Root "Snapshot"? (saved state?)

[drum365]

I've got a NOOK Color with a dual-boot SD card which lets me run CM7 (off the SD card) or the standard NOOK OS off the internal memory.

I've been running it since March. It has gradually gotten slower and slower and more and more unstable until a few days ago it finally got to the point where it pretty much became unusable - freezing when trying to connect to WiFi, screen becoming unresponsive, couldn't wake from sleep, mysterious battery drain, updated apps saying they still needed updating, lots of "not responding - force close?" messages, etc.

I figured that either something in the OS had become corrupted or I had installed an app that wasn't completely compatible. I finally decided to wipe the SD card and start over.

So now it's up and running again, and I'm very happy with it - it's faster and more responsive than I had remembered. I've installed what I consider my "necessary" apps. What I would like to do now is somehow make a "snapshot" of the SD card the way it is now, so that if I have problems in the future, I can just go back to that point.

I've got Titanium Backup installed, but I don't know if that will really accomplish what I'm after. Can I just copy the backup folder to my computer and save it there in case I need it again? Does TB backup all the OS stuff as well as the apps and their data?

Thanks for your help - sorry to be such a noob!

 

[colchiro]

Most of us (that don't run a rom on the sdcard) just boot into recovery and create a backup. I'm not 100% you can do that with your sdcard install tho.

My first impression of your problem was your sdcard was starting to fail. They do that after a year or so, depending on how many hours you've used it. With heavy use and a marginal card, it could easily happen sooner.

 

[drum365]

Most of us (that don't run a rom on the sdcard) just boot into recovery and create a backup. I'm not 100% you can do that with your sdcard install tho...

Thanks for taking the time to help.

I'm not exactly sure how to "boot into recovery and create a backup." That doesn't seem to be an option on my install. If I reboot into recover, I see a brief linux script that says it couldn't find some files and then it aborts. No options for backing up or anything.

Thanks again-

 

[colchiro]

I think I read somewhere that dual boot, like you have, doesn't have a full recovery.

I've never been a fan of sdcard installs... Too slow, too finicky and sdcards always fail after a year, maybe two if you're lucky. I had a sdcard fail after two months.

Sorry, I don't have a NC with a rom on the sdcard to test it for you. You have to be careful because you can easily screw up the stock B&N rom.

Another option would be to image your card to your computer or copy it to another sd card, but I can't tell you what software would do that for you.

 

[drum365]

I've never been a fan of sdcard installs... Too slow, too finicky and sdcards always fail after a year, maybe two if you're lucky. I had a sdcard fail after two months.

I wasn't aware that SD cards had such problems - I've got a few in phones and cameras and haven't been aware of any problems yet. (Unless this is the first - knock on wood.) I do tend to buy name-brand cards. The one in my NOOK is SanDisk. But I'll keep an eye out for card-related problems now that you've called my attention to the possibility.

Sorry, I don't have a NC with a rom on the sdcard to test it for you. You have to be careful because you can easily screw up the stock B&N rom.

I wanted to install CM7 as soon as I bought my NOOK, so I went the SD card route. I wanted to preserve the stock ROM for my warranty and also have a fall-back in case something went wrong the CM7 install. I've flashed ROMs on a few phones and tablets, but the whole process still makes me nervous. No bricks so far! (Knock on wood.)

Another option would be to image your card to your computer or copy it to another sd card, but I can't tell you what software would do that for you.

That's what I've been working on. Since I'm on a Mac, things are extra-complicated. I spent most of the day since my original post fiddling with this and I seem to have gotten to the point where I have an install-ready disk image I can now clone onto an SD card. That, combined with my Titanium Backup files should get me most of the way there if this happens again. (Or when this happens again.)

Thanks for your help-

 

[colchiro]

Glad you got it figured out. Many of the guides that flash sdcards are simple to convert to Mac instructions, once you know what procedure to use, but that doesn't make it easier the first time.

You have to make sure that the image you created has ALL the partitions on it, not just the first one. I think the bootable sdcard has 4 partitions on it.