Android Magazine UK - Issue No. 49

Easily backup

individual partition

Save yourself

time and memor y

on your dev ice,

by creating

backups of

specifi c fi les

W

hen you’re modifying your Android device,

you should always create backups,

particularly before performing larger

customisations such as fl ashing a new ROM.

Although it’s sometimes necessar y to perform a

complete backup, if you’re making smaller changes to

your device then a full backup isn’t always necessary.

Partitions Backup & Restore is a free app that lets

you to create backups of specifi c partitions, such as

the fi les that boot

system, or your user data. This app detects all the

partitions on your dev ice and enables you to make a

backup of each partition individually.

Partitions Backup & Restore requires root. If you

want to use this app to restore a partition, you’ll also

need to have a fi le explorer app installed, such as the

ES File Explorer, which is available as a free

download from the Play store.

Youcanalsousetheapptorestorea

partition, as long as the file is a Raw partition

image with the .img extension. To restore a

partition, tap the three-dotted icon in the app’s

top-right corner and select ‘Restore a partition.’

Read the warning and then tap OK.

4 Restore a Partition

In the side-menu, select your file explorer app

and go to the ‘PartitionsBackups’ folder. Tap the

fi le you want to restore. It’s useful to backup the

fi rst 100MB of your device’s internal memory to

help you recover a hard-bricked device.

Navigate to

PartitionsBackups

5

Install Partitions Backup & Restore from the Play

store. Once the app has downloaded, launch it

and grant Superuser permissions. Then choose

where your backups will be stored and in what

format, so tap the wrench icon in the toolbar.

Download Partitions

Backup & Restore

1

Choose if you want backups stored on the

external or internal SD card and pick a format.

Raw is the usual format but Compressed backup

saves space. On a Samsung device, TAR archive

has backups you can restore via Odin.

Choose the format

and location

2

On the main menu tap all the partitions

you want to backup. Tap the blue circle and

select Backup. Once the backup is complete,

you’ll see a message that the fi les have been

saved to a new ‘PartitionsBackups’ folder. For

extra security, copy these fi les to your computer.

3 Make your backups

Tap the three-dotted icon and select

‘Backup fi rst blocks.’ If you get a hard-brick, copy

the backup fi le to an external SD card, insert it

into your device, copy the bootloader across,

boot into download mode and download the PIT,

PDA, CSC and PHONE fi les.

6 Backup fi rst blocks

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