Root Restoring data: Nandroid vs Titanium Backup

[gregg098]

I have a question regarding restoring data after flashing to a new ROM (Bugless Beast) via a nandroid backup. I know I have the update.zip option, but that seems to introduce issues for some that I want to avoid.

Now, I know I have a few options. I can batch backup apps and data with Titanium Backup, then wipe, install the new build, and then restore via Titanium. Or, I can do a nandroid backup of my phone, wipe, install the new build, and then restore only the data partition of my first backup.

My question is, are either of these methods any different from just using the update.zip version of BB? For example, when I upgraded from BB .7.8 to 1.0, I lost root and had to do a full wipe and I just manually reinstalled everything. Will doing the data partition restore or titanium backup restore result in the same issues?

 

[johnlgalt]

Well, for one thing, when you upgraded root was lost not because you upgraded, but because there was an issue with BB itself - you would have had issues regardless of the methodology used b/c the problem was inherent in the ROM itself.

Secondly, as for Ti Backup (a little Chemistry humor), well, I cannot say which is the better method.

I *can* say that one particular ROM, the ADCBeta0.3 (I used the Dark version) auto restored 99% of my apps on its own - meaning I wiped data / cache, then wiped cache, then performed a Nandroid restore of the ADC - after booting into the OS, I opened Launcher2, and all of a sudden one of my old apps appeared - then another, then another, and after about 10-15 minutes just about every one was back in there.

However, settings were not retained in most apps, and I had to re-set them up.

I wanted to try a Nandroid restore of my backed up SG4.5 ROM, but I was worried that the apps going from 2.0.1 to 2.1 might cause some sort of compatibility issue.

However, in talking with other folks here, a Nandroid /DATA restore should, theoretically, work fine, and from what I have gleaned, it should also retain your settings.

 

[gregg098]

I tried this today in a few tests and all seems well, but Id still like to know if anyone tried restoring by either of these methods and have had good luck with it when upgrading to a new ROM with the wipe and then flash a nandroid backup method.

 

[jasonb1985]

i can't say which is better, but when i went to S.G. 4.5 i backed up with Ti backup and then wiped everything. everything runs very smooth. never had a rom run so smooth.

 

[UBRocked]

Now, I know I have a few options. I can batch backup apps and data with Titanium Backup, then wipe, install the new build, and then restore via Titanium. Or, I can do a nandroid backup of my phone, wipe, install the new build, and then restore only the data partition of my first backup.

Yeah, well the Nandroid "Data" backup is not a great option in my opinion. I have had limited success. I just tried again to install my data from Ultimate 2.5 going to Ultimate 3.1...phone gets past the bootanimations and then the screen goes black and requires a battery pull to get the phone to reboot. I had to do a full wipe/install with My Backup Pro (which is app by app restore and is a pain in the ass...even though it works). I'll check out the Titanium backup to see if that is better.

 

[shrink57]

Titanium Backup is doing a great job for me. There is a new "Market Doctor" option (might only be in the donate version) that verifies your market connection to your apps and repairs any problems. I usually finds 2 or 3 problems after a wipe /restore and works flawlessly.

 

[gregg098]

Titanium Backup is doing a great job for me. There is a new "Market Doctor" option (might only be in the donate version) that verifies your market connection to your apps and repairs any problems. I usually finds 2 or 3 problems after a wipe /restore and works flawlessly.

Good to hear. Thanks.

Im guessing you just do the restore all apps with data option?

 

[shrink57]

Good to hear. Thanks.

Im guessing you just do the restore all apps with data option?

I do and then go into Market Doctor to clean up any market errors.

 

[YankeeDudeL]

Hmm..I forgot about Titanium Backup. I wasn't able to use it b/c of SU access a couple of ROMs ago, but I should give that a go.

 

[alostpacket]

Dont forget to make a list of your apps, with, say, uh..... a..... uh... "list making" app

 

[iamloco724]

only reason i side with titanium on app backup is because it saves ur app settings and data with it..like whether it be a complex program that has settings or if its a game that you got to a certain level at it saves all of that

where the market doesnt so thats the only thing i lean toward titantium with..yeah its probably better to just do manual to avoid problems but when you switch roms so much to have to reinstall over 50 apps manually and redo settings its just crazy

 

[askpcguy]

Titanium Backup is meant to keep a backup of all your apps, settings and various other items safe. This is in case you need to restore the data, be it on another phone or ROM.

Nandroid however is meant to restore everything on the same ROM. For example the stock ATT rom for the Captivate is JF6. If I made a nandroid backup on JF6, then copied the clockwork backup folder onto a new JF6 rom phone, I could restore the backup and everything I had would be restored.

Or lets say you want to change some system settings (think ROM developer) and want to restore to a point in time before the change. Nandroid.

I have a question regarding restoring data after flashing to a new ROM (Bugless Beast) via a nandroid backup. I know I have the update.zip option, but that seems to introduce issues for some that I want to avoid.

Now, I know I have a few options. I can batch backup apps and data with Titanium Backup, then wipe, install the new build, and then restore via Titanium. Or, I can do a nandroid backup of my phone, wipe, install the new build, and then restore only the data partition of my first backup.

My question is, are either of these methods any different from just using the update.zip version of BB? For example, when I upgraded from BB .7.8 to 1.0, I lost root and had to do a full wipe and I just manually reinstalled everything. Will doing the data partition restore or titanium backup restore result in the same issues?

 

[sh4dow]

considering that it's the apps that use the most internal space anyway, i wonder why titanium backup is so popular. everybody uses cwr anyway, so it seems handier to just use nandroid. plus, you can choose to only restore data anyway?

 

[teddyearp]

<snip>i wonder why titanium backup is so popular.

As do I. However, there are those (GLD) who will write a fully featured step by step on how to use TiBu to backup/restore your system settings. For me, I find it's much faster to do it myself; using MBP to backup/restore call logs, bookmarks, sms, and mms.

everybody uses cwr anyway, so it seems handier to just use nandroid. plus, you can choose to only restore data anyway?

Not quite everyone uses CWR (though I do) but as far as handier to use nandroid to restore data only? I would think (and from what I've read) that is always a bad idea, especially when going from one roms' android version to anothers'.

 

[sh4dow]

Not quite everyone uses CWR (though I do) but as far as handier to use nandroid to restore data only? I would think (and from what I've read) that is always a bad idea, especially when going from one roms' android version to anothers'.

but wouldn't you have the same problem with TB?

 

[teddyearp]

Yes, and that is another reason why I stopped using it. Trust me I have flashed enough roms and tried all the tricks and have settled to the method I outlined above. Even though GLD (girlslovdroid or something) has a very nice writeup for using TiBu successfully, IMHO at the end of the day it is just as much trouble as doing it almost manually.

 

[sh4dow]

actually... when i thought about it, i noticed a major difference. a possible one anyway.

because i don't know where apps store their settings. so i can't tell whether you can restore those with nandroid seperately. "data/data" looks like too much for just app-settings to me.

and in that case, you would have the ability with TB to just restore apps and their settings. which would mean you can change your rom and then restore everything. while with nandroid, i am only sure about the apps. not their settings. which would obviously suck.

and another maybe - i've read that there can be problems with licenses when you're restoring backupped apps because some games remove your saved data if you don't get a new license after restoring. and one of the things people repeatedly mention about TB is that it handles things related to market.

i really wish there would be all information about this (everything related to backups - nope, http://capfaq.com/w/Backup doesn't really cover it) in one place... seems there are always bits here and there, some of which i currently can't even find again -_-

 

[teddyearp]

I don't know where the apps store their data and/or settings either. I thought about /data/data, but I just had another thought along these lines. There is an option within TiBu to create an update.zip of it's backups. Well once one of those is created, then opening it up and looking at its innards would start to give a clue.

As far as nandroid, it backs up and restores all of the files and subfolders in /data and /system as well as other things, sometimes selectively depending on which custom recovery you're using.

 

[sh4dow]

well if somebody could check out the path structure of the update.zip created by TB that would be great, as i don't plan on getting it right now but would love to know for the future.

As far as nandroid, it backs up and restores all of the files and subfolders in /data and /system as well as other things, sometimes selectively depending on which custom recovery you're using.

oh yes, i forgot we're in the droid forum here. because i've been using nandroid on a captivate, so maybe the latest cwr version for the droid is actually different. after all, there are plenty of 3.something versions out there but the latest for captivate is still 2.something. i suppose there's no need for an update if everything works fine.

 

[AmbidiRaghu]

Any one can hellp me , i am getting an Error while opening Android Emulator inside Appcelerator Titanium .....following is the error

[TRACE] Generating /home/raghu/Desktop/path_android/workspace/First/build/android/.gitignore
[INFO] Launching Android emulator...one moment
[DEBUG] From: /home/raghu/Desktop/path_android/android-sdk-linux_x86/tools/emulator
[DEBUG] SDCard: /home/raghu/.titanium/android2.sdcard
[DEBUG] AVD ID: 3
[DEBUG] AVD Skin: HVGA
[DEBUG] SDK: /home/raghu/Desktop/path_android/android-sdk-linux_x86
[DEBUG] /home/raghu/Desktop/path_android/android-sdk-linux_x86/tools/emulator -avd titanium_3_HVGA -port 5560 -sdcard /home/raghu/.titanium/titanium_3_HVGA.sdcard -logcat *:d,* -no-boot-anim -partition-size 128
emulator: ERROR: Could not create temporary hardware.ini: Permission denied
[DEBUG] signal caught: 3
[DEBUG] calling emulator kill on 9692
[ERROR] Exception occured while building Android project:
[ERROR] Traceback (most recent call last):
[ERROR] File "/home/raghu/.titanium/mobilesdk/linux/1.7.2/android/builder.py", line 1951, in <module>
[ERROR] s.run_emulator(avd_id, avd_skin)
[ERROR] File "/home/raghu/.titanium/mobilesdk/linux/1.7.2/android/builder.py", line 433, in run_emulator
[ERROR] handler(3,None)
[ERROR] File "/home/raghu/.titanium/mobilesdk/linux/1.7.2/android/builder.py", line 418, in handler
[ERROR] os.kill(p.pid, signal.SIGTERM)
[ERROR] OSError: [Errno 3] No such process

 

[teddyearp]

Doesn't sound like you are asking about Titanium Backup. Please clarify. Tell us more about your hardware and the underlying software.

 

[qt3dot14]

Titanium Backup is meant to keep a backup of all your apps, settings and various other items safe. This is in case you need to restore the data, be it on another phone or ROM.

Nandroid however is meant to restore everything on the same ROM. For example the stock ATT rom for the Captivate is JF6. If I made a nandroid backup on JF6, then copied the clockwork backup folder onto a new JF6 rom phone, I could restore the backup and everything I had would be restored.

Or lets say you want to change some system settings (think ROM developer) and want to restore to a point in time before the change. Nandroid.

its this type of simple clarifications that make a difference!

ive been researching rooting/flashing recoveries/flashing roms for about 3 weeks now and this is the first explanation that clearly defines the two terms.

thanx a bunch!