Database Develop

Nandroid: What Gets Restored?

Okay. I make regular Nandroid backups. I also brick my phone a lot since I like to play. I don't mind since I simple wipe and reload. However, last night I decided that I was going to try and put my many Nandroid backups to good use. The reason I haven't done so until now was that the process seemed too cumbersome and detailed. I always found it more straightforward, albeit more time consuming, to just reinstall my apps and change all my settings manually. It actually is surprisingly quick when you get used to it. Anyway, after quite some time, I finally managed to successfully configure and flash one of my Nandroid backups using the NNADROID Recovery GUI tool from this forum. To my surprise, it didn't seem to do much. I am not sure what was supposed to happen. I always assumed that all my settings and customizations would be there. While I didn't think my apps would (the Nandroid backup was too small to hold my files) I thought my app settings would and when I reinstalled an app it would contain all my settings. Nothing.
So my big question, after that lengthy background, is what exactly gets restored when you flash a Nandroid backup to your phone? Perhaps I am missing something. After an exhaustive search through these forums, all I've come up with was that Nandroid does a "complete restore" of your phone but no explanation of what that means. Perhaps I missed the post (for all you expert posters, I really look before I ask a question as this is my first ever question on a forum) that explains it. Perhaps one has never been written. Either way, can someone either point me in the right direction or explain what it is I am missing? I think it would benefit people who are new to the process. Personally, I am okay with my "system" however poor it may be. It works. But if there is an easier, more efficient method, I'm all ears.
Thanks.

Everything in the /system and /data I believe. YOu get back all contacts, SMS, app data..etc. IT DOES NOT backup your apps! or anything on your ext partition

I have /data/app, /data/data, /data/dalvik-cache moved to my SD card on an ext2 partition. From what you suggested, that will not be backed up. Is that correct?
I don't need apps restored. I also don't see the value in backing up contacts since this is done via sync anyway. I also use Backup for Root Users (BRU) which does a backup of my settings as well as SMS messages (I have about half a dozen apps to back up SMS messages and I don't really care that much about them). BRU backs up Alarms, Settings, Bookmarks, Shortcuts, Playlists, Data, SMS, Dictionary, Market DB, APN, Contacts/Calls and APKs. Not sure what else I need.
Also, the app data that was restored via Nandroid didn't seem to help me as the settings were not there when I reinstalled apps. It appears that Nandroid is less useful than it appears to be. With my "manual" method, I can essentially restore just about everything inside of 30 minutes, including apps (I use ADB to bulk install). So I am not exactly sure how I would benefit from Nandroid. There has to be something more that I am missing since the forum speaks of Nandroid like the Holy Grail.

It's just way more efficient. A click of two buttons and you have a stable ready to go backup of your entire phone minus anything on your ext partition. So you can easily switch between lets say..cyanogen and thedude's builds without having to wipe and flash or just plain flash.

While that sounds amazing, I am not sure what use it is without my ext partition. All my apps are on the partition and the Nandroid restore doesn't read them. I am assuming without the apps on SD it would be a very good thing. But it seems kind of useless otherwise. I don't want to drive everyone crazy especially since I am find with how I restore. I am just very interested in fully understanding the reasoning which doesn't seem to be coming through in your explanation. My Nandroid restore, which went smoothly, was completely useless to me.

Most people love the idea of an instant restore without hassle. It's useful you'll realize that sooner or later.
(Off topic: Fellow Brooklyner, *high five*) lol

Go Brooklyn. Damn straight.
I would LOVE to realize its usefulness. It takes two second to do a backup and about a minute to restore it. PLEASE explain what makes it so good. Someone needs to write up a detailed explanation of what it does and what gets restored. After my restore I basically has to redo all my settings anyway since the apps are on the SD. Not seeing it. I guess I'll just have to play some more to figure it out. I will have to wait until I brick my phone again (which should happen soon enough, LOL) to find out.

aaronratner said:
Go Brooklyn. Damn straight.
I would LOVE to realize its usefulness. It takes two second to do a backup and about a minute to restore it. PLEASE explain what makes it so good. Someone needs to write up a detailed explanation of what it does and what gets restored. After my restore I basically has to redo all my settings anyway since the apps are on the SD. Not seeing it. I guess I'll just have to play some more to figure it out. I will have to wait until I brick my phone again (which should happen soon enough, LOL) to find out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=459830&highlight=infernix You can look at that. Entire thread on nandroid. Honestly whether you think its useful or not is based on personal preference. It's possible to backup the ext partition by just doing a simple "adb pull /system/sd" and a simple "adb pull /data/data" will backup all your app data but nandroid is just more efficient. Read through the first couple of pages and last couple of pages in that thread and you'll have a better understanding of why we consider it our holy grail. Cheers

Since you say Nandroid doesn't back-up apps. but Back-up for Root users does then would the apps. that I back-up using BRU show as installed in Market/My downloads if I wipe?, or would I have to redownload them from Market...the reason why I ask this is because I paid for two apps. on my old Gmail account and was able to switch them to my new one but I'll lose them or basically have to buy them again if I wipe.

I use ASTRO to back up my apps. I don't think it shows up in the Market unless you backup Market data. I use aTrackDog to track updates to my files. When I reinstall apps, I do it via ADB or a file manager like ASTRO or Linda. I have the APKs backed up (even the paid ones, go ROOT!). The Market seems very forgetful when you wipe. I have to do another build anyway since my phone just crashed. Which brings me to an off topic question regarding apps to SD for which I will open a new thread. My phone keeps crashing and I think it's my apps to SD method.

_Kyros_ said:
Since you say Nandroid doesn't back-up apps. but Back-up for Root users does then would the apps. that I back-up using BRU show as installed in Market/My downloads if I wipe?, or would I have to redownload them from Market...the reason why I ask this is because I paid for two apps. on my old Gmail account and was able to switch them to my new one but I'll lose them or basically have to buy them again if I wipe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The purchased apps will stay but any free apps will not, unless you backup and push your market.db back

You can backup your market.db. Backup for Root Users lets you do this

alritewhadeva said:
The purchased apps will stay but any free apps will not, unless you backup and push your market.db back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know the purchased apps will stay but the problem is I didn't purchase them from the Gmail account that I'm on now I purchased them from my original Gmail account so if I wipe they might still show up in Market/My downloads but I'll have to purchase them again so that's why I asked if you use BRU will they reinstalled them and show in Market/My download as installed or will I have to reinstall them myself from Market/My download if they show up?

If you install them using BRU they won't show on market under my downloads

I saw this and looked because I've wondered myself. I recently managed my first backup restoration and it took a few tries. To combat the losing apps on your ext partition I found (yes, through hours of research ... honest) the easiest solution is to use one card for one firmware and switch cards if I want to flash or use another. That way I have all the apps for that particular firmware. It isn't the ideal solution but cards are cheap enough to do it.

Like the solution, sort of
Dyonas, I like your solution. By keeping two SD cards it solves a lot of issues. However, so far I have not been given a detailed response of what exactly happens with a Nandroid backup. Let's assume that I have two identical SD cards with identical partitions and something goes wrong when I do something with the phone. If I do a Nadroid restore and put in the "stable" SD card (remember, for arguments sake, they are identical in every which way minus the last minute corruption), would that essentially restore it to like new? If I didn't have identical SD cards, what exactly would be restored (I understand apps do not get restored)?
Again, I am fine with my method of restoring but I think this would be a tremendous help for the community as a whole if someone could actually say what it is that happens with the restore. I will continue with my nightly Nandroid backups just in case I need them (which has happened once). But simply saying Nandroid is "amazing" or a "must" doesn't explain anything.
Thanks all.

aaronratner said:
Dyonas, I like your solution. By keeping two SD cards it solves a lot of issues. However, so far I have not been given a detailed response of what exactly happens with a Nandroid backup. Let's assume that I have two identical SD cards with identical partitions and something goes wrong when I do something with the phone. If I do a Nadroid restore and put in the "stable" SD card (remember, for arguments sake, they are identical in every which way minus the last minute corruption), would that essentially restore it to like new? If I didn't have identical SD cards, what exactly would be restored (I understand apps do not get restored)?
Again, I am fine with my method of restoring but I think this would be a tremendous help for the community as a whole if someone could actually say what it is that happens with the restore. I will continue with my nightly Nandroid backups just in case I need them (which has happened once). But simply saying Nandroid is "amazing" or a "must" doesn't explain anything.
Thanks all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nandroid backups are stored onto your sdcard. They don't change anything on your phone. The backup stays there until you want to use it. When you do use it to restore it restores you're phone to the exact way it was when you did the backup. It doesn't matter where the nandroid backup is unless you are using cyanogen's 1.4 image and are recovering from the recovery menu. In that case you would have to move the nandroid folder to your other sdcard. Hope I answered your question Look in dream android development for the switchrom.sh script. Backups everything included ext partition and you can easily restore it from recovery console.

Tells the how, but not the what [SOLVED]
I fully understand how to backup and restore. But you said what everybody else use saying that it restores your phone to the way it was when you backed up the phone. But what exactly is restored is the question. Data? Cache? Apps? Settings? Etc. I know apps seen't but is the app data. The one nandroid restore that I performed did not seem to help me much in terms of my settings and app data. However, I have my methods using several programs and will continue my nightly nandroid backups until I figure it all out. Thanks. I will mark this as solved. If someone cares to write a detailed post on this they can just start a new thread.

aaronratner said:
I fully understand how to backup and restore. But you said what everybody else use saying that it restores your phone to the way it was when you backed up the phone. But what exactly is restored is the question. Data? Cache? Apps? Settings? Etc. I know apps seen't but is the app data. The one nandroid restore that I performed did not seem to help me much in terms of my settings and app data. However, I have my methods using several programs and will continue my nightly nandroid backups until I figure it all out. Thanks. I will mark this as solved. If someone cares to write a detailed post on this they can just start a new thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EVERYTHING except apps. App data, everything on your /system. Everything except apps. Your app data won't restore unless the apps are already installed. It's that simple. Don't know why its so hard to understand.

[SOLVED]
Okay. That makes sense. I was wondering why my app data wasn't restored after a restore. But according to what you said the app needs to be installed first (which doesn't make too much sense). All I know is that I did a nandroid restore and it did not restore some of my settings which were definitely in the backup. It's no big deal. I will run a few restores to test for myself. I just didn't like the answer that every kept giving which was "everything" which explains nothing. But i am pretty sure I understand it now and one or two restores should give me a complete picture.

Newb experience with CM 5.0.7 on G1

Howdy folks,
First of all, thanks to Cyanogen for 5.0.7!
After running out of patience on the the hope that TMo would come out with a new phone to compete with the Droid, Incredible, Evo, etc, I decided to root my G1. I wanted 2.1 and A2SD because I would love to buy more apps from the Market, but my G1 just didn't have the damn space... until now.
So I rooted my G1 using the Amon Ra recovery and CM 5.0.7.
After I rooted, I installed the latest radio (2.22.32.02), flashed Danger SPL, rebooted, flashed CM 5.0.7 and flashed GApps. I didn't do any wipes since I had never rooted my phone.
When the phone booted, the apps did not show up. So I went back to to recovery, did a wipe and flashed GApps first, then flashed CM 5.0.7 and rebooted. Everything works great. Runs fast.
I took the advice of a friend and installed SetCPU (paid for it) and Auto Memory Manager. I've noticed that my battery doesn't charge as quickly and that there is some noticeable lag on the phone. I had my phone plugged in all night last night and the phone wasn't fully charged. I finally uninstalled SetCPU and the phone is charging properly again. Also, the phone is snappier.
My questions:
1) Did I do something wrong by flashing GApps before the CM Rom? Do I need to do it over again even though my phone is working properly?
2) Now that my phone is working properly, do I need to create a backup/recovery?
3) After having successfully flashed CM 5.0.7, do I need to Wipe anything (ie ext 2, ext 3)? During the root process, I created a 96mb and 512mb partitions. From my understanding, the CM Rom occupies the 96mb ext and the 512mb ext is for A2SD. Why does the phone only show 457mb of space? I thought it should be 512mb.
4) I backed up all the data on my SD card onto my PC before formatting it during the root process. How do I restore all my apps and such so that everything works like it did before rooting?
Thanks for any help. Will be donating to Cyanogen
gerald

1.Your fine, as long as you flashed them and they show up your good.
2. If you want, and it definitely can't hurt. It doesn't look like you will be doing too many crazy hacks to it since your still a beginner. It's also better to make a stable rom be your backup instead of experimental one.
3. No idea, try a repartition if you get any problems, but don't mess with it if it ain't brocken lol.
4. How did you backup your data? Did you use a backup app from the market? If so, download the app you used and put all the files from your pc back onto your memory card. Then, hit the "restore" option.
Welcome to XDA! Here is a mod for a black notification bar by cloverdale that I prefer to the plain white one. Flash from recovery if you like.

Thanks for the reply.
#3. I didn't use a backup app. I just copied everything onto my hdd. Am I SOL since I didn't use a backup app and just have to reinstall everything manually?

So your phone stores its apps on INTERNAL, and you copied files from your SD(EXTERNAL) stop and think for a minute if your apps are on A and you copied B, your apps are gone.

ionic7 said:
So your phone stores its apps on INTERNAL, and you copied files from your SD(EXTERNAL) stop and think for a minute if your apps are on A and you copied B, your apps are gone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I messed up. What I wanted to say is that some of the apps that I had installed on my phone also had data/database files associated to it that it saved on the SD card (ie Aldiko, OI Notes, etc) Is there a way to re-associate those once I reinstall those programs? I re-installed Aldiko and it would not read the library db file so I had to re-download the books. I should have used a backup app. Well, live and learn. I'm going to re-install OI Notes and OI Shopping and transfer those files over to see.
Update: Well, looks like it didn't work. OI Notes and OI Shopping doesn't read the files I had created before rooting. Should have use a backup program.
Which is better: Titanium or Mybackup Pro?

fresh clean install???

ive been running CM for quite some time, and ive always flashed over the recent versions without any major issues, but over time ive got many, many files that have been created and abandoned on my SD-Card and felt that it is getting close to a time for a fresh start... my biggest issue is how to 'document' all of my installed apps so i make sure they all get re-installed after a total wipe of the phone and sd-card.
im not really concerned about and game status as long as i atleast get the game back (most are free from the market)
i used ta use titanium, but had issues with restoring files and it over writing something and soething else breaks, so i havent used that in a long time (maybe something i should look back into?)
im looking for suggestions here, if i wanted to wipe my entire phone, and start clean, but wanted to make sure i got atleast all my programs back, what would you suggest?
Steps:
1. full system backup, and full SD-Card copy
2. ???
currently useing RA 2.0
radio 5.08
CM 6.1 RC1
ive only got 24mb left of internal space, but everything possible has been moved to SD card... should i start looking into apps2SD card mod from dark?

download appbrain and sync your file list.

You'll have better luck with Titanium Backup if you prevent it from trying to restore system apps or data. Go to the backup/restore tab, tap the bit to edit filters, and filter to show only user data and application. Then do your batch restore.

+1 for Titanium Backup and the batch makes it simple!

[Q] Trouble with "My backup pro"

I would like to restore my applications off of some backup files created by my backup pro, my issue is that I cannot restore them because it says that SD is either full or to disconnect from PC and make sure that the SD is mounted correctly.
If anyone has any alternate methods of restoring APK and data files or help they can provide that will be greatly appreciated. I will be searching the forums until then.
I installed .APK files but would like to restore all data as well, I copied all files from phone to PC can I just drag and drop data and all should be good?
I have SGS Captivate rooted with Corn Kernel v7.06

Dunno about my backup...the must popular app for restoring is titanium backup.

studacris said:
Dunno about my backup...the must popular app for restoring is titanium backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Too late I already paid for it *goes into other room* *Gunshot sound*
Thanks anyway for the tip

H4MM3R311 said:
Too late I already paid for it *goes into other room* *Gunshot sound*
Thanks anyway for the tip
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might have to suck it up and buy tibu add well. I had bought system tuner pro (which is good) after getting on here I realized that I should get tibu.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda premium

That means there is a problem with your sd card. The error message isn't very detailed, but that's what it is, short of your sd card being full.
The program needs cache space to unzip the backup and such.
I have used my backup pro over tibu and wouldn't change that. My backup pro freezes apps, backs up apks and data either separately or in one shot and also backs up favs,mms/sms, calendar, etc....
The only thing I use tibu for is to remove system apps.
Sent from the past from my touch screen commodore 64.

a_fuegon said:
That means there is a problem with your sd card. The error message isn't very detailed, but that's what it is, short of your sd card being full.
The program needs cache space to unzip the backup and such.
I have used my backup pro over tibu and wouldn't change that. My backup pro freezes apps, backs up apks and data either separately or in one shot and also backs up favs,mms/sms, calendar, etc....
The only thing I use tibu for is to remove system apps.
Sent from the past from my touch screen commodore 64.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for all of your responses, much appreciated. If that is the case "there is a problem with your sd card" then how am I to test that theory? like how can I figure out if there is something wrong with my SD and by SD you mean my external SD??

a_fuegon said:
That means there is a problem with your sd card. The error message isn't very detailed, but that's what it is, short of your sd card being full.
The program needs cache space to unzip the backup and such.
I have used my backup pro over tibu and wouldn't change that. My backup pro freezes apps, backs up apks and data either separately or in one shot and also backs up favs,mms/sms, calendar, etc....
The only thing I use tibu for is to remove system apps.
Sent from the past from my touch screen commodore 64.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TiBu will do that too. Plus wifi connections, bt pairings, move apps to sd, or vice versa. And do it quicker than My Backup.

mrhaley30705 said:
TiBu will do that too. Plus wifi connections, bt pairings, move apps to sd, or vice versa. And do it quicker than My Backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I'm going to buy it, thank you.
If you or anyone can help me on this other thread on another subject I would be greatful, thanks. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=23008889#post23008889

H4MM3R311 said:
Yeah I'm going to buy it, thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both Titanium Backup and My Backup have free versions (as do many apps). Try the free versions first before jumping in with the paid version. I don't have problems with My Backup (I use the Root version).

Wakamatsu said:
Both Titanium Backup and My Backup have free versions (as do many apps). Try the free versions first before jumping in with the paid version. I don't have problems with My Backup (I use the Root version).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, titanium does offer a free version. However in order to unlock its true power, you need the paid version. My Backup Root is pretty good. I used to use it before i bought TiBu. Buy TiBu is,imo, the better of the two.

mrhaley30705 said:
True, titanium does offer a free version. However in order to unlock its true power, you need the paid version. My Backup Root is pretty good. I used to use it before i bought TiBu. Buy TiBu is,imo, the better of the two.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah huge difference, I bought it. although for people with little or no experience with android my backup is just fine.

hallo all, don't know if someone is reading that, but i have a problem with mybackupro 4.0.2
after restart i loose my data , that i restored with mybackup pro before. When i restore data and simply go back, the data are restored ... but after reboot all the data is gone and the apps are in factory mode

[Q] how to change fast a New Rom?

change a new Rom with the best performance means:
full wipe (cashe,data,preload,system)
also not restore app (at least app data) from titanium backup.
so, install all app again and make setup for all
guys, how do you this? I have already xxlsz a mounth installed, everything is working, but I know, new rom could be better.
otherwise I am tired of restoring...
sometimes I am thinking I could be happy with a iphone so simply

Bonumy said:
change a new Rom with the best performance means:
full wipe (cashe,data,preload,system)
also not restore app (at least app data) from titanium backup.
so, install all app again and make setup for all
guys, how do you this? I have already xxlsz a mounth installed, everything is working, but I know, new rom could be better.
otherwise I am tired of restoring...
sometimes I am thinking I could be happy with a iphone so simply
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you been downloading all of your apps every time you flash a new ROM ?
You can restore user apps and data.
Just don't restore any system app/data
Got it?

for me the RomCustomizer by ficeto is great app for restoring, backuping, uninstalling apps, and I never restore any data. If the app which I use have option to save/restore settings I do that (and this kind of data is usualy saved on internal sd) same thing is for gps navigation programs (maps are always saved on internal sd)
so after flashing new rom, first thing is installing rom customzer, then restoring user and also some system apps (I do backup of some system apps which is updated, it saves my time from updating via playstore)
and thats it, new rom is set up in about 30min
this way I dont have any problems with any rom and any app I used
hope it helped to someone

till now I just have restored some user app+data from titanium, some download again from market. never restore system app or data.
once I have deleted my internal card and download all app again cuz some people had problem with performance of that rom and this want recommend. also I wanted a bit clean my phone.
ok, now I am confuse. it's safe restore user data or better just save data if the app has this in option and then restore?
thanks guys.

Bonumy said:
till now I just have restored some user app+data from titanium, some download again from market. never restore system app or data.
once I have deleted my internal card and download all app again cuz some people had problem with performance of that rom and this want recommend. also I wanted a bit clean my phone.
ok, now I am confuse. it's safe restore user data or better just save data if the app has this in option and then restore?
thanks guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both are safe. The latter method requires you to individually restore data while in the former you can batch restore data. Which one you want to use is up to you.

so for the best performance of a new ROM is NOT nesesary format internal card and NOT restore app+data ?
Make ROM CUSTOMIZER backup of app with or without data? (I didnt find this option like in Titanium Backup).