Database Users

nandroid + flashing/restoring across roms

I'm having a little trouble understanding nandroid vs. other forms of backup and would appreciate some clarification. I'm running CM nightly on my Fido (Canada) G4. I took a nandroid as well as titanium backup of the factory stock image before I flashed CM.
A poster in the last thread I made suggested if I wanted to restore to stock, I could simply restore the nandroid, but I've also seen people say you shouldn't use nandroid to go across ROMs. My understanding is that nandroid is like having a filesystem backup, which would obviously not react well if you restored it over a new operating system (e.g. two different versions of windows). Or is nandroid more like say Acronis, which takes an entire disk image and overwrites everything?
Other misc questions:
- If I do restore via nandroid, do I need to wipe all data / cache / system data before or after the restore?
- I assume I can use titanium to restore SMS + all non-system apps across ROMs, which would save a lot of time.
- If I'm going from one CM nightly to another, would titanium work for system apps (e.g. all my settings, or contacts, etc)
- If I want to flash a new CM nightly, do I need to follow the entire wipe procedure just as if it were going from one ROM to a completely different one?
Thanks!

always make a nandroid in recovery. i recommend keeping it on your micro sd card. in the event you need to return your device to it's previously functioning state, restore the nandroid in recovery. if you are running an aosp rom and your nandroid is touchwiz, wipe data, cache & dalvik before restoring the nandroid. if the backup is on your micro sd then feel free to wipe system as well.
if you want to flash a nightly or update to a rom you are currently running, simply wipe cache and dalvik then flash the update, gapps and any custom kernel that you may be running.
i cannot answer your titanium backup questions because i do not use that program

xBeerdroiDx said:
always make a nandroid in recovery. i recommend keeping it on your micro sd card. in the event you need to return your device to it's previously functioning state, restore the nandroid in recovery. if you are running an aosp rom and your nandroid is touchwiz, wipe data, cache & dalvik before restoring the nandroid. if the backup is on your micro sd then feel free to wipe system as well.
if you want to flash a nightly or update to a rom you are currently running, simply wipe cache and dalvik then flash the update, gapps and any custom kernel that you may be running.
i cannot answer your titanium backup questions because i do not use that program
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, that's about what I have. ok, thank you for the clarification of what to wipe! that's good to know.
re flashing a nightly/update: using your method should preserve system data yes? so no need to reinstall all apps or system data?
and thanks, I'll hold out hope that someone with titanium expertise will be able to answer that one

kabutar said:
re flashing a nightly/update: using your method should preserve system data yes? so no need to reinstall all apps or system data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, system/user data will remain. understand, however, that if you perform one of these dirty flashes and you have a problem with the functionality of the ROM, you'll need to do a full wipe and flash to see if this clears the issue before you report the problem in the development thread.

kabutar said:
yes, that's about what I have. ok, thank you for the clarification of what to wipe! that's good to know.
re flashing a nightly/update: using your method should preserve system data yes? so no need to reinstall all apps or system data?
and thanks, I'll hold out hope that someone with titanium expertise will be able to answer that one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your right on both titanium questions.. However its not recommended to restore system apps you backed up on a aokp/aosp ROM to a touchwiz ROM and the other way around... Other than that like I said your fine
Sent from my WANAM'ED AT&T S4

N9005 TWRP restore fails

Hi everyone,
Im having trouble restoring a TWRP backup. I was on Morningstar's unofficial CM13 rom, first release. Since development has stalled a bit I decided to switch to Slim ROM by Sparx. I did a TWRP backup of evwrything, only excluding internal and external SD memory. I had some trouble so I tried to restore my Morningstar backup. Then the trouble started.
When I restore the backup, nothing happens after TWRP is done with redefining space or something like that (can't rmemeber exactly what it says) so I have to remove battery to get my phone to reboot. Not to bad. My phone reboots into CM13, but it reboots like it is the first time I turn my phone on. Only stock apps appear. None of my downloaded apps appear, which I don't understand at all. Also, root access is gone.
I'm using TWRP 2.8.7.0 on my N9005. Any hints on what might be going on? My backup is around 1.3 GB BTW.
TL;DR: did full backup, restoring it looks like clean install, no root.

Try lower version of twrp. 2.8.7 has some issue sometimes in restoring nandroid.
Sent from my SM-N920C

Rosli59564 said:
Try lower version of twrp. 2.8.7 has some issue sometimes in restoring nandroid.
Sent from my SM-N920C
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As it seems. Though I might have accidentally only backed up the rom itself without apps, or is that impossible?

When selecting the backup option in twrp, you select what to backup, including efs, cache, data, system, etc. so it is possible you unchecked data?

audit13 said:
When selecting the backup option in twrp, you select what to backup, including efs, cache, data, system, etc. so it is possible you unchecked data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yesterday I tried again and noticed the 'data' option. I'm indeed an idiot. Good thing I did Titanium Backup so I didn't lose anything.

Phone error after lineageos update

I had been using Lineageos for a long time and updated to the latest version. Now there is frequently an error message "android.process.acore keeps closing" and various things are screwed up, for example the settings menu doesn't expand fully. I tried reflashing the elementalx kernel but this didn't help. Here are the settings
Android version 7.1.1
LineageOS version 14.1-20170327-nightly-athene
Kernel-version: 3.10.105-ElementalX-G4-1.07-LOS

lightningglasses said:
I had been using Lineageos for a long time and updated to the latest version. Now there is frequently an error message "android.process.acore keeps closing" and various things are screwed up, for example the settings menu doesn't expand fully. I tried reflashing the elementalx kernel but this didn't help. Here are the settings
Android version 7.1.1
LineageOS version 14.1-20170327-nightly-athene
Kernel-version: 3.10.105-ElementalX-G4-1.07-LOS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First you can try to wipe cache and art in twrp and see if it's better. If not:
You should backup your data with titanium backup if necessary and then clean flash(wipe system, data, cache, art) latest LineageOS version along with recommended apps.

strongst said:
First you can try to wipe cache and art in twrp and see if it's better. If not:
You should backup your data with titanium backup if necessary and then clean flash(wipe system, data, cache, art) latest LineageOS version along with recommended apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have TI backup. How exactly should I backup things? Just backup apps to sd then flash rom and restore from sd? So sd card never gets rewritten when flashing a rom?

lightningglasses said:
I have TI backup. How exactly should I backup things? Just backup apps to sd then flash rom and restore from sd? So sd card never gets rewritten when flashing a rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the way. Backup system settings too like sms or whatever you need. Also backup whole system with twrp in case of...

Lineage stuck on boot loop on startup

Hi,
I have LineageOS 14.1 installed on my Moto G4 Plus. All of a sudden it rebooted and was stuck on the booting screen. I can get to TWRP. Things I tried that didn't help
wait 30 minutes
plug in phone to charger
clear cache
fully power off then on
If it comes down to it, I could flash a new ROM, but would like to save/backup the text messages/whatsapp messages.

@lightningglasses
Anything you installed/flashed before rebooting ?
try to dirty flash ROM and check if it boots or not.

____Mdd said:
@lightningglasses
Anything you installed/flashed before rebooting ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nothing.an mp3 player app
try to dirty flash ROM and check if it boots or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
will that loose the text messages etc?

lightningglasses said:
will that loose the text messages etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wiping "Data" deletes everything, dirty flashing does not not.
Just wipe delvik-Art and cache (*not data*), Then install ROM (plus gapps and root if you need), reboot, it will take around 10 minutes to re-generate delvik data, then it should boot..

____Mdd said:
wiping "Data" deletes everything, dirty flashing does not not.
Just wipe delvik-Art and cache (*not data*), Then install ROM (plus gapps and root if you need), reboot, it will take around 10 minutes to re-generate delvik data, then it should boot..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmm didn't work, any other ideas?

lightningglasses said:
hmm didn't work, any other ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I forgot to mention in previous post, did you wipe system? Try with that and install rom.
Reinstalling ROM heals damage made to /system partition and to boot, but not to /data.
so if still doesn't boot, that means damage happened to /data and you need to clean it, result in lost of data of apps (whatsapp and message you mentioned in your post.)
Still if you know what apps you installed last, delete it from /data/app/xyz-app (boot TWRP > advance > file manager)

____Mdd said:
I forgot to mention in previous post, did you wipe system? Try with that and install rom.
Reinstalling ROM heals damage made to /system partition and to boot, but not to /data.
so if still doesn't boot, that means damage happened to /data and you need to clean it, result in lost of data of apps (whatsapp and message you mentioned in your post.)
Still if you know what apps you installed last, delete it from /data/app/xyz-app (boot TWRP > advance > file manager)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is still stuck in a boot loop after I
cleared cache, dalvic/art and system
used twrp's file manager to delete all recently installed apps from /data/app
flashed newest lineageos rom
clear davilink again
waited 15 minutes with phone plugged in
When should I wipe cache/dalvik/system? Before or after flashing rom?

lightningglasses said:
It is still stuck in a boot loop after I
cleared cache, dalvic/art and system
used twrp's file manager to delete all recently installed apps from /data/app
flashed newest lineageos rom
clear davilink again
waited 15 minutes with phone plugged in
When should I wipe cache/dalvik/system? Before or after flashing rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no other way to get your device back without losing data.
I have never used Titanium backup app but i know there is feature to restore data from TWRP backup, you can take backup of /data and restore backup of whatsapp.
I am still not sure about that feature, if you have time then i can test that feature, otherwise there is no way to keep data.
Edit: whatsapp makes chat backup every night at 2AM, if you haven't had any important chats after that, you can go for wipe.

If you can pay for titanium backup there might just be a way. I am not 100% sure but take a backup of the "data" partition(you can backup everything but data is most important) in twrp in internal storage only. Then clean flash everything. Then install titanium backup and buy the pro key. Then restore from twrp. If you find an option to restore only data then that's a better option. Downloading the app and restoring the data is better than restoring app and data. I'm not sure if it will work. But if nothing is working and your data is 100% vital you may wanna try this.
Another tip, don't restore blindly everything cuz bootloop may occur again

Bricked OP5 on OB22

i installed system ui tuner and substratum on oos pie ob 22, and my OP5 is bootlooping (i think because of it). I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Magisk from recovery,flashing the rescue zip of substratum, and moving both apps from the data partition (in app and data folders) elsewhere (read somewhere that this is equivalent to deleting the apps).i have also cleared cache many times.
Is there a way to revert this? I haven't tried anything else to not make things worse. Can i just dirty flash the zip (without compatibility)? i would like to keep the apps and data as they are even if the fixing procedure is longer. I have only managed to install it 2 days ago with great suffering
Thanks

update: dirty flash did not help

yohouse2 said:
update: dirty flash did not help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neither of those apps should cause bootloops. I used substratum on OB22 with no issues and again in OB23 with no issues. I don't see the use of UI tuner as the firmware on the OnePlus 5 had plenty of customizations. It sounds like you need to do a clean install. Maybe try backing up your phone, wiping your caches, system, and data partitions. Do a clean install and restore the data partition. Just an idea. Otherwise it's a clean install.

Awkydee said:
Neither of those apps should cause bootloops. I used substratum on OB22 with no issues and again in OB23 with no issues. I don't see the use of UI tuner as the firmware on the OnePlus 5 had plenty of customizations. It sounds like you need to do a clean install. Maybe try backing up your phone, wiping your caches, system, and data partitions. Do a clean install and restore the data partition. Just an idea. Otherwise it's a clean install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. will try this out as soon as i get the chance.

Awkydee said:
Neither of those apps should cause bootloops. I used substratum on OB22 with no issues and again in OB23 with no issues. I don't see the use of UI tuner as the firmware on the OnePlus 5 had plenty of customizations. It sounds like you need to do a clean install. Maybe try backing up your phone, wiping your caches, system, and data partitions. Do a clean install and restore the data partition. Just an idea. Otherwise it's a clean install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is backing up the data partition any helpful after dirty flashing over the old ROM. i.e: will restoring it in the new clean ROM actually work, or will it end up corrupting it as well?

yohouse2 said:
is backing up the data partition any helpful after dirty flashing over the old ROM. i.e: will restoring it in the new clean ROM actually work, or will it end up corrupting it as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every situation is unique. Bootloops are cause by system problems. So in theory it should work but there's only one way to find out.

try reinstalling rom through ADB
Download official stable firmware file from their official website and then flash ..i couldnt be able to understand ur exact issue but i solved my bricked phone through that
OOS recovery does support installation through ADB

Awkydee said:
Neither of those apps should cause bootloops. I used substratum on OB22 with no issues and again in OB23 with no issues. I don't see the use of UI tuner as the firmware on the OnePlus 5 had plenty of customizations. It sounds like you need to do a clean install. Maybe try backing up your phone, wiping your caches, system, and data partitions. Do a clean install and restore the data partition. Just an idea. Otherwise it's a clean install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am wanting to update to Pie but for the life of me I can not see anywhere that says it is safe to update the phone once it's rooted. Can you point me in the right direction to a thread that gives info? Or let me know what you have done. Please and thank you!

ADGill0926 said:
I am wanting to update to Pie but for the life of me I can not see anywhere that says it is safe to update the phone once it's rooted. Can you point me in the right direction to a thread that gives info? Or let me know what you have done. Please and thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I simply download OB22 and removed the compatibility.zip and dirty flashed it in TWRP. Once it was finished I re-flashed magisk v18.0 and wiped both caches and rebooted. That's it then I was on pie. No data loss or issues.

Awkydee said:
I simply download OB22 and removed the compatibility.zip and dirty flashed it in TWRP. Once it was finished I re-flashed magisk v18.0 and wiped both caches and rebooted. That's it then I was on pie. No data loss or issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you have to update TWRP too?

No I did not. As long as your version has treble support then you're good.

yohouse2 said:
i installed system ui tuner and substratum on oos pie ob 22, and my OP5 is bootlooping (i think because of it). I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Magisk from recovery,flashing the rescue zip of substratum, and moving both apps from the data partition (in app and data folders) elsewhere (read somewhere that this is equivalent to deleting the apps).i have also cleared cache many times.
Is there a way to revert this? I haven't tried anything else to not make things worse. Can i just dirty flash the zip (without compatibility)? i would like to keep the apps and data as they are even if the fixing procedure is longer. I have only managed to install it 2 days ago with great suffering
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try dirty flashing your rom again. ?

I just clean flashed the rom again and it was good to go