As I was looking into a new phone and whether I'll be able to root/unroot it, I began to wonder...
Why can an Android phone not be cloned over usb so that it can be restored to it's original state at a later time? In other words, why do we have to wait for certain files/collections of files to be released or leaked in order to successfully unroot or de-brick our phones?
What is it about a phone that makes this different from, say, a desktop where you could clone your hard drive, and if you ever royally mucked up your system, you could simply swap out hard drives in order to restore the system to a previous state?
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
roachkv said:
As I was looking into a new phone and whether I'll be able to root/unroot it, I began to wonder...
Why can an Android phone not be cloned over usb so that it can be restored to it's original state at a later time? In other words, why do we have to wait for certain files/collections of files to be released or leaked in order to successfully unroot or de-brick our phones?
What is it about a phone that makes this different from, say, a desktop where you could clone your hard drive, and if you ever royally mucked up your system, you could simply swap out hard drives in order to restore the system to a previous state?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you talking about it being backed up? - Which would be a nandroid backup which is possible via recovery.
First, sorry for posting in the wrong place.
Second, no, I'm familiar with nandroid backups. I use them regularly. But even with a nandroid, you can "brick" your phone. Why is that?
For instance, barring mechanical failure, on a desktop you can wipe your hard drive, put a cloned system back on it, boot up your system, and proceed like nothing happened. No bricking.
Related
So far I haven't found an exact rom/firmware to match the one on my UK Wifi Tab, the serial numbers differ slightly.
I'd like to find out if it's possible for me to make my own complete backup image, one that can be used if need be to put the Tab back to how it was out of the box. I'd do a factory reset before making the backup.
Is such a thing possible without having to root my device and without having CWM? Could it be done with ADB (not that I have a clue how to use it).
If it is possible, would someone be kind enough to tell me how it's done?
Many thanks.
UKseagull said:
So far I haven't found an exact rom/firmware to match the one on my UK Wifi Tab, the serial numbers differ slightly.
I'd like to find out if it's possible for me to make my own complete backup image, one that can be used if need be to put the Tab back to how it was out of the box. I'd do a factory reset before making the backup.
Is such a thing possible without having to root my device and without having CWM? Could it be done with ADB (not that I have a clue how to use it).
If it is possible, would someone be kind enough to tell me how it's done?
Many thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, not possible without root. With root, however, you can reset the device to factory. Is there a specific reason you don't want to root?
Thanks for the reply.
I do intend rooting the device at some point, but I've been putting it off until I can get hold off (or create) a rom that matches the one on my Tab right now. I see that samfirmware have a Euro rom, but it appears slighly different to what I have on my device.
I'm just trying to avoid the possibility of ending up with a non standard rom for my device, which might prevent me receiving future updates, or even from returning it if a warranty claim arises.
My HTC Desire is using a custom rom, but I have the security of having the original RUU that I can run to get my phone back to stock, I was hoping for something similar for the Tab.
so this is my problem. Im having some issues with my phone and I want it to be changed. The issues really dont matter. In order for my provider to send me another phone they want me to do a master reset. This of course will delete all my apps and settings. As far as I know there is not a backup app that once you restore the phone and apps the restored phone will have all it's app data in place, the icons will be where you want them, etc, just like you would from when you clone or make an image from a Hard Drive from pc... Or is there and application that will do this? My only other option (i believe) is to root the phone to then use an app to do a real backup, then unroot the phone, root the new phone and do the restore. I also have to remove the root from the old phone but can that be done without increasing the counter? This is all a big hassle. I cant believe you can do a real backup/restore on a phone nowadays....
If there is any other way to do it I will appreciate the help. I will have to do this in the next days since my warranty expires in a bit over a month...
Thanks!
You are correct ....
Rooting of the device is needed, then the unroot.
It's the only method I'm aware of in getting a full nandroid backup ..g
Sarge has it right if you want to use backup apps.
If you don't want to root, you will need to flash TWRP or CWR to get the custom recovery and backup. Then make a backup to your external SD card. Use recovery to factory reset. Send the phone away after removing SD card and sim card. The backup is called a nandroid and it is basically an image of the phone.
On new phone flash same recovery then restore the backup. When you start the phone it will be as the broken one was.
You can remove the recovery from the broken phone, but I never heard of anyone getting problems from the warranty people for that.
Thanks both of you guys for the information. I am getting ready to do the root not only for the backup but there are quite a few apps that I want to use that require root that I am going to have to do it.
Now, I started reading tonight and the more I read the more I get confused. Is there an official guide to root the note (specifically AT&T running ICS 4.0.4 if there is a difference) in a way that I can unroot it in the future avoiding tripping any counters?
I have read so many different threads about rooting, they tend to be different so I am looking for the "current" accepted "method" to do this with decent steps if possible. Thanks much!
Whoa whoa, are we forgetting about ADB Backup?
What do you mean CPA?
BTW, I want to root the stock att ics, I am not interested into flashing another rom.
Fernandq said:
What do you mean CPA?
BTW, I want to root the stock att ics, I am not interested into flashing another rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I understand, you're wanting to do a full backup of your phone before you turn it in right? Or, at the very least, your apps and settings?
Welp, here you go: no root required.
A quick google search for "ADB backup" should get you the info you need as well.
Also looks like there's an XDA dev who came up with a much easier interface (as opposed to doing everything via command-line, which still isn't that difficult). Might be worth checking:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=36499906
Edit: Read your second post, and it looks like you're interested in rooting...I guess I was confused as to your intentions after reading you first post, which just sounded like you didn't want to lose your info after doing a factory reset. Regardless, it is HIGHLY advised before doing any sort of root-related activity to do an ADB backup. That way, if anything goes wrong in the rooting process itself, or if you later decide you want to go back to stock and/or all of your original apps and settings from before the root, you can literally be back with a clean slate within a matter of minutes.
Thanks very much for the link. I have swapped phones already but it will be helpful before I root. THANKS!
after looking at adb I see it would not work for my initial needs as it only can be restored to the same device. I wanted something I could do a backup in the old one and restore that backup in the new one. Anyway, since I am past that anyway I am going to give it a try in theold device.... thanks!
Fernandq said:
after looking at adb I see it would not work for my initial needs as it only can be restored to the same device. I wanted something I could do a backup in the old one and restore that backup in the new one. Anyway, since I am past that anyway I am going to give it a try in theold device.... thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The full backup, yes (regarding being able to only restore to the same device) but you could literally extract whatever data you want from the ADB backup using WinRar, then manually push it to your new device.
Apparently ADB backup is broke, it does not respect the -noshared flag and the resulting file is corrupted requiring more processing on the file for it to work... dang it! Seems it has been fixed in JB...
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=28303
http://www.acertabletforum.com/foru...stem-backup-ics-only-root-not-required-2.html
and there is more if you search the net.... Now, why will they not fix it is beyond me. Ok, so the command does not respect -noshared, that is easy to fix, I can just pull my sd card out but making an otherwise broken and unusable file giving the user the false sense of security and not fixing the bug is plain wrong... The only option will be to upgrade to JB but the official upgrade is not out and knowing at&t I wont be for a bit... I am not much into flashing leaked rom although that might change in the near future...
Thanks.
Fernandq said:
Apparently ADB backup is broke, it does not respect the -noshared flag and the resulting file is corrupted requiring more processing on the file for it to work... dang it! Seems it has been fixed in JB...
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=28303
http://www.acertabletforum.com/foru...stem-backup-ics-only-root-not-required-2.html
and there is more if you search the net.... Now, why will they not fix it is beyond me. Ok, so the command does not respect -noshared, that is easy to fix, I can just pull my sd card out but making an otherwise broken and unusable file giving the user the false sense of security and not fixing the bug is plain wrong... The only option will be to upgrade to JB but the official upgrade is not out and knowing at&t I wont be for a bit... I am not much into flashing leaked rom although that might change in the near future...
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well crap man, that sucks - sorry! I'm not gonna lie, I didn't read the link you posted as I'm pulling all nighters about 3 times a week during for the busy season of my profession (see my user name lol)...but you're saying that something actually went WRONG with the SDK on ICS firmware - and Google isn't fixing it?? That can't be right...right?
I can personally couch for this method, as I used it to make a full unrooted backup - of stock 4.0.4 ICS - back in October when I rooted my Note for the first time. And the first thing I did (per the rooting tutorial I was following) was verify the backup by doing a restore via ADB before I rooted - and everything worked fine. Like I said, sorry it's not working for you! Have you considered rooting, installing a custom recovery, doing a nandroid backup (and saving it someplace safe of course), then doing a full unroot back to stock + reset your flash counter? There are some great tutorials to walk you through all of that on the Galaxy Note Everything Thread in the General forum, in case that's an option.
CPA Poke said:
Well crap man, that sucks - sorry! I'm not gonna lie, I didn't read the link you posted as I'm pulling all nighters about 3 times a week during for the busy season of my profession (see my user name lol)...but you're saying that something actually went WRONG with the SDK on ICS firmware - and Google isn't fixing it?? That can't be right...right?
I can personally couch for this method, as I used it to make a full unrooted backup - of stock 4.0.4 ICS - back in October when I rooted my Note for the first time. And the first thing I did (per the rooting tutorial I was following) was verify the backup by doing a restore via ADB before I rooted - and everything worked fine. Like I said, sorry it's not working for you! Have you considered rooting, installing a custom recovery, doing a nandroid backup (and saving it someplace safe of course), then doing a full unroot back to stock + reset your flash counter? There are some great tutorials to walk you through all of that on the Galaxy Note Everything Thread in the General forum, in case that's an option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As mentioned in my post....
Root, full backup, and unroot is the fastest method......g
gregsarg said:
As mentioned in my post....
Root, full backup, and unroot is the fastest method......g
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But what's the point in putting things simply like that when I can write an entire paragraph saying the same thing, but more confusing??
Ok. I have at&t Samsung galaxy note i717. Earlier today I manually updated the software to jelly bean 4.1 and also unlocked it by following a YouTube video. Now. I have downloaded a few things, such as SU, CWM, titanium backup, twrp, and I think that's it. I barely know what any of these things do. I have already deleted all bloatware from my phone. I went to TWRP and I backed up my current settings to my sd card. I guess that's out of the way.
I am asking if anyone can please explain in detail and retard terms, what precautions should I take before I figure out how to flash new roms and kernels, and if i backed up my phone correctly so if I screw up, I can restore my phone.
I need someone to explain to me what process I should take in order to keep my phone safe and secure, how to get a rom for saving battery... Do you need to connect to a computer to do this? Someone please explain to me how to use all of these apps and roms safely! Thank you
Dblx327 said:
Ok. I have at&t Samsung galaxy note i717. Earlier today I manually updated the software to jelly bean 4.1 and also unlocked it by following a YouTube video. Now. I have downloaded a few things, such as SU, CWM, titanium backup, twrp, and I think that's it. I barely know what any of these things do. I have already deleted all bloatware from my phone. I went to TWRP and I backed up my current settings to my sd card. I guess that's out of the way.
I am asking if anyone can please explain in detail and retard terms, what precautions should I take before I figure out how to flash new roms and kernels, and if i backed up my phone correctly so if I screw up, I can restore my phone.
I need someone to explain to me what process I should take in order to keep my phone safe and secure, how to get a rom for saving battery... Do you need to connect to a computer to do this? Someone please explain to me how to use all of these apps and roms safely! Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check Development area for roms. Read about them and figure which is best for you, And as far as flashing Roms TWRP is the best way to go
Dblx327 said:
Ok. I have at&t Samsung galaxy note i717. Earlier today I manually updated the software to jelly bean 4.1 and also unlocked it by following a YouTube video. Now. I have downloaded a few things, such as SU, CWM, titanium backup, twrp, and I think that's it. I barely know what any of these things do. I have already deleted all bloatware from my phone. I went to TWRP and I backed up my current settings to my sd card. I guess that's out of the way.
I am asking if anyone can please explain in detail and retard terms, what precautions should I take before I figure out how to flash new roms and kernels, and if i backed up my phone correctly so if I screw up, I can restore my phone.
I need someone to explain to me what process I should take in order to keep my phone safe and secure, how to get a rom for saving battery... Do you need to connect to a computer to do this? Someone please explain to me how to use all of these apps and roms safely! Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My opinion. Dont mess with it. If its battery life you're looking for go to amazon and buy an extended battery.
Flashing roms and kernels without having some sort of idea what you're doing could completely brick(ruin) your phone.
dweeezy said:
My opinion. Dont mess with it. If its battery life you're looking for go to amazon and buy an extended battery.
Flashing roms and kernels without having some sort of idea what you're doing could completely brick(ruin) your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I already rooted my phone. It was pretty easy because I followed the steps correctly. And i don't want to buy a bulky battery, I also want to learn how to customize my phone.
I want to continue to research and learn about it so I don't hard brick my phone. I was hoping someone could at least explain the apps that I have downloaded. What each do. How to back up my phone settings to my sd card. Do I need each app that I downloaded, and when do I need to connect to a computer? When I go online and find a new rom and flash it over with Odin? I just want to know step by step process so I can learn this safely. Thanks
1 - Read the pinned threads at the top of the General section and the Q&A section.
2- Use Google.
Dblx327 said:
Ok. I have at&t Samsung galaxy note i717. Earlier today I manually updated the software to jelly bean 4.1 and also unlocked it by following a YouTube video. Now. I have downloaded a few things, such as SU, CWM, titanium backup, twrp, and I think that's it. I barely know what any of these things do. I have already deleted all bloatware from my phone. I went to TWRP and I backed up my current settings to my sd card. I guess that's out of the way.
I am asking if anyone can please explain in detail and retard terms, what precautions should I take before I figure out how to flash new roms and kernels, and if i backed up my phone correctly so if I screw up, I can restore my phone.
I need someone to explain to me what process I should take in order to keep my phone safe and secure, how to get a rom for saving battery... Do you need to connect to a computer to do this? Someone please explain to me how to use all of these apps and roms safely! Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SU is superuser. its for rooted andriods. basically when you try to go into an app that requires root superuser is what will grant that app permission to do what it wants to do.
a rooted android must have su or it wont have root access.
cwm,titanium backup, twrp- The only one of these i use is cwm. clockwork mod is simple. a stock phone has its own recovery. power on while holding up/down vol's and it boots into recovery. cwm is a modded recovery that allows you to do more. you open it the same way as the stock one but from there you can backup your entire phone, -roms and all. the way to put it on your phone is to download the appropraite one for your android version and also download odin. when odins open click pda, find the file, start phone in download mode (vol down and pwr) and click start. now there are a ton of tutorials but thats the gist of it. now after its back up you can try to flash roms, kernels, etc. most of them will be flashed via odin some you will drag onto your sd card and flash them via cwm(the install zip from sd card option).
When it comes to flashing stuff on your phone nothing is 100% safe and a backup isnt always going to fix a problem you may cause. dont flash anything you havent done research on. read the entire forum to see what problems people had and how they fixed them.
Most downloads youll find have step by step instructions, follow them.
Good luck
Sorry for the duplicated post. I just noticed the other one i posted is in the wrong section and this is the one for the AT&T phones so here it is again.
Hi Guys. Today i rooted my phone for the first time (LG Optimus G e970)
Everything went well, then i uninstalled the bloatware from AT&T and a few of the google apps that i do not use like books or music, and on the next reboot i got my phone bricked with the LG loop and "Security Error" message.
I found some great info on these forums on getting the phone in working condition with the help of this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2388440
However, before i go ahead and restore the phone's original firmware, i would like to know if there is anyway to recover some of the files. I have some important notes i wish to recover, everything else is on google and the external SD card so im not all lost.
I am able to put the phone in download mode by holding the up and down volume keys and then powering on the phone with the usb cable connected to the PC, but it is not showing as an external disk on the computer. I do have the LG drivers installed tho, the same ones i used to root the phone.
Any ideas?. thanks a lot.
What recovery do you have ? You may be able to mount internal and sd card in recovery and access them on your computer ?
optimusv45 said:
What recovery do you have ? You may be able to mount internal and sd card in recovery and access them on your computer ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi thank for the help.
I have no clue about what recovery i have. I never played with the phone before the rooting and removal of the apps, so i believe it should be the "stock" recovery if you wanna call it like that.
axopro said:
Hi thank for the help.
I have no clue about what recovery i have. I never played with the phone before the rooting and removal of the apps, so i believe it should be the "stock" recovery if you wanna call it like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what guide you followed to get the root. If you followed this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2450258
You should have twrp. Stock recovery may not be able to mount storages for uses on PCs.
Also I haven't seen the post you included , maybe that's an older post. A lot of people use this to recover their "bricked" phones
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2230994
I personally have followed this too.
As long as you have download mode you don't have to worry. However you need to read carefully before processing with teenybins because its something that can actually brick your phone if used wrong.
optimusv45 said:
I don't know what guide you followed to get the root. If you followed this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2450258
You should have twrp. Stock recovery may not be able to mount storages for uses on PCs.
Also I haven't seen the post you included , maybe that's an older post. A lot of people use this to recover their "bricked" phones
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2230994
I personally have followed this too.
As long as you have download mode you don't have to worry. However you need to read carefully before processing with teenybins because its something that can actually brick your phone if used wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok so when i did the rooting i followed that same guide you linked to, but i only did it to the root part. Not the "UNLOCK BOOTLOADER AND INSTALL CUSTOM RECOVERY-"
I just wanted the permissions to remove the apps.
So now with the TeenyBin guide.... will that erase the current settings and information on the phone or is it just an attempt to fix the firmware loop?
will the process attempt to restore the google apps missing?
axopro said:
Ok so when i did the rooting i followed that same guide you linked to, but i only did it to the root part. Not the "UNLOCK BOOTLOADER AND INSTALL CUSTOM RECOVERY-"
I just wanted the permissions to remove the apps.
So now with the TeenyBin guide.... will that erase the current settings and information on the phone or is it just an attempt to fix the firmware loop?
will the process attempt to restore the google apps missing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are different kind of teenybins. They do different things, one giving you a working recovery and updating RPM/TZ, one restoring your phone to complete factory state. You will have to read it to know what I'm saying here. The one that give you twrp and update your partitions may let your data alone but you will most likely still have the existing bootloop. The gapps missing ? The ones you deleted ? If you use the bin that recovers phones to factory state then you will have all the stock apps again.
Quick update.
I was able to recover the phone and the data in it. :good:
I installed the new boot loader with the teenybin instructions and was able to backup the data partition to an SD card.
Anyway, after that i went for a recovery using the stock firmware and LGNPST and now i lost the boot loader with all the neat options, but got the phone working again, and to my surprise, everything was back there including data and applications,. i dont get it but oh well... im back alive.
Ill backup all the important stuff from now on, and then i will keep messing with the phone again LOL. i learned quite a few things today... ill read more from now on before doing more things.
Thanks for all the help.!!
Good nite
Hi all,
I'm new android user. I want to root my phone, but not sure about what to do before rooting (I already have some basic idea about how to root). Do I have to back my current firmware? Is it possible to Unroot my phone? (to make it is in the same way as it is now). Sorry for my bad English.
New Android user.
firstly make sure that your phone have full power，that is very important.
ipad mini 3 hülle buch
You need an advanced recovery
What is your phone? Try to check in Google 1 click root method
State your phone? Rooting is easy, you usually need your phone, the root file, a computer, USB cable and a software called Odin. And yes once you get a recovery, you can backup your firmware and reflash a stock ROM to remove the root.
EthericGhost said:
State your phone? Rooting is easy, you usually need your phone, the root file, a computer, USB cable and a software called Odin. And yes once you get a recovery, you can backup your firmware and reflash a stock ROM to remove the root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're assuming that they have a Samsung phone for some reason...? Odin only works on Samsung devices.
OP:
You need to know the phone model as well as the build version of the software - not just the Android version - as different updates typically have different methods. You should backup all of your important data to Google and/or your PC. There are a variety of different ways to do this including many apps in the Play Store that can help. It would be advised to save your pictures, music, etc from your internal storage or sd card to the PC for safe keeping as well. You should also make sure that you can find the original full firmware and guide to reinstall for your phone in case you do want to unroot or if the phone does not work properly due to an error or bad luck.