[Q] Recover files from CWM nandroid? - AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshootin

Forgive me if this is not the appropriate placement for this thread...
I've got a nandroid (PhilZ/CWM-based) from my previous S4, which was on MDL and an AOSP-based ROM. There are a number of FILES (not apps or app data) that I wish to recover. Both Titanium Backup AND Nandroid Manager have failed me. They either can't find the directory I'm looking for, or when performing a restore, the data simply isn't there. My guess is the structural difference between what I was running before, which was 4.4.2, and the 4.3 I'm on right now. That's just my guess.
Please don't respond to this with hunches or a stab in the dark, as I'm looking for real solutions here. What I need specifically, is to recover image files. For some reason, those spread amongst my Downloads directory, my Camera photos, my ZoomCamera photos, my Cymera photos, Screenshots, and those hidden within KeepSafe are ALL missing, no matter how many times I tell it to restore data-only. Again, my guess is the difference in the naming-convention or folder hierarchy.
Anyone who has experience in nit-pick type of file recovery, I greatly appreciate your wisdom. :good:

A nandroid is not going to have the picture files you're looking for. It does not backup those file locations.
Sent from my Nexus 5

jd1639 said:
A nandroid is not going to have the picture files you're looking for. It does not backup those file locations.
Sent from my Nexus 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Between TB and a nandroid, those files are skipped? Every time I've done full-wipes and then restores using only TB in the past, my image files were there. What am I overlooking?

disturbd1 said:
Between TB and a nandroid, those files are skipped? Every time I've done full-wipes and then restores using only TB in the past, my image files were there. What am I overlooking?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The image files are never touched so there always there. The only time they'd be wiped is if you did a factory reset in the stock recovery. Custom recoveries don't wipe the sdcard, internal or external.
Sent from my Nexus 5

Related

Nandroid backup

Is it possible to rename a folder created by a nandroid backup and still have it to work?
I have 3 or 4 roms backed up and it's geting difficult to remember which is which
poddo said:
Is it possible to rename a folder created by a nandroid backup and still have it to work?
I have 3 or 4 roms backed up and it's geting difficult to remember which is which
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is possible.
I do this and it works:
\SDCard\nandroid\HT9APNT01015\ *custom named folders with img files inside*
Did you get that?
that's what I tried to do, but it seems nandroid didn't like its backups anymore after renaming the folders
when i 'Nandroid' restore the phone, do i have to reroot my phone? Or is root access still available? (Again, i'm new to the custom ROM world and getting familiair with the basics)
doing a nandroid backup is like creating an image of the phone software.
once you restore, your phone revert back being exactly the same as when you did the backup (rom wise, which includes root)
poddo said:
doing a nandroid backup is like creating an image of the phone software.
once you restore, your phone revert back being exactly the same as when you did the backup (rom wise, which includes root)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, i back-upped the phone after root was enabled, so it won't harm my root access.
poddo said:
that's what I tried to do, but it seems nandroid didn't like its backups anymore after renaming the folders
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm, that is weird. I wonder if it has to do with the type or version of recovery image you have. At the moment I have RA-hero-v1.6.2.
Just to be clear, if you don't rename the folders, it restores properly?
it does, just one time it happened the backup got corrupted and wouldn't let the phone boot after restore (I am using same recovery img as yours)
I'm going to try renaming the folders again later
I wish you luck! Could you please post back with the result? I am very curious.
In my ongoing travels on the internets I will keep an eye out for a possible solution.
looks like this time it worked.
for some reason nandroid it seems nandroid has an erratic behaviour from time to time.
first time I made a copy of my first (working) backup and I renamed it, nandroid won't let me load it (thus why I created this thread); yesterday, after working fine it created a corrupted backup and I had to reinstall cronos from scratch.
only difference between my first try renaming backup directories is that the first time I made the copy via windows, while the second time I did it through Astro.
I'm going to watch into this.
EDIT: k, sorted the renaming issue. nandroid simply won't handle folders with spaces in their name
still, a couple times nandroid produced corrupted backups and this is forcing me to backup 3 times in a row just to be sure. :/
poddo said:
looks like this time it worked.
for some reason nandroid it seems nandroid has an erratic behaviour from time to time.
first time I made a copy of my first (working) backup and I renamed it, nandroid won't let me load it (thus why I created this thread); yesterday, after working fine it created a corrupted backup and I had to reinstall cronos from scratch.
only difference between my first try renaming backup directories is that the first time I made the copy via windows, while the second time I did it through Astro.
I'm going to watch into this.
EDIT: k, sorted the renaming issue. nandroid simply won't handle folders with spaces in their name
still, a couple times nandroid produced corrupted backups and this is forcing me to backup 3 times in a row just to be sure. :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you've found the issue! That is really weird about Nandroid creating corrupted backups...
It is so strange that using Windows (or not) creates or solves problems. I've read of instances where creating a goldcard with Win7 failed but WinXP worked.
Guys,... You using AmonRa yeah?.... It might be worth mentioning all your finds to the man Amon Ra himself,... Post something in the AmonRa thread, maybe there is something he can sort for future updates.

NANDROID backup too small

Hi guys,
I have an unlocked/rooted N7. The tablet has quite a bit of data in it and I am trying to initiate a back up using ROM Manager but the backup is only of about 20Mb when I check it.
I tried to do the backup straight from CWM but it is the same, very fast to back up and I assume it is not backing up all of the partitions...
My tablet has about 5Gb used so I expect the NANDROID backup to be around this size ...
Any idea ?
Cheers
Don't count me on this but I believe that the blobs file within the clock work mod folder contains some information as well.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Thanks for that, I have since checked the blobs folder and indeed it is about 1Gb in size but that doesn't explain the time to take the backup (strangely quick, about 30secondes).
I am not confident enough to test my restore to see if it works :]
julien.me said:
Thanks for that, I have since checked the blobs folder and indeed it is about 1Gb in size but that doesn't explain the time to take the backup (strangely quick, about 30secondes).
I am not confident enough to test my restore to see if it works :]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This tablet does backup and restore very quickly. I can confirm they work as well.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Was this the first nandroid that you took?
CWM 6.0+ now does incremental backups, the first backup creates a blob folder where 'common' files will be placed and teh backup itself only includes 'new' files.
That being said a full old style nandroid with TeamWin recovery on the N7 only took me 130 seconds
Thanks guys, I understand now why it takes very little time to take the backup
So not only the backup folder is used but also the blobs one...
Hate to bump this but I figure it's better than duplicating threads...
I just did a Nandroid backup (assuming that's the backup & restore function found in CWM) and ran two backups. Each came up to about 23-24MB. I do see a blobs folder, where there's about 1.6GB worth of data. My real confusion is... is this ALL of my data, partition structure, and everything? Pictures? App data? I just want to make sure I'm doing this properly.
Also, I want to store my backups on my server at home, so I'm assuming my best bet is to just copy both the backup and blobs folder entirely?
Nandroid does not backup your media, docs etc. It just backs up your system and user apps with the associated data for each.
Same for titanium backup. You need to backup those other things to your PC or a flash drive through the USB connection.
Under the clockwork directory there is a backup and blobs directory. Both of them combined are your nandroid backup.
Rootbrain
For 100% recoverable backup from PC I have to copy across the blobs folder then?
I'm interested in the user apps and data, they must be in the blobs I guess?
Just so I'm really clear on this...
Say I only had the backup timestamp folder and missed out the blobs, and did recovery from that, would it work? Would that return to a clean ROM, or would clockworkmod not be able to use it without the blobs folder?
Thanks
Apologies guys, I just did some more reading and found this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1933000
It explains it all, and I have my answers

Nandroid backup problems.

I'm running version 5 (beta) of the Tweaked Stock ICS ROM on my GT-P6800, but I'm having a problem with nandroid from CWM.
I've created some valid nandroid backups in the past, but I found (to my cost!) a few weeks ago that the more recent backups I'd made weren't valid.
Reading the CWM thread over at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1542897 it sounded like there was a known problem, but should have been fixed. I flashed version 6.0.1.1 this morning, but I'm still having the same problem.
Instead of getting three .img files and three .tar files, I'm getting the three .img files but then get three small (<1MB) .dup files instead of the .tar files (data.ext4.dup, cache.ext4.dup and system.ext4.dup).
Anyone else seen this? Any ideas why?
Sorry for posting this here instead of in the developers forum - I don't seem to have posted enough on XDA to allow me to post the question in the right place!
Thanks,
Adam.
Cwm now does incremental backups as only the changes from the original backup are done. This results in faster and smaller backup sizes after the original backup. If your original backup is corrupt delete the clockworkmod folder and redo your backup. After that incremental backups will be fast and small.
Sent from my GT-P6800 using xda premium
kishd said:
Cwm now does incremental backups as only the changes from the original backup are done. This results in faster and smaller backup sizes after the original backup. If your original backup is corrupt delete the clockworkmod folder and redo your backup. After that incremental backups will be fast and small.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aaaaah! Right. Hmmmm. I kinda liked the standalone nature of the full backups.
Having been bitten by a broken backup before, I'm rather nervous of testing this out! So if I want to restore an incremental backup, do I select just the latest dated file, or do I need to restore the last full back-up (and it'll restore the original and all the changes), or do I need to restore each increment myself?
Are the backup folders completely portable, such that I can move them in and out of the 'clockworkmod' directory as requried, to force full backups each time?
Many thanks,
Adam.
Just select the last dated backup. I have restored a number of times using Iocerra's cwm 6
Sent from my GT-P6800 using xda premium
Fantastic. Thanks, kishd.
Sent from my GT-P6800 using XDA Premium HD app
Is there any way to make a standalone backup?
And how do we know what backup folder is the main backup? Aka how do we know what one is safe to delete?
I've made several backups on different roms/kernels, and I often delete old backups to free room on sdcard..
edit: I just did a backup after changing backup format to "tar" and it was over 1GB. The previous backups were between 1 and 3 hundred MB, so I assume setting the backup mode as tar does a standalone backup. can anyone confirm?
changing backup format to "tar"
mvmacd said:
edit: I just did a backup after changing backup format to "tar" and it was over 1GB. The previous backups were between 1 and 3 hundred MB, so I assume setting the backup mode as tar does a standalone backup. can anyone confirm?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you do this? I know I saw the option last night, selected it, and backed up, but then I flashed a couple upgrades and now I don't see this option anymore. I tried deleting the clockworkmod folder and backing up from fresh, but it made a dup backup. I've been burned by a string of broken dup's so I really want the tar format (plus, I can extract apps and data from a tar, but not from the blob/dup mixture). I even see a file in my new clockworkmod directory called ".default_backup_format" that contains only one word: tar. This file had to be created with the backup I just did, and yet it was still a dup style backup.
So, where did you see the option to change format to "tar"? I would really like to know.
Thanks.
kevlar11 said:
So, where did you see the option to change format to "tar"? I would really like to know.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
advanced backup options in CWM recovery (or same) ))

Cannot restore Titanium Backup from PACman to Paranoid Android

After Google Services drying up my monthly data cap trying to download 4.3, I thought I'd move from PACman v23 to the new Paranoid Android 3.92 as it had 4.3. I thought I did all the right things. I backed up in Rom Manager, copied the file across to my PC. I ran a fresh backup of everything in Titanium Backup and copied that all across to my PC too.
I did a factory reset/data wipe and flashed bootloader/modem/rom/gapps as instructed and got the latest Paranoid Android running. I copy across my TB backup directory and I install TitaniumBackup from the market place. I go restore missing apps, and then... it just hangs on the first app. Read a little online, change the restore mode to "Interactive", doesn't fix it. Go back to the normal setting. I run Verify Backups, and to my surprise, it says there are errors with ALL my backup files. I get pissed, decide perhaps I should've just created a flashable zip. So I say no problem. I'm persistent. I'll create a backup of Paranoid Android, reflash my PACman backup, redo my Titanium Backup, and then reflash my Paranoid Android backup and apply the TB backup zip. So I Copy my PACman zip file, choose Install ZIP from sdcard, select the PACman zip and boom... MD5 verification failed.
I realise I had some Titanium Backup essentials backup on Google Drive and Dropbox, so I copy them over. Point TB to that directory, but the same problem persists. It just hangs.
I've been copying across the same TB folder between various ROM installations with no issues, and I'm not sure what is causing the issue here. I suspect it is either the bootloader and radio (which was what has been the extra step compared to installing other roms) but I don't want to admit that now all my backups are completely useless.
Am I missing something here? Anyone have any suggestions?
TL;DR I can't seem to get any TB backups to restore on my newly flashed Paranoid Android rom.
mversion said:
After Google Services drying up my monthly data cap trying to download 4.3, I thought I'd move from PACman v23 to the new Paranoid Android 3.92 as it had 4.3. I thought I did all the right things. I backed up in Rom Manager, copied the file across to my PC. I ran a fresh backup of everything in Titanium Backup and copied that all across to my PC too.
I did a factory reset/data wipe and flashed bootloader/modem/rom/gapps as instructed and got the latest Paranoid Android running. I copy across my TB backup directory and I install TitaniumBackup from the market place. I go restore missing apps, and then... it just hangs on the first app. Read a little online, change the restore mode to "Interactive", doesn't fix it. Go back to the normal setting. I run Verify Backups, and to my surprise, it says there are errors with ALL my backup files. I get pissed, decide perhaps I should've just created a flashable zip. So I say no problem. I'm persistent. I'll create a backup of Paranoid Android, reflash my PACman backup, redo my Titanium Backup, and then reflash my Paranoid Android backup and apply the TB backup zip. So I Copy my PACman zip file, choose Install ZIP from sdcard, select the PACman zip and boom... MD5 verification failed.
I realise I had some Titanium Backup essentials backup on Google Drive and Dropbox, so I copy them over. Point TB to that directory, but the same problem persists. It just hangs.
I've been copying across the same TB folder between various ROM installations with no issues, and I'm not sure what is causing the issue here. I suspect it is either the bootloader and radio (which was what has been the extra step compared to installing other roms) but I don't want to admit that now all my backups are completely useless.
Am I missing something here? Anyone have any suggestions?
TL;DR I can't seem to get any TB backups to restore on my newly flashed Paranoid Android rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have the latest version of Titanium Backup, that supports Android 4.3?
mversion said:
After Google Services drying up my monthly data cap trying to download 4.3, I thought I'd move from PACman v23 to the new Paranoid Android 3.92 as it had 4.3. I thought I did all the right things. I backed up in Rom Manager, copied the file across to my PC. I ran a fresh backup of everything in Titanium Backup and copied that all across to my PC too.
I did a factory reset/data wipe and flashed bootloader/modem/rom/gapps as instructed and got the latest Paranoid Android running. I copy across my TB backup directory and I install TitaniumBackup from the market place. I go restore missing apps, and then... it just hangs on the first app. Read a little online, change the restore mode to "Interactive", doesn't fix it. Go back to the normal setting. I run Verify Backups, and to my surprise, it says there are errors with ALL my backup files. I get pissed, decide perhaps I should've just created a flashable zip. So I say no problem. I'm persistent. I'll create a backup of Paranoid Android, reflash my PACman backup, redo my Titanium Backup, and then reflash my Paranoid Android backup and apply the TB backup zip. So I Copy my PACman zip file, choose Install ZIP from sdcard, select the PACman zip and boom... MD5 verification failed.
I realise I had some Titanium Backup essentials backup on Google Drive and Dropbox, so I copy them over. Point TB to that directory, but the same problem persists. It just hangs.
I've been copying across the same TB folder between various ROM installations with no issues, and I'm not sure what is causing the issue here. I suspect it is either the bootloader and radio (which was what has been the extra step compared to installing other roms) but I don't want to admit that now all my backups are completely useless.
Am I missing something here? Anyone have any suggestions?
TL;DR I can't seem to get any TB backups to restore on my newly flashed Paranoid Android rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same issues. Best luck I had is to install the latest SuperSU(PA uses an integrated superuser) and then restore my apps one by one. Some work and others don't. It's a problem with 4.3/TB and SU which hopefully will be resolved. Most of my games worked but Nova launcher did not. I was also in indirect mode when restoring them.
You have to change the backups folder to storage/emulated/legacy in 4.3 to be able to restore your applications. You can change it in Menu/Preferences within TiBu.
I think I screwed something up before. Just did a factory reset, installed latest SuperSU and changed app installation to indirect mode. Everything restored flawlessly after that.
Here is the reply for anyone having similar issues which is explained easily in details
https://plus.google.com/app/basic/stream/z12rw1urfveawxfxm04cjl1aoor5ezninhc
johnie5 said:
Here is the reply for anyone having similar issues which is explained easily in details
https://plus.google.com/app/basic/stream/z12rw1urfveawxfxm04cjl1aoor5ezninhc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
I installed stock 4.3, had to flash the latest SuperSU to get root, and found that all my Titanium Backup files were A-OK. Perhaps it is just a matter of the latest SuperSU and the TB workaround detailed on that link:
...Titanium Backup is an example of such an app. It may incorrectly detect the path to your internal storage for backups, and thus crash on backup/restore. You can fix this by going into preferences and selecting a folder under /storage/emulated/legacy as backup/restore path, not under /storage/emulated/0.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll reinstall PA3.92 and try again.
Last update: Installing the latest Paranoid Android 3.94 and putting my Titanium Backup folder in the legacy folder detailed above has given me a working solution.
Mercado_Negro said:
You have to change the backups folder to storage/emulated/legacy in 4.3 to be able to restore your applications. You can change it in Menu/Preferences within TiBu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the solution!! I've been trying to restore stuff for hours.
Happy I found a solution. I too spent way too long getting Titanium Backup to restore apps. And once I found this solution, implementing the folder change isn't just ticking a box or adding an entry. But all's well now. Really enjoying my first taste of Paranoid Android - lots of settings to figure out. I was having dpi/resolution issues with Simpson's Tapped Out and PA will give me several solution options. Thanks everyone!
mversion said:
Thanks.
I installed stock 4.3, had to flash the latest SuperSU to get root, and found that all my Titanium Backup files were A-OK. Perhaps it is just a matter of the latest SuperSU and the TB workaround detailed on that link:
I'll reinstall PA3.92 and try again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was having restore problems with Titanium Backup and installed SuperSU from the play store after reading this and then allowed it to update the binaries through CWM.
All my backups are now restoring fine!
Mercado_Negro said:
You have to change the backups folder to storage/emulated/legacy in 4.3 to be able to restore your applications. You can change it in Menu/Preferences within TiBu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This worked for me, too, on two different ROMs on my HTC One. I can't believe how easy it was after I tried to figure out a solution for about two hours. Thanks!!!
Mercado_Negro said:
You have to change the backups folder to storage/emulated/legacy in 4.3 to be able to restore your applications. You can change it in Menu/Preferences within TiBu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a bingo!
here is what I did (nexus 7 FLO)
menu - > preferences -> Backup folder location -> DETECT
choose /legacy instead of /0/something or other
It will ask to move the data
select yes
restore away
Mercado_Negro said:
You have to change the backups folder to storage/emulated/legacy in 4.3 to be able to restore your applications. You can change it in Menu/Preferences within TiBu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was much appreciated. I simply switched the backup folder location from /storage/emulated/0 to /storage/emulated/legacy instead. Problem Solved. No Rebooting, no installing SuperSU or anything. I've spent two hours trying to restore my backups (the one time, I forgot to create the flash zips with all my backups and the one time I didn't have space to create a Nandroid,) and now I'm good to Go.
Mercado_Negro said:
You have to change the backups folder to storage/emulated/legacy in 4.3 to be able to restore your applications. You can change it in Menu/Preferences within TiBu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks , worked perfect :good:
Xentar712 said:
I'm having the same issues. Best luck I had is to install the latest SuperSU(PA uses an integrated superuser) and then restore my apps one by one. Some work and others don't. It's a problem with 4.3/TB and SU which hopefully will be resolved. Most of my games worked but Nova launcher did not. I was also in indirect mode when restoring them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. I've had a few reinstalls now where I've had to redirect TiBu to the "Legacy" path but this time with Carbon rom I also had to update SuperSU, then let SuperSU update the binary through CWM before I could restore anything.
Edit: Also if you're having problems figuring out how to change Titanium Backup's default path in preferences, your phone/tablet's Back button (beside the home button) will move you up through directories in the "select backup folder" dialog. This one had me stuck for awhile so maybe this info will help someone else.
Even changing it to legacy I am unable to get TiBU to restore. I have even made it navigate to the Titanium Backup Folder where I can see all my apps and system data backed up but it won't load it to restore for some reason.
Any suggestions?
xavier2k3 said:
Even changing it to legacy I am unable to get TiBU to restore. I have even made it navigate to the Titanium Backup Folder where I can see all my apps and system data backed up but it won't load it to restore for some reason.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, flash superSU:
http://download.chainfire.eu/351/SuperSU/UPDATE-SuperSU-v1.65.zip
droidgren said:
Yes, flash superSU:
http://download.chainfire.eu/351/SuperSU/UPDATE-SuperSU-v1.65.zip
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Already had. I just set it up again from scratch. Wasn't that bad to be honest.
Titanium Backup was updated today to version 6.1.1. It uses the /legacy path now by default for ROMs using Superuser. You shouldn't run into problems anymore.

QuickPic folders gone? Possible to extract from backup of ROM?

Was running stang5litre's S7 ROM for a good long while but kept having issues. Figured I'd backup, then go back to stock to see if I can handle not rooting/ROM'ing. So far I'm cool with it - BUT - I use QuickPic as my picture Gallery. Well... upon coming back to stock, the folders I had in QuickPic, where I had a good amount of pictures I wanted to keep, the folders were gone*. Hence, my pix appear to be gone.
SO. The questions are: has anyone seen that before with QP and know of a fix for it? Maybe it just turned those folders into hidden folders or something? Two: is there a way to extract from a FlashFire backup those picture files?
Appreciate any help,
Steve
*and absolutely shame on me for not keeping a copy of them in the cloud
Mine was actually the other way around. I was missing pictures and quick pic found them when the stock gallery couldnt. That's also when I started regularly backing up to the cloud too.
scauffiel said:
Two: is there a way to extract from a FlashFire backup those picture files?
*and absolutely shame on me for not keeping a copy of them in the cloud
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you did a full FlashFire backup including internal storage, then you should be able to restore it, but you'll need to be rooted. You could root and restore internal storage, then make copies on your PC/cloud/SDcard/ect, and finally flash back to stock. This will only work if you backed up internal storage, which is selected by default.
Yeah, I was really hoping there's be something like 7zip I could use to easily extract the images instead of going through that entire rigamarole. <sigh>

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