Hey Guys,
As an alternative to ROM slots, what you can do is,
1. Boot into 1st ROM, configure and download all the apps you want.
2. Take a Nandroid of; /System and /data and optionally; cache. But I don't use the latter.
3. Wipe Data, System, Cache, and dalvik.
4. Install 2nd ROM, boot, configure, install all the same apps (just for now)
5. Take Nandroid of /system only
To switch to ROM 1, restore the backup of its /system (should only take about 6-10 seconds as opposed to flashing data too.
To switch to ROM 2, restore the backup of its /system ""
The reason you MUST install all the SAME apps on the 2nd ROM is to rebuild the necessary data folders.
In
To install a new app, boot to rom 1 and install it, then switch to ROM 2 and wipe cache and boot or vice versa.
Have fun,
While this may work, be aware there are problems that could arise by doing this. They likely wouldn't effect much but some ROM's are picky. That aside your still partitioning your device and will lose X amount of space even with this method.
NighthawkXL said:
While this may work, be aware there are problems that could arise by doing this. They likely wouldn't effect much but some ROM's are picky. That aside your still partitioning your device and will lose X amount of space even with this method.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, especially with Xposed, some problems could definitely arise. But I switch between Hyperdrive and GPE via this method about 2-3 times a week. Over time, constant flashing takes its toll on the Drive, but I don't mind it much.
Actually... you aren't partitioning though... you can just take the backups to your SD Card and it wont take up any internal storage other than what the ROM is taking
Related
i am rooted and have so far enjoyed aloysius v11 and v12, evil eris, zen express. but lately any new roms that i try to flash i get a boot loop. no matter what rom i try now it boot loops.
i did nand and can always restore to my curent stable fave aloysius v11.
any idea why i keep boot looping? is it my sd card? i even tried a diferent card and same thing ( i was trying to flash celbfroyo)
Boot into recovery, and wipe it. Go to wipe, then a full system wipe and after that, whip the dalvik cache. Then flash whatever rom you want, then restore via nand.
thewanton said:
Boot into recovery, and wipe it. Go to wipe, then a full system wipe and after that, whip the dalvik cache. Then flash whatever rom you want, then restore via nand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i wiped and did dalvik before flashing.
what do you mean by restore via nand?
1-f.s. wipe/dalvik wipe
2-flash the new rom
3-restore the new rom via nand?
I mean go to Backup/Restore, and hit Nand Restore. All that does is restore your apps, settings, contacts, etc. It has no affect on your rom, just like how wiping has no affect on your rom. That way, if you want Evil Eris, but have Kaos Froyo, you can wipe, then flash and then restore while still having the new ROM.
If that doesn't work, though.. I'm not sure what to do.
thewanton; said:
I mean go to Backup/Restore, and hit Nand Restore. All that does is restore your apps, settings, contacts, etc. It has no affect on your rom, just like how wiping has no affect on your rom. That way, if you want Evil Eris, but have Kaos Froyo, you can wipe, then flash and then restore while still having the new ROM.
If that doesn't work, though.. I'm not sure what to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay thanks for clearing that up. I'll give it a shot.
thewanton said:
I mean go to Backup/Restore, and hit Nand Restore. All that does is restore your apps, settings, contacts, etc. It has no affect on your rom, just like how wiping has no affect on your rom. That way, if you want Evil Eris, but have Kaos Froyo, you can wipe, then flash and then restore while still having the new ROM.
If that doesn't work, though.. I'm not sure what to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
100% wrong.
A Nand restore on the Eris restores the following partitions:
/system (the O/S or "ROM")
/boot (the kernel, initial ramdisk, and initialization scripting for the "ROM")
/data (settings, application state, your data)
+ SD card /ext{2,3} partition (if you did a Nand+ext backup).
That boils down to pretty much 100% of the OS and the application settings and data.
Some bootloops are caused by ext3- or ext4- partitioned cards, depending on which ROM is involved. You might try seeing if you get a different result using no SD card, or an SD card which only has a single FAT32 partition.
bftb0
Oh ****, sorry then. I was under the impression it only saved your data. :/
My bad man.
bftb0 said:
100% wrong.
A Nand restore on the Eris restores the following partitions:
/system (the O/S or "ROM")
/boot (the kernel, initial ramdisk, and initialization scripting for the "ROM")
/data (settings, application state, your data)
+ SD card /ext{2,3} partition (if you did a Nand+ext backup).
That boils down to pretty much 100% of the OS and the application settings and data.
Some bootloops are caused by ext3- or ext4- partitioned cards, depending on which ROM is involved. You might try seeing if you get a different result using no SD card, or an SD card which only has a single FAT32 partition.
bftb0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!! I'll try the no sd card idea.
bftb0 said:
100% wrong.
A Nand restore on the Eris restores the following partitions:
/system (the O/S or "ROM")
/boot (the kernel, initial ramdisk, and initialization scripting for the "ROM")
/data (settings, application state, your data)
+ SD card /ext{2,3} partition (if you did a Nand+ext backup).
That boils down to pretty much 100% of the OS and the application settings and data.
Some bootloops are caused by ext3- or ext4- partitioned cards, depending on which ROM is involved. You might try seeing if you get a different result using no SD card, or an SD card which only has a single FAT32 partition.
bftb0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I can use the sd card to load the rom. But remove it before I reboot?
Having trouble finding a firm answer on this. I have read that encryption has NO effect on Recovery mods since it only encrypts apps, data, and a few other pieces of info. (I thought that there was full disk encryption, but I guess not). So I would like to verify the following questions regarding the use of custom ROMs and Android encryption and I would like to do both, back them up, and maybe even change ROMs without issue.
I am fairly certain I can boot into a recovery mod (CWM or Twerp) without any problems while encrypted. Is this true? (I have seen conflicting answers here and on the interwebs).
If I back up a ROM and data (assuming this is done together in one backup), will I be able to recovery the backup properly and use it even when it was encrypted?
Thanks in advance.
Bakura
You can boot into recovery and flash zips but you will not be able to access your /data partition since that's what's encrypted. For flashing ROMs this doesn't matter since those don't touch /data. However if you have to wipe your user data you will have to set up the encryption all over again.
What this also means is you cannot store your zips on the internal memory of your phone because those will not be accessible to the recovery. You will have to store them on either an unencrypted microSD or sideload them with adb (easy enough to do on CWM, not sure about other recoveries).
Backing up should be fine as long as you backup to somewhere other than the internal memory for the reasons I stated above.
Will the wipe and restore options work?
Hexgore said:
You can boot into recovery and flash zips but you will not be able to access your /data partition since that's what's encrypted. For flashing ROMs this doesn't matter since those don't touch /data. However if you have to wipe your user data you will have to set up the encryption all over again.
What this also means is you cannot store your zips on the internal memory of your phone because those will not be accessible to the recovery. You will have to store them on either an unencrypted microSD or sideload them with adb (easy enough to do on CWM, not sure about other recoveries).
Backing up should be fine as long as you backup to somewhere other than the internal memory for the reasons I stated above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a full Nandroid Backup of my phone with 4ext Revovery Touch. So if I encrypt Internal Storage only and if it's screwed up, will I be able to restore the Nandroid backup from recovery (I mean, is it possible to modify (rwx) the encrypted partition from recovery?
Far_SighT said:
I have a full Nandroid Backup of my phone with 4ext Revovery Touch. So if I encrypt Internal Storage only and if it's screwed up, will I be able to restore the Nandroid backup from recovery (I mean, is it possible to modify (rwx) the encrypted partition from recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the Nandroid backup is stored on your SD card, I think so, but you might have to wipe the partition first. As far as I know (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) you can still wipe the encrypted partition, you just can't access any of the encrypted data from recovery.
Yeah, the recovery works just fine!
Hexgore said:
If the Nandroid backup is stored on your SD card, I think so, but you might have to wipe the partition first. As far as I know (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) you can still wipe the encrypted partition, you just can't access any of the encrypted data from recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^+1. So I went ahead and encrypted the internal storage. The process was fairly fast (took me under 10 mins).
But entering a password was too much of a hassle. So I performed a full system wipe and restored the backup. No problems.
That actually didn't work for me on the Nexus 7.
I tried to wipe the tablet from recovery but it couldn't mount the /data partition.
I tried to wipe the tablet from the OS but it didn't like the custom recovery so it just rebooted without changing anything.
In the end I had to run "fastboot erase userdata" to wipe it. That worked.
I have now installed CM 10.1 and can report that the encryption process seems to be working fine on the N7. It's taking a while but it is the 32GB model.
Encryption on Android is very temperamental. The general pattern seems to be that if the ROM you're using is based on the stock OS for your device (as AOSP is for Nexus devices) encryption will work fine, but due to the way the memory is mounted on modern Nexus devices, recoveries may be unable to mount the /data partition at all.
However if you are using a ROM based on a non-stock OS for your device (e.g. AOSP on an HTC Sensation) encryption may not even be able to turn on, and sadly fixing this problem when it arises is not high on the list of priorities for most developers, especially if your device isn't popular.
We are lucky that CyanogenMod seems to care a lot about privacy and security recently however. That may mean they focus more on encryption compatibility in the future, and most AOSP ROMs are based on CM, so fingers crossed for that.
But basically be aware YMMV when it comes to encryption on custom ROMs.
I tried to encrypt two Moto G's with the new official CM11, but after reboot and enter pin to unlock, the devices crashes with a black screen.
Encryption with stock firmware works fine.
Superwipe script for the T-Mobile HTC One.
Disclaimer: I've tested the hell out of this but I am not perfect. This should not cause any data loss aside from what's involved in a normal wipe. However you use this at your own risk.
I just came over from Sprint and I didn't see a Superwipe script available for TMO, so since I use it before ROM flashes, I decided to port it over.
What this script does:
This will wipe /data, /devlog, /cache, /system, /boot to prepare your phone for installation of a new ROM. It will also optimally format all of the above (except /data) for speed.
After MUCH testing and nuking of my internal storage (SD Card), I have now fixed this script so that no harm will come to any data on your internal storage. It will wipe everything else. As always I recommend backing things up (including external storage) before running any kind of wipe, whether it be within TWRP/Clockwork, this script, or any other script.
Please report any issues or errors to me and I'll fix them asap.
Original thread (Sprint Forums):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=40346656&postcount=1
My partner's phone has suddenly decided of its own accord that it wants to reformat the internal memory, presumably due to some sort of unrecoverable data corruption. The message that came up informing us of that was something along the lines of "Phone memory is damaged. The data partition is damaged, you should restore your phone to factory settings. Doing so will delete all your data" and then a single button saying "Restore phone to factory settings". (I say something along the lines because that is a translation from the actual Spanish message that comes up)
So, she has a bunch of data that she would prefer not to lose (mostly backed up, but some apps not, and photos missing for last month or so of our daughter - usual story).
So I have been hunting around to see if it would be possible, and mostly what I have found isn't too optimistic. I did however find the following link that did seem somewhat promising:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1994705
So it is for the Nexus and the title refers to internal data, but then also refers to SD cards, but the process does seem to refer to internal data. I have a bunch of questions about the process in the context of an S3:
1. Anyone think this process is transferable to the S3? If so what is the equivalent data partition name? For the Nexus it appears to be /dev/block/mmcblk0p12. Would that be the same for the S3?
2. I am going to have to root this device first unfortunately (meaning I am going to have to write to the internal memory ahead of doing the RAW dump, obviously not ideal, but I see no way round it). Is the process described here (root only option):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2046439
appropriate, or am I going to need to somehow find out what version my partner was on (not 100% sure but I think it was 4.1.2) and adjust accordingly?
3. Do I have to have a fully working version before I can install busybox, or is that something that can be put in place using CWM?
4. Likewise do I have to have a fully working version before I can get ADB working or can I get ADB to work with CWM? I have found a couple of threads that suggest ADB works natively with CWM and others that suggest not.
5. I know how to turn on USB debugging if I can get into setttings of a normal Android system, but how do I do that without a working version, can that be done via CWM?
I guess basically I want to know what would be the minimal set of steps that I can run through to get Busybox installed on the phone, (presumably rooted) and talking ADB to my PC. I say minimal set of steps becuase the less writing I do, the more data might be salvagable.
I am surprised that there isn't some bootstrap version that can't just pull off the existing data and allow you to manipulate it elsewhere (which is what the process I have put the link to seems to do) but it seems much more involved than just a bootstrap.
Be gentle with me - I am just a noob!
bobalucci said:
So, she has a bunch of data that she would prefer not to lose (mostly backed up, but some apps not, and photos missing for last month or so of our daughter - usual story).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if its only that I would do it a bit more simpler:
for app data: make a nandroid backup and after the reformat you can use nandroid manager to restore your apps and their data (if you simply restore the damaged data partition as a nandroid backup the problem could accur again). but maybe if the apps and data are damaged because of the damaged data partition they could maybe not be restored.
for photos etc. you can flash philz touch and then follow the steps in the main thread of philz touch on how to put the aroma.zip onto an external sd card (just search for aroma in the thread, you'll find it). aroma is like a file browser with root priviliges which can be executed through recovery. with that you can copy your photos onto the external sd card
btw. I am not sure if the standard factory reset wipes the internal sd cards data. if you only format your data partition photos etc. shouldn't be affected (for example through philz recovery you can just format data partition).
Data Recovery from sick galaxy s3 (installing custom recovery)
Thanks for that... that makes sense... any way I can get the custom recovery onto the phone without having already reformatted the data partition? All the methods I have seen for installing a custom recovery require normal access to the phone... and I don't have that at the moment - just to a screen that tells me that it will reformat the data partition - and I don't want to do that if I can avoid it - as it will modify the data I am trying to save.
Darkened_Sky said:
if its only that I would do it a bit more simpler:
for app data: make a nandroid backup and after the reformat you can use nandroid manager to restore your apps and their data (if you simply restore the damaged data partition as a nandroid backup the problem could accur again). but maybe if the apps and data are damaged because of the damaged data partition they could maybe not be restored.
for photos etc. you can flash philz touch and then follow the steps in the main thread of philz touch on how to put the aroma.zip onto an external sd card (just search for aroma in the thread, you'll find it). aroma is like a file browser with root priviliges which can be executed through recovery. with that you can copy your photos onto the external sd card
btw. I am not sure if the standard factory reset wipes the internal sd cards data. if you only format your data partition photos etc. shouldn't be affected (for example through philz recovery you can just format data partition).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Data recovery sticky ???
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2344125
I realize, there are a few different (small) threads that described, or contained information about flashing over stock. Even a thread of my own (Horrible title, used a rom's name in the title, effectively singled out everyone else). I've browsed these thread and added all info here.
Requirements:
Root & Safestrap 3.75 (*1)
Basic how to:
Reboot to Recovery/SafeStrap
Select stock partition
Make backup of stock partitions, ALL partitions.
Using advanced wipe: wipe /data (*2), /cache and /system
Install custom rom/gapps
Reboot and enjoy!
Pros:
Rom appears to load/run faster (*3)
If you don't use stock, you can now re-use this wasted space (*4) about 6gb's
Cons:
(XT912/KEXEC roms) If custom rom is flashed to stock - DO NOT UNINSTALL SAFESTRAP!! (*5) Must preform "Reversal"
Doing a factory restore will wipe stock slot (using batmans utility), while your slots (1-4) will stay intact because each slot is actually a file stored on the internal SD card, partition.
Can't use BP_Tools for flashing. Boots into safestrap instead. Must preform "Reversal"
3.65, 3.73 had some bugs/quirks that are NOT present in 3.75. In order to follow everything here, and NOT have to deal with errors other users had reported in the other threads, please update to 3.75 before following this guide. For example, users reported : Wiping stock, removed safestrap, causing blackscreen. Or, when wiping by checking all check boxes, safestrap would quit with error, and NOT wipe the remaining checked partitions. If such user wasn't aware of this, they would complain their rom wouldn't boot/crashes without knowing the cause. ***Okay, so 3.75 isn't perfect. Seems, after the first wipe/install, I wiped again... then it froze up on me. So make sure to reboot into the rom, then wipe again. (if you have to wipe again
Some/many applications will refuse to update if they were installed on the stock slot before installing the custom rom without wiping data.
Personal observation, no hard data. I remember at the time, when I first did this, there was a SIGNIFICANT increase in boot speed, stock vs slot
Slot 1-4 uses internal SD-card space. Stock slot uses partitions. Wiping the stock slot in hopes of making more room for slots 1-4 will not work. The only point of this is to re-use the stock partitions, so you don't have to waste space by creating a new slot.
Custom roms on XT912 use KEXEC to boot those roms, if you remove SafeStrap, your phone no longer can boot that custom rom, you will be stuck with a locked down/rootless abd shell and a black screen.
Reversal:
Backup custom rom / stock slot.
Restore stock rom / stock slot.
Boot stock, open safestrap, uninstall safestrap.
OR
Backup custom rom / stock slot.
Factory restore using Droid Razr Utility (Data wipe option)
You WILL have to WIPE DATA. The stock rom will "forever boot / hang" when your data partition "dirty" from your custom rom aka "Dirty flashing"