[Q] OTA Update and Safestrap Clarification - Motorola Droid Bionic

Hello all,
I've been running Eclipse 2.2 on 902 for some time and I've stubbornly refused to switch away from using bootstrap for all my backup needs, however, after reading enough about it I decided to give safestrap a try. I've had a little trouble with the process however and was looking for a little clarity...
My understanding with safestrap was that in addition to giving me a safe (technically unsafe) 2nd partition/access to recovery in case I messed something up, that it would also pretty easily transfer data, apps, etc from one partition to the next, making flashing roms (and I thought updating) much easier and quicker without needing to backup individual portions of my system, Is this correct or am I mistaken?
Onward to what I did (my goal is to update to 905 and install eclipse 3.0) - Installed safestrap, backed up safe and unsafe side. I then went to unsafe and used bootstrap to restore to IMMEDIATELY after I applied the 902 update (had backed it up previously). This backup was literally a stock Bionic which I had updated from 886 all the way to 902, rooted, then installed bootstrap to backup. I then updated this to 905 with no issue, and of course backed it up... From here, my understanding was that I could simply swap over to safe side, then install the eclipse 3.0 through finding a zip in recovery - Recovery would not do this for me. It gave me an error similar to "cannot apply eclipse3.0.zip (bad)"
I tried to push the ROM both without making any changes (just switching from unsafe to safe and immediately trying to apply the zip) and when that didn't work I wiped data, formatted system, and wiped cache/dalvik and got the same error. (the net result through all of this was making my safe side non-responsive, and me ending up restoring safe side system to the initial backup I had made about 30 minutes prior).
Is this working as intended? Should I look at safestrap as purely an extra failsafe to keep me from bricking my phone and not an easier method to flash/update? If I have to expect that I need to go to safe, follow the same path to apply the update as I did on unsafe, then flash 3.0 and restore with titaniumbackup, sms/call log backup, etc, I will, but I just wanted to make sure I'm not misunderstanding something with safestrap that may allow me to make this whole process easier - I'd be much more interested in trying out a variety of ROMs if the restoring of my data wasn't such a hassle when I did it.
Sorry for the long post - I'm long winded and also wanted to get all of the information out there for anyone who may answer.
Thanks in advance!
-Jamie

Guess I was too wordy and nobody wants to read it (or posted in the wrong spot maybe) -
tldr:
Is there a way to use safestrap as having a way to easily transfer data etc from one rom/update to the next? or should I be using it solely to have an extra backup to prevent me from bricking my phone, and just do the longer more arduous methods of restoring data and settings after a rom swap/update?

I'm no expert but I have successfully used Safestrap, installed eclipse 3.0 as well as tried other roms and themes, and have other Android experience as well. Sounded like you may have used bootstrap and Safestrap at the same time. Am I wrong? If not, from my understanding that is a no no. Uninstall bootstrap completely and use Safestrap only. I also upgraded my "unsafe" system to .905 via OTA before attempting 3.0. My first experience with Safestrap, however, was not entirely positive either. I think my download was corrupt because it stopped working correctly. I downloaded again and haven't had any problems since. I followed this guide http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1455888 and it worked. He's not really all that clear at times. It's also not necessary to factory reset after flashing a new rom. Always do it, but it can be done before too. I always do it before and have no problems. Also if you decide to apply a theme make sure you boot up the new ROM before flashing the theme. This guide was not entirely clear on that and it got stuck in a wicked boot loop that ended with me on stock and Safestrap gone. Keep trying. Hope some of this helped. I'm wordy too
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Btw, to answer your first question, the best way I've found to transfer user apps from ROM to ROM is with titanium backup. Other data will still be on your sd cards and accessible to the new ROM. I never use titanium to restore system settings and most system apps though. Things tend to get messed up if you try to do this from one rom to another. System apps can be converted to user apps with titanium which is cool then backed up and restored to new ROM. And never restore Google play app with titanium. Some go so far as to say don't restore apps with data but I haven't had any trouble except with core google apps like play, gmail, voice. Usually flash gapps if I have to and restore other core Google apps directly from play store. Sometimes titanium "hangs" on some apps. Not to much trouble with it lately maybe it's fixed used to be a PIA though.Sorry there's still plenty of setup involved any time you want to "dial in" a new ROM.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Thanks G-diddy,
To clarify, I knew bootstrap and safestrap didn't play well together. That being said, I did NOT use safestrap to try and restore to a bootstrap backup. I installed safestrap, then swapped to my UNSAFE side, then restored to a previous bootstrap backup (using bootstrap), then OTAd to .905. I then backed up this fresh near stock but rooted .905 with safestrap (thus should never have to use bootstrap ever again). I then tried to swap over to safe and push eclipse 3.0 but had no success... At present my phone has near stock but rooted .905 on my unsafe side, and the same .902 with 2.2 eclipse on my safe side that I've been running for months...
I guess I have no choice but to restore my present safe side to the old bootstrap backup, then manually ota, then install the rom, I just thought that Safestrap would make all of this process easier - in as much as since my unsafe side is successfully updated, I was hoping my safe side would be too, making the process somewhat simpler. Sounds like I'm wrong in this assumption though, unless someone else can say otherwise?
Thanks for the tip on Titanium Backup too, although I've been using the premium version of that for months now, ever since I decided I was going to turn my phone into a toy

Related

Comprehensive Backup and Subsequent Restore after a Reflash

I currently have Cognition beta 6 installed and want to reflash or update to beta 9. How can I backup my apps, settings and media? It’s my understanding that TiB is for only apps and will not do non-app-phone-settings (possibly not app settings ether?)? Correct me if I’m wrong on that. Also, should I use Nandroid?
________________________
From the CogWiki:
Can I do an Nandroid Backup when the install is done?
If you are running CogYo beta 6 or later OR Cognition for Eclair, yes, as we can once again get back into Clockwork Recovery.
If you are running beta 5.5 or earlier, no, you can't currently do a clockwork nandroid backup as its not compatible with 2.2's new recovery (3e) without performing the "kernel swap" trick. You can update to a newer version of CogYo or revert to Eclair to re-institute this functionality.
__________________________
I am at CogB6 so this applies but I’m not entirely sure what it means.
In summary what can I do to get a comprehensive backup and subsequent restore after a reflash?
Thanks,
JOe K.
Several different things to address first your main question. Yes you need titanium backup. Its a great app and a lifesaver. As for moving phone settings thats when things get tricky. I tried restoring system apps and had horrible luck. It is going to mess things up bc the settings won't be the same and will cause funky bugs. Save your self some time and don't try to move your system settings from version to version.
2nd question clockwork basically makes a complete copy of your phone with all settings apps texts contacts etc. but it is only useful if you screw something up and need to restore your phone to a previous version
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

[Q] CWM Recovery Restore Problem

I have an ATT Captivate running the stock ATT Froyo upgrade. The phone has been rooted and SU and Busybox installed using Titanium Backup. The modified recovery file has been installed to allow 3e recovery to load unsigned files. CWM Rocovery 2.5.1.2 is installed and seems to be working.
I have several games and apps installed but nothing that would require root access except ROM Manager, Ti Backup and File Expert. The phone is running Launcher Pro. It is pretty much stock except for the changes listed above.
I performed two backups of the phone about a week apart and copied them to my computer and left them on the internal SD card as well. I made a couple of changes to the icons on my home screen so I could verify if a restore ran succesfully.
I ran the restore from the most recent backup. I expected the restore to fail right away, brick my phone or run successfully. The restore ran, indicating that files where being restored and at some point the phone rebooted.
When it came back up TwLauncher was running with the Blue Sea wallpaper as the background which I believe is the default. Most of my apps weren't on the home screens or in the app drawer. These included both the standard ATT and 3rd party apps.
I tried using my first backup with the same results. I was able to do a factory reset on the phone to get it back to its original state. I was then able to use Ti Backup to reinstall everything.
Is there something I am missing in the backup or restore process? It seems pretty fool proof. I checked threads and once people get past the 3e recovery issue it seems like it is pretty much problem free for people.
Could someone at least let me know if I need to do something other than Backup and Restore to get this to work? From the posts it seems like there are a lot of people using this successfully.
it has always worked fine for me as long as i was not going back and forth from 2.1-2.2
i dont really know what your issue could be

Apps FC after applying Speedmod Lagfix on Froyo Stock

After getting Clockwork Mod working and making a Nandroid backup, I decided to apply hardcore's Speedmod Lagfix. When it was done I ended up with most of my apps force closing, including Launcher Pro, which made it very difficult to do anything. I was able to switch to TW Launcher so I could do things. I tried to restore some apps and data with TI, but get a message saying my phone won't allow it for security reasons. I was able to previously as I installed Amazon Market app on my rooted Cappy with stock Froyo. I found out after lots of work that if I uninstalled and re-installed apps they worked fine. Hoping to avoid having to do that. I also tried the fix permissions options in recovery to no avail.
Did I do something wrong or have I left a step out in applying the lagfix? My thoughts are I may have to do a nandroid restore, but am hoping not to. My plans are to flash Fasty ROM eventually. Is it better to get this cleaned up first or restore back to stock, without lagfix possibly, and then flash?
Thanks for any assistance.
if you're going to flash a different rom why worry about problems your having on your current os? its kinda like asking this:"windows xp is giving problems should i resolve those before installing windows 7?"
the enabling of the lagfix makes a nandroid backup, wipes everything to format to ext4 and then restores everything. sounds like perhaps that data was corrupted. make a fresh tibu backup, disable lagfix, do a wipey wipe of data, cache, and dalvik from cwm and flash a new rom, and then only restore MISSING APPS + DATA. DO NOT RESTORE ANY SYSTEM DATA.
Thanks for the advice. I'll try it later when I get home. I guess I'm being a bit careful and want to be comfortable in taking the next step. Since this is my only phone for right now, I can't afford to be without it very long. I've been looking for a cheap, broken screen, yet working Cappy on eBay to let me toy around with.

Help installing OTA update

Okay so i messed up and geting fc issue with my text messaging app and am not able to install it from titianium backup no matter what i do (i have pro). Found /system image here and just need help installing it.
I want to keep it stock but remove bloat. Can i just copy the zip file to sd and install? or use RSD Lite?
I also read that if you replace the build.prop to and older say 2.3.4 and then try to do the ota upgrade it will work. Can anyone confirm this works and has older build.prop?
Using XT860 on Bell canada
**Backup whatever you can before using RSDlite as this will wipe your phone (except /sdcard /sdcard-ext)**
It's probably possible to fix your SMS issues but I don't know how.. maybe start by taking a look at the logs..
adb logcat .. or some logcat app from the market. You should probably start by this, unless you feel ready to jump into custom ROMs..
If all else fails you can always get a fresh system image..
But unlike the XT862.. we XT860 users on Bell don't have a leaked official SBF file to flash back to stock Bell with RSDlite/fastboot.
But we can flash a few leaked Latin America SBF files and change the language back to English/French.
http://sbf.droid-developers.org/umts_solana/list.php
The only way that I know of so far.. to get back to stock Bell is to use Willis111 file and flash it from recovery like a ROM:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1465153
Either way, I suggest you then install hashcode's safestrap so you have working custom recovery with backups and everything.. and try out the latest CM9. Safestrap will allow you to easily switch between stock and custom ROM and backup/restore your future setups in case something goes wrong in the future..
http://blog.hash-of-codes.com/
~Sent from my unbricked XT860 running CM9 installed in hashcode's safestrap over the LatAm 2.3.6 SBF.
i used http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1340492 and got all my bloat back.
But as soon as i removed any app again using TB it breaks messaging, think i'm uninstalling something that the messaging app needs but don't seem like i'm touching anything that has to do with it.
don't really want to go into custom roms this phone is for my mom and already wasted a day on it. Just need stock with bloat removed so its a bit quicker. My HTC is all decked out on the other hand
Be careful what you uninstall in TB..
I remember having issues after deleting some yahoo thing on mine when I was stuck on stock. (Contacts would FC)
EDIT: I did freeze and/or uninstall those without any issues citrix, kobo, GPS Nav., a few games, and zoompass when I was stock.
it seems to be alright, i striped out everything such as media connect, dlna, portal etc. Just to make the phone a simple phone.
It seems when i removed the email app it was causing the messaging app to fc. The phone seems stable after a complete wipe and don't see any fc'ing.
What i don't get is if i use TB to uninstall any app i cannot get TB to restore it and the only way is to flash the system image again.
I may just flash system again and just freeze everything i don't want.
Glad to see someone using my system dumps!
Did you do the OTA to 2.3.6 yet? That fixes A LOT of bugs, improves battery life and camera as well.
Yesterday I just loaded my first custom ROM on my phone, using the safestrap method and threw on CM9... so far I think it's really sweet. I really hope we get Official ICS but if we don't I'm going to stick with a custom ICS rom.
I can confirm you shouldn't uninstall or freeze the Email app (universal inbox thing) as it will indeed FC a few other things..
What I do in TB for stuff I want to completely uninstall is this:
-convert to user app (as opposed to system app)
-back it up
-uninstall as if it was any other app (from TB or not..)
If I want to restore.. I restore it from TB.. which reinstalls it as a user app.. then change it back to system app from TB.
Alternative: manually backup and rename or move the apk in /system..
And put it back in to restore.
In any case.. a reboot might be a good idea after restoring..
PS: CM9 has been my daily driver for a while now.. I had to go back to stock for a few minutes the other day (needed the HDMI mirror..) and I really wouldn't go back to stock as my daily..(Safestrap works wonders for switching between the two though..)
danifunker said:
Glad to see someone using my system dumps!
Did you do the OTA to 2.3.6 yet? That fixes A LOT of bugs, improves battery life and camera as well.
Yesterday I just loaded my first custom ROM on my phone, using the safestrap method and threw on CM9... so far I think it's really sweet. I really hope we get Official ICS but if we don't I'm going to stick with a custom ICS rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
phone came with 2.3.6 so no OTA, you dump works wonders. I may flash it again and uninstall thinks like kobo, citrix etc and freeze others like universal inbox.
What does freezing do anyways, does it stop it from loading in RAM?

Back to stock via RSD or something?

So I got a Droid 4 and seem to be having problems with Safestrap enabling the safe side, is there a way I can RSD back to complete stock so I can go back and do everything myself? I know when I had a Razr I had the same issue but when I RSD backed to stock I was able to root and go back to everything myself and didn't have any problems after that.
I've looked and couldn't find anything to do it...anyone?
**I had it disabled running the stock rom, installed Safestrap went into recovery and was going to switch to the safe side and it gave me a error. So I went to reboot my phone and now everything is wiped and I lost everything
collins521 said:
So I got a Droid 4 and seem to be having problems with Safestrap enabling the safe side, is there a way I can RSD back to complete stock so I can go back and do everything myself? I know when I had a Razr I had the same issue but when I RSD backed to stock I was able to root and go back to everything myself and didn't have any problems after that.
I've looked and couldn't find anything to do it...anyone?
**I had it disabled running the stock rom, installed Safestrap went into recovery and was going to switch to the safe side and it gave me a error. So I went to reboot my phone and now everything is wiped and I lost everything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are not the first one to have this problem. I had this happen to me a few weeks ago and have seen a few others posting of similar issues since. Not sure what is happening that is causing this. Did you make a backup of you non-safe system? If you did you can try restoring it although that did not work for me. Kept getting stuck restoring system.orig. Reboot just brings you back to a completely wiped stock ROM. Really strange. What I did to fix safestrap was uninstall safestrap recovery, delete the safestrap folder on /sdcard, then re-install safestrap recovery. I think somehow something is getting corrupted when switching between the safe and non-safe system.
I haven't seen a good guide on XDA for using the fastboot files to restore your phone to stock but here is a good guide from DroidForums courtesy of SGMD1.
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...otorola-droid-4-xt894-stock-windows-only.html
I would also highly recommend using Titanium Backup or something similar to backup all you apps and data. That way, if something like this happens again, you can restore all you stuff.
Thanks that's what I was looking for, as far as having a back up...no I don't have one since it came with Safestrap and running eclipse I don't have a backup of the stock that's why I was wanting to start from scratch and get my ducks in a row with everything
There's a Droid 4 SBF out there. I've been able to get it to work with RSD Lite 5.7

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