Backup questions... Rooted or unrooted - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Can I make an exact image of my phone as it is; settings, apps, saved passwords etc without root to revert to in case rooting goes wrong somehow? If not, I assume I need to add a rooted kernel via Odin and then purchase CWM from the market and backup there?
Last one, how does backup work in CWM, does it create an exact image to revert to or just backs up a stock image as if it was just purchased as new?
Thank you for any help you can give a newb.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA

aRc. said:
Can I make an exact image of my phone as it is; settings, apps, saved passwords etc without root to revert to in case rooting goes wrong somehow?
No as you need CWM and root
If not, I assume I need to add a rooted kernel via Odin and then purchase CWM from the market and backup there?
No its free and part of the CWM and Root kernels .
Root + CWM .
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1103399
Last one, how does backup work in CWM, does it create an exact image to revert to or just backs up a stock image as if it was just purchased as new?
Backs up the phone as is at time of backup whatever the firmware is .
Stock firmware is not held on the phone the meaning of factory reset is reinstall last installed firmware .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Related

[Q] Pre-Root nandroid backup?

I see a lot of Titanium threads, which afaik requires root. I would like to find a good method to back up everything before I try rooting, if possible.
I found a similar question in Nexus S and matt2053 responded "...you do NOT have to be rooted to make a Nandroid backup." He didn't elaborate.
From what I have read, I believe that a nandroid is a complete image of the system, data and apps, which would allow me to go back to exactly where I was. Is that right? That would be great.
Would someone help me there? Do I use adb, or do I need an app, or what?
Thanks,
You need to be in recovery to make a nandroid. A far as I know you cannot do this unless you are rooted with s off
Sent from my Thunderbolt
If not nandroid, then?
Do you know of any method to make a complete backup before rooting?
This can be accomplished on some devices such as the Droid that don't require you to downgrade firmware (i.e. on some devices you can flash recovery without ever touching the rom) like the TB does to get s-off. So as you posted from your searching something similar may be true for the NexusS.
On the TB w/ the required firmware flashing steps, I don't think you can ever get a usable custom recovery without losing your current stock rom one way or another. I could be wrong as I haven't looked into it.
Basically, root (Superuser) is within the rom. For phones that allow you to flash a custom recovery without touching the rom, you can nandroid your original stock rom without su. For phones that can't, the only way is to flash a rom that is not rooted (does not include su).
I'm not personally aware of a way to make a full backup image other than that, sorry.

[Q] Please help me get my head around rooting

Hi all,
Excuse the noobness but trying to get my head straight before I dive into rooting and flashing custom ROMS
I currently have a Telstra Australia S2 on kernel DVKF4. My aim is to root and flash Litening ROM
I think to flash Litening ROM I do not have to Root I can just go ahead and flash it however I would like to take a backup of my current firmware first, if I go ahead an install Litening my original Telstra will be gone and wont be able to back it up now?
If I understand this correctly I first need to root and I need to flash an insecure ROM. Now currently the DVKF4 insecure ROM hasnt been uploaded yet... Can I use any old kernel to get root access?
I know if I do this I will get the yellow warning label but will this even matter since after I gain root I am going to flash litening anyway so that will replace the kernel anyway with the litening one and I will not get the yellow warning. Correct?
Anyhoo I wanted to backup current Telstra firmware in case I need to flash it back for warranty. Also I would have to unroot it. So in order to do this I would firstly restore the backup made which would flash back the original telstra ROM but the phone will still be rooted?
Since I made the backup with the 'any old' kernel to get root does that when I restore I am going to have that kernel still on phone and giving me yellow warning?
OK so I would have to flash back the correct DVKF4 kernel to get rid of it again. So I would have to flash back the original (secure) kernel to get rid of this and user superoneclick to unroot and then its back to its original state? (besides the download counter of unsigned ROMS which can be reset with jig)
Also does the yellow warning come up even if you use an insecure kernel which is the same version your firmware needs?
I thought it's the kernel which gives the root access but it's not is it? It just allows superoneclick to install the superuser files etc?
Thanks!
icanfly77 said:
Hi all,
Excuse the noobness but trying to get my head straight before I dive into rooting and flashing custom ROMS
I currently have a Telstra Australia S2 on kernel DVKF4. My aim is to root and flash Litening ROM
I think to flash Litening ROM I do not have to Root I can just go ahead and flash it however I would like to take a backup of my current firmware first, if I go ahead an install Litening my original Telstra will be gone and wont be able to back it up now?
True but you may find copy on Branded roms post dev section or use vanilla Samsung stock rom .
If I understand this correctly I first need to root and I need to flash an insecure ROM. Now currently the DVKF4 insecure ROM hasnt been uploaded yet... Can I use any old kernel to get root access?
Depends upon what the instructions say but generally as near to possible as your rom .
I know if I do this I will get the yellow warning label but will this even matter since after I gain root I am going to flash litening anyway so that will replace the kernel anyway with the litening one and I will not get the yellow warning. Correct?
Incorrect you will need the USB recovery jig to remove the warning and reset the custom rom counter to zero the easy way .
Anyhoo I wanted to backup current Telstra firmware in case I need to flash it back for warranty. Also I would have to unroot it. So in order to do this I would firstly restore the backup made which would flash back the original telstra ROM but the phone will still be rooted?
A backup via CWM of a phone will restore what you backup .
To restore unrooted you will need to save unrooted in the first instance .
Original rom or branded rom flashed via Odin will remove root .
I thought it's the kernel which gives the root access
Yes if you use the usual method no if you use another method .
Root & CWM kernel.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1103399
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JJEgan said:
icanfly77 said:
A backup via CWM of a phone will restore what you backup .
To restore unrooted you will need to save unrooted in the first instance .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey thanks but how do I make a backup of the unrooted current carrier ROM? Don't I first need to gain root access to be able to run CWM and make the backup?
Or is there a way I can go into recovery now with the device currently unrooted and stock carrier ROM and make a backup?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
icanfly77 said:
Hey thanks but how do I make a backup of the unrooted current carrier ROM? Don't I first need to gain root access to be able to run CWM and make the backup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As was pointed out above by JJEgan, either wait for the Telstra carrier branded firmware to hit this thread.
Or you can try the root/unroot method as described here. Good luck
mrxd said:
As was pointed out above by JJEgan, either wait for the Telstra carrier branded firmware to hit this thread.
Or you can try the root/unroot method as described here. Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah thanks I get that part it's just that he mentioned if I want back a backup of an unrooted rom I need to make the backup while unrooted but I did not think this was possible since you need to root first before being able to backup?
Just after some clarification about that.. Thanks

[Q] Backup before root

Hi i just got my SGSII Im ready to root it but before install anything I want to make a backup, but im not sure. Can I install clockworkmode CWM before root it and make my backup?? I have read but can not fine the specific answer. I really want to have my stock rom in case something goes wrong even with out root
You can back up some data using Samsung Kies. But if you wanna create a nandroid backup, you need to root first. Rooting is safe and does not mod your stock rom. It will add some extra features like ClockWorkMod, busybox etc:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1103399
You can flash CF-root and then start to install apps and then use for example Titanium Backup to make backups. If you for some reason want to flash your original firmware back, your apps won't be wiped.
ok then i will use the chainfire root files. I had the doubt because when i root one tab i first made the backup, i thought i would be the same
you can simply get the firmware for your phone at sammobile.com. if you ever need to restore your phone back to the state before rooting, just flash that firmware with odin and you are done.
awesome, every where i checked on the web i never find the specific firmware (not even mention my carrier) i was afraid i could not find it, but with that page i got it
Once you have done what you are doing, get kTool and backup efs too. Very important data in the efs.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
kTool saved my life twice.
DO NOT neglect it !

[Q] Will the v4.1.2 Minor FW Update remove root?

GT-I9300 International No carrier
Current FW v 4.1.2
hxxp://i.imgur.com/DxDXONZ.png
Update Details
hxxp://i.imgur.com/18JE68Z.jpg
Phone Rooted using CF-Auto-Root
SuperSU and Busybox installed
CWM not installed
Using Stock ROM
Using Stock Kernel
As you can see Kies has prompted me an update and the update seems to have already downloaded OTA using WiFi.
It is prompting me to install the update again and again.
My question is, if I do select to install this update,
1.) Will it remove root?
2.) Will it completely wipe my phone? (previous incremental updates haven't wiped my data, but the phone wasn't rooted then.)
3.) Can I root again using CF-Auto-Root?
Thank you.
Jaxx89 said:
GT-I9300 International No carrier
Current FW v 4.1.2
hxxp://i.imgur.com/DxDXONZ.png
Update Details
hxxp://i.imgur.com/18JE68Z.jpg
Phone Rooted using CF-Auto-Root
SuperSU and Busybox installed
CWM not installed
Using Stock ROM
Using Stock Kernel
As you can see Kies has prompted me an update and the update seems to have already downloaded OTA using WiFi.
It is prompting me to install the update again and again.
My question is, if I do select to install this update,
1.) Will it remove root?
AS per thousands of posts YES.
2.) Will it completely wipe my phone? (previous incremental updates haven't wiped my data, but the phone wasn't rooted then.)
NO
3.) Can I root again using CF-Auto-Root?
YES
All this is posted multiple times .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JJEgan said:
Jaxx89 said:
GT-I9300 International No carrier
Current FW v 4.1.2
hxxp://i.imgur.com/DxDXONZ.png
Update Details
hxxp://i.imgur.com/18JE68Z.jpg
Phone Rooted using CF-Auto-Root
SuperSU and Busybox installed
CWM not installed
Using Stock ROM
Using Stock Kernel
As you can see Kies has prompted me an update and the update seems to have already downloaded OTA using WiFi.
It is prompting me to install the update again and again.
My question is, if I do select to install this update,
1.) Will it remove root?
AS per thousands of posts YES.
2.) Will it completely wipe my phone? (previous incremental updates haven't wiped my data, but the phone wasn't rooted then.)
NO
3.) Can I root again using CF-Auto-Root?
YES
All this is posted multiple times .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry about that. Maybe my searching skills aren't good enough or maybe I don't know how to use this forum coz I found only one thread that too with a Gingerbread FW, which is why I posted this Q
Really sorry.
Thanks for the quick reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Device status modified and cannot update
tried using triangle away and did not reset the flash counter
Because triangle away can reset your flash counter only if you're running stock recovery, stock kernel, stock rom etc.
CF-AutoRoot should not make your status "modified" but probably like you see it did. Maybe some other apps did that, maybe not, nobody knows anyway. If you really need these updates then you should flash newest firmware from samsung through odin and then root it + reset flash counter, it should work also for further updates (but I'm not sure).
JustArchi said:
Because triangle away can reset your flash counter only if you're running stock recovery, stock kernel, stock rom etc.
CF-AutoRoot should not make your status "modified" but probably like you see it did. Maybe some other apps did that, maybe not, nobody knows anyway. If you really need these updates then you should flash newest firmware from samsung through odin and then root it + reset flash counter, it should work also for further updates (but I'm not sure).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot.
I know where to get the FW updates to flash via Odin but don't really understand how to reset the flash counter if not by using TriangleAway.
Could you please be kind enough to guide me?
And these are the apps I used after root
SuperSU
Busybox
Root checker
Titanium Backup
Lucky patcher
Market enabler
Greenify
Could any of these apps modify the stock kernel, rom or recovery? Coz I never flashed any custom ones just rooted using CF-Auto-Root and installed the root apps
P.S: I was able to do the FW update via Kies and now the status is back to normal, but I'm afraid to root coz the status might go back to modified.
It's more like, you know. If we're talking about warranty then they'll find that your rooted your phone anyway. If we're talking about updates then probably it's still better to keep an eye on some stock-based custom roms, mostly because of frequent updates (nearly instantly after new baseband), while you still need to wait some time for OTA to arrive. Of course it's much easier to apply OTA than whole custom rom but hey, how often are you doing that?
About your question - busybox is my choice because it modifies /system apps, many of them.
And lastly - in odin you have a checkbox to reset flash counter, so you don't need to worry about anything using this tool. At least in general.
Overall I'd stick with pure stock non-rooted firmware if you don't need it in general or rooted custom rom (f.e. mine ) for much better experience. I couldn't go back to stock after getting used to much better performance, less battery drain etc.
Choice is yours.
Lucky patcher
Warez is totally banned on XDA you are stealing from developers .
As its a warez app who knows what sort of malware it could add to your phone .
I would wipe the phone install original firmware .
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1978840
Then update it and to stick with unrooted stock .
jje
JustArchi said:
It's more like, you know. If we're talking about warranty then they'll find that your rooted your phone anyway. If we're talking about updates then probably it's still better to keep an eye on some stock-based custom roms, mostly because of frequent updates (nearly instantly after new baseband), while you still need to wait some time for OTA to arrive. Of course it's much easier to apply OTA than whole custom rom but hey, how often are you doing that?
About your question - busybox is my choice because it modifies /system apps, many of them.
And lastly - in odin you have a checkbox to reset flash counter, so you don't need to worry about anything using this tool. At least in general.
Overall I'd stick with pure stock non-rooted firmware if you don't need it in general or rooted custom rom (f.e. mine ) for much better experience. I couldn't go back to stock after getting used to much better performance, less battery drain etc.
Choice is yours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick response
I rooted mainly coz I needed to use market enabler
In Odin are you referring to the option F. Reset time??
I am using the Odin version provided by Chainfire in his S3 rooting thread in which all options are disabled except for Auto reboot.
@JJEgan I don't even know how to use half of the apps I mentioned, I only installed them as my friend suggested it as must have root apps.
As you might see, I am still a N00b at this and am in the learning process.
BTW Thanks for the link to the guide.
Jaxx89 said:
Thanks for the quick response
I rooted mainly coz I needed to use market enabler
In Odin are you referring to the option F. Reset time??
I am using the Odin version provided by Chainfire in his S3 rooting thread in which all options are disabled except for Auto reboot.
@JJEgan I don't even know how to use half of the apps I mentioned, I only installed them as my friend suggested it as must have root apps.
As you might see, I am still a N00b at this and am in the learning process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suggest going through my flashing guide located in ArchiDroid thread, with newest odin and newest methods for flashing/rooting.
JustArchi said:
I suggest going through my flashing guide located in ArchiDroid thread, with newest odin and newest methods for flashing/rooting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot.
If I'm not mistaken, ArchiDroid is a Custom ROM(pre-rooted) which requires a Custom Recovery.
I will be learning a bit more first before I install a Custom ROM.
A question though. Will I have to take a backup of my app data if I decide to install a custom ROM?
Also if I want to install the stock FW via Odin, will I have to take a backup first?
Thanks and I'm really sorry about asking such questions.
Jaxx89 said:
Thanks a lot.
If I'm not mistaken, ArchiDroid is a Custom ROM(pre-rooted) which requires a Custom Recovery.
I will be learning a bit more first before I install a Custom ROM.
A question though. Will I have to take a backup of my app data if I decide to install a custom ROM?
Also if I want to install the stock FW via Odin, will I have to take a backup first?
Thanks and I'm really sorry about asking such questions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it requires custom recovery for installing .zip package.
There is nothing to learn if you ask me, you have complete guide for installing everything you need in step-by-step howto. If you want to keep your data then you need to use some nice app for that f.e. Titanium Backup but for that you need root and... yeah. It's easier to start from scratch on new pre-rooted rom.
I'd suggest flashing custom recovery (tutorial in my topic) and then you can create a backup directly from that, with everything you want to, including actual system, efs folder, recovery, kernel etc. So you can easily get back to original rom whenever you want to. Keep in mind that you still need custom recovery for that.
JustArchi said:
Yes it requires custom recovery for installing .zip package.
There is nothing to learn if you ask me, you have complete guide for installing everything you need in step-by-step howto. If you want to keep your data then you need to use some nice app for that f.e. Titanium Backup but for that you need root and... yeah. It's easier to start from scratch on new pre-rooted rom.
I'd suggest flashing custom recovery (tutorial in my topic) and then you can create a backup directly from that, with everything you want to, including actual system, efs folder, recovery, kernel etc. So you can easily get back to original rom whenever you want to. Keep in mind that you still need custom recovery for that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok Now I'm really confused
I still haven't learnt how to use Titanium Backup to backup, or how to do a nandroid backup. I have read it's better to do a backup b4 installing a custom ROM. And if I'm not mistaken, I need ROOT to do a nandroid backup too.
As I said before that I used CF-Auto-Root, I just followed the instructions to the word.
I had tried doing a ADB backup before root, but for some reason it kept exiting(I guess coz I have just about 1GB memory left on my Internal memory SD card)
Thanks for the quick reply. Man ur really fast in answering questions. :good:
EDIT: Just did the CF-Auto_Root again and didn't install any other apps like busybox(uninstalled all root apps) and used triangleaway to reset the flash counter. But the counter still stuck on 1
The device status shows normal though.
Jaxx89 said:
Ok Now I'm really confused
I still haven't learnt how to use Titanium Backup to backup, or how to do a nandroid backup. I have read it's better to do a backup b4 installing a custom ROM. And if I'm not mistaken, I need ROOT to do a nandroid backup too.
As I said before that I used CF-Auto-Root, I just followed the instructions to the word.
I had tried doing a ADB backup before root, but for some reason it kept exiting(I guess coz I have just about 1GB memory left on my Internal memory SD card)
Thanks for the quick reply. Man ur really fast in answering questions. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all you need custom recovery to perform nandroid backups. So you can stick with my first 10 steps in my howto. After that enter recovery, enter backup section and make a custom backup (or default, doesn't matter) of everything you have, especially /efs folder as it's really important. When you finish doing backup then boot to your normal system and copy these backups to your PC. Now you're sure that they won't disappear and if you want to backup your phone from that then simply put them back on your phone and restore them from the recovery.
But overall I'd suggest clean start without these backups. Of course it's always recommended and I recommend it as well but as long as you won't want to go back to original rom, there is no real point for backing it up. You can always download latest official firmware and flash it through odin.

How do i restore superuser and titanium backup ?

Hello ,
About a year ago i rooted my phone using kingroot , however i did not replace the kingroot su with super user app the reason for that was because i just wanted to delete some bloatware on my device and then would remove root again .
I proceeded with downloading Titanium Backup and deleted some of the bloatware among which i deleted the default email app from the phone . Not knowing how to properly remove root access from the phone i simply deleted kingroot believing that this would make me lose root access on the phone .
The problem now is that i need to restore the default email app which i previously deleted because an error message keeps popping up on my phone repeadetly ( Unfortunately , Email has stopped ) and it has gotten to the point where the phone is almost unusable . What i want to know is this :
1- Is it possible to install just the kingroot superuser or some other super user so i can use root to download titanium backup again ?
2- Will titanium backup be able to restore the default email app after i download it ?
Oh wow okay you have a few options. One is to use the SuperSUme app to replace kingroot super user with SuperSU. First, you can try downloading superSU from the play store and then titanium backup. I'm not sure if titanium backup will bring back your e-mail app or not. I guess it depends if you backed it up. When all else fails, you can use the flash fire app (given you have superSU) to flash the OF1_rooted_stock_ROM file. This will take you back to 100% stock with root. If that even fails your last option is to use ODIN on your PC to flash the stock ODIN firmware file for whatever firmware you are on. If you want to unroot, getting superSU is a must because it has an unroot option built in.
All of the files I mentioned are either found here in the forums and/or on the play store. Do note that if you're going to use flash fire, the only version you can use is version 0.53.
Lastly, I have written a guide here that may help you with rooting in the future. https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...h-i545-pl1-t3846576/post77710697#post77710697
StoneyJSG said:
Oh wow okay you have a few options. One is to use the SuperSUme app to replace kingroot super user with SuperSU. First, you can try downloading superSU from the play store and then titanium backup. I'm not sure if titanium backup will bring back your e-mail app or not. I guess it depends if you backed it up. When all else fails, you can use the flash fire app (given you have superSU) to flash the OF1_rooted_stock_ROM file. This will take you back to 100% stock with root. If that even fails your last option is to use ODIN on your PC to flash the stock ODIN firmware file for whatever firmware you are on. If you want to unroot, getting superSU is a must because it has an unroot option built in.
All of the files I mentioned are either found here in the forums and/or on the play store. Do note that if you're going to use flash fire, the only version you can use is version 0.53.
Lastly, I have written a guide here that may help you with rooting in the future. https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...h-i545-pl1-t3846576/post77710697#post77710697
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello and thanks for the reply , I tried getting SuperSU but it doesn't show up on my play store .
Is it possible to use Odin to flash the stock 5.0.1 ROM for my phone without the superuser and will that reset the phone and return the e-mail app ?
Also assuming this way will work where can i get Odin ?
And also will this interfere with the carrier ? Since the phone is VZW but i am using it on another carrier not in USA currently , will that make the phone unusable with other carriers or its quite unlikely ?
Thanks in advance and sorry to bother you once again ,
maxman32 said:
Hello and thanks for the reply , I tried getting SuperSU but it doesn't show up on my play store .
Is it possible to use Odin to flash the stock 5.0.1 ROM for my phone without the superuser and will that reset the phone and return the e-mail app ?
Also assuming this way will work where can i get Odin ?
And also will this interfere with the carrier ? Since the phone is VZW but i am using it on another carrier not in USA currently , will that make the phone unusable with other carriers or its quite unlikely ?
Thanks in advance and sorry to bother you once again ,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will need to get the superSU apk file off the web and install it from there then. You can flash the OF1_rooted_stock_ROM file with flash fire 0.53 and that will give you 100% stock with root. You can also flash the ODIN full stock .tar file found here in the forums and that will also get you back to 100% stock.
The Verizon galaxy s4 is carrier unlocked. To use data though you have to set the correct APN settings for the network you are using. I have AT&T and have used my SIM card in my Verizon galaxy s4 before.
StoneyJSG said:
You will need to get the superSU apk file off the web and install it from there then. You can flash the OF1_rooted_stock_ROM file with flash fire 0.53 and that will give you 100% stock with root. You can also flash the ODIN full stock .tar file found here in the forums and that will also get you back to 100% stock.
The Verizon galaxy s4 is carrier unlocked. To use data though you have to set the correct APN settings for the network you are using. I have AT&T and have used my SIM card in my Verizon galaxy s4 before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually i flashed the official OF1 firmware with odin and it restored the default apps without any problems .
I don't know if this means the phone was unrooted before but several root checkers i tried said that the phone was rooted but the superuser app was missing .
Nevertheless , i thank you for helping me out it might seem little but its thanks to you that i turned to odin and now my phone is in a perfect condition
Yep as I said you can flash the ODIN tar file for OF1 and get back to 100% stock. Good thing that did it for you. As for superSU, you can get it off chain fire website I believe.
If you ODIN back to stock, it more than likely unrooted. Odd that root checker says you're rooted. No problem, glad to help whenever I can. Happy flashing!

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