Database Users

[Q] Downgrade from 4.2 to 4.1.2

Some apps not working after updated to 4.2, so I'm considering back to 4.1.2.
Though I never done this before since the day I get Nexus 7,
I think use Wug's Nexus Root Toolkit should get it done.
But just for sure:
1. Do I need to unlock/root to flash factory 4.1.2 image? (I think it is not but not so sure)
2. Directory structure seems different from 4.1.2, is it OK just using Toolkit to backup/restore settings?
(Sorry for my English if anything looks impolite)

1) unlock bootloader yes; root no, as you're going to overwrite the system anyways.
Also I'd suggest not using a toolkit, just download the factory image off google's page and run the "flash-all.bat"
2) Use Titanium Backup to backup all app data, wipe after flashing 4.1.2 and then restore apps + data with Titanium again

I just downgraded this morning. All your data will be wiped .. ALL YOUR DATA ... meaning, after I got back to 4.1.2 I was having 13GB of free space on the tablet (out of 13 possible) .
So, if you HAVE a nandroid from the 4.1.2 days, save it to your computer (along with all your files).
If you don't have a 4.1.2 nandroid, at least create now a backup repository with whatever tool you prefer and then save the respective files to PC.
Then, flash the factory image for 4.1.2.
Then copy all your files back to the internal memory, install the backup tool and restore your apps.
The reason behind this is that the update from 4.1.2 to 4.2 has some scripts that are porting the original /data and /sdcard mounts to the new structure used in 4.2
When downgrading, you no longer have scripts to do that for you so the newly installed 4.1.2 will not recognize anything so it will bootloop like crazy (I tried first to restore just the /system ... but all the other data was already affected by the update so was no longer usable).

My thoughts:
If you got the ota, and things messed up, try flashing the 4.2 factory image. That seemed to help me. If you're not rooted already, I would recommend becoming familiar with the adb backup command to backup apps before doing anything else. You have to unlock the boot loader to downgrade or flash the factory 4.2 image, and this will wipe the device.
Once you update either way, definitely take the time to root. You can then use adb restore or titanium backup to restore from the adb backup you made before unlocking.
Just be aware that adb backup doesn't seem to backup all apps, and that titanium backup isn't exactly fast parsing through a big adb backup file.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

step by step?
srry, very nooby questions:
how do i flash my nexus?
where do i find the factory image?
what is the backup tool?
ro_explorer said:
I just downgraded this morning. All your data will be wiped .. ALL YOUR DATA ... meaning, after I got back to 4.1.2 I was having 13GB of free space on the tablet (out of 13 possible) .
So, if you HAVE a nandroid from the 4.1.2 days, save it to your computer (along with all your files).
If you don't have a 4.1.2 nandroid, at least create now a backup repository with whatever tool you prefer and then save the respective files to PC.
Then, flash the factory image for 4.1.2.
Then copy all your files back to the internal memory, install the backup tool and restore your apps.
The reason behind this is that the update from 4.1.2 to 4.2 has some scripts that are porting the original /data and /sdcard mounts to the new structure used in 4.2
When downgrading, you no longer have scripts to do that for you so the newly installed 4.1.2 will not recognize anything so it will bootloop like crazy (I tried first to restore just the /system ... but all the other data was already affected by the update so was no longer usable).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

HellcatDroid said:
1) unlock bootloader yes; root no, as you're going to overwrite the system anyways.
Also I'd suggest not using a toolkit, just download the factory image off google's page and run the "flash-all.bat"
2) Use Titanium Backup to backup all app data, wipe after flashing 4.1.2 and then restore apps + data with Titanium again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
restoring my apps with Titanium Backup is unsuccessful , when i first tried a full app+data restore it freezes at 0 percent
and when i tried backuping app the missing apps , it worked but after i rebooted it . It went into a bootloop

Youssef Hossam said:
restoring my apps with Titanium Backup is unsuccessful , when i first tried a full app+data restore it freezes at 0 percent and when i tried backuping app the missing apps , it worked but after i rebooted it . It went into a bootloop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assumed you are referring to downgrade from 4.2.1 to 4.1.2 and rooted to run TB, so the basic stock rom is up & running otherwise, correct?
Let's try Plan B instead - go into (Custom) Recovery and wipe dalvik cache first, then reboot. Give it a few minutes to settle and try to do your TB restore WITHOUT data, and see if it works. The /SD and/or /SD/0 directory structures are setup differently on the N7 and trying to retore with your custom settings will just make it more difficult & complicated. If this works, you can then try to selectively restore one or more with data and hopefully without going into endless bootloop again.
Plan C - go to Play Store, then Settings and "All" - you should see all of your Apps and what's installed, etc. - and install from there, it's semi-manual but it works for me 99.8% of the time when it would otherwise freeze within TB, especially true when switching custom Rom & kernels.
I usually manually copy & move back items such as documents, pictures & mp3's, etc. from standalone/usb backup drives or cloud storage back into the device once everything else are up & running properly.
Let us know if this helps & working for you or not.

Thankss !
Letitride said:
Assumed you are referring to downgrade from 4.2.1 to 4.1.2 and rooted to run TB, so the basic stock rom is up & running otherwise, correct?
Let's try Plan B instead - go into (Custom) Recovery and wipe dalvik cache first, then reboot. Give it a few minutes to settle and try to do your TB restore WITHOUT data, and see if it works. The /SD and/or /SD/0 directory structures are setup differently on the N7 and trying to retore with your custom settings will just make it more difficult & complicated. If this works, you can then try to selectively restore one or more with data and hopefully without going into endless bootloop again.
Plan C - go to Play Store, then Settings and "All" - you should see all of your Apps and what's installed, etc. - and install from there, it's semi-manual but it works for me 99.8% of the time when it would otherwise freeze within TB, especially true when switching custom Rom & kernels.
I usually manually copy & move back items such as documents, pictures & mp3's, etc. from standalone/usb backup drives or cloud storage back into the device once everything else are up & running properly.
Let us know if this helps & working for you or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your help , but I think the problem was that there were apps in the backup only compatible with the custom ROM I had and android 4.2.1 xD
I restored the apps one by one , but I think if I deleted the extra custom rom apps , the process would have finished without any problems

Hi fellow people,
i'm a noob just made my xda account like 5 mins ago. I've been trying to search for my problem but I haven't really a found a direct answer. So yesterday I just got my Samsung Galaxy nexus update to 4.2.1. I was really excited until I started having the battery issues, screen lock issues, and overheating problem. I really don't like 4.2.1 and want to downgrade my version back 4.1.2. My carrier is the Mobicility (Canadian). I did not do anything previously with this phone such as rooting it, doing all the funky stuff that will void my warranty. I heard about flashing some google images to get back 4.1.2 but I'm not sure if I need to root or how to like do it through the gnex toolkit that mskip made. As well what if the difference between yakju and maguro? I heard if you flash the wrong image it will brick your phone or something like that. If there is a method without having to root it and lose all my contacts, then I would prefer that a lot.
Thanks,
mleung754

mleung754 said:
Hi fellow people,
i'm a noob just made my xda account like 5 mins ago. I've been trying to search for my problem but I haven't really a found a direct answer. So yesterday I just got my Samsung Galaxy nexus update to 4.2.1. I was really excited until I started having the battery issues, screen lock issues, and overheating problem. I really don't like 4.2.1 and want to downgrade my version back 4.1.2. My carrier is the Mobicility (Canadian). I did not do anything previously with this phone such as rooting it, doing all the funky stuff that will void my warranty. I heard about flashing some google images to get back 4.1.2 but I'm not sure if I need to root or how to like do it through the gnex toolkit that mskip made. As well what if the difference between yakju and maguro? I heard if you flash the wrong image it will brick your phone or something like that. If there is a method without having to root it and lose all my contacts, then I would prefer that a lot.
Thanks,
mleung754
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You dont have to root but you need to UNLOCK the bootloader which will obviously erase all your data(and VOID your warranty). you can find the factory image here https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images . just flash the appropriate image and you should be as good to go.

mleung754 said:
Hi fellow people,
i'm a noob just made my xda account like 5 mins ago. I've been trying to search for my problem but I haven't really a found a direct answer. So yesterday I just got my Samsung Galaxy nexus update to 4.2.1. I was really excited until I started having the battery issues, screen lock issues, and overheating problem. I really don't like 4.2.1 and want to downgrade my version back 4.1.2. My carrier is the Mobicility (Canadian). I did not do anything previously with this phone such as rooting it, doing all the funky stuff that will void my warranty. I heard about flashing some google images to get back 4.1.2 but I'm not sure if I need to root or how to like do it through the gnex toolkit that mskip made. As well what if the difference between yakju and maguro? I heard if you flash the wrong image it will brick your phone or something like that. If there is a method without having to root it and lose all my contacts, then I would prefer that a lot.
Thanks,
mleung754
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mleung754,
You are posting in the wrong forum.
Asus Nexus 7 is not the same thing as a Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
Ignore mmystere68's remarks.

[Q][Root/cwm lost?]

Hi guys,
Recently I updated my i9505 to official 4.3 version XXUEMJ7...then i rooted it successfully, flashed philz cwm, it worked...i did a backup, then flashed a mod (lightning effect on lockscreen), turned on the phone. Suddenly my wifi won't work so I decided to do a restore from the backup that i made 10 minutes before that. While it was restoring i noticed that i didnt had enough storage so it skipped few things. When it was successfully restored, I turned my phone on and here are the problems:
When it has booted up i recieved so many errors and fc's like procedure system has stopped, com.google.process.gapps error and so on...
I taught ok, lets delete some HD games to gain space and restore it again. But now there was no cwm or any recovery. I can't use Google Play and every app that uses Google files (youtube, gmail, stock internet browser and even facebook)
I'm not sure if I lost root and/or cwm. My question is how to get it back? What do i need to flash over Odin? Download mode works.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app

Hello.
I have same problem. Nothing works. I think it's a protected bootloader that will rewrite every custom rom/recovery. I had rom for ~20 days, and was just doing my daily routine, rebooted and lost root and CWM. After this same symptoms occured.
I downloaded XXUEMJ7 prerooted now, and it was only rom that I could flash. Have no custom recovery by now and root works... But probably not for long. What's most important - wifi works. This is partial solution for using your phone while someone smarter will explain us what's going on.

socah said:
Hello.
I have same problem. Nothing works. I think it's a protected bootloader that will rewrite every custom rom/recovery. I had rom for ~20 days, and was just doing my daily routine, rebooted and lost root and CWM. After this same symptoms occured.
I downloaded XXUEMJ7 prerooted now, and it was only rom that I could flash. Have no custom recovery by now and root works... But probably not for long. What's most important - wifi works. This is partial solution for using your phone while someone smarter will explain us what's going on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. I'll try that.
EDIT: can you give me a link, and you flashed it via Odin?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2250824
In this thread, use "ctrl+f" and write "PDA: XXUEMJ7" There will be prerooted odin flashable link.
By the way, flashing this new knox bootloader with 4.3 was worst thing that I done do my phone. And I'm really pissed off on samsung. Hope some smart devs will solve this someday and we will be able to downgrade or bypass this.

Well, I still get those errors all the time... :crying:
I taught this would remove them, but unfotunately didn't..

Samsungi9OO said:
Well, I still get those errors all the time... :crying:
I taught this would remove them, but unfotunately didn't..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try factory reset

socah said:
Try factory reset
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you

[Q] Safestrap and Restoring Stock ROM

I have a rooted Galaxy Note 3 (Verizon). I'm running Safestrap and made a backup of the stock ROM about two weeks ago.
...I had not tried any other ROMs, now I wish I had. Something went wrong with my stock ROM, long story short - it's just not workin' right and I want to restore it from the backup I've made.
I want to restore it to the stock ROM slot (not a new ROM slot).
The backup is on a Micro SD card, Safestrap sees the backup file. The 'Restore' button is not red (while I've got the stock ROM activated).
I haven't done anything yet. I'm hoping I can just hit restore and it'll restore the stock ROM slot to the backup I made a couple weeks ago.
...is it that simple? Is there anything I should or should not do?

Twisked said:
I have a rooted Galaxy Note 3 (Verizon). I'm running Safestrap and made a backup of the stock ROM about two weeks ago.
...I had not tried any other ROMs, now I wish I had. Something went wrong with my stock ROM, long story short - it's just not workin' right and I want to restore it from the backup I've made.
I want to restore it to the stock ROM slot (not a new ROM slot).
The backup is on a Micro SD card, Safestrap sees the backup file. The 'Restore' button is not red (while I've got the stock ROM activated).
I haven't done anything yet. I'm hoping I can just hit restore and it'll restore the stock ROM slot to the backup I made a couple weeks ago.
...is it that simple? Is there anything I should or should not do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is that simple, just hit restore, select the file, then swipe the restore button.

airmaxx23 said:
It is that simple, just hit restore, select the file, then swipe the restore button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just one more question, if for any reason the restore fails... will Safestrap be unaffected?
What I mean by that is, I have another ROM (Hyperdrive) up and running that I can choose with Safestrap. If for some reason the restoration of the Stock ROM (in the stock ROM slot) fails, Safestrap will keep on working and I can choose Hyperdrive.
...and then if I reboot, I can still choose to boot up into Recovery mode with Safestrap. Is that correct?

Twisked said:
Just one more question, if for any reason the restore fails... will Safestrap be unaffected?
What I mean by that is, I have another ROM (Hyperdrive) up and running that I can choose with Safestrap. If for some reason the restoration of the Stock ROM (in the stock ROM slot) fails, Safestrap will keep on working and I can choose Hyperdrive.
...and then if I reboot, I can still choose to boot up into Recovery mode with Safestrap. Is that correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the restore fails you'll get a message saying that it failed, you can then just restore a different backup.

airmaxx23 said:
If the restore fails you'll get a message saying that it failed, you can then just restore a different backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've only got the one backup file that I'd made.
If it does fail, could I download a stock ROM from somewhere to put into the Stock ROM slot?
I'm not sure how Safestrap works, in my thinking if I screw up (wipe out) the Stock ROM slot then I've deleted Safestrap too. I think that's where my biggest worries are coming into play here. I'm hoping my understand of that is wrong.
...thanks by the way for your replies :good:
EDIT: I found a site that has a rooted stock ROM for the Verizon Galaxy Note 3. Downloading it now to be safe.

Twisked said:
I've only got the one backup file that I'd made.
If it does fail, could I download a stock ROM from somewhere to put into the Stock ROM slot?
I'm not sure how Safestrap works, in my thinking if I screw up (wipe out) the Stock ROM slot then I've deleted Safestrap too. I think that's where my biggest worries are coming into play here. I'm hoping my understand of that is wrong.
...thanks by the way for your replies :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If for some odd reason your backup fails you could place one of the available ROMs on your sdcard and install it from there. In a worst case scenario you always have Odin and the .tar files to restore your phone.

airmaxx23 said:
If for some odd reason your backup fails you could place one of the available ROMs on your sdcard and install it from there. In a worst case scenario you always have Odin and the .tar files to restore your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hopefully last question (sorry, want to make sure I have my head wrapped around this)
You said if the restore fails I'll simply get a failed message. ...if that happens, could I choose to boot with the Hyperdrive ROM and restart the phone with no problems?
I guess what I'm trying to ask is, isn't Safestrap running from that Stock ROM slot? Or does it run independently of whatever ROMs are in the slots.

Twisked said:
Hopefully last question (sorry, want to make sure I have my head wrapped around this)
You said if the restore fails I'll simply get a failed message. ...if that happens, could I choose to boot with the Hyperdrive ROM and restart the phone with no problems?
I guess what I'm trying to ask is, isn't Safestrap running from that Stock ROM slot? Or does it run independently of whatever ROMs are in the slots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the restore fails it will not effect SafeStrap, you will just be able to boot up HyperDrive afterwards. The chances of it failing are extremely slim.

airmaxx23 said:
If the restore fails it will not effect SafeStrap, you will just be able to boot up HyperDrive afterwards. The chances of it failing are extremely slim.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for all your help! I'm probably going to wait 'til tomorrow evening to do this (need my phone runnin' smoothly from now 'til then for work).
...not sure which reply of yours to click 'THANKS' on. I guess the first one, but they were all helpful. :good:

Twisked said:
Thank you so much for all your help! I'm probably going to wait 'til tomorrow evening to do this (need my phone runnin' smoothly from now 'til then for work).
...not sure which reply of yours to click 'THANKS' on. I guess the first one, but they were all helpful. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One more thing, more of a "heads up". During the restore if your screen turns off and pressing Power or Home doesn't turn it on just leave it and when the restore is done it will turn on or just reboot on it's own. Restores can take 5 minutes or more depending on how big of a backup file you have.

airmaxx23 said:
One more thing, more of a "heads up". During the restore if your screen turns off and pressing Power or Home doesn't turn it on just leave it and when the restore is done it will turn on or just reboot on it's own. Restores can take 5 minutes or more depending on how big of a backup file you have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thought you might like to know, my meeting for tomorrow was cancelled so I went ahead and tried the restoration. ...worked FLAWLESSLY!! Whew!! :laugh:
So my phone is back, everything is running PERFECTLY.
Which brings me to a new question (hopefully you might know). I'm on 4.3 and do not want to get the OTA update for 4.4 from Verizon. It will download automatically (640 MBs or so), and a notification will appear that can't be swiped away.
Is there something in Titanium Backup that I can freeze to prevent the OTA update? To stop that non-swipable notification from appearing?

Twisked said:
Thought you might like to know, my meeting for tomorrow was cancelled so I went ahead and tried the restoration. ...worked FLAWLESSLY!! Whew!! :laugh:
So my phone is back, everything is running PERFECTLY.
Which brings me to a new question (hopefully you might know). I'm on 4.3 and do not want to get the OTA update for 4.4 from Verizon. It will download automatically (640 MBs or so), and a notification will appear that can't be swiped away.
Is there something in Titanium Backup that I can freeze to prevent the OTA update? To stop that non-swipable notification from appearing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can follow THIS guide to remove the notification and prevent further OTA updates from showing up.

Restoring Rooted Device!?

How do i go about restoring my rooted samsung s3, my phone has become extremely slow over time which i guess is understandable no update so on, is there anything that has to be done before i restore or can i simply just do it ? if i back up will it be fine to restore from that backup even though it was rooted also ?

G4ORCE3 said:
How do i go about restoring my rooted samsung s3, my phone has become extremely slow over time which i guess is understandable no update so on, is there anything that has to be done before i restore or can i simply just do it ? if i back up will it be fine to restore from that backup even though it was rooted also ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Restore" to what level? Are you thinking factory reset and return to stock?
Sent from my Etch A Sketch

vladimirhtg said:
"Restore" to what level? Are you thinking factory reset and return to stock?
Sent from my Etch A Sketch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah like a factory reset

bump!

Galaxy S3?
If you want to return to factory settings the best way is to do it via recovery. You can do this regardless of whether you have the stock recovery or have flashed CWM/TWRP. Just be aware that factory reset in the stock recovery will erase your internal SD card so you need to backup anything on it you want to keep. I would also remove any external SD card you have installed to just to be safe.
If you have CWM/TWRP then a factory reset shouldn't erase your internal or external card. But in both cases you will lose any user data you have on the phone. So things like text messages and installed applications will be lost. I would suggest a backup with the likes of Titanium Backup or, even better, do a Nandroid backup if you have CWM/TWRP installed. You can then use an application like Nandroid Manager to restore any aspect of the backup you see fit afterwards.
And this really should have been posted in Q&A.

Do i clean install with odin. A clean install is always the best.
Btw you're in the wrong thread my friend

Yeah i realized i was in the wrong section after i posted it sorry, okay when you say recovery what do you mean? cant i just restore it through samsung kies ? and about the titanium backup....whats wrong with backing it up with samsung kies also? and i am not planning on rooting the device after i restore it so titanium backup wont work ?

G4ORCE3 said:
Yeah i realized i was in the wrong section after i posted it sorry, okay when you say recovery what do you mean? cant i just restore it through samsung kies ? and about the titanium backup....whats wrong with backing it up with samsung kies also? and i am not planning on rooting the device after i restore it so titanium backup wont work ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- If you do factory reset, the root still remains and you can restore apps using Titanium.
- If you restore all partitions, you will lost root and Titanium will not work anymore.

Ok, so i want to get rid of the root, i want to restore completely and update my device without having root at all, but i also want to be able to restore my old messages mail accounts ETC? what do i have to do to accomplish this...

G4ORCE3 said:
Ok, so i want to get rid of the root, i want to restore completely and update my device without having root at all, but i also want to be able to restore my old messages mail accounts ETC? what do i have to do to accomplish this...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make a backup with Kies 3.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

i only have the samsung galaxy s3 19305 i dont think it runs with samsung kies 3 ? and can i just restore it through Samsung kies?

G4ORCE3 said:
i only have the samsung galaxy s3 19305 i dont think it runs with samsung kies 3 ? and can i just restore it through Samsung kies?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry my mistake. Make a backup with Kies.

Okay thank you , then after that i need to reset binary counter and then restore with odin yes ?

Not sure about resetting binary counter, you can try if flashing via Odin is not success.
Download the stock firmware for your device and flash via Odin.

[Q] Question about backing up before using Odin to load new ROM

What is the best/most thorough way to back up my device before Odin'ing new ROMs? I'm preparing to do this for the fist time.
Pics/videos: easy, I can manually copy to computer, manually replace when on new OS.
Contacts: sync'd to Google gmail cloud, will populate once new OS is installed.
Apps: Mostly just re-download the apps that I want (this will be a good way to purge apps I don’t use anymore)
I also made a copy of the entire /system/apps folder manually, but I don't know if that will even be useful if I need it.
Question: will the apps I’m currently using (4.2.2 OS) even work on Lollipop ROM if I was to reinstall my current .apk manually onto the new OS?
What about app data? Is that stored somewhere else if I want to save it? (I have several apps that I would want to save data/progress)
SMS/MMS: do I need to get an app to backup SMS/MMS (I see lots of options on the Play store), or can I do this manually?
Call log history: same question as above.
Other phone settings – will this even be relevant once I change my OS from 4.2.2 to Lollipop?
Wifi settings? Chrome bookmarks, passwords?
Is there anything else I need to back up?

It depends on whether you're rooted, or whether you have a custom recovery installed.

Buccanero said:
It depends on whether you're rooted, or whether you have a custom recovery installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume you mean my current setup? I am currently running stock AT&T version 4.2.2, rooted.
My desire is to get custom lollipop ROM (rooted) running as the end product.

You might be able to do this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g2/help/how-to-restore-kitkat-apps-titanium-t3005385

I backed up with SafeStrap and when I went to my new ROM I just restored the data partition and got all of my MMS/Text data, apps, game progress, etc. back. Obviously if you restore the system partition you`ll be right back where you started. Even kept my data across three bootloop situations that arose from outdated file downloads and an Odin reflash.

Bucanero, Thanks for the link, that certainly could come in handy for what I plan to do.
VoodooJeff said:
I backed up with SafeStrap and when I went to my new ROM I just restored the data partition and got all of my MMS/Text data, apps, game progress, etc. back. Obviously if you restore the system partition you`ll be right back where you started. Even kept my data across three bootloop situations that arose from outdated file downloads and an Odin reflash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jeff, you raise a question I had not yet realized - the first step in my plan (after doing all this manual backing up) had been to use Odin to flash a rootable ROM, that I could then upgrade (and keep root) to Lollipop, and THEN install safestrap to begin the custom ROM experience.
Should I install safestrap NOW and use it to back everything up? I'm thinking maybe yes.

sac02 said:
Bucanero, Thanks for the link, that certainly could come in handy for what I plan to do.
Jeff, you raise a question I had not yet realized - the first step in my plan (after doing all this manual backing up) had been to use Odin to flash a rootable ROM, that I could then upgrade (and keep root) to Lollipop, and THEN install safestrap to begin the custom ROM experience.
Should I install safestrap NOW and use it to back everything up? I'm thinking maybe yes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DON'T DO ANYTHING YET! What version of 4.2.2 are you on? Mdb, mdl, or mf3? Look at the last three characters of your buildnumber in settings, more, about device. You need to do some more research. You don't flash custom roms with Odin (and there is not rootable lollipop rom). You may also not need/want to use safestrap depending on what version of 4.2.2 you're on.
Edit, forgot I saw you here, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=61279434
Best thing for backup is let Google backup your apps and data, contacts, passwords, etc. Pics, music, etc, backup to your pc. Sms/mms, try sms backup and restore.
If you let Google backup your apps and data, when you re-setup your device and sign into your Google account they will be restored.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

sac02 said:
Bucanero, Thanks for the link, that certainly could come in handy for what I plan to do.
Jeff, you raise a question I had not yet realized - the first step in my plan (after doing all this manual backing up) had been to use Odin to flash a rootable ROM, that I could then upgrade (and keep root) to Lollipop, and THEN install safestrap to begin the custom ROM experience.
Should I install safestrap NOW and use it to back everything up? I'm thinking maybe yes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I`m sure there are people on here with deeper answers, but Safestrap has saved my a$$ plenty of times. The cool thing is that it will save the backup file to your SD card, so you flash the new system, lose safestrap, reinstall it and BAM, there is your preserved backup. The S4 is such a fickle device, and as pointed out there are firmware versions that don`t play nice with mods. The link I used to get mine to cooperate had a whole crapload of links to get from pretty much any base to any other, but some of the procedures are pretty convoluted.

jd1639 said:
DON'T DO ANYTHING YET! What version of 4.2.2 are you on? Mdb, mdl, or mf3? Look at the last three characters of your buildnumber in settings, more, about device. You need to do some more research. You don't flash custom roms with Odin (and there is not rootable lollipop rom). You may also not need/want to use safestrap depending on what version of 4.2.2 you're on.
Edit, forgot I saw you here, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=61279434
Best thing for backup is let Google backup your apps and data, contacts, passwords, etc. Pics, music, etc, backup to your pc. Sms/mms, try sms backup and restore.
If you let Google backup your apps and data, when you re-setup your device and sign into your Google account they will be restored.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app
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I'm on 4.2.2, MF3. So I'm pretty sure I need to rely on Odin/safestrap - since I'm MF3, I can't use loki like MDB or MDL right?
Sorry, my terminology is not so accurate - I plan to use Odin to INSTALL (is install the right word, not flash?) this ROM:
Rootable NB1 OTA -- I337UCUFNB1_Rootable_Full_Odin.rar -- from here. Thanks muniz_ri
Then root with towelroot.
Then upgrade to OC3 (keeproot method) per here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...-to-update-to-i337oc3-5-0-1-keeproot-t3075814
Then proceed to custom OC3 ROM per here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=60324305#post60324305