[Q] FTF backup of a "modified official rom"? / CWM x Rom Manager

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KenxirC

Member
Mar 2, 2014
6
0
São Carlos
Hello everyone!!
I know it's not the subject, but this being my first time posting here let me start by thanking all of the developers and collaborators for the great works in this community! I have already benefited from a few tutorials and files disposed here, so thanks for everything so far! :good:


Back to the subject now =)

Although I am using an official rom in my Xperia Neo, 2.3.4 (4.0.2.A.0.42), I made several modifications to it and I couldn’t find a similar thread involving a "modified official rom", I only read threads describing how to make a simple FTF backup of an "untouched official rom" through SEUS, which I presume that won't work in my case. So I hope the more experienced people can give me some directions!

My device is currently rooted and the bootloader is also unlocked through the official Sony method. I substituted the original kernel for the Inteks so that I could use cpu overclocks, removed all the bloatware and integrated some updates and a few new apps in the system through link2sd.

Now I'd like to make a backup of this modified rom before I flash new roms to the device. For what I understood so far, the recovery nandroid backup system will save everything, including installed apps and configurations, right? I'd like to make just a simple rom backup.
I'm afraid that this nandroid "full backup" could decrease the performance after restoration. If I perform a factory reset prior to the nandroid backup, could it minimize the chances of having problems after restoration?
I'm asking this in case there is no manner to create a .ftf file… And, what you guys think about both types of backup, am I getting the wrong impression about nandroid or .ftf files are really better and/or safer??

I installed the app Rom Manager to check its features. It seems it only performs nandroid backups as well directing to the recovery (hope I got it right), but I ended up noticing an issue. The app asks to install or update the CWM Recovery, I tried to update but I get a message saying my device is not compatible.
The current recovery installed in my Neo is "CWM-based Recovery v5.0.2.7-nAa-r2".
Should I update it? And if it's the case, how should I do it??
Is my device really incompatible with Rom Manager, or that message I got was because of the old recovery version installed in my Neo??
(I read about this kind of incompatibility with some devices, just wanna check if it's the case with my phone and if there is a new recovery for Xperia Neo that is compatible with Rom Manager)


Sorry about the long text and so many questions in a single post, but I really want to understand more about this stuff, all the changes in my phone were done separately during more than a year, so I am not much used to these procedures.

I would appreciate any help! Thanks for the attention!!
 

Attitude.SSJ

Senior Member
Oct 21, 2012
1,562
798
Mangalore
Hello everyone!!
I know it's not the subject, but this being my first time posting here let me start by thanking all of the developers and collaborators for the great works in this community! I have already benefited from a few tutorials and files disposed here, so thanks for everything so far! :good:


Back to the subject now =)

Although I am using an official rom in my Xperia Neo, 2.3.4 (4.0.2.A.0.42), I made several modifications to it and I couldn’t find a similar thread involving a "modified official rom", I only read threads describing how to make a simple FTF backup of an "untouched official rom" through SEUS, which I presume that won't work in my case. So I hope the more experienced people can give me some directions!

My device is currently rooted and the bootloader is also unlocked through the official Sony method. I substituted the original kernel for the Inteks so that I could use cpu overclocks, removed all the bloatware and integrated some updates and a few new apps in the system through link2sd.

Now I'd like to make a backup of this modified rom before I flash new roms to the device. For what I understood so far, the recovery nandroid backup system will save everything, including installed apps and configurations, right? I'd like to make just a simple rom backup.
I'm afraid that this nandroid "full backup" could decrease the performance after restoration. If I perform a factory reset prior to the nandroid backup, could it minimize the chances of having problems after restoration?
I'm asking this in case there is no manner to create a .ftf file… And, what you guys think about both types of backup, am I getting the wrong impression about nandroid or .ftf files are really better and/or safer??

I installed the app Rom Manager to check its features. It seems it only performs nandroid backups as well directing to the recovery (hope I got it right), but I ended up noticing an issue. The app asks to install or update the CWM Recovery, I tried to update but I get a message saying my device is not compatible.
The current recovery installed in my Neo is "CWM-based Recovery v5.0.2.7-nAa-r2".
Should I update it? And if it's the case, how should I do it??
Is my device really incompatible with Rom Manager, or that message I got was because of the old recovery version installed in my Neo??
(I read about this kind of incompatibility with some devices, just wanna check if it's the case with my phone and if there is a new recovery for Xperia Neo that is compatible with Rom Manager)


Sorry about the long text and so many questions in a single post, but I really want to understand more about this stuff, all the changes in my phone were done separately during more than a year, so I am not much used to these procedures.

I would appreciate any help! Thanks for the attention!!

Cwm recovery backup restoration shouldn't cause any performance issues... The full backup will have everything in your current rom.. The cwm recovery stays in kernel... I don't understand why you want Rom manager... It's incompatible with our devices...

Sent from my Xperia Neo V using Tapatalk 2
 
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KenxirC

Member
Mar 2, 2014
6
0
São Carlos
Cwm recovery backup restoration shouldn't cause any performance issues... The full backup will have everything in your current rom.. The cwm recovery stays in kernel... I don't understand why you want Rom manager... It's incompatible with our devices...

Sent from my Xperia Neo V using Tapatalk 2

Hey Attitude.SSJ, thanks for answering my post!

I tried to explain that I am a beginner, I dont understand many things... I wasnt sure our phones are incompatible with Rom Manager, I wanted to check it, thanks for clarifying that one! Right now I really didnt need it, but I guess it would be very useful for testing others roms after my backup, I imagine Rom Manager makes things faster and easier, right? I wanted to check if there really wasnt a compatible version for Xperia Neo in the present date, since most of the threads I read are from 2012.

About my fear of issues due to restoration from a nandroid backup, I read a few cases where people got many crashes and weird behaviors from the phones, thats why...

So, if I go with the nandroid backup, I will get every single app and configuration saved for the future?? Even the apps I moved to sdcard??
I imagine that I could save the whole sdcard content separately and latter perform a restoration with this nandroid backup and put everything back in the sdcard to reach the exact state in which my smartphone is right now.
Is that the way nandroid backup works??
(I really want to understand it better before decide what to do, hope I am getting the right idea)

Also, if a FTF backup is not possible (I still dont know if its really not possible), is there any other manner (maybe another kind of backup) to make a flashable backup with a clean rom like it would be with the FTF files??

Thanks!
 
Last edited:

Samak

Senior Member
Jun 26, 2012
486
260
Siliguri
Hey Attitude.SSJ, thanks for answering my post!

I tried to explain that I am a beginner, I dont understand many things... I wasnt sure our phones are incompatible with Rom Manager, I wanted to check it, thanks for clarifying that one! Right now I really didnt need it, but I guess it would be very useful for testing others roms after my backup, I imagine Rom Manager makes things faster and easier, right? I wanted to check if there really wasnt a compatible version for Xperia Neo in the present date, since most of the threads I read are from 2012.

About my fear of issues due to restoration from a nandroid backup, I read a few cases where people got many crashes and weird behaviors from the phones, thats why...

So, if I go with the nandroid backup, I will get every single app and configuration saved for the future?? Even the apps I moved to sdcard??
I imagine that I could save the whole sdcard content separately and latter perform a restoration with this nandroid backup and put everything back in the sdcard to reach the exact state in which my smartphone is right now.
Is that the way nandroid backup works??
(I really want to understand it better before decide what to do, hope I am getting the right idea)

Also, if a FTF backup is not possible (I still dont know if its really not possible), is there any other manner (maybe another kind of backup) to make a flashable backup with a clean rom like it would be with the FTF files??

Thanks!

Just like @Attitude.SSJ said CWM backup or Nandroid backup does not effect performance mate.

U cant make a nandroid backup to FTF, only sin files can be used to make FTF files.

There is a guide to make nandroid backups to flashable zip file in Neo General section. check that out.

sent from my Xperia neo V using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
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KenxirC

Member
Mar 2, 2014
6
0
São Carlos
Just like @Attitude.SSJ said CWM backup or Nandroid backup does not effect performance mate.

U cant make a nandroid backup to FTF, only sin files can be used to make FTF files.

There is a guide to make nandroid backups to flashable zip file in Neo General section. check that out.

sent from my Xperia neo V using Tapatalk

Thanks a lot Samak! That zip alternative is the kind of thing I was talking about, good to know this possibility!
Found these two methods:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2266285
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2209590
I will probably try one of them latter, but I'll perform a nandroid backup first to be safe!
I noticed that the final flashable file is referred to as "update.zip". Does it mean I need to flash a certain rom prior to this zip generated through these methods??

I also have a few important questions about nandroid before I make the backup, hope you guys can help me with this too.
I have many apps that were natively movable and some that I forced to the sdcard with link2sd. I have a 16GB sdcard almost full, so I have to empty it prior to the backup.
If I save the complete sdcard content in my pc and perform the nandroid backup after this, will nandroid be able to backup those apps moved to sd??
(I know part of the apps remain in the internal storage, but I'm still wondering what is gonna happen in this situation)
And after restoration, if I copy everything back to the sdcard, will the apps recognize everything??
Any other steps, or just CWM restore option??

Thanks guys!!
 

Samak

Senior Member
Jun 26, 2012
486
260
Siliguri
Thanks a lot Samak! That zip alternative is the kind of thing I was talking about, good to know this possibility!
Found these two methods:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2266285
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2209590
I will probably try one of them latter, but I'll perform a nandroid backup first to be safe!
I noticed that the final flashable file is referred to as "update.zip". Does it mean I need to flash a certain rom prior to this zip generated through these methods??

I also have a few important questions about nandroid before I make the backup, hope you guys can help me with this too.
I have many apps that were natively movable and some that I forced to the sdcard with link2sd. I have a 16GB sdcard almost full, so I have to empty it prior to the backup.
If I save the complete sdcard content in my pc and perform the nandroid backup after this, will nandroid be able to backup those apps moved to sd??
(I know part of the apps remain in the internal storage, but I'm still wondering what is gonna happen in this situation)
And after restoration, if I copy everything back to the sdcard, will the apps recognize everything??
Any other steps, or just CWM restore option??

Thanks guys!!

U dont need to flash the rom before flashing the nandroid zip. Just do all wipes properly & flash the rom.
I think if u copy all the sd card contents again then those apps linked to sd card will work properly. If u dont copy those contents again then linked apps will fc. I dont use link2sd so am not 100% sure. Correct me if I am wrong. :)

sent from my Xperia neo V using Tapatalk
 

KenxirC

Member
Mar 2, 2014
6
0
São Carlos
U dont need to flash the rom before flashing the nandroid zip. Just do all wipes properly & flash the rom.
I think if u copy all the sd card contents again then those apps linked to sd card will work properly. If u dont copy those contents again then linked apps will fc. I dont use link2sd so am not 100% sure. Correct me if I am wrong. :)

sent from my Xperia neo V using Tapatalk

Awesome stuff man, thanks again!! :highfive:

Nandroid backup is really great and just saved me! After the backup I was feeling confident to mess with the device, so I made a factory reset to see how the rom would behave after the changes I made, without setup wizard and all the bloatware... At first glance everything seemed ok, but I don't know why the camera wouldn't work! I didn't remove anything related to the camera, I searched which system apps could be removed safely before doing anything. So this rom I am using right now is quite light, with a good amount of free internal storage, but it just can't be reseted because of the camera function and possibly some other bugs. Thankfully the nandroid restoration worked pretty well and now I don't have to go all the way installing and configuring everything!

All the apps seem to be fine after copying back the content of the sdcard, so using link2sd is ok to move apps before a nandroid procedure.

But considering the camera bug, I will not take the time to create a flashable zip of this rom I am using, maybe I can customize another one in the future and try it...
Any guesses of what could have gone wrong so that the camera didn't open after reseting the phone??
The camera app would only show a black screen of which I couldn't get out, the only choice was to turn off the phone.


Another doubt I have about nandroid restoration... I intend to flash the official ICS (MT15I_4.1.B.0.587) prior to the installation of Cyanogenmod and other roms based in newer versions of Android. But if I want to go back to this 2.3.4 nandroid backup while I am running, lets say, Jelly Bean, then what should I do??
Nothing, like it would be with a flashable zip, or should I make a downgrade first or any other procedure??

Thanks!!
 

Samak

Senior Member
Jun 26, 2012
486
260
Siliguri
Awesome stuff man, thanks again!! :highfive:

Nandroid backup is really great and just saved me! After the backup I was feeling confident to mess with the device, so I made a factory reset to see how the rom would behave after the changes I made, without setup wizard and all the bloatware... At first glance everything seemed ok, but I don't know why the camera wouldn't work! I didn't remove anything related to the camera, I searched which system apps could be removed safely before doing anything. So this rom I am using right now is quite light, with a good amount of free internal storage, but it just can't be reseted because of the camera function and possibly some other bugs. Thankfully the nandroid restoration worked pretty well and now I don't have to go all the way installing and configuring everything!

All the apps seem to be fine after copying back the content of the sdcard, so using link2sd is ok to move apps before a nandroid procedure.

But considering the camera bug, I will not take the time to create a flashable zip of this rom I am using, maybe I can customize another one in the future and try it...
Any guesses of what could have gone wrong so that the camera didn't open after reseting the phone??
The camera app would only show a black screen of which I couldn't get out, the only choice was to turn off the phone.


Another doubt I have about nandroid restoration... I intend to flash the official ICS (MT15I_4.1.B.0.587) prior to the installation of Cyanogenmod and other roms based in newer versions of Android. But if I want to go back to this 2.3.4 nandroid backup while I am running, lets say, Jelly Bean, then what should I do??
Nothing, like it would be with a flashable zip, or should I make a downgrade first or any other procedure??

Thanks!!

If u r moving from ICS or JB to GB, then I would suggest u to flash the GB firmware ftf first, then restore the nandroid backup.

sent from my Xperia neo V using Tapatalk
 

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    Thanks a lot Samak! That zip alternative is the kind of thing I was talking about, good to know this possibility!
    Found these two methods:
    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2266285
    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2209590
    I will probably try one of them latter, but I'll perform a nandroid backup first to be safe!
    I noticed that the final flashable file is referred to as "update.zip". Does it mean I need to flash a certain rom prior to this zip generated through these methods??

    I also have a few important questions about nandroid before I make the backup, hope you guys can help me with this too.
    I have many apps that were natively movable and some that I forced to the sdcard with link2sd. I have a 16GB sdcard almost full, so I have to empty it prior to the backup.
    If I save the complete sdcard content in my pc and perform the nandroid backup after this, will nandroid be able to backup those apps moved to sd??
    (I know part of the apps remain in the internal storage, but I'm still wondering what is gonna happen in this situation)
    And after restoration, if I copy everything back to the sdcard, will the apps recognize everything??
    Any other steps, or just CWM restore option??

    Thanks guys!!

    U dont need to flash the rom before flashing the nandroid zip. Just do all wipes properly & flash the rom.
    I think if u copy all the sd card contents again then those apps linked to sd card will work properly. If u dont copy those contents again then linked apps will fc. I dont use link2sd so am not 100% sure. Correct me if I am wrong. :)

    sent from my Xperia neo V using Tapatalk
    1
    Hello everyone!!
    I know it's not the subject, but this being my first time posting here let me start by thanking all of the developers and collaborators for the great works in this community! I have already benefited from a few tutorials and files disposed here, so thanks for everything so far! :good:


    Back to the subject now =)

    Although I am using an official rom in my Xperia Neo, 2.3.4 (4.0.2.A.0.42), I made several modifications to it and I couldn’t find a similar thread involving a "modified official rom", I only read threads describing how to make a simple FTF backup of an "untouched official rom" through SEUS, which I presume that won't work in my case. So I hope the more experienced people can give me some directions!

    My device is currently rooted and the bootloader is also unlocked through the official Sony method. I substituted the original kernel for the Inteks so that I could use cpu overclocks, removed all the bloatware and integrated some updates and a few new apps in the system through link2sd.

    Now I'd like to make a backup of this modified rom before I flash new roms to the device. For what I understood so far, the recovery nandroid backup system will save everything, including installed apps and configurations, right? I'd like to make just a simple rom backup.
    I'm afraid that this nandroid "full backup" could decrease the performance after restoration. If I perform a factory reset prior to the nandroid backup, could it minimize the chances of having problems after restoration?
    I'm asking this in case there is no manner to create a .ftf file… And, what you guys think about both types of backup, am I getting the wrong impression about nandroid or .ftf files are really better and/or safer??

    I installed the app Rom Manager to check its features. It seems it only performs nandroid backups as well directing to the recovery (hope I got it right), but I ended up noticing an issue. The app asks to install or update the CWM Recovery, I tried to update but I get a message saying my device is not compatible.
    The current recovery installed in my Neo is "CWM-based Recovery v5.0.2.7-nAa-r2".
    Should I update it? And if it's the case, how should I do it??
    Is my device really incompatible with Rom Manager, or that message I got was because of the old recovery version installed in my Neo??
    (I read about this kind of incompatibility with some devices, just wanna check if it's the case with my phone and if there is a new recovery for Xperia Neo that is compatible with Rom Manager)


    Sorry about the long text and so many questions in a single post, but I really want to understand more about this stuff, all the changes in my phone were done separately during more than a year, so I am not much used to these procedures.

    I would appreciate any help! Thanks for the attention!!

    Cwm recovery backup restoration shouldn't cause any performance issues... The full backup will have everything in your current rom.. The cwm recovery stays in kernel... I don't understand why you want Rom manager... It's incompatible with our devices...

    Sent from my Xperia Neo V using Tapatalk 2
    1
    Hey Attitude.SSJ, thanks for answering my post!

    I tried to explain that I am a beginner, I dont understand many things... I wasnt sure our phones are incompatible with Rom Manager, I wanted to check it, thanks for clarifying that one! Right now I really didnt need it, but I guess it would be very useful for testing others roms after my backup, I imagine Rom Manager makes things faster and easier, right? I wanted to check if there really wasnt a compatible version for Xperia Neo in the present date, since most of the threads I read are from 2012.

    About my fear of issues due to restoration from a nandroid backup, I read a few cases where people got many crashes and weird behaviors from the phones, thats why...

    So, if I go with the nandroid backup, I will get every single app and configuration saved for the future?? Even the apps I moved to sdcard??
    I imagine that I could save the whole sdcard content separately and latter perform a restoration with this nandroid backup and put everything back in the sdcard to reach the exact state in which my smartphone is right now.
    Is that the way nandroid backup works??
    (I really want to understand it better before decide what to do, hope I am getting the right idea)

    Also, if a FTF backup is not possible (I still dont know if its really not possible), is there any other manner (maybe another kind of backup) to make a flashable backup with a clean rom like it would be with the FTF files??

    Thanks!

    Just like @Attitude.SSJ said CWM backup or Nandroid backup does not effect performance mate.

    U cant make a nandroid backup to FTF, only sin files can be used to make FTF files.

    There is a guide to make nandroid backups to flashable zip file in Neo General section. check that out.

    sent from my Xperia neo V using Tapatalk