ROM and the other is standard , Can I take NANDroid backup from the first and restore in in the second ?
thanx in advanced

abdu_mka said:
Guys , if I have two same model phones , one with alot of games and modded ROM and the other is standard , Can I take NANDroid backup from the first and restore in in the second ?
thanx in advanced
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will need to first get it on the same modded ROM and then flash the backup. They will then be identicle

Hello,
This is the thread I was looking for. It just tackles top backup/restore issues I want to be positive of before tinkering around.
Now, what app is capable of doing a nandroid backup, if any? RomManager?
If a nandroid backup consists of the firmware and system settings but no kernel, bootloader or modem, how are these three backed up then?
My goal is making a stock unrooted (if possible) backup.
A concerning restoring, from this thread I understand that the restore process is composed of:
1st restore ROM A (which?)
2nd restore nandroid (which?)
3rd restore data/apps (Titanium is able to)
4th restore EFS folder (how?)
Please, correct/suggest. I appreciate.
Greetings,

galaxymny said:
Hello,
This is the thread I was looking for. It just tackles top backup/restore issues I want to be positive of before tinkering around.
Now, what app is capable of doing a nandroid backup, if any? RomManager?
If a nandroid backup consists of the firmware and system settings but no kernel, bootloader or modem, how are these three backed up then?
My goal is making a stock unrooted (if possible) backup.
A concerning restoring, from this thread I understand that the restore process is composed of:
1st restore ROM A (which?)
2nd restore nandroid (which?)
3rd restore data/apps (Titanium is able to)
4th restore EFS folder (how?)
Please, correct/suggest. I appreciate.
Greetings,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, you have revived an old thread with now false information. A nandroid does include modem and kernel. Bootloaders can't be backed up, and there really wouldn't be a point in that. No app can do a backup, and please don't use ROM manager; it's obsolete. As for your steps: You probably only need to flash a ROM first if the partition table is being changed. Meaning you can't restore a Samsung ROM over an AOSP ROM. You won't need to use titanium backup because you will have restored the phone to the exact state it was when you took the backup. Meaning there won't be anything to restore. Efs? Don't touch it, we never will be deleting it.
Sent from my CM9 ICS i897 Captivate

Modems and kernels ARE NOT backed up in a Nandroid...

Hello,
@korockinout13: I don't think I'm providing false info. Actually, i've been gathering from the thread. I think there's some disagreement on what a nandroid backup really backs up from the views expressed in the thread. Plus, it's pure netiquette not opening new threads for a topic already started somewhere else in a forum. It's power ecology. No hard feelings, though.
Thank you and b-eock for your replies. I think I'd rather use cwm instead.
My goal is still the same: making a stock unrooted (if possible) backup as there are no roms available for my brand new Mini:
pda S5570XWKQG
phone S5570XWKQ5
csc S5570YOGKQ3
android version 2.3.4
Kernel 2.6.35
Thank you both!

b-eock said:
Modems and kernels ARE NOT backed up in a Nandroid...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone told me about the modem part, so I'm not really sure about that. But if it doesn't backup the kernel, why does restoring a nandroid put you back on the kernel you had previously (i.e. Glitch)?

Pulling contacts from nandroid stock

Today I rooted my fiance's phone and put ICS on it. I made a nandroid of the stock ROM before I wiped it and put ICS on it. I didn't realize that most of her contacts were stored on the phone and were unsynced with her gmail.
Using Titanium Pro I can access her contact storage and restore it, but the AOKP handles contacts differently than stock, and won't restore the contacts. I also can't get the nandroid image to restore properly to try and export the contacts.
What should I do?
Update: I tried restoring the stock ROM and ran into a host of new problems that resulted in a bootloop so bad that it wouldn't get past the AT&T screen.

I can't stress how impossibly simple it is when you just sync them with google. You don't even have to think about backing up/restoring them EVER. Instead of just restoring the stock nandroid, you must flash back to stock first because you need the kernels to match when restoring a stock rom.

You also need the partition layout to match what is mapped in the kernel and framework...

korockinout13 said:
I can't stress how impossibly simple it is when you just sync them with google. You don't even have to think about backing up/restoring them EVER. Instead of just restoring the stock nandroid, you must flash back to stock first because you need the kernels to match when restoring a stock rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me, I know. It's my FIANCE'S phone, not mine. It didn't even occur to me to backup the contacts, because it wouldn't ever occur to me to keep them stored internally and not on Google's servers.
I used Titanium's ability to pull contacts from a nandroid and restored data only. It got almost all the contacts back.
I'm not restoring everything back to stock, not worth the pitfalls and potential bricking.

There isn't one chance of bricking if you don't flash bootloaders...

There are tools available to uncompress the nandroid images and grab the contacts database. Then just push it to the the proper place on the new rom, reboot and you're done.
Sent from my Captivate
Edit: There's also this if you don't have access to a computer.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.goddchen.android.nandroidbrowser

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I got it all fixed up.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Tapatalk