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Root Check what version of nandroid b/u
- Thread starter youdoofus
- Start date
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- Tags
- htc evo 4g
Xtremedays
Android Expert
youdoofus
Android Expert
yep, rename them after you make them so you know what they are?
fine then!!! lol yeah, ive given that advice myself, i just forget to do it apparently lol
Granite1
Zercron Encrusted Tweezer
Where has Akazabam been? I haven't heard anything.
Anyway, the drunk part is priceless!
youdoofus
Android Expert
Where has Akazabam been? I haven't heard anything.
Anyway, the drunk part is priceless!
Totally priceless!! I myself am enjoying a frothy beverage(or 5) A cheers to everyone who contributes here!!
Come to think of it, i havent seen akaz either, and im all over this forum lol did he get a droid x or something?
Hey guys. Sorry, I've been really busy at work, plus I'm getting ready to move this weekend. I haven't had much time at all to check the forums. There are a lot of very helpful people around here who have been answering all kinds of questions, I see (2000+ posts since I last logged in...), so hopefully I haven't been missed . I'll try and login a little more often. That being said, yes, you can find out what is on a nandroid backup without restoring it. It's *tad* bit tedious to set up, but once you do, it's really simple to find out.
So, there are probably a dozen ways of doing this. I'm sure you can do some stuff with mount, but I couldn't get it to work right, off the bat, so I'll play around with that later. Anyway, if you're using windows, like me, the easiest thing to do is to:
1) Download and install cygwin if you don't already have it.
2) Download unyaffs. If compiling isn't your thing, you can get it precompiled for windows, here.
Install cygwin (default installation is fine), then drop unyaffs.exe in C:\cygwin\bin (assuming that's where you installed cygwin).
Now, copy whatever nandroid backup you like from your phone to your computer. Create an empty folder somewhere on your drive. I'll use C:\nandroid as an example. Open a command prompt, and type this:
cd C:\nandroid
C:\cygwin\bin\unyaffs C:\path\to\nandroid\system.img
Just replace the cygwin part with whatever install path you used (or add that path to PATH if you know how to do that - I won't go into details here) and replace the second part with the path to the nandroid backup you just copied over (the system.img file, in particular). That will "extract" (not exactly the right word) the contents of the system.img into C:\nandroid, where you will see exactly what you would in /system if you were to restore that particular nandroid backup.
Now, in that folder, you'll find a file called build.prop. That contains information about your current ROM. You can open it if you want to, or take advantage of the fact that you have cygwin by typing:
C:\cygwin\bin\grep description build.prop (again, it's easier if you've added the path to cygwin bin to PATH)
The output should look something like this:
# Do not try to parse ro.build.description or .fingerprint
# ro.build.description=3.29.651.5 CL252548 release-keys
# ro.build.description=3.29.651.5 CL252548 release-keys
ro.build.description=Fresh Evo 3.3.0.1 by flipz
As you can see, this was a pretty old backup. When I did the test, I had no idea what it was. I now know it is Fresh 3.3.0.1. For those who aren't used to linux/unix typical text files, a "#" mean the rest of the line is a comment. So, the other two lines with the ro.build.description entry are the default (If it wasn't a custom ROM) and have been commented out.
Try this with any system.img that is in a whole nandroid backup (whether you know what it is or not) and you will find out what it is. Setting up cygwin take a few minutes, but you only have to do that once. Once you've done that, you can check any system.img you like, and it only takes a few seconds for each. Just delete the contents of C:\nandroid after each one.
Also, for those paying attention, you can do this with a data.img, as well, to extract apks (apps) from nandroid backups. Ever forget to make a backup of an app before flashing a new ROM? Well, here you go.
This doesn't work for boot.img files, by the way, so you won't be able to find out what kernel you have by doing this. I know there is a way to do it, so I'll go look it up later.
. I'll try and login a little more often. That being said, yes, you can find out what is on a nandroid backup without restoring it. It's *tad* bit tedious to set up, but once you do, it's really simple to find out.So, there are probably a dozen ways of doing this. I'm sure you can do some stuff with mount, but I couldn't get it to work right, off the bat, so I'll play around with that later. Anyway, if you're using windows, like me, the easiest thing to do is to:
1) Download and install cygwin if you don't already have it.
2) Download unyaffs. If compiling isn't your thing, you can get it precompiled for windows, here.
Install cygwin (default installation is fine), then drop unyaffs.exe in C:\cygwin\bin (assuming that's where you installed cygwin).
Now, copy whatever nandroid backup you like from your phone to your computer. Create an empty folder somewhere on your drive. I'll use C:\nandroid as an example. Open a command prompt, and type this:
cd C:\nandroid
C:\cygwin\bin\unyaffs C:\path\to\nandroid\system.img
Just replace the cygwin part with whatever install path you used (or add that path to PATH if you know how to do that - I won't go into details here) and replace the second part with the path to the nandroid backup you just copied over (the system.img file, in particular). That will "extract" (not exactly the right word) the contents of the system.img into C:\nandroid, where you will see exactly what you would in /system if you were to restore that particular nandroid backup.
Now, in that folder, you'll find a file called build.prop. That contains information about your current ROM. You can open it if you want to, or take advantage of the fact that you have cygwin by typing:
C:\cygwin\bin\grep description build.prop (again, it's easier if you've added the path to cygwin bin to PATH)
The output should look something like this:
# Do not try to parse ro.build.description or .fingerprint
# ro.build.description=3.29.651.5 CL252548 release-keys
# ro.build.description=3.29.651.5 CL252548 release-keys
ro.build.description=Fresh Evo 3.3.0.1 by flipz
As you can see, this was a pretty old backup. When I did the test, I had no idea what it was. I now know it is Fresh 3.3.0.1. For those who aren't used to linux/unix typical text files, a "#" mean the rest of the line is a comment. So, the other two lines with the ro.build.description entry are the default (If it wasn't a custom ROM) and have been commented out.
Try this with any system.img that is in a whole nandroid backup (whether you know what it is or not) and you will find out what it is. Setting up cygwin take a few minutes, but you only have to do that once. Once you've done that, you can check any system.img you like, and it only takes a few seconds for each. Just delete the contents of C:\nandroid after each one.
Also, for those paying attention, you can do this with a data.img, as well, to extract apks (apps) from nandroid backups. Ever forget to make a backup of an app before flashing a new ROM? Well, here you go.
This doesn't work for boot.img files, by the way, so you won't be able to find out what kernel you have by doing this. I know there is a way to do it, so I'll go look it up later.
. Thats very useful mostly because i always forget to back up an app and just flash on. Now i dont have to restore to back it up.
markdmac
Well-Known Member
Akazabam, many thanks for sharing this. I just reloaded my phone and one of my apps I paid for was missing from the market thanks to a snafu in company names causing Better Android to be shut down due to illegal activity on the part of another company Better Android Apps. Google Market needs to get them back online, this is crazy.
Sorry I digress, thanks to having a CWM backup I was able to extract the APK file for my paid for application and reinstall it. This is such a huge help! Thank you!!!
Sorry I digress, thanks to having a CWM backup I was able to extract the APK file for my paid for application and reinstall it. This is such a huge help! Thank you!!!
man thanx for digging this old thread up. i totally forgot to check this out. i have one or two really old nandroids that i have on my computer and i needed to know what it is. but thanx to akazabam i can now check it out. i wish he was around more often.