Related
EDIT: Just realized I posted this to the S4 forum instead of the S3. Should I post again in the proper forum, or wait for the thread to be moved?
Hi,
After running the latest stable Cyanogenmod for a little while, I've decided to go back to stock. I've flashed custom roms and used CWM to restore my backup before, so I was comfortable with it. But this time, CWM couldn't find my backup. Eventually I figured out that it (and all my other original files) are in /0/0/0/0/clockworkmod. I understand this is because of 4.2's changes, but I don't know why I have so many 0 folders. Perhaps from flashing MIUI and CM so many times?
Anyway, I updated CWM to be compatible with 4.2, but also tried moving the clockworkmod folder to the root of the internal memory. Something went wrong, though, because although CWM can see the backup, it always fails at restoring /data. I noticed that instead of moving the clockworkmod folder, Windows had only copied them - perhaps partially. My phone now only has about 1GB of internal memory left due to the multiple folders, and I can't delete, move, or copy any of them. I do have my CWM backup copied to my computer, but not the blobs folder, so I'm worried that if I somehow manage to reformat my device, I won't be able to restore it without the blobs.
Also, I should mention that I'm not able to use adb, it tells me it can't find the device. I'm running Windows 8 64-bit.
If anyone has any ideas, I'd really appreciate it. This is really frustrating.
Update: After a bit of waiting, I finally managed to copy my blobs and backup folders to my desktop and got adb working, so I reformatted the entire device and managed to restore it. No idea why I was having trouble before, but at least it's working again.
Vertimyst said:
EDIT: Just realized I posted this to the S4 forum instead of the S3. Should I post again in the proper forum, or wait for the thread to be moved?
Hi,
After running the latest stable Cyanogenmod for a little while, I've decided to go back to stock. I've flashed custom roms and used CWM to restore my backup before, so I was comfortable with it. But this time, CWM couldn't find my backup. Eventually I figured out that it (and all my other original files) are in /0/0/0/0/clockworkmod. I understand this is because of 4.2's changes, but I don't know why I have so many 0 folders. Perhaps from flashing MIUI and CM so many times?
Anyway, I updated CWM to be compatible with 4.2, but also tried moving the clockworkmod folder to the root of the internal memory. Something went wrong, though, because although CWM can see the backup, it always fails at restoring /data. I noticed that instead of moving the clockworkmod folder, Windows had only copied them - perhaps partially. My phone now only has about 1GB of internal memory left due to the multiple folders, and I can't delete, move, or copy any of them. I do have my CWM backup copied to my computer, but not the blobs folder, so I'm worried that if I somehow manage to reformat my device, I won't be able to restore it without the blobs.
Also, I should mention that I'm not able to use adb, it tells me it can't find the device. I'm running Windows 8 64-bit.
If anyone has any ideas, I'd really appreciate it. This is really frustrating.
Update: After a bit of waiting, I finally managed to copy my blobs and backup folders to my desktop and got adb working, so I reformatted the entire device and managed to restore it. No idea why I was having trouble before, but at least it's working again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you got it worked out..
Hi!
[First of all, sorry for bad english ]
I have Nexus 4 E960
Android 4.4.2
I want to recover some photos I have deleted a week ago!
And for this I need to run app Undelete, but to run this app, need ROOT and unlock bootloader
But I DON'T WANT to ROOT and WIPE the phone (because it will make the deleted photos "cache" disappear too, right?
So, complicated situation! haha :crying:
Can please someone help me?
Thank you so much for your attention!
hellffer said:
Hi!
[First of all, sorry for bad english ]
I have Nexus 4 E960
Android 4.4.2
I want to recover some photos I have deleted a week ago!
And for this I need to run app Undelete, but to run this app, need ROOT and unlock bootloader
But I DON'T WANT to ROOT and WIPE the phone (because it will make the deleted photos "cache" disappear too, right?
So, complicated situation! haha :crying:
Can please someone help me?
Thank you so much for your attention!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anybody have any info on this? I am in the same boat here.
As much as i know, you once have to unlock bootloader with full wipe (this is required for flashing superSU which in turn is required for things like Bootunlocker.)
I have never tried this but does adb pull work for cache? you can get a copy of your cache with it. Also stock gallery stores thumbnails, these are not high quality and without root, they may only be option.
RohMish said:
As much as i know, you once have to unlock bootloader with full wipe (this is required for flashing superSU which in turn is required for things like Bootunlocker.)
I have never tried this but does adb pull work for cache? you can get a copy of your cache with it. Also stock gallery stores thumbnails, these are not high quality and without root, they may only be option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EEEEK...No way of rooting without unlocking bootloader huh?
Not sure how undelete works, but you are better off using diskdigger, you can root and use this as when you delete something it is not removed from the storage, it just removes the link to the files location and says that the location can now be overwritten. This means that if it is not overwritten then the data is still there, this is what diskdigger uses.
This also means you don't want to write any more data to your phone than is necessary until you recover your files as this will increase the chance of corrupting them.
(Rooting is write heavy)
The way to recover without rooting is to mount your phone to your computer as an external storage device then run the desktop disk digger application targeted at the phone storage, this should recover the files.
http://diskdigger.org
Note: this will recover all the files that have traces left on the drive so be prepared to trawl through them all looking for what you want.
Hope this helps, post back if needed.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
So I ran into an issue with my locked-bootloader, unrooted MXPE 2015. I am running stock Marshmallow. I will note that I don't think this is really a bootloop, it seems to boot for a few seconds before a crash/reboot. I am able to boot into recovery, and am even able to trigger a safe-mode boot during the few seconds of uptime, where the safe-mode boot does not crash/reboot. I also suspect a Factory Reset will fully resolve the issue, unless the factory image got corrupted somehow... I do apologize, this is a long post.
I was essentially trying to make a backup to do a factory reset. Long story short, I was trying to use an app called Easy Backup that consolidates sms, mms, call logs, and that I had used in the past without issue. However this time that was not the case. I have a 16 GB version with an SD card, but have used ~8.5 GB of the internal free ~9.8 GB (I can't remember the exact numbers) and I constantly run into low storage situations with app caches and install sizes when doing updates. Normally clearing all app cache data is enough to get the downloads to go through.
So I go to run this backup app (with the default storage directory set on my external SD card) to have it uploaded to Google Drive, and after it gets close to finishing, I get errors about running out of storage, and then a cascade of apps crashing, and then a reboot. After the reboot, I check my Drive folder and see that the file never uploaded; the storage seems to have cleared up, but I clear my cache and the backup app's storage just in case (though it had already pretty much cleared back to the 8.5 GB used from before). I also notice some oddities like random settings suddenly having changed in certain apps. But I stupidly think no harm has been done, so maybe retrying after clearing up Cache space will work. So I tried to get the backup to run again after verifying the upload and storage location options (SD Card -not internal - and G Drive), but the same storage and crashing thing happens. It "finishes" the backup, and after a few seconds of the phone hanging and lagging, it reboots again. This time after the reboot I notice that apps are missing from my Nova Launcher home screen (but still in my app drawer), and go to restore a backup of Nova, except the overview and home buttons don't do anything, and then see that the notification shade can't be pulled to open the settings toggles. Then it suddenly reboots again. And now, unless I boot into safe mode, I get a few seconds of of it sitting at the home screen before the phone reboots. This same nav button and settings shade behavior are persistent in safe mode.
I guess my question is whether or not there is a way to pull off my SMS, MMS, Call log data (maybe in ADB?) while in safe mode. I have been trying to uninstall extraneous apps in Safe Mode to see if I can break the rebooting cycle, but no luck thus far.
On another note, should I go ahead and do a factory reset or should I contact Moto first (I have a Moto Care policy, though I've heard horror stories). I have never had this issue with this app before,
Any other recommendations and tips? It almost seems like the app tries to cache on my internal storage before moving to the destination folder, and in a low storage situation it seems to have corrupted something in the actual OS as well as my other apps.
Thank you, I appreciate your time!
If memory serves, apps like Easy Backup may store things on external storage or upload to the cloud, but use app cache space as temporary working space, thus most likely causing your storage issue. Erasing app cache likely wiped that out, and your are correct that a factory reset will likely clear up this issue.
Moto care doesn't care if an app messed up your system, and they won't help you with it other than to walk you through a factory reset first before sending the device in for replacement, as I suspect a factory reset will clear your issues up.
Have you tried clearing the cache partition in recovery?
Recovering your data will be impossible if you can't get it booted long enough to enable ADB and copy the files off.
If you can get if booted, I suggest using SMS Backup & Restore over your existing backup tool for this type of data... I have used it successfully for many years without issues (except when they accidentally had it set by default to delete all but the last 2 backup file on Google Drive, geesh, that sucked, but that isn't an issue anymore).
acejavelin said:
If memory serves, apps like Easy Backup may store things on external storage or upload to the cloud, but use app cache space as temporary working space, thus most likely causing your storage issue. Erasing app cache likely wiped that out, and your are correct that a factory reset will likely clear up this issue.
Moto care doesn't care if an app messed up your system, and they won't help you with it other than to walk you through a factory reset first before sending the device in for replacement, as I suspect a factory reset will clear your issues up.
Have you tried clearing the cache partition in recovery?
Recovering your data will be impossible if you can't get it booted long enough to enable ADB and copy the files off.
If you can get if booted, I suggest using SMS Backup & Restore over your existing backup tool for this type of data... I have used it successfully for many years without issues (except when they accidentally had it set by default to delete all but the last 2 backup file on Google Drive, geesh, that sucked, but that isn't an issue anymore).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I did try cleaning the cache partition, but to no avail. Ironically because I was messing with ROMs on my old 2013 moto x, I'm currently using that with CM 13. When I get back from work tonight I'll see about ADB, I think I may have set it up on it in the past, however I may have deactivated it. And yeah, I think I may have used that tool in the past, so I'll have to give it another look!
I thought that the Moto Care route may not be worth it, but I thought that I might as well check. If a reset doesn't solve things, I'll take another look. Thanks for the help, really appreciate it!
acejavelin said:
If memory serves, apps like Easy Backup may store things on external storage or upload to the cloud, but use app cache space as temporary working space, thus most likely causing your storage issue. Erasing app cache likely wiped that out, and your are correct that a factory reset will likely clear up this issue.
Moto care doesn't care if an app messed up your system, and they won't help you with it other than to walk you through a factory reset first before sending the device in for replacement, as I suspect a factory reset will clear your issues up.
Have you tried clearing the cache partition in recovery?
Recovering your data will be impossible if you can't get it booted long enough to enable ADB and copy the files off.
If you can get if booted, I suggest using SMS Backup & Restore over your existing backup tool for this type of data... I have used it successfully for many years without issues (except when they accidentally had it set by default to delete all but the last 2 backup file on Google Drive, geesh, that sucked, but that isn't an issue anymore).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I did get in and take another look, however developer options just shows "Developer permissions not available for this user." So I think i may be hosed. I'll give it another go and see what I can try to salvage from booting into safe mode again. Thank you for the help and recommendations, this willteach me not to be using something like SMS backup instead (and consistently, haha).
jtflynnz said:
So I did get in and take another look, however developer options just shows "Developer permissions not available for this user." So I think i may be hosed. I'll give it another go and see what I can try to salvage from booting into safe mode again. Thank you for the help and recommendations, this willteach me not to be using something like SMS backup instead (and consistently, haha).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you are in a Guest user account, can you switch users?
acejavelin said:
Sounds like you are in a Guest user account, can you switch users?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I looked at that, and it says I am logged into my account. Photos below:
So coincidentally, I just got it connected to my wifi while in safe mode, and it hasn't crashed/rebooted since that (it still was doing that prior). I can get into the play store, so I am going to try to get my sms/call logs/mms. Home and overview buttons are still broken, and the notification shade is still borked. So No ADB backup, but at least I have most things on my SD card and was on MM, so the app backups should help get restarted. Once I get everything checked/backed-up that I can, I'll try a factory reeset, and failing that a call to moto care *cringes*.
Thanks for the help everyone! I learned my lesson on small-storage phones...
jtflynnz said:
So I looked at that, and it says I am logged into my account. Photos below:
So coincidentally, I just got it connected to my wifi while in safe mode, and it hasn't crashed/rebooted since that (it still was doing that prior). I can get into the play store, so I am going to try to get my sms/call logs/mms. Home and overview buttons are still broken, and the notification shade is still borked. So No ADB backup, but at least I have most things on my SD card and was on MM, so the app backups should help get restarted. Once I get everything checked/backed-up that I can, I'll try a factory reeset, and failing that a call to moto care *cringes*.
Thanks for the help everyone! I learned my lesson on small-storage phones...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have a corporate account on the device that is a Device Administrator? That is the only other thing I can think of that could cause something like that.
acejavelin said:
Do you have a corporate account on the device that is a Device Administrator? That is the only other thing I can think of that could cause something like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, nothing like that. It's my own personal device with no work emails, and in fact I had previously used USB debugging to backup pictures when my SD Card got corrupted. All of this weirdness occured after the failed backups, and just speculating it honestly seems like when the app ran out of room it just kept going and started overwriting random bits (ie the Nova Launcher settings/ homescreen), and might be why the Navigation buttons/Notification shade are broken. But that's just me spit-balling , so really there might be no telling what happened.
jtflynnz said:
No, nothing like that. It's my own personal device with no work emails, and in fact I had previously used USB debugging to backup pictures when my SD Card got corrupted. All of this weirdness occured after the failed backups, and just speculating it honestly seems like when the app ran out of room it just kept going and started overwriting random bits (ie the Nova Launcher settings/ homescreen), and might be why the Navigation buttons/Notification shade are broken. But that's just me spit-balling , so really there might be no telling what happened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well... Try to get off what you can, then factory reset, I imagine things will improve greatly.
I just had an issue similar to this... phone (1575) would reboot (continuous reboot) after about 30-45 seconds every time (reminded me of TV show Lost where you had only a certain amount of time before you had to reset)... enough to uninstall a GPS app I was tinkering with a few hours prior... enough to delete cache... enough to reboot into recover to wipe cache partition... about 4 reboots to finally download a Google app update (which in the end said it couldn't successfully install) etc. Sometimes powering off would reboot instead (and after a while could not reboot into safe mode, just a normal reboot) so the few times I had the phone off, I took out/reset the SIM and SD card. What seemed to solve it was taking out the SD card (formatted as External, but was always a pain -- a week or so ago it "disappeared" and had to reformat the SD card (just downloaded stuff)) and when I powered it up this morning, no more reboots. Of course for now, no more added storage But saved me a full factory reset.
So I have no idea what happened today. I was trying to restore an older data file and some reason it seems that TWRP somehow deleted everything on my internal storage.
So I had to reinstall a stock image, then reinstalled Pure Nexus.
I lost all my Titanium backup files and pictures. Not super concerned about the pics as I had most backed up already.
Just wondering if there is any app out there or a PC app that might be able to recover my Titanium Backup files? Just don't want to lose some progress I had on some games.
TNS201 said:
So I have no idea what happened today. I was trying to restore an older data file and some reason it seems that TWRP somehow deleted everything on my internal storage.
So I had to reinstall a stock image, then reinstalled Pure Nexus.
I lost all my Titanium backup files and pictures. Not super concerned about the pics as I had most backed up already.
Just wondering if there is any app out there or a PC app that might be able to recover my Titanium Backup files? Just don't want to lose some progress I had on some games.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
I have never had to recover deleted files yet. But there seems to be a lot of tools available:
https://www.google.fr/search?ei=ZaQ....1j4.64.mobile-gws-serp..8.7.1190.4j4Wq56Vd1E
Also: https://www.androidpit.com/how-to-recover-lost-data
Good luck...
5.1 said:
Hello,
I have never had to recover deleted files yet. But there seems to be a lot of tools available:
https://www.google.fr/search?ei=ZaQ....1j4.64.mobile-gws-serp..8.7.1190.4j4Wq56Vd1E
Also: https://www.androidpit.com/how-to-recover-lost-data
Good luck...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
many of those apps seem worthless or only for photos. It would actually be nice if I could recover my last TWRP backup. I made one this morning and had a few others saved that were consisting of my BOOT SYSTEM and DATA. Seems like that is hopeless though
TNS201 said:
many of those apps seem worthless or only for photos. It would actually be nice if I could recover my last TWRP backup. I made one this morning and had a few others saved that were consisting of my BOOT SYSTEM and DATA. Seems like that is hopeless though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
I guess there must be some forensic tools able to do it, but I don't know their names...
Good luck..
Hi,
First post, so be gentle. I searched the forum and found quite a few posts about a boot looping S5 but most referring to custom ROMs - my phone started doing this on its own. Running marshmallow 6.0.1. Its almost 3 years old, and up until now has never caused problems. It was charging when this first happened, and it could have updated (I have no way of knowing what update though).
First thing I tried was a new battery, I charged it up with the phone off, but it still wouldn't boot.
The problem:
-It either hangs on the startup splash screen ("Samsung GALAXY S5") and can only be turned off by pulling the battery (sometimes), or.. it restarts on the same screen (mostly).
-If I leave it for 10 minutes without a battery, it goes further, getting to the point where it asks for the password, but then freezes at this point at restarts.
-I can get into recovery (vol up + home + power buttons) and have cleared the cache. It never hangs or freezes whilst in recovery.
-Whilst I had enabled developer options (used for debugging bluetooth problems once) I have NOT enabled USB debugging - so it seems ADB push/pull to recover user data won't work.
I don't really want to do a factory reset as google hasn't backed up everything, so I'm stuck. Does TWRP or clockworkmod go into the recovery partition (sparing user data)? Or do these only work after a factory reset? I have read a fair bit about Odin, Kies, and firmware updates, but as I don't know what the problem is, I have no idea where to start - I was hoping there are some kind of debug logs on the phone that could at least point to the cause, but of course I cannot access it. The fact it doesn't crash/hang/restart in recovery leads me to believe it isn't a hardware problem - but the fact this happened suddenly without me changing anything is suspicious. Ideas?
If you have an SD card inserted remove it - a corrupt SD can cause bootloops
If it boots without sd card transfer what you need from it to a pc either via USB card reader or via USB cable whilst in twrp
Once done format sd card & transfer files back - note only transfer back personal files eg pics music etc & not the android folder or any app data
If it still bootloops your only choice maybe a factory reset
You can flash twrp at any time - it will not erase userdata unless you goto the wipe section & do it yourself
You can create a backup & extract it on a pc but remember twrp backups do not backup personal files like pics music docs
You can however mount internal storage & transfer what ever files you want to pc
If all else fails flash stock firmware via odin
TheFixItMan said:
If you have an SD card inserted remove it - a corrupt SD can cause bootloops
If it boots without sd card transfer what you need from it to a pc either via USB card reader or via USB cable whilst in twrp
Once done format sd card & transfer files back - note only transfer back personal files eg pics music etc & not the android folder or any app data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly, it stil does it without the SD - forgot to mention I tried that too.
TheFixItMan said:
You can flash twrp at any time - it will not erase userdata unless you goto the wipe section & do it yourself
You can create a backup & extract it on a pc but remember twrp backups do not backup personal files like pics music docs
You can however mount internal storage & transfer what ever files you want to pc
If all else fails flash stock firmware via odin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh, this is what I was hoping. So twrp, goes onto the recovery partition? I did read (here: hxxps://twrp.me/faq/backupexclusions.html ), as you mentioned, that TWRP doesn't back up internal storage automagically. Even if done manually, as long as I can transfer the files to PC, I'll be happy. Thankfully, it's only one folder of photos that I google didn't back up, but I might as well grab everything.
I may post back with questions, thanks for the reply!
Right, I keep reading that "USB debugging" must be enabled when installing TWRP, or doing almost anything. But I don't have this enabled, and I can't enable it since I don't have access to the phones system. Is this required to install TWRP? I know it is required to use ADB which I believe is used to flash the TWRP. If this is the case, it looks like a dead end. I did find one link claiming to enable USB debugging from a recovery, but the instructions are incomplete, and it also mentions performing a factory reset first - which kind of defeats the point.
BuriedCode said:
Right, I keep reading that "USB debugging" must be enabled when installing TWRP, or doing almost anything. But I don't have this enabled, and I can't enable it since I don't have access to the phones system. Is this required to install TWRP? I know it is required to use ADB which I believe is used to flash the TWRP. If this is the case, it looks like a dead end. I did find one link claiming to enable USB debugging from a recovery, but the instructions are incomplete, and it also mentions performing a factory reset first - which kind of defeats the point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the g900f all you have to do is the following
Install Samsung USB drivers https://developer.samsung.com/galaxy/others/android-usb-driver-for-windows
Put phone into download mode (hold Vol down home & power button) & connect to pc
Push Vol up to start connection
Open odin https://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4431749&d=1519672710
Place twrp.tar in the AP section & flash
https://dl.twrp.me/klte/
As soon as the phone restarts enter recovery - hold Vol up home power button
If the phone starts to boot before entering recovery you will need to flash it again - once you have entered twrp once it will stick
Once again, thank you for the clear instructions. I Successfully got TWRP on my phone, and it appears on the PC so I could see the file structure in explorer (!). Progress.
I went to copy two photos as a test - MPT/USB transfers have always been unreliable for me anyway - and the phone froze. I only noticed when the touch screen became unresponsive and the clock wasn't updating. So this could well be the original problem - a hardware issue that causes the phone to freeze when it does anything remotely taxing. Or.. it could be the MPT transfer.
Either way, I had to pull the battery and it seems the TWRP didn't take as when I tried to boot into recovery, it had the stock recovery menu. So at least I'm not going backwards, nothing is broken.
Now I know how to get TWRP on there, and to boot back into recovery right away, and I know that it works. Next up is getting it on there and leaving it for 10 minutes to see if it crashes/freezes. If its OK, then I'll have to look for another way to pull files off. Can one use ADB with TWRP? If its enabled then I could use "pull" to get the files off and hopefully quicker (or at least more reliably) than ****ty MPT. Ideally I'd like to just pull everything off so I can decide what to add back later after a fresh reset.
Thank you once again for your advice!
Replying to my own post. It still can crash (screen has random colours on it and it freezes) but rarely whilst in TWRP. I was able to use adb and pull off all my camera photos that weren't backed up, and with the "-a" option, keep the file attributes.
Also solved the MPT problem - if anyone has the same issue or cares - using USB 3.0 sockets on my PC and only at the back rather than the sockets on the front (which are awful quality anyway). It's sitll onyl USB 2.0 but I guess the socket is higher quality.
Last question which I may make another thread for: How can I back up contacts, internet bookmarks, SMS and "memos" from a Samsung S5? I read that TWRP does not back these up, so I would need the location of the directory where these are stored. My google fu yielded somewhat vague answers from stackexchange, but no exact directories. If TWRP includes these in backup great, if not I would like to know if there is any kind of work around. MMS messages probably aren't that important, but contacts and memos really are. If I find any answers, I'll post back for others. Cheers!
Right, I realise people either know this, or don't care, but I did say I would post with anything I've found. I couldn't find the answers googling, so I was digging around in the file browser in TWRP.
- Almost everything in data/media - which isnt' backed up by TWRP - is exposed to MPT. I say almost everything, because some isn't, but I backed up the entire folder anyway with adb pull. This is the "internal SDcard" people mention in forums (internal memory partition, not an actual card). Simply copying from windows explorer grabs the files, but not with the correct directory structure. Best to use adb pull with the -a option to keep file attributes.
- Samsung memos, bookmarks (from the samsung internet browser), and contacts are not stored in /data/media. Rather these are in data/data. in the following places (absolute directories):
- memos: data/data/com.samsung.android.app.memo/databases/memo.db
- bookmarks: data/data/com.sec.android.app.sbrowser/databases/SBrowser.db
- contacts: data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/contacts2.db
It seems TWRP does not back these up -I could be wrong though. Samsung's own utilities probably do but I have never used them. I don't know if google stores these either since I haven't used its backups to check.
I am still unclear of exactly what TWRO backup backs up. I understand that the /media folder is not included (downloads, photos, music etc..) but are app settings in data/data included?
BuriedCode said:
Right, I realise people either know this, or don't care, but I did say I would post with anything I've found. I couldn't find the answers googling, so I was digging around in the file browser in TWRP.
- Almost everything in data/media - which isnt' backed up by TWRP - is exposed to MPT. I say almost everything, because some isn't, but I backed up the entire folder anyway with adb pull. This is the "internal SDcard" people mention in forums (internal memory partition, not an actual card). Simply copying from windows explorer grabs the files, but not with the correct directory structure. Best to use adb pull with the -a option to keep file attributes.
- Samsung memos, bookmarks (from the samsung internet browser), and contacts are not stored in /data/media. Rather these are in data/data. in the following places (absolute directories):
- memos: data/data/com.samsung.android.app.memo/databases/memo.db
- bookmarks: data/data/com.sec.android.app.sbrowser/databases/SBrowser.db
- contacts: data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/contacts2.db
It seems TWRP does not back these up -I could be wrong though. Samsung's own utilities probably do but I have never used them. I don't know if google stores these either since I haven't used its backups to check.
I am still unclear of exactly what TWRO backup backs up. I understand that the /media folder is not included (downloads, photos, music etc..) but are app settings in data/data included?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All app data is backed up in a twrp backup
If you were to restore a twrp backup your phone would be in exactly the same position as when the backup was created including app settings & data
The common partitions it will backup are system data cache & boot (kernel) - it can also backup (if included in the twrp.fstab) modem/efs & other partitions
The only things a twrp backup doesn't backup is personal files eg downloads music pictures documents etc
You can make a twrp backup & extract it on a pc - I'm sure there are guides which explain how to do this
TheFixItMan said:
All app data is backed up in a twrp backup
If you were to restore a twrp backup your phone would be in exactly the same position as when the backup was created including app settings & data
The common partitions it will backup are system data cache & boot (kernel) - it can also backup (if included in the twrp.fstab) modem/efs & other partitions
The only things a twrp backup doesn't backup is personal files eg downloads music pictures documents etc
You can make a twrp backup & extract it on a pc - I'm sure there are guides which explain how to do this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent. Well I've manually (well, same directory structure) backed up pretty much everything I could think of anyway so even if the phone goes south, the media files are safe. I'll do a TWRP backup on my PC as well (just for easy restoring if I need to) I'm assuming this can only be done via adb? as the UI only gives options for internal or SDcard storage - which is another option.
I have some more questions as I am not sure how to proceed. Yes, everything is (or can be) backed up. But the phone still freezes which may or may not be a hardware issue. So I am stuck deciding:
1) looking for logs to attempt to diagnose the problem. Probably won't get me anywhere. logcat doesn't seem to work.
2) Just performing a factory reset from TWRP. Unsure exactly what this resets. Firmware? OS? wipes all apps?
3) Using Odin to flash stock firmware (I only have one large md5 file from updato.com for use with "AP"). Does this wipe apps and data? (I'm not including media files here).
In some forums people claim that user data (as in apps and app data) isn't wiped by using ODIN to update the firmware, others say it wipes absolutely everything. Whilst I have back ups I'd obviously prefer it to keep the apps and their data, assuming they aren't the cause of the problem. Apologies for so many questions, I probably don't need to know all the details, but I'm curious and cautious.
BuriedCode said:
Excellent. Well I've manually (well, same directory structure) backed up pretty much everything I could think of anyway so even if the phone goes south, the media files are safe. I'll do a TWRP backup on my PC as well (just for easy restoring if I need to) I'm assuming this can only be done via adb? as the UI only gives options for internal or SDcard storage - which is another option.
I have some more questions as I am not sure how to proceed. Yes, everything is (or can be) backed up. But the phone still freezes which may or may not be a hardware issue. So I am stuck deciding:
1) looking for logs to attempt to diagnose the problem. Probably won't get me anywhere. logcat doesn't seem to work.
2) Just performing a factory reset from TWRP. Unsure exactly what this resets. Firmware? OS? wipes all apps?
3) Using Odin to flash stock firmware (I only have one large md5 file from updato.com for use with "AP"). Does this wipe apps and data? (I'm not including media files here).
In some forums people claim that user data (as in apps and app data) isn't wiped by using ODIN to update the firmware, others say it wipes absolutely everything. Whilst I have back ups I'd obviously prefer it to keep the apps and their data, assuming they aren't the cause of the problem. Apologies for so many questions, I probably don't need to know all the details, but I'm curious and cautious.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odin firmware images (unless custom made) do not wipe user data apps & settings however unless it's the same firmware as already on the phone it will most likely bootloop until you do a factory reset in stock recovery
This will erase all app data & settings but not internal storage unless the device was encrypted in which case all internal storage will be erased
For twrp if you want to flash a custom rom
If encrypted format data (option on right of wipe menu) This will erase all internal storage - then restart to recovery
Then once encryption removed or not encrypted to begin with
Wipe system (previous rom)
Wipe data (app data settings)
Wipe cache
Flash rom
Flash gapps
Flash root (optional)
Restart
So it looks like a firmware flash with ODIN is the way to go. As I've loaded on TWRP I can no longer see the firmware version that was on the stock recovery screen to check if I have the right image downloaded. Is there a way to see the firmware version from TWRP? I tried
Code:
adb shell getprop
Which had [ro.boot.bootloader]: [G900FXXU1CRH1] that I'm guessing is the firmware version, although the hit on sammobile doesn't mention the carrier (vodafone). If I search by region and carrier, I get a different version.
Update: Just tried to backup to a blank SD micro. It freezes and restarts 2% into it every time. Tried:
Code:
adb backup " -all -noshared -f "C:\phone backup.ab" "
And it said "now unlock your device to confirm action" but TWRP gave no such dialog. At this rate I can't actually do a proper backup of anything. Is there another way? I don't have enough space on internal storage. I guess I could try USB storage (USB memory stick with adapter).
BuriedCode said:
So it looks like a firmware flash with ODIN is the way to go. As I've loaded on TWRP I can no longer see the firmware version that was on the stock recovery screen to check if I have the right image downloaded. Is there a way to see the firmware version from TWRP? I tried
Code:
adb shell getprop
Which had [ro.boot.bootloader]: [G900FXXU1CRH1] that I'm guessing is the firmware version, although the hit on sammobile doesn't mention the carrier (vodafone). If I search by region and carrier, I get a different version.
Update: Just tried to backup to a blank SD micro. It freezes and restarts 2% into it every time. Tried:
Code:
adb backup " -all -noshared -f "C:\phone backup.ab" "
And it said "now unlock your device to confirm action" but TWRP gave no such dialog. At this rate I can't actually do a proper backup of anything. Is there another way? I don't have enough space on internal storage. I guess I could try USB storage (USB memory stick with adapter).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just backup to internal storage or SD card & transfer to pc
Backup is stored in eg sdcard/twrp
The firmware you need is
https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/galaxy-s5/SM-G900F/BTU/download/G900FXXU1CRH1/233034/
Free downloads on sammobile will be back on Monday or find an alternative site
TheFixItMan said:
Just backup to internal storage or SD card & transfer to pc
Backup is stored in eg sdcard/twrp
The firmware you need is
https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/galaxy-s5/SM-G900F/BTU/download/G900FXXU1CRH1/233034/
Free downloads on sammobile will be back on Monday or find an alternative site
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't backup to SD card because it freezes at 2%. And using "adb backup " -f "C:\mybackup.ab" --twrp boot system data" " asks me to unlock my device - but TWRP doesn't show anything. On top of all that, it seems sammobile is under maintainance so I cannot download that firmware file until Monday Probably a good thing as it gives me a couple of days to keep trying to back up. Right now it gets into TWRP from recovery boot about one in 6 times. I'm out of idea's.
You can probably tell the frustration is real. Right now, I cannot use adb or twrp to backup onto internal storage (no space), the SDcard (crashes 2% into it, even with a blank SD card). It doesn't seem to crash whilst in TWRP, and I managed to pull the media folder off use "adb pull" so it seems it doesn't crash when using ADB commands.
So my only option before attempting to flash firmware is to make a backup via adb. However, I cannot get this to work at all. "adb backup --twrp" prompts me to unlock my phone, but the phone just displays the TWRP menu still. "adb backup -f "c:\backADB.ab" -noshared --twrp system boot data" tells me "adb: unable to open file c:\backADB.ab". Using simply "adb backup" puts me in the backup menu in TWRP, but then I can only change storage to internal or SDcard.
So either we can't yet backup to PC via adb and the TWRP documentation is out of date, or bugged. I'm on windows so I don't know if that makes it impossible - I just want to be able to get a backup on my PC's harddrive(s). Am I missing something with ADB?
Edit: it seems to now attempt to back up with "adb backup -f "c:\mybackup" --twrp system boot data" however.. this starts to back up and crashes at... 2%.
Just flashed the linked firmware with Odin after managing to get my apps backed up with my samsung account (the phone didn't crash for 15 minutes!). It cycled through "installing system update" restarting several times before hanging on the startup screen. I then pulled the battery, booted into stock recovery performed a factory reset (TWRP was gone). Now it is back in bootloop.
I installed TWRP again to use the file browser and my data has indeed been wiped (RIP). So what now? I could just let it boot loop and hope that it somehow gets back into android - it did that before, maybe one in 15 times. But I've done pretty much everything that has been recommended.
Rather than leave this thread hanging, I might as well post progress. After many *many* reboots interrupting the phone updating apps, it seems stable. It still occasionally crashes, but I can now make it crash and restart on demand by trying to install snapchat. It downloads it successfully and about a minute of "installing" the phone restarts, and reboots about 15 times before finally booting properly. I installed several other apps, none of which restarted the phone.
So, I'm going to get a new phone, and it seems that most things are backed up (please note, samsung doesn't back up contacts, shealth data, or splanner data despite claiming they do so). But I am curious as to what this problem could be. I have no experience debugging phone problems, and I realize it could be many things, but is there a way of checking the phones RAM (unlikely) or internal memory (flash, = more likely) for corruption? I may run a stress test to check if its power, CPU, or hover heating. If it passes that then it has to be memory usage.
Update: Today it only lasts a few minutes before it restarts. This is without any app updates - although I cannot be sure because I don't know whats going on in the background. This happens with, or without the SD card, and with both the new and old battery. I don't know where to start debugging. Any pointers?