Database Users

[Q] understanding what is wiped and best method to transferring data

Im familiar with flashing new roms and have done so a few times, i just want to get familiar with keeping my data on my phone.
is the externalsd card folder on my phones internal memory wiped when i format data/factory reset and format cache?
what is the best method for keeping all my pictures I have taken and downloads folder. (are these in extsd folder?)
I currently use Helium to backup SMS/Wifi settings/home screen/dictionary.
Also, does my google account backup what apps i have, can they be restored properly when going through the new setup wizard screens after flashing my new rom? or will i need to manually reinstall all apps?
Does titanium backup, able to backup my pictures taken/screenshots/downloads?

callum_88 said:
Im familiar with flashing new roms and have done so a few times, i just want to get familiar with keeping my data on my phone.
is the externalsd card folder on my phones internal memory wiped when i format data/factory reset and format cache?
what is the best method for keeping all my pictures I have taken and downloads folder. (are these in extsd folder?)
I currently use Helium to backup SMS/Wifi settings/home screen/dictionary.
Also, does my google account backup what apps i have, can they be restored properly when going through the new setup wizard screens after flashing my new rom? or will i need to manually reinstall all apps?
Does titanium backup, able to backup my pictures taken/screenshots/downloads?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
1.is the external sd card folder on my phones internal memory wiped when i format data/factory reset and format cache?
Everything on the internal storage gets wiped with a factory reset.
The external sd card is not affected.
2.what is the best method for keeping all my pictures I have taken and downloads folder. (are these in extsd folder?)
Direct the phones settings to store your photos on the external sd card.
Downloads should be moved with a file explorer.
3.Also, does my google account backup what apps i have, can they be restored properly when going through the new setup wizard screens after flashing my new rom? or will i need to manually reinstall all apps?
As long as you ticked Google to back up your apps , they should re-install themselves.
4.Does titanium backup, able to backup my pictures taken/screenshots/downloads?
No.
Manually transfer them to the external sd card with a file explorer.

[Q] Backup procedure so tedious? Whats your method?

Im not a noob user, but im not obsessed with changing ROMS daily. However when I want to try a new ROM I procrastinate because I find the whole process so tedious. I have TB Pro, and backup all apps and data, without the system data though. After flashing a new ROM, the setup of everything takes so long. Nova launcher, all my widget placements, options etc. And often times, Im missing data from an app.
With the N7 as well I gotta transfer all the mp3s as well because a full wipe clears everything out.
Is there an easier way? Am I missing something here? What is your procedure for a quick way to change a ROM.
Thanks for your time and input.

You're wasting a lot of time and effort by wiping your virtual sd card partition when changing roms. You don't need to wipe it and copy everything back again.
Keep your mp3s and titanium backups on the device, though no harm in making a local copy of your TitaniumBackup folder on PC or cloud for safekeeping.
When you change roms, a full wipe just needs a wipe of everything except the sdcard.
I've also use titanium backup pro. the batch backup and restore of user apps and data has never failed me, never lost any data. it's time consuming with a lot of apps, but at least you can select all and let it do its thing.
nova launcher should also have an option to create a local backup of all your home screen preferences and settings etc, don't know if it includes the widget layout, possibly some limitations there.
Titanium backup pro can make flashable zips of all your user apps and data, which you can simply flash after installing a rom, though i've never tried it, just used to batch restore within the app. you may have to reboot in between flashing this zip. guide will be out there somewhere. EDIT: found it, menu->batch actions, then scroll down, there's an option under 'Recovery'.
So procedure:
- Titanium backup of all user apps + data (create flashable zip)
- Nandroid backup (just in case!)
- Full wipe (not virtual sdcard partition)
- Flash Rom
- Reboot
- Boot back into recovery and flash the zip of your backups.
Yeh can be time consuming, but a lot is automated. Saves a lot more time than needlessly backing up all of your sd card partition, wiping and restoring it :good:
Give it a try next time, might try it myself.

eddiehk6 said:
You're wasting a lot of time and effort by wiping your virtual sd card partition when changing roms. You don't need to wipe it and copy everything back again.
Keep your mp3s and titanium backups on the device, though no harm in making a local copy of your TitaniumBackup folder on PC or cloud for safekeeping.
When you change roms, a full wipe just needs a wipe of everything except the sdcard.
I've also use titanium backup pro. the batch backup and restore of user apps and data has never failed me, never lost any data. it's time consuming with a lot of apps, but at least you can select all and let it do its thing.
nova launcher should also have an option to create a local backup of all your home screen preferences and settings etc, don't know if it includes the widget layout, possibly some limitations there.
Titanium backup pro can make flashable zips of all your user apps and data, which you can simply flash after installing a rom, though i've never tried it, just used to batch restore within the app. you may have to reboot in between flashing this zip. guide will be out there somewhere. EDIT: found it, menu->batch actions, then scroll down, there's an option under 'Recovery'.
So procedure:
- Titanium backup of all user apps + data (create flashable zip)
- Nandroid backup (just in case!)
- Full wipe (not virtual sdcard partition)
- Flash Rom
- Reboot
- Boot back into recovery and flash the zip of your backups.
Yeh can be time consuming, but a lot is automated. Saves a lot more time than needlessly backing up all of your sd card partition, wiping and restoring it :good:
Give it a try next time, might try it myself.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply and detailed response. Just seems when I do the full wipe it wipes out the SD card on the N7 which is internal. Or perhaps its the flash of the ROM. Anyway, the standard wipe on TWRP is not supposed to include the internal storage. Ill try again listing your outline.
Thanks

Hightower68 said:
Im not a noob user, but im not obsessed with changing ROMS daily. However when I want to try a new ROM I procrastinate because I find the whole process so tedious. I have TB Pro, and backup all apps and data, without the system data though. After flashing a new ROM, the setup of everything takes so long. Nova launcher, all my widget placements, options etc. And often times, Im missing data from an app.
With the N7 as well I gotta transfer all the mp3s as well because a full wipe clears everything out.
Is there an easier way? Am I missing something here? What is your procedure for a quick way to change a ROM.
Thanks for your time and input.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You probably already know it but nova launcher has its own backup/restore feature,that sets up your widgets/desktop layout/etc. Although I get your point it can be a chore getting everything setup again, like wifi passwords, alarms and other settings.
What holds me back from flashing rooms on the n7, is having multi user set up, as I haven't found a way to backup/restore the other persons apps/settings/data which is a pain.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda app-developers app

Hightower68 said:
Thanks for the reply and detailed response. Just seems when I do the full wipe it wipes out the SD card on the N7 which is internal. Or perhaps its the flash of the ROM. Anyway, the standard wipe on TWRP is not supposed to include the internal storage. Ill try again listing your outline.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont use the manual wipe data option. Just do factory reset from recovery. No need to do anything else to wipe
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

Extract TWRP backup for photos?

So the other day I restored my rooted phone back to stock everything and unrooted. I thought my photos were saved to my SD card so I didn't think about saving anything when I restored. But yesterday I went to upload a photo and they were all gone! Luckily I made a twrp backup before I restored but I have no idea how to find my photos in the backup. Can anybody help?

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but a twrp nandroid is not going to contain your photos. They're on a part of the sd card a nandroid doesn't backup. Did you have them backed up on Dropbox of anything?

jd1639 said:
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but a twrp nandroid is not going to contain your photos. They're on a part of the sd card a nandroid doesn't backup. Did you have them backed up on Dropbox of anything?
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I didn't have them saved anywhere.. Is there a tool that will allow me to still view the data from the saves?

white.noise said:
I didn't have them saved anywhere.. Is there a tool that will allow me to still view the data from the saves?
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Click to collapse
You had them on your internal? Idk of any tool that can recover them. Someone very familiar with adb may be able to help on how to access the sd card but it won't be easy. There are, expensive, services that can recover them but they'd have to be very important to you.
In the future, set up Dropbox. It's free for a fair amount of storage and it's automatic. Take a pic and it'll upload.

TWRP does not backup photos in DCIM folder in internal memory
jd1639 said:
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but a twrp nandroid is not going to contain your photos. They're on a part of the sd card a nandroid doesn't backup. Did you have them backed up on Dropbox of anything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks jd. I found this thread because I was doing a search for what TWRP actually backs up. I did a search as I also had noticed that no photos show up in the DCIM folder after a TWRP 'restore' operation, which looked like TWRP doesn't backup photos contained in the internal DCIM folder. This came as a bit of a surprise to me, and was wondering if something prevents TWRP from backing up the photos.
TWRP is definitely a very good backup utility, but I think that some kind of pop-up message (with a don't show again checkbox option) would be nice to warn users that TWRP doesn't backup the DCIM photos. I'm thinking that if the utility has the option to backup data + system + boot, then it should backup the valuable user data - which includes photos in internal memory (- that would be expected).
I'm running stock rooted ICS ROM, and I use TWRP to backup data+boot+system, and I also use KIES to do a backup as well. The TWRP restore gets all the apps back (and most things), and the KIES restore gets back the photos. A nice combo.

kennyTSV said:
Thanks jd. I found this thread because I was doing a search for what TWRP actually backs up. I did a search as I also had noticed that no photos show up in the DCIM folder after a TWRP 'restore' operation, which looked like TWRP doesn't backup photos contained in the internal DCIM folder. This came as a bit of a surprise to me, and was wondering if something prevents TWRP from backing up the photos.
TWRP is definitely a very good backup utility, but I think that some kind of pop-up message (with a don't show again checkbox option) would be nice to warn users that TWRP doesn't backup the DCIM photos. I'm thinking that if the utility has the option to backup data + system + boot, then it should backup the valuable user data - which includes photos in internal memory (- that would be expected).
I'm running stock rooted ICS ROM, and I use TWRP to backup data+boot+system, and I also use KIES to do a backup as well. The TWRP restore gets all the apps back (and most things), and the KIES restore gets back the photos. A nice combo.
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Click to collapse
I think it makes sense to not back up the internal user storage. It's the same way it wouldn't back up an external SD, and plus then if it tried to back up all of it then it would add a few more gigs to the backup size and it probably wouldn't fit for many people. Not to mention that making a backup of something on itself is not the greatest idea in the first place (all the others are at least backups of different partitions). Makes more sense to just regularly pull off files to PC before doing flashing and modifying.

DeadlySin9 said:
I think it makes sense to not back up the internal user storage. It's the same way it wouldn't back up an external SD, and plus then if it tried to back up all of it then it would add a few more gigs to the backup size and it probably wouldn't fit for many people. Not to mention that making a backup of something on itself is not the greatest idea in the first place (all the others are at least backups of different partitions). Makes more sense to just regularly pull off files to PC before doing flashing and modifying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks deadlysin. I know where you're coming from there....know what you mean. I don't mind it if TWRP doesn't backup all user data in internal memory after now having understood what TWRP defines as 'data' in it's 'DATA + system + boot' backup. I now use a combo of TWRP and KIES for backing up. The TWRP does a nice job of preserving most things - apps, call logs, contacts, messages etc, and KIES does the photos, as well as contacts and messages (but KIES seems to have a problem with backing up call logs, but TWRP can handle call logs which is great).
I fully understand the extra memory that a TWRP backup would take (in some cases) if TWRP did have an option for backing up the internal storage DCIM data too. But I reckon that it would be terrific to have such an option where 'data + system + boot' creates a complete image of internal storage information. The reason for this is because I was looking for a utility that would provide a fairly 'complete' one-shot backup of the user environment (photos, logs, messages, contacts, apps etc etc). But for TWRP, it looks like the definition of 'data' at the moment is 'data MINUS photos and possibly some other internal storage things'. This is ok though - since the most important thing is to just understand which user/personal data is not included in a TWRP 'data + system + boot' backup. On the net, I saw a TWRP page that had contents saying 'what to back up?', and on that page, I think that adding extra information like 'which user information/data does TWRP NOT backup?' would be handy. Anyway, the TWRP software is really good. Highly recommended.

kennyTSV said:
I did a search as I also had noticed that no photos show up in the DCIM folder after a TWRP 'restore' operation, which looked like TWRP doesn't backup photos contained in the internal DCIM folder. This came as a bit of a surprise to me, and was wondering if something prevents TWRP from backing up the photos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same problem with CWM, no photos in the backup. I also thought first that something was preventing CWM to backup everything. And everywhere it reads that this backup would be a nandroid backup and therefore an exact copy of the contents. So this obviously is not correct - looks like a lot of people are copying statements without knowing or proofing.
The folder /sdcard/0 (which actually is /data/media ) is the part which you are allowed to see without root permissions and here is all the data like photos, media, downloads and so on which you created or copied there.
THIS is the way to get this important folder - at least it worked with CWM 6.0.4.7:
Enter recovery mode. Connect Phone to PC. ADB should be already installed. Create an empty folder and change directory to there within command shell. Type in
adb pull /sdcard/0
and voilá, you will have a copy of all the missed data.

[Q] Deleted System Apps

Hello,
I was recently mucking around with custom recoveries on my Motorola Defy Mini XT320, and deleted some system applications to make some room on the /system directory. Unfortunately, one of those apps was the standard Clock app that came with the phone, and I'd become quite attached to that widget.
I was wondering, is there any way to restore deleted system apps/widgets after they've been deleted from the /system directory?
Cheers,
Welshie

Ext undelete
Undeletion on Ext3/Ext4 filesystem (the one your phone use) is not a trivial task and AFAIK there is nothing like this in recovery. You may always reflash your phone with the same version of the system formware you already have. This should not harm your data. Try do just wipe cache and Dalvik cache. Do not do factory reset, as it deletes /data where all the updates and personal data are. Also don't go between Slim/CM/Stock firmware as they probably have different partition layout so you loose your data anyway. So do nandroid backum in recovery first (your data, not the system). Then flash. You may restore your data then. Next time, do nandroid backup (in recovery) of the system before you make changes

[Q] Lost Data !!

Guys This is a noob question but please help me with this
After Rooting my phone i backed up my apps with Titanium Backup with Apps + Data
then later i was planning to install a new ROM so i even backed up my ROM using Philz Touch Recovery with Data+System+Cache+Boot.
After trying several ROMS one of it asked for clearing the Internal Storage (Media Storage) and i lost all my photos and stuff.
Currently after returning to my Stock ROM and flashing Titanium Backup apps back i cant find My Audio Manager (Hiding App) data.
On Trying to remember i think that the app location was set to sd card.
I want to recover my Audio Manager Apps Data because it was really Important
I currently have a full backup of my stock ROM which totals abut 8.56 Gb is there any way to just get the data back.
It was reallly IMPORANT Please Help.

Titanium backup folder is set to the internal storage by default. Unless you changed that.
When restoring a backup there it should ask you what you want to restore. Data, system, boot, efs, etc.
Just select data. But this will restore all backed up data from your backup.
I know the stock samsung rom is about 3.5 GB, the rest is data. So you will have 5 GB of data that might need restoring.