[Q]Advice for newb regarding phone backup - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello everyone,
I have SGS2 with latest stock firmware (XWKI4) for my region.
Now, I would like to start playing with it with roms and such (yes, I already have Jig just as safety net), however I would like to creat as close as possible original configuration.
Now, I have rooted the phone with zergRush by Doomlord sucessfully and made efs backup as well as kernel image backup via HC-kTool. (This is kernel image backup right?) This way I presume I got pretty much untouched kernel image except rooting, right?
What now I would like to do is to make ROM backup and install some recovery. I know that Clockwork that comes with Rom Manager isnt exactly the same as Chainfires CW that comes with CF-Root and I know that Chainfires CW is optimized for Samsung phones (not to mention that they are not compatible with each other).
I guess my question would be is above that I did make sense, and shall I install CW from ROM Backup or get some CF-Root kernel with CW? I mean what do I lose with each solution, or any other advice how to complete ROM backup so that I can recover it if something, God forbid(knock on the wood), gets fishy?
Cheers

Kepavi said:
Hello everyone,
I have SGS2 with latest stock firmware (XWKI4) for my region.
Now, I would like to start playing with it with roms and such (yes, I already have Jig just as safety net), however I would like to creat as close as possible original configuration.
Now, I have rooted the phone with zergRush by Doomlord sucessfully and made efs backup as well as kernel image backup via HC-kTool. (This is kernel image backup right?) This way I presume I got pretty much untouched kernel image except rooting, right?
What now I would like to do is to make ROM backup and install some recovery. I know that Clockwork that comes with Rom Manager isnt exactly the same as Chainfires CW that comes with CF-Root and I know that Chainfires CW is optimized for Samsung phones (not to mention that they are not compatible with each other).
I guess my question would be is above that I did make sense, and shall I install CW from ROM Backup or get some CF-Root kernel with CW? I mean what do I lose with each solution, or any other advice how to complete ROM backup so that I can recover it if something, God forbid(knock on the wood), gets fishy?
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you take some time and search different threads in xda developers forum, you will find many user posting statements not to use ROM manager.
As I do not use ROM manager at all, I did not read the whole posts. That's why I do not exactly know, what the issues are about ROM manager.
(Incompatibility with many ROMs and kernels, but there must be more issues.)
I am using CWM Manager app (included in Chainfire's CF-Root kernel) or CWM5 recovery mode to create a complete system / nandroid backup.
So, in case of an emergency I only have to flash a kernel containing CWM5 recovery and restore my last system backup.
Just to be on the "safe" side, I also copied my efs folder to my external sd card.
And all my apps (+ app data) are under Titanium Backup control.
So, I recommend to use plain CWM recovery backup.
If you are not sure about ROM manager, please search the forums and make up your own mind.
Good luck !

So basically, I can instead of Rom Manager install DarkyROM2 Tool, flash some kernel with CWM support e.g. Hellcat, CF-Root, and boot to recovery and make backup of current rom(with higher compatibility), right?
Sorry if this is obvious, but I have just started with this kind of tweaks...

Related

Some very basic ROM questions. Could not find an answer for 24hrs of searching!

Hello everyone,
I'm just about to go out of my mind, haha. I've successfully rooted my phone and I am interested in installing a new, custom ROM. However, I want to be 100% sure that I am not leading myself into the path of bricking. I have a couple questions that I think are basic enough, but haven't found an answer to anywhere online.
1.) Do I need a specific kernel and/or firmware in order to install a custom ROM?
2.) These are my specs for my phone
Android 2.3.3
Baseband: I9100DXKI1
Kernel: I9100DXKI2
Looking at my specs, will I be able to install this rom: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1198334 ?
Will any other ROM work for my phone? Now that it is rooted, am I freely able to install any ROM using clockworkmod or odin without having to change the kernels?
I'm very new to this and I'm hoping somoone can help me out with this.
Thanks a ton in advance!
Just rooting is not enough to install custom rom. You need to install clockworkmod recovery either through rom manager or flash a custom kernel which has CWM.
You can flash any kernel compatible with your device (for example, you cannot flash I9100G kernel/firmware on I9100 model).
You can get a lot of information here at xda. All the developers here are very friendly and co-operative.
You're good to go. Backup apps and some data using Titanium backup and/or My Backup Pro or something like those. Then boot into recovery, make a nandroid backup (can be found in the recovery menu), and flash the rom of your choice. You can flash any rom you like, just don't forget to wipe! This is also an option in recovery, wipe data/factory reset. You can also wipe dalvik-cache (found under 'advanced'). Have fun flashing!
Thanks for filling me in guys. I do have CWM installed on the phone, so I'll back up and try to flash. We'll see if I don't brick the phone somehow, haha.
roboedar said:
Thanks for filling me in guys. I do have CWM installed on the phone, so I'll back up and try to flash. We'll see if I don't brick the phone somehow, haha.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well obviously you wont, all you can do with flashing a wrong rom is getting boot loop, you can always restore your previous rom via nandroid backup. Happy flashing

[Q] Root, recovery, nandroid etc.

I have just bought an SGS2 to replace my HTC Desire.
I rooted it using SuperOneClick. It seemed to work, I can run apps requiring root now.
But the very first thing I want to do is make a nandroid backup of the phone in it's out of box state (or as close to). Is it possible?
On Desire you had to root first, then install a custom recovery such as CWM, and then do a nandroid backup from there. So I guess I will have to install CWM. But googling tells me that on the SGS2 I have to replace the entire kernel to get a new recovery, is that right? And how do I do that?
If the only way to make a nandroid backup is to install a new kernel, I guess the backup will contain the new kernel. Is it possible to go back to the out of box state with the original kernel and original recovery and no root etc.?
pinkfloydhomer said:
I have just bought an SGS2 to replace my HTC Desire.
I rooted it using SuperOneClick. It seemed to work, I can run apps requiring root now.
But the very first thing I want to do is make a nandroid backup of the phone in it's out of box state (or as close to). Is it possible?
On Desire you had to root first, then install a custom recovery such as CWM, and then do a nandroid backup from there. So I guess I will have to install CWM. But googling tells me that on the SGS2 I have to replace the entire kernel to get a new recovery, is that right? And how do I do that?
If the only way to make a nandroid backup is to install a new kernel, I guess the backup will contain the new kernel. Is it possible to go back to the out of box state with the original kernel and original recovery and no root etc.?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just flash any of these and you'll get Super User, Busy Box, CWM, CWM Manager
CF-Root For Stock
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=14283369#post14283369
Siyah Kernel (Custom)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1263838
Speed Mod
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1182498
Flash em via Odin and you'll have CWM take a backup and you are good to flash any custom ROM
Just take note what your stock firmware and kernel is and if you ever need to send off to Samsung you can just flash back to stock using intratechs stock rom thread
Sent from my Galaxy S II using xda premium

cannot make nandroid backup

Hi guys! After flashing siyah kernel 2.6.13 i cant finish a nandroid backup with the customized cwm. Does anyone have the same thing? Any ideas how to solve it?
When I run into troubles like this I've just put a kernel on that I knew did work, made the backup, and made sure that I had the desired kernel to flash back to after a restore, so basically I've substituted to get around this sort of thing.
It seems, though, that the kernels are getting more and more temperamental about which ones will flash each other by CWM recently. Siyah isnt as friendly anymore for whatever teason. Because of this I've been using mobile Odin and pulling the tar files out of CWM zips as this works regardless.
Enough space on the sdcard?

[Q] Help fixing CWM

Some background info: I got my phone used, so the rooting and stuff was done for me.
When I got the phone, the top of the recovery said Semaphore CWM 6.something, I don't know what I did to it but now the recovery says CWM based recovery. I also notice that fix permissions is not there anymore, there is probably more things missing that I never noticed. My question is, How do I get back to the original Clockworkmod?
Also, does anyone want to give me the basics on flashing stuff? I see people talking about Titanium Backup and ROM Manager. Every time I want to make a backup I just go into the recovery and make a backup there. What's ROM Manager? What's the best way to do this kind of stuff?
EDIT: I just booted back into recovery since a while (when I flashed my current rom) and noticed that it's back to normal. It says Semaphore CWM Recovery 6.0.3.8, when it used to say CWM-based recovery 6.0.3.6. Back then, it also gave me a warning called Warning: no file_contexts. That's gone now, should I have anything to worry about?
oneupe1even said:
Some background info: I got my phone used, so the rooting and stuff was done for me.
When I got the phone, the top of the recovery said Semaphore CWM 6.something, I don't know what I did to it but now the recovery says CWM based recovery. I also notice that fix permissions is not there anymore, there is probably more things missing that I never noticed. My question is, How do I get back to the original Clockworkmod?
Also, does anyone want to give me the basics on flashing stuff? I see people talking about Titanium Backup and ROM Manager. Every time I want to make a backup I just go into the recovery and make a backup there. What's ROM Manager? What's the best way to do this kind of stuff?
EDIT: I just booted back into recovery since a while (when I flashed my current rom) and noticed that it's back to normal. It says Semaphore CWM Recovery 6.0.3.8, when it used to say CWM-based recovery 6.0.3.6. Back then, it also gave me a warning called Warning: no file_contexts. That's gone now, should I have anything to worry about?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Usually your ROM comes pre-packaged with a version of recovery.
ROMs that use the Semaphore kernel also generally come pre-packaged with a modified version of Clockworkmod recovery designed to compliment the kernel.
for reference:
if your recovery says: CWM recovery X.X.X.X then its usually the official version
Semaphore CWM Recovery 6.0.3.8 is a modified version for use with Semaphore kernel
CWM-based recovery 6.0.3.6 - is a modified version likely for use with another kernel (They dont always specify)
I would recommend just sticking with whatever version comes with your ROM.
there is rarely a need to change it.
ROM manager is an App that makes flashing clockworkmod recovery easy as well as downloading and flashing ROMs.
but for the most part if you know how to use recovery already your probably better off doing stuff manually in my opinion.
Titanium backup - is an app that lets you back up and restore all of your installed apps and data.
so for instance if you wanted to install a new ROM. you could back your apps and data up with Titanium backup and then install your new ROM and even wipe user data and still be able to get all of your apps back just as they were before you switched ROMs.
in comparison a nandroid backup (the backup done through recovery) backs up everything including your current ROM so restoring from that would also restore whatever ROM you were using when you made the backup.
as an example if you do both a Nandroid and Titanium backup while running android 2.3
then you decide to update to android 4.1
after the update if you restore from the nandroid backup you will be back at android 2.3 with all of your apps and everything back the way it was.
if you restore from a titanium backup you'll still be on android 4.1 but you'll have all your apps back as they were before.

Newbie to flashing, rooting, etc - several basic questions

Hello,
So lately I've been have some troubles with my phone and I decided to try and flash with a new ROM and see if that helps.
I've been reading on the forums some of the guides, FAQ, and read about some ROMs but I'm still a bit unsure of the entire process.
Currently using GT-I9300, 4.1.2 OS, stock.
Backup:
1. Do I need to flash a custom recovery tool (CWM/TWRG) to create an image backup? Should I just root with Odin and then use Titanium?
2. Do these backup my EFS partition or should I back that up separately?
3. Do I need to root my phone with Odin to be able to flash custom recovery tool/backup my EFS?
ROM/Kernel flashing:
1. Since I'm a newbie to this and there seems to be a ton of ROM options, could you recommend on a stable CM based 4.3 ROM I could use?
2. I haven't seen a stock 4.4.4 for GT-I9300, is it stable to use?
I'm sorry If I've asked something thousands have asked before, I couldn't find a clear answer in a decent amount of time.
Thanks for the help!
menia3d said:
Hello,
So lately I've been have some troubles with my phone and I decided to try and flash with a new ROM and see if that helps.
I've been reading on the forums some of the guides, FAQ, and read about some ROMs but I'm still a bit unsure of the entire process.
Currently using GT-I9300, 4.1.2 OS, stock.
Backup:
1. Do I need to flash a custom recovery tool (CWM/TWRG) to create an image backup? Should I just root with Odin and then use Titanium?
2. Do these backup my EFS partition or should I back that up separately?
3. Do I need to root my phone with Odin to be able to flash custom recovery tool/backup my EFS?
ROM/Kernel flashing:
1. Since I'm a newbie to this and there seems to be a ton of ROM options, could you recommend on a stable CM based 4.3 ROM I could use?
2. I haven't seen a stock 4.4.4 for GT-I9300, is it stable to use?
I'm sorry If I've asked something thousands have asked before, I couldn't find a clear answer in a decent amount of time.
Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Backup
(1) Titanium only backs up apps and data it does not do a full (Nandroid backup Google it) Root with cf autoroot http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1980683 and then flash a custom recovery (choice is yours cwm,Twrp,PhilZ flash with Odin)
(2) Yes some custom recoveries back up efs PhilZ does I think twrp does not sure about cwm ( I don't think it does maybe wrong on that) nandroid backups don't backup your efs do this separately
(3) Technically you don't need root to flash a recovery but if you want to backup anything in recovery then you need to root.You will only need to root your phone once if you are intending to flash custom roms (so that you can backup) because root is included in custom roms.
IMPORTANT! You must backup your efs once you have flashed a custom recovery especially coming from 4.1.2. and keep multiple copies on phone and pc!
Rom/Kernel flashing
(1) We cannot recommend roms it is against XDA rules
(2) Their is no stock 4.4.4 roms last release was 4.3 anything else is a custom/port of 4.4
Thanks for your help, that cleared up a few things.
I ended up using samsung galaxy S3 toolkit (which is amazing btw) to root & load insecure boot image, flash custom recovery img and backup everything on my phone.
I'm now ready to flash my first custom ROM
Again, thanks a bunch

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