The header says it all. I've installed CM12.1 mod. I want to flash other ROMs now, but losing all my settings and data is not an option. I checked up on the net, but the tutorials are all about backing up stock ROMs and I'm not sure it will work on custom ROMs as well.(Bear with me,noob here).Any help would be appreciated.
1 Answer
Now that you mention custom ROMs, I'm sure you have a custom recovery in place as well. Eg: TWRP, Clockwork or Philz. These recoveries allow backing up data from any rom, both stock as well as custom. Provided the backup is restored to the same base. Like 4.4.4 kitkat backup works only on 4.4.4 and doesnt work on lollipop or even 4.4.2. As each base and rom uses highly customised settings to store backups, restoring backups may or may not work.
But, if you are looking to backup only apps, I'd recommend Titanium backup as it works 95% of the time irrespective of what rom you're on.
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Can you clarify the sentence "Provided the backup is restored to the same base. Like 4.4.4 kitkat backup works only on 4.4.4 and doesnt work on lollipop or even 4.4.2. As each base and rom uses highly customised settings to store backups, restoring backups may or may not work.". I don't see any reason why a nandroid backup from 4.4 can't be restored when I'm on Android 5.1.1. Any sources? Cause I've restored many many backups like that :)– benjaminOct 26, 2015 at 13:51
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Hi, Benjamin. The settings.apk and the operating system related data for every rom and base are different. When these settings are restored, some may apply, some may not depending on how the settings.apk and the operating system is configured. For a simple example, xposed needed just an installation of apk and root permissions upto 4.4.4. From 5 onwards, a direct installation wouldn't work. You'd have to install the framework from a zip first. Now, when the previous rom also had xposed installed and it's data backed up, simply restoring data wouldn't work. You get the drift right? Oct 27, 2015 at 9:59
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Ok allright but when looking at a nandroid backup you have ALL your partitions corresponding to a specific android version. So restoring this backup will result in a functioning system no matter what version of android was on there before the backup - the partitions just get overwritten so there won't be a problem. It's not like you would restore data from a 4.4 rom to a 5.1 rom. Thats the great thing about backups - they work if you have messed up your system no matter what is running on it.– benjaminOct 27, 2015 at 10:39
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okay Benjamin, I won't argue. Being a rom maker myself, I dont recommend that to my testers as well. But is still carried out nevertheless to see how it performs. Anyways, have fun restorng your backups :) Oct 29, 2015 at 11:19
backuptag to your question: have you checked with its tag-wiki? Would answer your question. Especially pay attention to the "Nandroid" chapter :) Also see: Retaining applications and settings when flashing custom ROMs / How can I keep settings after flashing a ROM?