Help restoring contacts - Galaxy S 4 Active Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I need some help restoring my contacts. I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 Active i9295.
Here’s how I lost my contacts:
I decided to root my phone and try some custom ROM’s. So I found this forum thread:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2649691.
1. I installed CWM via ODIN
2. Installed root via CWM
3. Installed “Online Nandroid” app and made a backup of my system, I put it on my SD card and copied it to my PC.
4. I wiped data, cache, dalvik. And flashed RR Rom via CWM.
5. Rebooted in to RR and found that all my contacts are gone.
For some reason they were not saved in my google account.
After that I tried to restore my contacts by various methods:
1. Restore backup in google contacts. Even 30 days back it is empty.
2. Restore the nandroid backup I made in the beginning. No luck, I get an error when restoring data. As I read somewhere afterwards CWM cannot handle backups above 2 gb. My data file is 4,5 gb.
3. I tried replacing the contacts database files from the nandroid backup manually in com.android.providers.contacts. Nothing happened.
4. I tried the method to convert the contacts DB file in to Vcard file in linux. No success.
5. I tried using “APP Extractor” to restore contacts. No contacts restored. But I start to get an error “The process android.process.acore has stopped working.”
At this point I am out of ideas. I can see the individual contacts via Nandroid Manager app, but no way of restoring them except doing it manually one by one.

x5c8 said:
I need some help restoring my contacts. I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 Active i9295.
Here’s how I lost my contacts:
I decided to root my phone and try some custom ROM’s. So I found this forum thread:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2649691.
1. I installed CWM via ODIN
2. Installed root via CWM
3. Installed “Online Nandroid” app and made a backup of my system, I put it on my SD card and copied it to my PC.
4. I wiped data, cache, dalvik. And flashed RR Rom via CWM.
5. Rebooted in to RR and found that all my contacts are gone.
For some reason they were not saved in my google account.
After that I tried to restore my contacts by various methods:
1. Restore backup in google contacts. Even 30 days back it is empty.
2. Restore the nandroid backup I made in the beginning. No luck, I get an error when restoring data. As I read somewhere afterwards CWM cannot handle backups above 2 gb. My data file is 4,5 gb.
3. I tried replacing the contacts database files from the nandroid backup manually in com.android.providers.contacts. Nothing happened.
4. I tried the method to convert the contacts DB file in to Vcard file in linux. No success.
5. I tried using “APP Extractor” to restore contacts. No contacts restored. But I start to get an error “The process android.process.acore has stopped working.”
At this point I am out of ideas. I can see the individual contacts via Nandroid Manager app, but no way of restoring them except doing it manually one by one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you didn't save the contact you cannot restore except if you have make a backup on which you have your contact, in the future use Google account to save your contact

Related

CM7 wipe/reset contacts etc

I just flashed cm7 after a full wipe. Now I put all programs that i wanted to keep on my SD card, but i did lose all contacts (i backed up so no prb). I intentionally did not install the gapps and was trying to only install the market apk so that i could install the gapps manually ensuring they will update later.
how should i handle this? i dont have titanium backup or something, does that work? because I DO want to execute a good full wipe, but obviously I want important data like, sms's; contacts etc to be saved and automatically imported after i flashed cm7
if i transfered a program, for example barcodescanner to SD-card via the manage menu from settings, is that enough to get it back after wiping/factory reset? so I just use the OI file explorer and install the apk... I assume all the apk's are findable, because I am now restoring, so I cannot check, but the whatsapp apk was there and installing worked.
when the above indeed works, does that automatically ensure market updates? or will the programs appear as not yet installed in the market? that will be nasty for some paid apps.
and once again. can I, after a full wipe and flashing cm7, install the market apk from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10527774&postcount=1993
and then just install the gapps from the market? i want that because i could never update google-apps
Hope someone can help me out with these questions, shouldnt be to hard i hope.
edit; I now see that the apk's are not there. I just tried installing whatsapp after flashing cm7 and the apk was there, but apparently that was just about the only program which had a apk in its folder.
one: a wipe deletes the apps on the sd card as well.. so you won't have apps from the old rom on a new one.... use titanium backup.. it DOES work..
two: gapps is better if you *flash* it with the rom.. and they sure get updated.. (if not then you could use rom manager and download the latest gapps update in a zip)
edit: you could even make an update.zip with titanium backup having all the necessary apps that way it would be easier and as you say - automatic..
Sent from my Nexus One
Contacts are synced using Google cloud sync, built in Android. So is Gmail. So is Google calendar.
Everything else is erased, and kept nowhere. Moving apps to SD won't do a thing for you.
Use Titanium Backup for apps and their data, SMS Backup&restore for SMS, APN backup&restore for APN (if you had to enter one manually), Call backup & restore for call log.

backup,restore help

i recently lost my nexus one but i had a backup folder for titanium backup in my pc
now i just bought a captivate and when i try to restore my msgs ,it says tht restore complete, it shows nohting ie no msgs are restored
when i c the backup , it shows the data is there and wht time it was backed up last
how can i restore my msgs now ?
they just dont show up
rom : cognition 4.1.1
kernel : speedmods
You won't be able to restore system settings/data. Only app data.
^
y is tht , cause its a new phone or wht ?
cause i used to restore alot with the n1 and my spica , and i think i transfered the msgs from 1 to the other btwn them
okay
if its cause if the different roms then can i do this ?
i had cyanogen rom on my nexus when i made tht backup
now if i put cm7 on the captivate , and restore the msgs
is there any software tht can help me restore the msgs on any other rom , after i shift from cm7 ??
PS - i have never really had to go to a different rom on the nexus 1 , i always had the cm rom , so dont know much
System data is specific to a particular phone and ROM. Restoring it, even if it is the same phone and ROM version, has been known to cause problems (app and/or system FCs). Since that backup was made on a different phone, the system aspect of it is useless and even some of your restored apps may not work.
It's actually because the location of the sms database is in a different spot on the galaxy s line, so I'm sure TB restored it to the same spot as on the N1, which is the wrong spot on the Galaxy S/Captivate. You can maybe try moving the database over yourself with adb, though I'd back up your current database first..
The sms/mms database on the nexus one is located at:
/data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
On the Galaxy S it is in:
/dbdata/databases/com.android.providers.telephony/mmssms.db
What you would want to do is take a backup of your mmssms.db in /dbdata/..., move your old n1 database over to /dbdata/... from /data/data/... (overwriting the existing one) and then restarting your phone.
Titanium Backup restore after ROM install
I am having restore issues and would appreciate some help.
I installed Cognition 4.1.1 on my Captivate. First time through I did Ti Backup "Backup all user apps + system data", moved the Titanium Backup directory to my PC, ran Odin to restore I897UCJF6, but then couldn't do a Master clear due to PC connection difficulties. I continued without a Master Clear and was eventually successful. I restored my apps after installation with TiB "Restore Missing Apps with Data".
Not doing a Master Clear was tormenting me so I did the installation all over again, this time without doing the TiB backup again as I still had the first backup folder on my PC. I found the phone number for the Master Clear and did that in lieu of Odin Master Clear. It all worked...but
...now when I copy my Titanium Backup folder from my PC back to my phone and open TiB, it doesn't see and backups. I have two files in my /mnt/sdcard/TitaniumBackup directory...
TitaniumBackup_latest.apk 1.82 MB, and
TitaniumBackup.apk 1.73 MB.
When I install TiB from the Market, it is version 3.7.4. The first file appears to be the 3.7.2 app and the second is the 3.6.8 app.
Hope I didn't leave anything out. WHERE'S MY STUFF???
Your TitaniumBackup folder shouldn't only have those two backups. Those are just the install files for the Titanium Backup app itself. It should typically have EVERY app/data file inside that folder. (I have 756 files in my TitaniumBackup folder).
Go to the folder copy you left on your computer and see if the files are still there... If not, you're in bad luck I'm afraid.
Ah! I looked around and indeed found the "real" location I had used. I was looking in the folder where I had downloaded the app. The real location has lots of files. I will try again. Thanks for your help.

[Q] Moving contacts from [STOCK]2.2 to [CM7]2.3.3

In the past I've uses TiB to backup and restore my contacts ([CONTACTS/CALLS] Contacts Storage 2.x) as I tried different roms going accross 2.1, 2.2 and 2.2.1. A couple of days I decided to bite the bullet and install CM7. I must admit I didn't do all my homework so after soft-bricking my phone once I managed to installed it right the 2nd time.
When I try to restore my contacts with TiB it just doesn't work. I also tried to manually replace the contacts2.db file, but it gets overwritten (I see a contacts2.db-journal file appear once in a while, which tells me the databases are incompatible).
So before either rolling back to 2.2 and creating a *.vcf file or installing some SQL editor to try to fix the database, I wanted to see if any one knows a faster way to fix this (sync with Google doesn't work for me).
Sync to Google, profit!
Appreciate the quick response, but I messed up that path long time ago. I wish I could go straight to profit, but looks like I'm in need to figure out step 2 here.
1. TiBu worked for me, but I had to restore twice and restart phone after that
2. Use Sprite Backup to backup to a file and use that file to restore them
Sprite Backup does seem more reliable for this kind of operation than TiBu, but looks like I'll have to Odin first to recover my contacts (since they all trapped right now in my backup contacts2.db file), the I can try Sprite Backup.
Oh well, my fault for being sloppy I guess.
do they have nandroid backups working yet on 2.3? if so make one to get back to "now" easier.
and make a tibu backup in 2.3 too just for extra! but use a different folder! dont want to overwrite your 2.2 backups!
Back ups backups backups.
oh and while you are in 2.2 backup your contacts to SIM card! &/or export to SD card in vcf.! and you can upload that vcf to google through gmail contacts (using web browser)
BACKUPS BACKUPS BACKUPS

[Q] can't restore contact from titanium backup

HI there
i recently restored my phone after flashing a different rom. everything went well and i restored almost everything using titanium backup. i clicked for "install missing apps and data" but unfortunately i could not restore my phone contacts. my contacts are also not synced with gmail. please help?
Did you click on the button in the top middle to bring up the list of programs, and restore contacts then reboot?(assuming you backed it up of course). Cause all it sounds like you did was that batch restore of MISSING apps. The contacts.apk was included so it didn't get restored.
i'm curious about this too. I dont need to restore my contacts but I've installed custom roms for a few friends who didnt have their contacts sync'd with gmail and after restoring what I thought was the contacts, it didnt actually restore.
so I've had this problem before, too. I'm curious to hear from someone who successfully restored phone contacts from TiBu.
Always sync your contacts with Google
I never used TiBu for contacts or calendar entries.
bravomail said:
I never used TiBu for contacts or calendar entries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is what I tell my friends before I install a custom rom lol
Not sure if this thread is dead or not but I just flashed my brother's phone and used TiBu to restore missing apps + data. For contacts I tried restoring [Contacts/Calls] Storage 2.2, rebooted and still nothing. I dont know what else can I do now. Is there any way I can pull the information out manually from TiBu backup files? I opened com.android.providers.contacts-20110625-144656.tar.gz and noticed the raw data is in the files. Any ideas would be helpful....
Thanks!
graveheart_82 said:
Not sure if this thread is dead or not but I just flashed my brother's phone and used TiBu to restore missing apps + data. For contacts I tried restoring [Contacts/Calls] Storage 2.2, rebooted and still nothing. I dont know what else can I do now. Is there any way I can pull the information out manually from TiBu backup files? I opened com.android.providers.contacts-20110625-144656.tar.gz and noticed the raw data is in the files. Any ideas would be helpful....
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did he sync contacts with his Google account? If so sign into Gmail from the phone and sync. I use the Backup with Gmail from the market to backup calls and texts too. All of my call history, contacts, and texts are synching with my Gmail, works great.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk
Restart the phone after restoring apps and system data.
When it comes to backing up my contact list I'm Old School. I still do it the same way I did on my Palm OS device. Export to a vCard file (*.vcf). Since android still has that feature I occasionally make a backup of my contacts as a *.vcf and copy it to my SD card, PC or dropbox. However, after reading this post I gave it a try and successfully restored my contacts, txt messages, call logs etc with TiBu. After a restore (I was able to confirm that the 'Restore missing apps + all system data' batch restore will restore your contacts etc. However they don't show in your contact list after a restore. You can try to force close the Contacts and Contact storage from the 'Manage Applications' -> 'Running' screen, and when you restart your contacts after that they should appear. However tried and true method is the simplest.
=> Do a Re-boot.
I tried it successfully four times and doing a restart of the phone worked the best, smoothest and easiest. Then all my contacts were successfully restored.
I performed this on a I897 running FireFly 3.0.2.2 (Froyo based ROM) I used the latest version of TiBu 3.9.0.1 free version and made sure that busybox was updated to 1.18.4
If you're worried about TiBu not working, exporting your contacts to a *.vcf file does give you a nice file that you can then import natively into Android and most other mobile OS. (I've personally verified that *.vcf works on Pantech and Lg messaging phones, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Thunderbird, Outlook)
antiquinal said:
HI there
i recently restored my phone after flashing a different rom. everything went well and i restored almost everything using titanium backup. i clicked for "install missing apps and data" but unfortunately i could not restore my phone contacts. my contacts are also not synced with gmail. please help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, don't use TiBU to restore any system apps like contacts or messaging ESPECIALLY when changing roms/android os versions.
I would recommend backing up ur contacts to your google account. Also, see if u can find a .vcf file in your TiBU backup

[Q] Titanium Backup Pro willing to restore data at startup [FIXED]

Hello,
I have a Samsung Galaxy S III mini VE N, GT-I8200N which is rooted.
Those last days, it was unstable (reboot loops) and decide to reinstall it by reflash it and restore the application data.
For that, I used Titanium Backup Pro, where I created an update.zip file with all applications. And I also did a full backup on the external SD card.
So :
1. wipe the data
2. reflash a ROM from Sammobile
3. re-root the phone + update.zip with all data in recovery mode
4. reconfigure the system settings (I didn't dared restore the system settings from a corrupted system backup, only the apps).
Everything seemed ok, but once I reboot the phone, I see Titanium Backup launches a scheduled restore, that restores everything, including the system settings. And after that, I get the same problems as before : boot loops, application that crashes : clock, Google Play Services, Skype, ...
I am sure the problem is related to that automatic scheduled restore from Titanium : if I do steps 1-4 (skipping 2 because), restore only user apps and data, and fast uninstall Titanium, I can use my phone as before.
I even removed TitaniumBackup folders, but Titanium Backup still seems to find some backup somewhere.
And I see it keeps my settings from previous, because I checked the "persist" setting.
Is there a way to erase all data from Titanium Backup, especially that ghost restore scheduled job?
I don't seem to find a similar problem on the forum or other websites...
Kind regards,
Xavier.
EDIT: FIXED by myself : I removed Titanium Backup related data /storage/extSdCard/data/ and in /data/data by finding "com.keramides" and "titanium".
The app has forgotten its corrupted settings and is working fine now.

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