[Tutorial] What to back up and what to restore when switching ROM's

[ls377]

Awesome write up! I have a feeling I'm going to be linking to this a lot. Thanks Pville!

 

[ShiftyBob#WN]

great write-up...

does anybody know how to fix the duplicate contacts problem? I only have about 200 contacts in my phone, but after flashes, and restores, and back-ups and what not, my contacts have grown to over 3600!!! because it keeps on restoring duplicates on top of wht is already there! Takes me literally days to clean it up.

Also, for MMS AND SMS back-up, if you have the full version of Handcent you can use your account to back all of your messages to the server and it restores flawlessly.

 

[PvilleComp]

does anybody know how to fix the duplicate contacts problem? I only have about 200 contacts in my phone, but after flashes, and restores, and back-ups and what not, my contacts have grown to over 3600!!! because it keeps on restoring duplicates on top of wht is already there! Takes me literally days to clean it up.

If you move all your contacts to Gmail and let them sync, you can then log into Gmail on the web and there is a contacts merge feature.

One button to merge all duplicate contacts - Official Gmail Blog

I resisted Gmail contacts for the longest time but the duplicates were a bear, as you said. I finally succumbed and now it's a snap.

Hope this helps.

 

[jhoove09#IM]

I just rooted a flashed my first ROM yesterday. Great timing for this. Thanks!

 

[snppr22]

great write-up...

does anybody know how to fix the duplicate contacts problem? I only have about 200 contacts in my phone, but after flashes, and restores, and back-ups and what not, my contacts have grown to over 3600!!! because it keeps on restoring duplicates on top of wht is already there! Takes me literally days to clean it up.

Also, for MMS AND SMS back-up, if you have the full version of Handcent you can use your account to back all of your messages to the server and it restores flawlessly.

I was reading through all the posts to see if someone mentioned Handcent. I am a DX user and when I have used any of the other sms backup apps they back up and restore with the wrong timestamps, however Handcent has never had this problem. I have noticed the same thing on the D2G.

If you move all your contacts to Gmail and let them sync, you can then log into Gmail on the web and there is a contacts merge feature.

One button to merge all duplicate contacts - Official Gmail Blog

I resisted Gmail contacts for the longest time but the duplicates were a bear, as you said. I finally succumbed and now it's a snap.

Hope this helps.

Also, if all of your contacts are in Gmail they will never duplicate when you flash a rom. On the rare occasion that problems have occurred a factory reset takes care of everything.

 

[sloan31]

Good writeup, but why reinstall apps from market? I always just restore apps only and not system data using titanium.


Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

 

[PvilleComp]

Good writeup, but why reinstall apps from market? I always just restore apps only and not system data using titanium.


Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

My feeling is that by re-installing from the Market, the new ROM is less likely to have issues with an app. It also eliminates a potential source of failure and it does not take very long to do. Start with a clean slate and there are fewer likely points of failure/problems. There is also the opportunity to look and think "Why did I ever install THAT App!"

 

[TexasEpic4G]

Thanks for that very important information...and thanks for explaining it in a very simple way for those of us are are still fairly new to Rooting & ROMing. This info should be a MUST read for everyone.

 

[hgoldner#CB]

Two exceptions

I consistently restore: (1) bluetooth pairings; and (2) wifi networks when I flash new ROM's. Those are the ONLY system settings I dare restore. No adverse results so far.

 

[bluazul]

Is there an effective way to backup and restore application settings and preferences? Recreating all of that is what is most annoying to me...

 

[CaMelGuY1337]

Thank you so much for this. I never could get the app restore to work perfectly, so I just stuck with Nand's. Anyway, awesome post....hope this gets turned into a sticky.

 

[jovox]

Pville

You've helped me with several issues recently and I know one of the last things I had asked you was if there was an "all inclusive thread" that covered this exact issue. I'm glad that there is now and I'm sorry if I'm the one that pushed you over the edge to make it

Thanks for the info though! Thread was what the doctor ordered.

 

[PvilleComp]

Pville

You've helped me with several issues recently and I know one of the last things I had asked you was if there was an "all inclusive thread" that covered this exact issue. I'm glad that there is now and I'm sorry if I'm the one that pushed you over the edge to make it

Thanks for the info though! Thread was what the doctor ordered.

LOL - No problem. Happy to help.

 

[djcyph]

correct me if im wrong but...

i thought u could restore all system data if u were upgrading same rom like BAMF 1.5 to 1.6 or sense to sense based etc..

because according to this tutorial u should basically back up nothing except games like Angry birds....i want my login info restored, app settings, etc..

i have 40+ apps and i think its really annoying to selectively find apps that require data restore..

from what i got out of the tutorial is that u just basically back up to make a list of apps so u can manually install from market...sounds very time consuming and counter productive

 

[PvilleComp]

If restoring the way you do works for you then no problem. However, restoring system data is the number one reason people have problems moving between ROMS. If you have a problem, I would suggest starting from scratch.

 

[liteon163]

I'm a noob on the verge of rooting my HTC Droid Incredible. This sounds like useful information. Now I just have to figure out what the hell a nandroid backup is.

Google it!

 

[Cyber Warrior]

I'm a noob on the verge of rooting my HTC Droid Incredible. This sounds like useful information. Now I just have to figure out what the hell a nandroid backup is.

Google it!

Nandroid is a set of tools that will enable anyone who has root on their Android device to make FULL system backups, in case something goes wrong or you want to try out that new experimental ROM/theme. It will return your phone back to the condition it was in when you made the backup.

In other words... it's like making a restore point on your computer. If something goes wrong or you want to return your phone to a previous condition... you flash/install the nandroid backup and your phones OS is back to the way it was.

 

[Dark Wizard Matoya]

I'm a noob on the verge of rooting my HTC Droid Incredible. This sounds like useful information. Now I just have to figure out what the hell a nandroid backup is.

Google it!

Like Cyber said, nandroid allows you to make a backup of your entire phone and all the data stored on it. If you flash a custom ROM and something goes wrong or you just don't like the ROM you can restore your nandroid backup and your phone will be exactly as it was before. If you do root and decide to flash a custom ROM be sure to make a nandroid of your current ROM first.

 

[anon(220176)]

Like Cyber said, nandroid allows you to make a backup of your entire phone and all the data stored on it. If you flash a custom ROM and something goes wrong or you just don't like the ROM you can restore your nandroid backup and your phone will be exactly as it was before. If you do root and decide to flash a custom ROM be sure to make a nandroid of your current ROM first.

So what good Nandroid backup would you recommend? ROM Recovery Manager?

 

[Dark Wizard Matoya]

So what good Nandroid backup would you recommend? ROM Recovery Manager?

I make all my nandroid backups right from Clockworkmod Recovery.