[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] radionerd:
Note 4 DE partitions

Note-4 DE; aboot partition is mmcblk0p7, (aboot is not backed up in TWRP) If something were to go terribly wrong, this partition could help save your bacon. If you want "full coverage insurance", backup all your partitions, as soon as possible after rooting, and TWRP backup.

This example is for those that are familiar with using ADB terminal interface. If this looks too difficult, study ADB tutorial, or try the EFS Professional method, My easy aboot backup Guide is HERE EFS PRO can make a backup of aboot.mbn without a steep learning curve

Save your aboot, boot, and other partitions to a folder in your sdcard using the adb dd command.

Make a directory in your sdcard to save mounts, then use dd to copy the partitions to the folder. I named my directory "mounts".

From the cmd.exe prompt, run as administrator, Grant root access if super su asks.

adb shell (installed adb terminal will start)

su (# indicates root access)

mkdir /sdcard/mounts (make a backup directory)

dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p7 of=/sdcard/mounts/mmcblk0p7.bak (copy partitions into the directory)

dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p17 of=/sdcard/mounts/mmcblk0p17.bak

Once aboot is backed up, copy your backup folder to your computer for safe keeping.

Before even thinking about restoring a backed up aboot, it must be edited and made into a flash-able Oden TAR. This has been successfully done at least once, unlocking a locked Developer Edition device. Thanks [MENTION=766721]ryanbg[/MENTION] for successfully confirming, and all the devs that helped figure this out!!! Here is an advanced S5 DE guide by [MENTION=766721]ryanbg[/MENTION] that shows how to backup and make aboot.mbn into an Odin flashable md5 tar. This guide is for the S5, so the location of aboot, and path are different.

The aboot restore procedure should only be attempted as a last resort, after if it's been confirmed that the bootloader was locked. Don't attempt to flash a retail image tar on your DE, or take OTA, that's how aboot gets overwritten, DE's get turned into retail locked devices, or hard bricked. You also don't want to brick your phone by bungling a backup, or corrupting while trying an unnecessary restore. Be Careful, and understand what your are aboot to do. (Canadians ;))

If you "Retail" your DE, have a backup of aboot, and want help fixing aboot to be flashable, post a request HERE.

Note-4 partition Blocks by size

G:\A_SDK>adb shell
shell@trltevzw:/ $ su
su
ca1|shell@trltevzw:/ cat /proc/partitions
cat /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name

253 0 1048576 vnswap0
179 0 30535680 mmcblk0
179 1 19456 mmcblk0p1
179 2 66464 mmcblk0p2
179 3 512 mmcblk0p3
179 4 512 mmcblk0p4
179 5 64 mmcblk0p5
179 6 32 mmcblk0p6
179 7 2048 mmcblk0p7
179 8 512 mmcblk0p8
179 9 512 mmcblk0p9
179 10 4096 mmcblk0p10
179 11 6144 mmcblk0p11
179 12 10240 mmcblk0p12
179 13 14336 mmcblk0p13
179 14 4096 mmcblk0p14
179 15 4096 mmcblk0p15
179 16 4 mmcblk0p16
179 17 17408 mmcblk0p17
179 18 19456 mmcblk0p18
179 19 4084 mmcblk0p19
179 20 1024 mmcblk0p20
179 21 8 mmcblk0p21
179 22 8192 mmcblk0p22
179 23 9216 mmcblk0p23
179 24 4259840 mmcblk0p24
179 25 1048576 mmcblk0p25
179 26 15360 mmcblk0p26
179 27 25015276 mmcblk0p27
179 32 4096 mmcblk0rpmb
179 64 62553088 mmcblk1
179 65 62536704 mmcblk1p1

Note-4 Mounts By-Name

shell@trltevzw:/ $ ls -al /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name
ls -al /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 aboot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p7
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 apnhlos -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 boot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p17
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 cache -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p25
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 carrier -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p26
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 dbi -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p5
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 ddr -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 efs -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p13
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 fota -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p19
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 mdm1m9kefs1 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p14
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 mdm1m9kefs2 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p15
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 mdm1m9kefs3 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p10
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 mdm1m9kefsc -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p16
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 misc -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p20
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 modem -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 pad -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p11
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 param -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p12
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 persdata -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p23
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 persist -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p22
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 recovery -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p18
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 rpm -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 sbl1 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 sbl1bak -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p4
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 ssd -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p21
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 system -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p24
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 tz -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p9
lrwxrwxrwx root root 2013-12-31 17:42 userdata -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p27
shell@trltevzw:/ $

Actual ADB code Folder mounts created in sdcard folder

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>adb shell
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
shell@trltevzw:/ $ su
su
root@trltevzw:/ # mkdir /sdcard/mounts
mkdir /sdcard/mounts
|root@trltevzw:/ # dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p7 of=/sdcard/mounts/mmcblk0p7.bak
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p7 of=/sdcard/mounts/mmcblk0p7.bak
4096+0 records in
4096+0 records out
2097152 bytes transferred in 0.235 secs (8924051 bytes/sec)
root@trltevzw:/ # dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p17 of=/sdcard/mounts/mmcblk0p17.bak
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p17 of=/sdcard/mounts/mmcblk0p17.bak
34816+0 records in
34816+0 records out
17825792 bytes transferred in 1.298 secs (13733275 bytes/sec)
root@trltevzw:/ #

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryanbg Link to thread

Spot on boss, the aboot shipped with Developer devices is unique, so as long as you back it up, strip the 00s padding after the signature, rename to aboot.mbn and tar it, you should be good to go. DD is also an option, but IMO considerably more dangerous, although most cases it works fine.

Easy look at Note 4 partition Mounts by-name (trltevzw)

aboot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p7 (2048KB)

apnhlos -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p1

boot -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p17

cache -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p25

carrier -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p26

dbi -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p5

ddr -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p6

efs -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p13

fota -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p19

mdm1m9kefs1 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p14

mdm1m9kefs2 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p15

mdm1m9kefs3 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p10

mdm1m9kefsc -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p16

misc -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p20

modem -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p2

pad -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p11

param -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p12

persdata -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p23

persist -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p22

recovery -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p18

rpm -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p8

sbl1 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p3

sbl1bak -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p4

ssd -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p21

system -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p24

tz -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p9

userdata -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p27