Can't move TWRP folder off phone - Verizon Motorola Droid Turbo Q&A, Help & Troublesh

I recently unlocked my bootloader using sunshine and installed TWRP. After rebooting into recovery, I immediately made a backup of my phone. When I plug my phone in, I can see the TWRP folder, but it shows as empty. None of my file explorers can see anything, either. TWRP, however, is able to see it when I go into the file manager. I can't get ADB to see the device when hooked up to my computer while in TWRP. MTP also doesn't work. Chmod 755 and 777 doesn't do anything. I was able to initially copy the TWRP folder into the downloads folder in the TWRP file manager, but now it just hangs there if I try to move it again.
How do I get access to my backup?

evanft said:
I recently unlocked my bootloader using sunshine and installed TWRP. After rebooting into recovery, I immediately made a backup of my phone. When I plug my phone in, I can see the TWRP folder, but it shows as empty. None of my file explorers can see anything, either. TWRP, however, is able to see it when I go into the file manager. I can't get ADB to see the device when hooked up to my computer while in TWRP. MTP also doesn't work.
How do I get access to my backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/droid-turbo/help/twrp-backup-file-location-t3259060

6Binford said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/droid-turbo/help/twrp-backup-file-location-t3259060
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, there aren't any solutions in that thread.

evanft said:
Unfortunately, there aren't any solutions in that thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are two solutions in the first 4 posts:
ruledrbrt1 suggests http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=64048593&postcount=2
And GeoFX has the great : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=64049328&postcount=5
Both work on my phone so they should work on yours too.
Have you given file explorer root privileges?

josephpalozzi said:
There are two solutions in the first 4 posts:
ruledrbrt1 suggests http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=64048593&postcount=2
And GeoFX has the great : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=64049328&postcount=5
Both work on my phone so they should work on yours too.
Have you given file explorer root privileges?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't even see GeoFX's post for some reason. That looks like it worked. Thanks!

TWRP and NAND Backups
I had the same question, and found the previous thread too. So what's the difference between these 2 locations?
/data/media/0/TWRP
and
/sdcard/TWRP
From my point of view, they are duplicates - same data in both folders, just duplicated into separate partitions. If this is true, then my 7.5 GB NAND backup, is really taking up 15GB of memory. Can that be true? I'm doubting it, but you never know.
I started to dive into this, because I was also wondering if NAND backups made copies of my media or not (photos, music, etc). After digging into it a bit, it looks like it does NOT make a backup of anything in the root folder "/data/media" in order to prevent it from non-stop backing up in a loop (you can't back up the location your backing up to, at the same time). This is also noted on github: https://github.com/TeamWin/Team-Win-Recovery-Project/issues/276 Logically, this would make sense since I currently have 25 GB of data in my /sdcard/ location. That's one helluva compression if you were able to get this down to 7.5GB! So I'm guessing this isn't included, which is also why I'm guessing that these are really the same. /sdcard/ must be a shortcut to the /data/media/0/ location, that's my best understanding.
So my original question still stands. What's the reason for these 2 locations, and is there a difference?
This also brings up the next question, what's the best way to make an all-encompassing backup? NAND + Titanium Backup + copy all the contents of your /sdcard/ over to your computer (or OTG drive)?

Florestan2 said:
I had the same question, and found the previous thread too. So what's the difference between these 2 locations?
/data/media/0/TWRP
and
/sdcard/TWRP
From my point of view, they are duplicates - same data in both folders, just duplicated into separate partitions. If this is true, then my 7.5 GB NAND backup, is really taking up 15GB of memory. Can that be true? I'm doubting it, but you never know.
I started to dive into this, because I was also wondering if NAND backups made copies of my media or not (photos, music, etc). After digging into it a bit, it looks like it does NOT make a backup of anything in the root folder "/data/media" in order to prevent it from non-stop backing up in a loop (you can't back up the location your backing up to, at the same time). This is also noted on github: https://github.com/TeamWin/Team-Win-Recovery-Project/issues/276 Logically, this would make sense since I currently have 25 GB of data in my /sdcard/ location. That's one helluva compression if you were able to get this down to 7.5GB! So I'm guessing this isn't included, which is also why I'm guessing that these are really the same. /sdcard/ must be a shortcut to the /data/media/0/ location, that's my best understanding.
So my original question still stands. What's the reason for these 2 locations, and is there a difference?
This also brings up the next question, what's the best way to make an all-encompassing backup? NAND + Titanium Backup + copy all the contents of your /sdcard/ over to your computer (or OTG drive)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The way I understand it, and I might be wrong, is that before Android 4.0 (or maybe 5.0), the partition containing user data was called /sdcard and apps were stored in a separate partition. The partition where apps went was significantly smaller, which could result in people running out of space for apps while still having a ton of free user data. To remedy this, the newer version of android places apps and user data in the same partition (called media). The /sdcard that you see is a symlink (shortcut) to this new partition, and is included so that older apps that were designed to expect the /sdcard partition to be there will still work.

Related

[FIXED] [Q] XT860 - Broke my /system/app folder...

EDIT: Fixed! Procedure I used was to download Danifunker's system dump, move it to /sdcard/ via adb push, then run the following:
Code:
adb shell
su dd if=/sdcard/mmcblk1p21.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk1p21
This completely refreshed my /system folder. Original post below:
--------------------------------------------------------------
Hello XDA forumgoers, longtime reader first time poster here. I'm currently posting because I made a few mistakes. Several mistakes, actually.
1. In my quest to de-bloat my XT860, I accidentally removed one file too many, which caused my phone to mysteriously not have a cell signal. (com.motorola.service.main kept crashing.) So I hit the forum and grabbed a system dump from this thread (thanks Willis111):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=17501981
I had bought the phone with some version of Cyanogenmod Recovery installed by the previous owner, so I was able to use that and ADB to stick the .apks and .odex files in the /system/app folder, chmod 644 them, and even factory reset for good measure.
2. As I soon found out, I had somehow made things worse. The phone, when boot into, shows the "press android to begin" page, but com.motorola.service.main and some other apps keep FCing on me, and I can't progress past that screen. In my haste, I didn't backup any of my system folders at all, though, I still backed up my apps with Titanium.
Tl;dr:
presumably none of the /system/app apks boot, most notably com.motorola.service.main. How do I fix this? Can I?
Try to flash
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1288823
You also need to chown 0:0 both the apk and the odex
Have you tried using my original system dump? It was taken with dd, so things like symlinks and the other sort should be functional. The only caveat is that a number of apps were frozen at the time, so you may need to unfreeze them with titaniumbackup.
http://www.multiupload.com/SORQERFAYT
DoubleYouPee: Is this that chinese rom I've heard of? I heard that if I flash this, I can't root my phone. So I think I'll save this one as a last resort.
eww245: chown'd, no result.
daniflunker: how do I open this?
jonsicoli said:
DoubleYouPee: Is this that chinese rom I've heard of? I heard that if I flash this, I can't root my phone. So I think I'll save this one as a last resort.
eww245: chown'd, no result.
daniflunker: how do I open this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about rootkeeper?
DoubleYouPee said:
What about rootkeeper?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't get past the "click android" screen, so I probably can't install or run it. Any way to do it via adb or Cyanogenmod Recovery?
I really appreciate the help.
jonsicoli, if you want to restore your *entire* /system folder (not just apps) you would run a similar command-set as this.
1. Copy the file to the internal memory
adb push c:\path.to.folder\mmcblk1p21.img /sdcard
the file will be located in the root of the sdcard (or you could drag and drop the file in USB storage mode)
2. Do a full restore on system memory *I have not checked to ensure this is working... but a command similar to this should work
adb shell
su dd if=/sdcard/mmcblk1p21.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk1p21
- wait -
(it would have to write about 500mb and replace all of the contents of /system )
reboot
_______________________________________________________
Okay, if you just want to look at the files, you could use a linux machine to mount the filesystem (it is a standard ext3 FS) or you could do what I have done on my windows system:
Install EXT2FsD from http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/files/latest/download?source=files
Then install OSFMount from http://www.osforensics.com/tools.html
Point the OSFMount program to the img file that you downloaded and assign it a drive then voilla!
I am pretty sure this is a bit of overkill, but this should completely restore your system close to factory (minus the APKs that were upgraded/disabled, plus the fact root was done)
Thanks Danifunker! I reset my entire /system folder, and restoring my user app backup. I'm just relieved to have my phone back. Now to mark this thread as solved.
Awesome!!!!!! Glad to hear my system dump works! Thanks for testing
My command lines were written correctly also I guess?
Sent from my XT860 using XDA App
searched for like 8 hours until i found this thread. Just what i needed, i had system image for 2.3.6 from your other post but no command.

Flashing an 4.2.2 rom and file structure issue.

I decided to start this thread as both assistance for some as well as a collaberation on workarounds when you a person flashes a 4.2.2 rom coming from a 4.1.2.
Just like some (maybe most) I flashed CM 10.1 and played around a bit with it and decided it was just not ready to be run as a daily. Being the flashalohic that I am, I made sure I backed up before flashing CM 10.1 so when I went into recovery and went to restore imagine my surprise when it was blank, yep nothing was there. Why did this happen? Well doing some research and reading/searching I found out that the update from Android 4.1.2 to 4.2.2 changes the file structure of the 'virtual' sdcard on our devices. Actually it changes it for every device. What has changed is that the ability to add user accounts, similar to any regular computer, has been implemented. However, if the proper steps are not taken before you flash a new 4.2.2 Rom, you will end up with a huge mess and run out of room on your device in a hurry.
The actual location when viewed with a root file manager has been here on 4.1.2:
/data/media
And though you will see the same files in /sdcard and /storage/sdcard0, those are just symlinks to the same info, just like a shortcut (on a windows box) or alias (on a mac box). Once you flash a 4.2.2 ROM, the actual location gets changed (and all the files moved) to here:
/data/media/0
And the symlinks get changed to /sdcard/0 and /storage/sdcard0/0. On the surface, no big deal, right? Wrong. The problems arise if the version of your custom recovery is not compatible with a 4.2.2 ROM. If it is not and you keep flashing 4.2.2 ROMs you might soon end up in trouble. If, while using the 'older' custom recovery, you continue flashing, your sdcard ends up somewhere around here:
/data/media/0/0/0/0/0/0 (etc.) with all your files copied to every '0' directory and your symlinks end up the same way, and your device quickly runs out of space (the dreaded "your device is low on storage" message).
This may also make it very difficult to restore your nandroid of a 4.1.2 ROM as well. If you are already in that situation, not to worry, the solution for that is later in this post.
So far I have only been able to to copy all the files found in the last /data/media/0/0/0/0 (?) folder to my computer. Then using a file manager that will show hidden files and folders, copy/move the files in the last '0' directory to:
/data/media/0
And then use file explorer to delete all the other '0' directories until I have just this one:
/data/media/0
leaving nothing else in the symlinks but /sdcard/0 and /storage/sdcard0/0. This techniques is if you end up with a huge file structure.
****BACK UP YOUR SD CARD FIRST!!!!! before deleting any 0 folders!!!****
NOTE: A reboot of your device is essential at this point.
If after flashing a 4.2.2 ROM you decide you don't like it and want to restore your nandroid to your saved 4.1.2 ROM, how does that work out?
1.) Get yourself a (good) root file browser.
2.) Brows to /data/media/0
note: this is where android (and almost everything else that uses a Linux kernel) mounts anything that is considered "external" storage.
3.) Do all of your file fixing from here. It will make changes universally.
4.) select all within /data/media/0 and then paste everything back into /data/media selecting merge and/or overwrite. Once done, just delete the /data/media/0 folder, reboot your phone and Profit.
This is a pain and I agree but at this point is the only way I know how to get around this. If anyone knows other ways please share.
* While writting this I came across this info from user elfaure. I havent tried this yet as I am at work and get crappy signal but please post results if you try and if it works, please thank him! *
elfaure: Ok folks for next guy who decides to upgrade to 4.2 but does NOT want the multi-user environment, give this a try.
1. Download the attached file
2. Remove the .txt extension
3. Copy it to your /data directory
4. Open Android Terminal Emulator (Free Market app if you don't already have it)
5. At the prompt type "cd /data"
6. Type "chmod 644 .layout_version" on the file in /data (/data/.layout_version)
Code:
cd /data
chmod 644 .layout_versionNow when you upgrade to 4.2 you should stay single user and have no /data/media/0 directory when you are done. If anyone tries this please let me know if it works and thank me if it does.
ps-its just a special file in a special location, the presence of which tells Android NOT to upgrade your system to a multi-user environment. If you later decide you want multi-users, delete the file and reflash (from recovery) the stock or custom firmware or ROM or recovery. If your custom ROM or recovery wipes the entire /data partition less /data/media including this file, obviously then this will not help, but with latest versions of ROMs and recoveries that should not happen any more.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=40911246#post40911246
It also looks as if he may be working on a script to help as well and I will keep track and update as needed.
So far this is what I have come up with and I hope it helps some and I hope others that are smarter than I can correct me if I am wrong on any of the above or other add information on other ways to correct this.
I think this is part of my issue but I don't have any 0 folder under data?
I too flashed the 4.2.2 ROM, and noticed that every everything on my sd card had somehow moved to my internal memory? When I went to reflash the ROM it failed. It I also tried to reflash the ROM I was originally running and it too failed. Luckily I was able to do a nandroid restore so the phone is "usable" but TWRP 2.5 still does not see my my external sd and that seems to be that make reason I can not do anything within in the recovery.
Any suggestions?
The op is telling you exactly how to fix it.
lizardking7112 said:
I think this is part of my issue but I don't have any 0 folder under data?
I too flashed the 4.2.2 ROM, and noticed that every everything on my sd card had somehow moved to my internal memory? When I went to reflash the ROM it failed. It I also tried to reflash the ROM I was originally running and it too failed. Luckily I was able to do a nandroid restore so the phone is "usable" but TWRP 2.5 still does not see my my external sd and that seems to be that make reason I can not do anything within in the recovery.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let my clarify:
I have used two different file managers and even used to terminal emulator using ls -la to make sure i have no hidden files
sdcard0/data/ there is no media directory
Maybe this isn't my problem, since I don't see any file/dir with a 0, but all this mess started when I loaded up a 4.2.2 ROM?
Everyone should check this out to aid you in your flashing addiction.
Happy flashing!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=42237249
Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 2
I flashing an aosp Rom and nothing in my sd card changed. Maybe I'm lucky?
Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Good information
so does this work? will i be able to nad back to sense and all my files are in the right place?
I couldn't get it to work, the attachment. However the new recovery I linked to looks to have promise but I haven't tested it yet cause I'm remote right now and need my phone at the moment. Will give it a go this weekend.
Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 2
Seems @imneveral0ne has found a way to assist folks that like to go between 4.2.2 and 4.1.2
Check out his thread here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=42512892
Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 2
Weighing in, worked like a charm for the most part. TWRP recreated another TWRP folder inside its original TWRP folder (it has to be left at /data/media/0/TWRP for you to be able to reinstall a nandroid backup) [also forgoing obvious yo dawg joke here], but besides that my phone is back to being right as rain.
Nice write up on this issue. Thanks
sent via my tranquil⊙NE
I'm sure it wouldn't work for doing a nandroid restore, but on my Galaxy Nexus I would just make certain I had the latest version of TWRP, boot into recovery, format the SD card, and then push the rom files to /data/media/ and flash. That is my only complaint about this change, really...truly "clean" installations are inherently more risky or difficult, dependent on your knowledge level.
It won't let me delete folder 0 no matter what. Inside that folder is a ViperRom folder that won't delete as well no matter what I do!
Thanks for this info. I think I'm going to take the plunge this weekend so this will be very helpful info.
Sent from my HTC ONE using xda app-developers app
I think it moved my ROM data into the 0 folder, how do I get it out? Everything else from the 0 folder is deleted except for ViperROM's folder, and whenever I try to move or delete it, it just fails the operation. I already have a copy out of the 0 folder, but I still want it out, because otherwise I can't flash things, since it just shows the the almost* empty sdcard/0 folder. Help? Should I just put my mods in the 0 folder and deal with it?
Bseagull said:
I think it moved my ROM data into the 0 folder, how do I get it out? Everything else from the 0 folder is deleted except for ViperROM's folder, and whenever I try to move or delete it, it just fails the operation. I already have a copy out of the 0 folder, but I still want it out, because otherwise I can't flash things, since it just shows the the almost* empty sdcard/0 folder. Help? Should I just put my mods in the 0 folder and deal with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. There is a script out there you can flash that will help. Check out post # 10.
Sent from my One using Tapatalk 4
So can we delete the legacy file now? I haven't done anything with my internal storage since coming from 4.1.2 for the first time. It looks like twrp 2.6.3 copied all my files correctly to the 0 file but all the files are still also in "legacy" folder. Is it duplicate that I can delete from legacy or are they just symlinked? I am never going back now that we have official 4.3 release.
ivwonka said:
So can we delete the legacy file now? I haven't done anything with my internal storage since coming from 4.1.2 for the first time. It looks like twrp 2.6.3 copied all my files correctly to the 0 file but all the files are still also in "legacy" folder. Is it duplicate that I can delete from legacy or are they just symlinked? I am never going back now that we have official 4.3 release.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not certain to be honest. It looks like the file structure didn’t change with the release of 4.3 so it’s possible that they are symlinked. If all your files are moved to the /0/ folder and you have nothing in the legacy folder it would make sense that you would be able to but I have yet to test this.
I suppose this weekend I could back up the phone and file tree and give it a shot
Thanks for the response. I haven't tested out yet either but will post back if I do.

[Q] All files are gone!

Hey guys, big problem here.
I was backing up, preparing for the 4.3 upgrade. I was cleaning some files off the storage using my pc, including the weird storage folder that only contained (more) titanium backup stuff.
Well, next thing I know, my phone doesn't see any of my files anymore. They're not there on PC now either, and no root-enabled file manager can see anything. However, 9gb of space is still being used by "other"!
Please help!
If it helps, I think I broke the symbolic links. Any solution? Or have I screwed this?
There might be an adb pull command to grab all files in /media. However I don't know the full syntax. Google adb pull sd card and you should hopefully find the correct command. You might have to play with the path a bit to get it right. It's something like /data/media/ on the One.
I'm not close to a pc so can't see what it should be.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4
No luck. After major research online, the files are gone - I'd have to use recovery software after performing a very long backup in order to retrieve, and there wasn't that much that I lost since the last backup, a few photos just.
More a pain in the ass really. I never would have thought that those directories could do that. Kinda dangerous.
(accidental double post)

[Q] Problems Backing Up EFS info

Hi. I'm new to rooting and flashing ROM's. I have had a Samsung Captivate (Gingerbread) that I haven't been using for quite some time and I thought I might try to update it to KitKat. I have read that it would be important to back up the EFS file so that I can keep my IMEI info. I rooted my phone using the tutorial on these forums and tried to use EFS Pro, but was not able to get past "the device is not perm rooted". Various threads suggested changing adb status, but I could not find that information (though I was able to find the USB debugging selection). I know that the phone is rooted so I looked for an older copy of EFS Pro in case the newer versions had dropped support for the Captivate. I couldn't find one so I looked at other ways to back up the files, but most information was for other (newer) Samsung phones. I could not install Samsung Tools. I really don't want to proceed with installing KitKat before backing up the EFS information. How do I go about doing this? I have tried the search function on the forum for this device and couldn't find what I was looking for (or maybe I didn't understand the information). Any thoughts?
I hope flashing KitKat will be easier than this issue...
Thanks.
Curious D said:
Hi. I'm new to rooting and flashing ROM's. I have had a Samsung Captivate (Gingerbread) that I haven't been using for quite some time and I thought I might try to update it to KitKat. I have read that it would be important to back up the EFS file so that I can keep my IMEI info. I rooted my phone using the tutorial on these forums and tried to use EFS Pro, but was not able to get past "the device is not perm rooted". Various threads suggested changing adb status, but I could not find that information (though I was able to find the USB debugging selection). I know that the phone is rooted so I looked for an older copy of EFS Pro in case the newer versions had dropped support for the Captivate. I couldn't find one so I looked at other ways to back up the files, but most information was for other (newer) Samsung phones. I could not install Samsung Tools. I really don't want to proceed with installing KitKat before backing up the EFS information. How do I go about doing this? I have tried the search function on the forum for this device and couldn't find what I was looking for (or maybe I didn't understand the information). Any thoughts?
I hope flashing KitKat will be easier than this issue...
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could just manually backup your efs folder using a root explorer or through adb. Have that backup on your pc in case you lose your IMEI.
That being said, when it happens (which is fairly rare), a flash back to stock (KK4) usually fixes it and then you're fine to update/flash again.
Other EFS backup options would include:
1) EFS☆IMEI☆Backup by wanam >> his xda thread, his playstore listing.
2) [HOWTO]Comprehensive IMEI/EFS Backup lists two simple ways to permanently backup up IMEI on your phone. One is with adb, the other is with Terminal Emulator for those with rooted devices. The commands used are said to be based on "Samsung's built in backup." The thread is in the SGS3 forum, if nothing else is an excellent source of background information for backing up and restoring nvdata.
I tried to copy the efs folder using Root Browser because the adb method looked very involved. When I started Root Browser, it was able to see a Titanium backup that I had placed into the SD card even though I had formatted the SD card. I figured that the format didn't wipe the information so I proceeded to copy the efs folder over. However, after copying the folder, I stuck the card into my computer and did not see the folder and could not copy the folder over to my computer. Is it because the card is formatted differently than my computer or is it that the file is not compatible with Windows given that it is an Android folder?
Will copying the folder be enough for backing up? If it is this easy to restore the efs, why use EFS Pro? Is there something else with the folder that needs to be present in order to restore a phone that loses IMEI information?
Curious D said:
I tried to copy the efs folder using Root Browser because the adb method looked very involved. When I started Root Browser, it was able to see a Titanium backup that I had placed into the SD card even though I had formatted the SD card. I figured that the format didn't wipe the information so I proceeded to copy the efs folder over. However, after copying the folder, I stuck the card into my computer and did not see the folder and could not copy the folder over to my computer. Is it because the card is formatted differently than my computer or is it that the file is not compatible with Windows given that it is an Android folder?
Will copying the folder be enough for backing up? If it is this easy to restore the efs, why use EFS Pro? Is there something else with the folder that needs to be present in order to restore a phone that loses IMEI information?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have it on your SD card, it should be fine. The idea is to have it on something else than your device's internal memory in case something goes wrong and can't get it there.
As for efs pro, some devices can't manually backup like the Cappy or is not enough. But once again, it doesn't happen very often that you lose your IMEI.
Okay. That's great. I guess I can try my first ROM flashing to KitKat. Thanks.

[Q] Questions regarding compressed recovery img and data on note 4

Hey Everyone,
I am new to XDA forums,(have used it for troubleshooting in the past but just registered today)
I am also new to android and linux, personally i don't use my phone for anything other than calls or games(i mostly do pc's), however my wife does a lot, she has written her own code, does mods, etc...., and we are both stumped. I am asking this on her behalf, due to a terminal illness she has lost the ability to do several things. On April 30th the lollipop update was pushed to her Note 4 (T-mobile US branded) and it wiped out all of her app data as well as her entire SD card. My question is in 2 parts one regarding the TWRP backup for this phone, and another regarding recovering the SD data from this phone(please let me know if i need to break this out into multiple sections of the site).
We have a TWRP backup that was compressed and loaded onto her cloud storage on 4/27/15, and we are unable to figure out how to get TWRP to recognize it without giving an error about the binary code or just not working period. Here is what we have tried(On advice not just from other XDA posts but various android forums as well)
Using TWRP(7zip for unpacking and repacking)
1. Downloaded the TWRP back up into windows
2. Renamed all files of the back up to be .tar, with the exception of boot which was converted to .img
3. Added Meta-Inf file from what was suppose to be stock ROM( she was not running a custom on this phone)
4. Re-archived everything back into Zip and sideloaded.
result : Error in binary code
Using Odin
1. Converted recovery (file only from backup) to md5 using Cygwin
2. Flashed using Odin
Result: Gained back a few programs but no app data or text histories
We have also tried varying versions of this, i.e. converting extra files or renaming extra files and receive the same issue. I am wondering if it is just an issue with the cloud stored compressed backup(or more likely i dont know what im doing)?
Second question comes from above, I was able to recovery all of the data from the SD card(everything was stored here, app data, recovery files, imgs, everything). When recovering the data it split everything up so all the sub peices of each recovery file are spread out is there a way to combine the individual file parts that were recovered from the SD card into functional android files again?
As i mentioned before i have never really dealt with this type of thing before but i want to try and fix this for her as between the 2 issues she has lost 5 years of data.
Thank you so much for your responses.
Hi, what you need to do is put the backup back into the exact same form it was before, an uncompressed, unzipped folder, then put it into the exact directory where TWRP puts backups when it makes them, and then in TWRP choose the option to restore. If you put the backup in the correct directory, TWRP will see it and allow you to choose it to restore it. Basically you just wanna put the backup back where it was before and then restore it in TWRP.
I wasn't sure if you had done this or not. If you have the backup folder with all the contents in their original form, it should work. I've even moved a backup from one phone onto another phone, exact same model of course, and then restored that backup onto the new phone!
I've never converted a backup into another form to be flashed another way, like Odin or as a zip in TWRP. Although I guess it could be possible it seems like it could be pretty messy.
Also if the TWRP backup was for a kit at build it will not restore on the lollipop baseband. You will need to Odin back to the kitkat NK4 build them you should be able to take the data.
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ShrekOpher said:
Also if the TWRP backup was for a kit at build it will not restore on the lollipop baseband. You will need to Odin back to the kitkat NK4 build them you should be able to take the data.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
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Click to collapse
YrrchSebor said:
Hi, what you need to do is put the backup back into the exact same form it was before, an uncompressed, unzipped folder, then put it into the exact directory where TWRP puts backups when it makes them, and then in TWRP choose the option to restore. If you put the backup in the correct directory, TWRP will see it and allow you to choose it to restore it. Basically you just wanna put the backup back where it was before and then restore it in TWRP.
I wasn't sure if you had done this or not. If you have the backup folder with all the contents in their original form, it should work. I've even moved a backup from one phone onto another phone, exact same model of course, and then restored that backup onto the new phone!
I've never converted a backup into another form to be flashed another way, like Odin or as a zip in TWRP. Although I guess it could be possible it seems like it could be pretty messy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you both for the suggestions i will give them a try shortly and i will provide an update on how things go.
Yeah, if you put the backup folder in the right directory, which is either internal or external sdxard/TWRP/BACKUPS/serial #/, you could restore just the data at least and it ought to be mostly ok. You ,might need to clear data in an app here or there if they force close.... or if it's too much then yeah, Odin back to KitKat and restore the desired components of the backup.
YrrchSebor said:
Yeah, if you put the backup folder in the right directory, which is either internal or external sdxard/TWRP/BACKUPS/serial #/, you could restore just the data at least and it ought to be mostly ok. You ,might need to clear data in an app here or there if they force close.... or if it's too much then yeah, Odin back to KitKat and restore the desired components of the backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for this, i double checked we had it in the right directory, but it still failed. At first it said something about a missing md5, but i tried again and i was able to get the log for the failure though. (attached below)
Hmm, I looked at the logs trying to make sure you chose to Restore in TWRP and not Install. If so it's possible the backup could have gotten altered or corrupted in the transferring back and forth. If you get it intact as it was, it SHOULD work, but I'm but sure what else to do at the moment. I hope you get it working
Sorry for the delay
Hey Everyone,
Sorry for the delay its been a long week, bad thing after bad thing kept happening. I was able to try your suggestions and i put together some additional information in hope this might help us try and figure it out.
*I must figure out how to recover, texts, contacts, call locks. My default texting app was google messenger.
So I figured I would start with the phone
I am using a Samsung SM-910T on 4.4.4 (build *ANK4) It was pretty Vanilla -> rooted, but running the stock ROM
1. The phone was set to do a full internal backup nightly using the online nandroid backup (by H3r3T1L)
2. Backups were set to be in TWRP backup format and to save to an external SD card, then to compress before being uploaded to google drive
3. Backups were set to delete from SD card after the upload was finished.
What happened
1. When stock 5.0.1 firmware OTA came out i was trying to dismiss the notification but apparently hit "accept" by mistake, causing the system to crash.
2. While restoring the phone, i attempted to download the most recent backup from the google drive and flash the zip to restore my data.
3. This Zip would not install, and i noticed all of the backups uploaded had the same anomally-a few of the files were 0 bytes
4. I downgraded the phone to ANK4 based on the above recommendation but it has made no difference.
5. I still get updated binary error and each time i flash the zip, my OS gets wiped.
6. I have tried instructions to just unzip and flash , to put zips in twrp backup folder, to build new file with meta-inf, etc. and nothing seems to work.
When the SD card got deleted I was able to retrieve some data from the deleted SD card, but don't know where the text messages are located or how to combine them back into a usable format. Or at the very least be able to extract the SMS/MMS history.
I hope this extra information helps. In any way im am desperate to try and fix this for my wife.
I believe you can use Titanium Backup to extract files from a TWRP image. If you can't extract anything from the backup it's either corrupted, in the wrong place, or in the wrong form - that is due to the compression decompression not being compatible (all zip programs are not equal). Best of luck.
BTW, you must restore TWRP files not install them.
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