Clarifying Titanium Backup App Data vs. System Data

While trying to research the question I have within this forum, I keep coming across statements like this one:

"My advice is to ONLY use Titanium using batch backup and restore, and to ONLY back up apps and app data. "

Now here's my question. In the batch Backup menu for Titanium Backup Pro, there is:

Backup all user apps
Backup all system data
Backup all user apps + system data
(and other listings not pertinent to my question).

In the Batch Restore menu there is:

Restore missing apps with data
Restore all system data
Restore missing apps + all system data
Restore all apps with data

Nowhere is there an actual selection for "back up apps and app data". And the only time the word "data" is even used in the Batch backup menu is in reference to SYSTEM data.

In Batch restore they seem to infer there is a way to restore apps AND the "app data". But in the Backup menu, aside from "system data", there is no mention whatsoever of "app data".

So - When you "backup all user apps" does that ALSO back up the app DATA too (without mentioning it)?

I am concerned because I am about to flash a new ROM. So I want my apps backed up. And if I can restore the apps to the new ROM along WITH THEIR PREVIOUS APP DATA that will save me some effort in getting things up and running again. But I know I do NOT want to restore system data from one ROM to another.

So when I make the backup, can I just choose "Backup all user apps" and then when I restore them on the new ROM be able to choose "Restore all apps with data"?

 

Thanks. I suspected as much, but just wanted to be sure that is how it works.

I found that when I chose restore all apps with data I was getting a confirmation dialog on every app. (I use TIBU PRO, so did not expect to be seeing that). I stopped the operation and started anew using restore all missing apps and data and they all installed without bugging me for confirmation.

I can't imagine living with stock unrooted devices and not being able to use TIBU or make Nandroids. These features should be baked into every device IMO. It sure makes backups and maintenance much simpler!

 

Well. call me paranoid, old fashioned, or whatever but I don't like the whole notion of "cloud computing". I use Google and allow them to sync my public documents and email, but when it comes to things such as wifi passwords and other sensitive info, I don't back those up anywhere but on my own technology. Google Backup is the first thing I turn off when I set up an Android device, before I restore a TIBU backup. So I like that TIBU can put the data back along with the apps.

I just flashed the Lightspeed ICS ROM last night, and thanks to a TIBU backup I made after starting this thread, I was back up and running in a few minutes. Very little had changed in the way off app data. About all I had to do was re-enter my Google account info. Firefox even picked up on the shared tabs from my PC from right before the ROM flash.

However, for those who like to use cloud backups, I agree it would make restoring after a ROM change go very smoothly. And for those who don't want to make the weekly Nandroid and SD backups I do here, it could save your bacon if a catastrophic device failure suddenly happened.

 

Speaking of making backups, it appears ICS is throwing a wrench into that simple process. I have run into issues in both Lightspeed and FlexReaper ICS ROMs due to, from what I I have researched online, ICS "dropping" the previously supported USB Mass Storage option when connecting to a PC. They now offer you only 2 other options, either of which attempts to restrict just which files you can access from a PC. The PTP (connect as camera) protocol only allows you to access photo files. The MTP (connect as media) protocol is doing its best to try to prevent me from copying all the files from my tablet's Internal Storage over to a PC. It copies about 500 MB of the 744MB total and then just "stops" as if it were completely finished. I had to make repeated attempts to different target folders before they finally all copied. Then, when I was cleaning up the mess by deleting the Windows 7 folders that had only received a partial file copy, one of the subfolders was locked by Windows and refused to delete until I used the Unlocker utility on it. Since "file permissions" are a pet headache of mine, I am not happy to see this at all.

There is a fellow on XDA working on a utility to restore USB Mass Storage options to ICS devices, currently the Galaxy series phones and a list of others are supoorted, but at the moment his app doesn't work on the A500 running Flexreaper ICS 12.5.

Why do they always have to take some longstanding convenience away whenever programmers develop something new??????

 

Roze, you can get it and read about it here:

forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1389375

I just abandoned FlexReaper and went back to Thor HC 3.2.1 v14.2 due to this overall issue. Not only is there no UMS support in (at least current) ICS ports, there is also something deliberately working to prevent me from copying files from the A500 by USB to my PC. It is even messing with trying to copy files from the A500's external USB card, which it has no business screwing with. Anyone who is into root access knows the issue of circumventing "restrictions" very well. It appears ICS is intending to find new ways to restrict us from accessing our own data. I'll have no part of that!

I ran across a very lengthy and rather dry forum dialogue last night discussing "why" ICS IS headed this way with someone who seemed to possibly be a Google programming technician. He was explaining to some folks regarding the Galaxy line of phones (which seem to have ICS already by what was posted there) why they are working away from having external SD cards, and toward having only one conglomerate of internal storage. Personally, I would never buy a phone or tablet that did not support use of a removable SD card (or some similar future technology). My opinion is they are making a giant leap backwards in technology, and seeking to limit how many apps we can install and run.

EVERY smartphone I have bought used a removable SD card. I got into rooting very specifically because the LG Ally I had was equipped with too little memory, and I wanted to move apps to the SD to solve that issue. So now new phones will have whatever amount of internal storage some pencilpusher decides is "enough", and no way to add more? I don't think so.

It's just like the new Verizon Razr line being built without removable batteries. It might be a nice phone, but I won't want one if I can't change batteries in it myself. (This A500 tablet was a gift - I don't like that its battery is not removable either.)

 

I'm sorry that I am not sure about the answer to your question. But I wanted to suggest that you start a new thread with your question, as this thread is over a year old. It is unlikely very many members would be following it. I guess I never unsubscribed to it myself.

I think you can just restore the apps "with system data", as I have done this myself on a new phone. But I can't promise it would work. Make a nandroid first before you try, so you can undo any bad results if they happen.

Titanium Backup's use of the term "system data" along side apps is confusing and IMO inaccurate. I verified on a forum for myself when I began using it that what it really should be calling that data is "app data". It is the specific settings you may have applied to an individual app, so that it gets restored just as you had it set up when you made the backup. But saying "system" data implies the data is somehow part of the operating system, and such data you would not want to restore if you changed ROMs or got a different phone. I wish the developer would rename that function to more accurately describe it. The whole reason I use TIBU is to be able to quickly rebuild apps just as I customized them, so I don't have to do it again after some malfunction of the device.

 

I am unaware of such an update zip file. Where did you get it?