Full Backup

[Mike Clovis]

I own an LG Nexus 5 and as such, I am looking to possibly install a Mod due to Google not providing security updates anymore. I have a number of questions that I have researched but I get "mixed" answers. I hope others can shed some light!

1) Once I install a mod, does updates to the mod install "automatically" or is there more to it?
2) I wish to backup the current FULL system prior to this procedure. What is the best way?
3) Do I need root permissions?
4) I have read many articles to the "downside" of rooting a phone. These include applications not being able to run, needing "DRM" permissions, etc. I also have concerns that I will not be able to sync information to my Google account once I have finished. Is this true?


I have extensive Linux knowledge and do not need to know the whys, etc. Just these questions and how to best proceed. I do not believe my phone is locked to a provider and I use Ting as a carrier. I really appreciate all the advice I can get!

Thanks in advance,

Mike

 

[Hadron]

If you plan to install a custom ROM then the starting point is to install a custom recovery. Once you have done that (which requires an unlocked bootloader, a recovery image built for the particular model of device, and the fastboot utility installed on a computer) you can use the recovery to back up your current ROM, apps and data prior to rooting the ROM or replacing it with a custom one. That way if anything goes wrong you can just restore back to where you were.

If you don't have space on the device for the backup you should be able to back up to a flash drive via a USB OTG adapter (that's what I do with my phone, which has the same storage limits as an N5).

Whether a ROM supports its own over the air updates or whether you need to download them manually and flash them using your custom recovery depends on the ROM. Some will have OTA for minor updates but only full download for major ones.

Root doesn't cause any problems with Google sync. Some ROMs do not include the Google apps, but you can flash then separately afterwards. The ROM's thread at XDA should include install procedures in the first or second post.

Note that you usually have to do a factory reset before flashing a different ROM (updates to the same ROM won't need this). You can't use your recovery backup (nandroid) to restore these to your new ROM, so need a separate app/data backup. I recommend Titanium Backup Pro for this. I always do both titanium and recovery backups before changing ROMs.

Since Titanium requires root though you can't do this without rooting the ROM, which is inconvenient if the plan was just to jump straight to a custom ROM. Your options for the first time are either to root first (taking a recovery backup before doing this), then use Titanium to back up before flashing a new ROM, or back up apps & data using other tools (Google sync, Helium, etc), install custom ROM and then restore. Titanium Pro can restore some data from a recovery backup, but you can't use that for stuff stored as system data (including messages and contacts). The free version of Titanium can't do that, and also can't do batch restore of app data, so the paid version is very worthwhile.

If you are wondering why you do a reset before changing ROMs, it's because system settings are likely to be incompatible between different ROMs. So while restoring user app data is fine, restoring system data (or not wiping) can result in anything between minor glitches and failing to boot. Another feature of Titanium Pro is that it can back up some key system app data (SMS/MMS, WiFi access points, call logs) as xml files instead of binary data, which it can then restore on a different ROM).