Root Guide to backup and restore apps with Titanium Backup

[UBRocked]

Some users have reported problems with using Titanium Backup (TiBu) on this device. If these problems are device related, I can't help troubleshoot that (I don't own nor have access to this particular phone). What I can do is provide a basic guide for how to use TiBu. I previously posted a version of this guide here. I have updated it slightly due to the previous instructions being nearly a year old.

If anyone sees anything that need changed or anything that was left out...let me know and I'll update this.

1) Get the paid version...it's worth it! I can't emphasis that enough...just donate and get the license...don't question it...just do it! IT WILL SAVE YOU A TON OF TIME! When I flash a new ROM, I can have it COMPLETELY set up in about 15 minutes...everything installed...homescreen set...etc. Clear enough?


2) Before you backup, go into preferences and change the number of backups that you will keep. Default is 1 backup but I keep the last 3 backups in case you get a bad backup.


3) When you back up...BACKUP all user apps + system data...I'll explain why...
It is better to back up every possible thing on your phone vs. just apps. You can pull pieces of your system data back (like the data from Clock 2.1 so you don't have to set your alarms up all over again). Make sense?


4) When you need to do a batch restore (when using a new ROM most likely)..."Restore missing apps with data" just to avoid conflicts. BE SELECTIVE with what you restore! Meaning, don't restore system apps that have been superseded by a new app from a new ROM. In cases of software version upgrades (Android 2.1 to 2.2), don't restore "Clock 2.1" for example, as it will show you have a backup of that app...but that is a 2.1 app that will not play nice with your 2.2 firmware. Once that is done, you can "restore newer versions of user apps" but that is not always needed. In fact, the only reason you would probably need this would be if the ROM you install was an older ROM.


5) Here's how you restore the NECESSARY system settings (Things like Clock, Email, Home (Stock Home app, ADW, ADW EX, Launcher Pro, etc):

NOTE: Any backups listed in GREEN are close to 100% safe to backup (and usually included things like call logs, BT settings, etc).

colored apps are usually safe to restore (apps, games, and various other user installed items are listed in white). Any thing in RED is telling you NOT to restore it! It could cause you to not be able to boot your phone and you would have to restore you system.

***I have had occasions where I restored something listed as GREEN and caused me to FUBAR my system. I suppose that it could be attributed to a bad backup or to incompatible data being transfered between ROMs***

Note: If you back up the way I said...you will backup your home screens via whatever launcher you had installed. So if you were running Launcher Pro and you go to a new ROM and install Launcher Pro again, this will bring all your apps and widgets back...although your widgets will not work, you have to remove each widget's placeholder and add the actual widget back...but at least you don't have to try and remember which icons you put where (the widgets, while not functional when restored, act as place holders so you know where you had them). Sorry...I'm trying not to make this confusing

To restore your POP3 email settings (who wants to set that up manually again??? Not me!): Open Titanium: Go to the "Backup/Restore" tab at the top of the screen > scroll to and select Email 2.1-update1 > a pop up will appear, just hit "Restore" on the most recent backup > it will ask you what you want to restore (probably just "Data Only" for email but some apps will give you the option of Data + App as well...just do Data if the app is installed.

Now your email is set up...easy...quick...done! Do that for your "System" apps and settings (bookmarks, SMS, Call Log, etc). You can use titanium to save yourself a lot of time, you just have to know how to use it.

 

[Jazziette]

Thank you very much for this extremely helpful thread! It does appear that Tibu is a bit more, shall we say, 'complicated' , than those of us who used it to back up stock apps after we rooted thought it was.

Since most of the Ascend users are first time Android users and also, a lot of the apps out there like this do not really support the Ascend, do you think it would be best to just 'freeze' the apps instead of uninstalling them?

This has been thought by some to be our best recommendation for now since there are so many having probs now and we don't want to recommend something that will be too complex for newbies to do.

It seemed to be soooooooooooo easy! LOL

We have a new upgrade that is going to be here anyday from 2.1 to 2.2 so this is why everyone is so antsy!

Thanks again for your help!!!

 

[UBRocked]

First of all, you're welcome!

We all started with various devices and most of us started with little to no knowledge on "how things work". Titanium Backup is very easy to use generally. But using it "effectively" is a little more complicated. I seriously just used TiBu today to restore my apps and settings to my Fascinate after loading a new ROM to try out. I was set up in about 15-20 minutes with little to no lost data. Some things like call log could not be restored because it was incompatible data from the old ROM.

Trial and error can be frustrating but it has been the reason many of us have been able to learn as much as we have. Many people were using TiBu but reported that they wished they could backup and restore their email settings, sms, alarms, ect. and were shocked when they found out they could have been restoring that data the "easy" way...and with just this one application. They just needed to know "HOW" to use it.

 

[bigmikeb387]

Installed TiBu and, on first open, got the following error message: "Sorry, I could not acquire root priviliges. This applicaiton will *not* work! Please verify that your ROM is rooted and includes BusyBox, and try again."

Ran Auto-upgrade fro BusyBox twice. Download progress bar showed app downloading but it's not in the apps list and TiBu still shows same error message.

Have DROIDX running Android 2.2.1.

Any thoughts?

 

[Jazziette]

Installed TiBu and, on first open, got the following error message: "Sorry, I could not acquire root priviliges. This applicaiton will *not* work! Please verify that your ROM is rooted and includes BusyBox, and try again."

Ran Auto-upgrade fro BusyBox twice. Download progress bar showed app downloading but it's not in the apps list and TiBu still shows same error message.

Have DROIDX running Android 2.2.1.

Any thoughts?

Uhhhh....this may be like "Elementary, my Dear Watson"...but did you verify that you are indeed rooted? And did you get the Pro version of Tibu? Did you see Superuser with the skull and crossbones and check 'allow' when it prompted you?

Busybox will not appear in the app drawer, but Superuser will.

 

[P1zz4guy]

Installed TiBu and, on first open, got the following error message: "Sorry, I could not acquire root priviliges. This applicaiton will *not* work! Please verify that your ROM is rooted and includes BusyBox, and try again."

Ran Auto-upgrade fro BusyBox twice. Download progress bar showed app downloading but it's not in the apps list and TiBu still shows same error message.

Have DROIDX running Android 2.2.1.

Any thoughts?

You are rooted, correct?

 

[Jazziette]

You are rooted, correct?

Watson? Is that you?



LOL

 

[P1zz4guy]

Watson? Is that you?



LOL

Gahhh. Ya' bet me to it.

 

[Jazziette]

Gahhh. Ya' bet me to it.

hahahaha I'm sure he's rooted! But like you, I just HAD to ask!!!

 

[Nimby]

You might add to the Guide how to get (paid-for) Titanium back onto the newly-flashed phone so you can restore all your other apps. I *think* that you'll need to manually configure your GMAIL account then visit Android Market, which knows what apps you purchased. I'm not sure if you need to install both "Pro key" and the free app itself to restore a backup made with the Pro version. If there's a simpler way eg installing TiBu directly from the SD card then that should be included instead.

 

[Jazziette]

You might add to the Guide how to get (paid-for) Titanium back onto the newly-flashed phone so you can restore all your other apps. I *think* that you'll need to manually configure your GMAIL account then visit Android Market, which knows what apps you purchased. I'm not sure if you need to install both "Pro key" and the free app itself to restore a backup made with the Pro version. If there's a simpler way eg installing TiBu directly from the SD card then that should be included instead.

Have you done this? Just curious as to how you came up with this. Sorry, but I'm really not completely following you here. As for Tibu you can't restore anything at all without the Pro version. It won't even let you freeze anything. If I were to add anything at all to the guide it would be that if you don't plan to get Pro Tibu don't even plan to root.

 

[UBRocked]

Have you done this? Just curious as to how you came up with this. Sorry, but I'm really not completely following you here. As for Tibu you can't restore anything at all without the Pro version. It won't even let you freeze anything. If I were to add anything at all to the guide it would be that if you don't plan to get Pro Tibu don't even plan to root.

Now I don't know if anything has changed in the past year that I have been running the full version of TiBu, but way back when...

1) The pro key was emailed to you and you put the license.txt file on the root of your sd card. TiBu checked for that file when the app launched and then would show what version you are running (paid or free) initial view when the app was loaded. I know there is a paid version of TiBu in the market now, so I'm not sure how it works now. My txt file still works and shows that I have the pro/donate version.

2) The main reason to buy/donate back in the day was due to the simple fact that you could not restore via "batch". This added functionality made restoring all of your apps SOOO much faster. I've never used the "freeze" function so I'm not sure what that does...or why you would use it.

The paid version made for quicker work restoring apps and overall, it was more convenient but the free version did work just fine (albeit much slower). If there is any other functionality that people use and want added to the guide, PM me or post it here and I'll add it. The guide is currently written for the things I use TiBu for...if you have another use for this app...post it!

 

[Jazziette]

Now I don't know if anything has changed in the past year that I have been running the full version of TiBu, but way back when...

Now I understand why you have the instructions like they are. I didn't understand a couple of things but I thought it was just me. The new TiBu (at least since Jan 2011) must be quite a bit different.

1) The pro key was emailed to you and you put the license.txt file on the root of your sd card. TiBu checked for that file when the app launched and then would show what version you are running (paid or free) initial view when the app was loaded. I know there is a paid version of TiBu in the market now, so I'm not sure how it works now. My txt file still works and shows that I have the pro/donate version.

The way it is now: You can buy the free version but it will only let you backup and uninstall. And you don't have to wait for a key. You buy the pro version and it works right away, unlike say LauncherPro Plus where you have to wait for the key to be emailed to you. (That's a drag! LOL)

2) The main reason to buy/donate back in the day was due to the simple fact that you could not restore via "batch". This added functionality made restoring all of your apps SOOO much faster. I've never used the "freeze" function so I'm not sure what that does...or why you would use it.

I still have not been successful restoring some apps via batch. But at first I was using the free TiBu and this could be the reason why. It's still difficult to restore system apps you uninstall with TiBu (paid or free version).

There are several reasons for freezing apps:

1) Makes them much easier to restore if you want them back

2) Stops them from running in the background

3) Gets rid of them until decide if it is going to create a problem for you to not have them.

4) While anticipating a new firmware upgrade: You know you can get them back and unroot, if necessary, in order to get the OTA.

5) It gives you peace of mind. An app can always be uninstalled if you need the space.

The paid version made for quicker work restoring apps and overall, it was more convenient but the free version did work just fine (albeit much slower). If there is any other functionality that people use and want added to the guide, PM me or post it here and I'll add it. The guide is currently written for the things I use TiBu for...if you have another use for this app...post it!

It used to make it easier to restore apps I guess. According to the instructions it should be easy as pie but it isn't. It's a snap to uninstall them and the devil to pay getting them back. LOL But then maybe all of us are still doing something wrong. I wouldn't rule that out either. But I do have a hunch things have been changed.

Tomorrow I'm going to do some more experimenting with some system apps I have uninstalled using the Guide's directions to restore them and see if it makes a difference.

I think the Guide is GREAT ! I just need to see how much TiBu has been changed.

I'll PM you tomorrow.

Thanks!!!

 

[Gmash]

Now I understand why you have the instructions like they are. I didn't understand a couple of things but I thought it was just me. The new TiBu (at least since Jan 2011) must be quite a bit different.



The way it is now: You can buy the free version but it will only let you backup and uninstall. And you don't have to wait for a key. You buy the pro version and it works right away, unlike say LauncherPro Plus where you have to wait for the key to be emailed to you. (That's a drag! LOL)



I still have not been successful restoring some apps via batch. But at first I was using the free TiBu and this could be the reason why. It's still difficult to restore system apps you uninstall with TiBu (paid or free version).

There are several reasons for freezing apps:

1) Makes them much easier to restore if you want them back

2) Stops them from running in the background

3) Gets rid of them until decide if it is going to create a problem for you to not have them.

4) While anticipating a new firmware upgrade: You know you can get them back and unroot, if necessary, in order to get the OTA.

5) It gives you peace of mind. An app can always be uninstalled if you need the space.



It used to make it easier to restore apps I guess. According to the instructions it should be easy as pie but it isn't. It's a snap to uninstall them and the devil to pay getting them back. LOL But then maybe all of us are still doing something wrong. I wouldn't rule that out either. But I do have a hunch things have been changed.

Tomorrow I'm going to do some more experimenting with some system apps I have uninstalled using the Guide's directions to restore them and see if it makes a difference.

I think the Guide is GREAT ! I just need to see how much TiBu has been changed.

I'll PM you tomorrow.

Thanks!!!

Well all hell seems to be breaking loose here. Let me get this straight, you can back up an app with tb free but not restore? What's the point of that? Besides forcing you to buy?

 

[Nimby]

Have you done this?

Obviously not! I just think it would be useful if the guide explained how you get licensed TiBu back onto a reflashed phone so you can restore your backed-up apps and data.

 

[Jazziette]

Obviously not! I just think it would be useful if the guide explained how you get licensed TiBu back onto a reflashed phone so you can restore your backed-up apps and data.

This Guide is not intended to take the place of things a user must do to protect his apps and data. There is a reason you have a Micro SD Card in your phone.

And that is almost an entirely different topic than what this Guide is intended for.

You need to learn how to transfer your files from your phone to your computer.

How can you expect one little application like Titanium Pro to do everything for you? You can't!

 

[Jazziette]

Obviously not! I just think it would be useful if the guide explained how you get licensed TiBu back onto a reflashed phone so you can restore your backed-up apps and data.

The Market remembers you. If you have purchased TiBu before it will remember you.

 

[UBRocked]

Jazziette, I want to make sure you understand my post. I still use TiBu on a regular basis. What I was saying is that I have not used the free version in over a year. I haven't heard that you couldn't backup and restore using the free version so if that is the case...it's news to me.

When I used the free version, you had to click on the tab at the top/middle position labeled "Backup/Restore" to restore any apps. You would then select each line item one by one and you would get a popup menu for each one that gave you options like Backup and Uninstall (I see Freeze is now an option). Below that, you have options to restore or delete your various backups. once you select restore, another popup will appear asking you if you want to restore app + data, app only, or data only (sometimes you only have the data only option). This was a PITA and a very slow process but it worked! That is why I tell people to buy the app. The batch process that is allowed in the Pro version makes much simpler work of this.

Now, the "Backup/Restore" screen is where we had to go in the past to move apps to the SD card (2.2 or above only). If you long pressed on an app, you would bypass the Backup, Freeze, Uninstall, and Restore dialog box described above. The popup box you would see on a long press has options like "Assign labels", "View in Market", and "Move to SD Card" (or "Move to Internal" if the app was already on the SD card). There is now a batch function that will allow you to move apps to SD but that wasn't always the case. I don't have a whole lot of need for this anymore but if you are limited on app storage space (like I was when I had my Droid), this was a great option and proved extremely useful.

I just updated my Fascinate from 2.1 to 2.2. I backed up everything as I described in the guide and then batch restored my apps, games, settings...well, the settings that were universal between 2.1 and 2.2...my call log was not able to be restored because the dialer is different as with my text messages, etc. But all my user apps were restored. Now that I am running a 2.2 ROM, if there are updates to the ROM, I could restore many of the settings for my system apps.

Remember, when you back up...back up EVERYTHING (meaning "Backup all user apps + system data"...just so you don't miss anything).

When you are going to restore you apps and settings, restore app and data for all user apps that you want back. After that, restore DATA ONLY for a selective number of system apps/setting that have remain unchanged (not much will change between ROM updates, but if going from 2.1 to 2.2 for example, there will be more things that are not transferable.

Be selective in this process!

I typically go into the batch menu and then select "Restore missing apps with data". I deselect all and then manually check each item I want restored. For this, you want to select "App+Data". This is where most of your apps from the market, games, etc will be restored.

Once I have done that, I go back to the batch menu and select "Restore all apps with data" I then deselect all again but then I select "Data only" and then I check all of the pre-installed apps/settings I want restored. This is where the White, Red, and Green text for each listing come into play. Sometimes apps can change colors depending on whether or not your ROM will support that setting. For example, when I recently restored my apps for the new 2.2 ROM I have, Google Voice was listed in red. Usually GV is white (and you can restore your settings just fine) but this time it was not compatible. If you see Red, do not attempt to restore. It may just not restore anything or all, or it could cause force closes and other issues.

Hopefully this cleared some things up.

 

[Jazziette]

Thanks for that extremely well articulated and useful post. With your permission I am going to take another look at the OP here in the Guide and see how we can incorporate some of this in there.

I think it is important to do this as an update to the Guide since many who are using it have 2.1 and also for those who have upgraded (or are planning to) to 2.2.

Thanks so much. Your post definitely addressed the things that were somewhat confusing!

 

[sexystud25]

can someone help me out everytime i try too load up my facebook it says a missing socket so i logged out and now i cant get back in its saying an error this is the first time i have had a prob with this phone plz help

 

[UBRocked]

can someone help me out everytime i try too load up my facebook it says a missing socket so i logged out and now i cant get back in its saying an error this is the first time i have had a prob with this phone plz help

Did you try uninstalling, rebooting, and then reinstalling?

Also you could try to clear app data. Go to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > All > Select Facebook and then press force stop, then clear data.

 

[barribow]

Hey UBR,
Thanks for this guide and tips. I suggest you add this video to your post #1 also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cryu8bFXLJQ

 

[looksbetterinred]

I have the donate version and have used the "problems" and downloaded a new busybox. I backed up everything and it is on my external SD. I did make a copy of my external SD and copied it over after I flashed. I flashed Serendipity 5.11 and everything seems to be running fine. However, when I go to batch mode, TB doesn't see my SD backup. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. Granted, I have never used TB to restore apps before and very well might be doing something incorrectly.

 

[UBRocked]

I have the donate version and have used the "problems" and downloaded a new busybox. I backed up everything and it is on my external SD. I did make a copy of my external SD and copied it over after I flashed. I flashed Serendipity 5.11 and everything seems to be running fine. However, when I go to batch mode, TB doesn't see my SD backup. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. Granted, I have never used TB to restore apps before and very well might be doing something incorrectly.

When you open TiBu, press your menu key and then select preferences. Scroll down to "Backup folder name" and make sure it matches the name of the folder on your SD card.

Also, when you go into batch make sure that you don't have any filters on otherwise you will not see all of your backups. To clear filters press your menu key, select filters, and then press the "Clear" and then the "Apply" buttons. You will know if you have a filter cause it will be listed in the text box next to those two buttons. For reference...Filters can be used when searching for a specific application and the filter does NOT clear when you exit the application (and I wish it did).

 

[looksbetterinred]

When you open TiBu, press your menu key and then select preferences. Scroll down to "Backup folder name" and make sure it matches the name of the folder on your SD card.

Also, when you go into batch make sure that you don't have any filters on otherwise you will not see all of your backups. To clear filters press your menu key, select filters, and then press the "Clear" and then the "Apply" buttons. You will know if you have a filter cause it will be listed in the text box next to those two buttons. For reference...Filters can be used when searching for a specific application and the filter does NOT clear when you exit the application (and I wish it did).

Thanks! I checked, no filters. The button is on "all" for all choices.
My path to my backup files is "mnt/sdcard/external_sd/TitaniumBackup
When I checked the backup folder name in TiBu the box has "TitanuimBackup".

I'm at a loss.... I tried to email Joel from XDA but he has it set not to get pm's.