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.

[Q] Backup question

I'm fairly new at this rooting thing, I initially rooted stock, and then went on to a custom rom someone on the board made. However, I'd like to play with other ones, but I don't want to have to reinstall my apps every time. Is there a recommended way to backup, and what exactly should I be backing up?
I've installed Titanium Backup and backed up most of my apps that way, is that the preferred method and all I really need to do?
Thanks!!

dcsipe said:
I'm fairly new at this rooting thing, I initially rooted stock, and then went on to a custom rom someone on the board made. However, I'd like to play with other ones, but I don't want to have to reinstall my apps every time. Is there a recommended way to backup, and what exactly should I be backing up?
I've installed Titanium Backup and backed up most of my apps that way, is that the preferred method and all I really need to do?
Thanks!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a bad experience with using the "Backup" and "Restore" options in Recovery completely destroying my Nook's boot partition, so I'd personally stick with Titanium Backup. I paid for it, and it was well worth it. This let's me install any ROM and with literally a single tap, all my apps are reinstalled.
Titanium Backup is just amazing. It's probably one of (if not THE) the most useful apps ever for anyone who frequents XDA. And free, if you don't mind tapping for each app. Just don't restore system files etc (ie the "red" colored apps).

Depending on which recovery you are using, you may have to use the accompanying kernel...
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA Premium App

Q I installed Titanium Backup and it is driving me nuts, it creates the folder on my SD card, says it's complete, but the folder is empty. I tried just the apps, apps and system, but still the folder is empty. The notification note says complete with the time, but still an empty folder even after I deleted it before a new backup.
Auto-nooter 3
Uninstalled TB, and reinstalled it, works fine now. Must have been a flakey install.

I find appbrain the easiest solution to reinstall my apps. Then if necessary, use titanium to restore data.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Personally I run all my ROMs from a MicroSD card. This way I don't have to worry about screwing up my Nook and I can pop the Card into my PC and use "dd" to make Images and Flash them back. It makes switching ROMs quick and easy and if I decide I like the New ROM I can use Titanium Backup to mass Restore(Pro key needed) all my Apps. If I don't like the ROM or if something bad happens I can just "dd" a Backed Up Image to get my my Old Install back and it's like I never switched ROMs. Aaahhh.... Life is good.
PS: I keep Two cards, One for my Everyday ROM, and the Other for Testing.
____________________________________________________
Sent from Nookie Froyo using Tapatalk

[Q] Titanium Backup App Data?

So I updated to a new rom (serendipity 7) and backed up all my apps with Titanium Backup.. I'm curious if the data it backs up is like save data for games and such? Cause when I restored everything I didn't have any of my saves.. Which kinda pisses me off cause I got fairly far in Plants vs Zombies.. =(

Yes tibia will back them up and restore them. At least have for me. Just open tubular and scroll until you see your game/s and click on it. Then pick the backup you want. Now IF you only have one backup then go into preferences and choose Max backups and set it to 2,3, or whatever you want. Then go back and refresh the apps list and hopefully your correct saved data will be there. Now click on the game and when it pops up say restore data or app+data.
I have my Max backup at 4 and has saved me on occasions when an app update doesn't seem to function correctly so I pick an older version of the app. Also make sure you have where it is saved in the same location it was saved previously, in other words if you originally had it saving it to the external SD card then you may have to change it back to save/restore from the external (or vise versa). I mention this because some roms that come with Toby already automatically have it set to save on the sdcard and I didn't have all my apps or data until I resaved the backup to my external SD card. Just throwing things out there for you to try.
Sent from My KickAss Captivated CM7 OC'd 1.5Ghz/Undervolted

Yep that worked, I ran the batch that restored app+data however it didn't restore my data.. Looks like I'll have to go through and restore data.. Thanks

again guys I dont know why TB isn't reading my backups? I have them on my sd card all of them but TB does not give me an option to restore the app data! what's wrong? Help please Thank youuu

You need to describe your problem better.
What ROM you use? What ROM backups are from? Have you set your default backup folder? Do you see your backups? What exactly you can't restore? etc...

Migrate Whatsapp onto my new Android device

I have a Google Nexus One phone that I joyfully used for 1.5yr. I have a Whatsapp that is linked to a phone number that no longer in service, but I still happen to receive messages from that phone number, now and then.
Now I am moving to Galaxy Tab 7.7 (no forum in here yet), but how do I migrate the old Whatsapp no to the new device witout re-activating it? Is there any backup software that can migrate the whatsapp with all the functionalities/message history without reactivating the phonr? Please help, I'm reallt stucked. thanks a lot.
What is the best backup Android apps without rooting the phone?
Sent from my GT-P6800 using XDA App

I am not too sure on the app itself as I don't use it, but using another app to back it up without root, most likely, isn't possible. Android locks each app to itself to limit security risks.

Whatsapp backs up it's messages every night to your sd card (assuming that option is selected in whatsapp settings) as well as on internal memory. If you download whatsapp to another phone, but use the same sd card in that phone, on launch, it'll ask if you want to restore the messages.
If you have root -use titanium backup and restore on the new phone.

Download Titanium Backup
Backup App+Data
Put SD Card in new device
Restore App+Data. Done.
Hit Thanks if this helped.

mrandroid said:
Download Titanium Backup
Backup App+Data
Put SD Card in new device
Restore App+Data. Done.
Hit Thanks if this helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bakubaku said:
What is the best backup Android apps without rooting the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium Backup requires root access...

do settings>more>chat history backup. Then look for the whatsapp folder on the sd and move that to the new device and that might work maybe. whatsapp might need the original number to also be verified on the new device which might prevent you from using that backup. You really need root to solve a root problem though.

question, if i get a new number in a new country, will i still be able to get my old life long account back?

Backup chats on sd card -> move to new phone -> install whatsapp -> restore from backup. Or use a 3rd party android whatsapp transfer utility to help.

mrandroid said:
Download Titanium Backup
Backup App+Data
Put SD Card in new device
Restore App+Data. Done.
Hit Thanks if this helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, is it possible to restore acc settings from Whatsapp Plus to new wahtsapp without validation?
I have Titanium Backup of Whatsapp Plus 3-4 month old, it works after restore...but when i enable network it wants a validation...
I have used Virtual Number and want to keep it...Thanks

Trying to backup my Note 8 and can't seem to find a solution for it.

I have a non rooted note 8 that I am trying to backup before factory reset and then unlocking the bootloader.
I have a lot of data there. Around 55 gb spread around various folders.
I am trying for the past few days to backup and didn't find any way to backup everything on my phone to my pc.
What I have tried so far:
1. Searching for various softwares and guides. Most of them talk about cloud which I don't use or have. I also want a local backup.
I will add that there is no reliable software that backup everything including apps, media, etc.
2. Tried regular ADB pull command. Every time I tried that, instead of the 55gb of storage I have on my phone I get a folder with less then 20gb on my pc.
That means a lot of stuff are missing. I then kept searching and found out ADB doesn't work best from the android OS so its better to use custom recovery in order to perfom ADB pull comnmands.
3. I installed twrp on my note 8 and tried to ADB pull. I get "0 files pulled". Further checking the problem it seems I need to "mount" from twrp.
Tried mounting but I get internal storage 0mb. Trying to select the "data' in mount options doesn't work. I get no error but it doesn't get selected.
Now my note 8 is stuck on twrp and I can't get back to my android OS. When I try to restart in either get bootloop or returning to TWRP.
I am looking for a way to backup everything in my phone. Ideally with all the filesystem and directory intact. So finding my pictures and music would be easy in the future when I need them.
I am not sure how to proceed from here. I did a lot of research and digging on my end but didn't found any solution to this.
Thank you for your time.

You backup critical data and apps like Poweramp that allow backup files.
Form a complete plan for backing up all critical data redundantly to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC.
Mind what needs to be backed up before you need it like contacts, bookmarks and so on, develop a plan that works.
Copy/paste folders to the PC. Check folder count and data size against original. Check that the data is readable. Never compress or clone media files/databases and never encrypt backup data drives. Backup often or risk losing the new data.
Never really on SmartSwitch or any app as a stand alone solution to backup critical data!!!
They can fail miserably.
Lol, my N10+'s backup is close to 400gb, I use the SD card as a data drive then redundantly back it up. My N10's can be fully reloaded using the SD card.
ColorNote can open hyperlinks directly from the app, can auto backup to the SD card or cloud; I use it for bookmarks and more.
Use ApkExport to make installable copies of all apps, updates and as backups. Install directly from those copies, no Playstore needed.

smart switch is probably the best you can get plus they do local backups

luridphantom said:
smart switch is probably the best you can get plus they do local backups
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not suitable for stand alone critical data backup.
Once you lose or corrupt a database, it's gone forever... can you handle that?

blackhawk said:
Not suitable for stand alone critical data backup.
Once you lose or corrupt a database, it's gone forever... can you handle that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
his phone is screwed cuz twrp cant see his encrypted data and he cant boot into android as of now due to dm-verity
only way is to reflash the build through odin without a data wipe by using home csc and backup from there

luridphantom said:
his phone is screwed cuz twrp cant see his encrypted data and he cant boot into android as of now due to dm-verity
only way is to reflash the build through odin without a data wipe by using home csc and backup from there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be nice if that works... could that help this person?

luridphantom said:
his phone is screwed cuz twrp cant see his encrypted data and he cant boot into android as of now due to dm-verity
only way is to reflash the build through odin without a data wipe by using home csc and backup from there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
blackhawk said:
You backup critical data and apps like Poweramp that allow backup files.
Form a complete plan for backing up all critical data redundantly to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC.
Mind what needs to be backed up before you need it like contacts, bookmarks and so on, develop a plan that works.
Copy/paste folders to the PC. Check folder count and data size against original. Check that the data is readable. Never compress or clone media files/databases and never encrypt backup data drives. Backup often or risk losing the new data.
Never really on SmartSwitch or any app as a stand alone solution to backup critical data!!!
They can fail miserably.
Lol, my N10+'s backup is close to 400gb, I use the SD card as a data drive then redundantly back it up. My N10's can be fully reloaded using the SD card.
ColorNote can open hyperlinks directly from the app, can auto backup to the SD card or cloud; I use it for bookmarks and more.
Use ApkExport to make installable copies of all apps, updates and as backups. Install directly from those copies, no Playstore needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much guys. I will try those things.+
Before I do that tho. I need to fix the TWRP probem.
Can you elaborate on the problem with the dm-verity? I didn't changed the bootloader or tried flashing roms or anything.
I need to access the phone for the backup. But I don't know what to look for.
Looking dm-verity online gives me weird solutions such as flashing Magisk or unlocking the bootloader which obviously doesn't help because I don't want a root and need the data.

Creep Crusher said:
Thank you very much guys. I will try those things.+
Before I do that tho. I need to fix the TWRP probem.
Can you elaborate on the problem with the dm-verity? I didn't changed the bootloader or tried flashing roms or anything.
I need to access the phone for the backup. But I don't know what to look for.
Looking dm-verity online gives me weird solutions such as flashing Magisk or unlocking the bootloader which obviously doesn't help because I don't want a root and need the data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you dont have to do any more than restore your phone to the original version without erasing all your data. once thats done you can do whatever you want to backup. look up odin, download mode, and see if you can find out what build your phone is

blackhawk said:
You backup critical data and apps like Poweramp that allow backup files.
Form a complete plan for backing up all critical data redundantly to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC.
Mind what needs to be backed up before you need it like contacts, bookmarks and so on, develop a plan that works.
Copy/paste folders to the PC. Check folder count and data size against original. Check that the data is readable. Never compress or clone media files/databases and never encrypt backup data drives. Backup often or risk losing the new data.
Never really on SmartSwitch or any app as a stand alone solution to backup critical data!!!
They can fail miserably.
Lol, my N10+'s backup is close to 400gb, I use the SD card as a data drive then redundantly back it up. My N10's can be fully reloaded using the SD card.
ColorNote can open hyperlinks directly from the app, can auto backup to the SD card or cloud; I use it for bookmarks and more.
Use ApkExport to make installable copies of all apps, updates and as backups. Install directly from those copies, no Playstore needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
luridphantom said:
his phone is screwed cuz twrp cant see his encrypted data and he cant boot into android as of now due to dm-verity
only way is to reflash the build through odin without a data wipe by using home csc and backup from there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
luridphantom said:
you dont have to do any more than restore your phone to the original version without erasing all your data. once thats done you can do whatever you want to backup. look up odin, download mode, and see if you can find out what build your phone is
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much guys!
I was able to restore my phone by flashing the stock rom with Frija and Odin.
I even downloaded the newest version with Frija because I couldn't manage to find my exact current version. And it worked very well.
For the backup I did as you said and used APK Export for the apps. Its such a great app, I wish I knew about it sooner.
To transfer all the files and media to my PC I used a micro sd card reader for my sd card contents.
For the internal storage I tried using FTP and it was much better then I expected. It is kinda sad that using Wifi to transfer so much files is so much faster and stable then a direct USB connection. Its really baffling. But anyway.
Transferring the data was pretty smooth. Worked much better then ADB pull.
Thanks you again guys and I hope people having trouble would be able to find this thread helpful.