OK...rooted .... now Backing up .... help

[bt0558]

OK with the help of several people on here I have my capacitive 52577 rooted and working well.

I want now to back the system etc up so that if i bu**er things up i can recover, as situation i am likely to find myself in especially when i fancy a bit of tinkering after getting back from the alehouse when i really shouldnt be tinkering.

As far as I see it I will remove all that I have installed and get back to factory setiings. My strategy might then be...

1. backup all that i can using ADB
2 install the clockworkmod thing and use that for some backups that i can easily restore from

Does that sound like a plan and can anyone advise.....

1. is there better software
2. what is essential to backup for a restore to working scroll


Thanks


Brian

[bloggs]

ClockworkMod is great for that "I'm about to do something dangerous" moment, when you want to take a snapshot of where you're at and be able to get back there quickly if it all goes pear shaped. However it's quite a big snapshot, so you probably don't want to do that as a matter of routine. I haven't looked at what else ClockworkMod can do and I haven't looked at version 3 or 4, but that's what I think it's good at.

I use Titanium Backup for the more routine backups like account information, app data and newly added apps etc. I'm sure there are other packages out there that provide similar features, but Titanium also allows you, if you're rooted, to backup and/or remove the factory installed apps. I don't know if there are many (or any) other apps that can do that as easily as Titanium.

I've never used ADB for backing up. I just mount the SDcard on the PC (so that the PC sees it as a removable drive) and copy the Titanium backups from the SDcard onto my PC.

Just my tuppence worth.

Eddie

[bt0558]

Thanks for that eddie

Am I correct to say that an adroid must boot up just like a windows or linux system. I windows the thing goes through the post test etc and looks for a bootable operatig system based on the boot settings.

I install my apps and save my data and change my setting and all of this is stored in the nand chip inside of the tablet. If I backup the whole of the nand chip I effectively get a file that contains every bit of data from the nand chip sequentially which is called a ROM (as opposed to the Read Only Memory type)?

This file is called an "image"? is that right?

I can get an image from the nand chip and if necessary reload an image to my nand chip to make a system identical to the only I saved?

This seems to be some sort of binary file rather than folders and files etc.

The ZIP update from scroll seems just to be a collection of folders and files which make up the operating system but usig their own "recovery" process I can reload these files and folders and get myself an unrooted scroll but this will only recover the parts taht are included in the ZIP file.

I risk showig my ignorace here but will go for it and when people pull me up i hopefully will learn something more....

Have i got this about right?
Can I find some sort of guide to the android system and which files etc make up the system?
Are the Linux shell, dalvik jvm, andoid (java bit) all in that update ZIP?
Is there a map of what is in the nand?
Is there a guide anywhere that I can download?

You can tell I am keen and I dont want to be makig too much of a nuisance of myself but if you know any of these I would appreciate it. I will keep lookig over the net which aswers lots of questions. Will go look at TCC chips site and see if there is anything there also.

Any help appreciated

Brian

[suggsy89]

i have the same version scroll as you... im looking for a working clockwork mod... i have found a half working version 2.5.1.8 but the buttons are not mapped and it fails to mount the system!! need help lol

[suggsy89]

okay so i found a work around for backing up via adb

see attachment

[bdb]

There is lots of information; trouble is it is scattered far and wide and rarely highlights where one system differs from another.
Be aware that not all information is correct, or applies equally to all (even similar) android devices.

try:
http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/android-partitions-explained-boot-system-recovery-data-cache-misc/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=619153
http://android-dls.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

In a nutshell, the system is layered, each layer offers a different level of functionality/device dependence.

All data is stored on flash
bootloader - sometimes named lk.rom, tcboot.rom, lk_android_go.rom or similar, runs when the chip leaves reset
mtd area - sometimes named tcc8900_mtd.img

The bootloader is very specific to the main processor chip (for scroll: tcc8902), and is also specific to the model.
The mtd area contains the operating system, application and user data - a windows ce system would have its own structure within here.
The android runs on linux, so this layer contains the linux kernel, the android layer, and the user data.
mtd area:
boot - the linux kernel; started by the bootloader on a normal boot
system - the application (linux applications, 'honestly oracle it is not java' vm, android code)
userdata - the user data
recovery - a backup linux kernel; started by the bootloader on a 'volume+' boot

The recovery/boot/system/userdata data are stored on separate partitions on the flash.
These can be modified as a complete block (tcc8900_mtd.img)
or as individual partitions (recovery.img, boot.img, system.img)
or their individual files can be updated one by one.
- think of the .img files as the equivalent of a cd .iso file.

The update.zip file contains all the files in the /system partition, and a boot.img.
It does not contain a new recovery.img.
The lk.rom file is not currently available - so, use extreme caution if messing with FWDW. Do not load an lk.rom for another model; you will brick it.
ADB only works with the mtd layer, so it shouldn't mess anything up as long as you have a backup boot.img, recovery.img, update.zip
If you do a factory reset, it will just delete the entire userdata area.
The system partition is normally set to be readonly to prevent accidental corruption of system files.
When people refer to ROMs, they are normally misusing the term, and generally mean the boot/system partitions.

bdb