Database Develop

[Q] NANDROID restores: TWRP won't boot, CWM corrupts data

Sorry for this being lengthy, I wanted to make sure I gave enough info.
Neither of the two most popular recovery tools are working for me. They both state the backups are successful but the restores have flaws. Is anyone experiencing the problems I am? If so, does anyone know what to do about them?
CWM Recovery Touch (and non-touch): Data restores leave certain things not working. I'm not sure what processes are stopping because it flashes and disappears to fast. I know that it causes the ROM Manager for CWM, Titanium Backup Pro, Google Play, and likely more to crash (disappear) immediately upon opening. Chrome browser *might* bright up the keyboard on the first click but it won't work then it will disappear and not come back (but the keyboard does work in other areas, I use Swype Keyboard). I've tried clearing cache and/or data on all 3, uninstalling them then re-installing via APK and various other things. This occurs regardless of whether a factory reset (data/cache) wipe is performed before the restore. However, if I restore with CWM Recovery *then* do a factory reset, Google Play will work and nothing crashes, nor are their long delays.
TWRP does not boot after a restore. It will pass the initial screen showing the phone model, the phone carrier splash screen, then sit on Samsung with the LED solid bright blue and hang.
My goal is to simply trust my backups. The CWM Recovery problem is workable in a terrible situation since my Titanium backups will get my phone *almost* to where it was (barring widgets, which are pain to re-setup, and a few other things).
Titanium Backup Pro question: Is it normal when you remove a system app with Titanium Backup Pro, then do a restore in CWM for that app to still be gone? Since I use the Swype keyboard I removed the other once, did a restore with CWM, had the problem so I did a factory reset and my stock keyboard was missing still (I think it's a Samsung keyboard)
App Details:
CWM Recovery Touch 6.0.4.7 (for Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE (GT-I9305))
TWRP 2.6.3.0 (for Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE (International i9305))
Phone Details:
Carrier: T-Mobile (Germany)
Model number: GT-I9305
Android Version: 4.3 (stock from Kies, so I do have Knox and it's disabled via SuperSU 1.91 from chainfire)
Baseband version: I9305XXUEMK1
Kernel version: 3.0.31-2051278
Build number: JSS15J.I9305XXUEML5

Titanium Backup Pro question: Is it normal when you remove a system app with Titanium Backup Pro, then do a restore in CWM for that app to still be gone?
No a Nandroid backup wipes the phone .
make a Nandroid then in recovery format system sdcard data cache .
You now have an empty phone and restoring the Nandroid should return exact same state .
All this reads as you are doing something wrong .

JJEgan said:
All this reads as you are doing something wrong .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope it is as simple as that. I'm booting up in recovery mode (Volume Up + Home + Power) choosing the backup or restore option, then backing up to the External SD card. Then on the restore I'm doing the same except selecting restore from the SD card (I've re-created the CWM problem 5 times, once was with advanced restore of just data the rest were basic restores doing everything). I'm not really sure what I could be doing wrong.
I have the 4.3 stock ROM before I did any custom stuff to the phone (which installed KNOX). I used chainfire's tar.md5 auto root image with Odin 3.09 in download mode when I root the phone, and I've installed CWM Recovery with ROM Manager and with an Odin tar flash in download mode. The install of TWRP was from an Odin 3.09 tar flash in download mode too.
With regard to the TWRP and CWM Recovery, I'm not really sure how easy it is for me to have messed up that part. Do you have this same model phone? Is it possible KNOX is involved in my issues? Maybe I should downgrade one of the recovery tools?

Downgrade your recovery and try again.

jonesjw362 said:
Downgrade your recovery and try again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I was thinking might be the best solution. Since the flaw in the restores with CWM Recovery are workable for me, I figured I may just wait until I have a need to restore to do that though. Once I do, I'll probably do a bunch of tests until I find something that works solid.
I've already restored my backups and widgets etc. a couple of times and don't really want to do it over again only to test. If there's a way to restore all of that without my having to set it up myself then I'll do it. Right now my Titanium restores don't include wallpaper (except lock screen), most of my widgets (maybe all, can't remember), and I think there was one other thing.

Advanced restore in recovery restore data only .

JJEgan said:
Advanced restore in recovery restore data only .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried that once, that's why I believe the CWM Recovery issue to be specifically with data. I'm going to do it again right now though and if things are messed up again I'm going to try jonesjw362's suggestion.

Downgrading didn't help (6.0.3.6 had a constant barrage of 4-5 apps re-crashing over and over again during the process).
I tried the following with CWM Recovery Touch 6.0.3.6, 6.0.4.5 and 6.0.4.7:
Factory reset wipe, open and test Google Play (more things break but that's the one I chose to test). Reboot into recovery mode and backup to the SD Card (not the external). Immediately advance restored data only (no wipe). Booted up, Google Play crashed, rebooted back into recovery and factory reset (data/cache) and advance restored data again with the same result.
I didn't try a downgraded version of TWRP (probably won't for now). I'm back to 6.0.4.7 and restoring my backups to get my phone back fully. Hopefully CWM Recovery comes out with a new version sometime in the near future that works for me or someone has some insight into what I can do to fix it with the existing (I'm out of ideas).

Issue Samsung stock 4.3 ROM
I ended up switching to CM 10.1.3 (was going to hold off until 11 was stable) but the Samsung stock 4.3 ROM was destroying my battery. After switching, I tested a NANDROID backup and restore with CWM Recovery Touch 6.0.4.7 (same version I was having problems with). The restore worked as it should, no problems.
End Result: As far as I can tell, the cause of the CWM Recovery data partition problem is due to the Samsung 4.3 ROM.
Edit: I was going to mark the post Resolved but I can't seem to find the drop down to do so (at least not in the same place I thought it was).

[Q] Questions before flashing custom ROM

I am planning to flash a custom rom on my phone (for the first time).
Model : Xperia SP(C5302)
Build : 12.1.A.1.205 (Stock) running JB 4.3 with LB
I have rooted my phone using the towelroot method and installed supersu. I have also installed custom recovery from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2649923
I am planning to flash this custom rom http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-sp/development/cyanogenmod-11-locked-bootloader-users-t2868398
So I have a few questions that I am not clear about(even after searching the forums). And sorry if they are dumb. I really want to understand as much as possible before flashing roms.:fingers-crossed:
1. After reading the thread of my recovery, from what I understand, the recoveries are installed in /system. But on OP of the custom rom, I am about to install, there is an instruction to format /system before flashing the rom. So my question is if I format the /system partition, won’t my recoveries be removed (by the recoveries itself) before I even flash the rom?
2. Also will the recovery still be available to me if say I enter bootloop for some reason during flashing the rom?(asking for the same reason as above that is wiping my /system should also remove my recoveries)
3. Does CM 11 come with any inbuilt custom recovery? If not can I install the one I am already using (assuming installing a custom rom will remove my installed recoveries)?
4. Say I screw up during the flashing procedure. So if I want to rectify this I should first flash the stock .205 ftf, root, install a recovery again and then restore using the nandroid backup. Am I correct?
5. Is it necessary to wipe cache and dalvik cache before flashing rom? I see this instruction in some roms but not in others. And dalvik should be wiped after flashing rom and gapps, right?
6. Should I install supersu again after I flash the rom. I read in an article that it causes problems with CM. As far as I know CM11 comes pre-installed with superuser. But it also supposedly causes some problems.
7. Is it safe to restore user app+data, messages and contacts backed up using Titanium backup on a newly flashed rom? I have seen conflicted views on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And that’s it for my questions (for now at least... ).
A Big Thanks in advance for all your helpful answers

Prat92 said:
I am planning to flash a custom rom on my phone (for the first time).
Model : Xperia SP(C5302)
Build : 12.1.A.1.205 (Stock) running JB 4.3 with LB
I have rooted my phone using the towelroot method and installed supersu. I have also installed custom recovery from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2649923
I am planning to flash this custom rom http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-sp/development/cyanogenmod-11-locked-bootloader-users-t2868398
So I have a few questions that I am not clear about(even after searching the forums). And sorry if they are dumb. I really want to understand as much as possible before flashing roms.:fingers-crossed:
And that’s it for my questions (for now at least... ).
A Big Thanks in advance for all your helpful answers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, I am only explaining the one I know about
1. Well, wiping the system will remove the recovery. That's why you'll have to flash the ROM after wiping the system. Do not ever reboot the phone after wiping the system but haven't yet flashed the ROM zip, else you'll have to do more work to flash the Stock ROM. This is due to the fact your phone does not have an OS to boot into! When flashing the ROM zip, the recovery will be automatically installed.
2. This is based on luck, most of time you'll end up unable to boot into anything. A fix is to flash the Stock ROM again.
3. Every ROM has recovery built with it (unless stated otherwise in the thread)! Upon flashing, it will be automatically installed too.
4. The methods you mentioned is correct. However, only restore the nandroid backup if you want to stay on stock. You could always retry to flash the ROM again. Nandroid backup is an image backup of your android. If you restore your nandroid backup, you'll end up with your previous version of android (like the way before you started flashing the ROM)
5. Wiping /cache and dalvik-cache is a really good practise! It doesn't really matter when you will need to wipe them, but personally I wipe them all before flashing the ROM. Wiping /data and performing a factory reset through recovery is recommended if you're coming from a different ROM. That's why backing up user apps through TiB (Titanium Backup) is recommended for you to easily get your installed apps back. Remember, nandroid backup and apps backup from TiB is different to each other.
6. No, this might cause extreme conflicts. No, I am using SuperUser as long as I have used CM. It never fails to give root permission at all despite the hatred I sense in some apps that overly-recommends SuperSU.
7. Of course it is very safe to restore them backups with TiB. However, based on my experience, messages and contacts were unable to be restored due to the difference in ROM version. I don't know if anyone else faces the same problem as mine. As of this, I really recommend your contacts to be synced with Google.
Heads up!
Based on this post, the dev of the ROM you wanted to flash, MrSteve555, recommends PhilZ when flashing the ROM.

TechnoSparks said:
First of all, I am only explaining the one I know about
1. Well, wiping the system will remove the recovery. That's why you'll have to flash the ROM after wiping the system. Do not ever reboot the phone after wiping the system but haven't yet flashed the ROM zip, else you'll have to do more work to flash the Stock ROM. This is due to the fact your phone does not have an OS to boot into! When flashing the ROM zip, the recovery will be automatically installed.
2. This is based on luck, most of time you'll end up unable to boot into anything. A fix is to flash the Stock ROM again.
3. Every ROM has recovery built with it (unless stated otherwise in the thread)! Upon flashing, it will be automatically installed too.
4. The methods you mentioned is correct. However, only restore the nandroid backup if you want to stay on stock. You could always retry to flash the ROM again. Nandroid backup is an image backup of your android. If you restore your nandroid backup, you'll end up with your previous version of android (like the way before you started flashing the ROM)
5. Wiping /cache and dalvik-cache is a really good practise! It doesn't really matter when you will need to wipe them, but personally I wipe them all before flashing the ROM. Wiping /data and performing a factory reset through recovery is recommended if you're coming from a different ROM. That's why backing up user apps through TiB (Titanium Backup) is recommended for you to easily get your installed apps back. Remember, nandroid backup and apps backup from TiB is different to each other.
6. No, this might cause extreme conflicts. No, I am using SuperUser as long as I have used CM. It never fails to give root permission at all despite the hatred I sense in some apps that overly-recommends SuperSU.
7. Of course it is very safe to restore them backups with TiB. However, based on my experience, messages and contacts were unable to be restored due to the difference in ROM version. I don't know if anyone else faces the same problem as mine. As of this, I really recommend your contacts to be synced with Google.
Heads up!
Based on this post, the dev of the ROM you wanted to flash, MrSteve555, recommends PhilZ when flashing the ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for such detailed answers. That cleared most of my doubts
Just some last few questions(promise!)
1. If wiping /system does remove the recovery before I install the rom, how is it possible to access it even to flash the rom? Shouldn't it like just close right when I wipe /system. Or does it not work like that?
2. Just to be sure the nandroid backup I made on my stock rom won't work if I later try to flash it through recovery while using CM,right?

Prat92 said:
Thanks for such detailed answers. That cleared most of my doubts
Just some last few questions(promise!)
1. If wiping /system does remove the recovery before I install the rom, how is it possible to access it even to flash the rom? Shouldn't it like just close right when I wipe /system. Or does it not work like that?
2. Just to be sure the nandroid backup I made on my stock rom won't work if I later try to flash it through recovery while using CM,right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Wiping system wont close the recovery at all. It still runs and you can still navigate within it. But remember do not reboot unless you've flashed the ROM! The mechanism of how the magic works is yet to be acknowledged. So I can't tell why it doesn't closes upon wipe. My best guess here is that the recovery might be running on a temporary partition perhaps. I hope a developer see this post and explains the magic.
2. Nandroid backup works all the time (if they are no errors when you are creating them). Nandroid backup is simply a backup of your whole device. If you're on CM, restoring nandroid backup will get your phone back to the way when you attempted the nandroid backup (stock ROM, rooted, and triple recoveries installed). Nandroid backup is useful when you're about to try something that may damage your ROM, without doing so much work to restore your device.
Say, you created a nandroid backup in cwm in which Cyanogenmod was installed. And then you flashed something afterwards. If that "something" damages the ROM and gives you bootloop, you can simply flash Stock ROM, root it again, install recoveries again, and restore the nandroid backup. Then, voilà, cyanogenmod is back. This will simplify your work rather than flash CM again, then gapps, then restore your apps and all those other things that will consume so much time
So a new nandroid backup will backup the whole device, in a form of an image.

Boot Certification Error

Let me start by saying that after the error, through the use of the power and volume down buttons (the timing was different, seemed a little slower, if that makes sense), I was able to get my phone to boot into TWRP and restore the nandroid I made just prior to the error, so I'm up and running fine. What I don't understand is 1.) Why it happened and 2.) How to restore my other nandroid.
After flashing xdabbeb's 26A Bootstack and his VS982.5 ROM and all was running well, I wanted to go back to my nandroid prior to flashing the VS982.5, which is simply the stock Verizon ROM on 25b. I made a backup of VS982.5, then went and restored my previous stock backup. After I restored my stock backup, I got the following error when I tried to boot, and then the phone would go black.
boot certification verify
--------------------------------
secure booting error!
cause: boot certification verify
Based on the other threads I have read regarding the error, it seems like I was very lucky to get back into recovery. Can anyone tell me why this happened so I understand what I did wrong and avoid it in the future and what I might be able to do to restore my previous backup should I want or need to go back to Stock?
I didn't think this was specific to xdabbeb's ROM so I put it under general help instead.

wrswldo said:
Let me start by saying that after the error, through the use of the power and volume down buttons (the timing was different, seemed a little slower, if that makes sense), I was able to get my phone to boot into TWRP and restore the nandroid I made just prior to the error, so I'm up and running fine. What I don't understand is 1.) Why it happened and 2.) How to restore my other nandroid.
After flashing xdabbeb's 26A Bootstack and his VS982.5 ROM and all was running well, I wanted to go back to my nandroid prior to flashing the VS982.5, which is simply the stock Verizon ROM on 25b. I made a backup of VS982.5, then went and restored my previous stock backup. After I restored my stock backup, I got the following error when I tried to boot, and then the phone would go black.
boot certification verify
--------------------------------
secure booting error!
cause: boot certification verify
Based on the other threads I have read regarding the error, it seems like I was very lucky to get back into recovery. Can anyone tell me why this happened so I understand what I did wrong and avoid it in the future and what I might be able to do to restore my previous backup should I want or need to go back to Stock?
I didn't think this was specific to xdabbeb's ROM so I put it under general help instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it's because your 25b isn't bumped. Xdabbeb's newest ROM is bumped. You'll have to downgrade to non-bumped kernel to restore that backup.

Fixed it?
wrswldo said:
Let me start by saying that after the error, through the use of the power and volume down buttons (the timing was different, seemed a little slower, if that makes sense), I was able to get my phone to boot into TWRP and restore the nandroid I made just prior to the error, so I'm up and running fine. What I don't understand is 1.) Why it happened and 2.) How to restore my other nandroid.
After flashing xdabbeb's 26A Bootstack and his VS982.5 ROM and all was running well, I wanted to go back to my nandroid prior to flashing the VS982.5, which is simply the stock Verizon ROM on 25b. I made a backup of VS982.5, then went and restored my previous stock backup. After I restored my stock backup, I got the following error when I tried to boot, and then the phone would go black.
boot certification verify
--------------------------------
secure booting error!
cause: boot certification verify
Based on the other threads I have read regarding the error, it seems like I was very lucky to get back into recovery. Can anyone tell me why this happened so I understand what I did wrong and avoid it in the future and what I might be able to do to restore my previous backup should I want or need to go back to Stock?
I didn't think this was specific to xdabbeb's ROM so I put it under general help instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were you able to fix this? I did a similar thing. I am stuck on the on the black screen and can't in recovery.
Thanks!

[Solved] Trouble rooting, trying to install Dualrecovery for a nandroid backup.

Edit: The flashable zip seemed to be a good workaround and got everything done in one go. Fingers crossed from here on in.
Hi guys, this is my first post here, so please go easy on me.
So recently my phone screen cracked and I had to send it off for recovery.
The company wiped and upgraded my firmware, but I did my data backup as a nandroid backup, so I have to get a recovery installed to restore it.
I have managed to unlock the bootloader and flash this version of the firmware : - D5803_23.4.A.1.264
I am simply trying to root the phone so I can get SuperSU onto it and the method I used last time uses CWM. However, when I try to install CWM I can access CWM, but otherwise, it goes into a boot loop and I have to reflash that firmware to restore it, which deletes the CWM. The CWM version I can flash does not seem to be able to restore nandroid, so it's fairly useless.
i have tried downgrading but then the phone crashes on startup. I noticed when I restored to the current firmware above, the phone had kept all my settings, so I don't know if there's extra I need to wipe, or if I'm not flashing correctly.
Now I have used PRF tool to create a flashable zip, that I thought might be able to do the job for me if I can get something to install it. It has the working firmware, SuperSU and dualrecovery in it.
I have done this all before without issues, but the new firmware version is making things more difficult.
So questions are;
1. Am I flashing incorrectly when downgrading? Or is there some other factor at play preventing me from doing so?
2. Is there a way I keep the CWM and flash the working firmware? Like it would go into boot-loop but then I could get the normal systems operating again and have the phone rooted, continuing the work. I figured there might be an option in flashtool, but I didn't want to press anything without confirmation from someone.
3. Is there an easier way to froot this? Last time I was able to use giefroot, but now it says my kernel isn't supported.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm not new to modding my phones, but I'm not advanced either. Let me know if there are other details I can give that might help.
Thanks.

[SOLVED] A functional CWM recovery for the Pop Plus (S5570i) ?

Hi,
I have a Galaxy Pop Plus (S5570i - rooted) which I currently renewed by reflashing the stock rom: I’ve done optimization/customization of both system and applications and now I’d wish to do a Nandroid backup of everything, since I plan to install/test some other rom.
In the past months I’ve tried some CWM recovery which installed fine, and all CWM which I tested were able to correctly performs the Nandroid backup on my SD card, but none of these CWM recovery were able to restore the backup; I don’t exactly remember the exact error message, but was something about the mounting of some partition, furthermore this failed restorings caused my phone to become bricked and I was forced to reflash the stock rom.
By searching on this forum I've find this discussion, about another version of CWM for the S5570i, especially on the following post:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=27179828&postcount=119
The user in such post ( draiyan ) said that he was able to backup and restore a Galaxy Mini Plus using the Skin1980-GT-S5360+CWM.zip file. Well: this CWM, as the other which I tried, boots fine on my phone and as the other which I tried, has been able to make a Nandroid backup, but I’d wish to have some other confirmation: is the CWM kin1980-GT-S5360+CWM.zip recovery able to restore the backup? Or maybe someone can suggest me a tested CWM for the Galaxy Mini Plus with the stock rom, which is able to correctly restore a Nandroid backup?
Many thanks.

Mister_Dave said:
is the CWM Skin1980-GT-S5360+CWM.zip recovery able to restore the backup? Or maybe someone can suggest me a tested CWM for the Galaxy Mini Plus with the stock rom, which is able to correctly restore a Nandroid backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I reply to myself, also for future references/needs of the people which will read this topic:
Yes: the CWM Skin1980-GT-S5360+CWM.zip recovery is able to properly backup and restore the Nandroid Backup on the Galaxy Mini/Pop Plus (S5570I), yesterday I decided to take the risk to restore the Nandroid backup and everything went fine: the restore was properly done, because using a root file explorer I made a text file under /system and /data: after the Nandroid restore these text file were no longer present, and after the reboot I found my phone in a previous state (before the restore the phone was in plane mode, after the restore the plane mode was disabled).