[Q] Custom rom installation variants. - XPERIA X8 General

Hello!
I have been searching the forums here about custom roms, and so far, I saw two methods of how to install them.
Method1. update.zip
Method2. Backup/Restore or just advanced restore.
(both in xRecovery)
What's the difference?
If the developer of the rom stated do Method1, can we still do Method2?
Will it affect anything?
Thanks.

You cannot do the other method, it´s not possible, because they are completely different .
Method 2"restore" is like you make a backup trougth xrecovery and restore it. You can do a complete restore (recommended) or only system (your data will be not deleted, but in most cases you will have some problems)
Method 1 update.zip is a kind of script.

Fetz Braun said:
You cannot do the other method, it´s not possible, because they are completely different .
Method 2"restore" is like you make a backup trougth xrecovery and restore it. You can do a complete restore (recommended) or only system (your data will be not deleted, but in most cases you will have some problems)
Method 1 update.zip is a kind of script.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that!
So you mean, Method1 is like, if you want to upgrade your rom?
Will doing Method1 erase all data?

It depends on a script. There is a file called update-script in every update and custom zip, you can view it in notepad++. If it contains FORMAT command it will wipe any partition that is named after the command. Most ROMs update zips only wipe system, which is a necessity, since you need to put new system in. Some ROMs, like doixanh's one, also wipe cache to get rid of old ROM's stuff. If there is a format data instruction, all your data and apps are gone.

Related

Flashing - Noob needs help

Hey,
I read a lot over the last months and am now willing to flash the overcome rom.
Situation:
- Euro Galaxy Tab (german, unbranded)
- Rooted (with z4root)
- Do not want to lose current configuration (backup?)
Step-by-Step:
- As I still use RFS file system, I need to convert first. Besides that, I need a CWM to flash overcome and a SD-Card for the auto-backup.
1. - Flash Modaco Kernel Full to convert file system and to get CWM (with Odin, activate repartition and select Kernel)
3. - Reboot in recovery (CWM) - backup and conversion will be done
2. - Wipe Data (in CWM)
3. - Install instructions from overcome:
INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS
BACKUP first! (The install script WILL wipe your data partition, but NOT your SD cards)
Copy ROM to SD Card.
Reboot into CWM
Choose Install zip from SD Card
Choose zip from SD Card
Install and reboot!
If you're system was not already ext4, on reboot enter recovery mode and the automatic conversion of your file system will happen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this the way to go? As I nowhere could find some really detailled instructions to flash this, I hope this is all right.
if u follow these instructions everything will work fine! good job on looking this up. i dont mind people asking questions but only after they TRIED finding the answers themselves. i have hope in people again.
You are definately on the right track, but for completeness sake, I have thrown together a tutorial for exactly what you are after. Check it out over here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=973402
I hope it is useful to you.

[SCRIPT][HEIMDALL][CWM] Partition Backup

This is a CWM zip which intended purpose is to make creating heimdall one click roms easier.
It will backup partitions using dd and put them in a folder on your internal SD card labeled partition-backup. You can then use these to create heimdall one-click versions of your own rom.
The partitions backed up are as follows:
Captivate Stock based roms:
/system (/dev/block/stl9)
/dbdata (/dev/block/stl10)
/cache (/dev/block/stl11)
kernel (/dev/block/bml7)
modem (/dev/block/bml12)
param.lfs (/dev/block/stl6)
Captivate MIUI/Cyanogenmod based roms:
/system (/dev/block/mtdblock2)
/datadata (/dev/block/mtdblock6)
/cache (/dev/block/mtdblock3)
/radio (/dev/block/mtdblock5)
kernel (/dev/block/mtdblock0)
recovery (/dev/block/mtdblock1)
modem (/dev/block/mtdblock5)
The data partition is not included.
This is not intended to be a backup for your Captivate, although it could be used as one. Again, it's intended for Heimdall rom creation.
For backups, it is preferable to use CWM. I personally, really like the 5.0.2.6 version by mtcarey as it tars up the data rather than dd's the entire partition which saves a lot of space (like the /data partition for example).
DISCLAIMER: I am in no way to be held responsible for what you do to your device. If you use it, whatever the consequences, they are your responsibility.
Now with that being said, this script doesn't do anything destructive but simply copies the partitions to the internal SD card for later use.
Here are the links:
Captivate Stock based - http://db.tt/tPGn42Pi
MIUI/CyanogenMod based - http://db.tt/rwy5WIel
Let me know if you have any issues with the scripts.
My bad...
10 char
b-eock said:
You have to include data on stock ROM's as it will run the check when it installs on reboot... it will fail because of the missing data partition..., so you might wanna put that into the SCRIPT!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you will only get the error if you re-partition
b-eock said:
You have to include data on stock ROM's as it will run the check when it installs on reboot... it will fail because of the missing data partition..., so you might wanna put that into the SCRIPT!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need /data...
dbdata is the one that gives that error if you re-partition.
Have you given thought to writing a cwm script to backup efs, or adding it to this script?
mrhaley30705 said:
Have you given thought to writing a cwm script to backup efs, or adding it to this script?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could be wrong on this point but as I understand it the IMEI number is contained there so this isn't probably the best idea.
I could add a separate script for it but I will need to confirm that this wouldn't cause issues for people replicating an IMEI number.
I was thinking of using it as a way to backup an efs.
Understood. I'll put one up later today. In the meantime, you can always copy the folder to your sdcard for safe keeping.
backing up of both EFS and Data, would be nice for PERSONAL backups, make a note not to redistribute efs or data in the heimdall one click packages.
any of your passwords/saved information will be in data..... unless you backup data immediately after flashing/pushing apps BUT before android OS setup...
efs is still a DO NOT DISTRIBUTE.
Tried using partition backup and it didn't make the backup file, or i can't find it.
in a folder on your internal SD card labeled partition-backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how long did it take? a while? it should if it did something.
No, just a couple of second.
Edit
Mount system first?
It should take a minute or so to complete. Once done, reboot back into the OS and there should be a folder /sdcard/patition-backup/.
Within this folder you should have multiple images all ending in .rfs. Really they would typically end in .img but I had it save the images using an rfs extention to facilitate things with heimdall as that's what it expects.
What version of Android are you running?
MIUI. 1.11.18 w/Neo 17r18.
TRusselo said:
backing up of both EFS and Data, would be nice for PERSONAL backups, make a note not to redistribute efs or data in the heimdall one click packages.
any of your passwords/saved information will be in data..... unless you backup data immediately after flashing/pushing apps BUT before android OS setup...
efs is still a DO NOT DISTRIBUTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. /data has all your personal data and efs has your IMEI. You don't want to distribute either of these. That is primarily why I left them out of the script. Don't forget you can either copy the entire efs folder or just zip it up and save it somewhere off your phone as a backup. If you are just looking to backup the phone, CWM is much more efficient at backing it up, IMO.
mrhaley30705 said:
MIUI. 1.11.18 w/Neo 17r18.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm... I haven't tested it on either MIUI or Cyanogenmod. They may use a different partioning scheme. Can you please copy/paste the response of typing 'mount' from a shell?
( adb shell, then just simply type 'mount' from there )
How's this
Ok, I see the problem. It appears the MIUI and Cyanogenmod use /dev/block/mtdblock* whereas stock Captivate based roms use /dev/block/mmcblk*.
I'll see about making one for your setup.
Thanks for testing this!
No problem.

[Q] Note 3 System Backup

Background
I do not plan on flashing roms, I have a rooted note 3(900t) with knox at 0x0(want to keep it that way). I do not want to backup APKs or personal information.
Desire
I only want to make a backup of all of my critical system files necessary to do a soft reboot. So that in a worst case scenario I never have to worry about not being able to reset my phone.
Reason
I plan on editing files with a root explorer and using Xposed framework.
Hope this is a little more clear, thanks for the help!
7US said:
I have a rooted note 3 with a knox warranty of 0x0. I would like to make a full backup of any system files that could become corrupted so that I may restore them without tripping the knox. I do not care about backing up Apps(Actually prefer to manually install them as I need them), I have all of my APK files manually backed up. Additionally I want to install Xprivacy and Xposed framework but they always warn to do a full backup. I was playing around with ADB as well but that backup seems to be directed at Apps and Contacts which I don't care about. Would it be safe to just install Xposed framework and Xprivacy and rely on the factory reset? Or is there some method I should use of doing a complete system backup. Also how would I restore that backup? (preferably I would like to have a nice backup/recovery method that I know I can always restore from my computer in case somehow one of my system files get deleted) Thank you for your help. I like to edit my system files and I have no problem using the standard phone reset I am more worried about critical failures really just as a failsafe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
too long.
if i get right from this longe sentences;
u cannot backup knox counter.
u can make nandroid backup from ur system but knox counter will change its value.
:good:
x102x96x said:
too long.
if i get right from this longe sentences;
u cannot backup knox counter.
u can make nandroid backup from ur system but knox counter will change its value.
:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I fixed my original post, hope it is more clear for you.
I know I cannot backup my knox counter, which is why I do not plan on installing CWM.
I am new to the Android operating system and read many threads about different methods of backing up and restoring(CWM/Titanium Backup/etc) but they always seem to be centered around backing up APKs+Contacts or backing up Roms for Rom Flashing.
I am trying to understand what I need to backup to be safe to play around with my system files and Xposed and always be able to restore any damage that I may do.
So far I played around with ADB a little bit and saw some tutorials on how to do full backups through ADB but not for the note 3. Thanks for your help! I plan on experimenting and such on my own but first I want to make sure I have necessary backups to not worry about crippling the OS.
Perhaps a question within my question is.. What type of backup do I need? What files need to be preserved for me to be able to do a system reboot to restore the phone? Is it safe for me to be using Xposed without a backup and playing around with system files? Will the soft reboot restore these files? If not what needs to be backed up, that really is my question.
7US said:
I fixed my original post, hope it is more clear for you.
I know I cannot backup my knox counter, which is why I do not plan on installing CWM.
I am new to the Android operating system and read many threads about different methods of backing up and restoring(CWM/Titanium Backup/etc) but they always seem to be centered around backing up APKs+Contacts or backing up Roms for Rom Flashing.
I am trying to understand what I need to backup to be safe to play around with my system files and Xposed and always be able to restore any damage that I may do.
So far I played around with ADB a little bit and saw some tutorials on how to do full backups through ADB but not for the note 3. Thanks for your help! I plan on experimenting and such on my own but first I want to make sure I have necessary backups to not worry about crippling the OS.
Perhaps a question within my question is.. What type of backup do I need? What files need to be preserved for me to be able to do a system reboot to restore the phone? Is it safe for me to be using Xposed without a backup and playing around with system files? Will the soft reboot restore these files? If not what needs to be backed up, that really is my question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
instead of making backup of ur system files u can download a firmware of ur region!
if something goes wrong when u try to modifying then flash the stock rom.
however u can easily copy a file to another direction and then paste back to original if issue appears.
for example build.prop and etc.
and for ur firmware as i said u can make nandroid backup (thr s lots of tools in play.store for it that not need custom recovery) (if i say correctly!)
:good:
7US said:
Background
I do not plan on flashing roms, I have a rooted note 3(900t) with knox at 0x0(want to keep it that way). I do not want to backup APKs or personal information.
Desire
I only want to make a backup of all of my critical system files necessary to do a soft reboot. So that in a worst case scenario I never have to worry about not being able to reset my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
suggestion:
you could use safestrap.
it is based on the twrp custom recovery but it will not trip knox !
read the thread before using it. you have some more benefits using ss, you will see.
backup the system and data partition and you are safe.
please note that this will never backup the content of your internal storage like your music, videos ond so on.
just dont wipe/format your internal storage from recovery or if you feel you need to, copy the whole content to your pc first.
additional things to backup:
you might want to backup your efs and maybe your pit file too.
easy to find info on this forum.
if you want to read more about backing up via adb, directly to the pc then this thread is for you.
i made a backup of the whole memory block one time, just for the worst case...
basicly, you just need the required files, open 2 cygwin windows and copy and paste(right click) the commands from the first 2 codeboxes from the thread into that windows.
hope this helps
A.N.Droid said:
suggestion:
you could use safestrap.
it is based on the twrp custom recovery but it will not trip knox !
read the thread before using it. you have some more benefits using ss, you will see.
backup the system and data partition and you are safe.
please note that this will never backup the content of your internal storage like your music, videos ond so on.
just dont wipe/format your internal storage from recovery or if you feel you need to, copy the whole content to your pc first.
additional things to backup:
you might want to backup your efs and maybe your pit file too.
easy to find info on this forum.
if you want to read more about backing up via adb, directly to the pc then this thread is for you.
i made a backup of the whole memory block one time, just for the worst case...
basicly, you just need the required files, open 2 cygwin windows and copy and paste(right click) the commands from the first 2 codeboxes from the thread into that windows.
hope this helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very interesting! Reading the 2nd link made me think... could I even recover my files through ADB if I crippled my OS? Don't I need to boot into the device to even get to ADB? Or can I access ADB through the stock boot screen without CWM? Safestrap also looks very tempting. Also do you have a list of the note 3 partitions for me to make ADB backups I have been looking for them on Google and can't find them anywhere the Android file structure is a jungle to me especially how it varies from phone to phone.
7US said:
Very interesting! Reading the 2nd link made me think... could I even recover my files through ADB if I crippled my OS? Don't I need to boot into the device to even get to ADB? Or can I access ADB through the stock boot screen without CWM? Safestrap also looks very tempting. Also do you have a list of the note 3 partitions for me to make ADB backups I have been looking for them on Google and can't find them anywhere the Android file structure is a jungle to me especially how it varies from phone to phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i´m not sure for the stock recovery but from twrp you can use this adb backup method. i just did it a few days ago.
you must change the path in the commands from /system/xbin to /sbin and no need for su.
it should work from safestrap too but i couldn´t get adb to work, some error message was shown.
for the partitions:
system ,data, efs
and maybe modemst1 and modemst2
theres a full list of partitions and an interesting discussion about this topic on this thread.

[Complete Guide] What Is ClockworkMod And How To Use It

Schedule Post:
#1 - What Is ClockworkMod Recovery And How To Use It On Android
#2 - Nandroid Backup & Restore
#3 - Onandroid Backup
What Is ClockworkMod Recovery And How To Use It On Android
ClockworkMod – also known as Clockwork or CWM – is a custom recovery for Android phones and tablets that allows you to perform several advanced recovery, restoration, installation and maintenance operations on your Android device that aren’t possible with the stock recovery. In what follows, we will cover all that this recovery is capable of doing, and how to do it. We do not discuss about TWRP (TeamWin Recovery Project) in this thread.
1.All About Android Recovery
All Android devices ship with a recovery console that is basically a partition on the device’s internal memory and can be booted into. The stock recovery of almost all Android devices provides a few basic yet handy options that allow you to factory reset your device and also to recover its operating system using an official ROM in zip format, but that’s all you can do with it. That’s where a custom recovery comes handy.
A custom Android recovery basically replaces the stock recovery with one that lets you do all you can do with the stock recovery, plus a plethora of more options to give you a lot more control on your device. With a custom recovery, you can install official and unofficial ROMs as well as other updates including apps, themes, kernels etc. using zip files, wipe not just user data but pretty much every partition on your device, mount the storage card for USB mass storage access without leaving recovery, partition your SD card, wipe Dalvik cache and battery stats, fix permissions, perform, manage and restore backups and so on.
2.Introduction to ClockworkMod
ClockworkMod recovery is one of the most widely used custom Android recoveries that is available for most mainstream Android devices. It is the needed recovery for AOKP, AOSP, CM. ClockworkMod recovery has been developed by Koushik Dutta (also known as Koush) – the same guy who brought us the Android ROM Manager.
3.Booting into ClockworkMod
On most Android devices including ones by Samsung, you can enter recovery by powering your device off and then powering it back on while keeping either the Volume Up+Home+Power buttons pressed in the same time. This will enter the bootloader from where you can select the ‘RECOVERY’ option by navigating to it with the Volume key and entering it with the ‘Power’ key.
Tour
1. reboot system now
Reboot/restart your phone.
2. apply update from sdcard
This can be used for installation of any official or unofficial update, ROM, kernel, theme etc. That is in a zip format installable from recovery, as long as the file is named update.zip and it has been placed on the root of your SD card (i.e. not in any sub-folder). Selecting this option (and most of the options featured below) will bring up a rather annoying confirmation prompt but this has saved us on multiple occasions from a lot of trouble we would have been into due to accidental key presses. This is what we are talking about:
3. wipe data/factory reset
This option wipes all user data on the device as well as cache. Doing this will leave your phone in the state it was in when you bought it or when any custom ROM was first installed. It will also wipe any sd-ext partition that you might have setup (more on this later).
4. wipe cache partition
Wipes the cache partition of the device to clear all the data accumulated there over use. This is often used before installing a new ROM, app, kernel or any similar mod via recovery.
5. install zip from sdcard
This option brings up the following sub-menu:
a. apply /sdcard/update.zip
This one is essentially the same as the ‘apply update from sdcard’ option of the main menu.
b. choose zip from sdcard
Lets you install any zip file (with any name) from any location on your SD card. The file can be for a ROM, a kernel, an application, a theme or any mod as long as it is in recovery-flashable zip format. This is the most widely used option for installing a ROM that you have downloaded and copied to your SD card.
c. toggle signature verification
Turns the signature verification on and off. When signature verification is on, you will not be able to install any custom ROMs that haven’t been signed by the developers (most custom ROMs aren’t signed). Switching it off skips the signature verification check and proceeds with the installation.
d. toggle script asserts
Seldom-used option for a vast majority of users. It simply turns script asserts on or off. If you don’t know about these (we don’t), it’s best not to change this option.
e. +++++Go Back+++++
Takes you back to the main recovery menu, obviously!
6. backup and restore
Undoubtedly one of the most important features provided by a custom recovery, the backup and restore feature – also known as Nandroid backup – allows you to take a snapshot of your phone’s entire internal memory including all partitions, and save it on the SD card.
a. Backup
Takes a Nandroid backup, as explained above.
b. Restore
Lets you restore a previously taken backup. Entering this option presents you with a list of existing backups from the SD card that you can choose from for restoration.
c. Advanced Restore
This option is similar to the Restore option but once a backup has been selected to be restored, this option allows you to choose what parts of it to restore. You can choose to restore the boot, system, data, cache and sd-ext partitions.
7. mounts and storage
Allows you to perform maintenance tasks on all the internal and external partitions of your android device
a. mount/unmount /system, /data, /cache, /sdcard or /sd-ext
These options let you toggle between mounting or unmounting these respective partitions. Most users don’t need to change these options.
b. format boot, system, data, cache, sdcard or sd-ext
These let you directly format any of these partitions. Take extreme care with this option as formatting any of these partitions will result in losing all data on them, especially the boot and system partitions. Formatting the system partition will remove your ROM and leave your phone without an operating system while wiping the boot partition may brick your phone unless you restore or flash another one before rebooting your device.
c. mount USB storage
Lets you enable USB mass storage mode for your SD card right from recovery so that you can connect it to your computer via USB and transfer any files to/from it without having to leave recovery.
8. advanced
This section contains a few options most users will not require, though these can come handy quite often, especially wiping Dalvik cache, which is required before most ROM installations.
1. Reboot Recovery
Lets you directly and very conveniently reboot from recovery right back into recovery. This is useful option for certain back-to-back installations that require the device to at least boot once between them.
2. Wipe Dalvik Cache
Allows you to wipe the cache for the Dalvik virtual machine (the custom-built Java virtual machine for Android).This is required before most ROM installations and at other occasions too, for fixing some problems.
3. Wipe Battery Stats
Wipes the saved battery usage statistics and effectively recalibrates the battery. Useful in various scenarios when Android isn’t showing correct battery levels.
4. Report Error
In case of errors, this feature can be used to save a log of recent ClockworkMod recovery operations on the SD card that you can later report from Android using ROM Manager.
5. Key Test
Lets you press any of the hardware keys to see if they are properly functioning, and to see their key codes.
6. Partition SD Card
This option gives you a no-frills way to partition your SD card properly for use with ROMs that support data2ext (a very handy hack for low internal memory devices that enables an /sd-ext partition on the SD card to be used as the internal user data storage i.e. as the /data partition). Once this option is selected, you will be given options to choose the sizes for the /sd-ext partition as well as an optional /swap partition on the SD card, and will then automatically format it for you, leaving the remaining space for normal SD card usage. This option will wipe all data from your SD card so use it with caution!
7. Fix Permissions
Fixes the file permissions for the internal memory partitions back to default. This is very useful as a fix for several errors and Force-Closes that start appearing after you or an application you installed and provided root access end up messing up the permissions of important files.
4.Using ClockworkMod for ROM, kernel, apps, theme or mod installation
While in the complete feature tour we have already shown you how to install a ROM, kernel, app, theme or any similar mod from a recovery-flashable zip file using the recovery options, those of you who jumped straight to this section expecting to get just this information quickly are at the right place!
This guide is primary focused on a full feature tour of CWM but in our previously written guide on how to flash a ROM or app from a zip to an Android device file from recovery, we have already covered in detail how to use ClockworkMod for installing any ROM, kernel, app, theme or mod using a recovery-flashable zip file. While that guide is based on an older version of ClockworkMod recovery, everything in it still applies to the latest versions and should work flawlessly.
5.How To Install A ROM or App from zip file to Android device from recovery
Please note that the terms ‘installing’ and ‘flashing’ can be used interchangeably here and will mean the same thing.
Rooting your device renders its warranty void.
ALWAYS take backups before rooting or flashing a custom ROM or app to your phone.
Flashing a defective ROM or app to your phone might brick it so choose the ROMs and software that you flash wisely and never install a ROM or application from an untrusted source.
AddictiveTips will not be liable if your device gets damaged or bricked during the process.
Official ROM updates from device manufacturers or carriers are released in conveniently packaged installation files that you can run on your computer while your Android device is connected to it, and they automatically take care of updating your phone’s system. Similarly, most applications are available directly in the Android Market for easy installation, or come packaged as convenient ‘.apk’ files that you can just run on your Android phone to install. The case is not the same with most custom ROMs and several custom applications, which come in .zip files rather than PC installers or .apk files.
The idea of installing a customized operating system to their smartphone can be quite intimidating for inexperienced users. Though once they get used to it, some of them end up trying out different ROMs for their devices several times a day. While I don’t exactly recommend that you flash every new ROM that is made available for your Android phone, we are here to help you get over the fear of flashing a ROM that enhances the capabilities of your device so that you can use it to its fullest potential.
Here is a quick look at what we will be covering in this guide. Feel free to skip to the real deal if you already meet the prerequisites.
• Before We Begin: Battery Check
• Before We Begin: Unlocking the Bootloader (Stock Android Devices Only)
• Before We Begin: Rooting
• Before We Proceed: Installing a Custom Recovery
• The Real Deal: Installing a Custom ROM to your Phone
• The Real Deal: Installing an App From a Zip File to your Phone
There are certain steps that you might not require, and we shall be mentioning them in each section.
Before We Begin: Battery Check
Before you proceed with any of the following steps, make sure your phone’s battery level is not too low. It is recommended to have it at 50% or more. Do NOT take this lightly. If your phone’s battery runs out while you are attempting to flash a custom ROM, there is a significant chance of your phone getting bricked and becoming unusable PERMANENTLY.
Before We Begin:Unlocking the Bootloader (Stock Android Devices Only)
Note: This step applies only to Android devices with stock version of Android installed. At the moment, Google Nexus One and Nexus S are the only two such devices available. You may skip this step if you are using any other Android device.
Users of stock Android devices such as the Google Nexus One or Nexus S also need to unlock its bootloader before they can proceed. Once you have done this, you may proceed to the next step.
Before We Begin: Rooting
Note: You may skip this step if your device is already rooted, or if you already know how to root it.
Before you can install a custom ROM to your device, your phone needs to be rooted. Rooting is basically administrator or root level access required to perform administrative tasks on your Android device. Once you are done with the rooting process, you may proceed to the next step.
Before We Proceed: Installing A Custom Recovery
Note: You may skip this step if you already have a custom recovery installed on your device.
Rooting grants you the necessary access level to execute administrative tasks on your Android device but it is the recovery that provides the tools necessary to actually perform those tasks. While every Android device ships with a recovery, the stock recovery is quite limited in what it lets you do, and you need a custom recovery image to perform advanced operations on your device. Once you have a custom recovery installed on your phone, you will be ready to proceed to the next step.
The Real Deal: Installing a Custom ROM to your Phone
Now that you have a custom recovery installed on your phone, you can perform all sorts of wonderful advanced operations on your device and this includes the ability to flash a ROM or application from a zip file. The procedure is pretty standard for most ROMs, though there are certain ROMs which require additional steps for their installation. Since those steps differ from ROM to ROM, pay attention to instructions and this includes only the standard instructions here.
• Manually
1. Download the ROM from the link given in the article featuring that ROM. It should be a zip file.
2. Connect your phone to your computer via USB and mount its storage card.
3. Copy the downloaded ROM to the root of the storage card.
4. Power your phone off and reboot it into recovery. This will involve using a combination of your device’s hardware keys. Once in recovery, you can navigate its menu using the volume up and volume down hardware keys or your phone’s trackball / optical track pad if it comes equipped with one.
5. Use the ‘backup and restore’ feature of recovery to backup your existing ROM installation, software and data. This step is known as performing a nandroid backup. ALWAYS perform a backup before flashing a custom ROM, UNLESS you can afford to lose everything that’s on your phone at the moment.
Note: ALWAYS choose to perform the following steps 6, 7 and 8 UNLESS the ROM you are attempting to flash is an updated version of the same ROM that you are currently using, and is compatible with the current installation’s data. It is usually mentioned with the update whether you can install it over a previous version without wiping its data or not.
6. Get back to the main recovery menu and use the option ‘wipe data/factory reset’. You will be prompted to confirm this action. Select “Yes – Delete all user data”.
7. From the main recovery menu, select ‘wipe cache partition’. You will be prompted to confirm this action. Select ‘Yes – Wipe Cache’.
8. From the main recovery menu, enter the ‘advanced’ menu. From this menu, select ‘Wipe Dalvik Cache’. You will be prompted to confirm this action. Select ‘Yes – Format/System’.
9. From the main recovery menu, enter the ‘Mounts and Storage’ menu. From this menu, select ‘Format/System’. You will be prompted to confirm this action. Select ‘Yes – Wipe Dalvik Cache’.
10. Go back to the main recovery menu by pressing the back button and select the ‘Install zip from SD card’ option.
11. Select ‘choose zip from sdcard’ to get a list of the files and folders on your SD card. Scroll to the ROM’s file that you copied there in step 3, and select it. You will be prompted to confirm this action. Select ‘Yes – Install file_name.zip’ where file_name.zip is the name of the zip file that you are trying to install.
12. Wait patiently while the ROM is flashed to your phone via recovery.
13. Once the installation is complete, head back to the main recovery menu if you aren’t there, and select ‘reboot system now’. Your phone will now boot into the newly installed ROM.
The Real Deal: Installing an App From a Zip File to your Phone
While most apps for Android devices are available at the app store for direct download and installation or as .apk files for direct installation, there are certain apps which are only available as zip files installable from recovery. Their installation procedure is the same as installing a custom ROM that we just featured above. However, there are a few minute differences.
• When installing an app from a zip file, you do NOT need to perform the ‘wipe data/factory reset’ or ‘wipe/system’ step so NEVER do that unless you know what you are doing, have a complete backup and want to start using your ROM as a fresh installation with the new app added.
• You might or might not need to wipe the cache and the dalvik cache for installing apps from zip file. This varies from app to app and the developers of such apps as well as many reviewers including us mention when featuring an app whether it requires a cache and dalvik cache wipe or not. However, it never hurts to wipe these caches anyway, and it does not effect the data on your device or its storage card.
There you go, this concludes the guide on how to flash a ROM or app from a zip file to your Android device using a custom recovery. To try out the skills that you just learned, search our site for custom ROMs for your phone and start flashing, always remembering to take backups first!
Important note: This guide is retrieved from the VeNum Complete Guide with only few additions and corrections by me, so All thanks should go to him!
PS: If you see any error, please contact me to edit the OP.
Nandroid Backup - CWM
What is a Nandroid Backup?
It is a full backup of the partitions on your device’s NAND flash (NAND actually stands for NOT AND, which in simple terms means an electronic gate). Basically a backup of your phones hard drive if you will...
The Nandroid Backup is a snapshot of your device (it means everything on your phone – your apps, data, your current ROM and even the kernel is backed up) at the time you do the back up. If you restore the back up, it changes your phone BACK to that state. You will need custom recovery (CWM/TWRP). So make sure you have CWM or TWRP on your device.
The SD Card data is not backed up in the process. Although, the Nandroid Backup itself is created on your SD card. Make sure you have enough space on your SD card to make a COMPLETE copy of your phone.
It’s highly recommended that once you have done a backup, you manually copy it to your computer in case your sd card is wiped or corrupted.
Pre-requisites:
1. Rooted Device:
2. Custom Recovery (CWM or TWRP)
While the OS is running you cannot do a backup. The bootloader in the recovery enables you to take a backup of the OS while it’s not running.
How to Make a Nandroid Backup via CWM:
Backup via CWM:
1.Boot into Recovery pressing in the same time Volume Up + Home + Power buttons for our Galaxy S4 mini LTE/3G phones
2. Select ‘Backup and Restore’ from the recovery.
Once you are in recovery, scroll down to the option ‘Backup and Recovery’ with volume Up/Down and select it (Power button for select).
3. Start the backup.
Once you are on the Nandroid screen, select ‘Backup’ to start the backup process. You have the option to ‘Restore’ backup on the same screen.
The backup process may take a while. Take a break for a coffee.
4. Transfer the backup to your computer (recommended).
Once you reboot, you can see the backup in the ‘clockworkmod/backup/…’ (or similar file) directory on your SD card.
Move, copy, or paste this folder on your PC safely.
Restore from a Nandroid Backup via CWM:
1. Boot your device into CWM and navigate to the Nandroid screen.
2. Choose ‘Restore’ and begin the process.
If you select ‘Advanced Restore’ option, you may select which part of the backup to restore – i. e. the boot,system, data or cache. Or choose the whole backup.
3. Reboot your device. Your system is now restored and is exactly the same as the time when the backup was taken.
Video guide (ignore phones from videos ) :
CWM guide
TWRP guide
[app] Online Nandroid Backup
Online Nandroid Backup - FULLY SUPPORTED with our Samsung S4 mini GT I9195/I9190/I9192
Online Nandroid - Supported Devices
Nandroid backups are usually performed in recovery mode. This means you would have to turn off your phone and reboot in recovery mode, which wastes a whole lot of time rebooting and a lot more time offline. With this tool you can do nandroid backups without switching off your device.
Requirements:
1. Rooted android phone
2. A terminal emulator installed on phone
3. Latest version of Busybox
4. A working CWM or TWRP
5. Patience
Features:
* Creates backups in the CMW 5 and 6 style or TWRP!
* Full support of the onandroid script.
* Create custom names for your backups.
* Choose what partitions get backed up.
Important: This tool requires a rooted phone with busybox to work!
Download from market: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.h3r3t1c.onnandbup
Or from original thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1620255
Reserved, for future.
I will complete with more info's and screenshots in few days.
Please, keep thread clean and don't post "Thanks".
Regards
I assume this guide was written for nexus devices because the nexus one and nexus s are mentionend and you wrote that the bootloader has to be unlocked (Which has to be done on most devices. Only Samsung(?) has unlocked bootloaders. You could add that unlocking wipes user data.)
The second thing is: Your phone doesnt have to be rooted to install a custom recovey. Either you flash a recovery with Odin (add this aswell) and wipe everything to install a custom rom or you the superuser app to root your stock firmware.
But excuse me if you weren't finished with the post
Did you read carrefully OP and the note from the end?
Important note: This guide is retrieved from the VeNum Complete Guide with only few additions and corrections by me, so All thanks should go to him!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent guide, thank you!
R_a_z_v_a_n said:
Online Nandroid Backup - FULLY SUPPORTED with our Samsung S Advance GT I9070 (Janice)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you saying that the onandroid Partition Script for I9070 works perfectly fine with S4 Mini i9195?
impactor said:
Are you saying that the onandroid Partition Script for I9070 works perfectly fine with S4 Mini i9195?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep its fully supported, that post its copy/paste from my previous phone/thread. :highfive:
Edited my post, thanks for report.
Check here compatibilities:
Online Nandroid - Supported Devices
Nice really great information Thanks again:good:

[Q] Understanding Directories, and Backing Up

I want to make a backup of my Android I9505 by copying all the files to my laptop.
I don't understand the directories
Using ES3 I see
/ Device (Which I guess is root.)
0
extSdCard
I assume that exdSdCard is (as it almost says) the external SD Card.
So what are "/" and
"0"
I guess I should back up all directories. What do you think?
webmanoffesto said:
I want to make a backup of my Android I9505 by copying all the files to my laptop.
I don't understand the directories
Using ES3 I see
/ Device (Which I guess is root.)
0
extSdCard
I assume that exdSdCard is (as it almost says) the external SD Card.
So what are "/" and
"0"
I guess I should back up all directories. What do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
0 is your internalSD ( /storage/ emulated/0/ )
/ is root directory
If you just copy folder like that , yes you will make a copy of the folders and the data inside of them but it will not work to restore your system , for that you will need something like a Nandroid copy or use Titanium Backup to be re install after you restore your rom
webmanoffesto said:
I want to make a backup of my Android I9505 by copying all the files to my laptop.
I don't understand the directories
Using ES3 I see
/ Device (Which I guess is root.)
0
extSdCard
I assume that exdSdCard is (as it almost says) the external SD Card.
So what are "/" and
"0"
I guess I should back up all directories. What do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are WAY overthinking this.
Install custom recovery. Use it to make a Nandroid backup.
That's a single zip file that you can later use to restore everything in exactly the same state as it was the day you made the backup. (Takes all of 5 minutes.)
Then if you want to store that backup zip file on your PC you can easily copy it to the computer and store it there for as long as you need.
Your way of doing this will take a lot longer to copy the files and won't ultimately work to restore the system.
Skipjacks said:
You are WAY overthinking this.
Install custom recovery. Use it to make a Nandroid backup.
That's a single zip file that you can later use to restore everything in exactly the same state as it was the day you made the backup. (Takes all of 5 minutes.)
Then if you want to store that backup zip file on your PC you can easily copy it to the computer and store it there for as long as you need.
Your way of doing this will take a lot longer to copy the files and won't ultimately work to restore the system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using ROM Manager, I boot to Recovery mode. I only see
- Reboot system now
- apply update from ADB
- Apply update from external storage
- wife data/factory reset
- wipe cache partition
- apply update from cache
No Backup option.
webmanoffesto said:
Using ROM Manager, I boot to Recovery mode. I only see
- Reboot system now
- apply update from ADB
- Apply update from external storage
- wife data/factory reset
- wipe cache partition
- apply update from cache
No Backup option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi ,
Then i guess you are 100% stock , no root , no Custom recovery?
if so then you need an app that does not need root to back up your app , Titanium is good but you need at least to be root.
MAX 404 said:
Hi ,
Then i guess you are 100% stock , no root , no Custom recovery?
if so then you need an app that does not need root to back up your app , Titanium is good but you need at least to be root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have Root and I use Titanium Backup.
webmanoffesto said:
I have Root and I use Titanium Backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are root but you do not wish to install a Custom recovery or custom rom , right?
If so use titanium to make a back up of your apps , contacts , settings , email , sms ..etc etc
If you want to make a nandroid you need to install a Custom Recovery
Just install a custom recovery.
It won't affect the operation of the ROM at all if you're completely happy with the stock rom.
Root and Recovery are mutually exclusive things. One has nothing to do with the other. Each exists independently of the other.
Skipjacks said:
Just install a custom recovery.
It won't affect the operation of the ROM at all if you're completely happy with the stock rom.
Root and Recovery are mutually exclusive things. One has nothing to do with the other. Each exists independently of the other.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1

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