Flashing Full Recovery Partitions On The Fly - Nexus S General

Just wondering if anyone else flashes zipped recoveries on the fly. If not, maybe my post can give ideas to others who are torn between CW and TWRP.
I love the way CW does backups, especially now that it does incremental backups. Overall, CW is a reliable method of backing up my phone. However, I love the UI and features that TWRP introduced with 2.2.0. The only problems that I experienced with TWRP are the backups. To me, TWRP takes forever to backup, and while experimenting with kernels on the 4.1.1 OTA yesterday to try and get voodoo working, TWRP was not able to flash and correct the boot partition from its own backup. I was stuck in a “bootloader” loop.
Long story short, my solution to prevent this from happening again in the future was to make CW a flashable zip, just like TWRP is from GooManager. My actual method is different, but if you want to be able to flash and switch recoveries quickly, and don’t have time to mess with META stuff and signing, just make a copy of the already flashable TWRP recovery that GooManager copies on your sdcard and edit it.
Open the copied zip with 7zip and replace the recovery.img within the twrp folder with the CW img file renamed to recovery.img
Now you should be able to flash the opposite recovery from within the recovery.

Related

Did anyone's TWRP become broken after updating to 4.4.2?

Did anyone's TWRP become broken after updating to 4.4.2? Thought I'd ask because everytime I attempted to gain access to Recovery Mode, I would get an error (it said something like "No connecrtion"). I had to manually flash TWRP with Wugs and was able to successfully gain access to Recovery Mode again.
urbanman2004 said:
Did anyone's TWRP become broken after updating to 4.4.2? Thought I'd ask because everytime I attempted to gain access to Recovery Mode, I would get an error (it said something like "No connecrtion"). I had to manually flash TWRP with Wugs and was able to successfully gain access to Recovery Mode again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've not updated my Nexus 7 to KitKat yet, but I just noticed on my Nexus 5 that TWRP is broken after updating to the 4.4.2 OTA. I don't get the "No connection" error, I just get the little dead android icon with the red exclamation point. Too bad I'm at work and won't be able to re-flash it until I get home.
You're not alone.
urbanman2004 said:
Did anyone's TWRP become broken after updating to 4.4.2? Thought I'd ask because everytime I attempted to gain access to Recovery Mode, I would get an error (it said something like "No connecrtion"). I had to manually flash TWRP with Wugs and was able to successfully gain access to Recovery Mode again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lacking any and all details about how you upgraded, I would have to say that is to be expected. The OTAs usually directly overwrite the recovery with a new version of the stock recovery.
Moreover, the most recent OTA used that "/system/recovery-from-boot.p" patch file and associated script "/system/etc/install-recovery.sh" mechanism that automatically overwrites the recovery by patching the boot partition image; I think this happens either on every boot (or maybe during a clean shutdown).
So, not having noticed that, I flashed a custom recovery & booted the stock ROM... and next time I rebooted into recovery, I was back at the stock recovery ... WTF?, right?
I renamed those files to stop that from happening. I think some of the recoveries are aware of this and perform similar tricks on your behalf when they "install root" for you, but if you continue to get your recovery overwritten by stock, this is the place to look.
FYI I capture a full nandroid backup of every new stock release, whether or not I plan on using stock. I set them aside (copy them to a PC) so that they are always available.
I do this by:
- TiBu user app & data backup
- make a nandroid backup of my current ROM
- restore a nandroid backup of the prior release of the pure Stock ROM including it's matching stock recovery
- take the OTA and apply it (note everything is COMPLETELY, 100% stock during this operation)
- soft-boot a custom recovery via fastboot ("fastboot boot ...")
- make a nandroid backup of the new pure Stock ROM, including it's matching stock recovery
- flash a custom recovery and either restore a different ROM, or root the stock ROM and move forward with TiBu
This may seem like a lot of work, but it preserves maximum flexibility and safety:
(a) I can roll back to pure stock (any version!) any time I please from my archive of stock nandroid backups.
(b) I never - ever - have problems with OTA installation (including hazardous things like bootloader installs)
(c) I never need to go begging on the internet "please anybody, can you send me file "xxxx" from the stock release "xyz" ? I already have them - all of them.**
hope that helps
** note that TWRP's ".win" files are just tar archives. You don't even need to restore prior ROMs to pluck out individual stock ROM files.

Replacing CWM With TWRP

I am trying to replace CWM with TWRP but not having any luck. I installed GooManager and used the option to install open recovery script, but I still have CWM. So I downloaded the twrp image and used the terminal method
dd if=/mnt/extSdCard/twrp.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p34
This completed successfully, but after reboot then reboot into recovery I still have CWM.
I am currently running latest Cyanogenmod Rom.
Why do you want to replace it, anything that TWRP can do better than CWM? If you still want to switch, you should flash TWRP via Odin.
And/or flashing TWRP zip file through CWM recovery
I like the TWRP interface over CWM. I guess I'll try the odin route.
Well I was able to flash a recovery zip file, but now if I attempt to boot into recovery it just stops at the Google Logo (Google edition phone) and I have to pull the battery, boot into download mode and select restart to get out of it.
Just flash the recovery with Odin. Uncheck auto-reboot in Odin. If it doesn't work the first time, flash it 2 times in a row.
I was having a problem with Odin crashing when I attempted to flash. I finally got it working, apparently I had the wrong img file and dd statement. So now everything is working great.
Making Nandroid Backup first thing.

"______ cant be downloaded due to missing sd card"

So I rooted, unlocked bootloader, flash custom recovery, flashed custom kearnel/rom, and somewhere in that process i unmounted or erased or something idk my internal sdcard.... Google and I have been looking for the latter part of the day for a fix or answer till I finally had to break down and open a thread. please can someone point me in the direction or instruct me on how to reformat or repartition my phone to have storage without flashing factory firmware? im also unable to mount my external sdcard aswell. Im running a 6.0 mm rom with missing storage.
Thanks,
DirtyWhiteBoy707
You have an unlocked bootloader and a custom recovery; "starting over" doesn't have to mean going back to full stock. (i.e., losing either the unlocked bootloader or your custom recovery)
One would surmise that because twrp offers the nuclear option of a full wipe (reformat) of the userdata partition, that it has the expectation that the kernel's init will recreate the "internal" sdcard if it doesn't exist on the first boot thereafter. Dunno, maybe your custom kernel doesn't do that; a stock ROM surely would though because a factory reset in stock always destroys the internal sdcard.
One of the freedoms that an unlocked bootloader gives you is the ability to flash whatever you please in Odin (so long as you don't nuke the now customized/unlocked bootloader).
So for instance if you thought the only way to do what you wanted was to "use the stock ROM for a few minutes", just hack together an Odin tar.md5** file containing ONLY the boot.img & system.img file blobs from the stock Odin file. Boot into TWRP, nuke (full wipe/reformat) of /data, & wipe cache. Then boot into Odin and flash your "almost stock" system.img/boot.img tar.md5 Odin file in the AP slot.
That would leave you with an "unrooted, pure stock ROM" - except for the fact that you still have both your custom recovery and an unlocked bootloader. So you could inject stock with root from the TWRP recovery (e.g. with the SuperSU flashable installer) if you wanted to go back to rooted stock, or you could nuke that ROM for a custom one afterwards using TWRP.
[ While you are making .tar.md5 blobs for Odin**, go ahead and make one up so you can reflash *only* your custom recovery anytime you like (just rename the twrp*.img file to "recovery.img" before putting it in the .tar file) - it sounds like you are accident prone. Note that if you did this you could even include the stock recovery.img in your "almost stock" custom Odin tarball; all it would take to restore TWRP would be a trip to Odin with your unlocked bootloader. This would let you perform the honest-to-dog factory reset/wipe if you thought that was critical ]
Myself I would first try a full userdata reformat (using TWRP) and see if your current ROM/kernel recreates the internal sdcard on boot. (OTOH, if your screwing around with the boot partition resulted in interfering with mount operation, maybe *existence* of the directories is not the problem.)
good luck
**instructions for creating Odin tar.md5 archives can be found all over XDA
solved
simply had to install the correct kernel for the partitions to be updated correctly. ended up using a kernel by Lsskernel for note5ports and 6.0.1
DirtyWhiteBoy707 said:
simply had to install the correct kernel for the partitions to be updated correctly. ended up using a kernel by Lsskernel for note5ports and 6.0.1
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Click to collapse
Makes sense.
Sort of a mystery that whatever boot partition (kernel+ramdisk) you started with didn't already do it... unless it was derived from a device that didn't use an "internal" pseudo-SDcard.
Probably even the stock kernel - dirty flashed - would have "fixed it" as well. It might not have booted into the UI, but by the time it wedged or bootlooped (late boot) what you wanted accomplished will have already happened (by "init" processing through the *.rc scripts.)
As often as people try it with the explanation "well, I tried it and it worked", when you mix-n-match ROMs with various boot partitions (particularly the contents of the ramdisk, far less so for the "kernel"), there's no guarantee that you didn't create a side effect in some subsystem (minor or major) as a result of changes written in to /data from that single boot cycle.
Dirty flashing leads to dirty behavior. Hard to predict how major or minor those problems might be though.

TWRP isn't working

Hello,
the new versions of TWRP (<3.0.1.0) aren't working. When i boot into recovery theres just the 1+ logo and nothing happens. I've also tried the Hybrid TWRP, same error here. I've tried flashing both with fastboot and TWRP itself.
Any Solutions?
*Currently running TWRP 3.0.1.0, AOSP MM if that's important. Phone also rooted and unlocked.
I remember there's a flashable zip someone made that cleans up any residual files twrp may leave
Try going into TWRP folder and deleting .twrps file
Then reflash hybrid

Orangefox or RedFox for Oneplus 6T/fajita or other recoveries beside TWRP?

I was wondering if there is alternative option for Oneplus 6T/fajita recovery, like OrangeFox, RedFox, or other recoveries beside TWRP. TWRP doesn't work to restore on OP6T after backup. If I try to restore from previous backup, I will always end up in a continuous boot loop :'( and to resolve is issue, I have to flash the original ROM again but that affects some of my apps, so I have to check each app and reinstall them. In general TWRP doesn't work well on OP6T like other phones, and I couldn't find any alternative recovery options, and I wish someone is working on this.
Please let me know, even if there is beta or unofficial version that works with full ROM Backup and restore.
Thank you
FYI- I tried TWRP on different Pie custom Roms and OOS9 but the result is always the same, endless boot loop.
Nothing exists
You just taking a wrong steps while restoring. I've already done a two or three successful restores
Just backup these partitions:
1. Boot
2.System image
3.Vendor image
4.Data
romixer said:
You just taking a wrong steps while restoring. I've already done a two or three successful restores
Just backup these partitions:
1. Boot
2.System image
3.Vendor image
4.Data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried in that order and it doesn't work. I always end up in the boot-loop.
I even tried the following steps.
1. Boot to twrp recovery after full backup
2.Restore System image only
3.Reboot to twrp recovery
4.Restore Vendor image only
5.Reboot to twrp recovery again
6.Restore Data only
7.Restart
=>End result is the same, boot-loop.
I think TWRP is only good to flash zip files on Oneplus 6T .
duckduck2020 said:
I tried in that order and it doesn't work. I always end up in the boot-loop.
I even tried the following steps.
1. Boot to twrp recovery after full backup
2.Restore System image only
3.Reboot to twrp recovery
4.Restore Vendor image only
5.Reboot to twrp recovery again
6.Restore Data only
7.Restart
=>End result is the same, boot-loop.
I think TWRP is only good to flash zip files on Oneplus 6T .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You must be doing something wrong, perhaps using the wrong outdated version? The latest "unofficial" version posted here works, I can personally attest to that, but the older "official" version available on the TWRP site doesn't. It's outdated, and only works with Oreo and older ROMs.
There were issues with the "unofficial" TWRP and "Q" up until a couple of months ago that required the flashing of an additional file to get it to work properly, because of encryption errors, but even during that time period it was still working as expected on Pie.
Double check what you're doing, as you are making a mistake somewhere. The problem isn't with TWRP.
Link to the OP in the TWRP developer's thread here.

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