If you are new to Android, you probably have seen the term Nandroid used. If you are rooting your phone for the first time, or even an old crusty flashaholic, a Nandroid backup could be the difference between saving your phone or have having a $500 paper weight.
What IS a Nandroid? It is a full backup of the partitions on your device’s NAND flash (NAND actually stands for NOT AND,which in simple terms means an electronic gate). Basically a backup of your phones hard drive if you will... The Nandroid backup is a snapshot of your device (it means everything on your phone – your apps, data, your current ROM and even the kernel is backed up) at the time you do the back up. If you restore the back up, it changes your phone BACK to that state. You will need clockworkmod (CWM). So make sure prior to this you have CWM on your device.
Your SD Card data is not backed up in the process. Although the Nandroid backup itself is created on your SD card. Make sure you have enough space on your SD card to make a COMPLETE copy of your phone. It is highly recommended that once you have done a backup, you manually copy it to your computer in case your sd card is wiped or corrupted..
Pre-requisites:
1. Rooted Device:
You need a rooted android device.
2. Custom Recovery
While the OS is running you cannot do a backup. The boot loader in the recovery enables you to take a backup of the OS while it’s not running.
ClockworkMod (CWM) recovery is the example used in this tutorial.
Steps to Make a Nandroid Backup via CWM:
Backup and Restore via CWM:
1.Boot into Recovery.
2. Select ‘Backup and Restore’ from the recovery screen.
Once you are in recovery, scroll down to the option ‘Backup and Recovery’ and select it. You can scroll up/down through the menu using the volume buttons and select options using the power button.
3. Start the backup.
Once you are on the Nandroid screen, select ‘Backup’ to start the backup process. You have the option to restore backup on the same screen.
The backup process may take a while. Be PATIENT.
4. Transfer the backup to your computer (optional but recommended).
Once you reboot, you can see the backup in the ‘clockworkmod/backup/timestamp’ (or similar file) directory on your SD card.
Move, copy, or paste this folder on your PC safely.
It’s THAT simple…
Restore from a Nandroid Backup via CWM:
1. Boot your device into CWM and navigate to the Nandroid screen.
2. Choose ‘Restore’ and begin the process.
If you select ‘Advanced Restore’option, you may select which part of the backup to restore – i. e. the boot,system, data or cache. Or choose the whole backup.
3. Reboot your device. Your system is now restored and is exactly the same as the time when the backup was taken.
Final Thoughts:
If you are planning on rooting your phone or even a hard core flashaholic it is essential you use this painless and easy tool to save you when you need it. As noted above you can even revert back to just the kernel, data or whatever that could become corrupt or just plain messed up in the future. I hope this helps you and happy flashing!! - VeNuM
What IS a Nandroid? It is a full backup of the partitions on your device’s NAND flash (NAND actually stands for NOT AND,which in simple terms means an electronic gate). Basically a backup of your phones hard drive if you will... The Nandroid backup is a snapshot of your device (it means everything on your phone – your apps, data, your current ROM and even the kernel is backed up) at the time you do the back up. If you restore the back up, it changes your phone BACK to that state. You will need clockworkmod (CWM). So make sure prior to this you have CWM on your device.
Your SD Card data is not backed up in the process. Although the Nandroid backup itself is created on your SD card. Make sure you have enough space on your SD card to make a COMPLETE copy of your phone. It is highly recommended that once you have done a backup, you manually copy it to your computer in case your sd card is wiped or corrupted..
Pre-requisites:
1. Rooted Device:
You need a rooted android device.
2. Custom Recovery
While the OS is running you cannot do a backup. The boot loader in the recovery enables you to take a backup of the OS while it’s not running.
ClockworkMod (CWM) recovery is the example used in this tutorial.
Steps to Make a Nandroid Backup via CWM:
Backup and Restore via CWM:
1.Boot into Recovery.
2. Select ‘Backup and Restore’ from the recovery screen.
Once you are in recovery, scroll down to the option ‘Backup and Recovery’ and select it. You can scroll up/down through the menu using the volume buttons and select options using the power button.
3. Start the backup.
Once you are on the Nandroid screen, select ‘Backup’ to start the backup process. You have the option to restore backup on the same screen.
The backup process may take a while. Be PATIENT.
4. Transfer the backup to your computer (optional but recommended).
Once you reboot, you can see the backup in the ‘clockworkmod/backup/timestamp’ (or similar file) directory on your SD card.
Move, copy, or paste this folder on your PC safely.
It’s THAT simple…
Restore from a Nandroid Backup via CWM:
1. Boot your device into CWM and navigate to the Nandroid screen.
2. Choose ‘Restore’ and begin the process.
If you select ‘Advanced Restore’option, you may select which part of the backup to restore – i. e. the boot,system, data or cache. Or choose the whole backup.
3. Reboot your device. Your system is now restored and is exactly the same as the time when the backup was taken.
Final Thoughts:
If you are planning on rooting your phone or even a hard core flashaholic it is essential you use this painless and easy tool to save you when you need it. As noted above you can even revert back to just the kernel, data or whatever that could become corrupt or just plain messed up in the future. I hope this helps you and happy flashing!! - VeNuM
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