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.

Cant wipe all data with factory reset or Odin 1 click!!! HELP

Hi, Im trying to exchange my phone and Im having issues with getting the phone bone stock. I used odin 1 click, did a factory data reset, and all my pictures, app folders and various other things are still on the internal SD card. I was using titanium backup, I think thats the cause (not sure though)
I also just flashed JH3, super rooter, and the OC kernel. But as far as I can tell, those are back to factory. I just cant wipe all my data and I dont know if doing it manually will clear up everything.
Suggestions/questions? Thanks!

I even tried the master clear. I can still see files for shootme, sl4a, clockworkmod, update.zip's, and tons of other folders including busybox

Did you try connecting your phone to your computer, mounting the sd card, then open the driver than your sd card is on and manually delete the files that way? You can move the titanium back up to an external sd card and see if that helps.
Go to Titanium Backup support and shoot them a pm, they got back to me within a day when I had questions if you think it's related to that.

Rhiannon224 said:
Did you try connecting your phone to your computer, mounting the sd card, then open the driver than your sd card is on and manually delete the files that way? You can move the titanium back up to an external sd card and see if that helps.
Go to Titanium Backup support and shoot them a pm, they got back to me within a day when I had questions if you think it's related to that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can do that, But what Im worried about is all the application data (including data for apps that require root) wont be deleted. Im not sure exactly what I would have to do to remove that as well. I wanted to leave it there, so that if I did manage to wipe it, Id know for sure everything was gone.
Ill also try sending them a message. Is it on that forum site they link to? Its not very clear as to how to contact them

commander2k said:
I can do that, But what Im worried about is all the application data (including data for apps that require root) wont be deleted. Im not sure exactly what I would have to do to remove that as well. I wanted to leave it there, so that if I did manage to wipe it, Id know for sure everything was gone.
Ill also try sending them a message. Is it on that forum site they link to? Its not very clear as to how to contact them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.legendroid.com/titanium-backup-official-support/
I pm'd Shazd, I have the pro donated version so I had everything backed up, moved the folder for Titanium Backup and the folder for Titanium license to my exteral card. Then I flashed with Odin to stock and swapped my phone for a new one. Then I put the sd card in the new phone, connected to my computer and moved the files to the internal sd, installed Titanium from the market and when it installed my entire backup was there, settings, apps, and data were all there. I did a restore and everything was just as my old phone. Then I installed Unleash The Beast, the cool battery indicator, thanks to Designgears and the rest is history. When I flashed with Odin, all evidence of root were gone. AT&T didn't even check the phone, all I said was random shutdowns and a crack in the screen and they swapped it.

I have the paid donate version as well. I mean, I have the backup saved to my microsd and on my computer, Its just weird, I mean for some reason its not wiping. Im literally trying everything. I had a backup with clockwork mod and I re-rooted with 1 click root so that I could run that... It may be super rooter, Im starting to think thats more the case. But I really am just stumped

I flashed with Odin3 one click, maybe that's the difference. What did you use exactly?

Rhiannon224 said:
I flashed with Odin3 one click, maybe that's the difference. What did you use exactly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both versions lol. 1-click and version 1.0 or whatever by flashing the stock firmware Jh6 from samsung-firmwares.com. I even tried a factory data reset
It may just be files in my internal SD card themselves that arent being deleted... but Im not really sure

It didn't wipe all of my info when I did master clear and then doing the one click wipe. I'm bit sure why it wouldn't either but it did remove most of what I wanted gone.
Sweet life

Huh... Well I did a bunch of clear cache things, wiped my internal sd, and went throught my phone with root explorer and deleted whatever else I found. Wow that was a huge hassle

I think the best thing to do in the future is clear all user data through clockwork, then use odin for master clear then odin start to do it all. It is a hassle that's for sure.

The SD cards (internal and external) are not cleared with a full system wipe. When you delete all data through a system clear, it deletes everything stored internally to apps - in the phone memory where apps are installed.
Although the internal SD card is not really an SD card, the system treats it as an SD card. You can unmount both internal and external SD cards and then format them - that will wipe all data. Follow that with a system reset or Odin 1 click recovery and everything on your phone is factory new.
The phone is behaving as designed.

where do i put the BOOTSTRAP.APK. what folder?

where does bootstrap.apk go
finally managed to root the 5.7
everytime I power on and hold M i got to the selection screen.
but every selection just powers on the phone normally.
that means i need bootstrap right? I have it from 5.6 but i dont remember where it goes because my old droid screen took a dump
I dont even know how I managed to make a backup on my old phone with no vision, but i did.
PLEASE HELP
okay so I got bootstrap working and I restored my backup from 5.6
now my phone isnt turning on. its stuck on the red eye.
anyone know what I can do?
NEVER MIND IT JUST TOOK AWHILE.... thanks anyways

Oh God. This sounds ugly... You are selecting BP Tools from the M+Power menu, right? Secondly, it doesn't matter where you put the APK on the phone, what matters is installing the APK and installing the recovery. Finally, what kind of 5.6 backup did you restore? Apps from Titanium Backup, My BackUpPro, etc. or a nandroid backup in recovery?
Also, can we move this to general? TYIA.

redsox985 said:
Oh God. This sounds ugly... You are selecting BP Tools from the M+Power menu, right? Secondly, it doesn't matter where you put the APK on the phone, what matters is installing the APK and installing the recovery. Finally, what kind of 5.6 backup did you restore? Apps from Titanium Backup, My BackUpPro, etc. or a nandroid backup in recovery?
Also, can we move this to general? TYIA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure how to move this thread to a different area...
I restored a nandroid backup in recovery
is it suppose to be missing certain files because I had to drag a bunch of store from my old droid to my comp and then to my new one
(like photos, the roms folder for my emulater, bloat freezing folder for script manager.)
Now my gallery dosnt work. pictures wont show when i go to gallery --> my library
but i can see them in astro in the DCIM folder.
should the NANDroid have backed all that up and restored it???

kayelemenohpee said:
Not sure how to move this thread to a different area...
I restored a nandroid backup in recovery
is it suppose to be missing certain files because I had to drag a bunch of store from my old droid to my comp and then to my new one
(like photos, the roms folder for my emulater, bloat freezing folder for script manager.)
Now my gallery dosnt work. pictures wont show when i go to gallery --> my library
but i can see them in astro in the DCIM folder.
should the NANDroid have backed all that up and restored it???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does not back up anything on your SD card, like photos, music etc.
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium

That stuff wasnt on my SD card. it was all on the phone.
could my phone have not finished backing up and made the backup file anyway? my old phone screen when out and I made the backup in recovery without being able to see it.
Is there anyway to fix my gallery so I can access my pictures again?

They may not have been on your EXTERNAL SD card, but they were on some form of storage, probably the internal sd card.
Also, you should never have restored a 5.6 nandroid over a 5.7 system. It would have reverted your /system partition and can cause issues with 5.6 and 5.7 components.

redsox985 said:
They may not have been on your EXTERNAL SD card, but they were on some form of storage, probably the internal sd card.
Also, you should never have restored a 5.6 nandroid over a 5.7 system. It would have reverted your /system partition and can cause issues with 5.6 and 5.7 components.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OHHH I gotcha INTERNAL SD card still dosnt get backed up... "i learned something new" =)
but by issues of components you mean.... my PHOTO GALLERY?!?!?!
What can I do to fix this problem.??? unroot and let the phone re update the latest 5.7 and then reROOT???

kayelemenohpee said:
OHHH I gotcha INTERNAL SD card still dosnt get backed up... "i learned something new" =)
but by issues of components you mean.... my PHOTO GALLERY?!?!?!
What can I do to fix this problem.??? unroot and let the phone re update the latest 5.7 and then reROOT???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya neither sd gets backed up. It would cause some storage issues if you had mostly full storage, you would not have room for the backup.
As for your other question someone else may know. The 860 only ever had 1 update so I've never had to deal with different system versions
Sent from my XT860 using xda premium

Let's move to the thread in General.

[Q] titanium backup broken- only backs up to internal memory

Hi,
Just got a new LG L90 and wanted to back it up. On my old phone, I used TB and it worked ok most of the time.
But this newer version only backs up to the internal memory which is a no-no. After I discovered that it was defaulting to internal memory, I moved the directory to the sd card, went into prefs and changed it to the sd card. I figured something was wrong when TB claimed there were no backup files in the directory when clearly there were.
But I did a backup anyway, pointing to the SD card, yet it went right back into internal memory.
No error messages, just doesn't work.
Fixable, or get something more modern?
Thanks.

fletchb1 said:
Hi,
Just got a new LG L90 and wanted to back it up. On my old phone, I used TB and it worked ok most of the time.
But this newer version only backs up to the internal memory which is a no-no. After I discovered that it was defaulting to internal memory, I moved the directory to the sd card, went into prefs and changed it to the sd card. I figured something was wrong when TB claimed there were no backup files in the directory when clearly there were.
But I did a backup anyway, pointing to the SD card, yet it went right back into internal memory.
No error messages, just doesn't work.
Fixable, or get something more modern?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried uninstalling and reinstalling, same thing. I looked closer and found out what is going wrong. It is defaulting to /mnt/sd but that is pointing to internal memory. I am not sure if this is a LG or Android problem but anyway, I found the real location but it won't let me select it for some reason. Did kitkat move away from /mnt locations? I am going to keep digging .. I don't know android that well but know general linux and /mnt was used for years.

fletchb1 said:
I tried uninstalling and reinstalling, same thing. I looked closer and found out what is going wrong. It is defaulting to /mnt/sd but that is pointing to internal memory. I am not sure if this is a LG or Android problem but anyway, I found the real location but it won't let me select it for some reason. Did kitkat move away from /mnt locations? I am going to keep digging .. I don't know android that well but know general linux and /mnt was used for years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google introduced new security features in KitKat. Apps are no longer allowed external sdcard access without some kind of patch. I use, with CM11 and also LG Stock, Xposed framework with 3 other modules. They are "HandleExternalStorage", "KitKat SD Card Full Access", and "XInternalSD". I also use Link2SD to help conserve user data space.

shinobisoft said:
Google introduced new security features in KitKat. Apps are no longer allowed external sdcard access without some kind of patch. I use, with CM11 and also LG Stock, Xposed framework with 3 other modules. They are "HandleExternalStorage", "KitKat SD Card Full Access", and "XInternalSD". I also use Link2SD to help conserve user data space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks..I did some reading and stumbled apon this info. Surprised TB is not away of the issue though. I found something in the playstore that changes permissions and now it is working.
I guess I need to relearn the newer androids as I am coming from 2.3
Thanks again.

Write access to External SD Card

I'm rooted with a Note7 v2 on Marshmallow. I upgraded from a Note2 on KitKat. Many of my apps, restored with Titanium Backup, can't write to the external sd card as they used to.
For example, TB can't make backups into the same folder where it made them before. Dolphin can't save files where it did before, etc.
I've been reading up on the whole permissions on Marshmallow changes, and I've got some workarounds. TB now saves to Android/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup etc.
Is there a better solution to this problem? I'm surprised there isn't more of an outcry. Can anyone steer me towards more help on this issue? Is there any way to give access to my apps to the extSD card?
Thanks!

I don't know if there's a better solution, but be very careful with that /Android/data/... subdirectory. It will be automatically deleted if you ever uninstall the TB app. I just did exactly that and now all my backups are gone
I was just about to restore them on a freshly wiped device, too. Just wanted to reset TB's settings to the defaults.... whoops. Worst of all, I followed the advice on Ti's own website and moved all my previous backups into that directory. Whatever you do, don't do that!