Database Users

Backup Desire, every bit of it?

Excuse me if this has been covered before, but is there a way to backup the device in a way, that if i root it, and then flash some ROM to it, and i mess up or just want to go back to my previous state?
I read something about nandroid? But in order for me to do that, i need root. Correct? so, what if i want to "unroot" my device? and is nandroid suitable for the Desire?

What does nandroid actually do? Does it back up everything?

nandroid makes images of all of the disk, so it's a full backup, but it's having issues restoring those backups to the Desire at the moment. And yes, you'll need to at least get to the recovery menu to run nandroid for now.
The only other route of which I know is just backing up apps and data, and you can use Titanium Backup for that (or MyBackup, I think). Without root, when you restore the apps, you won't be able to tell the Market you have these things installed, though. Doing that still requires you to fully reflash and do some setup, though. I don't think there's a cut-and-dry backup and full restore method at the moment. If there is, I'd certainly be interested...

I am also in the hunt for a good backup application. Dont mind paying as long as work as it should. But i dont think there is any backup application that can backup applications (most of them maybe just supported some limited apps).

kuailan said:
I am also in the hunt for a good backup application. Dont mind paying as long as work as it should. But i dont think there is any backup application that can backup applications (most of them maybe just supported some limited apps).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium Backup will back up everything that's on your phone except for apps installed by the system (and those it'll try and backup if you're rooted). It's worked flawlessly for me.

The Professor said:
Titanium Backup will back up everything that's on your phone except for apps installed by the system (and those it'll try and backup if you're rooted). It's worked flawlessly for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am trying Titanium now at the moment....just wondering I have seen a lot of application backup options/lists?? but where is the options to backup SMS, contacts, etc?? I find the UI is a little complex.

So is the best way of doing it.. Backup.. Copy folder to pc...
Then when i wanna restore.. Install titanium. copy license and folder back?

kuailan said:
I am trying Titanium now at the moment....just wondering I have seen a lot of application backup options/lists?? but where is the options to backup SMS, contacts, etc?? I find the UI is a little complex.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium backup only does apps.
Personally I use MyBackup, it backs up settings, sms, calender, home screens, settings e.t.c. as well as apps and keeps market links intact.
Well worth the money.

Ive got both now lol! have to wait till i install a new rom.. ill try mybackup first then

abc27 said:
Titanium backup only does apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, RLY?
Official Titanium Backup site says otherwise.
http://www.matrixrewriter.com/android/
Features of the Free version:
No time limit
Very fast app listing (~1 second for 300 apps)
Sort apps by name / last backup / backup frequency
Filter apps by name / type / status / Apps Organizer labels (also affects Batch operations)
Backup/restore regular apps + their settings
Backup/restore protected apps + their settings
Backup/restore system settings (incl. Wi-Fi AP list)
Restores the Market links when restoring apps
Zero-click background batch backup
Interactive batch restore
Many batch scenarios (eg: if more than N days since last backup, etc)
Zero-click app un-installer
Zero-click system app un-installer
Desktop widgets
Additional features of the Donate version:
Branding to your name
Multiple backups per app (history length can be chosen)
Zero-click background batch restore
Batch verification of all backups
Ultra fast HyperShell (much faster for almost everything)
Market Doctor can remake any broken Market links (only for apps that were backed up with the link in place)
App freezer can disable an app (and make it invisible) without un-installing it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just moved from one ROM to another smoothly with Titanium. I recommend it.

How to Backup you Desire before rooting it ?
Titanium requires Rooted phone ......
other Appli ?

You can try Sprite Backup but no application will work that well without root, sorry.

Is anybody test Sprite Backup?
I think MyBackup Pro and Titanium are similar when you have the system app active.

Hi
barring rooting the device and doing a nand backup/restore, I have used Sprite Backup in the past on my diamond (XDAndroid) successfully and it u could also use the application backup/restore with Astro (from the marketplace) and for txt msgs use sms backup -
http://github.com/jberkel/android-sms/tree/restore_backups - Backup/restore to gmail account

[Q] What is the best way to flash CM nightlies and restore apps+settings from azure?

I realize this is a bit of a noob question but I've tried to flash cm rc1 about 6 times now, and every time I've experienced problems trying to restore my apps and settings.
Every time I tried, I started by doing a nandroid backup and wiping before flashing rc1, and I could boot with no problems. However, the first time I did this, the first thing I did was flash gapps and then waited half an hour for most of my downloaded apps to be restored automatically, but none of my settings or contacts came back.
Tried reflashing rc1 again but this time didn't flash gapps yet, instead went to advanced restore options in nandroid and restored only my data, which did the trick, except when I flashed gapps after I got the error where at setup you're supposed to "touch android to begin" and it doesn't do anything. Thought I'd nearly bricked my phone cause I couldn't exit the screen or get into recovery! Eventually managed to restore azure.
Going to try now restoring from my titanium backups and THEN flashing gapps, so hoping this is the best way to do it.
EDIT: Oh yeah so here's actually the main problem/question: I have most of my apps on sd (froyo apps2sd) and have backups made from titanium and a nandroid backup obviously. I want to have all my current apps and settings restored to the rc so that everything is more or less exactly as it is the way I use it now. Is this possible? Or will titanium restore my apps to internal memory?

Okay, so after restoring from titanium and flashing gapps I STILL don't have half of my apps or any of my contacts! What am I doing wrong??
Is there a series of steps you guys follow when migrating everything from one rom to another?

Make sure to enable App2sd in the Cyanogen Application Settings before running the Titanium restore. Also check Titanium Backups's Settings (press Menu button). There is an option to enforce the same location (SD/Internal). Not sure if it helps though.
I am not running an English version so you might have to search for the options.
Your contacts should be stored on your google Account if you had syncing activated.
Check Settings -> Account & Sync (or something like this) and add your google account if it is not already there. After that click the option to sync contacts.
If your contacts wheren't synced try restoring with Titanium again. The files you are looking for are "com.android.providers.contacts-***.tar.gz" and "com.android.providers.contacts-***.properties" NOT ""com.android.contacts-***."
If nothing helps you could always restorer you nandroid backup -> Titanium backup all apps that are NOT moved to SD -> uninstall all apps that are not moved to SD to make some room and move every app on the sd card to your internal storage before running another Titanium backup to have all apps as internal-storage versions. While you are at it you can sync your contacts with your google account and export them to SD for two options to restore them later.

Batch backup system and user apps+data. Then verify that backup to see everything is backed up successfully. For contacts either sync to Google account or you can export your contacts to SD, which I prefer personally. Full wipe, install Titanium, restore. End of story.

Oi rajasetan, can titanium do quiet restore?
Sent from my Legend using XDA App

Thanks denisman, I did actually follow all of those steps and still had problems.. titanium didn't restore my contacts and even though they were synced with google for some reason they never came back, so I took your advice and exported my contacts to sd and will try again. Strange that between google sync and full backup and full restore of apps through titanium I still couldn't restore all my previous settings. Doing a nandroid advanced restore of data was the best option, if only I could do so without getting the error when flashing gapps. Maybe I should flash gapps and THEN nandroid restore data?

rajasyaitan said:
Batch backup system and user apps+data. Then verify that backup to see everything is backed up successfully. For contacts either sync to Google account or you can export your contacts to SD, which I prefer personally. Full wipe, install Titanium, restore. End of story.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's how I've been doing it actually, although I don't have the paid version of titanium so I can't verify my backups. Will upgrade to paid version and try that, thanks.

Update:
Okay so this time I flashed gapps first and THEN used nandroid to restore just my data and that did the trick; contacts, settings and apps are all back the way they should be.
New issue though (I seem plagued by these)! Even though I have the exact same stuff installed, I have only 3mb free on internal memory (even after using adb shell to remove carhome, twitter and other system apps I didn't need) when I used to have 40mb free before. Is cm6.1 that much larger than azure or do I have unnecessary copies of files sitting around somewhere I can't see them?

In titanium settings you need to check "force install to same location", then any apps you used to have on your SD card will stay there.

[Q] What do i have to backup before changing rom?

Applications backup but not cache or data?
System backups?
Sms and call logs?
And system backups?
Are those all to do? If i backup those, when i restore, will i be able to have my desktop widgets, desktop icons sorted correctly ?

I think the best answer is "it depends on what you want to restore to".
When I change roms, I make a full backup using CWM, that way, no matter what the new rom breaks, I can go back to exactly where I was before.
But if you really want the new rom and think the problem is in one app or setting, you can backup only the apps .apk, the apps data and the rom settings, then you can restore everything individually and see where the problem is.
This all assuming you are not changing major android versions (like from froyo to gingerbread) or not changing roms "types" (like from stock to CM or to miui). If you are, then the partial backup is not recommended since it may not work.
In this last case, your best hope is to backup the apps .apk and store all other data somewhere where you can import to android (like storing the contacts in google account), since you shouldn't really restore anything else.

paulo_andre said:
I think the best answer is "it depends on what you want to restore to".
When I change roms, I make a full backup using CWM, that way, no matter what the new rom breaks, I can go back to exactly where I was before.
But if you really want the new rom and think the problem is in one app or setting, you can backup only the apps .apk, the apps data and the rom settings, then you can restore everything individually and see where the problem is.
This all assuming you are not changing major android versions (like from froyo to gingerbread) or not changing roms "types" (like from stock to CM or to miui). If you are, then the partial backup is not recommended since it may not work.
In this last case, your best hope is to backup the apps .apk and store all other data somewhere where you can import to android (like storing the contacts in google account), since you shouldn't really restore anything else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want a full back up; calendars sms call logs applications data system data etc. For sms i use go-sms backup, i hope it will restore without any problem. When i backup with cwm and restore, will my settings (system( be protected as before?

With CWM if you restore you will get all data, including Rom, Kernel, sms, calls, etc All you data that is in internal memory. Don't worry. If you restore it, you will get the phone like it was when you made the backup.

Titanium capabilities
I was wondering if it is possible to backup app (with their data), sms and contacts....all in one go using Titanium (non-pro version) (I think we call it batch backup)? I am totally new to the ROOTING and CUSTOM ROM worlds and I am literally freaking out with all the huge info on this topic on the internet. I am using a CM10 on I9000. Please help!

Yes i wonder too.

Boot in recovery
select backup to ext sd
run...
you have back up everythin like ghost in pc....
( so you can try another rom and if you dont like it restore your back up and you have you old rom
working with all data app contacts etc )
you must youse the same cwm version for restore with the one that you use for backup

Cursed Chico said:
Applications backup but not cache or data?
System backups?
Sms and call logs?
And system backups?
Are those all to do? If i backup those, when i restore, will i be able to have my desktop widgets, desktop icons sorted correctly ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you attempting to backup so that you can move the apps/sms/settings to the new ROM or backing up in case you want to restore? Titanium backup is probably the thing you want in the former case and either with cwm backup or with linux dd backup in the latter. Personally I had problem moving system settings between roms, but apps should work just fine.

Different Backup Methods

I was hoping to learn the differences between certain backup methods. The most common i saw is via recovery (in my case twrp), via titanium backup and another via adb command even without root which i saw in one of the threads here in xda.
First, in terms of "backup coverage" how do they compare to one another? Secondly, which among the three would most put ur phone back the way it was before u wipe or factory reset it
I hope you could input your opinions on this and suggestions.
Thanks in advance!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

A backup through recovery is a called a nandroid. This backs up everything on your phone including your ROM, kernel, apps, settings, etc. This will allow you to restore back to the previous state of your phone after doing a full wipe.
Titanium backup only backs up your apps and app data. This is useful when you want to switch ROMs and restore your apps in the new ROM.
Usually when switching ROMs I first use titanium backup, then I create a nandroid backup, and finally I flash the ROM. If I like the ROM I use titanium to restore the apps that I previously backed up, and if I don't like the ROM I restore my nandroid
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda app-developers app

Doing a backup with twrp, cwm or thru adb (nandroid backups) are basically image files of your phone at any given moment in time. If you restore one of these backups your restoring your phone to exactly how it was at that moment in time. Titanium backup and Helium backup just backup cached data at that particular moment in time. Using these apps will only restore the data you specified when you did the backup and nothing else. Say you borked an install of a ROM, Titanium backup would be of no use in getting your phone working again as it only has data and not a system image. You would need the images backed up by twrp to get the phone working again then you could use the titanium backups to restore any newer data saved if say you used an old twrp backup.

whoah! thanks guys! I was supposed to quote you but since both of you really helped me understand it now, this thanks goes to the both of you.
I've hit the thanks button on both you guys.
Thank you very much for explaining this.
One last thing, when using a Titanium backup ( im using the pro version), how do i backup to make sure I cover all that needs to be backed up? There are a lot of options im not sure which to select and what to do. I hope you could enlighten me on this one as well.
Thanks again in advance!

vinz_bangiz said:
whoah! thanks guys! I was supposed to quote you but since both of you really helped me understand it now, this thanks goes to the both of you.
I've hit the thanks button on both you guys.
Thank you very much for explaining this.
One last thing, when using a Titanium backup ( im using the pro version), how do i backup to make sure I cover all that needs to be backed up? There are a lot of options im not sure which to select and what to do. I hope you could enlighten me on this one as well.
Thanks again in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the pro version u can run a batch backup of all apps.
To do this open the app, press the menu button in the top tight corner, and select Batch.
Then choose Backup all user apps. From there you can select/deselect apps. When you are done choosing the apps that you would like to backup, click on the green check mark in the top right corner to start the backup.

vinz_bangiz said:
whoah! thanks guys! I was supposed to quote you but since both of you really helped me understand it now, this thanks goes to the both of you.
I've hit the thanks button on both you guys.
Thank you very much for explaining this.
One last thing, when using a Titanium backup ( im using the pro version), how do i backup to make sure I cover all that needs to be backed up? There are a lot of options im not sure which to select and what to do. I hope you could enlighten me on this one as well.
Thanks again in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stopped using Titanium and switched to Helium a while back and can't really remember how Ti works exactly. I do know you should never restore system apps data just user apps data so I don't even bother backing up systems apps. I think with Ti I would just do an initial backup of all user data and apps and then periodically do a backup of newer user data and apps, or something to that effect in the menu. I do like Helium better as its interface is better, never could figure out how to backup or restore sms, call logs and the dictionary using Ti. Helium is much more straight forward and simpler (not as many options) and it does backups on a set schedule to my box account. I'm sure you can do all that with Ti too it was just not a very clean app.

thanks again for the replies..
@ chromium96
i think it is the same as clicking the box with check icon beside the menu, it brings me to the page the same as where you are leading me to but in just one click. Though im not so sure if it is really the same one.
I did a backup now but made a user app + system data.
kzoodroid mentioned not to backup system. Should I really not backup the system? Im quite confused with the terminologies of TI coz it says backup "user apps". Does this only refer to the apps and not the settings or data in my phone? does the backup "system data" refer to the settings and other data on my phone? if I choose only backup "user apps", would this only backup the apps and nothing else?
@ kzoodroid
could you explain further why I should never backup systems apps?
Lastly, is Helium really better than TI? or it depends on user preference?
Thanks again!

there are 2 kind of apps stored in your phone, system apps, only accesible with root privilege, and user apps,
system apps are phone, browser,wallpapers, etc, this are the basic apps to make your phone to work
user apps are all the stuff you, the user, install on your phone
the first one can be found, via file managers on /system/app
user app in /data or in sdcard for apps can use this option
the user app back-up, via Tb or others create a back-up of /data and apps you choose to install
restoring a system app via Tb is dangerous cause if you've switched rom the /system/app can be different, so restoring can cause trouble or misbehavior on your phone
/system/app back.up can be used only if you, before deleting a system app, want to have a copy to restore in future, but only if you still on the same rom

stremax said:
there are 2 kind of apps stored in your phone, system apps, only accesible with root privilege, and user apps,
system apps are phone, browser,wallpapers, etc, this are the basic apps to make your phone to work
user apps are all the stuff you, the user, install on your phone
the first one can be found, via file managers on /system/app
user app in /data or in sdcard for apps can use this option
the user app back-up, via Tb or others create a back-up of /data and apps you choose to install
restoring a system app via Tb is dangerous cause if you've switched rom the /system/app can be different, so restoring can cause trouble or misbehavior on your phone
/system/app back.up can be used only if you, before deleting a system app, want to have a copy to restore in future, but only if you still on the same rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply! kinda getting an idea what you mean.. if I backup the system also, then i put a new rom and it may be different from my current roms system so it might mess it up. so just backup user app and restore this after installing new rom then it would be ok and back to how it was before i installed a new rom? Do i understand it right?

vinz_bangiz said:
Thanks for the reply! kinda getting an idea what you mean.. if I backup the system also, then i put a new rom and it may be different from my current roms system so it might mess it up. so just backup user app and restore this after installing new rom then it would be ok and back to how it was before i installed a new rom? Do i understand it right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
right man,
only back-up user apps and data, if you like you can also back-up call log and messages, I usually do this, so when I flash a new rom I usually restore apps +apps data, messages and call log via Tb

vinz_bangiz said:
another via adb command even without root which i saw in one of the threads here in xda.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found the ADB backup doesn't work as well as the other methods. I found some apps didn't seem to get backed up, and at least one didn't work after restoring (though this could be because I used Titanium Backup to restore the app from the ADB backup file).

How do you restore apps between ROM flashes?

Sorry, if this seems like a newbie question. Maybe it is, though I don't feel like a newbie.
How do you restore apps+data between flashes? I have tried titanium backup, creating update.zip or just batch restoring, I tried myBackup and Superbackup. But I can't find a backup that will consistently restore apps and data for a painless flashing experience. I always have to re-enter account data for dropbox, evernote, whatsapp, etc. etc. etc.
What do you do?

Buy Titanium Backup

vishnu vijay said:
Buy Titanium Backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did, I have.
But it doesn't help. For many apps, configuration is lost on restore. Or am I doing something wrong?
I put dropbox & evernote on a zip, flashed them, but configuration was lost. I restored them within Titanium,
and it was still lost.

Make sure you tick app + data when you restore apps.
personally i have used only few apps like whatsapp , here maps and google keep
and all my data was restored.
You do have type your google accounts information by yourself.
for more info
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1323863

I backup apps via TB .
But on a rom flash i wipe rom flash rom test .
Then restore Data only from Nandroid backup .Works except when moving from JB to KK or similar major upgrade .All settings and layouts restored on stock based roms .