Software that can backup/restore all settings of any apps !

[Guest 13isLucky]

I'm a uber-newb to rooting and flashing, just having rooted my phone about a week ago. After flashing a couple roms and having to download all my apps everytime, I was very happy to find this program. I just loaded it, and donated today. I did a backup of all apps and user data and so far, so good. But here is where my noob-ness comes into play. I have a few pretty basic questions before flashing a new rom and doing something wrong. I'm running SuperD 1.8 with the danger spl I believe and did a ext2 partition (hopefully that's all correct and makes sense :( )

1. Where will the back-up be saved?

2. If I do a "wipe" before installing a new rom, will the back-up still be there?

3. After flashing a new rom, do I just re-download the Titanium program, run restore and it'll find my backup?

4. What if I do a total wipe and re-partition my SD card? Is there a way to save the backup "files" to a pc and reload them somewhere?

Thanks for any responses. Like I said, I'm new to this and want to do it right the first time.

[Guest Keramidas]

I'm a uber-newb to rooting and flashing, just having rooted my phone about a week ago. After flashing a couple roms and having to download all my apps everytime, I was very happy to find this program. I just loaded it, and donated today. I did a backup of all apps and user data and so far, so good. But here is where my noob-ness comes into play. I have a few pretty basic questions before flashing a new rom and doing something wrong. I'm running SuperD 1.8 with the danger spl I believe and did a ext2 partition (hopefully that's all correct and makes sense :( )

1. Where will the back-up be saved?

2. If I do a "wipe" before installing a new rom, will the back-up still be there?

3. After flashing a new rom, do I just re-download the Titanium program, run restore and it'll find my backup?

4. What if I do a total wipe and re-partition my SD card? Is there a way to save the backup "files" to a pc and reload them somewhere?

Thanks for any responses. Like I said, I'm new to this and want to do it right the first time.

Hi,

Yes, thanks again for donating :(

Here are some answers to your questions:

1. The backup will be saved to your SD card, in a directory called "TitaniumBackup".

2. Yes absolutely: the "wipe" will only wipe your phone's internal memory, not the sd card.

3. Yes that is correct.

4. Yes you need to copy the full "TitaniumBackup" directory to your PC. The easiest way is to use a SD card reader - or to connect your phone through USB and "unmount" its internal SD card (should be a click in the notification menu just after you plug it) to read it from your PC.

Three more important things though:

- before doing a wipe and/or changing ROMs, I recommend to also make a Nandroid backup (just boot to recovery mode and do it) if you can. That would save your whole ROM and your whole phone data, allowing for the fastest restore in case you're not pleased with the new ROM.

- REMEMBER to upgrade busybox before backing up or restoring your apps ! Use the "Problems?" button !

- REMEMBER to launch a Batch Verification (In the Batch menu) on all your backups, before you trust them !

Thanks !

[Guest 13isLucky]

Hi,

Yes, thanks again for donating :(

Here are some answers to your questions:

1. The backup will be saved to your SD card, in a directory called "TitaniumBackup".

2. Yes absolutely: the "wipe" will only wipe your phone's internal memory, not the sd card.

3. Yes that is correct.

4. Yes you need to copy the full "TitaniumBackup" directory to your PC. The easiest way is to use a SD card reader - or to connect your phone through USB and "unmount" its internal SD card (should be a click in the notification menu just after you plug it) to read it from your PC.

Three more important things though:

- before doing a wipe and/or changing ROMs, I recommend to also make a Nandroid backup (just boot to recovery mode and do it) if you can. That would save your whole ROM and your whole phone data, allowing for the fastest restore in case you're not pleased with the new ROM.

- REMEMBER to upgrade busybox before backing up or restoring your apps ! Use the "Problems?" button !

- REMEMBER to launch a Batch Verification (In the Batch menu) on all your backups, before you trust them !

Thanks !

Thank you very much for the quick response and clear answers. Hopefully you helped some other noobs as well as me. :(

[Guest Catscrash]

hi, when performing a restore in donate-version, after a while it says market is not responding, i can hit the wait-button and it goes on for a while, but it would be nicer when that would'nt happen :-)

Edited March 8, 2010 by Catscrash

[Guest Keramidas]

hi, when performing a restore in donate-version, after a while it says market is not responding, i can hit the wait-button and it goes on for a while, but it would be nicer when that would'nt happen :-)

Hi,

Yes, you are right. I will probably close the Market app during restore in a future version...

Thanks !

[Guest oopepe]

Hello,

i have a small cosmetic feature request. Could you add a grab-able slider to the application lists? Or a search filter? Im thinking of something like the applications list of my Hero..

Regards,

oopepe

[Guest Keramidas]

Hello,

i have a small cosmetic feature request. Could you add a grab-able slider to the application lists? Or a search filter? Im thinking of something like the applications list of my Hero..

Regards,

oopepe

Hi,

For the filter you can hit MENU -> Filters <_<

Yes I will consider adding a useful slider, too...

Thanks !

[Guest 5Strogino]

Keramidas. I have one wish. Probably, it will be difficult for you, but i will review it...

There are some new ROMs on Android 2.1 for HTC Hero/Magic users (especially leaked from Droid Eris)

Google or HTC (doesn't matter) changed structure of DBs for contacts, logs, sms/mms, so Titanium Backup will not work when we try restore old 1.5 contacts/call log/sms/mms databases from backup after we have flashed new 2.1 ROM.

I know, what your app copy only files. But, can you involve in structure and map old and new fields in tables for properly migrating?

[Guest Keramidas]

Keramidas. I have one wish. Probably, it will be difficult for you, but i will review it...

There are some new ROMs on Android 2.1 for HTC Hero/Magic users (especially leaked from Droid Eris)

Google or HTC (doesn't matter) changed structure of DBs for contacts, logs, sms/mms, so Titanium Backup will not work when we try restore old 1.5 contacts/call log/sms/mms databases from backup after we have flashed new 2.1 ROM.

I know, what your app copy only files. But, can you involve in structure and map old and new fields in tables for properly migrating?

Hi 5Strogino,

Yes, I am aware of this problem... and indeed Titanium Backup can not restore the database content (yet) without replacing the whole database.

For the time being, here's what I propose: I could add a "database conversion script" feature to Titanium Backup, which could execute a simple text file script (which would be bundled) in order to convert your contact databases from 1.5 -> 2.1 and back from 2.1 -> 1.5.

Imho the advantage of this method would be:

- anyone can add his/her conversion scripts

- you can also apply the conversion script after upgrading from 1.5 to 2.1 without doing a wipe ;-)

If you have a 2.1 ROM and not too many "secret" contacts, could you send me your "/data/data/com.android.providers.contacts" directory ? That way I could compare the db columns with my own Android 1.5 ones :-)

Thanks !

[Guest TomBriden]

Hi 5Strogino,

Yes, I am aware of this problem... and indeed Titanium Backup can not restore the database content (yet) without replacing the whole database.

For the time being, here's what I propose: I could add a "database conversion script" feature to Titanium Backup, which could execute a simple text file script (which would be bundled) in order to convert your contact databases from 1.5 -> 2.1 and back from 2.1 -> 1.5.

Imho the advantage of this method would be:

- anyone can add his/her conversion scripts

- you can also apply the conversion script after upgrading from 1.5 to 2.1 without doing a wipe ;-)

If you have a 2.1 ROM and not too many "secret" contacts, could you send me your "/data/data/com.android.providers.contacts" directory ? That way I could compare the db columns with my own Android 1.5 ones :-)

Thanks !

I think there's also a different format for the market links when moving to a 2.1 ROM; none of my restored apps have a link in the Download section of the market and running the market doctor comes back with 'Market doctor found no missing Market links'

[Guest Keramidas]

I think there's also a different format for the market links when moving to a 2.1 ROM; none of my restored apps have a link in the Download section of the market and running the market doctor comes back with 'Market doctor found no missing Market links'

They should be okay - and you can verify it by searching for these apps in the Market - they should be listed as Installed.

I think this is just a temporary caching issue with Google's servers: just install a random app from the Market and your "My Downloads" section should get refreshed <_<

[Guest TomBriden]

Yeh, i'd noticed they were listed in the Market as Installed but couldn't get them to appear in the Downloads section, even after clearing the cache and running your Market Doctor. You're absolutely right though, as soon as i installed a new app, all the others appeared in the list.

Thanks a lot!

[Guest keveh]

I've had a look around to see if anybody has encountered this issue before but I can't see anything.

I had the Modaco Custom ROM set up but decided that I wanted to give one of the Legend ROMs a try and went be BeHero.

Before going ahead with anything I did a nandroid backup and Titanium Backup. I then used a different SD card to set up my BeHero ROM.

I've now got Legend and everything is working spot on, but I am wondering how to get the backup from my old SD card. I have installed Titanium Backup again, then tried to copy across the TitaniumBackup folder from my old SD card to my new one but when I go to the backup/restore screen now it gives me a black screen.

Has anybody done this or can anybody give me some pointers.

Cheers

[Guest Keramidas]

Hi keveh,

Indeed, this is strange. And what if you remove the "TitaniumBackup" folder from your new SD card, and restart Titanium Backup ? A black screen instead of the apps list is strange, because at least two entries should be listed: Wi-Fi access points and phone language...

I assume you tried the "Problems?" button in Titanium Backup on your new ROM ?

And did you try the backup verifier from the Batch menu ?

Edited March 12, 2010 by Keramidas

[Guest keveh]

I have just re-installed so everything is back to normal for the moment.

I have just donated to get the updated version though, so I'll wait for that to come through before I do anything.

Do you have any recommendations as to what I should do when that's up and running?

I have the backup folder on my machine at the moment, when I copied it across last time it asked me to merge. Should I delete what's in the backup folder on my phone first, then copy them across?

Thanks for the help.

[Guest Keramidas]

I have just re-installed so everything is back to normal for the moment.

I have just donated to get the updated version though, so I'll wait for that to come through before I do anything.

Do you have any recommendations as to what I should do when that's up and running?

I have the backup folder on my machine at the moment, when I copied it across last time it asked me to merge. Should I delete what's in the backup folder on my phone first, then copy them across?

Thanks for the help.

Yes, thanks ! You should have received your key already :mellow:

When you say you have re-installed, do you mean you restored your nandroid backup and put in your old SD card again ?

My recommendation would be to try starting Titanium Backup on your new ROM, without the "TitaniumBackup" directory on your sd card. And then, when it works, try with the directory.

You can merge several TitaniumBackup directories together and the result will be valid and accepted, but for clarity I would rather delete (or rename) the old directory if I were you.

Please let me know how it goes !

PS: would perhaps be simpler to e-mail me and to just post the outcome of our investigation here <_<

Thanks !

[Guest Keramidas]

Oh boy, Titanium Backup is featured on Smartphone France ! <_<

The news page

The review

[Guest TomBriden]

Can you please auto deselect uninstalled items from the batch lists? I'd backed up a couple of apps before uninstalling them and then when i did the 'force redo of your backups', the uninstalled app backups ended up corrupted and i can't restore them anymore

Thanks

[Guest Keramidas]

Can you please auto deselect uninstalled items from the batch lists? I'd backed up a couple of apps before uninstalling them and then when i did the 'force redo of your backups', the uninstalled app backups ended up corrupted and i can't restore them anymore

Thanks

Oh boy, you're right. The "force redo of your backups" should never include non-installed apps, of course. I will fix this and release an update tonight !

Thanks again !

EDIT: This was serious enough for me to release a new 2.9.2 version, which fixes this problem.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Keramidas

[Guest fredphoesh]

Hi,

Great app, well done!

Only two gripes:

1/ cannot seem to backup Sense "Scenes" for Home screen layouts. It needs to be separately backed up because when upgrading rom, one should not restore all system files, so this one should be restorable on its own.

2/ batch restore is still VERY manual, have to press Install then Done with each app...

Otherwise excellent!

Mark.

UK

[Guest Keramidas]

Hi,

Great app, well done!

Only two gripes:

1/ cannot seem to backup Sense "Scenes" for Home screen layouts. It needs to be separately backed up because when upgrading rom, one should not restore all system files, so this one should be restorable on its own.

2/ batch restore is still VERY manual, have to press Install then Done with each app...

Otherwise excellent!

Mark.

UK

Hi fredphoesh,

1/ My guess is that it's probably there in the listed elements, but probably not labeled yet (my bad).

Have you tried to restore every "green-colored" element, and then reboot after the restore ?

If that doesn't suffice - did you try to restore every "red-colored" element as well ?

If you find which element it is, I'd be glad to hear about it.

Remember to always reboot after restoring system data, for the changes to take effect !

2/ You should try the Donate version <_<

Thanks !

Edited March 15, 2010 by Keramidas

[Guest fredphoesh]

Hi fredphoesh,

1/ My guess is that it's probably there in the listed elements, but probably not labeled yet (my bad).

Have you tried to restore every "green-colored" element, and then reboot after the restore ?

If that doesn't suffice - did you try to restore every "red-colored" element as well ?

If you find which element it is, I'd be glad to hear about it.

Remember to always reboot after restoring system data, for the changes to take effect !

2/ You should try the Donate version <_<

Thanks !

Hi Keramidas,

Thanks for the reply,

I will try what you say next time I backup, now it is too late, I did not back up all settings, only apps, so cannot restore system stuff... if it works, I will definitely buy the "donate" version. In my first day of owning Android I had not heard of Titanium yet, and bought Sprite Backup because I had come from WM Blackstone...

Thanks again

Mark.

[Guest 5Strogino]

Hi again)

Device: Acer Liquid

ROM: Evil 1.7.1b (Android 2.1)

App: Titanium Backup 2.9.2

Problem:

I backuped item "WI-FI Access Points". After installing new ROM tried to restore wifi settings.

Got original wpa.conf (without settings, but with user-manual inside)

I notice, that custom wpa.conf is in folder /data/misc/wifi/

It is about 200-300 bytes, but after restore got original wpa.conf about 26-28 kbytes

May be reason is in difference? When TB tried to backup/restore wifi points, it tried to backup/restore wpa_supplicant.conf

HTC-devices using wpa_supplicant.conf

But Acer using wpa.conf

[Guest Keramidas]

Hi again)

Device: Acer Liquid

ROM: Evil 1.7.1b (Android 2.1)

App: Titanium Backup 2.9.2

Problem:

I backuped item "WI-FI Access Points". After installing new ROM tried to restore wifi settings.

Got original wpa.conf (without settings, but with user-manual inside)

I notice, that custom wpa.conf is in folder /data/misc/wifi/

It is about 200-300 bytes, but after restore got original wpa.conf about 26-28 kbytes

May be reason is in difference? When TB tried to backup/restore wifi points, it tried to backup/restore wpa_supplicant.conf

HTC-devices using wpa_supplicant.conf

But Acer using wpa.conf

Hi,

Thanks for your report ! I have noted that on Acer devices, the wi-fi access points are in /data/misc/wifi/wpa.conf

Will try to fix it in the next version (sorry, not for 2.9.3 yet).

Thanks again !

[Guest mkolonko]

hi keramidas... your app saved me lots of trouble, rom by rom... :)

is there a way to add a single button backup of user profile? like, scenes/wallpaper/ringtone/lang/date,time/sms/call logs... like all the small stuff you can do service by service.

thanks

Edited March 20, 2010 by mkolonko