How to update newest images without wiping or losing TWRP ?

[mikeprius]

When there's a new image next month I want to update to can I just use fastboot and flash everything except recovery then reboot and keep.twrp and ha e the newest image without losing data ?

Fastboot flash

Bootloader
Modem
System
Syatem_other
Vendor


Skipping the others then reboot and still have TWRP ? Right now my goal is just to use a stock image, ElementalX kernel and root with TWRP. Just passing on the custom ROMs right now

 

[mikeprius]

There's a lot of . img files.

This is more complex than my Nexus 5x which just had a few . img

I don't understand which is which

 

[robocuff]

There's a lot of . img files.

This is more complex than my Nexus 5x which just had a few . img

I don't understand which is which

You can't do what you want to do because recovery is located in the boot.img file on the Pixel. There is no dedicated recovery partition like on other phones. The only way to do it would be to flash everything but the boot.img file. That may work but if you did do that, you'd miss out on any security updates or whatever other updates there may be to the kernel. I'd recommend just flashing it all. It doesn't take very long to flash TWRP again. A minor inconvenience if you ask me.

 

[TENN3R]

I think THIS can help. Follow method 2 - manual.
But skip recovery.img and cache.img (also because there aren't those files) and the userdata.img

 

[mikeprius]

You can't do what you want to do because recovery is located in the boot.img file on the Pixel. There is no dedicated recovery partition like on other phones. The only way to do it would be to flash everything but the boot.img file. That may work but if you did do that, you'd miss out on any security updates or whatever other updates there may be to the kernel. I'd recommend just flashing it all. It doesn't take very long to flash TWRP again. A minor inconvenience if you ask me.

Ok thanks for the info. I've been flashing for awhile, but the set up here is very different than prior phones.

So pretty much just run the flash-all.bat, TWRP.img, TRWP.zip, the SuperSU ?

Can I modify the flash-all to prevent wiping, or is it just best to re-do everything fresh ?

 

[mikeprius]

I think THIS can help. Follow method 2 - manual.
But skip recovery.img and cache.img (also because there aren't those files) and the userdata.img

Have you tried this ? I read this article earlier and that's what's confusing:

So here's the process:

bootloader-xxx-xxx.img
radio-xx-xx-xx.img
boot.img
system.img
system_other.img
vendor.img
modem.img

but then later in the article it says:

fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash cache cache.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash system_b system_other.img
fastboot flash vendor vendor.img
fastboot flash modem modem.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img


it appears there are many other files included beyond this list.

 

[TonikJDK]

Ok thanks for the info. I've been flashing for awhile, but the set up here is very different than prior phones.

So pretty much just run the flash-all.bat, TWRP.img, TRWP.zip, the SuperSU ?

Can I modify the flash-all to prevent wiping, or is it just best to re-do everything fresh ?

Modify it, remove the -w

Been doing it that way back to my Nexus 6. No issues.

 

[mikeprius]

Modify it, remove the -w

Been doing it that way back to my Nexus 6. No issues.

Can I do this dirty ? Basically just flash the stock images over the old, remove -w, then reboot, everything updated ? I don't mind booting the TWRP image and re-flashing superSU, just having to restore from scratch is a pain in the ass

 

[robocuff]

Can I do this dirty ? Basically just flash the stock images over the old, remove -w, then reboot, everything updated ? I don't mind booting the TWRP image and re-flashing superSU, just having to restore from scratch is a pain in the ass

There's no need to wipe anything. Just make sure to remove the -w from the flashall.bat (dont forget to save it after doing so). If you do it this way, you'll end up with an updated phone with all your data in tact. Same as if you took an OTA.

 

[mikeprius]

There's no need to wipe anything. Just make sure to remove the -w from the flashall.bat (dont forget to save it after doing so). If you do it this way, you'll end up with an updated phone with all your data in tact. Same as if you took an OTA.

Cool cool thanks. Will try this next month's update.

 

[TonikJDK]

Can I do this dirty ? Basically just flash the stock images over the old, remove -w, then reboot, everything updated ? I don't mind booting the TWRP image and re-flashing superSU, just having to restore from scratch is a pain in the ass

Just to reinforce the post above, I always flash dirty. No issues.