There's so much info in here it can be hard to take it all in. Many posters make it sound like flashing a ROM is such an easy thing to do, but I keep seeing posts from those who run into one problem or another after the process. Could someone please provide a list of anything and everything that should be done BEFORE flashing to prevent any issues with the phone? Things like writing down Market IDs and where to find it, removing any apps that might conflict, changing any setting that might cause a problem, writing down any settings that get erased by flashing...anything that needs to be considered before flashing a ROM. Thanks.
The most important thing is backups (contacts, apps, etc...) Titanium Backup is the best at it, and really worth buying the pro version.
From what I've read market IDs are arbitrary and dont really do much.
Just make sure you watch videos of what you want to do at least 2 times before starting anything.
Well main thing with issues is try stock and reflash. If you prefer not to...... in recovery do a wipe cache/factory reset. Then wipe cache partition. Then wipe delvic cache. Should be golden if not reflash
Android id changer you get android id
Backup all user apps only with titanium
Export contacts to external sd or sim
Make sure toy can get into recovery and dl mode
Know your build number,.located under battery, something like 1008
Backup (Nandroid) --> Make sure you have enough battery --> Flashback to JF6 for 2e recovery --> Flash new rom --> Restore backup
LOL. you guys are just going to confuse him more, because everyone has a different 'check list'
his head might explode after reading everything here
Bread
Eggs
Milk
Nandroid
Alcohol, large quantities
Seriously I have seen you around. You will be fine, flash away, read all suggestions, ask questions as they pop up
My actual list of everything:
Phone: Write down Android ID and IMEI #'s (just in case)
Phone: download SGS Tools and run script to back up efs directory
Phone: Backup all apps with Titanium backup
Laptop and Phone: Copy full directory structure of internal and external cards to the D: drive (second partition on my computer)
Laptop: Create the Rom, adding modem.bin (modem) and zImage (kernel) of choice
Laptop: Add Apps that won't be restored by Titanium to the Rom
Phone: Remove external sd card
Skip: Start Odin
Phone: Get in download mode
Skip and Phone: Reload stock, with wipe
Laptop and Phone: One-click root
Laptop and Phone: load cwm update.zip to /sdcard
Phone: Reboot into recovery (green text)
Phone: Flash the update (install zip on sdcard)
Phone: Transfer TIBU backups to phone
Phone: Restore apps in TIBU (not system data), then GoLauncherEX
Phone: Add mods of choice (circle battery, for example)
Phone: Update with any JPY theme (for me - Serendipity)
Phone: Check to make sure I have the unthemed Swype, Black Gmail
(http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=911093), original email
Phone: Recreate look and feel
Phone: Go through settings, including advanced WIFI menu, ensuring I have them set as I want
My checklist
My Pre-Rom flash Backups checklist:
I do these activities in the late night, mostly on weekends as the phone goes off coverage in a few of those long running steps.
These can take long depending on your phone/laptop's horsepower.
My phone is already rooted. Some steps will not apply to not yet rooted phone. So one will need to first root it.
1. 2 separate full Nandroid BKPs; I use TWRP; Keep them both in Laptop and external HD.
2. Firefox tabs sync to Firefox on Laptop (Do something similar to other browsers.)
3. Contacts, Swype etc syncs, Whatsapp photos etc. Google contacts sync issues can be first fixed using 'Contacts sync fix' app.
Move 2-step verification code generator to a new device or have a copy of the backup codes ready for restoring into the new ROM.
4. ROM Tool Box 'backup phone data'
5. TIBU XML backup basic phone data like Call logs, SMS, contacts, settings. Same as RTB above.
6. TIBU full app backups (user app+data, System apps)
7. RTB full app backups (user app+data, System apps)
8. creating update.zip using RTB ZipMe or similar app
9. Finally, Internal/External card backups. Make sure they contain any/all of the above backups if done there.
(I do this with a few folders at a time, instead of bulk, all or none approach that mostly fails especially with the internal card which tends to be slowly copied from)
I sometimes send some of the smaller backups like XMLs to the cloud for ease of use later.
10. Everything above properly in place, I go ahead with the data wipes.
Related
Hi,
i'm slightly confused about the different backup applications available and i hope you guys could aid me =)
1. ClockworkMod Recovery: if we follow the steps in the ClockworkMod Recovery for Galaxy S i9000 post, will it back up the entire FW along with its custom roms, apps, contacts, sms etc?
so would that mean that i could reflash this backed up copy if the newer FW is not to my liking? alternatively is the apps and settings within transferable to new firmware?
2. Are there any apps that solely backups the sms, contacts, apps etc so that we can apply to the newly flashed FW? (so that we wont need to reinstall the entire applications etc, and also lose all the sms and settings). Eg titanium, or backup pro?
3. Lastly, alternatively is there anyway i could transfer these settings out from the phone prior to flashing? and subsequently reintroduce them back once flashing is complete.
Thanks for helping!
I would also like to know answers to these questions because I want to backup my ENTIRE phone (firmware+apps+sms+contacts+settings+...) if my phone ever gets broken so I could collect my warranty.
And if I flash to newest firmware I will not lose all my apps+sms+contacts+settings+... cause it would be a pain to reinstall all the apps and update all my contacts & settings.
currently i use mybackup pro
it backup my apps, contacts and SMS
but it doesn't restore my settings
i search a tool to restore the phone (without the firmware itself)
so when i flash a new firmware i only need to install that tool or run that tool (if it is a script for example) and it will restore all apps/settings/contacts/sms/images....
reply to above
same.. just like u guys... i was also looking for answers and help when i created this post.. hoping that someone could point us in the right direction =)
there are programs that can backup solely the SMS or call log, just search SMS backup or Call log backup and you will find it
for contacts, i use Kies; for app, i use Astro.... that's the programs i used when i flash my SGS from the original one to JP3
if you want full restore, go for Titanium, but hat requires root
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
CWM restores back your backup to its original settings, because it takes an image of your phone os. It is just like your disk image backup of your pc or notebook. Hence, this is useful when you don't like the custom roms you have just flashed.
Titanium Backup backups all your apps and settings, but the shortcoming of it is you will have to spend a little more time to relayout your homescreen and also tweak a little of your settings. For example, I used the Missed Call 0.9.2 and I did the backup cum settings. But I still need to tweak back the actual ringtones for those settings manually.
Most will say that CWM is better, but that is not necessary. Titanium Backup will be most useful when you have flashed a rom and found that you want to keep the new rom. Now, having TB to do your backup will be very much easier in this case.
The others like Mybackup Pro, backup sms, mms, those are found in the market. Kies is good if you want to keep your contacts in the phone (not SIM or Google)
Hope this explanation helps you guys.
Ok I keep seeing people sayiing to backup apps+data but be careful about system data. Well every time I do an upgrd to the new sre and restore my titbu and I am constantly having to redo my gmail stuff and isp email stuff. I have accounts checked in the backup section.
Can someone that does stuff like this regularly post like a nice simple howto with good steps as to what to check in titbu so that doing something in titbu doesn't bork something when we flash the new sre. Its getting old having to put my gmail info and isp info in every flash to get that stuff back.
So a 104 views and not one offer of help. Well guess I take that as noone knows much about titanium backup to help a poor soul
New to Android myself (2 days), and I am using TiBU as well (seems to be everyone's favorite for now). I had the same Q you did and basically went off the list on the developer's page for the app:
http://matrixrewriter.com/android/
Here is a partial copy/paste from that site so we keep the pertinent instructions here in this thread anyway:
Tips & Suggestions for using Titanium Backup:
When you start Titanium Backup on a new ROM, if you have any doubt about your busybox version, it is highly recommended that you click the "Problems?" button before doing any backup or restore !
Don't forget to verify your backups (Click MENU - Batch) to ensure that your backups are OK.
You need to reboot after restoring system items (eg: Contacts, SMS, Settings, etc) for the changes to take effect. If you backup/restore across very different ROMs, I advise to be cautious and only include the system items you really need to preserve.
You can easily create a custom apps list by creating a Label in Apps Organizer, then going back to Titanium Backup, clicking "MENU" and then "Filters" and finally, selecting the Label you want. Your apps list will then be filtered just the way you want
If you backup the same app several times, Titanium Backup will save SD card space by storing each apk version only once.
After restoring your apps, you can run the Market Doctor to verify their Market links. If Market Doctor reports everything as okay, yet your apps are still not listed in "My Downloads", try to search for them in the Market. If they show as "Installed", it confirms that the links are okay, but your Market needs a refresh: just install any app from the Market, and the "My Downloads" section will be refreshed !
If you want to remove a system app, first you can try to freeze it and see if everything still works fine. Once you've gained more confidence that you don't need it, just go ahead and un-install that system app.
How to make your first backup:
- Thanks seanowns / xda-developers
Verify that Titanium Backup has started without warning and that your busybox is OK
Click the Backup/Restore tab
Click Menu (the button), Batch
Click "Backup all user apps"
Let it run, then go back
Individually backup the system data you want. That is most green-colored items. This will be bookmarks, call log, calendar, launcher, WiFi, etc.
Now your backups are in the "TitaniumBackup" directory on your SD card.
How to restore your backups after installing a ROM (if you wiped your phone):
Download Titanium Backup from Market
Click the Backup/Restore tab
Click Menu (the button), Batch
Click "Restore all missing apps + system data
Reboot your phone
It's done ! The only thing you may have to adjust is usually your wallpaper/widgets.
i recently lost my nexus one but i had a backup folder for titanium backup in my pc
now i just bought a captivate and when i try to restore my msgs ,it says tht restore complete, it shows nohting ie no msgs are restored
when i c the backup , it shows the data is there and wht time it was backed up last
how can i restore my msgs now ?
they just dont show up
rom : cognition 4.1.1
kernel : speedmods
You won't be able to restore system settings/data. Only app data.
^
y is tht , cause its a new phone or wht ?
cause i used to restore alot with the n1 and my spica , and i think i transfered the msgs from 1 to the other btwn them
okay
if its cause if the different roms then can i do this ?
i had cyanogen rom on my nexus when i made tht backup
now if i put cm7 on the captivate , and restore the msgs
is there any software tht can help me restore the msgs on any other rom , after i shift from cm7 ??
PS - i have never really had to go to a different rom on the nexus 1 , i always had the cm rom , so dont know much
System data is specific to a particular phone and ROM. Restoring it, even if it is the same phone and ROM version, has been known to cause problems (app and/or system FCs). Since that backup was made on a different phone, the system aspect of it is useless and even some of your restored apps may not work.
It's actually because the location of the sms database is in a different spot on the galaxy s line, so I'm sure TB restored it to the same spot as on the N1, which is the wrong spot on the Galaxy S/Captivate. You can maybe try moving the database over yourself with adb, though I'd back up your current database first..
The sms/mms database on the nexus one is located at:
/data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
On the Galaxy S it is in:
/dbdata/databases/com.android.providers.telephony/mmssms.db
What you would want to do is take a backup of your mmssms.db in /dbdata/..., move your old n1 database over to /dbdata/... from /data/data/... (overwriting the existing one) and then restarting your phone.
Titanium Backup restore after ROM install
I am having restore issues and would appreciate some help.
I installed Cognition 4.1.1 on my Captivate. First time through I did Ti Backup "Backup all user apps + system data", moved the Titanium Backup directory to my PC, ran Odin to restore I897UCJF6, but then couldn't do a Master clear due to PC connection difficulties. I continued without a Master Clear and was eventually successful. I restored my apps after installation with TiB "Restore Missing Apps with Data".
Not doing a Master Clear was tormenting me so I did the installation all over again, this time without doing the TiB backup again as I still had the first backup folder on my PC. I found the phone number for the Master Clear and did that in lieu of Odin Master Clear. It all worked...but
...now when I copy my Titanium Backup folder from my PC back to my phone and open TiB, it doesn't see and backups. I have two files in my /mnt/sdcard/TitaniumBackup directory...
TitaniumBackup_latest.apk 1.82 MB, and
TitaniumBackup.apk 1.73 MB.
When I install TiB from the Market, it is version 3.7.4. The first file appears to be the 3.7.2 app and the second is the 3.6.8 app.
Hope I didn't leave anything out. WHERE'S MY STUFF???
Your TitaniumBackup folder shouldn't only have those two backups. Those are just the install files for the Titanium Backup app itself. It should typically have EVERY app/data file inside that folder. (I have 756 files in my TitaniumBackup folder).
Go to the folder copy you left on your computer and see if the files are still there... If not, you're in bad luck I'm afraid.
Ah! I looked around and indeed found the "real" location I had used. I was looking in the folder where I had downloaded the app. The real location has lots of files. I will try again. Thanks for your help.
Dear community,
today as a first step I have successfully rooted my Phone (Froyo 2.2.1) with CF-Root Kernel and Odin, yay! Thanks to all the Developers, Guides and Refs on this page!!
In order to fix my ongoing battery issues,next thing I want to try is to flash a new ROM; I think for stability and for practice the latest Froyo Build JS8! I have downloaded Titanium Backup and have successfully backed up all my system and user apps and settings.
Now when I flash the new ROM, the phone will be wiped, or at least the Wipe-method is recommended (hard-reset AFTER the flashing?).
Can I restore at least some settings and apps with my Titanium Backup Files (I read restoring system apps/settings is not recommended)?
How would I do that (where does Titanium save the backup files?)
How do you guys usually perform the steps to a new ROM without losing all system settings, apps, app-settings etc...?
Thanks for all recommendations!
I would recomend you, restore user apps only. It will restore your apps and their settings. You could do it in batch mode.
Also is recomended to copy your TitaniumBackup folder to PC
Last but not least, do not forget copy your EFS folder too.
Sent from my GT-P1000N using Tapatalk
jellygoos said:
Can I restore at least some settings and apps with my Titanium Backup Files (I read restoring system apps/settings is not recommended)?
How would I do that (where does Titanium save the backup files?)
How do you guys usually perform the steps to a new ROM without losing all system settings, apps, app-settings etc...?
Thanks for all recommendations!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Get titanium backup PRO.
2) Batch backup your whole system (while you're at it, create a schedule so your phone automatically gets backed up at least once/week). The files will go on your sd card in a TitaniumBackup folder (actually you can specify where they go).
3) Go and nuke your phone with whatever.
4) Re-install Titanium backup, then batch restore your USER apps & settings. Leave the system settings alone for now.
5) Okay for system settings, be a bit more selective:
6) Go to Backup/Restore tab, select menu, then filters, then apply a Filter by Type: System.
7) Anything in GREEN is system settings (red=system applications).
8) I typically restore the following: Contacts/Call-logs; SMS/MMS/APN; Bookmarks; SMS/MMS Preferences; Wifi Access Points; Calendar Storage (think that includes your alarm clock settings).
Note that you may need to reboot before you see the restore take effect - e.g. you can't see your restored sms till after reboot.
Also it's safest to grab a copy of your titanium backup folder and put it on your computer. Lookup how to get a copy of your /efs too.
Thanks for the swift answers and useful guides! Will buy the Titanium Pro for sure.
In the Pro Version it says it can convert System Apps into User Apps and vice versa. Couldn't I just convert all the System Apps into User Apps and then restore everything, once on new ROM?
About the freezing feature of the Pro Version: Does it freeze complete Apps, or can you tell them to freeze specific tasks? I noticed that for example some Google Maps or Latitude tasks run in the background (and start again by themselves if i close them manually) and I would like them to get out of the phone memory while I don't have the program running. Yet I want the apps to function properly once I need them.
P.S.: Before I proceed flashing a new ROM I will also look into backing up my /efs folder so thanks for pointing me at this!
Okay, I figured out how to backup the /efs folder via ADB shell.
Questions remain though concerning Titanium Backup Pro. Can someone that uss Titanium Pro help me with these questions?
In the Pro Version it says it can convert System Apps into User Apps and vice versa. Couldn't I just convert all the System Apps into User Apps and then restore everything, once on new ROM?
About the freezing feature of the Pro Version: Does it freeze complete Apps, or can you tell them to freeze specific tasks? I noticed that for example some Google Maps or Latitude tasks run in the background (and start again by themselves if i close them manually) and I would like them to get out of the phone memory while I don't have the program running. Yet I want the apps to function properly once I need them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jellygoos said:
In the Pro Version it says it can convert System Apps into User Apps and vice versa. Couldn't I just convert all the System Apps into User Apps and then restore everything, once on new ROM?
About the freezing feature of the Pro Version: Does it freeze complete Apps, or can you tell them to freeze specific tasks? I noticed that for example some Google Maps or Latitude tasks run in the background (and start again by themselves if i close them manually) and I would like them to get out of the phone memory while I don't have the program running. Yet I want the apps to function properly once I need them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could convert it technically. But generally it's not advised as it may mess up settings or so on a different ROM. I backed up my system stuff but I doubt I'll restore it on any ROM, the hassle isn't worth it if any issue shows up and you have to check everything out to fix it. Maybe some individual system thingies can be restored safely but keep in mind lots of system stuff changes on each ROM and could be incompatible.
Just like others did here, I also recommend the PRO version as you have to click every single restoration on a batch restoration otherwise (and it's probably slower anyway).
Freezing means just that, it freezes the app. It "deactivates it", so it's not there/usable but it's not uninstalled. Can't think of a scenario right now where this would be useful except for testing purposes, maybe if an app causes an issue and you want it to be gone temporarily or so.
If you don't want an app to continue running simply use the task manager to kill it which comes along with the SGS (Samsung app afaik, usually pre installed).
Btw Titanium has a nice wiki website which is really helpful but can't link it as a new user here. Google Titanium Backup wiki and the first link should be the correct one.
Correct me if I'm wrong but if you do a app+data restore the app doesnt show up in the market under installed which means that any updates to the app wont get rolled out.
What I did was install each of my apps from the market then did only a data restore. This worked for most of my apps BUT last night I noticed a few of my apps missing, in fact launching my angry birds from simi folder caused a FC. BUT I know that angry birds was working earlier in the day.
So I simply went back to the market and reinstalled and all seems well again.
So now I'm wondering what is the best method to restore, my method or maybe do a app+data restore then go to the market and install the app again.
Afaik, normally Titanium also backs up the links for the markets so the entries won't get lost and should be restored as well. There was an issue mentioned which can happen if that data gets corrupted. The Titanium wiki lists it.
Generally, installing the app from the market and then restoring it should work just fine.
Hi,
I recently went from stock rooted GB to ICS Stunner 1.4.19. Lots of things I liked, but I was used to certain functionalities from touch wizz, anyway here are my questions :
1 - I guess the keyboard with free hand writing recognition is a part of TW ? I was actually using that, any way I can retrieve such a functionality in ICS Stunner ?
2 - the backlight buttons always on or off is annoying, I read about it on the main ICS Stunner thread, I don't know if there's a satisfying solution to this ?
3 - FM radio not working, there's not workaround solution I guess ?
4 - I had a big battery draining problems, again didn't see any solution to this.
Then I tried ALBA because I was not sure I wanted to get rid of TW, and from this small experience of tryings different ROMS, the most annoying thing is to retrieve datas / configurations. I used titanium backup, but here are problems I encountered :
- I thought Google stored some configurations like my Wifi network key, but it doesn't or it didn't set it automatically.
- I realized (yea I'm newbie) some of my datas were on my Google account and some on my Samsung account (or locally on my phone ?). For example, I have some events on my S Calendar that are associated to my Samsung account, some to the Google one. My contacts are all on my Samsung account, because my google contacts has too many people (why does Google add so much people automatically to contacts I wonder). This makes it hard to retrieve all datas, on ALBAs for example I didn't find how I could retrieve my S Calendar / Samsung account datas.
- I used TB to restore only a few apps, with not much success : Kindle had lost it's settings, I had to reenter my account informations, download dictionaries again, etc. Opera mobile crashed when restored, so I downloaded, reentered link account informations. And I can't use TB to restore system stuff (because of different ROMS or different kernels, it's not clear to me).
So my question to all the ROM switcher that wipe their phone ten times a day, what is your best solution to : retrieve wifi configuration, APN configuration, contacts, sms, calendar stuff, etc ?
KSauzeRK said:
Hi,
....
1 - I guess the keyboard with free hand writing recognition is a part of TW ? I was actually using that, any way I can retrieve such a functionality in ICS Stunner ?
4 - I had a big battery draining problems, again didn't see any solution to this.
So my question to all the ROM switcher that wipe their phone ten times a day, what is your best solution to : retrieve wifi configuration, APN configuration, contacts, sms, calendar stuff, etc ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to 1: There is no easy way to get any Samsung stuff (like TW) running on an AOSP/AOKP ROM. Requires hacking with libraries and the like.
to 4: Try wipe all and reflash ROM again. If that does not help, wipe all again reflash chainfire-repack (I use always Mobile Odin for that), reflash ROM
to you last question: Backup everything ( user apps + system data) and copy it to your PC just in case (I do it with scp from my linux shell and SSHDroid on the Note). Don't restore plain all saved data, but you can restore selected system data (like wifi configuration, contacts ...).
That works fine for me, even when my contacts are saved on google and migrate back from there. You have to find the right items in Titanium for just contact data and such, but mostly on my Note they are colored green and called "Konten", "Kontakte/Anrufe" - but that's a german note. Restore only the data for these system items!
frabe8378910 said:
to 1: There is no easy way to get any Samsung stuff (like TW) running on an AOSP/AOKP ROM. Requires hacking with libraries and the like.
to 4: Try wipe all and reflash ROM again. If that does not help, wipe all again reflash chainfire-repack (I use always Mobile Odin for that), reflash ROM
to you last question: Backup everything ( user apps + system data) and copy it to your PC just in case (I do it with scp from my linux shell and SSHDroid on the Note). Don't restore plain all saved data, but you can restore selected system data (like wifi configuration, contacts ...).
That works fine for me, even when my contacts are saved on google and migrate back from there. You have to find the right items in Titanium for just contact data and such, but mostly on my Note they are colored green and called "Konten", "Kontakte/Anrufe" - but that's a german note. Restore only the data for these system items!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for answering frabe8378910 !
Too bad for the few S-apps I would have used. Also I'm not sure but I think different pressure for the pen is not supported in ICS stunner.
As for 4, I think I found the cause : there's a "multimedia" process showing in my battery stats , and I guess it runs especially when screen is off because sometimes I would loose several % of battery life when the GN was in sleep note for only a few minutes ! Well, I killed the process and battery consumption seems normal now.
Thanks a lot for the tip for saving contacts, I downloaded sshdroid, I'm on windows but I will use putty, though I'm not sure how it will handle permissions for the files when copied from GN to Windows and back to GN. Maybe I should stick to Titanium...You achieve saving all your datas through "manual" scp copy, or you also use an app like Titanium ?
KSauzeRK said:
Thanks for answering frabe8378910 !
Too bad for the few S-apps I would have used. Also I'm not sure but I think different pressure for the pen is not supported in ICS stunner.
As for 4, I think I found the cause : there's a "multimedia" process showing in my battery stats , and I guess it runs especially when screen is off because sometimes I would loose several % of battery life when the GN was in sleep note for only a few minutes ! Well, I killed the process and battery consumption seems normal now.
Thanks a lot for the tip for saving contacts, I downloaded sshdroid, I'm on windows but I will use putty, though I'm not sure how it will handle permissions for the files when copied from GN to Windows and back to GN. Maybe I should stick to Titanium...You achieve saving all your datas through "manual" scp copy, or you also use an app like Titanium ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use "Note Everything Pro" for drawings and such with the S-Pen. This works fine for some measure drawings before you drive to a "baumarkt" (google tell me it's an english word too ;-) to buy building materials and furniture.
Yes, I save ALL user apps + system data with Titanium and the copy the whole directory (see below) to my PC.
Concerning the permissions for the Titanium files:
- login via putty to your note
- "cd" to the base directory of Titanium backup folder
on my note Titanium would save to: /mnt/emmc/BACKUP/Titanium, so "cd /mnt/emmc/BACKUP"
- do a "tar cvf Titanium.tar Titanium" which will pack the whole Titanium directory with all files and owner/group/permissions to ONE tar-file.
- copy this file via scp (putty) to you PC. Done!
If you need to restore the Titanium file on the Note
- copy the file back to the right directory
- "cp" to it
- do "tar xvf Titanium.tar"
- and the directory Titanium with all files and permissions is ready to use!
I'm a bit familiar with unix/linux, should have thought about tar !
Thanks again for your help.