[Q] WTF Titanium Backup - Atrix 4G Themes and Apps

So I rooted my Atrix some time ago, and installed TB. Made a backup 2/23.
Motoblur ****ed up (no surprise) and I was directed by customer support to do a factory wipe yesterday. I didn't have a more recent backup than 2/23, so I reinstalled to that and then re did everything I'd done since then (dl apps, changes settings, etc).
So today I ran TB again ... I chose "Batch -> Backup all user apps + system data". I didn't think this would do anything other than create backups.
However, now my Motoblur is ****ed up again!
My home screens are all screwed up, my widgets are all mis-sized (1x4's are 1x1??), my contacts are screwed up, etc etc.
Has anyone else had this problem with TB? I'm running the free version ... I didn't think that creating (not restoring) a backup would screw up my phone ...
I know the immediate response would be to blame motorolla but I think that this is a TB issue.
Thanks.
~Viper

Did you do a backup of the system and user apps? If so this is probably your issue. I've read to just do user apps and not system included with that. If you had an issue in the system files and you back that up and restore that it will replace the fixed files with the older "broken" files.
I'd suggest do a batch backup of apps and reflash again and then restore the app data.

Mustang302LX said:
I'd suggest do a batch backup of apps and reflash again and then restore the app data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1, ive never had good results with restoring the system stuff... it will overwrite weird stuff in the system and you're always much better off just restoring the apps. PIA to have to reconfigure the home screen, accounts, etc... but it doesnt take too much work and things will run _much_ smoother...

Related

[Q] What is lost during a ROM change? How to backup phone so I can play with ROMS

I'm running streakdroid 1.9 but I would like to do some experimentation with my streak. If I flash a new rom what will I lose? How do you backup your data so you can flash to your hearts content?
Thanks
if u flash stock roms, they do a factory reset during first start up.
So u end up loosing everything.
However if u flash .zip version of the stock roms using CWM or streak recovery , u will retain almost everything but may loose somethings like root and so on.
Remember stock roms will flash its default recovery everytime it boots up
Ok thanks. Is it wise to do a factory reset anyway?
What tools can I use to backup messages, apps, photos, etc?
I use titanium backup.
If you do a nandroid backup, when you restore it, everything will be just as it was before you flashed another ROM...
As far as using Titanium... it has never worked for me completely, nor has MyBackUp Pro, they cause me more headache than being useful...
I have gotten to the point to when I flash a new ROM, I just manually install everything, I know it sounds like some hassle, but you end up with a much smoother operating phone.
I even do a nandroid backup first, then go into my ROM and manually uninstall everything, so that when I boot up my new ROM and setup my market account, it doesn't try to install everything on its own and bog down my phone at first, I install everything manually in the order I want and set them up as I go.
I know this sounds cumbersome, but I have found it creates a cleaner environment and practically eliminated force closes
That is the way I like to do things also but what about the things that you can't just re-install e.g. sms, application specific data?
Advice
I was having a sim card and constant restart issue after updating to streakroid 2.4.4, and even after flashing dsc, the problem persisted. After I reviewed the steps I had taken I realized that I never did a factory resest (fearing I would forever lose my precious app data, which I did -_-). It turned out that was the fix, after doing the factory reset, my sim card was recognized immediately and a couple of the text I had missed showed up. However, I fixed one fixed problem and developed another.
Even though I restored a MyBackup and Titanium backup I did right before resetting I recovered my several apps without their precious data (setting, notes, bookmarks). I tried doing internal backups within the apps, some conveniently had syncs to a cloud yet I missed doing that with a few apps because I have over 100+ and I use more than half on a regular basis (even if for 5 minutes). All my apps are on my device, which is a good thing but I cant appreciate that given the missing data.
So my advice is:
Use apps that have can automatically backup or sync data -- there are enough apps with similiar utility that you can avoid ones without that function.
Do a manual backup within your important apps. -- Some apps backup files to locations that may be wiped during update, doesn't have auto backup or the last backup is months old.
Pics, texts, call logs are easily backed up -- Backup programs will explicitly state or ask what to back up in that regard.
Do a nandroid backup -- I believe this only restores rom and apps but someone can correct me.
Caveat
Through all the research done before actually need to restore a backup I missed the fact when restore apps depending on the restore program every app has to be reinstalled individually. If you have more than 25 apps then #$#@!, also for some reason when restoring with titanium if during a batch restore you come across an app if you hit cancel during one of the install prompts because you actually don't want to restore that app the batch will freeze and you'll have to force close titanium and start the restore all over. Go through the list of restore options and choose each app one by one, save yourself the time.
Lastly, to piggy back off what was said before, a factory reset( FR) after updating rom is always recommended but its not always needed. Most roms will update without causing you to lose any data but like I said previously I had sim card issues when I updated without a FR. YMMV
At this point I don't know if this helps the OP but maybe it will benefit someone else who reads this thread.
This guide by _n0p_ tells how to do an upgrade and minimize the re-installation of apps.
Key items:
Use the backup function of any apps that have it
Don't count on restoring data with TB or My Backup
Make a nandroid - just in case
I have found TB and My Backup to be useful for things like browser bookmarks.
The post linked to discussed going from Froyo to Gingerbread but the same techniques apply for moving to any other ROM.
Last time i changed roms, i used the Dell backup utility for evertyhing but the apps, which can be backed up together with their data with QtADB which creates a backup folder on your SD. After installing the new rom, i chose advanced recovery from the Dell Utility and set it to recover everything but the apps, which i recovered with QtADB. However, I also strongly recommend nandroid, in case the steak doesn't boot after the install.

Titanium Backup - why not restore data?

I have read that when going to a different rom to do a full wipe.
So clearly if you want to keep your apps you back them up and recover them with titanium backup, but why is it advised to not restore the Data of the apps?
How else would I keep game scores and settings and such?
Thanks
restoring the data for the user apps is fine, don't restore the system data...
Wond3r said:
I have read that when going to a different rom to do a full wipe.
So clearly if you want to keep your apps you back them up and recover them with titanium backup, but why is it advised to not restore the Data of the apps?
How else would I keep game scores and settings and such?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that would be a bit of misinformation that gets spread around.....
its fine to restore user apps+data. i have been doing it for a long time with every device i have. swapping between devices and all.
do a batch restore MISSING apps+data
unselect anything that might be blur/sense/touchwiz specific (based on the phone you are using)
run the batch and reboot
verify you are not having any FCs on your apps
if you do a batch restore of just user apps+data (and not the MISSING option) you will get tons of issues.
it is not advised to use Titanium Backup for things like text messages, contacts, phone logs, etc. (while possible it will work just fine, i have seen lots more issues trying to restore those from rom to rom rather than just user apps.)
again. use the MISSING APPS option in the batch restore of Titanium Backup
i have been doing it for over a year on many different devices and i even share my titanium backup folder between different phones, with NO issues at all. and i typically flash several times a week on several different devices.
Wond3r said:
I have read that when going to a different rom to do a full wipe.
So clearly if you want to keep your apps you back them up and recover them with titanium backup, but why is it advised to not restore the Data of the apps?
How else would I keep game scores and settings and such?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is advised to do full wipe, if you install a rom.
And if you want to keep your settings, games scores etc, you use Titanium Backup.
Titanium Backup is your friend in those cases..
What is not adviced, is installing a Rom, without wiping your data.. In that way, you keep for example data of apps and games, of a froyo rom, to a gingerbread rom..
Rom to Rom differs(even in same android version), thats why you full wipe, and then TiBu saves you by restoring them, to the new rom's enviroment..
Edit: Agree with others.. I was typing on atrix, and since i wrote this, they already answered!
Also in atrix, NEVER restore FINGERPRINTS backup..
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Pirateghost said:
that would be a bit of misinformation that gets spread around.....
its fine to restore user apps+data. i have been doing it for a long time with every device i have. swapping between devices and all.
do a batch restore MISSING apps+data
unselect anything that might be blur/sense/touchwiz specific (based on the phone you are using)
run the batch and reboot
verify you are not having any FCs on your apps
if you do a batch restore of just user apps+data (and not the MISSING option) you will get tons of issues.
it is not advised to use Titanium Backup for things like text messages, contacts, phone logs, etc. (while possible it will work just fine, i have seen lots more issues trying to restore those from rom to rom rather than just user apps.)
again. use the MISSING APPS option in the batch restore of Titanium Backup
i have been doing it for over a year on many different devices and i even share my titanium backup folder between different phones, with NO issues at all. and i typically flash several times a week on several different devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That explains it. Ive seen MANY posts where users tell other users to restore apps but not restore data but dont specify they mean system data and not app data!
Also, when people talk of a full wipe, do they mean even deleting the contents of the internal storage (like photos and such?)
This would be for going from one ROM to another ROM, both GB
No they are talking about doing a "wipe data/factory reset" in CMW and not physically deleting your internal sdcard. if you delete your sdcard then you will wipe out data that you need including your titanium backups
morepower71 said:
No they are talking about doing a "wipe data/factory reset" in CMW and not physically deleting your internal sdcard. if you delete your sdcard then you will wipe out data that you need including your titanium backups
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks ! I always feared that the wipe data/factory reset pretty much deletes all the files on your device like photos and music
The short answer is force closes. Which also can happen from restoring app data, altho it is less likely to happen, it can and it will. But yea def dont restore system data.
Is there any other way of saving game saves?
Wond3r said:
Is there any other way of saving game saves?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use SyncIt or GameOn, you can even back it up manualy with Root Explorer. You should be fine with TiBU, just if you do get a force close you will know why and what to do (delete data and/or uninstall/reinstall).
I am having an issue restoring my app data from titanium backup. The issue first occurred when i switched from a stock ROM to CM7 ICS ROM. When i restored my missing apps+data all of my app data had disappeared. I just started over and didn't worry about it. Then when i switched from CM7 back to a stock rom I received my old apps+data from before i switched to CM7. I read around on the forums that this might be a compatibility issue. So i started to use the setting in the batch menu "Manipulate data and converted my backups to roll back journal mode which says this works with all roms, and started uploading to Dropbox. I recently just switched my Rom from a stock ROM to CM9 ICS. I lost all of my apps again!! and got back all of the app data from when i was using CM7. Could someone please shed some light on what is going on here cause i have no idea. Please let me know if there is anything i can do to get my app data into CM9 from my last stock rom. The stock rom i was using was an old ROM called wet dream.
JonnyCazoid said:
I am having an issue restoring my app data from titanium backup. The issue first occurred when i switched from a stock ROM to CM7 ICS ROM. When i restored my missing apps+data all of my app data had disappeared. I just started over and didn't worry about it. Then when i switched from CM7 back to a stock rom I received my old apps+data from before i switched to CM7. I read around on the forums that this might be a compatibility issue. So i started to use the setting in the batch menu "Manipulate data and converted my backups to roll back journal mode which says this works with all roms, and started uploading to Dropbox. I recently just switched my Rom from a stock ROM to CM9 ICS. I lost all of my apps again!! and got back all of the app data from when i was using CM7. Could someone please shed some light on what is going on here cause i have no idea. Please let me know if there is anything i can do to get my app data into CM9 from my last stock rom. The stock rom i was using was an old ROM called wet dream.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The stock rom uses a different back up location than cm roms. You will have to manually go find the data backups in tibu. Don't bother having it auto detect, wont work. For example, all my backups were at mnt/emmc/titaniumbackup instead of the stock roms location of mnt/sdcard/titaniumbackup
pre4speed said:
The stock rom uses a different back up location than cm roms. You will have to manually go find the data backups in tibu. Don't bother having it auto detect, wont work. For example, all my backups were at mnt/emmc/titaniumbackup instead of the stock roms location of mnt/sdcard/titaniumbackup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like that was the the problem. I saved my backup on drop box so i just dropped what was on dropbox in my titanium folder and restored it. I now have all of my app data back.

Cannot restore system apps using Titanium Backup

I have an SGSII, rooted with Odin/CWM 4 and I cannot restore any system apps using Titanium Backup - it simply sits there saying 'Restoring App' and nothing happens. Normal apps can be restored OK. I tried changing the app processing mode in TB to Auto/Indirect but it didn't help.
Any ideas? I have TB Pro FWIW.
Can't you just restore systemdata? I assume the apps are there already.
ps you know the downside of restoring system apps?
I backed up and then uninstalled some system apps using TB Pro (TpLauncher, AccuWeather, etc.) but now I'd like to get some of them back. I assumed using the TB restore option was the way to go.
What's the downside of doing this? Can I restore these manually?
Same happened to me, I guess lesson is don't uninstall sys app unless you really don't want them.
Glad it's not just me and I have a nandroid so I can get everything back but it's annoying. I've reported it to the TB devs. If they come up with a solution I'll let you know.
I use root explorer backup the system apk, restore it when need it back.
what i do, is close titanium application then restart it again. then viola.
seems strange ... TB Pro always do the job for me
FWIW these were apps I first freezed, then uninstalled (without unfreezing). I wonder if this is relevant. Perhaps the permissions are screwed or something. If I could get a TB log I could find out. Hopefully the developers will help out.
Bump. Any updates on this? I'm having the same problem
Here is my reply from Titanium Backup support:
"We're sorry, system apps are critical and should not be removed in the first place. Some apps are tightly ROM bounded, while others are dependent on other system entities which could break things when they are removed. We have already provided the warning in the preferences that you will be held responsible of your own actions upon removing the system apps and we will not provide support for restoring them back. In most cases like this, you will have to reflash your ROM or restore your nandroid backup (you must always keep a nandroid handy)."
So in other words - tough sh*t! Not what I was expecting.
I restored my Nandroid and now only freeze apps, and they seem to defrost OK but after that reply I'm wondering if I should continue to use their product.
rec71 said:
Here is my reply from Titanium Backup support:
"We're sorry, system apps are critical and should not be removed in the first place. Some apps are tightly ROM bounded, while others are dependent on other system entities which could break things when they are removed. We have already provided the warning in the preferences that you will be held responsible of your own actions upon removing the system apps and we will not provide support for restoring them back. In most cases like this, you will have to reflash your ROM or restore your nandroid backup (you must always keep a nandroid handy)."
So in other words - tough sh*t! Not what I was expecting.
I restored my Nandroid and now only freeze apps, and they seem to defrost OK but after that reply I'm wondering if I should continue to use their product.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In fairness they are right, anyone who uninstalls system apps is asking for trouble why would you want to do that in the first place,you can simply freeze any apps you don't use instead, i have most of the Samsung bloatware frozen in Titanium as i don't use them and many of them are responsible for excessive battery drainage.
BTW Titanium Backup is probably the best overall app in the whole market and they always release updates, i highly recommend this app to anyone who doesn't already have it.
As a software developer myself if one of my apps didn't work correctly and a customer asked for help I would do my level best to get to the bottom of the issue instead of fobbing them off.
The app lets you uninstall system apps and restore them again - why would you want to? because on some devices space might be at a premium - I freed up 100MB on my previous device (Xperia Arc S) using this feature for example - which made a big difference.
Luckily I don't need the space on my SII but I'm surprised that the TB devs wouldn't want to find out what the issue is.
rec71 said:
As a software developer myself if one of my apps didn't work correctly and a customer asked for help I would do my level best to get to the bottom of the issue instead of fobbing them off.
The app lets you uninstall system apps and restore them again - why would you want to? because on some devices space might be at a premium - I freed up 100MB on my previous device (Xperia Arc S) using this feature for example - which made a big difference.
Luckily I don't need the space on my SII but I'm surprised that the TB devs wouldn't want to find out what the issue is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They know what the issue is. The outcome of removing an restoring system apps is just unpredictable. They gave a warning that it could cause unwanted results. Messing with roms gives unpredicted results.
Same thing happened to my Galaxy Pocket. I uninstalled system apps and can't restore them.
THE solution is wen u want to uninstall an system app den first of all make an back up of DATA of that system app and den go 2 loaction of app through root explorer in internal storage and copy that APK file to ur sd card as backup .
den delete the APK file mannualy or uninstall using titanium backup...
wen u want dat app again den copy the APK to its original old location of system /app and restore the data using titanium backup and just restart the phone..
hope it helps ...
Yes, I can restore system data
Lennyz1988 said:
Can't you just restore systemdata? I assume the apps are there already.
ps you know the downside of restoring system apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be more thorough:
I am able to restore system data of an app but I can't restore an app.
In fact, if I locate the apk which titanium backup had backed up with a file browser and install it manually, it works fine! I can then restore data with titanium backup.
Issue on my Galaxy SII (no matter what ROM I use)
You shouldn't be restoring system apps at all/you shouldn't need to (the data may be another question though). Why are you wanting to restore system apps/which apps in particular ?

Get ready for ICS update and not lose any user data

Im concerned about the upcoming update: Im using MIUI rom and i will swap to MIUI v4 (iCS) as soon as it comes out... but im tired of losing my user data between every rom swap...
I know Titanium Backup should be the way to do this... so, is it safe to backup all the apps and the apps' data and then restore it on ICS? even when the backup was made in a GB rom?
Any alternative way of doing so? What do you usually do / recommend to do?
Thanks!
You can back up and restore the apps no problem, though I would be careful restoring user data. What I do is restore all apps and use sms backup/restore for my texts and Google takes care of my contacts.
GFXi0N said:
Im concerned about the upcoming update: Im using MIUI rom and i will swap to MIUI v4 (iCS) as soon as it comes out... but im tired of losing my user data between every rom swap...
I know Titanium Backup should be the way to do this... so, is it safe to backup all the apps and the apps' data and then restore it on ICS? even when the backup was made in a GB rom?
Any alternative way of doing so? What do you usually do / recommend to do?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I don't really think it should matter if the backup was done in GB and restored in ICS. One thing could happen, is that you may have been using an application that isn't yet compatible with ICS. Other than that, I don't really see why there should be a problem.
Have a good day.
The biggest problem is for the apps settings and games progress and so... with titanium backup, i should backup user apps + data and then restore it in ICS?
GFXi0N said:
The biggest problem is for the apps settings and games progress and so... with titanium backup, i should backup user apps + data and then restore it in ICS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be a 100% sure put the TB folder on your pc and on an external card.
I tried restoring TiBu apps backed up on GB when I flashed an LPQ ROM and TiBu hanged on some of the restores. I had to restart each time it hung on a restore. I tried using batch restore, and restoring individually, both ways it happened on different apps and the same app. It was weird because my SMS logs restored no problem but some of my apps could not. Luckily I had a Nandroid backup so I quickly went back to my daily driver.
Titanium backup likes a phone reboot after first install .
Install open reboot phone less likely to freeze or hang on backup .
jje
i also had over 200 applications, out of which some randomly failed to install on CM9. After failure of restore, i again have to start restoring process in titanium backup from start leaving that applicatoin. Luckily, I dint find any problem in restoring to PURE ICS rom, it just resotred everything like a charm. Some applicatoin (like smartstats) were crashing after restore. I just wiped the data () and then it worked.

[Q] titanium backup restore

What's the best way to restore in titanium backup after flashing to a new ROM?
From an apps perspective, have the phone setup the way I want, apps frozen, etc I thought after flashing, I would be able to restore to that setup, but clearly doing something wrong. I do a batch restore and wind up will old apps, unfrozen apps and basically have to do the whole setup over.
Assuming this is user error, and hoping someone can provide insight. Do you create an update.zip and flash to that?
Thanks.
I don't believe you can save frozen app setups and such. All the update.zip does is allow you to flash titanium backup in recovery so you don't have to download it from market again and is just installed as a system app
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2
pmgreen said:
What's the best way to restore in titanium backup after flashing to a new ROM?
From an apps perspective, have the phone setup the way I want, apps frozen, etc I thought after flashing, I would be able to restore to that setup, but clearly doing something wrong. I do a batch restore and wind up will old apps, unfrozen apps and basically have to do the whole setup over.
Assuming this is user error, and hoping someone can provide insight. Do you create an update.zip and flash to that?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can choose what to restore when you you do that batch restore.
Maybe you are not setting it up right?
Every other night i have TB set to backup new data for selected apps,
New versions of selected apps
System data like messages, call logs, etc...
I can then restore them almost perfectly. Opera bookmarks give me fits, but that's about it.

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