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Hey guys, how are you doing?
This is my first post in this forum, although I've been reading lots of threads within this section, but I'm a bit lost. I recently got my brand new Samsung Galaxy S i9000B from Personal Argentina. This version is the one with DMB TV.
I had a Motorola Milestone before this one, so I am gladly not new to all the Android thing, but I have a few questions regarding what I can and cannot do with the threads and tutorials that are for the international versions of this phone.
1) First of all, I wanted to know if there is something as the Open Recovery available in the Milestone, from which I could make a nandroid backup that saved everyhing from my phone, making it possible to mess with it and restore the backup aftewards as if nothing had happened (I currently use Titanium Backup but it's not as easy and nice as the nandroid). I read about some "Clockworkmod" Recovery, but I'm not sure if that's what I'm looking for (besides, I had read a post that said that it's backup isn't that safe and doesn't backup everything, is that true?), and another question that is linked with the next one.
2) What are the things that I can use from the threads of the international version of the Galaxy S and what are the ones that will brick/freeze/destroy/detonate (hahaha ) my phone? Because I see lots of tutorials but I am afraid that I may use the wrong things, making my phone unusable (if I had the nandroid and knew that I just had to enter the recovery mode and restore, I would try them by myself without worries, but I'm not so sure yet).
3) I already rooted and unbranded my phone. I wanted to know if there is a way, without loading another rom (apart that there's none for this version), to erase the "boot animation and goodbye animation" from my carrier. I write this between inverted commas because it's not properly the boot animation, which I think is the big "S" with lights converging in the center.
4) Is there a way to enable the usb connection with Launcher Pro enabled? Because my pc (win7 x32) doesn't recognize the phone unless I have the Touchwiz Launcher onscreen.
5) Is there a software like RSD Lite to load the firmwares I download from the internet? I read about some soft called Odin, not sure if it's for that purpose. Also, is there a website with the stock firmwares from all over the world? So I can have my stock firmware in case I needed it for service or anything.
I know that I had more questions by the time I though about this thread, but I can't really remember . Let me say that I feel this like a big improvement over the Milestone, and I'm really happy with it. I hope you can answer my doubts and thank you in advance for that.
BTW, sorry for the long thread
Cheers!
Let me bump this before leaving to the University guys
I know I can't expect an instant response, don't get me wrong. I'm just bumping this in case the ones that know the answers don't visit the second page
With a bit more reaserch plus trial&error I managed to answer myself some of this questions, at least partially. I leave the answers here for anyone else that founds himself in the same mess I did. Any corrections or extensions of my answers will be appreciated.
jmtast said:
1) First of all, I wanted to know if there is something as the Open Recovery available in the Milestone, from which I could make a nandroid backup that saved everyhing from my phone, making it possible to mess with it and restore the backup aftewards as if nothing had happened (I currently use Titanium Backup but it's not as easy and nice as the nandroid). I read about some "Clockworkmod" Recovery, but I'm not sure if that's what I'm looking for (besides, I had read a post that said that it's backup isn't that safe and doesn't backup everything, is that true?), and another question that is linked with the next one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. With Clockworkmod Recovery you can make a nandroid backup, among other stuff. You have to download ROM Manager from the market and install the clockwork recovery from there.
2) What are the things that I can use from the threads of the international version of the Galaxy S and what are the ones that will brick/freeze/destroy/detonate (hahaha ) my phone? Because I see lots of tutorials but I am afraid that I may use the wrong things, making my phone unusable (if I had the nandroid and knew that I just had to enter the recovery mode and restore, I would try them by myself without worries, but I'm not so sure yet).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far I found out (by reading) that you can't use any firmware from other regions because of the differences on hardware, and also found out (by testing it) that you can't apply the voodoo lagfix, because it's for this regions mentioned before, and it modifies the kernel, remapping your keys (hard and touch ones) and makes your screen react faulty.
3) I already rooted and unbranded my phone. I wanted to know if there is a way, without loading another rom (apart that there's none for this version), to erase the "boot animation and goodbye animation" from my carrier. I write this between inverted commas because it's not properly the boot animation, which I think is the big "S" with lights converging in the center.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't find the exact answer for this one, but managed to change the animations when I reflashed the phone with an unbranded firmware.
4) Is there a way to enable the usb connection with Launcher Pro enabled? Because my pc (win7 x32) doesn't recognize the phone unless I have the Touchwiz Launcher onscreen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't find the answer for this one either. I can't leave Launcherpro as default because it won't connect. Each time I wan't to connect I press the home button and bring the Touchwiz launcher onscreen.
5) Is there a software like RSD Lite to load the firmwares I download from the internet? I read about some soft called Odin, not sure if it's for that purpose. Also, is there a website with the stock firmwares from all over the world? So I can have my stock firmware in case I needed it for service or anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's right. As I said before, Odin is the software that does the same job as RSD Lite on Motorola.
Nice to read you.
I'm starting the path of unbranding and respawning my SGS from Personal Argentina sorcery.
So, you started ROM Manager, told it to instal CWM and it worked flawlessly, didn't you?
Hi all
Is Nandroid backing up all the apps I've got at that moment? Or it just saves system files?
Like a complete and exact "photo" or are there things that I should do on my own if I mean to recover exactly as it was...
I assume that no wipe is necessary...
Thanks!
What's the truth about Nandroid backup?!
i guess there's no need to open a new topic, because i got kinda the same question
before you guys start to redirect me to the "search" function, i want to assure you that i have been using it, but i have found myself in a very strange situation, one question, two different answers... and because i'm new to the whole root stuff, i want to learn everything correctly before starting to make modifications to my phone
The question is: Nandroid backup, does it also back up the kernel or not?
I mean, if i root and install a custom rom that also comes with a custom kernel, will i be able to use my previous Nandroid backup to restore my phone to the old rom & kernel?
Searching the forums, i have found 2 totally different answers!
Answer 1: Nandroid does not backup the kernel: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=806340
Answer 2: Nandroid does backup the kernel: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=844352
So, please make me and all of us root noobs understand once and for all, does it backup the kernel or not?, will we be able to restore from a custom rom+kernel in case we need to?
and does it backup apps?
OK...As I understand it....
What does Nandroid Backup?
The ROM Itself..Obviously.
All your system settings, emails, SMSes, etc
All the Apps you have installed, so no need for TB
The Kernel you have installed (though there is controversy about this, and to be honest, I have never restored a nandroid backup when I had a different kernel already installed...however it really doesn't matter since kernels are easy to flash)
What does Nandroid NOT backup - This is VERY IMPORTANT
The modem (not a big deal)
The File System setting (A BIG DEAL)
This I think is where the confusion arises concerning the kernel being included in the nandroid backup. For many people the kernel is all about the lagfix. If you have installed a lagfix on your phone via the kernel, say changing the file system to Ext4, and then flash a Nandroid backup that includes a stock kernel or other kernel that does NOT support Ext4, you are in for a world of hurt...and in this case hurt means endless bootloops.
The way you avoid this is, if you need to flash a Nandroid with a kernel that does not support your lagfix...go into recovery, disable whatever lagfix, tell it when it asks that you wish to REBOOT INTO RECOVERY after the change....then flash the nandroid you wish.
This is why it is very important to keep regular nandroid backups, and to wait and see if a ROM/Kernel are stable for you before applying lagfixes or other tweaks.
So, let me see if i got this right, Nandroid does backup up my current kernel along with my rom, but if i apply any changes (lagfix) to my kernel afterwards or change it with a custom one with lagfix, nandroid won't be able to restore it anymore...
so the whole problem here is that nandroid is not able to backup / restore The File System setting, this being the rfs / ext4 transition
If this is the case, it seems that the Nandroid type backup is not as powerful as i thought, you can't really change from one rom to another in just a few clicks, but then again i guess that all the customs roms already come with some type of lagfix and you can make a nandroid restore between them, the problem would be when you want to revert back to a stock kernel, then you'll have to disable the lagfixes or simply flash a stock kernel and then restore the stock nandroid backup
so, i got this right guys?
maranello69 said:
So, let me see if i got this right, Nandroid does backup up my current kernel along with my rom, but if i apply any changes (lagfix) to my kernel afterwards or change it with a custom one with lagfix, nandroid won't be able to restore it anymore...
so the whole problem here is that nandroid is not able to backup / restore The File System setting, this being the rfs / ext4 transition
If this is the case, it seems that the Nandroid type backup is not as powerful as i thought, you can't really change from one rom to another in just a few clicks, but then again i guess that all the customs roms already come with some type of lagfix and you can make a nandroid restore between them, the problem would be when you want to revert back to a stock kernel, then you'll have to disable the lagfixes or simply flash a stock kernel and then restore the stock nandroid backup
so, i got this right guys?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes as I understand it.
You see Nandroid can't convert your file system or change anything, all it can do is flash a disc image onto your phone. If that image can work with your file system, you are golden. If not, it is like flashing a Mac OS image onto a Windows machine....nothing will work right.
However the good news is that most custom kernels support Ext4...so really the only problem comes when you try to flash back to a stock image...or vice versa.
got it then, thanks for your answers
and, if i still got your attention, maybe one more question
i just downloaded a stock firmware from samfirmwares.com, and all i got is a .tar file, can i use it somehow to flash just the kernel from it or i have to flash the whole firmware?
if i flash the whole firmware, will it also change my PHONE and CSC?, because the .tar file must be put just in the PDA section in odin
maranello69 said:
got it then, thanks for your answers
and, if i still got your attention, maybe one more question
i just downloaded a stock firmware from samfirmwares.com, and all i got is a .tar file, can i use it somehow to flash just the kernel from it or i have to flash the whole firmware?
if i flash the whole firmware, will it also change my PHONE and CSC?, because the .tar file must be put just in the PDA section in odin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it will flash the PDA, csc, modem and kernel...the whole shooting match. The single file firmwares are designed like that to avoid mismatches and issues. Once you flash it, flash a kernel that supports cwm (I suggest speedmod or something by CHAINFIRE) via odin, then flash a new csc and modem if you wish from recovery.
Remember that installing a new csc will do a factory reset so do it before reinstalling apps.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
great stuff man
finally i got enough info and i can start my root & flash procedure, guess i'll also learn a few other tricks along the way, this community is definetly the place to be if you want to learn how to "really use" your device
the whole info about the issues with the Nandroid type backup should be integrated in one of those massive info topics, so the root noobs like me know what they're dealing with
maranello69 said:
great stuff man
finally i got enough info and i can start my root & flash procedure, guess i'll also learn a few other tricks along the way, this community is definetly the place to be if you want to learn how to "really use" your device
the whole info about the issues with the Nandroid type backup should be integrated in one of those massive info topics, so the root noobs like me know what they're dealing with
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
Hey guys i actually used the search button (yay) and this is definitely the most informative one regarding the topic.
However i still have one more question: does it backup files and folders as well? Ie. my Nexus S storage is mainly used up by my videos and music (about 7-10GB) which are in their own folders and not tied to any apps in particular. Hence if it does include those i wouldn't have enough storage space to create a nandroid backup am i right?
Edit: thanks to the search button i didn't realise that i posted on a Galaxy S forum please forgive me, the question should still be relevant to the topic though
frenccw said:
Hey guys i actually used the search button (yay) and this is definitely the most informative one regarding the topic.
However i still have one more question: does it backup files and folders as well? Ie. my Nexus S storage is mainly used up by my videos and music (about 7-10GB) which are in their own folders and not tied to any apps in particular. Hence if it does include those i wouldn't have enough storage space to create a nandroid backup am i right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I understand it, it does save folders and files, so yes if you have large data folders on your internal SD it will make GIGANTIC nandroid backups. You may want to store such files one your external SD.
I know that there is a version of CWM that does not backup /data/media in Nandroid on the Galaxy Tab 10.1...perhaps there is something similar that I don't know about for Galaxy phones. Does anyone know?
I was wondering why still no dev worked on this important feature.
I help my friends flashing Tabs and phones. what my question is, why there is no way to Ghost/clone a Tab like we have for computers. i think it can be done though Odin Flash if someone really try it. i mean repeating the same thing on every device is like waste of time.
can any one out there have a solution for this?
You may wanna check rotohammer's roto backup.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=850359
Hmmm didn't see the above reply for some reason...
Simple answer, nope there is no ghost/clone for Android devices,
If you want to fully backup your Galaxy Tab rom/kernel, the only method I know of is the the roto backup method.
See the above poster's link or "XDA Galaxy Tab Bible" and search the very helpfull guide/directory for "Roto Backup" and "TaBackup & EasyKernel Backup and Restore"
commenter said:
Simple answer, nope there is no ghost/clone for Android devices,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true at all.
Amon RA recovery has Nandroid backup/restore for devices he supports. It's a full rom backup that can be restored easily.
Just make a nandroid backup. Easy.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA Premium App
GldRush98 said:
Not true at all.
Amon RA recovery has Nandroid backup/restore for devices he supports. It's a full rom backup that can be restored easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's not true about it? Ghost is a tool used for drive cloning. It takes a snapshot/image of your drive or partitions on your drive, for the purpose of duplicating/replicating to a new/replacement drive. Ghost is generally not used to backup individual files. As for nandroid, if i am not mistaken it is not useable (for Galaxy Tabs) until you flash with a custom rom that includes CWM or unless you try the BETA of CWM for Galaxy Tabs. The only problem with that is that only 2 North American providers (recoveries) are supported (and I personally would not rely on a beta for backups), so if your provider is not supported then Roto Backup method is probably the way to go for now.
I guess none of the above will solve my problem. say if i make a backup, than again my new tab have to be rooted with the same kernel flashed to restore it.
i need something like norton ghost. zip zap zoommm.. one file will root the tab, will flash kernel, will flash Rom i mean will clone the entire tab.
rotohammer has done that with his tabs. Read his thread on how to do a roto backup and restore.
Since the iemi and serial number is within the operating system, cloning would be a disaster.
I have searched for this, and have seen some answers, but none of them specific to the Captivate.
Here's my scenario: My wife's phone has some dead pixels on the camera sensor, so I'm planning to take it in for warranty. I'm going to be flashing back to stock and all the other prep steps, but she really likes the setup exactly as it is now.
I know that I can use Titanium Backup to make a backup of everything and bring it back once she has the new phone (that's my backup plan if Nandroid isn't an option). However, having used a nandroid backup on my own phone when switching roms, I know how easy it is to get everything back in place really fast.
My question is this - can I simply make a nandroid backup of her setup now (Firefly 3.0, default FF3 kernel) and then restore it to her new phone (after flashing FF3.0, of course)? Or is this going to be more heartache than it's worth and I should just prepare to do a TiBu restore later?
As background, I've also seen that people mention the Nandroid doesn't worry about modem/kernel/bootloaders, and I know I can do partial restores of items in Nandroid (system only, apps only, etc).
Any information / personal experience anyone can offer would be appreicated.
Should work, don't see why it wouldn't, if it doesn't then the worst case scenario she will have to set her stuff up after a tibu restore.
No chance of bricking = no harm in trying.
studacris said:
Should work, don't see why it wouldn't, if it doesn't then the worst case scenario she will have to set her stuff up after a tibu restore.
No chance of bricking = no harm in trying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That makes sense. I'll give it a whirl, and I'll post the results back so that there's some reference for anyone trying it in the future.
Hey guys, I just have a general question that (seemingly) applies to all Android phones. I'm posting this question in the GS3 mini section because I have a MetroPCS Galaxy Exhibit [SGH-T599N] and I guess that's where we're we've been relegated to, but this question, as I said, could really apply to any phone. My question is this: how can I verify that my NAND backups are not corrupted?
Here's some context: I recently flashed to CM 11. Everything's running great, it's my daily driver, and I love it. It's easily the best, most smooth ROM I've ever used but I recently discovered a need to flash back to the stock ROM backup I was running pre-CM 11. Before I flashed to CM 11 I was running the standard JB stock and incidentally I was also using a different Kik username. After flashing to CM 11 and installing Kik, I decided to make a new username. Now, given that I never logged out of that old username (the one I was using on JB stock), I know that if I were to flash back to that old ROM, I'd boot into a ROM that's logged into that old account. I need to be able to do this because I need to access that old Kik account's chat logs for personal reasons. My problem now is due to two issues: my amazing stupidity and...well, no that's really it.
At the time I was running stock I was running CWM recovery. I made a backup using Rom Manager but like an idiot I backed up to my internal SD card. In order to flash to CM 11 I had to wipe my internal memory, which eventually lead to me losing that backup. My only silver lining is this: I made one backup to external sd about a week before I flashed to CM 11.
Here's where it gets messy: Not knowing that the backup on the external sd was for my stock pre-CM 11 ROM, I stupidly deleted it to free up space and began saving files onto the external sd card. After I had flashed to CM 11 I made about three CM 11 backups. I deleted my pre-CM 11 backup because I mistook it for one of these three CM 11 backups. Upon realizing the height of my stupidity, I just finished recovering these lost folders and files using a data recovery program, but I have no idea whether or not the files have been irreparably corrupted. Is there any way I can verify that this backup is still good to use? I don't want to risk attempting to flash back to my old ROM only to have it wind up bricking my phone. Does anyone know of a good way I can figure this out? Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
an idiot
adamryanx said:
Hey guys, I just have a general question that (seemingly) applies to all Android phones. I'm posting this question in the GS3 mini section because I have a MetroPCS Galaxy Exhibit [SGH-T599N] and I guess that's where we're we've been relegated to, but this question, as I said, could really apply to any phone. My question is this: how can I verify that my NAND backups are not corrupted?
Here's some context: I recently flashed to CM 11. Everything's running great, it's my daily driver, and I love it. It's easily the best, most smooth ROM I've ever used but I recently discovered a need to flash back to the stock ROM backup I was running pre-CM 11. Before I flashed to CM 11 I was running the standard JB stock and incidentally I was also using a different Kik username. After flashing to CM 11 and installing Kik, I decided to make a new username. Now, given that I never logged out of that old username (the one I was using on JB stock), I know that if I were to flash back to that old ROM, I'd boot into a ROM that's logged into that old account. I need to be able to do this because I need to access that old Kik account's chat logs for personal reasons. My problem now is due to two issues: my amazing stupidity and...well, no that's really it.
At the time I was running stock I was running CWM recovery. I made a backup using Rom Manager but like an idiot I backed up to my internal SD card. In order to flash to CM 11 I had to wipe my internal memory, which eventually lead to me losing that backup. My only silver lining is this: I made one backup to external sd about a week before I flashed to CM 11.
Here's where it gets messy: Not knowing that the backup on the external sd was for my stock pre-CM 11 ROM, I stupidly deleted it to free up space and began saving files onto the external sd card. After I had flashed to CM 11 I made about three CM 11 backups. I deleted my pre-CM 11 backup because I mistook it for one of these three CM 11 backups. Upon realizing the height of my stupidity, I just finished recovering these lost folders and files using a data recovery program, but I have no idea whether or not the files have been irreparably corrupted. Is there any way I can verify that this backup is still good to use? I don't want to risk attempting to flash back to my old ROM only to have it wind up bricking my phone. Does anyone know of a good way I can figure this out? Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
an idiot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you recovered it immediately after deletion - then it's most likely still good. I don't think there's any way to fully verify backups; but I will say this if you do chose to use that backup and it fails, you should easily be able to flash any rom over again to correct it, or even use odin to go back to stock rom and try again. The only way you truly hard-brick phones is flashing something over usb and it gets disconnected haflway through, or you accidently flash somethign to the wrong partition (if you were using hiemdall), generally speaking for nearly 80% of bricks are sem-bricks and should easily be able to recover from.
Exothermic said:
if you recovered it immediately after deletion - then it's most likely still good. I don't think there's any way to fully verify backups; but I will say this if you do chose to use that backup and it fails, you should easily be able to flash any rom over again to correct it, or even use odin to go back to stock rom and try again. The only way you truly hard-brick phones is flashing something over usb and it gets disconnected haflway through, or you accidently flash somethign to the wrong partition (if you were using hiemdall), generally speaking for nearly 80% of bricks are sem-bricks and should easily be able to recover from.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your quick reply, Exo. I'm curious, do you think inspecting the .log file would be able to give me an indication about the integrity of the backup? In going through old backups I was able to open the .log file in Notepad and read in plaintext what was written there. If this could be used as an marker of the backup's health, then it seems I may be out of luck as the .log file for this backup seems like nothing but jibberish. I've opened it with Notepad, Notepad++, and I even installed a different third party program that's reads .log files exclusively (called Baretail), all to no avail. I'll try flashing to this backup in the meantime but I'm curious: do you think attempting to read the .log file could be a good way to verify the backup's integrity, or is there something I'm missing here? Thanks for your time.
Adam
First you should make a nandroid of your current ROM (CM I presume) so that if you brick your phone while trying to restore the stock backup, you'll still have the CM backup to restore if something goes wrong and the phone can't boot or says that there's no os installed.