[HOW-TO / VIDEO / WIN-LIN-OSX] Extract System/Data files directly from a FTF

[linuxct]

Good morning family!
It's my very first time posting in this subforum, but I think this tutorial was actually something needed, since all threads everyone can found while Googling are quite old (like, from the Xperia S times ), and also I'm quite tired of infinite threads like this and this, so...

Today I bring you an extensive and unified guide on how to extract ANY SYSTEM FILE from a FlashTool's Firmware (FTF), whether it's from the userdata.sin or from the system.sin.

Since this is going to be a guide for all OSes, there are some programs you'll need in general,

• Latest version available of FlashTools (for SIN dumping purposes).
• A reader tool for the extracted image, which can be:

• An EXT4 reader / mounter.
• An Unyaffs2, if you're using this guide for an old device (like the already mentioned Xperia S, and older).

• Some cups of coffee, and lots of patience [IMPORTANT].

But, some of them will be platform specific, so the thread will split in:
2nd post: WINDOWS
3rd post: LINUX
4th post: OSX

Here you've a video tutorial showing the whole process for the 3 OSes:

If you're enjoying it, don't forget to press Thanks button and rate this thread!​

 

[linuxct]

WINDOWS GUIDE

Step 1 - Extract the SIN we need

Using your favourite archive manager (WinRAR, 7-Zip, etc), open the FTF you want to extract the files from. (FYI: an FTF is just a Zip file with renamed extension)
Now copy/extract the SIN you want to unpack to a folder of your preference.

Step 2 - Dump the SIN

I'll take into account you already had installed Flashtools and Java JRE, in which case I highly encourage you to update both to the latest version available.
Now, open Flashtools. Click on Tools, Sin Editor. Hit the [...] and locate the SIN you previously extracted. Now, hit the [Extract Data] button. After a couple of minutes the bar should start running.
Once finished, you can have 2 kind of files: a .yaffs2 or a .ext4/.ext3/.ext2 file, which require different procedures on how to see it's contents.

Step 3.a - Convert the file to a readable format - UnYaffs2

If the file you get is a .yaffs2 format file, you're going to need to extract it. For doing so, you need this tool, which contains a executable and a cygwin dll.
Extract this .rar contents to the very same folder where you placed the SIN, and thus, where the .yaffs2 is located.
Now, while you're in that folder press the shift key in your keyboard, and while you keep pressing it, right click on a blank space in that folder. In the menu choose Open a Command Prompt here.
To end the proccess, type

unyaffs2.exe [COLOR="DarkOrchid"]<the-name-of-the-yaffs2>[/COLOR]

Where <the-name-of-the-yaffs2> you must type the file name of the yaffs2 (e.g. system.yaffs2)
The files will get extracted and you'll be able to pick the ones you need.

Step 3.b - Mount the image - Linux Reader

There're many many tools to mount a EXT format image in Windows, but in this case, I'll use the Diskinternals Linux Reader, since it's free and it's compatible with all 3 possible formats you can encounter: .ext4/.ext3/.ext2.
Download it from here and install it. (It must be this version, since newer ones are broken.)
Once done, you should be perfectly able to double-click-to-mount the EXT file Flashtools generated without any trouble.

 

[linuxct]

LINUX GUIDE

Step 1 - Extract the SIN we need

Using your favourite archive manager (Ark, Peazip, etc), open the FTF you want to extract the files from. (FYI: an FTF is just a Zip file with renamed extension)
Now copy/extract the SIN you want to unpack to a folder of your preference.

Step 2 - Dump the SIN

I'll take into account you already had installed Flashtools and Java JRE, in which case I highly encourage you to update both to the latest version available.
Now, open Flashtools. Click on Tools, Sin Editor. Hit the [...] and locate the SIN you previously extracted. Now, hit the [Extract Data] button. After a couple of minutes the bar should start running.
Once finished, you can have 2 kind of files: a .yaffs2 or a .ext4/.ext3/.ext2 file, which require different procedures on how to see it's contents.

Step 3.a - Convert the file to a readable format - UnYaffs2

If the file you get is a .yaffs2 format file, you're going to need an extra tool to extract it. For doing so, you are going to need the unyaffs2 tool.
You can download a pre-compiled binary from here, or you can compile your own using GCC with the source code, the header and the code below inside a Terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T to open it).

gcc -o unyaffs unyaffs.c

Once you've a working UnYaffs2 binary, just copy it to the very same folder where you placed the SIN, and thus, where the .yaffs2 is located, and type in a Terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T to open it).

cd [COLOR="DarkOrchid"]<file-route-of-the-sin>[/COLOR]
./unyaffs2 [COLOR="Blue"]<the-name-of-the-yaffs2>[/COLOR]

Where <file-route-of-the-sin> is where the SIN was located, and where <the-name-of-the-yaffs2> you must type the file name of the yaffs2 (e.g. system.yaffs2)
The files will get extracted and you'll be able to pick the ones you need.

Step 3.b - Mount the image

Since we're already in Linux, mounting a EXT image is not that hard. Just mount it using this commands in a Terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T to open it).

cd [COLOR="DarkOrchid"]<file-route-of-the-sin>[/COLOR]
mkdir android
sudo mount -t ext[color="RED"]*[/color] -o loop <name-of-the-image> android/

Where <file-route-of-the-sin> is where the SIN was located, where <the-name-of-the-image> you must type the file name of the ext image (e.g. system.ext4), and finally, where ext*, replace * with the version number of the EXT image you're mounting, usually, ext4
Now, once finished, to unmount it, type in a Terminal.

sudo umount android
rm -fr android

 

[linuxct]

OSX GUIDE

Step 1 - Extract the SIN we need

Using your favourite archive manager (UnRarX, ZipEg, etc), open the FTF you want to extract the files from. (FYI: an FTF is just a Zip file with renamed extension)
Now copy/extract the SIN you want to unpack to a folder of your preference.

Step 2 - Dump the SIN

I'll take into account you already had installed Flashtools and Java JRE, in which case I highly encourage you to update both to the latest version available.
Now, open Flashtools. Click on Tools, Sin Editor. Hit the [...] and locate the SIN you previously extracted. Now, hit the [Extract Data] button. After a couple of minutes the bar should start running.
Once finished, you can have 2 kind of files: a .yaffs2 or a .ext4/.ext3/.ext2 file, which require different procedures on how to see it's contents.

Step 3.a - Convert the file to a readable format - UnYaffs2

If the file you get is a .yaffs2 format file, you're going to need an extra tool to extract it. For doing so, you are going to need the unyaffs2 tool.
You can download a pre-compiled binary from here, or you can install your own using Brew. From a Terminal (Command+Space, then type in Terminal) type the following commands.

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)" < /dev/null 2> /dev/null #This is just to Install Brew for the first time. If you already have it, it's not needed.
brew install unyaffs

If you chose using the UnYaffs2 binary, copy it to the very same folder where you placed the SIN, and thus, where the .yaffs2 is located.
If you chose the Brew installation, just continue.
Now, type in a Terminal (Command+Space, then type in Terminal).

cd [COLOR="DarkOrchid"]<file-route-of-the-sin>[/COLOR]
unyaffs2 [COLOR="Blue"]<the-name-of-the-yaffs2>[/COLOR]

Where <file-route-of-the-sin> is where the SIN was located, and thus, where the yaffs2 file is located; and where <the-name-of-the-yaffs2> you must type the file name of the yaffs2 (e.g. system.yaffs2)
The files will get extracted and you'll be able to pick the ones you need.

Step 3.b - Mount the image - Ext4FUSE

There're many many tools to mount a EXT format image in OSX, but in this case, since we don't need RW access, but just RO, I'll use ext4fuse, since it's free and it's more than compatible with our needs.
To install it you'll need Brew. To get things ready, type the following commands in a Terminal (Command+Space, then type in Terminal).

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)" < /dev/null 2> /dev/null #This is just to Install Brew for the first time. If you already have it, it's not needed.
brew tap homebrew/fuse
brew install Caskroom/cask/osxfuse
brew install ext4fuse

If you're on OSX Yosemite, El Capitan, or Leopard, you may need an extra command to add yourself to the Operator group, so that you can have readonly permissions to the disks.
Use it only if you get an error while trying to access the mounted EXT image later.

sudo dscl . append /Groups/operator GroupMembership [COLOR="red"]<your-user>[/COLOR]

Where your user <your-user> is your username.

Now, to mount the ext4 image, type in a Terminal (Command+Space, then type in Terminal).

mkdir android
ext4fuse [COLOR="DarkOrchid"]<path-to-the-ext4-image>[/COLOR] android

Where <path-to-the-ext4-image> you must type in the full path where the SIN was located, and thus, where the EXT4 image is located.
Use this as reference.

 

[linuxct]

Reserved

In case I need it

 

[serajr]

Great job! Keep up the good work!!

 

[hackslash]

Well. great guide.
Just a note, Microsoft officially released Bash on Ubuntu on Windows yesterday. Try it. It's a full fledged Linux subsystem but unfortunately only available to Windows Insiders. It would be the best alternate to cygwin.

 

[sandeep.sethi]

Boot.img

How can i extract the boot.img
or is this applicable to every single .sin file present in the .ftf file

 

[linuxct]

Great job! Keep up the good work!!

Thank you, I appreciate your words

Well. great guide.
Just a note, Microsoft officially released Bash on Ubuntu on Windows yesterday. Try it. It's a full fledged Linux subsystem but unfortunately only available to Windows Insiders. It would be the best alternate to cygwin.

I know, I saw the demonstration in the //build/, but since it hasn't been released for all yet (I guess it'll be for Redstone 2?), I didn't saw it necessary to be included.

How can i extract the boot.img
or is this applicable to every single .sin file present in the .ftf file

No, this is only applicable for system.sin, userdata.sin, cache.sin and probably modem.sin.
However, if many of you request it, I could try making another for the kernel (boot.img)... But remember, every device doesn't have the same way/method to unpack the kernel, so making a generic tutorial for all wouldn't be possible

 

[sandeep.sethi]

No, this is only applicable for system.sin, userdata.sin, cache.sin and probably modem.sin.
However, if many of you request it, I could try making another for the kernel (boot.img)... But remember, every device doesn't have the same way/method to unpack the kernel, so making a generic tutorial for all wouldn't be possible

if u can provide the guide it would be very helpful :fingers-crossed: :fingers-crossed:

 

[linuxct]

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