Proper Back Up Procedure - Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi Guys,
I am running the the latest Axura ROM (2.2.5.7 I believe) and have now purchased the premium versions of the following Apps: ROM Manager, Titanium Back Up & Launcher Pro.
With all this awesome capability, what should I do in the way of a back up to restore my phone if something ever happens? Basically my goal is to be able to go into recovery and restore my phone totally if I FUBAR it.
Please keep in mind I just entered this world as of Sunday starting with Rooting and then ROM flashing : D
Thank you for all your help now and in the past!

From another post I made:
The way I have things set up for backups, and this is just for my personal convenience, is as follows...
I have a stock JFD ODIN rom to flash in case anything goes wrong. (A lot of people here will tell you to flash this whenever flashing a new rom. It is safer, and cleaner to do it this way, but not absolutely necessary)
I make a nandroid of my last stable rom (I only keep one at a time cause the files are huge) and keep a backup of that on my PC.
I backup all my apps and a few other things (call logs, bookmarks, sms) through Titanium backup. If you get the pro version, you can load it up after flashing a new rom and have it automatically restore all your apps in one click (system settings can be dangerous to restore when going from rom to rom, so be careful with those.) I also keep a backup of this on my PC.
I will also occasionally backup both of the sd cards to the PC.
Maybe overkill, but you probably wont ever lose anything forever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Well I just backed up my ROM through ROM manager... I have another one in there too dated Saturday (when I first flashed) which I assume is my stock vibrant ROM...?
I do have the Pro version of Titanium... how would I back up everything for a one click set-up?...If I did that should I just delete my ROM back up in ROM manager? Trying to avoid unnecessary redundancy and the wasting of precious space on my phone : P

Go into Titanium and click on Backup and restore and than click on menu and then batch and then select backup all user apps. then run batch file. You also have the choice to back up system data as well. I would not recommend deleting any of your backups in Rom Manager. Just backup all of your apps(and system data if you wish) and you are good to go.

Thanks all!

tenbeau said:
I would not recommend deleting any of your backups in Rom Manager.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why is that? Nandroid backups are very large, and if you're playing it safe and making a nandroid each time before flashing a rom, you will run out of space very quickly. You should always keep at least one (for me its my most recent, stable, daily driver), but it certainly is NOT necessary to keep all of them.

Related

How do I backup my rooted phone?

Hi there,
About a month ago I bought an HTC Thunderbolt and somebody helped me root the phone. Since then I have had some family emergency/issues that have caused me to put programming the phone on hold. Now that they have cleared up I am trying to now learn a little bit more about upgrading Rom/Kernel/Radio.
I am running the following:
Android 2.2.1
Baseband version 1.16.00.0223r
Kernel 2.6.32.21_bamf4.4.2....
Build 1.13.605.7Das Bamf 1.5 Remix
Software 1.13.605.7
Can somebody tell me how to backup my phone entirely?
I would like to back it up with the intent:
* Install different kernel/radio/rom and keep the same android apps without reinstalling
each one individually.
or
* Restore the phone to its current state (if I should drop the phone and get a
replacement).
I do have titanium backup pro installed but it has never been used. Is this all I need?
I seem to recall that there is a backup feature on this phone that was discouraged....
Thanks in advance...
Anthony
The key for me is to
Use Nandroid (the backup feature in recovery) for a full image backup. Use Titanium to backup individual applications.
Before restoring nandroid backups, be sure to wipe cache and Dalvik (under advanced in recovery).
Nandroid takes nearly the entire phone back to the point of backup (houses everything you have on your phone's internal memory). Titanium allows backups to be restored on different roms. Some apps and many system apps don't play nicely with Titanium, but most from the market do play nicely with it.
Installing new kernels doesn't require wiping your data. Installing new/updated roms does. Installing themes usually does not, but there are exceptions.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
Thank you for the explanation.
When you refer to Nandroid & recovery feature, you are referring to Clockworkmod?
Per your input I updated to Rom Manager PRO and then simply selected "Backup Current ROM". I assume that this covers everything on the phone including radio/kernel/apps....
If there is anything else I need to do, please let me know.
Thanks again...
Yes, CWM is how you want to backup your phone entirely. I would recommend going into recovery and making a backup on your own instead of hitting the "backup my current rom" button in rom manager. The backup you make will be saved in a folder on your SD card named clockworkmod/backup. I always think its a good idea to move your backups to your computer and keep your two or three most recent backups on your sdcard.
As for backing up your apps, you can do a batch backup in titanium and when you load a new rom you will be able restore the app and any data associated with it. As a general rule I would only backup apps that require a lot of setup. Otherwise when you load a new ROM the apps you had previously installed will automatically restore (depending on the ROM). Just a tip, dont backup system apps. Doing so and switching versions, for example froyo to gingerbread, could cause many issues down the road even if they aren't immediately seen.
Lastly, when installing a new ROM you always want to wipe data/factory reset at least twice and wipe cache and dalvik cache twice each as well. If you have any issues dont hesitate to ask there are many people who are willing to help.
Go to ROM Manager, scroll down and select Backup Current ROM.
I use two apps for backing up and restoring installed apps; Titanium Pro and MyBackup Pro. For some reason MBP successfully restores the apps + data that fail using TP. For example, apps installed from the Amazon android market.
I create full backups with both TP and MBP, but when I need to restore ( after a complete data wipe and new Rom flash) I do the following:
1) skip setting up my Google account during the initial setup process that starts after user data has been wiped.
2) Uncheck the box that allows backups to Google's servers
3) After setup is finished, go into settings, privacy and deselect the automated backup options
( If I don't do the previous two steps, then Google starts pushing apps that may have been backed up and/ or apps that I have purchased. I don't want this to happen since I am going to do my own restore with data.)
4) I use TP to restore MBP only
5) I then use MBP to restore the rest of my user apps and data.
Some may disagree with my two backup app process, but it has been more successful for me than using either TP or MBP by themselves.
If something doesn't go right with MBP, I still have the full TP backup to pull from.
I do not bother backing up systems apps just because it seems to cause me too many issues when i attempt the restore. This means i have to redo any system settings, but that isn't a big deal to me.
Some of my favorite apps have backup features of their own. Folder Organizer and Circle Launcher are two of my all time favorites. Both restore nicely when i move to a new Rom.
Occasionally, i copy the TP, MBP, and Clockwork folders from my sdcard to a folder on my laptop just in case.
The above may sound like alot, but it goes pretty quick for me and I flash quite a bit ( at least once or twice a week when the device is new and the Rom cookers are really active).
Another thought, I have used MBP to successfully restore my android home screen settings for sense ( part of MBP's data bu ). My preferred launcher is LauncherPro, which has its own backup and restore function.
Finally, i always do a nandroid backup before wiping and flashing to a new Rom. I also always do the backup right from clockwork mod recovery. I love the Rom Manager app and paid for the premium version quite a while ago, but i prefer to backup, wipe and flash from the recovery screen. Even if i download something that needs to be flashed using Rom Manager, I still reboot into recovery to perform the needed steps.
Hope this helps and if someone has another app backup/ restore routine they use successfully i would love to know the steps. I am open to learning something new.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

[Q] restore only data after rom update

fast question
if u have read my other threads let me recall because i though i had fix my problem, but like an idiot i went into recovery without flashing cwm so i lost everything again.
So,
i have flash back stock honeycomb 3.2
when i try to restore a backup (that was made on 3.1), it goes down to 3.1 and crash when i try to update to 3.2 to then update to 4.0.4
so i decided to flash 4.0.4 (stock ICS from sammobile) and reinstall all my apps one by one
But,
i still have my backup, my ICS is now rooted and flashed with cwm
i want to know, if after installing all my apps, i go into recovery and try to do an advance restore of data only, will it work ?
am sorry to be a pain in the ass with all my questions, i couldnt find the anwser
I think the answers were there in your original thread but you are looking for an easier way to go. I am not sure there is one. Since the hard way requires restoring fully your honeycomb install you may as well try data restore from nandroid first, hopefully it works out well.
I'm not experienced in using nandroid backups for partial data restores, titanium is better suited for that. To me, nandroid is for full system restore.
So again, if all else fails the best option is to restore the honeycomb nandroid, make sure that the device is rooted, install titanium, run full backup, backup all files off of sd to your computer via usb (your nandroid, your photos, your titanium backups , etc) and then update back to the system you want. Once back to ICS you can install your apps, root, install titanium and restore data for the apps you need. Be careful with this, obviously there are compatibility issues between the two systems.
Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk 2
muzzy996 said:
I think the answers were there in your original thread but you are looking for an easier way to go. I am not sure there is one. Since the hard way requires restoring fully your honeycomb install you may as well try data restore from nandroid first, hopefully it works out well.
I'm not experienced in using nandroid backups for partial data restores, titanium is better suited for that. To me, nandroid is for full system restore.
So again, if all else fails the best option is to restore the honeycomb nandroid, make sure that the device is rooted, install titanium, run full backup, backup all files off of sd to your computer via usb (your nandroid, your photos, your titanium backups , etc) and then update back to the system you want. Once back to ICS you can install your apps, root, install titanium and restore data for the apps you need. Be careful with this, obviously there are compatibility issues between the two systems.
Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing is that i spent like 2 days doing all that and now am on ics with my apps installed, its mostly my saved games that i dont have and was looking for a way to restore them.
Nainconpetant said:
The thing is that i spent like 2 days doing all that and now am on ics with my apps installed, its mostly my saved games that i dont have and was looking for a way to restore them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only way to restore only your apps is like the post above, you had to install titanium backup like i said in the PM i sended you, and then backup all your apps with titanium backup, save everything to your PC via USB cable and then install another ROM... so... i know it's very annoying and very hard.... but my opinion is to restore your nandroid backup (full system restore) download Titanium backup from google play, backup your data, and in case you deleted your nandroid, make a new one!!
But there could be compatibility problems when you backup your data what causes errors...
It's a pain in the ass to do it, but it's the only way i guess...
Bah, i dont feel like flashing again, ill start over my nfs hot pursuit, reckless getaway and jewel maze. i wasnt playing much with the other games installed
I remember that i did a nandroid backup cause i found it was more user friendly to create a full backup at the time i did it than with titanium.
Thanks for your help
Yah lessons learned. We've all learned them too . . nandroid is great for jumping between systems or for reverting to a clean one but it's not so great for restoring apps/data to or from differing systems; for that it's usually best to install apps clean and restore data via titanium.
I make it a habit now of doing both and saving both to an external device (either a usb flash drive or to my PC) prior to moving systems.

Titanium backup vs twrp backup

Can someone help me understand when I should use one or the other. Also when is a good time to do it?, before a flash of a custom rom?
I recently performed the bootloader unlock procedure from Adam and after it completed I ran the twrp backup to my sd card. Does that mean I could restore to that backup should verizon send ota and revert the unlock?
Thanks!!!
JRunner01 said:
Can someone help me understand when I should use one or the other. Also when is a good time to do it?, before a flash of a custom rom?
I recently performed the bootloader unlock procedure from Adam and after it completed I ran the twrp backup to my sd card. Does that mean I could restore to that backup should verizon send ota and revert the unlock?
Thanks!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium would be used when you want to backup all of your apps+data, Twrp would be used when you want to back up EVERYTHING apps, messages, pics(on internal sd), basically everything lol. As for verizon sending a ota, I think it's highly unlikely that they can push a ota to our phones now I think the bootloader unlocking and rooting broke all of that. Especially if you run a custom Rom.
Sent from my rooted, and unlocked Vzw note 2 running beans Rom! U mad?
JRunner01 said:
Can someone help me understand when I should use one or the other. Also when is a good time to do it?, before a flash of a custom rom?
I recently performed the bootloader unlock procedure from Adam and after it completed I ran the twrp backup to my sd card. Does that mean I could restore to that backup should verizon send ota and revert the unlock?
Thanks!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium is backing up apps. So lets say you use CleanROM and you want to flash to a newer version cleanly. Use titanium to back up the apps and you will be able to restore them easily on the new rom.
Backing up via TWRP basically means you are backing up EVERYTHING in the rom. So lets use the previous example, uograding from one rom to another. You do a twrp back up and begin to flash the new rom. If anything screws up, you could just restore the twrp back up and everything would go back to normal, back exactly to how your phone was when you made the backup.
Edit: basically a back up in recovery is creating a safe point to come back to if anything goes wrong EVER with your device. There are things that this typenof back up cannot undo however.
Titanium is for apps and that's it. It helps free up space as well as making backups for apps incase on of your apps screws up.
EDIT 2: next time post this type of thing in Q&A and not in general
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda premium
Titanium Backup - Used to back up all of your apps and their data
TWRP - Used to back up the ENTIRE system. Meaning, if anything goes wrong, you can restore a past "save" of your system before the problem.
You can think of it as Titanium Backup would be like copying a MS Word document onto a flash drive and TWRP would be like taking a copy of your entire hard drive.
JRunner01 said:
Can someone help me understand when I should use one or the other. Also when is a good time to do it?, before a flash of a custom rom?
I recently performed the bootloader unlock procedure from Adam and after it completed I ran the twrp backup to my sd card. Does that mean I could restore to that backup should verizon send ota and revert the unlock?
Thanks!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium backup: for backing up apks and their datas, mms and calling history, bookmarks, alarm and wifi settings....i think that's about it. Because your apks keep updating every few days, you should make this backup right before you flash a new rom. Once you retrieve, you don't have to keep this too long.
TWRP backup(aka nandroid): this is just like a saved point when you play a video game. sometimes when you download something, it can alternate other settings and create a mess.....which then may cause your rom to malfunction. At this time, you can flash your nandroid.....it dumps every saved datas, cache, etc etc so that you can go back to your saved point.
Titanium back up- is a app that backs up applications and their data...also has the ability to freeze system apps and create back up .zips of the devices applications.
TWRP back up- is a custom recovery that allows the user to create a back up image... that image will restore the boot image, rom, kernel, data, and cache back to the point of when the back up was created.
It used to be that restoring titanium data from one rom to another was bad. Is this still a recommended no no?
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
Pretty much.
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First thanks to everyone for the replies!!!
Sorry for posting in wrong section.
So I cant use titanium to backup my apps, then to be restored on a custom rom, since I am on what appears to be a stock / rooted rom from Adams unlock procedure? I would have to reinstall them from google / my apps.
My twrp backup would be useful if the custom rom I soon load goes bad any I need to get back to a good state, right?
Also as on reply said, no worries from ota since we are rooted and unlocked? You all agree?
JRunner01 said:
First thanks to everyone for the replies!!!
Sorry for posting in wrong section.
So I cant use titanium to backup my apps, then to be restored on a custom rom, since I am on what appears to be a stock / rooted rom from Adams unlock procedure? I would have to reinstall them from google / my apps.
My twrp backup would be useful if the custom rom I soon load goes bad any I need to get back to a good state, right?
Also as on reply said, no worries from ota since we are rooted and unlocked? You all agree?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes you can use titanium to back up your apps and restore them on a custom rom...just restore the apps without data. you have the rest correct.
I always restore my user apps with data, I just don't do system apps.
pool_shark said:
I always restore my user apps with data, I just don't do system apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
great...but when switching between aosp and touchwiz this can cause apps to force close. the op said "custom rom" so i provided a blanket statement covering all bases.
droidstyle said:
great...but when switching between aosp and touchwiz this can cause apps to force close. the op said "custom rom" so i provided a blanket statement covering all bases.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I restored all of my apps user that I used on JBSourcery from my Nexus to my Note II.
I think the main problem some people have with restoring their apps is that they're restoring system apps not just user apps. Sometimes what was a user app on one ROM is a system app on another.
pool_shark said:
I restored all of my apps user that I used on JBSourcery from my Nexus to my Note II.
I think the main problem some people have with restoring their apps is that they're restoring system apps not just user apps. Sometimes what was a user app on one ROM is a system app on another.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree that folks get into trouble because of what you posted in your last sentence. This is exactly why I do not recommend it because a new user 99% of the time wont know that. So I simply do not suggest it...now somebody more experienced like yourself is a different story.
pool_shark said:
I restored all of my apps user that I used on JBSourcery from my Nexus to my Note II.
I think the main problem some people have with restoring their apps is that they're restoring system apps not just user apps. Sometimes what was a user app on one ROM is a system app on another.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disagree.
It won't always happen, but problems can and will happen restoring user data. I have seen it a million times and logcat shows it too. When there is a database conflict (the logcat shows this), the app force closes, and the only fix is to clear data for that app, which undoes what you restored. Might as well forgo the irritation and not restore it the first time.
adrynalyne said:
Disagree.
It won't always happen, but problems can and will happen restoring user data. I have seen it a million times and logcat shows it too. When there is a database conflict (the logcat shows this), the app force closes, and the only fix is to clear data for that app, which undoes what you restored. Might as well forgo the irritation and not restore it the first time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has yet to happen to me.
The only time it came close was with better terminal emulator pro. I restored using titanium and it refused to work. Downloaded it from the play store, it worked fine. Then restored over that using titanium and it worked fine.
Anyone have any advice on creating the .zip? Is it even a possibility in TWRP? I used CWR for the longest and am a n00b with TWP. There are only 2 options when creating the update.zip: Edify (Android 1.6+, ClockworkMod 3+) and Amend (Android 1.5, ClockworkMod 2). So which is needed to flash in TWRP?
I'm not interested in creating a .zip of all my apps, just a .zip I can flash in recovery after clean wipe/flashing a new ROM. TIA guys
So I get the fundumental difference between utilizing the 2 methods of backing up but what I don't understand is that if TWRP backup is like taking a snapshot or image of EVERYTHING, why is my backup folder created from a TWRP backup such a small size (2.4GB) when everything on my phone equals way more than that? Is it compressed? I don't remember selecting that option.
airbus318 said:
So I get the fundumental difference between utilizing the 2 methods of backing up but what I don't understand is that if TWRP backup is like taking a snapshot or image of EVERYTHING, why is my backup folder created from a TWRP backup such a small size (2.4GB) when everything on my phone equals way more than that? Is it compressed? I don't remember selecting that option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It only gets /system, /data, and kernel if you don't change the options. It's not getting everything on SD card or internal storage unless you specify that option.

Backup App and User Data Help?

I have been searching for an answer for this question for a couple of days now but have yet to find one, so I decided to go ahead and make a thread for it. What I am wondering, is how to create a backup of all my user data, apps, and app data that I can restore on different roms? I am currently stock rooted, however I have downloaded and wish to flash ARHD Rom, but I don't want to have to re install everything from scratch I just want to be able to click "restore" and have all my apps and data back.
Any Help is greatly appreciated. Thanks Guys.
Pure+ said:
I have been searching for an answer for this question for a couple of days now but have yet to find one, so I decided to go ahead and make a thread for it. What I am wondering, is how to create a backup of all my user data, apps, and app data that I can restore on different roms? I am currently stock rooted, however I have downloaded and wish to flash ARHD Rom, but I don't want to have to re install everything from scratch I just want to be able to click "restore" and have all my apps and data back.
Any Help is greatly appreciated. Thanks Guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because you are not rooted go this route. You do not require root.
1. Use the Helium app and copy the folder it creates onto your computer, it's called "CARBON." This will copy all apps and app data.
2. Use HTC Backup from the app store and backup everything onto dropbox. This will also backup your apps + data. It will be on a cloud storage so no need to push anything to anywhere.
3. Go into your SMS and hit the menu button. Backup all user text messaging. Copy to computer.
now you can report everything to anything.
After you are on your new ROM.
1. Run HTC Backup (comes with rom) and restore everything.
2. Use Helium to restore any missing apps.
3. Restore SMS.
Done.
SlimJ87D said:
Because you are not rooted go this route. You do not require root.
1. Use the Helium app and copy the folder it creates onto your computer, it's called "CARBON." This will copy all apps and app data.
2. Use HTC Backup from the app store and backup everything onto dropbox. This will also backup your apps + data. It will be on a cloud storage so no need to push anything to anywhere.
3. Go into your SMS and hit the menu button. Backup all user text messaging. Copy to computer.
now you can report everything to anything.
After you are on your new ROM.
1. Run HTC Backup (comes with rom) and restore everything.
2. Use Helium to restore any missing apps.
3. Restore SMS.
Done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am rooted, what I'm really wondering now is if I can restore the data portion of my nandroid backup after flashing the new rom or if that will result in a bunch of FC's?
Pure+ said:
I am rooted, what I'm really wondering now is if I can restore the data portion of my nandroid backup after flashing the new rom or if that will result in a bunch of FC's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use Titanium Backup and it can grab apps from a nandroid backup and restore them. navigate for this feature through the options menu.
http://www.guidingtech.com/13501/restore-apps-nandroid-titanium-backup/
Yes, you can flash a clean Rom then restore your data file from a previous backup. the only problem with that is that whatever problems you may have had before, may be present still. Otherwise, it doesn't hurt anything. In fact, both CWM and TWRP allow advanced restore where you can select portions of your back up to restore..one a time. In my opinion, it allows you to see, if a backup fails to restore, where exactly it is having trouble, be it in system, boot, data..etc. I literally just did this, restoring a data backup onto a clean Rom, and so far no issues. I understand what you mean by not wanting to set everything back up. System settings, widgets and app placements. You had the perfect setup and it took you forever to get it that way. Titanium backup and Rom Toolbox don't always restore these things like they claim to do.
Edit: I am finding the hard way with this phone, that unlike my old LG Mytouch, when you flash a firmware upgrade, non OTA push I mean, it doesn't stick to system. It's saved to data. So if you flash a data file from a backup with an older version, your back to that version. With my old phone, we could swap Roms after an update all day, and the baseband and firmware updates would stick every time.

[REF][NEW-USER] A guide to switching between ROMs

One reason why I chose to buy this device (aside from official Google support) is the overwhelmingly large amount of developer enthusiasm for it. And with that enthusiasm comes a lot of custom ROMs.
I haven't had time to test all of them, but I will - and here's a guide I made that'll hopefully make testing different ROMs easier.
Prerequisites
Before continuing with this guide, make sure that you have:
a LOT of free time, depending on how many ROMs you want to test;
unlocked and rooted your device;
downloaded all the ROMs you want to test;
have installed a good recovery - I would recommend the latest version of TWRP;
common sense.
(OPTIONAL) a spare microSD card of at least 8GB. This'll make everything easier, as you won't have to delete stuff in order to fit all your ZIPs and backups.
Things to remember
Make sure you know how exactly to restore your device to how it was before following this guide.
You should know what you're doing. One small mistake can lead to your device being completely unusable!
You should know what features you're looking for in a ROM. It's never nice to have gone all the way to flash a different ROM, only to discover that feature X doesn't work. Ask questions in the ROM thread, if you like.
You can always ask help from others, should you have any trouble with your device.
When using custom ROMs (or any customization, for that matter), do NOT ask for ETAs. Our developers are doing their work at their own leisure and during their own time, and they don't get their pay from you.
Ready? Let's get going!
Getting started
A good Android user always backs up before doing anything radical to their phone, and that's precisely what we're going to do. There are three ways to go about this:
The easy way
The easy way is through making a Nandroid backup. This is particularly easy to do in TWRP, as all you need to do is reboot into recovery, press Backup, select the partitions you want to back up and whether to compress them, and start backing up. Simple as that.
Pros: Easy to restore your data once you're finished testing ROMs.
Cons: It's somewhat hard to restore individual pieces of data (such as messages and apps) instead of the whole thing.
The (slightly) more complicated way
This way deals with TitaniumBackup, an absolute must-have app for every Android user out there.
With TitaniumBackup, you can choose to back up individual apps (and even update their individual backups). TB isn't limited to backing up/restoring data, though; it can do so much more - remove bloatware, freeze apps you don't use, make a flashable ZIP out of your backups... the list goes on.
Pros: Finer control over what data gets backed up. Very powerful tool in migrating ROMs.
Cons: Somewhat outdated and intimidating interface; and features are reduced without buying the PRO version.
The Google way
This one is the simplest way of all three, though it only works if you have a) GApps and have signed in to your Google account, b) if you've agreed to let Google back your data up when you first set up your device, and c) if you have Settings > Backup & reset > Back up my data enabled.
Google automatically backs up almost all of your data to its servers, ready to be restored when you do a factory reset/switch to a new phone. A list of all data that are backed up can be seen by going to Settings > Accounts > Google > (your email address).
Notable exceptions to the data backed up are messages, which you have to back up yourself - I recommend SMS Backup & Restore for that.
Now that you have your data backed up, let's get flashing.
Flashing
Put your ROMs/kernels/GApps on your SD card, then reboot to recovery.
1. Wiping / factory resetting
This is why we back up your data in the first place. Different ROMs need different data, and data left over from one ROM can cause another ROM to get stuck in a bootloop.
Tip: If you're using TWRP, try enabling Use rm -rf instead of formatting in Advanced settings. Formatting doesn't really have any perceivable advantages over simply removing the contents of your data partition (unless you somehow corrupted it), and it actually causes higher wear on your storage chip. (Storage doesn't last forever - I've had my old Samsung bricked because I reformatted too much.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In CWM, it's called wipe data/factory reset; in TWRP, it's simply called Wipe. Wipe your data, dalvik-cache, and cache partitions.
2. Flashing the ROM and other addons
In CWM, it's called install zip (from sdcard); in TWRP, it's simply called Install. Browse to your ROM zip and install.
Tip: If you're using TWRP, you can add ZIPs to the ZIP queue in this order: ROM > GApps (if any) > Kernel (if any) > Addons/Patches (if any).
Users of CWM must manually flash each ZIP, in the same order.
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3. Finishing up
Now all that's left to do is pray for the best and reboot.
Testing
If you flashed GApps, do NOT let Google restore data yet. We'll do that later.
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After initial setup completes and your newly-installed ROM settles down, it's time to get testing. It would be helpful if you listed down all the features you need and check/cross them out one by one if they work or not. For example, I need working screen cast and usable video recording, both of which do not work in all the CM-based ROMs I've tested.
Some ROMs, especially sprout4 ROMs, require patches when installing on sprout8 devices in order to provide the most optimal experience. Try flashing those to see if the ROM gets any better for you.
Rinse & repeat?
So, have you decided that this ROM is for you?
Yes, this ROM is awesome! I love it!
If you backed up earlier using Google, do another factory reset and this time, let Google restore your data.
If you used Titanium for backup, you can safely restore your data now.
If you made a Nandroid backup, you technically can restore your backup as-is since most of the ROMs available for sprout are CM-based; but I wouldn't recommend this as this can cause bootloops. Otherwise, you can manually restore your data one-by-one - but this is a time-consuming process.
I'm not quite sure I like this ROM yet.
Well that's okay, just repeat this guide from the start.
Finishing up
Now that you've decided on what ROM to use, you can safely delete your backups and ZIPs - though it would be better to keep them as they might come in handy if your device starts having problems.
Notes
If you're flashing a Marshmallow ROM, don't flash Xposed right after you flash your ROM as this may cause a bootloop.
Never ask for ETAs on ROM threads. That's rude.
That's it for this guide! Happy flashing! :fingers-crossed:​
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Awesome post. Enjoyed it!?
aureljared said:
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Sry for digging up this old thread. I was wondering if there is a tutorial for Titanium Backup specifically targeting a switch between custom roms, having different versions of android.
I'm in the midth of moving from cm 13 to lineageos 15 and just tried to backup apps+data in Titanium Backup and restore them and the new system is now somewhat buggy..I'm not sure if the restored backup is the reason for this or not....Maybe there are specific settings to be set..... I mean it's common sense for me not to backup and restore system data but maybe I am missing other important things to be set prior to a backup in Titanium Backup.
trohn_javolta said:
Sry for digging up this old thread. I was wondering if there is a tutorial for Titanium Backup specifically targeting a switch between custom roms, having different versions of android.
I'm in the midth of moving from cm 13 to lineageos 15 and just tried to backup apps+data in Titanium Backup and restore them and the new system is now somewhat buggy..I'm not sure if the restored backup is the reason for this or not....Maybe there are specific settings to be set..... I mean it's common sense for me not to backup and restore system data but maybe I am missing other important things to be set prior to a backup in Titanium Backup.
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Click to collapse
It's hard to say, some apps might work improperly or refuse to terminate in the background due to a mismatch in the restored data. I only backup/restore game data nowadays, as Google Backup takes care of my contacts, SMS, settings, and customization. No problems encountered so far.
The only setting I change in TiBkp is the compression method, as the default (gzip, I think) produces somewhat large backups. I use bzip2.
If you really need to restore everything, it might help for you to wipe /data and restore apps in TiBkp one by one until you find the culprit.
aureljared said:
It's hard to say, some apps might work improperly or refuse to terminate in the background due to a mismatch in the restored data. I only backup/restore game data nowadays, as Google Backup takes care of my contacts, SMS, settings, and customization. No problems encountered so far.
The only setting I change in TiBkp is the compression method, as the default (gzip, I think) produces somewhat large backups. I use bzip2.
If you really need to restore everything, it might help for you to wipe /data and restore apps in TiBkp one by one until you find the culprit.
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Click to collapse
Trying the Google Way was also my thought, unfortunately it does not work for me. I posted this today in the rom I used until now:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=76022005#post76022005
The initial setup was quite some time ago and now I cannot recall what I may have done to insult the google sync service
Thanks for this.
Can I ask something?
If I'm on stock rom and have magisk and modules installed. To switch rom, do I need to uninstall those first?
or when using nandroid backup... is its okey to backup with magisk+module on it?
watatara.102 said:
Can I ask something?
If I'm on stock rom and have magisk and modules installed. To switch rom, do I need to uninstall those first?
or when using nandroid backup... is its okey to backup with magisk+module on it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might want to uninstall your modules first to be safe, but if you're sure they're compatible with the ROM you're switching to, then you might be fine keeping them. As always, backup before trying anything dangerous. :good:
Nandroids are whole-device backups, so if you backup while Magisk is installed, Magisk and your modules will still be there when you restore the backup. If that's what you're aiming for, then go ahead and backup. Just make sure to backup the boot image too, since that's where Magisk is installed.
Sent from my starlte using XDA Labs
Can I install a nandroid backup of a totally different ROM to replace the current ROM I'm using with TWRP?

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