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How do I copy all the content from /data/data/ from a rooted android phone to the PC or SDCard ?

  • ES file explorer so far is unable to copy
  • adb pull does not find the content of that folder
  • adb shell does not seem to have a pull or push command

Or I'm doing both wrongly...

After copy, how do I put the files back (and replace, if needed) ?

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  • Please clarify what you are doing exactly. Are you copying files to the PC via cable or to an SD card inserted into the phone?
    – CharlieRB
    Commented Jun 15, 2015 at 19:57
  • I've tried both alternatives. To the PC via USB OR to the SD card. None worked. I have no experience on ADB.
    – Lucas BS
    Commented Jun 15, 2015 at 21:04
  • If you are connected to a PC, you should try copying the files via Windows Explorer (if you're using Windows).
    – CharlieRB
    Commented Jun 15, 2015 at 21:30
  • Nop. These are system files... invisible to windows, unfortunately :( I suppose only advanced methods will enable me to copy the folder
    – Lucas BS
    Commented Jun 17, 2015 at 15:08
  • You can try settings Windows to show show hidden files so you can see them.
    – CharlieRB
    Commented Jun 17, 2015 at 15:17

1 Answer 1

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1

Since the device is rooted, there is a good chance that a custom Recovery is also installed. I was able to copy all content from /data/data of Android 4.2.1 to my Linux PC by using following instructions:

  1. Boot into custom Recovery and mount Data.

  2. Enter adb pull /data/data/ ~/<TARGET_DIR>/ in terminal on Linux PC, or enter adb pull /data/data/ C:\<TARGET_DIR>\ in command prompt on Windows PC.

    It will take sometime in processing and the final result would be something like:

    5847 files pulled. 0 files skipped.
554 KB/s (269059005 bytes in 473.725s)

  3. Enter the following commands to see size of /data/data:

    adb shell
du -h /data/data/
exit
  4. Enter du -h ~/<TARGET_DIR>/ in PC's terminal to see size of your target directory.
  5. See if those two output matches, which it would.

Or,

Though I would still use the aforesaid steps for ease, you may try the following solutions too:

  • Make a Nandroid backup of Data from custom Recovery and then extract ../data from the backup in your PC.
  • You can also save Nandroid backup in SD card and then extract the relevant content using Nandroid Manager.
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  • EDIT: SORRY. I WAS NOT ON RECOVERY. IGNORE THIS Only a single folder was copied from the first method (which is the most interesting). I'll try the second. Meanwhile, would you have any idea of why this happened ? The copied folder was from com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup. There are at least fourty folders (as seen from ES file explorer) EDIT: SORRY. I WAS NOT ON RECOVERY
    – user113550
    Commented Jun 20, 2015 at 18:10
  • It works ! Thanks ! Case wasn't noticed, I wanted to backup my data (probably you did too), without their apps, but I get the following message when pulling: skipping special file 'lib'. Would you know if this is a problem for the backup ? Question two: would you know what's the purpose of the tilde (~) before the destination path ? Thanks again for the responses. A info that may be relevant to others: the target path (only) can be written on windows format.
    – user113550
    Commented Jun 29, 2015 at 23:56
  • @LucasBS Glad it works! 1) About that special file I too did noticed that during backup but it wasn't a big deal because the apps' data is in their folders. 2) No, I didn't want to backup my data at that time but just wanted to help you, so I tested and posted the answer, :) 3) ~ indicates HOME Directory of the user in Unix and Linux. Apologies since I forgot that you were using Windows and I should've mentioned a relevant command too, 4) If that ~ doesn't work on Windows then please edit my answer, make changes and mention in the comment during edit that I asked for it.
    – Firelord ♦
    Commented Jun 30, 2015 at 9:15
  • Also, if the answer worked out well then you may accept the answer. :D
    – Firelord ♦
    Commented Jun 30, 2015 at 9:16

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