Database Develop

Helium (formerly Carbon) - Backup/Restore

Hi folks,
I've done a fair bit of searching and although it has been briefly discussed before I can't see any recent mentions about Helium (aka Carbon) from clockworkmod (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.koushikdutta.backup&hl=en).
The Google Play store page for the app mentions that the app doesn't work on the Xperia S and Z due to some changes Sony made, however when I first got my Xperia Z (at launch in the UK), I was able to backup app data (and some apks) from my Galaxy S3 and restore them onto the Xperia Z without any issues.
Given there have been a few software updates from Sony since launch, does anyone have any recent experience with Helium, specifically whether it works correctly to backup and restore to the Xperia Z? I couldn't find a suitable thread or forum to try to ask the developer directly what the specific issues were with the Xperia S and Z that led to the warning on the app page.

I had a problem restoring Apps with this app after full factory reset. It always crashed. Tried to restore from SD card and CLOUD. on my galaxy s3 it works fine. The build in sony's backup and restore app is doing great.

neoxkid said:
I had a problem restoring Apps with this app after full factory reset. It always crashed. Tried to restore from SD card and CLOUD. on my galaxy s3 it works fine. The build in sony's backup and restore app is doing great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. What does the Sony app actually backup? Does it include some/all apks and the actual app data too (e.g game progress)?

Yes, it includ app+data, even clock alarms

Hi. Why doesn't work the program to NOT ROOT galaxy s2 with android 4.1.2?
It bring me that message
"An error occured while perfoming your app backup. A log of the error has been sent to ClockworkMod. Clock Backup to attempt to backup the remaining apps."
I have do ALL the steps you are describe but the program DOESN'T WORK..... Can you please suggest me something?

Helium kept telling me that I had a backup password which I had never set.

fits79 said:
Hi. Why doesn't work the program to NOT ROOT galaxy s2 with android 4.1.2?
It bring me that message
"An error occured while perfoming your app backup. A log of the error has been sent to ClockworkMod. Clock Backup to attempt to backup the remaining apps."
I have do ALL the steps you are describe but the program DOESN'T WORK..... Can you please suggest me something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, the problem is your rom

No it ISN'T the my rom.
And that is because i try it into to galaxy s2.
01. With Oficial and NOT root 4.0.3 sales code eur
02. With oficial 4.1.2 nordic sales code nee
So........

I decided to unlock and root my phone. So I did some backups with mybackup pro and decided to give a try to helium (because I never managed to restore the data of the apps with mybackup pro, just with root). I did the backup, saved it on the internal storage, copied it on my computer, unlocked my phone, rooted it, installed helium, copied the backup to the internal storage and... when i try to restore the backup from the internal storage it doesn't find it... I am now trying to reinstall it, don't give it su and see if I see the backup... if I don't see it... well.. idk what to say... I do a backup and then I cannot restore it? nice (sarcastic)
Edit: no.. I cannot find the backup

dreamxp said:
Helium kept telling me that I had a backup password which I had never set.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes same problem here, it seems the devs of this app are idiots

I started using this for the first time last week. Now I'm making a new backup and it is asking me to connect my phone to the computer again. do I need this each time I create a backup to my external sd card?

Samribi said:
I decided to unlock and root my phone. So I did some backups with mybackup pro and decided to give a try to helium (because I never managed to restore the data of the apps with mybackup pro, just with root). I did the backup, saved it on the internal storage, copied it on my computer, unlocked my phone, rooted it, installed helium, copied the backup to the internal storage and... when i try to restore the backup from the internal storage it doesn't find it... I am now trying to reinstall it, don't give it su and see if I see the backup... if I don't see it... well.. idk what to say... I do a backup and then I cannot restore it? nice (sarcastic)
Edit: no.. I cannot find the backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem... Hi%5... hope somebody will look into this matter ...
---------- Post added at 11:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:03 AM ----------
If you're still interested.. (if u want the app data. i.e : savegames) I found a way.. Just keep those backup files in your computer. And then download the apps you want to restore.. Then make backups of them again.. Then they will have those backup up files in the "Carbon" folder. Then copy the folders inside without the "nomedia" file. It then the app will show the backup & viola... Apps restored...
Sent from my Xperia V using xda app-developers app

fits79 said:
Hi. Why doesn't work the program to NOT ROOT galaxy s2 with android 4.1.2?
It bring me that message
"An error occured while perfoming your app backup. A log of the error has been sent to ClockworkMod. Clock Backup to attempt to backup the remaining apps."
I have do ALL the steps you are describe but the program DOESN'T WORK..... Can you please suggest me something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same issue for me

Helium works fine for me, only problem is that messages are stored 'the wrong way' in Sony stock-ROM's last time i tried one of those.

Urticant2 said:
Hi, the problem is your rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same problem, just unplug your phone from the usb and it works

mljjlm said:
Helium works fine for me, only problem is that messages are stored 'the wrong way' in Sony stock-ROM's last time i tried one of those.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there something weird about the way messages are stored in general? Everything else seemed to work - the one thing I can't seem to figure out is how to restore text messages (com.android.providers.telephony.ab) - I've tried to do it as a whole app using the PC interface, tried copying the folder as a replacement via Android File Transfer to the 'carbon' folder, etc.
When I try to restore via helium server, it quickly shows me everything as restored but I don't see the messages. When I try to do it manually (e.g. force copy), I don't see an option under "Restore and Sync" to actually select messaging.
Am I missing something stupid / obvious? The raw data seems to be there (for example, call logs were uploaded just fine, text messages seem to have an issue).
--Dan

bfettd said:
Is there something weird about the way messages are stored in general? Everything else seemed to work - the one thing I can't seem to figure out is how to restore text messages (com.android.providers.telephony.ab) - I've tried to do it as a whole app using the PC interface, tried copying the folder as a replacement via Android File Transfer to the 'carbon' folder, etc.
When I try to restore via helium server, it quickly shows me everything as restored but I don't see the messages. When I try to do it manually (e.g. force copy), I don't see an option under "Restore and Sync" to actually select messaging.
Am I missing something stupid / obvious? The raw data seems to be there (for example, call logs were uploaded just fine, text messages seem to have an issue).
--Dan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm.. I just used the SD-card backup, so I don't know about other stuff

mljjlm said:
Hmm.. I just used the SD-card backup, so I don't know about other stuff
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I came up with a solution based on what works for others. Why this works when it didn't previously is beyond me, but hopefully someone else can use it if individual parts of their Helium backup don't work properly (in theory it should work for any app / SQL dataset). The whole point of Helium is that we're running non-rooted phones and so Titanium Backup or the like aren't applicable. For reference, I'm running an N4 to OSX 10.7.x
1. Use the Helium Server to create a full backup.
2. Wipe phone or whatever you need to do (I had to do a factory reset for Google since it's an N4 and my proximity sensor is dead).
3. Install the apps you had previously via Play Store (pain in the a**).
4. Run Helium server and upload the backup data.
5. Update apps as needed (should be auto but who knows for individual stuff).
6. Check app data in apps. Texts are obviously easy to see for me. Hopefully everything restored nicely for you here.
***Now for the bit for people who got corrupted restores.
7. Unzip the backup file on your computer, select the .ab files that correspond to the missing / corrupted restores and then zip those into a new file on your computer (for step 9). Keep these files handy in unzipped form as well for step 10.
8. Perform a new Helium backup of those sections onto the internal SD card (yes it will be blank, worry not).
9. (Optional step): Run Helium server and upload that new zip file (with the stuff that didn't make it) alone. Try restore. Unlikely to work but worth a shot.
10. Running Android File Transfer, find the SD card, find the folder 'carbon' and then find the corresponding sub-folders that have the modules that were corrupted. Replace the SD card backups of the broken modules with the good ones from your computer.
11. Run Helium restore again, but only for the sections you want (I swear, for me Messaging didn't show up the first few times but after step 10 it did).
12. Wait, hoepfully it works well. I would reboot after running the restore to a) kill Helium and b) confirm functionality.
FWIW, my telephony.ab was 1.8MB and took SIX hours to restore. Seriously. Yeah yeah, that's a lot of texts but six hours? I've since added "SMS Backup & Restore" to my phone and will probably just use that, map out my phone layout and functionality and just manually replace apps from now on since most data is in the cloud. You lose some stuff, but prima facie it's boat tons easier.
Hopefully that helps someone else who had the same issues.
--Dan

Somehow my phone got soft factory reset (lost all the apps but the files) when i tried to install the apps that I had before it throws a play store error while installing saying it couldnt be installed because of an unkown error "-24" plz helpp

Why are you mocking Koush? Yes the Koush. He made this app. He specifically said in the app description that:
Note: Helium is NOT available to Motorola devices. This is because Motorola phones have a bug that break Android's backup mechanism. Until this is fixed by Motorola, Helium will not work on those Androids. You can download Helium manually here:
http://download.clockworkmod.com/apks/Backup.apk
If you find that Helium *does* work on your Motorola Android, please notify me.
Note: Some Sony devices have issues with Helium. This includes the Xperia S and Xperia Z. Sony has *disabled* backup on these devices completely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

app-data backup & restore without root

Hi guys,
so I'm trying to backup and restore all my apps+data from my Defy (with root) to my Razr I JB (without root, locked BL)
Since Titanium Backup doesn't work without root, I installed Helium on both of my phones.
Now backing up works fine on my defy, also verifying it by deinstalling an app with tianium backup afterwards and restoring the app+data via helium gives me the app+data again.
Now when I try to restore my app+data on my Razr I it only restores the app, but not the data.
I also tried to use the manual way via adb backup and adb restore as posted here:
https://plus.google.com/+RichHyndman/posts/b9ejZegfw8p
but no luck, the backup works fine again, but when restored to the Razr I, no data is included.
What can I do?

I don't really care about most of the apps, but I do need some app data for certain apps that I don't want to lose..

dagoban said:
I don't really care about most of the apps, but I do need some app data for certain apps that I don't want to lose..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not possible, only if rooted.
(Only way known is using Helium, but that won't work in stock motorola roms)

dagoban said:
Hi guys,
so I'm trying to backup and restore all my apps+data from my Defy (with root) to my Razr I JB (without root, locked BL)
Since Titanium Backup doesn't work without root, I installed Helium on both of my phones.
Now backing up works fine on my defy, also verifying it by deinstalling an app with tianium backup afterwards and restoring the app+data via helium gives me the app+data again.
Now when I try to restore my app+data on my Razr I it only restores the app, but not the data.
I also tried to use the manual way via adb backup and adb restore as posted here:
https://plus.google.com/+RichHyndman/posts/b9ejZegfw8p
but no luck, the backup works fine again, but when restored to the Razr I, no data is included.
What can I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you try this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1844032
or that? http://www.android-hilfe.de/android...root-durchfuehren-per-adb-ab-android-4-x.html
but no guarantee that it will work. There seems to be issus with motorola-devices. for me it didn't worked, but for other razr i owner it worked fine

ICuaI said:
did you try this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1844032
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep, that one didn't work at all, only showed 2 gapps as backups on my defy
ICuaI said:
or that? http://www.android-hilfe.de/android...root-durchfuehren-per-adb-ab-android-4-x.html
but no guarantee that it will work. There seems to be issus with motorola-devices. for me it didn't worked, but for other razr i owner it worked fine
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thx for that link, but already tried to backup it up via adb package name....

How about, another way.
Could I pull the app data via adb pull and then push it on my Razr I via adb push? Would that work?

dagoban said:
How about, another way.
Could I pull the app data via adb pull and then push it on my Razr I via adb push? Would that work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is it also possible to pull/push an entire folder or do I have to push every file by itself?
What I did now is that I copied the app-data from my old phone with the root explorer to my sdcard, now I want to push it to my Razr I, but I only get permission denied. I thought adb commands are always under root? Or do I have to mount anything?
This is what I tried:
adb push 1.txt /data/user/0/com.xxxxxxxxx/database/1.txt

Hey guys,
just giving an update on that issue.
So we all now that adb backup and adb restore works on all phones starting Android 4.x but not on Motorola's phone.
So I wrote couple emails with the Motorola support back and forth and sent them a detailed description of the bug.
They forwarded it to the dev team and hopefully this will be fixed in the next update.

Anyone knows how to get my Iron Man 3 progress from another Android to my new Moto X?

so, just that.
Great phone, now I'm about to throw away my tablet (I used to think my Tegra2 was the best there is)
Now I just whant my Iron Man 3 progress there on my phone.
Asphalt 8 is also desirable
And root to get to use SixAxis!

onuris said:
so, just that.
Great phone, now I'm about to throw away my tablet (I used to think my Tegra2 was the best there is)
Now I just whant my Iron Man 3 progress there on my phone.
Asphalt 8 is also desirable
And root to get to use SixAxis!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Data sync from the play store. Must be rooted and have both devices on the same Wi-Fi network. You can choose to move data or app and data. Obviously, the bigger it is the longer it'll take.
Edit: guess you can sync to the cloud now. That's cool. I might use it more.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quintstoffers.DataSync
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Thanks for the reply. But it requires root and that's something I still dont have on mi X

You can use helium to do that, even w/out root. Just need to hook the phone up to the computer with the helium desktop app running and you should be able to pull the data then from your old phone and put it on the new phone with the app.

+1 for helium, it works great!

stearic said:
You can use helium to do that, even w/out root. Just need to hook the phone up to the computer with the helium desktop app running and you should be able to pull the data then from your old phone and put it on the new phone with the app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alrdy sent it to the tablet, guess I should wait till I get home to tryit out.
Thanks!

BusyBox
I was going to use the DataSync app to copy a few app data files for games,
but I couldn't get DataSync to start on my Moto X because BusyBox wasn't
installed. I've tried two or three of the BusyBox installers on the Play
Store but all have failed to install. My old phone is a Droid X-2 and is
rooted with BusyBox and ready to use the DataSync app. Has anyone got
BusyBox to install on the Moto X? Should I change the install folder? I
don't have much experience with BusyBox other than installing it on my X-2
for some app. I may just try the Helium desktop app for the app data copy
but I would like to know about BusyBox in case it's needed later. DataSync says it does work with the Motorola phones but I'll try it anyway. Thanks.

millextra82 said:
I was going to use the DataSync app to copy a few app data files for games,
but I couldn't get DataSync to start on my Moto X because BusyBox wasn't
installed. I've tried two or three of the BusyBox installers on the Play
Store but all have failed to install. My old phone is a Droid X-2 and is
rooted with BusyBox and ready to use the DataSync app. Has anyone got
BusyBox to install on the Moto X? Should I change the install folder? I
don't have much experience with BusyBox other than installing it on my X-2
for some app. I may just try the Helium desktop app for the app data copy
but I would like to know about BusyBox in case it's needed later. DataSync says it does work with the Motorola phones but I'll try it anyway. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Busy box installed fine for me... Have you tried normal install vs smart install? Not sure how much of a difference it'll make but if you haven't, at least it'll be something new to try.. Works both ways for me and I've never had to change the location.
I always had issues getting data back on certain apps with helium. Must just be me, I hear great things about it, anyway, data sync is just something I'm more familiar with. Easier too.. At least for me. But yes, busy box has worked for me on stock rooted, stock rooted SS, and TMo port to VZW.
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I read somewhere to boot to recovery so the r/w permissions were off. Once I did that and BusyBox installed with no problem. Also, DataSync worked awesome and was super easy. I uploaded the two apps to the other detected device no problem.

Can anyone confirm that any of these methods work on iron man 3? I've tried titanium backup and my backup pro in the past and the game days never synced. Always had to completely restart the game...
Sent from my XT1056 using xda app-developers app

The helium method works for sure. I've used it on many apps and games to transfer settings / progress. Used it on 4 different devices so far with out problem.

jeb192004 said:
Can anyone confirm that any of these methods work on iron man 3? I've tried titanium backup and my backup pro in the past and the game days never synced. Always had to completely restart the game...
Sent from my XT1056 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you might need to enable a setting when you're using the backup to install. There should be an option to either just install the app, or to install the app and all previous data. I think. Sorry if it wasn't too helpful; I haven't used Titanium for a year now.

meant2live218 said:
I think you might need to enable a setting when you're using the backup to install. There should be an option to either just install the app, or to install the app and all previous data. I think. Sorry if it wasn't too helpful; I haven't used Titanium for a year now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi guys I'm another user in search of transfer game progress from Iron Man 3.
I tried many applications like Helium, Titanium Backup (with a nandroid backup), My backup Root and nothing works for me.
Always Iron Man 3 reset to begining (tutorial)
I´m not tried DataSync, but i'm not sure is working or not
Anyone please confirm any method for sure ??
Many thanks in advance for
Sorry for my bad English, I'm from Chile XD

I also tried to change my Device ID (with the same as the old S3) and nothing happens again!!
And I tried to do a Nandroid Backup, choose the game Iron Man 3 and restored it with Titanium Backup Pro (I purchased it) and nothing again!!

I usually go into /data/data and pull its directory. That is where saved games and settings are typically stored.
Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

smokedkill said:
I usually go into /data/data and pull its directory. That is where saved games and settings are typically stored.
Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks smokedkill, I was able to transfer using files from /sdcard/Android/obb/ and /data/data. This was a test from a new setup with a small score. I will update once I have some more achievements in the game.

Not a Sony specific question but maybe this phone can...

Backup game data without root?
I'd love to have this option for when i factory reset but i don't know if there's an option
Any of you guys know a way?
Sent from my C6906 using Tapatalk

negrobembon said:
Backup game data without root?
I'd love to have this option for when i factory reset but i don't know if there's an option
Any of you guys know a way?
Sent from my C6906 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well what you can do is get the data from your game folder...usually is in android or data folder can't remember and just save it on your pc for example...and then just put it back in the same place after you restore
Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk

cippi21 said:
Well what you can do is get the data from your game folder...usually is in android or data folder can't remember and just save it on your pc for example...and then just put it back in the same place after you restore
Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did this process and on some games working well on others don't, it's because they store they data differently probably or I lost on the way something. BTW, the most important part is in Android > data.

That could be an option but i thought there would be a simpler way
Sent from my C6906 using Tapatalk

negrobembon said:
That could be an option but i thought there would be a simpler way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mean some Application? ...nothing what I am aware of...specially for not rooted devices. Maybe Backup&Restore in PC Companion do this job, I never tried.

Yeah i meant an app, but options seem to he fairly limited for non rooted devices
Sent from my C6906 using Tapatalk

negrobembon said:
Yeah i meant an app, but options seem to he fairly limited for non rooted devices
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, I don't know if this can help, maybe not in your case because you are not rooted but I telling you what happened today to me.
I had saved all the folders with obb file of all my games time ago. Every time when I install again the game I just put back the folder and I do the installation. If you do a fresh installation probably your Game Progress will be gone, but I had a Backup of my System Partition, I restored my Partition today with a Backup from last week, so I do not care if I was losing my Game Progress so I just copied again all my folders, started the Game, the Game did his installation and you want to know, my Game Progress was still there.
So maybe if you save the Android>obb folders on SD, then Backup the System Partition with PC Companion, then do what you have to do, Restore the Backup, which will be without obb folders, then you copy back in place the obb folders which you saved before, I think you will not lose your Game Progress and this is the way to backup all data.
I hope this can be helpful to you in some way.

Question Best way to backup for rooting?

Hello! I own a Pixel 5a that I've been using for a while now, and I want to root it without losing my data. From what I saw, unless an exploit is found to get around this you will have to format your device to unlock the bootloader. I'm wondering what the best way to backup and restore my data would be so that I can root and get all my data restored when the process is over. Thanks in advance.

theplanfelloff said:
Hello! I own a Pixel 5a that I've been using for a while now, and I want to root it without losing my data. From what I saw, unless an exploit is found to get around this you will have to format your device to unlock the bootloader. I'm wondering what the best way to backup and restore my data would be so that I can root and get all my data restored when the process is over. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might try the app "Migrate"... A few bugs here and there but I save a back up to USB and usually get 80-90% of my set up back after switching ROMs

Esb1809 said:
You might try the app "Migrate"... A few bugs here and there but I save a back up to USB and usually get 80-90% of my set up back after switching ROMs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I'd prefer to be using an open source app though, if that's an option.
EDIT: This app seems to require me to be rooted, so it won't work.

i just backup the phone to gdrive. then restore it from gdrive. i use nova launcher so i pulls a backup of where all my icons are placed on the home pages. only down fall is apps that are not on google play will not be installed and you have to sign back into all of your apps. 90% of the device settings are saved.
last time i unlocked the phone did not reboot back into the system and wipe everything, it went back to bootloader, but i think i was already on pixel experience when i did it.

Could fastboot fetch userdata localfile.bin work for this?
(I'm guessing at the partition name from /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name (requires root))
EDIT: Well... tried it... got :
fastboot: error: Unable to get max-fetch-size. Device does not support fetch command.
I guess I need someone smarter than me to figure how to get past that.

The issue with a full backup is "scoped storage", which was introduced a long time ago but is more enforced under Android 12. What this means is that any app can only access its own private data, as well as certain portions of system data and the common storage. Getting around this restriction requires root.
So, the short answer is, it's not possible to perform a full backup of everything on your device without root. That being said, syncing your Google account does a pretty good job of backing most things up - your installed apps, your photos, your texts and phone calls.