I know the feeling. You've just installed a new ROM, and finally got everything set up just the way you want it, and a hot new ROM drops. You want to try it, but don't want to go through the hassle of setting up your homescreens/email/etc.
On most other phones, you can use the Nandroid Backup utility inside Clockworkmod. This creates a full image of your ROM, and with one tap you can be back at that spot like nothing happened. Unfortunately, due to Samsung's implementations on our phone, using a Nandroid backup doesn't always work, and it usually will just send you into a force close loop of hell, forcing you to reflash and start over. Lucky for us, hardcore included in his Speedmod kernel a modified CWM recovery that adds the option to back up just the data from your ROM. Using this, you can simulate a full Nandroid backup of your ROM.
[NOTE]This is not needed on CM7/MIUI. Full Nandroid backups work just fine on these ROMs. Also, this WILL NOT work on Gingerbread ROMs, because it relies on a Froyo kernel.[/NOTE]
STEP 1: Make sure you have ALL the files you used to install your current ROM on your SD card. This includes the ROM, updates, and any additions you flashed. Anything that was saved to the /system partition will not be backed up, so you will need to reflash it.
[NOTE]If you have Speedmod installed already, skip to step 4. Also, if you're using Onix, skip to step 4. Onix is based off of Speedmod and has the recovery tools you'll need.[/NOTE]
STEP 2: Download Speedmod kernel from this link and transfer it to your SD.
[WARN]If you have any type of lagfix enabled, disable it before proceeding.[/WARN]
STEP 3: Reboot into recovery. Install Speedmod kernel and reboot. If it asks about enabling lagfix, just say no. You won't be needing it for this.
STEP 4: After everything settles, reboot back into recovery.
STEP 5: Select Backup and Restore>Backup data+dbdata+cache (or whatever option looks closest to that, I don't remember the exact wording). Let it run.
You now have a working backup. Now flash whatever you want and play around.
Ready to come back? Here's how to restore:
STEP 1: Install Speedmod if your ROM doesn't use it.
[INFO]It might work without it (can't restore the /system if it doesn't exist
), but I'm not sure. Try it if you want, the backup won't get deleted.[/INFO]
STEP 2: Reboot into recovery.
STEP 3: Install your ROM you backed up. Install EVERYTHING like you're starting over. Boot it once to be safe, and boot back into recovery.
STEP 4: Select Backup and Restore>Restore and pick your backup.
[TIP]Backups are sorted by date/time. All are in GMT, so you might install something from the future. You can rename these, but be careful, because inserting a weird character can screw up the backup (although it's as easy as renaming it to fix it).[/TIP]
Boom, you should be back up and running. It's more of a pain than standard Nandroids, but it works for us.
On most other phones, you can use the Nandroid Backup utility inside Clockworkmod. This creates a full image of your ROM, and with one tap you can be back at that spot like nothing happened. Unfortunately, due to Samsung's implementations on our phone, using a Nandroid backup doesn't always work, and it usually will just send you into a force close loop of hell, forcing you to reflash and start over. Lucky for us, hardcore included in his Speedmod kernel a modified CWM recovery that adds the option to back up just the data from your ROM. Using this, you can simulate a full Nandroid backup of your ROM.
[NOTE]This is not needed on CM7/MIUI. Full Nandroid backups work just fine on these ROMs. Also, this WILL NOT work on Gingerbread ROMs, because it relies on a Froyo kernel.[/NOTE]
STEP 1: Make sure you have ALL the files you used to install your current ROM on your SD card. This includes the ROM, updates, and any additions you flashed. Anything that was saved to the /system partition will not be backed up, so you will need to reflash it.
[NOTE]If you have Speedmod installed already, skip to step 4. Also, if you're using Onix, skip to step 4. Onix is based off of Speedmod and has the recovery tools you'll need.[/NOTE]
STEP 2: Download Speedmod kernel from this link and transfer it to your SD.
[WARN]If you have any type of lagfix enabled, disable it before proceeding.[/WARN]
STEP 3: Reboot into recovery. Install Speedmod kernel and reboot. If it asks about enabling lagfix, just say no. You won't be needing it for this.
STEP 4: After everything settles, reboot back into recovery.
STEP 5: Select Backup and Restore>Backup data+dbdata+cache (or whatever option looks closest to that, I don't remember the exact wording). Let it run.
You now have a working backup. Now flash whatever you want and play around.
Ready to come back? Here's how to restore:
STEP 1: Install Speedmod if your ROM doesn't use it.
[INFO]It might work without it (can't restore the /system if it doesn't exist
), but I'm not sure. Try it if you want, the backup won't get deleted.[/INFO]STEP 2: Reboot into recovery.
STEP 3: Install your ROM you backed up. Install EVERYTHING like you're starting over. Boot it once to be safe, and boot back into recovery.
STEP 4: Select Backup and Restore>Restore and pick your backup.
[TIP]Backups are sorted by date/time. All are in GMT, so you might install something from the future
. You can rename these, but be careful, because inserting a weird character can screw up the backup (although it's as easy as renaming it to fix it).[/TIP]Boom, you should be back up and running. It's more of a pain than standard Nandroids, but it works for us.
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