Backing up entire phone with locked bootloader?
Sorry if this is a superfluous question. Yes, I'm rooted but my bootloader is locked because I've zero confidence I can get my phone repaired in my country(not US!) should anything go wrong. The tech support in my country tend to be really strict and very thorough in checking things out, so any excuses won't fly. I'm aware, btw, that the bootloader controls a set of fuses and unlocking it burns them. Trying to relock the bootloader is only superficial since there's no way a software can solder back or replace those fuses.
Thing is: how do I get about backing up my entire phone(user settings, apps, apps settings, etc.) without unlocking the bootloader? I've been reading on this and that but I'm still unsure if Titanium Pro is as capable as Nandroid. Some people said you can use Titanium Pro but others caution against using it for backing up system settings because it can apparently screw up your phone.
I even read about something called bootstrapping but it seems that any possible apks I could try, are probably long outdated and prone to crashing since they won't have any support for Gingerbread and certain features.
Any advice? Sorry for asking such a dumb question when everyone is happily unlocking their bootloaders. If this can't be done, it's okay. I'll just have to bear with the tedious issue of setting up my phone all over again.
Use titanium backup. Only thing it doesn't backup is the os. Everything else will be saved to the sdcard.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
TiBu will back up your apps, app data, system apps, system data, but is nothing like a nandroid. A nandroid backup will create a full backup from which you can restore your phone to the state it was in when you created the backup.
A TiBu backup will not screw up your phone. The problems arise if you flash a different ROM, and then restore system data from your TiBu backups.
What I would do is backup everything with TiBu, but never restore system data from the backup. I routinely restore app data such as GoSMS, Enhanced Email, games, etc. without problems. I don't restore system apps unless I absolutely have to restore something which is broken, and I never restore system data.
Hope this helps.
One reason why I chose to buy this device (aside from official Google support) is the overwhelmingly large amount of developer enthusiasm for it. And with that enthusiasm comes a lot of custom ROMs.
I haven't had time to test all of them, but I will - and here's a guide I made that'll hopefully make testing different ROMs easier.
Prerequisites
Before continuing with this guide, make sure that you have:
a LOT of free time, depending on how many ROMs you want to test;
unlocked and rooted your device;
downloaded all the ROMs you want to test;
have installed a good recovery - I would recommend the latest version of TWRP;
common sense.
(OPTIONAL) a spare microSD card of at least 8GB. This'll make everything easier, as you won't have to delete stuff in order to fit all your ZIPs and backups.
Things to remember
Make sure you know how exactly to restore your device to how it was before following this guide.
You should know what you're doing. One small mistake can lead to your device being completely unusable!
You should know what features you're looking for in a ROM. It's never nice to have gone all the way to flash a different ROM, only to discover that feature X doesn't work. Ask questions in the ROM thread, if you like.
You can always ask help from others, should you have any trouble with your device.
When using custom ROMs (or any customization, for that matter), do NOT ask for ETAs. Our developers are doing their work at their own leisure and during their own time, and they don't get their pay from you.
Ready? Let's get going!
Getting started
A good Android user always backs up before doing anything radical to their phone, and that's precisely what we're going to do. There are three ways to go about this:
The easy way
The easy way is through making a Nandroid backup. This is particularly easy to do in TWRP, as all you need to do is reboot into recovery, press Backup, select the partitions you want to back up and whether to compress them, and start backing up. Simple as that.
Pros: Easy to restore your data once you're finished testing ROMs.
Cons: It's somewhat hard to restore individual pieces of data (such as messages and apps) instead of the whole thing.
The (slightly) more complicated way
This way deals with TitaniumBackup, an absolute must-have app for every Android user out there.
With TitaniumBackup, you can choose to back up individual apps (and even update their individual backups). TB isn't limited to backing up/restoring data, though; it can do so much more - remove bloatware, freeze apps you don't use, make a flashable ZIP out of your backups... the list goes on.
Pros: Finer control over what data gets backed up. Very powerful tool in migrating ROMs.
Cons: Somewhat outdated and intimidating interface; and features are reduced without buying the PRO version.
The Google way
This one is the simplest way of all three, though it only works if you have a) GApps and have signed in to your Google account, b) if you've agreed to let Google back your data up when you first set up your device, and c) if you have Settings > Backup & reset > Back up my data enabled.
Google automatically backs up almost all of your data to its servers, ready to be restored when you do a factory reset/switch to a new phone. A list of all data that are backed up can be seen by going to Settings > Accounts > Google > (your email address).
Notable exceptions to the data backed up are messages, which you have to back up yourself - I recommend SMS Backup & Restore for that.
Now that you have your data backed up, let's get flashing.
Flashing
Put your ROMs/kernels/GApps on your SD card, then reboot to recovery.
1. Wiping / factory resetting
This is why we back up your data in the first place. Different ROMs need different data, and data left over from one ROM can cause another ROM to get stuck in a bootloop.
Tip: If you're using TWRP, try enabling Use rm -rf instead of formatting in Advanced settings. Formatting doesn't really have any perceivable advantages over simply removing the contents of your data partition (unless you somehow corrupted it), and it actually causes higher wear on your storage chip. (Storage doesn't last forever - I've had my old Samsung bricked because I reformatted too much.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In CWM, it's called wipe data/factory reset; in TWRP, it's simply called Wipe. Wipe your data, dalvik-cache, and cache partitions.
2. Flashing the ROM and other addons
In CWM, it's called install zip (from sdcard); in TWRP, it's simply called Install. Browse to your ROM zip and install.
Tip: If you're using TWRP, you can add ZIPs to the ZIP queue in this order: ROM > GApps (if any) > Kernel (if any) > Addons/Patches (if any).
Users of CWM must manually flash each ZIP, in the same order.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3. Finishing up
Now all that's left to do is pray for the best and reboot.
Testing
If you flashed GApps, do NOT let Google restore data yet. We'll do that later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After initial setup completes and your newly-installed ROM settles down, it's time to get testing. It would be helpful if you listed down all the features you need and check/cross them out one by one if they work or not. For example, I need working screen cast and usable video recording, both of which do not work in all the CM-based ROMs I've tested.
Some ROMs, especially sprout4 ROMs, require patches when installing on sprout8 devices in order to provide the most optimal experience. Try flashing those to see if the ROM gets any better for you.
Rinse & repeat?
So, have you decided that this ROM is for you?
Yes, this ROM is awesome! I love it!
If you backed up earlier using Google, do another factory reset and this time, let Google restore your data.
If you used Titanium for backup, you can safely restore your data now.
If you made a Nandroid backup, you technically can restore your backup as-is since most of the ROMs available for sprout are CM-based; but I wouldn't recommend this as this can cause bootloops. Otherwise, you can manually restore your data one-by-one - but this is a time-consuming process.
I'm not quite sure I like this ROM yet.
Well that's okay, just repeat this guide from the start.
Finishing up
Now that you've decided on what ROM to use, you can safely delete your backups and ZIPs - though it would be better to keep them as they might come in handy if your device starts having problems.
Notes
If you're flashing a Marshmallow ROM, don't flash Xposed right after you flash your ROM as this may cause a bootloop.
Never ask for ETAs on ROM threads. That's rude.
That's it for this guide! Happy flashing! :fingers-crossed:
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Awesome post. Enjoyed it!?
aureljared said:
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Sry for digging up this old thread. I was wondering if there is a tutorial for Titanium Backup specifically targeting a switch between custom roms, having different versions of android.
I'm in the midth of moving from cm 13 to lineageos 15 and just tried to backup apps+data in Titanium Backup and restore them and the new system is now somewhat buggy..I'm not sure if the restored backup is the reason for this or not....Maybe there are specific settings to be set..... I mean it's common sense for me not to backup and restore system data but maybe I am missing other important things to be set prior to a backup in Titanium Backup.
trohn_javolta said:
Sry for digging up this old thread. I was wondering if there is a tutorial for Titanium Backup specifically targeting a switch between custom roms, having different versions of android.
I'm in the midth of moving from cm 13 to lineageos 15 and just tried to backup apps+data in Titanium Backup and restore them and the new system is now somewhat buggy..I'm not sure if the restored backup is the reason for this or not....Maybe there are specific settings to be set..... I mean it's common sense for me not to backup and restore system data but maybe I am missing other important things to be set prior to a backup in Titanium Backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's hard to say, some apps might work improperly or refuse to terminate in the background due to a mismatch in the restored data. I only backup/restore game data nowadays, as Google Backup takes care of my contacts, SMS, settings, and customization. No problems encountered so far.
The only setting I change in TiBkp is the compression method, as the default (gzip, I think) produces somewhat large backups. I use bzip2.
If you really need to restore everything, it might help for you to wipe /data and restore apps in TiBkp one by one until you find the culprit.
aureljared said:
It's hard to say, some apps might work improperly or refuse to terminate in the background due to a mismatch in the restored data. I only backup/restore game data nowadays, as Google Backup takes care of my contacts, SMS, settings, and customization. No problems encountered so far.
The only setting I change in TiBkp is the compression method, as the default (gzip, I think) produces somewhat large backups. I use bzip2.
If you really need to restore everything, it might help for you to wipe /data and restore apps in TiBkp one by one until you find the culprit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trying the Google Way was also my thought, unfortunately it does not work for me. I posted this today in the rom I used until now:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=76022005#post76022005
The initial setup was quite some time ago and now I cannot recall what I may have done to insult the google sync service
Thanks for this.
Can I ask something?
If I'm on stock rom and have magisk and modules installed. To switch rom, do I need to uninstall those first?
or when using nandroid backup... is its okey to backup with magisk+module on it?
watatara.102 said:
Can I ask something?
If I'm on stock rom and have magisk and modules installed. To switch rom, do I need to uninstall those first?
or when using nandroid backup... is its okey to backup with magisk+module on it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might want to uninstall your modules first to be safe, but if you're sure they're compatible with the ROM you're switching to, then you might be fine keeping them. As always, backup before trying anything dangerous. :good:
Nandroids are whole-device backups, so if you backup while Magisk is installed, Magisk and your modules will still be there when you restore the backup. If that's what you're aiming for, then go ahead and backup. Just make sure to backup the boot image too, since that's where Magisk is installed.
Sent from my starlte using XDA Labs
Can I install a nandroid backup of a totally different ROM to replace the current ROM I'm using with TWRP?
- There a several apps everywhere with promises like "make a full backup of your phone within minutes". Most of these apps do nothing else than backup some SMS, contacts, pictures etc... That's not a full backup!
- There are also methods that just don't work or impossible to restore. I tried THIS method for example, but no one ever explained in details how to restore the backed up data. They say that method is for experts only (?!). I suppose there isn't even a way to restore it because no one ever explained.
- There are apps like Titanium backup with which you can backup apps (if your phone is not rooted) or apps + all their settings and data (if your phone is rooted). That's a great app, but it's still not a full backup. If my system goes mad: boot loop for example, or recovery mode destroyed, or both recovery mode and normal mode are ruined... In that case Titanium Backup is completely useless and won't do you any good. So that's not a full backup either.
- There are apps like TWRP and CWM. These apps are allegedly able to make a full backup of your phone. I unfortunately NEVER had the opportunity to try them out because none of my phones were ever supported by them. (they are not on their "supported" list). I had about 15-20 Android phones, tablets etc... none of them were ever supported by them unfortunately, so please do not recommend them for me as a solution!
So I'm looking for a solution like Macrium Reflect for Windows PC. With that software you can make a full backup of your OS with a few clicks and and restore it with actually a single click, which I find ridiculously cool. I always use this if I have problems with my Windows and works every time.
Is there a similar (WORKING) method for Android phones?
I'm willing to pay if it's a paid app. I just want to know if making a full backup of an Android phone (then restoring it) is really possible at all, or is just a legend? Is it possible for average users or it's only for Linux programmers and experts?
I found a lot of solutions (mentioned above), but whether they are only partial backups or just don't work at all.
So to be clear I repeat: I'm looking for a solution for my rooted Android phone with which I'm able to FULLY backup my phone with all data on it, even system settings (not just some partial SMS-Photos backup joke app).
My phone is Lenovo Phab Plus with Android 5.0.2 on it. It's rooted. I'm not a programmer, nor a Linux god, so please if you recommend a solution be clear and make it detailed.
Solutions such as "just install dxdxc and send it through ssef and then push via sdrf, then re-loop into sstt4" will not work for me. If you mention an app, please provide link to it and describe how to use it.
Thank you in advance!
Since no one was able to answer my question, I answer it myself:
It's impossible. All the solutions are just a myth, nothing else. TWRP and CWM might work if you have one of the few devices on their list that are supported.
If you don't, then you'll never be able to fully backup your Android Phone just the way you would do with your Windows PC.
Thanks everyone for the zero contribution!
So I have an S9+ that is not able to be rooted, Snapdragon version. What is the best way to backup all my apps if I wanted to move them to another device? Obviously I can't use Titanium Backup. Helium doesn't support backup of all apps. What about Smart Switch, will it backup and restore all apps and data. Also, there is ADB Desktop Backup, but I've also heard this will not backup all apps and data as some developers disable this capability. This seems to be the one thing that Apple has over the Android devices is complete device backups with ease. Hopefully someone can help me out here with the best option to make this happen. Thanks.
I've been using Titanium Backup for a decade almost and its been awesome. However, since Android Pie its been giving trouble with either being really really slow or not being able to restore applications.
Yesterday I switched to Android Q and the problems are even worse. It had trouble restoring so many applications. I had to go install them manually and then restore the data through Titanium Backup.
Are there any other good applications that can serve the backup needs. I just want the ability to backup and restore application and application data, along with SMS and Call Logs. I don't care about cloud transfers or any of that other fancy stuff. Just local backups are fine.
Any suggestions?
IMHO ADB ( read: Android Debug Bridge ) is the simplest method to backup and/or restore an Android phone.