Database Develop

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.

Any way to *fix* a nandroid backup?

Hey guys, new here but I have been lurking for a while.
On Androidforums I have a longer thread detailing what I did, if you want details pm me, I can't post a link yet as I am a noob on this forum.
To make a long story short:
1. I had stock eclair, then rooted with "ryans oclf" and used the lagfix.
2. I decided to try a version of cognition (unhelpfuls kernal). So I backed up my current "rom" using rom managers (which was the stock kernal).
3. Realized that I didn't back anything up so I tried to revert to my backup.
4. relized that I didn't undo the lag fix, and because of this my stock eclair wouldn't restore via rom manger's update.zip file
5. was forced to get cognition running again
6. extraded the files from the .img nandroid bacups from my stock eclair (which is a PITA since the .img files aren't regular mountable .img files - took about an hour of searching)
7. Found the sql databases to restore my text messages and contacts from my stock eclair to this new cognition.
NOW, after a long intro, my question:
The .img files I extracted contained a file named linux.ex2. I assume that this file is where ryans oclf must have been storing the stuff that is causing the restore to fail (it actually completes, but never boots)
Is there any way I can manually repair this nandroid backup? I would like to so that I have a nandroid backup of my stock eclair rom.
BTW, I am pretty good at this kind of thing, but I am not a computer programmer.
I don't have a lot of background info directly related to andorid phones but I am learning quick. I am a Senior in electrical and computer engineering so I do have a light background in programming. luckily I knew enough about sql and command prompts and such to get as far as I did with recovering my contacts/text messages.
If what I want to do is possible I would love to give it a shot. Any help/tips/ideas from you guys would be awesome!
Thanks
-Chad

To me it sounds like your screwed. You did a double bummer.. (backup with LF on, restore a backup with LF ON on your already LF ON rom).
Will see if any other more experienced with backup can help you out, but my answer to you is to go stock and redo sorry.

yeah, well I am willing to try a few different things. I forgot to mention that right before I installed cognition the first time, I did remove the lag fix, I just undid the lagfix before I made the backup.
I have been using cognition for about a week now. I don't really mind it as it seems to work just fine, as It is in fact faster.
Last night after posting my post here I removed the voodoo lag fix and then I made a backup of my current installation of cognition.... So if I have any issues trying to do this I at least have a working/functioning cognition rom.
BTW: I have an unrelated question that is slightly related. If I have to use the odin one click restore at some point, does it clear my internal sd card as well? I see that it says it will clear user data, but doesn't specifically make a clear separation of the internal SD card on the captivate and the 2 gb they setup for the android partition.

A far faster method would be to Odin back to stock, root, then take a nandroid backup right away, then flash back to what ever rom you want. Time consuming, yes, but faster and easier than trying to mod a backup.

[Q] [HELP] Switching ROMs on the Captivate

I was curious to know if someone could provide me with a step my step method of changing ROMs on a rooted captivate. I'm currently running Firefly ROM and want to know how to switch ROMs without loosing my apps and the data stored in them (such as high scores on games and such).
I tried Titanium Backup but it seems to cause problems with the system phone app when i switch and do "backup all user apps and data -> restore all user apps and data".
Also when i try to use rom manager to create a backup...the backup crashes, goes to a samsung "Android System Recovery"....the up volume button moves my selection down and the down volume moves my selection up. The power button doesn't select anything. When I press the menu button, all the text disappears.
I just want a sound way of backing up ROMs and Apps (with their data) to easily switch between ROMs more freely and with security of mind.
Thanks, and please respond.

Best to ask this in the Q&A section, and check the stickies. Tons of good info up there.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=884364

Put the ROM on your sdcard
Boot to recovery
Choose the zip
Install
Reboot
Enjoy

Yes, please post questions in the Q&A section as mentioned above.
Also, disregard opcow's reply; he did not read your whole post and it does not apply to you. His method will wipe everything on your phone.
Most of the suggestions you'll get are TiBu (Titanium Backup). When you make a backup (I'm assuming you're doing a batch backup with TiBu Pro), only select User Apps. Don't select User Apps + System ... (don't remember what it's called). This way, you'll save your apps with their settings and info, but you will not back up your phone's settings, such as WiFi networks, GPS, etc.
Trust me though, because of the diverse way that ROMs handle things, you don't want to back up your system settings, otherwise you may run into issues such as those you mentioned before.
Another note: do not use ROM Manager!
It's a nice piece of software, but it doesn't work a lot of the time. This doesn't apply to your backups, you're just restoring the backups incorrectly, but regardless, don't use ROM Manager.
Anyway, to correctly apply a Nandroid Backup, you must have the same exact kernel and modem installed ATM on the phone that were present in the Nandroid Backup. For example:
Let's say you have XYZ ROM installed with SuckerPunch #47 kernel and the KP1 modem. Then you make a Nandroid backup of that ROM.
After that, you go and install ABC ROM with Speedmod kernel and JK4 modem. After a day of use, you want to restore your XYZ Nandroid backup.
In order to do this, you must install the SuckerPunch #47 kernel and the KP1 modem on top of the ABC ROM before you restore the Nandroid backup.
If you don't do this, you'll run into issues.
Hopefully that will fix your issue. I tend to steer clear of Nandroid backups because of all the issues that I've seen people have with them, but if you're looking to restore your phone to the exact state that you had it at one point, then a Nandroid backup is the way to go. Otherwise, use TiBu.
Also, before you backup or restore (the first thing you should do after you install TiBu) is to click on the button that says "Problems?". This will install a version of BusyBox that is known to work with TiBu. If you have a version that doesn't work correctly, then your backup or restore will not work correctly either.
Good luck!

Loggik said:
Also, disregard opcow's reply; he did not read your whole post and it does not apply to you. His method will wipe everything on your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right. I just read the first sentence. This question gets asked a lot and I just go into autopilot.
OP, It is true that my method will wipe your phone, but that's actually what you want unless you are going flashing a no-wipe upgrade, in which case my method would work just fine. But yes, generally your will want to back up with something like Titanium Backup. Backing up apps and data is fine, just don't restore system data and it shouldn't cause problems. I've done it at least 5 times in the last 2 days.
I would avoid nandroid backups. They aren't mostly useful after reverting to the ROM you were running when you made the backup, not for restoring apps.

Use MyBackup pro its more user friendly.

Thanks, a couple more follow ups.
Thank you very very much. Another quick follow up question.
My version of clockwork mod (v2.5.1.0 Speedmod ULFK) gives me the following options:
-Backup DATA: data + dbdata + cache
-Restore DATA
-Backup ALL
-Restore ALL (Be careful!)
....which 2 do i select to backup/restore a nandroid effectively. Based on your responses, ill most likely be doing TiBu, but just to better understand the architecture of the phone and the clockwork files i wanna know.
Also, is there a way i can change / upgrade the clockwork recovery version of my phone...whats the most recent version if i decide to do so?
Aside from this, Thank you to everyone who is helping me out with this issue. Much appreciated.

opcow said:
You're right. I just read the first sentence. This question gets asked a lot and I just go into autopilot.
OP, It is true that my method will wipe your phone, but that's actually what you want unless you are going flashing a no-wipe upgrade, in which case my method would work just fine. But yes, generally your will want to back up with something like Titanium Backup. Backing up apps and data is fine, just don't restore system data and it shouldn't cause problems. I've done it at least 5 times in the last 2 days.
I would avoid nandroid backups. They aren't mostly useful after reverting to the ROM you were running when you made the backup, not for restoring apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you know if there is a way to restore apps using Titanium Backup without having to manually click through and accept each and every app?

killswitch7 said:
Do you know if there is a way to restore apps using Titanium Backup without having to manually click through and accept each and every app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Buy the pro version. If you flash allot it is a must

killswitch7 said:
Do you know if there is a way to restore apps using Titanium Backup without having to manually click through and accept each and every app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like the above post says, buy Titanium Backup Pro; it's worth it, and it features the Batch Mode, which allows for what you're asking.
Ompalompa287 said:
....which 2 do i select to backup/restore a nandroid effectively. Based on your responses, ill most likely be doing TiBu, but just to better understand the architecture of the phone and the clockwork files i wanna know.
Also, is there a way i can change / upgrade the clockwork recovery version of my phone...whats the most recent version if i decide to do so?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For a full on Nandroid Backup, select Backup All... and obviously Restore All... when the time comes that you need to restore your backup. But like opcow said, it's best to stay away from Nandroid backups... they can get messy
dingokevin said:
Use MyBackup pro its more user friendly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cannot agree. It may look more user friendly, but it has a lot less support. I've never even heard of it, whereas TiBu has almost every feature you could want. Plus, look at it this way:
Linux is in no way easier to use than Windows or OS X (though OS X is based off of Linux, but disregarding that...). However, it can do a TON more than Windows or OS X, but you just need to get used to it. Same with TiBu v.s. MyBackup Pro (or w/e it's called).
opcow said:
You're right. I just read the first sentence. This question gets asked a lot and I just go into autopilot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know how you feel

thank you all!

Flashing over a rom?

So im wondering, what is the standard practise, or based on your own experiences. What is the best way to flash over an existing rom using CWM? What do you do to prepare the fone for new rom, wipe user data, dalvik cache, before or after flashing. Just trying to get a good idea of how to do it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

going from rom to rom:
put rom.zip on /sdcard/
reboot to recovery
install zip from sdcard
point to rom.zip
flash
reboot
any rom that has been properly done will wipe user data and dalvik cache for you. no need to do it manually

i always flash back to eclair and master clear with odin one click to make sure all files from previous roms are gone then CWM flash new ROM

Pirateghost said:
going from rom to rom:
put rom.zip on /sdcard/
reboot to recovery
install zip from sdcard
point to rom.zip
flash
reboot
any rom that has been properly done will wipe user data and dalvik cache for you. no need to do it manually
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Except I do clear the caches manually, but that's just because I have OCD.

CremeFraiche said:
i always flash back to eclair and master clear with odin one click to make sure all files from previous roms are gone then CWM flash new ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lets look at the master clear function shall we?
when you flash to stock...your entire / is stock (RFS, eclair 2.1, /data /system, etc)
essentially, you have just reformatted your root, think of it like formatting your C drive and your sdcard is like a secondary internal drive that contains storage
master clear at this point will only delete items off your /sdcard
roms dont care about your /sdcard, master clear is worthless when you are stock
there was a time where it was necessary to flash to stock to reset the filesystem and then flash the rom. it has not been needed in months, but it continues to get preached as gospel.
even flashing to stock isnt necessary unless you are trying to come from CM7 or MIUI....or if something goes horribly wrong

Thx for info guys, I have flashed a few times and it seemed like now and then my fone must became bogged down and needed to be fully wiped, sound didnt work or lagfix folders bunch of text docs, just seemed cluttered. So if wanted to really clear out junk what would be a good way without having to flash back to stock?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Just flash. If you have a problem then back to stock Ans a MC. I have flashed hundreds of time back to stock once.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App

Pirateghost said:
lets look at the master clear function shall we?
when you flash to stock...your entire / is stock (RFS, eclair 2.1, /data /system, etc)
essentially, you have just reformatted your root, think of it like formatting your C drive and your sdcard is like a secondary internal drive that contains storage
master clear at this point will only delete items off your /sdcard
roms dont care about your /sdcard, master clear is worthless when you are stock
there was a time where it was necessary to flash to stock to reset the filesystem and then flash the rom. it has not been needed in months, but it continues to get preached as gospel.
even flashing to stock isnt necessary unless you are trying to come from CM7 or MIUI....or if something goes horribly wrong
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would definitely agree. I have also seen people say to disable lagfix before flashing. I have not done that either and never had any problem.

Would just like to amend the advice already given with the following:
Pre-flashing:
1. Titanium Backup of apps and data
2. Nandroid backup in case something goes boom.
Post-flashing (assuming success):
TB restore of user apps/data only. NEVER RESTORE SYSTEM FILES.
They may not apply to some people, but I feel those are necessary steps for anyone that actually uses their phone daily.

modest_mandroid said:
Would just like to amend the advice already given with the following:
Pre-flashing:
1. Titanium Backup of apps and data
2. Nandroid backup in case something goes boom.
Post-flashing (assuming success):
TB restore of user apps/data only. NEVER RESTORE SYSTEM FILES.
They may not apply to some people, but I feel those are necessary steps for anyone that actually uses their phone daily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why not restore system files? Does this apply if coming from flashing back to stock first, or just flashing from one rom to another?
Glad to hear the advice about not flashing back to stock, that's been one of the major reasons I haven't flashed quite as many rom's as I want, too time consuming.........not to say that i'm not flashing a couple rom's a week, but there's just so many options to try

neophile said:
why not restore system files? Does this apply if coming from flashing back to stock first, or just flashing from one rom to another?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Making "search" a standard practice would be very helpful.
Restoring system is known to mess up ROMs in all cases. Though may not be mandatory, but make it a standard practice to flash stock. Takes hardly 10 mins, and helps save big headaches later.

neophile said:
why not restore system files? Does this apply if coming from flashing back to stock first, or just flashing from one rom to another?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Incompatibilities across rom versions, mostly. As the guy above me said, restoring system files tends to mess up a rom because you are overwriting part of it with files from a different rom.
There is one caveat, however. If you're flashing back to a rom you originally performed the backup on, you can safely restore system files. For example, if you were running Cog 4.3 and did a full TB backup, then decided to flash Serendipity 6.3, you would want to restore only your user apps and user data. However, if you decided to flash back to Cog 4.3 at some point, you could do a full TB restore without worrying about incompatibilities.

I agree with everyone else. Flashing over another rom seldom causes issues. I make s nandroid backup of my favorite rom with everything setup the way i like it. then flash away trying different roms. When i am done, i just restore my backup and all is good!

I have done a search, couldn't find the specific answer I needed, hence my asking. Could be I wasn't phrasing the search correctly......but here I am.....
To clarify, what do you dpo to get your system settings back after flashing a new rom? I flashed to serendipty 6.4 last night, as per the advice, I didn't restore system files, just apps and data, but that didn't work so well for me. I lost my data connection, could only use my wifi, and had no contacts, or any sms msgs. I don't know what else was missing, but I then went and restored system files, everything came back as needed, and there seems to be no issue......
How do I get my info setting back, or do I just need to manually re-set everything after flashing? Apart from wireless info, msgs and contacts, what else do you lose by not restoring?
Appreciate your help

havent flashed a new rom in a while and forgot if anything extra was needed when flashing a rom over a rom
thx!

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)?