Database Users

Useful Tips for using Titanium Backup for newbies

Quick Tip for using Titanium Backup
1. Backup "application widgets". Once you restore your launcher, restore this and reboot so that your widgets will work and you don't have to reconfigure your home screen widgets (which would say "problem loading widgets" otherwise).
2. Backup "accounts" to remember the fact that you have "allowed" access to your google account for various apps (mainly google apps and any app that accesses your google account). This is also required to remember your facebook and skype passwords.
3. Backup "LogProvider" for the call log. A lot of people think call logs are backed up by "contacts storage" but they're not.
4. "contact storage" backups your speed dial
5. "dialer storage" backups your SMS/MMS. After you restore you need to reboot for it to take effect.
6. No need to backup "calendar 1.0". Just calendar 1.1. (this backups the setting not the actual content provided that you sync with google)
7. Most settings in Setting cannot be backed up (ie. Voip account, wifi hotspot ssid, ringtones, volume, etc). Simply re-enter them.
8. After upgrading your rom version or migrating to a different rom, before you restore, for "system" apps, make sure you check each one to see if the version has changed. If so, don't restore or you will probably have force-closes down the road. This is especially true if you move to cyanogen or miui, don't restore system apps at all.
9. Generally you don't need to save system apks unless you plan on uninstalling them to experiment instead of freezing.
10. Don't backup/restore "market" settings or you'll lose market links to your apps. In fact after you restore all your user apps you won't see all of them linked in the market even if titanium backup is set up to remember the links. Just use titanium to clear the market user data, restart market and you're ready to go.
11. Titanium backup does not save your default programs. (ie. DEFAULT browser, dialer, and for different file types).
12. Let TB save the settings to sd card. The next time you install TB you won't need to install the "pro" app. It remembers.
13. TB does not remember what apps are frozen. So after a reinstall, you need to refreeze whatever apps you want to freeze.
Other things good to know:
If you migrate to a new rom, although titanium Pro has an option to attempt to restore system apps to be compatible, try only restore user apps just to avoid force closes.
If you have a fixed set of apps you know you want to freeze, create a filter containing these apps. If you install a new rom, you can freeze all of them all at once without having to go through each.

Can you expand on what you mean in point 1.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Scenario:
I have, say, go launcher or touch wiz as my launcher, I put widgets on my home screen like weather, google search bar and maybe a music player widget. I can use TB to backup my launcher, which would supposedly backup where these widgets are located on your home screen. However after reinstalling the rom, if I restore my launcher without restoring "application widgets", the place where these widgets are supposed to be will show "problem loading widgets". And you would have to remove these problematic widgets and recreate them.
So when you backup your launcher, backup "application widgets" as well. When you restore, restore both of them. And preferably after restoring, reboot before you go back to your launcher
By the way "application widgets" is an actual backupable item in TB (shown in green)
Is this making any sense?

Thanks and yes you are making perfect sense.
Many times I've had to delete then replace widgets from my launcher after restoring using TB so I'm interested in where in TB to find this option.
I'm probably looking right at it but just can't see it. Can you steer my in the right direction in TB?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Nice to learn new things, especially the widgets, hate having the "problem loading widget" all the time.
Thanks for highlighting these.

Ok found it.
It's an item in the app list called "application widgets" with the TB icon next to it.
Cool thanks never noticed it before.
Great tip.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Having a Problem
Ok so I am tring to do an Extract from CWM Backup...
Just Flashed Jugg. 2.0 everything is running great!!!
But TBP is just stuck at Restoring 0% on my first program... I have even followed their help page. cleared the market memory... What am i doing wrong please help...
T-mobile - SGH - T989
ROM: Juggernaut 2.0

Bardouns said:
Ok so I am tring to do an Extract from CWM Backup...
Just Flashed Jugg. 2.0 everything is running great!!!
But TBP is just stuck at Restoring 0% on my first program... I have even followed their help page. cleared the market memory... What am i doing wrong please help...
T-mobile - SGH - T989
ROM: Juggernaut 2.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you enabled USB debugging and UNKNOWN sources?!

yes on both
---------- Post added at 08:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:16 AM ----------
Ok... Don't know WTF... but its working like lightning now... have no idea... didn't do anything except download google text to voice... weird

Been using it for years and didn't figure out the speeddial backup. Good post. A couple thoughts in general as far as backup strategy.... IMO freezing is better than removing system apps because space is not an issue with the sgs2 like it is with some (older) phones. Swap a lot of roms and sooner or later your are going to either on accident or purpose delete something you shouldn't have and then have to restore. Going down the list and freezing them only takes a minute and is readily reversible with the same end result. If you must be rid of them freeze them first and give it a few days for any oddness to show up. Then uninstall.
Agree on restoring system apps. Always a good way to get odd behavior or fc's and the like. Normally there is no need anyways as the new rom has the same system apps in it and most of the settings can be remembered elsewhere. I do back up system apps though in case I want to grab an apk that isn't in the new rom.
Also IMO its a good idea to copy the entire contents of the internal sd over to the pc after doing a nandroid and ti backup. This way if things go to hell you have everything. The process I use is to do a ti backup and then nandroid in recovery. I mount while still in recovery and copy everything over to a folder on the pc. Now I have all my pics, everything. I use the external sd for music and other items that I know will move from rom to rom so that I don't have to hassle with them. Do this and your covered in every way if you have problems with your ti backup or nandroid. Both can happen sometimes. Also if your phone dies, goes missing etc at least you have a backup as recent as your last rom swap which for us is probably not too long ago. lol I keep the most recent two backups and delete the oldest as I make new ones with each new rom. This only takes a few minutes extra during the rom swap and if you need it you will be glad you have it.

Thank you for tips!

Very helpful. Been using TB for a while now but did not know all the details!

thanx for your efforts...
got some useful tips. I thought I know TB, but I didn't.

Nice write-up!
Any advice on what to do when you try to restore an app and it tells you "problem parsing the package"?
Seam to happen more often with apps that did not come from Android Market or Amazon Appstore...

Very good guide and not just for newbie's.
Thank you.​

App Folders i nApp Draw
i cant seem to figure out where the folders in the app draw are actually stored. i tried to do a restore from a previous rom (apps only, widgets ect) but im not sure where to go for app folders, thats if it will even do this for me.

Many Thanks...
...to the OP & others for this thread & the tips in it ;-)
Just rooted yesterday & ran TI backup. Have run it again incorporating the tips in this thread. Very good suggestion to copy the lot over to PC as well.
Also, people should remember to make a copy of their EFS file & keep that somewhere safe off the phone (keep a copy on your external SD card as well).
Everything I've read so far suggests you're royally boned if you trash your EFS, so making a couple of copies & keeping them in various spots (one on the external SD/one on PC) makes sense to me. Hellcat's kTool does a bangup job & is a nice little app to have handy ;-)

Hi everyone. If someone can give me the confirmation about the following:
1. is Titanium backup saving the settings for the backed up app or only the app itself?
2. are social hub, readers hub, game hub, talk, IM, safe to freeze or unistall cos I don't use that?
3. When you freeze the app, is the icon gone or it stays under "menu"?
4. is Email app safe to freeze/uninstall or I need that for using Gmail app?
I'm on stock 2.3.3 + CF-Root-SGS2_XX_OXA_KH1-v4.1-CWM4 for now.
thank you and regards.

Thanks - very helpful to have more information.

3. Backup "LogProvider" for the call log. A lot of people think call logs are backed up by "contacts storage" but they're not.
This was really helpful. Thank you.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Titanium Backup

When going to an updated version of a ROM and needing to do a full wipe, what should i and shouldn't i be backing up and restoring? Can somebody give a run down of what options to select when doing the backup? And is there a way to have everything auto restore instead of having to select install for every app and then done?

Titanium Backup does everything good by default. You simply select Batch Backup/Restore, press "Backup all user apps" and wait till it ends. When you need to restore, you go there again but choose "restore all missing apps with data". If you don't want to select every app you need to buy Titanium Backup key in the market. After that it will not ask you to press install button everytime. And about what you should or shouldn't backup: if you really need to do a full wipe it's better to backup only your apps and forget about system data cause you can get a lot of headache after restoring everything.

Backup only user apps, not system apps.
Sent from my Desire HD using xda premium

Different Backup Methods

I was hoping to learn the differences between certain backup methods. The most common i saw is via recovery (in my case twrp), via titanium backup and another via adb command even without root which i saw in one of the threads here in xda.
First, in terms of "backup coverage" how do they compare to one another? Secondly, which among the three would most put ur phone back the way it was before u wipe or factory reset it
I hope you could input your opinions on this and suggestions.
Thanks in advance!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

A backup through recovery is a called a nandroid. This backs up everything on your phone including your ROM, kernel, apps, settings, etc. This will allow you to restore back to the previous state of your phone after doing a full wipe.
Titanium backup only backs up your apps and app data. This is useful when you want to switch ROMs and restore your apps in the new ROM.
Usually when switching ROMs I first use titanium backup, then I create a nandroid backup, and finally I flash the ROM. If I like the ROM I use titanium to restore the apps that I previously backed up, and if I don't like the ROM I restore my nandroid
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda app-developers app

Doing a backup with twrp, cwm or thru adb (nandroid backups) are basically image files of your phone at any given moment in time. If you restore one of these backups your restoring your phone to exactly how it was at that moment in time. Titanium backup and Helium backup just backup cached data at that particular moment in time. Using these apps will only restore the data you specified when you did the backup and nothing else. Say you borked an install of a ROM, Titanium backup would be of no use in getting your phone working again as it only has data and not a system image. You would need the images backed up by twrp to get the phone working again then you could use the titanium backups to restore any newer data saved if say you used an old twrp backup.

whoah! thanks guys! I was supposed to quote you but since both of you really helped me understand it now, this thanks goes to the both of you.
I've hit the thanks button on both you guys.
Thank you very much for explaining this.
One last thing, when using a Titanium backup ( im using the pro version), how do i backup to make sure I cover all that needs to be backed up? There are a lot of options im not sure which to select and what to do. I hope you could enlighten me on this one as well.
Thanks again in advance!

vinz_bangiz said:
whoah! thanks guys! I was supposed to quote you but since both of you really helped me understand it now, this thanks goes to the both of you.
I've hit the thanks button on both you guys.
Thank you very much for explaining this.
One last thing, when using a Titanium backup ( im using the pro version), how do i backup to make sure I cover all that needs to be backed up? There are a lot of options im not sure which to select and what to do. I hope you could enlighten me on this one as well.
Thanks again in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the pro version u can run a batch backup of all apps.
To do this open the app, press the menu button in the top tight corner, and select Batch.
Then choose Backup all user apps. From there you can select/deselect apps. When you are done choosing the apps that you would like to backup, click on the green check mark in the top right corner to start the backup.

vinz_bangiz said:
whoah! thanks guys! I was supposed to quote you but since both of you really helped me understand it now, this thanks goes to the both of you.
I've hit the thanks button on both you guys.
Thank you very much for explaining this.
One last thing, when using a Titanium backup ( im using the pro version), how do i backup to make sure I cover all that needs to be backed up? There are a lot of options im not sure which to select and what to do. I hope you could enlighten me on this one as well.
Thanks again in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stopped using Titanium and switched to Helium a while back and can't really remember how Ti works exactly. I do know you should never restore system apps data just user apps data so I don't even bother backing up systems apps. I think with Ti I would just do an initial backup of all user data and apps and then periodically do a backup of newer user data and apps, or something to that effect in the menu. I do like Helium better as its interface is better, never could figure out how to backup or restore sms, call logs and the dictionary using Ti. Helium is much more straight forward and simpler (not as many options) and it does backups on a set schedule to my box account. I'm sure you can do all that with Ti too it was just not a very clean app.

thanks again for the replies..
@ chromium96
i think it is the same as clicking the box with check icon beside the menu, it brings me to the page the same as where you are leading me to but in just one click. Though im not so sure if it is really the same one.
I did a backup now but made a user app + system data.
kzoodroid mentioned not to backup system. Should I really not backup the system? Im quite confused with the terminologies of TI coz it says backup "user apps". Does this only refer to the apps and not the settings or data in my phone? does the backup "system data" refer to the settings and other data on my phone? if I choose only backup "user apps", would this only backup the apps and nothing else?
@ kzoodroid
could you explain further why I should never backup systems apps?
Lastly, is Helium really better than TI? or it depends on user preference?
Thanks again!

there are 2 kind of apps stored in your phone, system apps, only accesible with root privilege, and user apps,
system apps are phone, browser,wallpapers, etc, this are the basic apps to make your phone to work
user apps are all the stuff you, the user, install on your phone
the first one can be found, via file managers on /system/app
user app in /data or in sdcard for apps can use this option
the user app back-up, via Tb or others create a back-up of /data and apps you choose to install
restoring a system app via Tb is dangerous cause if you've switched rom the /system/app can be different, so restoring can cause trouble or misbehavior on your phone
/system/app back.up can be used only if you, before deleting a system app, want to have a copy to restore in future, but only if you still on the same rom

stremax said:
there are 2 kind of apps stored in your phone, system apps, only accesible with root privilege, and user apps,
system apps are phone, browser,wallpapers, etc, this are the basic apps to make your phone to work
user apps are all the stuff you, the user, install on your phone
the first one can be found, via file managers on /system/app
user app in /data or in sdcard for apps can use this option
the user app back-up, via Tb or others create a back-up of /data and apps you choose to install
restoring a system app via Tb is dangerous cause if you've switched rom the /system/app can be different, so restoring can cause trouble or misbehavior on your phone
/system/app back.up can be used only if you, before deleting a system app, want to have a copy to restore in future, but only if you still on the same rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply! kinda getting an idea what you mean.. if I backup the system also, then i put a new rom and it may be different from my current roms system so it might mess it up. so just backup user app and restore this after installing new rom then it would be ok and back to how it was before i installed a new rom? Do i understand it right?

vinz_bangiz said:
Thanks for the reply! kinda getting an idea what you mean.. if I backup the system also, then i put a new rom and it may be different from my current roms system so it might mess it up. so just backup user app and restore this after installing new rom then it would be ok and back to how it was before i installed a new rom? Do i understand it right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
right man,
only back-up user apps and data, if you like you can also back-up call log and messages, I usually do this, so when I flash a new rom I usually restore apps +apps data, messages and call log via Tb

vinz_bangiz said:
another via adb command even without root which i saw in one of the threads here in xda.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found the ADB backup doesn't work as well as the other methods. I found some apps didn't seem to get backed up, and at least one didn't work after restoring (though this could be because I used Titanium Backup to restore the app from the ADB backup file).

Upgrading to Paranoidandroid with Android 4.3, best method?

I've been searching around, but can't really find clear information that I understand about all the steps involved in upgrading paranoidandroid to the newer version with Android 4.3.
1) The upgrade requires a factory reset. It I do this from TWRP am I going to lose my nandroids and titanium backups on the sdcard partition? Do I need to backup everything externally first?
2) When I used Titanium to restore my apps and data, what option do I select? Won't "restore all apps with data" include system data that might not be compatible with 4.3? On the other hand won't "restore missing apps with data" not include some data (like text messages) that I want?
3) It seems like, from reading around, that Titanium backup is having mixed results for restoring apps in 4.3. Is there a better method for backing up and restoring apps and data after the upgrade to paranoidandroid with 4.3?
Thanks for any help.

Just wipe data, cache and dalvik cache. Upgrade your radio and bootloader and you're ready to go. You wont lose data on your internal storage.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Thibaultvw said:
Just wipe data, cache and dalvik cache. Upgrade your radio and bootloader and you're ready to go. You wont lose data on your internal storage.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
What about restoring my apps and data? Any suggestions about my questions in the op regarding Titanium or another method?

You can safely restore all user apps including data.
As for the system data you should only restore the special TiBu backups like call logs, messages, WiFi access points etc. (Those with the TiBu icon).
Some system apps may work with data restored from an older/other version, but it's a gamble.

Holer Togni said:
You can safely restore all user apps including data.
As for the system data you should only restore the special TiBu backups like call logs, messages, WiFi access points etc. (Those with the TiBu icon).
Some system apps may work with data restored from an older/other version, but it's a gamble.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
I guess part of what seems like it should be obvious, but is confusing to me is that I don't see an option in Titanium to restore only user apps. The closest seems like the option to restore "all missing apps." Is there some other option that I'm not seeing? Do I have to do it restore each app manually, to avoid restoring system apps?

cb474 said:
Thanks.
I guess part of what seems like it should be obvious, but is confusing to me is that I don't see an option in Titanium to restore only user apps. The closest seems like the option to restore "all missing apps." Is there some other option that I'm not seeing? Do I have to do it restore each app manually, to avoid restoring system apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you backup choose "backup all user apps" and when you restore choose "restore missing apps with data". That will only restore user apps since you didn't backup the system apps in the first place.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Chromium_ said:
When you backup choose "backup all user apps" and when you restore choose "restore missing apps with data". That will only restore user apps since you didn't backup the system apps in the first place.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a good idea. I already backed up my system apps and data, some of which I want, like messages, etc. Is there any other way to only restore user apps, given I have the system apps backed up already? Or do I just have to move my backups somewhere (to save the system stuff) and then do it the way you suggest?

cb474 said:
That's a good idea. I already backed up my system apps and data, some of which I want, like messages, etc. Is there any other way to only restore user apps, given I have the system apps backed up already? Or do I just have to move my backups somewhere (to save the system stuff) and then do it the way you suggest?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well when you select "restore all missing apps", it'll bring up another screen where you can deselect what you don't want restored. On that screen you also have an option to "Exclude system apks".
Edit: I'm 95% sure that the "Restore all missing apps" only restores user apps/data. So you don't have to worry about system stuff being restored when you choose this.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Chromium_ said:
Well when you select "restore all missing apps", it'll bring up another screen where you can deselect what you don't want restored. On that screen you also have an option to "Exclude system apks".
Edit: I'm 95% sure that the "Restore all missing apps" only restores user apps/data. So you don't have to worry about system stuff being restored when you choose this.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, thanks. I'll take a look at that and try to make my way forward.

Holer Togni said:
As for the system data you should only restore the special TiBu backups like call logs, messages, WiFi access points etc. (Those with the TiBu icon).
Some system apps may work with data restored from an older/other version, but it's a gamble.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you know, when restoring system data from the 4.2 version of Paranoidandroid to the 4.3 version, should I used the snapshot or xml option in Titanium? Thanks.

I used the XML data and didn't have any problems.

Holer Togni said:
I used the XML data and didn't have any problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. It worked for me too.
*
For anyone else interested in the topic of this thread, per some of the other above discussion, I found that using "restore missing apps and data" in Titanium doesn't just restore user dowloaded apps, but also some leftover apps that I guess were part of Android 4.2, but don't exist in 4.3. So you have to go through the list and be careful to uncheck things that are no longer part of 4.3 or would replace an newer version of some system related thing, with an older version.
I also found when restoring system data, that it wasn't good enough to only restore items labeled with the Titanium icon. There were some things like contacts storage and calendar storage that I wanted the data from and were not labeled this way. So you have to be careful to get those things but only restore data and not the old version of the app.
In the end, it was relatively easy, but a little tricky and I felt like I was guessing at times about what would give me what I wanted and would be safe to restore.
*
I didn't do this, but I wondered if it would be safe to restore paranoid preferences with Titanium? Also is there anything that would restore things like how I had the quick settings panel set up and some of my general system settings like that? Or am I stuck just redoing those things manually?

TiBu sucks? am I doing something wrong?

Hi, after rooting my phone with Magisk and having installed TiBu I proceeded to backup all user app + system data then I installed System app remover and removed some system apps that supposedly were "safe" to remove (briefing) but after a reboot I end up in a bootloop. I had to wipe everything and start from scratch (install ROM + Magisk)
On my first try I did not restore my data using Google + Samsung backup. I tried to restore my apps + system data using TiBu but after several hours of waiting to restore, it did not progress and stuck at 0%
On my second try I restored my data using google+samsung backup. After everything was set and ready I used TiBu's "Restore missing apps + all system data". This time TiBU did progress and completed the restore. After a reboot I start to notice that most of my apps/system settings customization are not even there... To name a few:
I had Full screen gestures instead of the navigation buttons. TiBu did not restore this
I had several accounts that TiBu did not restore (google, outlook, twitter, steam, blizzard, twitter and the list keeps going)
Simple things like Gboard was not even restored as default input method
Settings like one hand mode, edge lightning, quick panel layout, adaptive brightness, screen resolution (the list keeps going) were not restored the way I had them
TL;DR: TiBu did little to nothing despite having the pro version and the appropriate backup
My device:
Galaxy S10+ (Exynos SM-G975F)
Android 10 (G975FXXU3BSKO_G975FOWO3BSKO_ARO) patched with Magisk v20.2-11b7076a (20109)
I feel like I wasted my money..... worst spent 6+ dollars of my life

TiBu is a powerful tool if you know how to use it, in a majority of the cases restoring any complete system backup is always a bad idea. If you ever want to restore system data, you need to use nandroid backup or selected apps in TiBu. When you restore user apps (missing apps in your case) all their data is restored and restored to the level of functionality they had before backing up.
For full-screen gestures, it's likely some mismatch between existing settings and restored system settings.
As for the accounts, it was likely because of restoring the app itself, they would have been there even before you backed them up.
Again, for system settings, you can't rely on TiBu in One UI, restoring system settings barely works in stock android.
My workflow is like this, If I am just tinkering with the system but my phone is stable, I do a nandroid backup (backup in recovery) and try out the mod/feature if it suits me, I continue with it, if not I restore back.
If I know I want to format, I generally need to do this when I've messed up in the system and need to start over. I install all I need in TWRP, setup the system only restoring call and SMS backup from Samsung Cloud, restore missing apps and go through the phone settings and set them up again. This ensures no ****ups from the previous install come back and now that I end up doing it regularly, I can do all this under 30 mins.

firesword14 said:
TiBu is a powerful tool if you know how to use it, in a majority of the cases restoring any complete system backup is always a bad idea. If you ever want to restore system data, you need to use nandroid backup or selected apps in TiBu. When you restore user apps (missing apps in your case) all their data is restored and restored to the level of functionality they had before backing up.
For full-screen gestures, it's likely some mismatch between existing settings and restored system settings.
As for the accounts, it was likely because of restoring the app itself, they would have been there even before you backed them up.
Again, for system settings, you can't rely on TiBu in One UI, restoring system settings barely works in stock android.
My workflow is like this, If I am just tinkering with the system but my phone is stable, I do a nandroid backup (backup in recovery) and try out the mod/feature if it suits me, I continue with it, if not I restore back.
If I know I want to format, I generally need to do this when I've messed up in the system and need to start over. I install all I need in TWRP, setup the system only restoring call and SMS backup from Samsung Cloud, restore missing apps and go through the phone settings and set them up again. This ensures no ****ups from the previous install come back and now that I end up doing it regularly, I can do all this under 30 mins.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for taking your time to reply this thread, I am clearly new at this and I am barely scratching the surface. Gonna try and search more info about this "nandroid backup" (not even know what this is and how it works) you mention and see how it works. As for "TRWP" I read something about it but per the offical site: "Long story short, TWRP support for Android 10 is going to take a while." and that is why I did not pay attention to this app