Database Users

[Q] Exact Copy

Hi guys,
Can someone tell me the best way to make an exact copy of a brand new phone so that I can always go back to the 'as new' config.
This would be a new phone straight from the box.
Thanks
frostyboy998

frostyboy998 said:
Hi guys,
Can someone tell me the best way to make an exact copy of a brand new phone so that I can always go back to the 'as new' config.
This would be a new phone straight from the box.
Thanks
frostyboy998
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Data factory reset?

Well the best way is to get a copy of the image that the factory uses.. Well, perhaps that is impractical.
The most faithful copy that we could probably do from home would be using dd from the command line to make a sector by sector image. But you need super user (root) to do that. Possibly you could do it from an ADB session without root (untested). Using the linux dd utility or an ADB session are cumbersome and rather technical for many end users though..
In practical terms, either as gee2012 suggested above. I'm not certain that would get you to an exactly out of the box experience.. but it would be close.. easy to do and repeatable. So a decent solution. And should the file system get really messed up, you could presumably reflash a full OEM image to get back to that point as well.
Or another approach that I would favour myself would be to do a full Nandroid instead to resolve small discrepancies that probably exist between out of the box and the state a factory reset would put the device in. The downside being that a full Nandroid is easiest to do with a custom recovery.. and that will trip the Knox counter which will have warranty implications for some. Whether it affects your warranty depends on country you reside in, how well national legislation there protects consumer rights, whether your carrier cares about Knox and whether you care about the warranty much to begin with.
I would take the out of box phone, flash a custom recovery, and then do a full Nandroid backup. Your nandroid then will be an exact representation of your out of the box configuration, save for the recovery per se. To restore precisely would be one or two steps. Restoring the Nandroid would revert everything except recovery to the out of the box condition. And should that point matter, then one could do the second step of restoring the stock recovery as well..
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Download from Sammobile the ROM, so you can flash via ODIN.

Thanks for your comments.
Here is my reasoning.....
I currently use a Galaxy S3, pending getting the S5 very soon.
When I first got my S3 it seemed perfect. Everything worked well.
I have since done a number of Kies updates and also a couple of Sammobile updates via Odin.
Every time I updated, there seemed to be some things that didn't work as well.
So I decided to try and revert to the original firmware that came with my mobile, via Sammobile and Odin.
I have done this, but now, whenever I leave a wifi zone, my mobile internet seems to connect when it feels like it. Sometimes not at all.
I have to switch mobile internet off, restart the phone and then switch mobile internet back on, to get it to start up.
When I get my new S5, I would like to have an exact copy of the phone, so that I can always revert to my very own original setup if I choose to.
Apparently after updating beyond Android 4.3, there came a change in the format of the EFS folder, which prevented stepping back.
I don't want to be forced into that position again, so want a perfect copy!
From my reading, it appears I would have to root the phone, install Titanium backup, do a full nandroid backup, then unroot the phone and reset the counters to be back in warranty.
Am I right or would that not work?
frostyboy
edit: After updating firmware on a phone, does a factory reset change back to a previous firmware? I would think not. I think it would just reset all the added consumer stuff. (contacts, apps, emails and sms etc)

frostyboy998 said:
Thanks for your comments.
Here is my reasoning.....
I currently use a Galaxy S3, pending getting the S5 very soon.
When I first got my S3 it seemed perfect. Everything worked well.
I have since done a number of Kies updates and also a couple of Sammobile updates via Odin.
Every time I updated, there seemed to be some things that didn't work as well.
So I decided to try and revert to the original firmware that came with my mobile, via Sammobile and Odin.
I have done this, but now, whenever I leave a wifi zone, my mobile internet seems to connect when it feels like it. Sometimes not at all.
I have to switch mobile internet off, restart the phone and then switch mobile internet back on, to get it to start up.
When I get my new S5, I would like to have an exact copy of the phone, so that I can always revert to my very own original setup if I choose to.
Apparently after updating beyond Android 4.3, there came a change in the format of the EFS folder, which prevented stepping back.
I don't want to be forced into that position again, so want a perfect copy!
From my reading, it appears I would have to root the phone, install Titanium backup, do a full nandroid backup, then unroot the phone and reset the counters to be back in warranty.
Am I right or would that not work?
frostyboy
edit: After updating firmware on a phone, does a factory reset change back to a previous firmware? I would think not. I think it would just reset all the added consumer stuff. (contacts, apps, emails and sms etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting with Towelroot doesn`t trip KNOX but flashing a custom recovery to make a nandroid backup will and is irreversible. Best is to backup the EFS folder after you are rooted with an app here http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/development/efs-samsung-tool-universal-support-t2602325 or with adb as documented here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2737448.
BTW Triangle Away doesn`t work on the S5 atm so resetting the status to official after you flashed custom software with Odin isn not possible

Question on upgrading to 5.0 from 4.4.4 when i was rooted.

hey guys i recently rooted my phone and then saw that 5.0 came out i wasnt able to find any reputable info on un rooting my phone so i could do the over the air update from verizon. however there was 2 updates available from OTA , one took me to another version of 4.4.4 and un rooted me. my boot screen still says custom but i no longer have root. however the ota 5.0 keeps failing. i figured maybe i can up date manually but the only site that has 5.0 for dl is sammobile and their site is down. all the other sites i found seem to be scams or want you to pay for faster dl. i dont care if i even have root any more i just want my phone on 5.0 with out loosing all the data on my phone. does any one have a link for instructions to do this? and a working link for 5.0? thanks

bump for help

Can you not boot into custom recovery twrp/safestrap? I Just re read your post, I'm assuming you can. So do that, and make a backup of /data. In addition it wouldn't hurt to use a usb drive or computer to back up any important files.
You say you want to be able to update without losing your data, I don't know if that's possible.if that is a real problem for you,I'd advise against modifying your phone in the future.
You didn't say why the update is failing, what is the given error message? Have you read the Verizon s5 forum?

[SOLVED]Upgrade to Lollipop(Official) without loosing Data on Rooted, Knox 0x1 Device

[SOLVED] [Solution at the end of this post]
Greetings xda,
I'll get straight to my problem. I was originally on AryaMod v6 but after the Official Lollipop upgrade was released for my region, I immediately restored to NANDROID backup of the stock firmware I took before flashing AryaMod. My Note 3 LTE is is currently Knox 0x1 and hence is not eligible to receive OTA updates.
My question is, is there any way to perform an OTA-like update that does not wipe any of my previous data?
Before I started this thread, I searched the forums for this problem and found one relevant thread: LINK but the user ultimately decided to go with the data wipe.
One possible solution that I have in mind is, I take a NANDROID backup, flash the Official Lollipop, Root and Install TWRP and then restore the Data partition. But I suspect this method is bound to cause some compatibility issues. And hence I would like the community's thoughts about this solution or any other better solutions that exist.
Thank you very much,
Eagerly waiting for your replies,
Have a good day,
UsmanJ
SOLUTION:
So after waiting for 2 days, the only reply that I got on this thread was an un-understandable "No" which was posted, I guess, by someone who didn't even read through this post. Anyways, so I decided to simply flash the new firmware via Odin, and took the necessary backups(Nandroid, PIT and Titanium) to restore all my data later. After I flashed using the normal Odin flash procedure(Select "AP" and load the firmware file, make sure Re-Partition is unticked) I was greeted with the "Android is upgrading" screen. Upon seeing this screen, I immediately realized that the Odin flash did NOT WIPE MY DATA. And upgraded my Note 3 in much the same way as an OTA would have.
I hope this helps anyone who is in a similar situation as this!
Good Luck!

UsmanJ said:
Greetings xda,
I'll get straight to my problem. I was originally on AryaMod v6 but after the Official Lollipop upgrade was released for my region, I immediately restored to NANDROID backup of the stock firmware I took before flashing AryaMod. My Note 3 LTE is is currently Knox 0x1 and hence is not eligible to receive OTA updates.
My question is, is there any way to perform an OTA-like update that does not wipe any of my previous data?
Before I started this thread, I searched the forums for this problem and found one relevant thread: LINK but the user ultimately decided to go with the data wipe.
One possible solution that I have in mind is, I take a NANDROID backup, flash the Official Lollipop, Root and Install TWRP and then restore the Data partition. But I suspect this method is bound to cause some compatibility issues. And hence I would like the community's thoughts about this solution or any other better solutions that exist.
Thank you very much,
Eagerly waiting for your replies,
Have a good day,
UsmanJ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No

OK2 Odin restore 5.0.1

I have a device that I need to restore, but the customer put a pattern lock on it, so I need to reset the device to see if the issue is resolved.
I cant seem to find the correct Odin file. I found 4.4, but everything is so outdated. I would rather just go to 5.0.1. I am currently on LRX22C.I337UCUGOK2.
I don't need root, just figured I could go straight to 5, and skip 4.4.
I hate Samsung.

(Soft?)-Bricked My S7 with a Flashfire Update, Need Help to Fix It?

So I've been rooting me phone for a while and have managed to never f*** up, till now, and I sincerely hope you guys can help me.
After rooting my S7 a while back, I just recently noticed SuperUser telling me that I didn't have root anymore, so I decided to follow these instructions to re-root my phone:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ve...-to-notes-root-install-xposed-unroot-t3411039
I successfully followed all the steps to get root, but when I opened Flashfire it told me I could install a new update while maintaining root, so since my android is at 6.0.1, I did that and it bricked my phone.
On boot it says "Startup Failed - Use the Verizon Software Repair Assistant . . . " and on top it also says "Custom binary blocked by SECURE BOOT." I have tried going into recovery mode and deleting the system cache, but that doesn't do it. So is there any way to get the phone to properly boot while not deleting my data? I was rooting my phone precisely so I could use Titanium Backup again, so I don't have any backups stored anywhere. I have heard that flashing a recovery image with Odin can work, but would that delete my files? Someone please lend me your expertise.
My phone is a Verizon S7.

Fixed
I am surprised that no one responded to me, but what's important is that, miraculously, I managed to un-brick the phone myself without losing any data! What I did was, as my last hope (since Odin wasn't able to flash the stock image, a la the traditional soft-brick fix), decide to follow the on-screen instructions my phone was giving me and to download and run something called the "Verizon Software Repair Assistant," which can be found in the top google results after searching for the quoted name (xda doesn't let me post the link).
After putting my phone into download mode, I plugged it in, ran the software and let it work overnight. Checking on it in the morning, I found my phone, not only completely functional and working, but updated to Android 7.0 (it was 6.0.1 previously before the failed Flashfire OTA update) and still holding all of my data intact.
So, the interesting thing that I learned is that flashing to stock via Odin to fix a soft-bricked phone should not be the default resolution for potentially most people, as the carrier's default (in my case, Verizon's) repair utility managed to completely fix my phone without any side effects or data loss.
Is there anyone who could chime in on why the Repair Utility did not wipe my phone's memory, even though it warned it would?
**Note**
Verizon links to the Windows version of the repair assistant on their site, but to get the Mac version (which I used), the only way you can get it is by changing the end of the url they mention within the thread from "Win" to "Mac."

Pleased you managed to fix it, and thanks for posting the method for others
As for replies, if you stick around XDA you'll see replies can take days sometimes, patience is the key here

*Detection* said:
Pleased you managed to fix it, and thanks for posting the method for others
As for replies, if you stick around XDA you'll see replies can take days sometimes, patience is the key here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I am not acquainted with this forum enough then, thanks!

Most likely the cause of the fault would be updating via FlashFire and keeping root. When the update was flashed, it most likely flashed the stock kernel and patched it for root, which is not a compatible root for our devices. Flashing the root kernel with Odin probably would have made the phone boot normally.