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Please i need to know if it is possible to overwrite the system factory reset option with our own backup file. Basically, i am interested to tune the factory reset option with my own custom full system backup.

In other words, i want to restore my custom backup when i click on the factory reset option instead of restoring the original settings of the factory.

Note 1: I have already rooted my Android device (Huawei Honor 7 - PLK-L01).

Note 2: My objective is not restoring a backup. I know how to restore a full backup. I need though to understand if it is possible to configure the factory reset option with my own backup. I really like to understand the procedure to do that if it is possible.

Thanks in advance for your help!

2 Answers 2

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When you start the factory reset in the settings it just runs recovery which the actual resetting is done by. Normally, recovery just wipes everything in /data and /cache in all (and /sdcard in most of) phones, since that is all a non-root user can modify.

So a factory reset is not a fresh install of the ROM. It is just the wiping process of every made-by-user change on the phone.

I want to stress it since as much as I understand you think factory reset does some sort of overwriting. It doesn't do that. Vice versa it wipes stuff. It, by default, doesn't restore, install, overwrite anything.

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  • Thank you so much for explaining all that! I really appreciate your help up there. In case the device is rooted, will still the factory reset option behave the same? (as in wiping only the user data and not the system changes that were made and which require root permissions).
    – Ken
    Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 3:08
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    Yes. What makes a phone rooted is the su binary and that is, just like the GUI you use to manage it (SuperSU, Superuser etc.) is stored under /system partion (which is not wiped by factory reset). That is why you still have apps like Youtube, Google Play and other pre-installed apps even after factory reset. Because they are also stored under /system partion.
    – SarpSTA
    Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 3:13
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SarpSTA explains it absolute correctly in the other answer (which I upvoted: it's short and exactly on the point).

To get a better idea about the factory-reset, you might wish to see its tag-wiki. It only affects the /data and /cache partitions. To make yourself familiar with the Android partition concept, please see our partition tag-wiki – and you will see the OS resides on the /system partition. Basically, a new device ships with empty /data and /cache partitions, so bringing it back to factory settings simply means to clear those two, all else is rather "static".

Keeping that in mind, and picking up the pointer to recovery which SarpSTA mentioned, there're ways to achieve what you want:

  • on a rooted device and using a custom recovery, you could create a flashable update.zip with Titanium Backup and place that on your SDCard. Then, following a "normal ", you can flash this via your custom recovery to restore.
  • without the need to root, similar can be achieved e.g. using . But in this case (without root), it would require an USB connection to a computer to restore the backup set.
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  • Thank you very much for confirming all that and for all the useful links you have mentioned up there. I really appreciate all your time and help.
    – Ken
    Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 9:37
  • Always glad to help! Btw: On SE, "thank you" is done by upvoting ;) Good luck with your setup!
    – Izzy
    Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 10:26
  • Since you know i am new to SE, you should also be aware that i can't vote as well. All new accounts are restricted until they collect enough reputation points. Otherwise, i would have up-voted your answer 10 times!
    – Ken
    Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 17:11
  • @Ken Oh – looks like I forgot that might also affect answers to one's own questions, sorry. No offense was meant, apologies!
    – Izzy
    Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 18:25

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