Database Users

Questions about backing up

Hello,
I have 32B MT3G with Cyanogen 4.1.11.1 and want to try going back to stock, and putting the new OTA 1.6 on it.
I have questions though. Is there a way for me to transfer my game data, sms/mms data, etc? Also, can I do apps2sd for regular 1.6 no custom ROM?
And secondly, How could I completely backup everything, so if I wanted to come back to how it is now, I can just do a restore and get back to here.
I know these are very broad questions, but hopefully someone can answer. I have some games that I've put a lot of time into and want to save the data. I don't really care about the sms/mms but that would be nice. And re-downloading apps is not a big deal, but I'd prefer them to be on SD card. Thanks in advance.

I have no idea, but I got a question for you.
Did you have anyhardware issues when you rooted to Cyanogen's mod?

No not really. But I didn't really notice a speed increase and I stuck with it because I liked donut. I play NES games a lot on my phone with the NESoid app, but it seems to have issues with cyanogens rom. I've talked with the dev and he says he doesn't program for custom roms. An issue I'm having is that the screen goes black when you change the orientation of the phone during a game, and it doesn't get better unless you close the app. Of course, it might be a donut problem... I dunno.
So like I said, didn't really notice a speed difference and that's the main reason I wanted to try rooting out. apps2sd is nice though.

I forgot to mention that I made a nandroid backup of the stock 1.5 before putting on cyanogen. That would do the trick, right? What about game data?

bump. still need help please

I used a program called MyBackup and it backed up all my data and everything. Word

Save scenes?

Is there a way to save a scene on the Incredible? If that were possible, combined with Titanium Backup, it'd be completely painless to flash a new ROM or install the OTA and have your phone back to the way it was.
TIA.

Not that i know of. I wish i could help more, but i have been trying to remove sense since day one.
EDIT: i think you can, but im not sure. I think it prompts you when you select it.
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App

Do you mean the "scenes" as in ones you make yourself similar to the ones that are preloaded, like "work" "play" "social" etc.?
If so Click menu>scenes>save (option at bottom) The save option will only be there if the scene is new, and has not already been saved. Hope this helps

Thanks for the replies guys, that works fine for general saving of Scenes - but what if you flash a new ROM over your old one? Assuming it's still a Sense ROM, is there any way to then automatically go back to the way your homescreens were before? Similar to the way Titanium Backup can return all your apps to the exact way they were before the flash.

Quick Questions before I take the plundge!

Hey guys,
Yesterday I got my 3 button download mode working, so now I'm ready to use a new rom, just have a quick question or 2.
Basically I think I have made my mind up on what ROM to use - I'm going to use Darkys steel ROM - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=814091
So first question is - is this a good ROM to start with? From what I can tell it seems like a fairly simple install process, and has quite a lot of features, so I'm thinking this will suit me well.
Now I understand that this will wipe all my apps, second question is, will all my purchases be available for download still (cause these are saved on my gmail account, right? )
Lastly, also related to apps, is I only have 2 things I want to save from my current phone, that is I want to save my contacts, and I want to save my messages. If I flash with the above ROM, will kies not be able to restore these for me? If so, is there another way to backup and restore these settings before I start flashing?
I think thats all, I'm still at work, so I can't start just yet, but when I get home I'll get started on my android customization journey!
Also a quick thanks to all the contributors to this forum, you guys do amazing work, appreciate it.

Darky's is a great ROM to start with, however the lagfix corrupted my internal SD card and i ended up just getting a new phone because of it. I would assume this is highly unlikely, and possibly due to error on my part, but keep it in mind nonetheless. (EDIT: I could be completely wrong about this, I used other ROMS and flashed different firmwares so its unfair to target this ROM specifically, its just what I happened to be using when my phone screwed up, it might have been unreleted) Yes, you will be able to redownload your purchases, and as for saving your contacts and messges, can you save them onto your SIM card?
Good luck!

I was in a similiar situation not that long ago, and decided to try Darky's ROM as my first ever. His instructions really were incredibly easy to follow, and I did not have any real issues. in fact it took less than 30 minutes to download it all and get it working. overall, couldn't recommend it more (though I haven't tried any other ROMs).
MyBackUp Pro is what I used to back up all my data on my phone (missed calls, settings, etc). Its a paid up, but it's not expensive and I found it worth the money. it also backs up alot of your apps. It will back up your contacts, but Android actually has an export contacts feature to back them up. look in your options in your address book and you will find it.

Excellent, that pretty much covers my questions then! Just got back from work, so I'll give darkys ROM a go and post back! Really interested to see how this turns out

Question on Titanium Backup.

Hey guys, have a quick question here, i have recently started using titanium backup.. and i tutored from a couple of youtube videos which helped a lot. Have a couple of questions about how you use it.
1. What i want to know is, is does encryption feature slow the process of the backup? Although most of the people schedule the backup at night, but i dont want the phone to be running for extended hours thus heating up the device etc.. if encryption does slow the process down.
2. Do you backup on a daily basis, or just weekly?
3. Does the backup happen in the background, and you can continue using other features of the phone while backup is running. Asking this, cos what if the titanium backup is running late at night and a phone call comes in or a message that i have to retrive? Or if et all.. I plan to surf or something late at night.
4. Whats an ideal "Max Backup History", currently i have set it to default one.
5. Do you keep compression or have disabled it, cos i know for sure this one surely slows down the backup process.. but surely it will compress the backup to retain space on the dropbox/sdcard... what do you choose ideally?
6. Dropbox better or Google drive?
I guess thats it for now.
I'd really appreciate your responses.

2. Only when I need to.
3. Yes, just click on the home button and you will see in the status bar that it is working.
4. Just use what you need. If you have use for more than one backup, then use more.
6. Both are good. But on my laptop I have an extension for Chrome which gives me the option to save a picture to Drive after right clicking it.

RollsReus said:
2. Only when I need to.
3. Yes, just click on the home button and you will see in the status bar that it is working.
4. Just use what you need. If you have use for more than one backup, then use more.
6. Both are good. But on my laptop I have an extension for Chrome which gives me the option to save a picture to Drive after right clicking it.
Click to expand...
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Thanks for your replies..
Now a few more remaining.. still looking for replies.

1. Encryption requires extra processing power. I don't think it's a lot and if you are storing your backup in the cloud it is probably worth it so the good people at the NSA aren't reading through your personal life on their lunch break. Or if someone gets into your account.
2. I only back up when I have everything set up how I want it and before I switch ROMs (not yet on this phone obviously lol).
3. For the most part, the backup can happen in the background. However, once in a while I have noticed it crash or freeze when I'm doing other stuff, but rarely.
4. I keep my max backup history at 2 because once and a while an app will release a crappy or broken update and I want the old version back.
5. If you have a lot of free space to spare, skip the compression.
6. I've been using Dropbox forever and need to give Google Drive a try.

I back up daily. But this comes from being a serial rom flasher and wanting the most up to date saved always. I do new app updates mon, wed and Fri. Do new data backups Sundays and Thursdays.
I only upload to the cloud rarely. Use a 64GB SD card instead. Holds fine.
Sent from my GlaDos Baked Potato

Legato Bluesummers said:
I back up daily. But this comes from being a serial rom flasher and wanting the most up to date saved always. I do new app updates mon, wed and Fri. Do new data backups Sundays and Thursdays.
I only upload to the cloud rarely. Use a 64GB SD card instead. Holds fine.
Sent from my GlaDos Baked Potato
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Legato, thanks.. i like your idea.. pretty sensible way of doing it. Do you mind sharing your screenshot of the "Schedules" tab.. this way i can also try to set up mine.. i am pretty new to TiBu.

MANswers said:
Legato, thanks.. i like your idea.. pretty sensible way of doing it. Do you mind sharing your screenshot of the "Schedules" tab.. this way i can also try to set up mine.. i am pretty new to TiBu.
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Have you watched the videos of wwjoshdew? You'll learn much useful stuff by watching his tuts on TB.

RollsReus said:
Have you watched the videos of wwjoshdew? You'll learn much useful stuff by watching his tuts on TB.
Click to expand...
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thats where i learnt to configure and setup TiBu, but he does not give out tips on scheduling etc.

MANswers said:
thats where i learnt to configure and setup TiBu, but he does not give out tips on scheduling etc.
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The scheduling is kind of up to yourself and whatever suits you. But I'd recommend to schedule at night so it makes backups while you might be charging your phone and not using it. Also weekends are good.
And the same goes for the rest. It's about what suits you the best.
And about encryption and compression, you might want to check TB Wiki (I believe they have) or their forums if they have.

Yeah scheduling is based on your usage and style. I'm a 3rd shifter. I run mine at 5pm. I'm almost always asleep then except on weekends.
I back up frequently because I'm used to flashing custom roms all the time. So having current back ups is nice. Since we won't be getting roms anytime soon cause they have to boot strap us first, I'm cutting back to like 2x a week. Just enough to cover myself in the event my phone bricks or whatever.
How many backups to keep us up to you and how much space you want to use. I do two. So in the event an update sucks I can revert.
Sent from my GlaDos Baked Potato

What apps do you use daily to backup your phone?

What apps do you use daily to make daily backups of your phone?
I'm surprise google doesn't backup most of your phone as the IPhone does.
Google photos has been great to keep my photos, but other app data or SMS/MMS, call logs, and other settings are such a hassle.
I usually make a nanroid backup of my phone, but I learned you can have a lot of trouble if you break, or worse, lose your phone.
I've also began to use Titanium backup, but it doesn't work to bring the phone back to the state it was in.
So what apps do you guys use that make great backups?

The only app you need is Titanium Backup, it can backup all of your user apps and your sms/mms. Pro version is required though. There is no reliable way to backup your system settings, so it shouldn't even be attempted. The only true way to make a complete backup of your phone is via a nandroid backup. I think the "but I learned you can have a lot of trouble if you break, or worse, lose your phone" line in your post is quite misleading though, from memory your issue was that you basically used up all of the storage space before putting your old nandroid onto the phone. A nandroid is the one way to make a snapshot of your entire device that can be used at a later stage (on the same phone, or on a replacement phone of the same model). Any issues arising from the use of a nandroid are virtually always a case of user error.

Heisenberg said:
The only app you need is Titanium Backup, it can backup all of your user apps and your sms/mms. Pro version is required though. There is no reliable way to backup your system settings, so it shouldn't even be attempted. The only true way to make a complete backup of your phone is via a nandroid backup. I think the "but I learned you can have a lot of trouble if you break, or worse, lose your phone" line in your post is quite misleading though, from memory your issue was that you basically used up all of the storage space before putting your old nandroid onto the phone. A nandroid is the one way to make a snapshot of your entire device that can be used at a later stage (on the same phone, or on a replacement phone of the same model). Any issues arising from the use of a nandroid are virtually always a case of user error.
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What i have learned from a Nanroid backup, is that it is EXACTLY a screenshot image of your phone. There are certain issues that do arise, such as when i have had received my replacement phone from Google, restoring from the Nanroid cause fingerprint to stop working. What I learned was that the fingerprint hardware ID is different for each phone. So restoring from one Nexus 6P phone to a replacement phone isn't possible, unless i'm doing something wrong?

minni1986 said:
What i have learned from a Nanroid backup, is that it is EXACTLY a screenshot image of your phone. There are certain issues that do arise, such as when i have had received my replacement phone from Google, restoring from the Nanroid cause fingerprint to stop working. What I learned was that the fingerprint hardware ID is different for each phone. So restoring from one Nexus 6P phone to a replacement phone isn't possible, unless i'm doing something wrong?
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It might just be a case of removing security before making the backup. Or you could be right and it's impossible, but I'm pretty sure I've seen people talk about successfully restoring a nand from their previous 6P here in this forum.

Heisenberg said:
It might just be a case of removing security before making the backup. Or you could be right and it's impossible, but I'm pretty sure I've seen people talk about successfully restoring a nand from their previous 6P here in this forum.
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I removed all security and passwords beforehand. All the threads i look through lead to people restoring the nanroid on a replacement device and having the error. They had all removed security and everything as well. It would be great to find this particular file that is causing the issue.
Luckily I still had both phones and made a backup of everything using titanium backup. While it does suck restoring everything, at least at the end of the day i still have all my data.

minni1986 said:
I removed all security and passwords beforehand. All the threads i look through lead to people restoring the nanroid on a replacement device and having the error. They had all removed security and everything as well. It would be great to find this particular file that is causing the issue.
Luckily I still had both phones and made a backup of everything using titanium backup. While it does suck restoring everything, at least at the end of the day i still have all my data.
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Click to collapse
Well there ya go, I learned something today. I guess nandroids are only good for the same device, that still makes them pretty valuable in my opinion. One should have a Titanium backup of their apps anyway. I guess I don't see it as much of a big deal because I can usually have my phone completely set up again with about 15 minutes after a clean flash. So I'm not concerned about system settings but the Titanium backup of my user apps is priceless.

minni1986 said:
What apps do you use daily to make daily backups of your phone?
I'm surprise google doesn't backup most of your phone as the IPhone does.
Google photos has been great to keep my photos, but other app data or SMS/MMS, call logs, and other settings are such a hassle.
I usually make a nanroid backup of my phone, but I learned you can have a lot of trouble if you break, or worse, lose your phone.
I've also began to use Titanium backup, but it doesn't work to bring the phone back to the state it was in.
So what apps do you guys use that make great backups?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium Backup is the Best One Around ..
And Super Backup Pro App for Backup Of SMS,CallLogs Alone.. Other Than I'll Use Titanium Backup Only For Everything..

Heisenberg said:
Well there ya go, I learned something today. I guess nandroids are only good for the same device, that still makes them pretty valuable in my opinion. One should have a Titanium backup of their apps anyway. I guess I don't see it as much of a big deal because I can usually have my phone completely set up again with about 15 minutes after a clean flash. So I'm not concerned about system settings but the Titanium backup of my user apps is priceless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but man does it take forever to customize your phone to your liking. Rooting and getting the right apps to act in the right way. I never mind with a new phone since its a fresh start, but just restoring and replacing it. The nexus 6P has been my switch from Iphone and I've been on the iphone since they first released. Everything was always just there, but then again if you did jailbreak it and add your own features, you would have to do the same thing.

LoverBoy2415 said:
Titanium Backup is the Best One Around ..
And Super Backup Pro App for Backup Of SMS,CallLogs Alone.. Other Than I'll Use Titanium Backup Only For Everything..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't used any other app besides Titantium backup. I did have some issues with SMS/MMS but i learned if i restore from XML, and then wipe messenger, it makes it restore like new. Strange but it works for me.
I'll give Super Backup Pro App a chance, better to have more backups vs none.

minni1986 said:
I haven't used any other app besides Titantium backup. I did have some issues with SMS/MMS but i learned if i restore from XML, and then wipe messenger, it makes it restore like new. Strange but it works for me.
I'll give Super Backup Pro App a chance, better to have more backups vs none.
Click to expand...
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Yeah Super Backup Pro ..Works Good, You Can Try It ..As I'm A Frequent ROM Changer ..Week Once Nowadays.. I Use This App to Restore My SMS & Callogs & Contacts.. Its Works fine..I'm On RR(CM13) Now..

minni1986 said:
Yeah, but man does it take forever to customize your phone to your liking. Rooting and getting the right apps to act in the right way. I never mind with a new phone since its a fresh start, but just restoring and replacing it. The nexus 6P has been my switch from Iphone and I've been on the iphone since they first released. Everything was always just there, but then again if you did jailbreak it and add your own features, you would have to do the same thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I'm saying, after a clean flash my phone is customised to my liking within 15 minutes. I have been doing this for a while though.

minni1986 said:
I removed all security and passwords beforehand. All the threads i look through lead to people restoring the nanroid on a replacement device and having the error. They had all removed security and everything as well. It would be great to find this particular file that is causing the issue.
Luckily I still had both phones and made a backup of everything using titanium backup. While it does suck restoring everything, at least at the end of the day i still have all my data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, I didn't know this. Thanks for the info. Hopefully I won't ever need to restore to a different device.
From what I understand, you can use Titanium Backup to restore from a nandroid backup.
http://www.guidingtech.com/13501/restore-apps-nandroid-titanium-backup/

logic88 said:
Wow, I didn't know this. Thanks for the info. Hopefully I won't ever need to restore to a different device.
From what I understand, you can use Titanium Backup to restore from a nandroid backup.
http://www.guidingtech.com/13501/restore-apps-nandroid-titanium-backup/
Click to expand...
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I saw that also, but dint try it out. I made a complete system and user back up using titanium, but it caused some issues and the device was running slower.
These are the issues: When you make a nanaroid backup, it makes a complete mirror copy of your device. Which is great to restore on the same device, however when you load the nanroid on to another device, it copies all the hardware information also. This causes the new/replacement device to have some hardware issues since it doesn't have the same device/hardware IDs.
Problem with restoring from Titanium is that it will not restore properly with rooted software. Its great to make a backup of like games, sms/mms, and other software that runs. It just wont restore like a nanroid image. So you virtually have to setup all your rooted apps again and setup most of your customization. I say most, and not all, since titanium will restore a lot of the setting saved on the app, but some will not work properly.
For example, i use F.lux, for dimming the screen for day and night, this is a rooted app. When i use titanium to backup and restore to another device, it will save and restore my setting just perfectly. However, another app such as the Xposed framework and all its apps, will not restore properly with Titanium since this is making major changes to the system software and not just installing an app with settings.
The only issue so far that i have seen is the fingerprint will shut its hardware down since the hardware ID do not match, and also android pay will refuse to load. I did not have any issues with my cellular data, wifi, bluetooth, or really much. It seems that the fingerprint and android pay are major security concerns and require the system to take additional checks to make sure nothing is changed or affected.
Solutions?
I bet with android pay i can delete all security settings and restore to have it working. Since android pay is software related, deleting settings would probably let it reset itself, which i haven't tried, and i'll do in a couple days when it my replacement phone working with all the rooted apps as i had customized. I had android pay working on my rooted device before, as i had to make some changes to the system, but it was working.
As far as the fingerprint scanner goes, i would imagine if there was some way to delete the hardware from the android and reinstall it, giving it real hardware IDs to the replacement device, rather then the hardware IDs copied from the nanroid.
Once i get my new device completely up and running to my standards, i'll use the old phone to mess around with nanroids and restoring and all. Hopefully i'll be able to find a solution to restore phones from one device to another.
Sorry if i wrote a lot, i'm trying to put up as much information as i can for the help of others, improvement of apps, and possible new information for future development