So I am new to the whole Root and ROM Android arena. And I came up with a few questions that hopefully you guys can help me with.
1. I read people saying they lost their ROOT after an update from 4.1 to 4.2 or 4.2.1 to 4.2.2? How did this happen for them?
Do you have to Un-root and flash to stock before updating to a different build (Such as 4.1 to 4.2 or 4.2.1 to 4.2.2)?
2. Right now I am using a custom ROM on Android Version 4.2.2.... if a new Custom ROM with a new android version released (Let's say 4.2.3) can I flash from one Rom to the other with just wiping Cache/Factory wipe and Dalvik Cahce or is there something else I would need to do because of the Android version update?
Sorry those two questions above are very similar but I wanted to ask them both ways.
3. If I were to get bored of the Custom ROM I am currently on. Are there any Best Practices "rules" I should know about when switching from one custom ROM to another?
4. Last if I am on a custom ROM with a nightly build..... is it more common to update to every nightly build that releases? Or is it more common people to only pick and choose choice nightly build versions. And if people do update to every new Nightly build.... can you update too much and destroy your device?
Sorry guys I know these seem like very basic questions..... and Yes I did search the forums. However while I found some very basic answers nothing went into great depth in explanation. All the answers seemed to be very vague.
does anyone have some suggestions on where to find these answers?
1. If you are on stock, rooted, and you update versions of the OS, you are essentially UPDATING the /system partition. That is how you lose 'root' when upgrading. If you modify any system files while rooted, you have to either revert to stock or change those modified files back to the original before running the update.
2. Just run FACTORY RESET in your custom recovery and flash the new custom rom. No need to wipe any caches (/cache is wiped during a factory reset anyway). It doesnt matter what version to what version. Sometimes new versions might require new bootloaders, but you will be bombarded with that information here if that becomes the case.
3. See number 2. Its the same thing. backup your apps with Titanium Backup, do a Factory Reset in custom recovery and flash new rom....done.
4. doesnt matter. you can update as much or as little as you like. some people prefer stability over new shiny, but then others are just crack-flashers....and will literally flash ANYTHING posted to see what happens
Pirateghost said:
1. If you are on stock, rooted, and you update versions of the OS, you are essentially UPDATING the /system partition. That is how you lose 'root' when upgrading. If you modify any system files while rooted, you have to either revert to stock or change those modified files back to the original before running the update.
2. Just run FACTORY RESET in your custom recovery and flash the new custom rom. No need to wipe any caches (/cache is wiped during a factory reset anyway). It doesnt matter what version to what version. Sometimes new versions might require new bootloaders, but you will be bombarded with that information here if that becomes the case.
3. See number 2. Its the same thing. backup your apps with Titanium Backup, do a Factory Reset in custom recovery and flash new rom....done.
4. doesnt matter. you can update as much or as little as you like. some people prefer stability over new shiny, but then others are just crack-flashers....and will literally flash ANYTHING posted to see what happens
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I really appreciate the response. :good: You'd be surprised how many "Tiny Parts" of answers you get from searching. Very rarely the whole answer you need.
I am glade to hear that Question 2 only requires you to just factory rest. From the misinformation gathered on other forums... I was starting to think you had to flash back to stock before updating to another Custom ROM Build.
@20mmrain
You've probably looked at a number of posts by confused newbs. For better or worse, this site is nothing like a moderated wiki, so you find treasure mixed in with trash.
Rooters fall into four broad classes:
(a) Those that "root & modify" stock ROMs
(b) Those that abandon stock and use custom ROMs and kernels
For each of the above cases, there are diligent and careful users who make full (nandroid) backups... and lazy idiots who do not. It is almost always the lazy idiots you observe coming in here in a panic, independent of whether they are in class (a) or (b).
Beyond that, newbs taking approach (a) seem to perpetually labor under the false impression that their modified versions of a stock ROM should be able to be upgraded by the OTA process - when in fact that there is absolutely no reason to believe that. The OTAs carefully check hundreds of different files before they perform any changes; if even a single one of them has been altered, the OTA aborts without making any changes.
It is *possible* that if none of those hundreds of files are changed that an OTA will succeed on a "nearly stock" ROM. When this happens though, it is quite typical that:
- the "su" binary (part of a root kit) in either /system/bin or /system/xbin gets its' setuid permissions reset by a recursive permission-setting command in the OTA
- the custom recovery can possibly be overwritten by the new stock recovery.
Folks tend to refer to either of the above as "losing root". True in principle, but they are trivially fixed up - if the user actually understands how Android rooting works. (With fastboot, you simply reflash the custom recovery, boot into that and reflash the same root kit originally used).
It's too bad that folks who put together rooting guides seem to neglect putting an emphasis on making backups. They give you both security and freedom.
Bottom line: whatever you choose to do, make nandroid backups. You don't need to keep them all on the tablet - but for convenience reasons, you should have at least one known good ROM as a backup available to be restored.
good luck
Wow that is a really in-depth explanation and that is exactly what was looking for! Since I have been working in the IT world for years I will say with pride that I am an individual who believes in safety first and always back up any important project I am working on! So I am happy to hear I made the right decision there.
I guess a great deal of my questions also stem from working in a windows based world for so long ....that I am still learning Linux/android.
Right now I do keep a nandroid backup on my nexus 7 but only one. How backups do you have? And do you just keep the rest on a thumb drive?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
20mmrain said:
Right now I do keep a nandroid backup on my nexus 7 but only one. How backups do you have? And do you just keep the rest on a thumb drive?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At the moment I have 6 on the tablet - all generated in the last 60 days. Two in the last two days (one a rooted stock/jdq39, another a cm10.1 nightly). Plus recent TiBu market app & data backups. 32 GB model, so I have plenty of room.
That doesn't reflect any particular strategy or goal. I hook it up to a PC every once in a while and at that time either copy off any backups worth saving or delete them. Most of the those I have on the PC will eventually be deleted as well without ever being used. You could use a USB key if you want to. Really you only need to keep one on the tablet - mostly as a convenience in case you wedge your daily driver ROM with some random mod: you can restore a working ROM right from your tablet rather than having to find a USB key or return to your PC to get the tablet booting again.
There is one type of ROM backup that I think is very useful to keep a permanent copy of - a pure stock ROM. The reason for that is that any radio images (tilapia) or bootloader upgrades that are *sometimes* delivered by OTA can be trivially installed by:
- make a backup of the current ROM
- restore a pure stock ROM backup (including the stock recovery! ***)
- take the OTA
- ***soft-boot a custom recovery and make a backup of the NEW stock ROM (including its' recovery!)
- hard-flash the custom recovery to the tablet
- restore the backup from the first step above.
Doing things this way is the safest possible way to install either a bootloader or a radio image. Not only that, but for folks that prefer to mod stock ROMs, it gives them a backup archive of /system to recover arbitrary (stock) files from.
*** soft-booting a recovery is the most convenient way to capture a stock recovery as part of a nandroid backup. I.E.
Code:
fastboot boot recoveryimagefile.img
If you hard-flash a custom recovery before you make a nandroid backup of a stock ROM, you lose the opportunity to get a copy of the stock recovery along with the rest of the stock ROM.
good luck
Hello!
So, I've read through the beginner guides (and that is a hilarious video btw!) and just want to double check a few things. I'm on Fido (Canada) with a stock S4 (i337M) that I got a couple days ago.
1. I assume I use the instructions here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2314494 [HOW-TO] and here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2298299 [Canadian Root and Recovery].
1a. That tool will allow me to un-root in case I need the warranty, yes?
2. I also want to flash to vanilla Android (aka Pure Google / Google Edition)... which ROM do I use? There are so many I can't tell.
2a. I know the Samsung camera app doesn't work on the Pure Google ROM, but is basic functionality still working, i.e. can I still take a picture / video / etc.? Is there any other basic functionality missing? (I heard something about the volume button?)
3. Which ROM do I use if I want to restore to factory?
4. I also need to backup my SMS, contacts, call log, app data, settings etc. so I can restore them easily after flashing to new ROM, or after restoring to factory ROM. Will Titanium handle all of this?
Thanks
kabutar said:
Hello!
So, I've read through the beginner guides (and that is a hilarious video btw!) and just want to double check a few things. I'm on Fido (Canada) with a stock S4 (i337M) that I got a couple days ago.
1. I assume I use the instructions here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2314494 [HOW-TO] and here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2298299 [Canadian Root and Recovery].
1a. That tool will allow me to un-root in case I need the warranty, yes?
2. I also want to flash to vanilla Android (aka Pure Google / Google Edition)... which ROM do I use? There are so many I can't tell.
2a. I know the Samsung camera app doesn't work on the Pure Google ROM, but is basic functionality still working, i.e. can I still take a picture / video / etc.? Is there any other basic functionality missing? (I heard something about the volume button?)
3. Which ROM do I use if I want to restore to factory?
4. I also need to backup my SMS, contacts, call log, app data, settings etc. so I can restore them easily after flashing to new ROM, or after restoring to factory ROM. Will Titanium handle all of this?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That guide should be fine. If you want "vanilla Android", right now the closest thing would be CM, you can get it from http://get.cm and select "jfltecan" (the canadian S4 model). Ye,s, Titanium can backup all of those things you mentioned, although I am not certain about system settings - there will be a lot of different settings between TouchWiz and AOSP.
CommentProvider said:
That guide should be fine. If you want "vanilla Android", right now the closest thing would be CM, you can get it from http://get.cm and select "jfltecan" (the canadian S4 model). Ye,s, Titanium can backup all of those things you mentioned, although I am not certain about system settings - there will be a lot of different settings between TouchWiz and AOSP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
awesome thanks. I'm not worried about system settings just apps and their settings.
for the factory ROM would this work?: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2261573 (again, I'm on Fido in Canada)
and lastly, I'm still not clear on the difference between Odin/Loki/whatever you use to root and/or flash - would someone be able to clarify?
Also, just to be clear, what is meant by 'recovery'?
Thanks again
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=41989987
Loki
refers to the exploit that allows us to run custom recoveries as well as custom roms. You only need to have a loki'd rom if you have a model with a locked bootloader (AT&T).
recovery is a partition that you can access at boot by holding down a combination of keys. (volume up and home button in the case of our sgs4) every phone has recovery stock but it doesn't do much. you can replace stock with clockwork mod recovery which is extremely useful for flashing all kinds of things and making backups before you do. There are other alternative recoveries besides clockwork but that seems to be the most common. TWRP is also gaining popularity these days. You can easily switch between recoveries and or upgrade your current recovery. All that needs to happen is for a new image to be flashed onto the recovery partition. See the rooting guide for more info on how to flash a custom recovery.
Sent from my SGH-I747
mymusicathome said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=41989987
Loki
refers to the exploit that allows us to run custom recoveries as well as custom roms. You only need to have a loki'd rom if you have a model with a locked bootloader (AT&T).
recovery is a partition that you can access at boot by holding down a combination of keys. (volume up and home button in the case of our sgs4) every phone has recovery stock but it doesn't do much. you can replace stock with clockwork mod recovery which is extremely useful for flashing all kinds of things and making backups before you do. There are other alternative recoveries besides clockwork but that seems to be the most common. TWRP is also gaining popularity these days. You can easily switch between recoveries and or upgrade your current recovery. All that needs to happen is for a new image to be flashed onto the recovery partition. See the rooting guide for more info on how to flash a custom recovery.
Sent from my SGH-I747
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok, great, thanks. just to clarify one last time: am I correct in understanding that I don't need to have a custom recovery in order to flash a ROM? or is that what installing clockwork mod/TWRP means? (or is that what rooting means?)
Lastly... is there somewhere with a list of what each custom ROM is, and/or what things don't work in the ROM? I do want vanilla, but I'd also be interested in checking out the other ROMs to see if there's one that will keep some TouchWiz functionality while removing the ridiculous skin.
Also, for vanilla Android, would you recommend waiting till devs release a MOD based off of the S4 GE?
kabutar said:
ok, great, thanks. just to clarify one last time: am I correct in understanding that I don't need to have a custom recovery in order to flash a ROM? or is that what installing clockwork mod/TWRP means? (or is that what rooting means?)
Lastly... is there somewhere with a list of what each custom ROM is, and/or what things don't work in the ROM? I do want vanilla, but I'd also be interested in checking out the other ROMs to see if there's one that will keep some TouchWiz functionality while removing the ridiculous skin.
Also, for vanilla Android, would you recommend waiting till devs release a MOD based off of the S4 GE?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out the link in my first post. A plethora of knowledge that will help you in your Rom journey.
Play around and test the options of roms you have. Each user has different likes/dislikes. MAKE SURE YOU READ THE ORIGINAL POST OF THE ROM YOU ARE PLANNING ON FLASHING. They will contain the basic inductions to flash the Rom and usually any bugs that exist.
Check out this thread for a list of compatible roms -
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=41834056
[GUIDE][NOOB'S]These non-AT&T ROMs work on AT&T/TMO/Canadian S4 devices. Here's how!
A quick search can be a beautiful thing
Sent from my Nexus 10 using xda premium
mymusicathome said:
Check out the link in my first post. A plethora of knowledge that will help you in your Rom journey.
Play around and test the options of roms you have. Each user has different likes/dislikes. MAKE SURE YOU READ THE ORIGINAL POST OF THE ROM YOU ARE PLANNING ON FLASHING. They will contain the basic inductions to flash the Rom and usually any bugs that exist.
Check out this thread for a list of compatible roms -
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=41834056
[GUIDE][NOOB'S]These non-AT&T ROMs work on AT&T/TMO/Canadian S4 devices. Here's how!
A quick search can be a beautiful thing
Sent from my Nexus 10 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks again for the link! I have actually seen several of those... but am just still very confused. mainly on these points:
- FIDO's rom isn't in those lists, and the variety of options for flashing (e.g. some ROMs say they need to be flashed with ODIN not TWRP) is a bit overwhelming!
- there's a post saying the Canadian ROMs are for odin not recovery flashing?
- I'm still not clear on whether I need to install a custom kernel just to flash a different ROM
- Also not clear on how to restore to factory stock (to take it to store for example)
- In the link you sent, the OP said non-ATT people should use the versions in their own forums... but does this apply to Canadian users too or is this ok for them?
Feel free to tell me if I'm being really dumb, but I really am a little lost lol.
As for buggy ROMs... would it be better to wait for one based off the S4 Google Edition?
Thanks again
Canadian dont need loki dont use loki never use loki
Take time to understand everithing before flashing
rodger is the same as fido exept for the rodger bloatware (my accout,visual voicemail etc)
what i did root with cf auto root
installed goomanager on google play ,this app can installed twrp and it really easy
in recovery i flash mint jelly rom ,after its done i flash faux kernel for canadian
To factory restore you have to installe stock rom thru odin ,(from what i understand) it change the rom and the kernel at the same time
zild8 said:
Canadian dont need loki dont use loki never use loki
Take time to understand everithing before flashing
rodger is the same as fido exept for the rodger bloatware (my accout,visual voicemail etc)
what i did root with cf auto root
installed goomanager on google play ,this app can installed twrp and it really easy
in recovery i flash mint jelly rom ,after its done i flash faux kernel for canadian
To factory restore you have to installe stock rom thru odin ,(from what i understand) it change the rom and the kernel at the same time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok, so I'm just sorting through all of this. Successfully rooted and flashed CM nightly. However, now I see 'rogers' instead of 'fido' and 4G in the status bar, which I understand means that I'm on LTE according to stock JB icons.
So to sort this out:
a) what do I do about this incorrect network name?
b) if I restore to stock rom through odin, and it installs the 'rogers' rom, how do I get back to the fido apps? will I still have the network access / wrong name problem?
c) if I want to go BACK to stock eventually, I seem to have two options:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2261573 [FACTORY STOCK]
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2269304 [12 May Official STOCK firmware collections for Canadian S4]
which do I use?
d) I took a nandroid image, BUT: can I restore from this (after wiping all data) to get back to factory ROM, or MUST I use ODIN? Or, do I need to use ODIN and then nandroid to restore everything about the stock ROM?
Thanks!!
A = I think cm have an option to rename carrier label if not you can install xposed framework and notach xposed and the go in frameword,module then activate nottach .open nottach then chose any option that you want ,over 100...
or i think you can try change your apn to show fido ( not sure)
B= check playstore for fido app
C= ? i dont know i think both of then are good, iwould use the one that say canadian stock firmware
D = if you restore from nandroid i think you flash counter gonna still show that you running cutom rom ,best way should be thru odin
Read a lot before you do anithing,you have to understand ..seem to be easy to brick .did not happen to me since one years ,but i read a lot..
And hit the thanks button when somebody helps you
zild8 said:
A = I think cm have an option to rename carrier label if not you can install xposed framework and notach xposed and the go in frameword,module then activate nottach .open nottach then chose any option that you want ,over 100...
or i think you can try change your apn to show fido ( not sure)
B= check playstore for fido app
C= ? i dont know i think both of then are good, iwould use the one that say canadian stock firmware
D = if you restore from nandroid i think you flash counter gonna still show that you running cutom rom ,best way should be thru odin
Read a lot before you do anithing,you have to understand ..seem to be easy to brick .did not happen to me since one years ,but i read a lot..
And hit the thanks button when somebody helps you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AWESOME, thanks for all that. Successfully flashed, so hopefully that's the end of it all. And thanks for pointing out the thanks button!!
Two LAST quick things:
- if I use the Canadian stock firmware, do I still end up with a wrong carrier name sign? I imagine I may need to ask the dev that, but just in case you happen to know. I actually can't seem to fix it using the methods you suggested, so I'd prefer not to have this happen.
- ok so I can flash with ODIN and then use nandroid to restore a snapshot of the filesystem I assume?
kabutar said:
AWESOME, thanks for all that. Successfully flashed, so hopefully that's the end of it all. And thanks for pointing out the thanks button!!
Two LAST quick things:
- if I use the Canadian stock firmware, do I still end up with a wrong carrier name sign? I imagine I may need to ask the dev that, but just in case you happen to know. I actually can't seem to fix it using the methods you suggested, so I'd prefer not to have this happen.
- ok so I can flash with ODIN and then use nandroid to restore a snapshot of the filesystem I assume?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-If you flash back to your stock carrier specific firmware with ODIN the carrier will be correct. You will be back to just as when you first got it from the dealer (provided they didn't set it up for you first).
-You shouldn't be able to restore the nandroid if you ODIN back to stock because you will no longer have a custom recovery.
blyndfyre said:
-If you flash back to your stock carrier specific firmware with ODIN the carrier will be correct. You will be back to just as when you first got it from the dealer (provided they didn't set it up for you first).
-You shouldn't be able to restore the nandroid if you ODIN back to stock because you will no longer have a custom recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- Well the problem is that my carrier is Fido, a subsidiary of Rogers, and so CM only has a 'Rogers' release. Similarly there is only a 'Rogers' stock firmware, so I don't want to flash back to that and have the carrier still wrong...
- OK, well I assume I could root, flash nandroid, and then unroot - yes?
Thanks!
kabutar said:
- Well the problem is that my carrier is Fido, a subsidiary of Rogers, and so CM only has a 'Rogers' release. Similarly there is only a 'Rogers' stock firmware, so I don't want to flash back to that and have the carrier still wrong...
- OK, well I assume I could root, flash nandroid, and then unroot - yes?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-I see the dilema.
-Well as opposed to even flashing to stock with ODIN in the first place. I would suggest booting to recovery (TWRP or CWM), and restore your Nandroid backup. This should bring you to the point before you flashed any ROM. Keep in mind this won't however remove status showing 'custom'.
If you happened to already ODIN back to stock you would have to root again, install custom recovery and perform the step above.
blyndfyre said:
-I see the dilema.
-Well as opposed to even flashing to stock with ODIN in the first place. I would suggest booting to recovery (TWRP or CWM), and restore your Nandroid backup. This should bring you to the point before you flashed any ROM. Keep in mind this won't however remove status showing 'custom'.
If you happened to already ODIN back to stock you would have to root again, install custom recovery and perform the step above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is what I was thinking... there are ways to unroot as far as I know so hopefully that should be ok!
thankfully I did take a nandroid backup. speaking of which - I have 3 files, does this sound ok?:
- boot/sys/data (these were originally selected so just went with it)
- efs
- other (everything else)
last clarification: I thought nandroid was not recommended if switching between ROMs? like if I had a computer backup (i.e. nandroid) but took the backup in Windows XP (i.e. stock rom) and then tried to restore it over Windows 8 (i.e. CM rom), bad things would happen? or is the nandroid more like an acronis boot image thing where it completely wipes everything?
lastly, if I do that... do I need to wipe factory data, dalvik cache, etc or will nandroid take care of that for me?
many thanks again!
kabutar said:
that is what I was thinking... there are ways to unroot as far as I know so hopefully that should be ok!
thankfully I did take a nandroid backup. speaking of which - I have 3 files, does this sound ok?:
- boot/sys/data (these were originally selected so just went with it)
- efs
- other (everything else)
last clarification: I thought nandroid was not recommended if switching between ROMs? like if I had a computer backup (i.e. nandroid) but took the backup in Windows XP (i.e. stock rom) and then tried to restore it over Windows 8 (i.e. CM rom), bad things would happen? or is the nandroid more like an acronis boot image thing where it completely wipes everything?
lastly, if I do that... do I need to wipe factory data, dalvik cache, etc or will nandroid take care of that for me?
many thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think when you go into recovery and restore nandroid everything will restore.
I would just restore the nandroid from your current state via recovery. If you are worried about it or it causes a problem, it isn't to many more steps to flash to stock via ODIN, root and install recovery and proceed with restore.
I think it is always safe practice to wipe first, and not to dirty flash.
blyndfyre said:
I think when you go into recovery and restore nandroid everything will restore.
I would just restore the nandroid from your current state via recovery. If you are worried about it or it causes a problem, it isn't to many more steps to flash to stock via ODIN, root and install recovery and proceed with restore.
I think it is always safe practice to wipe first, and not to dirty flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok thanks.
However: I may be SAVED! I just realized that Fido is often tagged as FMC, and there's a stock firmware for that one in this thread. Thank the heavens!
kabutar said:
ok thanks.
However: I may be SAVED! I just realized that Fido is often tagged as FMC, and there's a stock firmware for that one in this thread. Thank the heavens!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't know that! Never been with Fido. Great news for you, all you have to do is ODIN that firmware
blyndfyre said:
Didn't know that! Never been with Fido. Great news for you, all you have to do is ODIN that firmware
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, very relieved, and now just gotta figure out why my phone is showing up as a Rogers phone when the nightly is tagged Rogers + Fido and I'll be good to go. I must say I miss multi-window a little and the handwaving over screen a lot, but by god TouchWiz was ugly.
hey kabutar
Yesterday i flash the 12 may stock firmware thru odin ,to revert backt to stock
Here what i did
-latest odin 3.07
-put your phone in download mode with usb not pluged to computer ...
-closed all kies software
-plug your phone in computer
add firmware on pda button ,dont touch any other option.
reboot i add a lot of crashing app so i went to recovery and errase data
reflash thru odin the stock firmware ,and boom everthing was stock ,no more custom in os or in download mode
So I just dropped my Note 3 of 2 weeks on the floor (with a case on it) and although the glass isn't cracked, the LCD and digitizer is definitely junk since its all warped in color and mostly black. Thank the gods I have insurance.
I have it Rooted and Safestrap installed and luckily made a backup before I installed Xposed when all was still well. I'm familar with Clockworkmod and flashing that way but new to Safestrap. What is the best way to get my new phone back to how the dropped one was like? Not sure of what files to copy onto my PC and back onto the new phone once I get a new one. Would it make a difference if the backup is from another phone?
My main concern is getting all my username and passwords out of the OI Safe app so it's the main reason for wanting to flash my old backup to the new phone. Other than that I'm not to worried about the rest of the phone since it's fairly new and didn't have it long enough for lots of pics and getting it set up the way I really wanted it.
Thanks
That should work with the following big caveat: if you were on the MJ7 kernel (or earlier), and the new phone is on MJE, restoring the full nandroid backup probably won't work at all and is not adviseable. (Remember that Safestrap "ROM"s do not replace the stock kernel).
If the two phones are from the identical release, then what I would do is the following:
- Root and install SafeStrap as usual.
- Immediately make a Nandroid of the Stock Slot using Safestrap. Get it copied off the phone someplace safe (and named in a way that you can remember it) too.
- Make a second slot in Safestrap and restore the backup from the previous phone to this alternate/second slot.
( Note if you were using a ton of the userdata partition on the old phone you will need to right-size the 2nd slot when you create it. Of course, if you were a data-pig on the old phone and there is no room for a sufficiently-large 2nd slot, then this method of rescue is not available to you. In this case you could restore the original nandroid backup directly to the stock slot - only if you were 100% positive of the same kernel release being used on both phones - but if something goes wrong here you might be making a trip to Odin to re-flash stock and then going through the rooting process all over again ).
- You can use it this way for a little while if you like to see if things are working, or rescue critical data from individual apps, or perhaps make TiBu backups of individual apps (that can be later restored into a different ROM). If things seem to be going swimmingly, you can certainly repeat this process, restoring to the stock slot and then destroying the alternate/second slot.
Note that there are other means of rescue of individual apps which do not require a full restore; this is because the Nandroid backups are (concatenated) "tar" archives, and with sufficient command-line knowledge, you could manually splice into place the appropriate folders from /data/data/*, /data/app/*, and /data/lib/* for individual market apps you wanted to rescue from the old backups. Essentially you are doing the same thing that TiBu does, but manually using adb with the phone in Safestrap recovery mode and the command line.
I'm not going to document this, as it is too tedious to do so - either you already have the working knowledge to do this or you don't. The only tricky part to it is getting the user/group ownership of the files correct. (The easiest way to do this is to install the app from the market, then record the owner/group information it used for the new install of the app, restore the /data/data/* files into the correct place, and then as root "chown" them to the correct user ID... either that or run the "Fix Permissions" script of the recovery).
good luck
I am about 99% sure it was on MJE, I remeber checking it before rooting and following the newest root method available for the newest kernel among other things such as installing Safestrap and Xposed framework.
I unfortunately don't have any experience using Odin or adb, which is something I should know how to do seeing I'm always tinkering with all the phones I get. I'm pretty good with figuring things out when someone points me in the right direction such as you did by searching and following guides here on xda so I thank you for that! I'll try your idea of rescuing the individual app such as TiBu would do using adb. Or even restoring the ROM into a second slot, grabbing the data I need, then get rid of that rom.
And for anyone else reading this...it's never too early to use TiBu or any other backup app for all your important data. Never expected my brand new phone to break after only 2 weeks of owning it but lesson learned.
Thanks a lot for the help, I'll let you know how things go once my new phone arrives.