Database Users

ROM Testers: Which settings do you backup w/ Titanium??

(I also posted this on the Titanium users forum, but there is a lot more traffic here, so I hope to get better results here)
Like a lot of people here, I test a lot of ROMs on my phone. Probably every week I go through at least one new ROM. A lot of people suggest NOT backing up system settings when installing new ROMs, because the settings on a current ROM may not make sense on the newly installed ROM. But many of the settings *should* be safe to backup, in my opinion. For instance, each time I install a new ROM, I spend quite a while resetting my SMS, gmail, ringtones, and other notifications. I would think those would be safe to backup. My questions: Which setting in Titanium should be safe to backup and restore when installing a new ROM? Specifically, which items in the titanium system settings refer to the notification sounds and ringtones? There are so many of them and some of them are quite cryptically named, I don't know which ones are the ones.
Thanks in advance!
Skip

OK, I know there are Titanium users in here. We've all heard not to use it to restore system settings when testing new ROMs. I have searched and my question has not been answered as far as I could tell (can't prove a negative). So, how about a little love, please

Bluetooth pairings, wireless access points, sms/mms, and web bookmarks and I think that's it.

[Q] Best Out... ?

I bought a Desire Z about two weeks before the 1.72.405.2 OTA update came along, and I allowed it to update (Yeah I know, this was after all my first Android device).
Anyway, lately my phones been running slowly and apps force closing, so I've decided to downgrade it and root it (psneuter method), and try some different ROM's.
What I was wondering is, what would be the best way without root, to backup as much of my data as possible, apps, sms, files, and also if possible a backup that I can use in case I scew it up, so I can get it back to the way it is now.
I have a copy of:-
RUU_Vision_HTC_WWE_1.34.405.5_Radio_12.28b.60.140e_26.03.02.26_M_release_155556_signed
which I believe is the stock ROM for this device, but as far as I know if it goes wrong I'll be unable to flash this as the update won't allow me to flash an earlier version..
Would I be able to mount and then backup the whole phone using adb or any other method.
I've been reading about it for a while now, and while I have lots of bits of information, I've been unable to find a good solution.
Thanks,
...John...

j0hn0n1 said:
I bought a Desire Z about two weeks before the 1.72.405.2 OTA update came along, and I allowed it to update (Yeah I know, this was after all my first Android device).
What I was wondering is, what would be the best way without root, to backup as much of my data as possible, apps, sms, files, and also if possible a backup that I can use in case I scew it up, so I can get it back to the way it is now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Without root, a good app to backup your other apps is astro file manager, its available free from the market, you just have to hit menu, tools and it'll back up all the apps on your sd card, in terms of files, just make sure their all on your sd card and they'll be fine
Not sure how to back up SmS but i know their are apps out their, a point you may have forgotten is to make sure you back up your contacts as they all get wiped and I made this mistake, the easiest way to do that is to make sure your contacts sync up with your google account so after rooting, you can just sync them back,
Hope i helped!

Use google to remember what apps you've downloaded from market. Once associated, when you flash a new rom, google will automatically redownload all your associated apps. For sms, i suggest you download GoSMS and use their internal backup feature. It will save to sd and be visible to your stock sms app as well on restore.
Sent from my AOSP Virtuous Desire Z using XDA App

Ya but too many times google starts restoring apps that I uninstalled months ago. Great idea but bad implementation imo.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App

Sorry I haven't replied, was in work all day yesterday.
I have Astro File Manager, but I hadn't even considered it, thanks. I have my contacts sync'd with Google, so it seems that as long as I backup my files and sms everything else should be done automatically anyway.
Go SMS seems worth getting anyway, as the bog standard Android messages app is seriously dull. I'll give it a try.
I had wondered about Google Market restoring apps, but I thought it would only reinstall apps that were installed at the last sync.
If you install an app and it screws up your phone, and do a factory reset then Google will just reinstall the app that caused all the problems in the first place.
Definitely a good idea, but needs more work.
Anyway, thanks for all the info, I'll give it try tonight, when I get back from work.
...John...

I find SMS Backup & Restore to be the best app for this purpose and I wouldn't recommend the backup feature from the market, as you said it is likely to give problems.
Without root though, the backup choices are somewhat limited for apps and such.

I've been using Super Manager by gpc. It works pretty good, plus offers a ton of other features that can be used with or without root.

I've backed up what I could, although it's typical that as soon as it's all gone I realised things that I should have wrote down (I had been using the wallet/pocket app and although I backed up all my apps, I'm guesing it won't have backed up any of the passwords, logins, bank details, etc).
Anyway, I've downgraded and successfully rooted my phone (through gfree), I have CID: 11111111 and S-Off, but I haven't installed and ROM's yet as I read somewhere that you are supposed to wipe everything between ROM's, am I wiping the Davlik cache or doing a factory reset (I mean won't the factory reset just reset my stock ROM back to it's original condition).
I'm also wondering about finding custom ROMs, on my dell streak I had installed ROM Manager and could get a list of any that were available.
I first installed ROM Manager and used it to flash recovery, but this time I've installed CWM first, so would it be safe to install ROM Manager now, will it want to flash a recovery over the one I have already.
Or is it not advisable to use ROM Manager, as I have previously heard of a few problems it may cause.
Thanks ...John...

Rom manager shouldn't give any problems, but for custom roms it's best to take a look at the development forum. If you don't like that you can still use the list in rommanager, it might be just me who prefers downloading roms to my pc first.
But before you install any of them I recommend you make a nandroid backup from recovery just to be safe.

I think the issues were that some people, not all, found problems flashing some of the gingerbread roms via Rom manager. Better to save the Rom to SD and then flash it via CWM.

Right I've done a nandroid backup, and I've saved one to another mSD card which I can keep somewhere just in case (probably a bit over cautious, but...).
I thought that by saving apps to an sd card, they would run from the sd when I restarted my phone, even the ones that I had moved previously with the application manager in settings are not seen.
Still reinstalling the ones I want isn't really that bad.
Seriously, somebody needs to sort out the Markets app backups feature, when I was setting up the phone at first, I specifically chose to not automatically sync with Google and that I would do it manually when needed. Then I went in to the market to get a file manager and the download failed, it was only when I looked at what was going on I realised it was already downloading and reinstalling 96 apps. I looked around for a 'cancel all' option and there isn't any, so I had to cancel them all one by one and then uninstall the ones that had managed to install.
A simple checklist to select the apps you want would be great, oh, and a cancel all button would be a bonus.
Anyway, things are not as much fun when they're too easy.
Thanks ...John...

[Q] Noob questions galore ;)

Hi guys,
First of all (in case you didn't realize it), I'm an android noob. This is my first Android phone (my employer tried to give me an iPhone, but caved when I told them I'd just stick it in my drawer and save it as an emergency phone) and I just rooted it
Now...I made a backup of it after rooting. This should get me back to stock if I need it, right? Should I copy it off the phone? I guess it will be removed if I have to wipe...?...
Also; will I retain my settings, sms/mms etc etc if I use a custom ROM? This is my main concern at the moment, as I want something more fancy and hopefully less energy consuming ROM.
Cheers!

tiwas said:
Hi guys,
First of all (in case you didn't realize it), I'm an android noob. This is my first Android phone (my employer tried to give me an iPhone, but caved when I told them I'd just stick it in my drawer and save it as an emergency phone) and I just rooted it
Now...I made a backup of it after rooting. This should get me back to stock if I need it, right? Should I copy it off the phone? I guess it will be removed if I have to wipe...?...
Also; will I retain my settings, sms/mms etc etc if I use a custom ROM? This is my main concern at the moment, as I want something more fancy and hopefully less energy consuming ROM.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there!
if you made the backup just after rooting, if you run that Backup (through CWM etc) it will revert the phone back to how it was at the time of the backup, so if you didnt have any settings,sms,Apps etc they will not show. you can copy the backup file if you wish to but i believe (not 100%) the backups are stored on External SD and as a result are not lost on a Factory Reset/Wipe
Some Custom ROMS (Litening ROM i use) allow you to flash with no loss of data, including all your apps, SMS and settings. Basically you have the exact same phone layout but with a Spiffy,fast,Fresh rom they are really easy to flash with ODIN, now im not sure if other Roms (Villain, Cognition, etc) retain the Data partition on flashing you would need to check out the specific Threads on the Android Development section of the forum
hope that helped !

Thanks - that was helpful I will look into the other ROMS and decide from there.
Do you know if any of the SGS2 ROMs have more themes available? I get bored easily, and it would be great to change the look and feel every now and then

well being that the phone is still relatively new and still not available for the North American market, the development for it is still small. However, the CM7 team are developing roms for it, and a lot of other custom roms are based off CM7, so there should be a good selection of roms in the near future. the sgs2 is one of, if not the most anticipated android device this year, so i'm sure rom selection wouldn't be a problem.

Thanks, guys
I just bought Titanium Backup after some recommendation in another thread. Is there anything I should be aware of, or any recommendations, when making a backup before trying out other ROMs?

tiwas said:
Thanks, guys
I just bought Titanium Backup after some recommendation in another thread. Is there anything I should be aware of, or any recommendations, when making a backup before trying out other ROMs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whenever i do anything such as update/change my ROM, i do a Ti backup of all my apps (incase they go missing) then a CWM backup of my System which i can roll back to if i have any problems
Also, just to 2nd what p00kienrayray Said, the only ROMS i know of which support themes are MIUI and CM7 which should hopefully work fully soon

tiwas said:
Thanks, guys
I just bought Titanium Backup after some recommendation in another thread. Is there anything I should be aware of, or any recommendations, when making a backup before trying out other ROMs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, there *definitely is* a recommendation, when making a backup before trying a rom which wipes your phone, check out the message I sent to TB developer..
"Hi, I bought titanium few days ago to help the transition from my Magic to the new Galaxy S2. I used to use My backup Pro but appreciated the apps freezing function of Titanium that could possibly help avoid the battery drain problem on the S2 due to the Samsung WiFi sharing bug.
I had quite a bad experience, though, regarding a hard reset I had to perform on the phone, which I previously backed up with Titanium: the default backup directory is /mnt/sdcard but that corresponds to the internal memory on the S2, while the external one is located in /mnt/sdcard/external_sd (if I am not wrong). That led to losing a week worth of photos (the one part I couldn't really get back, given that I had a week old backup made with SMS Backup & Restore + Call Log backup & Restore made on the Magic).
Ok, lesson learnt for me but may I suggest that the default directory can be automatically set to /mnt/sdcard/external_sd if the terminal is an S2, for future users not to be unsatisfied? Is it something that could be implemented in TB?
Thanks for listening,
*************
PS well, shame on Samsung as well for such a weird choice... I would have set /mnt/sdcard for the external one and /mnt/internal_sd for the internal one... and don't understand why the hard reset (performed through the *2737*3655# code - if I remember correctly) does reset the internal memory which if I am not wrong is a separate partition from the system."
CONFIGURE YOUR TB BACKUP DIR TO /mnt/sdcard/external_sd BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE
Not to mention that some apps like SMS Backup & Restore do not allow you to change the dir, therefore you have to manually move the backup results after you have finished

[Q] how to properly backup - factory installed Windows 8 on tablet

Once i purchase a tablet, how shall i backup the factory installed Win 8? Desktops get backup media, tablets don't.
If someone has actually done it himself, please respond.

There's a recovery partition included on the internal storage. Steps to back it up are easy to find either in the UI or with a search online, including (frequently) on this forum.

GoodDayToDie!
I have tried but due to search keywords similarity, i get links for android related backup, recovery, partition, internal storage etc.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=win8+backup+"recovery+partition" (you'll get a few more irrelevant results if you omit the quotes).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=38160498&postcount=6 (found by adding "site:xda-developers.com" to the above query).

Question -how to backup phone/apps/etc

hi all,
i'm an alltime iOs'er.... but please don't let distract the purpose of this thread and become a debate or comparision discussion
Having updated my new Android love (Le Max 2 x821) to Android 7.1.2, I spent the whole day yesterday downloading my preferred apps, organising my dashboard, changing my settings and preferences...etc
Now I have been browsing the forum and am actually wanting to change the ROM I selected and play around with other ROMs etc, but I don't want to have to reorganise all my apps in the relevant folders or redownload all of them.... its a pain!!!
I have been searching without luck for the past few hours on how I can backup the phone in "itunes" style, i.e all apps, settings and messages/photos/etc backed up to my computer, where once a new ROM is updated (as I read many require to fully wipe to factory settings) - I can "one click" restore.
thanks to the android "all timers" who have probably already cracked this!

Dirty flash or use titanium backup and don't wipe your internal storage.