Hi, what's the best backup and restore method for this phone? I had issues in the past with applying the July security update, and with installing Magisk 13.1, and bigger issues after restoring a TWRP backup.
I'd like to back it up in a way where if a ROM update, Magisk, etc causes problems, I can restore my phone to the previous condition without issues. Can I just `dd` my /system /boot /data partitions with adb and be good?
It's a serious pain in the neck to dirty flash my firmware, then patch my kernel, flash that, then go thru and remove all the junk system apps like Facebook all over again, restore my titanium backups, and reconfigure apps, etc.
Related
So if I have a full TitaniumBackup of my phone, and I flash from stock to CM7 or Iced Glacier, can I restore any of my backup without causing problems? Or am I stuck rebuilding all of my settings and reinstalling the apps fresh from the market?
Do I need to check the box in TB that says to try to restore to incompatible ROM versions?
IG is Froyo, so it's less complex.
You can safely restore User apps and data with TB, but be very very careful with system app data. Even the green colored items may cause trouble, as you are CHANGING the ROM environment and may misprovision something.
Nandroid backups are complete system images, useful for returning to a known state, with this caveat:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=951035
HTC Glacier running CM7 #33
I did a complete TI backup of my phone before flashing IG. I was able to successfully restore all of it after wiping the phone during the flash, without any issues.
I initially tried to flash with no wipes and had some stability/app problems. I went back, re-flashed, wiped, and just restored my TI backup with great success.
I am on stock, but rooted, nexus 7 4.2.2. I got notification of the software update sometime last week. I decided I would update. First, of course, I made a full nandoid backup, and titannium backup of all my apps and data. I downloaded rootkeeper and using rootkeeper "unrooted" and set about updating.
The Nexus rebooted, and entered the custom recovery mode (I think it is Amon RA) and then the update failed.
How can I update? What are your thoughts on the update? If I should avoid updating, how can I get rid of the software upgrade nag?
wiredwrx said:
I am on stock, but rooted, nexus 7 4.2.2. I got notification of the software update sometime last week. I decided I would update. First, of course, I made a full nandoid backup, and titannium backup of all my apps and data. I downloaded rootkeeper and using rootkeeper "unrooted" and set about updating.
The Nexus rebooted, and entered the custom recovery mode (I think it is Amon RA) and then the update failed.
How can I update? What are your thoughts on the update? If I should avoid updating, how can I get rid of the software upgrade nag?
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Click to collapse
You would need stock Android recovery for it to work I believe, so if you have a custom recovery, that is why it failed.
RMarkwald said:
You would need stock Android recovery for it to work I believe, so if you have a custom recovery, that is why it failed.
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Click to collapse
Thanks. I will look into that. Any thoughts on the update?
wiredwrx said:
Thanks. I will look into that. Any thoughts on the update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'd have to get stock Android recovery on there somehow, but if you're doing the official update and you removed any /system/app apps with Titanium Backup or anything, it'll also fail. If you flashed a custom kernel, it'll fail as well. Official updates run system checks to see that the stock files are all there and the correct versions.
You could backup everything you want to save on internal sd card (pictures/music etc), and flash the official factory Google images via fastboot. Or flash custom recovery and flash a 4.2.2 ROM. Either way, you'll have to wipe everything so you'll loose apps and app data, which you'll have to re-install again.
wiredwrx said:
The Nexus rebooted, and entered the custom recovery mode (I think it is Amon RA) and then the update failed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason it failed is given in the recovery log file located at /cache/recovery/recovery.log
In general, OTAs are meant for 100% stock devices. When someone attempts an OTA on a rooted device, it can fail for hundreds of independent reasons - usually files in /system that got altered or removed by various root-privileged apps. (Sometimes it is not apparent to the end user that their root-using apps have even made such changes). In the current JOP40D -> JDQ39 OTA, the boot partition is also checked, so the OTA will certainly fail if you are using a custom kernel (in addition to any issues with modified files in /system).
Sounds like you are a person who makes Nandroid backups; good for you. If you have a Nandroid backup taken immediately after rooting (before any of these changes took place), it is possible that you could replace the altered files (by pulling the unaltered versions out of the old Nandroid Backups). Unfortunately, it is hard to know how much work this will be**, because during the initial check sequence that the OTA performs, it halts on the first error encountered. There could be only a single altered file causing trouble, several, or many.
** If you use TWRP recovery, the system (& data) image backups are tar files - you don't even need to restore an old backup to retrieve files from other backups.
As you mentioned TiBu, it sounds like your are farmiliar with all this stuff already. Rather than hand-patching your existing ROM, perhaps the right thing to do is to
- Make your TiBu & Nandroid Backups of your current ROM
- Install 4.2.2 factory image & Re-Root
- Make a Nandroid Backup of this (vanilla stock) ROM before you even boot it
- Boot it and restore your Market Apps. (I'm not a big fan of restoring System Apps or their data).
good luck
bftb0 said:
The reason it failed is given in the recovery log file located at /cache/recovery/recovery.log
In general, OTAs are meant for 100% stock devices. When someone attempts an OTA on a rooted device, it can fail for hundreds of independent reasons - usually files in /system that got altered or removed by various root-privileged apps. (Sometimes it is not apparent to the end user that their root-using apps have even made such changes). In the current JOP40D -> JDQ39 OTA, the boot partition is also checked, so the OTA will certainly fail if you are using a custom kernel (in addition to any issues with modified files in /system).
Sounds like you are a person who makes Nandroid backups; good for you. If you have a Nandroid backup taken immediately after rooting (before any of these changes took place), it is possible that you could replace the altered files (by pulling the unaltered versions out of the old Nandroid Backups). Unfortunately, it is hard to know how much work this will be**, because during the initial check sequence that the OTA performs, it halts on the first error encountered. There could be only a single altered file causing trouble, several, or many.
** If you use TWRP recovery, the system (& data) image backups are tar files - you don't even need to restore an old backup to retrieve files from other backups.
As you mentioned TiBu, it sounds like your are farmiliar with all this stuff already. Rather than hand-patching your existing ROM, perhaps the right thing to do is to
- Make your TiBu & Nandroid Backups of your current ROM
- Install 4.2.2 factory image & Re-Root
- Make a Nandroid Backup of this (vanilla stock) ROM before you even boot it
- Boot it and restore your Market Apps. (I'm not a big fan of restoring System Apps or their data).
good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the detailed breakdown. I may just update with your instructions. Are you aware of a way to suppress the nag screen.
Hi all,
I have a nexus 7 running Android 4.1.2 stock w/ root. Some months ago, I disabled the OTA update notification - but I can't seem to remember how!
I want to now re-enable OTA updates so that I can update to the latest android version, and not lose my installed apps.
I've searched the device for FOTAKill.apk inside /system/app, and its not found
I've also searched for frozen / hidden apps using Titanium Backup Pro... nothing
When I enter Settings -> About Tablet -> System Updates... it says I'm up to date... but I'm not, considering I'm running 4.1.2.
Any help or pointers in re-enabling OTA is appreciated!!
- make a full nandroid backup.
- using fastboot, flash the system.img file from the 4.2.2 factory image to the system partition.
- using your custom recovery, reflash a SuperSU root kit bundle.
- using the custom recovery, wipe cache and dalvik-cache.
If you don't like the result, restore the nandroid backup and proceed in a different fashion. It will probably break things like stickmount and any other changes that you caused in /system.
Note the above method is for use by lazy and sloppy users. A better approach is to make TiBu backups of only your market apps, bite the bullet, and start from scratch with a flash & (new) configuration of a pure stock ROM. In any case, every conceivable procedure should start with making a full nandroid backup and getting it copied to a safe place off the tablet.
I will also say that unless odd problems crop up, the portions of the factory install procedure (using fastboot) that deal with erasure or flashing of the userdata partition should be skipped, as these steps completely wipe your /data storage - including your /sdcard area in /data/media/0 and any CWM/TWRP nandroid backups!
It's not really clear why these steps would be needed unless the /data ext4 filesystem in the userdata partition got corrupted somehow. A more sly approach would be to use the custom recovery's "factory reset" procedure to clean up /data - either before or after flashing the factory ROM - and completely skip anything that touches the userdata partition in the factory install instructions.
good luck
Hey all,
Was attempting to get to systemless root for Android Pay after being on a standard system-modified root. Followed the guide linked below:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/themes-apps/systemless-root-themed-apps-t3292105
All went well until I attempted to install a Layers theme and got a SystemUI crash. No worries, restored from TWRP backup made just before Layers. Still bootlooped. Attempted to restore my Nandroid backup, still no dice. Any idea what might be wrong? Thanks for any help.
ever get it fixed? and how I am assuming you resolved?
I fixed being stuck in boot after a restore by only flashing system, data, boot, and vendor in TWRP.
proper vendor image?
From what I have read lately, Systemless root doesn't work with Android Pay any more. Google has patched it a month ago.
Read: http://www.xda-developers.com/android-pay-no-longer-working-with-systemless-root/
About TWRP restore. The function has evolved to be a little complex than earlier, and many users, especially those who are new, seem to have problems with it. You should most probably backup the old entries, like System, Data, Cache, and Boot. Vendor could be left alone if you're not downgrading or upgrading. Same goes for the recovery, since TWRP will be there already.
You should of did a total wipe, factory reset plus system. Then tried restore. You might of also needed to delete overlays folder.
Hi experts,
I would very much appreciate some help regarding the following:
I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900F with factory installed stock rom G900FXXU1BPA2 (Android 5.0). I used the SkipSoft Unified Android Toolkit 1.4.5 to root the phone and install TWRP recovery (2.7.1.0-klte as recommended by Unified Android Toolkit). I made a first Nandroid Backup and was able to successfully restore this backup (I restored boot, system and data to verify that Nandroid restore works). I then used Titanium Backup to restore my apps from another phone, and all was well.
A week or so later I wanted to modify something I wasn't sure I wanted to keep (using apktool). I therefore made a second Nandroid backup and then proceeded to make modifications to the phone. After I saw the result, I didn't like it, and therefore restored the second Nandroid backup. After rebooting, the phone gave a flurry of forced stops ("Unfortunately XXX has stopped"). It is not a bootloop but I can't do anything meaningful with the phone other than restart it.
To try and resolve this, I used TWRP to wipe cache and dalvik cache and rebooted. The phone went through the lengthy "Android is upgrading" process but the result was the same: all my apps force stop.
I then decided to try and restore the original first Nandroid backup (which I had been able to restore successfully earlier), and this resulted in the same issue. Since I have several backups of this first backup I was able to verify that the files were good. Also did MD5 checksum verification in TWRP and it all checked out.
Using Odin, I was able to restore a stock ROM from SamMobile (G900FXXU1BOL1_G900FOJK1BOL1_ILO) and after restart, the phone works as usual, but of course all my apps and data were gone.
I was then able to use TWRP to restore only boot and system from the second backup, so I would be back on the exact same ROM that my phone came with, and this worked just fine; the phone started as if factory restored.
I then used TWRP to restore only data, and this resulted again in the same problem: all apps force close. Note that this is a restore of data only to the same phone running the exact same ROM that the Nandroid backup was made on, and it still did not work.
I have been thinking about this issue and searching through the various forums but I did not find anyone having this same exact issue. Here are some questions I came up with:
1. Is TWRP 2.7.1.0 completely compatible with this phone and with Android 5.0? Would it help if I installed a newer version of TWRP? Would I be able to restore Nandroid backups made with TWRP 2.7.1.0 with TWRP 3.X?
2. Assuming my second Nandroid backup is not corrupt, is there a better (less intrusive) restore I can do of the apps? Can Titanium Backup read TWRP 2.7.1.0 backups and restore them, including SMS?
3. What could be the reason for TWRP 2.7.1.0 restore not to be working properly? I did activate the fingerprint reader after the first Nandroid Backup, but if that is the issue I would have expected that first backup (in which fingerprints were not yet enabled) to restore properly and it doesn't.
Would appreciate any help!
Thanks,
AH
That version of TWRP is pretty old, possible it doesn't fully support 5.0
Grab 3.0.0.0 from here (newer versions are not fully bug free yet)
https://dl.twrp.me/klte/
Flash .tar version with ODIN 3.10.7
TiBu can read Nandroid backups and restore apps yes
Not sure about SMS
The method you used to root and flash TWRP is not a usual method used here, most of us use ODIN to flash TWRP and then flash SuperSU from recovery
or use CF Auto Root to root, and then flash TWRP with ODIN
I'd flash stock again, factory reset, and then flash TWRP and SuperSU, then try restoring your apps with TiBu
*Detection* said:
That version of TWRP is pretty old, possible it doesn't fully support 5.0
Grab 3.0.0.0 from here (newer versions are not fully bug free yet)
dl.twrp.me/klte
Flash .tar version with ODIN 3.10.7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks *Detection*! I installed TWRP 3.0.0.0 as per your instructions and restored just data. Same result as before.
Then I used TWRP 3.0.0.0 to restore the entire backup including system, boot, recovery, and data. Same result (of course I lost TWRP 3.0.0.0 and was back on TWRP 2.7.1.0).
This exercise was useful for one reason: I now know that TWRP 3.0.0.0 is able to read Nandroid backups from TWRP 2.7.1.0.
This is quite crazy but I seem to be unable to restore a full Nandroid backup and get a working system.
Am going to try Titanium Backup.
Thanks again!
AH