Upgraded to JB last night, but lost data in my backups... what did I do wrong?

[rlhammon]

So last night I decided to stop "checking for updates" and just load the OTA file on my phone to get the update. This is my first Android phone, and the first time I did anything like this.

Anyway, I download WUG's Nexus Root Toolkit, and followed the guides (everything worked, I have JB, that's not the issue). Before I unlocked I did all of the backups in the Advanced Menu. From there proceed to load JB. My issue, not all of my data is on my phone anymore... and I realize it's gone. It sucks, because there was a LOT of stuff there that's missing that I can't replace (I use the phone for data collection in auto racing, I lost my seasons worth of data).

I'm missing all of my texts since June 25th, no idea why it stopped there. And, I'm currently missing everything associated with that specific racing app.

What does the various backups (and Nandroid) actually back up then? Why am I missing something? I don't want to run into this issue in the future... and it really sucks, as I spend a large portion of my time over the winter going through my data from racing, and now it's no longer on the phone. I'm hoping I can piece it together from various times I've copied over my phone's SD card to my computer and that the app will read it when loaded back in... I haven't been success thus far with that approach though, hence why I'm asking.

How do you actually get a backup of everything on the phone, and how do you actually get it loaded back on the phone? It sounds like Nandroid might do this, but you can't do that when the phone isn't rooted (my situation last night).

Thanks for any insight.

 

[2defmouze]

A nandroid is basically a full image backup of your phone in its current state. It can be restored to return the phone to exactly the way it is, but it's generally not used to backup specific items for later restoration. For that you'd want an app such as Titanium Backup (TiBu), which there is a guide in my signature that would teach you how to use that best.

 

[rlhammon]

Thanks. I'll have to check that out.

I still don't understand why Wug's (Nexus Root Toolkit) says it backs up apps, but it didn't. The app itself is installed on the phone after the restore, but the entire directory structure that was there for the data for the app is not. I lost a lot of valuable data thinking that this .ab file contained what it said it was going to. I'm not sure I want to deal with backups and working with this phone if the tools that are out there are this negligent.

 

[2defmouze]

Thanks. I'll have to check that out.

I still don't understand why Wug's (Nexus Root Toolkit) says it backs up apps, but it didn't. The app itself is installed on the phone after the restore, but the entire directory structure that was there for the data for the app is not. I lost a lot of valuable data thinking that this .ab file contained what it said it was going to. I'm not sure I want to deal with backups and working with this phone if the tools that are out there are this negligent.

Well.. I can't speak for Wug's, as I've never used it. I mean, now that you are unlocked you won't have to deal with losing data like that again, and I understand that sucks if you can't recover it. But going forward TiBu is excellent for future wipes/flashing at restoring your apps with data, so long as you follow my guide. I use it all the time, have wiped my phone hundreds of times and keep all of the data that I need, and that's even when I went from my Bionic to the Gnex, so I was able to restore everything to a new phone.

 

[bigguy_132]

If the apps are there but no data then it worked like this: Apps like Titanium Backup can backup your applications but if you want to get the actual data that is housed inside the applications you need to be rooted. WUGS probably didn't have root access to the device so it backed up the applications but not the data. If you are rooted now I bet it will grab all the data that is housed inside. Same thing with Titanium Backup, if you are rooted now it should be able to grab all the data contained in the applications. Hope this clarifies.

 

[vivek615]

You had a nandroid? You could get you'd data back then. But you made one locked?

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