yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Jammed_Death:
hi, i have an archos 97b platinum. Before do some mods i need a full backup (like nandroid) but the only recovery i got is a cwm 6.0.3.1 that is bugged like hell. So no backup on internal sd (error cannot mount path) and not or external (error backuping boot.img)...also no twrp available...there is a way to do a full secure backup in case i mess up with recovery\rom\framework or something else?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
You don't lose anything trying this...

Also, since you have a recovery, would it be possible to root the thing? (Rooting is done by flashing a superuser binary and app zip from the recovery.) Try that (just search google for superuser zip) and you can use Titanium Backup.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] kalo0osh97:
Hello Guys,

I recently made a batch file for this adb backup command making it easier than ever. You only have to answer five questions then that will create the backup. This post really helped create that batch file. Although I really didn't do anything that require attention I just want to share it with you guys and hopefully some people can test it. It's posted under How to Backup Almost Every Android Device

[MENTION=2791414]copkay[/MENTION] I hope you mention my batch file in the OP.Thanks in Advance
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] ThiagoRFA:
Sorry for this question but, does this backup works for I9505 S4? Thanks.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
In theory it should, yes.

No harm in trying, it would save you the trouble of writing the post and waiting for an answer...
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Spica33:
adb backup app

I tried

adb backup -all -apk -obb -nosystem

adb backup -all -apk -obb

adb backup -all -apk

adb backup -all

all gave me a .ad with 549 Byte. That can not be correct?

restoring it on a new device puts no apps.

What is wrong?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
It's obviously too small to be a backup of anything.

Check your ADB drivers and reinstall them, or ideally, install them on another PC and try there.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] GuitarGuy96:
Gallery Grey

I don't follow what you did to fix the gallery.. Could you or someone please explain what exactly is to be done? Cause I too get the grey gallery icons and none of the pictures will load - but they seem to have the correct dimensions and other data. I'm new to the Nexus 5 and this concept of a phone without an SD Card. :P Cause all my past phones had an SD card I never actually used adb to backup anything what so ever :P But please, could someone explain how do I get the gallery images back? :confused:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
Every gallery issue I ever had I could solve by clearing the gallery thumbnails. I don't know where they are, but I do know that SDMaid can clear them...
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] caporal:
Is it possible to backup, upgrade the phone from jelly bean to kitkat and then restore ?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
It was possible from ICS to JB and from every JB to every JB. I personally haven't tried KK but in theory it should work.

Please do use other backup methods as well.

Also, upgrading doesn't wipe data... :I Unless you want to wipe yourself, that is...
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] eastdata:
I got adb backup to work, just make sure you get a Toast message saying it finished. Maybe it should be done in safe mode because it took a few tries to succeed for me. It hung on a couple of Motorola apps.

To clear the Gallery cache, open it from Settings > Apps.

EDIT:

Oops Moto G user here...
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] tazyx:
hey, syntax is wrong .......

adb backup -apk -shared -all -f c:\backup.ab

and not

adb backup -apk -shared -all -f /c/backup.ab .......

see the difference ?

syntax is very important in linux .... :laugh:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] yatindroid:
Hey can you tell us which syntax works how

I need a syntax to do backup user & system app data only not sdcard

from HTC One
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] eastdata:
All installed apps (no sdcard data):

adb backup -all -f c:\backup.ab
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Prasad:
I take it using "adb backup -apk -shared -all -f C:\backup20111230.ab" would abort when hitting anything in /system without root ? I suppose if I have a non-rooted device I should append the "-nosystem" flag ?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] DrFredPhD:
Yeah it aborts with no message, use -nosystem.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Craigmill:
Full or Partial backup

Hi, I have messed about with my phone, and My Screen Lock "Slide to Unlock" & "None" no longer work! . It is OK if I use any of the rest (Voice, Pattern, etc) The touch screen works ok on everything else, so it looks like some part of the software is not enabling the Slide or None functions!

My friend has an identical phone that is "untouched"

Does the adb backup cover the total ROM?, ie, if I took an adb backup from his phone and restored it on mine would it fix my problem?

If this option is not suitable what else do you suggest - my friend does not want to root his phone!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] neeraj1212:
great boss,but this is long procedure
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Nick James:
Long procedure is better than no procedure or am I missing something?

Great find!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
More like only procedure. :P

I don't get why you people would need this? Is rooting really something to be afraid of?

Root, then if you need warranty service, you un-root. Backups with root are something really easy (Titanium and a bunch of other apps).
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] neeraj1212:
yeah,you are damn right,but we can also use other apps to do same
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] aquatarkus:
Just tried running adb backup -all and got a backup file of only 750k. Been reading docs and information on several sites and it's not really clear to me what exactly gets backed up by this command. Do APks get backed up or not? Do files on SD storage get backed up - eg photos, music, etc? Or is it just working data currently being used by apps? What about contact and calendar? How can I get a backup of everything (not including current SMS)? Sorry for all the questions :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
Read the OP again and tell me you don't understand all I'll tell you to do it again. After 100 or so times, I'll call you either a liar or an idiot.

^This goes for over 85% of threads on xda.

Anyways, not telling the program what to do in a command results in the defaults being registered. So with -all, you miss out on system/nosystem, apk/noapk and shared/noshared. The defaults for these are the following, with a short explanation added:

noapk; no apks get backed up

noshared; anything that isn't apps does not get backed up - basically everything on your sd card and "internal storage". Basically anything under /storage.

system; backs up system app data (but not the apps themselves)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] aquatarkus:
Hmmm, I'm not sure I really appreciate the cheap insult, but I do know exactly what you mean, as it applies to many technical forums including ones that I'm a moderator of. However, I do appreciate the solid technical information you provided.:D Basically the OP gives a lot of information, which I read several times over, and then also compared with information on several other web sites. I found some ambiguity in all of them, which is why I had the sheer bold-faced nerve to ask the question here. And re-reading the same information does not add any clarity. Personally, I like terse but clear information. So thanks again, you told me exactly what I needed to know.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] moheeden:
restoring stuck

i had successfully backed up my galaxy fame with these very informative steps. thank you about it. but when i start to restore my data on my phone, it got stuck and was not able to finish the restoring process. how can i fix this problem? please help. i need a step by step solution like your post. im a newbie. thank you. :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
Are you sure that the backup went smoothly?

How big is your backup file?

Maybe it got interrupted (again, adb backups are unstable, it can seem like it's all okay with the backup file but it might not yet have finished)...

What happens when you do a restore? Does it just freeze on one app?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] sigloiv:
A word of warning to anyone updating platform-tools: your entire platform-tools directory is wiped when you update the Platform Tools. I just backed up everything to an .ab archive and later had some issues with my ADB/fastboot drivers (after successfully backing up). I updated the USB driver and noticed that platform-tools was out of date as well, so I updated them both in one swoop. I didn't notice that the update wiped my entire platform-tools directory (which included my backup), and I went ahead and rooted. I go to look in my platform-tools directory: no backup.

Not. Awesome.

Hopefully, my word of warning saves at least a few people from making the same mistake. I've done this many times, I'm not an idiot (been rooting and modding phones since the HTC Magic), but I feel really stupid right now.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
Unless you're a dev who needs the entire platform-tools, why would you even have them?

Simple ZIP files and tons of installers that contain the two programs and the files that go with them are available that rarely exceed 20MB (compared to the few gigabytes you need for platform-tools).
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] sigloiv:
Well, for one, I'm old-school. I'd much rather get the mainline Google stuff than one of those all-in-one toolkits from wherever. That's one of the points of getting a Nexus device, right? And yeah, I also dev a little here and there. My attention span for Android side projects is very low, unfortunately, but I work in software engineering for a living, it's not that crazy of a proposition.

But most of all, where are you getting the "few gigabytes" number? I currently have one old version of the SDK installed (for when I was screwing around with apps and the emulator), the tools, platform tools, and USB driver, and together it all adds up to 220 MBs. The platform-tools directory itself is 18.6 MBs. Not that big of a deal...

As possible as it was for me to catch my mistake, it's pretty dumb that Google doesn't send up a confirm prompt before they perma-delete a folder (doesn't even go to the Recycle Bin). I was just hoping to help someone else avoid the same mistake, not get victim blamed for "doing it all wrong".
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
And I tried to tell you that unless you're an app developer, you could have avoided the issue you're facing now.

I didn't even try being a jerk. I just told you that.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] sigloiv:
Whoa, that escalated really fast. You're right, my language was unnecessarily abrasive. My bad. Again, just trying to post a heads up for anyone in potentially the same position (though, it's XDA, who reads through topics, am I right? ;) )
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] robertpdx:
ADB backup failure

That is not the correct path to a file in Windows. It should be C:\backup.ab. I'm surprised the application doesn't abort the backup, instead of letting it run without any output.

---------- Post added at 07:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:31 PM ----------

In this case, "-all" just means all application data; if you want anything else, other options have to be specified, too.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] TheRegime:
Thanks this helped me out a lot.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] rancur3p1c:
why don't I see #4 pop up?

I rebooted the phone.

I disabled USB Debugging and re enabled it.

...
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] edwaine:
Did somebody try to use this backup on Nokia X platform? (for Nokia X, X+ and XL) Because I got a Nokia XL and when I first use it it was the firmware version was 1.1.1.0. When I screwed things up on my phone (I dont like the Play Store on my XL), I restore it with Nokia Store Suite and flashed the official firmware version of the product and it was 1.1.0.6. I when I check for updates, it says "You have the latest update installed". Now I got another XL (for my wife) and before I hand it over to her, I just want to Backup it so I can use it on my Phone.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] sriramdh:
One M8

Has anyone tried this on the M8?/ i have been trying to transfer the data (1.5gb) which i backed up from the one x (encrypted with p/w). when i tried to restore, there is no progress shown on the screen after i enter the pwd and press on restore. both my devices are unrooted and not bound to any carrier.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
I'm not sure this is a cross-device solution.

In fact, rare ones are -- even the TiB developer doesn't recommend restoring data from different Android versions and other devices.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Fa11ou7:
Thanks for the Guide!

Boy I had a tough time getting adb to work on with my Gnexus and win 7 64x but I finally got the backup to work (adb backup -apk -shared -all -f).

Thanks so much for the guide, its posts like this that have tricked people into thinking I'm actually a tech person.

so now that I have an image of my phone what other data do I need to backup specifically?

- sms?

- pics?

- videos?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
You have an image of your phone? What do you mean by that? You took a picture? You used adb to get most of /data into a file (which isn't an image)? A stock factory image?

You only back up what you feel like backing up. Or what you know you'll need. The pictures and videos are located on the SDcard (either internal or external), so backing that up is pretty self-explanatory. Same goes for everything else stored there -- just hook the phone to a PC and see what's worth keeping.

SMS backup is pretty simple, just grab an app from Play Store, backup, then copy the file to a safe location and you're done.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Fa11ou7:
I knew if I called it an image someone was gonna give me a hard time, thanks for obliging =D

I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything I was missing, i got my sms with smsbackup and copied my images and videos from the phone itself so i guess I'm good.

I'm hoping to get a little more life from my Nexus with one of the xda 4.4.2 roms, stock is getting pretty slow on this old phone but its been a good one. if it doesn't work out like I was hoping then I guess I'll go give Verizon a kidney and get Moto X. If anyone has a rom that has worked out real well for them please feel free to let me know or shoot me a message.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
Say something weird in front of somebody that knows all about it, and you'll always get a sarcastic, if not mean, reply. Even in in real life, if you have no idea about cars, go talk to a guy whose hobby are cars.

Anyways, about fluidity being an issue -- PA does some amazing work, though I do recommend you have SD Maid installed (yes, even the pro license) and clean stuff out occasionally, and Android Tweaker (Play Store, free app) to zipalign your apps. Makes things much smoother.

If you have the option, don't go to a carrier where the device of your choosing is locked down. Viva la Unlock-ion!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Fa11ou7:
Excellent, thank you.

Funny thing is that I bought my Galaxy Nexus from Costco unactivated so I was able to unlock the phone before I put all my crap on it. But, I never had the motivation to mess around with roms until recently since it was (relatively) stock and everything worked so well. Now that 4.4.# is out and supposedly works better with less powerful hardware they don't support my phone anymore. So now I figure its time to start messing around before I lock myself into another 2 year contract. Sadly Verizon is the most dependable carrier where I am at and even if I go with Ting or something similar its only about $10 or so less.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] dannyella:
Was able to back up successfully. I have just one question. After restore, are my apk linked with playstore? In other words, will i still get playstore app updates?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
Yes.

If you haven't noticed that, even if you download an apk from the internet, it gets connected to your PS account and receives updates (unless you installed a paid version of an app without paying for it). For paid apps, it only works if the account you're logged in with has them purchased.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Deadly:
I made a complete backup and this actually worked really well and I simply put a password while waiting.

I know its not related to here. But still just asking if you know a solution. When I tried to restore after unlocking boot loader and rooting it ended up with 1 second recovery.

I mean it shows recovery started and then recovery stopped message came even though I gave correct password. Tried wrong password and it stopped at same time again. Then tried android backup extract application, bit it threw errors even after I got 2 files for encrypted backups and placed it in security folders as instructed. So was wondering if you had any solution to this issue.

Moto e 4.4.2 OS. Thanks for nice guide either way.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Arrjaan:
Can this also be used to restore data after flashing? I'm using it now as emergency backup.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
If it goes well, yes.

A single interruption during backup however will result in nothing being actually backed up.

It's unstable and very delicate, out of the 10 times I've tried this, I got it to work 3 times (all different phones and computers).

Best of luck! o/
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] the.draconian:
Does this work between different phones? For example I back up my Nexus 4 and then break it and get a completely new Nexus 4 to backup to?

Or another situation where i upgrade? For example I back up my Nexus 4, get an upgrade (Nexus 5?) and try to backup to that?

I've had my phone flunk out on me before for no reason, had to get google to replace it. But lost everything that was app related, obviously not as important as photos and such but game progress is a bit annoying to loose!

Thanks
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] groopk:
I've found the same problem as these guys. Anyone been able to successfully backup just one APK?

I've been able to backup my full phone with APKs no problem. Just not individual packages.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
I doubt anyone has succeeded doing a one-app backup through adb.

Take the whole thing or get root, those are the only two solutions.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Robshr:
back up not there

when i try to do a backup up everything goes accordingly so but when i go to where the backup is suppose to be saved it's not there on my phone it says it was backed up but no file on my computer. here is the command i'm using adb backup -all -apk -system C:\Rob I've also tried adb backup -all c:\ and a few others my phone always says it was backed up but the file is never there any help would be greatly appreciated

thanks rob
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] someone755:
Ye, would be nice if you'd read the OP again.

Says there you need to use the -f flag, so in your case that would be

adb backup -all -apk -system -f C:\Rob
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] DarrenHill:
Can't comment specifically about the N4, but more generally I backed up my kids' Tesco Hudl's this way (the USB ports became dodgy and needed the cable to be wedged in to make a connection, so had them replaced under warranty) and the restore to the replacement devices went fine. All apps and appdata went back on without any issues at all onto the new factory-fresh devices, which are happily working fine.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] baoduyph:
Does anyone can do the backup and restore on ASUS Memo Pad HD 7 (Model K00B)?

I can successfully do the backup using this command: adb backup -apk -shared -all -f D:\ASUS\JulBackup.ab, but when trying to restore, it always gets stuck at the screen: .com.android.browser

Tried hundred times, with & without desktop/encrypted password, but I still cannot restore the tablet :(

Much appreciate if someone can help :(
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Valittaja:
works great on Samsung Galaxy Trend Plus.

Thanks!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] DocBludgeon:
This is a great guide for newbies like me. Thank-you!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] arctophile:
Hello, I just tried ADB backup for the first time on my Galaxy S3. Seemed to work well (although the Shared bit took aaages to copy), but now it's done I can't find the .ab file on my PC (no 0KB file, nothing at all).

Command I used: adb backup -apk -shared -all -f C:\backup13082014.ab

Now I understand from reading further that maybe I shouldn't have specified my root directory, and maybe I should have encrypted it with a password. Normally, I'd be happy to just try again. However, now have ~7GB less space on my C drive, presumably taken up by this backup file.

Does anyone know how I can find and delete what ADB created? I looked in ADB's own directory and everywhere else I can think of, I even rebuilt the Windows search index specifically looking for .ab files. Nada. I would like my 7GB back please!

UPDATE: .ab seems not to exist, but I eventually found several TMP files in C:\Users\[NAME]\AppData\Local\Temp\AndroidEmulator and deleting them restored my drive space. Hooray.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] xbarsasy:
Great Work !

This is a really great work ..

I tried both backup and restore and they worked for me :)

I just have one question

I unpacked the ab file ,, edited a file ,, packed it again

but when i restore it nothing happen to the mobile

I got a toast restoration ended but i can't see the app

Can you help me ?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] tsiah:
I wish I had read more into this ADB backup before hand....

I have a large backup file that I got with the toolkit at Beginner guides that will not restore:crying:

The only reason I used the toolkit is because it seemed to work well for others and I was unable to obtain root on a note 2 with 4.3 (freaking knox....) so I took the backup before I attempted any other flashing. Something happened and I was stuck in a boot loop, couldn't get into recovery, but I was able to get into download mode. After some more issues I was able to get the phone to boot, but I lost everything and now this damn backup seems to have failed me too...and I no longer have root after the phone rebooted. yay.

There's an app that my wife uses for taking pictures that just caches all the pictures. You have to manually select them and save them to the library! WTF!? so all those photos are gone and she's pissed about that more than anything else that is missing...

root66 was supposed to just give me root and not do anything else to the phone! It wasn't supposed to trip the knox counter (it did) it wasn't supposed to erase anything (it must have because the phone wouldn't boot after following the instructions to a T!)

I've been flashing phones since the G1 was still fairly new and root/custom roms/custom bootloaders were all new and fun. I've NEVER had an issue like with this note 2!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] tsiah:
Kevin, have you seen anything where the backup seems to have worked but restoration fails because a password wasn't set when the backup was taken? I have a 6.9GB file that won't restore anything to a note 2...the backup seems to have worked, others that had an issue with no password end up with very small files.

I tried restoring without a password, I tried restoring after setting a password, I tried restoring in safe mode with and without a password...The process takes around 30 minutes, I get "restore ended" toast, but nothing has been restored.

Do I need to have the phone at the factory reset state when I start the restoration? Does the type of recovery on the phone make a difference? (samsung recovery vs modified)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] AndroidDeveloperLB:
Is it possible to use this feature from within Android OS itself, even using root?

Also, is it possible to run it silently and without a password?

If not, is there any alternative command for those, maybe using BusyBox ?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] tsiah:
Yea, It's called titanium backup. If you're rooted, there's no better way to backup your device.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] copkay:
Awesome! You're more than welcome, glad you were able to get it working!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Tiggerbits:
Copkay. Thank you.

I am in the middle of backing up now, seems to be going smoothly.

Quick question, is it possibly to restore this back up to an emulator? if you know what i'm getting at?