Database Users

Question about rooting and over locking

Hi just got my tab a few days ago n I luv it. It actually replaced my laptop apart from heavy typing work. Bt the stock room is very slow n crash very often.
I would like to know is there any way to the device if things go wrong. Is there anyway to backup before rooting? I also want to know how is the battery life of 1.4ghz compre to the stock and will it reduces the llags n crashes?
Sori for all these question n thank u.

Your best bet to reduce lag and crashes would be to use a custom rom + an overclock kernel. I never had battery drain with overclocking.

Rooting and installing different recovery by folliwing the guides here is pretty simple and cant go wrong.
After rooting and install recovery you have backup function in recovery menu. Make a backup.
Now you can install custom roms, but restore backup if rom is no good / fails / whatever happens.. and end up with old setup, ready for next try / different rom / etc...

Root / Backup / Custom Rom's ...
K999rrl said:
Hi just got my tab a few days ago n I luv it. It actually replaced my laptop apart from heavy typing work. Bt the stock room is very slow n crash very often.
I would like to know is there any way to the device if things go wrong. Is there anyway to backup before rooting? I also want to know how is the battery life of 1.4ghz compre to the stock and will it reduces the llags n crashes?
Sori for all these question n thank u.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In order to do a real backup such as with Titanium backup and nandroid via something like clockwork mod; you must root first. However, the tutorials in this forum are very good. What I would do is take it slow; do just the root. No custom ROMS, etc. Do a titanium backup and get familiar with that. Install clockwork mod recovery and do backups there.
Then get a custom rom (such as TASK's, that one is very stable) and maybe a custom kernel such as the ones at droidbasement.com. Then you can overclock, etc until your heart is content. Beware though those first steps shoudl not be skipped. As you progress you will inevitably need to go back and restore something. Take it slow!
With that all said; this is the way to go - no doubt. Faster, more stable, remove bloatware. etc.
Good luck.

sh00ter123 said:
With that all said; this is the way to go - no doubt. Faster, more stable, remove bloatware. etc.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any pointers on specific bloat to purge to improve stability?

Loads of Questions Regarding my Nexus 4

Hello guys,
Firstly, I have to thank all members of this forum for helping newbies like me to do wonders with our phones.
On topic, I have recently purchased the much coveted Nexus 4. The first thing I did after unboxing it was to unlock and root it.
And up until now I have been quite content using the stock ROM. But, now I want to mix it up a little bit.
Through XDA I have become aware of quite a few ways of modding my phone and generally I do not like to do anything without knowing what I am doing. So, therefore there a number of unanswered questions in my mind, which I hope that you guys can help me out with.
Adsaway
1. I have been using Adsaway ever since I rooted my phone and got to say, its amazing. But, I have been wondering if there is any way by which I could replace "Webpage not found" with something like a plain white color or plain black color. The "webpage not found" notification in place of the ads is quite ugly.
2. Talking about ads, I understand that adsaway only prevents you from receiving the ad instead of blocking the request for the ad. I found this thread on XDA where someone said that you could considerably increase battery life by using Lucky Patcher (no, I do not use this tool for cracking). I want to know how safe this is especially considering that you can mess up your phone using Lucky Patcher. Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=28929442
Improving Battery Life
Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2107163
This thread talks about how you can improve your battery life by flashing factory images. I definitely want to try it out. But, if I flash factory images wouldn't I be flashing the custom recovery too? And, does this mean that I have to stay on stock ROMs to improve battery life? I kind of find it a little bit confusing.
Further, he talks about 'kernel'. Being an engineer, I know what a kernel is. But, in the context of android, when flashing ROMs, is the kernel included with the custom ROM? or do you have to install the kernel separately? And, what are the advantages of flashing a custom kernel?
Titanium Backup
1. I know that this tool backs up your phone by basically creating a image file but I have no idea on how to use it to flash custom ROMs. An explanation or a link would be really helpful. If this question has been asked and answered before, sorry for asking it again.
2. Since the Nexus does not come with any desktop software, how do you do a normal backup of your phone? Again, this is a very basic question and I could probably find the answer online so feel free to ignore this question.
Finally, thank you all for being so patient and answering my queries. I hope that this will help other newbies as well.

Hi, I may be able to help with some of your questions.
I'm not sure but the "Webpage not found" error may be a result of the browser you use, or not . Anyway I use the app 'Adaway' with the Chrome beta browser and do not get that error in either the browser or other apps that have ads in them.
The first time I've heard of Lucky Patcher so I cant comment. But I personally wouldn't install it unless it is open source and proven not to be stealing your info. these kind of things are sketchy in my opinion. The thing is with adaway it is changing your Hosts file so any ad request is pointing back to the phone. So its not like you are using data to block the ads. So I can't imagine there is a huge battery savings.
From reading the thread about flashing the stock Image, it seems very hit or miss on getting any results. If you are planning to run a custom rom I wouldn't bother. When installing a rom you will usually be wiping all of that anyway.
Roms come with a kernel built in. The advantages of changing kernels depend on what kernel you install but they usually include options to be able to under or overclock the cpu and gpu. Adjust the voltages of the cpu. Change the cpu and gpu governors and i/o scheduler as well as the readahead value for eMMC. You can adjust color and gamma values for the screen. Adjust the vibration level of the phone. And some kernel developers will add their own tweeks to the governors for improved performance.
Titanium backup actually backs up each app and its associated data on your phone allowing you to restore them after flashing a new rom. You can restore apps themselves after a new rom install from the play store without using something like titanium backup but you will lose any data that is associated with that app. Restoring app data can cause issues though. So it is not recommended to restore any system apps after a rom install although I usually will restore Phone/Messaging storage data and have never had an issue but the possibility is there.
In the process of installing custom roms you will need to install a custom bootloader. Either CWM or TWRP usually. These bootloaders give you the option to do a full system image called a Nandroid. This is what most people use as a backup.
Hope this is some help. I am no expert, this is just what I have learned from experiance here at XDA.

linelock said:
Hi, I may be able to help with some of your questions.
I'm not sure but the "Webpage not found" error may be a result of the browser you use, or not . Anyway I use the app 'Adaway' with the Chrome beta browser and do not get that error in either the browser or other apps that have ads in them.
The first time I've heard of Lucky Patcher so I cant comment. But I personally wouldn't install it unless it is open source and proven not to be stealing your info. these kind of things are sketchy in my opinion. The thing is with adaway it is changing your Hosts file so any ad request is pointing back to the phone. So its not like you are using data to block the ads. So I can't imagine there is a huge battery savings.
From reading the thread about flashing the stock Image, it seems very hit or miss on getting any results. If you are planning to run a custom rom I wouldn't bother. When installing a rom you will usually be wiping all of that anyway.
Roms come with a kernel built in. The advantages of changing kernels depend on what kernel you install but they usually include options to be able to under or overclock the cpu and gpu. Adjust the voltages of the cpu. Change the cpu and gpu governors and i/o scheduler as well as the readahead value for eMMC. You can adjust color and gamma values for the screen. Adjust the vibration level of the phone. And some kernel developers will add their own tweeks to the governors for improved performance.
Titanium backup actually backs up each app and its associated data on your phone allowing you to restore them after flashing a new rom. You can restore apps themselves after a new rom install from the play store without using something like titanium backup but you will lose any data that is associated with that app. Restoring app data can cause issues though. So it is not recommended to restore any system apps after a rom install although I usually will restore Phone/Messaging storage data and have never had an issue but the possibility is there.
In the process of installing custom roms you will need to install a custom bootloader. Either CWM or TWRP usually. These bootloaders give you the option to do a full system image called a Nandroid. This is what most people use as a backup.
Hope this is some help. I am no expert, this is just what I have learned from experiance here at XDA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thanks for the comprehensive reply. It answers many of my questions. Firstly, I am going to do away with Lucky Patcher and at this time I do not think I need a custom kernel.
However, after reading your reply I have a fresh set of questions:
1. If restoring apps can cause issues, then what is the alternative if you do not want to lose your app data? Are you saying that once I install the custom ROM, I could restore most apps using Titanium Backup but for system apps (meaning root access apps right?) I should just do a fresh install from the Play Store?
2. I have already flashed CWM during root so 1 plus point for me . From your description, it is my understanding that people will create a Nandroid right before flashing a custom ROM/kernel so that in case anything goes wrong they can just restore back to previous state using the Nandroid image. Again, correct me if I am wrong.
Well and another problem that I forgot to mention in my opening post is with my WiFi:
Many a times, even after connecting to my home wifi network, I cannot access the internet. Then, if I reboot my phone and reconnect to wifi it starts working. Weird, I know. And, no its not a problem with my WiFi network, I verified that.

w1ndhawk said:
Adsaway
1. I have been using Adsaway ever since I rooted my phone and got to say, its amazing. But, I have been wondering if there is any way by which I could replace "Webpage not found" with something like a plain white color or plain black color. The "webpage not found" notification in place of the ads is quite ugly.
2. Talking about ads, I understand that adsaway only prevents you from receiving the ad instead of blocking the request for the ad. I found this thread on XDA where someone said that you could considerably increase battery life by using Lucky Patcher (no, I do not use this tool for cracking). I want to know how safe this is especially considering that you can mess up your phone using Lucky Patcher. Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=28929442
Improving Battery Life
Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2107163
This thread talks about how you can improve your battery life by flashing factory images. I definitely want to try it out. But, if I flash factory images wouldn't I be flashing the custom recovery too? And, does this mean that I have to stay on stock ROMs to improve battery life? I kind of find it a little bit confusing.
Further, he talks about 'kernel'. Being an engineer, I know what a kernel is. But, in the context of android, when flashing ROMs, is the kernel included with the custom ROM? or do you have to install the kernel separately? And, what are the advantages of flashing a custom kernel?
Titanium Backup
1. I know that this tool backs up your phone by basically creating a image file but I have no idea on how to use it to flash custom ROMs. An explanation or a link would be really helpful. If this question has been asked and answered before, sorry for asking it again.
2. Since the Nexus does not come with any desktop software, how do you do a normal backup of your phone? Again, this is a very basic question and I could probably find the answer online so feel free to ignore this question.
Finally, thank you all for being so patient and answering my queries. I hope that this will help other newbies as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2. Adsaway blocks ads in apps so they aren't downloaded AFAIK(don't see the Download arrow in status bar) which saves power
3. You don't have to stay on stock after flashing the images. The images touch different partitions that were probably flashed improperly at the factory.
4.Kernels are already inside custom Roms. Custom kernels that are available separate have their own perks though and are from different Devs.
6. For Titanium after you backup you just connect your phone to your pc and it'll be detected. No desktop software is needed, just drap and drop.

By system apps I mean things like android settings. I use TB for stuff like games so I don't have to stay over from the start. when you install TB you will see what is labeled as a system app and what is labeled as a user app.
Exactly, a nandroid is a like a disk image that you can restore.
Sorry I can't help with your wifi issue, I'm not having that problem.

@Ace42
Ok so I guess it should do no harm if I first flash stock images and then over that flash the custom . NM/kernel of my choice. In fact there is a chance it may improve my battery life.
Thanks for clarifying the titanium backup part, it sounds simple enough.
OT:
I managed to solve the webpage not found problem on ad away. All you have to do is enable web server in preferences.
Again, thank you guys.

linelock said:
From reading the thread about flashing the stock Image, it seems very hit or miss on getting any results. If you are planning to run a custom rom I wouldn't bother. When installing a rom you will usually be wiping all of that anyway.
In the process of installing custom roms you will need to install a custom bootloader. Either CWM or TWRP usually. These bootloaders give you the option to do a full system image called a Nandroid. This is what most people use as a backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These paragraphs are incorrect.
The top one was covered already.
There are no custom bootloaders for the Nexus 4. There are custom recoveries, but a bootloader is by no means a recovery. Do not confuse the two.

w1ndhawk said:
@Ace42
Ok so I guess it should do no harm if I first flash stock images and then over that flash the custom . NM/kernel of my choice. In fact there is a chance it may improve my battery life.
Thanks for clarifying the titanium backup part, it sounds simple enough.
OT:
I managed to solve the webpage not found problem on ad away. All you have to do is enable web server in preferences.
Again, thank you guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No harm at all. After you do the images you can go to whatever custom setup you wanted. It personally increased my battery life and many other users here by varying degrees.

lucky patcher is for using "stolen" apps, patching their licence checks etc. it is frowned upon and can carry many bad things in it.

simms22 said:
lucky patcher is for using "stolen" apps, patching their licence checks etc. it is frowned upon and can carry many bad things in it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, but apparently it does have its uses or so I've heard.
However, what do you mean it can carry many bad things?

I thought I’d give my 2 cents on Titanium Backup…
It doesn’t create an image file of the current state of your phone. That would be a Nandroid backup done via CWM Recovery.
Titanium Backup allows you to backup apps. That means apps installed by the user (user apps) and apps that came baked into the ROM (system apps). As mentioned, it’s not recommended to restore system apps because this often causes weird issues.
When you restore, you can also choose whether to restore the app only or the app plus data. In rare cases, restoring app data causes weird issues.
One of my favorite feature of Titanium Backup is how it allows you to create a zip file of your backup that can be flashed from recovery.
Everybody uses Titanium Backup differently. But here’s how I tend to use it when moving between ROMs.
1. Backup all user apps.
2. Create a zip of the backed up user apps (no app data).
3. Wipe data (factory reset), wipe dalvik cache, flash new ROM.
4. Boot into the newly flashed ROM and go through the initial setup process.
5. Reboot into recovery.
6. Flash the zip created by Titanium Backup.
Sure, I lose all app data, but that just means I guarantee myself a clean slate to start.

ohyeahar said:
I thought I’d give my 2 cents on Titanium Backup…
It doesn’t create an image file of the current state of your phone. That would be a Nandroid backup done via CWM Recovery.
Titanium Backup allows you to backup apps. That means apps installed by the user (user apps) and apps that came baked into the ROM (system apps). As mentioned, it’s not recommended to restore system apps because this often causes weird issues.
When you restore, you can also choose whether to restore the app only or the app plus data. In rare cases, restoring app data causes weird issues.
One of my favorite feature of Titanium Backup is how it allows you to create a zip file of your backup that can be flashed from recovery.
Everybody uses Titanium Backup differently. But here’s how I tend to use it when moving between ROMs.
1. Backup all user apps.
2. Create a zip of the backed up user apps (no app data).
3. Wipe data (factory reset), wipe dalvik cache, flash new ROM.
4. Boot into the newly flashed ROM and go through the initial setup process.
5. Reboot into recovery.
6. Flash the zip created by Titanium Backup.
Sure, I lose all app data, but that just means I guarantee myself a clean slate to start.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey thanks ohyeahar. Going to follow this when flashing my custom ROM.
So ideally, aside from user apps you shouldn't restore anything. However, I would like to save backup and restore my contacts and also app data for the game Subway Surf. How safe is this? And, let us suppose do I face some problems after restoring app data, will just uninstalling and resintalling the application suffice in alleviating the problems?
OT:
Now, that I will be flashing factory image (to try and improve my battery life), I assume I am going to lose my unlock+root. Should I be making a nandroid before doing this in the case of some problem?

Reflashing the system image will remove root yes, but your bootloader will still be unlocked. All you need to do after flashing the new system image is install http://download.chainfire.eu/306/SuperSU/UPDATE-SuperSU-v1.00.zip from CWM (or TWRP).
--You should always have at least one nandroid backup on your phone in case anything goes wrong.

w1ndhawk said:
Hey thanks ohyeahar. Going to follow this when flashing my custom ROM.
So ideally, aside from user apps you shouldn't restore anything. However, I would like to save backup and restore my contacts and also app data for the game Subway Surf. How safe is this? And, let us suppose do I face some problems after restoring app data, will just uninstalling and resintalling the application suffice in alleviating the problems?
OT:
Now, that I will be flashing factory image (to try and improve my battery life), I assume I am going to lose my unlock+root. Should I be making a nandroid before doing this in the case of some problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your contacts shouldn’t require backing up because they should be backed up to your Google account.
If you want to restore app data for certain apps, I would do it one at a time. That way, if problems occur, you at least know which app is the culprit.
If you uninstall and reinstall the problematic app, that would work. Or you can simply just go into the app settings and clear data for that app. That should be sufficient.

[Q] Simplified Root Instructions?

This is the first time I've ever rooted an Android device. The process has been fraught with uncertainty and misinformation from around the internet. I'd like to describe what I have come to understand is the current preferred method, and ask a few questions to hopefully get my S5 where I want it to be.
I don't want to do anything to crazy (yet, anyway). I just want to remove some bloat and get the notification panel as close to vanilla Android as possible.
So far, I have ran towelroot, which was incredibly simple.
I installed SuperSU from the Play Store. During installation, it got stuck at "Disabling KNOX...". I have since learned that this is common and a reboot usually fixes it. However, I have also learned that I probably don't want to disable KNOX yet anyway, since I am not going to flash a custom ROM until there is one that is known to be stable and is able to create the vanilla Android experience that I want. Some people said that I should have installed SuperSU from chainfire's page instead of the Play Store, but I think that was old information.
Edit: I'm editing these steps as I go along:
1. Install busybox and the Safestrap APK
2. Use Safestrap to set up a new ROM slot and use that slot from now on (consider the italics a strikethrough)
^Even though the instruction video on the Safestrap page said this, apparently that's not what most people do. They use Safestrap to make a nandroid backup, and then use only one slot, the stock ROM slot, to experiment or flash a new ROM.
3. Install Titanium Backup
Edit: I also had to install SD KitKat Fixer and then reboot afterward to allow TB to write to the SD card...
4. Use Titanium Backup to backup all apps and data to SD card
5. Use Titanium to freeze processes that I carefully choose
Edit: I froze everything from the list here.
6. Install Xposed framework
7. Find the modules to customize Android how I want
Does that sound right? Any tips/advice?

ergalthema said:
So far, I have ran towelroot, which was incredibly simple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By doing this, you are rooted.
Even if you are not going to flash a custom rom, you can and probably should disable KNOX. Doing so will not trip the counter.
Install busybox and the Safestrap APK - This is indeed necessary if you want to install another ROM to customize. The whole point of safestrap is to flash ROMs and is not related to rooting itself. The other use of Safestrap is to create a complete backup of your current system so that if you mess something up, you can restore to a known, working state.
Use Safestrap to set up a new ROM slot and use that slot from now on - This is fine if you want to switch between ROMs. I know some people like to do this, but I am not one of them.
Install Titanium Backup - absolutely
Use Titanium to freeze processes that I carefully choose - correct and there are threads with lists of APKs to freeze. You will also want to make sure you freeze SDM so that it doesn't prompt for security updates.
Use Titanium as a backup? (not sure about this) - this is to backup your apps, texts, things like that but NOT your ROM
Install Xposed framework
Find the modules to customize Android how I want

jcollier said:
Install busybox and the Safestrap APK - This is indeed necessary if you want to install another ROM to customize. The whole point of safestrap is to flash ROMs and is not related to rooting itself. The other use of Safestrap is to create a complete backup of your current system so that if you mess something up, you can restore to a known, working state.
Use Safestrap to set up a new ROM slot and use that slot from now on - This is fine if you want to switch between ROMs. I know some people like to do this, but I am not one of them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first step in installing Xposed in this thread is to do a nandroid backup. I'm not totally sure what that is, but someone in another thread said implied that Safestrap essentially does the same thing. That is why I was planning to use Safestrap.

ergalthema said:
The first step in installing Xposed in this thread is to do a nandroid backup. I'm not totally sure what that is, but someone in another thread said implied that Safestrap essentially does the same thing. That is why I was planning to use Safestrap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is what I meant by this: "The other use of Safestrap is to create a complete backup of your current system so that if you mess something up, you can restore to a known, working state."
A nandroid is a backup image of your system so that you can restore it if you screw something up. Safestrap isn't "essentially" doing the same thing, it is doing exactly that thing. Safestrap is a way to make a custom recovery work on our phone without an unlocked bootloader.

Good advice up to here, but you might want to hold off on using Exposed. As I understand it, Exposed lets you tinker with the existing stock ROM. I don't think I would want to do that, and I have rooted and ROM flashed several Android devices over the years. But its up to you.
With your being new to rooting, I'll offer this advice:
Titanium Backup (a.k.a. "TIBU") is a good way to back up all your apps. Here are some suggestions in using it:
--Buy the PRO version. It has more features, is not very expensive, and helps support a really cool app that is very handy.
--Set the Preferences/Backup folder to your REAL external SD Card. It will default to internal storage (also called "sd card"....don't get me started lol) which is IMO totally useless. If you lose internal storage due to corruption or whatever, you would lose all your backups. Having them on the REAL SD card you can also archive them to your PC.
--Set your Max Backup History to some number larger than the default "1". I use 7. Why? Well, have you ever seen the developer of one of your favorite apps suddenly screw it completely up in some update? Or, worse yet, sell out to some other vendor who now made it a PAY SUBSCRIPTION app?? I have. By keeping multiple backups you can roll back in time to previous versions that you know WORKED when those things happen. I have several apps I will never update, especially on the Store, for various reasons. (TIBU used to be able to disconnect the link to the Store so apps didn't try to update, but Google broke their ability to do that).
--When you do make TIBU backups, select "app and system data" which is IMO incorrectly worded and causes confusion. It should read "app and APP data". Because that is what it really does. Backs up the data IN your system that is associated ONLY with the APP. NOT any "system files". When you restore a backup, restore "app and system data" and you not only get the app installed, you get all your data it created, as well as all your customized settings restored! It is a real time saver. And you can "usually" even do this with a new device, using the TIBU backup folder on an SD card you had in some previous Android device. I've done it many times.
Safestrap installs a custom version of TWRP recovery. From that you can make the aforementioned "nandroid" backups of your complete system. (You won't see the word "nandroid" in TWRP while you are doing this. It just calls them backups). Couple of caveats with TWRP (and the Safestrap version):
--The date/time stamp used in both TWRP and its alternative, Clockworkmod Recovery (CW) will always be wrong. I've read (in short) there is no way for them to fix it. BUT........you most certainly CAN edit the backup file name to be whatever you like while setting it up to make the backup. So I recommend deleting the portion of the name that is the screwed up date it will generate, and putting in a date you can read, like my preferred format of 2014-07-10-1727 which is today at 5:27 PM, or whatever format you like.
--By default, TWRP recovery uses (in the Advanced settings) an inane "power saving" feature of the display, which will maddeningly keep turning it off and making you think the phone died while it is in the middle of making your backup. A - ALWAYS keep your phone on the charger when working in Recovery!! Don't even start unless it has at least 40% charge. B- Turn OFF the inane "power saving feature" and get some peace of mind. The screen will stay lit forever, until you reboot system when you are done.
--By default, TWRP will be set to use INTERNAL STORAGE as the place to keep your nandroids. Again, I consider that a very bad idea. Use a REAL External SD card and keep them there. And make regular backups to your PC of the SD card. I've seen a great many SD cards suddenly fail without warning. Your device will pop up and tell you the SD card is corrupt, and you need to format it. Usually, there is no way to recover the lost data on the card when that happens.
--On my Galaxy S5, making a nandroid of the stock OS via Safestrap took up over 4GB! That is almost 4 x what I normally see making a nandroid of a custom ROM on some previous device. So make sure you have plenty of room on whatever SD card you choose to use.

jcollier said:
Even if you are not going to flash a custom rom, you can and probably should disable KNOX. Doing so will not trip the counter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't know it wouldn't trip the counter. I'm curious why I should disable it though.

I followed the video exactly and when I get to the point of the first Restore (around 9:00), it says "Restore Complete - Failed". There is a button to Reboot System. When I tap that, the phone won't turn on. I have to pull the batter to get it back on. I guess I'll be uninstalling Safestrap. If I "Uninstall Recovery" from the stock ROM slot, will the space be freed up again and the phone be returned to the same state as before I tried using Safestrap?

ergalthema said:
I followed the video exactly and when I get to the point of the first Restore (around 9:00), it says "Restore Complete - Failed". There is a button to Reboot System. When I tap that, the phone won't turn on. I have to pull the batter to get it back on. I guess I'll be uninstalling Safestrap. If I "Uninstall Recovery" from the stock ROM slot, will the space be freed up again and the phone be returned to the same state as before I tried using Safestrap?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
May I ask what it is that you are restoring? Have you already made a (nandroid) backup? That's what the restore function is made to restore. If you tried to use Restore on some other kind of file, then it would try to overwrite your ROM (OS) with it, and make the phone unusable. If that happens, I think your only fix would be to Odin back to stock and start over from scratch. I believe there is a link to do that in the thread telling how to root the S5.

Zoandroid said:
May I ask what it is that you are restoring? Have you already made a (nandroid) backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The video at 9:00 explains it. I think it is basically flashing the backup I made of the stock ROM to the newly created ROM slot in order to begin running from the new ROM slot.

ergalthema said:
The video at 9:00 explains it. I think it is basically flashing the backup I made of the stock ROM to the newly created ROM slot in order to begin running from the new ROM slot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, OK. Since there aren't any ROMs available yet, I did not pursue that aspect of Safestrap. So you have stepped outside my range of experience with it. Hopefully someone else can help you.
If you get to a point in your endeavors where you find a solution to apply ad-blocking to the S5, please let me know in a PM. I've had no luck so far. It appears this will be yet another issue that will only be solved with some creative developer work. Google has done something in KitKat to block not only apps like Ad-Aware and Adblock Plus from working, they also seem to have some kind of snooper utility that, if you try to search online with the S5 for ad blocking, will pop up a browser page saying Google "cannot access" the page! Pages which my PCs can see easily. Crafty little PITAs for sure! I thought it might just be Chrome doing this, so when I tried to get Firefox from the Store, I was stuck in an endless downloading loop. I had to kill that and restore a copy from TIBU. They are doing everything they can think of to lock down a smartphone and spoon feed us only what THEY want us to see. Including copious advertisements.
There was a time when Android meant "freedom". I guess that time has passed. Now it is time for someone else with very deep pockets to re-kindle a hassle-free smartphone OS. It is a shame. Android has so much potential.

ergalthema said:
The video at 9:00 explains it. I think it is basically flashing the backup I made of the stock ROM to the newly created ROM slot in order to begin running from the new ROM slot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why flash the stock ROM in a newly created ROM slot? You should only create a ROM slot if you decide to run a custom ROM. If not, you can use safestrap to create the backup (nandroid) and save it to your SD card so you always have a "safe" restore point essentially. I run a custom ROM in my stock slot. And for the record... There are several ROMs in the development section which are quite stable. Also, you can check out the Safestrap thread there as well. If you read through the thread you'll have a better understanding of how it works and what bugs there are right now.
The thing that I find great about XDA is that folks will always try to help each other out. Good luck!
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Do we have a thread where folks are reporting having tried various versions of the available ROMs for the Verizon S5, and can make a simple statement about what works and what doesn't? I think that would be a really good idea. Without something like that, the only way to really know which ones are trouble free is to slog through and read each and every post on every ROM thread, most of which will usually be outdated information anyway.
Maybe it could be done as a Poll so it doesn't grow into something just as long to read as the above.

Zoandroid said:
Do we have a thread where folks are reporting having tried various versions of the available ROMs for the Verizon S5, and can make a simple statement about what works and what doesn't? I think that would be a really good idea. Without something like that, the only way to really know which ones are trouble free is to slog through and read each and every post on every ROM thread, most of which will usually be outdated information anyway.
Maybe it could be done as a Poll so it doesn't grow into something just as long to read as the above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be great - especially for the people who aren't on this site all day and don't know what is good and current.
shoresteve626 said:
Why flash the stock ROM in a newly created ROM slot? You should only create a ROM slot if you decide to run a custom ROM. If not, you can use safestrap to create the backup (nandroid) and save it to your SD card so you always have a "safe" restore point essentially. I run a custom ROM in my stock slot. And for the record... There are several ROMs in the development section which are quite stable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm realizing that's probably what most people do. In the instructional video posted on the main Safestrap OP, it instructed to keep the original stock slot intact, and use a new slot for experimenting with another ROM. I would love to know a stable ROM that gives the most vanilla Android.

[Q] Questions about flashing ROMS

I have a question that I have not been able to find out the answer to. Right now my N4 is running stock rooted 4.2.2 with Harsh's kernel, and I was thinking about going to Carbon ROM. If for whatever reason, I need to go back to my stock rooted 4.2.2, can I do that with using TWRP's Nandroid backup?
Is it ok to back and forth between kernel versions and Android versions like that?
Will my apps, and data (like text messages) be contained in that 4.2.2. Nandroid backup?

Text will not be contained within the backup but you should be able to find an app that does it, to back up apps select data when backing up, I would recommend when restoring back to re flash the kernal and finally I will recommend you to keep a nandroid backup on your PC or usb
Sent from my N⁴ using Android Lollipop by @Sykopompus running Unleased kernel by @DeFcOni

A Nandroid backup will be exactly as your phone was when you made the backup. Texts will be saved, but anything after the backup won't be saved if you revert. Texts can be backed up with other methods though. Restoring/backing up with TWRP couldn't be easier. Some days I do it several times when trying out different ROMs/builds/kernels/etc. Just don't delete your "external" storage, and it never hurts to copy your backups to a computer.
Carbon is an excellent ROM. Great choice. Personally I prefer LiquidSmooth, but Carbon was one of the few that made it to my shortlist of final choices. I've thought about trying Carbon again, if only just for a change. Everybody has their preferences, but you won't go wrong with Carbon, I assure you.
I do have to wonder WTF you're doing stuck on 4.2.2 though. That **** is ancient. If you don't stick with Carbon, you should at least go back to stock, but with 4.4.4 Kit Kat.

Yes of course

Planterz said:
A Nandroid backup will be exactly as your phone was when you made the backup. Texts will be saved, but anything after the backup won't be saved if you revert. Texts can be backed up with other methods though. Restoring/backing up with TWRP couldn't be easier. Some days I do it several times when trying out different ROMs/builds/kernels/etc. Just don't delete your "external" storage, and it never hurts to copy your backups to a computer.
Carbon is an excellent ROM. Great choice. Personally I prefer LiquidSmooth, but Carbon was one of the few that made it to my shortlist of final choices. I've thought about trying Carbon again, if only just for a change. Everybody has their preferences, but you won't go wrong with Carbon, I assure you.
I do have to wonder WTF you're doing stuck on 4.2.2 though. That **** is ancient. If you don't stick with Carbon, you should at least go back to stock, but with 4.4.4 Kit Kat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks everyone! I was hoping it would make a point-in-time copy for me, just so I could hop back if I needed to. I kinda got myself stuck at 4.2.2 because of TWRP (couldn't OTA the updates) and and Harsh's kernel (it fixed the couple of things that I wanted to change). Everything was running so well on it, I never really cared to update it. I get great battery life, and it's quick enough. But now I just have the urge to tinker. I'll also try out LiquidSmooth, thanks for the suggestion!

[Q] Custom Roms (Easy Method)

Can anyone recommend a way to easily try custom ROMs without the pain of having to wipe all your user data every time you switch? You might suggest backing up with Titanium and recovering that way, but I'd heard it was a bad idea to do that between ROMs.
I'm currently running Stock 5.0.1, Nexus 4. Unlocked bootloader
Cheers and thanks!

Holden99ca said:
Can anyone recommend a way to easily try custom ROMs without the pain of having to wipe all your user data every time you switch? You might suggest backing up with Titanium and recovering that way, but I'd heard it was a bad idea to do that between ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never had any problem with that on my Nexus 4, and there was a period where I tried over 20 different ROMs and used the same Gapps package and flashable Titanium zip backup. The only time I had a problem was when I was trying the Nexus 4 L port and Titanium wasn't working on 5.0 yet, but that got fixed.
The only time I had a problem with a Titanium backup between different phones was when I used a backup from my Nexus 4 on my Samsung Galaxy Light and there was a setting within an Xposed module that caused system UI crashes, but that was fixed easily enough (once I figured out what the heck was causing it).

Planterz said:
I've never had any problem with that on my Nexus 4, and there was a period where I tried over 20 different ROMs and used the same Gapps package and flashable Titanium zip backup. The only time I had a problem was when I was trying the Nexus 4 L port and Titanium wasn't working on 5.0 yet, but that got fixed.
The only time I had a problem with a Titanium backup between different phones was when I used a backup from my Nexus 4 on my Samsung Galaxy Light and there was a setting within an Xposed module that caused system UI crashes, but that was fixed easily enough (once I figured out what the heck was causing it).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's good to know. No other reason I'm interested other than it's kind of fun to try different ROMs but the arduous process of constantly having to reload all my data has held me back. I'll have to look up how to do that flashable zip backup thing. Does the fact that 5.0.1 doesn't seem to be easily rootable, holding you back at all?

Holden99ca said:
That's good to know. No other reason I'm interested other than it's kind of fun to try different ROMs but the arduous process of constantly having to reload all my data has held me back. I'll have to look up how to do that flashable zip backup thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's easy enough. After you've backed up all your apps, go into batch options and under "recovery mode" you can make the flashable zip.
Does the fact that 5.0.1 doesn't seem to be easily rootable, holding you back at all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't done an "official" update to Lollipop on my Nexus 4. I've only tried a couple of custom 5.0 ROMs that were either already rooted or easily rootable by flashing SuperSU through recovery. I use LiquidSmooth 4.4.4 KK because I like the ROM and I need Xposed for a few things.