Database Users

Pay Attention: How do we backup DATA in Apps. NOT just APPS

Title says it all. I've seen this question asked but too many times I see people saying. "Use Search Function"
The search function has been scoured and I see plenty of great apps that restore and backup apps, contacts, etc.. none restore data WITHIN the apps.
Is there an app that backs up DATA within the apps not just the apps.
Thank you,
come again.

Titanium backup backs up my apps plus all system data

I'd like to know this too, with possible Rom coming in September I'm desperate to make the change over as smooth as possible.

post in general section

Mooved

Good question. I use MyBackup (online) for saving my data - but only sms-contacts..
If you find an app that save all you need, please post its name here ^^
thx

The process is quite complex (at least the way I do it) but it can be done!
Note: YOU NEED LINUX FOR THIS (or if you're brave you can mess with the tools on this site: http://www.chrysocome.net/download. success is not guaranteed. Still post about your experiences though )
Note: Steps 1 to 3 are not always necessary, it depends on which Android build you are using.
1) Give Root Explorer (or a similar file explorer app - must be able to access system/data files) root access
2) Locate the folders containing the user data you want to backup, this is usually somewhere near /data/data. The folders have various naming conventions and dont always contain the name of the app (i'll check and edit this post if i have time)
3) Change the folder's permission settings - I usually just permit everything
4) Shut down Android and in one way or another, mount your sd card on your Linux machine, and locate your data.img or userdata.img file.
5) Open a command line window, enter the following:
Code:
sudo mount -o loop data.img /mnt/data
Note: you might need to create the folder you are mounting too
Note: sudo not always neccesary
Note: change data.img to userdata.img, you'll know if this applies to you
6) Browse to the folder containing the data you want to backup and copy it onto your computer. DONE!
You can restore these backups on a different build by using the same method, just in reverse. Also, don't forget to check if the same folder already exists, if yes, it can be extremely annoying to find you dont have permission to change/overwrite it!
I used this to copy all of my saved games, i especially didn't want to loose my Asphalt 5 progress
P.S. if this solves your problem, please change the title of this thread to simplify things for other users

Thanks Kev007, I'll try this

filou75 said:
Thanks Kev007, I'll try this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While it is good to know how to do this stuff, just download Titanium from the market. It backs up all apps plus data in about a minute. You can restore individually or in batches using filters. Search around there is lots of info on this app.
It is great to learn some basic Linux stuff. It will help when you are trying to do things in Android. If you have no intention of learning Linux, Titanium is the way to go.

that be good actually - on my last android reinstall I lost my paper toss high score (allbeit only 3 pmsl) but still seems like a good thought considerin the games etc with save data.

Seconded - Titanium Backup preserves all my app data.
This is one of the reasons I love Android over WinMo - backing up app data is practically a nobrainer when you have the right tool.

+1 on Titanium Backup.
Works great on all builds. Just don't try to restore native HTC apps/data from sense to vanilla Froyo.

Kev007 said:
The process is quite complex (at least the way I do it) but it can be done!
Note: YOU NEED LINUX FOR THIS (or if you're brave you can mess with the tools on this site: http://www.chrysocome.net/download. success is not guaranteed. Still post about your experiences though )
Note: Steps 1 to 3 are not always necessary, it depends on which Android build you are using.
1) Give Root Explorer (or a similar file explorer app - must be able to access system/data files) root access
2) Locate the folders containing the user data you want to backup, this is usually somewhere near /data/data. The folders have various naming conventions and dont always contain the name of the app (i'll check and edit this post if i have time)
3) Change the folder's permission settings - I usually just permit everything
4) Shut down Android and in one way or another, mount your sd card on your Linux machine, and locate your data.img or userdata.img file.
5) Open a command line window, enter the following:
Code:
sudo mount -o loop data.img /mnt/data
Note: you might need to create the folder you are mounting too
Note: sudo not always neccesary
Note: change data.img to userdata.img, you'll know if this applies to you
6) Browse to the folder containing the data you want to backup and copy it onto your computer. DONE!
You can restore these backups on a different build by using the same method, just in reverse. Also, don't forget to check if the same folder already exists, if yes, it can be extremely annoying to find you dont have permission to change/overwrite it!
I used this to copy all of my saved games, i especially didn't want to loose my Asphalt 5 progress
P.S. if this solves your problem, please change the title of this thread to simplify things for other users
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now THIS is an answer. I knew I wasnt the only one trying to do this. I dont need to backup the APPS because I already have them backed up oin my PC.
My buddy has a linux box ill try this with. Thanks.
PS. To the titanium suggestions. I've tried that. Doesnt seem to save game states or 3rd party app preferences...

Unlock SIM without hex edit

Sorry if this has been posted before...please be careful and don't blame me if you will brick your tab
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10605338&postcount=5
I haven't tried this method.

ok so we need to delete this "nv_data.bin.md5 and nv_data.bak.md5 "
do i need to delete that too : nv_data.bak
please let me know

This method just seem ridiculous to me. I just don't buy that you delete an important system file and pretend that all it does is sim unlock your tab. I would seriously think twice and make sure I have the /efs folder securely backed up in my PC b4 attempting to do that.
P_
p.s. nv.data.bak is a copy of nv.data.bin used by the system in case the original file gets corrupted. If you delete the .bin file there are good chances that it will be restored with the .bak one. But if you delete both ............. hmmm I am not quite sure in what kind of trouble you're putting yourself into. The .md5 files can be deleted with no problem, they will be regenerated on the next boot.

pakalrtb said:
This method just seem ridiculous to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And yet 100's of people, using caution have successfully done this.
As always, do your research, ask questions, then go forward.

Cant delete CWM backups from internal SD Card

Need some help here:
I need to delete some of the backups I made with CWM recovery. I already have them backed up onto my PC, but need to delete them to make some room. For some reason I cant.
Ive tried root explorer, es file explorer, and my PC. Im unable to change the permissions of the files, and if you look at the pics I attached youll see they have some strange permissions, but I cant change them.
I am able to move the files anywhere else in the sd card folder, rename them, but no matter what I cant delete them. And when I try from my PC it shows them disappear, but they are actually still there.
If there is a way to format the sd card folder I will, but thats not an option in the settings, or CWM. Can someone please help me out here? This is really frustrating me. Thanks

No issues here when I delete backups using ROM Toolbox.

UnknownFearNG said:
No issues here when I delete backups using ROM Toolbox.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried through ROM Toolbox and still couldnt delete them.

Gam3r 4 Life said:
I tried through ROM Toolbox and still couldnt delete them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same, tried with multiple apps too.

I posted this in the other thread, but figured I would do so here in case other people needed the "fix".
Ok, so some good news and some bad news.
The good news is, I was able to put together a flashable zip that WILL DELETE the entire CWM backup directory from the sdcard. It is available here:
http://core.routed.com/CWM_Backup_Wipe.zip
You simply need to flash it via CWM. Easy peasy. I confirmed that the directory/files were all removed, AND the storage space is now available for other files (I checked df before and after).
The bad news is, before attempting to delete the directory, I first tried changing the permissions (recursively) to see if that was a better "fix" for this problem. Unfortunately, even with the directory 777 and the files 666, I still could not manually delete them through the system. Which means, whatever bug is causing this problem is much more severe than a file/directory permission thing.
In any case, until the CWM developer can figure out a way to fix this bug, at least we have a way to manually remove the backups and get our storage space back.
The script in the zip is very simple. It just does a recursive delete on /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup.
Enjoy!

phonic said:
I posted this in the other thread, but figured I would do so here in case other people needed the "fix".
Ok, so some good news and some bad news.
The good news is, I was able to put together a flashable zip that WILL DELETE the entire CWM backup directory from the sdcard. It is available here:
http://core.routed.com/CWM_Backup_Wipe.zip
You simply need to flash it via CWM. Easy peasy. I confirmed that the directory/files were all removed, AND the storage space is now available for other files (I checked df before and after).
The bad news is, before attempting to delete the directory, I first tried changing the permissions (recursively) to see if that was a better "fix" for this problem. Unfortunately, even with the directory 777 and the files 666, I still could not manually delete them through the system. Which means, whatever bug is causing this problem is much more severe than a file/directory permission thing.
In any case, until the CWM developer can figure out a way to fix this bug, at least we have a way to manually remove the backups and get our storage space back.
The script in the zip is very simple. It just does a recursive delete on /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup.
Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just saying thanks for this, I hope they figure a fix out soon. Flash worked perfectly, for some storage space back. :good:

[Q] Unable to see the Clockworkmod folder in windows or on the phone

Hey guys.
First of all, sorry if this has been asked before. I googled a lot and searched here and couldn't find this particular problem.
My Nexus 4 is running stock 4.2. Unlocked bootloader, rooted and running ClockworkMod 6.0.1.9. Everything worked perfectly. My only problem right now is, after making a nandroid backup, I cannot see the clockworkmod folder anywhere on the phone when browsing either in windows or with ES File Explorer. I think by now I looked everywhere. Everything else in this regard seems to work fine, I can copy files, the other folders are all correct etc. I can also see and delete/restore the backup in CWM recovery. All I want is to see the folder to get it off the phone. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.

You can find it in mnt/shell/emulated it is protected so you will need a file explorer that can give you root access. I use ES File Explorer.

Found it. Thank you very much.

Its also in /data/media/clockworkmod for whatever reason, hope this gets fixed soon.

Is there any way to copy those CWM backup folders to your computer? I tried to use Root Explorer to move the backup folders to the main sdcard/0 folder but I still cannot see it when I move the file Am I doing something wrong or is it not possible to move it to the sdcard/0?

Yeah I'm also still not too sure how to get it off the phone easily.

Chill4xed said:
Yeah I'm also still not too sure how to get it off the phone easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
easiest way would probably be to just use the toolkit, unless you're opposed to such things.

Is this why ROM manager can't delte my backups? It seems them but I get an error saying "there was an error deleting your backup"
Edit: new update fixes this issue with ROM manager

man we need to get it move to a pc. i'd like to save some space since its our phone have maximum 12.9gb at our disposal.
btw, i tried Root Browser Lite to move it on sdcard area... operation failed

I had the same problem. My internal SD card just kept getting fuller and fuller with ClockwordMod. And, when I tried to copy the files from /mnt/shell/emulated/clockwork to my comp, and copy them back to the SD card to try and Restore, I ended up with corrupted files.
So, rather than fight it, I decided to wait until Clockwordmod recovery got its storage/mount point issues straightened out, and moved to the TWRP side of things. That has been seamless (once I got used to it).
I hope that they soon figure out the Clockwordmod issues; I liked having ROM Manager installed on past phones.
Btw, as an aside that is a little related, why, pray tell, are there so many mount points for the SD card? It's just weird.

just navigate the clockwordmod folder in your phone and copy it to the root of the internal memory.. connect the phone via usb into the computer and copy it

BY FAR, the easiest way is:
Chill4xed said:
My Nexus 4 is running stock 4.2. Unlocked bootloader, rooted and running ClockworkMod 6.0.1.9. Everything worked perfectly. My only problem right now is, after making a nandroid backup, I cannot see the clockworkmod folder anywhere on the phone when browsing either in windows or with ES File Explorer. I think by now I looked everywhere. Everything else in this regard seems to work fine, I can copy files, the other folders are all correct etc. I can also see and delete/restore the backup in CWM recovery. All I want is to see the folder to get it off the phone. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BY FAR the easiest way: in ROM Manager, Manage and Restore Backups>Download Backups>Open your desktop browser on the address informed by ROM Manager to download your backup.

Thanks to everyone, going to the directories works and the rom manager app is aware of the new cwm backup folder.

[Q] EFS Backup

Not sure whether or not this is actually a EFS backup. It just showed up in my External SD card and it's named 'efs.tar.gz' and it's only about 5kB. What does the EFS folder contain? I have folders such as bluetooth, WiFi, IMEI, carrier, etc.
Is it necessary to do a EFS backup nowadays?
How would I do an EFS backup?

emckai said:
Not sure whether or not this is actually a EFS backup. It just showed up in my External SD card and it's named 'efs.tar.gz' and it's only about 5kB. What does the EFS folder contain? I have folders such as bluetooth, WiFi, IMEI, carrier, etc. Is it necessary to do a EFS backup nowadays? How would I do an EFS backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, DO make a backup of your EFS folder. Find the folder on your phone (I am away from my phone right now, but I believe it is a folder off of the root directory). You can easily find this folder (on a rooted phone) by using a file manager app-- then copy the entire folder and keep one copy of it on your SD card and keep ANOTHER copy of the EFS folder on your desktop computer or off-phone on a disk.
There are several threads here by folks who have lost their EFS folders or some setting on their phones, which can only be re-aligned by the data stored in the EFS folder. I believe at least some of the data is unique to your own phone, so it can't just be copied from another phone without some effects.
EFS folder seems like a small thing until it is gone. Then it really is a major pain in the neck to recover. MAKE YOUR OWN BACKUP COPIES of it now. Please search some threads --usingthe term EFS! -- and you will see more details about the effects of corrupt or missing EFS files.
Good luck!

markbc01 said:
Yes, DO make a backup of your EFS folder. Find the folder on your phone (I am away from my phone right now, but I believe it is a folder off of the root directory). You can easily find this folder (on a rooted phone) by using a file manager app-- then copy the entire folder and keep one copy of it on your SD card and keep ANOTHER copy of the EFS folder on your desktop computer or off-phone on a disk.
There are several threads here by folks who have lost their EFS folders or some setting on their phones, which can only be re-aligned by the data stored in the EFS folder. I believe at least some of the data is unique to your own phone, so it can't just be copied from another phone without some effects.
EFS folder seems like a small thing until it is gone. Then it really is a major pain in the neck to recover. MAKE YOUR OWN BACKUP COPIES of it now. Please search some threads --usingthe term EFS! -- and you will see more details about the effects of corrupt or missing EFS files.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good advice, but I think more than just the EFS folder itself needs to be backed up in order to be able to restore EFS information to the phone if needed. Backing up or making a copy of the actual EFS "folder" is only part of the equation. TWRP variants usually offer an option to properly back up EFS and I have also seen several apps on the market, but I have not personally tried any of them. If anyone has any experience in methods to back up and restoring the EFS information to the phone please post your experience.

So basically all I have to do is copy the efs folder located in the /~ directory and memorize the permissions. And if anything happens I can just restore that folder and the set the permissions back?

emckai said:
So basically all I have to do is copy the esf folder located in the /~ directory and memorize the permissions. And if anything happens I can just restore that folder and the set the permissions back?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yikes. . . not so sure (anymore) that a copy/paste and a chmod will be enough. . . A quick search for recover ESF provides numerous results inside XDA.
It seems that there are several methods to doing an effective backup of ESF data (and by effective, it means more than our copy folders!). The below thread by @tamirda offers several techniques for the I9500 model of the S4! This ESF process does seem to be "kind of" phone-specific, but perhaps some processes are fungible among all models.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2392632
From my quick (as yet unfinished) reading of some of the threads, it seems good to also know your IMEI #, independent of the ESF folder. Also --as @scott14719 stated--- there *is* more to it than just replacing the folder contents
@emckai, before you question, I was sanguine just having the folder backed up -now I am not. So thank you for asking this question! The answer is more than I thought!
Already I hit Play and downloaded/tried one of the programs. It loaded and "backed up" my ESF folder -then hot booted. However, I have not trashed my ESF data to test it so I will have to wait and see. (Some of the comments made it sound not so promising.)
But it also seems Odin can backup the ESF/IMEI data and restore it as well! I was going to see if Mobile Odin could do this too but I am running a 4.3 rom and Mobile Odin does not work so well on 4.3 yet..
Thanks. . .I have some more reading to do to protect my ESF :victory:
Edit: not sure, but perhaps that tar file for your ESF might be left there from an original Odin Flash of a kernel or rom. . .

Yeah I did some reading also around the XDA forums and some information found on Google but the information I found wasn't that useful; mostly because it was device specific.
After looking inside the EFS folder, each file had it's own permission which would cause a headache at the end.
Doesn't TWRP recovery have the option to backup the EFS folder? But it would be the same thing? Because apparently there are 2 blocks on the device where the IMEI information is stored and whenever something happens to the EFS folder or one of the blocks, it'll trigger on the Samsung boot screen and restore whatever is contained inside those blocks.
There is a lot of misinformation going around stating about EFS so I'm just left confused.