Restoring Backups from TWRP or CWM - Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III

Hello Forums,
I recently upgraded my Evo 3d and my wife's blackberry (Verizon) to 2 Sprints Galaxy s3. My wife decided she wanted hers rooted for tweaks for better battery life. I rooted mine so I could use custom firmware for the device. I have ran into a problem...
1. Whichever recovery I use (TWRP or CWM) on either device; when restoring the backup I have made; we must do a factory reset in order to have functionality for anything. It boot loops even after wiping all partitions multiple times, and restoring backups.
2.Tried to restore, factory data reset, and data partition restore. bootloops(more than likely not to work but figured I would try)
I am wanting to test out different Roms and My wife if her phone decides to freeze and needs to restore were screwed. Even while using Titanium Backup to restore data. As it is quite bothersome when you have to set up our phones every time after a restore....
Am I going to have to use ODIN, Mobile ODIN or would there be a way to use custom recoveries without having to reset our phones.
PS:
It seems to me to reside in how any recovery is backing up the data partition. Either that or something on our phones may be locked (that I am not aware of)as far as reading the data from recovery.

Seems like I ha e made a noob mistake. Have to unlock bootloader on devices...
Hey moderators you can close this thread thank you!

Related

[Q] Recovery Questions and hidden menus

1)Hidden menus
Are there any hidden menus on the stock rom? Are there hidden menus on other ROMs?
For example :*#22745927 hidden menu for RMNET + DM + MODEM mode and *#7284# enter to PhoneUtil, LTE is turned on via *#*#4636#*#*
What are these for? How many of them are there?
is this a full list and are they applicable for the S3 i747? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=25026311
2) Recovery.
What the heck is the difference between CWM vs TWRP vs NV backup vs boot in recovery for nandroid backup?
What are all of these?? what type of backups do each one make?
I think NV is specifically for IMEI, but wont cw, twrp, or nandroid cover this?
Is nandroid a term used for CWM/TWRP backups?
How is the stock recovery?
How does something like this compare with just using twrp or cwm?
INTRODUCING THE SAMSUNG GALAXY S3 TOOLKIT [SNAPDRAGON EDITION] ?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1746665
Thanks, i hope my noob questions werent too bad
mikoal said:
1)Hidden menus
Are there any hidden menus on the stock rom? Are there hidden menus on other ROMs?
For example :*#22745927 hidden menu for RMNET + DM + MODEM mode and *#7284# enter to PhoneUtil, LTE is turned on via *#*#4636#*#*
What are these for? How many of them are there?
is this a full list and are they applicable for the S3 i747? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=25026311
2) Recovery.
What the heck is the difference between CWM vs TWRP vs NV backup vs boot in recovery for nandroid backup?
What are all of these?? what type of backups do each one make?
I think NV is specifically for IMEI, but wont cw, twrp, or nandroid cover this?
Is nandroid a term used for CWM/TWRP backups?
How is the stock recovery?
How does something like this compare with just using twrp or cwm?
INTRODUCING THE SAMSUNG GALAXY S3 TOOLKIT [SNAPDRAGON EDITION] ?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1746665
Thanks, i hope my noob questions werent too bad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll have to try out the dialer codes to see which work and which don't. Just be careful as there are a couple that will reset your phone.
Recovery, CWM and TWRP are two different custom recoveries. They allow you to do stuff that the stock e3 recovery won't, like flash custom mods, ROM's, etc. Of the two TWRP is gaining ground as the most popular recovery of choice for the extra options it has over CWM. An NV backup is IMEI specific as that is all it backs up is your IMEI. CWM/TWRP backups (nandroid backup) take a snapshot of your system as is at that moment and can be restored at a later date or if a mod you do doesn't work. Nandroids do not back up modem(radio) or IMEI information.
The toolkit is a computer based program that does all this, except the IMEI stuff, and more but you need to have your phone hooked to the computer in order to use it, the CWM/TWRP recoveries are all phone based.
Hope this info helps a little.
jethro650 said:
You'll have to try out the dialer codes to see which work and which don't. Just be careful as there are a couple that will reset your phone.
Recovery, CWM and TWRP are two different custom recoveries. They allow you to do stuff that the stock e3 recovery won't, like flash custom mods, ROM's, etc. Of the two TWRP is gaining ground as the most popular recovery of choice for the extra options it has over CWM. An NV backup is IMEI specific as that is all it backs up is your IMEI. CWM/TWRP backups (nandroid backup) take a snapshot of your system as is at that moment and can be restored at a later date or if a mod you do doesn't work. Nandroids do not back up modem(radio) or IMEI information.
The toolkit is a computer based program that does all this, except the IMEI stuff, and more but you need to have your phone hooked to the computer in order to use it, the CWM/TWRP recoveries are all phone based.
Hope this info helps a little.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Jethro! I gave you a thanks.
So these are called dialer codes?..... what are they generally used for? I dont want to reset my phone by accident.
If its just a regular phone reset with no data loss then ok, i'll give that a shot and record which ones work with my Rogers i747m model.
So essentially twrp and cwm creates an image called nandroid.
NV collects imei info
What type of files do stock recovery give you?
Oh I also ran across something claled Titanium backup.......how does that compare with twrp and cwm?
As for the toolkit, is that the only difference? Its that
1) its a cpu based program
2) it baiscally has recover, unlock, drivers, and flashing rom all programmed into 1 place?
So I can back up with twrp, cwm, and the toolkit if i wanted to be OCD about it?
mikoal said:
Thanks Jethro! I gave you a thanks.
So these are called dialer codes?..... what are they generally used for? I dont want to reset my phone by accident.
If its just a regular phone reset with no data loss then ok, i'll give that a shot and record which ones work with my Rogers i747m model.
So essentially twrp and cwm creates an image called nandroid.
NV collects imei info
What type of files do stock recovery give you?
Oh I also ran across something claled Titanium backup.......how does that compare with twrp and cwm?
As for the toolkit, is that the only difference? Its that
1) its a cpu based program
2) it baiscally has recover, unlock, drivers, and flashing rom all programmed into 1 place?
So I can back up with twrp, cwm, and the toolkit if i wanted to be OCD about it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The dialer codes are "hidden" as they are used by service techs who repair phones and generally aren't suppposed to be used by the end user lol. But then again the end user isn't supposed to root and install custom software either
I don't think stock recovery has an option to back up anything it is just used to install over-the-air updates and official software.
Titanium backup allows you to back up various things in android such as SMS, MMS, call logs apps and thier data(app settings, game saves). You can only back up app data if your rooted. If your going to be flashing ROMs then you will want either Titanium back or My back up root<--does the same stuff as Titanium back only easier user interface.
Right on the money about the toolkit. You can install it on your computer and browse through the menus and stuff without hooking up your phone to see all the stuff it actually does. Even though the option is there I don't think it will back up imei stuff or carrier(SIM) unlock this phone yet.
Yes you can do as many backups as you like lol. Just keep in mind the recovery based back ups are recovery dependant. If you make a recovery with CWM then switch recoveries to TWRP the backup you made with CWM won't be campatible with TWRP. I suggest picking a recovery(hint,hint...TWRP lol) and sticking with it. I seriously advise reading through this thread before doing any major flashing and back up your imei info and saving it a couple different places.
I suggested picking a recovery and sticking with it because even though tiny there is always that chance that something could go wrong during a flash and brick your phone(soft or hard). Flashing ROMs that chance is very slim and if something does go wrong its usually just a soft brick and easy to recover from(restore a nandroid you created usually), unless you flash a ROM from some other device, thats could potentially wreck your phone. Flashing recoveries that chance is still also small but if something goes wrong it will be harder to recover from as now there won't be a recovery and you'll have to flash using odin through download mode and can be a pain. Remember I said slim chances of flashed going bad, just be aware that no matter how slim, it could still happen. The chances of winning the lottery are slim but someone always wins it lol.
jethro650 said:
The dialer codes are "hidden" as they are used by service techs who repair phones and generally aren't suppposed to be used by the end user lol. But then again the end user isn't supposed to root and install custom software either
I don't think stock recovery has an option to back up anything it is just used to install over-the-air updates and official software.
Titanium backup allows you to back up various things in android such as SMS, MMS, call logs apps and thier data(app settings, game saves). You can only back up app data if your rooted. If your going to be flashing ROMs then you will want either Titanium back or My back up root<--does the same stuff as Titanium back only easier user interface.
Right on the money about the toolkit. You can install it on your computer and browse through the menus and stuff without hooking up your phone to see all the stuff it actually does. Even though the option is there I don't think it will back up imei stuff or carrier(SIM) unlock this phone yet.
Yes you can do as many backups as you like lol. Just keep in mind the recovery based back ups are recovery dependant. If you make a recovery with CWM then switch recoveries to TWRP the backup you made with CWM won't be campatible with TWRP. I suggest picking a recovery(hint,hint...TWRP lol) and sticking with it. I seriously advise reading through this thread before doing any major flashing and back up your imei info and saving it a couple different places.
I suggested picking a recovery and sticking with it because even though tiny there is always that chance that something could go wrong during a flash and brick your phone(soft or hard). Flashing ROMs that chance is very slim and if something does go wrong its usually just a soft brick and easy to recover from(restore a nandroid you created usually), unless you flash a ROM from some other device, thats could potentially wreck your phone. Flashing recoveries that chance is still also small but if something goes wrong it will be harder to recover from as now there won't be a recovery and you'll have to flash using odin through download mode and can be a pain. Remember I said slim chances of flashed going bad, just be aware that no matter how slim, it could still happen. The chances of winning the lottery are slim but someone always wins it lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wait so you are not recommending me to back up a twrp and then back up a cwm?
Cant twrp still restore with twrp and cwm with cwm?
Yes you can do both but they arent compatible with each other. You are right twrp with twrp and cwm with cwm. The point I was trying to make is that you should pick one recovery or the other and stick with it. Nandroid are fairly large in size and will eat up a lot of space. Not to mention having to flash back and forth between recoveries. In the end thier is no reason why you can't except the inconvenience of dealing with two recoveries thag arent compatible with each other.

[Q] How to Root/use Recovery on a fully encrypted International Note 2 LTE?

Hi all,
I recently got a HK N7105 and because it lacked the possibility to use a french keyboard I upgraded to a stock unbranded ROM from Sweden (XXDLL1) and succesfully rooted with the relevant CF_autoroot through Odin. Also installed TWRP 2.3.3.1.
Then, I connected the Note 2 to my corporate exchange server which enforced a full encryption policy (device and external SD card) so I had to type in a password at each boot time (with a "nice" swedish prompt that took ma while to decypher), plus a password to unlock the screen. All was well as the root survived the process.
Next I upgraded to a later stock ROM from France (XXDLL4 from SFR) to try and get rid of the swedish prompt. That worked fine (and root was loast in the process, as expected) but I hated the branded stuff so much I reverted to XXDLL1 until a proper unbranded "english" or "french" ROM is available.
At this point I decided to root again. I was running XXDLL1 like the first time and used the same autoroot tar from Chainfire. Except my Note 2 was still encrypted and after that it would not accept my boot password (a four digit PIN) anymore so I was guted and had to factory reset and root then reinstall everything before reconnecting to the exchange server.
Question 1: Does anyone know of a safe, proven way to root a fully encrypted Samsung device so I can go another upgrade without having to wipe the device first?
Why reinstall everything? Why not backup everything first so you can restore after the wipe? Well, it so happens that no recovery (at least neither CWM or TWRP) can read any encrypted media on the Note 2 at the moment. And no Recovery can actually fully backup the device as well.
Question 2: Does anyone know of a proper way to handle this situation with minimum hassle?
So far, the best I can think of is doing a Titanium backup and FTP the files to my NAS so I can retrieve them later. But (Question 3) will this be enough to restore my phone to the expected state after a stock firmware upgrade?
Thanks in advance,
François
frankieGom said:
Hi all,
I recently got a HK N7105 and because it lacked the possibility to use a french keyboard I upgraded to a stock unbranded ROM from Sweden (XXDLL1) and succesfully rooted with the relevant CF_autoroot through Odin. Also installed TWRP 2.3.3.1.
Then, I connected the Note 2 to my corporate exchange server which enforced a full encryption policy (device and external SD card) so I had to type in a password at each boot time (with a "nice" swedish prompt that took ma while to decypher), plus a password to unlock the screen. All was well as the root survived the process.
Next I upgraded to a later stock ROM from France (XXDLL4 from SFR) to try and get rid of the swedish prompt. That worked fine (and root was loast in the process, as expected) but I hated the branded stuff so much I reverted to XXDLL1 until a proper unbranded "english" or "french" ROM is available.
At this point I decided to root again. I was running XXDLL1 like the first time and used the same autoroot tar from Chainfire. Except my Note 2 was still encrypted and after that it would not accept my boot password (a four digit PIN) anymore so I was guted and had to factory reset and root then reinstall everything before reconnecting to the exchange server.
Question 1: Does anyone know of a safe, proven way to root a fully encrypted Samsung device so I can go another upgrade without having to wipe the device first?
Why reinstall everything? Why not backup everything first so you can restore after the wipe? Well, it so happens that no recovery (at least neither CWM or TWRP) can read any encrypted media on the Note 2 at the moment. And no Recovery can actually fully backup the device as well.
Question 2: Does anyone know of a proper way to handle this situation with minimum hassle?
So far, the best I can think of is doing a Titanium backup and FTP the files to my NAS so I can retrieve them later. But (Question 3) will this be enough to restore my phone to the expected state after a stock firmware upgrade?
Thanks in advance,
François
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think using Exynos Abuse apk will do the work
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2050297
Thanks for the heads up, I'll look into it. But to be clear, that answers question 1, correct?
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app
frankieGom said:
Thanks for the heads up, I'll look into it. But to be clear, that answers question 1, correct?
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes that's a way to root the device.
Regarding encryption, very few people on xda seem to use it. So for that reason you'll have trouble finding out what works... I do use it though through choice so I can help you a bit.
When you encrypt the device, just consider /data to be off limits to anything not booted fully. That's why it asks you for your key in swedish - it can't see what language is in use until you unlock /data.
You will have issues using recovery with the device, since they can't read /data. You can use an external sd to perhaps load data to the device though.
I believe that TWRP might soon support the Samsung encryption on the device, meaning you could use it as recovery. Once you have a recovery that supports Samsung encryption, you should be able to consider it a fairly normal device.
Just be more cautious to backup your data as it is hard to recover if something goes wrong...
If your using stock rom 4.1.2, exynos abuse method of root will not work. It's been patched
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app
pulser_g2 said:
Yes that's a way to root the device.
Regarding encryption, very few people on xda seem to use it. So for that reason you'll have trouble finding out what works... I do use it though through choice so I can help you a bit.
When you encrypt the device, just consider /data to be off limits to anything not booted fully. That's why it asks you for your key in swedish - it can't see what language is in use until you unlock /data.
You will have issues using recovery with the device, since they can't read /data. You can use an external sd to perhaps load data to the device though.
I believe that TWRP might soon support the Samsung encryption on the device, meaning you could use it as recovery. Once you have a recovery that supports Samsung encryption, you should be able to consider it a fairly normal device.
Just be more cautious to backup your data as it is hard to recover if something goes wrong...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fine, I understand. As long as I have a way to recover my data if I need to wipe I'm okay... I just have to hope Titanium backup gives me that until TWRP can manage encruption on the Note 2.
I'm really waiting for a stock rom that boots in English or French now.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app
vash_h said:
If your using stock rom 4.1.2, exynos abuse method of root will not work. It's been patched
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not the case with xxdll1. When was it patched, xxdll4 or xxdll7?
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app
frankieGom said:
Not the case with xxdll1. When was it patched, xxdll4 or xxdll7?
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am on Stock 4.1.2 and Exynos Abuse did work on my device, it's successfully rooted using the Exynos AbuseAPK on 4.1.2 :good:
OK, now I have been experimenting a bit with backups and upgrade and have trouble restoring my device fully. Let me explain...
I got hold of a TWRP build that seems to handle Samsung encryption fine through one of the TWRP devs (thanks!), so I decided to go back and try to update my device.
Current ROM: N7105XXDLL1_N7105TLADLL1_N7105XXDLK7_HOME.tar (obtained from Samsung Updates)
New ROM: N7105XXDLL7_N7105OLBDLL2_N7105DXDLL1_HOME.tar (obtained from Samsung Updates)
First I performed a complete Titanium Backup on the device and pulled the files to my laptop using ADB.
Then I restarted into TWRP 2.4.0.0 (got a prompt for my password), performed a full backup and pulled the files to the laptop using ADB.
(for some reason, I could not install the new ROM from TWRP (unable to open ZIP), but the ZIP looked OK, as well as after a second download which TWRP since did not like, so I had to use Odin instead).
Next, I flashed DLL7 with Odin. It worked, asked for the password at boot, but the device was unrooted at this point (I expected that).
Then, I flashed CF-Auto-Root-t0lte-t0ltexx-gtn7105.tar from Odin, but the boot up password would not be accepted anymore as I already knew.
Tried to flash DLL7 again from Odin, same thing
Flashed TWRP back on recovery partition, but on startup it would not ask for password anymore and the external sdcard looked empty to it.
I then copied my backup to a different, non encrypted sdcard and could restore from TWRP but the password would still not work after reboot.
I did a factory reset, restored backup, same result.
At this point I decided to factory reset, wipe Dalvik and format /data. The format did the trick and after TWRP restore of my original back up the device booted up, did not ask for password and all my data was there. Except the Exchange account I use for Corporate email wants me to restore encryption in order to work (I expected that too).
Back at DLL1, so I flashed DLL7 again with Odin (OK), rooted the phone, triangled away the flash counter and reflashed TWRP to recovery.
I was where I wanted to be except for one thing: I need to restore Corporate access. But when I let it encryp the phone it does nothing. I let it through the night and nothing). And if I reboot the phone no password is needed at boot time, yet the phone seems to behave as if it thought the device was still encrypted...
I reflashed my original, full, backup (i.e DLL1) succesfully but Exchange still wants to encrypt my device. Isn't restore supposed to restore the encrypted /data I backed up?
At this point I'm left with possibly tryinjg to go back to full factory settings, not use the backup at all, encrypt the device then restore my data from the Titanium backup I made.
Is there a better option?
[edited jan 18 - TWRP/TB behaviour]
My comments apply to encrypted devices only! I am not trying to talk down TWRP or TB here, as they provide splendid performance on non encrypted devices. I have come upon hard time trying to upgrade/restore an encrypted device using thoise tools, that's all
For those considering upgrading & re-rooting encrypted devices, don't!
I am finding the hard way that this is a one way street. At this point, my TWRP made full backup does not restore the device to the expected status. Each time I apply it, subsequent bootup takes several minutes and I end up going through the initial setup procedure. It seems the device for some reasoin goes through a complete reset procedure.
[edit]
Clarification: The TWRP build I use, 2.4.0.0 is an alpha build and I was not current when I restored my backup. I so happens that it was overwriting the encryption header on the partition, which messed things up bad, and had issues writing back the data partition, ending up in a factory reset status!
Using the latest drop as of today (jan 27) I was able to restore my original backup and am now back to my original state. All is well.
[/edit]
Titanium Backup is none better. It keeps telling me that my Android ID has changed, a host of system applications start to fail when I try to restore and generally speaking I have now spent between a good 20 hours trying to simply restore my data.
[edit]
this behaviour is probably linked to encryption. I know for a fact that TB works very well on non encrypted phones. The 20h figure is overall, not just with TB.
[/edit]
The end story is: root before you encrypt, and either don't upgrade or don't re-root if you do! If you do, be prepared for some rough times...
Unless someone has a cleat idea of how to do this properly without losing all your data, that is.
François
frankieGom said:
For those considering upgrading & re-rooting encrypted devices, don't!
I am finding the hard way that this is a one way street. At this point, my TWRP made full backup does not restore the device to the expected status. Each time I apply it, subsequent bootup takes several minutes and I end up going through the initial setup procedure. It seems the device for some reasoin goes through a complete reset procedure.
Titanium Backup is none better. It keeps telling me that my Android ID has changed, a host of system applications start to fail when I try to restore and generally speaking I have now spent between a good 20 hours trying to simply restore my data.
The end story is: root before you encrypt, and either don't upgrade or don't re-root if you do!
Unless someone has a cleat idea of how to do this properly without losing all your data, that is.
François
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had no issues despite doing upgrades, with and without wipes.
Titanium is fine, just stop restoring system app data. Seriously, what data do you have in a system app that you want to restore.
Restore your user apps, their data, and the xml based call, sms, Wifi backups. It will work fine.
Device ID isn't a problem - it's just trying to help you.
pulser_g2 said:
I have had no issues despite doing upgrades, with and without wipes.
Titanium is fine, just stop restoring system app data. Seriously, what data do you have in a system app that you want to restore.
Restore your user apps, their data, and the xml based call, sms, Wifi backups. It will work fine.
Device ID isn't a problem - it's just trying to help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry if I came across dissing Titanium Backup and/or TWRP. This was not the intent... I am sure both tools work real nice in general cases (and I have had success restoring data on a Jetstream before).
My main issue here is _full device encryption_ enforced by my company's corporate IT to allow me on the corporate exchange server. Do you have full device encryption on?
On my device, even after a full wipe and flashing a fresh stock rom Titanium Backup just did not work as I hoped. When I had to confirm individual popups of apps closing unexpectedly while it was proceeding and got nothing back in the end, what was I supposed to think? It could be that I don't understand how TB works... I was neither able to restore missing apps after the flash (missing apps: 0) nor installed apps data (they would close unexpectedly when started after restoring the back up). So I say: until full operation of TB on encrypted devices is documented, I will stay away from it, even though I am a registered user (and I do not plan to seek reimbursment)!
Anyway, I got to a belated happy ending (previous post edited).
frankieGom said:
Sorry if I came across dissing Titanium Backup and/or TWRP. This was not the intent... I am sure both tools work real nice in general cases (and I have had success restoring data on a Jetstream before).
My main issue here is _full device encryption_ enforced by my company's corporate IT to allow me on the corporate exchange server. Do you have full device encryption on?
On my device, even after a full wipe and flashing a fresh stock rom Titanium Backup just did not work as I hoped. When I had to confirm individual popups of apps closing unexpectedly while it was proceeding and got nothing back in the end, what was I supposed to think? It could be that I don't understand how TB works... I was neither able to restore missing apps after the flash (missing apps: 0) nor installed apps data (they would close unexpectedly when started after restoring the back up). So I say: until full operation of TB on encrypted devices is documented, I will stay away from it, even though I am a registered user (and I do not plan to seek reimbursment)!
Anyway, I got to a belated happy ending (previous post edited).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup I use device encryption Enabled manually, but it's the same encryption.
You should find that titanium shouldn't even be aware of it - the encryption is transparent!
I wonder... I'm sure lenny had that issue on a recent 4.1.2 "stock" ROM... And he doesn't use encryption...
I personally have had no issues with titanium on an encrypted device anyway
I notice you were using the newest rom - that's the one lenny had issues on.
pulser_g2 said:
Yup I use device encryption Enabled manually, but it's the same encryption.
You should find that titanium shouldn't even be aware of it - the encryption is transparent!
I wonder... I'm sure lenny had that issue on a recent 4.1.2 "stock" ROM... And he doesn't use encryption...
I personally have had no issues with titanium on an encrypted device anyway
I notice you were using the newest rom - that's the one lenny had issues on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly like I thought, encryption should be transparent to Titanium Backup since it runs within the OS.
I have had problems restoring into 4.1.2 DLL1 (the build I came from) and DLL7 (the one I was trying to go to)
The point is moot anyway since the DLL7 I tried was actually branded (Singtel stuff all around the launcher) and did not include French, which is why restoring my TWRP backup was a tempting proposition.
Good to know TB runs fine with encryption as well. What ROM are you running?
François
frankieGom said:
Hi all,
I recently got a HK N7105 and because it lacked the possibility to use a french keyboard I upgraded to a stock unbranded ROM from Sweden (XXDLL1) and succesfully rooted with the relevant CF_autoroot through Odin. Also installed TWRP 2.3.3.1.
Then, I connected the Note 2 to my corporate exchange server which enforced a full encryption policy (device and external SD card) so I had to type in a password at each boot time (with a "nice" swedish prompt that took ma while to decypher), plus a password to unlock the screen. All was well as the root survived the process.
Next I upgraded to a later stock ROM from France (XXDLL4 from SFR) to try and get rid of the swedish prompt. That worked fine (and root was loast in the process, as expected) but I hated the branded stuff so much I reverted to XXDLL1 until a proper unbranded "english" or "french" ROM is available.
At this point I decided to root again. I was running XXDLL1 like the first time and used the same autoroot tar from Chainfire. Except my Note 2 was still encrypted and after that it would not accept my boot password (a four digit PIN) anymore so I was guted and had to factory reset and root then reinstall everything before reconnecting to the exchange server.
Question 1: Does anyone know of a safe, proven way to root a fully encrypted Samsung device so I can go another upgrade without having to wipe the device first?
Why reinstall everything? Why not backup everything first so you can restore after the wipe? Well, it so happens that no recovery (at least neither CWM or TWRP) can read any encrypted media on the Note 2 at the moment. And no Recovery can actually fully backup the device as well.
Question 2: Does anyone know of a proper way to handle this situation with minimum hassle?
So far, the best I can think of is doing a Titanium backup and FTP the files to my NAS so I can retrieve them later. But (Question 3) will this be enough to restore my phone to the expected state after a stock firmware upgrade?
Thanks in advance,
François
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
About a backup : have you tried Online Nandroid (Playstore) (or similar, based on Onandroid) ? This makes a CWM or TWRP compatible backup while the device is running (everything should be unencrypted at this moment).
See http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1620255
About rooting : you can try the same trick as above, by using ADB-shell and pushing the needed files to root to the device while it is running.
For my S3 there is a Toolkit that automates all this (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1703488), maybe there is something similar for your device ?
If not, you should still be able to do it using manual ADB-pushing.
I'm sorry I can't give you detailed instructions about the rooting as I'm not familiar with your device. Search here on XDA and you'll find more details.
pat357 said:
About a backup : have you tried Online Nandroid (Playstore) (or similar, based on Onandroid) ? This makes a CWM or TWRP compatible backup while the device is running (everything should be unencrypted at this moment).
See http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1620255
About rooting : you can try the same trick as above, by using ADB-shell and pushing the needed files to root to the device while it is running.
For my S3 there is a Toolkit that automates all this (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1703488), maybe there is something similar for your device ?
If not, you should still be able to do it using manual ADB-pushing.
I'm sorry I can't give you detailed instructions about the rooting as I'm not familiar with your device. Search here on XDA and you'll find more details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestions, and no I had not tried Online Nandroid as I was not aware of it. Anyway, my main issue is now resolved since TWRP has include support for Samsung TouchWiz based encryption in 2.4 and that works well.
For those interested, the only remaining issues I have with TWRP regarding encryption are that if you want to format /data from TWRP (say, to remove encryption) it will fail unless you _do not_ enter the password at boot, and the TWRP formated /data cannot be re-encrypted (you must use stock recovery to factory reset/wipe the device or else the encryption step will sit deat in the water doing nothing). I suppose the second one is a bug that will be fixed in a later version.
I will check Online Nandroid out anyway, being able to make a backup from a live system sounds good!
François
frankieGom said:
Thanks for the suggestions, and no I had not tried Online Nandroid as I was not aware of it. Anyway, my main issue is now resolved since TWRP has include support for Samsung TouchWiz based encryption in 2.4 and that works well.
For those interested, the only remaining issues I have with TWRP regarding encryption are that if you want to format /data from TWRP (say, to remove encryption) it will fail unless you _do not_ enter the password at boot, and the TWRP formated /data cannot be re-encrypted (you must use stock recovery to factory reset/wipe the device or else the encryption step will sit deat in the water doing nothing). I suppose the second one is a bug that will be fixed in a later version.
I will check Online Nandroid out anyway, being able to make a backup from a live system sounds good!
François
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a similar issue. I had the device encrypted and decided to ROOT (using CF-AutoRoot). Unfortunately I cannot bypass the password screen now, although I know that I'm entering the right password. You are saying that if I flash TWRP everything will be fine?
ludovicianul said:
I have a similar issue. I had the device encrypted and decided to ROOT (using CF-AutoRoot). Unfortunately I cannot bypass the password screen now, although I know that I'm entering the right password. You are saying that if I flash TWRP everything will be fine?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Two separate things:
Root messing up encrypted touchwiz devices and twrp not handling touchwiz encrypted partitions properly.
The 2nd one, as much as I can tell, is fixed since before 2.5 so if youwork with the latest (2.6) you should be fine.
The first one I haven't played with in a while, but my finding is that you don't want to root a device once it's been encrypted. I've tried several different methods including rooting as you flag as is possible with twrp and all end up the same:the password is not recognised anymore!
The only thing that works for me is rooting before encrypting or only flashing pre-rooted ROMs.
frankieGom said:
Two separate things:
Root messing up encrypted touchwiz devices and twrp not handling touchwiz encrypted partitions properly.
The 2nd one, as much as I can tell, is fixed since before 2.5 so if youwork with the latest (2.6) you should be fine.
The first one I haven't played with in a while, but my finding is that you don't want to root a device once it's been encrypted. I've tried several different methods including rooting as you flag as is possible with twrp and all end up the same:the password is not recognised anymore!
The only thing that works for me is rooting before encrypting or only flashing pre-rooted ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes - I had to factory reset the phone and format the SD Card. Never root AFTER encryption :silly:

[Q] Having a problem I never encountered before

I have used Clockworkmod to backup and restore my Samsung GS4 Many, Many times. I have never had any problems restoring any previous backup before. Today after my phone updated an app from the play store, it started acting funny, so I made a backup, (like I have many times before) and after it was completed (no error messages) I proceeded to recover a previous backup that I restored a few times before, and it ended in a "Error while restoring /system!
I tried rebooting the phone and it just hung in the boot animation so I booted back into the recovery mode and again tried the same restore image, but same error. I then tried one that was done before the one I was having problems with, and got the same error. I have a hard time believing that all these backups have suddenly become bad! They ALL PASS THE MD5 CHECKSUM so they must be good!
UPDATE:
I failed to mention, that the phone was UNLOCKED when I made the backup and tried to restore it...
Not sure if that has any bearing on the result. I can restore an older version that was not unlocked when I made the backup, but it's waaaaay back and I lose so much of my data if I have to use that.
I'm not so sure what to do now. My phone is not too useful if it cannot be restored.....
Any help on what I can do to recover would be much appreciated.
Mahalo! (Thanks!)
Running stock 4.2.2 - Rooted Running another restore again. I wiped all the stuff I dare do and re-running the recovery (it takes a while to do)
Will post results after this one succeeds or bombs. :<(
I had this problem once with my s3.. I couldn't figure out now to fix it but what I ended up doing was reflashing my ROM from a clean state and then just restored the data from the backups in recovery.. All your apps and data will be restored except your system apps or mods
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

HELP! Factory reset while rebooting into recovery!

Hey guys,
I really need help. I was about to update my brother op3 from 3.2.4 to 3.2.8. When I was done I wanted to continue to flash to 4.0 but when I use the advanced reboot to boot into recovery it suddenly said "factory reset"!!!! Everything is gone even from the storage! I cant even backup from the backup file from twrp because it is gone! Can anyone please help me out? There are software to recovery this but I have to pay for all of them and they are not cheap!
Thank you in advance!
After a factory reset, even paid recovery tools aren't able to fully restore your data to their original state. At best, you'll get back a majority of the individual files you had on your phone prior to the wipe. The more you use the phone after wiping it, the more the old data is overwritten. At this point, I would just make the best out of this unfortunate event and clean flash whatever OS you were trying to update to. At least the phone will be de-cluttered at this point. You may even notice that the phone feels a little faster afterwards, and may even improve your battery life slightly.
If you had something really important on your phone that wasn't backed up, data recovery tools may be able to restore it, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Additionally, TWRP backups do not backup media files such as music, photos, personal documents, etc. Even if you were able to find a nandroid backup, you would only get back your OS, apps, and app data. Most of this can be restored by just downloading everything again.
In the future, I would recommend saving nandroid backups directly to a USB flash drive through USB OTG. Music and photos can also be backed up to the cloud through various free or paid services (Google Photos for example).
shujin51 said:
Hey guys,
I really need help. I was about to update my brother op3 from 3.2.4 to 3.2.8. When I was done I wanted to continue to flash to 4.0 but when I use the advanced reboot to boot into recovery it suddenly said "factory reset"!!!! Everything is gone even from the storage! I cant even backup from the backup file from twrp because it is gone! Can anyone please help me out? There are software to recovery this but I have to pay for all of them and they are not cheap!
Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chance to recover your files are verry slim. Use the TWRP provided by Bluspark, it's on his main thread, stock twrp seems to have many issues.

Bootloop at green HTC Boot Animation after trying to restore TWRP

Hello,
sorry if this has been mentioned anywhere before, but I wasn't able to find something similar.
So I know why way around with my old Nexus 5 in things backing up the phone with Titanium or TWRP, but since it's wifi module died on me I switchted to the HTC 10, which is kinda intimidating to me when it comes to updating to new OS or backing up. With the NExus 5 it was a walk in the park for me.
First, I don't really understand the concept of S-On and S-Off. Don't know if this is related to my problem, just wanted to mention it.
My HTC 10 is rooted, bootloader unlocked, S-On and runs on 7.0 2.41.401.41.
TWRP is the latest available version.
Before I rooted the phone I made a backup of the stock system image etc like explained in one of those "how to root the htc 10" tutorials (no writing allowed).
To root I had to allow writing onto the system partition of course.
Now, I made an TWRP backup. I backed up everything that was available in TWRP. Userdata, cache, system etc.
Few weeks ago I ran into some problems (I though I did, turned out Google App is just weird) and wanted to restore my TWRP backup.
So I did. Went to TWRP and restored the backup from my SD card.
Got no error messages during the process, but when I wanted to boot up the phone the green HTC boot animation did its thing and then froze at the HTC logo, which would result in a bootloop after ~10 minutes of waiting.
Could force the phone to go into bootloader and from there into TWRP, but that's the best I could do.
Also removed SD and SIM card trays, but that didnt do anything.
Had to factory reset and then do a backup via Titanium backup, which is better than nothing but still a pain in the a** because some things just have to be set up manually, which took me quite a while. I honestly don't want do that again anytime soon
Does anyone have an idea what could went wrong or what I did wrong during the backing up and restoring process?
Except for that, I tried to understand how to update to an upcoming version of the OS when the phone is rooted with S-On and how I could keep my userdata? On the Nexus 5 I just manually installed everything via adb except userdata.img and only had to re-root the phone afterwards. I am afraid this isn't possible with the HTC 10, am I right?
The HTC 10 forces encryption and that has broken TWRP restore for me if I try to switch between ROMs. If I switch ROMs then I have to do a full wipe / format. The one time I tried to go back to my original OS I had a similar issue and I ended up flashing the full RUU to get back to stock.
The only time I am able to restore in TWRP is if I'm returning to the same ROM that I am currently running. Even then I usually just restore the data.

Categories

Resources