Unable to create a full backup for restore

[Bluesmanuk]

I have been playing around with these tools to backup and restore my Jiake N900W MTK6582 phone but ran into some difficulties when it comes to backing up and restoring the phone in a complete fashion.

I first used MTKdroidtools 2.5.3 to create a backup, believing that when restoring, it would restore everything exactly as it was at a point in time.

After doing this, I had to play around with the phone because when making or receiving a call, whilst the recipient could hear me OK, they were very faint and the only way that I could hear them properly was to use the loudspeaker or plug in some headphones.

So after playing around and getting nowhere, I decided to use spflashtools to restore.

I noticed that both cache and usrdata were not selected, which indicated that they were not backed up.

This was confirmed when after the restore, I had to restore many apps and go through configurations to get the phone back just as it was before I backed it up.

I then discovered that an older version of MTKdroidtools (2.4.3) had an option to select cache and usrdata, which was removed in 2,5,3, so I used this instead.

All went well, so I decided to load up sptools and point at the scatter file to confirm that all would be as I expect.

Whilst cache and udrdata were there, preloader and uboot were not selected.

So unless I am missing something (which is quite possible) there does not seem to be a way to backup the entire phone and restore it back to exactly the same state again?

[aus9]

Hi

there does not seem to be a way to backup the entire phone and restore it back to exactly the same state again?

I use Linux so can't comment on Windows tools but this question is exactly aimed at other means.....I hope

and if your device is rooted then install a custom recovery and then do a backup
----which means a backup of most things while in custom recovery.

here is what one backup looks like

Code:

boot.img  cache.ext4.tar  cache.ext4.tar.a  data.ext4.tar  data.ext4.tar.a  nandroid.md5  recovery.img  recovery.log  system.ext4.tar  system.ext4.tar.a

android uses some Linux stuff and tar stands for T (ape) archive when unix like systems used to backup to tape drives.....the command stuck altho the hardware only exists for the elite....not me....I am too blonde

Upon attempting to restore the custom recovery CWM/CTR/TWRP will do a hash check and it compares the nandroid.md5 as showing here

Code:

cat nandroid.md5
a6785af2f090b7d1897db7546998925e  boot.img
d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e  cache.ext4.tar
39ca0963642f67fe959347087cd075b8  cache.ext4.tar.a
d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e  data.ext4.tar
dfce5861fc2634672dbbdc585e7fd07a  data.ext4.tar.a
3a0740464828975a012c9945c5c5eb0a  recovery.img
d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e  system.ext4.tar
dcf2b9f1dbf79f97eb283f1983e20440  system.ext4.tar.a
d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e  .android_secure.vfat.tar
29fa4e5a77b4e650c43caf5f85ed4f8c  .android_secure.vfat.tar.a

[Bluesmanuk]

Thanks for the reply aus9.

I have a few Rockchip devices and always used to use CWM, in the belief that this covered everything but was horrified one day when I had tested a custom ROM and then went to flash what I thought was a complete backup using CWM, only to find that I had to re-install many apps and settings because the usrdata wasn't being backed up.

Research then had me discover that WM isn't a be all and end all for backups.

I've not tried TWRP for my phone as I've not been able to find one that is guaranteed to work.

Using the version of MTKDroidtoos that did seem to backup everything that I expected gave me hope but it was when using sptools to flash that I became flummoxed as I would have thought that the scatter file would identify preloader and uboot.

The phone is rooted and is a Custom ROM with CWM.

I guess I have little to lose in trying some versions of TWRP out there as the worst that can happen is that I just won't be able to boot into recovery if one is not compatible.

[aus9]

no pls check your dumchar_info before trying to flash any TWRP

TWRP is generally larger and you risk soft bricking it.

you can have a look at how I modded a CWM in Linux corner and you can do the same to TWRP but you will need Linux as you should also correct the rc for usb so you have the correct USB ids in the recovery so you can use fastboot etc.

I left it out deliberately to reduce the skill level required.

[Bluesmanuk]

I've found somebody who is going to make a TWRP image for me.

I may have found the issue with backing up and restoring though.

None of the backups contain a copy of preloader.bin.

I have copied the file from the original ROM that I installed from and when running sptools to restore, it does at least seem to fill in all the required fields automatically.

I now have to try a restore to verify that it will work.

[aus9]

Don't worry all users have a false sense of security, including me as they falsely believe they have a backup.

A backup is worthless unless it has been tested by a restore.

2) don't trust your sdcard as the fountain of all backups.
After a tested restore, copy the backup to your PC

and if you spare the time, upload to online storage site

[mirandam]

You can also use the method described [Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register]
Look at the second spoiler which gives quite a complete explanation.
If you have your blockmap saved from droidtools, you can use that one for each partition you want to backup, just use points 7 to 14 from the spoiler to repeat the process for each partition and name it accordingly.
After that you need to edit your scatter file to change the lines is downloaded for each partition you backuped up to true to be able to flash them back when needed.
As far as I know it is the most complete and reliable backup without need for root or even having your phone booted.