[Upgrading, Modifying and Unlocking] steadfasterX:
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is that "adb" thing?

adb stands for: Android Debug Bridge and can help a lot when it comes to work with your device. It is not for developers only but they use it a lot of course.

But a normal user can use this to exchange files without the need of mounting, backing up the device, reboot the device and use it as a very comfortable way of having a terminal emulator.

Normally adb itself is not available as a standalone application - it comes with the Android SDK which is very big and heavy if you want to use adb and/or fastboot (another great tool) only.

But we live in a great world with many people wanting to make things easy so here you go when you want/need only adb and fastboot:

download & install adb at lifehacker

(Direct link for Windows users: Go to easy ADB install thread)

How to get root for the F3Q?

Here is the tool and guide: Saferoot

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What is a "nandroid" backup?

nandroid means essentially: "a full image of all your partitions" so it is a full snapshot of your ROM including all your apps and contents.

The name NANDroid is a portmanteau of "NAND" (as in Flash memory - NAND flash) and "Android." (Source)

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How to create a "nandroid" backup?

(See above for the meaning of "nandroid backup")

You have several options on how to do that.

The normal and absolutely recommended way is to do that "offline" (from within recovery mode) but you can also do it "online" (while Android is running).

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Off

line nandroid backup by using TWRP recovery: Guide

If you have no custom recovery installed read on.

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On

line nandroid backup:

by using an app:

There is 1 (known to me) "online" nandroid backup tool available which will backup from within your running Android: PlayStore.

I tested it and still using it since a while and I really like it but I would not fully resist on it.

I had no problems backing up but sometimes an app is lost when restoring. This may have been fixed but well it is like imaging a running Windows or Linux system:

Do not do it online if you can - it may/will work but there could be problems/inconsistencies later!!

If you never made a nandroid before doing it online will not harm anything and should be your first start. So install the Online Nandroid backup tool and begin.

Check out this guide for some hints: Guide

(If you like the Android app do not hesitate to buy the unlock key to support the developer!)

by using commandline tools:

First of all you need "adb" installed (check out the FAQ answer number 1 above).

Then you need someone who is telling you the device partition table and you need a big sized SD card to hold the images.

The reason is that you will use a special command named "dd" which images the whole partition (not the content only!).

dd is a VERY dangerous tool because if you use it wrong your device may get bricked so it is essential that you are using the

correct command and check that twice!

Check out the next FAQ on how to do this for the

F3Q

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How to create a "nandroid" backup for the F3Q - WITHOUT having a custom recovery?

The whole process will take a big amount of time but it is worth to follow each step including the md5sum checks at the end.

Please read the previous FAQ first because there you will find more information about background and other options you may have.

Ensure you have a SD card inserted which is big enough and having enough free space available (4GB at least! I recommend at least 8 GB but this depends on the size of your current data partition. A completely stock ROM with nothing installed and unused will need 3 GB space).

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Install "adb" on your pc (check out the FAQ #1 above).

root your device (check out FAQ #2 above)

connect with adb to your (running) F3Q:

adb shell

(you should see a prompt)

su

(you need to grant permission if you haven't yet)

Then backup your current ROM and data:

Just to be sure you can do an online backup now, too ( Guide ) Online Nandroid backup App

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copy the backup(s) to your device (connect USB cable - open your external storage and drag&drop) <---

DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!!!!

It is absolutely essential!

Check your copy on your device:

Download a md5sum checker like this one Windows MD5 and load each file you copied to it (on Linux the "md5sum" command can be used of course).

compare the md5sums from the above output and ensure that they are all matching.

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Why is factory reset not working when installing TWRP? (or: AAAAaaaah my /data is inaccessible after doing a factory reset!!!!)

All my tests has shown that this comes not from TWRP (in one of my tests I disabled everything in the sourcecode of TWRP which wipes /data) but coming from LG itself. The factory reset button/option do something with the /data partition sturucture and afterwards you cannot use that anymore. I also tried to restore the partition info by trying all backup superblocks but that doesn't worked. No backup superblock is accessible.

Restoring them by mke2fs and e2fsck does not work unfortunately.. (mke2fs -S /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata && e2fsck -yf /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata)

So if you have loosed your /data and/or internal storage you need to have a DD imaged backup near. Sorry but you have been warned (known issues) before.

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if you want the factory reset back simply choose the file twrp_2.7.1.0_recovery_FRon.img.lok and follow the above instructions. Afterwards you will have TWRP but it will be reachable only when you execute "adb reboot recovery" from the running system. v2.7. is not recommended to use but atm the only option if you really want that. Instead I would better try the wipe options from within TWRP and re-installing your ROM of choice or simply using the official LG flashing tool to get your F3Q fully reset.

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