yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] ldefeo1:
hi guys im trying this on a htc sensation ocs 4.0.3 but its not working :(

when i enter the command on the computer the screen to confirm appears and i am able to set a password if i wish but the button to actually make the backup doesnt do anything, pressing in that area has no effect. oddly the other button to go back works.

i have tried a variety of commands changing the flags and have unistalled my avast restarted phone etc.

note i am running on windows through a virtual machine on parallels not that that should make a difference

any ideas?

thanks
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] wintermute000:
THis works for me on my home PC but not on work laptop.

I have HTC sync installed and android usb driver from google sdk

adb works (well adb devices returns the ID) and the backup kicks off, i get to put in a password etc. but on clicking ok it just hangs at the first apk

anyone seen this?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] copkay:
The only times I've seen this issue is when there is no Desktop Backup Password set (Settings > Developer Options > Desktop backup password). I've always had to set a password there first, then use the same password when doing the backup command. It doesn't seem to work when the password is blank, and the same goes for the restore process. I did this again the other day, and with a successful backup, restoring on the new device didn't work unless I set a Desktop backup password in the Developer Options before performing a restore.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] moblo106:
is it possible, using this backup method, to put a backup from a galaxy note and recover it to a galaxy s3? both without root and ics stock rom.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] CJSnet:
Hi, I'd love to donate but is there any way I can do the developer backup to the SD Card instead of via USB? My USB port has blown, so I need to replace the phone, but would like to backup to Dropbox first. Obviously I cannot run ADB commands via the USB cable, so would need a solution to that also, and I am not rooted :/ Thanks for your prompt reply!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] rikef01:
Guys.. by using adb back up, can we just back up only 1 apps?

Can you give me the command?

The package name : com.gameloft.android.ANMP.GloftIAHM
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] copkay:
Thanks for the offer, but there's no need to donate. :)

Thinking it over, I unfortunately can't think of any good solution for you without a USB port. You say you have an SD card, so you're not on the Galaxy Nexus, right? Already you're in a little better shape, in that case. I would just copy over what you can (music, pictures, videos, non-market APKs, etc.) to the SD Card using ES File Explorer or Solid Explorer. Download SMS Backup and Restore to backup your SMS data to the SD card. Look through all of your applications and see if any of them offer a Backup option (for those that don't automatically backup to the cloud -- password managers, etc.) that will let you backup to the SD card.

Good luck!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] copkay:
You can, that's what the "packages" area is for. Just specify the flags you want (-apk -shared, etc.) but not the -all flag, and append the package name to the end of the command. Should do the trick.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] CJSnet:
Thanks. I do have the Galaxy Nexus. I meant back up to the internal partition that pretends to be an SD Card, then copy the backup to Dropbox.

I wish there was a way to simulate the USB connection via WiFi.

If the tool creates one backup file on the PC, I'm surprised it can't be tweaked to save that file locally on the phone instead?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] copkay:
Ah, I see. Well, there is an app to perform ADB over WiFi. Unfortunately, it requires root. Which, at least to my knowledge, can't be done on the GN without going through USB. ADB is the software actually doing the backup from your desktop through USB, so yes, you could save the backup to the phone, but you'd still have to initiate the backup from your desktop.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SgtBigSmoke:
Prime Root WITHOUT Unlock

Sorry for bumping an old thread, but I want to ROOT my Transformer Prime without unlocking the bootloader. Have to downgrade to .15, Root, install rootkeeper and upgrade back to .21.

Question is, if I make a backup like this, downgrade, root (Without unlocking), install Rootkeeper, upgrade back to .21 and then restore my backup, will the restore process wipe my Root or will I be able to keep it?

Thanks..
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] copkay:
I don't really know, honestly. As far as I know, all it's doing is making backup copies of your settings, data, and APKs, and copying them to the new device (overwriting them if they already exist). But it shouldn't erase anything that's there that isn't being restored. I would certainly use the flag -nosystem so that it doesn't backup and try to restore the SuperUser app and potentially cause problems.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SgtBigSmoke:
I'm gonna try it that way and see what happens, thanks for the heads up

[EDIT:] Tried it and it worked perfectly, thank you very much for this awesome guide!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] 0x45455844:
Does anyone have -noshared working?

I'm running AOKP build 37 on Nexus Galaxy, and regardless of -noshared flag it picks up all shared stuff, which is ~10Gb of music in my case.

It seems there's bug in android closed recently (http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=28303), but as of now, do I have any options to make slim backup with no shared data included?

Thanks.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] kelkelkel:
Doesn't work for CM9 neither.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] copkay:
It's working on stock, which is what this guide was designed for. If it's not working in AOKP or CM9, you should contact the developers of those ROMs. That said, if you're on a custom ROM, you're probably better off with Titanium Backup anyway.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Silver-Hawk:
Problem Restoring the ADB Backup!

Hi

Although my phone is an HTC One X, but i believe ADB method should be universal to all Android devices, and this is the most discussed thread of this topic. I'm really hoping somebody could help me..

I'm having problem with restoring a backup i created on my "unrooted phone with bootloader locked", so i could get all my apps plus data back once Unlocking bootloader caused them to be wiped.

All went well initially, I created the Backup (using "adb backup -apk -all -f c:\backup.ab"). Point to note is, even though i did specify Encryption password asked on my phone while initiating the backup, i didn't have any "Desktop Encryption Password" set from Developer Options at that time..

Then i unlocked my bootloader, and Rooted my phone (with CWM touch Recovery and Superuser installed)..

Now when i'm trying to Restore that backup using "adb restore c:\backup.ab" it is asking for passwords in two separate fields: one for Device encryption Password and other for Data encryption password set at the time of backup. I only read about Device encryption password afterwards, so i went and created one at this point and it kind of works too..

I mean Restore Begins successfully, with Phone showing folders like "Android", "something..Contacts"..etc.

But it gets Stuck at "com.android.sharedstoragebackup" step and eventually quits the Backup Manager, only to return me with a device which has its Settings, Contacts, Messages restored, but still none of the Apps or any App Data!

Also, though not consistently, I'm getting this "com.htc.bgp has stopped working. Please Report it to HTC." prompt after a few seconds of starting the restore.. restore continues successfully after that message though..

Can somebody please direct me to what i'm doing wrong? Is it that the backup is corrupt coz Device Encryption Password was not set at that time? or Does this Restore require the same "Recovery" or something? I could try unrooting again, restoring, and then rerooting with CWM recovery, if it helps..

One more idea I have is, can i unmount the sd card before i try to Restore, so that when it comes to SharedStorage part it doesnt find it, and just skip ahead?I dont need the sd card backup anyways, just the Apps please.. I just dont know if it might cause something worse.

Thanking you in advance for any feedback. :)

ps: Also, by default shouldn't the backup exclude the shared storeage?? but i guess its a known bug as i read someplace else too, adb doesnt seem to listen to Shared/noshared part of command, and just includes shared storage by default..
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] copkay:
The com.htc.bgp process should be unrelated, from what I've read (see =this thread). Now, I do know that adb respects the -noshared flag, but it definitely seems as though it defaulted to backing up shared storage for you.

The good news is that your problem has nothing to do with the encryption password (it won't even start otherwise). The bad news is I'm not sure why it's crashing on you. You could try unmounting the sd card -- it's not going to hurt anything, but I have to imagine it's just going to crash immediately instead of hanging.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Silver-Hawk:
Thanks for the quick reply, I'm trying with USB connection mode turned to "Disk Drive", ie. sd unmounted from the phone...

Update: It started well this time,it didnt crash, but then somehow again got stuck at the same old "com.android.sharedstoragebackup" ! :(

Really really hope somebody knows what's wrong.

PS: Is there any way to manually extract data from the "backup.ab" file? I couldn't find any..
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] copkay:
How long does it get "stuck"? Does it actually crash, or just seem to hang? The shared storage restoration can take a very long time depending on how much is there.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Silver-Hawk:
It actually Crashes eventually, returning to homescreen, which seems to apply "new" settings and all. Contacts and Call logs are restored to till the time of backup too. just no apps.

I also ran logcat last few times, it is actually just stuck, as "BackupManagerService" doesnt seem to do anything for long periods of time before it crashes..

In fact this time with SD unmounted, there were strings like "Backupmanagerservice: invoking file XYZ.

No storage.

Discarding File Contents.."

and moving on swiftly to the next thing..

But it was only for a small time, then it just hung there for a while, nd eventually crashed again!

I'm beginning to think its just a Bad Backup thats causing this! :( (though i cant identify any particular file on which it crashes, coz as soon as it crashes, the logcat just goes crazy! and i dont know filtering in logcat well enough)

Thanks for trying anyways.. :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] copkay:
That is pretty weird. I suppose things like this are why it isn't really a "supported" feature. And unfortunately, since it's encrypted, there's no way to get at the contents themselves without using the restore manager. Wish I had more ideas for ya. :(
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] angusc:
I'm totally stock HTC One-X and have been trying to get a consistent backup.ab file. I also have noticed that it always backs up the Internal SDCard contents no mater if -noshared is included in the command......

I have had different sized backup.ab files on every occasion so this would indicate to me that all of them are corrupted in some way. so far the sizes have been 1,021,157KB, 1,863,053KB, 8,540,160KB......

It would be good if there was some way to read the backup.ab file contents to see whats there and whats not.....?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] copkay:
Yeah, I would basically never count on this as your only backup method -- it's experimental. If it works it saves some time, but I wouldn't count on it working, especially on non-stock ROMs like HTCs. And no, there's definitely no way to read the contents since they're encrypted.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] angusc:
Just as a final thought....has anyone with an "out of the box" one-x successfully backed up and then restored using this method and if so what was the size of the backup.ab file....this might at least give an idea of where it should be.

I'm considering to delete most if not all of my Internal SDCard contents as i have manually backed them up and then to create a new backup.ab from there....
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] cmstlist:
It could well be that HTC left in the code for adb backup, but never actually paid any attention to making sure it'd work properly. Just like how HTC, Motorola and others allowed many devices to ship with faulty PPTP VPN code.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] xnzn307:
thanks
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] cnstarz:
i just tried helping my friend root his phone, and his restore got stuck at com.android.sharedstoragebackup too. he let it sit there all day (6+ hours). he eventually gave up.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] angusc:
Did he manage to restore the apps and app settings before the crash or was the entire restore process corrupted?

Sent witH desire from OneX
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] cnstarz:
he was never able to restore the apps. unsure if it's a bad backup or if his phone is just high on chromosomes.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] RedBlueGreen:
Hey!

I done a backup on my Galaxy Nexus and i want to restore it on my soon to be Galaxy S 3.. i done "-nosystem".. do you think it will work without any problem?

Thanks.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] qsuscs:
I get an error quite similar to this; when I start the backup, it says that c:geo (an app for geocaching so it's using GPS, too) was stopped, so I think backup might have some problems with GPS
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] efrant:
Just a thought: why don't you guys with HTC devices post in your respective forums/sections? It might make troubleshooting easier, no?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] hbguru:
Never get to confirming it on the phone

hey!

thanks for the post!

i did all steps with my phone but never got to ask me to confirm backup.

adb did say my phone will now ask for confirmation, but nothing.

Any ideas what i might be doing wrong?

have sdk rev 20, but tried with adb from linked rev 10 as well.

i have comodo on PC and avast on phone. Can firewall be a problem for such connection?

usb debugging and external sources are allowed.

thanks!!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Razyre:
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S3 and using this method of backing up, and am getting stuck at "com.android.sharedstoragebackup".

I don't encrypt the file when I'm doing this, just skip the password and select back up.

I can't seem to find the .ab file anywhere either, even after I specify for it to go in a specific folder.

I also removed my SD card, I have around 7.5GB on my internal storage (International 16GB Blue variant of the phone).

EDIT: Read the first page again, will now add a password.

EDIT 2: Same problem :/
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] NMarco:
sorry...It's possible to open this file.ab for extract some files? apk etc?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Javi22:
Hello, I have a problem with this method and my Xperia S

adb, drivers and everything is correctly installed because when I type adb devices it recognices my phone

The problem is when I try to make the backup, this is what it says:

Now unlock your device and confirm the backup operation

Is correct to appear this? When I wake up my phone it doesnt do anything....

Please give me a hand, thank you very much
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] venom30:
hi,

ich made an backup from my htc one s. and now i would like to restore the backup back to my phone. but i get everytime this message:

my phone is in debug modus and as hdd over usb. can somebody help?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] RedBlueGreen:
just so you all know this works on the S3 with no password.

i used noshared, nosystem, all, apk i think,
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Silverian:
Hello, having trouble restoring backup.

Hello everyone,

I found this tool and I would love someone to please explain a practical/simple way to use it so I can recover the files from my .bak/.ab file.

nelenkov.blogspot.jp/2012/06/unpacking-android-backups.html

Obviously I don't know anything about coding, that's the reason I'm asking your assitance.

Another reference here...

android.stackexchange.com/questions/23357/is-there-a-way-to-look-inside-and-modify-an-adb-backup-created-file

Thanks in advance!

:confused:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] upsidedowner:
I can't get this to work. My phone is plugged in, and when I do an adb devices check, my Nexus shows up.

But when I run the backup I just get the help text that scrolls when you start adb.

No error message, just the scrolling text with the basic commands list.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jfroehlich:
Some versions of adb do not include the backup option. You probably need to download the latest sdk.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] efrant:
Latest files attached.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] wired00:
thanks for the tip, mine is currently backing up -all on galaxy nexus after setting backup password under dev options.

Will ADB allow restoring from a backup created with 4.0.4 onto 4.1.1?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] django1234:
Hi,

I have created a backup with the adb, but I cant restore it. The backup was taken under Android 4.0.3 with my Samsung Galaxy SII. No root kernel. When I restore it (same kernel, without root), the Dalvik Debug Monitor says in the first 10 Minutes all right, but after that I only get red lines "usb connection is true" and "DSR is On. Don't send DTR ON."

I dont know what is going on, but an restore is not possible...no Apps, no settings, only some Mail/Pictures...its lame.

How can I get my backup back on the phone? Thank you.

Regards,

django
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] kyokeun1234:
Backup successful! Thanks with all my heart :D

---------- Post added at 03:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:17 PM ----------

Just wondering, does this backup my app data too? I am a little confused
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jfroehlich:
Yes, if you pass the right options (-all will do all app data). That's really the whole point of this backup.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jfroehlich:
If you entered a password when you started the backup, be sure to enter it in both password fields when you restore.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Sir Churchill:
Cool Story!

I always have problems with some apps
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Paresh Kalinani:
Ohhh YA!!!!!!!! IT WORKS!

YES!! It worked on my HTC One V (Primo U) on Stock ROM, NOT Rooted and in fact a LOCKED Bootloader!! :highfive: :victory:

It's soo easy!! :D

Can you please list the all the things it backed up in the file?? :confused:

Thanks! :victory:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] lun7200:
can I restore the .ab file to any 4.0 device or only the original phone that it came out of? Im trying to transfer my apps from a tablet with a locked bootloader and no root to separate tablet that is already unlocked and rooted. thanks in advance
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] zinv:
Having an issue trying to do this with a Nexus 7. I know its suppose to be an ICS feature but i would think it would work on jellybean to. When i run the adb backup with any options the process begins. I have to enter my backup password and such. But when i hit backup my data the command prompt just ends. Also the device does not start backing up anything just sits on the backup my data screen with both buttons unclickable. Now if i unplug the usb at this point without pressing back or home the files start to process like they are backing up even though it is not connected. Any ideas would be appreciated.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] copkay:
It sounds like you didn't set your desktop backup password in the Developer Options before doing the backup. As noted, you have to do that or it will not work. What happens when you unplug is that it just cancels but still runs displays each item (app) in the list before exiting.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] zinv:
I actually had tried that way as well with the same results before posting my original post. Thank you though for the prompt response
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] kyokeun1234:
Hey help me out. I did setup the backup password on my JB GNex and it looks like it's backing up but file's not there when I look at the folder on my computer.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Johnny11:
In case this helps anyone...

If are getting "restore ended" immediately after initiating the restore and you had a desktop backup password setup when you did your backup, try this:

1. Set your desktop restore password to the original you used to backup.

2. When prompted enter your desktop backup password in the desktop backup password field.

3. When prompted enter your desktop backup password in the decryption passworld field.

All three of the steps might not be necessary, but it worked for me and I don't feel like experimenting :victory:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] roccopeterbilt:
Major Thanks

So I had the USB port (voltage is too high warning without a cord connected) and a quick call to ATT had a replacement device in my hands in just a few days. I have to send the old one back but hated the idea that I was going to be losing my app data. I could have rooted to back it up but that seemed like a lot of work for what should have, IMHO, been a stock feature.

Either way I followed your steps on a completely stock 4.0.3 version of ICS and the only thing that I have found that didn't transfer was my wallpaper, which ICS screwed up anyways (is there not a scrolling wallpaper option anymore?)

Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful tip, and major props for the easy to follow tutorial.

-Rocco
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] copkay:
Post the exact command that you used.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] kyokeun1234:
Haha nevermind, when I used the command, I typed -f C:Backups instead of C:\Backups :/ Silly me
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] copkay:
Haha, it happens. It's frustrating that it doesn't throw an error, but just continues on its merry way without actually writing anything.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] PeQuEsan:
Hi all,

I've come across this thread trying to figure out how to backup my apps&data before unlocking...

But I've got problems... As you can see here:

http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=28303

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=29072968#post29072968

... backup feature has some weird bug in 4.0.4 (don't know if also in 4.0.3)... First of all -noshared option is not working, and as a result you always get a full SD backup along with your regular app&data backup. That's only a matter of wasted time... the key bug is that this "SD Backup" done is not correctly programmed, and you end up always with a corrupt backup (when you try to restore, it stucks for hours and you can't see any progress behond the sd restore itself)

Anyone with 4.0.4 can confirm this behaviour/ has a workaround? I definitely don't need to backup my SD. Second link above has some perl scripts that I'll try if noone tells me nothing more easy...

Also I'm trying to see the option to backup some specific apps that take many time to reconfigure after a wipe... My findings with this is that some apps let themselves to be backed up... but most of them not, so I end up always with a 1 Kb .ad file with no backup... This is an example command:

adb backup -apk com.mediaportal.ampdroid -f c:\ampdroid.ad

Are you aware that some apps don't let them be backep up individually?

Thanks a lot.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Hot-Donna:
BackUp and Restore....

> Enter a password (if desired)

Do some devices like the Samsung S3 DEMAND a password?

I'd rather not have one... but it seemed to want one anyway.

Also, what would happen if I did this:

1. Backup my entire phone.

2. NOT wipe it.

3. Add a few more apps, and change some settings, and take some pictures, etc.

4. Restore my entire phone.

Would I forever lose everything in #3?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] kyokeun1234:
You're supposed to type "adb devices"

I think you messed up a bit there...
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Mathorlaz:
"adb devices" gets the serial number, and "adb get-state" gets the state of the "whatever" connected to the pc wich in this case is a device.. It's the same as showing the serial number I was just trying one of the tips it shows on what's on the #code# bit. I really can't seem to realise what I did wrong because my device seems to be installed, it just doesn't backup or unlock when I command it to..

I really appreciate your help to figure this out, thanks!

Mathorlaz
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] kyokeun1234:
Also I noticed that your adb doesn't have backup command. Just get the latest version of adb and you should have all the commands you need