yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[OnePlus 9] AkayamiShurui:
So as of right now there's other ways to flash these files onto the phone fast boot is the fastest and easiest now other methods are more automated but it depends on which Qualcomm flash tool you're using do they have like 26 currently speaking and this is not including the one I just talked about qdl on the post I just made commenting on the other guy that links you to a GitHub if you click the emblem on the top left hand corner it will drop all of the suppositories they have quadcom has like 20 in there and 12 of them are command line flash tools the .h files or help files that tell you how to use them
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
Here's the story. I made a backup partitions dump of a working firmware, except for userdata, using dd method. Then I installed custom ROMs, stuff, etc. Then I wanted to check if that backup partitions dump can be restored. So I flashed using fastboot mode. Some partitions were critical so I had to unlock critical flashing as well. I had to use fastbootd mode flashing for some partitions. Then I formatted data as well. But my phone would just not boot back up. I would keep sending me back to fastboot/bootloader.

So, what is the point of taking backup of partitions when they would just not recover your phone???!!!

I would like to mention that I flashed the entire super partition; not the individual partitions system, product, odm, etc. Wouldn't that already repartition inside super partition? Or do I have to repartition super manually, and then extract my super.img backup and flash the individual partitions?

P.S. My phone is up and running as I had to use MSM, so before anyone suggests "use MSM tool to unbrick", I would say I already know about that and unbricked my phone. The point of my post is to question the purpose of backing up partitions.
[OnePlus 9] immortalwon:
Very good questions here, hopefully someone who works for oneplus / qualcomm can chime in and teach us how to restore a flash-readback from the MSM tools that are available on the web.
[OnePlus 9] AkayamiShurui:
Fastboot can flash your phone back
[OnePlus 9] TheNewHEROBRINE:
Can you list all the partitions you backed up and then flashed?
[OnePlus 9] TheNewHEROBRINE:
I don't see boot_a/boot_b among the commands you did but they are in the screenshot. Maybe you didn't flash those?
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
I forgot to mention that I flashed boot_a and boot_b the first thing, however, I flashed boot.img from LineageOS on both to get to fastbootd mode; as the original backed up ones were not taking me to fastbootd mode. Note that the reason I wanted to get to fastbootd mode was because critical partitions can only be flashed through fastbootd; not from bootloader.

With that being said, it just occured to me that MAYBE I did not flash my original backed up boot_a and boot_b in the end. I can't remember for sure.

I will try the process once again and make sure I flash boot_a and boot_b in the end. I will then update here.
[OnePlus 9] TheNewHEROBRINE:
The OnePlus 9 doesn't have a dedicated recovery partition so?

Also, can't you flash critical partitions from bootloader if you do fastboot flashing unlock_critical?
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
Yes. I know A/B partition devices don't have dedicated recovery partition anymore.

I already have critical flashing unlocked, but still, bootloader fastboot gives error when flashing those. You have to flash through fastbootd mode. While some partitions can only be flashed from bootloader fastboot; not fastbootd. I had HTC 10 before, and it had the same case. Some partitions can only be flashed exclusively from bootloader fastboot, while some can only be flashed exclusively from download mode. I would also like to mention that I tried this whole process of backing up partitions dumps with dd method and then flashing back through fastboot; and it worked. Userdata couldn't be restored though. I had to format data prior to boot.
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
Update: I just tried flashing again, but it failed. I made sure I flashed boot_a and boot_b. This time I did not flash LOS boot.img for fastbootd. The stock boot took me to fastbootd. But the problem is still the same. It always takes me to bootloader and does not boot the system. When I took the backup, I was on slot_b. So I'm on slot_b now. I have also tried switching to slot_a; still the same.

I have now booted (not flashed) to TWRP and just saw the error:

Failed to mount '/system_root' (Invalid argument)

So my inference is that it's the problem with flashing super.img. Since it is a dynamic partition, there has to be some other way to restore it. The conventional flashing would just not restore it as it was. I'm no expert though, so I can't say for sure.
[OnePlus 9] TheNewHEROBRINE:
I was asking because I didn't know if the OnePlus 9 had it or not.

You mean on the HTC 10?

Provided that you find a way to extract the dynamic partitions from super.img, you can try the following from fastbootd:

fastboot delete-logical-partition system_a
fastboot delete-logical-partition system_b
fastboot delete-logical-partition system_ext_a
fastboot delete-logical-partition system_ext_b
fastboot delete-logical-partition product_a
fastboot delete-logical-partition product_b
fastboot delete-logical-partition vendor_a
fastboot delete-logical-partition vendor_b

fastboot create-logical-partition system_a 100000
fastboot create-logical-partition system_b 100000
fastboot create-logical-partition system_ext_a 100000
fastboot create-logical-partition system_ext_b 100000
fastboot create-logical-partition product_a 100000
fastboot create-logical-partition product_b 100000
fastboot create-logical-partition vendor_a 100000
fastboot create-logical-partition vendor_b 100000

fastboot flash odm odm.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash system_ext system_ext.img
fastboot flash product product.img
fastboot flash vendor vendor.img

This was taken from a thread about the OnePlus 8T so the OnePlus 9 may have different dynamic partitions but the important it's that you get the idea.
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
Yes. On HTC 10, the partition layout is simple A-only since it was released with Android 6.0 and got updated to 8.0 maximum. So it had the conventional /boot, /system, /recovery and so on. I just made backups (except userdata of course) through dd method from adb shell. Then I could just restore them from any state throguh fastboot flashing. Format/wipe userdata. Reboot and it would be up and running.

Extraction is plain simple. I can open super.img through 7zip. Inside it contains system.img, product.img, vendor.img, and so on. I can even open those images inside as well and I can view/modify files since they are in ext4 format.

I have also read the thread you shared before. But I haven't tried. Actually, OnePlus 9 has dynamic A/B partitions. So super.img doesn't contain system_a and system_b simultaneously. When on slot_a, it would have system_a and other partitions; and not system_b, and vice versa. Also, the partitions inside super have different sizes for different firmwares/ROMs. For example, LOS 20 has system about 1GB and product about 600MB; while OOS 13 has system about 650MB, product about 800MB and so on. So with my backup dump, it would be such an ardous task to analyze every partition inide super and then manually repartition super according to that. Also, you can see that the guide above for OnePlus 8T only has a handful of partitions inside super. On OnePlus 9, there are more than 20 partitions inside super starting with my_.....

(Note that only big partitions like system, product, vendor, odm, etc are inside super and don't have _a and _b partitions simultaneously. The others have separate dedicated partitions like boot_a boot_b, bluetooth_a bluetooth_b, modem_a modem_a, and so on)
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
This is what's inside the super.img that I had backed up.
[OnePlus 9] TheNewHEROBRINE:
I can confirm my 8T's super.img has got the same partitions. The -cow partition are not needed and you don't have to flash them.

I have read that flashing dynamic partitions will resize them automatically when flashing.

I can confirm this too on my 8T. I didn't really expect this to be the case. Could this be the reason why you can have most one working slot at a time? I've seen other phones which have super_a super_b but it doesn't seem to be our case.
[OnePlus 9] TheNewHEROBRINE:
Reading here https://source.android.com/docs/core/ota/dynamic_partitions/ab_launch, I discovered that actually there are both a and b slot inside the super partition.

If I do lpdump --slot 0 /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/super I see _a partitions, while if I use --slot 1 I see _b partitions. Perhaps it's then a limitation of 7zip that doesn't show both.

Edit: I discovered this tool which can extract both slots from a super.img, although I can't find a version for Windows (not a problem for me).
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
Indeed. Flashing a dynamic partition should automatically resize partitions. I don't know what's causing the issue.

Alright, so if dynamic partitions have _a and _b slots, then we can practically switch the slots and phone should boot to other slot with a different firmware. But this is not the case with my OnePlus 9. Say, if I'm on slot_a. I update through OTA and it would flash to slot_b and reboot to that slot_b. In theory, my slot_a should also be bootable, but this doesn't happen because I have checked by switching back to slot_a through fastboot, and it wouldn't boot. Switching to slot_b would then boot the phone. My guess is that OnePlus 9 is virtual A/B (not entirely sure). Anyway, I have given up on this experiment for now. Will try again later (maybe next weekend). I have some ideas to identify the root cause.
[OnePlus 9] TheNewHEROBRINE:
As far as I know no device allows you to have both slots bootable (I don't know why though). Did you try flashing dynamic partitions in fastbootd yet?
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
I just flashed super.img and it would not return any errors. I didn't flash the dynamic partitions individually. I think I tried with 1 partition (probably system or product) and it returned error of max size. Also, the other dynamic partitions inside super like my_carrier, my_bigball, etc could not be flashed (e.g. fastboot flash my_carrier my_carrier.img) and returned error of unknown command/partition.

P.S. I had also tried disabling verity by fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta vbmeta.img but it didn't help either.
[OnePlus 9] TheNewHEROBRINE:
Are you sure you were in fastbootd and not bootloader mode? Dynamic partitions can be flashed only in fastbootd.
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
I flashed super.img from bootloader as well as fastbootd. But the other dynamic partitions (system product my_carrier etc.) I tried from bootloader only. Now that you have mentioned, it just occured to me that might be the problem. :p I will try this later. By the way, I think 7zip is fine. Because from Fastboot Enhance program, when I go to fastbootd mode, it shows the same kind of dynamic partitions as in my super.img.
[OnePlus 9] TheNewHEROBRINE:
Yes but if you press "Activate slot B" it will show you the _b dynamic partitions in the super partition, so I suppose super.img contains both.
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
I alreaady tried that. Shows the same.
[OnePlus 9] TheNewHEROBRINE:
To me it shows the partitions with the other letter.
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
Oh I see. Yes, you are right. I tried again and it shows different partitions of super for different slots. That might be because in current circumstances, I have working phone with active slot a. Currently I updated from OOS11 (slot_b) to OOS12 (slot_a). There are more partitions with prefix my_..... in OOS12 (slot_a).

Previously when I tried to scan through Fastboot Enchance, it was when I restored the partitions and phone was bricked, so it would show the same suffix partitions _a no matter which slot I set to active. Also, I think now I have realized my mistake. You see, I noted down the active slot when I took the backup dumps. It was slot_b. However, when I check the inside of backup dump of super now through 7zip, it shows _a suffix partitions. Somehow, at the time of taking backups, I must have set slot_a active. I will try this backing up/restoring experiment all over again and share the results.
[OnePlus 9] TheNewHEROBRINE:
Super partition contains partitions from both slots! You just need lpunpack to extract them.
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
But I don't understand. The super partition is 10.41GB on OnePlus 9. Now when I'm on slot_a, it shows (throguh Fastboot Enhance) the individual paritions ending with _a that all add up to 10.41 GB. If I switch slot to _b, it shows different partitions ending with _b and they also sum up to 10.41GB. If each slot is taking up entire super partition, where do the partitions of other slot come from upon switching?!!! Weird....

You can see the screenshots below. The slot_a is OOS12 (active) and slot_b is OOS11.

slot_a

slot_b
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
Also, I just backed up super partition while on slot_a (which is active). Then using lpunpack.py on super file, I got the --info and it was the same as shown in Fastboot Enhance. There are no _b partitions.

------------------------

Super partition layout:

------------------------

super: 2048 .. 1246472: system_a (1244424 sectors)

super: 2525184 .. 4378968: system_ext_a (1853784 sectors)

super: 5240832 .. 5267232: product_a (26400 sectors)

super: 8163328 .. 9398848: vendor_a (1235520 sectors)

super: 11853824 .. 11948480: odm_a (94656 sectors)

super: 1246656 .. 2525184: odm_a (1278528 sectors)

super: 4379072 .. 5005288: odm_a (626216 sectors)

super: 5005760 .. 5240832: my_product_a (235072 sectors)

super: 5267904 .. 5623352: my_product_a (355448 sectors)

super: 5624256 .. 5657744: my_engineering_a (33488 sectors)

super: 5658048 .. 7190888: my_stock_a (1532840 sectors)

super: 7190976 .. 7224456: my_company_a (33480 sectors)

super: 7224768 .. 7258248: my_carrier_a (33480 sectors)

super: 7258560 .. 8163328: my_region_a (904768 sectors)

super: 9399744 .. 9737040: my_region_a (337296 sectors)

super: 9737664 .. 9771144: my_bigball_a (33480 sectors)

super: 9771456 .. 11165616: my_heytap_a (1394160 sectors)

super: 11166144 .. 11199624: my_preload_a (33480 sectors)

super: 11199936 .. 11233920: my_manifest_a (33984 sectors)

super: 12093888 .. 13343184: system_a-cow (1249296 sectors)

super: 13344192 .. 15205232: system_ext_a-cow (1861040 sectors)

super: 15205824 .. 15232336: product_a-cow (26512 sectors)

super: 15232448 .. 16472808: vendor_a-cow (1240360 sectors)

super: 16473536 .. 18480760: odm_a-cow (2007224 sectors)

super: 18481600 .. 19074440: my_product_a-cow (592840 sectors)

super: 19074496 .. 19108128: my_engineering_a-cow (33632 sectors)

super: 19108288 .. 20647128: my_stock_a-cow (1538840 sectors)

super: 20647360 .. 20680984: my_company_a-cow (33624 sectors)

super: 20681152 .. 20714776: my_carrier_a-cow (33624 sectors)

super: 20714944 .. 21856256: my_region_a-cow (1141312 sectors)

I guess when I will backup the super while setting _b active, it will contain _b only. There's no way super is holding both right now. ..........Or are there 2 super partitions???? Or maybe super of inactive is backed up somewhere and gets restored upon setting that inctive partition active again??? Maybe that's why inactive doesn't boot even after setting manually.....???? I read somewhere about snapshot or something......
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
UPDATE: I did another experiment. My current active slot is _a. I opened MSM tool and backed up the super partition. Understandably, this super.img contained _a partitions. Then I went to fastboot and set slot_b as active. Then I backed up super again from MSM tool. But this super.img still contains the same _a partitions. Logically, it should contain the _b partitions as shown in Fastboot Enchance on slot_b. I don't get it. :mad::mad::mad:
[OnePlus 9] TheNewHEROBRINE:
Did you check the MSM tool backup with lpunpack? I'll check mine when I get home.

The inactive slot partitions must be present somewhere because during an OTA update the updater writes to them.
[OnePlus 9] TheNewHEROBRINE:
lpunpack.py doesn't support the A/B slots structure. You need to use to official lpunpack which is compiled only for Linux for what I saw. I don't know of any tool for Windows that can extract both A and B partitions from a super partition dump.
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
UPDATE:

So I was on OOS12 (active on slot_a). I had taken backup dumps of the entire phone (except userdata) through MSM. I had root with Magisk, and I tried OTA (after restoring images from Magisk), but for some reason it failed and my phone would not boot. The OTA switched slot to _b. Then I tried switching back to slot_a in the hope of getting my phone to boot to last working state but no help.

At this stage, it seemed like MSM was my only option, but for the sake of trying, I just flashed my backup dumps (which I took earlier with slot_a working OOS12), some partitions through bootloader and some from fastbootd. Then I wiped userdata with

fastboot -w

and to my surprise, it worked and my phone was up and running.

For the record, I flashed the entire super partition with

fastboot flash super super.img

; not the individual partitons inside super.

So yes, flashing super partition automatically creates the logical partitions inside, and this method of backing up partitons dump and restoring with fastboot flashing works.

However, I noticed 1 thing that when I previously failed at this method, I had a working system on slot_b. And this time, I had a working system on slot_a. I still have my previous backup dump and its super.img contains _a partitions. For some reason, the backup dump of super.img always contains _a partitons, even when I'm on active slot_b. Fastboot Enhance does show different logical partitions in super for different slots, but backed up super.img always seems to contain _a partitons. So the bottom line is that if the working system is active on slot_a, then backup/restore can work successfully.
[OnePlus 9] TheNewHEROBRINE:
In my opinion, super.img contains partitions from both slots, it's just that the tools you're using don't support the file format used by Android super partition.
[OnePlus 9] immortalwon:
Very interesting comments guys. Please keep testing and report any findings. This way, we have methods to restore properly.
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
In the case of OnePlus 9, I don't agree that super.img contains both slots (_a and _b) partitions at the same time. That would cause the size of super partition to be larger (potentially double), which would mean less available space for internal storage/userdata. I remember vaguely something about snapshot (temporary) of super in userdata while OTA is being applied. If OTA is successful, that temporary snapshot in userdata is gotten rid of. If it fails, super is reverted. But at one give time, only 1 set of partitions is inside super.

DISCLAIMER: For anyone reading this, DO NOT take my word for it. I'm not sure about this as I can't remember clearly what/where I read and inferred from. I'm most probably WRONG about most of the things I said above in this post.

Anyway, if it has both slots partitions, when I restore it, why does it only boot successfully upon restoring the backed up partitions with my _a slot working system, and not with _b? I did the same steps and commands (apart from setting active slot) for both. We are definitely missing some other key information.

This might be worth reading:

Android 13’s Virtual A/B Mandate Could Bring Seamless Updates to More Devices

Google wants to make OTA updates painless for users, so they'll require that all Android 13 launch devices support Seamless Updates.

blog.esper.io
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
UPDATE: Hmmm... Well, I think you might be right. Both slots partitions might co-exist inside super. I'm currently on LineageOS 20. It's super doesn't contain tons of other partitions like stock OOS. I just noticed from Fastboot Enhance (with fastbootd mode) that while on slot_a, the logical partitions ending with _a in super are 5.2GB in total while the total size of super is 10.4GB. So I flashed the same LOS20 on the other slot_b too. Now I can switch slots to _a or _b, it boots successfully. Furthermore, I have patched boot_a with Magisk, while boot_b is untouched. Hence, slot_a is rooted and slot_b is unrooted. So I can dual-boot (although the same LOS version) with root or non-root.

I'm doing some reading about dynamice partitioning and will update here once I get useful info.
[OnePlus 9] shadabkiani:
UPDATE: Well, my phone boots successfully for bot slots as I flashed LOS 20 on both slots. However, that does not mean that upon switching slot, the partitions inside super are switched too; they don't. How do I know that? Well, here is what I did: when I was on slot_a (which is rooted with Magisk), I did some modifications (fonts and bootanimation) in /system through Root Explorer. Upon switching to slot_b, my phone boots but the bootanimation and fonts are indeed modified as I did on other slot_a. Therefore, it seems that even at slot_b, the same logical partitions in super are loaded. However, slot_b is unrooted because the dedicated boot_b is untouched.

So my guess is that by switching slots, the phone loads the dedicated partitions for other slots (boot_a, boot_b, vendor_a, vendor_b, etc.) but the super is loaded the same way. That's what I inferred. Need more digging.....
[Xiaomi Mi Pad 5 Pro] Grigori88:
How to install GSI ROM on Xiaomi Pad 5 Pro Wi-Fi (elish)?

What vbmeta.img file should I install?

I am currently on MIUI 14.
[Samsung Galaxy S23] reload_spain:
Hello!

Does anyone know if it is dual Gps compatible? Does the GPSTest App show L5 or E5 satellites?

Thank you very much!
[Samsung Galaxy S23] Richard Thomas1:
Yes, it is dual GPS supported!
[Samsung Galaxy S23] asetmumin99:
According to this source (pcmag), "s23 ultra" doesn't support dual-band GPS. Make conclusions yourself.
[Samsung Galaxy S23] rlvddoes@gmail.com:
But using the app "GPS Test" shows the reception of L5-signals. Does this mean they are being used?
[Samsung Galaxy S23] ZXR:
Yes, the S23 has dual band support and uses the signals of those satelites.

On the other hand it does not use "carrier phase". My impression is, its location data therefore is a bit less accurate compared to devices that use carrier phase.
[Touch Pro CDMA] oneHeero:
is there a way to have multiple email accounts on the tp? i have one of my hotmail accounts logged in. but when i try to go to add a new account for another hotmail account i have i go trhough the process. instead of adding it like my first email it goes online and i cant view pictures and it sucks compared to my original. i have to switch live ids if i wanna setup a different account in order to add gthe other email.

Is there a a program i can dl in order to do this? can i have a gmail account and hotmail account together or are we limited to 1 email that is tied directly to our tp?
[Touch Pro CDMA] etothe456t:
Are trying to check your email through the web browser??

You can have as many pop/imap accounts as you want... you need to be using the built in copy of outlook... add each account separately

Makes sure you have pop or imap enabled in gmail or hotmail by checking the settings when you login over the web to each of those respective sites...

(ie: for gmail go to settings -> 'forwarding and pop/imap' -> enable IMAP)

From the Touch Flo 3D email tab tap Menu -> Accounts -> Accounts... -> Setup E-Mail. Add the incoming and outgoing mail server addresses, your username and password for the account, how much email you want to sync and you should be all set
[Touch Pro CDMA] TheDempster:
I ran into the same problem. Have not figured it out yet. Evidently the built in email software does not allow two accounts under the same domain name. Ex" george @ verizon.net, and louie at verizon .net.

I have been able to set up multiple accounts, just not multiple accounts under the same domain name.

Is this what you are trying to do?