Database Users

Backingup and migrating from villian 3.4 to 4.0

Ive been using villian 3.4 for a while now and have gotten it just the way i like it, i really want to move to 4.0 but i just find it so time consuming to install all the apps and change all the settings and add accounts etc, is there a backup program that will basically transfer everything over ?

Try Titanium Backup, donate version.
Install it from the market and make a batch backup of all user apps + system data.
Then reboot into recovery and make sure you don't forget to perform a nandroid backup (to be able to revert in case something goes wrong).
Now you can install the new ROM and then use Titanium Backup again, this time to restore apps, settings, market entries, the works...
Good luck!

Need a NOOB guide to EVO and Backing up.

I have read MANY threads, hunderds of pages.. I have rooted my phone... (the hard way, Thanks Toast) and I still really dont "GET IT.."
I would love a white board on the components of the whole process.. including titanium backup..
Meaning a writeup, showing each part of the system, and a paragraph on what it does..
Us Droidnoobs would really like to understand how this works from a high level... (or maybe I just belong on a short yellow bus...lol)
I just dont get what is required for each part, and what it affects..
NandUnlock: What does this do for us?
Engineering SPL: What is this?
Clockwork: ( i loved the movie.. but don't get how it pertains to the phone)
But seriously.. I dont know what is is, so how can I pick from the 2 avaiable?
Recovery: What parts of things dose this include? What is its function?
Nandroid back up: Do i need this and Titanium BK? Which will do what?
I want to figout how to back up my EVO and install new roms, and then re populate all my settings and data.. i use exchange, so i don't care about emails and contacts, but i have other email (pop) accts, that i want the accounts and preferences retained..
I have to root my bosses phone later today, and was wondering if i can do it with out it being activated? I was gonna get it rooted, and then activate it on Monday when I see him..

I'm by far not the most knowledgeable person but I can answer some of your questions... Anyone that knows better please correct me and let me know.
NandUnlock: What does this do for us?
This is required to install custom ROMs. Without it, you could install signed ROMs from Sprint (ie: Engineering ROM or Stock ROM) but not custom ROMs (like Fresh, DC, Cyanogen...).
Engineering SPL: What is this?
The way I understand it's a ROM version before the Stock ROM that Sprint/HTC probably used to test the phone before release. We use it because it is special in that it allows us to unlock the NAND part (Sprint stock ROM does not allow this).
Clockwork: ( i loved the movie.. but don't get how it pertains to the phone)
But seriously.. I dont know what is is, so how can I pick from the 2 avaiable?
Err... Not sure picking what...? But Clockwork is a great recovery app that makes it easy to drop files on the phone even if it wont boot or install custom ROMs/updates whether they are signed or not. It also makes backing up your phone (everything including the ROM, AFAIK, I use it and very happy with it) a snap. It reboots your phone to do this.
Recovery: What parts of things dose this include? What is its function?
Recovery is a special part of your phone that is away from the operating system. The OS can't install on top of itself, so you need separate code to do it. It's also a tool for when the OS is broken/not functioning and doing diagnostics.
Nandroid back up: Do i need this and Titanium BK? Which will do what?
I should know more about nandroid... but don't really. I think it backs up the recovery part/hboot? Errr... someone help me on this one.
Titanium backup makes it easy to backup your paid apps and even stock/OEM apps that came from the mfr or carrier. It has other backup functions, too.
I want to figout how to back up my EVO and install new roms, and then re populate all my settings and data.. i use exchange, so i don't care about emails and contacts, but i have other email (pop) accts, that i want the accounts and preferences retained..
Can't think of how to do this off the top of my head. Does it store on SD card? I can't be sure. I think there's an option to store this information on the SD card, so that should work AFAIK.
I have to root my bosses phone later today, and was wondering if i can do it with out it being activated? I was gonna get it rooted, and then activate it on Monday when I see him..
I'm pretty sure you can I don't see any reason why not but I've never encountered that situation before...
Hope this is helpful.

Thanks..
anyone else have their views on my questions? or differences fro the above?
thanks in advance..

I need more info on the Nandroid back up please..

Clockwork and ArmonRA both provide the capability to BACKUP your ROM, referred to as Nandroid. I know there are some plus and - to each. You should get in the habbit of ALWAYS taking a nandroid backup before you try a new rom. Give yourself something to fall back on.
TB lets you backup applications and OS settings and restore them. It will relink your apps to the market, which other apps will not do.
You must be very careful restoring OS settings, as each rom is built differently. Setting in DC will not work in Fresh for instance. So you can use TB to restore all your apps quickly, but you should still do the configuration manually.
You can root a non activated phone, but I think the activation process can cause you problems. I would wait until it is activated.

Clockwork: ( i loved the movie.. but don't get how it pertains to the phone) But seriously.. I dont know what is is, so how can I pick from the 2 avaiable?
i use AmonRA. why? because it seems that the general rule of thumb is that clockwork is easier for us noobs, but if anyone has issues they are told to use RA. so, i just use RA. i used clockwork for a bit but have i switched to RA; it's really not much different interface. the only thing i wish RA would do would be to allow me to 'browse for the zip to be flashed'. (oh yeah in RA...press both up/down at the same time to go back a level)
i believe you can use clockwork and simply 'flashover to RA' as needed from within the running OS. it can flash RA or Clkwrk or old version. i had something happen last month and wasn't sure what i did...once i got RA working, i said screw it and stayed with it. Clockwork does have a nice interface designed to make it easier to test out new ROMs...RA does not have this. is it needed? not really.
Nandroid back up: Do i need this and Titanium BK? Which will do what?
i use both. when i'm doing a buch of tweaks or testing a ROM, i make sure to make a nandroid backup (think Norton Ghost for phones). i also use titanium, mainly for when i install a new ROM. it allows me to restore just the apps and their settings onto the new ROM. its not perfect but does get most things. you'll need to setup things like email, facebook, twitter, meebo logins, etc.
so, although i often take a nandroid and titanium backup at abotu the same time, they are used to restore slightly differently. nandriod is my 'oh crap, this is bad i want to get off this ride' and titanium is my 'sweet, now how do i get my apps back in place without manually installing and config'ing each and every one'
(make sure to read about 'user apps' vs 'system data' w/ titanium).
I want to figout how to back up my EVO and install new roms, and then re populate all my settings and data.. i use exchange, so i don't care about emails and contacts, but i have other email (pop) accts, that i want the accounts and preferences retained..
titanium will get most of this. but i always seem to have to some tweaking cause some app has been installed or whatnot since my last backup. oh...and the titanium paid version will install all apps w/o manual intervention.
enjoy.

Clockwork: ( i loved the movie.. but don't get how it pertains to the phone)
Use either Clockwork or Amon RA, will not make a difference. Clockwork is used in ROM Manager as default.
Recovery: What parts of things dose this include? What is its function?
Recovery (volume down + power) allows you to flash zip files (rom, radio, apps, whatever), do manual nandroid backup, wipe your device, etc. Clockwork and Amon RA are both recoveries that do essentially the same thing.
Nandroid back up: Do i need this and Titanium BK? Which will do what?
Nandroid backups EVERYTHING on your phone, all apps, data, including rom, radio and kernel. It can be accessed via recovery or via an app called ROM manager.
Titanium Backup allows you to backup all your apps and data. You may ask why would you want to use Titanium Backup if Nandroid backs up everything? When you flash a new rom, you can use Titanium Backup to restore all your apps. (Otherwise restoring via Nandroid will restore your old rom over your newly flashed one)
I want to figout how to back up my EVO and install new roms, and then re populate all my settings and data.. i use exchange, so i don't care about emails and contacts, but i have other email (pop) accts, that i want the accounts and preferences retained..
Search the Market for email backup. Your google account restores all your contacts anyways.

Quick addition for your pop3 accounts. You can actually use GMail to push all your pop accounts. this will retain all the settings for those accounts if you reflash a new rom. There is a tutorial on here somewhere on how to do that. The GMAil push lets you set up labels and seperate email folders for your different pop3's also, you can add labels through the web interface and they will show up on your phone automatically, providing of course you have them set up to sync.
Another quick comment on Nandroid, this is a carbon image of your phne basically, so if you flash a new rom and then do a nandroid it will restore your phone to exactly how it was when you did the backup. So it wont work as an app backup, because if you flash a new rom and use nandroid you will be completed reverted to the rom you were on when you backed up. Make sense? Use titanium or there is even a backup called "mybackup" in the market which works also, I personally use titanium but my backup is a one click everything backup. Although it does not restore your market links, which allow you to get update notifications for your market apps.

Backup question

Hi!
I was a winmo user (samsung omnia) and I flashed the damn thing regularly, I mean like every week. So I had to reinstall everything from scratch. I don't want to be caught in that loop again, so I am asking you if it is possible to backup all my programs, data and settings and then just apply them after the flash.
Thank you very much, proud Legend user!

Backup contacts : hmm, you don't really have to do this, if you save your contacts on Google account, everytime you login to Google account on your phone, Contact list will be auto appear in People, even avatar pictures.
Apps : Use Astro File Manager to backup all apps in your phone, then flash another ROM, go to market to install Astro again, then backup apps from SD card.
Settings : hmm, I'm not sure you should do this, because everyrom is different, restore settings on this ROM to another ROM may damage your android. But you can always try Titanium Backup on Market.

Thanks! I am still wondering if I should flash because froyo is knocking on our doors.

slovenec88 said:
Thanks! I am still wondering if I should flash because froyo is knocking on our doors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah froyo is really close, right after the desire the EVO 4G got its OTA.
So I'm expecting the update within 14days I would say a week but that might be to optimistic.
source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/02/evo-4g-starts-getting-android-2-2-update-over-the-air/

You can def.ly try Titanium Backup to get all your Apps + data backed up. You can also try My back up pro to back up your SMS and MMS along with your call log, Alarm and other application. With my back up pro you can back up to the SD card or online....

Titanium Backup requires root. You can also use MyBackup pro. You can use been root (with more features) or not been root (only backups apps, but not settings, what is not so good)
You can also use ROM Manager (free in the Market) to backup you full ROM and configuration: it will backup everything on SD Card (except your SD card and you can quickly recover old ROMs with full confuration and apps.

So le me get this straight, with rom manager I will be able to back up the entire Rom... cause if something goes wrong and can not update a newer rom, I can always go and choose my previous rom for the recovery screen....

Caifan09 said:
So le me get this straight, with rom manager I will be able to back up the entire Rom... cause if something goes wrong and can not update a newer rom, I can always go and choose my previous rom for the recovery screen....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, and everything will be exactly as in the moment you did de ROM backup. It is like a full hard disk image in a PC.
But, consider this:
With ROM Manager, you can have as many backups as you want and you can recover any one of them. BUT, you need to be able to boot your Legend to be able to launch ROM Manager (because ROM Manager is an application)
So, if you meet problems starting up a new ROM, you will need to load any rooted working ROM to be able to start up and launch ROM Manager (need to be rooted to be able to run ROM Manager).
As far as I know, if you use a ROM with A2SD feature, apps will be stored in the EXT3 partition of the SD card, and those apps WILL NOT BE INCLUDED IN BACKUP. So, if apps stored in the EXT3 partition changed, you will need to recover those apps with Titatium Backup.
There is another way to do a full backup called NANDROID, but I do not like it so much:
power off Legend, push "Back" bottom and Power On, select BOOTLOADER, select RECOVERY, connect USB cable to your PC, run "recovery-windows.bat" from your PC (from the same directory you used to root your Legend) and you will be able to select NANDROID BACKUP.
With NADONDROID BACKUP you can do also a full ROM backup, but you can store and recover only ONE backup/last backup. In addition, you need a PC to be able to run it. So, that is not very nice.

ok i see... thanks for the info....

best back up method

i am about to try another rom, so which back up method will restore the most info
looking at apps/ accounts/ contacts/ games saves etc etc
i have titainuim back up also have clockwork or is there a better back up method that will make my phone like it is now but on a new rom(where i will most likley have to do data/cache wipes before i install it)
thanks for any help

combat goofwing said:
i am about to try another rom, so which back up method will restore the most info
looking at apps/ accounts/ contacts/ games saves etc etc
i have titainuim back up also have clockwork or is there a better back up method that will make my phone like it is now but on a new rom(where i will most likley have to do data/cache wipes before i install it)
thanks for any help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
short answer, no. The problem is if you restore the system settings and the framework is significantly changed you will end up with multiple Force closes, titanium backup will allow you to restore your apps with data but avoid restoring system data if possible (it is possible to create a flashable zip of titanium to flash from recovery so it's installed when you boot your new ROM) also ADW can save your desktop configuration and restore it and I use SMS backup/restore to restore my SMS's, your contacts etc should be catered for by google which will also try and restore some other settings and your apps.
BTW: Do a NANDROID backup before installing your new ROM, this is a snapshot of your system state which can be used to restore it to it's current state should the new ROM not be to your taste

with a new rom, i suggest just installing everything afresh so there are no compaibility problems. I imagine with titanium backup you could restore savegames

ghostofcain said:
short answer, no. The problem is if you restore the system settings and the framework is significantly changed you will end up with multiple Force closes, titanium backup will allow you to restore your apps with data but avoid restoring system data if possible (it is possible to create a flashable zip of titanium to flash from recovery so it's installed when you boot your new ROM) also ADW can save your desktop configuration and restore it and I use SMS backup/restore to restore my SMS's, your contacts etc should be catered for by google which will also try and restore some other settings and your apps.
BTW: Do a NANDROID backup before installing your new ROM, this is a snapshot of your system state which can be used to restore it to it's current state should the new ROM not be to your taste
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
whats nandroid?
so when people are flashing a rom every other day they are having to reinstall everything???

panyan said:
with a new rom, i suggest just installing everything afresh so there are no compaibility problems. I imagine with titanium backup you could restore savegames
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is what i want to do too. Install all apps from the market fresh, but use titanium to restore any data associated with the apps.
However im not sure which setting to use in titanium. When i click batch, there's 100 options. If i choose "Backup all system data", will this restore only the data like gamesaves etc?

combat goofwing said:
whats nandroid?
so when people are flashing a rom every other day they are having to reinstall everything???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, as a rule if you are installing the same type of ROM ie aosp you don't have to wipe so everything should be retained, if swapping between different types of ROM ie aosp - sense then a wipe and subsequent reinstall is required
As for Nandroid its the backup option in recovery console and it takes a snapshot of the current ROM which if you where to restore would put your system back to its current state

[Q] What do i have to backup before changing rom?

Applications backup but not cache or data?
System backups?
Sms and call logs?
And system backups?
Are those all to do? If i backup those, when i restore, will i be able to have my desktop widgets, desktop icons sorted correctly ?

I think the best answer is "it depends on what you want to restore to".
When I change roms, I make a full backup using CWM, that way, no matter what the new rom breaks, I can go back to exactly where I was before.
But if you really want the new rom and think the problem is in one app or setting, you can backup only the apps .apk, the apps data and the rom settings, then you can restore everything individually and see where the problem is.
This all assuming you are not changing major android versions (like from froyo to gingerbread) or not changing roms "types" (like from stock to CM or to miui). If you are, then the partial backup is not recommended since it may not work.
In this last case, your best hope is to backup the apps .apk and store all other data somewhere where you can import to android (like storing the contacts in google account), since you shouldn't really restore anything else.

paulo_andre said:
I think the best answer is "it depends on what you want to restore to".
When I change roms, I make a full backup using CWM, that way, no matter what the new rom breaks, I can go back to exactly where I was before.
But if you really want the new rom and think the problem is in one app or setting, you can backup only the apps .apk, the apps data and the rom settings, then you can restore everything individually and see where the problem is.
This all assuming you are not changing major android versions (like from froyo to gingerbread) or not changing roms "types" (like from stock to CM or to miui). If you are, then the partial backup is not recommended since it may not work.
In this last case, your best hope is to backup the apps .apk and store all other data somewhere where you can import to android (like storing the contacts in google account), since you shouldn't really restore anything else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want a full back up; calendars sms call logs applications data system data etc. For sms i use go-sms backup, i hope it will restore without any problem. When i backup with cwm and restore, will my settings (system( be protected as before?

With CWM if you restore you will get all data, including Rom, Kernel, sms, calls, etc All you data that is in internal memory. Don't worry. If you restore it, you will get the phone like it was when you made the backup.

Titanium capabilities
I was wondering if it is possible to backup app (with their data), sms and contacts....all in one go using Titanium (non-pro version) (I think we call it batch backup)? I am totally new to the ROOTING and CUSTOM ROM worlds and I am literally freaking out with all the huge info on this topic on the internet. I am using a CM10 on I9000. Please help!

Yes i wonder too.

Boot in recovery
select backup to ext sd
run...
you have back up everythin like ghost in pc....
( so you can try another rom and if you dont like it restore your back up and you have you old rom
working with all data app contacts etc )
you must youse the same cwm version for restore with the one that you use for backup

Cursed Chico said:
Applications backup but not cache or data?
System backups?
Sms and call logs?
And system backups?
Are those all to do? If i backup those, when i restore, will i be able to have my desktop widgets, desktop icons sorted correctly ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you attempting to backup so that you can move the apps/sms/settings to the new ROM or backing up in case you want to restore? Titanium backup is probably the thing you want in the former case and either with cwm backup or with linux dd backup in the latter. Personally I had problem moving system settings between roms, but apps should work just fine.