Database Users

Can SPB Backup perform a COMPLETE system backup?

After speaking with a friend about a biweekly hard reset "schedule," I've decided to research the eversopopular application from SPB Software, which is their backup application, SPB Backup.
I've heard many good things about it, in terms of reliability, consistency, and the easy to use interface.
Now, having said all of that... are there programs that allow for a COMPLETE SYSTEM BACKUP & RESTORE? As in... all of the modifications, applications, registry, etc. I have now are SAVED, BACKED UP, and capable of being restored onto my device without consequence.
Is SPB Backup the ideal program for this? Please, feel free to offer your suggestions below... thank you in advance.

I have used SPB Backup on my HTC Kaiser and it did a complete phone backup minus the stuff in Rom. In other words, if I did a complete backup & did a hard reset, it would restore the phone back exactly to the state it was(MINUS what was on the SD card). So if you installed anything on the SD card, you would want to do a separate manual backup of your card. I restored numerous backups onto the Kaiser & it ALWAYS restored accurately and completely.
I have been using SPB Backup to backup my HD2, but have yet to do a complete restore from a hard reset (haven't had to). Maybe someone else can verify that it is 100% restoring fine....... Hope this info helps.
By the way, on Twitter, you stated that you found a "handy" application that allows you to automatically switch between interfaces such as: SPBMS, Titanium, and HTC Sense...... what's the name of it?.... TIA.

BIOYAM said:
I have used SPB Backup on my HTC Kaiser and it did a complete phone backup minus the stuff in Rom. In other words, if I did a complete backup & did a hard reset, it would restore the phone back exactly to the state it was(MINUS what was on the SD card). So if you installed anything on the SD card, you would want to do a separate manual backup of your card. I restored numerous backups onto the Kaiser & it ALWAYS restored accurately and completely.
I have been using SPB Backup to backup my HD2, but have yet to do a complete restore from a hard reset (haven't had to). Maybe someone else can verify that it is 100% restoring fine....... Hope this info helps.
By the way, on Twitter, you stated that you found a "handy" application that allows you to automatically switch between interfaces such as: SPBMS, Titanium, and HTC Sense...... what's the name of it?.... TIA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the reply.
I'll look a little further into this.
As for that application for switching between interfaces... I came across that on PPCGeeks from a guy named, "Darkness" who also created most of the disabling .CAB files for Titanium and Sense.
His interface switcher works really well. I downloaded the one specifically designed for Titanium and Sense. NOT THE SPB MOBILE SHELL VERSION!
And one more thing... all of the .CAB files I have installed, I installed them to my device, not my storage card. So, if those files are on my device... would those be backed up within the files that SPB Backup compresses?

Reignzone said:
........ As for that application for switching between interfaces... I came across that on PPCGeeks from a guy named, "Darkness" who also created most of the disabling .CAB files for Titanium and Sense.
His interface switcher works really well. I downloaded the one specifically designed for Titanium and Sense. NOT THE SPB MOBILE SHELL VERSION!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this info .... I'll check it out.
Reignzone said:
And one more thing... all of the .CAB files I have installed, I installed them to my device, not my storage card. So, if those files are on my device... would those be backed up within the files that SPB Backup compresses?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those .cab files would definitely be captured in the backup.

It hasn't had a completely good press but I use Sprite Backup on my HD2. I suppose it's habit after I first used it on my hx4700.
It will restore my HD2 to its backed up state, settings, programs, registry and tweaks. It will back up storage cards if you want it too. It has a mode that allows restoration of suitable data to another device too. It can back up to a network.
I schedule it to run daily and use it at other times as needed. When I restore, I usually hard reset first. Setting Sprite to 'delete all files' during a restoration does much the same. I set it to replace settings. The registry can be replaced or merged; it seems that this makes no difference.
The program has yet to let me down do I haven't felt the need to try SPB Backup.
You might also try the backup feature in SKTools. I find it works well and the software has additional uses.

BIOYAM said:
Thanks for this info .... I'll check it out.
Those .cab files would definitely be captured in the backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you again for your feedback.
I'm definitely feeling a little bit better about entrusting this software with my precious files.
DrATty said:
It hasn't had a completely good press but I use Sprite Backup on my HD2. I suppose it's habit after I first used it on my hx4700.
It will restore my HD2 to its backed up state, settings, programs, registry and tweaks. It will back up storage cards if you want it too. It has a mode that allows restoration of suitable data to another device too. It can back up to a network.
I schedule it to run daily and use it at other times as needed. When I restore, I usually hard reset first. Setting Sprite to 'delete all files' during a restoration does much the same. I set it to replace settings. The registry can be replaced or merged; it seems that this makes no difference.
The program has yet to let me down do I haven't felt the need to try SPB Backup.
You might also try the backup feature in SKTools. I find it works well and the software has additional uses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And thank you kind sir for your reply as well.
All the opinions and facts here certainly make me feel more comfortable with this process, as I am YET to actually perform a backup... not once. So, I figure it's better late than never, right?
I'll look into SKTools and certainly do some research about the Sprite software for Windows Mobile, because I'm familiar with their work for Android. On the Android platform, it did the job quite well.
Thanks again. All of this was reassuring.

I use SPB backup all the time on my HD2.. i have it scheduled to make a complete backup + SD card every second night..
It works very well and have tried to restore several times (just to test) without any problems!
However if you flash a new rom i would not advice you to do a complete backup, but instead make a partially backup of documents, contacts, email and so on..
It even keeps your email signature and settings when doing the parcial backup, so i also use it everytime i flash a new rom, together with either xda UC or auto install from sd card..
Hope it helps, and i can say for sure that this software works perfect with both EU and US roms..
Happy backup

never put your money in one place..means never trust 1 app for your backup specially you got a rahter-die-than-lose-your-files files
not so often i meet my bad luck to restore my files from such spb restore app but lucky me i had 2 similar backup from 3 backup apps maybe u will make it 2 apps thinking about space left
and always save at least 2 backup files with the same app but different time, kind'a storage eater right??but this useful when u got error from another file
hope this useful for u

maverick_endit81 said:
never put your money in one place..means never trust 1 app for your backup specially you got a rahter-die-than-lose-your-files files
not so often i meet my bad luck to restore my files from such spb restore app but lucky me i had 2 similar backup from 3 backup apps maybe u will make it 2 apps thinking about space left
and always save at least 2 backup files with the same app but different time, kind'a storage eater right??but this useful when u got error from another file
hope this useful for u
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...And check the restoration process before you need to use it in anger. Finding that there is something wrong with your backup files when you need to use them in anger is... frustrating.
I mentioned Sprite's ability to restore data to a new device. This includes devices where the ROM has been replaced. I haven't tried it and obviously, not everything can be transferred. The migration features might be useful in your situation though.
Microsoft's myPhone is worth a mention. It can be used to backup your PIM data and documents, photographs and music. I haven't tried using it to restore anything yet though. My PIM data is saved in Outlook and that is backed up to hard disks and in the Cloud via iDrive, DropBox, Humyo and Live MESH. It's probably the one thing I can least afford to lose.

I would appreciate if anyone told me if the SPB Backup utility backs up the SPB Mobile Shell layout as well (the way the icons are arranged and other stuff like that). That would REALLY help me save some precious time ...

SPB Backup - Great App
I bought this application a couple of days ago and I do a backup before I install some questionable apps or just in case I don't like the way it changed other things on my HD2. But I decided to go with the ROM from Sergio and everything seemed fine until I missed some calls and I just didn't like the changes on IE so this morning I decided to try my backup restore. I flashed back to the stock ROM and then ran my backup EXE file. It asked if I wanted to change the time to the current time (Sprite Backup doesn't have this option and restores to the backup time so you have to manually change it) so I moved forward. The backup was just the way I left it. I am glad I purchased this software. Just my 2 cents.

anrabi4 said:
I would appreciate if anyone told me if the SPB Backup utility backs up the SPB Mobile Shell layout as well (the way the icons are arranged and other stuff like that). That would REALLY help me save some precious time ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprite Backup can; it depends on the settings used. I think I'm right in saying that both Sprite and SPB Backup will restore a device to exactly the same state it was at when the backup was made. The only exceptions are where files on a storage card that were used by an application in internal memory have been changed or deleted since the backup was made. Files on removable storage can be added to backups in Sprite to avoid this happening.

dgreening said:
...It asked if I wanted to change the time to the current time (Sprite Backup doesn't have this option and restores to the backup time so you have to manually change it) so I moved forward...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprite Backup leaves the time alone. I used to hard reset (or delete all files and replace settings) and restore the backup. My HD2 sets the time itself either just after the reset or just after the restoration is complete so I find I don't need to do anything. It hasn't caused any problems that I am aware of so far.

dgreening said:
I bought this application a couple of days ago and I do a backup before I install some questionable apps or just in case I don't like the way it changed other things on my HD2. But I decided to go with the ROM from Sergio and everything seemed fine until I missed some calls and I just didn't like the changes on IE so this morning I decided to try my backup restore. I flashed back to the stock ROM and then ran my backup EXE file. It asked if I wanted to change the time to the current time (Sprite Backup doesn't have this option and restores to the backup time so you have to manually change it) so I moved forward. The backup was just the way I left it. I am glad I purchased this software. Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed.
I caved in last night and purchased the SPB Software program as well.
I backed up my system last night... surprisingly though, it was much "smaller" than I had originally expected it to be. Something around 80MB, at least that's what the application "calculated" it was going to be. I suppose that could be in compressed form though...
Anyway, it seems to have done the job well. And I certainly love that I was able to create a backup copy on my SD Card, along with my desktop PC.
I also have SK Tools... so I think having a couple if not MORE than a few system restore and backup utilities is a good thing.

low-dogg said:
I use SPB backup all the time on my HD2.. i have it scheduled to make a complete backup + SD card every second night..
It works very well and have tried to restore several times (just to test) without any problems!
However if you flash a new rom i would not advice you to do a complete backup, but instead make a partially backup of documents, contacts, email and so on..
It even keeps your email signature and settings when doing the parcial backup, so i also use it everytime i flash a new rom, together with either xda UC or auto install from sd card..
Hope it helps, and i can say for sure that this software works perfect with both EU and US roms..
Happy backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I'm looking in the partial possibilities for restoring with the SPB, I can find in the "customize restore" those:
PIM DATA (CONTACTS, TASKS, APPOINTMENTS,...)
EMAILS
TEXT MESSAGES
MY DOCUMENTS
SYSTEM DATA (including: CUSTOMIZE... RESTORE FILES, RESTORE DATABASES and RESTORE REGISTRY)
If I flash a new rom, which exactly possibilities I have to choose?

SPB Backup works perfectly for me. Scheduled backup every night, restore complete system after hard reset, etc.
Don't forget the precious desktop companion SPBBackupUnpack: extract files, registry keys ... and more.

harrygol said:
When I'm looking in the partial possibilities for restoring with the SPB, I can find in the "customize restore" those:
PIM DATA (CONTACTS, TASKS, APPOINTMENTS,...)
EMAILS
TEXT MESSAGES
MY DOCUMENTS
SYSTEM DATA (including: CUSTOMIZE... RESTORE FILES, RESTORE DATABASES and RESTORE REGISTRY)
If I flash a new rom, which exactly possibilities I have to choose?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have restored PIM data, system databases, documents, mail and text messages between devices with Sprite Backup and it has worked perfectly. That includes the same device with different ROMs and even entirely different devices. Restoring the registry and software is sometimes problematic but SPB Backup has a ROM upgrade mode to help here.
I'd check out the support forum for your particular solution to see what works. Restoring the wrong items used to cause trouble and could create quite a mess. I haven't heard of anything in particular since the new restore modes were introduced.

Call me old fashioned, but, backup/restore tools always make me feel uneasy.
I know that there are many for whom they run "faultlessly" and for certain problems they really do offer solutions, however, the one situation that I have a concern about is the backup/restore across a ROM change, be it either a simple stock upgrade or a cooked ROM flash.
You would be throwing a set of data at a virgin phone that had been collected from a setup that had presumably either failed or been superceded!
In either event I would want to know that any potentially destabalising ellements had been eliminated and not "carried over" to, what should be, a fresh setup.
I can remember horrific problems caused by advice to use backup/restore on many other phones and they were all identified as having been situations in which the use was applied across a ROM change.
And lets be clear about this, we have enough trouble with badly coded software as it is. You only have to run down the new daily posts in these forums to see how difficult it is for many to achieve a stable/useable phone and that situation quite often occurs right out of the box!
For my part I must admit that I have become particularly fond of MyPhone.
It has always done the job for me, although I only use it for basic PIM restore after a new ROM flash, which I seem to be doing every couple of days at the moment. However, I do also allow it to retain a copy of my photos and music, but, I've never restored from it as the file sizes and subsequent time taken are too great.
I have identically synced (from within my laptop file manager, but, I have had need to do it directly phone to phone!) MSD cards of the same size in two seperate phones one being the HD2 and the other being a Nokia E71. These cards hold music, photos, documents, downloads, a section for reinstall apps and my current and previous ROM and radio images. This means that the cards are interchangeable and I keep an image of them on a USB stick. My apps are never installed to mem card.
My final piece of backup is by way of my trusty Ameo which holds one more complete data and app set.
So if any two pieces of equipment fail I can still recover the situation and notice that I give only passing mention to a PC or laptop.
I access MyPhone through my mobile broadband WiFi router which is constantly on and is powered through a UPS which gives about three days backup use.
With all this I have got a task 29, new ROM flash, reinstall of apps and settings down to about 35 mins.
It just came to me that we do lavish a lot of attention our our little pals!
Don't we?
Too much? LOL.

SPB BACKUP FAILED FOR ME ON HTC Touch PRO 2
I was used to restore my Touch 3g and my Qtek S200 with SPB backup and at all times successfully. So, I updated to last SPB backup software version (of course I bought that software). On Saturday I did something erroneous on my TP2 and needed to hard reset. After that, I tried to restore my full backups, one after other from newer to older and a total of 15. All of them restored apparently well, but HTC sense did not start-up any longer in any of the cases. I had to manually re-install all the stuff back and I just restore the emails and PIM from the backup. The PIM database did not longer sync with my Outlook. I had to recreate the partnership. After that, all my notifications were duplicated... a complete mess. I cannot understand what went wrong, because the backup and restore log files where always showing no error. I am using the stock ROM (WM6.5 + HTC sense 2.5) and all my software is either legal or GPL. Nothing special on my device apart of all my beloved data.
So that is my experience with SPB backup that was always good, has turned to be negative. Of course, now I am afraid to try again.
Anybody has experience the same?
Any idea?
Thanks folks.

Which Backup app actually works ?

I just had a bad experience with MyBackup Pro. I just re-flashed from Sky Raider 2.00 to 2.01. Everything worked beautifully after re-booting under the new ROM. So then I attempted to Restore my apks+data with MyBackup Pro. But after that finished, I never saw such a mess after a re-boot. Thank God I had a nand backup... So now that I'm back where I started from, is there an app out there that actually works? I'd like to try this again.
I'm not sure why MyBackup didn't work. I heard some good things about it, and that is why I decided to try it.
I've also heard of Titanium Backup...but has anyone restored SUCCESSFULLY after a ROM upgrade with this utility?

Just posted this in another thread so I feel like a broken record but yes, I used Titanium to backup pre-2.2, installed CyanogenMod 6, and restored apps+data (NOT system data) and everything seems to have turned out fine.
When you say you've never seen such a mess after a reboot, what exactly do you mean?

I use titanium everyone I write and install a new rom,for sky raider and cyanogen..great app.never had a problem
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App

The "mess" I talked about was some apps that wouldn't run. I would get errors instead. Outlines for some widgets instead of widgets. Wallpaper didn't change, but icon placement was as it was before re-flash. POP mail account lost config. Etc. I didn't make a list. I just said enough of this and did a nand restore.
So if I use Titanium, what should the procedure be to be sure I get back everything as it was? Or am I asking too much? Will I still have to reconfigure some things?
I just installed Titanium Backup. It doesn't appear to be as user friendly as MyBackup Pro. Can you give me some brief advice? I'd really appreciate it. I'm still wet behind the ears.
Thanks!

I use Backup Pro and haven't had any issues. I have had a few oddball apps not backup but never one that I bought or downloaded from the Market.

Lexus One said:
So if I use Titanium, what should the procedure be to be sure I get back everything as it was? Or am I asking too much? Will I still have to reconfigure some things?
I just installed Titanium Backup. It doesn't appear to be as user friendly as MyBackup Pro. Can you give me some brief advice? I'd really appreciate it. I'm still wet behind the ears.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've only used it a few times so I'm not exactly a pro, but here goes. There's a tab that says backup/restore, that has a list of your apps and whether or not there's a backup of the app. If you hit Menu and go into batch mode, that's where all the good stuff is. Before I flash a rom I'll go into batch and back up all user apps and system data. You can also schedule backups to be performed while you're sleeping or something, just so you always have new backups.
To restore, you can go into batch mode and restore apps and data. When I went to CyanogenMod6 from stock, I restored only apps and app data. I didn't restore system data because I'm pretty sure if you restore system data when moving between roms it causes a lot of problems (I'm not an expert though, might wanna ask someone more knowledgeable).
Another thing to consider: if you have a lot of apps, Titanium is a giant pain in the ass unless you have the donate version. With the free version, it asks for confirmation when restoring each app, so that can be very bothersome. The paid one does everything automatically.
Hope this helps

I have been searching and reading through posts for a few days now, so this post is not for lack of trying.
I am unable to use Titanium Backup. It says I need to have BusyBox, which will not install saying that I do not have "nand" access or something (a bit of a noob here).
I've also tried to backup through ROMManager, but all it does is reset my phone and tells me that it cannot backup, and gives me a long list of things to try. I have done most if not all, to no avail. Help?
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

gmonox said:
I've only used it a few times so I'm not exactly a pro, but here goes. There's a tab that says backup/restore, that has a list of your apps and whether or not there's a backup of the app. If you hit Menu and go into batch mode, that's where all the good stuff is. Before I flash a rom I'll go into batch and back up all user apps and system data. You can also schedule backups to be performed while you're sleeping or something, just so you always have new backups.
To restore, you can go into batch mode and restore apps and data. When I went to CyanogenMod6 from stock, I restored only apps and app data. I didn't restore system data because I'm pretty sure if you restore system data when moving between roms it causes a lot of problems (I'm not an expert though, might wanna ask someone more knowledgeable).
Another thing to consider: if you have a lot of apps, Titanium is a giant pain in the ass unless you have the donate version. With the free version, it asks for confirmation when restoring each app, so that can be very bothersome. The paid one does everything automatically.
Hope this helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I appreciate the advice on doing this the correct way. I know what my mistake was now, it was the fact that I also restored the system data. I'll try this again tonight when I get home...

HarrisonBP said:
I have been searching and reading through posts for a few days now, so this post is not for lack of trying.
I am unable to use Titanium Backup. It says I need to have BusyBox, which will not install saying that I do not have "nand" access or something (a bit of a noob here).
I've also tried to backup through ROMManager, but all it does is reset my phone and tells me that it cannot backup, and gives me a long list of things to try. I have done most if not all, to no avail. Help?
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you go into Titanium, there is a button that says "problems", click that and there should be a button that should install busybox for you.

Thank you, I read the forums, but not the buttons on my screen... stupid. :-(
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

gmonox is on point. I went through all of this yesterday after getting Froyo. My apps all reinstalled and seem to work just fine with one exception. I had a NexusMod Live wallpaper that wouldn't work. Sad too because it was my favorite because it was Cyanogen inspired and just used the cyan color. Other than that, everything seemed to work fine.

MyBackup Pro still has issues under Froyo. The permissions banner will not go away after backing up. I have to reboot my phone to get it to go away. My task killers don't work on this.

[Q] Port backup from Hero to DesireHD?

Hi,
I currently own an HTC Hero, and will most likely be getting an HTC Desire HD.
Now, I have almost 150 apps on my Hero, and I really dread the hassle of re-installing and setting up everything to my liking. It has taken me almost a year to set this up the way I want it.
Would it be possible, using Titanium Backup, to make a backup of EVERYTHING possible on the Hero, and then switch the memorycard to the Desire HD and restore it there, maybe without the app settings? I am thinking that this could be a problem because of the different specs, but I do not know too much under-the-hood-stuff regarding Android.
I am hoping to not have to go through the market for that many downloads.
Any thoughts on this?
Kingkeld.

Market apps will automatically re-install when you sign in into your new phone. For the rest there is Titanium backup

I planned on doing the same, but doesn't Titanium require root?
I can't remember what it's like to not have root, the thought is scary

Try Android commander for the PC, Plug in your hero, goto application manager, select all the apps and click backup, then when you get your new phone selsct all the backed up apps and click install Hope it helps

christonabike said:
I planned on doing the same, but doesn't Titanium require root?
I can't remember what it's like to not have root, the thought is scary
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does need root that is correct but I'm sure, as stated there are other ways to backup apps. I'm not sure about if you have your apps on ext partition though. I wager root wont take long and then comes recovery roms and then customs... mmm custom

Thank you for the replys. I can not sleep.
Now we just need a root confirmation. Yes, the thought of owning an unrooted phone is scary. Not sure what to think of it. I hope it will not last long.
All I ask is root. I can wait for the custom ROMs. There will be plenty to play with.

You just need to pick your apps from /data/data, copy them over with adb, and do a fix_permissions
See?
OR chmod by hand
;]

I used Titanium to migrate my app settings from Milestone to Nexus One, but they're on similar versions of Android and both are HDPI devices.
I can tell you that Market apps don't always reinstall automatically if you're going from one phone to another. In any case I suggest a fresh market install of your most important apps, and then restore their data by Titanium if necessary. If this causes a crash, wipe their data again. Less important apps, could just try restoring them directly. Run Titanium's Market Doctor when that's done.
I also suggest using apps like BookmarkSB, SMS Backup Restore, Call Log Backup Restore, etc to transfer those records. May work better than trying to Titanium restore data across different OS versions, and doesn't require root. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

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).

[Question] How do you backup apps when moving to a new ROM/Phone?

I was wondering how you guys usually backup your phone when going from let's say stock to LineageOS? I was wondering this because I feel my way takes more time than it needs to and if there's a better method I'm glad to hear it.
I'll go first:
I backup first through Titanium backup which is a great app for restoring most data such as wifi passwords and app data for some apps. Secondly I'll make a backup using Helium because it backs up some apps that aren't compatible with TB's way of handling things such as Defenders III. Thirdly and most Important backup I make is through twrp in case I need to go back and get something I forgot or if "the **** hits the fan" on the new ROM.

j0nas_ said:
I was wondering how you guys usually backup your phone when going from let's say stock to LineageOS? I was wondering this because I feel my way takes more time than it needs to and if there's a better method I'm glad to hear it.
I'll go first:
I backup first through Titanium backup which is a great app for restoring most data such as wifi passwords and app data for some apps. Secondly I'll make a backup using Helium because it backs up some apps that aren't compatible with TB's way of handling things such as Defenders III. Thirdly and most Important backup I make is through twrp in case I need to go back and get something I forgot or if "the **** hits the fan" on the new ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use titanium backup pro or helium app

You might try to backup apps in titanium backup, secondly for photos and videos and all other stuff what I do is connect my phone to a PC and copy paste all folders displayed latter I can swap them pretty fast

I don't back up my apps. I don't have many apps installed so it doesn't really matter.
For data, I use adb.
Backup - adb pull /sdcard/
Restore - adb push <WHAT> /sdcard/<LOCATION>

I backup with TBU - never had any problems backing up or restoring.
But how do you get Helium to work for your Moto G4? I've tried several times/methods but it just doesn't work. I am rooted with InvictaOS and Helium gets stuck on checking SuperUser. When I cancel that out and try to connect via the computer it fails to recognize the G4, whether I'm on MTP or PTP.
The only reason I'm trying Helium is that I recently got a great deal on a Verizon E4 and want to play around with it. But since it's Verizon...no bootloader unlock. I'm going crazy trying to transfer my app data to the E4, which, ironically, is recognized by Helium.
I have never been a fan of iPhone, but they at least have a method to transfer app data to to a new phone, an area that Android is lacking. If i ever get another new phone that can't be rooted, I'm screwed if I want to keep my app data, such as from my Memo app, etc...
Sorry for rant/hi-jack.