Database Users

How to backup with nandroid if there is not enough space?

Hello,
I wonder if anyone know... What happens when let's say i have 9gb of data on my s2 and i want to backup it with nandroid? It should be possible to do this to sd card, but what if some apps are on phone and some on sd card? How backup then?
If i upgrade to a newer custom built rom, i them try to backup, wouldn't it restore the older backed up firmware? Or just apps and settings, but not rom itself?
Thank you,
Tomas

no one? did no one fill their phone and tried to backup? maybe there is a solution to backup to a computer?

execine said:
Hello,
I wonder if anyone know... What happens when let's say i have 9gb of data on my s2 and i want to backup it with nandroid? It should be possible to do this to sd card, but what if some apps are on phone and some on sd card? How backup then?
If i upgrade to a newer custom built rom, i them try to backup, wouldn't it restore the older backed up firmware? Or just apps and settings, but not rom itself?
Thank you,
Tomas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nandroid backups are an image of
/system
/data
/dbdata
(on CF-Root, not sure about original CWM) it also includes .android_secure, which is SD-stored apps.
I don't understand what you are asking.

If there is not enough space you obviously have to delete something.
BTW: data-partition is around 2,1GB and system-partition 500MB, so there is no way a single backup can use 9GB

Maybe I am not being very clear, sorry about that
Coming from an Iphone, i am looking for a total phone backup solution. Itunes backs up literally everything - your apps, music, photos etc. It's filled probably with 20gb of different data.
Question is if I have my phone filled with games, different apps which make let's say 10 gb (not that much counting in that one game may be up to 1 gb), so how do i backup this? To SD card?
What if I have 20gb of data , 10 of which are on phone, 10 on sd card, in this case i wouldn't be able to backup everything?
One more technical question about rom upgrades. Currently i installed Villain Rom and have a backup made with nandroid. When i upgrade to a newer Villain Rom 1.5 or whatever comes out and I do the restore, i suppose it will restore 1.4 rom version with it's all apps and settings?
In this case, how do i backup only accounts, contacts, sms , apps, photogallery but not rom itself?
Sorry for all those questions, but i'm reading the forum all over, and there's still hundreds of questions i'm looking to find answers, so that i could comfortably migrate from iphone to galaxy..

execine said:
Maybe I am not being very clear, sorry about that
Coming from an Iphone, i am looking for a total phone backup solution. Itunes backs up literally everything - your apps, music, photos etc. It's filled probably with 20gb of different data.
Question is if I have my phone filled with games, different apps which make let's say 10 gb (not that much counting in that one game may be up to 1 gb), so how do i backup this? To SD card?
What if I have 20gb of data , 10 of which are on phone, 10 on sd card, in this case i wouldn't be able to backup everything?
One more technical question about rom upgrades. Currently i installed Villain Rom and have a backup made with nandroid. When i upgrade to a newer Villain Rom 1.5 or whatever comes out and I do the restore, i suppose it will restore 1.4 rom version with it's all apps and settings?
In this case, how do i backup only accounts, contacts, sms , apps, photogallery but not rom itself?
Sorry for all those questions, but i'm reading the forum all over, and there's still hundreds of questions i'm looking to find answers, so that i could comfortably migrate from iphone to galaxy..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Regarding restoring only apps/accounts/etc but not the rom iteself, within cwm, in backup and restore, chhoose advanced restore and the restore data.
Im not certain whether it restores gallery or sms.i sync my photos via dropbox, and backup my texts seperately.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA Premium App

So there is no unified backup solution for android? You would have to back up everything separately ?

execine said:
So there is no unified backup solution for android? You would have to back up everything separately ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's fairly simple:
Nandroid for your ROM and user data that is on the PHONE and /data partition
For the /sdcard and /sdcard/external_sd, that's up to you to sort out... Perhaps back up the contents by connecting to your PC? Then copy the contents of the SD? That way you have your nandroid backup stored on the computer just in case

so then in case something goes wrong, i restore with nandroid and manually copy contents from PC and ALL of my phone's data (software, contacts, gallery etc) will be there?

execine said:
Coming from an Iphone, i am looking for a total phone backup solution. Itunes backs up literally everything - your apps, music, photos etc. It's filled probably with 20gb of different data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, now you have a phone that doesn´t hide everything from the user it shouldn´t be that hard to make a backup.
There are basically 4 interesting partitions on the phone:
system (about 500MB) - This holds more or less the whole Firmware. While it is technically just a partition on the flash-memory, it is used like a ROM in normal usage, so the only situation where something will be written on this partition is a firmware-upgrade.
data (about 2GB)- This partition holds all user-installed apps and their settings.
sdcard (about 12GB) - This is not really a sdcard. Instead it is a part of the internal memory, you can use it for example for media, documents, images etc., whatever you like. This partition can be accessed on your computer as a regular USB-storage, and you can do a backup of it the way you like, either simply copying everything, or using a backup-solution of your choice.
external_sd (optional) - This is the micro-sd-card you can put in your phone. Obviously you can use it for anything you like. This partition is also accessible as a USB-storage or you can use a simple USB card-reader to access it on your computer.
Usually all your applications and settings will be stored in the /data/-partition.
If you choose the Move-to-SD option in the application-manager, some parts of the application will be moved to the (internal) /sdcard/-partition, but all the user-data/settings still remain on the /data/-partition.
So the maximum space you need to backup all your settings and apps is under 3GB.
Now to the possibilities of a backup, and the importance of the different things.
A nandroid-backup will basically make an image of the /system/ and /data/ partitions (also a bit more, but that´s not really important).
Usually it will use the /sdcard/-partition, which actually is still in your phone.
If you restore a Nandroid-Backup your System will be in the exact state before the backup, including all applications with their settings (which also means contacts, e-mails, sms etc).
Obviously everything that has changed after the backup will be lost.
A restore well also restore the complete firmware from the backup.
A backup from Nandroid can only be restored on the same phone, with the same partitions.
The second possibility to make backups would be TitaniumBackup.
This program will store all your installed applications and their data.
Default it will store it on the internal /sdcard/, but it is probably more useful to change the path to the external_sd.
Everything in Android is an application, so this will also save all your settings.
During a restore TitaniumBackup simply reinstalls your applications and then restores their settings.
TitaniumBackup can restore your applications with any Firmware, and in theory even on other phones (it may not work with special System-apps but it surely works with most "user-apps")
So Clockworkmod is great if you want to play around with different firmwares, especially Custom ROMs.
You can install different ROMs, make a backup and very easy and fast switch between them.
For a "regular" backup TitaniumBackup is maybe the better choice, it can backup all your settings and applications and for example if a Firmware-update goes wrong simply restore anything.
There is no real need to backup the /system/-partition anyway, you can simply download the Firmware and flash it, there is no user-data on this partition.
sdcard and external_sd usually only contains media, which you probably have somewhere on your PC anyway, so there is no real need for a backup, maybe for the pictures and videos you make with your phone, but again you should copy this on your PC regularly anyway. And if you want you can easily copy everything on it as well.
What if I have 20gb of data , 10 of which are on phone, 10 on sd card, in this case i wouldn't be able to backup everything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Question is if I have my phone filled with games, different apps which make let's say 10 gb (not that much counting in that one game may be up to 1 gb), so how do i backup this? To SD card?[/quote]
Apps can´t be several GB in size on Android. Normally you have only around 2GB for Apps, if you use the App2SD-feature it can be expanded a bit.
If applications need a lot of data, for example like navigation-programs or games, they will download this on the first start and store this on the /sdcard/-partition.
As I said, you can access this easily like a removable drive and copy everything you like.
It isn´t also that important to make a backup of this, as it can be downloaded again anytime, and if something goes wrong it usually will mess up your system and don´t influence the data-partition anyway (well as long as you don´t repartition the whole memory)

Thank you, that does explain a lot!
I connected my S2, but i can't see to find any installed apps browsing through USB, or i shouldn't be seeing that?
Tomas

execine said:
Thank you, that does explain a lot!
I connected my S2, but i can't see to find any installed apps browsing through USB, or i shouldn't be seeing that?
Tomas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, they are stored in /data
You back that up using nandroid, then you restore it via nandroid and they will be there. What you see on your PC via USB is the "internal SD".

Understood, thank you. Things getting more clear after a week of reading and using the phone ))
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

execine said:
I connected my S2, but i can't see to find any installed apps browsing through USB, or i shouldn't be seeing that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you see the (internal) /sdcard/ partition and (if present) the /external_sd/ (the MicroSD-card you have in your phone)
To simply backup your applications, the easiest way is TitaniumBackup.
This will store the .apk and settings for each up in a folder of your choice (on /sdcard/ or /external_sd/, as you usually have no direct access to the other partitions)
You can copy this folder on your PC, or even in the TitaniumBackup-folder of another phone and use it there.
There are several advantages using TitaniumBackup to save your Apps over CWM-recovery. You can use it with the enabled phone for example, and also just restore individual Apps, if you like.

[Q] Nandroid backup gives me error for /data everytime

I get an "error backing up /data" every time I try a full CWM backup. I want to do a full backup before I wipe for a new Rom. I know there's an error on one file, but I don't know where it is. Is there another way to backup the files on /data?

GaryLW said:
I get an "error backing up /data" every time I try a full CWM backup. I want to do a full backup before I wipe for a new Rom. I know there's an error on one file, but I don't know where it is. Is there another way to backup the files on /data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you update to the newest recovery from Thor's site?
www.tegraowners.com

Yep!
I have the latest of Thor's, and have done a titanium backup for every thing else. But, I'm paranoid and want a backup before I wipe it completely.

GaryLW said:
I have the latest of Thor's, and have done a titanium backup for every thing else. But, I'm paranoid and want a backup before I wipe it completely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get the error on mine all the time. I just ignore it and haven't had an issue yet. (been too lazy to update my recovery, so wanted to see if it fixed the message)
Just stay with the 3 wipe method before you flash, and you will be ok Also, if you worry about leftover data, you can go to Mounts, and format them as well.
But, I typically do the 3 wipes.
Also, with Titanium, make sure you did not backup any system apps, then try and restore them to a new rom. Sure fire way to brick the device.
Generally it's useful for things like game data. The new market pretty much remembers most of the free apps you downloaded, and all of the paid apps.

I don't think I was quite clear in my original post. I need to backup the /data.img because I have a load of stuff I don't want to lose, and I don't know where everything is stored. Can anyone tell me what is stored (folders, etc.) in the data.img of a nandroid backup so I can maybe just copy it to my ext sd?
(I have a persistent adware/malware that I can't find/remove. My antivirus doesn't detect it. So I want to wipe it, and selectively restore apps without losing my data/media.)

[Q] Backup procedure so tedious? Whats your method?

Im not a noob user, but im not obsessed with changing ROMS daily. However when I want to try a new ROM I procrastinate because I find the whole process so tedious. I have TB Pro, and backup all apps and data, without the system data though. After flashing a new ROM, the setup of everything takes so long. Nova launcher, all my widget placements, options etc. And often times, Im missing data from an app.
With the N7 as well I gotta transfer all the mp3s as well because a full wipe clears everything out.
Is there an easier way? Am I missing something here? What is your procedure for a quick way to change a ROM.
Thanks for your time and input.

You're wasting a lot of time and effort by wiping your virtual sd card partition when changing roms. You don't need to wipe it and copy everything back again.
Keep your mp3s and titanium backups on the device, though no harm in making a local copy of your TitaniumBackup folder on PC or cloud for safekeeping.
When you change roms, a full wipe just needs a wipe of everything except the sdcard.
I've also use titanium backup pro. the batch backup and restore of user apps and data has never failed me, never lost any data. it's time consuming with a lot of apps, but at least you can select all and let it do its thing.
nova launcher should also have an option to create a local backup of all your home screen preferences and settings etc, don't know if it includes the widget layout, possibly some limitations there.
Titanium backup pro can make flashable zips of all your user apps and data, which you can simply flash after installing a rom, though i've never tried it, just used to batch restore within the app. you may have to reboot in between flashing this zip. guide will be out there somewhere. EDIT: found it, menu->batch actions, then scroll down, there's an option under 'Recovery'.
So procedure:
- Titanium backup of all user apps + data (create flashable zip)
- Nandroid backup (just in case!)
- Full wipe (not virtual sdcard partition)
- Flash Rom
- Reboot
- Boot back into recovery and flash the zip of your backups.
Yeh can be time consuming, but a lot is automated. Saves a lot more time than needlessly backing up all of your sd card partition, wiping and restoring it :good:
Give it a try next time, might try it myself.

eddiehk6 said:
You're wasting a lot of time and effort by wiping your virtual sd card partition when changing roms. You don't need to wipe it and copy everything back again.
Keep your mp3s and titanium backups on the device, though no harm in making a local copy of your TitaniumBackup folder on PC or cloud for safekeeping.
When you change roms, a full wipe just needs a wipe of everything except the sdcard.
I've also use titanium backup pro. the batch backup and restore of user apps and data has never failed me, never lost any data. it's time consuming with a lot of apps, but at least you can select all and let it do its thing.
nova launcher should also have an option to create a local backup of all your home screen preferences and settings etc, don't know if it includes the widget layout, possibly some limitations there.
Titanium backup pro can make flashable zips of all your user apps and data, which you can simply flash after installing a rom, though i've never tried it, just used to batch restore within the app. you may have to reboot in between flashing this zip. guide will be out there somewhere. EDIT: found it, menu->batch actions, then scroll down, there's an option under 'Recovery'.
So procedure:
- Titanium backup of all user apps + data (create flashable zip)
- Nandroid backup (just in case!)
- Full wipe (not virtual sdcard partition)
- Flash Rom
- Reboot
- Boot back into recovery and flash the zip of your backups.
Yeh can be time consuming, but a lot is automated. Saves a lot more time than needlessly backing up all of your sd card partition, wiping and restoring it :good:
Give it a try next time, might try it myself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply and detailed response. Just seems when I do the full wipe it wipes out the SD card on the N7 which is internal. Or perhaps its the flash of the ROM. Anyway, the standard wipe on TWRP is not supposed to include the internal storage. Ill try again listing your outline.
Thanks

Hightower68 said:
Im not a noob user, but im not obsessed with changing ROMS daily. However when I want to try a new ROM I procrastinate because I find the whole process so tedious. I have TB Pro, and backup all apps and data, without the system data though. After flashing a new ROM, the setup of everything takes so long. Nova launcher, all my widget placements, options etc. And often times, Im missing data from an app.
With the N7 as well I gotta transfer all the mp3s as well because a full wipe clears everything out.
Is there an easier way? Am I missing something here? What is your procedure for a quick way to change a ROM.
Thanks for your time and input.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You probably already know it but nova launcher has its own backup/restore feature,that sets up your widgets/desktop layout/etc. Although I get your point it can be a chore getting everything setup again, like wifi passwords, alarms and other settings.
What holds me back from flashing rooms on the n7, is having multi user set up, as I haven't found a way to backup/restore the other persons apps/settings/data which is a pain.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda app-developers app

Hightower68 said:
Thanks for the reply and detailed response. Just seems when I do the full wipe it wipes out the SD card on the N7 which is internal. Or perhaps its the flash of the ROM. Anyway, the standard wipe on TWRP is not supposed to include the internal storage. Ill try again listing your outline.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont use the manual wipe data option. Just do factory reset from recovery. No need to do anything else to wipe
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

[Q] Lost Data !!

Guys This is a noob question but please help me with this
After Rooting my phone i backed up my apps with Titanium Backup with Apps + Data
then later i was planning to install a new ROM so i even backed up my ROM using Philz Touch Recovery with Data+System+Cache+Boot.
After trying several ROMS one of it asked for clearing the Internal Storage (Media Storage) and i lost all my photos and stuff.
Currently after returning to my Stock ROM and flashing Titanium Backup apps back i cant find My Audio Manager (Hiding App) data.
On Trying to remember i think that the app location was set to sd card.
I want to recover my Audio Manager Apps Data because it was really Important
I currently have a full backup of my stock ROM which totals abut 8.56 Gb is there any way to just get the data back.
It was reallly IMPORANT Please Help.

Titanium backup folder is set to the internal storage by default. Unless you changed that.
When restoring a backup there it should ask you what you want to restore. Data, system, boot, efs, etc.
Just select data. But this will restore all backed up data from your backup.
I know the stock samsung rom is about 3.5 GB, the rest is data. So you will have 5 GB of data that might need restoring.

Changing Roms

Hi all,
When I visit XDA I always notice a new ROM for the moto g4 plus. I immediately wanted to try them but whenever I install a ROM I will lose all the data. Sometimes I try to dirtly flash the ROM but I doesn't work most of the time. My question is how can I backup most of my data so I can use it on the new ROM?

There is 3rd option for backup in TWRP, It will Backup your current ROM and Installed apps and their data only, but not your photos/videos or any personal data....
And now read this carefully - if you are wiping partitions read their name before wiping, dont wipe internal memory, external memory or OTG... Wiping them will erase everything on your phone or pendrive(if connected), wipe only those partitions whose backup you have made ( delvik-cache, cache, data, system )
Note again- don't wipe SDcard partitions, it will erase your personal data....
For safety it's better to copy your personal data to PC or Computer....
I hope you read my ENGLISH carefully.....

__Madddy said:
There is 3rd option for backup in TWRP, It will Backup your current ROM and Installed apps and their data only, but not your photos/videos or any personal data....
And now read this carefully - if you are wiping partitions read their name before wiping, dont wipe internal memory, external memory or OTG... Wiping them will erase everything on your phone or pendrive(if connected), wipe only those partitions whose backup you have made ( delvik-cache, cache, data, system )
Note again- don't wipe SDcard partitions, it will erase your personal data....
For safety it's better to copy your personal data to PC or Computer....
I hope you read my ENGLISH carefully.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But I still wouldn't have the apps installed right?

claytoncamilleri100 said:
But I still wouldn't have the apps installed right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes...
If you wipe DATA and install ROM then you will have to install all apps again... But when you restore Backed ROM then everything will be same as when you backed that...

You can save your app and data with titanium backup, it can help too.

What I do is
Backup ur apps using titanium backup
Now flash a new ROM , wiping cache , dalvic cache, system, data..
Now restore all ur apps using titanium backup pro ( crack titanium backup using lucky patcher)
Why I m saying to use pro version because you don't need to tap install on every app, it automatically installs WITH DATA ..it also doesn't take much time..
So finally you have ur apps with data !
Note : don't wipe internal storage while flashing new ROM ..so ur media files will not be lost
Hope this helps!

I think you mean "buy" titanium backup pro? :angel:

titou4488 said:
I think you mean "buy" titanium backup pro? :angel:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, just install lucky patcher with BusyBox ..
Than apply custom patch for titanium backup ..
No need to buy pro !
If you still have doubts ..pm me