I recently had to re-flash my phone because of problems I was having, but didn't want to lose all my java apps, SMS, etc.. so I went ahead and backed up the entire FS of my phone (a G705 crossflashed to W715). After re-flashing with a clean MAIN and FS, I went about experimenting.. hopefully others can put in what they have found as well:

(you should use Phone Explorer along with an FTP client like FileZilla.. A2uploader has a bug where it won't let you upload whole directories. works fine with Phone Explorer, but be sure to create a site in Site Manager in FileZilla and set it to have maximum of 1 concurrent connection.,. otherwise transfers won't work correctly)

Tested and working on G705 @ W715, so it should work on other A2 phones as well


Files that need to be backed up and restored:

SMS messages:

• Everything in tpa/system/messaging/db
• Phone registry - in system/registry
  
  note about registry (important if you were having crashes/lockups, which is probably why you are re-flashing):
  
  A lot of problems may stem from a corrupt registry. if you experience problems with a corrupt registry, such as certain menu items not opening or crashing, etc. then you do NOT want to just put back the same registry as you will have the same problems again. The registry needs to be re-created, and here is how..
  
  Backup your FS, and then flash with a clean FS. Make a copy of the clean "virgin" registry from the freshly flashed phone from system/registry (or, you could extract the .mbn and get the system/registry folder that way)
  
  Then, put back the faulty registry that you backed up, and start the phone. After the phone starts up, shut it off, and then upload the "virgin" registry to the phone. Your applications and SMS will still be there and the registry will be rebuilt and you hopefully won't have problems again.
  
  If you were to just copy the messaging db folder to your fresh FS and not do anything with the registry, the SMS do not seem to show up. But, going through the steps of putting back the bad registry, letting the phone start up, and then putting in the clean registry makes it work. To me, this suggests that something is being stored in GDFS also, and some sort of data store is created and stored in GDFS when the SMS is there along with the corrupted registry. When a fresh registry is put in, the phone is able to re-create what is needed, and the SMS messages are still there.

Java apps WITH all settings:

• Everything in tpa/preset/system/ams EXCEPT for any files related to native apps that come with the phone by default (I noticed that you will get an application error if you restore one of the built-in apps, just stick to things you installed and you'll be fine). Be sure to include ALL j******* files AND the 'java' subfolder as well, as you need them also.
• Everything in tpa/pdh

Internet and MMS profiles:

• Everything in system/ip

T9 dictionary:

• tpa/preset/system/language/wdb.t9

Nice Tut!
I didn't know there was a way to do it !

How do we know which jxxxxx.b file is for which Java app?

you won't, but don't worry.. just copy all of them over and it will be fine.

So you're saying that the game will continue from where you left of before?

yes, all settings from your java apps will be restored, and you won't need to reinstall anything. It will be just as if you hadn't done anything.

Really nice find... you should get it pinned !

I think contacts are in the MAIN, correct?

~Ibrahim~

I would say GDFS actually, and FS too. We don't really know, so just make a back-up on your memory card

All righty then!

It's actually my sis's W580i. She broke it and she was wondering how to get the contacts...oh, right, she never made a backup.

~Ibrahim~

Try browsing the FS (if that still works of course ) and see if you can find anything?

Right....she has a CID53. I tried both A2uploader and XS++: no go.

~Ibrahim~

P.S. She doesn't mind paying; I sent an email to Da Vinci, if they can help.

This is good thanks i'll give it a go when i get my phone back

FAR and JD Flasher for CID53 for free

hmm I wouldn't expect any dynamic user data like contacts, messages, apps, etc to be in the MAIN.. but rather in FS.

Just by looking at the FS, it seems the contacts are tpa/system/phonebook.dbf . I had a quick look in a hex editor and looks like this is it, but I haven't tried it.

Somewhere, I think, I read they are stored in the GDFS...

However, I will give FAR/JDFlasher a go with the FS.

~Ibrahim~

hmm good idea, has anybody tried this on a2 phone ? specially for sms ?

yes, I've personally done this on my G705 (crossflashed to W715).

all SMS are still there, apps are all there and work just as they did before with all settings and data intact.

Mate, you're a legend. This is almost a dream come true - but I wouldn't quite go that far

I made a script for this ^^

Just use the misc box in a2 uploader



Click to view attachment

haha, thanks.. this is just something I had to do since I didn't want to lose all my SMS and apps.. as you know, myphoneexplorer messes up the timestamps for sent messages so I needed to just figure out a way. i'd still like to think my old camera drivers from w810 days are a better work then just this, hehe.

jockep, great idea for the script! only problem is that you can't use a2uploader to restore it; you'd need to use Phone Explorer along with FileZilla.. I've stopped using a2uploader since it's just so much more convenient to use an FTP client like FileZilla along with PE. no hassles.

updated the first post with some important information that people should know about the registry... the whole reason I did all of this was because I was having some menu items not working (I hadn't messed with the menu or layout at all) and simply doing a restore of the old registry would just bring the same problem back.. the procedure I wrote outlines how to rebuild the registry but without losing your SMS in the process.

Someone should pin this topic

Consider it done

Moved topic since it dosn't really apply to research & development

My W595 crashed half an hour ago, but thanks to you I was able to save my messages

I'm surprised that no one found this before now !

Is this only for A2 phones? What about A1 phones? Is there a tutorial anywhere for doing this with them? Thanks.

I don't have an A1 phone to test it with, so I'm not sure.

Well, I'll try it with my w200 and tell you if it works. But I don't really understand - HOW do i backup the files? Your guide covers more of WHAT to backup, without telling me how to backup them up. Am I just an idiot? Please tell me how to backup files. Thanks

You can try with your w200 (db2012), but I dont think it will work: you will get the file names, but the files wont contain anything

You need either a db2010 (eg w800) or a db2020 (CID52 eg k800) to actually download the files so you can see inside them

I didn't really understand this method either. I know what to backup, but don't how. How?

Use A2Uploader's Read function (located on right-clicking a folder/file)

Hi community,

I have a w810i and I don't see the system/registry folder

Anyone knows about this?



Greetings

Maybe it's only A2 phones that have this . If you have your phone still working, back-up the SMS's with MyPhoneExplorer

Nope. I have system/registry on k800.

only problem is that MPE will lose the timestamp on all sent messages.. that's the whole reason I did this.

I'd love to know why it was never fixed to keep the timestamp...

supposedly there is no way by which MPE can lookup the timestamps on sent messages.. some sort of limitation of the synchronization procedure.

Ah right, thanks for that info.

Just a note about the timestamps if you back everything up using Jock's script using A2uploader, then all the message backup files add with A2uploader and everything else with MPE as all it's needed for is the java files in TPA/PDH

Also want to comment and say this works great on my C905 thanks a lot
All I need to do is games But how do you use MPE with filezilla?

EDIT

800 posts

Thanks a lot!

I always searched for something like this.

Anyone know how to get MPE working with filezilla??

you don't use MPE.. it's PE (PhoneExplorer).. different software, from the cruiser suite people.

here's a link (its freeware, nothing cracked or anything):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?migyzw0w3x2

I think it was only me being blonde
Still couldn't get it to transfer

EDIT

Is there anyway to find out which folder is for which app/game as there are folders in tpa\pdh named 0000 and 000A etc

just copy it all.. i couldnt pin down a good way to find out what is what.. so just grab everything. it works fine that way.

Hmm I tried it and deleted everything (by accident) So... When I uploaded everything I had all my saved games
Untill I restarted my phone and ALL apps had gone
So I flashed my phone and tried again this time copied everything, problem was when I turned on my phone I couldn't open applications or games folders Did you have this problem? Thanks for your help btw

Ok, but to put it back again, i must use filezilla? I did not understand that program, how did you do it?

Just use a2 uploader: drag and drop it back to the correct directory

The reason for using phone explorer and filezilla is there is a lot of files and takes ages to make them with A2uploader