Database Users

[Q] Access to /data folder without losing data

Hi
I recently got a Nexus 4 after always having had iPhone, so I am quite new to this. =)
Is it possible to root a Nexus 4 without losing the data folder? Either by simply never deleting it or is there any way to get a backup of everything in the data folder(including hidden files and everything in /data/app, etc.) to my computer(windows or mac), when it isin't rooted?
All the rooting guides I have looked at until now says that they will wipe the phone, but I also read a discussion that said it were possible to gain complete access to the data folder by either manually rooting the phone or by not unlocking the bootloader? I posted somewhere else and someone there said that what I want is SU in the OS, but I am not sure about that, since I haven't heard more.
Thank you =)

You can root without wiping data. The trick is to not boot into Android after unlocking bootloader. You do things like this:
1. Setup your pc ( drivers, fastboot )
2. Unlock your bootloader
From now on, you must not boot normally, or else your phone will be wiped.
3. Flash a custom recovery.
4. Enter recovery
5. Wipe cache
6. Flash the SuperSu zip to root.
7. Reboot.
Now you should be rooted, and your data should not be wiped. But I'd make a backup is I were you.
Being a new user, try reading this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2367406

Restoring after wipe clean from 4.2.2 to 4.3 via Titanium BU

Sorry guys may I ask a question relative to restoring apps via TiBU?
Before flashing stock 4.3 I had updated TiBU and backed up my apk's+data
Wiped everything to have a clean slate for TRIM to work perfectly and I've started to restore my apps.
TIBU takes forever to install a single apk, actually never ends.
Reboot.....
If I try to install apk from the market and then restore only the data from TiBU the app crashes.
After that I cannot reinstall the app anymore even from the play store.
Is there a way to overcome this?
Thanks
PS: I have already tried the solution Menu/Preferences/backup folder location
PS2: Nexus 4 - built JWR66Y - FRANCO r178

vagos696 said:
Sorry guys may I ask a question relative to restoring apps via TiBU?
Before flashing stock 4.3 I had updated TiBU and backed up my apk's+data
Wiped everything to have a clean slate for TRIM to work perfectly and I've started to restore my apps.
TIBU takes forever to install a single apk, actually never ends.
Reboot.....
If I try to install apk from the market and then restore only the data from TiBU the app crashes.
After that I cannot reinstall the app anymore even from the play store.
Is there a way to overcome this?
Thanks
PS: I have already tried the solution Menu/Preferences/backup folder location
PS2: Nexus 4 - built JWR66Y - FRANCO r178
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't trust TiBU. its a real mess for me. I for one backup my ANDROID folder, and flash all apps through recovery. and then copy back the Android folder on SDCARD.

How did you root your 4.3 image? Many custom kernels break root on 4.3. Try re-flashing SuperSU or re-flash ROM and stick to the stock kernel.

via Nexus Toolkit. I'm still rooted even after applied Franco, but I'll revert back to stock kernel just to check your possibility.
Even the saved TiBU apk's are not getting installed.
How can I re-install the broken apps which were affected from TiBU? As I mentioned even fresh installation from the play store is not processed.
I was hoping to avoid re-flashing and re-rooting from scratch.

Nope even with stock kernel I face the same problems. Any suggestions?

I guess there's something wrong with your /data partition. I'd either start over with flashing the factory image or at least format /data (not wipe, really format). Don't forget to backup your internal sdcard content first, it will be deleted with both methods.
Also I'd recommend not using a toolkit for flashing the factory image and rooting. It's easy enough using fastboot and a custom recovery. This way you'll be on the safe side, not missing any errors etc.

Make sure your TiBU directory is set to storage/emulated/legacy/TitaniumBackup, not storage/emulated/0/TitaniumBackup.
It worked for me, anyway. Well, after having to perform a factory reset, as it screwed up the UUIDs, that is

Thanks for the suggestion. You were right my path was storage/emulated/0/TitaniumBackup.
I revert it to the suggested one but I have the same issue.
Factory reset, start from scratch, initial path storage/emulated/legacy/TitaniumBackup
The same problem which also end up destroying the fresh apk as well.
Hopeless

Tell us exactly what you're doing. Which ROM / image, software, versions, procedure, all the details. Maybe something other well ring a bell.

As already quoted
1. Before updating to 4.3, I updated TiBU to the latest version and kept backup of the apps+data
2. Clean flash of stock 4.3 ROM (JWR66Y) via Nexus Toolkit
3. Root (Busybox, SU etc)
4. Flashing Franco Kernel r178
5. Installation of TiBU
6. Try to restore - PROBLEM
Plan B:
1. Factory Data Reset
2. BusyBox gone but still have root access
3. Stock ROM - Stock Kernel - Rooted
4. Install TiBU
5. Restoring - PROBLEM
Description of the PROBLEM:
I cannot restore apk's is getting into a loop and never ends.
I can restore data to an installed apk, but then the app crashes
I cannot re-install the (restored) app via playstore, I get "unknown error code during installation -24-"
Current situation
1. Factory Data Reset again
2. Franco r178
3. No restores via TiBU

Don't shoot me, but it still sounds like the TiBu 4.3 ROM backup folder path problem. Here's what I do and what works for me:
1. Open TiBu
2. Click on "Menu"
3. Click on "Preferences"
4. Click on "Backup folder location"
5. Click on "DETECT!"
6. Click on "Whole device"
7. Choose "/storage/emulated/legacy/TitaniumBackup"
8. Click on "Use the current folder"
9. TiBu will now ask if it should move the other backups to the new folder, say no.
10. Exit the preferences with the back key
11. TiBu will now reload with the new preferences
Now restoring should work if the path is the problem.
About loosing root with a custom kernel on 4.3 ROMs:
If you lose root by flashing a custom kernel it may still seem like root is active, i.e. the root frontend app will still be there and ask for root permissions etc. Try the following to ensure that TiBu is running with full root privileges: Uninstall some unimportant system application (some Gapp for example, like Google Currents - backup first if you need it). If uninstalling gets cancelled with a message like "Can't find the apk file", it's likely that root doesn't work properly.
Come on man, I hate to give up

Thanks for the inspiration but unfortunately:
1. I can unistall, backup and restore properly Google Currents (hence proper root)
2. Back up folder was set properly also by verifying your steps (2-10)
And again if I try to restore an old app (not the data) it gets to the familiar loop.

Ok. I'd now flash the full factory image, thus resetting every partition (backup internal sdcard first). Please try without a toolkit to be safe. You need the drivers installed (your toolkit should already have taken care of that) and have adb and fastboot ready. There are batch/shell scripts included in the factory image which invoke the fastboot commands in one step.
Next flash a custom recovery with fastboot and use it to flash SuperSU for root access.
Refrain from flashing a custom kernel now and try if you can successfully restore with TiBu at this point.
If you can, the problem was either one of your partitions/filesystems f_cked up or the toolkit doing something wrong.

Backing up 935T

I have backed up my device using FlashFire, but to restore it I would need to be in a rooted ROM with Flashfire installed.
It should be easier to make a backup with adb, which can be restored to an unrooted device.
I set it up and tried to make a backup. However, when using the backup command, it says to unlock your device and confirm the backup. At this point, a screen is supposed to open on the 935T that allows this to be done (have done it on other devices some time ago), but it does not open it.
Has anyone else tried adb back-up and been successful - or have an idea of why the device does not respond ?
I set up Developer options as instructed with respect to adb. Also believe I am on latest SDK - ADB.
Note - the root threads are full of posts on being stuck on boot screen, etc., and rather then having to reinstall and wipe firmware, this might offer a good alternative
Update - it looks like ADB is not fully compatible with 6.0 with regard to backups and restores. The failure to bring up the confirmation screen on the device is pretty common and even when it does, the results are usually no good.

ADB will back up the data of the apps but not the apks, what I do back up apks es file explorer and do ADB to backup the app data. It is pain but it works without root.

newuser1984 said:
ADB will back up the data of the apps but not the apks, what I do back up apks es file explorer and do ADB to backup the app data. It is pain but it works without root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Backing apps and data can be done a number of ways - I want to back up system also and you need boot to do that, but supposed to be able to restore with adb without root, so if the backup was of a rooted system, it should restore it that way. It just doesn't work on 6.0 devices yet.

three questions about Nexus 6P

hi guys,
please i have some questions i really need there answers:
1- (rooted phone) if i do a factory data reset will the root gone and the TWRP also ?
2- (rooted phone) is there a way to install an update if i got it ( like update security patches "monthly" ) on rooted phone without wipe data or loosing the root or TWRP?
3- (rooted phone) if i reinstall the factory image full,the root and TWRP will have gone or not ?
thanks a lot !

1. If you use systemless root a factory reset will remove it. If you use a root method that modifies the system partition a factory reset won't remove root. Factory resets will not remove TWRP.
2. Installing monthly security updates and keeping TWRP, root, and data can be done by manually installing the update using fastboot and doing the following:
-Systemless root method: flash everything EXCEPT the recovery, boot, and userdata images.
-System based root method: install everything EXCEPT the recovery and userdata images. You will have to reflash Superuser/SuperSU (whichever you prefer) in TWRP since flashing the system image will remove root. There's no way around this.
3. If you use fastboot to install everything included in a factory image you will lose root, data, and TWRP.

Face_Plant said:
1. If you use systemless root a factory reset will remove it. If you use a root method that modifies the system partition a factory reset won't remove root. Factory resets will not remove TWRP.
2. Installing monthly security updates and keeping TWRP, root, and data can be done by manually installing the update using fastboot and doing the following:
-Systemless root method: flash everything EXCEPT the recovery, boot, and userdata images.
-System based root method: install everything EXCEPT the recovery and userdata images. You will have to reflash Superuser/SuperSU (whichever you prefer) in TWRP since flashing the system image will remove root. There's no way around this.
3. If you use fastboot to install everything included in a factory image you will lose root, data, and TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you explain me what are the difference between systemless root method and system based root method, in order to get know what is it the method that I used

Chouiyekh said:
Could you explain me what are the difference between systemless root method and system based root method, in order to get know what is it the method that I used
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are running Marshmallow or Nouget and used a version of SuperSU that is a year or less old it does system less root by default.
You can flash OTA updates on a rooted device with FlashFire without using a computer.

You can also flash an OTA image in TWRP and then simply flash root after, before you boot the phone. If the phone boots without root, out will wipe TWRP and leave you with stock recovery.
But honestly, from the questions being asked, you might not want to try this stuff until you understand it better. Losing root and TWRP is not a big deal. You can flash them again in about 1min and 30 seconds, so it's not worth worrying about.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Why would factory reset remove systemless root? I expect factory reset to only reset what you're supposed to have changed since factory image. That is /data.

Systemless must be in /data if it's not in /system, right? I don't really know much about systemless, because I don't use Android pay, Snapchat or play children's games haha.
But my guess is that if it's not touching system, then it must be in data, so wiping data would remove it. But I'm just guessing.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

HikingMoose said:
You can also flash an OTA image in TWRP and then simply flash root after, before you boot the phone. If the phone boots without root, out will wipe TWRP and leave you with stock recovery.
But honestly, from the questions being asked, you might not want to try this stuff until you understand it better. Losing root and TWRP is not a big deal. You can flash them again in about 1min and 30 seconds, so it's not worth worrying about.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you, i got it easily because i'm not a beginner i have some experience

HikingMoose said:
Systemless must be in /data if it's not in /system, right?
But my guess is that if it's not touching system, then it must be in data, so wiping data would remove it. But I'm just guessing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You guessed right. Never thought of that, thought it was actually all done from boot partition.
Quoting Chainfire:
As the binaries should still be updatable, and we don't know the space we have available in the boot image itself, we're mounting a (writable) ext4 image with /su as mount point from /data, and modifying PATH accordingly. Interestingly, for reasons yet unknown to me, if the image is mounted r/o by init, later remounting it r/w causes a bunch of issues. So we're keeping it r/w (for root) for now.

[SOLVED] no r/w permissions or system mount after restoring backup after root.

Phone is the VS995 variant.
Did the dirtysanta root when it came out. Made a backup after I flashed the konverged kernel. Tried doing the DAC mod to enable high impedance always on. Audio quit working and stock music app wouldn't play music even after I reverted the files back. Did a restore of that backup. Tried using root explorer after the restore and now I cannot get my device to enable r/w permissions. I also cannot get my device to mount the system in recovery, only as read only.
Has anyone else had this issue or does anyone know of a fix for it?
I have tried reinstalling supersu in recovery and still have the issues. It is a minor problem but I am unable to flash any .zips as it will not mount /system.
Thanks in advance!

Fixed my problem.
Dinked around with a few ideas and got my problem fixed! Heres what I did.
1. Made a backup of system in twrp just in case.
2. Formatted system in wipe > advanced > and only checked system.
Panicked because I thought I bricked my device, wouldnt boot farther than the lg logo,
(next steps might be unnecessary but I panicked and tried them lol)
3. still had fastboot access so I repeated step 3 in the root method.
4. Reflashed boot2.img
5. Rebooted to recovery with volume- power, release power while keeping volume- at lg for a second then repress and hold power. Yes twice to get to recovery.
6. Restored system backup. (was able to fully boot now but with lag)
7. Reflashed konverged kernel.
And everything is working perfect now and I have my r/w ability and can mount system in recovery without having to select mount as read only.