Help Will I lose any data?

[jtrory]

Hi everyone,

Sorry, I edited this post but can't change the title so I'm not actually asking about lost data.

Last night I updated from Gingerbread to ICS 4.0.4 and am finding my phone now to be very laggy, specifically in responsiveness of the keyboard, moving between screens and scrolling web pages. I am using GO Launcher EX and tried switching to the default Google launcher but the problems persist. I also cleared the Google Services Framework data and restarted the phone, also didn't work.

What is the best thing to do in this case? Should I factory reset the phone or downgrade to GB? So far I personally see almost no benefit to running ICS since I am using GO Launcher and very little has changed for me in terms of the phone's functionality. I was happy with GB but what would be more of a pain in the ass, downgrading or resetting? The lag is very annoying, especially when texting and I really want to fix this because currently using the phone is real drag.

Thanks.

 

[Brian706]

Well if you factory reset you will lose all your data. Sometimes OTA updates cause problems with the phones cache. If you are not rooted, the only way to clear the cache is through a factory reset. I would suggest an app like My Backup so that you can backup pretty much your whole phone. Then do a factory reset and see if it fixes the problem. You will lose your app data through the reset though. Unfortunately unless you are rooted you can't back that up. You should be able to restore pretty much everything else, including your homescreens.

 

[jtrory]

Well if you factory reset you will lose all your data. Sometimes OTA updates cause problems with the phones cache. If you are not rooted, the only way to clear the cache is through a factory reset. I would suggest an app like My Backup so that you can backup pretty much your whole phone. Then do a factory reset and see if it fixes the problem. You will lose your app data through the reset though. Unfortunately unless you are rooted you can't back that up. You should be able to restore pretty much everything else, including your homescreens.

What constitutes app data, you mean like saved passwords and game saves, things like that? What is the likelihood that resetting the phone will fix the problem? Because I'll be pretty annoyed if I have to go through all of this only to find that it didn't help. I'm already regretting the update, my phone was working perfectly fine before this.

 

[Brian706]

What constitutes app data, you mean like saved passwords and game saves, things like that? What is the likelihood that resetting the phone will fix the problem? Because I'll be pretty annoyed if I have to go through all of this only to find that it didn't help. I'm already regretting the update, my phone was working perfectly fine before this.

There's a good chance that it will get rid of your lag issues... By losing app data you are exactly right about what that means. It will be like you just installed each app for the first time... I lost all my app data awhile back when I rooted... I had a lot and I know how much of a bummer it is to lose that... I guess it's up to you to decide what's more annoying... I mean if you don't want to risk the reset then your phone will be laggy and frustrating anyway...

Also, as per your first post, you can't downgrade back to GB unless you are rooted. So to answer which would be more hassle (downgrading or resetting), I think that rooting to downgrade would be a lot more effort and research. I am not familiar with the rooting process for your phone so it might be really simple. Some phones have a one click root method available that makes things pretty simple. Some rooting methods wipe/factory reset your data while some do not. Check out your All-Things-Root section and see if it's something that you are interested in.

Just to name a couple benefits relevant to your issue:
1. Full backups (Including App Data)
2. Revert back to older software versions
3. Try the new updates before they get released OTA
4. Using root apps that contain many features not available on unrooted devices.
5. The list goes on and on.....

 

[Atma]

What constitutes app data, you mean like saved passwords and game saves, things like that? What is the likelihood that resetting the phone will fix the problem? Because I'll be pretty annoyed if I have to go through all of this only to find that it didn't help. I'm already regretting the update, my phone was working perfectly fine before this.

A factory reset would probably fix the problem. It is often needed after an update. It would not delete anything on your internal storage like pictures, etc. Yes, you would have to either backup and restore or reinstall your apps. Any data associated with an app, like a saved game, you would also lose unless you rooted your phone. If you downgraded to GB, the same thing would happen. It would replace everything on your system with stock Gingerbread.

Here are a few things you can try first.

Power off your phone again. Hold both volume buttons and the power button at the same time. When the phone vibrates, let go of the power button but keep holding both volume buttons. In a few seconds you should be in the recovery menu. Use volume buttons to move up/down and power button to select. *if power button doesn't work, use your home key*. Go to format cache partition and select it and then select yes. Now select reboot. See if that smooths anything out.

Try the Apex Launcher and see if that helps with the lag. Also, check this guide and disable apps you don't need.

If none of those things help, about the only thing left is a factory reset.

Also, as per your first post, you can't downgrade back to GB unless you are rooted.

You can with the T-Mobile Galaxy S2. [HOW TO] Odin any stock rom

 

[jtrory]

There's a good chance that it will get rid of your lag issues... By losing app data you are exactly right about what that means. It will be like you just installed each app for the first time... I lost all my app data awhile back when I rooted... I had a lot and I know how much of a bummer it is to lose that... I guess it's up to you to decide what's more annoying... I mean if you don't want to risk the reset then your phone will be laggy and frustrating anyway...

Also, as per your first post, you can't downgrade back to GB unless you are rooted. So to answer which would be more hassle (downgrading or resetting), I think that rooting to downgrade would be a lot more effort and research. I am not familiar with the rooting process for your phone so it might be really simple. Some phones have a one click root method available that makes things pretty simple. Some rooting methods wipe/factory reset your data while some do not. Check out your All-Things-Root section and see if it's something that you are interested in.

Just to name a couple benefits relevant to your issue:
1. Full backups (Including App Data)
2. Revert back to older software versions
3. Try the new updates before they get released OTA
4. Using root apps that contain many features not available on unrooted devices.
5. The list goes on and on.....

Thanks for all the help. From what I can tell on my phone I can downgrade to GB using Odin without having to be rooted. But it looks as though it would be just as much effort to do that as to do a reset, and there's not a 100% guarantee that the downgrade would go smoothly. On the other hand I don't like the idea of losing app data. So I don't know, I'm going to have to sit on it for a bit. I have discovered that apparently on my phone there are keyboard lag issues on ICS with all keyboards except the Samsung keyboard, which unfortunately I hate. I can confirm this after typing out an entire email with the Samsung keyboard without experiencing lag. I much prefer Swype and have been playing with the settings (setting the Speed/Accuracy slider all the way to Speed) and with clearing cache data, the lag is nearly gone at least for now. We'll have to see how long that lasts. Also I have been following some tips on doing things like disabling junk programs and that could help too. I'm trying to treat a reset or downgrade as a last resort.

How do you try out new updates before release? I didn't know you could do such a thing. Would have been helpful, I was worried going into the ICS update that I might not like it and then what? And sure enough, here I am...

 

[Atma]

I much prefer Swype and have been playing with the settings/clearing cache data and the lag is nearly gone, at least for now.

Have you tried the Swype Beta? Many people had a lag problem after ICS first came out when using Swype. Installing the Swype beta seemed to fix that.

 

[Brian706]

Power off your phone again. Hold both volume buttons and the power button at the same time. When the phone vibrates, let go of the power button but keep holding both volume buttons. In a few seconds you should be in the recovery menu. Use volume buttons to move up/down and power button to select. *if power button doesn't work, use your home key*. Go to format cache partition and select it and then select yes. Now select reboot. See if that smooths anything out.

Ahh. So you can clear the cache of this device then without resetting? Thank you!

Thanks for all the help. From what I can tell on my phone I can downgrade to GB using Odin without having to be rooted.
Indeed you can! Even us guides are always learning something new. But as Atmazzz said, you will lose all your data if you downgrade as well...

How do you try out new updates before release? I didn't know you could do such a thing. Would have been helpful, I was worried going into the ICS update that I might not like it and then what? And sure enough, here I am...
That is one of the benefits of rooting. Often times a rooted version of the stock rom will be released (well before your carrier pushes the official update to your phone) that you can flash to your phone and check out a lot sooner! Also you can make a complete backup before trying said rom and if you don't like it, it's as easy as hitting restore and your phone will go back to how you had it and it will be like you never did anything.

 

[jtrory]

Have you tried the Swype Beta? Many people had a lag problem after ICS first came out when using Swype. Installing the Swype beta seemed to fix that.

I didn't know about the Beta, thanks! Just downloaded it and it seems to work well, I don't notice lag. Also like the keyboard layout even more than the original. Although I'm nervous because it said the keyboard would expire in 6 months! :/ Don't know what that means, I hope I don't fall in love with the Beta and then have to go back to the laggy old one at some point. That would suck.

 

[jtrory]

Power off your phone again. Hold both volume buttons and the power button at the same time. When the phone vibrates, let go of the power button but keep holding both volume buttons. In a few seconds you should be in the recovery menu. Use volume buttons to move up/down and power button to select. *if power button doesn't work, use your home key*. Go to format cache partition and select it and then select yes. Now select reboot. See if that smooths anything out.

I have tried this too, thanks for the suggestion. Looks like I spoke too soon, I'm still having lag issues even after this and switching to the Swype Beta keyboard. I'll have to bite the bullet and try a hard reset which sucks. Fingers crossed it fixes the issues, but really the lag is too annoying for me to overlook. Typing out texts is currently a total nightmare.

 

[jtrory]

Btw would it make sense if I were to root the phone to do it now if I'm intending on doing a hard reset? I don't even know how to root but will look it up, just curious if rooting wipes the phone anyway and if I could kill two birds with one stone...

 

[Atma]

Btw would it make sense if I were to root the phone to do it now if I'm intending on doing a hard reset? I don't even know how to root but will look it up, just curious if rooting wipes the phone anyway and if I could kill two birds with one stone...

Here is a guide for rooting, but just rooting isn't going to solve your issue. Rooting won't do anything like a factory reset to your phone. What it would do is allow you to use Titanium Backup to backup your apps and data and then restore them after a factory reset.

If you do decide to root, read through both of those posts in the guide first to get an idea of what to do and what you can do after.

 

[Brian706]

Here is a guide for rooting, but just rooting isn't going to solve your issue. Rooting won't do anything like a factory reset to your phone. What it would do is allow you to use Titanium Backup to backup your apps and data and then restore them after a factory reset.

If you do decide to root, read through both of those posts in the guide first to get an idea of what to do and what you can do after.

So what you are saying is that you can root this phone without losing data then? On my 3vo, I had to root using the HTC Dev method which does factory reset your phone in the process. But, like I said above, and Atmazzz confirmed for your device, not all phones wipe data while rooting!

 

[Atma]

So what you are saying is that you can root this phone without losing data then?

Right. It just replaces the stock recovery with CWM and then flash superuser in CWM. No reset and nothing lost. That's why I love this phone. I could root it in my sleep.

I couldn't begin to tell someone how to do it on an Evo, so I'm callin' you.

 

[jtrory]

Here is a guide for rooting, but just rooting isn't going to solve your issue. Rooting won't do anything like a factory reset to your phone. What it would do is allow you to use Titanium Backup to backup your apps and data and then restore them after a factory reset.

If you do decide to root, read through both of those posts in the guide first to get an idea of what to do and what you can do after.

I am going to do a hard reset regardless because I think it's my only chance of fixing my problems. I'm also now noticing a severe slowdown in the entire phone, and some random crashes that I had never experienced before. But I think rooting would be a good idea for me so that I can try out a new OS without too much of a headache and as you say, have the ability to back up app data. Wish I had known this before updating to ICS though, could have rooted the phone and avoided this whole disaster. Oh well, live and learn. Good bye Angry Birds saves

 

[jtrory]

Well I'm sad to say that the hard reset did nothing for my lag issues. Still the same. So I reverted back to Gingerbread. I can confirm that the link given to me by Atmazzz to restore GB with Odin on a non-rooted phone worked a charm. No more keyboard lag, no more screen lag, back to business. Very happy. So to those using ICS with no problems, congratulations. To those having the same problems as me using ICS, forget it and go back to what worked.

Thanks everyone here for your help. Couldn't have done it without you.

 

[Brian706]

Right. It just replaces the stock recovery with CWM and then flash superuser in CWM. No reset and nothing lost. That's why I love this phone. I could root it in my sleep.

I couldn't begin to tell someone how to do it on an Evo, so I'm callin' you.

Haha! I could now root the 3d in my sleep! I've helped people through the process so many times now!

 

[DragonSlayer95]

Haha! I could now root the 3d in my sleep! I've helped people through the process so many times now!

When I replace my 3vo, root my 1.58 k tks!

Sent From My HTC Evo 3D Using TapaTalk 2

 

[Brian706]

When I replace my 3vo, root my 1.58 k tks!

Sent From My HTC Evo 3D Using TapaTalk 2

Lol! You know I would. Man I've been itching to root something. I don't really want a new phone. The only reason I would consider upgrading right now is just to learn to root something else! Although after the many adventures of rooting and getting s-off, I dunno if I'd want something with a one click root method. Sounds weird but the fun part to me was the actual rooting process and a one click would take that away from me.