After speaking with a friend about a biweekly hard reset "schedule," I've decided to research the eversopopular application from SPB Software, which is their backup application, SPB Backup.
I've heard many good things about it, in terms of reliability, consistency, and the easy to use interface.
Now, having said all of that... are there programs that allow for a COMPLETE SYSTEM BACKUP & RESTORE? As in... all of the modifications, applications, registry, etc. I have now are SAVED, BACKED UP, and capable of being restored onto my device without consequence.
Is SPB Backup the ideal program for this? Please, feel free to offer your suggestions below... thank you in advance.
I have used SPB Backup on my HTC Kaiser and it did a complete phone backup minus the stuff in Rom. In other words, if I did a complete backup & did a hard reset, it would restore the phone back exactly to the state it was(MINUS what was on the SD card). So if you installed anything on the SD card, you would want to do a separate manual backup of your card. I restored numerous backups onto the Kaiser & it ALWAYS restored accurately and completely.
I have been using SPB Backup to backup my HD2, but have yet to do a complete restore from a hard reset (haven't had to). Maybe someone else can verify that it is 100% restoring fine....... Hope this info helps.
By the way, on Twitter, you stated that you found a "handy" application that allows you to automatically switch between interfaces such as: SPBMS, Titanium, and HTC Sense...... what's the name of it?.... TIA.
BIOYAM said:
I have used SPB Backup on my HTC Kaiser and it did a complete phone backup minus the stuff in Rom. In other words, if I did a complete backup & did a hard reset, it would restore the phone back exactly to the state it was(MINUS what was on the SD card). So if you installed anything on the SD card, you would want to do a separate manual backup of your card. I restored numerous backups onto the Kaiser & it ALWAYS restored accurately and completely.
I have been using SPB Backup to backup my HD2, but have yet to do a complete restore from a hard reset (haven't had to). Maybe someone else can verify that it is 100% restoring fine....... Hope this info helps.
By the way, on Twitter, you stated that you found a "handy" application that allows you to automatically switch between interfaces such as: SPBMS, Titanium, and HTC Sense...... what's the name of it?.... TIA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the reply.
I'll look a little further into this.
As for that application for switching between interfaces... I came across that on PPCGeeks from a guy named, "Darkness" who also created most of the disabling .CAB files for Titanium and Sense.
His interface switcher works really well. I downloaded the one specifically designed for Titanium and Sense. NOT THE SPB MOBILE SHELL VERSION!
And one more thing... all of the .CAB files I have installed, I installed them to my device, not my storage card. So, if those files are on my device... would those be backed up within the files that SPB Backup compresses?
Reignzone said:
........ As for that application for switching between interfaces... I came across that on PPCGeeks from a guy named, "Darkness" who also created most of the disabling .CAB files for Titanium and Sense.
His interface switcher works really well. I downloaded the one specifically designed for Titanium and Sense. NOT THE SPB MOBILE SHELL VERSION!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this info .... I'll check it out.
Reignzone said:
And one more thing... all of the .CAB files I have installed, I installed them to my device, not my storage card. So, if those files are on my device... would those be backed up within the files that SPB Backup compresses?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those .cab files would definitely be captured in the backup.
It hasn't had a completely good press but I use Sprite Backup on my HD2. I suppose it's habit after I first used it on my hx4700.
It will restore my HD2 to its backed up state, settings, programs, registry and tweaks. It will back up storage cards if you want it too. It has a mode that allows restoration of suitable data to another device too. It can back up to a network.
I schedule it to run daily and use it at other times as needed. When I restore, I usually hard reset first. Setting Sprite to 'delete all files' during a restoration does much the same. I set it to replace settings. The registry can be replaced or merged; it seems that this makes no difference.
The program has yet to let me down do I haven't felt the need to try SPB Backup.
You might also try the backup feature in SKTools. I find it works well and the software has additional uses.
BIOYAM said:
Thanks for this info .... I'll check it out.
Those .cab files would definitely be captured in the backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you again for your feedback.
I'm definitely feeling a little bit better about entrusting this software with my precious files.
DrATty said:
It hasn't had a completely good press but I use Sprite Backup on my HD2. I suppose it's habit after I first used it on my hx4700.
It will restore my HD2 to its backed up state, settings, programs, registry and tweaks. It will back up storage cards if you want it too. It has a mode that allows restoration of suitable data to another device too. It can back up to a network.
I schedule it to run daily and use it at other times as needed. When I restore, I usually hard reset first. Setting Sprite to 'delete all files' during a restoration does much the same. I set it to replace settings. The registry can be replaced or merged; it seems that this makes no difference.
The program has yet to let me down do I haven't felt the need to try SPB Backup.
You might also try the backup feature in SKTools. I find it works well and the software has additional uses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And thank you kind sir for your reply as well.
All the opinions and facts here certainly make me feel more comfortable with this process, as I am YET to actually perform a backup... not once. So, I figure it's better late than never, right?
I'll look into SKTools and certainly do some research about the Sprite software for Windows Mobile, because I'm familiar with their work for Android. On the Android platform, it did the job quite well.
Thanks again. All of this was reassuring.
I use SPB backup all the time on my HD2.. i have it scheduled to make a complete backup + SD card every second night..
It works very well and have tried to restore several times (just to test) without any problems!
However if you flash a new rom i would not advice you to do a complete backup, but instead make a partially backup of documents, contacts, email and so on..
It even keeps your email signature and settings when doing the parcial backup, so i also use it everytime i flash a new rom, together with either xda UC or auto install from sd card..
Hope it helps, and i can say for sure that this software works perfect with both EU and US roms..
Happy backup
never put your money in one place..means never trust 1 app for your backup specially you got a rahter-die-than-lose-your-files files
not so often i meet my bad luck to restore my files from such spb restore app but lucky me i had 2 similar backup from 3 backup apps maybe u will make it 2 apps thinking about space left
and always save at least 2 backup files with the same app but different time, kind'a storage eater right??but this useful when u got error from another file
hope this useful for u
maverick_endit81 said:
never put your money in one place..means never trust 1 app for your backup specially you got a rahter-die-than-lose-your-files files
not so often i meet my bad luck to restore my files from such spb restore app but lucky me i had 2 similar backup from 3 backup apps maybe u will make it 2 apps thinking about space left
and always save at least 2 backup files with the same app but different time, kind'a storage eater right??but this useful when u got error from another file
hope this useful for u
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...And check the restoration process before you need to use it in anger. Finding that there is something wrong with your backup files when you need to use them in anger is... frustrating.
I mentioned Sprite's ability to restore data to a new device. This includes devices where the ROM has been replaced. I haven't tried it and obviously, not everything can be transferred. The migration features might be useful in your situation though.
Microsoft's myPhone is worth a mention. It can be used to backup your PIM data and documents, photographs and music. I haven't tried using it to restore anything yet though. My PIM data is saved in Outlook and that is backed up to hard disks and in the Cloud via iDrive, DropBox, Humyo and Live MESH. It's probably the one thing I can least afford to lose.
I would appreciate if anyone told me if the SPB Backup utility backs up the SPB Mobile Shell layout as well (the way the icons are arranged and other stuff like that). That would REALLY help me save some precious time ...
SPB Backup - Great App
I bought this application a couple of days ago and I do a backup before I install some questionable apps or just in case I don't like the way it changed other things on my HD2. But I decided to go with the ROM from Sergio and everything seemed fine until I missed some calls and I just didn't like the changes on IE so this morning I decided to try my backup restore. I flashed back to the stock ROM and then ran my backup EXE file. It asked if I wanted to change the time to the current time (Sprite Backup doesn't have this option and restores to the backup time so you have to manually change it) so I moved forward. The backup was just the way I left it. I am glad I purchased this software. Just my 2 cents.
anrabi4 said:
I would appreciate if anyone told me if the SPB Backup utility backs up the SPB Mobile Shell layout as well (the way the icons are arranged and other stuff like that). That would REALLY help me save some precious time ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprite Backup can; it depends on the settings used. I think I'm right in saying that both Sprite and SPB Backup will restore a device to exactly the same state it was at when the backup was made. The only exceptions are where files on a storage card that were used by an application in internal memory have been changed or deleted since the backup was made. Files on removable storage can be added to backups in Sprite to avoid this happening.
dgreening said:
...It asked if I wanted to change the time to the current time (Sprite Backup doesn't have this option and restores to the backup time so you have to manually change it) so I moved forward...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprite Backup leaves the time alone. I used to hard reset (or delete all files and replace settings) and restore the backup. My HD2 sets the time itself either just after the reset or just after the restoration is complete so I find I don't need to do anything. It hasn't caused any problems that I am aware of so far.
dgreening said:
I bought this application a couple of days ago and I do a backup before I install some questionable apps or just in case I don't like the way it changed other things on my HD2. But I decided to go with the ROM from Sergio and everything seemed fine until I missed some calls and I just didn't like the changes on IE so this morning I decided to try my backup restore. I flashed back to the stock ROM and then ran my backup EXE file. It asked if I wanted to change the time to the current time (Sprite Backup doesn't have this option and restores to the backup time so you have to manually change it) so I moved forward. The backup was just the way I left it. I am glad I purchased this software. Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed.
I caved in last night and purchased the SPB Software program as well.
I backed up my system last night... surprisingly though, it was much "smaller" than I had originally expected it to be. Something around 80MB, at least that's what the application "calculated" it was going to be. I suppose that could be in compressed form though...
Anyway, it seems to have done the job well. And I certainly love that I was able to create a backup copy on my SD Card, along with my desktop PC.
I also have SK Tools... so I think having a couple if not MORE than a few system restore and backup utilities is a good thing.
low-dogg said:
I use SPB backup all the time on my HD2.. i have it scheduled to make a complete backup + SD card every second night..
It works very well and have tried to restore several times (just to test) without any problems!
However if you flash a new rom i would not advice you to do a complete backup, but instead make a partially backup of documents, contacts, email and so on..
It even keeps your email signature and settings when doing the parcial backup, so i also use it everytime i flash a new rom, together with either xda UC or auto install from sd card..
Hope it helps, and i can say for sure that this software works perfect with both EU and US roms..
Happy backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I'm looking in the partial possibilities for restoring with the SPB, I can find in the "customize restore" those:
PIM DATA (CONTACTS, TASKS, APPOINTMENTS,...)
EMAILS
TEXT MESSAGES
MY DOCUMENTS
SYSTEM DATA (including: CUSTOMIZE... RESTORE FILES, RESTORE DATABASES and RESTORE REGISTRY)
If I flash a new rom, which exactly possibilities I have to choose?
SPB Backup works perfectly for me. Scheduled backup every night, restore complete system after hard reset, etc.
Don't forget the precious desktop companion SPBBackupUnpack: extract files, registry keys ... and more.
harrygol said:
When I'm looking in the partial possibilities for restoring with the SPB, I can find in the "customize restore" those:
PIM DATA (CONTACTS, TASKS, APPOINTMENTS,...)
EMAILS
TEXT MESSAGES
MY DOCUMENTS
SYSTEM DATA (including: CUSTOMIZE... RESTORE FILES, RESTORE DATABASES and RESTORE REGISTRY)
If I flash a new rom, which exactly possibilities I have to choose?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have restored PIM data, system databases, documents, mail and text messages between devices with Sprite Backup and it has worked perfectly. That includes the same device with different ROMs and even entirely different devices. Restoring the registry and software is sometimes problematic but SPB Backup has a ROM upgrade mode to help here.
I'd check out the support forum for your particular solution to see what works. Restoring the wrong items used to cause trouble and could create quite a mess. I haven't heard of anything in particular since the new restore modes were introduced.
Call me old fashioned, but, backup/restore tools always make me feel uneasy.
I know that there are many for whom they run "faultlessly" and for certain problems they really do offer solutions, however, the one situation that I have a concern about is the backup/restore across a ROM change, be it either a simple stock upgrade or a cooked ROM flash.
You would be throwing a set of data at a virgin phone that had been collected from a setup that had presumably either failed or been superceded!
In either event I would want to know that any potentially destabalising ellements had been eliminated and not "carried over" to, what should be, a fresh setup.
I can remember horrific problems caused by advice to use backup/restore on many other phones and they were all identified as having been situations in which the use was applied across a ROM change.
And lets be clear about this, we have enough trouble with badly coded software as it is. You only have to run down the new daily posts in these forums to see how difficult it is for many to achieve a stable/useable phone and that situation quite often occurs right out of the box!
For my part I must admit that I have become particularly fond of MyPhone.
It has always done the job for me, although I only use it for basic PIM restore after a new ROM flash, which I seem to be doing every couple of days at the moment. However, I do also allow it to retain a copy of my photos and music, but, I've never restored from it as the file sizes and subsequent time taken are too great.
I have identically synced (from within my laptop file manager, but, I have had need to do it directly phone to phone!) MSD cards of the same size in two seperate phones one being the HD2 and the other being a Nokia E71. These cards hold music, photos, documents, downloads, a section for reinstall apps and my current and previous ROM and radio images. This means that the cards are interchangeable and I keep an image of them on a USB stick. My apps are never installed to mem card.
My final piece of backup is by way of my trusty Ameo which holds one more complete data and app set.
So if any two pieces of equipment fail I can still recover the situation and notice that I give only passing mention to a PC or laptop.
I access MyPhone through my mobile broadband WiFi router which is constantly on and is powered through a UPS which gives about three days backup use.
With all this I have got a task 29, new ROM flash, reinstall of apps and settings down to about 35 mins.
It just came to me that we do lavish a lot of attention our our little pals!
Don't we?
Too much? LOL.
SPB BACKUP FAILED FOR ME ON HTC Touch PRO 2
I was used to restore my Touch 3g and my Qtek S200 with SPB backup and at all times successfully. So, I updated to last SPB backup software version (of course I bought that software). On Saturday I did something erroneous on my TP2 and needed to hard reset. After that, I tried to restore my full backups, one after other from newer to older and a total of 15. All of them restored apparently well, but HTC sense did not start-up any longer in any of the cases. I had to manually re-install all the stuff back and I just restore the emails and PIM from the backup. The PIM database did not longer sync with my Outlook. I had to recreate the partnership. After that, all my notifications were duplicated... a complete mess. I cannot understand what went wrong, because the backup and restore log files where always showing no error. I am using the stock ROM (WM6.5 + HTC sense 2.5) and all my software is either legal or GPL. Nothing special on my device apart of all my beloved data.
So that is my experience with SPB backup that was always good, has turned to be negative. Of course, now I am afraid to try again.
Anybody has experience the same?
Any idea?
Thanks folks.
Hi!
I did an update for xperia x8 today. I made a back-up for calendar, contacts and so on. When the update was finished, i tried to run the backup file to restore the information (most importantly contacts) but it said the file (.sbf) couldn't be read.
I tried taking out the sd card and putting it back in, didn't work. Tried to find a converter or a sbf reader, hoping to at least be able to see the information. No luck.
Can you repair the file? (I guess it is corrupted or something, since i can open an older backup file.) Are there any programs that can read the file? (on the phone, or on pc)
Thanks!
I don't know how to help you with corrupt sbf, but I can give you a tip for the future.
Sync your calendar, contacts, etc with gmail! It's pretty easy and very good! When I format my phone, I only backup my messages, cuz contacts are already backed up @ gmail!
Hi Vixen666,
I'm in the same situation Did you found the solosion?
Thanks!
Edit: The old title was "Google Apps for Android 2.3.6 ROMOW 4.1 ROM"
Hi everyone
I was running the great ROMOW 4.1 ROM on my Note and (I don't know what hit me) mistakenly flashed the google apps 6 for ICS (I didn't know the ICS bit at the time of flashing). In order to fix this I flashed the updated ROMOW 5.1 ROM and immediately ran into more trouble. After flashing, the system boots nicely but then hangs in a google account setup error loop. My last backup is from mid of december and I now wonder whether I could simply flash the correct google apps version on top of the mess in order to get back to normal?
Doing a factory reset also solves the issue but then all my Xmas SMS as well as other data from my last backup till today will be gone.
Before doing the factory reset I took a CWM backup of the faulty system which worked perfectly.
Thanks a lot for any suggestions and have a great year!
suxi
Sms backup + In the market backs up urn sms to gmail. Titanium backup does you apps and settings that about covers it I think?
Jr
Sent from the HD2's closest replacement, the Samsung Galaxy Note
Thanks for your answer. Unfortunately as I am stuck in a fatal error setup loop the only things I can do is boot into recovery and work from there or restore an old backup, trying to recover my settings and data from the CWM backup of the faulty system which I took before factory resetting the phone.
Does anyone know how I could retrieve my SMSs and call logs as well as my sMemo drawings from the CWM Backup of the faulty system as these are the crucial things I would like to recover. I have a many hours worth of sMemo drawings and restoring the sMemo user data with Titanium Backup didn't recover them. I don't understand why sMemo doesn't store the drawings on the sdcard and why Titanium didn't backup those. The same goes for SMSs, shouldn't those also be backed up by Titanium?
Again, thanks a lot for your help and for any short explanations of the above!
suxi
OK, this is a great way to learn about android
I learned that I can unzip the CWM backup data.ext4.tar from my faulty system and push certain user data back to a fresh system using ADB.
I am after my SMemo drawings and my SMS Messages. I think the sMemo files for example could be here:
com.sec.android.widgetapp.diotek.smemo
If I push those files/directories in recovery mode with adb to my /data/data directory everything seems fine. I can list them in an ADB shell but after a reboot they are gone.
Do I have a permission issue here?
adb root says I am running adb as root
I also tried adb remount before pushing with no success.
I really appreciate any help!
Thanks a lot
suxi
Nearly there!
I flashed a new custom ROM, booted into recovery mode and mounted the /data directory (before I forgot to do that and couldn't push any data in recover mode because of that).
I extracted the following directories from my faulty system backup and pushed them with adb to the fresh phone:
/data/data/com.android.providers.telephony
/data/data/com.sec.android.provider.logsprovider
After this all my SMS and Calllog Databases were restored.
Now I just need to find the necessary sMemo Databases. I found this one so far:
com.sec.android.widgetapp.diotek.smemo
But pushing this only brings back the document and pile structure with empty documents in sMemo.
Does anyone know where the missing documents are?
Thanks a lot and have a great weekend
suxi
jamieross said:
Sms backup + In the market backs up urn sms to gmail. Titanium backup does you apps and settings that about covers it I think?
Jr
Sent from the HD2's closest replacement, the Samsung Galaxy Note
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agree with your footer. This is the closest replacement for my loved and over flashed now dead hd2!
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.handyandy.appextractor
This handy app can restore your sms and Apps from CWM. So feel free to flash again any ROM and then use the app to extract your SMS
Good luck
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Thank you, that app sounds perfect. Have you tried it? I tried to recover some system Apps and it frequently performs a quick restart in the middle of it, so I guess the remaining Apps had not been restored.
Unfortunately it also doesn't recover my precious sMemo drawings. Does anyone have an idea where in the data directory those are stored?
Best wishes
suxi