Database Users

Looking for best practices for moving from one ROM to another. Any easy way?

With all the great new ROMs out there, I am trying to figure out the best way to go about backing up and restoring my apps and all of my settings.
I do Nandroid backups, and those work find as a "snapshot" of my Hero. But is there any easy way to back up and restore all of my apps or settings in one fell swoop, without affecting the installed ROM?
I'm trying to find the best way to move from one DamageControl ROM to another, for instance. My current procedure would be to back up the phone, wipe it, then flash the new ROM. From there, I would have to use AppMonster or something to restore my apps. The downside is that that would have to be done manually, and plus I would still be without all of my custom settings.
So is there any easier way to go about this? I have tried flashing a newer DC ROM on top of an older one without wiping, and this seems to work okay sometimes, except for I tend to have a lot of quirks with the new installation then -- force closes and things of that nature.
Anyway, I'm sure you guys have developed some pretty smart ways to go about switching from one ROM to another without having to manually set things up each time, and I'm just trying to find out what's most efficient.
Thanks for your time!

I use titanium backup, I believe it lets you backup personal data as well not a 100% but pretty sure.

I just wipe each time, and install whatever ROM is the flavor of the moment.
I have a couple of Nandroid backups on my computer though.

Thanks for the info. I might give Titanium Backup a try...

imekul said:
With all the great new ROMs out there, I am trying to figure out the best way to go about backing up and restoring my apps and all of my settings.
I do Nandroid backups, and those work find as a "snapshot" of my Hero. But is there any easy way to back up and restore all of my apps or settings in one fell swoop, without affecting the installed ROM?
I'm trying to find the best way to move from one DamageControl ROM to another, for instance. My current procedure would be to back up the phone, wipe it, then flash the new ROM. From there, I would have to use AppMonster or something to restore my apps. The downside is that that would have to be done manually, and plus I would still be without all of my custom settings.
So is there any easier way to go about this? I have tried flashing a newer DC ROM on top of an older one without wiping, and this seems to work okay sometimes, except for I tend to have a lot of quirks with the new installation then -- force closes and things of that nature.
Anyway, I'm sure you guys have developed some pretty smart ways to go about switching from one ROM to another without having to manually set things up each time, and I'm just trying to find out what's most efficient.
Thanks for your time!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mybackup works great for backing up contacts and some settings as well as your apps. You get 30 days free trial I think.

if your using Damage's latest, you may want to avoid Titanium as it seems to be breaking the audio....

Check out a program called Android Commander it backs up apps to your computer. I really like the ease of use, plus it makes editing the phone files easy. Check it out!

partition your SD card and get a rom with Apps2SD(A2SD). Than when you flash a new rom the app .apks will still be on your sd card data (unless you cleared ext3 partition in which you should mount your phone via usb and make a copy of the ext3 folder on your sdcard that you have from partitioning ur sd card via RA and have apps2sd running, now to the app that makes all this come together is this simple app i found on the market called "installer" download this one app from market and launch it, what this app does is scan's your sd card for every single .apk file and puts them in a nice neat list(with icons) than you can simple click on it and choose to install. this is a must have!

I'm using TitaniumBackup on fresh's newest and it works amazing for me.

PlagaDeRock said:
I'm using TitaniumBackup on fresh's newest and it works amazing for me.
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Have you tried it going from a 1.5 rom (Fresh 1.1 in this case) to a 2.1 ROM (Fresh 2.0d)?
I tried it on my wife's phone last night. After the restore sense was stuck in an FC loop and I had to wipe and start over. I ended up restoring her 1.5 nandroid so she would stop giving me evil looks and contemplating my death.

smw6180 said:
Have you tried it going from a 1.5 rom (Fresh 1.1 in this case) to a 2.1 ROM (Fresh 2.0d)?
I tried it on my wife's phone last night. After the restore sense was stuck in an FC loop and I had to wipe and start over. I ended up restoring her 1.5 nandroid so she would stop giving me evil looks and contemplating my death.
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Nah I've been on 2.1 since the eris leak lol. But were you restoring everything? try doing apps first and see if that works, then one by one doing the data it might be something you can pin point and avoid.

PlagaDeRock said:
Nah I've been on 2.1 since the eris leak lol. But were you restoring everything? try doing apps first and see if that works, then one by one doing the data it might be something you can pin point and avoid.
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When I did my phone I had no issues...I was like you and was on 2.x from the Eris leak. My wife though doesn't like her phone to be 'tinkered with' (I wonder if that has anything to do with me cursing and screaming when I first bricked my phone with the RUU? But I digress), so she's coming from 1.5 (Fresh 1.1). In any event I tried what you suggest already...the apps install fine. It's when I restore the app settings (only the app settings, not system) that everything goes boom. She's got 120 apps. I'm not going through them one by one, so I'll probably just tell her she's got to live with a nuke and pave if she wants to upgrade. Since she'll likely have the same problem if/when the official Sprint release comes out, I doubt I'll have much trouble convincing her to let go of some of her crap.
My major issue is restoring her text messages at this point. I know that the 1.5 ROMs uses a different database format than the 2.x series. So I'm going to take a guess that I won't be able to save those.

smw6180 said:
When I did my phone I had no issues...I was like you and was on 2.x from the Eris leak. My wife though doesn't like her phone to be 'tinkered with' (I wonder if that has anything to do with me cursing and screaming when I first bricked my phone with the RUU? But I digress), so she's coming from 1.5 (Fresh 1.1). In any event I tried what you suggest already...the apps install fine. It's when I restore the app settings (only the app settings, not system) that everything goes boom. She's got 120 apps. I'm not going through them one by one, so I'll probably just tell her she's got to live with a nuke and pave if she wants to upgrade. Since she'll likely have the same problem if/when the official Sprint release comes out, I doubt I'll have much trouble convincing her to let go of some of her crap.
My major issue is restoring her text messages at this point. I know that the 1.5 ROMs uses a different database format than the 2.x series. So I'm going to take a guess that I won't be able to save those.
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120 apps! Lol, but I might be able to help with the text messages thing, I just found on the market an app called SMS Backup. It actually backs up all your sms to your gmail account in thread form. Its pretty sweet and runs in the background each time you get a message it just uploads it to your gmail account silently. I had the same issue I was just getting sick of everytime I flashed I would loose all my messages at least now I have them backed up somewhere and better yet its in a place where I dont have to worry about running outta space. So overall it might be a better option I read alot of people saying they arent paying attention and a threaded sms reaches 2k+ then their phones start to lag and it wont delete them. Just an option, but its a pretty kick ass app you should check it out.

PlagaDeRock said:
120 apps! Lol, but I might be able to help with the text messages thing, I just found on the market an app called SMS Backup. It actually backs up all your sms to your gmail account in thread form. Its pretty sweet and runs in the background each time you get a message it just uploads it to your gmail account silently. I had the same issue I was just getting sick of everytime I flashed I would loose all my messages at least now I have them backed up somewhere and better yet its in a place where I dont have to worry about running outta space. So overall it might be a better option I read alot of people saying they arent paying attention and a threaded sms reaches 2k+ then their phones start to lag and it wont delete them. Just an option, but its a pretty kick ass app you should check it out.
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I'll take a look at it. But if I understand what it does, it will only get new stuff that comes in, and won't be able to be restored to the messaging database, right? If that's the case she won't go for it. She's 'purist' about her phone (she's great, and I love her to death, but a tech geek she isn't. She just wants it to work, work like it's stock, and not give her problems...a viewpoint I can understand, honestly ).

smw6180 said:
I'll take a look at it. But if I understand what it does, it will only get new stuff that comes in, and won't be able to be restored to the messaging database, right? If that's the case she won't go for it. She's 'purist' about her phone (she's great, and I love her to death, but a tech geek she isn't. She just wants it to work, work like it's stock, and not give her problems...a viewpoint I can understand, honestly ).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, I understand. I haven't tried restoring to be honest but I think theres another one similar out there called sms backup and restore or something like that that dumps all the sms into an xml file and allows you to restore it again. Not sure I haven't used it, just read about it in passing and looked it up on the market. But thats always another option.

PlagaDeRock said:
Lol, I understand. I haven't tried restoring to be honest but I think theres another one similar out there called sms backup and restore or something like that that dumps all the sms into an xml file and allows you to restore it again. Not sure I haven't used it, just read about it in passing and looked it up on the market. But thats always another option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet. I'll take a look. Thanks for the tips

Save scenes?

Is there a way to save a scene on the Incredible? If that were possible, combined with Titanium Backup, it'd be completely painless to flash a new ROM or install the OTA and have your phone back to the way it was.
TIA.

Not that i know of. I wish i could help more, but i have been trying to remove sense since day one.
EDIT: i think you can, but im not sure. I think it prompts you when you select it.
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App

Do you mean the "scenes" as in ones you make yourself similar to the ones that are preloaded, like "work" "play" "social" etc.?
If so Click menu>scenes>save (option at bottom) The save option will only be there if the scene is new, and has not already been saved. Hope this helps

Thanks for the replies guys, that works fine for general saving of Scenes - but what if you flash a new ROM over your old one? Assuming it's still a Sense ROM, is there any way to then automatically go back to the way your homescreens were before? Similar to the way Titanium Backup can return all your apps to the exact way they were before the flash.

Quick Questions before I take the plundge!

Hey guys,
Yesterday I got my 3 button download mode working, so now I'm ready to use a new rom, just have a quick question or 2.
Basically I think I have made my mind up on what ROM to use - I'm going to use Darkys steel ROM - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=814091
So first question is - is this a good ROM to start with? From what I can tell it seems like a fairly simple install process, and has quite a lot of features, so I'm thinking this will suit me well.
Now I understand that this will wipe all my apps, second question is, will all my purchases be available for download still (cause these are saved on my gmail account, right? )
Lastly, also related to apps, is I only have 2 things I want to save from my current phone, that is I want to save my contacts, and I want to save my messages. If I flash with the above ROM, will kies not be able to restore these for me? If so, is there another way to backup and restore these settings before I start flashing?
I think thats all, I'm still at work, so I can't start just yet, but when I get home I'll get started on my android customization journey!
Also a quick thanks to all the contributors to this forum, you guys do amazing work, appreciate it.

Darky's is a great ROM to start with, however the lagfix corrupted my internal SD card and i ended up just getting a new phone because of it. I would assume this is highly unlikely, and possibly due to error on my part, but keep it in mind nonetheless. (EDIT: I could be completely wrong about this, I used other ROMS and flashed different firmwares so its unfair to target this ROM specifically, its just what I happened to be using when my phone screwed up, it might have been unreleted) Yes, you will be able to redownload your purchases, and as for saving your contacts and messges, can you save them onto your SIM card?
Good luck!

I was in a similiar situation not that long ago, and decided to try Darky's ROM as my first ever. His instructions really were incredibly easy to follow, and I did not have any real issues. in fact it took less than 30 minutes to download it all and get it working. overall, couldn't recommend it more (though I haven't tried any other ROMs).
MyBackUp Pro is what I used to back up all my data on my phone (missed calls, settings, etc). Its a paid up, but it's not expensive and I found it worth the money. it also backs up alot of your apps. It will back up your contacts, but Android actually has an export contacts feature to back them up. look in your options in your address book and you will find it.

Excellent, that pretty much covers my questions then! Just got back from work, so I'll give darkys ROM a go and post back! Really interested to see how this turns out

[Q] Basic Walkthrough on How to Customize your GT-6810?

Ok. I'm VERY green when it comes to anything Android. I'm a recent Apple converter!
I'm just getting used to how things are with Android and I'm anxious to understand what the capabilities are after you've rooted your tablet.
I "jailbroke" my iPad 2, so I'm familiar with what the idea is of "rooting" I suppose. Problem is, I can't seem to find anything available for the GT-6810 (wifi only) version of the Galaxy Tab 7.7
I "rooted" the device and installed Superuser. Now what? How do I start customizing and making this tablet run smoother / faster?
I'm sorry if there's 1000 questions like this, but I really am trying to learn and google hasn't helped me much other than to direct me to this site
Hope you all can help shed some light on a few of my questions.

I also came from an iPad2 but this is an ideal size for me. As more people acquire the 7.7 more Devs will come on board and develop Roms. Nothing available at the moment but they will come. Mine is rooted also with CWM and ready to flash the first Rom for the 6810. Am running a few rooted apps like Titanium Backup, Root Explorer, Cache Cleaner NG, Mobile Odin and Honeybar etc. Have a look around the Sub Forums on XDA with other Tabs and android phones and see whats happening. Enjoy your Tab.

I have the P6800, but no matter, I'll get you a tutorial up in a little bit. In the mean time, have a look at me messing around with my 7.7 on ADW EX! Check out my other videos too!
I'll post a tutorial on how to get your 7.7 (WiFi and/or 3G) working as smoothly as that soon!

really look forward with your tutorial Jade Eyed Wolf

wow that video looks awesome! it'd be wonderful to see a walkthrough on how you did that ...
Right now I'm running into a problem though. I tried to wipe and restore to default and after the wipe, I go through the initial setup where I select United States + English, then setup wifi and confirm google settings and I get an error that shows ...
Sorry!
The application Settings (process com.android.settings) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again.
I get only two options, force close and report.
I would post a picture of the message but this site won't let me because I'm new.
How do I fix this?

Just got my 6800. Gorgeous screen.
I've rooted, and apparently flashed CVM recovery via Odin (I'm downoload a tweaded ROM now, but the server is so slow, will open in 2hs..).
However, I can't seem to boot into CVM. The combination seemed to change a bit since I flashed root, and I can't figure out which is which.
1. Stock tablet, to get into stock recovery, power button+vol. up. Then let go power when you see the logo. Easy.
2. After root, the way to get into stock recovery is not volume+up, now it's volume down? Why? Am I wrong?
3. After CVM, all bets are off. I tired power+vol up; power+vol down; nothing. I'm stuck at this point. I'll figure out soon I hope.
Edit: never mind, I must have been doing something wrong. Power+vol down is stock, Power+vol up is CVM.
Cheers,

The wait is over!

Thanks so much Jade!
Does anyone have any recommendations for some cool or useful apps, paid or free?
What about any "bloatware" on the 7.7 that can be removed to make the device run faster or make space? Are any of the widgets or programs on the 7.7 known for slowing down the tablet and shouldn't be used?

[Q] Scrolling or touchscreen issues?

Hi all,
Been on the forums awhile for my HTC EVO 4G, so I know the routine I've searched this forum as well as others but had difficulty finding the answers I was looking for. I purchased an A500 on Friday and was hoping that I had quite the bargain, but was surprised at the problems that the device has had right out of the box with regards to scrolling and touchscreen responsiveness. Here's the breakdown.
Problem: It seems that anytime I need to scroll the interface, whether it's in the Browser (stock, Firefox, Dolphin all had the same problem), in drop-down dialog boxes, or even in Gallery or main home screen, scrolling is inconsistent at best, and at worst, completely unresponsive. However, in the case of Facebook or Browser, when the behavior begins, if I put the tablet to sleep and immediately bring it back up, scrolling works just as I would want/expect it to.
Caveats: There is an app that I have used, called "Fluid Monkey", that is basically just a fluid physics simulator (free on the Market). Similar scrolling gestures does NOT have inconsistent behavior, the screen and interface are very responsive, so to me it implies it's not a hardware issue.
Steps Taken So Far: I've successfully rooted the device, installed Thor's CWM, backed up the stock rom, and installed Icylicious, as it seemed to be one that was very obviously supported by CWM (I didn't want to go too far in modding it should I need to return it for a refund). While it does seem that there is a bit better overall performance, I am still experiencing the same interface issues. I have also tried the three touch sensitivity settings, but haven't noticed a difference. I have also found the following things to try:
Using V6 Supercharger Script (supposedly supports ALL devices);
A particular tweak to framework.jar that requires the use of baksmali
I guess the short of it is, has anyone else experienced this same problem right out of the box? Is there a simple fix for this? I really like the device, but it was the last one in stock (clearance as well), so I don't want to take it back if I can fix it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

I've had this problem before. The short answer is, it's probably a background process eating up CPU. Best idea to solve it is to do a clean install of your ROM (optimally one with as much as possible crap removed/deactivated, lightspeed is the extreme in that direction -- it is pretty much bare metal, though other custom ROMs are pretty good in that matter also and give a bit more user comfort), then install your apps, one at a time (or restore with TB), run the app, then see if the problem is there.
Another thing you can try is using one of the ICS custom ROMs (they won't screw up your bootloader, the original leak will) and see whether forced HW acceleration can do you any good...

Thanks haag... I had done the clean install of Icylicious (the ICS rom) last night after a full backup/wipe. Even during the first set-up process of setting up the time zone, it took me five minutes to get the drop-down to scroll up to my proper timezone. This was before any extra apps were installed!
Despite my initial assessment, I am starting to feel that the device is unfortunately doomed on the hardware side. I hope there's more suggestions I can try today, otherwise it's going back to the store.

I've seen many people here who are quite savvy with this little device, and I really don't want to return it if I can resolve the issue, but I'm running out of ideas... does anyone have any other ideas I can try, or is it an unfortunate lost cause?

Try Flexreaper R11 you won't be disappointed. Sounds like you are on an older version of ICS that had alot of touchscreen problems. You want to make sure you are on 1.031 or newer version of the leaked ICS roms.

wrathx said:
I've seen many people here who are quite savvy with this little device, and I really don't want to return it if I can resolve the issue, but I'm running out of ideas... does anyone have any other ideas I can try, or is it an unfortunate lost cause?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I Would probably advise flashing a 3.2.1 rom, like Honeylicous. I believe he has all the garbage pulled out. This will give you a good base idea if there is a defect with the tab.
In your case, before you go messing around installing any more of the ICS BETA roms, think about it for a minute. Because you'll need to flash bootloaders appropriate to the rom on a couple of them. And this will just be more headache when you discover you indeed have a hardware issue, and have to go back to stock to return it. Remember that the ICS builds, are all Beta.
Try Honeylicous, or any of the 3.2.x roms without a whole lot of mods to them. Make sure you do your wipes and formats properly, then check for the defects. You want to make sure all traces are removed from the previous rom.
There are actually some stock rooted roms available.

I appreciate the suggestions! That was one of the reasons I chose Icylicious, it seemed to have fewer steps and requirements to install and mess with. I may try and backup my current set-up and load up Honeylicious and see if that helps.
Again, thanks all... I hope I don't have to reply further in this thread

wrathx said:
I appreciate the suggestions! That was one of the reasons I chose Icylicious, it seemed to have fewer steps and requirements to install and mess with. I may try and backup my current set-up and load up Honeylicious and see if that helps.
Again, thanks all... I hope I don't have to reply further in this thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No Problem!
Just make sure you follow all the instructions as far as wipes and formats. And... make sure you have a good recovery backup.