Database Users

Some super-simple noob backup questions

Quick and to the point:
1. Is a clockwork backup a full image of the system, such that if I restore from it no matter what kernel, rom, mod, etc. I've installed, I get exactly the completely system and state that I had when I made the backup? I.e., it is a true failsafe against messing up the phone, so long as CWR will boot and the SD card is intact?
2. A complete backup with Titanium, backing up all apps and system data, is a migration path for trying a new ROM? IOW, I can simply do a complete backup with Titanium, wipe wipe wipe, install the target ROM, then restore "missing apps and data" from Titanium and -- voila! I'm on the new ROM, but with all my apps, configuration, etc. I had before?
I'm getting ready to try out the Syndicate ROM...

dwallersv said:
Quick and to the point:
1. Is a clockwork backup a full image of the system, such that if I restore from it no matter what kernel, rom, mod, etc. I've installed, I get exactly the completely system and state that I had when I made the backup? I.e., it is a true failsafe against messing up the phone, so long as CWR will boot and the SD card is intact?
2. A complete backup with Titanium, backing up all apps and system data, is a migration path for trying a new ROM? IOW, I can simply do a complete backup with Titanium, wipe wipe wipe, install the target ROM, then restore "missing apps and data" from Titanium and -- voila! I'm on the new ROM, but with all my apps, configuration, etc. I had before?
I'm getting ready to try out the Syndicate ROM...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha! I am searching now for the exact same question! I am looking to try the Epic Experience. I will follow this thread to see what the answer is.
Thanks.

First off might I comment that Syndicate Rom is a great choice. Not just saying that cause any of them are my buddies either, cause IDK Any of them... so far though Running Syndicate Rom/Kernel with SetCPU at 200-1200 has been the smoothest Rom experience I have had up to date.
1. Is a clockwork backup a full image of the system, such that if I restore from it no matter what kernel, rom, mod, etc. I've installed, I get exactly the completely system and state that I had when I made the backup? I.e., it is a true failsafe against messing up the phone, so long as CWR will boot and the SD card is intact?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes in theory it is a backup of everything, data, apps installed, boot, system, literally the entire phone is backed up. Is it a failsafe though? I would rather say not. On some phones we can restore a clockwork recovery and have no issues, but since I've had my epic and switched around with different Roms, I've noticed that restore dosen't work quite as it should, probably because Roms are so much different, and you run into FC's, boot loops, and other issues... Restoring peices in advanced restore works well but a complete restore almost always has bugs.
True statement though that even if you screw up and get a boot loop, or constant force closes/phone restarts, as long as you can get back into clockwork your phone is not screwed. You were right on that one. So no worries if you wanna test and play.
2. A complete backup with Titanium, backing up all apps and system data, is a migration path for trying a new ROM? IOW, I can simply do a complete backup with Titanium, wipe wipe wipe, install the target ROM, then restore "missing apps and data" from Titanium and -- voila! I'm on the new ROM, but with all my apps, configuration, etc. I had before?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have the idea right. You really don't even need to back all your apps up with titanium anymore these days, though, it too is plagued with FC's and problems. If you are using clockwork recovery, and you have made a backup already... all you have to do when installing a NEW rom is first wipe-fest, then let it boot once, then restart, go to clockwork, go to Advanced Restore, and ONLY restore the DATA part. (Reason for this is if you restore Boot, System, etc it will try to restore the Rom you just installed... Data is where all your apps/settings are at) This will do exactly the same thing as titanium backup will do, only with less bugs and alot easier.

Cool... thanks for the great response.
It's too bad there isn't an iron-clad, 100% reliable means to take a snapshot of the phone that can be restored reliably.
On WM it was simply a matter of using one of the various backup utilities (I used SPB Backup 2) to make an image of the system. No matter what I did to the phone, I could always wipe it back to factory clean, then restore from backup and have my phone back exactly as it was, with no issues.
I'm trying a CW backup, factory reset, restore cycle right now to see what happens. I'll report back on my experience.
EDIT: Okay, one deviation from the WM experience: The factory reset did NOT reset the kernel -- MixUp is still showing as the running kernel. Is Odin the only way to get the factory kernel back?​No matter what, I'm on my way after that to the Syndicate ROM!
EDIT: Okay, the CW restore seems to have restored everything back to the way it was, without problems after some brief playing around. No FCs (so far). On to wiping again, installing Syndicate Standard, then restoring data from CW as recommended here.​

OperationMove said:
You have the idea right. You really don't even need to back all your apps up with titanium anymore these days, though, it too is plagued with FC's and problems. If you are using clockwork recovery, and you have made a backup already... all you have to do when installing a NEW rom is first wipe-fest, then let it boot once, then restart, go to clockwork, go to Advanced Restore, and ONLY restore the DATA part. (Reason for this is if you restore Boot, System, etc it will try to restore the Rom you just installed... Data is where all your apps/settings are at) This will do exactly the same thing as titanium backup will do, only with less bugs and alot easier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright I took the plunge and it seemed to work well. Some things that I noticed was that on first boot (before I did the restore), all of the preinstalled apps showed up (for instance, wireless tether, wired tether, launcher pro, etc...). Since I did a restore of the data, all of MY apps are there, but some of the apps that were preinstalled disappeared. Not all of them, though. For example, Launcher Pro and Wired and wireless tether disappeared, but Car Home is still there.
Another thing to note is that my widgets on the home screen don't seem to function correctly at first. I had to remove them and readd them to the home screen for them to work.
Other than that, everything is as it should be.

hotwired34 said:
Alright I took the plunge and it seemed to work well. Some things that I noticed was that on first boot (before I did the restore), all of the preinstalled apps showed up (for instance, wireless tether, wired tether, launcher pro, etc...). Since I did a restore of the data, all of MY apps are there, but some of the apps that were preinstalled disappeared. Not all of them, though. For example, Launcher Pro and Wired and wireless tether disappeared, but Car Home is still there.
Another thing to note is that my widgets on the home screen don't seem to function correctly at first. I had to remove them and readd them to the home screen for them to work.
Other than that, everything is as it should be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm... okay. So just to provide a different datapoint, I'll go the Titanium route to get my own apps and settings back, and report. I'm guessing CW wiped the DATA partition before the restore, wiping out the pre-installed stuff from the ROM.

dwallersv said:
Hmmm... okay. So just to provide a different datapoint, I'll go the Titanium route to get my own apps and settings back, and report. I'm guessing CW wiped the DATA partition before the restore, wiping out the pre-installed stuff from the ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, since yesterday, I tried both ways. I did a wipe back to the default Syndicate Rom and installed Titanium Backup. While restoring, I noticed that not all apps would restore (seemed to be ones that were in the stock ROM so it's understandable). I did a restore of apps + data. Now, I had most of my apps back, however, I noticed that some of the data was missing. For me, most importantly was the SMS Messages. I also wanted to note that doing an application by application restore of the backup was very time consuming! I had to basically reinstall every app (and then Titanium restored the data)

Nandroid doesnt seem to touch the kernel on our phones ether I noticed. I had a problem yesterday after I flashed a new rom and when I went to do a restore through nandroid I got a bootloop. Once I reflashed the kernel it fixed the bootlooping problem. I have noticed this in other instances to with kernels not being backed up since I did one after I rooted my phone so I would have a stock image.

Thanks guys on your experience and feedback on the backup thing that I'm wondering what to do after stock root.
dito33
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

pyroswithoutfire said:
Nandroid doesnt seem to touch the kernel on our phones ether I noticed. I had a problem yesterday after I flashed a new rom and when I went to do a restore through nandroid I got a bootloop. Once I reflashed the kernel it fixed the bootlooping problem. I have noticed this in other instances to with kernels not being backed up since I did one after I rooted my phone so I would have a stock image.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I have been told in the past- a nandroid restore does not replace the kernel

CM6 boot animation taking forever…

Hi everyone @ XDA,
I think I got a problem…
I just flashed CM6.1 with the following method:
1. Made nandroid backup of my Liberated R12
2. Wipe data/factory reset
3. Cleared dalvik cached memory
4. Flashed CM6 and it works fine, just like a brand new phone without all the previous apps and data from my R12
The I wanted to transfer all user data (apps, contacts, etc) from Liberated R12, so I did the following:
i. Reboot into nandroid
ii. Advanced restore
iii. Restore user data
Did that and now my Aria isn't starting up! The Cyanogen boot animation has been playing for about 5 mins now and I can't force reboot by holding the power button down. Neither does holding volume down + power button do anything other than putting it to sleep.
What did I do?! What can I do??
I think I just need to restore nandroid backup… but how to get there? Manually taking out the battery??
Please help. Thank you very much.

////////* UPDATE *////////
I took out the battery manually and restart the phone, but the same CM6 boot animation kept looping endlessly. So I took out the battery again and restore my Liberated R12 nandroid backup. Now it's running back to before I flashed CM6.
Even though I'm lucky I didn't destroy the world, perhaps someone with more knowledge on this can share what I did wrong so that others may avoid making the same mistake.
I think it was the step where I made an advance restore of user data that something went wrong. If so, then how do I retrieve just the user data from my nandroid backup without installing the R12 ROM?
Now I've experienced first hand the power of nandroid backup! ALWAYS remember to make a nandroid backup all n00bs out there!
Thank you again guys!

emigre said:
////////* UPDATE *////////
I took out the battery manually and restart the phone, but the same CM6 boot animation kept looping endlessly. So I took out the battery again and restore my Liberated R12 nandroid backup. Now it's running back to before I flashed CM6.
Even though I'm lucky I didn't destroy the world, perhaps someone with more knowledge on this can share what I did wrong so that others may avoid making the same mistake.
I think it was the step where I made an advance restore of user data that something went wrong. If so, then how do I retrieve just the user data from my nandroid backup without installing the R12 ROM?
Now I've experienced first hand the power of nandroid backup! ALWAYS remember to make a nandroid backup all n00bs out there!
Thank you again guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What user data are you trying to restore? If you used titanium backup and also used Google's syncing for contacts/calendar/etc then what else would you need? I wouldn't put much faith in nandroid's data restore when going across different roms.

I was trying to restore all user data, including installed apps, contact lists, notes, calendars, etc.
My titanium backup is one of the apps (which i need to restore) i would need too if i were to restore using your method right?
So if i were to reflash cm6 again, what is the best and most reliable method to have ALL my current data in R12?
Basically everything except the R12 ROM.
Thanks for your guidance! Appreciate it.
Sent from my HTC Liberty using XDA App

back everything with titanium. Then do a clean wipe and flash cm6 and gapps. from there the only thing you need to download is Titanium backup again from the market. All the backed up data is saved to your SD card so once you reinstall Titanium it can then restore whatever apps/data you backed up from liberated. contacts and calendars you can sync to Google.

Duh! Thanks CallmeAria, you got me there! It is so obvious now that I got it, can't understand why it didn't cross my mind to do it that way!
Just wanna share this though:
Funny thing that when I restored all backup apps and system data (wifi, messaging, etc) —*it didn't really restore everything except for apps. I had to bluetooth my contacts from my other phone (Sony Ericsson w890i) to my Mac, then bluetooth it from the Mac to my Aria.
It just wouldn't connect from the Ericsson to the Aria.
Which now actually brings up 2 questions:
1. Why didn't my contact get restored (Batch > Restore missing apps + all system data) with Titanium backup? I followed the instructions to Batch > Backup all user apps + system data.
2. Aria rejected incoming bluetooth connection from my Ericsson even though I already successfully paired them. Supposed I don't have my whole phonebook.vcf, I'd be a dead man walking by now.
Good news is, finally got a working CM6 with all my contacts. Time for me to tinker around
Thanks again!

That happened to me, i did wipe the data again, then did start. normaly

Any problems moving to 4.3 after restoring apps and settings w/Titanium Backup Pro?

I'm thinking about finally moving to 4.3 using a custom ROM (haven't decided which one yet). I have Titanium Backup Pro and plan to restore all my apps and settings after the upgrade. Is this process likely to end in a stable system? I don't have the time and patience to go through installing and configuring everything again, so if it's not a dependable process I might as well wait for the OTA update (and deal with Knox later...)
Thanks!

Don't worry, this is what I did all is fine.
Before anything, make a backup of your internal SD (just in case), EFS backup and all apps with Titanium. Then in Phils recovery select option to erase everything for new ROM flashing. I also did manual wipe of cache & dalvik just in case. Don't worry, your internal card won't be touched, but always better safe than sorry. Then flash MJ5 kernel, and finaly flash your chosen ROM. Then you can restore apps from titanium. I had like 2 apps that didn't work at all after restore, probably incompatible with 4.3. The system is stable 100%. Never had a reboot.

Thank you Dalanik. This is very encouraging to know.

oren_b said:
I'm thinking about finally moving to 4.3 using a custom ROM (haven't decided which one yet). I have Titanium Backup Pro and plan to restore all my apps and settings after the upgrade. Is this process likely to end in a stable system? I don't have the time and patience to go through installing and configuring everything again, so if it's not a dependable process I might as well wait for the OTA update (and deal with Knox later...)
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try it? How did it go?
I had faced a lot of issues when I did this recently. My contacts and message apps started to crash. Could have been OS problem no idea, but I was losing all my messages and my contacts. Ended up using super backup and import/export feature. Then on TB i restored only the apps and not the settings or system data. Now its perfectly stable, no crashes whatsoever

If you erase phone completely for flashing, contacts will be restored automaticaly from google contacts, but I'm afraid SMSes won't. That's another thing worth backing up. I used SMS BAckup and Restore, works perfectly, although you can also use Titanium as well.

Titanium Backup: why do I keep getting errors when restoring data?

I've noticed two problems that crop up when I use Titanium Backup to restore my apps/data
1) If I try to restore the missing apps + data, sometimes everything gets restored, and sometimes it gives me "X elements failed", where some apps will not be installed. This happens whether I restore on the same ROM that I backed up on (backup on Cloudy G2, restore on Cloudy G2) , or if I use a different ROM (backup on NDM 5.5, restore on Cloudy G2). I thought I found a work around, where I just install the app from the Play Store first, and THEN I would restore the app data. That worked a few times until....
2) When I tried restoring my app data last night after a fresh KDZ wipe, the apps that I restored data on all couldn't start (Snapchat, Amazon, Wechat, SwiftKey). I would tap them, they would try to open for half a second, then they would close. I tried restarting my phone, but with that, I got "UIDs on your system are inconsistent, you need to wipe your data partition or your device will be unstable". I was stupid, and decided to wipe my data partition so I had to restore all my apps from scratch, but that at least hasn't lead to any problems yet.
Does anyone know what I did wrong, or what I can do to fix this? I know for number 1, some threads mentioned that your Android I.D. changes when you flash a new ROM (that MIGHT explain number 2?), but not a lot of people mention this, and it seems like the majority of people don't have this problem. For number 2, I found this thread, but it was too late already.
If possible, I'd like to find a backup app that avoids ALL of these and just lets me back things up and restore easily. Is there one out there?

tdk0117 said:
I've noticed two problems that crop up when I use Titanium Backup to restore my apps/data
1) If I try to restore the missing apps + data, sometimes everything gets restored, and sometimes it gives me "X elements failed", where some apps will not be installed. This happens whether I restore on the same ROM that I backed up on (backup on Cloudy G2, restore on Cloudy G2) , or if I use a different ROM (backup on NDM 5.5, restore on Cloudy G2). I thought I found a work around, where I just install the app from the Play Store first, and THEN I would restore the app data. That worked a few times until....
2) When I tried restoring my app data last night after a fresh KDZ wipe, the apps that I restored data on all couldn't start (Snapchat, Amazon, Wechat, SwiftKey). I would tap them, they would try to open for half a second, then they would close. I tried restarting my phone, but with that, I got "UIDs on your system are inconsistent, you need to wipe your data partition or your device will be unstable". I was stupid, and decided to wipe my data partition so I had to restore all my apps from scratch, but that at least hasn't lead to any problems yet.
Does anyone know what I did wrong, or what I can do to fix this? I know for number 1, some threads mentioned that your Android I.D. changes when you flash a new ROM (that MIGHT explain number 2?), but not a lot of people mention this, and it seems like the majority of people don't have this problem. For number 2, I found this thread, but it was too late already.
If possible, I'd like to find a backup app that avoids ALL of these and just lets me back things up and restore easily. Is there one out there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is a supersu issue, open supersu than go to is setting and not select "name space mount separation" that is selected by default.
Now titanium can work as intended

Romagnolo1973 said:
is a supersu issue, open supersu than go to is setting and not select "name space mount separation" that is selected by default.
Now titanium can work as intended
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That will fix both problems that I have?

Try, I was unable to use it untill I change the SuperSu setting and now Titanium is working perfectly, so probably your problem is the same.

Oh I mean, I can use it just fine. It can perform backups. But restoring is a when I get those errors. I'll keep this in mind in case I need to restore to a new ROM, thanks!

TWRP Restore Does not Properly Restore...

Hello All!
Before you tell me to search or check threads, I already have. This problem does not have anything to do with forgetting to disable the pins and fingerprints before backing up. My problem has do do with I have already disabled/removed security before backing up my nandroid. I check/select everything that I can to backup and it successfully completes. When I go to restore, everything looks to be properly restored, but alas, there is a problem. When I reboot, it asks me for a password to get into TWRP (apparently "default_password). But when I get in and go to file explorer to find anything, my entire storage is wiped. Like no OS or any files. The only other issue I've had besides this is when restoring a nandroid, it doesn't complete and reboots to a bootloop.
I am on the newest version of TWRP, 3.0.3-0. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I, and anyone who has had to redo the complete phone setup/customization, do not enjoy taking over an hour to get things back up and running. Cruddy thing is I did a Titanium Backup for my apps and settings, but they got wiped.

boostin91tsi01 said:
Hello All!
Before you tell me to search or check threads, I already have. This problem does not have anything to do with forgetting to disable the pins and fingerprints before backing up. My problem has do do with I have already disabled/removed security before backing up my nandroid. I check/select everything that I can to backup and it successfully completes. When I go to restore, everything looks to be properly restored, but alas, there is a problem. When I reboot, it asks me for a password to get into TWRP (apparently "default_password). But when I get in and go to file explorer to find anything, my entire storage is wiped. Like no OS or any files. The only other issue I've had besides this is when restoring a nandroid, it doesn't complete and reboots to a bootloop.
I am on the newest version of TWRP, 3.0.3-0. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I, and anyone who has had to redo the complete phone setup/customization, do not enjoy taking over an hour to get things back up and running. Cruddy thing is I did a Titanium Backup for my apps and settings, but they got wiped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am genuinely interested in this because I back up on a regular basis after each security update but I have never had to restore. Now it is my understanding that even if security is disable the data is still encrypted. Perhaps I'm wrong about that but if you ever did have a password or pin to log into the phone with have you tried to enter that into TWRP?
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

You only need to back up the defaults... system, data, and boot.
What should I back up in TWRP?
https://twrp.me/faq/whattobackup.html

redduc900 said:
You only need to back up the defaults... system, data, and boot.
What should I back up in TWRP?
https://twrp.me/faq/whattobackup.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand the web is full of opinions, but I've read somewhere to backup EFS? I have also read somewhere before that what you said to backup, while is plenty sufficient, if you have space, to backup everything. I followed that and it lead me to an hour plus of restoring back to how it was. I will give it a go, hoping that I never have to use it, but it will work when the situation arises.

I've only ever backed up those three partitions, and never had an issue with restoring backups. You can certainly create a backup of the EFS/IMEI, but keep it stored in a safe place like on your computer or a thumb drive. One thing I should note is when restoring a backup, make sure to also flash the correct vendor.img if necessary.

I usually backup vendor with it but as earlier indicated I don't believe it's completely necessary. As far as EFS is concerned yes I would agree with backing that up however what I do is back it up to a separate backup folder and only write it if something were to ever happen to it otherwise leave it alone. That way you don't take a chance I'm corrupting something in that partition.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I've never successfully restored a backup on the Nexus 6P regardless of what version of TWRP I used. Different builds of TWRP give me different problems but none has ever worked. I've completely given up doing nandroid backups on this phone because it's a waste of time and disc space. I never had a similar issue on any other phone that I have ever owned and am not a newbie when it comes to rooting and custom roms. What I always ended up doing after a problem restoring a backup is flash the complete factory image using the flash-all.bat command and start over with everything I want to flash.

jhs39 said:
I've never successfully restored a backup on the Nexus 6P regardless of what version of TWRP I used. Different builds of TWRP give me different problems but none has ever worked. I've completely given up doing nandroid backups on this phone because it's a waste of time and disc space. I never had a similar issue on any other phone that I have ever owned and am not a newbie when it comes to rooting and custom roms. What I always ended up doing after a problem restoring a backup is flash the complete factory image using the flash-all.bat command and start over with everything I want to flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem, so now I've started doing a TiBU and Verizon Messages backup, after all those are completed, transfer and save it to my PC. If I have any problems, I transfer from the PC to phone and it's less headache... kinda sorta.

Restore never worked to the fullest. I tried different versions of TWRP, same problem. Restore starts a red error line in beginning of the restore process an at the end it shows ‘Restore complete’. When I restart, everything looks restored but with bugs like:
-network or sim itself is not shown
-Bluetooth, wifi wont connect
-Quicksetting tiles not responding etc…
The idea of backing up via TWRP is to get every bit RESTORED properly, but it doesn’t work.
I take a full back up before moving to update the firmware version (example MIUI 10), if I do not like the firmware then I want to go back to the previous firmware version (example MIUI 9) and TWRP RESTORE feature never works. I have to again flash the rom and then restore everything via Titanium backup.
I always take a TWRP backup of all the items available:
System
Data
Cache
Cust
Recovery
Boot
EFS
Persist
Still it never restores properly. It’s a mere time waste or the restore option to be removed from TWRP as it never worked across of its versions.
Can anyone explain me in a line, what is Cust, EFS and Persist?
I really appreciate if anyone help me understand where I’m going wrong.