Database Users

nandroid back up problem

i have three nandroid backups and have never had a problem what so ever with them....seems like eversince i renamed them to keep track of them i tried to use them and they give me and error saying run via adb...does anyone one have any insight?

im an iddiot mods delete this

aauussttiinn88 said:
i have three nandroid backups and have never had a problem what so ever with them....seems like eversince i renamed them to keep track of them i tried to use them and they give me and error saying run via adb...does anyone one have any insight?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually the last time I tried to restore I had the same issue. Not sure what the remedy is, but I had to just re-flash the Modaco ROM I was running prior to trying out the 2.1 Rom. Wish I knew what was going on.

just figured it out...let me ask you this did you rename your nandroid backups?

aauussttiinn88 said:
just figured it out...let me ask you this did you rename your nandroid backups?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I just have a ton of them in my nandroid folder but never changed any names.

It names the backup based on the source device serial number and the time the backup was made. This, I think, is how it knows which one is the latest. I had this problem once before and the trick was to create the following folder structure in the root directory of your sd card:
nandroid\[insert device serial number]\BCDMRS-20100205-2102\
Note the BCDMRS-20100205-2102 is just a folder name I took from my nandroid folder. If you created the nandroid folder as I describe and have just one backup you can use the same folder name I did and put your backup in it.
An alternative method would be to do a nandroid backup to recreate the paths on your sdcard and overwrite the contents of your equivalent of BCDMRS-20100205-2102 with your older backup.
I didn't get much sleep so sorry if this doesn't make sense.

aabbccddeeffgghh said:
It names the backup based on the source device serial number and the time the backup was made. This, I think, is how it knows which one is the latest. I had this problem once before and the trick was to create the following folder structure in the root directory of your sd card:
nandroid\[insert device serial number]\BCDMRS-20100205-2102\
Note the BCDMRS-20100205-2102 is just a folder name i took from my nandroid folder. If you created the nandroid folder as i describe and have just one backup you can use the same folder name I did and put your backup in it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool i will try that and see if it works. Actually im not all that pressed to backup any of my nandroids, so if this doesn't work I am going to delete all of mine and make just one backup to what im running now and hopefully that one will work if I ever need to restore. But thanks for the info.

You posted as I was editing my post. The alternate method might work better.

yea i just renamed my nandroid backups to the date in which i created them ie. 20100303 and that worked...weird i think but it works like a charm

deleted efs folder

hi,
i don't known how... i have deleted the /efs folder on my TAB, and now my
TAB only works in wifi mode...
please, anyone can be send a /efs folder backup in order to try if is possible to make the phone functional?

You're very funny. what you asked..."Could you please give me your credit card #, expiration date and security codes please!"

can you tell me I can do with your IMEI number in another country, probably on another continent?
your imei identifies your phone hardrware, NOT your operator account!
thank's

Do a factory-reset and the folder will be back.
Go to the recovery. volume-up+powerbutton. In the recovery clear cache and clear data/factory-reset. The tab will restart and you have a fresh phone/tablet

Yeah except that everything in the efs folder requires root access to modify which means that there IS no backup. If you go deleting stock apps and master reset, they will not magically come back. If the efs folder was cleared you can get your device to generate new files with a random IMEI but your stock IMEI information is gone fooooooorever

rocker33 said:
hi,
i don't known how... i have deleted the /efs folder on my TAB, and now my
TAB only works in wifi mode...
please, anyone can be send a /efs folder backup in order to try if is possible to make the phone functional?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds like you're screwed prime time.
You SHOULD NOT delete the /efs folder which contains ALL your machine ID info (including serial and IMEI which are unique to your machine).
I moved /efs to memory card (in order to restore) and found serial changed to 00000000.

/efs don't returns after a wipe.
is not possible to use the tab as a phone without this folder

[Q] Backing up and Restoring efs - The Best / Safest way ?

As a lot of you will know a few Nexus S owners have had problems with there IMEI numbers being corrupted/re-written after flashing a ROM from on here (XDA) no blame being apportioned at all ! We all know the risks of flashing ROM;s, Kernels, Radio's etc.. And we do this entirely at our own risk.
However a fix is still needed, although more and more people are returning there phones under warranty.
I'm one of the lucky ones who sent there Nexus's of to cpw and who's had there Nexus repaied and returned.
Back to what I need help with.
What I want/need to do now is back up my efs folder, so that I can restore it if anything like this was to happen again,.
Is just backing the folder up with Root Explorer, Astro or a simular App, saving it and then just restoring it enough, Is it that simple? The reason I ask is that when Ive backed them up, I then check the Details and they differ.
The efs folder on the phone / is 4,214,784 bytes and contains 7 files.
The backed up efs folder on the phone /mnt/sdcard is 4,227,072 bytes and contains 10 files
Whats that all about ????.
Can anyone recommend an App thats spercificaly for this task?
Sugestions welcome
Thanks in Advance
NexusCrazt
aka Marc

Mount the phone as USB storage to PC
Copy EFS folder on phone
Paste on PC
Unmount

matt2053 said:
Mount the phone as USB storage to PC
Copy EFS folder on phone
Paste on PC
Unmount
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried this and compared folder size's and how many files in each folder ?

Also, what about backing up RSA keys?

davpel said:
Also, what about backing up RSA keys?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please explain

[Q] EFS Backup

Not sure whether or not this is actually a EFS backup. It just showed up in my External SD card and it's named 'efs.tar.gz' and it's only about 5kB. What does the EFS folder contain? I have folders such as bluetooth, WiFi, IMEI, carrier, etc.
Is it necessary to do a EFS backup nowadays?
How would I do an EFS backup?

emckai said:
Not sure whether or not this is actually a EFS backup. It just showed up in my External SD card and it's named 'efs.tar.gz' and it's only about 5kB. What does the EFS folder contain? I have folders such as bluetooth, WiFi, IMEI, carrier, etc. Is it necessary to do a EFS backup nowadays? How would I do an EFS backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, DO make a backup of your EFS folder. Find the folder on your phone (I am away from my phone right now, but I believe it is a folder off of the root directory). You can easily find this folder (on a rooted phone) by using a file manager app-- then copy the entire folder and keep one copy of it on your SD card and keep ANOTHER copy of the EFS folder on your desktop computer or off-phone on a disk.
There are several threads here by folks who have lost their EFS folders or some setting on their phones, which can only be re-aligned by the data stored in the EFS folder. I believe at least some of the data is unique to your own phone, so it can't just be copied from another phone without some effects.
EFS folder seems like a small thing until it is gone. Then it really is a major pain in the neck to recover. MAKE YOUR OWN BACKUP COPIES of it now. Please search some threads --usingthe term EFS! -- and you will see more details about the effects of corrupt or missing EFS files.
Good luck!

markbc01 said:
Yes, DO make a backup of your EFS folder. Find the folder on your phone (I am away from my phone right now, but I believe it is a folder off of the root directory). You can easily find this folder (on a rooted phone) by using a file manager app-- then copy the entire folder and keep one copy of it on your SD card and keep ANOTHER copy of the EFS folder on your desktop computer or off-phone on a disk.
There are several threads here by folks who have lost their EFS folders or some setting on their phones, which can only be re-aligned by the data stored in the EFS folder. I believe at least some of the data is unique to your own phone, so it can't just be copied from another phone without some effects.
EFS folder seems like a small thing until it is gone. Then it really is a major pain in the neck to recover. MAKE YOUR OWN BACKUP COPIES of it now. Please search some threads --usingthe term EFS! -- and you will see more details about the effects of corrupt or missing EFS files.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good advice, but I think more than just the EFS folder itself needs to be backed up in order to be able to restore EFS information to the phone if needed. Backing up or making a copy of the actual EFS "folder" is only part of the equation. TWRP variants usually offer an option to properly back up EFS and I have also seen several apps on the market, but I have not personally tried any of them. If anyone has any experience in methods to back up and restoring the EFS information to the phone please post your experience.

So basically all I have to do is copy the efs folder located in the /~ directory and memorize the permissions. And if anything happens I can just restore that folder and the set the permissions back?

emckai said:
So basically all I have to do is copy the esf folder located in the /~ directory and memorize the permissions. And if anything happens I can just restore that folder and the set the permissions back?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yikes. . . not so sure (anymore) that a copy/paste and a chmod will be enough. . . A quick search for recover ESF provides numerous results inside XDA.
It seems that there are several methods to doing an effective backup of ESF data (and by effective, it means more than our copy folders!). The below thread by @tamirda offers several techniques for the I9500 model of the S4! This ESF process does seem to be "kind of" phone-specific, but perhaps some processes are fungible among all models.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2392632
From my quick (as yet unfinished) reading of some of the threads, it seems good to also know your IMEI #, independent of the ESF folder. Also --as @scott14719 stated--- there *is* more to it than just replacing the folder contents
@emckai, before you question, I was sanguine just having the folder backed up -now I am not. So thank you for asking this question! The answer is more than I thought!
Already I hit Play and downloaded/tried one of the programs. It loaded and "backed up" my ESF folder -then hot booted. However, I have not trashed my ESF data to test it so I will have to wait and see. (Some of the comments made it sound not so promising.)
But it also seems Odin can backup the ESF/IMEI data and restore it as well! I was going to see if Mobile Odin could do this too but I am running a 4.3 rom and Mobile Odin does not work so well on 4.3 yet..
Thanks. . .I have some more reading to do to protect my ESF :victory:
Edit: not sure, but perhaps that tar file for your ESF might be left there from an original Odin Flash of a kernel or rom. . .

Yeah I did some reading also around the XDA forums and some information found on Google but the information I found wasn't that useful; mostly because it was device specific.
After looking inside the EFS folder, each file had it's own permission which would cause a headache at the end.
Doesn't TWRP recovery have the option to backup the EFS folder? But it would be the same thing? Because apparently there are 2 blocks on the device where the IMEI information is stored and whenever something happens to the EFS folder or one of the blocks, it'll trigger on the Samsung boot screen and restore whatever is contained inside those blocks.
There is a lot of misinformation going around stating about EFS so I'm just left confused.

[Q] HELP! Samsung Galaxy S5 Stuck In Factory Mode!

Hello Everyone.
So... I'll get right to the point here. My Galaxy S5 got stuck in factory mode. That day i was installing a bunch of ROMS. If you need a list of them, let me know.
I decided to go back to my old nandroid backup because I wanted to wait for a 4.4.4 version of the ROM i had found. However, I also got interested in installing a Custom Kernel, so I went ahead and installing Chronik Kernel cause I heard that it was really good. However, I forgot to wipe the cache and dalvik cache before installing the zip, so now I think it messed up my EFS partition, and am stuck in factory mode without WiFi and calling.
I have tried many methods involving the "FactoryApp" folder, but when I checked my phone to edit the text, the folder wasn't in the EFS folder. So I also knew that the Terminal Emulator option was out.
I even tried unrooting and re-installing the stock firmware and doing a factory reset, (I have a nandroid backup on computer) but even that didn't work. I can re-root if needed, but please someone help me, I really want to fix my phone soon. (Also I probably shouldn't have tried doing this on my vacation from home, oh well I am a really curious guy)

Help please!!
Someone please help me! I really don't know what to do! All that is in my EFS Folder is a bunch of APK files for apps i have installed and these files called: act_lock, react_lock and react.lock.bak. Someone please... I really want to get back on WiFi, also I am back from vacation, so I can use my Data plan to install things needed.

Is anyone going to help me?
OK. What is taking so long? I understand that lots of people have questions, but come on its been 1 week and no I be had helped me yet. Like I understand 3 to 4 days but a week? Please someone help me soon!

V1Command3r said:
OK. What is taking so long? I understand that lots of people have questions, but come on its been 1 week and no I be had helped me yet. Like I understand 3 to 4 days but a week? Please someone help me soon!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Typically it is in a file efs/FactoryApp/factorymode.
Can you show your efs folder structure?

EFS
vndnguyen said:
Typically it is in a file efs/FactoryApp/factorymode.
Can you show your efs folder structure?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright so inside that system folder is a bunch of apk files. The only thing that's in my efs folder is apks and a file called react_lock

V1Command3r said:
Alright so inside that system folder is a bunch of apk files. The only thing that's in my efs folder is apks and a file called react_lock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks like you have an invalid efs folder.
Did you make the imei backup? If so just restore it.
If you don't have imei backup, try reflashing full stock firmware.

vndnguyen said:
It looks like you have an invalid efs folder.
Did you make the imei backup? If so just restore it.
If you don't have imei backup, try reflashing full stock firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No imei backup and I've tried installing stock firmware, still in factory mode

EFS
Weird thing is imei still the same. . I don't know why my phone being so
weird.

V1Command3r said:
Weird thing is imei still the same. . I don't know why my phone being so
weird.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it is not too weird as Samsung now does not store the IMEI in EFS partition. It does store in another 2-3 partitions (these partitions are vary from model to model).
EFS partition does not contain the IMEI. It contain the S/N, WiFi and Bluetooth MAC addresses, etc...
Please do the following things:
1- Install Phone INFO ★Samsung★ app and look for the IMEI and S/N (in the DEVICE ID section), and compare them with the IMEI and S/N on the sticker behind the battery. Are they the same?
2- Create a file with a name 'factorymode' on the sdcard, open it, input 'ON' and then save it. Navigate to the efs folder, create the folder with a name 'FactoryApp' (case sensitive). Finally move the file 'factorymode' you have created above to that folder. Reboot the phone to see if the problem still persists?

EFS
vndnguyen said:
Yes, it is not too weird as Samsung now does not store the IMEI in EFS partition. It does store in another 2-3 partitions (these partitions are vary from model to model).
EFS partition does not contain the IMEI. It contain the S/N, WiFi and Bluetooth MAC addresses, etc...
Please do the following things:
1- Install Phone INFO ★Samsung★ app and look for the IMEI and S/N (in the DEVICE ID section), and compare them with the IMEI and S/N on the sticker behind the battery. Are they the same?
2- Create a file with a name 'factorymode' on the sdcard, open it, input 'ON' and then save it. Navigate to the efs folder, create the folder with a name 'FactoryApp' (case sensitive). Finally move the file 'factorymode' you have created above to that folder. Reboot the phone to see if the problem still persists?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright so the imei is the same but serial number isnt, however when I try to create folder it will say in efs partition: Operation failed:No Space Left On Device

V1Command3r said:
Alright so the imei is the same but serial number isnt, however when I try to create folder it will say in efs partition: Operation failed:No Space Left On Device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, as I have said, the efs folder does not contain the imei. However it does contain the S/N.
What did you mean by 'serial number isnt'? The S/N in Phone INFO app is still in valid format? Or it is zero or empty? Can you PM me that S/N (in Phone INFO app)?
Regarding creating folder, make sure your file explorer app has been grant root permission. And try to move/delete some APK files (in efs folder) to free space.

vndnguyen said:
Yes, it is not too weird as Samsung now does not store the IMEI in EFS partition. It does store in another 2-3 partitions (these partitions are vary from model to model).
EFS partition does not contain the IMEI. It contain the S/N, WiFi and Bluetooth MAC addresses, etc...
Please do the following things:
1- Install Phone INFO ★Samsung★ app and look for the IMEI and S/N (in the DEVICE ID section), and compare them with the IMEI and S/N on the sticker behind the battery. Are they the same?
2- Create a file with a name 'factorymode' on the sdcard, open it, input 'ON' and then save it. Navigate to the efs folder, create the folder with a name 'FactoryApp' (case sensitive). Finally move the file 'factorymode' you have created above to that folder. Reboot the phone to see if the problem still persists?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
vndnguyen said:
Yes, as I have said, the efs folder does not contain the imei. However it does contain the S/N.
What did you mean by 'serial number isnt'? The S/N in Phone INFO app is still in valid format? Or it is zero or empty? Can you PM me that S/N (in Phone INFO app)?
Regarding creating folder, make sure your file explorer app has been grant root permission. And try to move/delete some APK files (in efs folder) to free space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey I removed some apks, added the folder, rebooted and now my phone is working ?thank you so much!

V1Command3r said:
Hey I removed some apks, added the folder, rebooted and now my phone is working ?thank you so much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, glad that it worked and was helpful.
Please backup your IMEI asap (search for IMEI Backup app on the Play Store)

vndnguyen said:
Hey, glad that it worked and was helpful.
Please backup your IMEI asap (search for IMEI Backup app on the Play Store)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i still have the same problem did evry thing but didn't work for me :S