Some questions about EFS - Galaxy Note 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello I'm new to Samsung phones after many Sony phones and making the jump from Sony to Samsung come with a lot of new flashing tools and methods and as I'm sure you know when making the switch to from any phone new things can be quite confusing.
So I have a few questions about some things and after googling around found no straight answer to my queries and thought some people with a lot of knowledge of Samsung phones would be able to help me out
1. Should I backup the efs before every rom installation or is doing it once enough
2. How likely is it that the efs folder/partition become corrupted
3. When backing up it said one file missing is that because it gives you three different backups to restore 3 different ways?
4. If I ever had to restore it would I have to be on the same firmware I was on when I backed it up or does it have nothing to do with the firmware?
5. Would copying the efs folder to a backup location then moving back if it ever gets wiped work?
Thanks you I know some of the questions may be relatively simple to some of you but to me not so coming from a long line of Sony phones
P.s I'm not regretting making the jump love my note 3
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

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Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

1. Should I backup the efs before every rom installation or is doing it once enough
Once is enough, unless you want redundancy for some reason. As long as you have one good copy, you can restore EFS if it ever gets corrupted.
2. How likely is it that the efs folder/partition become corrupted
Not very likely. It's never happened to me personally. The point is that it can become corrupted, so at least one good backup is recommended.
3. When backing up it said one file missing is that because it gives you three different backups to restore 3 different ways?
How are you backing up your EFS?
4. If I ever had to restore it would I have to be on the same firmware I was on when I backed it up or does it have nothing to do with the firmware?
EFS contains phone-specific information like IMEI, so should not normally be dependent on which ROM you're on.
5. Would copying the efs folder to a backup location then moving back if it ever gets wiped work?
I would recommend keeping a few copies around. Copying the backup to a computer in case you need it later is OK.

Thank you very much for your answers =)
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Related

[Q] Question about Nandroid backups

I've never used a Nandroid backup to recover everything. I usually just stick with Titanium Backup. Lets say I decide to replace my TF because of light bleed. Can I recover from a Nandroid backup I created on my first TF? Will the backup from the old device work on the new device or are these backups tied to a specific serial number?
sigh... The only time anyone answers my questions is when I hijack someone else's thread and ask it when it's unrelated.
Its generally not a good idea to use nandroid backups across devices. You could muck some things up. Titanium backup would be a better way to go.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
I'm not an expert by any means, perhaps someone with more knowledge will make sure that I'm correct or wrong here?
My understanding is that a nandroid will take an exact image of your device at that given point in time and it'll create a checksum for the backup, so as long as the backup and the checksum match and your devices hardware is the same I can't see a problem restoring to an identical machine.
That's all presuming that you've got the new device rooted and have CWM on it and that you have copied the clockworkmod backup/restore folder to your SD card/PC.
Edit: I should have clarified what exactly it is that you want to back up, if it's just apps and their settings then I'd go for Titanium too. Doesn't your Google account backup and restore apps too?
Nandroid backups do work across devices, and if you really wanted, you could restore them on new devices. Not the best idea, but it is possible.
If you use a nandroid backup, I would install the same rom as the first, then advance restore data only

Galaxy S2 backup Rom installed on a Galaxy Note ?

Hello
I have a S2 backup rom (created by CWM) with some important info on it.
I have since sold the Galaxy S2 phone and moved onto a Galaxy Note GT-N7000
I have used 'nandroid browser' for example to search for the raw files within the rom - but couldn't find them due to the search method being too difficult.
So I thought is it possible to load up the S2 rom on the Galaxy Note and take what I need from it ?
How do I go about doing it ?
I have rooted the Note and have CWM installed ready to go.
Any help would be grateful.
Many thanks for reading and any tips.
I really really would not recommend it, Although they are similar, there could be disastrous consequences..... Is it really worth it for a few apps ?
Why didnt you just make a Titanium backup before switching phones?
You can browse the nandroid files on your PC, use winrar or 7zip, Find the info you want, extract it and copy it over to the Note.
You can manually restore data from old cwm backup. Extract it with winrar and copy what you need.
I had lost my contacts so I extracted backup and copied related files.
But do not restore the back up from recovery.
I'm not bothered about the apps, its text messages and pictures!
As for masking a backup before switching phones, that's why I used CWM !
One backup app is the same as any other.
As for using nandroid and winrar, already done that - as already said no good.
It's easier to install S2 rom, boot up, connect to kies and export text messages to desktop then sync on the note later.
As for retriveng pictures, again go into usb mode, search internal sd card and extract - job done!
As for installing rom, too late already done it!
you installed s2 rom on note succesfully?
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
It seemed to load ok using cwm - choosing the 'restore a backup' option.
When the phone rebooted, the Note N7000 boot screen appeared with the yellow triangle.
A few distorted video lines appeared, blank screen but could hear the start up theme, but no picture and no access to the operating system.
Worth a try though!
I may just buy another used S2 just to get what I want from the image and sell on again.
yeah its very dangerous not even worth a try, but thats my opinion. people have destroyed phones by flashin recovrring stuff not meant for their phone lol
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
nandroids are not transferable, So if you have s SGS2 you will not be able to restore that nandroid on a SGS3 / Galaxy Note ect ect. Thats why you should have Titanium backups, You can restore a TB backup across a million devices.
you should use titanium backup to explore your nandroid backup of s2 for apps.. and if you want the data of s2 then do a advanced restore of data onto your note may be that will work
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
You can try AppExtractor: https://play.google.com/store/apps/...iwiY29tLmhhbmR5YW5keS5hcHBleHRyYWN0b3JrZXkiXQ..
It should be able to restore your text messages from the nandroid backup.
i lol'd, it's like you have been waving $500 in bills above a fire...
As i read you want to retrieve your personal data, maybe ask a friend with an S2 to borrow it for a day, root his S2 and make a backup from his setup with CWM and then restore yours on it. After your done flash back his backup and your done
tsam19 said:
It seemed to load ok using cwm - choosing the 'restore a backup' option.
When the phone rebooted, the Note N7000 boot screen appeared with the yellow triangle.
A few distorted video lines appeared, blank screen but could hear the start up theme, but no picture and no access to the operating system.
Worth a try though!
I may just buy another used S2 just to get what I want from the image and sell on again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WTF. For info you have on your phone that you want to buy a seconde s2? You work for the CIA our you are some spy for the Russians?
androiadicted said:
WTF. For info you have on your phone that you want to buy a seconde s2? You work for the CIA our you are some spy for the Russians?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you on paranoid rom? ok just kidding no pun intended
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
tsam19 said:
One backup app is the same as any other.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong. It is not. Nandroid is VERY device-specific.
azzledazzle said:
nandroids are not transferable, So if you have s SGS2 you will not be able to restore that nandroid on a SGS3 / Galaxy Note ect ect. Thats why you should have Titanium backups, You can restore a TB backup across a million devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also, some useful data is part of system apps that don't reliably restore, so should be backed up in a more portable format.
Nandroids - Snapshot of currently running system state
TiBu - Backup of installed apps and data used by those apps. Usually not good for system apps
Call Logs Backup and Restore - Backs up call logs to a portable (and human-readable) XML-based format
SMS Backup and Restore - Same as the previous app, but with an obvious difference.

[Q] Moving from "old" nexus 4 to "new" nexus 4 via Nandroid backup?

[Q] Moving from "old" nexus 4 to "new" nexus 4 via Nandroid backup?
I just got my warranty replacement nexus 4 (Google support is amazing!), and want to transfer stuff from my "old" nexus 4 to my "new" nexus 4. Is it possible to do it via NANDROID backup? Is there any information that depends on the actual hardware information (maybe things like google login is in some way connected to the serial number of the phone)?
Thanks for advices.
You can do it that way but I would prefer starting fresh with only restoring app data..
Back up your current apps with carbon (recommend just doing app data), and copy the carbon folder and everything else on the sd card you need to your computer. Sign into your new phone and let the apps download. Copy the carbon folder and everything else you need onto your new device. Restore all the apps data.
Re: [Q] Moving from "old" nexus 4 to "new" nexus 4 via Nandroid backup?
matus201 said:
I just got my warranty replacement nexus 4 (Google support is amazing!), and want to transfer stuff from my "old" nexus 4 to my "new" nexus 4. Is it possible to do it via NANDROID backup? Is there any information that depends on the actual hardware information (maybe things like google login is in some way connected to the serial number of the phone)?
Thanks for advices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
apple never do this, google is better and cheaper
Sent from my KFTT using xda premium
DONT restore whole nandroid !!!
seriously you could do some damage AFAIK (at least that was the case on my HTC desire or G1 as i recall some similiar thread on xda)
feel free to restore Carbon / Titanium / Mybackup applications and their data but not the WHOLE nandroid !!!
of course i could be wrong and restoring nandroid could be 100% safe.
but as i said i do recall some guy messing things up by exactly doin that, just cant remember which phone was that.
As others have said, using Titanium or a similar backup app is probably the safest option. One thing you could try is doing a full backup but then doing an 'advanced restore' in recovery and only restoring the /data partition. I'm not entirely sure whether this will work but it was fine on my old HD2. Still, I personally see Titanium as being the best solution.
Thanks everybody for the advice, yea I have Titanium licence and I feel I bought carbon as well (I like supporting good developers), so I'll try it that way.
@dzumagos: thanks for warning, I was going to test it if it works, but after reading your post - I think I'll just stick with Titanium or Carbon.
I used a nandroid to my replacement and it worked like a charmed. Titanium backup sucks and always puts my phone not a boot loop.
on an older phone, htc evo 4g I had 2 phones, the nandroid would not restore on the second phone, the device id or something was different.
persano said:
apple never do this, google is better and cheaper
Sent from my KFTT using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can anybody translate this into English for me please?
Krunk83 said:
Titanium backup sucks and always puts my phone not a boot loop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is an opinion, so don't state it as a fact. I reckon I've used Titanium well over 30 times to backup/restore (I was constantly changing ROMs on my HD2) and it has never failed me. As long as you don't mess with system settings and are sensible with what you restore you should never have a bootloop when using Titanium.

[Q] Can't backup my /efs folder on GS4 I9505!

Hello!
I've just decided to start experimenting with custom ROMs on my new GS4, and I've been trying to begin by backing up all the crucial stuff on my stock device.
When it comes to backing up my 'efs', however, nothing works for me at all. I've tried doing it with Terminal Emulator and a bunch of different commands, all of which come up with errors, and I've tried doing it through custom recoveries like CWM and TWRP.
When I try to do it with the custom recoveries, the process ends almost instantly and it's impossible for me to find the backup files anywhere when I connect my phone to my PC - according to the custom recovery menus, the backups also have virtually no filesize.
My phone is currently running stock TouchWiz 4.2.2, it's rooted and I'm also using Nova launcher. In the past I installed PACMAN ROM but returned to stock by re-installing my old stock firmware with Odin.
Any help would be appreciated - I really wanna let loose and keep experimenting with Android!
Squiddo said:
Hello!
I've just decided to start experimenting with custom ROMs on my new GS4, and I've been trying to begin by backing up all the crucial stuff on my stock device.
When it comes to backing up my 'efs', however, nothing works for me at all. I've tried doing it with Terminal Emulator and a bunch of different commands, all of which come up with errors, and I've tried doing it through custom recoveries like CWM and TWRP.
When I try to do it with the custom recoveries, the process ends almost instantly and it's impossible for me to find the backup files anywhere when I connect my phone to my PC - according to the custom recovery menus, the backups also have virtually no filesize.
My phone is currently running stock TouchWiz 4.2.2, it's rooted and I'm also using Nova launcher. In the past I installed PACMAN ROM but returned to stock by re-installing my old stock firmware with Odin.
Any help would be appreciated - I really wanna let loose and keep experimenting with Android!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe this site http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1068193 is helpfull.
Squiddo said:
Hello!
I've just decided to start experimenting with custom ROMs on my new GS4, and I've been trying to begin by backing up all the crucial stuff on my stock device.
When it comes to backing up my 'efs', however, nothing works for me at all. I've tried doing it with Terminal Emulator and a bunch of different commands, all of which come up with errors, and I've tried doing it through custom recoveries like CWM and TWRP.
When I try to do it with the custom recoveries, the process ends almost instantly and it's impossible for me to find the backup files anywhere when I connect my phone to my PC - according to the custom recovery menus, the backups also have virtually no filesize.
My phone is currently running stock TouchWiz 4.2.2, it's rooted and I'm also using Nova launcher. In the past I installed PACMAN ROM but returned to stock by re-installing my old stock firmware with Odin.
Any help would be appreciated - I really wanna let loose and keep experimenting with Android!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I've made some success! I can now see my TWRP efs backup files when I connect my phone to my PC... but they're very small. An entire backup folder is only 50.9KB in size. Is this typical for an EFS backup?
Search for EFS Professional on xda. It's a great application that backs up your EFS folder and stores it on your computer where you can restore it if necessary. Simply download it, make sure you have root and busybox installed, along with the Samsung drivers, when it loads, select backup, choose the i9505 filter, choose the partition block which has EFS on the end, and click backup, job done!
The file you may have backed up might be alright, but I've read about the permissions for the folder not being correct, this application ensures everything is ok.
Sent from my GT-I9505
themadba said:
Search for EFS Professional on xda. It's a great application that backs up your EFS folder and stores it on your computer where you can restore it if necessary. Simply download it, make sure you have root and busybox installed, along with the Samsung drivers, when it loads, select backup, choose the i9505 filter, choose the partition block which has EFS on the end, and click backup, job done!
The file you may have backed up might be alright, but I've read about the permissions for the folder not being correct, this application ensures everything is ok.
Sent from my GT-I9505
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your quick response. I'll give that application a whirl now and see how it works for me. On the side, though, I've noticed that each efs backup I've done with TWRP has a slightly different size (deviation of around 3KB each time). Is this, and the fact that each backup is only ~50KB in size normal?
Thanks again for you time!
Squiddo said:
Thanks for your quick response. I'll give that application a whirl now and see how it works for me. On the side, though, I've noticed that each efs backup I've done with TWRP has a slightly different size (deviation of around 3KB each time). Is this, and the fact that each backup is only ~50KB in size normal?
Edit - my EFS partition is only 36KB, whereas the backup on my i9100 was 135KB. The application said the backup was completed successfully, so I'm happy enough. It must be that small.
Thanks again for you time!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll check my backup on my computer now to see what the file size is. As far as I can remember, it may be around that size, and I noticed that the partition is a lot smaller than the i9100 partition.
Sent from my GT-I9505
themadba said:
Search for EFS Professional on xda. It's a great application that backs up your EFS folder and stores it on your computer where you can restore it if necessary. Simply download it, make sure you have root and busybox installed, along with the Samsung drivers, when it loads, select backup, choose the i9505 filter, choose the partition block which has EFS on the end, and click backup, job done!
The file you may have backed up might be alright, but I've read about the permissions for the folder not being correct, this application ensures everything is ok.
Sent from my GT-I9505
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm attempting this method now using EFS Professional 2.0.46 and the instructions here (http://www.galaxys4manual.com/tips-backup-and-restore-efs-folder-in-samsung-android-devices/). I've installed BusyBox and enabled USB debugging, but EFS Professional keeps giving me this error:
"readlink: applet not found. Please install a BusyBox binary that contains the required applet. BusyBox v1.20.2-Stericson is recommended for compatibility."
Squiddo said:
I'm attempting this method now using EFS Professional 2.0.46 and the instructions here (http://www.galaxys4manual.com/tips-backup-and-restore-efs-folder-in-samsung-android-devices/). I've installed BusyBox and enabled USB debugging, but EFS Professional keeps giving me this error:
"readlink: applet not found. Please install a BusyBox binary that contains the required applet. BusyBox v1.20.2-Stericson is recommended for compatibility."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download the busybox installer from the play store made by Stericson, open it, give it root access, when the install busybox option comes up, select the version EFS Professional application suggests, then try again.
Also, I did post the file size for my backup but it clearly didn't work, it was only 36KB.
Sent from my GT-I9505
themadba said:
Download the busybox installer from the play store made by Stericson, open it, give it root access, when the install busybox option comes up, select the version EFS Professional application suggests, then try again.
Also, I did post the file size for my backup but it clearly didn't work, it was only 36KB.
Sent from my GT-I9505
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you yet again for your help. I've now got the correct version of BusyBox running and EFS Professional seems to be interfacing with it happily. At this point I realize that the site I linked gives incredibly poor instructions on how to run the EFS Pro program.
I've screencaptured my current situation: http://i.imgur.com/CgHZdiM.png
Do I want to tick only the box with the 'efs' partition name, or do I also want to include the three below it with 'efs' included in the middle of a bunch of other letters and numbers?
Squiddo said:
Thank you yet again for your help. I've now got the correct version of BusyBox running and EFS Professional seems to be interfacing with it happily. At this point I realize that the site I linked gives incredibly poor instructions on how to run the EFS Pro program.
I've screencaptured my current situation: http://i.imgur.com/CgHZdiM.png
Do I want to tick only the box with the 'efs' partition name, or do I also want to include the three below it with 'efs' included in the middle of a bunch of other letters and numbers?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See I wasn't sure either, so I've asked on the applications thread on xda here. For the record, I didn't even notice the other three had efs in them, and I only chose the one that has efs at the end. I'll update if any news comes back from the application thread. Also, a simple click of the thanks button is appreciated :thumbup:
Sent from my GT-I9505
---------- Post added at 11:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:52 AM ----------
Well it turns out you select all of the partitions and then back up. I've never done this, and I clearly have never been doing this right. Time to make another back up haha.
Sent from my GT-I9505
themadba said:
See I wasn't sure either, so I've asked on the applications thread on xda here. For the record, I didn't even notice the other three had efs in them, and I only chose the one that has efs at the end. I'll update if any news comes back from the application thread. Also, a simple click of the thanks button is appreciated :thumbup:
Sent from my GT-I9505
---------- Post added at 11:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:52 AM ----------
Well it turns out you select all of the partitions and then back up. I've never done this, and I clearly have never been doing this right. Time to make another back up haha.
Sent from my GT-I9505
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like we both got something out of this, then! I appreciate your time and input - I was losing my mind over all the obstacles I was running into. Gave you all the thumbs up I could.
Cheers!
EDIT: Oh, wait! Do you mean that you have to select ALL partitions or just those that mention efs in their names?
Squiddo said:
Looks like we both got something out of this, then! I appreciate your time and input - I was losing my mind over all the obstacles I was running into. Gave you all the thumbs up I could.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're very welcome, if you have any other problems, don't hesitate to message me and I'll try my best to help you out, this is a community after all
Edit - all partitions
Sent from my GT-I9505

Restoring apps with TiBu after updating to a 4.3 rom?

For some reason it doesn't seem to work. When I look at the play store reviews, they say that Titanium Backup doesn't work well restoring apps with 4.3. For me it just hangs at 0%. 4.3 has been out for a while, what have people been using?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
andrewdroid said:
For some reason it doesn't seem to work. When I look at the play store reviews, they say that Titanium Backup doesn't work well restoring apps with 4.3. For me it just hangs at 0%. 4.3 has been out for a while, what have people been using?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, andrewdroid...
Yes, I've just been looking at the reviews you mention, and I must admit, I'm puzzled.
I've been running Jellybean 4.3 (recently updated to build JWR66Y) since the beginning of August, and I've had no problems with restoring apps from Titanium.
I recall, during the first few days of JB 4.3, there where issues with Titanium, and the recommended advice was to change the backup path (where you're backups are stored) as follows...
Go to... Titanium>>Menu>>Backup folder location...
...and navigate (using the back button) to /storage/emulated/legacy/TitaniumBackup ...and select 'Use the current folder'.
And at the time, this worked for me. But subsequent updates to Titanium fixed the problem, and my backup path is now the more technically correct /storage/emulated/0/TitaniumBackup.
Titanium will offer to move the files to the new location, but in the event, nothing actually gets moved, because the locations are actually identical... just different ways of specifying the same location.
So, you could try modifying your backup path location in Titanium settings as outlined above, using either of the two 'paths' I've given. I've just tried both, and in both instances, my backups restored flawlessly.
I've no idea if this will work for you, but I do know there was an issue back in the early part of August, and the 'legacy' path fixed it for me... maybe it might for you.
Hope this helps... and good luck.
Rgrds,
Ged.
Just completed my first root and flashed my tablet to cyanogenmod. I'd like to thank this community for making it so simple. It seemed like a lot of reading but every instruction had a purpose and i understood it more as the process went along. I had no problem throughout the process due to the very detailed instructions here on this forum.
However, I seem to have made one mistake. I used TiBu to backup my apps and data. However, i failed to make the update.zip folder as i didn't think about losing the app when i flashed to the new rom. When i check my device, there is a huge titanium backup folder.
Is there a way i can restore my apps and data from the tibu folder, or did i lose it all by not creating the update.zip folder?
Im afraid to just reinstall TiBu in case it overwrites the old folder.
This is the only problem I had with the whole process and appreciate any help or suggestions.
giusti825 said:
Just completed my first root and flashed my tablet to cyanogenmod. I'd like to thank this community for making it so simple. It seemed like a lot of reading but every instruction had a purpose and i understood it more as the process went along. I had no problem throughout the process due to the very detailed instructions here on this forum.
However, I seem to have made one mistake. I used TiBu to backup my apps and data. However, i failed to make the update.zip folder as i didn't think about losing the app when i flashed to the new rom. When i check my device, there is a huge titanium backup folder.
Is there a way i can restore my apps and data from the tibu folder, or did i lose it all by not creating the update.zip folder?
Im afraid to just reinstall TiBu in case it overwrites the old folder.
This is the only problem I had with the whole process and appreciate any help or suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rename the huge titanium backup folder, install TiBu, delete new folder and rename huge titanium backup folder back to original name.

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