Full Backup for file-carving/data recovery option - Nexus 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I am looking to find a full back up ( apps/data/user/pictures) of my Nexus 4 in order to attempt recovering pictures that I accidentally deleted from the phone. I read in other posts that a full backup is only do-able if when the device is rooted (which mine isn't).
I am afraid of wiping my current data, thus losing any traces left of my deleted pictures/videos.
Anyone with a similar situation or found a solution to this issue.
Thank you for your help.

Related

Messed up home screen after backup

I apologize if this post isn't very clear, I'm tired and English is not my native language...
I upgraded to Cyanogen's 5.0.7 Test 5 ROM not too long ago from CM 4.2.14.1. Before doing that I backed up my app data wit Backup for root users. I haven't done that before, so I checked multiple boxes, not knowing which one was the correct one. The tutorial I followed then stated I should check the SD-card to make sure only app data was backed-up, and no system data.
So I checked and found only maps from my apps.
So far so good.
However, when I restored the app data, my home screen got messed up. It thinks the fourth screen is the center one (so it goes there when pressing the home button) and all widgets say "Problem loading this widget". Also I can't change anything. I Can't remove or rearrange widgets or shortcuts. If I try to do so, Android crashes (FC on android.process.acore).
I'm pretty sure it is completely my own fault, not a bug in the ROM. When I restored the data I must have corrupted the file in which the home screen data is stored.
So, finally my questions: Is there a way to restore this without doing a wipe (I'm guessing re-flashing without a wipe will still keep the corrupted settings)?
If anyone can tell me which file is responsible for the home screen settings, can I delete it so Android will restore it with a new (empty) one?
Can I replace it with someone else's? Or extract it from a ROM-file?
That are the solutions I came up with. If its easier to just wipe and re-flash, tell me and I will do so. I just hoped there was a way I can prevent having to set up the phone all over again...
Thanks in advance!
Did you nandroid backup? If you did, restore it and backup all your apps using Titanium Backup. Backup for root users has always gave me problems as well. Titanium Backup allows all the same options that you need, but just works better imho.
If you didn't nandroid and can't do that - I'm pretty sure a wipe is your only option. You can try fix_permissions from the terminal, but I don't think it's going to fix your problems.
I did do a nandroid backup, but that was just before I flashed CM 5... I guess restoring a nandroid backup from my CM 4.2.14.1 setup is not a good idea?
Hmm, guess I will be re-flashing this evening Thanks anyway!
EDIT: I will use Titanium from now on... I had heard of it, but the tutorial I followed used Backup for root users...
Restoring a nandroid backup is NOT bad at all. That's what its there for. It doesn't matter if you nandroided a completely different ROM then flashed CM5. Flashing a new ROM doesn't affect the nandroid backup EVER.
You flash a nasty, nasty ROM and are like, "Oh ****!" Just go nandroid.
I usually wipe all data/cache before restoring, but some people don't. Either way, it completely restores your phone to the state it was at before backing up. This includes applications and everything. (App data, system settings, app settings, etc.)
I thought nandroid just restored system files and settings... But if it completely restores my phone, a might just as well wipe and re-flash since it will restore it to the previous ROM.
Thanks for the info, I have learned some more about my phone

[Q] trouble after deleting data/data/com.android.providers.settings

hi guys, would really appreciate your help..
i was trying to fix my nexus 4's problem of unable to sync with google servers so i deleted the data/data/com.android.providers.settings and it indeed fixed the issue.
unfortunatley, after rebooting, i'm now:
- unable to get a lockscreen
- unable to get home button to work
- swipe down settings are gone. and so are notifications
is there another way to restore this other than a factory reset?
l33chpda said:
hi guys, would really appreciate your help..
i was trying to fix my nexus 4's problem of unable to sync with google servers so i deleted the data/data/com.android.providers.settings and it indeed fixed the issue.
unfortunatley, after rebooting, i'm now:
- unable to get a lockscreen
- unable to get home button to work
- swipe down settings are gone. and so are notifications
is there another way to restore this other than a factory reset?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory reset wil not help, reflash a factory image or custom rom if you are rooted.
gee2012 said:
Factory reset wil not help, reflash a factory image or custom rom if you are rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He only deleted the data so of course a factory reset will fix it this.
You will probably take ages trying to fix and end up having to wipe anyway. I take it you haven't got a backup of any sort (nandroid/ti backup) etc?
Higgsy said:
He only deleted the data so of course a factory reset will fix it this.
You will probably take ages trying to fix and end up having to wipe anyway. I take it you haven't got a backup of any sort (nandroid/ti backup) etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, my bad. So many users wiping the entire sdcard nowadays that i took it wrong and didn`t read correctly
I thought I did but I searched my PC and couldn't find any previously backed up data. So I guess I've no choice but to factory reset and reinstall my data
Higgsy said:
He only deleted the data so of course a factory reset will fix it this.
You will probably take ages trying to fix and end up having to wipe anyway. I take it you haven't got a backup of any sort (nandroid/ti backup) etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there! I had had the same problem l33chpda had, but the factory reset fix worked just one time only, today i was about to resell my phone so i wanted to factory reset it, after that i've come across with the problem i had that time, again.
Don't know what to do, i have same issues mentioned by l33chpda, cant get into settings, swipe down settings neither, etc; when try to, phone just do nothing or stays one second and goes back home screen.
I have made nandroid (both clockworkmod and TWRP) of the phone when I bought it, but with online nandroid so i don't have any custom recovery installed.
While checking those nandroid backups, I've discovered the deleted folder backup in the clockworkmod nandroid folder.
Could it be possible to paste it back into "\data\data" folder? should that be the fix? Or I'll have to reflash all even though I dont wanna take that risk because is just that, the other things of the phone are intact and work great.
In case of reflashing, could you tell me about any easy tutorial on how to install clockworkmod recovery?
I own an LG G2 D800, KitKat d80020y rooted with stumproot.

[Q] Fingerprint database location

Looking for some guru help here...
My S5 has fallen to the fingerprint reader bug... I was able to get in and switch to a pin unlock, but I put off having the phone RMA'ed for convenience reasons... but now I've stumbled onto something...
Used Safestrap to take a nandroid backup of /data and then did a factory reset. This caused the fingerprint functionality to revert to the unprogrammed factory state where I was able to program new fingerprints successfully. After this, I restored the nandroid and it was back to its broken state. Conclusion: the hardware is fine and the problem is somewhere in the /data partition.
I found a DB in /data/data/com.samsung.android.fingerprint.service/databases/fingerprint.db, which contains one row for each fingerprint, but obviously does not contain the actual fingerprint data as there are no BLOB type data in it. Also, clearing that DB alone doesn't help. Any other ideas where I might look?

Fingerprint hardware unavailable? Enrollment didn't work?

Recipe:
TWRP 2.8.7.2
TWO Nexus 6Ps on 6.0.1
One N6P systemless rooted
Official Android SDK (fastboot)
So I got a replacement N6P from Fi as I noticed some slight bending on my original, and I was working on moving my data over using TWRP so I could keep all my app data, etc. When I backed up my original 6P, I forgot to remove screen and boot security, so when I flashed on to my new 6P, I was locked out (as expected, known bug). I tried this fix to get in to my system, and it worked! I was able to log in. However, I noticed that my old fingerprints were still enrolled and I wanted to start those fresh, so I tried to remove them. When I selected "Delete" for each enrolled fingerprint, nothing happened. This was the first clue. I then tried to enroll new fingerprints and got the following message:
Code:
[B]Enrollment was not completed[/B]
Fingerprint enrollment didn't work. Try again or use a different finger.
The other odd thing is that on the lockscreen, I was getting a red text error message that read something like "Fingerprint hardware not available."
So I figured something got messed up security wise from the fix I tried after flashing a locked nandoird. I then went back and made a new nandroid backup (boot, system, data) on my old phone making sure that all security was turned off. Same thing!
Wondering if the hardware did actually get messed up somehow, I flashed back to official stock 6.0.1 from Google. Fingerprinting then started working!
So nothing I have done since then has made any difference when trying to restore my userdata from my old phone. I've tried wiping cache/dalvik, and removing the locksettings.db file, but these didn't change anything either.
Has anyone had this issue before? It seems really bizarre to me. I'm probably going to end up flashing stock and restoring userdata via TB, but that is a headache compared to nandroid so if possible I'd like to get this to work.
Tried wiping userdata then flashing userdata from my old 6P and that did not work either.
Have you tried wiping data, setting up the device again, and then checking if you can add a fingerprint?
I tried restoring data from a device I had to RMA too, and got that exact message every time - I gave up in the end as I tried wiping everything but the only thing that worked was clearing userdata & restoring my apps from the nandroid via TiBu.
All in all, I presume it's something to do with the fingerprint scanner having a different hardware key/serial to the new one and retaining that info somewhere in the data partition when you back it up.
DanielF50 said:
Have you tried wiping data, setting up the device again, and then checking if you can add a fingerprint?
I tried restoring data from a device I had to RMA too, and got that exact message every time - I gave up in the end as I tried wiping everything but the only thing that worked was clearing userdata & restoring my apps from the nandroid via TiBu.
All in all, I presume it's something to do with the fingerprint scanner having a different hardware key/serial to the new one and retaining that info somewhere in the data partition when you back it up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup I did try that, didn't work either. I'm right where you were too, currently restoring apps for TB. Your hypothesis seems plausible to me, I hadn't thought of that. Kind of a bummer for swapping devices if that is the case. I wonder if we could find where the fingerprint key is stored in userdata and back it up prior to flashing the nandroid?
Thanks for the reply!
No problems & yes, it is, though I presume it's either been done for some sort of security, or as a complete oversight - I can't see Google deliberately doing so, especially on a Nexus device.
I think it's probably highly likely that someone will find the hardware/serial file soon and find a way to stop it from being overwritten when TWRP restores the data partition, though it is annoying that it hasn't been discovered yet... Thankfully restoring from a nandroid through TitaniumBackup isn't too bad nowadays!
Srry for necro but I think I might have found a workaround solution to this problem or at least the problem which is very similar to this one. Please check "symptoms" in the description of the solution to make sure we are talking about the same issue.
Here's the link to the solution: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=68374321&postcount=1446
erikem said:
Srry for necro but I think I might have found a workaround solution to this problem or at least the problem which is very similar to this one. Please check "symptoms" in the description of the solution to make sure we are talking about the same issue.
Here's the link to the solution: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=68374321&postcount=1446
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for another necro, but this doesn't work for me on Android 7.1.1
Edit: Correct fix here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=68199207&postcount=9

TWRP Restore Does not Properly Restore...

Hello All!
Before you tell me to search or check threads, I already have. This problem does not have anything to do with forgetting to disable the pins and fingerprints before backing up. My problem has do do with I have already disabled/removed security before backing up my nandroid. I check/select everything that I can to backup and it successfully completes. When I go to restore, everything looks to be properly restored, but alas, there is a problem. When I reboot, it asks me for a password to get into TWRP (apparently "default_password). But when I get in and go to file explorer to find anything, my entire storage is wiped. Like no OS or any files. The only other issue I've had besides this is when restoring a nandroid, it doesn't complete and reboots to a bootloop.
I am on the newest version of TWRP, 3.0.3-0. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I, and anyone who has had to redo the complete phone setup/customization, do not enjoy taking over an hour to get things back up and running. Cruddy thing is I did a Titanium Backup for my apps and settings, but they got wiped.
boostin91tsi01 said:
Hello All!
Before you tell me to search or check threads, I already have. This problem does not have anything to do with forgetting to disable the pins and fingerprints before backing up. My problem has do do with I have already disabled/removed security before backing up my nandroid. I check/select everything that I can to backup and it successfully completes. When I go to restore, everything looks to be properly restored, but alas, there is a problem. When I reboot, it asks me for a password to get into TWRP (apparently "default_password). But when I get in and go to file explorer to find anything, my entire storage is wiped. Like no OS or any files. The only other issue I've had besides this is when restoring a nandroid, it doesn't complete and reboots to a bootloop.
I am on the newest version of TWRP, 3.0.3-0. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I, and anyone who has had to redo the complete phone setup/customization, do not enjoy taking over an hour to get things back up and running. Cruddy thing is I did a Titanium Backup for my apps and settings, but they got wiped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am genuinely interested in this because I back up on a regular basis after each security update but I have never had to restore. Now it is my understanding that even if security is disable the data is still encrypted. Perhaps I'm wrong about that but if you ever did have a password or pin to log into the phone with have you tried to enter that into TWRP?
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
You only need to back up the defaults... system, data, and boot.
What should I back up in TWRP?
https://twrp.me/faq/whattobackup.html
redduc900 said:
You only need to back up the defaults... system, data, and boot.
What should I back up in TWRP?
https://twrp.me/faq/whattobackup.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand the web is full of opinions, but I've read somewhere to backup EFS? I have also read somewhere before that what you said to backup, while is plenty sufficient, if you have space, to backup everything. I followed that and it lead me to an hour plus of restoring back to how it was. I will give it a go, hoping that I never have to use it, but it will work when the situation arises.
I've only ever backed up those three partitions, and never had an issue with restoring backups. You can certainly create a backup of the EFS/IMEI, but keep it stored in a safe place like on your computer or a thumb drive. One thing I should note is when restoring a backup, make sure to also flash the correct vendor.img if necessary.
I usually backup vendor with it but as earlier indicated I don't believe it's completely necessary. As far as EFS is concerned yes I would agree with backing that up however what I do is back it up to a separate backup folder and only write it if something were to ever happen to it otherwise leave it alone. That way you don't take a chance I'm corrupting something in that partition.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
I've never successfully restored a backup on the Nexus 6P regardless of what version of TWRP I used. Different builds of TWRP give me different problems but none has ever worked. I've completely given up doing nandroid backups on this phone because it's a waste of time and disc space. I never had a similar issue on any other phone that I have ever owned and am not a newbie when it comes to rooting and custom roms. What I always ended up doing after a problem restoring a backup is flash the complete factory image using the flash-all.bat command and start over with everything I want to flash.
jhs39 said:
I've never successfully restored a backup on the Nexus 6P regardless of what version of TWRP I used. Different builds of TWRP give me different problems but none has ever worked. I've completely given up doing nandroid backups on this phone because it's a waste of time and disc space. I never had a similar issue on any other phone that I have ever owned and am not a newbie when it comes to rooting and custom roms. What I always ended up doing after a problem restoring a backup is flash the complete factory image using the flash-all.bat command and start over with everything I want to flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem, so now I've started doing a TiBU and Verizon Messages backup, after all those are completed, transfer and save it to my PC. If I have any problems, I transfer from the PC to phone and it's less headache... kinda sorta.
Restore never worked to the fullest. I tried different versions of TWRP, same problem. Restore starts a red error line in beginning of the restore process an at the end it shows ‘Restore complete’. When I restart, everything looks restored but with bugs like:
-network or sim itself is not shown
-Bluetooth, wifi wont connect
-Quicksetting tiles not responding etc…
The idea of backing up via TWRP is to get every bit RESTORED properly, but it doesn’t work.
I take a full back up before moving to update the firmware version (example MIUI 10), if I do not like the firmware then I want to go back to the previous firmware version (example MIUI 9) and TWRP RESTORE feature never works. I have to again flash the rom and then restore everything via Titanium backup.
I always take a TWRP backup of all the items available:
System
Data
Cache
Cust
Recovery
Boot
EFS
Persist
Still it never restores properly. It’s a mere time waste or the restore option to be removed from TWRP as it never worked across of its versions.
Can anyone explain me in a line, what is Cust, EFS and Persist?
I really appreciate if anyone help me understand where I’m going wrong.

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